Chapter 4: Elderine

I leaned against the side of the inn with a sigh. I closed my eyes and folded my arms across my chest, a foot against the wall, and simply let the noises of the night take over me. The crickets chirped softly and in the restaurant nearby, where the lights still glowed, came the clatter of utensils and the chatter of diners.

Slowly opening my eyes, I angled my head up towards the dark sky, watching the stars twinkle brighter and dimmer, only to be covered by a cloud.

Despite listening to the calm of the night, the noisy chaos inside of me didn't settle as I had hoped. There were two paths to take from here: wait for Silva to wake up or to head straight to Elderine.

If I waited for Silva, she would most definitely force me to party with her, one way or another. And while I wasn't exactly excited about having to go through all the beginner quests again, her distraction was what had allowed me to kill the wolves and so reach level 11. While I owed her for that, the debt was paid off by me bringing her to this inn.

Judging from what I've seen of her so far, though, she seemed to be the type of person to chase me down to pay me back for the inn's room. Which was no good, since she'd follow me either way... if I headed straight to Elderine, there was no doubt that she'd guess right away where I had gone and follow me anyways.

With a frustrated groan, I ran an impatient hand through my hair, wondering why she had to be so unbelievably annoying, even when unconscious.

Having been waking up in unfamiliar rooms for the past week, I hardly took any notice of my new surroundings, instead groggily climbing out of bed and reaching for my pack to change out of my sleeping clothes.

Realizing I was still wearing my traveling clothes, I figured I must've been far too tired the night before and simply fell asleep without changing. I didn't notice the claws on my hand and crawled out of bed to go to the bathroom.

Then I noticed that I was still wearing my boots, which would have been impossible no matter how tired I had been because I can never sleep with my boots on. Still half asleep, I couldn't think of the implications of this and merely staggered off to wash my face anyways.

The water was ice cold and made me yelp, but it shocked me into remembering what had happened. After being rudely shoved through the portal, I had fainted and then...

I cursed loudly and looked around, properly taking in my surroundings this time. It was like a room any average inn had, nothing terrible nor fancy. Zorark must have taken me here after I had fainted.

With this in mind, I finished my morning routine in record time and grabbed my pack, racing out the door. I stopped by the counter, out of breath, to talk to the manager.

"Who paid for my room?" I said in between gasps for air. She gave me a strange look but flipped through her book, asking for my room number.

"Ah... yes, that would be last night," she muttered, adjusting the glasses on her face. "He refused to give his name, but he was a bit taller than you and had blue hair and brown eyes..."

Zorark. Definitely Zorark.

"Thanks," I told her, regaining my breath and my usual lazy smile returning to my face. "How much did he pay?"

"About 150 coppers..."

I ran out of the inn, already counting out the coppers.

Elderine was always an unpleasantly crowded place no matter when I visited. I couldn't understand why she wanted to live here.

I scowled, glaring at the unbelievable amount of houses set up in the middle of the road, hoping to sell a few items to ignorant people at ridiculous prices. Sadly, there were enough of those to completely crowd the street, and I took a deep breath before pushing and shoving my way through, ignoring any glares or yells of protest I received.

After finally reaching the other side, I still had to weave through the crowds around the shopkeepers until reaching my destination. After being kicked, pulled, shoved, yelled at, elbowed, and generally being treated as though I was invisible, I was extremely fed up with the city.

I glared at the innocent wooden door in front of me, and the anger immediately disappeared, washed away by a wave of nostalgia. I hadn't been to this house since five years ago...

I raised my hand to knock on the door.

"The bastard fucking left me behind!"

It took five minutes for the door to open, during which I heard crashing, breaking, screeching of metal on metal, cursing, and, disturbingly enough, the screams of something dying. When the door finally flung open, it revealed my very disheveled and out of breath master.

I raised an eyebrow at her appearance and she made a rude sign with her hands in response.

Her waist length platinum blonde hair was scattered everywhere, her bangs almost completely obscuring her emerald green eyes. With an impatient huff, she straightened out her tan skirt and white blouse.

"... I'm almost scared to ask about the blood on your arms," I offered, when she continued to glare at me as if expecting an explanation for my unannounced visit. Blinking, she glanced down at her arms and looked back up at me.

"Adel hates you, you know," she answered nonchalantly, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her elf-like ears. "I had to chain him to the bed."

"... Looks like he broke the bed." I nodded at the white dragon breathing heavily over her shoulder, yellow glowing eyes staring me down. He growled low, deep in his throat, baring his white, pointed teeth at me.

