A/N: Hoo-boy. I must've offended some sort of higher power to keep having the same problem with my computer over and over again, but it's nothing that's not fixable so long as I don't lose my handy dandy back-up drive and OneDrive doesn't conk out on me. But anyways, chapter 3 is ready!
Enjoy!
Chapter 3: The Woman with the Red Eyes
August 22nd, X847
Rachel found herself in the main bar area of the guildhall, staring up at a rather large and muscular man, who would have been rather imposing had it not been for the overly friendly smile on his face as he looked down at her, even as the overhead lights put a noticeable shine on his bald head.
"Rachel, this is Genevio Norwald, your Guild Leader," Aliah said in introduction, looking down at the young girl.
"Oh! I… uh… It's good to meet you sir! I hope I won't be a bother!" Rachel squeaked out, clearly just a bit intimidated by Gene's large and muscular frame.
"Gahahaha!" Gene suddenly laughed loudly, "Don't worry young one! You won't be a bother at all! To any Guardian of Lucent Knights! We all look out for each other here and as our newest member, we'll be sure to train you up nice and strong!"
"Eh?" Rachel gawked as images of herself being just as large and muscular as the man in front of her popped into her head.
"And we'll be sure to make certain that you get good mission experience under your belt before the Blood Moon as well! Perhaps we'll start with something simple! Like clearing out a den of thirty bandits!" Gene continued happily.
"How about we let Kai's system decide what's best for her to start with, Gene?" Aliah suggested, the Guild Leader quickly turning his head to face her, "You tend to go a bit… overboard and we don't want to get her hurt on her first mission after all."
"Right! Of course! We shall work up to the thirty bandits!" Gene added loudly, "It is no easy feat for a new mage, I forget that sometimes."
"Working up to it sounds like it could be fun," Rachel said, "It'll show how good I've gotten since I don't think there's any way I could do that now."
"That's the spirit, young one! We shall train and train! And one day, you will become as mighty as I am!" Gene announced before flexing, showing off the large, rippling muscles on his arms and back.
"Yeah!" Rachel cheered alongside her Guild Leader, images of her being as large and muscular as him once again flooding her mind.
"Well, before you two go and get carried away, how 'bout I go and introduce Rachel to Kai so she can show her the ropes?" Aliah suggested, the two Guardians turning to look at her again.
"Kai?" Rachel questioned.
"Ah yes! An excellent suggestion my Guild Master! That way we can get my new young friend started right away! Come, my friend! Come! The workshop is this way!" Gene said happily, gesturing for Rachel to follow him, Aliah tagging along, as the three walked back into the hallway, but rather than immediately turning to go up the stairs, the trio walked further into the guild than Rachel had previously been. Rachel took note of a few different descending stairways, but also four different doors that had names on them such as 'Seeker Salem Ashbark' and 'Guardian Genevio Norwald'.
"Are those offices?" Rachel asked as they walked past another that read 'Curator Frederigo Mele'.
"Ah, yes. These are the Guild Leader Offices, though the only one you'll find regularly using it is Salem and Frederigo… Gene…" Aliah explained, saying Gene's name with a hint of annoyance at the end.
"Ah, but the training ground is where I can always be found when I am here! That or having a drink with my friends inside!" Gene added, not at all perturbed by Aliah.
"Frederigo can usually be found in the infirmary though since he's really the guild's only dedicated healer and doctor," Aliah continued, "Good luck finding Kane though, where you can find him seems to depend on his mood and the time of day. At least I could never find him when I was a Hunter."
"Ah, but some evenings he is more than happy to come and test his strength against mine!" Gene stated, "We are rivals, he and I! And as the leaders of the Guardians and the Hunters, we must settle who is truly the strongest between us!" he declared as the trio reached the end of the hallway, which lead to a door that lead outside.
"The workshop is that building over there," Aliah said as she pointed to a stone building built into the stone wall that lined the edge of the cliff that overlooked the sea, "C'mon," she said as she lead the trio closer, sounds of someone hard at work becoming evident, as well as a good bit of cursing.
"Gah! This fucking thing! Just fucking go into place already you little shit! Stop being such a little bitch already, you fuck!" they heard a woman loudly curse as they arrived just outside of the door to the workshop.
