Nick opened his eyes, finding himself in a small, wooden boat that was floating along a body of water; the sun appeared to be directly above Nick, shining brightly.
"Huh, where am I?"
His mind felt a bit hazy as he tried to remember the events that led up to this moment.
"I was exploring the underground passage with some students from Raylam Priest Academy and ended up fighting groups of goblins that included a mutant goblin. We killed the goblins and then...a powerful muscular goblin appeared and killed everyone except me because I ran away and eventually got back to the outside. On the outside...I was attacked by...some lizard like creatures that had four legs but could still slither; those magic beasts were everywhere, grouped up like ants."
Nick remembered himself being attacked by three of those magic beasts and felt a shiver run down his spine.
"If it weren't for the special effect of the Never Ending Battlefield, I would have..."
Just as Nick was reminiscing, the boat suddenly came to a shore. Nick stopped thinking out loud and left the boat to explore the shore. The land that Nick happened upon was extremely damp, seeming to be a kind of swamp with pools of murky water being very common.
"Where the hell is this, wasn't I supposed to have been transported to Shelter Town?"
Nick walked closer to one of the pools of water when suddenly, a large, scale covered maw appeared from beneath the murky water before the rest of a creature's body swam out.
The creature looked like a brown scaled crocodile with very menacing teeth and a two meter long body. It stood directly in front of Nick, snarled at him and then spoke to him in English with a rough tone:
"Child, don't even think of getting away from me, Defeat. Many have washed up on my shore and very few have left alive and the ones that have are never the same again."
Nick's expression became worried and he replied:
"Defeat, that's a strange name. What do you want?"
Defeat replied simply:
"Your life!"
Defeat lunged at Nick with its broad and terrifying maw, trying to bite him but Nick was already on guard because of Defeat's menacing appearance and so he dodged the attack with relative quickness and ran away. Defeat waited for about half a minute and then began chasing Nick while yelling:
"You cannot escape, I am the king of these swamps."
Nick ran quickly but defeat ran on four legs and moved much faster than him, the only reason that it had not caught up to Nick being that it gave him a head start for some reason before it started chasing him. This puzzled Nick.
"Why did it let me get so far ahead before beginning its chase?"
Defeat somehow heard his question and replied:
"Defeat never just rams into a person, there are always circumstances leading up to it, like a slow chase between defeat and its victim."
Nick continued to run and eventually came upon a labyrinth made of stone walls. Nick quickly ran through the entrance in an attempt to get away from Defeat. The labyrinth had many paths contained within and Nick randomly ran through them in a hurry. By the time that he had stopped running, he doubted that he would be able to find his way back to the entrance.
"Well, the good news is that I can no longer see Defeat chasing me. It will most likely be very difficult for it to find me in this labyrinth."
As soon as Nick said this, from around a corner a few meters away from him, to his right, a creature the size of a truck emerged. It looked like a crocodile with eyes made of blue gems, scales made of green jade and small teeth that seemed to be made of gold. It walked on four legs and a long silver tongue would creep out of its mouth then be retracted every few seconds.
Nick looked at the bizarre creature with uncertainty and asked it a question as it walked up to him:
"Who are you?"
The creature looked at Nick with its gem like eyes and replied:
"My name is Wealth. Who are you?"
Nick replied nervously:
"My name is Nick Capitol and I am trying to flee from Defeat and as a result, I ended up running into this labyrinth. I am planning to stay here so that Defeat will not find me."
Wealth shook its head and spoke:
"That won't work, Defeat has a very sensitive sense of smell and once it has locked onto you, it will eventually find you."
Nick's nervousness became even more apparent when he heard those words and so he asked:
"If you know so much about Defeat, can you help me escape from it?"
Wealth shook its head and replied:
"Wealth cannot deter Defeat, at most, I can only prolong the inevitable. Follow me deeper into the labyrinth and you will be safe for now."
Wealth turned around and walked towards another path at an upcoming corner. Nick quickly ran up to it and asked:
"If wealth cannot deter defeat, then what can?"
Wealth replied as if Nick had asked a stupid question:
"Are you dense boy? The only remedy to Defeat is to meet the one and only, Victory."
Nick felt the weight of Wealth's words and asked in response:
"How do I meet Victory?"
Wealth stopped walking and looked at Nick who was walking closely beside it. Wealth looked him squarely in the eyes and said with seemingly deep meaning:
"The best way to meet Victory is through preparation. Do you understand?"
After saying that, Wealth turned his head away from Nick and continued walking towards the upcoming path. Nick walked along side of it and muttered:
"To deter Defeat, I have to meet Victory and the best way to do that is through preparation..."
