Chapter 4: Incinerations and Investigations

Following: Kendra "Aurora" Krane

Time: 14:27, 34 of Early Fall, 2338 AF

Place: Outskirts of Hestead, North Prulier, The Ten Domains

Tens of thousands of people gathered to hear the beautiful Mabel Green speak her mind. The woman was constantly bad mouthed by government officials and radio stations alike for her idealist movements. Her latest petition was her biggest yet, and gained many supporters through spread of mouth alone. Despite the propaganda designed to put Mabel down, it had actually helped her, making people more and more aware of her, and therefore her latest movement.

Today, Miss Green was standing atop a cheap podium, only barely overlooking her followers. Her assistants chose the location wisely, picking a huge field with thousands of flowers, rolling green hills, and giant dark oaks. Mabel had dressed for the occasion, wearing a seafoam green dress and high heels. Her long brown hair was in a bun currently, with strands of hair hanging down the side of her face. She was not wearing any makeup because of her naturalist ideals, not that she needed it, of course.

Her supporters had come from all around. Most were from either North or South Prulier, but some were confirmed to be from surrounding Domains, such as Emaria, Testrya, and even some of the smarter Orcs from Vethon. Mabel had spoken to crowds before, but she'd never imagined that there'd be this many people willing to support her cause. Aside Mabel were her assistants; men and women that devoted their life to help the cause, free of charge. They all wore fine suits and sunglasses, as if bodyguards.

A half a kilometer away, Kendra Kane was watching the whole thing play out. She had her telescope out and was peeking into it to watch her mother speak her mind. She never had been a huge supporter of Mabel's movements, but she came to support them anyway, though she hated the politics that came after. Kendra had positioned herself on a boulder apart from the crowd, sitting down while chewing on some carrots while waiting for the speech to start. She felt her long brown hair sway in the faint breeze. The wind was a bit chilly, even when she was wearing a long-sleeved coat and pants. How her mother stood against the cold in that dress, she'd never know.

The temperature was fairly cold for Early Fall, albeit closing in on Mid Fall. The sky was clear except for a few remnants of clouds that had been blown from the direction of Esmaria. The nearby village of Hestead was a fairly small town, with small buildings and an even smaller population. The other two cities in North Prulier were far bigger, but Mabel was humble that way. As Kendra was drifting off, deep in thought, she heard mic feedback. The speech was starting. The speakers were very loud, in order to reach the humongous crowd. The people up front were even handed headphones so they wern't hurt from the volume.

"Hello, my dearest supporters!" Mabel opened. At the sound of this, the crowd went wild. thousands of cheers and whistles could be heard, even from Kendra's distant resting point.

"What a beautiful day for our Domain, huh? Today is the day we begin re-uniting North and South Prulier! Today, we march straight to the Northern capital, Stragos, and tell the vermin in office that we want unity! We will not suffer our rivalry any longer, we will become a single Domain again! We will implement a government into our new, conjoined Domain, rather than one half be ruled by government, and another by a King."

The crowd cheered once more, throwing their arms up high in celebration.

And that was when everything went to shit.

A tall man, probably in his early thirties, quickly climbed the stand and grabbed Mabel's hair, before pulling her close to him and taking out a runestone from his coat pocket.

"Nobody move!" The man yelled at the crowd, who were surprised. Most attendees shuffled back a few meters in fear, before regaining their ground and stared at the man. Mabel's assistants stood up in unisan and backed away, unsure of what to do.

Kendra tossed the telescope aside and bolted towards the stage. If she could get there in time, she could knock the man down with a runestone of her own. She was unaware what type of element he had in the runestone he was wielding, because each Magic user mastered each element one by one, in any order they wanted. Each element had the same types of moves, but the rune of an element is kept secret, an anyone other than the castor is unable to process the shape of the rune enough to remember it. They can see it, they just can comprehend it.

Every single being has the power and ability to cast a spell using a rune, but most don't because in order to gain the secret to an element rune, you have to undergo multiple tests that are reminiscent of torture. Kendra, who mastered the Water element, had to almost drown in a pool, repeatedly get whipped by water for an hour, and survive without water for a week. She planned to master the Ice element next, and could only imagine what that test was like.

