Hello Hello Hello everyone! Johnny Spectre here!
and BY GOD THIS CHAPTER TOOK TOO LONG TO WRITE, AND THE SAD PART IS THAT IT'S SHORT!
though I really can only blame myself... and government, and life, and a whole bunch of things, but I'll just say that preoccupation after post-occupation AIN'T the best feeling, ya know? SO! Please enjoy and review!
Chapter 2: The Guild of Society's Outcasts
Kat and Ardriel took less than a week cross the countryside by train. Kat always enjoyed the calm hills, the lush forests, and the thriving fields. She always felt happy at seeing peaceful scenery, and having someone to share it with made it all the more relaxing.
Although, with her new friend fast asleep next to her, it was kind of a downer that she couldn't share her budding excitement.
As soon as the train started moving, Ardriel nodded off without so much as a warning, but Kat didn't mind. She had really only been in Minstrel for less than two months, and she was still getting used to some things that differed from back in Fiore.
She pulled out a scrap of fabric from her jacket and looked at it. A caring smile glanced at the dirtied emblem of the guild that had rescued her from him. While she never joined the guild, she took along many of the memories she had made with them.
"I wonder how they're all doing." she thought aloud to herself.
[Now approaching Wyrmwood Station. Now approaching Wyrmwood Station.] she heard from the magic speaker in the car.
'Wyrmwood?' Kat recalled from her earlier conversation with Ardriel. 'That's the town he said to wake him up at.'
She shook his shoulders, causing his head to sway in motion. Shaking him harder only made his head hit the back of the seat, the bouncy cushion forcing his head down.
"Ughhhh!" she groaned in exasperation. "Come on, you stoic jerk! Wake up!" she formed a blunt mana weapon just as the train was stopping. Ardriel's eyes opened weakly as the car stopped moving. Looking up, he saw Kat already swinging.
He never stood a chance.
"GET UP!" THWACK
"YEEEEEEEEEAAOWWWWW!"
Ardriel grimaced as he walked the main street of Wyrmwood, a large welt pulsing beneath his upturned hood. Kat walked in stride behind him, apologizing profusely.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" she repeated in her panic.
"Would you give it a rest already?" the kaijuslayer groaned. "I already forgave you, don't waste it more."
"Sorry..."
Ardriel pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance and continued walking.
Wyrmwood; a place quite unlike it's unfortunate name, the streets swarmed with people ducking in and out of plazas, the sweet aromas filling the streets with calmness and tranquility. It was one of the many towns that managed to muse bustling popularity with a delicate and heartwarming relaxation; a place one could never get bored with. Pristine waters, budding flora and fauna all combined with a peaceful magic that seemed to ebb and flow with an abundant energy. Over all, Wyrmwood was known as a very pleasant place.
The duo passed several shops on their way through town. The smells from the restaurants and the displayed items in windows were drawing Kat along in wonder, only for Ardriel to get her attention back on track. They passed one jeweler's shop with an older man sitting in front, looking both impatient and exhausted. He noticed the kaijuslayer and smiled.
"Well, well, look who rose from the depths." he said jovially.
Ardriel smiled back. "Nice to see you too, Zustin. How's business?"
At this, Zustin sighed. "Slow right now. Nobody wants to buy my wares right now. Any news of when Djonn will get back?"
Ardriel shrugged. "No clue. I'll ask Master later, if that helps."
As the two talked, Kat looked at the display. Many beautiful rings, bracelets, and necklaces were shown. One necklace caught her eye. It had a shimmering opal pendant on a silver chain. Something about it felt familiar to her...
"Excuse me, sir?" she called over to Zustin. "How much for this necklace?"
Zustin looked from his chair and smiled. "You've got a good eye there, miss. That's a Dragonscale Opal. Fished from the Star Dragon Lake with my own hands. Why, I -"
"Just tell her how much, Zustin." Ardriel cut in as he rolled his visible eye.
"Hmph, fine. The necklace is worth 200,000,000 Jewels."
Kat's eyes bugged at the price. "T-t-two hhu-huh-huhun-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, come on," Ardriel grunted as he grabbed the back of her jacket to pull her away from the shiny allures.
"Come back soon, kids!"
He continued dragging the stiff girl out of town until they were both in front of a stone archway, leading to a large building with what looked like three large bell towers in the front. The building itself looked to be made of dark stone bricks with tall narrow windows. There was a design on the center tower that stood out: a white version of the Ardriel's guild mark.
The kaijuslayer flicked Kat's ear to break her out of her shock and to get her notice to their location. She stared in awe at the building before her. Ardriel had already walked over to the tall doors to the entrance.
"Whoa..." Kat whispered.
"Are you gonna stand there gaping like a fish all day?" Ardriel glanced over at her, pushing the door open. "Master will have to speak with you."
