Chapter 6
The damages in the disadvantaged district of Swordhold were great but not unbearable for the Consortium to repair them. The reconstruction went smoothly and the poorest of the capital even saw their lifestyle increase sensibly. The downside caused by the incident now known as the “Rampaging Monster” was the destruction of all the mana stones present at Swordhold and a huge mental strain in all the people able to sense mana. A lot of them fell unconscious and the ones the closest of the explosion and the most sensible weren’t showing any sign of reawakening even a few days after the incident. It was concluded that the black market saw too big for its monster battles and that the newly found specimen was too strong for them to handle and backfired, led by its anger.
17 years old was the common age for the Adulthood ceremony and all the students of Swordhold went to the Cathedral to receive the blessing of the Apostle of Gods. It was said that the god of chaos Anih and his sister Hina, the goddess of order, were watching together the promising youth during the ceremony.
The stinging pain of their two missing classmates was striking the otherworlders more and more in this day. They haven’t had any real news of them since the Crack in the World and were clueless as their whereabouts. The carriage that was carrying them down from the Academy to the Cathedral was engulfed with an awkward and weighty silence as the former classmates were lost deep in their thoughts.
The carriage briskly stopped its course, and understanding that they were arrived, they got down and thanked the coachman, which saluted by waving his hat in return.
After they got inside the magnificent looking church, the Apostle, in fact the second most important person related to the gods, started his ritual speech. “Outstanding youth of the Swordhold Academy, you are now young adults, and thus, able to undertake the ritual journey. Become merchants, adventurers, soldiers or even inherit your father’s noble title by proving yourself and travelling around the world. Travel around the Continent and come back to us filled with experiences and memories, as fully grown adults. May the gods of Order and Chaos Hina and Anih watch over your ways and stay beneath their ever changing light!”
Everyone in the nave applaud loud and cheered. And the otherworlders weren’t the last at the party. Since they were the top of the top Academy, everyone had high hopes for them. And they weren’t disposed to willing to let them down.
**
Soon after, they went to the main branch of the Adventurers Guild in order to register as adventurers. A group of nine youths coming all together in order to get registered was a surprising and the otherworlders were stared at the moment they entered the Guild’s hall. They separated in two groups and each went to a receptionist for the registering. After they filled the registration papers, -essentially their name, age, fighting styles and if they were Gifted people, they were led to the training ground in order to pass the test.
During this time, the receptionists were regarding each other with wide opened eyes. They were all nine Gifted people with unique abilities and they were all quite powerful ones.
Back at the training ground, Lion displayed an amazing swordmanship coupled with body enhancement magic and holy blast, making him proficient both in close combat and long range attack. He decided to not use his Gift since its damages were quite huge for the people living by fighting.
Lyann, as a good muscle brain, went all-out from the beginning and displayed an amazing raw strength. Haedrig didn’t do as well as the other since he was more of scoot than an actual fighter. Logan fired continuously powerful lightning magic and kept draining mana from his opponent thanks to his Gift.
Farah didn’t fare well too since she was more of a strategist while Krone took every spectator with her incredibly quick movements allowed by her use of her Gift: Time Magic. Saryn used the wiled way to victory by continuously firing short spells and status ailments thanks to her Gift allowing her an almost complete understanding about magic. Celes alternated between small forms for dodging and sudden increase in physical strength and broke through the opponent’s defense with her Morph ability.
And last but not least, Gwyneth Fox, the former teacher, made full use of her Gift Elemental Fox that allowed her to bypass the chanting and avoiding the drawing circles part while she casted spells if the laters took a fox form.
In the end, they were granted the B-rank, the highest obtainable rank for new recruits. The whole guild was in turmoil and they left with their first quest: exterminate a goblin nest. A group quest ranked B-.
*****
The sky was dark and cloudy. The raging sea was spreading until it reaches the void and falls from an infinite height. A giant thorn of rock was trying to reach the sky by leaning toward the sea. At its tip, a silent boy, around 175 centimeters tall, was sitting. His empty gaze fixed in the “horizon”. Kyle touched his cheek, were the blood of his beloved struck as hard as a mountain. “In the end, I wasn’t able to…”
A small breeze made his white hair flutter. A translucent figure appeared before him. Even though she was blurred, like if she was on the other side of a frozen window, Kyle recognized her instantly. Yukina was standing in front of him, a scar waking its way all over her neck.
“Great! Now I really turned crazy…” He smiled wryly.
Yukina granted him with one of her blooming smiles. “No. I don’t know if it was a blessing in disguise or a curse but my gift, Soulmaster, allowed my soul to cling to yours thanks to my blood.” Kyle threw her a gaze, clueless. “Basically I can live without body by absorbing your mana. Though I can’t materialize often the way I actually am.”
He chuckled then sighed. “That’s convenient, huh.”
“This world isn’t good, it is rotting. I don’t know why but I feel it.”
“Yeah, we should leave. The sooner the better.” He muttered.
“You have to take care of your sister.”
“And of you too. I can’t fail again…”
“I will provide all my support to you.” Yukina smiled and embrace Kyle with her arms. She the dissolved into mist that went to his scarred cheek, were the bloodstains were.
A single tear rolled down Kyle’s face and fell to the sea. He had an appeased little smile in his white face.
I don't just like it; I love it!
And also, that 4th chapter was awesome.
It's nice to see that Yukina lived-- er, will stick around, even if it's in spirit-form. That moment was a real heart stopper.
I am really glad you liked it