“Do you know why they kill anybody with a Mark?” The aspiring mage said, and Noah signaled for him to go on. He knew that marks came with great power, but that they also corrupted the users mind. In his village the word was so taboo that anybody who said it immediately received many glares. “They’re demonic.”
“No way.” Noah’s eyebrows shot up. Wether demons existed or not had been a matter of debate as far as he was concerned. Perhaps the adults in the village had kept that fact a secret from the children to preserve their innocence.
“Yeah, whilst tattoos come from the gods, marks don’t. Here in the empire anybody with a mark is immediately killed and if they somehow manage to avoid that a large bounty is placed on their head so there’s not many of them here, but I’ve read stories about them.”
“Go on.”
“See, tattoos shift the body and grant the user power, but marks do so at a much faster rate. People with marks don’t look human after a while. The stories say they become serpents or multiple limbed freaks. The marks grant you power, but they they also morph the body and corrupt the mind. Although…”
“Yeah?”
“Well… I don’t know if this is exactly true, but apparently, if your will is strong enough it's fully possible to tame a mark. Those who succeed in doing so become much stronger than anybody else.”
“But demons aren’t stronger than gods, right?” Noah.
“No. I’m not very well-read within this particular topic, but I know that gods and demons are very different. See tattoos only connect you to the god. It’s not a piece of the god. On the other hand, inside of a mark is the whole demon, and they will grow in power along you.”
“Well, I hope a god picks me.”
The conversation trailed off from there. As they continued their search for the adventurer’s guild together, Noah got to know the aspiring mage’s name. Zaak. The name certainly suited a mage, or a mage certainly suited the name, Noah wasn’t sure which was which.
The large bell tower in the very center of the town sounded. It reverberated throughout the town with a blaring volume. Noah felt his chest shake and he wondered why it was so loud, but that thought was quickly shadowed by the fact that it had turned three.
The initiation was supposed to start now.
Noah jerked his head around with more vigor now, and he walk-ran around the place. The increased desperation didn’t seem to give fruit to any new discoveries though. He’d found practically everything the city had to offer, except for the adventurer’s guild.
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Where the hell is it? There should be a bunch of recruits, shouldn’t the adventurer’s guild be prepared to lead them through this maze-like town. Fucking hell!
That’s when it struck him. His village was mainly surrounded by forest and empty plains beneath the mountain range that separates the empire from the other kingdoms. There wasn’t many living there, no, but on the other side of Glados, many more lived.
North of Glados, about a six day walk away, there was another large city, Benis. Between Glados and Benis there were many smaller villages, that stretched out to either side like branches from a stem. Most people would be coming from there, so the adventurer’s guild would be stationed to meet them.
They needed to find the north gate.
“I know where we need to go,” Noah said as he broke out into a run. Gripping his pants with both hands, he pulled them upwards as he ran. They were so large that he could feel his legs hitting into and stepping on them, which made him stumble a couple of times. This occured whilst he had to navigate between the people in the street who didn’t seem to care much about his running.
“Where are we going?” Zaak shouted from behind.
“To the north gate.
After ten minutes, they were both panting and gripping their knees for support, but his intuition had been correct. Stationed just behind the gate were two adventurer’s who both looked much more grim and serious than Boris and Johnson.
“Where’s the adventurer’s guild?” Noah asked between breaths.
“Damn bastards. It’s your first damned day and you dimwits are ten minutes late. I think… I think you’ll fit right in,” the man chuckled. “The initiation is in a damned room below the city hall at the center of town. Follow this path right here and you sons of bitches will find a hatch that leads there.”
“Okay… Let’s go,” Noah took a deep breath and started running down the path with Zaak behind him. He thought about how others would interpret the scene. A boy with a large stick chasing a boy with over-sized clothing and a splotch of blood on his shirt.
No good answer to that one.
It was as the adventurer had said. They found a large hatch in the middle of the road, with what seemed to be two wooden rafts as a lid. It was in the middle of being closed by two guards, but they seemed to be having a tough time in doing so.
I doubt they’re going to open that up for us. I doubt they’ll do jack shit for us.
Noah sped up his pace aiming to dive into the hatch before it closed, but just as he was about to jump, the hatch crossed the halfway point and quickly slammed shut. The guards looked pleased with themselves.
“Out of the way,” Zaak shouted, and Noah looked back to a seemingly different person. Whatever trail of exhaustion and friendliness that had been on Zaak’s face before was gone. There was a grimly serious look in his eyes and Noah realized that he was sketching runes in the air and chanting.
He’s casting spell. I don’t think that’s allowed in town.
Noah wasn’t sure if casting a spell was allowed, but he was sure that the fireball which flew out of the top of Zaak’s staff and exploded on the the lid of the hatch, sending burning pieces of wood flying everywhere, was a death sentence.