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Fable : Fall of the Guild	By : Samson Category: +A through F > Fable Views: 8226 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
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Training Hard. Exiled.
Fable : Fall of the Guild

Part I - "In Your Blood"

By: Jesse Racine AKA Samson

Original Date Written: March 12, 2011

Darrah chased Timoteo all the way through the main Guild building, racing after him until they had sprinted outside into the full reach of the sunlight. She chased him right up to a large circular pen of sorts, chasing him right up to the Guildmaster. Timoteo was panting by the time they reached the pen, but Darrah was hardly breathing any deeper than usual. Darrah would've tackled Timoteo if she had caught him anywhere else, but she didn't do so in front of the Guildmaster. Brute and Gibbons were standing in the pen, both armed with long sticks torn from a nearby tree. The others stood nearby, outside the pen, by it's white wooden fence borders. "Ah, Timoteo. You're awake, good. I see Darrah took it upon herself to chase you out of bed." Darrah, with a touch of embarrassment, stuck a hand into a pocket on her pants.
"I didn't chase him out of bed...If I had, we would've gotten here on time, with the others." The Guildmaster raised his eyebrows, smiling a little, saying "Mmm, so you say. Well, it's not a problem, it's understandable on your first real day, Timoteo. Today, we'll practise your abilities in melee combat. I know you're a mage, but you just might be one of the few Heroes that can fight with more than one Talent. And besides, even if you're a mage, you might find yourself thrust into a battle while your mana in low. In that case, a sword or club would be your best friend. The others have been taking turns training against one another for a while." Looking over to the pen, the Guildmaster continued, saying "What we usually do is have everyone train against everyone else just once, so everyone has been given an opportunity to train against one another. We're almost finished, however...That would mean you'd be fighting everyone in a row. That'd exhaust you too much however, so I'll only have you train against Darrah for this exercise. For the ranged and magic combat, however, you'll be training against all of the others."
Darrah said "Only the other mages will be training with you for magic combat, though. Anyone can swing a sword or use a bow, at least with amateur skill, but only mages can use magic, so...Yeah." The Guildmaster nodded, saying "She's right, for the magic combat you'll only be training with Bianca and Travis. At that point, though, everyone splits up to train with others of their Talent, right now we're just doing general training. Marst, Gibbons, and Calvin will train together specifically in the ways of Skill, and Darrah will train exclusively with Brute, as he's currently the only other Hero of Strength in the Guild that's her age. We don't have you train against someone that's older than you, not until your final tests." Marst looked over and asked "I heard that our very final test will be against the Hero of Oakvale. Is that true?"
The Guildmaster calmly said "I won't confirm or deny anything about future tests. Timoteo, Darrah, go and fetch sticks for yourselves from the nearby pile, you'll be going up next against each other after Brute and Gibbons finish." The Guildmaster pointed over to the side, Timoteo looking over and spotting a small pile of sticks by a thick area of bushes. Timoteo and Darrah both walked over, grabbing a stick each. The sticks were about as long as Timoteo's arm, being about as thick as three of his fingers kept close together. Darrah twirled her stick up in the air for a moment before catching it, smiling with dark confidence. Timoteo suddenly had a nervous feeling about facing off against Darrah, realizing that she really didn't intend on making the training easy for him. Walking over to the fence by the others, they watched as the Guildmaster gave the signal for Brute and Gibbons to begin their sparring match, giving the two of them a nod to commence.
"C'mon Brute, show him what Heroes of Strength can do!" Darrah cheered. Brute and Gibbons circled each other for several seconds, Calvin cheering out "Give the punk your one-two-three, Gibbons!" Gibbons grinned a little, pointing a hand over to Calvin, giving him a thumbs-up signal. With Gibbons looking over, Brute began to charge, taking advantage of the distraction. "Watch out!" Marst called out to him. Brute swung his stick as hard as he could towards the right side of Gibbons' neck, but Gibbons seemed to sense the attack coming, diving to the left. When he hit the ground, he quickly twisted around and jumped back up, getting on his feet once more. Brute charged at Gibbons again, Gibbons comically beginning to run away from Brute, whooping almost like a clown as he did so. Kicking his legs up high as he ran, he let his arms wiggle in the air behind him, a huge grin on his face.
Brute chased Gibbons around the pen a couple of times before he started to laugh, trying unsuccessfully to hold back his laughter as he said "Skorm's teeth, cut it out, Gibbons! I hate it when you pull this crap!" Gibbons ran to the far side of the pen from Brute, facing him then, doing a comical dance, shaking his hips left and right while wiggling one of his legs every now and then. Darrah ran over to where Gibbons was, reaching over the pen and smacking him across his head. "Ow, hey!" Gibbons said, his face suddenly going in pain. He shut his right eye, raising his right hand to the side of his head, looking over his shoulder at Darrah. Darrah's face was annoyed as she said "Brute's not the only one that gets annoyed by that joking. Fight properly, Gibbons." Gibbons lowered his hand from his head, opening his right eye as he said "But it's part of my strategy, I distract the enemy with tomfoolery then take 'em down while they're laughing their socks off!"
