Jayden Leywin
Five years... You have five years. It's coming... the great...
I awoke with a flash and sat up, sweat pouring down my face.
What was that? It sounded like a prophecy.
I looked around to see my brother beside me. He was lying on his side, and his blanket had slipped off. I covered him again and walked outside. JingaLinga and ChingChong sat by the fire, cooking food, while Jasmine looked around and poked at the rocks.
With nothing to do, I walked to an empty area and started absorbing mana. Art was already at the light orange stage while I was only at solid orange. If I didn't try harder, he would probably reach the silver stage before I even reached yellow.
Focus, absorb the ambient mana... Come on, light orange... I'm almost there!
The smell of fresh spider meat awoke me from my meditation. Hungry and drooling, I strolled over to the campfire. Jasmine handed Arthur and me a skewer.
Elijah returned from scouting and said, "I found the boss' den, but from the presence emanating, it might be an AA class."
"Better be careful then!" I replied.
We packed up our camp and extinguished the fire. I took one last look at the area that was our camp and turned around. This would be one of the most important raids I will ever go on. Jasmine said that Art and I were to clear this without her help.
Reaching the door to the boss's lair, Elijah opened the door and led us through. The first thing I saw was a river.
Where's the boss?
Looking around, vines were crawling up the walls, and faint iridescent runes provided just barely enough light to see.
Jingalinga and ChingChong crossed the river and called out, "We found something! There's a statue here!"
Our party rushed over to examine the statue. It read:
To cross over, one must pay respects to the dead. You shall only be shown the way, once you have properly paid.
"Paid? Do we need to pay to clear this room?! Such bullshit!" Jingalinga shouted. He spit on the stone tablet and walked past the statue.
"See? Pay what? Your rules don't fucking apply!" He shouted.
A shadow loomed above him, and as he looked up a massive scythe came swinging down and cut him in half.
"JINGALINGA!" His brother yelled.
The shadow that took the shape of a hooded figure looked back and slinked into the shadows.
"I'LL KILL YOU, YOU FUCKER!" ChingChong followed the hooded figure in the shadows, soon vanishing from my sight.
"Jasmine... you think we should leave..?" I asked.
She looked concerned, however, did not answer, and continued walking.
"Relax Jayden! You got me! Unless it's AA, we should be good to go!" Arthur slapped my back. Hard. Ouch.
Walking past JingaLinga's dead body, we continued deeper and deeper into the dungeon, eventually making our way to the boss room.
"Ready?" Jasmine asked.
Art thought it was strange that there were no mana beasts, and I agreed.
We pushed open the door to the boss's den and peeked inside. Rocky terrain surrounded us on all sides, dead trees and bushes littered the land. I readied myself for a fight, withdrawing the sword I had named "Ivis".
I was poking at a dead rodent when I heard a shout from across the room.
Arthur Leywin
I walked towards a suspicious boulder. The shape was quite round, almost too round. It was quite dark, and my foot bumped into something. I thought it was strange we hadn't seen the boss yet, and I immediately thought the lump of living was the mana beast ruling over this dungeon.
I summoned a small flame in my hand, lighting up a small area around me. Looking down at the lump of flesh, I realized what I had stepped on. The body of ChingChong was laid on the ground, dismembered.
I let out an uncontrolled yell upon seeing the ruined corpse. Jayden and Jasmine ran over.
"I don't see any sign of the boss," Jasmine told me.
After double-checking a few times, we agreed to report this incident to the adventurers guild. A dungeon without a boss is an occurrence that has never happened before. Jayden helped me carry out ChingChong's body. Hopefully, it would offer his family some closure. (JIngalinga can stay there for all I care, I hate writing their names, I have no clue why I thought this was a good idea.)
Walking out of the dungeon, I found a small black piece that seemed to be chipped off of something. I picked it up, and realized it was full of mana. Mana I could absorb. I caught up to Jasmine and Jayden, my head pondering with ideas.
"Let's deliver these corpses and take a quick break." Jasmine said to us.
We reached the adventurers' guild and delivered the bodies. ChingChong's family arrived, and while they were devastated we couldn't bring back Jingalinga's body, they thanked us for bringing back Ching Chong.
I walked out of the guild building to get some fresh air, and Jayden joined me.
"You know, I never actually thought about the fact that people could die." I told him.
"It's not like we could do anything about it," Jayden stroked an imaginary beard.
"You're right, but... whatever..."
He looked at me seriously, and started talking.
"Listen, we barely knew those people, and one of them was too stupid to stay on alert. The other one ran off, into some unknown dungeon without any information or weapon. Their family should be grateful that we even brought back one of the bodies!"
I stared at him, "Those words are wise, but they are kinda cruel. I wonder how you do it, how you remain so carefree some of the time. Sometimes, I wish I were you."
He laughed.
A smirk appeared on my face, as I started to tease him, "I'm still stronger though!"
He continued his now somewhat forced laugh, and left.
Jayden Leywin
Me? Carefree?! I don't mix with those words, we are the complete opposite. You have no idea what goes on in my head, Arthur, don't even try. Sometimes, I wish I was you instead! Always the one hogging the attention.
I forced a laugh, and strutted away.
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Pieworks here!
This chapter is short, rought, and really boring, but I just can't anymore. I just wanna get to Xyrus. Next chapter should be the end of the Adventuring arc, and we should be starting Xyrus academy arc, one of the ones I anticipated the most while writing.
There are some plot holes, since it has been 7 months since I came back. Like, did I make Jayden and Arthur wear a mask? I don't even remember. I also cut short this chapter, since there was supposed to be an epic fight scene, but I decided to leave it as a clue. Where did the boss go?
Anyways, onto Chapter 12: An Average Day!
*note, this chapter will take longer as I am making it from the end of Adventuring to the start of Xyrus.*
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TBATE: Brothers Forever (Beta Version)
FanfictionWhat if Arthur wasn't alone throughout his journey? What if he had a brother? This story details how Art and his brother go through the hardships of TBATE as equals, and as rivals. Trust me, you will want to read this. Like just give it a try. Inclu...
