Three months after Vanessa, Aya, and Dorian's visit to Indonyia had passed, and while others within the guild slowly began accepting the fact that Xerxes was gone—dismissing the beast's appearance as coincidental—some could not.
The entirety of the group who had called Xerxes brother or son were finding it hard to move past the fact that their visit to Indonyia had been fruitless.
Upon arriving at the Magic Academy, Blake and Umiya—the two mages who had helped Aya and Xerxes during the Orc raid—were devastated to hear of his passing.
Unfortunately, Umiya could not assist further; her classes were due to begin in a week, and there was no possibility for her to personally examine the scene. Furthermore, due to the passage of time, there would be little evidence left to gather from the site of his death.
However, a piece of information that she did provide, which could assist their journey, was recommended by Blake.
"We, as a Magic Academy, do not really look into events such as this. If you truly want some information, then you need to raise it with The Court of Kings."
The Court of Kings is an organisation that governs the actions of the continent of Elaijya. They provide laws and regulations and monitor trade and permissibility in The Fallen Kingdom.
What they were able to uncover was that The Court of Kings were a prestigious group that worked alongside each king and queen across the continent within the Human, Elven, Dwarven, and Daemon Kingdoms.
They had another branch that was simply referred to as 'The Fallen'—otherwise known as the army.
These people were a group that expedited missions into The Fallen Kingdom and handled all affairs that were concerned with it.
Although reaching them was an entirely different matter. In Elaijya, a continental law was this: criminals had two options—either rot in prison for the majority of their lives or do something meaningful.
The meaningful thing in question would be becoming a part of 'The Fallen', dedicating your life to the expanse of knowledge and power that The Fallen Kingdom provided.
This was encouraged many years ago due to the fact that The Fallen Kingdom was rich in magical artefacts and even mysteries about the past—the past of The Great War of Succession.
A war so devastating that it eradicated three major races from the present world.
In the midst of the knowledge, Aya had remembered something key: the issuer of the request.
The issuer of the request to survey The Fallen Kingdom was a man named 'Taelin Rutherford'. Upon doing research, they discovered he was a wealthy banker and tradesman who worked for the biggest bank in Elaijya, called the Rutherford Bank.
If he had issued the request, that could be the group's best opportunity in receiving merit for their request to flag this matter up with the army—because not only was the death of Xerxes strange, it was the fact that beasts deliberately went out of their way to hunt Aya and Xerxes down.
That brought the group to today. Taelin
was said to be at the National Guild Association in The Layne Kingdom—The Crossed Seas Guild's home kingdom.
Here, he was said to only meet with those who had taken jobs issued by him, which, according to rumours, were over fifty.
Guild Master Tully agreed to come along, alongside Vanessa, Dorian, and Aya.
The streets were bustling across The Layne Kingdom; trade was as lively as ever because traders monopolised off the fact that a big name was in town, thus pushing sales through the roof.
Tully groaned whilst navigating through the crowd. "Damn it, we should've coughed up the extra gold to be dropped off closer to the association."
Vanessa protested, "We're already running thin on funds, Tully. You know that we haven't taken any quests in a while."
Dorian commented, "I told you, Nessa—I could have paid for it. I've been doing a lot more quests recently."
Which was true. Dorian was becoming more well-known across Layne. This was because he was distracting himself from his brother's death by continually doing quests.
In a matter of three months, Dorian's name was getting more recognised and this was for good reason. Quarterly reports of the guild association had revealed that, Dorian Tenum was in the top 30 of quest takers in Layne.
He vowed to himself that he would carry on Xerxes' dream of being an adventurer great enough to be renowned in all kingdoms. More than that, he wanted to inspire Aya to start going on quests again.
Despite this, Vanessa shook her head, not allowing him to ever carry that responsibility—after all, he was still a boy to her.
After some time, they navigated through the crowd and were waiting in line to meet Taelin.
There was a worker who approached Tully, requesting the guild name, the position he held in the guild, the members who were present, the reason for the meeting, and proof of the quest that they had taken.
Guild Master Tully provided all of this without hesitation as the worker inspected it and passed the group along. After a thirty-minute wait, they were at the office where he was.
Dorian held Aya's hand. "Aya, it will be fine, alright?"
Aya's eyes were sunken, with dim flickers of hope as she nodded. They all walked in and sat on chairs opposite Taelin Rutherford.
