Chapter 4

Looking down at myself, I realized just how dirty I was, the mud that came from The Forest of Mud had dried onto my skin and was starting to crack; the blood because of the blood contract was stained on my arm and the constant sweat that I had produced smeared all of the dirt and grime on my body making me look like a violent beggar. Smith had already left the room and so I also chose to leave. Smith was down the hallway still walking without looking back as if he realized that I would follow him even if he did not say anything. For now, I would simply follow Smith so that I can leave this hellhole and, cleaning myself would be extremely beneficial. Smith entered another room and I followed him in. The bath was enormous and the water inside of the giant bathtub was clean and pure. As like all the rooms, almost everything was made with carved oak wood. The one special thing was the crystal mirror on the wall. I had never seen a crystal mirror before, but I knew that this one was of the highest quality

since you could clearly see yourself in it. Smith showed me the resources that I was to use to clean myself and after that, he simply left the room saying that he needed to prepare his travel bag. Entering the water, it was cool and refreshing on my skin. At the same time though, when I entered the water, it changed colors immediately, turning into a sickly brown.

Finishing with the bath, I dried myself with a towel that Smith had left for me and started to put on the clothes that Smith had prepared. The clothes that Smith had prepared were those of what a mage would wear. Sighing to myself, I knew that I had to get new clothes soon or I would start thinking of myself as a real mage or some sort of apprentice. Also, the clothes would not suffice for movement that I would be doing. Looking in the mirror, I started to shave away the excess hair that I had grew when I was in the army and for the first time, I began to look handsome. Smiling at myself, I turned away from the mirror and walked to the door of the bath. Before I even reached the door though, it opened to reveal Smith once again.

"You know, I was planning on coming in here again when you started screaming from pain, but I guess that you simply canceled out the magic water with grime." Smith said with a disappointed look.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"Well, like everything else, the water was infused with a substantial amount of magical power that your body would absorb, and I thought you wouldn't be able to handle it." Smith said with a gloomy look.

Since Smith had already done this to me before, I did not even bat an eyelash and the feeling of being refreshed kept my anger in check.

"Since your finally done with your wash, we can finally leave this tree and explore the forbidden lands, what a joyous occasion." Smith said while changing his gloomy look to that of pure joy. "Follow me and we can venture into the unknown."

Since I also wanted to leave this tree, I followed Smith as he walked down the corridors of oak.

A question came to my mind and I asked, "Does anyone else even live here?"

Smith answered, "Yes other people live in this tree but since this is the highest point in the tree, only the elites can enter and train here. Not that any of the elites have ever come here in the first place but they might."

With Smith finishing what he said, we arrived at the biggest door that I had ever seen. Smith opened the door to show a sight that was quite familiar. The solid stone ground, the giant oak trees, and the sun in the 'sky' was the place to where I was teleported to first.

"How does a sun exist here even though we are still in the tree?" I asked.

"That is not the real sun, that is simply a large magical ball of light that was put here. I mean did not you notice how the corridors were illuminated even though there were no torches. This tree gives off natural light from the inside and this ball of light is simply the collection of that light."

"Why did we come here though?" I asked.

"Well, I mean you were teleported here first which means that this is the waypoint of the tree. There is another waypoint at the base of the tree but since we are already close enough to one, I came here first. The waypoint allows people to teleport in and out of this tree as they please but only those with certain authority can use this waypoint."

Smith stepped onto the smooth stone and beckoned for me to follow. Following his lead, I stepped onto the stone with a heavy thud and walked up to Smith.

"We are travelling to The Kraken's City so just be aware that it will be incredibly humid, and we will be surrounded by water." Smith told me.

Smith then muttered a chant under his breath and a ring formed around the both of us. Then suddenly, we were in a new area of the world with large columns of bones surrounding us and the sight of an ocean past the columns. Then, the humidity hit me like a punch in the face. It was not as bad as what I felt when I was teleported to the tree, but the sticky air made me feel sick. My nostrils also burned from the smell of the potent salt water. I covered my nose to try and block out that smell, but it was of no use.

"Eventually you will get used to this, but it will take a while." Smith said with a worried smile.

Standing up straight, I asked "Where do we go from here?"

"We cannot go anywhere for right now; we need to wait for an elite or guide to show up in order for use to be granted permission for us to enter the city." Smith said with a sigh. "This process can take hours so you should try and get comfortable with the weather while we are in here. Also, the sound from outside is blocked by these columns so just be aware that the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks of this city are quite loud."

It did take a few hours before someone showed up to greet us after we had teleported and at that point, I had already accustomed my body to the humidity and smell.

