Elira Phasol: The Bloodied Borough

"Ah, you must be Elira, of the Phasol Family. Welcome, welcome!"

A human with a wrinkled face, framed by a rugged beard of a lighter color than his bright red hair, greeted her as she stepped into the room.

"And you brought a friend! Wonderful! Please make yourselves comfortable. Serath, be a dear and request for another chair from the Guild Hall for our friend here." the middle-aged looking man added as he saw William following behind her.

Gerund, Elira assumed, was sitting in one of the four chairs around a circular wooden table and he looked as unassuming as the wooden table in front of him. He directed his request at the other man sitting beside him, who looked so out of place in the guild's ordinary room.

Serath's royal blood was quite obvious: at his bearing, clothing, and appearance. He was wearing a deep ocean blue coat; lined with subdued, but elegant, black lines that hugged his well-built body.

'Enchanted Robe, and not simple enchantments either'; Elira enviously thought as she continued to observe the man as he stood. The coat extended to his feet, the upper part closed over the collared shirt he was wearing underneath but opened below the waist down to his boots. 'Even the boots are enchanted,' Elira silently added in her thoughts. 

Serath's features were all human from what she could see: black hair that shined blue when hit by the light, fine and symmetrical bone structure that elves and demons would be envious of, eyes with the same color of his coat. It shined with gentle amusement, partnered with a polite smile that decorated his lips.

It was directed at both Elira and William.

'Damnation, I was staring.' She glanced at her friend to see how he fared and -- William was ogling, only lacking a drool on his open mouth for it to be considered improper.

Serath seemed unperturbed and just greeted them with a polite smile."Ms Phasol and?"

She elbowed William so he could answer and stop his ogling and close his mouth.

"Uhh.. W-William! William Benioff... b-but you can call me Will." He suddenly widened his eyes "No! I-I wasn't commanding you or anything, you.. you could just call me whatever you want! You can even call m----" Elira elbowed him again, harder this time, before he dug his own grave.

To his credit, Serath just continued with his introduction and ignored their antics. She thought that the man was probably used to people like William.

"Ms Phasol and Mr Will, a pleasure to make your acquaintance, I am Serath Meshiere. Please use the seat I just vacated and the other chair beside it for your comfort." He went out after that, presumably to get another chair.

William rushed to the chair that Serath just evacuated, claiming possession of it with a big smile on his face. He would probably urinate on it to mark his territory if it weren't for the other two people in the room. Two?

Gerund just laughed good-naturedly at William's too-honest reactions. Elira continued observing the room as she made her way to the chair beside William. The room was decorated simply: with cream colored curtains designed with orange embroidery, soft brown carpet that covered the entire floor, an unlit fireplace at the other end of the room, a detailed painting of a winged horse hung on the red brick walls, and the table with its occupants near the fireplace.

She promptly seated after arriving at the table and explained his friend's presence.

"Good day Mr Gerund, this is my friend Will and he just accompanied me to the hall because he wanted to meet Serath." Elira stated honestly that made William's eyes go wide with embarrassment.

Gerund cackled at that, "Hahahaha, such an honest fellow. Don't worry child, most people reacted the same after first being introduced to him; he is quite used to that. Now, let me brief you on our mission -- No child, don't stand up, the mission is not confidential so you can listen to the details." He stopped William from saying his goodbyes and just continued with the explanation.

"My subordinates and I detected a Wesh Root energy signature in the direction of the End Forest a few weeks ago. According to our estimation, it had been activated for a month already and the energy was powerful enough to indicate that someone, or something, made a dimensional jump towards this world. As you both know, World Travelers are rare in this world outside the Age of Unity. There are some World Travelers here and there outside of it but they are scheduled, noted, and known." He stopped and drank the cooling tea in the table before he continued.

"This jump, however, were not any of the three and the Wesh Root in the End Forest was undocumented. It's very possible that the traveler would be from a completely new world, a world that we have not made contact with before, and I intend to meet the traveler. Do the two of you have any questions so far?" Gerund asked us just in time for the sudden question that she had.

"If it had been a month already, how would you guys know if the person, or thing, would still be there?" Elira asked with curiosity in her voice. Serath arrived at this time with the procured chair and just silently brought it beside the other chair and sat. She was surprised that he carried his own chair, she assumed someone would bring it for him after the inquiry. Gerund just glanced at him before he answered my question.

