First Light, page 21
Teryn slowly reached out toward him, trying to catch his attention. She wanted him to focus on her, not some farmer or merchant, but her. Having him around was important and the fear that one day he would not be terrified her. Just as her fingertips brushed his sleeve, a voice shouted from down the road, excited and full of energy.
“Hey, you two!” Dannon shouted while waving excitedly. “I split up with Jeruul a few minutes ago. He’s off reserving us a table! Let’s get some dinner at that fancy place near the mayor’s home. I heard the food there is great! Why not splurge a little today?”
Many of the patrons of the nearby stalls stopped to stare at the young man who was shouting like an idiot. Teryn felt an urge to strike him well up from within her, but a deep breath and mental reminder that she was still next to Rune kept her in check. Instead, she glared at Dannon with a gaze cold enough to freeze him in place.
“I feel like I interrupted something I shouldn’t have?” Dannon whispered cautiously while cowering from her dangerous glare. He nearly started backing away when Rune held up a hand.
“Don’t worry about it! We were just finishing up here. Teryn and I had a good time enjoying each other’s’ company, as friends do.”
Rune’s final words struck a painful chord in her heart, but she simply gave him a gentle smile. She knew already that this was not a date like she wanted, so it should not have been a surprise to her when he made such a comment. Despite that, the words hurt all the same. She silently cursed a faceless girl in Locke.
The cool fall air was already chilly enough, but a sudden gust of wind blew her hair back and sent a shiver through her body. Rune removed the jacket he was wearing and draped it around her shoulders. Please don’t. Stop it…
“Here, you seem cold. Fall is certainly here, so maybe wear a jacket,” the young man said. His stupid smile painted his face.
“Thanks,” she muttered.
After paying for a few more necessities for the group, they dropped off the party supplies back in the Hall. They then joined Dannon and Jeruul at the restaurant that had reserved a table for them called Wulf’s Den. It was owned by a former Vanguard warrior named Wulf, who had retired to open a restaurant. Supposedly, the man had tried opening it in the capital, where he was born, but he was chased out by polite society, who thought his past as a Vanguard warrior was too rough for their fair city.
No one knew if the rumors had any truth to them, but it did not matter when it came to the quality of the food. When Teryn observed the meals served to the other guests, she wondered if they could afford to splurge on such a fine meal. Not only did the food look fantastic, but it was also served on fired dinnerware. Normally, food was served on wooden plates, but Wulf’s Den opted for the much more expensive pottery.
As the night went on, the four of them enjoyed the company with friends. Even though Teryn wished such a meal could have been shared with Rune alone, she knew it was not meant to be. However, she also made a silent vow in her heart that she was not ready to give up so easily, even if her competition had many years of advantage on her. Teryn clutched the jacket still draped around her. She refused to let go of it, even in the warm interior of the restaurant. Tara, Venraya, a princess… I don’t care. This isn’t over yet.
Chapter Twenty
Lord Death, take us. Guide our souls to the shores of the Sea of Chaos so that we may return to that from which everything came. Fate gifted us a life worth living, a journey worth traveling, and memories worth cherishing. All things that begin must one day end, and it is in your embrace that our stories come to a close.
Traditional Volari funeral prayer
Ven
“Gods dammit, Tayven!” Ven cried out in pain. School’s first term was swiftly coming to a close, and the weather was gradually getting colder. Of all that time, she had spent a majority with the blue-haired noble and his oversized roommate.
Ven knew Tayven had extensive training in swordsmanship and so, she had eventually started asking him for lessons. Much to her chagrin, he was not a gentle teacher. More often than not, Tayven would leave her with multiple bruises on her arms and hands. He would also hound her on any mistakes after almost every session. Though Ven was thankful for the education, a part of her wished he would take it a little easier. With Brick’s help, at least Tayven’s demeanor impacted her less and less over time.
Ven had been taught by Lex. As such, there was nothing that anyone among the academy’s staff could teach her. However, this did not mean she neglected her practice. She still practiced the drills Lex taught her every day. Now, her basic routine consisted of archery practice every morning before dawn, then classes, followed by training with Tayven, and ending with reading and homework.
Most of the academy’s professors did not assign work after classes ended, but students interested in better class performance often took additional notes on the discussion topics by utilizing the academy’s extensive library. While the academy’s collection was not near as grand as the Faradin Knight Academy in the capital, it possessed material the national institution did not. Since the Vanguard Academy was built by the Vanguard themselves, it boasted not only historical accounts but also maintained a selection of modern ones. As the global organization grew and learned more, so did the academy’s library. The Vanguard knew that historical texts were important, but they also understood that all history had once been modern knowledge, so it was important to learn both.
“You’re leaving yourself too open!” Tayven yelled. She quickly pulled her sword to parry a strike coming in from her right side. Her reaction was slow, but she kept the strike from hitting her shoulder. Unfortunately, in the process, she inadvertently directed the strike toward her face. It struck her across the cheek instead of her shoulder. Something wet and warm soon flowed freely down the side of her face, and Ven dropped to the ground.
