The adventures in Arkantos

“Rumble, rumble, rumble”

“Lad, we’re here! The capital city; Arkantos”

“Hm?”

Opening the heavy eyes, he was blinded until the bright sun was covered by a tower. Trying to get up, the warmth of the girl held him down. He pushed her over to the edge, revealing dry drool near her lips. Looking around instead, he saw the tall stone walls reaching half the size of the towers and at the gates there was two large tabards, both identical with a yellow elk and a white shield crest. Impressive. He thought.

As the brown horses walked through the bridge on top of a large dam that surrounded the city Arkantos, he shook the girl as the wagon passed by travelers and traders. “We’re here apprentice”

She woke up, scrubbed her eyes and tried to look around, “Where are we?”

“Arkantos, capital city of the Photos at the north eastern parts of the west continent. Stick close to me or you’ll get lost”

“Yes…” she muttered, searching for his hand on the wheat.

He grabbed the soft hand and asked “Sir, where are you heading to?”

“Uh, well, I was planning to drop you guys off near the gates, is that okay?”

“Fair enough, thanks for the ride”

The old man scrubbed his head, “Heh, everything for young folks”

He parked on the street near the gates, the streets that stretched so far until a fountain at the town square covered the rest. Large structures on the side hid the alleyways, citizens walked around happily with their baskets or tools. Guards with heavy armor and green tabards patrolled, as the white clouds above them passed by one by one.

The magician and the girl left the wagon, waved to the kind old man who replied with the same, he turned around the corner with the horses and vanished behind the buildings.

The girl got closer, in a way that would mistake you as lovers, she asked “Master, what do we do now?”

He frowned, calling him Master sent a shiver down his spine. He patted the head and said, “Call me Tony, apprentice. Lets start by finding a place to grab a meal before we move on”

She nodded, face shrouded by the red hood and followed him as he made his way towards the town square.

“Oi! Guard” Someone patted Tony on the shoulder, “Whose family are you protecting?”

Gazing upon the soldier that stopped him dead on tracks, the soldier wore a green cape decorated the same as the tabards with a yellow elk and a shield crest. Oh, a magician with the skills to avoid the cloak’s illusion… Wait a minute, Old man? No it can’t be...

“Family?”

The soldier rose an eyebrow, “Yeah, the fancy clothed girl next to you, isn’t she a upperclass?”

“No, but I can understand, how you could easily mistake this cloak on my apprentice as something only those with money could obtain.”

He frowned, “May I take a look?”

“No”

The man Ignored the reply, pulled over the hood, revealing her black and white hair. Surprised by the unknown hand, the girl trembled behind Tony.

Why did you even bother to ask in the first place… Tony questioned himself, realising his mistake of not stopping the guard in the first place.

“White hair? Beastmen blood!”, He said, stepping backwards and readied a lightning spell that scattered blue sparks onto the streets as it chirped like thousands of birds. Curiously citizens were attracted and started to gather around the scene, even though they knew that it wasn’t safe to watch a fight that had a magician in it.

“Oi, what are you doing?”

The magician ignored him once again and sent the fully loaded chain lightning that roared as it traveled in the air towards the girl.

But Tony just swooped his hand in the air, creating a flame barrier that blocked the blast and left burning marks on the once beautiful street.

“Oi, Lemme guess, someone important to you died by a beastmen? Though, that doesn’t give you any reasons to attack an innocent girl.”

"Shut up! Your kin will pay for what you did" He scowled and readied another spell.

“STOP!”, someone then said, pushing away the public and pulled the shoulder of the green caped magician.

It was a old man with decorated heavy armor who held down the arm with the lightning spell and said “Are you an idiot? This is a neutral zone, we have no part of the war!”

“But!”

“Shutup! Come with me to the office, I will punish you myself!”

The magician clicked his tongue, “Sorry sir!”

“And what are you people looking at, nothing to see here! Move on!” the high ranked man warned the public and then turned around towards Tony. “On his behalf, as his officer I’m sorry” He bowed.

Tony scratched his cheek, “Don’t worry, just tell that blonde not to believe that everyone with beastmen blood inside of them is a bloody killer. Besides, she isn’t even a half blood...”

The old man bowed again, but the magician grinded his teeth, readied another spell but got pinched on the ear “Ouch! Aaaah! aaH!”, he was dragged away and vanished behind the public that went on with their daily life.

