Galahad had slowly risen from the couch, startled by obnoxious blaring.

“Attention, the base is under infiltration. Please evacuate up the stairs and into the red rank training room. I repeat, the base…”

Galahad looked around, alarmed. The noise was loud and played on repeat. His ears rang and screams were heard from all around the village. Tania rushed into the room, grabbing Galahad’s wrist. She yanked him up and they took a sharp right out of the room.

“Tania! What’s going on?” asked Galahad.

She turned around and revealed a deep wound on her face.

“Look, I know today was going to be the first day of training, but someone managed to find our base,” she explained.

“Your face, what happened?”

“This?” Tania replied, as she touched the wound.

She winced a little, but she shook it off.

“I thought, you couldn’t get hurt,” Galahad stated, suddenly recalling what he was told.

It’s another Spearow member, Galahad thought.

“No,” Tania responded as she read Galahad’s thoughts. “At least I think it’s not. There is one other thing that can hurt us, one of the crystals. Someone had summoned a massive horde of strong skeletons against us, almost a whole mini army.”

“Skeletons? Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Galahad asked.

“Yes, but it could just be a coincidence,”

“Just think about it. After we won, he was never thinking of helping us. He didn’t even think of sharing his gold, and then he makes up a dumb excuse to keep it all to himself. He was supposed to share the portion with us yesterday, but he just magically disappeared. Coincidence? I think not. Something is up with him, maybe he lied about his backstory. What if there was another reason the townsfolk hate him, something darker than we think,” explained Galahad.

“We can talk about it later. I need you to go to the Divitious Mountain on your own. I will meet you there, and if I don’t arrive by dawn tomorrow, start by yourself.”

“No, I won’t leave you alone,” Galahad replied, shaking her off.

“Hmph, I am ten times stronger than you, Galahad. You haven’t seen my capabilities, and if you want to see them, I think my plan is the way to go. On top of that, I won’t be alone. Me, Wallace, and Maržana are protecting the younglings.”

Galahad took a deep sigh and nodded his head, acknowledging her request. He ran up the stairs and found his way into the red rank room.

“Halt! I haven’t seen you around, who are you?” asked a guard.

“Um, Galahad,” he responded.

“Oh! Please enter, Foyer told me all about you. You are actually supposed to go straight to Foyer’s room at once, it’s just down this hall,” the guard explained, pointing to a door down the hall.

Galahad looked to his right to find a large, matte black door with chains hanging down. Two torches hung from the chains, the fire burned bright. 

Didn’t know he was some sort of boss battle, Galahad thought, giggling to himself.

He slowly approached the door, grasped the handle, and slowly rotated it to the left. It creaked open, and the room was secluded.

“Hello?”

Galahad’s voice echoed through the room. He took a couple steps forward, trying to get a better view of the room. Suddenly, the door behind him slammed shut. He jumped and quickly looked behind him.

“Who’s there?” Galahad asked, shivering.

“Me of course, I like the dark,”

Galahad heard the voice echo around the room, trying to find where he was.

“This isn’t funny, Flako, just come out please,”

You’re scared, said something in Galahad’s mind. You’re frightened, something that makes you weak. Stand up, don’t run.

Galahad closed his eyes and focused on his thoughts.

Don’t run, don’t run, don’t run, don’t run, Galahad repeated.

Galahad felt a presence above him, and his body moved on its own. He leaped away as Flako dropped where Galahad would have been.

“Hello Galahad,” Flako growled, his face covered by a shadow.

“Do you do this with everyone? Forget it, what do you want?” asked Galahad.

“I figure you don’t know the reason for being summoned here. Well, you aren’t ordinary. I told Tania to train you, but it was unfortunate that we got attacked. I think this was just a coincidence, so I shall just ignore it for now. Tania told you to go alone, but she overestimates you. I shall send with you one of my close colleagues, Cornelius. He’s a bit taciturn, so don’t expect some conversations. Anyways, he will be waiting outside the trap door.”

Flako pointed to a well-hidden door on the ceiling. 

“Is there, like, a ladder or something?” Galahad asked, looking for a way to get up there.

“Jump.”

Galahad looked at him with a confused face, then his facial expression changed when he realized that he was being serious.

“Jump? Up there? I can’t do that, it’s too high,”

The walls suddenly began to close in around him.

“What’s going on? Flako? Flako!” Galahad called out.

However, Flako had magically disappeared and Galahad was left stranded in the room. He started to panic and paced around. He didn’t have much more time to think, and his only option was to exit out the trap door.

