Duodecem 18th of 4831 AS During the end of winter, snow was still prevalent in the nation of Kujyuri as it was known for its year long snowfall. The caravan, while unhindered from the lessening snow, still felt the effects as the personnel still slightly shivered from the cold while in the middle of their trek through the forest and mountain paths of the snowy nation. It had been 3 days since the caravan had begun the 7 days journey to the capital and all their pace was good. It consisted of three carriages that each pulled along an additional storage carriage that was filled with the caravan’s belongings and supplies. They traveled in a line formation and were protected by the remaining group of guards that came with Rulu when she was traveling out of Kujyuri for the first time. Over half of her original guard was killed during the trek to Shisayama since they redirected their travel path to answer a distress call made by Shizu and her forces who were out on an expedition concern
After a somewhat rough awakening, Azi now stood outside of the carriage he was just sleeping in. The cold night air chilled his skin but it did little to help his situation as he could still feel the stinging heat from the red teeth marks on the side of his neck. He looked to his right and saw the offending person who had bitten him in his sleep. Noticing his gaze, Shizu turned her head away in embarrassment and coughed a bit to divert the conversation. “Let’s get going. If we don’t act quickly, the enemy will get away and we'll be left with no answers to our questions.” Azi sighed and gave a nod of agreement before running off with Shizu who was followed by a group of their caravan’s guards. Meanwhile, Kajima and Yashimu had agreed to stay near their carriage in order to keep watch over their belongings and to guard Rulu. Of the caravan’s guard detail of 50 people, 20 guards protected the first carriage, 10 guards with Ozen’s four youngest sons and Touma protected the second car
Finished with situating the captured assailants, the caravan returned to its journey to the capital Kujyuri. The assailants were tied up and sat in an empty space in the supply carriage pulled along by the second carriage of the caravan. A guard took the reins at the front while at the back, Azi and Touma sat inside. Touma, who was in charge of the second carriage’s safety, was currently applying a magic binding spell on the assailants which caused them to feel sluggish and heavy. This magic spell derived its roots from colorless magic as it did not emit any elemental color when used. When Azi asked Touma about the spell, he commented that it sounded like gravity magic which sparked Touma’s natural curiosity that came from being the scholarly thaumaturge he was. A lengthy conversation about Azi’’s rudimentary knowledge about physics ensued and this was somewhat like a kind of punishment for the assailants. The constant back and forth of the two made it impossible for any of them to
On the 7th day of the journey, the caravan finally arrived at the gates of the Kujyuri. The welcome was quite extravagant since word had reached the capital that Rulu would be returning early. Even though she had only left the capital for a few weeks, she was very much missed by her people as the usual sight of Rulu helping the commoner had become a daily occurrence for them.This was also a special time as all of Ozen’s children would be returning. While not making any noteworthy actions during the ambush from the Uzuruans, Ozen’s 4 youngest sons had accompanied the caravan and were delegated to grunt work by Shizu to aid in the guarding of the second carriage under Touma’s command.The 4 brothers sighed in relief when they rode past the gate on their personal hororon mounts. They heard the cheers of the citizens grow loud at the front of the caravan since the people began to catch sight of Rulu, who sat on the front seat of the front carriage with Yashimu.Rulu blushed a bit, as th
In the year 2022, a young office worker found himself at his desk with its surroundings filled with thick manuals, books, and self-made notes. The books and papers towered over him as he was a man of small stature, at best he was about 5 feet tall when standing at attention. This was fitting as his stereotypical Asian heritage was present in his features which made him look younger than his actual age of 27 years old. From outside of the room, you could see his dishevel black hair peeking over the mountains of books. And Just behind the sight of his black hair were the tools of his trade, a computer and a bag of safety equipment stored in a corner of his office which looked as if it had gotten too much use as the steel toed boots had its fair share of scratches, nicks, and faded smudges that looked of old grease. While the sight of this kind of equipment seemed out of place for an office worker, this was normal for him as he would have to crawl and climb through the ships he needed
The office worker stood up and began to walk to the branch head's office with his supervisor. For the past year, the office worker has given his trust to his supervisor as he would always be willing to answer his questions and was forgiving for the small mistakes he would make from time to time.Over time the office worker felt he was close with his supervisor and felt that they would build a long-lasting bond of trust through future projects. But this was now in contention, as the office worker knew that his instincts were usually right whenever he got that chill down his spine.In the past he would obtain bursts of excitement or energy from this chill, but this time was not one of those times.This chill was similar to the numerous times he witnessed his past and current mentors conversing with the supervisor after a round of quizzing with him. He knew that he had made many mistakes and thought in his paranoia that his coworkers were reporting his failures to upper management, but h
In a black void a young man, Azi Montagne, writhed in agony as the only thoughts he could only muster were of pain. The young man screamed out as if something was attempting to rip him to shreds."AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, AHHHHHHHHHHHHH, AHHHHHH, ahhhh, aHH, .aa..Hhh."His voice slowly became weaker and weaker over time but would then rebound as he would scream out again in even more pain. He felt as if more energy he didn't know he had, forcefully entered into his mind to keep his consciousness alive so that if could continue to be tortured by the hands of pain and suffering.The sensations of pain changed throughout this experience but were still so unbearable that at one point he could feel as if small chunks were being forcefully pressed into his body while other parts of his flesh were being removed from his body in a slow and agonizing manner that only served to extend his suffering.With it, was also a feeling where his mind felt as if it were expanding to a point where he could feel h
Black, all Azi could see was black as his awareness came back to him. He felt like he was lying down on a hard floor as he could begin to feel the aching in his lower back and neck. A chill ran across his body and he wondered to himself. 'Hmmm? What happened, wasn't I with Ozen? Where did he go? And why am I laying down? And why can't I see anything? Hmm....' From the black came an unknown noise. It sounded like a voice but was too soft to hear. "W….up….. Wak…. p." Azi's attention was drawn away from his thoughts as he attempted to focus on the noise to better hear what it was saying, and it soon became loudly clear as the noise formed into a voice calling out. "WAKE UP!! BOY!!" 'That sounds like.... a girl?' In the next moment, Azi could feel a cold sensation across his face and a wet sensation on his skin. With a cough Azi cried out. "What the heck. What was that?!" Feeling as if he took a hit of ice-cold water to the face, his eyes reflexively shot open from the biting col