Neil occupied a room at the inn containing a bed and the most basic necessities for human sustainability. Subtle rays of moonlight permeated the room through the square glass window, and subsequently, a gentle night breeze rendered a calmness that otherwise blended with the young Neil, who sat on the edge of the window, looking up at the glistening moon that peeked through the openings of the grey clouds.
His long, cascading hair and robe danced rhythmically to the breeze subsequently his azure eyes reflected the moonlight to reveal their inherent beauty but the deep danger which lurked within them. Yet in this tranquility remained the truth of Zur Country which could never be ridden and that is the inherent amount of death, destruction, and malice that lingered in the air. Neil could feel and see it all, the theft, murders, rape, and all 'evil' playing out in its beauty. He was cautioned once more of the Country and City he had just stepped in and like that he began ruminating, summarizing the information he acquired from the [Thero-Cortex]:
The Noble Evergreen were 1 of 3 noble houses within Shea City whose influence were considered decent compared to the other 2 which were namely, CloudEye and Rising-Sun. These three houses had their territories in the city and throughout the country thus compared to others of the same societal standing these 3 houses ruled them all. Evergreen are a house that dealt with artifacts, golems, machinery and archaeological exploits, CloudEye dabble in finances and were a merchant House whilst Rising-Sun were more of a military-based house.
After that was merely the location of where Riot was last sighted. It also listed down a few names of the members who would be part of the group and the location they should all meet up.
Neil mulled over this job and concluded that it would be extremely dangerous.
'Well.. A little bit of danger never hurt anyone. And as for those little 'mouses tomorrow'…', Neil chuckled in the moonlight highlighting his handsome visage even more.
What would've been oceanic blue skies and rays of the rising sun permeating the country to let a little love delve into the world was but the greyish clouds the hovered above and a fresh breath of death. Although the city was under rule, that couldn't directly rid the inherent character of this country and its natives who death was but a religion they followed and to do evil was one step to heaven. Within the room, Neil concluded his meditation and woke up with azure irises glowing menacingly and profound as an endless abyss, which were quite frightening.
"Hmm….well almost there now….", he smiled.
He stood up and donned his garments which were in an azure-black hue and a long black robe which reached the edges of the ground revealing only his bare feet and a collar around his neck that was long and large to completely isolate his mouth and nose thus highlighting his eyes even more. His cascading black hair remained untouched yet retained its shine and form and it was then Neil left the room as if he was never there in the first place directly placing his attention to the meeting area.
In a desolate wilderness clad with no life and dead trees was the group awaiting a single member
"Seems the last member is late", A voice filled with a tone of ridicule sounded in the vicinity, it wasn't deep but shallow with a slight annoyance attuned with it.
"Hphm, thinking their all-important huh..." Another voice sounded out but this time was deep and help a commanding tone to it.
"Well, how about we intimidate and scare the newbie after all the leader said his quite young.", A sadistic feminine voice sounded out.
The final voice didn't sound out but remained silent. Finally, after all this …
"Hold on everyone, he'll be here soon", that voice, a voice Neil would immediately recognize if he was currently here. It was Ernest's voice; he brought a stability amongst the comments with a sly smile. He looked at everyone and begun speaking,
" Well, instead of complaining about his whereabouts how about we keep focus on the target."
Ernest suggested as the group awaited Neil's arrival.
"If we don't include the pre-attainted information of this Riot character, he is actually very mysterious, in fact, doesn't it seem abnormal how he knew to infiltrate the EverGreen House and steal the item without getting caught.", The deep voice said.
"Hehe… your rivals aren't letting you sleep peacefully , Mr L.E.A.D.E.R.", The sadistic voice sounded out with intelligence, quite rare for this character.
"Perhaps but from what we know CloudEye And Rising-Sun wouldn't take such an unnecessary risk considering just what we have on them. They wouldn't dare.", Ernest said with an uncanny smile.
"Hm...", The once silent voice made a humming sound. And the rest of the group kept silence because this involved the conflict between the three Houses and they would not like to be involved.
"So, do you have an idea of who it may be?", the commanding voice asked.
" Purgatory Circle .", Ernest answered with anger in his voice.
Silence reigned; all of them knew who and what Purgatory Circle was.
"You mean that Purgatory Circle , one of the Five strongest factions in the Underworld", the sadistic woman said with slight fear in her voice.
"Why was this not included in the report you gave us?", questioned the commanding voice
"Because Riot has not yet reached his destination. He still needs to deliver the artifact and we will intercept him then kill him. The plan hasn't changed .All the information you needed to know was given to you all. And anyways if If we do this then Purgatory Circle's mission to steal the artifact would have failed which implies that a second attempt would even be less likely.", a sweet voice echoed in the vicinity and Louise showed up behind them.
