Chapter 1
Author's note: some names to know (others will be mentioned later in the chapter)
Gilbert = Prussia
Abel = Netherlands
Elizaveta = Hungary
Ludwig = Germany
Marielle = Belgium
Gilbert's room was rather plain for a loud man like him. His small room consisted of a wooden dresser, filled with spellcasting books, a closet with his robes and regular clothes, a chest with his personal belongings, a bookcase with his many diaries, and a twin bed with a simple blue stripe-pattern comforter.
The warm sun rays poked through the fluttering white curtains, shining down on a sleeping figure cocooned up in his comforter, trying to get over his hangover last night. Gilbert had gotten drunk again, after Abel and Ludwig brought back a large crate of beer from a Tradingpost. It was at times like these that he wished he had the ability to instantly rid himself of a hangover. Unfortunately, Earth-element mages like him had no such ability.
"Gilbert!" a high-pitched shriek was heard coming up the cedarwood stairs of the band's manor. A woman with long brown hair and piercing green eyes wearing a loose violet baseball-tee and baggy cargo pants stormed into Gilbert's room. She immediately flicked her hand, causing a small boulder to fly in through Gilbert's open window, and slam down onto his stomach.
"GWAUGH!" Gilbert screamed, lurching upwards immediately. "What the hell, Liz?!" Any headache pain from his hangover was quickly forgotten as he clutched his stomach in agony.
Elizaveta glared at him. "I thought so. You got drunk again, didn't you?" Gilbert meekly nodded his head, bracing himself for another hit. But the brunette instead turned around, leaving the room. As Gilbert stared at her in confusion, she stopped, and turned to face him. "You forgot that you were on breakfast duty."
Crap. He forgot that he was on duty that day to feed everyone for the morning. Now everyone was going to pummel him with rocks, or suffocate him with thorny vines, or…
"Relax." Elizaveta sighed, "Marielle took your place for today. No one's going to kill you."
Gilbert gave a sigh of relief. He knew that he would have to cook tomorrow, but at least he was safe from the wrath of at least 30 Earth mages for the day.
"But unless you want to miss breakfast, I recommend you get your smart ass out of bed and down to the dining hall. Now." Gilbert didn't miss a beat, hopping out of bed, then crashing to the floor due to his stomach pain.
"If you ever want a hangover cure just ask Liz." Gilbert grumbled. "But, I guess that's why she's our awesome leader." He quietly chuckled, envisioning Liz when she gave him one of her rare smiles, and got out a plain yellow t-shirt and loose black sweatpants. He finished off his outfit with his signature cross necklace, which doubled as a protection charm against the cold.
Before he left his room, he pulled out a diary, and opened a blank page. He began to write: Monday April 12
This morning, Liz was very violent. How dare she throw a boulder at the awesome me?! Sure, the boulder was small, but what the hell? So unawesome!
Still, I'm always getting teased about liking her. We've never been more than friends…
"Gilbert!" Gilbert quickly closed his diary, putting it back on the shelf, and made his way to the lower floor.
Now some other names you may want to know:
Ivan = Russia
Toris = Lithuania
Natalya = Belarus
In another area of Orbisia, the atmosphere was completely white. Snow covered everything that the eye could see. A large, stone mansion could be seen just barely poking out in the distance, littered with snowmen and forts. Inside, a light in the dimly lit, circular reading room could be seen, as Ivan sat down to read a letter just given to him. He reached forward to pick up his mug, but realised that it was empty.
"Toris." Ivan called, beckoning the tall brown-haired man who was busy cleaning the room.
Toris seemed to ignore him, not hearing Ivan call the first time. However, he stopped and stood at his side when Ivan called a second time. "Y-Yes Ivan?" he asked, doing his best to sound confident in front of his leader.
Ivan handed him his empty mug, "could you pour me some tea? I'm going to need some while I read this."
"Of course. Right away." Toris scooped up the black mug and carried it off to the kitchen. Ivan started to read the letter, which was just news of a minor group of newbie mages making a bit of a ruckus in his territory. He suddenly felt an all too familiar presence behind him.
"Big brother…" Natalya muttered, poking her head over his shoulder to read the news received. She made sure that her long hair purposely brushed against her brother's cheek and shoulder, smirking when Ivan squirmed a little.
