The Mainland
"So this is the mainland?" Mavis commented, looking over the city, "It's very… crowded."
"That's a city for you," Yury said, "They are, by definition, crowded. But you really have never been off the island?"
"Did you see any boats there?" Mavis said, "Of course I've never been off the island. Now let's keep our focus, and start asking around." Precht snorted at that.
"What's with you?" Warrod asked.
"We go to Sirius Island looking for a precious jewel, and we come back with a bossy little smart-ass," Precht said, "Of course I'm annoyed."
"Just think about the prize," Warrod answered.
"Whatever," Precht replied, before saying, "I'm going to ask around about Blue Skull, you guys all find a place for the night."
"I'm coming with you," Mavis announced, "I know what to look for around here." Precht scowled at that, but considering how willful Mavis seemed to be, he figured there wouldn't be a point to it.
"Just don't get in my way," he said.
"And don't get in mine."
As Mavis and Precht walked away, Yury and Warrod watched, as Yury let out a small chuckle.
"What're you laughing about?" Warrod said.
"How can I not with a pair like that?" Yury said.
(in a tavern)
Mavis' experiences with alcohol were never good. Generally people were throwing it at her, or pouring it over her head. Needless to say, she wasn't fond of it, and taverns in general. Precht had lead her into one, in order to look for information on Blue Skull. Immediately, Mavis noticed several thieves, some hitmen, and even a couple of city officials. Corrupted scum she thought. People like this disgusted her. They used fear to get their way, not caring who they had to walk over in order to get and keep their power.
"Bartender!" Precht yelled.
"What?" the man in question responded.
"We need information," Precht answered.
"What do I look like a tour guide? Go find a map." He poured a glass of whiskey, before sliding it down the bar. Mavis took notice of that.
"I'm looking for stuff about the guild, Blue Skull," Precht explained.
"Never heard of
"He's lying through his teeth," Mavis said. Precht and the bartender looked down at the girl, who was peeking up over the bar counter. Even more than a few of the patrons gazed in their direction.
"We don't let little kids in, so why don't you and your brat get out," the bartender, "I'm afraid there aren't any dolls." The bar all laughed at that. Precht scowled, but the laughs bounced right off of Mavis.
"Very well then," Mavis said, before taking a breath, "You identified Blue Skull as a mage guild. There are several guilds in this kingdom alone, not all of them being mage guilds. The fact that you identified Blue Skull as a mage guild shows that you do have information. Not to mention you're a member."
"What in the hell make you think that?" the tender demanded.
"You pour the drinks with your right hand, meaning you're right handed," Mavis explained, "But the finger prints on the bottles on the wall are from a left handed person, showing this isn't your usual job. You are also too muscular for a bartender, who does most of his heavy lifting with the occasional barrel. This all means you're likely not a regular bar keeper, and seeing you, and your 'clientele" around here, chances are you are a thug, a racketeer most likely. Could just be for a local gang, but your hand-eye coordination is too precise, you're more 'professional'. Also, you made this whole bar laugh on an original joke based solely on me being young, indicating you have some leverage over them. There are several people bigger than you in this bar alone, and yet they still show deference to you; could be because you supply them with alcohol, but considering how clean you're clothes are, the tips are sizable, which thugs like these wouldn't give unless they felt obligated. That must mean you have some special capability, which likely means that you are a mage. Putting that all together, you are likely a member of a dark guild, and since you felt the need to lie about Blue Skull, you don't want to draw attention to it. That is why you are a Blue Skull member."
The entire bar stared at Mavis. Precht was told by Yury about this girl's deduction skills, but he honestly didn't fully believe him. No little girl, hell, no person could be that astute.
The silence was broken when two thugs sprung at Mavis and Precht. Precht got ready to act, but Mavis beat him to the punch. She waved her finger around, sending several small blasts of energy bursting around the thugs' body, sending them all sprawling to the ground.
"Get 'em!" the tender yelled, "There're only two them!" The entire bar then charged the duo, and Mavis turned to challenge them, but Precht, not wanting to get himself outdone by a child, kicked two away in one kick, before swinging out his arm, sending a chain lashing out, knocking several away, and cutting down another several. In no time at all, the entire bar was down. Mavis scanned the people down, before pointing.
"Faking, faking, faking," she said, as she struck three people with magic, and when given a questioning look, she said, "They're bodies were too tense." She then turned to the bartender, who tugged a rope, forming a glowing circle around Mavis and Precht.