"Ah- r-right!" she said as the followed the metal-tailed mage inside.
Kat was relatively surprised at the interior. While the outside was dark, foreboding, and intimidating, there was much color and life inside.
The entryway was at least three stories tall, given the visible balconies. Music echoes through the grand hall that many members were laughing and smiling, having all sorts of fun. Across the hall was an archway that led to an inner courtyard, where more sat around a tall lone tree with a warped trunk.
"Oh?" she heard close by, a guild member noticing their arrival. "Ardriel! Good to have you back, killer!"
"Ardriel! Did fortune find you well?"
"Oi, fish breath! You lost money on the last job I bet, eh?"
Comments both encouraging and in jest were in the air as more people took notice of the kaijuslayer's arrival. Kat simply faded into the background, or at least she tried to.
She had not taken three steps back before something heavy fell right behind her shaking the floor and causing her to nearly jump out of her skin. Looking ahead, she saw the other guild members and Ardriel looking just above her. Slowly turning around, She had to look up at the large form towering over her.
Overshadowing her was a tall bronze skinned man with no hair whatsoever wearing a skintight gray shirt, a black flame tattoo creeping up his neck from the right side and down his right arm. He wore a pair of thick black leather trousers, tied at the waist by a black sash with a red-orange design that threaded randomly in an array of patterns, and thick leather boots with wrought-iron buckles. He crouched down so he was face to face with Kat, her face reflecting in the circular lens of his silver sunglasses. Lifting his glasses showed a stern look at her, no visible irises, just near-pinprick pupils. This condemning stare made Kat feel uneasy, not much help considering she was still shaken up from this giant man's drop almost crushing her.
'Oh man oh man oh man, this is not good!' she panicked her mantra in her head, 'If this is the guild master, then I am so DOOMED!'
They gazed at each other for a moment before the man gave a wide grin. He lowered his sunglasses back on his face and stood back upright and looked at the crowd gathered.
"Pay up, guys! Ardriel's brought a girl home!" he bellowed in a hearty gruff voice.
This was met with sounds of shock and astonishment. Several people tossed coin bags at the bald giant, catching them in his arms and slipping them into a larger bag. He held on to one of the heftier bags and tossed it over to a lean man with wavy tri-colored hair.
"There ya go, Boralis."
"Much obliged, Mars." the tri-dyed man said in a smooth voice.
Kat just stood stiff as all this went on. Looking to the side, she saw Ardriel with his arms folded looking away. From what she could see of his face, he was turning pink. She was about to ask him about it, but was wrapped in the arms on the bald man along with Ardriel, his forearm guards forcing her in close, the kaijuslayer already having his tails out poised to strike this giant, though he paid no mind. With her face practically in Mars' torso, she felt his shirt wasn't fabric, but a chain mail that was so finely constructed that it didn't matter.
"Let me go, Mars!" Ardriel cried irately, kicking at the man's leg, which really did nothing.
Mars merely grinned and gave a rumbling chortle. "Not a chance, kid. Master's gonna enjoy this!" as he started walking with both in arm.
'Ok, so this guy isn't the master, which is both good and bad.' Kat rambled in her mind. 'Good because he's scary enough, bad because the real guild master is probably more terrifying!'
As she finished that statement, she felt a hand grasp her leg and in one swift motion, she was out of Mars' grasp upside-down. She looked up and saw a blaring turquoise blue eye from inside the left socket of a skull; an animal skull, by the looks of it... an elk? She couldn't tell without the antlers.
He looked to be a hair shorter than Mars, and had a much leaner build. He was shirtless, showcasing a multitude of scars across his dark tanned skin, and his only other article of clothing was a pair of heavily weathered jeans with mud and grass stains acting as camouflage. He had a silver belt buckle emblazoned with the guild mark on a black background and two knives on him, one on each side and the hilt was visible for a larger knife she couldn't make out. At the sound of panting, Kat turned her head to see a few lean dogs, inspecting her.
'Holy- when did those coyotes get here?!' the mana mage thought. And she was broken from her thoughts again at Mars' voice.
"Cooper, come on, she's not even a member yet." he grunted, holding back the kaijuslayer as best he could, by the neck.
The now-named Cooper glanced over at Mars, only to start walking to the courtyard with Kat in hand.
"Oh boy, here comes Cooper's Initiation ritual..." a female member groaned.
"The girl better have some good magic or this will be brutal." another said.
Kat had no choice but to be carried through the archway to the open courtyard, and then was unceremoniously tossed to the lone tree's roots.
"Ghh! ...owowowow." she muttered as he nursed a bump from her fall. She glared at the masked man in irritation. "What's the big idea, huh?!"
Cooper grabbed his knives and took a crouching stance. "Come at me."
Kat looked quizzically at him. 'What's he getting at?'
