Chapter 2: The Dangers of Travelling
"Hey, get up. C'mon already, sleepyhead!" Morwen cried out to the sleeping figure of Belisarius, who was laying on the grassy ground up against a thick tree trunk that had fallen down in ages past. Yet it was to no avail, for the blood red haired teen failed to respond to any of her words, in fact he seemed to be even more relaxed in some sort of deep sleep than before. Morwen sighed out of frustration and began to shake him about. "Sheesh, you're a heavy sleeper alright, that's for damn sure. C'mon kid, we gotta go now, we have to make it to Cait Shelter before the moon rises. Ugh. What a sloth."
"Just leave him behind then, it's not as if he has actually done anything useful aside from scouting ahead with his shadow magic, and use up half of the drinking straw supply just to chew on," Reginald the Knight said in a stern tone as he carried a large wooden crate from the ground over to the mild-sized cart nearby, where yet even more boxes, crates, bags and all manner of objects were located. Iptacens, meanwhile, was busy feeding the odd-looking ox - if it was an ox, apparently the merchant had bought it off some traveller a year ago who said they found it and many more out eastward in the general area of Bosco. At that moment the mercenary knight was not wearing his helmet, revealing his long flowing short black hair and piercing blue eyes.
The grey haired mercenary grumbled and looked back at the Fiore knight. "You don't like Belisarius, do you? Whatever for?"
"He's a wizard, no matter what he says. I simply do not completely trust wizards is all," Reginald responded as he carefully placed the wooden crate down on the cart and walked back over to where Morwen was located, his expression grim and foreboding. He took one more look at the sleeping Belisarius and shook his head. "Besides, he looks too young for something like this. You must have heard of the dangers that are starting to swell around the roads and trails throughout the land - bandits, dark wizards, monsters, all manner of things that plague civilisation. I do not care if he really is a capable wizard, he's too young for something like this."
"Would you say the same thing for most wizards in guilds as well? A lot of them are young and highly capable, like the good ol' folks at Fairy Tail, or even some people in Blue Pegasus. They've been through a whole bunch of difficult jobs and came out practically unscathed," Morwen retorted, crossing her arms as a victorious expression appeared across her face. It looked as if she had already won the argument, for Reginald seemed to not want to continue with the conversation at hand.
Within moments, however, Iptacens Woodstock walked on over towards the two mercenaries and, upon arriving, took one look at Belisarius before sighing. "Wake him up already, we need to get moving. I don't care how tired he is or if he's having some sort of good or bad dream, we need to get to Cait Shelter to deliver our payload for them before getting their textiles. Come on, let's get going already! Wake Belisarius up, now, I don't care how you do it."
Morwen grumbled under her breath as she knelt down beside the blood red haired teen and began to shake him more firmly. "C'mon already, kiddo, get up before I have to put up with a bunch of argumentative twats again - I can't deal with it by myself again."
This seemed to mildly offend the knight due to his tone of voice, although he did not appear to be visually annoyed. "Twats? Us? Hmph."
All Morwen could do was giggle to herself and return to trying to wake Belisarius up; this went on for the next two minutes or so, and meanwhile Reginald simply sharpened his sharp steel longsword with great care as Iptacens strapped the cart onto the back of the ox-looking creature, which proved to be easy due to the ox simply staying still while lazing about, munching long strands of grass slowly. It took a little longer to get any sort of response out of the sleeping young man, but eventually the grey haired mercenary managed it. The teen started to groan and move over onto the right side of his body, his expression becoming pained and his limbs began to twitch.
"Aha! Finally, about damn time you started to show some life, was about to start thumping your head in until you got up," Morwen said with utter relief. However, what occurred next was unexpected and would cause her to become a bit wary of the young man for the rest of the morning.
Belisarius stirred about in his sleep, his pained mumbling starting to get more audible, yet his tone was weak and frail. Piqued with curiosity, Morwen gently shook Belisarius again and leaned in a bit closer to better hear what he was saying, but once the grey haired mercenary could properly hear him she found that much to her surprise it sounded like the young man was saying somebody's name in a pained manner, as if he was remembering a bad memory. "Anwen… Please, no… No… No… NO!"
The blood red haired teen's scream pierced through the mercenary's soul, right before he leapt out of his sleeping position and lunged towards Morwen, his right hand encased in shadow magic, which then turned into a shadow dagger. Morwen was forced onto her back on the ground, her head smacking against a small log as the young man kept her down by holding a hand on her right shoulder whilst sitting upon her stomach. The wispy black blade found its way up against the woman's neck, and would have gone further into her flesh had it not been for Belisarius gaining self-control over himself.
"Belisarius! Wh-What are you trying to pull 'ere?!" Morwen exclaimed in a fit of fury and shock, watching as the teen's right eye went from a crazed look to one filled with remorse and regret.
