The following selection contains potential triggers including romance, graphic fantas violence, unclean language. If you are in an unfit state to view this content, view a safer title.
Prologue
It was the first time I had ever been awake for the entire night. It’s been fun spending time with my friends in Trialmaster HQ for a time...we’re stationed in a luxury conference and residential hotel in Lamplight Town. The day before, we had just completed some quests in the Academy and now we have Florian, the Plant Warden, back again to help us. We had all had our turns defeating monsters breaking inside of that tower and now we all have aching feet to prove it. Finally, we got word from our Leader that we had done enough for a while and that we should let Gale have fun breaking more shadow locks while we wait here.
I’ve been reading up on ancient arcane relics last night in one of the books I stole from the Academy archives - so many of them, all lost and hidden with time. If only I could conjure them from books with special spells - but I didn’t have any power to.
I had fun in my hotel room on the top floor of the ten floors, put in a nice three bedroom suite to share with the rest of the crew with me. It quickly got boring after everyone fell asleep too fast - I returned all of my pets with me into my wand to rest - all of them. Seraph, Shrapnel, Scrooge, and Meteorite are all snug in their storage. Rhett’s with me (asleep of course, he needs it so I can practice some charms on him), and he had his cute pets stored away in his wand too - Drake, Ri, and Gryphon are all stored to sleep for the night. No other people in my room currently have pets with them - Princess, Carter, Quinn, Amber, and Daniel are all sleeping here.
I keep watch at a desk in the corner of the bedrooms where everyone lays in slumber, but then was woken up from my dreary trance by a suddenly loud gust of wintry wind slamming against the opaque, large glass window on the far side of the only door looking out into the streets of the History District. There, I hear more ice spells being cast, reminding me of the sound of a metal sword being drawn dramatically from its scabbard. It was yet another scout for the Puppet Master, a member of the Order of Influence that ambushed a commoner wizard and is now battling it. The next moment, an ear-splitting scream could be heard after the rumble of a large icicle can dimly be seen falling onto the wizard that dared to challenge the scout to a spar. They were badly injured.
In a rush, I made a tottering combination of a tiptoe and race-walk out of the suite chamber door and sprinted the rest of the way downwards from the staircase just outside. I made it into the first-floor lobby of the hotel, with a dwarven receptionist turning to me in concern if I had guzzled too many potions. I looked around to see an otherwise empty yet brightly lit lobby and made a beeline for the door.
I was quickly outside in the tempest-like exterior and found a wizard collapsed on the ground with shattered ice cubes all around it. It was wearing a hunter coat and hunter hat, with a clawed staff and even duelist boots to prove its skill. Not tonight. I moved my weary eyes around the scene to see a white wolf in polar blue armor snarling and circling the unconscious wizard. A Frostfang. These were the most formidable of the scouts sent out - all the others were just Squally, Snoots, or Ivory TripTrop...none else this powerful.
I stayed beside the door and searched through my bag to put on a Powerful Fire Relic. With this, I had clasped it to my neck as I had Shrapnel redesign my relics into choker necklaces with the same effect. With my paw-shaped wand I cast a volcannon spell straight under the Frostfang, it howled as it was launched slightly into the air. I had done it again once more after one of its Snowling Balls had run into a hedge many meters from my person. Finally it disappeared into the hedges behind it and went out of sight. A few small magic snowflakes in a bundle landed right nearby, so I picked it up and stored it in my inventory to give later as dues to the Leader of the Trialmaster.
It was then my business to to a standard frisking of the unconscious commoner wizard, because the Trialmasters had the rights to take what was needed from the folks in turn for their revival. So I quickly patted down the wizard for loose currency and found a whole 50,000 gold, a few hundred big coins as a lump sum of about 500, about a hundred bits of wood, and other event currencies in less than ten in quantity each. It was standard for us to take all of the wood we could get, all of the gold we could get, and only ten percent up to 100 (whichever cheaper) of the big coins. I stashed all of what I could get away in my sack and used a spare hundred gold to perform my healing spell I had learned in training. 100 gold had always been a proper sacrifice of metal for whichever deity needed it for me to cast the healing spell.
A strong current of velvet-magenta energy flowed from my own self to my wand, which then created a tendril of the same color and extended to touch the body of the wizard. Quickly the tendril pulled back and he was healed, but was sleeping. Since the common practice of stealing and healing wa not complete, all I had to do was give him or her a written warning to stay safe and join us trialmasters. I took out a piece of parchment and a magical ink-replenishing quill and wrote the note to the wizard. I tucked it into its pocket and dragged it over to a nearby street lamp, keeping it on its side as not to look too conspicuous if it was ever found.
Another harsh rush of wind covered my face in bitter snow. I decided to drag the wizard inside of the hotel just to keep it safe for the night. In a matter of ten minutes, I haggled the dwarven receptionist at the front desk to let him sleep in the lobby for just 500 gold. Easy - I used what I stole from the wizard to further pay for his night. Job done, I headed up to sleep in my suite with my allies.
Just then, I heard the front doors behind me open and a petite wizard girl with long, split-ended, bile/kelp-green hair enter wearing a parka. I couldn’t even see any part of her face or eyes, even her hands. She wore tattered, threadbare gloves while her covered fingers held the neck of a patchy burlap sack that could fit a whole Fathom inside. She dragged it with her and the double-doors creaked behind her.
“What do you want, Marie?” the dwarven receptionist imperatively asked, clearly impatient as though the last time the two were together the hooded wizard owed her money.
The parka girl spoke wearily, “Vending rights today. I’m going to sell some of these items for spare water pets I could use.”
“Not again after what happened with the Squarrel incident.”
“What?” I asked, confused.
“It’s none of your business, girl. Go to bed in your suite, you look like you’re on alcohol potions.” growls the dwarven receptionist fiercely.
I take out my Trialmaster badge from my rucksack slowly and show it to the ladies. “I’m an elite Trialmaster, ladies. I must inquire in this to justify our quarrel.”
“Since when do we have a government run by people that aren’t the Wardens?” scoffs the dwarf.
“Since our Leader was given permission to do so. Let’s not argue - we’re all probably just overtired. Let me say that if anyone is vending things here without the permission of the hotel staff, than those vendors must leave immediately. Shoo, wizard!” I strictly speak in accordance to the way I was taught.
“Fine,” the hooded parka girl spits, “I’ll make sure that I break even tomorrow, at least.”
She runs off and into the dark tempest of the break of dawn outside, and I didn’t see her for the rest of the day. I finally had some sleep when I returned, and the entire day the team spent in comas from all of the work we did earlier. We finally woke up to the sound of a knocking at the suite chamber door the morning after the morning of that incident.
Chapter One - Conference. NOW.
I had jolted awake with my head lying on the corner desk of the main suite bedroom, my body resting on the down-stuffed cushions on a wooden chair. Turning around to see everyone slowly awakening, I heard more, anguished rapping at the suite door. I replied, “Coming swiftly!” loud enough to fully awaken the others in the suite and looked through the peephole centered at eye-level at the door. It was a familiar siamese cat that had then changed back from its morph into an impatient-looking fairy guide, wearing a brown overcoat, aviation goggles over its head, and a large, long angel-wing-like staff my its side planted on the carpeted ground. She clearly has been impatient for a long time like this...and it was in fact the Leader!
I fling open the door to see he towering over me with her own lavender-lilac fairy wings flapping at an otherworldly slow pace behind her to keep her afloat. “I’ve waited a half-minute.”
“I apologize for my severe tardiness, Leader.” I speak.
She abruptly states, barely cutting off my last syllable, “We have no time for this nonsense. In twenty minutes, a conference on the second floor starts with a few other elite trialmasters staying here. It’s more important than the majority of the other conferences we participated in. Move quickly and get everyone up and ready in the first ten, the other ten would need you getting there. I’ll be there too, at the Conference Room 2A. Got it?”
“Yes, Leader. I will be there and so will the others.”
“Glad to know. See you soon.” the Leader speaks, snapping his unoccupied fingers and teleporting away.”
I rush back inside to share the news, everyone already awake and grooming themselves for the conference except for the married couple, already planning on heading out and traveling to another place.
“Aria, we’ll be heading out soon for our vacation to the Lost Island. Dan and I will be checking ourselves out in the next few minutes,” warns Amber. “so we’ll just leave a 500-gold tip for the laborers while you guys go to wherever.”
I agree, “Thanks. We’ll try to move out for the next mission Admin’s going to give us, right?”
Rhett, Princess, Quinn, and Carter whine in unison, “We will, Aria.”
