Port Ferox
"At last, we have arrived in the land of legends, ready to slay the divine evil!" Owain shouted as he came down the gangplank and into the port, Brady and Inigo following behind him. His outburst earned him a few strange looks from the townspeople.
"Owain, we're trying to get to Ylisstol. If you keep acting like that people with think you're crazy." Brady called to his friend as he made it to the bottom of the ramp.
Inigo was about to add something to the conversation when he saw something that immediately caught his attention. He jogged of to join it.
Owain and Brady had been talking to each other for a few moments before they noticed his absence. They turned to look down the street and what they saw made their hearts sink.
Inigo was talking to an extremely distressed looking young woman as she made frantic gestures and appeared to be on the verge of tears. Groaning, Owain and Brady walked over to him.
Inigo turned they got close. Owain was the first to speak. "My fair lady, I am so sorry for whatever my cousin my have said but-"he was cut off when the woman turned to him and began speaking in a desperate voice.
"Please, you have to find her! She left yesterday and hasn't come back and she could be dead! Oh, please!"
Owain was confused before Inigo turned to him. "Her friend went off to explore some ruins to the north yesterday and hasn't come back. She was asking me to go find her."
Brady was immediately drawn to the conversation. "I can't stand to watch a grown woman cry. Where are these ruins?"
The villager gave them it's location and the three friends took off to the north.
"Hey, Owain?" asked Inigo as they travelled.
"Yes?" the myrmidon answered.
"What did you mean by 'whatever my cousin might have said'?"
Owain smirked. "You know exactly what I meant."
A short distance east
Robin and his group finally made it over the last hill and came within sight of Port Ferox. They were lucky, the weather had held the entire trip and they hadn't needed to use extra supplies. They all walked down the hill and into the port, seeing shops carrying goods from all over the world now that they had been able to trade with the Valmese continent again. They quickly split up their tasks and spread out across the town.
Sumia made her way down the street, looking at every shop window till she found the kind she was looking for. It was a small building with many different types of tome displayed in the window. The group had used up most of their tomes against some either extremely brave, or unfortunately stupid bandits before their flesh was burned off or the skeletons underneath were smashed to pieces against a cliff or tree by a blast of wind.
Sumia entered the store. She was the only customer in the establishment and was able to simply hand the owner a list and was able to have everything she needed in a few minutes. She was unsure about the Arcwind tome, however. Robin said that she had progressed enough to use it, but she wasn't sure. But, as Robin had pointed out when she brought his up while they made the list, she wouldn't know till she tried. As she picked up her bag and left, she noticed a clothes store across the street. She knew she probably shouldn't, but, as she looked down at herself and the clothes she wore, it didn't seem right to dress like a Ylissian Pegasus knight when she wasn't one anymore. Making up her mind, she entered the store.
Later, everyone but Sumia had met up in the center of town again, packs loaded with the supplies that they had purchased. Robin had had some spare time after acquiring the concoctions that he was looking for, so he had spent some time at one of the local bars and, in between choking on strong Feroxi Liquor, picked up an interesting rumor. He was eager to share it once everyone was assembled. Eventually he heard the voice of the missing member as she arrived, coming from behind him.
"Sorry I'm late. I had to…make a stop." She sounded nervous.
Robin turned and his voice began to form words, but they quickly died when a new question took hold. "Sumia, what are you wearing?"
It was a rhetorical statement, he could see what she was wearing. Instead of her usual pale cream armour, she was wearing a black leather shirt and black riding pants. Sumia blushed and turned her gaze to the floor. "I didn't want to dress like a shepherd anymore."
Robin looked at her for a moment, before he nodded and turned to the group. "Ok then, I heard a rumor recently that I think we should investigate. I heard that there is a tear of Naga in some ruins up north. If we could find it, it would be huge asset to us. Any objections?"
No one did.
In the Ruins of Time
Marc was having trouble keeping his footing as he parried the heavy axe of his opponent. He eventually took advantage of the slippery floor by spinning away from the enemy, the Risen carried forward by their own momentum, sending it over the edge. He heard it splatter against something, but didn't have it in him to check for a body. Taking a breath, Marc turned to find his siblings.
