INSIGNIAS: THE REGALIS

One by one, seven individuals in robes walked out of the castle in the middle of the grassland. The entrance seemed like a mouth-like portal that transported them. The intruders stood close to each other. Their faces were hidden in the darkness of their hoods. Despite the weird outfit, all of them emitted strong auras which were neither Concordian nor Mortemian's. The seven adventurers dropped their backpacks, getting ready to fight the unknown intruders. The wind stilled and nature's noises stopped when the last individual took his position in the group. It felt like time stopped.

When Clyne noticed these, he shivered a bit. He wondered if they were undead and a part of the Rosein Army. He glanced at his friends who were also anticipating the attack. Clyne closely watched the intruders in case they move.

However, the two teams only silently stood facing each other as if waiting for one to make the first move.

"What the heck," Clyne heard Faz beside him. “I was right. Going to the Shadows Island is bad news.”

“We talked about this, Faz,” Skhy answered. “This is no time to argue.”

“We’re bound to encounter enemies wherever go,” Tessa mirrored Skhy. Clyne heard Faz curse but didn’t say anything. Do the enemies know that we’re going to the island? Clyne knew that it’s not impossible.

"I wasn't the only one who heard someone mention 'Seven Regalis' earlier, right?" Lei tried to change the topic which Clyne was thankful for.

"No.” Clyne’s gaze didn't leave the hooded enemies. His fists were clenched. He could hear his loud heartbeat in the tense silence. Under the hot sunlight, his skin began to tingle.

"What are they?" He felt Tessa move between Faz and Skhy.

"I don't know,” Nate replied, "But they're strong."

"Be careful." Skhy's voice sounded like a whisper.

"We're in an unknown territory." Confused, Clyne frowned. But we're in Faymagnates...? As if he heard Clyne's thoughts, Faz revealed the answer.

"I don't think there's an abandoned castle in Faymagnates." Clyne's eyes widened a bit. Mist? Are we in a mist? He wanted to ask but one of the intruders took steps forward, startling the seven young adventurers.

"They said the Seven is strong." It was the same voice as earlier. Clyne narrowed his eyes but he couldn't see the person's face so he wasn’t sure who among the seven hooded intruders spoke.

"Who are 'they'?" he asked when what they said dawned in him.

"We're disappointed." Faz scoffed.

"He sounded genuinely disappointed," Tessa pointed out.

"Come." Where? "Let's not waste time." Clyne glanced at his friends who mirrored his confused expression. He wanted to ask what the intruder meant but decided not to and stood unmoving in his position.

"Why should we follow you?" Faz voiced out the seven's thoughts. "And who are you?" He sounded annoyed and impatient. He was already agitated since the seven students left the academy. No. Clyne knew that Faz didn’t like the idea of going to the Shadow Island from the moment Skhy mentioned it.

"You'll find out on your own." The other intruders took steps forward. Clyne got ready to fight. His insignia’s heat spread from his arm to all over his body. His strength increased. His senses heightened. At the back of his mind, a map of the ground and everything on it flashed. The seven intruders slowly elevated without making a sound. The next movement, while the adventurers anticipated attacks, caught them by surprise.

"Aria!" Clyne shouted when he noticed that one intruder flew toward her at an increasing speed. Aria turned and ran toward the forest. Some of his friends followed but the others stood their ground to face their enemies. Clyne, who wanted to help his friends, had no chance to because his opponent quickly flew toward him. He chose to stand his ground. Taking a quick glance around him, he noticed that it was only him, Faz, and Sky in the grassland. He had to make sure that the ground where his friends are standing won't be affected by his attacks. His sight quickly returned to his opponent. To his surprise, the man stopped a few meters in front of him and descended slowly. Clyne heard Faz curse and lightning flashed. He was sure that Faz would fight on air.

Opening his right palm, he waited until his double-headed battle axe. He tightened his hold on the grip when his opponent raised his hand.

The intruder removed his hood revealing a very young man with bright red hair that looked like scarlet under the blazing sun. Clyne guessed that the boy might be younger than him. In Clyne’s eyes, he didn’t look dangerous nor was his presence threatening. However, he couldn’t deny that his power seemed strong. The boy looked at him as if trying to decide what to do him.

