Holy Grail

Chapter 5

Joseph

I gritted my teeth as I tried to calm myself. Christie put a hand on my shoulder in an attempt to try and soothe me, moderately succeeding. "Thank you anyway," I stated to the little blue demon in front of me. We had been asking around all day about our target, but the villagers denied ever meeting the girl we seek. The sun was beginning to fall, casting an orange haze around the island and giving everything this murky shadow.

At the moment I was exiting this little straw shack at the east-most corner of the village, talking to this short withered creature. It has these large stretched eyes which are red with dark brown hair. It was wearing an old tattered brown leather jacket with moccasins. Around his neck were these little blue and red beads that hung around a copper wire. We had just finished talking to the fellow, and he was obviously lying. His body visibly trembled as I asked him if any strange people were staying overnight.

"N-No one I-I K-Know." He had squeaked, small dribbles of moisture snaking down his forehead. I had tried to press him further, but his wife had objected. She was this medium height pink skinned lizard demon that had vertical eyes and a long forked tongue.

"We don't know Nuttin! Just leave us be you damn deviants!" That led to Christie being thoroughly offended, to which I had to pull her back to prevent her from strangling the little thing.

As we headed out of the shelter, I thought about what I had learned from the other villagers. It would seem that a small guild had been set up in the jungle north of the village, which was to help make sure that no more magical threats could attack the island. It made sense, seeing as not to long ago the demon of Zeref Deliora was almost revived here.

But some things didn't add up. One thing was that the guild had yet to speak with the villagers, something I felt was strange. If they had come to protect the island, why would they seclude themselves from the only other residents of the area? Also, why did they accept to come to this place in the first place? Fare across the water is expensive, and to travel away and then back is worth about a quarter of usual job money. Another thing is that the demons of Galuna can't pay the mages, for they don't use jewel at all.

There were just so many variables that didn't fit together, as well as the thing that was annoying me the most all day. The demon we had just met with was obviously lying, but he wasn't the only one. There was maybe two demons that we had talked to today that legitimately had no idea what we were talking about. Most of them knew something, but weren't letting on.

"Urgh, why do these people have to be so frustrating?" I said as I rubbed my temple roughly, caressing my forehead with my index and fore fingers. Christie seemed entertained by my internal conflictions, and opted to just lean her head on my shoulder as we walked.

"It's because they believe what they are doing is right." She stared at me pointedly as she stated this, and I simply sighed as more thoughts flashed through my head. I thought about certain lesson I had with my mother, when she was teaching me about the battle of X641.

"-And then the light mage Jor ordered and all-out assault on the fortifications of Tumble Path. His army razed all settlements in there way, creating a history of death an ash for the people of Agon Canyon. When they finally arrived, they demolished the castle, salting the earth and incinerating the bodies so that nothing may be once more built on that cursed ground."

"It was in that battle that General Toa slew the mighty sorcerer Grool, and it was in the castles darkest keep that Jor executed the ringmaster of it all, the dark mage Karthus."

Mother stared at me in my seat, her unique eyes catching mine as she stared me down with a certain intensity that I never could muster. She weaved her way around the room, a cramped wooden class that had enough room for only three desks and a magi-board.

"So Joseph, tell me why and how Jor succeeded."

I just gave her a strange look, before saying "All I know is that he did it because Karthus and the Red Blade were terrorizing the people of western Ollerdon, an ancient civilization that rose and fell before the creation of Fiore."

My mother just clucked her tongue, that noise that always said 'you're so cute when you're stupid.' It made me growl internally, for I knew that noise much too well. I hear it on a day-to-day basis.

"My silly, silly boy. You are looking at this equation to factually. To learn the answer to this question, you must first ask yourself, 'Would I have done the same?'" She strode over to my desk, firmly planting her outstretched hand onto the middle of the wood. "If you would, you then ask yourself why you would. Is it because you must? Are you obligated to? Those are the first answers that come to mind."

