This is my first maple-story fiction, enjoy
I own nothing except my ideas.
Azure Windward never really stood out. Other than his slightly odd appearance, he was widely ignored. Sadly that applied to his parents too. It was his birthday, his fifth one in fact, the day that he turned the age where every kid, no matter the social standing, was to receive their first weapon.
I practically buzzed with anticipation, my hands shaking as I unwrapped the multicolored paper surrounding the start of my dreams. In my hands was a sword, a rather dull blade but I was five, what did you expect?
I instantly dashed outside, my stark white hair ruffling with the wind. Turn after turn, my excitement only proceeded to intensify. I passed the general store, the armor store, and everything else in town. The buildings seem to fade away as I went, getting fewer and fewer in numbers.
I now stood in a small field in the outskirts of town, ready to try out the sharp edge. Remembering many books I read on sword wielding, I tested the weight of the sword. It surprised me really, how the smallest of movement altered said weight.
My namesake colored eyes sharpened in determination as I tilted the blade away from me, experimentally swinging it in a large arc. I began an intricate dance I often had seen retired swordsman do to keep in shape, each slice tearing through the surrounding atmosphere.
Natural flexibility aided me in this dance, smooth yet sharp. At one point I had been friends with an aspiring thief, but he had to go to the mainland. In the time I had known him, he taught me many things that I didn't even know I would need.
I suddenly froze as an almost electric like chill vibrated up and down my spine, a power untamed and untrained surged in the area. Readying my sword, I prepared to tame the beast that alters the aura of the land. The only problem, it was not a being that a mere blade can touch.
Well, that I know of.
This was not a new occurrence, in fact, it was a regular episode that was almost as common as sleep to me. There is something here, nothing malicious, it almost seems as if its warning me. My eyes sharpened for the second time and I jumped backwards narrowly missing the gooey body slam from a green slime.
Its eyes glinted dangerously as if daring me to move, and it went after me again. I fluidly dodged every strike, every slam, not even giving it an opening for attack. Every charge the energy changed, the sensation twisting and turning as it partied up my spine.
Is this the strange beings doing?
It was almost as if the being was predicting each move, no, it was only guiding my perception to notice more factors. I am the one predicting the events unfolding. How I knew this I have no idea, but I'm sure that I am right.
It was as if a switch had been turned on, I suddenly was able to notice every twitch of the slime, fueling the agility and evasiveness that I strangely displayed. Leaping over the creature, spinning mid air, my sword connecting with it, creating a small slash in its jellylike body.
It is not enough. The creature slowly got up, not even seeming to be fazed by the light blow.
Feet now on the ground, I chained attacks like I had read in books. Using the weight and after force of the first attack, my next swings ended up being more and more powerful. I twirled around my opponent, fully knowing that one hit and I would be dead.
Hoping to unnerve my opponent, my azure eyes narrowed into a deadly glare that could freeze over lava. It did the trick and left me with a slew of openings, ones that I utilized to the fullest. One after another, I slashed the green beast, forest colored slime flying everywhere.
After about a half a minute of that repetitive action, the slime was no more with a pitiful squeak.
In its wake was a small bag. Inside was a tiny bottle filled with an orange fluid and around fifty mesos. The body of the slime was too damaged to salvage, so I cut off the bubbled string like appendage and left to head home.
As I walked into town, I earned many curious and awed looks. Who wouldn't stare when a five year old prances in covered in slime- both himself and his sword- with a slime bubble in hand.
It surely was a sight to see.
I however did not pay heed to the stares, my mind being elsewhere. I thought back to how natural wielding a sword was, how right it felt. I marveled at the things I noticed with my heightened awareness, my dexterity being inherently high with my archer of a father.
I noticed things that no beginner would normally see, especially with absolutely no training and experience to back them up. Every once and a while you would get a beginner who learned martial arts or something. Even then a five year old normally doesn't have the discipline to even stop to see, let alone in a fraction of a second.
Did this have something to do with my abilities? They obviously are not inherited from family as they are part of the reason of my parents abandonment.
Because of said abandonment, I lived alone. That forced me to do odd jobs around town. It being one of the only forms of recognition I get, I probably was a better worker than most adults and I'm five.
I reached the door to my small mushroom house, and stepped in. Immediately I went to wash the goop off, taking care to polish the dull blade of my beginners sword.
Next I went to do what I usually do to pass the time, read. I even had an entire floor dedicated to being a library. OK, so my house is not all that small, but compared to some houses in the area, its tiny.
Grabbing a book about different monsters in the area, I started to study what I should be fighting at my level of experience, and the best way to slay the monster. Given all I found out just with that slime, and all I strangely seem to know, it would be best for me to hunt on stumps. They are a relatively low level and have a slow speed.
If I am faster than the lightning of a slime then a stump should be no problem.
