“Several years ago, during what we now refer to as the Dark Age, the dark emperor Neutrogena, stumbled upon the lost artifact known as the Armageddon. Having grown arrogant and blinded by greed, he decided he wanted to ‘transcend’ God by using the Armageddon to create a universal distortion which would cause the survivors to transcend into a higher level of power albeit at expense of so many lives and with a very low chance of success. He believed he would be one of the survivors so he teamed up with the Demon Emperor, Belzene thereby making him a very formidable threat. However, a group of valiant warriors rose up against him and his allies. During that era, an all-out war broke between kingdoms causing much instability. However, the group led by Phoenix Falcon, was able to stop Neutrogena, the demon emperor Belzene and their team. Belzene was sealed away from existence by Phoenix, the portals through which the demon beings used in entering the human world were closed and the lost artifact was once again lost. The Dark Age seemed to be over though for a time, war between kingdoms still persisted. However, in all these, there seemed to be no trace of Neutrogena even to this day.”

“Reading that scroll again?” a calm male voice says.

“Eeekk!!” the little girl flusters as she quickly folds the scroll.

“You scared me there Dubnet,” she adds.

“Hahaha,” the young boy laughs.

“Never gets old,” he says.

“People are getting ready for the tournament and you are here reading a scroll of a history you already know?”

He sighs.

“Kiiara you never fail to amaze me,” he adds.

“Shut up!” the girl replies, with a frown as she stands up and dusts her trousers.

Kiiara has dazzling blue eyes, light brown skin (not too fair, not dark), long silver colored hair running down to her waist which she packs with a blue ribbon. Her hands are a bit small and her nail tips, white in color. Dubnet on the other hand, has hazel eyes, same skin colour with Kiiara, and dark brown hair, medium in length, which he packs with a black ribbon.

“Don’t they always say knowledge is power?” she adds with a gesture where she shows her biceps and puffs her mouth.

“Yeah let’s see how that works for you in the tournament this time around.”

“You’ll see. I’m going to win this tournament, hmph” She replies, with a sigh as she walks out of the room.

“Well you do know it’s going to be a tournament of the best of the best right?!” the young boy, Dubnet, yelled

After waiting some time with no response,

“And I’m talking to myself, what a brat,” he adds.

“So it seems in this our time, the wars have reduced drastically, one can say that we now have peace,” Kiiara says to herself as she walks slowly, with her right hand on her chin, along the hall way leading to the big library exit.

“But can we really say it’s peace? Seeing as no one seems to know where Neutrogena is, not even Dad,” she adds.

“Not to forget that the lost artifact, Armageddon, still has its whereabouts unknown too. All these plus the other sinister beings that are waiting for a good chance to strike. It’s like we’re basically in an illusion that’ll soon be shattered,” she keeps rambling to herself.

Suddenly, she feels an arm across her shoulder.

“Again with your ramblings?” a voice, similar to Kiiara’s voice but a bit stronger, says as a young girl looking just like Kiiara appears beside her.

Kiiara flinchs for a moment but quickly responds, turning with suprise to the other girl.

“Fast as ever Serena, I didn’t even know when you appeared. You just keep getting better,” she adds with a sigh of relief.

“Well, we still have that goal to surpass the legends and the tournament is around the corner too,” Serena responds putting her hands at the back of her head and smiling as she walks down the hallway with Kiiara.

Serena has similar looks to Kiiara as they are twins, except her eyes are gold in color and her hair color is dark brown at the moment.

“Speaking of which, hope you’ve been training, Kii Kii?” she asks, looking at Kiiara.

Kiiara pauses for a while as she looks out the window at some students who are training.

“Training is one thing, effective result is another,” she says.

“Let’s see how it goes,” Kiiara adds as they continue their walk.

“Yeah yeah sure we will,” Serena replies.

“They say in this tournament even the prodigy Damian will be around, I’m not sure about your crush Dayve though,” she adds.

“My…my…my…what?” Kiiara stutters, blushing.

“Ha ha ha,” Serena laughs.

“Hoo…so you want to deny that before your twin ehhn?”

“Alright let’s just pretend that I don’t know what I’m saying,” she adds with a big smile.

“Anyways, I’ve always wanted to see how far I can go against the top prodigies. If I can win any of them in this tournament, it’ll be my announcement to the world that a legend has arrived,” she says, raising her hands with her face full of excitement.

