This is a story about Cyan Bernalette, a young girl that tries her hardest to beat the injustice that falls before her and her family.
She had beautiful long blonde hair and mesmerizing blue eyes. She was always portrayed as a princess by her friends back then and they really love to spend their time together as if nothing else could destroy their fun forever and ever. Now, she wears rugged clothes and a gauntlet to hide her beautiful fingers.. She tied her hair and hide them behind her worn helmet....
This is a story about Cyan Bernalette, a young girl that tries her hardest to beat the injustice that falls before her and her family.
She had beautiful long blonde hair and mesmerizing blue eyes. She was always portrayed as a princess by her friends back then and they really love to spend their time together as if nothing else could destroy their fun forever and ever. Now, she wears rugged clothes and a gauntlet to hide her beautiful fingers. She tied her hair and hide them behind her worn helmet. She wore a black mask as if she doesn’t want anyone to recognize her. Her blue eyes are the only remnant that she brings from the past.
“AHOY lads, here we finally are!!! now go unload those boxes AND DON’T YOU DARE DROPPING ANY SINGLE ONE OF EM!!”
A big chunky old man with a tiny mustache shouted to his ship crews. Cyan starts to help move the boxes to a nearby carriage on the dock.
“Thank you for letting me aboard your ship.”
She said to the chunky old man after finishing with the cargo. The old man replies with a laugh and leaves to deliver the boxes with some of his crewmates.
“This is it,” Cyan thought to herself. “My journey starts here.”
Cyan was excited and scared at the same time but she still pushes through because there is no choice for her but to do it. On the way after she left the dock, she saw a big but worn metal gate with a wooden board that reads “Welcome to PortHumming” hanging on the top of the gate. She looks around to find a merchant or someone to ask for directions to the local guild.
The town was quiet. There is no sign of market activity nor any busybody working here and there like a port town is supposed to be. Most of the high buildings were clouded with dust and the stores were closed, not showing any hint of the glory the market used to have. After a few minutes walk, Cyan stopped at what was supposed to be an Inn and peek into its windows.
“Need something?”
A beautiful black-haired woman carrying a broom startled her making her instinctively move back and get ready for combat.
“Hahaha, what? you’re gonna rob my broom and run?”
“I’m sorry. I was just a bit startled..” she put back her sword into its sheath.
How could I not hear her steps?? I need more training.
“Sooo.. is there anything I can help, little child?” the woman asked again.
“Ah, y-yes. Of course. I’m just looking for a hunting job or something. Could you please show me the way to the local guild?” Cyan asked the beautiful lady with a worn-out brown gown.
“Sigh, I knew it. There really are a lot of youngsters like you trying to become adventurers huh? This is that damned king’s fault!” the woman cursed the king.
“Ummm, so where is the guild?” I refuse to join her cursing.
“You can go left at the fork and you will see the old guild base. After that, you can just follow the small clearing behind the old guild base to find the small new base.”
“Old guild base?”
“Yep, the guild operating costs are probably too much for them to handle so they just moved to a small house behind their guilds. I doubt you would even find a nice paying job there you know.” the woman continues to explain.
“Hmm, but at least I will still try going there first and see what I can find. Thank you for your time miss.”
Laughed, the woman replies “You can just call me Eve. I’m too old to be called a miss. Come here if you need lodgings, I have a lot of empty rooms because of that b*stard king.” and she continues to curse the king.
“Sure! I’m Cyan by the way. I’ll go check the guild now, thanks again!”
Cyan runs happily after her encounter with a beautiful and friendly woman near her thirties.
As she continued to walk Cyan finally saw the run-down guild that was long past its glory. She looks around and found a clearing that leads to the small house behind the guild. Reluctant at first but she knocked at what was supposed to be a wooden door of a guild but it very much looked like just someone’s house.
Not long after that, a guy wearing some odd clothes comes out and welcomed her.
“Ah, an adventurer! Come, come please come inside.”
A very old house with worn-out furniture and a small job board shows immediately. Inside the house, she can see two bulky people with bald heads sitting on a table on the far side of the counter with multiple empty glasses showing how drunk they are. At the counter near the job board, a guy dressed in a white tunic with a blue doublet and a seemingly happy face notice her and smiles. Cyan goes in with a confused look and immediately went to the job board. The guy happily stands at the small counter and waits for the blonde young girl to finish looking around.
“Umm… I’m sorry but is this the job board?” I asked.
“Yes! It might not look like it but it is this town’s job board.”
“Searching for cats, helping an old man to water his garden, helping the fisherman… Is there no hunting quest?”