"Can I help you, sister?" he asked, trying his best to stay calm, when really, he was having a mental breakdown, thinking about his sister's multiple attempts to marry him. Of course, the others have managed to stop her before, but this time, he was alone in the room with her.
Luckily for him, Natalya seemed to take interest in the letter, snatching it away from him, and reading it, slightly frowning. "Is it that new clan again?"
"I wouldn't exactly call it a clan, seeing as they came from bands all over the place." Ivan muttered, secretly having a small party in his mind at another day of his sister not forcing marriage on him.
Natalya waved his words off. "No matter, they're still bothering you, so they must all go." She knelt onto one knee, the customary way to request something of a head. "Please, Ivan, allow me to take on the job of ridding them out of your territory."
Ivan pondered it for a second, then nodded. "Request accepted. Now go, and remember that their magic may be rather unpredictable." Ivan may be rather creeped out around his sister, but he still loved her, and would always make sure that she stayed safe.
Natalya quickly left the room, on her way to find the youngsters bothering her brother. A few minutes later, Toris returned with a mug of hot peppermint tea with a shot of vodka. Vodka was Ivan's favourite way of drinking anything.
"Thank you, Toris. You may leave now." Toris bowed and quietly shut the door behind him as he left Ivan be.
When Ivan finished with his tea, he set it down and stared up towards the glass ceiling, which had displayed the never ending snowflakes which fell from the sky, soon to be picked up by a vortex of wind, and finally carried off to an unknown area of the Moscow band territory.
"Strange." Ivan said to himself, "something is telling me that today will be different. Why though?"
More names to take note of (XP sorry, there's so many characters!)
Henri = Luxembourg
Natalie = Czech
Martin = Slovakia
Milan = Bulgaria
Gilbert was the last one to arrive in the dining room. The dining room was the area where everyone sat to eat together. It had an antique feel to it, as Elizaveta had left the room the way it was since the last head had retired. The dish cupboard was adorned with green and blue rose designs, matching the wallpaper that had been installed in since Gilbert could remember moving in for the first time. The dining table was long, and stretched nearly the entire length of the room. Wooden stools carved by a former member of the band showed intricate designs of the past: the people; the culture; the nature; everything that all of the current members had never experienced.
Marielle smiled at him, her shoulder-length brown hair swishing across her face as she gracefully set down plates of waffles in front of everyone. Henri came in with a jug of rose syrup - grown from his personal garden – and set it down on the centre of the table.
"You're late." Ludwig and Elizaveta grumbled at the same time. Gilbert looked at the mages at the table. Elizaveta sat at the head, with the others sitting in the other spots at the long mahogany dining table. The only other ones still around were Abel, Natalie, Martin, and Milan.
"Everyone else left. They got tired of waiting for you." Ludwig explained, seeing Gilbert's confused face at the sight of so many empty seats. As soon as the plates were passed out, and Marielle sat down, they all started to eat.
The meal was eaten in silence. Not too abnormal for them, as they were all rather focused on the food rather than conversation. Finally, about ten minutes in, Elizaveta paused, and called Gilbert.
"I need to go to the Tradingpost today to get some items necessary for tonight's meeting. You are going to accompany me." She stated, as Gilbert frowned.
"Why me?" he asked. "Couldn't you have asked someone else, like Henri or Ludwig?" Gilbert was a very lazy mage. If he could get out of doing something, he would find the most efficient method to make his escape.
"Ludwig can come with us too." Elizaveta declared, looking at Ludwig, who immediately nodded yes. Then she stood up and walked towards the stairs to her dressing room, "we leave in five minutes."
"MRPH-GRAAAAAAA?" Gilbert choked on his food and sent bits of waffle projecting out of his mouth, landing all over a very pissed Milan and Martin. "H-hold on a second! We just started eating, why do you want to go already?!"
"She is the leader, after all." Abel deadpanned, slowly sipping his marijuana tea.
"Just by a hair!" Gilbert protested. He quickly wiped off the waffle that stuck onto his once clean t-shirt. "And it was a very thin hair too!"
"She's still the leader, so she gets to tell you what to do." Abel muttered, taking another slow sip of his tea. Ever since he joined the band, Elizaveta banned him from smoking, since the mansion's earthy environment was likely to react badly to the fumes.
