The Summoner and the Enchantress
Chapter 20
"Titans… it is a good team name… though I will still need individual code names." Baltharn mulled the name over before giving his approval, he wrote it down on a separate part before he stared at the pair, just missing the glare Rhordan sent to Gideon over his antics. "I should mention its mainly for paperwork purposes, you wouldn't want someone else banking in on your achievements…"
The deep green-eyed man didn't need to elaborate further on his words, the threat hidden in his words was enough to give them pause. Rhordan immediately forgot her ire over her twin brother's antics, deciding to berate him later and focus on creating her own code name. She had many ideas on what to choose from, but nothing seemed to fit, she had to remember to play her part as a male twin which meant her name had to be similar to her green-eyed teammate's. A stray thought occurred to her, something she hasn't done since she first received her powers.
Calling the energy to her hand, she inspected the new form of magic she now had at her disposal. The purple energy coated her hand as she held it just below the sightline of the director, marvelling at how easy the energy was being held there. Though that was short lived as the energy fizzled and dissipated, breaking away from where the bracers lay hidden beneath her slightly oversized shirt. The purple energy gave her an idea, remembering her green-eyed teammates power being the green shade she had seen before.
"Amethyst, my code name is amethyst. And this is Emerald." Rhordan spoke carefully, she knew she was following on from Gideon's antics from earlier though it was suitable payback for not consulting her. It was not that she disliked the name he had chosen for their team, rather it was his lack of including her in the decision making after declaring them a team.
Gideon barely managed to keep his composure as he nodded his agreement to his new code name, he could scarcely believe that his purple-eyed teammate of all people would copy his earlier antics. He had known he overstepped his bounds when he declared their team name without at least consulting her, so when she turned around and did the same to him it shocked him so much he was afraid his jaw might drop. Mentally shaking himself, he pulled himself together and help back up his purple-eyed teammate.
"Oh yeah, that was our old nicknames. I forgot about them…" Gideon mockingly recalled before looking solemnly to the ground, hoping to portray a sense of sadness with those nicknames. "Some of our friends couldn't really tell us apart when they came over to our farm, they gave us these names after the colours of our eyes. Couldn't really tell us apart most of the time…"
Baltharn studied the pair silently before he wrote the names down, he had pulled out a second piece of paper while the pair had been thinking on their code names. The second piece looked to be their team registration since he copied similar details from each of their personal documents. The room fell into a weird uneasy silence, with Baltharn quickly working through the papers before scrutinising them extensively.
A slight worry chilled Gideon as he watched the guild director inspect the documents, he found Baltharn's muteness and steely eyed examination of them unnerving. He had been under a similar stare when he first met Mento, judging whether his attempt at trying to downplay his horrible past with his uncle. Mento ultimately didn't believe him and continued to interrogate him further until he finally cracked, he later figured out that Mento had been constantly manipulating his mind to increase his frustration. A tactic that he used to get the truth out of someone without having to enter their mind, he also used it when his allies tried to keep something from him and he could honestly tell them that he wasn't reading their mind.
As soon as Baltharn had moved onto the other documents Gideon cautiously breathed a sigh of relief, careful not to let the guild director notice it as he relaxed into the chair somewhat. Rhordan had a similar reaction to the guild director's demeanour, though she was somewhat worried that her twin may have over done himself on the lie. She started to concoct a partial truth to use encase the guild director furthered his interrogation of them, despite her teammate's new behaviour she still figured him to be reckless and brash in the most indecent of times.
"That is your registration done, your cards will be made upon completion of the examination." Baltharn stated, shuffling the papers around and sorting them away into their respective locations. The pair sat anxiously waiting for what they were supposed to do now, where they were supposed to go to undertake this examination. "The examinations occur every other day at sunrise, tomorrow morning is the next examination. It will consist of three parts: a physical strength test, a magic test, and a skill test. These will be further explained at the time."
"Furthermore, there is a fee for registration which has to be paid upfront before the test…" Baltharn had paused for a second before he continued speaking, when he got to the fee that had to be paid he paused once more. "Though… in your case I will pay that fee with the expectation of a return upon completion of the examination and future quests."
"Umm… We don't have money for the fee…" Rhordan had started to say before Baltharn held up his hand to silence her, taking a second to level a steely glare at the pair before he spoke.
"I doubted that Alex would have given you money since he himself doesn't have much, but I would have not accepted any money from Mr Greyhound." Baltharn stated calmly, his words had an almost practiced ease to them as if he had said them multiple times before. "As noble as Mr Greyhound is, he isn't exactly the best at judging people's characters. There have been more than a few occasions where he has been scammed and never realised it."
The pair couldn't help but agree with the guild director's assessment of their new friend in this new world, they had felt guilty for not being able to pay him back for all the help he gave them. Though, Alex had said that if they make it to Larravass then he might have some work they could do for him, something they had unanimously agreed they would help him if they make it to the city.
"Anyway, it would be best to get some sleep. The test may not be rigorous but using magic can be quite taxing in the hands of the untrained." Baltharn cleared away the final pieces of paperwork before grabbing out a large file, carefully writing similar symbols to the code names they had given him before putting the large file back. He gave the pair a confused glance before he retook his seat, staring them down once again. "I take it you don't have lodgings for the night?"
"Unfortunately, no…" Rhordan sheepishly spoke, she had wanted to leave the moment he had dismissed them except she didn't know where to go. Bardia, although a town, was still completely knew to them and without any form of guide or even knowledge of the written language they would be headless chickens, running around with no clue as to what could be lodgings while trying to avoid the previous place they had stayed at. "We don't know where to look…"
"Sigh… fine. The adventurer's guild has their own lodgings available to the higher ranked adventurers who are either passing by or have a quest in our location, these rooms prioritise adventurer's security for both them and their items." Baltharn gave the company line, selling the rooms that they didn't even publicise anywhere. "These rooms have a minimum adventurer rank as well as a high fee to stay in them."
A slight nervousness shook the pair as they realised that they would be getting into even more debt with the guild director, someone they had only met recently and lied to completely. That said, if the silver knight trusted him, then they could give the guild director the benefit of the doubt for now.
"Luckily, there is a major event occurring in Calatos on the other side of Averia. Adventurer's from all around have been travelling to there, so the rooms are fairly empty." Baltharn moved over to one of the bookshelves before waving a glowing blue hand over it, with a subtle shimmer the bookcase disappeared and replaced by a panel of keys. He took a set of keys off the panel before waving his hand again, making the panel disappear and returning to his chair he handed the key over to Gideon. "I will pay for the room and you will pay it back over time, though this will come with a few conditions…"
The guild director levelled his steely eyed glare upon the two, carefully weighing his options before he decided to speak. The pair sat silently waiting with trepidation over what the possible conditions he could ask for, knowing full well that they didn't have much options available to them other than going it alone and hoping they eventually stumble upon a tavern or lodgings. Even then, the taverns or lodgings around town would probably not have anything close to the security or protection the adventurer's guild offers, and after the incident with the thugs they didn't want to risk it.
"In the matter regarding my colleague, regardless of whether you are accepted into the guild or not you will investigate the matter." Baltharn stated, switching his firm stare from one to another conveying his seriousness over the matter.
"Umm… we still don't know the detail of the mission?" Gideon blankly, reverting to his old titan approach of just dumbly asking as if he hadn't heard a word that had been said.
"Ahh yes, unfortunately there have been some odd occurrences happen around this area that have had my attention divided." The guild director absentmindedly detailed, looking off into space for a split second. "My colleague believes that the Arc Mage's tomb is located near or in the Dead Lands, they had tried desperately to find it but never found a trace of it."
Baltharn chuckled slightly as he said the words Arc Mage, almost as if it was a common joke that everyone knew. When the guild director finally notice that the pair hadn't shared in his humour over the matter, his inquisitively stared at the pair for a few minutes.
