[POV: Silver Davis]
In the wasteland of pólemos, a lone sorcerer stood straight—looking into the vast starry sky, his hand rising to the heavens itself. All he could see around him was nothing but a vast plain of barren land with a few bushes and covered with small green grasses, soft and moist to the feet.
He heard insects chirping through in the distance. As tears flowed through his deep blue eyes, he folded his fingers and pulled his hand down.
His messy hair was shining in the moonlight. Silver was rather short for a 15-year-old boy, 4 ft. 3 inches. He also had a distinct but small scar just above his left eyebrow. He was wearing a black T-shirt with a bird symbol on the back and grey pants. A black bracelet with a single glass-like white stone encircled his left wrist. His name was Silver, just like his hair.
It’s been ten days. I’d better hurry and get going, he said to himself and went on a journey to the ‘Republic of Fortuna.’ In fact, he had a lot of business there. He needed to be there shortly before the next sundown. If he didn’t want to lose one more precious day.
His stomach growled. Why would it? He had had nothing for two days. He imagined what he would eat if he were home. A clear picture of grilled mushrooms came to his mind. He drooled. He trudged to his destination with his right hand on his tummy.
Thoughts of home almost made Silver want to curl up and end it all. The idea of eternal sleep seemed like a mother’s embrace to him. But no, revenge was what he needed.
***
The Republic of Fortuna was founded after the dark ages to preserve the peace treaty. It is the place where people from different countries have come together to maintain peace between them by organizing a variety of fairs.
Not only that, but it was also the headquarters of the three great powers in the world. He walked a few hours on foot before finally arriving at his destination, The Western City. The capital city of The Republic of Fortuna. The city was as beautiful, peaceful, and lively as he had heard of it. His primary destination was Hunters Corp, which was at the centre of the city.
There was still a lot of time before sundown, so he first stopped at a tavern to have something to eat before going there. Right now, there was nothing more important than his hunger. The tavern was loud and lively and filled with different people that he could barely find a seat.
There was a boy drinking beer and smiling, showing off his pearly white teeth. He was almost as small as Silver was, no maybe even smaller. His hair was black and his eyes were emerald green. The boy had the palest complexion Silver had ever seen. He was wearing a black leather jacket and pants. He was wearing heavy clothes even though it was summer. The boy seemed rather peculiar.
Silver ordered grilled mushrooms and a glass of beer before he sat down right next to the boy. The only seat he could find.
“Should you be drinking beer for your age?” The black-hair boy asked.
Is this kid nuts, asking something like that to someone older than him. A kid asking that question when the kid himself was drinking made Silver rather angry. He frowned.
“For my age?….. And here you are drinking beer, when what are you, thirteen?” Silver wasn’t in a very good mood to begin with.
“I may look thirteen, but I’m 63.” He gave his right hand to Silver, saying, “By the way, I’m Mike Williams. And you are?”
That single act of the kid made him so angry that he finally lost his cool. “Don’t talk to me as if we were friends, you nasty old vampire!!” He said, twisting his mouth in disgust.
Silver then slowly lifted his right hand horizontally towards Mike. All the water from the glass jar and everywhere else in the tavern slowly rose and then circled around Mike and Silver.
“Argh...! What’s happening to me?” Mike cried, seemingly in great agony, and fell on the floor screaming.
“I’m only destroying your blood vessels repeatedly by expanding the blood in your veins explosively. After all, I know you heal fast.”
“Argh... There is no such magic,” that controls blood.” He seemed barely able to complete that sentence.
“I’m not controlling blood. I’m controlling water in your blood.” That was a lie, Silver was actually controlling blood. “Vampires disgust me. I’m only sparing your life because you look like a boy crying and whining to me, you annoying old creature. Pray that there is no next encounter or I shall most certainly kill you.”
Well, it wasn’t the only reason he spared his life. He came to the Western City for official business. He couldn’t simply lose his opportunity by murdering someone now, could he?
