It was early morning. EARLY morning. The kind of early morning that makes you groan from how unreal someone would wake you at that time of day. The thought of being so tired drilled into the minds of many people in the past and will in the future. But the fact remained that Yuri was like a soldier; he could be up at any time you needed. And right now, he was.
Roaming the streets while everyone slept cozy in the inn (except for Repede, the poor guy having to sleep at the door at this particular inn), Yuri watched the town's residents get up and go to their market tents, readying for another day of buying goods and sailors working. But it was a very boring. He had to wait for everyone to get up. But it was a sweet deal. Since Patty was here at the port, they didn't have to pay for tickets to go on a ship; they could just sail there. Good luck for once; how about that?
But Yuri was just as teens would say chilling; but not standing still. He walked around and decided to eavesdrop. What? It wasn't like Estelle or Flynn was there to scold him or nothing. So, he listened in on several conversations. Mostly boring stuff like family issues, market prices, and even one about custom underwear. The he- anyways, he sighed as he kept going around, until one conversation caught his ear.
"I'm telling you, it's the truth! No way that story could be made up!"
Yuri's head was drawn towards a man and woman conversing near the bulletin board next to the bridge. He pretended to rest against the bridge out of their view as it continued.
"Okay, take it from the top so I get it again. What's the story?"
"I don't have all the details, but apparently, there's some man beast over in Tolbyccia!"
"Man beast...?" Yuri couldn't help but mutter out of his mouth as he listened more to the woman doubt the man's news.
"What in the world is a man beast?"
"Like I said, I don't have the details, but a lot of people are saying there's a guy who's half man, half monster somewhere over there!"
"Ahh, it's probably some dumb rumor the guilds made long ago to scare and stop imperial knights from getting in their business. I've got nothing against the Union, but that's the most logical answer to that."
"You'd think so, right? But no, all over Tolbyccia is talking about how he exists and how some people have seen him. Even Torim Harbor has people who've seen him; that's how I heard."
"Wow... maybe then it is real...!"
"Just think of it; we have half human monsters now! We better be more careful now..."
The conversation enough would be suffice to know about a rumor, but Yuri Lowell isn't someone to let news and shocking details just slip by his notice on daily matters. He slowly walked back down near the inn and decided that he needed more info.
"If there's really a man beast or whatever it's called running around... I need more details about it. It could lead to the blastia thieves maybe," he said to himself before looking up.
His eyes suddenly caught wind of a certain man that was watching the party of Raven, Tai, and Estelle earlier. He recognized him in a heartbeat; the same man who acted and spoke like what he could've been. HIM!
"Hey, it's you!" he ran over to him.
The man looked around, his eyes betraying whatever expression his mouth made underneath the maroon scarf. He soon folded his arms as Yuri came over, completely surprised.
"Well, Yuri; been a long time since I've seen your face," he said.
"Clay..." Yuri said, a bit bewildered, "I thought you were in jail for nearly killing your brother!"
"Yeah, but I got out; simple as that and now I'm not going back to the capital for a long time," Clay said, looking melancholy.
"No way; prison time for murder are years long; sometimes even lifetime. You broke out of jail, didn't you?" Yuri said, narrowing his eyes at him with seriousness.
Clay, not even wavering, closed his eyes, and retorted, "Says the man who started his infamous journey with jailbreaking."
"Touche," Yuri lightened up, smiling and placing a hand on his hip, "So, with all secrets aside, mind telling me only how you got out and why you are on the move?"
"Let's just say I owe somebody a big favor, and I'm helping that somebody repay the debt," the dark enforcer spoke, "I need to meet the friend at Torim Harbor, so I need to cross over to Tolbyccia in order to help."
The idea popped into Yuri's head like popcorn; forgetting all about jailbreaking promise of Clay's maybe this was the perfect time to get some information about something he needed.
"Oh, speaking about Tolbyccia, have you been hearing rumors of some man beast over there?" he asked casually.
"Ahh, so you've heard those stories too," the man said, nodding and confirming that he too heard it as he looked at him, "Well, at first, I thought it was ludicrously stupid, but then... I heard much more... and actually got real information about it from a few friends of mine."
"Oh, yeah? What have you heard?" Yuri asked, getting interested.
Looking around for a second, Clay then explained, "Apparently, there's a lot of monster activity happening around Keiv Moc. More than usual, even more than the Aer Krene situation a few months ago where the plants grew unhealthily gigantic. So, Dhangrest sent out several guilds and warriors to eliminate them. That's where the Man Beast comes in. According to all men who came back, when they tried to get into the heart of that forest, a humungous giant of a man who has the head and tail of a wolf drives them out."
