Fable: Wrath

Chapter Seven: The Heroes Guild

Akuji materialized at the Cullis gate right in front of the guild. Being so near the towering Beor Mountains, made the day even shorter than it was at Knothole Glade. When back home it had been sunset, here on the Heroes Guild night had already began.

In the pitch black, Akuji saw the majesty of the Guild; its many windows flickering with light, and multiple towers raising high in the air. Right beside him, two towers rose into the air on either side of the path, and a thick wall was erected between each tower and the Guild's main building, making anyone who walked into the Guild take the path in between the two towers.

On either side of the path were two guards, they were standing on the edge of the lamp light. Akuji was sure they were not able to see him because he was engulfed in darkness as he stepped out of the Cullis gate's soft glow.

Akuji faced the Guild and began walking towards it in long painful strides. All his muscles and bones still ached him, and he himself felt weak.

One of the guards saw him and yelled, startled, "By the love of… A survivor!" He hurried to his side, and helped Akuji walk into the light of the lamps. "There, kid. Lay down." The guard turned and faced the other, "Do you reckon he is a student?"

"He must be. Let's take him to the infirmary." The guards looked back into the tower and yelled. "Larry!"

Shortly after, another man appeared through the door and stood there waiting for orders. "Larry, take our place, we have to take this kid to the infirmary." The guard turned back to Akuji and said, "Here, drink this."

Akuji drank it. The two guards picked him up, and as they carried him down the small hill into the Guild he dozed off.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Akuji opened his eyes slightly, still feeling a bit drugged, two men where standing discussing. One of them, probably the medic, or something similar, had a long white robe. The other looked like he had just been taken from a battlefield.

"Have you seen him before?"

"No. Never. He is not a student of ours."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." The two men talking stood in silence besides a white bed where Akuji laid in between its covers. "Who found him?"

"Two of the guards from the main gate found him; they said he just walked up to them, limping and breathing heavily. They gave him a…"

The man in armor caught Akuji's eye and interrupted the other man, "He's awake." He approached Akuji, and as he did, Akuji felt a tingling sensation crawling up his mind. Instinctively, Akuji closed himself to the feeling and felt it wither out of his mind. The man's face turned into a state of shocked disbelief. The facial expression quickly faded away, replaced by a stern face.

"Good morning." The man had probably rehearsed what he would say, "My name is Norak Rolle."

Akuji heeded the indirect question and spoke up, "I am Akuji Tuiien, son of Rohm from Knothole Glade." Akuji spat the words coarsely, but serenely.

"Well met, Akuji. You have taken quite a beating, from what I have heard. Did you run into undead in Knothole?"

"Yeah. The undead have struck everywhere, Albion is in chaos."

The man stared in disbelief at Akuji. Then, all of a sudden Akuji felt the tingling sensation crawl into his mind again. This time, Akuji pushed it back with force. Norak flinched as Akuji did so. "Where you…?" Akuji understood what had been happening almost immediately; along with it images of Norak shooting arrows raced his mind.

"Sorry. I did not mean harm; I was only trying to…" Norak turned to the medic, "Could you leave us alone, please?" The medic trailed off the room and closed the door behind him. "I wanted to check for the validity of this information you are giving." Silence. "Where did you learn to block off mental assaults?"

"I… I don't know. I just did it for the first time in my life."

"Really?" Akuji nodded and raised a hand, in which he lit a small fire.

"I learned to do this too, on my own."

"Very interesting. Do you mind if I read your mind?"

"Yes, I don't like the sensation. I can tell you everything I know, though."

"Please do so."

Akuji started his tale from when he had been visiting the Xahon villages and the undead attacked. He avoided bringing up Amissa, because it brought him pain. He told Norak of how the Xahons had retreated, and he and Rogan had left. Of their encounter with the wolves and their fight afterward with the dead wolves, and Akuji's first time using magic. He told him of their stay at the church, and as he concluded his telling of everything, Akuji avoided mentioning that he had fought Dante. Instead he said that Dante left after he killed Rogan.

"I must talk about all this with the Guild Master immediately." Norak stood silently for a short second. "Akuji, is this all true?"

"Yes, it is." Akuji responded sternly, almost insulted that Norak did not believe him.

"Very well, if you say so I believe you. Your injuries do confirm your story after all. Please remain here, Father Elda will come shortly and give you more medications and spells for you to heal. You should stay in bed at least for one more night." Norak closed the door behind him and left Akuji alone in the infirmary room. Akuji would be alone for the rest of the day and night, except for the occasional short visits of Father Elda.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

His that night dreams where a haze of images and people and events and places and thoughts and conversations from which Akuji could not pick up one cohesive dream. Instead, he remembered fragments of multiple dreams.

In his first dream Akuji was standing on a vast plain, with lush grass and flowers. A strong gust picked up thousands of flowers into the air in swirling motions all over Akuji. Visibility was small through the flowers of multiple colors. A big flash of white and Akuji found himself in darkness.

