2 Chapter 2 - The Sacred Blessing

Casino Riot and Capital Blacc were walking through an abandoned alley on the outskirts of the middle sector. Capital was in the middle of reminiscing over their child hood adventures, while Casino fearlessly led them deeper into the dark alley.

"It was pure madness right? First we're running from Bravo, Tony, and Maggie, and then the five of us end up falling through some hole that lands us dozens of miles away? Not only that, that weird dead guy with the golden blood." Capital Blacc shivered at the thought of the corpse they found that day. It was brown skinned man with long crimson hair that Capital always thought looked surprisingly like Casino. Of course, this was a thought he kept to himself, "I'm telling you man, you never should've touched that stuff."

"Eh..." Casino Riot could be seen rubbing his nose up front, "Well, it's worked out rather well, in my opinion."

When Casino and Capital were seven years old they had been harassed by their three then bullies. These kids had broken through to the hard body realm early, and they were relentlessly petty. Casino would always fight back, but Capital at the time was just too weak to survive a battle. Thus, they often decided to escape. However, during this particular incident when Casino tried to jump into a dumpster to evade their pursuers, he somehow fell into a sort of wormhole and landed in another alley.

In this alley there was a dying man leaning against the wall. He was bleeding out heavily, but to Casino's shock the man's blood was golden! It also released high levels of heat, and looked similar to molten gold. On the walls of either side of the alley were a gang of hieroglyphics made up of tiny runes, the shined in multiple colors. Casino could remember that at the time when he was marveling over the glowing glyphs on the walls, he felt a resonance that seem to come from deep within his blood!

Before he knew what was happening he was drawn to the bloodied man's side. As he leaned down and look this man in his scarlet-golden eyes, Capital crash landed into the alley. However, before Capital had time to marvel over the same scene, he paled when he saw his best friend's action of reaching out to touch the dying man's face. Capital called out to stop Casino, but then a blinding light appeared forcing the young boy to cover his eyes.

By the time he could see again three other kids had already crash landed on top of him.

"Hey Lucky...what made you touch that guy anyway?" asked Capital Blacc. He had already asked this question many times, but his best friend never answered him before. However, he had surprisingly received a response this time.

"Fate." Casino Riot stopped in front of that old dumpster. Without thinking much, he lifted the lid and disappeared within.

"Wicked!" Capital Blacc was excited and hurried to join Casino. Two minutes later the two boys crash landed in front of two boys and a girl seated in meditation. These youths were in an alleyway that smelled and looked far worse than the one they were in previously, but had a strange noble and mighty aura.

"About damn time, how dare you make this princess wait for such an exaggerated amount of time." This loud mouthed miss was none other than the beautiful Margot Frenzy, but Casino and the rest of her friends called her Maggie. Maggie was wearing skin tight pink clothes that showed off her body, which she felt was growing more curvy lately.

Even Casino who rarely took interest in the opposite sex had complimented her body recently, making Maggie's confidence shoot through the roof. She was fifteen years old this year, and even though her crystal blue eyes displayed the epitome of innocence, she was the local tyrant of their group. The original reason she bullied Casino was because she thought he was cute, but ultimately she was too shy to talk to him normally. Thus, she begin to make fun of him by saying the exact opposite of whatever she was thinking.

Unfortunately, Casino was completely unyielding towards those who targeted him and challenged her to duel before he fought her to a draw. This was in spite of not even being in the Hard Body realm! She even had the feeling that he could have defeated her at that time! He had shown mercy. Though she was secretly happy, she ran and complained to her older brother Bravo Frenzy out of embarrassment, from not being able to defeat someone younger and weaker than herself.

Bravo and his best friend Antonio Bazaar beat Casino up the next day.

However, the day after that Casino challenged Tony three times!

He lost each time.

The day after he challenged Bravo 5 times!

He lost each time.

However, no matter how much they beat Casino he would crawl back after them like an immortal cockroach. They begin avoiding him like he was a plague, until they grasped his weakness. His best friend, Capital, was far more frail than himself.

The day they targeted Capital was the same day they all landed in this strange alleyway. The strangest part about this alley was they seemed to be the only ones who could find this place. Anyone who came with them would end up getting lost, and no one else was able to use the wormhole in the dumpster. If anyone else hopped in the dumpster, they would merely fall into trash instead of a magical alleyway.

"It's good you've arrived," Bravo Frenzy spoke in his deep voice as he stood up and struck hands with the two newcomers. This was the new way to handshake, the way the youths of this era greeted each other. Bravo was tall and strong, and gave people a strong feeling. His long blonde hair hung down to his chest. "Finally we can begin. I have been waiting for this chance all year. I have a pleasant feeling that this year's blessing will fall unto me."

