Ragnarok: Freedom Of The Travelling Heart

By Micky-P

An Action/Adventure/Comedy Fanfiction.

Authors' Notes: Although the beginning is a bit hard to understand due to my attempts at proper bardic language, stay with it, the story shifts into a normal language form, 1/3rd of the way into the first chapter. I started this last year, for a bit of fun, got hooked into it, put it down and then just recently got back to it and wrote the 2nd chapter. I don't know how many chapters it will have in all, but there is a lot I want to explore and for the character's and you to experience.

Disclaimer: This story is set in Ragnarok Online, Ragnarok Online is property of Gravity Corp.

The Characters themselves are original characters, invented by the author; their occupations are from Ragnarok Online.

Chapter One:

Whilst I sat pondering the wonders of Prontera's skies a burly fellow of not inconsiderable size strode into the street, I say he must have been a knight, "pray tell, which of you lords or ladies may do for be such favour that you may be rewarded with an Emperium" his voice bellowed out across the street. The wind sung its merry tune through the street, the lamps flickered but lived on, and the people, their minds on other matters continued to talk or amble down the weary cobblestone street.

With an impatient air, which never the less, contained a hint of desperation he cried, "Hark! Will nobody lift thine head from thou tasks and assist me, even in the face of such a reward!"

Looking up from my lute I considered, the harm in asking what he required so desperately could not be too great, certainly the reward was tempting as my very light moneybag reminded me so.

"Sir Knight, tell me of thine plight that I may assist thee"

"Ah Bard of Lutie, please I need a courier, there are a large number of goods a relative of mine is in desperate need of, but I am unable to get them to him, lest the forces that seek me find him also." He explained with a hushed voice, bending to my ear as much as his full plate would allow.

"What a strange proposition for one such as me, surely a merchant would be a better choice, they have heavy carts with such size that they may carry your goods, I, a Bard travel light" Oh how I tried to keep a scoff down in my belly, was not him to know about the habits of the Bard.

"The Merchants, hah!" Snorted the man with a belly laugh

"They would make it half way to Morroc before selling half these goods I need transported, what I know of you is that of what I give you, you will have no need for"

I sighed "Surely you cannot expect me to carry these goods that long distance with no cart and certainly no bag of considerable size!"

"But Bard you do misunderstand me, I will carry these goods to morroc and meet you there, you then will safeguard them as I lead the forces of darkness that wish harm on me and mine away from that place to the mountains of the north. When my brother arrives I pray you give him these goods, he is in dire need of them"

He whispered his explanation in hushed tones as if the doves frolicking in the fountains pure waters were dark spies full of eyes.

Oh how I could use that Emperium, for its lustre and the power it carried. It is well known that one who comes into the possession of this stone is destined for great things, King Tristan himself will only authorise the formation of guilds to those possessing this rare treasure. I had no need of a guild however, too much hassle for one such as me. But what one may sell an Emperium for! Anywhere from 500,000 to 750,000 zenny! Such money I would not need in my life now but all the same, such creature comforts I could afford! But I did not get to my position by being gullible, surely one must realise that incident with the witherless rose was not representative of my reasoning abilities, but such a story must be reserved for a more appropriate time. Where had this knight obtained the Emperium? Why is he so willing to give it away and trust strangers to guard his goods? Has he no close and trusted allies to whom the goods may be entrusted?

However if his plight was so great, perhaps he had no ally to turn to, life for me right now is bright, the sun shines, but that is me, his life may be but a night obscured by clouds of darkness so dense no moonlight may shine on his face giving him the determination to move on in his quest.

Looking up from my contemplating I could see him anxiously glancing around the bustling crowds, awaiting my response,

"Very well Sir Knight, I see no reason why I shouldn't assist you in this, but I must warn thee, most unfavourable songs will be sung regarding the continence of your nature should this be anything other than a lawful task"

The knight stepped back, fishing a strange amulet from a leather belt pouch,

"have you no faith in the word of a Knight, my what Honor counts for these days! Fare thee well Bard we will meet in Morroc soon I hope!"

And with that he raised the amulet and a blinding blue portal of light opened behind him, waves of energy radiated from it bathing the street in an eerie glow. The knight grinned with what could only be described as triumph as he stepped back into the portal instantly vanishing, the portal now without a source of control snapped shut with a whip crack and the street resumed its normal yellow glow, the people apart from a few people who must have been new to the kingdom, walked on without so much as a second glance.

I figure at this point, I can forget this rubbish with "proper Bardic language", we all know we Bards don't talk like this when not performing and this is sure as hell not a story that will be sung by the many great Bards of our times, so it doesn't matter, regardless.

Now that the focus of my attention was gone I noticed an interesting thing. To say I only just noticed wouldn't be right, more my subconscious had been beating me over the head until it finally registered now. Not everyone was moving on with their business, there were the vendors with their carts of goods and those buying said goods. However, walking back and forth along the street, again and again, were several men trying to be discreet. Believe me they were, to someone who had other matters on their mind, that appointment in 5 minutes, that boyfriend to meet. But I just observed without reason or purpose, and to me, they were all kinds of obvious.

Perhaps that Knight wasn't just paranoid as I had assumed, well we must see about this.

