by Za1d3
The current book was titled The Drakall Mountains of Rotoss – Rotoss or Rolvstoss as he once knew it – is the continent situated to the north of Darsus. Rotoss’s geography is very much like all the other seven continents except for its three mountains dubbed: Arauns Claw. The three mountains stand out like gigantic claws that had emerged from out of the bowels of the earth to claw at the heavens. They are also the tallest mountains in the world – even during his previous life. He had been reading about how the three peaks are the prime breeding grounds for Drakalls – those in the family of flying serpents – before he had been taken by sleep. Arauns middle talon is known as the Imperial talon and where the Mighty Kargalls nested. While the other two talons were known as the Fallow Spire and Dukes Ire; hosting the vicious Farkans, Kalligors, Poringuls, and Hvarals, with a surfeit of other smaller and more diffident Drakalls. Kaidus knew about Drakalls, not by what they are called now, but it was all the same; great serpents who ruled the sky with majesty and domination. Many great mages and warriors had lost their lives hunting such creatures in his previous life.
‘Curse this incomplete body. To even lack the stamina to focus…’ he complained to himself as drowsiness took over once again.
In York and Dalzak’s room at the Crystal Wayfarer Inn, three men were resuming their talk from this morning.
“Are you sure about this Troyle? You do know that there is no going back after this. Maybe you ought to keep it just in case.” Dalzak asked to confirm, once again.
“No Dalz, that life is over. Troyle the mercenary is dead and has been for a long time. I am now Troyle the husband, the father. Even if I were to come back, what about my family? My son is too young, and Adalina… I have not been good to her, I must at least try and keep her happy if nothing else.”
“Then bring them! C’mon Troyle, we are all like family there, everyone can help look out for your wife and child. They’ll be cared for while you are away, and you know merc jobs pay way better than being posted as a city patrol or some guard.” York contested.
“We are like family York, but you both know that is no place for an infant to grow up. Even worst, what If I don’t return? What would my family do then?” Troyle replied again, this time resolute.
“That…” unable to think of anything, York remained silent.
“I had never realized it before, but it was probably because of Adalina that I left in the first place. I had always thought that it was because of my blunder and injury that caused me to remove myself from the mercenary life, but now I don’t believe that is the case. After I got that injury and you saved me, I was afraid, I was scared of not being able to see Adalina again. That was probably the real reason; I had denied the possibilities of it for far too long. Sitting in that wagon, I saw the reasons; beautiful, hardworking, sensitive, keeping the well beings of others before herself. I want to keep her smiling, I want to do whatever it takes to make up for the year I spent oblivious to her pain.”
The two saw that Troyle was serious in his decision.
“I understand. I do not know what your letter said, but if I were to guess, the captain probably saw this coming, which is why he sent me and York.” Dalzak answered Troyle with understanding.
“I, Dalzak Revarr, 9th chair of the Droxxon Mercenaries, with York Dulgos as witness; hereby relieve you Troyle Paltos of any obligations to our cause. Your previously frozen position of 17th chair will be nulled and given to someone else. If you were to join again, your position will be that of a new recruit. Please turn in your blades and the insignia of the Droxxon mercenaries.” Dalzak spoke out, as if reading from a script.
“Thank you Dalz.” Troyle replied. Handing over this two Amberite swords that he got from the captain once he became 17th chair. In his pouch, he pulled out a tiny strip of vellum; a halberd and sword crossed against each other making an X. the longer halberd extending and elongated one leg of the X.
——————-
With the help of Dalzak, York, and some old acquaintances, Troyle managed to settle his family in a small house in Ferrent’s 3rd ward. Wards 1-9 surrounds the inner wards: 10, 11, 12, and 13. 10, 11, and 12 is where the nobility lives, while ward 13 was where the palace is located, along with the royal family. All of the districts are encompassed by a 20ft wall made of stone, protecting it from attackers. The only way in or out was through one of the 9 gated checkpoints, and are guarded day and night. The inner wards themselves have another set of walls to isolate the nobility from the common populace; all with gates and guards.
The search for the residence had taken only two days, and within the week, they were already living in the small two story and three room house.
The first floor was where the kitchen and living room was located along with an indoor toilet and bath. The bath had a mechanism that drew water from an underground reservoir to fill up into a stone pit for bathing. The water could then be heated by another mechanism built under the bath. The lavatory was in a lowered room that connects directly to a pipe with flowing water that flows into a sanitizing facility somewhere in the 12th district.
The second floor was where the three rooms were. Currently, one was being used as a study, one belonged to Kaidus, with Troyle and Adalina in the last room.
Through the connections of York and Dalzak along with some fine negotiations, the price house came out to be 311 erns each month, or almost 7 erns a day.
And sticking to his plan, Troyle found a job as a patrolman.
Chapter 9 – Kaidus
His right hand was clenched, he willed mana into his arm and then solidified it into his fist – he had done similar exercise hundreds of thousands of times before.
