Chapter 2: Where It All Started
They felt a tickling sensation at the back of their spine. After a moment, Cedric, Hirei and Penelope materialized on a lone island at an unknown area. The journey beyond the door felt numb. Cedric opened his eyes slowly, finding a bridge in front of them leading to a huge building. The building was magnificent, painted in bold vermillion with roofs that reflected the sun rays.
'Wow, that's the Novice Training Grounds?' said Cedric as he shielded his eyes from the bight sunlight.
'It must be! C'mon!' said Hirei from behind him. He then started running towards the building.
'Wait a second Hirei!' Penelope called. But he was already running across the bridge far ahead.
'That Rei,' Cedric shook his head. 'Come on Penelope, let's go!'
Both of them followed behind Hirei and reached in front of the entrance. It was a tall mahogany door with silver handles. It was opened ajar as Hirei had already entered the building. Cedric and Penelope entered and were welcomed with a surprise.
'This is awesome!' said Cedric in awe. The entrance hall looked like a lobby from a five star hotel. The walls seem like they were gleaming and the floor was sparkling. Scattered across the hall were several young people just like Cedric and his friends.
'I didn't expect all this!' said Penelope. 'This is so grand!'
Far ahead, they could see a figure waving at them. 'Hey! Get over here!' called Hirei.
Cedric and Penelope walked across the hall and joined Hirei. 'You guys are slow,' teased Hirei.
'That's because you ran off without us!' Cedric frowned as he nudged Hirei lightly.
'Alright, alright, sorry 'kay?' said Hirei. 'Anyway, this guy here said that he is gonna be the guide for our training here.'
Their attention turned to the big man behind Hirei. He had messy black hair and quite a small head for his large body. He had a tough guy look; his muscles were augmented by his crossed arms. 'Welcome to the Novice Training Grounds, where you guys are going to go through training to be a qualified Novice,' he said with his husky voice. He seemed like he was trying very hard to sound interested. 'The name's Leonard. And I'm your guide for your training. There will be tasks for you to do and I am the one who keeps track of all the things you do here. Get it?' He then handed them each a file with forms for them to fill up. 'Fill up the details and I'll get you started, alright?'
Cedric looked down at the form and saw all the usual details along with a column for "representative's-use". Name, date of birth, gender… Wait, there's a space for profession and weapon of choice too. Well, that's not surprising. Three of them filled up the details in minutes.
'Done?' Leonard collected the files from each of them.
'Don't you need to check our certificate from the pre-Novice academy?' asked Cedric as he started to rummage through his bag for a particular paper.
'Nah, I don't need to. The Kafra rep on your side had informed us already. Either way, it wouldn't make much difference,' Leonard said, his small eyes started scanning through the details on the files. 'So… Cedric, Hirei and Penelope eh? Alright, follow me and we'll start your training.'
They followed Leonard through the wide corridor and were amazed by the grand Training Grounds. There were many doors on either sides of the hallway, all which are sealed tightly. They even walked pass a large staircase, telling them that the Training Grounds was much larger.
'This is quite straight-forward isn't it?' whispered Penelope.
'Well, the faster the better,' Cedric whispered back.
After a short walk, they reached in front of a room labelled "Lecture Room IV". 'Wait a sec, why are we getting "lectured"?' said Hirei.
'Well, aren't you here to learn?' said Leonard. 'It starts with theory, so just stick with it. Get in and start your lesson. And enjoy.' He ended with a rather evil smirk.
Hirei is clearly not happy about it.
'This is taking so long! We should be done by now!' said Hirei throwing a twig into the fire. The light illuminated the area greatly as it was a moonless night.
'Hirei, we have to start from basics,' said Penelope patiently.
'I wanna shoot an arrow already! All they gave us was long speeches and lame quizzes, we know those already! Not only that, we had to-' he continued to complain as Cedric was starring at the glimmering sky with his brother's gift in his hand.
'Bro… Just you wait, we will be back soon…'
'-with fake wooden dummies! Oh don't you get pissed off Ced? … Ced?'
Hirei and Penelope were looking at Cedric as he was starring at the sky. 'Err, you were saying?' said Cedric.
'Bah, forget about it…' grumbled Hirei poking a stick into the flames.
'Hirei, you have to be more patient,' said Penelope. 'I'm sure they made us do this for a reason. We will get to do some practical work tomorrow. We did use wooden sticks today after all. And they are made us cook our own dinner tonight too.'
'What does cooking our own dinner have to do with anything?' Hirei retorted. 'I say that they are just saving their cash and time on food!'
