The Will Of A Life: Astras

The New Kid

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CHAPTER 3
The New Kid
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   In the middle of a highly dense forest sits a redwood tree much bigger and taller than any other around. The tree had been hollowed out and filled with a home that expanded like an item box, meaning it would span infinitely inside and be much larger indoors. Inside sat the group spread out around the living room as Comera explained why the mission was issued.
   “These people, if they even are people, are called blank knights. They have had a lot of names in the past, Deathwalkers, Cursers, Reapers. No matter their name they work like shadows and perfectly blend in with society, they are linked mentally with a group of 15, and obtain orders from what's known as a hydram. Regardless they hunt future goddesses and gods to absorb their power and get stronger. Currently because I was set to become a strong goddess, a very important group has been sent after my head.” as the conversation continued Vera awoke heavily startled “they can’t detect spells but they can feel aura, so I advise-”
   “Oh my Isis where am I!?” Vera called, sitting up so fast that her head collided with Yori’s. The hit caused Yori to drop the papers she had been writing the information on. Yan screamed and ran from the room, let's just say he is easily startled. Luckily the scream brought V back to reality, knowing there is no scream with a higher pitch than his. “Oh goddesses what happened, are you all ok?”
   Yan then re-entered the room as if nothing happened and explained the events that occurred the previous night. Yori, now on the floor trying to put her papers back in order, complained that Vera’s head was too hard. Not acknowledging this Vera only asked why they had left the castle, so Yan and Yori summed up the events and explained what the job actually was.
   “Alright so I can’t use my aura for awhile then, and we need to disguise ‘mera, sounds easy enough, but this also means she goes with us everywhere” Vera noted to the others “then we should also get her into our school and try our best to avoid taking any missions for the time being”
   Then Yori spoke up “How are we supposed to bring her with us if she can’t know who we are?”
   “Well to put it simply I’m not really sure, but I am prepared to lower my hood if that is what it takes to protect her, but I will never ask that you follow me in this act.” As Vera spoke to the group she lowered her hood and removed her mask. Turning to Comera she stood and swore her protection “I, Vera Fells, the warrior hood,  swear in the name of Isis I shall not allow those beasts to harm you.”
   The twins stood only for a moment surprised, before lowering their hoods and masks. Turning to Comera with a nonchalant smile Yan introduced himself with a bow “I, Yan Nerveheim, The Pearl Hood, swear in the name of Isis that I shall not allow those beasts to harm you” Yori introduced herself in the same manner.
   “I Yori Nerveheim, The Diamond Hood, swear in the name of the duke that I shall do everything in my power to protect and hide you from those beasts.” this time finishing her introduction by reaching into a large backpack beside her and handing Comera a necklace. The necklace was shining and silver, it seemed to glow in the dim lighting, this effect showed it was highly enchanted. As Comera put the necklace on, her appearance changed. Her physical appearance became almost identical to Yori but with 2 red eyes and gray hair.
   “This is amazing, I can't even feel my own aura; it's like it's somebody else's!” Comera told Yori “where did this even come from, I’ve never seen something like this?”
   “Oh, I just enchanted it yesterday? It's my main skill.” Yori explained “ I’m an enchanter, I fuse spells and crystals into objects, making items stronger or giving them special purposes. I can even enchant tamed beasts, but I just prefer to be the lookout or sharpshooter instead.”
   “Yeah I suggest you leave the beasts to Rodrik,” Yan claimed mockingly “but regardless I'm a master priest and a conduit. I can heal, bless, and share my mana with others.”
   As if on cue the roar of a dragon could be heard just outside the tree. Vera was the first to the door as she ran out and greeted somebody. Leading him back to the house Vera asked the man to introduce himself.
   “I-see-we-have-a-guest-, I-am-Copper-Hood-Rodrik-Nerveheim-of-Dorana-, It's-a-pleasure-to-meet-you.” as the boy introduced himself Comera took note of his long straight silver hair, and deep golden eyes that glowed in the dim moonlight. His visible looks showed he was definitely from Dorana. He wore a nobleman's suit in white and blue, and a pocket watch was worn around his neck. Behind him in the dark she saw a pair of large golden eyes creeping out of the shadows, But it was too dark to properly see it’s face.
“And-behind-me-is-my-lovely-companion-Sylphin,-she-is-a-holy-dragon.”
   “Pleasure to meet you as well!” Comera replied.
