Novels2Search
Tales of Erina
Chapter 4: Initiation mission

Chapter 4: Initiation mission

30th January,1012

Reda walks into the the guild office.The scent of teak wood and pine fills his nose with sounds of voices speaking to each other with a lively atmosphere with various soldiers talking to various guild members with various notice boards,many requests help needed notes scatter it.

Reda moves in and sits at a chair as a man slides over after helping one of the other soldiers,"Hello lemme guess you want questing missions?" Reda nods,"Yeah that's the whole reason I'm here."

"You seem new,your name is?" The man gets a glance at his badge and turns back to the notice board behind him.

"It's Reda." The man searches through for an appropriate quests from the board and picks out 2 of them from the board and lays them on the table,"Here's 2 things that's on the board for forearms like yourself. Do what it asks you to and get the wax insignia from the quest's authors.Come back here and show it to me and well you get paid." The two papers entail simple requests and minal tasks.

The of first the two tell of finding a missing sword and the second of a guard at a wine refinery and the third was to help in a surgery,"I'll take both." The man nods disinterested and tired."Okay then but keep in mind there's a deadline for these two are at the end of the week,go ahead now." A wave of dismissal was shown from the man as Reda runs towards the door.

The building in a rush to get these done,However this velocity is soon turned to rest as he bumps into a mage Taller than him,"Watch it freak." Reda looks up at the man.

The figure was somewhat of a brunet with a scar across his left eye and ear lobe,A broad claymore on sheathed sword half as big as Reda on his back,with a black uniform with a badge similar forearm badge,the gander was cut short as he's pushed aside."Sorry." He says as the man's voice cuts into his ear.

" 'Sorry' Normally I'd slap you in the face and call it a day but I've got no time today,scram pillock." The man walks into the building leaving Reda there at the door as he shrugs and mutters to himself,'Rude' moving on to do his two quests.

----------------------------------------

Reda walks out of the building's winding halls to the exit quests in his hand and a mission:to get it done,however this would be much more a challenge than he presumed,Standing outside of the district's gate he looks at the clearing into the forest with a dirt path,"Well then where was it again?" He digs into his uniform's pocket and pulls out the first paper reading it he gets an insight as to what sword he was to be looking for the quest wasn't even formatted poorly with the subject,address and name written in a bad hand writing as if the sender was drunk.

"Cridal valley to District-3's bastion

I would humbly ask to send a soldier to look after my sword that has sunk somewhere in a nearby Ulra river in the uthara forest I request for a low level soldier that can swim to retrieve this sword for me,I live at cridal valley's highest point in the mountain of Dewran

yours truely Dravan Riodi"

"Who misspells truly?" He says to himself as a voice calls out to him jolting him like a cat into the air as he looks back to see a familiar face:Charles,"Oy kid your the one that Rogan taken in a week ago right?"

"Yes I am? Do you by chance know where I can find a Dravan Riodi?Or the highest point of mount Dewran?" He says looking up at him on the wall.

"Dravan Riodi,mmh...Not really I don't keep a track of names,but I do know where mount Dewran is.Go pure north through the dirt road through the Uthara forests I'd betcha you'll find cridal valley's first town ask around they'll tell the most safe way up." Reda squints looking up at Charles before speaking.

"Alright. Thank you mister."

"No biggy,my friend I wish you the best on your travel may you meet nice looking ladies on your way." He says giving a salute and a nod as Reda nods back and salutes following his moves one to one.

Reda then walks away armed with the knowledge of direction he walks pure north through the forest's dirt road,as he walks to pass the time he thinks about what charles told him.The Uthara forest?That was the name of the forest he lived in for the past 6 years ironic he didn't know the name till now,"Huh,that's what this forest was called? I always wondered what's the name of it. Dang I remember still Elien would tease me for calling it,'Woody Royal forest of Reda Norlings'."

The embarrassing memories of the days of his teens haunt him like a specter every moment of him remembering a memory from that time caused him to curl up at that very moment and just squat on the ground before getting back up and continuing down the dirt path occasionally collecting a flower or two on the journey to the town.

