CORE
Chapter 1 - "Vagabond"

Within an endless void like no other, dark and dampened like the sorrow of loneliness, amongst it all stood a being of isolation in the center of the void.

Their body was as dark and colorless as the void itself, their eyes illuminating with a beautiful white glow as they stared lifelessly into the abyss that was before them.

But ever so slightly the being of isolation looked up, but despite a new angle seemingly nothing had changed.

The being of loneliness stood there, pondering in its empty mind as it stared into the cold void, it did not know if it was waiting, or if it was merely hopeful.

All it could do was wait for something it did not even know would come or not.

It waited.

And it waited.

Eventually, its desperate longing came to fruition as they finally heard a new sound, specifically the deep, monotone voice of a man which echoed throughout the black void as it spoke.

"You shan't fret, none should be when they first start," The deep voice spoke as a small white orb formed into the void, illuminating a large part of it.

The being of isolation stared at it with awe, disregarding how blinding it was, it could only think of how truly beautiful such a sight this was after all it had seen was the depressive black of nothingness.

"Your calling in this existence is to be this world's HERO," said the voice once more as the white orb slowly hovered towards the being of darkness, leaving a path of light that slowly illuminated the entirety of the black void as it traveled, while the being of isolation did not move an inch of their body as they watched through their widened, glowing eyes.

They have been awaiting this for a very long time.

Specifically, not something like this.

But anything could have satisfied them at this point.

And so as the white orb finally touched their chest, they felt a sudden burst of energy course through their form, and soon the glowing orb had finally been absorbed into the being of darkness as they felt a new array of emotions, life, and power within them.

However, in one fell swoop, the void fully turned white, causing a heinously large flash that caused the being to blackout, and drop to the ground, unconscious.

What came to them after this was something they could not know.

All they could do now was do what they'd done.

Wait.

But soon enough our attention diverts elsewhere, to a world built off of elaborate, infinitely-sized, colorful dimensions, specifically six main dimensions known as 'Areas', which miraculously yielded room for something less, or more. And yet despite this, it is above and unbound by everything like a free eagle. It acted in its own world without distraction.

Despite there being 6 areas in total;

There existed a sedentary and isolated Area 0.

One in which most are not even aware of the existence of amongst these Areas.

A black sheep, so to speak.

But despite this, it still wielded the nature, and value that all the other areas had.

Coincidentally and rather strangely, at the beginning of Area 0, laid the being of darkness, Hero.

Who was still unconscious due to what happened prior.

But slowly and surely their energy started to come back, and sure enough, Hero sprung to life, taking deep breaths as he realized where he was now.

"...Where am I?" Hero spoke in a neutral tone as he got up and looked at the endless purple skies and void before him.

After taking a while to get used to the scenery, Hero took a step forward, he sought to advance forward if he wanted to achieve his goal and to figure out just what was going on.

But the moment he did, another flash of light appeared in front of him, this time it was a beautiful yellow, and it did not knock him unconscious this time around.

"Rather odd, I must say," The yellow light spoke as it then formed into a physical being, of the same form as Hero as the two locked eyes, the yellow spirit clearly being intrigued as they scanned Hero from head to toe while they rested their head on their hand, thinking.

"Who are you?" Hero questioned in a serious tone, taking a step back as the yellow spirit's smirk only widened upon that question being asked.

"No... I think the question should be, who are you?" The yellow spirit spoke in a confident, yet somewhat polite tone as they pointed at Hero while crossing their arms.

"Are you perhaps just a mere figment of my imagination? It has been getting quite lonely here, after all, considering no one even knows or has gone to this place in a long time, I wouldn't be surprised if I've gone mad by now," The spirit spoke in an eerily sarcastic tone.

"...My name is Hero, and I wish to purify this world of any sort of evil," Hero answered, still sounding quite skeptical of this stranger, of just who he was, and rather, what he was.

"I see... Very interesting goal, haha... Well now that I have the answer I wanted, I suppose I am to introduce myself too then," The yellow spirit responded, as he coughed out for a moment before speaking.

"My name is Justice, The Guardian of Area 0, also known nowadays as a Rogue Guardian, but fret not on that, it is nice to meet your acquaintance, Hero,"

"Guardian, Rogue Guardian...? Pardon me but... Just what do you mean?" Hero asked, genuinely puzzled.

"You don't know anything about Guardians? Then that means you do not know anything about this world too... This is most definitely odd," Justice said as he then made another thinking gesture.

"No matter! I can give you a quick rundown, It's good to help others, right?" Justice said as he and Hero walked over to another platform right in front of them, once Hero had eased up to him.

"You see this world we are in? There are multiple of these, six to be specific, simply called Areas, each Area has a Guardian, watching over them," Justice spoke, raising his arms as stumbled across the platform and looked at the vast purple skies.

"So that is what you meant," Hero replied as Justice simultaneously stopped in his tracks.

"However..." Justice muttered in a cold tone.