"Just know… she doesn't mean anything by all the cursing," Aliah warned before opening the door, the smell of cigarette smoke and oil making itself evident as she lead the three inside, revealing a large, oily mess of machine parts, half-finished projects and various other bits of scrap inside, "Hey Kai! Get the hell out here!" Aliah called out.
"Fuck!" they heard a woman shout from deeper after a loud bang, "The fuck do you want, Aliah!? I'm in the middle of fixing this damn thing, can't it fucking wait!?"
"Not a damn moment!" Aliah shouted back, "It's important!"
"Argh! Fucking fine!" the woman yelled, "But it better be damn important!" she grumbled before she finally became visible by the three after stepping out from behind a large machine, covered in splotches of oil from head to toe.
"Who the fuck is this?" Kai asked as she pulled her coral pink goggles off her face and set them atop her head of short, blond and pink hair.
"Did you really skip that meeting?" Aliah asked.
"Did you really think I was gonna let ol' Mordekai pull me away from my work?"
"Fair point," Aliah sighed, "This is Rachel Padraigh, a new member and Guardian."
"It's nice to meet you," the young girl said politely, nodding towards the older woman.
"A fucking kid? No wonder it's important. She'll get herself killed if I don't beat some sense into her," Kai sighed as walked up to Rachel and roughly grabbed her by the wrist and started dragging her along, "Come on already," she said roughly.
"Eh? W-wait… Beat?" Rachel repeated, an obviously nervous look on her face.
"Ah! Do not worry, my young friend! She will take good care of you!" Gene called out after them.
"She's not as mean as she acts! She's an A-Class, so she's gotta act like it somehow!" Aliah added as Kai continued to drag Rachel behind her.
. : + : .
A figure ran through the woods of Fiore, panting and heaving as they chased after their partner, as they had come quite the distance so far.
"Keep going Volug! We've almost found her!" the man shouted ahead of him as he tried to keep up with the four-legged figure running several feet in front of him, "Five days of running around in the woods and this is the closest we've come to finding her! C'mon keep going!" he continued to yell as he dodged and weaved past trees and bushes, hopping over stones and nearly tripping over roots as he ran.
"Shane!" he heard a female voice call out as a raven broke through the treetops before transforming into a woman with short, wavy black hair that began running beside him.
"The fuck is it now?" Shane rudely asked as he kept running, "We're almost there!"
"Listen asshole! I came down here to give you a warning!" Branna quickly bit back, not having any patience for Shane's innate rudeness.
"So what is it?" he asked again before the two of them split up to run around a large tree in their way.
"Demon Beasts! Lots of them!" Branna shouted from around the tree, "We've got to stop and take this slow or we'll be found!"
"Fucking hell!" Shane cursed loudly before bringing one of his heavily tattooed arms up to his mouth and whistling loudly through his hand. As soon as the two of them joined back up after running around the tree, a large wolf quickly came bounding back before stopping in front of Shane, "Hey there, Volug," he said as he reached down to pat the dire wolf in front of him, "We've got to take it slow now. There's Demon Beasts up ahead," he stated, the wolf happily barking in return, showing its understanding, "Now, how the fuck do we deal with Demon Beasts? Any idea what kinds?"
"I know I saw at least two Barghests and a few Shamblers not far up ahead, further in, off to the east, there's a lot more," Branna explained, "They're not the problem though…"
"Let me guess, there's a fucking Shade Type up ahead?" Shane cursed in an exasperated manner.
"Yeah, a fucking Shade and we've got no way to actually hurt it," Branna added, confirming exactly what Shane didn't want to hear.
"Fuck!" Shane hissed, "Just what we needed. Why the fuck couldn't we have found Ida before we ran into fucking Demon Beasts!?" he loudly cursed before composing himself, "I guess that settles it then, we've got to go in stealthily and we absolutely cannot get caught or we're dead."
"No, you have to go in stealthily," Branna stated, "I'll be going back up into the air where it's nice and safe since there aren't any flying ones around."
"Yeah, yeah, I hope you crash into a tree," Shane huffed as Branna transformed back into a raven and flew back up into the sky before beginning to circle overhead.
"All right, time for us to get going then, Volug," Shane added before walking forward, the dire wolf following behind him, "And remember, we're doing this quietly," he said again, receiving a quiet bark in response as the two of them bent down under the foliage, carefully stepping to avoid any twigs while Volug tried to keep from leading Shane into the Demon Beasts. The two of them continued onward, advancing quickly and quietly until something could be seen through the foliage, a large, mangled and muscular monster that was covered in head to toe in a mixture of fur and scales, with claws almost as large as an average person's forearm and a head shaped like a feral wolf's.