“Though you’re a genius yourself Serena such that you even had to be promoted and moved to the special class where you seem to be like the youngest. Still Damian, Dayve and those other five are something else. Wow so much strong people in existence, I wonder how hard I have to work to truly surpass the legends,” Kiiara says.

By now, they have reached the massive library door. The door is already open. Kiiara finishes her statement, standing at the door, viewing the students walking by, as the cool breeze blows her long hair.

“No biggy, I’m sure in no time you’ll catch up,” Serena responds with a tap on Kiiara’s shoulder.

“As far as it’s you, I’m sure,” she adds with a smile. Kiiara turns to her, short of words, she smiles back.

“There you guys are,” a panting voice says.

“Cous Dubs, laziest talented guy I know, what’s up?” Serena responds, folding her arms.

Dubnet sighs and shakes his head.

“I’m tired of you Serena,” he replies.

“Tehehehe. Well hope you won’t be lazy in this tournament?” she asks, giggling.

“Hmmm…Well it depends though. It’s not necessarily being lazy you know,” he replies.

“Yeah yeah, whatever makes you sleep at night,” Serena responds, flicking her right hand up and down.

“Anyway let’s go get something to eat,” she adds and they leave the library entrance.

After an elemental dissemination bringing about tremendous destruction on a universal scale, humans now gained the ability to manipulate elements. The entire planet was restructured, even the size of the earth became far bigger than it was before and different kingdoms were formed. To the humans, it was a new dawn, a blessing however, with this gift came about great chaos. Not all humans got the gift of elemental manipulation and some got it only to a small level which is referred to as a domestic level. Nevertheless, there were those who got it on a large scale. Presently, most of the large scale elementals end up joining the military of their kingdoms to protect and fight for it.

The Academy known as Glory Royale, is one of the unique institutes which imbibes the training of aspiring elemental warriors into its curriculum and even holds a grand battle competition every three years to showcase the talents of its elite students. Most of the kings and elites in the society send their children or wards here to study and train. It is one of the few diverse institutes available which welcomes people from all kingdoms and one can say it is school to the best. Most of the graduates of Glory Royale are able to reach the level of vice captains, captains, generals, kings and on very rare occasions, emperors (This does not just talk about positions but also power class). The structure and layout of Glory Royale is so beautiful and like the name goes, it has a royal and classy touch to its every design.

Approaching very fast is the games competition held every three years at Glory Royale, The Glory Games. Most academy warriors (students) at Glory Royale have their eyes on this competition in order to showcase their abilities and prove themselves. Being the most anticipated tournament, even the prodigies are allowed to participate. For this, some academy warriors do not bother participating as they feel no need since the prodigies will win anyways however, the essence of this, is to see how far one can go even against these prodigies in play. There are different events involved in the glory games, so points from the different games add up to qualify a person for the main battle tournament although the prodigies already have automatic qualification to the main battle tournament, The Battle Royale.

It is the day for registration, everywhere is crowded as different students are going in and out of the registration centre. The centre is an open space with those in charge of registration at the front attending to the students and there are different stands around, giving out the needed gears for the games, while some are selling any additional equipment the student feels they need but is not part of the gears given by the school.

Dubnet, Serena and Kiiara are walking around looking for any additional equipment that will be of use to them.

“Hey bestie,” an excited female voice says.

“Dia!!” Serena responds with excitement as the two young girls hug themselves. Dia, a beautiful girl, has sparkling light grey eyes, fair-skin and long dark black hair with a silver strand at her hair front.

“You’re coming back?” Serena asks.

“Yeah, we just finished the inauguration and all,” Dia responds.

“Hoo…that’s great. Sorry we couldn’t come. How’s Diamond City though?” Serena asks.

“It’s alright. Diamond City is great as usual,” Dia replies.

“So…how were the fine boys eh?” Serena asks, with a quirky smile.

“Was Damian present?” she adds raising her eyebrows repeatedly at Dia.

“What if he was?” Dia replies as she raises her left eye brow.

“hmmmm??” Serena still with her quirky smile responds.

“Hmm all you want Rena, I told you I have no interest in him at all,” she adds.

