Tales From The Cycle

Dont think Im gonna be posting on this blog anymore, while Im still writing, I cant find the motivation to actually post it here knowing it doesnt get seen at all

More chapters wont be uploaded to Ao3, they'll be on WebNovel here: https://www.webnovel.com/book/vengeful-mysteries-of-mana_18615350605320805

The toils and bickering of adventuring seem to take place before the adventure even starts, or so it seems.

A friend of mine, Jackson Flavor, drew Nessa and Mair together and it turned out fantastic c:

A beautiful drawing of Nessa from Vengeful!

Nessa jolted awake with the sound of metal clashing and echoing from beneath her in the tower’s floors below. With a glance over she saw that Mair’s bed was already empty and a clear mess had been made on the path to the stairs. Without a second thought, she leapt out of bed and rushed down the spiral stairs until the context of the situation revealed itself. 

Mair stood poorly fitted into a chestplate with a clutter of ornate decorative weapons strewn across the stone floor in front of him. He looked disheveled and energetic as he held a silver tipped pike in one hand while struggling to adjust the unfitted armor that he wore.

Nessa sighed both with relief and annoyance. She glanced out of an open slit in the tower wall to see the crystal lights of the city were still fairly dim, “What are you doing messing with all of this stuff so early in the morning?” Nessa lightly scolded through a yawn as she stepped down the stairs approaching her little brother.

“Sorry sorry, I just couldn’t help myself. You said we could go to the guild on your day off and I couldn’t sleep last night and-” Mair lit up with excitement, interrupting himself as he tripped over the clutter around him, undoing a majority of the straps on his chestplate.

“I know I know, we’re going. But we can’t just take anything from the manor. If someone recognizes anything from here, we can get in trouble. Besides, the guild will provide what we need for the exams.” Nessa calmly explained as she tied her long hair into a ponytail and proceeded to clean up the mass of decorative weapons that littered the floor.

Mair stood, eventually sitting down on the cold stone floor to undo the rest of the straps of the armor hanging off of him. Prying the plate of metal off his chest, he brought his knees up to his chest and studied the point of the pike. The carved designs have long since faded. The only discernible mark were a pair of initials carved in the elvish language, KM.

His sister looked up from the cleaning up to see him sulked upon the ground, she quietly released a sigh under her breath and stood over Mair nudging him on the shoulder, “You can bring the pike.” Her brother returned to his lit up expression which infectiously spread to Nessa, “Just don’t break it again, I’m going to start charging you for mending that thing back together.”

Mair leapt to his feet and gave Nessa a quick hug before rushing down the stairs, “Thanks sis! I’ll be careful this time!”

Nessa was left alone in the middle of the tower with the scattered armor and weapons still surrounding the floor. Mumbling to herself, she settled to deal with the mess later as she returned up the stairs to get ready to leave for the guild. Before she made it up the stairs, she noticed an armor stand that her brother had dragged in and knocked over. An idea popped into her head as she quickly gathered her tome and wand from her satchel and headed back down to the cluttered floor.

Deep breaths, in and out. Nessa flipped through the pages of her tome as she stumbled down the stairs above the room. She ended her search near the beginning of the tattered book and kept her finger locked to the page. She held the tome in one hand while the other guided her through the details of the spell, her wand forced to remain held in her teeth while she situated herself. Finally she grounded herself and held the tome open while her wand aimed to the knocked over armor stand.

Nessa’s gaze nervously shifted from her target to her tome until focus finally found her and her breathing slowed. A violet shine radiated from her wand and wrapped the magical apparatus and her wrist in a faint glow, wavering and encompassing like a bubble blown in a slight wind. The purple glow slowly crawled from the point of the wand through the air, approaching the armor stand like a snake to its prey. The glowing cloud of mana swallowed the wooden frame little by little until it too was encompassed by the faint fog.  

Her hands shook ever so slightly as she raised her tome hand in an arc, her breaths became more erratic as she made the motion. With her motion, the armor stand slowly picked itself up with a slight tremble. Nessa’s grip tightened over her wand as she noticed the slight trembling grow fiercer. Struggling to correct the situation as she failed to find breaths. Her focus was lost in an instant as the armor stand dropped back to the ground, with the violet mist fading away into the air.

Silence fell over the room, the page of the tome crinkled slightly and the grip on Nessa’s wand tightened to a near snapping point. In a lashing outburst, Nessa whipped her arm as a threat to throw her wand against the stone wall. In the same moment, a scarlet and violet flash of energy washed over her hand, the armor stand was thrown across the room at the wall.

Nessa jumped back as the wooden frame shattered against the wall. She briefly stood in confusion and awe at what she did before a stinging feeling stung at her wrist. A shallow scar started at the base of her palm and ran down her wrist with intense pain. With a swear mumbled under her breath, Nessa covered the strange scar and returned upstairs to prepare, silently vowing to clean up the mess later without a word to her brother.

In less than a half hour, Nessa stepped outside ready to join her brother on the short trek to the guild. She pulled back the long sleeve of her jacket and checked the scar on her wrist, it had faded surprisingly fast but a faint outline of it still remained. 

“Gods, what took you so long? I felt like I’ve been waiting forever.” Mair complained leaning onto the metal fence with the pike slung over his back. He opened the gate and kept the lead throughout their walk across the system of bridges to reach the heart of Eil’Drawwt.