'It means that they want us to try and make our own food through "traveller" means,' Penelope explained. 'We aren't guaranteed fresh food everywhere we're going. Making fire is the only way to cook raw food. We're getting there soon.'
'Hopefully,' Hirei broke the stick in his hand with irritation.
'ARGH!' Hirei cursed angrily when the hot end of the stick burnt his hand. He threw the stick hardly on the floor. 'They forgot to supply us with first aid kits!'
'You don't find first aid kits everywhere either. Anyway, let's get back inside, it's getting late,' said Penelope, changing the topic as Hirei's face changed too.
'Back for more, huh?' said Leonard when they came to find him the next morning.
'Obviously, we're not going till we get to learn some real stuff,' snapped Hirei.
Leonard snorted. 'Hah! With your attitude, I thought you'd be gone by the fourth lecture!' he collected their files and started to tick stuff off the list. 'Now let's see what you got. Ah, more learning. What'dya think?'
Hirei gave him a hostile glare with his arms crossed. He looked like a Poring that was about to burst. 'Hah! I'm just joking!' laughed Leonard. 'Come on, it's the Fabre Forest next. Follow me.'
'Y-you serious?' Hirei asked, pleasantly surprised. Leonard replied with a nod. 'YEAH!'
Once again, they walked down the never ending corridors and reached a hall. There was a big door very similar to the one at the main entrance.
'Here we are,' said Leonard. 'This will be your next task. Through the door is the Fabre Forest. As the name implies, it is a forest which is filled with Fabres. As you know, Fabres are basic worm-like monsters. Your job is to find your way out of the forest while passing through all the Fabres. Each of you will get a knife-' Leonard gave the trio a knife each. '-as your weapons. I'm sure I don't have to explain to you how to use it. So you guys can get going now!'
'Let's get going then!' Cedric said as they went through the large doors. They found themselves in the outdoors. Tall pine trees could be seen everywhere and there was no specific path to follow. Fabres could be seen wandering about the ground, doing what worms do.
Suddenly, a squishy sound was heard. Cedric and Penelope turned around, only to see Hirei holding his knife with some slimy substance on it and a foot on…
'You squished the Fabre?'
Hirei grinned at them and said. 'That's the way it goes. Come on! Let's find the exit and squish more Fabres on the way!'
Cedric, Hirei and Penelope were walking through the forest, killing more of the poor Fabres as they find their way out. Hirei was stabbing the Fabres with delight as Cedric and Penelope were enjoying the stroll.
After awhile of walking and killing, they started to get tired. 'Where is the exit?' said Cedric as he slashed his twenty third Fabre.
'This isn't meant to be an easy task,' said Penelope, collecting the fluffs dropped by the Fabre. The monster's drops were worth money among the merchants.
Hirei once again was growing impatient. 'This is boring!'
Cedric cleaned the slime off his knife and said. 'I thought this was what you were waiting for.'
'But all we get to kill are all these… bugs!' said Hirei. 'And I was expecting more! Can't something interesting happen?'
'AAAAAHH!'
'What was that?' said Hirei, turning to the direction of the scream.
'That is your interesting thing happening,' said Penelope with a sarcastic tone.
'Let's go check it out,' Cedric said.
Cedric, Hirei and Penelope followed to direction of the sound. The sound was very loud and it felt like it was echoing around. It made it hard to decide which direction the voice was coming from. They came to a glade and saw a young girl with brown hair plaited in two on the ground with a Fabre closing up to her.
'Ah! Get away from me!' she waved her knife at the little Fabre. She was so timid that she could not even bear to kill the little critter. Hirei raised his knife and skilfully threw it at the Fabre. It hit the Fabre and it wiggled around, slime oozing out. The girl winced as the Fabre stopped moving and finally died.
Hirei retrieved his knife and asked the girl. 'You alright?'
'EEYAH! Who are you?' she pointed her knife at Hirei and continued to scream. 'Don't come near me! Don't hurt me!'
She was crying so loudly that the ground started to shake. It was very stunning and Hirei took a step away from her. 'Calm down! We mean no harm!'
'Get away from me!'
It was not an earthquake; it was something even more extraordinary. It felt very weird; stones around the girl were vibrating and the trees seem like they shaking. There was a very eerie aura going on that made a strange tingle at Cedric's spines. Suddenly, the stones were floating around her in the air.
'What the heck?' said Cedric. The stones flung themselves towards the trio and Cedric raised his hands in front of him to shield him from the stones.
