A World Of Decree: And The Seven Laws

On the other side, Atlas was greeted by another eye-blazing light which faded away to craft a mystical forest in front of him. Sky-scraping trees filled the scene with a dense, humid like presence around them. There was no sunlight, up above was a clear grey sky that provided only enough light to see about 20 feet ahead with the combination of the unpurified air. With all the abnormalities of the environment, the trees were the first to catch Atlas's attention. The roots from the trees began to flow with different elements, all the way up to the unviewable summit of the monstrous trees. Some had water, smoke, soil, and even fire that rose from what seemed like nothing.

The roots themselves were perched from the ground from unknown depths sunk underneath the hollow earth.

Before Atlas realized he couldn't move, the Grandmasters voice came ringing through the grey sky, "Congratulations, if you are standing here right now, you have made it to the second stage of this exam. We had around 51,000 applicants this year, and yet, only 2,562 of you remain. Don't worry, there are only 40 of you standing in this zone at this time. 20 of you have passed from Maverick, and 20 of you have passed from Limestone. Only two from each school will pass this current arena! This training zone is filled with magic-created elemental trees, which you are encouraged to use to succeed in this trial." A slight pause was given for the students to understand the situation they are in.

Once again, the grandmaster spoke, "This forest is filled with what you might see as beasts and monsters. However, these creatures carry your key to success, you may use your talents to defeat them in any way you see fit, and you will earn points by doing so. Points are earned from defeating different types of creatures relative to their size and strength. There are 5 different types of creatures, ranging from one to five points, which are given based on your performance and how tough the creature was... But how can we possibly have a game of points without a jackpot?"

The voice laughed and continued, "There is one creature worth a total of 100 points. This creature is a test of you as a person, it is up to you whether or not you take it on, but be warned, these creatures are allowed to, and will hurt you if you attack them. You are all equipped with a point tracker located around your neck. However, if you are blindsided and met with another player, each of you are allowed to steal the points of another by tagging a player on the red circle located on everyone's back with your magic. Now, with that in mind, the four with the most amount of points will pass after your ten minute timer runs out. With no time to spare, begin!"

A loud ring was delivered after the voice to signal the start of the stage, and all the students were able to move once more. Atlas looked down and saw a necklace which held up a small circular object that read "000" in the middle. This was the point tracker, he thought, as he also turned his head while tugging on his shirt which was now presented to him with a large red circle on the back.

As cool as all of this was to him, Atlas started sprinting through the bushes and the countless amounts of obstacles in his way to win. This was not the time for him to lose and he knew it. After all that he's been through, he needed to get those points on the board.

However, none of the students knew what was a good score to have for a guaranteed victory, it could be 10, 50, or even 100 for all they knew, so everyone would be trying their best. With all these outcomes and questions running through Atlas's mind, he was stopped short when he saw something very strange just a few yards up ahead. Sneakily approaching a large shrub of bushes ahead, trying his best to stay quiet on top of rubble and sticks below his feet was a challenge in itself.

He thought to himself in panic once he was able to make out what he was seeing, Is that... No way, how are we supposed to defeat that thing? The beast that Atlas was looking at was hard to depict due to it facing the other way. It stood about five feet tall, and with no knowledge of what it was, Atlas decided to sneak up on it. All that was visible was deadly brown fur, with no sight of any limbs just yet.

With every step being carefully planned out, being too careful, Atlas accidentally stepped on a dry piece of wood, almost breaking the silence between him and the creature.

"Ah shit," came out of his mouth out loud, this of course, caused it to turn around in a forceful way. Atlas now saw what he was trying to massacre, it was a human-sized hamster. Not only was this hamster undeniably large, it had razor sharp teeth and claws ready to devour its prey. With such deadly artillery, it still looked as cute as ever, which took away from the fear of its preposterous size.

Other than the initial shock from scene, Atlas's face turned into a battle-ready mode rather quickly. This was his first chance to get some points on his tracker. The hamster was not hesitant to make the first move as it began to charge at him with glowing red eyes.

Its sharp claws dug into the ground, gripping the earth to propel itself forward with every step. The luscious fur that covered the body of the beast rode the wind like clouds on a rainy day. Within seconds the first swing of it's claws nearly hit Atlas's face, but with a quick shift to his left, Atlas was surprisingly able to dodge its attack rather easily. The hamster drove its claws into the bark of a nearby tree, one that expelled smoke from its roots. Atlas could feel his magic concentrated in his movement which made his mind focus on the target, and adapt rapidly to the situation.

