Disclaimer:
I do not own DanMachi or any of those series characters. Nor do I make any money off my writing.
Synopsis:
It's been six years since the fall of Zeus and Hera familias and the world has changed. Its a time where civilians and adventurers alike are terrorized by Evilus, a group that seems content to slowly seep the great city into a pool of chaos. And it's at this time that Gareth Landlock, high-executive of the Loki familia, stumbles across a six year old dungeon orphan in the middle of a crowded street.
Ch 5: The Blood that Binds Us
Breakfast Fiends (Bell)
It was nearly noon by the time Bell woke up stiff and alone and attempted to shamble down the stairs of his wing of the Twilight Manor and into the mostly empty dining hall where two or three people were just finishing up a late breakfast. The faint smell of bacon, eggs, and other morning dishes still wafted through the air amongst the clink of pots, pans, and plates echoing out of the far kitchen serving window and door. The familia members in charge of the lunch meal were slowly starting to clean away the breakfast remnants while still others prepared to serve lunch.
GRRRrrrrahhhh….. Bell's stomach grumbled again.
Bell had woken up groggy and still a bit disoriented from Riveria's healing. So far as Bell knew, It wasn't that the high-elf had done anything wrong. She had explained during one of her lectures that when people used healing magic, a person's 'natural reserves' were leveraged to help support the magic. Or whatever that meant anway.
And so, when Bell awoke not only was he still slightly sore, he was very, VERY hungry.
Bell thought of the hunger like what he would imagine a Goblin beating him from the inside would feel like. Loud, painful, and more than a bit annoying. Gareth had always joked that the 'hungr monsters are a comin for ya' when he heard Bell's stomach rumble in the early morning or after a long day running around messages. Not at all pleasant.
Bara, with her thick black hair currently pulled back into a severe bun, leaned out of the kitchen serving window to wave at where he still stood in the dining room doorway. The youth raced over until he could see Bara behind the opening in the kitchens proper. As one of the familia's leading figureheads under the top executives she was never required to actually work one of the rotating shifts in the kitchen, but Bell had once heard her explaining to another of the Expedition Force's members that it was how she kept track of their younger members.
"Bell! Didn't see you at breakfast this morning..." Bara reached down and pulled up a plate of breakfast foods from somewhere below. Steam curled from the still warm eggs, potato hash, and buttered bread. She placed the plate on the wide window ledge and pushed it forward slightly.
"I saved a plate just in case you turned up. It's a good thing I did too." She finished with a wink and a slight grin.
The plate was piled with food, at the very top Bell could spot four lonely strips of still crispy bacon. Bell looked up at Bara with a puppy dog's sad expression.
"Now none of that, the other familia members were quite hungry this morning. If you wanted more than four pieces you should have come down earlier. Now get a move on. I got things to do." Bara swished her hand in a shewing gesture to get Bell moving again.
On the way to the tables Bell took one of the crispy strips of meat and started to munch on it.
Hhhmmm bacon…
Bell LOVED bacon. Salty, crispy... and it seemed like whoever had been in charge of making it today had made art. A tasty, salty art of perfection. But while he wanted to eat it all right then, Bell held himself back. Riviera was always trying to tell him that 'waiting was a virtue'. And while Bell doubted she was talking specifically about bacon, perhaps this could be one of those 'impromptu' lessons.
Bell hadn't even dug into his eggs before a golden haired, golden eyed youth ran from the common room to sit beside him at the table. Ais looked better then she had in days, perhaps even since the day he had found her in the downstairs basement. She seemed to glow with enthusiasm.
Ais leaned over until they were close enough to whisper without anyone else overhearing. "I've been thinking…" Ais looked from side to the side before she shuffled even closer on the bench. "I think we should go out and find spirits today." With that, Ais reached out and took a piece of bacon off his plate.
The world seemed to tilt, just a little bit, as Bell watched Ais take a small nibble out of the bacon in her hand. In his minor distress Bell lost track of the conversation, but even after he somewhat came back to his senses he couldn't for the life of him understand what Ais would want them to do with spirits.
"Um... why do we need spirits?" Shortly following it up with. "But well… Loki has a bunch of them in the basement..."
"In the basement?!" Ais looked surprisingly alarmed. "Why does Loki keep them in the basement?!"
