User blog:ZiedGray/Brave Frontier: Another Tale - Chapter 1.3 - Into Grand Gaia

The Adventurer's Village. By far, this was the only village that was conveniently close to the gate that connected Elgaia to Grand Gaia. As such, the Summoner's Hall had taken the liberty of converting it into an outpost, set to aid their survey efforts in the former land of mankind. This village was where summoners, soldiers, mercenaries, or any other form of warriors frequent if and should they have a purpose in visiting Grand Gaia. Aside from the village being near abundant resource points, it had also been equipped with alchemical facilities, a smithy, and a lounge where warriors can convalesce should they find the need.

Having just arrived not too long ago, Kiriel looked around the village. Being told to deploy a day later than the veteran summoners, it was to be expected that there were only a few summoners left in town. He was particularly looking for the fresh graduates such as himself, yet he could not find anyone from his batch. Had they left him behind? Was he late? Surely he wasn't that late now was he? Dread's fangs once again sank its teeth on him as he looked at his pocket watch; it was seven in the morning and he was an hour late. Sure he took longer than most to prepare for this journey, but it was for good reason! He had no intention of dying on his first mission and being well-prepared would ensure that! How could his batch leave him behind?

He sighed, contemplating on other possible options he could take. Of course there's an option to wait for veteran summoners to pass by, ask them if they would allow him to join their party and head to Grand Gaia. That would ensure his survival rate and as an added bonus, even throw in first-hand learning experience from those summoners. Then again, who would want to babysit a newbie when in dangerous territory? He for one wouldn't want that. He was confident in his skill, but not that confident to think of himself as on-par with the veterans. For all he knows, he may just serve to slow the veteran summoners down. Another sigh escaped his lips, the second option he was thinking of was not entirely too appealing, having to travel and survey the area assigned to him alone that is.

Before Kiriel realized it, he was already at the traveler's lounge, sitting by himself along one of the many round tables near the bar area, a map of Grand Gaia spread out on his table along with a mug of untouched blue cider on the side. It was safe to say that the serious look painted on his face served as good as any enchantment ward. People steered away from him, even the waitresses, leaving him to his own devices as the hour ticked by. His mission, should he choose to accept it, was to survey the Mistral region.. particulary Morgan. His brows furrowed as he got lost deeper and deeper into thought. He was so consumed in his own little world that he realized too late that two more people had already made themselves comfortable and joined his table.

He recognized them in an instant. They were from his batch, the two of them.

The first one he looked at was sitting directly in front of him. Chelsea, a petite girl with bright orange hair, pony-tailed in the back with two lockes dangling freely by the side of  her ears. She had a nice, round pair of hazel-colored eyes that portrayed innocence and mischief at the same time, accentuated by the smirk usually found on her small yet supple lips. Petite as she may be, undeveloped she was not. She was lightly-armored like Kiriel but wielded a custom bow as her weapon of choice.

The second one was the tall yet slender man next to him, Juno. He had ash-colored hair, cut short and clean, neatly slicked back and seemed to be held in place by some product with the way it had an uncanny sheen. His hazel blue eyes that held an indifferent gaze suggested that this man was of the eccentric type, as if the world and people around him meant nothing with the way he looked at them. Contrary to the orange-head, this man was wearing medium armor and sported a close-range weapon, a two-handed sword which actually looked a lot heavier than its wielder that Kiriel would even bet it really was.

Kiriel may know their names but he was more familiar with their batch ranking; twenty-ninth and thirtieth respectively. They were called the dynamic blunder duo by the top five rankers of their batch and often made fun of them each time either of these two would make a fool out of themselves in a test or exercise.

He was about to say hello when the orange-head beat him to the punch.

"Kiriel, you're not planning on skipping the mission are you?" she asked, receiving a headshake from the other. "Great! I honestly thought you'd never show up! What took you so long anyways?!"

Kiriel explained his reason for arriving an hour late from the appointed time which did not really seem to bother any of the two. In turn, she told him about how the top rankers of their batch decided to split their entire batch into ten units, each unit having three members led by those within the top ten, this was so that they could cover more ground.. or so they said. With that, it became clear to Kiriel why these two were with him now. Great! Just great! Earlier he was contemplating about himself being a newbie and slowing down veteran summoners and now... he had to lead these two oddballs into Grand Gaia. Perhaps this was his punishment for being late? Or perhaps nobody from the rest of the top ten wanted to take these two with them because of their batch ranking? Sure they were in the lower tier, but they were still bonafide summoners... right?

An awkward smile parted Kiriel's lips. He wanted to bang his head on the table. Who was he kidding?! He knew their capabilities—he had seen them firsthand—and he had sparred at least three times with the two of them, each time ending in his win in just five moves and sometimes lesser than that on good days. Still, these two were summoners now, and he did not really have that much of a choice in the matter. They were now under his command, and he had to man up while making sure these two do not die out there or get him killed in the process while they conduct their mission. Even though the Mistral Region was considered to be a relatively easy region by the Summoner's Hall, it was also known to have taken the lives of quite a number of rookie summoners. Kiriel knew they had to be extra careful considering they were headed to Morgan.

