-Royal City-
“I’ve got good news,” Oroske said as he walked into the kitchen and dining area of the house, where Kuro was sitting at the table reading over his most recent assignment from Nadred. It was a complex book detailing the development of scrolls and grimoires; how to make them, and how they work. Nadred didn’t want Kuro to be able to put this information into practice, instead he simply wanted Kuro to have a better understanding of one of the more useful tools in the magic world. That said, the information really wasn’t sticking, and Kuro had developed a bit of a headache trying to process the information. He welcomed the distraction Oroske brought. “Danfis has lined up a Hunt for yours and Jarou’s Black Cloak Exam.”
He set down a small file on the table, which Kuro opened and began perusing. He liked this new format Venn and the folks at Headquarters have been trying out recently, they simply hand you a folder with all the relevant information they have. He figured it helped out with the organization on their end as well. The file in front of him detailed a request to track down and defeat a Necromancer in the Royal City. A ‘Page 1 of 3’ at the bottom indicated there should be more information, but instead there was a note telling him to check in with Rel when they get to the City.
“I have to get the rest of the information on site? Don’t we already have it?” Kuro asked.
“That’s right. If this Hunt wasn’t doubling as your Exam, you would have the rest of the intel, but part of the exam is to test your investigative skills. Given the information we have, that you do not, this Hunt seemed a very good fit for the test.” Oroske explained.
Kuro set the file down with a sigh, then stretched his arms above his head, fingers interlocked. “Alright, when do we leave?”
“, should look to leave around mid-day, so you can get there in the evening.” The way he emphasized that first part suggested Oroske and Nadred wouldn’t be with them.
“You and Nadred aren’t coming?”
“We’ll be observing from a distance, making sure if things go poorly we can step in, and see how your investigative progress goes,” Oroske said, gesturing with his hands, “That said, we’ll be travelling separately, and you probably won’t see us at all for the duration of the Hunt. The goal is to ensure you’re competent enough to do these kinds of jobs on your own, after all.”
“I guess that makes sense. It’ll be weird not having you around.”
Oroske smiled, “I’m confident the two of you will do great. And since you’ve already passed the written test, once you get back you’ll be able to get your Black Cloak at the next award ceremony.”
Kuro returned the smile. At long last, it was time to prove himself capable of going out on his own. Jarou was ready a few months ago, but had insisted he wanted to take on the Hunt part of the exam alongside Kuro.
“Well, now that you’ve accepted, I’ll leave you to it. Make sure you inform HQ before you leave. Your test starts now, best of luck.” Oroske patted Kuro on the shoulder, before exiting the kitchen and heading upstairs.
Suddenly, Kuro didn’t know how to proceed. He’d always had his mentor to help guide him towards the next step, this was the first time he was free to make decisions on his own. He took a deep breath, calming himself, and decided his first step would be getting in touch with Jarou. The two would be taking on this job together, afterall. He fished his pendant out from under his shirt, and gave it the mental command to connect to Jarou’s own pendant. The cool metal glowed blue for a moment, and once Jarou had answered the call, the light created a spiked, swirling pattern that matched the one on Jarou’s cloak.
“Kuro? What’s up?” Jarou’s voice came from the pendant. A little over a year later, this technology still bewildered him.
“Hey, Jarou. Has Nadred talked to you about the good news yet?”
“Huh? No? What news?” Jarou’s confusion was apparent, even without seeing his face.
“I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise,” Kuro said with a small smile.
“Okay then, I guess I’ll wait. Dad left only a little bit ago, and didn’t say when he’d be home. Do you want me to call you back when he’s back?”
“Sure, that works. Talk to you later, then.”
Jarou said his own farewell, and the pattern dissipated into floating moats of glowing aether, reforming to the Tsumi Clan’s emblem after a short moment. Kuro stopped channeling aether into the device, and the symbol disappeared.
It was still fairly early in the day, and Kuro had no idea how long he’d have to wait for Jarou to get back to him. He didn’t really feel like digging into the textbook again, so he decided he would get some exercise and practice in.
Kuro went outside, and decided to get some practice with gravia by holding a large stone almost as big as he was three feet in the air, straining to keep it stable in the air. It was a method Nadred had suggested when Kuro said he was interested in learning the aspect. He’d come a long way since the first time he’d tried using it, and smaller objects he was now able to control with relative ease. He’d seen one of the Hunters - he didn’t catch her name - who joined him and Oroske on a Sigil Hunt use gravia to not only carry multiple weapons in the air, but to spin the weapons around and attack with them. Once he could hold this boulder in the air steadily, he decided he’d learn how to do that next. He’d had it in the air for nearly fifteen minutes when his pendant began pulsing against his chest.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
His focus broken, the rock fell to the ground with a thud that shook the ground. He lifted the pendant to look at it, and saw Jarou’s emblem pulsing slowly. He channeled aether to accept the call, and greeted his friend.
“So, dad tells me we’re going to the Royal City for our exam. Was that the big surprise you were calling about earlier?” Jarou asked.
“Yep.”
“Cool.” There was a pause, “I don’t know where he went, but he said the test has already started. We should probably meet up somewhere so we can get to work.”
“Agreed. Meet in front of HQ in thirty minutes?”
“Better make it an hour,” Jarou said, “I need to clean up this mess I made, and probably shower, before I leave.”
“Sounds like fun. Alright then, see you in an hour!”
“See you soon.” The symbol disappeared once again.
Kuro let the pendant fall back down to his chest, and he began lifting the rock once more.