“Change of plans, we’ll head to the magician’s shop first. I’d better get some better equipment for my apprentice”

The girl nodded, held the hand tightly as he moved around the streets.

“Ding ding!”

“Welcome to Charlotte’s magicians shop!” A woman with a black robe greeted behind the counter.

“Ah, hi… May I take a look around?”

“Be my guest”

Tony took a glance on all the wares from robes, capes, cloaks, staves, rings, amulets and all kinds of equipments on display, they were made out of high quality materials, expensive at that, yet none caught his eye. “Hey, where is the real deal?”

The woman grinned, covered her lips with her icy cold fingers, “Oh, you got the magician’s eyes… The real wares are inside here” she said, opening the entrance to the back behind the counter.

Tony smiled, pulled the girl as he passed the bowing woman. Entering a room that revealed yet another shop with worn down equipments on display. No wonder they had the good looking goods outside, normal people would complain at their sight. Yet with a twist, equipments with a magical aura to them.

Passing one item after another, he picked up a red and black tattered cloak. A sapphire star amulet, green emerald brooch for the cloak, a bronze shaft with no blade, a black skirt, a shirt more fitting for a girl and finally a pair of long leather boots. The woman who looked identical to the one at the entrance, grinned. “Royal eyes, not magician’s sister...” she muttered.

Placing the wares on the counter, he said “I’ll buy these”

“That’ll be 16 gold and 21 silver”

The Apprentice nearly stumbled if it wasn’t the help of Tony, she had never heard of something that cost that much, though, not that she knew what he was buying...

“10 gold”

A drop of sweat rolled down from her forehead, the twin knew that customers like these was a pain in the ass.

“16 gold”

“11 gold”

“15 gold and a half”

“11 gold and 1 silver”

She forced a smile, “15 gold”

“11 gold and 2 silver”

Silence struck the room, it was her job to call the price, yet the young man before her threw smirks around and swayed the balance towards him. What a wretched bastard, she thought.

“14 and 58 silver, final or no sell”

“Ah…Fine… Wait, I only have 13 gold and 83 silver as you can see…”

“Fine!”

He smirked, handing over the money that she stowed away and later plopped down to the floor, crying behind the counter, she cursed the man.

“Do you guys have a dressing room?” He asked.

She pointed to a corner with tears, but she covered her bright red cheeks when he went inside together with the silhouette of a girl.

“Sit here” he said, placing her on a chair as she tried to look around.

Her cheeks started to burn, he undressed her once again without a care, starting with the shoes, cape, shirt and then the black pants. A breeze passed her delicate body as she plopped into the skirt. His warm hands touched her arm and back as he dressed her in a new shirt.

“Comfortable?”

“A bit too large…”

“Right, you’ll grow to fit it eventually…”

“CRACK!”

Hmm? Did I hear something break outside? No matter… The protective necklace.

Something cold and metallic chilled her neck, A star Amulet? she thought, after shaping it in her mind by feeling on the amulet. He then held her feet to the air, plopping them down into leather boots that reached her thighs with the briefs. While he tied them, she called “Tony”

“Yes?”

“... Why, do you want to pass the border?”

“I thought you wanted to learn magic, not ask questions. Besides, listening in to others conversation is not polite.” He said, though he actually meant the two outside the dressing room.

“Ah, sorry…”

Silence broke out between them as he tied the leather boots.

He sighed, “I need to explore the Labyrinths, I’ve heard that a few has been discovered beyond the borders”

“Labyrinths? Aren’t they filled with dangerous magical monsters?”

“Yes, but my master believes that what I seek is in one of them, never would I have thought that it was my only clue...”

“I hope you find what you seek”

Even though she couldn’t see, he looked away, “We’re done, let's go...”

She nodded, grabbed his coat and followed. Though, he instead held her hands.

“So cute! And please come again!” both of the clerks said, bowing and broke their magic staves in halves as the pair left the store, he shuddered, walked towards a bar nearby.

Opening the bar door, the stench of fresh beer covered their noses. Revealing a restaurant filled with tables and guests. “Welcome!” A barmaid said, dressed in white and red. “Is it only you two?”

