The Flame of Life

"This shouldn't be happening right now."

Each light from the candle of the chamber was turning off slowly. The young boy's heart stops at the site of what he saw. He dropped the book that he had in his hands and ran towards the room of the priests. He knew that the flame shouldn't be turning off. Which means there was something wrong going on.

He ran towards the room where all of the holy men were sitting. The room was with all of the priests. They were talking about the new kids who would be joining the temple. It's a new term, which means the little kids who want to serve in the temple will be prepare.

"Priests Israel" the young boy whisper to the man. When he said that, everyone stayed quiet as he looked at him. "Can I talk to you in private, sir." His head was still bowed due to respect.

The man did a small bowed at the rest of the men as he exited the room.

"What's wrong, young boy." the priest wonder as they walked down the hall.

"The candles... they... they... are turning off." he tried to keep his voice calm.

"What?" the priest eyes wide. the young boy has not seen the priest so scared in his whole life.

"The candle..." before he could finish the sentence, the priest cut him off.

"Young boy, go back to the room and tell priest Hector it's white code, do you understand."

"..." the boy couldn't say anything.

" James, do you understand?" the priest yelled at him, which the young boy nodded.

As James went back, the priest went rushing to the room of the candle. It was the room that counted down the time of their world.

The flame was not in some of the candles, especially the far end, the ones that supposed to have them. The door opens, the rest of the main priest arrived.

"Hector, what year is this?" priest Israel whisper as he observes one of the candles, the one close to the entrance.

"18, sir, I thought we have more time, we ... Israel, what's happening?"

"something is wrong with the candle I don't know..." all of the priests looked down. "Hector gets the white book from the restricted area. it should explain a least something about why the flame is turning off so early."

The young boy was at the entrances of the door looking at them. He was getting worried about the priest. They always have the answer, they were wise, and nothing scared them.

Everyone exit the room except priest Israel who stayed looking at the candle. James entered the room, and he walks toward the priest's side as he kneels.

-----

Everyone saw priest hector enter the library in a hurry. He signals one of the female staff to bring a lamp. He walks toward a small room that was called 'office.' He opened the door as the person in the room raised her head.

"Sir, how may I help you?" she asked with a confused tone. She has never seen the priest hector in her office. Usually, the priest sent the young pupil for books of any information.

"I need the keys for the restricted section."

"um yeah, it's around here" the lady was walking to a drawer. The only time she had to get the keys was when the sky got dark red.

The section was restricted for a reason, if the wrong people get their hands on the information, there will be trouble.

She hands the circle of keys to the priest, which he raised an eyebrow. There were so many keys with different color codes on them.

"Some books are put on different cabinets in the restricted section."

"Which keys do I use to get the white book" once he said that her eyes are wide.

" um, they match the color of the cabinet," she said while showing her what keys to use.

-------

With the lamp, in his hand, he opens the door, which was old. The whole room was dark and dusty. The priest was coughing as he smells the room. Once he got the book that he needed, he went rushing out. He drops off the key and lamp as he exits the library. He rushes to get to the room of the candle, where the priest Israel was e where the priest Israel was with the young boy.

"I found it... I" the whole room was darker than usual, which made his heart stop.

"Look through it, and try to find something about the candle, or anything to do with this room." the priest Israel said as he stood up from his seat.

After a few minutes of reading, priest hector stares at the page. He couldn't believe his eyes at the words in front of him. They still have years to live, since the wax of the candle is still there. It was just the flame that was turning off. Something was wrong with the Auctor, and they couldn't do anything about it.

"Sir, I don't think you'll like this," hector pass the book to the young boy. He was holding so that priests Israel could read the book.

"It's about to be the year 19 it's too early for the room to get this dark. The Auctor is going to die….." There was silence after he said that. "James, I don't want you to tell anyone about you know. Hector gets the rest of the priest in the meeting room."

----------

In the meeting room, everyone was whispering about what was going on.

"it's a catalepsy" once he said that the whole room started to talk at the same time. Wondering how could it happen, they never heard that Auctor could go into a coma.

"The flame is turning off, but the wax is not melting."

"Then what do we do? is there a way to turn the flame, like come on guys, it's like turning on a lamp," one of the youngest priests said.

Everyone just glared at him. Some were wondering how he got to the position of the main priest.

"It looks like someone forgot to read their homework'' someone whisper.

"Mister Hunter, I hate to say this, but if you had read the holy book, you would have known that you can't do that," Israel said with a frustrated tone which he tried to tone it down.

Everyone in that room nods, they're already upset with the young priest.

"The only way that we can lit the fire is the Auctor, the one who can lit the flame without punishment."

