Hell Contractor: Rise of the Last God

Escape from God’s Prison.

In a desolate forest one early morning, surrounded by a vast canyon range, a silhouette figure is doing rigorous exercises, to the point where they're sweating profusely yet focused. He's currently using a tall tree to lift himself up to do pull ups with one arm. His name is Ayanda,  a dark skinned seventeen year old young man with a medium build, but is very lean. He has a campsite set up near the tree he is using, with fruit drying out nearby. Ayanda is engrossed in his routine, and after completing a set of fifty pull ups, he drops himself to land on his feet on the ground, then take in a deep breath. Ayanda return to his campsite to wash himself down and be refreshed, while going through his futuristic cellphone to browse for messages. He hasn't received anything, but there is an update from Dark Dragon Academy, which is a broadcast about breaking news in another part of The Dragon Province. Ayanda thinks for a moment, before putting his phone away.

"I hope he won't be mad at me when I come back home." Ayanda muttered softly as he leaves his campsite to go to a nearby river.

"In this years pick for contending top tier mythical beasts; is the rumored Basilisk which has recently been discovered in the eastern mountain's of The Dragon Province. Not much luck for common folks, but surely a wealthy soldiers pick if they're ever thinking about being recruited into Rapture's Army. Or hell, to even stay safe from the Twilight Vanguard!" an animated presenter mouths off, while blurry pictures of a black scaled beast are being shown on the screen. This broadcast is being viewed in a classroom, that's barely full, but is kept in immaculate condition, with the teacher on duty also studying the video carefully. As soon as the broadcast ends, it appears that the programming returned to another show where they provide tips on capturing werewolves and were to locate ghouls. 

"Now, does anybody share any thoughts on this update on the Basilisk?" the teacher picks himself up slowly from his chair, picking up his cane to steady himself. One of the students picks up her hand sheepishly.

"Um, Mr. Han, I think it will be a bonus for anyone who wanted to find a dragon to contract. Dragons have become scarce over the last century. The Basilisk should be easier to access compared to the mythical level dragon." the student responded.

"Excellent opinion! You're right in stating how this will elevate the pressure to find a dragon. But do you really think they're "easier" to contract?" Mr. Han asked. He even looked around the room to see if anyone will be willing to help her out in her thought process, but most of the students there are as nervous as she was. Mr. Han let out a sigh under his breath," The Basilisk may not have the same characteristics of dragons, but by any measure they should still be considered as mythical." he walks over towards the display board, to bring up a clear 3D render of a dragon, which encapsulates its movements and flight. "Dragons may be relatively higher on any scale, but that doesn't exclude the possibility that dragons are still superior. Sadly, the age of large scale wars is a thing of the past, and now the remaining states seek to find ways to exist peacefully." Mr. Han's eyes have a small glimmer of regret, but before he can conclude his class, the bell rings for class to end, with announcements ringing out.

"Attention, seniors of Dark Dragon Academy. You have one more month remaining to select your final elective phase. All students must register with their companion beasts before the end of the month."

As Mr. Han's class has cleared out, he sits back down at his desk, pulling up a map similar to the one displayed on the broadcast earlier, but now its more focused to the south of The Dragon Province. Mr. Han looks over the map seriously, and then summons his companion beast, a snow white snake which slowly coils around his arm, then it bites into his index finger to force him to drip some blood onto the screen display, but instead of staining it, is dissolves into the map, then a deep blue mark begins to glow, like a marker. "Good, you're still alive. I hope you make it back soon."

Ayanda is picking up dried fruit of slabs of clean rocks near a camp site. A small fire is helping him brew some tea and he prepares some fresh fruit as his breakfast. He pulls out his Dark Dragon Academy standard issue hunting kit, and prepares his military suit for extreme weather conditions, as well as securing his rock climbing rigs. His camp is hidden carefully, so he only has to take a short stroll before reaching a dangerous looking mountain range, taking out an old map which looks like a relic. Ayanda constantly observes his surroundings, while maintaining a constant pace towards the rocky mountains. As he gets closer to the base of the mountain, he observes his surroundings more diligently, looking for any traces of footprints or dangerous wild plants. 

