SS Chapter 3: Ada, and the topic of Justice (Pt 2)
Adelaide was quite sure Alex would not follow her out into the street but made haste to evacuate the scene before he could even consider it. Avoiding the crowded streets, Adelaide took to the rooftops and flew across several buildings. When she covered significant enough a distance, she halted on the edge of a particularly short building and dropped down into the deserted alleyway next to it. Peeking out from between the buildings, she scanned the sea of faces for Alex. Satisfied that she had lost him, she stood hidden in the shadows.
As an afterthought, she reminded herself to stay out of Elise's sight for a while.
She was scary when she was angry, after all.
Ada paused for a moment and reached into her cloak, feeling for her coin pouch. Her fingers found the familiar shape and smiled. Reaching into another pocket, she pulled out another coin pouch with a design that starkly contrasted her own. Taking a peek into the pouch, Ada caught a glimpse of the golden Zel coins inside and her smile widened into a grin.
Since Alex would have his hands full with Elise for the rest of the day, it was unlikely that he would be needing this anytime soon. Ada giggled at the prospect of spending Alex's money for her own leisure as she exited the alleyway and joined the massive bustling crowd on the orderly streets of Randall. As a noble, the coffers of Alex's house would be filled with the tributes of taxpayers without him having to do anything. He would not miss this small sack of coins.
Adelaide's smile faded a bit. This was justice, she told herself.
Ada made her way towards the heart of the Capital, spacing out as she looked into the distance, following the crowd in their exodus. The pearl white habitations of Randall's citizens gradually phased out of sight, replaced by the industrial grey and brown of Randall's business district. Shops did their best to mask the dull tone with attractive decorations: Boldly coloured flags, banners and signboards cluttered the neat looking street, adding a touch of chaos to the flavour of this area. It was the essence of Randall's beauty.
Ada extricated herself from the crowd to partake in the festivities, a marketplace filled with shophouses open for business. As she wandered down the bustling street, she bought a skewer of roasted meat and donated a generous sum of Zel to a musician busker. She continued to wander until she reached the end of the street where she found herself before a shop she used to frequent during her time as a Demon Slayer.
This was the Sphere shop run by the Akras Summoner's Hall, providing the Summoners stationed at the Capital with the tools to craft their own equipment. Ada recognised its marble-coloured walls and distinctly remembered its wooden layout. Painted onto the signboard in large, cursive font was the word: "Spheres".
Ada entered the store for nostalgia's sake and was instantly familiar with the ringing of the store bell and the placement of the store's furniture. Shelves of books lined the walls on either side, while in the centre was a large display case containing various aged weapons. Sofas had been placed for the reading pleasure of any visitors.
A stairway led to the store's basement where Summoners crafted their Spheres in a miniature workshop. While similar facilities existed in the Village of the Venturer, Summoner's Haven, this place had its advantages.
For instance, it had access to more experimental recipes, with more unstable and volatile results to show for them.
Ada had mastered all of them, of course. With her skills, she solidified her place amongst the Silver Knights as a master craftswoman, capable of putting her leader to shame. Ada giggled at the memory and whispered to herself in contemplative monologue.
"Noah never could fix anything by himself, could he?"
"Ada?"
The Honourlyte spun around at the mention of her name, half-expecting a very angry Elise to have somehow found her. Instead, Ada found herself before an old friend of hers.
"Lin?"
"Wow, it really is you! How have you been?"
Lin brought her hands up to embrace Ada, who exchanged the gesture with equal enthusiasm. Lin then began a long speech on how busy she had become since they last met, forgetting that she had asked about Ada's wellbeing first. Ada was not bothered, she rather liked Lin.
When Ada had first become a Summoner, Lin was assigned to be her advisor. They had similar personalities and they got along very well. They had since lost contact when Lin was assigned more neophyte Summoners and Ada joined the Order of Honourlytes and then the Demon Slayers.
As Lin took a bit of time to catch her breath and control her excitement, Ada interjected to answer the previously posed question.
"I've been fine, Lin-chan. What are you doing here in the Sphere shop?"
Mention of the topic caused Lin to laugh awkwardly as she rubbed the back of her head.