A small fat man stepped into the columns of bones and said, "Welcome to The Great Kraken's City. We apologize for time that it took for us to greet you so I hope you shall forgive us."

Smith stepped forward and continued to converse with this man until the fat man turned to me and said, "We welcome you new mage and we hope that you will enjoy your time here."

Turning towards Smith with a look of anger in my eyes, he simply looked at me and shrugged before waving his hands for me to follow. Annoyed and angry, I followed him out of the column of bones and had my hearing destroyed immediately. The sound of the waves was incredibly loud and made it impossible for me to focus. My vision started to go blurry and it felt like I was delirious. Covering my ears, I slowly started to regain my boundaries and walk. The small fat man looked at me questionably, but he continued his way with Smith, and I was forced to follow with my ears covered by my hands. Walking into what I could determine as an inn, I could finally uncover my ears as the sounds diminished and became quieter.

"This is the best inn that I can offer to you based on who you are the son of but because of the unknown factor that you are with, its worse than the richer inns." The small fat man said quietly to Smith.

"Thank you none the less, I think this should be enough, thank you." Smith said with a smile as he handed the small fat man money.

"Think nothing of it." The small fat man said with a large smile.

With that, the small fat man left the inn and Smith sat down at a table beckoning me to sit down with him so that we could talk. Sitting down on the chair, I noticed that it wobbled a bit from how old its legs were.

Trying to get comfortable, Smith began to talk. "The place that we are in is a pilferer's village in some ways and that if you don't pay your respective fees, you will be hunted and killed."

Smith said quietly enough so that only I could hear. "Also, it does no good if you offend any of the different clans that are in Kraken's City. I am telling you all of this so that you do not reveal what exactly you power is. I told that man that you were a mage because if I did not, he would have gotten suspicious of why I was with you to begin with and reported it to the higher ups.The place that we are going is a few miles outside of the city, so we are only here just to get information about the protectors of that place. We might also get the help of a guild here in this city if we are lucky and enter the forbidden land without using any of our powers."

Speaking just as quietly as Smith did, I asked "So why did you give that man so much money? Based on how you are speaking, we will have to do it ourselves and not rely on him giving any help."

With a look of annoyance, Smith answered with, "Some people will do anything to capture mages in this city, so I paid him specifically to keep quiet about how two mages are in this city."

Smith then got up from the table and walked to the front table of the inn to most likely talk with the owner to get some beds to sleep in. Suddenly, my smelling sense activated by itself and a smell of bloodlust filled my nostrils, completely blocking out the smell of the sea. The sense of bloodlust was powerful enough that I could feel it even from inside of a building. Standing up, I walked to the door and outside, turning in the direction of where the bloodlust was. A hand came down on my shoulder and I whipped around to find Smith also looking in the same direction.

"That amount of magical power is insane, best to not get involved at all." Smith said.

"Magic? I sense bloodlust not magic." I answered with confusion.

"All the more reason to not get involved" Smith said as he walked back into the inn.

Something was off with the bloodlust though; it was the bloodlust of only one person and there was no one else around that person at all. Not heading what Smith had said, I started toward the direction of that bloodlust with confusion more than anything. Then, all the sudden, the bloodlust slackened and died off. Rushing to where I felt the bloodlust was last felt, I noticed all around me that a group of other people were doing the same thing. When I reached the last known area of bloodlust, there was nothing to be seen. Looking around in confusion, I noticed a person who was leaning against a wall crying. His clothes were torn and dirtied, but I could tell that he was at least somewhat rich. Walking towards the man, I prepared myself for anything that he was about to do. When I was about to touch him though, a very strong wave of anger came off him and forced me to pull my hand back. Angry with myself for pulling back, I grabbed him and turned him towards me. A fist came flying at me for doing that though. I dodged the fist by squatting down. I swiped his legs out from under him and he landed with a hard thud. Getting up, I placed my shoe on the center of the chest to hold him down. I could tell that he was angry, but it seemed like his anger was not directed at me at all.

"I have a few questions for you if you are willing to answer them." I say.

"I'd prefer it if you killed me though." The man said with a smile when he realized that he could not remove my foot.

A crowd of people were starting to form around me as they noticed a man being attacked. Removing my foot from this man and pulling him up, I forced him to walk with me as I started to understand. The man had no way to fight back against me, so he gave up in resisting and simply walked by my side.

"Were you the one who released the immense amount of bloodlust?" I asked quietly.

With a simple nod from the man, I asked, "Why release that much bloodlust? When I found you, you were not surrounded by anyone, so it very clearly wasn't for anyone in Kraken's City."

