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Auron found himself in another dream.
His small arms whisking by as they flailed in front of him indicated he was a young boy again. The red cocoon that ever haunted his childhood was back again. The walls were pulsing as if alive. What looked like black veins scattered along his surroundings formed a drum-like beat which thundered at a quicker pace than his own heart. This prison was alive.
Auron was petrified of the walls, but he wanted to be brave like his parents. He desperately needed to be like them, so he reached forward
Suspended in space, floating as if there was no gravity, he found no purchase in his attempt to move.
His seemingly useless attempts did allow him to find that he would float in the direction opposite any movement.
As if swimming through the air, he repeatedly threw his hands backward, reaching out toward the wall.
Behind him, he heard his mother's voice shout something.
"Auron, no!" She repeated, but it was too late. As he tried to suspend his slow drift forward, he bent his arm in, and his elbow touched the living barrier.
A blinding, burning, agonizing pain branded itself on the skin that touched, causing him to scream out in distress. His small voice sounded foreign to the adult version watching the scene unfold. As his mother pulled him away and wrapped her arms around him, he felt a chilled wind begin to make the pain subside.
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Jumping awake, Auron found Zander on the bed with him, activating his wind magic to help him through his dream. He ripped down the sheets laid over him and rubbed a hand over the old injury on his elbow. With this dream, another memory was confirmed to be false. The scar he carried with him on his elbow was not from a cooking accident. Auron swallowed hard at the implication. Another piece of evidence that pointed to the possibility that Zander was right. He was not from earth.
Wiping the cold sweat off of his brow, he locked eyes with his familiar. "You were there with us weren't you? My nightmares actually happened," Auron spoke the question and watched as his familiar's eyes gloss over. The reaction only served to fuel his desire to solve this mystery. Now knowing his confusing past was connected with this city. He needed to find his mother and stop whatever curse plagued his friends mind.
Another hour passed as Auron laid awake, Zander was there with him, silent, but constant company. They needed each other. Though neither of them admitted it. He had popped his head out of his room and found his gear there. It looked to be in new condition, that is, if the disgusting leather garments could look new. Still, Auron was happy to have them as he suited up.
At the last possible moment, when they heard movement coming toward their door, Zander needed to go. A small amount of eye contact served as the only reminder of their shared secrecy. Zander even gave a lopsided attempt at a smile. The gesture was appreciated and warmed Auron's heart slightly. In the next moment, the emerald healer was gone back into his rest point.
Barging in the room, Gregory clearly had a plan to surprise Auron awake. The man was disappointed to find him already up and dressed sheets neatly folded, he blubbered for a moment.
"Well, let's get going then." He said quickly as he watched Auron's lips curl upward in a teasing smile. He swiftly turned and marched back out of the room.
Auron wanted to speak more than he did the day prior, so he caught up to Gregory at the stairs.
"Where is it that we are going again, and why do I feel like you are too excited about this?" Auron huffed out already winded from matching the guild leader's quick pace down the stairs and out of the house.
The sun was just beginning to peek its way over the mountainside far away on the horizon. Some loud birds were beginning to rouse, making boisterous noises in the process. From the vantage point of the Felt-Worth homestead, smoke could be seen rising from several properties in the lower districts of the city, a clear signal that the less fortunate were already up and working while Auron was still sleeping.
As Auron's question went unanswered, the two swiftly reached the barracks toward the property's edge. Two guards Auron had yet to meet, were keeping watch on the outside both. They each failed to suppress a smirk as Gregory popped his head in and sucked in a large breath of air.
"Time to wake up and learn how to fight recruits. Let's go, monsters do not sleep in, so why should you!" He roared so loud Auron could have sworn that dust fell from the ceiling of the square structure.
A few moments later, the rustling of metal gear and leather straps being tightened hurriedly could be heard from inside. Gregory shot a look toward Auron and raised his eyebrows playfully, the facial movement that did not match a man of his size, made Auron crack a broad smile.
The leader had gotten his satisfaction of jolting someone awake, and Auron was glad he was not the victim. Though they had only met the day prior, Auron liked him. His hospitality and joyful presence betrayed his scared and deadly serious exterior. He was more than he initially seemed to be.
Five young men and three women stumbled out of the building, and Auron could instantly tell the six nobles apart from the two commoners. The first sign was a stark difference in the quality of their gear.
