Chapter 1: Joining Enigmatic Knights
Sion Haywood - Age 18, Occupation Rogue, Job Night Lord
Jasmine Conway - Age 18, Occupation Archer, Job Bow Master
Lance Mikado – Age 17, Occupation Pirate, Job Buccaneer
Isabella "Izzy" Caldwell – Age 16, Occupation Warrior, Job Paladin
It was getting dark as the sun was beginning to set. More and more rays of light disappearing as the sun dropped below the hills. Stars were beginning to take their place in the beautiful night sky. Street lights were beginning to light up way for citizen that were still out walking and chatting happily amongst each other.
"Man I love the Orbis night sky" said a soft in the darkness. Upon a tower of Obris lay a boy with long and somewhat long spiky golden blonde hair, even in darkness it seemed to illuminate around his head. His hands were crossed behind his head and his left leg was bent up with his right leg was crossed over it. Everything was completely quiet.
But nothing lasts forever just as the boy was about to shut his eyes and drift off loud thunderous cracks and pops could be heard in the distance. Out of curiosity the boy turned his head to the source of the sound.
Bright explosions and flashes were seen lightning up the beautiful night sky.
"Fireworks?" The boy questioned to propping himself up on his elbows to get a better view of the display. He shook his head and sighed "Izzy really went overboard with this" he said chuckling to himself.
With that the boy quickly kept into a handstand. From the handstand he quickly flipped to his feet. He brushed the dirt off the black pants he wore. He also took the time to brush off the waist jacket he had on over his yellow t shirt. Right where the waist jacket ended there was a pouch that buckled in the front. He also had smaller pouches of the same kind on both outsides of his thighs.
"Man it feels good not wearing armor and gear." the boy said. With that the boy broke out. Into a mad dash toward the fireworks leaping from rooftop to rooftop. Laughing all the way. As he made his way closer he jumped down to a bridge below. As he stood up straight adults, children and warriors of the maple world alike were making their way towards the big building in front of him as they were passing by. Some acidently bumbing him as them made a dash toward the colisseium.
For what stood in front of him was the Orbis coliseum.
"Man what a party" he said to himself. The coliseum was decorated to cater the events taking place here tonight.
"This is going to be so fu-"
"Hey!"
His ear twiched toward the around trying to find the source of the loud and yet slightly aggressive voice. Though at the same time it was feminine. Gazing left and right he still could not find the voice. Tilt his head in confusion he turned back around and started for the coliseum to head into the foyer. The marble beneath his feet shined brightly reflecting from the dozens of chandeliers above. Looking farther in front he read signs of directions around the place.
"Let's see" he said looking at a huge sign that showed a map of the entire place. He made his way through the crowd to approach the large sign. He noticed a spot that said BAR. Deciding he would make his way there first to hopefully to meet some of his friends. Thinking over his decision he turned to leave.
"Hey!" someone said grabbing on to the edge of his jacket just above his weapon pouch. He turned his head around and came face to face with a raven haired girl, well actually face to forehead since he stood a couple inches taller. About half a foot to be exact. From the same position he stared down at the raven haired pony tailed girl and gave a sheepish smile with the half of his face that was visible to her. Her reaction to this was fierce glare like a tiger that was stalking prey would give. The glare soon molded over into a pout but it stil kep some traces of the glare. The fact that she had piercing blood red eyes had stil made it a little intimadating the more intimidating.
"Hey yourself IsabelAHH" he couldn't even finish as she was now pinching his back side.
"How many times have I told you about doing that" she said glarebegining to reappear in her face as he was now squirming in her grasp.
Smiling again he spoke "But it's such a pretty name-AHH. Ok ok I won't say anymore just let go" he said still smiling
She didn't let go though "Didn't you hear me calling you back there a few minutes ago. She said softening her gaze.
"Guess not" he said scratching the back of his head trying to think back to when he heard the voice call out.
Now letting go of his jacket she crossed her arms. "I saw you turn around"
When he felt her release her grip he decided to turn around to face her completely. "Hey well to-whoa" he cut himself off to look her up and down. Three times.
He let out a low wistle. "Look at you." he said tilting his head to the side.