"It doesn't really matter anymore, I was betrayed by my own people and then abandoned here in Kraken's City. That fit of rage was just the lingering thoughts of how they destroyed all of the hard work that I put in." the man said soullessly.

"Oh, and who is it that destroyed everything?" I asked.

"The Capital" the man said simply.

Anger started to well inside of me at the sound of the Capital coming from this man's mouth. The entirety of my clan was destroyed by the Capital and I joined the revolutionary army in hopes that I would get the revenge that I wanted. In the heat of the moment in war, I let the grudge towards the Capital be released allowing me to experience joy but, in this situation, there was nothing to fight so the anger just bubbled inside of me.

"Seems like we have a common enemy. How about you work for me since you seem to have no purpose in life. I can give you the revenge that you want when I get rid of my partner." I said with a sly smile.

The man turned towards me with doubt clear on his face.

"The Capital is the safest place that exists on this continent, two or three people can't simply enter the Capital and kill all of the corrupt leaders." The man said as if lecturing a child.

"That's what you think," I laughed aloud "but I can supply you with the greatest chance of getting that revenge since I hold the same burning passion. You have nowhere left to go, and you have completely given up on life so why not use the life that you have been given to work with me. Anyone else who wants to offer you this deal might not have the same end goal in mind of destroying the Capital, but I do."

"I will follow you around for the time being to gage your abilities. If your abilities hold up to my standard, I will follow you for the rest of my life." The man stated with doubt still clear in his voice.

"How exactly are you planning on gaging my abilities though?" I ask.

"By me following you around, you will eventually get into trouble and show off some of your skills." The man said.

Walking in silence with the man, I enter the inn from where I came to find Smith sitting worriedly at a table. When he sees us enter, he stands up and rushes over.

"I told you to not get involved in any of the gangs in this city. Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Smith whispered.

"I'm pretty sure you said to me when I signed the contract that I can do whatever I want with my free time and that you could care less" I said with a smug smile. "I simply did whatever I wanted."

Finding it unable to continue this conversation without creating a scene, Smith guided the man and me to the table where he was sitting.

Starting calmly, Smith said, "Who is this man? I paid for only one small room to keep much of my money; it cannot possibly fit another person in it. Also, you used a portion of your power to track this man right, how do you know that you weren't being tracked?"

"My name is Lopdow Mardrew" the man answered for himself, "I was an important figure before and then I was betrayed. This man here has promised that he would give me the revenge that I seek if I were to follow him. Without anything else to do, I decided to follow."

"Revenge?" Smith asks questioningly while turning towards me.

"You never asked about my real main purpose of being a part of the revolutionary army, so I never told you. I want the same kind of revenge as this man so I thought we could work together." I said with a smirk.

Smith looked Lopdow up and down before pulling me away from the table.

"Can we trust him?" Smith asked.

"Yes, he had no reason to live before this and so I am simply giving him a mission. The eyes of someone who doesn't know what to do or how to live are impossible to replicate." I said. "Also, he is the one who created the giant aura of bloodlust, so I think that he is at least powerful."

"If he is to stay with us for today, he will have to sleep somewhere else. Also, are you sure you weren't followed?" Smith said.

"I am quite certain that I wasn't followed, I would have smelled them if they did." I answered calmly.

"I'm surprised you weren't followed since you are wearing a beginner mage cloak. The fact of the matter is that we cannot sleep outside because we are mages." Smith said.

With a sigh, Smith headed back to the table and explained the situation to Lopdow, even giving the information about my powers and how he was a mage.

"Why tell him all of that?" I ask Smith as I sit down.

"When I was talking, I continuously lied to and he gained the look of hopelessness in his eyes that you said he had and that's when I could truly trust him. Based on what you said about how he will follow us, I decided to tell him so that he can help us when our power fails in certain circumstances." Smith said.

"Seems like you are the only one he can turn to right now. With him as a partner though, I can use him to gather information about the guardian of the first forbidden zone and its possible weakness."

"He's not quite our ally yet, we can't exploit him just like that." I say.

"When a chance of salvation is offered to someone, they will do anything to accept that deal, I did the same thing with you and you agreed to a blood contract." Smith said seriously. "It's the same concept, so we can use him already."

Explaining what it is exactly that Lopdow should do while we rest, he agrees and leaves the inn. Smith leads me up the stairs of the inn to the room that we would be staying at. The room really was small with only the ability to fit one small be, a chest, and some wooden flooring. With nothing of importance to do in Kraken's City, I chose to rest on the floor.