Traveler

Boom!

A blast sounded off through the entire forest as a man emerged from near the foot of a mountain with nothing on except for a pair of dirtied, torn up shorts that reached just above his knees. His hair was white, scattered, and reached down to just below his shoulders and covered his eyes. He stood very tall, at least 6’3”, and his muscles were very lean and chiseled with the occasional scar here and there.

The man had a frighteningly chilly aura about him, making everything around him began to frost over as he walked through the forest to an unknown destination. Even the animals avoided him.

Roar!

A bear, commonly known as Brinit, that stood nearly twelve-foot-tall with very sharp claws, appeared before the man and roared in the man’s face, spraying saliva all over him.

Slash!

With one swift wave of the man’s hand, the head of the Brinit flew off of its head, blood spewing on the forest floor and trees.

The man looked at his hand, which was now dripping with the Brinit’s blood. He licked the blood off of his hand and then continued on his path through the forest.

The other Brinits who witnessed this scene cowered in fear and stayed hidden in the forest as they watched the man walk through the forest.

…

The man entered the city that was just outside the forest. Everyone outside in the city stared at the shirtless traveler and his intimidating presence. They all felt a chill go down their spines as he passed by.

He stopped in the middle of the street and took a look around as if he was looking for something.

He turned towards a random man who was carrying a barrel of water.

“Excuse me,” the man spoke in a deep commanding voice. “Could you tell me where they sell clothing here?”

The man carrying the barrel zoned out at first, then answered, “Yeah. It’s down this street, and then your first left and then a right, and then it will be the second store on the right.”

The man nodded and then continued with the directions the man with the barrel gave him.

As he approached the store and moved away from the main street, there were less people in outside in the backstreets.

“Come on, you filthy commoner, cough up all you’ve got.”

In a back alley, there were four guys dressed in nice clothes. This signaled that they were just above commoner status in the process of mugging a poor commoner.

“Please kind sirs. I worked very hard for this money and it’s all I’ve got to feed my children,” the poor commoner whimpered.

“Do you think I care about your problems. I have my own problems to deal with!”

Slam!

The man who seemed to be the ringleader punched the commoner in the stomach.

The commoner dropped to his knees and the leader proceeded to kick him in the stomach.

“Do you enjoy picking on the weak and defenseless, or do you do it because you can’t pick on anyone else?”

They all turned and saw the traveler.

“What was that?” The ringleader sneered.

“Wow, you look rough. What happened to you?”

The traveler approached him until he was standing about two inches away, then bent down so his face was an inch away.

“Everything.” The traveler glared at him with his icy blue eyes.

The man began to tremble in fear.

‘This presence… is insane!’

“Get away from me!” he stammered as he backed away. He then looked at his friends, “What are you guys doing help me out!”

The traveler closed the distance that the man created then grabbed his face.

Bam!

The traveler smashed the back of the man’s head into the wall of the alley way, knocking him out cold and leaving a small crack in the stone. Blood also began to trickle down from his head onto his face as the traveler released his face from his grip.

The others all looked at the traveler in horror.

“Get out of my sight, or you’ll be next.”

They all took off sprinting down the alley way and out of sight.

The traveler bent down and searched the man he had knocked unconscious and pulled out a bag of coins, most of which were coppers with two bronze coins.

He then looked at the man who was being beaten.

“Did he take anything from you,” the traveler asked.

The commoner looked at him in awe before answering, “No, fortunately.”

The traveler then stood and continued back down the alley way towards the shop.

“Wait kind sir! Could I know your name?”

The traveler stopped walking, and as he did so he lifted his arm as to look down at the leather bracelet on his wrist.

“Verglas… Lucien Verglas,” the traveler then continued on his way.

…

Ding-dong!

A small bell hung above the door of the clothing shop rattled as Lucien opened the door.

The store had normal clothes as well as some dresses and suits for special occasions hung on the wall. There was a counter that also served as a glass case with masks, hats, glasses, and shoes that wrapped itself around the inside of the store.

The shop owner looked up behind the counter to see who entered his establishment.

“Hello there, sir…” the shop owner was disappointed as the customer that just entered his story didn’t look like he had any money. “Is there anything I can help with?”

“I need some clothes,” Lucien pointed out plainly. “These pants are too short.”

‘Those are pants?’ The shop owner observed the strange customer to see the ‘pants’ only reached to his knees.

“I have a pair of white pants made of the finest denim.”

“How much?”

“The white pants cost two bronze coins.”

Lucien glared down at the shop owner and asked, “Is that really what they cost?”

The shop owner felt a little intimidated, “I’m sorry sir, but business is business. That’s what they cost.”

Lucien looked around the store and saw some cloaks hanging on the wall. Some looked very thick and warm with extravagant colors while others were thin and worn out, as if they were secondhand products.

“How much are those cloaks?” Lucien inquired. “The finest cloaks I carry can cost as much as four silvers.”

Lucien was surprised at that. That was more than his family made in a year.

Lucien looked at a thin black cloak that may have just been a sheet.

Lucien pointed at the black cloak and asked, “What about the blank one there?”

“Oh that. That’ll only cost you about forty-five coppers.”