"Hello, Adel," I said as calmly as I could manage. "It's been a while."

He threw the orange orbs in his claws at me.

If there was one place where I knew he'd be at for sure, it was Elderine. After a moment of squinting at my map and turning it side ways, upside down, and backwards, I headed off towards the portal I had noticed when I had first arrived at Roumen.

I stepped in front of it and placed a hand on the mirror and a selection of areas I could go to were inscribed in glowing letters on the border. I brushed my fingers over the text until I found Elderine and pressed my palm to it. The name of the city glowed brighter and I figured it was safe to go through.

Taking a steadying breath, because walking into mirrors was a lot different than walking into glowing swirls floating in midair, I pressed on into the gate.

After the unpleasant feeling of having the air, blood, and bones sucked out of me, I dropped into a crouching position in front of the mirror. I blinked groggily, trying to take in my surroundings.

I seemed to be in a park of some sorts, under the roof of a patio. Bushes and hedges surrounded me on all sides, and there were a good handful of people rushing back and forth. I decided to follow the stream of people, taking off at a leisurely pace.

Soon enough, I found myself in a maze of hedges.

"... Fuck."

A shiver ran down my back and I immediately turned around, ignoring my master as she wrestled with her pet.

"Zorark, as soon as you're done staring off into space, I could use a little help! Adel, stop trying to-"

Then came a hideous ripping sound... and the beautiful noise of peaceful silence.

"I'm going to assume that this would be a bad time to turn around."

"Damn straight it would," she snarled. "Give me your vest." With a good-natured sigh, I shrugged the clothing off and tossed it over my shoulder, counted thirty seconds, and turned around.

"Your pet is very violent," I observed as she tugged at my vest. Adel snorted and retreated back into the house to retrieve his owner a new shirt. She rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest, leaning against the door frame.

"So you finally managed to get to level 10, huh?" she smiled.

"11."

"E-uh?" She straightened up, blinking with disbelief. "11? Why didn't you come earlier then?!"

I explained to her how Roumenus wouldn't let me to Elderine until I reached level 11, conveniently leaving out the tale of a certain other Trickster. I had paid off my debt to her, hopefully she would forget about it and I would never have to see her again.

As my master opened her mouth to reply to my story -

"Elderine is a god damned huge, crowded city. I don't understand why you're so fucking obsessed with it."

I had the satisfaction of seeing Zorark stiffen, and I grinned as wide as my mouth could go. I peered over his shoulder to see a woman wearing his vest...

"MOTHER!" I shrieked.

"DAUGHTER!" she yelled back.

Zorark's eyes went wider than dinner plates, his mouth opening and closing soundlessly as he tried to conjure up a proper response. He failed miserably and I couldn't help but laugh as I danced around to face him.

"I'm kidding, you know," I snickered mischievously, hands clasped innocently behind my back. "Spur of the moment thing to see your reaction."

"I went along because it seemed interesting," the woman behind me offered. Zorark closed his eyes and took a deep breath to compose himself.

"There's a dragon behind you."

I was only slightly pissed and mostly relieved to hear that their mother-daughter relationship was a joke. In fact, thinking it through, that would have been impossible save for adoption, since my master was only seven years older than the girl.

"Oh, be silent, it's a pet," I growled, cutting off the girl mid-scream. She turned to me with a nonchalant expression on her face.

"I know," she shrugged. "It just seemed like something normal people would do." I sighed, shaking my head.

"So, Zorark, who's the girl?" my master asked with a twisted smile on her face. She tugged the new shirt from Adel's jaws and pulled it on, shrugging off my vest after the shirt was safely on.

"I don't know," I answered, snatching my vest away from her.

"You're a bit cruel?" A Trickster's claw was waved in front of my face. "I helped you get to level 11. I should think that you know me, seeing as you fucking paid for my room and then ditched me at the inn."

"How did you get here?" Now that I thought about it, this was unnatural. Just like before, she had entered an area that she shouldn't have been able to access at her current level.

"It's called a gate," she answered sarcastically. "I walked through it."

"Wait, what level are you?" My master caught on quickly and the girl blinked at her.

"3... why?"

"... You have to be at least level 10 to enter Elderine," my master explained slowly. "If you're only level 3... it should be impossible for you to have entered."

"Well, I dunno how that happened either," she shrugged. "I have an idea though. I'd like to know you you are before I share my theory, though."

"In that case..." My master stepped aside and held out an inviting hand. "Why don't you two come on inside? I'll go make some tea."

