Running for all his worth, he climbed- no, jumped up the stairs to flee from the mercenaries he had encountered down in the underground basement-like room. Holding a spherical medium-sized object under his arm, he sprinted up the stairs while being careful not to let the object fall.
With a sense of relief, he made it out of the passageway. Coming up out of it, he found himself in the throne room which was exactly as he left it. Quickly, without a minute's delay, he pressed the button under the table. The entrance to the underground passage made a rumbling sound and closed up at a steady pace. He pulled the table over it, covering the large circle that was the door to the underground passage. Taking a look at his surroundings, he noticed that nothing really had changed, it was still the same as before.
Joel thanked his maker for sparing his life. He didn't know what entered him, he couldn't comprehend the burst of anger that suddenly flowed into him, giving him strength. His body moved on its own, on its own accord, something that would not have happened, not in a million years.
'Who would've thought my smoke bomb would come in handy. I can't believe it even worked!'
He got down on one knee and pulled a brown sack from his bag. A small handy bag wore itself around his right shoulder all the way to the left side of his waist. The bag had always been Joel's companion for as long as he remembered. They have been through the toughest of times together, even when he stumbled on a secret ancient gathering and was almost caught, the bag got him out of that difficult situation, though it didn't come out unscathed, it still survived.
Putting the medium-sized orb that was the Thessalonica into the sack, he slung it over his shoulders and quickly sprinted out of the room, making sure to leave no trace of himself behind. Two doors led out of the place, one led outside and the other by the left-hand side led to the spacious hallway. Joel took the door by the left and ran across the hallway.
The time, 7:06p.m.
Joel thought of stopping by the kitchen, but discarded the idea and headed straight for his room, upstairs. At this time, most of the maids have gone out to deliver dinner and set the tables for the royal families, the manservants have already begun to return to their inns within the mighty courtyard for the day. There was no one around, much to Joel's delight. He flew up the stairs, three at a time, and finally made it to his floor without any incident or accident.
He put the sack on the floor beside him and his hands on his knees, panting heavily. He was glad he had come so far, he wasn't hurt and he did what Toshirou asked of him and even more. For the first time in his life, his thieving skills have been put to good use and to be quite honest, he was looking forward to Toshirou praising him.
With a smile on his face, he picked up the sack and walked to the door of his room. He didn't bother knocking as he tilted the handle of the door and walked into the room.
"Toshirou-nii, Raynell-san, I'm bac-"
He stopped in his tracks. A girl lay on his bed with warrior clothes and all, a broadsword lay on the floor and Raynell and Toshirou sat beside each other on her bed. Just what in the world happened?
"I'm back!"
He brought their attention to him, with widened gazes and relieved sighs. Raynell quickly left the bed and gave Joel a backbreaking hug. Even he could feel the relief her body gave out as she hugged him.
"R-Raynell-san?"
"I'm glad. I'm glad you're okay." She cried into his shoulders.
Toshirou stood up with a monotone expression, his eyes however, showed a certain gladness at Joel's return. With slow strides, he moved to the boy and squatted in front of him, ruffling his hair fondly.
"Welcome back, kid."
For some reason he couldn't explain, Joel felt teary inside. He shut his eyes to prevent tears from falling and threw a smile to both Toshirou and Raynell.
"Raynell, that's enough. You'll suffocate him." Said Toshirou as he rose up.
Shyly, Raynell stopped hugging him but no without pouting.
"It's not my fault" She said, pouting, "He's like a small cute teddy, plus he was in a lot of danger."
"Ahaha! Please stop, you're making me blush." Joel replied nervously. He was happy that Raynell was regaining more color to herself. Her eyes were becoming bright, though not totally but still brighter than when she first met them. He could easily tell that Toshirou had healed her, he had changed something in her. If only there was someone who could be like that to him, someone could cure the brokenness that was within Toshirou.
Joel looked around again. The confusion that momentarily left returned as gaze landed on the girl on his bed.
