“Hey Cecil wake up! Hurry the cave is collapsing!” my brother had frantically screamed.
    “Huh? What’s happening…?” I confusedly said.
    “No time to explain just run!”
Everything happened in a flash. Cecil had no idea how he had ended up in the situation, but he knew that we had no time to spare and so he had sprinted hurriedly after Ren. They dashed around monsters around them that were still trying to block our path despite their own dire situation. After weaving through countless passageways, dead ends, and monsters the two  had the exit in sight. A giant creature blocked the path that had seemed to have no intent on moving out of the way. The eerie creature seemed to have a grim reaper look with a shadowy cloak and scythe and held an equally as terrifying aura.
“YOU’RE GONE!” A giant fireball was conjured in front of Ren’s fingers and blasted into the creature, pushing it to the side. Ren and Cecil ran out right as the cave collapsed into itself trapping and burying everything within. The two were on their hands and knees breathing raggedly.
“Are you okay Ren?”
“Yeah… I-Im fine…”
Cecil thought that to be reassuring and so stood and helped Ren up. The reassurance didn’t last too long as Ren suddenly collapsed on the ground Hastily, Cecil threw Ren on his back and walked briskly to the village. The cave was just outside the area of the plains in a secluded area of a valley. The cave and area of the valley seemed very strange and unnatural. Yet Cecil had decided to dismiss the feeling and adored the meadow he ran into halfway through the walk. He had been here before Cecil had thought. While Cecil was walking through the meadow Ren started to wake. Ren slid off Cecil’s back and explained to him that they went into the cave looking for a treasure. Ren explained to Cecil that a hidden monster knocked him aside into unconsciousness as they were next to the treasure.
“Wait what treasure was it? You have it on you right?”
“Yeah here it is!” Ren exclaimed excitedly as he pulled out a spherical, blue gem out of his pocket. It was shiny and fit right on his palm almost exactly.
“Woah! That’s so pretty!”
“ We probably shouldn’t show mom and dad since we didn’t have permission for something as dangerous as that. Anyway let’s continue on our walk home now. It’s getting dark and we’ll be late for dinner.”
Cecil was relieved as soon as they made it back into the village. As they arrived at their house Cecil felt uneasy about what they took. Cecil walked into his bedroom and sat on his bed and thought about the gem until he heard a giant explosion just outside his house.
    As Cecil peeked through the window in his room a hooded man yelled, “Hand over the remnant!” Cecil had not known a clue of what the man wanted, but he dashed downstairs to not find a trace of anyone. In a panic Cecil rushed out just to be unfortunately confronted by the man. The person wore a hooded cloak, but from the person it was definitive he was a man. Strangely enough, the cloak had a familiar design that had a black look with a pattern of purple shapes. Cecil quickly focused energy and sent a shockwave of air at the man sending him hurtling backwards. Unfortunately, the hooded man recovered  on his feet before he finished tumbling and revealed his strangely designed blade. As the hooded man moved forward Cecil started running while preparing another blast in his hand, but the hooded man retaliated quickly by attempting to shoot Cecil in the leg, but only managed to graze it multiple times as the gun was inaccurate.
Despite the guns inaccuracy, the pain was enough to bring Cecil down. With a pained scream Cecil fell on his hands and knees and looked back at the hooded man.
“What did you do to me!?” Cecil had growled angrily.
“It’s called a gun. It’s something you people wouldn’t know of. Now, unless you have the remnant I have no room for conversation. ”
“What remnant? What do you want!” Cecil hastily yelled.
    Cecil’s mind was in tatters, his mind too frozen in fear and confusion to react to the man about to fire on him. Before the man managed to fire Ren came from behind, tackled the man, raised Cecil on to his back, and ran off towards the woods. Before Cecil fainted from pain he looked back, the hood on the robe fell back revealing the man’s features. He had tan skin, shaggy looking hair, but the most prominent feature at the time was his infuriated facial expression. Once the man recovered he tried running after Cecil and Ren trying to catch on of them with his gun, but failed and decided to turn back. Once Ren had gotten to a safe enough distance through the woods he backtracked a bit and travelled up a high high a hill. Once they were settled near the top Ren set Cecil down and started to tend to his wound.
“nnnngh… Wh- Who was he?” Cecil groaned as he sat up.
“I’m… Not sure… As far as I know we may be the only survivors.”
“What was that he was carrying? I’ve never seen it before…”
“He did say it was a gun. As far as I know, it shoots metal balls. I saw them on the ground as I ran away with you. That hooded man definitely wasn’t from here and that’s the only thing certain. Before we speak anymore let me fix up your leg before you bleed out.” Ren had mostly stopped the bleeding with the bandages he carried around.
