Zone K

Three horses galloped across the snow-covered valley. Each one had a soul witch from Sentinel riding them. This was Team Grim. They were headed for a gorge and towards the end of this narrow path, they would find the gate that would lead them into Sanctum, the spirit world.

When they reached the end, they saw the gate. It was made of stone and was shaped like a circle. Nothing was in the center of it. The structure stood slanted in the dirt. In front of this door was another stone circular platform with ancient text around the edge.

The horses slowed down as they came up to it. The guy with short white hair who was sat on the leading horse clicked a button on the collar of his Sentinel uniform.

“Sentinel, this is Loki of Team Grim. We’ve arrived at the gate.”

“Understood,” said Lenos from the stronghold. They were communicating through comms and the only reason why that was possible was because of the tracer that followed them. “Have you encountered any enemy forces?”

Loki got off his horse and the rest of his team followed. He had another guy with him and a woman. The guy had spikey red hair and a scar under his gray left eye, however, the right eye was black. The woman with them had long curly hair that went beyond her skirt. It was lavender to match her blue eyes.

“There’s been no sign of cultist activity, nor shade sightings,” Loki replied.

“Proceed with caution Team Grim. Opening a gate will certainly attract shades.” Lenos warned.

“Thanks for the heads up.” The redhead guy replied.

Team Grim walked towards the gate. Even though it was slanted, it was still five foot taller than their tallest member, which was Loki himself at the height of 5’11”.

Loki turned to his team, “Elise, Jester, you both remember the plan?”

Jester pushed his fist into the palm of his hand and gave Loki a smile while Elise nodded.

“Elise, open the gate,” he told her.

“Alright,” she said as she walked onto the circular platform.

When she reached the center of it, she pulled out her left arm with her palm facing the sky. “Mythic Gate Open, Millennium Soul!” She cried out. Her uniform changed, and she wore a mage rob. Glasses appeared on her face and an amulet was around her neck. She held a book in her left hand and it opened to a random page. Writing that copied the symbols on the platform she stood on, wrote itself on the page in her book.

“Decode,” she whispered.

There were fifteen symbols around the platform and each began to glow in no specific order. When one would glow, the same symbol on the page in her book would do the same, but in blue. Afterward, both the marking on the ground and in the book would cease to glow and another would take its place. Though, as she continued to do this, certain markings stay glowing and with each one, a sound could be heard granting access to the soul witches.

After the eighth symbol was decoded, a fog appeared from where they came from. Loki and Jester turned around as Elise continued to focus on the gate. They heard armor and footsteps coming from the fog.

“Here they come,” Jester said.

“Let’s go Jester.” Loki ran towards the fog, “Eclipse Gate Open, Titan Soul!” His uniform turned into a long black and green trench coat. In his hands, was a scythe with a long blade.

“Right behind yah! Nova Gate Open, Fissure Soul!” He bashed his knuckles together and suddenly wore a long maroon fur jacket. He had golden gauntlets on. His right had a bull with both horns, while the left only had one.

Coming out of the fog, all white armored knights charged at Team Grim with swords and shields. These creatures had no face and could not speak properly. They were known as shades, the army of the divine.

“Protect Elise!” Loki shouted.

Jester launched himself forward and pulled back his right arm. He aimed for a group of five and his gauntlet started to electrify. Red electricity surrounded it and when he got close enough, he punched the middle shade.

“Fissure Soul, Explosive Impact!”

The shade exploded and forced the other four to die with it. Jester was still standing and swung his left arm at a shade coming towards him. His left hook pushed the shade back into another. Out of nowhere, he appeared in front of the shade again and punched it with his right gauntlet. The impact tore up their bodies and they disappeared. Jester was now in the middle of the army fighting off as much as he could.

Loki walked forward swinging his scythe. One by one, he sliced a shade, killing it instantly. Although this was not a challenge, he still had to be careful. If he was as eager to fight as Jester was, Elise would be vulnerable. That is why he had planned for Jester to head to the middle of the army while he covered Elise from the front.

As more and more shades fell by the hands of Loki and Jester, they started to get more agitated. Their attacking patterns changed and once they got used to how they fought, they adapted quickly.

Jester threw a punch at one of the shades, but it blocked it with its shield. This only pushed the shade back a few feet. It then swung at Jester, but he caught the sword with his left hand. He pulled the shade closer and grabbed its face. With his right leg, he tripped it and slammed it on the ground as hard as he could. Afterward, he threw the body against one of the walls. When the shade disappeared, he was surrounded by six more.

“Come on!” They all rushed at him and he fought back.

While that was going on, the shades who managed to get pass Jester started to run towards Loki and Elise’s position. A couple of the runners managed to distracted Loki by grabbing on to his scythe so that others could get to Elise.

“No you don’t.” Loki shook off the shades grabbing his scythe and sliced them in half. He then turned to the four shades that headed straight for Elise and threw his scythe. All four shades were cut in two before they could reach Elise. When he grabbed his weapon back, he swiftly turned around.

“Titan Soul, Gaia’s Rage!” Loki stabbed the ground and spikes of stone rose from underneath the surface. Multiple shades were stabbed, but he truly aimed for Jester.

A spike lifted Jester in the air. Not only did this save him, but it also gave him the advantage he needed. When the spike stopped rising, Jester jumped off and was lifted high in the sky. He balled his hands into a fist and both gauntlets were charged with red electricity.

“Fissure Soul, Shattered Earth!” As he landed on the ground, Jester slammed his fists on the snow. The ground cracked and lifted around him. All the shades in the area either got killed on impact or impaled by the massive crater formed from under him.

