“Something like that I guess,” I said. An empty uneasiness rose up in the pit of my stomach as I considered what I was about to ask. “Who are you?”
This could go one of two ways—either he thinks I’m crazy or a total idiot.
As it turned out, it was neither.
“Leon,” he said with a half-smile. “Sorry, I didn’t introduce myself. I must have freaked you out. You were out cold when I boarded the ship. The captain—Von, I think—told me your name and showed me to our room.”
“How long have we been underway?” I asked.
“Couple of hours, tops,” Leon said. “I tried to wake you when you started thrashing, but you swung that dagger at me.” He raised his eyebrows and lifted his head in the direction of my right hand.
I looked down and realized that I had been holding a dagger this entire time. It seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place it.
“Where’d you get it anyway?” he asked. “It looks pretty valuable.”
“I don’t know,” I answered.
I turned it over in my hand and noticed a green and white stone that had a crack running down the middle of it set into the crosspiece.
“Can I see it?” Leon asked.
“Sure,” I said as I flipped it around and extended the hilt toward him.
He took it and almost immediately exclaimed, “Whoa!”
“What?” I asked.
“That’s a Class 5 magika stone,” he said. “They’re super rare—except, hold on.” He squinted and scratched at the stone. “Aww, it’s busted.”
“What’s that mean?” I asked.
Leon had spoken as if I should know this sort of thing, but I hadn’t a clue what he was talking about. Magika stones? Class 5? There was something familiar about it all but foreign at the same time. Nothing was making sense right now.
“Seriously?” Leon asked. “You must have hit your head harder than I thought. Maybe we should get you checked out.”
“No!” I shouted. Then I blushed with embarrassment at my outburst. “Sorry. I’m fine. I just—never mind. You were saying?”
Leon stared at me, indecision clearly splayed across his face. Did he want to turn me in and have me committed, or would he accept my forgetfulness as a temporary ailment from an accidental injury?
His shoulders relaxed as he explained, “Class 5 magic is the highest level a Sworn can obtain.”
I felt like asking what a ‘Sworn’ was, but something within me knew that would be going too far. So, I opted to let it slide.
“What you're saying is this dagger has some crazy powerful magic?” I asked.
“Used to,” he said with a frown. “The magika stone is damaged, meaning all its power is gone. At least you can still use the dagger.”
He leaned back and reached for something under his pillow. A moment later, he produced his own knife. It was unremarkable and about half the size of my dagger. Leon dug the tip of his blade under the broken stone and pried it loose.
“There we are,” Leon said, handing the dagger and stone back to me. “Now, you can augment it with something else. But…”
“But?”
“Well, you’ll have to replace it with another Class 5 stone. That slot is too small for anything else,” he said. “Which means the dagger is pretty much useless for anything besides cutting and stabbing—unless you’re a level 50 or something and can kill a monster that’ll drop Class 5 stones.”
Leon looked away as his face reddened.
“What?” I asked.
“Are you?” he replied. “A level 50 or something, I mean.”
“I’m not—”
“Cause that would be totally cool,” Leon said. “I’m only a level 6 myself. You’ve got to be at least a level 6 to join the Knights of the Fallen. But, of course, you know that already, because you're a clan member. I’m going to shut up now.”
“You’re fine,” I said.
“How many missions have you been on?” he asked.
“Missions?”
“You know, bounties,” he explained. “Obviously, this is my first. How many have you completed?”
“A few,” was all I could think to reply.
Needless to say, I had no idea. But Leon was under the impression that I was some super powerful person, and I didn’t want to disappoint him. He seemed so… innocent.
“So, where are we going, again?” I asked.
“Somewhere up the Meridian Coast,” Leon replied. “There are reports of a razorclaw antagonizing the local farmers. They’ve banded their funds together and put out a bounty on the creature—1,500 gold rifkels, plus whatever loot the razorclaw drops.”