“I guess those bandages are finally coming to be useful.”
“Yeah. I told you it was a good idea to carry them around.”
“Whatever. Anyway... uhhh… where are our parents, friends, or anyone for that matter?”
“Our parents are safe, but I’m not sure where they went. They held off the man for a moment before fleeing. Our father was shot, although I’m sure he’s fine considering our mom’s quite great in the medical field. Not to mention her being able to use healing magic. I’m not sure about anyone else since I didn’t see them.”
“What are we going to do though? Do we wait it out?”
“I’m… not sure…”
“At this point I’m sure he wants the stone we nabbed from the cave right.”
“It does seem that way, but I doubt we should hand it over. Nothing good would probably come from it. It seems that this gem is more than it truly seems. We could try to tail him because it would seem that we could learn more about the situation at hand.”
“That seems quite dangerous.”
“Not anymore dangerous than that cave we recklessly rushed into.”
“I guess you’re right. Just stealthily follow him. Sounds easy enough. My leg’s starting to feel better already. Thank god the wounds were just grazes.”
“Well we better hurry up and tail him. He’s probably going to head back from where he came from.” Ren and Cecil looked over on the cliff and saw the man searching around the village that was now destroyed and in flames.
“The village was just intact before we left. I wonder what he did…”
“It doesn’t matter as long as everyone is safe. Homes can be rebuilt, but lives can’t be rebuilt. Let’s get going Cecil.” The two stood up and hurriedly rushed over to the burning village. They weaved through the woods making sure not to be spotted by some other hostile person or the occasional animals that appear.
“I’ve always wondered Ren, do you know how these animals manage to survive against the monsters that may roam around? They have no way to fight them. I mean the monsters we fight are basically glorified versions of different bugs or animals.”
“That’s been a mystery for a while to all of us. We’ve never bothered to observe them. I mean monsters don’t usually invade the town and the animals tend to stay close to it. The answer might be as simple as that.” For the rest of the way, the two silently crept into the town to see mechanical creatures roaming the remains of the village.
“I should’ve known it wasn’t going to be this easy… It seems like they have more advanced versions of our mechanical creations, ready for combat too. Cecil let’s go through the rooftops. The ceilings are high enough that unless the robots look up, we won’t be spotted.”
“Yeah let’s climb up this one here. The clump of buildings should be enough to get us through the village.”
“Here,” Ren grabbed the hidden ladder they kept behind a bush, “this would make it easier.” Swiftly, Ren and Cecil climbed up the ladder they set and brought it onto the roof. Building to building the both of them jumped their way forward until they had spotted the hooded man.
“We would have to go down to follow him now don’t we. The area is swarming with the robots. What’s the plan Ren?”
“We might have to fight our way through, but I seriously doubt our ability to fight them especially considering that we don’t know anything about them. We have to think of something fast…”
“I can try to blast us across the gap onto the other building. I’ve been practicing my use of controlling wind spirits. Trust me."
"It's okay, I trust you of course. Now just focus Cecil."
It was an honest surprise to Cecil that Ren left him with such a task since Ren was deathly afraid of heights. After concentrating the spirits, Cecil could feel the wind around him start to gather under his control. In one release, the wind around Cecil shot both he and Ren upward across the gap full of robots onto the other roof. As soon as they landed on the roof the two ran and jumped after the hooded man. As they looked around they saw a light emanating from the hooded man.
"Cecil, look, there he is." Ren had pointed out, "He's going into the side of the cliff. He seems to have blocked it with a boulder."
"We'd need to move it quietly so we won't draw attention."
"Let's go and catch up to him now. But before that are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah it doesn’t take that much to control the wind even in large portions. Especially when I focus the spirits.”
With confirmation the two made their way to the cliffside next to their village. Ren and Cecil soon stopped at the end of the village. Ren made his way down the house first and then Cecil climbed down with him. Both of them slowly made their way through the grassy field. Slowly they moved using trees and bushes to move along to make sure nothing would notice them from the town. As they approached the boulder from the cover of a tree Ren noticed a whirring sound. Ren quickly clasped a hand over Cecil’s mouth. Cecil held a confused expression until he also heard the noise. They both stayed as still as stones until the robot figure appeared from the side.
The robot moved past them as if nobody was there and the two crept behind the robot silently. The robot approached the boulder then rolled it aside with impressive strength. The robot seemed to have disarmed a laser contraption that would have stopped Cecil and Ren.  Both of them sneaked closer to the entrance until both of them happened to step on inconveniently placed branches. Quickly the robot whirred around and sounded a loud alarm. Ren cursed under his breath and started gathering fire spirits in his hand.