I don’t have time to dwell over the situation, I can deal with Flako later. Now, I just need to find a way to get up there, cause I certainly can’t jump, Galahad thought.

The first option to come to mind was jump from wall to wall, but that sounded stupid in his head. He then thought of trying to climb up, but he had no expertise and the walls were not suitable for climbing. Eventually, in the little time he had left, he thought of a plan. However, it was not a good one.

Climb up the walls? No, that won’t work. Wait, I got it! All I have to do is sit here and wait. Flako wouldn’t kill me, I know it. And if he does, then it’s not my fault, Galahad assumed as he sat comfortably on the ground.

The walls kept closing in and it made Galahad more and more anxious. He kept second guessing himself and thinking Flako had really left him for dead. The walls became so close to Galahad that he screamed in fear.

“Ah! Let me out!”

He closed his eyes and raised his hands, then his screaming stopped.

“That was not what I had expected from you,” Flako said, emerging from thin air.

Galahad slowly opened his eyes and glanced up at Flako towering over him. He quickly got up and brushed himself off like nothing happened. He crossed his arms and turned away from Flako, trying to act all tough.

“If I were any second later, you would be dead, I just hope you know that,” Flako stated, pushing the walls back to their spots. “As much as I hate the way the situation ended, I like the way you think. Honestly, I didn’t really expect you to jump up there, I mean it seems impossible without training. But, I wanted you to analyze your options here, most people passed. And technically you passed too, so good job. Here,” Flako explained, as he snatched a ladder and propped it down next to Galahad. “Climb up, will ya? I don’t got all the time in the world.”

Galahad scaled up the ladder and eventually reached the trapdoor.

Here goes nothing, Galahad stated, lifting the latch and exiting out the room. 

He peered around him, but there was no one waiting for him. 

“Hello? Is Cornelius up here?” 

Suddenly, a large gust of sand flew straight into Galahad’s eyes, blinding him for a second. He thought he was in danger so he reached back down for the trap door, but when the sand-like tornado died down, he saw a man sitting on a bench. He wore golden armor, and he sat with a golden blade on his back. He had natural, gelled-back hair that flowed with the wind. He sat elegantly, and his armor was glistening in the sun. His eyes were purple and his muscles were bulging through his chainmail.

“Cornelius?” Galahad asked, slowly letting his guard down.

“Yea, let’s go.”

Galahad was about to say something but something inside of him told him not to. He followed Cornelius down a long path that stretched far out into the mist. Not much could be seen, but Cornelius knew exactly where to go. After an hour of walking in silence, Cornelius had suddenly stopped in his tracks.

“Are we here?” Galahad asked, wondering the reason for the sudden halt.

“Hush, someone is here,”

Cornelius and Galahad stood dead still and waited. A couple minutes passed, but Galahad was still scared to move. Out of the blue, something grabbed Galahad’s ankles and pulled him into the side of a mountain. He struggled to escape, but it had a firm grip on him. 

“Cornelius!” Galahad cried out.

He tried to hold onto something but couldn’t get a chance to. Multiple rocks on the ground kept scraping his underside. Galahad was screaming in agony as he was being dragged through the mountain. Suddenly, something overcame Galahad.

His eyes became vantablack and his hands had some sort of black pulse revolving them. The thing that was pulling Galahad suddenly began to struggle more and more until he couldn’t pull Galahad any longer.

“You are… so heavy…” the thing stated.

Galahad slowly picked himself up and brushed his shoulders off. He gazed at the thing that turned out to be another man, just with some sort of gray camouflage. The agitated face of the man made Galahad chuckle. Galahad raised his hands and pointed them towards the man.

“Feast.”

A swarm of vultures proceeded to fly in through the small opening of the cave and consumed the man entirely. His screams of regret and fear felt amazing to Galahad’s ear. However, they also attracted the attention of Cornelius who wasn’t pleased. Cornelius slowly tramped over towards the cave where Galahad was. Eventually, they made eye contact with each other, both silent.

“Come, let’s go,” Cornelius stated, finally breaking the silence.

“No,” Galahad responded.

Galahad didn’t mean to say that, but in the current state he was in, he had no control over his body and actions.

“Don’t make this hard,” threatened Cornelius. “I’ll do whatever Flako tells me to do, so if the goal is to escort you to the Divitious Mountain, then that is what I’ll do.”

“No,” Galahad repeated, regretting every second.

“Fine, I’ll force you then,”

Galahad took up the challenge and called upon his vultures. 

