AlidaMaria

Humans VS. Magic-Users (Ch.1:Beginnings)

Hwey guys, everyone still here? ;o It's eerily quiet here

Humans VS. Magic-Users (Ch.1:Beginnings)

Jeanne Christina Roussin

"Before we get to that answer...Let me just question you on some of your descriptions...A religious woman, you must be? […] It doesn't add up to me, unless of course the religion supports the idea of biased segregation?"

“Blasphemy?” She interjected, a somewhat amused smile playing around her lips. “Ah, yes, some more common religions forbid their followers to name their god by their names don’t they? We call upon Lemä, the mother whenever we need her, and like most mothers it can irritate her if one keeps on calling her name, but it’s nothing near as serious as ‘blasphemy’. My religion has very little to do with any of this. Lemäikan are obliged to be strong, kind, compassionate and fierce like the Mother herself. It’s a very informal religion compared to most others I’ve learned of. Lemä is just a fact of life, rather than some faraway deity. I wouldn’t call myself a ‘religious woman’ either, it’s not like I’m a priestess… We don’t have a set of strict rules, aside from treating one another like brothers and sisters… While we might fight, we’re all bound by blood in the end and should try to get along. Magi are said to be the odd one out in the family though… Unnatural creatures… I’m not that good at explaining it really, it has always confused me… Please, let’s refrain from starting a theological discussion, I’d love that some other time but not now.”

"So you're a mercenary too?” Fae continued, barely letting her finish her explanation before verbally attacking her on another point. “Hired because of a big price. Take the highest bidder, no matter what the reason is...Or who the bidder was? You are aware of who sets these prices on Magi, do you? [..] Don't you think it's wiser to openly act for a cause, than to hunt in the shadows without one? Might give you something to think about." He stood up and started walking around. She just remained sitting, taken aback by his sudden fierceness, the judgement in his voice. It hurt her more than she would have expected. Especially since many of these questions were ones she asked herself whenever sleep refused to come to her at night. He continued without giving her a chance to interject, this time speaking of his heritage, what he was, what he could do and posing her confronting question after question.

"… There's a world that I can see, somewhere in the future...Where I know what I've done today will end what you might do now...If you do it, that is...Jeanne.."
Jeanne… It had been a long time since anyone had called her that. And for reasons she could hardly understand herself, the rush of his words combined with the sound of her own name from his lips made her lose her carefully crafted composure. She felt her face grow hot at his accusations, but decided to just ignore it, hoping that he wouldn't notice her embarrassment.

“You… Have no idea who I am or who my companions are. Sure, you can call it ‘stereotypical’, but let’s see you deal with your fiancé, your child, your wife being killed by a certain group of people. Let’s see then, if you have enough compassion in you not to start hating those responsible.” She looked at Fae with a bewildered expression, she just didn’t understand how he could say such a thing.

“It’s the hard truths you want from me? Fine, I’ll heed your words and be completely honest with you. I hope, I truly do, that not all Magi are monsters and of course I don't blame them all for what some did. But every single one I met has only giving me more reason to distrust their kind... You have no idea how hard it is to just let your hopes be shattered time and time again... Only to pick it up and offer it to the next... I'm distrustful for a reason." As she spoke, the fire inside her chest grew, fanned by the fear that he might be right, she stood up and continued talking with large hand gestures as she grew more passionate in her monologue.

"In truth I only joined this whole circus to find someone I have some business to settle with. And knowing him, he’ll show up on the wanted lists sooner or later. You can think all you want about me, but I DON’T kill or hunt people just for money. And even if I did, do you honestly believe that killing for your own ideals is better than killing to survive? You take lives either way and your victims won’t profit from this better world you’re striving for. As I said before, I’m fine with people laying down their lives for the things they believe in… I’m not fine with innocent people being killed for things they don’t believe in. Sure, call me a hypocrite, but I try my best only to go after those who deserve it and then I still try not to kill them. Thank Lemä Dike agrees with me and that he does research of his own on the targets we chase…. Faran frequently kills innocents, he might not intend to do so, but he does. I can’t believe that you’re so blind as to think he should be left alone. He will make the same mistakes again, whether he regrets his actions or not. Just look at the sheer amount of incidents he has caused in the past year. So don’t… Don’t go ahead and think I just go on a killing spree whenever I’m in need of cash. Don’t presume to think you know me after spending only a few hours with me.”