When Gibbons looked forwards again, he suddenly found himself cornered by Brute. Gibbons stared at Brute with wide eyes for a moment before Brute grabbed Gibbons by his shirt, twisting around and throwing Gibbons to the ground. Racing over before Gibbons could get up, he started beating him with his stick, Gibbons crying out in pain with every whack of Brute's weapon. "That's enough, Brute. You've won this match." The Guildmaster said. Brute stepped away from Gibbons, Gibbons getting up to his feet, saying "If it wasn't for Darrah distracting me, I would've won!" Darrah smiled innocently. "I distracted you? Really?" She coyly said. Gibbons gave her an annoyed look, but didn't say anything. The Guildmaster opened a small gate in the fence that Timoteo hadn't noticed before, the gate entrance having been close to the Guildmaster's side. Brute and Gibbons walked out of the pen, Darrah quickly rushing in, saying "Hey Timoteo, let's go!"
Timoteo gave a soft sigh, Calvin walking over to Timoteo, leaning in close and whispering "Hit 'er in the stomach." Timoteo raised an eyebrow and looked to Calvin. "Calvin, I don't know what you're telling him, but just shut the heck up! Timoteo, let's go, c'mon!" Calvin gave Timoteo a wink, saying "Trust me." Timoteo knew that getting hit in the stomach wasn't fun, so he figured he'd only resort to the attack if he had no other choice. Getting into the pen, the Guildmaster shut the gate behind Timoteo, saying "Now, Darrah. This is Timoteo's first training fight, so it'd be nice of you to not smack him around as hard as you tend to with the others." Darrah smiled sweetly, saying "But Guildmaster, if I don't go hard on him, he'll never grow into a big and strong Hero!" The Guildmaster said "He's not a Hero of Strength, Darrah. He's a mage, and he's not even allowed to use magic in this fight, which leaves him defenceless. A Hero of Skill could evade your attacks, and Brute could clash back with you as hard as he could, but you should be a little more lenient with the mages."
Darrah sulked for a moment before saying "Yeah, alright, whatever. I'll go easy on the little mage, just this once." She raised a hand and pointed a finger at Timoteo, saying "Be happy, Tim." Timoteo raised an eyebrow at Darrah, giving her a half-smile. Bianca was staring silently and Travis was simply standing quietly, too shy to say anything, so Timoteo didn't receive any encouragement from his fellow mages. Marst, Gibbons, and Calvin, however, cheered Timoteo on, Brute cheering for Darrah. Darrah slowly began to walk towards Timoteo, Timoteo moving off to the side, not letting Darrah corner him against the fencing of the pen. Darrah suddenly charged towards Timoteo, swinging her stick down towards his face. He stumbled backwards, barely dodging the blow, his back ramming against the fence behind him. Darrah's face was dark, but her lips were curled into a grin. She raced towards him, raising her stick. Timoteo raised his own, Darrah's stick smacking against his.
She had more strength than Timoteo realized, and despite Timoteo raising his stick defensively, Darrah hit his with so much strength that it shot back and hit him in the face along with her own. Distracted for a moment, Darrah started whacking at Timoteo fiercely, hitting him along his arms and legs. Timoteo, not thinking, shot out a fist and hit Darrah right in her stomach. Darrah gasped with pain, her eyes going wide as she stumbled back a few steps. She brought her free hand to her stomach, gritting her teeth a little. She had stopped breathing, but after a few seconds, she started taking little gasps for air once more. Timoteo didn't know what to do. He didn't exactly feel bad for hurting Darrah, as it had stopped her from hurting him any more. He noticed that he seemed to have hurt her fairly badly, however. "Hit her over the head!" Calvin called out amid the cheers of the others. Timoteo wasn't sure if he could do such a thing.
Maybe if he was really angry at Darrah he could, but he had only been mildly annoyed with her behaviour on that day. "Hit her over the head, c'mon!" Gibbons called out. Timoteo, thinking of the previous day and how Darrah had acted then, felt his annoyance turn to a touch of anger. Quickly walking up to Darrah, he raised his stick. Darrah suddenly stood up, moving quicker than Timoteo had expected. Whipping her stick blindingly quickly, she hit the wrist connected to the hand with which he held his stick, leaving a good welt on his wrist. Her strike had hurt so much that Timoteo actually released his stick, taking in a sharp inhale of pain. Darrah's face was grave as she stepped closer to Timoteo, raising a fist, punching him in the right side of his face. He fell to the ground, not feeling any pain in his face right away.