Reaching a clearing he sees a massive mountain in the distance with foliage covering it and a town in front of him,"The first town." a mutter escapes his lips as he sees the first town of Cridal valley. It had no gates and was wide open for anyone to enter and exit through .A Red sandstone was used for the buildings he saw around him making them very very visible compared to the foliage,a cocktail of smells of various strong spirits fill the air with a brick path into the city.

Mages would walk the streets in a lively atmosphere and sound,as Reda got to the small town square many eyes land on his appearance there as he approached one old woman on sitting on a bench deeply engaged with a book its cover of two deities with their weapons raised against each other.The front side of the book's cover was a being of light resembling a woman with floating rings and beads around her head with an oak wood bow and quiver with many arrows of many colours reading an arrow to the backside of the book which was of a reddish being with many arms and weapons in each with many eyes,mouths,ears and noses and even faces all over its body.

"Excuse me do you care to know where the best route is to find a Dhavine Riodi?"

"Huh! What? Say that again boy?" A old woman's wrinkly eyes look past the book at Reda his face had thick spectacles Her voice laced with age as Reda choughs and repeats himself,"Where does Dhavine Riodi live?" The woman then creates a dog ear on her book and puts it on the bench as she looks at him.

"Why would you want to meet a man like him?Do you really dare cross him." She smacks her lips squinting her eyes at him.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Well I work for B.A.F and he sent in a quest letter for a missing sword so could you please tell me where is?" He says softly with a tinge of politeness.The old lady points her boney finger at the mountain behind her with a large silvery gleam at its base,"There follow the dirt path and you'll find his humble abode."

Reda nods and digs into his pocket taking out a small flower which he hands to the old lady,"Here as a means of thank you." The old lady is filled with joy with a weak smile as she sees the flower and takes it putting it in her hair,"You are a good one boy wish you many many blessing may Eri stay by your side in your toughest moments." She pulls his left cheek,Putting a small smile on his face.

"Thank you elder I'll get going now bye."

"Surrey dear."

She waves him goodbye as he walks dirt path up to the mountain not wanting to waste time looking around the decently sized town and its many variety of bars and clubs that most seem to be closed during the the day.The dirt road climbed up the mountain trees around it but the journey was more arduous for Reda than it seemed,"Damn it this mountain isn't so easy."

The mountain's path grew steeper as he climbed up after 15 minutes of continuous walking,he gets to a flat spot with a decent sized makeshift hut right in front of him,walking towards it he finds a steel plate nailed to perfection onto the smooth stone door,'Dhavine Riodi former soldier of B.A.F'.

"Hello?"

*KNOCK*

*KNOCK*

*KNOCK*

The tension in the air rises as an unease was floating in Reda's mind as he sighs and waits a moment before the door ajar a pair of dark brown eyes look down at him and a voice is heard,small click from the shadow,"You?What do you want?" the person's voice was deep and raspy and apathetic staring down at Reda who was not even at eye level with the figure.

"Right,I'm here to find a Dhavine Riodi?"

A small scoff comes from the shadowy figure as the door opens a bit more revealing a tall brooding normalite man with brown tan skin and eyes similar to a dead fish with black hair and wore what could only be described as a red long sleeved shirt with a V-neck and two different sleeves on his shirt,the right sleeve was a normal shirt sleeve but the left was more interesting a longer and thicker bell sleeve with its cuff area widened to reveal no arm hanging loosely.The man wore a cuffed pants a rare purple colour coating it.

"Well your looking at the one and only Dhavine Riodi in the flesh and skin." A tap comes from his gold ring against the stone as he leans his hand one hand against it."Right? Well I'm here to help you find your sword." The man's dead deminor lightens up with his eyes mildly interested now.

"Colour me with joy pastels well then what are wasting time on c'mon let's go then?" He gestures using his left sleeve turning his side in a way to gesture to follow as he walks past Reda bumping into his shoulder,The smell of a strong cologne hits him harder than a horse running him over.

