Tral the Bl. Mage (Fir2,Lit2,Ice2)

The black mage was just finished up another productive day working at the Cotes Ward’s branch library. Normally he worked at the Golden Ward’s branch but the branch in the Cotes Ward had needed some extra help for a couple of weeks and Tral had no problem doing so when he was asked. He enjoyed his work as an archivist and enjoyed the change of pace involved with working in a new place temporarily. 

Sitting in the corner was a winged cat creature that was reading. When he’d seen this cat for the first time a few days ago he couldn’t help but stare for a few moments. Other than the dragons under the rule of King Bahamut, Tral hadn’t seen a friendly looking non-human before. Well, not friendly, for all he knew the winged cat wasn’t friendly, but at least integrated and able to live among humans peacefully.

“Oh! Maybe 2 or 3 in the afternoon? Mornings don’t do too well for me! If you’re too busy with the afternoon we can always go to the library during the night!”

Tomorrow was Tral’s day off from work. This meant that he was available at anytime, however the Golden Ward branch of the library closed at 7PM. Going at night, assuming night started at 5 or 6 o’clock, wouldn’t give them much time to research. 2 o’clock seemed to be the best bet as far as Tral was concerned. The morning would have been even better but Jack probably had plans already.

“Hmmm, that’s a pretty big variety. My main issue back home was with other witches. We didn’t threat each other in the conventional way that you’d associate with RP- I mean, worlds like yours seem to be like.” To this day he hasn’t managed to fully explain how logic battles work for him to people not from his world.

He laughs at Tral’s point regarding the differences between ‘present time’ for them. “That’s true! …Well, technically I’m also from the past. I’m from about 30 years in the past. And hoo boy, lemme tell you! The advent of internet sure brought up a lot of things I didn’t have in my time!”

“For example…” He proceeds to grab his cellphone and open the folder where he saves songs. “Now I can store the equivalent to hundreds of LPs and CDs in a single small device! I’ll never have to complain about not finding Queen songs ever again~.”

Tral had never met a queen before. Princess Sarah’s mother hadn’t been around before or after the Warrior’s of Light rescue of her. He didn’t know where she was or even if she was alive. No one had ever mentioned any of her songs, but then Battler and he were not from the same world. Perhaps a queen from his world was famous for her songs. As for what an LP or a CD was he had no clue. Music in general held little interest to him. 

It seemed that he battle witches. Tral had battled a few magic users in his journey. Lich, the fiend of earth, and Astos, the dark elf, were two of the more deadly ones they’d faced. Astos’ RUB spell was particularly dangerous. Lich’s ICE2 and SLP2 were devastating. Luckily, by the time they’d faced these foes they Tral had learned enough magic to overpower them. 

Masato broke out of his seemingly cool exterior the very second he heard the words ‘burn’ and ‘shoe’ into the same sentence, his flat voice booming as loudly as it would during a performance now. 

“What are you doing-?! Hey!” Masato stretched his hand out as if he was trying to cast magic on his own and bring his shoe back to him, but it was to no avail. Besides, he was far too late. His shoe was now burnt to a crisp. Now, his anger was burning brightly like a flame, almost like the one he had seen right in front of him a few seconds ago. Masato marched on over with only one shoe now and got right in the mage’s face. He wasn’t going to attack, but he was definitely going to shout right at him. “I’m not going to give you a tip when you just burned my shoe! I don’t think I’ll ever be able to find another pair like them here!”

He was predictably angry, but it served him right as far as Tral was concerned. People usually got what they asked for and this person had asked for a demonstration of magic. The cost of a shoe should be well worth the lesson that had been given. The question was would the lesson be learned. Real magic was not some toy that should be used to entertain the masses. It should be respected.

“Oh, so you come from a world where undead are a threat to be combated! I never had to deal with that sort of stuff, thankfully.” At least not in the traditional sense. But explaining that would mean a big metaphorical trip, so he chooses to spare Tral of that.

He reaches a page on the book about magical creatures and beings at South American culture. “Sounds like a conundrum. I dunno if I’d manage to go on trips without the commodities of modern life, to be honest. But say, what sorts of beings you had to face back home? Ever met a ‘Saci’, for example?”

He looked at the page Battler had turned to. Tral had seen many kinds of creatures in his travels, but none were as odd looking as a Saci. Well the OddEYE was very odd, and then there were the various OOZES and SCUMS, but this Saci took the cake. It seemed illogical for a creature to have just one leg. He couldn’t imagine it’d be able to move very economically hopping from place to place. Perhaps it had some sort of magical mode of transport.

