Chapter 2: Just Another typical Day After School
For the few short minutes that the small group were walking together, Raine was busy talking to Lloyd in a stern voice about his lack of proper school etiquette. Lloyd, who had nearly tripped over a rock and came close to dropping the heavy books he was carrying, was trying to mitigate the verbal damage being done to him but to no avail. Genis, who was just a couple of paces behind the two and making sure the wind did not take any of the papers from his stack away, was smirking at the misfortune his best friend had on being lectured by his sister.
It was only when they had reached the front door of a home, the Sage's home to be more precise, did she stop her lecturing and ushered both her young brother and the teen she was just chastising inside. Thankful that he did not have to suffer his teacher's verbal punishment anymore, he walked into the house and put the heavy books onto the table in the dining room.
"Anyway," the professor started in a calm tone as she locked the door behind her, "thank you again for helping me carry my books back home, Lloyd. I really do appreciate it, despite what my chastising might have said otherwise."
"Oh, uh, it was nothing, Professor Sage," Lloyd replied as he hesitated at the sudden change in mood displayed by his teacher. "I-I'm just happy that I could be of help to you."
"Are you sure that's all you're happy about right now, Lloyd?" Genis, who had placed the stack of papers right next to the books, asked in a teasing voice. "From what I heard on the way here, it sounds as though you have more than one reason to be happy right now."
"Oh, shut it, Genis," Lloyd said as he rolled his eyes a bit at his friend's comment. "Anyway, if there isn't anything else that you would like me to do, I'll just go ahead and make my way home now."
"What? Do you really have to?" the young boy asked with a raised eyebrow. "I was just about to ask if you wanted to hang out here for a bit and maybe have dinner with us later?"
"That does sound like a nice idea," Raine commented as she made to put her stuff into the coat closet next to the entrance. "It'll be a good chance for the two of you to study up on The Ancient Kharlan War together. Plus, Genis seems to want to have you over for supper, as he has already indicated. I don't really mind if you choose to stay for a while.
"Thanks professor and Genis," the teen answered. "However, I think that I have to go on home now. I need to put the gald I just received from Dirk away before I get robbed again like I did a couple of years ago when I first started working for him. I don't want that happening again."
"Dirk paid you early this time around?" the professor asked with a puzzled look on her face as her younger brother was rummaging through the kitchen cupboards and taking out various things from them. "That's strange. He doesn't usually do that. He's the type of person who strictly believes on things being done in a timely manner, neither early nor late. Why would he go and…? Oh, now I remember. I saw him come into town earlier this morning and give something to Genis before setting out again. I was wondering why he did that. So I would take it that he's not going to be at his home past the Iselia Forest tonight?"
"Nor is he going to be there for the majority of tomorrow. He said something about taking on a job from a caravan group and having to make their weapons at their camp as per their requests. The letter he sent me said something about someone he knew in the group and making an exception because of that."
"How unusual of him. I suppose he does have his reasons for doing so, however. Anyway, are you sure you don't want to stay for at least a little while? I really do think it would be good if you two studied together."
"Sorry, professor, but I can't. I have to go and do a little shopping at the general store before it closes. I'm going to head on home after that."
"Wait a minute," Genis butted in while he was putting some water into a pot. "I thought you said that you were going to go home and put your money away or something along those lines. What happened to that idea?"
"Well, I got to go shopping for my personal well being before I go and put all of my money away," Lloyd explained to the boy with a sigh. "I don't just go earn my money and keep it somewhere safe for the rest of my life while I outgrow my clothes and starve to death. I'm not that crazy."
"I…didn't think of that," the boy admitted as he put the pot full of water on the kitchen stovetop. "I guess when you have money to burn, you tend to phrase certain things differently. Either way, I guess it makes sense why you're leaving now. I'll see you tomorrow at school then."
"Yeah, I'll see you then, bud," the teen replied as he made his way to the door. "Bye, professor."
"Goodbye, Lloyd," she said as she took a seat on a dining room chair and opened one of the books from the stack. "You be careful walking home now. I expect to see you at school tomorrow."
"I'll be careful."
And with that, he left the Sage's house and had entered the streets of Iselia with his backpack hanging tightly on his back.
"Man, the sun's already a little past halfway down towards the horizon," he speculated as he looked at the beautiful orange sun that was setting towards the ocean coastline near the village. "The store closes when it's three-quarters of the way down. I better hurry up and get there."
Without wasting any time, he made his way to the general store with his money and letter from Dirk in tow. As he was walking down the dirt path, he saw a few of the younger kids from school playing a game of tag, or some kind of variation of it, with each other. Adults passing by watched the children play with a small smile as they saw children having fun in such hard times. Even Lloyd himself smiled a bit at this playful sight.
