Road To Ragnarok – Chapter 7
Ryusuke, Clarence, and Hikaru
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Tzusuki: Whew! This is so far the longest chapter so far. Anyway, introducing the other two characters, Ryusuke and Hikaru. Again, thanks to Clarence Hikari for creating them and also naming them as well… arigato! Please R&R!
Nina woke up and glanced around her. She was in a room, alone by herself, lying on a soft and comfy bed. Then, she remembered the wound she had on her body. She examined it and found that it had healed. She could move freely once more again. She could feel a breeze blowing into her room, and headed towards the window and looked out. Sand blew around everywhere, and the whole floor was covered with sand, like a desert. The buildings were all sandy brown and seem to be made of some kind of substance that could withstand a sandstorm. People hustled and bustled in the city below her. Noises could be heard clearly as people bought and sold things. Nina gazed around in wonder. She was in a city but where she did not know. Prontera was the only city she had ever been too. This city had it's own charm, it gave her a sense of ruggedness and full of people who had gone through hardship and still survive. The sand filled air blew and touched her face, the cool wind reminded her of how she and Rachel used to go to the gardens in Prontera city and look at the sky and wondered what it would be like to live in another city. Then, she remembered Rachel, the friend who she had saved. Hopefully she was somewhere safe right now.
Nina walked to the door and stood beside it. She was hesitant to open it. She didn't know what she could find on the other side of the door. Yet, staying here was not a good option either… She needed to know what had happen and why she was here. She stretched her hand and twisted the doorknob slightly. It was now or never, and within a moment, she was standing outside the door. There was also several doors near her door and a stairway leading down stairs. She headed straight to the stairs and went downstairs looking lost.
"Hey! Come over here!" a male voice shouted from one of the tables as Nina walked down from the stairs.
Nina stopped. It was the same voice that made her go to sleep and feel safe and comfortable last night, the Priest last night who she couldn't really see the face due to her blurred vision as a side effect of her serious wounds. She turned to find three people looking back at her. She walked toward them and saw them clearly for the first time.
A female with long black hair tied up into a ponytail that reached her back sat in between two guys. She had 3 glowing daggers on each side of her waist. Well, they couldn't be called daggers because they looked a bit different than the normal daggers. She was extremely pretty, her figure was perfect, her skin was radiantly fair, everything about her seem perfect. No one could take their eyes off her. Nina glanced around and noticed that everyone around the area was staring at her.
Sitting on her right, was the Priest who had called her. He also had long hair tied back into a ponytail as long as Clarence. Sitting beside her, he and her looked almost the same, like they were both twins. He wore the Priest clothes yet there was something different about it and it was vaguely familiar. Nina gasped. It was the High Priest uniform, it wasn't the first time she had seen it. The first time was when she became an Acolyte, the person who appointed her was also a High Priest. She couldn't believe her eyes, what was a High Priest doing here in another town, a High Priest in Prontera was an extremely important person that had healing powers like that of a god. Also, he was a male. That was even more astonishing. In Prontera only 1 of the all healers were male. His clothing were all the same color of that of a normal priest. The High Priest uniform was hidden behind the colors that unless one have seen a High Priest before and had a trained eye to search for the high priest detail, they wouldn't not recognize him as a High Priest but only as a normal Priest. After all, who would could have possibly thought that a high priest could be out in the open like this?
The other Assassin who sat on Clarence left, looked at her steadily and she felt scared all of a sudden, like he would kill her in a second. She stiffened and stopped walking towards them. Clarence noticed the sudden change in Nina and whacked the assassin on the back. He turned away from her with a huff. Nina relaxed a little. That Assassin was scary. Should she go to them or not? After all, she barely knew them, but… Then, the Priest smiled at her and all her fears were taken away. She started to walk back to them. She noticed that the Assassin also had different clothing from the normal Assassin. It was totally brown and with metal parts. He had short black hair that neatly fell into place. When Nina dared to look at him again, she noticed that he was quite handsome. He had a pair of weapon at his side that were slightly golden. He saw her staring at him and gave her a poison stare and got up and walked off the opposite direction.
"Erm… thanks for saving me back there…" Nina said to the High Priest. He smiled at her.
"Would you like some cookies?" he asked. "You better eat something." He offered her some chocolate cookies. Nina took a piece of it and ate it.
"Thanks, this is really tasty. Did you make it?"
"Nope. My sis did it," the Priest said. Clarence waved merrily to her. "She's really a great baker," The High Priest said as he started to eat more of the cookies. "Sis! Did you put in poison this time?"
