PLEASE NOTE: Please read the last post.


Credits: Mies! - Thanks for giving so detailed corrections, I much appreciate your effort, and if I had the chance I would cook you food irl someday. (Not kidding).
Everyone else - Thank you for your comments/criticisms, and most of all, thank you for taking the time off to read my work even though I feel its crappy :)

PART I. (Chapters 1-3)

"As the sky tears apart, a new vessel is formed."

"...Are you sure this will work?"
"Yes. I am sure. Keep walking."

Two men of 17 years are walking in a dark cave. There were stalactites everywhere, water
dripping from their tips. The ground was bumpy and wet; the whole cave appeared small, big enough for two small people to fit through. Although the floor is wet, it wasn't as slippery
due to the rough terrain on the bottom. It was damp, and both men had to feel their
way through darkness.

"How did you hear about this?"
"You don't need to know. You'll see it soon."
"But.. what if something goes wrong? This cave... it feels small enough to swallow us in..."
"Don't be so pessimistic."

They kept walking for a few minutes until they saw a faint glow on the
wall. It looked like some sort of light was reflecting on its surface. They both turned around,
and saw a torch. The torch was already lit, and looked like it was burning from a few moments ago. The taller of the two reached for the torch as it was on the top of the wall, picking it up. He waved the torch around, and in front of him, he saw a stool.

"..please, I don't like this feeling. Everything seems so eerie, and sinister. Let us just hide somewhere and pray we won't be found!"
"Don't worry about it. I have a gun if anything happens to us." The
tall man showed his companion the gun.
"...How did you get that?! For as long as we've known we were prohibited to possess any advanced weaponry!"
"Just be quiet and follow me. We'll be fine."

The taller of the two appeared confident as he inched closer to the stool. When he was near the stool, he saw a big rugged book. The looked at the book as it had nothing written on the cover.
The book looked half-torn on its edges, and the tall man looked at the book from its back, side, and front.

"Nothing's written on the cover."
"I..I don't think we should open it..." The man said, scared at what might happen next.
"What's wrong with you? I know you want this too. That is why we both came here."

The man looked at the book while he was holding it. He then opened the book slowly, and when he opened it to the first page there was a layer of dust covered on it. The man blowed on the book to remove the dust.

"What an old book. This looked like it hasn't been touched for centuries."

He began to look at the strange ancient characters on the book. There was only two lines of
text on the page. He began to turn the pages, but all the pages after the first page were blank.

"This book.. Is it a feint?" The tall man said while he turned the pages to find nothing but blank paper.
"..W-What are there strange characters? I-I can't understand them...
"
"For some reason, these words seem familiar to me..."

The man looked at the characters in the book. The characters look nothing like the language
they speak at home.

ðΣѓŒέ ΣŒДЄ ξðϊ2, ξΏΠΔ фЭώ ΰЭΣ2Эϊ.

"..What does it say?"
"I think I can make it out, ...ar..arsae...arsaea..." The tall man began to recite, when a faint green glow surrounded the foreign characters he recited.

"...Stop! I don't think we should continue! The words are glowing!!" The man tried to stop his comrade by showing the glowing characters to him. However, the man became frightened as he saw his comrade's eyes widening with each character he recite. The
tall man did not respond and continued to read the characters.
"..tahonure....se..sekhure...taeu...ar...tae..urar. .o...wea..."

The next 11 characters began to glow faintly.

"...ar...arc neurro veu..rseeure ii...s fuojer..may...e."

All of the characters in the book glowed faintly, and then disappeared. Everything
remained silent for a few moments.

"...I don't get it...nothing happened?"

Suddenly, a burst of white light shot from the book and knocked both men backwards. As the
book began to levitate in mid-air, all of the characters inside the book began to radiate a
bright green color. The book appeared as if its waiting for its master to hold it. The tall man stood up, captivated by the light. He walked toward the book, and reached out his hand
for it.

"..I cant..believe it! Its...working!!"

Right when the tall man held the book right with both of is hands, the book suddently filled itself with a bunch of characters. The book began to flip pages furiously on its own,
filling characters by the thousands until the book was fully written. The book then shut itself, and the light and glow disappeared. The tall man stood still, like a statue.

