###############
AUTHOR'S NOTE
###############
TO ALL: From the bottom of my heart and my characters' hearts as well, thank you very much for the good reviews. Honestly, I was cringing at the edge of my seat while reading and editing this fan fiction.
I am also very grateful for those who commented that my fiction needed a lot of editing because, yeah, it needed revisions in such a way that I almost rewrote the entire story (too melodramatic for my taste as of this moment). I almost cried too when I saw all the horrendous grammatical errors.
Also, please bear with the fact that I originally wrote this fan fiction long before character expansion (paladins, bard, etc.) and third job (archbishop, shadow chaser, etc, and long before I took writing courses in tertiary level. Please bear with the plotline as I had already finished writing the entire fiction and that each significant point in event had been already laid out by my high school self. I just did my best merging my former and present taste in writing the fiction while editing and drafting this.
For my old readers, please bear the changes. You might also want to reread things (and the details that I added), though the course of events are still as they were.
Seeing my fan fiction ten years after its outset is truly amazing and thank you for hanging out with me (along with my ten-year-ago self and my horrendous grammar). Thank you very much and I hope to see you again as my reader if ever I plan to write another Ragnarok fan fiction. AGAIN, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
Disclaimer: I do not own Ragnarok Online. I also made up most of the characters' names so coincidence of having a name similar to theirs is possible. Well, there is an exception for Liatris as I got her name from Macross. I am also changing the rating of this from K+ to T.
###############
PRONUNCIATION OF THE NAMES
###############
Pronunciation of the names:
Scyle – Sayl
Liatris – LA-ya-triz
Qiara – Ki-YA-ra
Hau – Haw
Van – Van
Margareth – MAR-ga-ret
Frieze – Friz
###############
THE ANGEL OF THE MURDERER
###############
###############
Chapter One: The Despicable One
###############
"No!"
The priestess almost shouted as she stood up from her chair. They were having a meeting at a bar.
"I despise him," she added, two arms crossed together.
"Liatris, we need him. He is the best guy for our guild," Van explained. He was totally shocked from what initial reaction of the young priestess. That was the first time he saw Liatris in total disagreement. In fact, all of them were struck by what she said – none of them had ever thought of seeing her in such state.
"Can't you do something, Qiara?" She pleaded to the strict-looking huntress who was enjoying her mug of beer, "you are the guild master. You have the right to decide on this matter."
"I am sorry, Liatris. I already made my decision. Like what Van said, he is the best man for the guild," Qiara said in a firm voice as she wiped her Gakkung with a piece of white cloth.
"You could get another assassin – any assassin" she said, teary-eyed, "except him."
"You heard me, Liatris. My decision is irrevocable," Qiara smiled weakly, "besides, he is really good. The way he uses his katar, I think he is the best assassin I had ever seen. He would be a great asset on our team."
Now that Qiara has already spoken regarding that matter, no member has a right to alter her decision. As for Liatris, she had tried her best, but nothing happened. She knew herself as someone who has a persuasive charm but today, it seems that it was not effective to her guildmates. She just sat down on her chair, mumbling words.
Liatris is the priestess and the youngest member in their guild. She grew up in a sanctuary along with priests and acolytes. She has amethyst eyes and a long black hair. Her parents died when she turned three. Because of that, she was sent to the sanctuary, where she grew up as a young girl, beautiful and witty.
Van serves not only as a front barrier of the team but also as a brother-figure to Liatris. He's a fierce knight with a good heart. He has auburn eyes that match his brown hair. He is a good-looking guy in his late-twenties. Ever since he was a kid, he dreamt to become a knight to protect those who were close to him.
Qiara has brown eyes and a long burgundy hair. She serves as the strict leader of the group. She is a native huntress from Payon Village. Although she is a skillful huntress, she really wanted to become an alchemist but her parents insisted her to take archery lessons and become a huntress, just like his brother.
Hau is a crafty blacksmith of their group. His forte involves forging weapons, haggling items from a shop and selling good items in a reasonable price. He was a bartender before he decided to become Hollgrehen's apprentice and become a blacksmith. A man with deep green eyes and spiky violet hair, he never failed to make Liatris laugh. Also, he never failed to annoy Qiara.
And last but not the least, Frieze, an intelligent wizard. His frail body could not sustain massive physical attacks from an opponent. That's why he chose to become a wizard. His fast casting spells kill hordes of monsters along their journey. He has a set of black eyes and a white long hair, tied in a ponytail style. He secretly admires Liatris.
Together, they went into different adventures and managed to reach the top – to be one of the well-known guilds. They are usually hired by elite members of the society to conduct missions.
While the guild was at the Prontera City, they met Scyle, a very mysterious assassin. The team witnessed how he single-handedly killed a mob of monsters summoned by someone who just wanted to see a commotion at the crowded part of Prontera. Qiara saw everything and decided to invite this mysterious assassin to their team.
"Tell me, what do you know about this Scyle?" Hau asked, as he sipped a small amount of beer. He was curious about the young priestess's reaction towards another male specie.
"Let's get done with this and part ways," the assassin with dark blue hair monotonously said to Liatris as they made their way inside the dark maze of the Pyramids, "we split the reward."