“Okay! We have to get there soon, so I’m just going to the restrooms.” I say when I leave them, so I head down the steps to the first floor, entering the first door at the bottom for “witches’ room,” and find myself a stall.
Welp, I enter one and lock the door. Luckily the toilet had nothing inside but clear water, hard to find even though most people have cleaning liquid around. I take out my wand from my inventory and cast a small charm, instantly relieving me of messy hair, unclean clothes, and my worries. That was refreshing, even more than getting hit with a lukewarm Downpourtal spell on a sweltering Summer day.
I took a few more minutes in there to gather together my spirit and self, and headed straight back upstairs to the same suite that the others were in. Amber and Daniel had already left, no trace of their richness behind except for vestiges of the tip they left on the corner desk with its lamp turned off, me assuming that one of my friends took most of it as usual.
“Ready, friends?” I ask as everyone turns to see me inside the room; Rhett is already completely ready in his uniform similar to mine, bright-eyed as always and ready to go; with Princess, Carter, and Quinn in the same uniform as the rest of us but looking tired together.
All of them nod, some just tired from sudden movement after their sleep. Suddenly after staring into space, I feel some squirming inside of my inventory. Deciding to see what it is, I open it up and out pops none other than Noot!
Everyone stares. Noot says some words rapidly in dismay, his cheeks red and flustered. After he finishes taking five seconds to do so, I ask, “Noot, can you repeat that slower?”
“There’s no time to explain!” Noot squeaks, “Follow me downstairs to the lobby, this is bad!”
Everyone senses the imperativeness and urgency in his comically high-pitched voice. We all file out quickly from the suite, taking everything with us as we’ll have to check out anyway today, it’s out mission. Luckily I had everything packed in my inventory, so I had to just run with Noot as we headed downstairs first. It was tiring because of me having to do this so many times, but it was “good exercise,” as I remember Scientist Slimerella lecturing lazy loitering wizards in the Town Square weeks ago as she was giving a thesis about inactivity.
Noot and I sprinted down the hallway, and all I could hear was the fear repeating in his words and my two feet slapping on the linoleum below. We race around to the lobby in fear of whatever is occurring.
We finally get there, me panting, Noot fretting. He points with his stub for a hand, “There, kid, is our problem.”
Standing in the hallway is none other than Dargon, the familiar boss dragon that I loathed from the moment it first hit me with a small Fireball when I conquered the Dark Tower. Apparently pretty angry, he was romping around the area and attacking all of the wizards and non-human entities weaker than him. The linoleum on the ground was scratched, some of the chiseled tiles beneath it cracked, and the red velvet carpeting and benches scraped, broken, and torn right through. The ceiling was also unstable; Dargon could just jump up ten more feet and his charcoal-colored ram horns would break right through. Spells of all elements were cast against the boss, and even I released a critical-hit Falling Star Smash in reflex to seeing it.
Noot, wide-eyed, dashes behind me and murmurs somehow loud enough to be heard over the casting of spells and shattering of glass, “I’ve never seen anything with such anger and power that was a true monster. If we don’t defeat it, Dargon could destroy the hotel...the most huge money-maker in the entire area of Lamplight Town!”
“Noot, I need your help. You can be brave, right?” I ask of him. He nods hesitantly, unsure of what he’d do. “Okay, find the nearest Floatling, patch of dirt, pile of a hundred wooden slabs, and collection of titan shards, we’re making a superweapon.”
“It would be more efficient if we get wood and titan shards from your inventory.”
I knew that I had thousands of shards and thousands of wood. I rolled my eyes and took out my collections of them, then pointing for Noot to get out of the hotel to find a Floatling and dirt. I watch as Noot zooms across the lobby and travels right through Dargon’s openings between his claws, lunging at a girl with a diamond wand and nothing more to defeat. I quickly defend her with a weak Volcannon that knocked both out of the way. In a matter of minutes of me casting spells and my late-arrival friends too, Noot returned with a tired Harvey and a flowerpot with purple flowers on a shrub inside.
“Woah, Noot...you don’t know what you’re doing! I can’t create a superweapon now!”
“We need this, or whoever’s controlling Dargon would earn a lot of revenue. If this is destroyed, where would the gold go?”
“Where would my SHOP go is the question. People could loot my armor!”
“Nice try, to take the titan shards of wizards and transform them into armor on the spot at your shops. It’s just...we need to create a superweapon now or we’ll have no chance of bringing GOLD revenue back to the town.”
“Fine.” Harvey mutters, barely audible under the crashing of overhead chandeliers and destructive flaps of dragon wings.
“Quickly, how to we set up one of those titan crystal superweapons? I think we need one ten times as strong as usual.” I order.
“Well ma’am, I need twenty wood for the base mechanics, and fifty for the crystal. However, the power must be increased by a tenfold, so five-hundred would do. Have them?”
I point to the pile I had already taken from my inventory. Harvey quickly pours the sinister, glowing, violet fragments of earth onto the bush and immediately they all change in a flash of light leaving me blinded for a few seconds. Harvey quickly installed these newly-formed crystals into the wooden base he created at lightspeed, and finally, a large titan crystal was made.
“Good?” Harvey asks impatiently, ready to float out of the door as fast as possible.
“Do you have anything else to offer? It might be dangerous to take a step closer to the door,” I warn, “after all, Grandoff has a thick, nasty tail that could leave you with slap burns worse than anyone's.”
“Fine, I’ll stay. I have the ability to use weak astral spells when given a weapon made of reformed titan shards...I can also use large astral spells when in contact with the crystal.”
“Good. It’s your duty now to stay here with Quinn. Use spells through the crystal and make sure they attack our intended target! Carter and Princess, you two gather...is there any way to recharged the shield emanating from the crystal if it loses power?”
Harvey answers, “The current or previous, if not current, event items can always be applied to the crystal through an astral projectile attack that would repair it. For only one Magic Snowflake at the current time, it can repair a regular crystal to its full levels. Since this one’s special, it needs ten.”
“Thanks. Okay, Carter and sis, please teleport out of the way and harvest more titan shards. Hurry!”
Carter’s eyes light up like bright, baby-blue stars, while his slicked-back hair now stands on end like raised hackles on a disturbed timberwolf. Princess and I both know that he freezes with joy whenever I give him an order, so she grabs his hand and she takes out fer Dream wand, teleporting the two away in swirling light. Then, they were gone. Rhett comes behind me and asks, “So what are we supposed to do?”
“Friend, we go to the conference room. Get the others already inside to help, even if it’s just maintenance workers. We need all we can get!”
“Okay, I’ll tag on behind if we find anything important on our way. Ri’s going to be our sleuth.” he answers, summoning his Sprike from his pawprint wand.
“Let’s take the stairs, make sure to stick to the sides in case the place shakes.” I reply, taking precautions.
The three of us run, and for our lives. Light and projectiles blast behind us and we barely make it to the stairs before something right in front of me makes me crash into it…
“Aria, Rhett, and Sprike, what are you doing running around in a fearsome manner?” is all I can hear after I double over in pain from the impact.
Chapter Two - Dragon Pesticides
Rhett speaks behind me, quivering, “Admin! We’re so sorry we got into this. Dargon has just barged in and -”
I cut him off, “I also apologize for bumping in, we had to save the hotel from collapse, ma’am.” I get up to my feet and look at the blurry shape of Leader in front of us.
“I accept your apology, Aria. Now, we need to postpone this meeting until Dargon is appeased. We can use dragon pesticides to get rid of him, find Mira Shade, or just attack it until it faints and we teleport it to good old Floor Fifty.”
“What’s dragon pesticides?” inquires Rhett, simultaneously when a wave of heat can be felt from down the hallway. A fire attack from Dargon must have crisped my friends like burnt rotisserie chicken charred with a Wildfire.
“A new chemical made of a strange shadow-ink concoction Scientists Slimerella invented and gave us. Just one dose of its medicinal form can knock any dragon out. One attack landing critically from its attack-application form can do the same. Having one does the damage of three Royal Roars.”
“Have any?” I ask, still rubbing my eyes.
“I have only the medicinal form on hand with me now, and only one. If it any is spilled or does not enter Dargon’s mouth, we have a problem.” Admin speaks.
Rhett complains, “Yeah, it’s too bad Mira Shade can’t just know where we are. She’s powerful, yet wasted it with Crios.”
Admin lightens up, “Eh, at least their proposal is not until many years later. C’mon, we have to get this delivered.”
