Mission Start

It was around an hour before Honō would have to go back to the farmhouse, as he laid in the bed of his hotel room. He laid thinking about times when he would come here with his father, Gier to hunt the low rank animals at the edge of the forest.

It wasn’t far from the farmhouse that they hunted. It was at an old rental cabin around five minutes away, though now it was closed down and no longer in use.

Honō’s father would often use a bow when they would hunt. He would always say ‘it was quiet, wouldn’t scare animals away when they shoot with it’. He thought to himself how he could never draw the bow back fully and always needed help in those days.

Honō began to think maybe that his inability to use a bow growing up could have been what had deterred Honō from using ranged weapon likes bows as he grew older. Though now even if he did start using a bow, he would probably still pick his sword, Frost Star, over it.

He continued to reminisce of those days for the remainder of the hour before heading to the farmhouse with Witz and Midas.

…

Meanwhile in another hotel room, Witz had changed out of her casual wear and into an outfit more suitable for using her gear and fighting, aether beasts.

It consisted of a black, long sleeved thermal top and a green, short sleeved top over it with old black cargo pants.

Witz, after changing clothes, walked over to where she had left the briefcase from the lab. She unbuckled the two latches keeping the brown briefcase closed.

The brown briefcase popped open to show all her gear and four vials of purple liquid, sat in the foam casing.

Her gear consisted of two large mechanical gloves and a pair of mechanical boots, both with clear pipes going around the metallic brass plates that coated them. These plates made up the outer layer of the gloves and boats.

At the end of the gloves, just past the wrist and onto forearm sat a small cylindrical fuel container, where a vial could be put in.

This gear was the culmination of her several years knowledge, gained from watching her father work in the lab of engineering.

Witz grabbed one of the gloves, along with a vial of purple liquid. With the vial of purple liquid in hand, she placed it into the fuel container of the glove.

Moments after the vial entered the container it began to empty and feed into the clear pipes around the glove. Once the vial was emptied, she picked up a second vial and repeated the process.

When the second vial emptied, she put down the glove and picked up the other glove. Witz than repeated the process of refuelling the glove.

Once both the gloves were refuelled, only then did she start to put them on, first starting with the left-hand glove, followed by the right-hand glove.

After putting both gloves on she turned her attention to the boots, which she always kept fuelled, this was due to them only being able to be refuelled at her labs. Easy refuelling was a feature yet to be implemented to the boots.

Witz sat down on the the bed and started to put on the boots. First, she put on with the right foot boot, followed by the left foot boot.

Now, with all of her gear on, she began to wait for the time they would all go back to the farmhouse to complete their mission.

…

After an hour passed, Honō, Witz and Midas all met up in the lobby of the hotel they were staying in.

“So, off to the farmhouse now, right?” Asked Midas, double checking to make sure he was right.

“Yep, that’s the plan. You both ready?” Answered Witz fixing the glove on her hand.

“Should be,” replied Honō tapping Frost Star, sat on his belt, making sure it’s there still.

Midas nodded to signal he was ready, and wanting to get the mission over with.

“Good, let’s head then,” said Witz stretching.

Not wasting any time, Honō, Witz and Midas began to make the walk over to the farmhouse. So, they could start watch for when the wolves would return.

While walking they noticed that the streets were now completely empty. Reduced to a ghost town.

Another minute passed as they passed the tavern they had ate at earlier. As they walked past, they saw the bartender Moser walk out with an unlit cigarette in his mouth and old lighter in his hand.

He must have been going home for the night. When he lit his cigarette and saw the trio, he turned and walked down a conjoining street in the opposite direction. A look of disgust in his eyes.

They continued their walk for another few minutes before finally reaching the farmhouse. When they arrived, the sun had already touched the horizon.

Honō with Witz and Midas stood at the door and began to loudly knock on the old wooden door.

Knock… knock… knock…

This time, after the loud knocks a younger man opened the door. He had a head of blonde hair and small stubble on his chin. A well-defined nose with a pair of round glasses, sitting on its arch.

“Oh, you three must be the guild members my father told me about. I’m Eric. Eric Jr to be precise,” welcomed Eric Jr shaken a hand with each of them.

“Good to meet you,” replied Honō as he shook Eric Jr’s hand.

“Come in, come in we have the fire lit,” told Eric Jr waving them into the house.

They walked into the room where the old Eric brought them before. Only this time the fire was lit, like Jr said and the old Eric was snoring in the armchair beside it.

“Sit down, I’m just going to wake the old fart,” stated Eric Jr as he took a deep breath.

“WAKE UP OLD MAN WE’VE GOT GUESTS!” Shouted the younger Eric into the ear of his old man.

“Huh, what’s happening, why in gods name you waken me Jr,” spoke the old man and a half sleep tone.

“We have guests,” explained Eric Jr with a sigh.

“Oh, well why didn’t you just say so,” exclaimed the old man as he sat up in his chair.

“I did but anyway sorry for the noise, the bastard’s half deaf,” apologised Jr as he turned to face Honō, Witz and Midas.

After watching the old man get woke up Witz and Midas sat at the wooden table while Honō went and stood into front of the open fire. Two lights sat above the fire, one each side. The lights reflected Honō’s shadow in different directions. One to the left. One to the right.

