He found himself suddenly thrown across the floor, rolling several times before crashing back into the door he had just entered. With a bang of his fist on the ground, Gwyn Black, the one thrown to the floor, stared back at his opponent.

The man sat in a large metal throne, sculpted from a rare metal at his behest, as he looked down on Gwyn, who remained close to the floor. He made a lazy sigh then smiled at Gwyn.

"What was that about 'taking me down?'" The opponent spoke in a friendly tone, but his face matched one made when someone was making a sneer.

"I have to take you down," Gwyn said through gritted teeth as he stood up.

Gwyn's opponent didn't budge from his throne. Instead, he frowned and drummed his mechanical fingers on the arm of his expensive seat.

"Persistence will not win you this battle, boy. You ought to give up while you have a chance!"

Gwyn did not heed his opponent's warning and instead charged recklessly forward.

*****

Elsewhere, another battle was taking place. In a far-off room from the metal throne, a blue girl was fighting a beast person. The beast person, a woman named Flora, towered over the girl with both stature and experience. She smashed the girl through a nearby window, under which spikes protruded up to protect their base.

In a flash of blue light, the girl reappeared behind Flora with her fists up and ready.

Flora sighed in a manner to emphasize her annoyance.

"Little princess, you do wish to die here today, don't you?"

The blue princess gulped as she faced her towering opponent. Her hands tightened into fists as she looked up to the giant.

*****

In yet another location, this time far outside the stronghold where the fights were taking place, a little green girl cried. She was caught in the arms of her mother and struggled to escape.

"Let me go! Let me go! I have to stop them!" the girl cried out to her mother, who only continued to hold her in place gently. "If I don't stop them, they will die! Just like daddy!"

"Please stop; there is nothing more that we can do," her mother tried to say as softly as she could, but it still came out as a yell.

"But it's my fault! I asked them to save us!" the girl shouted in response.

In a small, nameless mining town sitting in the Calii Mountains in the kingdom of Aquia, the first sun began to break over the sky. It brought with it a new future for this small, insignificant town. Whether it would be a bright future or a dark one would remain to be seen by the many townsfolk who eagerly and nervously watched the bandit's broken open front door. The future depended on if one of the six heroes that accidentally stumbled on the town or the vicious bandits emerged from the dark threshold. Only time would tell which was the case.