Fantasia

Arc3: The Heir of Ardneria

Chapter2: Prologue to a new adventure

Two millenniums ago the land of Féena was united as one powerful empire, however with time this union came to age as the mighty Féena got split into many smaller villages filled with racism to sole tribes, leaving the highest capital "Hatena" to form its own independent kingdom.

As any expected reaction of logic, the Hatenaian tried to restore their glory by forcing those deviant clans and villages back to their property, but by the same logic those villages fought back and that was the start of a great civilian war that left many losses.

Humans, Beastmen, Ragons, Shadow imps, and many other tribes suffered the consequences of this rebellion, making the lords of each clan decide to put an end to all this by committing a long lasting truce, mainly leaning the scale to the strongest power that existed back then; the highest capital of Hatena.

And that was the start of what's known by "The Hatenaian council" a court of politicians who were essentially descendants of the tribal lords from each village, representing their respective villages which announced some sort of quasi-affiliation to the capital in order to prevent the ignition of further wars.

Despite the fact that Beastmen are a brute race and a war-loving clan, by the time the great Klaivensky -Luffine's grandfather- mounted the lead of his tribe, the wise man decided to link Ardneria with the council fearing a bleak future that he saw coming if his clan continued its foolish crusades on other villages.

This tradition passed to Melchior -Luffine's father- then to Luffine himself then in the end it reached the youngest of his four sons -Since the older three deceased in a small civilian war against some rogue clan- to take the task and protect his village -politically- from unnecessary losses, and that son was also the father of Yera -Who stole Roné's heart and mind- the mighty Klaive.

Each three months he returns home where he gets the warmest welcoming, the beastmen decorate the sky above them like a garden of flaming flowers, suppers were to be served, musician were to play their most beloved lore welcoming the returning man.

Of course, Juan was a fan of Klaive since his childhood, unlike most of his rivals, he didn't see him as Klaive the mighty beastman, but more like a wise youth who deviated from the brute nature of his clansmen and decided to keep the safety of his land, throwing most of his pride away seeking a peaceful life.

And since Juan was a special member of the clan -Because of his unusual appearance- had the attention of Klaive as he was one of the fewest -Beside his own family and the sage- who treat him gently with no discrimination.

By these events, Klaive had returned which is something noted by Juan to Demetri, but the young man didn't expect this weird reaction from his older brother, since he saw an immense wrath igniting from the smoking man's eyes.

"Brother? Is there anything wrong?" the shepherd asked.

"No…Never mind…it's ok, you go home" Demetri answered after trying to hide his fury.

Juan thought that it'd be a perfect idea not to ask more so he waved politely and headed to his village.

…

Meanwhile, Tsukiname was helping Mel on her chores, as the housewife was washing the dishes, the imp was simply arranging them in the closet, the mother wanted to start a friendly conversation to remove the gloomy aura that was obvious around Tsuki:

"Dear God, my kid you should put some smile on that pretty face of yours."

"I am sorry lady Rocux, I just can't, some memories are haunting me lately" the imp responded.

"Girl, did some punk broke yer heart?"

"No not that at all! It's just…these days are the memorial of a dear person's death, and his ghost had been roaming in my dreams lately."

"Honey, I know how ya feelin', you think that his death was yer fault, you remind me of myself when I was your age…by the way how old are ya?"

"Will by the next three moons, I'll be twenty-three, but I never cared of my age."

"Girl, ye should, ye have to be more interested in that, ye should be thinking of getting' married, ye're a fine lady, any man would like to have a wife this cute, ye should return to yer village n' look for the right husband!"

"My apologize lady Rocux, but…there's no place in this world called Eikoku anymore" the imp said dropping a tear.

The mother felt sorry for the poor Tsuki, she turned into a small drawer under the closet and pulled a group of cups and short candles:

"Lady what are those?" Tsuki asked.

"Girl, ye know about the sea torches, don't ya?"

"I beg your pardon but no…"

"Well, it's a tradition that runs in many families here, we lit a candle and put it in a cup and pay prayers to those who left us, then we let them float with the sea, like this we rest their souls in the afterlife because they'll know that even if their bodies are no longer in the mortal coil, their reminiscences are alive in our hearts, trust me it'll soothe your soul… whenever I feel bad I do it for my parents and my old sister Bella." The mother explained her tradition.

But suddenly this lovely conversation was broken by Roné barging into the house like a tornado, but his mother wasted no time and tossed a pan right into his face:

"Graces Kid! Won't ya ever act like a gentleman with the presence of a lady in the house!?" the mother scolded.

Roné removed the iron utensil that was stuck -Due to the powerful throw- to his face and tilted his dizzy head saying:

"Mom! Quit doing this to me! I'm a man now you can't just hit me in the face like that! Besides I wanna tell ya somethin' neat!"

"And how many times I told ya to remove yer dirty shoes n' leave'em outta the house, huh?" the mother added.

"Darn it Mom! You spoiled my joy! I think this is where Juan did get his dull personality!" the son commented.

"Anyway, What made ya flippin' head over heels that you forgot yer manners?!" she asked.

"It's Klaive Mom! Klaive's back!"

"So what? Do I have to be happy cuz he's back, he's not my son!"

"But Mom!"

"No buts! Ye wanna celebrate then go! But don't be late! N' remember…"

"No smokin', No drinkin', No gamblin' and no late times with strangers! Dammit mom!" the kid completed his mom's notice but he soon jumped out of the window avoiding another pan from his mother who was angered by the word "Dammit".

Seeing this lively familial time made Tsuki somehow giggle which was noted by Mel that it was much better than frowning.

