1 Error Being Chosen

Eronous Faltier was taken by surprise as his caravan entered the city. Being from such a small town, it amazed him that this many people even existed. The streets seemed packed with humans, like himself, and races of many other types. "How much longer until we get there?" He asked impatiently, almost like a child's whine as he turned to confront the lady who was driving the caravan.

"Just a few more minutes. Be patient, Master Eron." the driver responded patiently, not changing pace, not even so much as a glance away. Eronous, of course, could not keep his anticipation inside. Quite literally, he was bouncing in his seat, slightly annoying the other passengers (who were all much older than him). None of them had introduced themselves, some didn't even seem to acknowledge each others' existence, instead reading a book or watching the road behind them as it passed.

Finally, the wagon stopped in front of the city's capital building, as did many behind it. It wasn't quite a castle, as that was reserved for the city that the king resided in; but it was intricately built, and seemed as if it would be very defensible. Eronous sprang from his seat, jumping out of his wagon and running to the entrance...only to be stopped by the guards.

"State your name and purpose."

Eronous looked confused for only a moment-didn't they know he was coming? They had summoned him, after all; though he wasn't certain why. He had no particular skills to speak of. "Umm...Eronous Faltier, I was summoned by the capital?" he responded cautiously as some people on the caravan had gotten off their own wagons, and were making their way to the entrance. He noted that some of the riders remained in the wagons, and after everyone coming to this building had gotten off, the rest went with the caravan as they continued further into the city. He was unsure why this detail seemed important to him.

"Wait for the others, then." responded the guard.

Eight people approached the guards and stopped, awaiting further instruction. After the guard had repeated his bit, requesting everyone state their name and purpose. It seemed that everyone was respectful, waiting for their turn before speaking. Eronous listed the names in his head as they spoke: Rein (pronounced Ray-In, oddly), Dalor, Susurri, Ember, Alden, Rin (Who has a tiger!), Rysdan, and Liast. He nodded to himself as the guards took count, and lead them all to the council hall, where an Elf, Human, Dwarf, Fairy, and Gnome sat before them in high-and-important chairs, while they awaited the group's approach.

"We thank you all for gathering here today!" Said the Elven council member, all of them rising from their seats, as if out of courtesy and respect. "Our best seer has informed us that we would need a group of nine--and the names of the group members. It appears everyone is accounted for." He continued.

Eronous, realizing that these people would be members of his group, suddenly looked around at them. They were a very different group, to be sure. He was obviously the youngest of all of them. What could he even hope to do in comparison to the other eight members? He noted that a couple of the other members seemed to be measuring up the party, but most of them remained silent, still.

'Too quiet.' he thought, feeling a need to speak up, for the silence dragged on. "And...what is our task, exactly? And why do you need the help of a kid such as myself?" He questioned. Though it was obviously out of turn (based on the look on the human council member's face), the Elven council member simply nodded.

"We do not know what role each of you will play, only that this task can only be performed if all of you are in the party." Infuriatingly, the council member answered his second question first. "As far as your task...We must implore you, we need your help. An artifact that has kept this city prosperous has gone missing. We have an idea of where it has gone, but no specific direction."

At this time, the one who had called himself Rysdan cut in. "We would be happy to help." He said, taking a deep bow, out of courtesy. "Though I must ask we keep this short--I need to secure lodging for the group for the night before we continue forward. I ask kindly for you to give us our direction so we may be on our way."

In response, the council member nodded, as if excusing the discourtesy that Rysdan had shown by cutting in. Distaste was again shown by the human council member. "But of course. We think it is near Lone Peak in the Eskariat Plains." he stated. "In advance, we will give you all a thousand gold coins--a hundred thousand upon completion of this task."

The dwarf of the group, Dalor, now spoke: "That amount sounds a bit shy. Up front, at least 10% must be offered."

The human council member cut in front of the Elven one, this time. "And I'm certain that, were this a normal quest, we would be happy to provide. In this case, Dwarf, we are shy on what we are able to offer to keep this city running. The artifact would change that circumstance, so we are only able to offer this small amount at this time."

Dalor scowled, but kept his mouth shut afterwards. Eronous, of course, had never seen a thousand gold, let alone knowing anyone who had even close to that at their disposal. As such, his jaw dropped, and dropped even more at the dwarf's comment. The elven council member, at this point, called Rysdan forward to provide him with a scroll, the gold to be distributed and had them depart on their way.

"Follow me." Rysdan instructed immediately after everyone was outside of the city hall.

"And why must we follow you?" Susurri asked, who was tall, shrouded in a cloak, and seemed to have black skin, yet Elven ears. His voice was eerie; a whisper at his spoken word, yet somehow everyone was able to hear it.

"That is a great question. I've been to this city many times, and know where we may get the supplies needed; I can also secure us free lodging."