'Leave me alone!'
The trees were shaking and acorns fell on them. 'Please listen, we aren't going to harm you,' said Penelope as she slowly approached the girl. Carefully, she placed a hand gently on the girl's back.
The girl pushed Penelope's hand off and started to scream again. 'Don't touch me!' She was certainly frightened by the looks of it. Larger rocks were floating now and started to attack them.
'We just want to help you,' said Penelope once again. 'Please calm down and listen to us.'
The girl stopped crying. One by one, the stones started to drop back onto the ground. She looked at Penelope with her tear-filled ocean green eyes. Penelope wiped off her tears gently and said. 'There you go. See? We aren't going to harm you. Everything is alright.'
'And then you can tell us what just happened,' said Hirei dusting off the leaves on his white hair.
'Hirei…' frowned Penelope and she glared at him. She then turned back to the girl. 'My name is Penelope. The boy there is Cedric and the other is Hirei.'
'Um… I'm Aalaiyah, nice to meet you,' she said.
'You sound familiar…' said Penelope, looking at Aalaiyah. 'You look quite familiar too.'
Aalaiyah simply gave a little smile. 'Maybe you know me from somewhere. Oh and I'm very sorry about just now… I was a little afraid then. I couldn't control myself…'
'What was that anyway?' asked Cedric, walking towards them.
'Um, it was my nothing!' Aalaiyah blurted out as she stood up. 'Just a little of my powers going out of control… Really, it's nothing to worry about! Um… are you guys by any chance trying to find your way out?'
'Yeah, we've been in here for quite awhile already. Have you found the exit?' asked Cedric.
'Well, before that Fabre crept up my leg, I thought I saw a door down-'
'Where, where, there?' Hirei blurted quickly as he started looking around for the door.
'Um, over there,' pointed Aalaiyah to an opening. 'But there's a-'
But Hirei was running towards the opening before Aalaiyah finished.
'Wait up Rei!' said Cedric chasing after Hirei. Penelope and Aalaiyah followed behind him. Aalaiyah had a worried face on her.
'What the…'
Cedric heard Hirei and quickly catch up to him. His feet felt something on the floor. It was a knife, Hirei'sknife. He started to tremble as he raised his head and saw Hirei facing a huge and vicious Mandragora. Hirei was entangled tightly around his ankles and arms by the plant monster's vines. 'Ced, get away from here…' said Hirei struggling to free himself. 'I'm fine. Go on, quick!'
Penelope and Aalaiyah who just arrived gasped in fear. 'Hirei!' cried Penelope. Aalaiyah started screaming, sending stones towards the Mandragora. However, the vines on Hirei tightened it's just tightened its grip.
'Just leave!' said Hirei.
'How am I supposed to leave you here alone? I wouldn't be Cedric Spencer if I did that!' Cedric ran to the front with his knife and started to hack through the vines. He then cut off the vines on Hirei. More vines appeared and creep up Cedric's leg.
'Get… off… me!' Cedric slashed off the vines and continued to rescue Hirei. Penelope helped too, as she tried to fight her way towards the plant. She thrust her knife into the Mandragora and it made an unpleasant sound.
'I hit it!' said Penelope. But she then saw a vine appeared and it whipped her hard. Penelope fall to her knees, the Mandragora was still alive.
'It's too strong!' said Cedric, still getting out of the vines. 'This is one big Herbology problem!'
'Step… aside…'
The group turned around and saw Aalaiyah with glowing eyes. A faint aura could be felt around her. She was lifting a huge boulder with her telekinesis power. She used all her strength and send the boulder towards the Mandragora. Hirei and Cedric ducked as Penelope moved out of the way. It landed right on the Mandragora and squished it. The Mandragora made screeching sounds. Its vines loosen and it died.
'You did it Aalaiyah! You killed the Mandragora!' cheered Penelope.
'You're amazing!' said Hirei as he and Cedric free themselves from the vines.
Aalaiyah breathlessly said. 'I… I did it… I did it! I… I can't believe it!' She dropped to the floor. 'I did it…'
'You saved us there!' said Cedric as Penelope helped Aalaiyah up. 'Thank you very much.'
'It's… nothing, really,' smiled Aalaiyah.
'What was that anyway?' Penelope asked kindly. 'You lifted the large boulder without even carrying it!'
Aalaiyah bit her lips. She seems to be hiding something before. 'Er… I don't know how to say this…' she started. 'It's actually my telekinesis power… I had these powers since birth when I was a baby. I don't really have control over it, not yet at least… That's why the pebbles attacked all of you before…'
The trio's mouths were slightly opened. They then snapped out when Penelope spoke. 'Wow… That must be quite some power!'