By this time Reginald had returned with sword in hand and leapt into the fray, positioning his long blade up against the young man's neck, ready to slice his throat if he made any sudden movement that was considered as aggressive. "Just what the hell do you think you're playing at, kid? Come on, speak, or else I will remove your head."
Belisarius said nothing, instead his expression was full of pain as his hands began to twitch once the shadow dagger had disappeared into thin air. However, once the young man had sat down on the ground and breathed in and out heavily for a few moments, realising what he had almost done. "I… I'm not sure what came over me just then. S-Sorry about that, I just… kind of had a bad dream that made me lose some control over my senses - it won't happen again."
Reginald and Morwen looked over at each other with questioning gazes, wondering what to make of the situation; even Iptacens had returned to see what was going on, only to find the mercenary and the knight looking at each other while the shadow wizard was glancing at the ground in a dejected manner. "I heard something odd just before, you three okay?"
"I've been better, that's for damn sure," the grey haired mercenary responded as she got up onto her feet and stretched her arms out. Morwen took one more look at Belisarius, watching him closely with suspicious eyes in case he tried anything else. Fortunately nothing came of that suspicion as the blood red haired teen merely stood up and began to walk away towards the ox and cart, remaining silent as he left the area. Before he walked away to the cart, Morwen noticed the grim yet sad expression upon his face, it made the mercenary feel a little guilty for him.
The unmasked knight brushed his short black hair and sighed heavily. "That kid… I swear, he's going to cause some trouble at some point, mark my words. I do not care if he is a capable wizard, he is simply mentally unstable."
"I'm sure we can deal with it, if we can find a way to deal with it that is, although he's useful for scouting ahead as well as fending off wild animals from attacking the cart. Just leave him be and he'll leave you all alone, I guess," Iptacens said as he turned his gaze from the young man back to his two hired mercs. "We best get moving immediately, I want to be at Cait Shelter before the moon rises tonight. We can have breakfast on the way there as I study the map more closely."
"What about second breakfast?" Morwen asked in a joking manner, the liveliness that was normal for her returning once more to haunt Reginald and Iptacens; Belisarius merely glanced back at the group and, despite the expressionless look on his face, he appeared to be amused.
Suddenly the shadows around Belisarius surged forth and raced towards Morwen, catching her, Reginald and Iptacens off guard. However, when they reached the grey haired mercenary all three realised that there was nothing to be worried about. The shadow took physical form and rose into the air until it was around the mercenary's height, which roughly measured at least five foot seven, and extended a dark hand towards her. The teen was giving Morwen a green apple. She took it warily and examined it closely as the shadow hand withdrew back towards Belisarius, it appeared as if she was unsure as to take a bite or not. But eventually take a bite she did. Morwen munched down carefully and took a small bite, eventually she chewed it and swallowed.
"Mmmm… not bad, for an apple anyway," the grey haired mercenary said as she took one more look at it before munching down on the round, green fruit. She glanced over at the young man, who was scoffing down five apples at once, and gave him a small smile. Although the mercenary tried to be silent with her thoughts towards Belisarius munching down several apples and now unpeeled oranges all at once, but she was unable to keep her thoughts to herself. "Okay… that's kinda weird, and disturbing as well."
Belisarius raised an eyebrow in the grey haired mercenary's general direction as he continued to eat some apples and oranges, although he did not seem to care all too much about her thoughts on the matter of munching down more than just a small bunch of fruit. After a short moment the blood red haired teen stared sternly at Morwen and tilted his head quizzically. "What is it? Something the matter?"
"Uh… You're eating the oranges whole, and you're being kinda greedy with all the food there. Don't eat everything, otherwise we're gonna get hungry," Morwen said as she continued to watch the young man chow down the last of the apples, much to the horror of Iptacens the Merchant - his reaction, however, merely made the grey haired mercenary giggle in amusement while the knight did not seem to care much at all.
"Belisarius! Stop eating all of the fruit, we need them for when we resume our journey on the road to Cait Shelter, so don't eat everything before then!" Iptacens exclaimed as he marched over towards the shadow wizard, who stared blankly at him before nodding. The merchant sighed in exhaustion and rubbed his temples vigorously. "Well this has made quite a damp on a supposedly good start to a trading mission. Ugh. Well, no sense in keeping ourselves here, unless anyone has something to do quickly of course. Anyone? No? Well then, let us start moving towards Cait Shelter and plot out our course along the way."
The group of hired mercs nodded and followed Iptacens, who was on top of his cart, and headed off down the weather-beaten track towards Cait Shelter, the sunlight beating down on their backs. A light breeze blew through the fields and trees around the group, birds flew overhead while chirping in a song-like way, the sky was filled with small clouds and a bright sun. It was a good day by all account.
