PS: If you want to critique be nice about it please
feed back you be appreciated. I know it's starts slow but I hope to have things pick up after chapter 3. PSS. Comment damn you!
Chapter (1)
Spoiler: show
The world of Perditus. Full of floating continents, fantastical creatures and monster girls, but of all the amazing things in Perditus nothing is as incredible as Adustreum. This glowing energy like substance is in everything from people to trees, animals and even the land itself. Created by the ancient Astrum as an invisible sixth limb, it can be controlled by the mind and used for anything from reshaping the ground to healing wounds to manipulating the elements themselves.
Many think of Adustreum like some kind of uncontrollable magic. There are however groups of individuals that spend their entire lives studying and learning to control it, they are known as the Adustreum Imperium or more commonly as, the Starlords. This is the story of one such group, The Star Sword Guild. (roll into)
“Don't look down, don't look dow- ho shit I’m looking down” said Keyon as he looked over the railing of the Fat Rat and into the endless sky below. It had been a day since they left his home town in the forests of the Bultica and began their journey to the continent of Antaria. Keyon looked at the Royal Antarean Starlord academy flier in his hand and grinned. He had spent the last five years and his last copper to get here, but now he was finally on his way to joining the ranks of the Adustreum Imperium. All he needed to do was get accepted into the academy and then he could....
Keyons moment of self ego-stroking was cut off by a voice behind him. “I used to be an adventurer like you, then I took an arr- oops wrong line” Keyon turned around to see one of the ships crewmen standing behind him. The crewmen rubbed the back his head sheepishly and said “Sorry. A lifetime as a city guard does some strange things to ya. I meant to say if ya keep leaning over the railing like that, you're likely to fall out and if ya did we'd have to file a ten page report, so yeah.”
Keyon moved back from the rail, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I can't help it. This is my first time on an airship like this, and flying with nothing below you but sky is really strange”.
The crewmen smiled. “Yeah. We get that a lot, most people from Bultica spend their lives never knowing that they live on a giant floating chunk of rock, or that there are thousands of other inhabited chunks of rock out there”.
Keyon looked off into the sky and replied, “We can't help it. Bultica is so large and isolated that it's hard to believe there's anything else out there”.
The crewman shook his head, then headed back towards the ships stern saying, “Antaria will be in sight shortly, so I would head to the bow if I were you. You'll want a good view point, since it's your first time seeing another terra”. Keyon looked curiously at the crewman and was about to ask him what he meant but he was already gone. 'I might as well take his advice' Keyon thought and started walking towards the bow. The rest of the passengers were there as well, chattering excitedly and looking over the rail to see if they could see anything, however all that was ahead of them was a massive fog bank.
Slowly they entered the fog bank. Keyon momentarily closed his eyes as the cold fog blew past his face. The moment the opened his eyes again they where through it and there it was stretching out into the great beyond: Antaria. It was like something out of a dream, a giant mass of earth and stone floating in mid air with a collection of smaller ones surrounding it. It was covered in giant oak trees and studded with beautiful white stone houses. A pure blue river ran off the side into the fog below forming a rainbow. Just to the right of that was a harbor filled with all manner of airships and flying devices.
Above all this was another mass of floating rock with a massive cathedral-like building on it. Keyon could not believe it; he was looking right at the Royal Antarean Mages academy. It was so close he could almost reach out and touch it. Keyon was pulled back to reality by the captains voice, “All hands stand by for docking and disembarkation—also someone find that damn cat and send it to the brig!” Minutes later, they were docked at one of the harbor's many piers.
Once he was off the ship, Keyon looked around the bustling city. There were people everywhere, the streets were lined with all manner of shops and stores selling everything from clothes and jewelry to animal flesh and cat people...
“Wait what?” Keyon said, doing a double take. There in one of the stores, there were cages filled with cat girls. The shop's sign read, “Niko mimi slaves for sale”.
(Niko mimi)
Now that he thought about, it there were quite a few of these 'Niko mimi' walking around, all of them wearing collars or shackles, and accompanying wealthy-looking people.
This wasn't Keyon's first time seeing a demi-human, but this was his first time seeing slaves. Keyon Stared in shock. It was hard to believe but their were cat girls being sold like common goods. Then just like that he said “Forget the academy. I’ll just buy an army of these Niko mimi, put them in maid outfits and call it a day.” Just imagining it was making him blush and drool.
Keyon's morally hazardous delusions were ended abruptly by one of the Niko mimi's crying “No. Pleas stop! It hurts!” He turned around, to see a man that looked like a villain from a cheap adult flick and a Niko mimi. The man had her by the tail and ear, and was pulling her off her feet by them, while simultaneously twisting them in a manner that looked extremely painful. A depraved grin plastered the man's. As Keyon realized the full implications of Niko mimi slavery it immediately want from a perverted fantasy come true to an incredibly awful thing.
Clenching his fist and gritting his teeth, Keyon turned around and began walking away. Then, The words of the crewman repeated themselves in his head 'Then I took an ar'. Keyon turned to a weapons booth, grabbed a simple wooden bow that was on display and one iron-tipped arrow. Then, turning back to the man and Niko mimi he drew the arrow and said, “I used to be a shit-faced creep like you.” Then he sent the arrow screaming into the mans knee, instantly stopping his shit and sending him to the ground.
That was probably not the best way to deal with that. But damn if it wasn’t satisfying, thought Keyon. The shopkeeper, completely uncaring of what happened, smiled and said, “That will be one-hundred thirty coppers.” Keyon turned to the owner in a panic, “Wait! I only used one arrow and I don't even want the bow!” The shopkeeper, still smiling, said, “You use it you buy it. Also you took that arrow from a quiver and I don't sell the arrows in quivers individually.”
Well this was simply perfect, he had just wasted the last of his pocket change on a bow and twenty-six- err, twenty-five arrows. Keyon had little time to lament, though, because the next thing he knew, half the cites guard were charging him like a pack of rabid dogs. Half an hour of frantic running latter, he had manged to lose the rabid pack of guards.
Gasping and panting Keyon looked around. He was in a back ally of sorts with junk piled against the buildings and a canopy of clotheslines above him. No signs, no landmarks, he was totally lost. Keyon groaned, “Well I'm off to a great start. I'm lost, I'm broke and have no way of getting up to the academy.” He hung his head. At this rate his dreams of becoming a powerful Starlord with his own castle and harem was going down the pipe. “Of course I could always just try pole jumping up to the academy. If I had a pole that is,” he said to himself.
Keyon slapped the sides of this face saying, “This is no time to lament over a lack of poles, I've gotten this far and I'm not letting anything stop me!” His spirits lifted, Keyon charged out of the alley--and straight into a large wooden cart filled with luggage and everything want black.
“Are you alright?” Keyon groaned and opened his eyes. Standing over him was a young, blond-haired woman in an expensive dress. “Yeah, I'm okay” Keyon said. He tried to stand up but was overwhelmed by dizziness and fell back down. The young woman sighed and held her hand out. “Here, let me help you.”
An hour had passed since Keyon ran into the cart and he was now quite glad that he had. It turned out, the young woman's name was Jennifer and she was also on her way to the academy. 'This has to be one of those fatted meetings' thought Keyon as they walked up to the academy's main entrance. He looked back at the wooden cart he was now pulling for Jennifer, 'You have my thanks painful and incredibly heavy cart.' Smiling, Jennifer turned to Keyon and said “Well this is were we part ways. I supposes I'll be seeing a lot of you.” Keyon handed the cart over blushing, “ye- yes! I suppose you will....”
Keyon watched Jennifer walk off into the academy. Then he remembered why he was there and hurried into the academy as well. It was just as amazing as the flyer had said, the building was built out of polished white stone, with massive glass windows and the floors were covered in long, deep-red rugs. The building looked more like a castle than an academy. Keyon didn't get to gawk for long as a stern looking woman with glasses and a large book walked up to him saying, “The servants entrance is out the front door and to the right.”
Keyon was confused for a moment but then realized that he looked as broke as he was said, “I'm not a servant I'm here to join the academy.” The woman raised here eyebrow, “Ho? Whats your name?” Keyon, now getting nervous replied, “Keyon-” before he could finish, she looked at here book and said, “Your name is not in the list. Do you have a letter of recommendation, or papers?” Keyon, now very nervous, replied, “Well no I-” She cut him off again saying, “If you're not a noble or sponsored by a noble you can't join the academy.”
Keyon was now freaking out but the woman ignored him and continued, “You're no doubt a peasant or unsophisticated country bumpkin who thought he could become a Starlord just like that. The art of using Adustreum is a privilege for the wealthy, not something for filthy peasants to play with.” Keyon was only able to make a disjointed sound before the verbal onslaught continued. “Honestly. You peasants never learn. It's like you can't understand that if something is valuable or nice, you have no business near it. Now, please leave. I have REAL future members to deal with.”
And with that she left. Keyon could only stand there in shock, his dream was dead, his dreamers virginity lost in a rap by reality. Still in shock, he staggered out of academy back towards the city like a walking corpse.
To be continued?
