The next morning. Raaya woke up to the chirping of birds. Surprisingly she had slept quite well and didn't even jolt from her sleep like she used to before. She couldn't help but attribute it to the dark purple pendant that had spent the night round her neck. After receiving her early birthday gift she had decided not to take them off.
Her hand stroke the jade dangling round her neck slightly, a cool smile finding its way up her lips. She looked at the time and dragged herself out of bed.
The Kaiser had informed her early of the meeting they were to have this morning so there was no excuse she could give if she was to turn up late for the meeting.
She took a bath and got dressed in a minute. Dressing up for her wasn't at all hard like it must be for other girls. All she had to do was toss herself into a cargo pant, knee length jacket covering her signatory tank top. Her dressing had a new accessory to it, the pendant on her neck added to handsome vibe she got on, followed by the sword casually swing over her shoulder.
The door pushed open and Alia walked on. Her brows arced amusedly. The objective of her visit was defeated by the subject.
"What a pleasant surprise, you're up already" Alia joked.
"Yes I'm up. We've got a whole day ahead of us and besides I'm planning to ask the Kaiser for the permission to leave for the city ahead of time. I don't want to stay here doing nothing for four days"
"You really are eager to go on this mission"
Raaya returned a side look as she slid her fair thin fingers into thick leather gloves. "Eager is an understatement. I'm desperate to leave the terrains of Main City for the first time in ten years. Are you not?"
Alia nodded "I am. It's all we all have ever wanted, still..." She paused. Her fingers flicked and a palm sized rune appeared on the air just above her fingers. "I can't help but worry since our adventure would be where we all get to fight our first real battle."
"What is there to be worried about. Isn't this what we kept practicing for day in day out?" Raaya countered.
"This is not our regular practice. We would be facing real enemies we don't know their strength z their ability or fight strategy. One wrong move and we could lose our lives for real"
"So you don't want to do it?"
Alia smiled "doing it would mean undergoing tremendous risk, I might never return... but not doing it means I would sit at my window each day looking at the street as people passed and can't help but think 'ahh would something interesting have happened if I was on the mission'. Of course I might die but I would rather that I get to chose how I did than look back at my life when I did and regret how uneventful my life was"
"That's my girl!" Raaya fist bumped her shoulder playfully. The two of them broke into a short laugh. Birds of the same feathers flocked together after all.
"They have begun?"
"They won't start without us. Just hurry and let's get on our way"
Once they were both done, they left the house to the location of their meeting.
Raaya walked into the room, she spotted the rest of her group, alongside a hunched old man standing in front of them, the Kaiser was present as well. The group took a seat at the round table.
"mmhmm" Kaiser cleared his throat "Reid isn't here yet but we are gonna start without him. This meeting is basically for you guys who are going on your first mission"
He said again "Dexter here would take over now and show you a few things" This was cue for the hunched man to take over the speech. The man stepped forward and began to instruct them. First it was on the issue of communication. Ever since the Demon's attack, every mode of communication had been totally severed. Now they were back to the days when they had to use Radio signals and receivers to communicate, even still there hasn't been any communications from outside the Dome.
They were shown the receiver and how to use them, then next was the map of the spirit land.
"This is the map of the spirit land. It's just a sketch made by the scout we had sent out and it is not fully accurate so I'll advice you to thread with caution when you are out. This is the main land. The town you are headed to is called Hackshaw ridge, it's at the farthest end of the Dome to the NorthWest region." He pointed with a long stick to the spot on the map that was marked and titled HACKSHAW RIDGE.
Hackshaw ridge was not the only marked spot on the brown huge map. There was a Town to the north, another at the Northeast, yet another at the Southeast and South region. It was not your typical standard marked but it showed all that they had seen in the spirit land.
"The green dots? What do they stand for?" Curtis pointed out.
"This is the Enchanted forest" The man replied circling the long area marked with green dots.
"Enchanted forest?"
"Somehow, the energy from the dome has evolved some of the things around us. The Blue River and Enchanted forest is just an example of such evolution. They in themselves are not harmful but the animals that lives in them are of a different breed than we have ever seen before. To get to Hackshaw ridge you would have to follow the Blue River all the way through the enchanted forest. Be careful when you are in the enchanted forest cause though they are made from Good energy most organisms there, including plants are carnivorous and would not hesitate to attack you." He explained.
"It most likely_"
BANG—
The door was pushed open. Naturally all their attention turned to see who the newcomer would be. Expecting it would be Reid, you could imagine the surprise when they saw a bunch of people walk into the room.
Their faces folded in deep frown and serious arcs. Without even hearing what they had to say, it was obvious they weren't here on friendly terms. No doubt a new problem was bound to arise from the unexpected visit.
"What is the meaning of this?!" The man leading the group roared as soon as he walked into the room. The deep scar on his face made him look even more sinister than he already did with the frown on his face. He matched to the front board, completely ignoring the group of people seated at the round table in the middle of the room.
"You're sending this children in search of Lucas?!" He pointed to them, really angry for reasons all of them knew of.
He was gone on a mission outside the Dome and just returned to the news that his little brother had gone missing while on a mission and that the Kaiser plans to send a bunch of kids on a rescue mission. His first reaction surely was matched down in anger. How could he leave the life of his younger brother in the hands of a bunch of kids that hadn't even fully known how to weild a sword.
His reaction was not strange. Surely someone must had edged him on with a few undermining words about Raaya and her group to make him hold such anger towards them.
Even if she understood how he felt, Raaya chose not to feel pity for him, especially when he had chosen to turn his anger on them without finding out the truth first.
"The last person to call me a child had his spinal cord broken. We chose the mission and we would go on it. If you have anything to say, perhaps you should save it for when we return. If not shut up and keep it to yourself" she folded her hands, crossed her legs and leaned into her seat with confidence and a confrontation look in her eyes.
Her calm voice found its way into everyone's ears. The atmosphere suddenly became even more misty. The dissatisfaction of the group that had accompanied the scar faced man as well as the man's increasing anger choked the air like dews. Slowly the man turned to face her. His eyes blazing in anger.
"I would not leave the life of my brother in the hands of weeny teenagers"
Raaya looked at him, she returned his serious look as she said harshly "Where do you think you are? Why should any of us care about your pitiful sentiment. This is the Jaegers Association and the Jaeger association has rules. You can only take a mission from another Jaeger when he or she fails or dies. Do you still think you have a place to speak here?"