   “This is Rodrik, or Tick if you prefer, He is our tamer. Unlike others he can tame multiple beasts, mainly he tames dragons.” Vera told Comera “He is also my cousin.”
   Yori, finally appearing by the door, handed Tick the mission information she had organized. As he examined the papers, his anger became evident as his dragon snarled at the paper. Realizing his emotions he apologized and calmed back down. Once Tick was calm Sylphin shrank down to the size of a small dog and nested on his shoulder.
   Comera could now see Sylphin clearly, noticing how smooth and shiny her scales were. The dragon was black in color and shined as though the gods themselves had enchanted her. Her eyes seemed to be made of pure gold which swirled around her black slit pupils. Returning her gaze back to the owner she noticed Tick had the same eyes, even the pupils were identical.
   “If I may ask, why is your nickname tick?” Comera asked Rodrik.
   “Well-I’m-linked,-in-a-way-to-my-clock-,” he answered, holding the watch “I-can-only-attack-once-a-tick-most-of-my-motions-and-capabilities-are- based-on-them. I'm-pretty-much-a-ticking-clock.”
   Yan stepped into the conversation by reminding Tick to have his watch move faster as he was speaking and it was hard to follow him. Hearing the suggestion Tick had a small laugh before turning to his watch and moving a small dial to the right. It was bronze with an ornate pattern, after the dial was turned the watch started to tick much faster.
   “Apologies, I forgot to reset my watch after the trip. You are welcome to call me Tick If you’d like. I am a dragon tamer, I take care of any delivery requests and bring these idiots wherever they need to go.” Rodrik told Comera.
   “There's no need to apologize, and if I may, are there any others in your group?” Comera inquired.
   Vera answered the question noting that there were indeed more members, 3 were currently on an escort mission in the west for some knight forces, but would be back in a few days, and four more were making their way here from the neighboring country of Naven. The remaining members were on various jobs around the base.
   “I’ll call them back so you can meet them, and Tick you should probably go clean your suit since you were traveling for a while.” Vera noted, before poking her head out of the still open door and calling for someone named Leon.
   Moments later a man with long-ish silver hair, sporting fully black casual clothing, and a black cloth mask over his mouth. He dropped from one of the tall trees in front of the house. Landing expertly so as to not make a sound, swiftly and silently approached the group.
   “That's Leon Valock, The Obsidian Hood, he is our main mercenary, he doesn't speak much though.”
   As Leon came closer to them he formed multiple magic circles in the air, which formed into portals. They were as though you were looking at a picture, and the edges of the portal were oozing with luminous smoke.
   After the portals were completed some others began to drop from them for the most part landing skillfully.
   The first to drop was a man with long brown hair, green eyes, and a tattered leather trench coat. He wore an astounding array of colors, and some small crystals were attached to his belt.
   Following, 2 others entered through the portals, one around V’s age and the other appearing to be in her late 20’s. The older one placing her hands behind her back had simply made steps for herself out of spirits, and walked down through the portal. The younger one jumped down pulling a lance from her scabbard and plunged it into a tree to slow her descent. The thin sword cut the tree like a knife through butter.
   The woman had long black hair and caramel skin with white eyes and her face was full of scars. She wore a long blue coat which separated into fragments and glew with a somewhat green hue near the bottom. She had sharp pointed ears and carried a satchel overflowing with books and papers.
   The younger one had a set of light armor and a red belt of tattered cloth around her waist. She also had a thin maroon cape attached to her shoulders, with a shield crest in the middle. Her face looked almost identical to the older girls, but with paler skin, and she had brown hair of the same length.
   “So who’s the pretty lady?” the girl asked removing her sword from the tree.
   “That's my girlfriend, Comera,” Vera replied in a somewhat agitated voice “she will be staying with us for a while Slike.”
   “My name is Amber and I’d appreciate it if you used it. Either way I'm Amber Slike, The Amber Hood it's nice to meet you” The girl said, now seeming rather angry herself “I’m a lancer I can cut through anything!”
   The woman from before hit the girl with a book “apologies for my sisters rudeness, I am Elaina Reinford,The Jade Hood. I'm a summoner.”
   Comera started to introduce herself but was cut off by the brown haired man “Surely you aren’t doing introductions without the best dudes on the crew?” he said as multiple copies of himself jumped through the portal.
   “Really, remove your illusions before I destroy them.” Elaina ordered
   “You're no fun.” he said, making a mopey face and hunching down to the ground.