Ris sighed deeply, sitting back in the chair again as the anger subdued as suddenly as it had been inflamed. She started rubbing her temples once she realised she recognised the fearfulness in Fae’s voice and expression. It always bemused her how older, stronger and taller people could be fearful of her, but she didn’t show the bemusement this time. “You really don’t need to fear me Fae. As I said when we first met, I don’t kill or hurt people… Even half-Magi, just for the sake of it. If anyone here should be frightened, it should be me. You’re the one with the weapon after all.” She added, holding her hands up to emphasize that she was unarmed. “And I’m really sorry if I made such a bad impression that you’d think I’d repay the one who provided shelter for me and my friends by killing him. My words might be sharp, but I have some humanity left.” Humanity… She still couldn’t believe that Fae wasn’t completely human. It confused her and she really had no idea how to respond to him.

The implications of his unique heritage made her fall silent for some time. His participation in a rebellion like his suddenly made much more sense now. While she still saw the two races as destined to be at war forever, his very existence proved that a compromise, maybe even a permanent reconciliation was possible. Such a reconciliation was in fact a reconciliation of the two pieces of his identity. No wonder he was striving for peace… His specific power also explained how he had survived a hit like the one he had taken in Middleseed…

Magi and human… The impossible romance. It sounded so painfully familiar. She couldn’t help but think of what had happened with his parents. Had they died, trying to protect one another? Had they split up with a child underway? Had they been killed by someone who detested the idea of the two races coming together? Surely such a relation couldn’t have anything but a tragic ending. For once however, she refrained from asking her questions. Instead she just sighed, trying to fight back the tears which she felt burning behind her eyes. The sadness from memories Fae had brought back, the beginning of hope, embarrassment at the realisation that his words hurt her so much because there was truth in them, angriness at his judgement but most of all confusion and tiredness made her slump back into the chair. She pulled her legs up and under her while letting her face rest in her hands. She wouldn’t let him see her cry, before he’d feel pity… Or worse, think that she was trying to manipulate him with a crying-fragile-girl-act.

“Alright… This complicates things. Please, just let me pretend you didn’t say anything about that… Don’t tell Hilde or Romeo about your heritage, no matter what. They don’t have any mercy left in them. Being as ‘cliché’ as they are.” She mumbled through her fingers, putting the last sarcasm she could muster in her voice. She slowly breathed in and out, trying to calm herself. “Rich is in it for the money I believe… He wouldn’t care much about your heritage, but don’t go yelling any louder about the bounties on your head. Levi will likely not believe you… I… I can hardly believe it myself.” After a short silence she added “I’m sorry about your parents, they can’t have had it easy…. I know, oh I know.” She tried to swallow it away, but the first tears already rolled down her cheeks. She tried her best to smile and wipe them away, but the smile was as fragile as her voice and the tears just kept coming.

“I’m fine… I’m fine. It’s… It’s just b-been a long day.” She stood up, listening to a sudden impulse that occurred to her. “I’m taking one of the horses, I’ll get those supplies I w-was speaking of… Rich needs medicine… Be sure to get some sleep. And… Romeo… Relieve Romeo from his w-watch… We all need our sleep.” A week smile crossed her lips, she didn’t dare look at Fae and wished he hadn’t lit those other candles, hoping against hope that he wouldn’t notice how she was breaking down. She just really needed to get away, be alone for some time.

Humans VS. Magic-Users (Ch.1:Beginnings)

Jeanne Christina Roussin

Fae smiled as she expressed her thankfulness. It was an honest smile which took her aback a little. For some reason she hadn’t expected that, it made him look a lot younger, around her age. A lot more human. She listened carefully to his story, her legs crossed and hands lying relaxed in her lap. When he paused his story to look at her, she didn’t interrupt his story and continued to listen intently. Due to having studied the history of several of the nearest kingdoms, she had heard the name of Ty’Un or Sarkath’s Rebellion mentioned before, but she had never heard any details beyond the mentioning of the Battle of Two Confrontations and the very inadequate description of ‘it was a small rebellion, doomed to fail and so it did’. To actually meet someone who had participated in these events and was willing to share his own experiences of what she had been taught about was unimaginably fascinating. The scholar tucked away deep inside of her craved for something to take notes with, but the pragmatic mercenary leader just sat and listened instead.

