Lunar Emblem

Chapter 1

’m not a historian by nature, but an explorer. I live to discover different locales and peoples and monsters. Let me tell you, I’ve been on various adventures and I’ve gained so much experience from it. So now I’m settling down and I’m going to tell you my world-weary travels. In my old age, I have countless experiences to recall. I don’t know what compels me to write down these words and these adventures. Self-catharsis? A record for my ancestors to keep and so that they can move forward into the future? Who knows?

I’m a man of action. My name is Raziel de Lioncourt, a rag tag Selkie rogue that eventually became part of the noble Court intrigues. I came from a merchant family, you see, and we traveled the entire world by ship and saw lots of places and people. Unfortunately, the tempests took my parents and only left me surviving the calamity when I was thirteen, but I managed to sustain myself and survive.

I eventually formed an adventurer’s guild so that I could make my dreams come true. Seeing all the world and the secrets it had to offer. Living a legacy that will be heard throughout the generations. That sort of thing. There were some very interesting people that I met on my journey, and I will never forget them. Though the ones closest to my heart were Rowan Lynch, also known as “Kit” in the Underworld, Luna, Claire Burvelle, and Cassius. They’ve aged beyond their youthful days, though we still hold a camaraderie like no other. I suppose I wanted to write these pages for them, the people I care about.

So let me begin…

--x--

A golden-haired Selkie with vivid blue eyes stared across the seascape that stretched on for miles, a wide grin on his face. He could see the sun glinting off the waters and waves caressing the shoreline that slowly shrank in the distance. The Selkie, Raziel, departed from the port town of Ronan Cruach and headed towards Belleshire. Raziel thought that his legacy would begin there, and why wouldn’t it? It’s a Royal City that was full of mystery and intrigue and adventure, and they would commission him to record dangerous monsters and exotic items and different cultures while on his seafaring journey. He liked the sound of that.

While Raziel checked his compass, a maelstrom started to form across the waters and drew his ship into it. The merriment never died out of his eyes as Raziel found himself plunging further into the storm, excited that something exotic was happening. He lived for the bold and adventurous, and this was a once in a life opportunity, he was sure!

“Forward into the storm!” Raziel said with delight as the torrents and waves and winds crashed and clashed and banged against the ship with battering blows. “Good day for adventure, eh?”

“You are utterly insane!” A black haired youth with vivid blue eyes said, grabbing on the railing to support himself as saltwater splashed him directly in the face. “D’you think it’s all right to expose children to this kind of lunacy? You’re gonna get us killed!”

“I trust in Captain Raziel,” a black-haired woman said, with blue green eyes that held msterious depths to them. She stood tall and proud on the deck, not wavering once despite the winds and waves and rocking motions of the ship.

“I trust Raziel too!” a young brunette girl said, with a cherubic little face and vivid blue eyes that were wide with merriment. “But I’m also scared half to death! I don’t know which voice I should listen to—Raziel, or common sense!”

“Raziel defies all kinds of logic, Claire,” the black-haired youth, named Cassius, said. “Don’t expect him to know common sense.”

“Hahaha, everything will be all right,” Raziel said as he steered teh wheel of teh ship and maneuvered swiftly through the water despite the rhythmic rocking and the jagged stones that jutted out from the ocean’s depths. “Oho! Onto adventure we go! We’re going on a royal mission to explore the wild lands to discover a new species of creature that emerged from the great Eclipse!”

“Raziel, you better have an escape plan,” Cassius said as he gestured towards a giant sea serpent that emerged from teh sea and started to wrap itself around the ship. “Because there’s a twice-damned Sea Serpent holding the ship!”

“You know what to do, Cassius,” Raziel said with a smirk as he invoked the wind enchanter’s blessing into his feet. “Oh enchantress of the winds and sea, lend me your divine protection and defeat this cursed snake!”

With that, Raziel’s feet were propelled by glowing green winds and he leapt towards the giant sea serpent’s head, giving it a solid kick underneath the chin. Slaver rolled out of its mouth and it’s eyes rolled back from the impact, before the sea serpent unwrangled itself from the ship and started frothing the waters in a rage.

“You just pissed it off even more!” Cassius said while holding onto the railing and looking like he might hurl.”Sea serpents…why did it have to be a Sea Serpent??”

“At least it wasn’t a Hydra!” Raziel said cheerfully as more Sea Serpents started to gather around the ship, opening their wide maws.

“Goddamnit!” Cassius said as he nocked an arrow into his bow and shot a sea serpent straight in the eye. “Who thought it was a good idea to take Claire on this mission? It’s obviously too dangerous for her!”

