"Woah...so big..."
A boy...or maybe already a young man of seventeen years of age stared in awe at the titanic tower in front of him. This was truly the center of the world, the labyrinth city Orario with the tower Babel in the middle of the city.
The true center of the world.
Bell Cranel had finally made his way to Orario. After losing his grandfather and having nothing left in the village, he went on his way. His dream was to become an adventurer, a hero.
And to have a faithfull encounter, preferably in the dungeon.
But at first he had to find a familia, there were many in Orario, but that doesn´t mean that one of them would take him in.
Eight main streets went away from the main plaza, the question was now which street to take and search for a familia.
Bell Cranel couldn´t know that this simple decision would change his fate in one direction of the other.
One direction would lead him to wander around and not find a familia that would take him in, until he met a very small goddess with an enormous rack.
If he would go west, he would maybe find the blue pharmacy and end up in the Miach familia, Bell would become happy there and find many friends.
Taking the north east main and he would by chance meet the Takemikazuchi familia, he would fall heads over heels for the black haired beauty, that was a ninja and a samurai at the same time.
If he would take the south west main, he would wander from one familia to the next, not finding one that let him join, until someone else found him instead, someone that wasn´t a deity. It would lead him to one of two possible fates. In one of them he would fall in love with a very unusual woman, a woman with wings instead of arms. In the other he would meet a beautiful half elf and fall for her.
If he would go to the east, he would arrive at the colloseum. He would then be so amazed by this place, that he would wander around until he noticed a small event that was held there, by a blue haired goddess.
If he would go north west, Bell would get caught in an accident, he would be seriously hurt and would be close do dying. A living saint would appear before his eyes...and steal his heart forever.
If he would go south, he would come to the home of one of the two strongest familias in the city, literally bumping into the goddess there and have an interesting life.
Whatever direction Bell Cranel took, it would lead him to a different fate.
But not only the choice of the street could change his fate, but also when he would choose this street.
.
Bell would at first turn south, but then change his choice after a few minutes and decided to go south west first.
.
For three days Bell went from familia to familia, he got rejected everywhere. His money would soon run out, he had to decide if he would eat today or sleep a last night at the inn.
By pure chance a very small goddess with an enormous rack missed Bell by just a minute, otherwise his fate would´ve gone a certain way.
This wasn´t what he had expected.
Orario surely was a magical place. He saw all kinds of people from various races. And dear heavens there were a lot of incredibly beautiful women here! On his first day he saw three female elves walking down a street. One of them, the probably oldest one, had jade colored hair and eyes, the next one had golden hair and hazelnut colored eyes, the last one golden yellow hair and dark blue eyes.
The last one was probably the youngest if his judgement was correct. Each of them was really beautiful, the adult one looked like what his grandfather would´ve called a "Melf", even when Bell didn´t know what this meant.
When he passed a pub on his second day, he saw two cat girls brooming outside, one was a bit taller, with black hair, the other shorter...but with an impressive rack..she had brown hair.
And they really talked like cats!
Each day was filled with wonders.
Wonders...and dissapointment.
Every familia that he went to rejected him. For some he was too young, for some gods too old...these ones were creepy..., others told him to come back when he was stronger.
How am I supposed to get stronger without a familia?! I can´t go into the dungeon without a blessing! And when I had a familia, why would I go to them then?!
Bell decided it was better to eat than to sleep in the inn. If he didn´t eat, he wouldn´t be able to sleep anyway.
Sleeping on one of the benches in front of Babel was actually dangerous, not all adventurers were nice people, some might rob him in the night. Not that there was much to steal.
Bell didn´t have enough knowledge to go and ask the guild for help, there were familias that would probably take him in, someone like Ganesha was always recruiting.
And so...on his fourth day in Orario, the sun started to set.
Now he was out of money, he couldn´t even wash himself today...finding a familia now seemed to be impossible.
Maybe he could find a small job somewhere...at least until he found a familia...
But...
.
"*Hic*"
.
Bell sat in a side alley, hugged his knees to his chest and sobbed.
This really wasn´t how he expected Orario to be.
He had promised his late grandfather to become an adventurer and live his dream.
But...it didn´t work...he couldn´t land anywhere.
Also...there wasn´t really any familia left that he didn´t ask. Sure, he could go outside of Orario and ask the Demeter familia, the goddess would take him in and let him work there, she told him that he was quite handsome and cute.
