In a hazy world, a small garden with beautiful red Grosens was visible.
Grosens were a type of flower typically found in Tembora, a country at the top of Seiyuu Continent. A liquid called Grosen extract can be extracted from it which has a very pungent smell. It is used in rituals usually corresponding to God of Trickery, Farlan.
Silhouettes of two young kids, who looked to be about 12, were visible.
One of them, spoke and said, "When are you going to return my pendant?"
The other one replied, "Only when you die, dumbass."
The scene shifted, and another hazy world appeared.
In it, another silhouette appeared, one who was panting heavily and had blood trickling down their body.
The silhouette sat down, exhausted and spoke, "Eclipticon order has been wiped out. Thats what a fucking masterclass looks like."
Then, another voice echoed through the air. An extremely evil, deep and chilly voice which said, "I can sense the Corpse King approaching. Are you sure you can handle him in your current state?"
"Corpse King...fuck! I have to retreat." Just like that, the silhouette disappeared.
The scene changed once again. This time, a clear being was visible, standing on ruins of a red fort.
It was a girl who had long black hair, small green eyes, a crooked nose and small lips. She had a brownish skin.
The girl looked above, and saw what appeared to be a large grotesque entity standing on the moon, staring at her menacingly.
The girl was not standing very close to the moon, infact, she was very far away from it. But due to her intense strong presence and primal energy, the entity on the moon had to ooze immense bloodlust, enough to make the girl vary of its presence.
The girl spoke, in a soft yet bold voice, "The Fiend..."
The scene changed once again, but this time, it wasn't a hazy world.
A boy appeared to wake up from the bed, as if he had a nightmare. His features weren't clearly visible.
.....
The Ancient Tomb. As the name suggests, it is a structure from a very old time period, speculated by the historians to be created before the birth of Chireon, during the great Moreva rein.
It had a very basic structure, with four large pillars at its corners, each having words engraved in Ancient Pholic, which is the original version of New Pholic, the official language of Grazinas.
The words read as follows: 'Give rise to the strongest Merchant, and let them discover the secrets of the universe.'
Merchants referred to an ancient race, now considered extinct, which included beings who looked exactly like humans. The difference between the two races is now unknown to everyone, but it is believed that it wasn't the case in ancient times, when the merchants still existed.
Four large walls were interconnected, each attached to two pillars, like a simple room.
On each wall was a large metallic door, made from the extremely rare metal called Cropane, which wasn't very tough, but it appeared as though someone had placed a Condition on it so that it doesn't open unless someone from the merchant race opens it.
Therefore, there existed no way of entering the tomb. The Government of Grazinas had tried breaking the walls itself, but nothing happened. Everytime they made an attempt, it would be declared futile.
The Ancient Tomb was located in Cascane city, one of the four major cities in Grazinas. Cascane city had 12 streets, each housing more than tens of thousands of people.
All the streets lead to a large area located in the middle of the city, where the Ancient Tomb stood.
Lots of people, mainly nobles, lived in that area, all for the purpose of observing the Ancient Tomb.
The four major cities of Grazinas Empire were Cascane city, Morego city, Farukan city and Dugiv city.
These four cities corresponded to North, East, West and South, all of them surrounding a circular area, which is also the capital of the country, Blazenk City.
There were also other small cities, but they were very small in area hence they weren't included in the major cities.
As to why the Blazenk city was not included in the four major cities, nobody knew!
There were three continents, Seiyuu continent, Warul continent and Hakunai continent. Grazinas was located in the Warul continent.
Apart from these three, there was also the fourth continent, which wasn't inhabited by any race except the Entity race. People called it the Continent of Despair.
These four continents were separated by the four great sea. They were the Derero sea, Kolho sea, Targh sea and Yerla sea.
In the south, in Dugiv city, we get to see a glimpse of a man sitting in his room.
He looked to be around the age of 16. He had deep brown eyes shaped like almonds, small black messy hair, a small nose, a tanned skin and small red lips. He had freckles on his face.
He was sitting on his bed, with his legs swinging down.
It looked as if he was lost in deep thought, until he heard a knock on his door.
"Komaru! Are you there? Answer me, or I'll enter." A rough male voice shouted while knocking on the door.
Before Komaru could reply, the door opened to reveal a tall muscular man with chestnut black hair and deep brown eyes.
"Why didn't you answer me dumbass?" He asked.
Hearing him, Komaru facepalmed and said, "You entered as soon as I was about to answer. Its your fault, Carlo."
"My fault? Dude, I have been calling you down for the past 10 minutes, but you never came, so I had to rush here." Carlo replied.
Shit. I forgot about that. I need to give an excuse, or I will lose the argument to him. Komaru thought.
One thing that Komaru hated the most, was losing. He would get extremely mad whenever he lost, not accepting it and always arguing about it.
