Ever since Carlisle went to have a life of his own, he promised himself that he'd join a great guild and make a name of himself like he always dreamed of as a child. Though his ambitions were nothing more than a daydream as he kept receiving rejection after rejection from one guild to another, this lead him to numb the pain through alcohol... but he didn't stopped from persevering.
"Just one chance." He always tell himself as he attempts to win a challenge that'll qualify him to become a part of any guild out there.
That's all he asks for...
As Eya looks down on the unconscious boy before her, she glanced at Mori with a disapproving look. "You should've gone easy on him, he's not some enemy 'ya know?"
"Tsk, just patch him up for me." Mori grunted, walking off.
"Goodness, not even an apology." She sighed as she examines Carlisle's face, before she can cast a healing spell, his fingers twitched and caught her off guard.
"Huh?"
And in a swift motion, Carlisle's fist striked Eya on the face. Everyone was stunned by what happened, even Carlisle himself got startled by his own reflex.
"I-I didn't---that punch was meant for him!" He fends for himself, pointing to Mori.
"Well isn't that a surprise." Eya grinned, his punch left nothing but a small scratch on her face. "Nobody has ever landed a hit on me before, not even Mori over there."
Mori rolled his eyes, "Tch! The kid just got lucky."
Eya chuckled and puts down her hood, revealing her pointed ears to Carlisle. "So, how are you feeling right now?"
"An elf..." He gasped, a rare sight was standing before him.
Elves are infamously known as elusive beings that prefers to live in forests than to dwell among other races, they're known for their mastery over magic as they live for a long time to hone their magical abilities for hundreds of years.
"What, never saw an elf before?" She asked, her head slightly tilting.
"Obviously." Carlisle admitted, though this discovery matters too little for him. He got up to pick up his sword and went to Ren's side. "We're leaving." He tells her.
"Carlisle!" Ren held onto his hand when she felt his hand holding her by the shoulder, "Are you alright?!" She couldn't see anything but hear whats happening around her, so she can't help but feel worried for Carlisle's safety.
"I'm fine, doll face." He uttered, "Come on, we're done here. Let's go."
Before they can leave, Eya turned to Mori as if they were communicating by their eyes. Mori hesitated to approved of Eya's suggestion, but he eventually gave in after seeing the sparks in her eyes, he sighed and nods at her. "There's no stopping you when you've come to a decision anyway." He uttered to himself.
Eya smiled and called for them, "Hold on!"
Carlisle and Ren stopped in their tracks, "What now!?" He yells back.
"Join our guild."
Taken aback by her words, Carlisle got confused, "Huh, but I lost the challenge, haven't I?"
"Indeed, you have." Eya approached them, "But I can see that you have what it takes to be a part of this guild... all you need is a bit more honing, to which I can help you with." She smiled.
Carlisle's eyes widened at the realization, after months of failed attempts and rejections from all his guild application, he can't believe that this was finally happening.
As Eya stood before him, she hold out her hand waiting for his, "What do you say, Carlisle?"
He looks at her hand and rubs his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating from his empty stomach, he shakes his head to snap out of it and held her hand tight, "...I'm in."
Right after their agreement, this new found group went straight to the Northern Guild Hall to register themselves official. Each of them received their own cards with their names and group imprinted on it.
As the guild registrar handed Carlisle his card, she instantly recognize him, "Ahh, I never thought I'd see the day." She giggled, she was a witness to all of his struggles for the past months.
Carlisle rolled his eyes at her and walks away without a word.
The newly registered guild gathered at the corner of the guild hall, "From here on forth, we'll be known as the Haliser Guild. May we conquer the quests that awaits us!" Eya proudly declared their guild.
Carlisle held his head high, this moment he always dreamed of becoming true. Since they were finally an official guild, they have gained access to accepting quests. They approached the board of pending quests and checked anything available.
"Woah..." it was Carlisle's first time seeing this board since he's never been in a guild before, and he was already checking out the high ranked quests that requires to slay beasts and demons. He can already imagine himself slaying these creatures, with a crowd chanting his name.
"Let's see---" before he can take the paper off the board, he stopped when Mori handed him his first quest. "Take this."
He takes the paper and Ren grew curious, "What does it say, Carlisle?" She asked, holding onto his arm.