"A magic circle?" Precht said.
"I'd say its a shame to kill a girl as smart as you, but you're also pretty stupid for trying to take on a mage," the bartender said, as he pulled down his collar, revealing the Blue Skull symbol.
"He really is a member?" Precht said.
"You doubted me?" Mavis said.
"One step out of that circle and you're going to be my new decorations," the tender explained.
"You bastard!" Precht growled.
"I guess there's no need to explain things to you, since that girl listed everything already," the tender continued, "Though she failed to notice that I'm an agent who shoots the shit with the everyday people." Precht figure he said that just as a way to show that he could still maybe outsmart Mavis.
"Oh I noticed that, you may be too muscular to be a bartender, but you are far to thin to be a fighter, and this trap shows that you like to avoid fighting," Mavis said. She was on the floor, studying the magic circle.
"The hell are you doing?" Precht said.
"Error here, error here, error here, and error here," Mavis said, "And there are probably a few others."
"What're you talking about?" Precht asked. The bartender suddenly turned a crimson red in anger.
"Multiple glyphs are (pause) here's another error, wrong," Mavis explained, "This type of magic circle is generally elven in origin. Chances are you learned it to impress people, but elven letters take constant study in order to get remotely right, not to mention the slightest single error can ruin the whole thing. So with that in mind…" She then walked right out of the circle, much to the mage's shock.
"How did you…"
"I've have been reading almost non-stop for the past seven years," Mavis explained, "I speak elven, dwarven, a couple dialects of orc, and a little saurian, not to mention the ancient languages I can read." She then walked up to the bar, where the guy in question was staring at her in surprise. What's with this girl? Precht said
"Now," Mavis continued, as she suddenly jumped up onto the bar to look over her opponent, "I'm going to threaten you now, since people like you only understand fear." The mage tried to keep up his facade, trying to smile confidently.
"How do you think you're going to threaten me?" he asked, "You're just a…" Mavis flicked her wrist. A glass of wine shot over, dousing the guy in alcohol.
"That's it?" the mage said, "You think I'm afraid of being wet?"
"No, I think you're afraid of being burnt," Mavis answered, before rubbed her index finger and her thumb together, before a small flame ignited onto the tip of her finger, "Alcohol just needs the tiniest flame, and its an inferno. Seeing as you're covered in it, you'll be the inferno in question." The mage cringed.
"You're bluffing," he said.
"Is that a risk you're willing to take?" Mavis answered. She stared down the bartender. Precht watched Mavis, as he clenched his teeth. The girl and the man stared down, while the man began to sweat slightly.
"I guess my point isn't clear enough," Mavis," Alright, I'm flexible." She then flicked her fire finger.
The room suddenly lit up in the glow of flames, as Mavis hands ignited, forming a burning torrent. The bartender let out a scream that was somehow more girly than that of Mavis'.
"The hell!" Precht said.
"Okay! Okay!" the bartender cried, "The base is in Magnolia!"
"Now see, that wasn't so hard," Mavis said, as she flicked her wrists, and the fire dissipated. She then flicked her finger at the bartender, and a light blast of magic knocked him to the ground. Mavis hopped back to the ground.
"We know where to go now, let's go," Mavis said, as she marched right past Precht, who stared at her in shock, though he still followed her. But once they were outside, Precht thought it necessary to bring it up.
"How can you be so powerful?" he demanded.
"I'm not," Mavis answered, "Those strikes are small magic bursts in sensitive spots. I can ignite small flames, and can lift one or two objects with my telekinesis, but I'm limited to stuff I could still pick up with my hands."
"What about those massive flames?"
"Oh that was an illusion," Mavis said.
"It was?" Precht asked.
"Indeed it was," Mavis explained, "Give people something to fear, and they will fear it. Now we need to find the others. We need to make for Magnolia!"
(later, on the road)
"How much longer are we going to have to walk?" Yury complained.
"Three days," Precht answered, "Maybe two if we move really fast."
"Its getting late, we should call it a night," Warrod said, "How about we do it here?"
"Reasonable enough," Mavis said, "Seeing as I'm the the youngest, I'll stay at the campsite, and watch it over."
"Fine then, I'll get some firewood!" Yury said.
"I'll hunt some animals," Precht said.
