T.O.A.O.O

“What are you doing here, master? Wait, you're so injured? What happened?”

“Slow down! I should ask you what you’re doing here as well, but for starters, we need a safe place.”

“Right!”

Phillip found his guild master, Melvin, behind the shrub covered in injuries. He was a tall old man and large by build. He had short brown hair without any beards.

“I can see a cave over there.” Frank said while pointing towards a protrusion on the mountain surface.

“Good! Give me a hand over here, will you?”

Frank grabbed Melvin by his hand, helped him up and then put his hand over his shoulder.

“Urg!” Melvin groaned as he got off the ground.

“You okay, Sir?”

“No worries lad. I can move”

Slowly, the two headed over to the cave which was rather well spaced on the inside compared to the outside. Frank helped Melvin to the ground as he grunted in pain.

“Urg! Whew! Thanks lad! I wouldn’t have made it.”

“We still have to disinfect your wounds.” Frank insisted as reached out in his bag to get an ointment and some old clothes to act as bandages.

“Ahh! No need lad! Keep it to yourself for your journey!”

“You need to live! At least if you live, my guilt for not protecting my comrades will reduce.” Frank replied with a sad face.

Melvin looked down facing away from Frank.

“I can’t muster the strength to tell him!” Melvin thought before looking back to Frank.

“Okay lad! You win, but I’ll use it on myself.”

“That’s alright!” Frank gave him the tin of ointment and fabrics.

“So tell me, Frank? I heard you went to old man Cott? Did he give you another person to recruit?”

“He didn’t. By the time we got there it seemed that the man had tried to escape and he ended up killing him.”

“That’s unusual! Then where’s Teeg? I thought you two were together?” Melvin asked him with caution on his face.

“I left him at Thorne which was attacked by monsters. I had gone to get back up from the guild, but then…”

Frank suddenly failed to talk. When he tried to talk about his comrades, he simply looked down with his teeth gnashed. Melvin patted his shoulder to comfort him.

“Before Rein died, he told me to look for this girl Vicky and protect her. Do you know her, master?

“Oh! Vicky! In short terms, she is the hero who is predicted that will change the situation of Baizefield.”

“Hero!” Frank gasped and looked at his master with a blank expression. “I thought those things were just stories.”

“Oh, it’s real but she seemed not to like the destiny that befalls her.”

“What do you mean? What happened”

“Let me tell you a story.”

…

About sometime ago, I was summoned by Grimes, an old friend of mine living in the village of Roses, to investigate some rampant occurrences of mass slaughter in villages.

Some unknown groups of people would visit villages looking for particular specifications of people. Young girls aged 15 and below, blonde hair and some others which involved family names of nobles.

“Hello guild master Melvin, heading on a journey?” A slightly tall cheerful teenage young lad brought me a horse before bringing other travel luggage.

“Heck yes, um…”

“Rein! Rein Buckard, sir!”

“A million thanks, Rein. I confuse you with Frank! You’re like brothers!”

“Everyone thinks so. He’s my rival! I’ll surely surpass him and become the greatest in Baizefield.”

I was quite intrigued with what this young lad had said.

“What reason do you have to become the strongest?”

“I never want to see anyone hurt again in my life. My dad was killed by some robbers just because they wanted to see some blood. If I were strong enough, I would have prevented that.”

“You have a good goal, young lad. Become strong and allow me to watch over you as you do that.”

His face beamed like he had just seen an angel. I knew that I wasn’t worthy to be referred to as a role model, but I wanted to change my mistakes.

“See you soon, Master!”

I raised my hand in a silent farewell.

After a four day journey to the west excluding nights, I reached the Merchant City of North. I intended to continue towards the village of Roses, North West from Merchant City, to meet with Grimes, but something caught my attention before leaving.

“This nostalgic presence! There’s no way that I can ever forget.”

Using my Ristir of Detection, I was able to pick up a familiar presence from my past. The person I thought had died in the battle for dominion of the Central District of Baizefield.

“Damn you Towawu! You’re still alive?”

I was surprised beyond my very own expectations. His name, Towawu came from the initials, T.O.A.O.O that stood for ‘The One And Only One’ as he believed that he was the strongest of all since he could control all forms of Ristir.

…

“The One And Only One!” Frank looked at Melvin with a puzzled look. “Isn’t that a little bit too exaggerated for someone?”

“After witnessing his power, there’s no way that you can doubt that title. There was only one person who could beat him. Actually, he managed to slay him but…”

“.. but he’s alive? How?” Frank asked to get on board as very many things were being said that he didn’t get.

“Beats me!”

“To control all forms of Ristir is incredible. Why doesn’t he fight for the better?”

“The world is vast, Frank. You’ll see when you travel around it and all your questions will be answered.” Melvin replied with a sad voice.

“Anyway let’s continue the story, shall we?”

…

Tracing his presence and masking mine, I found out that he was inside the merchant’s mansion, or a manor whatever you would like to call it. It was so large that I wondered if he kept his farm and livestock there too.

Using an underground passage, I managed to find a way into the basement of the manor.

The basement had walls and floors made of large stones. It smelled like dust and the air was a little damp and stiff.

“I’ve got to find information on them right now. I need to know their purpose, who they are working for and their plans as well.”

Just as I was about to climb the stairs, I heard a little girl’s voice shouting.

“Someone! Anybody! Help!”

“What in the world!” I thought as I looked behind.

The sound seemed to come from a thick door made of wood.

“Let’s see what these people have here!”

He tried opening the door and surprisingly, the door opened without a hitch.

“Seems that they trust their security, as well as their Ristir.”

I entered the door and found a small girl, too scared to be alive. I immediately placed out my arm to comfort her.

“Don’t worry! Allow me to take you out of here!”

