Rising Kite - A story from the world of HWFWM

“I am honored to be the one to first welcome you properly into the guild. How do you feel?” Kite asked after giving the freshly minted iron-ranker a polite bow.

“Senior brother Kite, it's wonderful! Uncle Azure always told me, but to actually feel it…” the young elf woman said, still staring in awe at the lightning which crackled between her fingers. Kite and the aforementioned Azure Devil, who had also been present throughout his niece’s awakening, couldn’t help but smile at her enthusiasm as they had witnessed her testing out her new powers.

“It is indeed quite the feeling. But just remember that your adept essence indicates that you will need even more diligent practice,” Kite said, trying to properly step into his role as her helpful senior. “But from what we have seen so far, your path looks to be one of both swiftness and power, as long as you can properly master the timing of your spells.”

“I will, of course I will! Thank you, senior! And thank you, uncle! I’ll make both you and the guild proud!”

“That’s great, little scamp,” Azure said, the bald elf’s smile at odds with the rugged looks provided by the scars running down his scalp. “Now you run off and show your mother, or I’ll never hear the end of it. Proper training begins tomorrow too, so don’t be late!”

As the guild’s newest member departed, her aura abuzz with all the excitement, Kite turned to Azure as the pair made their way inside the guildhall again.

“Thanks, Kite. The guild is probably the best way to start for her. Both me and her mother are quite relieved that she’ll at least stay relatively put for the upcoming six years. While some wanderlust is to be encouraged, an early bloomer like her needs some consideration,” Azure said as the pair got themselves seated on one of the balconies, Kite pouring them each a glass of chilled sap-wine.

“Fifteen is early, but definitely not unheard of. And we’re happy to have her. With the lightning essence you had already provided, adding balance and adept felt reasonable. If the theories of power sets reflecting their users are to be believed though, she does indeed have the drive to travel. She will literally ride the lightning.”

“Thanks for making an adjusted contract too. I know it's a bit out of the ordinary.”

“As I said, you already had one essence. Demanding the full ten years wouldn’t be right. And the timing is good. We actually had another pair join just a few days ago; twins that will start their training at the same time. Both of them chose the rabbit essences of all things, so if they get along we can probably make sure that the trio team up for the foreseeable future. Their paths all lean toward speed, after all.”

The pair continued speculating about different power outcomes as Azure sounded out some ideas for awakening stones that he wanted to gift his niece. While the elf didn’t have a family of his own, he was apparently very involved with his sister and family, with uncle Azure being a constant and frequent visitor during their lives.

Eventually though, Kite broached a rather different topic.

“If you don’t mind me asking, Azure, did you come here on business as well? Nothing new from director Dobrazza?” The elf was the right-hand man of Bastion’s branch director, after all, and Kite had so far rarely interacted with him outside of contracts or other such business. This time proved to be the exception, however.

“No. No, this time was purely for family’s sake,” he chuckled. “What, are you getting restless now that the special contracts are getting fewer and further between?”

“I will admit that I had hoped that we would see some more progress… Well… Sooner,” Kite admitted, deciding to be honest even if he sensed that the answer would make him seem a bit clueless. “We cleared out a good number of hidden cells and cabals during these first three months after all.

“In a nice, ideal world, I suppose that we would have,” Azure mused after taking a long drink of his wine. “But in reality… These things take time, Kite. A lot of time. Those little priests and priestesses we are looking for won’t just sit still and wait for us to find them. From being in this line of work for a good while now, my gut tells me that most of them probably started pulling out of their little hidden cells when they noticed that we started pushing. And as you know, we’ve started finding more traces of whole cabals having up and left now that they’ve had some time to notice what we’re doing.”

“So they left? Our work can’t have been that easy,” Kite noted with a frown.

“Of course it isn’t. At least not on these scales. While I get that your time in Gauntlet might have made things seem easy. You get information, kick in some doors and take down some people, day saved and you can go home. Well, a team from Gauntlet is usually what comes at the end of things like this; sometimes months and even years of investigating and smaller strikes back and forth. So, welcome to the investigative side of things, I guess?” the elf said with a knowing smile. Seeing Kite’s consternation, he continued. “I understand your frustration, Kite. I totally do. You’ve been a great asset in planning out the strikes we’ve had so far. Gauntlet taught you well, and the people you’ve taken alive have given us a lot to work with.”

