Through the night and through the cold, Undrar flew. Higher and faster, she flew towards the one whomst brought her upon this realm.The party arrived, Achilles" face drooled – very ladylike, Staxius thought. The car pulled up against an average looking hotel; tis was the middle of the night. Semi-awake, Staxius guided Achilles towards one of the rooms he booked. Thus, the exhausting day came to an end, peace and quiet. The dimly lit moon entered through the window and basked onto Staxius"s face. He didn"t care, said light gave comfort and a sense of calm. Since always, the night sky had been the refuge, the place to look when answers needed to be sought after.
A self-given task accomplished; he breathed a sigh of relief. Time resumed it"s course and night went on without interruption. Before dawn, a strange rumbling slightly caught him whose sleep was profound and undisturbed"s attention. A feeling of nostalgia, but the fatigue from overexertion remedied the situation. Without fail, sleep caught back up.
Dawn approached; the windows opened. The morning breeze entered as a sign of courtesy. It brought about the cold; the room"s temperature dropped. However, this wasn"t the owner"s doing, Staxius was still asleep. Blonde hair, the eyes caught a glimpse of a friend, "Undrar, is that you?" he mumbled, the fight to wake was lost. "Go back to sleep," the figure replied to which he obeyed.
The town came to life, people moved about. Doors opened, morning chatter and greetings took reign. The street underneath the rented room awoke in turn. Footsteps, kids running around, time was now eight. *Knock, knock,* the door opened, Achilles walked in for hunger had painfully brought her there. "Master," she wiped her eyes using her sleeves. "Who are you?" a feminine voice asked, she sat and rocked back and forth. "The same can be asked about you," Achilles fired back, her eyes turned from sleepy to stern. An intruder, Staxius remained oblivious.
"An adventurer," the blond-haired girl stood, "-how fascinating." Both stood a few inches apart, "an intruder, how tiring," Achilles sighed. "I"m no intruder," they remained well-mannered despite the animosity growing. The anger became palpable, "who is making all that noise," Staxius sat, the eyes adjusted to the morning light.
"Master," by surprise, Achilles dodged the girl"s grasp and ran towards Staxius. "Master?" the other spoke with confusion. "Good morning, master," Avon materialized in turn, he stood right beside the ancient hero. Both formed a line that protected the half-awaken Staxius.
"Now, now," quickly, he stretched and got-up. "No need to threat," the hands caressed both heads. "-That lady there is Undrar," the strange rumbling at night was her. Staxius sensed the unique aura – thus not getting alarmed. Many questions were asked, mainly about who the lady was. Many answers were given, though Undrar remained silent. Guilt whelmed her, she felt responsible for the death of Staxius. The death that brought about change, the death that made him far stronger, and the death that got him acquainted with the G.o.d-Slayer.
"In a nutsh.e.l.l, Undrar is my guardian angel. The bringer of death, a powerful dragon who looks just as innocent as a child. Don"t be fooled, her job is to take the dead to the afterlife." He sighed and corrected, "-was to take people to the afterlife. However, I brought her on this plain many, many years ago," he stared, her eyes never met.
"Why does she look so sad," Avon asked. "I know not myself," Staxius replied. "I"m sorry," she mumbled, "I"m sorry for not coming to rescue you," Undrar gathered the will power necessary. "I"m sorry for being useless," her eyes squinted, "Whatever do you mean," nonchalantly, he gave her a flick to the forehead.
"B-but y-you nearly died, w-without having the chance to come b-back," the reason to why guilt whelmed, got explained. Staxius stood, arms crossed with the sunray behind. It revolved around the time where he nearly lost all the blessings and power bestowed. The time Undrar"s blessing and pact got nullified. The dragon mark had lost itself, tis was but a memory now. The dragon mark had the medium through which they connected. Sadly, said engraving was lost to the world. After that painful story, Avon and Achilles felt bad – Staxius could not but stare without emotions. He watched and studied, the eyes pierced Undrar"s soul.
"Stupid," he sighed, "w-what?" her eyes teared up. "You heard me, I said stupid," the stern posture eased. "-You"re stupid because you thought that a pact would suffice for us to part ways," he grew closer to her, "Undrar, or should I say sister. You"ve done more than enough, taking care of my daughter when I selfishly imprisoned myself. Keeping my companions together, and not to mention fighting for the good of Dorchester. You and the girls did an awesome job, you took back and got revenge for my home country. I"m deeply grateful, you guys have done so much for me. Whereas, my problems, my quests, my objectives, you took it upon thy shoulder to carry them out. How benevolent can you be, I swear Undrar," he gave her a tight hug, "I"ve missed you so much, the reason why I ran that night was all because I wanted to grow stronger. I wanted to be more useful and repay the ones who"ve taken good care of my daughter and province for so long. You"ve fought wars just to survive, every day – those regrets ail me. Sadly, I haven"t the right to cry – my job is to move forward. To pave a way for a better future, a singular death isn"t a thing. Who cares, I"m going to make a place suited for all to live peacefully, that"s my goal, my new found objective," a tear ran down the cheek, it gleamed in the sun.
"You"ve got it all wrong," their hug ended, "-It"s me who"s at fault. I was unable to protect you despite being your guardian, forgive me," she cried in turn.
"Can you guys calm it down with the tears," Avon and Achilles stood, the emotions shown by those two had affected their minds as well. "Who cares about the past," Avon added, "live for the present," Achilles spoke in turn. "And most of all, relish the path that you are to carve out today for it will lead the way for future generations," they ended in tandem.