"...What happened? Are you alright? Tell me what ha-"

The man was then shot by his tall companion. He quickly took out his pistol, pointed and shot
the man straight in the chest. The man looked back at him with shock, as the eyes on the tall man's
face expressed indifference, feeling unchalant of what he has done. The man fell to the floor and twiched
for a few seconds, still having his eye on the tall man until he passed out with his eyes
still open. The tall man did not look at the dead man with a single thought while he took the torch and walked out of the cave.


*** *** ***


The Army has killed most of its inhabitants, now searching for survivors to kill.

"I think we killed them all, don't you think so, Captain?" The soldier smirked evily.
"... There's still some left. Check the whole city for survivors. Looking at the people we killed, I believe I can leave things up to you. I'm heading back to the city.".
"Heh, fine! I'll have all the fun myself! C'mon boys, lets find ourselves more roadkill!"

As the soldier was about to turn around when he saw something from the side of his eye. He
turned back around with his horse when he saw a figure from a distance.

"Heh, a survivor? I guess it ain't your lucky day, cause we are going to slice you up!" The soldier trotted toward the figure, and as the soldier came closer, the figure resembled more of a tall man. The tall man was holding a book of some sort, sitting on his left hand while his gun pointing toward the horse on his right hand. The tall man shot the horse on its right eye, and the horse jumped erratically, throwing the soldier over. The soldier quickly struggled to stand as his weight was slowing him down from getting up. The horse was on the ground, on its side, dead from the gunshot wound.

"What's this? You, a civillian, possessing a technologically advanced weapon that only we can use? Lets see which one wins, your gun or my sword." The soldier laughed evily as he took out a big long sword, somewhat of an antique. The sword was refined well, and had numerous designs on it, giving it unique quality. The soldier began to run towards the tall man, while the tall figure began to incite foreign text.

"Dyurataeh beojlhae oue Iwnedieataeon."

The black sky began churning until a deep rumbling sound was heard. Lightning struck between passing clouds with a reddish glow.

As the soldier ran towards the tall man, he started slowing until he was running in place.
The soldier then began levitating in the air by a few inches, and to his horror he saw his own henchmen a hundred meters away levitating as well. They were all yelling out with confusion, as the soldier stared at the figure, who is now airborne.

The tall man dropped his gun and faced his right palm to the soldier. Before the soldier realized it, a cry of thunder came from the sky and struck him on his plate armor. In a matter of seconds the lightning from the soldier spread and struck all the nearby soldiers. Many soliders cried out for their mothers while flying across the city after being severly electrocuted. All of the soldiers either died from the intense shock, or brutually mutilated from flying pieces of armor. Some corpses even melted from the intense heat, and formed their own pool of melted corpses. The light show was amazing, as sparks appeared everywhere, but somehow did not affect the tall man. As the lightning died out nothing remained but the tall man standing in the middle of all the corpses.

The tall man's right hand then picked up the gun and threw it in the air. His palm faced the gun as if he was going to catch it when he muttered another set of incantations.
"Seeurpoiwure fuwroeuea, seporeuardye wrietaeh hoartaeure." From the hot floor warmed by electricity, heat energy was being transferred from the floor to the figure's right hand. His hand began to glow with fire concentrate and then released its energy, causing a huge blast of fire towards the gun. When the gun was engulfed with fire the gun exploded violently, causing the big ball of fire to explode while separating it into thick lines of fire. The thick lines of fire spread and flew in all directions. In a matter of minutes, the magnificent fire had spread all over the city, burning everything that remained to ruins. The tall man did not move after that, and as the fire began to engulf himself, he began to mutter a few more words.

Everything became fuzzy, and then a shout was heard.

A man woke up springing out of his bed, causing himself to hit his face on the floor.

"..Wha..Wha..? Whats going on?!"

A man of 17 years began to get up, making his bed and looking out the window. He began to think why he was having this dream more often now. The first time shocked him the most, but now its occurring more than usual.