Fae continued speaking of the noble goals his Rebellion had strived for, becoming more passionate about it as the words streamed from his mouth. Ris’ expression softened, his enthusiasm was contagious. Wouldn’t that be the perfect solution towards all this hatred and fighting; Uniting as one to fight a common enemy? But it had happened before, history told of alliances made and broken once the common enemy was defeated, internal strive always resulting in friction between Magi and Humans over time… Such a hopeless time they lived in.

‘Human and Magi alike’… Those four words gave her goose bumps and let the feelings of unease return. She had stopped to inspect his features, convinced that even Aleks wouldn’t be so crafty. Still, there was another, perhaps even more dangerous possibility that she had hardly dared to consider as of yet. It could be that Fae was indeed who he said he was… And more, he could be a Magic User himself. The thought unsettled her more than she dared to admit. She was genuinely grateful for his help and more than that, he appeared to be the kind of person she could befriend given time. She liked his honesty, and respected how he could put his trust in her; opening up about the secrets of his past just like that to a stranger. She on the other hand was still very much distrustful towards any strangers, one could even call her paranoid sometimes. Not one of her finest traits, but she had her reasons… As for witnessing him murdering a woman in cold blood, most of her current companions had killed in a brutal fashion before, and not always out of self-defence. And despite that, they were good people.

She had stayed silent while he explained more about the Revolution, Faran and the woman whom he had killed. That all explained so much, such as the words he had spoken and she hadn’t understood. She had rather not learned more of Faran though. Learning about their backstory always made Magi targets seem more human to Ris, which made it harder for her to hunt them down without any feelings of guilt or sympathy.

“I just have to say, I’m very willing to believe Faran has his reasons for acting like he does, I suppose even Magi do.” Her jaw tightened and her opinion on the other race could easily be read in her grim smirk, frown and mocking tone. She locked eyes with Fae and while she felt he understood and possibly would agree with her, she still needed to express her frustration.

“But despite his reasons, he hurts innocents and ruins lives of those uninvolved in this seemingly unending conflict between races. Call me idealistic, but I don’t believe in killing or hurting innocents just to make a statement. Revolutions strive for change, but change always requires blood. The sacrifice of blood belonging to those willing to shed it, I can accept, but not the blood of those unwilling to die for an abstract concept such as change.” She breathed out sharply, it had been far too long since she had let out her opinions and they tended to bottle up inside of her, becoming sharper and sharper until they seemed to physically hurt her. Ris looked away from him as she ran a hand through her hair, sweeping the loose strands out of her face.

“I’m sorry… That was uncalled for, wasn’t it. It’s a worthy goal you strive for, but Magi… I… I’m just a woman of very little faith… Faith in people I suppose. Reason of why I’m always distrustful towards strangers, nothing personal.” She smiled curtly at that, unconsciously grabbing the pendant hanging around her neck, caressing it softly with her thumb, her expression blank while she descended into the labyrinth that were here thoughts again.

“Ah.. You asked who I am, didn’t you? Lemä stop me from rambling.” She seemed to relax a little again, the way he had posed the question confirmed that he wasn’t who she had feared him to be. Or his acting had to be even better than she knew it to be. “The way I phrased it before seems a whole lot more mysterious and interesting than the actual story I’m afraid, so I’ll keep it short for the sake of not boring you out of your mind. My whole name is a mouthful, so people simply call me Ris, a nickname my aunt gave me once. But feel free to pick Jeanne Christina Roussin, Rous, Chris, Tin, Fiddler, Vilda Dačhar, Princess Arrow or Risk if you prefer.” She said, an amused smile remaining on her face this time as she counted down names and nicknames on her fingers.

“And before you ask, yes, they all have their own story and no, I won’t share them yet, those require a fire, snow and something hot to drink. Back to your question, I’m from a town up north called Elmend, you might have heard of it due to its woodwork and the faith of Lemäika, though the first is more famous I believe. I left that town a few months back. I don’t intend on going back, so I suppose it’s of little relevance to you. Right now I’m what you could call the leader of this small band of Magi Hunters. There’s somewhat of a guild in place we all belong to, but nothing too well-organised. We track down any rogue Magi with a price on their heads, which is why we are after Faran now and apparently why we came across you. All of us have our reasons to join in such an enterprise, mostly out of a deeply rooted hate for Magi or just as a way of making money… I don’t feel it’s my place to share everyone’s story though.” She shrugged a little apologetically. “I believe that should about answer your question, it seems a little overboard to share my entire life’s story with you right now. And thank you for answering quite a few of my unasked questions."

