William Benioff - Towering Cairns

William was being avoided.

He hated the feeling of being unwanted and right now, his demon friend was trying to avoid him. He looked for her the day after the excursion with the Wesh Enthusiast but she wasn’t in her own house and she didn’t reply in any of his messages.

At first, he thought something bad might have happened but a quick question around the Merc Hall brought news about sightings of his demon friend -- with The Barrier Master. He didn’t know how to feel when he heard the news, he didn’t want Elira being close to the man but he also didn’t want his idol to be close to Elira.

If anyone asked him what he wanted, he would answer that he wanted to be with both of them at the same time.

William reassured himself that it was for the best he wasn’t invited, he was still recovering from his previous behavior in front of the celebrity after all. He decided to wait for Elira to finish her business and ask about her relationship with The Barrier Master over dinner.

The demon was unperturbed about his presence in front of her house and accepted his invitation for dinner, murmuring about being ditched for other’s company. They went to a nearby restaurant and were seated immediately after entering.

Elira started perusing the menu, “So, why are you hanging around in front of my house like some sort of stalker?”

“I wouldn’t be there if you answered my messages,” he had been standing in front of her house for a while and was hungry so he also started browsing the menu, “where were you today?”

“Sorry about that... I was tired and I had to tour someone,” Elira placed her menu down and flagged the waiter.

“Hey! I’m not done deciding yet,” he wasn’t fond of hovering waiters so he tried swatting the demon’s raised hand.

However, Elira ignored his complaints, “just order anything you want, it’s my treat today.”

“You do know I can actually pay for my own food?” William was thankful for his friend’s help whenever he had troubles with money but that didn’t mean he liked depending on the demon.

“It’s my apology for ignoring you, and someone treated me to a meal today despite my objections,” Elira justified her behavior and it surprised him that she let someone else pay for her meal.

He knew the demon was proud and stubborn; that even after he got lucky with some missions and tried repaying some of her kindness, she always found some sort of excuse to decline his good intentions.

“Stop staring at me like that," Elira rolled her eyes at him, "he didn’t play fair and stole the bill after he distracted me.” She started ordering his favorite foods and the waiter left after that.

The demon discussed her tour with the traveler and he didn’t miss the demon’s darting eyes when asked about the said man, instead, he was given a vague description and assurances of possibility in meeting the man soon. Serath’s presence during the tour was also because of the traveler and learning as much eased his heavy heart. He still wanted to be with them, though.

Another problem popped up the day after.

He was called by the City Watch about a group of people found dead in the slums but he didn’t know anyone from there; the orphanage he grew up in was in a more reputable part of the city and he also made sure not to wander in the area.

William’s heart dropped at the sight of the dead elf and dwarf lying on top of a table in the city’s morgue. He didn’t remember their names but he remembered how generous they were with drinks and how they tried to cheer him up with his worries.

“You know the two of them?” One of the investigators saw his expression and inquired.

He mechanically nodded with eyes still stuck on the lifeless bodies, “just for a few hours… they treated me to drinks the other day.”

“Must have been one good drinking session since the two left their belongings to you,” the other man gestured at two wooden weapons resting on a weapon shelf. After answering routine questions, they released him with two good weapons in hand and told him to stay out of trouble.

William inquired of what they planned to do with the bodies and he offered to pay for a proper burial for his benefactors, that earned him weird and suspicious looks but they agreed to wait for his payment.

He knew that the party fought someone in the slums and lost, the elf's punctured body and the dwarf's stitched head were enough proof for it. They were probably not good and upstanding people but they were kind enough to ease his worries; he’d feel bad using their weapons for his own gains so he decided to at least give their bodies a proper burial.

William also met Azrael that day and he couldn’t determine yet if the man was another problem; the black haired man was attractive enough but he was also very weird.

The man loved black; all parts of his apparel were in the same lifeless color, even the hooded cloak he refused to remove inside a sheltered building.

He also had a funny expression after he announced his decision about his benefactor’s bodies -- like he had a deep philosophical thought over basic decency and good will.