The mountain he's exploring is known as God's Prison. It's a mysterious mountain which is open to the public, but has a high fatality rate due to the extreme geographical surroundings, as well as plant life which exist, which makes most of the area explorable only by humans, since not many beasts can survive. It's rumored that only mythical beasts stand a chance, but not many are willing to risk it. Ayanda is daring enough, since he doesn't have any companion beasts. In fact, much like God's Prison, every companion beasts he has tried to contract in the past has rejected him. In Dark Dragon Academy, he's known as "Lone Worm", since he has to struggle through all subjects without the help of any companion beast. He's never been able to achieve any rank, even as a senior, and unless he can find a companion beast before the end of the month, he'll fail his final exam and have to be expelled from Dark Dragon Academy. 

In The Dragon Province, there aren't many academic institutions that would be willing to teach a plain student like Ayanda, but fortunately Mr. Han adopted him and had Ayanda enrolled from a young age. Even though he wasn't able to contract a companion beast, Ayanda was able to learn various survival tactics from Mr. Han, as well as mythical legends about rare beasts. Ayanda excels in theoretical studies, but lacks practical experience with using companion beasts. Now, he's steadily making his way up the lower face of God's Prison, mixed between some thick, lush vines to use as cover for his ascent. He passes over a small stone nest of a Granite Hawk. It's an empty stone kraal built in the shape of a swimming pool, filled with decomposing bones and granite feathers. Ayanda picks up some darker looking feathers, which appear fluffy, but are stronger than steel," These could work as short knives in case for now." he thought to himself. He places them into his backpack and continues up swiftly, making his way up the mountain. He eventually makes it beyond the half way point without any issues, and takes out his map to double check his path," Now I just have to find the waterfall, then I'm almost there." he mutters, then has a drink of his water to catch his breath while observing possible return routes as well as potential risks to look out for. After collecting his climbing rigs, he sets off on a jagged mountain path which leads into the heart of the mountain.

As Ayanda gets deeper inside, the temperature begins to drop drastically. If it weren't for his academy supplied gear, he would have died from the freezing conditions. His suit keeps his movement unrestricted as he descends a set of masterfully carved stone stairs. They've been carved out of the mountain itself, but as Ayanda gets deeper, the detail becomes less aged, and more vivid. Soon he enters a carved chamber that's in the shape of a majestic flaming bird. It takes some time for Ayanda to take in all the details, but as he's marveling around, he suddenly detects a shift in the air passing through, as the temperature starts to not be as chilling to the bone as before. Ayanda quickly hides himself back into the entrance he came out of, and observes below, where a group of 5 people slowly walk into the chamber. They're all hidden beneath long, draping black cloaks, with hoods over their heads.

"The intel we got from Rapture's Army really was legit." one of the cloaked figures said in a gleeful male voice. 

"Did you think he could withstand being tortured by Razor? It's lucky that we got this far considering how tightlipped they usually are." another one responded lazily. 

As they're walking, Ayanda notices how they're not wearing protective gear, which must mean they are people who have practiced sacred arts, which allow one to cultivate more extreme bodies which can survive harsher conditions or training, as well as contracting extremely powerful companion beasts, maybe even mythical beasts. Sacred arts allow one to learn martial art skills that allow humans to transcend the mortal realm, and contend with wild companion beasts in order to subdue or catch them. Ayanda hasn't been able to learn any sacred art, even the basic ones since the standard requirement is to have a companion beasts who will be able to amplify the power of the sacred art being practiced.

"Be quiet. Don't forget there's a beast we have to avoid in there." a woman in front of the group ordered clearly. Her attitude made the others silent, while continuing to follow her into the chamber, down another set of stairs. Ayanda waited for the temperature to return back to the chilling state it was in before. He makes his way out of the path he took, then takes out his map to read the instructions at the back," Looks like they have the same information as me; they even knew about the hidden beast inside!" he thought to himself. Ayanda looks around the chamber as quietly as possible, searching for another way to go down into the mountain without following the mysterious group. As he's searching, he finds an old rusty ring beneath some rock. The ring has a phoenix bird symbol protruding out of the ring, like a stamp. Ayanda tries the ring on, but it slips right off, almost as if it's too big for his fingers. He pockets it quickly and keeps on looking for any clues that he can use. After coming up with nothing, Ayanda has no choice but to follow the mysterious strangers down the stairs they took.

