“,” howled Karastak, a pale skinned and silver-haired Goliath with sharp facial features, with a faded blue robe upon his person. He pointed a staff of oak as tall as he with a diamond spike set at the top which released the bolt towards a group of five pig-faced, pink-skinned creatures called Orcs. Each of which wore loose leather trousers whilst their fat bellies drooped over them, and gripped a two metre tall iron tipped spear of poor quality.

He was tasked with clearing out a den of the monsters in a nearby cave next to the mountainous town of Orley. It was here that he came to after running away from the soldiers nearly a month prior, and had found his way into the hands of the local Adventurer's Guild. Of whom were surprised that he was an Enchanter, but more so when he was able to disarm and win against the Guild's Trial Judge to see where he would be placed. Though a few called it “cheating”, he did not do such a thing, and instead invoked his in order to blind and subdue the judge by dousing him with water and frost. Thereby placing him within the Silver A Class, and was given a badge with the image of a mountain and a mining pick etched upon the surface to denote the region of where he was from.

After gaining such a badge, Karastak moved about, completing minour quests such as escorting Herb Gatherers, helping to man the walls of the town when a few roving monsters appeared, and to patrol the outside region where a few farms lie. When he gained the rank of Silver B, however, he took it upon himself to complete the more difficult trials on his own. Therefore, the first to appear was a subjugation quest to hunt down and eradicate the twenty Pig-Orcs which had appeared within an iron mine's abandoned cave system.

The Guild did not know why or how they got there, but needed them gone before they became a threat. Therefore, he took it upon himself to do just that, enjoying the sense of liberty of being alone, and the exhilaration of hunting down monsters.

After receiving permission to enter the mine by the Foreman, he almost immediately came upon a small group which might be sentinels or even scavengers. He did not know, and regardless, released a dark bolt of lightning towards them after channeling his mana through the staff itself. Of which landed on the closest, electrifying the body as it squealed in a painful surprise before collapsing to the ground, smoking and sizzling whilst giving off the aroma of burnt bacon.

Karastak grinned as he channeled more mana into the staff, before pointing it towards the remainder of the group, “!” After which twenty motes of orange flames shot out simultaneously from the tip of the staff as he laughed uproariously. For such a skill did not fly straight ahead, but in a spray within a 45 degree angle of where the spell was pointed. Thereby ensuring the maximum amount of damage with minimum effort.

“[It's a good thing your spell doesn't do much damage, not like your fireballs, or else the whole cave might have collapsed,]” called out Azazel, a child-like entity with a mane of silver-white hair, glowing white orbs for eyes, a tanned complexion, and wore a dress made up of shadows with a floral pattern of roses about her dress. Her body was ethereal, as her physical form was situated elsewhere within a white Void Space near the world itself, which was called Terra.

A tiny squeak was heard above her head, and upon peering up, saw a small, white bat with beady red eyes which glowered off towards her master, Karastak. The pair had bonded, soul to soul, during the events where he had been slain after taking on a Goblin Lord and its horde. After which Azazel went and retrieved his soul from the River Styx after bribing him with the creature. Of which was not only a bat, but an immature Mother of the Devourer Demon race, and after being bound to the Goliath, was able to eat all sorts of delicious foods.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he grinned, “,” and directed the blast of air towards the entryway. Whereupon his grin stretched further as it caused a few people to squawk with surprise from the sudden burst.

“What the-?” called out one of the miners, “You okay down there, Karas?”

“Yup,” he responded with a laugh, “Sorry for the sudden burst, but there's a lot of dust down here.”

“I'll say.”

After which, Azazel giggled as she walked up to the robed Goliath with her hands behind her head, whilst the little bat, whose name was Little Mother, alighted herself atop his head. “Ready to continue?”

“[Yep!]”

“Squeak!”

*****

A heavy sigh echoed throughout a study room where two old men sat across from each other upon cream coloured sofas. Where one was obviously a silver haired and sharp featured Elf that had been alive for many centuries, wearing a robe of green satin with a heavy chain of gold-entwined leaves stretching down to his solar plexus. Upon the end of the chain was a disk of Mithril with the etchings of a unicorn and a tree upon it. This one sat with one leg over the other whilst sipping on a glass of brandy which was the local brew, and glanced across towards his counterpart with faded, gold irises.

The other was a Human of sixty summers, and wore a midnight-blue robe made up of silkweave. His own shoulder length hair had long since greyed out, but the Elf could still find a few earth brown strands hiding amongst the smoky strands. The Human's facial features contained many wrinkles, whilst the other was still as smooth as if he was three hundred years young, and was the cause of many a concerned older woman who desired smooth skin, rather than crow's feet or other wrinkles.

This one also wore a chain, but instead of a flashy gold and Mithril medallion, it was a white sash with gold and silver filigree depicting one of many deities the Humans worshiped. Of which the Elf believed it was an older God, but could not be certain. Instead, the Elf asked, “Grayson, what is it that you wished to ask me about?”

To which the Humans called Grayson sighed, “The matter is of one of the newer recruits of the local Adventurer's Guild, Tanin.”

“Oh?” Tanin raised an elegant eyebrow, “Is it the one called Karas the Enchanter?”

“Yeah, that one. He may be more trouble than he's worth right now.”

“Why do you say that?” the Elf drank a little of the liquor.

However, he spat it out when the words, “Because he angered Duke Orvil and his daughter Sophie,” reached his ears.

“How did he do that? The Duke rarely, if ever, gets angry at someone, and everyone is always happy and helpful towards him and his family. How did some Silver Ranker anger him? Especially when his brother is King Samiah of New Wair?”

“By not giving Sophie his little white bat, is how,” grumbled Grayson, “You know how she is allowed one gift every year as a Name Day gift?” At the Elf's nod, he continued with, “Well, as the girl was being driven around the countryside, her and her father stopped in our town for the night.

