Rising Kite - A story from the world of HWFWM

“There, that should settle it. You are fortunate, adventurer. With the scheduled deliveries northward, your items should reach the Gilded branch in just a day or two. Is there anything else?”

“No, that will be all. You have my thanks, and I hope that Fortune will smile upon you,” Kite said, bowing to the adventure society functionary behind the desk.

He left the small booth in which one could deposit deliveries between branches, Glint hovering beside him on her usual cushion of water.

“I believe that was it. I am quite sure that uncle Walker can put them all to good use,” he told the carp, who eagerly bobbed her assent. Exiting the building, Kite looked up at the sun. It was just a few hours after dawn, and if he wasn’t mistaken, it should be just about time. “Let us return to the portal plaza. Master Vihaan did not seem like a person one should keep waiting.”

His last day and night in Heavenward, the capital of Hua-Xi, had been as restful as Little Crow had promised. The celestine had checked in with Kite every now and then, and had taken the opportunity to introduce some more cousins and other relatives. Kite had shared a pot of tea with Valorous Crow, been shown around the family complex by the older, venerable Finicky Crow and even gotten an unsolicited but not unappreciated impromptu lesson in herbalism by Desirous Crow.

All of them had been surprisingly colorful individuals, and Kite still smiled at the memory and how at odds it was when the kindly old Finicky Crow had talked about her assassination contracts carried out in foreign lands with a wistful expression.

“I suppose that auntie Crow would be called Curious Crow if she returned home,” he mused to himself. “How else would they keep people apart? I should-”

“Pathbreaker!”

Kite’s thoughts were interrupted by a loud call, and he couldn’t help but sigh as his predictions from the tone alone came to pass. A silver-ranker wearing the colors of the Thunderous Soul Sect, the leonid he had seen before, was making his way towards Kite with a gaggle of initiates in tow.

“This time you cannot escape me, Pathbreaker! I, Strides of Conviction, challenges-”

“I am sorry, disciple, but I cannot accept” Kite said, calling loudly while holding up his hands as if to ward off the other man.

“Bah! Do not try to blame the dueling rankings, Pathbreaker. We both know that you aren’t truly a part of them, and that there is nothing to hinder me from proving your inadequacy here and now!”

“No, you misunderstand. I literally do not have the time. I am bound to leave by portal within a few minutes, and I really would not counsel you to keep me.”

Strides of Conviction would not listen, however, waving away Kite’s words as if they were irrelevant.

“This will not take more than a few minutes anyway. I don’t care if some portal courier has to wait. I will have my-”

This time it was the leonid’s turn to be interrupted as a hand landed firmly enough on his shoulder to cause the silver-ranker’s legs to buckle. A man had walked up behind Strides of Conviction, and It was a rather odd sight to see the tall leonid brought low by the hand of a person who needed to actively reach upward to place said hand on his shoulder. The result was unmistakable, however, and much more understandable as the newcomer let his aura leak out just enough to have the surrounding sect initiates go from scowling and forming outraged words to scrambling back as if they had been physically slapped.

“Some portal courier, eh?” Vihaan Shapravati mused. He was a rather short human man whose skin was a deep brown hue, with black hair and a prominent mustache and beard which stood in contrast to his very colorful and boldly patterned suit of cyan and orange. Vihaan stood calmly for a moment before shaking his head. Then, with a swing and a heave which caused cracks to form in the stone beneath him, he pivoted on the spot and threw. Strides of Conviction went from dazedly trying to figure out what was going on to trying and failing to choke off a panicked scream as he was launched in an arc above the city. From the direction and trajectory, Kite suspected that the silver-ranker would leave a mighty furrow in the lush farmland outside.

“Master Vihaan, I’m sorry for the delay,” Kite said, bowing politely. “I was just coming to see you since the allotted hour was drawing to a close and-”

“Yes, yes, I heard,” the gold-ranker said, waving Kite off while he turned to the fleeing sect initiates and calling; “Tell your flying friend that he should try and find a lesson in this!”

Kite did his best to mask his slight wince as the directed attention of a gold-ranker caused one of the bronze-ranked initiates to drop unconscious in a quite undignified way, and chose to stay silent and wait for further instructions. Vihaan might be a core-user, but as he had shown off quite convincingly, the man was still able to throw you across the city and then some.