"...you want me to clean up some pests at an abandoned lands?" He raised an eyebrow at Mori, "Are you serious?!" He crumpled the paper and threw it on the ground, "I can do better you know!"
"I don't joke around kid," Mori gave him a serious look, "You should know your strength better than anyone else, if you can't even complete this quest, then---" Eya chimed in their conversation, holding Mori back from saying anymore.
"What he meant to say, this quest shall serve as your first training." She pats him on the shoulder, "It may not sound as great and challenging as the other quests, but this isn't as easy as it seems..." she picks up the paper and gave it back to him, "Even if it's the lowest ranked quest."
"And what about you two?" Carlisle questioned, Eya and Mori were both holding their own chosen quests. This meant that each members of the guild will be handling a quest of their own, Eya picked an B ranked quest while Mori went for an A rank quest.
Eya just smiled at Carlisle, "Let's meet again after we fulfill our first quests."
And from there, the guild splits up, leaving Carlisle in disbelief once again. "What the heck, I thought guild were supposed to stick together when doing quests!"
"Is that so..." Ren uttered, "If you're worried about going alone, you have me by your side."
"And how can a blind girl even help?" Carlisle pointed out, tapping on her forehead. "Tsk, you can't even walk by yourself without clinging to me."
"Such a meanie." Ren pouted, the two of them went onwards to the quest's location. Travelling together through the whole night as they hitched on a passing wagon.
"Carlisle, what pests are we going to clean up exactly?" Ren asked.
"Bugs? Mice? I don't know, though I'm sure it's nothing I can't handle." He tells her, and the thought of having to face such critters made Ren's skin crawl. "Eek! I don't want to deal with those kind of pests." She clings onto Carlisle.
"Pfft, it's not like you have anywhere else to go."
"Then promise you won't let any kind of pest touch me!"
"Hey, who are you to order me around?" He lightly flicked her on the forehead, "But don't sweat it, I'll exterminate those damn things as soon as I can."
As morning came, the kind old man who let them ride along in his wagon woke them up by splashing a bit of water on Carlisle's face. "Mmph! What the heck was that for!?" He complained, wiping off his face with his sleeves.
"I was waking you up lad, but you wouldn't budge!" He said, "Anyway, we're already here at the lands of the Blackburne."
Then the two part ways with the kind old man as they face ahead a plain land, this got Carlisle scratching his head. "It all looks fine to me." He shrugged.
"Are you sure?" Ren squeezed his arm tightly, "Tell me if there's anything approaching us."
"Calm down, there's nothing much to see except trees and plants, and maybe animals here and there... I think there aren't even any pests here."
"You think so?"
The two venture into the lands, looking around to see anything harming the place. Though not much is to be seen, they sat underneath a tree as Carlisle watches the sun rise. "Hmm, did we got the wrong address?" He wondered.
Ren leaned to his shoulder, feeling the wind brush against her skin. "This place is nice, don't you think?"
"This is a waste of time." Carlisle sighed, "And here I thought I finally got the chance to prove myself."
"Prove what exactly?"
He hesitated to answer, but the disappointment within him is weighing more than he can bear. To him, everything feels like a meaningless struggle. "I guess I just set my expectations way too high... not that you'll understand any of this." He breathes in deep as he stares into the sky.
"...I don't exactly understand what you're trying to say, but I think you're doing well." Ren held his hand and squeezed it, "I bear witness to your efforts. You've been helping me find my home, then you managed to join a guild, and now you're doing your first quest. If you'd let me, I must say that I'm proud of how far you've come."
Her words somehow soothe something within him, he glanced at Ren, her face touched by sun light while her long black hair flies with the wind. Carlisle smiled and pushed her face away, "Ack! That's so mean of you!" She complained.
"You praise me too much, how can you be sure that I'll help you get home? What if we never find where you truly belong?"
"Then..." Ren grinned, "Then that means you'll be stuck with me, for the rest of your life."
Carlisle pressed his lips, stopping himself from smiling like a fool. He groaned and leaned back on the tree, "That sounds like a pain in the ass."
"Hey!" Ren slaps him by the arm.
As time passed, both Carlisle and Ren were growing tired of waiting for something to happen. Soon, the sun was already setting down, Carlisle is already packing up their stuff to leave the area. "Honestly, I always knew this quest was stupid."