It takes a minute back to the lobby and the four of us see Dargon and about a hundred wizard trying to fight it off with a combination of spells. Dargon is contained in the middle, but now he entire lobby is razed with cracks, dents, broken furniture, concave parts of the ceiling, and a shattered front area now open to the public to walk in. Every minute, more wizards walk in and gaze and the rampaging beast now leaving the barrier between him and the wizards as a pit of blackened dirt and singed rubbish. I can also see some assisting wizards running in and repairing the crystal with Magic Snowflakes, as well as also gathering behind them to cast spells through the crystal. Beam after beam of damaging light passes through the giant crystal, with Quinn taking the lead while Harvey just sits back as he has no weapon to use. However, a small, wooden crate appeared beside him with small bits of light appearing from inside of it every few seconds. I look over and see magic snowflakes piling in. I guess this was the smart inbox Carter and Princess were using to submit their ‘flakes.
"So how are we going to feed it this?” I ask, now realizing that I’m holding the cubic flask of viscous fluid, glimmering a sinister dark violet in the incandescent light of the eerie destruction occurring in my team's surroundings.
"Simple," Rhett states matter-of-factly, "distract it. I know the ins-and-outs of every boss and mutant recorded by the Trialmasters. Dargon is easily distracted. Motion and brightness around him in extreme amounts lulls him into a trance, with his eyes focused on it. He has two large ones, and he usually only stares into space after casting a bright fire spell of his own creation. If we can get him to cast a Wildfire directly at the giant crystal while we get the crystal to perform the bright crystal spell, he would be distracted entirely for the duration of the spell, about thirty seconds. In the minute's preparation, we need him distracted by many Falling Star Smashes happening in at least ten directions at once, with you crawling past the crowd, into the singed trench, up to the back of Dargon, and get to his mouth only when we are prepared enough for the casting. It takes about five minutes for him to cast a spell, and it would be at the crystal obviously. Since wildfires are cast by talons, you's have to hold on tight if his entire body moves if you're clinging to him from fifty feet high."
"What about not climbing?" I inquire.
"It is a necessity we must take. Flying on steed is difficult, as all avian pets of our ownership are bright-colored and fast. Flying on cloud mounts are too slow. You need to use your stealth for this job."
"Why don't you do it then, Rhett?"
Rhett teases, "If you hold the flask, it is you who completes the task."
I speak shakily, heading out from the protection of the sidelines with clammy hands even sweatier by the pink lace gloves I wear as part of my uniform, "Okay, but next time, you owe me one. If I don't make it, tell Princess out there that I love her..."
I return my wand to my inventory as I figured that I wouldn't need it. Pushing through the crowd of young, preteen wizards, I was able to get through simply by stating, "Exempt me from my reaches, gotta get through. I'm a Trialmaster!!!"
As soon as that was over, I stumbled into the deep, warm trench. Only dirt and small shards of debris remained here, and I was pretty much the only one crawling down into this hellish pit of *almost* certain death. It felt like a heat wave and a combination of different elemental spells were being cast from the hands and wands of the wizard students above, most of them of a strong astral strength. I heard yet another loud shriek from the beast in the center of the circular trench, now blasting a wave of dangerously hot flame and smoke from his mouth. Another reason not do go near his mouth, I surmised.
Judging from the environment, this was an optimal chance for me to get to Dargon as now I had only five minutes until he'd move again. We have astral spells of a strong power from all angles, but those will have to be dodged. All of them were aimed at his legs, as the many fathoms of length in between the edges of the trench would mean difficulty for height to be an option. If I survived the legs and got to his back on time, I'm one step closer to keeping thousands of creatures alive today.
I timed the pusles of the people; wizards seemed to cast their spells in a counterclockwise circle that makes a full circle around the trench every ten seconds. If I could get to the edge of the other side of the trench and jump up to Grandoff's back sitting a good twenty yards above, climbing up without being hit by a spell would be humanly impossible. Abandon that thinking, Rhett. I'm using my Meteorite.
At that moment in the trench, I summoned Meteorite next to met, crouching. I waved my finger and made signals to her as the way I usually do to communicate - a clap to symbolize after I finish my orders that I mount her back, then an x symbol to know that this process might damage her, putting my forearms together and keeping my elbows at a right angle vertically to show that we must fly quickly upwards, keeping it there for five seconds to symbolize how high she must fly vertically and quickly, then pushing the tips of my fingers together horizontally to show that I want her to fly all the way to the cieling, and finally a point to the cieling and then to the back to Dargon's back to show where she should land. I gave her a quick reassuring embrace around her neck and then I mounted her. The rest of the plan was a rollercoaster.
As soon as we mounted, the circle of spells passed from the right to left of us. "Now!" was my only yell from inside the trench's reach, and at quick acceleration and supersonic speed, Meteorite soared to the ceiling of the collapsing hotel in ten seconds. We were out of reach of the spells. "Down, now. Stay out of the spells' reaches. When we land, hover over Dargon. I need to be close enough to land on his back without him sensing it and I need you not to encourage him to turn around with your wing flapping's winds. WE HAVE TO GO NOW!!!"
Meteorite followed my directions, and I was able to land on Dargon's back with the lightest feet possible. I quickly winked at Meteorite and used that as my signal for her being summoned back into my wand, which I still had with me and made her figure disappear into it's paw print crown. I had approximately one minutes left to get to Dargon's neck and deliver the potion.
I tiptoed up his scaly spine and made it to the shoulder blades, churning and chafing together because of his flapping, circulating wings. I scaled it rapidly through my lucky timing, splatting onto the back of Dargon's neck, sending a small shock through my shoulders and an ominous feeling as the shadows from the morning light filtering in from the now shattered and collapsed ceiling of the lobby are gone, extending from the horns of the head of dragons' mighty crest I know lie under in fear.
I persevere, crawl up to his jawline. His mouth was now poised, gaping wide open for his next spell, and if I didn't make it in ten seconds I would be dead, and so would thousands of others that can't save this place immediately from the snares of Dargon. His mouth was wide and encrusted with razors for teeth, sharper than any Crookfang could ever make their fangs become. I had the flask still in hand, Now me trying to rip the golden cap off yet it being very difficult to. I had seen glowing flame from inside Dargon's mouth start to grow in size widely, and my hands were burning with rage of not being able to open the cap of the flask that might just be the lifeline of all of Lamplight Town. Just then, I looked at the fangs of Dargon. I could use those to uncap it!
Quickly the cap tears off of the flash and I chuck the entire bit unto his mouth. His body shakes immediately and the heat wave of spherical flame from inside the king of all dragons' mouth had dissipated. He collapsed underneath me after five seconds, and just before I fell into his ghastly spikes, I felt myself faint from sheer tiredness. I was unconscious and didn't even realize that I was still alive, but in a worse condition that anyone could experience at the moment.
Chapter Three - A Change Of Events
I first felt a tingling feeling instantaneously after. Then, a raging pain. I couldn't hear, see, smell, taste, or move any part of my body. I was paralyzed, and I couldn't do anything about it. All of a sudden, the pain disappeared for just a moment so I could open my mouth and take a voluntary breath. Then, I could see and hear around me.
I appeared to be in a hospital room somewhere on a comfy mattress, nothing but the mattress, without sheets. I didn't need them anyway, the room was bright and warm. The walls and floor were made of wooden planks, but the ceiling a canopy of leaves. I was on the top floor, so yes, that was the roof. It had to be - not a soul could even balance on just leaves.
The entire room was packed with other wizards on mattresses, cots, and on logs used as seats. Each cubicle was separated by a rolling palm-leaf curtain similar to regular hospitals back home. Stands made of other types of wood were on each bed's side, having potions, scripts, and possible prescriptions from witchdoctor pharmacies were on each. I saw through the late morning light by windows made of openings in the cracks of wood that were widened, sliced into circles.
This allowed me to see that all of the patients here were either pets, wizards, or floatlings. Floatling doctors dressed in leaves and flowers as a symbol of their profession hovered around, waving away visitors concerned for the others yet too irritating to be around their workspace, also giving doses of healing poultices to the more severe, sanguine red gashes of each patient. I turned my neck around slowly to see that I was dressed in my uniform, as stained with dirt from the trench as I left it. No wounds were visible except for fern-green bruises displayed all across my limbs. I tried to move them, but my ankles and wrists were too pained to.
All of my joints ached the depressing ache all feel when they have arthritis...eventually. I decided that I needed to rest and wait for a Floatling doctor to wake me up eventually. Almost when I completely shut my eyes to rest longer, I heard a yell from the end of the ward, probably five-hundred feet away as this ward of tropical hospital was probably given extensions to its bed count daily. At least the health care looks nice!