"How have you not heard of the Arc Mage? It's a story that everyone hears at least once, it's the most common childhood story." Baltharn's voice almost cracked as he spoke, his inquisitive stare evaporated and had been instantly replaced with confused shock.
"Well… no… our parents didn't really know how to read either. Unfortunately, we didn't have much money to hire someone to learn, we didn't know many people who could, and the only ones were merchants who weren't regulars around our area." Gideon explained, choosing his words carefully to explain why and how they didn't know any of the common stories.
"That still doesn't explain how you didn't know about the Arc Mage, I am sure the merchants would have at least told you about him?" Baltharn looked unconvinced, slowly losing his confusion to suspicion. Rhordan panicked at Gideon's lie, she knew there was a limit to how many times you could lie before you tripped over yourself and make a mistake though before she could speak her insane twin spoke once again.
"The merchants weren't the chatting type, and if they were, it was mainly stories of their escapades with either monsters or bandits during their travels." Gideon chuckled, pretending to be recalling some funny story once told to him by one of the merchants. Rhordan sat shocked at her green-eyed teammates effortless ability to lie, it had her doubting everything he has ever said. Though, she knew for now she had to follow along with the lie to keep up their cover, except she missed her time to pretend to life. Instead she merely shook her head, hoping it meant that she had a different sense of humour to her twin. "That said, they didn't usually stop around where we lived, rather they were tended to stay by our neighbours farm which was a far distance from ours."
"I take it that your neighbour's farm is larger?" The guild director asked, still not losing his suspicion over the pair. He had leant forward with his hands steepled under his chin as he watched Gideon inquisitively, there was almost a hint of fascination in his eyes as he waited Gideon's answer.
"Not really, they had been there longer than us and they had a second barn built and converted into a lodging for merchants passing through." Gideon answered, smiling like he knew the answer off by heart. A slight chill ran down Rhordan's spine as she watched this exchange take place, only managing to keep her face still as she thought about everything her green-eyed teammate ever said to her.
"Ahh… clever! Travelling through the southern regions takes a long time and have a place of lodgings to rest at would be an excellent business adventure." Baltharn praised, a slight smile on his face as he spoke. The slight glint in his eyes starting to bug Rhordan, an uneasy feeling settling in her stomach as she observed the guild director.
"Yeah! Our family had been talking with them on working together to set up a second barn in our farm." Gideon joyfully exclaimed, leaning forward on his seat as he talked about the business plan. Even the guild director leant further forward to hear his story, nodding along with Gideon's story. "There had been some complaints from some of the merchants about the smell of livestock around their farm, and since ours was mainly crops, it made it sort of worked."
"Hmm… merchants aren't really the picky type since they are travelling around a lot, though I do suppose that the smell of the livestock could be unbearable to some of the more pickier types." Baltharn dissected Gideon's story, trying to find a hole in it where he could.
"Hahaha… yeah… I knew that line wouldn't work…" The green-eyed boy joked, laughing as he said those words. Rhordan almost attacked her twin, pure fear rang through her as she realised that he had just given away that they were lying and the only thing keeping her from falling apart was the smile on Gideon on his face. The same smile that the guild director also found intriguing as he awaited the perfect response to his obvious blunder, like a cat that knew the mouse was playing dead. "Truthfully, it wasn't the complaints of the merchants but rather our neighbours who didn't like the constant fights breaking out in their establishment. They said to explain it as the smell since they didn't want the merchants thinking it was because of the rivalries."
"Hahaha, oh yes those merchants can get into quite the ordeal when it comes to their enemies." Baltharn laughed, leaning back in his chair. The purple-eyed girl almost deflated and turned into jelly as her teammate managed to pull them out of the guild director's inquisition, slowly coming to dislike the tall lanky man while being slightly afraid of him at the same time. "Apologies, it's just so rare to find someone who hadn't heard of the Arc Mage's story, my curiosity got the better of me. It is a shame, that would have been a good opportunity, I take it that your neighbours were the ones who helped you and sent you on your mission?"
"Yeah, they had heard of our parents' plight and had wanted to help but were having a recent slump in customers as well as several livestock dying off for mysterious reasons. That said, the only way they had a recent flash of illness with their youngest daughter, they had no means to help other than to help bury them." Gideon sorrowfully said, trying to hide his head from the guild director's view. Rhordan copied his actions though she chose to look at the books instead of the floor, trying to memorise the weird letters on them while looking sad. "We had to sell our farm to them since as we could take care of it anymore, the monster had somehow set fire to our storage and we lost all viable means to restart without any money."
"That is a shame, I do admire their generosity in your time of need when they themselves are suffering." The guild director expressed his sympathy, smiling slight to offer his condolences. Gideon silently thanked his lucky stars that that paid off, he knew using the evil neighbour taking over while they remain clueless ploy was a risk but if it was pulled off then many would be hesitant to talk about it since it meant telling them that their generous neighbours were actually evil. "As for the Arc Mage, its is a long story and I would suggest hearing about it. But the general gist was that the Arc Mage once knew all magic including those that had been long forgotten, it was said that he even knew the magic of the ancients which could only be used by extremely powerful beings."
Rhordan had sat forward, intrigued with a new story to hear and absorb herself in. She agreed with the guild director's suggestion of hearing the story, if anything the Arc Mage would be an opening to this world's magic. The guild director turned his attention to Rhordan, figuring that the purple-eyed boy had more of an interest in stories than his green-eyed twin.
"The Arc Mage wandered the lands and taught those who either couldn't afford to learn magic or didn't have the chance or opportunity to learn, he was a beacon of hope for those who weren't powerful." Baltharn entered a teacher mode, teaching the twins about the past and taking a somewhat liking to being a teacher as he spoke with a more jovial tone. "Unfortunately, there was those with immense power that disliked the Arc Mage for giving power to those who are weaker than them. A battle broke out and the Arc Mage died in the battle due to some underhanded act, the people he had taught banded together after his death and drove away the powerful."
The guild director took a pause to open one of his drawers and pull out a plain glass flash filled with a bright red liquid, pouring himself a small amount into a shot glass he had pulled from the same draw. Taking a sip before he continued.
"The disciples took apart his home and library full of his knowledge, burying it all in a special tomb which they locked and hidden away carefully so those in power couldn't get hold of his knowledge." The guild director took another sip of the weird red liquid, something the pair took to be some form of alcohol since he didn't offer them some. "None of his disciples dared to read any of his work out of respect, so only the teachings passed to his disciples were carried on and the tomb of the Arc Mage was lost. There had been said that the Arc Mage's soul still roams the world and teaches those who are in desperate need of help."
"I take it that people don't believe this story because no one ever talked about seeing the Arc Mage nor could they find the tomb?" Rhordan asked, trying to understand how the Arc Mage story fitted into their mission from the guild director.
"Unfortunately no, there is a cult of believers of the Arc Mage who say they have seen him many times, and I say cult in the worst way possible as they tend to attack the rich or anyone who disagrees with them." A slight note of distaste edged his voice, and a clear look of disgust told his hatred of the group as the guild director spoke of the cult's antics. "As for the tomb, many discoveries have been made. Though, any tomb found is immediately invaded by the cult and destroyed if it isn't the tomb of the Arc Mage."
"Evil sods!" Rhordan exclaimed harshly, nearly forgetting that she had to keep her voice to that of a boy to play her cover. The guild director luckily overlooked this, choosing to laugh at the outrage of the purple-eyed boy to the destruction of the tombs. Gideon meanwhile held his hand over his mouth in a failing attempt to stifle a laugh, which fell apart the moment Rhordan glared at him.
"I agree, the lost of heritage is regrettable. There have been some attempts to stop them, but they have remained unsuccessful, it's gotten to the point that some claim some already discovered tombs are really the Arc Mage's tomb." Baltharn gloomily spoke, hating the cult even more of the venom dripped into his voice. "Anyway, my colleague had somehow managed to locate what they call the real tomb… though this would be the ninth time they said that…"
"So… this is a hunt with no prey?" Gideon asked, using a terminology that neither the guild director nor his purple-eyed teammate understood but got the gist of what he was saying.
