A few hours passed within the Brewers Guild. Elsword was at a loss for words at how friendly everyone was. He met High-ranking aristocrats even Royal servants on their day off. At this point he wouldn't have been surprised if the King himself strolled in and downed a pint.
Having left after what felt like hours the Young Prince and Knight walked the streets. "Hey Els? How aren't you drunk? Im Sure you downed at-least 20pints "
The young knight scratched the back of his head. "It's a little magic trick my father taught me" his eyes glowed a light Azure blue and he rolled up his sleeve, revealing a small squiggly black marking. "I drew this just after my 3rd. It's pretty bad but it works" Chung was fascinated he grabbed onto the Knight's arm and stared down at the marking. "I've never seen a Rune like this... What are it's specific effects?"
"It breaks down the Alcohol and any poisons that would enter my bloodstream so it can't effect me.. Though with it being drawn like this it wasn't as effective as it could be" The Prince grinned and pulled out a small notebook, jotting down notes "can anyone use it?" Elsword nodded.
"It draws out the mana passively, you see this ring here?" He pointed to one of the two rings encircling the Rune. "These specific markings are what draws in the mana" Chung nodded wrote a couple more things down and closed his books with a slam. "You didn't seem like a mage, how come you know so much?" Elsword looked away embarrassed. "My Father hammered it into me so the few runes I know I could go bit by bit and explain what each little thing does." Chung nodded and grinned slightly. "I'll tell Penesio you know a little about Runes then" Elsword shrugged. "So where too now?" The two men were walking down a quiet street barely populated with people. Guards stood at either end like all other roads in their blue and white armour. Chung patted his hand on the knight's shoulder. "To see a friend of mine"
They walked for what felt like an hour before stopping affront a small bookstore.
Chung tried to push open the door however Elsword got there first and opened it for him. "You first your Majesty" a slight grin twitched the top of the Knight's mouth and Chung sighed. "Thank you But I can open doors on my own" Elsword shrugged and followed on behind The Prince. The inside of the store was littered with bookshelves each wall was covered in them and tables stood within the room also piled with books.
"Aisha you there?" Chung called out, a crash was heard in the back and a few books fell from the shelves. The young knight looked to his Prince who retuned an awkward grin. "You alright back there?" A couple more ruffling noises was hear and a muffled voice "...sorry .. I- Chung could you help..?" Chung signed and motioned Elsword for the door to which he complied, opening it and walking through to find a pile of books everywhere and a short, lavender haired girl possibly a year or two younger than himself. "Hey, are you alright miss?" She looked up at the young knight, her hair covered her right eye and her left looked straight at the Knight. He held out his hand and she great fully took it. "Thank you..".
"No problem" he replied as Chung walked through the door. He smiled
"Another large shipment?" He asked, she smiled and looked away guiltily. The room was covered in books, you couldn't even see the floor never,ind half of the girl. "I couldn't resist... It was a rare collection of Grimoires". The Prince sighed and began collecting a few to cradle in his arms. "Could you lend me a hand Els?"
Elsword didn't bother to rely and began collecting books. Eventually he stumbled upon one specific book. 'The Sheath of Conwell'
A single pulse erupted within him, his vision went hazy and his body began to stumble. The two bookworms noticed pretty quickly. "Hey Els are you alright?"
The young knight pressed the palm of his hand over his face and tried to regain his balance. But failed to do so and began to crash to the floor "Woah!" Chung quickly caught him as he began to fall and Aisha looked at the source, the book.
Her expression was unreadable. Her hand before her chin thinking about why this happened. "Hey.. Has he been drinking?" She quickly grabbed the book before Chung ever noticed it was there. "Yes, we visited the Brewers guild and he drunk at-least twenty pints" the young girl's eyes went wide with surprise, she looked back and forth between the Prince and his knight. "He drunk around twenty pints and yet that's the state he's in!? A normal man would be staggering about helpless hitting on any chicken bone he could find! How is does he even have some sense of cognition?" Chung shrugged and pulled up the young man's sleeve revealing the rune his knight showed him meanly minutes before.