Geez... This is the 5th time this dream has appeared now. Is it supposed to tell me something or what? The young man looked out of the window again to see a bunch of merchants on the streets while other peasants were bargaining with the merchants.

The weird thing is... where dream took place, seems familiar to this place... but how can it be destroyed? Ugh, I am just thinking to much.As he began to put his clothes on, he heard shouts from downstairs calling him down for breakfast.

"Coming." The man replied as he jumped down the stairs to start his everyday routine.

Part I - END

PART II. (Chapters 4 and 5)

Shouts and laughter of children can be heard in the streets. They were playing tag as they ran from block to block. It was early morning, and the sun had just started to rise. Many peasants go out in the morning to bargain with early merchants, and buy goods earlier before the mob rushes in on the afternoon. A faint smell of pancakes filled the kitchen as the man walked down the stairs. He inhaled deeply, smelling the pancakes on the table.

"Oh SWEET! Pancakes for breakfast!" He said excitingly. He ran down the stairs, and went into the kitchen. The kitchen was a bit small, but was big enough to have a stove, a refrigerator, one big table, and a few chairs. As the man approached the table, he realized the water pot on the stove wasn't boiling. He went to check if the fire on the stove was on, and to his suprise it was off. He then raised his arm and faced his open palm towards the pot, incantating some words.
"Scorching flames, heed my call." The man's palm began to glow dimly as the stove began to lit up and engulf in flames. As he turned around to face the table, he was met with two fingers nudging at his forehead.

"Owowowowow..." The man reacted, taken aback by the sudden nudging of the forehead. Infront of him was his sister, Unmei.
"Your such an idiot!" Unmei said as their mother rushed into the kitchen, looking for something.
"Has anyone seen the laundry? I've been looking for it everywhere! Why I..." Tirhe mother paused for a moment when she saw the stove lit up, boiling the water in the pot.
"I don't remember using a match to light that stove up. Did I light the stove up earlier, Unmei?" The mother was breathing heavily, exhausted from the housework she has to do every single day. She continued to look around the room for laundry.
"Um... Yes, you did light up the stove earlier." Unmei lied. Their mother was too busy and overworked to remember if she light the stove or not, so it was easy to believe.
"Alright. Unmei, you have swordsman training at the army today, correct?" The mother asked her, looking at her for the first time.
"Yes."
"And you mister?"
"I'll just walk around town, window shopping."
"Can you ever be serious?" The mother asked her son with worry. "I've had it up to here with your "windowshopping". If I get a call from those neighbors again about you stealing, I will send you to the army!"
Their mother, getting furious finally saw the laundry hidden under the table. She rushed over to retrieve it, and was about to walk out of the kitchen when Unmei interrupted her.
"Mother, you should really settle down and take a break. You barely even touched your pancakes."
"Pancakes, Schmancakes! Can't you see I am busy with all the housework here? If I had a helping hand, maybe I would get atleast a three minute break or two!" Their mother said, eyeing her son as if giving him a hint. She then started off out of the kitchen, leaving Unmei and her brother in the room. The brother headed for the table, pouring some milk into a glass and taking his plate of buttermilk pancakes.
"Geez, can she be more arrogant?" The brother said, pouring the whole bottle of maple syrup onto his pancakes.
"Excuse me Mr. Lazy Pants. I don't see you helping her besides helping her age more quickly. Oh, and don't use the whole bottle of syrup in one sitting, I'm starting to feel like we will need to depend on welfare soon if you keep this up." Unmei stated, taking the bottle of maple syrup away from her brother before he finishes it.
"Whatever. Anyway, thanks for covering me up on the stove thing. Man, she'll believe anything!" The brother replied while stabbing the pancakes with his fork and eating the whole pancake in one bite.
"Don't expect it to last. You know that the people here forbid the use of magic, to such extent that they would excommunicate you if you even say anything about magic. Our mother is one of those people in the tradition, so if she found out you can use magic you are dead meat."
"Geez, does that mean that our mother never knew that our father is also a wizard?" The brother questioned, becoming curious at the situation.
"For now, she still doesn't know. I don't know how our father kept the secret hidden so well, but I guess he had alot more control over his indulgences than you, Ookami."
"Heh, I want to become as strong as him someday. After all, he is my role model." Ookami said while raising his right fist and clenching it.
"You know, you both have quite alot in common. Like father like son, huh?" Unmei smiled, imagining the similarities between them. She began to rub her brother's firm head, his black hair spiked up naturally so it feels like a brush when rubbed.
"Ah, don't do that. Everyone's rubbing my hair these days, I'm not the only one who has natural spikey hair dammit!" Ookami said, annoyed. Unmei laughed a little, and continued to smile.
"So, your going to train with dad after breakfast?"
"Yeah. I think I might be able to defeat him today. I was never able to defeat him in a duel before, since he is soo quick and tricky." Ookami said, feeling confident.
"What makes you feel confident today?"
"The pancakes, maybe?" Unmei laughed again.
"Good luck with that then, I'm off to sword training at the army." Unmei waved Ookami goodbye as she walked out the door, bringing her long sword with her. Ookami took the unfinished portion of Unmei's pancakes and ate them after she left.
"Mmmm... delicious!" Ookami said to himself with pleasure.