"And before I forget, there’s something more practical I’d like your opinion on; Would it be possible to travel to Riverseed sometime soon? I’m afraid we left some of our supplies behind in our optimism, supplies we might very well need. Or do you believe it would be wiser to wait a few days before asking the gods for a favour again?” Before he could respond, she held her hand up, her expression growing a lot more serious.

“But more importantly, I have two other questions for you. Why now; Why would you incite the revival of your rebellion after all these years? It seems like your goal was to stay out of sight all these years… Why not act earlier or later?” She paused briefly before asking the question that was bothering her most. Afraid of what he might answer and the possible consequences. “You told me a little of who you are… But what are you. Human or Magi?” She leaned a little forward in her chair, keeping eye contact as she rested her elbows on her knees and her chin on her intertwined fingers. Involuntarily her eyes kept shooting back to the blade he had pulled out, now lying on the table. She didn’t feel too threatened by the gesture, but nevertheless cursed her thoughtlessness in leaving her weapons in the dormitory. If Fae would end up killing her, she just had to make sure to make enough noise to warm her companions. They still outnumbered him, even when not counting Rich and Levi.
A comforting thought.

Humans VS. Magic-Users (Ch.1:Beginnings)

Jeanne Christina Roussin

It reminded her of a home she had once known. Ris slowly inhaled the smells of wet dirt, pine trees, grass and all the other scents that were so familiar to her. Once the horses had passed the first few trees, she had immediately felt more at ease. After all this time, Ris was back in her element. She had spent the last few weeks, months even, in villages, towns and valleys where the lack of trees and pure air had always disturbed her. The wind rushing through leaves overhead sounded impossibly peaceful after all the chaos of the doomed town they had left behind. As they went deeper into the woods, the group slowed their pace considerably. The sun had long gone and letting their horses trip and fall in the dark wouldn’t be too helpful.

After some time, Fae suddenly indicated for them to halt, while there was nothing extraordinary about the place where he had decided to stop. At second glance, Ris noticed the very slight elevation of the ground. It reminded her a little of wild boars’ hidings she had come across every so often on her hunting tracks. The elevation was hardly worthy of the term ‘hill’, barely noticeable due to all the other shrubbery and foliage surrounding and covering it. Fae took a few steps towards the ‘hill’, leaving his horse in Levi’s care. Ris remained in the saddle a little longer, looking around at anything that might indicate a hideout. She had expected Fae to take them to another village, or a cabin perhaps. He wouldn’t have hidden any camping equipment out here, would he? If this really was a wild boar’s den, she cared little for staying here until morning when the beast would return. Ris made sure to keep an eye on Fae as she dismounted, who was now rummaging through the moss which covered the base of the ‘hill’ until suddenly he pulled back and a camouflaged hatched opened outwards.
Ris raised an eyebrow, even with her trained eye she wouldn’t have expected there to be a hatch over there. Impressive. Fae turned around, a faint smile on his face. It was obvious that he was glad to be here, and who could blame him, compared to what they had left, Ris was feeling overjoyed to be here as well. The group listened quietly as Fae explained the hideout’s layout, giving them directions on where to go for the different facilities.

After the briefing, Levi quickly offered to take care of the horses; unsaddling, wiping them down with grass and giving them some water and such. With as little words as usual, Romeo offered to help him and the two led the remaining horses after Fae. With a small smile, the boy promised to make them something to eat or drink with what he would find in the kitchen. In the meantime, Hilde and Ris accompanied Rich down into the hideout, leading him to the ‘dormitory’; a somewhat dank, Spartan room with six beds and a small closet. It wasn’t much, but it was more than enough to lay low and recover for some time, exactly what they needed. Hilde quickly explained what she had done thus far to help Rich and Ris send her off to gather a few buckets of water. She then turned her attention to Rich, instructing him to sit on one of the beds with outstretched arms, after which she soaked the bandages Hilde had hurriedly applied and carefully unwrapped them. Rich cringing slightly while she worked, finally showing signs of how much his burned hands actually hurt him.

“Unfortunately, most of my medical equipment is still in the boat, so I’ll just have to improvise a little, Rich. Hope you don’t mind. You can cry now, Hilde isn’t looking.” She added the last words with a smirk, hoping her words would distract him from the pain. The painkillers she had were still in the boat near Riverseed, along with her violin and other equipment. Rich merely shrugged, but a faint smile made his way to his face as well.