“Quit your whining,” Nessa playfully shoved him forward and adjusted her newly repaired satchel, “I have much more to worry about than just lugging around metal on a stick.”

“Psh, Whatever.” Mair scoffed and rolled his eyes, but got distracted as they approached the first bridge. He sped ahead and leaned over the ledge to look at the guildhall down in the ravine. “I still can’t believe we’re gonna get an apprenticeship at the guild.” He remarked with giddy anticipation.

“You’re awfully confident, just do your best in whatever test they throw at you and it should work out just fine.” Nessa giggled and continued past her brother.

“You think they’ll actually extend the invitation for the both us, sis? I’d feel pretty bad if I just swooped in to take your chance.”

“Didn’t I tell you not to worry about that? Hell, I think you’d be lucky without me constantly fussing over you.” Nessa shifted to a babying voice to tease her younger brother.

“Bleugh, you’re right. You’re better off as a mom than an adventurer.” He teased back as they both laughed over the exchange. Playfully bickering as they made their light trek through the morning traffic of the city. 

In a matter of time they arrived at the main entrance of the guild hall. The bridge led forward through a path lit with mana fueled flames to an opened grand door made of an olive colored wood framed with silver edging. A flank of armed and helmed guards checked the emblems of each soul passing through. The traffic picked up to an extreme hustle as the hundreds of adventuring teams awoke to set upon what quests were laid before them for the next day, week, or even few months.

Nessa paused briefly which inclined her brother to stop and check as well, “Everything alright, sis?” He asked with a hint of concern.

“Yes yes, I’m alright.” Nessa laughed it off and continued forward towards the entrance, keeping a tight grip on her satchel as the guards took notice of the two visitors without emblems. 

The guards were lightly armored from the shoulders down, but the steel helms they wore formed the visage of a surface beast that gazed diligently as if prey stepped before them. The grip on their spears remained firm as one had approached to address the two strangers. “Hail, what business have you sought?”

Nessa froze for a moment, before finally clearing her throat and responding, “We were invited for an apprenticeship opportunity. Specifically by a demifai named Hela.”

Silence fell over the conversation for a mere moment, the guards looked to each other as if confused, “You said you were invited by Hela? As in the leader of the Crimson Shield?”

The elven half siblings’ hearts stopped at the same moment, they remained stunned until Nessa finally snapped back and responded through nervous stammering, “Uh, well yes. We met a few days back, and um, she failed to mention her status at the guild to be entirely honest.”

“Ah, right.” The guard remained stalwart but spoke with slight doubt in his voice, “Follow me and I’ll set you up to meet with Director Veridan to sort this all out. He handles the apprenticeship program.”

The guard waved the siblings forward and they both nervously nodded and followed several paces back.

“Are you serious Nessa?” Mair leaned in and whispered to his still panicked sister, “What could you have done to impress the highest ranked adventurer around these parts?” He pressed on with shock and denial with hidden fascination.

“I didn’t do anything I swear,” Nessa whispered back, matching her brother’s tone of bewilderment, “I didn’t even piece it together that she was from Team Crimson Shield, gods I had no idea. I should’ve seriously noticed.” 

The two continued to wrap their heads around the situation but Nessa’s attention is turned away as they traverse through the guild hall. The brick stone floors echoed with their footsteps as their paths were lit by sapphire flames from the torches on the marble walls and pillars. The duo made their first steps into the main hall which expanded to connect the entire guild. A spiral staircase led down through every floor of the fortress as the bustle of workers, guards, and guild members all worked to form the perfect image. Cogs in an efficient machine, the portrait that matched the wild expectations of the life of adventure Nessa had dreamed of since she was a little girl. She stood in the middle of it all, a moment she had dreamed but never expected.

“Hey, you good?” Mair had snapped her out of her daydream.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Nessa smiled back to him and gestured to the scene around them, “It’s just a little surreal this whole situation is, I still can’t believe I’m standing here right now.” 

Before Mair could respond, the guard had stepped aside as he led the others to their destination. Standing confidently and with his hands delicately and politely held behind his back, a night elf man who looked to be in his 15th decade, yet still possessing of a fierce glare and fit form. The individual kept a stern stare focused on the two siblings as he took notice of them.

“I am ecstatic to hear of your enthusiasm over The Hidden Star guild,” His words were kind but they were spoken with a lack of intent and emotion that failed the impact of his greeting, “I hope you enjoyed your tour, unfortunately it appears there was a mistake. I’ve heard nothing from the Guildmaster or Lady Krisofft about such a circumstance. Go ahead, on your way now.”

“What!? My sister was invited by Hela to join the guild, you can’t just send us away without confirming anything!” Mair retorted back, upset by the older elf’s rude attitude.

“I have all the confirmation I need, every morsel of thought and information passes through me first you see,” The Director continued to talk down to Mair as Nessa stood in a nervous silence, “I hope this misunderstanding can be swept under the rug and forgotten, completely. Now shoo.”

“Please, sir,” Nessa spoke up but choked up slightly as the full attentive gaze of The Director shifted to her, “We’ll be willing to leave as you wish, but if you could give us any benefit of the doubt, we’d be immensely appreciative.” She concluded, waiting to be shut down when his response was cut off by a shout from across the grand room.

