I'm in the midst of the exams right now, so I have absolutely no idea why I am posting this. Thanks for all the constructive criticism and reviews guys. As promised, this is in 1st Person POV, so please give me your comments on a rather different writing style. I have definitely taken what you guys said into consideration.

DoT is 80 maple and 20 other stuff, but the whole idea is rooted in maplestory, so I'm not going to transfer it to the crossover section. Really, the plot line has certain elements of maple that just can't be removed. Oh, and Terran Eyes and any other stuff mentioned are just borrowed ideas that I twisted such that the plotline and story would make sense. Just wanted to clarify that it's not completely 100 ripped off.

As you all probably know, my writing style is still very undetermined, so I hope I can receive help from all of you along the way! Thanks, and without further ado...Chapter 10.

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Disclaimer: I don't own any Wizet related property. Or anything worth anything, actually. Whee.

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Chapter 10

Hermes Jr. 1 shuffled about uncomfortably in his seat. He felt like a junior executive in a board meeting with the chairmen of various corporations. Gingerly, he reached for a glass of water which was sitting mere inches away from his tightly clenched fists. He enjoyed the ice-cold liquid trickling down his dry throat, granting it respite. Thank goodness the meeting would be ending soon.

They were at a meeting of the gods, back in the Kingdom. After prolonged periods of tense, gripping discussions regarding the best candidate to guard Pandora's Gate, they finally reached a consensus. Hermes Jr. wiped yet another clump of sweat on his forehead that threatened to snowball into rapid sweating.

He was just one of the many sons of Hermes, chosen to represent him at the meeting because the old man was too damned lazy to come. He wasn't even sure he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps in the industry of communications and delivery. He frowned. Being a paperboy or even being in charge of paperboys wasn't his ideal career.

He scanned the table. Dura was still missing.

She'd been missing ever since that Chosen that they were monitoring had been transported to the future. Some suspected that she, being the Goddess of Darkness, was harboring dark intentions to manipulate, or even kill the Chosen.

But she certainly did not fit the throne of darkness well. Her father, The Titan of Sin, had previously occupied that seat before he was overthrown and banished. Where to, no one was allowed to speak of it- Kingsley had declared the matter closed.

What he did know, was that the Titan of Sin and Terran; the god of time, were supposed to rule over Earth. They took their orders directly from the Old Ones. Mysteries surrounded the Old Ones, much like fog hanging in a graveyard, obstructing the truth from being seen. No one knew who, or what the Old Ones were.

They played a pivotal role in the circle of life- they were in charge of disseminating prophecies to Terran and The Titan of Sin. They would then pass on the information to Kingsley, and then the information would be passed onto the gods, who told the commoners of the prophecies through divine intervention; through dreams, visions and much more.

Many tried to go against prophecies. At times, Gods, just like humans felt indignant at the prophecies, outraged that they were being governed by fate. And so, they went against the prophecies. The prophecies had often talked about balance. Going against the prophecies certainly did not ensure balance.

One day, Terran disappeared. For some incomprehensible reason, time was not thrown into complete chaos. Everyone was confused, was it a miracle? The truth was revealed soon after, a terrible, dark explanation to the phenomenal events…

Hermes Jr. 1's thoughts were interrupted just as Kingsley cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the gods who were chatting amongst themselves.

"And so, the Gatekeeper has been chosen. It may not be the best candidate, but it is the best we can provide for now. May the darkness never see the light of day."

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The harsh daylight shone down on the brownish-red plateau that was Panon. Glen gritted his teeth, taking in the gruesome sight that lay before him. Although those mercenaries were lackeys of Soitoru, killing them was still taking lives. However, he had slowly become desensitized to the killing. In wars, battles, uprisings, death was forever present. He had learnt to deal with it. And he fought for what he believed in.

Manji faced the gigantic mahogany doors that stood between him and his target. He ran his scarred fingers on the brown wood, and gently applied some force. It neither creaked nor budged a single inch.

His keen ears, however, picked up the slight ringing of metal chains behind the door. It must have been reinforced with various metal chains behind the door to ensure that it would be near unbreachable.

