FARHAYVEN: VENGEANCE (20 page)

     Master Matten’s funeral was held ten days later. This was due to the fact that the Fire Elementhars had wanted to wait for everyone to return so that they were able to pay their last respects. In the mean time, they preserved her body by keeping it in a sealed room and constantly drawing out heat from the room itself by using Elemental Sorcery. This action rendered the room and its contents ice-cold. Creating and manipulating heat was the Fire Elementhars’ area of expertise, and for this they were well-known; yet many seemed not to have realised that they were equally expert at drawing heat away from materials, thereby freezing them. This was a skill unique only to the Fire Elementhars; and to a minor degree, the Water Elementhars. As such, Fire Elementhars had been asked by the other orders to assist in such a manner when they have a body that they needed to preserve.

     The funeral was a very solemn affair. As usual, Master Santlyn got up to the podium and said a few kind words. And the words he said were indeed kind, but they were not few. Master Santlyn described Master Autumn Matten’s life from birth to death, and he explained every achievement, every kind act and every peculiarity down to the tiniest detail. Then it was the Receiver’s turn, and this time, there was only one. The Receiver of Light made his speech and said his prayers. His prayer was in a strange language that Ray did not understand. But he bowed his head and emptied his thoughts; and then thought of Master Matten and whatever memories he had of her and in his mind, he said ‘goodbye’ to her. Then Master Matten’s coffin was set alight the same way Scorpion’s was. The atmosphere at Monune Ruby was gloomy for three months after the funeral. Such was the loss that they had felt.

     Four months later, Ray was deemed ready to take his first test. As usual, it was to be a group kill of a Secondary Demon. Ray was grouped with the Twins Dellix, while Cutter and Feather were grouped together with another classmate. Master Santlyn was to be the invigilator for both groups. Senior Dencon was to invigilate two more groups of Ray’s classmates. As usual, the novices were brought by Senior Dencon to Eastpeak Town to buy weapons, headbands and jewels. The night before they left Monune Ruby for Eastpeak, Ray was asked to meet Master Santlyn at his office.

     Ray knocked on Master Santlyn’s office door. He wondered what it was all about. Then he entered when he was told to do so. Inside, he saw that Master Santlyn was not alone. Senior Dencon was there as well. Master Santlyn gestured for Ray to be seated. Ray took the seat beside Senior Dencon, facing Master Santlyn.

     “Test _ you will be taking your first of this soon, Ray; and you shall be needing a weapon,” said Master Santlyn.

     “Weapon _ I shall indeed be needing one of it, master; but what of it
?
” asked Ray, puzzled.

     Senior Dencon got up from his seat and retrieved a silver short staff from a weapons cabinet in the office. He then handed it to Ray. Ray examined it with great curiosity, but greater still was the curiosity of why he was being shown this weapon. He preferred the sword.  That being said, he was reasonably adept at handling the staff as well. But what is going on
?
Why is he being shown this weapon
?

    
“Staff _ of it, it is yours,” said Senior Dencon.

     Ray’s eyes bulged in surprise. He kept shifting his gaze from Senior Dencon to Master Santlyn and back again to Senior Dencon.

     “Staff _ of it, it was left with you when we found you all those years ago. Emblem _ of this, we recognise it not and know not what it means. Time _ it is of this that we return this weapon to you, Ray,” added Master Santlyn.

     “Sorcerise _ we have taken the liberty to do of this to the staff so that you may use it for your upcoming test,” said Senior Dencon.

     “Need _ all that you do of this now is a headband and a ruby to be used as your Reserver,” said Master Santlyn.

     Ray was speechless. For several moments, he sat frozen.

     “Staff _ did this of it belonged to my parents
?
” he asked finally.

     “Staff _ of this, we think it belonged to your parents; but whose ever it was, it definitely belongs to you now. Sword _ however if you still prefer one of it for your test, we can go get you one tomorrow at Eastpeak,” answered Master Santlyn.

     Ray kept staring at the silver staff, particularly at the emblem carved into it.

     “Emblem _ so this is my family’s one of this
!
” whispered Ray to himself.

     “Fine _ are you of this
?
” asked Master Santlyn.

     Ray snapped out of his staring at the silver staff and nodded. Finally, he regained his composure and thanked both Master Santlyn and Senior Dencon. Then he excused himself and went back to his room with his silver staff.

     A thousand thoughts raced through his mind. Questions of his birth and origin were haunting his mind once again. Who was he
?
Where did he come from
?
Who were his parents
?
Where are they now
?
Why did they give him up
?
What was the meaning of the emblem on his silver staff
?
It bothered him so much that he had hardly slept at all. And before he realised it, the rooster had already crowed
!

     The novices’ visit to Eastpeak was short and to the point. They were brought by Senior Dencon straight to the blacksmith where they picked out their weapons and headbands. Senior Dencon gave the blacksmith a large pouch full of large rubies to be set into the headbands that were chosen. The blacksmith got busy straight away.

     Cutter Merrin chose a double handed curved sword, exactly like the ones used by Fallsian soldiers. Feather and the Dellix twins chose single handed curved swords and matching hunting knives. Only one of the novices chose a battleaxe. Then Radiance noticed that Ray did not choose a weapon and she queried him about it. He told her and Bloom about the silver short staff.

