Hey guys. I wanted to get this out sooner, but I was unfortunate enough to be hit with food poisoning. Not so nice.
This was originally going to be the second prologue. But I kinda came to think it felt better suited to being the beginning of the first chapter. Anyway, here's chapter 1. Hope you enjoy. Class ranking and currency will be explained in chapter 3.
LAST SOUL IS HERE NOW! What's his man? I haven't decided yet, but I will name him. If anyone has suggestions, just tell me and I'll see if it feels right.
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Chapter 1: A mission beyond understanding
SnowDown, year 3562.
The night was cold and wet. It was raining heavily with sleet, so if anyone was unfortunate enough to be roaming the massive streets of the capital of the newly formed Lariem Empire, then they would be half way to freezing.
In this city, there is a particular manor with fully lit windows from the light of candles. This particular manor was strange for its kind, as there was often people entering and exiting it everyone 10 to 15 minutes. And you could hear the cheerful laughs and mumbled rants of previous adventures coming from this building. “Is it an inn?” you may wonder. But the answer is no, not by a long shot. Though any traveller willing to put their life on the line was more than welcome to join in on the festivities from within. But that type of person in this day and age is very rare.
“Chuck us another beer, ya stench of a Monthest’s first born!” Yelled a man who was obviously drunk by the way that he was leaning so far to left on his seat that you’d think he was lying on air.
“GET IT YERSELF YOU GOB S**TE!” replied an old man who was pouring himself high quality liquor that would make even a nobleman drool with jealousy.
“Oi! You lot! Be a little quieter!” shouted a woman who looked to be in her early 30’s. She had fiery red eyes, black hair that went down her back to her waist and a slim figure.
“What dearie? Ya wanna have some “private time” with your boyfriend?” replied the drunk man with a large smirk painted on his face.
The woman got up and threw a butter knife at the drunk man. Even though it was just a butter knife, it still cut through the drunk man’s beer mug.
“YA LITTLE S-“shouted the suddenly angered man, but as he was getting up to retaliate he gets interrupted by a man clad in black leather armour.
“Stop that now! Both of you! I don’t particularly care for who started this, but I am more than willing to step in and finish it for both of you! Now sit Sarah, and James… Get washed up and go to bed. My great grandmother had more appeal on her death bed than your poking up manhood.” Exclaimed the man in the odd black armour in a cold, yet calm voice.
Everyone in the main hall broke into laughter as the drunk man named James looked down and saw a small bulge protruding from his pants. At the sight, he swung his arms in the air and jokingly replied “Aye sire! At once! I know how defensive you are when it comes to this sort of this, but remember: Quality before quantity!” while waving, James left the room. Everyone was still laughing, and especially those who were desperately trying to hold their laughs in.
“Seriously, when is someone going to make that man retire?” complained Sarah as she sat down.
With a shake of his head, the black armoured man replied “You very well might have forced him to retire tonight if you weren’t a good aim. Just don’t use that kind of magical enhancement indoors, especially if the head master is here.”
At his words, Sarah’s face paled in an instant and looked down. “Y-yes, I’m sorry John. It won’t happen again. Just don’t mention this to Sir Edward! I certainly don’t want to retire yet…”
“Sarah, how long have you known me now?” John asked with a bit of sting in his voice, just to show his sudden displeasure.
“A-about… 30 years now? Why?” Sarah asked with a confused look on her face.
John looked up into her eyes directly and answered “Do you really not trust me that much? I thought we promised to never lie, never betray and always rely on one-another. Now, what made you think in the first place that I was going to tell Edward? Especially with him standing right behind you.”
Sarah jumped and found a tall man with bulky muscles. He wore a nobleman’s robe coloured purple with a red and gold trim. His beard came down to just above his chest. His hair was coloured blood red and went down to his shoulders. She looked into his bright red eyes and she started sweating and began to show signs of panic.
The tall man was grinning while looking down on Sarah. Then all of a sudden John started laughing at the rogue-mages reaction. This broke Edward’s hard facial structure into that of a joyous laugh with tears building up in his eyes.
In the middle of these two men laughing, Sarah got a bit of a confused look on her face as she looked at John, then back to Edward and then back to John again. She was trying to understand what just happened and then she realized. “You bastard John! What in the seven hells made you think of doing this to me?!”
