Finally, an update XD i feel like I'm running something like Homestuck, when people start asking me for updates lol Well, here is the next two chapters, a new character is introduced, Aisha gains some new powers, and other important stuff goes down. There isn't too much Chung though, he's becoming more of a side character D: Though I have a big fight in mind for him later in the story, in Hamel (lol way down the line.) Also, I hope no one forgot about Elsword, he's coming back once they leave Elder, which should be sometime in the next two-three chapters.
Well, enough of my blabbering. Without further ado, here's chapters nine and ten~!
It was early the next morning when Rena got up, greeted by the bright light of the morning shining through her window. She rose and stretched, swinging her legs out of bed and standing, stretching a second time. She moved to the base of her bed, putting on her leather vest and hip armor over her black shorts and shirt. She left her gloves and gauntlets off, but pulled her socks on and padded out of the room.
As she passed the desk by then door, Eve's black drone caught her attention. It gave out a threatening whirring noise, snuggling into Eve's arm and glaring up at the Elf, who merely smiled at it. She bent down and rested one hand on her knee, petting the drone with one finger from her other hand. "Shhh, shhhh... I'm just going downstairs."
The drone didn't seem content with that answer, but it nuzzled Rena's finger and then cuddled back under Eve's arm. The Elf stifled a chuckle till she was outside of the room, and headed down the stairs.
She made her way to the kitchen, jumping and almost screaming at the sight of Raven and Aisha working together. There was only /one time/ Aisha had tried to cook breakfast for the gang, and it ended in lots of fire, Elsword singing his eyebrows off (he was really close to the stew, okay?), and them getting banned from Stella's home. Rena took on a horrified expression, racing over and practically shrieking, "Aisha, Raven, what are you doing?!"
"Morning Rena!" Aisha said cheerfully, as if the Elf hadn't just thrown a fit. "How's it hangin'?"
"How's it hangin'? You never use that phrase, let alone cook. Oh my gosh, is this because Elsword left? Are you cooking out of depression, Aisha are you okay?!" Rena rushed, holding tightly onto her friend's shoulders. The Mage snickered and pushed her friend away from herself, saying, "Hold on, you'll make me burn the food..."
Rena looked down at the... Normally colored eggs? And the perfectly golden pancakes?! Aisha was... Cooking?! Rena put her hand on her chest and started fanning herself, gasping, "Oh, oh gosh, the world is ending... My Aisha is cooking, oh..."
Raven, who had been completely forgotten about, put his hand on her upper back and steadied her with a laugh. "Why are you so worried? She asked me if I could teach her how to make pancakes and eggs, and she's doing it right. There's nothing wrong with that, right?"
"Well there isn't, just that..." Rena stated, but stared down at the fluffy, golden, perfectly round pancakes again. They could't be that bad, right? They looked good enough...
Rena reached over and took one of the pancakes, tearing off a small piece and popping it into her mouth. It wasn't dry, and was as perfect on the inside as it was on the out. She took another bite, and then another, and kept eating until...
"Urk-!" Rena choked, lurching forward and coughing. She felt like her tongue was writhing in her mouth, screaming at her to get water or milk or something. Whatever she just took a bite of tasted terrible, it was salty and dry and...
"A-Aisha, are you sure you grabbed the sugar...?" Rena asked, her face contorting in disgust. "Yeah, why? Are they too sweet?"
"Check again, these things are too salty!" Rena exclaimed, pushing one towards her friend. The Mage sniffed it, then took a nibble and almost instantly gagged, flipping her half-cooked 'pancake' across the room. "I should go clean that up... And dump the rest of these while I'm out..."
Rena watched Aisha leave, a dejected slump in her shoulders. She felt bad for only giving criticism and freaking out about her cooking, and called after her, "You should try again when you're done! I'll tell you which one the sugar is."
"Really? You'll let me go again?" Aisha called back, poking her head into the room, a bright smile on her face. "Thanks Rena!"
"We'll they did look nice, so I suppose it can't hurt. Maybe it'll be nice to be able to sleep in for a change." Rena said, laughing. "I'll get the ingredients, come back here when you're done."
The morning went smoothly after that. Everyone filed down the stairs, Chung last as usual, and sat down to eat. They kept complimenting the pancakes, and Aisha found herself so red in the face she had to excuse her self to get some air. Rena took over cleaning duties, and by ten o' clock, they were standing outside of Luchiel's door.
