Elias lounged on his room's floor, with his curious eyes glued to this strange book. A notebook sat beside him so he could translate the Old Sprei into Modern. It had only been a few hours since he got the book, but he has almost gone through half of it. He discovered ancient religions and ideologies from long gone civilizations. Make-believe gods that were worshiped for thousands of years.
"Yuneleon...Majka...Irarye..." Elias read the strange names aloud, barely able to pronounce them.
"Why was this book burned?"
A book like this must have been incredibly important, yet they were nearly wiped from existence.
Suddenly Elias heard his mother calling.
"Elias!"
"Elias! Quick! Somethings happened at the Skyport!"
Elias shut the book, shoved it under his bed, hurried out the door and down the stairs. Kristen was out there...could she be hurt!? Once he reached the base floor of the apartment, he saw his mom standing there. She was dressed in her yellow and red guards gear.
"Mom? You work today?" Elias asked wearily
"The Guards department of Haden Spire has been summoned. We're expecting an attack from the Dragonfin." She said this with anger and hatred gurgling in her throat. She has faced these pirates before, and they are rumored to be a disturbing bunch.
"Just telling you i'm going to be out for a couple hours" She said as she picked up her helmet, donned with large straight horns on the sides. She slid it on her head and approached Elias.
Her finger raised at him in an assertive manner.
"Don't. Open. This. Door. For anyone- you hear me?" Her voice was calm yet terrifying. Elias nodded and his mom grabbed her cape and sword then headed out.
Elias sat by in his room for almost 2 hours. There were no windows, so he was oblivious as to what was going on outside.
He kept himself calm by gluing himself to the Maj-Compendium, reading things out loud. He'd be interrupted by the occasional scream or guard order outside, but that was it.
Until he heard a knock at his front door.
"Oh no.."
Elias stayed in his room and hoped the person would leave, but the knocks got more and more erratic. A muffled voice could be heard now.
"Elias! ELIAS! come on! I know you're in there ya damn goop!"
It was Kristen! He ran down and unlocked the door. Kristen charged in and dropped her round blue pack on the table. Before Elias could really react, she lunged and grabbed him by the shoulders.
She tried catching her breath before organizing words, sweat dripping from her forehead.
"Two pirate factions! They're fighting HERE!"
"Wha-for what!?" Elias asked
"I don't know! Isn't it exciting!?"
"Come, you'll be safer if you stay here." Elias grasped Kristen's arms in an attempt to remove them, but her grip was immense. She turned, locked the door, and walked him to the table where her blue sack rested. They both sat down.
"Check this out.." she said as she unbuckled the strap slowly. She pulled out a tiny beautiful purple sack. It was a soft, yet shiny velvet texture- something that was rare around these parts.
Elias's eyes widened slightly as he beheld the fabric. It was fancy, but nothing incredibly special. It didn't even look like it contained anything. He wanted to show Kristen that he was interested anyway, so he reacted.
"Its...purple! Pretty expensive color."
"No no!" Kristen interrupted
She began to unravel the knotted top of the sack. It smoothly came undone and something fell out.
It gleamed in the dim room. It was some type of coin. On it were beautiful designs and carvings. In the center was a depiction of some strange creature.
"Its gold. Gold from the new world!"
Elias just expressed his amazement. Two insane things discovered that day. "What is up with today? You found a Maj-Compendium.. and now this?" Elias exclaimed
"Actually- I found that nasty ol' book days ago. This though - there was a raid at the Skyport. One of the groups dropped this!"
Hearing this, Elias glanced at the front door. He stood up.
"Well i think its best we head upstairs then"
Kristen stopped him by grasping his hand. Her eyes were gleaming. Gleaming with excitement and what Elias thought was literal insanity.
"Elias this is our chance...our dreams.. its coming true! We can't pass up this opportunity!" Kristen blurted
He knew what she was on about. Exploration, Wayfaring; trekking or flying across the world rediscovering treasures, peoples and undocumented places. Being a Librarian in the League. It is what both of them dreamed of doing ever since they were little. Kristen though, she had a change of plans recently. She deemed that freebooting, being a pirate, was the only way.
Elias let out an audible cackle, in hopes she was joking. To his disappointment, she wasn't laughing.
"Freebooting!? You're joking right!?"
She continued to look at him.
"Kristen. NO."
She looked hurt by his refusal. But it was quickly overtaken by a look of regret.. like she did something. She glanced at the curtained windows then back at Elias. He could feel her heart beginning to race.
"Sorry, dude its too late. Quick! Where's that book of yours? The 'EnchiMajdion' or whatever?"
"The Maj-Compendium? Its under my bed" Elias replied
Kristen stormed up the stairs and seemed to stay up there for a bit. While Elias was left alone. He lifted the gold coin to analyze it more.