Silver finally released Mike from his grasp and floating water spilt all over the place. He gulped all the mushrooms at once and marched towards the exit, after putting the money on the table for mushrooms and beer, including the cost of spilt water.
Mike asked with a sigh of relief in his voice, “Hey wait, at least tell me what your name is.”
Silver left the tavern without saying a word.
***
[POV: Mike Williams]
Mike slowly stood up, clapping his hand to remove any dust from his hands. Someone who thinks he can hurt me with a petty trick like that. Interesting.
He had felt no pain for so long that he didn’t even know what it was. He was just amusing the kid. And boy, was it fun.
***
[POV: Silver Davis]
After his encounter with Mike, he hurriedly visited headquarter of the Hunters Corp. It had a huge cathedral-like structure. There were not as many people inside as he thought there would be. Hunters Corps was supposed to be one of the largest organizations in the world.
There was an enormous stand attached to the middle left wall to serve food.
At the other end of the entrance, there was a counter with a beautiful lady attending visitors. Meeting tables occupied the remaining areas, though there was hardly anyone.
Silver approached the lady at the counter. Not knowing what to say, the only word that escaped was, “Excuse me... Ahem...”
“The name is Alisha Ramon. How may I help you?” The girl replied with a sigh. She probably had encountered others with communication issues. He wasn’t like that in the past, but nowadays he was having a really hard time talking to people.
“I would like to apply for membership, please.”
As soon as Alisha heard those words, she reached for the top left drawer of the counter and picked up a form asking, “Please fill up this membership form.”
Silver leaned against the counter and filled the form. It didn’t take him long. Once finished, he handed the form to Alisha.
“Here all done.”
Alisha eyed the form more than once as if she was trying to find something suspicious. She urged Silver to follow her through the door behind the counter.
[POV: Silver Davis] Silver found himself in a white room. Everything was white, the walls, the ceiling, the floor. Except for the chair. She asked him to sit down and maintain his posture. It was brown, the chair. Alisha asked him to smile, and there was a flash of light. So that’s the magic device that can capture your image, that’s so cool. His eyes sparkled to see the object. Silver had always read about magic items, but he had never seen one in real life. Well, not something that cool, anyway. After taking his picture, she asked him to follow her again. They weren’t back at the counter after going through the door. Instead, Silver found himself in another room again. There was an enormous structure with a door, no more like a huge pillar with a door. Alisha opened the door with her right hand and asked him to get inside once more. “Get inside the door, ple
[POV: Narrator] Silver woke up yawning deeply as the sun spread its shimmering rays. There was a window beside his bed, from which he could see the city beyond. There was a shop with a young and incredibly stunning lady selling fruit and vegetables to the people. Watching those crowd, he recalled his own home and his terrible destiny. Sizen, his homeland, was a closed nation surrounded by the land of pólemos and was on the top of Elohim's plateau. The population of the nation was roughly 225,000. The country had a palace, one on each land. Fire Village to the North, Wind Village to the East, Lightning Village to the West, Earth Village to the Southwest and Water Village to the Southeast, Capital to the Middle. Each village was about a hundred miles away from the capital and had a population of about 20,000-28,000. Whereas capital had a population of 100,000; (50,000 humans). The land of Sizen was mostly occupied by Elementals like him
[POV: Kara Davis] “What is it? Is something wrong?” She asked the messenger with a concerned look. “Well, Um... Ahh... the... Umm...” Kara Frowned. The messenger was staring at the table and kept shifting his legs. But most of all he was trembling visibly. What could have made the other man so terrified? This can’t be good news. “Well? Spit it out already.” Guard stepped back, nearly jumping on his tiptoes. He shifted his eyes to his feet. “Forgive me, my lady, to be the bearer of such sad news, but his imperial majesty is dead and your husband along with him. I was told that both of them were poisoned to death.” His mouth worked and quivered as he passed the horrid news. For a second, her mind went blank. What was the messenger saying? He must have mistaken. Yes, he was probably too nervous and said the wrong words. But one look at the messenger and realisation hit he