“Feast!” he commanded.

The vultures began to swarm Cornelius, circling him to leave nowhere to run. However, they each dropped dead like flies. Cornelius wasn’t using any magic, but his sword swinging skills were incredible. Not a single vulture touched him, let alone breathed on him. 

“Argh!” Galahad screamed in frustration, his body pulsing with even more energy.

He began to grow even angrier and his pulse had mixed with red. He threw his hands up in the air and began to chant.

“Tre dou fle g-”

Galahad’s chant was cut off by the vibration of Cornelius’s blade. It rang through Galahad’s ears and he was forced to cuff his hands over his ears. 

“Like I said, let’s not make this hard,” Cornelius stated, sheathing his blade. 

Galahad took a step back in fear, and his eyes started to flicker back to normal. He gazed at his hands which slowly lost its pulsing energy. He glanced back up and saw Cornelius trotting away with his blade sheathed in his scabbard.

“Wait!”

Cornelius turned around and looked down on Galahad with his purple eyes.

“Do you wish to face me again?” Cornelius asked with little emotion. 

“No, can you just lend me a hand?”

Galahad raised his hand up, hoping for a raise. Cornelius took one more glance at Galahad, then walked away.

Not cool Cornelious, not cool, Galahad thought, standing back up and following Cornelius down the trail.

Eventually, after half an hour, they made it.

7:10 PM | Divitious Mountain | ???

The air was cold, bones lay waste on the ground. Snags and snow covered the mountainside. The summit cut into the clouds, and thick fog covered the base. The moon reflected off the clouds, shining through and creating rays of light. Three knights in armor made of stone were knelt down as statues. One of the knights held a scroll, which when opened, read “Divitious Mountain, your demise is inevitable. Find shelter in the dome, where all shall be divitable.”

Wait a minute, that was in my dream, thought Galahad, trying to tie it together.

“Well, here we are. Good luck.”

Before Galahad had any time to respond, Cornelius dashed off, as if he didn’t want to be there.

Either he hates me, or he knows something I don’t, Galahad pondered.

He took a deep breath and wandered into the forest, the first base of the mountain. 

The Divitious Mountain is made for the fiercest warriors to train. It was named after the first Black Saint to be born, Divitious Bloodborn. This mountain is split into five different sections. The first is the base, which is the easiest of the five. The higher you progress, the harder it gets.

Galahad roamed around, unsure of his goal. Tania only told him to get there, but nothing about traversing through it. Therefore, he rested under the trunk of a tree. He slowly dozed off, but he suddenly awoke when the tree began to move on its own.

“Get out of my home!”

The tree’s voice boomed through the forest, shaking the ground. Galahad jolted up and dashed away to gain some distance.

“People like you, ruin my forest!” the tree exclaimed.

Its roots snapped from the ground, two legs emerging from under the tree. Galahad noticed a bright green light glowing inside of it.

I can take it, maybe this is training, Galahad thought.

“Leave my forest, or face the consequences!”

Galahad raised his finger, then wiggled it side to side.

“Tsk-tsk, I’m not going anywhere,” Galahad stated, taking a stance.

“I have heard that before, too bad none of them survived!” the tree roared.

Suddenly, the light inside of the tree began to flow through its entire body. It raised its arm and crashed down on Galahad, but he managed to roll away. However, the impact itself made Galahad lose his footing and smash into a tree. 

“You are weak!” the tree explained.

“Not as weak as you think,”

Galahad focused on his breath, something Tania had mentioned to him a while back. Slowly, he began to transform into his first form, VANTA. He has entered this form previously, and it has proven to be quite strong. Though he doesn’t quite have the power to control it yet, he knows it can be very powerful. In this form of his, he has the power to control the vultures. Galahad feels it is just the beginning, and he is yet to figure out the true extent of his powers.

“You are a member of the Spearow! I shall let you pass,”

However, Galahad didn’t let the tree off so easily, and he began to chant. 

“Tre dou fle grou Sal’ah!”

A large, circular beam of black and red began to charge in the hands of Galahad. He tucked his hands at his hip and charged the beam to his max. 

“Van…Ta…..BEAM!” Galahad screamed, exerting all the black energy towards the tree. 

Before the tree could speak, the beam disintegrated the main portion of the tree’s body, sap spilling out of the tree. 

“Argh!”

The tree’s roar echoed throughout the forest, making the mountain shake. The tree fell on it’s knees.