'Yeah, it must be awesome!' Hirei added.
Aalaiyah smiled rather nervously, not knowing what to say.
'Anyway, let's get in already!'
'And curse them for that Mandragora!'
'Hirei!'
They got back into the building and they saw Leonard sitting comfortably on a sofa. 'Ah, I've been waiting. You guys take long,' he said.
'We would have been done if it wasn't because of that Mandragora!' said Hirei. 'What's that Mandragora doing in a Fabre Forest?'
'It's a challenge,' said Leonard. 'To give you a taste of the real thing. Things aren't what you expect it to be because we say so. Unexpected things always happen in the real world. So be prepared and expect the unexpected.'
'Ah, Miss Wingstaff! You're back too!' said Leonard turning to Aalaiyah, speaking very politely to her 'I see you followed them. I was getting worried that you might not make it.'
'Why are you treating her so differently from us? You're playing favourites!' said Hirei.
'Miss Wingstaff is a much different case from you,' said Leonard, turning back to Aalaiyah. 'Your father will get me if you didn't make it back safely. I was afraid you can't get pass the Mandragora. This is really unexpected!'
'Well, expect the unexpected, Aalaiyah was the one who rid the Mandragora,' said Cedric.
'Miss Wingstaff! Is that true? Your parents will be proud!'
'Um, thank you Mister Mare, I'm just lucky to meet them,' said Aalaiyah. 'And it's alright, you can call me Aalaiyah.'
'Oh yes, Miss Aalaiyah,' said Leonard. 'How very humble of you.'
Aalaiyah just smiled. He then took out their files and said. 'Now, back to business, you've completed the Fabre Forest task,' He updated their files and started to smile. 'Well, you can start cheering, you guys have just completed your training!'
'Yeah!' cheered Hirei.
'We did it!'
Leonard smiled at them and said. 'Well, it's nice to see that you guys made it. I'll have to get you your qualification letters or else none of the guilds will take you in. Meanwhile, plan of what profession you're choosing.'
'We've planned that much earlier,' said Hirei. 'I'm gonna be an Archer, Cedric's gonna be a Swordsman and Penelope's an Acolyte. Aalaiyah is… err…'
'Oh yeah, which job are you choosing, Aalaiyah?' asked Cedric. 'An Acolyte will fit you I think, seeing that you're so nice and supportive and all.'
'Um, I'm going to become a Mage,' said Aalaiyah.
'Why?' said Hirei. 'You don't look like one. You seem more like an Acolyte.'
'Hey! Miss Aalaiyah has the Wizard blood in her you know,' said Leonard. 'She has to accept her fate as one.'
Aalaiyah just nodded slowly in reply.
Cedric turned to Leonard and asked. 'How long do we have to wait? I really wanna return to Prontera soon.'
'Well, it might take a while,' said Leonard. 'But I'm sure it'll be done when we get there. Come on, let's get moving.' They started to walk down the same corridors again.
'It must be tough, Aalaiyah,' said Penelope while they were walking.
'Ah, why?'
'You see like you have no choice but to be a Mage,' she explained
'Well, I came from a line of Wizards. I have to accept my fate as one,' said Aalaiyah. 'But it's not like I hate it, I like it a lot actually. And I didn't think much about this job choosing thing, so I didn't really mind much.'
'Where should we go after this?' said Cedric.
'I dunno, we can get me to Payon to become an Archer,' said Hirei.
'Hey, you're being selfish! Payon's a long journey. I wanna get to the Swordsman Guild to be a swordsman too,' said Cedric. 'I'm sure Penelope wants to head to the Prontera Church to be an Acolyte.'
'Why don't we discuss about this after we get to Prontera?' said Penelope. 'We won't get to anywhere like this.'
Cedric and Hirei looked at each other then decided to skip the topic. Cedric then said. 'So when we get back to Prontera, we're gonna officially form our party! Then we'll get all those people we want to join us. I like a variety of talents and jobs.'
'The problem is who is going to join our party?' said Hirei. 'There are a ton of parties out there, we can't guarantee that people would wanna join us.'
'It will work out by itself I'm sure,' said Cedric confidently. 'Slowly but surely.'
'We should start raising some funds for our journey,' said Penelope. 'I can sell all our loot to Uncle David, he'll buy them, even if just for a little zeny, it'll help.'
