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Another chapter! More characters! Why am I adding more of them? Because I need them... awww I wished I could do without them though.
I still think they are hilarious, but that could just be me.
Well, happy reading.
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Sweet music drifted through the air as the bells chimed in accordance with a choir of young boys. Their angelic voices echoed inside the spacious halls of the church.
Then one boy stepped forward and sang a lovely solo while his fellow choir members supported him in a slow tune.
The audience was completely captivated by this performance. No whispers could be heard as the entire attention was focused on the soloist in front of their eyes. His platinum blonde hair, his white chorister uniform with the red brocade at the seams and his adorable puffy face with the red cheeks only further dragged the audience into his pace.
Thus to everyone who was watching the choirs performance on this sunny morning the young boy seemed like an angel.
Alas all wonders must have an end and so did this song and with it the choirs performance. There were many listeners who would have preferred the music to the mass that followed it however nobody dared to object and thus no shouts for an encore were heard.
The young boys did not leave the church as they too were expected to attend the mass. Now more than ever as a new revelation had shocked the entire religious community.
In this provincial town the news of the immortals last stand had only just arrived and with it the church had immediately called for an emergency mass. It was actually called differently but that´s what the choristers called this laughable attempt at a revelation.
They had read the newspaper, some personally while others had someone read it to them and it had become abundantly clear that the very church they served had aggravated their god by hurting the immortals, which in a way was extremely funny to the choristers who were forced by their overzealous families to go to mass every other day.
A bearded priest stepped forth when the choristers had finished their last song and started prattling on about their great god and how he had revealed himself for their sake and wanted them to go to church and pray to him. Blablabla...
The soloist from before, a boy of perhaps four years of age with above average intellect that could easily outmatch any adult silently stared at the prattling priest. His serene appearance was very unlike a normal four year olds and seemed to the other people like a miracle.
Had they known the thoughts hidden behind the devout brown eyes they would have tried to burn him at stake immediately. Thankfully for the 'child' they had no way of reading his thoughts so they would remain a mystery to any observer.
This child as well as many others had long since perfected the skill of looking attentive while they were actually dozing away, yet miraculously on this particular day no child fell asleep at mass as it was for the first time in what might actually be their entire lifetime interesting, at least to those who had read the news.
"Thus our god Jii-Emm spoke to his first follower Udo, a reward shall be given to the one who cures the affliction caused by the aurora!"
Loud exclamations of surprise echoed inside the holy halls and the priest seemed at a loss of what to do at first as his followers never really dared to even talk at church. The prospect of a reward given by god himself however lit a fire inside the hearts of many young adults and adventurous spirits.
Would there be gold? Eternal youth? Power or maybe even love?
The community buzzed in excitement and completely forgot where they were. Even the soloist looked slightly startled by the proclamation. There was no mention of this in the newspaper after all. Where did this priest even get his info?
Luckily for the priest no one else seemed to care about this little discrepancy as they were too excited to find the cure to whatever an aurora was.
"So pray brothers and sisters! Surely we can solve the problem by praying for the souls of the immortals!"
The priest had a red face by now. He hated being ignored and saw what little authority he held in this tiny backwater town crumble with the peoples interest elsewhere.
At his remark the blonde boy snorted and masked it as a sound of devotion as he immediately put his hands on his shoulders in the customary praying posture. The few people close enough to notice his mess-up were his friends who made equally heretical sounds, masked with little difficulty in the general chaos.
The bells chimed once more as the priest tried to regain the communities attention. Alas their thought lied elsewhere and they took the bells as a signal that the mass was over. Soon only the red headed priest remained and glared at the last people to leave, an old crippled man who took his sweet time hobbling towards the exit and a young girl who accompanied the man.
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"Do you really believe that? Sounds like the usual crap they tell us to keep us from thinking." A young but distinctly male voice asked.
"Not a chance! Even if Jii-Emm is god, we sure as hell won´t just get some godly rewards just like that." Another voice answered.
"You know, I think it´s true." An extremely young voice said in a pronunciation that defied his age.
"Mar? You´re the last one I would have taken for an avid believer." The second voice said.
