Windsbane- Finally after a while there are no more stupid projects or homework piling up for school so I can finally update again. I've also made some slight word edits and grammar corrections to my earlier chapters and I added character descriptions in the first chapter for the people that have been in my story so far. Also I will start to use third person POV in this chapter because I will be introducing another character soon and it will be too hard to cover everything that they think from single person POV or a real pain in the but to constantly switch POVs while reading or writing. If anyone has any suggestions about how I should do my story later, ideas to possibly improve my first couple of chapters or about how to design my future characters please tell me in reviews or email me at And can anyone actually reading this story give me a few reviews because I would really like to know if it is worth while continuing or if I should drop it and try another story something other than GS.
Ch 7: The Card Game
It had been 2 years since Zephyr had climbed Airs Rock and he was now 15. His body changed a little since he was 13 and his powers had become increasingly stronger. His hair had grown longer and became more blonde than brown. The wind adept liked to wear his hair in a short ponytail, kind of copying how Felix did. He wore the same kind of travel clothing only in a larger size. Zephyr was constantly traveling around Osenia as most places were within a few days flight from Garoh and even ventured as far as Indra a few times. Things weren't too much different in Garoh, except that Jeremy and his friends didn't go around teasing the guy as often. This was for 2 main reasons:
1. They were somewhat grateful that Zephyr saved Jeremy
2. The gang, now aware that he was an adept, were afraid of the thought of being blown into the air or fried by lightning.
They were actually nice to him occasionally and had matured a little bit more.
Maha had told Zephyr the exact details of how he was discovered in a crater in that forest when he fell from the sky. Zephyr put two and two together and guessed that he must have been one of the two children that fell from Cerenia all those years ago.
Zephyr was staying in the Alhafra Inn that night glad to be in a soft bed as he had been camping for a week now. The town had been fully restored after that tidal wave hit 2 years ago. The young explorer had recently stopped in Yallam and had met the legendary blacksmith Sunshine there. That town had purchased a lot of the materials that he found during his travels. The business in Yallam was starting to pick up again for the first time in years. Sunshine had forged a better sword for Zephyr called the Luna Rapier. That sword was a lot stronger than the Hypnos sword had been. It was light weight and easy to use. The blade was silver coloured with two black stripes going down each side The handle had a left crescent moon engraved into it. It could unleash a special move called Silver Eclipse where the blade would be engulfed in a black energy and then user of the sword would disappear and strike the opponent extremely fast.
He collapsed in the bed for the night. Zephyr was tired out from using psynergy to fly the whole day and instantly fell asleep. He began to dream.
> > > > > >
He was in the ruins of a town at the base of a large mountain. There was a large glowing sun above its peak. There were 3 other people with him; 2 girls and 1 boy. All of them looked about 15 judging by our heights. The other people were shadowed so you couldn't clearly see what they looked like.
All four of them had weapons out and were looking upon a young man with blue hair and eyes and he appeared to be about 19. The man looked very badly beaten. Cuts all over his face, scorch marks from fire, a huge gash from his cheek to his temple, his left leg was fractured and he was surrounded by an ocean of crimson blood.
At last he spoke to us in a raspy voice, "Please… hur.. ry and kill me. There is something inside me forcing me to cause chaos. It's like another mind controlling my body. Please I'm sorry for all I've done even though it wasn't my fault. I can't hold it for long. Please ……….. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."
He was screaming in massive pain as some other worldly force caused his body to rise. A shadow of a man started to form behind him.
"So you defeated my host, it is of little consequence. I shall leave this body, my soul will live as long as alchemy lives inside it. I am now strong enough to create a new body for myself. Hahaha!" The spirit or whatever it was laughed manically.
He waved his hand and shouted "Freeze Prism!" Everyone there tried frantically to dodge the chunks of ice falling from the sky.
> > > > > >
Zephyr woke up to find himself panting and sweating. 'That dream. It felt so real' he thought. 'Oh well might as well find something to do.'
He headed down to the kitchen and ate some breakfast. He left the room and walked down the hallway. Suddenly a man in sailor's clothing popped out of one of the inn rooms. He wore a blue bandana and a white shirt. He called to Zephyr.
"Hey kid, were playing cards right now and we could use another person. You want in?"
Now normally gambling isn't something that young people should take part in, but Zephyr was a bit of a sucker for games like that. However there was one good thing about it. He almost always won. He was a pro and never even tried to cheat. The only exception was one time when he was eight and accidentally read a person's mind only to find that they were cheating. Now he obviously wouldn't refuse a chance like this.
"Sure. I'd love to play for a while." Zephyr said in an innocent way.
The man eyed Zephyr suspiciously and said, "Okay kid, but this isn't just for fun. We're playing in the big leagues for real money. You still okay with that?"
"Yea I'm fine with that. Don't worry about money, I've got plenty of room to store my winnings." Zephyr smirked as he responded to the sailor.