Time wore on, yet the group was no closer to Cait Shelter than they were some hours ago. Iptacens was sitting down on a small bench seat that had been built into the front of the cart, there he was gazing sternly at a crudely drawn map of Fiore with sketched out roads, town locations, forests, off-track paths, rivers, lakes, ponds and border regions, guilds were also drawn onto the map by hand as well. Whether the map had been drawn by the merchant himself or by somebody else, Belisarius could not tell, although it mattered little to him either way, he just wanted to see all the locations that were directly on the trade route. That was what the young man liked to do - sightseeing as he travelled from town to town, city to city, always on the move to look for a good paying job. Over the years he had begun to have respect for mother nature, which only increased his wanderlust as he journeyed across parts of Fiore.
As the blood red haired teen admired the silent and, in his own silent opinion, beautiful landscape that surrounded the travelling group, Morwen approached the him warily and gained his attention after some audible coughing, although the grey haired mercenary guessed correctly that the young man knew she was approaching him before even trying to get his attention. Belisarius looked over at Morwen and stared expressionlessly. "Hmm? Is there something you need?" the young man asked as he turned around to face the mercenary.
There were many questions that Morwen wanted to ask him, but most if not nearly all might just have been a bit too personal, so instead she decided to start with some small talk and ask something else. "Soooooooo… what's that symbol on your upper left arm, the one with the 'P' and the cross in the centre?"
"Oh, that? Not completely sure, if I must be honest," was the initial response that Belisarius gave as he looked over at his upper left arm, where the foreign white symbol was clear to see. "The story I was given was that I had the same symbol sewn into the cloth I was wrapped in when I was a baby. Never really bothered asking much about it, they never seen it before and so couldn't answer anything about it."
"Is that why you wander about all over the place, to find something regarding the symbol?" Morwen asked with her curiosity growing more than before.
Belisarius shrugged and looked back in front of him as they continued to walk down the beaten track before them. "Not really, I never really cared about it, too busy trying to find a living by being a freelancer and work as a wizard mercenary for whoever can pay me. It has been… not a complete success. Turns out guilds have a monopoly over nearly all contracts, and people prefer their skills over freelancers like myself. Bigots."
"Then why not just join a guild, like a wizard or mercenary guild? It's pretty fun you know, and I'm speaking from experience here as well," Morwen said with a wide and friendly smile, her wariness of the young man starting to wear away as they talked to each other in a friendly manner. "Hey, if this mission goes well, and if you're pretty good at the job, would you consider joining the mercenary guild Reginald and I are part of? Working as a professional mercenary can bring in a lot of good money, so you would be swimming in Jewels for months before needing more."
Belisarius grimaced and shook his head, seemingly not liking the idea of joining up with Morwen and Reginald's mercenary guild. "Uh yeah, thanks but no thanks, I am not a fan of guilds, never have been for a few years now."
The grey haired woman was rather surprised with the response, although she correctly judged some time ago that the young man was not a fan of guilds of any kind, although she had no idea why that was the case and she knew it would be difficult to get a straight answer out of him if asked about it. Nevertheless, she decided to ask about it in a way that was hopefully not too intrusive. "So what's your problem with guilds anyway? Did some mercenary guild, wizard guild or a dark guild do somethin' to piss you off?"
"You can say that," was all the blood red haired teen would say before he sighed and stared down at the ground, his eyes filled with deep pools of sadness from some old, pained memory that he obviously did not want to talk let alone think about. However, the young man still had something to say. "Listen, I do appreciate what you're suggesting to me, but I simply don't like guilds for deeply personal reasons, and I just can't bring myself to join any as a result. Besides, even if I did have thoughts on joining your mercenary guild I doubt your knight friend ahead of us would appreciate it."
"Huh? Reginald? He's still giving you a hard time just 'cause you're a wizard?" the grey haired mercenary asked while nudging Belisarius' right arm, although it looked as if he did not seem to like it in the slightest, yet he made no effort to stop her aside from a stern gaze with a narrowed eye. His expression was enough of a response for Morwen. "Meh, I wouldn't take Reginald's grumpiness too seriously you know, he just doesn't trust any magic users all too much, especially wizards who he considers to be too suspicious for his liking. He has a bad history with wizards."
Belisarius looked over at Reginald, who was walking ahead of them, and raised an eyebrow. "A bad history with wizards? Huh, is that so? Actually, that kind of makes some sense, he always looks at me with disgust."
"Don't think of it too much, it's just trusting issues. He doesn't hate everyone who uses magic, just those who are full-on wizards, whether they come from a guild or not," Morwen further explained as she brushed off a fly that she swatted on her right shoulder while talking earlier. "Just prove yourself to him by keeping this caravan intact for the trip and he'll lighten up. Actually, you should go up and have a chat with him, he isn't as bad as he seems to be you know."
"Highly unlikely," Belisarius muttered as he looked around him once again, admiring the scenery around him once again as the chirping birds returned to fill the air with their song-like voices while a light breeze blew through the nearby trees that surrounded the areas by the weather-worn track.
