RE: The Accounts of One That Accounted for the Sake of Accounting. (Chapter Eight up!)
This chapter didn't go exactly how I wanted it; although I was planning to develop the characters even more, I had little time to do so as a new character paved its way into my tale (not unintentionally, I must admit). Quite obviously, the action slowed down as we had struck a mini-climax in Ch.7, but hopefully, it's not as bad as I think it is to you. Eh, either way, I hope you enjoy the next installation.
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Chapter Eight
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“So, are you going to let us in on what just happened now?” Sandra pressed as we walked on. I sighed.
The majority of the victims remained unconscious when I retraced my steps back to the room where I had last woken up at. Walking in that room, I saw Rayn and Sandra turning their heads to stare groggily at me, suggesting that they recently woke up, not comprehending much, I suspect. I found myself resisting the urge to burst into laughter at their ridiculous expressions. To be honest, I didn’t care about anyone left in the castle but my companions; those that got here could certainly handle themselves if they have gotten this far. Taking no more than ten minutes for them to get their footing and thought processes cleared up (Quar followed with the recovery soon after Rayn and Sandra), I concluded that getting them out was simple.
Thinking of how to tell them the story wasn’t.
I stalled for time, promising to recount my tale later when we were back out on the desert, but now that I had bought all that time, I found myself no closer to being ready to tell the tale. Had one thing in my story been different, one particular factor tweaked, had I not face such internal conflict from contradicting views, would I easily move on from the experience of that major battle, but alas, I couldn’t even understand anything of that moment just because of this one small thing: Dasan; his behavior defied all logic I attempted to employ to defog the mystery, but I gained naught: the haze is still as thick now as it was before I tried to disperse it with my mind.
“
Well?” asked Sandra, persistently dragging me back into reality for perhaps the fifth (or some number close to it) time. I opened my mouth, to realize I conjured no words to emit out of it.
“I… I’ll tell.” I finally spoke out, forcefully, as the words could not smoothly come out from my throat. Sandra noted my distracted disposition, but chose not to press on that matter as well, figuring that would move the topic away from what she’d rather hear. I started explaining everything, slowly and softly at first, but with growing confidence, recounting the very past as I envisioned it, in every sense, but with a major lack of thought and emotion; to go back to my reflections, being as organized as the shattered remains of a mirror, would disorient my current sight of the tale and prevent me from moving on. I did, however, omit the part of Dasan giving me several spells to avoid suspicion.
“He didn’t try to kill you after that?” Rayn asked.
“No, I was too tired to put a fight.” I chose not to consider that a lie; after all, I sure didn’t understand his momentary kindness, so no harm in interpreting his mercy as an investment for more entertainment for the assassin; the speculation was definitely more likely to hold true compared to all other possible theories…
Right?
The sun rose and fell, and rose once more. Trouble hardly pestered us as we moved along the large sea of sand, only encountering an irritable mass of Cacturne (that I handily dealt with thanks to a Signs of Flareon spell Dasan gave me) amid the vast landscape during the night.
In simple terms, nothing interesting happened.
We stopped at the next town, known as Merah, slightly larger than Junny in size, but just as undeveloped: not a single fortification or a defensive structure to be seen, not a sophisticated one around either, definitely no big buildings of note, just
nothing was in sight. To be honest, little relief came, walking into a haven from the scorching desert; regardless of where you are in this place, something is always after you.
Little wonder why paranoia thrives.
Rayn handed out orders as always: Sandra was to stick with me, and I was to not wander off by myself; these two orders guaranteed – theoretically – constant supervision, slimming Dasan or any other person’s chances of capturing or killing me. For the moment, I could tolerate the slight lack of independence for my safety.
Of course, Fortune doesn’t believe that “Reagald” and “safe” can exist harmoniously in the same sentence.
Sandra and I browsed the store for various supplies. After a good twenty minutes, Sandra purchased all the necessary items (‘necessary’ NOT being the bare minimum; excess is essential in a place where quite a numbers of things could go wrong) and we headed for the door. A distracted Lopunny, however, walked straight into me from my right.
“Agh!”
Being much lighter, I fell down about six inches from where I bumped into her.
“Zoh my god! I’m, like, so sorry!” She rushed over to help me up. Sandra stopped and turned around to watch me groaning as I rubbed my aching bottom while standing up. The Lopunny broke into a ramble of apologies.
“I, like, really didn’t see you there! I wasn’t in my right mind, you know? Like, I had, like, this bad day, and –”
And I, like, need to silence you, like, permanently.
“Hey!” I cried, pointing behind her, quickly devising some way to distract her for a long time, “You see those crate of Pecha berries?”