As John tried to answer through his laugh, all that got out was “I *HAHA* Couldn’t *HAHA* RESIST!” and there he panted his face onto the table and started banging the table with his fists, unable to stop his hysteric laughter.
“THIS IS A BETRAYEL JOHN!” Sarah started getting angry at his continuous laughter “You’ll pay for this!” then she gave a mischievous smile.
As soon as John saw this, he stopped laughing. His face started changing from that of a man who had accomplished an unsurmountable challenge to the face of a man who realized he was going to wed the Devil of the seventh plain’s second cousin named Gertrude who just happened to be a 32 thousand year old man.
At this sight, Sarah became genuinely happy with her handy work. The fear she placed within John would serve enough as his punishment, but she wasn’t going to leave it at that.
“So what can we do for you tonight Edward?” Asked Sarah.
“Oh? So can’t a man visit his two close friends and enjoy a beer or two without having some sort of business?” Asked Edward while feigning rejection.
“Well we would not mind you joining us at all, but last we heard is that you just had an S class mission and I obvious thought you’d have wanted to go to bed by now.” Replied Sarah who was not taking the bait set out by Edward.
“Kuh! You’re too good for me, though I think I will join you guys in about 10 minutes. Some new kid get offered a mission that they were paying a massive amount for. The amount made me doubt that the kid is ready for this mission, even though the man he got it from said it was about a C or B class mission. So I thought I’d ask Edward to monitor the kid for me.” Edward shrugged “But looking at the state you’ve suddenly put him in makes me think I’ll go tell the kid to come back to me tomorrow.”
Sarah raised her eyebrows and asked “How much?”
“I don’t think I should telling you now.” Edward said while getting ready to turn around and walk out.
“Why not? I thought you’d trust me.” Sarah asked while pouting.
Edwards stopped turning, faced Sarah and knelt to whisper in her ear “It’s not that I don’t trust you. It’ll just cause a bit of an issue in the open like this.”
Sarah immediately froze and thought to herself ‘Something that would cause trouble for even Edward? The man known as “Phantom Blade”?! This must be a huge sum. On the mission is being requested by a rookie? This would cause problems’
“What makes this thing even more awkward is that the stupid twerp already made the contract with the man!” grumbled Edward, then he looked at the stunned Sarah and said forcing a smile to his face “I’ll probably just lecture the kid for the next 10 or so minutes and then I’ll be back. See you two soon!”
As Edward walked away, John was able to rein his fear back into his control. He looked around and found that Edward was gone. He turned to Sarah who had a shocked look on her face. This made John uncomfortable. “Umm, so what did Edward want? I was… preoccupied…”
Sarah was able to shake of her shock when she hear John’s voice. In a quiet mouse like voice, she replied simply “You’ll find out tomorrow.”
These words started echoing in John’s head. He was wondering what was going on that would change Sarah’s mood so much. ‘Damn I wish she didn’t scare me so much. If I was paying attention to what Edward was saying, I might have been able to understand what was going on.’
----Morning----
Edward smacked John over the head and shouted “Wake up you lazy old sod! We have some very important business today!”
John got up off the seat while rubbing his head, yawned and asked “What is so important that an ancient fossil such as yourself would wake a man in his prime from his much needed sleep?”
“HAH! Nice one mate. But seriously, we have some pretty important business to settle.” After saying that, Edward took in a deep breath, this signalled John that he’d have to quickly block his ears or else- “RODNEY! GET YOUR SORRY ARSE INTO MY OFFICE NOW!”
“Argh! Don’t shout so early in the morning you geezer!” John grumbled at Edward for using his spell
“What do you mean early? More over morning? It’s the afternoon you sorry excuse of a man!” replied Edward with a mocking smile.
The instant Edward said this, John thought ‘Afternoon?! How much did I drink?!’
“So what is this ‘important’ business? Please don’t tell me you flirted with some girl and she ended up being royalty. Because knowing you, which would happen without a moments delay.”
Edward looked at John with a surprised expression on his face “Cut me some slack! That happened once, and they were the daughter of the Earl of Wistalgast. Also the business we have is with young Rodney. We was offered a mission directly and stupidly accepted it without forwarding the request to the guild. Usually I’d tell the boy to sort it out himself, but this amount that was offered… I want you to keep an eye on him through the mission. He believes that this mission will be a simple C or B ranking mission, but I don’t think it’s going to be that simple.”