“Maybe I have time to- Ah, but alas, the waiting time is over,” Vihaan said, mumbling to himself as if Kite wasn’t even present. “You have everything?”

“Yes, master Vihaan. Thank you for the opportunity.”

“Bah, I needed to wait for the power to become available anyway, and you were at least waiting for me at the allotted time. And I got to show some brat how we gold-rankers usually treat upstarts like him. But let’s be off. I have plenty of other routes to open today.”

With those words, he clapped his hands together before making a fist. As he opened them again with palms facing upward, Kite could see a small pile of glittering dust in each. Vihaan leaned forward and blew a gentle stream of air at the glittering motes, the small particles quickly whirling out into the air to form a shimmering, opaque disc.

“After you,” he said, gesturing for Kite to enter.

Kite did not even have to turn his head around to take a final look at the kingdom of his birth, his encompassing vision letting him see the crowds, the buildings, the clothes, the small mannerism; all the things that made Hua-Xi into what it was, and the only home he had ever known. And while leaving felt like a great adventure in and of itself, it was the knowledge that Kite would be back that let him step forward without hesitation. Sage subsumed in his aura and Glint snuggled up inside her bottle, Kite stepped through the portal. Just a moment later, he would take his first step on foreign soil, as the world opened up before him.

“So, brother, back from babysitting the little adoptee?” Valorous Crow called as Little Crow returned. She too was a silver-ranker, sharing the onyx hair and eyes of the Tengu’s clan while sporting a much more powerful physique than most other clan members of her rank.

“If that is your way of asking if Kite departed safely, I can confirm it,” Little Crow retorted, gracefully sidestepping and catching a thrown gourd. He took a polite sip as he joined the other celestine, his suddenly tense face causing Valorous Crow to laugh uproariously.

“It still hasn’t put hair on your chest after all these years?”

“If you must know, all my companions seem to like me not being a hairy oaf,” Little Crow said, turning his nose up at his sibling. “But with Kite gone, we can go back to business. The elders are hinting at more contracts coming up. If he returns, maybe we can even have him help us?”

“I don’t know, Little Crow, he didn’t seem like the sort.”

“Ah, you are quite right, I suppose. But just imagine it; you have just sent your Skybreaker towards your foe and ‘poof’ their defenses are dispelled by a supporting little adoptee just before it hits. It still makes me think that we should hope to recruit Kite in the future.”

“How about you focus less on such daydreams and more on becoming good enough not to need help like that, hmm?” Little Crow’s sister jibed him before turning serious. “Still, these hints of more activity, even more of it being local… What do you think it means?”

“That trouble is brewing, of course. But isn’t it always, sister dear?” Little Crow said, leaning back on his couch. “And our dear adopted brother seemed to be quite the trouble magnet too. Which always means opportunities for us. That he was well-mannered, skilled and quite interesting sure helped too. I get the feeling that our paths will cross and intertwine many times in the future. Or that we should at least endeavor to make it so.”

“Guild master Walker? What is the matter?”

Second Spring, Hallmaster of the Autumn Wanderer’s guild in Gilded, sat straight as the older man’s eyebrows seemed to be attempting to climb up his face and ascend to the heavens all by themselves. She couldn’t help herself, noting that even when looking utterly baffled, the rugged handsomeness of the guild master made her heart flutter.

“Patience, Spring. You need to reach his level so that he can finally see you as an equal,” she told herself while Walker gathered his composure.

“I’m sorry, Hallmaster Spring. It was just… Well, I just got a missive regarding little Kite.”

“Oh? Is something the matter? Has he sent word? Does he need our assistance?” Spring asked, curious and eager to prove her decisiveness.

“No, no, not like that. It was actually from the adventure society. We received an updated inventory of our local stores. Here, look for yourself.”

Walker put the missive down on the table and slid it towards spring. She gestured, and a gust of wind carried the document to her waiting hand. Spring didn’t need to do more than skim through it to notice the rather distinct difference.

“But… guild master, these numbers. Surely there has been a mistake?”

“The adventure society doesn’t tend to deposit troves of awakening stones and essences into our care by accident, hall master.”

