The sun released an orange hue across the half-empty streets as Maxwell walked through them.
His head was hung down and looking at his green plink screen:
[Currency – 200 Shards 0 Sols 0 Eclipse Shards (Owes 2 Sols and 800 Shards to the Bank of Grimsway to be paid within 231 sunrises)]
He barely acknowledged the screen and stared right through it.
Kids spread out ahead of him, running in an unorganised formation.
When they ran past Max, one bumped into him forcing his body to jerk sideways.
Carrying on, he walked through the streets and alleys, eventually arriving at a set of large black gates which was concealed by blocks of cramped houses.
The long poles stood tall and a golden sharp edge decorated the top.
The edge of the gates were connected to a lengthy stone wall that surrounded a large premises.
Beyond the gates was a road that led to a mansion.
The grand building appeared as grand only from a distance.
Sprawling gardens designed each side of the road, treated messily as dead hedges and bushes lived sporadically on the frail grass.
Pushing open the already unlocked gate, Max walked down the road.
The grand building became much bigger and its details much more noticeable.
Plain windows spread out in a symmetrical pattern, and a balcony sat below two windows on the second floor.
The walls were creme beige in colour and except for the windows had very little decoration.
At the top of the mansion, the roof was slightly extended providing shade for the building’s entrance.
Two dark brown doors were the entrance of the mansion.
Max entered the unlocked doors and now inside, looked around the home with a much more majestic feeling.
An elegant split staircase designed with gold outlines and a red carpet revealed itself to Max.
The rest of the house had similar colour schemes—gold and red.
A great chandelier hung from the ceiling, as a hallway to the left and right of the entrance seemed to be unused for years.
Moving into the building and up the right staircase, he already heard muffled screams and shouts.
Not able to make out anything apart from the screams originated from a woman and the shouts from a man.
Making it to the top of the staircase, a large room with many round tables, roses and lights appeared in front of Max.
Not caring for the shouts he took a left, where a luxurious white door with a golden emblem stood.
Entering into the room, it was his bedroom.
A small single bed was pushed against the wall and a table was placed next to a window opposite the door.
A wardrobe and weapon hangar was on the left wall.
Pictures were mounted on the unoccupied areas of the room.
Placing his halberd onto the weapon hangar and taking off his plates of armour, changing into simple casual wear he left the room heading towards the direction of the shouts and screams.
As they became louder and less muffled, some words became recognisable like son and child obviously he was the main topic of conversation.
Pushing open a similarly grand door to his bedroom, he entered an office-like room. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
Where arrays of shelves and books lined the walls and a large window with a desk placed in front crafted the room.
And finally, the origin of the shouts and screams was found.
A blonde woman with blue eyes, was now speaking in a much more mannered tone but her arms were still flailing as her eyes darted between Max and the man in front of her.
The man had slicked over brown hair and emerald eyes, his arms also flaying but one arm held a document of importance to the family.
As the shouting stopped, they looked at Max as he said, “I’m home.”
The woman opened her mouth to speak first, “are you okay, you didn’t get hurt did you?” Max nodded in response as she continued, “I always tell you that you shouldn’t go out, it’s dangerous.”
The man chimed in next, “your dinners still on the table, go and eat,” the woman walked over to Max and stroked his body as she secretly mimicked the man and gave an elegant smile at the end.
“Don’t be so cold dear,” the woman said as she continued to investigate Max’s body.
Not long later Max was released and left the office.
He walked to a dining room where a long table ordained with couture less decorations awaited him.
In front of one of the many chairs, was a plate stuffed with meat and vegetables.
He ate the meal, it was unfortunately rather cold but still had a delectable taste and texture to it.
Finishing his meal, he went to his bedroom and sat on his bed in a meditative pose.
He started a weapon body breakthrough.
His consciousness escaped from his body and transferred to another plain of existence.
Similar light to the one in Flo’s surrounded the scene but the scene was much larger.
Max’s halberd was held tightly in his hands as he looked around.
This time the scene was in a familiar room.
It was the first room in Max’s house.
The one with a split staircase.
Max was standing in front of where the door should be but instead it was shrouded in impenetrable light and in front of the staircase was a boy around 12/13 years old.
The boy had pure black hair and yellow eyes staring at Max with violent intent.
A longsword was held in both the boy’s hands.
Neither Max or the boy wore any armour, wearing only a thin sheet of cloth.
A sudden shout erupted from the bright surrounding light, Max didn’t know what it said but the shout made the boy sprint at him.
As the boy swung his sword, Max matched the strike with his halberd.
Max got forced backwards but matched each strike.
Both metallic weapons connected, making a sharp scraping noise:
Shwiing Skriiing
A much more forceful push caused the boy’s body to propel backwards as he gasped for air.
This allowed for Max to raise his halberd in the air and swing it down.
The boy barely dodged backwards, but the rumble of the ground as the halberd slammed down onto it caused him to lose his footing.
Now on his back with his sword stabbing upwards, his face morphed into panic.
Using the sword as his only defense, it snapped in half from the overwhelming pressure.
As the halberd pushed through the sword and now only inches away from his face, the scene stopped.
The light expanded into the frozen play and absorbed everything that wasn’t part of its original territory.
Within seconds, Max’s consciousness got pulled from the arena and back to his main body.
A fresh wave of power flowed through his body as his eyes peeled open and gazed at his plinks screen:
[Job – Adventurer
Currency – 200 Shards 0 Sols 0 Eclipse Shards (Owes 2 Sols and 800 Shards to the Bank of Grimsway to be paid within 231 sunrises)
Life Core Element – Wind
Weapon Body – Polearm
Innate Body – Halberd
Current Level – Competent Polearm Body
Realm – 11th Stage of Iron Core Gathering Realm.
Realm stabilisation – 11th stage of Iron Core Gathering Realm
Companion – None
Location – Brimnar City
Date – 18th Sunrise of Summer of Year 4032]
Closing the screen, he released a long breath that had been building up in his body before lying down in his bed.
30 minutes later tears pricked at the corner of his eyes as they were tightly shut.
Moonlight flooded into the room attempting to comfort the room in a beautiful blanket of gentle warmth.
But Max’s tears didn’t stop gathering and eventually they fell as he tried to sleep.
…
Florian is now treading down the streets of Birnam which were much more full than usual during the night.
Heading towards the antique shop a sudden momentous force stopped him and an elegant voice entered his ears, “go and fight more beasts,” the majestic voice commanded.
“Let me go home and advance to a bronze core first,” Flo asked.
“No, go out and fight,” the declaration left little room for rebuttal.
Flo sighed and turned his body, heading towards the now open gates where swarms of adventurers were moving through.
A series of mutters rumbled from Flo’s mouth and continued for a long time as he walked through the gateway and towards greywood forest.
“You’re always watching me aren’t you?
The least you could do is tell me your name,” Flo stated plainly towards the gracious voice.
The voice didn’t reply as Flo continued to walk in random directions but he wasn’t encountering any beasts as they had already been killed by the swarms of adventurers.
Eventually the voice decided to reply:
“It’s Leto.
Head right from here,” she additionally commanded.
“You’ll get your wish, Leto,” Flo responded as he turned right and stepped carefully into that direction.