Authoress' Note: This is my first (serious) fanfiction so any comment, constructive or otherwise, is appreciated :D I am already going to assume that you all know the characters and settings so I will not waste words on their descriptions. Whether or not this will be continued will be determined by audience feedback, time and my creative brain juices.

Disclaimer: I do not own Summon Night or any of its characters otherwise all of them would have been hugged to death.

Amariss walked around Middle Wystern looking for the house floating on the water. That house used to be Master Sakuro before he went on leave to roam the world. Amariss opened the door and was greeted by an adorable floating mass of green.

"Well, hello Kutty," said Amariss with a smile.

"Kutty!"

"Where's your master? It's almost time for the opening ceremony."

"Kuu…"

Kutty flew to the bedroom and Amariss browsed the living room with her motherly eye before she followed the summon beast. There was some leftover curry on the stove but otherwise, it was a rather neat room.

She entered the bedroom to find her daughter sleeping on her desk amongst her work papers. Her hair was in disarray and there was a small pool of saliva under her chin but she still looked like her very cute self. Amariss smiled. She was so proud that her child was striving so hard to be a Craftlord.

"Kutty, will you please wake her up while I prepare some breakfast," requested Amariss as she left the room.

Kutty flew to his master's side and without a moment's hesitation, gave her a heavy punch. Pratty got up suddenly scattering the papers on her desk. She looked out the window and panicked at the sight of the morning sun. She had been late so many times, even before she was a Craftlord and didn't want to add this one to the list.

"Kutty! Um…wait –oh no…" stuttered Pratty as she grabbed her hat (?) and weapon's bag. She quickly pulled out tufts of her out of the holes of her hat and said "I'm sorry Kutty but I think I don't have time to make you breakfast today. Maybe we'll just grab some naan or…Mom!"

Pratty saw her mother already putting plates of her delicious cooking on the table. Amariss greeted her daughter with a warm smile. "Well hurry now, dear. You already have a reputation for being late."

"Mom, I didn't expect you to be here," said Pratty as she sat down to breakfast. Kutty was already nibbling on a piece of toast.

"I wanted to see you. Today reminded me of last year when you were rushing to the opening ceremony but now, you're going as a Craftlord. Oh, how time flies..." Amariss reminisced dreamily. She looked lovingly at her daughter and saw in her a greater spirit even than the last Craftlord of Iron.

~o~

"Dang it. The opening ceremony should've started minutes ago," thought Varil.

"She's late again…" he whispered in annoyance but found himself smiling. He shook his head in an attempt to wipe the grin off his face. He browsed the hall and sighed in contempt. There were a considerable number of apprentice craftknights that have never even made a weapon much less wield one in battle but most of them were the losers of last year (but who was he to talk when he was one of them). There was that spaz, Sanary, with that determined little kid, Razzy. Apparently, they too knew which Craftlord everyone was waiting for and they seemed to be coming over. Oh no…

"Hey, Varil did you hear," said Razzy who was jumping up and down in excitement.

"He probably has cause his daddy dearest will be organizing the whole thing," teased Sanary.

Varil knew they were talking about the New Year's fair the Gold Guild was sponsoring. Ore and material suppliers from all over the world would gather in the city of Swords to sell their wares on New Year's night. Craftknights will be given a chance to use materials that cannot be found in the labyrinth. This event will be Wystern's first New Year celebration/party although the real reason behind this was to boost Wystern's declining economy but he doubt that either of these two knew that. New Year's eve was not far behind.

"Hmph…" he said with disdainful smirk.

Sanary scowled at him and said "So where's the apple of your eye?"

Varil glared at her threateningly. She grinned in victory for she knew she had hit a nerve. Varil was just about to retort when Pratty's voice filled the hall. Everyone turned around to face the platform. The opening ceremony was about to begin.

~o~

"So how was it," asked Pratty.

Varil gazed at the water of the fountain thinking of a suitable answer. "You talked way too fast and that made you seem overly nervous. And your words were slurring here and there."

Pratty frowned, "It was that bad?"

"I'm just saying that I would have done better when I'm Craftlord…"

"Oh really?"

"Of course. Your speech wasn't even original. Most of it was taken from the speech last year."

"Yeah, I was raiding Master Sakuro's old workspace the other night and found his old papers. I'm sorry if I couldn't help but use some of his words. I was just so inspired when I first heard them."

"…"

"Varil what's wrong? Did I say something bad?"

"Hmm…it's nothing. You don't need to strain your brain thinking about it. I'm going home."

Varil walked briskly to Middle Wystern leaving Pratty to ponder the meaning of his words.

Pratty was dumbfounded, "What was that all about?"

~o~

Varil was greeted by Nigelle at the door. "Did you have a good night with Master Pratty young Master?"

Varil did not answer but quickly put his spear in his weapon's rack and headed straight for his room.

"Should I prepare the bath Master Varil?"

"No need Nigelle," Varil answered through the door.

He slumped on his bed and stared at the ceiling. Why was he so angry at Pratty when she said that? Was it even Pratty that he was angry at? Perhaps he was angry at Sakuro? Yes, it was Sakuro but why? Was it because he had stolen Pratty's attention from him even when he was so far away? Why does he even care whether he gets Pratty's attention? He doesn't need it. He has no use for it. But then again…

"Argh!" Varil shouted in exasperation.

Nigelle smiled when he heard his young master's cry of frustration. It was a good sign. It meant that Master Varil was finally thinking of someone other than himself.

~o~

Razzy had just came back from the central tower. She opened the door of her room in the Gold Guild.

"Let's begin this Craftlord's meeting with the several complaints of missing Summonite gems," began Master Rondeau.

That's strange. Razzy remembered that she didn't leave the window open.

"Without their Summonite gems these craftknights are unable to summon their summon beast which led to the drastic decline in the quality of their weapons and consequently, the decline in our economy as well," continued Master Ureksa.

"Unable to summon their summon beast…" reflected Pratty with Kutty floating just beside her.

There was a clang at the back of her forge. She grabbed the nearest pair of knuckles she could find and walked carefully to the back.

"It's possible that these well-trained craftknights could have simply misplaced their gems," said Master Rondeau.

She edged closer and a flash of black began dashing uncontrollably across the room whilst scattering mineral ores and turning over furniture. Razzy tried to summon Rygel but couldn't find her summonite gem anywhere.

"But it's more likely that there's a third party involved" said Master Kouren.

Razzy tried to make it to the door but whatever it was creating so much wind that it was pushing her back. She punched aimlessly in the air hoping to at least hit it once.

"You mean someone may be stealing our summonite gems," asked Pratty.

The gusts of wind were getting stronger and Razzy was pinned against the wall.

"No Iron," answered Master Rondeau.

The winds stopped and Razzy dropped down on her knees in exhaustion. She tried to stand up but a sharp pain suddenly filled her legs.

"…Someone IS stealing our summonite gems."

The pain slowly crept through her whole body, paralyzing her until everything went black.

~o~

TO BE CONTINUED…