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Chapter 10
Astreryl fell onto her onto her knees, still
holding her stomach.
"Astreryl, what's happening!?" Raquen asked in a panic.
"My... my back, it... it hurts!" A white glow began emanating from her back.
Raquen could only watch in amazement as the white glow quickly grew bigger,
separating into two parts and growing feather-like shapes all along the ends.
The light dimmed down after a minute. When it stopped, Astreryl had wings.
Unlike Wing the Fairy's wings, they weren't glowing. They were brilliant white
wings with feathered ends. She collapsed, unconcious on the ground after it
stopped.
"Astreryl..." Raquen muttered, still staring, not believing what he saw with
his own eyes. Schimmel, Ayunli and Koslow all watched as all the other hostages
grew wings with the same brilliant light, then collapsed unconcious.
"Uhhh... We should probably bring them to the Clerics in Ellinia to help..."
Schimmel said, trying to shake off the state of shock.
"Hm, you're right. We don't know what other effects the potion may have had
on them," Koslow stated.
"Doesn't anyone else hear that?" Ayunli spoke up, snapping out of her own
trance.
"Hear wha-" Schimmel was cut off when he heard the noise. It sounded like
leaves shaking, as if there were something moving in the bushes. They listened
for a few seconds as the sound grew closer, and started coming from every
direction. They each readied they're weapons, Raquen staying near the unconcious
Astreryl. Only a second later, it started. Varieties of monsters burst through
the bushes into the clearing. Boars, hogs, lupins, all forms of mushrooms, and
green and blue slimes. They all came charging out of the bushes.
Schimmel stood in front of Ayunli fighting off the incoming swarm while
Ayunli fired from behind him. Koslow was defeating one with every shuriken she
threw, causing their numbers to drop really quick. Raquen stood over Astreryl,
stopping any monster who managed to get around to them. The swarm continued on
and on, with a feeling of endlessness coming over the group. Schimmel thought he
heard Wing's voice overhead as he was fighting, but tried to shake it off.
After what felt like an entire day, the last of the monsters diminished.
Schimmel looked up to see nothing but the usual trees looming overhead.
"Well that was fun," Koslow said. She hadn't even broken a sweat.
"Speak... for yourself..." Schimmel panted, completely out of breath.
"Schimmy!" Ayunli called out. "Look, look, our badges are at thirty!"
"You're right!" Schimmel felt a second wind come over him. He and Ayunli
shared a high-five.
"Sorry to interrupt the joyous occasion," Raquen spoke seriously to them,
Astreryl in his arms, "but we need to get these ten to a professional Cleric."
"Right... sorry..." Schimmel and Ayunli said in unison.
Raquen carried Astreryl while Ayunli and Koslow carried one other person
each. Schimmel was stuck heaving seven people on his back. Once at Ellinia, they
reached the Cleric's house. The two Clerics, one male and one female, were
surprised to see the load coming in. Raquen, Koslow and Ayunli laid who they
were carrying on some beds, while Schimmel collapsed under the weight of the
people on his back and was piled underneath the seven of them. The other three
took them off his back and laid them each on their own bed.
"Er... what exactly is going on here?" The male Cleric asked, both of them
were shocked to see ten unconcious winged people come in.
"These ten were given an experimental potion by someone in the village,"
Raquen explained. "This is the result. They've all grown wings and were knocked
unconcious."
"I must say, I've never seen anything like this before, but we'll do our best
to wake them up," the female Cleric said taking out her blue jewel-tipped staff.
"May we please have some privacy for a bit? We have better concentration on
our spells that way," the male Cleric asked politely.
"Sure," Schimmel nodded. He, Ayunli and Koslow all stepped out, Raquen
remained inside.
"I want to stay by Astreryl's side if you don't mind," he told the Clerics.
"As long as you stay quiet and let us concentrate," the female Cleric said,
her staff emanating a much larger green glow than Astreryl's had over one of the
winged people.
"Sure," Raquen said, sitting on the bed next to Astreryl.
Stepping outside, Schimmel sat on the ground, his back up against the outside
wall of the house. Ayunli followed his lead and sat down next to him. Koslow
remained standing against the wall. No one said anything for a few minutes. It
was an awkward silence as they all hoped the ten would be alright, Astreryl in
particular. Just as Schimmel was going to get up and check on them, Raquen
stepped outside instead. He turned to face them, with a bit of a smile on his
face.
"They're all going to be fine," Raquen stated as three sighs of relief were
let out. "They were just knocked unconcious from the pain of the wings
sprouting. They should be awake and feeling no pain in a little while. However,
the wings are permanent. The Clerics say they shouldn't feel much different
having wings though, especially since wings created from a potion are too weak
to let anyone fly for too long. They should be fine."
"So... nothing bad actually happened from those potions?" Schimmel asked,
still a bit curious.
"Nothing that we know of, plenty that could be."
That made Schimmel feel no better. He punched the ground in anger, "Damnit!"
"There was nothing we could do... no sense in worrying about it, they'll be
fine," Raquen said, trying to calm him down.
"If you say so..." Schimmel stood up and walked away with a blank look on his
face. The three looked at each other, confused. Ayunli stood up and walked after
him. She caught up to him on the other side of Ellinia, out of eyesight of
Raquen and Koslow.
