Chapter 6 - Don't ever damage library books...
She was in awe, staring at the towers of books that stood everywhere in her sight. Little will-o-the-wisps floated everywhere, serving as an object of illumination. Walking through each corridor, more books seem to open up to her. A giddy feeling sprouted from her heart knowing she was in a paradise of books.
Taking one into her hand, she began to read one. Yet, she couldn't understand it all. It was written in such a way that seemed like gibberish to her. It's alright, she thought, there was always another book. Reaching out to another one, she flipped it open. Only to see that it was still far from understandable.
'Child, you walk in the world the Nirvana of Knowledge,
A paradise of information, it is the pleasure of the mind,
Yet its secrets are secluded to the highest of Violet Mages,
They who have walked a glorious path as a Battle Mage.'
A song played in her ears. And she nodded to it, understanding that only a Battle Mage could unlock its secrets. She placed the book back into the shelf and wandered aimlessly away. The world of her dreams had revealed itself to her, yet she knew she could never read any of them. The horror of unable to attain it, despite it being in her hands was too much for her. Her legs collapsed, and she cried a soundless wail.
She knew she could never become a Battle Mage…
'..In other news, the Dragon Park Station had collapsed due to its ancient beams. It was fortunate enough that a train from Serdin had an emergency and stopped minutes before its time of collapse…'
News about the Dragon Park Station had gone out throughout Kanavan, especially when the station was the oldest standing station in the kingdom that was linked to another station in Serdin. The woman groaned after passing by the screens of television behind a glass pane of a shop, knowing what was really at fault but that didn't matter to her.
'How am I going to get back home…. All my research lies there… And I already told her that news here spread like wild fire. People will think that this event will be very suspicious…' She thought to herself, drinking her milkshake as she pouted. Half of her research was still stuck at her place at Serdin. Turning back, she could see three unsure faces, staring at her with confusion and caution. She couldn't blame them. She had suddenly came out of the blue, wrecked the station, calling herself Mari M. Onette and now treating them all to milkshakes and leading them around the small shopping district of Dragon Park. "Please relax, I'm really Mari."
The hetero eyes then stared at blue. "Rolan. You know me, don't you? We were ex-classmates in Noire High until I transferred to Serdin. Instead of Mari, I went under the name Melody Ming and I was still invited to that drinking party weeks ago and I came to make sure you were still alive."
The teacher stiffen to her plead. She sighed. "What would it take to make the three of you believe I am the Geas?"
"…. Well…" the three had looked at each other with concern. Rolan clears his throat. "You see…. I would easily believe you, especially with your weapon and your skills. It was tremendous, by the way. But the there of us could agree that the souls inside us aren't taking it easy to believe this…"
"Ronan… Ryan… Elesis… Why is that?"
Elaine charged up to her. Her red eyes looked straight to the woman's blue and red eyes. "Elesis says the Mari they know is a quiet, cold person who talks funny and likes to mind her own business and never smiles or laugh… And what you are… Well… You don't have the same aura…"
A disbelieved sigh seeped out of the hetero eyed person again. "I can understand the first reason… Living alone can change oneself…" She sighed in reluctance. "But the latter…" Mari looked at each and every one of them, taking a quick sip of her drink. "It'd be best if I tell you all now than to let you all discover it later on…That my aura is different because I appear half of what you all know as Mari."
"What does that mean..?"
"… When I first blinked my eyes into this new era, I had found myself in a present hospital room in Serdin. Apparently, the girl who was supposed to be my vessel had fallen into an unknown comma and had been left sleeping in there. It seemed that my awakening, with unknown cause, had become her recovery…" The woman turned away with a darkened expression. "In exchange for the body's recovery… I had been forced to adapt quickly to the drastic changes and continued her life for her… Without getting the chance to even thank her for this chance to once again reunite with my fellow members…"
"Of course you can thank her, doesn't she share your bod-"
"She's gone." Mari bluntly stated coldly, in the icy tone that was very nostalgic for the chasers. "She doesn't exist in this world anymore…"
"Hello Miss Aisha."
"Eek!" The woman yelped at the sound of a cheerful greeting, books flying out of her hands after her jolt. She took her time to regain her composure as she bent down to pick up her books. Only after every book was in her hand did her lilac eyes look up.
He was a relatively tall man, and quite well-built. Yet he possessed such slate grey eyes stared at the girl innocently. "Sorry… Did I scare you?"
"S-somewhat…" She responded back, retreating away from the lanky man. Her lilac eyes shifted away from him hesitantly. "So what do you need?"
