MMORPG : Ancient WORLD

As the two of them made their way to the massive palace, the front of the uppermost section exploded into smithereens from within, sending stone debris skyward in a violent eruption.

Massive chunks of the palace roof and walls covered and mixed in ice shot into the air, raining down in a deadly cascade of debris, crashing to the ground in a thundering crash.

Alex looked into the gaping hole and saw thick, roiling clouds of smoke pouring outward, but on closer inspection, he realized that it was not smoke but clusters of ethereal beings, denizens of the spectral plane.

The forms of shadowy jinns flickered between transparent and solid as they moved with unnatural fluidity, each one ghostly dark with elongated limbs, their eyes glowing dimly from within the maelstrom of their smoke-like bodies.

The inside of the palace was cloaked in a thick layer of frost, frozen in jagged spikes of ice that pushed outward through the walls like a monstrous jaw.

Alex saw something amid the swirling darkness and there stood, a figure standing tall among the twisting shadows, who held a massive scythe, its dark blade glinting with an eerie, dark aura, lightless but brimming with malevolent power.

The figure himself stood, nearly three meters tall, it loomed at the edge of the opening, like a specter of death, veiled in a flowing, shadowy cloak, that shifted constantly, never truly still, occasionally revealing glimpses of black armor he wore.

The armor clung to the figure's muscular frame, its surface as dark as the inky void and etched with deep, arcane symbols that pulsed with faint energy.

The man himself was barely recognizable within the roiling darkness and screaming jinns, his skin as dark as a cloak, rough and almost charred-looking, his visage that of a four-eyed dog, with the two upper eyes glowing a fierce red, while the lower ones gleamed with a pale, cold yellow.

In a flash, there was another explosion, another section bursting into smithereens, shards of rubble and half-frozen stone raining down, and as the smoke cleared, Alex saw the two blades locked in place, no one willing to give an inch.

Alex saw the two opposing figures make a small exchange, but the voices did not make out because of the elemental chaos.

Asher kept moving forward, paying no attention to the ongoing clash, and though tempted to watch the battle between the two monarchs, Alex knew what the future held for the realm and knew that such opportunity would present itself more than a few times.

Alex closely followed Asher, their surroundings dissipating away as dust, while any falling debris or rouge tendril of energy that came at them suffered the same fate, leaving no hurdles in their way as they walked through the gates of the palace.

"Sir Asher, the ability to turn the entire city to dust, is this a unique skill or something related to your elemental control," Alex asked as the two walked through the pitch-dark corridors of the palace.

It was a simple question out of curiosity, not something that bothered Alex if he did not learn about it, but he asked about it just to take his mind off the details he had learned.

"It's just the application of elemental dominance on a much bigger scale, something any Elemental Ruler could achieve by erasing other laws from a selected area, something that one learned to do before they are granted their own Authority,"

"An Elemental Domain," Asher replied, not minding the question, knowing what Alex was trying to do.

Alex knew what he was talking about, and knowing he was certainly a Monarch, it made sense since, at his level, he no longer needed an elemental domain to wield similar strength.

However, it was still surprising to see how effortlessly he erased the city and its millions of residents.

Alex did not ask any further questions and kept walking in silence, observing his surroundings as the two made their way deep underground, going straight to the gateway located beneath the place.

After a few minutes, they entered a massive underground chamber that, unlike the rest of the palace, was brilliantly illuminated, thanks to the massive portal located in its center.

The portal pulsed with an ever-shifting kaleidoscope of vibrant colors, casting the chamber in its luminous glow while releasing waves of mana crashing against the walls that got absorbed by the runes etched across their surface, ensuring none of the energy went to waste.

"You can enter any time you want," Asher said before disappearing into thin air.

Alex walked toward the dimensional gateway and stopped mere meters away, feeling the warmth and mana it released while wondering what type of trial awaited him.

The dimensional gateways were a coveted thing in the ancestral realm, as most, if not all, of them were in the possession of powers since each one could lead to a pocket dimension filled with resources and treasures, but only by acquiring the entry token could one hope to enter.

There were ranks to entry tokens and the pocket dimensions each one led to, and common and epic grade tokens could be used on any dimensional gate since all were connected, but legendary and unique ones could only be used on specific gateways.

The token Alex had was of legendary grade, which he luckily acquired, but then again, it did end up costing him a platinum-grade wish to reach this place and make use of the token.

However seeing how all things panned out, it was more than worth it and now he just had to make sure to clear the trial and acquire the sword, so he could get back what was rightfully his.

Alex took a moment to clear his mind, and while a few minutes were far from enough, with what he had learned, even a few days would not do much, so without any further delay, he placed the token into the gateway.

The token floated in the center, slowly devouring the immense mana around it, making the flaming phoenix carved on the token burn, its once dull, lifeless eyes flaring to life with a fierce crimson glow.

The flames surrounding its body flared brighter, and its eyes now glowing like molten embers. Its feathers took on a lifelike sheen like the phoenix rising anew from the ashes.

As the transformation reached its peak, the gateway portal, once a swirling kaleidoscope of vibrant colors, began to darken, the bright hues fading away, shifting to deep, shadowy tones, as the portal began to pulse between shades of gray and black.

Alex took a deep breath, firming his grip on his sword, before he stepped into the portal, taking hold of the entry token with his left hand, as he disappeared into the portal in an instant.

Alex felt the warmth, which he expected since he believed that the trial would be related to fire, but then, in a flash, he felt the bone-chilling cold. In the next moment, he felt like he was drowning, followed by being stretched like a rubber band.

Each experience was worse than the last, and with each moment, Alex felt closer to death, feeling like his body would be torn to pieces or burned to ash, but as quickly as those sensations came, they vanished, leaving just a mental image.

There was only darkness for the following few seconds, but his body felt fine, like nothing had even scratched him, and slowly, the darkness began to fade away, but with the darkness, all of his senses also began to fade away, something that made startled him.

As the darkness faded away, Alex regained some of his senses, but almost immediately, a wave of discomfort washed over him, followed swiftly by panic, as he realized that his body felt distant, disconnected from his control like it no longer belonged to him.

Alex tried to move, but there was nothing, no feeling, no control, and the sensation of being frozen in place was overwhelming, but he kept calm as his vision, although a blur, was still there, and so was his hearing.

It took a few moments for the twisting shapes and the distant sound to become clear enough to be recognizable, and what he saw shocked him to his core.

Alex heard the rhythmic sound, metallic and heavy, something he recognized as a hammer striking steel, and then he saw arms, long and refined, every muscle fiber visible beneath taut, shadowy skin.

The skin seemed to absorb the very light around it, darker than the surrounding void, and with a single glance, Alex recognized those arms, as he could never forget them since they belonged to one of his biggest questions and, for lack of better words, fear.

"Dark," Alex said aloud, but the thought only sounded in his mind.

They belonged to Dark, the entity whom Alex had seen once in a dream, and the realization that he was not himself and was experiencing Dark's memories, again hitting him like a crashing wave.

This wasn't the trial he had expected, a test of fire, some simple battle or endurance, no, he was plunged into something far more different.