The Paradisus Chronicles Book 1: Vengeance

I saw that there was a person that had a halo map out on display and they were talking to someone about the different areas that were around him.

On this map, I saw a lake to the east. In the west, I saw some city ruins, and to the north, I saw the projection of a mountain. I also saw that we were in the southern forest.

"Very interesting map that we process. With this map, I bet we could win after we gather some solid intel on the enemies that are going to be between us and our victory.

"So, our healer has finally shown up. Since you have now chosen to show up, we can put together a plan that will ensure our best chance at success while we compete with all the other teams." A short male who was entirely bald said as he jumped off the branch of a nearby tree and landed in front of me after he deactivated the halo map.

He snapped his fingers and everyone else that was to be in my group for this event moved from behind the trees that were in front of me.

"Well, it seems like we have quite a pretty man as our healer." A tall female with short, wavy, dark red hair said to me as she walked over to me and placed her right finger on my face slowly.

I got a sharp pain that rushed through me as she wrapped her arms around me. The more that I resisted her the more tightly she wrapped her arms around me as if she would not allow me to get separated from her.

"Vicky! Get your hands off the healer of our party. You know that you can not hook up with someone who is not part of your caste." the leader of the group said to her.

"All right, go ahead and be a giant buzz kill, why don't you." She said as she walked away from me.

"All right we will need to explain each of our talents to each other if we are ever going to ensure that our team ends up in a very high-ranking position. I will begin by telling everyone about my caste and talent. I am a member of the specialist caste, and as you know, people who are specialists have two talents. My first talent is the ability to shoot beams of pure solar energy out of my hands and feet.

My second talent is the ability to slow down time to half of its normal speed when I hold my breath. Also, my name is Ethan". The leader of the group said after he sat down beneath one of the trees.

"I am Cindy, and I am a member of the rogue faction of the warrior caste. My talent is that I can make my fingers drop a poison that causes my target to lose their sense of sight."

"I am Hillden, I am a mage with the talent to summon a massive ball of fire for battle at the cost of my stamina." A female that had long black hair said as she walked up to me.

"Well, I guess it is my turn. My name is Jason, or the fighter faction in the warrior caste. My talent allows me to harden my skin by generating an iron-like skin to buff up my defense". A tall and very muscular man who had long, wavy blond hair and a scruffy beard said as he walked up to me".

My name is Danny. As I am assuming you know I am a healer. The talent that I have allows me to heal any injured area of the body back to what it was before the injury if it is not fatal. There is one catch, though; the more intense the injury, the more of a toll it will take on my stamina." I said to all of them hoping that the specialist had a plan on how we were going to succeed.

"Good; now that I have heard how everyone's talents work, I can come up with a solid strategy to help us survive this event". Ethan stated as I saw him place his hands behind his back. "While I am coming up with a solid strategy, I want all of you to go in two different pairs and scout for extra supplies.

After that is done, I will want you to return here; by the time that you all come back I will have finished coming up with a solid plan."

"I will go with Cindy and we can search the region of ruins that is to our west," I said to them as I started to walk into the woods.

"Okay, then Jason and I will explore the lake region to the east. We will return here with a set of items that will help us secure our victory." Hillden said to all of us as I saw her grab Jason by the wrist and dash in the opposite direction that I was supposed to go.

As I started to walk to the end of the forest, I saw that there was an open field of grass that was in between me and the ruined city that I was supposed to explore.

I had a very bad feeling that I was walking into a trap. I did not know if this trap was set up by one of the other teams or if it was one of the captive groups. The only thing that I knew was that I had to focus or I would most likely die too early in this event.

"Well, it seems that we are all alone, Danny," Cindy said as she wrapped her arms around me.

I pushed her off instantly without even giving it a second thought. She then hit a tree with her back and she looked at me with an expression of confusion.

"What is it, Danny; am I not good enough for you?" Cindy asked me as she tried to get up onto her feet.

"Look, Cindy, you need to stop getting the wrong idea; you should be focused on the current task. Even if we were not doing anything that demanded our attention, I would turn you down because I have already seen someone." I told her as I offered her my hand so she could get back onto her feet.

"Okay, if you want to be so serious, then that is what I will do. Just remember that you asked for it." She said as she started to run across the field in a crouched position as if she were an animal on the hunt.

I followed her example staying low to the ground so that I would not be easily noticed.

It took us about ten minutes to slowly cross the field since we were moving as slowly as possible towards the ruins.

The ruins around me were made entirely out of stone structures. There was a circular tower in the center with a few stone walls that surrounded it with about twenty feet in between each of the walls and the tower.

I saw that the wall that I was leaning against had a very large bag on it. As I opened the bag, I saw that there was a variety of items inside of it.

"Look, Cindy, at what we have found for our team," I whispered in a soft tone so that whoever was nearby would not hear me as I spoke to her.

She came over to my right side and she started to grab some items from the inside of the bag. As she started to pull out one of the elemental grenades that had a top that was colored dark blue. This told me that it was a grenade that was enhanced with the element of ice.

"I know that you are there. I can smell the stench of your weak Terran odors. I also know that one of you is a male. The smell of your men is very revolting." I heard a female voice say to me from the location of the center tower.

I slightly peaked over the corner so that I could see who it was that had just a very rude comment about both my race and gender. As I looked at the central tower, I was able to see that there was a female, humanoid-looking being. She wore simple robes and had chains on both of her wrists. Her face was entirely white and she looked very pale. There was one major difference between them and my race. The difference was that she had a red-colored bone structure on the top of her head instead of hair.

That meant that if the research I had done during my four years of education was accurate this was a member of The Vordon empire. Based on the color of her horns, I will take it that she is a member of the warrior caste. This meant that I would have to remain on my toes if I was to survive this encounter because it is very well known that The Vordon Empire was ranked the second highest in the galaxy in both technology and tactics.

My palms started to sweat at the thought of what it was that was most likely about to happen. It was said that the Vordon females captured men and tortured them until they became willing slaves who would not easily resist their orders.

"You are going to have to be the one to talk with her. She is a female Vordon, and I am sure that she would most likely take offense to me showing up in front of them since they are a female-dominant race." I quietly whispered to Cindy.

"Okay, I will talk to her at the best that my abilities will allow me to." She whispered to me as she looked at me.

For the next few moments, I knew that my entire life was in the hands of this female that I had just met. She would have to say the right things if we were to make it out of this meeting with one of the Vordon's alive.