They all turned to her voice as she walked up next to Ernest.
"Oh… and here he comes..", Louise spoke as a mysterious smile appeared on her face.
She and the group looked into a certain direction that was painted with dead trees and everyone saw a male clad in azure-black garments with a long black robe that ran down his back. The group could only make out his eyes and couldn't get a clear view of his face was due to the long collar that reached his nose. They were puzzled why he didn't wear any type of footwear but that didn't matter because now they could begin.
"You finally made it, Neil. I was beginning to think you maybe got lost or something", Ernest turned around and relayed what was on his mind the moment he saw Neil.
"So, this is the last member huh?", the voice filled with ridicule gazed upon Neil with a menacing look.
"The term 'fashionably late' definitely fits this situation quite well", the figure with the deep and commanding voice was obviously amused by his own joke and was also meant to antagonize Neil.
"Ernest was right on the money, you are very young", the sadistic feminine voice smiled crazily.
"Hm...", the final member only nodded at Neil.
Neil looked at Ernest and didn't respond to that. He first looked at Louise.
"I thought only Ernest would show up", he said.
"Well , I'm just 'overseeing' things. I hope I'm not overstepping my boundaries.", she said with a tinge sweetness in her voice but everyone knew that her words and reactions were a lie.
He then looked at the four figures as the information he read through from the [Thero-Cortex] came rushing past his mind.
The ridiculing voice was a middle-aged man with pale white skin, silver hair which was tied into a ponytail and corresponded with the color of his sharp eyes. He wore plain greyish robes and open sandals, furthermore he had a rather geometric face and blemishes that represented someone of his stature. A long sword remained sheathed and stashed on his left side waist, through all this was a mischievous smile that remained upon his lips. The classic proud swordsman he was, the name, [Lyc].
The second member Neil identified was a tall fit tanned young male who surprisingly had that deep commanding voice. He had long black braided hair, an oval like face, his upper body was adorned with a sleeveless chainmail and military style leggings that all corresponded with his hair color yet what caught Neil's attention was that he was blind. Behind his back was a slim, long javelin pole that exuded an aura of danger in Neil's observation. He seemed able to interact with the environment and the rest without any effort. A sense of mysteriousness is all what Neil could analyze from him. [Angon] was his name.
He averted his gaze to look upon the woman who was smiling at him with a sadistic expression. She was not tall but was only a few centimeters shorter than Angon, she had short spiky red hair that complimented her one functioning right eye with the same color. An eyepatch screened her left eye, moreover she had a long scar that spanned from the left side of her lip to her cheek and stretching just close to the lower ear. She obviously was the definition of a battle maniac who sought destruction and defeat of their opponents regardless of the consequences and because of this she was not a great beauty but had a unique charm about her that screamed 'badass'. She wore a smoky red dress that was complimented by the black fittings that tightly stuck to her skin accentuating the little bit of feminine charm she could convey. Neil knew who she was from the moment he saw her, [Skyler].
The final member was just absolutely inconspicuous, nothing could be understood from this person. The member was adorned with a space black robe that beleaguered their whole figure leaving Neil unable to identify the gender of this person as they also wore a mask that was inscribed with many runic images to prevent any sensing abilities from penetrating the mask and seeing the person under it. Neil looked at this figure the longest and nodded. [Yoke] was the name of this figure.
'Lyc, Angon, Skyler and Yoke. Quite the interesting individuals once you get to meet them in person', Neil thought.
"Oh well, since we are all here, we can begin now. According to the reports our little rat is treading around the plains near the city of [Antea] which Is only approximately 78.9Km south east from our current location. It should only take a single day to arrive in the area and by my guess our rat is probably encountering trouble to escape from our grasp. So, we shall begin the journey immediately, ready?", Ernest relayed to everyone.
"Hehehe, this will be quite fun", Skyler chuckled with a wide smile still looking at Neil dead in the eye. It was unknown whether this phrase was directed at the fun she will have hunting Riot or 'playing' with Neil.
"Let's get this over with", Angon said as he began walking in the direction Ernest pointed in.
"Skyler is right Angon, this will be fun", Lyc laughed out loud following Angon in his laughter thereafter Skyler following in suit but, not before winking at Neil with her one eye.
"Ill see you guys at the Randevous. Good Luck.", Louise smiled and left in an entirely different direction.
Ernest looked at Neil then turned away from him to catch up with his 3 'colleagues'. Neil stood still, looking at them depart which then brought his attention back to Yoke who stared at him briefly which made Neil feel as if a lion was preying on him before turning away to follow the group.
Neil looked in the direction where the group went into and slightly smiled before following the group. Why he smiled?
'Oh… Interesting. Interesting.'