@decipheringbell

It was the third day of the festival. It had been a fun time. Tral had reconnected with a recent acquaintance of his, Kosuzu, and he found that they had much in common. Okay, she could be a little unpredictable at times and she was a little jumpy, but she was hard working, kind and a genuine joy to be around. Most of all it was their love of learning a books that was the driving force of their new friendship. 

They had attended the feast together and talked and ate all night and tonight they both watched the parade and were now together at the water front. It was a little sad that the festival was over, but life always moved on and there would be more celebrations to look forward to in the future. 

Tral was about to turn to Kosuzu and ask he if she wanted to hang out again some time when he noticed the lights on the boats go out and the water still. Something was going on. It was then he saw humanoid shapes emerge from the eerily still ocean, shuffling along. Tral had seen his fair share of undead and he knew he had just seen more. 

The crowd started to panic as the faster of these creatures attacked those closest who were unaware of their presence. Tral, trying to stay calm grabbed Kosuzu’s hand and pulled her safely to the side to avoid being trampled by the mob of citizens. 

The hustle and bustle of the preparations made for the festival gave Kosuzu a sense of familiarity. The village had its fair share of excitement when it came to special occasions, so to see something similar over here was a comfort. Hence, it would only have been natural for her to answer the call for assistance when it came to setting up the grounds.

Not a second after she was scheduled to begin her shift, she arrived at the appointed location, without so much as a clue as to where to begin. She was about to search for someone who looked to be in charge when she was greeted by someone who wasn’t a stranger. 

“Ah.. um, Tral, right?” What a relief – so he was working here as well. Concerning his request, she nodded in acknowledgment. “I can do that! Where would they–” She’d pivoted around, turning back and forth searching for where they might be located, but before she could finish asking she was successful in finding them. Grabbing a long strand of colorful pennants, some strong tape, and the stepstool, she made for each pole that was set up around the grounds, until, one by one, each pole was connected by this long garland of sorts. It took a while, but when she had finished, she wiped her forehead and huffed a deep breath in satisfaction at her work. 

She had nearly forgotten what Tral was doing, she’d been at this for so long, so she decided to check in. At the very least, she could find out what she could do next.

“Mr. Tral…” She sprinted toward him, waving. “The banner’s been put up! I didn’t know if you or the others needed anything else, so I thought I’d ask…”

Things were coming along nicely. It was approaching dusk and it was almost time to light the bonfire. The food had been prepared and all the decorations were almost completed. The only one that hadn’t checked in was Kosuzu. Just as he had been thinking that she had walked up to him and told him she was done. Giving it a once over he nodded his head in approval. 

“You did a great job, Kosuzu,” the black mage told the book purveyor. “It is now time to light this fire.”

Tral concentrated and cast the one spell he could still cast, FIRE. He was actually looking forward to it. There weren’t many times to cast the spell in this mostly peaceful city. There were certainly no imps or vampires to set ablaze. In no time at all the pyre was lit and night was filled with the warmth and light of the bonfire.

“…It’s alright,” Lotus answered, looking down. “There’s still a chance. That she could appear here… and I’ll wait forever if I have to. Maybe your friends will show up, too.”

…He wasn’t sure if there was a pattern between who was brought here and who wasn’t, but he had to cling to that hope. It was one of the few things he had to keep him going some days.

“I like here better than my home, anyway. And it sounds like your land wasn’t that good to you either. I admit that only having a single city to live in isn’t ideal, but…”

Maybe Tral had some sort of feeling of obligation to his world, Lotus wasn’t sure. He could’ve come from anywhere. But simply waking up with some object set his destiny then and there?

“You can live for yourself here. There’s nothing to tie you down, no world to save. No one to tell you what to do, what you should be.”

Lotus had a point. Tral would find it unfair if he’d heard of someone who was ripped from their peaceful life and forced to go on a quest to save the world. He didn’t feel sorry for himself however. He felt driven to succeed. He wanted his quest over with so that he could return back to his life. So, while he had time for himself here, he still itched to get back to his comrades to complete their quest.

“Well sorry for being on edge, I guess.” Claude huffed at that. He knew it was true, of course. But it didn’t make him feel a hell of a lot better. “Look, I know I jumped the gun or… sword, whatever, but I’m used to being ambushed by monsters frequently.”