"At least we haven't dealt with anything dangerous." Ren was relieved.
"Easy for you to say, I doubt we'll get paid doing noth---huh?" Carlisle suddenly heard something moving through the bushes, "Hmm? Is anything wrong?" Ren asked.
"Shh, keep quiet." He hushed, trying to follow the sound, he unsheathes his sword as he tries to find this creature. "Ah-hah!" When he pushed the bush aside, it revealed a little plump gray rat, "Squeak!" It got startled by his presence.
"So you're the pest we've been looking for." Carlisle was about to kill the rat off until something else got to it first, "What the!?" His eyes went huge when a dire shadow wolf appeared. It gnawed on the rat until it met eyes with Carlisle, he stepped back as soon as it dropped the rat from its mouth.
"Carlisle? Did you find something?" He heard Ren ask.
Carlisle walked backwards as the dire wolf slowly approaches him, growling with hostile eyes focused ln him, and behind it followed the whole pack. This sent Carlisle shaking, "FUCK!" He ran off towards Ren's direction.
"Carlisle!?" Ren got startled as Carlisle carried her like a sack of potatoes on his shoulder, "Ahh! What's happening!? I'm gonna fall!!" She screamed.
"Dire shadow wolves!!" Carlisle cried out.
They ran through the woods, behind them the wolves were quickly closing the distance. "Shit, shit, shit!!!" And as Carlisle reached an empty field of grass, he fell down to the ground along with Ren. "No!!" He shields Ren with his body, expecting the beasts to pounce on his back but nothing came.
He looks back and saw the dire shadow wolves stayed behind the trees, avoiding the sunlight. This immediately gave Carlisle the idea, "They can't go into the sunlight!---Ren, they can't handle sunlight!"
Ren held onto her head that hit the ground, "Err, my head hurts."
"Tsk, there's no time for that!" Carlisle was panicking as the sun is setting down, "Get up to the tree and stay up there, I'll deal with these beasts!" He helped her get up into a tree, keeping her safe while he waits for the night to deal with the dire shadow wolves.
As soon as the sun was out of sight, the beasts emerge into the field and went straight for Carlisle. He stood before them, holding his sword firmly. He slashes through the first wolf to reach him, "Hyah!"
He kept his eyes on the other wolves, and some of them dwells into the shadows and pops up somewhere near. Carlisle tried keeping track of where they appear, until one of them appeared behind his shadow and bit his left ankle. "Ahh! Damn it!" He used his sword to stab it in the face, then other wolves tried to pounce on him.
"Shit!" He jumped back and fell because of his injured ankle, hearing him struggle made Ren anxious. "Carlisle! Be careful!"
"I'm trying!" Even with a little chance of it happening, Carlisle hoped he can defeat these vile beasts all by himself. Though he realized too late that his inflated ego caught up to him, there were too many of these beasts for him to handle alone, especially with a wounded ankle.
Then one of the wolves pounced on Carlisle, biting on his left arm. "AHHHH!" His piercing scream made Ren grow more worried, "CARLISLE!!!" She cried out his name, she couldn't think of anything to save him. Then it crossed her mind, "If I fall down and distract these beasts, they might let Carlisle go and he can escape!" She uttered in tears.
Hearing Carlisle's screams strengthened her resolve to sacrifice herself, she lets herself fall down from the tree and yelled to Carlisle, "CARLISLE, RUN!! SAVE YOURSELF!"
When Carlisle noticed her fall off, he punched the wolf biting onto him and tried crawling towards her. "REN, NOOO!"
Then as the wolves ran to Ren's direction, she curled up in her spot waiting for her end. As soon as she hears them drawing near, she screams in terror. "AHH!!"
"REEEEN!" Carlisle tried getting up, he wanted to run to her side and take her away from those foul beasts. But his ankle won't let him get to her in time, "DAMN IT!" He grits his teeth, his eyes instantly locks onto the biggest wolf in the pack that's most likely the leading wolf. He then lifts up his sword like a spear and sent it flying to its direction.
"DIEEE!" He screamed, and as the sword pierced through the target's skull, the whole pack froze as they watch their leader fall to the ground and bleed out. They whined in terror as they turn to Carlisle dragging himself towards them, and they hurried to get out of sight.
"Ren!" Carlisle finally made it to Ren's side, and he felt relieved to see her unharmed.
