Tales of Vesperia RP

It begins ladies and gentlemen.

Halure, Three years ago
In a quiet peaceful town the citizens went about their daily lives without much worry. A silver haired man in red clothings with armored gauntlets and greaves marched into the town with a group of armored knights guarding a caravan. As the citizens whispered to each other one of the knights let out a sigh, "I can't believe we've only made it to Halure. I didn't expect the monsters to be so tough."
The silver haired man next to the knight responded, "It's usually more difficult to fight when you also have to protect cargo."
"Sir, are we sure that this cargo is even worth protecting?"
Of course it is," the silver haired man replied, "it's our mission after all."
"But if I may sir," the knight interjected, "no one has been able to use or even figure out what this is?"
"That's why we're headed to Aspio. Hopefully we can get some answers as to-" he was cut of by the sound of the townspeople gasping. The man turned his head and saw a small boy falling of a roof. In an instant the man moved to the side of the house and caught the boy. The boy opened his eyes to see that he had been saved, "Thank you sir."
"You should be more careful. Didn't anyone teach you not to play on rooftops?" The man asked set the boy down.
"I always sit on the roof," the boy replied, "it's the best place to watch that." the boy pointed to a petal flying by in front of the man's face. He looked up and beheld a large tree with hundreds of beautiful flowers blossoming, "I can hardly believe it's that time of year already."
"Commandant," one knight said, "the Sun is starting to set and we are already behind schedule."
The silver haired man replied, "Yes I know. Let's get a move on. We should at least try to make up some of the distance we've lost before setting up camp." The man and his troops marched past the boy and the large tree. The boy started hearing the townsfolk talking to each other:
"Was that really him?"
"Yeah I think so."
"Alexei right?"
"That's the one."
"Where do you think the Empire's sending him?"
"No clue, but it must be important."
"It has to be if he's going."
"You think there's gonna be a war?"
"Who knows?"
"I heard that-"
I didn't know it then, but that meeting would be the start of something great.

Halure, Present Day
A navy haired boy hummed to himself as he went over the contents of his bag, "Let's see, got my food. My tent and sleeping bag. My gels. I think that's everything I need."
"So your minds really made up on this isn't it?" the boy turned to see a blue haired woman standing at the door of his room.
"It is," the boy said as he picked up his bag, "I've waited long enough to start at least one adventure. Besides the sooner I leave the sooner I can come back right?"
"Most children here think swinging a stick outside the barrier an adventure."
"Most children here think too small. Chasing one's dreams is the greatest sign of one's spirit. Would you not agree, Mother."
The boy's mother sighed, "And dying for one's dream is the greatest sign of one's foolishness."
"It's no use Eliza," a dark haired man walked into the room, "sometimes a man's just gotta follow his heart."
"If you say so, I know when I'm outnumbered. Well then at least take this." Eliza handed the boy a long white scarf, "Just in case it gets chilly. And be sure to stay in touch with us."
"Yes ma'am," the boy nodded, "I'll send a letter every time I reach a city."
The man smiled, "You do that, son."

The boy stood at the exit of town waving to his parents and neighbors "I'll have plenty of stories when I get back." With a big smile he set off for his journey.
This is how it all starts. But the story is not mine alone.

"Brr..." Luciana wrapped some cloth around her. She knew it would be cold in Aspio, but not as cold as she was.

"You know," Said the youthful mage. "if you would like, helping me work on this may help warm you up a bit." He tinkered with some of the technology.

"No thanks." She responded curtly. I'm almost tempted to go outside the barrier. It's probably warmer outside these damn caves...She had recently arrived to Aspio after escorting the sage from the capital city. She was hired as a replacement for one of the knights that was re-assigned to a more important mission. The other knights had disbanded, but the sage requested she stay in Aspio, and offered a fairly large sum. She wasn't sure why he would need a bodyguard like her, but so long as she got paid she didn't care. Besides, who in Aspio would attack another mage? It's a do-nothing job for decent gald. And what else would I be doing? More escorts missions to the capital. There was a lot of that going on recently. Or, more than usual she noticed. Perhaps something was going on in Zaphias, but it didn't concern her.