“Nice to see you’re looking as shiny as ever,” Dubnet says, referring to all the shiny things on her; her diamond earrings, the ring on her left little finger, the diamond studs at the collar of her jacket and on her shoes.

“Thank you,” she replies with a smile. On the inside, she is seriously blushing thinking the shiny is referring to her looks. Also because it came from Dubnet.

“So you’re also participating in the tournament,” Dia says turning to Kiiara as the group keeps on walking.

“Well of course I am and I’m going to win,” Kiiara replies.

“Hahaha” Dia quietly laughs.

“You? Kiiara, you do know the best of best for our set will be there right?” she adds

“Are you saying you’ll even defeat your sister?” she asks.

Kiiara pauses and is silent.

“hm?” Serena turns to Kiiara.

“No need to think about small stuff like that, just give it your all,” she says.

Kiiara nodds with a faint smile as they keep walking. Dubnet looks to her and sees her mood is still a bit down.

“Cheer up,” he says, nudging her with his right elbow. She turns her face to him as they walk.

“Didn’t you say you’ll surpass the legends? Don’t give up before the battle even begins,” he adds.

“Who said anything about giving up,” she adds with a smile.

Bump!

“Ouch!!” Kiiara exclaims, as she bumps into a lady in front of her and falls backwards.

The rest of the group stop to look at what happened, with Serena trying to hold her laugh.

“My bad. Sorry, child,” the lady apologizes as she stretches her hands to help Kiiara up. The lady has long silky black hair with a tint of green and blue, fair-skin, slim in stature and her eyes have a mixture of green and blue splashes in them. She is wearing a long navy blue dress, having flowing long sleeves. Her countenance and the air around her are all in a calm state.

As she helps Kiiara up, she gazes into Kiiara’s eyes.

“Eyes so sinister just like his, the eyes of destruction, no, the flame of destruction,” she says, holding Kiiara’s right hand.

Kiiara is stunned for a while wondering what the lady just said.

“Hey! Let her go!” Serena says, with a serious look as she grabs the hand of the lady.

The lady looks at Serena and gives a faint smile,

“Little child yet to know anything about the world,” she says smiling as she turns to Serena.

“Hmm, hoo, what an interesting path you seem to have, I’ll like to see what you will make of it,” she adds as she lets go of Kiiara’s hand and Serena withdraws hers. She starts to walk away slowly then Kiiara snaps back and turns to look at her again.

“What was that all about?” Dia asks.

“I don’t know,” Kiiara replies, still looking at the lady.

“I’m sure it’s just some crazy lady looking for trouble,” Serena adds.

“Probably,” Dubnet adds, starring as the lady walks away.

Evening has come, at the top of a waterfall not too far from the registration centre but in quiet zone, sits two young boys. One with long dark brown hair, running down to his waist which he twists at several places, gold colored eyes, wearing a white long sleeve polo with the collars up, a pair of navy blue trousers and black medium length boots. He is sitting at the edge of rock bearing the waterfall, with his left knee up and his left hand on it. The other, has medium sized ash colored hair with a spiky edge at the back, onyx colored eyes, wearing a black medium sleeve t-shirt, a pair of black trousers and boots with some ash linings and designs on the boots. He is standing beside the other, having his hands tucked in his pockets.

“So, are you anticipating the games this year?” the one in black says, smiling as he looks at the sky.

“Anticipating hmm?” the one in white replies, with a plain face.

“Well I am hoping to see some promising talents,” he adds.

“Hmph! The only promises would be from the special class, even at that it still might not be enough for me,” the one in black says, still smiling as he turns, about to leave.

“Don’t underestimate anyone, Damian, you should go at full power no matter who you are fighting,” the one in white advises, as he turns to his right, facing Damian, the one in black.

“Full power?” Damian laughs.

“Give me a break, we both know if I go at full power only a handful of students can even think of surviving. Asides you, Tesla, Gerrar, Ainer, Erraz and Maka who else do you really think I can go at full power among the students?” he adds.

“Such confidence, don’t forget though that his children are also here. You should be careful against them especially Serena,” the one in white replies.

“Hmph!! The Falcon twins? Piece of cake. What I would really like is them allowing the seven of us do battle against ourselves,” Damian replies walking away with the usual smile on his face.