After a moment however, he became aware of a slight stinging showing up in his cheek, his cheek beginning to feel a little stiff as it lightly swelled. "That's enough, Darrah. You've beaten him." The Guildmaster said. Darrah had been about to grab Timoteo's stick and hit him with both, but she stopped when the Guildmaster asked her to. Saying nothing to Timoteo, she limped off towards the nearby gate, exiting the pen. Timoteo slowly got up, exiting the pen, as well. Nobody said anything about the fight once it was over. "Right, now, over to the archery range, everyone." The Guildmaster said. Everyone nodded except for Timoteo, who simply followed the others wherever they went. As they walked away from the pen, Marst walked over to Timoteo, asking "Are you okay?" Timoteo nodded gently. "I've been in fights before." He said. Marst raised a hand and rubbed her thumb against Timoteo's swelling cheek, Timoteo wincing gently at her touch. "How does it look?" Timoteo asked.
Marst raised her eyebrows for a moment, saying "It's starting to turn a little purple, but it's not a huge bruise. You'll be fine." She gave him a pat on his shoulder, smiling a little. Timoteo smiled back, looking forwards, suddenly seeing something in the corner of his eye. Glancing over, he saw Darrah, who was glaring at him, not bothering to really hide her look. Timoteo felt uncomfortable due to her glaring, but luckily Marst noticed Darrah's look, as well. "Darrah, cut it out." She said firmly. Darrah just looked forwards, but she still had a dark expression to her. The group walked over from the pen to another nearby area, the Guildmaster turning and looking at everyone once they were all near a strange range of sorts.
"Now, this is the archery range. Everyone grab a bow as well as a quiver." Everyone started walking off to the left, Timoteo looking over. Against a nearby fence leaned several wooden bows, a quiver of arrows by each one. He walked over and grabbed a bow and a quiver, looking around for a moment. They were standing under a large tree, offering some shade from the sunlight. Nearby sat the range. It seemed almost like a stage for a play, only it wasn't elevated above any of them, everything sitting on the ground. There were several standing props, thin and riddled with small stab marks from arrows, creating a scene similar to a row of houses within a town. The Guildmaster showed Timoteo the correct way to hold his bow and draw an arrow on it's drawstring, letting him fire into the range on his own a couple of times. With his first few arrows, Timoteo didn't hit anything, his arrows falling to the ground. Eventually though, he seemed to get the hang of firing arrows, managing to hit the props for scenery a couple of times.
Marst clapped for him, along with Calvin and Gibbons. The Guildmaster let everyone fire into the range a couple of times by themselves, letting them have a little warm-up. Marst was easily the best shot with her bow, letting loose powerful arrows that deeply struck her marks with almost perfect accuracy. When everyone had had a warm-up, the Guildmaster let them all fire their bows at the same time, all of them using the range together. They continued until they ran out of arrows, the Guildmaster leaving and quickly coming back with another big bundle, refilling everyone's quivers for them. He then said "Alright, now I'm going to let the targets go free. The closest one is worth one point, the middle target is worth two, and the farthest target is worth three. Keep track of your points, everyone." Timoteo was curious about what the targets were, but the answer became apparent in a moment. As if reacting to the Guildmaster's words, three objects began to move horizontally across the range at differing speeds.
The targets were straw dummies shaped like humans, a red circle over the dummies' faces as well as their torsos. The closest target moved slowly, not really having any cover to protect it from arrows. The middle target moved a little quicker, having some prop wheelbarrows offer it some cover as two points. The last target moved quite quickly and was behind the flat prop of a building for most of it's run, it's head visible through a pair of windows for a moment before it came out from the side of the prop, only being visible for a second before getting behind cover again. The dummies were slowly going left and right across the range, the Guildmaster telling the young Heroes to empty their quivers once more. They fired into the range until they did so. Timoteo hit the front target a couple of times, hitting the middle target once purely by accident. Travis did even worse than Timoteo, with Bianca doing about the same as Timoteo. Gibbons and Calvin did reasonably well, hitting the front and middle targets several times.
Darrah and Brute did better than the Heroes of Will, hitting only the front target yet hitting it many times more than they did. Marst once more showed her proficiency with a bow, striking the farthest target multiple times, striking the middle target more than anyone else. "I'm sorry, Guildmaster...I couldn't help but notice this young woman, here." They all suddenly heard a female voice say. Everyone looked over, seeing a tall woman to be approaching. She looked to be in her mid thirties. She had a lean body with some toned muscle to her. Her hair was black, but her bangs were dyed red. Tied under her bangs and around her head was a red cloth of sorts. Her eyes had a shine of determination to them, but she had a small smile to her, as well. Her body wasn't very curvy, being sleek and thin. A long scar went over her right eye, going from under the cloth over her forehead down to her right cheek, nearly reaching her jaw.
She was wearing a pair of glasses, the frames black while the circular lenses were red, the glasses down to the middle of her nose. A red scarf of sorts went around her neck, loosely hanging down over her chest. She wore a red and black leather vest, the vest not going down far enough to cover the lower reaches of her stomach. The vest had a thick stripe of black going down over the very middle of her torso, the rest of the vest being red with golden baubles done into the fabric. Although her vest lacked sleeves, she still wore fabric over her arms, wearing what looked like thick sleeves torn from another shirt and kept tight over her arms with small belts near her shoulders. The insides of the sleeves, facing her torso, were red, while the outsides of the sleeves were black. Her shoulders were visible, but her skin was covered in black tribalistic tattoos. She wore a pair of long and slightly baggy pants, the insides of the pantlegs black while the outsides were red, golden baubles done into the fabric, like with her vest.