"May I have that book you're holding on to? It's the fifth book of the series that I'm reading…" Gently and politely he asked, giving a faint smile to her. Instead of making an immediate eye contact, she looked straight down to the pile of books she clutched on to. Only one of them had a number 5 on its title, so she assumed that was the book he was referring to.
"Here…" She shoved the book to him, showing no signs of interest to the man. Despite that, she knew how gentle he seemed, continuously accepting her cold treatment and smiling at her happily. After giving away the book, her lilac eyes went straight to the bookshelves, scanning each title without hearing his thanks.
She couldn't help it. It had already become part of her nature to reject any advances from anyone. Be it to have a mutual relationship or just a simple friendship.
She, Aisha Grimmoire, hated the society.
And she had initially thought she was free of society after becoming a librarian and locking herself up in the solitude of knowledge. The Northern Territory's Library was practically deserted, having a visitor count of about 6 every month. Actually, the Northern Territory was still a developing district, so there weren't much people living in the district compared to the rest of the districts of Kanavan. But it was there that Aisha could find the small peace that she wishfully needed.
She just hated mingling. The thought of getting close to a person, let alone talked to another, crossed her mind and was destroyed instantly. Which was why she was glad that she was hired to be a librarian at a near to isolated library. Plus, she could read all the books she wanted.
'And after a couple of weeks, that guy will surely lose interest in trying to have a proper conversation with me and stop coming to the library…' She thought to herself, rearranging books as she went along the lane, gradually releasing a book after another from her possession.
He was but a typical man. And he had suddenly started to come by after Aisha had offered him shelter from the rain by letting him in the library. 'Hmph. Just like a stray pet who's grown attached to their saviour.' She groaned, shoving the last book into place. 'But unlike an animal, he's human… And therefore, he thinks…'
With that she concluded that he had ulterior motives. No matter how innocent or ignorant one may be, there was always a reason for them to act that way. Call her paranoid, if you wish, but she rather be on the safe side than to suffer. The purple haired woman went around the counter and scanned for her admission book.
His name was Terry Penn. Well, so says the neat writings on the library card. Aisha seldom remembered names, but she kept in mind that it was the name of a person she had to keep her guard around. But she did blink at one thing when she sat and took a proper glance under the man's name.
'… A grown man's reading books that are related to a children's fairy tale…. Strange…'
"Miss Aisha?"
"Eep!" She yelped once more, nearly falling off her chair. She looked up to see another person, a long time regular at the library. "Lauren… Don't scare me too…!"
"I didn't try. You just spaced out too much…" The man grunted. "Anyways, I'd like to borrow this book but there are some missing pages…"
Aisha immediately frowned at the first sight of that book, knowing the light purple cover and gold rims all too well. She immediately remembered what exactly happened to that book. There was this one weirdo, dressed up all funny looking with straps and chains on his clothes and suddenly ripping out library property. It irritated her to how indecent he could treat a book.
And she assumed he took the missing pages….
"I'm sorry. But there is no completed copy in this library. As to why it is incomplete, I shall track down whoever is responsible and retrieve compensation for the repairs of this book…"
She swore she heard the man curse under his breath. She didn't blame him. Books weren't written to be selfishly torn apart like that.
'… He's still sleeping…' Elaine stared at the white haired boy. He was lying comfortably on the bed, peace written all over his face. The red head was a little more relieved to see him like that, especially when most of his wounds had finally shown a significant amount of recovery.
"Elaine?" A soft whisper from the entrance of the room caught her attention. Sibil entered, holding a small little basket of treats. "You actually came for a visit…"
"S-sorry… I was so caught up in the Grand Chase business that I had forgotten about Naoto… Honestly, I feel really bad about it and-"
"Naoto woke up a few days ago." She said bluntly. "And when I told him you didn't visit, he laughed. He kind of understood how you have a simple, one-track mind and didn't mind it at all… So I didn't really tell you about it." Sibil giggled lightly, seeing the younger girl turn as red as her hair.
Elaine changed the subject. "… He was awake….?"
"Yeap. It seems it was for a while though… The only important thing he said was that he wishes all the best for the Grand Chase…"
"Okay…" A small smile appeared on her. Elaine stared at the boy, then to his sister. "I have a lot of things to talk to him about… But for now…If he wakes up again, could you tell him that we'll do our best and… Thanks to him, I didn't think the way of the sword could be this cool… I promise to try and visit him more often too. See you at school, Sibil."
"Sure, Elaine." Sibil smiled as she waved the girl goodbye. After seeing off the red head, she turned to the sleeping boy. "… How is it fun to act as Sleeping Beauty?"