Manji smiled from ear to ear, unsheathing his sword from the elegant sword sheath nestling comfortably on his belt. He would have to use brute force. Somewhere far away, someone else was thinking the exact same thing.

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"Damn it!" I picked myself up, hearing my knee joints creak a little in protest. My chest felt like it was on fire from the blow I just received from a particularly jagged metallic arm. That damned Wolf Spider was, put simply, one hell of a beast. Flanking it was near impossible, with its abundance of seven legs. Seven, because I had previously scored a lucky hit with Tempest Slash that managed to sever one of its excessively large legs. I glared angrily at the beast, half cybernetic, half bionic, much like a cyborg spider. Add that to the fact that it dwarfed both me, Clora and Allegra. We had one difficult fight on our hands.

Ah, I forgot to properly introduce myself. I'm Laran. "Laran what?" you may ask; well, here's my problem- amnesia. I really hate the guy who planned out my life story; amnesia sounds like a pretty darned cool thing to implement until you realize that it's been way overused in sloppy drama serials.

So, all I know, is that I'm 18 years of age, with a butt-ugly scar running down my left cheek- the shape of a capital T. Oh, and I obviously never really cared about looks even before I lost my memory; judging by my extremely disheveled hair and deeply etched eyebags- as permanent as a carved up sculpture.

Apparently I was brought to the future because I was a Chosen- one whose destiny is to fulfill the prophecy.

"When light and darkness combine,

The world will be at stake.

The Chosens will gather.

Therein lies the greatest battle in history.

A leader must emerge,

In order to defeat the scourge.

He must first defeat himself.

In order to defeat his enemies.

The one he calls a friend

Will become his foe."

These phrases were uttered by my ex-mentor- a seasoned warrior by the name Glen. He seemed to be pretty forgetful concerning prophecies though, so there might still be more to what meets the eye.

"You have to use brute force to wrench the fight in your favour." Rejection muttered to me. Rejection was my sword, and we had synchronized our spiritual and physical bodies together, thanks to my blood as a medium. The runic inscriptions that ran across Rejection were the proof of that. Rejection usually took the shape of a large plain-looking two-handed Broadsword when not synchronized, but when synchronized it transformed itself into a sleek cobalt-coloured one-handed sword. The synchronization meter which manifested itself in a corner of my vision gave me an indication of the degree that we had synchronized- very much like a Heads Up Display (HUD). The bar read 20, a commendable increase from my pathetic 5 when I had first synchronized.

"Naggy old man." I muttered as I gripped Rejection tightly, breaking into an explosive sprint towards the Wolf Spider.

"Need a boost?" Allegra was a few body lengths ahead of me. The cousin of JM, who was notoriously known in Kerning, she was an accomplished rogue. She was level 44, but possessed a personality of a level 10 awaiting the first job advancement- bubbly, innocent and cheerful.

I nodded my head, prompting her to kneel down on her right knee with her two palms outstretched. With a few more strides, my right foot landed on her outstretched palms. I had barely steadied myself, when she yelled out with authority; "Flash Jump!" as she directed all the energy generated by the skill onto my feet.

My heart pounded rapidly, as I flew through the air, temporarily out of control. That sudden outburst of energy flung me towards the Wolf Spider, which was salivating disgustingly. The world spun out of control as I was thrown into a confused frenzy.

I closed my eyes to calm myself down. "Terran!" I snapped them open as time slowed around me. The swiveling environments slowed down as I regained my composure.

Not much was known about my Terran eyes. All I knew was that it was a gift from the God of Time- Terran, and he was the one who brought me to this future. It supposedly had the power of slowing down time for the user, no doubt imbued by Terran himself. Terran Eyes took on the form of rather demonic looking eyes. In its current state, after "evolving" once in my earlier encounter with a rather nasty EX Tauromacis; the eyes were a massive swirl of bloody crimson and black.

"Exert maximum force to the minimally protected area." I found myself muttering that phrase in tandem with Rejection. Whenever we were synchronized, we were one.

At last having some degree of control over my "flight", I managed to steer my body towards the Wolf Spider's back. That was its most vulnerable area, not to mention that none of its nasty limbs could reach there. That made it an ideal target.