“What’s wrong with him?” he asked the demon after the other man left.

“Nothing. He isn’t from around here so probably just culture shocked,” Elira changed the subject, “what do you think of him as a teammate?”

William shrugged at her question, “he’s a bit weird but you picked him so he must be good in a fight.”

His comment turned out to be a serious understatement as a few days later, he found out that the man was a Weaver of Space, an Ageless Immortal, and very very unstable.

They settled in one of the more reputable inns at the Towering Cairns and the episode the man had at the carriage resulted in a late night visit to his room by a demon.

His heart skipped a beat the sight of the demon in casual clothes, blue hair wet from the recent bath, and standing outside his room with a familiar connector under her arms. However, her first sentence made him groan and slashed his hopes apart.

“We need to talk.”

William hesitated before opening his door in full and gestured at the demon to enter, “Is this about Azrael?”

Elira walked into his room and placed the connector she was carrying atop the table and settled herself at one of the chairs beside it, “Yes, I need to tell you something about him.”

“You two are in a relationship aren’t you,” he narrowed her eyes at the seated woman, and gasped as a thought invaded his mind, “you’re carrying his child aren’t you?!”

The demon didn’t even change her expression at his declaration and rebuked him for his errant thoughts, “Stop spouting nonsense, this is about his origins.”

William remained standing and rested his back on the closed door, “If you wanted to tell me that he is the traveler you guys fetched at the Ends Forest then save your breath, I already figured out that part of the happenings in the Rolling Slopes.”

That earned him a raised brow from the demon, “Good. Then the following discussion should be quick, he was the one who got attacked by your benefactors.”

William almost lost his balance and his blood ran cold at the implications the demon’s statement brought. He slowly made his way through the room and slumped himself at the edge of the bed, pushing the palms of his hands on his eyes as he tried to calm himself down.

He felt the demon leave her chair, followed by the sound of a glass being filled with water.

“Come on, drink up.”

William removed the pressure from his eyes and accepted the water from the demon but remained looking down at his feet; trying to avoid looking at Elira's eyes.

“Does he blame me?” he winced at the sound of his hoarse voice and drank the glass of water to clear his throat.

“Don’t worry, he doesn’t hate you for sponsoring the burial for his attackers,” she sat back down to the chair and crossed her legs, “he was probably confused but mo--”

“NO!” he was as surprised as the demon at his outburst and he took a deep breath before continuing, “not about that… I-I think -- I’m the one that informed them of his arrival.”

He spoke the last part of his sentence in one breath and he felt the demon tense in her seat. He waited for the accusation to come but the demon stayed silent and she had her hand on her chin when he risked a glance at her.

William was about to suffocate in guilt and silence when his friend stated her opinion about the matter, “I think it wouldn’t have mattered.”

The demon didn’t give him a chance to interrupt as she continued with her explanation, “Mr Gerund said that the mission wasn’t confidential and the one aiming for him would definitely know about the details already, so don’t beat yourself up over it.”

William wasn’t reassured but knowing that the demon didn’t judge him for his mistake and stupidity eased the burden in his heart. He silently nodded at the wall, still too afraid to look Elira in the eyes.

The demon sighed and stood up from her chair, “Look, don’t worry too much about it okay? Just make sure you don’t carelessly hand over his information to strangers again.”

Elira handed the connector to him as she left the room and told him she borrowed it from Azrael so he could unwind with his favorite past time. The thought of how she predicted his reaction about the news made him smile and he settled himself in front of it.

He appreciated how fast the connector started and he logged in to his account, thankful that the Towering Cairn had just installed a new connector tower.

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William browsed for a bit before closing the connector, too stressed about the recent discussion to actually enjoy his pastime. He decided to sleep it off and try to be productive the next day to keep himself busy.

He was gorging on his breakfast when Elira found him in the inn’s dining area. William handed the connector back to the demon and wisely ignored the raised eyebrow at him.

“I’ll look for our fourth member, go tour Azrael in the Towering Cairns... or something,” he said in between bites and added as an afterthought, “and try to get him in other colors, he looks too suspicious in all black.”

