Beneath Wazir River,

04:51 a.m. 18th Banem 1092.

Beneath the Wazir river lay a series of interconnected, maze-like tunnels. Unlike most dwarven creations, these tunnels lacked any inkling of beautiful craftsmanship. The walls and ground were crude, rough and bumpy. The space between the walls was tight and small, inducing a sense of claustrophobia within any who walked within them. Even worse, the vents seemed to have malfunctioned over time, leading to a severe drop in clean, breathable air.

*cough* *cough*

"Are you alright, dwarf?" Ragnaf asked as he observed the coughing Rudega. This was what, the fourth, fifth time that the dwarf had fallen into a coughing fit? It seemed the air was getting even thinner, so much so that a member of race used to living underground was beginning to feel its effects.

"I'm fine," assured Rudega as he cleared his throat. "We're at the lowest point, so the air's a bit thin is all. It'll improve in an hour or two."

"Uh-huh," Ragnaf acknowledged with a short grunt. He looked at the walls around them and marveled at the dwarfs' abilities. "How did you guys manage to do this?"

Rudega flashed a proud smile. "What, you mean the tunnel? Most dwarfs are born with an innate ability to control and manipulate earth." He held out his right hand, and a section of the ground rose in front of him. "It makes it much easier to dig through the earth." Rudega manipulated the earth to return to normal and then said, "Of course, that's not all there is to it. We also draw from several millennia worth of mining and excavation knowledge. It's one thing to push earth out of the way, it's another to know where you can push, and where you can't. To this day, there is probably no other race that can claim to know the earth as well as we dwarfs do."

Ragnaf snorted. "No one's competing with you. What good is building tunnels except for hiding?"

"Try not to be so closeminded," Rudega chastised with a smile. "Imagine the consequences of a tunnel built from one town to another in secret? You could completely bypass their walls and invade the town."

"I've never heard of anything like that," Ragnaf retorted. "Someone would have done it if were possible."

"Oh, it has been done in the past," Rudega asserted. "But it was quickly countered by mages who began to scan the earth for large spaces. Still, it is an effective tactic for smaller towns."

Ragnaf shook his head. "We're strong enough to take down small towns on our own. Why would we need to build a tunnel? That'll take too long."

"There's the conundrum really," Rudega confirmed with a light shrug. "It's not effective on large cities, but too costly for small towns. This is why we only use it within our own cities, and to provide escape routes."

"Hmm... It's still impressive though," Ragnaf remarked. Just as he spoke, they reached a section of the tunnel that opened up to a bridge, underneath which a thick, dark-blue, liquid flowed. The tunnel picked up once again at the other end of the bridge, but the orc was drawn to the immense, suffocating power emanating from the river below. "What's that?"

"Liquid mana, but my people call it, Amrita," Rudega replied, his eyes growing solemn as he observed the river.

"Liquid mana?" Ragnaf murmured. "What's that?"

"You know that mana exists in all living creatures right?"

Ragnaf nodded.

"Well, some halben researchers once found out that our bones and flesh accumulate mana over our lifetime," Rudega explained. "This mana remains even after death, which is why some creatures' bones are innately enchanted when processed into weapons. The researchers theorized that over time, some of these bones break down into liquid mana or amrita. However, I'm not sure if that's true or not."

Ragnaf raised a brow. "You guys didn't test it?"

"Too volatile," Rudega lamented. "We did try to run some tests, but it always ended up exploding. After three deaths and numerous injuries, we shut down the tests."

"That so?" Ragnaf murmured as he adjusted Durst on his left shoulder.

"Yeah," Rudega confirmed. He looked at the sea of mana and shook his head. "What a waste."

"Well, if it's useless, let's move on," Ragnaf said and then began to make his way across the bridge.

"I suppose so." Rudega cast one last regretful look at the sea, then followed Ragnaf.

When the duo was about one-third of the way across the bridge, the ground suddenly shook with a terrible rumble. Rudega and Ragnaf instantly paled as they struggled to maintain their balance.

Craack!

"Fuck!" Ragnaf cursed as cracks began to form along a section of the bridge. "Run!" bellowed the orc as he and Rudega began to sprint down the path.

"Wait!"

