Chapter 1
Boredom. That's all the young boy felt. All he had to keep him entertained were the bustling streets below his balcony, and the endless amounts of literature stowed away in his family's archive. And he never was one for reading, after his father had him tutored for five years since he was 8, he was completely turned away from the wondrous pass-time. Besides, even if he tried to read something, he'd just get flashbacks of that old hag of a woman who'd been his tutor all five of those grueling years.
So there he sat, upon a cushioned seat looking down upon the sea of peasantry below. He had no idea how long he'd been sat there, he had always had a habit of losing himself to any simple thought that happened to visit his mind. It was usually thoughts of food or women that came most often, however those were no more than day dreams. The thoughts that he really enjoyed, came by in sporadic intervals. There was never any sort of tell to raise his awareness, to warn that the next hour of is time would be spent in a single position staring into a single direction. To any passerby, he would seem to be staring at a single spot be it a wall, the floor, or even the face of another. This was however untrue, when he enters this sort of trance-like state he is staring not at a spot nearby, but at a faraway land. One filled to the brim with adventure and opportunity.
'If only that adventure would find its way to me.' He thought, and just as he'd uttered the words in his mind he heard a shout from below. "Stop that man!" he heard one man shout, his voice deep and gravelly as if he'd spent years, barking orders to the men beneath him. "Get that bastard!" screeched another, with a much softer voice strained in a vain attempt to sound hard and intense. "He stole my wife's jewelry!" The second man shouted. The supposed thief was a classical portrayal of the role, Dressed in a dark brown cloak, with a hood large enough to shade the man's face, and a tail so long it dragged upon the dirt covered stone paths of the town.
The chase was getting closer to the young man, as he saw who he presumed to be the owners of the earlier shouting voices round a corner to pursue the cloaked man farther, slowly gaining ground bit by bit only to have it lost when a group of people walked into their path. The two men looked as he had expected, one large, muscular and brutish looking, with several heavy steel plates lapped over his torso, and the handle of some large weapon protruding from his right shoulder. The other who lagged slightly behind the large man, was the complete opposite of his counterpart, with a small and fragile looking body covered by some sort of colorful purple and pompous clothing. Within a minute they had made it down the street, and would soon pass beneath his location. The assailant ran directly under him, but just as he was about to make a turn in an attempt to increase the gap, he stopped dead, almost directly in front of the balcony.
The young boy was about to question the action when a new voice chimed, "Hold it!" This voice differed from the other two, it was light, yet hardy, firm, yet the slightest bit of softness rang through. The voice came from a woman dressed in a hardened leather cuirass, with what appeared to be a gold-tinged set of grieves covering her lower half. She stood directly in the man's path, although now that the cloaked figure had stopped moving he got a good look over them. Upon closer observation he noticed a curvature at the chest, supposedly hidden by the cloak's swaying in the wind. This thief was a woman, though it made no difference to the boy. For the Earlier girl stood, a long, thin dagger with an intricate design carved into the handle resembling a blooming rose held in front of her. When the thief finally realized her situation she attempted to continue down the previous street. This plan was short lived, as she was grabbed by the back of her hood and lifted off the ground. As her hood descended time itself seemed to slow. This was the moment long awaited, the climax of the event. But just as the woman's face was about to be revealed, a large burst of force shot out from her body, pushing out in every direction. Everything around her was forced away; the woman in leather was far enough back that she was only forced to the ground. Her companion however was not nearly as fortunate. With his hand directly on the thief, his arm up to the elbow was bent in multiple directions, and the rest of his body was badly bruised. "Demon Arts!?" the young boy exclaimed, Drawing the attention of the four people below. "You there, help me get Harrison inside! Quickly!" The dagger wielding woman exclaimed. "Nonsense, you've got to stop that thief!" The small man yelled, anger clearly present at the thought of losing something of value to a criminal. "Look around! That girl is long gone." The woman said. "I'll be down at the door in just a moment!" The young boy shouted down. The boy ran inside, down the hall and leapt over the banister of the stairs and landing on a small ottoman. He soon made it to the front door of the small manor and hastily fidgeted with the deadbolt, eventually sliding it open allowing the woman outside to drag her wounded friend inside.
After they had moved Harrison into a spare bedroom, the two headed to the balcony to speak. "So, what's your name kid?" She asked, her voice much softer and kinder voice then before, likely due to the stress of the previous situation beginning to dissolve. "My name is James Edmond Valyrin, but those close to me just call me Jadin." "Why Jadin?" "It's a nickname given to me by my grandfather. It's a combination of all three parts of my full name. What about you? What's your name?" "I'm not sure I'm comfortable telling you that." "Oh come on. I just told you my full name, nickname, and its backstory. The least you could give me is an alias or something. That way I can stop calling you lady." "What am I not lady enough to be called that?" Jadin looked at her, unamused. "Fine, just call me Aris."