“Hey Saul!” A cheerful voice rang that turned the conversation in its direction. Hela had waved and greeted the group from afar and approached alongside a short and stout old dwarf dressed in a long coat and a braided black beard that reached down to his chest. “Oh cool, looks like you met Nessa already. And this must be her brother, now the both of you can join in. A pleasure to meet you dude.” She waved to Mair who stood starstruck but ended up nervously waving back to her.

The Director cleared his throat before addressing the intrusion, “Forgive me Ms. Krisofft, are you saying that you recognize these two?” He shifted to a much more polite tone as he spoke to Hela.

“Well duh, I already told Guildmaster everything.” She obliviously responded with a grin on her face while the dwarf next to her nodded.

“Guildmaster,” The director’s voice heightened in pitch with disbelief and annoyance over the situation, “Is it true you knew of this and did not inform your trusted advisor?”

The dwarf scratched at his head for a moment and pondered, “I think I might’ve forgotten to ol’ chap. No harm done in the end, start some trials for these youths,” The dwarf turned to face Nessa and Mair, “Hela here told me the two of you couldn’t make it to the last apprenticeship exams, the least I could do to alleviate the incredible debt we owe to her is to give that chance to you both.” The Guildmaster laughed heartily and offered a handshake to the two siblings, both accepted graciously. “Good luck on your trials, I’m afraid I have an unimaginable and taxing duty to attend to. Paperwork.” He laughed once more and left on his own path.

Director Veridan stood silently during the exchange. He sighed and addressed the siblings once more with a seemingly forced smile on his face. “It looks like there was a lack of communication in the end here, follow me to the guild’s training grounds. There we can test your mettle to see if you’re both a fit here at our guild as apprentices. I hope we can put this misunderstanding behind us.”  

Mair scoffed and rolled his eyes but Nessa accepted the apology with a smile and half bow. The director led the way through the winding halls of the guild as the siblings followed with Hela close behind to observe the trials for herself. Passing the personal quarters of the guild members and the multitude of facilities available, the group eventually reached an open aired battleground that led to a beautiful underview of the city built on the ravine. 

Several teams of adventurers gathered together there to spar and practice drills in the expansive space provided to them. Nessa observed in awe at the battles that raged on the field before her. The combatants for the most part fought with wooden training weapons except for a couple that caught Nessa’s eye. A demiserpus with a copper blade held in one hand while the other was held behind his back sparred and kept the defensive against a full blooded serpus, a scaled snake like man with a long tail, who pursued his target with a steel two handed axe. The two battled with ferocity and without fear of the sharpened weapons they lashed at each other while the group approached them. 

 “You two!” Director Veridan yelled over the commotion of the training grounds at the serpus and demiserpus. The two stopped their duel and as they paused, a green glow visibily radiated from their weapons. Nessa recognized the magical glow as a dulling enchantment that was customary for adventurers to use to spar or to spare their opponents. 

“What’s the deal, Director? I was just about to close that victory out.” The demiserpus snarkily complained while resting the copper sword on his shoulder casually. 

“A momentary interruption, I need one of you to spar this one here,” Veridan motioned to Mair who gripped at his pike ready to prove himself, Veridan’s hand waved over Mair and his weapon, the ring on The Director’s hand flashed with green sparks as the weapon was bathed in the same enchantment that the others possessed, “I’d prefer these makeshift trials are over quickly to not hinder my schedule. A short round of sparring will be enough for me to judge your potential.”

“You can do it, brother,” Nessa encouraged him before he stepped forward, “Do your best, and it’ll be enough. I’m sure of it.” Her brother gave a confident smile and nod in thanks as he stepped up to the snake-blooded duo. 

The demiserpus sheathed his sword and stepped away from the soon to be battlefield, “Sounds good, boss. Go ahead and make it quick, Kross.” The serpus nodded and held his axe up with a deep breath.

The director stood off to the side as judge to the battle, his hands rose and he called for the duel to begin. Despite the command given, both combatants remained still. The serpus observed Mair for an opening while Mair waited for his opponent to make the first move. In a spontaneous moment, Kross pounced with his axe held behind him ready to swipe at his target. Mair lunged in response and jabbed the pike into the serpus’ open chest. Both of their weapons connected with their targets with a field of verdant aura that halted the blades from striking at their skin. Yet the concussive force of their attacks knocked each other back to square one.

They traded blows, back and forth, avoiding the clashing of their blades in favor of landing the strike that would finish the battle without care of the damage and wounds that would follow onto them. A vicious offense against unfailing counterattacks as each warrior refused to fall until their target was already on the ground. 

“Gods, it’s like a wolf and its reflection. They keep going but just don’t make any progress but wear themselves out.” Nessa sighed and watched as the serpus and her brother both ended up going for an overhead strike, only to meet their blades and immediately disengage to go in with a new approach.

“That’s Kross for you,” Hela responded while keeping her gaze fixed on the battle, “He’s one of the apprentices that joined last year, he’s prone to going all in as you can probably tell.”

The fight approached its conclusion as Mair stumbled back with gasping breath. His grip loosened as he struggled to remain standing. Kross stood in a significantly better state and prepared to finish off the duel. He approached and reared back with his foot raised to kick Mair down. 

Mair saw his opening and reached for it, his grip on his pike was released completely as the kick struck directly into his gut. Just before Mair was sent collapsing to the ground, he grappled onto Kross’ leg and tripped him off of his balance. The two of them crashed onto their backs at the same time with a loud thud.