“I have guarded…” the tree coughed out more sap. “…this mountain, for longer than you live. For over 500 years have I fought people just like you. Over time, I have grown weaker and weaker from every battle. My legs are worn out, and I had lost my voice. You people only come for one reason, to get the treasure,” the tree explained.

“Treasure?”

“I had wished to stay here forever, in honor of my master,” the tree began to state, ignoring Galahad’s question. “Divitous was a good man, it was my fault he had died. You aren’t the first to come here for treasure, you know. Many other Spearow members have visited here in search of it, and ever since the first ten failed, I let them pass to see if they can get it. I’m guessing you are one of them as well,”

“I know nothing about any treasure,” Galahad stated, struggling to keep himself calm. “And about Divitious, you said he was your master?”

“Yes,” the tree replied. 

“Impressive, you have survived for long,”

“I cannot die unless the mountain dies,” the tree stated, falling to his knees.

“Funny quote, but that isn’t how it works,”

Galahad began to charge up another vanta beam, but it flickered and couldn’t charge. He tried once again, but in no way prevailed. He began to shake in frustration, then punched the tree adjacent to him.

“Why can’t I just finish you off!” Galahad screamed, attempting to create another beam.

“Mana.”

Galahad looked at the tree with a dull look on his face.

“Ah, I see you don’t know. Mana is a very important aspect in wielding any sort of magic. Everyone has their own limited capacity that they can hold, and that is dependent on your level of strength. However, some people are sword wielders. Sword wielders, rather any magic weapon user which I should have said, don’t rely on mana, instead, they just go based off of their own stamina. While you have your certain moveset as well as forms, they use stances. Now wait one second, this body doesn’t suit me very well,”

Galahad watched as the inner green core of the tree flowed out into another tree, causing legs and arms to emerge. The tree’s eyes opened, and then it rose onto their newly found legs.

Galahad was amazed by his power, then requested for his name.

“Ah, I get this question a lot. It is always a surprise when they realize they have heard of me before, which I find to be quite the laugh. I am Nior of Eastenborne,” Nior answered.

“I have heard of you before! You were the one who ravaged Rhinestone during its early stages. But, it has to be a myth. Eastenborne isn’t an actual kingdom, it was made up in the books,” Galahad stated, his confusion building up.

“Eastenborne is the forgotten kingdom, Galahad. Everyone knows of the four, but Eastenborne still lives beyond the fog that entraps all kingdoms into such a border,” explained Nior.

“You won’t just convince me with that,” Galahad stated. “Even in the books, Nior was a man, not some… tree.”

“I can take the form of many things,” 

Galahad tilted his head, befuddled. Nior left the tree’s body and floated around in the green-like bubble. He slowly but surely transformed into his human form and landed on the ground unobtrusively. Afterwards, he hinted Galahad to follow up as they ascended up the mountain.

“Wait,” Galahad commanded. “I shouldn’t traverse too far into the mountain or else my elders won’t be able to find me,”

“Elders? I suppose so,” Nior replied.

They hastily started towards the entrance, until they bumped into a familiar face.

“Tania!” Galahad greeted.

Tania wasn’t in the mood for cheer, she was limping from a deep slash in her thigh. Galahad quickly confronted her and laid her rest at the nearest tree. He glanced at Nior in hopes of something he could do, but Nior shook his head.

“You are going to be alright, are the others safe?” Galahad asked.

Tania couldn’t muster up a reply, but she did nod her head.

“That’s good to know, just stay here. Can you use Black Magic on yourself?”

Suddenly, Nior looked intrigued. He trotted over and analyzed Tania.

“Black Magic, you say? Interesting, I haven’t heard that in a long time. Divitious used to talk about it a while back before he died, but I don’t remember much of its extent. Let’s make a deal. If I heal you, you will tell me about this magic,” Nior interrupted.

Tania still wasn’t able to give a complete reply, but she nodded her head again.

“Great, let me help you with that.”

Nior placed his hand upon his chest and extracted some green-colored energy. He then placed his hand on Tania’s thigh and began to flow the green energy into her body. She felt a weird tingling in her leg, but the pain started to diminish.

“Not to interrupt this process or anything, but why are innocent people dying when people like you can heal people?” Galahad stated, stepping forward.

“People like me are rare to come across. Maybe if we bond together, but the means of that is very unlikely. To put it short, it would be a waste of time for me to heal people by myself,” explained Nior as he brushed himself off, leaving Tania in a uncomfy state.

“I guess so, is Tania going to be ok?” Galahad asked.

“She’ll be fine, just give her time to rest. In the meantime, I think you should start training.”