I'm really enjoying writing the story at the moment, so I'm going to try and go back to daily chapters. I might miss a few days every week, but I'm definitely going to work on the story more than I have been.

Chapter 38: The Beginning of Alex’s Adventure

During the month that Trip had been working hard and training Alex had been travelling. It took him a day to leave the area where Trip and his uncle were, and he was really excited to finally do things to become more powerful. However, the moment he left he realised he did not really know what he could do to become more powerful. It would be ideal if he could find a tutor in fire magic, but he was unsure whether he would want to be restrained by a teacher or if he wanted to uncover the secrets of fire magic by himself. Overall he just wanted strength; however he also didn’t want to sacrifice his freedom in order to gain strength.

Alex looked up at the sun and felt a deep connection to it. The sun gave the world colour and it helped him when he was depressed because of his family. He opened his backpack and grabbed some food, but when he grabbed the food he felt something strange come with it. He looked at the piece of meat in his hand and saw that he had accidentally grabbed a purple card with his meat. At first Alex was confused, as he had no memory of having such a card be in his possession, but later he remembered what the purple card was.

“This is the purple card that woman gave to Trip!” Alex exclaimed.

Alex remembered that the strange woman gave this card to Trip because he was ‘Interesting’, but how did this get in his bag? The truth was that it was a complete accident. They used to share this backpack when they were travelling together and the purple card was always in there. Trip apparently didn’t need anything in the bag so Alex just took it as it was. Alex was intrigued as to what this purple card was. The card was simply purple with a tiny emblem on the top right corner, which looked like a Y encased by a circle. He had no idea what that symbol meant, but he knew that there must be some deeper meaning behind it. Maybe it was some sort of family emblem? Alex decided that if he came upon a city then he would ask what it meant, but for now he couldn’t figure out anything about it so he decided to just put it in the back of his head.

Alex walked for three days, every day consisting of constant training, hard work, and walking. He didn’t even know which way he was walking. All he knew was that he felt a need to keep moving. It was almost something that he had to do, maybe it was a need he had developed when travelling with Trip.

On the fourth day Alex chanced upon a small village. There was a small inn, as it was close by a large road, and there were several houses and shops. Alex walked into the inn and looked around. The inn was fairly small, around two stories, which meant that there were only a limited amount of rooms. He could only hope that there was one left for him. Upon further inspection he saw that the majority of people sitting around in the inn were large burly men. It was rather funny for them to see a small child walking in with a confident swagger. Alex walked over to the reception of the inn and asked for a room.

“Sorry kid, we’re out.” The receptionist said, with a slight mocking tone in his voice.

“Haha, if you want a room then you can fight one of us for it.” One burly man laughed.

Alex’s eyes lit up. It was clear that these men were warriors, which meant that as a mage he could easily defeat them. This was a perfect opportunity for to get a room. However, if he did use fire he might draw attention from people around him. He decided that he would defeat the man, but make sure that the fire would only hit him when no one else could see.

“Fine, I’ll accept your challenge. To the death?” Alex finally spoke

The man was shocked initially, but then he began to laugh and said “Sure then. To the death! Just don’t blame me when you are begging for me not to kill you.”

The rest of the men all turned to see the fight. This was a funny occasion. You didn’t get to see a child get killed every day.

The fight began, and since it was a battle to the death there were no rules. The reason Alex decided to do a fight to the death was because he probably wouldn’t be able to control his fire magic to a level in which he would be able to keep the other man alive. He also didn’t have the same feelings as Trip when it came to death. He would not hesitate to kill, and in a situation where the other man wanted to kill him as well then he felt his actions were quite justified. The first move was made by the man, who launched a powerful punch towards Alex. However Alex was very agile and he easily dodged such a heavy attack. He used his momentum to launch forward and jumped towards the man’s neck which was completely open. Alex wrapped his hands around the man’s throat and launched some fire which would attack the man internally. After a couple seconds of squirming the man collapsed, dead.

Alex jumped off the man’s corpse and took the key to his room. As he walked upstairs to his room he saw a thin man in black cloak smiling at him from the corner of his eye. Alex decided to pay no attention to this man and he just kept walking. The moment he reached his room he collapsed and woke up 8 hours later. In the morning he went downstairs and decided to ask the receptionist about the purple card, however he seemed to know nothing about it. Everyone was still slightly intimidated by Alex and backed off the moment he came close and attempted to speak to them. There was only one person that was clearly not afraid of him, that was the man in the black cloak.

Alex approached the man in black. “Hey, do you know what this card is?” he asked while holding out the purple card.

The man immediately tried to grab it, but Alex quickly moved his hand away before saying “Only look, no feel.”

The man grunted angrily and only looked. While the man was inspecting it Alex inspected him. The man was quite ugly, with a slightly disfigured face and many scars on any skin that could be seen. His eyes were dark brown and were borderline black. What was truly strange about the man was that Alex couldn’t hear his breath. Alex was surprised by how incredibly quiet the man was, and he seemed to understand that this man was truly strong.

After a couple seconds the man saw the symbol and immediately got down on one knee and bowed down to Alex.

“Are you sure you don’t know what that symbol is, good sir?” the man asked.

Alex was surprised. How powerful of a symbol could this be to make such a powerful person bow down so easily? “I do not know, a friend gave it to me. What is it?”

“It is a card that represents the large guild of assassins that exists in every city within the entire continent, called Daethia. This card represents a level of class within the guild and if used anywhere then everyone in the area must submit, or be willing to challenge you. However, to challenge a purple card holder could be considered suicide.” The man said

“How come you know this and no one else here does?” Alex asked. He felt that if the card was so powerful then the receptionist should at least know the symbol.

“Well… Nobody has used a card like this for many years, and if they don’t get a good look at the symbol then they would never be able to recognise it.” The man said.

Alex then looked at the man in front of him. He believed him. However, now that the man knew that this card wasn’t his he decided that this man would have to die. Alex quickly ran out and walked the large road towards the city. He assumed that the man would probably stalk him and eventually attack. So Alex made sure to prepare himself as best as he could.

As expected not even half an hour of walking on the road later the man attacked. The purple card was clearly worth a fortune and if this man would get it then he would be drowning in women, money, and anything he could possibly want. The man was experienced, and he saw that Alex had used fire magic when killing the other man back in the inn. This man wasn’t a mage, but he had killed many, and he definitely felt he had the ability to kill a small talented child.

Alex of course did not know of this man’s experience and even though he managed to dodge the initial attack by the man the second time he was not so lucky. The man used a dagger and threw it at Alex for his first attack, but when that missed he quickly picked it up and launched at Alex, stabbing him in the leg, which would cause Alex to lose mobility. Alex blindly shot fire towards the man but instead of it hitting him the man threw his cloak over the fire, causing it to dissipate, before jumping on top of Alex. The man stabbed the dagger towards Alex, but Alex managed to catch it right before it hit his face. He shifted his body weight and ended up having the man roll off of him, at that point Alex knew it was his chance to attack. He shot a continuous flame on the man’s face, completely burning him. During the screams Alex did not even flinch. Eventually he stopped with the fire and smashed the man’s face under his shoes. Screams erupted before eventually dying out.

After the man died Alex sat on the ground panting. He was covered in blood and he was hurt, but he had won. A smile appeared on his face as he realised that it was rather satisfying to kill a man who deserved death. After he cleaned himself and tended to his wound he began to walk towards the nearby city again. He remembered the man’s words: that the assassin’s guild was in every city.

He smiled while looking in the direction of the city and thought ‘I’m going to join Daethia!’