The man sported gelled hair that was glued together to look like an inverted cone. His moustache looked like the whiskers of a cat coiled into a thin thread while his narrow eyes gave him the vibe of a charlatan. He had a lean frame that was fully enclosed by a robe that had various mysterious symbols embroidered into them.
Sarah looked curious about the symbols etched on his robe and unconsciously walked closer to touch them.
"You shouldn't be rude to the Priest, Sarah." David hurriedly held the hands of Sarah while he apologised to the robed man.
"It's fine. Children are always curious. It is only through our curiosity have we been able to attain our present wisdom." The robed man preached as he finished his preparations and beckoned for Sarah to stand atop a small raised platform.
The raised platform was hexagon in shape where numerous runes were inscribed into it. Two wires were drawn from its sides and connected to the pair of gloves the robed man wore. As Sarah stood on the raised platform after getting the approval from David, the robed man began channelling his energy into the pair of gloves.
The energy turned white in colour as it passed through the gloves and shone with a golden colour as it passed through the wires. The moment the energy entered the hexagon platform, a formless force appeared around it and held the body of Sarah in place.
"Don't worry, this is just a normal procedure." The robed man said the moment he noticed fear emerge in the eyes of Sarah. David too echoed his statement and managed to ease up her tensed nerves.
The hexagon platform shone with a golden hue at first that applied a formless pressure on her skin, and then it turned red and applied a little heat. Immediately, the red colour changed to orange as the eyes of Sarah was assailed by bright light.
As she squinted her eyes, the orange colour changed to yellow as a gentle gust of wind ruffled her hair and clothes. The yellow then turned into green as her nose could smell a thick scent of nature. The colour then turned blue as water appeared in her surroundings and drowned her clothes. Before she could feel the sensation of drowning, the water disappeared as the colour turned indigo and faint electric sparks flickered all across her body, giving her the sensation of her skin turning numb.
The colour then changed to violet as Sarah felt the sensation of being buried deep within the earth. A Tick later, the violet colour vanished when the hexagon platform shone with all the previous eight colours, making her experience all the effects at the same time.
The feeling of getting burned, drown, electrocuted, crushed, etc. impacted her body for a few Ticks when suddenly, her surroundings turned dark. Sarah suddenly felt as if she had lost all her senses. She could neither see nor hear anything. Her nose failed to pick up even a single scent while her skin failed to perceive her surroundings.
She could neither feel the air nor the temperature of her surroundings. It felt like she had stepped into the void as she couldn't even feel the weight of her own body.
A feeling of fear encroached upon her as Sarah tried to scream but found out to her horror that even her voice had ceased to exist. Also, a foreign entity slowly seeped into her body. The only reason she could be sure of such a thing was due to the feeling of fear that had stemmed up in her consciousness from wherever the energy moved around.
The moment she felt like her mind would be unable to hold on; she could suddenly hear the flow of air around her and smell a few familiar scents that had lingered around her. She could also feel the weight of her body and all the senses that she was used to. Sarah stood stupefied atop the raised platform as the robed man removed his pair of gloves while heaving a tired sigh.
"Sarah, are you alright?" David hurriedly approached the hexagon platform and held the shoulders of Sarah. Sarah glanced at his face with a blank look as a semblance of intelligence slowly returned to her eyes. She immediately hugged David and began to cry uncontrollably while spouting unintelligible gibberish.
David patted the back of Sarah as he lifted her up and gazed at the figure of the robed man who was nonchalantly pointing towards a small machine at the side of the room. David walked towards the machine and inserted the stamped form under a marked section while fishing out a yellow coloured coin from his pocket.
The coin had the number '100' impressed on it as David slid it into a slot over the machine. The Hundred Rupi coin made a clanging sound as it hit a metallic surface within the machine that whirred into life. It quickly performed a scan of the form as a beam of light materialised from it and scoured the crying Sarah from head to toe.
Sounds akin to a metal being pounded by a hammer rose from within the machine while a faint smoke rose from the form inserted into it. David took a step back as he saw the form burn up in flames until not even ash remained behind. The flames release by the form were sucked into the machine and processed into something metaphysical.
5-6 Chants later, a thick slab of crystal shaped into a card slid of out the machine. David picked up the crystal card and checked the details printed on it. There was the face of Sarah inscribed in its right, while the left had her basic information.