“A few scars here and there won't do my appearance any harm, don’t you agree? In fact, it'll only improve the whole brawly mercenary image thing.” Rich mused. Ris merely chuckled in response while inspecting the wounds. They should have been cooled as soon as Rich was burned, it had been over an hour and cooling was far less affective than it could have been.

“Ris?” Rich asked quietly, at which she mumbled something acknowledging. “Don’t trust that Fae alright? I have a bad feeling about all this.” Rich said, the usual mock completely gone from his voice. She looked up, surprised by the serious tone of his voice. After a few moments, she nodded. “I’ll keep it in mind.” Reassured, he sank back into the wall and let her carry on with her hardly adequate healing. She cooled the burns again with the flasks they had for drinking water, helped by Hilde as soon as the latter returned with more water.

“He’ll need to stay warm, please make sure that he remains covered with a blanket and his spare clothes, I have some you could use as well… Also, he should drink water frequently to ensure he doesn’t get dehydrated. If possible, he should keep on cooling his hands.” Ris instructed Hilde, after asking her to keep an eye on Rich, the latter protesting that he’d rather drink wine than water. Once she was sure Hilde was performing her task properly, Ris left the two alone. She knew little more than Hilde about medicine, and was of even less use without her medicines. She walked back towards the entrance, wondering where Fae had gone while she had checked on Rich. She came across Romeo who was sitting close to the hideout’s entrance, whom appeared to have taken the initiative of remaining on guard. His expression was even more grim than usual and Ris recalled that he had once told her that he deeply disliked the feeling of being trapped. Claustrophobia.

“Once things are clear I’m sure you can go up.” She told him, lightly touching his elbow to show she understood. He merely nodded, turning away from her and her touch like a hurt animal. Suppressing a sigh, Ris turned around to go in the other direction. It pained her to see how much the man had changed since Juliette’s death. He had never been outgoing, but this…

She quickly discovered Fae sitting at a desk, a candle lit up his face and plunged the rest of the room in even deeper shadows. Like most rooms in the hideout, this one seemed stably constructed, but decorated in a Spartan fashion. There was but one other chair near the desk, where Ris sat down. She coughed softly, to catch Fae’s attention.

“Hey… I just really wanted to thank you. For getting me and my companions out of there. You obviously know a lot more about what was going on there, so I doubt we would have been able to get out of there without your help.” She moved around on her chair a little nervously, it was awkward to admit she wouldn’t have been able to lead the group to safety. Besides, she was talking to a man both Rich and Dike had warned her not to trust. She examined Fae’s appearance carefully, her eyes lingering on his. That’s impossible, he couldn’t be…

After a few moments of silence, she continued. “And the hideout… It’s amazing, thanks again. I have quite a few questions as you might imagine. If you don’t want to answer, I’ll refrain from asking them for now, I’m your guest after all. If you have any questions of your own, feel free to ask me.”

Humans VS. Magic-Users (Ch.1:Beginnings)

Jeanne Christina Roussin

Ris watched the exchange between Fae, Dike and Green Eyes with interest. Dike hardly seemed offended by the accusation of “looking suspicious”, it was mostly true after all and her little tête-à-tête wouldn’t have done anything to lower that suspicion. More than offended he seemed a little relieved that Fae appeared to be a good judge of character. He wouldn’t be leaving the group in the hands of an incapable man, that was for sure. Besides, he was used to following orders of people far younger than himself, something that he never had seemed to have a problem with. Green Eyes seemed capable enough, she judged. Besides, it was Fae’s message, if he trusted Green, that was the end of the matter.

As Green Ey- Darius introduced himself, Ris realised she hadn’t even given Fae her name in her rush for answers. She looked at Darius first and turned to Fae halfway her sentence, making eye contact to show him the statement was also meant for his ears. “I’ve got quite the collection of names I’m afraid, but ’Ris’ is more than adequate to describe me.” She said, a smirk on her lips. “Risk would be far more accurate though.” Rich mumbled, still loud enough for everyone to hear. Ris’ smirk only widened, and her companions smiled briefly at that. More than one story about their adventures of the past few months were on her lips, but Fae’s reminder of their lack of time let her swallow the words. He was right, the sounds of battle were too close to simply stand there at the edge of town, reminiscing.