"You want to join this guild, you need to prove you have what it takes to be one of us." Cooper said, tightening the grip on his knives. "So come at me with everything you've got."
Kat looked around to see the guild's reaction. Most stood at inside, looking through the archways to the courtyard, looking expectantly. Others didn't even take notice. And Ardriel was wrestling himself out of Mars' grasp, his tails jabbing at the giant's body, only to be blocked effortlessly. Looking back at the skull-masked opponent, she saw his hands tensing around his wrists, but were relaxed to show he wasn't anxious.
'Well, that helps to know he isn't doing to me exclusively.' she relaxed a bit at the thought. She steadied herself on her legs. Focusing her mind, she formed a pair of sai, surprising the audience.
"Ohhh! A Requip mage!"
"Never saw weapons made like that."
"This will be a good show after all! Go, new girl!"
"C'mon, Cooper, show her how we roll!"
"Let's do it, kid! You can take ol' Caz!"
The cheers from the crowd lifted her spirits even higher, strengthening her resolve, reminding her of the motivation given to her in her past. 'I CAN do this. They're different, but they feel similar.' she thought as she made the first move towards Cooper. She quickly closed the distance and leaped at him, forming the sai he had yet to use into a short sword and thrust forward. But Cooper did something with his knives that Kat didn't expect.
He slashed his own torso. His red lifeblood bursting out and forming a shield.
Wait, what?
In her instant shock of the Cooper's actions, she failed to notice that none of his blood dripped down his chest. Instead, it collected to form a barrier large enough to block her attack. In the midst of her attack, she had no chance to back away, so as soon as her sword grazed off the blood shield, she hit it dead-on with her head. The shield bashing her backwards onto the ground.
Kat dazedly glared at the masked mage as she was getting up, and saw that the blood he used as a shield was seeping back into his body from his wound. Not a single drop was left as the wound closed. "The heck?"
"Surprised, girl? You have an interesting skill, but I doubt you can handle it well." Cooper remarked, causing a vein to pulse at Kat's temple. "You sill have a lot to prove before I see you worthy. You're facing against Minstrel's top bounty hunter, Chasseur 'El Cazador' Cooper!" He gripped his knives and held them at his forearms. "Now demonstrate to me that you can be in this guild!"
In a quick motion, he sliced both his forearms and smoothly set the knives in their holsters as the wounds bled profusely, but the blood quickly formed into two double-bladed axes that he grabbed and held in the same manner as his knives.
'Yikes! This guy isn't fooling around!' Kat panicked in her mind. 'Okay, focus, Katerine. He can form weapons from his blood, so you can't use cutting weapons... crud.' Her arsenal of hitting weapons was small, and not as satisfying as cutting down her opponents literally. 'Dang it. I'll have to make due with a staff here... oh wait! I do have another tactic...'
Once more, she focused her magic into a weapon, something akin to a club.
Ardriel saw the weapon, even when wrestling Mars, and twinged at the phantom pain from the pulsing lump on his head.
Kat charged at Cooper again, club at the ready. Cooper smiled like a beast.
"You're not learning yet, kid! Bloody Ax-AAAH!" Cooper was cut off and something slammed into his back, losing the concentration for his axes' form. Looking behind him, he saw a goat formed from the same purple magic as Kat's weapons. Looking forward, the girl was about to swing.
"Take this! Co-Mana -"
Cooper smiled more pleasantly now. "Heh, not bad, kid. COAL! E'TIN!"
"SLA-eh?"
Two large blurs flew to the masked mage, the dark gray one swiftly grabbing Kat's club, and the larger brown one pounced at the goat, knocking it away. And again, Kat was defenseless as she got in close. This time, she bounced on the ball of her feet to the side, her back to the tree.
Cooper took the offensive this time, forming a bloody gauntlet and rushing towards her. Timing it just right, Kat unleashed a high kick to Cooper's jaw forcing his head and body back. Still on the momentum from the kick, she did a half-backflip onto the tree trunk and sprung forward at Cooper, passing over him and landing with a roll.
Cooper turned his head to look at the girl, his turquoise eye glaring at her. "Ok, kid, you've got my interest, but this battle is far from over."
"Actually, it is."
The voice came from the edge of the courtyard, a young woman a few years older than Kat. She had black wavy hair that went just past her shoulders, contrasting her olive skin. She wore a bright maroon set of robes, lined in a soft dark yellow. In her hand she carried a magic staff with a black crystal embedded into it. Her honey-colored eyes were half-lidded in an expression of sly knowing.
"Master, what do you mean?" Cooper asked.
The Master merely pointed to Cooper's head and then to Kat. Cooper turned to the new girl. Kat merely smiled and showed what she had grabbed from him.
Cooper's eyes bulged as he realized what made him lose.
The girl had somehow gotten his mask off.
Many members stared at Cooper in surprise.
"Wow!"
