Book 2: Chapter 16

The night was a huge shadow that loomed in the absence of light. Cyil ran with that shadow as a cover, careful to avoid curious eyes. When Cyil was hungry he would stop to eat the rations he had. When he was thirsty he used his innate spell: Water Sphere to drink from. Cyil limited his traveling to the night, travelled off the main road and stayed away from towns and cities. Occasionally, Cyil would break this routine to ask a traveler for directions and to determine where he was.

After nine days of traveling during the night and meditating during the day, Cyil asked a traveler and learned that he was currently in the Rovaria Kingdom. Mahoj’s town had been on the border of the Aucreles Kingdom so it wasn’t too odd that Cyil had made it to another kingdom. The sizes of each kingdom was enormous and unless someone could fly or teleport it would take awhile to travel from kingdom to kingdom.

Despite being in aother kingdom, Cyil still remained vigilant and only entered a city after nine more days of traveling. By now, Cyil had already gone through all his rations two times over and he had shedded Celestine’s clothes, opting for a different pair. Cyil ran out of the initially prepared food after nine days and subsisted for two days on various plants and small animals that he could find. Cyil didn’t need to eat a lot but he still needed to eat, so he ‘bought’ some clothes and food from a farmhouse he had passed by. Cyil had been quiet, took what he needed, and left what he thought was adequate payment on the doorstep of the farmhouse.

Cyil couldn’t help but to feel nervous as he paid 5 copper coins to one of the guards collecting the toll; passing through the large gates and entering a city for the first time, Cyil was first hit by the noise of people, carriages and various tinkerings. After the noise, came the many different smells-some were of delicious foods while others were of urine. Then finally, the sight of the two-three even four storied buildings with their detailed etchings and abstract designs in addition to the wide open road lined with stalls and booths set up on either side, came into Cyil’s view.

Cyil stood still for a moment to explore the grandeur of the city, like a foreigner of another species visiting a completely different realm. People entering from behind, in a hurry to go about their business, pushed Cyil along.

Cyil flowed with the crowd, slowly observing everything he could take in. Floating down the main street of the city for 200 yards, the crowd finally thinned and Cyil was no longer pushed forward. Cyil had been delivered to a large circular opening where various wooden boards with postings on them were present.

Walking up to the board Cyil could see some of the postings and knew the purpose of the boards.

The upright wooden boards formed a square and had postings about jobs, mayoral announcements, advertisements, and many other things. Cyil was looking for any information regarding the recruitment of soldiers to be sent to the western border. Cyil quickly glanced pass all irrelevant postings such as: recruiting new maid who is 16-25 years old, looking for rank 2-3 warriors for a transportation mission to Ghomel City, Mayor Bandao is looking for a new assistant (must be young male), selling grilled fire eels for 10 coppers each- a true delicacy, etc.

The postings went on and on and Cyil scanned through all the various postings with lightning speed, as if he had always been able to read so quickly. Cyil didn’t stop reading until he came to three very large and old postings. What he saw from these postings shocked him, even capable of disturbing his already strong mind. These postings were made with high grade beast skins that wouldn’t easily deteriorate with time and the format of all three postings were the same. There was a name at the top followed by a picture in the middle then a short description and glaring numerical value on the bottom.

The first posting was as follows:

[Baccaus Petros, Rank 7 Level 10 wind and shadow dual elemental mage

[A lifelike sketch of the wrinkly, old Baccaus’s face looking bored]

Enemy and traitor of the human race. Stole one of humanity’s greatest treasures: The Holy Book of The Wizened. Wanted Dead or Alive. Reward: 1,000,000,000 magical crystals of any type and three grade 9 magical equipment of any type. Report to any of the six Royal Capitals for reward.

Rank 6 or higher mages may report to the Mage Association for the criminal’s aura.]

Cyil was shocked when he saw his grandpa’s face! And after reading the description about his grandpa, Cyil couldn’t help but to shake his head in disagreement. His grandpa was a good person and had wanted peace. Even if he had stolen the book, Cyil knew his grandpa must have had a good reason to do so. Cyil gritted his teeth, thinking of how his grandpa was doing in the dark space. Cyil had tried to enter that dark space again during his meditations, but he couldn’t. He had long ago realized that his grandpa and grandma were not in a good position when they ushered him away, but Cyil still hoped they were both safe. That was all he could do for them, because he couldn’t even help himself right now.

Himself. Right. Looking at the poster next to Baccaus’ Cyil’s eyes bulged and his mind shook. The picture on that poster was of him! No, not Mahoj but of him, Cyil Cintu, his real body.

[No known name. Calls himself Death God, Rank 7 level 7 Death Saint

[A lifelike sketch of an adult Cyil’s face, with eyes as black as the night]

A walking disaster, dangerous to all living creatures on Nakrul. Destroyer of Drosan Kingdom, eradicator of Reflecting Jysht woodlands, and plunderer of the Mercenary Association’s Headquarters. Information on Ranking and Level subject to change due to quick advancements. Do not engage.]

Cyil didn’t know what to think. He did all of that? The Crystal Cyil was responsible, but Cyil felt as if he was partly responsible. Then Cyil thought of something and looked over the posting again. Drosan Kingdom? That was the kingdom where Fayburn was located and now that kingdom had fallen to his own hands. Cyil found everything unbelievable. Just as chaos began to ensue in Cyil’s mind, a warm feeling jolted his mind back to order and Cyil’s thoughts reorganized.

