PACT
Rating: PG
Genre: ???
Setting:
The Black Market, Master Korus home
Main
Characters: Hyru, Neon, Master Koru
Note from the Authoress: this is the tale of Neon and Hyru’s first
meeting.
Part
1
The vase
burst in an array of flame. Hyru lowered her hand, breathing deeply. The fire
spell was not taking as much energy as it used to. Once, when she had first
started her training, merely causing a small spark proved hard work. Now, she
could conjure up fireballs, powerful fire magic. But conjuring up fireballs
still made her short of breath. She ran her fingers through her hair and
suddenly sensed a presence behind her. She spun, quickly, hitting out with her
left hand. Someone blocked her blow easily, and laughed. Hyru grinned
sheepishly. It was her mentor, Master Koru.
“Magic is
good for attacking, but it may also be profitable to learn the use of a
weapon.” He said, with a smile. Hyru fiddled with the bracelet around her right
wrist. It was a finely crafted artefact, the bottom
was engraved, in a spiral shape, with linked rings on the ridge of it. The
rings symbolized the rings of Moonbeam, the centre of magic on the planet. The
engraving stopped at either side of her wrist and the top was flattened,
decorated with small runes, and bearing seven jewels on the top. The jewels
were ruby, sapphire, emerald, amethyst, onyx, rose quartz and, holding pride of
place in the centre of the bracelet, jinx. Jinx was a rare jewel, created over
time by raw magic fusing together. It’s presence in any item made it a valuable
magical artefact. And that’s just what this bracelet was. It was a bracelet of
enchantment, allowing its wearer to wield any number of spells imaginable,
although only the truly great could wield more than three. To learn these
spells, the bracelets wearer had to read the inscription on the spells scroll.
After that the wearer had to practice with the spells to make them easier to
wield. Master Koru had obtained the fire
scroll some time ago, and it was he who had seen Hyru’s potential as a mage,
and entrusted her with the bracelet. Master Koru was from the
“Learn how
to use it, child. A weapon can be of great use in areas with no Magical
Substance.” Some places in the world could not be infiltrated by magical
substance. These were often dangerous places, as Keylo: the monsters created by
Magical Aura, ran to. Besides these lesser foes, darker creatures of the world
hid in the places where no magical substance could get to. Hyru looked at the
staff in her hand. Its pattern was intricate, and creepily beautiful. The top
was carved neatly into a cobra’s head, the rest of the scales of the snake
curled sown the length of the staff. It was light, yet clearly made of
resilient material. She tried batting with it. It moved swiftly, and lightly.
She looked at Master Koru.
“Are you
going to teach me how to fight?” Master Koru nodded. He held a staff that he
generally carried with him.
“Your lesson
will now begin” The two started fighting in the courtyard.
Beruhg was a
thriving town. Yet the people who lived there were worried by what they
considered a menace to their homes. Not far away, out in the wilds, and hidden
from view underground, lay the Black Market. A scene somewhat similar to that
at Master Koru’s home was taking place.
Two men were in a private part of the market, sparring. The Black Market
was divided into parts. The main part, open to everyone, was like a village of
its own. Besides this a passage led from the main section. This was guarded
night and day. It was the headquarters of the society of the Black Market, the
society that those in Beruhg feared. It was defined by most as a nest of
thieves, murderers, and scum of the earth. This was, however, far from the
truth. The society took jobs from those who could pay, merely to support the
inhabitants of the Black Market. The two who were sparring were members of this
society. Neon and Skye. They were practicing, as their
fighting skills needed to be perfect for their jobs. Now, someone approached
the two. The newcomer spoke in a gruff voice.
“
“You’re
lucky. You don’t have to face the humiliation of losing to me” Skye raised an
eyebrow
“You keep
thinking that Neon” he replied, grinning back. Neon turned and left him,
walking through the neat passages, a familiar route to
the bosses’ office. The boss was called Yicandra. He was like a father to Neon.
He approached the office, wondering what mission he was to be sent on. Smartly,
he rapped on the door, hearing the familiar voice of Yicandra shouting him to
come in. Neon opened the door and entered the office. Yicandra was standing by
his desk.
