The Fifth Bag Slot: Prologue
In which Batanga, the asura who taught us that black leather isn't just for humans, swoops in to set the plot in motion.
"DO YOU CRAVE DISCOVERY?" A voice boomed over the marketplace din of Rata Sum. "Knowledge awaits those ambitious explorers who become members of the DURMAND PRIORY!"
Aize knew better than to make eye contact. Alas, it did not save her.
"YOU THERE!" The spokesman made a show of pointing to her. "Are you tired of living in mediocrity? The Durmand Priory offers YOU the chance become a part of something bigger. Join us in our quest for knowledge!" He finished his proclamation with a flourish by shoving a brightly colored brochure at her. "I hope to see you soon, recruit!" Just like that, he went back to working the crowd.
Aize scowled at him and the brochure wrinkled in her grip, but he paid her no mind. So, she continued walking. Past the sunny marketplace where asura haggled over gollum parts, down into the inner walls of the floating cube city, and finally, to a cool and secluded corner of the city map. The stone was nice and mossy here, with jungle vines starting to creep in along the walls. It was a dead-end place that hardly anyone wound up at, but that was why Aize liked it. She shrugged her backpack off her shoulders and grimaced as it hit the ground with a squelching sound. It was full of meat chunks. Nothing appetizing - just the cuts that were too old or too unsavory for the Rata Sum meat merchant to make a profit off of. Every few days, her crazy Aunt Yibbi would send Aize with a couple of copper coins into town to buy the meat for the most uncouth of purposes: skelk bait.
It was hardly a job for a recent graduate of the College of Dynamics. But until she could find a krewe willing to take her on, Aize was stuck with crazy Aunt Yibbi harvesting skelk gland secretions. Processed skelk byproduct was the best way to make black powder, and selling it made a pretty steady living. However, it was far from an intellectual occupation and one certainly didn't make many friends camping out in the jungle hunting skelk.
With these thoughts for company, Aize was on the verge of throwing herself a pity party when the Durmand Priory brochure still crumpled in her hand caught her attention. She sat down against the stone wall and gingerly smoothed out the corners of the paper.
"You're not seriously thinking of joining that 'Durr-man' Priory, are you kid?"
Aize jumped to her feet at the voice and was shocked to see another asura watching her. Blond hair, blue eyes, and a body posture that screamed 'cooler than thou' stared down at her.
"Name's Batanga," The stranger said, leaning against the wall and looking bored. "Anyway, the Priory's not where you wanna be – all books and no brains."
"Who are you?" Aize said, trying not to sound startled.
"What? Don't tell me you don't recognize the getup?" Batanga gestured to her rather ornate clothing. It was black leather and deep red cloth, with sharp gold shuriken tucked into the belt. When Aize didn't respond, Batanga rolled her eyes. "Agent Batanga, Order of Whispers representative of the City of Rata Sum."
Aize tried to take this in, "I thought the Order of Whispers was just conspiracy theory…"
Batanga gave her an amused look. "You don't get out of the jungle much, do ya kid? Time to quit skinning skelk, Aize."
"How do you know my name?" Aize asked cautiously.
"It's my job to know everything about everybody," Batanga winked at her. "When you were three, your parents died in an explosion in the Pyrotechnics Lab."
"Widely regarded as the sixth most visually impressive explosion in the history of Rata Sum." Aize interrupted, rehearsed and proud.
Batanga nodded and continued, "So you were sent off to live with crazy old Yibbi…"
"She's certifiably demented." Aize interrupted again in defense of her aunt. "It's a chemical imbalance."
"Riiiiiight. So you managed to survive childhood and finally got into the College of Dynamics, where you barely graduated because you're…" She seemed to search for a word, but then shook her head. "Weird," she finished.
Aize scowled. "Look, I'm not crazy. My aunt's dementia is not genetic. And if I don't happen to have all the facts straight one hundred percent of the time because I was raised by someone living in their own reality it is not my fault!"
"Whoa, relaaax kid!" Batanga held her hands up. "I didn't come here to judge. In fact, all this 'outcast of society' stuff is what makes you a prime candidate."
Aize calmed down enough to be intrigued. "…candidate for what?"
Batanga smiled conspiratorially and leaned in close. "For the Order, of course. Whispers is looking for some 'unknown' to help us…borrow some information from the Durmand Priory."
It took Aize a minute, but she got there. "Spy?"
Batanga wrinkled her nose at the term. "Informant," she corrected. "Anyway, this agent would need to get herself recruited as Priory student and remain undercover, gathering intel, until mission end or reassignment."
Aize looked doubtful. "And why would I do this?"
Batanga sighed, tossing her hair back and putting an unwelcome arm around Aize's shoulder. "Listen kid, we don't just do this stuff 'cause it's fun. Tyria's changing – been changing, and it's not all good. The Order pulls strings that save entire civilizations from total war; things the rest of the world never even sees, but we all benefit from. And look," She said, stepping back to look at Aize directly. "I know it may not seem this way, but I didn't just randomly pick you 'cause you're pretty. From what I know about you – and as we already established, that's quite a lot – I think you'd be a good fit for this assignment."
Aize stood there, uncertain.
"But, y'know," Batanga inspected the tips of her claws. "If skinning skelk is your life's ambition, don't let me stop you."
"I'll do it."
"That 'a girl." Batanga smiled. "I'll get your Order initiation papers set up. You'll be the Durmand Priory's newest fake student before you know it!"
"Where is this Durmand Priory?" Aize asked, excited and trying desperately not to let the fear of the unknown creep in.
"See for yourself," Batanga pointed to the Priory brochure left lying on the ground.
Aize picked it up and inspected the brochure picture. "It's a library," she said blankly.
"What?" Batanga looked surprised and snatched the paper out of Aize's hand. "Well well well, what do you know?" She laughed. "Looks like they finally wised up about that old outdoor picture!"
"Yes, but where is it?" Aize asked impatiently over Batanga's chuckling.
The whispers agent only winked at her. "Better pack warm, kid."