"So long as the lodging has ale, I have no qualms!" Spoke Dalor, a big grin on his face.

"You can get a keg if you would like, I know you could exhaust it in a night; but we need more private quarters to discuss what we need further." Rysdan pressed. Eronous was confused - did all adults fight like this? His parents had never seemed to fight.

An unexpected voice seemed to come from the boy sitting with his tiger--Rin? "I agree. We need to know each other well if we are to travel together. It is only wise." While he talked quietly, it seemed to simply be Rin's nature. He seemed reserved and shy, and the comment came as if it sounded from a throat that wasn't used to speaking, at great strain. It seemed to take a while, but in the end, everyone seemed to agree to follow Rysdan. At one point, Eronous was taken to the side by Rein, who had silver hair. "Do you use a weapon, or magic?" He asked, quietly, so that the other members could not hear.

"M...Me? I've never used either...I've never had any use." Rein seemed to nod in response, taking Eronous by the arm, to a door that had a hammer hanging above it. Upon entering, many glittering swords and pieces of armor were present, making Eronous' jaw drop once more. Rein pulled Eronous to the counter, looking directly at the smith. "This boy needs to be measured for his best fit weapon."

"But I--"

"A bit young. Good time to start, though." The blacksmith stated, stepping away from the counter to take Eronous' measurements. "Have you ever used anything before? Tools, swords, hammers?"

"Umm...I've used Hoes and Sickles, but just for farming..." Eronous responded, sounding defeated.

"Any injuries?"

"I broke a bone once. Leg bone, fell off of a horse."

"Healed up stronger, I'm sure." Blacksmith responded, finishing up the measurements before returning to behind the counter and flipping through a book. "Well, you could probably use a lot of weapons. Based on your build, you wouldn't be good at anything too heavy. I'd recommend something like a JO-staff or a Rapier. Or something made of Mithral, if you have the gold."

"Oh no--I couldn't aff--"

"Show us the best of your stock." Rein said, cutting Eronous off. "Don't you worry, I'll be paying." The blacksmith nodded, going to the back, motioning for the other two to follow. "Most of our party know how to use swords or daggers, so one of them would be preferable."

"Short swords and daggers, then." Said the blacksmith, leading them to an area at the far back. "Some of it's mine, others were sold to me. Anything in particular catch your eye?" He asked, glancing down to Eronous.

"I..Umm..." Eronous had been too afraid to look around before, so now he was first laying his eyes on everything. Some of them had really neat designs, and he knew all of them were made with quality. "How about this one?" He asked as he picked up one of the blades; he liked the red hue of the blade, and it seemed like it fit nicely in his hand.

The blacksmith nodded. "Good for quality. Better than one of my pieces, don't tell anyone though. Some heavy enchantment laid on it too. Couldn't tell yeh what type, I'm not a mage."

Rein nodded, smiling at Eronous' choice. He started haggling with the blacksmith, which took about ten minutes before they decided on a price. Luckily, it did come with a scabbard, and Rein helped Eronous fasten it to his belt before dragging him back to the group, which he seemed to have no trouble finding.

"Where were you two?" Ember, the only female in the group, asked hotly. "Just like a couple of boys to wander off on their own."

Rein smiled and shook his head. "Little Eronous here has never fought a day in his life. We were trying to find something suitable to his size."

"We should have discussed that when we were done shopping!" She responded.

"It is fine, Rein knows what he is doing. This blacksmith closes fairly early, and would have been done before our business concluded. He's also not open on Sundays, he goes to church--might I remind you that today is a Saturday." Rysdan said, coming up behind Ember, winking to Eronous.

Ember, clearly not satisfied but defeated, stalked off, her arms at her side. She stayed rather close to Susurri, the one that was shrouded in darkness, appearing to know and respect him. Rysdan finished leading everyone through the market, helping everyone get the necessary provisions for the trip (except Ember, who was clearly irritated at that part of the group). Afterwards, he began leading them to the edge of town.

"Why are we goin' so close to the edge of town?" Dalor complained as they passed another tavern.

"Because our lodging is outside of the town. Privacy, might I remind you. We can wait for you to buy a keg if you are really that dependent on alcohol." Rysdan responded, stopping abruptly without turning around. Grumbling, Dalor went into the nearest tavern, grabbing a keg of ale (Unfortunately, not of Dwarven quality), and returned to the group before they went outside.

When the town was but a speck behind them, Rysdan took a turn into the forest. Despite many complaints from the travelers, who wanted to stay on the road, eventually Rysdan's insistence won over. Once everyone was certain they were sufficiently lost, Rysdan finally stopped. "This will be a good place."

"I thought you said you already secured our beds for the night!" Eronous complained.