I walked in, the girl following after slight hesitation. My master walked through the hallways that I recognized with faint nostalgia, leading us to the living room while Adel headed off towards the kitchen.

"Adel, don't get the tea-"

Followed by a huge crash.

"... Your dragon needs to learn that he cannot carry a tray of tea in his jaws," I said dryly. "I'll go clean it up."

My master nodded her thanks and invited the girl to sit down on the couch across from her.

After three minutes of simply sitting and staring at me, with the only sounds being faint cursing and crashing coming from the kitchen, accompanied by some growls, I was feeling somewhat twitchy under this stranger's gaze.

Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath through my nose, I did my best to ignore the staring and stop tapping my fingers on my knee. My forehead began tingling and my eyes flew open.

She was standing right in front of me, hands clasped behind her back.

Reflexively, I hopped onto the couch into a crouching position, hands braced against the back, ready to leap over it and run. Then I blinked and remembered that I was being paranoid. I wasn't traveling on the roads anymore, and I wasn't in a grotty, crime-ridden town.

But then again, this wasn't home where I always had two or four more people guarding my back, so I didn't move from my position.

Then, all of a sudden, she smiled and held out her hand.

"I'm Aisu Chie," she said.

"A... ah..." I tentatively took her hand and shook it. Her hand was calloused and scarred from fighting. I looked up, and her emerald eyes sparkled with curiosity, but I could detect no malice or ill-meaning in them. With this to comfort me, and the fact that she apparently knew Zorark very well, I told her, "I'm Silva Yin."

The silver dragon floated in, a pleased expression on its face, with a deep rumbling noise coming from its throat. It stopped next to Aisu, where it snorted and examined me thoroughly. It was followed by a tea-drenched Zorark covered in small little cuts and scratches. I raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Knife-fight in the kitchen or what?"

"Train your dragon better," he growled to Aisu, ignoring me completely. He dropped the tray of dishes and tea cups on the table.

"You break that and I'll set Adel on you," Aisu warned, scratching the dragon's head. It let out a contented rumbling from deep within its throat.

"His name is Adel?" I asked, reaching out slowly to pat the dragon. He snorted and shook his head and I retracted my hand with a shrug.

"So, Silva, how did you get to know Zorark?" Aisu asked, mildly berating Adel for his rudeness. He turned his head defiantly in the other direction and floated off elsewhere.

"It's, uh, a long story," I said, watching the beast move off. I caught Zorark rolling his eyes as he sipped at some tea.

"We have an adequate amount of time," she smiled, sitting back down onto the sofa and crossing her legs, her hands folded neatly in her lap.

"-So she was following me-"

"Stalking."

"... Yes, 'stalking' me when-"

"Ma-an, I really want some cookies right now..."

"..."

Thirty minutes and forty six distractions and seventy two interruptions later, Zorark had finished telling the story of our meeting. Promptly after the re-telling, he left the room to go seethe and rage to himself where he wouldn't break the dishes.

I winced as there was a hoarse yell, a snarl, and the sound of something breaking.

"... I suppose that Adel has found Zorark," Aisu muttered, running a hand through her hair. "You stay here while I go sort that out."

"-Fucking dragon-"

"-Stay still, for God's sakes-"

"GRAAAR-"

"SHUT UP, YOU IDIOTIC REPTILE-"

"Imbecile, don't insult him-"

"Grao?"

"-get off-"

"-getting blood all over my carpet-"

"Raoo-"

"-blame your dragon-"

"-YOU'RE PAYING FOR THIS-"

"Gyugao!"

"GET! OFF!"

I sat peacefully in the living room, twiddling my thumbs and ignoring the chaos going on not two rooms away. I timed it: the skirmish took no more than ten minutes. When the crashing noises seemed to have relatively died down, I stood up and poked my head into the room.

I didn't even think it was possible for a room to have been destroyed so utterly and thoroughly within ten minutes.

A halfway close description would be this: A drunk Satan and a PMS-ing God met within the confines of an atom of air within the room, which then spontaneously combusted into a nuclear explosion due to the polar opposites being placed so close to each other, causing said Satan and God to be released into the room that happened to be sealed in so tightly that the two had no choice but attempt to kill each other to escape.

The drunk Satan (Adel) was currently curled up in a corner of the destruction, unhurt and looking extremely pleased with himself, his tail twitching pleasantly in his sleep. The PMS-ing God (AKA Zorark) was covered in cuts, scrapes, bruises, blood, his eyes absolutely livid, bloodshot, and raging, with his face locked in a snarl, and in a battle-ready stance with his claws drawn and everything.