"Allegra! Keep it occupied!" I frantically yelled. I was in an extremely delicate situation. The plan could go to hell if the Wolf Spider cut me into itty-bitty pieces while I was still in the air.

"No problem yeah yeah!" She danced about in front of the Wolf Spider while singing nursery rhymes with a huge smile plastered over her chubby face.

I felt the urge to reprimand her for her recklessness, but promptly stopped myself when I realized that I would be a hypocrite if I did. Jumping into a hive of stirges wasn't exactly a plan that "played it safe".

Instead, I focused my energies on the plan. The next phase would require extreme concentration and lightning quick reflexes.

"Tempest Slash!" I drew my arcane energy to Rejection. Holding it there for a split-second to let the power build up, I swung Rejection with an air of confidence; I had performed the technique until it became second nature. The lightning blue blade of energy cut through the air, well on the way to its target- the large cluster of stalactites which hung precariously over the Wolf Spider.

The keen blade of electric blue energy was overwhelmingly razor sharp, as it sliced through the stalactites easily; sending an avalanche of stalactites raining down. Now was the difficult part.

If I fell too quickly, I would get impaled by one…no, several stalactites. On the flipside, if I missed that narrow window of opportunity, my attack would lose much of its effectiveness.

I glanced at the Wolf Spider's Achilles Heel- the tender mush of fur and muscle; its neck. I had been targeting that area since I had formulated the plan to land on its unprotected back. If all went well, I would manage to decapitate the creature in one swift strike. I could also end up as a bloody mess if I ended up smashing into the floor and being trampled on violently.

I shoved away the pessimistic image of me having broken every bone in my body as soon as it surfaced. Fear was a factor I could do without in a fight- the adrenaline rush it provided was desirable, but the trade-off in terms of emotional security was ridiculously large.

Grabbing onto a nearby stalactite, I used it for makeshift footing as I leapt from a stalactite to another. I had to strike just as the last stalactite dealt its blow to the Wolf Spider, in order to secure my ideal position and not get crushed by the impending doom in the form of nasty, clammy stalactites.

"Mounting" my chosen stalactite, I held onto it for dear life as it plummeted towards the Wolf Spider. My vision blurred for a second as it was assaulted by the devastating G-forces, but I aggressively fought to remain conscious. I focused my Terran eyes on the immediate threat below- a severely pissed off Wolf Spider that was trying its best to, put simply, kill us all.

Allegra was doing one hell of a good job, darting in between its legs with unparalleled dexterity and courage. She was dodging, rolling and leaping out of the way of every blow sent her way, somehow still finding an opening to release a couple of explosive kumbis every now and then to great effect- the damage done to it was slowly piling up; it was reflecting in the Wolf Spider's etched features. Occasionally, its ugly mug would grimace when a kumbi hit a sensitive spot; next to its eye for example.

But even a person as dense as me could see that her stamina was draining at an alarming rate. Her movements were starting to turn sluggish, her kumbis no longer cut through the air with the authority that she previously commanded on them and her sweat encrusted face no longer bore that expression of cheerfulness; replaced with pure concentration.

The first wave of stalactites pounded violently against the Wolf Spider. Most stalactites missed the beast completely; however, a modest amount made impact. Several managed to pierce the more sensitive spots of its unprotected back; top halves of the stalactites breaking off at the moment of impact.

The Wolf Spider groaned in pain; the avalanche seemed more like a tender slap across the back than a flurry of attacks. And then, the second and third wave struck.

The two waves combined to form a relentless offensive as the gigantic Wolf Spider was pelted relentlessly. Its size worked against it, making it more vulnerable to area of effect attacks.

Barely three metres before contact, I leapt off my mounted stalactite and dived towards the neck area of the Wolf Spider- sword-first.

Rejection plunged into its neck with relative ease, the thin blade finding itself buried deep in the unprotected flesh, prompting the creature to unleash an outraged howl. I had no idea whether it was truly in pain, or whether it was firmly against the idea of a human possessing enough audacity to attempt to ride it, but I wasn't going to stick around and find out.