"Essentially yes, they had made several assumptions before though this time they are positive that this is the location." The guild director answered, still slightly baffled by the odd phrase the young green-eyed boy had said. "The book you have is the story of the Arc Mage they have edited and included their findings, its basically a guide but because you two cannot read it won't be useful until you can."
The pair hoped Chrysanthis would be willing to help them otherwise it would take awhile for them to afford to go to school, and without the ability to read their language then they could forget about survival unless they choose to hide in the woods permanently.
"Chrysanthis, can you please take these two to the lodgings." Baltharn had placed his hand on a large green crystal ball that he took from another of his desk draws, though it didn't seem plausible. The device had to be some sort of communication tool as Chrysanthis' voice immediately replied, followed by a curt knocked at the door. "Come in."
"If you both will follow me, I will get you both sorted." Chrysanthis smiled sweetly as she held her hand up to lead them through the door. The pair curtly thanked the guild director and slowly got to their feet to follow the receptionist when the guild director held up his hand, calling the attention of the pair back.
"I have two more conditions, the first being discretion. I don't want the matter concerning my colleague getting out or my last condition either." Baltharn sternly said, ignoring the alarmed look that the redhead receptionist gave him before quickly changing back to her cheery demeaner. The pair quickly nodded, retaking their seats and swallowing the lump in the back of their throats. They understood why the guild director wanted to keep the matter secret since it was his attempt to help his colleague, it was the third condition that had them worried. "As for my last condition, I have need of certain individuals that can undertake quests that don't usually make it to the quest board. Do not worry, these quests aren't shady nor are they outside the general scope of being an adventurer."
The guild director weirdly let that sink into the pair, choosing to take another sip of his drink. Chrysanthis shifted uneasily from one foot to another, silently shifting her eyes around the room to anything but the guild director or the pair sat before him.
"There is certain clientele that require discretion in the quests they ask us to post, unfortunately adventurers aren't the type to… keep quiet." Baltharn emphasized his words at end, hoping to not have to explain why certain people don't want others to know about. "There are also matters concerning the guild that can't be posted as a general quest, they are usually handled by agents of the guild, but they can't get to all of them."
"I suppose we can agree… but… I want assurances from you that when the time comes for us to travel to Larravass then you would not use anything to hold us back here?" Gideon knew he was taking a risk, especially with someone that is somewhat helping them. The problem was that he knew where this could lead if they weren't, despite the helpful look and incentives the guild director offered, this could easily turn into a situation where Baltharn could keep them there by holding this over them.
Though the reaction he got wasn't what he was expecting, the guild director exploding into a loud boisterous laugh. Even the red-haired receptionist looked completely baffled by the guild director's reaction, her mouth hung open as she watched the usually quiet and stern boss turn into teenager. It took him several minutes to calm down, a smile left on his face from his laughing episode.
"You are an interesting one Gideon; I am gratified that my decision to trust you two with this was a good one." Baltharn smiled warmly, something that seemed weird on his stern features. "I have no intention of delaying your travels nor do I wish to jeopardise your future. It is simply having a team on hand that I can call upon rather than relying on the main guild branch to send the agents to help us."
"Oh yes, they can take quite the amount of time to get here that most problems either exceeded their level of ability to handle or the problem just disappears." Chrysanthis chimed in, hoping to help her boss in anyway possible. Baltharn merely nodding his approval to her comments.
"Of course, any quest you undertake from clients will of course be rewarded while quests undertaken by the guild will be compensated fairly." The guild director explained, pulling out a piece of paper to hand to them before remembering that wasn't a really good idea and placed it back where he got it from. "Chrysanthis, if you have some spare time then could you please teach these two to read and write?"
"Certainly, I would love to!" The red-haired receptionist nearly jumped for joy when she heard this, taking in a completely different route from the guild director's earlier interrogation. "It would give me a good chance to practice teaching. I would love for feedback as I am applying for a teaching position at the local school and would love to know I am doing."
"Thank you Chrysanthis, this means a lot to us." Rhordan happily smiled at the bubbling receptionist, trying her best not to explode with joy at finally being able to read the Arc Mage's story. After she had heard about it from the guild director, she had wanted to read it in its entirety, learning how the great hero came to power and his great deeds before his unfortunate death.
"No, Thank you! This would be a great help to me." Chrysanthis chirruped, walking smoothly over to the door, and holding it open. "I will show you to your rooms now so you can get some rest."
"We will accept your offer, Baltharn." Gideon brashly said to the guild director as he stood, offering a hand which Baltharn accepted eagerly. The pair followed the receptionist out of the guild director's office and down another set of long winding hallway, an impossible amount compared to the size of the building. The bubbly red-haired receptionist chatting away happily, walking at a very brisk pace that almost matched how fast she was talking.
"You will like it here in Bardia, it's a nice and quiet with not too much political interference. Just don't cross the guard, they don't take kindly to overzealous adventurers. Oh, and we will start your lessons tomorrow evening, and will be at my room. So, I will pick you up at the reception if that is okay." Chrysanthis managed to somehow master the art of breathing while speaking as the pair couldn't believe she didn't stop once for a breath, she just strode along in a chirper mood while talking only just faster than they can keep pace with her walking. "Oh, and don't worry about the examinations, the instructors are nice and helpful to newcomers. Especially in the afternoon, they are usually quite exhausted by then."
"Umm… our examination is in the morning?" Rhordan asked confusedly, wondering why the guild director would specify one time while the receptionist says another. Gideon on the other hand tried hard not to slam his palm into his face, he knew the way the guild director was talking about whether or not they become adventurers wasn't just because the entry requirements were high despite saying they had to pass novice rank to enter.
"Oh… he did… umm… well…" The green-eyed girl's stutter didn't put their nerves at ease, her unfaltering pace nearly had her careering into a wall when she lost her focus. Quickly pulling herself together, she returned to her usual pace and quickly responded. "The… the morning examinations are generally held for those wishing to advance in the ranks, the instructors are significantly tougher on those that choose to go to them rather than the standard weekly advancement tests."
"So, the guild director got us into the hardest class with the highest requirements, is he expecting us to pass?" Gideon asked snidely, already disliking the guild director. Rhordan had wanted to thump her green-eyed teammate on the head for saying that out loud to the girl who was willing wanting to help them learn how to read and write, except she too found a certain distaste to the guild director's antics as well.
"No, no, no, no, no. Of course, the director wants you to pass, the standard entry to becoming an adventurer is novice rank which is that hard to reach at your age." Chrysanthis quickly brushed off the green-eyed boy's remark and moved quickly onto the examination at hand, while hoping to ease their worries over the guild director's motives. "Anyone can choose to have their entrance examination in the morning… although many don't since it is done in front of the higher ranked adventurers which can either be extremely beneficial or… destroy whatever chance you have at becoming an adventurer what so ever."
"Brilliant." Gideon moped as he followed the receptionist through to a set of doorways that were equally distance from each other, what looked like numbers adorning each of them. He quickly pulled out the key that Baltharn had given him, reading the number aloud for the receptionist to show them where they were staying for the night. "Room number…"
Rhordan almost fell to the floor as she stifled her laughter with her hand, enjoying the expression of annoyance and self-hatred for forgetting that he couldn't read their letters. Even Chrysanthis hid a small smile behind her hand, quickly taking the key from him.
"You are room… 13, which is over here." She led the pair to a door halfway down the corridor, unlocking the door and pushing it open with a slight hesitation to her actions. There was a slight edge to her voice when she said the number, she hid it well by marching to the door quickly.
The room's decor inside stunned them, it was simple but at the same time elegant. It had a single double bed in one corner with a dress and a chest along the same wall at the back, in the centre sat a beautiful dark oak oval table with three chairs tucked under them. The floor and the walls all made of a lighter wooden material that they couldn't place, a simple glowing orange orb floated from the ceiling illuminating the place.
