“On to the next assignment!”
Spiruna was leered; she showed enthusiastic in her voice, too.
“This is my favorite. You four will battle each other!”
All four of us were surprised; we never thought of the idea of fighting each other.
“Come on! Be happy. It would be fun for me to observe, fun for you all to battle against each other. You’ll learn a lot, too.”
I shrugged. “Guess we don’t have an option whether to participate in this activity or not, right?” Spiruna still showed her unpleasant smile. “Yes, you must do this assignment. Else, you will continue your boring training like you used to, for 6 months!”
“I’d rather join this fight than stay here for 6 stinking months! I’m game,” I said, instantaneously. The others agreed too; I guess they didn’t want to stay here for 6 months, too.

Spiruna called forth one door. It appeared right in front of her. She opened the door, and entered first. The four of us followed, clutching tightly onto our weapons.

We were at a stadium, filled with roaring crowds. I looked around, astonished. While I was observing the vast number of audience, Spiruna started talking. “Alright, you four will be sent to four different areas. You will travel and look for one another. If you catch an opponent,” —her smile widened— “then you will engage in a duel. Comprehend?”
We all agreed. In unison, we replied, “yes.”
“Well then, good luck!”
Spiruna snapped her fingers, and we all were transported.

As I opened my eyes, I found my area quite overwhelming. I was located in a fire-based region: magma flowing down, similar to cascading rivers; infernos were seen in my surroundings. The odd point was that I did not feel any intense heat. “It must be Spiruna’s illusion skill,” I thought.

I summoned Splendor to observe the region from up high, to make sure I’m going the right way. As I summoned him, he flew up high with max speed. After around 30 seconds, he came back to me, and reported.
“Kenneth, I saw from up there four regions. You’re in the region of the fire; I saw three others: desert, forest, and snow. I couldn’t see who was in which, because if I did, I would get caught, and probably be attacked.”
“Alright,” I said, “thank you, Splendor. Fly above me for awhile; if I get attacked, you attack the enemy too, okay?”
“I understand,” he replied.
I didn’t want to end up fighting with Patrick. When I saw him fight that Lucida, I witnessed his power. He was stronger than most of us; perhaps, the strongest one. No way would I want to combat with him.

I walked a good distance, and landed in the desert region. All I saw were cacti and sand. As I walked forward, Splendor found something at a far distance. I got hold of a soul arrow, and placed it on the string of my bow.

The figure approached closer and closer, and I pulled the string farther and farther. Finally, I shot the arrow at the unknown figure. It dodged the arrow, and started dashing at me. As I took out another arrow to shoot, the figure disappeared. I looked around, and behind me, I saw the identity of the figure.
“Patrick.”
I was very unfortunate; I had to duel against Patrick. He produced a Cold Beam, and aimed at me. With his hand motion, the Cold Beam struck. I barely evaded it, and shot an arrow. Patrick dodged it by teleporting. I could sense he was behind me, so I turned around and back stepped quickly. I took out four arrows, and shot them all at once. Once again, the arrows were evaded. Suddenly, a sneak attack from Splendor was performed. He aimed for Patrick with astounding speed, beak pointing at him. Patrick got a scratch from Splendor. Immediately, Patrick performed his Lightning skill. The blue bolts directly hit Splendor’s back, and he fell to the ground. Splendor disappeared; either his summon time ran out, or he got defeated.

I dashed. I ran to the next region. “There is no way I can beat Patrick!” Once in awhile I looked back, and saw Patrick approaching closer. I entered the forest region, still running from Patrick. I couldn’t outrun him, though; his teleport was too fast. He produced another Cold Beam, and shot it at me. I jumped, and dodged the beam. I fell to the floor. I stood up again, and I saw Patrick in front of me.

Without notice, two steelys flew at Patrick’s direction. Hastily, Patrick blocked both with his Esther Shield. I looked back, and saw Susan carrying some stars. I thought I was saved, but I was wrong. Susan threw more stars, aiming at both Patrick and myself. I stood up immediately, and blocked a few with my bow. Patrick kept deflecting the abundant storm of stars with his Esther Shield. To stop this, I shot another arrow, but this time, enchanted with the fire. The arrow hit one star, and caused an inferno. The inferno spread through the area, and caused a forest fire. “These trees aren’t illusions?” I shot more inferno arrows, and in time, the forest was engulfed in flames. Now it was my chance to flee. Once again, I started running.

I approached the region of the snow. Once again, the weather was constant; it wasn’t cold like I expected. As I went further, I saw Spade, sitting down. I approached him carefully. As always, I prepared an arrow.

