A throbbing pain clouded Red's head as he woke up from a deep sleep. Surrounding him was a garish white void; there was nothing present in the area, only a deep, vast emptiness, and Red. He paced around for a while, surprised by how solid the ground under him was.
After a few minutes, Red called out, "Alright kid, show yourself already."
There was no answer. Red continued to pace and he peered through the void at every angle, attempting to find an end.
The boy appeared from nowhere, now wearing heavy iron armor and carrying a large sword on his back. He looked slightly older, with patches of facial hair on his face.
“It’s your eyes,” Red muttered.
“What was that?” The boy put a hand to his ear.
“It’s your eyes. I was wondering…even though you look exactly like me, there is something wholly different. Your eyes, they’re blue, black and purple like the clear night sky. And they have white and yellow sparkles in them, like stars.”
He smiled faintly and began to pace around Red, “Good call young god! Is that why you came to see me? So you can admire my eyes?
Red snarled, he couldn't hold back his enraged expression, "Don't call me ‘young god’. Tell me, what exactly did you do? Did I really use Reign Magic back there?”
The boy put his arm on Red’s shoulder, “Red, do you know about this thing,” he pointed into the sky, “This curse, looming above our heads? We can’t absorb arcana from the atmosphere into our body! How can we act as a spellsword if we can’t convert arcana into mana for our spells? Without that, we’re just…a sword!” The boy failed to hold back a chuckle.
Red shrugged him off and yelled out, “Answer my question you damn parasite!”
The boy laughed heartily, his expression becoming warmer, “Fine, fine. Reign Magic, right? You’re a spellsword aren’t you? Icon, Holy and Patron magic. Attack, healing and support. We can barely use those three. And you’re asking me about a fourth type?” He continued to laugh, harder now.
Red shook his head, placing his hand on his chin, "Then what was that while I was fighting Olo?"
The boy stopped laughing abruptly and rolled his eyes, looking Red up and down, "Red, don't be so dramatic! I just guided your hand a little bit, and used the only Patron ability we never use - Drain."
Red began to pace around even faster now, only becoming more confused by the second, "No, you're not telling me everything. I've used Drain a few times before, and it never behaved like that. Why did.." His voice trailed off as he continued to think.
The boy stopped right in front of him, placing his hands on both of Red's shoulders and smiling jovially, "Redhead, can you stop worrying so much? I'm here to guide you the right way. I see things in you that you don't see in yourself. What did Olo say?" He began to feign his accent, "This is nothing compared to what I've prepared for you."
He started laughing maniacally.
Red just turned away from him, biting his knuckle until it bled, "This is just really funny for you isn't it? I'm probably dead because of your antics. I swear if I have to be here for eternity…"
The boy's face turned sour, "What, you don't want to be here with me?" The boy and Red looked at each other for a long time, "You are so dramatic, man! We're fine, I only used Drain because we were about to die from a lack of mana. We absorbed the arcana from that weird fire spell and passed out."
Red summoned a blood dagger and ran his fingers against it slowly, "I hope you’re right. But before anything else, tell me what 'the last step' is. What do you really have planned, and if you’re my subconscious, why do you have goals separate from mine?"
The boy shrugged his shoulders and shook his head, "I don't know Red, I don't think you're ready for that yet. Ever since I started thinking for myself, I've spent all my time alone wondering why I have my own autonomy, but I still can't begin to give you an answer. But I did find one thing I want to share with you.”
The boy paused for a long time, waiting for a response. Red sighed and waved the dagger away, "What did you find?"
The boy’s face became deathly serious, his expression chilled the area around them, "A name. It resonates with me, so I want you to call me it,” He paused again and approached Red, close enough to him to hear his heartbeat. Red tried to slowly back away, but the boy grabbed his arm, "I want you to call me Valafor. And when you finally accept your purpose, I would want you to take that name as well."
Red stared at him blankly for a while. After a few moments, Valafor shrugged his shoulders, "You don't have to, of course, but I think it would suit you."
Red squinted his eyes, struggling to process the information. He looked blankly for a long time, tossing the name around in his head
“Valafor. It does have a ring to it,” Red thought to himself.
He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest. It was so acute, like his heart had been stabbed with a tiny needle.
Valafor drew the large sword as though it was weightless, and gave it a light swing, "Well young god, I think our time is up for now. Come back and see me if you have a change of heart, hopefully, it'll happen if you face Olo and his squad again. His bloodlust might rub off on you. Watch out for that Yasuke kid though, I know you sensed something in him…"
Red could no longer hear Valafor's voice as the pain became so severe it made his body hot and his ears ring. He crumpled to the floor, gripping his chest with both hands. Looking up at Valafor as his vision faded, he saw the boy waving at him, smiling from ear to ear.
