Luke Finn woke up to find himself lying on a soft bed, his head swimming a little, the room was cool and the soft sheet below him felt more comfortable than any bed he had slept on. With a groan he sat up, his bow lay at his side, the icy blue curved bow with silver inscriptions on it glimmered in the shining ray of light. Getting his bearing he stared dumbly at the sentinels that stood guard at the door of whatever building he was currently in. the sentinel saw him awake and rapped his knuckles on the door while nodding at him,

“Where am I?’ he asked groggily,

“At the main mobile healer center,” the sentinel replied,

He was about to ask another question when a black tall woman entered the room, dressed in all black with a dark black bow behind her and insignia of a mountain with a bow above it on her cloth that served as a crest. It took a minute for his mind to realize who was standing in his front, unless he had been living under a rock, he had to be insane to not recognize the leader of the sect of the dawn archers and the ruler of the city of Solaris, Ayo. She walked briskly to his front, Luke being oddly aware that he was naked from the waist up, gathering the sheet he tried standing up as his sight became dizzy, what had affected him this way?

“you’re awake, good, I wouldn’t stand if I were you though, you were in the presence of the titan blade, the fact that you’re awake is a testament to your willpower in itself,” Ayo said,

“w-what happened to me?’ he asked,

“You, along with the four remaining finalists were given a trial by the titan blade, and you were the only one left standing, hence you won,” she said,

Luke stared at her as the words sank in,

“You mean…I..” he said, the words hanging in his throat,

“Yes, you advocate Luke Finn of the freezing bow won the tournament” she completed,

Sitting on a chair with a groan, she turned back to him and threw something to him that he caught, his eyes wide as he stared at the legendary core in his hands, his breath held in awe of the power that hummed through the orb, a rare artifact, even for the red zone, and the sect leader had thrown it to him like a piece of candy, perhaps the rumors were true that clan titan blade was stupidly rich. He turned his attention back to sect leader Ayo who stared at him passively, tapping an arrow on her knee,

“Thank you, I mean, I’m grateful to the titan blade for the reward he had given me,” Luke said with a shallow bow,

“You deserved it, he would be here, but my clan leader is a training freak, he’s currently nowhere near Bastion,” Ayo said,

“You mean he’s gone into the forests of the red zone? the monsters there are…oh,” Luke said as he paused with the raised eyebrow from Ayo,

Whatever creature that could take down the titan blade in the red zone would have done that a long time ago, to an advocate it could be a forest of nightmare and inevitable death, but to an expert such as the titan blade, it was a picnic. He placed the legendary dungeon core by his side,

“What next?” he asked,

“You tell me, you’re the one with the power to create a domain, an actual whole continent as a domain,” Ayo said,

Luke hadn’t really thought he could or would win the tournament, he had entered intending to fight stronger people and he had done so, he had bled for every bracket he had passed and his hard work had paid off, now the thought of using the core scared him, he was a one-man advocate, he couldn’t hold a domain by himself. He turned to her,

“What would be your advice?” he asked,

Ayo snorted, giggling,

“Left to me, I wanted to recruit you to the dawn archers, path be damned, but the titan was adamant that you choose your path going forwards, so here I am. My candid advice, find those you trust, gather people you know, and go far away, faaar away” she said,

“Far away? how far away…. you mean…” Luke said, the words hooking his throat,

“The thing is, the clan is pretty sure the other factions would come for you once they see we haven’t been able to recruit you, not because they want you, but for the core, how would you defend yourself against the might of those factions?” she asked,

Luke knew she was saying the truth, but the solution she was laying before him was suicide,

“I can’t do it alone, no one knows what’s in those continents?, they’re practically new to our world,” he said,

“Well, if you indeed want to take that path, the alliance of factions, meaning the clan, imperials, federation, theocracy, and the Bharat empire are willing to have a coordinated effort on the continent,” she said,

“And the price they want?” he asked, the world’s powers don’t move for a nobody, tournament winner or not,

“That you create a unique…organization, a neutral territory for ascenders who don’t want to be part of a faction,” she said,

“Like a guild or something?” precisely,

“Why?’