Distracted from rest and from pain, I sat up from my side-sleeping position that I usually use to notice that I was lightheaded, and had to lie back down or get water. Deciding not to let the Floatlings become burdened with my simple, menial and useless request, I strained my eyes to look from where the yelling came from.
"Ariaaa!" the familiar, feminine voice scream by extending the last "a" in my first name, "You awake?"
I jerked to the other side of the bed and noticed my sister there, with a rolled up piece of parchment secured by a red ribbon with a pawprint wax securing stamp in her right hand. "Whaaaaaaat?" was my response, after taking in a swallow of the salive I had collected in my mouth for the time I was out.
"Good news and bad news. What do you want to hear first. Oh well, the bad news. Bounty Hunters now know that Mira's location is back at her tower, and she's been hoarding items from defeated wizards in her tower as well as having a little information about missing merchants. Other bad news? Crios is indebted to the Trialmasters for three million gold coins, he can't pay his dues up. Both Mira and Crios now have to pay up all they have, including those debts, or their sponsorship to the Trialmasters will be erased."
"Perfect. Two of our supporters will be gone. Any other bad news to make my life more worth suicide?" I ask, with another surge of incredible, excruciating pain jolting in my limbs from the fall I had taken.
"It also takes that much money to restore the hotel back to where it was before Dargon's attack. The whole building is destroyed and will further be demolished and rebuilt for three million. We need to fund it or our biggest money-maker against the Order is going to be gone permanently. Also, Dargon is still faint, and doctors say that he has three days until he reawakens, at minimum. We planned to bring it back to Floor Fifty, but we can't fund that either or even get Mira to want him back. She wants to be respected before she'll allow anything to enter her abode. Also, one more thing - we have no motives known for my Dargon's out of the cage. He was seen last at the Daycare in Shipwreck Shore. And that's it."
"Good news?" I ask hopefully.
"The instant cure for your injuries can be healed for a cost of just twelve wood and a hundred gold coins. Also, the meeting for the Trialmasters will start downstairs in this very hospital in the evening. You also have Rhett waiting for you nervously in the lobby. He wants to tell you something 'important' when you get down."
"Okay," I cautiously assure myself, "How concerned is he really? What time is it? Where are we, exactly?"
"You know! We're at the Barracks in the Lost Island? Feel the temperature and look at the building design here, it's definitely the Lost Island. And um...you were just at Lamplight Town three hours ago. Don't worry, it's still the day that you got nearly killed. Plus it's also a secret, you gotta see what Rhett got you!"
"Fine. Do you know when the nurses would heal me?"
"Soon, sis. You could also heal yourself."
"Heal me then!"
"This is different. Being attacked physically from a dragon causes worse damage than fainting from spells."
"Okay. I guess we'll have to pay that wood and gold."
"Don't be stingy! These Floatlings are having a terrible economic crisis. They only give small amounts of their own wood for other things they get. THEY TRADE WOOD!"
An abrupt voice with a high pitch screams, "Alright."
"doctor! Thanks for coming!" I answer, with a leaf-bearing Floatling as the source of the yell behind us.
"Gimme that, girl," the Floatling swipes at Princess, taking her scroll. "I need to give your a formal reading, Aria Strongrunner."
"Stormchaser," Princess corrects for me.
"Whatever, kid. So for this treatment it'll be expensive. What you are about to take is twenty milliliters of a liquid medicine orally. Its purpose is to give you energy and complete healing from wounds you have gotten this morning. According to your medical records, you have no allergies to any of the ingredients to this med, so you should be fine. Open wide, you're drinking this all at once."
The Floatling doctor thrusts a sterile, capped vial of glittery magenta liquid, the same color as the healing spell's residual color left in the air. She uncaps the clear bottle from its orange cap and pours the runny liquid into my throat.
The doctor coaxes, "Don't taste it, it's indescribably disgusting to wizards."
I let it go right down into my esophagus, not taking a moment to let any of it touch my tastebuds. The liquid is all gone into my body after I take my final swallow, and the Floatling pulls back and then asks, "Okay, you've taken your dose. Your independent follower will check you out of the ward. Go obtain everything in the chest where all of your items are stored, and please go meet with your visitors in the lobby. They have messages for you as stated in this scroll."
- - - - -
Back downstairs with everything already paid and me with everything I have, the room was packed with tamed monsters, Floatlings, and wizards. As soon as I reached the ladder that is located at the back of the area that leads out of the hospital treehouse just so I can take a walk around the island, I forgot Rhett and Princess! Where were they???
I looked quickly around the area where I was to find nobody usual. Deciding just to give up, I tested my regained physical strength and clambered down the ladder quickly and noisily. Luckily, nobody really heard.
Now I was just outside of the treehouse barracks, now almost completely concealed in a giant oak tree except for the ladder and hole into the lobby that was bright with customers and other people loitering inside. I had to think for a second, how didn't any of the Puppet Master's goons ever find this? They're excellent survivors and trackers. Maybe the Floatling magic hides it...
I peered around the bushy vegetation of a densely forested area for a long time, finding nothing but the chattering of Tribeak in the trees above, teasing me at my every move like mockingjays. I could hear the whinnies of Mystember, Mystile, and Mystyyk as they make their morning rounds to drink freshwater by the small streams nearby.
I decided to take a small jog around the vicinity just because I had nothing else to do until the evening, so I decided to find my buddy I hid in my inventory. "Timmy boy, where are you???" I coaxed as I searched my knapsack inventory for my precious canine creature I found a long time ago.
I felt my index finger I delved deep into my bag receive a bite. I yelped a little, and tried to pull out my hand, but whatever is inside had fangs! My hand went limp as a reflex, so the pain wasn't bad as I tried to become lethargic. The biting ceased and the creature, now in the bag on the ground before me, now standing, had let out a brown-gray paw. Then another pawed the ground outside of the bag. Eventually, the entire buddy was visible. It was Timmy!
It half-howled-half-barked loudly for a moment and then walked toward me with classic puppy eyes. I bent over to pet Timmy, but its ears flattened as it made a low growl and bounded a few paces away from the tree ladder. "Sorry Timmy, I hope whatever happened to you during that fall didn't disturb you."
The wolf still didn't move, just looking at me as though I failed to be a good companion to it. I was. "I apologize also for not feeding you. You haven't wanted to get out of my bag for a week! You're starved. I'll try to find a rotisserie chicken for you, you can eat it whole!"
Timmy still didn't seem to be interested. I feared for his survival that he would never leave me, he's been so loyal for so long! I had adventures with the little wolf, I ran with his pack, and even saved his life. He saved mine, but I was the one to put him in the most danger for letting him be my buddy.
"Would you just want to stay in the Daycare and be nurtured? Want to be given a different owner? Or live in my house and get pampered with servants!"
Timmy didn't seem enthusiastic for any of the options I provided. He just needed some time to recover. He's going to be okay, I pondered, if I keep him home yet visit often.
"It's almost noon, time for lunch, little boy! I'll try to get you that chicken you need to stay healthy. I need to grab our friends and we'll be on our way."
I finish up talking to him like some dimwit who didn't know that Timberwolves can't express their feelings to wizards and looked back at the ladder. "I'll be back!"
Timmy stayed put while I returned to the ladder. It was easy at first, until more pain from my pointer finger's bite still hurt mildly. Luckily no puncture holes were in the uniform from it! I returned inside the lobby and the same flood of people were still inside. Now that more people were climbing up to the second floor's hospital ward in the back where another tree ladder was found, there were just half as many on this side as before. Floatling clerks at their desks were still talking to inpatients and psychotic potion addicts being chained and taken to the psych ward on the third floor where crazies go. Others were in the center of the lobby talking to others of their kind, showing off what they have and trying to get wizards to like and friend them as part of the craze many people have these days.
There too were people sitting in wooden seats on the other side of the busy Floatings wheeling people and pets in and out of the entrance area. Suddenly, a group of people caught my eye - they were in the same uniforms as I was in! Dashing over, I realized it was my friends.
A concerned Rhett, sitting in a seat and making his legs quiver, "Where were you, Aria? It's been five minutes since we lost you. We also have important things to talk to you about tonight's meeting on the fourth floor."
"I was outside with Timmy. It turns out he was in my bag when it happened."
At the sound of my voice, people all around the lobby turned. I heard several gasps and lots of murmurs. Golden, undroppable mics and crowds of people swarmed in with others filming using theri underwater cameras. I turned, and I heart stopped. At that moment I knew that the Trialmasters were conspicuous! That wasn't supposed to happen! Now that I have a paparazzi for my group, we can't stay private anymore.