On the wall to the right of the door was a window much like the one that Baltharn had, though it was currently set to a pitch-black display which the pair thought to be the default setting. Overall, the room was plain and normal, yet so beautiful. Since the moment they arrived here they had slept on the cold hard ground several times, and the closest they got to a bed was the cot in the tavern.
"Yes, the rooms are lovely, aren't they?" Chrysanthis beamed with pride as she surveyed the room, she quickly moved over and placed her hand on the crystal adorning the window. Switching through a couple images before settling on one of a peaceful garden full of flowers. "This is my favourite one, its so beautiful and peaceful. Oh, and if you do well in becoming adventurers then you can afford to stay here often!"
"Are these the same across all guild locations?" Rhordan asked inquisitively, finding the appeal of staying in fashionable rooms for while rather than the taverns. Though the thought of sharing it with the green-eyed idiot dampened its appeal.
"Each location is different in how they decorate their rooms, the ones located inside the kingdoms tend to be the most luxurious although the most expensive out of all of the private rooms." Chrysanthis had paused for a second before answering, debating whether the information was entirely relevant. "Unfortunately, the kingdom private rooms tend to be held in reserve by the famous adventurers or noble born adventurers. They aren't really open to the general populace of adventurers."
"Thank you Chrysanthis, you have been a great help." Gideon smiled warmly, he knew she would be a wealth of information though that would only be useful once they passed the exam. Rhordan quickly agreed with him and thanked her as well.
"If you don't mind, could we ask you some questions after our lessons?" Rhordan kindly asked, hoping she wouldn't mind them picking her mind after her already willingness to teach them. "We don't know much about the kingdoms or the local towns since this is our first time leaving our home, I hope that wouldn't be a problem."
"Oh no worries, it would be my pleasure to help." Chrysanthis smiled warmly, then her face slightly faltered as she remembered something. "Oh… umm… I forgot something at the director's office. I'll tell him that you are both settled in."
The red-haired receptionist quickly darted to the door and tried to pull it open only to be hit by some sort of magic, she rebounded off of it slightly and held her hand in pain. The pair rush to her aid but she waved them off with a kind smile, tapping her head slightly as she remembered something important.
"Totally forgot these doors have magic seals on them, nearly activated the emergency protection charm." The red-haired receptionist laughed off the pain as she shook her hand, carefully reaching for the door and opening it slowly. "Don't worry, the seals only come into effect when someone tries to either attack them or force them open then the seals respond in kind. They also soundproof the room and protects it from both magic and fire damage."
Her last words echoed from the hallway as she had already bolted out of the door, the door slowly swung shut as they heard her last word. Or they hope it was her last word, and now they stood in the middle of a nice room on their own for the first time in what felt like hours.
"So… that happened…" Gideon jokingly said as he tried to wrap his head around everything that had occurred, he turned to look at his purple-eyed teammate who looked equally exasperated. "I hope we did the right thing in trusting Baltharn."
"Unfortunately, we don't have much of a choice. Though, I don't like that he trusted us so easily with his colleague's quest as well as turning us into his personal agents for secret quests." Rhordan tiredly exclaimed as she sat down on one of the chairs by the table, placing down her backpack beside her while taking out some of the food that Alex had packed for them. It was merely dried meat and a bag of nuts and dried berries, but it was more than they had when they first arrived. "Come eat something, we haven't eaten all day or the day before, but we need to be careful and ration encase we don't pass in the morning."
"Yeah… I am thinking Alex really isn't able to read people. Someone has to tell him that director is trickier than most, and devious." Gideon remarked about their silver knight friend, sitting across from his purple-eyed teammate. He pulled out the dried meat and placed it in front of himself, ignoring the weird look his twin was giving him as he tried to psych himself up.
"You know you don't have to eat that." Rhordan tried to comfort him, knowing his aversion to meat due to his former powers.
"As much as I want to do so I can't, we are stuck in this world and food is showing to be hard to come by." Gideon hated himself for saying those words but a part of him knew that he couldn't be picky when survival was at stake, he had hoped to never come to a situation like this but he knew he would be at some point being a titan. "If we are going to survive then I need a full set of nutrients that aren't regularly available in this world, or at least we haven't found any that does which means I have to be content with what we have."
Rhordan never thought it was possible for her to gain respect for the former green-haired idiot, she had been wondering about this problem for awhile as she knew all too well the strict dietary restrictions that he puts on himself because of his transformative powers. She wondered herself if she could make some sort of sacrifice like he was willing to do, something along the lines of letting down her emotional wall sprang into her mind though she still couldn't fully wrapped her mind around the idea yet.
Before she could finish her train of thought, Gideon had grabbed the piece of dried meat and tore a piece off of it and chewed it. Shocked into silence, she silently watched him chew the dried meat while making several ridiculous faces. Stifling a laugh as she watched him make different face after different face, scrunching it up and grimacing harshly.
"I know it's been awhile, but I doubt it tastes that bad?" Rhordan stifled her laughter, choosing to munch on some of the berries and nuts while awaiting his response. Gideon swallowed and looked completely bewildered, serious doubt crossed his face.
"I still can't get past losing my powers…" Gideon absentmindedly remarked, staring weirdly at the piece of dried meat he had just eaten from. Suddenly jumping back to reality when he remembered his teammate had said something to him, wracking his brain before a lightbulb lit up in his eyes. "Oh, no it has never been about the taste… err… wait…"
His entire train of thought completely derailed as his mind shut down from revealing the truth of his apparent hatred of eating meat, he still didn't like eating meat because he could transform into those animals but there was another reason he didn't like talking about. Though, the glare he was receiving from the purple-eyed girl sat across from him he knew he was caught, thinking of ways to get himself out of it only to be cut short by the glare turning into a withering hatred for his guts if he tried open his mouth with anything other than the truth.
"Argh… there is no way I can get you to forget that slip up, can I?" Gideon hoped he could sweep this under the rug quickly, it wasn't something he was ashamed off… but if people knew then they would look at him differently.
"After that amazing display of your lying skills, do you think I am ever going to trust a word that comes out of your mouth?" Rhordan snidely remarked, levelling her withering hatred back to a simple distrusting glare. She knew his skills in lying were exceptional, a useful skill they were going to need in this new world but at the same time made her doubt everything he had ever said to her.
"Not really, Mento would have to break his rule of not reading the minds of his team for the first year I was with them." Gideon joked, remembering how he could somehow feel Mento's minds trying to read his. Some of the animals he could turn into had a hive mind capability that granted him some level of mental power, just enough to sense if someone is trying to read his mind… or if a certain empath was trying to read his emotions.
Gideon had never liked fooling Rhordan. Mento he didn't mind tricking since he couldn't really shield his mind from him completely, but when he left the doom patrol and became a titan, he had learned how to shield his mind from a highly trained telepath. So, when he met the purple-eyed girl for the first time, her empathic powers were initially new to him until he figured out that they were another form of telepathy.
"Mento was smart enough to realise that you weren't telling the truth…" A lightbulb slowly lit up in her eyes as she stared at her green-eyed teammate, a dark realisation dimmed her eyes as her glare redoubled with even more force than before. "You can tell when someone is reading your mind… meaning you can tell if I am reading your emotions."
Wincing hard, Gideon cursed his mind for thinking about how he could trick telepaths and empaths, slightly wondering if she could read his mind right now. A shudder ran through his body as he thought about her reading his mind in its entirety.
"Yes, I could trick people with telepathy and empathy. Certain animals have a hive mind ability which means I have a different level of control over my mind than other humans, it means if some tries to enter my mind or read my emotions then I can sense it somewhat." Gideon explained, he had waged a mental battle in his mind before coming to the decision that he needed to gain her trust rather than preserve his image. They were stuck in another world with no viable way home, they had to rely on each other and they can't do that if she knew he was keeping a secret from her that changed the entire image of him she had.
