Ludere online

“Please take a seat.” The warden said, motioning to the chairs in front of his desk as he moved to sit behind it. “Food and tea should be here shortly, as should your clothes and gear.”

“One moment while i get out of this get up and back into my gear now that we’re not dealing with shades.” aviva said padding from the room.

the warden nodded and turned to level his eyes on Pag. “You are being released. Your record cleared so long as you stay out of trouble for the next three months. Even with the excess time you spent after your group was taken you still had time to serve however with the amount of fruits and their quality you brought back it was more than enough to fill your quota and theirs as well. Once any travelers from your group have re-spawned then they too will be released. I can’t say if any of them were in fact travelers, it isn't something that is included in their files and is something we have to figure out for ourselves. Painfully little is included in their files, usually just their name, their crime and the sentence. Don't worry though, you can rest assured if any were not travelers their families will be given the blood money they are due. Normally we wouldn’t carry over the value of what is gathered to other party members who died on their shift but in this instance I have been authorized to do so. Once you have eaten and your clothes have been returned then I am authorized to provide you with a single use teleportation talisman of your choice for any of the major cities in the kingdom of Draggor.”

A lithe figure wearing pale grey robes, a rapier and dagger strapped to her hip, sauntred in and pag did a double take.

“Then I can return to the capital? I was in the middle of trying to go to enlist in the core when I was ambushed by those thugs. I’m trying to gain citizenship and figure that doing well in the core could be the fastest way for me to do that.” Pag asked as he rubbed the back of his neck, flushing at his reaction.

The warden smiled, his eyes lighting up. “Yes, I think we can do you one better though. We can drop you just outside the core gates if you don’t have any other matters you need to tend to. Hows that sound?”

“That would be perfect and greatly appreciated.” Pag grinned weakly as he leaned further back into his chair.

“Wonderful! Aviva was already going that way to report in to her superiors so it’ll be easy enough to send you along with her.” The warden said looking between the two of them.

Pag blinked rapidly at the warden as he parsed out the words then turned. He rolled his eyes at the smug smirk she gave him and shook his head before turning back to look at the warden. “Didn’t recognize her without the cloak. It kind of hid her face while changing her voice.”

“Surprised Someone like me could be such a good fighter?” She crooned at him with a mock pout.

He scoffed, leaning on the arm of the chair to look at her out of the corner of his eyes. “Why would I be surprised at you for being a good fighter anyways?”

“Because I’m a woman” she snorted.

“Your point? I know plenty of beautiful women who can kick my ass with no problem if they wanted to. Not every man is physically strong and not every woman is weak. Everyone has their own talents and skills that they excel at. Heck just look at me, I’m not even remotely talented in martial matters. It’s kind of why I wanted to be a spell caster. That and the books.” He shrugged glancing back at Aviva.

She stared at him for a long moment with an unreadable expression then smiled. “Well, at least you have some common sense. Its rather refreshing, too many travelers just don’t get that.”

Pag frowned, any reply he may have made quickly cut off by the door swinging open as it was kicked in. The door bounced off the wall and came to a shuddering halt as the hinges squealed. A hulking man slid through the doorway with a sheepish look, his hands holding Pags clothes and a covered tray. “Sorry about that. Brought the food and clothes. Jam says were out of tea leaves so no tea. Sorry.” He sat the tray on the wardens desk then handed Pag his clothes. He glanced anxiously around the room he looked at the warden who gave a small nod and he scurried from the room, pulling the door closed behind him.

The warden sighed, kneading his brows. “I’m going to go see if any of the residents have any hidden tea or brews. There is literally no amount that they can pay me to drink the water here without being boiled and filtered through tea leaves or mash.” He said standing and placing a single leaf of paper on the desk. “This is the talisman that will get you to the core. Aviva, you know how to activate it. If I don’t get back before you leave then The next time I see you young man it better be for you to be serving a term of volunteering a round. Good luck.”

Aviva waited until the warden had pulled the door shut behind him before lifting the cover of the tray and turning to him with a frown. “I suggest that we wait to eat until we get back to the capital. You’re definitely not going to like this and even if by some freakish chance you did you’d end up hurling it the moment we stepped out of the rift. I don’t think you want the other mages first impression of you to be you throwing up on the lawn.”

Pag grimaced. “Yeah, I think you’re probably right on that. Do I want to know what that is?” he asked pointing at the covered tray.