Wow. I could buy a decent bow with that kind of money. Though I don’t suppose I’ll see very much of it.
But I was getting ahead of myself. I still didn’t really know where I was or who these people were, besides Leon. And if I was being honest with myself, I didn’t know very much about him either.
The one thing I did know, though, was that Claire was dying and I needed to save her. There was only one problem—well, there were lots of problems, but one big problem—I had no idea where she was.
Based on what I could remember, it looked like we had been in a throne room, but that would be impossible. How could we have gained an audience in the palace? Besides, Obsidia was a couple hundred miles or more from the Meridian Coast.
Maybe I didn’t have to go all the way to the capital city. What if Claire had come with me on whatever journey brought me to this place? She could even be on this ship.
“I need to get out of here,” I said, hopping off the bed and bolting from the room.
“Hey, wait, where you goin'?” Leon called after me.
I opened the first door next to mine and shouted, “Claire?”
The room was empty. But I didn’t let that slow me down as I moved on to the next, and the next, and the next. A crash in the room adjacent to me caught my attention, and I raced toward it.
As I opened the door, I realized my mistake almost immediately. A girl sat on a nightstand in the corner of the room with a broken lamp lying on the floor. On top of the girl was a boy about my age, passionately kissing her.
“Claire?” I asked. It was a long shot, but I had to be sure.
The girl peered around the boy’s head and scowled when she saw me. A moment later, one of her shoes was in her hand, which she proceeded to chuck at me. I quickly closed the door just as the airborne shoe slammed into the wood on the other side.
“Who are you looking for?” Leon asked me, catching up.
I’m looking for Claire, are you deaf? That was what I wanted to reply anyway. But as soon as the thought crossed my mind, I realized how rude that would be to say to someone I hardly knew.
Brushing past him, I darted down the hall, ran up the stairs, and emerged onto the main deck. She had to be here somewhere.
“You all right, lad?” a voice asked from behind.
I spun around and gaped up at a man standing on the quarterdeck in front of the helm. He was squat and burly, but not in an obese sort of way. He was definitely not the type of person I would like to meet down a dark alley. Fortunately, he didn’t seem to want to hurt me, but help me.
“Where’s Claire?” I blurted.
“Who now?” he asked.
“Claire—my sister. Where’s Claire?” I repeated.
“How should I know? Wherever you left her I imagine,” the man answered.
“There you are!” Leon said as he bent over beside me, huffing.
“I see you boys have met,” the helmsman said. “Everything okay?”
“Don’t mind Aren, uh...Von,” Leon said. “He bumped his head, and his brain has been a bit addled. But I’m sure he’ll be fine by the time we arrive.”
The captain, Von, narrowed his eyes and frowned. “Hope so, razorclaws are mighty crafty creatures. I’ll need the whole clan at the top of their game if we want to take this one down.”
“Land, ho!” a crewman shouted from the
crow’s nest.
“We never left the coast, ya' blitherin’ fool!” Von retorted.
“I know,” the man replied with a laugh. “I've just always wanted to say that. In all seriousness, though, Fairfalls is just up ahead beyond the bend.”
As my gaze shifted down to where he was pointing, I began to notice our surroundings. The ship was about two hundred feet away from the shore, running up the coastline. White, sandy beaches stretched out as far as the eye could see. Beyond the beach, rolling hills of green gently rose up into the sky. To the west, lay a thick forest that petered off the closer it got to Fairfalls, though the town itself was still beyond sight.
A knoll in the landscape before us jutted out into our path. Behind me, Von turned the helm, and the ship adjusted its course in kind.
“Come on, follow me,” Leon said.
Without waiting, Leon ran ahead and came to a stop at the bow. I joined him a moment later as he stared out over the ocean.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” he said with a tone of wonder and awe.
“Sure, I guess,” I replied, clearly not enjoying it as much as he was.
