¤ A Dangerous Weapon

‘What’s up?’ Jaysen peered along their line of vision, and found himself looking at a handsome young man with black hair, his shoulders broad and muscular under blue Adventurer Librarian robes. There was a queer light in his black eyes as he returned Silver’s gaze. ‘I must speak to you, Silver.’ His voice was pleading, as he strode up to the trio, blocking their path.

Silver, in turn, had a cold anger in her that made her grey eyes look like steel. Her voice trembled a little as she said, ‘How many death threats will it take to make you leave me alone, Brandon?’

Feeling something amiss, Jaysen moved to stand slightly before Silver, the mix of anger and fear in her voice stirring up in him an instinct to fight. A little voice in his mind repeatedly told him how stupid it was for him to go up against someone so much larger in size, but stopped when Jaysen dragged it yelling to the back of his mind and squashed it viciously.

‘Good meeting, Brandon.’ Through the little tussle in his head, Jaysen put on a confident smile as he tried to ease the tension. ‘Perhaps we could sit down somewhere to talk?’

‘No.’ Silver, Rei and Brandon all said in unison. Jaysen felt Silver shift uncomfortably behind to him. ‘I have nothing to say to him. Let us pass, Brandon.’ She said, her voice frigid.

‘Only if you will let me say a few words.’

‘Say them now.’ Rei challenged, drawing level with Jaysen on the bandit’s left to form a barrier between Brandon and Silver.

‘No, it must be in private.’ Brandon kept his black eyes fixed on Silver, who only glared at Brandon over Jaysen’s shoulder. ‘Come with me.’ Brandon tried to push past Jaysen to grab Silver by the arm.

But he didn’t get far before he felt the bite of cold steel against his stomach through the material of his robes. ‘Back off, dude. I have like, a dangerous weapon.’ Jaysen murmured, a thin smile on his lips as he addressed Brandon. ‘The lady said no, you heard her.’

There was a tense pause, then a sneer appeared on Brandon’s handsome face. ‘So, Silver. Is this your new interest then? How protective he is of you.’ He looked down at Jaysen contemptuously. ‘Tell me, how have you bewitched him so thoroughly?’ Jaysen heard a sharp intake of breath from Silver, as the insult struck home.

Aware of how Silver was shaking now, Jaysen grabbed the front of Brandon’s robes and gave him a slight shove backwards. ‘I said, back off, sir.’ Jaysen told Brandon, still smiling mildly as if he didn’t have a blade held against the latter’s stomach. ‘Who knows what will happen next? I might lose concentration, then my fingers will slip…’

Brandon felt the steel dig deeper into his flesh. ‘Alright, I’ll go.’ He held up his hands in reluctant surrender. ‘Just a word of advice, though.’ Brandon leaned nearer to Jaysen’s face despite the sharp pressure at his stomach, staring at Silver to make sure that she was listening. ‘My girl there. She does have such an appetite. Ask any librarian around here, they should know. All the stories they have about her; you’d never guess, just by looking at her.’ Brandon grinned as he clucked in mock disbelief. ‘Mind you don’t get tired out by her, else she’ll just move on to another one.’

Leering now, he backed off, his eyes never leaving Silver’s. Silver did not shy from the eye contact, her fist remaining clenched long after Brandon disappeared around a corner.

‘Silver.’ Rei said softly, touching her on her right elbow gently. The girl flinched, and Jaysen turned to see her eyes becoming glassy with suppressed tears. ‘I’m okay.’ She said in a hoarse voice, then dashed the tears in her eyes away roughly. ‘Listen, I just realised forgot to bring my journal along. I’ll catch up with you guys at the lift lobby.’ Turning mechanically, she walked off, the rustling of her robes a soft whisper in the silent corridor.

‘I want an explanation. Now.’ Jaysen turned to Rei, a fierce questioning look in his eyes.

‘I cannot speak for her.’ Rei maintained, still stubborn.

‘Did you see how upset she was just now? What is happening? What stories about Silver was that guy talking about?’ Jaysen argued. ‘I have to know.’

‘It is not in my position to say anything, even if I know how concerned you are about her. Nor will I repeat any filthy gossip that is untrue. We’d best just follow her lead for now. If she wishes to tell you, she will.’ With that, Rei walked off in the direction of the lift pod lobby.

Jaysen considered, for a moment, to chase after Brandon and interrogate the truth out of him. With sharp and very pointy things, he thought. Then, he looked down at the butter knife that he had used to threaten Brandon, and snorted in bitter laughter. Even if he could scare Brandon with the cutlery he stole from the mess hall, he wouldn’t be able to inflict enough pain with them anyway.

Balrogs. Jaysen cursed as he jogged to catch up with Rei, tucking away the stolen butter knife. Why did he have to leave his Serpent dagger in Rei’s room?

¤ More Scars

Adventure Librarians are always on the move, huh? Silver shut the door of her room behind her and leant the back of her head against the solid wood. She huffed angrily, looking up at the ceiling. ‘On the hunt, more like it. Bloody stalker.’

Ah, but that was how he managed to get to you in the first place, wasn’t it? The little voice in her head came back again, teasing her. Someone didn’t complain about all that attention back then.

Shut up. I know I was stupid, alright? Silver thought irately as she moved to search through her backpack for her journal. As she pulled out her journal, a small round disc slid out with it and clattered to the floor. Ah yes. I was meaning to bring that along. Recognising it as her whisper mirror, Silver reached out to pocket it, then stood up to exit her room.