Jarou was waiting for Kuro when he arrived, stretching idly as he stood next to the entrance of the headquarters. He’d grown taller than Kuro, and by quite a bit - Kuro now had to tilt his head up slightly to make proper eye contact. He was getting close to Nadred’s height, and they all suspected he’d continue to grow to Kared’s height, or close to it.
Kuro raised a hand in greeting as he approached. “Hope you didn’t have to wait too long, sorry I’m a bit late.” He’d lost track of time during his rock-floating meditation, a surprisingly easy thing to do when your thoughts are completely occupied by maintaining a delicate balance like that.
“Not at all, I only arrived a few minutes ago,” Jarou said, “Well, shall we go in and formally accept the Hunt? Probably shouldn’t waste time if possible.”
Kuro nodded in agreement and the two walked in. They’d come near the end of the morning rush, so there was a line, but at least it wasn’t so long it went out the door. The last several Hunts he and Oroske went on they’d gotten here just in time to have to wait nearly an hour before reaching the front desk.
“This will be your first time going to Royal City, right?” Jarou asked.
Kuro was grateful to have a conversation to distract him from the wait. “It is, what’s it like there?”
“It feels a lot like City of Towers, to be honest. Just not so I still haven’t been able to explore it on my own, each time I’ve been there it was because the Guardians summoned me.”
“That makes sense.” Kuro paused for a short moment, “I’ve never asked, what kind of stuff do they even have you do when they summon you?”
“Mostly sit in on a meeting where it’s just the seven of them talking. They also do examinations, seeing how our training is going and how strong we are.”
“Wait, seven? Shouldn’t there be eight?” The line moved forward as Kuro asked.
“Didn’t you know? I thought it was common knowledge that no-one knows the whereabouts of the Eighth Guardian. Even his name is unknown.”
That bothered Kuro greatly. They’re called the “Eight Guardians” and yet it sounds like they don’t even know if the last one exists. “How do we know there’s eight of them in the first place, then?”
“Records of their re-appearance near the end of the Grand War, mostly. That and the testimony of the other seven. They all describe the eighth as being a very odd person, but they insist that they’re not only alive, but around here somewhere. Naen and Vaia let it slip that they may have an actual lead on his location, but won’t say anything else, other than ‘they’ll show up when they’re needed.’” He made air quotes with his fingers as he said that last part. The line moved forward again.
Kuro shook his head, muttering “How strange,” which caused Jarou to give a small shrug. “Does anything else exciting happen there?”
“Another point of intrigue is that they all speak of the group growing larger. They won't say how they plan to expand the group, but from the way they talk about it, it sounds like they have big plans.”
“So the three of you Chosen Ones aren’t enough?”
Again, Jarou just shrugged. Kuro wished he could get into one of these meetings one day. At least he had a man on the inside who was willing to tell him what’s going on, he’d settle for that. For now, at least.
It only took a few more minutes for their turn to arrive. Jarou and Kuro placed the folders their mentors gave them on the table. “We’d like to accept this Hunt.” Jarou beat Kuro to it.
Venn gave them a kind smile, “You two are finally taking your Black Cloak exam, right? I’m sure you’ll both do great.” She double checked the information on the front page in both folders, before stamping them with violet ink. “Report to Red Cloak Rel when you arrive in Royal City. Our base of operations in the city is near the Western gate, you can’t miss it. He’ll brief you on the information we have and get you set up in the city.” She smiled a bit wider before adding, “Tell him I say hello, please.”
“We will. Thanks, Venn.” Jarou had the same smile while he spoke, and Kuro couldn’t help but smile a little as well.
“So, do we have any errands we need to run before we leave?” Kuro asked as they stepped out into the sunlight.
Jarou stopped walking, and pulled out a little bag he kept inside his jacket, peeking into its various pockets. “I’ve got enough money to last about a week, and some emergency food. I think I have Return to Dust memorized, though I do have a few folded up scrolls for it just in case. I guess I should go grab my travel pack from home, but it should still be packed up, I think. How about you?”
“I’ll have to do the same, and probably grab my wallet. I shouldn’t have anything I need to buy before we can leave, though.”
“Great, whoever gets to the landing first can figure out the transportation. Sound good?”
Kuro nodded, “Sounds good. See you there.”
“See you soon,” he said with a wave before parting.
It was a quick trip in and out of the house. Helped largely in part that Oroske was nowhere to be found - and to a lesser but still notable extent that he knew where the things he needed were and didn't have to look for them. His travel bag, a large, crimson red duffle filled with clothes and a handful of textbooks he liked to study while travelling, was at the foot of his bed. His wallet was inside the pocket of the pants he’d worn the previous day. If they’d started talking, Kuro would probably end up being here for another hour. Just in case he was home, and just holed up in his study or bedroom, Kuro called out a farewell before leaving the house.
Kuro was not at all surprised to find Jarou waiting for him next to an aeth’mobile, the storage compartment and passenger doors already open. Despite living farther away, he and Nadred somehow always managed to get to the landing first.
“All set?” Jarou asked as Kuro closed the lid of the trunk, his travel bag safely stored away. He nodded in response, and Jarou gestured for him to enter the vehicle first.
After Jarou got in and was situated, they departed. The trip to the Royal City was a long one, taking nearly nine hours. The route was straightforward enough, taking them along a scenic path that passed by several small villages, and straight through the heart of Market City. It was a scenic journey, with a nice view of the plains that made up the central part of the Human Realm. They’d taken short breaks in a handful of villages so they could use the restroom, and a longer one in Market City so the driver could replenish the aether stores of the vehicle.
The sun had just barely set behind the distant mountains of Ishen by the time they arrived at the city’s West gate, called the “Pilgrim’s Gate,” and it was quickly becoming dark outside.
very excited to be writing and sharing this arc finally.