*********************************
Nick suddenly opened his eyes and he found himself lying on a hard, wooden floor inside of what looked like a large building. The ceiling seemed to be made of concrete and the walls seemed to be made of the same material but were lined with magical laws drawn in Valteese that glowed with an eerie silver light.
Before Nick could understand where he was, a man dressed in a white robe with gold trims walked up to him and spoke:
"Nick Capitol, is it? This is the revival point for everyone from Grand Earth that dies in the Never Ending Battlefield. All your injuries at the point of death should have healed and all of the items that you had on your person should have returned here with you."
Nick quickly stood up and felt himself with both arms.
(My right arm that had been torn off has been reattached and I still have my space band. I don't seem to have lost anything.)
Nick willed and a glowing number '53' appeared in his right palm, signalling that this was the number of points that he had accumulated after all the killing that he had done, most of that killing involving rank 1 magic beasts like the shadow goblins and the baboon like magic beasts. The mutant shadow goblin, however, should have been a rank 2 magic beast.
(What was the rank of those black scaled lizards?)
Nick shook his head because he did not know. Those magic beasts looked similar to alligators and they moved around in a very large group, swarm like.
(Although my magic energy reserves were bottomed out when I was attacked, I doubt that I could have put up much of a fight against that many of them.)
Nick turned to the robed man and asked:
"Is there a place where I can have a magical tool appraised?"
The robed man was slightly surprised at Nick's calmness; most students who visited the Never Ending Battlefield for the first time and were killed would be somewhat traumatized following the event.
(This young man seems to be fine, however, even asking about appraising an item.)
The robed man replied:
"Yes, there is such a facility here. This is the main tower for licensed Magicians, we are in an area on the ground floor so all you have to do to get to the appraisal area is to exit this section by going through the door over there and take one of the elevators that is situated down the hall to the third floor where both Raylam Priest Academy and Richter Order Academy have set up appraisal services."
Nick nodded his head in understanding and left the large room through its wooden double doors, at which point he ended up in a hallway adjacent to a main hall that had a fine red carpet on the ground throughout. There weren't much people walking around on the ground floor but a few persons were speaking to formally dressed individuals stationed at counters in the main hall. There were various signs above the counters that read things like: "Magic Beast Information", "Maps of The Never Ending Battlefield", "Information on Interesting Plants Within The Never Ending Battlefield" and others.
Nick never knew that all of this information was readily available, he just went out into the wilderness almost as soon as he arrived within the Never Ending Battlefield. Nick thought back on Wealth's words for a moment.
"Preparation, huh?"
Nick took one of the two elevators to the third floor and found over ten offices there with signs above all of their doors. Nick entered the door that had a sign above it that read: "Appraisals".
As soon as Nick entered, he noticed that the office had two counters, one with a sign that read: "Raylam Priest Academy" and another counter with a sign that read: "Richter Order Academy."
Nick did not think too much about the set up and walked up to Richter Order Academy's counter and took out the glowing 'wand' that he obtained from the mutant baboon magic beast and asked the woman at the counter:
"Can you please tell me what this magical tool is exactly?"
The blonde haired, blue eyed young woman looked at the wand with an interested gaze and asked:
"Will you be paying for my services via your points or money?"
Nick scratched his head and replied:
"That depends, how much will the appraisal cost?"
The woman replied with a thoughtful expression:
"If this item is what I think it is, you'll have to pay me either 100 Never Ending Battlefield points or £20,000, you just need to provide me with your student ID to make payment."
Nick had already linked his bank account to his student ID so he was not surprised that payment could be made that way, he replied:
"I'll pay with money."
Nick handed over the wand to the woman at which point she placed it on her counter and began chanting words in Valteese. A circular, orange colored diagram suddenly appeared on the counter, encircling the wand and eventually the wand was lifted into the air by a magical force and a brightly glowing orange sphere of light enveloped it; the woman continued to chant for another five minutes until the sphere of light dispersed and the circular diagram on the counter disappeared. The wand fell and laid on the counter, glowing dully as if nothing had happened.
Nick had watched the entire scene with some concern because he did not know the wand's value nor did he know what spell this woman was using on the wand but after seeing that the wand was fine afterwards, his worries were put to rest. The woman picked up the wand and handed it back to Nick, saying:
"It's a stick."
Nick scrunched his face a bit and asked:
"What was that?"
The woman smiled and replied:
"It's just a stick."
Nick stared blankly at the woman, not knowing what to say; the woman soon continued speaking after a short pause:
"The stick has been tainted by a very powerful magic energy that has transformed it into something akin to a wand that someone could channel their magic energy into and have the intensity of that magic energy amplified. Honestly, I have seen many such items come from the wilderness and no one really knows what the origin is for the magic energy that has tainted these items but we have all realized that the items strongly affect whatever low level magic beasts hold on to them, giving the magic beasts relatively incredible talent for spell casting, similar to a human at the same level."