Aisu stood in the opposite corner of the room from Adel, looking the same as she had when she had left me in the living room, and face palming while shaking her head.

I whistled and hopped into the room, looking innocently around at the post-fight room. Zorark glared at me so hard that I had to dig my fingernails into my palm to keep from flinching, but I managed to return it with a smile.

Okay, so maybe what I said next did deserve him chasing me off into the Forest of Mist, but it was too good of a chance to pass up.

"Seems like you guys had fun."

If I had been capable of entering the Forest of Mist without being potentially slaughtered by monsters of a far higher level than I, I would have followed that little... little brat and sliced her up so badly that she would've been unable to breathe without wanting to die.

As it was, I let her run off towards her death and waited for her to revive at the gate. I counted the three minutes it would take her to run into a Grave Robber and die, waited the forty four seconds it would take for her to be reborn, and then stepped into the gate and smoke and dragged her back into Elderine.

Once we were through the portal, she collapsed on the ground, looking like she wanted to scream and writhe but being unable to do so. I tried to bring up some guilt, sympathy, or empathy, but having forgotten the pain of revival years ago, I could do none of those.

"Having fun?" I asked when she seemed to be resurfacing from the pain.

"Fu... fuck you," she managed to choke out. Her face seemed unnaturally red. Somewhat concerned, I crouched down to examine her closer until I realized that she was choking on her own laughter.

"... When you're completely functional and sane, you can come back to Master's house," I drawled, standing back up. "I expect that this time I don't have to drag you."

Bastard.

Well, dying did seem a lot less painful this time. I managed to crawl back to my feet, ignoring the interested looks of the guards around the portal, and dusted myself off. I groaned when I realized that Zorark had ditched me and left me to fine my own way around Elderine.

Being raised in a small village, navigating the streets of a very, very crowded city was not familiar to me.

By the time I found Aisu's house, it was sunset and I was starving. Again. My stomach snarled at me and I told it to shut up, remembering that the last time I had eaten was when Zorark had fed me. And dying takes a lot out of you.

So I decided to go back to Aisu and Zorark later, opting to have dinner first.

"Zorark, I trained you to do better than that!"

I ducked and rolled behind a tree, a Magic Missile 1 sailing over my head to explode on another poor, innocent tree. I had no time to worry about the environment, though, and ran off for another plant when my tree vaporized.

"Respect-"

A Fire Bolt 1 and I was surrounded by a ring of fire.

"-the people-"

Ice Bolt 1, my feet were frozen into the ground.

"-AROUND YOU!"

A Lighting Bolt 1 zapped my hands, hot electricity tracing up my veins and coursing through my body. After a moment, the fire, ice, and electricity faded, leaving my feet freezing cold and the rest of my body uncomfortably hot and tingly.

All the while, Adel had been whining to my master in vain, trying to get her to stop using spells and straining herself. In fact, the lower leveled spells that she had used hadn't really done any lasting damage. With the crisis over, I shook off the aftereffects and went over to my master, who was out of breath despite using only weak spells.

Adel whimpered and nuzzled his owner, letting her lean heavily on him. After catching her breath, she let out a huge sigh and stared me straight in the eye.

"You don't do that to people, understand?" she scolded. "You're a nice boy, a strong one who could protect people, but your one flaw is your anger. Control it."

… And Zorark, who was a good half a head taller and in a lot better shape than this woman despite having been the one under attack, bowed his head obediently and mumbled an apology.

With a sigh of annoyance and frustration, I ruffled my hair before coming to a decision. I slid off the tree branch I had been perched on and dropped to the ground next to Zorark with a flurry of leaves.

"It was my fault, Aisu," I said, standing up straight and still being half a head shorter than her. "Zorark doesn't need to apologize. He was defending his pride while he was still locked in battle mode, and I was inconsiderate of that. Under normal circumstances, nothing would have happened."

Aisu raised an eyebrow and Zorark rolled his eyes at me. And then he punched me.

"Aw, dammit man!" I grumbled, picking myself off the ground and rubbing my cheek. That was going to bruise. I patted my pack and found the loaf of bread I had bought half squished. I tore off a chunk and threw it playfully at him before chomping down on the loaf. He caught it with his teeth and tore his chunk in half, handing one to Aisu and swallowing the one in his mouth.

"Don't try to be a good girl and take the blame for something you had no part in," he said gruffly after swallowing.

"Yes, because I am completely the type of person to let a friend get lectured for something that he didn't do wrong," I answered, waving him off before he could argue back. "Aisu, where are you hurt?"