Po-poison? Nina paled. No way…
"Nah, this is for the guests!" Clarence replied. "Besides, it's good for you to train up your poison tolerance, you are way behind me and Ryusuke. This doesn't have any but the ones in your room has a really potent dose. It's ker… opps! I shouldn't have said that."
"Imotosan! That's it, I'm going to throw that batch away… no way I'm eating those," The Priest annouched hotly.
"You wouldn't dare… "
"Yes, I would. Who wants to eat poison?"
"Do you want to settle this outside, Hikaru baka oniichan… " Clarence glared.
"Hikaru?" Nina cut in. Both of them were staring at her. Nina clapped both of her hands to her mouth. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to distur-" she felt a threatening presence near her and she took out her Club, turned back and pointed to the figure.
"Not bad, girl," said the figure. It was the male Assassin earlier. Nina's Club her pointing in front of him. "I'm surprised, I've never met an Acolyte like you…"
"I'll give her 35 for fast reaction, since she is only a newbie, it's quite lenient, " said Clarence.
"I'm a very reasonable person, I'll award 65! Acolytes normally don't have such good senses," said the High Priest.
"That's over rewarding! You bias priest!" retorted the Assassin. "I'll give her 25, I was starring there for about 5 minutes!"
"NANI?"
"What's all this about?" asked Nina. She had no idea what was going on.
"Girl, did you do anything at your times?" asked Clarence. "I mean, are you a spy or murderer?"
"Sis!" said the High Priest. "Don't scare her!"
"I'm not…Can't I ask?" Clarence pouted.
"Well," said Nina, her body still shaking. "I like to travel, so I often go hiking in the mountains…"
"What in the world is the Church teaching those young children?" said the High Priest.
"It's not like that!" said Nina. "There were expeditions so I joined those, I also joined many competitions, like Jungle Trekking, Hiking, Obstacle Courses, and running…"
"I wonder how you managed it," said Clarence. "Only guys are allowed to join those types of activities, and not girls. You must be special." She drew closer to Nina.
"I… The Church had to write all sorts of letters to the Government. They said that I'm a very talented person, so…"
"Nice," Said Clarence. She turned to the male Assassin. "She got slightly over the normal average right? After all, normal first class sense is only 15 and 15 reaction and the requirements for Thief is just 25. Aren't you going to…"
"Fine!" the male Assassin stood up. "Listen girl. You have a choice. I'm only going to repeat this once and that's final."
Nina nodded.
"About this thing…" said the High Priest. "We saw that fight that time when you and your friend sneaked out. So, this guy over here…" he slapped his hand against the male Assassin's back very hard. "This guy over here was very interested in you, and he wanted to take you as a pupil…"
"Shut up!" said the male Assassin as he pushed the High Priest away. "Ahem. You're a talented person comparatively to the average person, and I won't let go those who have the potential. I can teach you how to defend yourself better, escape from enemies easier, avoid traps and locks, and many more. This is the way of our class. But of course, I won't teach you how to kill, since you're an Acolyte. If you want to learn from me, you'll need a lot of time and sacrifice. You also will have to give up on your teaching of the Aco-"
"I'm here, yo!" said the High Priest.
"… Shut up you baka!" The male Assassin looked very mad.
"Aww…. He's mad at me…I'm scared… Clarence oneesama!" Hikaru hides behind Clarence.
"… You still can follow the teaching of the Acolyte, since he's here," the male Assassin said while pointing to HIkaru who was hiding behind Clarence. "But you need not use the Mace anymore, you will need to learn to use the Dagger. This is your choice. Pick."
Everywhere was silent. The breeze of the wind could be heard. The 3 of them were looking at Nina. Nina was very still. If I follow him, she thought, I'll be an Assassin… everyone will be after me. But I still want to learn from him, I couldn't protect Rachel. I'm so useless… What should I choose? The path of death or the path of hope…
Nina tried to speak but nothing came out. The male Assassin stared at her even longer. Then Nina opened her mouth again and this time her voice came.
"I want to learn from you…" she said as she trembled. The male Assassin and Clarence gave a small smile.
"Good," he said. "You will start training after your wounds are completely healed." He threw a cloak at Nina. "You'll no longer need to wear those Acolyte clothes, from now on, you'll wear those."
"OK! Let's introduce ourselves!" Clarence said. "I'm Clarence. This is my twin brother, Hikaru. He's 1 second older than me. Technically, he's the oldest but sometimes we change," She pointed to the High Priest.
"My name is Ryusuke. I'm one of the leaders of the Assassin Guild. From now on, you shall call me "Master", do you get it?"
"Yes… master…" said Nina.