//------------------------------// // Inside the portal. // Story: The Adventures Begin // by Dragon Shimmer //------------------------------// ----Present time----  Sunset is lying in Whitty's hug and still listens to his story. She feels so amazed when she hears about his story. She sighs and leans into him more, which makes her feel comfortable.  "So you start the revolution there right?" Sunset exclaims, "And how many people die in this revolution? Thousands or millions?"  "I don't know. Too many people die in front of my eyes, I lost count. Feaking lost count," Whitty's tears are falling, "Sometimes I wish the revolution to be peaceful but... It can't." Whitty turns his head away Sunset, "Especially the last battle." -----Back to the time of revolution----  The rebel army has surrounded Valiant city. Whitty and Aria stand on the cliff and see the battle is continuing but they are not taking down the last fortress. Whitty sits down on the ground while Aria still looks at the battle with binoculars. Whitty takes the radio,  "All unit retreat, all unit retreat," Whitty commands as all of the rebel soldiers are retreating out of the city, Whitty sighs about this, "This fortress still stands up defense at our attack. It has been 15 days since we start this siege." Whitty rubs his forehead, "I don't know how many people will sacrifice in this war."  "Don't worry, Whitty," Aria pats his back, "Our soldiers' morale is still high, that's good news. But... "Aria turns to sit beside Whitty, "If we keep continuing like this, our morale will fall day by day. And the King will take the chance to make a counter-attack."  "I know, let's get back to the tactic tent and use this thing," Whitty stands up and goes back to the tent, "I will discuss this thing," Whitty and Aria go back to the tactical tents, there are many commanders sits at the big table that has the map on it and they still find a way to strike down the castle, but all the way fails. They are starting out of ideas, some of them want to quit this battle. When they see Whitty and Aria coming here, all of them stand up and use soldier etiquette to say hi to them. Whitty and Aria move to the table and sigh.  "We all know this battle is failing again right?" Aria slams the table, "I don't know this King still has many soldiers to do that,"  Whitty asks, "Can I ask who is commanding this attack?"  A commander is walking to them, "It's me, sir. Sorry for failing you."  Aria raises her hand, "You have tried your best, I can't blame you or any of you. Report the injured."  "Madam, this time we got one thousand dead, and five thousand injured, including three hundred heavy injured," The commander reported, "We nearly run out the armor, the reinforcement is on the way, and tomorrow they will come here."  "I see," Whitty nods, then he turns to other commanders, "All of you should take a rest in one day to refresh your head,"  "Sorry sir, until we take down the King," A commander slam into the table, "We will not rest because he took away all things that deary to us." Then he sits down, "I still not forget in the day he kills my family and friends in front of my eyes,"  Aria nods, "I see. Then I order all of you to take a rest in one day. No secret meeting, got it?"  "But...But... "  "That's the orders,"  "Yes, Madam,"  Then Whitty and Aria go outside the tactic tents with the preposterous feeling.  ----- Sleeping tents---- Whitty is digging something on the ground, making Aria confused. After a while, he takes out the box. Open the box, they have five white pillars and all of them are shining.  "What is this?"  "This is a spell that took me 6 years to complete. I just want to use it when necessary, and this is the necessary time to do it. This spell will make the siege successful." Whitty looks at Aria, "I'm serious."  "I know. Your spell is advanced compare to others," Aira grabs a-pillars. "I bet that four pillars will plug around the fortress and the fifth one will be the center of the fortress, right?"  "You got me. But who will do the fifth one? Many soldiers are exhausted from the last battle."  "We do," A voice from behind, makes the duo turns their head to the voice and sees Eula, Axe, and Morgan there. All of them have wrinkles on their face, "We will do this mission."  "Eh sorry, but you can't," Whitty denies, "I rather call someone younger,"  "Are you insulting the old one, huh?" Eula points at herself, "Sorry, maybe I'm old but I'm far more experienced compared to every soldier in there. I have followed you for over twenty years, you know?"  "I know but this is an important one. If the last pillar falls into the enemy's hand, we will have no choice than retreat," Aria raises a hand to stop them, "But we are all old right? This war is nearly 30 years old, I'm not sure if I can continue." Then she points out to Whitty, "Except this dragon, he has not even changed a bit after these years."  "Because I'm a dragon?" Whitty stretches his body and hears some bone cracking, "Ahhh ~, so good. Anyway, you all can't do this mission."  Eula points the sniper rifle at Whitty, "Are you really Whitty? The dragon always orders everyone without hesitation?" Eula steps closer to Whitty, "Or you are an imposter?"  "Look, I know you really go to this one but this is my friends. I can't send them to do that."  "If that is so..." Eula says and loading the sniper rifle, Morgan quickly punches at Aria's belly, making her fall.  "ARIA," Whitty turns to Aria and gets shot into his legs, make him fall too. "What.... are you doing?"  Axe takes the box and gives it to Eula, she nods. Then Axe turns to the duo, who is trying to stand up. He kneels." Don't worry, this tent already has a soundproof spell and no one can hear the gunshot." Axe stands up, "Because of your scale, I have to use a sniper rifle to make sure that you will be injured," Axe turns his back to the duo and walk, "Goodbye Whitty and Aria, I will deliver this thing to the King,"  "STOP," Whitty yells at them, "STOP. YOU... YOU..." but the trio walks far away from them, Whitty punches the grounds, "Damn it. DAMN IT."  His tears fall as he screams "Aaaaaaaah". Then he breathes heavily like he is tired and closes his eyes. He reaches his claw to the wound and takes off the ammo inside his leg, then he uses "heal" to treat his wound. Once he finally stands up and picks Aria up to the sleeping tent.  "Are they going to send that to the King?" Aria rubs her belly due to the injured, "If that happens, what will we do?"  "They won't," Whitty turns his face away Aria, "Let hope that they complete the mission," He stares at the ground, "I just want them to retire... Why did they want to die like that?"  Aria pats his back, "They are warriors in the heart. Maybe when you pull out that thing, they want to do the last mission before they die."  Whitty sighs, "You right? We will see it tomorrow to see if they succeed or not." Whitty lies next to Aria, "Tomorrow the reinforcement will be here. If they succeed, we will full speed ahead and take down the king," "What kind of spell did you put in there?" Aria rubs Whitty's neck, "I don't believe a spell can turn a table,"  "We will see." Whitty closes his eyes, "Have a good night." ------- The next day------  Aria wakes up and sees that Whitty is not with her, she sighs and stands up. After stretching her body, she goes outside to have breakfast. She sees Whitty is sitting on the cliff and stares at the castle fortress,  "What are you doing there?" Aria comes near Whitty, "Don't tell me you sit here to wait for the spell to activate?"  " Maybe," Whitty eats his noodle cup, "We can't attack today anyway so I just wait here and hoping that they succeed,"  "I see..." Aria stares at the castle, "What will you do when you finish this promise?"  "I will go to the jungle and put my flower in my parents' graveyard." Whitty stares at Aria, "I will leave you to rule this new kingdom," Whitty stares at the sky, "Sorry for this selfish needing,"  "That's ok, no one blames you, If-- " Aria looks at the castle surrounded by a large magic circle, "Look at that Whitty, Is that your spell?"  Whitty looks at the castle, "Yes, it is. This is our chance," Whitty takes out the flag and gives it to Aria, "Go Aria, Summon all of our troops to strike this castle down,"  Aria takes the flag and runs back to the camp. ------Present------ "I see, you spent 6 years to draw a spell and used it in the last battle," Sunset looks at the roof, "I want to hear more but this is time for me to wake up," Sunset closes her eyes, "Good luck," Whitty hugs her tighter, "Good luck," ----Outside Sunset's body----  Sunset wakes up in the sleeping tent. She doesn't see her teammates there. She sighs, gets herself up, and goes out of the tent. She thinks, "Maybe they are in front of the portal." And she is on the way to the portal.  After a while, her teammate is in front of the gate and they wave their hand at her. She waves her hoof back to them. Sunset picks up a fish can and opens it with some rice. Then she starts eating and watches the Team and Eldaro, they are discussing something.  "So... " A giant bird sits beside Sunset, "You must be the Black Mage?" "Oh... eh... no, she is somewhere else, not here."  "Don't lie," The bird says, "Names Silver by the way, and I am a robot. You are?"  "... Call me Sunset if you want," Sunset starts eating the meal, "Anyway, I didn't see you from here. Are you from reinforcement?"  "Yep. Weird that a robot can talk and have emotions like a human, right?"  "No, I'm not a caveman, thank you."  "I see. Well, we and humans have lived happily with each other for 100 years. But before that, we have to fight a lot for our freedom,"  "I see, but sorry history is not my impression," Sunset sees Matt, and Natalie waves their hand to call her, "Sorry, I have to go, see ya." Sunset runs on the team. They are already in front of the portal and just wait for her. Matt, Natalie, and Lance smile at her as they go inside the portal with Sunset. Inside the portal, they see the narrow road to walk. They look around and only see the infinite darkness around some galaxy planets and a sun.  "Am I dreaming? What the hell is this?" Natalie says and sneezes, "Sorry."  ".... it looks like space and time are twisted beyond recognition here." Lance kneels and puts his hand on the ground, "At least we can walk from this road." Lance points at the road that is blocked by two large rectangle black stones.  "Stone again? I thought we would fight enough stones for this." Sunset put the staff out of the road, it appears more ground, ".... Look like a tank can fit this ground though."  "So, we are not dead, eh? Sounds good enough for me," Matt turns his head to Lance, "How did you know that anyway?  Lance answers with a grumbling tone, "Science... fiction,"  "I suppose we should go back to ask Eldaro to put a tank in here to support us," Sunset suggests, "we don't know which enemy we will face,"  The trio nods at Sunset's suggestion and they go back to meet Eldaro. Eldaro sees them and asks what is inside but they don't answer, they suggest putting a tank in there. Eldaro agrees to the suggestion and commands a soldier to drive a tank in there under the Team's direction. The Team carefully puts the tank on the ground and say the soldier to stay there and asks him for more missiles and ammo. The soldier nods, he goes out of the portal while the Team continues the journey.  The team goes forward to face the black stones. The first stone shines and releases a small ray at them. The Team dodges it and Matt charges at the first stone; when Matt is going to slam at the stone, it teleports away and Matt spins around and slashes at it. A wave of slash is coming its way and interacts with it, it just cracks a little bit.  Natalie says, "They can teleport..." and she starts chanting the spell. The second stone is shining and a black hole appears above the Team, making them inhale into the holes. Sunset teleports to the second stone's head and puts her front hoof on it. The second stones shine again, many dark spikes appear near Sunset and fly toward Sunset. Sunset uses "Wyvern Slash" to clean most of them and jumps down in front of the Second stone to block the dark spike. Then she has to dodge aside when Lance shoots six times at the stones. Sunset glares at Lance, while Lance turns his head away and takes out the big gun.  Natalie slams the staff on the ground and two magic circles appear near her. The first stone is charging a spell while Matt rushes at it and stabs the stone on it, making it cancel the spell. The magic circles combine and appear as a spear light and stab into the first stone, making it scattered into pieces. Matt thumbs up, "Nice work," and he picks up his sword.  Sunset has to keep dodging when the Second stone keeps shooting dark spears at her. Lance clicks a button and many explosions appear at the Second stone, then he shoots a beam at it. The second stone gets hit most of it, and it has many cracks right now. Sunset circles her front hoof in the air and a magic circle appears, then she slams the magic circle. Its shine and a large water dragon come out of the magic circle and rush at the stone. The Second Stone has no time to react and it is scattered into pieces after the water dragon slams at it.  "Now, that's the spirit." Sunset spins her wooden staff, " I don't think I should change the weapon." and she got dragged by Natalie. Sunset turns around and sees Natalie's face is close to her face, which makes her don't know what to say, "Eh, what's wrong?"  "Nothing, I just want to ask you how you have a cool spell like that?" Natalie huffs, "can you teach me that spell?"  "Eh... Honestly, I don't know," Sunset looks away from Natalie, "Eh... can we move yet?"  Matt drags Natalie, "Okay, we should keep moving." ----- Meanwhile -----  Seeing the Team is closing to him, Arkon creates many vortexes and makes sure it is connected to the cities of the Earth(en). He commands, "Now, go my monster, let the human suffer. Let the world burn in the flame," the monsters go through the vortexes.  ----In Campsite--- Silver is flying in the sky to enjoy the free time she has. When she flies up high, she sees many vortexes in the sky. All of the above at least one of the cities, and many monsters come out of the vortexes. Silver sees that and quickly flies down to Eldaro,  "Sir Eldaro, I have things to report," Silver shakes her wings,  Eldaro and Sabrina are playing chess and they turn their heads to Silver, "What is it, Silver?" Sabrina takes out her boomerang, "Monster attacking this campsite?"  "Oh your majesty, I apologize for my rudeness," Silver bows to her, "Anyway, many vortexes have appeared in the sky and above many cities. Many monsters come out from there,"  Eldaro and Sabrina stand up immediately. "I was right, how many cities have that vortex?"  Silver reports, "All of them sir. Lavita city and Aquile City have two vortexes."    Eldaro raises his arm, "Announced to the soldier, move this campsite near the portal as fast as we can, we have to support the Team in the portal," Silver nods, "Now go Silver, we must do as fast as we can," Silver flaps her wings and flies away.  Sabrina looks at him, "Why do you command like that, Eldaro? Shouldn't we support our city?"  Eldaro looks back to the Queen, "Are you kidding me? Do you think we have time to do that?" Eldaro turns back to the map, "We can't go anywhere right now, so the best thing is to support the Team and guard the portal."  Eldaro and Sabrina run to the campsite to help move them. The Team didn't know about outside the portal and they continue to go deeper into the portal, with the only goal of slaying Arkon.