"Carlisle!!" She cried and reaching out her arms for him, "I was so scared!"
He pulls her into his arms and held her tight, "...idiot, you don't have to sacrifice yourself for anyone." Ren could only shake her head to disagree while she sobbed in his arms.
The two decided to go back to Heartlocke City carrying the head of the Dire Shadow Wolf in hopes that it can be traded for something of value, though it turned out that those pack of wolves were the pests that the quest was referring to, "Are you for real!?" He asked the trading personnel.
"What? Did you think pests refers to ordinary critters? Guild quests aren't your typical problems that can be handled by anyone, that's what you're hired for." The personnel rolled his eyes as he handed a small bag of gold coins to Carlisle, "Here, enjoy your prize."
Instead of feeling excitement from receiving his reward from the first quest he completed, Carlisle was rather disturbed with the fact that he almost died from doing an F ranked quest with his injuries still aching badly.
The two of them went to the lounge area to get a bit of rest and found Eya there, relaxing with a cup of tea on her hands. She turned to their direction and happily waved at them, "Welcome back you guys!"
And for someone who has dealt with a B ranked quest, there were barely any scratch on her. Carlisle figured that she's likely powerful than what she seems. "How did you get back so soon?" He asked, taking a seat with Ren across Eya.
"Oh, I just got rid of a witch corpse disturbing the town of Philidor." Eya said casually, this greatly shocked Carlisle knowing the chaos and danger that a witch corpse can bring, "And how did your first quest go for you?... it seems like you've taken quite a beating." Eya sipped on her tea as she squinted her eyes at him.
Carlisle looked at himself, torn clothes and covered in bandages, he felt pathetic. "Never felt this great!" His tone sarcastic.
Eya could only chuckle as she leans back on the couch with her legs crossed, "It's good you've managed to make it past your first quest, and just to let you know, we're only getting started..."
Carlisle got unsettled by the thought, would he managed the same if he were to take on higher ranked quests? He began doubting himself, "How?" He uttered, looking at Eya in great distraught.
"Hm? How... what?" Eya tilts her head.
"How do you make it look so easy?"
"Ahh, I see now..." She stares at Carlisle, as if she's examining him from head to toe, "...have you been fighting with raw strength all along?"
Carlisle's eyebrows furrowed, "What do you mean by that."
"Every living being in this world is born with mana, it's an essential part of our lives that helps us survive through anything... and I suppose it's time you should start using it." Her words enlightened Carlisle, giving him hope that he can gain strength powerful enough to strike back at Mori.
He leans forward with eager eyes, "Teach me how to use it."
"Very well..." Eya always looked forward to see the outcome of something she deems promising, "Then for my next quest, you'll be tagging along with me... that is, if you can keep up." She smirked and got up from her seat.
"Let's meet at the City's gate before sunset, see 'ya." And she left just like that.
As they've come to that conclusion, Carlisle decided to leave Ren behind at the small inn just to make sure she'd be safe, "Is there anything I can help you with?" The lady inn keeper asks.
"We'd like a room please." He requested.
"Alright, let me show you to your room."
When the lady inn keeper gave them their room and left, Ren squeezed his hand with her heart uneasy, "Carlisle, please... don't go."
"Ren," He breathed in deeply and held her by the shoulders tight, "We barely survived the first quest that was brought upon us... I need to get stronger, alright? I need to do this."
"But... if you happen to face danger again, you might die Carlisle." Ren kept her hands close to her chest as her lips quivered, she can't imagine being away from Carlisle and much less to be without him at all.
Although Carlisle can sense her fear of losing him, he can only assure her one thing. "I don't intend on dying so soon." Ren went to hug him tight and he lightly pats her on the head. "Even if we part ways, I'm sure you'll manage just fine."
After he helped her get settled in the place, Carlisle took one last glance at Ren who's already fast asleep on the bed. It felt nice that there's someone waiting for him to get back, but he shake the thought off knowing that Ren will reunite with her family one day, and maybe he'd get some money out of it... that's right, soon he'll be nothing but a distant memory for Ren and nothing more.
When he soon reached the gates of Heartlocke City, the sun was already setting down with the cold air going around. His eyes quickly caught sight of Eya, patiently waiting for him near the gates. "Have I made you wait?" He asked as he made it by her side.
