Zectas Volume V: The Sequestered Seminary of Sawtorn (4 page)

Several air blades pierced through her body. Her blood tainted the hard-to-see blades, making them clearer. They blades looked like crimson falchions, painted with Tsunamae's blood.
Meanwhile, the giant-water-elemental's attack became more fierce as well, and finally broke through Ouragan's air barrier.
However, the old HighElf welcomed the waterballs with open arms. A flood of waterballs struck Ouragan, but one waterball could only inflict 200 damage points on him.
Whereas, several more air blades appeared around Tsunamae and continually skewered her.
Both of their attacks kept on. It had become a contest to see who would endure the longest, but Tsunamae's life bar quickly went red, while Ouragan's was still in the green.
The giant-water-elemental ceased its attack and it desperately ran towards its summoner. It covered Tsunamae from further air blade attacks, but it was too late. The DarkElf's life bar had already been completely depleted.
Tsunamae's giant-water-elemental disappeared out of existence simultaneously as her body.
"Woooooooooh!"
"Hooooooohaaaaa!"
"Ayiyiyiyiyiyi!"
The audience of the stadium erupted into cheers.
"Our winner, and still the undefeated representative of Vona City....Ouragan!" yelled out the stadium announcer.
Smoke then heard Avilo cheer loudly. "Wooooohoooo! I told you he could do it, Mouche, I told you. Didn't I tell you?"
"That you did, my Lord," cheerfully replied Mouche. "I do hope that he gets the title of honorary Magietrois this time, my Lord."
Smoke's pointed DarkElf ears quickly picked up on what the old High Wizard said. "What was that about Ouragan becoming an honorary Magietrois?"
"Oh, if you win the Magi Gagnant Tournament at least three times, you'll be given the title of honorary Magietrois," explained Mouche. "You know, since according to legend, it was one of the real Magietrois who created the tournament in the first place."
"In fact, I heard that sometimes the Magietrois herself presents the award to the champion," added Mouche.
"I see," excitedly answered Smoke.
"Did you also know that it was said to be the Magietrois who made the Sawtorn Continent habitable?" said the old Steward
"Really? I heard about a story of how powerful Mages were supposedly the ones who created those pomegranate forests," answered Smoke. "Were they actually the Magietrois?"
Mouche could no longer entertain his questions as Avilo kept pulling his arm.
"Excuse us, Faux, but we must go. Ouragan is a very busy man and I'd like to personally congratulate him before he leaves the arena," said Avilo. "It was nice to meet you," said the young aristocrat and pulled Mouche towards the exit.
"I was wondering if I could join you," called out Smoke, but Mouche could only wave goodbye as Avilo was already sprinting towards the exit.
 