Rising to his feet, Azure clapped a hand to Kite’s shoulder, his now silver-ranked strength matching Kite’s own. “We’ve plucked the low-hanging fruit, and now we need to see what came of it and start finding other avenues of investigation. Trust me; the directors aren’t fools. They will call upon you and the rest of us at the first whiff of trouble. And while you wait for that, keep on doing other important things. Train. Take contracts. Spend time with your family. Build your guild. Pick up a hobby. You’re not alone in this. I even mean no offense when I say that you aren’t even the biggest actor in this little play. Keep climbing towards the heavens, and your path will surely see you through.”

Azure eventually said his farewells, and while Kite’s restlessness wasn’t entirely mollified, he had to admit that there was much wisdom to be found in the words of the older elf. Azure Devil had worked with matters like this a lot longer than him, after all, and so had both Dobrazza and Jarvan.

“Then the question that remains is… what to do?” he mused as he started making his way towards where he would meet Dragonfly and Glint after yet another of their shopping trips. As he finally saw them in the distance near the agreed-upon park that was their meeting spot, he also noticed the vast number of boxes and bags that his familiar, currently in her draconian form, was carrying.

“I suppose that taking up some more contracts in the meantime won’t hurt,” he mused, making his way over while Glint was still spinning in place to let Dragonfly properly appreciate the fine, white robes she had apparently purchased. “Because from the look of things, funds might soon be in short supply.”

“Hiiiiiii!”

The unexpected voice echoing in over the walls of Kite’s family compound caused Kite and Dragonfly to halt mid swing, their spar coming to an abrupt halt as they looked to each other questioningly.

“I’m not sure what the local customs for asking for admittance are…” the voice continued, apparently calling rather loudly for the words to carry. “And those formations look pretty scary so… can I come in?”

Making their way to the outer gate, Kite opening it revealed a familiar, short elf woman dressed in an eclectic mix of colorful clothes and enchanted jewelry of all shapes and sizes.

“Mistress Riz?” Kite asked, surprised to see the portal courier that had carried the strike team to Hua-Xi at his literal doorstep.

“Oh. Oh! Kite! I thought I recognized the name. But I ferry a lot of people so even my silver brain can’t really keep up,” Riz replied, her cheerful and rather… scattered… demeanor not having changed in the three-odd months since Kite last saw her. Noticing Dragonfly, the elf brightened. “New person! Hello! Riz is the name, portals is the game! Come with me and I’ll show you a world of wonders!” she said, delivering a similar little spiel as when Kite had first met her.

“Ehm. Greetings. I’m Dragonfly,” the other woman answered with a hesitant smile, apparently not really knowing what to make of the unexpected guest, even though Kite suspected that the two together would make for a rather energetic group.

“Dragonfly! Such a pretty name!” the elf said, her eyes almost glittering. Seeing that things might be about to go further off on a tangent than he thought practical at the time, Kite took that opportunity to intercede.

“Dragonfly is indeed most pretty in both name and form, but I believe that is beside the point,” he said, dragging the conversation back to some semblance of direction. “What brings you to my doorstep, Riz?”

“Oh, right. Sorry. I just get excited,” the elf said, at least having the decency to look slightly abashed. “The adventure society seems to think that they’ll call upon you rather frequently, and as this place is… well… rather remote with few couriers knowing the place, they sent me here to memorize the region so that I can come and pick you up.”

“Ah, I see. Most gracious of them. And of you, mistress courier,” Kite said, giving her a grateful bow.

“Oh wow. Each time you call me ‘mistress’ with that formal voice, something inside me tingles. Mistress Riz, all important and awesome,” the elf giggled.

“Well, can we assist you then in some way? From your earlier words, it doesn’t sound like Gauntlet has any contracts assigned to me at the moment?” Kite asked, once more intervening to keep things on track.

“No, I just need to get a real good look at things. I mean, look at all these trees and mountains. Spring sure is nice around here-” she said, but seemed to stop herself as if she suddenly remembered something. “But.. Weeeell, now that you mentioned it, eating some really good food definitely helps with the memorization process. To really ingrain the place in both mind and soul, you know. And as I’ll be returning here often, I guess you would really want me to get it right…”

Ignoring the obvious and rather horrible attempt at deception on the courier’s part, Kite instead just smiled, failing to keep the amusement away from his voice.