"I´m not a believer, you know me well enough to know that right? No, rather than just believe that some god appeared let´s assume a person called Jii-Emm exists and had the power to make Lord Udo recognize him as god. In the situation we know from the news Jii-Emm stopped the aurora, whatever that is, I´m guessing some spell. The ones targeted by the spell were the immortals right? Now Jii-Emm offers a reward to the one who can heal them? In conclusion, this Jii-Emm is surely an immortal or a friend of the immortals but no god. The church claims that god is almighty, but if he was almighty Jii-Emm could just cure his allies without anybody´s help." Mar shrugged and his angelic hair was blown to the side by his movement.
An older boy, a teenager of perhaps fourteen years answered.
"But Mar, there is no way lord Udo could make this sort of mistake right? We all know how corrupt the church really is but there is no way they would just recognize some random person as a god."
"Good point Dean, but even I can´t answer this question. Maybe if I had some more information but not like this." Mar answered Dean and looked at the third member of their circle of friends.
"What does your father know about this? I know you know something by that dumb grin on your face."
"Mar, oh Mar, when will you grow up to respect your elders? If you want my info I surely won´t share it with you if you keep treating me like that." A boy who was at least three years younger than Dean with black hair and brown eyes said.
"Alright, keep it to yourself then. You surely don´t want to know what color Eliza is wearing today~" Mar said sheepishly. That got his attention and his eyes clearly showed the inner war he was settling before reaching a conclusion.
"From the looks of it there is some prophecy that fits this Jii-Emm person like a second skin, so which one is it?" His eyes gleamed.
"White, but Huck, if there was some prophecy why is it a secret?" Mar asked casually while eating a piece of candy he had gotten from a nice lady after the mass.
"The usual political intrigue I guess. If everybody knew they would probably try to make everyone believe that they are god or something." Huck said distractedly. He had spotted Eliza walking down the street with her crippled uncle. His imagination was running wild, no doubt.
"Well, it worked for this one."Dean said. He was leaning back against a wooden shed, looking every bit the irresponsible teenager he was.
"Jii-Emm..." Mar was mumbling to himself, luckily none of the others heard him. There was more to this situation, he knew it.
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Few would expect an orphan raised by the church to doubt their teachings, yet Mar defied the norm in many ways. As he walked home, he thought about this so called god and reached his own conclusions, which he wouldn´t share even with his best friends.
"Ahhh.. I need to meet him. But how am I supposed to find him?" The adorable boy muttered yet there was no one to answer him.
His intention in meeting the GM was a mystery to anyone but him.
Mar walked down the familiar streets of the coastal town Mysiere taking in the salty scent of the western ocean and the sight of white cheap buildings with blue roofs. There were a few ships docked at the harbor and their masts could be seen even from his location.
After a short walk Mar arrived at the orphanage, a two stories tall stone building, and settled down in the room he shared with seven other boys of similar ages. Luckily none of the others were back yet and he could enjoy the rare commodity of privacy.
His quality time was disturbed however by the arrival of his roommates. They looked startled to see him here so early but soon ignored him and went about their own business again.
With a sigh Mar left the overcrowded room. He had no assignments for the day, or rather, he had already solved all of them. Thus with free time at hand he left for the beach. Mar couldn´t swim but that never kept him away from the beach. If he was seen without work at the orphanage or slacking off in town there would always be someone who had more assignments for him after all.
On sunny days like this one Mar would search for treasures and relax. Sadly Dean and Huck were busy so Mar went on his own.
The route to the beach was safe as soldiers regularly patrolled the area so Mar could leave the safety of the town without any worries.
When Mar arrived at a beach which was located to the north of the town he saw a man who was drifting in the water, his head was the only part of him that wasn´t submerged and Mar immediately thought he was a corpse because he wasn´t moving.
The waves kept playing with the corpse for a while before the man was close enough for Mar to safely reach him. He dragged the corpse to the shore, painfully aware of the icy water that tried to drag him into the sea, towards his death. Yet Mar persevered. The four year old had to exert his utmost effort to successfully move the man.
Miraculously, it would seem, Mar succeeded in his task and collapsed heavily breathing at the beach. He was soaking wet and cold. For a moment Mar couldn´t even muster the power to check on the corpse. After some time though Mar crawled towards the man in question. He had black hair and a short beard. The man was dressed like a soldier from Balsch and was very muscular and big.