Many think of Adustreum like some kind of uncontrollable magic. There are however groups of individuals that spend their entire lives studying and learning to control it, they are known as the Adustreum Imperium or more commonly as, the Starlords. This is the story of one such group, The Star Sword Guild. (roll into)
“Don't look down, don't look dow- ho shit I’m looking down” said Keyon as he looked over the railing of the Fat Rat and into the endless sky below. It had been a day since they left his home town in the forests of the Bultica and began their journey to the continent of Antaria. Keyon looked at the Royal Antarean Starlord academy flier in his hand and grinned. He had spent the last five years and his last copper to get here, but now he was finally on his way to joining the ranks of the Adustreum Imperium. All he needed to do was get accepted into the academy and then he could....
Keyons moment of self ego-stroking was cut off by a voice behind him. “I used to be an adventurer like you, then I took an arr- oops wrong line” Keyon turned around to see one of the ships crewmen standing behind him. The crewmen rubbed the back his head sheepishly and said “Sorry. A lifetime as a city guard does some strange things to ya. I meant to say if ya keep leaning over the railing like that, you're likely to fall out and if ya did we'd have to file a ten page report, so yeah.”
Keyon moved back from the rail, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I can't help it. This is my first time on an airship like this, and flying with nothing below you but sky is really strange”.
The crewmen smiled. “Yeah. We get that a lot, most people from Bultica spend their lives never knowing that they live on a giant floating chunk of rock, or that there are thousands of other inhabited chunks of rock out there”.
Keyon looked off into the sky and replied, “We can't help it. Bultica is so large and isolated that it's hard to believe there's anything else out there”.
The crewman shook his head, then headed back towards the ships stern saying, “Antaria will be in sight shortly, so I would head to the bow if I were you. You'll want a good view point, since it's your first time seeing another terra”. Keyon looked curiously at the crewman and was about to ask him what he meant but he was already gone. 'I might as well take his advice' Keyon thought and started walking towards the bow. The rest of the passengers were there as well, chattering excitedly and looking over the rail to see if they could see anything, however all that was ahead of them was a massive fog bank.
Slowly they entered the fog bank. Keyon momentarily closed his eyes as the cold fog blew past his face. The moment the opened his eyes again they where through it and there it was stretching out into the great beyond: Antaria. It was like something out of a dream, a giant mass of earth and stone floating in mid air with a collection of smaller ones surrounding it. It was covered in giant oak trees and studded with beautiful white stone houses. A pure blue river ran off the side into the fog below forming a rainbow. Just to the right of that was a harbor filled with all manner of airships and flying devices.
Above all this was another mass of floating rock with a massive cathedral-like building on it. Keyon could not believe it; he was looking right at the Royal Antarean Mages academy. It was so close he could almost reach out and touch it. Keyon was pulled back to reality by the captains voice, “All hands stand by for docking and disembarkation—also someone find that damn cat and send it to the brig!” Minutes later, they were docked at one of the harbor's many piers.
Once he was off the ship, Keyon looked around the bustling city. There were people everywhere, the streets were lined with all manner of shops and stores selling everything from clothes and jewelry to animal flesh and cat people...
“Wait what?” Keyon said, doing a double take. There in one of the stores, there were cages filled with cat girls. The shop's sign read, “Niko mimi slaves for sale”.
(Niko mimi)
Now that he thought about, it there were quite a few of these 'Niko mimi' walking around, all of them wearing collars or shackles, and accompanying wealthy-looking people.
This wasn't Keyon's first time seeing a demi-human, but this was his first time seeing slaves. Keyon Stared in shock. It was hard to believe but their were cat girls being sold like common goods. Then just like that he said “Forget the academy. I’ll just buy an army of these Niko mimi, put them in maid outfits and call it a day.” Just imagining it was making him blush and drool.
Keyon's morally hazardous delusions were ended abruptly by one of the Niko mimi's crying “No. Pleas stop! It hurts!” He turned around, to see a man that looked like a villain from a cheap adult flick and a Niko mimi. The man had her by the tail and ear, and was pulling her off her feet by them, while simultaneously twisting them in a manner that looked extremely painful. A depraved grin plastered the man's. As Keyon realized the full implications of Niko mimi slavery it immediately want from a perverted fantasy come true to an incredibly awful thing.
Clenching his fist and gritting his teeth, Keyon turned around and began walking away. Then, The words of the crewman repeated themselves in his head 'Then I took an ar'. Keyon turned to a weapons booth, grabbed a simple wooden bow that was on display and one iron-tipped arrow. Then, turning back to the man and Niko mimi he drew the arrow and said, “I used to be a shit-faced creep like you.” Then he sent the arrow screaming into the mans knee, instantly stopping his shit and sending him to the ground.
That was probably not the best way to deal with that. But damn if it wasn’t satisfying, thought Keyon. The shopkeeper, completely uncaring of what happened, smiled and said, “That will be one-hundred thirty coppers.” Keyon turned to the owner in a panic, “Wait! I only used one arrow and I don't even want the bow!” The shopkeeper, still smiling, said, “You use it you buy it. Also you took that arrow from a quiver and I don't sell the arrows in quivers individually.”
Well this was simply perfect, he had just wasted the last of his pocket change on a bow and twenty-six- err, twenty-five arrows. Keyon had little time to lament, though, because the next thing he knew, half the cites guard were charging him like a pack of rabid dogs. Half an hour of frantic running latter, he had manged to lose the rabid pack of guards.
Gasping and panting Keyon looked around. He was in a back ally of sorts with junk piled against the buildings and a canopy of clotheslines above him. No signs, no landmarks, he was totally lost. Keyon groaned, “Well I'm off to a great start. I'm lost, I'm broke and have no way of getting up to the academy.” He hung his head. At this rate his dreams of becoming a powerful Starlord with his own castle and harem was going down the pipe. “Of course I could always just try pole jumping up to the academy. If I had a pole that is,” he said to himself.
Keyon slapped the sides of this face saying, “This is no time to lament over a lack of poles, I've gotten this far and I'm not letting anything stop me!” His spirits lifted, Keyon charged out of the alley--and straight into a large wooden cart filled with luggage and everything want black.
“Are you alright?” Keyon groaned and opened his eyes. Standing over him was a young, blond-haired woman in an expensive dress. “Yeah, I'm okay” Keyon said. He tried to stand up but was overwhelmed by dizziness and fell back down. The young woman sighed and held her hand out. “Here, let me help you.”
An hour had passed since Keyon ran into the cart and he was now quite glad that he had. It turned out, the young woman's name was Jennifer and she was also on her way to the academy. 'This has to be one of those fatted meetings' thought Keyon as they walked up to the academy's main entrance. He looked back at the wooden cart he was now pulling for Jennifer, 'You have my thanks painful and incredibly heavy cart.' Smiling, Jennifer turned to Keyon and said “Well this is were we part ways. I supposes I'll be seeing a lot of you.” Keyon handed the cart over blushing, “ye- yes! I suppose you will....”
Keyon watched Jennifer walk off into the academy. Then he remembered why he was there and hurried into the academy as well. It was just as amazing as the flyer had said, the building was built out of polished white stone, with massive glass windows and the floors were covered in long, deep-red rugs. The building looked more like a castle than an academy. Keyon didn't get to gawk for long as a stern looking woman with glasses and a large book walked up to him saying, “The servants entrance is out the front door and to the right.”
Keyon was confused for a moment but then realized that he looked as broke as he was said, “I'm not a servant I'm here to join the academy.” The woman raised here eyebrow, “Ho? Whats your name?” Keyon, now getting nervous replied, “Keyon-” before he could finish, she looked at here book and said, “Your name is not in the list. Do you have a letter of recommendation, or papers?” Keyon, now very nervous, replied, “Well no I-” She cut him off again saying, “If you're not a noble or sponsored by a noble you can't join the academy.”
Keyon was now freaking out but the woman ignored him and continued, “You're no doubt a peasant or unsophisticated country bumpkin who thought he could become a Starlord just like that. The art of using Adustreum is a privilege for the wealthy, not something for filthy peasants to play with.” Keyon was only able to make a disjointed sound before the verbal onslaught continued. “Honestly. You peasants never learn. It's like you can't understand that if something is valuable or nice, you have no business near it. Now, please leave. I have REAL future members to deal with.”
And with that she left. Keyon could only stand there in shock, his dream was dead, his dreamers virginity lost in a rap by reality. Still in shock, he staggered out of academy back towards the city like a walking corpse.
To be continued?
Spoiler: show
Keyon had no clue how long he wandered, struggling to come to terms with what had happened. Eventually he found his way into a shady tavern in a back ally. He was sitting in a corner wallowing in his sorrow when a short, hooded man walked up to him and sat down. Keyon was going to get up and leave but the hooded man spoke.
“I couldn’t help but notice how down you look; perhaps you could use some advice? Or maybe info?” Keyon Looked away from the hooded man saying, “not unless you know how to become a noble and get into the Royal Antarean Starlord academy.”
The hooded man appeared to smile then replayed, “There's a person that could make you a noble but the price would be...how should I put it. Unbearable. But if I were you I wouldn’t wast my time getting into the academy. I would go to the Star Sword guild. Their headquarters is in the town of Ever Rock just ten miles from here.” The hooded man paused then continued, “Their only joining requirement is that you have some skill with a sword or Adustreum, and a desire to learn both.”
Keyon looking at the hooded man like an excited child.
“Really? Which way is Ever Rock? Who do I need to talk to once I get there?”
The hooded man moved back in surprise at Keyon's enthusiasm but then chuckled and said, “Ever Rock is on all the maps and once you get there just look for a large building with a sign that says 'Star Sword Guild'. Once you get there, just ask for Thaddeus Quinten. He's the guild master.”
Keyon stood up, all sparkles and rainbows.
“Thank you Mr hooded man. You've done more for me than you could ever imagine!”
The hooded man waved his hand dismissively, saying, “my name is Sam and selling info is what I do. Besides, everyone knows of the Star Sword Guild. You can find me here every night. Of course, next time it won't be free.”
Keyon thanked him again and headed for the door. As he stepped out, Sam called out to him, “one last word of warning. Beware the one-horned demon.”
Keyon wondered what he meant by that, but shrugged it off and left the tavern.
'In retrospect, leaving in the late afternoon was probably a bad idea.' Keyon thought as he stumbled over another tree root in the road.
He had managed to find a free map and headed for Ever rock, but the Sun had set and things were getting very dark.
Just then, Keyon saw a light up ahead and immediately headed towards it like a retarded moth. As he drew closer he saw the light was actually a camp fire in the middle of the road...which would not be that strange, if not for the fact that there was no one there, or even any sings that anyone had been there recently.
Just as Keyon went closer to investigate, he felt something tighten around his leg and he went flying into the air.
“Ho come on! Who even puts traps in the middle of the road like this,” Keyon shouted as flailed around, trying to get the rope off his leg.
“That would be me,” said a voice next to him. Keyon looked in the direction of the voice to see another person hanging alongside him. Or to be more precise a cat boy in leather armor. Keyon crossed his arms and asked, “Okay so why did you put traps in the middle of the road? And why are you in one yourself?”
“Obviously you wouldn’t go to sleep in the middle of a road without deploying traps to protect yourself. And there’s no way to know if a trap will work unless you test it, so here I am.” The cat boy said like it was completely normal. Keyon stared at the cat boy in disbelief, wondering in this guy was serious or just joking. Apparently serious, the cat boy continued.
“My name is Vasper, a famous alchemist and a purebred Neko mimi. And you are?”
“Um, Keyon Jenkins,” Keyon replied as he fumbled around trying to grab one of the arrows that had spilled on the ground below him.
Vasper closed his eyes sullenly and said, “Jenkins hm? Well it was nice knowing you.”
He looked at the ground grimly then continued, “I fear it's too late for me. I have spent too long like this. My only request is that-”
Not really listening to him, Keyon had managed to get a hold of his arrows on the ground and was trying to shoot out the rope holding them up. He fired arrow after arrow, but just kept missing, until he finally started thinking of the rope as a knee. Then the arrow went through it perfectly. With the rope cut, Keyon and Vasper fell to the ground, Vasper landing on his feet and Keyon landing on his face.
Keyon got to his feet saying, “so...why the hell did you put traps in the middle of the road again?”
Still dizzy from being upside-down too long, Vasper replied, “I already told you. It's too dangerous to camp on the road without setting traps. I'm a lone Neko mimi. I might as well have a sign on my back saying 'eat me'.”
Keyon rubbed his head in a confused manner.
“Are the roads really that dangerous?”
Vasper face-palmed.
“There are over three-hundred types of demi-humans and monsters in Antaria, most of which consider my kind as food or worse. So knowing that, why shouldn’t I set traps in the middle of the road?”
“Well I guess you have a point...anyway, I should be going,” Keyon said, then headed down the road. Vasper's ears stood up in surprise at this.
“You're going to continue traveling in the dark after what I just told you? Are you mad? You can't see in the dark, let alone fight if you get attacked.”
Keyon stopped and turned around saying, “well I don't have any traps and I want to get to Ever Rock as soon as I can.”
Vasper clapped his hands together with a cheerful expression and said, “if that's the case, why don't you stay here tonight? It's safer to travel in a group and I still need to thank you for getting me down.” Keyon was hesitant but agreed. After all, Vasper seemed nice enough; what was the worst that could happen?
“Well this, apparently,” Keyon said.
He was lying in the middle of the road. His boots, his pack and everything of value was gone. It was hard to believe he had fallen for the 'friendly traveler' that offers to share his camp, then robs you in your sleep trick, but here he was.
Grumbling in frustration, Keyon got up and continued his journey. It wasn’t long before Keyon came across a familiar sight--his bow hanging on a low tree branch on the side of the road.
Keyon was confused. Why would Vasper steal something, only to drop it on the side of the road like this? Was he that clumsy, or did he decide he didn’t need it? However, when Keyon reached the bow, he noticed tracks that looked as if they were made by someone running on all fours. What's more, there appeared to be a freshly-made trail going into the woods. Curious, Keyon followed the trail. As he did, he found more of his things, as well as what he could only assume to be Vasper's stuff.
The trail ended at the entrance of a cave. Keyon stopped at the entrance and looked around. There was fresh blood on the ground, lots of NON-human tracks and the tattered remains of Vasper's pack. Keyon's blood froze as he remembered Vasper's words, 'There are over three-hundred types of demi-humans and monsters in Antaria, most of which consider my kind as food'.
Keyon looked into the cave intently. He could faintly hear sounds coming from it. The smart thing to do would be to run as fast as he could, but...
Keyon looked at the items he had found. His bow, a short dagger, some vials of strange liquid, seventeen arrows, a leather boot and a water-skin. He was still missing his map, his pack and most of his valuables.
'Well I could forget the pack and try finding my way to Ever Rock without the map,' Keyon thought, then shook his head. There was no way he could find Ever Rock without a map. With grime determination, Keyon slung the remains of Vasper's pack over his shoulder and headed into the cave. “Should have stayed in bed.”
To be continued?
“I couldn’t help but notice how down you look; perhaps you could use some advice? Or maybe info?” Keyon Looked away from the hooded man saying, “not unless you know how to become a noble and get into the Royal Antarean Starlord academy.”
The hooded man appeared to smile then replayed, “There's a person that could make you a noble but the price would be...how should I put it. Unbearable. But if I were you I wouldn’t wast my time getting into the academy. I would go to the Star Sword guild. Their headquarters is in the town of Ever Rock just ten miles from here.” The hooded man paused then continued, “Their only joining requirement is that you have some skill with a sword or Adustreum, and a desire to learn both.”
Keyon looking at the hooded man like an excited child.
“Really? Which way is Ever Rock? Who do I need to talk to once I get there?”
The hooded man moved back in surprise at Keyon's enthusiasm but then chuckled and said, “Ever Rock is on all the maps and once you get there just look for a large building with a sign that says 'Star Sword Guild'. Once you get there, just ask for Thaddeus Quinten. He's the guild master.”
Keyon stood up, all sparkles and rainbows.
“Thank you Mr hooded man. You've done more for me than you could ever imagine!”
The hooded man waved his hand dismissively, saying, “my name is Sam and selling info is what I do. Besides, everyone knows of the Star Sword Guild. You can find me here every night. Of course, next time it won't be free.”
Keyon thanked him again and headed for the door. As he stepped out, Sam called out to him, “one last word of warning. Beware the one-horned demon.”
Keyon wondered what he meant by that, but shrugged it off and left the tavern.
'In retrospect, leaving in the late afternoon was probably a bad idea.' Keyon thought as he stumbled over another tree root in the road.
He had managed to find a free map and headed for Ever rock, but the Sun had set and things were getting very dark.
Just then, Keyon saw a light up ahead and immediately headed towards it like a retarded moth. As he drew closer he saw the light was actually a camp fire in the middle of the road...which would not be that strange, if not for the fact that there was no one there, or even any sings that anyone had been there recently.
Just as Keyon went closer to investigate, he felt something tighten around his leg and he went flying into the air.
“Ho come on! Who even puts traps in the middle of the road like this,” Keyon shouted as flailed around, trying to get the rope off his leg.
“That would be me,” said a voice next to him. Keyon looked in the direction of the voice to see another person hanging alongside him. Or to be more precise a cat boy in leather armor. Keyon crossed his arms and asked, “Okay so why did you put traps in the middle of the road? And why are you in one yourself?”
“Obviously you wouldn’t go to sleep in the middle of a road without deploying traps to protect yourself. And there’s no way to know if a trap will work unless you test it, so here I am.” The cat boy said like it was completely normal. Keyon stared at the cat boy in disbelief, wondering in this guy was serious or just joking. Apparently serious, the cat boy continued.
“My name is Vasper, a famous alchemist and a purebred Neko mimi. And you are?”
“Um, Keyon Jenkins,” Keyon replied as he fumbled around trying to grab one of the arrows that had spilled on the ground below him.
Vasper closed his eyes sullenly and said, “Jenkins hm? Well it was nice knowing you.”
He looked at the ground grimly then continued, “I fear it's too late for me. I have spent too long like this. My only request is that-”
Not really listening to him, Keyon had managed to get a hold of his arrows on the ground and was trying to shoot out the rope holding them up. He fired arrow after arrow, but just kept missing, until he finally started thinking of the rope as a knee. Then the arrow went through it perfectly. With the rope cut, Keyon and Vasper fell to the ground, Vasper landing on his feet and Keyon landing on his face.
Keyon got to his feet saying, “so...why the hell did you put traps in the middle of the road again?”
Still dizzy from being upside-down too long, Vasper replied, “I already told you. It's too dangerous to camp on the road without setting traps. I'm a lone Neko mimi. I might as well have a sign on my back saying 'eat me'.”
Keyon rubbed his head in a confused manner.
“Are the roads really that dangerous?”
Vasper face-palmed.
“There are over three-hundred types of demi-humans and monsters in Antaria, most of which consider my kind as food or worse. So knowing that, why shouldn’t I set traps in the middle of the road?”
“Well I guess you have a point...anyway, I should be going,” Keyon said, then headed down the road. Vasper's ears stood up in surprise at this.
“You're going to continue traveling in the dark after what I just told you? Are you mad? You can't see in the dark, let alone fight if you get attacked.”
Keyon stopped and turned around saying, “well I don't have any traps and I want to get to Ever Rock as soon as I can.”
Vasper clapped his hands together with a cheerful expression and said, “if that's the case, why don't you stay here tonight? It's safer to travel in a group and I still need to thank you for getting me down.” Keyon was hesitant but agreed. After all, Vasper seemed nice enough; what was the worst that could happen?
“Well this, apparently,” Keyon said.
He was lying in the middle of the road. His boots, his pack and everything of value was gone. It was hard to believe he had fallen for the 'friendly traveler' that offers to share his camp, then robs you in your sleep trick, but here he was.
Grumbling in frustration, Keyon got up and continued his journey. It wasn’t long before Keyon came across a familiar sight--his bow hanging on a low tree branch on the side of the road.
Keyon was confused. Why would Vasper steal something, only to drop it on the side of the road like this? Was he that clumsy, or did he decide he didn’t need it? However, when Keyon reached the bow, he noticed tracks that looked as if they were made by someone running on all fours. What's more, there appeared to be a freshly-made trail going into the woods. Curious, Keyon followed the trail. As he did, he found more of his things, as well as what he could only assume to be Vasper's stuff.
The trail ended at the entrance of a cave. Keyon stopped at the entrance and looked around. There was fresh blood on the ground, lots of NON-human tracks and the tattered remains of Vasper's pack. Keyon's blood froze as he remembered Vasper's words, 'There are over three-hundred types of demi-humans and monsters in Antaria, most of which consider my kind as food'.
Keyon looked into the cave intently. He could faintly hear sounds coming from it. The smart thing to do would be to run as fast as he could, but...
Keyon looked at the items he had found. His bow, a short dagger, some vials of strange liquid, seventeen arrows, a leather boot and a water-skin. He was still missing his map, his pack and most of his valuables.
'Well I could forget the pack and try finding my way to Ever Rock without the map,' Keyon thought, then shook his head. There was no way he could find Ever Rock without a map. With grime determination, Keyon slung the remains of Vasper's pack over his shoulder and headed into the cave. “Should have stayed in bed.”
To be continued?
Spoiler: show
Keyon slowly crept along, his heart pounding wildly. The cave, as it turned out, wasn’t a cave at all but an abandoned mine, full of rotten support beams and rubble.
And there was definitely something else in here. It was around a corner and no more then twenty yards ahead of him. Keyon knew it was there, because it was constantly making hissing and scraping sounds.
As he walked, Keyon noticed several broken eggshells they were about the size of his head. What was more, these eggs seemed to have been perfectly round and the shells reflected light like they were made of glass. Speaking of light, Keyon was now so deep into the mine that he could hardly see a thing. Keyon was snapped back to reality by an echoing scream, followed by an animal call the likes of which he had never heard before.
Whatever was ahead of him heard it and took off down the tunnel, making a clacking sound as it did. Keyon waited for a moment, then followed. A ways down the tunnel he spotted a light, or rather a cluster of the giant eggs from before, but these ones were not broken, and they were glowing. In a moment of retarded genius, he grabbed one and began using it like a torch.
With his new 'torch' in hand Keyon hurried down the tunnels. Now that he could see, he noticed more eggshells, as well as bones. Along the wall there was a trail of bloody hand prints. These prints went on for about twenty feet before stopping at a T-junction. The right-hand tunnel was mostly blocked by rubble, but there was a just enough room for a small person to fit through. There was blood coating the sides of this gap and signs that something had tried to dig the rubble away.
Keyon tried to climb through the gap but it was simply too small. Sighing in frustration, he turned and looked down the left tunnel. It was taller and had lots of old wooden crates lining the walls. It went on for about thirty feet, then made a sharp right. There was a light source beyond the corner and something was moving around, casting an eery shadow that was slowly coming back his way.
Keyon looked around in a panic for a place to hide. There were the crates, but if it walked past it would see him. With no time to think, Keyon climbed onto the crates, then up into the mess of beams supporting the tunnel roof. Now out of sight, Keyon stuffed his 'egg torch' into Vasper's pack and slowly drew the dagger. He watched intently as the creature rounded the corner and made its way down the tunnel underneath him.
It was hard to make anything out without the egg torch, but it was clear the creature was nothing he had seen before. It had a long snake like tail, it was bobbing around like a bird even though it seemed to have four legs, and it was hissing with each breath. As it looked up slightly, Keyon got a look at its eyes...they glowed a sickly yellow.
Keyon let out a startled gasp at this sight, which immediately alerted the creature to his presence. Without thinking, he pulled the dagger out and took a swan dive down onto the creature. The surprise attack failed to connect and Keyon simply knocked the creature over and rolled off it. He scrambled to his feet and whipped around, just in time to get headbutted and sent crashing into a stack of wooden crates.
The impact knocked the wind out of him, and he was barely able to dodge as the creature leaped like a dog, shattering the crates behind him. Without missing a beat, it whipped around and almost bit Keyon's face off, making him trip backwards and fall on his ass. Without giving him a moment to recover, the creature geared up and jumped again. This time however, Keyon flipped over backwards, catching it with his feet and sending it flying over him. Keyon jumped back to his feet and charged the creature like a lunatic, body-slamming it.
Now in a rage, the creature lunged at Keyon one more time. But Keyon was ready this time and side-stepped it, planting the dagger in it's left eye. The creature fell to the ground like a bunch of bricks and began writhing in agony, letting out a torrent of screeches. Not waiting for the creature's friends to show up, Keyon took off down the tunnels, leaving the dagger in the creature's face.
Keyon rounded the corner and found himself in a large chamber with tunnels leading in all directions. One of the tunnels was closed off by a metal door. Not really thinking, Keyon ran to the door. He yanked it open and charged down the tunnel beyond it. A few moments later Keyon came to another large chamber. This one was mostly collapsed, with rubble everywhere and a hole in the ceiling that led to the surface.
Keyon was about to make a beeline for the hole but stopped. He could sense that there was definitely something else in this chamber with him. Immediately, he hid behind some rubble, then felt something soft under his foot. Pulling out his egg torch ever so slightly, Keyon looked at the ground. He was standing on his other boot that he had lost earlier. Keyon slid the boot on and began scanning the room, hoping the map was here as well. There was no sign of the map, but Keyon could definitely smell blood...lots of blood.
Just then, Keyon heard something hissing next to him. He whipped around, but there was nothing there. Not in the mood for a deadly game of hide and seek, Keyon yanked out the egg torch, illuminating the chamber. There was nothing but rubble as far as Keyon could see. Then he heard...whimpering? Keyon looked around and soon spotted Vasper. He was covered in blood and pinned under a large rock.
Vasper was struggling under the rock, futilely trying to push it off himself and only succeeding in leaving bloody smear marks. His face was covered in tears and he was making the most pitiful pained whimpers Keyon had ever heard. Vasper noticed the light and looked up. Upon seeing Keyon, he broke out into full-on crying.
“I'm sorry! I was wrong to rob a fellow peasant!” *sob* ”I'll never do it again! I'll go straight starting tomorrow, I promise, so please, help me.”
Keyon had no reason to help Vasper. After all, Vasper was the one that stole his stuff and got him into this mess. What's more, Keyon wasn't sure he could even move the rock, let alone drag Vasper out of here. But in that moment, Keyon didn't see Vasper--he saw the slave cat girl from the day before. And with this distorted vision, Keyon ran over to Vasper and grabbed hold of the rock that was pinning him. With a lot of struggling, Keyon manged to flip the rock off of Vasper.
The moment Keyon got the rock off him, Vasper tried to scramble away, but was too injured and weak to do anything but crawl. Before Vasper could crawl off, Keyon picked him up by the collar and threw him over his shoulder like a sack. Vasper tried to protest, but the next thing they knew more of the creatures from before came bursting into the chamber.
Keyon grabbed the pack and egg, then bolted up the piles of rubble, making his way to the hole in the ceiling with the creatures hot on his heels. With one giant leap Keyon burst through the hole and into the sunlight above. Keyon was temporarily blinded by sunlight, but quickly shook it off and charged blindly into the woods.
After ten minutes of running, Keyon somehow found his way back onto the road. With no more signs of pursuit, Keyon set Vasper down and collapsed, gasping and panting.
“I think we lost them,” Keyon said, then looked back at the forest and continued, “I hope you still have my map, because I have no clue where we are.”
Not hearing a reply, Keyon looked at Vasper who was lying motionless where he had set him. Vasper's face had gone deathly pale, his eyes were closed and he didn't seem to be breathing.
Fear was slowly gripping Keyon. He shook Vasper.
“Vasper, can you hear me?”
Vasper's eyelids flickered but he didn't move.
Now that he actually got a good look at him, Keyon could see several bad bite and slash marks on Vasper. It was readily apparent that Vasper was going into shock from blood loss and would shortly die without medical ad.
Frantically Keyon dumped out the contents of the pack, looking for anything he could use to stop the bleeding. But there was nothing, and Keyon had to resort to using his shirt. Of course that did very little, seeing how much blood Vasper had already lost. In a stroke of genius, Keyon grabbed the vials of strange liquid he had found earlier.
Of course! Vasper said he was an alchemist and alchemists use Adustreum-infused herbs to make potions. Some of which can heal wounds in seconds, Keyon thought as he looked at the vials. There were four vials; two were green ones, one red one and one golden one.
“Erm, well...shit!” Keyon looked at the vials, then at Vasper, then back at the vials.
He had no clue what the colors meant.
With little time to think, Keyon grabbed the golden one and tried to make Vasper drink it. Of course, this only served to spill the contents on Vasper's face.
Cursing, Keyon grabbed one of the red ones and opened it. He knew that there was only one way to get it down Vasper's throat but...it was just...
Whimpering in despair, Keyon poured the contents of the vial into his own mouth and slowly lowered his face toward Vasper's...
~~~
Keyon looked at the ground spitting desperately. Behind him, Vasper was up against a tree with a shocked and traumatized look on his face.
Regaining some composer, Keyon stood up and turned to face Vasper declaring, “IT NEVER HAPPENED!”
To which Vasper just kind of nodded.
Desperately trying to change the subject, Keyon cleared his throat and said, “so what did you do with my stuff?”
Vasper's ears drooped as he pulled a scroll out of his armor.
“It's all in here.”
Keyon stared blankly at Vasper.
“The fu-?”
Vasper's ears stood up rigid as he waved his hands around wildly, saying, “no! No! It's all in here, honest!”
He opened the scroll and rolled it out, revealing a plain white scroll with a bunch of random drawings on it, each in its own title segment.
Keyon's blank stare only grew in power.
Full-on panicking now, Vasper grabbed a drawing of a shirt and 'pulled' it off the scroll. The drawing floated it mid air for a second, then turned into a shirt, a real physical shirt!
Vasper turned to Keyon and held out the shirt.
“See? It's just a storage scroll. I have all of your stuff in here.”
Keyon slowly picked up one of the empty vials.
“The hell was this stuff?”
Vasper thought for a moment, then said, “concentrated Snake Blood, Blue Mountain Flower, Dawn Tree sap and some Catnip...just for flavor.”
Keyon buried his face in his palms with a sick expression.
Note to self, never drink potions made by a cat.
Vasper just tilted his head in confusion.
Finally getting a hold of himself, Keyon looked back at Vasper.
“So...how exactly are you turning drawings into real things?”
Vasper scratched his head for a moment, then replied, “well I'm not sure how it works, but I hear the scroll converts stuff into ink to store it, then back when you need it. I guess you would need to ask a Starlord, seeing as they're the ones that make them.”
Keyon stared in surprise at the scroll. He had heard about using Adustreum to alter the composition of items, but never something this amazing.
After some time fooling around with the scroll, Keyon had found all his stuff. Unfortunately, Vasper had discarded Keyon's pack to make room in the scroll for a mushroom that he had found on the road side.
Vasper raised his hands defensively.
“It was a rare mushroom and I'll put it to good use, honest.”
Keyon glared at Vasper for a moment, then sighed.
“Fine. I'll just use a shirt until I find my own scroll.”
Vasper fidgeted around for a moment, took a deep breath, then held out the scroll saying, “here, you can use my scroll...because I'll...”
He fidgeted and looked off to the side, then turned back to Keyon with a determined look.
“You've saved my life two times now, and that is something I will never forget, something I can never truly repay. So...I'll follow you as long as you wish me to. I'll stand by your side as a...err, companion for as long as you need me.”
Keyon blushed and stepped back at this declaration, not sure if Vasper was still high from the potion, or serious.
A quick look into Vasper's eyes told him all he needed to know.
Finally giving in, Keyon replied, “okay, you can come with me if you really want to... But just so you know, the path I walk is one of supreme conquest...and perversion”
Although the last part clearly made Vasper uneasy, he raised his hand excitedly and declared, “I will follow you to the ends of Perditus!”
To be continued
And there was definitely something else in here. It was around a corner and no more then twenty yards ahead of him. Keyon knew it was there, because it was constantly making hissing and scraping sounds.
As he walked, Keyon noticed several broken eggshells they were about the size of his head. What was more, these eggs seemed to have been perfectly round and the shells reflected light like they were made of glass. Speaking of light, Keyon was now so deep into the mine that he could hardly see a thing. Keyon was snapped back to reality by an echoing scream, followed by an animal call the likes of which he had never heard before.
Whatever was ahead of him heard it and took off down the tunnel, making a clacking sound as it did. Keyon waited for a moment, then followed. A ways down the tunnel he spotted a light, or rather a cluster of the giant eggs from before, but these ones were not broken, and they were glowing. In a moment of retarded genius, he grabbed one and began using it like a torch.
With his new 'torch' in hand Keyon hurried down the tunnels. Now that he could see, he noticed more eggshells, as well as bones. Along the wall there was a trail of bloody hand prints. These prints went on for about twenty feet before stopping at a T-junction. The right-hand tunnel was mostly blocked by rubble, but there was a just enough room for a small person to fit through. There was blood coating the sides of this gap and signs that something had tried to dig the rubble away.
Keyon tried to climb through the gap but it was simply too small. Sighing in frustration, he turned and looked down the left tunnel. It was taller and had lots of old wooden crates lining the walls. It went on for about thirty feet, then made a sharp right. There was a light source beyond the corner and something was moving around, casting an eery shadow that was slowly coming back his way.
Keyon looked around in a panic for a place to hide. There were the crates, but if it walked past it would see him. With no time to think, Keyon climbed onto the crates, then up into the mess of beams supporting the tunnel roof. Now out of sight, Keyon stuffed his 'egg torch' into Vasper's pack and slowly drew the dagger. He watched intently as the creature rounded the corner and made its way down the tunnel underneath him.
It was hard to make anything out without the egg torch, but it was clear the creature was nothing he had seen before. It had a long snake like tail, it was bobbing around like a bird even though it seemed to have four legs, and it was hissing with each breath. As it looked up slightly, Keyon got a look at its eyes...they glowed a sickly yellow.
Keyon let out a startled gasp at this sight, which immediately alerted the creature to his presence. Without thinking, he pulled the dagger out and took a swan dive down onto the creature. The surprise attack failed to connect and Keyon simply knocked the creature over and rolled off it. He scrambled to his feet and whipped around, just in time to get headbutted and sent crashing into a stack of wooden crates.
The impact knocked the wind out of him, and he was barely able to dodge as the creature leaped like a dog, shattering the crates behind him. Without missing a beat, it whipped around and almost bit Keyon's face off, making him trip backwards and fall on his ass. Without giving him a moment to recover, the creature geared up and jumped again. This time however, Keyon flipped over backwards, catching it with his feet and sending it flying over him. Keyon jumped back to his feet and charged the creature like a lunatic, body-slamming it.
Now in a rage, the creature lunged at Keyon one more time. But Keyon was ready this time and side-stepped it, planting the dagger in it's left eye. The creature fell to the ground like a bunch of bricks and began writhing in agony, letting out a torrent of screeches. Not waiting for the creature's friends to show up, Keyon took off down the tunnels, leaving the dagger in the creature's face.
Keyon rounded the corner and found himself in a large chamber with tunnels leading in all directions. One of the tunnels was closed off by a metal door. Not really thinking, Keyon ran to the door. He yanked it open and charged down the tunnel beyond it. A few moments later Keyon came to another large chamber. This one was mostly collapsed, with rubble everywhere and a hole in the ceiling that led to the surface.
Keyon was about to make a beeline for the hole but stopped. He could sense that there was definitely something else in this chamber with him. Immediately, he hid behind some rubble, then felt something soft under his foot. Pulling out his egg torch ever so slightly, Keyon looked at the ground. He was standing on his other boot that he had lost earlier. Keyon slid the boot on and began scanning the room, hoping the map was here as well. There was no sign of the map, but Keyon could definitely smell blood...lots of blood.
Just then, Keyon heard something hissing next to him. He whipped around, but there was nothing there. Not in the mood for a deadly game of hide and seek, Keyon yanked out the egg torch, illuminating the chamber. There was nothing but rubble as far as Keyon could see. Then he heard...whimpering? Keyon looked around and soon spotted Vasper. He was covered in blood and pinned under a large rock.
Vasper was struggling under the rock, futilely trying to push it off himself and only succeeding in leaving bloody smear marks. His face was covered in tears and he was making the most pitiful pained whimpers Keyon had ever heard. Vasper noticed the light and looked up. Upon seeing Keyon, he broke out into full-on crying.
“I'm sorry! I was wrong to rob a fellow peasant!” *sob* ”I'll never do it again! I'll go straight starting tomorrow, I promise, so please, help me.”
Keyon had no reason to help Vasper. After all, Vasper was the one that stole his stuff and got him into this mess. What's more, Keyon wasn't sure he could even move the rock, let alone drag Vasper out of here. But in that moment, Keyon didn't see Vasper--he saw the slave cat girl from the day before. And with this distorted vision, Keyon ran over to Vasper and grabbed hold of the rock that was pinning him. With a lot of struggling, Keyon manged to flip the rock off of Vasper.
The moment Keyon got the rock off him, Vasper tried to scramble away, but was too injured and weak to do anything but crawl. Before Vasper could crawl off, Keyon picked him up by the collar and threw him over his shoulder like a sack. Vasper tried to protest, but the next thing they knew more of the creatures from before came bursting into the chamber.
Keyon grabbed the pack and egg, then bolted up the piles of rubble, making his way to the hole in the ceiling with the creatures hot on his heels. With one giant leap Keyon burst through the hole and into the sunlight above. Keyon was temporarily blinded by sunlight, but quickly shook it off and charged blindly into the woods.
After ten minutes of running, Keyon somehow found his way back onto the road. With no more signs of pursuit, Keyon set Vasper down and collapsed, gasping and panting.
“I think we lost them,” Keyon said, then looked back at the forest and continued, “I hope you still have my map, because I have no clue where we are.”
Not hearing a reply, Keyon looked at Vasper who was lying motionless where he had set him. Vasper's face had gone deathly pale, his eyes were closed and he didn't seem to be breathing.
Fear was slowly gripping Keyon. He shook Vasper.
“Vasper, can you hear me?”
Vasper's eyelids flickered but he didn't move.
Now that he actually got a good look at him, Keyon could see several bad bite and slash marks on Vasper. It was readily apparent that Vasper was going into shock from blood loss and would shortly die without medical ad.
Frantically Keyon dumped out the contents of the pack, looking for anything he could use to stop the bleeding. But there was nothing, and Keyon had to resort to using his shirt. Of course that did very little, seeing how much blood Vasper had already lost. In a stroke of genius, Keyon grabbed the vials of strange liquid he had found earlier.
Of course! Vasper said he was an alchemist and alchemists use Adustreum-infused herbs to make potions. Some of which can heal wounds in seconds, Keyon thought as he looked at the vials. There were four vials; two were green ones, one red one and one golden one.
“Erm, well...shit!” Keyon looked at the vials, then at Vasper, then back at the vials.
He had no clue what the colors meant.
With little time to think, Keyon grabbed the golden one and tried to make Vasper drink it. Of course, this only served to spill the contents on Vasper's face.
Cursing, Keyon grabbed one of the red ones and opened it. He knew that there was only one way to get it down Vasper's throat but...it was just...
Whimpering in despair, Keyon poured the contents of the vial into his own mouth and slowly lowered his face toward Vasper's...
~~~
Keyon looked at the ground spitting desperately. Behind him, Vasper was up against a tree with a shocked and traumatized look on his face.
Regaining some composer, Keyon stood up and turned to face Vasper declaring, “IT NEVER HAPPENED!”
To which Vasper just kind of nodded.
Desperately trying to change the subject, Keyon cleared his throat and said, “so what did you do with my stuff?”
Vasper's ears drooped as he pulled a scroll out of his armor.
“It's all in here.”
Keyon stared blankly at Vasper.
“The fu-?”
Vasper's ears stood up rigid as he waved his hands around wildly, saying, “no! No! It's all in here, honest!”
He opened the scroll and rolled it out, revealing a plain white scroll with a bunch of random drawings on it, each in its own title segment.
Keyon's blank stare only grew in power.
Full-on panicking now, Vasper grabbed a drawing of a shirt and 'pulled' it off the scroll. The drawing floated it mid air for a second, then turned into a shirt, a real physical shirt!
Vasper turned to Keyon and held out the shirt.
“See? It's just a storage scroll. I have all of your stuff in here.”
Keyon slowly picked up one of the empty vials.
“The hell was this stuff?”
Vasper thought for a moment, then said, “concentrated Snake Blood, Blue Mountain Flower, Dawn Tree sap and some Catnip...just for flavor.”
Keyon buried his face in his palms with a sick expression.
Note to self, never drink potions made by a cat.
Vasper just tilted his head in confusion.
Finally getting a hold of himself, Keyon looked back at Vasper.
“So...how exactly are you turning drawings into real things?”
Vasper scratched his head for a moment, then replied, “well I'm not sure how it works, but I hear the scroll converts stuff into ink to store it, then back when you need it. I guess you would need to ask a Starlord, seeing as they're the ones that make them.”
Keyon stared in surprise at the scroll. He had heard about using Adustreum to alter the composition of items, but never something this amazing.
After some time fooling around with the scroll, Keyon had found all his stuff. Unfortunately, Vasper had discarded Keyon's pack to make room in the scroll for a mushroom that he had found on the road side.
Vasper raised his hands defensively.
“It was a rare mushroom and I'll put it to good use, honest.”
Keyon glared at Vasper for a moment, then sighed.
“Fine. I'll just use a shirt until I find my own scroll.”
Vasper fidgeted around for a moment, took a deep breath, then held out the scroll saying, “here, you can use my scroll...because I'll...”
He fidgeted and looked off to the side, then turned back to Keyon with a determined look.
“You've saved my life two times now, and that is something I will never forget, something I can never truly repay. So...I'll follow you as long as you wish me to. I'll stand by your side as a...err, companion for as long as you need me.”
Keyon blushed and stepped back at this declaration, not sure if Vasper was still high from the potion, or serious.
A quick look into Vasper's eyes told him all he needed to know.
Finally giving in, Keyon replied, “okay, you can come with me if you really want to... But just so you know, the path I walk is one of supreme conquest...and perversion”
Although the last part clearly made Vasper uneasy, he raised his hand excitedly and declared, “I will follow you to the ends of Perditus!”
To be continued
Spoiler: show
Chapter (4)
Keyon fell to his knees, with tears of joy running down his face.
"We made it!"
Keyon and Vasper were at the entrance of Ever Rock, a charming little town nestled amongst several massive cliffs and surrounded by a dense lush forest. Sitting off to the right of the town was a three-story-tall stone building with the words 'Star Sword Guild' on it.
Keyon, not wasting time, went strait for the guildhall's front door and opened it. The guildhall’s main room was a total mess with tables and chairs scattered everywhere along with broken swords and armor. There were a handful of people lazing about. A few others were fighting over a half-empty jug of rum. This was definitely not at all what Keyon had imagined. In fact, this place looked more like a tavern than a guild.
Keyon was going to step back and recheck the sign above the door, but a man with glasses standing behind a bar noticed him and called out, “hello there. Welcome to the Star Sword guild, can I help you?”
Before Keyon could reply, Vasper raised his hand and replied, “me and my friend here want to join the guild. I would also like an order of grilled fish with extra fish and no veggies!”
The man pushed up his glasses, studying Keyon and Vasper for a moment before turning to a man who was sleeping on the floor. “Quinten! Someone and a cat want to join.”
Quinten groaned, then rolled over and got up. He looked to be in his forties, with stubble covering his chin, and fading brown hair. Quinten stared at Keyon for a moment, studying him like a butcher would a pig, then said, “so, you want to join the guild do you? You have any notable skills with Adustreum or weapons?”
Keyon nervously shook his head in response. Quinten gave Keyon a menacing look saying, “so you have no skill but somehow think you can just walk in and join?”
Keyon raised his hands defensively and replied, “I do have an understanding of basic Adustreum usage, just no real experience. I was hoping to learn more after joining.”
Quinten gave Keyon a doubtful look, then asked, “what would you do with unlimited power and total mastery of Adustreum?”
Not even thinking, Keyon replied, “world conquest. Kill all the men, marry all the women like a boss...obviously.”
There was a moment of awkward silence as everyone stared at Keyon like he was a giant talking rubber duck, (except for Vasper, who was eating a plate of delicious grilled fish).
Quinten burst out laughing and put his hand on Keyon, giving him a thumbs up, “now that's the spirit! Throw rationality out the window and go for the impossible! No-one masters the art of using Adustreum by thinking conservatively! It's mastered by the blindly determined and the fearless.” He posed to catch his breath and compose himself, then continued. “As guild master, I officially welcome you to the Star Sword Guild and grant you the rank of junior member. Alex here will help you get settled in and answer any questions you have”
~~~~~~~~~
Keyon looked quizzically at his arm. “So what's up with this tattoo?”
Alex, the one with glasses from before, was carefully drawing a set of five crossed swords on Keyons upper arm.
(Star Sword Guild Emblem Glyph)
Without looking up, Alex replied, “it's no normal Tattoo. It's technically an Emblem Glyph. It serves as a way of distinguishing which guild someone is in.” He stopped to push up his glasses, then continued.
“Which would be the same as a tattoo, except the ink used acts like an Adustreum magnet. Drawing it from the world around us and into the use.”
Finishing up, Alex put away his tools and popped his neck. He stood up and said, “well, now that your soul be- I mean, now that you're an official member, I should give you a rundown of how the guild works. Our guild is like most guilds. People come to us with job requests, such as monster exterminating, body guards, item retrieval and so on. If the job is acceptable it gets put up on the bulletin board over there.” Alex gestured to a floating board, covered with scraps of paper.
“Jobs on the board can be accepted by any member or group of members. However, seeing as you just joined and have no skill, you can only go on jobs with a senior member.”
“I'm not completely useless. I don't need a babysitter,” Keyon said in irritation.
Alex ignored him and continued. “Knowledge about Adustreum and sword techniques are to be shared freely within the guild, but never with non-members. I would talk to master Karen and Hector about getting some basic training. They teach sword-fighting and Adustreum usage, respectively, and can normally be found around the guild hall. Do you have any questions?”
Keyon raised his hand. “Does the guild have gear I can use? Like weapons and armor?”
Alex looked away in annoyance.“We had a selection of guild-shared weapons and armor. However, Peter managed to break all the weapons, and the armor is...well...” He stopped and looked at a row of rusted and destroyed armor against one of the walls. “Out of order.”
Keyon blankly stared at the destroyed armor.“I see...”
Just then the door burst open, dramatically revealing a frightening suit of armor. The armor stood there for a moment, then fell over with a loud crash. A young man walked around it, nonchalantly saying, “We're back. Anyone got a can opener? Redmond is rusted shut.”
Alex turned to the young man. “Welcome back you two, and when you say 'rusted shut', you mean...?”
The young man nodded. “Yep, his armor's joints and connections are completely rusted and I can't get him out. So needless to say, he can't move either. I believe I desire a medal for dragging him all the way back here.”
Alex sighed, then turned to Keyon saying, “I need to take care of this, if you'll excuse me.” He walked off, looking for a can-opener.
The young man turned and looked at Keyon for a moment.“And you're supposed to be...?”
“Keyon, the newest member,” Keyon replied, holding out his hand.
“Peter Storm-burg, the guild's coolest fighter,” Peter said, shaking Keyon's hand.
Alex walked back in with a two-handed battle axe and began smashing away at Redmond's armor.
Peter yawned and walked off. “A piece of advice, always carry more than one weapon. Also, if you're fighting a giant crab, knock it over and attack its weak point for massive damage.”
Keyon just stood there in confusion. 'Giant crabs? What madness had he gotten into?'
Behind him Alex had abandoned the battle axe and was now using a saw to try and cut Redmond's helmet off.
Just then, there was a flash of orange mist and Redmond's armor turned to rust and exploded.
Keyon jumped back in surprise and crashed into Vasper, who had fallen asleep after eating his grilled fish.
Vasper immediately went into a blind panic screaming, “No! Not like this! Not like this!” while desperately trying to get away. This only succeeded in knocking over the table he was at, which fell on him. With this, Vasper had had enough and sent the table flying then bolted out of an open window and onto the guild halls roof.
There was an awkward silence as Keyon tried to figure out wtf had just happened and failed. Alex on the other hand simply accepted it and began dragging the shriveled up remains of Redmond off. Before Keyon could say anything a short man with one eye and elf ears walked up to him. “You Quinten's latest toy I take it?”
Keyon looked up in confusion and was about to speak but the man ignored him continuing.“You should know I don't give free lessons and nether dose Karen so if you don't have money you can go to hell. That aside my name's Hector I'm I instructor in the proper use of Adustreum not that anyone here has any talent.”
Keyon smiled like a condemned man replying. “Keyon a pleasure to meet you. Also I don't have a copper to my name.”
Hector shook his head and walked towards a staircase. “Well then you should fit right.”
Not letting reality get him down Keyon climbed out the window and look up at Vasper. “Hay Vasper com on down we need to get a job...or rob a bank.”
Vasper looked down at Keyon with a condemned face saying, “I would but...I don't know how to.”
Keyon just stared blankly at Vasper. “We don't really have time for this do we?”
Vasper shook his head. “No you don't get it. I can't get back down. I don't remember how I climbed up here so I don't know how to climb back down.”
Keyon stared in disbelief, “Then why don't you just jump down? You're a cat right? You'll land on your feet and be fine...probably.”
“What to you mean PROBABLY?”
Keyon sighed, pulled out his bow and notched an arrow. Vasper moved back in panic, “You wouldn't!”
Keyon grinned evilly, “I look at it this way, either you come down here or I get to shoot you. Either way I win.”
Vasper waved his arms franticly. “Can't we talk about this?”
Keyon pulled back the drawstring. Before Keyon could fire, a voice called out from behind him, “Shooting helpless cats are we?” The next thing Keyon knew, someone kicked him in the head knocking him over. This in turn caused him to fire the arrow at Vasper who panicked and fell off the roof. Of course being a Neko mimi he landed on his feet.
Keyon stumbled forward, almost blacked out before regaining his footing, and turned around to meet his attacker. Without hesitating his attacker kicked him again in the gut sending him crashing backwards through the front door. Not missing a beat, Keyon's attacker strolled though the broken door and put a foot on Keyon's face. “I'm back.”
Holding a bucket of water, Alex looked out of a side door “Welcome back Priscilla. Did the job go well? And who's your friend?”
Priscilla sighed. “Some nut jobs were kidnapping the towns people and turning them into monsters. There main goal was to resurrect some evil god or something...but I dealt with them so they wont be a problem anymore. As for this thing.” She look down at Keyon. “I found it outside trying to shoot a Neko mimi that was on the roof.”
“A Neko mimi that was on the roof?” Looking closer Alex realized it was Keyon. “Ho my god! Priscilla what are you doing? I thought I told you not to kill your juniors!”
Shortly afterword Keyon was setting at a table a cold cloth pressed against his head, Priscilla was at a table in the corner trying not to make eye contact. Now that she was not trying to kill him Keyon was able to get a look at her. She appeared to be in her late teens with black hair hazel eyes however there seemed to be something off about her...as if she... Keyon's train of thought was wracked when Quinten walked in triumphantly. “Well Keyon now that you're all settled in and have made tons of new friends I have a the prefect job for you!”
Keyon looked over at Quinten slightly annoyed. “Settled? I don't even have a place to stay.”
Quinten waved his hand dismissively. “Not a problem you can just sleep in Priscilla's...” He stopped abruptly as he released Priscilla was back. “Err I mean one of the empty rooms on the second floor. Anyway like I said I have a job for-”
He was cut off by someone yelling in another room. “I'll teach you to leave me in a rusty can well you go off chasing women!” There was an explosion and Peter could be heard saying. “Hay I come back for you in the end right? Besides she was worth it!”
Quinten rubbed his temples and continued. “Like I was saying, I have a job for a newbie like you.” The yelling in the other room now sounded like a battle with swords clanging and screening. Keyon looked at the door to the other room. “Are you sure you should let them be?”
Quinten just shrugged. “As long as they don't brake anyth-” Peter cam crashing threw the door and crashed into a table. Quinten just smiled with a lifeless expression, then picked up a spiked mace that was conveniently near by. Keyon barley had time to duck under the table before all hell broke lose and the entire guild went into a blind bar fight. Except Priscilla, she comely made a table fort and bunker-ed down.
Keyon sat compliantly motionless. “There all insane. Ho god what have I gotten myself into?”
To Be Continued
Keyon fell to his knees, with tears of joy running down his face.
"We made it!"
Keyon and Vasper were at the entrance of Ever Rock, a charming little town nestled amongst several massive cliffs and surrounded by a dense lush forest. Sitting off to the right of the town was a three-story-tall stone building with the words 'Star Sword Guild' on it.
Keyon, not wasting time, went strait for the guildhall's front door and opened it. The guildhall’s main room was a total mess with tables and chairs scattered everywhere along with broken swords and armor. There were a handful of people lazing about. A few others were fighting over a half-empty jug of rum. This was definitely not at all what Keyon had imagined. In fact, this place looked more like a tavern than a guild.
Keyon was going to step back and recheck the sign above the door, but a man with glasses standing behind a bar noticed him and called out, “hello there. Welcome to the Star Sword guild, can I help you?”
Before Keyon could reply, Vasper raised his hand and replied, “me and my friend here want to join the guild. I would also like an order of grilled fish with extra fish and no veggies!”
The man pushed up his glasses, studying Keyon and Vasper for a moment before turning to a man who was sleeping on the floor. “Quinten! Someone and a cat want to join.”
Quinten groaned, then rolled over and got up. He looked to be in his forties, with stubble covering his chin, and fading brown hair. Quinten stared at Keyon for a moment, studying him like a butcher would a pig, then said, “so, you want to join the guild do you? You have any notable skills with Adustreum or weapons?”