“Like, yeah.”
“I remembered seeing one shaped more like a cube. You should look for it. Trust me: no signs of disappointment.” I barely picked up the soft chuckle of Sandra’s attempt to stifle a laugh as the baffled Lopunny walked off to do so. Maintaining composure, I set my paws to the side of my mouth, cupped to amplify my voice as I holler after her, “Don’t forget to check the ones at the bottom too!” Immediately after that, an unfamiliar noise startled me from behind; turning around, I stared in surprise, realizing the Flygon emitting the sound, her hands covering her mouth to muffle the noise.
Was Sandra
giggling?
I shook my head, walking on, letting Sandra recover from her little moment. We headed out the door (“You’re cruel you know that?” “Well, if she wasn’t such an idiot…”), the glare of the desert sun welcoming us out in the open as we headed to the meeting destination with Quar and Rayn, all of us no doubt ready for a bit of rest before continuing with our travels.
As quickly as sun welcomed us, my surroundings changed drastically as I hit smooth concrete on my side, hard enough to cause me to utter in pain, groaning as I rolled over to get on fours.
“I must say, you’re getting to be a nuisance lately.” I looked up in the dimly lit room; several candles glowed at the stone walls, the center of room devoid of anything but the dreary plain floor. Zero windows, one door, and one Dasan standing in front of that door, his head tilted down in an exaggerated fashion, appearing to be much taller that he was. His eyes narrowed, glinting annoyance with a hint of amusement, almost speaking to me, gently whispering “Entertain me.” with its glare.
Growling, I went to pull out a spelltag, only grabbing my own fur, as I was no longer wearing my cloak (though I had realized the fact after trying to get a spell). The unmoving Ninetales continued to stare at me, waiting for my next move, seeing if I was going to attack him or whatnot. Resigning, I sighed.
“How did you get me here?”
“Signs of Dialga scroll.” Freezing time? Why is it that my own enemies have all of the superior spells? “You better be grateful I spent it for you.” I’m touched. Really.
“What do you want?”
“To warn you.” …
what did he just say? The very person after my life is warning me? I donned a curious expression to this ironic answer, waiting for him to continue. “Tokar is stepping up its searches for you, after hearing confirmation about your existence.” My mouth opened to speak, but closed upon realization that he had not yet finished. “Also due to the confirmation, Libren forces have self-organized themselves against Tokar. As of now, the assassination is costing Tokar more than it is benefitting; by destroying one city internally, it brought the wrath of that very city and its allies, all for minor trade control right now. I expect tensions to go one way or another, and Tokar is either going to thrive or fall. Sadly the same goes for the entire desert.” I grimaced, understanding what he meant; Libren was allied with Granith, the most militaristic state in Kahan, inevitably meaning a more aggressive means of resolving the conflict.
At best, Tokar was doomed for obliteration. At worst the entire desert might face a full-blown war. I decided to press for more information, now that he seemed to be open in providing details.
“Isn’t my death going to incite Libren into even more action?”
“Tokar’s council believes your death will discourage the opposition, rather than encourage them.
I just want to hear good news for once; if death doesn’t reach me first, depression will.
“What are they planning?” Dasan’s mocking smile fell to a ferocious frown.
“I suppose this had to come up one way or another… listen carefully; I’m not going to repeat this.” When the assassin was sure he got my full attention, he continued, “Tokar has hired one of the most dangerous – if not the most lethal – assassins. Going by the nickname of ‘Silver,’ he’s a brute of special armor, rumored to be virtually invincible.”
“What?! But there’s no such – ”
“I know, so I shall warn you with this: Do not waste your spells. Find his weakness and exploit it as rapidly and forcefully as possible, or face major consequences if you fail to do so; in hand-to-hand combat, he wields Death’s Scythe, a powerful blade equipped with a fatal poison. The longer you fight, the less chances of avoiding that mortal blow. I wish I could tell you more about him, but his profile is so low, I had to pay for the information I’m passing to you.” This drove me to ask one more question.
“Why are you telling me this?” He shook his head, as if expecting such a childish question a while back.
“Did you already forget? The only person going to defeat you is me. Oh, and one last thing: expect many more enemies soon; with the bounty on you growing, there’s bound to be bounty hunters to follow your tail.”
“Um… thank you.”
“Think nothing of it.” He tossed me my cloak and stepped aside after opening the door.
I no longer understand this guy. Not that I’m complaining, I guess; he
is sparing my life.