I heard a dwarf's voice speak out, "Is it true that you fainted Grandoff with one hit?"
An elderly female wizard speaks, "How do you feel right now about being a legend?"
"Aria, the hero of Lamplight Town," a commentator booms with charm, "are you going to clean up the hotel soon?"
I bend over to the Trialmasters near me and whispered out of the reach of the recorders, "Meet me in the Hiding Place, our Dorm HQ!"
I brandished my wand with its paw print end and enveloped myself in the same swirling light as many times before, now traveling through space and reaching outside of the lobby in the grounds outside. Thomas was right outside "Timmy! Can I pet you, if you forgive me? Quickly, we're going!"
Timmy forgave me and bounded over to me, so I put my hand on its back and we once again swirled with light into the dark and gloomy headquarters of the Trialmasters, familiar to us with its lampless, long hallway and small bits of light coming in from the stained-glass panes on the sides. The room was twenty feet high and the rafters concealed in a darkness only lit by glow-worms biting through spell books obsolete for decades. However, few cobwebs were around as it was cleaned often by the cheerier Trialmasters who used this room often. The floor was solid and made of cemented, flat cobblestone put under a whole inch of secure linoleum. There was no clear ceiling to this thirty-by-hundred hallway with no doors, as the walls were inversely slanted so that the center of the room has the highest ceiling. We were on the highest floor of some one-room shack, probably on a hill or close to the Academy because of its similar victorian design. The stained glass was only monotone, a pure yellow but tainted with a cyan in its corners from time and magic.
The room wasn't as dusty as you might expect, it was more of a shrine than the hidden room of a vampire's mansion. Since there were no doors to the inside or outside of this building, the only way to keep it intact was through the use of teleportation I just used with my animal companion. However, a handy warp-portal to the back of the room behind me was placed for the purpose of people that were trapped there to teleport to a place with unknown location. Nobody had ever needed it, so nobody knows where it had lead to. My back was turned towards it, but I already knew what it looked like through the times I've been near it before; it looked a lot like the Epics Subspace portals you'd use to travel to different parts of the Epic Arenas a wizard would test their epic hand with, but had an astral-element marking on it and had a fusion of cyan and yellow glass fragments lit with an unknown light source, and a pillar of phosphorescence flows from it to the ceiling, but fades farther with how far the light passes through the room.
I had then looked back to the far end of the hall. At the end was the same podium made of marble, stone, and wood lining that gave it an old-fashioned finish, with a stand in the center having a tan-and-brown paw print banner hung from it for a person to give speeches from, with an undroppable mic attached to the top to make the speaker able to be heard well even from the back of the room, like my position. An even more enlarged banner in the back was more appropriately to be our Trialmaster Flag, one we'd salute to every time a meeting commences or is adjourned. Smaller banners accompanying it are the Academy Banner, a royal blue, indigo, and brighter deep blue with a golden, four-pointed star in its center. Another was one with a magenta background with a gray star and crescent placed vertically and on top of each other as the flag to represent the Church of Astrallum, a religion most wizards practice to worship and sacrifice themselves for the removal of the Order and the sinful acts it allowed us to make and repent for. Below these three large banners were many smaller banners, representing the many provinces and areas of Prodigy Island and of groups that were in our support secretively.
The rest of the room was filled as a lounge; chairs, ottomans, desks, and other household items were placed around the room as orderly as I left it. Rolling chalkboards, wipe boards, whiteboards, blackboards, and computers with wireless internet connection attachments were found occasionally around the area, so we could surf the local island internet while making plans and order for what is to come. Chests piled in the back next to the podium were open and empty for the most part, and they were there to collect our meeting dues of whatever we want or need to pay in currency go there and are piled in a confidential treasury room somewhere.
The only motion in the room I see is Timmy prancing around the room and knocking over chairs, as usual. Other than that, I can see is one floating figure in the back using its bony hands to thumbtack papers and pictures to a board. A large Embershed, Big Hex, and Solarasis were gathered around the figure, chattering in their own monster languages. They were my pets. Don't worry, when I use my Trialmaster wand called The Master of Trials to store my pets, they teleport to the headquarters instead. This was a handy privilege that Admin allowed me to have as well as with Rhett, whose Tarragon named Drake, Ri, and Gryphon (his albino Gloricious) were roaring and barking to each other on couches near the far tackboard.
Suddenly from behind, whistling noises and swirling light appeared. I turned just in time to see that Rhett, Princess, Carter, and Quinn had arrived. Princess speaks, "We're here, sis."
- - -
I respond, "Good. At least we escaped them back there."
"Well good, now we need to leave you and Rhett together here. He still has to give it to you!" Quinn squeals excitedly, then teleports away along with Carter and Princess. Only Rhett, Timmy, the pets, and I remained in the room.
Rhett asks, "I believe that it's time, I would've given this to you this morning, but what happened kind of ruined it. I want you to see this now, please."
"Of course. What is it?"
Rhett reveals a vegan parchment scroll rolled up in a white lace ribbon. He takes it off neatly and the scroll unfurls to reveal a neatly-inscribed message in black ink, titled "Contract Of Duos," in which I have seen very few Trialmasters ever complete because of the rarity and sparse location of us.
The contract states, as always, "The Trialmasters have noticed the latest high levels of communication and virtuous feats between you and your partner. Now is a moment you and your partner should take very seriously, as this is a contract and a symbol of the growing relationship of your upcoming elite title in the Trialmasters.
You have until the next meeting for this to be turned in to the Important Board, where you may post when complete. This matter will be addressed at the meeting. If not complete, a new one may be sent out by the next major feat that occurs.
This is a matter of your maturity and growth within the society. If you are willing to be an official partner with this other, you two may sign below using a spell, but only the voluntary are able to sign this as the scroll is magically imbued and unable to be undone. You must both be voluntary for this partnership to happen.
If you two decide not to complete this form, ever, we understand that you don't want to take on the role of having a partner in crime within the Trialmasters! If you do, great! There are no extra rules that are bound to the official partnership, so no worries will have to happen.
Pledge:
I, Rhett Stormchaser, wish to be in this partnership with the willing _____ who also wishes to join this partnership. We both have decided together to take our responsibilities as Trialmasters to a higher level and we wish to grow in our power together."
"I..." I hesitate, "I think we might need more time for this. But okay, I guess there's no harm in becoming your partner! I will do it! Yes!"
As soon as that is said, my name appears on the blank space in the exact font I pictured writing it in. Together, we walk toward the Important Board, one of the boards in the headquarters that we post significant items on that we want to have addressed in the meetings. For once when we both looked at the contract now stuck up on that board and looked back into each other's pale eyes, we knew that this was a milestone! And that changed our lives.
Chapter Four - Out For Lunch
Rhett and I went out to lunch that day, teleporting from the headquarters and we traveled to Bonfire Spire. With Timmy tagging on alongside, it was a decent yet stormy day at the caldera. There was no lava to be seen, but warmth emanated from the ever-hot coals that line the edges separating the volcanic wall from the flat Volcano Village ground. I couldn't image why the sky was still a bright one, as I expected it to be slightly cloudy. I have noticed from my old Astronomical Accounts textbook I used once from the archives that when weather is clear of clouds and it's a shining, sunny, and warm Winter day in Bonfire Spire, it's good luck to your recollection of thought and fuel to the fire to keep going with your ideals. I took this as though it would happen!
We noticed immediately that Bonfire Spire had a new cook in town - a wizard from long-lost lands, Chef Mugs the azer dwarf from a long time ago. His restaurant here closed to annoying cattle people messing with it and stealing his gold, so it was said that Samantha driven them off, all the cattle people gone from the island for eternity, possibly leading to their extinction. I hadn't seen one of them on the island for years, so it must've been true. I guess he's back, and I remember that his food was very heart-healthy.
I would see him with a small lava spring, with a fireproof cauldron full of soup and a metal ladle hanging from three metal poles and chains just above to keep it cooking. He was testing it, and nodded with a murmur of satisfaction. Other wizards suddenly swarmed with piles of hot-hots in hand to have just a drop of it, because if a connoisseur like him liked his own soup, it would be rare and would have a magnificent flavor.
"Soup, my friends. It's blazing hot and ready. Just five hundred hot-hots a bowl! It's singed-pear and cream-of-turnip! Mandrake root garnish! Florafox Rosebud extract hint! A never-before tried recipe! Flavor BREAKTHROUGH! Come and eat!" the dwarf booms, and yet even more people sprint over to enjoy the scent of vegetables all around the area.
