Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“The phenomena, now called Creation Events, appear to be magical in nature. They are expansions of the Cavern system that lies underneath these lands. Our recordings and research indicate that these “Creation Events” are caused by sudden spikes in Mana density. Research is underway to determine the causes of these spikes however with our current methods or information gathering we have yet to yield any findings on the subject matter.

The scientific term for these “Creation Events” is Mana Displacement”

Research Paper on Cavern Mana Displacement, Magical Institute of Oksana

*****

The single candle in the dark bedroom flickered and danced with the wind that would gently roll through the open window. A subtle creaking from the bed, heavy panting and moaning of a man and woman intensify until the woman lets out a stifled cry and then nothing. Just the sounds of two souls trying to catch their breath and embracing each other. “Hey Astrid?” Astrid sits up on one elbow. “Yeah, what is it?” She holds herself back from saying what she really wanted to say, the simple yet so complicated words “my love”

Silas looks deep and long into her eyes. Her face barely illuminated with the orange hues of the flickering candle. “When I get back… I promise to get serious about us. To be worthy of someone as amazing as you. Then you won't have to hesitate telling me what you want.” Astrid’s eyes widened in surprise. She lays there studying his face when she notices it, that seriousness that occasionally shows up when he truly means what he says. It’s one of the many things that made her fall in love with him and continue to fall for him.

When he’s like this she’s reminded of the times he would confront her father, sometimes violently. “You idiot.” She lunges into his embrace and burrows her face into his neck. He can feel her tears roll from his neck down onto his chest. “Just come back home alive you idiot.”

That night she decides not to leave his bed to return home. She would deal with the consequences later but tonight was theirs and nothing was getting in her way for once. The morning would come and take him on an adventure and away from her, but not tonight.

*****

The next morning, Silas walks into the Guild Hall. Bags packed and sword polished and sitting at his side. As he walks in, a Beastman obviously nursing a hangover glares in his direction. Silas attempts to stroll up to the desk to ring the attendant bell however the same beastman calls him over. Not certain if confronting or even just talking to this beastman is such a good idea, however he decides to listen as not being at least cordial would probably cause much more problems. Besides what harm could happen here inside the Guild Hall.

He walks up and introduces himself and attempts to shake his hand. “The name’s Silas. Rank D adventurer specializing in sword arts.” The beastman laughs aloud with an obnoxious laugh. “Please I can smell the weakness and desperation on you. I can also smell the scent of a female. Paid a visit to the entertainment district did you? Think you're going to take on some bounty and make a name for yourself? How are you kidding!” The beastman stands up slowly. Beastmen can often grow to heights of six feet or taller. This one must have measured six foot eighth inches.

“Also don’t say you specialize in anything if you are only rank D.” This mockery has ignited the flames of rage in Silas. “Think you're so big huh! Want to put your money where your mouth is?!” Silas moves his hand to the hilt of his sword. Calculating the distance he thinks using spatial strike and following up with his start cross sword art would be the best course of action. He notices the battle axe sitting near the chair he was just sitting in. Silas hypothesizes that if he was a human axe wielder he wouldn’t be all that fast however he had heard that beastfolk tended to be much more agile on their feet.

“That’s enough Rugger!” Both Silas and the beastman named Rugger look over to the entrance where the woman’s voice came from. Silas’s expression shifts from fury to something much closer to shock and awe. There in the entryway stood the cute blonde haired swords woman he noticed the other morning. Rugger shifted into a stance and tone that was much more accommodating. “Oh common Kay. I was just hazing this newbie a little bit.” She looks between the two and comments, “I would watch out. I sense this one being Rank D might just be that the Guild is under estimating him a bit. It would be a real shame for you to lose a finger or two before our expedition.”

The woman walks up to Silas and proceeds to shake his hand. “My name is Kaylin and this moron is Rugger.” With that a few more people follow in through the door and walk towards them. An older male human wearing mages robes and with a staff attached to his back, a young male human with a fancy looking bow attached to his back, and a female elf in white robes and a wand attached to her side. It was hard for him to tell the elf ladies age. The few elves he had met have always surprised him when he found out their ages. Apparently Elves have quite the life span.

