The Court of Roses

  Chapter 1

  Shhhhhing!…Shhhhhing!

  A group of mostly young fellows, equipped for battle, stood outside of a cave. The corpses of various creatures were strewn about, pierced and slashed apart.

  A girl with wolf ears atop her head was attempting to pull out an arrow from a dead goblin.

  Shhhhhhing!

  A boy was chucking knives at a nearby tree.

  Shhhhhhing!

  A 2nd girl was sitting cross legged, examining her jewl tipped staff.

  Shhhhhhing!

  And another boy was sharpening his sword.

  “Would you cut that out! You’re driving me crazy!” the archer girl complained.

  “Don’t care. Gotta stay sharp.” The boy shot back.

  A middle aged man with brown hair and scarred cheek was hanging a small net filled with bottles of questionable contents a short distance inside the cave. “You've been sharpening that blade all day. Give it a break.”

  There was a short pause, before another Shhhhhhing! rang through the air. “I don’t want to hear complaints from a crappy old mage.” The boy said quietly.

  “That blade,” said the older man, “is a mass produced specimen of low grade iron, likely purchased from an equipment store with the cheapest prices possible.” The man stopped what he was doing and glanced at the boy, annoyance etched into his gray eyes. “It isn’t getting any sharper. I don’t want to hear complaints coming from an inexperienced swordsman who doesn’t even know how his own equipment works.”

  The boy stood up and sheathed the sword. “At least I’m actually practicing my chosen class. Beth over there has cast more spells than you on this raid. And the last one. You're supposed to be a mage, aren't you? With decades of experience, too.” The girl fiddling with her staff glanced up as she was mentioned.

  “That doesn’t mean I’m not contributing.” the man said, poking his project with a mage staff of his own. The bottle filled net swung back and forth.

  The dagger kid turned to them. “With all due respect, uh, Roy, was it? Why are you here anyway? You're either way too experienced to be raiding with us greenhorns or…you can't advance to a stronger group?”

  “That’s a good question.” said Roy as he shut his eyes and put a finger on his cheek in a thinking pose. After a moment of drama build up, his eyes shot open, “My goals are simply too complex for your understanding.”

  “Cheh! Are you suuuure it’s got nothing to do with that spirit crest of yours?” The archer asked. “I heard everyone who got that Champions Crest was gimped in the magic department. And got rid of it shortly after.”

  “Wait a minute. You’re THE Roy Ballast??” The young mage suddenly spoke up.

  Roy blinked at the girl. “I’m not some kind of renowned mage or anything.”

  “No you're not. But you taught the Barrier Queen didn’t you?” Beth the mage approached Roy quickly. “She’s highly sought after in the high level raid groups!”

  Roy scratched his neck awkwardly. “I didn’t teach her much. I just gave her a few pointers back when she was a newbie in one of these low level raid groups.”

  “But she publicly stated she owes her early direction and development to you! Can you please teach me a few things?!”

  “Hey. You got any advice for an archer?”

  Roy was suddenly surrounded by three of the four young adventurers, each asking for advice. ‘Crap. How can I get them to ignore me again?’ He thought.

  “Hey, I’ll answer a few questions but that's it. I’m not a trainer.” He waved his hands in front of himself.

  Roy was just a low level mage trying to make it in the world. Raid groups like theirs were formed to clear out territory that was taken by the corruption. The corruption, in high enough doses, changed and mutated the local wildlife wherever it went. Those are called Abyssal creatures.

  The corruption itself originates from ominous black obelisks, which pull the corruption energy from, presumably, some other world.

  Roy had decades of experience as a mage, but despite all his training, the girl was right. The Champion’s Spirit Crest that Roy’s patron spirit gave him had sabotaged his ability to use magic.

  After giving the young raiders some general advice, Roy leaned against the cave wall, wrapping his loose robes more tightly around him. ‘There has to be a good reason why they gave these out, right?’ Roy examined the Crest magically tattooed on his right forearm. Tiny magical runes, written to draw out a leaf and its veins.

