"I'll ignore what you just said, but that my friend is our first job."
Ezra and Samael enthusiastically approach the desperate looking man.
"Hello sir! you look like you're in need of some help. Me and my friend here just so happen to be looking for some work, what could we do for you?"
The man sighs and hesitantly approaches the two boys.
"I needed body guards for my trip to Escott, but the two guys I hired got really drunk and beat each other up. So now I don't have an escort."
Samael begins to laugh but Ezra stops him while holding in laughter himself.
"Well you're in luck, my friend here happens to be very skilled with a spear and I'm confident that I can take down most opponents with a single punch!"
The man circle's around Ezra and Samael, inspecting them.
"You boys are too young, you're tall and have hand calluses but your spear is shiny, clean, and pretty low quality. Which means you're not that experienced. But if you try you can at least look a little intimidating. But as for pretty boy over here, his hands and skin look soft, it's as if he's never faught in his life. They might even mistake him for a woman."
Ezra laughs and blushes.
"Well thank you-"
Samael cuts him off.
"That wasn't meant as a compliment."
The man sighs.
" But I am desperate, so tell you what. I'll pay you half of what I was gonna pay them. Two sliver for each of you."
Ezra smiles and shakes his hand.
"You got yourself a deal!"
The man coughs and puts his hand out to introduce himself.
"My name is Reymond Dougly."
Ezra shakes his hand with a wide smile.
"Ezra, Ezra La-"
Samael quickly puts his hand over Ezra's mouth.
"Just Ezra, and my name is Samael. Just Samael."
The man looks at the pair with a confused look.
"Strange, but time is of the essence so let's get moving!"
Everyone boards the carriage and the trip to Escott begins.
Ezra looks around the carriage checking out the different boxes.
"So, what business do you have in Escott?"
"You boys really are clueless huh, Escott is known as the city of merchants. This is because there's so much movement in that area. Escott is one of the few checkpoints before reaching the capital of Rolania, Rocizar. And if you ever want to be a somebody, you'll have to visit Rocizar at least once."
Ezra imagines a large city with castles and carriages everywhere.
"Rocizar huh? guess that's our next stop!"
The loud rustling of leaves is heard in the distance and a group of bandits jump out from the darkness and forces the carriage to a stop.
Reymond sighs, and signals for Ezra and Samael.
"Seems like you boys are about to be put to use."
Ezra and Samael walk out the carriage to a horrifying sight, they are out numbered. 2 to 5.
An exited grin begins to form on Ezra's face.
"This is perfect! I'll take three you take two. After we wipe the floor with these guys that merchant over there will spread the story of our awesomeness!"
Samael looks at Ezra dumbfounded.
"Ezra not only do these men outnumber us, but they are also armed and look like they have much more battle experience than we do. I think our best option is to try and talk our way out of this or stall them so that Mr.Dougly gets away."
Ezra frowns and glares at Samael.
"Firstly that's no fun at all, secondly look at those guys do you really think they'll just let us go and if anything they'll leave three here and send the other two to Mr. Dougly. And lastly, Samael during that bar brawl I took a couple punches from you, you hit really hard not as hard as me of course. But most of those guys you did hit stayed down. I think we'll be fine."
Samael sucks his teeth and prepares his spear for battle
"Not thinking has gotten me this far, might as well just enjoy the ride."
From behind them 3 men dressed in strange red and orange attire swoop past and land In front of the 5 bandits. The man on the right is tall, scrawny, and wrapped almost entirely in bandages, the one on the left is stubby and overweight with bandages around his neck, with the one in the middle being average height with a muscular build and bandages around his hands and arms.
"There seems to be an issue? We were traveling to Escott and couldn't help but notice this carriage at a complete stop. Is there any way that we could help?"
The bandits break into laughter, laughing so much that tears start coming from their eyes.
"We really are lucky today, we're about cash out double. Drinks on me tonight boys! Now as for you lot, I'm in a much better mood now so if you quietly leave all of your stuff I'll let you go home alive!"
The strangely attired man in the middle sighs.
"We are envoys from the church of Shavaxi, we have very important business in Escott so if you leave now we will disregard this. But if you continue to persist we will take it as an insult to the church and by extension our god."
Ezra whispers to Samael.
"That name sounds familiar, I feel like I've heard it before in a lecture. I don't remember what it was about though."
"So why would you even tell me?"
"Just in case I fully remember later, I didn't want the thought to drift."
The bandits get even more riled up.
"You hear the boys! They're loaded!"
The bandits start to get exited and rush towards the three men.
The strangely dressed man in the middle sighs and begins to mumble something under his breath.
"Oh flame, that burns with such beauty. Oh flame, burn! Burn this wall I face. Burn all in my sight, oh flame I offer myself to thee!"