“I’ll take that and the white pants.” Lucien dug out the two bronze coins and forty-five coppers and slapped them on the counter.

The shop owner took the money and grabbed the cloak off of the wall and handed it to Lucien. He put the cloak on immediately which reached to just below his knees and had a small silver chain which wrapped around the neck in order to hold the cloak on.

The shop owner then headed through a door that led to the back of the store and reappeared holding a pair of white pants.

Lucien took the pants and stripped the others off of him.

“Sir what are you doing?!” the shop owner gasped.

“I thought that was obvious, I’m putting my new pants on,” Lucien said as he put the white pants on. “It was your choice to watch me.”

The shop owner looked away, but as he did, out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed his customer wasn’t wearing any shoes.

“Sir, don’t you want any shoes?” He questioned.

“No.”

Lucien flipped the hood of the cloak over his head, making it difficult to see his face, and exited the store.

Lucien continued to walk around the bustling city back towards the main street.

‘My next order of business in to find out where the heck I am and the date.’

Lucien walked towards a stand in the street that was selling the news.

There were two men sitting at the stand, one tall and skinny with no hair, and the other short and plump, with curly blond hair.

“Would you like the newspaper?” the taller one asked politely as Lucien approached the stand.

“No. What’s the name of this city?”

The two of them looked at each other confused, then answered, “This is the city of Stria.”

Lucien had no idea where this city was located. It couldn’t be that far from Cleardale, or so he thought.

“Do any of you two know where Cleardale lies from here?” he asked.

“That sounds familiar…” the short one stated as he scratched is head trying to recall the town.

“I know, it lies southeast of here. It’s a couple hundred miles away.”

Lucien’s eyes grew wide with surprise.

‘You got to be kidding me! A couple hundred miles?! I traveled that far?’

That reminded him of his other question, “What’s the date?”

“The sixteenth.” The short one answered.

“No, the entire date.”

“April sixteenth.”

“I said the entire date. What’s the year?” Lucien asked forcefully as he started to become frustrated.

Both of them looked at each other even more confused.

The tall one answered, “588.”

Lucien gritted his teeth, turned, and walked away.

He found an empty alley way and walked down it.

Slam!

Lucien hit the wall with the side of his fist, cracking the wall.

“I was down there for six years!? This can’t be real! All that time, stolen by those damned fools!”

Lucien was shaking with rage.

How took in a deep breath in order to calm himself and think of his next move.

‘Well, first thing is I need a source of money. I’ll try a guild next.’

Lucien made his way around town until he found a sign that seemed to be what he was looking for.

The biggest word on the sign was ‘Solarvale’. Below that were the words ‘Official Warriors’ Guild.’

The sign stood before a wide two-story building with a steep sloped yellow roof and made with a combination of smooth stone and wood. On the front of the building was the large symbol of the guild; a bright sphere with what looked to be a broken piece of glass sticking out.

‘A guess a warrior is anyone one with a set class.’

Lucien walked inside to see the first floor lined with tables. It looked like somewhere to hang out and have a couple drinks. On the end left wall was a large board that spanned forty feet long and five feet wide, crammed with papers.

In the center of the room was a large circular desk big enough to hold six receptionists who were all helping people. To the far left and right corners were stairs leading up to the second floor.

One of the receptionists finished dealing with someone, so Lucien approached with his hood still on. He didn’t want to be noticed and rejected. He needed money.

The receptionist was a woman with dark green hair wrapped into a tight bun with a needle sticking through it. She was wearing black glasses and had a stern face.

“How may I help you?” she sighed and gave a weak smile.

“I would like to become a member here,” Lucien spoke.

“Ok, I’ll have to set up a meeting with one of our recruiters.”

“How long will that take.”

“There’s the paperwork you have to fill out and then you would have to wait a couple of days for them to call you back here to meet with one of them and then get evaluated.”

“Is there any way to skip all that, I’m in a hurry.”

The receptionist sighed again, “You could just enlist as a warrior that isn’t registered with specific guild. You would only have to fill out a couple of papers and then you could visit guilds all over the country and take jobs from them just as any guild member can. However, you lose out on things like a monthly salary and private jobs if you were to register with a specific guild. You also miss out on the initial evaluation.”

“Initial evaluation?”

“It’s what I was talking about earlier when you register with a guild. They evaluate your strength and skill according to your class. After that they assign you a ranking based on your results.”

Lucien was surprised at this. He would have asked to do that from the start, although a monthly salary sounded very tempting. However, he didn’t think any guild would want a Verglas, but he was going to change that.

“I’ll do that then.”

The receptionist sighed then started to dig out all the paper Lucien had to fill out.

After he had finished it all. The receptionist handed him a black bracelet.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“That’s the bracelet proving that you’re a registered warrior. Since you just registered you start off with the lowest rank. This is a manual with all the opportunities that began to open up for you as you climb ranks.”

Lucien put the bracelet on It magically shrank so that is was skintight and the words ‘E-Rank Mage’ appeared on it in gray lettering.

Lucien turned and walked back out of the guild.

The receptionist was skimming through the paperwork he filled out, to make sure he didn’t miss anything, until she came across his name.

“Lucien Verglas huh? No wonder he chose to register unattached.”