Fractured

Looking up to the sky, they saw a bizarre jaw dropping scene.

The sky was covered with a mixture of lightning and massive dark clouds. The dark clouds gathered together and moved in a spiral course and pattern.

This spiral movement had created a sort of hole in the middle of the clouds. Multiple black cracks were also visible throughout the entire desert. All this, in addition to the fearsome wind, was really unusual to see.

“What’s happening?” Muna asked, as she stared at the scene, with a mixture of fear and awe.

“I really don’t know.” Kelvin replied, staring with wide eyes.

“I wonder if it’s another challenge.”

“I don’t think it’s a new challenge.” Muna said.

“New challenge or not, we have to keep going.” Jason pitched in.

“You’re right; but shouldn’t we be worried? I mean, there are weird black cracks scattered across the desert.” Kelvin said, voicing out his concerns.

“So what if they are cracks on the desert? There is nothing we can do about it so let’s keep going!” Jason retorted in anger.

“Jeez, calm down; there is no need to get cranky. Ken was only worried, and I think he has a point.” Muna said.

“We should be careful. The temple is not very far from here, so we are definitely going to get there. I just hope we don’t run into anymore problems.” She added, while studying the map.

“Then let’s get a move on.” Jason said.

The wind was strong, and carried a lot of sand particles. So they tore a small piece of their outfits, and used it to shield their eyes. With their weapons ready, they began t head to their next destination.

Unknown to them, the same bizarre scene was also happening throughout the other fragmented realities.

********

Back In the real world, it had been an hour since the students began the trials. The head teacher and other demon hunters were on standby incase anything was to go wrong.

Ms. Everdale, the student guide in the end trials, and the creator of the fragmented realities, had a really disturbed look on her face.

She was currently floating with crossed legs, in the middle of a strange glowing pattern on the floor. Her eyes were closed, and her face was twitching in pain. A trickle of sweat was also running down her face.

“Sylvester, there’s a problem.” She called out, with her eyes still closed.

“What’s the matter?” Sylvester asked as he approached her.

“It’s the students; they are in danger. A certain number of people are forcefully trying to break into the fragmented realities. I’m doing everything I can to stop them from entering the realities, and because of that, I can’t focus on keeping the fragmented realities stable.”

“The realities are gradually falling apart and the challenges I set up are getting crazy difficult for the first years to handle.” Ms. Everdale said, talking with difficulty.

“What’s the worst case scenario?” Sylvester asked.

“If the realities fall apart, the students could be trapped forever in an endless empty void.” Ms. Everdale replied.

“Okay, try and keep the realities stable. We will get the students to safety; open the end gates.” Sylvester said.

Ms. Everdale stretched out her hand, and just like before, 20 doors came out from the ground.

“I don’t know the exact location of the students; I lost sight of them. But I can guide you to the location I last saw them. Please hurry; time moves a lot faster in the realities compared to the real world.” She concluded.

Sylvester nodded, and together with the rest of the demon hunters present, they dashed into the fragmented realities.

********

Kelvin, Jason and Muna had been walking for a while now, and after walking for some time, they could see the ancient temple in the distance. The walk was a quiet one. No one really said anything because they all kept to themselves and their individual thoughts.

Kelvin looked at the black cracks on the sand, and he was definitely sure they had increased.

‘Why are there cracks on the desert? And what’s with the dark clouds? Something is not right.” Kelvin thought as he looked at the darkened sky.

They continued walking, and not long, they arrived at the ancient temple.

They ancient temple was quite big, but dilapidated. The temple was in a condition of ruin and had been abandoned and neglected for a long time.

They were aging cracks on the temple walls. The pillars looked like it would tumble down at any given moment.

“I hope this temple doesn’t fall apart while we are in.” Muna said.

The three of them went forward, and pushed open the old double doors of the temple.

The temple interior had a simple set up. They were a set of pillars on each side of the interior, thus creating a sort of path way, leading to the alter room.

They descended the short stairs and stared with an overwhelming feeling of wonder, at the eccentric illustrations carved into the temple walls and pillars.

“Wow, this place is really ancient. Look at all this drawings.” Kelvin said, as he studied some of the drawings on the wall.

“Yeah, it’s great; but I don’t see the flag.” Jason said.

“The compass pointer is pointing into that room.” Muna said, while looking at the entrance of the altar room.

“Perhaps, it’s in there.”

The three of them entered the altar room, and stationed at the stone altar was the white flag.

The altar room had the same interior design as the entrance.

Standing in front of the altar was a slightly larger humanoid stone statue, with crossed arms, holding a long hafted double edged axe. Written under the statue were three words:

“The Temple Guardian”

“Yes, we did it; we found the flag.” Muna said excitedly.

“Finally, let’s just grab the flag and get out of here.” Jason added, as he walked towards the altar.

“Wait guys, don’t you think this is too easy?” Kelvin asked.

“Yeah, I thought there would be like traps or something,” Muna added.

Jason reached the altar

“So what if it’s too easy.” He said, and pulled out the flag.

At that very moment, after Jason pulled out the flag, the entire temple began to shake violently.

“Jason, what the hell did you do?!” Muna asked.

“I didn’t do anything. I just pulled out the flag!!” Jason replied.

“Umm guys, look.” Kelvin said, pointing at the temple guardian statue..