But this wasn´t what Bell wanted, even when her offer was very kind. Then he would just be a farmer again.
He sobbed again.
All that happened lately hammered down on him. The death of his grandfather, leaving his childhood behind, going to Orario. Getting rejected by almost every possible familia that went into the dungeon.
Tears started to roll down on Bell´s cheeks.
"I just wanted a chance...*Hic*"
.
.
Bell cried for a long time in that side alley.
He didn´t fall asleep, it was very late at night when he heard a sound, someone was moving close by.
"Curses...where did I drop it?"
Huh?
Bell never heard a voice like that before in his life.
"Argh...if this goes on, I won´t be able to communicate with Lido and the others..."
There was this strange voice again.
Bell slowly got up from his spot, curious about the voice. It was pretty dark, he couldn´t really see that much. When he leaned around a corner, he saw a figure in a long, dark robe, a hood pulled up. Bell couldn´t see the face, only that the hands were in some kind of gauntlets.
The figure moved around, the hood was tilted towards the ground so he or she was probably looking down.
"It has to be here somewhere..."
The strange voice definetely came from this figure.
Bell wasn´t sure what to do.
He moved a bit to the side, then his right foot bumped against something on the ground. It was a small orb, looking almost like an emerald, in a deep green color.
Bell didn´t know what it was, but it was probably expensive, he could sell it for a good price somewhere.
He slowly leaned down and picked up the small orb.
.
Fels?! Are you there?!
.
Huh?!
Bell blinked surprised and nearly dropped the orb when he heard a voice in his head, a male voice.
.
Feeeeeels?! Do you hear meeee?!
Who is Fels?! What is this?!
Bell stared in shock at the orb.
"Wha-?!"
.
Huh?! This isn´t Fels´ voice!
Lido, what are you saying?
The second voice was female, it sounded like the owner almost sung. A really beautiful voice.
.
Oy, Ray, stop! Someone who isn´t Fels has the orb!
Bell could only stare in shock at the orb, that he heard voices in his head.
This had to be one of the famous magic items his grandfather told him about!
Then maybe the robed figure was the owner of this orb. Now that Bell knew this was a magic item, it would surely sell for an enormous price! And he knew exactly what to do with that thing.
.
"Ahm, excuse me?"
The robed figure turned quickly around when he or she heard Bell´s voice.
"Who´s there?!"
Bell moved away from the corner. "Ahm, it´s just me. Sorry if I startled you."
"Who are you?!"
"My name is Bell Cranel."
"What do you want?"
"I heard you looking for something. Is your name maybe...Fels?"
"How do you know that?!" The figure backed away and put a gauntled into the robes.
Bell held up the orb. "Is this what you´re looking for? I heard voices when I touched it, one of them mentioned the name Fels."
The figure remained silent for a moment.
"What do you want for returning the orb? Money?"
"Ahm, nothing. It belongs to you, right?"
"And I shall believe that you´re giving it back to me just like that?"
"Why wouldn´t I? It´s the right thing to do."
Bell held his hand with the orb up.
"Besides...the voices said that the Xenos will beat me up if I don´t return the orb...who are the Xenos?"
The figure went silent.
"Which familia do you belong to, young man?"
Bell looked sad.
"I don´t have a familia...no one wants me."
"But you want to become an adventurer, right?"
"Ahm...yes, sort of."
"Sort of?"
"I...want to become more."
"Famous?"
Bell shook his head.
The figure stood now in front of him and picked the orb from Bell´s hand.
"I...I start to believe my dream is too silly..."
The figure was taller than Bell, so he had to look slightly up.
"I once had a silly dream too, silly dreams are not bad."
Bell smiled embarrassed. "I...to be honest...I wanted to become a hero. But...I start to believe Orario isn´t such a place..."
"A hero?"
"Yeah...silly, him?"
"Even if it is silly, what´s so bad about that? It´s the foolish dreams we chase that let us move forward."
Bell smiled wryly.
"I will be honest with you, young man. You never should´ve heard my name or the name Xenos."
"I will keep it a secret."
"If I only could believe that..."
"I am not someone that will walk around and talk about other people´s secrets."
"I w-"
Before Fels could say another word, a bird...an owl...flew towards him way too low and accidentally hit the hood.
