[mystogan]

so i am trying to write as much as possible, yet not much enough. and with all the college work its even more difficult to get writing, but i'll try to write atleast little by little and try to update the story as often as possible.

for now , "Chapter 37: Reunion"

we are now in the final arc of the story.

Spoiler for Chapter 37: Reunion:

It was the third day after arwin’s training had ended and arystar had arrived at Talmar and met up with everyone else and arwin had still not arrived, he was late.

The next day, it was the first day of the festival and people could be seen going around doing preparations to begin the carnival at the evening. They were working on shops, stalls, games, decorations and various other events. This festival lasted for days and made great business for merchants and other shop vendors. People would specially dress up for it and enjoy the annual celebration. There was an aroma of various delicacies as they were being prepared at shops and merchants came from far places bringing many exotic items to sell. People made good money and spend it in the enjoyment of the carnival.

While the crowd of Talmar was busy with preparations. The now former guild mages were seated in the lobby of their inn. Arystar who had been out since morning to schedule the meeting with Ewen, as they were here on a job not holidays and still waiting for arwin to show up,

“where is arwin?, he is late” said erica

“you sure he dint runaway with his tail between his legs” said gus

Suddenly everyone could feel a heavy and powerful magic pressure in the surrounding, instantly they were on their guard expecting an enemy, there was a lightning strike at the center of the lobby and arwin appeared out of it.

“so you were saying something” said arwin

They were shocked to see him. He wore a black coat over a dark green V-necked shirt, he wore a strap that went over his right shoulder and under it to wrap around his left side that kept the coat on his torso in place while the rest under his waist fluttered behind him, black pants and boots. However his attire was not what surprised them,

“you…look different “said erica

“and you are late” said gilbert

“well it’s not like you are actually doing anything , other than sitting around and drinking” said arwin

“it seems you not only receive a boost for you magic but also your arrogance” said gus

“why, you weren’t expecting me?, you did feel my magic essence though, you feeling a bit insecure now” said arwin

“wasn’t the beating you took the last time enough?, looks like you could use more”said gus

“you are not one minute here and already getting picking fights, you haven’t changed at all, just the same arrogant brat” said gilbert

“why don’t you find out exactly how much I have changed” said arwin

“looks like someone needs a good beating” said erica

“bring it on, I’ll take all three of you at the same time” said arwin, that hit the last trigger

“you couldn’t be any more full of yourself. Alright then you have it, let’s go outside” said erica

In the backyard, as the inn was at the corner of the city it gave a big open area in its backyard where they stood in the field ready for a fight. While Fiora and Irena stood at some distance as spectators,

“tell me again, what are we doing out here. Cant those thickheads see we still have a job to do here?” said fiora

Irena chuckled, “well it wouldn’t be us if such fights don’t keep popping up every now and then”

Arwin stood in the middle, while those three surrounded him

“you sure you want to do this?” asked gilbert

“whats the matter, you getting cold feet now” said arwin

“oh you are so going to fall on your face arwin” said erica

“you asked for this!” said gus and charged

Arwin dodged and moving quickly got behind him, blocked fists from both erica and gilbert. They both were surprised at his fast reaction time, but till then gus was already on his next attack and with no place to dodge arwin blocked his heavy powerful fist head on. The force of the fist sent him sliding behind. But there was no damage as he countered it. From the side Erica leaped at him swinging her sword. Arwin ducked and hit her wrist, quickly twisting it and snatched the sword from her he turned around and deflected gus’s attack using the sword, gus stumbled forward, arwin quickly hit his face with the pommel. He stepped on his knee, then to his shoulder and jumped high in the air. In mid-air he turned and threw the sword at erica, which she caught easily, as soon as she touched the sword felt an electric shock as the sword was charged with his lightning.

In mid-air and vulnerable, gilbert attacked with his fire breath. Big stream of blue fire coming at him and now where to go, arwin charged his own body with black lightning. Gilbert cut off his attack and saw arwin was right there crouching under him, gilbert quickly enveloped his body in flames and arwin jumped back avoiding it.

