Mirai

The sound of a crash was heard in the cafeteria of Prospera academy, a beaten up boy with gray hair and yellow eyes falling to the ground, his tray and food all over his black uniform, the buttons and the ring of his wrists having a golden yellow hue. The food stained the pearly white floor of the cafeteria, the windows, carved into the stone walls let the suns rays through, shining on the boy in an embarrassing spotlight.

'What did you think you were doing? Do you really think you can help someone.' A boy stood over him, he had brown hair, his strands hanging over his black eyes. His freckle filled face filled with annoyance. 

By his side stood another, his green eyes peaking through his long black bangs, a smile on his face that seemed almost permanent.

'Get up, Mirai!' the boy commanded, his fingers digging into Mirai's collar as he lifted him off of the ground, the tray colliding with the floor again with a loud bang.

Mirai gritted his teeth as he was lifted, holding onto the arms of the bully with all the strength he could muster, but breaking free wasn't an option.

'Why are you even in this school? You should just drop out already!' The boy shouted, his hot breath beating against his face.

'I'm certain your father's funds must have ran out by now, considering how poor you are-' His sentence was cut abruptly by a punch that dug into his face. The boy dropped Mirai to the floor as he staggered backwards, holding the wound he inflicted. 

'Don't you dare talk about my father!' Mirai shouted, getting up from the floor with shaky and tired hands.

The whole cafeteria burst into an uproar, cheering the kids on as they duked it out amongst each other. The brown haired boy charged, his feet digging against the tile to get whatever friction that could be mustered before swinging his arm with his whole body weight, sending him flying down to the floor when Mirai got out of the way. 

While he was distracted the other boy held him still wrapping his arms in his from behind. Mirai struggled against him but he couldn't break free, watching as the bully got up from the ground, cracking his knuckles in rage.

'This will be the last time you step out of line.' He murmured, his fists digging into the face of Mirai, blow for blow echoed through the halls, competing with the cheers of screaming children in the halls, chanting the name of the two bullies and Mirai as loud as they could.

'Elowen! Bennet!' The voice of a man boomed throughout the crowd, silence dropping in an instant as slow footsteps echoed against the cafeteria tiles. A man with long black hair that draped down his back, his bangs split into curtains as piercing yellow eyes stare at the boys up ahead. His black and yellow robe draped down the figure of the man, his slender face and jawline prominent all prominent features along with the black tear painted under his left eye.

'What did I say about starting fights in the cafeteria?' His voice grew more gentle but that only made it even more unsettling as the two boys looked at each other, dropping Mirai to the floor.

'Head to my office, we'll discuss your punishment later.' He announced, pointing out of the cafeteria. 

Slowly, with their heads down the two of them left without a word, their feet dragging against the floor. The man watched them leave, his light scowl never leaving his face before he turned to the injured lad below. 

'Master Vasrien?' Mirai managed to squeeze out of his swollen face, his eyes half lidded from the beating.

'Yes yes.' He responded, his hand resting over the face of the child, a green light emits and takes his swelling down. His face soon turning to normal once more. 

Slowly he reached for his face to touch it, wincing in pain the moment his fingers grazed his skin. Vasrien sighed in response, looking down at the child with a look of pity.

'I only took the swelling down, you need to go to the nurse for more treatment.' He murmurs so only Mirai could hear.

'You can stand right?' He asked, his hand already holding his back incase he fell.

Slowly Mirai nodded, his face in visible fatigue, with each bit of pain he felt he only got more and more vexed with the kids from earlier.

'Those boys,' He murmured.

'how could they do such a thing?'

'Fiona!' Kaluar cried in joy seeing her once more, he spoke into a small box projecting the image of her from the other side in real time.

'Human technology sure is amazing-' Celi muttered under their conversation. The guild around them was much more calm than the one they were used to, everyone was so quiet and kept to themselves, sipping their drinks, careful not to spill as crickets took over the ambience.

'Hey Kaluar, you're still alive I see haha.' Fiona's merry laughter didn't change a bit, her voice and laugh occasionally drowned out by the noise of her own guild.

'Yup, guess what! We found a path to Prospera that apparently no one ever used before! Can you believe it?' He relayed the news of their travels so far to her, a smile on her face knowing that Kaluar might be alright after all. Though that smile didn't last long.

'Hey, Kaluar.' She interrupted his rant, looking at him square in the eyes before he finally turned silent and looked at her with a confused look.

'What's wrong Fiona?' Kaluar pondered.

'I need you to come back right now, that mission isn't safe for you, not anymore.' Fiona informed, her voice filled with sincerity in contrast to their usual banter.

'What?! No way I'm not-' Kaluar's protest was immediately shot down by her. Her voice raising slightly to his retaliation.

'This isn't negotiable Kaluar!' She growled, clearly wasn't having it at that moment. Silence befell the group, soon joining in with the crickets. Though he wasn't looking he could feel the eyes of the residents on him, even the bar keep who took occasional glances.

'As your caretaker and you're guild receptionist I can't watch you walk into danger like this, It's simply not the time and you should head back.' 

'but why!' Kaluar shouted, his hands balled into fists, demanding an answer from the woman who claimed to be his caretaker, his guardian and friend.

'Why do we have to go! If I don't have a choice at least tell me that much!'

'Well...' She muttered, her hands on her arms in a self hug, looking away, clearly worried.

'Fine. It's the Reaper sect, they're over in Prospera.' She informed, her eyes finally landing on the pair of adventurers once more.

'Who?' Kaluar asked, clearly clueless to what she was referring to. 

'The Reaper sect! An underground group hired for all sorts of jobs. They killed thousands of adventurers who decided to put them to justice.' She continued, one of her hands cupping her cheek trying to calm down.

'They're a stain on the Reaper name, caused a massive hunt for reaper kind alike, it was a massive injustice.'

'But that's not all, they might not be after you, but with that book they'll definitely find you and try to take it from you without hesitation.'

'Why would they be after a book?' Kaluar murmured. His eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

'It's not actually a normal book, we didn't think much of it when giving it to you but-' her voice trailed off, suspense building as took her time in saying the name.

'It's a rune...'