"To keep them cold?" Bell shrugged as he shoveled a spoonful of eggs into his mouth. "She says they taste more 'refreshing' that way."
This seemed to cause Ais more than a little distress as when Bell glanced her way Ais looked like she was going to start hyperventilating, eyes wide and staring at nothing in particular. Gareth would drink sometimes to relax, so perhaps Ais felt she needed to also? Maybe the kids drank alcohol like Loki a thousand years ago?
Bell's eyes watered at the thought. Some of the bottles Bell fetched for Loki smelled worse than the cleaning products Riveria sometimes had him use to clean out the bathrooms. Who would want to drink that?!
"Gareth always calls Loki a, um... heathen for drinking her booz cold. But it always sounded like they were just joking with one another..."
Ais snapped out of her daze before she furrowed her brows. Bell jumped when Ais smacked a palm to her forehead. "Boooze...? Wait, you are talking about alcohol?"
"Yea... What are you talking about?" Bell picked up and took a sip from his glass of Orange Juice.
"S-P-I-R-I-T-S Bell." Ais said the words 'spirits', practically spelling out the word like one would to another foreign to the language. "We need them to be our partners. Like my mom and dad." Ais picked up another piece of bacon off of Bell's plate and started to nibble on it much to the young boy's dismay. Still, what Ais said rung a cord deep within the part of him that lived within the covers of Dungeon Oratoria and the countless other 'hero' books he'd come across since coming to the Twilight Manor.
"Oh! You're talking about Great Spirits? The bond that they had with the heroes in stories that gave the heroes their powers?"
Ais nodded, continuing to nibble on the now-her piece of bacon.
The Great Spirits. Spirits sent down from the heavens by the Gods long before they even descended themselves. In many ways, the stories talked about Great Spirits as being envoys from the Gods to the people in the mortal realm, sent in their stead to aid and assist in the fight against unending hordes of monsters that pushed humans and demi-humans to the brink of extinction. A Great Spirit could aid a warrior they deemed worthy by bonding to that individual, allowing the mortal warrior access to great power. And largely due to those bonds, the first heroes of that age arose.
There was just one problem.
"I don't know if they are around anymore..." Bell took a moment to consider as he chewed through some more of the eggs off his plate. "At least I wouldn't know where we could look to find them. The stories I can think of that have great spirits are all really old."
Ais went quiet for a moment before she spoke back up again. "Where did they go?"
Bell just shrugged one shoulder in reply
"Then... how do people get stronger without the spirit bond?"
"Loki mentioned that Adventurers get something called a Falna. I think I saw Gareth's before. Loki looked like she was drawing on his back. And they get stronger by killing monsters in the dungeon."
A fierce determination lit behind Ais' golden eyes. Bell would swear that he could almost feel it from her closeness. "Then we need to get this 'falna'... did Loki tell you how to get one?"
"From Loki? But I'm pretty sure any of the Gods or Goddesses can do it."
"Loki is a Goddess?"
"Well, yea."
The clink and clatter sounds of the nearby kitchen filled a small silence between the pair. And in the absence, Bell took a moment to look around. They were the last ones still in the dining room, the other eaters long since off to whatever daily task was needed. Afternoon light shown through the windows on the far side, warming the room slightly, and every once in a while Bell could catch the whiff of lunch being prepared.
"She just doesn't seem like what my mom described..."
Bell let out a loud belly laugh. "Well Gareth had always said that Loki was more 'Loki'ie' than anything else."
"Alright... Then lets go find Loki!" Ais picked up the last piece of bacon on Bell's plate and stuffed it in her mouth.
"Ai-i-i-is, that was my last piece of bacon..." Bell was starting to feel it might be worthwhile to start learning defensive eating techniques from Gareth.
"I know, they were really tasty today." Ais looked down, poking both pointer fingers together in worry. "How hard do you think it will be convince Loki?"
"Ahh, we'll bring her one of her spirits from the basement. She can't possibly say no then!"
The Blood that Binds Us (Finn/Gareth/Riveria)
"Absolutely not."
Riveria glowered down at the two youths from where she leaned against the front of Finn's desk. Finn had taken his usual seat behind the desk, hands steepled as he seemed lost in thought. Gareth reclined in one of the plush seats on the wall, slowly sipping at his newly topped off tankard, courtesy of a certain trickster goddess who had been willing to share. They had apparently been in a meeting before Loki strode in semi-corralling the two hopefuls in front of her. Loki looked over from her place on the wall near Gareth where she had been lazily watching from one of the room's more spacious windows.
