The trio made their way to the Guild after they were transported to a secluded area. After a short walk they entered the busy guild, the two siblings turned a lot of heads based on their new uniforms,especially Selena. You could practically see the collective jaws of the men in the room hit the floor all at once. The women in the room weren’t faring much better staring at both Akil and Tristan. Tristan was already a fairly attractive man previously but now that he had his fancy new uniform and had bulked up a bit he shined like a polished diamond. Tristan seemed to be a bit uncomfortable under the hungry gazes, meanwhile Akil was used to the attention, it was fairly common whenever he walked into a room, he had no delusions about his attractiveness even with his exotic look, in fact that often caused people to be more interested.
There was one group of people that were much more focused on Akil and not with a certain type of craving like the others, that was the Gralt and his guild, The Silver Claws. They walked over to the trio after a moment of hesitation.
“Hey, Akil right? We never got the chance to fully thank you for rescuing us.” (Gralt)
The rest of his party nodded in agreement. Some were going so far to give deep bows. Akil waved his hand dismissively.
“It was more self serving than anything, I needed to rescue you all to defeat the bandits, I never would have survived myself.” (Akil)
Akil reinforced the fake memories that he had planted in the party’s heads.
“Well either way we owe you one, if you ever need anything from us please don’t hesitate to ask!” (Gralt)
He put his hand out for a handshake. Akil tightly clasped it and went in for the familiar shoulder bump and back pat that was expected.
“I will remember that, you guys remember to stay safe out there, try not to get caught again.” (Akil)
His slight joking barb got a rough laugh in return from Gralt and the rest of his party.
“Don’t worry, that request taught us an important lesson. We’ll be taking missions that are more on our level from now on.” (Gralt)
Akil and Gralt clasped hands one last time before the grizzled veteran and his party walked away. At this point the trio had reached the front of the line. Marisha had her trademark scowl and glare on her face but when she saw Tristan for a brief moment oh surprise flashed over her face but it was quickly suppressed.
“Tristan you don’t look like shit anymore.” (Marisha)
Tristan let out a laugh that resounded like a bell then put on a winning smile.
“You’re as tactful as ever, Marisha. It’s good to see you too.” (Tristan)
“Noone asked you scrawny.” (Marisha)
Tristan put a fake frown on his face.
“Hey that’s mean, I’ll have you know I’ve bulked up quite a bit.” (Tristan)
Tristan flexed his bicep to show off his new muscles, Marisha looked at him with an impressed look for a moment before she realized what she was doing causing her scowl to come back with a vengeance.
“Yeah, well, you’re still pretty scrawny…” (Marisha)
A slight pink crept up on her cheeks as the trio gave a laugh.
“What do you three want?! I am very busy, you know.” (Marisha)
Selena and Tristan both looked towards Akil, it was clear they saw him as their leader in this party.
“Hi Marisha, we would like to form a new party with the three of us as members.” (Akil)
She pulled out a couple pages of forms from behind the counter and put them in front of the trio.
“Finish these forms and give them back to me, then we will use the magical registrar to register your party.” (Marisha)
Akil took a few minutes to fill out the forms, filling the party name as The Order of Arcane Mysteries or OAM for short. After finishing all the bureaucratic requirements he handed the forms back to Marisha. She brought the forms over to a magic orb that sat behind the counter and used it to register their new party throughout the continent of Talendria. She also took their identification cards and updated them with their new party.
“Marisha, are there any missions that would allow us to meet with the lord of Graycott?” (Akil)
“There is a new silver ranked request put up by the lord to find out the cause of all the increased monster activity in the area around the city.” (Marisha)
Akil remembers the night where he found the enchanted rocks around the city, it seems as if whoever was responsible had been back at it as Akil was sure he removed all the existing monster lures.
“That's perfect, we’ll take it.” (Akil)
“Whatever, you guys don’t need me to hold your hand anymore.” (Marisha)
Akil turned his head towards the siblings and jerked his head towards the exit, indicating it was time to go.
The trio walked out the door, Akil walked them over to an alleyway to talk. He explained what he had already found out about the monsters attacking the city and his plan to destroy the new enchanted monster lures then lay in wait for the person who was placing them. They didn’t have any issues with this plan and they were excited to test their new combat skill against actual monsters. Before they left Akil remembered something that he had meant to give them previously, he took out a handful of assorted earrings and bracelets.