A reluctant groan seeped from the beau as he pushed himself up, looking at his sister mischievously. "But you played along with me, sis~ In any case…" Naoto scratched his head with his left arm, looking out at the window next to his bed. He saw the figure of the high school student, skipping out of the gates. "… It's better if she doesn't know more about me…"
"Naoto…"
"Don't repeat it, Sibil. I know what you're going to say to me but…" He sighed. "I can't be selfish… This fate we have now is better than to see history repeating itself…"
At the thought of those words, he reached to his right arm, still lying under the covers of his blanket. A massive sting thundered from his limb, yet he let no sound of his pain escape. He merely looked beyond the window, watching the girl run off to home.
"The least I can do is to keep myself from getting further involved in this…."
He glanced left and right. Corpses and carcasses were left everywhere on the battlefield to be rot. The scent of blood flooded his nose, heightening all his senses to extreme heights. Every glance he took, his heartbeat grew faster. Ears pricked to crying and wailing of throes and agony. The moon shone above him in a dark shade of red, laughing as it questioned his sanity in this devastated world.
The silhouette of a man stood in front of him, head titled in curiosity to his well-being. Though the moonlight shone over the both of them, he could only make out the slight movements of mouth, opening widely, jagged fangs revealing themselves.
'He stand here before you as the King of Destruction,
In his hands, the dark powers that will rule the world,
Show him your worth, your capability as his vessel,
And he shall grant you everything as your true strength.'
The shadowed being hummed, flicking his left arm. A blue fiery light consumed his whole arm, only to disperse to reveal a frighteningly huge claw. And the hum immediately intensified into an insane laugh that rang into his ears. But in the midst of his laugh, he could hear the demonic figure whisper.
"… Seek for knowledge… Obtain the power… Release me…"
"RELEASE ME FROM MY KEEP!"
His arm throbbed in angst when he blinked from his daydream. Yet the first thing he said was not a groan of pain, but a silent moan. "… Seek for knowledge…"
"Hmm?" The blond stopped reading her book and immediately looked up. The violet haired man was in another of his deep daydreams, blankly staring into space with a book in hand. "Dirge, you alright?"
"Of course I am. What do you expect?!" An immediate reply came from the grave keeper, glowering at her in anger after snapping out of his daydream. He then settled his eyes back on to the indigo book he had been holding onto, continuing to mumble on. His eye had glanced over his left arm. It wasn't hurting anymore.
He grumbled in irk. The pain in his left arm was gradually growing after every time he woke up from that dream. It was annoying, but Dirge guessed that it just meant that he was closer to the truth, especially when he played enough games to understand how things usually worked (yes, he was using games as his base line of his theory).
"Dirge. You remember our deal, right?"
He flinched at the sound of her sentence.
See… The first time they met, in Dirge's experience, he just saw some little blond girl getting puzzled at reading a book. He wasn't usually curious in other's lives, especially total strangers, but the appearance of the book attracted him. Especially the foreign language that was written on it. It was somewhat nostalgic. Like he had seen somewhere else before. And when he asked the girl if he could take a look at that book, she made a twisted smiled with such evil he couldn't compare with.
"I'll let you look at my book, if you tell me about your dreams every time I come by…."
It was a small price to pay, he thought at that time. Because there was no way a kid like her would be interested in a grown man's dreams. But after that, a strange dream visited him, haunting him with a laughter so powerful and so malicious.
Unfortunately for him, the day after, he met the little blond. She smiled at him devilishly.
"Well? What kind of dream did you get last night?"
He remembered he had glowered at her angrily. He knew it was no mere coincidence that she asked about his weird dream just the day before it happened. But she still had that book that attracted him in her possession. 'Small price to pay… Right…?' He thought to himself.
"Well… I can't remember." He said bluntly with utter honestly. "Except for a laugh. Probably something funny…"
"Oh… Then you can read this book then."
It had been that simple at first. But when the man opened the book, everything naturally became coherent in his mind. The alien language had strangely become his mother tongue as he scanned through each line. And it was that one passage that perked his interest that changed the whole deal into a whole new level.
'Dreams that lay next to reality play the song of the faraway truth.
Standing there with sympathy is a memory with the eternal oath.
Dreams that lay net to reality witness the sentence that lives create
Keeping on to that philosophy and embrace the illusive fate.'
After reading that, slowly, his dreams grew more vivid. Gradually he began to see, hear, smell the land of carnage that manifested his unconscious thoughts. He began to realize the more he read these books that Gisella provided, the more answers about this twisted world he gained. And there was a bonus too.