"Fantastic! Now use Final Attack, yeah yeah!" Allegra shouted at me from below.

"Final Attack would indeed be a good choice in this situation." Rejection's voice sounded in my mind, as clear as crystal.

I paused for a moment, caught in both hesitation and cluelessness. Final Attack? That phrase seemed agonizingly familiar; yet I was not able to recall what it stood for.

"Screw this shit." I reversed my grip on Rejection, and slammed the sword against the neck until only the sword hilt was visible.

Taking a deep breath, I forcefully channeled all the arcane energy I could muster and shoved it into Rejection. Holding it there for a moment, I unleashed the pent up energy with a resounding cry of "Tempest Hurricane!"

Razor sharp blades of arcane energy sliced out from Rejection- the attack actually comprised of extremely fast wind which burst out in all directions.

The wind blades ravaged the body from within- some bursting out from its stomach, some from its head, and the ever-comical ass.

The Wolf Spider jerked about momentarily, a natural reaction to the attack that was tearing it apart. Its knees buckled and no longer obeyed as it crashed onto the floor, sending a minor shockwave which threatened to release a rush of stalactites. Thankfully, the stalactites remained harmless.

The beast lay unmoving on the floor of the cavern, the ice-cold touch of death creeping over its massive corpse.

With a great heave, I managed to pull Rejection out of the corpse; resulting in a sickening "sliiiich" as the thin blade slid out of the grimy corpse. The entire blade was stained with blood, rendering it crimson. I inspected it for a second. It looked pretty darned cool.

"Do you mind? I feel so bleeding dirty." Rejection complained, with a hint of smugness at the pun he came up with.

"At least that was one of your better attempts at a joke." I muttered as I wiped Rejection against the unmoving corpse of the Wolf Spider.

"Hey Laran, over here!" Allegra's voice sounded out behind me.

Turning around, I saw her gingerly using a kumbi to cut the webs that were constricting Clora. Sheepishly, I admitted I was too caught up in that victorious moment and had completely forgotten about freeing Clora.

In a matter of seconds, Clora was free. Allegra whipped out a nasty-looking purple elixir, and fed it down Clora's throat before I could protest about the vile-looking liquid.

"What the heck are you feeding her!? It bleeding looks like poiso…" I protested indignantly.

"Catch." Allegra flung a separate vial filled with the same purplish liquid to me. "Drink it." She nodded towards my chest.

I glanced down, only to see a bloody gash slightly below my left shoulder- stretching all the way across to my right waist.

"It's a power elixir which restores all of your HP and Mana."

"I'm sorry, mana?"

"Magical Arcane Natural Abilities."

"In other words, arcane energy?"

"Exactly." Clora had spoken, giving us all a big shock.

Her wounds had been healed completely thanks to the power elixir, and she seemed just as energized as before.

I looked at her disbelievingly, before gulping down the liquid in large mouthfuls.

It tasted slightly metal-ish. I couldn't quite put my tongue on the taste; nevertheless, my face distorted as I consumed the unappealing liquid, watching as my wounds healed themselves right in front of my eyes.

"Those things don't come cheap. Who are you?" She directed the question to Allegra.

"Allegra Andreadi. I'm the cousin of JM."

"What!? From the Andreadi family?"

Allegra gave a slight nod. I thought I could see a flash of reluctance on her features, but they disappeared almost instantly.

"No wonder you two were able to defeat the Wolf Spider…" Clora stood up and walked over to the slain Wolf Spider. She retrieved an upgrade core from its mouth, before kicking it apathetically in the face.

"Is that what we were looking for?" I inquired quizzically. "After all this effort, shouldn't we get more than just an upgrade core?"

"It is more than just an upgrade core." Clora protested indignantly. "I need to take this to Grendel. Next stop, Esuna."

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"Lock him up in the underground cells." Sitting Bull growled, as two well-built warriors hefted the tied up Soitoru away.

