Taurise walks out of the kitchen into the foyer of Urastini’s estate, rubbing his belly. The early evening sun is streaming in through the windows, casting an orange light over the extravagant foyer. “Ughhhh, I’m stuffed…” He groans, stretching his hands towards the ceiling. “A long day of training and a good meal afterwards. The perfect day!” Taurise looks up at his arm, taking notice of a fading scar running down the outside of his left forearm. Taurise takes a moment to stare at his scar, his eyes cloudy.
Amira walks out from the kitchen. She’s wearing a loose, white top. Her hair down, still wet from the post-training shower. “What are you up to?” She asks, spotting her teacher.
“Hm?” Taurise turns towards her voice. “Oh! Just looking at some old scars,” He turns to face his trainee. He raises his left arm, pointing to the scar.
“Ohhhhhhh!” Amira leans in, looking over the long, fading mark. “That must have been a nasty wound! How did you get it?!” The thin girl shoots up. Her eyes are glowing, the light of the sunset bouncing off.
Taurise plops down in one of the leather lounging couches in the corner of the foyer. “Well take a seat; I’ll tell you about my old battle scars!” The warrior smiles, gesturing to the ottoman sitting a few feet opposite the couch.
Amira hops down onto the ottoman, sitting eagerly at attention. “Were you fighting a massive moster? Or perhaps a dastardly villain threatening safety?!” She leans forward, shaking her arms. “C’mon tell me!”
“Slow down there, young’un!” Taurise chuckles, imitating an old man. “This scar in particular,” He turns his left arm, facing the outside towards Amira. “I got during my first tournament!”
Amira tips her head to the side. “Like a fighting ring?” She wonders, focused on trying to visualize Taurise’s story.
Taurise rubs his beard. “Not exactly. During times of peace, the Order holds a yearly tournament for the Acolytes where you face off against those who are the same year as you,” He explains, a gentle smile creeping to his face. “The prize was bragging rights for you and your teacher!”
“So how did you get the scar?”
Taurise takes a moment, finding the words to tell his story. “Well, it was during the semifinals, and I was against a wind acolyte, and my bitter rival, Toyo Mizuki,” Taurise starts, a wave of nostalgia flooding over him. “We’d been fighting for a while at that point, and both of us were ragged and tired. I still didn’t have control over my power, and had trouble reigning it in; my body also wasn’t ready to handle that level of output either,” He explains, also starting to get a bit excited. “My body was starting to feel the repercussions of my power. But I’d given Toyo a few good hits from my Overdriver, and I think I’d broken one of his ribs during the fight,” Taurise’s eyes drift upwards.
Amira winces at the thought. “Yeah, your attacks dented concrete back when we fought that creepy dude!” She nods, recalling their battle in the sewer. “And you decked those thugs like it was nothing when we first met!”
“You definitely don’t want to be on the receiving end of the Overdriver,” Taurise agrees, tipping his head to the side. “But back to the story. The sun was burning that day. Both of us were getting sloppy. My mind was in the gutter just like my body. So, I decided to go all in and try to take down Toyo in one big strike, trying to move too fast for him to dodge,” Taurise pauses, deciding on how to phrase the next part of the story.
“And?!”
“Well, I did almost catch him,” Taurise cocks his head to the side. “But he’s a wind acolyte, of course he’d be able to dodge such an obvious attack! I barely had time to raise my arm to block his counterattack!” He places his head in his palm cringing at his past self’s foolishness and inexperience. “And it wasn’t even his counterattack that ended the fight either! I simply… fell out of the ring because I put too much momentum into my attack!” Taurise admits with a laugh, his head still resting in his hand. His face was red as an apple, the embarrassment of the past worming its way into the present.
Amira’s cheeks pop out like a chipmunk’s, barely holding in her laughter. “That’s so dumb!”