He only had one problem now - how was he supposed to defeat this thing? The hamster quickly removed its claws from the roots, extracting the smoke trapped within, filling the air with a grey musky blur within seconds. The ghastly grey smog blinded Atlas's vision of the hamster's movement, only making those bright red eyes charging at him more terrifying.

With too much time spent worrying about how he was going to attack, he lost his momentum that was built in, unable to dodge the following attack from the hamster, causing it to land a painful gash on Atlas's left arm. Atlas g.r.o.a.n.e.d in pain, but shrugged it off with revenge in his eyes. It wasn't deep, but enough to cause his blood to creep onto his skin. The magic from before that guided his motions now angered his defining injury and his seed towards his victory. He rose up, already in sight of the hamsters next attack.

He pictured this fight similar to his brawl with David, a right hook to start, and a left to follow as plan B. The hamster leaped into the air, both claws at the ready to take his head off. Atlas was ready, he wasn't going to dodge this time, there was no direction to dodge in anyway. As the hamster slowly descended onto Atlas, he pulled back his fist, matching the glow in his eyes with the beasts'. With full concentration on his right hand, he forced his fist into the center of the hamster body.

As his blow connected with the hamster's c.h.e.s.t, his fist was swallowed by the fur, but it was enough to negate its claws from reaching his face. A slight gust of air from the hit flew into tiny specs of wind surrounding the point of impact, and instantly, the hamster was sent flying at lightning speed into the nearest tree, shattering it into a million pieces, similar to a piece of glass.

Atlas was now breathing heavy and rapidly due to the magic power he just used to acquire his very first victory. A slight chuckle came from him, and a thought of, "That better have been at least five points, no way can I pull that off again."

He looked down at the tracker which now read, "001." His smile and laugh was now wiped to disappointment, followed by "There's no way. There are creatures out there up to five times stronger than that thing."

At the same time, this stage was being watched by countless judges and Princewood staff up in the sky. One of the voices was heard to announce the five minute mark of stage 2, while another was focused directly on Atlas. Two unknown voices were watching Atlas as he dropped to his knees while one of them said, "Let's take him out, there's only five minutes left and he is gravely injured from a one-pointer. He can't pass this exam, he doesn't stand a chance. Let's end his misery, it was a good fight."

Another familiar voice replied, "No. I have faith in him, I actually kinda ran into him before the exam."

"Are you serious? You better not have told him about where you work you know, that's against the rules."

"Don't worry, I didn't tell him anything. However, he's different from your average Princewood first-year, and I have hope that even you will meet him very soon too."

"If you say so. But if he gets injured one more time, we're taking him out," the first voice said as he turned back around to watch Atlas still sitting there on his knees, looking down at his tracker. Before Atlas could get back up, he was knocked in the back by what seemed like a small flame from behind him. His shirt caught on fire for a split second but instantly vanished before any serious damage could be done.

Atlas was now laying on the ground, uninjured from the flame, and able to pick himself back up to try to understand the situation. As he got up he saw a boy about the same height as him with bright blonde hair that was thrown up and over to have his forehead mainly exposed. He seemed to occupy a very sorry expression on his face as he spoke, "Listen, I'm really sorry man, but this is a free-for-all, and I have a lot of people counting on me…"

Before he could say anything else he ran away as Atlas looked down at his tracker once more, only for it to read "000" this time. Just his luck, the announcer stated the three minute mark, but something else as well, "All the creatures have been defeated, congratulations to those that managed to score numerous amounts of points. However, there are still three minutes remaining, and the jackpot has now been released."

Atlas was barely even paying attention to the announcer, the world around him quickly started becoming soundless, empty, and filled with grief. The only thing he could think of is how he had zero points with nothing else left to fight against. However, he was quickly distracted by the fact that a large number of kids his age started running right past him from the direction he was facing. The commotion brought back the world he was in once more, grabbing his attention like waking up from a nightmare. One of the kids managed to let out a scream towards Atlas, "What the hell are you doing! run kid! That thing isn't worth it man."

Atlas soon realized what he was talking about as he was left standing by himself, with only the sound of kid screams behind him fading away, and the sound of large thumps in the ground moving closer.

Not long went by until the tree in front of Atlas fell over, nearly killing him. But he managed to get out of the way in time, landing on his injured arm, causing a quick burst of pain. However, Atlas was now faced with the monstrosity that knocked the tree itself.