"Are you serious? Against all those warriors, this guy/monster wins?" Yuri asked, cupping his hand in his chin and looking down.
"That's right. But the odd thing is that there have been no deaths from the Man Beast. Apparently, all warriors are dropped off right at Dhangrest's borders within the city. Only a few have gotten a glimpse of what he looked like, and thus, the name of Man Beast was born," Clay said, unfolding his arms.
Yuri looked back at him, letting go of his chin and folding his arms this time as another idea popped into his head about the thieves, "Wow... I thought I had seen everything on my journey before... but new things keep popping up every time. Is it possible that maybe the blastia thieves have something to do with it?"
"You mean that recent group that have been stealing cores and such? It is a possibility, but that is startling if they had the power to make that monster. Anyways, for all I know, the new Don has stopped sending troops over to Keiv Moc. I don't know anything more about who the monster or person is," Clay said, slightly stretching his neck out, "but the Man Beast has to be losing its patience with how many times it's been attacked. I'm guessing it's territorial, and it attacks anyone who gets too close into the heart of the forest."
"So, is this a threat? Do people need this thing gone?" Yuri asked, possibly getting an idea for a guild job.
"Maybe; the Don has said that if the Man Beast becomes too out of control or attempts to attack the city, he'll start trying to kill it. But for now, he's playing defensively. However, that's not my issue... Right now, I got to figure out how I'm going to cross over to Torim Harbor," the dark enforcer said, closing his eyes again.
"Well... maybe I can help you out a bit. My friends really don't know much about you, so I could hook you up with a free trip, as long as you keep your mouth shut about who you really are; the commandant of the knights himself is boarding the ship we're on," Yuri said, offering an idea as his hand laid out in front of him like the option was literally in the palm.
"Risky, yet tempting..." Clay said, looking at him, "Very well. If you're really willing to help me, I'll accept your assistance. When is the ship departing?"
"In about a few hours, when the others wake up, but other than that, pretty soon," the man responded.
From there on, it was pretty much just waiting it out with Clay until the group looked up. But all that talk about the Man Beast had gotten in his head; a man with the head of a wolf? What if the blastia thieves were really apart of this? What if that really happened? It also could explain that beast they had to fight the day before yesterday. It made perfect sense. If that was the case... maybe Brave Vesperia would be required to look up into this at Keiv Moc and slay the monster themselves.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The port town of Torim Harbor was dark and quiet. The perfect place for a tiny meeting about what to do with a certain band of heroes. The man that had entangled his fingers into their business on a previous day, Cescoral, walked over to them, smirking as he watched the two look at him. The woman from today that stopped Yuri from killing Zagi was right there, and speaking of the devil, he stood next to her. He looked anxious as if he wanted to kill someone right there, but he stayed next to the woman.
"It's about time you got here; I was afraid your cockiness got you into a situation you couldn't handle," the woman said, the voice behind the mask utterly collected and poised.
Cescoral grinned and folded his arms, "Ahh, didn't know you worried about me, Qui. I thought you paid attention only when important matters are happening."
"Save the useless tauntings," Qui said, her name mentioned, "As much as your prattling is unamusing, you are part of this organization, and he will not tolerate one refusing to prevent another's death."
"Well, the boss isn't gonna like the amount of trouble the Brave Vesperia gang is becoming; they've gotten more members," the man responded.
"I am fully aware of this," Qui replied, "I am preparing a report to him already. But I decided to leave out the humiliating retreat that you were forced to undergo in Aspio."
"Oh, come on. Really? I didn't see you take them all on," Cescoral snapped back at her.
"In fact, I did. I defeated the so called leader Yuri Lowell in a matter of seconds," the woman folded her arms, almost taunting him.
"Kicking a guy away from you in two seconds is not a victory, or a fight at that matter. I tangled with all of them for at least a good five minutes; longer than you did, you elitist," the man growled at her.
It was around that time that Zagi had finally just about enough of the ridiculous rantings and yelled, "That's it! All this freaking raving of meaningless talk is worthless! My blade wants to fight again!"
"Easy, Zagi, in all due time, you will be able too," Qui said, calming him down, "But first we must meet with the master..."
"It's about time, really. He's been holding out on us; to finally know why the hell we're doing this in the first place better be worth my time..." Cescoral grumbled.
And with that... the trio dived deeper into the darkness of the harbor... where the plot was told where no one could hear.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
I know this is a very short chapter, I get it, but I got stuff happening soon, so I gotta be ready! I hop enjoy and keep reading! ^^