Once he had reached the center of the village, the general store was just a few paces away. From where he was standing, he saw that it was somewhat busy, as it normally was this at this time of day when the store was about to close and people doing their last minute shopping before it did. Some of the shoppers were standing outside looking at some of the various fresh fruits that was in barrels lining the front walls. The other shoppers were inside viewing the bargains the store was promoting and other products on the store shelves.
Making his way through the small crowd gathered near the doorway, Lloyd entered the general store, not bothering to see what was in the barrels. After all, he did not feel like buying any fruit this time around. Instead, he happened to be craving some simply prepared meat with lettuce between two slices of bread. That's what he had in mind when he came here.
"Hello, Lloyd," the shopkeeper greeted the teen who had just walked into the building as he was serving a customer. "It's a pleasure to see you today. Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Hey, Nirran," Lloyd greeted the man back. "No, I'm alright. I'm just here to pick up a few foodstuffs before I make my way back home. Nothing complicated or anything like that."
"Alright," Nirran replied as he was about to serve another customer. "Just holler if you need anything."
"Got it," the teen answered as he made his way to where he knew the bread and meat were kept. "I don't think I'll need any help, though. If I needed help for just a couple o fsmall things, then something is definitely wrong with me."
Within a couple of minutes, Lloyd made his way back to the shopkeeper with his foodstuffs in hand; a bagged loaf of pre-sliced bread in one hand and a small package of beef strips and half a head of lettuce tightly wrapped in another. He was debating whether or not to buy some tomatoes while he was at it, but he thought against it and figured that he should save the rest of his money for any possible emergency situation. With everything he needed on him, he walked up to Nirran's counter and waited behind an elderly customer.
"I hear that the Oracle is going to be coming around soon," he heard the old woman casually say as she drew some gald out of her purse. "I can't wait for the Journey of Regeneration to start."
"Same here, ma'am," Nirran answered back as he was calculating the total amount of her items. "Sylvarant has already been through enough damage due to Mana depletion to last it a lifetime. I pray that this journey will be a successful one. Seven Chosens have already been blessed with this task since the start of the decline. Seven have fallen trying."
"Well, as you said before, let us pray that this journey be successful," the woman agreed with him as she gave him the amount of money he had just murmured. "Thank you for your wares , Nirran."
"And thank you for your patronage, ma'am. You be careful on your way home now. Now Lloyd, will that be all for you?" he asked as he shifted his attention to the teen who was walking up to the counter.
"Pretty much," Lloyd answered as he placed his groceries on the counter for Nirran to calculate. "I don't really need anything else for now. By the way, I couldn't help but to overhear the conversation you had with the old lady just now. Is it true what you two were talking about?"
"Unfortunately, it is," Nirran sighed as he checked out the groceries and began to calculate their total amount. "Then again, you should know all about it by now. After all, I'm sure you have already learned about or are learning about the Journey of Regeneration in school."
"Uh, I think we're kind of on that topic already," the teen replied in an unsure voice. "Either that or we already covered it while I wasn't paying attention. I'm just not really sure."
"You really got to start paying attention in school, Lloyd. You never know when all that knowledge would come in handy. Then again, I suppose it's not my place to say. Only you have a say in whether or not you want to do well in school. Anyway, all of this totals to 250 gald."
"Alright," Lloyd acknowledged as he dug into his back pocket. That reminds me, he added thoughtfully. I forgot to check how much gald I got from Dirk. How much did he decide to pay me this time around? It really sucks that my entire month's pay depends on how much work he got in that same month. I think I should get a pretty good amount, though. So many people wanted to get new weapons to guard against the increasing number of monsters this past month. I guess if there ever was a profession where more monsters are good, it'll be Dirk's job.
When he pulled out all the gald from his pocket, he quickly counted how much he had received. Figuring that probably a thousand of it was supposed to go for the hammer from Triet, for he knew that it was pretty expensive, he saw that he had fifteen hundred for himself.
Wow, I didn't think we had that good of a business month, he thought as he took out 250 gald from his personal pay. "Here it is," he said out loud as he took the foodstuffs he paid for. "Well, I better get going now. I'll see you later, Nirran."
"Bye, Lloyd, and thanks for your patronage," the shopkeeper answered back as Lloyd exited the shop. "You be careful on your way back home."
Once he was a few paces away from the crowd that had just started to thin up a bit, he took off his backpack, put it on the ground, and placed the groceries into it. After that was done, he undid the shoulder straps and repositioned them so that only one part of each strap was on the side center of his pack. He then pulled on them so that the pack was tightly on his back. Then, he brought the loose ends tightly over his shoulders to prevent sagging, yet only enough to have a little slack, and tied them together. Now, his backpack looked more like a makeshift traveler's bag where travelers would tie it tightly around them in the same fashion so it would not fall off if they were to ever run from something.
"Now I'm ready to go back home," Lloyd said to himself as he made his way to the village front gates. "Hopefully, I didn't forget anything. Ah well, I can always come back for it tomorrow."