“I believe that what the mistress courier says sounds like a grave matter indeed,” he said with faux-gravitas, complete with a frown and a serious nod. “Fortune be praised that auntie Dove has just started making a big batch of meat buns. Hopefully, her special herb sauces will prove sufficient for this most important task. Follow us, if you please. And welcome to my humble abode. It seems like your path might take you here rather frequently in the future.”

“Still as ravenous as always,” Kite noted to himself when the seed beneath the astral space and its purple sand drank down the last mana provided it through Sage. As always, the huge seed didn’t reply, but Kite always spoke to it a bit during his visits, more for himself than anything else. He did feel that some kind of progress was made each time he visited, but that it still remained but a drop in the pond each time.

“Well, I am off now, and it might be a few days before I return, as me and Dragonfly are going to take a trip down to Convergence and pick up some proper contracts. Even though the climb is getting steeper, one still needs to strive continuously. And have patience. Something which seems to be a recurring theme here,” he finished, giving the seed a meaningful look. “Take care, whatever you are. May the heavens keep us both as we walk our paths.”

“Guild master Walker, there is something you should see. Or rather, hear,” Second Spring said as she entered Walker’s office in their Convergence guildhall. The building was still being renovated around them, but enough members had started frequenting it even in these early days, the pull of the biggest city of the northern regions enough to warrant the trip.

“Spring, I do believe that I have said that you do not need to observe the formalities when it’s just the two of us,” Walker pointed out while waving her inside.

“And I believe that I have said that I will stop observing formalities when you do, guild master.”

“Spring, please. The matters are quite different,” Walker retorted a bit helplessly as he realized that he had walked right into that one.

“While the popular saying of ‘age is just a number’ isn’t universally true, among us essence users it basically is after iron rank. But as you insist on observing such norms, I will do the same in regards to your station, guild master,” Spring stated with a carefully assumed tone of professionality.

It was a dance that the pair had engaged in every once in a while during the years gone by. Since ascending to bronze-rank and coming into her own in her role as hallmaster, Second Spring had made her romantic intentions toward Walker more clear as, contrary to expectation, what he had previously written off as the fleeting idolization of the young had proven much more lasting. It didn’t help Walker that Spring was both smart and competent, with a kind of dignified authority that had only grown with experience. And while he still kept their differing ages as a barrier between them, the younger woman seemed determined to wear them down.

“What… was it that you thought that I should hear then?” Walker asked, getting the conversation back on track as he realized that he had been silent for too long already.

“One of our members just came back with rather troubling news. While we can’t yet assume that it is anything but an isolated incident, I still thought it best to inform you right away,” Spring said, once more assuming her fully professional demeanor. "Would you please come with me? I believe that we’d best get the report from the source.”

A short walk later, Walker followed Spring into one of the sitting rooms of the guildhall, where Soothing Agate, one of their late iron-rankers, sat waiting. The man had joined them up in Gilded, and had been one of those to take the opportunity to widen their horizons and travel south to help with the establishment of the new Convergence branch.

Even as he was closing in on the room, Walker had sensed the unease in the man’s aura, only further proven in the iron-ranker still looking a bit shaken, with some hints of shame in the mix as well. As soon as Walker entered, Agate rose from his seat and bowed as deeply as he possibly could.

“Guild master, I am sorry. My failure has brought shame to our guild.”

“Now, now, none of that,” Walker said, cutting off any further apologies as he gently but firmly guided the man back into his seat. “Hallmaster Spring here said that yours was a story I needed to hear, so please, spare no detail.”

“O-of course, guild master,” the man said, proceeding to explain. “I had taken a trio of deliveries to some of the outer villages that had been lying around for a while. I’m not sure exactly when it began, but I started to have the nagging feeling that something was amiss. Still, there was nothing too out of the ordinary with the delivery at first. I cleared out some wandering Gyrmlings and reported a nest of rock spinners for some bronzes to take care of, but otherwise the roads were clear. Until they weren’t. Four iron-rankers barred my path, initiates of the Luminous Cloud sect. They said that they had gotten reports of me carrying contraband into their territory, and advised me not to resist as they would seize any spatial items on me.”