The day has finally arrived, the day the academy warriors of Glory Royale Institute have been anticipating, the day of the start of the Glory Games. It is a bright morning filled with a refreshing smell savoring through the air. Different dignitaries from various kingdoms are present alongside the large crowd that has gathered to watch the event unfold. A lot of people take watching the event seriously so as to scout for exciting potentials even people from the outskirts. The academy warriors are allowed to interact with their parents and relations who are present for the event.

At the event, the kings of the various kingdoms are duly represented, either by themselves or their ambassador. Now, after the elemental dissemination, the earth is divided largely into eleven kingdoms: Lightville, Galedom, Earthville, Blastille, Aquaville, Stormville, Soundville, Central Plains, Psyville, Darkville and the now extinct Ghostville not listing the lost islands, lost lands, wastelands and the free cities(outskirts). Glory Royale is located in Central plains whereby diversity to the maximum is accepted. It is called Central Plains not because it is located at the centre of the earth but because it was the first kingdom to be neutral to people from various elemental kingdoms and backgrounds.

Every king has an aura of greatness around them, the reason being that most times the kings are selected in their various kingdoms based on having the highest or close to the highest strength and skill in their kingdoms. Only few occurrences have happened whereby the king was appointed so due to his knowledge, benevolence or royal blood line however such kings have to be surrounded by very powerful and loyal warriors.

At the top of the viewing area in the arena made for the Glory games, one can feel the immense pressure emanating from there. The king of Lightville, Phoenix Falcon with his wife Diana Falcon, the king of Earthville, Gray Ignition with his wife Derene Ignition, the king of Aquaville, Hahydroh Flo with the queen his wife, Isabelle Flo, the king of Stormville, Farads Hertz with his wife, Luxxi Hertz and the king of the Central Plains, Echo Forge with his wife Thia Forge are gathered, standing not too far off from each other interacting with their children and representatives.

“Long time Dad, Mum. Good to see you again,” Kiiara and Serena both say, smiling at their parents as they give them a hug together.

“Kiiara, Serena good to see you are both doing well,” Phoenix, in his affirming deep and calm voice, says, with a smile. Phoenix has long dark brown hair reaching his back but not his waist, tinted with wine color at the end, which he packed with a wine colored ribbon, gold color eyes shining like the sun and a very light brown skin with a calm and easy going expression on his face sometimes. For this occasion, he is dressed in a white long jacket with golden thread linings spun to make different designs at the tip of each sleeve and collars which stand up close to his chin with a white shirt on the inside also, a pair of white trousers and a pair of white boots also with the golden thread linings spun around them, all made with a fine material. Diana, having great beauty and elegance, has a long faint colored blonde hair (looks like white with a mix of blonde) which runs down past her waist, unpacked, dazzling blue eyes just like Kiiara’s and a fair skin with a calm but strong countenance. For this occasion, she is dressed in a long white gown, with long wide sleeves which cover a bit of her hands and even her feet such that her footwear cannot be seen, with a gold piece of cloth hanging on her right shoulder, reaching her feet on both her front and back. She is also putting on long slim diamond earrings on both her ears and a ring having small diamond studs round it on her left ring finger.

“Mom, still beautiful as ever,” Kiiara says as they finish the hug.

“Dad,” she says, Phoenix looks at her with a wide smile waiting to hear a good complement too.

“Ugh!! You’re getting old,” she adds, bending her head to one side.

“What?!” he says with his left eye twitching as he reaches to grab Kiiara who quickly runs behind her mother.

Diana stands and folds her arms as she smiles at Phoenix bringing him to a halt.

“Ah,” he sighs.

“Well you can run now but you’re still coming home, right?,” he says with a sarcastic smile.

“Hmph!!” Kiiara sighs, sticking her tongue out at Phoenix and giggles.

They all laugh after her giggle.

“Well, trust you both will do great,” Phoenix says with his hands placed on Serena’s shoulders since she is standing close to him while Kiiara is standing close to Diana.

“And remember, no matter what happens here, just don’t give up,” Diana says, smiling and gently touching the cheeks of Serena and Kiiara.

“Definitely, I’m going to win,” the girls say at the same time.

“Hooo, Interesting,” Phoenix says to himself and Diana smiles at what happens.

Serena and Kiiara turn and look at themselves then smil at each other.

“Fine then, do your best Kiiara and may the best win,” Serena says as her gold eyes shine brighter.

