The Unknown

"The unknown is something that humanity both hate and love at the same time. It pulls us in with promises of adventure and exploration, yet it conveniently hides the fact that you most likely will face something you are not prepared to face.

So when we are confronted with something unknown most people react in two different ways. Some go forth with boldness and courage, ready to face any challenge. Others would rather run if they could, and if they had no other choice they would reluctantly walk into the unknown with great fear and caution.

Which way is better? The one with naive courage or the other with crippling anxiety? I would say neither is better than the other, rather, if they would be combined with each other, the most optimal situation would come forth.

But sadly, only few can achieve this feat..."

In an unknown time and location:

In a large and dark cavern deep down under the ground there was only silence. No wind, water or any moving creature could be heard. Yet when one listened very carefully, they could hear the extremely faint sound of something very large breathing in and out.

Suddenly the breathing stopped, and two large emerald lights shined in the cave. These lights swayed from left to right as if to find out where it was. Following a few minutes of the continued swinging of the lights, a mighty voice that could shake the world spoke.

"So, the time has come... a new era has begun! If I have woken up, it means all those other old monsters have also awoken! Sigh, I wonder what awaits us in this era?" As the voice boomed this, the cavern shook heavily. It was as if something was moving around... trying to break free.

Location: Mine District 5, Quadrant H

Time: Year 11 of the Era of Change Era: Era of Change

It was a silent night in the canyons, nothing could be heard, and nothing could be seen. The usual overseers and guards were gone, as well as the countless thousands and thousands of slaves were also gone, it was as if they had disappeared.

But this wasn't actually the case, if one looked closely, one could see a small light coming from one of many caverns in the canyon. This light seemed extremely weak and shallow, yet if one took the time to look at the light properly one could see something incredible in that light. In the light were hundreds of thousands of people.

All sitting in a colosseum type of theatre. In the middle of this colosseum, were ten people sitting around a table. One these of these people was Phillip. Philip as well as the other nine people were all sitting on stone thrones around a square table. On this table there were crude yet somehow elegant silver words written on it.

These words were: "Crowned Knights of Freedom".

Phillip came up with the name in honour of his friend Steven. For Steven in Greek meant crown, so he subtly honoured his friend name by using the only Greek word he had ever learnt!

Of course he didn't write the Greek word because he knew his companions didn't even know what Greece once was.

But still every time he looked at that name he smiled, as it reminded him of the good times he had with his friends. The times where he could be normal and not bound by all the responsibilities and burdens.

"Phillip! Phillip!" yelled one of the people sitting at the table.

"Hmmm? Oh sorry! I got a little distracted!" apologised Phillip with an apologetic smile.

"Yes! Let's get back to where we were," nodded the person that had called out Phillip's name.

"Yeah..." continued Phillip with a serious expression.

"So why have you gathered us all Phillip? You are directly putting us all in danger! If the overseers find out about those that are sympathetic to us and if they find out about our powers, they will have us all killed! And they won't just stop with us! They'll kill all the other hundreds of thousands of people under us! It's not like they couldn't easily replace us with other slaves!" reproached one of the people sitting at the table.

"Yes Orpheus, I know! If I didn't summon us now, we will never have the same opportunity that we have right now," warned Phillip with an irritated expression.

"What do you mean?" cautiously asked Orpheus with a confused expression.

"One of the dark mines had an accident which consequently caused a chain explosion in all the other dark mines! Many of the overseers are preoccupied and have no choice but to leave their stations! My team calculated that this situation would take a minimum of six years to fix," reassured Phillip with an excited expression.

"Is this true?!" chorused all the others at the table.

Even the other hundreds of thousands of people listening from their colosseum seating couldn't keep quiet as they heard this. They all were shocked and excited, thinking of the fact that this might finally be the chance for them to break free from their oppressors.

After everyone became silent once more, Phillip smiled and spoke once more:

"I'm absolutely sure. This is our only chance! In these next few years that we have, we need to gather everyone and prepare ourselves to break free from this oppression! This is why I risked calling you all here. If we don't start today in planning, we won't ever get this opportunity again!" declared Phillip with a solemn gaze.