“To be honest I have no idea, the titan said something along the lines of the world needing it to maintain balance or something, like a new UN,” she said,

Luke kept quiet for a minute, his mind racing, it was a good idea, but the sheer scope of it was staggering,

“Plus, he would drop pointers on how to reach expert,” she said with a smile,

“Done,” he said in a flash,

She laughed at the blush on his face, who wouldn’t want to have the secrets to ascending to an expert? many advocates were stuck in that level, trying as they could to keep slaying rare monsters but apart from their skills slowly increasing, there were no differences.

“What is the secret?” he asked,

Ayo stared at him intently, and Luke began to feel a strange force weighing on him, not as much as weigh but like a sharp pointy feeling, should he move it’ll pierce through him, but it didn’t carry the strength of the titan like the titan blade had done on him, and with his willpower, he could push the feeling backward, although his sight swam and his head swam at the slight use of his willpower,

“Easy there soldier, you shouldn’t push yourself that way, not yet” she cautioned,

“Pardon, that feeling now placed me on edge, what was that?’ he asked as he panted,

“That was known as a realm, usually you should be dead to rights when I used it, but it seemed your contact with the titan blade has increased your willpower” she noted,

Luke checked and nodded at the realization,

“Good, so, advocate Luke Finn, what say you?” she asked,

“I am honored for the invite to the dawn archers, but my path as the titan rightly said lays elsewhere,” he said,

Ayo sighed, standing up,

“He said you’d say as much, however, once you leave this room, you are out of the protection of the clan, you would need to move fast, real fast, and while the clan and the alliance would hold back the wolves at the gate, well, we can only do so much advocate Luke” she warned,

Luke channeled the abundant aether in the air, refining it into battle intent as he took a deep breath, eyes glowing blue,

“I survived fine without it before the tournament, I can do so as well after” he replied,

Ayo smiled, clapping her hands as the guards opened the door to reveal clouds, his mind was finding it hard to assimilate what he saw, weren’t they at Bastion?

“Where are we?” he asked softly as Ayo came to his side to help him stand, his sight swimming a little,

“Well, you’ve been asleep for over three days Mr. Luke, the alliance, well, primarily the titan blade took the initiative to help move you safely across to your soon to be new domain,” she said,

With a startled look he stepped outside to what he now realized was a flying ship, one of the more battle-built ones,

“How? isn’t the continent way over the other side of the world?” he asked incredulously,

“One of the mysteries of the tian blade Mr. Luke, disappeared from Bastion only to call after a day from continents away to set up a tele hub on fresh continental ground” she explained over the loud whistling of the wind,

A burning light flashed by the ship as Luke’s eyes widened to see the imperial emperor gripping a flying monster in his hand as it screeched, burning up to a crisp from its proximity to him. William paused mid-flight,

“Mr. Luke, how nice to join us back in the land of the living, your domain is…quite lively,” he said with a smile before blazing again to catch another monster,

Luke stared at Ayo speechless before turning back to see another leader, this time archbishop Matthew floating in the air, golden wings behind him with what looked like a large golden book with white chains dangling from it floating beside him, he snapped his fingers and the sun suddenly shone brighter and a blinding light radiated across the skies, it touched him and it felt holy, cleansing, transcendent. It healed his body as he staggered at the strength that flooded his veins, the monsters though screeched as they combusted, the light acting as an anti-thesis to their bodies. He stood by himself as he watched the advocate of the federation, lord Perun laugh with his booming voice as he hacked at monsters on the ground below.

