《Babel - The Path To Ascension: Heaven》Chapter 1: Plans
Advertisement
Jace slammed into the mat and lay there, staring at the ceiling. It was the tenth time this week he has fought his master, and the tenth time he had lost. It was infuriating, but there was nothing he could do, he was only eleven years old. He knew that his master was a prodigy of some sort, and that he was nowhere near as strong as he had been at the same age, but he still felt sad about it.
Even now it felt odd when he stood next to the other disciples of the teachers. They were all in their twenties and thirties and then his master was there, fifteen years old and dominating the room. There were even rumours that he was stronger than the grandmaster himself, but he could not believe that. The grandmaster had always seemed like some sort of unreachable paragon, an ideal rather than something truly attainable.
He sat up, looking around at the almost empty hall. The soft mat floors were a necessity in the Empty Throne school, because the core tenet of the school was that the entire body was a weapon. “Master your body and you will master your world”. That was what the grandmaster had always said. It seemed rather metaphysical to Jace, but his master had explained that it simply meant that if you could fully master your body then within your surroundings there would be nothing that could escape your notice. Within your reach you could become untouchable by normal means.
That was what Jace aimed for. He wanted to become an untouchable figure like all the masters were, and the quickest way seemed to be to learn the skills and martial forms that they taught. Unfortunately that took a long time, and a lot of effort. Not less than he was willing to put in, but just the basic forms for each of the ten martial arts that his master had taught him were enough to set his mind spinning.
Advertisement
Standing up again, he faced his master and bowed. His master raised an eyebrow, “again?” the older boy said.
“Yessir. I want to master myself,” Jace smiled confidently. “I don’t think I will be able to do it in the same time as you, but I think... I think I could attain that skill by the time I’m all grown”. He straightened the uniform he wore. It was a thin black costume with a white bar around the collar. Jace always hated that strip of white material. The bar was scratchy and tough, but it showed his rank. He had a special place in the school, as the direct student of one of the masters and the cloth bar was the visible representation of that, but it was so irritating on his skin.
“Good. I’m glad to see that my disciple has some aspirations above just being competent. Well I have some good and some bad news for you. Which would you prefer first?”
“I guess the good news,” Jace said.
“Well,” his master replied. “You are considered the disciple with the most potential so you are going be becoming a disciple of the grandmaster”. This shocked Jace. There were only ever ten disciples of the grandmaster, and they were all considered masters in their own right. His master had been one of the youngest ever, but in the two years that he had been taught by the older boy it seemed that Jace had been assessed as someone of a similar potential. He could not help but crack a slight smile when he heard the news. “The bad news is that I will no longer be teaching you. In fact, I will no longer be teaching inside the school at all. My friends and I are taking the plunge and pushing on past the tenth floor, so I will be leaving Spirit potentially for good”.
Advertisement
Jace was stunned. He knew that his master was the hardest one to work under, apparently even harder than working under the Grandmaster himself, but he did not feel like this was truly a reward. He was simply not ready to become a leading figure of the school. “Are you sure, master?”
“I spoke to master Alistair and he was the one who came up with the idea. You are the closest to attempting to create your own martial style, which is the key to become a master in the school, so you are the most deserving of the direct disciples to become a master. That said,” his master paused, “you are likely not ready to teach a student of your own, but you will be taking more of a leading role in the general classes for the students. Are you alright with that?”
“I...” Jace did not know what to say. It was simply too much of a reward for him to process.
“There is one more thing. I have a gift for you, as I will not be around to see you. The only problem with the gift is you must swear not to tell anyone about it. Not even the Grandmaster. It could put you in grave danger, and that would be unfortunate as you would not be able to succeed with the task I am going to set you. You will have two choices depending on how quickly you excel into Sainthood. You can either climb the tower, or you can become a powerhouse of the region”. He walked to the side of the room and took out a small unordained box. The box was thin and squat, but about thirty centimetres long. It was made of a wood that Jace could not identify. The box was beautiful in its simplicity. “In this box, there is what’s known as the Book of Creation. It was my prerogative to give it to who I think could propagate the Book itself. I chose you, but you are simply not strong enough to defend yourself from those who might want to take it from you as of yet. By the time you are a Saint I should have succeeded in my plan, so you will be able to reveal yourself at that point. If I have not yet succeeded, then wait until you are of Heaven rank. I believe you can make it there, and that you have a long future ahead of you, so do not squander it”.