The hood fell off and Bell saw Fels´s face...well...facial bones.
"Wah?!"
"Argh! Stupid familiar!"
Fels hurried to pull up the hood again, but the damage was done, Bell had seen his face.
"Are you...a monster?! A talking monster?!"
"I am not. I am merely a skeleton."
"Isn´t that the same?!"
"It´s not!"
"But you´re undead!"
"No, I´m not."
Fels looked at Bell for a few moments. "You don´t seem to be afraid by my appearance."
"Well it´s my first time seeing a talking monster..."
"If you call me a monster one more time I will spank your butt so hard that you can´t sit for a week."
Bell gulped. "S-Sorry..."
Bell couldn´t hear the other voices, but he saw how Fels tilted his head slightly down.
"Lido, we need to have a serious talk, you just told my name and the name Xenos to a random citizen."
"Saying sorry won´t make this better."
After he put away the orb, Fels continued to look at Bell.
"You said your wish is to become a hero, right?"
"Yes...I know it´s childish..." Bell looked embarrassed.
"And? Is it wrong to have a childish dream. In my experience it is good to keep these dreams, especially with how serious the world is today."
"Hehe...you sound a bit like my grandfather."
"Oy..."
Again, silence followed.
"How many familias did you apply to?"
"I guess most of them, no one wants me. Lady Demeter said I could join her familia, but I want to go into the dungeon."
"What about the Ganesha familia? They always recruit."
"Yes, but I heard they work mostly in the city, even when they go into the dungeon sometimes. I want to go into the dungeon every day!"
"Do you have any experience when it comes to fighting?"
"No. Well ahm...I...was once beaten up by a goblin when I was younger..."
"Hm..."
"Sir? Ahm...Madam? I´m sorry...your voice doesn´t give away what you are."
"I´m a skeleton, this stuff doesn´t matter to me anymore."
"Oh.."
"Young man, I have a proposal for you."
"Yes?"
"I have way too much work to do for just me alone, I could really use a helping hand...also you heard things that should remain a secret."
"Work for you? What does that mean?"
"I have much work to do in the city, you would take over most of the work in the dungeon. Secret work. Work that no one will ever know you did. Help people in need, save those that are in danger...but no one will ever know it was you."
Bell went silent.
"I guessed this wouldn´t be something for you."
"So...like...a secret hero?!"
"Huh?"
"I would walk around in daylight as a normal citizen but then at night and when it is necessary I would jump into action and become a hero?! With a secret identity?!"
"Ahm...kind of?"
Fels nearly backed away when he saw Bell´s sparkling eyes.
"Yes! I´m in!"
"That was fast."
"But...ahm...what about a blessing? You aren´t a god, right?"
"No, I´m not. But my god will give you one."
"Awesome!"
"Not so loud please."
"Sorry, Sir."
"Fels is enough."
"Sir Fels."
"Just Fels."
"Would...Mr. Fels be okay?"
"I guess it´s okay."
"Where do we have to go?"
Fels looked at Bell.
"I have to say I´m surprised you trust me so easily."
"I just have the feeling that you´re a good guy, that I can trust you."
"Is that so?"
Bell smiled. "Yes. These "Xenos" also said I should give the orb back because you´re a good person."
"Hm. Well, come now."
"Yes!"
.
.
"Woah! An underground tunnel! So cool! Awesome!"
Fels was slightly amused about Bell´s fascination. Was he fascinated too in the past of this tunnel? Maybe, but that was a few hundred years ago.
"Where are we going?"
"To my god. When we enter the room you have to be quiet, he is really busy with his work."
"Understood! By the way, which god is it?"
Fels looked over his shoulder. "Have you ever heard the name Ouranos?"
Bell stopped.
"What´s wrong?"
"Lord O-Ouranos?! The lead god of all of Orario?!"
"Yes."
"And you´re working for him?!"
"I am."
"Then...are you the sage?!"
Fels froze immediatelly and turned around.
"How do you know about this title?!"
"Ahm, my grandfather told me stories about Orario. About the big and strong familias. He said the Zeus familia was the most awesome of them all, with Lord Zeus being the most handsome of all gods, that he was the strongest and Lord Ouranos came right after him. And he told me that the famous sage of old works for Lord Ouranos!"
"How did your grandfather know this?"
"I never asked."