He recalled briefly the first time he found a passage about summoning a weapon. Initially, he thought it was but another cheap hoax, but when he thought about it, everything in that book did aid him about the dreams. It didn't hurt to try it anyways. Right arm at standby, he concentrated every ounce of energy at the palm of his hands, following the book's instructions carefully.
"W-woaaah…. The Lord of Hell finally gives up his scythe for me!"
But with the recollection of the summoning of his first weapon, it was followed by a new revelation in his dreams. Dirge groaned, remembering the sight of that one silhouette, coming out of nowhere, of a creature with a messed up claw for an arm. He summoned as well, the scythe, calling it a Soul Reaver.
And each dream, he demands the same thing.
"… Seek for knowledge… Obtain the power… Release me… RELEASE ME FROM MY KEEP!"
He sighed gravely, having those words screamed into his ear, ringing again and again. It irritated him that he had done so much and yet it was still not enough. It angered him that every time that being kept demanding for it, he looked down at him with a sinister-like arrogance. It also annoyed him that the fact that he wanted to be in that position.
He, Dirge Steamrift, wanted to be a demon that enjoyed being in the centre of a bloodbath, ripping every living life that crossed his path, creating utter destruction to the world around him without a care.
"Dirge!" His violet eyes merely blinked to see the eagerly waiting Gisella. "Well? Tell me!" The grave keeper thought about it.
"I need to reread that book you first showed me."
"…. The dark purple book with white rim?"
"Yeah. Give it to me."
The girl hesitantly looked away. Dirge, unamused to this, growled in irk. "What's happened….?!"
"It's a book from the library…."
"…. What…?!" A furious snarl seeped out of the man. Gisella backed away slightly, knowing that this man hated the public library, especially the Northern Territory's Library. Because she heard that he had once visited it and had literally ripped out a couple of paged from a book, he was banned for life. Of course, all faults were his, but he was a stubborn man who was too ambitious. Dirge would never see his own faults so easily.
Though, she could easily borrow books from the library, seeing as she wasn't the one who damaged public property. It was that the library had a certain policy.
Damaged books are to remain in the library until it was repaired or another copy was found.
When Dirge returned that first book to her, some pages were torn apart as well. She had an earful from a lilac haired librarian and getting a mere warning though, being a girl and acting innocently (and blaming it on Riku).
A vulgar swear came out from his throat. The grave keeper had even involuntarily summoned out his scythe and slashed the air in fury. The blond sighed. 'On the bright side, his summoning skills got faster…'
Lunchtime was at the corner on the following day and all four of the 'awakened' Chasers had decided to meet up again. Elaine and Rolan had decided to get something for the four of them to eat, leaving Rivera and Mari to search for a place to dine at in the food court.
"Hey, Mari…" The orange haired spoke as he took a glance around for an empty table whilst keeping the woman's beanie in his sight.
"Yes? Oh! There's a table!" She chirped, suddenly grabbing the man's arm and pulling him towards it. When they got there, she instantly let go of the man, dropped her rucksack on the ground beside her and made herself comfortable on a seat. Her hetero colored eyes looked at him. "So…? Are you going to talk to me whilst standing or sitting?"
"Oh! Um..." He grabbed a chair and hastily sat, feeling slightly awkward to the sudden initiative made by the woman. She was supposed to have a more reserved nature. The girl also always held a book in hand, as a journal to note down every detail that can be used and as a weapon. Instead, she had nothing in her hand and he had a missing feeling to this. And then there was that cross-dressing habit of hers that made him feel odd. He was used to the pretty, feminine-like (well, appearance-wise, not personality-wise) Mari. And this current Mari, seemed so rugged and so cool and…
In a lot of ways, she looks more attractive as a man compared to both he and Rolan combined (of course it crushed his pride in many, many ways…)
A sigh seeped out of the woman, catching his attention. "Ryan…?"
Green eyes blinked in bewilderment. "Ah..? You noticed that I've come out instead of Rivera…"
"Of course. I will always recognize a friend. Especially…" She trailed away with a smile. But he swore he saw her eyes blinked with a brief depression. "Well, what was it that you needed to ask about, Ryan?"
"Um… About yesterday…"
"Ah…" She nodded. The day after the incident at the station, Mari had not only revealed herself as the Geas she was, she had also informed them on what had happened to the soul who was supposed to hold that body of hers. She had parted with them awkwardly, having an excuse to find a place to stay whilst there was still daylight since there was no way to return back to the Kingdom of Serdin. "I'm sorry to leave you guys like that and made you worry…"
"No.. We should be sorry…" The man groaned. "I mean… You had to be alone all this time, waiting for us to be awakened."