The conversation between the blood red haired man and the grey haired mercenary soon died away, leaving only silence between them and the entire small caravan itself, although Morwen merely kept herself amused by juggling three knives around, never hurting herself in the process due to a skill at the juggling at hand. Belisarius did not seem to care about it too much, although he did silently admit to himself that it was pretty interesting to see someone able to juggle three sharp and dangerous actions around without a single care in the world - at least judging from Morwen expression anyway, it just looked completely natural to her, like a wizard can use magic.
After a while some time had passed, roughly around an hour or two at best, and the young man had to swap his drinking straw for another one due to over-chewing it. He grabbed the over-chewed drinking straw, dried it with with his coat and placed it in a pocket until he would come across a bin whenever they entered a settlement in the very near future. Whenever that would be was unknown, for Cait Shelter was still some time away according to Iptacens, although he did admit that it had been a while since he had used this track, for the merchant had preferred to use a road that had just recently suffered from some sort of raiding issues as well as some natural disasters that may or may not have been caused by magic. This, as a result, caused the group to venture down the old, barely used track. This only made matters more concerning.
Belisarius glanced around him, noticing that the area was now almost completely filled with trees that surrounded the track, and the local area and the land as far as the eye could see. The blood red haired teen stared suspiciously around him, keeping an eye out for anything that may or may not be a threat. For several minutes nothing seemed to happen, although this did little to ease the young man's wariness of the area they were in. It looked as if even Reginald appeared to be in a highly alert state due to his gaze darting from tree to tree, a steel gauntlet was kept close to a mighty mace with several spikes outlying the top and sides - it was not a weapon to be messed with, especially if it was being wielded by a knight like Reginald.
The knight seemed to feel the cold stare of Belisarius and looked back to gaze at him with piercing eyes. "What is it, kid? You want something, or are you just blind?"
"I know this isn't any of my business, and I probably shouldn't be asking you this, but why do you hate wizards? Must have pretty strong opinions on them if you can simply hate me at first sight," the teen asked with a monotone voice, which was probably not the best way to ask a serious question as the young man soon came to realise moments later. However, Morwen's words about trying to talk to Reginald had stuck in his mind, so he was prepared to give it a try.
The tall armoured man stopped dead in his tracks and turned around to face Belisarius, who halted close by. "Why must you ask such a personal question like that, and in that sort of tone as well? It's as if you don't care enough to even know the answer let alone even wanting to ask in the first place. Just leave me be, I'm busy keeping watch for any dangers."
"You aren't the only one, Reginald, I'm also keeping watch for possible threats. Oh, and you aren't the only one who has some sort of hatred towards a certain group of people, just remember that," Belisarius responded with a cold tone and piercing eyes, then he walked on ahead, followed by Iptacens on his ox-driven cart and finally Morwen, who appeared to be trying to stay out of the argument as best she could.
The tall knight raised an eyebrow and watched as the group moved forward, slowly leaving him behind as they continued on their way towards Cait Shelter. As they moved further onward, the knight sighed and spoke up. "I… lost my platoon to dark wizards a few years back. We were unprepared and caught off guard during the night. Their magic just tore through my soldiers, ripping them to shreds and slaughtering them all, and I barely survived myself. Now do you see why I have a… distaste towards magic users?"
The young man sighed deeply and looked back at Reginald, his once expressionless face now had a look of sadness in his eyes and lower face. "Yeah, I understand how you feel, I truly do. I've been through some horrific things in my life."
"You have? But you look like you're only around sixteen or so," was Reginald's surprised remark in response to the young man's words. It was true though, Belisarius appeared to be around sixteen, maybe even younger from the look of it.
Belisarius raised an eyebrow with mixed curiosity. "Hmm, yes, I suppose I do look like a sixteen year old. It's hard to remember by age to be perfectly honest, but I reckon I must be around that age."
"How the hell can you not remember your own age? Rarely can anyone forget their own age, so how can you, huh?" the mercenary knight asked with a shocked tone, unable to comprehend how anyone, even a teenager, could forget their own age.
A shrug was all the blood red haired teen could do before speaking a moment later. "Meh, is doesn't matter to me all that much, I just put up with whenever I forget. Focus on the mission, not on yourself - that's what my mentor once told me."
"Mhmm, I see. Well then, this explains a bit about yourself, yet leaves many more questions unanswered, although it does also help me figure out some theories as well." The mercenary knight nodded to himself before scratching his chin thoughtfully, apparently having a couple of thoughts that he would rather keep to himself that concerned the young man before him. However, the glaring look that Reginald got from Belisarius made the knight say something to ease the situation slightly. "It's nothing really, don't be worried. I do a lot of thinking you know."
"Uh huh, whatever you say," Belisarius mumbled, his gaze directed towards the tall knight, a hand swiping a passing leaf that floated too close to him. "Look, I'll stay out of your way if you stay out of mine. Deal?"
