The trees whispered around him, creating an eerie silence. Every step felt heavier than the last, not from exhaustion, but from the aftermath of Lucien left behind.
He survived. But at what cost?
The Path started to become quiet. No alerts. No warnings. Just a hum, echoing through his veins. He finally figured out how to control his essence by will.
"What am I becoming?" he murmured.
Branches snapped behind him, turning around to find nothing. Maybe someone was watching, just beyond the veil.
He kept walking, away from the others, trying to find the exit to his vast forest, but Wayne needed answers. About Lucien. About this magical power.
But most importantly, why he wasn't scared to fight anyone now.
Wayne kept progressing through what was left of the forest, eliminating all the monsters that got in his way. After thirty minutes, he started to see a brick path, leading to steps, expanding into the sky.
Wayne climbed through the stairs, cautioning with each step. If he fell off, his life would have been gone. He reached the top, presented with a huge gate, leading to a room, with no roof. You could see the marvelous bright clouds and the blue sky raining down upon us. The building was floating on top of a large cloud.
Wayne entered the room, filled with recruits stranding. In front of them, there were five seats and a huge electronic board, showing all the recruits, and in last place, was Wayne. He saw Kael's name at 46th and the others in the group behind him. Wayne was the last person to make it to the building. The doors behind him suddenly sealed, making a loud bang sound.
Torches suddenly lit up, and a door to the side of the stage with the seats opened. Footsteps were heard beyond the doors, and the recruits all saw the five rulers, making their way to the seats. They all cheered for the rulers. Wayne didn't know anything about the rulers, but just that they each owned one of the houses.
One of the rulers started to speak. The one with long, silky, grey hair stood up from his grand seat.
"Congratulations everyone for making it this far. From all the things we rulers saw, we are proud to say that you guys are fine nobles and powerful recruits. The time has finally come, where we select the recruits to each house. Now, there are 150 people in this room right now, and only 50 make it. So, if you don't make it, don't feel sad, there is always next. Good luck recruits."
The large screen up ahead showed the information. Each house will take turns choosing their person, in a draft. Each house gets to choose 10 people, totaling a finale of 50 people getting selected.
"Now selecting, House Vaelthorne."
"House Vaelthorne select Alaric Solen."
The houses took turns drafting their new members, and a full round had been completed, and Wayne was still not selected. He still didn't hear Kael or the others either.
Another round was completed, and still no Wayne or Kael. Another round passed, and Wayne was caught to attention. House Drakmor was selecting and then he heard the name
"Tyven Raze."
His face looked familiar, and Wayne suddenly remembered that he was the one who killed the Cyclops in a second.
Another round passed and this time, Wayne was shocked. He heard a name that he had remembered clearly.
"Thorne."
House Ironvale was on the clock and they chose the person named... Virel Thorne.
Could it be that it was someone related to Thorne, the one Wayne killed?
Wayne heard murmurs of others making rumors.
"Hey, isn't that the guy who lost his father recently?"
Virel Thorne was the son of Thorne. Wayne looked at him, recognizing similar facial features as Thorne. There was no doubt about it, this guy was the son of Thorne.
Another cycle had just been completed, but Wayne was still not selected. He was getting nervous and scared that he might not make it.
Another cycle completed, no news or signs yet of Wayne. There were 4 more rounds left for Wayne to get selected, and Wayne remembered that if he didn't get selected, it would result in an immediate death.
Another round was completed without Wayne. The atmosphere started to get tense. There were only three more rounds left.
"House Marewyn is now on the clock."
Wayne closed his eyes, praying he would get chosen here, but shocked, he heard the name
"Kael Vireon."
Wayne opened his, seeing Kael and their group celebrating. He was happy and sad at the same time for him, but there were still two more rounds left.
The second to last round ended, with Wayne still waiting to be selected. He was starting to get scared if he was going to get selected, but it all came down to the final deciding round.
First house, no selection
Second house, no selection
Third house, no selection.
Two more houses and everyone was on the edge of their seats, all praying they get chosen. The fourth house was now on the clock. They took their time deciding who they wanted, and a name called,
"Dorek Flintborn."
It was the last house, and Wayne already had a face of hopelessness. Kael was also worried that Wayne wasn't going to get chosen. But it was too late, the last house already made their decision.
"The House of Marewyn select... Sylra Marewyn."
She was part of the royal family, the Marewyns and she got chosen last. Everyone could tell that she was weak by her facial expression. But Wayne was even in deeper trouble. He hadn't been chosen in any of the houses.
A soldier came to escort the rulers back and gave information to the selected recruits and the nonselected ones, they were escorted out of the building and back into the main city.
Wayne grabbed his stuff from his locker and headed out. The Path hadn't shown him any warnings yet, and the organization in Solvex hadn't called him either. It kind of seemed suspicious how The Path warned him that if he didn't make one of the houses, he would die immediately, but he didn't.
As Wayne was getting ready to leave Eldora, he got a message from The Path.
"The user has failed to complete the main mission of The Path. As a result, the user will be termina... Error! Error! Error!"
Suddenly, Wayne's vision started to glitch out with black bars and he completely lost sight. He could still hear the chatter of people in the kingdom. The Path started a reboot, but it failed.
"An unusual amount of Aether energy has gotten into the system. As a result, The Path is trying to find all backup data saved in the system. 1 backup data save is found. New quest incoming:..."
"The Forsaken Veil."
"Would you like to accept? If accepted, your previous incoming quests will be terminated, and will continue to live and complete quests in this world. If rejected, automatic deletion of the user will proceed."
Wayne accepted if it was his only chance to survive. The Path rebooted, and Wayne's vision was back to normal.
"First Quest: The Wyrmbrand Hidden Power. Find the forbidden scroll."