Eldritch Guidance

In a distant land in the past. A ten year old child with black hair named Alan was looking through the rubble of a ruined home.

There was fire and chaos all around him. It was a warzone, but the little boy was determined to find what was buried beneath the rubble.

Alan: “Big sis, where are you?” He cried out, while moving debris

Another young boy rushed up behind Alan, calling out to him as he approached.

Boy: “What are you doing?” Yelled the blond hair boy while grabbing Alan's hand.

It was Alan’s best friend Cris. He had come to find Alan after the attack to take him to the evacuation point.

Alan: "It’s my big sis. I can't find her."

Cris: "It’s too late Alan, we gotta go. My dad says the army is going to be here soon."

Alan had heard the sirens when he was making his way home from school. He had managed to get into a shelter just as the bombing started.

After the series of explosions had ended, Alan had rushed home. His older sister was sick and bedridden today and would have been at home when the bombing started. He needed to know she was alright.

When he arrived, his house was nothing but a pile of rubble. He had been desperately trying to move the debris to find his sister, until Cris showed up.

Cris could see that Alan was about to cry and tried to calm him down.

Cris: ”It's going to be alright. She might be at the evacuation point already.”

He nodded as he tried to hold back the tears.

Both boys held each other's hands and started running toward the evacuation point, with Cris leading the way. They made their way through alleyways and took the long way around routes that were blocked or destroyed. The streets were covered in debris and half the buildings in the town were set on fire.

While they were running, Alan questioned Cris to get a sense of what was going on.

Alan: "Hey Cris, have you seen Lance."

Cris didn’t say anything and was looking away from Alan.

Alan thought that Cris didn’t hear him and was about to ask him again. He then looked closer at the side of Cris's face to see tears running down it.

Alan: “Cris…”

Cris: “My brother is gone. We gotta keep moving.” He said while struggling to hold back his own tears.

Alan was beginning to tear up a little again. He Knew what Cris’s words meant, and didn’t say anymore as he managed to force back the tears.

They continued running toward their destination when an explosion went off near the two boys. They were sent flying and the world around Alan spun.

Both of them landed on soft grass.

They were bruised, but mostly unharmed. They picked themselves up and looked towards where the explosion went off to see a giant man standing there engulfed in flames. The man slowly stepped outside the fire and swung a sword the size of a small person. The force from his swing was enough to dissipate the fire near him.

Once the fire was gone, both of the boys could see the monster that stood before them.

The man was completely clad head to toe in a sinister looking black armor with jagged spikes on the helm and shoulder guards. The thick iron sword he was wielding was serrated and had what looked like a real human skull fused into the guard. His appearance made him almost look like a demon from the old stories. Only his mouth and lower jaw were not covered, revealing a cruel smile.

Armored Man: “Well look at what we got here. Some fresh meat. Hahahahah.”

Alan and Cris shivered at the presence of the monster of a human. They wanted to desperately run, but were both trapped and frozen in fear.

When they thought all was lost, an explosion of ice and lightning hit the side of the monster and sent him flying into one of the nearby buildings.

From around the corner of another building, two men in red and white robes emerged wearing metal greaves and gauntlets. Elemental energy that blasted the armored man still crackled in their hands. They both bore the crest of knights belonging to the lord of the domain.

Knight: “Holy shit. Captain, is that guy even human? The blast sent him flying instead of ripping him in half.”

Knight Captain: “Soldier, there are civilians. Secure them while I hold him off.”

Knight: “C’mon captain, there is no way that guy could have survived that—” Before he could finish his sentence, the building that person crashed into exploded.

From the explosion, emerged what could hardly be called a man by the people there. The “person” was completely unharmed, despite being blasted directly with the knight's magic. There was a strange feeling that only the people present would have felt. It was a feeling that slightly unnerved the knights and terrified the children. It was a primal viciousness and a joy for violence that emanated from the armored man.

Armored Man: “Hahahaha. I thought I was going to get to butcher some kids, but you’ll do fine.”

Knight Captain: “Ugo of the Endless War Cult, what are you doing here?”

Ugo: "Isn't it obvious? It's what the cult does, but I know that’s not what you meant. The noble faction paid me and my boys to burn this place down. Though we would have done it anyways without the cash, but don’t let them know that. Full coffers mean more war and battles for us. Hahahahaha."

Knight Captain: “You fucking monster.”