“Yeah”

“That table over there, please”

Sitting on the chairs around the round tables, a menu was placed at front of Tony. “Eh, I’ll pick this, that and that, and a glass of water for the girl”

Writing something on a piece of paper, she ripped it apart and said “That’ll be 75 coppers”

Handing over 1 silver, he said “Keep the change”

She nodded with a smile and left. A few minutes later, she arrived with two plates of meat together with fried vegetables, a cup of beer and a glass of water. “Have a nice meal”

Picking up a fork and knife, he was about to eat until his apprentice asked “Tony, how should I eat?”

“Oh, that’s right… This will be your first training. Use your other senses and imagine the white plate at front of you, a large meat of any kind and a few side vegetables. Smell the aromatic meat, smell the vegetables, feel it with your fork and knife, the softness and warmth, even the taste. A good magician have the imagination, you’ll need it for the advanced training later”

She nodded and tried her best, though spilled on the table a few times. Or rather barely spilled, as Tony used wind magic to keep them on the air, laying them neatly back on the plate as he snickered and continued to eat and drink.

While he did, he could hear the word “Labyrinth” that caught his ear from a nearby table. It was a group of adventures made out of a archer, protector and magician.

“Hey, should we get a few more members before exploring the Labyrinth?” A man asked, clad in leather armor and a bow filled with magic aura.

“Yeah, it’s dangerous for only us three, hopefully we will also be the first one to clear it, since the adventurer's guild found it yesterday.” The woman said, hugging her staff on the chair.

“Where should we start then?” The muscular man wondered, rustling his steel plated armor and giant tower shield filled with magic.

“Well… How about we ask around in the town square or at the guild? Someone is bound to be interested” The magician answered.

Tony smiled, “Change of plans apprentice, wait here”

She nodded, trying to prick the meat with her fork but missed. She sulked...

Walking towards the group of adventures, he patted the shoulder of the magician and asked “Can I join the expedition? I’m a magician”

“Oh! one down! One more to go” The magician smiled with the other two and then added “So what Rank are you?”

Tony tilted his head, “Rank?”

“You know, the rank that shows your strength based on the amount of Labyrinths and quest you clear on behalf of the Guild”

“Eh, I never done anything on behalf of the guild”

The three adventures glanced at each other confused, turned around and whispered something like “Suspicious” to each other and then the magician asked “Oh? How about this then. How many have you cleared before?”

“Hmm… Over 9000?”

Their chairs fell onto the floor, causing a few other guest to check the cause, “No way! You must be lying…” They said, quietly picking up the chairs.

Tony laughed, “Of course I am lying. Truth be told, I have never left my house, not until a few days ago. But I can assure you of my skills”

“Well, if you say so, what affinity are you then?” The archer asked.

“Affinity?”

They facepalmed themselves, and then the archer signaled the magician to explain, “Well, you should know as a fellow magician that we usually only specialize on one main element. Right?"

"Yeah"

"Well it consist of Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Darkness, Light. After that, there is those that you obtain by combining them or advancing the element further, like water to lightning, like that incident half an hour ago near the gates, if you have heard of it”

Tony nodded, he also remembered the lecture by his master years ago.

“Also, there is those that specialize in more than one, though they are rare as it is extremely hard to control them, especially those with more than 2. Legends say, that a man once had full control of wind, fire and earth. Creating a giant meteor in the sky”

The archer with his arms crossed added “Hence it is important to know what you specialize in, so what affinity are you?”

“Hmm… I guess it is fire then?”

“Ah, nice! Our friend over here uses the light affinity and a tiny amount of water, meaning she is more of a healer, so we really needed more firepower” He said, patting the tall shoulder of the magician.

“Anyways, my manners, I’m Josh, the Magic archer and also the leader”

“Cratz, the Magic Shield protector”

“Unh, the Healer”

“Heh, Tony, the fire magician” Tony replied, turning around and pointed onto his apprentice, “And that is my apprentice by the way, mind if she follows?”

“EEEeeeh?!”

“No no noo” Cratz shook his hands, “You know how dangerous it is in there? She is just a child!”

The others nodded.

“I told you, I can assure you of my skills. Besides, she is blind. Do you want me to leave a blind girl alone in an unknown city without a guardian?”

They turned around, whispered once again and then faced Tony, “Very well… But don’t blame us if it gets hairy inside there. But just in case, we’ll try to find a few more to help us. So let’s meet at the southern gate in… How about in 1 hour?”

Tony nodded, waved as they left the bar with smiles. “Back to my cold refreshing beer, I guess… OI! Apprentice! Wait, that’s not food!”