"Hahaha! Cute kid, I like your attitude. I doubt you'll win anything. Oh well, it's your choice." He laughed joyfully.
The two went inside the room where 3 other people were there. One was another sailor in a red bandana, some merchant, and a fat man in expensive looking grey clothing.
The sailor in the red bandana asked, "Oy Mac is this kid what you got for a fifth? He better be able to play and pay if he's going in the big leagues."
Zephyr tells him calmly, "Don't worry sir I can play and pay. And I came to win so I don't plan on loosing any of my money."
All four men laughed at this statement.
Mac responded, "I think this kid can play alright Jack don't you?"
Jack said, "I think you're right about this one Mac. What do you think Mayor?" Jack motions to the fat man in grey.
The Mayor chuckled while he spoke. "I think that this boy is old enough to play if he chooses. So what's your name son?"
"Zephyr," I replied.
The Merchant added in, "Alright so now that that's settled lets play."
Mac agreed with the merchant, "Okay Maurice you cut and deal the cards then."
Maurice dealt everyone a hand while everyone grabbed some chips and they started to play.
> > > > > >
About half an hour later the game was starting to become one sided. Both Mac and Jack along with Maurice were losing while the Mayor was winning by a huge amount. Zephyr was behind the Mayor, but doing fairly well.
'How on earth is that fat ass Mayor winning? Not even I get that good luck and I'm a natural at cards,' thought Zephyr. The mayor then pulled out a Royal Flush on everyone. 'That does it,' said an angry Zephyr to himself, 'I'm reading his mind!'
Inside the Mayor's head, 'Hehe! No one will guess how I tricked them by concealing all the good cards in my sleeves and using this card extender to make it look like I just picked them up. I have a straight flush right now and I'll win all the money from this little game.'
A/N card extender is my name for the little things like extendable arms that people used to stick in their sleeves and grab cards from whenever they supposedly picked them up from the deck.
Zephyr was quite annoyed. 'Card extenders! That has to be the oldest cheat in the book. Hmm… I could expose him right now if I wanted to, but I'll see if I can humiliate him first.' He looked down at his hand and saw that he had a 10, a jack, a queen and a king all diamonds suit. 'Sweet if I get the ace of diamonds I'll have a royal flush.' He drew from the deck and it was the ace of diamonds.
Zephyr smiled while folding his cards and he pulled something out of his pocket without anyone noticing and said, "Guys I want to end this now so how about this. Next hand is all or nothing. I'm going to put in every chip I have. You in or out?"
The Mayor looks happily at Zephyr and said, "Son, that's a brave move, but I doubt that a kid like you would do that unless you had a good hand so I'm staying out."
Zephyr replied "Mayor I can tell that you are nervous about this so I'll show you the cards that I'm carrying with me." He placed his right hand over the cards that he folded on the table and slipped them into his sleeve. He pulled his right toward his left keeping the view of his palm covered. The wind adept then took the cards he pulled from his pocket in his left hand, slipped them into his right as he fanned them out and no one noticed his trick. What he fanned out was a set of five 10s (they were playing with 2 decks).
The mayor lit up like a Christmas tree and told everyone excitedly, "Okay I'm in kid you three gentlemen?"
Zephyr passed a piece of paper while the mayor looked at his fake hand to Maurice beside him. It said "The mayor is cheating. I saw card extenders in his sleeves. Go for this round because I can beat him and humiliate him at the same time for cheating. Please pass this on."
The other three players nodded and said together, "Okay I'm in."
Everyone put every chip they had.
Jack went first placing five 8s down and then Mac put down five 9s. Maurice placed down his cards (three 9s and two 4s) and said, "Full house."
The Mayor with a greedy glint put down a 5, 4, 3, 2 and ace of spades and joyfully yelled, "STRAIGHT FLUSH! I WIN!"
Zephyr had an evil glint in his eye when he said, "Actually mister Mayor you just lost, Royal Flush." He placed down his set of diamonds.
The Mayor's expression changed from extreme joy to extreme anger in a second. "WHAT! HOW ON WEYARD DID YOU GET A ROYAL FLUSH! YOU HAD ALL 10S! YOU MUST HAVE CHEATED YOU FILTHY LIAR! I'LL HAVE YOU LOCKED UP IN JAIL FOR THIS!"
The mayor tried to punch Zephyr, who just grabbed his wrist and pulled his arm down. The game winner responded, "Actually mister Mayor I never cheated because I said that I'd show you the cards I was 'carrying' not the cards that I had in my hand. I had that set of 10s from another deck in my pocket just for a situation like this. And as for cheating well you are hardly one to talk."
Maurice and the sailors were snickering in their seats. While the Mayor went a little pale. "What do you mean? Surely I the honorable Mayor of Alhafra…" Zephyr pulled out the card extenders from the Mayors sleeves before he could finish. The Mayor just stood there knowing he was busted.