Suddenly Rei walks out from a backroom door nearby. “Oh Silas, this is perfect. Say hello to your new party! The Dark Fangs.” The sudden realization that not only does he get to party up with Kaylin but the dread of having to dive into the Cavern with the jackass Rugger.

*****

Kaylin and her party sit down with Silas at one of the open tables at the nearby tavern. “Well I guess it’s time for some introductions, my name is Kaylin. I’m a Rank C Sword Mage. I’m a level 3 wind mage.” Silas thinks to himself if he had ever met a sword mage before, and wondered what it would take to learn magic like that. “This here,” she points her finger at the belligerent beastman, “Is Rugger. He’s a Rank B Axe-man. He focuses on sheer force with an advantage of enhanced speed thanks to well, being him. Also don’t mind him, his bark is much bigger than his bite.” She says with a chuckle.

Next she points to the Human male mage, “This here is Tallow, obviously he’s a Mage, Rank B. Specializing in Water and Earth magic both of which being at Level 5 though I imagine he will be at Level 6 before long.” The Mage chuckles, “Kaylin you flatter me way too much.” He reaches a hand out to Silas to shake his hand. “Nice to meet you lad.”

Next is the Human male Ranger. “This is Biggs. We grew up together in one of the outskirt villages in Bragdhu. He’s our long ranged fighting class specializing in bow and arrow combat. He also has a decent selection of status arts. Oh forgot his Rank is C same as mine”

“And finally our Rank B Cleric Aila Riverwind.” He looks at her with amazement. “You have a second name? Does that mean you are part of the Guild?” The young Elf lady looks surprised then begins to laugh a gentle and kind laugh. “No child, Where I am from in the forests that lay in the area your people call the Bagalow Woods, my people all have a second name depending on where you were born. In my case my mother, over 80 years ago, had settled in a hidden village near a river called the Great…” She was abruptly cut off by Rugger and his impatience. “Enough Aila no one wants another one of your long winded stories.” The Ranger Briggs spoke up, “Actually that one sounds nice and peaceful, would have been nice to continue it.”

Kaylin with a kind look and even kinder voice asked him to introduce himself. “Well to be honest I’m not certain why such an accomplished group would accept me, but my name is Silas. I’m a Rank D sword fighter. I have a handful of sword arts, the highest of which would be around Level 3. It’s a great honor to work with you all and I look forward to learning and growing on our expedition.” Rugger glares at him again with that same pissed off look as before, “whatever rookie just don’t get in our way.”

*****

Clint and Tsubomi ride in the back of a traveling merchant carriage that they had given a quite generous tip for the ride, but also for the knowledge that if anyone asked they never saw the hulking scruffy man and slender purple haired woman. “You ever been this far East during your times above ground Tsubomi?” She looked at Clint with disdain. “I want you to know that if asked I am saying you kidnapped me! I am NOT getting demoted because of your wanderlust filled ass!” He looks up at the blue sky. “Don’t worry Tsu. I have a feeling this is going to be a very eventful trip.”

After a while the cart stops at a crossroads and the old merchant yells back to them, “Well this is where we part.” The two figures jump out of the back of the cart, travelling gear in tote. “Thanks Old Timer. Remember you didn’t see us. Safe travels.” He salutes him in a particular way and the old man does the same. As the old man's cart continues off and as Clint starts to walk down the other path of the crossroads Tsubomi chimes in with, “The trading capital of Whitehall? I assumed you were born in Tricot.” Clint stops and turns around to look at Tsubomi “My father was from Tricot but during his time traveling he fell in love with the daughter of a traveling merchant from a coastal town not far from the capital city of Whitehall.” Tsubomi starts back down their path first. “Huh, I guess you can never really judge someone based on looks then.”