It was hot and humid that night, the city was as active as ever and the same omnipresent orange tinge lit the side streets and alleyways. It was a severely shitty night, No women, No money, No booze and to top it all off he'd been kicked out of another guild.

This was the third Mercenary Guild to fire him and If this kept up he'd end up a chore boy for the god damn photography guild.

...

"Nah...not even the god damn photography guild would take me..."

He considered selling some gels for a room at the Inn but decided against it, one night of sleep wasn't worth getting killed cause you sold your healing items...

"Another night of sleeping on the streets I suppose."

It was a clear sunny day. Axel was walking down the roads of Nordopolica humming to himself enjoying the beautiful day. He had the day off of work at the weapon shop, so he was wondering what he would do with his free time.

"Maybe I can go fishing. Im running low on food and money anyways......." he said outloud to himself.

"Maybe you can get the hell outta here ghost freak!" a man shouted on the other side of the street as he threw a rock at Axel's head.

"Ngh!" he grunted as he rubbed his head. "Just like always.........." he said becoming sad and looking down.

"Why is he even here? I thought he died in the arena." a rich haughty woman said right infront of him to a man selling fruit.

"He was run through by a spear." the man told the woman looking straight at Axel. "He fell over in a pool of his own blood, and showed up a week later with no scars or anything."

"What a freak." the woman said.

"E-e-excuse me..............." Axel started to say to the shop owner.

"What? You dont want any food do ya? You cant. Ghosts dont need food kid." the man said sneering at him

Axel sighed and pitifully walked away sadly. "Why does everyone treat me like this? I didnt even do anything." Axel thought to himself

"......" After several hours of the mage working on his experiment, or whatever it was, Lucy wasn't interested, she finally decided to inquire about her position. "So what exactly am I doing for you right now?" She asked bluntly. The pay may be good, but she was bored out of her mind.

"Well, I know there's not much going on that's interesting for you, however, what I'm working on is rather important for the empire. So it's a precaution to have a bodyguard around. You're probably gonna end up doing nothing for the next few days, but I'd rather be safe than sorry." The sage continued working with his project. Lucy was sorry she asked. "Besides, it's nice to ave some company around, isn't it?" The sage smiled and glanced from his project to look at Lucy. The expression on her face looked as if he had said something completely irrationally disgusting. Er. What a scary lady.... "Hehehehe...." He awkwardly laughed.

"....Forget I mentioned it." She further wrapped the cloth around her.

"Um...you do know I use that to douse chemical fires, correct? It's for emergency use only."

"Shaddup." She snapped.

"Here you go son." a heavyset man with a large beard said to Axel as he handed him a pouch with 10,000 gald and some supplies for a trip.

"Thank you very much." Axel said with a timid smile on his face.

"So you've made up your mind about headin to Aspio son?" the man asked Axel as he polished an axe.

"Yes. I dont belong here. Im better off in Aspio. Maybe I can do something about using magic more effectively, even though I know its not what my parents would have wanted." Axel said looking down at his feet.

"Its not their choice what you do in life son. Even if they were still with us, it would be yours and yours alone." the man told Axel while patting his shoulder.

"You're right.........its just that I wanted to make them proud........." Axel started.

"Then stop bein so scared and do what you wanna do! Heck you may even meet a nice lady on your little journey!" the man said laughing loudly.

"I dont think so........." Axel said looking away. "Well, im going to get going now. Thank you for everything!" he said as he left the shop.

"No worries! You're my only nephew! My sis would kill me if I let you live out on the streets!" Axel's uncle said as Axel exited the shop. "You come back with some friends sometime you hear!?"



