*Rattle* *Cluck* *Clank* *Rattle*
— The repeating taps of footsteps could be heard echoing throughout the area accompanied by the rolling of the wooden wheels of a certain carriage touring on a yellowish clearing amidst the surrounding tall grasses. The pleasant late-morning sunbeam caressed the leathery cover like a warm touch, lighting it up in a golden coloration. Outside of the carriage, there was a middle-aged man, with peasant-like garments and a brown tophat. He had a piece of a long, straw grass inside of his mouth, all while holding the suspensions attached to the leather straps of the two horses that jogged in a casual manner, pulling the carriage forward on the golden-coloured path.
— Inside the carriage, there sat five unique individuals in a collective silence.
First, a lass clothed in a simple dress with a knee-long skirt, holding the hand of an elderly woman with grayish hair and a similarly looking garment, though differed in colour. The lass had a small smile on her countenance while the older woman remained still, eyes-closed as if slumbering.
Second, a person leaning on the wooden side of the carriage, robed in a brown leathery cloak that had covered him from head to toe, some bits of a jagged black armour could be seen on places where the robe did not reach, beside him was a scabbard resting comfortably, while his arms were crossed. He remained steadfast on his right, looking out on the entrance of the carriage, basking himself in the lushful scenery coupled with the azure coloration of the heavens.
Thirdly, a young man, with a soft smile on his light-skinned face. He had soft, blue eyes and a light yellowish, pony-tailed hair. He wore a casual outfit under pieces of leather straps that shielded his torso, kneecaps, shoulders and forearms. A belt was strapped unto his waistline, where two knives where sheathed and a pouch was hanging.
Lastly, a familliar face. Amber-deep irises, messy, short black hair and a soft, almost child-like smile on his pale face. He was robed in a similar looking garment though his hood wasn't erected and remained down, resembling a soft scarf around his neck and he called tattered, brown, aging greaves as his shoes, while leathery finger gloves were strapped around his forearms and hands, he fiddled with a small, contraption resembling a brown, cartoonish bear that had a wind-up key attached to its back.
*Clauckkk..* *Clauckk..* *Clauck..*
The familliar young man began twisting the wind-up key of the small cartoonish bear on his palms, after it was set to maximum, the key began to slowly rotate in the opposite direction of the twist..
...
Nothing, the bear remained still.. So did the smile of the young man.
The blonde youth beside him glanced over and blinked, before laying his gaze towards the slow, spinning key of the bear and the curious smile of the black-haired youngster.
He wondered. "..? What's that? ..I never seen such a toy.."
After a few seconds of silence, only ever broken by the sounds of the spinning wheels and horse footsteps, the youth's mouth went agape, it paused before forming a small smile and uttering; — "Hey."
...
To which, the black-haired boy, ignored.
The blonde youth's expression dropped into a soft, troubled frown, before reaching out his hand. "Excuse..me.."
...
Still no response from the black-haired youth, who remained deeply invested on the mundane spinning of the turning key, which caused the blonde youth's eyelid to slightly twitch after a small vein began to continuously throb on his forehead. "..Mate...?" — The abrupt drop of his intonation caused the black-haired youth to flinch at his seat and nearly drop the small toy-like object before he turned his focus towards the talkative lad, meanwhile, the lass turned her head to observe the situation from afar, though her eyes are seen to have been glancing back and forth between the two and the toy in an erratic fashion.
The black-haired youth paused before opening his pale lips. — "..Wha..what is it..?" — He muttered, avoiding direct eye contact. The blonde boy sneered, and nodded over to the object on his palms — "Cool toy you got there'.." — He remarked, causing the black-haired boy to raise a brow. "..Toy? No.. It's actually—"
"Mind if the little girl borrows it for a while?"
— The lass'es eyes abruptly beamed. "..!" — Before she nodded her head thrice, spouting out a small squeal everytime she did. The blonde boy kept his soft, eyes-closed smile while the lass'es emerald-deep coloured irises flickered in anticipation.
The black-haired youth remained silent for a few short moments with a slightly wide-eyed expression. "...I..Wouldn't.."
"Oh come on..! It will be only for a short while!"
The blonde-haired youth quickly closed the distance before extending out his arms to grab the object in between the black-haired youth's tightly gripping palms.
"..No..! It's..It's..not safe..!"
*Rattle...*
The dark-haired youth bended his arms and tightly embraced the wind-up object near his chest while the blonde-haired boy continued to invade it with his arms, trying to snatch it from his grasp.
*Rattle..*
The dark-haired boy continued to cling unto the toy as if his life depended on it while the blonde-haired youth grew more desperate with his movements and persuasion for every single passing second.
*Rattle..!*
The black-haired boy's eyes went wide upon hearing a faint noise eminating from the wind-up toy.
(crap..!)
*BOOM!!!!*
a relatively thick, gray black smoke began to exude out of the carriage. The driver, who felt the sudden vibration from the vehicle flinched before whipping the horses to stop dead on their tracks.
"WHAT THE!?"
With a sweat sliding off his cheek, he pushed aside the white linen cloth covering the carriage and looked back, there he saw..
*Wooshh..*
The black-haired boy.. dazed. he's absentmindedly looking ahead with black, charcoal marks all over his cheeks, his once kept hair now pointing upwards, revealing his forehead.