"What?" completely oblivious to what he was referring to. "Is there something on my face?" asked lifting both hands to touch her face.
"So tell me "Izzy" he said making sure to use the name she preffered as he pondered "What's his name?" he asked jokingly
"Excuse me?" her tone flat.
"The guy you're all dressed up for"
Turns out Izzy was dressed up very nicely just like everyone else. But she had just a bit more flare that made her stand out in the right way. She wore a ruby red dress that had frills where it ended which was right above her knees. Around the middle of her waist was a black ribbon that was tied in the back of her dress in a flashy manner. To complete the outfit she had on pearls around her neck and wrists. The high pony tail she had on also complemented the ensemble. Even with her hair up in a ponytail it still cascaded down her back.
She rolled her eyes and sighed at the comment "I dressed like this because like you, I obviously didn't feel like wearing a metal plate on my chest." She said poking at his own chest for emphasis.
He looked down at her feet a tilted his head questioningly. "No heels?"
Izzy looked down shuffling her feet in her black flats. "They're aren't enough mesos in the world that would get in those things. I'd rather have a balrog chew my foot off."
"Note taken." he stated while laughing at her statement. "Wow your even wearing makeup"
"So?"
"But I thought you hated makeup"
"Well I guess you thought wrong" she crossed her arms and turned away from him slightly. "I wanted to look pretty today ok?" she finished
"Alright whatever you say." He then stopped to look around "Hey is lance with you?"
Her eyes brightened up at the mention of that name. He seemed to pick up on it instantly before she spoke "No I thought he was coming with you"
"Ah well he'll be here sooner or later or the guild leader will get mad. Looking at her outfit one more time he chuckled to himself. His eyes then widened as an idea popped into his head.
Noticing this Izzy raised an eyebrow. "What are you thinking she?" asked.
"Oh nothing" he said turning away proceed toward the bar. Sarcasm was dripping out of his voice. Quick to pick up on his movement she began to walk with him matching his pace.
"No you're going to tell me" said looking up to him pouting.
Glancing back at her he smiled. "Speaking of lance it made wonder what he'll think of you in that outfit."
Izzy widen her eyes at the statement and opened her mouth to retort. She the closed her mouth at and gave a hard gaze to the marble floor as they continued to walk towards the bar. Faint blush was crawling up her neck as she continued on.
The boy began to laugh to himself. "Gotcha" he said softly
"Oh shut up." She said as she punched his arm and then crossed her arms over her chest. "I could care less about what that loser thinks."
Rubbing the now tender spot on his arm playfully he smiled at her. "Really then you wouldn't mind me telling him that when he gets here."
Snapping her head up at the statement she turned to glare at him. "You better not."
He blinked taken aback slightly by the sudden outburst. He then smiled deviously "Gotcha again" he said chuckling to himself.
She covered her mouth muttering a curse under her breath. She then clenched her fist and sighed in frustration. "Y'know can you tell me why we are friends again" she said reverting her gaze back in front of her."
"Because I'm so awesome to be around"
Sighing "Boys" she said simply "what can you do"
"Would you relax, im pretty sure im the only who knows about your little secret anyway" he said wrapping an arm around her playfully.
"Thank God" she muttered.
"You make no effort to tell him though" he finished
"I'll tell him when I want to tell him"
"Good luck with that." Hey, looks like we're here the boy said looking up at the sign. The sign read SAND SEA under that it read for all your dancing drinking and partying needs.
"Sweet sounds fun huh?" Izzy said snapping the boy out of his reading.
"Yea I guess lets oof-"he was cut off as he walked into something hard.
"Ow" he said rubbing his head. "What the" he said looking up from his position he saw Izzy standing in front of the door to the SAND SEA. But what stood between them was a very lean man with a sword on his back that looked like a Devil's Sunrise. He had a little facial hair on his face that was barely noticeable. Across the side of his cheek looked like a scar in the form of an X. He wore all black except for the yellow head band around his head. He looked around mid twenties.
He looked at the man questioningly. His light green eyes looking into the man's brown ones. "Uh can we help you?"
