After getting arwin’s back fixed they returned to the guild that evening, when they were settled arwin gathered their attention, “there is something i want to show you” he said
He stood up and pulled out a book from within his vest, he carefully opened it to the required page and read a summoning incantation from it and held out his hand. A red-green magic circle appeared on the floor before them, it sparked on the corners with a small explosion of sparkles at the center a figure of a boy appeared out of nowhere.
“hey, you are that guy who brought arwin half dead after his battle” said Erica , “i thought you just went away on your way”, the person looked the same as he did that day in same clothing. Fiora noticed the book in arwin’s hand that said ‘Summoning Spirits’.
“you are a spirit!?”said fiora in surprise, “arwin, i din’t knew you were a spirit wizard”
“no actually i am not”he said, “that day this thing came out of nowhere”
“lucky for you this thing.....”said the spirit gesturing towards himself, “...saved your skin that time”
“does any know what is happening, he said that he was summoned in this world because of me and now i am his master, but i never learnt any spirit magic until now”said arwin
“i can tell you”came emily’s voice as she walked in and joined them
“it seems that there was a tear in the veil between this world and ‘the other world’, and somehow your magic essence resonated with that of this spirit and that why he got summoned where you were”she explained, “and its not very uncommon for such magical things to happens among wizards, is your case you have a spirit in your service even though you are not a spirit mage”
“what is your name?”asked gilbert to the spirit
“oh, i don’t think any of you humans are even a slightly deserving to have the knowledge of my name”he said, “but as is the way of you humans, for now you can call me Zaros”
“well Zaros, how about i beat the crap out you and then you can talk with some respect”said gus
“you can try but, it will only end with your face under by foot, begging for mercy”
“enough! stop it!”said arwin
As everyone was curious to see such an unusual event happen, they asked even more questions
“you are a man or a woman”asked Erica
“you humans are so low minded, the spirits are not classified by our bodily structures, as we can change our appearance, we are differentiated by our essence, i am a high level greater spirit”
“you can change your appearance into anything?, can you show us?”asked arwin
“as you wish”said Zaros, and then he melted into pure aura, the aura swirled in mid air and then reformed into another being, the aura started to shine and then a woman appeared in front of them.
The woman was beautiful, she had long brown hair and fair skin, she wore a long thin skirt with side slits and a blouse that adorned her bosom and showed a deep cleavage, she was bare feet and her dressing over all high lightened her curves.The men were looking with wide eyes and jaws dropped.
“as i said you humans are low minded and focused on outer appearance” said the spirit, in a voice like the sweetest melody.
As the guys were staring at her, suddenly the spirit hissed and long bat like wings came out from her back, her canine grew out of her mouth and her tongue extended out like a snake and a long tail came out from behind. Suddenly the guys were repulsed by the horrific creature and the spirit reformed back into its original appearance of a boy.
“well that completely turned into something else”said awin, he read something from the book again and waved his hand, the spirit melted into aura again and then disappeared into thin air.
“so what should i do now”he asked
“first of all, place some safety measures, it is known that spirits tend to attack their masters when their guard is low, like in sleep or when distracted by something else. ‘cause if their maser is dead they are free from their bond and can return to ‘the other world’”said emily
“oh i see and what is ‘The Other World’”asked arwin
“it is said to be a different world in parallel to ours where spirits reside, there they exist simply as essence and have no physical form”she said
“well then i guess i better start studying about spirit magic”
“i could help you if you want”said emily
“really?, that would be a great help”he said
Emily further told them about spirits, they lived for many centuries and when summoned in this world they come across changes throughout history and time. Told them about some of the great spirit wizards and also some great blunders they did that got them killed by their own spirit in service.
.................................................. ...........
The next day....
“so how goes the spirit magic training with emily” asked gilbert, as he, arwin and fiora were strolling through the city bazaar, where today was a special day when merchants and artisans from far places came to the city to sell their items.
“its not really a training, she just helped me with a few things from the books”said arwin,“apparently you have to be careful while commanding your spirit, so that it does not backfire on you.”
“then you better be careful that spirit of yours won’t come back to bite you in the ass”he said
“hey guys there it is”said fiora as they came to street were stalls and stores were lined up. There were many different merchants selling many different things like, rare flowers and fruits, small creatures in cage like a chimera rat or a flaming serpent, perfumes and other cosmetics, spices, jewellery and many other things. Fiora’s eye caught the attention of a small store at the corner of the street.
“look i think its her”said fiora pointing toward it.
“what’s that?”asked arwin
“its a fortune teller, we met her last year as well, let’s go”she said
“no thanks”said gilbert, “ last time she said i would be greeted by mysterious creatures and the next month i was attacked by a swarm of blood sucking bats, clearly she doesn’t know the difference between a greet and an assault”, both of them started laughing at the gilbert’s incident.
