The Missing Stone

First Encounter

It's the first time Myson will let him outside the room, and the boy is just a little nervous and very excited.

He's trying hard not to fidget too much. Myson said he will be going on his first mission soon. He picks up his pace a little when they reach the "meeting room". Myson promised he would get to go outside more if he behaved. The boy holds his head up high, hands clasped behind his back. He is very proud of his ponytail, having tied it up messily by himself after his scarlet hair started getting "inconvenient". Myson opens the door and steps inside. The boy follows.

"Myson," a big man says at the end of a bigger table. The boy gulps, standing behind Myson when he sits down. No one motions for him to sit, so he stands on the far side of the big man, staring at his bare feet. Myson nods when he is addressed. They're the first in the room, so they wait for the others.

The boy sneaks a look at the man at the end of the table. He looks like Myson, but paler, and with a beard and a wider face. His eyes are completely blank. The boy shudders. He thinks the man looks creepy.

He snaps his gaze down again when the door opens to reveal another person. They walk with purpose, yet their pace is slow with confidence, like they're commanding the others in the room to relish their presence. Myson doesn't react as they sit across from him.

The boy shivers again, the feeling of cold eyes boring into him. "My, my. Who might the little one be?" Judging by their voice, it's a woman. The boy looks up slightly, glancing at her through scarlet bangs. She's a short girl, surprisingly.

She wears a black dress with light pinkish purple highlights that match the hue of her hair. The girl grins at him, but the boy doesn't like it. There are too many teeth in her smile, her eyes gleaming with an unprecedented hunger. He looks down again, avoiding eye contact.

"Leave him alone, Bias," Myson says firmly. He doesn't even look up. "It's his first meeting after all. Cut him some slack." The girl, Bias, leans back in her chair and props her face on a fist. The boy, thankful for Myson's words, still feels the unsettling gaze on him.

The door opens again and this time three others are brought in. The boy again stares at the newcomers through his bangs, feeling too vulnerable to fully look up. The trio includes another young girl with ash gray skin and orange hair, a few shades lighter than the boy's own. This girl doesn't look at him, rather hiding her face behind her hair, her mouth the only part of it visible.

The other two are a man and a woman. The former bearing more similar features to the man at the end of the table than Myson, along with a very large forehead. The latter strides in with shoulder-length wavy purple hair, the color also matching her black and violet mage ensemble.

"Hello Pittacus," Bias rolls her eyes, Pittacus playfully frowning in pain before sitting beside her. The man and young girl sit across from them. The boy subtly shifts away from the girl, feeling self conscious.

"The time is upon us," the man at the end of the table says. "A shame we are starting without Cleobulus, but she knows her role, as should all of you." The man stands up, posture straight. "If you incompetent fools do not remember, then I will repeat it for you, but not one more time."

"Thank you, Lord Thales," everyone except the boy says. He shuffles nervously, hoping his lack of response will go unnoticed. The man- Lord Thales, continues.

"We have waited hundreds of years for this opportunity. We will have our revenge against those who follow the light." The girl with orange hair cranes her neck to look back at the boy. He glances at her, anxious as to why her attention is on him. She stares for a moment, looking very tired before snapping her eyes back to the speaker when the man next to her snaps his fingers.