“I-I’m fine, Cassius,” Claire said, though she held her staff and looked afraid of the numerous sea serpents. One of them launched its head towards her, though Claire’s Staff projected a blue aura that formed a shield around herself so that the impact wouldn’t hit her or the ship.

Meanwhile, Luna was concentrating on something. She put a hand on the ship, before she started muttering an incantation. “O gods of the tempest and storms and calamity, lend me your divine power and smite these serpents with lightning from above.”

A great tempest brewed over teh Sea Serpents up ahead, before the broiling clouds ejected massive bolts of lightning upon the Sea Serpents. The Sea Serpents jerked sporadically as the lightning coursed through their bodies, though a single stray bolt almost singed Cassius’s hair from his head.

“Watch it, Luna!” Cassius called out to her,before he slipped another arrow into the bow and released his fingers. It landed straight through the skull of one of the Sea Serpents, which slithered away and sank underneath the waters.

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Then it seemed that everything calmed, the Sea Serpents started to slither away, hissing as they went.

“It looks like they went away!” Claire said, wiping a hand across her brow and looking relieved.

Cassius looked green.

“I wouldn’t celebrate yet Claire. It l-looks like there’s a H-Hydra…coming this way!”

Sure enough, the eight headed monstrosity of a Hydra emerged from beneath the waters towering over even teh leviathan like Sea Serpents. All eight heads had their gills shudder and then secrete a nauseating amount of miasma from their poison breath and bodies. Claire tried her best to keep the blue Aura shining so that the Hydra’s poison didn’t reach any of them. The Hydra, however, kept on spewing its poison breath, and Claire started to run out of energy.

“I don’t know how long I can keep this up!” Claire said while her hands trembled against her staff, “We can’t let that poison touch us!”

“Claire, I’ve got an idea,” Raziel said.

“Cassius groaned.

“More like you’re planning to suicide, aren’t you?” Cassius snapped at Raziel. “That’s what all your crazy schemes lead to, don’t they?”

Merriment twinkled in Raziel’s eye. “I’m going to kill this Hydra in one fell swoop. Just watch me.”

“That’s crazy talk!” Cassius yelled, before Raziel leapt out of the blue barrier that Claire provided, asking the wind to surround him in a small barrier that repelled the poison fumes from his body. Raziel smirked as one of the eight heads snapped towards him, easily swallowing him whole. Claire asped, and Cassius yelled in rage towards the Sea Serpent.

“You fucking bastard! You ate him! Stupid Raziel, why’d you go ahead and do that?”

Luna, however, remained calm. “I trust in Raziel.”

Then, all of a sudden, a greenish aura emanated from inside the Hydra’s body and the monster howled in rage and pain. Raziel used his wind magic to choke the monster form the inside out, and it’s soft innards exploded into a vast many pieces that blew every which way. Raziel then emerged, unscathed from the Hydra, bits of slime from the Hydra’s entrails caught in his long golden hair. Raziel jumped back onto the ship, and Cassius looked astounded.

“Where…Where did the Hydra go?” Cassius stuttered in disbelief, while Raziel pointed left, right, up and down and every which way.

“It went that way, that way, and uh, that way. In other words, I blew it to bits. How do you like that, Cassius? I told you that I could get rid of it in one fell swoop.”

“Only you would try something as crazy as that,” Cassius spat at Raziel. “What were you thinking? You could’ve been killed! What if your wind magic failed you inside the Hydra?”

“You’re too concerned over the little details, Cassius,” Raziel said absentmindedly, before he grinned towards his group. “Good job, everyone! This mission was officially a success! Now to return to Belleshire and celebrate!”

“I don’t think that we should celebrate,” Cassius said with a groan. “We’re in debt, remember? We still owe the guild another four billion crowns for causing damage to the surrounding environment and ruining a local historical landmark. That costs a lot to replace, you know? Hey, are you even listening to me? Why are we always causing destruction to anything and everything that we come across?”

“True, we may be in debt,” Claire said, though she grabbed onto her staff and smiled widely. “But I completed my very first mission! Isn’t that great, Cassius? I can go on more missions and help you guys even more!”

“Oh no,” Cassius groaned. “I don’t want to bring Claire on another mission. At least not with Raziel. The guy is a madman!”