“But senior brother should have spent - what? - a week in the capital? What did he do over there to earn such riches? Even his familiar shouldn’t give even close to this amount in that time even when he is out on contracts.”

“That, I do not know, hall master,” Walker said, glancing back at the guild's new and much improved inventory of stones and essences before giving that rakish smile that did weird, warm things to Spring’s insides. “But whatever little Kite has been up to, he has clearly entrusted us to keep up the good work. Let us make him proud when he returns.”

The first thing which struck Kite when he stepped out of the portal of glittering dust was, unsurprisingly, the air. It pressed in on him like a cloying blanket, carrying both heat and moisture to a degree beyond what Kite thought would be possible. As a normal-ranker, he would probably have found it bothering him a lot. As a silver, however, it was more a novelty; a distinct first impression telling him that he was far, far from home. A second later, his magical senses caught up, and Kite couldn’t help taking the magical equivalent of a deep breath. The ambient mana was rich, beyond even the capital and heartlands of Hua-Xi. It was invigorating and energizing, allowing Kite’s more magical body to regain any mana spent a lot quicker.

“Welcome to Pranay,” Vihaan said as he stepped out of the portal behind Kite, the shimmering surface collapsing into a dispersing cloud of dust. “Port Singhni is not its biggest city, but I’m sure you’ll find it plenty exciting.”

Kite couldn’t help but agree, finding it an understatement. He stood at a portal plaza surrounded by a bustling port city. Pranay was an island nation, even though the size of its main island was enough for it to feel like a pseudo-continent, and Port Singhni was located at its southwestern edge. Kite had read up what he could, even though the information he had gotten indicated that he would spend little time in the city itself during the upcoming weeks. The architecture was not entirely alien, although the houses around Kite differed from home in many ways. For one, their roofs did not curve as much, and each of the mostly wooden structures seemed to be built with rain and storms in mind. Kite could see plenty of drains and other solutions to channel off the water which the ocean storms could bring in, even though magical protections would make sure to ward off the brunt of it.

“As the delivery is complete, I bid you farewell,” Vihaan said from Kite’s side, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“Of course. Thank you, master Vihaan. May your path take you to the heavens and beyond,” Kite said, bowing respectfully.

The older, bearded man gave Kite a smile and a nod, before he turned and left. A vortex of similar swirling, glittering dust formed over his lower body and with a gust of wind and discharge of mana, the gold-ranker flew off.

Looking around the unfamiliar plaza and crowds, many people sporting darker complexions and a lot less clothing than he was used to, Kite couldn’t help the excited smile. Glint seemed to feel his mood, and flew out of her bottle to look around. Similar sensations of excitement started flowing along their bond, and even Sage sent sensations to express some curiosity from where the astral gatherer was subsumed within Kite’s aura.

“While exploring would be nice, I believe that we should find the local adventure society branch first and report in,” Kite mused as they walked down one of the ramps leading to the portal platform. “It wouldn’t do to be tardy, but if we see an artificer's shop, I should go look for something to help with translation. I can’t trust to always get by with the trade speech.”

However, Kite did not even have the time to cross half the plaza before he heard someone call out, his expanded vision revealing it to be a tall, bronze-ranked man making his way through the crowds toward him, dressed in what Kite assumed was the local fashion of an official. Kite’s first instinct was to tense up as he expected trouble, but as he soon noticed the pin of the adventure society fastened to the man’s open loose, sleeveless shirt, he let the impulse pass.

“Kite Flown in on- Eya kumakda… Ah, ov! - Fortune! Kite Flown in on Winds of Fortune!” the man called, seemingly relieved as Kite turned to look at him in response to his calls.

The bronze-ranker became an intangible streak as he phased through the final stretch of crowds appearing before Kite. He was indeed tall, sharing a darker complexion and the dark hair of most humans Kite had seen so far.

“That is me,” Kite confirmed, bowing politely.

The man was busy rummaging through a pouch at his side, however, and finally produced a silver pin he held out to Kite, gesturing for him to put it on his clothing. It was a rather plain affair without much embellishment, but when viewed in the right light, one could notice a faint engraving of an armored gauntlet, its palm open.

Kite nodded and put it on, looking questioningly at the man who gestured to him and spoke.

“Mana!” he urged, and Kite understood. He channeled a bit of his mana into the pin and felt a connection establish, first between him and the item and then between the item and the society pin the other man was wearing.