As she ran through the field, she listened to what the man was saying.

"I work for the King of South Prulier himself! If he's removed from power and replaced with a rotten government, than my life's work is over, and I'm out of a job! South Prulier has retained a monarchy for years, do you expect us to just get rid of it within a month because some broad said so? We won't listen! We have been getting on just fine for generations! Why would we change?"

Kendra was in the middle of the crowd trying to get to the stage now. She was shoving and pushing people aside in order to get through the fastest way possible, before a man grabbed her arm. As she turned to look at him, she noticed a young man, not much older then her, shake his head. He had deep blue eyes, curly brown hair, and a scared look on his face.

She tried to shake herself free, but the man had a strong grip. His fingernails were digging into her arm, causing her to bleed. She knew he meant well, but now was not the time! As time was quickly running out, her eyes filled with tears. She managed to pull herself out of the man's grip, but it was far too late. When she ran up to the stage and jumped to get on, the terrorist noticed her, and activated the rune, which glowed a dark purple, before blowing up.

Purple flames were the last thing Kendra saw before blacking out.

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Following: Atlas

Time: 14:58, 34 of Early Fall, 2338 AF

Place: Outskirts of Hestead, North Prulier, The Ten Domains

The scene was certainly a devastating one. As Atlas tread along the sunny field, he watched the investigations going on with an intense stare, watching every movement, pretending he was just another onlooker. A large crater stood in place of where the stage used to be. He could spy about a dozen charred corpses in the middle. Orange Patrol tape prevented people from getting too close, but If you act like you're in the right place, people won't question.

Atlas ducked under the tape and stared into the crater. He could hear a crowd of people talking over each other and yelling at the patrol officers about the situation. Now that he got a closer look at the bodies, he could identify them properly. The one in the center of it all was miss Mabel Green. The dress she was wearing was now tattered and burned, sticking to her bones, which flesh had mostly been burnt off. The skull still had a few traces of her blonde hair, while the jelly from her eyes were leaking onto the charred cheeks of her face.

The others had about the same sight, but what was interesting was that sunglasses of Green's assistant's stayed intact, good as new, if not for traces of dust and rubble. The real reason Atlas was her was to look for his next party member; Kendra Krane. From what he had heard from the murmurs of the Patrol, she had burnt all of her skin off, but thankfully her vital organs were intact, apart from her lungs. The local Rescue Team was able to put her body on Ice before her heart stopped beating.

Atlas felt a shiver go down his spine.

As he turned to leave for the Hospital, a man stood out to him amongst the crowd. He was fairly tall, wearing dark clothes, as well as a striped scarf flowing down the side of his body, covering his mouth and nose. The man stared at Atlas, before waving at him. As Atlas exited the crime scene, the strange person walked up to him, and took off his scarf.

Now that Atlas had an unobstructed view of him, he noticed that he was, in fact, a Dark Elf, and a semi-elderly one, in fact.

"I've come to speak with you. I've been told you were the one to look for if your life had fallen apart,"

"Who told you? I don't have many friends,"

"Actually..." He gulped "I saw you in a dream, almost a week ago. It gave me coordinates to where you'd be exactly at this moment, and now I'm here,"

Of course! He knew he recognized that energy!

"I see, I want you to know, my jobs require killing, but you'll have a team, a home, and protection from your past. Does that sound okay to you?"

The Elf nodded slowly.

"What are you here for, anyway?" he asked. "Was this... you?" He motioned towards the gaping hole in the field of flowers.

"Oh, no no no. Don't worry, we're here to save the woman harmed by this, I'm on the way to buy her from the hospital. Word of the wise, never go to a hospital, a creep like me could just buy your body,"

"...Okay then, thanks for the pointer,"

"Hey, you'd be surprised how much it happens! One time, I ran into someone trying to buy the same body as me! Mysteriously, the guy disappeared later that night. I wonder what happened to him..."

The Elf chuckled politely, before outstretching his hand to Atlas.

"The name's Bynze Pildrol, pleased to meet you,"

And just like that, Bynze was the official third member of the Blood Party.