Chapter 4: The Generals Decision

At a glance we took off to where the sound originated from. We rushed into the cavern and saw two beasts battling. The smaller one struck at the other with a lightning attack; my jaw dropped at the sight of this. The larger one dodged and slashed at the beast's neck. It hit and the smaller beast turned to dust. The latter disappeared into a hole in the wall. Tempest and I were shocked at what we just witnessed. I noticed something shine in the corner of my eyes and I ran over there to see what it was. When I picked it up, an item name appeared.

/ Legendary bracelet drop: Lightning Flash: Speed increase by 30. Second use: a bolt of lightning to strike your enemy: cost 100 MANA per strike, does 50 each strike. Damage will increase with level. /

Tempest walked over and saw what I had just found. He taped it to see what the description was. By the time he finished reading it, he looked like he saw a ghost.

"I guess this item is yours," he said. Another scream pierced through the air, and it came from the hole that the bigger monster had gone through. We bolted through the hole and ended up witnessing the same scene again but with a different monster. After the bigger one disappeared, we walked to where the monster died but this drop was different.

/ Legendary bracelet drop: Water acid, allows you to shoot water so hot it can melt titanium and through shields, cost 20 MANA. It also allows you to travel faster. Speed boost 30. /

"Damn bro, that's cool," I said.

"Yeah, we both have legendary items," Tempest replied with joy.

"How fast can you go?" I asked.

"Well, let's test it out," He activated it and began to run. He started zipping around the cavern. Eventually I activated mine and felt really fast, so I started to run and everything slowed down. Tempest was just a few seconds slower when we were running. Finally, I deactivated it to speak to him. But it had been so addicting I wanted to continue.

"So we should get back because there is probably 20 minutes till the start of the tournament," I said.

"Okay, race you!" he yelled back. I just smirked because I knew I would win this race.

By the time we reached the common room we had ten minutes until the battle. The rules were the same as the last battle we fought. So it was a battle royal and you could team up. Also, the last three standing would get to meet the king's general.

"The battle will commence in five minutes," the announcer declared. There were a few grumbles in reply. The battle started in ten seconds when we were all teleported. As the timer counted down I readied my sword and leaped off of my spot to gain a vantage point. Everyone just attacked the person to their sides. The player to my left attacked me with everything they had so I activated my new Item as time slowed down and I rushed behind him, thrusting out my sword. It struck him dead center in the back and he dissolved into dust. I glanced around and saw Tempest trying to hold off two at once, so I raced over and killed the first one. As I turned I heard Tempest yell."DUCK!"I immediately ducked and a scorching blast of water flew over me and struck the other player who tried to block it with his shield, the water burned through and hit him in the chest, killing him instantly. When I looked I saw a pile of wet dirt and four players around us. I finally thought it was time for my darkness to appear. I rushed at the first person at normal speed and swung at him from behind. It was a killing blow but then I was kicked back by the guy next to him. I flew through the air and landed on the ground and rolled - that had taken a good 30 off of my health.

As I stood and activated my dark element,a ball of matter appeared and I dashed at him using my lightning. He dodged my first attempt but luckily, he was no match for my second try. A second after I tackled him his body vanished into the wind. Tempest only had one enemy left so I blasted him with my lightning; it took three tries to kill him. Damn, my aim is bad I thought. There was only one person left.

"I know I'm no match for you guys so how about a truce?" the kid asked. I glanced at Tempest and said.

"Yeah, sure. Truce." We were all teleported to the common room and were greeted by a fit man.

"You are the last three so you get to meet me, the general," he stated. After a quick meeting we agreed to meet tomorrow in the armory.

"So what is your name?" I asked.

"The name is Astral, and my path is a unique path. It's the path of Wood. What is your path?" he replied.

Do I trust him enough to tell him? I trusted Tempest so I guess I would trust Astral as well.

"My path is a unique path, it's the path of Darkness," I said. Their mouths dropped.

"Is that even in the brochure?" asked Astral. I shrugged in response.

"Damn," muttered Tempest. "That's impressive. That's why you were able to throw those balls of dark matter." I nodded. The rest of the day I answered their questions and joked around with them about the day.

"See you tomorrow," I yelled back as I walked away to log off. As I opened my real eyes I smelled the scent of bacon and eggs. I rushed downstairs and jammed as much food as I could into my mouth. My mother just looked at me like I was an idiot. Regardless, I just continued to eat like a starving person. After breakfast I took a shower and when I was done I checked the brochure to see if my unique path was offered. Turned out my path had a one in a gazillion chance of being picked by anyone in the game. I guess I was just that lucky. By the time I finished my research my mind wandered to all that had happened in the game so far: me unlocking my path, meeting Tempest, getting legendary drops, and then meeting Astro plus all the tournaments. When I logged back in, I hurried over to Tempest and Astral.