"Because they are true," I interjected. Mother, who had been in the middle of swaying through the room as she continued in her lengthy inquiry, just looked at me dazedly. "Jor was the highest commanding officer of the Olleran army after Commander Yesio died to the sorcerer Grool." I crossed my hands over my chest, sure that my point had been proven.

But mother just waved it off. "Responsibility is just another rule. As you know very well Joseph," she came up to me again, leaning her head beside my ear. "I don't like following the rules." With a slight chuckle, she bounced back to the front of the quaint room, continuing her spiel from before. "If you do not agree with the argument of the person in question, you then must ask why you do not. Once you have figured that out, find a reason why someone would contradict that. That, my boy, is Jor's reason."

I was at a complete loss for words, so I simply did what she said. Jor was a maniac. He slew monsters, defeated evil wizards and toppled empires. And my mother is saying he's just doing that on a whim? Not possible. Not logical.

"Hey you okay?" I leaped back in shock, earning a few stares from the little citizens lining the space around us.

"Yah, yah… I'm fine." Focus Jo, no time for slacking. We have a job to do. Serakei will have my head if I don't get this done. Christie kept giving me this odd look, but I shrugged it off. She's done weirder in front of me. Speak of the devil, there he is. His brown eyes were filled with supressed annoyance, and Demitri was skulking beside him. 'Wonder what got them so bitter.'

"Any luck?" I asked, my eyes scanning the buildings behind them. Demitri just growled out some gibberish, which I translated into a no. Serakei, whose mouth had been open to speak, just shrugged.

"Ain't much we can do tonight. If they don't speak up in the morning, I guess we'll just have to figure something out." Sighing heavily, I began to make my way towards the entrance of the village, already getting my pack off my back to ready my sleeping bag. When I was only a few steps past Demitri, I thrusted my hand in front of me, hitting a seemingly invisible object with a glowing gold fist.

Where my fist connected a small lash of energy expanded from the punch, blowing dust around me and making the hair on Serakei's head whip around. A couple yards away, a small poof of dirt being disturbed told me of the objects location. From that spot the air shimmered, before a large dark skinned man appeared. He appeared to be around Serakei's age, but had this air of maturity.

His face was contorted into a look of shock, probably perplexed at being struck when he believed himself unseen. "Boy," He said in a rumbling tone. "How did you do that?" I just lifted the corner of my mouth, a small smirk taking over my features.

"You weren't very sneaky about your spying." He seemed dumbfounded, before a hard look overtook him. He rose from his spot on the ground and made his way back over to us. Now that he was close and I could properly analyse him, his features were odd for the area. He was very dark skinned, so much so that I would think he was from the Inuit tribes to the east of Fiore's boundaries. He had jade eyes and shoulder length hazel cornrows. He was wearing a topaz jacket with white pants and green sneakers. He was Demitri's height, and now that he was close up I won't lie when I say I was a little intimidated.

He ingored me however, brushing by me as he approached Serakei. "I have information that you may find appealing," He said in a somewhat hesitant tone. I narrowed my eyes, an action that most of the team was mimicking. Seeing our look of doubt, the man tipped his head forward. "Let me introduce myself. I am Kristoff Roth, son of Haymind Roth, chieftain of the Brulu tribe to the North of Fiore. Master Mako has given me the task of assisting you in finding those you seek."

Christie and I shared a look, apprehension in both of our eyes, but Serakei laughed rather loudly. "Well why didn't you just come out and say so? Come on big guy, let's go find us a place to drink." Demitri looked appalled at the idea, for which I don't blame him. He is the least trusting of us, not very open to sparking new friendships. He also doesn't take his booze very well, so he refrains from it, something that Serakei always mocks him for.

"You must be joking," he growled out, sending a glare at Kristoff, who visibly gulped. They may be equals in height and stature, but when Demitri tries he can scare the shit out of anyone. Well, except for Serakei, who just grinned at the Take-Over mage.

