'The Rising...'
"The... Building is shaking-"
Sam felt himself fall down to the dirt covered flow suddenly as he weakly looked up. Davi was placing him down on the ground pulling the nails out of him.
"Not to worry." Davi said. He slowly rested Sam back down and pulled out a bottle of water and several items of food. "Eat and drink up. Your wounds are going to be slowly healing. They're pretty bad. You should find a healer. When you're done head back into town. Your sister is looking for you."
Sam weakly shook his head. "I... I can't." He grunted resting back up. "If I'm gone and they notice they might begin to look for me... And they'd rip the village apart to do so."
"Well... The I guess..." Davi stood back up and began walking to the entrance of the building as he gave a thumbs up. "We're gonna deal with this assholes." He announced showing off a smile filled with rows of fanged and jagged teeth.
"Who... Who the hell are you?"
"No one important."
Sometime Later...
"Two of them... They look young. Sixteen? Seventeen tops..." Gale said slowly eyeing them up.
"Who... Who the hell are they?" Irene asked.
"Oh. So your boss didn't tell you about either of us." Tori smirked. "In that case. I guess he could give a rats ass what we do to you."
Davi gave a smirk crossing his arms. "Since we're nice we'll go ahead and tell you. Davi Hawker."
"Tori Kaen."
"And together! We're the guys that are going to take you down!" Davi and Tori announced at the same time as they went back to back, Davi not being affected by the flames, as both of them pointed at Irene who stared at them with a deadpanned expression.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...Davi..." Tori said slowly.
"Yeah?"
"You said that would make us sound cool and intimidating... This just feels weird and embarrassing though." Him and Davi had their backs to each other and one arm pointed at Irene.
"Poses are badass."
"Well this one isn't." Tori hissed out. "They're all just looking at us."
"Well... Shit I don't know? We pose harder!"
"God damn it I hate you."
"Kill them." Irene said flatly. All the soldiers suddenly jumped forward towards Davi and Tori.
"We're having a discussion!" Davi and Tori screamed out, both turning to face each other and throwing out a punch towards one another. Davi's fist easily blew apart Tori's arm and the force of their punches sent out a flaming shock wave which blasted everyone but Gale and Irene back knocking most of them out.
Irene let out a hiss as her eye twitched. Gale hummed. "It would seem that both of them have Arcane Energy my lady... In that case only we can fight them as the rest of our soldiers are normal humans."
"Right." Irene hissed out standing up. "Guess I have to dirty my hands then. I'll handle it... Vil Ice Spear." She hissed out firing out a wave of ice that took the shape of a spinning spear.
Tori went to step back. Went to being the key words as Davi simply reached over and grabbed Tori by the head and held the boy in front of him as the spear slammed into Tori's head ripping it in half. Davi dropped Tori's corpse as steam began to come from his split skull and the flesh mended itself back together flames pouring out of the open wound.
"Ow! You asshole!"
"Quit complaining." Davi sighed. "You can heal."
"What the hell..." Irene frowned as she stared at Tori. "His body is healing all wounds inflected to him no matter what. And... He's not even casting a spell. A spell must be said but him... He's dying only to simply heal and come back from the dead... Just who the hell are these two idiots."
Davi and Tori both turned to stare them down neither of the two boys saying a word...
Then...
"Dibs on the weak one." Davi announced jumping at Gale.
"Fool." Gale twirled his knives around in between his fingers as he stepped forward and sliced out with his blades. Davi managed to dodge several of the bladed weapons though he was nicked on his shoulder and cheek from the fast moving blades. "Row Wind Cutter." Gale hissed out the wind swirling around his knives and making them into long wind swords. He sliced them both down as hard as he could.
Davi grabbed the red electric guitar that was on his back the item glowing with a black energy as it changed into Long-Caliber his claymore styled sword catching Gale off guard. The two blades clashed and in a burst both of them went back and forth sending out a barrage of fast paced strikes and attack though it became clear Gale was doing better.
"I'll admit boy. You're strong. Your body has been honed and you've learned how to enhance your body with pure mana." Gale chuckled. "With with Arcane Energy have three styles. The first is casting spells. All of us have a Magic type. Either we learn it or are born with it. I was born with wind magic. We use our magic type to cast spells. All spells having to be said allowed. The second style is a state in which we enhance our bodies up with mana. All Arcane users can do this and thats how you're so strong. You pump mana through your body. Unlike spells they don't need to be said. We can use our mana to make us faster, and stronger, and take more hits, downside is thats all it really does, meaning most spells are better. Lastly are those who use magical weapons. We rely on the mana inside of a weapon rather then using our own. Though your weapon is strange."
