TBATE - Lightseeker

I followed the suspicious individuals back to a nearby cave, one that wasn't listed on my map, and we walked inside. The walk took us roughly three hours, and almost nothing was said throughout the whole journey. I walked slightly behind the four, maintaining a safe distance. I call it a safe distance, but that woman with the snake could definitely catch me if I tried to run. The 'strongest swordsman' can't be slow either. 

The cave entrance was covered in vines, masking its opening to prevent anyone from finding it. If I hadn't seen them enter before me, I would have doubted this was a cave entrance. The tunnel was lined with wooden posts holding burning torches, providing us with just enough light to see where we were going without the need for magic. The walk through the narrow stunned took just minutes before we reached an expansive clearing. The clearing was large enough to contain a small town but was filled with large, thick trees. We approached the trees and I placed my palm on one of the thick trunks. These are man-made... A powerful plant mage? We walked for another 5 or so minutes and reached a large wooden house with no front door. "Wait here, I will go tell the others of your arrival." The woman with the snake instructed me as the four of them entered the large house.

"Come in." A feminine voice I had never heard before called out to me. Entering the house, I saw 8 figures standing in a line. "My name is Belladonna Hemlock. I am the leader of this little group of revenants. These are my associates..." She introduced herself and the people standing around her. I got a good look at all of them. The leader, Belladonna, was a tall Elven woman roughly 185 cm in her mid-thirties with short charcoal-coloured hair, red lipstick, and black pearl earrings. She wore formal black pants and a black shirt tied high on her waist, pushing up her cleavage and showing her stomach. On her feet, she wore flat dress shoes with an open top, showing the top of her feet. She had a large cloak with a blue and purple gradient that fell to her ankles draped over her shoulders. She had a small black wand held in a belt loop on her pants. She introduced herself as a High Silver core water and plant conjurer. She had a green gemmed ring on her right thumb. The forest outside must be her doing. 

The next, on her right, was a tall man roughly 195 cm in his mid-thirties with short cropped black hair, black sunglasses and an 'X' scar on his chin. He had no shirt on, showing his many tattoos - a snake on his ribcage, a sword between his pectorals, a bleeding heart on his chest, and many more. He had a large black cloak draped over his shoulders falling down to his calves, with a thick gold chain around his neck. He wore black dress pants and formal black leather shoes. He fit the typical crime boss look. Belladonna introduced him as 'Cobra', a solid silver half-dwarf fire and metal augmented with a metal deviant and an AA-class Sand Worm beast will. He had a brown gemmed ring on his left thumb. The guy from the wanted poster... 

Hugh Baker - 'Badger', as they call him - was another tall man roughly 190 cm. On his right hand was a dark silver metal spiked knuckle duster, and on his left, a purple gemmed ring on his pinky. He too had black pants, with black combat boots instead of dress shoes and a black leather jacket zipped halfway up with a black crewneck weather underneath and a white beanie on his head. He was an Initial Silver earth and gravity augmented. Another guy from the wanted posters, the local thug leader. 

She reintroduced me to Rindo, who now had his New Dawn cloak off, and I got a better look at him. On his head, he had a large shallow cone hat identical in size to the New Dawn straw hat but all black with coloured images on each half. On one side, a rising Sun over a beautiful flower garden, and on the other a setting Moon over a barren wasteland. He wore no shirt, but a large black curtain tied around his neck acting as a cape with a red scarf. He had old pants that were ripped at the ends and only went down to his calves and thick wooden sandals that clacked when he walked. His ring was red, on his left pinky finger. He looked more like a fraudulent wandering seer than the continent's best swordsman.

The final member I had not met was another half-dwarf woman of medium height, roughly 170cm with pink hair so light it almost looked white. She had light pink lipstick, light pink nails and a ring of the same colour on her right middle finger. She had a white blouse with a maroon suit, dress pants of the same colour and black dress shoes, with a white Royal Guard Captain's coat adorned with gold epaulettes and the word 'Captain' engraved down the middle over her shoulders. She was a light yellow core earth and metal conjurer in her early twenties. The woman from the poster. That coat is definitely not hers... I can't imagine a half-blood could become a member - let alone a captain - of the Royal Guard. Spoils of war? She wears it to show off her triumph over one of the strongest mages in the Royal family's court, I'm assuming. Impressive. 