I got nearer, and I heard him snoring. “Is he… sleeping?” I think he was really asleep, sitting down. His Spear was next to him. I could take him on while he was sleeping, but it didn’t seem fair, so I woke him up. I thought even if he did wake up, I still had a chance to win.
“Huh, who—who’s there?” Spade groaned, and grabbed his Omega Spear. He was still half-asleep.
“Spade, wake up and fight me,” I said.
Immediately, Spade attempted to impale me.
“Hey!” I shouted. “A sneak attack isn’t fair!”
He attempted again. His eyes were half closed. “Still a bit asleep, I figure.”
Spade tried to stab me with his Spear. He produced a dragon from the tip of the Spear, and it approached me, imitating a real dragon attempting to bite me. I swiftly dodged it by stepping back. I strafed some arrows, but it did not penetrate Spade’s armor. Suddenly, I heard a noise behind me.
“Patrick and Susan.”

They came closer and closer, as they were throwing each other stuff. Patrick threw his Lightning Spears, Susan threw her stars. Soon, Spade and I will be involved too. And, since everyone was gathered, there was no point in running. I aimed at Patrick, and shot an arrow. It duplicated, and fell onto both Patrick and Susan. Susan was hit, and she lay on the floor. Patrick, on the other hand, teleported away safely from the arrows right before he got hit. He stood in front of me, discharging blue sparks from his hand. Suddenly, the half-asleep Spade struck at Patrick; the spike from his Omega Spear scratched Patrick, miraculously. Patrick stepped back, and aimed a Lightning Spear at Spade.
“My chance to attack.”
I strafed arrows at Patrick, which he noticed. He advanced to me immediately, and threw the Lightning Spear at me. I got hit directly. I fell to the floor, and fainted…

“Wake up, Kenneth.”
I was lying on a bed in a room. There was a window, and the bright sunlight shined through it. I saw Spiruna and Patrick standing beside me. I saw Susan sitting down on a chair, playing with the Rubik’s cube I lent her. Spade was lying on a bed, snoring loudly.
“I bet I messed up in that assignment. I kept running like a coward. 6 months of training, here I come.”
“Not so fast,” said Spiruna, “you did pretty well. Casting inferno in the forest, that was a really good tactic. You know, battles aren’t always until someone dies; you can flee if you feel the need to do so.”
I saw her point. Battles aren’t always ‘till the death.
Spiruna now spoke in a louder voice, catching our attentions, except the sleeping Spade. “You all pass all of my training and assignments. Now, you’re going for the real deal.

“Before I start, let’s wake up Spade.” She prodded Spade with her staff, causing him to instantly wake up. He jumped up so high that he almost practically hit the ceiling. “Alright, he’s awake. Pay attention now. You four are going to travel through three areas. But, here’s the thing: three areas, four of you. Two of you have to pair up, and the others need to stay individually. You four decide who you are going with.”

All four of us were gathered in the room, discussing what to do. I suggested Spade to stick with someone long-ranged, like Susan or myself. He liked that idea, since he only had short-range attacks. I thought Patrick was capable of handling situations alone, so I voted he should go individually. He agreed. We still needed to figure out between Spade, Susan and myself.
“I have a suggestion,” Spiruna said. “Why don’t you two team up, Kenneth and Susan? It will be easier to strike; one does not have to go near the enemy, think of it that way.”
Susan agreed with that suggestion. I did too. Spade didn’t mind adventuring alone, at all. In fact, he wanted to, since he wanted to slay more, so he voted to stay individual.
“Then it’s settled. Kenneth with Susan are teaming up together, Patrick and Spade individually traveling. Come to the entrance to the house tomorrow. There, I will summon doors to your destinations.”

Dawn arrived. I changed to my favorite clothes, a leather jacket and ripped jeans. I carried my Arund on my back. I wore black gloves and shoes. I also wore a Dark Patriot, my all-time favorite hat.
Susan was dressed in a shirt with a picture of a slime. She wore blue jeans, and blue shoes. She did not wear a glove. Cherish rode on Susan’s head.
Patrick wore his same overall: the Oriental Fury Coat.
Spade was wearing his summer-like shirt and pants; it seemed a bit ‘Hawaiian’, if you know what I mean.

Spiruna said, “Now, before you enter this door, I would like to wish all four of you good luck. Oh, and promise me you won’t die.”
She summoned three doors, and we stood in front of the doors. I was excited to see an area I never been to. A new adventure awaits us.

Chapter 5! Woot! We’re going to a new exploration next chapter! Yay!

I created another Scanian character, Shirogumakun. As I said, I like Polar Bears. Shiroguma means Polar bear in Japanese. He is a Warrior. Mages are hard to train at low levels, so I decided to make a Warrior.

Picture 1: Level 80!

–Prologue– –I– –II– –III– –IV–

That is all.