"We kill Osiris," he commanded, "then split the reward."
"How about the others?" She was referring to their company, the other members of their party.
"They urged to split the party into three," he answered, "it's their fault if we finish this quest alone."
"I do not even know as to why we were paired together," Liatris wondered as she fumbled her thumbs together.
"When you saw me, you reacted as if you know me," he replied, "of course, people would assume that we know each other."
Liatris blushed slightly. She joined a random party at Morroc and their plan was to kill Osiris. She knew she would not be able to kill the monster alone. It was her final quest to accomplish before she could get a promotion. To kill Osiris is the final rite before the acolyte is to be ordained as priestess. After working so hard as an acolyte, the elders of the Church have finally decided to give her the permission to accomplish the final rite.
"I do not even know you," Scyle mumbled, "servant of the Church."
"You helped me in Payon Cave before," she recalled.
"I must be out of my mind to help a servant of the Church," he shook his head in disappointment.
"What is with you and my sect?"
"The sect you belong to," he replied, "all of you pretend as if you were full of holiness yet you and the others are the same – the vices, the sins, the psyche."
"It was five years ago," she murmured. The other were unable to hear her. Hau repeated his question, "what do you know about this Scyle?"
"It was nothing," Liatris stuttered, her face flushed because of anger.
"Spill it," Frieze said abruptly. Obviously, he wanted to fish information about the relationship between Liatris and the newcomer.
"He was in a party of mine once – very rude. He was a thief back then and I was an acolyte," she narrated towards the wizard.
"It is not a valid excuse for Qiara to expel him," Van, overhearing the conversation between the two, interrupted calmly.
"Unacceptable reason," Qiara heard their small talk. She added, looking directly to Liatris, "and you have to get along with him, do you get it Liatris?"
Liatris sighed with the feeling of defeat against majority of the guild members. Suddenly the door of the bar swung and a guy with a blue hair that matches his set of cerulean eyes entered the room. His bangs slightly covered his right eye and he is covered with a black cloak. He sat at the corner of the bar – meters away from the group.
"Hey, want to have some beer, Scyle?" Hau offered him quickly.
"No, thanks," the mysterious cerulean-haired man replied. The other members simply watched the newly recruited member as he silently drank from his canister.
"Finish your beer, Hau. Liatris does not have a warp to Byalan," Frieze said, blushing a bit when he mentioned the name Liatris.
"Faster. Remember, in order to reach our destination, we have to ride a boat at the Izlude. Pack your things," Qiara demanded as she stood up from her chair and went out of the bar. Everyone else followed. Hau, coming last, left half of his beer at the counter of the bar and paid for their bills.
###############
While walking at the street of Izlude, a Baphomet Jr. appeared out of nowhere. Only amateur people filled the street so the guild has to take this Bapho Jr. down before it kills many people.
It was about to attack Liatris first but then suddenly, Van ran in front of Liatris and countered the Baphomet Jr.'s attack with his sword.
"Come on, guys! We've got to help Van," Qiara ordered, as she started aiming her arrows at it. Scyle and Hau started to create damages to the Baphomet Jr. while Frieze started casting his Frost Drive.
His Frost Drive almost hit his fellow assassin. Scyle gave him a dagger look and the wizard ignored it. Soon, the Bapho Jr. died.
"Good," the guild master smiled. Van smiled at the accomplishment of their team. Liatris was about to approach Van, passing near Scyle, when suddenly a portal right before where Liatris and Scyle were positioned had appeared, warping them to another place. This surprised the entire guild with Frieze cursing under his breath. The portal was still open and Qiara thought of following the two.
"We have got to follow them!" Qiara said as she tried to enter the portal but too late, it closed right after Liatris and Scyle were transported.
"Shit," Frieze cursed.
"Who opened a warp?" Hau asked as he looked around him. Nobody knew how to open a warp, except for a priest. There was no priest around.
"Come on, we've got to look for them before anything happens to her," Frieze immediately corrected himself, "I mean, them."
###############
"Where are we?" Liatris said as she looked around. She felt an unusual sense of eeriness around her. All she could see are cemented floor and large trees and bushes.
"Why did you open a warp?" Scyle suddenly asked her.
"Are you accusing me? For your information, I did not open a warp," she answered back furiously.
"Think," Scyle raised his voice, leveling his anger with the priestess's, "among us, who has the ability to open warps?"
"I swear, I didn't open any warp," she worriedly reiterated.
"Fine, let us forget about it. Just open a warp and-" he said calmly.
"Fine. Let me get some-" Liatris interrupted him as she searched her bag for some blue gemstones. She froze after several seconds of looking inside her bag, "that is odd. I swear, I put it in here a while ago."
"Damn it," he cursed, "what kind of priestess are you, anyway? You do not even bring gems."
"For your information, I always bring blue gemstones. I might have dropped it somewhere."
"Yeah, a lame excuse," he said coldly, "why can't you admit that you did not bring an essential priestess item like a gemstone."
"What I am saying is true," she worriedly looked around.
###############
TO BE CONTINUED
Constructive criticisms are welcome.
Edited 9/5/2013 – for some elaboration as well as formatting and checking of grammatical errors