Oddities and Wonders

It was the next morning. Greyhart was explaining the plan for today.

"Clement, Diane, and Arianne" The three he called out stood up. "You three are going to act as warriors of the kingdom of Obselok, you must scout the inner districts to see if there are any kinds of secrets or weapons they could have to use against us." He tossed out three beige cloaks and three black stone trinkets. "Those will be your disguises, you'll need those black stones to verify that you're a warrior of Obselok. Now, It should go without saying that I don't want any of you causing trouble, a big fight in the middle of town will surely ruin our chance of negotiating with the ruler."

"What about us?" Cas asked.

"Glad you asked," Greyhart smirked. "You and Evandrus are going to act like my subordinates, since the two of you have the highest status. Once I enter to go negotiate with the king, I'll need both of you with me in case things go south." Greyhart glanced up to the sky briefly. "It's almost noon, we should get going. Remember your duties here and this plan will go well. Trust me on this."

Greyhart trailed off. Evan followed him, Cas nodded and joined them too. Leaving, Arianne, Clement, and Diane.

"So we just head for the entrance with these right?" Clement asked, putting on the disguise. He didn't get a response, it seems like the other two weren't in the mood for talking.

Clement led the way, they exited the forest and went further down into the path that eventually reached the kingdom of Obselok. The walls were massive, three times the size of Prismont's kingdom walls. Unlike Prismont, which had round circular walls, Obselok's walls were straight angled. The side walls were somewhat slanted making it look like a trapezoid shape.

The dark gray walls had several pillars connected to them, and the entrance was a tall, black metal gate. Two guards were in front of the gate, they wore cloaks as well; the climate in Obselok was much colder than Prismont. The guards had very stern facial expressions. Without any words exchanged, the three swiftly passed by presenting the black stones and the guards allowed them to pass.

"It's like they're asking for people to sneak in. If the guards care that little of who we are, this place must be full of pushovers!" Arianne laughed while trying to keep a low voice.

Clement observed the kingdom which was vastly different from his home. No nature, no grass, no trees or flowers in sight, only buildings. These stone buildings went very high up, there were tons of staircases, everywhere was wonderfully architected and despite being crowded and compact there was a certain rhythm to it all.

Clement was actually a very analytical person; he could look at any scenery or subject and could sense all kinds of things just from it's appearance. This kind of behavior is exceptionally helpful whenever he's figuring out his own magic spells.

Clement then felt Arianne hit his shoulder "Come on, get your head out of the clouds, we're not here for sightseeing."

"Right, sorry…" Clement muttered as followed the two onto a staircase that led to the market district. Arianne abruptly paused her walking, causing the other two following her to stop as well. She turned towards them and spoke.

"Hey listen, you two are on your own now, I… need to take care of something here." She ran off, it was just Clement and Diane. Clement was quite nervous. This was the second time he had been left with her before, but he hadn't even heard her speak a word, he had to say something to her this time.

"Uh, follow my lead… i-if you'd like." Clement chuckled nervously. Diane agreed silently and they continued progressing through the market, viewing every detail they could about the place.

They soon passed by a stand selling apples, piles of them in delicious shades of dark red. Diane walked up and purchased one at the expense of two copper coins. She walked back over to Clement and said to him with a straight face:

"Put this on your head, I could use more practice."

"H-huh?" Clement backed away a bit.

"Hm? What did I say that was wrong to you?" She tilted her head.

"Oh, uh… I just thought you were going to eat it."

Now that he thought about it, Clement hadn't had anything to eat since last night. Surely it couldn't hurt to find somewhere he could be served a hearty meal.

"I'll take the apple." Diane handed it over and Clement gently grabbed it and began chomping into it. "Is there anywhere else I can eat something around here?"

"I believe we should continue walking, we're still in the marketplace after all."

"Yes, good idea!" Clement said in between biting the apple.

Clement thought Diane was odd, she spoke so indifferently yet her behavior was strange. There had to be some reason why she was like this.

"So um, Diane-"

"That is my name, what is it that you request?"

"...Uhmmm, I was just going to ask, what is it like where you live?"

"Where I live?.. I live at the ranger camps."

"Wait, you live back at the camps? I didn't know people were able to stay there."