  The Champion Crests were given out by ten different greater spirits to various people, each promising great rewards to those who would hold onto it. Most didn’t.

  Roy remembered coming to Stargus as a teenager, the biggest city on the continent, with his friends from his little village. Each of them went to the shrine representing their family’s patron spirit, or whichever their preferred spirit was, and asked for their blessing. Getting a Crest was a big deal, as it meant the spirit was willing to support you as you advanced in your chosen skill set.

  The crests could have all sorts of passive bonuses, such as enhanced strength, speed, or some form of magical enhancement.

  But Selina, a greater spirit of love, gave him the champion's crest. A crest no one has gotten any use out of. A crest that actively worked against its wielder by screwing up their mana control, regeneration, and capacity.

  But Roy was too stubborn to have it removed. Sure, Selina did encourage him from time to time, but Roy still couldn't help but feel like he was being scammed. Roy shook his head. ‘The spirits would not screw anyone over. The crest must have a reason to exist.’

  A man suddenly walked out of the cave. “Well. We are in for a real treat fellas.” A dark haired older man wielding a sword on his hip said to them. “There’s abyssal goblins, forest wolves, and a hob goblin in there, 6, 5 and 1 respectively. We should be able to clear the cave with just us.”

  “Finally.” The blade sharpener said. Roy hadn’t bothered to learn their names. Low level raid groups like theirs had a high turnover rate. Either the raider gained the skill and experience to get into a more impressive group, or they washed out of the occupation completely. Or died. That happened sometimes.

  “I’ll be taking on the hob goblin.” The man said, picking up a shield leaning against the cave wall. “You newbies will back each other up as you take on the gobs and wolves. And you Roy…watch everyone’s back. Offer support when needed.”

  “Sounds good, Duren.” Roy stated. It wasn't that Roy was useless. Even with very little magical support, Roy had other means of contributing and keeping his fellow raiders alive. He just needed to be more creative.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  The group began sneaking into the cave, with Duren at the front with a torch, and Roy in the back. The archers' wolf ears were constantly twitching with all the echoes.

  Eventually, Duren signalled for the group to slow down, and creep forward as silently as possible. Ahead of them, the cave opened up into a bigger cavern, large enough to hold six goblins, five wolves, and a hobgoblin. Each taken by the corruption.

  Duren glanced back at Roy, and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

  The mage silently walked to the front of the group to survey the enemy camp. Roy glanced at the creatures, unable to hide his disgust. While the wolves were little more than animals even in this state, the six goblins were sitting around a camp fire with an unnatural calmness that normal goblins don’t have.

  They chittered softly to each other, while the larger hobgoblin, undoubtedly the leader of the group, sat on the ground nearby, rocking its body softly.

  Roy pulled out a bottle from his pouch, and threw it at the goblins. Or rather, at the campfire they sat around.

  The bottle shattered and the flammable liquid splashed over three of the goblins and their bonfire, turning them into screaming green torches.

  “Alright guys, there’s our signal to go in swinging!” Duren yelled as he ran straight to the hob goblin that was just picking itself off the ground, large club in hand.

  The cave was filled with screams, and echoes of screams as the two forces collided. Roy stood back surveying the battle.

  Ordinary goblin-kind weren’t too intelligent , but were still sentient. When the corruption took hold of sentient creatures, their physical bodies resisted change, but are possessed by some otherworldly creature.

  When lesser creatures were corrupted, they became more beast-like, mutating into terrible creatures the longer they were exposed. The wolves had not mutated much just yet, but they lacked survival instincts, attacking the group wildly.

  Roy pulled out a sling shot and a pouch of small stones and began taking pot shots at the goblins and wolves whenever they were about to get the upper hand on his teammates.

  As a wolf closed in on him, Roy pulled out his mage staff and let it bite down on the wooden handle. The wolf snarled at him, before an arrow struck its side. Roy kicked the wolf off of him and bashed the wolf’s skull with his staffs dull red jewel, knocking it out. “Nice shot!” Roy called to his teammate.

