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Asahi would find himself on his way towards his next assignment.
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He was tasked with helping to bring back an ancient sword from a dig site out in the forsaken region. The sword was to be taken to the capital where it would then be placed within a museum for people to see it. Asahi wasn’t too keen on the idea of just hanging the sword up as some sort of decoration but of course he had no say in the matter. If it was up to him he would have gotten such a blade restored with the hopes that maybe it held some secret magical power. However thing such a thing was possibly a bit outlandish, and most likely the sword were very ordinary and meaningless which is why they were putting it in a museum.
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As he would arrive at the dig site he was being watched from a distance. Three people dressed in black cloaks watched Asahi from a distance and they would begin to speak to each other. “He has grow quite a bit hasn’t he?” One would say to the other 2. The one woman among the group would reply with a giggle before saying “Yes he has, it almost makes me feel like a proud older sister. Maybe this should have been the child we kept, his brother is a bit… disappointing.” The third and final member of the group would simply say “Why do you 2 concern yourselves with him? He is not our priority, this is simply a coincidence. We came here for the sword and the sword is what we shall have… even if we must kill that boy.”
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As the three of them watched Asahi he was making his way through the dig site and began to make his way to speak with whoever was in charge. He was soon greeted by a very short older man, accompanied by a much taller and much younger woman. The older man would smile towards Asahi before saying “Greetings young man, you must be the magic knight they sent to escort the sword back to the capital.” The young knight would bow before speaking saying “Yes my name is Asahi, junior magic knight 5th grade.” The older man would look at his assistant who would simply shrug, before he would turn back and face Asahi saying “Im kinda surprised they would send a rookie such as yourself alone, but im sure they sent you for a reason. Someone had faith in you completing this assignment so I will have that same amount of faith.” Asahi would say to the man “Thank you and I promise I won’t let you down. So where is this sword that im supposed to be taking?” The man’s face would light up before pointing off ins the direction of a tent a short ways away. “I thought you would never ask, its right over here inside my tent. Lets get it packed up and secure so that you can get on the road.” And so the three would head over towards the tent to pack and secure the sword for transport.
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Meanwhile when that was happening, the three masked figures were making some sort of plan. It would seem that the sole woman of the group was to under take their mission alone. She would look at her 2 male companions as they were about to depart from her she would suck her teeth saying “The boss told all of us to do this, so why are you leaving me to do it alone?” She was clearly upset at the fact she was leaving them as it could be heard in her voice, meanwhile her male companions were unbothered as one would say “You are a big girl right Mariah? Well act like it! We got other things to do, besides can you not sense the kid’s magic level? He is no threat, just kill him and take the sword.” After this was said the man would wave his hand, opening a spatial portal in front of him and the other man. The two would then walk into it, and right after they went in a group of 5 soldiers would walk out. Once the soldiers walked out of the portal it would quickly close, and the soldiers would bow towards the woman named Mariah.
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“Lady Mariah, we are here to assist you under orders of the master. Please give us your command.” Mariah would then sigh before she would begin to explain how she planned to take the sword from an unsuspecting Asahi. Meanwhile back at the dig site Asahi, the old man, and his assistant had the sword packed for transport. The sword was placed within a very protective carrying case, and inside that the sword itself was wrapped in magical cloth that had a special protection rune placed on it. The old digger would look to Asahi and say “Ok young man you are good to go. Please make sure that sword makes it back safely, that thing is the best discovery of my career.” Asahi would smile and give the man a thumbs up before saying “No worries I will get it there without incident.” The sword mage would attach the sword to his back via the special carrying case. He would then begin to make his trip headed towards the Royal Capital, however Mariah was watching him and was closely behind.
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It had been about 20 minutes of walking and Asahi had not had any issues so far. He knew not what was soon to come but at this point he had begun to let his guard down as the mission began to feel too simple and easy. Suddenly he would be bombarded with a volley of smoke bombs, the cloud of smoke they created blocking any and all vision he once had of the area. When the smoke began to clear Asahi could see that he was surrounded by 6 figures that he did not recognize. The woman stood in the center of the men looking directly at Asahi. She would remove her cloak revealing a young woman with a joyful smile and red hair. She wore clothes similar to some scholarly girl but the energy gave off felt like pure malice and hate. “Well hello there young man its been a while since I last seen you. Its been like what 8 years now right? Now I would love to stay and catch up however I have an important job to do here, so I need you to hand over that sword.” Asahi was lost by the woman’s words, how could she have possibly known him? The thing that troubled him most was the fact she said 8 years, and that was around the time Asahi had lost his family. The young swordsman would release his grimoire before saying “I don’t know who you are but you’re crazy if you think I am just going to give up this sword. And why are you talking about eight years ago?” The woman would giggle with glee and say “Oh my you really don’t remember huh? You don’t recognize me? I was there the night we killed your family, I am one of the people who helped sell you as a child… Call me Mariah. Well actually if you don’t give up that sword you won’t be calling me anything, because you will be dead.”