I walked past him and the awkward encounter without looking back even once. Partially, I felt alienated, isolated, and hurt from the former two feelings; I knew Dasan spent a scroll to warn me, but he didn’t choose to simply meet me in person for a sole reason: he didn’t trust me to stay and listen, but rather expect me to run from him if I spotted him, so he grabbed me by force. Should I be grateful he spent the effort to get me? I held no answer to that.
I checked the contents of my cloak: everything, even the seal brush given to me earlier, remained. Readjusting the dagger to be ready for quick use, I navigated through the town to the inn we [me and my companions] planned to meet at.
Opening the door, I stepped in, expecting to see someone anxious in the lobby. Indeed, Rayn stood up from a seat near the entrance and stared at me.
“By the legends, where have you been?! Sandra said you vanished – ”
“Kidnapped.” He cursed and slapped his forehead.
“Come on. I need to get you in the room with Quar before getting Sandra back. You can tell us what happened then.” I nodded and followed him up to the place, walking in to dryly note that the conditions of the rented space were hardly better than that of the previous room: although we had relatively more room with a few chairs supplied (I’m glad to hope this means no sleeping on oily and dusty table surface), the area appeared to be a desolate ruin, cobwebs in corners, dust everywhere, furniture – as few as there are – randomly placed (either that or idiosyncratically arranged). Quar remained seated at one of the chairs, but rotated his head to look at me, his eyes and slightly grim frown almost reprimanding me for the delay. A bit taken back with a sudden impulse of remorse, I lowered my ears and tucked my hidden tail a bit between my legs, as if I actually deserved blame for the trouble.
“I’ll get Sandra,” informed Rayn. Neither Quar nor I responded, as I began to fidget from the incessant staring. The Blaziken closed the door behind him, possibly the cause of the blink breaking Quar’s stare.
“I told Sandra to not look for you, told her that you could… handle out there, that you know how to come back… if you were fine.” I blinked at his broken statements; unlike Sandra or Rayn, Quar had a feeble grasp on language, slowly pausing every so often to conjure a word with the correct – or something close to correct – meaning. Curious, I attempted to get him to speak more.
“And I did come back.” A slight smile from him.
“Yes… I was right. Granith’s code is always right…”
Aha! Now it makes sense!
“You fought in Granith’s army.” Quar nodded, trying to think of another word.
“I was mer…”
“Mercenary.” Another nod from him. “You left?” Nod.
“Not enough pay. I asked for more… They tore contract.” I nodded, understanding: you defy any Granith superior in any way, you no longer work for them. It’s all part of Granith’s code, the established laws and principles for both the city and the army, but it holds many strict morals. The earlier reference was one of the old principles: “Rescue none but yourself. Worry ‘bout none but your own task.”
I dropped the subject, doubting he would say more, as he turned his head back to look out the window. Bored, I sat at the other chair, waiting, snacking on a Chesto berry I bought earlier on the shopping trip with Sandra. With the free time, I quickly opened the journal, managing to write down all you have read up to here, dear reader, at this exact point. Two hours of writing and reflecting and not one step closer to knowing anything, be it the identity of Dasan, my companions, or myself, be it the possibilities of what the future holds for me, or what will become of me; I was a stranger, living a life I did not seem to own, meeting and interacting with other beings with no chance to personally know them, acting out someone I didn’t seem to truly be, but that was because I did not, no, I
could not fathom even a trait of my true self. I just wanted to toss the journal away and cry to the world in frustration:
Who am I? What am I to do?
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Sandra and Rayn walked in even later, when the sun was only tapping the vast horizon. Consequently, I opened my eyes lazily, forcing myself to become more aware, greeting the two with a yawn and a short stretch. Then we got down to the serious matters.
Having already written the events in my journal, tracing back to those events about my sudden disappearance proved to be no difficulty. Of course, that didn’t make the whole issue any less complicated. Rayn kept frowning, obviously troubled with the political matters.
“Kahan was just devastated in a war two decades ago. “‘Nother conflict like this and the whole desert would be completely unstable.”
“It’s best to leave as soon as possible, since this land might fall apart soon.”
“Wait!” Rayn and Sandra turned to look at me, noting my confused expressions. “Are you saying we’re just going to leave this place to crumble?”
“Do you have a way of preventing that?” challenged Sandra. I opened my mouth but no counter-arguments came to mind. Nevertheless, my nature was against the matter: I was a noble, and as selfish as we were, we knew to at least look over and protect our subjects… at least, we did in Libren. To suddenly just walk away… as much as I wished to do so, to get out of all the dangers in this place, could I really let go that easily?
Then again, did I even have a choice?
I closed my hanging mouth and lowered my head, defeated. Sandra nodded.