With the aid of Manji, they had stormed Soitoru's stronghold; dispatching all his personal bodyguards and easily capturing him. Soitoru's stronghold had been purposely destroyed by the repeated use of powerful techniques, meant to symbolize the fall of the seemingly immovable tyrant. A pity that Manji had disappeared into stealthy air the moment there had been no action left. He was always an aloof, unsociable person, but Sitting Bull was grateful for his help.

Now, standing at the top of the entire city that was Panon; with the entire population looking up at him, he felt a surge of pride through him. They had finally freed themselves from Soitoru. To his right, Glen nodded at him approvingly. It was time to address the populace.

"The reign of terror is over! No longer will citizens have to sacrifice themselves for the will of the tyrant Soitoru, we will no longer have to bear the chains of oppression!" Sitting Bull addressed the large crowd that had gathered at the foot of Panon's magnificent plateau.

"No longer will lives be forfeited for foolish causes! No longer will we have to surrender our assets for his self benefit. No longer will we continue living in dark times where there isn't enough to feed our young and elderly! No longer will he be our so called leader!" Sitting Bull announced; his face beaming with happiness.

"Who will be our leader then?" A voice shouted out from below.

Sitting Bull hesitated. The people needed a hero- someone they could trust and look up to. This was especially crucial to the rebuilding of the populace's spirits after being oppressed and ill-treated for so long.

"Who do you think deserves the title of leader- the chieftain of our proud village?" Sitting Bull asked cautiously.

There was an instantaneous outburst of "You!" which arose from the very hearts of the people he had struggled to free. Sitting Bull felt a rush of emotions; pride, joy and rampant excitement coursed through him.

"Then I gratefully accept! As a leader, I have will open up my hearts to all of you! I shall eat what you eat, live how you live. I am one of you!" A thunderous cheer started to rise from the centre of the crowd.

"And as my first act as leader, Panon shall be no more! From today onwards, we shall be known as…Perion!"

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"Perion eh?" Grendel the Really Old muttered, curiously inspecting the scroll that a messenger from Panon…no, Perion had delivered mere minutes ago. Such a large scale rebellion was rare. He studied the profile of the new leader, Sitting Bull. Time sure flew by. He leaned back in his comfortable leather armchair, admiring the new decor of his office. He had just completed it a few days ago, and he was certain that it looked magnificent.

The theme of the room was relaxation. Apart from the sheet white alder wood floor, the walls were painted with a nice saturation of sky blue and light blue. The wall opposite to the door had been completely demolished to make way for a majestic glass window that gave the onlooker a fantastic scenery view of the lush greenery that covered Esuna. An impressive Mansonia wooden table- one of the last of its kind- stood proudly by itself in the room. Unfortunately, it was also stacked with piles of paperwork scattered across the table.

"Paperwork defeats the purpose of relaxation…" Grendel kicked back, trying to properly nestle his neck on the padding.

He remembered meeting the young boy at Perion's warrior academy seemingly light years ago. Back then, the youngster was full of promise- the top of his class in both theoretical and practical assessments. On that fateful day, he had found Sitting Bull training against stumps during an academy field trip. His age betrayed his level of experience. A level twenty at the age of 10, slicing through dark stumps and axe stumps with ease, he was a sight to behold- sharp focused eyes that told of ambition well beyond his years, with a strong dexterous body capable of dealing out and receiving much damage.

"I am going to become the strongest warrior in the world!" That phrase, uttered by a boy no older than 10 convinced Grendel that he was meant for great things. Grendel had confidence that Perion was in good hands. Word had often travelled to him of his battle prowess, leadership ability and extremely rare interpersonal relationship skills warriors usually lacked.

A city usually changed its name whenever they had managed to cleanse and purge a form of major corruption. Perion's name changed drastically compared to Henesys, Esuna and Kerning City. It often contained hot-blooded warriors who started rebellions for no reason, and claimed to have purged corruption, leading to the change in their name.

"Sir, a young woman is here to see you. She said that her name was Clora and that it was urgent." Upon hearing the news, Grendel immediately rose from his seat, energized with excitement. No doubt, she brought with her another piece of the puzzle. He glanced at the scenery outside. They would have to discuss the impending issue through the night.