At this part of the story, Agate’s head fell as the shame once more bloomed into his aura. “I thought of trying to escape them and complete the contract, guild master. I truly did. My path should be excellent for just that. But… For just a moment, I sensed something else there with us. At least one bronze-ranker. And I don’t think that their little slip of aura was an accident. So… I let them take it. Everything. They took my own bags and equipment as well, sneering all the while.”

Looking up and apparently seeing that Walker’s face had darkened notably, Agate’s panic spiked again as he almost slammed his forehead into the table in his hurry to bow deeply. “I’m so sorry, guild master. I know I should have fought them; to at least have shown my honor in some way. But they were so many, and I-”

Walker silenced him with a nudge of his silver-ranked aura, schooling his features to something more sympathetic as he reached out and clapped a hand to Agate’s shoulder. “You did nothing wrong, Agate. Always prioritize your own life before any delivery. You can help no one if you are dead, be it against monsters or whatever this travesty was. Please give a tally of what you lost, shipment and equipment both, to Spring here and we shall see that the guild will make sure to replace your gear.”

The man looked almost on the verge of crying with relief at Walker’s words, both at the absence of the punishment he feared and the news that he would receive new equipment. Money was tight for most adventurers, and especially at iron, so Walker felt that it was the least they could do.

Eventually, they left the iron-ranker to meditate and find his calm again, and Walker spoke as soon as the door slid shut behind them, the sharpness in his words born from both anger and weariness.

“Thank you, Spring, for bringing that to my attention. We’ll need to get to the bottom of this. Please send a message to the local branch director. I will go and speak with the other members, both to warn them and make sure that they stop taking contracts alone for a time.”

Sighing, Walker thought that he felt a headache coming on. And as he was silver rank and therefore beyond such physical inconveniences, he also knew with certainty that the sensation was born entirely from that which he feared that the future would hold.

First and foremost was what might be a threat to their guild, who had so far been a relatively unnoticed but budding little growing rose in the lotus garden. Walker knew all of their members personally, decent people who wanted the region to flourish, and would do everything he could to make sure that they too got the room to grow and advance that they deserved, the sects be damned. And while it remained the most important factor, it came with a certain consequence that was the reason for the aforementioned headache.

“There will be so many meetings. I just know it. Curse it all.”

“Bwothew Kite?”

“I’m sorry, little Raven. Kite will be gone for at least a few more days,” Dove said as she sat down next to the little girl who was staring forlornly out the window towards the gate of their compound in the distance.

Raven gave said gate a somber, if also a bit offended, look, before eventually turning back to her colorful bricks.

“Today as well?” Crow asked her wife as she joined the pair, having just emerged from her workshop. The richer circles of Bastion and Convergence kept the array master quite busy these days, so the pair were grateful for every moment they managed to get with each other.

“She’s nothing if not persistent,” Dove said with a fond smile. “Ever since he’s been back from Gauntlet, Raven always seems to count down the days to when he once more comes back from his little outings. That is probably a trait for which we can blame you, dear.”

“Persistence is often a virtue, so I’ll choose to take your words as the admiration and praise they are, dear wife,” Crow said with a fond smile, silencing any retorts or quips from Dove with a slender hand that began to gently stroke her wife’s mass of curly hair.

With Dove entirely taken out of the fight by such underhanded tactics, Crow continued as her wife’s almost incapacitated state left plenty of room to give voice to her own thoughts.

“It’s rather odd, isn’t it. The perspectives of time and distance. Kite was gone for six months, and while that left me fretting I could also somehow place it at the horizon. And now that he might be back in just a few days, the parent in me can barely wait. This is even more odd when one contemplates what he is actually doing; hunting down monsters. Lethal ones at that, all to make these lands a bit safer and stronger. To be adventurer parents of adventurer children truly gives one an odd outlook on things.”

“Mhmmm….” came the barely coherent gurgle, from Dove. Crow couldn’t help but smile slightly in response, basking in that special pleasure one got from really knowing their spouse after so many years together.

“Well, no matter. Kite is out with Dragonfly, and those two can take care of one another. The few weeks they have been gone are sure to soon come to an end.”