"G'morning, ladies and gents!" She greeted warmly, opening the door and ushering them inside. "Come in, come in! I've reserved the shop just for you this morning, so there will be no visitors for the next few hours!"
The shop was quaint and homey: a fire place blazed in the back, keeping the shop warm. There were clothing racks and hangers littering the side to the left of the door, and the opposite wall was covered in shelves. Near the back right corner, a section was cut off and blocked by a wall made of paper and wood, that unfolded into a beautiful design and served as a dressing room. A row of three tables ran down the center of the shop, every open space covered in baubles and clothing and jewelry. Dream Catchers and wind chimes hung from the ceiling, along with some colorful ropes and good luck charms. All in all, the shop was a collection of devious, beautiful trinkets: if one decided it liked you, you weren't leaving without it.
"Come, come!" Luchiel said, taking Raven, Chung, and Aisha to the back of the shop. On the last table, an assortment of purple, pink, and white clothing were laid out, shoes lined up neatly under it. "Aisha, I'm going to work with you second, because your outfit will be the hardest to pick. It must look cute and fashionable, but you'll need to fight in it! Look through these outfits, see if there's something you like! Until then, Raven, come with me."
She took the man by the hand and dragged him over to a rack lined with grey pants and white shirts and jackets. Luchiel shifted through the pants for a short while, before finally tossing him a simple pair of black slacks. She pulled a thigh-length white coat with black sleeves and a black collar from the rack and held it up to his chest, scrutinizing the look. She gave a nod of approval ad shoved the coat into his arms, before turning around and grabbing a black shirt. It was long sleeved, and she clearly decided she didn't like it, the way she pushed it back into the mess of shirts on the rack and pulled out another two. They were matching turtle necks, white and black, and she pressed them into his arms. "Go try these on, decide which you like better, okay?"
He did as he was told and headed to the back of the shop, where he slid behind the wall and started changing.
Aisha had been looking through her pile of clothing, and had only decided on two things: one, she wanted to wear a skirt, and two, she had found a pair of gloves that she liked, with matching arm accessories. "Find something?"
"Not really." The Mage sighed, and took the gloves off. She placed them back on the table and turned to Luchiel, who was inspecting her from head to toe. "What?"
"Pink. You need pink." She finally decided, shifting through the pile for something pink. She pulled out a long skirt, a half-cut jacket, and a short dress, all of which she sized up on Aisha. The skirt was a no, maybe it would have been nice if it was a dress. The jacket had a little more favor, but Luchiel decided it would only look good with pants, and Aisha probably would look better in shorts or something. She finally came to the dress and held it up to Aisha's body, when a realization dawned on her. "Oh, wait here! I have just the thing for you!"
She ran off to one of the racks, digging through the clothing until she emerged with a triumphant, "Aha!" And ran back over. She passed Aisha the outfit, a magenta dress with a white cardigan, and said, "You have to try this, it's just been sitting here and I've been dying to give it to someone... I think it'll look super cute on you!"
She pushed the Mage over to the changing room in the corner and said, "Raven, hurry up, okay? Aisha has something she desperately needs to try on!"
"Okay, I'm done." The man replied, popping half of his body out of the room. "Is it to your liking?"
"Come out here so I can see!" Luchiel chided, pushing Aisha into the changing room and pulling Raven out of it with a tug on his coat sleeve. The style matched his hair, and Luchiel started clapping her hands. "Oh it's perfect! I can't wait for you to get armor, I'll have to custom order you some from Lenphad later! Oh, goodness, I can hardly believe how dashing you look."
"Um, thank you," Raven mumbled, looking away from her and at Rena, who smiled at him. He looked away from her, and felt his heartbeat speeding up, picturing her happy smile. "Do I have to change..?"
"Goodness, no! Keep the clothing. Oh, here. And give me these." She insisted, taking his old clothes. She brought them to a basket by the changing room and dumped them inside, peeking in on Aisha. "You're so cute, you should show off more skin!"
"Luchiel!" Aisha squealed, and seemed to make a few flustered motions. "Don't peek in on me when I'm changing!"
"Do you need help tying that? I can show you a trick to doing it so it doesn't fall." The ex-thief said, slipping behind the wall. There were a few moments of silence, before she finally came out, dragging the purple haired Mage behind her. "There! You look perfect!"