About a minute later, he had reached the gates of Iselia. At the gates were a couple of guardsman who stood watch over the gate and a high tower man who kept track of things going on outside of the ground guards' range and warned others of any possible faraway dangers.
"You going home now, Lloyd?" one of the ground guards addressed him as he gave a small wave. "You be careful out there, you here me? Lately, the monsters outside have been getting restless."
"My guess is that they can sense the Oracle coming," the other guard speculated as he kept his eyes outside of the village. "That's probably why they're going nuts. It's just a guess, though."
"Well, that just means that they know fear," Lloyd answered as he walked past the guards. "Thanks for the warning, you guys. I'll keep an extra eye and ear open for any of them. See you guys tomorrow."
"Later kid," the tower guard called out as he gave a wave out to Lloyd, who answered back in the same fashion.
As he made his way back home, which was in the direction of the Iselia Forest, he kept thinking about the things he had heard in town. Chosens of Regeneration, the journey to replenish Mana to Sylvarant, the monsters becoming restless; it was somewhat overwhelming. What was really bothering him though was when he heard Nirran talk to the old lady earlier about seven Chosens given such a task and failing to do so by losing their lives. Now, a new Chosen, who was his good friend, Colette, has been given this divine right for the sake of the planet. It was more than safe to say that Lloyd was quite worried about her wellbeing on this journey. What if something happened to her before she was able to finish the journey? What if the priests who were to guide and support her fell at the mercy of the monsters or worse?
"M-maybe I could persuade some of them into letting me go with her," he thought out loud as he tried to calm his nerves. "After all, I did self-train myself into using two swords for the sake of protecting myself and I can use them to protect her. Heh, as if I even needed to learn how to use them to begin with. Oh well, better to be carrying weapons out in the open rather than none and drawing suspicion from the people here. Living here for a little over ten years really makes it feel like home. I still can't believe I forgot them at home today. Good thing I didn't have such a hard time talking myself out of that one."
By the time he had made it to the entrance of the forest, the sun was starting the be swallowed up by the horizon. Traveling a few feet into the dark woods, he decided to branch off of the path and hide from the view of any possible passersby.
"It's too bad that I didn't get a chance to talk to Colette earlier," he continued talking to himself with a sigh as he started to take off his gloves. "Being the Chosen seems to be a really demanding job. Everybody wants to talk to her before she gets the calling to receive the Oracle. What's with that? It's not like they're never going to see her again or something like that. Then again, I guess people hold others who have been blessed by angels in high regard as the angels themselves. I'll never understand the mindset of these people."
Once he removed his left glove, something shined from what little light that had managed to come through a break in the sea of trees. On the top of his hand was a orb of lustrous beauty both inside and out of the direct sunlight. It was multicolored, being that it kept changing various colors as time passed, which it was doing so right now. It was currently a dull purple as if it were trying to compliment the orange sunset.
"Then again, they'll probably never understand the real me," he whispered as he placed his hand over the wondrous sphere, completely blocking it from view of the sunlight. "I suppose that it's a fair trade in the end."
Suddenly, a near blinding white light completely enveloped the teen and caused the area within a couple of feet from it to be brightly illuminated. If this were to happen outside of the woods, then the Iselian guardsmen would have spotted it and probably would have sent a few men to investigate it.
For a few brief moments, the mysterious light remained and continued to embrace Lloyd in its hypnotic brightness. Then, it slowly started to disappear and the surrounding area began to dim back to its original lighting.
As the brilliant show of lights began to dissapate, the teen that was engulfed by it was now visible, although he seemed completely different from when he was first swallowed up by it.
Instead of the brilliant red shirt that Lloyd was wearing earlier, there was a sort of brown fur-like shirt mixed in with a small hint of gray surrounding him. Actually, it looked more like actual fur covering the entirety of his body, but one could not be too sure due to the lessening but still blinding light. Another difference that became noticeable as the light became even duller was that he was now on all fours instead of standing on his own two legs.
As the last of the light finally dissipated, the last and most revealing change made itself known. Standing in the exact spot where both the teen and the light were now stood an animal of dog-like nature. It had the same bodily structure of a dog, with the fur, legs, head shape, and everything else that they have; although it seemed a bit bigger than average.
The fur was wild in appearance, yet at the same time had a tamed look about it and was between shaggy and short; it was neither a tangled mass nor a short coat where the skin underneath was easily visible. Its tail was long and had fur going in the direction of the point of the tail. It moved slightly side to side as the animal's head faced upwards so its nose was pointed to the sky. It sniffed the air a couple of times and flicked its ears a couple of times as though it were content with what it wanted to know. Then, with a backpack tied tightly to its back, it traveled deeper into the woods where most travelers would not consider going for it was so far from the original path.
Lloyd was no longer a human. He was no longer your average, typical teenage boy as everyone in the village of Iselia thought him to be. With the help of the beautiful and magnificent orb that had made its home on his hand, or paw in this case, he was able to turn into a different creature altogether. He had transformed and was now a wolf.