"And this thing about not caring about the taste of meat?" Rhordan had at some point debated this point with herself, she wondered if his transformative ability gave him the ability to alter his emotions since he could switch them off occasionally. It was that it freaked her out, rather knowing that someone could evade her empathic powers made her doubt whether she could trust him.
"Sigh… my powers meant I had the entire animal kingdom in my mind, everything from the predators to the prey. And… unfortunately, the predator's instincts dominate the prey's instincts most of the time." Gideon reluctantly explained, still trying to figure out how best to explain this that he doesn't get a million questions. "My instincts tend to take control of how I… operate… meaning I could turn into an actual animal if those instincts took over. Prey let me take control while predators forcefully take over, much like with the beast… Anyway, to put it bluntly… its like an internal tug of war. Every action I take plays to one side, the more I play to that side the more control it has."
"Wow… so that means you don't eat meat because if you do then it would give your predator side more control?" Rhordan asked inquisitively, intent on learning about her green-eyed teammate's power. She found a new side to the one person that she thought she knew everything about, now she found out that everything she knew was wrong. Somehow, it was interesting to her to explore a whole new side to this green-eyed idiot.
"Well… its more of a balancing act. I still hate eating meat since I can become any of those animals, but it means that I have to compensate that by doing something a predator would do. Which being a titan gives me the opportunity to exact out the predator's need to hunt, so it works." Gideon laughed, knowing that this was the part was what he feared telling others. Sure, it was a tug of war, but this tug of war dictated his sanity. If it tipped too much to one side, then he would start acting that way regardless of which side it fell to. "If I am not careful, I potentially could lose my sanity and turn into an animal… and probably not be able to turn back."
"… You're just like me…" Rhordan had been shocked when she heard this side of him, and the more she thought about it the more she realised that he was somewhat in the same boat as her. As she was rolling those thoughts over, she murmured those words without thinking, snapping her head up the moment she realised she had said them out loud to find her green-eyed teammate with his signature lopsided grin.
"Yep! Well, I can't turn an entire city into the equivalent of mash potato but if I lose myself then there is a chance that I could never come back to being a human again." Gideon never had a problem with this part of himself, a long time ago he almost lost himself after the death of his parents and nearly turned fully into an animal. He was brought somewhat back by his sheer force of will to live for his parents' sake, though it was an extreme task to undertake in taking back control of his mind.
Gideon did wonder at some point whether the green monkey that had bitten him was another like him that had gone feral, something possibly occurring in their life that sent them into madness. Turning feral, that was what he started calling his internal battle with his two sides as if he fell to either side then he would be no different than a wild animal.
"Destroying everything around yourself… or possibly losing your mind completely… Internal and external… we are the same and yet opposite…" Rhordan's muttering concerned the green-eyed boy, though what she was saying did make sense. Her powers exploded around her and damage everything within her vicinity, while his could take hold of his mind and convert him into an animal with the thought process of one. Yet, they were complete opposites. She kept everything to herself and choose to withdraw into herself to save those around her, while he chose to be open and out going in order to tame his two sides. "Wait… how does the beast factor into all this? I know you said that the beast takes over like the predators do, but he doesn't often."
"The beast is in reality, an amalgamation of both sides condensed into one single form. Think of the beast as me, except if I didn't have a human side." Gideon could never fully understand the beast and his actions, but he knew that no matter what the beast would have his back when he really needed it. The green-eyed boy had thought that since the beast was him in a way, that he would have to understand himself to understand the beast, though that didn't fully pan out well.
"I seriously can't get past how you know big words and can use them in a proper sentence." Rhordan teased, hoping to turn the conversation onto something else as she was struggling to wrap her head around all that he had said. It wasn't that she didn't understand or couldn't understand, rather her mind could put the fun loving and idiot green-eyed moron together with the crafty rogue like warrior character currently sat before her. For some reason, her mind just couldn't except this fact about him, though in a way she did like the crafty rogue more than the fun-loving idiot.
"Ha ha, very funny. Though, it is astute of you to distinguish my aforementioned absence of extended vocabulary during my service within the titan's organisation with that of our current predicament within this interdimensional plane of existence." Gideon smugly stated in his best version of a proper English accent, trying his hardest not smirk at the dumbfounded look his purple-eyed teammate had on her face.
Rhordan tried in some way to prove that he lied through his teeth and smashed together a sentence that resembled something a scientist would say, though she struggled to get past the fact that he knew how to even pronounce those words in the first place. Giving up her mental battle, she opted instead to lob a dried berry at him half-heartedly.
The two stared at each other for a moment before they exploded into fits of laughter, enjoying the single peaceful moment they have had since they arrived here. Taking several minutes to calm down from their hysterical fits of laughter, simmering to a gentle and pleasant calm that the two simply enjoyed for as long as they could.
"Sorry to bring down the mood, but we need to address Baltharn and our future as adventurers." Gideon solemnly said, hating himself for doing this despite the necessity of it. Returning to the piece of dried meat, tearing another piece off and slowly chewed it. He hated the flavour of it as well as the thought that it came from an animal, but he decided since his powers were no longer affecting him then he couldn't turn his nose up to it nor could he try and chew through it quickly either since that would dimmish the point of trying to ration.
"I don't trust him… except we have no choice but to trust him…" Rhordan tried to sum up a good reason to leave and go their own way, though that meant having a chance of running into the Dusk Legionnaire or possibly worse people. "We will follow him and do this quest for his colleague, and anyway the other secret quests would be good revenue."
"Agreed. We should only stay for as long as we need to, the sooner we can get to Larravass the better." Gideon coldly agreed, putting away the dried meat in favour of having some of the nuts and berries to rid himself of the taste.
"Agreed. We need to get a decent set of magical gear, good potion of the currency here though we should probably learn what and how the currency works here." Rhordan finished off the last portion of her ration and put the food away, despite being still hungry she had to keep her resolve and put the food away. "We are also going to need to learn magic, the Full Binding Bracers are dampening our powers significantly, so we aren't at full power. Learning magic spells will help overcome this problem as they both focus and control the amount of power we use, though that is a double edge sword as the magic spells we learn have to be of a sufficient standard and properly done."
"Can we learn magic spells?" Gideon asked inquisitively, remembering how he managed to gain magic sight by manipulating the energy he found inside himself as well as mitigating the effects of the Full Binding Bracers. "I mean we have control of the magic itself, and you know many spells from our old world."
"Magic doesn't work like that, I think…" Rhordan wondered, calling the energy back to her hand and manipulating it in different ways. "In truth, this new world magic doesn't work the way our old world's did. Its different… and slightly more liberating… I would not recommend trying our old-world magic with this new world, things will not go well."
"Alright, so don't try to muck with something we have no idea how to use encase it backfires on us. Got it." Gideon knew not to mess with things he shouldn't, despite his antics at the titans he usually knows the purpose of the items he messes with… sometimes…
"Probably for the best, we will have to rely on our skills and try to reframe from using our magic unless we need to." Rhordan clarified, slightly depressed at the loss of not being able to use the new magic. "We will have to wait and learn magic first, though we should use it tomorrow to get ourselves a good score. We can't reveal the magic sense abilities, we need something else… beside your ability to destroy magic armour as I doubt many would want a demonstration. "
"I… might have something that could work… and if that door blocks magical abilities then we could try it a bit." Gideon sheepishly looked at everything but the purple-eyed girl before him, knowing the matter at the tavern might come back to haunt him. He silently wondered if he could lie his way past this but after the incident with the crown guard, he figured there wouldn't be a way to avoid it since the silver knight was with them at the time. "There may have been an incident before you woke up this morning… that might have involved a few bandits… and I may… have… blown them through the wall… with just pure energy."