“you are distracted” said erica, swiping her dual swords, he let himself fall backwards to the ground and the swords just sliced a strand of his hair. As he was on the ground on his back, gus leaped above from behind her and directly come down slamming on him, he immensely released his magical essence to cushion the attack. And gus slammed on him, breaking the ground under arwin, the ground shook and when the dust cleared. A small crater was formed under arwin with gus pushing him down while he was blocking but shaking. Gus grabbed him and threw him aside, he fell to the ground but steadied himself.

Arwin was feeling the effect of it, though it made no major damage. Once again they all stood face to face and they continued to spar. Irena noticed the immense improvement in arwin, he was now more aware of his surrounding, more agile and able to counter various attacks on him. He had worked hard and was now able to hold on against the three of them, which was a great feat for him as he would not have been able to win against anyone of them a few months back. The ones on the field were shocked to see arwin being able to fight back against them and he was a lot more powerful now.
At one point arwin was surrounded and they attacked with powerful magic at the same time. As they closed in to attack, arwin covered his entire body in black lightning and expanding it on all directions. They quickly stopped and leaped backwards.

“enough!” said arystar as he appeared from other side of the field, “we are here to fight against our enemies not each other”

“relax, we were just testing each other out” said arwin

“then if you are done, get cleaned up four of you. We have to get to work now” he said and they joined Irena and Fiora.

By now it was evening and they were going to a secret location, arystar lead them to a particular pet shop, arystar went to the shopkeeper and said,

“show me the best animal you have”

The shopkeeper said nothing but just nodded and lead him and others in, he took them to the inner chamber, there were even more various animals here in cages and in the middle was Ewen seated at the table, then the others also sat and settled in.

“again why are we meeting in this dump, it stinks here” said fiora

“I apologize for the location, but I am an invited member of the council of magi here for the events among the nobles. I have eyes on me and I cannot be spotted with a group of rogue mages.” he said

“look at that pair of monkeys , they are fucking as we speak” said erica

“if you would concentrate here, on our work instead” said ewen

“so what information do you have so far?” asked gilbert

“I have confirmed that the Belzarius the Archmage is the one behind this conspiracy, right now we do not have proof or the power to stand against him. Once we are able to expose him we can have the support of the guild masters and a fighting chance against him. Also your old nemeses are in town so watch out for them since they are working under belzarius. If he knows about us then they must be already looking for you.” said Ewen

“how come he has being doing all this on his own, he must have allies” said arystar

“he does, in the nobility. And one of them is Ricardo Ferenz the current duke of isengard. That is how he has been able to keep an eye on you” he said

“son of a bitch!, so after all belzarius and kevin were together behind the attack on us, back then” said erica

“yes and all the council’s high mages are in Talmar and there is no sign of Kevin anywhere” said ewen

“so what are we supposed to do?” asked arystar

“right now, you people stay hidden and blended among the crowd but be on your guard at all times. I reckon soon you will have to face them”

After discussing few other things about the festival and what they should be doing, they left the pet shop and walked into the crowd as one of the common faces. Ewen stayed there and as the last of them went out, a secret door between the cages behind him opened and Avaline walked in.

“you dint tell them about Vincent?” she asked

“not now, one of them has attempted to murder Vincent, telling them about him will cause disturbance among them “

The sun was setting and the city was coming to life, shops and stalls were opened also people performing many kinds of tricks and art. The atmosphere of the festival was up and the streets were getting crowded as people went around with excitement and celebration. The group just wandered looking around the festival trying not to attract any attention.

“we keep a low profile, we don’t want……” arystar stopped in middle
As they all stood directly in front of Rowena and her mages. Both groups stood face to face and the crowd moved on paying no regard. They were caught by surprised and for a few moments no one spoke but everyone was anticipating the next move. And then she broke the silence,

“fancy meeting you here” said Rowena

“I don’t see kevin anywhere” said arystar

“Kevin is dead, I am the leader of this guild now” she said

He knew this could not be true, she was definitely hiding something, but the authority and power she displayed in her voice made him worry as he was blind about Kevin’s status and location.