"Deal," Reginald agreed, nodding courtely before resuming to guard the caravan cart from the rear, leaving Belisarius to cover the right flank and Morwen the left flank, the front would be defended by either flank given the situation at hand, all three wary of any possible dangers that could be ahead.
It felt like it had been many, many hours since they all woke up and now the guarded caravan entered another part of the forest, this time the land to Belisarius' right rose upward into a rocky canyon that engulfed much of the area the track was heading through while a chasm to the left could be seen with a large river flowing down it towards the east. It was difficult to tell if there was any supposed threats laying about to be discovered or not, but Belisarius trusted in the skills that he learned at a very young age and believed that his knowledge would help guide the cart to safety. However, despite knowing that his skills were top notch the teen was still wary of anything, he was guessing that there was more than just simply birds and other animals nearby in the more shrouded area of the forest and canyon.
As the seconds turned into minutes, Belisarius began to have a strange feeling that formed throughout his mind, warning him of something - his natural defensive instincts kicked in. "I've got a bad feeling about this, it just feels like we're walking into a trap, this would be a prime location, especially to my right from the high ground. We could get cornered around here and pushed into the canyon below where the river stream is, and I doubt many of us would survive such a disaster like that."
"The kid is right, sir, we are vulnerable here if a determined enemy should come across us at any point sooner or later," Reginald said in agreement, finding it both difficult to spot a flaw in the blood red haired teen's tactical knowledge as well as even agreeing with him in the first place.
"And who in their right mind would want to attack us out here in the first place, hmm?" Iptacens asked as he turned his head around to gaze between Belisarius and Reginald. The merchant found it unlikely that there was not any danger lurking about to show itself any time in the future, no matter how close or distant it was. True, Iptacens silently acknowledged that they were indeed in a dangerous position if anybody wanted to attack for whatever reason, but he was firm in his knowledge that there were no threats along the chosen path, his sources back from his merchant guild in one of the western cities of Fiore had assured him of this.
"Well bandits for one thing, perhaps wild animals, or maybe even dark wizards. Who knows what might be out here," Belisarius responded as he took another glance at his surroundings one more time, taking into account everything he could see. Despite being an avid traveller the young man had not ventured around the north and north-east regions of the kingdom all that much.
Morwen, however, was less concerned about what Belisarius and Reginald were fearing, instead she appeared to be rather jubilant. "Aw c'mon already, relax and just take in the beautiful atmosphere already."
"That's easy for you to say, you're a carefree person, too carefree to be a professional mercenary," Reginald retorted in a serious tone, which only made the grey haired woman chuckle in amusement. The knight swiftly stared grimly at her with narrowed eyes. "I'm being serious here, Morwen. We are in dangerous territory, so we have to be on the lookout for anything suspicious."
The grey haired mercenary grumbled distastefully and pouted in Reginald's general direction. "Ugh. You're a party pooper, you know that? Sheesh, don't even know why I bothered to ask you to come alone."
"Urgh, stop arguing already and just get back to walking to Cait Shelter, your petty fighting is just going to cause attention if there is anybody nearby, not to mention that it's getting on my nerves," the blood red haired teen grumbled to the group in a cold tone, although he knew that it was not a welcoming addition to the ever growing conversation, or argument, or whatever it was supposed to be right at that moment.
Naturally, Reginald did not take it all too well and glared sternly at Belisarius, on the other hand Morwen seemed to be more amused rather than annoyed much like the knight was. As the mercenary knight muttered something quietly to himself, most likely cursing under his breath, Morwen simply looked back at Belisarius and stuck up her right thumb. "Heh, you better keep your snark remarks to yourself next time, otherwise Regie here will try to beat you up. Other than that, you're pretty gutsy."
Belisarius raised an eyebrow for a moment, then seemed to accept what the grey haired mercenary as he walked up to her with an expressionless face. "Well it isn't the first time someone has called me gutsy, truth be told I've been called that by a lot of people I once knew. Anyway, let's just get moving again, from the looks of thing I doubt Iptacens is liking all this waiting around just to chatter."
"Fair point there," Morwen mumbled as she brushed aside the hair that fluttered about her forehead. "C'mon then, we've still got some way to walk."
Thus the group continued on their way, although tensions still gripped them nonetheless, mainly due to the childlike bickering between Morwen and Reginald, who hated being called 'Regie', as well as the usual mistrust between the rogue-like blood red haired teen and the mercenary knight. Overall, nothing much was happening that was out of the ordinary within the group, not to mention that there was not much going on around them. That was the case until Belisarius caught sight of something, or rather someone, up ahead along the dirt track the group was travelling on.
"Hold up, there's somebody up ahead on the track, and I can't tell if they're friendly or not," Belisarius informed the group as he returned from scouting the area, his head emerging from a large pool of shadow that he created to help speed himself along with scouting missions, plus it helped him camouflage in the darkness made by shadows.