She handed the rest of her bread to Adel, and I did the same. The dragon snapped up the food in one gulp before settling down so that Aisu could rest on him more comfortably.

"What would make you say that?" she asked. "I was the one attacking Zorark. If I'm out of breath, it might simply be because I am weak."

"You are most certainly not weak," I answered. "First of all, Zorark called you Master, and if that's anything to go by, then you must be really, really strong. Secondly, you fired those spells without any struggling, which means that you can use stronger ones but either can't or won't, and you used such weak spells in a very efficient way. Lastly... You're holding your stomach, so I'm guessing that's where you're hurt."

Blinking, Aisu looked down as if she hadn't realized she had been holding her wound. She laughed, but silently so that she wouldn't put herself in more pain.

"You're very observant," she smiled when she had finished laughing. I stared back at her, unamused.

"The only way to find out about a stubbornly guarded secret is by observation," I said simply. "Why would you exert yourself if you knew that you would end up in this state?"

Adel let out a snort of agreement.

"There are some things that you need to pound into people," she explained, giving Zorark a sidelong look. He looked away pointedly.

"Yeah," I snorted. "You're Zorark's master right? Did you know that your student is a rude little bastard? This is the second time he's shoved me through a portal!"
"Stubborn little rude man, I told you to act gently towards ladies!" Aisu grinned, playfully shoving her student.

"... If either of you two were ladies, I would have no qualms with acting kindly towards you," he muttered under his breath, rubbing his arm. At this, a sly grin crossed my face.

"So there is someone who you would care about?" I teased. Aisu laughed and went along with me.

"Do tell!" She nudged him with her elbow. "Who is the lovely young lady who would receive the honor of being treated kindly by you?"

Zorark glared at me and then shifted his eyes away, refusing to look at us. The tiniest of blushes crossed his face and Aisu and I burst out into roars of laughter when we spotted it.

"SO THERE IS SOMEONE!" I giggled, pounding my fist on the nearest tree. The thought that Zorark, silent, short-tempered Zorark, would have someone who he liked...

"TELL, TELL, TELL!" Aisu chanted, calming down as much as she would so as not to irritate her wound. I hadn't forgotten about that and planned to ask more about it later, but for now, the idea of Zorark with a girl was still firmly planted in my mind.

Another wave of chuckles washed over me.

It wasn't that I turned red because I had someone I liked, but rather because I didn't. I refused to tell this to them to defend myself, though, because there was no doubt that once they had found out that I had never, in my eighteen years of living, ever liked a girl, they would immediately latch onto that and tease me about it.

I could imagine it now.

"He's EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD and he's never liked a girl?! Is this kid gay or what?"

"If you're going to do no more than laugh at me, I'm leaving," I told them, turning and heading towards my master's house. I paused and called back to the girl, "You. Don't stay in Elderine. Go back to Roumen and finish up your quests. You shouldn't be here."

With my head bent towards the ground and my hands shoved in my pockets, I kept on walking.

What a little bastard.

"Fine!" I yelled after him. I glanced around and picked up a hefty rock. "Sure, I'll go back! This city is fucking crowded anyways, I don't know why you're so obsessed with it!"

I could imagine him rolling his eyes at me, but he didn't turn around, so I tiptoed after him until I was only three paces behind. He reach out to open the door to Aisu's place when I smashed his back with the rock. He flinched and curled in on himself but forced his arm backwards to grab me. I ducked and sprinted back up and into the safety of a tree.

He whirled around with a snarl on his face, looking this way and that to find me so he could strangle me, no doubt. Hidden in the leaves, I stuck my tongue out childishly at him and retreated back into the semi-forest where Aisu stood, still leaning on Adel.

"Do you need help getting back?" I called to her from a branch. She looked up and squinted in the leaves before she spotted me and shook her head.

"I'll be fine," she answered. "No matter how rude he was about it, Zorark was right. You shouldn't be in Elderine. You should stay in Roumen until you reach level 10."

"Yeah, I know." I dropped to the ground with a light thump. "But I don't want to go back today. Can I stay at your place for tonight? I'll be gone in the morning before you know it."

Aisu sighed and shook her head as if she thought I was as stubborn as Zorark, but she agreed to let me stay the night. I grinned at the thought of bugging Zorark again.

Then I realized he probably still wanted to strangle me and the grin was wiped off my face.

Oh well, I thought to myself, skipping after Aisu and Adel. He didn't have to know that I was in the house.

"Time to play it like a fucking ninja..."