The man smiled slightly. "Yeah you actually can" he said. He lifted his hand and pointed to the throwing knife pouches on both his thighs and the one on his back. "Sorry but I can't let you go in with those" the man said.
"Huh why not"
"Bar rules, they don't want anyone getting killed in there should any fights start".
Nodding his head in understanding he then said "but I can't just leave my things out here to get stolen."
"Hey idiot he'll probably just put it with the rest of our guilds things." She said looking down at nails not bother to look up.
"Huh" he said tilting his head in confusion
"It's why I don't have my weapon me" she said laughing from the facial expression still looking at her nails.
Sighing the man stepped in "look kid just give me your name and your guild name and I'll take care of the rest." He said picking up his clipboard from the ground not far from where he stood.
"OK sure" he smiled
"Alright then" he said picking up a pen. "Your guild name is?"
"Enigmatic Knights."
"OK" he said writing that down. "And your name?" he asked.
"Sion...Sion Haywood" he said.
Walking off the dock she stopped to wipe the dirt off her purple piettra skirt and black tights. Then wiped off the dust off her purple sleeveless shirt and fixed the steel plate that only covered the breast section of her torso. Making sure not to get any dust on her black finger less gloves that went down to the middle of her shoulders. She then made her way into the town off to Orbis without any altercation along the way. While walking through the town she was amazed by the size and structure of each building and how beautiful it was at night.
She walked through town and first decided to make a stop at her house. Her new house in Orbis.
She walked through the city in awe at how big it was. Before long it she found out she was walking in circles through her town looking for the address to her new home.
"Ugh this is hopeless" she whined as she hung her head low. Strands of her dark purple mid back length hair fell in front of her face and the reverse engaw on the hilt of her back shook slightly as she did so.
"Good going Jasmine you should have asked someone in the docks for directions before walking into town blind." She said groaning in frustration.
Before she turned around to go back to the docks to ask for directions she heard a peculiar noise not too far away. She turned around trying to someone making noise but quick to realize that there was no one else around.
"Hello, is someone there" she called out hoping to get an answer somewhere around this street.
Just as she was about to give up she heard the noise again. She also heard where it came from. Looking closer into the darkness her violet eyes came across a bench. On the bench was what looked like a jacket but to the right of the jacket there was what looked like...like a boy? A shirtless boy to be specific.
With the moonlight shining down on him from the bench his short spiky dark blue hair shined faintly. She walked up to him and stood in front of him. Her eyes scanned over him quickly taking notice at how he was kind of muscular for someone so that looked short and scrawny while sitting down.
The wind picked up at that moment and the boy in front of jasmine shivered slightly. Seeing how it didn't seem fit to just leave him in the cold so against her better judgement she decided to try and wake him up.
Thinking over her decision again she bent over slightly and began to reach her hand out to touch the boys shoulder.
"Um hello?" she said wearily
Just as she was about to touch him the boys hand snapped around her wrist in the blink of an eye. His had was wrapped in bandages.
Shocked by the sudden action jasmine cursed under her breath. She tried to break free and reach for her bow but he held a firm grip on her wrist.
Looking back at the boy she found that his eyes were now slowly opening. he groggily started blinking and groaning while looking around to take in his surroundings. His cerulean eyes soon were now staring at her, face expressionless.
After a while she began to shift uncomfortable from his stare.
"Um" she started
"Hi there" he said happily. His entire facial expression and deamenor changed.
"Uh" she said raising an eyebrow.
"What's your name" he said
"Uh Jasmine, Jasmine Conway" she said unsure whether to try and rip his grip away or continue talking to him.
"Oh that's a nice name." He then looked down at the wrist he was holding. "Y'know touching people in their sleep is not a very nice way to get to know them."He said letting go of her wrist.
Jasmine stood up straight and composed herself. "That's not technically what happened. Anyway what are you doing out here at this time of night, without a shirt by the way."
The boy stood up to face her. He was a little shorter than she was, about half a head.
