Amare didn't know how long it had been since him and Multa were swallowed by the tree. The surroundings were pitch back, you couldn't even see your hand infront of your face. Although it was not cold Amare felt a chill run down his spine.

Being in complete darkness with no sounds other than breathing made it impossible to keep any sense of time. It felt like they'd been sucked into an abyss, into an endless and empty world.

Multa was the first to break the silence "Oi brat what is this place?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

"What do you mean you don't know? You're the one who dragged us here?"

"A few days ago I saw this tree eat a small animal... I thought I could get it to eat you aswell so I dragged you here, other than that I know nothing about this tree"

Being in complete darkness with no concept of time was enough to drive even the most composed of men crazy, let alone two youths. To keep themselves distracted Amare and Multa bickered back and forth.

"Did you mean to get eaten by the tree aswell?"

"Of course not! Who would want to be eaten by such a weird tree?"

"So you only wanted me to be eaten but messed up and fell into your own trap?

"...In my ten years of life nothing has ever gone to plan"

"Hahahahaha you absolute loser!!!"

The whole space rumbled from Multa's laughter, he carried on laughing until he was out of breathe. Amare was so embarassed he wanted to dig himself a hole and hide in it, the red glow coming off his face nearly created a form of light for them.

"Why did you randomly come to kill me anyway?"

Amare was very curious about this. He had done absolutely nothing to provoke the youth infront of him. There was absolutely no reason for Multa to come and kill him.

"I wasn't going to kill you, I was just putting you under pressure so you'd awaken"

"You nearly split me in half!!"

"If you got split in half from just that... then you'd be better off dead anyway"

Amare was shocked but not at Multa's words, instead he was shocked by himself. No one had ever been able to anger him like Multa. Amare had to make a conscious effort to hold back his anger, he was like a volcano waiting to erupt.

Amare sneered "So what does that make you? Falling into the trap of someone much weaker... I'm embarassed for you"

"You what?!"

"You heard!"

Loud shouts turned the dark abyss lively as Amare and Multa argued with eachother. God knows how long it took for them to stop but by the end of it they were both gasping for breathe, as if they'd just finished fighting a fierce battle.

The surroundings went silent again. Amare found it eerie so to keep his mind occupied he spoke to Multa again.

"When you said you were trying to help me awaken what did you mean?"

Multa was silent for a while. He was either contemplating about what to say or fighting the urge in his heart to reply sarcastically. Probably both. However the tone he used when he finally spoke was completely serious.

"The human body has nine divine cores, each of these cores can purify and store magical energy. However each of these divine cores are blocked off by a gate, we have named this gate the devils gate.These gates are incredibly hard to open and each have a trial you have to pass. But once the trial is completed and the gate is open, you will have an exponential increase in power"

Amare listened attentively. Multa was like a wise teacher and Amare his loyal student. A completely different scene than what was shown earlier.

"Humans aren't born with the ability to use magical energy. We have to learn how to sense it and the only way to achieve this is through strict training or life and death experiences. However even then a lot of humans do not awaken, this is unfortunately due to a certain level of talent being required.

The first devil gate is called the gate of awakening and the trial to open it is simple, you just have to sense magical energy.. Those who are able to sense this energy will be able to store it in their body and use it. Concurrently those who are not able to sense it will never be able to store magical energy in their body, thus they will never be able to use magic"

Amare sucked on his tongue at this harsh reality. Not being able to use magical energy would put you at a massive disadvantage when faced with an opponent who could. This was evident in the fight between Amare and Multa.

Amare was curious about something "So why did you think that I would be able to awaken from fighting you? I've fought against my dad many times and have yet to awaken"

"Have you not noticed yourself suddenly become much stronger recently? Be it your strength or your senses?"

Amare pondered for a moment and thought back to his experiences in the forest. He'd felt himself become stronger and stronger to the point where even the strong beasts were no match for him. His senses had also become much more acute, otherwise he would have had no chance to dodge Multa's sword slash.

"Now that you mention it my strength has gone up a lot recently, especially this last month"

"This is because you have started to gather magical energy into your body subconsciously. Although you aren't able to store it, you will still gain advantages"

Amare felt exited "So I will be able to use magic soon?"

"You are very close to sensing it, me attacking you was an attempt to give you that last push"

Amare's face was red with excitement as he shouted "I wonder what kind of magic I'll be able to use, I want to fly, make mountains explode and I especially want to beat you up"

Multa's eyes rolled so far into his head that he almost saw his brain "Why are you so exited, who knows if we are even going to survive this... wait what did you say? Who are you going to beat up!?"

Amare ignored Multa as his face suddenly became incredibly solemn. Since he was eaten he hadn't been able to feel himself move and felt like he was just floating in this dark space. However this sensation had just changed.

"Multa can you feel that?"

Multa stopped grumbling and tried to feel his surroundings. Suddenly his face went so pale you could almost see it through the darkness.