"Told ya tykes, don't expect much." Loki said, waving her half drunk bottle to make her point.
"How could either of you even consider... your only 6 years old!"
"Hey! I'm 7 now!" Bell shouted. Didn't she remember the party they just had?
Riveria rubbed at her temples with index fingers. "Still..."
Gareth called over, granting Riveria a brief reprive. "Bell, we spoke about this. I said ya didn't need ta decide anytime soon. Whats with the rush?"
Even though Gareth had directed his question at Bell, Ais was the first to speak. "I... ah, Bell told me the story of my parents... and the One-Eye Black Dragon."
The adults' reactions were immediate. All four of the adults in the room acted like someone had just poured cold water down their backs. They had the faces of those that know they did a wrong, even if they felt their reasons were just. They had initially kept the truth from Ais because they thought her not knowing may be better than having to face the truth: That in all likelihood her parents, family, and friends were a thousand years dead and gone…
Ais' voice dropped to be just audible, a bare whisper of wind. "I-I want to save my mom..."
The young girl acquired a faraway look. Someone physically still in the room, but mentally somewhere else entirely. It wasn't until another small hand grasped over one of her own that it seemed to break the young girl from her thoughts. She glanced toward the hand, following up the wrist, arm, shoulder, and finally resting on the face of its owner.
Bell gave her one of his unreserved wide smiles before looking away and back at the familia leaders. "And I want to help her."
"Well now... ya really wana face that monstrosity?" Gareth took a long draw from a tankard, leaving the beard around his mouth damp from the ale.
Both youths had a knowing glint to their eye, one that the Loki executives had seen time and time again from other would-be and active adventurers that had stood before this very desk as they bore their hearts open and proclaimed their desires. So many ambitious desires... and while some of those feelings still raged, burning bright like a well stoked fire within the adventurer's heart, they were more the exception than rule.
Life is a series of experiences that mold those that wade through it. No one is left untouched. Children grow, love is gained and lost, and somewhere along the way desires could slowly die down to mere embers or be snuffed out entirely.
Would this be the fate of the two that stood before them? Would their individual desires that currently burned so bright begin to fade… or would they be the exception?
Only time could tell and Chronos wasn't the gossiping sort.
Gareth considered both youths for a moment more before he huffed out a short laugh. "Well I've heard of worse reasons for wantin to become Adventurers. Remember when Valor told us he wanted to pick up women? An Loki, YA were the one that vouched for him."
Loki simply shrugged. "I thought his pretty face would help bring in new recruits."
Riveria let out a long sigh and attempted to wring back in the conversation. "They are both kids. They should be playing and learning and... and NOT fighting to the death in the dungeon. Fire and rot, they are only 7 years old!" Riveria wasn't one to normally curse, but times and the situation. How could any of them even consider letting their two youngest members take one step into that death trap of a dungeon?
Gareth gently rested his half full tankard back on Finn's desk before frowning slightling in the high elf's general direction. "Riveria, what we give em is choice and the freedom to make those decisions. It's our job to mentor and guide, but we can not dictate their lives. How would ya feel if someone didn't allow ya to make decisions on how ya wanted to live yar life?"
Riveria looked down, an uncharacteristic redness coming to her own cheeks. And for a moment she was in a different place, years and decades before, in a forest glade that she once called home. It had been an idyllic elven paradise. It was a place she had chosen to leave when her father kept pushing her to be the daughter he wanted her to be. Was she inadvertently following in his same footsteps?
The silence that fell upon the room left it teetering on a fulcrum built of hopes and fears. It could have lasted a minute or an hour. Finn lightly cleared his throat, breaking the gentle silence and drawing all eyes to where he sat behind the desk.
"There actually may be one more reason to give them a falna." Finn gestured toward both the youths with a hand. "The state of Orario has been in flux for sometime now. Evilus is running amok and this hasn't been the first time we've heard of our little Bell running into that particular group of world is a dangerous and sometimes frightening place. Giving these two the tools and skill sets they may need to navigate it seems like a courtesy we should provide."