"Not at all... and what about your little friend?"
"Some place safe. Nothing to hold us back."
"...very well, let's go." Then as they travel to the location of their next quest together, Carlisle has been anticipating the worst to come.
When they stopped by at a forest miles away from the city, they ventured deep within until they reached a cave. Carlisle still had no idea about the quest details and just kept on following Eya, though his curiosity eventually made him question her, "So what exactly do we need to do here?"
"Don't be too excited, we'll get to that part eventually..." He can't see Eya's face as she's leading them inside the dark cave, so he can't guess what to expect. "Are you really not going to tell me?"
"Carlisle, have you ever feared anything in your life?" She suddenly asked, they still continue to walk further into the cave, sprouts of white glowing mushrooms lighting their way.
"Of course I did, anyone does." He simply answered, recalling the night he risked it all to save Ren from the Dire Shadow Wolves. "...don't you?" He returned the question, vines hanging from the ceiling cave gets in the way of his face and he sets it away as he tries to keep up with Eya.
"I can't remember... perhaps I did so when I was younger, but that was way too long ago now." Eya glanced at him as they kept walking, "But you're right, anyone feels fear in the face of danger. In that essence, we trigger a driving force that either pushes us to run away or fight back."
"And your point?"
"That driving force, it's the peak moment to awaken your mana's truest potential. I assume you've already discovered your mana affinity?"
"Yes, in my family we---I mean, I have the affinity in the fire element."
"I see, then your mana isn't just bound by your element, it can also be wield for other uses such as amplifications, summoning, and much more... has anyone taught you that, Carlisle?"
"...no." The short pause and lowered voice made Eya doubt his answer, but it didn't matter as long as he understand what she's saying. "Very well, now you know."
"So, I have to fear something to awaken my mana's potential?"
Eya faced him with a grin as she walk backwards, "Not necessarily, people can awaken their mana's potential from different methods, and one of the most common method is through strong emotions... I just think that might help you realize and grasp that moment when you get into a situation like that."
"Huh... is that so."
"You know, your fight with Mori shows you have good instincts and senses, all that's left is for you to discover your true power. I think you can pull this off." Then they stopped in their tracks, Eya looked down at the wide hole on the ground, "Anyway, we're here."
"And you still haven't told me what we're supposed to do here." Carlisle raised an eyebrow at her, to which Eya chuckled and grabbed him by the arm, "Listen well and remember, you must take the cave's crystal fruit with you and don't let the guardian treant catch you."
"A treant!?" Carlisle's eyes widened, "What the hell are you---AHH!" Eya then pushes him into the hole, "Oh! And the exit is---" Her voice faded as he falls deeper into the hole.
"Oof!" It didn't took long until he reached the ground, Carlisle stares up from where he fell from and was shocked to see the ceiling turned to roots and dirt, the hole he came from completely vanished. "Shit!"
He got up and dusted himself off, "Great, just great..." he sighed and see two tunnels infront of him. "Tsk, off to die I guess." He went to go in the left tunnel without giving it any thought.
Whilst going through that tunnel, he followed the trails of glowing mushroom to who knows where. Despite his sour mood, he's unsettled by the fact that there's a treant around this place.
"Hmm." Soon, he reaches a point where there's three tunnel to pass through.
Carlisle scratches his head and moves forward into the middle tunnel, picking it randomly. Then he continued to find himself in choosing which tunnels to go through, the endless cycle has gone on for an hour, making him even more annoyed. "There's no end to these tunnels!" He complained.
He stops for a moment, observing his surrounding. His eyes darts to the pattern of the roots on the wall, seeing that it was familiar. "I must've passed here already..." he thought, it was most likely that he's been going in circles earlier.
Again, he tried to check the roots on the walls as he pass through every tunnel he goes to, and he stopped when it led him back to the very same area with the familiar root pattern on the wall.
"Tsk. No matter what tunnel I choose, it'll always lead me in circles." Carlisle gets an idea and unsheathes his sword, pointing it to the wall, "Here goes something." And he stabs through the soil wall, digging his way through. "Haa!"
As he digged into the wall, his sword caught onto the roots and stabbing it deep enough to bleed out its saps. A sudden faint shriek was heard through the tunnels, this greatly startled Carlisle. "Huh!?" He looked to his sides, his heart racing. "Shit, shit, shit!!!" He focused on digging through the soil as he hears the shrieking sound coming closer.