She seemed to almost be wearing a skirt, or, at least, a skirt was the closest thing Timoteo could think of to compare the accessory to. It looked like a red skirt that had had a thick vertical stripe of fabric removed just over the space between her thighs, another stripe removed over the backs of her thighs. This accessory had large baubles of gold done into it's outside, like the red parts of the woman's vest and pants. The accessory was kept tight around her waist by a thick brown leather belt, the belt having various pockets and pouches hanging down over the woman's left thigh. Over her back, she had a large crossbow strapped to her, the long brown strap going over her right shoulder and down horizontally across her torso until it reached her left hip, where it went around her body and back to the crossbow.
Walking over to the group, the Guildmaster said "Ah, hello, Briar. Children, this is Briar Rose, an expert Hero of Skill." Briar Rose only glanced at the children before her eyes focused on Marst. "I don't care much for the rest, but that one right there, the one that looks almost like Thunder's little sister...What's her name?" The Guildmaster glanced at Marst for a moment before saying "That's young Marst. It's interesting you would mention that she looks like Whisper, as Marst actually comes from the South Islands like she and her brother did." Marst raised her eyebrows, a big smile coming to her. "I know the tale of Whisper. She's my island's defender, she's protected us against pirates more times than I can count." Marst said. The Guildmaster said "Yes, that's right, isn't it? After Jack of Blades was defeated, Whisper went back down south to her homeland." Briar Rose lost her smile, calmly saying "Yes...And the Hero from Oakvale misses her, doesn't he?" The Guildmaster looked to Briar Rose, saying "I wouldn't doubt it."
Briar Rose was quiet for a moment before a confident smile made it's way back to her face. "Well, I'm going to see if there's any Quest Cards I could snag. Train this Marst girl well, I think she might actually have potential, unlike the rest of this lot." Most of the children were annoyed by Briar Rose's comment, the only ones not being annoyed by her words being Bianca and Marst, herself. The Guildmaster nodded at Briar Rose before she left, Briar Rose walking off towards the main Guild building. "Now, let's hear it. What was everybody's score?" Everyone related their score, but when Brute spoke his, Gibbons accused him of lying. The Guildmaster, in order to prevent a fight, told everyone that the competition would start again, only this time, everyone would take a turn having the range all to themselves and the Guildmaster himself would keep track of their scores.
Everyone had their quivers refilled before firing into the range once more. The scores were more or less the same, with Marst scoring the highest and Travis scoring the lowest. Despite scoring quite low compared to everyone else, the Guildmaster congratulated Bianca, saying she did quite well despite the problem with her eyes. Everyone was confused, including Timoteo. Nobody had known that Bianca had had a problem with her eyes. Many of them asked Bianca and the Guildmaster what exactly the problem was, and as if uncomfortable with the questions, Bianca simply walked off. The Guildmaster politely refused to answer anyone's questions, saying it was a personal subject to Bianca. When everyone had calmed down, the Guildmaster said "Now, I believe Bianca has already gone off to the Will training section of the grounds. Marst, Calvin, Gibbons, you stay here and practise your archery some more. Darrah and Brute, you can head back to the pen.
Tim, Travis, you two follow me. You'll train with your specific Talents for a few hours before we do some more general training, and then it'll be time for lunch." Everyone nodded, the Guildmaster beginning to walk off, Timoteo and Travis following after him. He led them along a path, going past the pen for physical training. Going up a small hill, they walked past a large tree surrounded by the same dummies the children had fired at in the archery range. Going over a small wooden bridge, the three of them saw Bianca standing on the small island that the bridge connected to. The bridge went over a large section of the creek that ran through the Guild's grounds, the bridge ending at a small hunk of land that acted like an island of sorts. The island had several straw dummies standing on it, as well as another small bridge on the other side. The bridge ran down to a large stone door of sorts, the door having a large and beautiful detailed chiselling of an elderly man's bearded face on it.
Bianca's face was calm, but her brow was a touch furrowed, the girl perhaps still a bit annoyed by all the questions she had faced back at the archery range. The Guildmaster walked over with the others, the gentle sounds of flowing water sounding out around them. "I'm sorry Bianca, I should've kept my congratulations until after. I didn't mean to reveal your problem to the others." He said. Bianca didn't look at him, and her face didn't relax entirely, although her brow did calm down a little. She shrugged carelessly, looking over to a nearby straw dummy. The Guildmaster looked to Timoteo, saying "Now, I have some matters to attend to in the Guild. If there are any problems, just come and find me. Bianca and Travis will try and show you how to work your Will, I trust. Just cast some spells at a dummy and then relax for a few minutes, give your Will time to recharge. I'll be back to check in on you in about two hours." Timoteo nodded along with Travis, but Bianca didn't react to his words.
