Destiny (Part 1)

The meeting of the giants.

In an undisclosed location.

On the edge of the land, in the farthest reaches of the world.

"So Mr. Magic Man you're here too? Hows the King been doing? I haven't had the chance to see him yet." (High Priest)

"He's as lazy as ever." (Royal Magician)

"Ha! Ha! Funny. You know-" (High Priest)

The High Priest looked up in his tinted oval glasses. A tall man stood next to the Royal Magician.

Emerald glare.

"Those eyes." (High Priest)

---

One week later.

"It's time. My time to show them what I'm made of." (Joshua)

From across the house. From downstairs to upstairs his mother yelled.

"Honey don't be late! Get going before you miss the opening ceremony!" (Mom)

"I will Mom! I'm just... Getting ready!" (Joshua)

He looked at himself through the mirror. His reflection shinning his seventeen-year-old face, his dark brown hair, his dark brown eyes. He smiled, frowned, smiled, frowned again, again, again.

"Come on! Stop looking so sad, you can do this!" (Joshua)

His mother's footsteps echoing up the stairs. He turned to his bedroom door.

"Jasua it's time! You have to get going!" (Mom)

"I'm going Mom, I'm going!" (Joshua)

He leaned over his bed grabbing his leather satchel and coat. He jumped out his bedroom door, running past his mother.

"Wait Joshua!" (Mom)

Joshua stopped turning around to his sweet mother's face.

"Your forgetting something." (Mom)

Joshua quickly checked his bag and pockets.

"I am?" (Joshua)

"This." (Mom)

She pulled a picture frame from behind her back. Joshua knew what it was from a simple glance.

"Ohh... Dad..." (Joshua)

"He's been waiting for this day for a long time." (Mom)

Joshua frowned. He looked up at his mother's smiling face. He took the picture frame and stuffed it into his bag.

He looked up to the sky. He smiled.

"I bet he was." (Joshua)

---

The Adventures Inn. Morning of the big day. Axel, Mel, and Gen are all sitting around a circular wooden table, drinking, eating, chatting.

"Mel, why did you bring us here?" (Axel)

"Miss Mel? The opening ceremony starts in two hours and it's taking place at the callosum on the other side of the Kingdom." (Gen)

Mel took a long sip of her beer.

"And why are you drinking so early in the morning?" (Gen)

Mel slammed her drink hard on the table.

"I've decided! I was up all night thinking about it. It was running through my mind like crazy. I couldn't sleep a wink. It's just so irritating. So so irritating." (Mel)

Axel took a bite of his morning sandwich. Mel took another swing of her drink.

"Miss Mel are you ok though? Drinking this early isn't the best." (Gen)

"It's fine Gin. I'm not even participating today." (Mel)

"Participating in what?" (Axel)

"The Promotion Trials duh... Anyway, I'm gonna take it easy for the rest of the day, plus I got some extra work that I gotta do for my Dad. So Axel I'll leave you in the care of someone else for now." (Mel)

"I can take care of myself." (Axel)

"Yeah right, I can't trust you alone. You might start fights with any old Adventurer you meet and get thrown out of the competition or even jail." (Mel)

"Then who's taking care of me? This girl..." (Mel)

He pointed at Gen.

"Me?!" (Gen)

"Nope, think harder." (Mel)

Axel looked around the room. He gave up instantly and went back to his sandwich.

"I'll give you a hint. You met him here when you first woke up." (Mel)

He looked up from his sandwich. He thought back on when he first woke up. His face, his presence, his attitude, his words, his meekness, his kindness.

"Oh yeah, that guy... What was his name?" (Axel)

Harry walked down from his room and into the main dining hall of the Adventures Inn. He waved and smiled at everyone he saw. At the Bar Keeper, at the thugs and mugs of the Adventurers in the room. He waved at Axel, at Mel, at-

He stopped at the cute girl in front of him. The girl in the cheap metal and leather armor. He stopped at her cute eyes, her slightly puggy face, her adorable grin. He ignored Axel and Mel.

"Hi i'm-" (Harry)

He held out his hand. Gen immediately grabbed hold of it like a magnet to a metal door.

"Are you Harry? How do you know Miss Mel? Do you two go way back? Do you know Mr. Axel? Are you also participating in the Promotional Trials? When did you arrive?" (Gen)

Her words spewed out like a thunderstorm on a windy day, never-ending questions after questions, from an infinite resource in her mind. And Harry couldn't get enough of it, he couldn't stop staring, listening, smiling. And not before long he was sitting at the table only talking with Gen, only listening to her stories, her questions, her statements, her words.