Elira seated herself at the table and waved the waiter for her breakfast, “Okay, but you can’t avoid him forever.”

William gave the demon a full smile, “Don’t worry I won’t... besides, I like his face too much to avoid him for too long.”

She rolled her eyes at him, “You like every attractive face so I’m not surprised.”

“Hah! So you do find him attra-- Hey!” William accused with a point of his finger but the demon tried to bite his finger off so he pulled it back to his chest and gave her a narrowed glare.

“Don’t test my patience so early in the morning,” she warned him by pointing her tail in his direction.

The breakfast remained silent after that and William said his goodbyes to the demon after finishing his own meal. He still wasn’t prepared to face Azrael so he decided to make his escape before the black haired man went down for breakfast.

It wasn’t his first time in the city so he didn’t meander around and headed straight to the Merc Hall. It was close to the stone walled inn where they stayed the night so he arrived in the bustling building a few minutes later.

The Hall was full of mercenaries rushing to begin their day with a mission, eager to start early and hoping to finish them before nightfall. Most of the missions being obtained at this time were the routine extermination and gathering quests, where local mercs help in managing the population of the monsters nearby and in picking up common materials that were used in the city.

William waited for the rush to subside, not wanting to trouble the people who relied on such missions for a living. Once the counters weren’t swamped anymore, he approached the one who handled team registrations and missions.

“Hey Ecco,” he waved at the smiling receptionist, “not bad for the morning rush, huh?”

“Will, this counter is for team missions,” the man politely reminded him, “unless you and Elira finally started one?”

“Yep, should have three names registered already,” he rested his arms and elbows on the counter and slouched his body in front of it, “I’m looking for the fourth one, anyone you can recommend?”

“Familiarity and synergy are important in a team,” the man fixed his glasses and started operating his connector, “you should be looking for a person in your city of operation, why here?”

William scratched his head, “Uhh... you know how Elira has some kind of ‘reputation’ in The Bloodied Borough...”

“A reputation that’s also well known here,” Ecco gave him another polite smile, “a fierce demon who eats the souls of her enemies.”

His mouth curled down at the receptionist, “which isn’t true… well, she’s definitely fierce but her constitution doesn’t work like that.”

“You know there aren’t many constitution holders in our backwater cities,” Ecco laughed at his offended frown, “people should be rushing to be part of your team but they prefer to believe in dubious rumors.”

“Ugh, I warned her to let the insults pass...” he rubbed his face with his hands to stop his rant, “just find me someone, okay?”

The receptionist went back to his connector, “Requirements?”

William tried to remember Elira’s demands for their teammate, “a short range fighter with an affinity in ground energy or someone able to transmute their energy with earth property.”

“We’re also planning on taking missions difficult for our rank so someone capable and willing to do those kinds of missions,” he continued with his other requirements and added a compromise, “if you can’t find someone then water energy will do too.”

“Makes sense, the two of you are already pretty strong for Journeymen anyway,” the receptionist nodded at his requests, “anything else?”

“Someone unattractive, or at least someone less attractive than me,” he added shamelessly that earned him a condescending look from the other man.

“Dare I ask, why?”

“Our third member is already pretty close to Elira despite their short acquaintance, they seem to have bonded over something -- it’s ridiculous,” William tapped his fingers on the marble counter, “now, I don’t mind it if they get together, just that if they plan to have a third party I hope they would choose me.”

He straightened his back, puffed out his chest, and declared righteously, “I can’t have our fourth member bumping me down the queue so…”

“You’re hopeless…” Ecco lifted his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose, “strangely enough, I have the perfect candidate for you... he won’t mind Elira’s reputation either.”

“Really?!” William closed his face and the other man backed off at the sudden invasion of personal space, “Wait… he won’t be someone weird right? Actually no, scratch that… he can’t be any weirder than our third member.”

“He won’t be weirder than you, that’s for sure…” the receptionist mumbled under his breath and retrieved the information from his connector.