   “I believe I asked you to remove your illusions.” Elaina said
   “I don’t wanna,” he replied, crossing his arms, the copies following suit crossing their arms as well, “how about you remove your weird froster lights or whatever they are.”
   FROSTER
Pretty much Christmas but Santa rides a dragon and gives adults gifts instead, mainly armor and stuff like that.
   This officially got the two into an argument which seemed unending, with Yan and Yori trying to de-escalate the situation. To this Leon who had been making the portals appear rubbed his temple before casting a second spell which moved the remaining portals to the ground and made them larger. Another girl levitated through a portal. Her skin was as dark as chocolate. She wore a black witches hat and a short black dress. She appeared to be on fire, however she was covered in green flames around her hands and head, as if she had been keeping the flames attached to her by magic.
   “I’m Y’mura! I’m The Silver Hood,” the girl said in a proud confident voice “I am the best witch this continent has to offer!” She wore a large smile with sharp teeth. She was rather bold and confident, and thus she continued to praise herself in many ways. Boasting that she was so strong nothing could scare her, but this wasn’t a complete lie as she was in fact very strong and in being a ghoul she didn’t really feel fear from things that others found scary.
   “Pleasure to meet you, Y’mura!” Comera replied with a slight wave, before turning back to the arguing pair who had gotten much louder. The noise was starting to get to her, making her feel like everyone was against her. It felt like the same voices of the people who would torture her with their screams all day long back in the mortal realm. She held her hands to her ears, hoping that it would make the voices disappear. The others were all busy trying to break them up, but to no avail.
   Comera kept clasping her hands over her ears, she didn’t know any way to make the arguing end. A few tears began to roll down her cheeks followed by more and more. Jamming her eyes shut she tried to distract her mind from all of the noise that pained her, but the yelling persisted. She tried to find any other noise to keep the screams at bay.
   As if someone had changed the channel on the tv everything was suddenly quiet, a violin seemed to be the only noise around for miles. Comera fell to the floor with tears streaming down her reddened cheeks. She felt a warm embrace from behind and felt someone's tears fall on her shoulders. She didn’t have the strength to push them away, she couldn’t even find the courage to open her eyes.
   Still crying, hearing the screams of the people who loved to scream swirling through her mind, she once again felt like the hopeless child unloved by the world. She wished for the screams to stop and begged her mind to stop them. It was like she was placed in a barrier separating herself from her body. She seemed to become numbed by it, feeling as though she would never get back home.
   Almost as though she had been pulled back from the horrible screams that surrounded her, she felt someone wipe her tears away. Her eyes that had seemed glued shut now opened slowly. She found herself looking at the people around her. The one who had wiped her tears, she found only his comforting gaze, but couldn’t look any further. The person that had held her shoulders let go and moved beside the man, the tears streaming down her cheeks showing that the noise affected her as well. In the space around them it appeared that time had stopped, everyone stood in place like statues. Comera couldn’t move, it wasn’t any spell, she just had no more strength left.   
   The man picked her up and placed her on her feet with delicate ease, but comera’s knees were too weak to move, and she barely stood. However her body decided fainting was more of a fit for now. The woman stepped up to hold her, and slowly carried comera back to the house in the tree. When the door closed behind them the man turned to people arguing, and resumed playing his violin. Time continued and so followed the argument.
   Y’mura was the first to hear the violin and immediately sank back to the floor with her hands over her mouth, as she looked wide eyed at the rest of the group. And so followed the others who had tried to stop the argument. However the illusionist and summoner continued to argue. The man played louder and emitted a deadly presence as he played. Arthur and Elaina finally heard the music, ending the noise all together.
   The man had been playing a light tone, but once the two heard him his notes became sharper. It was as if the music itself was berating them. He hit a particularly loud note and the illusions as well as the glowing spirits of many different creatures disappeared. The man closed his eyes and continued to play in a much slower and calmer tone. He turned around to make his way back to their home in the tree but stopped as someone had approached him.
   “Leon.” he said quietly, naming the person who now stood beside him. The name wasn’t exactly said correctly, but Leon didn’t mind.
   Leon gestured to ask if he was ok, glancing back towards the rest of the group and looking around for someone.
   “Inside with the child,” Yumida replied. It was more clear this time, as those were words he used often, but he still mispronounced a few.
   Y’mura once again levitated and flew to the pair heading back to the house. She slowed once above the pair and lowered herself before deciding to stand atop leon’s head, he was unbothered though and continued walking.