"First things first...........I gotta get a boat to take me to Capura Nor." Axel said looking at a map.

"Hey boy! You there!" a woman with glasses and pink hair shouted to grab Axel's attention.

"..huh??" Axel said looking up.

"You by any chance arent looking for a ride on a boat are ya?" she asked.

"Uhm.........yes............" Axel replied feeling nervous about the situation.

"Alright!" she shouted. "Y'see, we're a bit shorthanded on a crew.One of our men is in the inn now. Came down with some sort of disease we dont wanna spread among the crew y'know? Anyways, we gotta deliver some goods to Capura Torim, can you fend for yourself and a few boxes?"

"Why are you asking me.............im sure theres better people-"

"Im not done. We'll take you anywhere you need to get to after we drop off our delivery." the woman added.

"Really? I was going to try going to Capura Nor.........." Axel said looking at the condition of the boat behind the woman.

"Perfect! Lets go lets go!" the woman yelled as she grabbed Axel by the arm and dragged him to the boat.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh waiiiiiiiit!" Axel shouted as the boat began to leave the docks. "Nooooooooo!"

"This your first time on a boat kid? You're gonna love it! Name's Kaufman by the way!" the woman told Axel while holding her hand out for a handshake.

"A-a-axel." he responded giving Kaufman a weak handshake.


And thats how things started. Little did I know that I would be doing alot more than just dragging my feel to Aspio then back to my Uncle. So much was going on around the world that I was completely oblivious to.........but not for long.

"There. That should call it a day for now." The Sage said, covering his project with cloth to keep it unexposed to the elements. He patted off the dirt on his clothes and headed for his dinner table to relax.

"...So what are you working on anyway?" Lucy asked, curious.

"Ah, I'm glad you asked!" The sage said, his tiredness replaced with excitement.

I'm sorry I did... Lucy thought.

"For a while now I've been looking into Blastia cores. I made a request to work on a way to create a more compact core, while having the effects of the Blastia cores based in cities. What I want to create is that monster repellent effect from larger more powerful blastia, into a more compact form. This would allow for caravans to more easily pass from city to city, without having to hire several guards."

So, pretty much he's working on a way to put me and every other merc out of a job. I guess I could see how that would benefit them, so I can't exactly argue it...

"The issue is the lack of Blastia cores however..." He continued. "What I'm currently working on is a way to break apart a larger core, into smaller versions, while still retaining the ability and power they have."

"....I'm almost afraid to ask this, but how?"

"Well, theoretically, I would need to create a way to keep the molecular structure of the Blastia core, into the smaller cores. Doing that would mean having to replace the molecules after separation or, flood the original blastia core with new identical molecules. I'm not allowed to tamper with the blastia core in that way until I'm certain it would work. So I'm going to need another Blastia core. Ideally a smaller one so I can test the theory while minimalizing the dangers."

"....No way." She said, grasping her own blastia core on her wrist.

"Hahaha. I didn't think so. It would have made things easier though, so I had to ask." He leaned back in his chair. "Tomorrow I'm going to do some research at the study, here's today's pay. Feel free to do with it as you want." He tossed a pouch of gald over to her, which she caught.

"...I'll probably go buy a goddamn coat, it's so cold in this place." Lucy grumbled, heading out to grab food.

"What a charming young lady." The sage laughed.

"You'll be escorting a spice merchant from Dahngrest to Capua Torim."

Shaun sighed...after another night on the street he'd finally broken down and went to Fortune Market. Being an errand boy for a merchants was not something he was looking forward to but the pay was decent.

He headed for the pub to meet up with the merchant, maybe the man would be so pleased to have his services that he'd by him a drink.

Or not.

As he walked into the pub it wasn't hard to spot the man, he was the only one there so early in the day.

"Hello, I'm the Mercanry that was hired to escort you to Capua Torim."

"Hmmph, I ask for a guard and they send me a child? The nerve."

