Broken Tower Saga: The First Swordsman

          Aasan walked into the marketplace of Gala in a carefree manner. It was evening and quite cold with the chilly wind ever blowing for the day, yet he showed no respect to the wind and walked, stuffing the hot junk food into his mouth.

        Vendors were promoting their stuff loudly as they bought, making a fuss over nothing. He was walking in a crowd, yet somehow he moved easily among them like he was in the freaking wind.

        He walked his way out of the crowd and looked at the sky. Clouds were sweeping here and there, and it could lead to a storm at any moment, considering the weather in Gala. The cold wind hid his face, removing the hood from his head. He did not even bother to pick it up on his head, continued walking, saying, "A storm is brewing."

        It took him half an hour to reach the destination, the bridge on the other side of the city. Laman was already there, smiling at the lovey-dovey youth, listening to every word they exchanged. But even in his complacent mood, he noticed his arrival.

        "So, you bothered to come," he said and touched Aasan's body. "And with your real body."

        Aasan shook his hand and rested his ass on the pillar of the bridge. "Did the cowboy leave already?" he asked.

        "He had not appeared yet." he was about to pick up the food from Aasan's package, but the gentleman looking young beat him by moving it away.

        Laman snorted and brought out his cigar. He lit it up and smoked. "Why do you think he called us again?"

        "Of course, he needed something off us," Aasan said. "I was not sure even bothering to come here, but the wind led me here. It should be something interesting."

        "You are not wrong about that." Suddenly a voice rang in their head and they saw the youths who were courting maidens in the bridge leaving as if they were possessed by something.

        "This never gets old," Aasan added with an unimpressed voice. His mood for eating more of the thing went away as he threw it into the river, rather than giving it to his good friend Laman.

        A tall man with broad shoulders appeared out of nowhere before them and stopped only about two yards across from them. He had an old leather jacket on, with a matching cowboy hat. No horse though, but he did have the matching shoes that made noises as he walked. It was the same man that Laman met about a month ago, to tell him that they had failed the job they were given.

        Laman beat the uncomfortableness in his heart and looked at Aasan. The gentleman did not appear a bit appalled or uncomfortable with the man before him, nor did he take the liberty of opening the conversation.

        'It all down to the good sidekick, isn't it?' swearing in his heart, the mercenary man said, "So what's so interesting? Did you get the thing you are looking for?"

        "No, it is something different," the man with the cowboy hat said in a gruff voice. His voice seemed to carry an edge with it, piercing the heart of men. At least it had some effect on Laman. "Technically speaking, it has some relation to the thing I'm looking for."

        "So what's the deal?" Aasan asked.

        "Simple, I need some men that I need to hire a few men for. And then the thought of the two of you came. You two do all kinds of shit provided with enough money, right?!"

        "Not all kinds of shit," Aasan added. "Shit that won't affect us, or me."

        "I have the contract with me," the man said, equally unmoved by Aasan's words. "If you two agree, we will sign it now."

        "You seemed to be in a rush?" Laman asked and found out he had forgotten to even smoke the cigar.

        "The job came without any sign. I barely have a few days to prepare, that's why I'm here."

        "That's alright, but how is this related to the thing you want?" Aasan asked.

        The man with the cowboy hat looked Aasan dead in the eyes for a couple of seconds. "You won't even consider it if you do not know all the answers, do you?" he continued. "There is no harm in telling you since I expect 100% secrecy from you. The work here is quite tricky, but the inward was more than enough, actually. I will get what I've been searching for years and that's not all. There are other perks that mostly nobles get from the council."

        A slight frown appeared on Aasan's brows. He knew what this man before her was looking for for years. After all, he took the job of finding it for some time as well. It was a damn important thing, that leads to a treasure trove of some sort. Yet he will get it as an inward for this job with other things. If it was a few years before, he might have a heart full of interest in it, but now it was just another passing thought. 

This gig might not just be tricky, but something more along the line.

        "Tell me more," he said.                   

       . . .

        "Sister, you called?" Theiron said, knocking on the door of his sister's room.

        "Come in," a voice said from inside the room as he walked in.

        Anastasia was seated in a chair with loose light blue clothing on. There was nothing luxurious about it, other than the fact that it was extremely comfortable and even far more soft than silk. She was sitting leaning against the back while some frown held her brows as she looked at her little brothers.

        She led him to take a seat beside her before starting. "I had a talk with my father. He won't be here anytime soon."

        Theiron nodded and refrained from saying anything. In his mind, he was somewhat troubled and happy. At least he did not have to confront his strict father for some time and if he could make some achievement in those times, he would be relieved from all the poor performance so far.

        "What are you happy about it?" Anastasia asked, giving a round look to her brother. She returned to normal, remembering this was her brother, after all. As the Lord of the House away most of time, she was the one that held and dealt with most of the business of the house from smaller ones to the large ones such as dealing with the worker's problems at the factory, organizing social gatherings, dealing with the pressure, and everything else.   

        Dealing with all that made her the woman she was not. Even though she was proud of her accomplishment, she was frightened of it as well. Things were not going too well for House Kavan, or anyone at the latest. And the answer she sought for her father led her to a dead end. As he only said, it would take him more time, and he believed in her.

        He seemed to have no clue how much of a pressure she was in with those words. She even had to delay her climbing to deal with all this.

        She released a deep breath. "Are you training well, or just wasting your time in the balls?" she asked Theiron.

        The noble son nodded heavily.

        "I'll make time to check your progress from now on," she said, adding another work to her list. "Prepare well."

        "Sister," Theiron asked hesitantly. "Is something wrong?"

        Anastasia looked at her brother, squinting her nose. Did he really pick up nothing since he was here? She thought. Not even from the balls, he was attending without a miss? She could not help but feel disappointed in her brother, though she did not let it show on her face.

        "There is more than a thing wrong," she said in the end. "For starters, the door might open soon and I expect you to be prepared for it."

.. .

        Sophia looked at her sister's exterior and could not help but sigh. Tanya was almost on the verge of crying, though she had held it for quite long, but when Michelle hugged and broke into tears, she teared up as well. Then the short-haired one joined in the crying. 

        Wrik stood at the door watching everything like her. He was far from tearing up, though he looked a little sad with a small pendant on his arm. 

the girls took a lot of time in tearing and finally Sophia let Tanya out of the resort, but before that, she gave her sister the last time with Wrik. 

Tanya met Wrik's eyes with tears in her eyes. She did not know where to start, just hugged him before he could say anything. 

"I heard there are other possible ways to go to Eden," Wrik said. "Other than climbing the tower." 

Tanya gave a meek "hmm." Not ready to let him go. 

"I brought this for you," he said, and gave her the pendant. "You do not wear ornaments so I did not know what to pick."

"I like it," she said, holding the pendant. Even though the pendant looked nothing extravagant. It was only a reminder for them. 

"Oh right," Sophia said suddenly and brought out a small stone figure out of her spatial pouch. "This is for you." 

"What is this?" Wrik asked, giving the stone doll-like figure a look.

"You will find out later," Sophia said. "The time of departure has come. Tanya, are you ready?"