Morgan was nearby, blasting away another group of Risen with her Arcthunder tome and was seeming to be holding her own. He would never admit it, but he did worry for his sister as any brother would. It took him a while longer to find Cynthia, and when he did, his heart almost stopped.
Cynthia had been forced to land her Pegasus on a platform across a rather large pit from them and the risen were beginning to close in on her. She was obviously an experienced fighter, however, and was able to keep them at bay with her lance as her mount kicked at their heads with bone crushing force. But she could only deal with the risen that were assaulting her with melee combat. In only a few moments, she gave out a cry of pain as an arrow pierced her shoulder, knocking her off her mount.
"No!" Marc cried as he began to run towards his sister. Morgan noticed what had happened and paled for moment before she began pouring lightning into the group of Risen that were advancing towards the fallen Pegasus knight. The risen were burned away by the dozen, but there were many more taking their place as they press onwards towards Cynthia. Her Pegasus was forming a living shield in front of her as it kicked out, shattering Risen skulls as they drew closer and closer. She was quick to realize that she wasn't going to be able to escape from this herself and her siblings were too far away to help her.
Cynthia held up lance and hardened her facial expression. "Hero's don't cry." She said quietly to herself, even though her vision began to blur as the closest Risen swung its arm, smacking her lance away and raising its axe above its head with its other arm.
Before it could begin to descend, however, there was a loud call, echoing through the halls.
"This is your last dance!"
Suddenly, the Risen standing over Cynthia stiffened. A moment later, it sunk to the ground and turned to purple smoke. Standing behind it was a man in the garb of a mercenary. His oddly blue hair blew in the wind as he spun, dealing another blow to another Risen. The mercenary was quicly joined by what appeared to be a myrmidon, a quick man who dashed around the platform, killing risen wherever he went.
Cynthia was so surprised by this turn of events that she didn't notice that another man had approached her as the others pushed the Risen back. "Hey! Are you all right?"
Cynthia turned and would have fallen over had she been upright. The man before her was dressed like priest, but his face reminded her of a bandit that had recently been cut by sword.
The priest noticed her reaction and dropped his gaze to the floor. "I know I aint the prettiest guy in the world but can you please stop staring. I just want to know if your hurt."
Cynthia finally recovered and answered, but found the answer to be somewhat redundant. "Yeah, I have an arrow in my shoulder!"
The man nodded and quickly went about his business. Cynthia gave a quick yelp as he seized the arrow and carefully pulled it out. After examining the wound, he took his staff and cast his healing magic. Her wound closed quickly. In moments, there was no sign she had ever been injured. She sat up, feeling slight soreness in her arm, before the priest helped her to her feet. She thanked him before walking a short distance away to recover her lance.
By this point the other two men had returned to find her holding her lance and struggling to bring her Pegasus back under control as she took a jar of concoction from her saddlebag and rubbed it into her mount's wounds, pay extra attention to the wing.
The mercenary approached her, a slightly stupid grin on his face. "A beautiful lady such as yourself shouldn't be in a place like this. When we get out of here, why I don't you and I go out and have a nice cup of tea?"
Cynthia was surprised to say the least. "Are you hitting on me?"
The blue haired man didn't have time to respond as it was at this moment that Morgan and Marc rejoined their sister.
"Are you all right sis?" Morgan asked worriedly.
"Yeah, I'm fine now. Thanks to these three." Cynthia's gaze changed from relief to admiration. "That was so HEROIC! Please, what are your names? I have to know!"
The three newcomers introduced themselves, Owain attempting to break into a dramatic speech, but was quickly silenced by Brady.
Cynthia smiled. "Thank you. Now I can get back to what I came here for."
Inigo looked at her, tilting his head to the side. "Why did you come here?"
She told them about how she had heard a rumor about the Tear of Naga, come looking for it and found her siblings in the process.
Morgan and Marc immediately nodded. "Ok then. Let's find that tear, Sis." The three siblings began to walk further into the ruins.
Owain turned to Inigo to see him staring at Cynthia's back as she walked away. He sighed. "You want to follow them don't you?"
Inigo smiled. "How can you see a woman like that and not follow them, Cousin?"
A/N: Just a quick note. I am currently taking suggestions for what Robin's group should be called. Leave them in a review, and if I find one I like, I will use it. Also, 51 followers? Thank you all!