“An impressive display,” The Director interjected as the two struggled to rise to their feet, “Once your sister finishes her part, I’ll prepare the written segment for the both of you. As for you Kross, and by extension Rex,” Director Veridan addressed Kross and the demiserpus on the sidelines, “Keep up with your training, I haven’t forgotten your recent failures.”

“Come on boss. You can’t hold this against us, that was a total fluke.” The demiserpus named Rex rebutted through gritted fanged teeth. Kross simply kept silent with his head low and returned to his teammates side.  

“We’re not discussing this now.” Veridan dismissed the apprentices and led the group to an empty corner of the training grounds. “Now then, Nessa was it? I can sense the residue of mana on you, I can only assume you’re expecting a test of magic?” 

Nessa paused while Veridan continued walking and stopped several meters away from her, “Yes, what should I do sir?” She stuttered slightly in her question as she reached for her tome and wand in preparation. 

The Director raised his palm as a cyan bubble formed a shielding ward around him. The magic pulsed from the ring on his hand to form the abjuration in front of him, “I’ve created a weak shield around myself, cast against it from this distance to prove yourself.”

Nessa nodded and gazed at the target in front of her. She flipped through the pages of her tome and found a simple spell she could use to attack the ward The Director had put up. She raised her wand out in front of her to aim and focused to create a bolt of mana to fire off. Sparks and flashes of violet energy coalesced at the tip of Nessa’s wand to form an orb of erratic mana convulsing and ready to burst. With a deep breath and a moment of hesitation, the bolt of mana was loosed from her control and was flung at the ward. The bolt whizzed forward but lost its path and ended up careening into the air until an outside force suddenly paused its momentum completely. The bolt fizzled out in its paused state into nothing.

“Thank you Master Wright,” Veridan addressed someone near Hela and Mair that Nessa had not noticed. She turned back and saw standing close to Hela was a black coated human with curly scarlet hair and an eyepatch concealed over his right eye. The man said something to Hela but the words were blocked out as panic set in for Nessa. “Try one more time, Nessa.” Veridan waited for another attempt as Nessa’s hands began to shake. She struggled to find her rhythm as her wand rose once more and attempted to charge the bolt of mana. Nessa felt the whispering voices of those waiting for her to either pull through or fail miserably. Her heartbeat escalated to cloud her hearing as she felt the eyes of the entire training ground on her. Her focus was erratic and lost, the orb of mana she sent without consciously thinking had faltered in its path and hit Veridan’s ward with a pathetic gasp as it sizzled out of existence.  

In an attempt she made without realizing, Nessa had failed and watched as Veridan’s ward was cast down. He said something and shook his head disappointingly. Nessa could not hear over her heartbeat. She believed to have seen Hela and the stranger turn their attention elsewhere to ignore the scene and saw her brother’s admiration burn away. Yet her head was locked forward and her focus could not leave what was in front of her. The dreams and hopes she carried through her life shattered and fell away into the abyss of doubt and failure.

The eyes that stared and looked down upon her seared upon her skin as a surge of mana rushed through her arm. Only her body knew what to do as her wand was dropped and a continuous beam of scarlet and violet magic poured out from her hand and pulsed towards Veridan like a bout of raging flame.   

Veridan had barely noticed the beam approaching and recast the ward to shield himself. A flash and cloud of smoke enveloped the area. Nessa came back to her senses as the dust settled. She quickly pulled her now burnt sleeve up to reveal her scar had reformed and traced her veins all the way back to her upper arm. With quick movements she attempted to conceal the damage as she shifted her attention back to The Director. He stood shocked and yet wearing a smirk on his face. His ward was almost completely shattered from the devastating spell.

“Well done. You had me worried there for a moment, in more ways than one,” The ward dropped as he put his palm down, “Let’s move onto the written segment, afterwards I can show you to your new living quarters.” He added on confidently.

Nessa nodded and kept her arm pressed to her body hoping no one had noticed. Mair had rushed up to his sister with a tackling hug and lifted her up happily, “That was awesome, sis! I didn’t even know you could do something like that.”

“Yeah I have to say, I wasn’t expecting something like that at all,” Hela praised, “Even my teammate was surprised by that.” She attempted to refer to the man beside her, but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. “Huh, strange of him to disappear like that. Well good luck on the boring part of apprentice exams, I think I’d fall asleep if I tried to support you through that.” Hela giggled and waved goodbye to the siblings.

Nessa was put down by her brother and they both waved off Hela, “Thank you again for this opportunity.” Nessa showed her gratitude sincerely which warranted Hela’s fanged smile to shine through as she gave a wink of understanding before finally exiting.

The siblings proceeded to follow where Veridan had left off to but Mair suddenly paused in a panic, “Crap! I left the pike over on the battlefield, I’ll catch up just keep going!” He ran off which led Nessa to chuckle briefly as she left into the halls of the building.

Just as she was about to turn a corner, she felt a grip on her arm as her burnt sleeve fell to reveal her scarred arm. Nessa snapped to the assailant, the scarlet haired human who stood at Hela’s side. She jerked her arm away but the damage had already been done. The man with the eyepatch saw the strange scar in its entirety.

“Hey! What’s your problem?” Nessa attempted to hide the scar once more by crossing her arms and stepping away.