"Let's all sit down. I can tell you have a lot of questions, Joel." Toshirou said.
"Yeah, I actually do." Replied Joel.
The three of them sat on nearby chairs and calmed their nerves. Now they were together, Toshirou's mind could rest at ease and he could think straight again. Taking a glance at the brown-haired girl on his bed, he knew he went too far, but it needed to be done. These people have no intention on letting them go unscathed, they wanted to draw blood from them by force and the worse part was the Feudal lord couldn't help them because of internal conflict within the city. It was a scary thought but that is the reality of the current situation. Their lives were at stake.
"Kid, start from the top. Tell me what you found out."
"Hai." Joel nodded. He told them everything, not missing even one detail. From how he met Sung-nim and got the whereabouts of the Thessalonica to his encounter with the three mercenaries in the underground cellar. He told them of their discussion to remove the current Feudal lord, the sickness of the eighth elder caused by poison, and how he would have stopped the revolt the other elders were trying to arouse. Joel also told them of the black snake which belonged to one of the hired men, Junhyung, and was responsible for the poisoning of the eighth elder.
"So she really was sent to kill us." Raynell said, looking over at the girl still unconscious.
"Yeah. If I think back, I remember hearing them call her Hazel." Joel replied.
"Hazel... huh. What a beautiful name." Said Raynell in a whisper with a faraway look in her eyes.
Joel took a glance at Toshirou, he still hadn't said a word ever since he began his tale. 'What could he be possibly thinking about?' Joel had no idea but the expression on Toshirou's face wasn't a good one.
There was only one emotion written on it, and it was rage. His eyes were fixated to the ground, wide opened, and his arms folded. He didn't stir an inch as he stared openly at the poor wooden floor, breaking it to pieces in his mind.
Toshirou didn't want to believe it. He desperately tried not to believe it, but he knew it was the only conclusion possible at the moment; Those corrupt geezers had already created divine weapons! And worse still, they have already designated them to the people of their choice. He wasn't going to lie to himself, he was frightened. It was just like that last time, when he saw his life flash before his eyes when he was seven. Despite this, he couldn't afford to back out, he couldn't afford to be scared. He was in too deep to have second thoughts.
"How annoying."
"Eh? Toshirou-nii?" Joel's attention was brought to him.
'So what if they've used the artifact already? It just makes this far more interesting to deal with. Maybe I'll use this as a test of how strong I truly am since Takezawa-sensei taught me. So far I've not had any problems, but how long will this luck keep going on?'
Suddenly, a brown leather sack was handed over to him, disrupting his thoughts.
"I didn't say this earlier because I wanted to surprise you. Toshirou-nii open it!"
He was startled by the excited expression on Joel's face but kept it in so as not to dampen the boy's mood. Tentatively, he collected the sack. It wasn't exactly heavy but it definitely held a decent amount of weight. He opened it and stuck his hand inside. Carefully, he brought out the object which was in it.
"Joel, what is this?"
Grinning widely, Joel replied, "It's the Thessalonica."
There was silence. Toshirou and Raynell's eyes opened widely in disbelief.
"Joel-kun, you brought the Thessalonica... here?"
"Yup!" He replied to Raynell.
Toshirou stood up, a wide smile gradually drew itself onto his face, only that there was one problem. The smile wasn't one of gladness, it was one that promised suffering and vengeance.
"This is great!" Toshirou exclaimed, cracking a dark chuckle. 'To think the Thessalonica would come to me and not the other way round, this is just wonderful!'
Joel and Raynell became alarmed at his exclamation. This was a side to him they had not seen before and it was surprising, disturbingly so.
The orb in his hand radiated a dim glow, the mist-like hues in it swirled around each other like colliding seas but yet they did not mix together. Each color was visibly separated from the other.
"This is the artifact that caused everything. All the strife, hatred, anger, conflicts, war, were caused by this single object. I'll end it all, without a single trace."
Raynell was puzzled for she could not decipher the meaning of his words. Joel on other hand, had a bad premonition hearing his words. Series of white-like visions suddenly flashed through his head.