"Ah, a good question! You see, the energy we detected had been quite massive, meaning that jump made was quite the distance away from our world. Although world jumps are not dangerous in itself, it can still be quite exhausting. The traveler would probably camp a few days in the End Cliffs if the exact location of the Wesh Root from our calculations are to be believed." He paused while looking at Elira, urging her to speak.

"Alright, but that's only for a few days, how about after?"

"If our traveler is smart and competent, the traveler would have rations and some survival tools ready. Traversing the End Forest takes quite a bit of time and effort, it's entirely possible for us to encounter the traveler on our way. However, if our traveler is careless and not-so-competent, we would likely just find our traveler's bone scattered across the forest, licked clean by its inhabitants." He took another sip of his steaming cup of tea before continuing. Steaming?

"If our traveler is very strong, then it's entirely possible that the traveler muscled their way through the forest and already left. If that were the case, we'll be able to find traces of his energy and at least know the direction our traveler took after his exit at End Forest." Elira just nodded this time, distracted, drinking a cup of her own hot tea, while William was the one who asked the next questions.

"The End forest is BIG though, like, second biggest forest in this continent. How would you guys find this 'traveler' if he or she is still there?" He asked while stretching his hands to emphasize his point.

"And if Mr Gerund's assumption is correct, that the traveler would be from a new world, we won't have a record of their language so how would we communicate with it?" Elira added her questions before the middle-aged looking man could answer.

Gerund just looked at Serath this time urging him to answer the question.

"Mr Gerund hired our expertise for the two questions both of you had brought up."

"To put it simply: I have a talent for understanding and speaking languages I've never heard or learned before, while my fellow guildsman would be the one to detect our traveler throughout the forest."

'Oh, I thought Mr Gerund hired him for his barriers; I guess it was for his talent in languages instead. That's quite a rare talent...' she absently thought,

'They also don't seem to be too worried about the lesser dragon and other creatures in the forest. I guess they're really in a different league'

A knock suddenly brought Elira out of her reverie.

"Mr Gerund, the carriage that you requested just arrived in front of the Guild Hall." A polite voice spoke from behind the door.

"Ah, I guess it's time we proceed with our task. Mr Benioff, I would invite you to join us but our carriage could only comfortably carry five, the extra one is for our traveler if he agreed to come with us. As you may have inferred from our discussion, time is of the essence for this mission." Gerund extended his hands to William as he made his goodbyes.

"N-no, don't worry about it. I only came here to see-- I mean to send off Elira to her mission. Please take care of her." William accepted the handshake while Elira just rolled her eyes at him.

They left the Guild Hall and they were greeted by one of the latest model of the energy-carriage parked in front of the building. It had a sleek design: the top of the carriage just below Elira's shoulders, with front and back compartments that were structured to reduce wind and energy resistance; it was equipped with retractable four wheels to conserve energy consumption on flat lands. 

Past the open doors were two rows of seats that could be occupied comfortably by two people at the front and three people at the back; the driver seat was at the front, set apart with a driving wheel across it. It was a state of the art carriage that was powered by energy crystals and could run with the direction of a driver.

I want one! Elira excitedly exclaimed to herself as the four of them boarded the carriage. She excitedly seated at the back row, forgetting to actually say goodbye to William as she entered the carriage. She remembered once she was seated and just waved at the still open door towards William with a smile. William just waved back, a look of confusion on his face.

Wait... Four?

Serath took his seat beside her after she scooted inside, closing the door after he entered. Gerund took the front row seat in front of her and on the driver seat was a woman...

Wait, who is--

"You finally caught on to me, huh?" The woman smiled at her from the driver seat.

She was a human with tanned brown skin, shoulder length dark violet hair, and she would have looked ordinary if it weren't for the piece of cloth covering her eyes. She couldn't look at her clothes, but it looked like she's wearing an ordinary robe. The cloth on her eyes was embroidered with golden threads, drawing lines that looked like a formation across it.

'She was in the room with us! The other chair, Mr Gerunds refilled tea cup... MY OWN HOT TEA! Why didn't I notice her? No, scratch that, it's like something convinced me that she wasn't in the room.' Elira furiously recalled everything that happened in the room, trying to remember if Theresa was really present in the room.

Serath just shook his head beside her while Gerund cackled at the front seat at her confusion.

"Ms Phasol, please forgive my fellow guildsman; It's just a side effect of her constitution. Those that have just started on the path of energies would have a hard time perceiving her presence. Actually, even stronger individuals would have a hard time detecting her if she as much willed it." Serath explained to her once Gerund's laughter died down.