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Red snapped awake, panting and sweating heavily. Looking around, he found himself in a small candle-lit room with walls made of old rotting wood surrounding him. He looked down at his fresh clothes and ripped open the tunic, examining his chest. The stab wound he sustained was completely healed, not even a scar or a scab on his chest. His body felt light and completely refreshed. Red jumped up and grabbed the candle. The flickering candlelight illuminated the dark hallway as Red crept slowly.
"Day?" He called out hesitantly. His voice echoed through the large building and called back to him. There was a light at the end of the hall, so Red ambled toward it. Red stepped into a large open area, illuminated by the fledgling morning light. In the middle of the room, was an older dark-skinned woman wearing a flowing patterned dress, serving the only customer and laughing. Turning back and seeing Red, she ran up and tackled him to the ground with a hug, crying her eyes out on command.
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"Red!" She barely choked out his name through her sobs.
Red let the candle fall to the ground and extinguished the fire with his fingertips. He placed his hand on her back, repeatedly whispering, "I'm sorry."
After a few moments of this, she bounced off of him, dusting herself off, her face beet red, "I didn't know someone could be so stupid! You haven't even told me half of the problems you're having with your powers, but even I know you shouldn't have fought them!"
Red took a seat and let his head hang, "I wasn't going to, and if they didn't threaten the guild hall, I wouldn't have,” He picked his head up and looked into Day’s eyes, “That soldier that was acting strange, that was your doing right?”
Day turned away and giggled, “Just a little spell I’ve been waiting to try. He should be back to normal now. Probably. So was that really it? They attacked us just to force you to come with them?”
Red made a large motion with his hands, “Exactly! They said they were going to execute everyone Day! Or arrest them,” Red clenched his fist, ”I couldn’t live with myself if either one happened…" Red looked down at his hand, "I still don't know how I stopped them myself. Did anyone end up getting hurt?"
Day turned away from him, "A few of the rowdy members fought against them. A few of our patrons got hurt, but Aganju came just in time to help me heal them,” She pointed to a man wearing a hooded cloak in the corner of the hall.
“With the strength I felt from Olo’s people, they could’ve easily killed any low-level adventurers that were hanging around here. So why didn’t they?” Red thought to himself.
Red's face turned to anger, and he subconsciously began to tighten his fists until they bled.
Day put a hand on Red's shoulder, "Come on Redhead! Don't be so upset, if you weren't here it would have been a lot worse! But aside from that, did you kill the demon in the forest?"
Red looked up at her, "Yeah, it injured me pretty bad too. That wasn't the first Dogu that I’ve ever fought, but the skin on this one was extremely tough. And it wasn't affected by water magic."
Day had a pained expression on her face as she moved behind the counter of the bar and leaned over it, "Damn, resistant against your specialty! I need to see this, show me the core already."
Red held his hand out flat and a large green metallic orb materialized. Day clapped and grabbed it with both hands, examining it closely.
Red laid his head down on the bar, ”That's not all, Day. While I was healing myself in the forest, some knights from Oldum attacked me, probably under the same orders as the ones from yesterday. Hell, that's probably why they attacked here, because they knew I'd come back here."
By the time Red finished speaking, Day had already put the core on the table and bent down, getting to its level. She placed a hand on it and stood motionless for a long time.
Red went behind the mostly empty bar and poured himself some mead. He sat back down at his seat and sipped it slowly.
Why in the world is the Oldum’s army after me all of these years later? And what is that damned kid - no, what is Valafor hiding from me. And why would he choose that name? I've never even heard it before, if we're one and the same, he shouldn't even be able to talk to me independently, should he?
All of the complicated thoughts began to give Red a headache, and he simply tossed the mead back and continued to watch Day.
Her face was completely blank and her eyes lost all color, as she brought the core closer to her body. After a long time, she snapped back to attention and turned back to Red, a look of amazement on her face.
Without a seconds hesitation, she blurted out, "You fought this thing for eight hours? Why didn’t you use your blood magic until the end.”
Red tossed back some more mead, "It always amazes me how you can see that much detail after a few minutes. Blood magic would have been effective, but because of this curse I can’t turn arcana into mana naturally, so it’s easy to overdo it and exhaust myself to the point of passing out, like I did last night. ”
Day tapped her cheek, “I get it. Still though Red, anybody who is good with Patron magic could do that easily. I know you're not a support class, but you should at least try to learn some of the basics, like the Visionary."