Shaun sighed again...something told him this was going to be a REAL pleasant trip.

"I'm back." Lucy said as she walked back into the sage's house. When she didn't hear a response, she got a bit worried, but saw that he had fallen asleep right where he had been sitting. "Tch. Geeze. Moron hires a bodyguard and falls asleep alone with the door unlocked." She turned around and locked the door behind her. She looked around the room and spotted the blanket she had been using. She tucked herself into a corner of the room, and wrapped the blanket around herself. "...It is rather late." She yawned. Soon she dozed off.

***

"Wake up..."

"Nngh...." Lucy felt someone stroking her hair. It felt rather soothing, but it was interrupting her sleep. Slowly she opened her eyes. "EH!?!" She screeched, seeing the sage hovering above her, an eerily gentle smile on his face. "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!?" She screamed and kicked him as hard as she could in the stomach.

"WAN JDSjfslkzfesijf szz!!!" The Sage screamed as the force of the kick sent him flying back, knocking over several books, tables, test tubes that were all scattered in his lab. "Ehehehe. Good morning Miss. Lucy!"

"Don't do that ever again." Lucy breathed heavily, her face red with anger and embarrassment.

"Only if you promise not to kick me like that again." The sage still had that cheerful smile as he laughed. "I apologize for waking you up like that," he began as he regained his composure and his footing. "But I'd like to get an early start today. Let's go out, shall we?" He offered his hand to her.

"...No thanks." Fully awake now, she rose to her feet.

"....Why not?" The sage asked.

"In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not a big people person. And no one would plan on attacking you in broad daylight in a crowded city like this, so you should be safe."

"Well, I'm not going out to the markets milady" The sage said. What the hell is this guy, calling me 'milady'? "I'm heading to the library. More than anything I'd like to have company around."

"No thanks."

"...I am paying you, you know?"

"You really want me to come with you, huh?" Lucy scowled. The sage nodded.

"It would make things simpler if you did. I may have to go somewhere where I'll need your assistance later on. So please...." He offered his hand.

"....Let's just go." She ignored his hand and walked out the door.

"Now, where to?" The boy scratched his head as he looked at his map, "Something big may be going on in Zaphias, but then again Aspio may have some new kinda discovery that might lead to..." He crossed his arms in thought, "I guess you can't just say 'I'm going on an adventure' and expect it to be instant huh?"

"...." Lucy, bored out of her mind, was reading a history book that she had found. Something about a war with mythical beasts, she wasn't too into it, and while she was reading the words, nothing really registered in her mind.

"Hm...I see." The Sage said. "Well, I think I'm done here for the day."

"Already?" Lucy wondered why she questioned this. "We've only been here for 2 hours. Don't you bookworms like reading stuff?"

"Heh. Not all of us are the same, you know? Most people consider mercs like yourself to be big hairy men with a taste for raw meat." The Sage got up from his seat and placed the book where it belonged. "And I found really what I needed. So I hardly need to spend more of our precious time reading here."

"So now what, then?" Lucy said, closing the book and tossing it into a pile nearby.

"Well, we need to get a blastia core of small size in order to test my theory."

"Wouldn't that take a while to get here?"

"Yes. If we were to request one from Zaphias."

"You know someplace else we can get one?" Lucy folded her arms.

"Indeed." The sage seemed rather proud of himself. "And it's the reason I hired you. You see, there's a mine nearby where several blastia were recovered. Since then, it's been mostly sucked dry, however, there are monsters in the mine, so it may be the case that one or two blastia are deeper into the mine, and the monsters kept people astray."

"You seem pretty confidant that there's more Blastia down there."

"I am. And, if I'm wrong, you still get paid to do what you're doing. I could handle the beasts myself, however, I'm not entirely physically strong. And it's always good to have someone to help."

"I see." Lucy's spirits were lifting. At least now she would get to do something. She didn't particularly enjoy fighting, but she didn't like sitting around and waiting for something to happen. "Well, let's go then."