Aviva shook her head and picked the piece of paper off the desk. “Better if you don’t. Trust me. Here, take my hand. Ill get us to the core, they’ll have food for us. Mages there are always coming and going on jobs or keeping odd hours while researching.”

Pag stood with a nod and took her hand in his. The paper lit up with scrawling lines of glyphs and runes then burst into flames so intense he squeezed his eyes shut. A cool wave rushed over and through him, leaving a trail of gooseflesh in its wake.

Aviva snickered beside him and dropped his hand. “You can open your eyes now, or were you trying to keep the your record of waking up in every new place you go to? Should I knock you out before you open your eyes?”

Pag opened his eyes and watched her walk for a moment debating silently to with himself on whether he should follow her and if that last bit had been meant as an insult. Finally he gave a small sigh and shook his head trudging after her. “I thought you guys said this would drop us off right in front of the core?” He grumbled as he looked around, noting the setting sun.

“It was supposed to but it was a beginner ranked talisman. The mathematical equations for its destination must have been incorrect. We’re not far though, it could have been worse.” She called over her shoulder.

Pag resolved not to ask how much worse it could have been and to look into learning out to make talismans. Magic objects that took mathematical equations sounded like it'd be right up his alley. They walked in relative silence, the darkness around them beginning to slip from the cracks and crevasses around them as the sun began to dip lower in the sky until finally they came to a small gated opening where two men in rich blue robes stood stiffly. Their eyes were fixed straight ahead down the broad avenue they had been walking up. Each had a thin blade strapped to their waists that seemed to emit a pail silver light that fell in thin motes to the ground where they faded from sight just before touching the uneven cobblestones.

The one nearest them clutched a long thin rod of a golden yellow wood in his left hand, both ends capped in a gleaming silver metal. The one on the other side loosely held a thick coil of rope that appeared to be studded with bits of metal in his right hand.

They stood there a moment, the shadows growing longer around them and Pag cocked his head to the side. “Well, we came all this way, be a shame if we didn’t go in. Is there like a secret phrase or something we need.” he asked turning to Aviva.

She shook her head. “They just like to look menacing when the get the chance, especially when a potential new recruit shows up. It’s about the only amusement they get at this station.” She snorted holding her hand out to him. “What sort of magic do you prefer? Have you thought of any sort of subclasses, professions or specializations you want to look into?”

“Fire?” He said simply as he eyed the guards, neither of them moved to stop the two as they passed through the gates. He nearly stumbled into her as she missed a step and threw a quick glance back at him.

“Really?” she asked, her voice was slightly different in a way he couldn't quite place. “Thats it?”

He nodded, mentally kicking himself since she was looking away from him, and cleared his throat. “Yeah. How about you?”

She turned to him abruptly with a smile as she pulled him further along. “I’m a healer primarily but I’m also training to learn the elementalist class as well.” She said as she came to a stop in the middle of the courtyard and pointed off to the main building. A few people clustered around the door, looking to enlist even at this late hour.

“There is where you will sign up, that’s for the elemental or attack based magic classes. They’ll ask for a small demonstration to get an idea of what your talents look like before signing your contract. You are allowed to take a short interim period to get all your affairs in order after you sign the paperwork and get your allotments. Allotments include your assigned room, your uniform, your first stipend and enlistment slip. The enlistment slip acts as your room key, badge of office for any ranks you gain, identification and tracks your contribution points you earn on sanctioned jobs and quests. Jobs and quests are posted in the main hall, but you can’t accept any until you serve your first full term. Term length is dependent on who takes you as an apprentice, some have an introductory training period of three days some take as many as five years and terms are always the same length as the training period, hence why you get a stipend. If you need anything, any help or anything, have questions or something then message me. Id stick around for your testing and wait with you for your master but I need to go and give my report.”

She let his hand slip from hers and turned walking away from him, shooting a smirk over her shoulder as she went. Pag watched her go for a moment, shaking his head with a grin, before turning to the door she had indicated. A young girl in a long skirt ran across the courtyard, a small orb of golden flames licking at her palm as she hopped up and lit the torches and braziers as the cool shadows slid off the buildings and from the trunks of trees as the last of the sun's rays died on the horizon. The sound of a chime reached his ears and a notification window popped up as he moved further within the walls of the core.