Red let out an exasperated breath, "I don't think it would've helped much against that monster. I used up all of my health and mana tonics, and every single emergency scroll. I was too unprepared when Oldum's army came after me, and I almost got you all killed as a result."
Day rolled her eyes, and placed the Dogu core under the counter, "Do you have to be so melodramatic all the time? You can be proud of yourself, you killed a tier six monster by yourself! Almost nobody else in the kingdom could even kill a tier four."
She sucked her teeth and shook her head as she lined the counter with gold pieces, "Man you really let that legendary knight title get to your head. Live a little, you're still a young man unlike the rest of those failures. You can still improve yourself, and I'm not just talking about your power. Now come, get this gira before I decide to take it back."
Red slumped over the counter and grabbed a brown purse of gold pieces. The purse was so heavy, the gold nearly fell through the bottom. He looked over at Day, who was standing behind the counter smiling.
Day motioned toward the board. It was mostly empty, with descriptions for two jobs posted to it.
"Which one will it be Red? These two are up here for a reason, no one else is strong enough to do them.”
Before Red could respond, Aganju, the cloaked man, stepped between them and placed a small sack of coins on the counter.
“Alright Day,” he spoke with a low, droning voice, “Close my tab. I’m going to go do an assignment.”
Day counted out the coins on the table. She finished and placed them in her pocket, before exclaiming, “Aganju! You’re from Oldum, right? Can you tell us anything about those guys that attacked us last night?”
Aganju shrugged, “Probably not. I wish I had been here from the start so I could get a good look at them. Did you catch any names?”
Red chimed in, “Three. Baal, Olo and Yasuke.”
Aganju shook his head, “Nope, not ringing a bell. These days I’m in Oldum about as much as you are. Well, I’ll be seeing you both around!”
Red and Day waved at Aganju as he walked out of the front.
As soon as Aganju was out of sight, Red fixed his eyes on Day, “You know what Day, I’m going to resign from the guild." He pulled out a tough, inflexible piece of paper and handed it to her, "Here's my license."
Day didn't take the license; she just stood with her mouth open, completely in disbelief, "You can't be serious!"
Red leaned in closer, "I am. In fact Day, I want you to come with me."
Day turned and walked towards the quest board, fidgeting with the tacks, "Red, I hope you're not-"
"I am. I need a supp - no, I need you. I want you to come with me. It'll be dangerous, we'll constantly be under threat by the strongest knights in every kingdom. We'll be actively going after them, but I can protect you. No, I will protect you,” Red had begun sweating profusely without even noticing.
Day laughed, an insincere and dry laugh. She repeated, “You’ll protect me? Red, you know better than anybody I don’t need you to protect me.”
Red scratched his head and placed the piece of paper back in his pocket, “Yeah, I know how strong you are and all the crazy spells you can use. But I feel like…I mean…I just want to-“
Day cut him off, “What are you even planning on doing? Are you gonna go fight against Oldum all by yourself?”
Red scratched his chin, “That’s an interesting idea, but not quite. I think if I capture all the royals, and force that kid king to do my bidding, I can begin my reformation plan with minimal bloodshed.
Day turned back to him, but didn’t meet his eyes, "I'm sorry Red. I would love to just run off with you, and help you and be with you, but I don’t know if I like the path you’re going down.
Red squinted at her, “What do you mean? I’ve been telling you my plans for years! You don’t think the countries in Stolid need to be changed anymore?”
Day shouted at him, “The Red I knew wouldn’t talk about capturing and controlling people! I know you think it’s essential to your plan, but those royals in Oldum did nothing to you, yet you would just disrupt their lives and use them like pawns.”
Red yelled back, “It’s not like I’m talking about killing them! Did you think I was playing around when I said I wanted to change both kingdoms? I’m talking about a revolution Day, and a revolution at the very least will make the people in power uncomfortable.”
Red exhaled loudly and placed his hands over his eyes. He opened up the gold purse on the counter, took a few pieces out and began heading towards the door, "Well then, I should go ahead and get going. The gira should cover my healing yesterday, thank you for that by the way. I want you to stay safe.”
Red made his way toward the door, only stopping when Day called out his name.
“You’ve been with me for what, eight years? You would throw away our friendship and your life here to go do what? Try and start a revolution by yourself?”
Red shook his head, and not even turning around fully said, “I never wanted to be friends with you.”
Red made his way out the door and out into the fields.
Day called out behind him, “I don’t believe that Red! I’ll be waiting for you to come back!”
His walk turned into a run, and his run turned into a sprint, and a few moments later he found himself far away, on a hill opposite the guild hall. He looked at the guild hall one last time, before turning around and heading towards Oldum, its grand architecture barely visible in the distance.