    “We need to move! The robots are coming Cecil!” Ren yelled as he shot the robot. It tried to retaliate with its bullets, but it melted under the extreme heat. As soon as the fireball hit, it exploded in a fiery blast that forced the robot into the wall burnt and broken.
Both of them ran towards the cave entrance with a wave of robots at their backs. Ren gazed at the incinerated robot as he ran past and sighed realizing the way they were built was also different from their world. As soon as Ren had gone in Cecil blasted the roof of the entrance, collapsing rocks to block the way in or out.
“That should buy us some time let’s go.”
“Good thinking.” Ren said as he followed with the idea. He gathered fire spirits while slowly moving back. After several paces back Ren released a wave of concentrated heat on to the floor.
“This should discourage them after breaking through the boulders.”
Cecil and Ren moved onward to see many bits of technology they never thought they would see. Soon after walking for a short period of time they both entered a giant room.The room had multiple doors with one giant door. It contained many contraptions Cecil nor Ren would understand. It contained many artificial blue lights and stairwells mirroring itself in the middle.
"I'm quite sure that's the room we need to be going to," Ren stated as he walked towards it.
"I already feel a fight bound to happen. We're not armed with anything but magic."
"Our ability to use weapons isn't very good you know."
"It's better than nothing."
"There's too many rooms to go through meaning more mechanical creations."
"Fine..." Cecil had worriedly agreed.
Once Cecil and Ren neared the door they braced themselves to enter until the door blasted open to reveal the robot's, hooded figure, and another mysterious figure waiting for them. To the sides were lined jail cells containing many people of the village including their mother and father. Everyone appeared unconscious.
“I’ve been anxious to see you again child,” The hooded man said with a grin creeping on his lit face, “it’s time for your death!”
“You’re a little late!” Ren had shouted, firing the fireball he’d been developing as the door opened.
Unluckily, the hooded man seemed to have been ready for the attack and dodged quickly out of the way.The hooded man dashed toward Cecil and Ren with his sword gleaming. Cecil tried to blast them away with wind, but also failed as the hooded man dodged. This time the hooded man moved at inhuman speeds and dashed towards Ren with movements so sporadic he was hard to track. Ren collapsed on the floor and started gasping for air, but Cecil was so occupied with trying to blast away the hooded man that he didn’t notice.
“W-What is this…” Ren had gasped.
“Hey Ren what’s wrong?” Cecil asked, finally noticing what was happening to Ren.
As the hooded man almost closed the gap Ren started to glow a blue aura along with Cecil. Slowly they were both filled with power and energy to unimaginable extents. As if nothing had happened, Cecil and Ren touched back to the floor seeming ready to fight. During the process the hooded man stepped back, startled from what just occurred. In a moment after they touched down the hooded man regained his momentum and jumped into Ren to finish him first. Ren quickly dodged the swing and punched the man far back with a punch. The hooded man coughed and pressed against his stomach that Ren had hit.
“Hey! What is this? You are not supposed to be this strong!” The hooded man yelled in a panic.
It was as if Ren and Cecil’s thoughts were connected. Without a moment’s hesitation Ren and Cecil fired a large simultaneous blast of fire and wind at the hooded man.The hooded man barely dodged it, but Cecil had preemptively fired a sharp wave of wind where the man was standing. The hooded man blocked some of the sharp wind projectiles with his blade but was still cut on his leg. This moment the man flinched and lost his stance Ren landed in front of him. As the man tried to recover, Ren punched the air in front of him and had summoned a giant, diagonal rock spire from the ground that hit the hooded man even further back.
“Wait, I get it now! You were the two that stole the remnant! No, no, no, no, no… That was supposed to be ours! The hooded figure hissed.
Without a reaction Cecil and Ren charged another simultaneous blast of wind and air. Before the two could launch their blast, they were struck on the side from behind. Cecil and Ren were blasted through the air and smashed into the wall to the side of them. Fading into unconsciousness, Cecil and Ren’s aura slowly faded. Behind them was the Reaper from the cave.
“Dang it! Not you again!” The hooded man exclaimed.
Before the hooded man could react, the Reaper tore a portal open that sucked in the hooded figure, Cecil, and Ren. Slowly Cecil and Ren were pulled in still unable to move.
“You must change this world.” A voice said.
Cecil and Ren both tried to reply while drifting through the portal, but couldn’t say anything.
“This world will be different from yours. It has been… corrupted. You must change it for the better. Use the power of the Remnant to help shape it. This world is very different. Technology runs rampant and you must use magic from your own energy. Your struggles will be great, but I trust that you will pull through.
Suddenly the voice stopped speaking and there was nothing but the heavy breeze in their ears while drifting through the seemingly endless void. Time seemed to tick by forever for Ren and Cecil. Eventually, Ren and Cecil were swallowed through to the other side left unconscious.