Ugo: "Yeah yeah, enough talk. Let's fight." He said as he swung his sword and it became engulfed in flames, sending a blast of fire towards both the knights and children.

The knight captain put his hand on the ground and conjured a barrier of ice surrounding both the knight and the children.

It was a clash of ice and fire, and it looked like fire had the upper hand.

The flames slammed into the barrier and it began to rapidly deteriorate. The size of the barrier was cut in half and holes were forming in it, all from the one attack from Ugo.

Knight Captain: “Soldier! Stop gawking and secure those kids already!!!” He screamed while keeping himself faced to Ugo and maintaining what was left of his barrier.

The knight nodded. He then scooped up both kids in each of his arms. He muttered something under his breath and arcs of electricity started to come off his legs. He then ran at an inhuman speed, making a beeline towards the evacuation point.

The world the boys could see turned into blur for them. They were going by familiar streets and landmarks so quickly everything melded together in their vision.

Eventually they made it to the evacuation point.

It was crowded and chaotic. They were at a bus station near the edge of town. Countless people were all waiting to get onto the transport vehicles. Parents and children were wandering around yelling out the names of their loved ones.

Knight: “Ok, there ya go.” He said as he placed the boys onto the ground.

Alan: “Mr Knight, is that ice wizard going to be OK?”

Knight: “Don’t worry. My captain can handle anything.” He said with a fake confidence and smile. “Anyways, talk to those soldiers over there, they’ll make sure you’ll get to where you need to go.” He said while pointing to other Knights standing outside a transport vehicle.

Before the boys could ask the knight any more questions he zoomed away at lightning speed, leaving the boys by themselves.

Cris: “C’mon Alan, let's go find our parents.” He said as he walked towards the crowd.

Alan nodded and followed Cris.

Some time went by, but both Alan and Cris were eventually able to find their parents. However, Alan's sister was nowhere to be found that day.

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

Twelve years later.

In the courtyard of the Graheel college sat a group of three students studying for exams. One of the students sitting there was Alan, but now much older.

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Alan was currently staring off into space, thinking about the past.

???: Alan, are you awake?

Alan: “Huh.”

Alan was snapped back out of his daydreaming. He looked up to see his friend Sere looking at him a little annoyed.

Sere was an old friend of Alan. She had long silver hair and blue eyes, which match her blue and white robes. The symbol of Silverwing College, a pair of white wings, was embroidered onto the front and back of her clothing near the shoulders. Her complexion was light and by most people's account she was considered quite beautiful.

Sere: “You're spacing out again. We’re supposed to be studying for finals.”

Ginger hair student: "Yeah Alan. Maybe examinations are easier in the Lionheart college for you, but the Ember Gear examinations are brutal. So, don’t be spacing out and help me out man."

The other student sitting beside him was another of Alan's good friends, Jafar.

Jafar had messy unwashed short orange hair and wore thick glasses for his bad eyesight. His face was full of blemishes and the orange robes he wore were messy and crinkled in places. His overall appearance denoted a certain lack of hygiene, a stereotype students of the Ember college carried that Jafar was reinforcing by his current presentation.

Alan: “Sorry, just thinking about some random stuff.”

Sere: “Are you thinking about what happened last night at the police station?”

Alan: “No. What happened at the police station?”

Sere: “They say it was a terrorist attack.”

Alan: “Really? Who was it?”

Sere: “Well, I don't know. It is just a rumor afterall. The police haven’t released any official statement.”

Alan: “Ugh. You got me excited over nothing.”

Sere: “It’s not nothing. Something did happen at the police station last night. There was a loud alarm and police running all over the place. My home is near there, so I saw and heard everything.”

Alan: “But they haven’t released any official statement, so why assume it was a terrorist.”

Sere: “It's just what I read online. They said it would only be a matter of time before Graheel would be targeted by some cult or terrorist.”

Jafar: “Um, guys? Finals, remember?” he said a little annoyed.

Alan: ”Oh c'mon Jafar. We've been studying for hours already. It won’t kill us if we take a break once in a while. Besides, you're already a genius, so why bother studying”.

Jafar: “I'm not that smart. And, even if I were a genius I still would need to study. But, I get your point, so let's get something to eat instead of talking about random rumors.”

Sere: “Sounds good to me.”

They began to collect their books and pack them away into their bags. They were probably going to head off campus to find a restaurant to get lunch. Alan and his friends didn’t find that the restaurants available on school grounds were very good, so they often went into town when eating out.