"What do they look like? Did you manage to see that at least?" Morwen asked in a serious manner while Reginald grabbed hold of his mace and the large, oval shaped steel shield out of the cart, ready for combat in case something were to go haywire.
"Didn't get much of a good look, although I did notice that he was hooded and cloaked, so it could be anyone ranging from a wandering wizard to a bandit to even a prophetic oracle." After Belisarius answered Morwen's questions he received dubious looks from all the other members of the group, no doubt finding the idea of prophetic oracles to be a bit too unbelievable to contemplate. In response, the teen simply stared at them with his cold gaze. "What? I've seen a few things in my travels that fall under that category you know, don't be so dismissive of it."
A groan came from the merchant's direction as he shook his head and rubbed his temples. "Look, whatever, just figure out if the person up ahead is a troublemaker or not. I don't want anything to happen to this cart or the goods in it. Go back there and keep an eye out for this person while we move forward. Got it?"
The young man nodded and emerged back into his shadow magic, then he proceeded to move across the ground and straight onto the rocky canyon surface to his right, moving swiftly down the dirt track to spy on the newcomer and see what happens when the caravan cart starts to come into the stranger's view, although Belisarius hoped to know whether the hooded person was a bandit or not before the cart drew closer to the area under suspicion. If this was indeed some sort of trap then it was a most unusual ploy, one that Belisarius did not have any experience within the slightest.
After a couple of minutes speeding across the landscape in his Shadow Form, the blood red haired teen caught sight of the hooded man just up ahead along the dirt road, his back was to Belisarius and his eyes were set upon the part of the forest that stretched down into the chasm below. He was motionless, acting more like a rock or a statue than anything else. Belisarius kept his distance and observed the person nearby, waiting for any signs of hostility, or for anything really, although it was just too difficult to tell what the hooded stranger was up to. After a short while Belisarius guessed that it must be a man, judging from the figure at least, and he looked to be waiting for something, or someone.
However, the blood red haired teen was not left to his thoughts for too long, for the hooded and cloaked man up ahead along the track suddenly turned around and stared directly at Belisarius, who was still merely a pool of dark magical shadow hanging around a dark rocky formation where the shadows created by nearby trees were looming over. The strange, bright green eyed man simply stared in the blood red haired teen's general direction and smiled in an odd manner, as if he somehow knew that Belisarius was there. Then the man spoke. "It's okay, you can come out of the shadows, I know you're there, in fact I reckon that you have been spying on me for a little while now."
The young man merely continued to stare at the hooded and cloaked man, unsure as to what should happen next. After several minutes of silence the hooded man spoke again, this time his voice more louder and stern than before. "I know you heard me the first time, some come on out before I go and haul you out. Don't worry, I merely want to have a short talk with you."
Hmph. Might as well see what this guy wants to walk about, although it's probably why I've been spying on him. The young man thought to himself as he began to emerge out of Shadow Form and into the light of day, finally coming face-to-face with the hooded man before him. Belisarius stared directly into the hooded man's eyes with a stern, cold gaze, signifying his suspicion. "What do you want, and why are you out here?"
"I believe it should be me who is asking that very question, not you," the hooded man responded in a firm tone that was borderline harsh, indicating to Belisarius that there was perhaps something off with this man, most likely there was something going on that Belisarius was not yet aware of. "Now then, I'll repeat myself. What are you doing out here spying on me?"
"Spying is not what I would call it, instead I would call it watching. As for why, well I only did it because you happen to be in my way is all," Belisarius said in response, his tone of voice becoming more colder than before. The young man had no intention of telling this stranger anything about the caravan and the route they were taking to make it to Cait Shelter without trying to gain any trouble along the way, and he planned to keep it that way, unless Iptacens found the hooded man proved to be a useful ally.
It was around this moment where the blood red haired teen managed to get a good look at the suspicious man standing before him. It looked as if the stranger came from some sort of wizard guild, at least judging by the way he was dressed. He wore a light grey cloak with black lining and a several layered robed vest and tunic with long sleeves and a heavy artistic touch around the brim of the outfit; next the teen saw brown pants and a pair of black boots. There was something on the back of his cloak, but Belisarius had not paid too much attention to it before, but now he wanted to know what it was.
The hooded man raised an eyebrow and let out a light chuckle after giving the teen's words some thought. "Is that so? Well then, where are you heading for? I have been travelling this area for quite some time, so I could show you the way to your destination, if you would like that."
Belisarius shook his head firmly. "No, I wouldn't want that, I know where I'm heading."
"Really? Well what about your travelling companions up ahead? Do they know where they are heading?" the bright green eyed man asked, the left corner of his mouth turning into a smirk as he spoke.
