The Warrior’s Guild has 5 ranks which are awarded to members based on their skills and accomplishments. From lowest to highest, they are Copper, Iron, Bronze, Silver and Gold. There are also two pseudo-ranks, apprentice and initiate, which are below Copper-rank. They are reserved for those in training to become warriors. Members of the Guild receive more benefits, privilege and freedom as they climb up the ladder.

Female warriors are quite uncommon in the world. Nature’s whims ensure that women cannot build the same muscle mass as men, meaning they are have less strength in general. This is a severe disadvantage for any warrior. Even those who display excellent sword skills usually do not make it past Iron rank in their lifetimes. A female warrior reaching Silver rank is almost unheard of. They are uncharitably called freaks of nature by most people who encounter them. Yet, at this moment, two such extraordinary cases are walking side-by-side on the grasslands surrounding the city of Tyrin.

“I can’t believe it! This is like the 6th place that kicked us out for the same reason! It’s always curse this, demon that. They don’t even care what we say.” Selene complains to no one in particular. “I get why the villagers who don’t know any better are scared, but this is ridiculous.”

“Even for a place as large as Tyrin, there was too much security at the gate. Maybe something happened to put them on edge?” Laila suggests.

“It’s this damn war. Everyone is so scared they will be next that they run for the hills at the first sign of trouble.”

“Ah, crud. That reminds me, we forgot to tell them about the army.”

“… Somehow I don’t feel like saying anything after the way we were treated.”

Laila frowns and switches to a more serious tone. “Selene, a lot of lives are at stake if hostilities begin. How many destroyed settlements have we seen so far?”

“All right, all right, I was only joking. You can start setting up camp while I go warn them. Whether they believe me or not is their problem.”

She spins around with a swift motion and is about to run back to Tyrin when she sees a young man with golden hair and green eyes, wearing a dark-grey mage robe. He had been following the two female warriors since they left the main gate. The meeting of their eyes triggers a flurry of thoughts and feelings in their hearts. Surprise, confusion, hesitation, relief and happiness all mix together into an amalgamation that cannot be described with words.

“It’s been a while, Selene…” the young man greets her timidly.

“Di… No, Rigel? Rigel Artemia? That is your name, right?”

A few moments of silence pass as Rigel hesitates to answer. “Yes, I’m sorry I lied to you last time.”

A relieved smile appears on Selene’s face. “As expected, you were doing fine after all. I’m so glad…” Although the last phrase is said in a whisper, the emotion behind it is the strongest.

<><><><><><><><><>

The awkwardness between Rigel and Selene disappeared quickly after that. Selene has no hard feelings against Rigel from their previous encounter. After discovering what happened in Delos, she understands his need to hide his identity. Despite now knowing that he is a prince, she speaks casually just like the time they were in Lapithos, mostly out of habit. Rigel doesn’t mind of course. He never really cared to be treated like nobility, even when he was still at the Amisos Magic Academy. He is also very glad to see she is doing well. They were ambushed by soldiers as he was about to leave Lapithos and he felt guilty over the possibility that she could be rotting in prison simply due to being associated with him. That this idea turned out to be wrong is a great relief.

Selene opens up to him about the important things she learned since they parted ways. Rigel starts feeling a bit depressed when the topic of Delos came up.

“Even the Royal Palace is in ruins? I see. So the capital is completely destroyed then…”

“I’m sorry about your loss…”

“It’s alright. I thought this might be the case. The civil war started there after my father was murdered. I just held out hope that the stories of its destruction might be exaggerated…”

Rigel is aware that Delos was essentially wiped off the map during the war. Bloodmoon obtained a fair amount of information about the situation. Even so, being told first-hand the extent of the devastation is painful. It was the home where he lived his whole life after all.

Laila waited patiently for them at a distance while taking care of the two horses. During this time, the young girl sleeping in the saddle regains consciousness and raises her head from the loose blanket covering her small body.

“Big sister, where are we?” she yawns.

“Lyssa, you’re awake. Do you feel pain anywhere?” Laila asks.

The child shakes her head. “I’m okay now.”