  While the goblins were slightly more competent fighters, their smaller number and inferior battle tactics allowed the group of inexperienced fighters to triumph over them easily enough. Roy kicked the last goblin into the wall, allowing his teammate to stab it multiple times with his knives.

  By this point, the small fry had been taken care of, leaving the larger hob goblin as the only remaining threat. Duren danced around the goblin, dodging and deflecting its heavy club. Roy had since run out of ammo for his slingshot to help.

  “Surround it and bring it down, altogether.” Duren called. “He’s big, and slow.” After several volleys of arrows, spells, and thrown knives, the durable hob goblin was nearly done.

  “Take this!” The young swordsman rushed to the weakened creature, stabbing his blade into it. The goblin pushed the boy off, knocking him to the ground. It lifted the club, intending to pulverise the boy into the ground with a roar.

  “Move!” Rushing forward, Roy smashed the goblin across the face with his staff, knocking it off balance. Finding an opening, Duren slipped his sword into the goblins neck. The oversized hoblin hit the ground with a thud, its blood painting the floor.

  Roy examined the carnage. The group wasn’t very far into the corrupted territory, just on the edge. All of the creatures they fought were only recently corrupted, and thus, were relatively low threat.

  “whoa. That was intense.”

  “yeah, that goblin almost took me by surprise.”

  “Good job keeping each other alive. Perry, you really should learn how to draw your arrows faster…”

  As Duren began his constructive criticism speech, Roy shut his eyes. ‘You there, Selena?’

  No answer. He frowned. Spirits were pretty busy normally, managing their resources, but you could sometimes rely on them to tell you if there were any abyssal threats around. The spirits had limited awareness of what was going on around those who bore their crests.

  ‘I've got a weird feeling…’ he grabbed a makeshift torch and began walking further into the cave. “I’ll be back in a minute.” The path descended and twisted, but as he approached a corner, he stuck the torch out and peaked.

  Roy’s blood went cold. In a small cavern stood a black obelisk, with red mist twisting around it. “No wonder this area has had so many abyssal creatures appearing lately.” A portal suddenly opened up, with a monstrous, scaled hand reaching out of it.

  Roy darted back up the path he took earlier. The obelisk had sensed him as a threat and was summoning in a creature to defend it. As he returned to the group, Roy hurriedly helped the others to their feet. “Everyone, it’s time to get the hell out of this cave! There’s an obelisk farther down the path. It opened a summoning portal!”

  “You actually saw it? For sure?” Duren asked as the group picked up their things in a hurry to evacuate. A creature's loud footsteps were already echoing down the cavern walls, accompanied by a vicious sounding “Hsssssss!”

  “There is no mistaking an obelisk Duren. We need to leave! The Orc strongholds need to be informed right away!”

  “Well shoot. Did you see what it summoned? You think we can outrun it in the open?”

  “I think it's a lizard type, judging by the scales I saw.” Roy replied. “You wanna hang back and distract it while I prepare a spell?”

  Duren immediately skidded to a stop and turned toward the pursuing creature. “You got one minute, Roy!” Duren was quite selfless when it came to the safety of his raid team.

  As the group finally exited the cave, minus Duren, Roy turned around and pointed his mage staff at the cave mouth. “Fireball. Fireball. Fireball.” He began repeating softly. The magic slowly pulled out of Roy, ran through the staff, and began to coalesce into a fireball in front of him.

  “Can’t you go faster? It’s just a simple fireball spell!” Beth yelled.

  “Shut up and prepare your own attacks!” Roy yelled, losing his patience with them.

  As the ball of fire grew, Duren bolted out of the cave, his shield missing and arm bleeding profusely. “Fricken lizard is fast! You got something prepared or are we screwed?”

  The fire ball had grown about two times the size of his head, and wasn’t getting much bigger. “Hopefully…this is enough.” Roy struggled to keep the spell under control. A normal mage could have prepared a spell if this caliber much faster.