Hearing this everyone had a very serious expression. The one and only chance had finally arrived! They could not waste it!

"What do you need us to do Phillip?" requested Orpheus with an excited expression.

"We need a detailed analysis of all the schedules of the guards, and overseers. Secondly we need to know the terrain of all the mines and the other base of operations of the faction. And lastly we need to gather everyone we can onto our side and prepare ourselves for the day of our freedom."

Phillip continued his motivating speech with a loud, booming voice, reviving and pulling the entire crowd of hundreds of thousands along with his words:

"It will be a long, and hard battle. Many will die, and we might even fail. But if we can prevail and defeat those monsters, we will finally be free! So hear my order, hear my plea! Gather and strengthen yourselves for the day! We finally fight for what is ours!" challenged Phillip while standing up.

After Phillip shouted this, everyone in the colosseum jumped up and raved with excitement.

"Freedom!!!"

"Freedom!!!"

The continuous sound of this could be heard throughout the entire colosseum.

Hearing this Phillip smiled and mumbled to himself:

"My friend, if you're still out there, hold out! I coming!"

Location: River of Greed, Faction Harbour

Time: Year 11 of the Era of Change Era: Era of Change

"Oye! I heard we weren't the only ones that got hit, is that true?" asked a worker by one of the few buildings that weren't somehow damaged.

"Yeah... I heard the damage was so bad overall that it will take us at least six years to get everything back to normal!" whispered another worker back to him.

"Damn! That isn't good. If it's all over the place, doesn't that mean "they'll" get involved?!" panicked the worker in fear.

"Shhh! Don't even talk about them! You know what happened last time someone spoke about them!" warned the other worker with a fearful expression.

"Yes! Let's... let's just get back to work." As they spoke these words, the two workers fell onto the ground, Their bodies cleaved in two.

"Ants don't have the right to even think of us!"

"Be grateful that I gave you two a quick death!" threatened an ominous voice somewhere in the midst of the buildings.

"Now! Time to find that fat pig, and get some answers out of him!" bellowed the ominous voice as it disappeared.

Location: Underground Mining Area 50-G

Time: Year 11 of the Era of Change Era: Era of Change

Steven turned away from the words at the tunnel entrance and heard:

"Huh? Finally! Awake aren't ya boy!" said Thon as he saw Steven.

"Yeah, sorry for the inconvenience," apologised Steven while smiling.

"Ha! What's with all these fancy words!"

"All that matters is that yar awake and that we can finally start getting out of here!"

"This place gives me the creeps!" shivered Thon.

"Now, let's get everyone together and inform Steven about the current situation before we set off," suggested Xiang while chuckling and shaking his head.

After this was said Xiang and the others walked for a while until they came to a large wooden door embedded in one of the rocky sides of the tunnel.

As Steven and the rest entered they saw around one hundred and fifty people gathered in a rather large space string at them.

"Ah yes! Steven, let me introduce you to the people that will be accompanying us," explained Xiang with a smile. When Steven heard this he gasped at the sheer amount of people in front of him, that would be going with him and the others.

With this Steven couldn't determine whether he was excited or fearful, for what was to come in their journey from the unknown. Maybe he felt both. Was this possible?

Gulping down his fears and worries, Steven stepped forward and gave an awkward smile, while saying:

"Hi guys I'm Steven! How are you guys doing?" as Steven awkwardly asked this, all he received in return were people staring at him in a weird way.

This awkward atmosphere remained for a while, until someone's loud laughter could be heard.

"Ahaha! Wouldn't expect anything different from ya boy!" laughed Thon.

Following this, a few people came out of the crowd with weird smiles. It was John, Violet, Celine and the twins. Even though they didn't know Steven very well, they somehow knew he would do something like this and couldn't help but smile.

"You really always have to be weird don't you?" joked John with a slight smile on his normally expressionless face.

"I find it cute!" burst Violet out while slightly blushing.

As John heard this, his smile faded, and he stared at his sister with a solemn and worried gaze. Following this, everyone Steven had previously met were now standing together.

As Xiang observed this, he smiled and then walked forward. With a dangerous glint in his eyes and in a loud tone he announced: "Now seeing as we're all together why don't we start?"