Elleon had always thought that seeing the federation untied and strong would manage to make things right for the world. It was one of the main reasons he fought the nigh endless enemies that stalked Arborea and beyond. The constant struggle against the races and peoples that sided with the evil gods and beings from beyond the stars had worn down on him heavily, but still he stepped forward every day to take on the world. So now as he lay in the core control room of Exodor dying after the confrontation with Kalligar with nothing to show for it, he knew it was his end.
Lumikan had teleported Kalligar away after he almost lost to Elleon, Jelena, and the guardian of federation. They were no Keener rookies fresh out of Crescentia. They were the best and brightest the federation could offer. So this defeat was a strike to not just him, but the federation in whole.
The entire massive floating island began shaking with a deep rumble as crackling black energy coursed through the sharp curved metal platforms surrounding a massive misty black spherical gem like a snake.
The black rock dome ceiling that covered the area was cracking and black chunks of rock and dirt clouded the view of the High Elf Elleon as they crashed and battered the ground. He had managed to get his allies to safety, but he would go down with Exodor as a casualty.
He was closest to the massive twenty-foot core that shuddered, shook, and cracked. He lay on the metal platform, barely able to move.
He had fought for the Federation and Allemantheia for all his life, facing gods, giants, and demons with little fear. He had been the pride and joy of Velika and the leader of the first expedition to the Isle of Dawn. Each and every time he fought or defended, he stood tall and strong. He was the face of the united world.
However, he never expected his own death would be so hopeless. Closing his eyes he lay on the platform laughing at his fate as the core of Exodor shuddered and screeched with magical power.
The honorable Hero of Velika dying facedown on a floating island with no one left to save him. It was truly an unfair and unfitting fate. But when was fate ever fair? From the traitor Samael, Sikander, the Devan assault and to the Argon invasion led by the cursed Sandra Mayana, nothing ever went as planned. To think of fairness on Arborea was folly of the highest regard.
BOOM
Then the giant magical core that held the island afloat destabilized, a wave of magical energy beyond what he could survive exploded out from the broken core and blew him high into the sky, his bones broken and his life expunged.
His pale skin was marred with soot and blood and his lifeless blue eyes glinting in the sun as his silvery-white hair flapped around while he shot through the sky. His silvery plate armor shining like a shooting star as he descended towards the Exodor farmlands below.
Thud
He landed with a sickening thud and crunch, rolling over a few times before lying crumpled next to the outpost of the free Exodor delegation. His body lay in the blue grass ten feet away from the eight-foot-tall, steel-reinforced wooden wall-like barricades surrounding the empty camp. There he lay for the next hour until the search party led by Jelena and the Guardian of Velika found his body and brought it back to the federation outpost to be shipped back to Velika. He had died, but his sacrifice gave the free peoples of Arborea a chance to live and fight on.
This was the end of the hero Elleon.
Bete loga grumbled at his job as he stood cross armed as he watched his charges. He had to stand watch over a group of newbies in the twenty fifth floor of the dungeon. The Loki Familia had accepted the task of training the promising recruits, all at the peak of level two and with great potential. Though this was not to say this was the only reason they did this, as Loki rarely was charitable. This was because Loki had lost a bet to her friend Freya. Freya had challenged her to a game of Brandubh and won three times in a row. This infuriated Loki as she had thought she could easily beat her. So as punishment was decided, she had to have her best warriors train her new recruits.
Right now Bete was standing at the top of a massive cavern with a mighty waterfall going down into the darkness. Passageways and outcroppings dotted the cliffside where the water did not fall. In front of him were two girls, each no more than fifteen. One stood at five seven with corded muscles and tough light skin. She had turquoise eyes the color of coral water and reddish orange hair that was tied in a braid at the back. She wore a dark blue brigandine tunic and brown hide pants that went well inside her leather boots. Her gloves were of tough fabric as she held a longsword in her right hand and a wooden round shield with a sharp boss at the center.
On her left was a shorter girl, her hair was short and a light sandy brown, her eyes olive and her skin a light tan. She wore a light gray robe that covered almost all over her body except for it splitting at the waist to allow her proper movement. Underneath it, she wore a light chainmail hauberk and a white pair of breeches. Her boots were soft fabric, but durable enough to withstand hard ground. Her staff was of metal with a round black crystal at the top, held in place by a coil of metal. It was a little over six feet tall.
"The past twenty levels were a warm up. Let's see how good you do from here on out. My Goddess Loki has said that you need to get to floor thirty today and if you can't, don't return to her" Bete said as he uncrossed his arms and walked over to them.
"Yes mister Bete sir" The shorter girl stammered out with nervousness.
"Understood mister Bete" The woman with the longsword and round shield nodded with a sort of reverence. While he had some aggressive and blunt tendencies, there was zero doubt cast upon his impressive combat prowess. Even with these newbies he just met today, they synchronized quickly due to his strong leadership and ability to take charge and make up for the two girl's flaws.
"Good, now let's go to the tunnel that takes us down" Bete said as he walked across the stone floor towards a human sized hole in the wall thirty meters away. The two girls caught up to him and took their places at his side and behind him.
It took them a while, but they made it through a few corridors with no monsters. It was weird, nothing popped out at them at all. Bete who had made his way through these floors many times before had picked up on how suspicious this was. If some high level adventurers had cleared through recently, there would be some evidence of their presence. There was none of the sort. It was as if the monsters had all left. It was suspicious.
Seeing the concerned look on their Teacher's face, the two girls couldn't help but be a little nervous.
Then it hit him. His enhanced hearing picked up something further down the tunnels, most likely over a floor below. It was the croaks and garbled screams of dying monsters mixed with the explosions of dead monsters. Someone, or something was killing monsters at an alarming rate with force so strong the crystals were even being destroyed. In other words, hitting them so hard they were vaporized.
"Get your weapons ready, we may run into a fight" He said to the girls. The monsters on this level would be rather annoying for a level two, especially one of the weaker ones, but whoever was killing these monsters had to be at least level three, if not four. Bete was not afraid of a a fight, but he had to make sure these weakling he was babysitting didn't die on him.
The party of three made their way closer to the sounds and eventually entered a big cavern at least twenty meters wide and six meters tall. there were puddles in the dark and slimy rocks and light green fluorescent moss covered the walls.
"Woah" Came the awestruck voice of the mage girl.
In the middle of the cavern was an elf wearing silvery metal plate armor that wielded two longswords that could very well be considered two handed swords on their own. His silver hair and white skin made him look like a phantom as he and his blades danced through the air at speeds even Bete found hard to keep up with. He ducked and ran in and out of a pile of froglike and fishlike humanoids wielding swords, tridents and spears as they relentlessly attacked him.
The elf would run back and forth sometimes running up walls only to rocket towards the creatures and mow them down like blades of grass. Not only did he utilize his weapons, he would occasionally send out some white orbs of magic that would explode, destroying tens of monsters at a time. If he noticed the intruders, he did not show it as he mowed down the remaining monsters.
When the last monster exploded, he sheathed one of his swords and walked over to the group and bowed a greeting.
However, he spoke in a language the group did not understand.
With some patience on Bete's part and physical communication, it seemed the elf got the most basic of basic picture. Deciding to join the group, they made their way further down. Bete had somehow managed to convince the Elf to not interfere in the training of the two starstruck girls, though for how long that would last, bete did not know.
And that's the intro.
Cheers