"Yeah yeah, whatever, go ahead and preach your stuff, newbie." Gilbert grumbled and rolled his eyes.
"What did you just call me?" Abel glared at Gilbert, who smirked in response.
"Oh, come on Abel." Gilbert mocked, "everyone knows that even your siblings made it into the band WAY before you did. Therefore, as the last one to officially join, you're the newbie of the guild."
"Gilbert, that's enough." Ludwig sternly told his older brother, "it's not his fault."
"Hah." Gilbert scoffed, "a loser is still a loser no matter how you put it." Gilbert was too wrapped up in his talk to notice the vines slowly creeping up towards him, until they violently wrapped around his legs, dragging him to the floor.
He yelped in surprise, as the others stared at him. The long, smooth vines trailed along the floor, until they reached Abel, who's hand was glowing a bright green as he seemingly controlled the vines with a flick of his hand. Gilbert was rolled over onto his back, as the vines threatened to close around his neck.
"What are you doing?!" Ludwig gasped, standing up. "Stop it, now!"
"Ludwig!" Gilbert screamed, "help me!" Ludwig wanted to help, but he knew that Elizaveta and the vice-head were the only ones allowed to perform magic in the mansion. Even then, small magic spells were all that were allowed.
"I may be new, but that doesn't make me weaker than you." Abel growled, staring down at Gilbert as he struggled to free himself of his bonds.
"Abel, stop it!" Marielle yelled, grabbing onto her brother's arm. But she was shaken off as Abel slowly curled his hand up.
"Stay out of this, Marielle!" Abel shouted, "he needs to be taught a lesson."
The vines began to close around Gilbert's body, as they began to cut off circulation in his hands and legs. Marielle and Natalie begged him to stop, but to no avail. As the vines began to strangle him even further, Ludwig, Henri, and Milan tried to pull Abel back, while Martin tried to cut away the vines. But Abel was a lot stronger than he seemed to be.
"Stop, already! This isn't like you, Abel!" Ludwig slapped him, but Abel looked at him.
"I'm not gonna kill him or anything." Abel stated, "he may just hurt a little, that's all."
As the chaos ensued, none of the eight in the room noticed someone entering the room, until they cast a green ball of light towards the vines, causing them to suddenly stop growing. Everyone in the room, even Abel, stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the entrance.
The vines suddenly shriveled and dried up, allowing Gilbert to escape and run towards his brother who held on to him for dear life. "S**t," Ludwig swore, "now we're all in trouble."
Elizaveta was glaring at the group, her eyes clearing expressing the disappointment and anger that she was feeling. "What. Happened?" she asked in a low voice, her eyes sweeping from side to side of the room. "Who started all of this?"
Everyone looked at each other, before Abel finally hung his head, "it was me, leader. I… lost my temper, and before I knew it, I used my magic."
Elizaveta looked at him for a few seconds, then nodded her head, and turned to Gilbert, "you should know better than to insult members of the band." She reprimanded. Then she looked at Abel, "and you, you're on waste collection for the rest of the week. Should teach you not to let your temper get the best of you."
"Yes, ma'am." Abel sighed. Nodding, Elizaveta looked at Gilbert and Ludwig.
"Get ready, you two. We're going now." She looked at the two, and they nodded, heading to their rooms. "The rest of you." She turned to the others still in the kitchen, "I am heading out to the tradingpost for a few hours. I want this place cleaned up by the time I get back. After that, we will hold the meeting."
"Yes ma'am." The other six muttered, starting to clean the kitchen and dining room up.
A few minutes later, the three mages left for the trading post, leaving the others to tend to the mansion for the day, and practise their magic outside.
Gilbert looked around the large gardens in the courtyard. There were different ones for every region in Orbisia. His personal favourite was the garden for the plants right in his band's territory. It was where he was raised, and born. The fresh air filled his senses, and the smell of fresh pollen heightened the pleasurable feeling he had for being outside. He reached the open gate of the courtyard, and walked through it, following the other two in front of him for the Tradingpost.
End of Chapter 1
Hi! I finally managed to publish my first chapter! I feel as though I did something wrong in here. So if you find anything I can improve on, please let me know! Favourites, follows, and reviews are always appreciated!