Lucian strode, his shoes occasionally catching on cracked rocks. The dropping sun glittered through the canopy and painted breathtaking gradients of color across the sky. Rainier and Apate leading, the party stepped into Ilysia. Dema was straggling far behind, panting with his heavy armour.
Apate stretched, pulling her arms upward, then behind her back flexing her sore arms. "Listen, you guys can go into town and screw around, I'm going to wait for Dema and take care of Atrophi."
So many sights to see! Thought Lucian gleefully. Although he was captivated by the first town he'd been to besides his home village and the camp, it wasn't unlike where his family resided. It caused a tightness in his chest recalling how he left despite their protests. He missed them dearly.
Rainier, on the other hand, had been to dozens of villages throughout his life. Traveling around the continent. Saving the common people entailed travel, after all. Asking for lodging proved relatively easy, and in a while, he brought the unwilling Lucian to the local inn.
Rainier rubbed his weary eyes, "This is where we'll be staying for a while... yawn"
"Huh?" Lucian slowly dragged his eyes off the most delicious, mouthwateringly delectable pastry on display at a partially outdoor bakery across the street. Couples enjoyed a spot of tea. Some citizens sat alone, content, and enjoying the peaceful day. His stomach pleaded for food.
"We can go get some grub in a minute, but can you stow away your stuff and get yourself situated before you blow our budget on food?" Rainier was irritated but reminded himself not to blow a fuse like Apate. Luce was just a newbie adventurer after all.
After venturing through part of the city and perusing a general store, Lucian checked into the hotel and unceremoniously dragged all his luggage into the room. Rainier's items were neatly stowed next to the adjacent bed. Lucian dropped onto the sheets, spreading out his arms and yawning before getting up. Rubbing his eyes and fixing his hair, he left the hotel to meet up with the rest of the team.
Lucian approached the small-town eatery nestled in a typically bustling part of town. It was late, however, so few people lingered inside, chatting amongst themselves and chuckling in the flickering candlelight. The sun had begun its retreat below the horizon, its departure sending hues of magenta and pink across the sky. Stars began to peek out, one by one becoming noticeable in the waning light.
The party resided in a corner of the restaurant, with glass windows giving a scenic view of the quaint city.
"Hi, Lucian! Get over here and try some food!" Rainier exclaimed, delightedly. They had been waiting for him for a while, and he got lost trying to find the little spot in an unknown city. Oddly, Dema was nowhere to be found. Rainier was taking a bite out of a tender leg of chicken, the scent of which wafted into Lucian's mind.
After their meal, the joyous and stuffed team made their way back to the hotel. Rainier split from the group and unsurprisingly announced he would be retreating to the town tavern which was rowdy at this time of night. Meanwhile, Lucian traced his steps back to the inn. His feet trekked over uneven stone bricks, worn down and chipped. If it were not for his new shoes, his feet would be in a world of pain.
Apate yawned as she trailed behind him. Even the innkeeper looked tired with black circles underneath his eyes. They walked up the creaky pine stairs, the floorboards creaking underneath, plumes of wood scent swirling around the slightly stuffed interior.
Apate missed one stair and tripped, catching herself but stumbling. Her vision swam as the ale took its toll on her body. Being poor in the camp, and antisocial in his home village, Lucian never was one to partake in alcohol. The taste was much too strong for him, and he gagged at the smell of high-proof drinks... No, Lucian's guilty pleasure was spending hours on end on seemingly (and often) frivolous designs and inventions, most of which simply went unused and were later scrapped for parts.
He clicked the door shut behind him before collapsing on the bed. He yawned, stretching his arms out and casting shadows from the light emanating from an oil-lit lantern. Lucian twiddled his thumbs and got up, unpacking some of his belongings from his satchel. He knew he was getting bored, everyone else was doing something interesting while he just retired to his room, solitary. Despite his adventures and new friends, he wound up back alone. Something was tugging at his mind. A spool of trouble that he wanted to get into, a lead to pursue.
At once he stood and walked briskly to the door. The door opened a crack, voices softly echoed from the foyer, and murmurs in other rooms led to indecipherable conversations.
He moved quickly, slinking through the hallways with minimal noise. Lucian paused at Apate’s room and knocked on the door twice. No answer. He slowly twisted the doorknob and glanced inside. She lay on the floor facedown and sprawled. One item was all Lucian needed, so he began searching through the drawers. It wasn’t stealing.... he just had to borrow it for a second. Apate was loudly snoring, which perturbed Lucian, but at last, he found the device, tucked under her pillow.
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Laying back on his pillow, Lucian held the dial device in his outstretched hand. He examined it, turning it over and studying it up close far more than he was allotted to the first time he could hold it. Its scuffed and scratched edges whispered of years of use.
Lucian knew nothing would satisfy his curiosity besides taking it apart and understanding what made it tick, which was going to occupy him for the night. He laid the device on the bedstand and pushed the oil lamp precariously to the very corner of the table. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out a scarce amount of tools he was carrying with him when he fled the bandit camp.
Two hours later...