Gareth scooped up and polished off the last in his tankard before he stretched his arms up and wide. "So, if they know how to defend themselves then perhaps we won't have to worry about them as much..."
Riveria raised one verdant eyebrow. "Gareth. He'll be in the dungeon. You think you won't be worrying about him?"
"Ya know, ya'er one to talk." Gareth grumbled.
"Alright!" Finn clapped, instantly regained the attention of those in the room. He steepled his fingers and leaned slightly over his desk toward the two youths who stood before him. "If you would like a Falna then you both need to promise us something."
""What?""
"That you both will follow and listen to Gareth, Riveria, and I's instruction. The dungeon is not a playground. Adventurers die in that labyrinth all the time. If you are not careful, or if you stray and start to become reckless, you don't just put yourselves in danger..." Finn's eyes ranged from one child to the other. "You will also endanger your fellow familia members too. Do you still wish to bear that burden?"
"And .." Riveria interjected, her voice resigned but still determined. "You'll both be taking additional lessons about the dungeon. If you're bound to enter that Labyrinth then I'm going to make sure that you're prepared for it."
"Yes" Ais replied as Bell nodded his head beside her.
Finn gave a single stoic nod. "Well then Loki, will you do the honors?"
Starting Stats (Finn/Riveria/Gareth/Loki)
Not long later, the three Loki high-executives were still holed up in Finn's office awaiting Loki's return. Gareth stood over one of the room's long windows watching the back yard which spanned a small expanse of green grass, various flower beds, and an outdoor training center that the familia used to hone various skills and abilities.
Finn, at his desk, signed off on a few documents before quickly moving them to the side. "Gareth, what are they up to now?"
"Well, It seems that Bell is attempting to see how high he can fall from."
Finn put down his pen, and tilted his head to the dwarf. "And how in the world is he doing that?"
"Well-" Gareth chuckled a bit to himself from under his beard. "He was first using those crates full of practice equipment we keep by the training yard. But he just ran inside the kitchen's entrance and jumped out the south tower's second story window." Gareth winced. "Didn't stick the landing too well though."
Riveria glanced up from where she sat reading. "And you said that you would be LESS worried about him with a Falna?"
"Ahh well, I'm sure he just needs to get it out of his system. I remember myself at that age" Gareth let out a sigh. "About collapsed a mine trying to use my dad's pickaxe."
"And Ais?"
"Yea, what about her?"
"Is she jumping out the second story window?"
"Ehh... yea there she just went." Gareth tilted his head. "And with a bit more finesse than our boy had."
"...by the sacred leaf of the Evertree…" Riveria snapped her book shut before she got up and started toward the window. She reached it just in time to see Bell jump out one of the south tower's newly opened third story windows and land on the ground in a rough rolling heap of white hair and dirtied battlecloth .
Riveria sighed as she continued to watch Bell's roll finally slow to a stop with an unmistakable but silent 'umph'. "Lets go down before this gets out of hand. "
"Ehh, they'll be alright. No use in gettin all worked up. Besides, they already caught the attention of someone else."
Ais had raced over to where Bell landed and even as she was helping him up, the two executives could see the boy's strained but beaming smile from their window. He may have been in pain, but nothing seemed broken.
As the two talked amiably, Ais fished out the health potion Bell always kept in his leg holster and started applying small drops to the many cuts and bruises that laced Bell's skin. Neither of the two saw the storm of a woman making her way toward them.
Bara had been set to train some of the newer recruits in the yard earlier that morning and had caught Bell's last jump out the window. While she wouldn't have been updated on the two children's new status yet, the old Adventurer knew what fresh greenhornes looked like. And she had very strict views on training regimes.
The older Amazon sprang on both newly minted Adventurers, the two executives watching from Finn's office window as Bara clipped them both across the head for their foolishness before escorting them away, heedless of their proclamations of innocence.
"I'm surprised they stayed in the yard to begin with. I'd have thought they would be begging to head into the dungeon already." Riviera stated as the two offenders were more or less forcefully steered toward the training grounds.
The office doors clicked shut as Loki's voice sounded behind them, causing both watchers to turn around. "I asked them to wait in the yard until one of you could go down to fetch them. Told them that even heroes need their tools."
Loki swaggered toward Finn's desk as she briefly considered some papers held in her hand. And finally rested them both on its surface when close.