Ragnaf froze in his tracks when he realized he had left the dwarf far behind. The orc cursed his ancestors and then doubled back to Rudega's side. He picked up the dwarf and resumed his sprint, even as sections of the bridge began to break and fall off.

A piece of stone fell into the amrita river, and it must have upset something, as moments later, a portion of the stream erupted upwards with the force of a geyser.

Ragnaf's eyes grew solemn as the geyser's force shattered large portions of the bridge. He looked over his shoulder and then back to his front, his expression growing dark when he realized that the bridge had begun to crumble on both sides. The orc only pondered for a tenth of a second before charging forward with impudence. He would not risk staying behind!

"Faster!" Rudega shouted as the cracks along the bridge grew more substantial.

Unfortunately, life did not seem to be on their side. The bridge completely crumbled when Ragnaf still had over 10 meters to go.

Ragnaf gritted his teeth and then pushed off from the ground with all the strength he could summon before the ground beneath his feet crumbled to dust. When he reached the apex of his jump, he flung Rudega and Durst onto the opposite landing.

Bam!

Rudega coughed and groaned as he slammed against the earth with the force of a truck. However, the dwarf bit down on his pain and rushed to the edge of the cliff. He saw the resignation in Ragnaf's eyes as the orc's trajectory began to taper off. At this rate, he would not make the landing. "Hang on!" Rudega shouted as he placed his hands on the ground. A mandala appeared beneath his hands, and a large slab of rock shot out of the cliff's edge to just beneath Ragnaf's flight path.

The slab was thin and very brittle as Rudega did not have the time to reinforce it. He could only hope Ragnaf knew how to control his strength. If he hit the slab with too much force, it would crumble beneath his weight, and he would then fall to his death.

Luckily, Ragnaf was champion of the orcs for a reason. The orc's feet barely touched the slab before he pushed off once again. He blasted over the crumbling piece and then crashed into the landing.

Ragnaf instantly rose to his feet and walked over to Rudega. He grasped the stunned dwarf's hand and solemnly declared, "You save my life. I now owe you a life debt."

Rudega shook his head and attempted to refute the suggestion. "You saved me first. Consider us even."

"I only saved you because I need you to leave this place," Ragnaf honestly replied. "You saved me, however, despite the fact you do not need me. In fact, with everything I know, you would have felt more secure letting the elements take care of me. At the very least, you would be able to wash the sin off your conscience. But you did not. For this, I owe you my life. This is not something you can refuse."

Rudega opened his mouth, but then closed it after changing his mind on what to say. Moments later, after careful deliberation, he said, "I understand."

Ragnaf nodded and then went over to examine Durst. After he confirmed the lack of any new injuries, he once again hoisted the orc on his left shoulder. He turned to look at Rudega and questioned, "What was that, an earthquake?"

Rudega shook his head. "Too quick and brief to be an earthquake. Felt more like the aftershocks of something heavy striking the ground."

Ragnaf's eyes twitched as he recalled a scene the entire continent had witnessed months ago. "Could it be an [Apparition of the Gods]?"

"I-Impossible." Rudega shuddered at the thought. "Gods are not cabbages that grow alongside the road. Witnessing one [Apparition] in our lifetime is already breaking the rules."

Ragnaf hesitated for a moment and then nodded. "You're right. Must be something else then."

"Of course," Rudega reiterated. Only Aerith knew if he was trying to convince himself or Ragnaf. "We've wasted enough time," stated the dwarf as he dusted himself off and made his way into the tunnel. "Let's keep going. Since we've seen the amrita, we must be close."

"Oh?" Ragnaf murmured as he followed the dwarf. "Why's that?"

"Serisis is the only place in all of Destia that has amrita," Rudega explained as their forms disappeared into the cave. "Well, at least as far as I know."

Lymar

Few Minutes Earlier...

"Hold!" Gelarios roared in a bid to galvanize the warriors. The ground troops may have lost their aerial cover, but the proud centaur was not about to roll over and let the monster army win.

Gelarios gritted his teeth as he cut down a beast and then cast his gaze over the monster army. The general's gaze grew solemn as he saw the hundreds of beasts eagerly waiting their turn to tear him and his people to shreds. He examined his soldiers and winced as he saw the fatigue and stress on their faces. Luckily, the Longma tribe took turns to charge into, and disrupt the monster army, buying the soldiers precious time to regroup and recover.