     The Fire Elementhars left Eastpeak the very next morning. The novices were all very excited about the weapons that they had bought. They chatted loudly as they exchanged their weapons with each other for examination. Unlike soldiers who viewed their weapons as government issued tools, Elementhars viewed their weapons as highly personal items that were part of their identity and also their personal history and future undertakings. An Elementhar would not ever likely to part with or change his weapon; unless the weapon broke or was damaged beyond repair. So in essence, when an Elementhar chose a weapon, it was like as if he or she had chosen a partner for life.

     Two weeks later, Ray and his group left Monune Ruby to undertake their first test. Together with Cutter’s group, they followed Master Santlyn out the gates of the monune and down the hill on foot. Checking their direction of travel against the sun, Ray noticed that they were heading in a westerly direction. Where could they be heading to
?
The Shadow Forest
?
North-western Falls
?
The Arid Plains
?
Ray had no idea. None of the novices did. Only Master Santlyn knew where they were headed, but no one had dared to ask.

     Master Santlyn and the novices travelled in a westerly direction for three weeks and then in a north-westerly direction for another two. They travelled silently and when they camped, they did so silently as well. The only time they ever spoke to each other was when Master Santlyn gave out orders or instructions and the novices asked technical questions or gave replies to his questions. This was so because part of their test was to simulate the loneliness and isolation of a Travelling Patrol. And Travelling Patrols were part and parcel of an Elementhar’s life. This was also the reason why the journey must be made on foot and not on horseback or by horse-drawn cart. The journey was part of the test.

     At the end of their travel, the Fire Elementhars reached the town of Westgap in North-western Falls Province. As soon as they set foot in the town, they knew something was amiss. The townsfolk were gloomy and sad all the time. And there was fear in their eyes. And yet when the townsfolk laid eyes on the Elementhars, they leapt with joy and shouted excitedly the words ‘Elementhars
!
Elementhars
!
’

     “Observe _ do of this of their facial expressions and their reactions, for these are the signs that the town is suffering from a demon attack,” stressed Master Santlyn.

     “Understood
!
” replied the novices simultaneously.

     Master Santlyn took the novices straight to the town hall. From a distance they could hear the wailing of womenfolk and angry voices of men. Master Santlyn did not wait to be invited in. He merely knocked on the door a few times and then stepped in. Everyone in the town hall stopped and turned to look at the Elementhars. Master Santlyn introduced himself and explained the purpose of why he was there. The people in the hall cheered. Some felt relieved. A few, however, were sceptical. Master Santlyn told the novices to ignore the sceptics. He told them that there would always be sceptics, but they must never be allowed to stop an Elementhar from fulfilling his mission.

     Master Santlyn walked up to the town mayor. From him, the Elementhars found out what had happened. There was a Secondary Demon preying on the people of Westgap. This demon fashioned itself as Lord Drainer. Ray understood that it was a name chosen to put fear into people. In this case, the name ‘Drainer’ meant that the demon liked to ‘drain’ people’s soul. But all demons devoured human souls by draining them into the demons’ own souls. Ray was taught long ago that all demons chose names which were meant to be scary, but not necessarily logical. This was partly due to their over-sized ego. And it was also due to the need to put fear in people so that they were easier to be preyed upon. Lord Drainer had already killed thirty of the townsfolk. The townsfolk had sent out riders to Monune Sapphire to engage the services of the Water Elementhars, so they were surprised to see that Fire Elementhars arrived instead.

     Master Santlyn informed the mayor that he had received an emergency message from the Water Elementhars via homing pigeon with regards to the town’s problem. He also informed the mayor that he was here instead of them because he had to conduct an examination for his novices. He also assured him that should the novices fail to kill the demon, he would personally engage the demon and kill it himself. Either way, Lord Drainer was soon to be dead. The mayor nodded his head to signal that he understood, and more importantly, that he approved. And with that, the Fire Elementhars were hired to kill Lord Drainer. The price was 100 gold coins.

     Master Santlyn brought the novices to the cheapest inn in town and checked them in. Then the novices gathered at Master Santlyn’s room for a briefing. The elimination of Lord Drainer was to be Ray and the Dellix twins’ test. Ray was put in charge of his team. Then Ray and the twins were asked to come up with a plan in one hour. Then Ray was to brief everyone on what the plan was. Master Santlyn was to then rate their plan. If they were to fail the planning stage, they were considered to have failed the test. If that was to be the case, then Cutter and his team would to take over instead.

     After an hour, Ray’s team came up with a plan. The plan was for Ray to wait at the northern end of town and Radiance to wait at the southern end of town. Bloom was to climb to the roof of the tallest building and keep a lookout for the demon. Upon sighting the demon, she was to send out a weak Heat Burst towards the position where she expected the demon would land. Ray and Bloom would then follow Bloom’s Heat Burst and head towards that point.

     After meeting up at the point where the demon was going to be, Ray would be the first to engage it. He was to distract it as long as possible so that the twins could move in to kill it from the side or from behind. This was decided so because Ray was the strongest amongst the three of them and the function of the distracter was the hardest to be carried out.

     As for the contingency plan, Bloom was to execute a powerful Heat Burst at the demon if it decided to fly away. The resultant injury would leave a blood trail that they could follow. Should the demon turn out to be too powerful for them to handle, then they would try to lure it away from the town before disengaging it. Should they need to retreat, Ray was to distract it so that the twins could retreat, and then they would leap-frog backwards while executing Heat Bursts after Heat Bursts until they all got away.

     Master Santlyn was quiet for awhile after Ray had finished his briefing. Ray’s plan was simple, and battle required simple planning because things would get chaotic during the battle itself and confusion would set in if the plan was too complex. Finally, Master Santlyn nodded his head. Ray and the twins passed the planning stage.