Another dream pictured Akuji seeing him self fighting a balverine, and getting eaten by it. More images came into his mind: Akuji kissing Amissa, Amissa getting shot by an arrow, a flaming arrow travel through the night, a bloody balverine, a burning house, his mother, a strong elf fighting in the Arena, Akuji standing in the middle of the Arena with a trophy in his hand, his old school teacher, Rogan, the Guild, the sunset and sunrise, an empty darkness, a bloody sword, hungry wolverines, a burning corpse, thunder, fire; the images where so mixed and cramped together that Akuji had trouble reminding most of them. What struck Akuji the most was that he seemed to have had a million different dreams through the night.

As Akuji woke up, most of his dreams flashed through his memory, and were forgotten. Yet, Akuji was sweating heavily and tired from his dreams. A sharp pain pierced his mind, accompanied by the similar feeling of an unknown presence leaving his mind. As it slithered away, Akuji heard, "Listen. Listen, Nevan." The voice trailed off, "Listen…"

Shaking the feeling off, Akuji got up and walked towards the door. His wounds felt healed, but his body sore and weak; his mind was in a similar state of refusing to react and think. Moving did not pain him, though. That was the least of his worries though.

As Akuji walked through the room, he noticed that he was drenched, almost as if he had jumped into a lake with his clothes on. On the stone floor below him, Akuji left a trail of sweat as his walked. Looking back he noticed that the bed was also dripping wet.

Outside, Akuji found Father Elda walking down a hallway that appeared to be the infirmary. There were several doors along it, at one end a large room in which several bodies lay asleep on white beds and at the other end, a large oak door.

"Oh, hello, Akuji. How did you… Did you take a shower?" Father Elda could not hide his surprise.

"No. I had a nightmare."

Father Elda's expression showed a glint of fear before he responded, "You should talk about this to a Grounds Master, Akuji. For now, I can get you a fresh set of clothes, and some potions to help you calm down."

"That would be nice." Akuji followed Father Elda to a door which, when opened, revealed another hallway, this one smaller. On both sides there were two openings, men's side and women's side. One opening on each wall led to the restroom, and the other to the showers. Before the hallway, there was a small room with wooden benches and lockers. The walls, like in the rest of the infirmary, were built from gray stone.

Akuji waited in the little room for a while. After a minute or so, Father Elda arrived with a set of clothes for Akuji, a towel, and two potion vials.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dressed in the Guild's uniform, Akuji walked outside into a balcony that overlooked the training grounds. Students shot arrows into targets. On the other side of the river, which cut the grounds before Akuji in two, students ran, jogged, jumped and climbed through a course similar to the one Akuji was used to in Knothole.

He would spend weekends with Dru, Farrell and Coy running through the obstacle course. Amissa would sit and watch them run all day.

It was all gone now. Tears fell down Akuji's cheeks.

Farther down the horizon, Akuji saw a large lake, and at the end, another large building, similar to the one Akuji found himself in. On both sides of the lake a dense forest grew, and behind the lake and the castle at its end Akuji could see the towering Beor Mountains.

"Akuji, I was looking for you." It was Norak, before turning around, Akuji wiped his face. "I talked to the Guild Master. He is busy at the moment; it seems that your information is accurate. He would like to talk to you, but there is no time. Instead, he wishes that you train yourself here in the Guild."

Akuji remained silent. He just didn't know what to say.

"So, do you want to?"

"Yes. That's why I'm here."

"I see. Well, you have natural talent, but we have to test you before you are admitted. Then I or another Grounds Master will tell you how everything runs in the Guild."

"Ok. When do you start?"

"Follow me."

Norak lead Akuji across the grounds. They walked down a stairway from the balcony, through a small garden, then beside the Archery Range, moving towards a smaller building Akuji had not noticed before. They crossed a bridge to the other side of the river, and walked to a building besides the docks. Norak explained that those where the Apprentice's Quarters, and behind was a small Combat Circle where they tested trainees.

"Today, the other Grounds Masters are testing several graduating students; normally the Test Grounds would be closed except for the graduating apprentices, but the Guild Master approved that you could be tested today."

Akuji liked the sound of it. He didn't like to show off that much, but making the test in front of others, especially if he did well, would impress everyone.

As they walked into the patio where the Test Grounds were located, a man looked at them and spoke up, "Norak, what brings you here?"

"This young man," Norak pointed at Akuji, "is to be tested."

"Orders?"

"Yeah, from Djavan."

"Ok, sit him over there. We are almost finished with archery; he can be tested while the others watch."

Not long afterwards the Grounds Master that had spoken earlier told Akuji to step into the circle. "Good morning, my name is Rahul Espósito. You are here to be tested for admission, right?" Clearly, the other Grounds Masters had not heard Akuji's tale, yet.

"Yes."

"Ok." Then the interrogation began. "What's your name?"

"Akuji Tuiien."

"Where are you from, Akuji?"