The more than woeful reunion ended, Undrar joined back with Staxius. The party now compromised of Staxius, Undrar, Avon, and Achilles. Enough to make an adventuring party. If the need arises where another member was needed, Staxius could summon Fenrir to help out whenever required.
"Alright everyone," Staxius stood, the atmosphere changed. "We"ve now successfully completed the second prerequisite of starting an adventuring guild. Which is that the guild in question must have three members excluding the leader," he reached for the door. Blood sloppily dropped on the floor, Undrar formed another blood contract, once more they were connected.
"h.e.l.lo?" he tried using telepathy, "h.e.l.lo?" she replied – it worked. "Awesome, I"ve missed this feeling of speaking without opening my mouth."
"Well don"t get too fond of it," whilst using telepathy, emotions could not be properly interpreted. It felt lacking as opposed to a face to face conversation. "I get it," Staxius ended. "Here, before we leave, I"ll give you a quick summary of what has happened."
The party climbed down the stairs, with Staxius in the middle – that crew should have looked imposing but instead, Avon looked like a child. Staxius feeble, Achilles, skinny, and Undrar with a good figure. They looked more like royalty than fighters – each one had their charm, a crew fit for fighting in the business battlefield.
The next stop was the adventuring guild, Undrar needed to be registered. "Master, we"ve got a problem." Avon voiced. The quandary before them was the lack of s.p.a.ce. The car could carry only two people at most. Given that he was a spirit, Avon could care less.
"Oh, its no issue," *Snap,* Undrar transformed, her body grew smaller. It was as big as the palm, the same form from whence the first step into this realm was taken. "Aren"t you the cutest thing," Staxius joked around, he messed with her head using the index finger. It got on her nerves to which she pulled his nose. All and all, Undrar looked like a fairy.
The party set off, the journey took a fair few minutes. Melisa looked pleased, whereas Diane looked angrier than usual. Undrar was registered – her guild card was of the same color, and the rank a.s.signed was silver.
"Staxius Haggard," Diane spoke out while he finished up with Undrar"s rank. "What is it?" he fired back coldly. "How is it that you acquire so many strong companions," her face might have been peaceful, but her tone yelled of anguish and hate. "Nothing much really, it"s a simple rule. The strong attract the strong," the reply given was purposefully boastful. It served to make her angry, but her demeanor remained stoic.
"Before you go," Melisa called out, "why don"t you check the quest board?" it"s due to be updated in a few minutes," she offered kindly. "I supposed it would not hurt," he stood near and waited – the rest of the party sat and had pastries while drinking coffee.
[Masked Murderer – Tier 2]
[Potential Dragon spotting – Tier X]
[Escort for Trading Routes – Tier 8]
[Kill Quest: Minotaur – Tier 3]
[Kill Quest: Goblin Lair – Tier 9]
[Missing Person – Tier 10]
[Search and Rescue – Tier 7]
[Dark Guilds – Tier 4]
Everyone flooded towards the guild a.s.sistants. Many wanted to get the right to complete one of those kill quests. A quest that is self-explanatory – on top of getting compensated, one had bragging rights and a trophy. All that acc.u.mulated into the adventurer"s profile – making him more reliable and p.r.o.ne to more advantages.
"Step away maggots," a loud voice echoed, "that kill quest is ours," four well-built guys nonchalantly pushed the adventurers aside. "Hey, move away," the crowd grew less dense. "that"s one of infantry unit from Shark," one of the top ten guilds. Their focus is more on the military, using guns, tactics and strategy to take down monsters. It could be seen in their attire, green with ma.s.sive bags holding guns and bullets.
"d.a.m.n, they look impressive don"t they," Avon whispered, he had jumped onto Staxius"s back. "Can"t you behave more like an adult?" Staxius blew into the ears. "Stop it, it tickles," Avon giggled.
"Diane, we are taking the kill quest for the minotaur, make sure no one else gets in our way." The leader voiced loudly for all to see. "This is a great opportunity to make our party"s name renowned." Staxius calmly placed Avon and headed towards Melisa.
They saw Staxius approaching, the three others made a barrier. It prevented access to the a.s.sistants. "Excuse me," Staxius slipped right through, the others were left baffled.
"H-how m-may I help you?" Melisa smiled, her voice trembled, that adventuring crew looked menacing. "Hey there Melisa," Staxius spoke, the leader looked down and gnarled. "I"d like to take the minotaur kill quest if you would be so kind," he asked in a formal way, it got the other"s attention.
"Does he have a death wish?" whispers filled the silent room, "that"s Staxius for you," Undrar calmly sipped coffee.
"Hey maggot, didn"t you hear that we said that quest was ours?" the leader"s animosity grew. "I"d refrain from using the nickname maggot, it"s a bit disrespectful. Most importantly," he turned and stared up, "the guild has a policy that quest is for all to sign up for." The leader laughed –"you need at least bronze to take that quest," he boasted, "a weakling like you doesn"t have the strength to undertake said challenge." Going from how Staxius appeared, the man was right, he did look like a weakling. Not skinny but a lean body, though it didn"t show as much. "Therefore, I"ll spare you the embarra.s.sment," he tried pus.h.i.+ng Staxius away. "Please get your hands off me, I didn"t give you permission to touch me," he didn"t budge.
"No fighting allowed," Diane spoke, "here"s the quest form. Fill it and leave, the first to complete shall get the reward." For once Diane did something nice. However, it wasn"t to help but to stop any conflict from growing out of control.
"Tsk," Shark left, "a bit unnecessary," Diane voiced, "it"s all good. Have you forgotten who I am?" he winked.