"And why on earth would I joke about a good time? Let us drink and make merry my good friend, and then you may reveal this information to us." Demitri looked like he was going to strangle the Psychokinetic, when Kristoff interrupted them.

"As fun as that may sound, the things I must tell you must be delivered with urgency. Trouble is at our door, and soon Lucian will unleash it." This got our attention, wiping the smile off of Serakei's face, and the glare from Demitri. "We must away to my house, were you will meet someone of interest." With that said, he began marching off in the direction myself and Christie just came from. The four of us all looked at each other, speaking with our looks rather than our words. With a quick nod from all of us, we headed off behind the wind mage, who was walking down the road at a rather quick pace.

We finally arrived at the last house we had visited earlier, to see Killian wave his hand. Suddenly, another straw tipi appeared out of thin air, making my eyes narrow. Why would this mage need to hide his home? He opened the leather flap to the building, Demitri taking the lead as we all entered. Just as I took up the rear I heard something rush through the air, and the sudden sound of metal clanging against something.

I hurried forward to see a strange seen. Serakei had been thrown backwards towards the back of the room, obviously taken by surprise by an unknown assailant. Christie was pinning down a girl wearing a blue dress with matching shoes and skirt to my right, with Kristoff holding her back from actually attacking her. Right in front of me, a man wearing rather formal attire of red button up shirt, black cargo shorts and sneakers, had locked his katana with Demitri, whose arm had taken the form of a large scaly claw.

Realizing things were out of control, I began channeling my own magic. My hands turned gold once more, and I thrust them upon the ground.

"Kings Tribune; Detain!"

Everyone was thrust to a different corner of the room, restrained by steel chains. The members of my team just glared at me, but the girl in the dress was flailing her arms around trying to break free. The man who had previously been wielding the katana was straining against the chains, before he began muttering something.

"Iron Bend; Molten Lead!"

He smirked in triumph as the chains began to glow a fiery red. The look was wiped off his face however when the chains just stayed this way, cries of pain coming out as the steel burned his skin. The girl shrieked in horror.

"Please stop! Please! He'll die!" Usually, I would have kept him there longer, especially since he attacked a friend. But the pain in her voice sparked another memory in my mind.

Darkness surrounded me. I couldn't see, but my other senses had gone on overdrive. I could smell the cold musk of the room, could feel the sharp stone floor beneath me, and could hear the sounds of glee coming from the people around me.

"Tie 'im up boys!"
"Aye aye, sir!"

I was lifted off of my knees and strapped onto some kind of wooden board. It was wet, and whatever liquid was on it smelled metallic. Even though I couldn't see, I could sense a vast array of metal instruments around me. I didn't realize the danger they posed until a small sawl began running bloody lines up and down my arms. Not deep enough to bleed profusely, but enough to cause dribbles of red to paint my arms. I screamed in pain and terror, begging whatever god they may be to help me. Laughing surrounded me as my torturers began increasing the speed and depth of the saw. I suddenly heard a voice I recognized, and despaired at the though of her being here too.

"Stop it! Please, stop it! You'll kill him! STOP!"

The man fell to the ground as I released him from the chains, which I soon did to the others. The girl immediately ran towards her friend, hugging him tightly as she muttered soothing words in his ears.

I looked on at the remains of my enemy. The torturer had made the mistake of forgetting to restrain my magic. My anger, my terror, and my pain had exploded in a shower of gold, and this was the result of it.

Nothing remained but a bloody mess of skin and bones. In the corner of the cell, the same one in which I had been tortured in for hours, lay one of his hands. Betwixt his mutilated fingers lay one of his weapons of torture, a curved sickle. Just looking at it made me reach for the temple of my forehead, the scars still present from the lacerations I received from that evil weapon.

