Doman looks over the damage in the Newt Eyes guild hall. His eyes scan over the torn floorboards, up the cracked wall, and onto the ceiling, where remnants of ice slowly melt away. Five bodies lay parallel to one another nearby, thick burlap tarps have laid over their forms, concealing any sort of recognizable appearance. The floor is wet, with chunks of wood chips and stone everywhere. The scene is quite strange, in all his years as a job lister, he's never had to deal with making a request to hunt an ice mage.
"Can you tell me again what happened?"
Doman fiddles with his notes, finding the whole story quite perplexing. He looks to his left, where this guild's master sits, looking rather contempt despite being so close to the dead of his magic family. He scoffs, downing a small shot of whisky.
"I already said, one of our guild member stormed in here last night, took our guild's most prized possession, and killed five of my men in an outburst. Its not that hard to understand."
Woman messes with the insignia of Fiore's guild recruitment pinned to his chest, touching his mustache thoughtfully.
"But you also stated that he had two acquaintances, who aided him in robbery of your, heart, and helped him escape."
The guild master ate a few grapes while Woman spoke, looking rather bored of all of this. He stands up from his barstool seat, getting up in Woman's face.
"It doesn't matter, what matters is that he's a thief and a murderer."
His breath reeks of whisky, and his overall appearance is lackluster and intangible.
"He stole in cold blood, so I want him captured, brought to me, and left alone, where I can execute him thoroughly."
The guild master already handed over the pay, which is way too high for a headhunt, and there is proof here that something happned. The criteria has been met to list the job.
"Fine, can you give me a description?"
Days travel away, deep in the woods
Ben has never been one to lead, its just not in his nature. He tried it once before, but it was sickening. It was just about a year ago, if he could recall. He accepted a job from the guild, randomly assembling a team in Gregory's absence. They struck out for the wilderness he now resides in, probably why this memory is coming up now, in search of an unknown beast who decimated a traveling merchant's fleet. With his lightning magic, he was more than capable of being the leader, but it sickened him. Everyone kept asking all these stupid questions, looking to him for answers.
When are we going to get there?
What does this monster look like?
My feet hurt, can we stop?
I'm thirsty, can you tell so and so to share?
It was a group of six, six supposedly highly trained mages, yet they acted like children. But what was worse, is that over the course of the three days their job took, they all asked the same question, albeit at different times.
What is he doing here?
Why did you invite him along?
Why is there a nobody traveling with us?
They all were talking about Zircon, who Ben invited to come along. There is a bug reason, Ge didn't want to be alone with a bunch of strangers out in the woods, but also because Zircon is always cheerful, cracking jokes, and not whining every two seconds. Actually, toward the end of their journey, when even Ben was fatigued. Zircon kept marching on, cracking a joke about everyone looking like aggravated snails.
Ben rests his eyes on Zircon now, who is busy staring into the campfire he and Gregory made. He's so different now, with his set jaw and slouched posture. His pupils constricted to slits, his teeth are more fang shaped, the midnight black scar on his left side grabs the eye for attention. The veins that are usually in that part of the body are visible at the surface, shining pure white like inlaid silver.
He's taken off the dense leather wrappings he had on the previous day, letting it dry on a branch overhead. His body is cold to the touch, frost and the occasional snow flake emits from his mouth when he breathes. He overall looks larger too, packing more muscle than a young man his age should. Ben honestly feels uncomfortable around him, especially after what he did to some of the guild member during their dramatic leave. But Zircon has since warmed up to Be and Gregory again, cracking the occasional smile and throwing out a joke every now and then. Ben's childhood friend is still under there, underneath a shell of a powerful mage. He told Ben and Gregory about the dragon voice in his head, which Ben at first thought was supposed to be a joke. He talked about how the crystal heart embedded itself in his chest, and now it beats alongside his real heart, pumping the blood of dragons through his body. He told us about his battle with the Ice dragon on the mountain, how his attacks did almost nothing. But then he brought up a weird comment, about eating snow. But whatever he did, it gave him a boost, enough to pierce the dragon's heart with a massive icicle.
They left home abruptly, grabbing whatever supplies they could from their home before setting out, with the plan they made up a few days earlier, when they started to feel unwelcome in the guild. They will travel away from their isolated town, cross the mountains, and strike out for deeper into the continent of Fiore. Many days of travel rests ahead of them, but as long as Ben is not alone, and not leading, that's all he cares about.
Zircon perks up, startling Ben. He sniffs the air a couple times, before jumping to his feet. Ben straightens from his leaning rest, getting nervous.
"Woah, what is it?"
Gregory, who's busy washing clothes in the nearby river, turns around, wondering whats going on. Zircon grins, before sprinting away, deeper into the forest.
"I smell food!"
He disappears rather suddenly, Gregory doesn't wait a second, he's already up, running after Zircon. Ben sighs, taking a seat next to the fire.
"Well that was rather sudden."
He stares into the hot embers, letting his mind waver.
"I wonder what he smells."