"He he… Well, I was hoping to get a new Communicator."
"Hmm? Did you break your Communicator again? You haven't changed one bit, Lin-chan."
"That's mean, Ada! I did not! I'm getting one for a friend of mine."
"A friend? You mean, like a present? Eh, who can that lucky man be?"
Ada wrapped her arm around Lin's neck and held Lin's face close to her, teasingly poking her cheek with her other hand. Lin's face reddened slightly in response.
"It's not anything like that! He's a childhood friend of mine!"
"Eh? So it is a guy, after all?"
"ADA!"
Laughter filled the room as Ada continued to make fun of Lin. With zero physical capability, the flustered Lin was in no position to escape her predicament and thus resigned herself to the teasing.
…
Lin and Ada exited the store, chatting as they walked. Lin recounted how a boy she did not know had arrived to protect her from a group of bullies. The boy was beaten pretty badly but had put up enough of a fight that the bullies left her alone. It was only after Lin decided to look for him afterwards did she realise that this child was from the local orphanage. She befriended him and had been friends ever since.
They parted ways when Lin's family moved to Randall, but Lin always remembered him as fondly as she would a brother. They exchanged letters regularly, but it was only recently when she received news that he was going to become a Summoner. She quickly volunteered to be his advisor and sent the official letter to his residence, even though she had dozens of new Summoners under her stewardship already. Rhode was due to arrive the following morning.
When Lin finished her story, Ada had a wide grin on her face. Slightly confused, Lin inquired on her thoughts.
"It's provided me with some insight on your character, Lin-chan. Is this person the reason why you help out at the orphanage so frequently? If I remember it's the one also funded by the Summoner's Hall… "
"EH? How did you kno-… I mean, no! I-I just t-thought it might give me some good karma… Or something like that. You know?"
Ada laughed at Lin's flustered antics, which were brought to an end with a loud beeping noise that came from Lin's pocket. Reaching into it, Lin took out a headset and placed it over her ears before pulling the microphone down close to her mouth. The action caused the beeping to stop and somehow initiated the call.
Listening to the person speaking on the other end, Lin nodded at the instructions given to her before letting out a cry of shock. When she hung up the call, she pulled the headphones down to let them rest on her shoulders. Lin let out a small sigh as she held her forehead as if she had a headache.
"What's up, Lin-chan?"
"Eh… It seems like the Gatekeepers messed up and that the Frontier Hunter Survey this month has been brought forward to today."
"Really?"
"Honestly. I was supposed to have the day off today but I'll have to return to work early tomorrow to spread the news. Maybe I'll go home early today."
"Eh? Did you have plans today, Lin-chan?"
"I did! I was going to visit the orphanage today! I mean… I'll still go, but I won't be able to spend as much time with the children there as I thought."
There was a slight pause in their conversation until realisation dawned on Ada.
"Wait. If you're starting work tomorrow, that means nobody knows about the Survey yet, right? Even though it opens today?"
"Yes, what about it?"
A large grin crept onto Ada's face and a sinister laugh escaped her. She brought her arms around Lin hugged her, nearly lifting her off the ground.
"Thank you so much, Lin-chan! Here, take this as a donation to the orphanage! I have to go now! It's been nice talking to you! Bye!"
With no further elaboration, Ada gave Lin the coin pouch that originally belonged to Alex and sped off out of the marketplace. Lin stood confused as she watched Ada disappear into the distance, she did not even get a chance to thank Ada for the donation.
Shrugging, Lin turned to walk away until she had a realisation of her own.
She had forgotten to buy the Communicator she wanted to give to Rhode.
…
In the early days of the Empire, the engineers who built the city of Randall dreamt of a tiered city who would rival the beauty of the lost jewel of Mistral. They began on a mountain by the ocean, establishing a castle on the peak as they worked their way down, building their city around the mountain. As the human population expanded so did their borders, and the Imperial Capital expanded beyond the mountain and into the surrounding area. Through planning and land reclamation Randall grew from a city into a metropolis, eventually, even the surrounding islands were colonised in the city's growing need for space.