Carlisle then saw a small opening through the soils, showing that he finally reached the other side of the wall. And just on time, the Treant loud shrieking can be heard from his left side. "Damn it!" He kicked a hole in the wall big enough to let him fit in, and just when the Treant appeared, he rushed to get through the other side.
"That was close!" He panted as he sees the Treant struggling to chase after him, then as he looks around to see the area, he realized that he already reached a dead end. "Fuck!" He turns to look at the Treant and its body was already half-way through the opening he made.
"Arghh, what to do, what to do!?" Carlisle held onto his head, he can barely think as he panicked at the sight of the aggressive Treant, "Damn it Eya! It's all that stupid elf's fault!---I haven't even found the crystal fruit yet!" He cried out, and as he gazed at the Treant, he noticed its chest was glowing.
"No way..." to his disbelief, the crystal fruit was there. "You've got to be kidding me."
The Treant grew angrier at the sight of Carlisle, letting out a deafening shriek, "RAAAAHH!" As the Treant squeezed the rest of itself through the hole, it stood tall before Carlisle, its branches grew spikier like a beast raising its hackles.
Carlisle stepped back in cold sweat, "Oh shit."
"RAAAHH!" The Treant shot its branches towards Carlisle, "AHH!" and he jumped back just in time, and saw how it pierced deeply into the ground.
"THAT COULD'VE KILLED ME!" He screamed, the Treant turns to look at him and pulled back its arms to aim at his direction. "DAMN IT!" And he dove out of the way when it attacked again.
"Come on, think... think!" For now, all he can do is evade its attacks. His eyes focused on the Treants arms aiming fof him, this time he holds up his sword to deflect any possible attacks it might throw at him.
When the Treant realized it pierced itself way too deep into the ground, it resort to use its spiked vines against Carlisle. "Haa!" Pushing back every vine coming his way with his sword, Carlisle was having a hard time keeping up with its speed.
And while he was distracted with the Treant's vines, it managed to pull out its arms off the ground, ready to strike with its branches again. "Oh no..." Carlisle noticed, losing his focus and got hit by a vine. "Ack!" He got sent flying to the wall, hitting his back and fell to the ground.
"Damn it, this Treant..." he uttered.
Then as the Treant strikes at him again, he rolls to the side dodging it again. However, the Treant's branches landed on the roots, "RAAAAHH!" It shrieks loudly as if it was hurt, Carlisle then realizes that the roots were connected to the Treant, giving him an idea.
He grinned as he stood against the Treant, "So that's your weakness."
The Treant turned its head to Carlisle, sending another wave of vines to catch him. He's already slowing down with his beaten up body, but he breathes in deep, trying to push himself to keep going. And he did, he ran around the area dragging his sword on the wall, cutting through the Treants roots. "RAAAAAHHH!"
The piercing screams of the Treant got Carlisle's ear bleeding, though it didn't stop him from cutting through every root on the wall. "Take that!" He yells, mocking the Treant with a wicked grin.
Pain is surging through the Treant's body as its roots bleed out, paralyzing it in place. Carlisle stops to catch his breath and watched it suffer in pain, "Serve you right you damn tree." He decide it was time to pick the fruit off the Treant's chest, but as he walk towards it, his body began to feel heavy and numb, the poison from the spiked vines were already taking effect on him. "Huh... what's happening here..." he can still move, but the feeling was slowing him down.
Then as he made it close to the Treant's body, Carlisle glared back at the Treants green glowing eyes as he finally touched the crystal fruit. Then the Treants vines surrounded Carlisle's neck, attempting to strangle him with the last of its strength, but it froze and dried out as Carlisle pulled out the crystal fruit. "Finally!" He exclaimed, though his vision is starting to blur and lose his balance.
"Now to get this back to Eya..." when he took one more step, he fell to the ground with his eyes half closed. "Shit, I can't die... not yet." He muttered, there was still a lot of questions he's been trying to sought in his short lived life, and floating among them was Ren.
The times they spent together flashed at the back of his head, he laughs weakly at the thought, "No way, am I really dying right now?... just when things are getting started, I..." when he closed his eyes, he finally lost consciousness.