"Kristen!? What did you mean by too late?!" He called out.
She peeked down from above the staircase to reply.
"I stole that invaluable piece of gold from them"
"Wh-" Elias couldn't compose his words
"Also I told them we have the Maj-Compendium"
"HOW COU-"
"Also they're headin' this way, boomrods blazing!"
Without a word Elias hurried to the storage room, not far from the stairs. He scrambled around to look for something- anything he could use to protect himself. He was shaking in his boots, on the verge of throwing up. Elias mumbled to himself under his breath uncontrollably as he searched.
"Mother said I shouldn't open the door. But I did! Where is that Boomrod..- why did I open the door!?- what am i thinking? I can't fight them!"
He found it. It was his mother's old boom-knife. A cross between a knife and a boomrod. The weight was immense, but Elias took it.
"Alright dude, we've got to get out of here" Kristen said as she stumbled down the steps. Those pirates are on the way. She stopped and looked at him with surprise.
Elias held up the weapon to present it to her. His voice trembled as adrenaline stirred throughout his body.
"Can't we... like .. d- defend?"
"We wouldn't have a chance" Kristen said as she cautiously took it out of his hand and tossed it back into the storage room.
"We don't even know how to use that thing."
Kristen was surprisingly calm. She looked deeply into Elias's eyes and told him it would be okay. To his disbelief, it calmed him too. She was so confident that they'd get out of this situation that it sorta rubbed off onto him. She held his shoulders and told him again.
"Don't worry. We're going to get out of this."
Elias wasn't mad. It was all her fault but for some odd reason, he wasn't mad. He was somewhat relieved he didn't have to carry such a dangerous weapon too. After the fear wore off just a bit, Elias came to his senses.
"S-so whats the plan.. where do we go?" He asked quietly
Kristen held up her hand and began talking and gesturing. Its like she was ready for this.
"Basically- We're going to make a run for it to my house. But we are going to have to take a few hidden short cuts. There are raiders scattered across the City-Spire."
Elias nodded and listened carefully. Kristen handed him his own bag, loaded with the Maj-Compendium and some clothes. He could also feel the notebook where he was translating the texts.
"Why did you-" Elias tried to ask but Kristen continued on with her plan. She talked as she packed the golden coin into her backpack.
"We will first take the alley way directly in front of your doors, got it?" She said
Elias nodded and they walked towards the front door. Every step towards that door terrified him. Currently because it dawned on him that he was disobeying his mother. Imagining her coming home to an empty, maybe even a ransacked house. He stopped right before Kristen touched the door knob and grabbed her arm.
"Wait!"
Elias scanned the room for a loose piece of paper, and pulled a stylus out of his bag. There was one hanging out of the messy shelf near the kitchen. He ran over and grabbed it.
"Elias what are you doing? We're on borrowed time right now!"
Elias slammed the paper onto the center table and began to write.
"Made it out safely with Kristen. Find me at her apartment. -Love Elias"
He ran upstairs with the note and placed it on his bed. Hopefully the pirates won't want to ruin such a nice bed.
As Elias came down, Kristen opened the front door and they hurried out.
The neighborhood was dead silent. The sky was a gradient of indigo to black as the sun was already beneath the horizon. Just enough light was present for them to see each other and move around.
Elias followed Kristen's silhouette across the path, and they snuck towards that aforementioned alleyway. Once they got there, they halted. Elias was pushed up against Kristen in the dark. He could feel her heart beginning to race again. Something was wrong.
"Kristen? Whats wrong?" Elias whispered
She covered his mouth. And she pointed across the alley. A blue light was being cast into the darkness.. it was moving as if it were searching for something. Suddenly the light moved forward, and a giant, metallic bipedal character stomped passed. The light was being emitted by its eyes.
Fear stormed throughout Elias's chest. It felt almost like it was burning him. What was worse- he could feel Kristen's fear as well.
His house was still in view...maybe.. he could run back?
Suddenly Kristen's hand let go of his face. He thought the coast was clear- it wasn't - It was the complete opposite. The strange giant was running towards them. Its cyan blue eyes glowing like a bright sunny day, getting bigger and bigger.
Kristen stood her ground, and strangely enough, so did Elias. He concluded that if he did run, he wouldn't make it. So he stood.
As the creature arrived, it cocked its long silver arm back, covering its face. It barely fit within the small alley. As it did this, the light reflected off of it, allowing the face and its body to be seen. It was a giant Boiler Bot, and atop it's top hat shaped head- sat an Imp. A small winged people with horns and a bony tail.
But before any of them said anything, the arm flung back towards them, and everything went black.
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