Randall's aggressive expansion was put on hold due to the complaints of the Elgaia Federation. The two factions underwent a period of increased tensions before discussions with the Federation finally ended them. The results of the discussions established fixed borders on the Empire, effectively halting the expansion of the city. Now, the city's engineers had the task of making the Capital beautiful.
Time passed, Randall's royal family had left their old castle on the mountain for a new premise amongst the tall new buildings that were now the centre of their city. The castle that was formerly the centre of the Randall Empire was then occupied by a budding organisation known as the Akras' Summoner's Hall.
As this organisation grew, so did their need for space. This proved to be a challenge, for the surrounding space was already far too occupied by civilians for any drastic renovation.
After several excursions into Grand Gaia, the Hall's engineers once again drew their inspiration from the lost city of Mirza and built downwards.
The castle that formerly housed the royal family was now the Akras Summoner's Hall Survey Office.
And the passages below the Survey Office led to an underground facility that was the pride and joy of the Akras Summoner's Hall.
This was where the Summoner's Hall hid the gate that granted it access to the Vortex: A large aurora with a bluish tinge, not unlike the one that links Elgaia to Grand Gaia.
There was a huge commotion going on in that place
Two Summoners clad in full sets of armour confronted a girl who they had managed to corner by the Gate. The girl was dressed in a grey uniform that resembled a leotard with a high collar. Green, pink and blue gems decorated the sleeveless top of her uniform. Her attire also included a matching cloth tasset and detached sleeves, both secured to her body via large brown belts with silver buckles. Resting on her head was a white hat also decorated with green gems and a gold emblem indicating her affiliation to the Gatekeepers.
Their shouts echoed throughout the cave-like space as they made their anger and dissatisfaction quite apparent. Their ruckus attracted the attention of other Summoners and Gatekeepers, but all of them simply stood there, too afraid to get involved.
These Summoners were from "Sky Garden", a Demon Slayer Division notorious for being a bunch of troublemakers.
Berating the girl for the incompetence of the Gatekeepers, the Summoners complained about how their failure to tell them about the change in timing for the Frontier Hunter Survey. They demanded to speak to her superior, but the hapless girl was too afraid to even look at them straight in the face. Hiding her face in her high collar, she simply shook her head in refusal.
Lady Giselle was very strict in her instructions: Nobody was to disturb her.
The argument turned violent and one of the Summoners simply grabbed the girl by the arm and tried to drag her to the management office. The girl had not anticipated this and simply shrieked as she was almost tossed into the air. The Gatekeeper rolled across the floor away from the two Summoners, on the verge of tears. The same Summoner who grabbed her approached the girl…
Only to stop in his tracks as a blond haired woman stood in-between them.
Blue eyes glared at the Sky Garden Summoner in contempt as she turned to face them. Dressed in a grey tunic that was draped around her moderate frame, her attire was more cloth than armour. In fact, the most heavily armoured part of her body seemed to be her arms, gloves that seemed to be made of leather and metal ended in fingers that resembled claws. Strapped to her back was a one-handed blade sheathed into a scabbard. The woman's long blonde hair flowed downwards in a ponytail over her weapon.
The Summoner challenged her, asking if she was looking for trouble.
The swordswoman stepped forward, her boots echoing in the stone hall as her grey skirt flowed behind her.
She replied them with a wry smile.
"What is trouble? Do you mean… a difficulty or a problem? Because it does not seem like either of you would even come close to being either, to me"
A wave of magical force washed over the area and the two Summoners instantly positioned themselves to draw their weapons. They could tell that this lady was dangerous.
"Or perhaps, you mean in the sense of disturbance, or agitation? No. On the contrary, I'd like nothing better than peace and quiet… Perfect conditions to enjoy a book, for example."
The mysterious woman made no move to defend herself. She stood in a relaxed pose despite what was clearly a confrontation.
"Now, let me rephrase that question for you…" The woman spoke calmly, clearly. Anger was laced in with her words, but she a good job of hiding it.
"Are YOU looking for trouble?"
…
Down the Dark Road Universe Insight: The Gatekeepers
The Gatekeepers are a group of Summoners who study the Gates, the Vortex in particular, and can manipulate them to an extent. They also maintain the Gate that connects Grand Gaia and Elgaia.