“I’m glad. We may have finally found someone who can make you better so the pain won’t come back. He might be able to heal your eyes too.”

The young girl named Lyssa is not actually related to Laila or Selene by blood. She was found chained to a stone altar in a slavers’ hideout near the town of Megara and saved by the two warriors a few weeks ago. It is not known what horrendous torture she experienced in that place, but what is certain is that it robbed her of eyesight. Her eyes, although seemingly undamaged, no longer have the ability to detect light regardless of how strong it is; a dreadful burden for a girl only 9 years of age. As if that isn’t bad enough, she experiences random surges of pain throughout her body on a regular basis, including migraines. Selene and Laila solicited the help of any mage, herbalist and priest they could find, but none were able to do anything about her condition.

“Well, enough about that” Rigel concludes. “I heard you’re in a hurry to find a healer?”

“Ah, that’s right!”

The two return to Laila’s location while Selene briefly goes over the situation. She explains that the young girl has a somewhat unusual appearance, particularly her eyes, and this is why people started calling her ‘cursed child’ and ‘demon child’. They were also rejected for the same reason. As a result, Lyssa has gotten used to keeping her eyes closed at all times. She no longer has any use for them after all.

“You mean she did not heal completely even after drinking the alchemic potion I gave you?” Rigel asks in a surprised tone. Selene nods affirmatively. “Interesting… I’ll do my best to figure out what is going on.”

Once they arrive face-to-face, Selene introduces them.

“Lyssa, this is Rigel, a friend of mine. Can you let him see your eyes for a bit?”

“He will hate me…” the young girl says timidly with her head down.

“I promise I won’t hate or harm you in any way.” Rigel answers with a gentle voice. “It will only take a moment.”

Lyssa hesitates for a few more seconds before finally agreeing. Laila lifts her off the horse’s saddle with ease and lowers her to the ground. Wearing a plain, child-sized dress, the girl slowly opens her eyes, revealing pure black irises and pupils which have become ruby-red. The globe of the eye is still white but that doesn’t change their unnatural appearance. Also, her hair is a pure white color all the way to the roots. That combined with her pale complexion and thin limbs is good reason to be worried about her health. While standing fully upright, Lyssa is only 120 cm (less than 4 ft) tall. Rigel has to kneel to get a decent look.

“Is white her natural hair color?” he asks the two warriors.

“It was light-brown when we met her. Since then, any new growth has been completely white” Laila answers.

“Yes, I see now. The tips are still brown. How long ago was this?”

“She’s been with us for a bit over one month.”

“It grew this much in only a month?”

“That’s right; we had to cut it twice so far. Could your potion have had something to do with this?”

“Not likely. I’ve used that type of potion on myself and noticed no changes with my physical appearance. It should’ve healed the globe of the eye and the optic nerve which connects to the brain. Yet she still can’t see anything. For some reason, her body doesn’t recognize it as a wound. Other than the color, the eyes do look intact. The cause must be something else. Well, personally I think she looks fine like this. It might be an unusual color, but that just makes it more interesting” he says while softly patting the child’s head.

Lyssa makes a timid smile upon hearing this. It’s the first time she hears someone other than Selene and Laila accept or compliment the way she is.

“It would be nice if others thought the same… People have been saying all sorts of mean things and we’ve been refused entry into a number of towns. Finding people willing to help has been… hard. Even here, they were about to let us through the gate when that annoying guy said something about a strange aura and demanded to see her face. Then came the accusation of curses and stuff.”

“Hmm, that’s the curious part. This is the most diffuse mana-aura I’ve ever seen in a human. I have better senses than most and yet I can’t tell where the edge of it is. I can somewhat understand why that mage was giving you a hard time. It’s human nature to be afraid of the unknown.”

“Diffuse? What does that mean?” Laila asks.

“How should I explain… Take a look up at that thick cloud over there. To a mage’s eyes, a normal aura looks kind of like that. It surrounds the body like a small cloud and has a well-defined shape and edge. Lyssa’s, on the other hand, is more like a thin haze. Her mana is so thin and spread out that it’s almost invisible. It covers a much wider area than normal and I can’t see the edge.”