He said, "Ah. It was because I was studying. I was about to go down, but you barged in immediately."
"You were studying? But I don't see any books near you." Carlo replied, his tone brimming with suspicion.
"You don't always require a book to study. I was studying by recalling the content I reviewed last night. Anyways, what do you want?" Komaru switched topics. It was one of the things he was extremely proficient in.
"When will you perform the ritual? All of us are waiting for you."
Fuck, i forgot about the ritual. Today's the day we decided to perform the ritual.
"Oh yeah. I was actually studying about that." Komaru lied.
"Thats good. Lets go down. Mary has prepared the altar and Kevin and Shizuku have prepared the materials."
Komaru nodded, and they both went down. Komaru's room was on the second floor, along with Kevin.
Komaru lived along with his five childhood friends. They were Carlo, Shizuku, Kevin and Mary.
As they both reached the ground floor, a very pleasant smell reached his nose. "Is it Rogav extract?" He asked.
"Yes, it is an essential item for the ritual." Carlo replied.
Komaru saw a large altar, surrounded by a brownish liquid made into intricate patterns.
"Yo, Mary. This liquid..." Komaru webt towards the altar, where a small woman with long blonde hair and scarlet red eyes was sitting. She had a tanned skin, resembling that of the citizen of Coyoran, a country located at the south of Grazinas.
"Oh this? Its the Groundmary extract. This is essential for drawing the required patterns for the ritual." As she spoke, Komaru made sure that Carlo wasn't around him.
When the two had arrived, Carlo went to talk to another man, who was of average height, had a bald head and blue eyes. It was Kevin.
Phew
Komaru sighed.
"What are you sighing for?" A feminine voice came from behind.
Shit. It is Shizuku. I can't tell her why I sighed, or else she would know I am deliberately avoiding Carlo.
Komaru turned around. "Hi, Shizuku. I was trying to ask her about the materials for the ritual. Anyways, what are you carrying?" Komaru successfully shifted the topic.
"Oh this?" She brought a small jar closer and said, "It is the Moric powder, another essential item for the ritual. It corresponds to the Deity's mind. The patterns correspond to our desire, and Rogav extract corresponds to the Deity's pleasantries."
"I already know that much. Anyways, we should begin the ritual once the preparations are complete. Carlo! Kevin! Come here." Komaru shouted.
Rituals were a common practice in the world.
It was a way of getting in touch with an Ancient Deity, usually by pleasing them by a sacrifice to make a request.
It usually consisted of three parts. The Deity's state of mind, the human desire and the Deity's pleasantries. The Deity's state of mind referred to whether they are good or evil.
The human desire referred to the wish the human wants the Deity to grant. The Deity's pleasantries referred to the sacrifice required for the wish.
The universe followed the principle of equal exchange and balance, which is governed by the existence referred to as the Supreme Balance of the Universe or the SBU.
All exchanges must be equal and balanced. This does not refer to mere trades of goods made by two mortals. It referred to the spiritual trade between two beings.
In this case, it referred to the human wish and the sacrifice. The greater the wish, the greater the sacrifice required.
Heh. Now I know the items necessary for the ritual. My lie won't be exposed. Komaru smirked.
Komaru referred to the lie he told Carlo, him studying about the ritual. The truth was, he was too busy thinking about what to eat!
He made all this effort simply because he did not want to get his lie exposed. Even if it got exposed, it wouldn't be a big deal but it would have been a fatal blow to Komaru's ego, who hated losing.
Carlo and Kevin came near the trio. Carlo said, "Hmm. Lets begin then."
Komaru's smirk grew even larger. Hehe. Carlo, you would never know.
He whispered to Carlo and said, "Hey, if you have any questions, you can ask me. I am generous enough to educate the fools."
Carlo whispered back, "You call me a fool expecting me to feel insulted, but you don't know the greatness of him."
"Mate what are you saying?" Komaru did not understand the reference.
At that moment, Kevin also whispered, "Guys, don't you think my hair will grow back?"
To which, Carlo and Komaru shouted in unison, "No it won't."
Shizuku facepalmed while Mary laughed.
Mary then said, "We should begin the ritual. I believe the preparations are done.
"I need each one of you to sit in one of the shapes here."
Komaru looked towards the shapes made near the altar. He noticed that there were five shapes present.
All of them sat on one of the shapes present. They were sitting with their legs crossed, a position which was widely used during rituals.
Mary then took the Rogav extract and placed it on top of the altar. It corresponded to the Deity's pleasantries.
"Now, to begin the ritual, someone has to say the honorific chant of the honorable deity Caribela." said Mary.
She then looked towards Komaru. He gulped. "I hope you can do that." She smiled.
Komaru smiled nervously. A drop of sweat trickled down his cheek.
Fuck. I don't know what it is.