Chapter 29
“It’s, uhm… not much, but… this is where all the Candidates stay…” Ruthie displays a pained smile as she looks up at the old stone, three-storey building that served as the Aegis recruit’s common-home. “There’s about seventy or eight of them in all… they’re basically pretty nice… except when, you know, they’re swinging swords at each other’s heads…”
Finn issues a soft chuckle as he pans his gaze over the long building that took up nearly a full block in the compound’s town. It was somewhat dingy, sure… but it was still he place that he was going to live for the next, oh… six months or so. “Well… that’s nice to know. So you’ll stop by to pick me up for the evening meal?”
The short, grey-robed mage-trainee offers an extremely wide smile and gives a sharp nod of affirmation. “Mm! You’ve got about three hours yet, so look for me when the bells chime out!” Raising a hand in parting as she turns, she can’t help but skip away, thanks to her very elevated mood. “See you soon, Finn!”
Tilting a few fingers off to the side as he gives, what he thinks, is a more-mature waive of farewell, the wiry companion then lets out a soft sigh as he watches the young girl hop down the cobbled street. Drawing in a deep breath, and scratching a damned stubborn itch on his right thigh from the woollen pants, he then walks to the second of four entry doors spread out on the main level, and pulls it outward before stepping inside.
Finding himself in a small entryway that led into a commons-room, the long-haired apothecary immediately comes to a halt, and raises his brows at the twenty or so pairs of eyes staring in his direction. His first thought is that he was lead to a school dormitory, as the nineteen boys and one girl were ranging in age from about twelve to nineteen or so. Each of them were wearing the same-coloured clothing as himself, though mostly in linens or cotton instead of cheap wool. And since it was summer, and bloody humid within the stuffy stone structure, the style seemed to be exposing the shoulders and arms while rolling the cuffs of the trousers up to the knees. “Uh. Hi.”
“You’re… Samuel, right?” One of the boys, perhaps only fifteen years old, with extremely-close cropped black hair, and a build that was nearly six-foot and two-hundred pounds of well-toned muscle, raises a quizzical brow as he snaps a thick leather-bound tome shut. “The one which killed the Wrathful Daemon, right?”
Finn narrows his gaze by a few degrees, and purses his lips as he tries to see if his lies would work on a non-mage. “No?”
The fifteen year-old lets out a loud laugh, then pulls himself up from a rickety wooden arm-chair before tossing the book back onto the seat, and crosses the small expanse of flooring to thrust out a beefy hand. “Bradley Johns of Mariglen. It’s a pleasure t’ meet ya!”
Letting out a soft sigh at finding his tactic of lying was a complete failure, the wiry doctor clasps the strong grip, and gives it three and a half shakes. “Call me Finn. Guess I’m from the capital by way of Serenity Valley.”
“Not Sam, then? Well, alright.” Lifting his heavy shoulders in a shrug, the massive boy then turns to introduce the people around the room, pointing to each in turn. “Kevin, Marley, Ted, Fred, Popo, Twinky, Gail – an’ don’t ever call her nothin’ but, else she’ll rip yer face off with her teeth, Bobby, Stu, Buck, Hansel, Corbett, Nigel, Apples – ‘cause he hates the things, Eli, Jones, Shade, Heifer – ‘cause he’s as thin as a twig, Kale, an’ Shite-a-Stone – since that’s what he did when he heard a lone guy took down a Wrathful. Uh, though, well… guess we all done that, so just call him Al.”
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Aegis and Order: First Light
Fantasia"It’s shoulders were wide and powerful. At four metres in height, it was almost as large across as it was tall. The arms of the hulking beast hung nearly all the way to the ground, and were thick with rope-like muscles that bulged with even the sl...