“Ah, Neon. I have a mission for you. From a
Vernisian near Lein. Appears he needs someone to be a bodyguard to a
friend of his. Interested?” Neon nodded. Yicandra continued. “You’ll be away
for quite a while. Take this letter and head to Lein. Just outside, near the
woods, is a large house. That’s the pace you need to go to. Good luck.” Neon
took the letter Yicandra offered to him.
“I’ll leave
first thing tomorrow.” Neon promised, before leaving to get ready to leave. He wasn’t
entirely sure where Lein was, but he figured he could ask Skye. Before Skye had
come to the Black Market he had traveled widely. Neon walked slowly back to his
room. There was no doubt that he was going to miss the Market. It was the only
place where he hadn’t felt paranoid in his everyday life.
Hyru was
curled up on the steps of Master Korus home, drinking a mug of hot chocolate.
Her senses were considerably lower, as her training had been harsh. After
Master Koru had finished training her in fighting, he had started to teach her
to apply her magic to her weapon, to give more advantage in battle. It had been
a lot harder to control the magic while wielding her staff. Yet a feeling of
power had taken over after she had achieved it. Master Koru had informed her
that once she was able to apply magic to her own weapon, it would be possible
for her to reinforce others by doing the same to their weapon. They had
practiced this, which was even worse. The energy required at first was
considerable. But she knew she would become used to the magic of reinforcement.
She had read a bit, as Master Koru had many books about magic, and she had
found some background information to the new means of attack. The mot powerful
mages, she had read, could not only reinforce weapons, but then, while still
lending their power to the object, use magic separately. Hyru was fascinated by
this, but slightly doubtful as to whether she would ever be able to achieve
such a feat. More than anything, however,
Hyru was puzzled at the sudden training. She had never had to practice more
than one thing a day. She gazed as the sun slowly set. She heard Master Koru
step out onto the porch behind her.
“Hyru. We need to talk. Come inside.” Curious, Hyru followed
Master Koru back inside, relived to be away from the chill of the night that
had sprung up. She stood patiently in the kitchen, waiting to hear what Master
Koru was going to say.
“You must
leave soon.” Hyru gasped.
“But why?”
“I can teach
you little more. To enhance your abilities you must leave here, and search out
the other magic scrolls. I have sent word out, you
will have a guard with you, to help.”
“How can I
find other scrolls?” Master Koru smiled.
“Speak to
people. Use your initiative. Scrolls have a power of their own. If you hear
about something strange, the odds are a scroll may be the cause. Remember
everything you have learned, it will assist in your quest.” Master Koru turned,
and walked to the door of the kitchen. At the door, he turned, his hand resting
on the handle still “Your guard will be here in the morning. Remember, when
your energy is high, your senses will be stronger, use this to help you avoid
unnecessary confrontation. Good luck child.” He left the room, leaving Hyru
alone. She sat down. This explanation
explained a lot, she had to admit. She was excited to think that she would get
to see the world. She planned on visiting some of the places mentioned in
Master Korus books. Looking forward to
the next day, when she would start on her adventure, she headed to bed.
Hyru’s eyes
flickered open. Something had woken her, yet she wasn’t sure what. The sun
pierced through her curtains, creating patterns on the floor. She felt
re-energized from her training yesterday. As she lay back down, she thought she
heard voices. She sat upright. Surely her guard hadn’t arrived already. It
couldn’t be much past nine. She glanced at the clock beside her.
“Ah, Hyru. Up at last I see. This is Neon. He is your guard.”
Hyru smiled, somewhat sheepishly, eyes taking in the man standing in front of
her. He was dressed in black, and wearing a sword over his back. For some
reason her immediate thought was that he was an assassin.
“Great, um,
should we go then?” she turned, intent on leaving the room. She felt
embarrassed, because of Master Korus greeting. Before she could leave Master
Koru called her back. He approached her, and handed her a leather purse.
“Money?” she
queried. Master Koru smiled.
“You will
need some money if you plan to survive. There is a bag of supplies in the
kitchen for you.” He turned away from her, and walked over to Neon. She saw him
speak to Neon, and wondered briefly what he had said. But her thoughts didn’t
dwell on it for long. Neon silently followed her through to the kitchen, where
she picked up her supplies. Together, they left Master Korus home, and traveled
out across the wilds.
THE
END