"Tay-yah ー !"
Arnum yelled as he swung his sword in unison with Clara's. They broke the guard of Diavel. The boy took a step forward and stabbed his sword through Diavel's stomach, and Clara jumped off his back and ran her dagger through his chest. With her free hand, she brought it to his face. A bright light emitted from her hand, and an explosion resulted from it. The force exerted had Diavel pushed back along the ground, kicking up dust and rock into the air as his body slid backward. He stabbed his weapon into the ground to stop his momentum. He stood up, and felt his wounds already healing. He once again cracked his neck. This time tilting his head to the other side. "This is getting annoying. After having a meal without food for a week and even then I'm being messed around with a bunch of pests?!" He yelled. He clenched his fist, gripping his dagger tightly. The vampire got noticeably angrier, his brow furrowing. Arnum and Clara stood side by side. The two prepared for the worst. All of a sudden, the air had shifted. An intense gust of wind had been exerted from Diavel. Arnum could see something surrounding him.
"That… that has to be his aura. Why is it so sinister?" He wondered. Seeing something like this was unexpected. Just as they got him pushed back, he pushed back even harder. Arnum saw it take the shape of a large wolf. It was an intense red color. Diavel took a step forward, and he appeared just in front of Arnum, and kicked up in the stomach, sending him into the wall once again. He grabbed Clara by the hair and pulled her up. "I've just about had it with this. I'll start by cutting you up into little pieces, and feed them to my wolves! Now quit your damn squirmin', kid!" He demanded. Clara tried her best to break free from his hold, but she couldn't get away from him. Arnum fell down, and his face went into the ground. He suddenly got angrier at this. He heard the rapid steps of multiple people, and in the corner of his eye, he saw the guards rush in to attack Diavel. Without a single shred of hesitation he killed them all.
He heard the crunching of bones, the yells and screams of pain. It all rang in his ears. Repeating over and over again. He attempted to stand back up, but the pain shooting in every nerve was too much for him to bear, so he fell down the instant he tried to gain his strength to pull through.
"Gah… dammit. The guy… he had something up his sleeve. That was the feeling I got earlier. This isn't even close to a challenge for him now. That aura is giving him power. If only I knew how to do that… maybe I could… no… I shouldn't get my hopes up. This was all in vain." Arnum thought, his fingers curling up into a fist. He hated himself for not seeing this sooner. A vampire can live for hundreds of years, so he should have thought that this guy knew how to exert his aura. "Maybe I should just him kill me first… this can't possibly go in our favor anymore. This…"
"Tah! 'This is the end'? Don't bother speaking such lies! Strength means nothing if you don't speak without truth! As soon as you doubt your strength, it means nothing! Without a will to go on, your strength means nothing! Without something to use that strength against, without something to protect… that strength means nothing! It means that you are nothing!" A voice yelled in his ear. He did not know who it was, or where it came from, but it seemed to know him. He looked around to see where it was coming from, and he soon saw a shadowy figure come into view. He was then picked up by his breastplate, and he was forced to stand up on his feet. Diaval looked over as he slowly made the first cut against Clara's skin. He tilted his head. "Huh? The hell is that thing?" He asked, dropping Clara on the floor. He made his way to the figure. "Hey! Get your ass off my prey! That little rat isー!" He was cut short as a fist made contact with his face. Instead of rolling on the ground, he was sent flying into the wall. The figure sighed and looked back at Arnum.
"Stand… up." He ordered. As Arnum's pain withered away, he could finally stand without needing to be held up. As he got a good look at the figure, he appeared like a humanoid beast. He had no features except for teeth that were pointed and eyes that radiated a deep red. Wild, spiky hair ran down his back, all the way to his knees. He was incredibly muscular, and towered over Arnum. "Do you see? If you are unable to be truthful to your goals, your people, your family, every single person you've met and every experience you've made… your strength will never amount to anything." The figure said, and he suddenly disappeared into a mist, that soon went into the blade of his sword, and a strange black energy coated his left arm. Arnum's vision was still blurry. But he heard the voice speak to him once again. "Fight…"
"To WIN!" He yelled.
Arnum's vision cleared, and Diavel recovered from the attack. He got up and walked his way over to the boy. "You… I'm going to kill you without hesitation! I'm going to make sure you suffer!" He said, and he ran for Arnum. The boy looked up, and saw everything looked as though it was going in slow motion. Arnum felt a tingling sensation in his arm, and he swung his sword instinctively. All of a sudden, time sped up, and Diavel appeared behind him, but his eyes were wide as a large gash sprayed out blood from the side of his torso. He yelled in pain, and a hand gripped the back of his head before slamming him into the wall. The boy's eyes were blank, his pupils disappeared and his red eyes became dilated. "Wh-What the hell?!" Diavel exclaimed. He was then slammed into the ground repeatedly after being pulled back from the wall. A sword was driven through his chest. It turned and it cut through his body from the side. Arnum swung repeatedly. Blood sprayed out of Diavel. Drops of blood splattered onto his face. Screams of terror were let out from his throat. Many were pleads of mercy, but Arnum did not heed them. He kept swinging, each one becoming faster than the last. His face was blank. And he did not even show signs of stopping. His shadow began to move outward, bringing itself underneath Diavel. "What is this!? What are you doing!? Stop it! Stop it!" He was slowly being pulled in by spectral hands. Arnum stopped swinging, his shadow returned behind him. There was no body to be seen, and blood was seen all across the wall, the floor, and Arnum's body. He fell on his back. And everything turned black.
