The door closed behind Mazz and Ellion once they walked out of the company building. Mazz looked unimpressed as Ellion took him to the south part of town where thieves thrive and merchants dare to sell their items.

‘So what kind of mission is this?’ Mazz asked.

‘Nothing special. Just a delivery request.’

‘A delivery? What are we delivering?’

‘You sure are filled with questions, kid.’ Ellion took out a long pipe used for smoking a substance called Karono, a small blue mineral that when crushed, can be extremely flammable in that state. The fumes from such mineral help soothe the mental state which is why the substance is mostly used for recreational purposes.

Ellion puffed out a smoke cloud from his mouth and the air coming from the west pushed the smoke cloud into Mazz’s face. He squinted and waved his hand in front of his face to push away the smoke.

‘Well, you’re supposed to be teaching me how things go as a Rigel mage.’

‘Don’t they teach you this at that fancy academy?’

‘I was never a student at Neo Orion Mage Academy.’ Mazz looked upset.

‘Oh? Then where did you attend?’

‘Does it really matter? The bottom line is that I wasn’t trained for missions. So it’s your job to—’

Mazz stopped and looked at Ellion as he stood in place. He gulped and stepped back away from Ellion. Mazz thought he was going to be scorned for talking back to his superior, but instead, he was disappointed yet again. Ellion searched through his pockets and mumbled something about leaving the job flier back at the company.

‘Oh wait, I have it here! What were you saying kid?’

‘Nothing,’ he sighed. Mazz gave up and stayed quiet as they headed towards the south part of town.

It didn’t take them long to get there from their company. The town, Pulm, was average-sized. Smaller than Orion’s capital city, but bigger than any village in the state too. When it comes to town sizes, Pulm is the third largest out of the six. The town is located at the Southeast part of Orion and neighbors the town, Nactriene, home to the company Alnitak. Pulm has three gates people can exit from; the Northern gate people take if they want to head toward Reinveil Station, a track that connects Reinveil Village to Frosted Whirl Peak and the capital of Orion, Neo Orion. The Northwestern gate people take if they want to travel through Pulm Plains and Echo Branch Forest to get to Nactriene Town. The last gate, located in the Eastern part of the town is where people can go from Pulm Town to the base of Frosted Whirl Peak where they can take the tram connected to several levels of the mountain.

The reason why the south part of town is known for where thieves thrive is because after Rigel’s descent in rank, it was harder for merchants to escape when being mugged. Every town, including the capital city, follows their own set of rules due to having mage companies located in them. Villages are usually an exception. They must follow the rules of the capital and very rarely, neighboring towns.

Ellion and Mazz arrived at the south part of town. Compared to the rest of town, the south part looked damaged. Shattered glass from windows, wooden planks from stalls and litter covered the paths. Mazz looked around and was a bit unsure about his surroundings. Even though he was now an official mage, he wanted to avoid a fight if possible.

The job took them to a small building. It was a crafts workshop store where adventurers alike could come and purchase weaponry and equipment that would work alongside their magic type. They entered the building and an old man greeted them.

‘Welcome to my shop. What can I get ya?’ he asked.

‘The kid and I are mages from Rigel. We’re here for the delivery,’ Ellion responded.

‘Oh, yes! Let me go grab it really fast.’ He carefully walked from the front of the store to the back. Mazz noticed that the old man was walking with a cane. The design on it was detailed, he figured the old man must’ve crafted it for himself.

Mazz turned to Ellion, ‘He’s that old and lives in a place like this?’

‘His business is his business. Lesson number one, kid. Don’t involve yourself in other people’s lives unless you’re getting paid for it. If he wants to live in a dump like this, let him. The poor elder probably can’t afford anything north from here anyway.’