“Yes. This is what we currently have. PortHumming has been so peaceful that it does not really need a guild to run it.”
“What happened?”
“Well… We used to be one of the greatest trading hubs between the south and the north you know.” He explained while pointing to the old pictures hanging in the room.
“Portland. That was our old town's name a few years ago, the docks used to be so full of life, the market was lively and there were a lot of people come and go from the south to the north to trade and find a living.”
“Monsters spawn near crowded cities like that, some monsters like Goblins like to rob people when they were traveling, and that’s where we come in. The Guild will do jobs to protect and clear the monsters around the area.”
“So, what makes Portland become this deserted?” I asked as I took a chair near him and sit down.
“The Second Great War of course. When the Northern Army comes to obliterate the South they sweep all the monsters along the way to Portland. And when they succeeded to level the South they abandoned them somehow and leave Portland on its own. No one is permitted to go South from here and no one really comes from the South either… Portland which used to be the hub between countries has just become an isolated town at the tip of the Northern Kingdom.” explained him sadly.
“I see… But is there really no one from the South who comes here after the war?” Cyan cut him off to ask a question.
“No ship has come from south as long as I remember. Only Birgarnd’s ships from the far east have come to deliver goods to the king once a month. I can’t even imagine what happened in the South. After the war, the King renamed our town to PortHumming and didn’t really care about it. Our people gradually began to move out to the Kingdom to find a living, knowing that this town won’t survive any longer.”
“Can’t you leave with them?”
BANG!!!
A sudden loud noise from the far side table shocks Cyan.
“YOU THINK THIS IS SOME KIND MUSEUM FOR HISTORY LESSONS EH KID???” One of the bulky guys shouts.
“Ahahaha sorry! Well, enough about us. What do you want to do now? I could probably write some official guild pass if you want to move to another city and find a better job board.” the guy tries to cool down the situation.
Cyan removes her glares from the two bulky guys and return to the counter “No. Please let me take the search job. I want to stay in this town a bit longer.”
“Nice! You are a good girl, aren’t you? You can call me Gabe, and you can sign here for the contract.” The guy’s happy face shows immediately.
“I will finish this and will come back here after it’s done.”
“I know searching for a cat is not really a good quest but still, good luck on your search Cyan! Oh and maybe you also want to find Eve for lodgings if you need to stay a bit longer,” said Gabe happily having an adventurer taking his quest after so long.
“Yes, I have met her already. She seems like a nice lady. Thanks again, Gabe!” Cyan starts to walk away to the inn without even looking at the two bulky guys.
= = = = =
“Sleep well?”
The beautiful black-haired woman asked when she saw Cyan coming down from the second floor.
“Yeah, Good morning Eve.” Cyan answered.
Eve is the innkeeper of PortHumming Inn. The woman in her early thirties usually starts her day by sipping tea on the counter while staring at the always-empty main road.
“Good morning Cyan.” Eve replies with a smile.
“I made some eggs with bacon for us, you okay with it?”
“Wow, thanks! You didn’t need to you know, I could probably eat something on the way.” Cyan gratefully sits and prepares to eat.
“Never work before breakfast; if you have to work before breakfast, eat your breakfast first. Or so my dad said” Eve happily sipping her tea.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
“Gabe’s cat?”
“Yes, I took the missing cat quest for my first contract,” I said.
“Got any info?”
“Hmm… The cat usually never leaves his master, Gabe. Heck, I have even seen them coming out of the bath together at some point.”
“You what???”
“Haha, forget that. Gabe has had that cat since she was a kitten you see, I think the cat probably sees Gabe as her mother or something,” explains Eve.
“Maybe Gabe tortured the poor cat from stress?”
“lol, no way. Gabe really loves the cat he even feeds her a grand cat food while he is eating dirt. He even named her Anne for god sake…”
“A beautiful name for a female cat, anything wrong with that?”
“Anne was… a friend. My friend. And also his late wife. She died 7 years ago.”
“…”
“… sorry,” Cyan said regretfully after bringing back awful memories.
“No worries, it’s been a hella long time after all. If you are looking for Anne you might want to try around the dock or the bread store, she loves going there with Gabe on his day off.”
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
After looking for Anne for a few hours around the dock and the used-to-be market asking people here and there, I didn’t find any clue or anyone who had seen the cat. I decided to go back to the guild and ask Gabe where to look.
“Anne was gone in the morning when I woke up. I tried to look around for days and I still didn’t really know where she is…” said Gabe on the brink of tears.
“When was the last time you see it? and is there anything weird that happens that day?” Cyan asked while writing any details in my notes like a detective in a movie.