Unseating myself I slung my lute over my back and began to stroll up the street with the crowds allowing myself to be pulled into the ebb and flow of society, moving along under the torch light I lost myself in the moment, another person in the crowd another person swept up in their own importance. When I made it to the central city fountain I sat on its edge and peered around the crowds, more people who's purposes were elsewhere, but certainly not anyone out of place.

"All in my head" I mumbled to myself un-strapping my lute and loading an arrow into the hidden barrel, now when I say an arrow I don't mean a wooden one. I did say I was cheap but for the one whose attention I wanted to get, wood would not cut it…believe me that wasn't intentional.

Regardless this was yet another wind arrow I was launching into the sky, I really have to make a few more of these, but then again on my income, where I would find the materials is another matter, sometimes being a happy go lucky bard does tend to drag you down a bit.

Turning the neck of my lute skywards I aimed at the fireflies cavorting around the summer nights sky, with a strum on my modified lute it was away.

As the arrow soared towards its target, the forces pent up within it were unleashed creating a whirlwind, which of course dragged the fireflies into it creating a vortex shaped glowing shape in the sky. Leaning back, I strummed a few chords and waited.

Not 30 seconds later there was a crackling sound followed by a scream and a splash behind me.

With a chuckle and a groan, I couldn't help but exclaim

"Nicely done Visnock, I can see your wizard licence being issued to you any day now"

"What!….I…You signalled me….right on a….bloody fountain! How am I to bloody….know where….exactly…..to teleport….when all you give me are bloody fireflies as a beacon!" Visnock spluttered, as he waded to the edge of the fountain.

Without turning my head I chuckled, "Well if you would take the time to make those signalling cufflinks I suggested a while back I wouldn't have to waste arrows and you wouldn't have to teleport into the middle of…what was it you ended up in last time"

"Enough already, I'm sick of how utterly careless you are, how am I going to dry my robes now" He grumbled flopping down on the damp marble beside me.

"Oh I don't know, one of those handy dandy wind spells perhaps, you do have one right?" I suggested sitting up and moving away from the cooling mist of the fountain, a few more yards and I was at what was probably a safe range from Visnock.

"Ehhh why are you moving away! What do you think is going to happen if I cast a bit of magic" Honestly I swear he's such a whiner sometimes, just because I want to be safe!

"I dunno about your bit of magic but that last time you magically lit my pipe I had to buy a new hat, and I don't think my goatee will ever grow back the same, and as for last week…"

"Alright, alright be a coward, seriously it's a simple bit of magic, I learned this back when I was reading magic books back in my early high schooling, its easy" He retorted, readying his staff and rising from the marble fountain edge"

"Ok here we go, turbo cohibeo ego!"

His voice rang out with bass tune, causing the windows at the nearby tavern to shudder, glowing runes appeared on the ground in a circle around him swiftly changing their colour as the spell took affect, red, purple, blue, green, white……white….that's not good, it was about then I realised two things: One, he'd screwed up and pumped way too much energy into his spells again and two, I was seriously going to regret not buying that teleport bracelet last week.

As Visnocks deep spell voice rang out the sky darkened as clouds black as night rolled over us, twisting, churning and thrashing across the sky like a storm on the ocean, these eddies in the sky quickly turned into small twisters which circled him, so far the spell while a bit too powerful was right on the money, if he could keep a controlled series of twisters moving over his clothes he could dry and air them without ripping them, but that's just the very bridged theory reduced to something I can understand, what was happening now was a bit different.

The miniature twisters suddenly elongated into spikes and threw themselves, spiralling down from the sky like a hail of arrows tearing their way through anything weak enough to resist them, namely clothing, as they tore downwards they brought with them the dark clouds overhead darkening the area in a thick fog as tornados and lightings thundered around me. I, being a very wise fellow…or in this case rather not, dove behind the Tavern's rum barrels and tried to wait out the storm. The storm began to draw itself into a fierce crescendo and the fog was lit with furious lightning as the over powered spell desperately tried to vent all the excess energy Visnock had pumped into it, there was a boom and a flash of light, which sent me tumbling across the hard cobblestone street,

"My lute!" I cried into the wind as it was whipped from my hands and sent spiralling into the sky.

Moments later, the storm, after finally venting all the energy pent up within it, attained balance with nature, leaving the city in silence.

Sitting up, I took account of my condition, nothing broken, everything sore, bag on back, lute gone to the wind. Yep today is turning out a little more interesting than I had intended, 'what happened to me idly sitting by the street' I groaned getting to my feet. Looking around I took into account the damage.

The buildings were standing, which is good. So far the wizarding guild has allowed Visnock to retain his Mage licence on the condition that his spells cause no damage greater than a minor natural disaster, buildings still standing meant his licence was in no way disputed, which really leaves me to wonder if that is such a good thing. Wood splinters and puddles remain where I took cover behind the rum barrels, which I realised now was perhaps not such a smart place to shelter, the lightning hadn't set the rum on fire which was fortunate for me, but unfortunately for me I would have a hard time having any credibility when explaining what just happened, and over by the fountain stood poor Visnock, he stood tall, in the middle of a dramatic spell casting pose, staff raised, feet planted firmly in a stance of power, and surprisingly underwear still intact, I guess he's lucky to have that much.