It was morning.
We were at a fresh water stream that Instructor Veyra located yesterday.
Everyone had freshen up, Nolan's Mother sat around Fire grilling the body parts of the beasts.
No one complained except and Of course Lex.
After that we packed up and started moving. Grey sky filled with dark clouds, metallic rust filled air and various creatures that roamed hunting, That's where we set off.
Today was the first day, we were moving with direction.
After a conversation we decided that directly crossing the mountain is not viable, Instead we will take a little detour. As this was a part of a Mountain range, We decided to climb the shorter peak beside the Main mountain and try to locate exactly where we can find a exit.
This Patch of the forest was relatively safe, It mostly had layer 1 hordes and occasionally layer 2 Beasts. Luckily we had not encountered a Layer 3 horde yet.
Layer 1 beasts were now no problem for us, some times we even take out Layer 2 as a team, But when a horde or a beast above our caliber comes, Instructor veyra intervenes and handles it.
Setting my thoughts aside we were actually getting strong very fast. It was most likely due to the strain of surviving and fighting regularly, but It was also due to the fact that, The essence in the air was getting denser and denser as we entered deeper.
As we were walking suddenly a ominous shadow of the mountain overlapped our own.
The forest thinned as the day went on, the trees giving way to broken stone. We started to encounter ruins
At first, it was just a scattered wall here, a toppled pillar there pieces of something too old to recognize. But the farther we walked, the more it began to take shape. Houses or what used to be houses lay in ruins, stone foundations half-swallowed by moss and vines. Some walls still stood, marked with strange carvings we couldn't read.
It looked like the outskirt of a city.
We stopped Infront of a toppled pillar to examine it. As we went closer A strange symbol carved in the pillar came in sight.
It was a circle of interlocking chains, each link etched with tiny, repeating runes. At the center of the circle was a vertical blade, its tip buried in the bottom link, its hilt crossing the top. Around the blade's guard, two open palms faced upward, as though offering it.
Nolan's mother who was quite suddenly said in a soft tone
"This is the symbol of The Kingdom of Oath"
Lex tilted in confusion and voiced
"Wait, There was an Kingdom here, I thought the ruins were just the nomadic settlers or tribes"
This was confusing on my part too, There was no mention of An Kingdom of Oath, The only empire I can think of was the The shackled Sun Empire, but that was in Ulma.
She continued
"No, There was, During my Time in church, I saw various mention of The Oath Kingdom with this symbol, Apparently Their King had achieved something Important in the history of Humanity. That's what I heard"
After studying the ruin for a while, we continued moving forward.
***
Days passed and what we used to fear, quickly became normal. The Grey sky with dark clouds remain unchanged.
We started hunting beast for food daily, as if normal. Slowly our strength was increasing.
In a week all of us had reached F+ rank, Nolan was even close to layer advancement.
Our Cohort started synergizing, We reacted much faster and handled situation with a cool head.
Instructor Veyra had became open with us, She even started to teach me how to use Thread of chain properly, She was truly carrying everyone of us together, without her we probably would have died long ago.
***
Kingdom of Theon
Royal Palace
A large hall was filled with soldiers, On their iron plated armor was symbol of a shield.
The sunlight illuminated the hall with vibrant light, Large pillars supporting the structure were decorated with garment of finest quality wall torches and lights placed on them.
Towards End of the Hall was a Throne, A large throne decorated with jewels and gold.
The hall went silent as a man entered with gold robe and a crown with a staff in his hand, His frame was huge. He had a beard and sharp eyes that were etched with arrogance.
As soon as he entered air became heavy, His presence dictated authority.
Every soldier gave a deep bow as he walked towards the throne.
He sat on throne and a deep and imposing voice resounded.
"At ease"
This was None other than The King of Theon Kingdom 'Rilias Theon'.