That was a little fishy, however. Florafox Rosebuds? The Florafox Rose was the only edible rose that any monster could consume, and would heal all of their wounds as soon as the buds are digested. It was rare and only grew on the opposite side of the koi lakes in Firefly Forest. If this was imported, who would get it...and what was also a problem was that it was like a drug, and wasn't allowed to be consumed outside of the boundaries of the forest for they were considered performance-enhancing and ruined the health of wizards to make them unstoppable. They weren't allowed here and certainly would upset Florafox, wherever she went.
Although I was depressed at how an amazing chef could do such a thing, I was spurred into action. I was part of an elite group of law-enforcing wizards, the Trialmasters. It was my duty to keep the citizens of Prodigy Island safe from catastrophe no matter how small as a drug incident to no matter how large, like battle conflict with a now-sleeping Dargon.
I vocalize to a sniffing-the-air Rhett, trying to pick up a scent of the soup's aroma, "Rhett, Chef Mugs is selling."
"I know," he speaks in a trancelike manner, completely enticed by it more than me (which I hated, I liked his attention at all times), "I need to get it."
"IT HAS FLORAFOX ROSEBUDS, RHETT. THEY'RE OUTLAWED AS EDIBLE FOOD IN BONFIRE SPIRE!"
Rhett still didn't listen. Timmy barked once, then a second time, then thrice. Rhett was still responding to the stimuli of the many scents he was sensing, but not sound. I looked at Timmy and he looked at me with serious eyes, and we communicated telepathically to each other as always to order for him to go bite him.
Once complete, Rhett winced in pain. "Timmy, what are you doing, wait what Aria? I'm sorry, I wasn't listening."
"There's Florafox Rosebud in that soup. We need to charge him with the obtaining and vending of it. We have a warrant from the evidence he provided too, so we can go investigate now."
"Oh, that's horrible! We have to charge the guy. This is a serious offense."
We run over to the stand just in time before Mugs was able to reach for the ladle floating with the steaming soup's buoyancy. We both push past the crowd and scream, "Let us through, we're Trialmasters!" continuously.
Finally we reach the front of the stand and Chef Mugs runs over to the rock for the counter, shocked. "Why are you here? Is there something I have to worry about?"
Rhett notes, "We're Trialmasters. We hate to break it to you, but you have broken a few laws and we need to interrogate you for a variety of questions. You must come, quickly! We must teleport you to the room you will be interrogated inside."
"Sure I'll come fast, but I can't trust this crowd of people with my soup."
"I'll use a summoning spell to summon heavy metal crates to make it impossible for anyone to get over in the long time you will be questioned," I answer, waving my pawprint wand I had readily in my hand and heavy metal walls in block form guard the stand from climbers or spellcasters that would wish to push through, and would absorb all spells or physical attacks if anything would be stressed on them, "so that would help your evidence stay in hiding."
I quickly touch Chef Mugs while he was in shock of what he was being questioned for, with Timmy and Rhett placing hands and paws on my shoulders and legs. I waved my wand again and we disappeared, traveling throughout space to one of the unoccupied interrogation rooms in the Bounty Prison located behind the northeastern hedge boundaries of the History District.
Chef Mugs is immediately sitting in a chair in a torch-lit white-brick room, feet shackled and in a straightjacket, him squirming. The only way to exit was through a deadbolted metal door behind me, locking on both sides but currently unlocked for anyone to enter from inside the long Interrogation Hall outside. He was separated from me by a scratched mahogany table with nothing but a battery-powered sound recorder, tissues, packets of sugar, pens, quills, ink, pencils, and a stack of both lined and blank computer paper off to the side.
Rhett walks over to lock the door from the inside, so we could get out if we wanted by just unlocking it again. The three chairs made of similar mahogany and built-in velvet seat and back cushions were sat on by all of us, me in the center, Rhett to my right, and Timmy to my left, ears flattened.
I explain, "I know that we haven't gotten you what you wanted yet, but when it gets drug-related, we have to respond to our duties."
"This is highly uncomfortable!" Mugs remarks, writhing in his bindings.
"We apologize for the inconveniences we've caused you today. However, we have multiple questions to ask you so we understand this better," I say, reaching for a ballpoint pen in a cap, a sheet of lined paper, and a vocal recorder, passing all of it to Rhett for his usual manual recording of interrogations, "so I have a first one. When and how did you return to the island?"
"Just yesterday, by boat. I had been off to Hawaii for a few years practicing my tropical culinary skills."
"What was your purpose for returning here?"
"I was returning for a month on a travel visa for culinary labor. I would be traveling to Hawaii and back each month, but the voyage takes three. I also work as a ship cook whenever I travel, also importing food to and from each island and source. I thought I might experiment with native food as soon as I returned."
"What is the name of the boat and list of crew members and amount of imported goods from this voyage?"
"SS Fathom, with Captain Montoya and five fishermen who I forget their names. I remember checking with the docksmen at the Southern Docks where we landed with only me getting off with some goods as they disappeared back to the main island over there. We left Hawaii with twenty tons of equipment, half being canned spinach as that was all was shipped with us. We caught a total of a hundred pounds of seafood, and consumed fifty. I had with me a full crate of canned spinach, roughly fifty pounds, and the rest of the fifty-pounds of seafood. With that hundred pounds of surf and turf, a dwarven friend of mine who I forgot his name gave me all the ingredients, which I immediately used all in the hundred-pound-capacity pot to make the soup. I have yet to make my spinach-and-seafood soup with the other hundred pounds I had. All of it's enclosed in that barrier now."
"So it was the friend who brought you the hundred pounds of soup ingredients, and he's dwarven as well. How many pounds of each ingredient were in the bundle you got, and what did your friend look like?"
"Just a ten-gallon tank of the Florafox Rosebud Extract which weighed about fifteen pounds when I checked, ten pounds of mandrake loin and roots, roughly seventy-five pounds of a mixture of pear, turnip, milk, and butter all put together as singed-pear and cream-of-turnip soup starter that only needed the mandrake and rose emulsifier to give it a homogeneous texture."
"Good, that's the whole hundred pounds! However, what about the dwarven friend's appearance?"
"Just looks like an average old merchant. He wears similar clothes to the traveling merchants, but he always carries a few loaves of bread or grain wherever deep within his pack, and usually gets moldy. He eats it when his back is turned very occasionally from the crowd where he stays when traveling only around the elemental areas of the island."
"Well that helps a lot," Rhett snarls grumpily, looking at his barely legible scribbles on the front and back of a lined paper, now filled with recorded conversation.
"It's fine. However, do you know where the guy travels most often to collect things?"
"Everywhere that's an elemental location. Wild, magical plants and vegetables from Firefly Forest, exotic fruit from here, seafood and native cuisine in Shipwreck Shore, minerals, salts, sugars, and condiment ingredients from Shiverchill Mountains, and manufactured eating utensils from Skywatch because there's really nothing to eat there anymore after the mangoes and tomatoes disappeared from Brocollina's vines being burned to a crisp. I think the entire bundle was from Firefly Forest."
"Is there any way to contact him now?"
"I'm afraid not. Why, is there something especially about him that is bad?"
"I hate to break it to you, but it's you who had broken all of these laws. First off, you need a merchants permit to sell food around here because it isn't taxed. Queen Goo-Lia would be angry at you not paying her permit money. It costs ten thousand Hot-Hots to keep your business for one day there. A fine for not paying is a late fee of all you didn't pay to her on time, doubled. If you can't pay off the debts of 20,000 Hot-Hots to her immediately, the next day would cost you 30,000 if you pay before the day even starts. When the sun rises tomorrow and you still haven't paid, it's 40,000 Hot-Hots for you. Your vending power is suspended until the money is paid off only when your debt reaches a million Hot-Hots. If you can't pay this off, you'd be incarcerated until bail is paid as well as all of the debts. Second of all, the performance-enhancing ingredient of Florafox Rosebud in any of its forms for eating purposes cannot be taken out of Firefly Forest or be sold anywhere for edible purposes. The fine is ten-thousand gold per gallon. Since you had ten gallons, it's a hundred thousand gold for you to pay along with the big coins. Being unable to pay off these debts by April 15 results in your incarceration for an entire year without bail possibility or parole, and applies for all charges. Once incarcerated, you lose your travel visa and can't get it back without paying for it. If you pay off all of your debts, you may still be incarcerated but the bail is allowed for one million gold. Understand?"