"And I have. Just in a less conventional method than you might think." He bent over touching the ground. Any tenseness in his body seemed to be gone. Soon, the plants around them began moving, shaping themselves into a building. It seemed as if a building was actually growing from the forest floor. It took only a few moments before a rather large structure sat before them, and Rysdan stood, judging his own work silently. "Well, I guess it'll do. Come along." His voice carried a hint of disappointment in his work. He held the door open for everyone as they filtered in, their mouths agape at his prowess. "Oh come now, don't tell me none of you have special abilities." he quipped.

"I don't." Eronous responded, glancing up to Rysdan. "I think I'm here by mistake."

Rysdan chuckled. This child had obviously not realized his full potential. The rest of the room was a bit more silent than he would have liked. After taking a seat at one of the tables that appeared as if it had grown from the floor, he shook his head with a sigh. "If we are going to be successful, we need to know each others' abilities. What each of us can do. This will allow us to form strategies, for us each to make decisions based on the respective prowess of each member."

Dalor, who had already set the keg on the counter, let out a laugh as he filled his stein--much larger than it should be, mind you. "I'm a fighter through and through, something gets in my way, it meets my axe. Also, I'm short, so I'm good against people that are bigger than me. they're used to fightin' people their own size."

Rein spoke up next. "I can summon and control a black flame. I can also open a telepathic link where we can all communicate. Lastly, I can move things with my mind. Occasionally I lose control and get possessed by a demon, but those instances are few and far between, recently."

Eronous was taken aback - possessed by a demon? In his utter shock, he hadn't noticed that this detail didn't surprise the rest of the group. He had seemed so kind!

Ember nodded. "Fire's my specialty, too; but mine's a normal fire, no special colors or nothing. Dual-weapon fighter, my swords are of Elven make."

Next piped up Alden, "I have no particularly great or wonderful skills. In fact, I'm cursed. My whole family is cursed. It strikes in two parts. The first is that, upon meeting someone, I see their death. This is involuntary. The second is that my family is supremely unlucky. As such, I've developed my sense of awareness and tried to improve my reaction time to things quickly as I can."

Liast shook his head. "Not a particularly talented group. Fire's my natural ability, but I'm also able to use black magic in general. My hands are also made of metal--enchanted to work like normal hands. They pack quite a punch."

"I'm an assassin. I can blend into the shadows, and have complete mastery over sound." Spoke up the dark-skinned tall man who had called himself Susurri, only now having removed his hood to reveal his stark white hair.

"I'm Rin. I am good at hunting, mainly. Near is my partner, we work well together." Spoke the boy with the tiger, who then fell silent and nuzzled up to him.

"I'm, umm...My name is Eronous Faltier. I have helped on my dad's farm...nothing else."

Rysdan nodded to each person as they introduced themselved. The kid would have a lot to learn, but everyone else seemed to have some capability. "I'm Rysdan Elson. I can make plants grow up to 300 times their natural size; of course, that number is an estimate. I can also release my consciousness from my body and enter the plants. I can find information quickly this way by 'Seeing' through them. I can hear plant voices, and I am also immortal. Not by choice, mind you. If it were up to me, I would have been dead 2,000 years ago."

"You're...Immortal!?" Eronous asked, wide-eyed.

"Explains a lot, I couldn't see your death." Alden said, a slight nod to himself as if confirming a suspicion he had from the beginning.

"How old are you, exactly?" piped up Eronous again.

"I believe my birth was 2,946 years ago. I may be off by a couple of years. After so many, it's tough to keep count." After this statement, the room went silent, save for a slight tapping coming from Rysdan's index finger on his leggings. Precisely once per second.

"So...what now?" Dalor asked, finishing up his first stein of ale.

"Wait a moment, I'm interested--you said "Not by choice" - does that mean that you weren't always immortal? Or were you born that way?" asked Alden.

"It was a hex; or you could call it a curse. Someone I was in love with, I was fairly young at the time. Nearly killed her. She was lucky to be alive afterwards. I blame her Elven blood. Even so, this hex is supposed to end the life of the caster, so any caster has only performed it on themselves, to my knowledge." Looking sad for a moment, a smile grew suddenly across his face. "No use dwelling in the past. I did that for a thousand years. Not fun. Really, we should ensure that we are fully prepared for the night, and be ready to leave early in the morning. I promise you, no one will be able to get to us here...If they can even find where we are." The group seemed to disburse. Some of them looked in doors in the side, some of them heading upstairs. It was literally like an inn that they were at, and there was one room for each person. There were even windows in each room, but they were covered by a super-thin plant that was nearly transparent. There was even a latch. Surely, it was the work of a genius who put it together.

Eronous, finding one of the rooms, saw the bed. It looked like a bundle of grass; though jumping atop of it, it was far more comfortable than any mattress he had felt before. There were even woven blankets, that looked as if they were woven with vines too thin to see. Oddly, it was soft and warm--it did not take long for Eronous to find sleep, despite his excitement and worries for the adventures to come.