A quick rush of feelings came over Shane, several flashes of the beast popping into his head from his first encounter with this kind of monstrosity, he could feel panic and excitement welling up inside him in equal measures, but they were quickly cut off when he felt his hand get licked and he looked down to see Volug looking up at him.
"Right… We got through dealing with these then and we'll do it again," he thought to himself before continuing to silently follow his canine companion over to a rock where they would be able to safely hide and rest while observing the monsters around them.
Shane quietly placed a hand on a nearby tree as he and Volug came to a stop behind the boulder before exhaling, calming and centering himself before bringing his magic to life, "Spiritmaster… Plant Link," he whispered as his magic poured into the tree, the tree, in return, pouring visions of its surroundings and history into Shane, allowing him to see everything in a 360 degree radius around the large plant, but also showing him a vision of a figure shrouded in a black cloak running past to the east.
"Ida!" he gasped as he released the link, "So she has been here… but that's where the Demon Beasts are thickest…" he added quietly to himself before reaching into the satchel he kept slung around his shoulder and pulled out a small mirror before attempting to reflect light back up into the sky through the trees above him, "I hope she saw that… There's only one Demon Beast here and a quick strike from above can kill it quickly," he muttered quietly to Volug before peering around the boulder to look at the large, Barghest prowling the area, a dark, foul aura clouding the area around its body, making its glowing, red eyes all the more intimidating.
Soon though, Branna pierced through the treetops before transforming back into her human form and drew two daggers from a Requip space as she landed atop the Demon Beast's shoulders and began stabbing downwards into its skull before it could even react, killing the monster quickly and quietly beyond the loud thud the beast made as it collapsed to the ground, a bloodstained Branna perched atop it.
"I suppose that's the difference between us Seekers and everyone else," Branna said with a smug look on her face, "Dead is dead and no one is any the wiser for it," she stated before climbing down off the beast and walking over towards Shane and Volug, "So what's so important that you needed me to come down here and kill that thing?"
"I think I know where Ida is," Shane admitted.
"No shit? Where's she at?" Branna asked eagerly.
"This tree saw her head east several hours ago, it was only after that, that all these Demon Beasts moved in," Shane explained as he lazily gestured off towards the east.
"Dammit… So we've got to head into the thick of it then," Branna sighed.
"And I bet there's more than fucking Shades in there too, betcha there's at least one Lindworm around here," Shane added as Branna began to groan.
"Not one of those demon wyverns! They're practically dragons!" the woman complained, "If we get cornered by one of those things, I'm leaving you behind!"
"I wouldn't blame you at that point, but you should probably stay out of the sky in case there is one around here," Shane suggested.
"You're probably right," Branna sighed as she pulled a black ring that was imbedded with a white lachrima off of her finger before it vanished into her requip space, quickly being replaced by a bronze ring that had a black lachrima imbedded into it, "In that case I'll be sticking to the trees when we move out."
"Right, we should probably…" Shane started to say before a loud, inhuman roar that sounded like a howl of pain reverberated throughout the area.
"That wasn't a Lindworm…" Branna eventually managed to say.
"That sounded much, fucking worse than a Lindworm… Whatever the fuck it was," Shane stated, cursing to himself as Volug started to growl, "Hey! Hey buddy! What is it?" Shane began to ask as he kneeled down to pat Volug and then looked up to where the dire wolf was looking and snarling towards, "Fuck it all," he cursed as he looked around to see several different types of Demon Beasts slowly walking towards them, many of them the skinny and frail, rock based Demon Beasts known as Shamblers, though he saw a few Barghests and even a ghostly Shade among them.
"Where the hell did they all come from!?" Branna shouted, "How the fuck did they sneak up on us!? How did they sneak up on Volug!?"
"I don't fucking know! It's like they just appeared out of nowhere!" Shane yelled back, his eyes locked on the hoard of demons staring them down, "How the hell is there even a group this big!? Blood Moon isn't for another week!"
"Save it for later, Shane! For now we need to get the hell out of here! There's no way we're beating that Shade when we can't even touch it!"