“Is that a bad thing? Is she sick?”

“To be honest I’m not sure. It’s my first time seeing this condition. As for what might be causing it, there are a few clues… Do either of you know about chaos magic or a spell called Origin?”

They both shake their heads “Don’t know it.”

“And you, Lyssa? Does ‘chaos magic’ sound familiar?”

The young girl shakes her head as well.

“It’s fine then.” Rigel faces the other two. “Before we try any kind of treatment, there is someone we should see first; a mage more versed than I am. Wait here a bit.”

“Eh?”

Selene and Laila are dumbfounded by this news, particularly Selene. She fought alongside him against the creatures which attacked Lapithos. While other mages were being crushed, he was the one who found the creatures’ weaknesses and turned the tide of battle. It goes without saying that night battle left a deep impression on her. That a mage more capable than Rigel exists anywhere in Amisos is something she did not imagine.

He returns 10 minutes later along with none other than Nashira. The two warriors are still showing faces full of puzzlement, while Lyssa who doesn’t understand the circumstances and cannot see anything is merely curious.

“Nashira Malik at your service. I am pleased to meet you, friends of Rigel.”

“Ah, likewise. I’m Selene Gaios.”

“Laila Melanthios. Thank you for your assistance.”

They return her polite greeting even though they are confused as to why someone who seems to be nobility would act so formally toward a couple of warriors she doesn’t know. Rigel is a prince of the country but Selene and Laila’s social standings are barely above those of commoners. Silver-rank warriors are respected within their own circles, but they do not receive the same respect from nobility. Warriors are considered servants of nobility.

“While my friend, Nashira, takes a look at Lyssa, could you explain what happened to her?” Rigel asks.

Selene leans in toward him and whispers “Yes but let’s move over there first. There are some things I don’t want to remind her.”

“I understand.”

The three of them move far enough away from Nashira and Lyssa so that the conversation won’t be overheard by the young girl.

“The thing is we don’t know the details. We discovered Lyssa on the verge of death inside an underground prison near Megara. She was probably abducted from her family and then abused by a bunch of slavers. We tried to find her family afterward without success. No one knew who she is or where she’s from. She also lost any memories she had from before we found her. She couldn’t even remember her own name or what her parents look like. Lyssa is the name Laila and me came up with. Whatever those slavers did to her must have caused a massive shock. Without your potion, she would’ve died for sure. It’s great that we ended up slaughtering those bastards. From the look of the place, they were some Titan-worshipping cult.”

“No, they were worshippers of Erebus” Laila corrects her. Selene shrugs with indifference.

“Is that the name of a god?” Rigel tries to clarify. “I’m not very well-versed in religious teachings.”

“I’ll explain it quickly since we might come across that cult in the future” Laila continues. “Erebus is not one of the Olympian gods which people are familiar with. It is said that in the beginning of the universe, before anything existed, there was only the primordial void, Chaos. This was the source of everything. The primordial gods were the first to emerge from the void: Erebus, Nyx, Aether, Hemera, Uranus and Gaia. Each one represents a different element of the world. Erebus is considered to be the personification of darkness and shadow.”

“Sounds like a fitting idol for an evil cult.”

“Worshiping the Titans or primordial gods is forbidden by law in both Amisos and in the Athenite Empire. There are a few heretical cults remaining which continue the awful tradition of human sacrifice and other blood rituals dedicated to these figures. In my experience, cults of Erebus are full of madmen. They are also the most numerous and the most fanatical of the heretics. Discovering that they still practice slavery didn’t shock me at all.”

“You sound quite familiar with this topic.”

“My father is a priest at the temple of Poseidon in Lapithos, so I sort of picked up a few things from him.”

The conversation stalls as they watch the mysterious woman who is doing the medical examination. She taps the young girl’s body in specific areas around the eyes, ears, stomach, limbs and neck. Her fingers emit a faint pulse of mana. Each time she asks Lyssa if there is any pain. The girl is quiet and simply shakes or nods her head to answer. She is then asked about her eating habits and other details which are important to health. After a few minutes Nashira walks over to the others’ position.