"Their new status." Loki grinned. "Thought y'all would find them interesting."
Gareth peeked up at Loki's teasing as he and Riveria moved toward the desk. "Interesting eh? Ya once told me that new Adventurers were like the paper ya used for statuses. Blank, unfulfilled, yet waiting to be filled in."
"Well yes, but there are also those whose potential, through latent magic or experiences, allows the new Falna to be used as a... blueprint of sorts."
Loki slid the first page forward.
Ais Wallenstein
Level 1
Strength: I 0
Endurance: I 0
Dexterity: I 0
Agility: I 0
Magic: I 0
Development Ability:
None
Magic:
Airiel -
Wind Element Enchant, Chant: "Awaken, Tempest"
Skills:
? - ?
Gareth let out a whistle before glancing toward Riveria. "An Enchantment…"
In the Loki familia Riveria had long ago taken on the mantle of instructor. Like she had with Bell and much more recently Ais, the high elf would devise general education curriculums for the younger members of their familia. But that encompassed only half of her responsibilities. She was also the most versed member of their familia on magical theory and application. As such, most of the magical training of their members also fell on her shoulders in one way or another.
All magics were rare to certain degrees, even among Adventurers. And for those who could acquire magic, it was generally a toss up what practical purpose their magic could serve. There were eight different main schools of magic, but not all of them were equally desired. 'Divination Magic' for example was largely looked upon as a novelty spell school, its different incantations rarely, if ever, being useful in day to day life, let alone on the battlefield.
On the other side of the spectrum, Adventurers prize what were classified as 'Evocation Magic'. The wham, bam, and boom magic that could be used to pulverize one's enemies into oblivion. And among those were a select few that could use an elemental enchant spell to augment their weapons and bodies. It was an all together unreal ability for any Adventurer to have, let alone a fresh level one with zero experience.
"Well if we were looking for any additional proof of Ais' parentage, there it would seem to be."
"And then what of this mysterious skill on her sheet?" Riviera looked up toward Loki before one eyebrow slowly cricked up in a minor look of disbelief. "Is it a mistake?" There was no acquisition in her tone, just the simple question.
Loki shrugged. "Not so uncommon really. You mortals are so conflicted, ever changing with your thoughts and desires, and NONE more so than your younglings. They are still discovering not only themselves, but also the world around them, and where they fit into it."
The paper copy of the status crumpled slightly as Loki pressed one finger overtop the question mark. "It's a possibility. Think of this skill like something growing in a cocoon. We don't know if it's going to be a butterfly, moth, or flesh-eating bat monster. That's up for Ais to decide."
"Now isn't that a bit much Loki…?" Riviera drew out as Gareth folded her arms mumbling about '...no such thing as a blasted flesh-eating monster bat…'
Undaunted, Loki continued sliding away Ais' status sheet to show the second piece of paper underneath it. "I mean, even our little Bell has a mystery skill on his sheet."
"Whaaat?" The large dwarf scooped up the second sheet, bringing it close to read Loki's small cramped script.
He was silent for almost half a minute, brows scrunching in consternation. Then-.
"KALOS!" Gareth dropped Bell's status sheet to the desk's top before he stormed toward the exit of the office. He slammed open the sturdy wooden doors, shaking and nearly toppling several shelves on the same wall. Twenty two stones of raging dwarf made for an awful amount of noise.
The Dwarf's voice warbled in the long acoustics of the outside hall. "What in the cursed mines have you been draggin my boy into!"
"So much for not getting upset." Riviera said as she started to rub one temple.
Loki's eyes crinkled as a wide grin spread across her face. Finn flipped over the slightly rumpled sheet that Gareth had left behind, slightly shaking his head when he read the last bit on the page. "Well, I was expecting something worse."
Bell Cranel
Level 1
Strength: I 0
Endurance: I 0
Dexterity: I 0
Agility: I 0
Magic: I 0
Development Ability:
None
Magic:
None
Skills:
? -
?
Test Apprentice -
Increased resistance to smoke and other negative inhalation status effects.
Grants access to the 'Abnormal Resistance (I)' development ability.
Two starting skills… It was more unheard of than Ais' starting status. At least starting with magic had precedent among demi-humans races.