He later awoke in his bed. Seeing the window opened, a cool breeze blowing in. It felt nice. He slowly got up and out of bed. He found it hard to walk but after a bit of getting feeling back into his legs, he left the room and went down to the living room.
Kristopher and Clara sat on the couch. He was relieved to see that he was still alive, and that Clara was safe. He looked over to see that Karl and Camille were sitting in their chairs. The both of them were talking to Clara. Kristopher was asleep. When they saw Arnum walk in, they let out sighs of relief. Clara was the first to run over and slap him across the face. "You really are the worst! You slept for an entire week! Not to mention the fact that you passed out, leaving me to just pick you up and bring you all the way back! Thank me already!"
"T-Tha-Thank you?" He said. She crossed her arms and sat back down on the couch. He scratched the back of his head. "Is everyone alright?" He asked. Karl shook his head. "Most of the guards have died, only one of them managed to survive by some miracle. The mages are fine. The girl, Luna, even came by to bring you gifts. They are on the table in the dining room. Please sit, we have some things to discuss." Arnum did just that. He was confused but he went with the flow of things nonetheless.
"Clara had informed us of a mysterious power you obtained during your battle with the vampire." Karl said, he leaned in and stared at Arnum in the eyes. "What was it?" He asked. The boy shrugged, he didn't even remember what happened in the first place. Everything became a blur. Nothing was recognizable. Arnum looked at Karl. "I have no idea. Whatever happened I have no memory of it." He said, and he stood up from the couch. Then, he walked outside of the mansion, and went down to the village. He had no interest in dealing with whatever the Pendragons had to say about what happened. If he didn't remember, then it wasn't in his control. Arnum decided to take a stroll through the village. It was a simple one, but it was vast. It reminded him of the streets of Italy. The streets often became so skinny that a car could barely pass through. These reminded him of those very streets. The rooftops had long wooden boards stretching across them, showing that people often had to go above to get past everything from time to time. Or maybe thieves used these as easy passages to get to people's homes easier and steal their possessions. Arnum sighed. He noticed the many shops and restaurants that littered the town, but all of them specialized in all kinds of things like weaponry, armor, herbal concoctions, clothing, etc. It was all here at once. "Why didn't I come here sooner? I could have a pretty good time here just exploring." He said. While out and about, something had finally settled in him.
As he took the time to see the village for what it was, he noticed a bulletin board near what appeared to be a meeting hall. On it would be flyers. Most of them were advertising the meeting hall but the others had a dedicated half of the board. It was cluttered with pictures of monsters. Every single one of them had a certain number of stars on the top of it. There was also a description of the monster, and a description with a heading that read "Quest!"
Arnum was surprised to see this. This world was even more like something from an RPG if it had something like this. That meant that the meeting hall was something like a Guild. As he heard a few steps get louder behind him, and turned and walked away from the board. A female wearing a dark blue hood looked over and saw Arnum. She then turned her head and walked into the meeting hall.
The more Arnum thought about it…
Maybe it was wiser to stay and talk with Karl and Camille? They clearly had something important to say but Arnum completely ignored them. Arnum then realized he actually wanted to know about whatever happened in the cave. He was unsure of what he saw before blacking out, and it started to worry him. He wanted to go back to the mansion, but he doubted that they would be happy if he just waltzed in and asked what they thought happened. Clara obviously filled them in, they just wanted his side of the story. Arnum sighed and turned around. He then had the thought that he shouldn't let them wait long. It would probably give the impression that he was trying to run from them if he just settled in the village for a couple hours. Arnum slowly made his way up the stairs and knocked on the door. Clara opened it and once again slapped him in the face. "You! You are such a jerk!" She exclaimed. Arnum looked at her in the eyes and walked past her, completely ignoring her words. He realized he too wanted to get to the bottom of this. He apologized to Karl and Camille for leaving so suddenly, and sat back down on the couch. Karl sighed and looked at Arnum once again. "If what Clara said about what happened was true… then I'm sorry to say that you are probably a high risk for being in this house. We will give you the funds to purchase some place to stay, but being here means that you will soon be attacked."
Arnum was shocked, he asked, "How could you know that?"