She came to the dark staircase at the end of her corridor again, the same apprehension from before clutching at her heart and making her feet stop. ‘Of all the rooms in this monster of a maze, why did I have to get one with no alternative routes to it.’ Silver muttered, forcing herself to feel more irritated to chase away the dread in her. She moved as quickly as she could down the staircase, quickly reaching a wide, empty landing as the staircase turned to make another flight.

Her eyes adjusted to the darkness just then, and in the wall before her, she caught sight of four giant slashes gorged deep into the dark wood. They started about an arms length above Silver’s shoulder and swept downwards in a vicious curve down… Down… to… me.. The image of a snarling Lycanthrope, its silvery fur glinting in lamp glow as it raised cruel claws flashed across her mind’s eye; Silver shuddered and stepped backwards, her left hand flying up to her right elbow involuntarily.

She stood there, frozen, for a while, head raised to stare at the scars on the wall, her journal clutched close to her chest. Then, giving her head a sharp shake and uttering a few choice expletives, Silver fought to throw off that paralysis.

Staring at four stupid marks on the walls. You are really losing it, Silver. Scolding herself for letting her imagination get the best of her, Silver forced her legs to stir. She hurried down the next flight of stairs, and out into the corridor outside the doorway, where the cheerful lamplights left no space for dark thoughts or sinister memories.

¤ Wing

Silver, Jaysen and Rei made their way down the forest town of Ellinia, Silver’s brooding silence making the other two afraid to speak. The silence was only broken once when Silver checked with Rei if she was heading the correct direction to Wing’s house.

Walking down a wide mossy ledge, they finally reached a tree house of sorts; the small house was had a circular door and window, and its curved walls were embedded halfway up the trunk of the tree. A fairy with white hair fluffed up into airy spikes was sitting on the house’s porch, kicking his dangling legs petulantly as he stared with sullen brown eyes at the newcomers approaching his house. Although his face still retained a certain childish roundness that made him look a little older than Rei, there was a shadow in his eyes that hinted at a cynicism far beyond his apparent age.

‘Are you mortals trying to get more Flying Pills from me?’ The fairy said loudly once the trio came within earshot, ‘If so, just bugger off. I’m in no mood to entertain stupid fortune-seekers today. Icarus will never give you the cape you want, so I don’t see why you all have to keep bugging me.’ He sniffed, flicking his translucent purple wings in agitation. ‘Tell Icarus I have sent him enough Flying Medicine to last him another ten years, and tell him to just stop troubling random passers-by before someone decides to punch him in the face one more time. I don’t want to have to rush up to Kerning to rescue him from the clutches of his fellow mortal barbarians again.’

‘I’m sorry, sir, but I’m not here on Icarus’ request today.’ Silver waited patiently for the fairy to finish his rant before speaking. ‘Is your name Wing?’

‘Yeah, that’s my name. Don’t wear it out.’ Wing continued to glower at the three mortals before him. ‘What is your business then, if not running errands for Icarus?’

Silver extended a hand to Wing. ‘Good afternoon, sir. I’m Silver, an Adventurer Librarian, from the Ellinia Library, and I’m hoping that I can get your help on my Project.’

‘An Adventurer Librarian?’ Wing shook Silver’s hand cautiously, peering into her eyes carefully. ‘What is your Project’s subject matter, that it can involve me?’

‘It might be difficult to phrase this, sir, but I was hoping you might provide me more information on certain events that happened in the Academy set up by King Kranz in Orbis about fifty to sixty years ago.’ Silver said, noting with interest how the sullen expression in Wing’s eyes now turned to mild resentment.

‘Why would any mortal want to dig up stuff about that stupid old Academy, anyway?’ Wing muttered, still looking hard at Silver in distrust.

‘To be more accurate, I am only looking for information about a certain student of the Academy, which I believe was your acquaintance?’ Silver flipped open her journal again to the list of names, and pointed out to Wing the name at the top of the list.

‘Aurora?’ Wing read out the name, his voice soft in wonder. Or was it apprehension? Silver couldn’t tell, largely due to the shock she was in at hearing Wing speak Aurora’s name.

‘But- but how?’ Jaysen echoed Silver’s surprise, his expression of astonishment identical to the one Rei’s face.

‘How what?’ Wing snapped now, impatient.

‘Erm. It might sound strange, but there is a spell that doesn’t allow us to speak this… girl’s name.’ Silver tried to explain. ‘That’s why we are all surprised that you could read her name out. Could you please tell us more about this girl?’

‘What makes you think that I have anything to do with this… Aurora girl, Librarian?’ Wing said, his tone edgy. His wings were now twitching frequently now, and there was still that strange angry light in his eyes.

‘We have an account from Salmer, the girl’s adopted brother, that describes you to be acquainted with the girl.’ Silver explained. ‘Unfortunately, we need more details and I was hoping we can get a more in-depth account from your point of view.’

‘You sure pick your sources well, Librarian.’ Wing said. ‘But what if I tell you that I have no wish to talk about this Aurora?’

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Next chapter: link

Links to previous chapters:
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I am highly amused by the chapter number. Read it in Chinese, if you know how. I am stupid, in that way. And to further prove the lows that I can achieve, here’s the drawing, I mean, the ugly doodling I did for this chapter: link

Anyone pick out how irritated I am with Icarus? Darn speed cape.

And today, we shall have… Japanese Rice Crackers! The sort with the yummy seaweed on it. Not quite cookies, but still nice all the same. ^^;