"Okay Aris, I'm curious about a few things if you'd be so kind as to indulge me." She shifts slightly on her feet, getting into a more closed off pose. "Depends on the question." She said defensively. "I'll keep them minimalistic then." He said in as soothing a voice as he could muster. "You're quite smart for someone so young." "Of course I am. I may be young but I'm the heir of a major financial power." He says with pride evident in his voice. "Now on to my questions. First off, why were you chasing that thief?" She hesitates for a second, as if thinking of a way to answer. "That man from before hired us as escorts." She answers vaguely. "Okay, next question. Did you know that girl could use Demon Arts?" He asked. "No. Why, was I supposed to? Only about 10% of the population is even born with bodies capable of withstanding that kinda power. And even less people actually practice it. So no, I didn't know." She replied Snarkily. "I have one final question for you. What do you plan to do now?"
She sat for a second, her long dirty blonde hair billowing in the early night's winds. "I guess I have to find that girl on my own. Harrison will probably try to either come with me or stop me if he knew, so I'll have to leave tonight, while he rests here. So I sup-" She was cut off by Jadin as he began to speak. "Hold on, I don't remember giving you two permission to even stay here tonight. If you do I'll require some kind of payment." She looked back at him, shocked by the sudden realization. "Wait, what do you mean? Are you saying you'd kick an injured man out onto the streets!?" She looks him dead in the eyes, her anger ever present. "If I must, I will. However judging by the way you're glaring at me I'd have to guess that you're a bit low on coin. And besides, I need no more money. This is MY private manor after all." After this her anger quickly turned to shock. "How rich is your family? You said you're the heir of a major financial power correct?" He nods, "What financial power would that be exactly?" He laughs lightly. "Well I'll give you a chance to guess. You have one of our wares strapped to your hip right now." She sits with the knowledge for a second; trying to understand what he means before finally it hit her harder than that thief's powers. She looks over at him to confirm her theory, only to see him with the most irritating smirk she had ever seen. "There is absolutely no way. You're the son of THE 'Briar Edwards'!? But how, your last name is completely different!" She ranted. "That's because we're not related by blood. It's a bit complicated if you look at the whole thing but the basic summary is that my father was originally married to my aunt, and they had a baby girl. But then my aunt showed her true colors and was eventually thrown in prison, I won't go into that right now though. Basically my father divorced her to save his reputation even though he really did love her. And so my mother and I came to visit her in prison, and we stayed at my father's home for the week we were there. During that week my mother did her best to comfort him and get him over his recent divorce. After that one thing led to another, we began visiting more and more frequently. My mom fell for my dad, and I became best friends with Franny. Oh, Franny is my sister by the way; her real name is Francesca, Franny is my personal nickname for her; most people just call her Fran." Aris stood there, at a complete loss for words. Jadin, seemingly having had enough silent gawking for one night decided to move the conversation to a more pressing issue. "So onto the matter of your payment, I would like to propose a deal." She instinctively took a step back at his serious tone. "What kind of deal?" She asked timidly, "Because if it's what I think it is, I'll have your head!" She shouted, her anger rising to the surface. "Calm yourself. I'm a man of dignity. I propose to you this; I'll send summons for the local clinics best doctor to come and watch over your friend, and you take me with you on your adventure to capture this Demon Art using thief." After he finished issuing the deal, Aris stood silent for a moment before bursting out into a fit of laughter. "That's all you want? Fine! It's not my problem if you get killed, just stay out of the way of my work. Deal?" She extends her hand toward him, as he reaches out to meet her with his own. "Deal, I look forward to it. However, I'm not sure you and I can take this girl on our own with her demon arts. So I suggest we find ourselves a third person." She glances at him, and then turns to the door leading back inside. "Fine, but now that I'm not going alone I think we should wait until daybreak to find our third, and then we shall pursue her. We'll also need to get a hound to assist us." "Easy enough, we'll go in the morning then. For now, you should go to your friend and see how he's doing, while I send for the doctor. It will take longer than normal what with it being past dark, maybe an hour or so for the news to arrive, and then pack their things and to make their way here." She nods and begins walking in, leaving him with his thoughts.
'Suppose I should send for the doctor and get some rest. The deadbolt is still undone, so they can enter on their own.' He thought to himself. And with that he went inside to his upstairs bedroom and drifted off into the void of dreams, now filled with adventure featuring a certain girl wearing far more revealing armor than usual.