“Oyāṭa tēreṇ-derstand me now? The translation works best if we are both wearing the pins, but you can channel more mana into it to try and translate on the fly, even if the results are less than optimal,” the man said, seeming relieved when comprehension dawned in Kite’s eyes. “Ah, I see. Good and bright young man, yes? Welcome, Kite Flown in on Winds of Fortune. My name is Charat Charatsiri, and I have been sent from the adventure society to act as your liaison during your stay.”

“That is very kind of you, as I was just pondering where to find the society and report my presence,” Kite said, bowing again to the man, only for him to quickly take a step forward and ease Kite back upright.

“Please don’t, adventurer. It is not proper for you to incline your head to a lower-ranker in public. People might be getting the wrong idea of our… relationship,” Charat said, looking a bit flustered. “I mean no disrespect, of course. You understand, yes?”

“Oh… Oh!” Kite said, feeling foolish. His first impulse was to bow again in apology, but managed to stop himself. “I see that local customs might be something to prioritize learning,” he thought to himself before speaking. “I apologize for the misstep, then. Would you please lead the way?”

“Certainly, certainly. Follow me, yes? You are among the last to arrive for this batch of admittance tests, so there shouldn’t be much of a delay.”

Kite followed Charat through the streets and did his best to take in what the man pointed out to him. It turned out that just over half of Port Singhni was actually built out on the water, buildings and roads floating gently atop the calm waters. Further out, Kite noticed a distinct line where most waves seemed to end, proof that the magical infrastructure of the city did not only include the weather.

It also turned out that Kite would have found the adventure society campus easily enough had he needed to find his way on his own. The complex was built on land and was one of the tallest series of structures he could see in the skyline. Admittedly, said skyline was also half-shrouded by the constant air-traffic, with everything from larger wagons and luxurious vehicles to personal discs carrying only a single passenger floating along semi-ordered lanes above.

“You are from Hua-Xi, yes? Then you don’t get to see too many flying transports?” Charat asked, following Kite’s gaze.

“That is true. While there are plenty of flying means of transport, it is mostly available to silvers and above. And never in these numbers.” Kite said, taking it all in.

“Well, it is good you got to go here and feel some proper ambient mana, then,” Charat laughed, before halting. “But I am sure that your homeland has plenty of wonders. I hope you understand that I meant no disrespect, yes?”

“It is quite alright,” Kite said, looking around. “There’s no denying that more mana allows for a lot of wonderful things.”

“If you will spend more time here, you should consider getting a flying permit if you have the means. And some way to navigate the channels. The floating part of the city is quite the maze otherwise.”

“In that, I am at least blessed with means already,” Kite said, stroking Glint along the billowy fins.

They finally arrived at the local campus of the adventure society, and while the structures looked different there was a sense of familiar order to them which Kite found reassuring. Like every other campus Kite had visited, there was a central administration building to which Charat led him, which was followed by them passing through a reception area and eventually into an empty conference room.

“Please get comfortable while I will report your presence. It is best to take any chance at rest one can though, yes?” Charat said before closing the door.

The room was nice, with one side seemingly open out toward a lush garden even though Kite could see the faint shimmer of a barrier close to the wooden beams which divided the opening. A long table took up most of the space in the otherwise unassuming space. Kite let Sage manifest, the astral gatherer immediately floating off to inspect the minimalistic artwork adorning the walls.

“Then I suppose that we wait,” Kite said, sitting down in one of the chairs. “After all that excitement in the capital, another few minutes shouldn’t be too bad.”

“The others are ready. How is our little would-be recruit doing?” Ryker asked, shrugging into his cloak as he finished donning his armor.

“He’s waiting in the conference room where I left him. Nice and polite too. That’s good, yes?” Charat answered, looking over the shoulder of a fellow functionary who was watching the projected screen.

“The candidate has so far meditated, played a bit with his familiars and is currently doing some kind of slow combat kata. Also meditative, from the looks of it.” the woman answered, keeping her eyes on the screen.

“No complaints, then?” Ryker asked, looking over her shoulder and studying the slow, meticulous motions of the young man.

“None so far. It has been three hours now, give or take. And I must say, that familiar of his is one beautiful fish.”