"No way, no fair! Last year Lucky hogged all the blessings, and the year before that it was big brother and bottle cap." Maggie huffed angrily as she stood up to berate her brother, "If this princess does not receive a sacred blessing this year I'll...I'll...I'll get daddy to blow this alley to the Valley of Death!"

"Little dove, this is extreme, no? Of course the blessing should be yours, and no one else." Tony spoke with a smooth and cool tone. He was a head taller than bravo, but slim and athletic. "Merely, if someone else was to receive a sacred blessing, it should naturally be I, Antonio Bazaar III."

"Do you two ever get sick of hearing yourselves talk?" Casino Riot was getting a headache already. Everyday he dealt with these idiots and their antics, but today was different. It was the anniversary of the day his life changed! He was somehow given a great gift!

However, it ended up being a great curse.

"Today, we are are not here for this." Casino Riot turned to face the wall of the alley. The four youths behind him all wore serious faces, with eyes full of reverence as they glanced at the seemingly regular brick wall in front of them. Casino walked up to the wall and placed his hand on it. His eyes flashed as a faded Eye of Horus tattoo appeared on his glabella. This tattoo was nearly invisible and had a mystic appeal.

Perceptive Force State!

The first time Casino came here, the mysterious man used his scarlet golden eyes to look him deep in his own hazel eyes. There was a strange warmth in his gaze, and his voice was like someone who had experienced myriad trials of the heavens and the earth. He spoke only one sentence to him, before fading into nothingness in dazzling flash of golden light! He said, "My...son...the dragon sleeps within...Amen will light your path...I give you the gift...of the Pharaoh!"

As far as Casino Riot knew, before this day he was a regular kid training to enter the Hard Body realm. However, after this encounter he begin to perceive things he had never noticed before. He could even feel peoples intentions before they spoke any words, it was a wondrous sensation. In addition, anything he came in contact with he could understand thoroughly. Most surprising was that he discovered he could activate some type of magic spell on the walls. After doing so for the first time, a blue light invaded the minds of himself and Capital.

For Casino, the blue light was actually something called a soul map! It automatically guided his soul into absorbing origin energy as he cultivated, increasing the strength of his soul and awakening his spirit power!

Of course, before this Casino had certainly never heard of spirit power, he didn't know what this power was. However, due to his increasing intelligence he was able to comprehend more and more of this ability.

Afterwards they both felt absolutely compelled to return in exactly a year's time. Then, one day Casino woke up and he was literally staring down at his own body! He had an out of body experience, or astral projected, and from that day forward he had been able to use psi, and he could also summon a third eye.

The wall suddenly released a dazzling golden light, as the youths all marveled. Meanwhile, Casino walked to the other side and soon both walls were alight with golden hieroglyphics that danced and moved on the wall.

"So pretty..." Maggie's eyes were as bright as stars as she stared at this phenomenon that had become an annual event in her life for the last seven years.

"Truly, this never gets old," said Bravo. "Tony, quickly kowtow! This is your chance to gain the favor of the mighty wall!"

"Yes!" Tony collapsed and smacked his face against the ground three times, "Oh great and powerful god of the alleyway, grant upon me your boon!"

"Is this guy serious?" Capital asked Casino, who just laughed.

At that moment the golden light of the hieroglyphs burned a scarlet golden color and two scarlet spheres of light condensed in the air in front of each wall. They vibrated fiercely, then flew directly into the glabella's of Casino and Maggie. They both suddenly passed out, but Bravo immediately caught Maggie, while Tony and Capital grabbed Casino.

"Lucky bastards," grumbled Bravo, but he had a warm smile on his face as he held his baby sister. "Sorry Tony, no dice. Maybe next year, yeah?"

"This is bullshit!" Tony threw Casino towards the wall aggressively in frustration.

"Hey, cut it out fuck boy!" Capital Blacc aimed to jam his foot down Tony's throat with his fifth level Hard Body strength. Antonio Bazaar summoned the strength of his body's mystic origin and guarded his head.

Bang!

Antonio was knocked back 12 feet, but he steadied himself.

"Ugh. I don't get it Capp. How come this wastrel gets a blessing every year even though he makes no improvement, yet here I am busting my ass to get in the advanced classes." Tony was definitively disgruntled since he had never received a blessing.

"Call him trash one more time and I'll bust your ass for you," said Capital aggressively.

"That's enough you two, " Bravo spoke to interrupt the conflict. "We all know the rules. The sacred blessings are theirs now, and will be theirs for life."

"What do think they got this time?" Capital asked Bravo with a smile after the previous commotion died down.

"Won't we naturally know when they wake up?" said Capital Blacc, anticipation dripping from his eyes. He couldn't wait to see what lucky chance Casino would receive this year!