The end of sleep came to him early in the morning. Darkness occupied Juna’s home and all he could hear was Juna breathing in and out calmly as she rested.
As he tried to push himself up, he realized something heavy was on top of him. What the heck is this?
With a bit of a push of his entire body, something fell over onto the floor startling both Lar and Fred.
Whatever fell over onto the floor next to him let out a tired grunt. “O-ow.”
“Is that you Juna?”
Although it was dark, he could see her pout a little. “It sure was.” The heavy thing he had thrown off of him was apparently Juna. She stumbled up and scratched her scalp running her fingers through her long blonde hair. She usually had it up in a ponytail but kept it free-flowing whilst she slept.
“You coulda not done that you know,” she said.
“Didn’t know it was you. How’d you end up on top of me anyhow?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Heck if I know. I was asleep.”
He’d have to be more careful to make sure he didn’t end up tossing her somehow off of him. It was a bit strange however to have her in that position. Whatever the case, he shrugged the strange occasion off and got right on up.
Tiny bits of morning light came through the crevices of her home through the cracks at the front door and the tiny window on one side of the building. Lar in her cat form walked by his feet and then morphed into their human form preparing to toss on some of Juna’s clothes that they were more than happy to have lent out to them. He would’ve preferred for Lar to put on clothes that, perhaps, actually covered things up better but he’d take whatever he could get at this point. If he ever got enough money, he’d go buy her some more reasonable attire that would cover them up better.
“Oh uh Kiran,” Juna said whilst brushing her hair. “Since you’re going to be doing a lot of training soon with Lorek, I think he should be able to see what arcane affinity you have today.”
“It’s about time.”
Kiran had been wanting to get straight into doing some magic-related training but they had to wait for some device or object to see what kind of magic he had an affinity for. For at least the last week or two, he had been training exclusively with Asum to hone his sword fighting abilities and do a few odd jobs for the coalition as well during that time.
But while fighting with a sword was nice and all, magic was something he had his eye on. Something about it just felt right to him. He thought his past self probably devoted themselves to it judging by his instinctual abilities to wield it at opportune times during his new life.
She finished brushing her hair and pulled it back to keep it in a ponytail. “I figured I’d ask. How exactly are you liking the coalition so far?”
“I’m liking it. They provide me with a warm meal every day so I can’t complain much.”
“That’s all you care about isn’t it?” Lar said with one hand on her hip.
“Well, I care about other things too.”
“Like what?”
He had to think for a moment. Lar rolled her eyes as he never came up with a response.
“How long have you been with the coalition?” he said towards Juna.
“You know, I’m not entirely sure. Let me think for a moment.” Her eyeballs went up to the ceiling for a brief moment until coming back to him. “I’d guess five or so years.”
“That’s a good amount of time,” he said. That likely meant she had been just an older teenager when she joined the coalition. She looked to be about in her early twenties judging by her overall appearance. From what he knew about her, she worked closely with Hoghdar to help manage this faction that operated within the slums of Liall. He questioned whether someone as silly as her should be given such a responsibility, but the more he came to know her, the more he felt that there were multiple sides to Juna besides the exuberant one she showed to him most of the time.
Juna went over to the entrance once the three of them were all ready to head out. She thrust it open only to allow the bright sun to cause his eyes to hurt just a tad bit. They quickly adjusted however. “Alright you two. Let’s head out and take care of business.”
Fred came outside as she was preparing to lock her home’s front door. She pet him and squatted down low. “Be good while I’m gone. I’ll be back in a bit!” The dog barked and headed back in allowing her to lock the door.
When he first found himself somewhat uncomfortable being in the—rather—less fortunate parts of Liall, the more time he spent within it, the more he thought it wasn’t that bad. Maybe it was just his ability to quickly acclimate to new environments, but the people within it and the smells associated with or without them just didn’t bother him like in the past.
Every day they strolled through the messy streets. It didn’t phase him like it used to. Even the people appeared to smile more and not look at him so viciously. He guessed being recognized made it a bit easier for them to not act as hostile. Strangers weren’t exactly treated the same as regulars for valid reasons.