Still, this was not sustainable. Every now and then, the centaurs were forced back, even if only by an inch. All it would take was one tired soldier to break the line, and the entire army would crumble.

RUMBLE!

A massive earthquake suddenly shook the earth, and Gelarios paled as a torrent of thick, malevolent aura blew past him. The proud general felt a chill that ran down to his bone marrows. In his entire life, he had never known fear like he did at that moment. He felt like death itself had burrowed under his skin and was crawling up his nerves and flesh.

It was cold, dark and evil.

ROOAR!

A thundering roar that nearly burst Gelarios' eardrum shook the centaur general out of his head. Gelarios looked up at the beast army from which the roar originated, and blanched.

Fear and disbelief seized the general's heart as he gazed upon the monsters which had undergone a massive transformation. Every beast infected by the blight nearly doubled in size and strength like they had been infused with something.

It did not take long for Gelarios to understand that the transformation had something to do with the earlier phenomenon. The general's eyes shone as he activated [Mana Sense]. Gelarios flinched when he saw the massive mana circulating within the monsters. Worse yet, he could see thin mana threads leading out of the monsters to a gigantic 'bonfire' of mana in the far distance.

The mana bonfire towered as high as the heavens. Gelarios' heartbeat sharply rose, and he quickly tore his eyes away from the sight. The centaur general paled as he processed what he just saw. Th-that was the aura of a god! What the hell!? Was a god responsible for this!?

'Why!? Why do the gods want us dead!?'

Boom!

Once again, Gelarios was forcefully pulled out of his thoughts by the monster army. This time, however, it was as a result of a massive breach in the defensive line. Apparently, the centaurs had yet to adapt to the monsters' sudden strength boost. As a result, the beasts successfully punctured a hole through the line.

The monster poured in through the breach and then launched a savage attack on the centaurs. The breach rapidly widened as the monsters attacked the sides of the centaurs still on the line.

Dozens of centaurs perished in the brief seconds that followed before Gelarios quickly collected himself and roared, "Retreat! Retreat to point B! Dora tribe, hold watch out back."

The centaurs immediately obeyed the centaur's orders and began to pull back. The Dora tribe, meanwhile, launched a relentless salvo of spears into the chasing monster army to buy their comrades time to retreat.

Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, dozens of centaurs were still lost in the brief retreat.

Gelarios gritted his teeth till they drew blood as the centaurs quickly reformed their line some ways up the hill. The general's eyes burned with rage as he cast a glance at the mana bonfire. Who knew where the general acquired the courage, but he raised his voice and bellowed, "God or not, take them down Kashi-dono!"

A/N: First, some update on the novel. The lovely editor who's been helping me perfect this sweet story is only three chapters away from finishing. They're occupied with tests right now, or they would have finished it much sooner. So, the book should be out very soon.

Next, well, this is something weird.. lol. I'm planning on starting two YouTube Channels. The first'll be called Genaco Gaming and will center around me talking about games I enjoy, stuff going on in the gaming community, and general gameplay. Someone suggested I join twitch so I can interact with y'all in real time, and I'm currently looking into what that takes.

The second channel is gonna be called Genaco Novels. As the name implies, GN is gonna focus on novels (mostly  Japanese light novels, Chinese and Korean translated novels). I'll talk about what I'm reading, what I've read, give recommendations, reviews and all that goodstuff. This one, in particular, is special to me, cuz I'm gonna be doing a voice-over reading of Parallel from volume 1 every weekend (will make it more frequently if I have time.)

Finally, I will be creating new 'books' for both channels on Wattpad. The entire script for every video (and the video itself) will be posted in the books, for those who are interested in this stuff, but have shitty or expensive (or both). I know, I've been there.

For those who might be concerned, no this will not detract from my story telling. As I've told you guys, I wanna write full time, which means I've gotta get a day job that'll let me do that. lol. Plus, what way to make this book more popular and thereby get more patrons.. hehehehe.

Anyway, this has gone on too long... if you wanna subsribe early (and boost my ego a little, lol) the links will be in the second comment... cuz Darkpride's gonna steal first before I find them.

Genaco Novels: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3X0bBoA93aAXc5qIzhoqUA

Genaco Gaming: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCml-vgMaGwa-mjuUvQwy8gQ

Love y'all! See you soon!