“Then we shall have to pop in and burst his little time of peace and quiet,” Ryker said with a smirk, ignoring the comment about the familiar as he turned to walk away. Christine and Mtanga joined him, both donning the thin cloth masks which hugged their faces and erased their features. Ryker donned his own mask as well, the trio crossing a few corridors until they emerged onto a hidden balcony which gave ample view over the inner garden outside the conference room where they had made all potential candidates for the task group wait.

And as they had done this little dance more than a handful times before, neither of them needed to speak. Ryker and Christine stepped up to the balcony’s railings and leapt while Mtanga conjured his bow and fired in one smooth motion. Ryker could only see the arrows curve and turn to strike the silver-ranker below, the man still being out of sight.

So far, none of the candidates had fallen to that first barrage, but given that this one was a Hua-Xian, Ryker wondered if this would not be the first.

“Fortune, please make it happen and make my day?” he thought silently as he fell, but his silver-ranked hearing allowed him to pick up the chanted spell from below.

“Ward!”

“No luck, huh,” Ryker thought. And then he landed, mana coursing through the cloth fibers of his pants as they strengthened him. The next moment he shot off towards the conference room where their little prospect was using a pair of barriers to ward off Mtanga’s little probing attacks.

“That won’t be enough,” Ryker thought as he dove through another of the flimsy environmental barriers which kept the elements out of the combat room. His cloak was already coming to life as he landed near the guy, separating into a multitude of strands which snaked out toward their target. Christine should be right on his tail, and-

“Wall.”

New barriers appeared at the openings in the conference room wall, more opaque and definitely sturdier than what had been there before. Christine slammed into one with a dull thud, righting herself so that she could try and break them down. Seeing the isolation-tactic for what it was, Ryker snorted.

“That won’t be enough either,” he thought, diving in for a series of empowered punches as his enchanted clothing started to try and snag limbs or wind itself around as much of the other guy’s body as possible. However, said cloth tendrils failed to find purchase, but that was only the start of Ryker’s problem. He got one good swing in which the would-be recruit blocked on a forearm, but instead of transmitting all that additional force from the special attack, Ryker felt something pop as mana left him, replaced by the icy sting of transcendent damage. Not a lot, but enough to make one want to avoid a repeat experience.

To make matters worse, the guy’s weird tattoos lit up and four more arms joined the defense as wave-edged blades started to cut into Ryker’s animated cloth. Isolated with his quarry, Ryker still grit his teeth and redoubled his assault. More cloth strips started moving to replace those that were severed or fell limp under some kind of dispel effect.

The pair exchanged a furious series of attacks, double barriers and all those arms annoyingly effective at warding off Ryker’s multi-pronged assault. With each hit, even the glancing ones, Ryker could feel more of his mana being drained away. He leapt away, trying to create some range, but ended up having to cut himself out of a restraining globe of water instead. A solid hit from some kind of staff connected a moment later, stealing more of his magical strength.

“Shit,” Ryker thought, annoyed at having to bring out one of his high-impact powers as he just couldn’t seem to get away. A moment later, enchanted cloth ribbons exploded out from him, way more than could ever fit on his body. They started to fill the room, their passing shifting furniture and ripping art from the walls. Through his senses that extended through them, he could even feel some finding a slight purchase on the man’s body, and Ryker pounced on the opportunity.

Teleporting through the outstretched cloth, he-

The teleport did not work, stopped by some unseen pull. By instinct, Ryker channeled a few more special attacks through the mass of cloth tendrils as he felt that the initiative he had tried to seize was negated, breaking like glass thrown upon a stone floor. And a moment later, his instincts were proved correct as he heard a muffled chant.

“Dissolve the patterns of power.”

An unseen pulse tore through his conjured cloth, tearing it to dissolving magical confetti. The room was suddenly visible again through normal senses, and Ryker turned to dodge a trio of attacks, the one impact ripping even more mana from him and stunning him for a short moment. Frustratingly enough, the only mana-restoring power Ryker had going was giving him less and less as some kind of affliction was building inside him. But seeing that Christine and Mtanga were almost through, Ryker needed to buy her a few more seconds.