After about ten minutes or so of walking, they reached the abandoned state building that this faction occupied. From the outside, it didn’t look like much. But on the inside, it had been given some care to allow for meetings to occur, have a crew quarters, and many more functions that the faction worked with.
Hoghdar greeted them first thing as they entered the building. “Kiran. I’ve got good news for you.”
I sure love good news.
“We’ve received a device that ought to give Lorek valuable information in regards to your arcane affinity.”
“That’s what Juna was telling me earlier.”
He whistled and a young boy called Leyo came running up to him.
“Go find Lorek and tell him to prepare the device for Kiran.”
“Yes sir!” The boy ran off in a hurry.
While he waited to see Lorek, Lar took off with Juna to take care of some tasks for the coalition. He remained alone within a small chamber with a few old rotted-out sofas and a bookshelf barren of any books at all. There were just a few cobwebs and plenty of dust gathering on all of its surfaces.
For whatever reason, he had an urge to start dusting the surfaces off. He decided against such a thing however and went over to stand by a large window. He was able to see outside the street that ran horizontally outside of the abandoned state building.
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Footsteps motioned into the room. He turned around only to see Lorek carrying a slender rectangular box of sorts.
“It’s finally here,” Lorek said.
“What is it?”
“A device that will grant us insight into your arcane predispositions.” He sat the box down on a side table near one of the rotted-out sofas.
“Can you explain that a little for me?”
“Of course.” He began moving around the room at a slow pace. “Every individual—or most individuals rather—have the capability to cast magic. But while most if not all can cast magic, that doesn’t mean they can cast all forms of magic. You see, there are…” His mind began to wander as they began detailing every bit of knowledge that pertained to magic.
His eyes glazed over a bit, and he made sure to nod his head every now and then. He felt kind of bad realizing he really should focus on what they were saying but his mind wandered for whatever reason forcing him to miss out on some of the details.
“You Kiran,” he managed to regain his focus as he said his name. “Like with other areas of life, we all are born with certain predispositions. In the arcane world, knowing what particular area of magic we are more likely to excel at, will allow us to train more effectively. That is why I haven’t been training you yet since I don’t know where your talents lie. But now with this, we can change that.” He pulled the lid off the box revealing an overly ornate and fancy necklace. It had a giant purple jewel in the center with silver and gold metal around it. He picked it up and carefully held it in his hands. “You haven’t met them yet, but Noreko, who is an immensely powerful sorcerer who works alongside our leader, agreed to let me borrow this on the condition that you will not lose it. So, Kiran, you are certainly not going to lose it, are you?”
“I wasn’t planning on it. Although if I could fetch a good price for it…”
Lorek smiled knowing full well that he was joking. “Just be very careful with it.” He began to pull the necklace over his head making sure to get his long black hair to not get stuck underneath it. “You’ll have to wear it for a full day or two. And just to be safe, wear it for two days without taking it off, and then we’ll be able to see what arcane affinity you lean towards.”
“Sounds easy enough.” He lifted the centerpiece of the necklace. It really was an impressive-looking purple jewel. How exactly it worked, was a mystery to him but if it would help them out, then he’d wear it for a couple of days. Although, he did shove the necklace down his shirt since he didn’t want to be wandering around with an obviously priceless object, particularly in these parts where theft was an activity even the kids nearby took part in.
Hoghdar came in crossing their arms. “So what’s the deal here? Did it work?”
“Not yet,” Lorek stated. “It will take at least two days of him wearing it until I can cast a spell and retrieve any useful information from it.”
“Two whole days? What kind of lousy device is this.”
“It is far from lousy. It does require some patience, but it will make the task of figuring out where Kiran’s arcane talents truly are at.”
“I hope so. The big guy is eager to get him combat-ready.” For whatever reason they didn’t refer to, the big guy, by their name. They wanted to keep him along with other higher-up members of the coalition unknown to those who aren’t as high in the hierarchy. Kiran was after all just a relatively new recruit and he hadn’t yet proven himself to them to a sufficient enough degree.
The secrecy of the coalition’s high members was for a good reason. If one of them got captured, that could really pose a problem. Keeping the inner circle unknown made for an effective strategy, or so he thought as much anyways. Although if one of the higher-up members who knew all the others got caught, that information could still be forced out of them compromising things. At least if it happened to a member lower on the hierarchy, it wouldn’t pose a problem since they were completely unaware of the leadership.