'And I can ask oka-san to give me some zeny,' said Hirei. 'I'm sure she'll give me some.'
'And mother will spare me some zeny,' said Penelope.
'And bro will help us too!' said Cedric happily.
'Whoa, you guys must've chatted a lot,' said Leonard out of the sudden. The group had just only noticed that they had arrived in front of a door. 'Let's get in now, shall we?'
The room was labelled "The End". '"The End"? What does that mean?' asked a cautious Hirei.
'Well, you won't know if you enter right?' said Leonard. 'I'll follow behind.'
They entered cautiously, wondering what was inside. The room was pitched black and it was so quiet that they could hear Aalaiyah's deep breaths. Penelope slowly stroked her back to calm her down.
Suddenly, there was a flash of light and an aged man with a crown and royal costume stood in front of them.
'Congratulations, young adventurers,' the man said with a steady voice. 'You have went through the official Novice Training Test and succeeded in it.'
'K-King Tristan the Third?' said Hirei stammering. Immediately, he got onto his knee and bowed his head lowly. Cedric merely looked at the King with respect.
'Ced! Get on your knee!' whispered Hirei as he tugged Cedric to the floor.
Leonard snorted. 'It's just a hologram,'
'I… Wait a sec, it's a what?' said Hirei.
'A hologram, silly,' he said laughing.
'I… Well, hologram or not, you still gotta show some respect!' said Hirei defensively.
'Suit yourself,' said Leonard.
'I am very proud of each of you,' the hologram of King Tristan the Third continued. 'And I wish that you will continue to improve your skills and hopefully, be the one to recover the Rune Migard Kingdom from the dreaded demons.
'You have gained my permission and authorization to journey as a qualified Novice and to join any guild you wish. Do continue to progress yourself to be a better warrior. Good luck in your journey.'
The hologram then disappeared, leaving behind four shiny insignias behind. It was the official Novice insignia.
'Wow! We're Novices now!' said Hirei standing up and picking up one of the four insignias. He proudly wore it on his chest.
Cedric, Penelope and Aalaiyah then took one each, too. Cedric gaze happily at the insignia as it flashed brightly even in the dark.
'Congrats!' said Leonard. 'You've become an official Novice. Oh well, I guess it's time that you guys have to leave… Ah, I enjoyed teasing you guys.'
'Very funny…' said Hirei sarcastically.
'Anyways, if you guys are ready, I will send you guys back to Prontera,' said Leonard. 'Oh, Miss Aalaiyah, I have received orders from your father to send you straight back to Geffen. Someone will be waiting for your return and bring you back to-'
'I'm following Cedric, Hirei and Penelope to Prontera,' said Aalaiyah. 'Please…'
Leonard gasped and the rest looked equally surprised. 'B-But Miss Aalaiyah! Your father-'
'I'm sure father wouldn't mind,' said Aalaiyah. 'He's my father after all… Please, sir, help me apologize to my father, and tell him that I will return to Geffen.'
'Aalaiyah…' stammered Penelope. 'Are… are you sure?'
'I've made my decision, Penelope,' said Aalaiyah smiling. 'I've heard your discussions, I want to help you.'
'Thank you Aalaiyah,' said Cedric.
Aalaiyah smiled and Leonard started to worry. 'Err, okay… Then, um… Prontera… Yes…' he walked to the centre of the room and snapped a little stone. The dust fell onto the floor and he placed a hand on the floor, mumbling softly. Weird symbols appeared out of the floor in a circle, white lights flashing out of the place Leonard had his palm on. Then, a portal appeared.
'This is it…' said Leonard, standing out of the way. 'This portal will bring you to Prontera. It was nice knowing you guys…'
'Nice knowing you too, Leonard,' said Hirei. He took a step forward. 'Leaving now?'
Cedric turned to Penelope and Aalaiyah. Both of them nodded. 'Sure,' he said. He then shook Leonard's hand. 'Hope we'll meet again.'
'Sure,' said Leonard. 'We'll definitely meet again. See ya guys!'
Four of them stood around the circle. They looked at each other and Cedric said. 'On the count of three. One, two-'
'Wait a sec! Our-' said Hirei out of the sudden.
'-Three!'
What Hirei wanted to say, they do not know. They had already entered the portal together and left the Novice Training Grounds.
Author's Notes:
It's SugarGaL again! I posted the second chapter although the response was cold... If you're reading this, please do leave a rewiew! I appreciate it! The story might be slow at the moment, but I promise it'll get much more interesting further in the story.