As she spoke, one of her tendrils of animated hair had reached out to hand Raven one of her colored blocks, and Crow couldn’t help but smile at the toddler's focus as she made her little stacks, nice and neatly color-coded. “And when they return, little Raven, they are sure to have plenty of exciting stories to tell you.”

Kite stood absolutely still in the middle of the cave of deep red stone as the monster circled him, moving with an odd kind of gliding motion as its semi-gelatinous, glowing body crept forward upon thousands of tiny frills. Its current form was elongated not unlike a centipede, with glassy armor plates protecting the gooey substance of its center, but Kite already knew that the Protean Ravager Snail could be very liberal with its physical form. Within the thing, roiling, unstable energies were already building up, and Kite knew that its volatile discharge could be most dangerous if caught unaware.

And yet, he remained still, trying to fall into the calm, precise state of mind which master Zarth-an had helped him foster as the latest part of his combat meditation. But fortunately for Kite, his path had so far left him with little to no actual flanks for opponents to take advantage.

This was proven as the monster suddenly shot forward, stretching out its forward half to dart around Kite and try to bisect him from behind with slashing thing pseudopods. Said appendages met only unrelenting barriers, however, as the twin shields of Heaven-and-Void Warding appeared behind him, holding firm against the crackling violent discharges which followed contact with the monster. The cavern floor around Kite already bore the scars of where they had carved through the stone in previous exchanges.

And even as the thing moved, Kite did as well, three projected strikes from staff and blade instantly targeting the weak spots between shifting armor plates that were revealed as the creature distended. But while he might have had the time to deliver even more strikes, Kite let up and shifted his stance to follow the creatures movement as well as to shield himself from the explosive retribution that always followed when gouts of roiling energies burst from the body of the monster where he hit. Both prior experience and knowledge had shown that one had to pace oneself when fighting the alien creature, as the retributive blasts only increased further with recent damage suffered.

And so their odd dance continued, the creature positioning and striking, either with lashing pseudopods or by spewing gouts of explosive energies, and with Kite either blocking or dispelling the assault while countering in short, controlled bursts where he could handle the fallout. While some of the more violent eruptions managed to envelop and circumvent the barriers, Kite thanked Fortune for the craftsmanship of his new armor, where the mana he constantly spent reinforced it even further, and each blocked hit would mean suffering less damage from the next that slipped through.

As the Protean Ravager Snail was in the upper half of silver rank in regards to overall power, those additional defenses were also needed as Kite wore the thing down, his path not one of high damage. But as of silver-rank, he could at least do a bit of a rush towards the end.

“Sage!” Kite called as he once more made the preparations to strike. Even though it wasn’t the brightest of silver-ranked beings, the monster had started to adapt to Kite’s tactics, where its amorphous body started leaving fewer and less gaps between the armor platings during the attacks. But fortunately, a beam of transcendent damage from his familiar could make an opening in - well - mostly anything.

The odd collection of sentient symbols that was Sage had already floated up to find the right angle before the dark void of its body lit up as Kite had it consume all three of its gathered charges. The glassy plates of the alien beast disintegrated before the blue, silver and gold light that carved into it a moment later, the monster undulating wildly while giving off one of its odd, whining roars. But the beam was only a precursor.

In its wake, three rippling strikes carrying the darkness of the void followed, passing through the neat hole in the carapace before unfurling into chaotic spatial tears inside the monsters luminous body. While the attack made through Kite’s mantle was not as powerful as the original, the added damage was still substantial. But they paled before Kite’s main strike, where Void-Sunders-Firmament was further enhanced by Potential of Stolen Power. The added power and execution effect was enough to finally destabilize the monster, whose insides promptly began to lose coherence in a most destructive fashion.

“Dissolve the patterns of power!”

The final explosion that began to rupture from the monster’s collapsing form was swallowed by the dispelling wave, taking the brunt of the blast. What remained merely felt like crackling hot winds in comparison; unpleasant for a silver-ranker but ultimately harmless.

“Good job with the timing there, Kite. Compared to the first time, it was as if comparing heaven and earth,” Dragonfly called from where she and Glint waited at the mouth of the cave.

“I would more like to blame whoever provided the information that they omitted the slight little detail of the monsters exploding…If only it had been in the magic society’s index…” Kite muttered sourly, the memories of the rather explosive start of the day still fresh in his mind.