* * * * * * 

Smoke left the arena with a pleased grin. Finally, he had a clue about the Magietrois.
'I wonder how I can get to know more about the Magi Gagnant Tournament? I guess I'll be heading for the library next,' decided Smoke and asked around for its location.
He punched himself in the head for not visiting the library sooner.
'Even though it was great; meeting Esper, Colere, and the rest of the OrkElves, I still should have gotten more books to read,' he sternly lectured himself.
In search of the library, he spotted a smiling Gnome. Smoke was not sure what it was, but the Gnome seem odd to him.
"Good day," said Smoke to the Gnome as he walked over to him. "My name is Faux, I was hoping you can tell me where the library is?"
While talking to the Gnome, Smoke realized why he looked different, he was the tallest Gnome he had ever met. He almost reached Smoke's shoulder.
"Oh, you must be wondering why I am tall," he replied. "I am a Gnolf."
"A Gnolf, huh?" replied Smoke, curiously nodding his head.
Suddenly, an OrkElf came running by, and handed the Gnolf a bag of what sounded like zecs.
"Same time next week, Jünger, and please tell mom to stop worrying about me," hurriedly explained the OrkElf and sprinted away.
The OrkElf then joined a group of other OrkElves who were following a Sonstwelter Mage.
"What was that about?" unconsciously asked Smoke out loud.
"That was my older brother, Eigen," answered the Gnolf. "He just joined the service of some Sonstwelter named Zufällig."
The Gnolf shrugged his shoulders. "He insists on working, even though my father is doing well on his business. In fact, my father told me that he just bought an item from a new arrival at the docks just yesterday, which he sold for almost 200,000 zecs," lengthily explained Jünger. "Although, technically, my father is his step-father, but still. It isn't like he is being neglected."
"That sounds very interesting, but what about the library?" asked Smoke, refocusing the Gnolf on his question.
"Oh, yeah. It's just past the market district. A tall red-bricked-building, can't miss it," replied the Gnolf.
"Alright, thanks," said Smoke and headed for the market district.
'Hm. It's getting dark,' observed Smoke as he saw the skyline turn auburn.
'I should head over to the same appraisal shop and get another gem exchanged,' he thought to himself. He planned to buy more supplies and visit the other OrkElf Settlements marked by Esper and Colere.
As he headed for the market district, he decided to check on his hidden partner.
"Are you okay?" Smoke whispered to his chest, and peeked inside Igniz's secret chamber.
Igniz sleepily nodded. His glow was a dull purple.
'Guess he must have been sleeping,' surmised a smiling Smoke.
On the way to the market district, he had to pass by the entertainment district. There, he spotted plenty of DarkElf Sonstwelters with at least two OrkElves contracted into their service.
Walking near one of them, Smoke overheard a DarkElf's conversation to his OrkElves. "How much would it cost if I change your name to Sharur?"
"Sharur? Why in the world would I want to change my name," indignantly asked the OrkElf. "Wachs is a great name. My adopted father gave it to me."
Smoke was glad he had his earth-mask on, otherwise the Sonstwelter could have clearly seen him smirking.
'I guess the story about other Sonstwelters wanting to be me was true after all,' he proudly thought to himself.
Then, he spotted a young aristocrat boy, about nine years old, wandering the streets.
"Excuse me, excuse me, can you show me where the arena is?" The young boy randomly asked passersby.
His fearful, lost expression tore a hole in Smoke's heart. The other Zectian passersby did nothing to help him at all.
"Hey, are you lost?" asked Smoke.
"Thank you! Finally, someone has answered me," cried out the young aristocrat and hugged Smoke tightly.
"I was separated from my steward when I was watching the finals," explained the teary eyed boy. "My name is Jack Dawkins."
"Dawkins, huh? Want me to take you back to the arena or can you make it there by—" Smoke was suddenly interrupted when a large tiger Lioumerean bumped into him from behind.
"Get out of the way! This isn't some coffee shop, where you sit and talk all day!" angrily screamed the Lioumerean.
Smoke was angry as well, and was about to have a word with the Lioumerean. However, he saw Jack fearfully step to the side of the street after he quickly released his hug from Smoke.
"I'm sorry about that, Sir, the kid was just scared," apologized Smoke.
"I don't care about your sob story! Just don't do it in the middle of the road," yelled the Lioumerean, and walked away from Smoke and Jack.
"Don't worry about it, Jack," said Smoke calmly. "That was just some jerk. So, do you want me to take you to the arena?"
Jack forcibly shook his head. "Just tell me where the general direction of the arena is, and I'll take it from there."
"Why, that's very brave of you, Jack," said Smoke proudly. "Alright, it's this way," he said, taking Jack to a street that would directly go to the arena. "Just walk straight, and you can't miss it."
"Thanks, Mister," replied a smiling Jack and ran down the street.
"What a brave kid," said Smoke out loud. "I wonder if Donny would cry if he got lost?"
Smoke hurriedly quickened his pace as he headed for the Appraisal Shop.
"Good day, Pousser," greeted Smoke after he entered the Gnome's shop.
"Oh, Faux, was it?" excitedly welcomed the old Appraiser. "Have you come to change another gem? I'll buy it for the same price as yesterday, 110,000 zecs."
"You're not trying to pull a fast one on me now, are you?" asked Smoke.
"No? I don't know what you're talking about? Who have you been talking to?" guiltily asked the Gnome.
"Yesterday was at 120,000 zecs," reminded Smoke calmly. "So, I'd like that same price."
"Oh, sorry, sorry. That was an honest mistake," quickly added Pousser. "Alright, alright, 120,00 zecs it is. So, how many gems this time?"
"I'm thinking maybe four," said Smoke as he searched for his bag of gems in his inventory window. "Hm. That's odd. I can't seem to find it. Excuse me, Pousser, I think I misplaced it somewhere."
"Take your time, Faux," answered a smiling Gnome.
Smoke used the search function of his inventory window.
 