"Yes, madam. So how old are you and how do you know of these laws?"
I think about it for a minute. I represent the law of the land while I'm only a young teen. I have such knowledge of Astronomy and Law through the training I have received for years here in the enforcement of the Trialmasters. I've trained since age five and now I'm thirteen. I know this stuff.
"Are you questioning my...our authority over you?" I press.
"Okay, okay, I apologize for my rudeness. I will try my best to pay off these debts. How much was it?"
"We'll give you a transcript now," I say, waving my wand over a sheet of computer paper I took from the side and it immediately had the instructions to pay is debts on it, "just so you understand. Once you return we hope we don't have to give you more charges. Thank you for your cooperation with the law so far."
Finally, the interrogation was done. I used a magic still to unbind Mugs from his straightjacket and leg shackles, then teleported the Chef and his transcript back to Bonfire Spire and we three cleaned up the area so the next bounties could be interrogated in a neat environment. Rhett unlocked the deadbolted door and we teleported somewhere else for lunch - the jailer offices in the front of the building. Usually the dwarven jailer would hang out in this traditional office to file paperwork and use a few tackboards to paste up how many crimes, bounties, and felons still needing judgement. A microwave-refrigerator dual machine always had three of each common food (frozen) in it, so I willed myself to go over to it and open it. However, I noticed that Rhett was already holding hands with me, and I angrily took mine away in the heat of the moment from how mad I was over Chef Mugs's questioning how I was even empowered for the job. The transcript was in my hands, so I tacked it over on the wall briskly and then took out a rotisserie chicken from the fridge, then waiting impatiently for it to heat in the microwave attached on the top.
- - -
Finally, Rhett speaks behind me, "I apologize for what happened, I didn't defend you like I should have. I'm so sorry."
"It's fine," I speak sternly, "Mugs is a dwarf. They only care about riches and businesses, not the people. It's okay for them to have their own political opinions."
"Not to when it's discrimination against age. I believe that no matter how old we are, we are never too young to uphold the law."
"It's not that, it's just how everyone is so...'ageist'...about younger people like us. The old think that they are smart enough to withstand the Order themselves. Most people that aren't wizards, humans, wardens, elves, or half-elves like me don't even know what multiplication is, let alone our knowledge of how to apply quadratic or exponential functions and relations to graphs and real-world problems."
"You mean, just us are the smart ones?"
"There's a difference between us Trialmasters and everyone else on the island. Some of us have great knowledge, but choose not to use it like other wizard prodigies out there we have yet to find. Some of us have great knowledge, but use it for the good of the world, like us. Some use great knowledge competitively, like Mira and Crios. Some have no knowledge but want more or need it to survive, but turn to us for temporary guidance until they're enlightened with our magic. Some have none and choose not to learn, like those who'd never ever better themselves. Some have the most knowledge, but have a thirst to take it from others and gain more than ever, like the Order. Yet there's nobody here singlehandedly able or capable of stopping them and stopping evil. The only ones capable are corrupt, and choose only to help through sacrifice of honor. We cannot lose it. Some of us are young prodigies, unable to have a voice because we are so thirsty to compete for it and let all fall. This big disgrace left others to believe that we are incapable because we're childish. We've both pledged our lives to work together non-competitively to collect knowledge and use unique skills to defeat the Order. The major obstacle is that we need a voice and publicity to make it possible."
"Wow, you should state that all over again to the rest of the Trialmasters. I think that's a good point."
"There's always the others. They all believe that we should keep this illuminati of a government a secret, more like vigilanties to watch for evil and the motives of the Order. They want us to be surprising when the time comes for our best attacks on the Order. We don't want enemy spies to know of us. There's already scouts in Lamplight Town coming daily."
"Oh, that's a tough one. However, we can change this and make rebuttals. We can have everyone know about our government and that we're here to help, but we won't reveal more. We simply won't allow the press to know about what we do, then we're good!"
"Face it Rhett, there's more than scouts we're going to be vulnerable about. There's going to be more often attacks on areas around the island, and they'll try to find our encampments. Each one holds information about the others. We can't let them know about our headquarters, or we'll fall to pieces! They'll feel threatened and unleash all they have powered up with on the entire island. It's going to be total war - Lamplight Town burned, each area pillaged. The Dark Tower might collapse and unleash every monster out, making a whole new army for the Order to work with. Their power might skyrocket, literally turning the Epic Subspace into an even more ruined ruin. The epics, even my precious Shrapnel, could turn back into stone. The Puppet Master would lock up the Wardens and reinforce their locks. Gale could be murdered too. Everyone could at this rate. My plan is hopeless."
"But other organizations have risen after the Order's rise. Floatlings, remember?"
"They posed no threat. They had no knowledge. They had no spells. All they had was the ability to turn purple stones into armor. They're weaponsmiths and nothing more."
"They want the end of the Puppet Master! They cared about it even before the goon grunts from the Order destroyed their home in RETALIATION, Aria. They have sticks, stones, weapons, and armor to use. They break the three b's - bones, barriers, and the records of brilliance."
"The Order has many b's in return: boneless, barrierless, more brilliant than us, bratty, boasting, beastly. They're BETTER. We're going to die fighting, and even when we ascend to the skies, we would watch the world below us fall under the grasp of the Order. They're immortal and can overthrow even the peaceful afterlife beyond with critical thinking, something even God had never given us. It's hopeless and a lost cause once we go public."
"You're overthinking. We have knowledge. And with knowledge comes power, with power comes improvement, and with improvement comes the most powerful and most potential a person can obtain."
"The entire Order is packed with goons, grunts, peons, and more. The most notorious is Pippet. Together, they are a force, but only when the Puppet Master lives. Once we defeat him, we need to make sure he no longer stays as his immortal self. We can't let him live. Once he's dead, the Order collapses. He's the leader, I know for sure. No doubts. Taking him out is like ripping the heart off of a person's being - no power, or blood as an analogy, moves from him any longer. Not enough support or order is given to all of the legions the Puppet Master made. The Order simply dies out, and yay, our Academy is restored. Our goal is to restore the Academy and retain a peaceful governing body that learns from its mistakes and failures."
"But how do we get him? We have to prove him that we're smarter. We need to manipulate him, then defeat him. We need to make him fail."
"Impossible for now. I guess all of this will be brought up again in our meeting tonight. So, let's eat."
For our lunch in the jailer's office, we were silent as we were over our talk. Timmy was finally brightening up, as finally he got what he so desperately wanted and needed. It was now three in the afternoon, and we had to arrive in headquarters at six.
We spent the three hours traveling to the Lost Island to collect dues from a high-interest bank we invested in, as we had to get the common fifty-thousand gold if we wanted to keep our elite title. We can always gain large amounts interest because of the bank being so powerful and nice to us, mainly because it's run by Floatlings and they're always too nice. I make ten-thousand a day, practically. I liked this, it gave me power.
We had withdrawn the fifty-thousand plus then-thousand more for each of our accounts just to make ourselves look better than most.
It was then time for the meeting...
Chapter Five - The Meeting Commences!
A/N - Oof it's gotten so far, the fifth chapter! Thanks for the support!
Narrator: I hope you enjoyed Aria's point of view. I was holding back for those four chapters, hah. Like I'll do that any more, unless Aria shuts me up again.
Aria: Hey! This is my story! Leave, disembodied voice!
Narrator: Whatever...
Aria:
It was six in the evening, and finally the warm sun had set to leave the entire island draped in the chilling blanket of the dark. Rhett, Timmy, and I had finally teleported from our areas to travel to the HQ - people near the bright blue teleportation pad had appeared with the light emanating around them as they had apparated from their individual undisclosed locations.
The hall was as normal - the stand in the front, the pews, seats, cushions, and boards in the back. The chests were opened in the front, and both of us walked up to drop in our total of 120,000 gold in dues. I find myself remarking, "It feels good to be a contributing partner in this. I hope our donation actually helps to rebuild that hotel business."
"Same. But I hope we can pay whoever needs this to do their jobs for helping out with the other work needed to be done. Remember with Dargon's removal, bribery to Mira to get him back in, paying the Daycare when it escaped and was never paid for the damage or dues with, the three-million gold Crios and Mira collectively owe, the equipment stolen from Mira's wizard challengers she defeated."
"Ugh. If we keep paying this extra, we won't ever be able to fund what the two owe unless we arrest them and forcefully take their money."
"I know, that's what I dread. And we don't have physical power to arrest anyone either, just question and teleport people around. Those Bounty Hunters better get it right when they get her."