Taurise raises his head, a silly grin plastered across his face. “I wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear after a loss like that,” He admits sheepishly taking a deep breath. “But...” Taurise trails off for a moment, looking up at the golden chandelier above the foyer. “That loss also motivated me to overcome my inability to control my powers. Whenever I look at this scar…” Taurise turns his arm to face the fading mark towards him. “…I’m reminded how far I’ve come from all the way back then.”
Amira smirks, rolling her eyes. “You sound like an old man saying it like that!”
“Hmmm, I guess I do!” Taurise admits sheepishly, rubbing his right hand on the back of his neck. “Though I remember my training days fondly. I had some good friends in the Order.”
The two go silent for a moment, but for different reasons. While Amira didn’t know what exactly to say, Taurise was caught up in old memories, his eyes misty. Finally, after a moment of silence, Amira asks, “Why did you leave the Order?”
Taurise take a moment to process the question, suddenly snapped out of his memories and brought back to reality. He turns his head to the side, bathing in the light of the window as he looks out upon the estate. “That’s a story for another day though,” He stands up, stretching his arms. “Though for now I’m going on a nice evening jog!” Taurise quickly stretches his legs, lowering himself as he did so.
Amira scoffs, her eyes wide with disbelief. “Evening workout? What was the four hours we did before not enough?!” She grabs her shoulder, wincing.
“What we’ve been doing has been entry level workouts,” Taurise raises himself, finished with his leg stretches. “I’ve gotten weaker resting over the last couple months while I was resting. I should have been able to crush Serian back in the sewers.” He admits, his expression emotionless.
Amira taps her chin with her index finger. “How did you even get connected with Lady Urastini in the first place?”
Taurise laughs. “Honestly, I can’t remember!” He lies, shrugging nonchalantly while backing up from the lounging couch. “I remember waking up in a bed in her estate after a fight!” He walks towards the door. I’d prefer we don’t talk about this stuff… He grits his teeth, placing his hand of the doorknob, twisting, and pulling the custom, mahogany door towards him. “I’m headed out! You should get to bed before it gets too late! We start training same time tomorrow!” Taurise waves, before quickly exiting and closing the door behind him.
Amira purses her lips, crooking an eyebrow. “Huh, that was… weird,” She comments, before walking down the hall, towards her room.
Once outside the manor, Taurise takes a deep breath, looking up at the pink sky as he walks through the estate. “How would you have answered these questions, Master?” He asks, before transitioning from a fast walk to a fast jog, the speed of which would be considered a sprint to normal people.
He quickly clears the boundaries of Urastini’s estate, picking up his pace further. The air is warm, but only just enough so that he could barely feel it. Within minutes, the estate becomes a tiny dot on the horizon, as Taurise clears a large hill. His muscles burn. It’s been too long since I really pushed myself! He shakes his head. I really have gotten complacent! The warrior jogs a bit more carefully as he runs down the large hill, keeping his speed in check.
Taurise jogs, losing track of the time. The sun sets over the hills of Tehram, and the waning moon has taken its rightful place in the starry sky. He slows down, coming to a stop. He fixates on the bright specks dotting the night sky, reflected in his widened eyes. I remember seeing that constellation back when I was in the Order… His eyes fixate on a small cluster of stars. Back when I went stargazing after the first tournament. Toyo… Luco… Illean… Taurise’s lips curl into a smile, his eyes softening. We sat right on the roof of the Temple… He looks down, his warm smile fading into regret.
“But I can’t go back… And I can’t stay here forever,” Taurise turns around, jogging back the way he came.
----------------------------------------
Toyo and Hajime stand in the darkness outside the Grand Temple. The sun is hinting its arrival, a few rays peeking out over the horizon, but the rest of the sky remains darkened. Dim lamps dot the paths, illuminating the foliage that dots the walkways of the courtyard.