<'Worthy, worthy, worthy thou art! You alone are worthy to climb upon thine throne!
All strife, hatred, anger and war are naught before thee!
For thy purpose is to destroy thy people and thy name shall end it all without a single trace!'>
The words resonated within Joel's head repeatedly, each time becoming louder and clearer than the last.
The Thessalonica suddenly began to glow, as if in response with the views that passed through Joel's mind. Each time the words were repeated, the Thessalonica glowed brighter and brighter.
"Hm? What's this?" Toshirou asked, being curious at the strange behavior of the orb.
Joel suddenly screamed out in pain. He held his head in hurt as something like visions flooded into his memories. He continued to cry out in pain, seeing things not of the ordinary.
"Hey kid, are you okay?"
Faster than the eye can see, Toshirou set down the Thessalonica and quickly held the boy before he could fall. He kept on crying in hurt as the visions were becoming more vivid as the seconds passed by. He clutched his head with his hands, trying so hard to become stable. Toshirou placed a palm on his head and blue light radiated from his palm, it didn't work as Joel kept on whimpering in agony.
Raynell hurriedly came to his aid, taking his hand in hers and doing her best to sooth him. There was something heavily wrong, the situation seemed very familiar to her but she just couldn't place her finger on what it was exactly.
'Dammit! What the hell is happening to him?!' Toshirou grit his teeth in anger. His eyes fell on the Thessalonica which was placed on his bed and back to Joel. The brighter the orb glowed, the harder Joel screamed, tears streaming down his face as cried from the pain
'Is it the Thessalonica?! It's that cursed object, isn't it?!' He exclaimed in anger.
Suddenly and unexpectedly, Sung-nim opened the door and rushed into the room
"Is everything alright? What's the matter?!"
Joel's screams of pain answered her worried questions. She rushed over to his side, ignoring the Thessalonica which lay bare on the bed and placed her palm over his forehead.
With urgency in her voice, she said,
"Aosaki-kun, this is a Witcher's curse."
'A Witcher's curse?'
"Look Sung-nim, I don't care about the details. I'll deal with that later but for now, if you can help him, please do."
She understood his plea and gave out some instructions. "Alright, place him on the bed."
Toshirou nodded and did as he was told. He lifted Joel up and laid him on the bed. The boy was still groaning in pain, his body shivering and shaking even though the atmosphere wasn't cold in the slightest.
Sung-nim sat beside Joel. Taking the hem of his dark purple t-shirt, she raised it up and what she saw confirmed all the more the fear she had harbored earlier.
On Joel's stomach, symbols painted in black displayed itself fully on it. A spiral circle-like symbol encased within a shape that resembled a diamond and four smaller circles which were drawn inside little squares rested at the four vertexes of the diamond. A vertical line ran from the tip of the diamond shape to the bottom and a horizontal line ran across it, dividing it into equal halves.
Toshirou didn't know what to say or feel. This was the first time he had seen this before and he couldn't make head nor tails of it, except that it was related to the Witcher's curse... but he had no idea what it was.
Raynell looked dumbfounded at the symbols on Joel's stomach. Unlike Toshirou, she recognized the patterns and could decipher just a little, a bit what it was.
"Toshirou-san?"
"What is it? Save it for later." He replied. He didn't mean to come off as rude but with what was happening in front of him, he couldn't help it.
She understood his worries so she didn't say anything further on the matter. She knew they haven't been together long but she both saw and felt how much Toshirou cared about the boy. He wasn't just risking his life for her, but for him too.
Sung-nim clasped her hands together and shut her eyes. Bowing her head slightly, she recited,
"Dear Lord, do not forsake us in our time of tribulation.
Harken onto our cries as we plead for mercy,
For we have sinned against you and have desecrated your holy name.
We pray that you forgive us and show us grace,
As we bow our heads in reverence to you, for you only are the holy one.
And thus we believe, that by your stripes we are healed."