“To answer your question, no I’ve only ever been in Grace Harbor and I was born and raised in Midri.” As they walked along the path lined by hills with grain going beyond one's sights, “ Wow really? Tsu we need to do a lot more traveling above ground. You’re making me feel like a bit of a failure as a captain.” Tsubomi lets out a chuckle, “I don’t think making your subordinates travel the world with you is going to make you a good captain.” “Hey that implies I’m not already a good captain Tsu.”

*****

In an ornate hallway a woman with long black hair pulled back into a massive ponytail and wearing thin rimmed black glasses and a teenage boy with light blue hair and a sharp look on his face are walking together in silence. They turn a corner and then down the end of the hallway enter a dark room. It’s the same room that Clint and Tsubomi were monitoring the Creation Event the other day. “Elizabeth status report on that asshole Ekhart!?” barks out the woman. “Lady Wong, Lord Ekhart’s mana signatures appear to have been picked up in Penheim heading towards the region of Tricot.”

The Teenage boy pinches the bridge of his nose and exhales. “You called it Lady Wong, I’ll go report it to Upper two and one.” he sighs. He turns to the woman named Wong and gives a small boy. The three attendants in the dark room turn to the teenager and give him the same bow and then in unison announce, “Lord Mirai!”

“That moron, does he really think he can do whatever he wants?” She looks at the analyst and commands, “Now that we have him do not lose track of him! I’ll get additional support staff in here to assist with the tracking and to back you three up with breaks.” The three analysts reply, “Thank you Lady Wong!”

*****

The smell of smouldering wood and coffee permeate the make shift camp. They spent the rest of the day yesterday with the goal to reach this small Geofront before setting up their camp for the night. This was probably going the last bit of easy rest they were going to have for the rest of their expedition, and the entire party was going to take advantage of it. Kaylin walks up to Silas with a cup of steaming coffee and a smile.

Silas was sitting away from the rest of the group but not too far away. Double checking, no triple checking his pack and cleaning his sword. “Hey, did you rest well last night?” He looks up at her with a smile “Not really. The excitement got the better of me.” She chuckles, “Yeah same for me. How long have you been in the Tricot region Silas?” He takes the cup of coffee and takes a quick sip “Mmm pretty good coffee for being in a cave. It’s a bit embarrassing to say but, my whole life.”

She looks at him with a shocked look that swiftly transitioned to one of regret. Regret for asking something that may be a touchy subject for him. “Sorry for bringing it up.” He looks up at her, “no need to worry. I haven’t been able to travel because of my younger brother, Nikolai. You see when our parents passed he started to get sick. Without myself and the help from our childhood friend Astrid he would have long since passed away.”

At the mention of Astrid her breath hitched and she gave of a slight and subtle pained look for all of a brief second. “I see. That’s noble of you really.” He quickly wished to changed the subject so he asked a question of his own, “So you’ve probably seen all sorts of sights and places as a Rank C adventurer right?” She smiles a deep and lovely smile before looking back to the rest of the party. “Finish up your coffee and stay near me once we start our travels again. I have plenty of stories to make up for a lifetime in Tricot.” She says with a wink,

*****

Clint and Tsubomi continue their journey through the Penheim countryside. The road was well rode thanks to the traveling merchants and farmers transporting their goods. As they walk along the path Clint keeps talking about whatever random unfiltered thought comes to his mind, to Tsubomi’s dismay. Right as Clint is discussing some vaguely inappropriate subject when Tsubomi notices a plume of smoke over a hill not far off from their path. “Clint indulge me for a moment please.” He watches her head off the path towards the plume of smoke. “Uh sure thing Tsu.”

When they reach the epicenter of the smoke they find a small cottage and a burning shed. A young couple are being held at sword point. Bandits from the looks of it. While they still have the element of surprise Tsu grabs her staff off her back and whispers, “Kamimaru, lend me the strength to make things right.” Suddenly the ground snakes up on the bandits with their swords pointed at the couple, entrapping their legs and arms. Clint rushes the scene with his spear out. “You two get back!” Suddenly a third bandit jumps out from behind the burning shed and attempts a swipe at Clint with his sword.