Raziel presented a flask of Hydra Venom to Cassius in a small vial that he kept on his person. “See this? This is highly prized and coveted in alchemic workshops. We succeeded in a dangerous mission that few have rarely come back from. We’re survivors, that much is clear. The guild keeps on issuing more and more impossible missions for us, but we’ve managed to conquer them all, eh? So cheer up, Cassius. You’re growing character.”

“I have enough character for a life time, thank you very much,” Cassius grumbled. “Besides, why did you ask for Claire on this mission with you?”

Raziel paused for a moment, before saying, “I have faith in her abilities. And you know what they say. Sometimes you gotta throw a child to the wolves to see them grow up.”

“I’m f-fine, Cassius,” Claire said, even though she was now seasick and drained of mana from fighting against the Serpents and Hydra.

“Oh dear, I think she might be a little anemic,” Raziel said, and Cassius snapped at the golden-haired Selkie.

“I wonder who’s fault is that!” Cassius said, and Raziel simply shrugged. He took a flask from the various bandoliers on his belted torso, and gave Claire something that tasted syrupy and sweet.

“Medicine, my own make. Tastes sweet for children. It should help make you feel better,” Raziel said with a smile.

Thank you, Mister Raziel,” Claire said with a smile, and Raziel smiled back and ruffled her hair. He then turned to Cassius.

“Cassius, you worry too much, I would never put this crew in real danger. I knew that I could handle it.”

“One of these days, you’re really gonna regret it,” Cassius said darkly. “If you continue to barge around and act like you’re invincible like a goddamn god. Sure, you may have the blessing of a powerful wind Deity, but even that won’t protect you against old age. You’re not getting any younger, Raziel, and sometime, your reflexes are gonna slow and you’re gonna lose your sight. Youth doesn’t last forever.”

“Ah, but that’s the beautiful thing about it, isn’t it?” Raziel said with a grin. “Onward! To Belleshire we go!”

Once they arrived at the Guild, Lunar Emblem, Raziel placed the Hydra Venom in the hands of the Guild Master, who examined it closely.

“Fresh Hydra venom, this will work well in our alchemy workshops throughout Belleshire,” The Guild Master said. “You will be gifted with ten thousand crowns each. Good job.”

“Ten thousand crowns,” Claire said with astonishment. “Wow, I’ve never had so much money in my life before! I could buy so much candy with this!”

“Keep your innocence, Claire, “Raziel said with a smile. “Never change. Also…that wasn’t so bad, now was it?”

“Are you crazy?” Cassius interjected. “We could’ve gotten killed!”

“Reflecting back on it, I did kill the Hydra, didn’t I?”

“You need to stop dragging Claire on these missions, she’s only twelve years old and you expect her to keep up with your shenanigans?”

“Cassius, I’m going to be a woman next year. I can handle myself.”

Raziel ruffled Claire’s head. “That a girl. Cassius, she’s capable of more than you think.”

“I’m not saying that Claire can’t do it, I’m more like giving a realistic assessment of what someone should properly handle!” Cassius sputtered. “Going against a horde of Sea Serpents and a Hydra…that’s a little overkill, dont’cha think?”

“So what do you think of the Guild, Claire?” Raziel asked with a twinkle in his eye.

“I love it!” Claire said as she clasped her hand together. “It was really great and it really opened my eyes to a lot of things! I think that with this Guild, I will be able to become stronger and explore the world and go on adventures! That’s the best part, don’t you think?”

Cassius grumbled. “The lunatic is brainwashing poor Claire. I have to do something about it, or else my conscience won’t forgive me.”

Raziel patted Cassius on the head. “There, there, Cassius.”

A redhaired woman approached them, her arms crossed around her voluminous chest, a slight frown on her sultry lips. “Cassius has a point, you know. You’re rather impulsive, Raziel, and I won’t forgive you if anything happens to little Claire or Cassius.”

“What about Kit?” Raziel asked innocently, and Sorcha scoffed.

“That idiot can take care of himself. Probably went gambling or something.You know, we could use the expenses more wisely, but you’re only fueling Kit’s gambling addiction,” Sorcha grumbled.

“Speak of the devil, he’s here in earshot of you,” Cassius said, and indeed, a man with a long flowing mane of red hair tumbled down his back, wearing a green bandanna on his head.

“Was my sister saying something about me?” Kit said cheerfully as he tossed a few coins up in the air and caught them nimbly. “Penny for your thoughts, Big Sis?”

He tossed a gold piece towards Sorcha’s direction at lightning speed, while Sorcha nimbly caught it with a single hand and didn’t look impressed. “Honestly, we need to have a serious discussion here, all of you, about what we’re going to do about the Guild.”