Loops of cloth wound themselves around his arm, twining together as they gathered strength. Ryker dodged another attack before he leapt, the power from his might essence letting him close the distance in a blink before unleashing his most potent special attack, Hammer of the Weave.

A pair of barriers appeared, but Ryker’s spike-like appendage of enchanted cloth punched through. Still, the discs of force slowed his arm down enough for one of those accursed extra arms to flick his way, a small ripple slashing across his arm. And Hammer of the Weave dissolved, dragging even more mana with it.

“Fuck!” was all that Ryker had time to think before the return strike took him in the chest, his own momentum turned against him as the butt of a staff was driven into his abdomen. Staggering backwards, the potential recruit stepped forwards to attack again. But this time, it was his turn to be interrupted. Ryker felt a bit of relief, and shame in that relief, as Christine finally burst through the barrier.

It hadn’t been more than twenty seconds, but it had felt a lot longer when stuck with whatever this Hua-Xian had going for him. But with Christine also came Mtanga’s arrows. The archer had saved his strength, and the living storm of arrows which followed in the woman’s wake was a beautiful show of magical archery, the swarm of projectiles closing in on their opponent like a fist grasping against a fly.

“Void!”

Said fly apparently had more tricks up his sleeve though, as a dark aperture appeared between him and the incoming reinforcements. Ryker could feel it pull at his speed even from across the conference room. It wouldn’t keep Christine or him for long, but Mtanga’s arrows seemed to have a rougher time of it as they were devoured. He readied himself though, as such a potent power was no doubt one of the man’s aces.

“When he comes for me, I’ll need to expend what I can to keep him. He-”

The prospective hire leapt forward through some kind of enhanced leap of his own, and Ryker readied himself as cloth unspooled from his reserves. However, the attack never came as their quarry didn’t cross the entire room. Instead of crashing into Ryker, he stopped halfway and swung.

“At the door.” Ryker finally registered, his body still moving as through molasses due to the dark gate’s pull. “Oh no, you’re not getting away like that. Not after this. I’m not done with you-”

“I believe that this little introduction is done,” a calm voice said, cutting through the noise. The prospect’s strike had frozen in place, staff gingerly held in one scaled hand. Said hand belonged to a towering draconian with stark white scales clad in a finely cut dress suit who stood straight-backed with the other hand resting behind his back as he surveyed the conference room. A gold-ranker like him was quite at ease when surrounded by silvers, after all.

Ryker’s blood, still boiling from the short but intense combat, demanded that he continued and brought the younger man down into the dirt, but a patient look from the draconian had him quell such ambition. Christine was quicker on the uptake though, and relaxed her posture.

“Sure thing, sir,” she nodded, apparently not sharing Ryker’s sentiment.

“But she didn’t have to trade blows with the fucker either,” Ryker thought sourly, but forced his bruised ego aside to nod at the draconian. “What she said, Sir Darnos.”

The would-be member of the task group seemed to have deduced the purpose of this little incident, as he too straightened and bowed to the gold-ranker. “Of course, master.” He even let his staff hang in the grip of the draconian, who took a moment to look at it curiously.

“Hmm, this is not a metal I’ve seen before. Curious weapon. It’s always nice when the recruits bring something new to rattle this old brain of mine,” he said, voice filled with amused joviality as he handed the weapon back.

“Recruit, sir? I take it that he passed, then? I will admit that I didn’t see too much through the barrier, and it was over quickly,” Mtanga asked as he too dropped down to join the gathering, taking off his mask to reveal his ebony skin and pearly grin.

Ryker bit his teeth in frustration, but did not voice the sentiment. He couldn’t drop the fact that this man was a Hua-Xian, but he too knew that enough criteria had been met.

“He fought off the ambushers for long enough to hamper your abilities to take him down, and gave a rather good show too, and then bought even more time to try and stage a retreat. Only my intervention saved this poor door from becoming part of our little test, and even the society’s coffers aren’t endless. Call a dragon a miser, but it just felt like a waste,” Darnos said, chuckling as he turned properly to the young Hua-Xian.

“Kite Flown in on Winds of Fortune, wasn’t it? My name is Darnos of the Rending White, overseer of the eastern branch of Task Group Gauntlet. Allow me to formally welcome you, and confirm your status as a recruit. It will be quite interesting for us to see your capabilities in the weeks to come.”