“Just confirming my suspicions,” The man who was called Wright answered, his voice was soft yet threatening as he brushed aside his blood red hair out of his good eye, “Don’t be so stupid in the future. What you pulled was no correct or effective way to cast. You could hurt yourself.”

Hela Krisofft! The knight from The Hidden Star and the proud leader of her adventuring team, Crimson Shield.

Chapter 3 is currently in the works and should be out within the week. :D

Art by @frankielucky

The larger presence with an outline of devil’s horns atop their head stepped into the alley and momentarily blocked out the lights shining in through the alley. Yet once they entered, the light returned and reflected onto the silver skin and hulking armor of the visitor. They dressed neck to toe in a cold black plate armor with their face peering out from the chestplate like a kitten peering out of a basket.

“Clair,” The armored woman with black horns upon her head spoke, “What’s the hold up? Don’t tell me you’re tired already, we just- Wait what happened here?” She took a look around the alley at Nessa and the unconscious thief.

“In your fury for exercise you passed up an obvious scene, am I to believe you were running this whole time with your eyes closed?” The priestess referred to as Clair retorted back in a snarky tone. “I was just telling this civilian to gather her things and leave.” She shot a glare back to Nessa who nodded and began gathering up her satchel and picking up the slew of papers and supplies that fell out during the struggle.

“Perceptive as always, but how about you take the culprit to the authorities while I help clean up.” The knight walked forward accompanied by the clanging of her armor clashing together. The priestess scoffed and haphazardly dragged the thief away out of the alley and disappeared around the corner.

The knight stood over Nessa and held out a tattered book with a smile on her face, “I believe this is yours, I’d hate to lose a tome of this volume.”

Nessa smiled back and took the offered book and put it back in her satchel which she carried gripping on the top of the bag with the broken strap hanging off to the side, “Oh, thank you ma’am, I’m surprised you could tell it’s a tome at this point honestly.” She laughed it off as she stood up much shorter than the knight in front of her. 

“Well if I’m being frank, I only assumed, given your wand is still over in the corner as well.” The knight pointed to the still sparking wand fizzling with purple flashes.

Nessa whipped her head and swore under her breath, rushing to pick it up. With the wand in hand, she made a dialing motion with her finger as the light dimmed until it returned to a normal state.

“I’m really sorry, this whole situation has me all stressed out,” Nessa went on as the two stepped out into the street, “Thank you so much, both you and your friend were a great help. Is there anything I can do to repay-”

“Nonsense, really it was nothing on our part. Now then, how about we head back to the guild and put this behind us.” A moment of silence passed over the two of them briefly.

“Oh. Well, uh,” Nessa stammered in response, “I’m not a guild member actually, ma’am.”

The knight’s silver face was washed in a wave of red for a moment, “Oh right, sorry. Guess I just assumed you were one of the new recruits this year with you being a mage an’ all.” She spoke quickly and struggled to find the point of her words, “Well the offer is still there, kind of. I can escort you home for all the trouble you’ve been through. It’s the least I can do.” 

“I guess I’ll take you up on that offer then, but you haven’t told me your name even.” She chuckled and eased up after the knight’s accidental assumption. Even if for a moment, it gave her a flash of joy to have been mistaken for an adventurer in any capacity. Nessa began to head home with the knight at her side.

“Oh my apologies, I’m Hela,” The knight politely raised her hand to her plated chest and bowed her head slightly, “I’m a guild member for Hidden Star which you could probably tell. And you?” As Hela finished speaking, Nessa noticed the familiar comet emblem pinned to the shoulder of a cloak that Hela wore.

“My name’s Nessa. I’m just a simple paper girl honestly, nothing too exciting going on with me.” She sheepishly responded with her attention seemingly darting around as they slowly ascended the grand stairs out of the lower districts.

“Nessa?” Hela repeated and pondered for a moment, “I could’ve sworn I heard that name somewhere before.”  

Nessa’s heart stopped for a moment as a nervous shock passed over her, “Well um, you might’ve seen me from time to time updating the quest boards. Heard gossip because I screw it up all the time? Something along those lines?” She desperately tried to cover up any recognition that Hela might’ve found in her. “No that’s not it,” The knight appeared oblivious to Nessa’s paranoia as they both scaled the stairs, “Oh now I remember, this explains everything!” Hela snapped into recollection which paralyzed Nessa in fear. “I recall seeing an admission form back at the guild for a Nessa just a few weeks ago. The picture looked a bit like you, and even shared your name. No wonder I thought you were a new recruit,” The situation clicked slowly in Hela’s head as Nessa sighed in subtle relief but still appeared distressed, “So many similarities, but you said you don’t apprentice at the guild, right?”

As the two reached the end of the stairs, Nessa’s pace slowed and her gaze turned away from the seemingly piercing glare of the knight. Despite her attempt to respond she couldn’t come up with an excuse fast enough before Hela broke the silence.

“Sorry, I really shouldn’t have dwelled on that. I just thought-”

“It’s alright, you didn’t mean anything by it I know.” Still refusing to keep eye contact, Nessa interrupted, “The truth is, I did sign up for an apprenticeship at Hidden Star. I ended up not showing up to the entrance exams though. I just chickened out of the process because I didn’t think I’d get in.” She looked up to see a tower connected to the ceiling of the cavern and began to lead through the residential district towards it. 