'No it can't be,' thought a worried Smoke. An irksome feeling of being violated suddenly overcame him. 'I've been robbed.'
"I hope you haven't been mugged," stated Pousser. "The Thieves of Vona are well known to be very slick. They have so many modus operandi—"
Smoke left the Gnome's shop, running.
'It must have been that tiger Lioumerean bumping into me,' thought Smoke angrily while sprinting in between the busy crowd of the market district. 'When I see him, he is going to wish he really had nine    lives!'
He desperately searched everywhere. Sadly, his Cunning of the Dire Fox did not have the capability to pin-point a target's race.
Then, amidst the crowd, he spotted a familiar figure. It was Jack Dawkins, the young aristocrat boy, who he helped find his way back to the Arena.
'No! How could I have been so naive?' he irritably reprimanded himself.
He carefully made his way to where Jack was, but before he could grab him. The boy sprinted to the opposite direction and dove into a passing crowd of Zectians.
Smoke hurriedly gave chase, he would have wanted to use his numerous abilities to increase his speed, but worried about exposing himself.
'Looks like I'll have to do this the hard way,' he sourly realized.
He gritted his teeth and gave chase to the young boy on foot.

After a winded chase through the entertainment district, Smoke finally caught up with the pretentious nine-year-old, dressed as an aristocrat, in a blind alley. Jack was much more nimbler than Smoke thought he would be.
"Stop, Jack! Just give me back my bag, and that will be the end of it," yelled out Smoke, as he cornered him.
"Oh, you think you got me?" goaded Jack.
Smoke quickly looked around the alley. There were tall buildings which had high windows, Smoke knew there was no way for the boy to reach that height. He saw no places for Jack to crawl into or anywhere he could climb.
However, Smoke knew better than to belittle an opponent. He did not want to harm the boy, but he needed to get his bag of gems back. Unsure of what Jack's next move was, he thought of intimidating the boy instead.
"Through my time in Zectas, I have acquired several abilities," he said in a deep menacing voice. "Abilities that will make your life a living hel—" Smoke was abruptly cut-off, as a rope was suddenly lowered from one of the high windows, and landed directly in front of Jack.
"Sorry, but I won't be sticking around to hear your empty threats," jeered Jack, and grabbed a hold of the rope.
"Catch me if you can, slowpoke," chided the boy, while being pulled up at great speed.
Smoke had been trying to use his Earth Manipulation since he began chasing Jack, but only failure notifications kept popping up repeatedly.
 

'I can't jump or glide after him, but I think I could justify scaling the walls by controlling it,' he reasoned to himself, as he began climbing after the boy.
Smoke sneered when he saw Jack's eye instantly panicked when he almost grabbed hold of his right leg.
"Faster, pull me up!" yelled Jack.
However, Smoke's firm grip was solidly locked in on the boy's ankle. With a single burst of energy, he pushed his upper-body upward, and was now nearer the window than Jack.
'Weird, my Cunning of the Dire Fox does not sense anybody inside the room where the rope was being pulled from,' observed Smoke. He tried to enter the window, but was immediately met with a volley of projectiles instead.
SCHHWAFF SCHHWAFF SCHHWAFF
Bolts came flying at him everywhere from inside the room. Smoke dodged as best he could, but two of them pierced his shoulder, knocking him off the windowsill.
Falling fast, Smoke quickly latched his Claws of Chiroptera onto the wall, and stopped his rapid descent.
"Pull Jack up, hurry."
Smoke heard an unknown voice from above.
'These guys must be special Thieves, to have abilities that can bypass my Cunning of the Dire Fox,' surmised Smoke.
He hurriedly scaled back up to the window, and took a cautionary peek before jumping in.
"Huh?" said Smoke out loud.
Smoke entered an empty room. The only thing that remained was a residual image of a casting circle on the floor.
'They could teleport?' wondered Smoke.
He walked over to the door, to investigate, and found that it was locked from the inside.
Smoke let out a sigh, and opened Igniz's chamber.
"Well, Igniz, looks like they got me good," bitterly said Smoke, and shook his head in disbelief. 
Staring out the window, Smoke decided to climb up to the rooftop to get a better view of the city.
"And I was planning on using half of those gems to pay off the debts of our Avendre Mercenaries," Smoke said to Igniz while shaking his head in dismay.
He decided to inspect his Earth Manipulation ability, wondering how much he still had to go in order to manipulate the earth within the city.
"Inspect ability, Earth Manipulation," said Smoke, and an information window popped up.
 