…

While in the village square people were gathered around a great stone totem pole topped by the symbol of that village- which was a signature monument for Ardneria- there was where Klaive sat with his daughter Yera on his shoulder as he was telling stories about his adventures.

As for Klaive, he was a thirty-five years old beastman, he's noted by his muscular hulky body, with his fur is darker than a usual beastman's, he had white red scruffy hair that ends with sideburns, with piercing yellow eyes having the right one lightly scarred, he also had a remarkable triple set of tiger like dark stripes coming from his cheeks to meet on the back of his neck, he wore a tight green leather mail, with loose dark pants and heavy leather boots, capped by a thick cloak of orange fur with the Ardnerian symbol on its back.

"And then I grabbed that wyvern from the neck and smashed his boney head with the stone in my hand, I swear to God that his fangs were planted in my leg while I was doing this and the stronger I hit the stronger he bites, I almost thought that his jaws clapped each other, but he couldn't resist the pain so he let it go and returned to his hole, it took the doctor three days to finish stitching my injuries but that was nothing for I took my reward" the proud beastman raised his fist that grabbed a dried thick blue flesh mass that's known to be a wyvern's tongue.

Everybody stood shocked seeing the merited trophy of this heavy struggling against the fearsome wyvern, and then some of them asked to see the man's injured leg, which he responded by unzipping the tip of his pants revealing four consecutive deep piercings in the man's limb resembling to what a lance my leave after going through hard flesh stitched together with tight strings of steel.

"Whoa! Klaive you rock!" Roné shouted among the crowd, but his real aim was to be noticed by Yera who smirked and giggled shyly upon hearing his voice, responding by a light wink that made the man's heart fly to a land of fantasy boiling blood in his vessels the leaked out of his nose driving a hilarious situation.

"Hey everyone! Juan is here, make a way for the man!" another beastman yelled suddenly driving everyone's attention who opened a small path leaving the young hero to arrive at the crowd.

"Yeah Klaive! Ya missed the whole deal, Juan is now a hero!" Roné boasted wiping his nose with the back of his hand.

"Um…stop it!" the shepherd said blushing.

"C'mon bro don't be shy, tell'em about the ragons, and the tower of Grimoires, and Vergil!" Roné encouraged his brother followed by others who started cheering with his name.

"Huh? So even wimps like Rocux junior are considered heroes around here" Klaive commented disdainfully, leaving everyone in confusion of this sudden alteration in the beastman's accent.

Roné turned angry with this comment and tried to talk back but Juan grabbed his hand and headed back with him walking toward their home, with Roné trying to pull his brother back, while the latter just continued walking in silence swallowing down his ire of this situation.

…

The day had passed and no single word came out of Juan's mouth, everyone felt that the young man was upset of Klaive's unreasoned note but they preferred not to bring the subject -With the exception of Roné who was kicking buckets to the wall trying to kill his stress- Juan left his house that evening carrying the staff Vergil gave him and headed to a rocky shore asking for solitude to calm his soul with the sound of waves.

He walked slowly toward the shore witnessing the golden sunset, the glowing orb was sinking gently behind the horizon, he smiled forgetting all the troubles of the day because this scene reminded him of his old days where his whole family used to watch the sea together with the sun going behind the veil of the night.

There he met Tsuki who took Mel's advice and prepared many candles for her "Sea torches" rituals, he sat by a rock nearby watching his friend from a distance, then he couldn't help but to join her, and silently he lit a candle:

"I see you have words in your mouth, speak Juan" the imp noted while she was using ink to write words on the cups.

"It's nothing, he's just some guy whom I've respected since I was a kid, but today he said things that annoyed me."

"You should just ignore them that's it" the imp advised the shepherd then she gave him a cup with a pink candle in it "here you go, I want you to float it"

Juan took the cup and examined the writing on its side but he failed to understand it, "it means Inari" Tsuki explained.

"Really? You want me to float your brother's torch?" the shepherd asked.

"Yes, I want you to do it because I believe that you are the one who holds his soul" The imp answered.

-The reason behind of what Tsukiname meant by this "Juan had carries Inari's soul" statement, can be explained by her religious beliefs; since shadow imps believe that beside the mortal coil, there exists a spiritual realm where "Gods" reside, and when someone dies his soul joins those Gods, but sometimes when the person dies at young age, his or her soul insists on returning to join his beloved ones in the living world and resides another person's body, thus Tsuki believes that when Inari died his soul incarnated in Juan's-

"Okay if this will make you feel better, here I'll do it." Juan said before putting the small cup in the calm sea.

But he noticed something weird; instead of floating with the waves toward the darkness of the night, it headed in parallel with the edge of the shore.

"Hmm this is weird" the shepherd noted following the torch -but avoiding contact with the sea due to his unexplained fear of drowning.

The candle moved with the gentle current until it faded away in some small breach under the sharp stones, the two were about to give up but a pale hand emerged from under the water to save the flame; he was the infamous ragon Zolu.

The young fisherman jumped out the water, he adjusted his black waxed braid and gave the candle back to Juan:

"Zolu! Thank God!" Juan said.

"Long time no see eh? Dude" Zolu responded.

"Where have you been? I looked for you all week you owe me fifty Muns!" the imp noted with an annoyed accent.

"Geez! You couldn't just spare it! What's she doing here anyway?" the ragon asked "Don't tell me you two freaks are dating!?" he added with a sly tone.

"What? No!" Juan shouted blushing!

"Anyways dude, you gotta see it! It's very cool!" the ragon said in excitement.

"What is it?!"

"You have to see it! I know you'll like it!" the ragon said manipulating the water into a bubble inviting the two into examining this "cool" thing…

To be continued