A hot burning sensation. He slowly unwrapped his clenched fist, the sensation escaped his hand and coalesced into a shiny sphere hovering above his palm. With a thought, the sphere shattered into pieces and ignited. The flames, as if alive swirled around his hand and up his arm enveloping it all the way to the shoulder. With another thought, the gauntlet of flames jumped into his left hand and transformed into an ethereal knife of flames. He grasped the small knife unperturbed, and swung it at a piece of stick he had found yesterday. The sword seared through the stick in a flash; the stick then burst into flames and within seconds, was consumed leaving only ashes. With a final thought, the fiery knife morphed back into flames and jumped onto the ashes consuming it. Finally vanishing having served its purpose.
Looking around the room, he spied one of his books that had been blown away in an earlier exercise. With a single thought the book lurched up and flew straight at him and stop within arm’s reach. He plucked the hovering book out of midair and looked at the title, before willing it to a bookshelf decorating his room. He did the same with various items that had been throw amok around his room.
‘Well, that should be good for now, Breakfast should be ready soon.’ He thought to himself as he opened his door and went downstairs.
—————
“You’re up early as usual. What’re you planning for today?” Adalina asked, seeing her son coming down from the stairs.
“Thought I would go and peruse the selections of that new bookstore, and see if there’s anything of interest.” Kaidus replied, moving to the table.
“GU Mooning Gai!!” a small high pitched voice calls out to him from one of the chairs.
“Good morning Anise.” He replied, petting his sister’s head.
“Where’s dad?” he asked after noticing that breakfast was only set up for three.
“Lord Varath sent a messenger earlier, it seemed urgent. Go ahead and eat without him.”
“I see… hopefully it’s not something serious.”
“It’s probably fine. Don’t worry about it and eat your breakfast.” Adalina reassured him.
“Gai! I shaw a biig burd yeshtadhay!” Anise called out to him.
“Really? How big?”
“Dish BIIG!” her face beaming, Anise threw her hands up to show him the size of the bird.
“WIGHT? WIGHT?” she spoke excitedly.
“You know, the knights are having a demonstration later in the plaza. Don’t you want to go watch?” Adalina asked him.
“Maybe if I have time. I still have to go to the library and see if they have books about the corvine viper that was on display the other day.” He replied before taking another spoonful of steamed mulse with chopped honeyed nuts.
“NYITE! I wonna go watch nyite!” Anise butted in
“Be a good girl and eat your breakfast Anise.” Adalina scolded
“Wow this is great mom, the mushiness of the steamed mulse really goes well with the crunchy texture of the nuts. This roasted qorkos is great too, was this what dad brought home yesterday?” he asked before taking another mouthful.
“Yes it is. By the way, on your way to the library can you drop off this letter for me?” she asked, taking out a folded letter with a wax seal on it.
“Yes of course.” Kaidus answered as Adalina handed him the letter.
“Will you be taking Anise to watch the demonstration?”
“She seems like she really wants to go, so we’ll go watch it for a while. What about you?”
“Well, if I get done early, I’ll stop by.”
Breakfast done and over with, Kaidus was sprinting through the streets of the 3rd ward.
‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’. The words at first sounded strange to him, but he had eventually gotten used to it over the years.
It has been six years since they settled in that cozy three bed room house in the 3rd ward.
Adalina had been helping around the market district doing part time jobs initially. Troyle asked her many times to stop and take care of the house and him, but she had wanted to help in her own way as she had always done, so Troyle relented. It wasn’t until Anise was born that she eventually gave up her busywork and became a full time mother to both Anise and him.
Troyle had found work as a patrol, and eventually moved on to become sword instructor for Lord Varath’s son, after having placed 2nd in an annual arms competition three years ago. His currently job was as a body guard for Lord Varath, with the occasional sword training for Lord Varath’s house guards.
Anise was born two and a half years ago and was now in the process of imitating people and learning how to talk. She was born a normal child unlike him, and has dark red hair with beady brown eyes.
Before Anise was born, he had wavered between his family and memories, causing him to become reclusive and secretive with his abilities. Having his own room, he had obtained the privacy he needed to experiment and hone his magic. Every morning before he was taken to work with Adalina, he would push what limits he could with his growing body, and attempt to perfect his control of his powers. The practices had been guarded with vigilance in fear that Adalina and Troyle would start to dread him if they knew what he was capable of, it was not until Anise was half a cycle old that they found out about his capabilities.
That day, Anise had woken up in her crib and was crying while Adalina was still in the kitchen making breakfast, he overheard her through the walls while practicing and went to check on her. Uncertain about how Adalina always quelled her cries, he tried talking to her – but that had not work, he attempted to pick her up but he was not physically strong enough to do so. Without thinking about it, he conjured two small balls of light in the air and danced them above her to distract her. The ploy worked, but Adalina discovered it.
She did not feared nor even scold him. Instead, she had smiled tenderly at him and thanked him for looking out for his sister. The action brought many things into consideration; they had given him another chance at life, they had loved and protected him, and because they knew he was irregular; had given him plenty of space to grow and learn on his own. Their attitudes had not been anything else but those of a loving parent to their child. Without any idea as to how long he had been locked in the void, nor what his new purpose was in this life, his fury filled memories were eventually overrode by new ones, changing his views of vengeance to one of redemption and a chance to start over.