“The diagnosis is complete. As you mentioned, Rigel, the child’s body has many broken mana circuits created by the Origin rite. Since the rite of passage was left incomplete, the mana circuits are not properly formed. This is the explanation for her diffuse aura.”

“Uh, wait.” Selene asks while scratching her head. “Laila and me hardly know a thing about magic so could you say that again in words we can understand?”

“No problem” says Rigel. “For now I’ll skip the details about chaos magic and tell you only what you need to know. You mentioned Lyssa was put through some kind of occult ritual?”

“She was chained to a stone altar in a room full of gross tools and stuff.”

“We can tell that Lyssa doesn’t know how to use magic on her own, so the only explanation is that magic was forced upon her. ‘Origin’ is a spell which changes the way mana flows through the body. Nashira calls it a rite of passage because of the profound changes it makes. The cultists were probably testing out magic and they used live humans as guinea pigs. Basically, Lyssa was a test subject. They did not complete the spell because of incompetence or carelessness. Would you agree, Nashira?”

“Your explanation is accurate enough. However, I am more concerned about something else. The incomplete Origin does not account for the changes in hair and eye color, nor her blindness. Do you remember any other details about the ritual, such as whether a magic catalyst was used?”

“… When we found Lyssa, there was a weird, black spike stuck into her abdomen. It was shiny and looked made out of minerals. I can’t say if it was a magic catalyst but Lyssa was somehow alive even with such a large wound. We yanked it out and gave her the potion I received from Rigel, which closed the wound.”

“Did you happen to take the object or a piece of it with you?”

“Sorry, I just tossed it aside and left it there…”

“It is understandable. To conclude, I have some good news and some bad news. The child’s life is not in danger as long as she eats properly.”

“That’s a relief. She’s been in such pain lately that every morning we were anxious that she wouldn’t wake up…”

“Unfortunately, the child’s eyesight and memories may never come back. Her body and mind were subjected to dark magic and shoddy chaos magic, yet she survived and is still able to function normally. This tells me that she has a valuable talent. We should be able to improve her condition significantly.”

“We can!? How? We’ll do whatever it takes.”

“Lyssa must learn to use magic in order to complete the Origin rite. I can guide her through the process, but the result will ultimately depend on her. If it succeeds, at the very least she will be rid of the pain afflicting her. If it fails, her lifespan will be shortened even more than it already is. I am sorry there is no better way.”

The two warriors take a minute to consider what they heard. They are of course disappointed that Lyssa cannot be returned to her healthy state. She will be bullied and discriminated against by others. Worst of all, she will remain blind for the rest of her life.

Can that even be called a life? Maybe it would’ve been kinder to let her die on that altar… No, I mustn’t think that. Lyssa is a brave girl. Even while racked with pain, she continued to smile and tell us it’s fine. Supporting her is the least we can do, Selene decides.

The same thought occurs to Laila, who steps forward and makes a bow for Nashira. “We are very grateful for your assistance. What form of payment should we give? Are gold coins acceptable or do you prefer gems?”

Nashira smiles and says “I do not require a reward. It is my personal wish to help the child live a better life.”

<><><><><><><><><><>

With the diagnosis concluded, it was decided that Selene and Laila would stay and allow Lyssa the chance to learn magic. Receiving the teachings of a skilled mage would normally be too expensive for them. Only nobility can afford to hire mage tutors. Since Nashira decided not to accept payment, however, this is an offer one cannot simply refuse. Rigel also knows the Origin rite of passage so he can fill in where necessary.

Were circumstances any different, Selene would not have left either way. She has been yearning to see Rigel again ever since his disappearance from Lapithos.

“I should be able to get all of you access into Tyrin” they are told. “I’m acquainted with a man in the military who can pull some strings.”

“The military? Oh, before we do that, I need to warn them about that army!”

“Army?”

“Yea, they must’ve split from the huge force stationed in Delos. There are about 10000 soldiers marching toward Tyrin from the north-east. They will be here in 2 or 3 days.”