"After you." The sage gestured. He spotted the book Lucy had been reading. "Hm." He grinned. "Ironic choice."

The boy stuffed the last piece of his sandwich into his mouth as he marched forward, "I guess if I'm really gonna go through with this I need to know what's going on in the world. And I know just the place to find out."

"Welcome to the Shaiko ruins, milady." The sage gestured to the surrounding ruins.

"...This place is a mess. You think we can actually find a blastia here?" She moved some rocks out of the way to try and clear a path to the ruins.

"Well, we have to go deeper into the ruins of course. And this is just the surface. The actual ruins are underground." The Sage said, leading her toward the entrance.

"Ugh. Underground?" Lucy groaned, realizing that it was going to be rather damp and cold in such a place.

"Indeed. I apologize for such circumstances. Though, I am paying you, so I hardly need to do such." The sage replied rather curtly.

"Let's just get this over with."

"The good news is that the monsters are rather scarce in the beginning of the ruins. And those that are there are rather weak. Bats and such." He stopped at a hole in the ground, a ladder sticking out of the top. "Here we are. After you milady."

"You're sending me down first to a dank dark cavern filled with monsters, and you're acting like you're a gentleman. Do you see anything wrong with that?" Lucy scowled.

"Would you rather I go down first and be able to look up?"

"...." Lucy started climbing down the ladder.

"Ah well." The sage shrugged and followed after her.

"Aw man," the boy moaned as he wandered through Aspio, "I thought I could get some good information if I came here, but no one will come out and talk to me. I just can't catch a break today. All I want is something I can start an adventure on: a lost civilization, an ancient doomsday weapon, that sorta thing. It's not like I was expecting an evil cult here." He sighed and looked up at a large set of ruins in front of him. He smirked, "Ruins, huh?" Ruins=Treasure, Treasure=Traps, Traps=Danger, Danger=Adventure.

"Heh, I guess you weren't totally useless after all." The merchant gathered his bags and headed towards the Fortune's Market HQ.

"You made it here in one piece old timer, thank me for that atleast." Shaun was severely annoyed at this point and wanted nothing more then to be back in the perpetually orange Dahngrest.

"Yes and just barely at that, I can't count the number of times I thought I was a dead man."

Shaun sighed...the old man had a point...he'd been neglecting training for a while and his skills were rusty to say the least.

"Hey old man...stay safe." He turned away from the Merchant and headed toward the Inn.

He'd have liked to head back to Dahngrest now but it was late and he was ill-equipped, he didn't like traveling at night either, especially without Apple Gels or Tents.

Besides the fact that trying to make a long journey like that on your own, without a Bohdi Blastia, was suicide.

"Maybe I'll meet a cute girl at the Inn..."

"...This place is rather dark...How are we supposed to see anything?!" Lucy complained as the sage hopped down from the last few steps.

"Don't worry. It gets lighter as you go in. There were no places to put lanterns in the first part of this cavern. And there's no monsters till the lanterns start showing up anyway." The sage lit a small fireball in his hand, illuminating the cavern. Lucy stayed close to the sage, trying to get as close to the warmth of the fireball as possible, without getting too close to the sage. "Here we go." The sage said, dispersing the fireball as they got to the first set of lanterns, a hollowed out doorway revealing a larger room for the ruins. Several small monsters skitted around, but none of them seemed to be too hostile unless approached.

"So..where now?" Lucy asked.

"This way." The sage put a ring on his index finger, pointed at a glowing orb on the other side of a gap. A ball of fire shot out of the ring and the orb glowed a greenish hue. A platform rose to fill the gap. "This is a sorcerer's ring. It's needed to get deeper into the caverns."

"Is that so?" Lucy asked, not interested.

"Here," He handed her a ring. "You might need one in case we get separated."

"...Thanks, I guess." She took the ring, only worried that if they got separated she wouldn't get paid. She felt a large pulse of mana sweep over her. "What the-?! Did you feel that?!"

