The Side Story : The Gray Shadow 1

The Gigantes Mountains.

A Mountain range covered in snow is also known as "The Roof of the Continent."

It is human nature that many would want to conquer such a challenge. Many have dared to brave its perilous mountain paths, And not many have succeeded traversing these mountains.

On the top of the Gigantes Mountains, which is known as "The Claw in the North", there stood a man.

He has dark black hair and wears a gray leather jacket which signifies him as a Bifrost ranger. An unshaven face and his ragged jacket showed that he had been journeying for so long.

The black-haired ranger gazed out to the horizon while standing in the middle of the blizzard. Upon the horizon, the Ranger knew that the Bifrost Palace was located there.

"It's been a year...Hasn't it?", He muttered to himself.

He looked concerned, and soon after he started to travel on the mountain moving fast as if he was walking on a normal path.

"Help me!"

There was an elderly man desperately running. He seemed to be out of breath, but he could not stop running because of the soldiers wearing the black armor of the Geisir empire chasing him.

A giant blocked his way and overwhelmed the elderly man who was shocked and stared at it,

"A.....Asura??? Machina!!??", He said.

The legacy of the gods, the rulers of the battlefield.

The machina cannot be completed by the elderly man.

"He has no where to go!"

The soldiers had caught up to him. In front of the elderly man, the knight leading the soldiers came out.

"You are really a bother, Old Man." He said.

"What... what are you going to do to me?" The Old man said, staring at the Machina.

"We are only going to do one thing... make you sleep forever!" The knight declared.

"You... you are keeping the secrets hidden by killing all of us?" The Old Man said as he faced the Knight that spoke to him.

"Well-now! It should be honored to die by an Asura!"

Machina Asura's raised its giant ax.

The old man, Ragnum, weakly said, "We.. we were wrong..."

And the Asura swiftly brought its ax down on the old man, with a short scream, all that was left was his bloody hat that lay on snow field.

In Bifrost, when the boys become men, they dream of being one of the rangers that protect Bifrost. Though some dream of a different way of life, being a ranger is the dream of most of the Bifrost men. Also, Bifrost rangers are quite famous around the continent.

Ranger's abilities to climb the mountains and guide travelers depend on their experiences. Since they were children, they have lived on these mountains, so they are experts of the terrain. Ash, who was searching the Mt. Gigantes, also wished to be a ranger, noticed something strange,

"What is that?" He said,

Ash was surprised. He could see something strange between the valleys. It looked like a Knights Helmet, and he could see a weapon in their hand.

"A Knight...?"

Soon, he realized that no ordinary person can be as tall as that. It must be a giant. There is only one type of creature which is as tall and resembles a human.

"Machina?!?" He nearly shrieked.

The boy was reminded of the legacy of the gods.

He has been heard so many times about the legendary machine ridden by the first king of Bifrost.

The first king protected Bifrost from the Geisir Empire with the machina. Even though he was finally buried in the Mt. Gigantes, there is a belief which the machina will be back to save Bifrost someday.

"Yes, it must be the machina! I have to let everyone know!"

He ran back to the town.

"Oh my god!"

Mark, a Bifrost ranger, could not believe what is in front of him as well as other rangers.

"Why are the empire forces here? and they're even with Asura!!??"

In a cave, many of the empire soldiers were preparing for the next movement, and the red machina Asura was also there ready.

"For sure, the rumor of the Machina has spread because of the Asura!"

A ranger, Hamil said, and many rangers there also seemed to agree. They were sent to investigate the rumor of the machina found. They had searched the area of machina found but had not found anything yet.

"In our borderline, and even empire forces have come in. It will be a big spark of a political issue. We can use it to weaken and threaten the Senate which has favored the empire."

"Ok, let's report to our Earl."

"No way!"

A husky voice was heard behind them at that time.

"Huh??"

The Rangers were astonished and looked back drawing their swords. They swang their swords to where the voice was heard, but nothing was there.

 "What happened?"

When the Rangers were looking at one another, a shower of small daggers whizzed above them. With blood, and screaming, the Rangers fell one by one. Mark managed to get out of a shower of daggers, and looked up.

There were black shadows hanging on the wall like bats. Black suits for hiding, bandages for hiding the faces, and star-shaped daggers...

"The empire assassins?", he said not knowing those would be his final words as a black shadow passed him by, and everything went dark.