“if you are thinking he is hiding somewhere in the city with more mages, then let me save you the trouble its just us here” she said, “ I can also see this is all of your team”

“so what now?”asked arysar, “you want to start a war right now and ruin the festival”

“that would be too simple and no fun, let’s play a game”

Suddenly arystar and his mages vanished from the sight in the blink of an eye and they appeared somewhere on the high rooftops of the city. They stumbled landing on the roof and got a hold of themselves,

“what are you doing!?, we can take them right now!” said erica

“No, you think she would just show herself to us just like that” said arystar

“what do we do now?” asked Fiora

“if she wants to play, then we play a game with her” he said, “we split up in teams of two and search for them , they will be doing the same. We need to stalk them to their base of operation. We start right now but be careful that you are stalking your enemy and not the other way around and no matter what, do not engage in battle with anyone. Keep low and blend in the crowd. We end this now.”

and so they formed pairs and dispersed into the city. Irena and Arwin went together, they simply walked through the crowd keeping low and trying to spot their enemy, both had masked their magic presence. For another hour they kept at it,

“we are getting nowhere with this” said arwin

“stay patient” said irena, she noticed he was constantly looking around at every person and behind every structure, “you are getting too worked up about this, just relax a bit or you won’t be able to work properly”

“how can I not, what if we get attacked?”

“we won’t get attacked. There are noble guards around, they won’t dare take a risk of breaking out a fight in such a public place. Besides this is the carnival, you should enjoy the atmosphere at least.” she said

“I see, well if there is no danger of a battle then it wont hurt to look around a little”

For some time they covered more area scouting, but also indulging into the atmosphere of the festival, the stalls with exotic food, merchandise and entertainers.

“listen why don’t you find a vantage point and secure our position, there is a possibility that we might be getting followed” said Irena.

“but arystar said we should stay together” said arwin

“do you do everything he says, we have been just strolling around for hours we need to get some work done. And don’t worry I told you there won’t be a fight here in public, dint I. There.. ”she said, pointing at the top of the watch tower, “that’s high enough for you scout over a larger area”

“ok, but you stay here. I’ll get going then” he said and left.

He was gone from the sight, then after moment or two

“so you let the kid go. I commend you for your bravery, you decided to face me alone” said a man, now standing right behind Irena, having big and bulky physique.

“as you heard me there will be no fighting here, let’s move outside” said Irena, her expression and voice now stern.

Arwin had went off, as he turned a few corners towards the tower and came across a store of trinkets, just glanced over and something instantly caught his eye. He went in the store and asked for the locket on the display shelf. The locket had a thin chain of silver and the pendant made of white starlight was a three dimensional triangular shaped with a long pointy end downwards with hollow in the center that held an oval piece of bright emerald with thin metal lines caging it in. The ornament was quite expensive for arwin, but was also very beautiful and he might not get another chance to use the locket for what he intended, so he bought it and was back on his way to the watch tower.

(Arwin) I hope she likes it, I’ll give it to her when I get off the tower and go back.

Few miles outside the city on the barren land, Irena was ready to start the battle between the two guilds.

“My name is Uvo and I commend you for your bravery” he said, “you let the kid go and decided to face me alone, but it will end in your demise”. He was a big in size. One could easily see his physical prowess, even without magic he could just as easily fight only with his strength.

The dark power inside Irena was surfacing probably from her desire protect her friend or whatever it may be it was still a desire to kill and destroy, that is what her power was for, to kill. A dark aura surrounded her, her right eye was shining with a purple Iris. Uvo was able to sense the murderous intent behind her aura.

“you will die here” she said

They both powered their magic with powerful aura coming from them and then the battle began.