“I noticed her gone three days ago… I think we were just playing around on the clearing near the forest entry on the day before that.”
“That’s it? Nothing else?”
“Yeah, We used to play catch at that glade. I don’t know why but she acts like a good dog even though she was a cat hahaha…” answers Gabe.
“But… I did notice something weird. At some point when we were playing catch, she kinda comes back a little bit longer than she used to. I was worried and tried to look for her but she eventually comes back after a while. She did bring the ball back though so I just thought that I threw it badly and she can’t find it easily. What's weird is that when I threw it again to continue to play catch she didn’t even try to search and just cuddled around my legs. I thought maybe she was hungry and we just return home after that.”
“And then she’s gone in the morning huh? Could you please show me that forest clearing?” Cyan responded while making a hard-thinking face.
“Sure, let me just close the base real quick. Adventurer never comes in anyway,” answered Gabe.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
“Here we are. The glade I used to play catch with her a bunch of times,” said Gabe when we both entered the forest clearing after one-hour walks from PortHumming.
“You sure you are fine going here with minimal equipment like that?” Cyan asked.
“Yeah, as I said before the Northern Army already cleared this whole area when they strike the south.”
“Alright, don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.”
“No problem kiddo. Even though I looked like this I still am the guild master and was one of the wonder-kid among the adventurers you know. This dagger should be enough for protection.” said Gabe proudly.
“Wait, you are the guild master!!??”
“Did I not tell you that?”
Cyan stares at him with skepticism.
“Sigh, so where was it? where did you throw the ball when she comes back late?” Cyan frown.
“I’m not sure… I didn’t really keep count you know, I just throw it randomly. I probably threw it around that part.” Gabe pointed to a tree behind bushes.
“Let’s go check it then.” We start walking towards the tree.
“Around here?”
“Yea but probably a bit further.”
“Alright, wait a sec,” Cyan said.
Cyan took out a piece of paper and starts writing some runic letters. The letters then start glowing green and she whispered, “Rivirä”. A little map appears replacing the letters that were written for a little bit before the paper starts to break down to dust and vanish to Cyan’s round and beautiful eyes.
“Hooo… You know how to write in runes? Not bad kiddo. What did it do?” asked Gabe while amazed at my skill.
“Nothing grand, just a little revealing spell to see your surrounding area a little bit quicker.”
“Can you teach me?”
“No.”
“Aww…”
“I found a cave a little bit further along that small path. Let’s check it out.” Cyan replied not caring about Gabe’s disappointed face.
“I never knew there was a cave in PortHumming…” said Gabe with a confused face.
“Because this cave was probably made by something recently.”
“Eh? Seriously? A cave this big?” Gabe’s face becomes more confused.
“Prepare yourself, Gabe.”
“A-Alright…” answers him. Gabe then recited strengthening and reinforcing spells to his body and his clothes. A typical spell for an ex-Warrior like him to do when he prepares for battle.
A rancid and horrid smell comes tickling their nose after a little bit of walking further inside the cave. The cave wall was slimy and stunk of dead and decayed animal parts. Gabe’s face really shows that he can’t believe what he sees and wondered what really happened here. He kept his dagger close to his body waiting for something he would probably never even face his whole life.
Cyan walks behind him holding a silver broadsword drawn from its sheath from her waist.
“Anne!!!”
Gabe runs hastily when he sees his cat slump in a corner of a cave wall. Covered in gooey green slime was Anne, Gabe’s cat who is in a really horrible condition. Dehydrated, bruised, broken legs really made what was usually a beautiful happy black cat hopping and running around PortHumming become a near-dead stray cat that just counting the time until its end.
“Here, give her this. It should hydrate her and heals her for a little bit” I give Gabe a small vial with a glittering red flowing inside it.
“Thank you…”
“You should probably be getting ready. Your shout just now didn’t really help our situation.”
Gabe gives the cat a little bit of the red potion and thankfully the cat reacted a bit, showing her life returned to her face.
The ground starts shaking.
The cave is vibrating, like how those arena spectators made the stadium roar when their champion comes out of the locker room to the field.
The vibration feels getting closer and closer over time and after a while, it suddenly stops.
“Dodge!” Gabe shouts while still carrying Anne on his arm.
Two big fangs came out of the ground trying to catch Gabe and Cyan’s legs.
A monster with a big walrus-like mouth springs from the ground scrambling Gabe and Cyan's battle formations.
It was a Tesák-Worm. A big silver worm with no eyes no ears no nose and just a pair of big fangs plus a mouth full of teeth surrounding its palate. Only its mouth size and its wickedness make people who had seen it regret ever facing this monstrosity.