As if to remind them of that fact, a loud noise startled horse and men just as some were mounting and others still saddling their assigned steeds. Luckily the horses were easily calmed, but they remained skittish, eyes pricked up and looking around to locate the source of the noises around them. A lone musketeer on a nearby roof was firing at some villagers who were attempting to escape Middleseed on foot. Fortunately it seemed like he hadn’t spotted the mounted group yet and they quickly split up, no time for proper goodbyes; Darius and Dike riding east, while the rest urged their horses west, following behind Fae. It felt odd to have Romeo’s weight pressing into her back, but Ris just felt relieved that they were about to escape the town.

Just as it seemed that they were leaving the scene unscathed, the soldier noticed them and managed to get a clear shot on Hilde’s horse, which was closest to him. It went down with a loud, shrill noise, throwing Hilde and Levi off. Without losing much speed, Rich turned his horse and picked Hilde off the ground, who landed somewhat ungracefully and held on tightly to him. Fortunately he was a good equestrian; he hadn’t had time to grab a saddle and solely relied on his posture to prevent falling off.

Meanwhile, Fae had managed to turn around as well and allowed Levi to pick up his pace and run alongside Fae’s horse. With a swift motion he grabbed the boy by the hackles and lifted him up behind him. Ris noticed that Levi was shaking a little as he grabbed hold of Fae’s shoulders.

The shooter seemed to yell something to nearby companions, but before he had the time to reload the group was already galloping off. To safety.

Humans VS. Magic-Users (Ch.1:Beginnings)

@LetMeDoStuff Ainoo Pilot :'< Take all the time you need! Hopefully things will turn around soon for you

I have to apologize as well for the lack of activity; I've been ill for the past few days but I'll try to write a post today.

Humans VS. Magic-Users (Ch.1:Beginnings)

I'm busy preparing a nuke shelter and making plans on how to avoid conscription... Damn America, why? 😂

Humans VS. Magic-Users (Ch.1:Beginnings)

Jeanne Christina Roussin

Taking in Fae’s words, Ris’ expression darkened significantly. Splitting up had never proven to be a good idea for their group, even more so when it included two strangers. Ris took a few moments to think over Fae’s words, biting her lip in frustration. Could be that he was lying of course, that there was more room in his hideout… Regardless, it wouldn’t be the best of plans to irritate the one they relied on for shelter, liar or not. It would be best to go along with Fae’s wishes, at least for now. Which brought her to the next topic; Who to send to Alfheim and who to keep close? The new guy –whose name she wasn’t even sure of- would have to be one. It was bad enough to rely on one stranger, let alone drag along another. The real question was who would accompany Green Eyes. Rich wouldn’t be useful in a fight any time soon, he would have to stay behind and recover whether he liked it or not. She definitely didn’t want Levi to go on a long journey with some stranger and Romeo and Hilde would most likely outright refuse the task since it wouldn’t involve killing or hunting down Magi. That only left her and Dike.

“Give us a moment.” She said quietly to Fae wile handing the halter of her horse to Levi. A curt hand movement urged Dike to step away from the group for a moment. Seeing their lack of time and the imminent danger, they didn’t go very far. They merely walked far enough so that their hushed voices would be inaudible to the group.

Ris hurriedly shared her deductions thus far, making sure only Dike could hear her words. “I’d like to stay behind to get some more information from that Fae. And I need someone I can trust to go along with that other guy. Besides, I know how to keep in contact with you and it’d be rather helpful if you’d be able to learn more of whom Fae is trying to contact and why exactly. He mentioned something about a rebellion before…” She could almost hear Dike’s reservations, painstakingly obvious to her in his twitchy eye and the wrinkles created by his eyebrows. “I know that look, Dike. No, of course I don’t trust him completely, which is why I want you to do some research of your own. I’m no longer Sophie’s silly naïve girl, Daniel.” She added, her voice but a little hoarse.

It took Dike some contemplating, his arms crossed and left eye still twitching slightly. Not long after that he nodded, seeing the reason in her words. “Alright, I’ll play the carrier pigeon for now. Just send a message to Irene or Lucas if need be, I’ll be sure to pass by them on the way to Alfheim.” He took a few long strides to return to the waiting group. “Also, I think it would be nice if we could get at least one horse, seeing how we’ll be travelling the greater distance.” He added, raising his voice a little so that the others could hear him.