“Of course,” Kiiara replies, smiling with confidence.

“Oh yeah!!!” Kiiara snaps.

“I’ve got to go play the drums for the opening ceremony,” she adds and leaves in a dash.

“Distinguished guests!!! The time for the Glory games is here once again!!!” the announcer shouts. Everyone takes their seats as the event takes off.

“Now for the opening song, the group, Light Beats will be performing,” he adds.

The crowd cheers as the music band performs the opening song, which is in the genre of soft rock, for the Glory games with Kiiara playing the drums for the group.

“A round of applause once again for the music band, Light Beats. A wonderful play from the drummer, Kiiara who will also be participating in the Glory games. Let’s hope she’s as good as she drums,” he says, adding a bit of laughter at the end.

“Now, for the opening speech, with a standing ovation and a round of applause, let us welcome...the King of Central Plains, Echo Forge!!!” he adds.

The crowd stands up as they clap their hands, welcoming the king of the Central Plains.

“Thank you all. You may please be seated,” the king of the Central Plains, Echo says, in his deep strong voice. Echo has long wine colored hair, reaching his back but not his waist which he packs with a black ribbon, wine colored eyes, a fair skin and often times, an expressionless face. For this occasion, he is dressed in a long wine jacket with random gold designs on it, white shirt, a pair of navy blue trousers and a pair of black boots reaching close to his knees having furry material at the top of each. The collar of the jacket also has the same black furry material like the boot. He also has a sword in its black sheath with gold designs on it, strapped to his belt around his waist.

“A pleasure to have you all here to witness another Glory games. We know how this started when the founder, The Absolute Blade, Ryusei Enten Novara, decided to make this school into a common ground for kingdoms to compete while developing their elemental abilities and skills. That legacy will continue for years to come. This Glory games is the ground where the students can showcase their training results and how much they have developed their skills and abilities. So, to the students, do your best and to the parents, teachers, guardians, viewers and scouts, enjoy the event. To this end, Let the games begin!” he says as he unsheathes his sword and raises it, pointing it at the sky while the crowd give a loud cheer. He then goes on to sit down.

“Finally the time has come!!!” the announcer shouts. Large screens hooked to large poles come up from the centre of the arena to showcase the events because the games will start from outside the arena.

“Now shall we?!” he adds.

The participants gather in a forest, somewhere afar off from the arena. Participating, are two hundred academy warriors, all clustered together.

“What’s going on?” “Why are we here?” “How did we even end up here?” “I can’t even see my buddies anymore,” they keep on murmuring among themselves.

“Ehem!” a lady standing on a pedestal in the middle front of the participants signals.

“I’m sure you are all wondering why you are here, or how you got here,” she adds.

“Well the answers are quite simple. You are here to start the race for the Glory games. On the maps you are holding, you will see different marked points, you are to proceed to them as arranged on the map. For example, you are at point A now which is the starting point, from the map you can see the next point is A1, that is where you are to proceed to next. You cannot proceed to point B without clearing A1 except in a special case where the rules are so or the administrator allows it. As for how you got here and why you are separated from your normal everyday friends, a special translocation technique was used to bring you here. You are not with your close friends as this activity is to see how well you can survive individually,” she explains.

“Now for the rules of this activity,” she continues.

“The aim of this activity is to get to point B after through point A1. At point A1 you will find there are some beasts to aid your movement. Your goal at A1 is to get a beast and journey down to point B on the beast. During the race, you are free to use whatever means within the rules of the school, to stop other participants as long as you can arrive at point B,” she further explains.

“Just to add a little note: Only a hundred and twenty participants will be going through to the next stage. So it’s more of a first come first serve basis. With this you can see that your biggest obstacles will be yourselves,” she adds with a wide grin.

“Now let the games begin!!!”

With an uproar, the students dash, making their way to point A1 to get their beasts. After all the participants dash forward, one boy remains. He is dressed in a long black jacket, having medium sized ash colored hair with a spiky edge at the back and is standing in front of the lady, with a wide grin.

It is Damian.

“You may have to excuse me,” he says.

The lady quickly moves behind the boy. Slowly, he places his left palm on the ground, facing the direction the students are running in, he says, “Elemental Release: Earth Style: Dynamic Labyrinth.”