The leader, Belladonna, led us all to a long table with 10 chairs and we all sat down. She sat at the head of the table and Cobra sat directly opposite her with everyone else filling in random seats. She briefed us all on what we were about to do, even if it was only four of us who were going. We were to hold up a stagecoach carrying a Dwarven Royal family's adviser who supposedly met with an Alacryan envoy somewhere within the Glades close to the Dwarven country. We are to take him hostage and interrogate him on the location of the Alacryan camp and what they were discussing, and we can earn a good profit from the hostage trade.

After Belladonna's introduction of the crew, she asked me if I would be willing to join their ranks for a 'trial mission' of sorts before truly joining. I was still sceptical about this band of thieves but decided to trust them as we shared a mutual goal. She gave me a cloak and hat, but no ring just yet. There were eight members besides me and it seemed they were down one. I asked them about the final member but got no clear answer, just a simple 'he's no longer part of the organisation' from Cobra and decided to leave it alone. They do still have his ring, so there is the potential for a new recruit. Belladonna also told me what the rings do. They allow passage through the barriers and act as a long-distance communication device between ring-bearers. So the invisible wall of mana I found in my last dungeon dive was theirs... A secret hideout perhaps? 

.....

Lucy, Cobra, Ada and I walked through the fake forest towards the exit and discussed our plan for the mission. The Royal adviser would be resting in a town about a two-day journey from the border of the Dwarven kingdom at the bottom of the Great Mountain Range that separates the Human Kingdom and the Dwarf Kingdom from the Elf Kingdom and the Beast Glades. We are to intercept their travel from that town to the mountains before they can enter the border of Darv. We estimate they will arrive at the town 7 days from now, and that town is roughly a four-day travel from the New Dawn's main hideout.

During our walk, I learned from Ada herself that the reason she wears Elven battle robes despite being a Human is out of respect for her foster mother, Belladonna, who took her in from the streets when she was starving. I also learned she is quite the prodigy. She awoke just before turning six, and in just two years has become a light red stage fire augmented with a lightning beast will. She seemed very eager to tell me about her S-class beast will - A lightning giant - that Belladonna got her for her eighth birthday. I also talked to Lucy. She was a very kind woman who gave off a big sister-like feeling. I tried to talk to Cobra, and although he was nicer than his appearance would suggest, he was still quite uninterested and only wanted to talk about the mission plan.

...

After two days of travel, night was approaching, and we set up a small camp in a small collection of trees and greenery. Lucy conjured a large net of metal, preventing anything large creature from getting in.

After we had finished setting up camp, Lucy and Cobra began to prepare food, and Ada challenged me to a friendly duel. We stood roughly 5 meters from each other and Lucy counted down from 10. On 1, we both darted for each other, preparing spells. Lightning arced up and down her body and I conjured ravens of light behind me and a sword of white fire in my right hand. My sword and ravens slashed at her at the same time, and she weaved through them and punched for my stomach. I rotated my body out of the way and brought my sword above my head to slice down at her. A staff appeared in her hands and met my sword, sending electricity into my sword and dispelling it. I weaved out of the way of her electrified staff and dashed behind her with a dagger of light in each of my hands. As the point of my dagger was just centimetres from her back, lightning aggressively arced up and down her body before she vanished from my sight. Anticipating a strike from behind, and changed the state of my body into light and appeared on the branch of a nearby tree. "How did you do that?" She questioned.

"I could ask you the same thing."

We ended our duel and sat down at the campfire asking each other questions about our abilities. "I call it 'blink'. I increase the mana output inside my body and dash at such a high speed that is almost impossible to track me. It only works very short distances though. My maximum distance currently is just shy of 5 meters." She explained the ability she demonstrated in our duel." Your turn."

"I change the state of my body into light and can move well beyond light speed, reappearing after I change my state back where I moved to. It's basically the same as your blink just with a different concept. You increase mana output, I change the state of my body. The principal works in many ways, like for example I can become intangible as long as I become light before the attack lands. Meaning as long as I can see it coming - which as long as it isn't moving faster than light, I can - I am immune to projectiles and physical strikes. I'm basically invincible as long as my senses are powerful enough." I explained.

"Damn, that's useful. That's like the opposite of my beast will." She chuckled.

"What does your beast will do?" 

"It forms a guardian of lightning from my body that has insane durability. Unlike yours, which is useful for evading attacks, my will lets me tank almost any attack beyond a certain threshold." She seemed very proud of her will. Understandably, considering how powerful it sounds. "It also has some attacks too, like throwing lightning bolts and crushing things with its hands."

We enjoyed our food while talking about various spells and elements, like what we thought the strongest or most useful elements were before going to sleep. Although I don't need to eat, I'll never pass up an opportunity to eat a good meal.

.....