Mar hadn´t managed to drag his entire body out of the water so his lower half was still inside the salty ocean.
Tentatively Mar touched the man and confirmed that he was icy cold and stiff. Dissatisfied with this confirmation of the man´s death Mar put his ear against the man´s chest and closely listened for a heartbeat.
There, ever so faint, was a heartbeat and Mar felt the slight rise and fall of the man´s chest. He was actually alive.
Mar marveled at that fact. Surely, this man must have gone through hell to end up like this.
Questions crowded his mind, as to how a soldier from Balsch would end up in the western ocean. Did his ship sink? Maybe he was guarding somebody important and traveled with this person all the way to the other side of the continent...
Mar of course had countless questions, but he had no choice but to put them off. The man needed help. It was a miracle that he wasn´t dead yet and Mar didn´t want that to change. He got up, still fatigued and walked towards Mysiere, as there was no way for a four year old to carry an adult male home or anywhere else for that matter.
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A miracle is what they called his recovery. A miracle sent by Jii-Emm.
The man smiled for the first time since he had woken up, when he heard this. The nurse who had spoken the devout words was immediately dazzled by his smile. She didn´t know what dazzled her about him as he wasn´t particularly handsome. No, calling him ugly would be more fitting with the scars adorning his face.
Despite his appearance however there was a certain charisma to the shipwrecked man. Those emerald eyes seemed old and young at once, as if he had gone to hell and back.
With a satisfied smile the nurse left her patient to rest some more. Her mind was already occupied with various treatment methods she could prepare for the poor man.
As the door was closed the smile vanished from the man´s face and so did the aura of charisma. He got up without any problem whatsoever and approached the window. The sleepy town Mysiere... He never expected to survive his little... escapade.
With some self derision the man let go of the thought and opened the window. He was just about to hop out when he noticed that he was still naked, his clothes lying in a neatly folded pile on a table. The man groaned a bit in annoyance, got dressed and headed out of the window. Luckily his room was located in the third floor. This way he could levitate himself to the roof of the house next door and leisurely flee.
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Nobody even noticed his stroll on the roofs of Mysiere. He hopped from building to building with some magical assistance and only descended when he reached to outermost ring of houses where the buildings were smaller and farther apart than in the center. Without a care he left the little town and made his way to the beach. Unbeknownst to him it was the place where he had been found only a few days prior.
When he reached the immeasurable mass of water that is the ocean he smirked at it. His eyes glazed over as if he was seeing someone far away and he chuckled to himself. There was no need for words, he just came here to gloat.
His gloating was interrupted though by a sweet childish voice.
"Oh? Mister, aren´t you the one I pulled out of the water a few days ago? Did the doctors already release you?"
The man fixed his expression and turned around to see... nothing. He looked left and right and was confused for a moment until a hand suddenly entered his field of vision and his eyes followed it down to an extremely young child.
For a moment the man just stared in bewilderment as children of that age never ever left the town as they were easy prey for any predator and not intelligent enough to deal with the dangers of the world.
The two stared at each other for a while when the boy spoke up again.
"It really is you. I almost didn´t recognize you without the beard... What are you doing here? Are you searching for your possessions? I didn´t find any when I found you, though."
"No, I´m not searching for anything in particular but boy, what are you doing out here?"
The boy sighed and rolled his eyes in a distinctly not childish way.
"I´m stronger than most guards, there is no need for me to hide in there."
"Oh really? Well in that case I won´t bother you, kid."
The boy looked startled at that answer. Maybe he had been expecting disbelief or a scolding.
"My name´s Mar not kid. What´s your name mister?" He asked with a suspicious smile.
"E-... Nathe, call me Nathe." The boy raised his eyebrow at that but didn´t ask.
Nathe then turned to leave but Mar had no intention of letting him go.
"So Nathe, how did you end up like this... Did your ship sink?"
"You could say that..."
"So it didn´t sink, eh? Did they throw you off of it?"
"Of course not!" Nathe looked peeved at that.
"Were you washed off of it by a storm then?"
"Who would be pathetic enough to get washed of like that?"
"Were you attacked by pirates?"
"No pirate could ever threaten me!"
"So what happened then?"
"Simple, I was kidnapped by J-... smart boy, you almost got me." He grinned at that while Mar just smiled innocently.