“My father was a fisherman,” he said. “Every new moon, he used to take me out on his boat, and we’d sail around the island, just he and I. It was the one day a month where life didn’t matter. He didn’t talk about quotas or where he’d get the money to pay the crew or the struggles of providing for our family.”
“Was? Used to?” I asked.
Leon frowned and turned away. “I’d rather not talk about it.”
Wonder what that was all about? Was it something I said?
An awkward silence drifted between us until he eventually went back to staring out over the bow.
“What were you supposed to be?” he asked, breaking the silence.
“Beg your pardon?”
“Before you became an Auger,” he explained.
Again with the weird terms that I didn’t understand. My confusion must have been obvious because his eyes widened in surprise as he gaped at me.
“You don’t know what I’m talking about, do you?”
I forced an apologetic smile.
“Goddess, what happened to you?” he asked.
Rather abruptly, he grabbed my right hand, but I tore it away, pulling it in close to my chest. “Hey, what are you doing?”
“It’s okay, I’m not trying to hurt you,” he said as he once again reached out toward me, slower this time. “Let me see your hand, and I’ll show you.”
I hesitated for a moment but then decided to humor him. What was he going to do, bite it off? I realized how ridiculous I was acting and reluctantly extended my arm.
Taking my hand, he flipped it over and pointed at a symbol on the back. It was a shield.
“Wow,” he exclaimed. “You were a Guardian. You must be rich.”
A Guardian? Why would that make me rich? Again, my ignorance betrayed me, and Leon scoffed.
“You really don’t remember anything?” he asked.
A mix of panic and embarrassment flooded through my veins at being found out so easily. I could only hope that he wouldn’t oust me to this Von character any more than he already had. Until I could discover what was going on, I would rather not lose the only source of protection I had: my fellow shipmates.
The more I tried to recall things, the more confused I became. There were some things I just knew, like towns and cities. Fairfalls was a small village comprised of mostly farmers in the northeast end of Allyria. But I could recollect precious little about who I was, where I grew up, or what all this magic nonsense was about.
Clearly, I knew magic existed, but not how it worked or what I could do with it. It didn’t make any sense.
“What makes you think I’m rich?” I asked. Why I focused in on that, I don’t know.
“You’d have to be if you were a Guardian,” he explained. “The kingdom would like us all to think that the Distribution is random, but everyone knows it’s rigged to benefit the upper class. When you took the Oath and became a Sworn, you were assigned to one of the five magic divisions: Champions, Guardians, Summoners, Infiltrators, or Engineers.”
“Okay… and what’s so special about Guardians?” I asked.
“Champions and Summoners are on the front lines of the war against Balgyra and die by the thousands. Infiltrators are like spies, and while they often do affect change, the very nature of their work means it goes unpraised, and Engineers… well… Engineers aren’t good for much beyond making magika constructs and tech stuff. But Guardians…” he said, the tone in his voice carrying a small hint of envy. “Guardians keep everyone else alive. And more importantly, they protect the king himself. Every boy and girl in Allyria wants to be a Guardian when they take the Oath.” Then his eyes narrowed, and his lips pursed together. “Sometimes it happens for ordinary people like me, but more often than not, the openings are purchased by wealthy nobles—a position of honor secured for their children through generous donations to the kingdom.”
“So, what are you?” I asked.
He sighed. “I guess you did show me yours.” He took off his glove and showed me the symbol of a hammer.
“Champion?” I asked, somehow recognizing the marking.
“I used to be an Engineer,” he replied, his shoulders sagging.
“You’re not anymore?”
He shrugged, and an awkward silence fell between us.
Noticing the ornate metal ring on his bare hand, I tried to change the subject. “That’s a nice ring,” I said. “Can I see it?”
“No!” he shouted.
I flinched at his outburst.
“Sorry,” he said. “I—” He shifted uncomfortably and then turned away again.
Something was clearly bothering him, but I didn’t want to pry. As I watched the ship pull into port at Fairfalls, I clung to the one piece of information I knew to be true.