"You summoned energy into your hand and fired it forward, I suppose that could work but it would expend a lot of energy if not controlled properly." Rhordan evaluated what the green-eyed boy had said, ignoring the sheepish pauses as part of his antics. Said green-eyed boy breathed a sigh of relief, hoping to breeze pass the whole bandits making remarks about her and he got angry.
"Yeah, I can limit the power somewhat. It shouldn't be too difficult, though I would not want to try it without the Full Binding Bracers." He thought about the flow of power from the source to his hand, determining if he could limit the amount of power that can pass through there and how much gathers in his hand before he fired the explosive bolt.
Gathering the energy back into his hand, he measured the amount of magic that passed from his core to his hand. Passing the energy back and forth from his core to his hand gave him, a slight worry did cross his mind as he continued to move the energy. Soothing his worries, he alternated where he could send the energy. Channelling it to his other hand, then down to his feet and up to the top of his head.
He at one point accidentally triggered his magic sight, he was about to shut it off when he noticed the door. There emblazoned upon it was an intricate design in the shape of a circle, the lines crossed around with a weird runic writing in any of the spaces left by the glowing lines. He followed the pattern and traced it with his mind, working out how it starts and where it begins. He tried to find the thread similar to the one he found on the armour, except it wasn't there like before.
"What are you looking at?" Rhordan finally got annoyed with the intent stare he had with the door, she wondered if he had broken down after taking about the power burst ability though she did see some green energy in his hand before it disappeared.
"I was messing with the energy by passing it through my body when I activated my magic sense and saw the protection enchantment on the door." Gideon explained, still looking for a way to break the enchantment. It wasn't that he wanted to break, more exploring the possibility of what types of magic could he break. He found out quickly that different magic has different methods to taking them apart, he needed to work on a method to break all types of magic without having to find the weak point.
He supposed that he could just brute force it, though the amount of energy needed would be excessive. He wondered about the thread method with the armour, except that was panning out to be less than credible. Choosing to table that idea and work on it later, learning all types of the magic would be useful to give him the basis of how to deconstruct it.
"Oh! I can sense the seal, its powerful…" Rhordan exclaimed, feeling the energy of the seal exuding throughout the room. It expanded out to the walls and concentrated at the centre point of the orb embedded in the door. Yet, something felt wrong, like the energy was wrong, almost malevolent. "Err… something is wrong with the room, that seal isn't right."
"What do you mean? The seal is intricate and weirdly drawn but nothing much else." Gideon didn't want to dismiss her, but there was nothing he could feel wrong with the room.
"The room feels evil… wait you can see the seal?" Rhordan forgot that she and her green-eyed teammate didn't have the same magic sense ability. A lightbulb blinked to life in her head as she realised what the silver knight had said. "I can sense the magic and you can see it; our powers complement each other by picking up where the other leaves off."
"Ok, so I can see the seal on the door but you can sense the energy of that magic… and its evil… great…" Gideon's mood immediately plummeted, he knew he didn't like Baltharn but this is a new low. "Welp, there is no point in not trying this."
Before Rhordan could enquire to his actions he stood up and went over to the door, placing a hand against it and stared intently at it. She wondered what he was trying to do when his hand started to glow green, coating the seal on the door with his own. It took a second for her to sense his energy covering the powerful orb and containing the energy, squeezing the power out of it and crushing its life. Something wasn't right, the malevolent energy wasn't decreasing. In fact, it was increasing drastically while the seal was being suppressed.
"Wait! Wait! Hold on, that isn't the source of the evil energy." Rhordan called out, drawing the attention of the green-eyed boy who slowly released his hold on the seal. Stepping back and retaking his seat, he breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed into the chair.
"Really shouldn't have tried that… should have just gone for the brute force method instead of smothering it." Gideon felt somewhat exhausted, he didn't even use a lot of energy rather it was holding that amount of energy in a sustained motion of crushing force. His original plan had been to use his energy as a form of liquid and power it into the seal to find the cracks or highlight where the thread could possibly be, that was the plan until the seal fought back against him and nearly overpowered his attack. "If the evil energy isn't coming from the seal, then where is it coming from? Also, why is the seal suppressing it?"
"I don't know, the room is exuding the energy, but it doesn't seem to be coming from anything in particular… I don't know." Rhordan tried to explain though she herself couldn't figure out where it came from, she felt the energy being contained in the room by the seal. "There is something inside this room that is exuding an evil energy, the seal contains it but only inside the room. Can you find it?"
"Hopefully, I'll have a look around and see what I can find." Gideon began searching the room while Rhordan went about sorting out their packs and clothing, she wanted to set out the clothes for tomorrow and lay out the packs as a divider on the bed. As she was looking at the other set of clothes, she realised there were going to be certain issues with hygiene if they don't find a way to clean the clothes. Instead of dwelling on the issue, she decided to go check out the bathroom which happened to be a door adjacent to the window which was almost hidden in the woodwork.
The green-eyed boy checked the room, scanning the room carefully and going over the walls. He didn't find much, the window of the room had similar runes coating the frame. Taking the time to compare the runes between them, he tried to find if there were any cracks he could exploit in the window's magic. Eventually finding none he moved onto the cupboard, exploring it for any secret panels that might be hiding anything.
"Urgh… there is nothing I can find, if there is anything here then its hidden well or I am not looking in the right area." Gideon frustratingly exclaimed as he closed the cupboard, he had scanned the bed and the table but still finding nothing. Rhordan had returned somewhat dismayed from surveying the bathroom, it was somewhat decent… being a hole in a seat built into the wall and running water could be heard in the pitch blackness.
"We can't sleep in this negative energy; it can easily corrupt our own magic since it has been dampened by the Full Binding Bracers." Rhordan knew the effects of negative energy on her own magic, demonic energy nearly corrupted her once before in Azarath and falling asleep meant certain death. "If we can't find the source then…"
She had been walking over to the bed and while she was talking, she sat down on the bed and immediately leapt off of it, turning to look at the bed in shock. Shaking her head, she scrambled and started pulling the bed apart piece by piece. Gideon had been staring confusedly at her before catching onto why she was attacking the bed, he helped her pull apart the bed and scanning everything that she pulled off to make sure they didn't miss the source of the evil energy.
After minutes of fruitless searching they found nothing, they had tried to move the bed, yet it was fixed to the floor. Though, as Gideon was scanning the bed frame, he nearly missed a slight trail of magic at the edge where the bed connects to the wall. He tried to find the source of it, scanning around the area where he located the energy. He eventually found a line of magic leading up to a panel on the wall he somehow missed earlier. Berating himself, he investigated it intently though he was unable to find anything.
"Argh!" Gideon yelled in frustration as his examination proved ineffective, he couldn't find anything resembling runes or a circle. His irritation proved to be the key to his problem, as he suddenly moved more energy to his eyes on a whim. His vision took on a darker green hue though his head started to swoon slightly, had Rhordan not caught hold of his arm to stabilise him he would have been on the floor. The sudden increase of energy caused his vision to swim uncontrollably, he wasn't expecting the sudden change and lost his balance.
Despite the nausea and the loss of balance, he found he could finally see the magic seal on the piece of the wall he followed the line of magic. Focusing on the magic seal there, finding a less intricate version of the seal that was on the wall except a secondary circle of runes were written around the seal. He supposed that the second circle of runes covering the first concealed it from view, only up to a certain level since they were visible now.
He had wanted to try find a crack in it since he had done so with the previous seals, but there was something blocking his attempt. It was as if there was something in front of the seal he was looking at, he wanted to think that the second circle around the seal was the barrier stopping him, yet he knew it wasn't. The energy coating the seal was a different shade to the uniformed soft green colour of the runes inside the room, it was a darker shade with hints of a chaotic element that he couldn't quite understand.
"Raven can you see if you can sense what is over this magic seal?" Gideon absentmindedly asked, slightly afraid of trying to increase the amount of power to his eyes. His brusque incident earlier nearly toppled him to the floor, he was worried there would be a limit to the amount of power he could send to his eyes before they… a shudder ran through him as he thought about what could happen if his power overloaded.