She looked up with surprise. She seemed as if she didn’t expect to leave alive. Calming down, she asked for my name.

“What’s your name, Mister?”

“Melvin, Just Melvin! How about you?” I asked as I untied the ropes that were binding her.

“Vicky! No… I don’t even know now.”

There was a moment of silence as we both ran through the passage until I finally spoke out, changing the subject.

“Anyway, why were you tied up here? I can’t see you being a criminal of any sort.”

“I don’t know! I don’t know what is happening anymore!” She spoke so loudly as her eyes teared up.

“Okay, calm down. For now let’s go to my base, our base!”

***

“Hey, old man! Hang in there.”

Phillip jumped off the carriage and rushed over to the old man who had serious bruises and cuts. Just before Phillip reached, Teeg closed his eyes either as a sign of relief or simply because he couldn’t hang on any longer.

“You really are in bad shape. I wonder what caused this. Oh! Got to treat him fast.”

Phillip hovered his hands over Teeg’s body and closed his eyes as a way of focusing.

“Poison, Huh! A deadly one at that! Glad that I still remember this technique that dad taught me.”

Phillip then moved his hands more precisely and definitely over Teeg’s body and suddenly after some time, black liquid drops exited his body through his wounds until no more came out.

“I’m quite surprised! This little amount of poison actually caused this much damage!” Phillip said with an exclamation. Anyway, I have to tend to his wounds now, but I have no ointment.”

Hardly had he said that when Teeg started coughing.

“Young man, thank you very much. I’ll surely repay you for this deed of kindness.” Teeg said while trying to get up.

“Whoa! Whoa! Don’t move yet. I have to tend to your wounds. You’ll bleed more. Do you have any ointment?”

“Yah! There’s one in my backpack over there. But I can—”

“Oh no you can’t. Just sit back and allow me to do my work.” Phillip interrupted and he checked Teeg’s backpack. “Sweet, you have almost a full med kit over here. Always ready I see.”

Phillip got some water from his leather bottle and poured it mostly over the cut on his chest and his thigh to rid the wounds of dirt. He got the liquor that he pillaged from the Cott’s house and poured it over the cuts to disinfect them further.

“Arg!” Teeg yelled out in pain as the liquor penetrated deep into his wound causing a serious burning sensation. “Pretty merciless, Huh!”

“Well, I don’t even know if what I’m doing is in the right order, but the end justifies the means.”

“Quite a cruel lad I’ve met!”

“Just deal with it, gramps!”

Phillip took some time to stitch the wounds and then finally rubbed some ointment over them.

“I didn’t see any bandages. How shall we wrap these up?”

“I always have those in my pockets.” Teeg said as he handed him a bunch of bandages.

“Nice!”

Phillip got the bandages and wrapped them around his wounds.

“There and done!” Philip said as he stood up to wash his hands.

“Thank you lad. If there’s anything you want, just mention it.” Teeg said while trying to get up.

Phillip headed over to help him up.

“Careful! You might cause the wounds to open. About what I want, I need directions to the Central district.”

“Central district! Good heavens! What business do you have there? Well, sorry to pry.” Teeg said as he boarded the carriage with Phillip’s help.

The carriage was for carrying light goods. There was a back section with a wooden roof. Luggage was placed in that section and a wooden plank would be pivoted upwards to cover three quarters of the entry at the back.

The front section was the driver’s seat and between the two was a space without any luggage where Teeg fit himself before continuing on the journey.

“Is there any problem with the Central District?” Phillip asked after noticing his earlier expression as he commanded the horse to move.

“It’s not a friendly place. The leading guild, or rather the most feared of all the guilds resides there. Besides, you can’t just enter freely. You must first get permission from the guild of the Western district. Otherwise, you’ll be an illegal entrant.”

“Why the West?”

“Beats me. All I know is that the West is a Port district and it is close to the ocean. What destination do you have in mind after reaching the central part of Baizefield?”

“I’ll start with the adventurers guild!”

Teeg grew silent. Phillip wondered what was wrong but couldn’t find the right words to say.

“Adventurer’s guild, Huh! Where did you hear about it?”

“From back home in Mill County. My dad used to send letters of how awesome the guild was. I thought that I could use that as my starting point.”

“Your dad? Wait! Come to think of it, aren’t you the boy who we found dead in Old Cott’s house?”

Phillip turned in shock and asked, “Who are you, old man?”

“Heavens! You’re alive! How? How did you survive Cott’s slash?”

“I’m not comfortable talking about it to a total stranger. Maybe if I trust you, I’ll tell you! Especially if I find out that you were the one who wanted to buy me, despite not being a slave.”

“Oh! So you knew what was going on! Apologies for prying! I’m Teeg by the way, just Teeg.” Teeg said as he looked outside, as if he was looking for something. “So what happened to the Cotts? How did you escape?”

“I’m Phillip. Nice to meet you.” Phillip responded to the greeting. “I didn’t actually escape. James had mercy on me. He was extremely strong.”

“Of course, he is. I can't even last a minute when facing him. I bet your battle lasted for about 5 seconds.”

“Truly. Even less if I may say.” Phillip said as he shifted his gaze to the ground. “But what hurts me more it that I didn’t fulfill Danny’s dying wish.”

“Oh! The lad’s finally gone. What more could he have wished for than his death?” Teeg replied with his attention still outside.

“He wanted his sister to be free. He left that to me and then here I am, tossing away the opportunity.”

“Hey lad, slow down! You did a good enough job to leave with your life. That means you can become stronger and try again. So cheer up.” Teeg replied to cheer him up.

“Wait! Why can’t I feel the presence of anyone in that cave? Where have the villagers gone? My Ristir surely isn’t wrong.” Teeg said with worry on his face.

Phillip turned around towards Teeg and asked, “By the way,...”

 “...what is Ristir?“