Ayanda carefully takes a few light steps on the stairs down, before slowly continuing, then realizing that there are almost far too many steps to even fathom. For some reason, the more he goes down, the more endless the end of the stairs seem. Just as he is losing his grip on any hope, he can make out some tapping noises echoing up the stairs from below. His heart quickly races, and he becomes vigilant again, this time taking a pause to catch his breath as well as take in some food for energy. He gets back to making his way down after finishing some of his dried fruit, until he feels the temperature changing again, nearing the mysterious group who appear to be in front of a giant door made of two gargantuan slabs of black rock. One of the cloaked figures has been attacking the door relentlessly, and has destroyed most of it, but there's still no clear way in yet.

"You've been digging for hours now, didn't you say you take care of this in five minutes?" the gleeful sounding male figure snickered. 

The cloaked figure attacked the door stops their attack, where they were about to punch the slab again, but hesitated now. Then they turn over and walk towards a cloaked figure who is seated with her legs crossed meditating; it's the leader.

"Leader, as Luka said, I failed to keep my word. You've shown me enough mercy, please punish me." the cloaked figure said in a youthful male voice, with Luka cackling in the background.

Their leader doesn't even flinch from where she is seated, but simply asks, " Luka, can you open it in five minutes?" she asks coldly.

Luka jumps up from where he has been resting on his back, and starts to roll his shoulders and c***k his knuckles. "I can't promise that I won't wake up the hidden beast inside." he says confidently, standing in front of the door.

"Do it." the leader ordered calmly. Luka smirks and quickly morphs into a huge, muscular werewolf, with metallic grey fur and wild fangs that gleam sinisterly in the light. He launches a barrage of punches towards the stone slabs, and there is an earth shattering explosion which shakes most of the mountain. In a split second, the bottom half of the stone slab is destroyed, opening up their way in. Luka suddenly disappears, and grabs Ayanda who was startled by his attack now, and pins him down in front of the leader who still hasn't moved.

"If it wasn't for my Werewolf Alpha transformation, I wouldn't have detected him." Luka sneers as he drops Ayanda down, and he struggles for air as he grasps at the ground. Luka was choking him for a brief moment, in order to make sure he couldn't get away. "Maybe we can use him as bait for the hidden beast?" he suggests, transforming backing into his cloaked figure. The youthful figure who failed to break open the door before summons three identical monkeys, who sit on both of his shoulders and his head, with the monkey on his head covering it's ears. Before he can even speak, the leader finally opens her eyes and glares at the youth, who shyly retreats while unsummoning his monkey trio. A cloaked figure reveals itself behind Ayanda, sniffing him up and down.

"Strange...(sniff)(sniff)… I don't smell any blood on him. Or even the scent of a companion beast!" his raspy voice shakes slightly as he hovers over Ayanda.

"So what does that mean Razor?" the enigmatic leader asks sternly. Razor lifts a sharp, purple boney finger which taps on the badge woven into the suit Ayanda is wearing.

"This, should be those one of the academy of those "phoenix" frauds." he mutters calmly," But if it really is a student, then he should at least have a companion beast."

"Are you sure?" Luka butted in. 

Razor throws Luka a cold glare, "My nose is never wrong. If I wasn't scouting ahead, I wouldn't have missed our little intruder here."  he slowly turns back to inspect Ayanda's belongings, finding his map, and phoenix ring only.

"That mark..." the leader muttered out oud, drawing the attention of Luka and the rest of the group. They all stare at it intently, but don't utter a single word out loud. Razor coughs slightly before responding," Have you seen this before Leader?"

"It could be a seal of a noble of the Phoenix Sect, but it appears too far outdated." she replied casually.