Ezra begins to cringe
The man in the middle raises his arm and a red and orange symbol appears around his hand. As the chant progresses a flame appears in his palm.
"Burst!"
The flame quickly grows in size and splits apart homing onto the 5 bandits.
They just barley dodge the flames.
Ezra cringes even harder nearly fainting from second hand embarrassment while frowning uncontrollably. While Samael is amazed and curious.
The bandits scurry away after being intimated by the strangely dressed man.
"What was that?!"
"That was solra."
Samael glares at Ezra and his eye twitches a little. Trying to keep his composure.
"Ezra, what is solra?"
"Wait you actually don't know what solra is?"
"I wouldn't be asking if I knew you idiot! Explain it to me before I get mad."
"Alright my bad, I'll explain it to you. Solra is one of the three great energies, the three great energies are three energies that make up the world and they are able to be harnessed in different like you just saw."
"Ok what are the different energies?"
"There's Solra, also known as the energy of creation. The land we walk on and the air we breathe all contain Solra it's all around us and the most abundant of the three energies. Solra cannot be taught or learned but it must be obtained. Solra appears in different forms and each variation has its own unique way of obtainment, but the most well known methods are becoming the follower of some deity or a near death traumatic expirience, like getting poisoned by the one you trust the most or being the only member of your family to survive a house fire and nearly burning to death in the process."
Samael takes out a journal from his back pocket and begins to write the information down.
"Ok that's pretty dark, but if it's as easy as joining a church why isn't everyone just walking around using it?"
"That's because there's always a cost to solra. Solra, no matter the type always takes from its user."
Ezra signals towards the strangely dressed man and his companions.
"Look at those guys, they're wrapped head to toe in bandages and look at their leader's hands."
Samael observes the man and can see that he is bandaging up fresh burn marks on his hand.
"It looks like every time they use their solra they burn their skin, but from the way you worded it, it's more likely that they sacrifice their skin or a piece of their body to use that flame magic."
"That's right, you catch on quickly. Also the word used for harnessing solra offensively would be called an incantation, what we call spells and magic would be the use of mana, the next of the energies."
Samael finishes up his notes and signals towards Ezra that he is ready for the next energy.
"Mana is the rarest of the three energies and the most mysterious. You can't learn or obtain it you just have to be born with it. It's known as the energy of purpose or soul. Mana is unique because with the right knowledge it can imitate almost anything. Fire, water, light, darkness, that's why it's known as the most versatile of the three energies."
"So how would you know if you were born with mana?"
"I dunno."
Samael sighs and signals Ezra to move on to the last energy.
"The last of the three is Aura, aura is the most common of the three energies because it can be learned and taught. Aura is the energy of life, every living thing is born with aura inside of their bodies. Aura is the energy warriors use, once someone learns how to harness aura their bodies become stronger and allows them perform crazy feats like punching holes through mountains and splitting the sky with a swing of their swords. And skilled aura users are able extert their aura outside of their body and do awesome attacks!"
"Since everyone is born with aura why doesn't everyone learn it? And do those strange guys also use aura, it sounds like it would be really useful to use aura in tandem with solra."
"Well from what I've heard aura is extremely difficult to learn and you have to put your body through some horrible things. And for your second question, none of the three energies could co-exist in your body. Once you obtain one the ladder leaves your body. Because if you have two of the great energies in your body they'll fight for dominance and you will die."
Samael gets a shiver down his spine and writes down what Ezra said in his notebook.
"Ok I think I get it for the most part, thanks."
The strange men approach Ezra, Samael, and Reymond.
"Those bandits are now just a thought in the wind, I apologize that you had to be troubled by such hooligans."
Reymond scurried towards the man in the middle and frantically shakes his hand.
"You have no need to apologize! I should be thanking you, you saved us all! If there's any way that I could repay you please tell me. And sir what is your name, I must know the name of the man whom I owe my life."
The strangly dressed man smirks and pulls out a book from his back pocket.
"Oh I am but an envoy, a voice you may call it. My name matters not. But one thing I could do for you is share the greatness of Shivaxi. Are you interested in joining the church of Shivaxi?"
Reymond smiles and steps away.
"Ah I'm sorry but I have to decline, is there anything else I could do for you?"
A lightbulb appears above Ezra's head. And he whispers to Samael.
"Psst, Samael."
"What?"
"I remember now, that name sounded familiar because that church has an underground scheme that most people don't know about. They work with local bandits and have them attack you. And then they "save" you from those bandits and make you feel indebted to join them."
"That's pretty messed up, but Mr. Reymond just declined, what do they do then."
Ezra's eyes widen as he rushes towards Reymond, the strangely dressed man in the middle has his hand pointed towards Reymond with a wide smile on his face as flames begin to appear.
Ezra grabs Reymond in just the nick of time.
"They take you by force."