After entering from the south gate, Owen headed straight for the Hall. Once he entered, he noticed it was empty, save for Todd at the front desk.
“The Captain and everyone are upstairs; go on ahead,” Todd said as Owen walked towards him. Nodding, Owen made his way to the Captain's door. Owen knocked and announced himself before entering. Coming into the room, he noticed Fell, Boulder, and even Gorden were in attendance. Walking forward, Owen did the proper salute before starting.
“Sir, the village is clear. The Cleric used this,” Owen placed the Sending Stone on the table, “They spoke about making sure everyone in the village was dead. They were using the city registry to check their numbers. They reported this to someone and suspect the company to know about it. We would keep our mouths shut, or they would get new toys. The Knight gave me no information but was willing to desecrate the dead for a few coins.” As he finished, Fell spoke up,
“A few coins? What did he mean by that?”
“When I buried the villagers, I placed coins over their eyes. It's a custom where I’m from.”
“We’ll worry about that later, Fell,” the Captain said, cutting off his follow-up question, “Good job getting this sending stone; now we know someone at the church has its pair. We can use this to track them down. Now that you are part of this, I thought it imperative to one, let everyone know, and two, let them tell you why they are here. As your Captain, I’ll start. My real name is Lotus, Lotus Silverthorn. I was once a retainer for the Silverthorn family. My mother was a Branchwalker in the family, but my father was a human. Everything was lost when the Republic of Joy surged through the city. My mother forced me and my best friend,” she gestured to Fell, “To flee. Unfortunately, the city fell, and here we are. Upon arrival, I attempted to petition Lord Wicker to help the refugees, but his answer was to send them out to his project villages. He attempted to give them a place in the city if I gave myself to him, but I refused. Instead, I started this Mercenary company to give them employment, but he harassed them until they joined his Knights. This is all that’s left.”
“Well, guess it is my turn,” Gorden spoke up, “My wife and I were traveling towards the capital Light when we stopped here in Moonkeep to restock. We each took some missions to get coin, I’m a pretty decent swordsman, but my wife was an excellent Herbalist. One day, she didn’t return; Lotus and Fell looked for her, but no luck. After a few cycles, Fell overheard some Knights talking about a Grassrunner while he was out snooping. We ended up raiding that location, but we were too late. My wife and a few other women were already dead. I’m here to kill all those responsible, simple as that.”
“Grassrunner?” Owen asked, unfamiliar with the word.
“You really don’t know?”
“I’m ah, not from around here, so honestly, I’ve only seen other races. I haven't really had a chance to interact or learn about them.”
“I got this, Gorden,” Fell answered, “This ties in with what I’ve figured out about the Church. The Church of the Mother believes that Humans are the best race since Crea herself made them. They think they exist to lead the other races; some people lean into this belief so much they believe only they should continue to exist. That the monsters will continue to hunt us until only Humans remain. Now, we know for a fact that most of the other races existed long before the Gods made themselves known. The Stoneborn and Branchwalkers have extremely long lifespans, with their elders living during the Age of Dragons. Their records say that there was no System, no humans, and no monsters before the Gods. Onto the topic of races, this far north, we mostly have Humans, Branchwalkers, and the Minar. Branchwalkers are a race that lives in the tree’s they are very lean, agile, long range fighters. They have very angular faces, with sharp ears and hawk-like eyes. Minar are the complete opposite, while just as tall, they are very stocky. They fall under the wider race known as Beast-Kin since they have many beast-like features. The Minar are the Bull-people, but never call a Beast-kin by that term. They each have individual cultures and lives; don’t just compare them to animals, understand?”
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“Yes, Sergeant.”
“Good, now, Grassrunners are more common in the eastern Lands,”
“Technically, you guys are the Eastern lands here,” Gorden smugly interrupted.
“We’ll for us, your East across the Ocean; not all of us have traveled the whole world, Gorden. Now, where was I? Grassrunners are also a Beast-kin race, the Rabbit-people. After learning that the Lord and Church were targeting the other Races, we tried to get them out to Light or anywhere else. That’s how we met Boulder; we helped get his wife and son out of the town after he had come under investigation for ‘Slandering the Lord.’
“Ai, he is a coward, targeting women because he has no balls to fight.” Boulder cut off Fell, “It’s ain’t slander if it be true. He knows it; why else go to all this trouble.”
“Well, that pretty much sums it up, Owen,” Lotus stated while she shushed the large man, “Now, I won’t have you tell us your secrets if you are not ready. Honestly, I’m curious how you are this strong, but I would rather just have you on our side. So I hope you will work with us to expose Wicker and whatever scheme he has with the Church.”
“It’s fine, Captain. Honestly, I’m unsure of my strength or why I’m so strong. I can do this, though.” With a thought, Owen stored his armor and weapons.
“That light, you have Soul Magic Owen? Your Royalty?” Fell blurted out.
“What? No, I’m not royalty. I’ve been told that before, but I don’t understand what that means.”
“Owen,” Gorden was the first to speak, “Soul Magic is special. It’s hereditary, so wielders tend to be from powerful families. I know of one example, the Imperial family of Kharag. All of them can conjure magical spectral steeds; their ancestor used that power to rule the land. As you get stronger, so will your Soul. Does that make sense? Your family or clan should have told you all about this, Owen. When we first met, you said you were all alone. You weren’t talking about Grest, were you?”
“No,” Owen said solemnly, “I’m the only one of my family here. So, I don’t have anyone to ask; I’ve been trying to figure it out as I go. You all see my Class as Warrior, right?” He asked; looking around, everyone nodded in agreement. “You don’t have to believe me, but my Class is actually called Marine. Everyone in my family was called the same thing. I was taught to always protect those weaker then me, to be their shield and spear. To protect them from all threats and to protect my family at all cost.” Owen said as tears threatened to spill, “But I failed. I couldn’t protect them. I couldn’t even save myself.” Feeling a firm hand placed on his shoulder, Owen looked over to its owner.
“You're a Nobel heart, Owen,” Gorden said, “I don’t know of any other man who could lose so much but still want to save others. Lotus told us what you said to her, and your words confirm that you're a good man. Trust me, don’t let the shadow of failure hinder you. We’ll keep your secret, even if we’ve never heard of a Soul-Bound Class. We believe you, son. Who knows, maybe one of the records has hints. Things were very different before the Gods showed up and threw everything into chaos.”
“Well, now that we’re all in agreement, everyone is dismissed until we have a plan. We have a solid lead thanks to the Sending Stone Owen brought back. We’ll work from there, but that’s it for today. I’ll have Fell inform you of any changes until then.” Hearing the dismissal, everyone began to head out.
“Ready for some dinner, Owen?” Fell asked as he stood outside the door. “Todd was excited about getting you those reading books. He was worried when you came back earlier, all worked up. Let him know you are okay, but don't mention any of the extra stuff. He’s still just a kid; none of us want to get him involved for his safety.”
“Food sounds great, and of course. I wouldn’t want him involved. I’ll just tell him about the recruiting, which put me in a bad mood. But yay! Studying.” Making a scrunched up face, Fell laughed at him as the two descended the stairs.