"How the Guardian watches, and thus rules over these Areas, is left completely to their own according," Justice said, forming a near-psychotic grin as he stared at Hero, whose eyes toughened up as he immediately knew what this was hinting at.

"And at last is Area 6... Is where The King lives and rules, and I believe it's best if I don't give you a lecture right now on that man," Justice said, with a hint of annoyance as he then stretched out his hand, taking Hero by surprise for a moment on what they were trying to do.

"This is the kicker here," Justice said in a smug tone as a yellow orb of light formed in his hands, surprising Hero further, his eyes ever so slightly widening as it reminded him of that white orb, his memories were now vague about it, but he did indeed remember it.

"These are Cores, the culmination of one's entire existence, think of it as your heart in a spiritual and or conceptual state," Justice explained.

"I'm sure you have one as well, draw it out, imagine it in your grasp, I can guarantee it's that simple,"

Hero then looked at his right hand, wondering if he could see that white orb again.

He imagined it within his very grasp, patiently waiting as for a moment, he saw a white flicker of light, which then formed into a white orb as Hero sighed out of relief that it was successful.

"That's quite unique... I've never seen a Core as colorless and white as that, I admit it's quite intriguing, I applaud you," Justice said, smiling as he gave a soft round of applause.

"Other than that, these Cores are also our source of magic and energy, if you are able to draw out this magic you can do some extraordinary things, I'll be willing to give you a show," Justice said as his Yellow Core disappeared, he then raised a finger from that same hand and pointed it toward a nearby wall.

Suddenly, a narrow, straight line of what seemed to be light burst out of his fingertip, traveling toward the wall and utterly destroying a part of it, leaving a large crater on its surface.

"...What power," Hero thought in amazement.

"It's not at all hard to do something like that, really," Justice explained.

"You simply release a pool of your magic from your hand, what's hard is controlling and or compressing it," Justice said as he gave a smirk while he pointed at Hero who then stared at his hand once more.

"Y'know, a world like this is quite cruel, especially to goals such as yours..."

"Want to learn the act of violence inflicted on another living being? It is necessary after all,"

"I'll go easy, you don't need to fear,"

Hero felt his body tense up as if something was wrong just from the way Justice had said that, nor what his proposal was in the first place.

"...I suppose you are right," Hero responded as they both walked backward, to reach a safe enough distance to start what Hero believed was a 'training fight'.

"Let's not stretch this for too long," Justice said as Hero simultaneously raised his arm, drawing out the magic just as Justice had told him before.

In that instance, Hero was able to send out a blast of magic, colored white and black as it traveled toward Justice.

"Amazing magic output," Justice said as he suddenly dispersed into light, before reforming back behind Hero, avoiding his attack completely.

"Offensive Magic is not the only thing that will be necessary on your journey," Justice whispered as Hero suddenly turned around just as Justice was about to send what seemed to be a devastating strike toward Hero's face.

But by pure instinct, Hero summoned a weak magical barrier, and as Justice's fist came in contact with it, Hero soon realized that it was merely Justice controlling his aura, the punch was not at all deadly as his barrier halted it completely.

"Good job, it seems you are decent, especially for a first-timer," Justice said as he walked past Hero, grabbing him by the shoulder as a sign of respect.

"So what now?" Hero asked as he turned around and caught up with Justice.

"Well, you said you wanted to purify this world, right?" Justice said as he stopped in his tracks, and thus Hero did as well until he suddenly grabbed him by the collar.

"Then let's go to other worlds," Justice spoke, grinning as he took off, sending a trail of light as he was moving at unfathomable speeds as he and Hero landed somehow safely on a platform.

"...What was that? At least warn me," Hero spoke, as he felt somewhat dizzy before getting up.

There he saw hundreds of more obstacles and platforms that were initially ahead of them, it seemed Justice had cut the entire line to save some time.

"I'll most likely only teach this once, so do listen carefully," Justice said as he summoned his Core in his hand, as did Hero upon seeing Justice do so.

"Cores wield a property to 'distort', and what I want you to do is plunge your Core to the ground," Justice commanded, but before they did so, Hero protested.

"Won't that hurt us? You said these things were the culmination of our very being, right?" Hero asked with clear concern.

"They're more durable than you think," Justice said as he raised his Core up into the air, and as Hero saw this, he gritted his teeth, seeing no other choice but to trust Justice as he too raised his Core in the air.

Simultaneously, the two plunged their Cores to the ground as everything began to shake and warp, a large white flash erupted from all directions, blinding the two of them as they felt their beings transfer to a different reality.

Wait.

And wait.

All he had to do was wait.

Until then.

He could only wait.

...

Our attention diverts elsewhere, to a yellow-colored city amongst multiple platforms as Hero and Justice open their eyes to this brand new dimension.

"Haha! Looks like it still works!" Justice said with a large grin, stretching out his hands in front of the glorious-looking city as Hero looked back in a state of shock as he too stared at the area.

"Hero, was it?"

"I introduce you..."

"To Area 1!"

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