“Good. We rest and head to Tokar.”
… Did she just say “Tokar”? Rayn noted my incredulity.
“It’s the most direct route out of Kahan. Besides, we’ll make sure you’ll be safe. Furthermore, if Dasan wants to take you down himself later on, then he’ll be forced to protect you as well.” he guaranteed. Since he put it that way…
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The rest of the trip out of town lacked words, devoid of much communication as we left the room, left the inn, left the entire city, back out onto the desert, now cool once more as the sun has nearly sunk beneath our sight. By now, the view of the far-reaching desert no longer fascinated me, no longer held surprises. In fact, the traveling to Tokar would have nothing of note if the following encounter never occurred:
A skeleton of a Pidgeot, half-buried in the sand, intercepted our path. Sandra walked in front of us and knelt down to look.
“Broken leg, and disjoints everywhere. I’m guess a hidden Flygon mauled it underground to death and left the rest to scavenging Murkrows.” I mentally shuddered, picturing the entire scene. Sandra continued, “Ah, here it is.” She uncovered some of the sand on the bones, unveiling a small sack. So
that’s how they can travel around without getting poor. Currency travels everywhere in all sorts of ways; merchants profit from travelers, thieves profit from merchants, and travelers capture thieves on the run.
Although I’d love to stop there, I can’t.
A small light flashed from behind us, and a small red circle appeared on the sack. My sorcerer’s seal lit, revealing a spiritual presence.
“Drop the bag, now.”
Turning to find the source of the threatening demand, I saw an Arcanine, her body of uncanny size – larger even compared to other Arcanines I’ve seen before, greatly dwarfing even Sandra and Rayn – but elegant rather than bulky, her fur combed rather than matted, her features more rounded than what one normally expects of an Arcanine. Her right paw, pointed at the circle on the bag, glowed a dim scarlet light. I recognized the glowing, as past experienced informed me of its implications: the fourth known type of sorcery…
Elemental sorcery, contested to be the most convenient and useful sorcery – as it only requires energy that could be conjured at will, was something I was not capable of performing…
Only because my blasted mentor didn’t teach me! Heck, I could guess he was too incompetent to even perform it himself.
Sandra glared at the opposition, her challenging eyes demanding the reason to comply. Yet it was not Sandra who asked, but instead Quar. The Arcanine’s fierce face donned a grin of hauteur, keeping her paw in place, ready to blast some type of attack at the bag if the situation deemed it necessary to her.
“Too simple,” she began, “It is merely more reasonable to call stalemate and leave the bag alone, rather than expending your energy to fight me for it.” Unexpected to everyone (even to myself), I replied first:
“What of your inventory? What’s to say that you don’t have anything on you possibly worth fighting for?” Her head turned to face me and locked her eyes on mine. She lowered her paw, the glow of ir and the circular marker on the bag now gone, and straightened her back a bit. I expected her to walk away, but she caught me off guard instead.
“You’re Reagald,” she stated in the bluntest manner imaginable. Arceus, how could I even
think of responding to that without sounding awkward? Thankfully, Rayn moved the conversation along for me.
“Who are you?” The Arcanine chuckled cynically. Her entire disposition – so irritably condescending it was! – and appearance took up that of an upper end noble; her body was kempt; her movements and eyes, sharp; her tone, arrogant; her words, biting.
“Felicia,” she replied, treating the answer as a rather obvious one, her paw raking the fur behind her left ear. “Felicia” did seem to be a common name for a female Arcanine. She shook her head, her mane freely flowing in the air as she took her paw back down to her side, and I could’ve sworn she just ever so slightly tilted her head. With a hint of amusement, she added, “full-time bounty hunter.”
Darn it! I bet that’s why she recognized me! Yet, the whole situation held illogical events in it. Naturally, I attempted to clear them up.
“Why warn us? If you are confident in your skills, you would have just attacked in an ambush.” Her eyes glittered, faintly reflecting the moonlight; Felicia’s appearance did not change, but those eyes suggest laughter, inside mocking laughter. To be honest, I find it frightening how I could be reading her so clearly, and I thus wonder if she could be doing the same to me.
“I planned to have done that, yes. However – ” She paused for a moment of theatrical suspense. “I have decided against it. Even if you don’t know it, we actually have a common goal; I believe you know about Silver’s next target?”
“Me, correct?” She nodded.
“However, Silver is monopolizing the market: he takes all of the highest bounties, and kills even those competing for those he’s after. We’re all stuck with lower bounties while he profits more and more. Killing you would result in Silver going into pursuit after me, and even I cannot overcome him myself.”