Her sparring partner quickly ran over with a towel, helping the girl staunch the bleeding. Tayven looked at her with concern while inspecting the damage. Brick, who had been observing the bout, also rushed into the arena and smacked the young noble on the back of the head.
“You dumbass!” he shouted. “The sparring rules are to keep the blades below the shoulder, you dimwitted son of a bitch!”
“I did!” Tayven shouted back to salvage a small portion of his reputation. The commotion had drawn a crowd, and it would be best to prevent confusion about the incident. Lest the situation put a negative mark on his father’s name. Breaching dueling etiquette was not something people took well.
“Brick, it’s fine,” Ven said with a slight wince. “He aimed for my shoulder and I pushed the strike upwards in a panic. Besides, the school’s clerics will have this patched up in no time. I doubt it will even scar.”
She had become rather close to the two young men. While she mostly spent time with Tayven for training, she did genuinely enjoy his company. Brick had also turned out to be a very nice person. Because of the latter one’s stature, she had originally assumed him to be a muscle-headed idiot, but that was far from the truth. He was a gentle soul and while not an academic genius, he was not stupid. Where he really shined was in his understanding of people. Brick seemed to have a sixth sense about someone’s needs and emotional state and could respond accordingly.
Ven’s statement seemed to calm Brick down slightly as he huffed and mumbled something under his breath about Tayven still needing to be careful. Tayven nervously chuckled in response and grabbed another towel for himself to drape around his neck and wipe away sweat, carefully avoiding too much eye contact with the larger one. With an apologetic look on his face, he also passed Ven another towel, this one wetted with water and a disinfecting potion, to both help clean her face and refresh the old, bloody towel.
“Sorry Ven. From now on, I’ll tone it down,” her friend said. “Just know that I only have been pushing you as hard as I have been because you’ve been doing well.”
“It’s alright. You don’t need to apologize. This is training, after all, and besides, an enemy will not hold back just ‘cause I’m less experienced than them. So please, continue as you were.”
Her words soothed Tayven’s look of concern and replaced it with one of pride. Of course, he was a conventionally attractive person, so the smile spreading his lips garnered a few sighs from the female onlookers gathered around. Ven giggled to herself at her friend’s admirers before she collected herself and headed to the medical office for a quick patching up. Cuts to the head and face often bled worse than the wound actually called for. For that reason, she was handed another towel to replace the rapidly reddening one in her hands.
On the route, she passed several teachers and students who had been released from evening classes. Almost all the evening courses were occupied by older students and any newer students that were already scouted to join some of the school-sponsored Vanguard parties. Ven, Brick, and Tayven had all received invites to several of these parties, but they had no intention of joining them.
Given Tayven’s status, many parties were simply looking for ways to worm their way into his family’s good graces. Brick’s invites were obvious, and Ven’s were, too. She had been noticed as an Awakened with quite the potential for her Pulser class, like her father. This naturally garnered a massive amount of attention from established parties, especially when her connection to Hall Master Jacob had been discovered.
In response to the deluge of invites each person had received, the three had formed their own party with Tayven as leader. They could not accept jobs without their leader being at least a second year at the academy, but that did not bother them since they would be considered as such in seven months. Though their delay in starting work early was unfortunate, it did not hinder their efforts to grow. All three were very dedicated to self-improvement, and they always had their eyes out for any potential newcomers.
Suddenly, Ven remembered something that one of her professors had advised them of a week ago. The academy was having another set of students enroll; three, to be exact. Normally, there were two enrollment periods. Tayven and Brick had been part of the first period, which was at the tail-end of a semester. Ven had joined the second, which was just before the beginning of a semester. It was quite rare for the academy to admit anyone outside of these two times. As a group, they agreed to keep a close eye on these applicants, since special enrollments were usually quite rare. Ven held a small amount of hope that an old friend would be among them. It had been some time since she had seen him and it had been a while since she had received a letter from him. Idiot…
A short walk later, Ven entered the medical center. Some students were lying on cots with different injuries from training or even missions they had returned from. The air smelled sterile. Mostly from cleaning agents and disinfectant, like the potion soaking her towel. There were a handful of caretakers moving throughout the room. A majority of them were people with glowing purple eyes. One of the Volari workers came up to Ven and looked her over quickly.
“Just the cut on your cheek?”
“Yeah.”
“Not too deep, so it shouldn’t scar. Here, I’ll get you taken care of. The bruises on your arms you can keep. It’ll remind you to improve.”
The worker sat Ven down on a chair and placed her hand over the girl’s cheek. There was a warm, fuzzy sensation accompanied by a dull glow at the periphery of her vision. The girl felt her skin slowly stitch itself back together. When the worker was done, she gave Ven a mirror, which showed no cut and no scar.
“How do you do that?”
“Those of us who specialize in healing use the Aura within your own body to accelerate regrowth. Basically, we just make your body do what it already would have, but better and faster. Anything short of a lost limb we can take care of. Even that, we can fix. If you keep the limb and are willing to spend several months being prodded by a Volari cleric, that is. Oh, don’t forget to eat. We simply accelerated natural healing. As such, your body used up a lot of energy at once. Replenish it,” the cleric answered, while checking her work. She nodded with satisfaction and waved her patient on their way.