"Ah.."
The blonde-haired boy looked at him in disbelief, the armoured man stared with his forearm hovering above his torso while the old lady and the young lass had matchimg dumbfounded expression on their faces.
"Wha...what..!?"
— After a few seconds of silence, the boy recovered, his eyebrows furrowed as he tightly gripped the unchanged bear-looking toy.
"Why the hell would you explode on me huh!?"
— Using a circular shape formed using his index fingers and thumbs, he choked the unresponsive toy with both hands, fury unrelenting. The blonde youth stared with an eyebrow raised, same with the old lady and the lass but with wide-open jaws.
"he..he's..choking a toy..?"
— The blonde youth thought.
"crazy lad..?"
"crazy mister..?"
— They all collectively whispered in their heads as they gazed on the peculiarity of the boy, relentlessly assaulting the small inanimate toy in his hands.
"Hey brother. Are you perhaps stunted..?"
"..Huh? Whadd'zat mean?"
"figures..."
The lass giggled seeing the black-haired youth engage in his shenanigan. With a final gaze at him, she reached out to grab the toy with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"THERE'S NO NEED TO STAY LIKE THIS ANYMORE THEN."
— A chilling voice enveloped the carriage, before a loud..
*CLANGG!!*
Two metallic objects collided with one another. The first were almost imperceptible knives being drawn from a pocket, almost slashing through the young girl's forearm if it wasn't for..
"Tch..!"
A shortsword drawn in a similarly quick manner, parrying both knives and sending them flying upwards.
"Hmm? My analysis was correct I SEE.."
The black-haired youth, the lass and the old lady was left frozen, everything was too fast to keep up.
Then, the blonde-haired youth's mouth slowly transitioned into a full-blown smirk as he reached for his pouch.
— The robed individual, whom was holding an unsheathed shortsword briefly withdrew it before launching another strike, aiming at the youth's neck. Unfazed, the youth stared down the ice-cold blade as it approached his throat, his smile reaching its climax as he successfully pulled out a small sphere from his pouch before it collided with his adam's apple.
"Surprise..Sucker."
He whispered, before pinching the sphere, causing it to simultaneously glow up into a yellowish light and combust.
*BOOM!!!*
The horses flailed their legs while they were sent hurling towards the air, in the opposite direction did the driver of the carriage rolled uncontrollably, causing him to slam back-first into a large boulder.
"ACK..!!*
— A sliver of blood exited his mouth as he was knocked unconscious.
The carriage was dismantled into thousands of different wooden splinters, shards and nails, its pieces launched into all directions. Near the thick-gray smoke, was the robed man, his armoured forearm hovering over his visor as he crouched, charcoal marks scattered throughout his brown robe that was wrapped like a protective blanket around two individuals.
"..Hmph."
— Then, as if sentient, the brown robe began to retract and minimize itself from its overly large blanket-like form into the same robe that only extended until his shins, revealing the old lady, whom had a slightly teary expression as she tightly held the trembling young lass.
"Ani.." — she whispered softly, causing the lady to plant a small kiss on her head as she caressed her back, panicked.
"APOLOGIES...PEOPLE OF THE CAPITAL.." — The same low, resonant voice filled the atmosphere sending chills down the spine of the conscious.
A boot stepped out of the smoke, revealing a silhouette of a young man, but..
"I MIGHT'VE OVERDID IT."
— With a huge smirk accompanied by a frenzied expression, the blonde-haired boy stepped out of the fumes, irises transitioning into a crimson-coloured glow.
[???]
[RANK : ???]
— The old lady gazed at the youth?, was it still the same lad? no one knows anymore. But as she analyzed his stature, a small, two-dimensional, transparent rectangle materialized near her vision, displaying an array of texts that mostly consisted of question marks.
"..i..impossible.." — with a coarse voice, she whispered.
— The youth blinked before smirking once more.
"YOU HAVE THAT ABILITY TOO?"
— He let out a laugh, not just a simple one, but of a resonant, chilling, demonic quality that filled the atmosphere.
"HE WAS RIGHT. YOU PEOPLE OF THAT LINEAGE ARE REALLY NOT TO BE TAKEN LIGHTLY."
— The Old Lady swallowed a saliva before whispering inside of her head.
"He knows..?"
"Hey.."
— A dark, yet calm voice entered the ears of the old lady, pulling her out of the zone. She then looked over to the source of the voice, which was the robed individual beside them.
"..Granny, you can use Appraisal?"
— He asked, causing the lady to nod.
"..yes, but only strength."
— The individual looked at her.
"What did you see..?"
— She paused, before slowly opening her mouth.
"..Question marks.."
"Anything else..?"
"..no..nothing."
— With a sigh, therobed individual began to slowly stand up, his hand grasping the handle of the idle shortsword beside him.
"great.."
"..?"
The old lady's eyes followed him and paused as he stood upright, all before her eyes slowly went wide.
"..!!!!"
— The hooded individual then took off his robe revealing a jagged-black armour that covered him from head to toe, a faint glow shining from the darkness inside of his helmet,
peering through the visor.
[???]
[LEVEL : ???]
"This would be one hell of a fight."
—— CHAPTER 2 FIN.