Prologue: The Curtain Opens
"More powerful than the will to win is the courage to begin." ~Unknown
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This is a story about a girl, age twenty-three. This girl, Amy, grew up in a sprawling village that could probably be called a city by some, if they thought it was big enough. There was a school in the village, for... talented people. Not many people made it into this school, but Amy made it. She made it by working hard, for her mother passed away when she was young, and her brother Miles was often found with his nose stuck in a book, or his gloved hands curled around flasks and various other items of note to an alchemist. The point is, Miles was always working, and hardly ever had time for his kid sister. On the occasions when they did see each other, Miles was only ever interested in his sister's progress in her schoolwork.
The schoolwork, incidentally, was the study of magic, for Amy was studying at the Wrightia House and Academy for Magicians, Mages, and Yetis. Most of the students simply called it the Whammy House or the Mage School. Thus, the typical greeting between Miles and Amy was something very similar to the one that our story opens on:
A road in the middle of the city. The sun sat high overhead, blazing down on the people below. But none of the many passers-by feel it, thanks to the climate-altering mages posted around the city.
"Amy. How're your studies at the Wrightia House and Academy... the House going?"
"Fine, bro... I just passed the final test for mastery of the Fire spellset."
"Ahh, impressive. Although it makes me kind of sad. I had always imagined you as an Illusionist, using the powers of Phantasm to your advantage..."
"Oh, really? You're in luck! The Fire spellset has a branch for Illusionists, and it really caught my eye," Amy said, grinning ear-to-ear.
"Ahah! That's good. By the way," he started awkwardly, looking around at the people passing by to make sure no one was looking, "do you still-"
She knew exactly what he was going to ask, and had surreptitiously pulled aside a part of her pink robe to reveal the tiny red diamond on the gold chain resting above her green jumpsuit while he was looking around. "Yup! Still got it. Why...?"
"I don't know. I've just had a bad feeling lately, and wanted to... make sure the family fortune was still with the family, you know?" He was nervous about the subject, and he did not hesitate to show it by pulling at his collar and looking around even more often, blatant anxiety showing on his face. Thankfully, his and her saving grace was close at hand.
"Amy Lancaster, what are you doing? We need to go!" Amy's friend, Axia Fenrusher, a thin, athletic, pink-clad fighter with an affinity for axes, made her way over to the siblings. She usually went with Amy around the town after Amy was finished with school, because the Wrightia Academy for Magicians, Mages, and Yetis ended classes about the same time as Axia finished her training. The classes ended around mid-day, which left the girls ample time to explore the town.
They still did this mainly out of a sense of tradition; the girls had been friends since Amy's early childhood (Axia was four years Amy's senior), and thus the town had been thoroughly explored. Any time an expansion was added, it was promptly and thoroughly investigated. Thus, there was no part of Wrightia that the girls did not know everything about. Likewise, everyone in Wrightia who had been there for longer than a month knew the girls. They weren't hard to notice, with Amy's pink robe, and Axia's pink armor and hair.
But today there was someone who didn't know them, a mysterious man in a brown jacket and a red bandanna who actually passed by them, headed straight for the The Magical Tavern of Doom, a place run by a kindly man known as Lloyd "The Tricky Turkey," who was rather taken with the idea of laughing at every single unexpected phrase. This worked well for him, as there's many an uncommon saying to come by in a tavern. As the girls walked in after the mysterious man with the red bandanna, they were not surprised in the least to hear Lloyd's familiar booming laugh, and an incredulous voice saying "That wasn't the joke! There's more to it than the donut being thrown into the sea!"
The man in the red bandanna strode straight to the counter, asked for a mug of ale, then finished the joke, spinning a riveting tale about lobsters' insides and married couples. "That really wasn't very funny," Axia said to Amy under her breath as they approached a table within earshot of Bandanna Jones, as they'd decided to call him. "But he's a really good speaker, not to mention an incredible sight," she added, sighing and staring wistfully.
"Just give it up now, Axe," Amy said, turning to face her friend. "He's probably at least ten years older than you."
"Well, I'm forty-one, so I'd say it's probably more like fourteen years older," spoke a powerful voice from behind Amy. She looked behind at him, and her jaw dropped involuntarily. When she pulled her stare away from him, she found Axia making the same face, although she was making the face for a different reason-how could he know exactly how old she was? Amy figured this out too, eventually, and looked back up at the man, who had a beautiful amused expression on his face.