"I've always wanted to test my knowledge of plants," Warrod said. With that, the three split up to go get the food, while Mavis sat down, and stared up at the sky. In the past seven years, when she wasn't reading, Mavis liked to spend her time watching the stars. It made her think of the wider world, which in turn, helped her feel less alone. Not that changed the fact that she was alone.
(that night)
"Damn, Mavis, remind me to not piss you off," Yury said.
"Don't piss me off," Mavis echoed. While Precht remained silent, the other two chuckled at that. Mavis found that strange. There wasn't anything really to laugh at there.
"Reminds me of that time we went to Raktar," Yury said, "When Warrod tried to take that treasure from the temple. Half the Raktarian army was after us!"
"Don't pin that on me!" Warrod said angrily, "You were the one who said that the temple was abandoned."
"And yet they turned out to not just be in use, but very important for the saurians," Precht said, "Obviously we can't go back to Raktar now. They'd kill us on sight."
"What made you think it was abandoned?" Mavis asked.
"Well it was overgrown with vines, and all cracked up," Yury said.
"Saurians believe that world belongs to nature first. They'll clear land to build their homes, but will let the plants grow back freely," Mavis said, "You should've looked for…"
"Thanks, but that's okay," Yury said, "After this is over, we'll buy some books. We'll have plenty money left after we sell the Jade."
"That's assuming I let you take it," Mavis said, "You yourself said, don't piss me off." The men glanced at Mavis.
"You are one strange kid," Warrod said.
"'Strange' is a word people use to describe people who don't live up to their standards," Mavis said, "Hence, they are the ones with the problem, not the 'strange' person."
"You really are strange," Yury said.
"There were times I actually that I thought you were going to do if that man didn't tell you anything," Precht commented.
"Was there anything to indicate that I wouldn't?" Mavis said, "Because I would've." All eyes were on her immediately.
"You're… you're not serious, right?" Warrod asked.
"Men like that are despicable, and don't deserve pity or mercy," Mavis said, "They thrive off antagonizing, and exploiting the weak though fear and power-mongering."
"You can't be the 'guardian of justice'," Precht said, "You have to leave stuff like that to the Magic Council, or the government."
"Oh yes, I've heard of both of them," Mavis said, "And they're no better. If they truly did care, dark guilds wouldn't exist. The Magic Council isn't interested in preserving order or peace, they're interested in preserving their power. As for the kingdom? I saw at least three people who worked for the government. All it takes is money, and you can rule every kingdom on the continent." The men just stared at Mavis, who stood up, and walked away.
"I'm going to take a walk," she said, "Don't feel the need to follow me." With that, she walked away. Once she was out of earshot, Yury leaned over.
"Can we be sure that girl is normal?" he asked, "She can't be more than thirteen, and she talks like she's been around longer than we have."
"We walked around the remains of that village that was on Sirius Island," Precht said, "They didn't look that old. Chances are that girl has seen some serious horrors, probably at a young age at that."
"Yeah, I'd probably be pretty messed up by that as well," Warrod, before pausing briefly, "Maybe we should just give her the jade?"
"You're kidding right?" Yury said, "Precht back me up here!"
"I'm progressively losing interest in it as well."
"You call yourselves treasure hunters!" Yury roared, "We're getting the Sirius Jade no matter what it takes! Even if we have to beat Mavis to it!"
During this, Mavis had climbed a tree, and was looking at the stars again.
"Why do I bother, they won't understand," she muttered.
(a couple days later)
"High time we got here!" Yury said, as he looked at the city of Magnolia in the distance.
"Seems pretty nice from here," Warrod said.
"Alright, we got here, now we need to focus our attention on finding the Sirius Jade," Mavis said, "Now let's get into town, and start asking around." With that, they all headed into town. Mavis figured that the town would be in a poor state, as to be expected from a place that housed a dark guild. But what was there wasn't even close to what she found.
In the center of the town, was a large cathedral of sorts. That wasn't entirely abnormal, since that religion was decently popular, but what was abnormal, was what was on top of the cathedral. A massive, blue, dragon skeleton perched atop the structure. One didn't need to be a genius to know what was inside that structure.
"Blue Skull," Mavis whispered.
"Seems that they did a number on the city," Yury said, "I wonder if people even still live here." He half expected Mavis to give an explanation about why they did or didn't, but she was still staring at the dragon.
"Are you guys travelers?" The group turned to see an elderly woman approaching them.
"If you are, leave, here's nothing here but death," she explained.
"Well we're looking for something that's supposed to be here," Yury said.