I am a Guardian.
Three
Deckhands and crewmen busied about the main deck as the ship docked. Though, it all seemed like a tremendous amount of effort and an extreme waste of people’s time and resources.
“Why do you sail around in this old thing?” I asked Von during a momentary lull in our preparations.
He pursed his lips, looked out to sea, and sighed. “I could say that I prefer the salty sea breeze on my face or the feel of nature’s power as the ship rides the waves, but the truth is… I just don’t trust technology. And I trust those behind it even less.”
“But wouldn’t it have been easier to take an air cruiser? I mean, we'd have gotten here in half or even a quarter of the time with significantly less manpower.” I wasn’t trying to antagonize him, I was genuinely curious. And not because I was having memory... issues.
“Lad, there’s one thing you need to understand about K-o-t-F—”
KotF? Oh, right! Knights of the Fallen.
“—each one of these men and women have lost someone in this derned war. Many of them didn’t even have a chance to take the Oath. They may not have the magika training that we do, but they still want to fight for something they believe in, and KotF is their way of doing it.”
“If you’re so averse to tech, then why take the Oath in the first place?” I asked.
“There’s two problems with that question,” he said. “First, technology and magika aren’t the same thing. Magika is as old as time and runs through the very veins of this planet. Tech is a recent invention, both trackable and hackable.”
Ahh, so that’s it.
“Second,” he continued, “you’re new here, and I don’t know you, so you’ll excuse me if I don’t get personal.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, and I could tell I wasn’t going to get anywhere else with him, so I walked away and went below deck. If I was joining them on this mission or hunt or whatever it was they called it, I’d best ready myself for the danger that lay ahead.
Leon must have had a similar thought because he was in our room geari
ng up. As I stepped through the doorway, he picked up an empty glass vial off his bed and stuck it in his pocket.
“What was that?” I asked.
He jumped at the sound of my voice. “What was what?”
“That vial.”
“Oh, nothing. You ready for this?” he asked, changing the subject.
I still didn’t feel like prying, so I moved on as well and answered his question. “Truth be told, no.”
He cast me a concerned glance.
“There’s no sense in me acting all macho with you. You already know the worst of it,” I admitted. “That being the case, let me lay the rest of it all out for you. I don’t remember a thing about any of this stuff—Oath, Sworn, Auger, magika—these words are foreign concepts to me. I don’t know the first thing about levels or classes or divisions. Something in me feels like I should. It’s familiar but strange. And every time I try to remember anything at all about what happened to me, I just can’t. So, yeah, I’m a little nervous about this hunt thing.”
I turned away and closed my eyes, waiting for the laughter or a lecture, but it didn’t come.
Instead, Leon’s hand settled on my shoulder as he said, “Don’t worry, I’ll help you. I know what it’s like to feel lost and out of your element.”
I looked him in the eye and smiled. “Thanks.”
“Let’s take a look at what you’ve got to work with. Where’s your equipment?”
“I don’t know. Just my dagger, I guess?” I said.
Leon frowned and knelt down beside my bed. He reached an arm underneath and pulled out a chest. “What about this?”
“Never seen it before,” I told him.
He undid the latch and started to open it.
“Hey, wait a minute, you don’t know who that belongs to.”
“It’s under your bed. My guess is it belongs to you, even if you don’t remember it,” he said.
I couldn’t argue with that logic.
The lid fell back, and I peered inside. At the bottom lay an old wooden bow, a quiver of arrows, and a small bag of rifs. The chest contained nothing else besides these few items.
“Hmm…” Leon said.
“What? Is it no good?”
“The bow looks fine, hard to say without testing it in the field, but I was hoping there’d be some armor in here. Unfortunately, I only have one set, and unlike you, I didn’t have rich parents.”
Sworn Guardian: A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure (Forbidden Magic Book 1) Page 2