"That's alright. But I had someone assigned by the gods to watch over me so no need to feel too bad."
"Hah?" Ryan grunted in confusion. But he then nodded in understanding, thinking that this person she spoke of could be someone who was like Sibil and Naoto, a guardian of the Grand Chase's souls whilst they were still asleep. Did that mean that he had a guardian as well? He shook his head, leaving that thought at the back of his mind to worry about later. "Actually… I wanted to ask you about how you tracked down the three of us… Maybe I could understand that coincidentally, you and Rolan were classmates, but how did you know of Elaine and Rivera?"
The woman smiled, fixing her glasses. "My guardian happens to be a 'special' officer in the police force. I got her to help me get information about what was going on here and there in exchange, I become in charge of maintenances of the vehicles of the force."
"R-really?!" He yelped in astonishment, despite not understanding some of what she had said. All he knew was that her guardian could help them track down the rest of the chasers in a split second. "Then is there a way to find the rest of the Grand Chase quickly? And track down the evil that awakened us again?"
Mari looked down, shaking her head in dismay. "I'm afraid it's not that easy… She still has her duties as a police officer to fulfil so time is something that isn't on our side." She looked up to see that the green eyes had its hope shattered. She tried to smile back. "Are you forgetting that I am still here?"
The blue haired woman reached out to her bag and pulled out a familiar object. "Y-your grimmoire!"
"It was definitely tough recreating my weapons once more, but worth it." She hummed, opening up a page of the small thick book. "From what my guardian found, I've linked that most of us should have a similar persona with our current selves which we can sync with easily. That was obvious. But something like a preferable body also heightens the chance of a chaser's soul to be present. Like Elesis being in a human, knight-descendant body. It was probably by coincidence that her soul followed the Sieghart lineage, like Ronan's situation as well."
"Then as for me…?"
"You are an elven druid. It's obvious that you'd get a body that's from a lineage of elven druids somewhere. And as for me, my vessel was of a person with a good background for the mechanics and such." She shuts her book. "So it'd be obvious that Arme would be residing in a body with a lineage of magic and Jin with martial arts and so on and so forth."
"That makes… A little sense…."
"But it a little hard to track them down from there." She groaned. "I had Aisha, Arme's vessel, as my classmate back in Serdin but-"
"You met Arme?!"
"Her vessel only…. But it was only a brief encounter. After graduation, she just vanished. I found out that she had gone to Kanavan and that was it… And the case of Jin, there isn't much people who practise martial arts as a living in both Kanavan and Serdin." She noticed the slight disappointment from the vanquisher. "Don't worry.. It's only a matter of time until they'd be discovered. I mean… Rufus is still in my range."
"What do you mean by that?"
"…. Apparently, Rufus's vessel was in the police force... That is, until he disobeyed orders and had selfishly left the force. Now, according to my guardian, he's just doing part-time at an antique store that is specializing in old firearms… Pretty, Rufus-like, don't you think?"
"…. I'm not so surprised that he'd be like that… He was a person who rather worked alone with his guns…." Ryan dryly commented, remembering how annoying it was to try and get the bounty hunter to work with them as a team, only to see that he could work with a certain striker as his partner efficiently only. Everyone else seemed like trash to him. "But then, what are we waiting for? We should awaken him now."
"If it were possible, I would have awakened Rufus first, with his abilities to track down people so easily. And then I would've had Lass woken up, as he acted as a good source of information. No offence though, Ryan…" Mari sighed, looking away from the vanquisher because of her choice of Chasers to wake up. "But strangely enough, it doesn't seem to work that way… And I think…"
"You think…?"
Mari had paused for a while. "I think the awakening occurs randomly…" she sighed heavily. "I am sorry… That is a very unreliable answer, but it seems to be going that way…"
"Oh…." Ryan groaned. But he put up a smile. "Then what we can do now is to brush up on our skills and prepare for the worst, right?"
The woman did not nod nor shake her head. She simply gazed at the orange haired. "There's something else that's worrying you, isn't there? You seem a bit desperate to awaken the rest of the Chasers, you know."
Ryan blinked at the blue and red eyes that kept staring at her. He saw a familiar thorough stare of the Geas he knew, easing his heart slightly. "Well… There is one thing…."
'And I didn't know this?' Inside, Rivera questioned the Vanquisher suspiciously.
'It's for you to taste your own medicine.' Sarcasm filled the Chaser's tone as he heard an irritated groan from the university student. He then chuckled weakly. '… Actually… This is something that I think only Mari of all people could answer….'