  The bipedal lizard creature slid into view inside the cave and sprinted toward them with a roar. “Now!” Roy fired off his spell, aiming at the bottles he had hung up at the entrance just as the creature reached it.

  The fireball erupted into an even bigger flame as the glass bottles exploded, completely engulfing their enemy. Roy was knocked on his butt after the resulting explosion, which echoed throughout the cave.

  “HSSSSS!” The creature glared at them as the fire cleared. The lizard man leaned against the cave wall, most of its flesh burned.

  “Finish it off!”

  After a volley of arrows and spells from the group, the lizard dropped to the ground too, the initial damage it took from the explosion too much for it to give much of a fight.

  Roy, still sitting on the ground, rolled his head back so he was looking at the sky. “Too close. Abyssal lizardmen are a bit much for this group.”

  “Uh, you sure that was all of them?” Duren asked.

  “Nope. Let's get out of here.” After bandaging Durens arm, the group set off to quickly leave, not wanting to stick around to fight another summoned monster.

  The group left the forest without much incident, making their way back to the city of Stargus.

  Roy sighed. Getting debriefed from this mission would take a while.

  ———————

  The next day-

  Now on his own, Roy stood in front of a large building, with a cup in hand. He took a deep sniff, taking in the cool morning air mixed with his coffee, and walked inside. A nearby sign said ‘Bureau of Spirit Affairs.’

  Early enough to avoid the lines, he stepped up to a professionally dressed clerk behind the long desk. “Good morning- oh, Roy. How are you?”

  “Morning Sarah. I’m doing alright.” He slid a paper under the protective glass barrier. “Just here for this week's support goodies.” As mages and warriors pick up skills and experience, and helped with clearing out corruption territory, spirits will often give their devotees support items. Things like potions, enchanted equipment, or spell casting gear. The equipment was stored in the warehouse and picked up whenever the adventurer cared to stop by.

  As a Novice mage, Roy was given slightly more support than normal than most of his skill level. People just chalked it up to Selina exhibiting favoritism. Sarah opened up the document, which was a detailed report of what had transpired in the field the prior day. “Oh, you were part of that group yesterday. You ok?”

  “Yeah. That obelisk took us by surprise but we made it out.”

  “That’s good.” After eyeing the document with discomfort, Sarah looked through some papers to locate Roys file. “In addition to your normal support items this week, you got an extra chest. It came in just this morning.” She slipped Roys mission document in there as well. He liked keeping secondary records of his mission exploits.

  “This morning?”

  “Yeah. It was an urgent delivery. Let’s head back.”

  The two of them walked into the storage area, which was a big warehouse full of various goods and equipment. “E-28. E-28. Ah, here we are.” Sarah led him to his stash.

  Two storage chests awaited him. Roy walked up to the bigger of the two and picked up the note sitting on top.

  For: Roy Ballast

  Hi Roy! I’d like to give you a special gift. For being the most loyal crest bearer I've ever had!

  From: Your Greater Spirit, Selina

  Roy tilted his head. “A special gift?” He opened the smaller chest, but only found his typical weekly items, some potions, trap building gear, etc.

  He then set his eyes on the larger chest. The chest alone was made from high quality metals, typically hinting at something very expensive being stored away.

  He unlatched the lid and slowly opened it up with a creak. Within the chest was a dark void. Magic lettering appeared after a few seconds, forming the words ‘Champion’s Pocket Dimension’.”

  “What is this?” Roy cocked his head and reached inside. “Whaaa!” He yelled in surprise. Magical binding had suddenly wrapped around his arm, attempting to pull him inside.

  “Sarah!” Roy yelled in distress. But the binding had wrapped itself around Roy's body too rapidly, and pulled him inside the chest head first.

  “Roy!” Sarah yelled. But the chest had snapped shut. Unable to open it again, Sarah cried in despair. “Roooooooooyyyy!”