*** *** ***

The afternoon was the same as morning. The sky was still cloudless, and birds were flying from tree to tree. More people gathered into the streets to sell or buy goods at this time in the day. There was no wind, and the air felt just right.
Ookami walked past the street where all the merchants and peasants were, walking until he reached an empty lot with four low fences. Ookami jumped past the fence into the lot, walking into the middle of the lot. He stood there, waiting for someone to come. The sun is now shining brightly in the middle of the sky, light reflecting off Ookami's blue eyes. As Ookami began to rub his eyes, he blinked and saw his father infront of him. His father was wearing a thin robe down to his legs while carrying a tall staff on his right hand. He is much taller than his son in appearance, both sharing the same hair. His father shifted his thin glasses to look at his son more clearly, smiling at him.

"I see you came, Ookami." His father said to him.
"Are you sure we are going to train in this empty lot? People could see us." Ookami asked in confusion.
"Don't worry, I've placed a barrier around this lot so only wizards and mages can enter. This barrier also prevents us from being seen by others."
"Even with the barrier, why don't we train in the backyard like we did before?"
"Thats because I don't want your mother to suspect us now, do we? I had to explain to your mother how the garage exploded without telling her that you missed your fire spell and it landed on the garage." Ookami rubbed his head in embarassment, laughing awkwardly.
"Anyway, shall we begin?" His father asked, both men jumping back and forming their stances. They both stood there for a few moments until Ookami shot his right palm out towards his father, beginning an incantation.
"Scorching Flames, Burn..." His incantation was cut off by a sudden punch in the face from his father. The force knocked Ookami back, unable to counter it due to his father's excellence in agility. As Ookami stood up spitting blood from his mouth, his father jumped back and shook his head at him.
"Have you forgotten the most important rule? Never make yourself open to such attacks when incantating. Always incantate while on the move or when catching an enemy off guard!" Ookami nodded his head in response. He was stupid to forget such an important rule. Both of them formed their stances again for another round. Ookami jumped back and shot his right palm out towards his father again, re-doing the incantation. His father was still too fast for him, and threw in a punch again. Ookami smiled and stopped incantating, using both of his arms to block his father's punch while using his right leg to deliver a counter kick to the left side of his father's head. Both men fell back, and Ookami is already breathing heavily while his father touched his left cheek and smiled.

"So, the incantation was a feint to catch me offguard. Very Nice, but not good enough." His father complimented Ookami, as Ookami began to run towards him to deliver his own set of blows. Ookami punched his father on his left, and right side while throwing in a roundhouse to finish the combo. However, his attacks were parred and doged by his father. His father immediately jumped back in response to his finisher combo, and began to incantate some words. Right when Ookami was about to throw in a punch to cancel his father's spell, his father disappeared. Ookami looked around carefully, maintaining maximum awareness of where and when his father will reappear. Ookami then felt something tugging at his legs, and when he looked down he saw both of his fathers hands holding his legs tight from underground, preventing them from moving.

