Chapter 5
1120 Words
"You...Marcus, you are the next guardian."
Marcus stared blankly at those words.
"Haha, I knew you won't understand this right away."
"No, I get it. I'm the next guardian and I gotta protect the Earth, right?"
"Eh? Then why were you staring like an i***t at me?"
"You were repeating this for like the last 10 minutes or so...duh."
"Oh....um."
The old man, caught by surprise, stared at the ground awkwardly.
"Yep, so you got it, huh? I didn't expect that at all."
He walked toward the throne and stood beside it.
"Do you know who I am?"
"Nope. No idea at all."
The old man fixed his gaze on Marcus and opened his left fist while keeping his right behind him.
A blue flame puffed from his hand and grew vigorously as if fed an infinite supply of fuel. After growing to the size of a Molskus, the flame vaporized slowly and formed into a blue figure. It resembled a human but lacked detail—a plain body with hands, legs, and blue flames raging from its head like hair.
The old man looked at Marcus's face and chuckled at his expression.
"Now do you get it? My identity?"
"Mm....nope."
Marcus scratched his chin, staring blankly at the flaming human figure.
"Hmph, kids these days. Don't care about their ancestors and their history," the old man muttered.
SNAP!
The old timer snapped his finger. The sound echoed throughout the dungeon, making Marcus's ears ring.
Hundreds of blue figures appeared behind the old man. He paced slowly over to the throne and sat, posing gracefully before snapping his fingers again.
The old man's body began to change. He grew tall and muscular, his robe falling loose to reveal a buffed chest and ripped abs. Flames engulfed his lower body, forming what looked like pants. A flaming blue dragon etched itself on his right arm, starting at his shoulder and ending at his wrist.
His eyes changed to blue, intimidating Marcus with their intensity alone. His hair transformed into a blue flame, burning like the other figures present around him.
Old? Not anymore. The man before Marcus was handsome and young.
The hundreds of figures behind him bowed in unison.
"Now Marcus, I ask you again. Who. Am. I?"
Marcus's eyes widened as recognition struck.
"The...Fla...Flame Emperor?"
"CORRECT!"
The man clapped, and the whole room went BOOM. Marcus gripped the grass, trying desperately not to be flung away by the tremendous pressure.
The Flame Emperor noticed Marcus struggling and snapped his fingers again.
"Sorry, my bad."
The pressure died instantly. Marcus breathed a sigh of relief.
He contemplated the man sitting gracefully before him on a throne that burned violently. The Flame Emperor—the strongest man in history. He had ruled Krozon during 200 TFP (The Flame Period) almost two thousand years ago. History recorded that he had abdicated, handing the throne to the Richard Family, who ruled to this day.
Professor Brark, the history teacher, had emphasized the Flame Emperor's acts and time period. He was believed to have awakened a seed greater than Legendary on his own.
A CHEAT SEED.
With immense power at his command, the Flame Emperor had dominated every dungeon regardless of rank.
He was rumored to have entered an SC-ranked dungeon—the first to appear during that time period. After that, he vanished forever, along with the dungeon itself.
Praised worldwide for his bravery and courage, the Revoker Galactic Championship had been established in his honor. A towering statue of the Flame Emperor stood at the center of Krozon, rising above even the king's castle. The city was known as The Flame Capital.
To sum it up, the Flame Emperor had been the greatest of all, possessing everything—power, wealth, status. And now he stood before Marcus.
Marcus's eyes sparkled with admiration as he crawled toward the Emperor, who appeared both embarrassed and proud at this display.
Red streaks danced on the Emperor's cheeks as he waved his hand dismissively.
"Oh, fans..."
"I'm truly sorry for being a jerk all this time. Sorry for not understanding you, The Great Flame Emperor."
"Haha, I accept your apology. Now stand up, son."
Marcus's eyes still sparkled, but the light dimmed as he recalled his recent experiences.
"How lucky could you be, Emperor?"
"Hm?"
"You awakened the rarest, one-of-a-kind seed."
"Ah...*chuckle*...as if you are any different," he mumbled, dropping his voice so Marcus couldn't hear.
"Hm?"
"Nothing, Marcus. You'll understand it all."
The Emperor smirked, and for some reason, Marcus felt warm and happy.
A sudden question struck him as he watched the Flame Emperor smile.
"Why...why did you disappear, Emperor?"
"Hm? What's that?"
"Why'd you disappear when you had everything a human would kill for?"
"Ah..hahahahahahaha!"
The man leaned back on his throne and laughed toward the artificial sky.
"I was bored. Simply bored."
"Eh?"
"When you have everything and no one to challenge you, the world gets boring."
"So that's why you disappeared...just because you were bored?"
"Hmm, you could say that."
"But how did you even disappear? Once a dungeon is cleared, you automatically return to the spawn circle."
The Emperor shifted his gaze to Marcus, his expression suddenly serious.
"That's the thing, Marcus. That dungeon...was never a dungeon at all."
Marcus's mouth fell open. If the Flame Emperor hadn't entered a dungeon, where had he been all these years? And more importantly, where were they now?
"Then what is this place?" Marcus asked, gesturing around at the impossible garden within stone walls.
The Flame Emperor rose from his throne, the blue flames of his hair dancing higher.
"This, my boy, is the space between spaces. A pocket dimension created by the first guardians when the world was young." He walked toward Marcus, each step leaving a glowing footprint that slowly faded. "And it has been my home for two thousand years."
"But why? What were you guarding against?"
The Emperor's face darkened. "The same threat you'll have to face." He placed a hand on Marcus's shoulder, the warmth penetrating through his clothing. "The same threat that made me choose you."
"Choose me?" Marcus shook his head. "But I'm nothing! I'm a FieldDust! I couldn't even awaken a Peasant seed!"
The Emperor's laughter rang through the chamber. "That's because you already have something much more valuable."
Before Marcus could ask what that meant, the Flame Emperor snapped his fingers again. The hundreds of blue figures surrounding them dissolved into particles of light, swirling into a vortex above their heads.
"It's time you learned the truth about this world, Marcus. About the seeds, the demons, and what lies beyond the dungeons."
The vortex descended, enveloping them both in a cocoon of blue light.
- Writer