"Because of this"Chung pointed to the squiggly rune enscribed onto the boy's shoulder" he said he was taught how to use some Runes and this one in particular makes sure no toxins or alcohol even enter his blood stream" Aisha nodded approvingly and Chung had to hold back a laugh, of course she'd be impressed it's magic after all.
"Is there anywhere we can put him whilst we clean this place up?" She nodded, fixed into one of the walls was a thin doorway that led to a small living area. "Put him on the couch, I'll brew some herbal tea for when he wakes." Chung nodded and lugged his red-haired knight over to the couch, it was small, barely big enough to fit the boy.
The two friends walked out of the room, closed the door and proceeded to learn away the books leaving Elsword alone, to wander the dreamworld abyss.
The grained of time slowly slipped through the cracks as the hours passed. The young knight awoke, his eyes stinging from the sudden exposure to air causing him to blink continuously until it ceased. Elsword slowly lifted his body off of the cozy makeshift bed and dropped his feet upon the group, feeling the icy cold floor
Through his cheap and worn down shoes. "Where am I?" He whispered to the air. As his body slowly woke he begs to regain all his inputs, eventually getting to the point where he heard voices from within the next room.
The knight shrugged and trudged towards the voices, opening the wooden door and stepping into a sort of kitchen area where a certain lavender-haired girl stood. An apron was draped over her clothing and resting in her hand a wooden spoon. "You can cook?" Aisha twisted around, flustered by the sudden intrusion and held the spoon close to herself turning a deep red. "Of course I can!" The Knight chuckled and looked around. "Where's Chung?" She sighed and pointed into the store "He has his head in a book as per usual". Elsword shrugged and leaned on the the table that sat in the middle of the room."So what's happening?"
The young sore owner went back to her cooking no longer sparring the knight another look "I'm cooking food for the Festivel, Chung has been waiting for you to wake up so he can finish his rounds"
"Damn.. Well Thank you for taking care of me." This time Aisha turned to face him, her face cherry red and shaking her hands from side to side. "It was no problem really, just... Teach me some of you runes someday, would you?" Elsword was taken back. "Sure, their simple runes but alright, if that's what you want" a smile spread across her lips and Elsword thought she looked beautiful, he was about to pat her head when Chung's voice reached his ears. "Hey Els we're going"
"Oh sure, it was nice meeting you Aisha" elsword spun around and quickly chased after his Prince, he cod have sworn there was a slight Irritated tone to his voice too"Hey, wants wrong?" He rested his hand onto Chung's shoulder.
"It's nothing don't worry about it"
"Hm... Well alright.. "They walked in silence, passing by the numerous city dwellers and even passing the road to the palace. "So where too next?"
"A dojo owned by a friend and her fiancé" Elsword nodded and they walked in silence for the rest of the journey, when they reached their destination Elsword was met with a massive temple like building. "S-Steiner Dojo?" Chung tilted his head at the knight "you know it?" He nodded.
"It's a family run dojo which teaches its own style right?" He nodded and they walked through the Doors and into the building. Inside it was empty. "This place isn't full?" Chung shook his head.
"Today's the new moon Festival, it happens every once a month here, barely any shops are open because it's the market's biggest day. "
They walked slightly further before being greeted by two men, one of them looked similar to Chung. "Oh Zechs your here already?" The one regarded as Zechs nodded, he had Creme blonde hair like Chung but with a scarlet-red streak. His eyes were also cerulean with a final yellow pattern dancing around the edge of his cornea. "Hey Chung, what took you so long.. And whose that?" He pointed toward Elsword with his eye brows raised. "He's gonna be my new guard, do you remember Elesis?" Zechs nodded,
"The sexy knight who played with fire?" Elsword's eyes bulged and seeing this Chung chuckled. "Yes, that one, this is her younger brother Elsword" the Prince then turned to Elsword himself. "This is my younger brother Zechs. The one beside him is Chase Steiner " chase was just as tall as Zechs and he also looked the same age, his hair a crimson red with hazel eyes. "Hi there" he said and Elsword bowed. Chung was suprised and so was Zechs but Chase merely lifted an eyebrow.