The ever growing grin on the man's face and his knowledge about the small trade caravan nearby deeply disturbed Belisarius, who was now beginning to secretly be highly concerned about what fate was going to befall the caravan he had been protecting. However, the increasing concern for his comrades-in-arms had started to show when his tone suddenly became more aggressive and his gaze became chilling. "How the hell do you know about them?" he asked in a threatening manner while the shadow around him began to swirl about along the ground.
The hooded man broke out into a full-on malevolent chuckle as a wide grin finally appeared across his lower face. "You honestly did not come realise that you would be tracked into this lovely territory by people who occupy it? Well have I got news for you: welcome to Galician Fang territory, and you will all pay the price for your intrusion into our land, for I am the Master of the Galician Fangs. This'll be really fun. Get this shadow wizard lads, but keep him alive, we need him and all his pesky little friends once we gain the artifact!"
Just as the head of the Galician Fangs finished speaking a thundering, earth crunching noise from beneath his feet on all sides, suddenly a group of four wizards burst out of the ground and jumped into the air, shards of hard rock and splatters of dirt flew all over the place, initially blinding the blood red haired teen for a few seconds. Upon looking up after rubbing his eyes swiftly Belisarius saw the four wizards fall down towards him, their expressions filled with glee; all were hungry for a chance to do battle. As the wizards raced downwards the blood red haired teen noticed that there were magical runes on the backs of the four wizards, and he recognised the magic they were using once he had leaped out of the wizards' path.
Earth Magic, they're using Diver Earth Magic, just like that fat pervert in Shirotsume Town come to think of it. Ugh, I'll never forget that job. Belisarius thought as he lept around the area several more times, evading the diver users as best he could, which proved difficult even with his swift agility. After a quick look around while moving speedily about he noticed that the master of the Galician Fangs was nowhere to be seen, which only left Belisarius panicking. The teen jumped over the head of one wizard as his magic dug him deep into the ground for another surprise attack, then all of a sudden two more diver wizards burst from the ground and slammed into Belisarius with their heads and clenched fists, striking the young man's chest with extreme force.
"Gah!" Belisarius involuntarily cried out as he skidded across the rocky ground, ending only when he collided with the canyon wall, which gave him a painful headache that did little to ease his ever growing anger towards his attackers. The teen looked up from his position and spat at his four overly eager opponents. "Tch. I'll get you all for this, I swear it."
"Tough talk, kid, but you can honestly do better than that," the group leader, a tall man with a bulky physique and rough black beard who was wearing an unbuttoned black vest, sandy brown pants, black boots and two steel bands, one of each around each arm. "Come on, let's get him, he ain't so tough."
The four earth magic casting wizards raced forward towards the young man, who was only now starting to get back up onto his feet with the intent of fighting back as ferociously as possible. Two of the enemy wizards used their diver ability and drilled their way into the earth while the others, the group leader included, raced towards the teen, their palms glowing with magical power related to Earth Magic. "Mud Shot!" the two attackers exclaimed as large, long projectiles made of hardened mud appeared around their outstretched palms and shot straight towards Belisarius.
The young man saw the incoming attack and swiftly merged into Shadow Form, evading the attacks while racing around his opponents as a shadow, which greatly annoyed the Galician Fang wizards as it made it much more difficult to hit him, even the diver casters had some difficulty as well. The enemy blasted attack after attack as they followed the teen's shadow, but failed to get much of a direct hit. That was until they got lucky when one Galician Fang wizard dived out of the rocky canyon face and slammed a rock encased fist into the moving shadow as it came rushing by, smashing into the young man and sending him flying out of his Shadow Form straight back to the ground.
Belisarius skidded across the ground roughly, his coat getting torn in several places before he came to a grinding halt up against a small boulder. The teen coughed and spat out a small splatter of blood as he attempted to get back onto his feet, but was soon set upon by his opponents. It was then that he heard the sounds of yelling, magical explosions and the clashing of weapons somewhere back down the dirt road. The caravan. The caravan is under attack! Should've known something like this would have happened long before all this crap started.
The young man swerved to the left in order to avoid more incoming magical projectiles before launching an attack of his own. He drew magical energy into the palm of his left hand and blasted it at the oncoming Galician Fang wizard, his expression filled with rage as the shadow encased blast flew straight into his foe. "Dark Shadow Blast!"
The attack hit the oncoming wizard directly in the chest, sending him flying across the ground in pain. Suddenly two more attacking wizards burst out of the ground with their diver magic and lept straight at the blood red haired teen, who was more than ready for them this time. Belisarius drew his right leg back and waited for the perfect time to unleash his attack, then the moment came. "Shadow Talon!"
The two Galician Fang wizards were struck across the heads with the teen's shadow magic attack, causing them to crash to the ground with a loud thud as dirt flew up from where they landed. Belisarius breathed in and out deeply for air as he wiped the sweat off his forehead, his gaze darting from the groaning bodies on the ground to the general area around him - the group leader was missing. As he regained his breath a sudden burst of pain exploded around the flesh on his back, causing the young man to grit his teeth and growl. Damn it, damn this all to hell! Not now, not now.