The Guildmaster began to leave, Travis saying "U-Um, so, you just sort of...Well, it's hard to explain...I read a book on Will energy, and it made a lot of sense to me...I was able to use my Will really well after I read it. Want me to go get it?..." Timoteo shrugged, saying "Sure, I guess. Thanks." Travis began to walk off. When he and Bianca were alone, Timoteo looked to her. "Hey, Bianca...Can you cast any spells?" He asked a little awkwardly, trying to not only make conversation with her but also being curious as to seeing what she was capable of. Bianca nodded silently. "Can I see?" He asked. She shrugged after a moment, looking to a nearby dummy. She raised a hand. After a moment, a fire suddenly burst into life in the palm of Bianca's hand, startling Timoteo. The fire swelled and took a shape, looking like a sphere of crackling and popping red, the fire feeling around Bianca's fingers yet apparently causing her no pain, not damaging her skin.
Bianca pulled her arm back and whipped the fireball down at the dummy she was facing, the straw dummy bursting into flames, the entire thing quickly being enveloped in the fire. Timoteo smiled and clapped, saying "I read about pyromancers in the library. Did you want to be one?" Bianca shook her head. Timoteo said "Oh...I guess you just know the spell?" Bianca nodded, looking over to him. Timoteo fell silent, then. Travis came back a few minutes later, panting softly. He handed Timoteo a book entitled "Handling the Will". Timoteo took it off to the side, sitting down and beginning to read. Bianca and Travis practised their spells for several minutes before coming over and sitting by Timoteo, feeling tired, letting their mana recharge. The book intrigued Timoteo, Timoteo quickly reading it's pages.
"The Will is the power of one's mind, and Will energy can manifest itself in various ways within the physical world. This is the basis of spells. Once you learn how to feel the Will inside your body and detect the Will in your surroundings, you can properly shape spells. Every spell in existence was created when a mage simply attempted to handle their Will in a different manner, and as such, all spells can be replicated by potentially all mages, as long as they put forth enough effort. Sometimes, it is hard for a mage to describe with words how it is that they manipulated their Will, and so it could be more difficult for another mage to replicate the first's spell."
"Sometimes, a mage tries to show how they manipulated their Will through pieces of art, which can give another mage an image as to how the first worked their magics. In a figurative sense, Will energy could be viewed as a massive block of clay inside a mage's mind. With their thoughts, the mage can shape and mold that block of clay until they find it acceptable, and then a spell can be produced. Some mages have reported that they see a canvas in their mind, and with their thoughts, paint is tossed at the canvas. Whenever a certain image is formed, a spell comes into life. Of course, mages can think of their Will in any sense, as as long as they focus, they can make their Will bend to their whim."
Timoteo continued to read the book, Bianca and Travis getting up every now and then and practising spells. After nearly an hour and a half, Timoteo had finished half of the book. He had read enough that he thought he was ready to try and cast a spell. He set the book down, standing up. He closed his eyes, holding his arms out by his sides a little. He thought back to when the thief in the alley had tried to stab him. He thought of how he had felt, thinking of the fear he felt, the adrenaline that had been pounding through him. Suddenly, it was as if he could see and feel a sort of cube in his mind, the cube sitting in his skull. The words from the book made sense to Timoteo, he could feel something going through him. It was almost like the blood going through his veins, but it didn't exactly flow, and it didn't go through the deepest parts of his body. Now that he knew about it and was trying to focus on it though, yes, he could feel it going through him, the book wasn't lying!
He could feel a sort of energy inside him, pulsing softly. In the air around him, he could feel what felt like soft and neat strips of fabric, fluttering through the air and wrapping around his limbs, tickling along his torso. With just a thought, he took the cube he felt in his mind and turned it into a skull, the skull representing danger, perhaps incoming death. Timoteo felt a flash of light around his body, the sensation cool and refreshing. "Way to go, Tim!" He suddenly heard Travis say. Timoteo's eyes shot open. He had lost his concentration and thus his connection with the Will within him as well as surrounding him. It didn't matter, however; his spell had been cast. Although he could no longer feel the cube in his mind or the pulsing of the Will energy throughout his body, his spell had flourished and appeared. He had cast Physical Shield again, the strange aura of light surrounding his body calmly. Travis clapped for a few moments before Bianca raised a hand, a ball of fire appearing in the palm of her hand.
Timoteo's eyes widened as Bianca suddenly launched the fire straight at Timoteo, the fireball hitting him right in his chest. Timoteo felt the impact of the blow knock him back to the ground. Although the flames had ripped around him for a moment, his shield had protected him from the hunger of the fire. A moment after he had hit the ground however, his shield had faded. Bianca walked over to Timoteo, looking down to his eyes, holding out a hand to help him get back up. Travis walked over and said "Physical Shield only protects you from a certain amount of attacks before it fades, it can only take so much damage. The better you get at it though, the longer it can last and the more it can protect you from." Timoteo sat up with a groan, saying "Wish you would've told me that before Bianca decided to demonstrate..." He reached up to her hand, his digits going around her soft palm. She pulled him up to his feet, Timoteo dusting himself off after a moment.