Hajime stands on his toes, reaching his hands towards the sky to help stretch the tiredness out of his body. “Sensei, why did we have to wake up so early…?” He turns towards his teacher after lowering himself. Dark shadows line his eyes, and his shoulders are slumped forwards. A large travel bag is slung over his shoulder.
“Well…” In sharp contrast to the student, Toyo’s eyes are wide and bright, and is standing upright. Like his student, he also has a large bag slung over his shoulder, and a long thin sword is attached to his hip. “With the constant Cursed attacks, the Aesteran Military has seized control of the railroads to divert resources around. So, unless the mission is joint sponsored by the Aestera, we’ll need to travel by other means,” The Wind Knight explains thoroughly.
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“Oh, I get it!” Hajime nods. “We’ll be traveling by sea to Sylvan!”
Toyo nods, cracking his knuckles. “That does seem to be our only option,” He agrees. “We’ll take one of the Order’s cars down to the docks at Caldian!”
“The sooner the better…” Luco grumbles, walking over towards the two. His eyebrows are narrowed, pointed towards the ground.
Toyo smiles mischievously. “Ah! Good moooorningg Luco and Rali!” He enthusiastically greets, waving his hand high towards the two. Rali peeks out from behind her teacher, her veil covering her face.
“G-good morning…” The pale girl looks away, despite the facial covering.
“Must you be so loud Toyo?” Luco growls, shooting his squad made a pointed glare which could be felt through the black bandages covering his face. “The sun isn’t even up… How the hell are you so upbeat?!”
“I’m just soooooo excited to go on a trip with my friends!” Toyo smirks, hopping right next to Luco, who rolled his eyes and stepped away. “Aren’t you excited?”
“Indara save my soul!” Luco pinches the bridge of his nose, taking a deep breath. “Where is Fanvalla?” He asks, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
“Morning Rali!” Hajime greets politely to the quiet girl. “I can’t believe we’re going on our first mission!” He leans forwards, his eyes shining despite the shadows casted around them.
“Mmm,” Rali shrinks away, pulling at her hat despite having the veil.
“Ah, sorry!” Hajime backs up. “I got ahead of myself…” He looks to the side, his cheeks red.
Luco looks out towards the road leading up to the Grand Temple. It’s adorned with multiple large marble statues of the founding members, each striking a heroic pose. At the end of the road, the group walks under the carved archway. “I’d rather we’d just head out already,”
“Illean and her apprentice went ahead to meet with the driver! You were the last ones to arrive!” Toyo informs Luco, walking towards the grand, decorated archway leading into the city.
“I see…” Luco follows closely behind. He pauses, turning towards the apprentices. “Hey you two, hurry up. We’re moving out.” He cocks his head towards the road.
“Y-yes Sensei!” Hajime stammers, before running to catch up with the two teachers. Rali silently trails behind the wind acolyte, pumping her arms and legs as she fast walks over towards the group.
The group walks down the cobblestone streets of Zeuriam. The lamps illuminate the streets, and the faint purple light of the rising sun paints the sky. Three story tall brick buildings line the streets from block to block, all a clean tan color towards the bottom, and white on the top third.
Hajime’s gaze flickers across the streets, where the early workers are out and about. One man is setting up his newsstand. A few kitchen workers are bringing in a delivery of fresh meats and vegetables, and faint smell of freshly baked bread hangs in the air. “I’ve never been out in the city so early!” He grins, taking in the city sights. Zueriam really is fancy!”
Toyo looks around, nodding in agreement. “It’s a beautiful city, but here’s barely ever time these days to just take a stroll through the city these days,” he sighs, leading the group across the street as the sun begins to cast it’s rays over the city. “Perhaps while we are in Tehram I can find a pretty lady to explore the city with…” He wonders aloud with a dreamy look on his face.
Luco runs up in front of Toyo cutting him off. “We are going there for a mission. Undercover, I might add!” He rebukes his carefree squamate. “We don’t have time for your womanizing!”