“Still, that should be the last of them, no? Clearing out astral spaces sure means some odd encounters. What even were these things?” Dragonfly said as she and Glint joined him.

“Unseemly,” came a small but surprisingly dignified voice as the carp floated over to inspect the shimmering remains now splattered across half the red stone cavern. While Glint was still in her small carp form, her new and more verbal draconian form seemed to have unlocked more ways to communicate for her as a whole.

Kite had been astonished to learn that it was apparently possible to communicate using only your inherent magic, hence allowing the familiar to now properly speak even without something similar to vocal cords. And he had been even more surprised to learn that it was something he himself could - and maybe should - also learn as silver rank would mean that he started shedding some mundane concepts such as anatomical importance of certain functions.

Still, Glint’s particular choice of word did spark a reaction.

“Unseemly? Little beauty, it would seem that you have been taking auntie Crow’s lessons to heart rather quickly,” he noted with an amused smile, still marveling at the familiar’s progress. She was a silver-ranked being, after all, so quickly learning how to speak shouldn’t be that impressive. But the past months of seeing his little glittering companion embrace life and all that which was now more available to her with both humanoid form and the power of speech still felt like a marvel to behold.

The little group left the astral space and its winding tunnels and red stone not long thereafter, their contract completed. That space in particular was a stable one found southwest of Convergence, and with no particularly interesting resources or the like it was more a place to be monitored and swept clean by adventurers every once in a while. And while the odd, volatile monsters that manifested there had been a bit of a hassle, Kite had to admit that they made good training while shuddering at the thought of them going berserk and starting to rampage around the countryside.

“All in a day's work,” Dragonfly said with some satisfaction when they finished making their way out of the deep crevasse where the aperture of the space could be found. “This has been nice. Even a bit nostalgic. I know it wasn’t that long ago since we were touring around and picking up contracts together, but all those months apart apparently made me miss it more than I thought it would.”

“It does feel like more simple times,” Kite agreed, reaching out to wrap his arm around her shoulders and hold her closer to him. “Back at iron rank, there weren’t as many things lurking beneath the surface.”

“Except a whole fallen sect full of them,” Dragonfly interjected.

“Not as many,” Kite reiterated. “But you are right. They were always out there. We were just too young to see it and not powerful enough to be noticed. Now though…” he said, sighing. “Thank you for the suggestion. It has been a most worthwhile trip in the most excellent company-”

“Oh you definitely got that right.”

“-but I believe that we should make our way north again to see if there has been any developments at home. Maybe even stop by the new guildhall in Convergence too? It might still be their early days and not much for us to do, but seeing uncle Walker is always nice.”

While Walker knew the answer to his question, he still couldn’t help but ask.

“I don’t suppose that our ‘guests’ have finally tired and left?”

“No, guild master. They have not. I even think that there are three silvers present now, but my senses aren’t strong enough,” Second Spring said from beside him. Walker could sense the unease in her aura even though she kept her tone professional.

“Oh, there is. Probably because I’m here. Otherwise they might have just left it at some bronzes,” Walker grumbled, his spiritual senses picking up the auras of the men and women gathered in the blockade outside. “One would think that illustrious sect elders had something better to do with their time rather than just blockading us. Or maybe besieging is the better word for it.”

“To say that things have escalated is an understatement,” Spring agreed. “The tension… Guild master, there is the feel of danger in the air. Are you sure that the city lord won’t do something soon?”

“From our meeting when I snuck out? Hardly. The man is a pushover, choosing to turn a blind eye to the sects and their tantrums,” Walker growled. “And while the branch director of the adventure society would like to help, there are no contracts and no tasks to be given. They are members too, and this falls under local laws where the sects already reign.”

“Are we to accept it then? That they don’t want us here, and are apparently willing to start bending both law and civility? Our members are starting to be more afraid of going out on contracts, and that has escalated in only a few weeks. Maybe Boundary or one of the smaller settlements would be a better place to start?”

“Perhaps, Spring. Perhaps. But I hope that you’ll forgive this old fool for not wanting to just lie down and let them walk over us. I will try and find a way. There might be some leverage we can find to get the city lord to intervene,” Walker said, looking out the window towards the gate of their guildhall property and the robed warriors gathered there. Waiting. For the guild to either rise to their provocations, giving them ample reason to strike back. Or for the guild to leave.