More of an explanation, not an excuse, to his seeming fight or flight reaction… though honestly he had a bit of short fuse as well and being dumped in a strange unfamiliar city didn’t do wonders for his mental state.

He’d have to be more careful from now on, because he was lucky this time around. They had only left him with a flimsy sword made of wood after all; maybe good for sparring practice, but not full-on fighting.

Now… since the guy had introduced himself… “’M Claude.” He managed, scuffing a foot against the ground and crossing his arms. Irritability wouldn’t dissipate but he’d be civil, or try.

Who wasn’t used to being ambushed by monsters. It seemed, back in his world, that every couple of steps the Warriors of Light were attacked by imps, wolves, giants or vampires. Did this Claude even know what it was like to be turned to stone by a cockatrice? It wasn’t an excuse as far as he was concerned and this person’s apology was sorely lacking. When a person apologized they should do so because they mean it and are truly repentant, not because they feel they have to.

@decipheringbell

Tral was working his shift at the library the first he’d heard of this festival that was celebrating life. There was a person looking for volunteers to help out and Tral, always wanting to be of service and also was more than interested in this nameless one, signed up to organize one of the bonfires. He figured that his innate skills for both organization and fire made this job perfect for him. 

On the first day of the festival he arrived on site in the Archimedes Ward. He was relieved that there were a few other volunteers that had shown up. He quickly split them in the groups for decorating, building the bonfire and putting together refreshments for those that were sure to come in the evening. The last in the group he’d met once before, Kosuzu, the owner of the demon book for dummies. 

“Hmm?” Masato couldn’t help but wonder why he’d need a shoe for a magic trick! Was it going to be one of those tricks where a magician turns it to flowers? He just hoped this ‘mage’ would be able to turn it back to normal… “Okay - that would be fine by me.” He took off one of his shoes then placed it in the self-affirmed mage’s hand, waiting to see what he’ll do next.

He couldn’t believe that this person was going to let a complete stranger cast a spell on one of their shoes. Most of the spells that he’d learned in his career were destructive elemental spells and those that weren’t blinded, paralyzed or out right killed an enemy. The ignorance of asking a black mage to use his or her magic for a purpose other than self-defense was truly amazing. He could only hope that this person was able to learn something today.

“As you can see there’s nothing up my sleeves,” Tral said with a bit of theatrics. He had, after all, seen that video on the subject. He walked over to a large stone near him in the park and placed the shoe on it. “And this is a normal everyday stone. Now watch closely while I turn this shoe, supplied by a member of the audience, into a pile of ash!”

“Yeah, yeah I’m totally not busy! I have lots of free time so I can totally hang out with you!” Jack beamed excitedly, maybe it was a little sad he did have too much free time… But then again it was enough time to bond with a super cool mage so it wasn’t a problem to him! Well, right now anyways… “I can with ease - after all I am an evil boy genius!” He said, emphasizing the ‘boy genius’ part with an enormous amount of pride.

Tral wondered if he should give advice to the boy about claiming to be evil. He knew kids these days went out of their way to be alternative with their ripped jeans and black makeup, but calling one’s self evil seemed excessive and a little tacky. Calling one’s self a genius was just plain hubris and, while it wasn’t distasteful to him, others found it to be off putting. He sighed. No, he didn’t want to start a pointless argument. He’d just overlook the comment for now.

“…Me too,” Lotus tilted his head with an unsure smile, not expecting the kind well wishes. He could go on forever about his precious sister, really… maybe it was okay to indulge a little.

“Her name is Orchid… well, of course she’s nice, but she’s also really quick witted and she’ll roll people over if they can’t keep up with her!”

The spirit looked charmed just speaking about her and remembering; she wasn’t that kind to most people, she was even worse than he was when it came to messing with others… but she was the most angelic being to him. She sacrificed so much time and self, just to save him…

“She looks almost identical to me. If she puts her pigtails down, we look even more alike except that’s she’s prettier… and a girl… I used to have short hair, though. So I looked a little more different back then.

We’re twins – we’re the same age, whatever that number might be. I’m… happy that she’s always been with me.”

Lotus and Orchid. Interesting names. They had both been named after flowers. The fact that she was nice didn’t surprise Tral. Lotus was a very nice person so It stood to reason that his beloved sister would be of a similar temperament. He could also respect her drive and quick wit. He understood that sometimes it was tough to not ‘roll people over’ when one was caught up in a mission. He, himself, just told a story where he needed the black belt to hold him back when the king refused to start work on that bridge till his daughter was safe.