“It was twice, and they were twin sisters within the month.” John corrected Edward, but then he put on a serious face and replied again “So you’re saying that you are worried that the kid will stuff up. So how much are they paying that is making you so worried? 10 gold? 20?”
Edward bit his lip, looked around and when he was confident that no-one was around, he replied “250 Plat. That’s usually an SS class or higher. No-one in the guild is equipped nearly as well as you for such a mission.”
Upon hearing this absurd amount, John froze on the spot. “That’s- WHAT WAS THAT STUPID TWERP THINKING?!”
“Calm down, you’re sounding like me last night. Anyway I want you to look after the kid.”
As they were talking, they arrived at the guild headmaster’s office. Opening the door, they saw a boy who looked to be in his late teens with long shining blond hair, deep purple eyes, and a slim build. He looked like he was about 172cm tall. John wasn’t pleased with the prospect of looking after this boy.
Edward lifted his arm to Rodney and started the introductions “Rodney Von Malkenselv, thing here is John Vultrean. He will be your observer for this mission, that doesn’t mean that you are entitled to ordering him to do the mission for you. He will simply be observing you for the whole duration.”
As soon as John’s name was mentioned, Rodney’s eyes lit up. Not in admiration, but in excitement to the mission and being able to have bragging rights about him going on a mission with John. “So you are the one known as ‘The Knight of the winds’. It is a pleasure to finally meet someone who I can see is my equal.” And he bows to John.
Edward looked as if he was trying to stop a laugh from breaking from his mouth. He then turned to face John and asked “Is there anything you want to say before heading off?”
“What in the seven hells did I do to deserve this?” said John while placing his hand in his face… In other words, he face palmed.
----5 hours later----
“So where are we going, Rodney?” John asked in a bored and very displeased voice.
“Err, I think we are meant to head to the Shaw Lake Forest. The where the old man that made the contract said the objective was. He said that there was a man among the Elves that I must eliminate. When I asked what the man looked like, he just replied that the man was not an Elf, but was treated with similar rights.” Replied Rodney with his hand on his chin.
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‘This is going to be a long mission’ thought John. “So a human among Elves. We should then head towards the Lake within the forest.”
“That’s what I was planning. I’m surprised an old man like you can remember such places.” Replied Rodney with obvious disrespect flowing through his voice.
John looked at Rodney and said “If you act like that, then you are going to retire sooner than normal. Watch how you act to others.”
“Fuh, you old men are the once who should be retiring soon. What’s the age for retirement? 40? 50?” exclaimed Rodney with an attempt at showing his superiority because of his youth.
“Death” John replied dryly to Rodney.
“What do you mean? Is that some sort of chant?” Rodney replied showing little to no interest.
“No. The only way you can retire from the ‘The Black Hand of Setria’. That’s why you need to watch that mouth of yours, before someone puts a sword through it.” John replied coldly.
Rodney tensed up, worried that there might be someone better than him in the skills of the sword. After he thought about it for a while, he said in a voice full of pride and bravado “That’d be a sight! No living nor dead man can beat me it the sword arts! I was trained by an S class Sword master, and I even defeated him in a duel!”
“You are in for a rude awakening.” John said in a voice that stated it as a matter of fact.
----6 hours later----
John and Rodney had been wondering through the forest for about 2 hours now. Rodney continuously tried to claim he knew where he was going, even though John said he couldn’t find a sword in its sheaf at that rate. Finally they arrived at the Lake, though it could have taken them just 30 minutes from the entrance of the forest if Rodney had not blindly followed his own misguided pride.
“Wait here boy. I’ll go talk with the Elves and see if they will allow us to search for your target.” John didn’t want Rodney to follow because he feared that the boy would end up getting both of them killed. Elven skill ranking was different from humans as humans are a weaker race. A human that was S rank would be the equivalent to an Elf that was an AA rank. Usually the Elven scouts that roamed the forests for unwelcome guests were around the AAA rank. John was considered to be a human SS rank, thus being the strongest in the guild.
“Halt! You have entered the kingdom of Farmet Marken! State your business immediately!” A gruff, yet tranquil voice rung from within the thick bush.
“You know who I am, Mark! I want to request an audience with the Sunrise clan head!” Shouted John, who was completely composed.