"We are being dragged in by something... and the dragging is getting faster and faster"

The speed increased more and more until they were practically flying through the air. Amare panicked and flailed his arms in the air however Multa remained calm. Multa had experienced many life and death situations in the past and knew the importance of staying calm.

"Amare get a hold of yourself! Panicking will do you no good, try and get closer to me so I can protect you if something happens"

Listening to Multa's words made Amare stopped panicking. He thought to himself 'As much as I hate to admit it, Multa's right. Father has already drilled this into my head and yet I acted so disgracefully... pathetic!'

Now that his mind had regained its clarity Amare focused on how to get closer to Multa. Suddenly his eyes lit up as he grabbed the pouch at his waist. He pulled out a rope and some match sticks. He lit a match stick to give Multa some visibility and threw the rope to him.

"Grab my rope and pull me towards you"

Multa quickly caught the rope and pulled as strongly as he could. Once they were near eachother they both proceeded to tie the rope around their waists so they wouldn't separate.

And it was lucky they did.

The pull suddenly got incredibly strong and for the first time they were able to see what was dragging them in. It looked to be a ball of fog, the fog gave off a dull purple colour. There seemed to be what looked like rivers coming out of the fog. But unlike normal rivers they weren't formed by water. Each river was formed from a different kind of evergy and all their colours differed.

Although they could see all of this there was still some distance between them and this fog. As Amare and Multa got closer they realised just how large of a distance it was. The ball of fog was boundless and before long they could no longer see the outskirts. A ball of fog didn't suit its description anymore, boundless world of fog was more fitting.

At one point they even flew past one of the rivers. This river was a full grey colour and as they got closer to it they noticed something perculiar. Trapped within were countless souls trying to escape, they groaned like they were in pain and screamed for help. It was as if hell had taken the form of a river.

"Hey Arame..."

"Yes?"

"I think we are going to die"

"..."

"..."

Suddenly they heard an earth shattering explosion. One of the souls had escaped from the river. It was a thousand foot tall giant with horns that radiated a pitch black aura.

"Hahahahahah I'm free I'm free I'm free I'm free after an eternity of torture I'm finally free!!"

The giant was both laughing and crying as he incoherently mumbled to himself. Just as he was rejoicing, a part of the river branched off and soared in his direction.

The giant screamed out in fear as he ran away. The giant man was inhumanly fast, travelling hundreds of kilometres every second but it wasn't enough. He was soon caught by the grey energy.

"No no no no no no no no no please let me go actually let me die... just don't let me experience that hell again I beg!!"

No sympathy was shown by the river as he was mercilessly absorbed back into the crowd of endless souls.

"..."

"..."

"Multa is this kind of thing normal?"

"I fucking hope not"

"..."

Amare was speechless as he watched the sight infront of him. His mind was completely blown as he saw things he would of never even imagined happening right before his eyes. He looked over at Multa and saw his vacant expression.

"That expression on your face... even if I were to die right now, I feel like it would be worth it"

"Oh no you've definitely jinxed it now!"

As if validating Multa's words the force pulling them became much stronger. They no longer had any control over their body and before they knew it they were inside the fog. The pressure was too much for them to handle, it was like a hundred mountains were falling on them from all angles. In a short while both their sights turned black and they fell unconscious.

-

"My lord what is your command?"

I sat on a silver throne, a mountain of corpses under me. I looked down and saw hundreds of my subjects kneeling down before me. They didn't dare look up for they feared me from the bottom of their hearts. However more than fear they reveared me, they worshipped me.

I looked past my followers and saw an army numbering in the millions. Fully armoured warriors stood in formation ready to battle. The aura they radiated was enough to change the colour of the sky but it was not enough to change the expression on my face.

With an expressionless face I moved my gaze past the army to a magnificent city, this was the city that they were fighting to protect. It had walls that were thousands of metres high, decorated with more magnificent worriors.

One worrier stood out the most, he was 7ft tall, coated in magnificent golden armour with a crown on his head. The spear in his hand was around 10ft long and stood proudly by his side. He was their king.

"Why do you attack my race?"

"This is the fate of those who have chosen to rebel, you and your country have become corrupted"

"We have done nothing wrong! All we want is freedom!"

I was silent at those words. Freedom is easy to say but incredibly hard to achieve. We are bound by laws from which we are unable to escape. These fools were ignorant, they knew nothing about the power they would have to defeat for freedom and because of their ignorance they would have to die.

"Loyal subjects head my call! Wipe them all out! Show no mercy!"

"As you command"

The king shivered in anger from my words. He looked on in helplessness as his army was wiped out. He cried as the walls he stood on crumbled. He fell into dispair as he became the last member of his species.

I walked up to the old king. He no longer held his dignity as he kneeled on the floor, tears of blood falling from his eye sockets. I drew my sword and looked down at him.

"Do you have any last words?"

"Why did you kill everyone? The normal citizens had nothing to do with this, they were innocent! Why did you leave no room for my race to survive?"

"why?"

I swung my sword and the kinds head flew up. This decapitation marked the end of a species. They would never be seen again. An absolute extinction.

"... Because I am Malum"