The Summoner's Vendetta (First Draft) (Book Two)

The Stranger at the Gate

Time continued to pass since Sin and his comrades had rescued two of the newest members of their band. This time passed until eventually Arokas and Venus had been members of their band for two weeks and considering that they have learned enough in their training where Sin felt that they wouldn't be a hinderance in battle, it was time for the initiation to be performed.

Due to Arokas and Venus not being the only members of their band that needed to be put through the initiation, Roi and Merci joined them. Even though Sin was mostly pleased with the results that he had been given, for one member of their band the results could have gone better. After initiating his companions, Sin looked over the cuffs that adorned their wrists to see which category of Mage that they fell into.

One initiate had a cuff of pure black and while Sin had hoped that they would have chosen to follow in the same path that he himself did, Merci had chosen to follow the path of a Shadow Mage instead which gave Lucius someone to focus on training.

Moving on to the next of his initiates, Sin laid his eyes on Venus and upon sighting the multicolored cuff that hung upon her wrist; he knew that she would follow down the path of an Elemental Mage.

With his examination of the newest female Mages that have joined them, Sin moved onto their more masculine counterparts. Considering that Arokas was the next in line, this was the being that Sin's eyes were drawn to.

For a moment Sin thought that Arokas had failed the initiation though upon closer examination he saw that the other male had a pure white cuff clinging to him and to help ensure that his initial thoughts were indeed wrong, Sin turned his gaze towards Enmoria and when he saw that the coloring of Arokas's cuff matched hers; he knew that Arokas was indeed a White Mage.

Now that only one of his initiates remained for him to examine, Sin quickly moved his gaze towards Roi and when his eyes landed upon him; he was met with bitter disappointment. While Sin was slightly disappointed for himself considering all the time that had been put into training Roi, he was more disappointed that Roi wouldn't be following in the footsteps of their companions considering that his cuff had remained the same clear color that it was when it was first placed around his wrist.

"I'm deeply regretful Roi but you have failed your initiation and it has become clear that you have no potential as a Mage." Sin explained and while he was trying to make it as pleasant as he could for Roi to hear, he knew that nothing would be able to keep the other male from feeling every one of the emotions that were sure to be boiling within him.

As soon as his words finished traversing the entirety of the room, Roi was tumbling over the ledge that was keeping him from the pit of emotions that were swirling within. Tears sprung into his eyes and seeing how devasted Roi was, Sin immediately moved to comfort his friend though before he could do as he intended; Roi was sprinting towards the exit of the room that they were crammed within leaving a trail of tears splattered on the ground.

Due to Roi's escape, there was nothing Sin could do for his friend now and chose to leave him to deal with his feelings in his own way. Turning back to face the others, Sin congratulated them on entering Mage-hood.

*

The following morning when Sin had awoken for the day, he thought that it was his duty as their leader to ensure that Roi felt just as important to their group as he did before they found out that he had no potential for magic. This need to give Roi the feeling of security within their group caused him to bring the other male out into the city to see if they could find something that would make them all feel useful.

Along with Roi, Sin brought along Exodus, Corina, Nasir as well as Enmoria who he wanted to bring along if something occurred that one of their members needed healing. Since the only one that they were associated with within Elessan were those of House Khesta, Sin thought that this would be the perfect place to go searching for a job that could bring peace to their group and considering the betrayal of one of House Khesta's soldiers; he doubted that the Noble would have an issue with giving them paying work.

This was the cause of how Sin and his companions ended up within the courtyard of House Khesta as they wiped the sweat of their bodies after patrolling the city with a group of soldiers. Just like Sin assumed, Lord Khesta had no qualms about paying them for patrolling the city with his soldiers and upon their arrival; the Lord of the estate was handing him a coin purse that was heavy with Zesian Crowns.

Wanting to give his companions a chance to relax, Sin allowed them to do as they pleased within the courtyard as he took a position upon the walls of the estate which allowed him to watch both the city as well as those who were within the courtyard.

Even though Sin had come on this mission to give Roi a sense of security within a group that was composed of Mages, he had an inkling that his goals had yet to be accomplished considering that Sin was watching the other male attack one of the training dummies with the ferocity of someone who was burning with rage.

"There has to be something that I can do to reinstate our need for him within the group regardless of whether he is a Mage or not..." Sin contemplated as he turned his head from watching the companion that he was worried about towards the city. "...or should I allow him the space to figure out what comes next for him on his own?"

When Sin came to the ending of his thoughts, he felt the soldier that stood atop the walls with him grow rigid. Fearing that they were under attack, Sin quickly ripped himself from the worries that were plaguing him so he could focus on the possibility of danger coming towards them. Now that Sin had placed his worries on the back burner, his mind could take in the details that before he was missing.

Before the gates that kept the ordinary citizens of Elessan from entering Lord Khesta's estate, was one singular woman that was wearing the attire of peasant though from the way that she was standing before the gates with her hands placed on her hips made Sin feel as if she had more authority than she did.

"Damnit! Why in the world can't she get it through her head that there is nothing that we can do for her!" the guard that was standing beside Sin growled out as his hand moved towards the quiver of arrows that adorned his back.

Even though Sin had no concept of what this stranger could have done to cause such fury to build within the House Khesta soldier, he felt that shooting her with an arrow was uncalled for. This thought caused Sin to immediately send his hand soaring towards the soldier and as he wrapped his appendage around that of the other males, Sin held a firm grip upon the soldier.

"Keep your arrows sheathed! I will go and meet with this stranger!" Sin snarled before releasing his hold on the soldier's wrist and making his way down the battlements and towards the gates that would allow him to meet the stranger face to face.