Nick squinted his eyes, saying:
"So you're going to charge me £20,000 for telling me that I have a slightly special stick?"
The woman smiled cheekily and replied:
"Yup, that's right, us third years have to eat too, you know."
Nick raised his right eyebrow and asked:
"You're a third year? What are you doing here?"
The woman tilted her head a bit and replied:
"Well...you don't actually think that licensed Magicians would hang around here appraising trivial items, right? This is sort of a special mission where I am paid a commission for each item that I appraise."
Nick asked, thoughtfully:
"But don't third years have their own special exams?"
The woman shook her head, saying:
"The title, third year, only makes it easier to classify us but does not mean that most of us have actually been attending Richter Order Academy for only three years. This is actually my ninth year within the 'third year' and people like me are not forced to participate in special exams; we spend our time doing missions in addition to our studies until we graduate and get some cushy position within the Ministry of Magic or the Magician's Association."
Nick felt that what the woman was saying made sense.
(I know that the academy divides the students by three years, the third year being the last but I should have known that no one actually expects you to become a licensed Magician in three years.)
The woman held out her hand and said:
"Let me have your student ID, please."
Nick quickly handed over his student ID and made payment and after storing the wand and saying goodbye, he left the main tower and made his way to Inn Number 1 where he had been assigned a room. He entered his room, locking the door behind him and jumped into the bed, thinking out loud:
"I ended up in such a bad spot because I got arrogant and did not prepare properly. The Never Ending Battlefield is clearly different from the realms that I had visited previously. Compared to those realms, the threat of being killed here is greater because the magic beasts here are just more...terrifying."
Scenes of the brave bird and the shadow goblins and what they did to those two students from Raylam Priest Academy that they captured played themselves out in Nick's mind as well as his encounter with the muscular shadow goblin that could use strength path magic and that swarm of black scaled reptiles.
"This place is dangerous, even if I can't actually die from being killed here. I can't just wander around aimlessly and get into trouble without knowing exactly what I'm getting into."
While Nick was replaying the scenes of his latest misadventure in his mind, his eyelids began to feel heavy and he soon fell asleep.
********************************
Nick opened his eyes and realized that he was once again walking alongside Wealth within the labyrinth of stone walls. They walked together for a seemingly long time until Nick felt exasperated and complained:
"What's the matter with this place? Why is there nothing but stone walls and hard ground? There's no interesting scenery, no entertainment and no other humans to talk to."
Wealth shook his crocodile resembling head and spoke with a slight hiss:
"Why would you care about those things while you are being chased by Defeat? Will an interesting scenery or entertainment or the company of other people save you?"
Nick thought for a moment and then replied:
"No, but at least I would have some enjoyment before Defeat arrives, that would be much better than this boredom."
Wealth shook his head once again, saying:
"I have met so many humans like you that think that their unfortunate ending is so set in stone that they use it as a justification to waste time in indulgence. But fine, I will humor you, I will give you a wealth of those experiences before Defeat arrives. Just walk ten paces ahead of me and see what happens; many enjoyable things follow once you have wealth behind you."
Nick did as Wealth said and quickened his pace to walk ten paces in front of it. At first, nothing happened but then from Nick's perspective, the labyrinth's walls and ground began to warp and change until Nick found himself standing in the driveway of a luxurious property. Nick looked behind him and saw a large, three storey mansion not far away from where he was standing; he looked at his body and realized that he was no longer wearing his usual jeans pants and polo shirt, he was dressed in an all black three piece suit that looked very expensive.
"What is going on?"
As soon as Nick said this, he heard the sound of a car horn honking. Nick turned to look at the source of the noise and saw a luxurious sports car waiting at the end of the drive way with a very beautiful young woman sitting in the passenger seat. She shouted at Nick, saying:
"Nick, honey, we're going to be late for the party, can you hurry up?"
Nick was confused about the situation but followed his instincts and walked to the car, opening the door and getting into the driver's seat without much trouble. He looked at the beautiful blonde haired, white complexioned woman with blue eyes beside him; she was wearing a well fitting, blue dress and her makeup was well done. Nick asked with an uncertain tone:
"Who are you, where is this?"
The woman blinked three times with a blank expression before answering:
"Why do you sound so confused, Nick? I'm Cynthia, your girlfriend and we're at your home. You promised to take me out to a party to meet all your friends so that's why we're in your car right now."
Cynthia put her hand on Nick's forehead to see if he had a fever, thinking that maybe he was confused because he had suddenly become ill. After feeling that his temperature was normal, she removed her hand; Nick spoke afterwards with an uncomfortable feeling gnawing at him:
"I don't feel like going out."
Cynthia's eyes glistened, thinking that Nick was just trying to play a game with her. She smiled and said sweetly:
"Oh, maybe you need a little motivation."