"Is... there something wrong?" She asked him, tapping him on the shoulder. He
didn't turn around to see her. Instead, he sighed and sat on the ground.
"Nothing important," he said in a quiet voice.
"Is it about what happened to Astreryl?" She sat down next to him.
"In a way, but not her exactly."
"Can you tell me?"
There was a slight hesitation before his answer, "I don't know, I'll get over
it."
"Get over what?"
"Get over... this."
"What's this?"
"This is this."
"What's this without saying the word this?" Ayunli persisted. Schimmel
stuttered, then laughed a little, realizing she wasn't going to give up.
"Ah, it's nothing. It'll probably clear up once I become a Fighter class
anyway."
"Why's that?"
"Because... it just will."
"Well... if you say so," Ayunli began to get tired of asking. "Maybe you'll
tell me what it was once you've solved it?"
"Yeah, I will."
"Okay. I'll remember that!"
"I'll remember too... if I don't forget that is, I tend to forget things alot."
"Then I'll have to remind you. I won't forget, I'm too curious."
"You're just like me, curious about everything," Schimmel said with a smile.
"Hey guys," Raquen said suddenly from behind them, "They're waking up."
Schimmel sprung to his feet, the feeling of depression leaving him for a
moment. "Well let's go then!"
They made their way back to the Cleric's house, where a few of the ten had
already woken up. They approached Astreryl, who was still asleep. Schimmel sat
on a bed across from her, which the person who woke up had taken leave of.
Ayunli sat with him, while Raquen and Koslow remained standing, wondering what
her reaction to the surprise would be.
Once she was the last one left asleep, Raquen started getting worried. He
paced the room back and forth, arms folded. After a few minutes of strange
silence, Astreryl let out a small cough as she woke up, slowly opening her eyes.
"Astreryl! You're okay!" Raquen sat down on the bed next to her.
"Ugh... Wait a minute..." She rubbed her eyes trying to get herself to wake
up entirely. She still had a slight strange feeling on her back. She reached
behind herself to see if it was anything, and felt feathers. She grabbed them
and brought them in front of her face, seeing that they were wings. She let out
a surprised gasp as she let them go, then felt that she could move them. She
flapped them a little, testing that they were hers.
"How did this... happen?" She asked in shock.
"That potion Wing gave you seems to have caused it," Raquen explained. "I
have no idea why he would do something like that though..."
"I see... will anything bad happen?"
"Not that we're aware of... hopefully not."
"Okies, I'll just have to get used to having them. In fact, they're not that
different," she said, recuperating from the surprise.
"Well, it seems like you're okay," Raquen laughed in relief as she stood up
and flapped her wings some more.
"Great!" Schimmel said with a smile, feeling renewed with the good news. "And
it seems we're all ready to go back and learn some more," he continued, noticing
Raquen and Astreryl's badges with the number thirty on them.
"Yeah, our badges were up to thirty before this incident here. Wing showed up
when we were on our way to Ellinia from Kerning," Raquen explained.
"Shall we head over to Perion then?"
"Sure, as soon as I see Astreryl off."
"Alright, I'll meet you there."
They stepped outside as Raquen and Astreryl separated from the group in the
direction of Grendel's house. Schimmel stayed with Ayunli and Koslow for a
minute.
"Well, I guess we're getting split up for a while again," Schimmel started.
"Yeah... what will you do after you become a Fighter, Schimmy?" Ayunli asked.
"Probably take a boat to Ossyria. I plan to create a Guild there with some
friends. Would you two like to come?" Schimmel said, looking at both of them.
"Sure, but not right away. I still have some things to do here in Victoria
first," Koslow said. "I'll be by later, I'll send you a stirge message once I'm
there."
"Great, I'll see you then!"
"Oki, bye," she said, waving back as she jumped down to the bottom of Ellinia,
disappearing as fast as usual.
"How about you, Ayunli?" Schimmel noticed her head was down.
"I-I'd like to, but..."
"Something wrong?"
"Well..." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a wide rectangular badge
with the phrase 'SuperStars' on it. "I'm already in a Guild... and my friends
would be really disappointed if I left..."
"Ah..." Schimmel felt a bit disappointed she wouldn't be joining, but then
came up with a new idea. "Then why don't I just join yours?" He smiled.
"You, join an all-girls Guild?" She giggled.
"Er, uh, maybe not then." He gave a little nervous laugh.
"Well, I guess we better head off to training, huh?" Ayunli said.
"Yeah... I'll see you soon though, like on the boat to Ossyria, eh?"
"Yeah. Okies, see ya later then."
"See ya." Schimmel left Ayunli and met Raquen outside Grendel's house.
Astreryl had just left and Raquen turned around to see Schimmel just getting
there.
"How'd the parting go? Was Grendel surprised?" Schimmel asked.
"Astreryl will be fine. Grendel, on the other hand, was scared out of his
mind to see her come back with wings. I guess Astreryl proved his favorite
saying wrong." They both laughed. Grendel was so old, he often said that nothing
surprised him anymore.
They headed off for Perion by the usual route. About an hour later, they were
there. It took much less time now that they were used to the route and they were
able to defeat the monsters around with ease.
Once there, they met up with Bryenn again, who had also attained a thirty on
his badge. They headed inside to meet Balrog again, who greeted them with the
phrase: "The training will be much more intense than last time. Are you ready?"
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