“Karas was sitting at a table, feeding his little pet a few tidbits of raw meat, when the daughter spotted the duo and immediately rushed over with the intent of snatching the creature away. Before she could do so, it squeaked and flew away before returning to lie atop his head, where she tried to coax it down so that she may pet it.”

“How did Karas take it?” Tanin asked, dreading what was to come next. For the tantrum of Lady Sophie was legendary in the backwater towns such as this one and many others, as she was instrumental in many lives being damaged because she was denied. Especially when her father was the King's own brother.

“He stood up and left with a frown, going towards the stairs when she called out to her father that she wants his bat. After which their guards surrounded him and tried to get him to fork over the little critter with great sums of money, but did not take it. He even said, and I quote, 'Little Mother is not for sale, and you would do well to let me by so that I may rest for the coming dawn.'”

“Uh? What?”

“That's the exact same response as everyone else, and they let him by soon afterwards, but the next day he was forced to meet with her father, and you know how he could be very, very persuasive when he wishes to?” After the Elf nodded, Grayson continued with, “Well, the Duke couldn't even make Karas change his mind. Not with gold, the promise of stewardship, knighthood, nothing. It was as though he was immune to the charms of the Duke.”

“Gods, Grayson, and Duke Orvil has at least a 50 CHA stat. How did Karas get through his innate Charm?”

“We don't know,” the Human shrugged slowly, stretching out his hands as he did so, “What we do know is that several someones tried to kill Karas, both inside the town and outside. Each time this occurred, a head was placed on a spike outside the gate, and they were all high levels, too.”

“What were their classes?”

Grayson got up and shuffled over to an old, worn desk where he sat behind it and began to pull out several sheets of parchment, then brought them over. Whereupon he leafed through them, his eyes glancing over a few before passing them off to Tanin. “Outside the gate were a few attacks by Monster Hunters and Tamers, some Rogues with the Assassin Subclass, and one enthusiastic Warrior with a Berserker Subclass.”

Tanin, on the other hand, sifted through these reports with ease, his hands shaking as he finished whilst setting them down next to himself. “Gods,” was all he said, downing the last of his brandy before standing tall and walking over to a tray upon a counter near the desk. Of which held a glass decanter filled with the same amber coloured liquor that he drank before, and brought it with him to the sofa. Whereby he poured himself an almost full glass of the liquid, and downed it all before turning back towards his Human counterpart, “Gods.”

“Yeah,” Grayson rubbed the back of his neck, “The worst ones were the assassins inside the town. No one knows where they came from, or what happened.”

“What do you mean what happened? Didn't you say their heads were placed on spikes at the gate?”

“Well yes, but every time we sent for a Diviner, they could never tell us anything beyond the person's name and occupation,” he held up a hand and gave over the rest of the parchments, “That's everything we know. Every time there's been a Divining, it all came back the same. The assassin entered the inn where he slept, disappeared, and their head appeared on a spike outside the city with no one ever seeing what happened. Even when he had guards watch the spikes, they all said the same thing: 'One second there was nothing, then there was a head that was terrified of something.'

“It's as if a deity is watching over him.”

“There probably is, and if so, then he's probably a Hero of some sort. What else happened?”

“Well,” Grayson sighed slowly, got up, and retrieved another piece of parchment before handing that over as well, “after the seventh incident, he went and grabbed myself, a priest, and someone with the Scribe Class to transcribe everything that was revealed next...” Another sigh was released as the Elf waited patiently for a time, “Karas and Little Mother are Soul Bound to one another. He even had the title, and the priest determined that the binding took place five weeks ago, a week before he showed up here.

“After which the assassinations stopped, but now the Duke wants me to remove Karas from the Adventurer's Guild or else we'll lose funding.”

“Why does he want him removed? And were you able to see his full stats?” Tanin looked at his friend and counterpart with an incredulous look.

“No. We couldn't seen them, only the title equipped and I don't know. Maybe it's because many things cannot happen to him if he's still a part of the Guild? Like the protection against conscription, having to pay border crossing taxes, and the like? I don't know, but we can't lose funding over one Guild member, even if he's a Silver Rank B.”

“Wait,” the old Elf glared at Grayson, “He's an SR-B after only one month?”

“Um... yes? He was at Level 12 when he got here, but since he's been completing one quest after another, the whole town can vouch for his competence. Not only that, but since he's now at Level 18 from the assassination attempts to grab his Soul Bound pet, he was bumped to Silver Rank B. It would have been a C, but he needed a Knight's recommendation, or half a dozen city officials to be ranked up to that. Since we're a mining town, it wouldn't work.”

Tanin gave a heavy sigh, and actively drank from the decanter, “You've made a mess of things,” to which the old man flinched visibly, “Well? What do you want me to do? I'm not in the habit of killing Guild Members.”

“No. I wouldn't want that,” he quickly shook his head, “Just... take him away from here. Please. We need the funds to keep the town safe.”

“Fine,” drawled Tanin, then gave a disgusted sigh full of scorn at the cowardice and incompetence of the Human Guildmaster.

*****

Karastak

{Race: Goliath (Vampire; Energy)}

{Age: 25 (1 month)} {Soul Age: ∞ Potential}

{Level: 18} {STR: 28; DEX: 28; CON: 32; INT:42; WIS: 45; CHA: 40}

{Health: 164/164} {Mana: 180/180}

{Class: Enchanter} {Subclass: Wordsmith}

{Skills: ;

;

; ; ; ; ;

}

{Passive Skills: ; ; }

{Titles: Immovable Object; One Who Seeks Knowledge; Vampire Lord; Soul Bound}

{Titles Equipped: Soul Bound}