Fatigue slowly started to get the best of me, and I headed up the stairs to my room. Laying down, my eyes shut and I was fast asleep the second my head touched the pillow.
My icy eyes fluttered open with the call of birds in the morning. As soon as they did so they immediately shut, light invading them. It only lasted a second, but a second long enough to earn a hiss from my mouth.
The events of the previous day slowly came back as excitement shot through my whole body. A way for me to stop being the invisible kid presented itself, one I will not ignore. Now I had a way for me to earn the respect I deserve.
But for now, work.
I unhappily left the warm safety of my sheets, thinking of what to do before I leave. Getting up, my back protested as I put last nights read back where it belongs. I got myself changed into a simple pair of white jeans with a black t-shirt, strapped my sword to my waist, and headed out the door.
First things first was to find the potion shop, they always were understaffed, maybe they could use a little help.
Turns out they did, and I spent a good four hours selling potions and restocking shelves. My payment for the work was about five hundred mesos and a couple various potions. I put the latter with the orange potion I had gotten the other day- in my bag- and wandered off to the part of the training fields were the stumps were said to lurk.
My eves wandered up to see the sun in the middle of the sky, indicating that it was around noon. Soon I stumbled on the very place I was looking for.
I readied my sword, electricity once again partying up my spine, and attacked the nearest woodland beast. Following the tips I read last night, I went for its weak spot, its eye.
It did the trick and the stump toppled over with a defeated growl. Compared to the slime I had previously fought, this seemed like child's play.
Oh the irony.
Taking my blade, I split the failed tree in half, revealing a similar bag from before, this time with a blue potion for mana, around seventy mesos, and a strange golden vial with small roots wrapped around it.
I would have to look into that later.
One thing that caught my eye was a large card with detailed information about stumps on it. It had important information like health and drops on it. Seeing this all as very useful, I put everything into the bag strapped around my waist and continued hunting.
The rest of the day went much like this, only with another slime intruding on the time.
I stepped in my orange topped house with a satisfied smirk on my face. During hunting I got a few days worth of work in money, at least fifty of those vials in which I now know to be tree sap, a nice stock of potions that were sure to come in handy, and a whole lot of firewood.
I entered my library, hoping to look into what that card was for, immediately heading to the section about monsters. Every once and a while I would get a scholar ringing my doorbell looking to explore it, my library being only beat by the famous library owned by Grendel himself located in Victoria Island.
If you're wondering what a small child would need for all those books, well I'm not exactly normal, plus I like reading. 'Don't know what to say other than that.
I found the book I was looking for, flipping through it, I scanned the information and committed it to memory. Apparently monsters can drop monster cards that tell detailed information about the species.
My face contorted into a soft smile, pleased to have found what I was looking for. I ventured upstairs and counted the money I had earned in the week, today being Friday.
In total I earned about two thousand mesos, enough to cover the essentials plus one extra thing.
A sigh left my mouth as I was hoping to have enough to get things like armor of some kind that will help me in the future. It wasn't as if what I had was not OK, it just wasn't going to help me much in a fight.
I went back up stairs tired from the long day. Laying down in my bed, the sturdy furniture creaked slightly under my weight. My eyed drifted closed as I let time pull me into a deep slumber.
It never came.
Starring blankly at the ceiling, my eyes wandered to the rest of the room, examining every detail.
I started with the large oak desk under the window, highlighted by the maroon curtains hanging above. In my time living here I used the desk the most. This is where I read, did my studies, it was even where I typically did finances, the only exception being about an hour ago.
A five year old doing finances, hilarious. Please note the sarcasm in my voice.
The next thing I noticed was my dark blue dresser, the thing seemed to hold everything without getting cluttered.
Other then that my room was rather simple and empty. There always was the days mess but other than that its not what you would expect
Eventually in my frustration I had managed to fall asleep, sprawled across the soft slab of comfort that was my bed.
And with that the night grew on, ever fast but slow at the same time.
So, how was that? If anyone has questions or found some problems, don't be afraid to review, it really helps.
Azure could be considered an orphan but he himself doesn't really see him as so.
This story is currently not beta'd so...
This first chapter is short, I'm planning the next to be at least twice that length.
~AzureSkyTower~
Revised/edit 5/7/14
changes made:
-run on sentences were fixed so not to be confusing
-longer paragraphs were broken up for easier reading
-some grammar issues fixed
-added last part describing his room
-added set up for another possible character
Keep in mind that I will be using time skips when needed, this chapter being the 'two days of discovery' for Azure.
I had one review, but this review was a great one, pointing out things I didn't even know was becoming a habit.
The chapter had a lot of problems, people, if I don't know what is wrong how can I fix it? Even it its bad tell me so I know.
Shout-out to NekomimiToree for being that one reviewer.