"Holy-"
"Never thought I'd see Cooper's face."
"I'm kinda surprised he HAS a face."
He looked similar to Mars, though Cooper had darker eyebrows. His right iris was a crimson red, a stark contrast to his left, accompanied by a blotchy scar. His nose was more pointed, yet had a flat bridge down to the tip, and his chin and jawline were more narrow.
Cooper laid a glower a Kat, but soon relented with a chuckle.
"Well played, kid." He said, as he recalled the blood from the grass, having it return into his body. "You might have what it takes to be here after all."
Kat smirked as she waved about the mask, only for a lighter brown coyote to snatch it up. This coyote looked much older than the others, with thinning fur and dull eyes. This older wild dog calmly walked over to Cooper and laid the skull in his palm.
Cooper patted the coyote's head in gratitude. "Thanks, Cody, my old friend."
Cody gave a small look to Cooper before picking the mask back up and walking over to the Master, making her giggle and several other members laugh.
"Caz, don't you remember that Cody's sensitive about his age?" she teased.
Cooper felt a bead of sweat in embarrassment as more members laughed, but he stood firm as he walked over to Cody. Kat saw the reddish-copper colored guild mark on the back of his neck as he passed.
As Cooper crouched down to the old coyote, she felt two nudges to her side. Looking over, she saw a lean dark gray coyote and a hefty darker brown coyote, both wagging their tails and panting expectantly.
"Uh..." Kat was at a loss at what to do and both started to whine.
"Coal wants one of your weapons to use as his new chew toy, and E'tin is hoping you have a treat for him." she heard next to her.
"Eh?" looking to her other side, she saw a girl a couple inches shorter than her. She had short black hair and deep blue eyes fixed in a unamused expression. She wore a dark top with a red vest that went to mid-thigh and tight jeans with thigh-high boots. She had her arms folded across her torso showing her gold guild mark on her right arm and her unique silver bracelets with crimson gems in them. "Um... well, I don't really -"
The shorter girl clicked her tongue against her teeth as she waved her arm as a translucent red hexagon appeared. Letters appeared forming the word [STORAGE]. After a few hand gestures to the hexagon, two large bones popped into existence. Coal and E'tin each grabbed one and started gnawing on them.
"Ah... thank you -" Kat tried to say, but the girl was walking away. Kat stood there awkwardly.
"Don't worry too much. Cooper's coyotes are all softies once you get to know them." a voice said from behind, startling her. She saw it was the Master, with a pleasant smile on her face. "Oh, and Amora's the same."
'So this is the guild master...' Kat thought. She felt at ease with her, and made her feel welcome. She held out her hand to her and said, "Nice to meet you, ma'am, my name is -"
"Katerine Dream, I know who you are." the master stated. "And I am Maria Uisend, please don't call me ma'am, I'm only nineteen years old."
"..." Kat stood stiff, shocked and a little afraid. 'How the heck does she know who I am? Did Ardriel tell her? Oh shoot what ELSE did he say?! Wait, she said she was NINETEEN?! How is she a guild master at her age?!'
Maria chuckled, "Don't wory, don't worry. No one told me about you, my magic did."
Even as she relaxed, Kat became curious. "Your... magic told you?"
Maria nodded. "Every member of this guild has a magic that is very different from the rest of the world. In Minstrel, this is very bad because we are hated or feared. As is human nature.
"This guild is a safe haven for those like us that are different, because in that difference, we can find something within each other that makes us stronger. My magic is Prophecy, the ability to read the future, so I knew you would come and what would happen."
Kat nodded at her explanation, as Maria continued.
"Katerine Dream, you have faced much in your life, and I am not the one to divulge or question it, but you must know that your past is a shared one many here relate with." At this, she brought a hand to her right collarbone and her face became solemn. After several moments, she placed her hand on Kat's shoulder. "Would you like to join this ragtag group of outcasts?"
Kat felt something that she couldn't understand, but these people... if they were like her, they could help her with her dreams.
"I'm happy to accept, but please call me Kat. I'm only sixteen, you know." she said, imitation the master's introduction.
In the background, she heard the garbled outcry of "Oh come on!" from inside.
Maria smiled, ignoring the outburst. "Very well, Kat Dream. Welcome to Otaku Tyrant. May your passion lead you to your destiny!"
And the entire guild cheered at the news. And a party was quickly in full swing.
That warm feeling flowed from Kat's stomach as she was pulled into the swing of things, expressing an emotion that she hadn't felt in a while...
Acceptance.
Gawwwwd this took to long, and I'm disappointed I couldn't add more to it and post it sooner, but life takes priority, unfortunately.
Anyway, What should Kat's first mission as a member of the guild should be?
Do you have a character that could be a member?
Review or PM me and we'll see what makes the cut!
Until next time! which will hopefully be sooner!