Toyo shakes his head, walking past Luco. “Ah, but wouldn’t I blend into the night more with a woman on my arm?” He throws his arms to the side, lost in his imagination.
“Undercover?” Hajime tilts his head. “Why would we need to mask our presence?”
The olive skin man looks up towards the wind acolyte, his mouth wide. He takes a moment to simply stare at the other ‘adult’ in the group. “Wait Toyo did you not fill your apprentice in on the details?” Luco grabs the carefree man by the shoulder. The darkly dressed warrior is bristling with anger. “Why would you not brief your student… on the nature of their first mission?” Luco’s expression could have darkened the skies. “If I could see the expression on your face, I’d want to punch it off!”
“Well, ‘cause I knew you would!” Toyo spins around to face Luco, and grins with a careless expression, brighter than the sun. “And I’m quite sad you can’t see my face! You are missing out on so much beauty!” He laughs, gesturing towards the city around him.
Luco pinches the bridge of his nose. The amount of time’s he’d pinched at the eye covering had already started to wear it down, with little marks being left. “To this day, I cannot understand what the master’s saw in you!” He slows down and turns towards Hajime. “Anyways, we’ll be undercover in Tehram,” He reiterates. “There was a Cursed attack there a few days ago and was dealt with by a power user who isn’t a part of the order,” He crosses his arms, focusing forwards. “Our job is to identify who killed the Cursed, and then bring them in for questioning.”
Hajime scratches his silver hair, pursing his lips. He takes a moment to think. “Why do we need to bring them in?” He wonders aloud after a brief second, his eyes wandering towards a fountain in the center of a small square. The fountain resembles a young woman with long hair flowing gracefully down her back. Her hands are raised, as if reaching towards the sky. He takes his eyes off the statue and turns back to face Luco. “They are fighting the Cursed, just like us! Like Indara intended right?”
Luco shakes his head, his face fixed on the sidewalk. “I understand your sentiment, Hajime,” He raises his index finger, turning his head back towards Hajime. The group quickly crosses another street, making a right turn afterwards. The scenery is different, with expensive looking townhouses dominating the street, flowerboxes hanging off the windows. The street is also narrower than the busier market streets. “But the last thing we need is an unsupervised idiot escalating an already tense situation,” Luco explains, to which Hajime nods in understanding. “But going back on topic, we are undercover since the Aesteran House of Lords hasn’t made a formal request for us to investigate,” Luco continues, pressing his closed fist against his mouth. “Aestera has stated that they don’t want any foreign soldiers stationed their conquered border territories, and the Council has careful to maintain good standings with them.”
Hajime looks down. “It’s all so complicated…” He stares at the ground for a moment, lost in thought. After thinking briefly, he raises his head, looking towards Luco. “But we should go wherever the Cursed strike!” He declares.
Toyo laughs out loud, throwing his head back. “I wish it were that simple Hajime,” The group turns the corner, down a narrower street with no lamps. “But we can talk about the politics of the Order another time. We’re almost at the garage!” He points towards a building with two large metal doors, wide enough for a car to fit through. The group walks up to the unlabeled garage, built with metal and concrete, looking much more modern than the older architecture all around the city. “Well let’s not delay! C’mon!” The upbeat man leads the group through a small door to the side of the large metal ones.
The inside of the garage is dark, musty, and mostly empty. A few extra military vehicles line the edge, but other than that and some spare tires and tools, it’s empty. Illean and Leo are waiting next to a pale green military truck parked towards the front of the garage, with room for a driver and one other in the front. Behind that, there is large truck bed in the back; big enough to hold a decently sized group. “You’re all late!” Illean shoots a glare specifically directed towards Toyo.
Toyo waggles his index finger with a smirk. “I was there with Hajime first!” He pouts, feigning offense. “I had to wait on Luco since he’s never been to the garage before and needs directions!” He explains with a shrug, examining the truck.