This sudden lapse of defence was enough for the group leader, who burst out of the ground beneath Belisarius, a victorious grin plastered across his face as he locked eyes with the young man. "Ha! I have you now. Stone Wave!"
The magical seal around the outstretched palm of the man's right hand flickered to life as a shockwave of hard and deadly stone burst forth from the seal and blasted into Belisarius, smashing him under the chin and around the chest as he attempted to jump out of the way. The teen cried out in pain as he skidded across the ground once again, but it did not last long. Upon getting back onto his feet his assailant was aided by one of the wizards the young man had defeated just a few minutes ago, and both were ready for the end game. Belisarius glared viciously at the two of them as his hands began to twitch by his sides, the small pools of blood that was splattered across the ground began to bubble and immense magical energy flowed through them.
"You two ready for this? I know I sure am. Demonic Spears!" Belisarius shouted with a tone filled with fury. The blood solidified into long, thin spears that were made entirely of blood and burst straight at the oncoming attackers, who were shocked with what they saw, and for good reason. This was not something they had expected, in fact all they believed Belisarius could do was use shadow magic.
The magical blood spears shot at the two Galician Fang wizards, who used their earth magic to destroy whatever came their way, but in the end it was to no great success. One wizard shot a burst of earth magic into several blood spears, destroying them completely, but a few found their mark and pierced through the wizard, rooting her to the spot, alive but in a great amount of pain.
The group leader fared somewhat better than his comrade, although not even he made it out unscathed, for several of the demonic blood spears has slashed his arms and legs, one even pierced through his left arm before disappearing, leaving a bloody mess behind. "Grrraaah! Tch. I'll get you for that, brat. I don't know what sort of magic you're using, but it won't save you from what's coming. Earth Shaker!"
The Galician Fang wizard slammed his hands down onto the ground, his magical attack shook the ground as if an earthquake had just hit them. Suddenly cracks appeared all over the ground as the earth trembled, then spirals of hard, spiked stone shot out of the freshly made fissures in a upwards spiral. Belisarius darted back, forth and side to side in order to avoid them, which he managed to do, although the back and sleeves of his coat were slashed by them. The blood red haired teen growled as he continuously jumped from spiral to spiral, until he finally was atop the largest one. With his eye set upon the last of the four Galician Fang wizards the young man crouched upon the crumbling stone construct, channeling his magic for one final blow.
After a short moment Belisarius struck. He lept off his position on the stone construct just before it collapsed back into the earth, then his body was covered in a shadowy black mist as two wispy shadow daggers appeared separately in both hands. "Shadow Strike!"
The teen collided with the Galician Fang wizard within seconds, striking him all over his body from his arms, to his legs, to his head, to his back and finally slashed him back and forth before swiftly sending the wizard flying across the ground due to a rough roundhouse kick across the head. The bulky man crashed into the rocky canyon cliff face and grunted in pain, unable to get back up onto his feet to continue the fight, just like his other three comrades. "N-No, we cannot… fail... " the bulky wizard muttered before passing out from his wounds and exhaustion, leaving Belisarius as the clear victor.
However, the fight was still far from over, for the young man could hear the sounds of weapons clashing, magic exploding and yelling off down the track where the caravan was supposed to be located. After a pained mumble, and a back rub in order to relax and relieve the pain around that area, the young man gritted his teeth and quickly made his way back towards the caravan, hoping that he was not too late to save his comrades-in-arms from the clutches of the Galician Fangs. Yet he was still completely puzzled as to what this guild of wizards was after, not to mention that Belisarius had no idea if they were a legal guild or a dark guild, though judging from what had happened the young man was already believing the Galician Fangs to be a dark guild.
Damn dark wizards, just what in Marwolaeth's name are they after? Actually, I should stop all this Marwolaeth crap, I put all that behind me. The blood red haired teen thought to himself as he raced back down the track, the sounds of battle getting closer and closer the more he neared the caravan. With a gnarled expression he raced forward with dogged determination. I won't let more people that I recently just got to know die on me. Never again!
A/N: Hey there readers, sure has been quite a long time, at least it feels like it anyway. Can't rightly remember how long I've been inactive with updating this story, for for any of my other fanfics as well. I will try to get back into the swing of things, but I cannot make any promises as I have been less than enthusiastic with writing anything as of late, although I still do some writing every now and then whenever I have some sort of idea, and I do want to stick to this for the foreseeable future as I do have a lot of long term plans for future chapters, arcs, and character development. As a result, I cannot give an estimate when the next chapter will come out, but I will get to work on it whenever I can - hopefully very soon. If you want to help this story grow then please do give feedback and so forth, it'll help me out. Until then, have a good day if possible.