Fels sighed. "It appears you know much more than you should, we need to have a serious talk later."
"Understood!"
Bell beamed all over his face while he looked at Fels.
"Come now."
"Yes!"
Fels held his hand towards a closed gate, a few runes started to glow, then the gate opened without making any noise.
The room behind the gate was enormous and mostly covered in darkness. Bell saw a few pillars, each with a torch. In the middle of a room was a throne, with a really old man sitting on it.
"Ouranos, do you have a moment?"
"I do, I see you bring a visitor."
Fels turned to Bell.
"Introduce yourself."
"Y-Yes! M-My name is Bell Cranel, L-Lord O-Ouranos."
The old god nodded. "You have my greetings. Why are you bringing this young man to me, Fels?"
"A few things happened, I don´t want to waste your time with details. I would ask you to let this young man work with me, to grant him your blessing. He has an upright character and I really could need some help."
Fels gave a short explanation about the events of the evening.
"Hm."
Bell remained quiet while Ouranos looked at him.
"Come closer, young man."
"Y-Yes..."
Bell carefully walked to Ouranos and stopped at the beginning of the small stair.
"Come up here, I can´t move away from the throne."
"Understood."
When Bell stopped in front of him, Ouranos went quiet and just looked into Bell´s eyes. In contrast to all the other gods, Ouranos could use a part of his divine arcana. So Ouranos could see much more, even the faint aura of divinity that was around Bell, from being close to a god most of his life, close to a certain god.
Zeus? Is this some plan?
"What do you know about the strong familias of the city, young man?"
"Ahm...as far as I know, the Loki and Freya familias are on top, in the past it were the Zeus and Hera familias."
"Do you know anyone from one of these four familias?"
"No."
Ouranos saw no lie, but he was sure that this young man was close to Zeus for years...and the last contact wasn´t even two months ago.
"Did you ever have contact with any god before you came to Orario?"
"No, I was in my village all my life."
This was fascinating, Ouranos saw that Bell spoke the truth, yet he felt that Zeus was close to him for a long time.
Which could only mean one thing, Bell didn´t know that an old man that was close to him was a god.
"Tell me your reasons why you came to Orario, all of them."
"Yes..."
And so Bell started to explain...all of his reasons.
Neither Ouranos nor Fels laughed.
Ouranos nodded in the end. "Alright. You spoke nothing but the truth, you have a good character. Fels, I will agree to your plan."
Bell looked hopeful at the god.
"Does that mean..."
"I will grant you my blessing. But we have to make this short, the dungeon needs my attention. Take off your jacket and shirt."
"Yes! Thank you so much!"
"Please don´t yell here."
"S-Sorry..."
.
.
Bell followed Fels after Ouranos gave him his blessing.
"I don´t feel different from before."
"That will come with time, when you get stronger."
"What did Lord Ouranos mean with making it short and that the dungeon needs his attention?"
"You are aware that Lord Ouranos has a leading role in Orario, right?"
"Yes."
"He sends his prayers into the dungeon, to keep it as calm as possible. Without Lord Ouranos the dungeon would be way more aggressive, we could get swallowed up by it."
"He is that important?!"
"Yes, that´s why I have a lot of work to do, in order to help him. And you will have a lot of work now too."
"I understand."
"Do you really?"
"Ahm...to be honest no."
"As expected."
"Sorry..."
"You don´t need to apologize, I will explain everything to you."
Fels led Bell through hallway after hallway, until they reached an area that was a bit strange. He saw a few chambers, filled with all kinds of weird stuff and tools.
"What is this all here?"
"My workshop."
"Workshop?"
"I create my tools and magic items here."
"You can make magic items?!"
"I posses a skill called "Enigma", it is a really rare skill and it allows me to create all kinds of things."
"Woah! You´re really cool, Mr. Fels!"
"Ahm, thank you."
What is this strange feeling in my heart? Wait...I don´t have a heart, because I´m a skeleton...
"Being a skeleton has nothing to do with that!"
"Eh?" Bell blinked confused because of Fels´ outburst.
"Nothing, come."
"What magic items did you create?"
"All kinds of, it is my hobby and passion."
"Woah."
"And you will help me to test them."
"Huh?"
"You´re the one that will go into the dungeon, train a lot, help people and so on. And you will take newly created items and field test them for me."