It was common for new magic students in the education district to gain their first spell upon receiving their falna. The more naturally inclined the individual's race to channel their version of arcanum, the more sure it was. However, as with everything there was a balance. Natural inclination could be offset by sheer determination. Knowledge gained through studying the arts and the will behind it. Which then left a single question…
"Loki…" Finn began, wetting his dry lips before releasing the thought he knew Riveria would also have. "Just how much time has Bell been 'assisting' Kalos with his experiments?"
A sly grin spread across the goddess' face.
"Well…" Loki began in the voice of one who probably knew better. "I may have encouraged him to help out our resident innovation pyromancer to keep them both out of trouble."
"LOKI!" Riviera cried as Finn crossed his arms and frowned.
"What?!" Loki waved her hands in Riveria's general direction like one would to shoo away a fly. "You all were busy and someone needed to watch the boy."
Riveria's delicate fist slammed onto the desk hard enough for the wood to creak. "That was SUPPOSED to be YOU!"
Before the last sounds of Riveria's outrage echoed throughout the chamber, there was the sound of someone clearing their throat near the still open office door. Riveria flushed red in embarrassment as she tried to wipe the dismay from her face, it wouldn't be right for anyone in the familia to see their executives like this.
"I'd knock…" A gravelly dwarven voice continued. "But I'm a guessin Gareth did a number on yer doors."
And as if to prove a point, one of the wooden doors swung slightly closed accompanied by the loud screech of its protesting metal hinge.
The dwarf standing at the entrance to Finn's office was Dain, the Expeditionary Force's second in command. Stout and wide even for a dwarf he seemed to fill the open doorway. And his rich, long black beard hung so low that he tucked it into his belt making the gesture seem more necessity than style. There was an ongoing bet in the familia on what type of monster would finally give the dwarf a trim.
"Dain? I thought the Expeditionary Force had the day off, do you need something?" Finn said, his eyebrows coming together in mild confusion.
The dwarf seemed unusually chipper. A light playing behind his violet eyes.
"I was headin out for some armor repairs when I was stopped outside the front gate." Dain hooked a thumb behind him. "Ya'll be glad to see who decided to show up."
And as the dwarf moved aside, he revealed the slight human form that had been following close behind.
Her wheat-colored hair was tied back into a tight bun to hold any strands from escaping its embrace. It was a striking and distinct difference from when she used to let it play loose down her shoulders and back. But that was a while ago now. Her new look brought out the sharpness of her features, giving her a brittle, razors edge look. It was the look of someone who had lost, fallen, and was in the process of picking themselves up again. But even with the changes brought on by experience and time, she was utterly familiar.
"Claire!" Loki exclaimed as she launched off the desk and took the young women in a bone crushing embrace.
"Loki! Give the girl some room to breath!" Riveria wrestled her goddess back before finally turning to the newcomer with a gentle smile of her own. "How are you?"
It was a layered question, and one that many in the familia would be asking if only because they never had the chance before. How well did your injuries heal? Are you happy? How are you dealing now that Soja is gone?
Claire had left the Twilight Manor over six months ago when she was injured and in need of recovery. When her whole world had imploded before her very eyes. She had asked for space, and distance, so as much as Loki and the execs wanted to comfort one of their favorite members, they held themselves back, unsure if the fierce adventurer Claire once was would, or even could, resurface.
Claire glanced down, her gaze somewhere between her own feet, before speaking in a low tone. "I… I think I'm ready to come back."
It was more they any of them could have hoped, one of their own coming back into the fold. Coming home.
Loki's grin was wide and yet strangely motherly. A rare occasion if any in the Twilight Manor. "Are ya sure? Ya don't need to rush anything. We all understand why ya took a step back and no one blames ya for that."
Claire just nodded her head once before she raised her eyes and meet at first Loki's gaze and then that of the other two executives. "I need to work. I need to keep busy. But I'm not exactly ready to fight yet… is there anything else I can do in the meantime?"
Finn glanced back out the window before looking back at the young woman before them. "Well, there seems to be a recent opening for a new message runner."
Author's Note:
Hello, hello to both new or returning readers. Work and life on my end have been extremely busy for the past few months now, and while I can't promise a specific release schedule due to the semi-chaotic nature of my current existence… I CAN promise that there is way more still to come.
Like always, please stay safe out there everyone. Sending good vibes and well wishes.