A bright green light enveloped Joel's body, his body rose up, levitating parallel to the bed.
The Thessalonica resonated violently with the action that was taking place.
Gradually, Joel stopped shaking, his body was becoming more stable as the light encased him. He felt warm, comfortable, at peace with himself as he regained his senses.
"He'll be fine now." Sung-nim said, taking a break by sitting on the bed beside Joel and relaxing her body.
"Thank goodness." Said Raynell as relief washed over her body.
Toshirou did not say anything except heaving a sigh, much to Raynell's astonishment as she expected him to show more emotion than that. He sat on a chair and put his head in the desk. He wasn't the one in pain but he was tired as it is.
"Toshirou-san, what are you going to do now?" Raynell asked him.
"Nothing has changed. The plan will go on as usual." He paused. "... I'm going out." Standing up, he took his jacket from his chair and put it on, picked up all three of his swords from the ground, including the mighty broadsword and tossed it in the air. They vanished into a blue circle with markings, something Raynell called a portal earlier on. He wrapped a black arm-band around his right arm and walked out of the door, shutting it behind him.
"Raynell, is he going to be okay?" Asked Sung-nim, concerned.
"I don't know, but I hope so. He tried to hide it, but I could see how worried he was." She replied.
"Is that so? It looks like Aosaki-kun is more sympathetic than we thought."
"There are a lot of things we do not know about him." Raynell said, her eyes being downcast.
"I see." Replied Sung-nim.
...
The beautiful warrior queen stood behind a desk in her library flipping through the contents of a book that was worn and torn by time. Unlike her neighboring village's counterpart, she preferred a library not too big and not so grand. It was much smaller than one would expect from a lord but it was still quite broad, enough to hold five people at once with room to spare. It was her personal space, and not everyone could enter the way they liked, even with special invitation.
"Why do you keep showing up in this manner?" She spoke out loud, without moving or being distracted from her current activity.
"Because it's fun." A voice replied.
She and the owner of the voice were not so familiar with one another but for now, they were more like acquaintances or business partners than friends. Each held a certain respect for the other.
"I like this place. It ain't too fancy but it ain't shabby either. You think you could make something like this for me, Dae?"
"It is my personal property. On normal circumstances I should have punished you for not honoring it." She replied, whipping her bronze hair behind her.
"Then it's a good thing the circumstances aren't normal." Said the stranger.
The chandelier glowed brightly as night had fully fallen.
The stranger came to her, right before the desk, and gazed at the massive window behind her. Still clad in a black hooded robe, he took a book from a shelf nearby and flipped through its pages.
Both the Feudal queen and the uninvited guest stood in silence together without saying a word to the other, each going through the contents of the books in their hand. The chandeliers glowed a bright amber as night had fully fallen.
"Tomorrow, at the peak of noon, gather your men and assemble at the eastern gates of Min-ji."
"Just like that?"
"Just like that." He replied.
"Remember you also have to keep the end of your bargain." Dae said, fully aware of the dire need of his end.
"She's safe and well. She won't be hurt, that much I promise you. Gather exactly 2000 men at the gates. No, rather than that, split them up, at each gate dispatch 500 men. It will be easier that way."
"Hmm... You seem to be in control of the situation. Very well then, my men will do as you have said. I myself will lead all troops at the eastern gates. I can more or less picture your strategy already."
The hooded figure nodded his head in approval. "You really are not a Feudal lord for nothing, Dae Chun-ja."
"I take that as a compliment, thank you." Her silver eyes shone with amusement.
"Well, that'll be all. I'll be taking my leave now." Said the stranger, rising up and placing the book in his hands back to it's spot on the shelf.
"The least you can do is tell me your name." Dae said without looking up from her book.
"And why should I?"
"Because it's proper etiquette after all."
The stranger did not reply, but simply took slow-paced strides to the exit door. He stopped in his steps before walking out.
"Toshirou. Aosaki Toshirou." He said and vanished into the darkness.
"Aosaki, huh. What a rare name." The name however, brought a smile onto her face.