Then There Was You
She walked towards us hand in hand with another Knight. We stood up from the curb and greeted her as she approached. My heart fell seeing her with this Knight. She said hello to Kai, then gave me a puzzled look. I just smiled at her; she was more beautiful than that of three years ago. Kairos had told her my identity and like Kai she was surprised.
I too was surprised when she moved to embrace me. In my shock I didn't hug her back.
"Andrew," her voice was sweeter than what I remembered hearing. "You've changed," she said.
"You too, you're more beautiful," I replied with a gentle smile. I noticed the Knight shifted and stared at me with dagger eyes.
She must have noticed him shift because she introduced me to the man. Damn. Ralph, the Knight was her boyfriend. She was taken. Kairos and I stayed longer, for my part I wanted to leave. I didn't want to see this Ralph again.
I had left Izlude and Prontera for another two months in Alberta again; my training was yet to be finished. Many days passed since then. Izlude was now a memory and so was she. I had to move on. To forget what held me back all this time.
After my two months in Alberta I went to Al de Baran via Geffen. It was an expensive trip warping from place to place, but what was money to me? Al de Baran was a very grand City, a certain sense of elegance enfold each blue roof top and green pine.
The town square was crowded with traders, buying and selling their goods. Ah, a nice place to sell some of mine. I sat down near a lamppost and opened a shop selling rares and potions when this Monk approached.
"Hey," he said. I could only see his figure because he stood against the light. The sun's glare made it hard for me to see his face.
"What?" I replied rather rudely.
"Drew," he called out my name. Somehow this Monk knew me. I furrowed my brow and squinted at the stranger. Who was he? "Goddamn Drew, don't you recognize me?"
His voice was oddly familiar. I stood up from my spot and fixed my eyes on him. I burst out laughing; other people looked at me strangely as if I were a sicko who would just laugh out loud all of a sudden. The black hair and his crimson eyes, it was Kairos the Acolyte.
"Kairos," I said running a hand through my hair unconsciously. "Monk, eh?"
"Yeah buddy," he said placing an arm around me. "Close up your shop and I'll tour you around."
"You've been around here for how long?" I asked as we passed by the Kafra Head Quarters.
"Long enough," he replied without answering my question. Though, his answer was yet to be clarified when he introduced me to some of his friends in Al de Baran and his guild.
Their guild house was as elegant as the town and I was welcome to stay. Kairos introduced me to their guild master, a Priest by the name of Quinn. She was happy to have me in the guild house as long as I followed house rules.
I shared a room with an Assassin, he wasn't bothered having me around. In fact, if he didn't act so dark and mysterious then he'd be as talkative and lively as Kairos.
Three days passed and I was still staying in the guild house. It was afternoon and I was sharpening my axes out at the weaponry when Kairos called me. He looked panicky. He told me to arm myself then disappeared. For what? I soon found out when a loud booming voice yelled, SEIGE!
The guild house was being invaded. I couldn't let this happen; I couldn't just stand here and watch them fight alone. I took my axe and went out to protect this new home I found.
I saw the Knights and Crusaders of the guild fending off incoming invaders and some few meters behind them were the Hunters shooting arrows in the air as Dancers and Bards helped in casting a spell making the Hunters' attacks stronger.
"Extremity Fist!" I heard Kairos call out before making his deadly move. I could see that the front line was weakening; the Knights couldn't handle such force any longer. Blood rushed to my head as I charged and struck a resounding Hammer Fall at the invading guilds. Most were stunned, which gave a good opportunity for the Hunters to dart their arrows at them.
During supper I ate and drank to my heart's content. We saved the guild house from being taken and as a sign of gratitude Quinn offered me a spot in the guild which I openly accepted. Bottles of booze came our way as Kairos and I had a drinking contest. The Monk was a novice compared to me. He fell unconscious at his third bottle...
I had gone to my room after depositing my best friend at his. I lay quietly, my head resting on my arms, staring at the ceiling when the Assassin arrived. Crow usually said a few words to me since my arrival, but I could sense that he wanted to say more.
"Andrew, right?" He said. His icy-blue eyes fixed on me with a deadly stare. Don't kill me.
"Yeah?"
"The Guild Master has been coming up to me lately," he said quietly. "And has been asking a lot of things about you."
"What about me?" I asked coolly.
"I think she likes you..."
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Hm... More to come! Ah, I am also working on an illustrated version of this story. Meaning I'm drawing up a manga for this. I'll let you in if ever I finish.