"I'd take a few minutes to rest up and let your mana recharge." Travis said. "Maybe you could read the book some more? You obviously have an idea as to how to work your Will, so Bianca and I could share with you some of the spells we've done and see if you could do them." Timoteo agreed, sitting down and resuming his reading of the book Travis had gotten for him. After about twenty minutes, he put the book down and went over to them. Travis asked Bianca if she'd like to help Timoteo learn a new spell, but she remained silent. Travis took it upon himself to try and teach Timoteo how to cast a spell entitled "Lightning". Travis demonstrated, holding up a hand towards a dummy, a long beam of electricity suddenly arcing from his palm and the ends of his fingers to the dummy. The dummy quivered and shook rapidly as the electricity flowed through it and into the ground. Travis explained, saying "Just try and make things in your arms go fast. Electricity is fast, so try it like that."
With some difficulty, Timoteo began to feel the Will inside him once more, sparks dancing from the ends of his fingers. The gentle pulsing in his arms was pushing forwards, Timoteo rapidly chopping up the block he felt in his mind, in his skull. A beam of electricity flew to a nearby dummy, striking it for a second before the electricity failed. Timoteo found himself panting, feeling thoroughly fatigued. Travis gave him a pat on the back, saying "Decent for a first try. Just relax for a bit, let your mana recharge. You can have another go at it when you're rested. Bianca? How do you think he did?" Bianca simply shrugged, no expression to her face. Travis smiled a little, saying "Eh...Yeah." Timoteo sat down and continued reading his book, the Guildmaster coming to check on the group not long after. After hearing from Travis that Timoteo had successfully cast Physical Shield and had made a good attempt at Lightning, the Guildmaster congratulated him.
Timoteo rested for several minutes before trying Lightning once more. He improved little by little each time he practised, and by the time their Will training was over, he had successfully cast Lightning a few times. Timoteo was having the time of his life. Who knew that such a wonderful thing as Will existed? When the Guildmaster came to collect them for more general training, he warned that the sparring matches up ahead would be more difficult than before. He said that he wouldn't stop any matches as quickly as he had before, and that Will powers would be allowed. Travis told Timoteo that it was all normal, that tougher fights always took place around noon.
Everyone fought against each other, the only one to be undefeated being Bianca. Now that she was free to use Will, none of the other children could harm her. The Guildmaster had a large sack of health and mana potions nearby, which he had had to give to one of the children every now and then. Timoteo had done fairly well in the fighting; because he now knew how to use Physical Shield, many of the other children had only been frustrated as they had tried to hit him, Timoteo's shield able to absorb their blows. Bianca had used a spell that seemed to instantly teleport her behind her enemy, and she would always strike at them with her stick, teleporting away when they would try to turn around. When Timoteo had fought Darrah, she had caused Timoteo's shield so much trauma that it had dropped, the girl then punching Timoteo across the face a few times, the Guildmaster giving Timoteo a health potion after the fight to heal up.
The health potion was a curious thing. The bottom of the vial was shaped almost like a crystal, the vial filled with a faintly red fluid. A strange fixture of sorts was on the front of the bottle, looking almost like an upside-down exclamation point, wings spread out from the point near it's top dot. What looked like two snakes curled around the length of the fixture a few times, their heads going close to the wings. Timoteo uncorked the potion and drank it down, the pain in his face quickly fading. The Guildmaster let the group go and eat lunch then. Feasting together, the hungry group ate their fill before heading back outside. The Guildmaster had them train for the rest of the afternoon, letting them call it a day as the sun began to set. The group went off to take their baths then, Marst grabbing towels for everybody on the way. When they reached the pool, everybody aside from Marst and Gibbons suddenly began to act shyly, even Bianca, who usually didn't show much emotion on her face, seemed shy and uncomfortable.
Eventually though, with everyone hot and a little sweaty under their clothes, the cool and pristine water grew too tempting. Everyone undressed while avoiding looking at one another, getting into the pool. Marst had been right with her words to Timoteo the day before; after a long day of training, the cool water felt wonderful, it didn't feel nearly as freezing as it had the night before. Darrah was blushing with an annoyed face as she went to the far end of the pool, Bianca going off to the far left and relaxing on her own in silence. Marst relaxed with the boys, who had all grown a little more comfortable with the situation now that they were in the partially-concealing water. They all cleansed themselves of the day's grime and relaxed in the cool water for nearly an hour. Timoteo's first twist of sexuality came to him as everyone was exiting the pool. As he was exiting the pool, he glanced at Marst's body while she handed him a towel. It was only an innocent glance, but when he noticed that she lacked the same bits and bobs that he did down between the thighs, he couldn't help but stare for a few seconds.