"But of course, there are some apprentices that have no establishment to truly call their home, so the masters of the camps are kind enough to let us live there."

"Don't you have parents or any relatives that look after you?"

"I've been told to run away and survive on my own, and to never look back. So I have made that my goal. My parents saw me as a burden so I couldn't stay living with them."

Clement was taken aback by how casually Diane told him that. "I-I'm sorry I asked… Have you ever felt familial love from anyone at all?"

"The only person who's ever shown true kindness to me is Greyhart, he asked me to be a part of his team when no one else could even approach me. I have never experienced what love is like. And quite frankly, I don't need it."

"You can't mean that. Feeling love and compassion from others is what makes life worth living."

"I already have a life worth living, and that's by aiming my bow and vanquishing any target that's in front of me."

Clement stayed silent. He felt sympathetic for Diane. She really hasn't felt or received any affection from anyone. It was all torn away from her. "She has it even worse than me…" he thought.

"...Why did you decide to train as a ranger?"

"I shoot to kill. Not only do I mean that for my enemies, but I practice shooting with my bow to destroy my doubts and worries. Because of this, my aim is nearly perfect."

"You must be highly independent then…" Clement was thinking hard. "What could he do for Diane to live a life truly worth living? One with love and people who care about her." The more Clement thought about this, the more he realized this is one of the only times he's really cared for another's well being. It was certainly a rare situation, but it saddens him to see someone living a life without love or affection.

"There is no need to worry about me," Diane said as though she was directly reading the thoughts of Clement.

"Huh? How did you-"

"This is simply the path fate has chosen for my life to take."

Silence clouded the conversation, the sound of their footsteps became too loud for Clement. He had to think of something to say.

"But what if there was some way that could change? What if there were somebody out there who could give you the kindness and care you've been lacking?"

Diane smiled, almost as if she wanted to laugh. "And I assume by somebody, you mean yourself?"

"What? I-I…" Clement's face turned a light pink. "You sure are good at predicting what I'm thinking about." He chuckled while scratching the back of his head.

"I only have to look at somebody's face and hear their voice to feel their emotions and what they're going to say, people tend to speak from their heart a lot."

Before long, the two had reached yet another staircase that led to even more stands selling various goods.There was a stand selling spices and peppers, the next one sold hourglasses and charms, and the one after that was selling weapons and armor.

"A stand selling weapons? That could be a good place to check!" Clement said, sounding rather hopeful.

"But, they could just be selling normal weapons for activities like hunting monsters. What makes you so sure they are selling a secret weapon of destruction?"

"Come on, no harm in trying right? we'll keep looking if there's nothing of value there." Clement grabbed Diane's arm and hurried towards the seller. Diane was shocked by Clement's eagerness. She had a feeling he wasn't usually like this.

There were many people looking to purchase those goods. But one person in particular caught Clement's eye. They were wearing a large black suit of armor, they couldn't hear them speak any words, but he could tell they were demanding something. They threw a bundle of what looked to be some valuable gemstones on the counter. The armor then pointed at an extremely flashy and powerful looking sword behind the merchant.

"As much as I'd like to accept that offer, that kind of payment is not allowed here. My sincerest apologies…"

The suit of armor then slammed its fist against the table.

The merchant put his hands up. "I-I'm sorry I just can't bring myself to break the Obeslok law, I'd lose my job!" He said desperately, almost begging the suit of armor to spare him from any harm. The suit of armor began unsheathing its blade until it was completely out, the sword was pointed at the merchant.

"This is too much, somebody has to intervene." Clement thought. He began speaking without thinking. "Hey! I don't know where you come from, but tormenting an innocent merchant is beneath what I'd consider any knight. Explain yourself!" Clement felt chills, he said all of that subconsciously. "Did I make a bad decision? What if they're really strong? Just what have I gotten myself into?" He thought.

The suit of armor decided to throw aside its longsword and grabs the special sword the merchant was selling. The merchant, trying to protect the sword from being stolen, is also thrown aside.

"N-no! Stop that thing!"

"What do we do, Clement?" Diane spoke faster than usual, she must have been frightened as well.

"Hang on, I'm trying to think!"

"We don't have time to think." Diane held her bow and aimed at the armor. It was in the perfect spot where the armor couldn't protect as well. As the arrow traveled towards the armor, the sword lit up and the arrow instantly fell to the ground.