“Thank you very much!”
“Huh? Oh right, you’re welcome. May Fate’s hand guide you and may Death pass you by.”
Ven was confused for a moment and was about to ask what the cleric meant, but they had already moved on to another patient. She turned around and started walking towards her dormitory. Thoughts and memories of her last few days in Hilden flooded her mind. Chief among them were memories of the silver-haired boy who used had her as monster bait just before she came to Jelmoore.
Thinking back on it, he was probably on the same level as Tayven in the looks department. Ven giggled to herself as she imagined the naïve boy trying to fend off admirers at the academy. However, her stomach twisted itself in knots thinking about it. While caught up in her thoughts, she failed to notice that Brick and Tayven had caught up to her. Brick gently placed a hand on her shoulder, causing the girl to nearly jump out of her own skin.
“Woah there, Ven. Just us. You up to something? That why you’re so jumpy?” Tayven cooed in a teasing tone.
“No, you jerk. I was just lost in thought.”
“Again?” Brick asked, slightly concerned. “You’ve been stuck in your own head a lot today. Surprising that a smack to the head didn’t teach you any better. Something on your mind?”
“Not really anything particular. Just a friend I haven’t seen in a while.” Ven shook her head. “Heading back, too?”
Brick and Tayven glanced at each other with knowing smiles. They had heard about this ‘friend’ before, but neither mentioned what they were probably thinking to her. Both of them preferred keeping themselves from getting hurt outside the practice ring.
“Yes, we are. Also, trying to pay our respects to the academy’s new transfers! Apparently, they are moving in right now. They’re moving into the C-Rank dorms!” Tayven exclaimed. His eyes brimmed with excitement at the thought of having a C-Rank join their party. All of them were only E-Ranked Vanguard. C was the highest rank someone could achieve without attending the academy.
Of course, there were plenty of C-Rank students living and attending the school, but these new students would be the only first-years with that particular rank at the school right now since the others were all basically third-years.
With a single glance between them, the excited trio sprinted to the dorms. Once they reached the circular fountain in between the three dorms, they noticed that yet again, another crowd had formed, this time outside the C-Rank building. Ven huffed in annoyance, wondering what the student body did in its free time for so many students to constantly be flocking together around anything remotely interesting. Ven caught a flash of a person with red hair who waved nonchalantly at the organized crowd. A smirk was plastered on his face.
After he disappeared into the building, another person followed behind. Ven’s view was blocked by the shuffling of the crowd. By the time she could see the dorm again, the C-Rankers had vanished inside. She still glimpsed the back of someone’s neck, which was covered in some sort of black webbed tattoo. Something about this person radiated danger. Everyone else in the crowd also reacted to his presence. Several students subconsciously backed away, and others seemed to sweat under the terrifying air surrounding the man.
After a few moments, the person finally entered the building, allowing for the crowd to take a collective breath. Brick turned to his friends. “Chaos! What. Was. That?”
Tayven’s eyes were locked on the door to the C-Rank dormitory. “I don’t know for sure, but I have an idea.”
Brick cocked his head sideways while Ven verbalized their shared question. “Well, what is it?”
Tayven shook his head and smiled at his friends. “It is only a hunch. I’d rather not start rumors, and I’m sure we will find out for sure soon.” He gestured around them and pointed to a significant amount of their peers listening intently to their conversation. Ven could only shrug in agreement. She knew her friend was right. Spreading rumors would be bad.
Ven still had hopes of recruiting whoever that was, so she could only go along with Tayven. If that person were to find out they were the source of unsavory rumors, they could kiss their chance at a powerful ally goodbye.
Rune
Rune groggily opened his eyes, blinking several times in rapid succession to clear out the blurriness that set in. He stretched out his arms and legs and felt several pops in his joints. The surrounding room was dark, lit only by two candles in the room's corner. There were no open windows at the moment. In fact, they seemed to have been purposefully covered by thick furs.
It took him a moment, but he finally remembered he was in Karl’s home. After a recent quest, another migraine attack had happened, and Karl was his only option for reprieve. They had been clearing out quests like crazy lately and Rune was feeling the wear and tear. Karl was quick to help him as always, though his methods were strange to Rune. Every time he came for treatment, Karl would make him lie flat on a table, face down, with a towel draped over the back of his head. Unfortunately for him, this was after being forced to drink some strange concoction of herbs that tasted like a wet raccoon dog smelled.
Whatever Karl mashed together in that foul-smelling potion was the only thing that seemed to work for his headaches. It also knocked him out cold every time. Nothing else could ease the annoying spells, which now occasionally sparked fevers, dizziness, and nausea. The more intense symptoms had started around the time he passed out in a room with Teryn. He was thankful they had been drunk enough to agree to stay the night together because otherwise, Rune might have died.
He did not remember what exactly had happened, but Teryn had filled him in after. Apparently, he collapsed and was struggling to breathe. She yelled for help, which attracted Jacob, who quickly got Karl’s help. Ever since then, Rune visited Karl after every mission just to be safe. His beautiful Volari companion had been stuck to him like glue since then as well. Not that there’s anything to complain about regarding that. He smirked.