"Hahaha Yes! Now that you are in an enclosed space with her, your mind would have an easier time detecting her existence. Not to mention she would be our driver so your mind would be harder to trick as a carriage without a driver would be too much for her passive deceit." Gerund just added afterwards.

Elira was dumbfounded at how easy she got tricked by a mere passive deceit.

"It's nice to formally meet you Elira, you could just call me Theresa. You'd probably need to spend some effort if you want to remember my name as my constitution affects it too." Elira could feel that Theresa winked at her from behind her blindfolds.

Theresa started the carriage engine and directed it in the open red streets of Bloodied Borough.

"Oh..." She was actually quite speechless for once and then blurted out, "How can you drive us if you can't see?" She widened her eyes at the question that just came out of her mouth. She's actually quite curious about it but she didn't plan on asking it so crassly like that.

Gerund just had another laughing fit in the front seat just as Theresa answered.

"Don't worry, I can actually see without opening my eyes. Also, don't worry about offending me about blunt questions or comments; people tend to become more honest around me." Elira could actually feel Theresa observing her, even though she is facing forward and driving the carriage.

"It would be prudent to enforce your will before speaking, Ms Phasol; it would help in countering Theresa's aura." Serath kindly advised beside me.

Elira just nodded while trying to organize her thoughts, enforcing her will, so she doesn't accidentally spill them.

'It seemed that she can influence the mind of the people around her. Quite a useful but dangerous talent, depending on different perspectives. I've never heard of her name before, though. Oh... she said that her name have the same effect. Damnation! How crazy are the constitution of these Fallen members? Wait-- Fallen has ten known members, including June who is already dead. Is Theresa included in that list? Let's see...' Elira closed her eyes to concentrate even further while Serath curiously observed her sudden silence.

'Raea, the Fallen's founder and guild leader -- The Mother of the World.'

'Kaed, the Fallen's vice leader, -- The Bejeweled'

'Mary -- The Innovator'

'Dyennah -- The Spell Progenitor'

'Yomire -- The Storyteller'

'Serath -- The Barrier Master'

' Jasmine -- The Bloodied Queen'

'Jared -- The Indestructible Construct'

'June -- The Life Giver, Deceased'

'Lyonel, Fallen's Newest Member -- The Cosmic King'

'Damnation, There's actually 11 members including June. So does the ten that people are talking about when they mention The Fallen include Theresa? or does it include June and they don't know about Theresa?'

Elira kept silent throughout the journey while thinking about the different fallen members. When she looked up, the carriage had just exited The Bloodied Borough's East Gate. Gerund seemed to be taking a nap at his seat while Serath was holding a book in his hand, reading, and Theresa was just silently driving the carriage to their destination.

The Sun was almost in the middle of the sky and she figured it would take an hour or two if they kept their pace, before they reach the edge of the End Forest.

"I forgot to inquire if you ate your breakfast before leaving, Ms. Phasol. There should be some snacks on the door's compartment if you're feeling hungry." Serath broke the comfortable silence in the carriage to inquire about her stomach.

"I'm good, thank you. Could you please call me by name, Elira? Ms Phasol just sound so formal and you don't need to add an honorific like what you did with William." She replied to him as she noticed that he was still addressing her as Ms Phasol. "Also, do you always speak formally?" Elira added because she was curious.

"If you inisist, Elira. And yes, it was part of my upbringing and I never did manage to change it despite leaving home. It's quite difficult to forget the lessons so I just kept using this manner of speaking. Besides, I feel more comfortable with it." He added the last one with a smile. She decided to stop prying on his origins as she thought it would be inappropriate so she just asked a different question.

"So, how many members does Fallen actually have? The information that's been circulating around says it's ten but --"

'Stop. Don't inquire about June in front of Serath.'

A voice suddenly rang in Elira's mind which greatly surprised her. She managed to school her expression from the surprise she felt of the sudden voice that invaded her thoughts.

Serath saw her surprised expression but he just directed a narrowed eyes at the driver as he answered her first question.

"The total number of The Fallen is actually eleven. Any reliable informants would speak the same, and the information is not guarded by any means. Dyennah ceased her guild activities and is currently travelling the world and June --" Elira could actually see the light of Serath's eyes dimming; the smile on his lips suddenly disappearing into a thin line, "-- well... she's dead."

"..."

And that's how Elira managed to kill the entire conversation on the carriage; the rest of their journey was spent in an awkward silence, with only Gerund's soft snores and the engine's quiet hum accompanying them.

End of Chapter 3