"It's an honour to meet you, current head of then Steiner family." Chase nodded and approached one of numerous sparing rings. "With that kind of greeting I'm guessing you've learnt under our style" the young knight nodded, his hair swishing Slightly as he did. "We were told to learn a martial arts style so we'ed be ready for anything, me and my sister learnt from a Steiner Dojo nearby while our brothers learn from some where else, needles to say I haven't lost a match against anyone other than my sister" a chuckle emerged from the man as he stepped into one of the many sparing rings.
"Would you like to spar?" The knight shrugged, pulled off his sheath and the small bag of armour that hung on his back. "I don't see why not, I'm a little rusty though" he pulled off his shirt as well, revealing his toned body and so did Chase.
The two men faced each other, their fists raised and ready to fight. And then they were off, they danced along the ground peppering each other with light hits and the occasional heavy shot. "Stop holding back" the Knight grunted. His posture was lowered and his arms were dangling to the side. "You too, it's obvious to any magic user your suppressing an inborn magic, it's not good for your body to do so" Elsword grunted once more. Chase was spot on, Elsword had been suppressing something but he sighed, took a deep breathe and let the magic flow, a feeling of tranquility flooded his senses and flows into his eyes, they began to glow an Azure blue and a slight aura like veil spread across his skin. "That's better" Chase spoke. He got back into his fighting pose, his was much more natural compared to Elsword's, it looked as though he was born to do it and as easy as walking.
They both lunged forward, the Knight's movements flowed steadily transitioning from one movement to another. The thin veil that coated his skin danced in the torchlight of the room. He dodged and weaved one of Chase' heavy blows and dealt a full round house kick to his sides, his veil weakened with each blow he dealt, slowly getting tainted with a bloodthirsty Crimson red.
"That's more like it!" Chase grinned and his eyes changed colour, one to Amber red and the other to a malevolent purple. "Let's kick to up a notch" Chase was now on the offensive. His left arm glowed the same Amber red as his eyes whilst his right was the same purple as his right eye.
Every time the Knight threw a punch Chase blocked, and dealt an underarm blow to his rib cage. Elsword jumped and attempted a round house kick but completely backfired when Chase grabbed his leg and repeatedly punched the Knight.
"Alright that's enough you two" a female voice flowed in through one of the doors. "Chase if I find out your going all out I'll be your opponent and I'll go all out" walking through the doors was a tall girl, her long Ebon black hair flowed down her back, parted into two. Chase stopped and dropped his arms by his side. "Sorry dear but I couldn't resist" he let out a small chuckle.
She puffed her cheeks out at him before turning to the Knight. "I'm sorry" Elsword waved his hands around "no no, it's fine I agreed to it in the first place anyway" she smiled in return and looked at the Prince who smiled in greeting
"Hey Ara how've you been?" He said and walked forward pulling the Ebon-haired girl into a hug. "I'm great" she replied and Chung pulled away.
"So how's Chase been treating you Hm?" By now both the boys had pulled on their shirts and Elsword was strapping his sheath in place. "He's been great, I've enjoyed every second with him!" Chung chuckled and Chase came up behind everyone. "Stop talking like I'm not here!"everyone laughed and couldn't even stop.
Zechs placed"Hey Chung I know you've only just gotten here but we should really be getting back to the palace." The Prince raised an eyebrow at his younger brother and checked the time.
A shocked expression spread across his face and he looked up. "Yeah your right, Chase Ara I'm sorry we couldn't speak longer " ara smiled and leaned her head on Chase's shoulder whilst Chase himself merely shrugged. "It's fine, we'll see you later at the festival" Chung smiled and begun to make his way out with his Knight and his brother closely behind.
A/N: This is kinda later but hey! I managed to get it out close to deadline...
Also I take back what I said, I'll be writing this and Systems alternating weeks.
Elesia thank you so much for the support! And thank you too all the followers and favourites it means so much to me to know people are reading this.