The leather and metal garments that the wealthy children were dressed in out-shined that of the other boy and girl literally and figuratively. Their weapons were also new and pristine. The gear worn by the two commoners had patched up pieces that looked even worse than Auron's.
As Gregory barked a few orders, the groups broke off into two stiff lines. When Auron did not move into a lane, some shouting in his direction quickly corrected that. As they began to march, Auron overheard Gregory whisper to one of the guards at the complex's outer gates. "Get those two some better armor, possibly something from the storage facility. I will take on the debt myself. Understood?" He treated the guards with familiarity. His smile reached his eyes as he finished speaking, and the two seemed professional but comfortable in his presence.
None of the others heard, but Auron was happy for another confirmation that Gregory was a good man.
The march to the practice field was short enough, but Auron was beginning to feel nervous at whatever training or sparing was waiting for them. Kicking up dust with their two lines of marching bodies, they all came to a quick stop at Gregory's command.
"Here is how this is going to work. You lot are going to run until I say stop." Gregory said the words to the group and began tapping his foot, making hard eye contact with the few noble children that looked as if they wanted to protest. "Go!" He thundered, and all of the young adults began running around the rectangular practice field. As they ran their laps in full gear, they were able to keep up a decent pace. Auron watched the grounds as men filtered in and began to spar, practice abilities, and try out different weaponry from a rack on the guild building side. The subtle glow of mana allowed him to guess what mana was being channeled, he made out every color except for green.
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Auron was beginning to get worn around the fifth lap when Gregory yelled,
"Stop!"
Recruits this is Marcus, He said as he pointed to a man wearing all black armor. His hood drawn around his head, lead into a fluttering cloak behind him.
"Thus begins your first magic lesson." Gregory continued as the young men and women sought to catch their breath hands on their knees, heads tilted up toward the men.
"As you can probably guess, his mana concentration color of choice is black. Black mana is used to condense, can anyone tell me what the elemental properties of black mana are? After a moment, Auron remembered the Toucan "Gravity" He and one of the noble girls answered simultaneously. Looking over at the girl Auron noticed she was the only one not out of breath. Her dark steel armor had a crest that looked like some kind of bear was in the center. Auron recognized the insignia from the black banners on individual houses and hung with seven others on the guild.
Marcus Class: Gravity Blood Tank Lvl ??
His inspection confirmed his guess as he wondered what a gravity blood tank was.
The sun was creeping its way up the sky; the training ground and surrounding area now fully lit. An uncomfortable, but not unbearable warmth came along with the increase in light.
"Correct." Gregory only said the one word, but his eyes and devilish smile held more information. "Continue running, but make sure to greet Marcus before you continue." He barked out through upturned lips.
One by one, the recruits jogged forward and shook hands with Marcus, continuing forward at a turtles pace with shrugged shoulders directly after. Auron was confused by the sight until it was his turn. The man's dark blue eyes were his only visible feature. The shade of the hood lent allowed Auron to see nothing else as their hands met in a stern shake.
Between their connected tissue, black spots sank into Auron and spread throughout his body. As if the earth gained greed toward his attention, Auron felt his weight increase, and the ground begging for him to lay flat on it.
Debuff added. Weight increased—duration 30 min.
Talking a step forward, Auron felt as if he was carrying a mountain on his shoulders. The mental picture was made ironic by the mountain of a man Gregory rumbling with laughter at the recruit's slowed pace.
The amount of effort it took to raise his leg and place it ahead was multiplied many times. The boy commoner in front of him fell forward as the other children turned and watched. Looking back at Marcus with just a tiny bit of hatred in his eyes, Auron watched as the man stealthily knocked back some sort of glittering blue potion and used his ability on the last three recruits.
Heaving his feet forward, each step sank more buried in the earth than it had any right.
Auron made his way to the boy. Not even the commoner girl stopped to help him. Slowly bending over, Auron tried to help him up by grasping his arms. The weight was too significant.
"Just go on without me. I shouldn't be here, anyways. We commoners should just stay in the lower districts where we belong." Though the young man had a causal way of speaking, Auron noticed an undeniable spark of intelligence in the boy's eyes. He had no belief tied in those words. The spark set fire to Auron's determination.
A large scar made its presence immediately known when the sunlight hit it. A puffy line formed from the boy's hairline running across his face all the way to his jaw.