"Y'know I could say the same about you" he paused "We'll except the part with you not having a shirt on." He turned back around to pick up his jacket. He turned back around and began to put on. Looking closer at it she found out that it wasn't a jacket it was a trench coat that draped down stopping right at his ankles. Going up to button the trench coat he only buttoned the middle leaving some of his chest and some of his stomach exposed. He also put the hood the coat had over his head. Then he quickly decided to take it off seeing as it was more fit. The he put his hands in the side pockets.
"You must be new here" he said
"Kind of, how you figure?"
"Lived here most of my life and I've never seen your face around here." He said simply
"Oh" looking closer at him her eyes wandered over to the right side of his chest. She squinted her eyes at what looked like an oddly familiar looking tattoo.
"I've seen that before" she whispered under her breath.
"What?" he looked down to what she was talking about. "Oh this" he said moving his jacket a little to the side and it showed the tattoo fully. It was a renaissance knight's helmet with what looked like two swords crossing behind it.
"Its nothing too special, it just the guild symbol of-"
"The Enigmatic Knights" she said clapping her hands together and jumping up and down excitedly. Squealing in the process
"Yeah uh that" he said head bobbing to keep up with her jumping. "You know them?"
"Know them?" she asked "Who doesn't know them, they are one of the best guilds out there" she said regaining her composure.
"Can't say you're wrong about that" he said scratching his head sheepishly.
"There getting big and noticed all around the maple world. They he have a huge history you know?"
"Really, hadnt noticed" he said "How much do you know about them?
"A lot, a whole lot" She began explaining and piecing every bit of information known about the guild.
1 hour later
The boy finally decided to cut her off. "Wow how do you know so much?" he asked
She stopped and pondered. "My dad was in that guild" Jasmine said voice dropping to a monotone
"Was, as in past tense?" He questioned
Her gaze dropped to the ground "He's dead" she said under her breath
Eyes widening slightly at the statement. "I'm sorry" he said simply
"It's okay" she chuckled a bit "Say?" she said excitedly "Do you know the Blue Dragon?"
Raising an eyebrow "Why do ask?"
"Back when I used to live in Henesy the blue dragon of the Enigmatic Knights talked about a lot. People started saying things about him being one the daring and most destructive member of the guild. But no one actually knew who he was or what he looked like. So I began to think he was a myth. Y'know like a fairytail they just say to kids to make them want to join"
"I see" he said processing everything she had just said "Well he's real alright. And I dont know if that description fits very well"
"Oh, so who is the guilds strongest member?"
"Strongest member? Thats easy its Gio" he stated
"Gio?" he questoned
"But everyone in the guild is strong in their own right. So all in all we're still a reall strong guild member wise"
"Ah" she said understanding his philosophy. "I should try to meet him one day"
He chuckled "Good luck with that. Gio only shows his face around the guild like once every year"
"Oh I see, but that doesnt-" she said nodding her head in understanding. She was about to ask him another question until he cut her short.
"Dammit I'm late!" he said eyes widening in realization as he looked at the full moon in the sky. He began to run both hands through his hair which caused his hood to flial around. "Shit, nice meeting you and all but I gotta run, I promise we will talk again." He was about to run off but jasmine quickly grabbed his forearm. "Hey, didn't you hear me I got to-"
"Yeah I know short stuff, take me with you" she said smiling
"Short stuff?" He asked taken aback by the sudden nickname. "First off your like wht 3 inches taller than me and two I have-"
"No you listen, it's been my dream to join the Enigmatic Knights since my dad died. You just got to help me, for my dad's sake." She said giving puppy dog eyes
"Get you in?" He said raising an eyebrow "Sure that's easy, all you need to do is get tested."
"Tested?" She asked releasing his arm "Kid what are you talking about."
"Before he can let you in the guild leader needs to see you and how strong you are to judge if you're good enough to be in the guild." Eyes widening as he an epiphany. "And I've got an idea!" he said grabbing her wrist and running off her tow.
"What the, hey kid where are you taking me" she yeled as they ran
"Lance!"
"Huh?"
"My name Lance Mikado, nice to meet you" he said
"OK lance where-"
"You said it's your dream to be in this guild right?"
"Uh yea"
"Well I'm about to make it a reality" he said turning his face around slightly to look at her.
"Really?" she said eyes brightening up.
He nodded "It's a promise."