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If Esuna could be described in a single word, it would be breathtaking. Vibrant and striking colours filled the eyes- energetic green with reliable brown; the colours of mother nature. The village was incredibly environmentally friendly, with almost no sign of civilization apart from a rather rural population living in enchanted huts. The entire village was supported by a gigantic, majestic tree with branches that could pass off as buildings, coupled with large, thick vines that intertwined with one another extremely closely. Patches of thick moss and grass adorned the makeshift paths along the branches seemed to amicably welcome visitors.

Looking up, one's view was immediately assaulted by that velvet black, constricting the star filled sky; warping the once familiar blue to the graceful darkness. Light was reduced to nothing but shudders of stars, reminiscent of the time when they had once monopolized the sky.

The vast night sky scenery was simply stunning. The moist lush greenery of Esuna padded my back, leaving me in utter comfort. I sighed deeply in pleasure as I enjoyed the solitude. I was lying on a rather tall grass plateau that was comprised on various vines and thick layers of grass, which granted me some peace and quiet.

Allegra had left to purchase potions and town returning scrolls, while Clora was supposedly on some top secret confidential session with Grendel. I had already swapped energy stones with them so that we could teleport to one another in an instant. This left me all alone; not that I minded though. I wasn't completely alone. Rejection lay right beside me.

"So, I just realised that I don't actually know anything about you. Excluding the fact that you like to drool a lot. Your memories are all a blur." Rejection seemed to be at ease with the peaceful, almost melancholic surroundings.

I ignored the snide remark. "Don't you have the ability to ransack my memories like you would a cupboard? Couldn't you look for the information you want?"

"Nah, it wouldn't exactly be very nice, we are after all partners. Even if i wanted to, amnesia hangs over them like a thick fog."

I was slightly taken aback by Rejection's sincerity. He hadn't seemed to be someone who cared about other's feelings.

"You do know that I can read your thoughts right?" Rejection voiced out.

"It's a compliment!" I insisted.

"Thanks." He answered gruffly, but I thought I could sense a hint of elation.

There was an awkward silence between us, as we stopped for a moment to marvel yet again at the beauty of the scenery that lay before us.

"Thanks for being here. I…never knew what it's like to have a family. I blame it all on the amnesia." I spoke suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Well, it's not like you gave me much choice…" Rejection joked. "I mean, you fused me to your sword. Spirits don't have any say in who their master would be."

"None at all?"

"Well, technically we don't, but we could always refuse to synchronize."

"And you synchronized with me…because?"

"Well, I always wanted to help a Chosen. Although I hate to admit it, you are my master."

Hesitation pulled me back for a split-second. I didn't exactly enjoy bossing people around. Throwing my authority around was never one of my preferences.

"Well, instead of being your master…how about being good friends?" I treaded cautiously. I didn't want to seem like a weak-willed individual who feared power.

"Oh." Rejection didn't bother to hide the fact that he had obviously never considered an alternative. "Since it's such a unique situation, I see no harm. This reminds me…in my previous life…"

Rejection shut himself up abruptly. It was blindingly clear that he did not wish to discuss the topic any further.

My curiosity flared up in a second, but I swiftly kept it under wraps. The topic seemed to stir up some tension between us.

"So errm…mind explaining what Final Attack is? You mentioned it during the fight earlier, remember?" I hurriedly changed the topic.

"Ah, yes, Final Attack. One of the most difficult techniques to master, yet it yields an incredible power." Rejection spoke of it as if it were a sacred relic. "Many have also mastered the technique but…they were changed beyond recognition. Do you dare pay the price? Do you have the desire to achieve it…and to let the technique achieve you?"

I was surprised by his choice of words, but nevertheless; I stood my ground. The word "yes" started making its way up my throat, however it got stuck.

"Hell yeah." I declared with resolution.

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"He is getting stronger."

"Ah, I did tell him to seek power. So, Kingsley has already appointed the Gatekeeper?"

"As expected, he has."

"Excellent. The pieces of the puzzle are falling into place. Destiny is such an irony. His will be one of tears."

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Yeah, the chapters are getting longer. I think I definitely improved from the earlier chapters haha.

Read and review please! Thanks guys!

Signing Off,

Ccw.