"So where did you come from, Harry?" (Gen)

"Umm, I live up on the edge of the Forest of Deaths Hollowed. It's not that far from Albatra." (Harry)

"And you came here on your own through the forest? I heard it's really dark and there are Monster even." (Gen)

Harry remembered how he got scared of the darkness, how his fear of the black woods never disappeared. He then remembered his trip from the other day. How he went the long way around, through the less dense section of the forest, where the sun shined and the birds chirped.

"Uhh yeah, I went straight through it. Not scared or anything." (Harry)

"Cool amazing. I would be so so scarred..." (Gen)

"Hahaha! Yeah." (Harry)

The awkward cringe kept piling higher and higher.

"Mel is this kid really supposed to keep track of me-" (Axel)

He turned to Mel, she was gone. He turned to Harry and Gen. He sighed.

---

Five minutes later.

Axel is alone in the middle of Albatra.

Harry and Gen are looking everywhere and anywhere. From across the cityscape, from store to store, stall to stall. They looked up and down, on buildings, in libraries, armories, restaurants, weaponsmiths. They went to every known contact they had, every known person they knew. They asked every Adventurer from every party to rank. But he was nowhere to be found, nowhere to be seen. He vanished from thin air, right before their very own eyes.

"How does Miss Mel keep track of this man?!" (Gen)

"He couldn't have gone far!" (Harry)

"I don't..." (Gen)

She remembered the fight in the Orange Sea. The dangerous undead soldiers, the fierce and the terrifying demise of the Orange Fox Party. She remembered Axel's power, the unknowity of his limit, what he was capable of, what he could do.

Gen was terrified, utterly terrified. However, this wasn't the same terrified as being scared of death or pain. This terrified was a whole different category. It was the fear of his unknown abilities and power, of how far he could reach, of how far he was above her and everyone else she knew.

But even after that fear, there was still something even higher than that.

"If Miss Mel can keep up with Mr. Axel then who knows what she-" (Gen)

"Nah Gen, you don't have to worry. Mel won't do that to us, she- Forget what I said!" (Harry)

Harry switched from optimistic and bubbly to cold and scared.

"Is it really that bad?" (Gen)

"Yes! We need to find Axel immediately!" (Harry)

---

Axel covered his head with his long overhanging black cloak and walked about the city. He walked from one side to the other, from stall to stall, from person to person.

Two hours passed.

He walked up to a shop called Morning Weapons and Potions.

He opened the door.

A kid carrying a very heavy bag of potions ran out the front door. He bumped into Axel.

A brick wall.

The kid fell on his ass, letting go of the heavy bag and sending the potions flying across the sky.

"No! Oh! Shit!" (Joshua)

Axel quickly caught two of the potions before they crashed to the ground. Joshua caught one more. The last one fell to the pavement exploding in an epic fashion, sending the inner liquids across the sizzling curb.

"Nooooo! Uhhh! Not again!" (Joshua)

Joshua stood up with an extremely sad pouting face and wiped the dust and dirt from his behind.

"Sorry man. That was my fault." (Joshua)

He looked up at Axel. The tall sturdy man. The black hood and long cloak. He looked like a tower of darkness.

"Nah nah it's nothing." (Joshua)

Axel handed the two potions back to him.

Joshua turned away, looking at the tall towering colosseum before him. The white pillars that held the strong and sturdy horizontal columns. The rows upon rows of seats and people staring with awe at the Adventurer's wits and bravery. The fights, the awe, the inspiration. He imagined the inside, the past, the memories. He looked back at the destroyed potion.

He pulled out the portrait of his father and held it close to his heart.

"Forget it, Dad. One potion isn't enough to ruin this moment!" (Joshua)

He stepped toward his destiny.

Axel looked with wonder and curiosity at this seventeen-year-old boy. He pondered on the boy's thoughts, the picture frame, the portrait of the kid's father, the words that he was muttering to himself.

That curiosity quickly faded. He quickly lost interest, quickly became engrossed in the walls of potions and weapons. He walked into the store-

"Axel!" (Gabriel)

"So Garbiel you are still in my head? Haven't heard from you in a while." (Axel)

"That kid over there! Stop him!" (Gabriel)

Axel walked back out of the store. He stared down the street at the young kid in the thin denim jacket.

"What about the kid? Is he important?" (Axel)

"That kid is going to die." (Gabriel)