“oh come on, that had nothing to do with it, what she says isn’t all that real, she said to me that i will meet the love of my life and here i am, but its fun to know what she comes up with. How about you arwin?, who knows what will she tell you”she said
(Arwin) if what she saying true and the fortune teller can really tell my future, then if i am ever to engage Vincent again, i can get a clue for how to reach him. But fiora is saying its not always true the same way.......but its worth a shot.
“umm, ok”
They went to the fortune teller’s store, it was a small place tucked between a building and high wall, that separated the market district, it only had a single door in the front wall and no windows, first fiora entered. On the inner side she moved the drape at the entrance and walked in, inside was dark dimly lit with a small alchemical lamp floating at the ceiling, the room was decorated with exquisite curtains and other accessories and had a scent of herbs, she sat at the table and on the other side was drape of silver strings, a woman appeared from behind it.
“hello, my name is Bethy, how can i help you?”she said, she was a middle aged woman, she was dressed in dark green robes, the part of her robe from her arm to her wrists were transluscent, her abdomen was exposed and had slits from her thigh to all the way down to her feet, she had various jewellery on her, like a metallic arm band braided with a jewel, various kinds of rings and piercings in her ear and her naval. She came and sat at the table infront of fiora.
“i hear you tell other people’s future”she said
“indeed, i can tell your accurate future in form of verse, there are many ways in which that can come true, but will happen for sure, for a simple amount of fifty crowns”she said
“ok”she said and took out her pouch and counted five coins each worth ten crowns out of it and put it on the table, Bethy picked up the coins and placed them under the table.The fortune teller, took her hands cups her hands into hers and closed her eyes, after a few moments she opened and let go.
“your shop will have a strange visitor, half angel half death bringer. Before the secrets are revealed, old friends will meet and the empire will fall but survive.”she said
“empire will fall?, is something going to happen in the city” asked fiora
“i cannot tell, it may refer to something else, it could also mean something minor but also major”
“is it life threatening?”she asked
“it is nothing threatening to your life”said bethy
“well it will survive, so may be its not anything big even if its serious”she said
“may be.”
Fiora got up and walked out, while the fortune teller kept seated, a few moments after excited arwin walked in, he first looked around and then his eyes caught the attention of the lady before him, arwin was suddenly speechless by her beauty and simply stood infront of her.
“sit child and i will tell your accurate future for a price of........well your friend had already told you hasn’t she”she said, arwin placed a small pouch on the table, she picked it up and weighed it to check that it had the complete amount, she placed the pouch below and arwin sat infront of her.
She did the same procedure with arwin, but it took a little longer for her with him. Suddenly her eyes opened with a shock, she suddenly opened her eyes in a shock and drop of sweat ran down her forehead and she started to breathe heavily. She placed his pouch back on the table,
“i am sorry i could not see anything, take your money and you may go”
Arwin was first surprised by such a reaction but she figured it out that she definitely saw something, he pushed the pouch towards her,
“tell me what you saw, i must know it”
“i am not the messenger who delivers bad fortune”
“well, i don’t care”he said and then placed another pouch of the same weight on the table, “please, it is very important to me, no matter what it is, i must know”
“alright”she said and plucked away both the pouches, she asked arwin to lean in closer and took his hands in her again. Then she opened her eyes and the pupil expanded completely over the iris.
“your shop will have a visitor who will guide through the path of thorns, you are sure to lose some tools but know how to use them, it is that your tools will be helpful, but sometimes the tools are faulty. But before the secrets are revealed the empire will fall but survive, you however continue to walk, for your path has the same end as that of an autumn flower”, when she was finished, she closed and opened her eyes again but arwin was already gone.
The trio then roamed the rest of the bazaar, seeing all kind of stuff and tasting some rare delicacies, by the time they were returning the sun had started to dissolve in the horizon.
“so?”asked fiora to gilbert
“so what?”
“aren’t you gonna ask what she told me?”she asked
“no, not interested”he replied
“what about you arwin?”she asked
“well, she said that i must strive hard and be supportive to my surrounding and that i may even find my love...”he chuckled, “...as if that’s going happen just like that”, fiora joined in the laugh
“ya she told me that the way of my magic is hard ,but i will find success in it and the people around me will be benefitted from it”she said as they continued to laugh.
(Fiora) ‘the empire will fall but survive’, usually her predictions mean the same thing but go the other way, like it happened with gilbert, but whatever happens ‘it will survive’ so it’s probably nothing major or life threatening to anyone. May be i am unnecessarily thinking too much about it,....i guess........
(Arwin)if what she told was truth, then i must find someone who will help me, .......wait a minute, i think i already have..........it’s emily, she is helping me with my magic. So its probably true, but what is the empire and the tools..........
As they lied to each other continued to keep up the fake smile, their thoughts said something else entirely.
....................................
At a distance of a few miles from the isengard a hill, from where the city could be seen gleaming lively with lights in the night, stood Kevin Flameheart, the guild master of Dragon’s Peak, beside him stood Rowena, both were dressed in their respective combat armor and gear. They watched over the city.
“our forces are ready?”he asked
“yes master”
“its about time i visited my old friend”