“I meant to give these to you guys earlier but I forgot because it wasn’t really necessary while we were in training. Take one of these and we should be able to communicate telepathically from anywhere as long as we're on the same plane of existence.” (Akil)
Tristan's eyes went a little wide in shock at the miraculous effect of the jewelry but Selena had long since abandoned common sense when it came to Akil, she looked at each piece of jewelry before selecting a pair of Emerald earrings set in platinum settings. Tristan quickly recovered and he selected a simple gold bracelet inlaid with sapphires.
“Can you guys hear me? You just need to think of the person you want to talk to then think of the message.You can also talk to everybody by thinking about broadcasting a message to the world.” (Akil)
“HELLO? CAN YOU HEAR ME?” (Tristan)
Selena grimaced and rubbed her head at the yelling in her mind.
“You don’t need to think so loud, we will understand even if you think quietly, I know it's a bit hard to get used to but I believe in you.” (Akil)
“Tristan, you're even annoying in my head.” (Selena)
“Sorry…” (Tristan)
To Tristan’s credit, he really did seem apologetic.
The trio finally walked out of the alley and towards the main city gate, then from there they spent some time walking to the area where Selena had administered Akil’s hunter test. When they got there they saw a whole sleuth of bears. All 6 of them were acting in a frenzied manner, obviously affected by the strong magical lure. Akil detected it sitting among the common stones in the center of the clearing.
“Alright, I am going to let the two of you handle this sleuth of Megaursa, this should be easy for you two at this point but remember, never take your opponent lightly, one mistake can be the difference between life and death.” (Akil)
“Yes!” (Siblings)
The siblings started to incant their signature magics, a series of magic circles appeared around them causing the megaursa to notice something was amiss.
[Summon Monster IV: Salamander], [Magic Armor]
A large Lizardfolk looking creature with dark red fiery scales and a large spear appeared out of a summoning circle on the ground. It immediately charged forwards towards the nearest megaursa and ran it through with its spear, killing it instantly. Seeing their kind murdered the rest of the megaursa gave a vicious roar and all charged at the salamander. Their sharp claws were strong enough to barely break through the magic armor at times but they were unable to get through the salamander’s tough scales. The salamander had trouble using his spear because the megaursa had gotten so close to him but it still managed to do some damage to those around it with its claws and tail.
As the salamander was in the frenzied melee the two siblings popped out of the bush they were hiding in and started chanting another spell.
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
[Wall of Stone], [Chain Lightning]
Tristan’s spell almost fully enclosed the creatures within a stone wall, leaving only a small gap through which Selena’s terrifying electrical spell shot through. The lightning bounced from each of the different megaursa and was amplified due to the tight space they were stuck in, the remaining megaursa dropped dead after a couple of seconds of enduring the electricity.
Selena dismissed the summoned Salamander while Tristan started to turn towards his sister.
“Hey that was great sis, we have gotten quiet stro- WATCH OUT!” (Tristan)
Tristan noticed too late that a 7th megaursa had crept up behind his sister. He watched in horror as it seemed like time started moving in slow motion. Selena barely managed to turn her head and register what was happening as the megaursa reared up, preparing to slash her with its gigantic claws. Her breath caught as she started to cast a spell, she knew she wouldn’t be able to finish it in time but she refused to go down without a fight. Just as the claw was about to reach her head the air in front of her seemed to blur. The claw that was inches from her face fell to the ground.
She stopped chanting and blinked a couple of times, Akil had appeared in between her and the megaursa, there was blood spurting from its missing claw, as it growled in pain. Akil’s scimitar flickered again and the head of the megaursa dropped from its shoulders. Its body wobbled for a few moments before crashing to the ground. Akil turned to face Selena, he put his hand on her shoulder.
“You both did well but remember, pay attention to your surroundings when fighting, battlefields can change at a moment's notice.” (Akil)
Selena's body was shaking in a combination of fear, relief and anger. She had been overconfident because of her recent increase in strength but this fight had shown her that she was still mortal.
“Thank you for saving me…” (Selena)
“As long as I’m around I won’t let you guys get killed.” (Akil)
Akil could even bring them back to life should they somehow die but he kept that to himself, a fear of death is important for adventures. Without it they would end up acting immortal and it would be detrimental towards their growth.