"Do you think they sent him here?" Luka asked with genuine curiosity, no longer speaking with his gleeful charm.

"Why would I know that? Besides, it's probably his bad luck he ran into us today." the leader sighed after her statement. She looks into the darkness ahead, then looks to Razor. "How does it look?"

"With your Lucifer, we should be able to locate the mythical companion beast. But I didn't detect any traces of life beyond the mythical beast guarding the temple, so it may be hidden behind a powerful seal." Razor reported clearly, " The beast most likely has a powerful space element skill it can use. It's presence is constantly moving at the gate, never remaining in the same spot for long."

"So we have to trap it in one place before we can kill it?" the leader asked.

"Trapping it would be best, killing it is unlikely. The space element appears to be part of it's body, so unless we have someone who's practiced a space element sacred art to a mythical degree, then we have no sure chance of killing it." Razor replied. He looked to Luka in order to put him under pressure to come up with a solution. Luka barely flinches as he walks over to Ayanda.

"Sipho, use your Tranquillizer Mark with your monkeys." Luka pointed at Ayanda who has now slowly been stabilizing his breathing while listening to their conversation in order to pick up vital information. He may look like he's struggling, but he's secretly been preparing an explosive device he can trigger above the stairs he was standing at. 

The youthful figure summoned his three monkeys again, but now all three monkeys were sitting on top of his head like a totem, each one covering either their eyes, ears, or mouth, constantly changing like a roulette until the all align by covering their mouths in unison. A syringe magically appears in front of Sipho, who plucks it out of the air, and is about to walk over to Luka, but the leader interrupts.

"Who's said anybody else can give orders except for me?" the air surrounding the leader begins to crackle, with the temperature suddenly rising to a frightening peak. Hellish flames lick Luka's smirking face as he bows humbly towards the leader.

"Forgive my misguidance Leader. I simply wished to use this rat we found as bait to lure out this space element beast, and put it to sleep in order to spare ourselves any trouble." he calmly kowtows while revealing his cards. There is a stern glint in the leaders eyes, and then she quickly releases her control over the space, allowing the temperature to return to normal. She looks over at Ayanda who has regained more of his composure in order to fight against the tranquilizer, but the hellish flames that burst out before have him second guessing any dangerous movements that could lead to his death.

"Who the f**k are these people?!" as Ayanda's mind is racing, with this question at the very forefront. As much as he wants to escape, he'd much rather know who he's dealing with. One of the important lessons Mr. Han conveyed as he was growing up, was that to truly outsmart your enemy, you must know everything there is to know. Now Ayanda decides to push back his escape, and try to cause disorder amongst this mysterious group that's captured him. Since they've already discovered his rare "defect", all Ayanda has to do now is use that to his advantage in finding a chance to make his escape, but first he must force his powerful captors into dropping their guard. He considers allowing himself to be used at bait for now.

The leader ponders for a moment, before turning to look at the last mysterious member who hasn't said a single word, or even reacted to Luka's barrage. The small figure nods and floats over to Ayanda, and a petite gloved hand peaks out of the cloak to project a misty glow onto Ayanda's head. As soon as the light falls on him, Ayanda senses a strange sensation that wriggles onto his forehead, but he can't tell what it is now. The glow fades away and the small figure quickly runs to hide behind the leaders figure, suddenly revealing a different side that Ayanda never expected.

"Is it done?" the leader asked calmly. The child like cloaked figure behind her nodded gingerly, then proceeds to step back from the leader. The leader looks to Sipho and gestures for him to place his Tranquilizer Mark onto Ayanda, "Luka, you'll make sure the beast takes the bait as planned. If you ever give any of my men an order again, I'll send you back to the Abyss Sect in a coffin."

"Abyss Sect!" suddenly a cold sweat develops on Ayanda's body. He knows exactly who the Abyss Sect are, the most nefarious family of assassins' and thieves who rule to the south of The Dragon Province. Their military is known as The Twilight Vanguard, a ruthless militia who use exclusive daemon companion beasts.