"I don´t know what you´re talking about Nathe. I was just curious."
"Is that so? Well, I´ve been playing with you enough I should leave now."
"Already? Don´t you want to continue gloating at the ocean?"
Nathe glared at Mar. Who did this little boy think he was?
"No need. I have more important things to do."
"Like what?"
Nathe started walking towards the town and Mar followed him. He was struggling to keep up.
"Like... what indeed? Haaaa... Let´s start by conquering the world or killing a god?"
"Well, sounds like a logical plan. Do you need some help?"
"Sure, you can be my .... cat."
"Your cat?"
"Well, first I wanted to say right hand man but I can´t very well make a toddler my right hand, can I?"
"How rude, I´m not a toddler. Why a cat though?"
"Well... super villains always have cats... white ones. The ones from legend, you know."
"Seriously? That sucks Nathe, just make me your right hand!"
"What for?"
"So we can kill god together?"
"Ohhh sure, let´s kill god together. What else would we do with the weekend?"
"Hey, you came up with that! Why are you acting so mean all of a sudden?"
"I was just playing along kid, don´t get your diapers in a twist."
Mar pouted at that, outrage clearly written on his face. He looked like a child throwing a tantrum, which in a way he actually was.
After some minutes of silence Mar stopped pouting in favor of annoying Nathe some more.
"So, which god are you going to kill?"
"The green one."
"Jii-Emm? If that´s the case you better not tell the people in town about that. They are fanatics, all of them! Can´t have a decent conversation without talk about Jii-Emm."
"It´s that bad? I figured things had calmed down after such a long time."
"Long time? Bah! It´s been five days or so since the news arrived. They´re going crazy. It´s like a disease!"
"Say Mar... where did you say we are?"
"I didn´t say anything." Mar smiled while Nathe gave him a deadpan look.
"Mysiere, if you don´t know where that is, it´s a short distance North of Tranden in the west of the continent. We are surrounded by swamps here and the only way to safely leave this shithole is with a boat."
"Never heard of it."
"It is backwater..."
"It actually took you almost two years to get the news? That´s more than just backwater."
"I know right? I wanna get out of here too. It´s so boring here. Are you really from Balsch?"
"How did you know?"
"You wore their emblem on your armor when I found you."
"Oh... that. Yeah, I grew up in Balsch."
"Will you go home then?"
"No, there´s nothing waiting for me in Balsch. I will go kill a god and conquer the world." A ruthless smile crossed Nathe´s face for a moment.
"You´re serious. I knew it. Nobody would joke about that kind of thing."
Nathe abruptly stopped walking and turned to the puzzlingly mature child.
"What are you gonna do about it? Tell the authorities?" The cruel smile appeared again. This time, Mar could clearly see it. He was momentarily stunned but quickly snapped out of it.
"Take me along and I won´t tell anybody about this."
Now it was Nathe´s turn to be stunned. Was this kid for real?
"No. Just stay here with your family. You can´t be my cat."
"I don´t have any parents so it´s fine right?"
"I don´t have the time to take care of a child."
"You should know by now that I am no child." Mar´s lively voice became icy and harsh. He was enveloped by a threatening aura and Nathe doubted his sanity for a moment. It became abundantly clear that this... thing... was no child. No kid, even if it was raised by the wolves, could ever have this kind of terrifying aura.
It was so at odds with the little annoying angel from before that Nathe took a while to come to terms with the change.
"True... you are no child. What are you?"
"That is my secret to keep. Trust me, you don´t want to know that."
" I will need to know if I am to take you along. Do you really think I would take a mysterious monster with me?"
"Monster? I am very much still human, you know." Mar smirked and mumbled something between the lines but Nathe didn´t catch it.
"That doesn´t change the fact that I want to know what I´m dealing with. Why do you want to tag along anyway?"
"GM... I need to meet him. You can kill him after I´m done talking to him."
"Have you met him before?" Nathe was genuinely curious. The little boy´s eyes spoke of hatred.
"Hmmm, you could say that."
"So you didn´t?"
"Yeah... but I still need to talk to him."
"Hmmm..."
Nathe looked thoughtful for a few minutes and stared at the little monster.
"What´s in it for me?"
"I know how to find him so-"
"Why didn´t you say that earlier?!"
"To save the best argument for last?"
"Alright, you´re in, cat." Nathe nodded to himself, a vicious grin on his face as he envisioned the GM`s death.
"Nope!" Mar turned away from Nathe.
"Nope?"
"I´m not you cat."
"What else could you possibly be?"
"The right hand!"
"But my right hand works perfectly fine."
"Want me to change that?"
"You couldn´t even if you wanted to!" Nathe started laughing and Mar turned around. His face betrayed nothing as he hopped a few meters backwards and started channeling mana.
There was no question that his soon to be partner in crime was not going to acknowledge Mar without seeing his skills personally.
Thus Mar attacked with three ice bullets that would have been enough to behead the man if he hadn´t been able to dodge in time. Without a pause Mar cast the next spell.
Nathe on the other hand was totally unprepared for battle yet he also knew that Mar was an expert in his own right, even if he looked like a child. After dodging the first attack he was somewhat off balance and had no chance to attack the mage before he loosened the next spell.
A gust of wind threw him backwards and gave Mar more time to loosen the next spell which consisted of an ice needle rain. Nathe dodged all of them with relative ease. He wasn´t even sweating from the little exercise.
While he was dodging Nathe was casting his own spell. With a boom Nathe loosened five fireballs only to regret it seconds after. He didn´t want to kill the boy after all. Mar was his only lead to finding the elusive GM so his survival was crucial.
The worry was unfounded as Mar was just as quick on his feet as he was with his casts. He evaded the fireballs with lots of room to spare and without interrupting his own cast. Mar created chains of earth to keep Nathe in place and then began a longer chant.
His instincts yelling at him to absolutely dodge the next spell, Nathe cast a spell to destroy the chains and freed himself mere seconds before Mar´s next spell would have hit him. A lightning strike fell from the sky and hit the spot Nathe had been standing in prior. Enraged, Nathe charged at the mage boy without a care. He barreled through several ice bullets with his reinforced skin and punched Mar. The boy flew twenty meters through the air and dissolved when he hit the grassy ground.
Only then did Nathe understand that he had been tricked and turned around to see a small fist crash into his own face. The fist didn´t have the power to do Nathe any real harm but the point had been made and Mar stepped away from the man, an innocent smile on his face.
"Right hand?"
"Right hand. Just to be clear, I would have won if I hadn´t held back."
"Sure thing Nathe."
The two turned towards the city and began walking back once more.
Luckily a ship was scheduled to leave in a few days, giving them ample time to prepare for the perilous journey with the noble goal of killing a fake god.
Nathe earned some money, or rather a lot of it with what seemed to be not quite legal means. Not that it mattered as he was sure that he needed the money way more than its previous owner, the lord of the city.
Mar on the other hand didn´t tell anyone about his plans of departure and thus snuck out of the orphanage and onto the boat disguised as Nathe´s son. Few questions were asked by the muscular old captain and the conspirators easily evaded detection.
Their ship would take them south, along the western coast of the continent and they would hopefully soon reach the port city Tranden.
Nathe didn´t know where they would go afterwards as Mar refused to tell him where they could find the GM in fear of being left behind once Nathe got the info.
Thus after a two week long journey the duo finally reached Tranden and Nathe demanded answers.
"Mar, can you finally tell me where we can find Jii-Emm?"
"No..."
"Wait... do you actually know where he is?"
"Not really... hehe... but I do know how we can find him. We only need to ask an immortal to contact him for us. There is a special magic between the immortals and Jii-Emm that allows long distance communication." Mar smiled innocently.
"How would you even know that?" Nathe fought the urge to yell at the little monster. He had to keep him alive... at least until he lost his worth.
"The way Jii-Emm simply arrived when the immortals were in trouble is enough to conclude that the two parties have a means of communication. They are allied though... we need a plan to trick the immortals into contacting Jii-Emm for us."
"Before doing that we need to find them."
"Right... where do you think they are?"
"No idea. I haven´t heard any news about them since their last stand."
"Considering the location of the battlefield within the Lavender valley they couldn´t have left the valley without passing through the tunnel right? Maybe we should check that place out..."
"All the way to Lavender? You gotta be kidding me! That journey takes years!"
The two of them sighed. There was no way around this.