“Don’t scare me like that sis” (Tristan)
Tristan walked over to his sister and patted her on the back. Meanwhile Akil went over to the enchanted lure and picked it up.
[Greater Dispel Magic]
The magic around the lure dispersed and it turned back into an ordinary rock. He turned back to the two siblings, Tristan was smiling but Selena still had a disappointed look on her face. He cast a quick spell to find the rest of the lures.
[Farsight]
His mind lit up with the locations of the lures. There were about 11 more scattered around the greater Graycott area.
“We have to hurry up if we want to get to the rest of them today.” (Akil)
They spent the rest of the day tracking down the rest of the monster lures, the siblings would clear out the monsters who had gathered around them. The siblings were much more diligent in the following fights and they managed to get through them without incident. After they finished with each of the lures they walked back to the first clearing where they started the day. They walked close to the center of the clearing where the lure had been placed the last two times. They each cast an invisibility spell on themselves then started to wait.
After waiting until almost dawn when all three of the trio were near bored to death, a figure appeared mysteriously from the east, deeper into the forest. They were wearing a black robe with a hood that completely covered their body and face. In the darkness it was almost impossible to see the person's face but because of Akil’s night vision and sharp eyesight he caught their features. It was surprisingly a Human woman with a very beautiful face, with golden hair barely sticking out the front of the hood and soft hazel eyes. Akil wasted no time before he launched into a flurry of spells, firing 3 spells off within 6 seconds.
[Chains of Light], [Hold Person], [Quickened Spell: Silence]
The figure froze as 4 Magical chains of light shot out of the sky and wrapped around her entire body. She should have been completely immobilized by one of the spells but Akil liked redundancies in case they somehow managed to resist one of them. He felt vindicated in his choice because this person had some resistance to spells, it wasn’t enough to stop someone as powerful as Akil but it meant that this person had access to strong magical items. Akil quickly identified that this resistance was coming from a necklace that she was wearing underneath the robe. She also had a handful of other magic items including magic weapons and armor. This woman was dangerous, the lures themselves were strong magical items but that didn’t necessarily mean the person planting them was strong. The presence of the other magical items meant that this person was the real deal, you wouldn’t waste items like this on low ranking fodder.
Akil walked over to the frozen woman with the siblings close in tow, her eyes and mouth were the only part of her that still had movement, they were both flicking around wildly, trying to make sense of what was going on. Once Akil was right in front of her he dropped the invisibility on all three of them. The woman’s eyes shot open wildly in surprise at the people in front of her, her mouth was flapping so much it made her look like a babbling madwoman. Akil put one finger up to his mouth and made a shushing gesture. Her mouth closed in response but there was a ferocious rage in her eyes like that of a caged beast. Akil reached into her robe and ripped her necklace off. He ignored her anger and cast two more spells.
[Deep Slumber], [Gate]
A wave of heavy fatigue washed over the woman, she tried to fight it with all her might but her eyes closed nonetheless. The gate opened behind them, they could see the interior of Akil’s workshop on the other side. Akil dismissed the holding spells and reached out to catch her as she slumped forward. The siblings were expecting him to pick her up in a gentle princess carry after they saw it was a beautiful woman but they were greatly surprised when he threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. The Trio and their “guest” walked through the gate and it closed behind them, leaving behind an eerily quiet clearing.
Akil pulled a chair into the middle of the room and placed the unconscious woman on top of it. He took a rope out of his bag and placed it on the floor next to her. He said a command word and the rope slithered up the woman and wrapped itself around her whole body, binding her tightly. Akil put his hand up in front of her face and snapped his fingers, dismissing the sleeping spell and jolting her awake. She instantly started struggling against her bindings and screaming.
“You’ll never get anything out of me, you might as well just kill me!” (Woman)
Akil wasted no time in casting a spell.
[Suggestion]
“Relax and answer my questions” (Akil)
Akil’s voice was laced with powerful enchantment magic, the woman's eyes glazed over and she calmed down then nodded her head.
“Who are you?” (Akil)
“My name is Esmerelda.” (Esmerelda)
“Who do you work for?” (Akil)
“We are the true believers, the light in the dark that brings his glorious word and servants of the one true god. People call us The Whispers of God.” (Esmerelda)
Akil groaned.