“Can I offer you any tea or coffee?” Asked the younger Eric.

“N-” started Midas before being cut off by Honō.

“Sure, as long as you don’t mind, I’ll have a coffee.”

With a sigh Midas started to speak again. “I’ll have tea please.”

“I’m ok,” smiled Witz as she fidgeted with the gloves she wore.

Eric Jr walked into the other room to make the coffee and tea for his guests. The four of them stayed silent in the living room waiting for Eric Jr to come back.

“Sooo, Eric is there any casinos in the area orrr uhh not?” shyly asked Midas trying to break the silence in the room.

Honō and Witz upon hearing Midas looked at each other and then at Midas, both with a face of “bruh”. Old Eric began to laugh as he answered Midas’s question. “No, no lad. All the casinos here were closed almost a decade ago.”

“I see, you know what where’s the restroom,” exclaimed Midas feeling embarrassed over his question and the looks he got from Honō and Witz.

“Oh, it’s down the hall on the left,” pointed old Eric with his bony finger.

“Thanks,” smiled Midas nervously as he stood up and walked briskly to the bathroom to hide away for a few minutes so he could have a nervous break from trying to socialise with new people.

After Midas hid away Eric Jr walked in with a small tray with a coffee in a large black mug, a tea in a vintage teacup and a short round glass of whiskey with a cube of ice float in it.

“Long day?” Joked Honō as young Eric handed him his coffee.

“No, no long week more like but hey, it’s my day off tomorrow so I’m gonna have a bit to rest. You know,” spoke the tired doctor with a chuckle as he walked over to where Midas was sat before hiding away and left the tea down.

“Actually, on the topic of alcohol have you visited the town tavern yet? It has the best food in Zallo.” Asked young Eric as he sat down with his whiskey in the armchair beside his father, old Eric.

“We were and I have to say it was interesting” said Witz from the table looking up from her glove.

“Oh, in what way” poked Eric Jr curious as he sipped his drink.

“The bartender, Moser I think his name was, acted a bit like a dick to us” explained Witz not holding anything back and acting like she knew the two Erics longer than she actually had.

“Ah, I would’ve guessed nothing less” sighed the tired doctor, not totally surprised as he pinched the arch of his nose. “Sorry about him the minute he notices someone’s from the capital he becomes a real piece of work”

“I noticed” joked Witz and an amused chuckle.

“May I ask why he has a problem with the capital?” Asked Honō somewhat intrigued.

“Sure, so when Moser was younger, he dreamt of being some big shot guild member then when he hit twenty the age to apply, he moved to the capital. Failed the entry exam of the guild and couldn’t find any job to let him pay the bills which meant he ended up back here after a few months. Sooo, now he becomes a jealous prick whenever he sees someone living his dream” explained young Eric probably leaving details out but saying enough to give them the idea.

“Talk about sad” blurted Witz without thinking causing Honō to nearly spit out the coffee that Eric Jr got him.

“Witz!” Exclaimed Honō trying to keep Witz from offending people.

“What! We were all thinking it” argued Witz with a smile.

“It’s ok I won’t tell Moser anything,” confirmed Eric somewhat enjoying the chaos before turning to his father to see him sleeping in his chair again. “No wonder I had peace” he whispered under his breath before ultimately deciding to let his old man sleep.

Not long after their talk Midas returned from the bathroom trying his best not to look down. On seeing Midas return Honō looked at the time to see it was now 9:20 pm.

“Well, we better start patrol soon in case the wolves come early. That ok, guys?” Honō asked directing it towards Witz and Midas as he swallowed the last of his coffee.

“Sure,” said Midas looking down as he sipped his tea. A small shake in his hand.

“I don’t mind either,” responded Witz as she stopped fidgeting with her gloves.

“If you are heading outside, you better bring a lamp with yous cause it seems it’ll be a dark night,” explained young Eric as he got up and walked over to a cupboard near the entrance.

Without saying a word, he pulled out three small lamps with a hook that could clip to a belt and handed them to the three guild members.

“Thanks,” spoke Honō with gratitude as he clipped it to his black belt on the opposite side of Frost Star.

After thanking Eric and clipping the lamps to themselves, the three of them headed outside to start patrol.

…

As soon as they got outside Honō took a deep breath of the cooler night air.

“So, Midas was the question about a casino necessary?” Joked Witz with a smile as she switched on the lamp.

“Oh, just don’t tell Sue. Ok.” Sighed Midas as he copied Witz in turning on his lamp.

“I do wonder what you were planning to do if he said yes,” joined Honō with a laugh.

“Oh, give over you two. It broke the silence, didn’t it?” complained Midas as he used his aether ability gold to make a large, six-foot bo staff.

“Ok, ok it did, you’re not wrong,” laughed Honō now turning on his own lamp.

“Let’s just start patrol,” sighed Midas, feeling more defeated then when he asked the question originally.

The three of them began to patrol the edge of fields in search of when the aether beasts would return. A whole hour passed with no change.

As they continued to search, Midas heard a noise come from the forest.

“Guys you hear something?” Asked Midas stopping in his tracks as he looked towards the forest.

“No?” Witz said turning to face Midas.

As Witz turned around she saw an aether wolf ready to pounce standing behind Midas.