Walking past the hut down the dirt path to the other side of the mountain the man walks with a speed quite fast down the hill,"Hey! slow down." Dhavine didn't even care to listen and continued forward,"Wait up your going too fast." He couldn't keep up as this man was fast as Reda begin to jog to keep up.

"Consider being faster?" Dhavine was pretty annoyed with Reda's statement as he continues walking faster down to a less inclined path to more a flatter one

"Golly,that's mean no warning too?"

"Yep deal with it."

They eventually reach a river all too familiar to Reda,the Ulra river he used to come here to collect water by Elien's request for water,she would often use her calfur magic to purify it using flora as a filtration system.Using the leaves like a seam she was able to get rid of large impurities making it drinkable for herself. Reda however didn't need it he just drank the river water like it was nothing not even an infection befell him.

"There..." Dhavine points to the centre of the river a short pause ensues as he took out a flask from his shirt and takes a swig from it a strong alcohol fills the air for a moment and he continues,"I dropped it there when I was fishing." Reda looks at the centre of the vast river that could be compared to a small ocean.

"Go on what are you waiting for,go on." He pushes Reda's back with the bottle in his hand as Reda gets to to the grassy shoreline he takes a deep breath as he continues forward until he is submerged completely in the river's life blood as Dhavine sat at the shore staring up counting the clouds in his head.

Under the water many debris have sunken to the bottom the various fish swam away from Reda as got closer to what he thought was the centre but feels the strain on his lungs as he comes to the surface taking a breath the man watches silently away and raised his voice as he was a bit distance away,"A bit to the left!".

Gesturing with the flask still in his hand waving it left as Reda goes under the water again,swimming the bottom nd sees a sword stuck in a rock and grips it with both his hands and pulls on it but it doesn't come out,"Gurgh!" A few bubbles came from his mouth as the sword shakes a little but he loses his breath and swims back up gasping for air the man gets a bit impatient as Reda goes back down for round 2.

Going down he pulls again on the sword and before that he sees a strange shadowy entity swimming by him its fins jerk like a flash as Reda gets the sword out and looks around for the creature he thought he saw,'Just another corner eye creature' he tells himself in his head.

As he surfaces sword in his hand held high,"Got--It!" Dhavine looks down from the sky and down at Reda and his eyes widen as something large emerged behind him casting a shadow behind him,he turns back to see a woman's silhouette,Moss covering her body her ragged clothing too,"Wha-"

"Moa Ir" The a circular sigil on the woman's forehead glew a sky blue as the water around Reda begins to move and throws him away making him lose his grip on the sword as the strange woman held it in her hand. She gripped Dhavine's sheathed sword and emerges in a pillar of solid water at least 10 meters high as she peers down and looks at Dhavine on the shore line.

Dhavine was mildly amused by this and got up from the shore,"Alright you piss me off woman what's your want from me?" He puts the flask against his chin and takes a guess,"You're from Mage Coalition? The AAAs?What is it?"

Meanwhile Reda struggles against the currents surfacing to see a pillar of water a woman at the helm of it. Keeping his distance he tried not getting in the cross fire,The woman's chapped lips open speaking up,"You're bounty proceeds you,Dhavine Riodi the 'Emerald finger of the ruby king'." The woman says with a more depan voice.

"Mmmmmh...Neat well do tell me how much I'm worth?"

"40,000 keeby."

"That's kinda bit less than I expected I thought I'd be valued in the 6 figures oh well c'mon." Dhavine steadies his stance flask in his hand a look of certainty in his face and a small hint of bloodlust in his eyes. The woman then propels herself forward using the water and unsheathes his sword mid air in an attempt to strike him in the neck.

Instead of a traditional solid sword it behaved like a whip as it was unsheathed completely,Dhavine dodged the attack as the circular motion of the weapon comes back at the mage a slash across her shoulder,"AH!"

"It's not about the kid...Either you turn yourself in or the boy gets it." The blade presses against Reda one wrong move and the next location he'll be going is to the after life."Alright then *Whistle* come at me all ready I'm getting all lonely on the shore." He takes aim with his flask and gets ready to throw it at her.

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter