Dark Veil 2

[Jawile]

I take more deep breaths, as I monitor them. If one of them makes a noise...

 

[CommanderLeahShepard]

I don't say anything, but James keeps a hand around my mouth just incase.
What the hell is Aions doing?

 

[TheCreeperHugz]

This really doesn't look safe.... What's the point of this, anyway? I wonder, watching the flames flicker around him in silence.

 

[cannedcommunism]

I begin to wonder if this is really just some crazy stunt. I stand there patiently.

 

[Jawile]

The flames on me grow bigger, and turn different colors.

 

[cannedcommunism]

(I bet all of my bells that somebody's going to make a sound.)

 

[TheCreeperHugz]

(I bet all of my bells that somebody's going to make a sound.)

(ACNL or TBT? XD)

 

[cannedcommunism]

(ACNL or TBT? XD)

(TBT of course!)

 

[CommanderLeahShepard]

I watch and share a confused look with James. What is going on?

 

[Jawile]

(The plan was for someone to make a sound. )

 

[cannedcommunism]

(Now it's kinda late for that…)

 

[FireNinja1]

(The TBT bells should be distributed equally because FoxWolf just lost the bet hah)

 

[cannedcommunism]

(The TBT bells should be distributed equally because FoxWolf just lost the bet hah)

(He's not finished.)

 

[Jawile]

The fire becomes white, and it burns even more intensely.

- - - Post Merge - - -

(Someone gonna post?)

 

[FireNinja1]

I use both powers on the ocean, making waves.

 

[cannedcommunism]

(Here's the first 2 chapters! I decided to put personality to the town.)

Spoiler

I





Raphael woke up from one of his recurring nightmares. For some reason, his nightmares always had a sequence of events that he couldn’t quite understand. But he had work to do today. Today was the day that he would be restarting the Dark Veil pact: a secret society that served Athena and protected the world from evil spirits. He put on his armor and walked into town.

Sunset Bay was built in the 50’s but was never updated. So if you walked there, you would see 1950’s diners and theaters along the street. Raphael loved this setting. It was very relaxing and calming. The hideout for Dark Veil was right by the hotel, Hestia’s Roof, in a pothole. He opened it, and climbed down the ladder, through the training room and weapon room to the meeting place. The whole place was decked out with war flags and statues of Athena. A table with 9 chairs sat in the middle of the room. He sat down at the head and waited.

Cordelia tread silently into the hideout, biting her teeth roughly. This is the day I serve Athena, she thought in determination. A man seemed to be waiting for her, donned in armour: he was a Brute. The group was divided into 2 groups: Aura and Brute. Brutes focused more on physical brawn, and Aura were strategists. Cordelia hoped she’d suffice as an Aura warrior: she was small, but she knew daggers quite well. She was quite tiny, though. She bit her lip, lost in thought.

She approached the man, Raphael. “Hello,” he said. “Are you here for orientation?”

“Y-yes, sir!” Cordelia exclaimed in the most confident voice she could muster.

“Relax,” Raphael told Cordelia. “Sit for awhile.” He motioned to the chairs, which Cordelia shyly sat in.

Misa slowly made her way into the hideout, nervous but at the same time happy that she could serve Athena. As she walked in, she noticed Raphael talking to Cordelia, so she approached him.

Raphael addressed Misa. “Go sit by that girl over there. Make some friends,” he said, trying to make her feel at home. Silently, she did as directed, sitting by Cordelia.

Lily leaned on one of the walls, nervous. She didn’t want anybody to notice her, but eventually she stepped out. “Hello,” she quietly muttered to Raphael.

“Well, hey,” Raphael said, shaking her hand. “Orientation is over there. We’re expecting a few more...but I guess we can start.”

Lily shook his hand. His grip is firm, calloused fingers rough against my palm, she noted. Maybe an archer? “Thanks,” she gave a quick smile before she joined the 3 girls awkwardly trying to speak to each other.

Raphael decided to start the meeting. “First, I’m going to introduce myself. I’m Raphael, the only survivor of the original Dark Veil. The others were lost in the Great Underworld Trials. Before we start, do you have any questions?”

Fein walked quickly towards the Brute man, embarrassed and ashamed of his late entry. “Hello. I’m one of the new Aura students, and, well, I’m not sure where to go, so could you help me, please?” His parents would be ashamed of the way he was speaking. He was a young man, not a damsel in distress.

“You’re in the right place. Come,” Raphael said.

At that moment, a young black haired man noticed some big event going on. He walked over to Raphael. “Hey, what’s this all about?”

Raphael simply let him sit down. It appeared that nobody had a question, so he moved on. “Anyway, here’s how it works. I’m your leader, so you take orders from me and only me. Also, know your place in the pecking order. You’ll move up ranks depending on how hard you work. Understand?”

“Hey! Who the heck appointed you leader?” the man shouted in distress.

“And no talking back,” Raphael snapped. “You have no idea how much I’ve gone through, so you shut you mouth before I whip your sorry ass.”

“Yeah, no.” The man drew his sword. “You wanna fight?”

Raphael pulled out his bow and arrow and shot an apple in the man’s mouth. “That should shut you up. Buttface.”

 Alex, who had snuck in, laughed at Raphael’s insult. This guy knows what he’s doing... “Apple caught your tongue?” she said to the man, smirking.

Cordelia’s eyes widened admirably at the clear shot in the center of the apple. It was so precise, so accurate, so masterful...

“Now, where were we? Ah, yes. Uniforms for the Aura,” Raphael announced as he pulled out a large metal box of dark robes covering everything but the eyes.

Everybody looked at the uniforms. Some looked on in glee, some in agony, some in sarcastic excitement (Fein.)

“These robes will keep you concealed from average mortals when you wear them. Nobody will see you except other Aura, Brutes, and the shadow spirits. Now, for the brutes,” Raphael said, pulling out a similar box with silver armor, like what he was wearing.

The man, named Taylor, managed to get the arrow out of his mouth, carefully taking a bite of the apple, eating it like a shishkabab, as everybody checked out the uniforms. “Nice apple you got there. Red delicious. My favorite.”

Alex stared at the rebellious brute. She knew he was probably going to end up dead soon, and it wouldn’t be from battle. She couldn’t say she didn’t admire his determination though.

“Be careful not to poke your tongue,” Raphael said to Taylor, smirking. “Anyway, the brute armour works the same as the robes do, only since Brutes are more up-front, they offer more protection. He let the recruits try on the uniforms.

Alex put on the armour, which was kind of heavy, but she could take the weight. Combined with a sword, I will be unstoppable.

Cindra ran as fast as she could, with her hair whipping out behind her. As she got to the Dark Veil meeting place, she saw other Aura people there. Oh dear, am I late?

Raphael saw Cindra run over. “You’re...late, but take as much time as you need. We’re trying on uniforms. Aura is over here, and Brute is over here,” he said, pointing to the 2 uniform boxes.

Alex acknowledged Cindra. “Didn’t miss much,” she joked. “Just a brute getting his ass kicked by the boss.”

Fein turned to Misa, the girl with navy hair, thinking, While the brutes make enemies, I shall make friends. He introduced himself saying, “My name is Fein. What’s yours?”

“Um, I’m Misa,” she said reluctantly.

Misa, Fein thought. She seemed very talented, but shy. He moved on to Cindra. “Hello, my name is Fein. What’s yours?”

“C-cindra...” she mumbled almost inaudibly.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance,” Fein sat down next to her, and started doing the thing he did best: talking. “So, how did you end up here?”

“My uncle sent me here...” she said quietly.

Lily walked over to Cindra and held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Lily. What’s your name?”

Fein turned to Lily. “Hello. My name is Fein.”

He reminds me of my dad, Lily thought. “Hello.”

Fein continued talking to Cindra. “My parents sent me here. Or, my parent. My mom died a few years ago. So, do you have any special talents?”

“I can heal...and sing...I don’t know if those are useful,” she sighed, and put her head in her hands.

Lily was getting bored. “Are we going to get a move on, or are we going to chat all day?” she called out to Raphael.

“Right,” he realized. “We’ll be going to the weapon room soon.”

Misa thought it was an excellent idea, as it was getting pretty awkward in there.

“Alright guys, follow me,” Raphael said, heading through the dim corridor to the weapon room.

Lily walked quicker, trying to get a first glimpse of the weapons as he lead them. Cordelia shuffled behind in anticipation. Cindra walked at the back of the line, head held low. She felt so stupid. She was so shy, she was wondering how she was ever going to help.

They finally reached the weapon room. It had a concrete floor and a brick wall with torches hanging from it. There were wooden boxes of crisply sharpened knives, arrows, and swords. It even included staves and wands for mages. “Take your pick,” he said, “and when you’re done, sit at this table to hear your first assignment.”

Taylor grabbed a one handed sword, as well as a shield. The sword wasn’t really to his liking, but the shield was. Then, he grabbed a knife and shoved it in my belt, should he have had really close combat.

Cindra walked up to Raphael. “Um...sir...what do healers get?” She could feel her face getting red in his stern gaze.

“Ah, yes! I forgot,” he replied. “Follow me,” he said, leading her to the healer’s sanctuary, a similar room with ivy growing on the walls, but had several charms and herbs for use by healers.

“Wow!” she exclaimed. “May I take some?”

“Absolutely. Take your pick.”

She smiled, and went to the charms table. There were so many! She picked out a bird, a water droplet, a bear, and a flower charm, and put them around her neck. Then she looked at the herbs. Some herb backs have gentle herbs, some deadly, and others are fast and brutal. She took the gentle one. She didn’t use her skills to kill. Her singing could manipulate nature, but only to a certain extent, if she did it too much, she’d lose her voice. She turned back and went to the weapon room, and sat in the corner.

Fein hoped to get his pick of the litter. He picked up a bow and a quiver of arrows, as well as a few daggers and throwing knives. Not typical Aura weapons, but he did well with them. He sat the table, waiting for the first assignment.

Cordelia promptly ran to the aisle of daggers. She spotted a perfect duo, encrusted with light silver swirls. She giddily sat upon the wooden bench, after taking some throwing stars.

Misa spotted a dark blue staff, the exact same colour as her hair and designed for a mage. It was perfect. She grabbed it straight away, and started examining it.

Alex dug through the box for a suitable weapon. She gazed in amazement at a dark silver sword, sharp enough to cut a man in half in one swing. She picked up the sword and turned her attention to a shield and picked that up as well. Her eyes then shifted to 2 small axes. She picked them up and attach them to my belt, put the sword on her back and strapped the shield to her arm. She couldn’t wait to knock a few heads together with them.

Taylor wasn’t done with his smartmouth just yet. “Okay, so what the crap do we do now?” He grabbed a second sword, identical to the first, as he had 2 holders on his belt. Brute, physical force, the more weapons you have, the better.






II

Fein had saved a spot for Cindra, but he saw she had sat in the corner, so he freed the seat. I was just trying to be nice, he thought.

Cindra saw him across the room. Was he saving a spot for me? She closed her eyes. He is probably cross with me. It wouldn’t hurt to try. She stood up and sat next to him before anybody else took the seat.

“Hello Cindra! Did you get anything good?” Fein says when she sits by him.

“Just some charms, and herbs...”

Misa was intimidated by Alex, with all those weapons. Alex saw her, and saw her intimidated face. She was known for scaring people a little. She smirked.

Misa decided that testing the staff would be the best way to work out what it could do, so she went out of the weapons room, sat at the table, and used the staff to levitate a torch that was hanging on the wall. She could control it completely, and realized that it was far stronger than her old one.

Raphael started with the first assignment. “Okay, when we head off to the training room, I have a contest waiting for you. There will be rubber dummies that you will have to destroy, or in Cindra’s case, mend. The first to get through all 7 dummies wins a free drink at the hotel we’re about to spend the night at. Good luck.” He heaved open a metal door leading to the training room.

The recruits lined up at their positions. “On your mark...” Raphael began, “GO!”

The pace was surprisingly fast. Taylor took out six of them with his swords and the last with his knife. Alex brutally sliced the dummies and Cindra worked on healing cuts, bruises, and poison. Taylor came in first, Fein in second, and Cindra in third.

“Hey, rebel. What’s your name? You won,” Raphael said to Taylor.

“Taylor. Yours? I didn’t get it.”

 “Raphael. Anyways, Taylor won first. He gets his drink for free. Second and third get theirs for half price. The rest, you’ll have to pay the original price for your drink.”

Alex chuckled. Looks like I’m going to get drunk tonight...

“OK, let’s go. My girlfriend also runs the hotel, so it’s going to be very easy to book rooms,” Raphael said. He lead everybody out of the sewer to Hestia’s Roof.

Alex stuck in her headphones and walked with Raphael to the hotel. She listened to heavy rock and stuck in some bubble gum, blowing huge bubbles with the gum.

Fein helped Cindra up, since she was drained of energy. She needed rest.

“Thanks...” she smiled wearily. She stood up and followed everybody else.

Raphael walked inside and went down to the bar. His girlfriend Anastasia came up to the counter. He told her to book 2 rooms on the top floor and paid for the 3 winner’s drinks. She accepted the money, and took everybody’s orders.

Alex bobbed to her music and played air guitar. Looking around, she saw the others talking with each other shyly. Cindra politely ordered plain water, as she prefered not to drink, and she was not hungry. Raphael gave the winners their drinks, although he had to try and stop Alex from her guitar solo before handing it to her.

Fein saw Anastasia and asked, “What kind of food do you have? I’m starving.”

“We have burgers, wings, fries, steak, etc. What do you want?”

Fein ordered a burger and a small soft drink, and he went to sit across from Cindra.

“Hi,” Cindra said as she took a sip of her water.

“Hi. So, what do you think about inviting Cordelia over here? She seems awfully lonely.”

“Go ahead,” she said, and took a small sketchbook from her bag.

Fein went over to Cordelia and said, “Would you like to come and sit with Cindra and me?”

“Uh-um... okay...” she mumbled quietly. She bowed her head and continued to scratch her hands nervously.

Fein lead Cordelia over to where Cindra was sitting, and sat down. She looked over and saw that Cindra was making sketches of her different herbs, which were very detailed. “Those are good, Cindra. You should have included drawing as one of your talents.”

Cordelia sat at the table, biting her lip. “Hi.”

“Hey,” Cindra mumbled, and turned the page of her sketchbook. It was filled with runes and letters, and she quickly turned the page, hoping they didn’t see them. “I never really saw how drawing was helpful in battle...” she said quietly, and began to draw a bird.

Raphael came and gave Fein his order of a burger and fries, and he began eating. He swallowed his first bite and said, “Cordelia, are you hungry?”

“Kinda,” she muttered to Fein. Seconds later, her stomach grumbled loudly, and she winced in embarrassment.

Raphael walked over to Cordelia. “Fries?” he offered.

“Uhm, do you have any burgers?” she asked. “Y’know, the big ones?”

“Oh, yes. Go up there and order up!”

“T-thank you!” Cordelia did a small bow, then hurried to the stall and asked for 2 large cheeseburgers. She scurried back to her seat, blissfully smiled at her meal, and took a large bite.

Misa spent her time looking at her spellbook. She had learned 3 new spells in the space of 5 minutes, and was eager to test them out, but decided to wait until she was in the hotel room. She glanced over to Alex, who by then had drunk several beers. She wondered how she didn’t even look a little tipsy.

Raphael went upstairs to unpack his stuff. He rummaged through his clothes, underwear, toothbrushes, and paused at a picture of the old team. He was 13 then. Everybody else was about 19, his current age. He looked at it for awhile, and a wave of melancholy washed over as he remembered times with all of them, and his eyes got a bit watery. He came out of the room. “There’s a room for Brutes and one for Aura. Brutes on the left, Aura on right,” he said. He closed the door and fell asleep.

Taylor was still sober, but he knew that one more glass and he’d be doing stupid things. He took of his armor, leaving his tunic and pants left. He guessed he was in the right room.

Alex took a final swig of beer and rose from her seat. I should say hey, I have to make at least one friend . She swept her red hair from her eyes and walked over to Misa. She wasn’t shy, she just wasn’t the best with people, she had been told she can come off a bit rude at times. She took a seat. “Erm, I am Alex...I am not the best with people, but I had to say hi to someone.” God, that seemed awkward.

“Hi...I’m Misa,” she tried to say confidently, but the fear was audible in her voice.

Do I really scare people that much? Alex thought. Maybe a friendly approach would make her seem more comfortable. “I saw you in the competition earlier, your magic is really impressive.”

“R-really?”

“Of course.” Alex let out a cute smile (a VERY rare sight). “I can’t use magic you see,” she chuckled. “I am more of a smash open your head person!” YOU IDIOT THAT’S JUST GOING TO SCARE HER WHY DID YOU EVEN SAY THAT, she thought, facepalming.

Misa backed away a little, but couldn’t force back a tiny giggle.

“Anyway...” Alex played with her hair thinking of something to say. “Tell me about yourself...unless that’s a bit too forward...actually, that might be personal and none of my business, you see girly chat isn’t really my thing...and well...I don’t even know anymore.” She felt like such an idiot.

“Um...” Misa muttered, unsure of whether she wanted to say anything or not. She could feel herself becoming tired, though. “Um, I’m getting tired. I think I’ll go up to the Aura room. S-sorry,” she said, in the politest way she could. She put away her book, stood up, and turned to leave.

 

[TheCreeperHugz]

(Oops, I got a little distracted by a story on wattpad xD)
Out of the corner of my eye I can see Sam making waves at the beach quite close to here, but I focus mainly on Aions, and flames engulfing him, which have now turned white.

 

[Jawile]

I stand up slowly, and put my flaming hands together. The fires turn bright red, and seem to simmer down a bit.

 

[Beary]

(Here's the first 2 chapters! I decided to put personality to the town.)

Spoiler

I





Raphael woke up from one of his recurring nightmares. For some reason, his nightmares always had a sequence of events that he couldn’t quite understand. But he had work to do today. Today was the day that he would be restarting the Dark Veil pact: a secret society that served Athena and protected the world from evil spirits. He put on his armor and walked into town.

Sunset Bay was built in the 50’s but was never updated. So if you walked there, you would see 1950’s diners and theaters along the street. Raphael loved this setting. It was very relaxing and calming. The hideout for Dark Veil was right by the hotel, Hestia’s Roof, in a pothole. He opened it, and climbed down the ladder, through the training room and weapon room to the meeting place. The whole place was decked out with war flags and statues of Athena. A table with 9 chairs sat in the middle of the room. He sat down at the head and waited.

Cordelia tread silently into the hideout, biting her teeth roughly. This is the day I serve Athena, she thought in determination. A man seemed to be waiting for her, donned in armour: he was a Brute. The group was divided into 2 groups: Aura and Brute. Brutes focused more on physical brawn, and Aura were strategists. Cordelia hoped she’d suffice as an Aura warrior: she was small, but she knew daggers quite well. She was quite tiny, though. She bit her lip, lost in thought.

She approached the man, Raphael. “Hello,” he said. “Are you here for orientation?”

“Y-yes, sir!” Cordelia exclaimed in the most confident voice she could muster.

“Relax,” Raphael told Cordelia. “Sit for awhile.” He motioned to the chairs, which Cordelia shyly sat in.

Misa slowly made her way into the hideout, nervous but at the same time happy that she could serve Athena. As she walked in, she noticed Raphael talking to Cordelia, so she approached him.

Raphael addressed Misa. “Go sit by that girl over there. Make some friends,” he said, trying to make her feel at home. Silently, she did as directed, sitting by Cordelia.

Lily leaned on one of the walls, nervous. She didn’t want anybody to notice her, but eventually she stepped out. “Hello,” she quietly muttered to Raphael.

“Well, hey,” Raphael said, shaking her hand. “Orientation is over there. We’re expecting a few more...but I guess we can start.”

Lily shook his hand. His grip is firm, calloused fingers rough against my palm, she noted. Maybe an archer? “Thanks,” she gave a quick smile before she joined the 3 girls awkwardly trying to speak to each other.

Raphael decided to start the meeting. “First, I’m going to introduce myself. I’m Raphael, the only survivor of the original Dark Veil. The others were lost in the Great Underworld Trials. Before we start, do you have any questions?”

Fein walked quickly towards the Brute man, embarrassed and ashamed of his late entry. “Hello. I’m one of the new Aura students, and, well, I’m not sure where to go, so could you help me, please?” His parents would be ashamed of the way he was speaking. He was a young man, not a damsel in distress.

“You’re in the right place. Come,” Raphael said.

At that moment, a young black haired man noticed some big event going on. He walked over to Raphael. “Hey, what’s this all about?”

Raphael simply let him sit down. It appeared that nobody had a question, so he moved on. “Anyway, here’s how it works. I’m your leader, so you take orders from me and only me. Also, know your place in the pecking order. You’ll move up ranks depending on how hard you work. Understand?”

“Hey! Who the heck appointed you leader?” the man shouted in distress.

“And no talking back,” Raphael snapped. “You have no idea how much I’ve gone through, so you shut you mouth before I whip your sorry ass.”

“Yeah, no.” The man drew his sword. “You wanna fight?”

Raphael pulled out his bow and arrow and shot an apple in the man’s mouth. “That should shut you up. Buttface.”

 Alex, who had snuck in, laughed at Raphael’s insult. This guy knows what he’s doing... “Apple caught your tongue?” she said to the man, smirking.

Cordelia’s eyes widened admirably at the clear shot in the center of the apple. It was so precise, so accurate, so masterful...

“Now, where were we? Ah, yes. Uniforms for the Aura,” Raphael announced as he pulled out a large metal box of dark robes covering everything but the eyes.

Everybody looked at the uniforms. Some looked on in glee, some in agony, some in sarcastic excitement (Fein.)

“These robes will keep you concealed from average mortals when you wear them. Nobody will see you except other Aura, Brutes, and the shadow spirits. Now, for the brutes,” Raphael said, pulling out a similar box with silver armor, like what he was wearing.

The man, named Taylor, managed to get the arrow out of his mouth, carefully taking a bite of the apple, eating it like a shishkabab, as everybody checked out the uniforms. “Nice apple you got there. Red delicious. My favorite.”

Alex stared at the rebellious brute. She knew he was probably going to end up dead soon, and it wouldn’t be from battle. She couldn’t say she didn’t admire his determination though.

“Be careful not to poke your tongue,” Raphael said to Taylor, smirking. “Anyway, the brute armour works the same as the robes do, only since Brutes are more up-front, they offer more protection. He let the recruits try on the uniforms.

Alex put on the armour, which was kind of heavy, but she could take the weight. Combined with a sword, I will be unstoppable.

Cindra ran as fast as she could, with her hair whipping out behind her. As she got to the Dark Veil meeting place, she saw other Aura people there. Oh dear, am I late?

Raphael saw Cindra run over. “You’re...late, but take as much time as you need. We’re trying on uniforms. Aura is over here, and Brute is over here,” he said, pointing to the 2 uniform boxes.

Alex acknowledged Cindra. “Didn’t miss much,” she joked. “Just a brute getting his ass kicked by the boss.”

Fein turned to Misa, the girl with navy hair, thinking, While the brutes make enemies, I shall make friends. He introduced himself saying, “My name is Fein. What’s yours?”

“Um, I’m Misa,” she said reluctantly.

Misa, Fein thought. She seemed very talented, but shy. He moved on to Cindra. “Hello, my name is Fein. What’s yours?”

“C-cindra...” she mumbled almost inaudibly.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance,” Fein sat down next to her, and started doing the thing he did best: talking. “So, how did you end up here?”

“My uncle sent me here...” she said quietly.

Lily walked over to Cindra and held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Lily. What’s your name?”

Fein turned to Lily. “Hello. My name is Fein.”

He reminds me of my dad, Lily thought. “Hello.”

Fein continued talking to Cindra. “My parents sent me here. Or, my parent. My mom died a few years ago. So, do you have any special talents?”

“I can heal...and sing...I don’t know if those are useful,” she sighed, and put her head in her hands.

Lily was getting bored. “Are we going to get a move on, or are we going to chat all day?” she called out to Raphael.

“Right,” he realized. “We’ll be going to the weapon room soon.”

Misa thought it was an excellent idea, as it was getting pretty awkward in there.

“Alright guys, follow me,” Raphael said, heading through the dim corridor to the weapon room.

Lily walked quicker, trying to get a first glimpse of the weapons as he lead them. Cordelia shuffled behind in anticipation. Cindra walked at the back of the line, head held low. She felt so stupid. She was so shy, she was wondering how she was ever going to help.

They finally reached the weapon room. It had a concrete floor and a brick wall with torches hanging from it. There were wooden boxes of crisply sharpened knives, arrows, and swords. It even included staves and wands for mages. “Take your pick,” he said, “and when you’re done, sit at this table to hear your first assignment.”

Taylor grabbed a one handed sword, as well as a shield. The sword wasn’t really to his liking, but the shield was. Then, he grabbed a knife and shoved it in my belt, should he have had really close combat.

Cindra walked up to Raphael. “Um...sir...what do healers get?” She could feel her face getting red in his stern gaze.

“Ah, yes! I forgot,” he replied. “Follow me,” he said, leading her to the healer’s sanctuary, a similar room with ivy growing on the walls, but had several charms and herbs for use by healers.

“Wow!” she exclaimed. “May I take some?”

“Absolutely. Take your pick.”

She smiled, and went to the charms table. There were so many! She picked out a bird, a water droplet, a bear, and a flower charm, and put them around her neck. Then she looked at the herbs. Some herb backs have gentle herbs, some deadly, and others are fast and brutal. She took the gentle one. She didn’t use her skills to kill. Her singing could manipulate nature, but only to a certain extent, if she did it too much, she’d lose her voice. She turned back and went to the weapon room, and sat in the corner.

Fein hoped to get his pick of the litter. He picked up a bow and a quiver of arrows, as well as a few daggers and throwing knives. Not typical Aura weapons, but he did well with them. He sat the table, waiting for the first assignment.

Cordelia promptly ran to the aisle of daggers. She spotted a perfect duo, encrusted with light silver swirls. She giddily sat upon the wooden bench, after taking some throwing stars.

Misa spotted a dark blue staff, the exact same colour as her hair and designed for a mage. It was perfect. She grabbed it straight away, and started examining it.

Alex dug through the box for a suitable weapon. She gazed in amazement at a dark silver sword, sharp enough to cut a man in half in one swing. She picked up the sword and turned her attention to a shield and picked that up as well. Her eyes then shifted to 2 small axes. She picked them up and attach them to my belt, put the sword on her back and strapped the shield to her arm. She couldn’t wait to knock a few heads together with them.

Taylor wasn’t done with his smartmouth just yet. “Okay, so what the crap do we do now?” He grabbed a second sword, identical to the first, as he had 2 holders on his belt. Brute, physical force, the more weapons you have, the better.






II

Fein had saved a spot for Cindra, but he saw she had sat in the corner, so he freed the seat. I was just trying to be nice, he thought.

Cindra saw him across the room. Was he saving a spot for me? She closed her eyes. He is probably cross with me. It wouldn’t hurt to try. She stood up and sat next to him before anybody else took the seat.

“Hello Cindra! Did you get anything good?” Fein says when she sits by him.

“Just some charms, and herbs...”

Misa was intimidated by Alex, with all those weapons. Alex saw her, and saw her intimidated face. She was known for scaring people a little. She smirked.

Misa decided that testing the staff would be the best way to work out what it could do, so she went out of the weapons room, sat at the table, and used the staff to levitate a torch that was hanging on the wall. She could control it completely, and realized that it was far stronger than her old one.

Raphael started with the first assignment. “Okay, when we head off to the training room, I have a contest waiting for you. There will be rubber dummies that you will have to destroy, or in Cindra’s case, mend. The first to get through all 7 dummies wins a free drink at the hotel we’re about to spend the night at. Good luck.” He heaved open a metal door leading to the training room.

The recruits lined up at their positions. “On your mark...” Raphael began, “GO!”

The pace was surprisingly fast. Taylor took out six of them with his swords and the last with his knife. Alex brutally sliced the dummies and Cindra worked on healing cuts, bruises, and poison. Taylor came in first, Fein in second, and Cindra in third.

“Hey, rebel. What’s your name? You won,” Raphael said to Taylor.

“Taylor. Yours? I didn’t get it.”

 “Raphael. Anyways, Taylor won first. He gets his drink for free. Second and third get theirs for half price. The rest, you’ll have to pay the original price for your drink.”

Alex chuckled. Looks like I’m going to get drunk tonight...

“OK, let’s go. My girlfriend also runs the hotel, so it’s going to be very easy to book rooms,” Raphael said. He lead everybody out of the sewer to Hestia’s Roof.

Alex stuck in her headphones and walked with Raphael to the hotel. She listened to heavy rock and stuck in some bubble gum, blowing huge bubbles with the gum.

Fein helped Cindra up, since she was drained of energy. She needed rest.

“Thanks...” she smiled wearily. She stood up and followed everybody else.

Raphael walked inside and went down to the bar. His girlfriend Anastasia came up to the counter. He told her to book 2 rooms on the top floor and paid for the 3 winner’s drinks. She accepted the money, and took everybody’s orders.

Alex bobbed to her music and played air guitar. Looking around, she saw the others talking with each other shyly. Cindra politely ordered plain water, as she prefered not to drink, and she was not hungry. Raphael gave the winners their drinks, although he had to try and stop Alex from her guitar solo before handing it to her.

Fein saw Anastasia and asked, “What kind of food do you have? I’m starving.”

“We have burgers, wings, fries, steak, etc. What do you want?”

Fein ordered a burger and a small soft drink, and he went to sit across from Cindra.

“Hi,” Cindra said as she took a sip of her water.

“Hi. So, what do you think about inviting Cordelia over here? She seems awfully lonely.”

“Go ahead,” she said, and took a small sketchbook from her bag.

Fein went over to Cordelia and said, “Would you like to come and sit with Cindra and me?”

“Uh-um... okay...” she mumbled quietly. She bowed her head and continued to scratch her hands nervously.

Fein lead Cordelia over to where Cindra was sitting, and sat down. She looked over and saw that Cindra was making sketches of her different herbs, which were very detailed. “Those are good, Cindra. You should have included drawing as one of your talents.”

Cordelia sat at the table, biting her lip. “Hi.”

“Hey,” Cindra mumbled, and turned the page of her sketchbook. It was filled with runes and letters, and she quickly turned the page, hoping they didn’t see them. “I never really saw how drawing was helpful in battle...” she said quietly, and began to draw a bird.

Raphael came and gave Fein his order of a burger and fries, and he began eating. He swallowed his first bite and said, “Cordelia, are you hungry?”

“Kinda,” she muttered to Fein. Seconds later, her stomach grumbled loudly, and she winced in embarrassment.

Raphael walked over to Cordelia. “Fries?” he offered.

“Uhm, do you have any burgers?” she asked. “Y’know, the big ones?”

“Oh, yes. Go up there and order up!”

“T-thank you!” Cordelia did a small bow, then hurried to the stall and asked for 2 large cheeseburgers. She scurried back to her seat, blissfully smiled at her meal, and took a large bite.

Misa spent her time looking at her spellbook. She had learned 3 new spells in the space of 5 minutes, and was eager to test them out, but decided to wait until she was in the hotel room. She glanced over to Alex, who by then had drunk several beers. She wondered how she didn’t even look a little tipsy.

Raphael went upstairs to unpack his stuff. He rummaged through his clothes, underwear, toothbrushes, and paused at a picture of the old team. He was 13 then. Everybody else was about 19, his current age. He looked at it for awhile, and a wave of melancholy washed over as he remembered times with all of them, and his eyes got a bit watery. He came out of the room. “There’s a room for Brutes and one for Aura. Brutes on the left, Aura on right,” he said. He closed the door and fell asleep.

Taylor was still sober, but he knew that one more glass and he’d be doing stupid things. He took of his armor, leaving his tunic and pants left. He guessed he was in the right room.

Alex took a final swig of beer and rose from her seat. I should say hey, I have to make at least one friend . She swept her red hair from her eyes and walked over to Misa. She wasn’t shy, she just wasn’t the best with people, she had been told she can come off a bit rude at times. She took a seat. “Erm, I am Alex...I am not the best with people, but I had to say hi to someone.” God, that seemed awkward.

“Hi...I’m Misa,” she tried to say confidently, but the fear was audible in her voice.

Do I really scare people that much? Alex thought. Maybe a friendly approach would make her seem more comfortable. “I saw you in the competition earlier, your magic is really impressive.”

“R-really?”

“Of course.” Alex let out a cute smile (a VERY rare sight). “I can’t use magic you see,” she chuckled. “I am more of a smash open your head person!” YOU IDIOT THAT’S JUST GOING TO SCARE HER WHY DID YOU EVEN SAY THAT, she thought, facepalming.

Misa backed away a little, but couldn’t force back a tiny giggle.

“Anyway...” Alex played with her hair thinking of something to say. “Tell me about yourself...unless that’s a bit too forward...actually, that might be personal and none of my business, you see girly chat isn’t really my thing...and well...I don’t even know anymore.” She felt like such an idiot.

“Um...” Misa muttered, unsure of whether she wanted to say anything or not. She could feel herself becoming tired, though. “Um, I’m getting tired. I think I’ll go up to the Aura room. S-sorry,” she said, in the politest way she could. She put away her book, stood up, and turned to leave.

AMAZING *claps*

 

[Jawile]

The flames at my feet blow away, and they slowly disappear going up.