Rainier stumbled into the outhouse from the tavern and emptied his insides. He sunk to his knees, grasping his stomach, in excruciating pain. He tore open the door and swaggered in the general direction of the hotel. Once inside he entered Apate's room to check how Atrophi was fairing. Dema sat next to Atrophi, who was eating dinner on the small table while Apate slept tucked into the bed.
"Hows sshe doing? Rainier slurred. "Ish she fine?"
Dema was visibly angry, his fists balled: "Piss off Rainier, you're shitfaced drunk and she's already way too stressed. Any more and the mana suppressants might be overwhelmed. It would be a slaughter. If you don't want all of us to turn into a steaming pile of gore I suggest you get out. Please. Just leave. You've already hurt her enough."
Rainier grunted and left the room, hitting his shoulder on the doorframe on the way out. He lurched to his shared room with Lucian and tried his best to open the door slowly. Lucian whipped his head around, already screwdriver deep into the device, its parts strewn haphazardly throughout the table, and paled at the sight of the team leader.
Rainier looked confused but couldn't make out what Lucian was doing, the world spinning like a top in his eyes.
"Hey howw you doin Luce??" Rainier staggered over to the bed, reaching is arms out for support.
Lucian didn't respond, frozen with shock, but luckily Rainier continued: "I'm gonna hit the sack Luce, night man."
Rainier seemed completely oblivious to the fact that Lucian was dismantling Apate's prized possession. He quickly began sleeping as Lucian went back to work, periodically checking Rainier's state.
As Rainier disturbed the sleep of people in adjacent rooms, Lucian grabbed the core from the Magic-O-Meter, a name of his invention. He carefully extracted the crystalline shard from its metal skeleton and held it up in the flickering light.
Contrary to its behavior in the meter, it was faintly pulsing in the air. Thinking back to Apate's "lecture" Lucian recalled how mana flowed everywhere in low concentrations, only pooling in areas of interest such as magical items or areas but also living beings. Even if they couldn't use magic, every creature possessed an amount of mana they needed to keep living.
It seemed as if the meter had some sort of shielding to filter out normal levels of background mana to read the levels of users holding it. He turned it over, inspecting it, and sighed. He took a chance, grasping the mana piece with his bare hand, and it flickered marginally brighter than normal. Startled, Lucian fumbled with the shard, almost losing it to the depths of the floorboard cracks.
If he hadn't stolen- I mean borrowed it from Apate, he would keep it and continue analyzing it but he had to return it to its rightful owner. As the air began to warm outside, Lucian began work on reassembling the device.
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As dawn broke, a small town only a stone's throw away from Elysia, residing in a heavily forested area began seeing its first rays of light through the canopy. Although some people were just waking up, the wildlife was quite active. Birds chattered amongst the trees, deer grazed the wild grasses and bears foraged for huckleberries. The humble village came to life, hunting fauna and collecting food. There was no shortage of things that needed to be done. There were buildings to be finished, apprentices to train, and deals to be made. As a traveling merchant, Kleo was to go between villages and cities, peddling his wares and ripping off naïve buyers. Such a profession is unsuitable for the weak, ethically bound, Kleo thought as he attempted to sell steel to a metalworker.
Gesturing angrily Kleo continued haggling, "Whaddya mean it's bulldust?! These prices the best you can get in this middle-of-nowhere town!"
"That's all poppycock mate, my guys have been a city over and they ain't this expensive. What a swizz you are, trying to pull one on us. Get out of here before we rough you up!
Maybe it was too ambitious to attempt selling metal 50% higher priced than others you could find a short trip away to Elysia. After moping off, he stopped by to check on the town's city hall, if you could call it that. It was not befitting of the title.
The building was just a slightly larger log cabin - cut wooden plank hybrid the like of which was common around the continent. As Kleo looked over the assorted papers nailed to the wall he couldn't help but notice that multiple people had gone missing over the past weeks. It wasn't out of the ordinary. Kleo yawned and exited the building in search of his next business venture.
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Minutes away, sticks fractured underfoot as entities transversed the forest. Birds signaled warnings and evacuated the area. Near mindless beings controlled like puppets sauntered, impaling themselves on brambles and tripping on rocks. They collapsed limply but pulled themselves back up after a moment. Not a single drop of blood left their mangled form. Perhaps they were so vile they were turned away from heaven and hell.
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Kleo was on a small road heading back to the big city when they first attacked. Bushes shook, and strange guttural noise spilled from between the foliage. He stepped to the side to try to get a better view. An animal perhaps? Poor Kleo never got the chance to run as he was clobbered over the head, dropping to the ground with a major concussion and internal bleeding.
The creatures swarmed him, attacking him all at once and continuing despite his expiration. It wasn't till he was completely devoid of any identifiable features in his broken body that they ceased ripping his flesh and moved on. As they crawled towards the small town, Kleo's form began to shudder and twitch. As its flesh and bone turned charcoal black it pulled itself off the ground, its torn muscles overclocked by unholy energy. What little was left shuddered and moved, raw energy being poured into the cells of the reanimated corpse. Shattered bones protruding from a now leathered skin moved, starting slowly and speeding up to join the rest of the horde.