"It looks like you didn't inform this problem to Rivera at all…" Mari hummed, guessing the right answer as she noticed how the vanquisher's expression changed immediately.
"I didn't… But it's alright. He's bound to hear this anyways.." Ryan rolled his eyes, hearing a childish whine from the soul inside him. "Anyways… When I battled with the Harpy Queen… I kind of… Went through a near to death situation and actually had a flash back…"
"And…?"
"… What exactly happened to the Grand Chase…?" He solemnly asked. "I recalled everything to the last point of our battle, where we faced… No… I can't even remember who our last opponent was… Mari… Do you know about this…?"
Colours were drained out of the Geas' face. "…. No… I don't…."
"Miss Aisha?"
"Wah!?" Lilac eyes blinked in bewilderment and met black eyes that blinked back at her shyly. Or was he trying to hide his laughter of catching her off guard? Nevertheless, the lilac eyes glared at him coldly. "Again, Lauren?!"
"What? I didn't try you know… Well, I'll be borrowing this book instead." He showed no significant response to her coldness and lifted up a different book.
"Okay… Let me check it out first…" Aisha grunted, looking away from the book to find her log book. When she found it, she opened it. The first name that caught her eye was Terry Penn. That grey haired man who enjoyed children books, specifically the Tales of the Grand Chase. Aisha looked at the man's name with curiosity. Seriously, why would a grown man enjoy a these fantasy stories? Then again, she admits. She had read the series before.
There were a total of fourteen volumes of the series and each volume described about what each of the lives that the Grand Chase lead. It started with the story of a knight to the story of a wanderer. In all honesty, she found it quite amusing, despite it being a children's series. Maybe it was the reason Terry (if she remembered his name) had decided to borrow these books. But she felt a need to have a fifteenth book which talked about their last moments, seeing as each book seemed to have abruptly ended at a point of their lives.
But the thought of it made her sigh, especially the book she had just given to Terry. It was the fifth book and it spoke of how a magician had bloomed in the Grand Chase into a Battle Mage. She didn't really have a particular hate against the character. No. In fact, Aisha had the utmost respect to her.
It was just that, something just bothered her whenever she thought of the battle mage.
"Miss Aisha, you know the Language of Elyos?" Lauren asked, making her surprised. She turned back to him and saw him leaning over the counter and looking at the mess on her desk. There were papers of foreign writings at where she was daydreaming over. Aisha grunted.
"The Language of Elyos…? I'm afraid I myself have no idea what that is…" She callously said, going back to searching for her book. "It's just things that I unconsciously doodle down whenever I daydream."
Well, first of all, she had no idea what Elyos is. Was it a country? A continent? Usually she didn't really care about it. Usually…
"…. Lauren… Do you know about it….?" She asked meekly, with the lowest voice she could make. Half hoping he didn't hear her ask him and keep staring at the paper, half hoping he heard her question and answered her curiosity. Because Aisha knew whatever she doodled down whenever she was daydreaming, it was something that had a hidden secret in it.
She had believed so for years. And to try and prove that, she had even went her way to publish her writings, despite not understanding it herself, and kept in in this very library, watching if anyone would glance over the foreign title and read it as if they understood it. So far, most would return it with an annoyed expression.
Speaking of which, she recalled a little blond girl borrowing it. But had returned it as a mess. Well, she must have taken out her frustration on the poor thing. And there was also a freaky-looking man…
But in this case, Lauren was different. He did want to borrow one of her books, despite being torn up. So he must have known the language… Right?
"Well... I think I can read a bit of it…" The pale man spoke once more, leaning closer to the papers. "He who is the kin of the Burning Canyon shall be gifted with the Rake Hand that shall bring about utter destruction…"
"… I wrote that kind of thing…?!"
"Makes sense to me." The man said when he saw the librarian in shock at the unpleasant sentence she wrote. "I mean from that book I showed you earlier, it spoke about Asmodians, the demons of Elyos, having different tribes. And the Burning Canyon was one of the powerful ones with their trade mark weapons… Seems like it's the rake hand that makes them strong…"
The man then noticed how fearful she seemed. He didn't blame her. She was suddenly unconsciously writing a language of another world and it had such a dangerous meaning. Yet, she suddenly showed a glint of optimism.
"… How did you know this, Lauren…?" Aisha felt it; a spark inside of her that someone actually understood her. But she hesitated slightly, restricting herself from getting closer to the man. Nothing good ever happens if any close relationships were to be made, she thought to herself. She had to keep it at a controlled distance. "Well…?"