The air around them had begun to darken with evening, and with Marst's chocolate-toned skin, Timoteo could only faintly make out a thin sort of vertical slit between her thighs. He felt confused for a moment, but then it hit him. He didn't know why, but he felt a wanting for her that he couldn't explain, but he didn't exactly care to try. All he knew was that she looked good. Marst noticed his look, not embarrassing him in front of the others by calling him out. She made a soft sound like she were clearing her throat, grabbing a towel for herself. Timoteo looked up to her eyes, realizing that she must've seen him looking at her. To his surprise, she had a little smile on her face. She gave him a wink as she wrapped the towel around her body, the towel going from just underneath her arms down to the middles of her thighs. He blushed deeply with embarrassment, wrapping the towel around him from his waist down to nearly his ankles.
Everyone grabbed their clothes in their arms and went off on their own behind a tree, drying themselves up properly before pulling their clothes on. The boys along with Marst were already headed down the path when Darrah made her way out of the pool, the girl having been waiting for all the others to leave before she got out. Bianca got out last, waiting for Darrah to get a move on before she did. "My clothes are sort of wet with sweat..." Brute complained. Marst smiled as she said "It's no problem. We'll drop our clothes off by the creek and let them wash overnight, we'll wear our towels to our rooms. We can ask the Guildmaster to bring us some spare apprentice clothes to wear for the rest of the night." Gibbons grinned. "Yeah, I've been meaning to check out those apprentice outfits!" The group made it's way into the Guild grounds once more, stripping off their clothes shyly and placing them over rocks within the creek, letting the water calmly pass over and by the clothing.
Wearing their towels, the group made their way into the main Guild building. Finding the Guildmaster by the Map Table, Marst asked him for some apprentice suits, the Guildmaster leaving and coming back with some suits shortly. Because the apprentice outfits were only given to Heroes once they were adults and had finished all of their training, the outfits were much too big for the children. Even Marst, the tallest of them all, found that the outfit was rather large on her. Despite that though, they all wore the apprentice outfits without complaint. The outfit was comprised of a sort of tunic, the shirt of the tunic being white with a blue horizontal stripe going over the chest and a matching blue belt. The pants were grey, while the boots to go with the outfit were a faintly yellow shade. The Guildmaster kept the boots however, realizing that they'd be far too big for the children. Each shirt had long brown sleeves to them, and although gloves went the outfits, the Guildmaster kept them for the same reason he held on to the boots.
Each shirt had a hood attached to it, but they were so big on the children that they hung down over their eyes, hanging down to their noses. The hood, like the shirt, had a blue stripe to it, but instead of being horizontal it was vertical, going along the hood from the back of everyone's necks right to the front edge of the hoods. Marst took everyone's towels and went off with them, everyone else wolfing down some food. Timoteo noticed with a smile that Bianca seemed to love the food that the Guild cooks produced, quickly eating everything on her tray with an intensity that was matched only by Brute. Marst came back not a minute later, feasting with the others quickly. After that, they went up to the library once more.
Timoteo once more found Bianca walk away from everyone and sit by herself in a lonesome aisle. As he was entering the room, he suddenly noticed for the first time a large wooden door on the very farthest side of the room, mostly out of view by a few large bookshelves. "Where does that door go?" Timoteo asked. Nobody knew the answer, and upon trying to open it, Timoteo found the door locked. Turning away from it, he went into the same aisle as Bianca, finding his book on pyromancers. He asked if he could sit by her again, a request she nodded to. She was once more reading her book on the Void, her hands pushing up through the sleeves that were far too long for her, holding the book in her lap. Timoteo read on and almost finished the book by the time Marst came to get him. By then, he was feeling rather drained, not exactly realizing it as he read his book. Everyone heading back to their room, they all promptly fell asleep.
Timoteo remembered having a dream after his first real day of training at the Guild. He saw himself as a grown man, but there were three different versions of him standing side-by-side. One was him with light hair, hair that, strangely enough, had turned bright blonde. He was dressed in a long flowing robe, the robe being totally white except for light blue stars along the ends of the sleeves. His eyes were a deep and beautiful shade of blue, and he was looking upwards, a big smile on his face. A golden ring of light, like a halo, was hovering above his head. The next version of him, in the middle, was wearing a suit of chainmail, long flowing pieces of fabric attached to certain parts, giving his armour an appearance that seemed mixed with a robe. The chainmail glittered gray while the brown pieces of fabric looked soft like an animal's fur. His hair was short and dark brown, a goatee grown on his face. His eyes were a deep and thoughtful brown, and he stared straight ahead, almost looking at Timoteo as he scanned along the figures.