Standing roughly 50 feet high was a shadow like humanoid creature, which had glowing black flames escaping its body, with nothing but two abyssal eyes and a nightmarish plain white smile. Atlas was a like a pebble looking at a mountain, but fear didn't take him in. Although his mouth completely dropped at the sight of this monster, he kept his cool, and knew he had nothing to lose.

Adrenaline coursed through his body like never before as the monster swung his gigantic arm at the ground, only for it to make a devastating noise, but miss its actual target. Leaves, sticks and rocks flew in all directions from the impact, leaving a crevice in the earth below. However, the brutal blow created a devastating shock wave, sending Atlas flying backwards, but he managed to get his grip with the ground quite easily.

This thing is actually quite slow - it's just strong as hell. And what do I have to lose? I have zero points anyway, not like their going to let a kid die in here. He even laughed a little to himself due to his situation, but he was ready for his turn to shine.

The mysterious voices from before spoke on the watch once again, "Okay I've had enough of this, he's going to get himself killed. Im ending this!"

"30 seconds remain!" called the announcer in the next room of the 2 men.

The other voice interrupted, "If this was any other time, or any other kid, I would agree with you. But I can tell... No, I can just feel that things are about to get interesting, I can tell by the smirk that kid has on his face, he's just having fun.

The other man looked at him in anger and said, "Fine, but if he dies, it's on your hands, not mine."

They agreed as the announcer now stated the 20 second mark of stage two.

Atlas, was now just laughing while dodging the creatures pointless attacks until he heard the announcer. His face quickly changed to seriousness, locking eye contact with those devilish flames above him. With 10 seconds left, he only had one window of opportunity, and only one attack available.

"10!"

On the next swing from the monster, Atlas not only focused his momentum on the dodge, but focused his magic to the bottom of his feet. Quickly jumping into the air with the momentum of his magic, sending him leaping 10 feet high on to the monsters hand while it was plunged into the earth.

"9."

Atlas barely managed to stay on, but got himself to stand as the monster lifted its hand from the ground, sending Atlas flying to the peak of the trees.

"8."

He screamed at the top of his lungs for that split second he was able to see 100 feet below him. He's been through this before, he knows what it feels like to fall, to grasp the air that guides him to death.

"7," before he started to be taken by the ground below, excitement filling his spirit made his joy come back.

"6," His initial scream of fear turned to a battle cry as he started to get pulled by the fierce gravity towards the head of the monster.

"5."

Atlas clenched his hands together, ready to unleash his force into that devilish smile that was staring right back at him.

"4."

With hopes for the best, Atlas filled his entire body with his magic and the air around him, shooting his fist into the dark flames of that damned face.

"3."

As soon as Atlas made contact with the monster, all the flames and the mere presence of the being simply vanished into a swirl of air like it was never even there.

"2."

Before he knew it, Atlas was falling through the trees with nothing but air between him and the ground.

"1."

Atlas waited for what's to come from this fall, but his expectations came up short when his fall was stopped. Coincidentally, it was exactly at the moment when the announcer yelled the final number of the countdown.

Atlas was now hovering in mid air, just a couple inches from the dirt, until he was released, and fell very softly into the ground, face-first. He climbed back onto his legs, unsure of what has just happened, and looked down to see that his tracker was gone.

Panicking, Atlas said to himself, "It must've fallen sometime during that farce, now what am I goin-"

His thoughts were interrupted by the announcer again, "Thank you for all of you who have participated from both Maverick and Limestone. You all have proved worthy of entering the second stage of this exam, however, only four of you have enough points to pass to the next stage. For the other 56 students, your memories will be erased of the event to discourage any cheating for future physical trials. Now then, along with the top four. In first place, Rina Ambrose from Maverick, with a total of 148 points."

As soon as the point number reached the ears of all the students, everyone began to talk in pure shock that even Atlas - who was standing by himself - could hear the pure gasps of the students from the distance.

The announcer continued, "In second place, Leo Embers, from Limestone, with a total of 108 points. In 3rd place, with a very close call, Atlas Bright, from Maverick, with a total of 100 points."

Once Rina heard those words, a slight smile perked on her face. On the other hand, Atlas, nearly started crying tears of joy as he fell on his knees and raised his right fist into the sky. It was his symbol of victory, pride, and loyalty to him that he hasn't been able to use in a very long time.

"And in 4th place, Paris Claire, from Limestone, with a total of 82 points. That sums up the current rankings, thank you all for participating and we hope to be apart of your future endeavors."