“Where ya heading off to in such a hurry boy?!” a voice called out from one of the street vendors.
“Morning Mr. Feshonton!” he yelled back while still running towards his destination.
“Kaidus! Tell your mother we just got a new wagonload of frozen fish from Gorstir. She’d best hurry before they disappear!” another one called from ahead of him.
“She’ll be by later for the demonstration in the plaza, you should notify her then, Mrs. Arralton!” he replied to the old lady that owned the fish store.
Various other people called out to him and he replied in turn while running through the market district. These were all people who Adalina had worked for in the past or were acquainted with, and he had gotten to know them by always being brought along with her.
“Good Morning young master! How can I help you?” a merry shopkeeper called out to him as he entered the new bookstore.
“Good morning, would it be alright to browse your wares?” He asked politely.
“Of course, take your time. Let me know if there is anything specific you may be looking for. Even if it is not in stock, I may be able to procure it.” The shopkeeper said, also giving him a wink.
“Certainly, and thank you.” As he moved towards one of the many shelves full of books.
‘Wow, I didn’t even know a new edition was out.’, ‘oh, the library doesn’t even have this one.’, ‘this looks very similar to Pruguil V. Vonforrun’s work’, ‘battle rituals of the foraging scorpions, might be interesting’ Such were the thoughts going through his head as he inspected the numerous books.
Almost two hours and countless other customers later, Kaidus brought two books to the front desk.
“These two please.” Setting the books onto the counter.
“You’ve been in here for an awfully long time, find what you needed?” the shopkeeper asked.
“Yes, you’ve got many books here that I’ve never seen before. It was quite the dilemma choosing which.”
“That so? Let’s see… Inner workings of the Dorcon Imperial Court and The fall of Inguis: legacy of a religion… are these for your parents?” the shopkeeper asked.
“No sir, these are for me.”
“For you?” the shopkeeper observed him for closely.
“You… you’re seriously aren’t you? How old are you boy?”
“It’ll be my eighth cycle come next Alivai, so seven years old.” A straight forward answer. He knew full well the reading abilities of children his age, it was no surprise the shopkeeper was skeptical.
“Hmm seven huh… well, that’ll be 34 erns and 4 kuis for the both of them young master.”
“Here is 35 erns.” As he dropped 17 double bits onto the table and a singular metallic ern bit.
Scooping the bits up, the shopkeeper reached into a pouch and brought out three smaller darker metals bits and handed him the 3 kuis. He then tied up the two books together and handed it to Kaidus. “Thank you for your patronage.” The shopkeeper said with a smile on his face.
“Thank you.”
“A second, young one. How about a deal?” He called as Kaidus was about to head for the door.
“Let me know what you think about the Imperial decree for male vs female fashion within Dorcon, along with your insights pertaining to the rise and fall of the Inguis church. You do that, and I’ll surrender you a book of your own choosing – for free.” The keeper said with a wry smile.
“Deal.” Kaidus replied with a grin.
The book stores within the 3rd ward knew Kaidus to be a voracious reader. He had started at the age of two and had gone through over seven bookstores and two libraries borrowing and devouring books that interested him. As a child who was taken wherever his mother went, he had spent those days reading to satiate his curiosity and looking for anything pertaining to past history.<
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Being a new bookstore, the objective was to see if there was any books of interest, and luckily there was. But to also have the chance of obtaining a free book, Kaidus was overjoyed.
————-
He had dropped off the letter at the delivery hall for Adalina, and is currently at the front desk of the 3rd ward library, asking about books with information about corvine vipers.
This sudden interest in the corvine viper was due to four days ago when the Ferrent Royal Knights had returned from an expedition to hunt a man eating creature in the eastern swamplands. The hunters had to bring it back via eight wagons, and he was immediately fascinated by the serpent. It was a species he had no recollection of – even from his old memories, and had never taken any interest in when reading any mentions about it, until he saw it for himself. Deep black coloring, fangs of blood red as long as a daggers, scales as thick and tough as chain mail, and the sheer size of it measured three buildings wide – or twenty three grown men – something that had never been recorded in any books he’s read. He had never seen anything like it before up close, and had spent at least an hour gawking at the behemoth trying to visualize the beast alive and hunting. The Knights had said that the hunt had required the cooperation of a respectable Malgin, two of his Rujal apprentices, along with a small unit of knights, and a squad of hunter and trappers who knew the swamplands. Even with the small army, they had lost 3 hunters, 1 trapper, and 4 knights to the beast, only managing to exterminate it due to the magical support of the Malgin and his two apprentices.
Having waited for about fifteen minutes, the librarian came back with a stack of books.
Genealogy of serpents, Ground Vs Sky; the Drakalls Reign, Fhildon’s expedition into the unknown, yellow eyes of Kunsha …
And the list goes on for about thirty books. Anything that has any mention of the corvine viper seem to be in the books picked out.
“Now you know Kaidus, that you can only borrow three at a time.” The old librarian reminded with a lighthearted tone.