Clint easily side steps the strike and using the blunt end of his staff knocks the assailant out. “Tsu we don’t have time for an arrest! I’m going to enact a Guild Execution. You take the couple away from here while I handle them.” His face is grim thanks to the knowledge of what he’s about to do. He wishes he had another choice but if he let these bastards go then they would just come back and cause even more trouble for the couple.

*****

Once Tsubomi and the young couple are away from the carnage she turns to them to assess their safety and mental states. The couple thanks her and the question related to how this happened leaves Tsubomi’s mouth. “Do you two not have any weapons or anything to help defend yourselves?” The young man looked at her and then down at his feet. “The truth is no we don’t. We are pacifist in nature.” Tsubomi processes the reality of their lives out in the sticks where it was much more survival of the fittest.

“You absolute idiots! You live too far away from the guild or any local militias or governments and you actively choose to disarm yourselves.” Tsubomi continues to lay it into the couple when Clint finally finds them covered in blood whom the three know was not his. “Tsubomi stop it. They're safe now. They will have to use this moment as a learning lesson for how they plan to live their lives going forward.” He pats her shoulder then walks past her and the couple, obviously exhausted from the mental toll of what he had to do. “They get the picture Tsu. Let's go, we have to get to Tricot.”

*****

Back on the road the two guild members finally near the border of Tricot. “Hey Tsu, you know you didn’t have to be so hard on those two back there?” She huffs, “Idiots like them are taken advantage of every day in this world.” He stops and she follows suit. After a bit of a pause Clint finally responds. “Tsu, I can tell something is up. You never get this emotional about anything. What happened?” He pears into her eyes with a kind and piercing gaze.

She sighs. “Fine I’ll tell you but keep walking. Just let me think of how to explain it.” Cint shakes his head in agreement and the two continue on their trek down the worn dirt road.

*****

In a land far away from the fields of Penheim or the daily sunny life of Tricot a young woman runs between towers and stone buildings surrounded by snow and ice. Her breath is uneven as she sprints across what could best be called a campus. She runs into the building at the center of this campus, a massive stone building that could be better described as a campus. In her haste she nearly knocks over a group of students in mages robes. The girl running around the campus is in mages robes as well and is holding several rolled up scrolls. Her brown hair tied up in braided twin tales. “Sorry!” she yells back to the group of students she nearly knocked over.

She runs up a set of stairs and straight into a massive set of double doors all while ignoring the protest of the woman sitting at the desk just outside the massive door. “Headmaster, Sorry for the intrusion but this is bad!” She finally takes in the sight in front of her. The old man with gray hair, a long beard, and kind eyes sitting behind a massive desk was talking with a man with half green fair and half silver. The green half was significantly longer than the silver half. Next to the man with multi-colored hair was a young teen boy with orange hair that was short in the back but had two tufts of long hair in the front that had beads tied into them. Both of these guys were wearing the traditional guild outfits.

“I’m so sorry for the intrusion but this is extremely important. It’s about my research on Creation Events and specifically about the Creation Event in Tricot.” The old man looks from the young woman to the two guild members and then back to the woman. “Please Yulinka have a seat. This is Alban Galwell the leader of the Guild and his junior Kang Zhelan. Feel free to share your findings with them as well.” She immediately goes about unrolling the scrolls on the headmasters desk and explains to them that the Creation Event in Tricot has a Mana pattern unlike the rest they have seen.

She notes that according to their readings it appears to have strands of mana that spread out like threads from it. She believes this indicates that a possible of clusters of Creation Events are possibly about to occur at any moment. She hypothesizes that if the patterns are correct the creation events should be at least equal to the one just created in Tricot if not more dangerous. Alban looks over the research papers carefully. “Yulinka was it?” He looks up at the headmaster.

“I formally request Yulinka assist the Guild with our own research on the Creation Events. We already have an upper rank heading to the Creation Event in Tricot. I promise the Guild will share any and all information we gather from their exploration of the Event.” The Headmaster looks at Yulinka. “Yulinka, how do you feel about this request?” She looks at the headmaster with a determined face. “I will pack my things right away!”