“Excuse me for being brash Nessa, but that’s some nonsense if I’ve ever heard it,” Hela retorted which surprised Nessa into turning around to look the knight in the face once more, “Nobody, not even my team and I, started off working for the guild with the experience we got on our backs now. If you don’t put yourself in danger of failure, you can’t succeed. I bet you’d do great as an adventurer if you put your mind to it, same with anyone really.” Hela kept a genuine and reassuring smile on her face through her encouragement, the contagious smile spread to Nessa quickly.

“I guess you do have a point Hela, but I kinda still missed my chance this year. Not to mention with each year I’d fit less and less in. I basically missed the boat several times over.” Nessa joked as they both stopped at a grand fenced area housing an old dilapidated manor with a single stone tower protruding from one of its corners. Stepping towards the gate, Nessa pushed and moved one of the gate doors forward slightly and walked through.

She shakes her head and whispers under her breath, “When is he going to learn to lock this stupid thing,” Nessa looked back to Hela who still stood behind the gate, “Thank you again for the escort and back there with the thief, I really appreciate it.”

Hela looked past her in awe at the sheer size of the manor behind Nessa before snapping back to attention to the conversation, “Oh, of course. Wow, I hadn’t realized folks moved back into this old place. I thought it was still abandoned.” Nessa gripped one hand onto the gate and leaned into it searching for the right response to give, “Well, I,” Her eyes darted from the floor, her hands, and back to Hela again as she struggled with what to say, “It’s still technically abandoned. My little brother and I just sort of hide out here ever since the original owners left to the surface about a decade back. I know you’re a guild member and all but I hope you’d keep this a secret between us if you could.”

Hela took a long look at the manor, it slowly faded into darkness as the crystalline sun slowly dimmed with the coming of night hours. She then looked back to Nessa but not with her usual innocent smile and instead with what Nessa could only understand as a determined gaze. 

“Of course I won’t tell anyone. What you’re doing isn’t bringing any harm to anyone. But I wouldn’t be doing my job right if I didn’t do something about it. So I’m going to cash in a favor with my guildmaster and see if he can open up another apprenticeship spot. I’m not going to force you to come or anything like that. But the guild can provide a better life for the both of you than this. Feel free to stop by if that interests you.” Hela stepped away from the gate and gave a three fingered wave to Nessa as she departed.

“Stay safe.” Hela concluded making her way away from the manor.

Nessa was nearly left speechless, the offer and kindness stuck in her mind like a pin on a board as she watched the knight leave. With those words still playing over and over, Nessa wandered towards the tower and pulled a rusted key from one of the pockets on her uniform. After a moment of jamming the key into the beaten up door, she opened it up and stepped inside and locked the door behind her. Climbing the spiral stairs up the dark and dusty tower she eventually reached a well lit room seemingly split down the middle with a clear divide of messes and piles of assorted objects on one side and neatly organized bookshelves and unlit candles on the other. 

“You forgot to lock the gate again, Mair.” Nessa said drearily as she hung her satchel on the back of a chair and then leaned against a wall with her arms crossed looking over at the other side of the room.

Lying on a rickety bed with face buried in an unlabeled book, a full blooded night elf teen jumped slightly but remained hidden behind his book, “Oh sorry sis, completely slipped my mind.” Mair responded casually.

Nessa simply sighed while stepping cautiously onto her brother’s side of the room, dropping some of the candies she received earlier on his nightstand. Before his hand reached out to swipe the sweets she cupped her hand over them halting the advance, “On the topic of mind slips, did you finish your school work this time around?”

“I did,” Mair elongated his admission in annoyance, “I miss one assignment and suddenly you go in mom mode.” He snarkily added in keeping his face hidden behind the book still even as Nessa was standing right next to him.

Without even a retort, Nessa pulled the book down out of the young teen’s face, causing him to wince after being removed from his disguise. Though the discoloration was faint on his already dark violet face, his swollen eye was a clear indication of a bruise starting up.

“Shoot,” Mair whispered under his breath and smiled his usual disarming grin with his standard missing tooth, “I can explain.”

Nessa walked off back to her side of the room rubbing her temples as she began to pace, “I don’t get how you even manage to find more people to fight at this rate. Did you start it? Did you get in trouble? Am I going to get another letter about this crap?”

“No, kinda, maybe. In that order.” Mair sat up on his bed and seemed to spring to life, “It was that one upperclassman again, he was pushing around my friend and I had to intervene. I taught him a lesson though, you totally should’ve seen the look on his face it was priceless. That one professor that I’m cool with backed my side of the story so it’s a total win win.” He told the story with a series of acting out punches and dodges like he was acting a one man play.

Nessa simply watched and kept silent through his explanation before finally giving her case, “Just be more careful in the future please, you don’t know when someone might carry a knife or some magic on them. Then suddenly a little brawl is a trip to the infirmary, or worse. I don’t need you getting suspended over this either.” She sat down at her desk. She placed her satchel on the desk in front of her and gathered a mass of sewing supplies to work on the broken strap.

Mair thought over his sister’s words before taking notice of her side of the room, “Alright alright, I get it. Hey, what happened to your bag?”

“Some thief slashed it up earlier today. Luckily some adventurers from Hidden Star helped me out.” She answered casually as she began to fix up the broken strap.