Auron did his best not to stare at it, but the boy noticed his slight recoil.
"This here is one way to get enough mana to gain a title." The boy said while panting from how laying the way he was made his armor press into his lungs. "Explosive round from attacking jungle monsters. Took my da's arm." When he said these words, the boy seemed to remember why he was here trying to join the guild. The energy from deep within his eyes spread to his limbs as he began to struggle to push himself upward.
Looking up, Auron could see the other recruits slowing making their way around the training ground. Their calm and straightforward disregard for their fellow rookie disgusted him. Auron was raised to be a good man. He would make his mother proud of who he was, and even without that drive, he did not want to be someone who turned their back on people he could help.
"My name is Auron. What is yours," Auron said quickly to the boy, trying to let him know he was not going anywhere by making conversation.
"I'm Leon. The boy wheezed out. His breath now becoming slightly tightened by the weight pressing on him. Auron remembered the feeling of being crushed by rocks in the dungeon. Pressure restricting the lungs was torture.
Crouching down, he placed his hands under the boy's steel jacket armor. Bringing strength to his body through the runes tattooed on his arms, he lifted.
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Gregory watched the children run around the grounds now with a weight increase debuff. Most of the children impressed him, but they were missing the point of this exercise. Marcus nearly drained himself of mana. Not with the simple ability he used for the majority of them, but the ten times weight he threw on one of the children. He even gave permission for the use of a mana potion for the man. The point of this exercise was to build teamwork and hopefully make the noble children learn to throw away their preconceived notions of commoner weakness.
Watching Auron wobble over to the poor boy, he knew there was nothing one young man could do to help alone. Just as he was about to walk over and help, Auron took on an odd glow.
Gregory's eyebrows rocketed up as two twin strength runes appeared out of the air and channeled their power into Auron's arms. Slowly Auron performed a feat of strength not possible for a man of his bony frame. As the runes began to fade, Gregory swore loudly. When weight was increased, the bones would strengthen at an equal rate. The foolish rogue, that was so similar to his son, would be crushed to death if the young boy fell on top of him. He activated the speed runs enchanted into his boots and channeled purple mana into his muscles. A haze began to creep over his vision as he shot toward the boys. He used too much of his strength inside the city. He would need it to reach them in time.
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Auron lifted the literal ton of weight that the boy currently weighed managing to get him almost to his feet when the power being filtered into him from his runes began to fade. As they were positioned, the boy would fall directly onto Auron and crush him. Tipping backward, he was about to activate the rune again and sacrifice a point of strength permanently when two armored arms grasped the two boys.
Lifting the two boys as if they weighed the equivalent of a small duck, Auron looked into Gregory's eyes and did not recognize the being of rage that stared back at him.
The man seemed to swell with power, he looked taller and more brawny as he set the boys down and snarled at Marcus to release the debuff.
With a few quick commands, Marcus recast the magic on the commoner boy and sent him off, slowly running with the others. The boy managed a nod of thanks to Auron as he fearfully slipped away. The icy eyed man seemed hesitant to leave Auron alone with Gregory.
The furious guild leader marched Auron to the center of the ring as other people cleared out. His fury now entirely directed at the tired rogue. "Who did this to you. Tell me now." Gregory growled as his mass continued to build, and he drew his weapon ripping off Auron's bracers to reveal the Runes tattooed there. The man seemed to be struggling to communicate.
Seeing the fear in Auron's face, the man gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. Purple mana, thick in the air, flowed into him like a raging river.
When Gregory opened his eyes, he looked at Auron, the mana seemed to solidify as it wrapped in a shrowd around his body.
"Move," Gregory said the order his voice grating out like gravel.
As Auron obliged, Gregory began slamming his weapon deep into the earth. Each strike crashed down with a force that knocked the recruits from their feet and sent all of the veterans of the guild reaching around to stabilize themselves, most of them knew to expect something like this when they saw their leader activating his magic.
Auron watched on in horror as he was reminded of his madness riddled state. The main difference was when he lost control, he did not have the power to create such destruction. Thinking to the amethyst shard in his ring, and Gregory's purple mana concentration, he knew there had to be a connection.
Auron's inspect activated as the man's name bled from blue to red.
Gregory Felt-Worth Class: Berserker Knight lvl ??