Keyon nervously shook his head in response. Quinten gave Keyon a menacing look saying, “so you have no skill but somehow think you can just walk in and join?”
Keyon raised his hands defensively and replied, “I do have an understanding of basic Adustreum usage, just no real experience. I was hoping to learn more after joining.”
Quinten gave Keyon a doubtful look, then asked, “what would you do with unlimited power and total mastery of Adustreum?”
Not even thinking, Keyon replied, “world conquest. Kill all the men, marry all the women like a boss...obviously.”
There was a moment of awkward silence as everyone stared at Keyon like he was a giant talking rubber duck, (except for Vasper, who was eating a plate of delicious grilled fish).
Quinten burst out laughing and put his hand on Keyon, giving him a thumbs up, “now that's the spirit! Throw rationality out the window and go for the impossible! No-one masters the art of using Adustreum by thinking conservatively! It's mastered by the blindly determined and the fearless.” He posed to catch his breath and compose himself, then continued. “As guild master, I officially welcome you to the Star Sword Guild and grant you the rank of junior member. Alex here will help you get settled in and answer any questions you have”
~~~~~~~~~
Keyon looked quizzically at his arm. “So what's up with this tattoo?”
Alex, the one with glasses from before, was carefully drawing a set of five crossed swords on Keyons upper arm.
(Star Sword Guild Emblem Glyph)
Without looking up, Alex replied, “it's no normal Tattoo. It's technically an Emblem Glyph. It serves as a way of distinguishing which guild someone is in.” He stopped to push up his glasses, then continued.
“Which would be the same as a tattoo, except the ink used acts like an Adustreum magnet. Drawing it from the world around us and into the use.”
Finishing up, Alex put away his tools and popped his neck. He stood up and said, “well, now that your soul be- I mean, now that you're an official member, I should give you a rundown of how the guild works. Our guild is like most guilds. People come to us with job requests, such as monster exterminating, body guards, item retrieval and so on. If the job is acceptable it gets put up on the bulletin board over there.” Alex gestured to a floating board, covered with scraps of paper.
“Jobs on the board can be accepted by any member or group of members. However, seeing as you just joined and have no skill, you can only go on jobs with a senior member.”
“I'm not completely useless. I don't need a babysitter,” Keyon said in irritation.
Alex ignored him and continued. “Knowledge about Adustreum and sword techniques are to be shared freely within the guild, but never with non-members. I would talk to master Karen and Hector about getting some basic training. They teach sword-fighting and Adustreum usage, respectively, and can normally be found around the guild hall. Do you have any questions?”
Keyon raised his hand. “Does the guild have gear I can use? Like weapons and armor?”
Alex looked away in annoyance.“We had a selection of guild-shared weapons and armor. However, Peter managed to break all the weapons, and the armor is...well...” He stopped and looked at a row of rusted and destroyed armor against one of the walls. “Out of order.”
Keyon blankly stared at the destroyed armor.“I see...”
Just then the door burst open, dramatically revealing a frightening suit of armor. The armor stood there for a moment, then fell over with a loud crash. A young man walked around it, nonchalantly saying, “We're back. Anyone got a can opener? Redmond is rusted shut.”
Alex turned to the young man. “Welcome back you two, and when you say 'rusted shut', you mean...?”
The young man nodded. “Yep, his armor's joints and connections are completely rusted and I can't get him out. So needless to say, he can't move either. I believe I desire a medal for dragging him all the way back here.”
Alex sighed, then turned to Keyon saying, “I need to take care of this, if you'll excuse me.” He walked off, looking for a can-opener.
The young man turned and looked at Keyon for a moment.“And you're supposed to be...?”
“Keyon, the newest member,” Keyon replied, holding out his hand.
“Peter Storm-burg, the guild's coolest fighter,” Peter said, shaking Keyon's hand.
Alex walked back in with a two-handed battle axe and began smashing away at Redmond's armor.
Peter yawned and walked off. “A piece of advice, always carry more than one weapon. Also, if you're fighting a giant crab, knock it over and attack its weak point for massive damage.”
Keyon just stood there in confusion. 'Giant crabs? What madness had he gotten into?'
Behind him Alex had abandoned the battle axe and was now using a saw to try and cut Redmond's helmet off.
Just then, there was a flash of orange mist and Redmond's armor turned to rust and exploded.
Keyon jumped back in surprise and crashed into Vasper, who had fallen asleep after eating his grilled fish.
Vasper immediately went into a blind panic screaming, “No! Not like this! Not like this!” while desperately trying to get away. This only succeeded in knocking over the table he was at, which fell on him. With this, Vasper had had enough and sent the table flying then bolted out of an open window and onto the guild halls roof.
There was an awkward silence as Keyon tried to figure out wtf had just happened and failed. Alex on the other hand simply accepted it and began dragging the shriveled up remains of Redmond off. Before Keyon could say anything a short man with one eye and elf ears walked up to him. “You Quinten's latest toy I take it?”
Keyon looked up in confusion and was about to speak but the man ignored him continuing.“You should know I don't give free lessons and nether dose Karen so if you don't have money you can go to hell. That aside my name's Hector I'm I instructor in the proper use of Adustreum not that anyone here has any talent.”
Keyon smiled like a condemned man replying. “Keyon a pleasure to meet you. Also I don't have a copper to my name.”
Hector shook his head and walked towards a staircase. “Well then you should fit right.”
Not letting reality get him down Keyon climbed out the window and look up at Vasper. “Hay Vasper com on down we need to get a job...or rob a bank.”
Vasper looked down at Keyon with a condemned face saying, “I would but...I don't know how to.”
Keyon just stared blankly at Vasper. “We don't really have time for this do we?”
Vasper shook his head. “No you don't get it. I can't get back down. I don't remember how I climbed up here so I don't know how to climb back down.”
Keyon stared in disbelief, “Then why don't you just jump down? You're a cat right? You'll land on your feet and be fine...probably.”
“What to you mean PROBABLY?”
Keyon sighed, pulled out his bow and notched an arrow. Vasper moved back in panic, “You wouldn't!”
Keyon grinned evilly, “I look at it this way, either you come down here or I get to shoot you. Either way I win.”
Vasper waved his arms franticly. “Can't we talk about this?”
Keyon pulled back the drawstring. Before Keyon could fire, a voice called out from behind him, “Shooting helpless cats are we?” The next thing Keyon knew, someone kicked him in the head knocking him over. This in turn caused him to fire the arrow at Vasper who panicked and fell off the roof. Of course being a Neko mimi he landed on his feet.
Keyon stumbled forward, almost blacked out before regaining his footing, and turned around to meet his attacker. Without hesitating his attacker kicked him again in the gut sending him crashing backwards through the front door. Not missing a beat, Keyon's attacker strolled though the broken door and put a foot on Keyon's face. “I'm back.”
Holding a bucket of water, Alex looked out of a side door “Welcome back Priscilla. Did the job go well? And who's your friend?”
Priscilla sighed. “Some nut jobs were kidnapping the towns people and turning them into monsters. There main goal was to resurrect some evil god or something...but I dealt with them so they wont be a problem anymore. As for this thing.” She look down at Keyon. “I found it outside trying to shoot a Neko mimi that was on the roof.”
“A Neko mimi that was on the roof?” Looking closer Alex realized it was Keyon. “Ho my god! Priscilla what are you doing? I thought I told you not to kill your juniors!”
Shortly afterword Keyon was setting at a table a cold cloth pressed against his head, Priscilla was at a table in the corner trying not to make eye contact. Now that she was not trying to kill him Keyon was able to get a look at her. She appeared to be in her late teens with black hair hazel eyes however there seemed to be something off about her...as if she... Keyon's train of thought was wracked when Quinten walked in triumphantly. “Well Keyon now that you're all settled in and have made tons of new friends I have a the prefect job for you!”
Keyon looked over at Quinten slightly annoyed. “Settled? I don't even have a place to stay.”
Quinten waved his hand dismissively. “Not a problem you can just sleep in Priscilla's...” He stopped abruptly as he released Priscilla was back. “Err I mean one of the empty rooms on the second floor. Anyway like I said I have a job for-”
He was cut off by someone yelling in another room. “I'll teach you to leave me in a rusty can well you go off chasing women!” There was an explosion and Peter could be heard saying. “Hay I come back for you in the end right? Besides she was worth it!”
Quinten rubbed his temples and continued. “Like I was saying, I have a job for a newbie like you.” The yelling in the other room now sounded like a battle with swords clanging and screening. Keyon looked at the door to the other room. “Are you sure you should let them be?”
Quinten just shrugged. “As long as they don't brake anyth-” Peter cam crashing threw the door and crashed into a table. Quinten just smiled with a lifeless expression, then picked up a spiked mace that was conveniently near by. Keyon barley had time to duck under the table before all hell broke lose and the entire guild went into a blind bar fight. Except Priscilla, she comely made a table fort and bunker-ed down.
Keyon sat compliantly motionless. “There all insane. Ho god what have I gotten myself into?”
To Be Continued
Spoiler: show
I was going to kill Vasper off but my editor is a Vasper's first fan girl, so I kept him.
)
. I had almost abandoned it because I thought no one was reading it.