“Journeyman rank-3, ground elemental energy specialist. He left his contact address here,” the receptionist gave him a piece of paper with an address in it, “I’ll send him a message through connector so he knows that you’re dropping by.”

“I’m not familiar with the address written here,” William scratched his head and asked for directions, “any good landmarks I could find?”

“Just make your way to the Blue Cairn and ask the residents there for that address.” Ecco sent him away with the piece of paper and a ‘go find out for yourself’ when he tried acquiring more information about the suggested man.

He left the building and browsed the sky for a bluestone tower; he could see it in the far distance and with a deep sigh, prepared himself for a long walk throughout the city.

William was starting to figure out the identity of their mysterious fourth member, the sudden decrease in foot traffic of humans and part-humans in the streets clueing him in. He was a hundred percent sure when he arrived at the Orley settlement built around the Blue Cairn.

Ground Orley, a ground elemental specialist that no human would find attractive.

William couldn’t help but chuckle at Ecco’s perfect suggestion for a teammate. He didn’t know if the non-humans knew how to fight as there wasn't a mercenary Orley in The Bloodied Borough; they seemed so peaceful, just watering plants and helping to manage the structures of the city whenever he saw them.

He was expecting curious stares in the settlement but he was ignored by the non-humans who continued their tasks; talking to each other in their own language, walking with a destination in mind, doing chores, and other mundane jobs you would normally see in a human residential area.

William didn’t know how to navigate through the settlement so he resolved himself in asking one of the rock-skinned people kneeling silently on the ground.

“They are resting. Can we help you?”

A high pitched voice interrupted him as he was about to reach the gley. He turned around and saw the source, a brown-barked fley with long green leaves as her hair.

“Sorry... I didn’t know,” he apologized and tried handing out the piece of paper to the fley, “could you… give me directions to this address, please?”

The fley’s green eyes glanced at the paper and with a simple ‘follow us’, turned around and walked away from him. He followed along the plant-woman, observing the different houses shaped like a mound but he couldn’t detect any differences between them.

They stopped in one of the identical mounds, the fley just pointing at it with her stumped wrists before leaving him alone. William stared at the wooden door and decided to finish his business early, hoping that he wasn’t overstepping some sort of Orley tradition that would end with him crushed between boulders.

He was about to knock when the door opened by itself, a towering rock-skinned man appearing behind it.

The gley was a head taller than him, with hoofs instead of feet and legs slightly bent at the knee. His whole body was covered in dark colored rocks that fit around his body like puzzle pieces, a face with two bright colored rock for eyes and large underbite jaw that seemed detachable from his head.

“Will. Come in.” A gravelly voice was heard coming from the gley despite its unmoving jaw. “Heard about you. We are Drukvu.”

William entered the rock covered mound and was surprised at the cleanliness of the place. He was expecting soil and mud inside the house but the smooth and marbled floors shattered his prejudices against the non-humans.

However, the lack of furniture and other household items were expected, with only a counter built on one side of the wall and a connector sitting atop of it.

“We are sorry. Not human friendly. Sit on floor.” Drukvu folded his legs forward and kneeled on the smooth floor and waited for William to do the same.

He decided to spare his knees and sat comfortably in a crossed legged position not far from the gley. They stared at each other for a minute before William got tired of waiting for the other man to speak.

He went straight to the point, “We’re looking for our fourth member for a Journeyman Team and I heard you might be interested.”

“Yes. If you will take Orley.” The gley’s gravelly voice sounded again and he wondered how could the man speak without moving its jaws.

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” William waved his hands in dismissal at Drukvu, “though, I’d need to know how good you are in earth element abilities.”

“Gley are best. Ground Elemental Spells.” the stone man’s face didn’t change but he could hear a hint of pride from its statement.

William stood up and waved for the gley to follow him outside but Drukvu remained sitting and was looking at him with a tilted head.

“Well... we need to test that, don’t we?” William puffed out his chest and placed his hands on his hips.

“Let’s fight.”

End of Chapter 14