Name: Sarah
Age: 10 Years
Nationality: Toenil Kingdom
Birth Place: Ironhill Port City
Alignment: Temple of the Heavenly Voyager
David flipped the crystal card and saw his details at the back. On the left half of the card, there was his face on one end, his name, his occupation, his relation to Sarah, etc. But the right half of the card was a blank since he hadn't furnished any details of his wife, i.e. Sarah's mother.
The Temple of the Principle Seeker had already verified the details he had furnished beforehand. But, since he didn't furnish the details of his wife, they didn't bother to look into it either. All they wanted was the acknowledgment of a single guardian to finish the awakening ceremony.
'Now, Sarah is a legal citizen of the Toenil Kingdom.' David bowed towards the robed man and walked out of the room. He had just walked out when he gazed at the figure of Stephen walking out with his son in tow. His son held onto his pants and sobbed while rubbing his tears and snot on it.
David looked at his shoulders and saw that Sarah had already fallen asleep. He then walked with Stephen as they talked about their next course of action.
"After spending for this awakening ceremony, our finances are running dry," Stephen said as he waved his hand before his crying son who immediately fell asleep. He then picked him up and walked beside David, heading towards the flight of stairs.
"We should also think about the expenses required to nurture them. I think we should focus on escort missions for the short term. That is safe for the children and would also give us some financial stability." David said.
"I'll help find us some well-paying passengers." Stephen said.
The duo exited the Temple of the Principle Seeker with their children and hailed a wagon. They then travelled towards a hotel and lay the two children to rest. Stephen immediately set out to find them some customers while David took the time to order some food.
A while later, Stephen rushed in excitedly, holding a contract in his hands. He took a moment to regain his breath as he showed the contract.
"Boss, this is an unofficial commission. The young master of a noble family wants to secretly sneak out of his house to play. The destination is actually the Flinchear Kingdom. We can expect a good reward for this escort mission." Stephen finished his statement like a machine gun.
"Honestly, I can't find any issues with the contract itself," David said after carefully scrutinising the contract. "But, you should know, commissions that are not handed out through the mainstream channels carry a certain degree of risk with them."
"I know that. But Boss, we haven't managed to successfully raid any merchant ships for almost a year. Our finances are running dry. Moreover, the recent Merchant Seaware Act has increased the security that each merchant ship possesses while travelling through the Hipsink river. If we want to re-establish us as a transport company, certain risks are a necessity." Stephen said, trying everything he could think of to convince David.
After a long time, David sighed as he reluctantly accepted the mission. The duo silently finished their lunch and left the rest for the kids to eat when they woke up. They also left a note saying that they would be back soon and warned the kids to not mess around.
'We are in need of money, especially after the two kids have undergone their awakening ceremony. Nurturing them, buying the jewellery for their growth, and getting them admitted into a noble school, everything needs money. Even if any trouble arises, we could still easily escape while making use of the Sealed Room.' David thought as he followed Stephen towards an inconspicuous pub and signed the contract with the client.
The client turned out to be a delicate-looking man who was dressed lavishly. He had a handsome face with a slight trace of baby fat and carried a scholarly aura around him.
"We'll have to set out sharp during the 4th Mier tomorrow." The man with a scholarly aura said.
David nodded and exchanged a couple of pleasantries before cupping his fists and walking out. After David and Stephen had walked out of the pub, a man with an androgynous face walked next to the man with a scholarly aura and whispered. "Can we trust these two?"
"Relax, I have investigated their background prior to this. They are desperate for money but they are the best in terms of skill in the waters. They were a famous band of pirates in the past after all. If not for the Merchant Seaware Act, they would still be active as Pirates." The man said.
…
The daylight was quite dim which was a prominent case during the month of the First Moon. A huge monolithic structure was erected next to the City gates; a massive bell whose size equalled the height of 2 grown men chimed 3 times, signalling the start of the 4th Mier.
Three men walked towards the city gates and neared a long wagon that housed two separate compartments. The compartment in the front was cordoned into two sections where the front section was occupied by the driver while the rear section was occupied by David and the others.
David and Stephen hurriedly stepped out of the wagon and showed the three men towards the second compartment that was lavishly decorated. The three men exchanged pleasantries and boarded their compartment. After inspecting the arrangements, the three men nodded in praise and settled their luggage which consisted of a couple of swords meant for decoration, their hats, overcoats and a pair of umbrella.
David then informed the driver to start the wagon as he entered the front compartment. The wagon then exited the city gates after undergoing a round of inspection by the soldiers stationed there.