Cynthia moved her hands quickly, undoing the belt and button of Nick's pants and pulling his zipper down. Nick watched with a weird expression as Cynthia took his penis into her right hand and slowly placed it into her mouth.
Nick's thinking was suppressed by the pleasant sensation that he was feeling from Cynthia's actions and he sat in his seat, watching Cynthia perform. Cynthia massaged Nick's penis with her tongue for nearly three minutes before she felt a mass of bland tasting liquid enter her mouth as Nick moaned intensely. She then took Nick's penis out of her mouth after he became quiet and she swallowed, saying afterwards with a sweet smile:
"Now, let's head to that party."
Nick felt his mind become a little hazy but he still drove the car as if on instinct and before he knew it, he came to a well decorated five-star hotel.
(Huh? How did we get here?)
Nick did not remember the route he took to get here and didn't even really know where 'here' was.
(When did I learn how to drive?)
As Nick asked these questions, he felt the fog in his mind intensify but kept moving along with the flow of events. Cynthia led him by hand into the hotel and then into the hotel's ballroom where there were dozens of people, all well dressed, mingling. Nick then heard a loud shout, directed at him:
"Nick, my friend, how comes you got here so late when you are supposed to be the life of the party?"
A white complexioned young man wearing a black and white three piece suit greeted Nick and ran over to him to put his arm around Nick's shoulders. Nick was confused:
(Who the hell is this guy?)
Even though Nick thought this, he spoke words without thinking, as if on instinct:
"No Tom, you're the life of the party, I'm just your slightly more talented friend."
As Nick said those words, he developed a subtle feeling of disgust but he continued speaking, not knowing what was directing his speech:
"We made another £1,000,000,000 at our company this month so a party like this is just what we need to unwind, let's go join everyone else."
Both Tom and Cynthia smiled at Nick's words and the three of them went to mingle with the other people at the party. They reminisced, laughed and told stories of their triumphs in their careers and in business and this went on for hours. Near to the end of the party, as they all sat down to have a meal, Nick felt disturbed for reasons that he did not understand.
The smile on his face felt increasingly forced, the laughter he sounded felt painful, his mind grew agitated as if there was something important that he was forgetting; all the while the subtle feeling of disgust that he was having intensified as he looked around at the people around him that were smiling and laughing.
Nick turned to Cynthia who was sitting beside him at their long table and asked:
"Why are we here with these people?"
Cynthia looked at Nick with a weird expression and replied:
"Nick, these are all your friends, I thought that you were having a good time."
Nick stared blankly for a moment, then whispered:
"My friends? I don't even really know any of these people; they are only here to take part in the celebration, they don't give a damn about me."
Cynthia, feeling that their conversation was taking a strange turn, tried to sooth Nick:
"Nick, you're one of the top performers at your company, you have earned a fortune for yourself and everyone loves you including me, aren't you satisfied with all of that?"
Nick frowned at hearing that, replying:
"One of the top performers? Everyone loves me?"
Nick looked around at the people that surrounded him and then said to Cynthia:
"These people do not love me, no matter how hypocritically they smile and laugh. You say that I am one of the top performers at my company and made a fortune for myself but what is the point of that, what is my purpose?"
Cynthia looked confused as she replied:
"Your purpose? How would I know that? Is being rich and having a large network not the point of all your work?"
Nick's frown intensified as the fog in his mind began to clear; he replied frankly and for some reason, his innermost feelings spilled out:
"No, all this wealth is only a tool to get to my purpose. Why would I hang around all these two-faced hypocrites for fun. If I had nothing, where would these people be, where would you be?"
Cynthia's expression became increasingly worried as she heard Nick speak; she replied:
"Nick, you're acting strange, what's the matter?"
Nick became silent for a moment and thought to himself:
(What is the matter? What is my purpose? Why do I feel empty even though I could buy anything that I want?)
Nick turned his head slightly and saw a familiar furled paper on the table that was not there before.
(Is this...a magic scroll? Oh right, I am a Magician. My purpose is...to be the strongest Magician)
Nick's eyes became sharp as he looked around him at the luxury and at Cynthia and at Tom, who was sitting beside Cynthia. Tom whispered after seeing Nick's change in attitude:
"What's wrong, friend?"
Nick replied with a tinge of disgust:
"This is wrong!"
When Nick said those words, the entire room became enveloped in flames as Nick stood up. He looked at Cynthia and Tom as they became covered in flames and fell to the ground, lifeless, amidst the screams coming from all around the room. Nick said loudly:
"I remember...I remember my purpose."
Just then, Nick heard an eerie voice as a pair of menacing, glowing green eyes looked at him from within the flames two meters away from him:
"I finally found you!"