I leaned my head against the ground, shuddering as I looked at the result of my own magic. I didn't want to kill him. I just wanted him to go away. I just wanted all of them to go away. I suddenly felt a pair of arms warp around me, and I leaned back into them. 'What are we gonna do?'

'I don't know Jo, but we'll figure something out. It will all be fine.'

"What is your name?" The girl looked at me, fear evident in her eyes. She hesitated, clinging to the other boy as If her life depended on it. I took a step forward, bringing myself down to a crouch to match her height. She scampered backwards, hauling the boy with her. She raised her arm, a green glow forming around her fingers.

"Stay back, you. I will attack!" Her voice was weak and strained, so I just ignored this, slowly approaching her like I did before. Everyone was watching me now, waiting to see if the girl would fire. I took another couple of steps, before reaching out and holding the girls hand. She seemed shocked, the green glow which had been growing instantly dissipating. Before she could do anything else, I brought my other hand around and grasped her hand further, binging it down to her side.

"What's your name?" She looked into my eyes, and it was only now that I realized she was truly quite pretty. The girl in front of me seemed terrified, but also strangely comforted. She started stuttering, her distrust of us still evident.

"Jessica." I just continued looking at her, waiting for her to elaborate. She sighed heavily, but didn't push me back. "Jessica Fairweather." The others smiled, glad that we had found the target. I had already known due to the fact that Mako had previously said her name was Jessica, but I wanted the rest of my team to have clarification. Before anything could happen, the boy whom I had thought was passed out leaped towards me,his arm transformed into an iron harpoon. Instinctively I raised my hands, and before I could stop myself, said;

"Kings Will; Begone!"

In a flash of gold, he was blown through the roof of the tipi, causing Jessica to go into hysterics. She snarled at me, pushing me off as I was distracted, and raced out the entrance of the tipi. Killian looked thoroughly perplexed, but Demitri was glaring at him hard.

"You set us up you filth!" Kristoff's face contorted in anger, before he steeled himself and looked at Serakei.

"You will want to catch up with the girl." Serakei nodded, staring pointedly at me. I sighed, before heading towards the exit.

"You two better find the boy, he's the danger we should be worried about." The wind mage looked stunned, probably confused as to how I knew. Before anyone could say anything else I headed out the flap of the tipi, pushing my way through the array of demons who had come to see what had happened. Before I had made it ten steps, I heard the flap open again to see Christie racing out to catch up with me.

"Serekei?" I asked once she caught up. She just threw her head back and laughed, a sound that when genuine could forever make me smile.

"You know it! Plus, You couldn't get anywhere without me." I just snorted, throwing an arm around her as we hurried around the village looking for Jessica.

"You are so annoying sometimes." She looked me pointedly in the eyes, before coming forward and kissing me. I let myself sink into it for a couple seconds, before pulling back and leaning my forehead against hers. She smiled, her breath tickling my lips.

"That's why you love me!" Upon stating this, she rushed ahead, raising dust behind her. I chuckled, racing after her.

'I sure do.'

Hey guys, SillyCurse here. Boy have I had a rough couple of weeks. But you don't want to here about that. Tell me whatchu like, and to all of you who sent in an OC, they will appear next chapter. All of the chappies at the guild will be when I introduce OC's. Anyway, the reason I uploaded so slowly is long and ridiculous, but if you want to know I'll try to shortly summerize it. First, I went on a small Vacation to visit my family in Toronto, so I was gone for alike three days there. I don't own a laptop, so I couldn't carry my work with me, so I was gonna post my finished chapter the day I got back. I return to the house I'm sharing with my friends, and we got fucking robbed. Kill me now. All of the pre-written chapters I had down the drain, plus some of my school work. So I finally get a new comp, a pretty nice laptop, when my website, which is what my email is connected to, gets hacked. I can't go on Fanfic, so I ended up hacking the guy who hacked me and destroying all of his files so that he couldn't just transfer my info to another comp. In the end, I finally got this account up again. Phew. Anyway, hope you like!

SillyCurse.