"What exactly happened here?" Precht asked.
"Blue Skull happened," the woman explained, "Ever since they game, this city has slowly withered away. And very soon… GAH!" She collapsed to the ground, dead, from a wound to the back.
"Direct hit!" a voice called. Everyone looked up, and saw three men standing on the roof. They all had the Blue Skull mark on them.
"You owe me a beer!" one guy carrying a smoking staff said.
"You kidding, you said you'd blast a whole the size of a beachball! It ain't even close!" another guy said. Mavis clenched her fists angrily. She recognized those men from the attack on Sirius Island.
"Let's get these punks!" The trio then leapt off the roof, and charged them. Mavis got ready to fight, but Yury, Precht, and Warrod stood in front of her.
"You've done enough," Yury said, "Give us a chance to show off!" With that, the three men charged, and promptly incapacitated them. Yury threw smoking of crystal orb, which exploded on contact. Precht lashed out his chains, bringing a second guy down. Warrod was more simplistic, simply pummeling him to the ground.
"Now I'm 5000 jewels poorer," Yury said, "These guys are so whimpy, I don't think I even needed to use a bomb! I guess Blue Skull's just…" He didn't finish, as everyone heard a commotion, as they saw multiple people starting to charge them.
"Crap!" Warrod said, "Reinforcements!"
"I'll handle this," Mavis explained, as she stood to face them, "Now come forth, great Serpent of Light!" She held up her arms, as a massive dragon with golden scales manifested over them, sending the dark mages grounding to a halt.
"Whoa!" Yury said.
"Its a dragon!" one of the thugs cried.
"This girl can control dragons!" another said.
"I need to talk to your master!" Mavis said firmly, "Now call him out!"
"That won't be necessary." From the crowd emerged a man dressed in blue and black, with blue face paint that resembled a skull, with a pair of goggles. It was the master of Blue Skull, Geoffrey.
"So that's the master?" Warred said.
"As if the bone dragon isn't enough of a skull motif," Yury muttered.
"Nobody asked you," Precht answered.
"Seven years ago, you stole the Sirius Jade," Mavis said, "I demand that you return it to me!"
"And let's say I refuse," Geoffrey said.
"You see the dragon, right?" Mavis said.
"No, I can't say that I do," Geoffrey answered, "Well actually, I see something, but it ain't a dragon." Mavis recoiled back in horror. With a wave of his hand, the dragon vanished into nothing. He saw through my illusion so easy? Mavis thought, How…
"Look kid," Geoffrey said, as he turned, and looked Mavis straight in the eye, "Just because you can conjure some pretty pictures, and use some basic magic, doesn't mean you're ready to play with us just yet." Mavis, suddenly found herself shaking. A feeling began to stir inside of her.
"You know what to do boys," Geoffrey said, gesturing. The Blue Skull members then charged.
"Come on! We got to go!" Yury said. As Warrod and Precht began throwing punches and chains respectively, Yury threw a crystal bomb at Geoffrey, who just flicked it away like it was nothing, right back towards the guy who threw it. Yury let out a cry of pain, as he was knocked back by the explosion.
"Yury!" Precht yelled, moving to help his friend. However, as he was doing that, he was struck in the side of the face by a magic blast.
As Warrod knocked away another several thugs, he turned to see his friends on the ground.
"Damn it!" he yelled, as he hosted both of them onto his shoulder. He then saw Mavis still standing still, just staring into space.
"Mavis!" Warrod yelled, "We've got to go!" But the girl didn't respond.
"MAVIS!" Warred yelled again. That snapped Mavis out of it, and she ran with him. Blue Skull move to chase them, but Geoffrey held up his hand.
"No need to expend more energy," he said, "They won't be coming back."
As she ran, the strange feeling awoke in Mavis. For the first time in years, she felt… fear.
Note: I hate having to stretch this out over three chapters, but I don't like making my chapters too long. Its a matter of principle. This was also good place. Those who read FT Zero should know what's going to happen next chapter, and what not, but what happens in the end…
Next chapter should probably conclude this prologue. Or at the very least, I'd like it too. Something I'd also like to do, is plenty of world building in this. I mentioned elves, dwarves, orcs, and saurians, and who knows what else is out there. I'm even entertaining the idea of bringing dragons into this. Though they would be incredibly rare, and the odds of catching a distant glimpse would be considered astronomical.
Let me just say, writing deductions like those isn't easy.
Be sure to review.