“Woah you actually got saved by some adventurers. That must’ve been awesome. But, uh, how come you didn’t just zap the thief with some magic or something? That would’ve been cool as hell.”

“I wouldn’t call an attempted mugging awesome, rocks for brains. Besides, the bastard got a hold of my tome so it’s not like I had anything useful to cast on hand.” Nessa rolled her eyes and slouched over her desk.

“Ah, just another piece of evidence that warriors trump mages in every avenue. Don’t need no dumb book to beat up a lowlife.” Mair jokingly flexed his arms to annoy his sister and then returned to his side of the room.

“Keep telling yourself that buddy,” Nessa laughed off the remark but silently paused her work and then turned around in her chair to face her brother, “Speaking of those adventurers, I talked to one of them and she said she can try and open up an apprenticeship spot over at Hidden Star. Thought you’d want to sign up since you just barely missed the age requirement a few weeks back.”

Mair’s eyes lit up with excitement at the offer, “Seriously, no way! I wouldn’t have to waste a whole year just waiting around. That’d be so cool!” He calmed down a bit and looked to Nessa with a confused stare, “But wait, wouldn’t you want to take that spot too? I mean, you’ve been waiting longer than me, it’d feel a bit unfair, honestly.” 

Nessa stood up and walked over to the northern edge of the room where a rickety ladder leads higher up in their old tower and stood just beneath the ladder. She smiled at Mair and just shook her head, “How about you just think it over for now, if you’re interested we can see if both of us can go in together and try out from there. If not I’ll be fine waiting another year, won’t kill me.” She put one hand on one of the rungs and began to scale the ladder, “I’ll be back down in a minute, how about you actually start on your schoolwork now.” She remarked on her way up which only led her brother to groan and rummage through a pile of his books.

As the crimson sun rose over the jagged mountain tops, it washed over the valley in its bathing light like a wave over dry sands. Light that had graced the valley day after day was foreign to the stranger crouched at the gaping mouth of a cavern dug into the mountain next to them. A tattered dark gray cloak wrapped the stranger as they made their glance at the sun that was once only a figment of their dreams. Though there is life in the valley, the stranger is alone as they make the land of the sun their new home. The trials and adventures that had gotten them to this point carried out in their mind like a cascade of memories of emotions. The backdrop of the sun lights the memories into vivid color unforeseen, and the stranger sees it all again.

Far from the rays of the crimson sun and far below the surface of Duramas there lied a connection of tunnels and caverns those of the surface came to call Vy’es Dela’ramar, The Land Below The Earth. This was a home to many who were outcasts to history and the light itself, those who might otherwise be considered nationless. The most prominent to call this land their true home were the Night Elves. Elves long since secluded from their brethren and forced to forge a new future in Vy’Es Dela’Ramar. It had been their home for millenia, even once relations with their surface brethren were repaired. Yet they remained ever since, they remained in their true home.

One of the societies forged from their new home was a city built into an underground ravine of Vy’Es Dela’Ramar known as Eil’Drawwt. Eil’Drawwt was a city of connecting bridges and stone towers carved into the walls of the vast canyon that proved itself a haven for outsiders due to its relative close distance to the surface. Crystals of pure mana lined the ceilings of the cavern and the crossway bridges. They shined with fluorescent cool colors that brightened and dimmed with time as did the sun rise and set on the surface to better accommodate those used to the grace of the sun itself.

The summer of the surface grew strong and yet in the underground, the crystalline sun shone its brightest in the frigid expanse of Eil’Drawwt. There, a young woman walked one of the many grand walkways that connected the walls of the ravine. She was of both night elven and human heritage as was made clear by her lavender skin yet oak brown eyes. Her ice white hair was tied in a ponytail that fell to the back of her simple blue and gray uniform. As she kept a brisk pace on the stone bridge, the half elf took a peek inside the satchel at the mess within. A thick paged book surrounded by packets of parchment tied together in small bundles greeted her eyes as she sighed and continued her pace. She ended up approaching upon a small gathering of merchants with stalls set up on the edges of the wide bridge selling varieties from copper trinkets to dried meats and mushroom treats. “More news?” The trinket salesman with small reading glasses perched upon his nose chuckled at the half elf’s arrival, “I feel like we just got it yesterday.” The woman couldn’t help but laugh with him despite hearing the joke several times over, perhaps it was his ever changing delivery that gave her that chuckle. She reached into the satchel and untied one of the bigger bundles of parchment handing a packet to the night elf merchant. “Good news at least.” The woman answered, “The guild finally caught that outlaw from two weeks ago.” She stepped to each stall and placed a packet on each of their counters.

“Nessa, dear,” An older human woman with a variety of surface candies whispered softly as she placed the packet, “Have you had enough to eat the past few nights?” “Yes yes, I promise,” Nessa responded reassuringly, “My route was extended so I’ve been making enough coin for both my brother and I.” “You let me know if you need anything deary.” The old woman reached over to Nessa’s palm and drops a few small wrapped candies and then closes Nessa’s grip for her, “Save some of those for your brother this time.” She scolded playfully. Nessa giggled as she dropped the candies in her satchel before saying goodbye to the merchants and continued on her route. On her way she crossed paths with several guards, travelers, and workers. Occasionally a wagon pulled by centipede like creatures would take up the middle of the bridge as others squeezed past on the edges peeking back to see what contents the wagon might have. As the bridge stretched on, teams of adventurers grouped up at a specific section, sitting on barrels and occasionally pointing down at maps with the rest of their crew. They gathered around a bulletin board with two night elf guards standing with spears at the ready on each end of the large board. Nessa squeezed through the crowd, nodded to the guards as she approached and began fiddling with her satchel in front of the board. The adventurers took quick note of her presence and paid swift attention. She set the satchel down next to her with a handful of large parchment pieces in her grip. Scanning the board, Nessa began to take down outdated information and replaced them with updated bounties, quests, and the like. The adventurer’s watched attentively as new quests were posted and some scoffed as some were now marked as completed. When her job was done she put the outdated posters in her satchel and headed out to allow the adventurers to take a closer look.