"Dammit! Spiritmaster: Link Speed! Reaction!" Shane announced as a glow of magic energy washed over him, Branna and Volug, "Time to get the fuck out of dodge!" he shouted as all three of them began to turn and run, only to see a figure shrouded in black with red eyes peeking out from under their hood running towards them and towards the hoard.
"Leave!" the figure commanded as they ran past.
"Ida!?" Branna gasped, "We came here looking for you!" she explained as Ida continued running towards the hoard that had begun to roar and move towards them at a quicker pace.
"So!? You've found me! Go back and tell Aliah she wasted her time again. I'm fine!" Ida bit back harshly.
"The hell we're leaving now!" Shane spat back, "I don't leave any search and rescue mission without making sure the person I was looking for comes back home."
"Tch… We don't have time to argue! Just stay the hell out of my way! And leave that Shade to me!" Ida growled back, commanding the two Seekers to do as she said.
"Shows up at the last minute and thinks she's in charge, huh? I'll show her," Shane grumbled as he walked towards the oncoming hoard.
"Grr… Who does she think she is? Bossing me around like that?" Branna growled before transforming into a two-foot-long black maine coon cat.
"So the Seekers actually want to stay and fight for once… Miracles never cease I see," Ida said lowly before a sneer came onto her face as she stared down the horde of Demon Beasts in front of her, "Compared to that monster from earlier, these are just small fry! Hardly even a decent snack!" she declared before thrusting her right arm out to the side from underneath her cloak before it quickly transformed into a black, clawed arm as her teeth sharpened and her pupils turned to slits, "I'll kill every last one of them!"
A/N: And there it is! Chapter 3! Mysterious woman from last chapter has been revealed! Or at least, her name has. So that's a thing. Good luck learning anything else substantial about her for a while, mysterious woman is mysterious.
Credits:
Genevio "Gene" Norwald – mayurie
Kai Akana – MyDearWatson
Shane Varmus and Volug – Meteorthunder3
Branna Hayes – LexGem
Ida Ludolf – Dreadburner94
But now you guys have gotten to have a bit of an introduction into the Demon Beasts of the Blood Moon! And maybe something more dangerous? Ida might know… But I'm sure you were able to tell that there's lots of different types of Demons for our heroes to contend with, some much more dangerous than others.
Reviews
dragvil1996 – Glad you enjoyed it! Hope you enjoy this one too.
MyDearWatson – Yeah, Alessandro's all about putting on a truly magnifico performance for all to view, even his enemies. Too bad for them they're on the receiving end of it. And last time I just teased you with a mention of Kai, but you got to see her this time! Hopefully I did good with her.
mayurie – Alessandro's more just about putting on a magnifico performance, though that sometimes involves some rather cruel and unusual punishments for those on the receiving end. But yeah, there's still plenty of things for Rachel to learn, so I'll get a good bit of use out of her newbie-ness yet. But I wouldn't hold my breath for things to be all sunshine and rainbows for her either. Hope you enjoyed how I portrayed Gene this chapter!
Meteorthunder3 – Well, now you've got a bit of a teaser to what a Blood Moon is like on a small scale, more to come on that. But I hope you enjoyed how I portrayed Shane this chapter!
Mary Allen – Austin is the S-Class Guardian actually, Aliah mentioned it in the last chapter. But yeah, Alessandro's a fun one to write with how he is and acts. And yeah, we'll see just how long the whole innocent thing lasts in this story for Rachel.
Origm2012 – Yeah, new mages are fun. You get to see their whole story of a mage from start to finish and there's certain things you can only do with them from a writer's view too. Such as use them to explain the guild! It's useful.
Piece of Sheet – I was honestly worried about how I did with Alessandro. I was afraid I wrote him a bit too dark even after I toned it down a bit since I nearly just had him nonchalantly drop that dark mage into the pit of rabbits to be eaten alive after Austin showed up with the second dark mage, but I'm glad you enjoyed what you saw of him.
Torsa – From what I understand, the Rabbit of Caernnabog is exactly where the inspiration for Alessandro's rabbits comes from. But we'll have to see how Rachel does, she's got to get through whatever Kai's gonna do first really, but I'm glad you enjoyed how I wrote her last chapter and I hope I did as good this time too.
And with that, this A/N is finished. Hopefully you all enjoyed the chapter this time around!
Your host,
Dreadburner94.