Most Gatekeepers are not fighters, instead devoting their time to studying the Vortex. The Vortex is a realm of mystical energies that connect different worlds and dimensions together. The Gatekeepers' job is to keep track of these dimensions and send Summoners into the Vortex to explore them or gather resources.
The energies in the Vortex are in perpetual movement and thus the contact between worlds is brief. However, with the Gatekeepers' power, they are able to manipulate the flow of magic and choose which dimensions to connect with Elgaia on a regular basis. This allows access to certain worlds at certain times. This has allowed Summoners convenient access to these places to collect Mimics, Totems and various other necessary materials.
However, the Vortex is unstable and some things are beyond Gatekeeper jurisdiction. Sometimes worlds will pass by and connect with Grand Gaia for a short period of time, only to vanish and reappear the following year. It is the Gatekeepers' job to ensure that there is enough time for Summoners to explore these worlds and return safely to Elgaia. Think of the various Dimensions in the cosmic universe as ships (Dungeons) caught in a storm at sea (Vortex). When these "ships" are close enough to each other, interaction between them is possible.
The Gatekeepers are also the organisers of the Frontier Hunter event, which occurs monthly when the Vortex's energies are at its densest. During this time it becomes possible to walk inside the Vortex, and Summoners venture into its depths defeating the Units that have become lost there. Using the analogy from before, imagine the metaphorical sea freezing over, allowing Summoners to explore the space between dimensions rather than the dimensions themselves.
The Gatekeepers serve under Giselle, their uniforms are a reflection of her own... questionable sense of fashion. While the Gatekeepers lack the grandeur of the Honourlytes from the Imperial Guard or regular Summoners from the Summoners' Hall, they play a vital role in assisting the Summoners. They are sanctioned by the state itself and work closely with the scientists under Noel. While unaffiliated with Lucius, the God of the Gate, they are very interested in his power over the Gate.
Hello, EnShirushi here!
While I haven't actually introduced the character yet, OC is courtesy of Garth Kaiser. Thank you for your submission.
Garth Kaiser's character was sophisticated. I was told that she was a character who values justice, and was of "Chaotic-Neutral" alignment. As someone who creates characters from scratch without referring to online sources, I had to look up what "Chaotic-Neutral" meant. (I knew the term, just not any details about it.) Thank you, Garth Kaiser, it was an educative experience.
Another trait given to me was a way of speaking: "talk[ing] in riddles and old sayings".
I'm not an intelligent person, so I personally have no real idea how I'm going to pull this off. I tried, that resulted in the short prose at the end that introduced her into the story: The one on 'Trouble'. I tried to focus attention on it by making the scene dialogue-less, with the exception of her own words, spoken as they were. I wonder if it worked.
Then again, if you're reading these comments, I'm telling you now that was my intention. So I guess the above is pretty much pointless now, huh.
This chapter I've introduced a concept known as the Gatekeepers. Ever wonder why we can only get those Totems over the weekend and not the whole week? Why does this Dungeon keep happening on a weekend? In fact, why does it happen regularly at all?
I figured that it would be interesting if the Hall had people to manage these Dungeons, thus the 'Gatekeepers' were created. And who else better to lead them, then the newest, whackiest character of the bunch: Giselle!
I do like Giselle's design. I thought it might be interesting if her attire was part of some kind of uniform. However, even that seems a bit too tame for her, so instead I had the Gatekeepers follow her sense of style instead! If you have trouble picturing the uniform worn by the Gatekeeper in the Chapter, just imagine a more modest, prudish version to Giselle's attire.
Well, that's it for my comments on this chapter. Feel free to review my work, or if you really enjoyed it, you could favourite and follow it.
I'd also like to take the time to thank everyone who submitted an OC to me. As much as I'd like to finish writing about all of them, real life is not making things easy for me. I ask for your understanding and patience as I flesh out the characters and storylines in my head.
Once again, thank you for reading Down the Dark Road SS and Brave Frontier: Down the Dark Road!
Regards,
EnShirushi