The Blight Chronicles: Odalia & Alador

The Birth of an Empire

They had been right, by the end of the school day most people that knew them were referring to them as blights. Odalia did not back down in claiming the name for themselves so that day after school when they were walking from school to Alador’s house she proposed they include blight in the name of their company. If they doubled down and leaned into the new nickname they could guarantee that people would know who they were. Plus it was easier to embrace the name rather than try to discard it.  

Alador had liked what Odalia had said about his magic being a blight because it was innovative so he quite liked the name. He also liked that it was something that the two of them shared now. For as long as he could remember he had been alone. It felt nice to have someone to share things with even if it was only a nickname.  

During their walk home, they talked about what they would need to get started if they were going to build a company. Seeing that they were both fourteen and had no money and were still in school they had a lot of work to do. Primarily they would have to figure out a way to raise funds so that Alador had enough materials to create new things and then be able to mass-produce them so they could sell them.  

Odalia had an idea of what they should and should not do when trying to make a business from watching her parents fail at theirs. She knew that it would take a lot of hard work and patience. Building a business took time and money which they did not have. They also needed to continue growing and sharpening their skills. Especially Odalia, currently she was still not good enough to see details in their future.  

She had spoken to Alador about the vision she had that day at the market. She had also explained how she saw them having a successful business together but not knowing how exactly they got to that point. Alador had initially agreed to start the partnership with her because he had seen the benefits of having her around. As long as he could continue creating new things he was not too concerned about the details. Besides Odalia had a mind for business it was almost as if she had been preparing for this her entire life. Which might have been true. There was still a lot they did not know about each other.

Since their encounter at the market, Odalia had been trying to use her magic to learn more about their business. So far the only thing she could see was that they would be selling Alador’s inventions and that she would be the one to promote them. Maybe once they decided on a name for their business or when they settled on a direction they would take it would be easier to see. For now, it was still too hazy. This was the reason she was so excited to settle on a name. She was hoping that once they had a name for their company it would trigger a vision like the one she had when she saw Alador at the market.  

Once they had arrived at Alador’s home Odalia quickly set herself on the dining room table, took out a notebook, and started writing something down furiously. Before taking a seat himself Alador saw that his Abomibutler was standing in a corner no longer active as it had nothing else to clean. He made a mental note to work on an upgraded version that would greet them at the door and take their things whenever they arrived. 

He sat across from Odalia and watched her intently trying to figure out what she was doing. Whatever it was, she was completely immersed. He could not help but stare. He liked seeing her get excited about things like this. There was this glint in her eyes whenever they talked about their future business which made him feel happy though he was not quite sure why. 

“Ok!” she exclaimed, slamming down her pen loudly. 

Her sudden outburst caught him by surprise. 

“Here is a list of possible names for our company,” she said, sliding the notebook to him “you can scratch out the ones you don’t like and you can even add some too. While you look through those I’ll prepare us some tea.” 

He took the notebook and the first thing he noticed was how neat her handwriting was. It was hard to believe how clean it looked even after how fast she was writing. After he finished admiring her penmanship he started reading through the list of names. 

“So what do you think?” she asked while taking out the tea from one of the cabinets. 

“You have very pretty handwriting,” he noted in his usual flat tone as he continued reading through the list of names. 

His response had caught her off guard which caused her hand to slip as she was pulling down the tea container. This caused it to fall and hit her on the head but she managed to catch it before it hit the floor.  

Her head hurt but she ignored it as she felt her face growing warm. Oh titan why did he have to be so honest all the time? She knew that whenever Alador complimented her it was because that was his honest opinion. He was not trying to flatter her or flirt with her, he was just stating a fact. Knowing that did, she could still not help to think he did it on purpose because he somehow secretly knew how happy it made her whenever he praised her. She tried convincing herself that the reason it made her so happy was that she knew that he did not give compliments to just anyone and not because she had feelings for him. Yeah, that was it she liked being praised that was all there was to it. 

“Odalia, are you ok?” questioned Alador looking up from the list. 

“Yes, don't worry about me, so was there a name you liked?” she said not wanting to turn around to keep him from seeing her face. 

“Hmm yes, I think Blight Industries would be good since we still don’t know what field we want to specialize in. This will allow us to try several different fields without having to commit to one.” He said still trying to figure out how her handwriting was so neat.  

“That’s a good point. Alright then Blight Industries, it is!” 

She finished preparing the tea and handed a cup to Aladro. Then lifted her cup “Today marks the day Blight Industries was born.” 

Alador mimicked her and the two toasted to the birth of their company. Even though at the moment all they had was a name and an idea, with time this would turn into the biggest enterprise the Boiling Isles had ever seen.