"Knothole." This all seemed pointless to Akuji.

"What do you do like to do with your free time, Akuji?"

After a short silence, Akuji spoke up, "What is the point of all this?"

"It is just a test. You are right; nothing of this has anything to do with fighting, which is what you are here for, right?"

"Yes. I am here because I want to be trained."

"Ok. So, what can you tell us about yourself?"

Akuji gave the question a thought and answered, "I would like to be trained by the Heroes Guild."

A few of the graduating apprentices laughed at Akuji's remark. The Guild Master, Rahul, dropped his interrogations, and began telling Akuji about the test. "First, there is a physical exam. Push-ups, crunches, a little sprinting, jumping, and other drills."

Right then Norak spoke up, interrupting Rahul. "Of course, we will be easy on you, considering what you have gone through in the past few days." Rahul gave Norak a look, and Norak stared back with an I'll tell you later look.

Rahul had Akuji do sets of ten push ups. The first set was easy. The second time around wasn't that hard. Getting to thirty posed a challenge. Forty was in no ways easy. "Forty five, forty six…" Akuji's arms where burning, and though his injuries did not hurt, he still felt as if his muscles where weak and tired. Akuji managed to do sixty seven push-ups. Next came abs crunches in many different styles. Rahul guided Akuji through the exercises, since Akuji was not familiar with them. He had to do regular sit ups, then he would lay face up and hold his feet, out stretched in the air.

After other tiring exercises like jumping jacks, and parachutes, and stretching, Akuji began, as ordered, to jog around the Combat Circle. At regular intervals he would have to sprint for one lap around the circle.

"Tired? Good. You did well, so there is no need to worry. Next up, we would want to test your mental stamina."

For another hour, Rahul had Akuji hold stones in the air, and float, or conjure fireballs. Akuji also parried with a few graduates, and with a Grounds Master. Everyone was impressed with Akuji's abilities. They would, be far more impressed when it was time to test Akuji's mental dexterity.

"I will fight you for this last test. Use your wits to incapacitate me. Remember, this is not a fight to kill or hurt."

Akuji did not really understand the true nature of his power, so he decided to play defensively. At first, it was a breeze. As the seconds ticked on, Akuji realized that he would not hold for the whole ten minutes the test lasted. Reaching with his mind, Akuji slowly crawled his way into Rahul's mind. Rahul was busy with trying to hit Akuji with stones and he did not expect such an attack from Akuji, so his defenses where down. Akuji managed just fine concentrating on dodging the stones while he continued his way into Rahul's mind.

Rahul's mind was open to attack; Akuji did not feel any barriers, or forces preventing him in. Taking his chances, Akuji trusted himself into the depths of Rahul's mind. Just then, Rahul noticed Akuji's presence and his attacks with stoned ceased. Akuji felt a small force pushing him away. Rahul's thoughts dazed off, and Akuji was only able to grasp emotions and basic feelings and thoughts. Fear, confusion and shock were strong in Rahul's mind.

Feeling what seemed to be issuing orders in Rahul's mind, Akuji inched closer to it. Suddenly, Rahul's defense dropped, and he seemed to remain calm. Akuji opened his eyes; he had closed them when Rahul stopped shooting pebbles at him. Rahul was standing, looking retarded, and doing nothing. 'Sit', Akuji thought. Rahul obeyed.

'Lay down in the grass.' Rahul obeyed. The other Ground Masters were in disbelief at what they were seeing. After seeing their faces, Akuji decided to let go of Rahul. It wasn't easy. That sort of power, over a person, felt good, and was hard to let go of.

Immediately, Norak stood up and spoke, "That was impressive. Akuji, would you please follow me?" The other Grounds Masters, a long with Rahul were in disbelief.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Akuji waited in what he was told was the Guild Master's tower for hours before anything happened. Rahul had brought him there and told him to wait for the Guild Master. During those hours, Akuji had time to think over what he had done, and why the Ground Masters had been so shocked. Akuji arrived at the conclusion that such a display of power over another being, especially someone so trained was extremely rare.

When the Guild Master arrived, Akuji was busy counting the amount of books in the numerous books shelves of the Guild Master's office.

The Guild Master materialized in the middle of the office and looked at Akuji, who was sitting in a comfortable leather chair. "Hello, Akuji. I am the Guild Master, Djavan Dal'ma. I have heard amazing things about you from Norak and the other Ground Masters. I think it is time that you and I have a chat."

Akuji stood up and shook hands with Djavan. "It's an honor to meet you…"

"You may call me Djavan. Now, take a seat, I suspect our conversation may be long." Djavan took a seat behind his large wooden desk and watched Akuji sit back down in the leather chair. "Would you like something to eat, or drink while we talk?"

"I could use a glass of water, please." The Guild Master closed his eyes for a short while.

"The servants will arrive with water and some snacks shortly. Now, let us begin our conversation. I have heard your story, but I would wish to hear it from you."