“I’ll need to find out more about this. I can’t change the past so no use in getting caught up in it.” Cyil realized his lack of information was a factor hindering his outlook and made plans to expand it; for now, however, he looked on towards the third posting. This posting didn’t bring the intense surprise the other two had brought, but Cyil still found the poster to be intriguing because the description was different.

[Yang Su, Rank ?? level ?? unknown attributes

[A lifelike sketch of a young man with sword shaped eyebrows, deep brown eyes, and tied up hair.]

A message to Yang Su: Nakrul does not welcome your kind.]

Cyil thought Yang Su was such an odd name and couldn’t help, but to wonder who the man was and what the description meant. Nakrul was the name of the continent he was on and was not a living being so how could it not welcome someone. Perhaps, it was someone with the name Nakrul. Cyil shrugged as it didn’t really mattered to him and he continued scanning the board.

Cyil had only began to read the next posting when a voice sounded out from a middle aged man standing next to him: “Hey, kid, looking at the infamous three criminals? Your first time seeing them? Let me tell you, don’t even think of even seeing those three. There is a reason why they are being displayed here for all to see and that is to scare ordinary folks. No one really expects us commoners to catch those three and it has been a long time since anyone has even seen Baccaus or Yang Su. The one that is most worrisome is that Death God. He kills without remorse or discrimination- women, children, even babies are not spared. He decimates a whole town just to absorb their life energy, it’s disgusting. Anyways, I am called Florens. What’s your name?”

Cyil glanced at the burly man standing next to him and said, “Cyil.”

“Cyil?” Florens scratched his head. “That’s a good name. Are you here by yourself? You don’t seem like an ordinary kid at all.”

“What does it matter to you?” Cyil’s guard tightened even more at Floren’s questions.

“It matters because I am interested in young men.” Florens said with a smile, but seeing Cyil’s eyes turn cold, he quickly added, “of course not in that way. No of course not. I mean interested in young men for my mercenary group! The annual mercenary tournament is coming up in four weeks and I want to increase the odds for our mercenary group. What do you say, brother?”

When Cyil heard Florens call him brother, he almost choked. What brother and what ‘our’ mercenary group? Cyil found that the man sounded a bit desperate, but he still shrugged at Florens’ offer and said, “I’m on my way to join the Rovaria Kingdom’s army to fight the Dark Ones, so I don’t have time to join a mercenary group. Besides, I hardly know you and you hardly know me.”

Cyil rejected Florens, but Florens was not disheartened by what he heard and was instead happy. “Brother Cyil, did you not hear? Two years ago, the seven, err six now, kingdoms declared that the Dark Ones are no longer a threat and discontinued actively recruiting soldiers. I myself was once a soldier for the Rovaria kingdom and was stationed at the western border. I was expecting fierce life and death battles, but I didn’t even see any Dark Ones and was bored out of my mind. After my term was up, I gathered some of my comrades that I was stationed with and we created the Soaring Wolf mercenary group. Right now, mercenary groups are surging with an influx of people more than ever. Those many soldiers that were sent back from the western border are good for nothing muscle brains that only know how to fight, so many will end up joining a mercenary group.”

Cyil thought about what Florens said and asked, “can I still join the army?”

“Brother Cyil the army has no future for a bright young star like yourself. You should join our mercenary group, Soaring Wolf.” Florens looked at Cyil who wasn’t amused or charmed then sighing he said, “but I would hate to lie to you as this information is public everywhere. You can still join the army, but their requirements are now sky-high and they won’t just take any random village man like they did in the past. But say even if you do pass their requirements and tests, you would probably end up guarding some noble family or standing out in front of gates collecting toll fees. It isn’t the life for a youth with so much energy.”

Cyil frowned, because his plan had been to go to the western border to get away from any local threats and train his physical body. Initially, Cyil wasn’t planning on training his body to a high level and just wanted to experience the feeling and learn the methods. This body was not his and would not be in the future so Cyil didn’t want to invest too much time into it. Cyil had already thought about all this, but there was a problem that kept bugging him. If he didn’t get his real body back because he was too weak in any way then he would regret not training to the best of his potential. That was why Cyil was planning to give it his all and push Mahoj’s body to the limit.

Florens saw Cyil frowning and felt that he had lost another promising young contestant. This was the 9th one today, but to Florens’ keen eyes, Cyil’s body seemed strong, stronger than what any normal kid should have. Florens had tried all he could to convince Cyil, but the boy was not gullible enough to believe him. Florens sighed, thinking it was so hard to find kids traveling around by themselves these days. Where were the orphans all hiding? Florens was about to give up when Cyil said, “where can I register to join the army?”

“Hmm, the barracks. Wait, now you have to apply at a mercenary association, ” Florens answered instinctively.

Cyil heard what Florens said and thanked the man before walking off to find the mercenary association. Then Cyil thought of something and looking at the deflated burly man, he turned and said, “Florens, can you take me to the mercenary’s association?”

When Florens heard Cyil’s question, his already flickering hope reignited, as a young lover would feel invigorated if his crush led him on. “Right,” Florens said. “Follow me!”

Cyil smiled as he followed the energetic Florens along to the mercenary association, glad he had found a guide.

Florens marched right along, happy that he had remembered how applying to the army had changed and that it now required the applicant to be part of a mercenary group.