"Auctor?" everyone was wondering how the own Auctor could do it. Since the Auctor is the unconscious one, how could they lit the candle?

"Israel, what are you talking about, no one has heard about the Auctor being among the mortals."

"The white book said that there is an Auctor among us, who has the power to lit the flame without punishment, they're here, in this world and we need to find them before all the flames turn off."

"How can we find them? Israel, there is thousand if not billion people in this world. Let's not forget about the dark places." hector did not like this one bit.

"There must be a way to find them," priest Levi whisper. Everyone like the priest Levi, he was the only one who could make the room be calm and have peace.

"There is," Israel turn the page and sigh.

"There's a magnet like a rock that can find the Auctor among us, but it's in a mountain that doesn't have a name."

" A nameless mountain, how can we find a mountain without their name?" hunter whisper.

"There have to be clues or anything about this nameless mountain," Levi said

"There's some, so we going to send the clues to the researcher part of the temple. Even the young ones."

"We should request all the guilds for this quest, maybe even triple the payment," Levi said while looking at his paper.

"Why triple, We should just make them do it, we're the priest of the temple of this world" once again, hunter voice his opinion.

"Young man, no one wants to work for free," one of the other priests said.

"Levi is right about the request" Israel looked at everyone "James copy this page and sent it to the writers to make copies for all the guild in the world."

"Even the low one?"

"yes, James."

"Even the dark one?" this time, James whisper.

"yes, James, we need all the help we can get, especially right now when our life is in danger."

" Or we can choose the group to search for it," priest Raphael said while fiddling a pen with both of his hands.

"Why just one group when we could have a thousand, and the dark place are great at completing their mission for money," Hector said.

"True, but we can form a group from each of the different guilds, even put in some dark people." everyone agreed at that.

"Plus, we have to keep quiet about this, the people will wonder why the temple wants a rock that is willing to pay triple the money."

"It can also create a panic that we don't want," Levi said with his soft voice.

"Okay, that's settled then, James, don't copy that page. Write that the temple needs strong soldiers for..,"

"for a challenge test?" Levi said.

" yes, for a challenge test, anyone is invited."

-------

For the past few days, the whole guild community knew about the challenge. To enter, you had to sign papers and filled some information about your self. It also warns the warrior about their life. Most of the policy did make some not so interred in the challenge.

-----

"I got the mane from the chosen ones from the 'Quod erat doctrina et veritas' one sir," the dan said to the priest that was in the room.

"Yes thank you, Danmals, please say the names so the rest of us can hear," the priest Israel said as he sits at the front of the big table.

"As follow, the 'Quod erat doctrina et veritas' as chosen this warrior from thousand of guild members.

from the upper-class

Dexter jones

Alexandra Walters

from the middle class,

Melissa blackwood

Maximus Fox

from the lower class

Asena cristal

from the dark place

Lincoln Luther"

"Alright I need some of you to pick up the warriors"

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"I will not allow you to take this challenge," a mother yelled at her daughter.

"But, I already put in my information," the daughter said, trying to control her tone.

"you what, what were you thinking? What will your father say?"

"He's not my father, even if I turn in my information, I won't be selected to be in the challenge."

"That's true, you are not a strong warrior, they sent the request to the dark place," the voice of the son said, laughing at his sister.

"shut up," the daughter said.

Both siblings didn't like each other. Especially since everyone like the son better than the daughter. They were always fighting for attention, and the son always wins. A reason could be that the family loves the male since the would be the next heir of the family. The head of the whole family, which is the grandpa, always wanted a son, but he had six daughters. His last daughter had his first grandson, which he was so happy that he finally had a male in the family.

"And for that reason, I put my name to" the son smirk.

"Oh my heavens, your grandpa will be so proud of you, my son," the mother said, which didn't surprise the daughter.

"He will do good on our family name, image the other house knowing that you are going to the temple to help them." the voice of a man said as he came down the stairs.

"how come" before she could talk there was a knock on the door.

As always, there was competition between the two twin siblings. They run toward the door, but the son pushed the daughter to the side. You could hear the laugh of the son as he opens the door. At the sight of the man with the fancy clothes, he could tell he was one of the main priests.

"Good morning, young man, may we enter?" the priest said.

"who's at the door?" when mother went towards the door, her eyes wide at the site.

"Nicholas, why didn't you let the priest." the mother smack behind his head. You could hear a small giggle from the right side.

" We're here to pick up the" the priest didn't finish what he was saying because Nicholas interrupts him.

“Yeah that’s me Nicholas crystal, I’m one of them right, let me get my stuff.”

“No son, we’re not here for you, we are here for Asena crystal,”

“ what?!” Both the son and mother said at the dam time.