Pag waved the window away and looked around some more as he approached the entrance. The last of the days heat radiated from the walls of the large squat buildings around him but a new sort of heat flooded out of the door that he approached. A raging fire danced in a large stone bowl that sat in the middle of the room surrounded by tables. Tapestries depicting odd symbols hung heavily from the walls between large stained glass windows. A wide desk piled high with paper and books sat just inside the door, a gaunt and tired looking young man sitting behind it.

Pag cleared his throat and waited for man to look up at him before speaking. “I’m here to for the core”

The young man gave a long sigh and stood, pulling open a drawer and pulling out a thin flat disk. “This will assess your aptitude. Run some mana through that rune there to activate it. You’ll feel a bit of a tugging sensation, don’t worry that’s normal. It’s just testing the depth of your mana pool and any affinities you may have. Once that is done you will take it to that group of masters over there, they will ask you to demonstrate any skills or abilities you may have. After that is done you will be offered an apprenticeship with at least one of them, if you accept it then you sign the paperwork. If you don’t like what is offered then you can leave to hone your skills on your own and try again later. If you decide to try again on another date then remember you must wait a minimum of six weeks before you will be allowed to apply again.” He sighed again handing Pag the disk then sitting back down.

Pag stared at him for a moment then shrugged and put his finger on the rune, pushing his mana into it. There was a sharp tugging sensation and the runes on the disk lit up in slow succession until all but the last one was illuminated. Slowly every rune took on a deep red tinge until the tugging sensation stopped. He stood there waiting to make sure there was nothing else then shrugged and padded over to the table where eighteen people sat speaking in low conversation. A looming shadow moved to intercept him and Pag craned his neck up to meet their eyes. In front of him stood a tall powerful feline, wrapped in a gauzy silver toga like robe. The very large bipedal solid black tiger stared down at him with a cold indifference that sent a chill down Pag’s spine. Pag felt his jaw slowly fall open as he stared into the golden eyes.

Rumbling laughter filled his ears and he mentally shook himself swallowing hard. “I’m here to sign for the core.” he said quickly.

“I had assumed, but you know what they say about assuming. What class and affinity do you have?” The voice was deep and rich, reverberating in his chest like. The voice was vaguely amused and warm despite the coolness of the eyes.

“Uh, mage, no subclass and just fire I think. Well that’s what kind of spells ive been casting and I think that's what the red runes mean.” Pag said rubbing the back of his neck as he held the disk out.

The black tiger grinned toothily as he took the disk from Pag.“Hmn. Good, though we will need to do some work no doubt. Demonstrate?” He asked, waving his hand in a circular motion.

It took Pag a moment to realize what the tiger had meant by the last bit though he still puzzled over the first. He held his hand to the side and shook it slightly summoning a small gout of flames. Then with a flash of inspiration he took a deep breath and pushed out a plume of flames out as if he were breathing fire.

With a small frown the tiger leaned in to look closer at him. “Interesting, no incantation. I bet with enough training you could even do that with no movement.” The tiger continued to mutter to himself as he padded around Pag inspecting him thoroughly, muttering about meridians and flows, before coming to a stop and nodding. “Then its decided.”

Pag furrowed his brows. “What’s decided?” He asked confused.

“I shall be your instructor until you are deployed. Terms have been suspended and deployment missions will be counted towards terms. I do not normally take on students however I feel that this maybe exactly what we both need.”

Pag mentally slammed the accept option with a fast growing grin.

Meowtimer laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. “Brilliant, let’s get started. If you have any notifications you need to clear then get those out of the way now. Do you have any affairs that you need to get in order before we start?”

“Pag shook his head. “I have some notifications and aside from getting something to eat I have nothing that needs to be tended to.”

Meowtimer chuckled and nodded and handed him a massive roasted turkey leg. “Here, eat this. Once you have cleared your notifications and eaten we will begin.”

“Uh, excuse me sir. He still needs to fill out his forms.” The gaunt man from the desk at the door called out with a yawn.

“Ah, yes. See to that as well. Meet me in the courtyard when you are set.” Meowtimer muttered with a flick of his tail then padded out of the hall.

Pag bit into the turkey leg and moved to the desk where the man waited with a stack of papers. He scrawled a quick signature at all the indicated points and accepted his allotments then pulled up his notifications. The turkey leg fell from his fingers and his eyes widened as he stared at line after line of nonsense. He blinked and furrowed his brows, dismissing the window with a shake of his head only to have a new window populate in front of him.

Pag scowled dismissing the window as he looked longingly at the half eaten turkey leg he had dropped and trudging out to meet with Meowtimer.