“Why is it always a cult of religious fanatics? They're the most tenacious and dangerous enemies because they never give up.” (Akil)
“You’ve faced a lot of religious cults?” (Tristan)
“You have no idea…” (Akil)
“Why are you attracting monsters around Graycott?” (Akil)
“I don’t know, they told me to place the lures all around the city and kill anyone who happened to see me.” (Esmerelda)
“What's your relative position in your organization?” (Akil)
“I am a rank 5 Justicar, we are the enforcers of the organization, I would be considered on the level of a platinum ranked adventurer.” (Esmerelda)
“What are the other positions in your organization?” (Akil)
“There are Keepers, who handle infiltration, Primogen, who are the leaders and planners, and Archons, who handle assassinations.” (Esmerelda)
“What else can you tell me about your organization?” (Akil)
“I don’t know much else, I don’t get to meet anyone besides the primogen assigned to me. They keep most of us in the dark. I know I am supposed to meet with Marco, my primogen, in a tavern in Graycott called The Angry Shepard near the slums at noon today, he's got long dark hair and sharp black eyes, he should be wearing a pin with a scepter in front of a mouth.”
Akil knew he wasn’t going to get anything else important from her.
[Heroic Enhancement: Deep Sleep]
“Sid, move her to the dungeons for now, I will decide what to do with her later.”
A magic circle appeared beneath her and she teleported away.
Akil turned to look at the siblings, he saw the dark circles under their eyes from staying up so late.
“Great job today you two, why don’t you go turn in for the night, we will go meet this Primogen tomorrow.” (Akil)
Tristan let out a relieved sigh.
“Come on sis, let's go to bed.” (Tristan)
Selena had a more serious look on her face, Akil could tell something had been bothering her all day. His best guess was she was still upset about the megaursa attack earlier in the day. There wasn’t really anything he could say that would make her feel better about her moment of failure so he just let it go.
The two siblings walked out of the room. Akil turned and moved the chair back over to the workbench that it belonged to. He went over and poured himself a tall glass of apple wine that he had brewed himself. He pondered over the day's events. He wasn’t really surprised that he was working against a cult, they were pretty common in the grand scheme of things. The important thing would be to find out what their ultimate goal is and stop it. The most likely candidates were the ever popular apotheosis of the leader, the resurrection of some kind of powerful evil being, or summoning some kind of god or powerful entity. These may be the most common goals he had witnessed throughout his career but they were far from the only ones, he distinctly remembered one whose goal was extremely convoluted. They wanted to create more chaos in the world in an attempt to weaken the seal on a god of chaos, meanwhile they were also sacrificing a ton of lives to create a weapon that could make the god mortal so they could kill it. He remembered they managed to release the god but not create their god killing weapon so Akil with the help of some other heroes developed a powerful spell that could turn the god mortal so they could kill it.
He sipped his drink as he reminisced, he thought back to his time as Ray, it was such a stark contrast to Akil’s life. Where Akil’s life was full of action and adventure Ray’s life was mostly boring, he went to college then worked like a good little peon, his only real hobby was tabletop gaming. Akil’s worry about being a made up being started nagging at him again, was the only reason his life was so eventful was because Ray’s life was so mind-numbingly boring? He gulped down the rest of his drink and sighed loudly. He realized that more and more he was starting to think of himself as Akil and was distancing himself from his life as Ray. It was at that moment that a voice in his head broke his reverie.
“Headmaster, you told me to warn you if the health of your disciples was at risk. It’s Selena, she went to the training room and has worked already fatigued body to the point of exhaustion.” (Sid)
“Thank you for letting me know Sid, I will take care of it.” (Akil)
Akil walked over to his personal training field and opened the door, the sight he was greeted with caused his heart to quicken and his breath to get caught in his throat. Selena had taken off her uniform down to just her undergarments, which were so covered in sweat that they were barely opaque. She was laying down on her back with her chest heaving up and down from her harried breathing, her entire body was glistening in the light. Akil sucked in a sharp breath causing Selena to realize someone was there, she looked over and realized that Akil was staring at her, her face quickly turned a deep shade of scarlet. She weakly tried to cover herself with her hands but her arms just hovered above the ground for a moment before they went back to the floor. She was completely and utterly exhausted.