"We need to become a party," I stated.

"Um, okay," Astral agreed. I went over into my menu and selected 'Create party'. I sent them the request and they both accepted as their names popped into existence.

"Now we need to go and meet the general," Astral said, "or he will be mad."

"Right on." I replied. We talked as we walked comparing our stats and our magic paths until we reached the front gate of the barracks.

"Names and reason you are here," the guard asked in an emotionless voice.

"I am Shadowflash, this is Astral and that's Tempest," I replied. "We are here to see the General."

"The General would like to see you now," he said. So we entered and walked to the chamber without a word, all expecting something bad to happen. As I was about to knock, the door opened and there sat the General.

"I understand that you three are the victors of the tournament? "Congratulations on that achievement, I would like to welcome you," he said in a deep voice.

"To what?" Tempest asked.

"Why, the Lucerne army!" he replied.

"What?" Astral asked.

"My servant will show you three to your chambers." he replied, not even fazed. A small girl, no older than ten, led us down a maze of corridors.

"So who do you think is going to be in the room when we get there?" I said.

"Who knows," answered Astral, "possibly a mage or something of the sort. Since we are all mainly close range, It would be weird not to have one." Finally we reached the room that was our new home, not that we had one before, but new all the same.

"Your group is inside and has been given the name of 'The Shadow Division', I hope that you all get along well," the guide stated, then ran off.

"Well nothing like the future to get something done!" I said as I opened the door. The room was small but large at the same time, like a nice apartment building. There were two other people in the room; one carried two swords strapped across his back and a black sort of trench coat. The other looked like a mage, with lots of jewelry around his neck and a big silver staff.

"H-hullo," I awkwardly said as I walked in. The guy in the coat nodded and said,

"Name's The Masked Player, even though I don't wear a mask; those three cots are free for you three." He pointed to a row of cots.

"Name's Shadowflash, that's Tempest and that's Astral." I said, pointing to each of them as I said their names. "It would seem that our team name has something to do with our abilities."

"The Shadow Division, well it fits yours Shadow, is it OK if I call you Shadow for short?" The Masked Player asked, "we should also discuss our abilities and skills with each other because we are on the same team." I suddenly jolted at the realization that the mage-looking guy hadn't introduced himself to us.

"What's your name and are you a mage?" I asked.

"Don't bother even trying because he doesn't answer any questions, best guess is that he is a necromancer. The only thing is that he doesn't confirm it." I shrugged. It was worth a shot.

"I think that we will only see his abilities in battle, that is, if there is an upcoming battle." Tempest stated. Astral looked like he was in deep thought and hadn't said anything this entire time. Suddenly he looked up and said,

"I remember seeing you at the login start area. You participated in the battle royal of that town and won, making me have to go to the next town over. That's where I recognize you. I lost to you in the very start of the match. During that match I saw a dark purple light rise out of the ground - I don't remember it fully, but I swear that I saw a skeleton arm come out and you used it as a club." He paused to catch his breath, "then I'm not even sure about what happened after but then I remember waking up."

The assumed necromancer sighed,

"Yes, I am a necromancer-"

"GASP!" interrupted The Masked Player.

"- and my name is Vortex."

"Well now we have everyone's names, we should now tell each other our skills and stuff, I'll go first." I pull up my stat screen and view it.

/ NAME: Axel Olson

GENDER: Male

PATH: Darkness

POWER: 10

STRENGTH: 25

SPEED: 65

ENDURANCE: 10

MAGE: 10

STAMINA: 100

MANA: 125

HEALTH: 140

LEVEL: 18 /

"OK, so my speed is my greatest asset, at 65, and my Path is Darkness," I motioned for the next person to step up and go.

"So my top stat is 55 speed, and my Path is plain old Water." Tempest said.

"Stamina is mine at a number of 50, Path is wood." said Astral.

"As sturdy as a tree, I like it. Mine is strength and speed since I am a close range player. Speed is at 40 and same for strength. Path is Swords." The Masked Player said, nonchalant.

"Can there even be a Path of Swords?" I asked. Tempest nodded signaling that there was. We all looked at Vortex.

"Well it would be very rude of me if I didn't tell you lot. My strongest suit is MANA, at 200, Path is Undead."

"So we have two dark related Paths, two nature like Paths and one Sword Path," I summed up, "One summoner, two close ranged and two both. Pretty balanced team if I do say so myself." We all just nodded.

"I heard that there will be a ranking tournament between all of the divisions." The Masked Player stated, "If we are lucky, we might be able to get through to the second round."

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"Well, first off all of the other teams have already had one and a half days to coordinate with each other. We haven't had that opportunity. So, we are at a disadvantage."

"Ok we'll deal with that in the morning. Let's log off for now." Tempest said. I nodded as I clicked the logout button. I pulled off the helmet and cracked my neck.