"Is it?" Davi asked placing his sword over his shoulder with one arm.
"It is... Most weapons with a spell placed in them have a limited amount of energy and using the magic in it uses that energy up. Once its out you can't cast the spell in it until you get it recharged. Your weapon isn't like that though. I've heard tales of blades and magical items like Excalibur having mana so great the weapon can be used forever. You're not a normal warrior are you?"
"I can say the same for you guys." Davi frowned. "Graces are a thing some people are born with right? A baby is born with a Grace allowing them to do feats of magic others can't like learn several types of magic, or cast spells without words. You Dragon Dwellers though... It was something Kuro told me. Dark Eater... Its like a Grace right..."
"Yes... In a sense. Our lord makes Dark Eaters. He places them inside of us and they work as a cursed Grace."
"I see. Well thats all I needed. I have the perfect move to beat you. Check this out!" Davi swung back with his heavy sword and nearly fell back as the weight of the sword seemed to catch him off guard. His arms were above him now and his belly was exposed making Gale smirk.
"Dumbass! Left yourself wide open-"
"Got ya!" Davi in a shocking move let go of the sword dropping it to the ground and used him falling back to push off the ground with his heels as he slammed his fist into Gales face smashing the man into the ground. "I'm not much a swordsman." Davi smirked cracking his knuckles as Gales eyes rolled into the back of his head. "I'd much rather just knock your ass out with a good punch then swing that blade around jackass."
Meanwhile over with Irene she fired around the building at hyper speeds moving around Tori in a blur. "Let's see you react to me." She yelled a smirk crossing onto her face as she crashed down towards him. "Vil Ice Sword!" She yelled stabbing out with her ice blade and stabbing it through Tori's heart who took the blow. Tori was pushed back gasping out as blood flowed down his chin making Irene laugh. Ice began to cover his body up. "You might be able to heal but if I turn you to ice and shatter you to a powder I doubt you can come back from that-"
Flames exploded off of Tori burning Irene and melting the ice as her eyes went wide. Tori's entire body was on fire now. Flames that weren't going out. His flesh melted away only to reheal itself.
"Sorry but nice try." Tori chuckled catching Irene off guard as he reached up grabbing onto her neck with his flaming hand making her scream out. The ice sword in his gut melted as the flames flared up and his wounds began to heal. He cocked his head to the side a sneer on his face.
"W... What is this... Those are... T... These flames..." Irene hissed out her eyes wide as they burned her more leaving marks. "T... They belong to Kuro... H... How do you? I sense his mana..."
Tori's frown grew. "I was born with the Grace full restore. I was never one to study magic so it was a pain to be born with one like that. It makes my body heal no matter what. As long as a piece of me is alive I can simply regrow. Never really tested it out... At least... Not until that damn man." Tori's eyes lit up as the flames grew hotter. "See. I'm always on fire now. Your boss must have been in a really pissy move. Caught me on fire with an attack that never goes out. And because of him I'm traveling with that dumbass over there to get a wish. I'm gonna wish for these flames to finally be put out but until then I'm gonna slaughter every last one of you mother fuc-"
Davi slammed his sword down slicing off Tori's arm and dropping Irene. "Thats enough. I don't kill and I won't allow you to." Davi stated shaking his head.
"Let go of me..." Tori said his wound regrowing his arm as the flames got brighter. "You're being far to soft."
"She doesn't need to die." Davi said shaking his head. "You beat her. She down. And as long as she promises not to hurt anyone else theres no reason to kill her."
"I... I swear I wont!" Irene gasped out shivering and wincing from the burn marks on her. "I... I never wanted to. Kuro made me. Yeah its his fault! H... He'd kill us if we didn't listen. I... I never meant to hurt anyone!"
"Don't tell me you're buying this crap." Tori hissed.
"Tori-"
"Listen softy." Tori grabbed Davi by the front of his jacket glaring at Davi. "Only reason I'm helping your sorry ass out is because you said I could have your wish and like me you want back at Dragon Dwellers. Do you know what its like to be in so much pain you just want to die? I'm on fire. It never goes out and it f##king hurts."
"I'm sorry... I can't imagine that... The thought of wanting to die is something I'll never be able to get. But still. Even if she's bad. A person can still change right."
