A swirling portal of blue took shape before the tall gates of a gloomy castle. Its appearance bearing an uncanny resemblance with the Zones from Earth.
The portal rippled but instead of a beast emerging it was a man. He was tall standing just a little over 6 ft. His shoulders were broad and though he wore a trench coat to cover himself, it couldn't hide the well defined muscles hidden within. His eyes were mismatched with the left one being blue and the right being red.
Behind him a woman stepped through. Her soft heels clicking against the hard stone. Her eyes constantly shifted around as though she was expecting to be jumped by an attack at any moment. She was young barely being over 25 years of age. Her sunflower hair swayed gently behind her.
"Um…where are we? Are we in a Zone?" she asked.
The man merely chuckled. His voice rough and deep. He shook his head.
"We stand before my master's castles. Very few of us are permitted to entry here"
The girl couldn't help but let out a puzzled expression. Small eyebrows rising slightly. If that was the case then why did he bring her here?
More importantly how did this man use a Zone as a means of transportation? What was this organization?
Questions fired off in her neurons. But the answers never came.
A few weeks ago this man had suddenly knocked on her apartment door. He knew her name and he also knew about her powers. Yet she didn't know anything about him.
She clenched the seams of her dress tightly.
The groaning of the doors pulled her out of her thoughts. She covered her eyes, the sound grating.
The doors only stopped making that unpleasant noise when they were fully open. The light from the moonlight spilled into the wide hall.
The man entered and she followed. The inside smelled of incense and something else she couldn't quite put wrap her head around but if she had to describe it, it would be clinical.
The hall was silent except for the rhythmic echoes of their shoes. The inside of the castle felt hollow. Devoid of life. Rolls of cracked pillars rose on either side of them some slightly cracked as though weathered from the duties of holding up the ceiling up above.
She looked around slightly uneasy and slightly curious.
She had never seen a place like this on Earth, even in pictures.
She took another step forward only to bump in a solid wall. She fell to the ground.
"Oof"
Mild annoyance filled her gaze as she looked up only to find the solid figure of the man standing straight as a bamboo.
She rose slowly paying attention to her surroundings. Only now did she notice him standing before a step that led all the way up a raised throne. She looked up, only for her pupils to tremble in terror.
Her face lost all color and she looked to be on the verge of passing out.
There seated upon the throne was…a man? A monster? She couldn't decide.
He sat in a relaxed posture, his back leaning heavily against the backrest of the throne. The top left side of his head was cracked open to the point that she could see pink flesh. His body was covered in burns that seemed to have run deep into his body. Bits and pieces of flesh were missing along the length of his legs and arms, leaving bones exposed.
And worse than that, a blood hole appeared in his chest revealing no one but two steady beating hearts.
The man who had led her hear took a bow.
"First seat greets master"
The monster in the throne casually waved off his bow.
"Third seat Yamaru has perished" when he spoke the entire hall trembled. His voice carried a strange power, one that seemed to want to swallow everything. The half dead man tilted his head in her direction and when her eyes made contact with those black pools in his eye sockets…
A chill went down her spine. Her stomach knotting as though it wanted to spew out whatever she had eaten. It felt as if she were looking through a pool of absolute darkness and from that darkness, something peered right back at her.
She keeled over, overwhelmed by intense need to empty her stomach. She gasped for breath, her lungs malfunctioning at that moment. She coughed and wheezed.
The man looked away, the grip of terror that held her like a vice only now loosening.
"You must be Elara" the man in the throne said offhanded before paying attention to the First Seat.
'She had peered into the Abyss without losing her mind. Interesting' his face never betraying his thoughts
"He must have faced off against Immortal Flame" he leaned his head against the throne. "Even while stripped of most of his power I underestimated him…although the old dragon has finally breathed his last"
That was a win in his consideration. It had taken a great deal of resources to keep him sealed and even with his core stripped from him, he was still immensely powerful.
Now however that problem had been expunged.
"What are your orders master?" First Seat asked.
"I'll need about 3 years before I fully recovered. Formulate your plans to disrupt those…what do those Earthlings call them?"
"Hunter Universities"
"Yes. While those who are at the Lord Realm…what you call S-Rank hunters, are currently beyond your current capabilities. You should be able to nip growing talents"
First Seat bowed deeply. "It won't be a problem"
"Good. You may go now"
Elara followed the man- First Seat, out of the hall.
The large door closing behind her. However just before it shut
"I have high expectations. Dear Elara" she heard.
The doors shut.