“Thank you master,” Jace replied. “I do have to ask though, what is your plan?”
“Simple, I’m going to revive the Hephaistia clan”.
Advertisement
Crucible - A Lost Dungeons Tale
All stories must begin somewhere, this one starts with the creation of the universe. What follows is a tale of chaos and order, of gods and monsters, of creation and destruction. The birth of a universe is a tumultuous journey, different entities working with opposing ideals, cooperation giving way to frustration and jealousy. It is in that dangerous concoction of emotions that the god of monsters created the first dungeon core. Forged in a crucible of dedication and desire, the first core held potential, the likes of which could surpass even the civilised mortal races. Unfortunately it was not meant to be, the core was lost in a tragic accident and its creator thought it to have been destroyed. Over one-thousand years later, the core reformed inside an extinct volcano. In time it would grow enough to learn and learn enough to grow. This is the story of the first dungeon core. Crucible, the lost dungeon core. Note: Story updates every hiatus*. *I appologise for the delay.
8 160The Guildmaster Thief
From Nebula, Sturgeon, and StorySouth Award nominee Jake Kerr comes the story of Ralan, a street rat who rises to become the guildmaster of Ness' underworld. Featuring a rich world of geographical conflict, political intrigue, swashbuckling adventure, secret societies, and heroic feats, the Guildmaster Thief series focuses on a young man thrust into a role he never expected to fill.
8 87Liberum Mundi
2800 years has pass since the Liberation Era. Where the Hero of Freedom liberated humanity from extinction, pushing back and beaten down the unimaginable horrors from the past. Now the world as they know has change through out the unforgiving nature that cannot be stop. Many countries, nations, empires and kingdoms has risen and fallen. Chasing after faith, power, greed, even love. Through out all of this, some stands tall while some crumbles down. Many see this world as unforgiving and cruel. Yet some see this world as kind and caring. Many monsters roam uncheck across the world as frontier villages and city’s fall victims. Humans as the dominant species with their different view of ideology, kill each other and destroy them self from both inside and outside. They can never unite as one except that one time with him. While having the constant fear that particular horror might ever arose once more. Kingpin of the Ibiros continent. The Southern United Rucina's Confederation. Simply known as Xin. Is where the story of a certain boy that will force the gears of the past and furture fates and destiny to turn once more. Now we follow the story of a young boy on his journey forward in this war-torn world.
8 71Are you worthy to Join my party
X was born to a family on a multigenerational search for a book long forgotten by the passage of time. This story is the adventure that unfolds when he finds it. Let us experience it together, that is, if you are worthy of joining our party.
8 202A New World? I'll Do What I Want!
The world has changed overnight, what was once a ""peaceful"" world has been changed to a game type one.Overnight Earth was changed by someone or something. A young man who is habitually lazy and unmotivated sees his chance for fun and decides ""What the hell, i'll do what I want""
8 180Inside Job (FNAF: SB Rewrite)
[Originally posted on AO3]A complete rewrite of the game Security Breach. This takes concepts introduced from the games and books and implements them into the setting of the mega pizzaplex. This is not about theories. In fact, it's probably going to be far off from canon. This is just how I would've handled the story of Security Breach.Gregory sneaks into Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex in order to uncover the secrets of the pizzeria and find information about the recent disappearances from within. During the five nights he stays inside the pizzeria, he befriends animatronics, discovers information about not only the recent disappearances, but also the dark history of Fazbear Entertainment, all while he has to avoid being killed by rabid animatronics and whomever this mysterious "Vanny" is.
8 168