"… Miss Aisha… It's time for you to know about your destiny… That you have a soul of a Grand Chase member in your body…"
BUMP
"Oww…." Gisella groaned in pain. She had half expected herself to have landed on her bottom, but there were two hands that had grabbed onto her arms. The undertaker behind her had caught her, saving her from the fate of having contact with the floor.
"Watch where you're going, tall freak." Dirge growled at the man in front of him. A very tall, grey haired man with the most scared expression he had ever seen.
"S-sorry…" He stuttered quickly, picking up his book he had dropped in the collision and rushed off. Dirge glowered at him for a while. Why would a man read that kind of book? Then again, he was reading a book about the dark arts. Dirge then he helped the girl up to her feet.
"Thanks, Dirge…"
"… I didn't know you had long ears…" The man stated, looking at her in a different angle. True, he had always looked at her from the front or side, only to have her do his biddings. But now, from the back, he could see her ears perking out of her long blond hair.
"I've always had them. That's why I can hear every mutter you say when you sleep with a book in your face." She giggled when she saw the older man get flustered in embarrassment that a side of him was easily discovered by her. "But wow… He was tall, wasn't he?"
"Who cares. Just move your butt. I want to get that book as soon as possible…" In his hand were crumpled pieces of papers. "See?! I even brought this to apologize to that damned woman."
Gisella stared at the papers. They were full of that same weird language of his and were badly taken care of. She assumed it was those which he had ripped out from another book. When she took a closer look at it, she couldn't even see anything that could be properly read, despite it being another language. "… We'll be having a hard time getting the librarian's approval with that…"
"Shut it, lesser being. I'll get those books and that's final." He growled back, leading the blond towards the building of knowledge. Gisella rolled her eyes. It had been a while since he called her with a weird nickname, not that she was complaining. She didn't really mind it at all. Though the moment she started to follow him, she bumped to him lightly. Dirge was just standing.
"Dirge?"
"… Shit. The Library's closed…" He slinked towards the entrance, noticing the note neatly stuck on the door. "Seems like the woman's gone for a temporary break…"
"Aww… Then we'll just have to wait for- Dirge! What are you doing?!" She yelped suddenly, gaping at the man who suddenly summoned out his Soul Reaver. It glowed darkly in his right hand. A gleam of death sparked on the tip of its blade.
"What it looks like. I'm breaking in." He muttered menacingly. With a simple swing of his giant scythe, he slashed down the door. Without a care, he stepped into unauthorized area callously, eyes set on the prize he seeked. "Now where did she put them….?"
Gisella blinked. "I… I can't believe I have a criminal as a friend…" Yet she followed after the man hesitantly, not forgetting to look behind her in case there were any witnesses. She did not want to be on a wanted poster whilst she was this young. At the same, she didn't really want to leave the undertaker alone long enough. Who knows what he could do in the library with a giant scythe?!
"Oh shit…." The curse caught the blond's attention as she entered the book haven. Quickly rushing to the undertaker's side, she curiously looked over the counter he stood in front of.
"The librarian's the writer! No wonder she was so possessive about those books…"
"I don't care about that." Dirge snatched the papers immediately, scanning them hastily. "This is makes sense now… The pain in my arm… That guy's hand…!" Dirge slinked around the counter, leaving the girl dumbfounded. "Seems like that librarian has all the answers I need." He then landed his bottom on the woman's chair.
"Dirge…"
"I'll wait for her to return."
"What if she refuses to tell you?"
"I have a scythe." He smiled, his purple eyes glinted mischievously. Gisella stared at him worriedly. He was wearing a serious expression that glared at the papers with a hunger for more knowledge. 'Burning Canyon…. I will have your powers…'
"This is too much… We're just going to a meeting…" The blue haired woman whined as she looked out of the window. The scene outside was of endless tall buildings that blocked both sky and ground. Figures. It was the kind of scenery you'd get in an apartment in the centre of Kanavan.
"It's not just a meeting, Solera..." In front of her, her subordinate aided her fix her suit. "You're going to present yourself as the Mafia's new boss."
"To Hell with the commission!" Kamille lashed out angrily, yet remained still to let her underling help her with her suit. "I don't want to be the Boss. They're going to start nagging me to do their work."
"It can't be helped. You've got a great influence over most of the factions of the mafia." He was right in every perspective. The commission had always favoured her skills in politics and her ability to strategize a plan. On the other side, she worked well with the other captains of their mafia group and maintained a steady alliance with them. But, she thought, it didn't mean that she was capable of being the boss. There were still others who were better than her.