"Exactly. However, I do request that this leads up to something bigger, like the bane of an enemy when we get all of this money in."
"Same, well I hope we take it a step further with -"
Rhett was cut off by someone behind us.
"Hey, kids. I hope your stupid relationship works out," Luna Lifeheart sarcastically speaks behind us. Her big-boned figure towered at eight feet tall, barely a half-yard above us. She's one of the only few trialmasters who write for op-eds in the Lamplight Town Times, occasionally leaking details and foiling our plans. She practically triples as a reporter and photographer, as a dangling underwater camera brushed up against my back as the creepily leaned over me. Usually an impatient and demanding character, she acts up much and is a primary ROP, ruiner of propositions. I hope she'd be fired soon.
"YEAH!" booms Wayne, Luna's boyfriend, behind her as he strolls up to pat her on the back.
"Go mutilate yourself! Go mutilate yourself!" cheers Blaze, an irritatingly energetic young trialmaster whose name really is Pyromancer Kai. He often fights with others of his age, but he only can do it when Samantha isn't around.
"No, you!" Keith (Frostbringer Keiren who just likes to shorten the length of his name) growled, thrusting himself into Blaze with a grunt, causing the too to, just a few yards away, roughhouse on the ground behind us.
"Oh hi people, those two never get enough of their fighting," peacefully notes Droplet (River Watercaller, their cousin and pretty much an acquaintance of mine), "nice to see that another meeting is taking place."
I wave and return to the faces of my group, now with only Rhett, Carter, Princess, Quinn, and I.
"So everyone, I guess we should take a seat before the meeting starts. Paid your dues?"
"What dues?" Quinn asks assuringly mainly because she almost always forgets them even though she knows she must forfeit the compensation meetingly.
Someone remarked, "You know. Everyone else here did."
All of us walk over to a few elder wood pews near the chests and sit down in one. We all make a quick prayer to our deity as custom so the meeting runs smoothly, in which is usually doesn't.
Finally after we rise and make the sign of the moon, we sit regularly instead of our normal kneeling on the ground. Afterwards, we just sit and talk while Timmy just barks occasionally to annoy us.
"So what do you think would happen that's interesting this time?" Quinn urges either Rhett or myself to speak about our January adventures we usually hid the others from knowing. Although I usually talk about them in detail to Princess, she keeps the secrets to herself well. I never talk about how rich Rhett and I are becoming or how he likes me. I think she knows that, but I'm not entirely sure.
Rhett replies casually afterward, "Eh, you'll see, Quinn."
"Well what do you think we'll actually be discussing in this meeting? Last time was just how amazing our balances have been. We're really on a large financial breakthrough - unless we have to actually pay three million for the damage done to that hotel."
"You think we'll be the ones to pay? MIRA AND CRIOS WILL PAY!" surges Carter, stroking Timmy's back as he was fascinated in everyone's buddies. Timmy looked unpleasant, his furry face darting around, looking for some type of trampel bone he could gnaw the marrow out of. That was out of the question, probably for the next month.
"We'll see. I believe that this meeting'll cover all of that stuff!" Princess exclaims.
"I doubt it," I reply, "because all we ever do is just plans for things, not what actually would happen. We did all the annual financial stuff last time."
"That was before the start of Winterfest, even! We still have it going."
"No, Princess. We have matters like Dargon that are top priority, besides our usual wizard peon recruits for the Warden's Army thing. Dargon was probably either just a lonesome escapee wanting to kill his four sons and take revenge on my friend Nike's enemy, Avane, his cruel girlfriend."
Carter argues, "She wasn't cruel, she just wanted to get fame and riches."
I respond, "Well then why is money the root of all evil?" Carter goes silent, he's a reflective little boy who overthinks many things after he makes rash statements.
"Sacred flame...Samantha's here!" Rhett announces, and we all jerk our necks around so fast that we could get horizontal whiplash! We see our administrator float by the crowd of wizards, buddies, and pets, while she just calmly takes off her engineer goggles off her head as well as her crimson scarf and metallic trenchcoat, folding them up and storing them in a quiver on her back. Finally reaching the podium's edge, she takes her pawprint trialmaster wand, The Master of Trials, to remove the gold and other items from the chests and teleporting them away from visibility.
- - -
Finally everyone obediently sits in the elder wood pews in the front, making haste to pray to our deity so the meeting goes well. The roughly about fifty people here have finally been prepared for what is being discussed.
Administrator Samantha has already reached the podium, her light-generated wings levitating over her shoulders, gently flapping in the stagnant-ish breeze of the still-looking room. She gets behind the stand and welcomes us as custom, "Greetings again, trialmasters. Good evening."
"Good evening, administrator!" the entire room had answered.
"Today we have many items to cover, especially now since we have had interesting developments," she eyed our pew, "so we shall check the Important Board first."
Waving the talisman-topped wand, the entire Important Board to our right had been unpinned of all documents and the papers and items made an array-like grid shape on the wall, floating a foot from the very back. Only sixteen documents, in a four-by-four lattice, had been made to levitate. I quickly take a look at that board and all the pins were off to the side, the rest of the cork backing cleaned of cluttered papers. I turn back to see that our letter was conveniently picked first.
Rhett eyed me cautiously with his pale, ice-colored slits for eyes (our usual complexion was "catty" because we chose to style it that way as we were trialmasters and that was a dress requirement). I looked back, he grinned.
Samantha was back at the podium's stand and made her monologue, "Our first document is special, we have another accepted and approved shipping," she spoke, "and tonight we have our pair, Rhett and Aria Stormchaser! Please stand and come to the podium beside me."
As we shifted in our seats and then out of our seats, we had filed out of one pew and up to our leader's side. She announced, "These two have chosen to be official partners together! Since both of your have signed your names on this document," she pauses to examine it, "so that means that you two are official Trialmaster Partners. You two are the youngest pair to ever become partners. How do you two feel, prodigies, in your new partnership?"
We answer simultaneously, "Okay."
"They're already in synergy with each other! Give a round of applause to these two, a couple in the Trialmasters."
We hear everyone cheer as I dart back to my seat, embarrassed. I guess they really believe that we're dating. I thought it would just be taking on a level of work here. I guess I'll deal with this harassment for the rest of my life, I thought.
"Anyway, the second important document is of the Crios case. Since he owes us so much already and needs to pay off his debts to everyone he had financial interaction with, he is now kicked from the affiliate list with our organization and is now a wanted criminal. Who will try to hunt him down?"
Immediately I raise my hand. This is something I would get to work with my partner for now, and it seems fun to give chase to people. However, many others have already raised their hands. A few have been selected, so I lowered my hand. Samantha then stated as always, "I will have the mission's details in a pamphlet teleported to your next mission home in Lamplight Town. I will tell you the house location after the meeting. Next on the list is also important is Mira's case file. She is also wanted, but we know her location and she must be brought to the Lamplight Town Bounty Detention Center for questioning on her hunting equipment from others for sport. We also have a planned raid on her tower to see what's the matter with the amount of riches she has. A third mission would be set up to find out when she had last seen Dargon. Who will take the first?"
Other people raise their hands, I just wait for something interesting. She selects some people.
"Who will take the second?"
I let this pass.
"Who will take the third?"
I also let this pass. The next roughly ten announcements important to us were just suggestions by others on how to improve the success of missions. All Samantha had done was decline that she could help with these and she moved on to the umteenth document. This had been a request to decipher the ribbon colors and patterns, and it sounded as she read aloud to be from one of the younger trialmasters.
"Well, all red ones with a tan-and-brown pawprint are officially from me or other trialmaster announcements. All ones purple with emanating magic are from the Order themselves. All others are specifically just unimportant-looking and might not be from anyone of any importance at all!"
The next few were just unimportant. "Now that that's over with, I have another exciting new announcement to share."
Everyone gasps, as this happens very rarely. The last time Admin had made this statement was a year ago, when the uniforms for the organization first started to have been weaved. Samantha had to hold up a hand to keep everyone silent while she distributed the clothes to everyone. The same happened today.
"Scientist Slimerella has now been built a secret lab for genetic testing. Wizards and monsters alike who'd want to find their heritage or breed genetically modified offspring for their monsters, came come over. This may be used in the future with crossbreeding to see which species are safe to breed with each other. You all should check it out, but there's a 1,000-gold fee for each daily pass into the headquarters."
The meeting quickly adjourned, and everyone left. Since Rhett and I now had business to do, we took out our new task binders and looked inside to see what was next.
Chapter Six - Unnamed
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||