"Gideon Voidsaber, how could my own twin forget my name." Rhordan's tone was heavily sarcastic despite the point she was making, they had to play their new characters at all times if they wanted to keep up the ruse. The more they got use to the new names and identities, the easier it becomes to be those characters. In truth, she didn't want to become Rhordan, she wanted her old life back in the titan's tower with her friends but that couldn't happen now. As much as she wanted to gripe and grumble, she had to swallow her pride and just pray that at some point in the future that she could become herself once again.
"Sorry, Rhordan. I am just admiring this seal and for some reason there is something stopping me from even interacting with it…" Gideon smacked his forehead, whenever he gets too focused on something he could easily forget everything around him and break character. "The magic there isn't the same as the others used in the room, it's a darker shade with something else that doesn't sit right with me. Also, I don't want to increase the amount of magic I put into my magic sense; my vision is still swimming."
Rhordan held her hand over where her twin had pointed, concentrating her magic sense in that location. She had found her sense ability originate from her core and expands outward, but after watching Gideon work with his sight type sense she thought she could move the start point by moving where the energy starts fuelling the sense ability.
After a few tries, she somehow managed to move the location. The only downside being that it takes a constant source of energy to keep it working, trying to control the flow of magic while trying to read the different sources of magic in the room. The corrupted magic filling the room made it difficult to focus on any area in particular unless it was powerful enough to compete with it, channelling the energy to single point of her body and directing it in a particular way or spot increased the accuracy of the read.
It took her several seconds to locate the seal that Gideon had found, though she found a concentrated source of the evil energy before she found it. The seal, like Gideon had said, had been almost identical to the one on the door with only a few alterations. Changing her focus, she examined the evil energy coating the seal, exploring for a way to identify it and pinpoint its location.
"Here, focus your energy here and try to suppress this spot." Rhordan pointed to just in front of the seal on the wall, it was slightly above where the seal was and further out than one would have suspected. Gideon nodded and moved his hand to the spot she was pointing, he couldn't see it, but he trusted his purple-eyed teammate. Copying his actions from before, he pictured a circle around the spot where his twin was point and covered it with his energy.
A sudden sharp pain erupted through his arm as whatever he was trying to suppress fought against him, the pain increased the more he tried to suppress it. Gritting his teeth, he channelled more energy into the Suppression Orb and crushed the source of the pain. He had decided to call this move the Suppression Orb, it works simply by coating something in energy and either crushing it or suppressing it, supposedly effective in dealing with low level seals or stationary magic though he needed to test it further.
Suddenly, the seal on the wall lit up and the bed moved upwards to reveal a secret compartment, inside sat a large object wrapped in old white cloth. Rhordan winced violently, the evil energy exploded from the opened compartment and nearly cause the door to buckle.
"Hurry… and take it out… I don't… I don't… think I can hold this thing… for much longer…, its… something isn't right with it…" Gideon grunted through gritted teeth, the evil energy ramping up the pressure to retaliate against his attack. He wanted to crush and destroy it, except no matter how had he tried to smoother the thing it found more energy to fight back against him. He couldn't hold it, and if he lost the Suppression Orb then he was sure it would close the secret compartment.
Rhordan grabbed the large object, a searing pain shot through her arms and she nearly dropped the sword if she didn't have a good hold of it. As swiftly as the wind, she practically threw the clothed covered object onto the table. Gasping a sigh of relief, she sat herself down on one of the chairs while Gideon let go of the suppression orb and followed her to the table. He held his arm as he flushed the painful energy out of his arm, cycling his own energy helped alleviate and dispel the foreign magic.
The bed closed down on the secret compartment, sealing itself up like before and leaving no evidence that it had even open. There was a slight sparking in the air where the seal was located, the malevolent energy still reacting to the intrusion.
"Okay… we did all that… for a large piece of wood… I really… really… hate that thing." Gideon wheezed, still rubbing his arm as slight spasms of pain still shocked through his arm. Rhordan was in a similar boat as him, rubbing her hands together while wincing occasionally.
"I think it's a sword, there is a hilt there at the top." Rhordan still felt her hands twitching, she was grateful that the magic sense turned itself off when she stopped fuelling it with power. The object had a sharp edge to it when she picked it up and at the top it split off in outwards much like a hilt of a sword. She wanted to unwrap it and examine every detail of the sword, though the lasting ache in her hands persuaded her otherwise.
"Whatever it is, there is something extremely wrong about it." Gideon worriedly said as he stared at the object, he didn't get much of a good look at it until he sat down and saw the object on the table. Crackling dark crimson energy rippled off of the object, there were other darker and lighter colours mixed around the predominantly dark crimson red energy creating a mesmerising collage of energy emanating from it. The evil aura ruined the beautiful display, sending dreadful chills down his spine as he shuddered away his slight fascination.
"Yeah, we need to do something about this and quickly. Can you destroy it? Like with the crown guard's armour?" Rhordan turned away from the sword, wracking her mind to find a way to deal with the thing without resorting to asking Baltharn for help. She didn't want to ask for anything else from Baltharn, their last meeting didn't exactly leave them with a lasting impression.
"I can try… though I hesitate to after my earlier attempt." Gideon groaned slightly, keeping his arm in motion as a dull ache still plagued him. He wondered if he could suppress the sword rather than trying to destroy it, he theorised that he might have an advantage if he took off the bracers however it poses the risk of revealing their location.
"What are the chances that Baltharn wasn't involved in setting this up?" Rhordan's trust in Baltharn was low, but not to the extent that she would suspect him of putting something as heinous as this in their room. That said, she couldn't leave out the possibility that he might be behind this.
"Almost nil, as much as I distrust him, and I do, I doubt he would have anything to do with this." Gideon stared intently at the sword, trying to see past the intense aura it was exuding without much success. "So… what do we do with it then?"
"No idea." Rhordan reluctantly admitted as she stared at the sword, working her way through the list of spells she knew of to dispel the evil energy.
The two sat in silence, staring at the sword. Neither moving, both thinking on how to destroy the malicious sword.
Chrysanthis had darted from the room quickly, partially running down the corridors as she made her way to the director's office. A chilling panic ran through her as she thought about what had just occurred, wondering how her boss could do something like this. Reaching the director's office, halting in her step to knock on the door as an employee should only to remember the reason she practically ran here.
Bursting into the office, she found the elegant and mysterious guild director monotonously working through paperwork. He calmly looked up and stared somewhat incredulously, the look disappeared when he noticed the slight crazed look on her face.
"What was that about? Sir!" Chrysanthis wanted to blatantly yell at her boss, but she needed this job to afford school as without either a reference from a high ranking individual or being born of noble blood then the fee is extortionate.
"I am unsure of what you mean, Chrysanthis?" Baltharn calmly continued on with his work, ignoring the fact that his employee had burst into his office unannounced.
"Where do I begin!" Her volume raised a decibel as she stared in bewilderment at her boss, an immense desire to hit him nearly overwhelmed her. "Let us start with the examination. The morning class, seriously! The morning examinator's are ruthless, they throw out more adventurer's for just turning up late than the actual examination. They will chew them out and laugh them out of the building, regardless if they actually meet the requirements. Any starting adventurer in the morning examination fails nine times out of ten!"
"Don't let me stop you, please do continue." Baltharn put down the pen he was using, somewhat enthralled with his employee's rant.
"Okay then. How about room 13, that room is haunted, and the secret compartment doesn't even work. The last time someone stayed there, they left with the guards screaming like a madman." Chrysanthis shuddered as she remembered being the room, pitying the twins that she had to lead in there and tell them that the room is good. "One night! Its all they need to go mad at their age! What were you thinking?"