But she dared not to say that. Everyone in the mafia knew that the best way to deal with the commission, the ruling panel of families of the mafia group, and every other old higher ups, was to act like an ignorant kid and let them play as the prideful know-it-alls who take care of them like the 'grown-ups' they were.
"And since when have you been acting so maturely?" She glared at the silver haired man who had finished his work and rubbed his palms together in satisfaction of his effort.
"On the contrary, I'm actually feeling annoyed that you're the boss." He grumbled. "No offence, Solera. But… I'll miss the days that we shared together, running around the streets and defending our territory."
'Ahh….' Kamille thought, as she began recalled the first she met him.
Lorraine was a kid of the streets without a home to return to and belonged to no orphanage. He roamed around with an empty heart and without any will to carry on. In addition, he dared not to approach anyone to the brink that he was scared of other life. And when he collapsed, it was in front of her, just around the time she had finally gotten the position of a captain of the Silver Rose Mafia.
'And I taught him how it feels to be surrounded with life…' The woman thought as she patted the silver haired man. She could remember how hard it was for her to get him to open up and accept another person's help. It was a nightmare getting him to even speak a little. 'Thankully, old man Fritz helped me out and adopted him…'
Fritz was an old friend of hers. But that was another story.
Right now, Kamille was certain that the silver haired man, her dear subordinate, her fratello, didn't want to stray too far from her after tasting the sweetness of their companionship.
"Don't worry, my little fratello. Being the boss is just getting a new title. We'll still go on the same campaigns." She smiled.
Lorraine merely stared at her. "… I don't know what you're trying to mean, but do whatever you want…" He then looked away, ears flushed.
The woman nodded as she saw him leave the apartment. She then exhaled, recalling a glimpse of what he might have went through before their encounter. 'He had once mentioned he wanted revenge against the Midnight Troops…'
Midnight Troops was a name that, she admits, sent shivers into her skin whenever she heard the name. They were lawless men who silently stalk in the shadows and destroyed whatever they wished, be it one of the ruling gangs in the underworld or an innocent family that was ignorant of this side of the world.
She assumed he was another victim of their devilish acts. Just like her.
'But maybe… Becoming the Mafia boss, I might be able to grant him his revenge' She gave a weak sigh when a thought crossed her mind. "Oh man… How am I going to explain this to lil bro….."
She imagined Rolan to be very shocked that his older sister had just became a Boss of one of the strongest ruling mafia groups in Kanavan, and probably in the whole of Bermessiah. The thought of him fainting did cross her mind. Then again, he had fainted several times knowing she was involved with such an organization and doing such activities that could make her be easily mistaken as a criminal.
Yet he hadn't shown any signs of hate to her. Very unlike the rest of the Erudon family. '… I just hope he's still lenient on me… Because this isn't enough…'
She stared at the outside world once more. 'Becoming the mafia boss wasn't part of my plan but it'll make it all faster…'
'Our revenge will be fulfilled….'
Chapter 6 - End
Osh..!
Chapter 6 is done :3
Um...
About mafias.. Each successing Boss is chosen by the Commission, a bunch of ruling families who support the group itself financially and control the violence level of their actions. I think... Seriously... Wiki and Movies don't talk much about those shit, but well... At least it sounded like that...
And as for the poem that helped Dirge remember the dreams... That was based on a song's lyrics. Well, I tampered it's original (I'm sorry), but it fits the situation so much that I had to use it. And promote the song here! XD
It's a song arrange called 'Quod Erat Demonstrandum' by a circle called SOUND HOLIC. And it's an arranged of a background music for a Japanese game called Touhou. Nice game if you're a hardcore gamer who'd like to try a near-to-impossible-game-to-lose (Of course, as a softcore dungeoneer, it's pretty hard, even in easy level).
Don't worry, I haven't turned my back on Grand Chase. I still do casual runs online and complain that Rukkha is annoying to kill and that Elfbane dude is really getting on my nerves... (why must kill him multiple times?! orz)
Sigh... I'd like to hole myself up in the corner now...
I'm happy to see Zero's third job out (finally, they cared!) but I'm a bit disappointed that I have to wait a little longer for it to be released in NAGC... q-q
Which reminds me, what are your favorite characters to play with in GC? I mean... I always talk about Zero and nuff said. I'm curious of the other end too ^^
And btw, Haruka-chan~! it's been so long since i posted that up in devart that i thought no one would see anymore ^^" (To be more specific, I haven't updated my life in DevArt in months... 3) well, it seems to me that you've enjoyed it so yeah. thanks :D