They began to walk toward the exit of the courtyard when they heard a commotion. Looking toward the sounds, Alan and his friends saw a group of male students from the Gilded Sun college surrounding another student in gray and black robes.

In Graheel university there were seven colleges that students can join. The Gilded Sun was the second most influential of those colleges and it's members were denoted by their yellowish golden robes. It was a college that many of the aristocrats and the wealthy would attend. It also had a bit of a bad reputation amongst the other colleges. It was thought that many of the students from that college had inflated egos and were easily offended. So, students from other colleges would keep their distance from them, an unspoken rule that was currently being broken.

The person the Sun students were surrounding was from the Grayscale College.

Gilded Sun Student: “Who the fuck do you think you are. Bumping into us,” he said aggressively.

Grayscale Student: “B-but, you bumped into me,” he said nervously.

Gilded Sun Student: “Know your place plebeian. Are you trying to pass your blame off to Edward Scefer of house Scefer?”

Grayscale Student: “N-no. Let's just forget this happened and go our separate ways.”

Gilded Sun Student: “Too late now for that. No, you're gonna pay for the trouble you've caused.”

A bunch of bystanders were there watching the confrontation, unsure of what to do. Interfering with the affairs of the nobles was asking for trouble. It stopped people from speaking up, even if they knew what the Gilded Sun students were doing was wrong.

Sere: “Assholes. Don’t know why they don’t just stick to their side of the campus and leave the rest of us alone.”

Alan, seeing what was going on, walked over and put himself between the two students and confronted the Gilded Sun gang .

Alan: “Enough. Just like he said, go your separate ways.” He said while looking down at the Gilded Sun student.

His imposing presence unnerved the Gilded Sun student. Alan was quite tall in comparison to most other students. He stood at 6’7” (2 Meters) tall with broad shoulders, which was imposing to most.

The Gilded Sun student was able to quickly regain his composure and immediately went back to his own arrogant attitude he was displaying before.

Gilded Sun Student: “Pft, a Lionheart. Figures it would be one of you guys.”

The snide remark was in reference to the robes that Alan was wearing. Anybody who saw Alan’s uniform would know that these were the robes that students from the Lionheart college wore.

He wore a vibrant red and white robe with a fierce looking lion embroidered on his sleeves. His uniform was not that similar as the other students at the university, as it was more combat oriented. There were both small and large bits of protective metal plating woven into his clothing, which made him look more bulky in appearance than he really was.

There was a rivalry between the Lionhearts and the Gilded Suns, and it was intense. Many students from both colleges didn’t like each other, and that dislike was even being displayed here at Alan.

Gilded Sun Student 2: “Don’t let your head get too big just cause you're from the Lionheart college.” another Gilded Sun student said.

Gilded Sun Student : ”Yeah, ain’t that right Edward.” He said while looking over his shoulder.

All people from the Gilded Sun present turned toward the one standing at the center of the group, Edward Scefer.

He wore the same yellow and gold robes as the other Gilded Sun students present, but something about the way he wore it displayed a certain type of elegance in comparison to the others. Edward had short blond hair and hazel eyes with a sharp jawline. Many people would consider these features made him quite handsome in his appearance.

Edward looked uninterested and was displaying a very dismissive attitude at the whole situation.

Edward: “Enough. This is a waste of time. You degrade yourselves by talking to plebeians.”

Alan: “Yeah, better listen to your boss.” He said slightly sarcastically.

The dismissive look that Edward had turned into a glare directed toward Alan.

Edward: “Don’t get too full of yourself, commoner. Just cause you're a Lionheart doesn't mean I won’t put you in your place, but I have a schedule to keep. So, count yourself lucky,” he said, turning his back and walking away. His goon followed, giving Alan a quick glare before doing so.

Once the Sun students had walked some distance away, the Grayscale student quickly approached Alan.

Grayscale Student: “T-thank you. I didn’t know what to do there.”

Alan: “No problem. Just remember to stay away from anyone from the Gilded Sun. They are all assholes like that.”

Grayscale Student: “I know. I just got distracted and didn’t see them coming. Anyways, thanks again.” He said as he began to quickly walk away.

The surrounding people watching the altercation quickly went back to doing their own things.

Both Sere and Jafar came up to Alan, clearly a little giddy at what he just did.

Sere: “Trying to be the hero I see.” She said with a slight smirk.

Alan: “Someone needed to put those guys in their place.”