Tori glared at him before the flames slowly pulled themselves back into his body. "Whatever... We'll play it your way only because I need you. But just know the days gonna come where you're gonna have to come to terms with who you are and where you stand. Because in this world its the decent ones that die first."
Tori turned and began to walk away the flames slowly dying out.
Davi watched him go a frown on his face. "Tori..."
"What."
"...Its better to be hurt then to hurt others." Davi sighed. "That was something my mother once told me. I'm fine with hurting bad people. I get that some things have to be done. But still... I'd like to allow people to still have their dreams. Ending a persons life is the same as their dreams, and thats something I think is just cruel. I'd rather be a cool hero."
"Well then Davi. At least you can say that no matter what. You're just barley decent."
***
Sometime Later...
"You... You actually managed to stop them all..." Sam said with wide eyes.
They were in the town square now and Davi's sword was back in its guitar form, and Tori was back in his skin tight flame proof suit no longer on fire though he was still smoking and the grass around him was burning. Several people all stood around masses of iron pillars where each of the Dragon Dweller members that had been there were all chained up. Many were cut up badly or bruised. Thankfully a local healer ran around doing their best to patch everyone up.
"A promise is a promise right." Davi laughed throwing his arms behind his head. "And I refuse to ever go back on my word."
"How badass and awesome we are can come later." Tori stated pointing at Sam. "You. We need your help."
"M... Me?"
"We came here looking for a type of treasure." Tori stated. "We were told to come find you."
"I... I see." Sam nodded his head. "Okay then. What are you looking for."
Tori reached over to Davi's guitar picking up one of the stones in it, the one with a black 'two' painted on it. He pulled it out and handed it to Sam. "This is called an Enforcer Stone but some people call them Devil Stones, Demon Stones, or Lancelot Stones. I really don't know much about them but there are ten in total and Davi here has two. All the stones are numbered and each one is able to turn into a powerful magical sword." He stated. "Its important that I find all 10 of them and give them to Davi, though I can't say why."
"I... See..." Sam nodded and slowly handed it back to her. "I'm... Afraid I can't help."
"You mean this was all for nothing!" Davi said with wide eyes. "Man we suck!"
"Not exactly." Sam shook his head. "Allow me to explain really quick. You see. There are two kinds of Treasures. Normal treasure like gold, jewels, stones, artifacts, that kind of thing, then there is magical treasures. If what you said about that... Enforcer stone is correct it would be a Magical Treasure. We Treasure Hunters only seek normal Treasure. We don't deal in magical things. This includes Dungeons such as the one these people wanted. A Dungeon is usually filled with magical items. As a Treasure Hunter we mark down locations of Dungeons and then at the end of the month send them to the Guilds who thus explore them as a Dungeon is far to dangerous for normal humans to visit. Those that hunt down magical Treasures... They are known as Arcane Hunters. Arcane Hunters hunt all things magical. From rouge wizards such as these people, to magical treasures, to magical beasts. They form ten Guilds. If the stone you seek is here in Avalon it would very likely be in one of these Dungeons. Likely a very high class dungeon. Only Arcane Hunters are legally allowed in Dungeons hence why I refused to tell those people about it. If this goal of yours is so important and you have to find these stones I would suggest attempting to join one of the ten magical Guilds and become an Arcane Hunter so you'll have permission to explore Dungeons."
"I see..." Tori nodded and gave a small frown. "That makes sense."
Davi sighed folding his arms. "So... We're off to join the Arcane Hunters now then? Great... Gramps isn't gonna let me hear the end of this one..."
"You don't like the Hunters?" Tori asked raising an eyebrow.
"Its... A little complicated. ,My father Orion, as well as my Gramps always wanted me to join the Hunters, as they were knights themselves back in the day but I never liked the idea of following after their own dream. I hate the thought of being someone who simply chases after the destiny someone else puts before them. I'd rather make my own choices. But... It would seem like we don't have a lot of options do we... We have to become Arcane Hunters..."
"We are if you want to find your stones." Tori nodded. "Uh... By the way how do we become Arcane Hunters."
"Oh thats easy. Just take the test that is held every year... Luckily it starts at the end of this month. Just head to Oleander."
"Got it." Davi nodded his smirk growing. He turned to Tori and held his right fist out. He stared at it for a moment before letting out a sigh then reached up and fist bumped him.
"Who exactly are you two?" Sam asked frowning.
"Just some idiots looking to get their wish granted." Davi shrugged. "Be it saving loved ones, or wanting to put out a fire. Either way you look at it we're just Davi and Tori."
It was time for the adventure to begin...