"How did that-?" She said in disbelief.

"It's magic! That sword can alter the gravitational pull of things around it!."

"How can we stop it then?" asked Diane.

"I-I don't know, I'm not sure I have a spell for this."

As the armored one slowly walked closer and closer to them, Clement lost control of his fears and ran the other way. Diane hesitantly ran with him, they needed a different strategy to take that thing down.

The two were sprinting through the market, trying to escape from that terror. Turning in all sorts of directions and running through several pathways, they soon arrived at a quiet alleyway, where they could catch their breaths.

"We…we have to think of a way… to prevent that sword's magic from causing even more mayhem." Clement said, holding his knees, exhausted from running.

"But how? None of my arrows could even reach it. Can't you figure out a spell that could help out?"

"I don't know… I don't…" Clement seemed to drift off into deep thought. He was trying to focus, this was an urgent situation he had to come up with a way to solve it. He was panicking, he didn't want to let anyone down, but at the same time he only just started. He may have regained his confidence just a bit, but these thoughts were eating away at him.

Clement fell to the ground, admitting defeat. "I… really am a failure aren't I? Can't even think of a way to get out of adversity. I'm such a fool for going against what people have been saying about me. They were all right, I am worthless- "

"Clement!" Diane smacked him across the face, his left cheek stung real bad, her slap hurt even more than when Arianne hit him earlier. "That thing is going to find us any moment now! I know this is new for you but you need to try! You have reasons for being here, do you not?"

She was right. Clement wanted to prove himself, he didn't want to let his team down, especially not Diane and Cas. He was shaking but he took a deep breath and snapped himself out of the doubt that was crippling him.

"You're right. We can't fail here." Clement said as he quickly got up and climbed up the building he was next to. Normally he could barely even climb a tree but the adrenaline rush in him gave him the speed and energy he needed. Diane didn't understand just yet but she followed him nonetheless. They reached the roof and saw it down below, confused about where the two went.

"What we need is some sort of trap, we can prevent that thing from causing further damage if we can limit its movement." Diane whispered.

"A trap huh," Clement concentrated hard on thinking of a solution to this predicament. He started stringing words together to come up with any plan he could. "Trap…contain…bind…strong…"

"Are you alright?" Diane looked confused.

"I got it." He said confidently. Clement grabbed his bag and took out two spell books. Rapidly flipping the pages, Clement landed his finger on the skill he was looking for. It looked to be the steps to a simple trap spell along with a strengthening spell.

"I used these back when we were in that forest. Maybe if I use these on something, I could use it to our advantage!" Clement's face lit up, he remembered something else that was in his bag, a bundle of spider strings.

Diane nodded, putting her trust in him "Let's go."

They jumped down the building, revealing their presence to it. The suit of armor remained silent but was about to charge at them with its sword. Right before it did, however, Clement drew his magic staff with his left and threw the threads with his right hand and yelled:

"Spider bind!" as those words left his mouth, the threads began floating and began rapidly spinning around in a circle, only to combine into one long thread. Clement then waved his staff once more and the thread wrapped itself around the armor's arms intensely, constricting the armor from making any movement with its arms.

The armor was unable to move its arms nor its magic sword. It appeared to be struggling, squirming and moving around to break free of the trap but it was no use.

"Haha! I'd like to see that thing break out of this!" Said Clement, feeling rather prideful of himself for a change.

Diane walked up to the armor and ran her finger down the strings of the trap spell. They were incredibly durable, even harder to stretch than the strings of her bow.

However, the armor suddenly let out a huge roar and it began crumbling down. Piece by piece the armor fell to the ground in fragments. Clement's spell won them the fight.

"I-I did it! I…destroyed it…" Clement muttered, sounding somewhat sad by it.

"What is the matter? Are you not happy you won?" Diane looked at him.

"But there's no body. Like none!" Clement was puzzled by what he was seeing.

"That is odd. My guess is that it was just some kind of magic spirit possessing that armor, could it have been orchestrated by this kingdom? Whatever the case, we should go inform Arianne of this. Let us search for her."

"R-right." Clement looked at the pile of shards and slowly followed Diane. However, it was only a few steps they took when they realized something was happening behind them.