"I-it feels kinda short." Aisha replied, tugging at her skirt. She glance up and saw Rena grinning from ear to ear, making the Mage's cheeks flush. "Wow, Aisha."
"What? Is there something on my face?"
"No, you just... Wow. You look beautiful."
"What? No! Come on, you're pulling my leg here." Aisha replied, tugging her skirt again. She shifted on her feet, blush rising. She was never good at taking compliments. Luchiel giggle and pat get shoulder. "Rena's right, you can even see. I have a mirror for you, here."
Luchiel brought the mirror over and propped it against the wall so Aisha could see the full outfit. The skirt was a little shorter than thigh length, and the jacket showed some skin, but he had to admit, it looked really cute. "See?"
"Wait, what about shoes and stuff?" Aisha fretted, looking down at her bare feet. The shop owner slapped her cheeks with her hands and gasped. "Goodness, you're right! Raven, come here! You need shoes too! And Chung-" Her nose scrunched. "Where is Chung? And Eve, for that matter? I want to take a look at her gloves."
"They slipped out a few minutes ago, why...?" Rena asked. Luchiel shook her head. "Would you mind getting them?"
Rena nodded and stepped outside, circling the building to find them. She got to the back of the shop, and, hearing voices, pressed her back against the wall. She kept sneaking around, till her eyes fell upon Chung and Eve, chatting with someone. She was tall, with black hair in two buns and a ponytail, and was wearing a dark red cloak. She had her hands out, like she was negotiating, and Rena could see that under the cloak she was wearing mostly white. There was a spear strapped to her back.
"Eve, Chung!" She called, and the other person instantly ran off. Well, more like jumped off, really. Rena stated after her, thinking, "how the hell did she jump that high?! Not even Eve could do that-!"
"Miss Rena, may I help you?" Eve asked, a hint of anger on her tongue. "We were gathering intel about Banthus."
"I didn't think she'd run off, I'm sorry." Rena said. "Who was she anyway?"
"She didn't tell us much about herself, just that we could call her Aren and that Banthus was hiding in the waterways. She said he'd gotten some Nasodic components added to him after we beat him last time, and he was waiting for us." Chung told her. Rena nodded and said, "We have to tell Hoffman. Luchiel wants you both inside, so I'll take Raven and go to Hoffman to tell him."
The three returned inside to find Aisha as Raven waiting. Aisha's outfit came complete with checkered knee socks and white heels, with the gloves she was looking at earlier. Raven somehow got armor in the last ten minutes without anyone seeing, and Luchiel clapped with joy. "You two look perfect! Goodness, if I could only make all my customers look this good..."
"Thank you, Luchiel." Rena said quickly, tapping her shoulder. "But I need to borrow these two and talk to Hoffman. We've got intel on Banthus."
Luchiel took on a hushed tone and said, "Really? Can you actually stop him this time?"
"We did pretty well last time, I think. Well, until he came back." Rena gave a small giggle. "May I borrow them?"
"I'm almost done. I just need to check Eve's gloves, I have a new pair that will look much better, and then get Chung something." The ex-thief said. Rena nodded, and beckoned the Prince and Nasod over. Luchiel took one look at Chung and said, "Well you put a dent in my plans."
"What? Is it my hair?" Chung asked, giving her a strange look. Luchiel shook her head as she fished Eve's gloves out of her pocket, and then passed them over to the Little Queen. "No, it's the armor. It wasn't as... Light last time. I had this entire outfit planned out for you, but I supposed I can give you parts of it... Hmm..."
Chung shook his head. "You don't have to..."
"No, that would put all my perfect planning to waste! Here, let me get you the parts you can wear." Luchiel stated, and shuffled back to the racks. She pulled a bag from under the clothing and dug through it, pulling out a wad of blue cloth and some belts. "These are for your legs, this is for your chest, and here."
She passed the cloth to him and it revealed itself to be a long, blue-and-red scarf. Chung held the soft cloth in his hands, staring at the way it shimmered in the firelight. "What... Is it?"
"It's a scarf, to keep you warm." Luchiel smiled, taking it from him. She wrapped it around his neck, securing it with an amulet. "I found this in the back of Echo's shop, she said it was a failed project, but it was supposed to give the wearer incredible luck. I would try it myself, but she said it only worked for one person, and I decided to save it for you. Be careful, okay?"
Chung nodded, and after saying their goodbyes and thank you's, the group started heading to Hoffman's home.