“You’re looking for an alliance.” I concluded. Another nod from her. Rayn growled, stepping forward so that he was now in front, closest to Felicia.
“And why should we trust you? You could turn your back on us at any given time.”
“You want a guarantee? I’ll give you a guarantee. Catch.” She held out a sack of her own and tossed it underhand to Rayn. He caught it and opened the sack, looking at the contents of it. He then looked up at Felicia, eyes narrowed, but much more trusting, a strange bond formed from whatever was in the bag.
“… I didn’t recognize you.” Rayn at last came to remark. My ears perked up, ready to hear the rest. Felicia’s smile widened.
“I keep a low profile.”
“Rayn, what – ” Rayn cut Sandra off, turning his head to look at her, shaking his head slowly.
“It’s OK. We can trust her.” Sandra nastily responded with a glare, silently requesting for an explanation. Rayn held firm and looked back to Felicia. “What are you planning?”
“Nothing actually. I’ll follow you until Silver shows up. I believe you’re heading out of Kahan, no? Silver doesn’t travel out of Kahan to keep a firm clamp on his market, so if he doesn’t show up, then great. If he does, then I’ll help you take him down.” Wait a moment…
“What of his armor?” I questioned. She
scoffed.
“The rumors can’t be true. Most likely, he’s just fueling it defensive strength with sorcery of some sort. With enough power, it can be overcome.”
And what if you’re wrong, Felicia?
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“Very well, I say we get moving. Tokar’s only a day’s walk from here.” suggested Rayn. Several nods from us agreed with the notion. He nodded back. “Good. Let’s go,” he said, taking a step forward, near the skeleton, when Sandra cried out, “Wait!”
The sand in front of Rayn erupted, and a hostile Flygon leaped out, aiming for the Blaziken’s neck. In reflex, Rayn jumped back, claws barely missing him. The earth nearly shook as several more Flygons rose out of their hiding spots. With so many, it’s not a wonder how the poor Pidgeot couldn’t escape its fate (then again, I don’t really know if being a skeleton is “poor”; I’ve never been one myself).
”Scarlet Shot!” A familiar red circle appeared on the neck of the closest enemy, and a flash of energy emitted from Felicia’s right paw and instantly reached its target, exploding on contact. The struck Flygon cried in pain and tottered back as it fell to the ground, writhing, its neck burning, sizzling, from Felicia’s energy. The other Flygons lunged, and the fight truly started!
Sandra, being the second to charge at the enemy (Rayn was first as he was closest), unlatched the straps around her spear, moving it from her back to her hands in less than a second, quicker than how long it takes for most warriors to even pull out a sword. Quar, not far behind, covered the right flank, leaving the left open for Felicia to fire at, sniping Flygon after Flygon. I simply choose to watch the massacre, observing Felicia’s sorcery, seeing if it was possible to pick up the skill by mere examination.
However, the whole thing lasted two minutes, leaving a bloody mess of dead Flygons on the ground. I barely even picked up how she managed to summon the energy: it’s similar to using third sorcery, but rather than keeping the energy spiritual, it is converted into one of the known elements – in Felicia’s case, Fire.
Sandra picked up the dead Pidgeot’s bag, and looked at Felicia, who shrugged.
“Keep it. I’m coming along with you, after all.”
Rayn turned from the battle scene (the blood flowing out from all of them could have filled a small fountain by now) to look at us, shaking his head.
“Of course… they stuck around to lure anyone after spoiled treasures.”
“You didn’t know?” asked Sandra, slightly surprised at Rayn’s late revelation. To be honest, the thought never occurred to me at all; if I was to have walked forward like Rayn did, I would have surely not been alive after that. But as we would with simple dust, we brushed off the experience and walked on.
The rest of the journey to Tokar held no surprises. Felicia walked along with us, and we treated her as we would one another. As time moved on, our view of the city grew larger as the sun rose out of the horizon. As we approached the land, I put on the hood of my cloak to conceal my identity as much as possible.
In terms of size, Tokar almost matched Libren, its boundaries shaped in a square with rounded edges (due to large watchtowers, each one at a corner). Even with the high, imposing, fortified walls, you could spot the nobles’ palace in the heart of the city. You’d think it wasn’t that much different from Libren.
When you get inside, you’d think otherwise; the poverty jumped out at me when I got past the gates; starving children – weak and scrappy, as the skin was depressed to near nothing with the absence of fat – in the alley right beside me desperately fighting over a piece of bread. Many down the lane rested against buildings, wasting away as small streams of sand blew over them, slightly depositing small amounts at their side.
What manner of nightmare is this?