Baltharn merely smiled subtly, waiting for her to finish her rant before he explained. He lent back in his chair and pulled out an ornate dark oak pipe, and instead of pulling anything else out, he just placed it in his mouth and started smoking. The pipe worked with a combination of nature magic and fire magic to produce a magical smoke effect; it was a method he was using to cut down on smoking the traditional herbs.
"Oh! And the secret quest with your 'colleague', did you seriously give them that!" Chrysanthis almost yelled, she was stomping her feet and nearly blowing steam out of her nose. "Your colleague, or should I say your wife, was a complete fruit cake. How many people died on her crazy adventurers? How many times did you get demoted for backing your wife's quest? You were on the council in AVERIA, now you are in a town unaffiliated with the kingdom you grew up in."
Chrysanthis had to stop for a moment to catch her breath, she wanted to yell some more but those were only the main points she had. She couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that the mild mannered and well-kept director had such an evil streak, anyone of them would have been a major punishment for anyone… all three together is the unholy trinity.
"I take it that is all you have to say?" Baltharn asked patiently, waiting for her to finish her rant though she nodded her assent to his question. "Do you want the truth or would you rather a white lie?
"The truth… sir." Chrysanthis forced away the embarrassment of disrespecting her boss with her rant, but she couldn't leave those two to their suffering. It wasn't in her nature to be evil, or to leave those to suffer when she could do something to help.
"They are scamming Mr Greyhound, they fed him a sob story and he bought it. Those two sat in my office and lied directly to my face, and I would be remiss to not compliment them on their ability to lie." Baltharn had been impressed with their skill, they almost had him if he wasn't thinking about putting them through hell since the beginning. "Their story was quite believable, if it had been anyone else recommending them to me then the situation would have been different."
"So, you don't care whether they are lying or not. Just because they were recommended by Alex, you won't believe a word they say." Chrysanthis could not wrap her mind around this, the silver knight had been one of their greatest customer, who even goes out of his way to help them when the guild has a problem. She may or may not have a slight crush on him, not that she would ever tell anybody.
"Precisely, someone needs to teach Mr Greyhound a lesson, this world is harsh and unforgiving." Baltharn smugly grinned, it wasn't that he hated the silver knight rather he loathed his upbeat and compassionate attitude. "This world doesn't care if you are nice or helpful, it will destroy you without mercy. The only way to survive here is to be ruthless and spiteful, and Mr Greyhound is going to learn that the hard way eventually."
"That's just cruel!" Chrysanthis couldn't believe him, she had heard rumours of his cold heartedness from other staff who had been at the branch longer than her.
"There is a major difference between those homeless twins and an up and coming star like Alex Greyhound, if those two have to suffer to give the rising star in the Silver Bloodhound's a fighting chance in this world then so be it." Baltharn had turned away from the red-haired receptionist, appreciating the garden display in the window. "Those two will not be remembered, their sacrifices will not be in vain if that is what you are worried about. You and I will be the ones to remember them, we will honour them when they fall."
"I won't let you get away with this…" Chrysanthis tried to storm out of the door only to find it didn't open, no matter how hard she tried she couldn't even turn the handle. Turning slowly, she found the director still staring out the magic window.
"Chrysanthis… If I remember correctly, you need a substantial amount of money to enter the education school?" Baltharn's cold voice chilled her to the core, her kind delusion of him shattered in an instant. "What if I said that the Velakas Academy's headmaster and I have tea once a month when I make the trip to Averia, and I am sure he would take a personal recommendation from me. I am sure all that money you saved up would be put to better use paying for a decent room, and the uniforms are expensive too."
"You can't be serious?" Chrysanthis doubted her ears, temporarily wondering if she had always been deaf and making up the voices of other people. Though, she wasn't going to admit that the offer did not tempt her.
"Chrysanthis, you are bright and beautiful. There is little you can't accomplish, especially being the third daughter of the Flameheart household." Baltharn finally turned to face her, returning to his seat and pulling out the red liquid from before. The red-haired receptionist couldn't take her eyes off his movements, a chilling dread settled in her stomach as she knew his next words. "It must be devastating knowing your family cannot even afford to keep all of them feed, alternating between days. Now can you imagine what would happen if you managed to get into the best educational school in the land, the respect and prestige your family would receive could bring them back from the brink."
A sting plucked in her heart, Chrysanthis wanted nothing more than to help the twins however the offer could potentially restore her family's current decline. The suffering that Baltharn would have to subject the twins to in order to punish the rising star of the Silver Bloodhounds would be extreme, Alex would have to find them in such a state that would crush his soul.
"I… I… I cannot… I…" She couldn't think, she tried weighing the pros and cons only to find that it weighed heavily in favour of her family. It was her morality that was in favour of saving the twins, though remembering the many times she went to bed hungry as she gave her younger sister her food most of the time. She knew her choice, and as much as she was going to hate herself, she could let her family suffer anymore. "Yes sir… just… just let me teach them Atherian…"
"I need them to be able to read and write, only to the basic level so they can fill out forms. After that, its up to you." Baltharn warm smile frightened the red-haired receptionist, she wondered how someone could be so cold hearted and deliver a smile like that. "Though, don't get attached."
"Yes sir." Chrysanthis obeyed, casting her eyes anywhere but the dark green-eyed director's way. She hated herself and knew this feeling would stay with her for the rest of her life, however she would live with it for the sake of her family. "Is there anything else you need, director?"
"Nothing else for now, Chrysanthis." Baltharn politely dismissed her, returning to his work as the red-haired receptionist made her to the door. "Oh, and make sure to separate a few difficult quests from the pile and rebrand as easier quests, don't make them too obvious that they are fakes but enough that they will accept them."
"Yes sir."
Author's Note: Longer chapter than others previously, had a writer's block which I managed to overcome only partially. So, parts of this isn't what I like and others I do, roughly starting about a third of the way in but I managed to work out some good parts after that.
I apologise if the conversation with Baltharn seems a bit broken in places, I started writing it three times and forgot to write notes on where I was. Though, I hope I portrayed him as undiscerning with a slightly darker side hidden behind his mask. I had originally wanted to call them Wist and Sage (Raven = Wist, Garfield = Sage) though the gemstones made a bit more sense rather than trying to explain the nicknames.
(Wist is from wisteria, a purple tree. Sage is both the green plant and the wise man)
I thought to alter some of the backstory and reasoning with Garfield to play to his new rogue personality, though I kind of like the changes since it makes it look like he played the part of the idiot for fun and to get away from both his past and his dysfunctional power.
The sword hadn't really been an idea at first, I was going for an orb or probably a rock of some sort then it changed to a sword at the last second. I might play around with it; I do have a few ideas though I might just scrap it. As for Garfield's obsession with breaking magic, he had theorised that having the ability to break magic would be useful encase they ever got trapped.
Also, apologies for not being back Aurelia, I did forget about her for a bit and when I did remember, they were inside a magic room that even with the powers of creative writing couldn't bring her into the room. I hope I can bring her back in the next chapter.
As for Baltharn's true purpose…
Lastly, I wont be updating for the rest of November, currently working on a side project but I will try to get a new chapter out in December.
Comments
Eris – Thanks for the comment. I am glad you liked the chapter, and I hope you like this one. The fantasy background was a hit or a miss since they didn't know anything about the world, it meant they could easily have their lie broken apart. Garfield had played the lie carefully and built upon it by any info he could get from the guild director and the lack of any identification markers on the map leading to the south. As for the tragic story, its easier to lie about a sad past as many wouldn't want to talk about it after the first time hearing it. I hope I answered what his colleague is trying to find, though I am not sure if I explained it well enough which I am glad I made the director give them a book so I can expand on it. Altering the beast's origins was one thing, though I am not sure how it will influence his powers. I don't know if I should keep the beast or give him something later on, but for now I think I will leave it until I get a brainstorm later. I don't want to give him the ability to transform since it was his original powers and I am trying to stay away from them, but I do like the idea of giving him some power from the beast. For now, I am just going with the flow so if it does come up later on then yeah.