Suddenly an Elf dropped from the sky. He was about 184cm’s in height, a slim yet muscular physique and a golden tint in his skin. He was a Sun Elf. But what was strange about this particular Sun Elf was the fact that his hair and eye colour were black, something you wouldn’t find in the Sun Elves and rather was common among the Dark Elves.
“My name isn’t Mark, ‘Knight of the wind’. And you know it. You were among us for what? 15 years before leaving to work with those assassins? How does that go, well I’d presume for being in the human society?” The Elf John called Mark replied with a devious smirk on his face.
“Old habits die hard I guess? You’re probably the best marksman in Setria, so I think I’ll stick with Mark.” John said with a big smile “Anyway, business is good. Not many missions I’m allowed to participate in, so gets boring. But I’m on a mission now. I need to speak to that old fart Geoan. Apparently there is a human among you that is considered part of the tribe.”
Upon the mentioning of a human among Elves, Mark’s expression changed rapidly to one of worry “Yes, I see. Well I know what the answer from the chief will be, but I can’t exactly stop you from seeing him, especially when he wants to talk with you about the human.”
“Oh? So you know of whom I speak of?” Asked John inquisitively.
Mark moved to the side, waved his hand and a few more Elves appeared out of the bush. “I do, but you must speak with the chief and not me. I have been sworn to secrecy.”
“Alright. By the way, this mission isn’t mine.” John turns and shouts “RODNEY! GET OVER HERE!”
“Rodney?” Mark asked confused.
“Yes. I am merely to keep an eye on the boy. The Edward didn’t trust the contractor’s assurance that the mission was a C rank.” John replied as Rodney appeared from the bush.
“You called?” asked Rodney.
“Yes, we have an audience with the Sunrise clan chief. Be respectful boy, for he is not seeing us because of you!” John answered with vivid disdain to Rodney.
Mark almost started laughing but stopped himself. He turned to the Elves that just joined them and started getting orders “Jeone and Sterim. Take these two to the chief. They must not be harmed.”
Hearing this, the two Elves named Jeone and Sterim walked up to John. Sterim broke into a happy smile and said “I finally meet you Sala John! My name is Sterim and this is Jeone. She’s my twin sister. Our parents spoke of you very highly! I’m so glad this day finally arrived!”
John stood there for a while confused. ‘Sala? Why are they called me something like a brother? And his parents spoke about me? Who-‘ John’s thought were interrupted by Jeone.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Sala John. You know our parents as Mary and Simon. You apparently saved them from a group of Dwarves with your wind magic. I wished to be able to use wind magic and become like you, but my magic proficiencies are only water and nature.” Jeone said with a calm voice until then end when she sounded somewhat disappointed with herself.
“What do you mean only nature and water? I mean, they are great elements. Plus, I can only use one element, that’s why I’m so skilled in it.” John replied and then turned around to Mark “Alright, we’ll be off. I would like to know what the chief wants with me.”
“May the Sun shine your path ‘Sala’.” Mark said with a bow and then suddenly breaking into laughter. Apparently people who use ‘Sala’ consider the person who is not blood related to still be part of the immediate family, and somehow this made Mark laugh.
----10 minutes later----
John and Rodney entered a large mansion. It was built like a human mansion, but was make to look sleeker. The room they were led to had a look of some sort of study, with all the full book shelves, there was also a large heavy wooden study desk in the middle of the room with 3 amazingly crafted chairs, each being worth around 40 gold. There was a fire blazing in the fireplace behind the desk. The room was warm.
In the chair directly behind the study desk was an old looking elf. He looked to be in his late 800’s. His hair was a bright gold, which flowed down to his elbows. His eyes were a mixture of green and blue. In a happy voice, he calls out “Welcome back John! I hope you’ve been living well for the past, what is it now? 23 years? By the look of your complexion, I’d say you’ve been living adequately.” The old elf ended with a throaty laugh.
“Yes Geoan. Hello to you. I wish I was here merely for chat, but I have some important business to conclude. The sooner, the better. I presume you already know of what business I’m referring to?” John replied impatiently.
“HAH! You never change you circle ear! Anyway, yes I do know. And I’d like to ask you not to try killing him. I don’t care if your friend here tried to take him on, but just not you. I’ll permit this boy to go see him, but only after I’ve spoken to you in private.” Geoan replied with vivid displeasure in the request.
