Tremur Forest.

A middle aged man was gasping for breath as he held a sword whose blade was like a mirror. It had cracks over its surface which was branded with numerous runes that flashed with a light glow as he pushed what remained of his mana within it.

He had sunflower blonde hair and hazel eyes that reflected the images of his opponents.

Blood oozed from all over his body, scrapes and deep wounds noticeable on his flesh through the mix of tattered robes and dented armour that he wore.

His opponents were people he knew quite well, some of them holding high quality staves, swords, shields and bows as they remained vigilant towards any move that he would make, while on their faces traces of disappointment, pain and internal conflict could be seen.

One of them, a woman with red hair looked a bit more sympathetic and conflicted than the rest, but she subdued her emotions as best as she could.

At the forefront was a man with Havana brown hair that was combed back with a glossy sheen and sugar grey eyes. His eyes were narrowed as he looked the man with blonde hair, showing a deep sense of hesitation coupled with an unbridled determination.

One looked to slowly be edging over the other as he increased his grip on the bastard sword which he wielded that was darker than the night.

“Eobald…” he said with a low tone of voice that held within it sympathy.

“Don’t say my name after you’ve done this to me. To think what I thought was a genuine motivation for something greater… was nothing more than a lust for power…You are blind! Blind, the lot of you!” the man with the blonde hair said._.

His name was Eobald, a great adventurer who had travelled the world and faced many mythical beasts, absorbing knowledge from different cultures and races.

“It’s called ambition and its only risen up to this point because of your actions. Don’t act all righteous when you have a Key as well. You told us what you plan to do and I won’t let you. You wanted this power too and you used us to get to it,” the man with brown hair said.

Eobald was infuriated.

“You… you… you dare say that after you slaughtered my entire party just to get to my key?! Ha! Ambition? You’re no more than a fool, and I’m a greater fool for thinking you were anything but one! To think I’d put my faith in you enough to reveal to you a better path when you’d destroy everything I’ve worked for!” he barked.

“You stand here alive because I will it! Because I call you a brother and I have much respect for you! So do all of us. Now, give me the Key and you can keep your life! I don’t care about your reasons anymore. You’re nothing to me. But at least give me that key!” the man with brown hair yelled with his grey eyes lighting up with a bluish white glow that shook the surroundings.

Eobald hung his head as he took in deep gusts of air.

“A Key is bound to the person who found it. Do you intend to kill me to relinquish my ownership of it?” he said with a stern gaze while sheathing his cracked sword.

“Not if you follow me and help me find this legacy. You know how hard to find legacies are yet you’re willing to waste it on this…”

“I have no issue with that. In fact…” said Eobald as he pulled out a silver, circular object with a rings of indecipherable text on its surface.

The people around him grew vigilant as he showed this object, with the man who stood at the forefront frowning as he saw what he desired in the hands of his so-called brother.

However, the previous words Eobald had said hinted at the fact that he wasn’t going to hand it over.

“…I visited the Saint’s Chamber before I came here,” Eobald continued, a grin appearing on his face.

The man with brown hair lost some of the colour on his face as he heard what Eobald had just said before a wrathful visage beamed on his face.

Before he could voice out his thoughts, Eobald spoke.

“They helped me with placing a seal on this Key that prohibits anyone other me from owning it. If you kill me, the Key will be destroyed and you’ll need to find other means to get that legacy. Of course, I could choose another person to be the owner of the Key, the same rules applying to them as well.”

The man with the brown hair grit his teeth as a deep bloodlust bloomed within him.

‘Is he telling the truth or merely bluffing? If only there was a way to prove it. This bastard actually went that far just so that I wouldn’t get to own this treasure?! ‘ he thought while considering what to do next.

Try his luck and hope for the best?

No.

Keys were tools used to open resting place for great heroes.

Some of these heroes and legends created artefacts that would select people worthy of their legacies which had to be found while others did not.

For the latter, universal Keys were used to open these places which were usually sealed with powerful magic.

Keys were mysterious objects that could be forged by the rarest of individuals or found in mythical dimensions in various forms.

Those that learned to craft them had merely studied and mimicked the natural Keys found in these diverse spaces.

While Keys were hard to find, legacies were even harder to find which made both tasks incredibly arduous.

When one found a Key, it would be bound to them and only they could use it. This feature of Keys had brought about a lot of pain and betrayal between many partners and friends.

“So that’s how it will be?”

“That’s how it shall be, brother,” said Eobald as in the next moment, he pulled out a scroll out of nowhere!

Everyone around was alerted, one of the people surrounding Eobald, a girl with long, red hair and sharp brown eyes nocking a white arrow on her dark bow before loosening it towards Eobald!

The blonde haired man saw the incoming arrow and dodged, the arrow streaking past him like a flash of lightning!

Eobald opened the scroll and pumped it with the remnants of his mana which churned from his core that released a bright blue hue!

On the white parchment of the scroll was inscribed the text, ‘Arcane Teleportation, Scorch.’

The scroll suddenly released a burst of light and energy that temporary blinded everyone and illuminated everything in the dark night, then…

BOOOM!

A ferocious explosion razed the ground and everything within the surroundings with a mash of yellow, orange and red, a scorching heat disintegrating the surrounding trees and life in a 300 meters radius!

The heated air remained while the ground which was left molten by the sheer amount of heat sizzled.

The man with brown hair was panting as he looked at the aftermath of this explosion. A thick film of bright blue mana was surrounding him, yet the silver armour he wore had signs of heating up with a portion of it missing.

He had managed to protect himself from the majority of the damage, but the same couldn’t be said for eight of his comrades whose remains couldn’t even be seen.

The only figures he saw where those of the girl with the bow who had used an artefact to protect herself, a bulky man who had a large tower shield before him and a young man who was also covered by a film of mana.

“GRAAAA!” the man with brown hair roared in anguish.

He didn’t think to mourn his losses as he turned to the survivors.

“Let’s find him! With the mana he had left there’s no way he has gotten far!”

He pulled out his key which was also circular like Eobald’s but with a golden colour and extended the hand that held it.

He would find Eobald soon enough and when he did, he wouldn’t show mercy!