"I understand... This is very important news." Hoffman said, pouring coffee for his guests. The group of six sat around the table, Raven and Rena standing. "The townspeople aren't too worried now that you're back, but last night there were an array of break-ins during the celebration. Nothing was stolen, mostly it was vandalization. I must request that you go to the old waterways and find Banthus, and kick him out for good."
Rena nodded, taking a sip of her drink. She wrinkled her nose, but kept drinking anyway. "We will start for the sewers in a few hours, then report back to you."
"Alright. Be careful, all of you." Hoffman said. The group stayed for a few moments more to let Raven finish all the coffee everyone had shoved into him, plus his own, and got ready to leave.
"Oh! Aisha! One more thing." Hoffman said, and stood. "I received something in the mail for you. Here." He walked over to a shelf and pulled a letter and a wrapped staff. He handed the items to the Mage and said, "These are from your master, he clearly stated for you to read the letter first."
So Aisha did. Inside the envelope, a pendant that looked like a cross between a target and a stopwatch was held on a purple leather necklace. The letter read:
"Dear Aisha.
I'm sure you've already guessed, but this pendant is for you. I know you lost your abilities, and I think this will help you utilize n magic in it's raw form to gain your own magic back. Best of luck using it.
I've also sent a new staff for you, I'm sure the other one is getting a little... Short. Good luck on your journeys, Aisha. Be safe.
-Your Master."
Aisha placed the letter down on the table with the pendant and unrolled the cloth. A lightweight staff fell into her hands, with a white handle and a star on the end. As soon as it touched her hand, the gem in the center of the star started glowing and a pair of white wings sparkled into existence by the sides. Aisha's eyes lot up, and she looked between the staff, pendant, and Hoffman. "This is for me...?"
"If the letter says so. I can take your old staff for you too." Hoffman told her. She passed the staff to the man, and he gave her the pendant. "Be safe of your journey, report to me when you're finished."
They stood outside the entrance to the sewers, staring into the might water and dark cavern. "There's a drop somewhere in there, if we could just see..." Rena started.
"I think I can make a fire-" Aisha started to say, but Eve stepped passed her and shed a cool blue light on the tunnel. "I have taken care of it."
"Oh. Okay." Aisha said, dropping her hand. She held her staff close to her chest and they started venturing inside. "The drop is about forty feet this way, and it is about a fifteen meter drop. I can float some of us down, unless you want to jump on your own."
"If you float me and Chung down first, we can catch people." Raven offered. Rena found herself wanting to jump and have Raven catch her, but she shook the idea aside. "I can jump down on my own, I'll be fine."
"Whoa, Miss Independent." Raven whistled, letting her pass. Chung snickered at their interaction, and said, "I can get myself down, but if you can carry me, that'd be great."
"Understood. Aisha? Raven? What will you do?" Eve asked.
"I can slow my decent, we can float down together." Aisha exclaimed happily. Eve looked a little lost, and replied, "I've never done that before, what must I do?"
"Just float with me, silly." Aisha giggled, taking Eve's hand and leading her to the drop hole. The others had already jumped down, and Aisha could see the light and the others waiting at the bottom. Raven followed them, and asked, "Wait, how am I getting down?"
"You come with me." Eve instructed, and took his arm. "I'll carry you down."
As she went to pick him up bridal style, he moved away and said, "Wait, can we not do the whole 'princess carrying' thing?" She backed off. "Very well. But you jump first."
After some challenging maneuvering, Eve finally pushed Raven in and the floated down to catch him under the arms. Aisha Caught up to them easily, and her and Eve talked about cute things that Eve simply had to see: a pocket phoru, for instance.
They finally got to the bottom of the hole, and there was another 15 foot drop. "You should drop him." Chung jokingly yelled at Eve. She replied, "Very well." And let him go.
Rena raced over, catching Raven just before he hit the ground flat on his back and got a concussion or something, and Eve casually floated down next to him. "Eve! Don't just drop people!"
"Chung told me I should." She stated flatly. Rena gave Chung a look, and he shrugged in apology. "Didn't think she would," he mouthed.
"Eve, just because someone says you should do something, doesn't mean you have to." Rena stated. "Raven, are you alright?"
The man was pouting. "What's with everyone carrying me bridal style? Can I carry someone like that for a change?"
The group laughed, even Eve chuckled. "We should get going. Banthus is waiting for us."