Maurice spoke first "Mayor I suggest that you give this boy his winnings otherwise we'll spread the news that you cheat in card games to everyone in this town. I do not think that you want to have your reputation tarnished now do you."
The Mayor's face was grim, he was defeated. "Okay already." He grabbed a bag of money and tossed it on the table. "Here is your winnings brat 40 000 gold. Goodbye." He stormed out of the room.
Jack yelled as he left, "We'll be watching and if we find you cheating again we'll tell everybody."
The other players had smug looks on their faces while Jack said, "Well kid you won like you said you would and I'm impressed. You caught him cheating while none of us could. So here's what you won." He handed me the bag.
"But some of this money is yours. You guys helped me stop him by playing that last round. Besides he cheated you out of it anyways." Zephyr protested.
"No kid, you won fair and square. Take the money you earned it," encouraged Mac.
Zephyr decided to compromise the situation. "Tell you guys what. I'll take 21 000 of the gold and each of you can have 7 000 gold."
They sighed and Maurice responded, "That sounds fine, but we wish that there was someway to repay you besides just the gold. What exactly do you do anyways kid?"
Zephyr told them, "I travel around quite a bit and enjoy seeing new places."
Maurice's face lit up. "I have an idea then, Zephyr. There is a ship traveling to a couple of places around the sea for trade and we'll all be going on it. If you want then we can take you with us so you can explore all of the places we sail to. Of course you have to get your parents permission first, but what do you say?"
Zephyr was inwardly jumping for joy. 'This is such a great chance to travel and I'm not going to pass it up,' he thought. "That sounds great Maurice. I'd really like to travel to some new places. I don't have any parents to ask though, I'm an orphan and my parents died when I was still a baby," said the now excited jupiter adept.
Mac said a little sadly, "Oh sorry, about your folks kid we didn't know."
"That's alright, I don't really think much about it."
"Okay kid, just remember that the ship leaves in 2 days, so be sure to get whatever you need by then." Mac advised.
"Alright I'll see you three on the boat in 2 more days then." Zephyr waved goodbye and went to do a little more in town.
After 2 days Zephyr went to the dock and saw Jack and Mac getting ready to cast off.
"Hello guys," he greeted.
They looked and saw the kid from their poker game. "Nice ta see ya again kid, we're almost ready to cast off," said Mac to Zephyr.
"Don't worry I'm getting on."
"Mac you shouldn't worry about this shrimp so much, he can take care of himself if he's lived by himself all his life." Jack told Mac. "Anyways lets get going to sea."
A red bearded man with a blue sailor's jacket and several scars around his face came up to the three people.
He spoke in a low raspy voice, "So are you that kid getting a free ride on my ship?"
"Yes I am," Zephyr answered.
The new man eyed the adept closely and said, "Hmm… I like the look of this one. He's got determination and spirit, the markings a true adventurer. I'm Captain Marcus."
"Thanks Captain for letting me ride on this ship. I just hope to enjoy the trip."
"No problem kid. These 2 sailors," he pointed to Mac and Jack, "and our regular merchant told me about that little card game. Bye the way if you need anything ask me or one of the crew mates."
Captain Marcus then bellowed, "OKAY EVERYONE LETS CAST OFF FROM THIS PORT AND GET THIS VOYAGE UNDERWAY!"
About 30 other voices coursed, "AYE, AYE CAPTIAN!"
The anchor was raised, the sails opened catching the wind and we started the voyage to our first destination, the island of Izumo.
Zephyr- Okay Windsbane so now that Jeremy, Daniel, Terry and Janet won't be a bother as much to me anymore are you going to stop torturing them?
Windsbane- I think so. There is no point in torturing someone who doesn't deserve it.
The gang appears and walks towards us.
Terry- Thank you for finally stopping that I was getting really freaked out after seeing Jeremy in a dress at a beauty pageant.
Jeremy- Terry did you have to bring up that now. I still get shivers about that memory.
Janet- Oh come on the show wasn't all bad. I placed first after all.
Daniel- That is exactly why you didn't mind being at the pageant Janet. Oh well at least it is over for now.
Jeremy- So anyways Windsbane, are you going to continue with the bizarre extra scenes in this story?
Windsbane- Definitely. I love adding random bits of humour into my stories.
Zephyr- So that means that you are going to enjoy torturing more people other than these guys or doing some setup that is entirely random and insane.
Windsbane- Basically yes.
Terry- So who's your next victim? And can we watch?
Daniel- Yea it'll be nice to see someone other than us being humiliated for once.
Windsbane grins manically- Sure you guys can come. I'm planning on doing the Mayor of Alhafra next. He could stand to loose a few pounds.
A/N Please review this story if you read it because I really want some more people's opinions and I want to know if I have anymore readers.