Jafar: “True, but you need to be careful. I hear that people from noble houses can hold grudges forever, so if you see those guys again they’ll probably try to mess with you.”

Alan: “They would have messed with me anyways, being from the Lionheart college and all. Anyways, what do you want for lunch?”

Sere: “Pasta, maybe?” Sere said, unsure if that was what she really wanted.

Jafar: “We had that yesterday. Let's try something different.”

While both of Alan's friends were discussing where to go for lunch, his attention began to wander to an unassuming individual standing off in the distance.

It was someone wearing green robes, a uniform worn by students of the Shroom Pact college. It was someone Alan had never met before. He was just standing there near the entrance of the courtyard looking at someone. Alan got a weird feeling from this person.

Without warning the guy flicked something out of his pocket that went into some nearby bushes. Alan then saw the bushes rustling, disturbed by whatever was thrown into it, a squirrel jumped out and ran quickly across the courtyard. The animal made its way towards another female student, before it tried to crawl up their leg. The female student then began to scream and panic.

Everyone around, including the Gilded Sun students who were about to leave, stopped what they were doing and stared at what was going on. The student was screaming and trying to deal with the squirrel crawling up her leg, but Alan's attention shifted from her towards some nearby birds that were disturbed by the woman's screams.

The bird's natural instincts to flee from loud sounds kicked in, and many took flight off a nearby tree. They flew as a flock, but one bird separated from the group and was heading towards someone in a hanging platform high up in a nearby building.

It was someone from the maintenance staff who was cleaning some windows. They were doing their job, when one of the birds flew into him. The sudden collision caused him to lose his balance and shake the platform he was on. The platform then swung erratically before slamming into the side of the building with a loud metal thud.

A series of cracks started to form on the wall from where the platform had impacted. More cracks formed by the second and climbed up the side of the wall to one of the overhanging statues that was at the top of the building.

Alan had witnessed the strange series of events and could see the statue shifting and about to fall. Looking below it, he saw the group of Gilded Sun members standing right below. No else one saw this, as everyone was distracted by the panicking girl. The statue shifted one last time and started to tilt forward off the edge of the building.

Alan: “Watch out!" Alan screamed.

The Gilded Sun students shifted their attention towards Alan, confused.

Seeing that they wouldn't be able to react in time, he raised his hand and focused his aether. The familiar energy was quickly concentrated and condensed into his hand, before exploding outward towards the Sun students as air pressure.

Some of the Gilded Sun students could see what Alan was doing, but were too shocked to react. Before Edwards' group knew it, they were blasted by a powerful gust of wind and sent flying.They all landed ungracefully, scattered about from one another.

One of the gilded sun students was quick to pick himself up and angrily shouted towards Alan.

Gilded Sun Student: “What the fuck do you think you're—” his words were interrupted as a statue came crashing down where they were just standing.

The statue smashed into thousands of pieces and shot dust up all around it. The commotion shifted everyone's attention towards Alan and the Sun students. There were some students that screamed in surprise, while others were aghast. Everyone in the courtyard was shocked. Not everyone knew immediately what was happening.

A few people did see Alan save Edward Scefer and his crew and were approaching them. Some of the bystanders were checking on the Sun students to ensure they were OK, while the others were impressed by what Alan did. A crowd was quickly being formed around Alan.

Random Student: “That was amazing, you saved them. A real hero like in the stories.”

Random Student 2: “Excuse me, I work for the college paper. Can I get your name and…”

Alan was surrounded and barraged with a series of questions and couldn't move.

He looked over at the Scefer crew to see them being helped up by some other students. Edward himself looked dazed, but mostly unharmed. Some of the others had a frustrated look to themselves. Alan could tell that many of the Sun students were clearly upset at being saved by a “commoner”. A fact he was able to derive a little bit of satisfaction from.

Seeing that they were OK, he looked towards the area where he saw the Shroom Pact college student. The person he was looking for was standing near one of the entrances to the courtyard. The Shroom Pack student was glaring at someone. He was getting a strange feeling from him again. Alan was good at reading other people's emotions, so it was strange. He felt like that person was maybe annoyed rather than surprised or horrified, like everyone else.

“It's almost like he knew what was going to happen.”

The Shroom Pact student went around a corner, out of sight, before Alan could call out to him.

Alan pushed through the crowd to chase after. He had quickly made it around the corner where the shroom student went, but he lost him. He was nowhere to be seen.

“There is something strange going on.” He thought to himself before he headed back to his friends.

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