'Maybe, if I reach Master level I could start manipulating the grounds within the city. I tried the grounds in the arena, and it worked fine there,' he surmised, basing on the things he knew.
From the silent rooftop, he studied the expansive landscape of Vona City. The bustling crowd in the market was as busy as ever.
'What a city! Thieves running rampant,' sourly thought Smoke. 'What do you expect from having so little patrolling Knights?'
Suddenly, he noticed a commotion on a nearby street. With the aid of his Telefax Vision, Smoke saw a younger boy dressed in similar clothes, as Jack being chased Sonstwelter Magicians.
'Looks like this operation is on a larger scale than I expected,' thought Smoke to himself.
However, unlike Smoke, the younger boy's pursuers did not hesitate to attack him. The young Thief's life bar displayed (18,000/30,000 HP).
Disregarding his concern of being discovered as Smoke, he glided from the rooftop to the next building where he could get a lead on the unknown boy and his pursuers.
Diving down to another blind alley, Smoke waited for them from behind the cover of a tall building. Fortunately, he could sense the boy and his chasers with his Cunning of the Dire Fox.
Smoke quickly grabbed the boy and covered his mouth. He then used his Hyper Jump ability to take the two of them to the darker part of the alley.
"Shh. Be quiet," Smoke whispered to the boy.
His Cunning of the Dire Fox picked up the other Sonstwelters about to come out from the corner. He felt the boy shake with fear, as they passed them by.
"Thanks, Mister. I don't know why those men were chasing me," said the boy gratefully between deep breaths. "But thank you so much for helping me out. You see, I lost my steward from the arena when I—"
The boy stopped talking, as Smoke suddenly placed iron handcuffs on him.
"Oh, I think I have a pretty good idea why they were after you," replied Smoke with a disapproving look.
 