Shit, an earth bound spell combination?!

As Ookami was mainly focused on getting his legs free, his father reappeared from behind him. Ookami did not notice his father from the back as his father's left hand began to glow with red light. His father then aimed at his son's back, shouting the incantation.

"Scorching flames, Burn my opponent!!"

Ookami turned his head around to see in horror the flame that was about to engulf him by the back, struggling violently to get his legs free from his father's tight grip. As the flames engulfed Ookami, he screamed in pain from the burns forming on his back. The grip on his legs was set free as the clone image disappeared from underneath, his father in back of him. Ookami fell to the floor, trying to bite his lip to endure the horrible burns as the flames died out. Ookami tried to stand up and regain his posture, but the pain and bruises on his back interferred with it.

"Geez, you've got stronger." He said.
"Oh? Do you really think so?" His father replied as he muttered a few incantations and vanished. The son began to look around, wondering where his father went. From his previous experience, his father attacked him from the back. The son then felt as if his father had appeared in back of him, and immediately turned around. He threw out his right hand, and a red-ish glow appeared on his hand.

"Scorching Flames, Burn my opponent!" Ookami yelled as a stream of fire emitted from his right hand and spewed out. However, there was no one there, and he looked toward the empty space in shock. His father then appeared from his back, his left hand emitting with a green-ish white glow. Ookami turned around and tried to counter by punching his father in the face, but his father ducked easily and began to incantate.

"Poiweurocyeiwure Sehoojecykha!" The father's left hand was engulfed by streaks of lightning as he jabbed it into his son's stomach. Lightning soared all over his son's body, shocking him intensely. Ookami screamed out in pain as the impact of his father's jab sends him towards the wall opposite of his father. As he landed, he rolled over numerous times before stopping by the wall. While rolling on the floor, Ookami was shocked at what magic his father possesses.

Did my father just...use Ancient Magic?! But thats impossible! No wizard or magi alive could have known such old magic! Damn... it hurts much more than a regular spell would...

Small amounts of smoke rose from Ookami's body, and he laid there motionless for a few moments. His father walked to him, and when he reached him the father looked down at him and shook his head.

"You were wrong. I am not getting stronger, it is you who is getting weaker. You have great potential, but you're just too damn lazy to practice. Do you even deem yourself worthy of becoming a wizard?"" Ookami stared at his father in silence. He tried to open his mouth but no words would come out. He is not even sure if he considers himself worthy enough to become a wizard.

"If you keep this up, I am afraid I would have to stop teaching you. You must learn discipline and hard training if you think you can beat me in a duel. There will not be any training or lessons for the next three weeks. On the fourth week we will duel in this lot again, and if your abilities do not improve greatly by then I will deem you unworthy of becoming a skilled wizard. You are dismissed." His father muttered some incantations to remove the barrier surrounding the lot. As he looked at his son one more time, he shook his head and began incantating another set of words. His father then disappeared, leaving Ookami in the lot to think over what his father said. Ookami stared into the afternoon sky, and sighed.

"I guess the next three weeks will be training hell for me." Ookami said to himself, trying to sit upright. The pain in his stomach is overbearing, causing him to lay down once again.

Part II - END

And here's some revisions for chapters 4 and 5.

http://xthost.info/Mies/PDF/Part%20II%20with%20comments.pdf

Not the best, but something.

whoah.......you're amazing....

I have returned to continue the vessel. However, finals are coming so I'm going to first clean up my current chapters and then continue on with the story.

(As of 11/10/08) In the past two years, I was planning a prequel to The Vessel, and as it turned out it became much more organized and planned than this current one. Therefore, after many hours of debating whether I should continue this or revamp it entirely after the prologue, I decided that the prologue will come first.

The prologue will have the same name. The setting will be vastly different, but the second part will be almost the same as what you see above.

Furthermore, I will not be writing my chapters on the forum, but I will give you a sneak preview of the intro soon (which I already finished writing but lost it somewhere).

Thank you for reading my works, and I am continuing to improve my sense of writing and imagery with every chapter.

The chapters posted above will stay where they are, I won't remove them until I get started with my second book.