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Asahi was trying to process what he had just heard however it was too hard of a task. His emotions seeming began to flair up, and he would begin to lose his cool and calm attitude. Without saying another word he would reach towards his back and immediately rush forward as he said the words “DARK SHADOW!!!!!!!” Just as he rushed forward he would summon forth his blade and deliver a crushing downwards strike to the skull of one of the 5 soldiers with Mariah. All this happened very fast to the point Mariah herself even had a bit of trouble following it. However as soon as Asahi begun to attack Mariah would make sure to move herself along and out of the way. The man Asahi had just attacked was dead with that singular blow, and he would then turn his attention to Mariah. “My oh my, look at you! I didn’t think a sweet kid like you would ever kill anyone… I guess what they say about those mantles changing people is right. Then again you always belonged to a family of murderers so can I really be surprised? Boys you finish the kid and come meet me when its done.” Asahi would yell out to the woman “DONT YOU RUN YOUR MOUTH THEN RUN AWAY LIKE A COWARD!!!” Mariah was seeming to enjoy seeing Asahi so mad as she would smile at him and say “Oh no kid im not running, im simply testing you. If they don’t kill you don’t worry we will meet again.” The woman would blow Asahi a kiss before a portal would open in front of her and she would travel through it.
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Asahi was now left to face the 4 remaining soldiers, who had now encircled him. After killing the first soldier Asahi can tell that these men were very weak and frail, almost as if the woman Mariah didn’t expect the boy to be so strong. *I guess she was expecting someone similar to the boy I once was back then. However I can’t be the same boy as that boy didn’t have a four leaf grimoire!* Asahi would deal with the 4 soldiers with relative ease, unfortunately due to his rage he managed to kill all 5. Blood was splattered across the battlefield, however Asahi would treat the fallen soldiers as if they were slain beast and left their bodies for the maggots and flies to consume. He had managed to keep the sword undamaged and in his possession, and so he would continue to make his way towards the Capital.
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The young sword mage had begun to calm down more and more as he got closer and closer to the capital. Within about 20 minutes he would arrive to his destination, which was the museum that was to house the sword. He was met by a woman wearing a suit, who was protected by two massive men. The woman would look over Asahi and see that he was covered in minor cuts, scrapes, and bruises to which she would say “It appears you had some difficulty getting here hmm? No matter no need to explain anything to me, I see you still have the sword and that’s all that matters. Jargen, take the sword and examine it.” The tall hulking heap of a man would say not a word, instead he would walk and approach Asahi while holding his hand out waiting for the sword to be placed in it. Asahi would unstrap the blade from his back before placing it in the hands of Jargen. The huge man would take the sword, carefully unwrapping it to begin his examination.
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Taking the sword out of its first case was no problem, however once the man got to the magic cloth and rune covered layer he would release his grimoire and begin to cast a spell of his own. His grimoire would glow and he would point his finger at the rune before saying “Release!” Suddenly the runes on the cloth would glow and the magic cloth would break down revealing the sword. The man would then hold the sword to the light and look over the old rusty blade, before looking over towards the woman and nodding. “Well Jargen believes everything to be in good shape, so you’re job here is done young knight. Jargen go and take the blade inside and have the smiths start the restoration process.” Asahi would watch as the man would walk off to handle the task given to him. Asahi would look towards the woman and bow before saying “Thank you, im glad my job was done satisfactorily. I will take my leave now.” And with that Asahi would walk off to begin heading back home. As he made his way home he would think about the events that had occurred. He was questioning who the woman was and the words she said. *Could she really be a part of that group? It makes no sense… Why would she reveal herself to me? So many questions and next to no answers. Maybe I should slow down on the missions for a while, put my focus back into finding out where my siblings are.*
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As he would walk he would see a bird flying over his head and within a few moments the bird would fly down and land on his shoulder. Asahi would look to the bird and notice that it had a note tied to its foot. He would gently grab the bird and pull the note from its foot, before he would release the bird to fly away. Asahi would unravel the rolled note before beginning to read its words ‘You have shown us how much you have grown… maybe trying to sell you was not the right choice. We want to thank you for the demonstration of your power. Just remember, we are watching.’ Asahi’s face would ball up into an angry frown before he would take the note and chuck it into the wind. *We shall see who will be watching who in the end… I will end them and find my family.*