"Hm? Feel what?" The sage looked back at her, surprised by her reaction.

"You didn't feel that pulse of mana?! It was huge!" Lucy was getting worried.

"Are you sure it wasn't your imagination? I didn't feel any mana, and I am a sage after all." The sage replied.

"You calling me a liar?!"

"No. But perhaps what you felt was rather a cold chill, then a pulse of mana. You do seem to be frail when it comes to that."

"...Alright, let's move on then." He had a point. And even if it was a large pulse of mana, she didn't know what it could mean anyway, so it hardly mattered. If the sage wasn't worried, it was likely she didn't need to be either.

"Awwwwww maaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnn" Axel said slumping over while slowly wadling off the boat. "That was the worst! Im never getting on a boat again!" Axel said squeezing his shirt dry of water.

"Sorry kid!" Kaufman said as she laughed. "I didnt think we were gonna get hit by a storm!"

"What about the freakin monsters!?" Axel shouted back at Kaufman.

"Well, monsters usually attack at sea. Good thing you're good with magic. you backed up Tokunaga pretty well kid" Kaufman said patting Axel on the shoulder. "Well this is your stop right? Here, a little something for your help." she said as she handed him a pouch with some gels.

"Th-thanks." Axel said blushing slightly looking away from her cleavage

"Hahaha! What an innocent little boy" Kaufman said patting Axel on his head.

"Hey!" Axel said embarrassed. "Im leaving now!" he said as he stomped off.

"Head through Emhead hill to reach Halure! Aspio is right beyond that!" Kaufman shouted to Axel as he ran off.

Quietly and carefully the boy made his way through the corridors of the ruins, Sure is dark in here. Not a speck of light to guide me, or warn me of traps.
...Perfect.

"Maaaaaaaan........." Axel said as he slowly walked towards Emhead hill. "Im so bored. Traveling alone is so boring. And scary." he said as he was frantically looking around himself almost every step he took. "I may get attacked by bandits or monsters or something, at least if I see them coming i'll be able to run before they get too close. Every second would count right???" he said to himself outoud while looking around again.

"Shit..." Lucy was starting to get worried. The large mana pulse kept repeating itself at an irregular pace. The sage, however, was completely calm, and didn't notice a thing. "You're seriously not feeling this?"

"Not at all." The sage said, rather chipperly. A bat came flying at them.

"Eeep!!" Lucy did a triple kick, sending the bat flying away from them.

"...That was rather overkill, wasn't it?" The Sage said.

"Sorry...I'm a little on edge...." Lucy wrapped the stray end of her scarf around her neck further.

"You're apologizing? To me? Hm...perhaps something is afowl..." The Sage was deep in thought. "No matter, we should be near the end now..." The sage took out his fireball again, illuminating the rest of the cavern. "Ah. There! The final orb. This should illuminate the cave." He pointed the sorceror's ring at the dim light of the orb, sending a fireball at it. The cave was illuminated.

"!!!!" Lucy gasped as she saw a large monster, a plant-like creature rooted into the ground, and angered by the illumination. It stared at her and the sage.

"Oh my. That isn't usually there." The sage said. The beast roared, and lifted a large rock with it's roots, and threw it at the sage, hitting him directly.

"Hey!" Lucy yelped, distracted. The beast roared again, and it threw another rock. "Ack!" Lucy barely managed to avoid it. "Damn...Ghost wolf!" She launched herself at the beast as fast as she could, slashing at it's mouth. The beast let out a roar, and slapped her away, unimpressed. Lucy felt the ground beneath her tremble. She dodged as roots came out of the spot she had been standing. A large thorn on one of the roots cut her leg, causing her to wince. She rolled to regain her footing, nearly falling from the pain in her leg.

"ARRRHHH!!" The beast roared again, and chomped down on her. She rolled again to dodge, and slashed at the beast again.