"Is that...safe?"
"Most of them should be...at least a few."
"I have a bad feeling about this...and yet I´m really excited!"
Bell grinned.
He looked around at the various items, there were cubes of different colors, materials and sizes. Also rods, staffs and various weapons, shields and orbs.
And also weapons.
Swords, spears, axes and other weapons.
Fels noticed how much Bell´s eyes sparkled.
Heh, it is a nice feeling to have someone appreciate my work.
Bell´s eyes were drawn to especially one item, it was a very special golden gauntlet, with claws at the end of the fingers, formed like the talons of an eagle. It was a masterpiece of Fels´ work. The talons were longer than the finger parts and the cutting edges also covered the back of the fingers. The gauntled was made out of a mixture of admantite, orichalcum and mythril, resulting in a golden color due to Fels´ alchemy.
"Wow..."
"You can take a look at it if you want to."
"Really?!"
"Yes, just be careful."
Bell´s eyes sparkled as much as the golden gauntlet.
"So cool...so awesome...it´s amazing!"
Heh...that´s really a nice feeling.
Fels would´ve smiled...if he still could smile. But he couldn´t, Fels didn´t have lips...because he was a skeleton...
Being a skeleton has nothing to do with that!
With 800+ years of age...Fels was sometimes a bit weird.
"Woah...so heavy..."
Heavy?!
Fels turned with a shocked expression on his fac-...Fels turned around.
"What are you doing?!"
"Huh?"
Bell had put the massive gauntlet onto his left hand.
"Don´t touch i-!"
The gauntlet suddenly started to glow.
.
Wearer confirmed, adjusting shape.
.
"Eh? What was that voice? It sounded like you, Mr. Fel-..I can´t get the gauntlet off!"
Bell tried his best to take the gauntlet off, but it continued to glow and the form changed slightly. Before it was bulky and heavy, now it fit his hand perfectly, like it was just made for him.
"Woah!..."
He felt it, when he moved his fingers, the talons moved perfectly smooth and it didn´t feel heavy at all.
"Argh! What have you done!"
"You said I could look at it!"
"Look yeah! But not touch!"
"S-Sorry, I will take it off."
Now that the change was done, Bell could easily take the gauntlet off, but the changed form remained.
"Hah...that was a masterpiece..."
"I´m really sorry, how do I change it back?"
"There is no way. I created it in a way to adjust itself to the first person to wear it...no one else will ever be able to use it now..."
"Eeeek!"
"Shreeking won´t turn it back..."
Fels knelt devastated on the floor.
"Ahm...I...I can pay you back...I will work for the money! How much did it cost?"
"300.000.000 Vals..."
Bell fainted on the spot...
.
.
Deep inside the dungeon, the Loki familia was currently fighting against a large horde of monsters on the 49th floor.
Not one of them noticed the figure that watched them from a large distance, watched one of them in particular.
It was a woman with short, red hair and green eyes.
Said eyes were fixated on Ais Wallenstein, the Sword Princess.
There was something on that young woman that caught the eyes of the woman.
.
Long blond hair...using wind magic...fighting with one sword...
.
Irgh!
The red haired woman pressed her left hand onto her head, she had a strong headache when she looked at Ais.
A very short image flashed behind her eyes, of a young woman with blond hair, wind magic and a single...wooden...sword.
The red haired woman had no memories of this image, why it was there.
It wasn´t the only strange image that flashed from time to time behind the woman´s eyes.
.
.
Revis, where are you?
.
.
"Watching the Loki familia."
.
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Why? It doesn´t matter, come back, Enyo has a job for you.
.
.
With a last glance to the young woman with long, blond hair, wind magic and a single sword, Revis turned around and left.
She didn´t understand why this girl drew her eyes in.
.
.
.
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Author`s Note: So, this is the Prologue to the next "What-If" story. My Bell x Alise. But what has Revis to do with it? Well I already said it before, I will go with Omori´s first idea for Revis, which means Revis is Alise.
I know this chapter is rather short with only about 4.2k words, but it´s a prologue.
As usual the rotation will be CoF, then What IF, with sometimes another Ero chapter in between. Next Ero chapter will come after CoF and Burning Love each got an additional chapter. It will be called "It´s always the quiet ones", continuing Bell´s life with the Astrea familia, this time featuring mostly Arde...and Ryu.