Algernon Black

(Chapter 5) The Calm that Brings the Storm

Lucy showered before her brother, scrubbing away layers of dirt and sweat. And when she left the en suite she found a dress of emerald green with threads of gold laid on the bed. Jared said someone had dropped it off but spoke warnings about accepting gifts. He himself choose to wear only the comfiest parts of the suit they offered him. Lucy, however, was too enchanted by its beauty to heed any advice and went back into the bathroom to change.

With his time alone, Jared brought forth one of his only forever kept objects, a pen made of writing stones that allowed him to correspond with his longest kept friend. He bespoke his thanks for his help in securing him this job and yet another refusal when he inquired if Jared would be letting his sister begin her education in Attwood.

The opportunity was something only ever extended to the top scions of the world's elite.  Any parent of the common class, as they were born too, would rile with joy for their child's  chance to become its alum. But Jared knew first hand the potentially dire risks involved in Attwood's curriculum of mastering the four visceral magics may be nothing compared to what the nobles of that place may think to use his sister for in their twisted agendas.

"Are you writing to your friend again?" Lucy asked. There was only one person she knew her brother stayed in contact with, an old friend with who he exchanged letters with fairly often.

"Yes," Jared answered, pulled away from his missive.

"And, wow," he immediately exclaimed, upon taking in just how much Lucy had grown into a beautiful young lady over their decade of travel. "Are you really the same big-toothed sister I've raised for the last ten years?"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "They were only so big because I hadn't grown into them."

"Sometimes I wish you never did," Jared half-heartedly teased. "It might discourage at least some of the more forward men."

Lucy smiled, but questioned her beauty while looking over herself in the corner vanity's mirror. She had so little experience with much of anyone else in the world and didn't know if her looks were actually deserving of any rendering of attention, but from what she could deduce, with her very limited exposure of it, was that it wasn't so much the attention women struggle with, but what comes with it.

Jared walked over to the open window once a distant sound of thunder drew his attention to it. "By the last good king, the weather is absolutely atrocious." He stood with his hand rested on a hip. "Completely different from when we started our adventure today."

"Jared?" Lucy asked, as something about the way he was standing reminded her of the conversation they had with Rasmus from earlier.

"Yes," he answered, turning to his sister with open eyes.

"What were those artifacts you were referring to?" Lucy asked delicately. Jared sometimes soured when she asked questions related to their homeland and she was never certain what would set him off.

"Why do you ask?" Jared replied, his voice short and tight. Lucy knew this would be one of those times.

"It was just something you've never brought up before. Sorry for asking."

Jared signed for his lashing out and figured an answer would be apology enough. "Back on the side of the world we're from, there are a set of nine weapons that are unlike any other weapons in the world. The Ancient Artifacts of Known as they've come to be called. Old enough to have existed during the age of vessels and still holding onto the power from that time with each possessing a unique ability along with being indestructible." Jared wondered how much was safe to divulge, but Lucy's childlike fascination buried his concerns. "It's said that even one of these artifacts is as powerful as thousand men and in the right hands they can rival the power of the gods."