"Because whatever you did, it released a high level of mana that every single mage from the Kingdom of Eden could feel it. Eden is one of the strongest Kingdoms here in our world. We received a letter about it a few days ago. They warned us of the mana that was released, and said that they would soon be investigating us, the forest, and the village for whatever could contain that level of mana." Karl explained. He once again mentioned the proposal of giving Arnum the required funds to have a place of his own somewhere away from the village. Arnum weighed his options, it took him a moment to collect his thoughts. But an image of a board appeared in his mind. He shook his head and looked at Karl. "I'll take the funds. But not for a house." He said. Karl looked puzzled, he was surprised, even.
"Why? What do you have in mind?" He asked.
"There's a Guild in this village, right? I'd like to go there and use the funds I get from finishing up quests to find a place to stay. All I ask is a small amount of money to buy some new armor. Mine got pretty messed up."
Karl had thought it over, and reluctantly agreed. While the day was still young, Arnum was handed a bag of gold. He was told that it was enough to buy a decent set of armor at the shop in the village. Arnum thanked him and went down to the village to buy it as soon as possible. As Karl and Camille waved him off, the female looked at her husband with a perplexed look upon her face. "I am surprised you didn't take the sword you gave him." She said. Karl shook his head. He looked back at her and replied, "If what Clara said is to be fine hundred percent believable, then I highly doubt that sword will be easy to take. We shall see what he does with it in the future." He said as the both walked back into the house. Clara watched Arnum leave from her window, and angrily shut the blinds.
Arnum opened the door to the shop, and he went to the clerk. "Hey. Do you have a decent armor set? Something light but pretty durable at the same time?"' He asked. The store clerk, a bearded man wearing baggy overalls had nodded. He would lead Arnum to the back of the store. He took off a black tarp that covered an armor rack. It was an all black set of armor with a price tag of 1,800g. Karl told Arnum that the bag contained 5,000 gold. Most of it was actual gold pieces but some were apparently platinum which was equivalent to a thousand gold. There were at least four platinum pieces and the remaining pieces were small gold coins. He gave the store clerk two platinum pieces and was given back 200g.
Dante slipped on the armor and it fit him perfectly, which was something he did not expect. He thought it would be a little bigger but that was not the case. He left the shop and went into the meeting hall. His assumption was correct. This was in fact a Guild. He was approached by a muscle bound man wearing full armor. He removed his helmet and looked down to see Arnum. "The hell's a kid doin' here?" He asked. Arnum would walk past him, clearly uninterested in what the man had to say about him being here. He was stopped by a hand grabbing his head. He looked back and the man was there, and he looked back with a snarl. Arnum turned around and sighed. "What?"
"You made the mistake of ignorin' me, kid." He cocked his arm back. And he went for a punch aimed at Arnum. Someone stood in front of the boy and blocked the strike with a large shield. "Bruce! What the hell did we say about attacking people in the Guild hall?" The man asked. The person named Bruce had scoffed. He moved his hand down and walked away. The man holding the Shield turned around and smiled. "Hello there! My name is Shun!" He held out his hand toward Arnum. He looked down and shook his hand. "Arnum." He replied. Shun smiled and moved his hand back. He was clearly excited to be meeting a new person with that glint in his eye. Arnum looked around the place, seeing a bunch of tables with people sitting down and chatting. Some sat alone and ate by themselves. He looked back at Shun. "Uh… are you guys looking for new members? I'm interested in joining." He said. Shun perked up and smiled. "Finally! It's been so long since we've had a new member! Man, this is so exciting! This is awesome!"
Arnum thought without hesitation that this man was too excited for what was going on. Already some people were staring at the two of them. "Uh… can you tone it down? Where do I sign up?"
After Shun had calmed down, he took Arnum to a large desk with a woman sitting there on the other side with blonde hair, wearing a white suit and tie right between her… anyway, Arnum tried not to look down while he was given the paper to sign up. He tried to write down his information as quickly as he could. He gave it to her and Shun smiled when the female said everything was in order. Arnum was given a card that began to shine. Within seconds the blank card had a picture of Arnum's face and all the information he had put on it.
Name: Arnum Kurei
Age: 18
Gender: Male
Height: 178 cm
Weight: 54 kg
Arnum was then taken to the Quest board. Shun gave him the rundown on how everything worked and he left the novice to his own devices. He was told that the stars represented difficulty. It went from one to ten. Ten was the most difficult and 1 was the easiest. Arnum took notice of a quest that was three stars. It was a simple one: Kill the Vampire hidden in the forest. Arnum's eyes widened. He looked at all the information and made the connection to the vampire he fought and this one.
"Does this mean that I just jacked a quest without knowing it?"
Note: I will not sugar coat this. This may seem rushed and it very much is. I apologize. I soon realized that I may have escalated the story a bit too quickly for my liking. Because of this, I rushed this despite not wanting to.
I do promise to make the future chapters feel more organic. I hope my readers can forgive me in some way.