The last symbol on the platform and in Elise’s book started to glow. Her talisman, which turned out to be a third eye, opened and shot a beam at the center of the gate. A portal to Sanctum appeared and she yelled at her teammates to inform them about it.

Jester looked back and leaped over a few shades that were stuck under his crater. He went to Loki and told him that he can handle the rest of the shades himself. As Loki headed towards Elise, Jester saw all the shades coming for them. There was about forty to fifty in his sight and many more behind that.

He took a few steps forward and inhaled deeply. After exhaling, he closed his eyes and grabbed his left arm. Kneeled to the ground, his left hand was placed on the snow. He felt the ground shake as the army of shades got closer.

“Fissure Soul…” he whispered. After waiting a few seconds, he opened his eyes, but something was different about him. His left eye, which was once gray, was now red.

“Earthquake!” His whole body sparked with red electricity as the earth began to shake. Because of the magnitude, the two cliffs that were beside them started to fall apart. Even the three bridges that attached from one side of the gorge to the other broke apart and fell on the divine army. Boulders fell from the top and crushed multiple shades and eventually started to pile up on each other. This formed a massive wall that would take the shades awhile to climb over.

“Is the gate stable?” Loki asked Elise.

“Yes, but you have to hurry. I’m not sure how long you’ll have before it collapses,” she warned.

He nodded and entered the gate. His body was soon transported in a different world not familiar to human eyes. Everything he would use his senses for was useless in Sanctum. The only thing that he could rely on was his comrades to keep the gate open because if the gate closed while he was still inside, he would be lost to them forever. Loki would be stuck in the world of spirits.

Jester got back up and walked over to Elise.

“I bought him some time. How long do you think he’ll be?”

“I’m not sure, it varies from person to person,” she said with concern.

“Well I’m sure he’ll-” Jester stopped talking. He heard the rubble move and turned around. Shades were digging their way through the blockade rather than climbing it.

“What?!” This caught him by surprise, but he still stood firm. It was when one of the shades broke free and made a path for more when he started to move.

“Keep the gate open no matter what!” He yelled as he ran towards the shades running at him and her.

All Elise heard was the sound of Jester clashing with the army of shades behind her. She wanted to help, but at the same time, she knew she could not. He post was on the platform holding the gate up. Elise had faith in her comrade and Jester proved her faith right.

Team Grim was not a force to be reckoned with, but neither was the army of the divine.

As Jester fought against the shades coming out of the blockade, pebbles from to fall from above them. At first, they both thought it was left over debris from when Jester caused the earthquake, but they were mistaken.

Jester looked up and saw shades who started to fall from the edge of the cliffs. They landed closer to Elise and tried to attack her, but Jester was faster. He managed to save her and kill the shades, but even more broke free from the blockade.

“These bastards just won’t quit…” he complained while trying to catch his breath.

More dropped from the top and one managed to push Jester onto the ground with its shield.

“UGH!” He cried out.

Jester looked up and saw a shade in front of him. It swung its sword and he rolled away. When he stopped, he laid flat on his back and lifted himself up. Behind him, was another shade that tried to attack from behind, but Jester grabbed the sword and threw him into another shade. After that, he turned around and punched a shade that went for an attack as well. He then jabbed a different one, killing it in one blow.

He suddenly turned around and saw many more shades between him and Elise. A few of them were close enough to kill her.

“Elise!” He cried out, but there was nothing she could do.

If she stopped what she was doing and dodged of blocked the attack, it would mean shutting the gate for good, trapping their team leader in Sanctum, but if she continued to keep the gate open, she would die and Loki would still be lost in the world not familiar to humans.

Jester tried to run as fast as he could to get to her, but no matter how many shades he brought down, two more would replace it.

Because he was in a rush, an opening appeared, and a shade managed to cut his leg, which made Jester tumble over. At that point, he knew he was not going to make it to Elise in time.

He reached out his arm as he saw three of more shades lift of their swords and slice down at Elise. He screamed out her name once more and it echoed throughout the gorge.

A shade walked in front of him and lifted its sword with both hands. Jester stared right into its hallowed helmet as it swung down to kill him, but suddenly, its movement stopped. Out of nowhere, a spear stuck through the shade’s chest. It dropped the sword and disappeared.

“Huh?” Jester was confused. He thought he was a dead man for sure.

The spear lifted itself and flew pass Jester’s head. He turned around and followed where the spear was headed. Upon the pile of rocks was another Eclipse user. The person jumped down and landed in front of Jester.

“Are you okay?!” It was Aleyos. “My name is Aleyos Angelourus, I’m a member of Team Trinity. We were sent here by Sentinel to assist you.” Aleyos pulled out his hand and helped Jester back up on his feet.

“Trinity? You’re that new team that joined Sentinel a few weeks back. I’m fine-” Jester immediately remembered Elise and turned around. “Elise!”

“I’m fine!” She called back.

Every shade that separated him from her all had arrows in their heads. More rocks fell from above them and both Aleyos and Jester looked up. Shades continued to fall from the cliff edges, but Yuto followed them.

“Awakened Soul, Scattershot!” He shot a singular arrow that separated into multiple ones and killed each shade before landing near Elise, Jester, and Aleyos.

“We won’t let them get to her.” Yuto pulled the string on his bow and fired an arrow at another shade.

Jester watched as both Yuto and Aleyos fought against the waves of enemies that were before them. He shook his head and smirked a tiny bit.

“This fight is far from over!” He cried out and rushed with Aleyos and Yuto towards the army of shades.