Luco sighs, tapping his foot impatiently on the concrete floor. “Can we just hurry up? I hate cars enough as it is.” He complains with a shiver.
Illean does a quick head count, looking over the group. “Yeah, we can go. Everyone, hop in the back!” She gestures towards the truck bed, the edges sitting 5 feet above the ground.
Toyo uses a wind boosted jump to gracefully land on the truck bed. He places his large travel bag at his feet and takes a seat close to the back of the truck.
“Showoff,” Luco walks behind the truck and hops in. Hajime follows his teacher, using his wind powers to leap into the truck, although his landing is a little bit shakier. Luco turns towards the back edge of the truck, where Rali is struggling to pull herself up.
Luco smiles, offering a hand to his apprentice. “Need some help?”
Rali nods, grabbing his wrist, pulling herself up with Luco’s help. She thanks her teacher with a nod, before coughing into her sleeve.
Luco’s eyes widen, concern filling them. “You, okay?” He asks in a whisper, cupping his mouth, his eyes scanning the room, making sure that no one was watching. “Your illness isn’t acting up, is it?” He asks in a soft voice.
Rali shakes her head. “No… I’m just a bit tired,” She closes her eyes for a second, taking a deep breath.
Leo pulls himself into the truck with ease. “Hey, Rali, hey Hajime!” He waves casually, looking from the former to the latter. “It’s been a little while!” The flame acolyte sits across from Hajime, throwing his own travel bag at his feet.
Rali pauses for a moment, tensing up. She picks at her thumb, her eyes darting around the garaget. “Mhm... It has,” She finally agrees quietly, biting her lip as she says it.
“Still as shy as ever, huh?” Leo observes. “No need to be so closed off!”
Rali panics, shaking. “A-ah, I’m so sorry!” She clenches her teeth, a bead of sweat running down her face.
Leo laughs. “Don’t apologize about it!” He scratches the side of his head.
“Though it really has been quite a while!” Hajime speaks up, scooting over towards Leo. “Did Fenvella Sensei finally let you out of the cage?” He asks teasingly in a whisper.
Illean pops her head above the side of the truck. “You know I can hear you, right?” She speaks, her face straight, emotionless.
Hajime bows his head. “Apologies Fanvella Sensei!” He politely speaks, before scrambling back to his seat, the ceiling suddenly becoming very interesting to the young man.
“Hey! I’m back with the extra gas!” A voice calls from the back of the garage. A woman emerges. Her medium length silver hair is tied back into a bun, with bangs sweeping down the side of her face. Her eyes are slim and grey. She wears the same type of robe as Hajime and Toyo, except her pants are a dark purple, and her robes are white, with the collar and sleeves lined with black.
Hajime’s ears perk up, and he shoots up from his seat, his eye’s fixed on the new person. “Onee-chan!” He calls, jumping out of the truck. He propels himself forwards with the air, his arms outstretched. He lands on his feet right in front of her, hugging the woman.
Her lips curl into a warm smile. She places the gas canister on the ground, extending her arms outwards. “Haji-kun!” She wraps her arms around him, pulling the smaller boy in close. “It’s been too long! I haven’t seen you since you first arrived here in Zeuram!” The older sister backs out of the embrace, slightly lowering herself to meet her younger brother’s eyes. “You look so much older already!”
Hajime’s smile is as wide as the ocean, and his eye’s shining just as bright as the sun.
“Yeah! There are so many things I want to tell you about!” He bristles with energy, wide awake now.
“You have time for that on the way to the port!” Illean calls out, opening the passenger side door. “Suzume! Just put the extra gas in the truck bed!”
Suzume nods. “Let’s get going then!” She gestures towards the truck with her thumb. The air gathers beneath her, lifting her and gently floating her above the ground. She glides towards the truck bed, the large gas canister held with both arms.
Hajime follows, a gleeful grin on his face as he follows his older sister, leaping into the truck with a burst of wind propelling him.