“What’s your name?” He sounded how he look.

“You’re attacking us without knowing who we are?” Clyne taunted. The boy smiled. Clyne frowned at this.

“You’re right,” he replied, “Even if we know you, introduction is a must.” Clyne didn’t know if he should take him seriously. He glanced at where Skhy was supposed to be. He was no longer there. Using his elemental, he looked for their presence on the ground. Everyone except Faz and Skhy was inside the forest. Based on the power they’re releasing, some of them already started fighting.

“You looking for your friends,” the boy said. Clyne wanted to finish the fight so he could help the others. He also had no idea if the boat would wait for them or if there were other means of transportation to the island. Time is everything to us.

“Who are you? And what do you want with us?”

“We wonder if you’re really strong,” the boy answered. “Let’s start then.” He’s talking like we’re answering a test. The boy lifted his right hand. A mace materialized above his palm. In a blink of an eye, the mace sped toward Clyne making his eyes widen. He quickly manipulated a thick block of earth to block the attack. The mace smashed into the chunk of dry land without much damage on the mass. Despite successfully blocking the boy’s attack, Clyne didn’t feel satisfied.

Suddenly, he noticed cracks forming on the mass of earth that block the mace’s attack. He quickly manipulated the ground and formed another block, this time three times thicker. The block rose in time for the mace to break the first block into several pieces and hit the second block. Clyne started taking deep breaths. He knew he had to start attacking and fighting with his weapon because controlling and manipulating the ground takes more power and time.

“This is getting boring,” he heard the boy shout. For me too.

A few seconds after the boy shouted, the block loudly shattered making the pieces fly toward Clyne. Some of the huge chucks reached the trees. He raised his left arm near his face to block the debris from getting into his eyes. When he felt its presence, he quickly crouched and then rolled on the ground. The mace pierced the air above him. He stood up and looked around for the boy but he was nowhere in sight.

“I’m expecting more from a Cadecastle.” He tried to find where the voice is coming from. It didn’t sound like the boy. A new one? Someone was already defeated? A part of him tried to chase the dark thought away but another part was worried.

A figure slowly materialized a few meters in front of him so he quickly raised his axe to fight. The man also had red hair like the boy but he looked three times older. The mace reappeared beside him. Without giving Clyne a chance to react, it sped toward him. He had little to no time to control the ground so he gripped his axe and forcefully threw it toward the fast-moving mace. When the two weapons hit, a blinding light flashed for a second before an explosion released a gush of air in all directions. The wind howled for less than a minute before it subsided. Clyne raised his hand and the axe immediately flew back to him. He noticed a crater where the two weapons collided.

The man appeared to be getting ready to attack again. Clyne lifted his axe, only then that he noticed something different about it. He gasped when he saw five short branches extending from the longer one on one of the two edges. His eyes widen. His heart started drumming beats in his chest.

He quickly turned to his enemy with a dangerous glare. His knuckled slowly turning to white. Clyne’s weapon was seconds away from being destroyed. It would take days, weeks, or months for it to return in its original form. He let his axe rest. He had to rely solely on his earth elemental.

The enemy’s mace flew towards him at an increasing speed. Clyne raised his two hands and a 15-feet dark rock jumped from behind the trees blocking the sunlight for a split second before vociferously dropping between him and the arrow-like mace. The move, however, proved to be useless because the mace rammed through the rock as if it’s only a piece of wood. The rock split into five parts before being thrown

“Damn,” Clyne whispered. He manipulated more rocks and randomly threw them toward the enemy instead of blocking the mace. But the attack proved to be futile because the man was surrounded by a force field. Every time a rock hit the field, it deflected the rock back to Clyne.

He was already panting and sweat continuously rolled down from his forehead when the mace suddenly stopped going after him and disappeared. He felt his energy decreasing. He looked around for the man but the grassland was empty aside from him and the castle.

It was at this moment that he realized that the sun was already hanging in the west, getting ready to sleep. He noticed that his friends’ presence in the woods.

He started running toward the forest expecting that his enemy was waiting for him there.