The Bharat emperor riding a bull monster that tried to push him off with no luck as he grabbed monsters and snapped their necks with his bare hands and behind him, four other hands shimmered to being as they also caught monsters. Luke was witness to the combined might of Earth’s advocates, he felt the power they exuded, their very presence commanding power and he realized he would soon have to command that sort of power. With one move he stretched his hand to his bow back in the room, the bow flying to his waiting hand, gripping his bow that felt…strange to him. He glanced at it to see it had been changed, eyebrow rising at what he could see from the information provided to him,

“a gift from the titan blade through his sect of the hammers of Ogun, sect leader Boyle upgraded your bow from an uncommon weapon to a named rare weapon,” she said,

He ran his hand across the curved wood that felt like metal, it hummed to the touch with barely restrained power,

Name: Blizzard

Type: Bow (archery)

Tier: Rare

Attributes:

Freezing haze: any attack used with this bow leaves a freezing debuff that drains the aether and life from the enemy till they die Glacier’s wrath: once a day, the wielder of blizzard can fire an arrow that ignores rank up to a level higher than the wielder to instantly kill an enemy. Strings of inevitability: the wielder needs no arrows as long as they have intent to feed the bow making this weapon one that never runs short of ammunition.

Luke grinned, drawing the strings back as he targeted a snake-looking monster in the distance, a frozen arrow appeared as he drew the strings, and with the eye of an advocate marksman, releasing it as the very air around the arrow dropped in temperature, the arrow whistling through the air before meeting its target, the creature screeching before freezing up and exploding in chunks of ice. Ayo whistled, Luke felt the other advocates turning their attentions to him and he stood straight and nodded at them, they nodded back in acceptance of the fact that he had decided to join their ranks. The screeches and roar of the monsters on the plains below drew all their attention as they ran in a never-ending horde, monsters all converging on a single spot where one figure in the distance where the figure somehow seemed to be beating back the hordes of monsters,

“Is that?” he asked, awestruck,

“Indeed, the titan blade has been biding his time, awaiting your awakening back to life, now that he senses you, it’s time to end this,” she said,

“You don’t seriously think he could survive against those monsters? we’re in a yellow zone! those monsters are level hundred and a bit below!” Luke said,

Ayo snorted and with a flourish drew her bow that shone with its golden color, drew the bow back as a red arrow blazed to life on its strings and shot it to the sky, it flared in the sky,

“Watch, observe” she simply said,

From the midst of the monsters a presence flared, Luke winced as he remembered the feeling, but this time, even at the distance, it felt stronger, so much stronger, like a mountain had descended to crush the monsters, Luke had to hold down the feeling of kneeling in submission, the titan blade was truly a force to be reckoned with.

“HOLD” the voice of the titan boomed, commanding even the very air around him to be still as the monsters all froze, and he heard a blade swinging through the air, the monsters were crushed to the ground before they got sliced in twos and threes.

Luke could only stare on in shock, the monsters that survived the first swing of the monster called the titan blade didn’t survive the second swing, dying en masse. At that moment it was over, only the titan blade stood, the blood and gore somehow avoiding his body as he stared at the carnage he had left behind. Then his gaze turned to Luke and locked on him, the advocate felt his breath restrict as the presence of the titan hovered on him before releasing him and in the blink of an eye the titan blade stood in his front, Luke took one step back before righting himself,

“hi, greetings, er..sir…blade? titan?” he stammered for a minute, the titan smiled,

“Moyo is fine to me, Luke Finn, the one who stood against my realm and didn’t fall, well at first,” he said,

“Realm?” Luke asked,

“In time, for now, come with me,” he said and vaulted off the ship with no care in the world like the ship wasn’t hovering high in the sky,

Luke turned to Ayo,

“you’d get used to his antics soon enough, he’s like that,” she said as she rolled her eyes at him,

Luke just went with the flow and with his advocate power flew gingerly through the air, advocate rank being where ascenders are given partial flight, too much speed and they lose control, too little movement and their cores still get drained at a stupendous rate, faster than they can refine the aether in the air. He followed the trail by the titan blade, seeing Moyo in the distance as he stood at a clearing, he stopped as the other advocates settled around them,

“Well? what do you think? a good place for whatever your domain would look like?” Moyo asked,

Luke glanced around, aware that the advocates were staring at him in amusement,

“Yeah, looks alright, so what now?” he asked,

“Now you bring out the legendary core and follow the steps, it’s intuitive really,” archbishop Matthew said,