Taelin was a middle-aged man, no older than his forties. His hair was slicked back, with streaks of grey coursing through it. He held a stern expression, displayed through his intimidating jet-black eyes. He wore a long, black fur-lined trench coat that was silky at the bottom, and he had his legs crossed while gazing at his watch—which probably cost as much as the building they were in.
"Greetings, guild members. What can you provide me today?"
Guild Master Tully decided to do most of the speaking, given his experience in these situations. He cleared his throat and began.
"It's a pleasure to be in your presence, Sir Taelin. Three months ago, a member of our guild, Aya Insigni, took a guild request—this one, to be specific."
As he slid the guild request—which was to observe any irregularities at the border of The Fallen Kingdom—across the table.
"When taking this request, she was accompanied by another member of our guild, Xerxes Draedon. They took it upon themselves to accept the request, and on that mission, it didn't end as they would have expected."
His voice began straining—even now, it was still such a difficult task to talk about it. "Staying a safe distance away, as recommended by the signage that was there, they began to investigate. A while later, they encountered a mana beast."
"The mana beast battled with both of them, and in an attempt to save Aya—" as he pointed over to her, "—he sacrificed his life to ensure she could escape. That was when Vanessa and Dorian appeared, having just completed a prior task."
"They were able to save Aya, but it was too late for Xerxes. He had died, but he was able to kill the monster with him. There were no soul shards left at the scene, but here are news reports from that area."
Vanessa pulled out news reports that displayed the contents of what was heard and, eventually, what was seen.
"What we were hoping was for you to raise this matter with 'The Fallen' or even 'The Court of Kings'. You understand—the last time this happened, over a decade ago, war broke out between man and beast. Not only that, we are left with the mystery of what truly occurred."
"So please, if you can, do as much as is in your power. I understand you're a Rutherford—perhaps one of the most influential figures on this entire continent—so it would be an honour if you could raise this matter."
Taelin began inspecting the documents, nodding his head, but frowned at one detail. The guild members held their breath as he observed it. Finally, he spoke.
"You described the fact that two adventurers took this quest, correct?"
"Correct," they all said in unison.
He then pulled out an orb-like device from the drawer by his desk, placed it on the table, and peered at Aya.
"Can you place your hand on the orb and channel your mana through it?"
Aya asked, "Me?"
Taelin sarcastically replied, "Well, of course—I don't see any other Aya in the room."
Aya felt nervous but heeded the command as she placed her hand onto the device. It began to glow a faint blue, and above the orb appeared the text: 'Tier 6'.
He then sighed. "As per my suspicion, you took this request without meeting the requirements, didn't you?"
Aya's eyes widened, her mouth open but no words escaping. After a pause, she began speaking. "But… bu—"
"There aren't any 'buts'. Unless Xerxes Draedon was a Tier 5 mage at the time, you shouldn't have taken this quest, should you? Even my youngest nephew—contemptuous as he is—wouldn't take this request. So why did you?"
Dorian's anger began to boil. He knew Taelin was right—they shouldn't have taken this request—but to mercilessly interrogate Aya like this was wrong. Wasn't it?
"I… I just wanted to make everyone proud…" she said sheepishly.
"Well, that's great—because you inadvertently killed someone precious to you. A word of advice for all of you: don't approach me or the Rutherfords with matters that are a byproduct of your own mistakes."
"We Rutherfords don't make mistakes or heed requests from people who do—let alone miscalculated choices, even by a child's standards. Why should I waste my time raising a matter that was self-induced and not even properly regulated?"
"You took a quest knowing it was beyond your means. Now, you want me to clean up the mess. Well, what I say is this: Aya, Dorian, Vanessa, and Tully—go back home and mourn him, because I won't be able to do anything for you." He stated it matter-of-factly.
The entirety of the guild was left in shock—but one person who wasn't shocked was Dorian. Instead of shock, there was a broiling anger at Taelin's pompous attitude and dismissive disrespect.
"You bastard," Dorian spoke, not realising the consequences that might come from his words.
"Excuse me? Are you a rabid mutt? How dare you sa—"
"Emrys[1], heed my call." Dorian coldly commanded, as his ebon blade began emanating a dark glow that made the room's light flicker. Guild Master Tully tried to stop him, but it was too late.
Materialising behind Dorian, filling the room, were black scales that mirrored Dorian's ferocious gaze. Its eyes were slit and scarlet, with the temperature of the room increasing drastically. Anger seeped out of it like no other, as behind Dorian—in the enclosed space—was his dragon, still young but terrifying enough to silence the entire room.
[1] Em-er-riss