Before leaving for the next part of her route, Nessa turned back at the adventurers. She noticed a large number of the teams wore the emblem of the local guild on their sleeves or chest. The emblem depicted a comet piercing through the surface into the underground before ending with a collision on a shield. She stared at the armors they wore and the weapons at their sides, but paid closest attention to the unarmed. Nessa looked over their bodies for some sort of magical apparatus and eventually found one carrying a wand fastened tightly to their belt. Pulling a notebook from the side of her satchel, Nessa flipped to a page near the end. She then drew a tally mark next to one of several options on a list she prepared and then hurried off for her route. The midday traffic on the bridge picked as Nessa reached the western wall of the ravine. A grand shelf of towers and homes stacked atop each other colored the ravine wall, the flourescent lights of the crystals shone out of the wall like the thousand eyes of a spider. With nary a moment to lose, Nessa reached into her satchel once more for a handful of posters. She patrolled the collection of caverns dug into the wall and worked to put up posters of an outlaw on the stalagmites outside the long chain of shops within the caverns. The crowd of shoppers around Nessa had expanded from when she was on the bridge which gave little space to move and made the job a little more stressful for her. She groaned as she struggled to reach at a spot she intended to put up the poster when suddenly she felt a weight lifted off of her. As she turned to check what happened, a blur exitted the crowd for a mere moment to swipe the poster out of her hands violently and then disappeared once more blending in with the wave of civilians. Her satchel was gone, cut off her shoulder and slipped into a thief’s hand. The crowd parted only slightly to the perpetrator’s direction before losing interest and continuing on their way. “Hey! Thieving bastard!” Nessa stumbled over her words and tried to sound tough through a shrill voice crack as she chased in the direction the crowd parted for. She could barely see a foot in front of her as she pushed and shoved her way through the crowd in hopes to catch up with the thief. She hadn’t yet identified what the thief looked like yet but she saw a mere flash of the white satchel slip through the crowd dipping to the right. Nessa weaves to the right and manages to escape the grip of the crowd but is met gut first with a guard rail protecting her from a dip into the lower levels of the city. Her eyes dart around the scene as she spots a hooded figure below the guard rail gripping onto a series of safety ropes and nets designed to protect citizens from falling into the ravine below. He swung from net to net dropping down several stories to get near the bottom levels of the city. Nessa’s thoughts raced a mile a minute, with a bit of hesitation she went to lunge herself over the edge into one of the closer nets but a shiver washed over her as she even moves to attempt it. With a deep breath, she collected herself and made the leap onto the first net. From there she struggled and eventually flipped off to the next net to chase after the thief. Taking notice of the woman foolishly following him, the thief got onto solid ground and ripped a dagger out from beneath his vest. He brought the blade to one of the ropes connecting the safety net and carves away at it. With a snap he sprints with his prize into a crevice in the ravine wall, a dark alley. Nessa failed to recognize the thief’s plan as she was falling and ended up seeing the snapped safety net at the last moment. She reached towards the ledge but only got a grip of the disconnected rope, dangling from just her grip a few meters away from the ledge. She hesitantly looked below her. She gasped with slight relief as the ravine bottom was not below her, but instead more levels of the city, though a fall from her height would still be damaging for sure. With several exasperated breaths, Nessa closed her eyes and attempted to concentrate, muttering under her breath memories of study and knowledge. With her plan in mind she began to build momentum swinging from the rope. She was too far down to jump to the ledge but she had another idea. At the very moment the broken net connected with its other half, a spark traveled from her palm up the silk rope. A surge of weak mana that ended at the connection of the two rope links sparks as the rope returns to being connected once more. Dangling no more, Nessa climbed up the net and crawled out onto the ledge. She looked down at her palm, a slight smoke rose off a scorched patch of her palm. She waved it off and approached the crevice she witnessed the thief flee into. There she found the thief at the very end of the dead end alley rummaging through her satchel set upon the ground. He sprung to his feet quickly and brandished his dagger at the half elven woman. Nessa saw beneath his hood, he looked to be human with bright snakelike yellow eyes and slightly fanged teeth, the tells of a demiserpus race. He matched the description of the outlaw poster she was putting up. “Give me back my stuff before I call the guards on you.” Nessa choked out through exhausted gasps of breath as she lifted up her shirt slightly to pull a wooden wand out from beneath her clothes. She pointed the wand with a shaky grip at the thief as a violet light sparked out of the wand’s tip. The thief nodded and gripped onto the satchel, “All right all right,” His voice was quiet and almost inaudible, “Just put the wand down we don’t need to get all heated up.” With the satchel in his hand and the dagger lowering in the other he slowly stepped forward to hand over the bag.