Luke nodded and brought out the shining core as it blazed,

“So much power” he whispered,

“Indeed, you might want to get on with it though,” William said as they laughed, Luke smiling,

As he delved into the core, he could instinctively feel the process and around them, blue walls rose, giant structures with light blue metal gates that had carvings etched on them of images of a man with a bow slaying monsters, probably Luke. The ground they were on transformed into a tall building, enclosing them within it, the orb glowing as it became a wide table with a screen showing the map of the entire continent, the walls were marble and two golden columns stood at opposite sides of the room. Six gold chairs appeared as the table elongated into a rectangular structure, two chairs on the left, two on the right, one at the far end of the table, and one right next to him.

Luke sat on the chair with a deep sigh,

“Gentlemen?” he said as he motioned for them to seat,

“Well look at that, he fit right in the club,” Perun said as they laughed,

Moyo sat at the far end,

“You might need to set up your tele hub immediately, but seeing as you might be…short of funds, we are collectively going to help,” Moyo said,

“Why are you so invested in this?’ Luke asked softly,

Moyo sat back as he stared at Luke, William spoke first,

“The world we hope for is one where factions don’t decide the global laws that may or may not oppress those who decide to stay free of the factions, we need a body that serves to protect those independent people who owe no iron clad loyalty to itself, like a society for those who want to run wild in this new world, while at the same time going places where the factions wouldn’t want to go, discovering new places seeing as we have three continents unaccounted for,” William said,

“You want explorers” Luke simply said,

“See?, told you guys he was a natural” Moyo said,

“And how far are you giving us autonomy?” Luke asked,

“Effective after today, the factions would wash our hands off whatever form that society takes, however on our lands, should they break the laws and you can’t handle them, they answer to us,” Devesh said,

“Fair, I suppose this society can build branches across your territories?’ he asked,

“of course, that way they can answer calls for whatever needs investigating the factions don’t want to go answering, your society would have the first bite at whatever new place is being discovered,” the archbishop said,

“Even now we can’t claim to know all our territories well enough, the lands are still new and full of wonders and dangers,” Perun said,

“Seems like you guys have placed all these into consideration, however, shouldn’t the union and glorious empire be here?” he asked,

“The two factions connived to sow discord in our continent, hence we sent their leaders packing, we haven’t heard anything from their side, however, they should be in contact with you when they settle their issues, although, I’ll be careful of them” Moyo warned,

“Noted, now I have my terms,” Luke said,

“We’re all listening,” William said,

“My people would not be embroiled in your politics, we stay completely off them, you can’t try to take any talented people of mine unless they sign off willingly, any form of coercion would cause an immediate withdrawal of the explorer society from that zone,” he said

“Explorer society, I like it,” Moyo said as they all nodded,

“So we are in accord, da?” Perun asked,

“I believe so, but I can’t hold this city by myself, if I’m right the crisis would begin in 24 hours, right?” Luke asked,

“Indeed, as soon as you set up your tele hub, our sect members, those we can spare would be portaling in to hold it till you have enough advocates and other ascenders here,” William said,

“I thank you, but this task is no easy feat, it would take time, and resources,” Luke said,

“Take your time,” Moyo said with a smile,

***********

The next day, the video message went out to the world at large, the explorer society, one created for independent ascenders who wanted to be free to explore the new world while having the backing of a powerful society while paying a small token was created, it saw a massive exodus of independent ascenders from all the territories except the union and glorious empire who didn’t have their tele hubs linked to the explorer society’s hub. Soon the factions withdrew their sect members from the continent of the explorers’ society and recalled them back home.

The next week arrived and this time, the armadas of the archailects sect arrived, but this time they approached with caution, the titan blade stood in the sky, along with the leaders of the alliance, the union and empire missing, the world certainly took notice. Coming to an agreement that the overseer Atreus himself showed up for, there would be no incursions into the territories of the factions and an entire continent, the 9th continent was given to them to settle upon, with time friendly relations would grow, but for now, humanity was wary of these mostly humanoid aliens and any contact could potentially lead to conflict.