* * * * * * 

From within the pomegranate forest outside of the city, Smoke and the handcuffed kid were headed towards Geparden Plains. He had the boy covered under a long robe and stuffed his mouth with a gag, stopping him from making any noise.
Smoke modified his earth-mask, while he was chewing an ancient bison jerky. He intentionally munched on it loudly, to entice the boy. Catching a glance at his captive, Smoke knew it was working, as the young Thief was already salivating over his gag.
Thinking it was the perfect time, Smoke removed the gag on the boy's mouth.
"I might have not caught Jack," Smoke said to the boy with his mouthful of jerky. "But at least I got you."
"Oh, so it was Jack who tricked to you," spat out the boy with a self-satisfied face.
Smoke could only irritably shake his head in disapproval. He pulled the boy's handcuff, dragging him forward.
"So, Jack is his real name, huh?" Smoke asked the boy. "What about you? What's your name, Kid?"
"What's it to you? Are you going to let me go if I tell you?" challenge the boy.
"Nope, but maybe I would give you a piece of this jerky," replied Smoke.
"Daniel, Daniel Dickinson," quickly answered the handcuffed boy. "And Jack Dawkins is his real name. Now, give me a piece of that!"
Daniel forcibly dove for the jerky and began pulling it away from Smoke.
Smoke smirked, and gave him the remaining jerky.
"See, that wasn't so hard, Daniel," said Smoke. "My name is Faux, and I'd like you to tell me where I can find Jack."
"Just because you fed me, doesn't mean I'm going to rat out on my friend," sneered Daniel.
"Hm. If I can't convince you to tell me, then perhaps there's no use for you at all," stated Smoke plainly.
Just then, they reached the end of the pomegranate forest.
"You think you can threaten me?" challenged Daniel. "Even if you feed me to the lions, I still won't talk."
"Well, that's a relief, because those monsters are what's coming," said Smoke and pointed to a coalition of twenty sand cheetahs, rushing towards them.
"Hey, Faux, let's get back to the forest," worriedly said Daniel. Smoke watched the boy try to run back, but he placed earth shackles on the boy's feet and planted him were he stood.
"Faux, you can't do this, I'm just a kid," begged Daniel. Smoke saw the hand-cuffed Thief helplessly stare at the careening monsters.
"Come on, you're going to get killed to!" said Daniel.
"Well, I am a Sonstwelter, so, I'll be back in four days, but you however... You'll be taking a one-way ride to Mictlan," said Smoke menacingly.
Daniel squirmed his foot around, but could not break free at all. "Fine! I'll talk! I'll talk! Just get me out of here!"
Smoke raised the ground the boy was standing on, and created a tall pillar to keep him safe.
Only fifty-meters of space left between them, Smoke sprouted several earth lances from the ground. Eight of the beasts were impaled, and out of those skewered, four were struck on their necks.
The life bars of the critically injured sand cheetahs quickly drained out of them, whereas the rest were only incapacitated but received the Bleeding status.
After seeing Smoke's attack, the remaining sand cheetahs began escaping towards the opposite direction. However, Smoke's spikes created a limited opening.
Replicating Ledur's technique, Smoke created a smaller earth-dome, and captured all of the sand cheetahs inside it.
Wanting to practice on his Earth Manipulation, he manipulated the dome to strike the caught beasts with earth-knives.
The trapped sand cheetahs were pelted with earth-knives, Smoke proceeded to finish off the impaled monsters with a single strike to their necks.
After two minutes, his Cunning of the Dire Fox confirmed the elimination of all the sand cheetahs inside the dome as well.
Smoke then lowered the pillar Daniel was on, and removed the earth-shackles on his feet.
"I didn't know you were this powerful. How in the world did you do that?" asked an astonished boy, walking closer toward him. "And sand cheetahs are fast as hell too. Not even members of the CO can catch them, but you killed twenty in one go."
"Well, I didn't really catch them. They were all headed towards me, and what does CO stand—" Smoke was cut off as Daniel suddenly knelt down in front of him.
The boy pleadingly clutched Smoke's legs. "Faux, please help us escape from Cynar. He's got kids like me doing his dirty jobs for him, and if we don't listen, who knows what he'll do to my younger sister."
Suddenly a Quest window popped up. 
 

Smoke paused for a moment.
'What if this is another one of the Thieves' ploys?' he asked himself. 'But I doubt that the game would create false quests.'
"Before I answer, why don't you tell me about this Cynar character?" queried Smoke, intrigued and bewildered. "And what exactly is your situation with him?"
"I'll tell you all about him, but can we return to the pomegranate forest first?" asked Daniel. "I know you can handle the sand cheetahs, but I'm just terrified of them."
"Alright, but I'm not taking the handcuffs off," said Smoke flatly. "And we're not heading back to the forest. I have another place in mind."
 