With the cave guardian dead, the whole place started to fall apart. The ceiling above began to break down, the hole reappearing with Eya peeking down. "Carlisle!" Eya calls out to him, and she sees him already laying on the ground with the crystal fruit next to him. This made her smile, "I knew you'd do it!"
Eya jumped into the hole, securing the crystal fruit in her bag and carrying Carlisle in her arms. She channeled her mana in her legs, allowing her to jumped out of the hole and escape the crumbling cave.
"You've done well, Carlisle." She lays him down at a clear grassfield under the shade of a tree. Purple spots were already appearing on his skin, slowly poisoning him to death. Eya scratches her head finding this troublesome to handle, "Oh dear, this is beyond me."
Her eyes quickly caught sight of deer staring at them, giving her an idea. "Hmm, that might work."
Before the deer can run off, Eya dashed to its direction and tightly grip on its neck. The deer struggled, squirming and kicking Eya off as she remained unfaze. "I'm sorry little one, I'll make sure it'll be painless for you." And the deer stopped struggling, falling into a deep sleep.
Eya then brought the deer close to Carlisle, holding each by the chest. She breathes in deep before starting the ritual, "...transfer." And with one word, all of the injuries and toxins in Carlisle's body was getting absorbed by Eya, she flinched at the intense pain but remained focused on transferring everything onto the deer.
By the time she was done, Carlisle's health is restored while the deer died from the poison. "Hmm, looks good---" Eya coughed up blood, the toll of using such ritual, "Err... I'm sure this is nothing." She shrugged it off and wiped her hand onto the grass.
Moments later, Carlisle finally woke up. "...huh." He checks on himself to find no injuries or bruises, "No way, I'm still alive!?... Just, HOW!?" He looks to his side and found Eya standing beside him, admiring the glowing crystal fruit in her hand.
She pats him by the head and chuckled, "Let's just say you passed the test... so, how did it go? Did you figure out how your mana works?" She puts back the crystal fruit in her bag, curious of his experience.
This shocked Carlisle even more when he forgot about the other point in defeating the Treant, he clears his throat, unsure how to tell Eya about this. "Err, I'm not sure if I... caught up to that point."
Eya paused before she breaks into laughter, "Pfft, of course. Well, nobody gets it the first try anyway... you still did a good job beating that Treant." She rest her hand on his shoulder, giving him a proud smile. "We should head back now."
Somehow, completing this quest on his own made him feel good about himself. It's clear that it wasn't about luck, he realized that he can actually do shit. Although it was terrifying as heck to face something so dangerous all by himself, he's starting to feel more confident that he can probably do more.
It took the whole night to get back to Heartlocke City, when Eya and Carlisle was going to drop off the crystal fruit to the trading personnel, there was a huge crowd making a fuss.
"The heck is wrong with these people!?" Carlisle complained, pushing off the people getting in their way.
"Hmm..." Eya grabs a bystander by the collar and asked, "Tell me, what is going on here!"
"Hey! Let go of me---" the bystander wanted to pull away from her, but he got intimidated by her glare and answered, "Err, some guy came back with a witch's head."
"Everyone's making a fuss over some witch head?" Eya tilts her head.
"N-Not just any witch." The bystander specified, "It's one of the Ashen Witch Sisters, the witches known for c-causing cursed plagues in small towns and body mutations."
"I see, thank you." As she lets him go, the bystander runs off and they tried to get a closer look at the person holding the witch's head. "Do we really need to?" Carlisle asked.
"I feel like I know who might be the cause behind this." Eya grinned, and as they make it pass through the crowd, they found Mori at the center of attention. He's proudly telling the tale of his quest while proudly holding the witch's head,
"Aha, this bastard really likes to show off." Eya shakes her head at the sight of Mori, while Carlisle was freaked out by this news. "...quite the tough guy, huh." He recalled and realized how great his luck was to survive a punch from that guy, though he will never admit to that fact.
"He did learn from the best after all." Eya said proudly, impressed by his feat.
Carlisle can hear the other people behind him, evenly freaked out by Mori's strength.
"Goodness, I don't want nothing to do with that guy."
"We should ask him to join our guild!"
"Do you think he can train us to become as strong as he is?!"
Among these voices, Carlisle's attention was caught by a voice sounding hostile and daring. "...An Ashen Witch, huh... that's nothing to brag about. I bet I can cut off his arms and legs though, make him my little pet worm."