Ris nodded in agreement, she had been thinking the same. “Levi can ride with Hilde. After all, it’s only thirty minutes, right? And I can share a horse with Romeo. That way, the two who are going to Alfheim will be able to make a better time.” She shot Rich a menacing look before he could complain about riding alone. Fortunately her expression proved enough to let him shut up for once. “With that message being as important as it is, I doubt you’ll have any objections, right?” She turned to look at Fae at that last sentence and finally she turned to the man whose name she still didn’t know.

“We decided that you will accompany Dike to deliver the message. Feel free to decline, you can go wherever you want. On foot that is. I’m not responsible for you and neither are you obliged to join our little undertaking, but I would advise you to get as far away from this place as possible.” She told him, perhaps a little harsher than necessary. She just wanted to be sure that Dike wouldn’t end up with someone who would be unmotivated to help him if need be. And travelling a long distance in a world like this, one would surely end up in trouble one way or the other.

Humans VS. Magic-Users (Ch.1:Beginnings)

Yeaaaah, sorry for the low activity, had a bit of an Exam crisis for the week and the next.

@LetMeDoStuff

Same for me, though I just finished my exams. I'm sorry >_<

[Have a cat gif. No this is obviously not an attempt to bribe you guys to get forgiveness >_>']

Humans VS. Magic-Users (Ch.1:Beginnings)

Jeanne Christina Roussin

In utter silence, Ris and the others stood crammed together against the alley wall. After the neck breaking speed of the search for Hilde and Rich and the hurried catching up with Fae, it felt unnatural to wait like this, unmoving, awaiting Fae’s signal. Her nerves were starting to pop up again after being pushed down by adrenaline.

Judging from the direction Fae had led the in, as well as the sound of nervously whinnying horses, carrying over the noises of short-lived battles, it seemed that they were heading towards the town’s stables. Thankfully all of them knew more or less how to ride a horse. That is, as far as she was aware of. Moreover, that would mean that Fae's safe place was elsewhere and they would be leaving Middleseed behind. The sooner they were all out of this town, the better, Ris thought to herself. It seemed like the Thalburn were intent on creating a massacre here. As much as she hated running away and saving her own skin, it would be pointless to go up against a number of well-trained soldiers with her little band. They were capable enough, but catching criminals and fighting an army were two completely different undertakings.

Time seemed to slow as Fae looked her in the eye, his expression bordering on sadness... And a sort of... Determined calmness. This man had seen horrors like this before, had experience being hunted like this, had experience fleeing a town, leaving behind all of his posessions.... He was so much more than she had thought him to be.

Before she had properly collected her thoughts, he stalked out of the alley, leaving one bewildered girl and six impatient individuals behind. All of them were bright enough to stay out of sight and as silent as possible, while watching Ris and Fae for further instructions. The latter seemed to be doing fine, making it halfway across-

When suddenly Fae went down with the loud -BANG- of a carrycannon. He knew... That look... He knew what he was walking into... Ris thought, frozen for a moment. Levi was the first to react, getting up and rushing forward to get to Fae’s side. Ris stopped him in his tracks before he was able to run onto the adjacent street.

“He’s hurt, madam Roussin. We should help him, he might bleed to-” Levi started, looking at her with wide panicky eyes, only widening further when Ris put her hand over his mouth and shushed him. Warily she looked up at the roof where a Thalburn soldier was still partly visible. She waited a few agitating second until she was sure he hadn’t noticed them.

She removed her hand from Levi’s face once she was sure he would remain quiet. “Listen and think with me for a moment Levi, if he’s dead we won’t be able to help him much at the moment.” She began in a soft, calm tone. “If he’s not, we still won’t do him any good by running out on the street and getting shot right next to him. Right? Let’s wait for those soldiers to lower their guard. If Fae still hasn’t shown any signs of life by then, I’ll sneak up to his body and I want you to watch my back, alright?” Levi merely nodded at that, seemingly overcoming his nervousness and looking her in the eyes with a serious and focused expression. It felt a little odd, but Ris felt a sense of pride as well to see him look so determined. It helped when you knew exactly what to do and what was expected of you in situations like this.

Just as she was about to sneak out of the alleyway and check on what she dreaded to be Fae’s lifeless body, he started moving ever so slowly. She allowed herself to sigh in relief once he made it into the adjacent dark alley. With some quick motions she signalled for the others to cross the street one by one. “Oh dear, I can’t wait for this to be over…”