* * * * * * 

Nighttime crept around Souer Settlement, and four individuals sat in front of a small campfire behind the earth-walls of a doughnut-like enclosure.
Smoke had forcibly dragged a handcuffed Daniel across Geparden Plains, and now both of them were seated next to Esper and Colere, the OrkElf leaders of this settlement.
Free from Smoke's handcuffs, Daniel started to talk.
"I did not expect that you would also have OrkElf underlings, like Cynar," said the boy.
"No, they aren't my—" Smoke was about to correct Daniel, but Esper strongly set him to place.
"We aren't Faux's underlings!" she interjected. "He is a friend who gave us a chance at life."
"Well, it is not much of a life to live," retorted Daniel, looking at the surroundings inside the Souer Settlement dwelling.
"But even this, is still better than our lives under Cynar," added the boy. "My sister and I are actually from Vlahui City. We were watching the 996th Magi Gagnant Tournament," he explained. "I was still probably nine then, and my sister maybe seven?"
"Wait, what?" said Smoke incredulously. "If you were nine, three years ago, then you're twelve years old now?"
"Yeah, I know I don't look my age," replied Daniel sourly. "I haven't even grown out of my royal clothes from before. In fact, Jack is already fifteen years old."
"Really?" said Smoke. He shook his head in utter disbelief.
"I don't know if it is something Cynar puts in our food or drink, but the children under his care haven't grown at all," expounded Daniel. "I tried refusing to eat or drink anything once. Cynar dangled me over a pit of sand cheetahs trapped inside it. Slowly lowering me down. I have the scars to prove it," the boy lifted his shirt and showed his back filled with disfigured skin caused by several traumatic injuries.
"And how many children does Cynar have altogether?" asked Smoke.
"Well, including Jack, my sister, and myself, Cynar has six royalties all in all," answered Daniel. "But counting the other children, he probably has sixty?"
This time it was the OrkElves who questioned Daniel's story.
"Wait? You mean you're really royals?" asked Esper. "That sounds hard to believe."
Colere nodded. "Exactly. If you were, then why didn't anyone come looking for you?"
"Wait," said Smoke. "Daniel, what is your ranking for the throne of Vitzytl?"
"Well, I am 30th in line," replied the boy.
"And what about Jack?" continued Smoke.
"Hm. I think 25th or 26th?" answered Daniel with a shrug.
'Maybe the lower ranked royals paid Cynar to kidnap them?' wondered Smoke to himself.
"What is it that you want Faux to do exactly?" asked Esper. Her body leaned closer towards the boy and stared into his eyes.
Daniel stared right back. "I want him to free my sister, and if he can, free the other children under Cynar."
Esper sat up straight and turned to Smoke. "I think he is telling the truth, but I don't think you should do it."
"And what about that other kid? Jack was at?" she asked. "How dare he steal all of your gems! He should have returned it when you caught up with him," Esper said to Smoke.
"Well, I guess there was no—" began Smoke, but was interjected by Colere.
"I agree. I mean this Cynar character has abducted royalties, and the authorities are doing nothing about it," added the burly OrkElf. "In fact, we have never even heard about him before, and that means he has to have some powerful connections to pull that off."
Smoke looked at his two new friends. He agreed with Colere's theory and nodded. He then turned to face Daniel. The boy's eyes looked defeated. Daniel weakly shook his head.
"I understand if you don't want to go against Cynar," said the boy. "I mean, why would you want to help out a stranger? But in Jack's defense, he needed to give whatever he stole from Faux, otherwise the other children would be punished in his place."
Daniel ruffled his hair and covered his face with his hands. "Jack isn't like me. I'm only looking out for my sister and myself, but he.... Well, he looks out for everybody, even me."
"Hm. I guess I don't know Jack," quietly said Smoke to himself.
However, someone else took offense over Daniel's remark.
"Hey! Faux, isn't like that," Esper suddenly yelled. "Do you see this place? Faux built this by himself. And he did that only after a day of knowing us."
"So, you're telling me that Faux, just knows when to help the right people?" countered Daniel. "And a group of abducted children just does not fit that category?"
Esper fell silent, and so did Colere.
Smoke looked at the OrkElves, and gave them a thankful nod.
"Daniel, where exactly is Cynar's hideout?" Smoke asked, handing the boy his map of Sawtorn and a leaden stylus to update it.
The boy's eyes brightened with life.
"Does that mean you will help us?" asked Daniel with a big smile and wide eyes.
"Yes, yes it does," replied Smoke.
Then, Daniel's Quest window popped up with an update.