With one last sigh, Kiriel discarded all unnecessary thoughts and extended his hand towards the girl for a shake. "It's a pleasure to be working with the both of you, Chelsea and Juno. Let's give this our best shot."

"Right on partner!" Chelsea quickly grabbed his hand and shook it with great enthusiasm, while Juno only responded with a silent nod.

Kiriel knew that he was bound to experience many 'firsts' as a Summoner; traveling through a gate was one of them. The excitement he had about it though, was long gone. After popping up on the other side, Kiriel hobbled like a drunk, knees buckling as he wobbled left and right, threatening to give out on him any given second. His breathing was ragged, eyes shut tight as he gasped for breath, all the while trying his best to force himself to stay on his feet. If he were to put it to words, the continued swirling sensation he felt as he traversed that tunnel of prismatic lights was greatly disorienting; the way he imagined it was definitely not like this! He was slowly regaining his bearings when his two other companions came through. Chelsea popped out of the gate, face slightly green while screaming her lungs out, while Juno looked like a dropped statue with how stiff he was as he came out, falling face first into the ground with a dull thud.

It didn't take long for Chelsea to share her breakfast with a nearby brush; he would have gone through the same had he been any fuller. Juno on the other hand remained immobile, and for a moment, Kiriel had the worst thought: How could anyone possibly die from traveling through a gate?! His worries were alleviated when Juno's fingers twitched. At the sight of this, Kiriel let out a relieved sigh. Good. Juno was still alive.

With his knees stable and his bearings now intact, Kiriel surveyed their immediate vicinity, one hand falling to the hilt of his sword, ready to draw the blade at first sight of any hostile creatures. There were none. "We're clear guys. Take your time and collect yourselves. We'll move out once you're ready." he addressed the other two, eyes still cautiously darting around.

When the two had regained their pride and dignity, they walked up behind Kiriel, doing the same thing their leader did: look around. So this was Grand Gaia, mankind's former home. Green trees, blue skies, cool breeze, earthen soil, that faint smell of salt in the air—it felt like they were still in Elgaia. Kiriel had heard the stories from his grandmother about Grand Gaia, about this land being ravaged by the war between Gods and mankind. Truth be told, the image of Grand Gaia that he had in mind was vastly different from the one before his eyes.

"Feels like home doesn't it?" Chelsea commented off-hand, Juno nodding in agreement.

"Well technically, this used to be 'our' home." Kiriel responded to the comment, easing the hand that held his sword's hilt. He rummaged through his pack and took out their map, kneeling to unfurl it on the ground while the other two flanked his sides to look at it as well. "Judging from how the area looks and that smell of salt in the air, we're here in Breeze Beach."

"That means we're quite far from our mission area.." Chelsea wondered aloud.

"Yes. Which also means the risk of us running into monsters or rampant spirits are quite high.." Kiriel hypothesized, one hand cupping his chin as he did so.

"In that case, we should call out our own spirits to boost our numbers." she suggested.

"I don't think that's a good idea. Keeping spirits in materialized form burns energy faster than you may think. I don't want to be in a situation where we find ourselves under attack and we're too tired to call out our spirits. I think it's best to rely on ourselves for now and only call them when we truly need them."

"That's number eight for you. You make a good point there but..." Chelsea hesitated, uncertainty visible in her eyes.

Kiriel felt bad. At the mention of his batch rank, he was reminded that his two companions were not the best there was in terms of combat capability. It may very well be the reason why they would rather rely on their summoned spirits rather than themselves. Silently conceding to Chelsea's suggestion, Kiriel thought to refine the method by a bit. "How about this: let's boost our numbers by having one of us call out a spirit. After that, we'll take turns doing it on set intervals so the other can rest and regain energy when needed."

Chelsea's eyes brightened up at his new suggestion. "That sounds like a good plan! I'm okay with going first!"

Kiriel was just about to ask for the names of the spirits at their disposal to plan things accordingly but Chelsea already began her summoning ritual. She held one of her spirit spheres and began incanting the summon verse. Moments later, a glowing magic circle formed on the ground followed by a bright red light emanating from the sphere Chelsea held and soon, the red light moved into the magic circle. Seconds later, a depressingly familiar round thing could be seen bouncing up and down the middle of the already fading magic circle.

"KING BURNY!!" Chelsea called it as she gave it a tight squeeze.

It may be a king but a Burny is still a Burny. Kiriel's jaws dropped, resisting the strong urge to face-palm with every fiber of his being. Surely she was not planning on using that thing to fend off wild monsters or rampant spirits right? Every summoner knows that the best way to use a Burny Soul was for Fusion. Now Kiriel had serious doubts about their chances of survival on this mission. At best, he could probably throw that thing to a monster and use it as bait while they make a run for it.. not that it would make for a very good bait in his opinion. He could not bring himself to continue watching Chelsea huggle that thing any longer so he turned his attention over to Juno.

"Please tell me you're not going to summon a Squirty or Sparky on your turn." Kiriel said to him with an almost pleading tone. Juno replied with a smirk followed by a fist-pump, like he was saying Kiriel could count on him.

With a sigh, he gave the order to move out, hoping that they wouldn't have to encounter anything tough while it was still Chelsea's turn with summoned spirits.