"S-sir, how'd you know-" Amy started, but Axia jumped to her feet and practically vaulted over the table into the man, nearly spilling the ale he had in his left hand.
"How'd you know my age?!" She grabbed onto him and tried to shake, but really ended up just messing up his jacket, because he stood like a rock where he was.
He took little offense to the ruffling of his jacket. "Well, it's a palindrome. I'm forty-one, and fourteen would make it a palindrome, so I figured why not guess it?"
"It has to be more than that," Amy said, turning around, then jumping up suddenly to go get a drink from the bar. She knew Axia would appreciate the alone time-until she was brutally shot down. "Could I just have a light one?" she called to Lloyd.
"Sure thing, Amy. Liking that newcomer, I see. His name's Johnathan Sallant. He doesn't seem your type." That Lloyd was able to determine her 'type' worried her slightly, until she realized that anyone in town could probably do so. But, worries or none, he was right.
"Yup. And I think I like Bandanna Jones better. It suits him," she said, although in truth she really liked his real name. She cast a glance in his direction, saw Axia getting close to him, using every trick in the book for 'hot new guy' situations. She also saw Johnathan's blue eyes seeing through Axia's actions, his arms on her shoulders, him looking earnestly at her-denying her earnestly, rather, but-and this interested Amy greatly-doing so in such a way that Axia was still smiling in the end, because of his honesty-or maybe she was still lost in thoughts of him.
He did look pretty good, she had to admit. He had a rugged look about him, with his black hair slid back and out of the way, and an as-yet unshaved goatee resting on his face. She half-expected it to be gone tomorrow, but she also half-hoped it would still be there tomorrow. But why were her thoughts wandering? She didn't need a man in the first place, and like Lloyd said, he wasn't her type. She turned back to Lloyd. "You're right."
"Huh?" Lloyd looked up at her from a spot on the floor where he was cleaning up a glass he'd dropped in a spasm of laughter. "Oh, yeah, right. I told you, huh? Anyway, did you hear what that guy said? Something about a codfish..." This was the point where Amy put down her drink loudly (Lloyd kept talking) and walked back to her friend. "A codfish? Get it?" More booming laughter.
"Mr. Sallant. New in town, obviously. My name's Amy Lancaster, I'm the only daughter of the late Judy Lancaster - a famous researcher. Maybe you've heard of her?" It wasn't quite the truth: Amy had a sister who ran away about ten years ago.
"Oh, yes. The one who died after discovering a huge artifact in the ground? I've heard of her. My condolences for your loss," he said with a solemn look.
"Thank you, sir, nice to meet you too," she said, brushing off the statements about her late mother. "Anything you're looking for in Wrightia? I might-no, I will be able to find it for you.
"Actually, I'm looking for work." He pulled aside his jacket to reveal a gun on his hip. "Are you planning to travel anywhere any time soon? I hear the roads are getting more crowded these days-with monsters and thieves alike. I could protect you on your way."
"Hey, we could handle ourselves!" Axia blurted, reaching down to grab one of her hand-axes from its loop on her pants. "I'm a skilled fighter, and Amy's a masterful mage!" She shouted so loudly that, if the patrons of The Magical Tavern Of Doom weren't already well-acquainted with the girls, they would've gotten suspicious, and probably tested the girls' skills. Luckily, they were indeed all acquainted with the girls, so no testing was required. Lloyd's laugh boomed out again.
"I'm sure you could," Johnathan said, laughing a bit himself. "But I still need money-maybe I could add to your abilities? I'm also good at first aid, the new physical medical art." He turned to face Amy. "It looks to me like that's not your specialty." She shook her head to confirm his observation. "Well, then, how about it? Going anywhere any time soon?"
"Actually, n-" Amy started, but she was cut off by Miles bursting into the tavern shouting her name.
"AMY!" He scanned The Magical Tavern Of Doom quickly, ignoring Lloyd's chuckles of greeting, finding his sister quickly by her bright robe. He dashed to her, ignoring Johnathan, panting. "We've got to go!"
"What? Where-" He was already pulling her out of the bar.
"People are at the gate. Travellers. Nasty ones. They've been violently interrogating people about your pendant." He nodded at her chest. Johnathan tensed visibly, reaching toward his hip and running outside.
"I won't let another person lose their home to lowlife scum..."