The last figure didn't frighten Timoteo as he looked at it, it seemed familiar like the other men. It was himself as an adult, only he looked much different compared to the other versions. His skin was deathly pale, almost like Bianca's. The irises of his eyes were as red as blood, the whites of his eyes being quite dark, looking almost black. His hair had turned totally and utterly black. His lips were curled into a snarl. He was dressed in a sort of mage's outfit, the outfit being black and red. It was comprised of a black sleeveless shirt with a sort of red scarf wrapping around his neck as well as going down across his torso, going under his left arm and around his body. Black gloves were on his hands, red jewels sparkling over his knuckles. He was wearing black pants, a dark red cloth hanging down from the front of his belt down to his knees, another cloth hanging down from behind him. His boots were black, rings of red going around the ankles. The darkest version of him looked down towards the ground. He simply looked at the three of them for what felt like the longest time before he woke up. Unlike most dreams that came to him in the dark of night, he never forgot that one.
A year and a half into Timoteo's training, something happened that shook the Guild's members. Timoteo and the other children never forgot it, no matter what stage of life they were in. One night, while everyone was returning to their room after reading in the library, Bianca took off most of her clothes before going off to answer a call of nature. Travis went over near Bianca's bed, grabbing a book from a shelf nearby, telling the others he wanted something to read. As he grabbed a book from the shelf between Timoteo's and Bianca's bed, it slipped from his fingers, falling to the ground. Timoteo, lying in bed by then, thought he had heard a soft clinking of sorts, like jewellery, as Travis stood back up with his book. Timoteo didn't think much of it, Bianca coming back quickly, entering the room as Travis made his way to his bed. Bianca knew Travis had been near her bed, eyeing him suspiciously for a moment before heading to her bed. Timoteo heard her search through her belongings for a moment before everything went quiet around her.
He heard her begin to walk away from her bed, walking towards Travis'. She spoke then, something that made everyone sit up in their beds and look over. "Give me my bracelet, Travis. I know you have it." She said in her gentle and timid voice, looking to Travis with a slightly furrowed brow. She was only wearing her underwear at that point, having taken everything else off beforehand. Travis was noticeably nervous, carefully crawling into bed with his book as he said "I don't know what you're talking about, Bianca." Nobody was expecting what happened next. Bianca raised a hand, a glowing purple sphere appearing in the palm of her hand. It let off a flash of black light, and Travis gasped, dropping his book over the edge of his bed and to the floor. His eyes wide, it was obvious that he was in pain. "Bianca, what're you doing?!" Brute said loudly. A long ethereal tendril of purple light shot from Travis' chest, zooming over to Bianca's hand, disappearing after a moment.
Travis' body seemed to become more thin, the boy going pale, his jaw hanging open as he began to quiver and shake violently in his bed. Timoteo knew from his studies what Bianca was doing, but he couldn't believe she was doing such a thing to Travis, a friend, a fellow mage. She was casting Drain Life on Travis, a spell quite popular among darker Will users. Marst realized that Bianca was harming Travis, racing over to her, tackling her to the floor. Before Marst could do anything more, Bianca's eyes let off a gray shine for a moment, the girl disappearing from underneath Marst. She had cast Slow Time, slowing everything down around her. Using that advantage, she got out from under Marst, walking over to Travis' slowly convulsing body. Reaching into a pocket on his pants, she pulled out her charm bracelet, doing it up on her right wrist. As her spell came to an end, everyone spotted Bianca by Travis' bed. There wasn't much anyone could do for Travis.
The boy let out a sigh after convulsing for a few more seconds, going still in his bed. Everyone was quiet, their eyes wide, their jaws hanging low. Bianca calmly held up her wrist, showing the others that Travis had, indeed, taken her bracelet. Marst walked over to Travis' bed, touching the side of his throat. "You...You killed him!" She said with disbelief. Timoteo wasn't mistaken; as he looked to Bianca, he saw the thin ring of red around the irises of her eyes grow stronger, filling in a quarter of her irises, then. Darrah raced off for the Guildmaster, Marst grabbing Bianca by her shoulders, Marst's eyes filling with tears. "Why did you do that?!" She questioned. Bianca looked to Marst's eyes calmly, saying "You have no idea how important this bracelet is to me." Marst slapped Bianca across her face, shouting that her excuse was pathetic, even calling Bianca a "monster." The Guildmaster quickly came up, finding the body of Travis.
For the first time, Timoteo heard anger in the Guildmaster's voice. "Bianca, I don't care what your reasons are! This is absolutely inexcusable! You've killed Travis, do you realize that?" Bianca nodded, but her face remained calm. The Guildmaster said "If you were any older, you could be sure that other Heroes would want your head for this, but you're still just a child...I have no choice. Several Heroes in the past have renounced any affiliation with us, but none have ever been exiled before. Take your belongings and leave. I will not have you be a part of this Guild." Bianca blinked, seeming surprised by the news. None of the others really felt any pain yet for their lost friend, they were still in shock. Bianca packed up her belongings, the Guildmaster picking up Travis' body, leaving with it. Timoteo quickly fell asleep, but the sight of Bianca killing him haunted his dreams for many nights to come, and it would take weeks for them all to move on.
It hadn't taken very long for news of the mage-girl that had murdered another mage to spread among the Heroes of the Guild, surprising all. In just one night, two of their group had disappeared.
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Fable : Fall of the Guild