"Dammit! Nothing's working! I can't get a shot at it!" She winced. She had fought large beasts before, but not alone, and not in such a confined area. The monster attacked her once again. She stood her ground. "BEAST!" She knocked the monster back, and it hit the opposing wall. He shreiked. I can do this. She tightened the grip on her dagger. The ground trembled. She tried to move, but winced as the pain in her leg shot up her body. "Shit!"

"ROAR!!" The monster sounded victorious.

"TIME STOP!" Lucy felt the same pulse of mana she had been feeling. Immediately the beast was struck simultaneously with Fire, Wind, Ice, and Lightning spells. The Sage lifted her to her feet.

"W-what?! B-but-!"

"I am sage Marcus Hunter. Twenty one years old, and the youngest soldier to have served in the army. My skills in the war against the Entelexeia. Using this same power, I was able to take out 4 of them on my own....Not at the same time of course..." The Sage was rather smug about saving her.

What the? Wait! Those pulses of mana I was feeling were from HIM?! He can use that technique so many times?! ...More than that, he did it without any incantation..."You can stop time?"

"Yes. But only for a brief 10 seconds. Enough to deal massive damage to a weak foe like this." Lucy growled to herself, feeling indirectly insulted. "Still..." He held his hands out toward the monster, which was injured, but not finished. "Time to finish you off for good. DREADED WAVE!" The ground beneath the monster shook, pulsing mana through the beast as it howled in pain.

"..." Lucy watched in shock. She even felt some sympathy for the monster as it withered away. That kind of power...to be able to use it...This guy isn't ordinary...So why hire me?

"Now that that's done..." She felt another pulse of mana and Marcus was on the other side of the room. "Here. A blastia core, more than suitable for my needs."

"...Just like that?" She panted.

"Just that easy." Marcus grinned. The grin she had thought to be goofy before, unnerved her now. "Now let's head back, we should mend that wound."

"I can get it." She used her own mana to heal her leg. Her pant leg would remain torn though.

"I can sew those for you when we get back." He smiled.

"No thanks." She snapped.

"Good to see you're feeling back to normal." He started walking back. Lucy took one last look at where the monster had been and hesitantly followed him out.

"That was definitely a battle I heard," the boy sprinted through the now lit halls, "I just hope I have not missed too much."

Emi stretched as she entered the city of Dahngrest, crossing the bridge and entering the town proper.

"Ah the atmosphere here is so much different from Zaphias, I think I could get used to this." She took a deep breath, "It seems so much more alive, though you don't have the Empire influencing everything here." she looked at the barrier blastia that protected the city and stared in awe, "Wow that is one big blastia, though I wonder how you join a guild."

Cein relaxed as he began eating the food brought to him, of all the places in the world he loved to eat Dahngrest was at the top, the food was always top notch, though since he was dining at the favorite restaurant of the Don that might be why.

He glanced around at the other patrons, a couple that weren't eating were looking at him, "Probably another guild wanting to recruit me," he sighed taking a drink from his glass, "I probably should look into joining a guild at some point, but none of the one's that have tried really didn't catch my attention." he continued to eat his meal.

"...." Little was said between the two as they made their way out of the cavern. Lucy thought to herself about Marcus, and who knew what was on his mind.

"..Is something wrong?" Marcus asked. Lucy jumped, startled by the break in the silence.

"Er. No. Nothing...Just thinking..." She stammered.

"About what?"

"...Nothing important." She knew it was important to change the subject. "So, is that blastia going to help?"

"I hope so. Any blastia would do really, but this one suits my needs very well." He examined the blastia core in his hand.

"I see..."

Emi wondered through the markets looking at things the various guilds were selling, "Hmm, I wonder," she thought to herself as she stopped at an intersection, "Does one simply ask to join a guild or do you have to impress them." she continued to look around, "I'll worry about that later some of these stalls have some nice prices."