What Ellion said pissed Mazz off, but before he could reply, the old man came back with a pouch. He placed it on the counter, ‘This here bag must go to Mr. Houston. I can’t leave the shop unattended and my son has yet to come back from his quest. Usually, he’d do this kind of stuff for his old man—’ the old man laughed, ‘Mr. Houston has an enchantment shop close to the Eastern gate. Look for the building with a yellow roof. You can’t miss it.’

Ellion grunted, ‘Nothing about leaving the south part of town was in the job description. That’ll have to cost you a few extra dawn.’

‘What?!’ Mazz shouted.

‘Oh? But I thought—’

‘Sorry elder, but company rules,’ Ellion replied.

Mazz wanted to speak up but didn’t. He couldn’t mouth the words he wanted to say.

‘Very well.’ The old man agreed. ‘You will receive the payment when you have returned.’

‘I wouldn’t have it any other way.’ He turned to Mazz, who ignored his gaze, ‘Come on kid.’

Ellion took his leave, but Mazz didn’t follow right away. He stared at the old man who looked at him with empty eyes. He couldn’t believe Rigel mages charged extra for going a little further into town. He understood outside of town, but even that was sort of strange. Mazz left the building and followed Ellion to the east part of town.

The east part of town wasn’t as bad as the south. Because there was nothing but a giant mountain range several miles away from the Eastern gate, merchants, specifically blacksmiths and enchanters reside there. A lot of minerals and stones from the mountain can be used to forge great items. It was always busy with mages going in and out of shops looking for great weaponry, armor, or gear.

Mazz spotted the yellow rooftop the old man talked about and they headed inside. A couple of mages were in front of them so they waited their turn to speak with Mr. Houston. After around eight minutes, it was their turn to speak with him.

‘Hello there— oh.’ His warm charming welcome disappeared. ‘What brings you in here Ellion?’ He sounded upset.

‘Don’t be like that Wells. We come in peace.’

‘The kid is with you?’

‘He’s a new recruit. We surprisingly got a heap of them today.’

‘Well, then I feel bad for them, especially this one.’

‘I have a name other than one and kid.’ Mazz interrupted.

They both looked at him and then turned to face each other. He was brutally ignored.

Ellion placed the bag on the counter. ‘This is from the elder.’

Mr. Houston opened the bag and laughed abruptly, ‘I can’t believe he did it!’

‘What’s inside?’ Ellion asked.

Mr. Houston stuck his hand inside the bag and took out a chipped piece of rusted metal. ‘Metallic chips are easy to come by when you sell weapons or armor and since I sell neither, I need to purchase my own supply. He sells them for a pretty cheap price around.’

‘That one is kind of rusted. Are all of them like that?’ Mazz asked.

‘Yup!’ he answered.

‘What would you use them for?’

‘Rusted metal isn’t rare in a forged form. Several rusted gear can be found all over the world, but this isn’t your typical rusted metal. This is rusted metal in a pure form.’

‘Pure form?’

‘It takes a long time for metal ore to rust due to temperatures metal ores originate in. Even mined out, they don’t begin to rust until they’re melted and manipulated into different items. However, the process damages the natural element, Zekion, which is an element with high magical potency.’ Mr. Houston walked over to an enchantment table with the chipped metal in his hand. He placed it on the table and opened a book with a bronze and blue colored cover. ‘When forged form metal rusts, it’s not hard to clean it, but when pure form metal rusts, all of that Zekion that would normally be moving around like babees in a hive, starts to slow down and spread to retain the shape of the ore.’

He held the book in one hand and had his other hand facing the chipped piece of metal, ‘Thy will be done. O’ here me, Sprites of Terra!’ Glowing brown lights started to surround his hand, ‘I ask that you grant me an audience with the all being.’ The same brown lights started to surround the piece of metal. The rust casing began to crack as if someone was banging a hammer and nail against its surface. ‘I cast this magic seal through your strength, Shatter!’ The rust on the metal chip broke off and what was left, was bright and silver-colored. This was Zekion in its physical state. The element used to forge magical weapons and equipment. 

TO BE CONTINUED