John turned to Rodney “Go outside for a minute. I’ll come get you when we are done. And don’t leave the mansion.”
This said, Rodney gave an annoyed grunt and left the room. As soon as the door close, Geoan waved his hand in the air and said the activation word “Pandora”. After saying this, the room turned dark.
“’Pandora’ huh? Whatever you want to say, it must be very important. So what is it?” curiosity started getting the better of John. If ‘Pandora’, a dark magic to create an almost impenetrable field, was used then the issue at hand must be grave.
“Well, the one you are contracted to kill is part of an ancient prophecy. He was found about 5 years after you left in the Valley of the Lost Heroes. That is the place where we Elves believe the Old God’s and Devil-Demon army fought. The prophecy was given by the leader of the Old God army, Panthos, when he was dying. His words were: ‘There will be a time when the Devils threaten to invade once again. Once a certain boy appears, it will mark the beginning of what could be the end for all of Setria. This boy will hold the collective powers of all my kind, yet that most probably won’t be all. This boy is our son, the last of our kind. He will be named The Last Soul’. And then Panthos died.
We believe we found this boy. We have been training him, looking after him… And we tested him with the grading orb.”
Hearing this, John suddenly got interested and couldn’t stop himself from asking “What was his grading?”
Geoan knelt down behind the desk and picked up a tray while being careful not to touch the contents. He placed the tray on the desk and said “This is the grading orb.”
Looking into the tray, John was suddenly hit by shock. There was only dust in the tray with a slight tint of blue. “This can’t be the orb. You must have gotten your maids to give you dust so you could pull this joke on me, so what is the grade really?”
Geoan placed his left hand to his head while looking down “This is the orb. We were not able to gather any readings on his power. He’s at least RR ranked. Wouldn’t be surprised if even the dragon orb turned to dust.”
John felt his heart stop for a second as the entire idea of a single being having so much power that it was on par, or higher, than a dragon. “T-then that mission-“
“Is suicide. This boy has been gaining knowledge at an incredible rate. I don’t even know how, but he was able to summon an SS class sword. So please throw away this mission.” Geoan implored John.
“Alright. I’ll even try to convince Rodney to just severe the contract. But this boys pride is boundless. He’ll most probably ignore my suggestions.” Replied John.
After John said this, Geoan smiled with gratitude and wave his hand, dispelling the ‘Pandora’ field. John got up, said his goodbyes and left the room.
Immediately outside the room was Rodney who was trying to listen into the private conversation. He looked confused because none of the spells he used could allow him to hear anything except “Goodbye”.
“What are you doing boy? Never mind that, we need to drop this mission. You can’t do it.”
Upon John saying this, Rodney’s face went red with fury and he thought to himself ‘How dare this old man say I can’t do it! I’ll show him!’ “No, this is my mission and I’m going to see it through! You may be scared old man, but I am not! I have pride in my skills!”
“Too much pride. You’ll retire is you pursue this end of the mission. Is the money worth your life? If you go any further, I will NOT lend you anymore help. Now, the chief said you are free to fight the ‘human’ all you want, he just wanted me to promise not to get involved in any fighting.” John said angrily.
As Rodney went back into the chiefs office he said “Kuh, scared old man! Having no pride and selling himself to Elves.”
----20 minutes later----
A large crowd gathered in the arena which had two young men standing inside it. The one was Rodney, who was swinging his twin blades around in warm up. He had smirk painted on his face. With one look, you’d see that he was sure of his victory.
Opposite him was a slightly younger boy. He had black hair with red streaks and blue tips and reached just past his shoulders in length. His build was similar to an adult Elf, yet he looked somewhat faster and stronger. He had deep blue eyes that would make you feel like they would throw you into a void if you stared into them for too long. His skin had a slight tan, but retained a healthy colour.
“Ready to meet your end, pretty boy?” yelled Rodney who was completely fired up.
After hearing this, the younger boy put his right hand out to the side, parallel to the ground. He opened his hand with his palm facing down. A large amount of energy started surrounding him as he started chanting: “You have been wielded by many, yet served few. Your powers are vast, and it freezes the abys merely in your presence. Lend me your power of timeless ice, so I can freeze our enemies for all of eternity. Give me your body, so that our souls and will are connected. I call to you for your help, ‘Blade of Eternal Winter’.”