******* Disclaimer ********** This is a fictional work. Any names, places, events, organisations, characters, religious beliefs, cultures, and philosophy are either made up by the author or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual events or people, living or dead, is purely coincidental.This work contains mature themes such as violence, torture, and abuse. The author does not promote or condoneany of the actions depicted in the work. Please read at your own risk! *************************** Abbreviations: MIDD: Magic Items Development Department WARG: World Allied Ria's Government. Members of WARG: 1. Republic of Fortuna 2. Speir - 3. Pretas - 4. Fallen Lake - 5. The Sky Kingdom - 6. Naraka - 7. Tiryak - Other Kingdoms: Sizen Everlasting Kingdom Andruss
“Sir Jones, Sir Vlad. Please, sir, we welcome you to our village.” Sir Thomas urged them through the village gate. Vlad, being Vlad, walked into the village as if he owned the place. “You invitation warms my heart, Sir Thomas.” Kara had a hard time stifling her scoff. “It is but my pleasure,” Thomas said. Why were these two acting so formally? Something is going on here. Or am I just reading too much into things? “Where are the councillors? Are they really not here?” Kara inspected the mass of the army in front of the village. There were no luxurious wagons or palanquins that indicated the presence of the councillors. “They are on their way. We just left early to help prepare,” Sir Jones Said. Kara nodded. After walking through the street paved with cobblestones, they finally reached the magnificent castle of the water village. They entered the castle through th
[POV: Kara Davis] Echoing screams still hung in the air. Why did at times like this, everything seem to slow down? It made everything that was happening even worse. Two hulks of the man climbed up to Kara and grabbed her from either side, forcing her on her knees. Her hands pulled behind her back. Kara felt the weight of a leg pushing on her back. She tried to struggle, of course, but these men were bloody strong. Her body didn’t even twitch. Ria’s forsaken bastards. The vampires pulled their head back, mouth open wide, their fangs sleek with drooping poison. The ever-present screams in the air increased. Some wailed, some collapsed, children clinging to their parents, eyes clamped shut. “No, not them. They have done nothing wrong. Just kill me and be done with it. But please, have mercy on them. Kill me instead. Please, I’m begging you... NO... Please, don’t hurt them. NO.” Despite her wails for mercy, nobody heard, even she barely heard it.
Silver woke up to a throbbing pain in his forehead. Why was everything so dark? Silver groaned. Ria Above! The pain was killing him. He tried to rub his throbbing forehead, but he immediately pulled his hands back, wincing at the pain, motes of dried blood sticking to his fingertips. What the hell happened to me. Where am I? Silver pulled on his grace and held and held that torrent of power within him; the power that allowed him to create and manipulate water constructs. Of course, the fact that he could pull on his grace surprised him. It could only mean that the summer solstice was over. With the power of grace within him,, he could finally see his surroundings. When one pulled on grace, they would be surrounded by blue ethereal light that could illuminate the surroundings to some extent. He was greeted by walls of earth surrounding him. All the herbs he had picked were scattered around him. There was a stone with dry b
[POV: Silver Davis] The vampire hesitated for a second but quickly spoke. “You have to understand. I had no choice. We are by the order of…” The vampire made a choking noise as if he was trying to form a word, but it was stuck in his throat. Silver thought it was just an act to distract him, but then he felt something brewing in the other man’s neck. Something that chilled his spine. His primal instinct took over and Silver jumped back, pulling on as much as Grace as could. Silver was not sure what was going on, but the energy was building up in the vampire’s throat. Is this some kind of attack the vampires have? The vampire’s neck exploded in the torrent of red energy, his head spinning high-high into the air. Silver put up a wall of water in front of him in the nick of time. The force of the explosion was strong. His wall of water barely protected him. Just as the wall of water dropped, something round crashed into th