2 Starting Down The Path

A brown haired kid with orange eyes looked out at a sea of buildings and people. His eyes were filled with utter amazement at the sight as a boy around his age tapped his shoulder. His white hair moving slightly in the wind and his yellowish eyes gleaming. Their clothing looked like a combination of a cloak and normal clothing.

"Hey, we can't stare at the capital all day," The white haired boy said.

"Yeah, yeah I know," The brown haired boy replied. "I just can't believe we're already at the capital."

"Hey Koi, Akemi!" A purple haired girl yelled at them.

The two boys turned their heads. "Avra, where did you wander off too?" The brown haired kid, Koi asked.

"Just a little sightseeing," Avra said as her purple hair swayed slightly in the wind. Suddenly down on a stage below them the king came out to face a massive crowd. The crowd cheered and the king straightened his collar and got ready to make a speech.

"It's amazing that the King actually made this decision," Akemi said while staring with amazement at the king.

"Yeah it has only been a couple weeks but it's felt so long" Koi replied while thinking back a couple days.

A couple week before

Koi and Akemi were standing at the edge of the town they grew up in. They looked out at the villagers waving as they waved back. They then turned around and started walking out of town down the dirt path. It'd been almost 3 years since the kidnapper incident.

They walked for about an hour before arriving in a town. It was much bigger than the town they grew up in, the houses were a lot closer together. They looked around and never really planned what they were going to do once they left. As they walked through town they found a poster on a random building.

"Currently accepting members for the Moonlight Arrows magic teams." Was written on the bottom and in the middle was a picture of a fairly large building in the forest. At the top it said that the base was straight left of the poster in the clearing of the forest.

"Should we go see what this is about?" Akemi inquired.

"We have no idea where else to start so I guess," Koi replied.

Akemi nodded and they both started heading left into the forest. The sunlight peered through the gaps in the leaves as they walked between the trees. They eventually made it to a clearing in the woods. There stood the building that they saw in the poster.

They walked up to the doors and knocked on the door, the hollow sound of the wood ringed out. A girl with purple hair opened the doors. Her hair was straight but some strands stuck out. She looked at them with her deep purple eyes before starting a conversation with them.

"Oh hello, I'm told we don't get many visitors. I assume you saw the poster," She asked.

"Yes it was kinda in the middle of the town," Koi replied sharply.

"Well I'm Avra. I am also fairly new to the Moonlight Arrows." She stepped to the side and let them walk in. One boy stood up on the second floor and looked down on them as they entered. He had pitch black hair and a cat with fur matching his hair stood on his shoulder.

In the corner a boy with messy green hair sat messing with a strange looking object. The object looked like it was glowing inside but the two decided to ignore it. Avra led them to the middle of the room and then signaled for them to introduce themselves.

Koi introduced himself first, "I'm Koi Ikazuchi. I am adventuring to learn about the secrets of the world." As Koi said that the black hair boy just laughed a bit.

The boy looked down at Koi, "You greatly overestimate both yourself and magic teams, Koi." He said as he walked down the stairs in the middle of the base leading down to the first floor.

"Well I can still try can't I?" Koi replied.

"It'd just be a waste of your time."

"This is a waste of both of our time"

"Well it isn't if I have nothing else to do, you however have plenty of other things you can do with your life."

"I don't want to do something with my life that I don't want to do."

"Well that simply is not how life works."

"Well everyone should be able to do what makes them happy."

Suddenly the doors opened and a silver haired girl with a bow in her hands walked in. She looked like she was in her early twenties and she walked confidently through the room. "Oh are they newbies, Li?"

"Sadly yes Lady Artemis," The black hair boy replied, completely stopping the fight with Koi.

"We never have gotten two newcomers in the same day," She said to Koi and Akemi.

"Really? Why is that," Akemi asked her.

"Magic Teams aren't funded by the government but they are tolerated. Even so, people are hesitant to join." She explained.

"How many people are in this team then?"

"Well now it's eight including you two but two of us are out on long missions."

"When will they return?" Avra asked.

"I don't know, anyways when I was out I heard that locals believe a monster has made its nest in a cave near Aramore Town. I want the three newbies to go check it out." Artemis said.

"Don't you think more experienced members should go deal with the monster?" Akemi asked Artemis.

"Because I think you three can handle it and it'd be a good experience," Artemis replied.

"That'll be easy, it's only a monster," Koi said confidently.

Avra walked out of the door in order to stop their conversation and the two followed before they were left behind. The three walked through the forest, making small-talk along the way. When they reached the town near the cave it had been an hour since they left. They walked through town, Koi looking around at the markets.

He noticed there were three Midas Soldiers buying fruit at the market. Midas was the rivalling country to the Prometheus Empire but they were on peaceful terms right now so it was a rarity to see them. The streets were filled with people coming in on wagons with goods to sell.

They finally made it to the man that had made the report on the edge of the town. There was a kinda steep drop down to the cave about a thirty-five degree angle. The man turned around to finally notice them.

"Are you from a magic team?" The man asked them.

"Yes, we're from the Moonlight Arrows." Avra replied.

"Thank goodness the idea of this monster coming out and attacking the town has been bothering me all day."

"Well, have you seen what monster it is?" Akemi asked.

"No but I did see a man in fancy clothing and a mask go in before I noticed something was off with the cave."

"Well that's none of our concern right now, we just need to kill this monster." Koi said to the man.

The three walked down to the cave, the sun was starting to set as they entered. The cave was dimly lit in the back but the sun peered in through the entrance so they could see what was going on. They looked around for the monster but they couldn't see it.

Suddenly a black mass dashed at them and the three quickly rushed out of the way but it cut Koi's cheek. The creature stopped in front of the entrance. It looked humanoid but it had massive wings. It's hair down to it's stomach was covered in a darkness so black it could on be described as a void.

The rest of it was a dead grey. It was missing it's left arm as well. The wing blocked out some of the sun but the sunlight shone through some part giving it a sort of orange glow. Before any of them could talk it lunged at them again...