While the necklace did its thing, Kiran found himself outside with Asum to do some sparring. When he and several other coalition members trained for a few hours, he ended up back inside wiping off the sweat from his brow.
Juna came up to him with Lar by her side. “Been working hard, huh?” she said with a tilt of her head.
He put his back against the wall. “Sure have been. What have you two been up to?”
“Working mostly.”
“Mostly?”
“What she means to say,” Lar said, “is that we haven’t done anything noteworthy.”
“That’s not true at all. We—well alright. Lar’s right. We didn’t do all that much but not every day is meant for hard work, you know?”
“Maybe,” he said. “Although, maybe you should come out and train with me sometime. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen you fight once. Can you fight Juna?”
“Of course I can. Why else would I be here?”
Lar smirked. “Could’ve fooled me. You mean to tell me those daggers you carry aren’t for show?”
Juna grabbed the two daggers from her hips and tossed them in the air. The daggers spun in the air and began falling back down. Juna managed to catch the handles without cutting herself. “I know a thing or two. Don’t even begin to think that I can’t handle myself.”
“Prove it.”
Both Lar and Juna looked at each other intensely. Juna broke the tense atmosphere by furrowing her brows. “Why don’t I just show you then, about what exactly I can do.”
“I always like a challenge.” Lar summoned her fauchard and slammed the end of the shaft on the wood beside her feet.
The two of them went outside along the rectangular courtyard preparing to fight. Kiran was just glad all he had to do was stand aside and watch them go at it.
They kept a decent length between themselves, and without either of them saying another word to each other, they sprinted towards one another.
Juna wasn’t lying. She did know how to fight. She fought in a different way than Lar who could utilize distance well. Due to wielding daggers, Juna had little other choice than to get up close to fight. Lar had no choice but to keep her distance while Juna kept forcing her way beside her. The two opposing types of weapons they both wielded made for an interesting duel.
While the two fought, he admired Juna’s ability to contort her body and do fascinating acrobatics. He took a more simple approach to fighting and knew his body would not do well if he had to move it the way she was. My back’s hurting just thinking about it.
The fight quickly shifted in Juna’s favor as her dagger landed in the dirt and a purple ward like thing spread out from her dagger. She contorted her fingers causing the ward’s brightness to get even brighter. The ward became large enough that Lar became caught in it. She tried to move but found themselves unable to do so.
“W-what is this.”
Juna approached the outer part of the ward that glowed on the ground. “That my friend, is a little trick of mine. If you get caught in it, I’m free to do whatever I want to you.”
It didn’t matter how much strength Lar tried to use. Her legs would not move. He could tell she was trying but her legs simply shook and would not abide. Neither would her arms that were forced to remain still.
“Clever,” Lar muttered as she grimaced.
“If you say, I win, then I’ll lift it.” She said that in such a happy manner, it was almost jarring.
“You win.”
The ward that came off the dagger disappeared. She went over and picked it up and let out a cheer.
“That trick will only work the first time,” Lar said.
“Maybe so, but that’s all I’ll ever need outside of a duel.”
While the three of them stood around in the courtyard, someone began to approach them. Hoghdar stood but a few feet away from him. “I’m going to need you three to help me out with something.”
“With what?” Juna asked.
“Come. I’ll show you.”
They all left and headed out to the front of the building. A raggedy cart full of covered crates sat there with a brown horse ready to haul it all away.
“I’m running a little late here, but I need this taken to Frederek.” Frederek? I wonder who that is.
“Uh huh,” Juna said. “Need it taken today?”
“Unfortunately. I meant to have it sent to him days ago but some of the supplies didn’t get procured until last night.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll get it to him by the end of today I promise.”
“Good. Go ahead and take these two with you just in case there are any problems. Just, try for there to not be any problems. And in case any city guard or heaven forbid the queen’s knights come snooping, let them search the crates. Anything prohibited is hidden by a bunch of food and hidden compartments. This must be all delivered so do me proud.”
The three of them nodded their heads and prepared to set off to handle this task.