"Pfft, I'd like to see you try."
He slowly looked behind, his eyes widened to find the members of the Night Fangs standing within this crowd. One of them noticed and stared right back at him, emitting intense bloodlust in plain public, this disturbed anyone sensitive to this presence. He quickly look away from them with his chest beating loudly, and even Eya got alarmed.
"That hostility..." she holds onto Carlisle's arm and looked through the crowd, spotting Bucks and Malcolm. She glanced at Mori, seeing he was aware of it too, "This is why I tell him to keep his mouth shut." She ran her palm to her face.
"Err, that's all folks... bye." He awkwardly escaped the crowd, the three of them abruptly leaving the Northern Guild Hall and stopped by at the farthest alley they can reach.
"Those bastards, they'd really pull off that shameless stunt in broad daylight---ow!!" Mori complained, only to get his pinched and twisted by Eya, "And you! What do you think you're doing back there?! We keep getting in trouble with you running your mouth!"
"Ahh! That freaking hurts, let me go!"
"Not until you stop doing shit like that anymore!"
"Fine! Fine, I'll stop now, okay!?---ow!!"
Carlisle watched the two argue, seeing them like an infuriated mother to a stubborn son. And while the two continue to argue with each other, he got creeped out seeing the witch's head up close, the eyes flinched. "Ugh, i-it's still moving!" He yelled.
This stopped Eya and Mori, his reaction making Mori laugh. "Oh this?" Mori held the head up high infront of him, "Witches don't die off so easily, the head will still probably live up to a few more hours before its starts rotting." He flicked its forehead, the face slightly contorts.
"Fuck!---that's creepy."
"Carlisle, language! Goodness, humans these days." Eya can only sigh in disappointment, "Anyway, those guys, I heard they belong to that infamous guild people talk about, the... tsk, what was that name again?" It was already on the tip of her tongue, and Carlisle helped her remember, "The Night Fangs, yeah I've heard about 'em too."
"So you've heard." Eya grabs both their hands as she gives them a reminder, "Never get involve with the Night Fangs, that's all I ask of you guys."
The boys nod to her words, though Carlisle was greatly disturbed knowing that the Night Fang members linger around the city, it's going to be a problem with helping Ren find her home.
Eya decided to handle their items to trade it for rewards by herself and set up a schedule to meet up for their next quest. In the meantime, they're free to do whatever they want.
Carlisle went straight to the inn where he left Ren, it has only been a day and a half since they parted, but thinking about how long they've been seperated, he can't help but feel a little worried for her sake.
"Hey---oh." Carlisle was going to ask the lady Inn keeper about Ren, but he found her sitting beside the lady inn keeper, their hands both busy peeling off oranges. "Is that you, Carlisle?" Ren's face instantly lit up as she hears his voice.
The lady inn keeper smiled, "Welcome back! The lady has been eagerly waiting for you." She mentions, making Ren a little shy.
"Thank you for keeping her company." Carlisle held on to Ren, guiding her way back to their room.
He seated Ren on the couch while he threw himself on the bed, "So, how did your quest go?" Ren asked with excitement. She couldn't wait to hear his stories.
Carlisle was going to talk about beating a Treant, but the thought of the Night Fangs looking for her bothered him. He hesitated to ask her about it since she has lost her memories... or did she?
Despite his doubts, he sighed and stared at Ren who was patiently waiting for his response. Can that innocent face even lie? He asked himself. This got him scratching his head and gave in, "Yeah, it was pretty hard. Eya threw me into a hole and left me to deal with a tree monster!" He began to complain.
"Ehh!?"
"And when I..." he continued to tell his story, imbued with little white lies to make himself sound a little cooler. Ren was astonished to hear his greatness unfold, she's happy to know that he's getting stronger the way he wanted.
"That sounded dangerous... I'm just glad you're back safely." She clasps her hands together, holding it close to her chest, "What about you? It's good you've made friends with the inn keeper." He mentioned.
"Ahh, it's nothing. She just checked up on me yesterday and asked me to help her peel fruits, I was glad I can help someone."
"I see..." he felt relieved to hear that she's been fine, then he got himself a good idea, "Hey, wanna go out and eat dinner?"
Part 2 End.