South Point (Dao of Chaos)- The Moon Jin Teahouse (2) Number 6

Thorjen

Just beneath the falling hills sat a wooden cottage dwelling just on the edge of a peaceful flowing river. Thorjen noticed smoke rising out from the stony red tiled chimney.

'There are people inside?'

He felt his heart skip a little noticing two people standing outside of the cottage.

He drew in a few deep breaths to calm his fast beating heart down. It felt like forever since he had encountered anyone and he couldn't stop over thinking every small detail from his approach to the sort of greeting he should use.

‘I look like I haven't taken a bath in months! But...I cant worry about those things for now I... I need to find some help and get myself to the Lucien Kingdom.’

Thorjen’s only goal right now was to reunite with his loved ones. So he steeled his resolve after a few moments of positive reinforcement and finally took a step forward.

He carefully walked down the sloping hill steadily descending towards the cottage from one side.

That sweet scent which led him here in the first place was at its strongest right now. He almost felt an invisible hand pulling him closer, a formless magic with its hands wrapped around his neck.

Once his feet found level ground he decided to survey the cottage just to ease his troubles. The place looked quiet from the outside, other than the feint shadows he noticed through the foggy windows there seemed to be no sign of any danger.

Eventually he even found himself aimlessly walking around in circles as his thoughts jumped from one scene to the next, he was deeply anxious about simply walking to the front door. That was until something appeared within his sights and gradually halted his feet against their heels.

His eyes gently widened as he noticed two people gathered by the entrance of the wooden cottage.

One was a girl dressed in a black vest which clung to her torso, she had a leather overall folded around her waist and hunting trousers and boots.. She had short multi-colored hair with over exaggerated makeup on .

Thorjen's gaze instantly trailed towards the pair of dark medium length daggers she had glued to her hip, he got an instant chill running down his spine. A single look towards those weapons sent a bizarre truth into his mental, one which told him he was no match for her if she drew those upon him.

The other human was a blonde haired man with boyish features and a slicked back ponytail. He was not that much taller than her; and he was dressed in a lesser rusty type of metals. Thorjen observed him carefully, the most noticeable thing about him was the bow and arrows strapped to his back.

Drawing closer towards them, Thorjen noticed a lecherous smile creased across the blonde pony-tail wearing man's face. There was something about his smile which seemed to annoy Thorjen. He reminded him of someone familiar but couldn't quite work out who.

“What will it take to have that pretty mouth of yours wrapped around my co-ergk!” he was saying before a stern elbow to his chest halted his words

“That’s enough (Deep sigh) listen, I don’t fuck my teammates on the first day. A girl like me enjoys the thrill of the chase more than the actual outcome you know. And plus...i’m married”

“I’ve heard that line plenty of times but you see I nearly always make my women cu-...hey who the hell is that.”

Thorjen saw the blonde fellow gesturing towards him. He wasn’t sure why he froze on the spot there and then as though he had stolen something.

The girl with different bright coloured hair moved her eyes towards him and she too wore a questioning look. But then her gaze quickly changed as she seemed to have realized something. A look of soft panic flashed over her expressionless gaze before she shot away into the nearby cottage.

“Geary Geary! Come quick he’s here!” she hastily rushed into the cottage house leaving the blonde man with a pony tail outside on his own.

“W-w-wait we haven't... finished yet-Fuck! Was so close.” The man turned his sharp gaze towards him.

“Damn brat couldn’t you have arrived 5 minutes later? And what the fuck you doing walking around with no shoes! Matter of fact how did you even-”

“Morgan!” Thorjen heard a voice thundering from the inside. He felt the hairs against his arm standing up. His brows narrowed as he felt his body warning him of trouble beyond the door.

“S-shit I guess that bitch has finally woken up. Hey kid if I'm guessing you’re the one we’ve been waiting for. Hurry up and follow me before you get both of our asses into trouble.” Morgan led the way leaving a rather clueless Thorjen left to wonder on his lonesome outside.

For the first few moments Thorjen merely remained rooted to where he stood. He could only scratch the side of his head whilst he lamented on how unlucky he was these days.

‘What have I gotten myself into now.’

Nervily he walked towards the low-roofed cottage. There was a wide sign board lazily hung in place across the wooden frame. Thorjen took a moment to read the disjointed letters which formed the words.

‘Moon Jin Tea House’

***

Once Thorjen entered the teahouse he was immediately hit with a strong and sweet scent of wine wafting within the air. He found himself standing on dark polished mahogany floors. He scanned the hall and saw countless circular wooden tables with wooden chairs sat around them, with well lit lanterns and chandeliers dangling from above. The place carried a somber and homely feel to it.

There was a long bar with high stools sat along the front. The place was rather empty apart from five other fellows he found already inside. Other than the two people he already met outside. Towards the right he saw a huge dark brown skinned man squeezed onto a tiny stool. He was clothed in full silver armor with a broad axe strapped against his back. He cradled a large mug of wine and drank from it modestly.

He turned towards Thorjen with an initial surprised look creased against his chiseled facial features, but after he looked him over once the fellow creased a smirk before giving him a gentle nod and returning back to his own pleasures. Seated adjacent across the table from him was a shrewd but young faced girl, with midnight blue braided hair and a deadpan cold gaze.

She too was sat in fully cladded silver armor. Her weapon of choice was a long sword sheathed into a dark blue scabbard with brown casing. Thorjen noticed the eye catching sword glued to her hip and he felt the same feeling of danger from it the same way he did when he saw those daggers from before.

“Hey cutie- have you gotten lost?”

Thorjen was immediately entranced by a slightly husky voice laced with seduction drifting into his ears. He turned towards the left side of the hall, where he saw a voluptuous, large chested lady dressed in a revealing low-cut corset which only made her fair colored bosoms look that more noticeable and fuller.

She also donned a peculiar dark blue and black robe over her slender shoulders, worn almost like a cape. She had on a short skirt which revealed her smooth porcelain long legs. Thorjen felt his heartstrings thrum. He hadn't seen a beauty like this in a while. The most striking piece of her attire though was undoubtedly the large sharp pointed hat which covered most of her large silken strands of violet colored hair.

She licked her cherry pink lips and her unblemished face seemed to blossom with an indescribable beauty.

“Oh my- you are quite the handsome fellow aren't ya? Come closer- let big sister take a better look at you.” Her seductive words almost felt like words of power. Thorjen had never felt something like this within his entire life. He almost found his entire body compelled to listen. And just as his mind was poised into surrendering its will, he felt a callous voice cackling inside the deepest parts of his soul.

His mind went dark for a moment as he saw a shimmering little bead illuminating in the darkness. The bead shook and Thorjen felt a terrible premonition running through his veins, he forcefully stopped his involuntary movements and crashed his backside against the nearest wooden table. Causing a loud bang which alerted everyone’s attention

“Whoa-whoa watch the furniture!” Bemoaned the blonde-haired fellow furiously

‘Damn it! Not this again-not here.’ He clutched at the side of his throbbing head. By now Thorjen was used to expecting the familiar feeling of when he was just about to black out. Only he hadn’t experienced it to happen this often. Thorjen wasn’t foolish enough into believing the inheritance he obtained from the cave wasn’t at fault in some kind of way, but he had already made peace with the future consequences for accepting such a martial art, just as long as he gained strength to protect his loved ones. Then he was willing to burden everything else that came with it.

‘If I'm going to become stronger, I...I need to overcome my weaknesses.’

Thorjen believed in his oath, when vowed to master this art and make It his own. The meeting with Mastramundus couldn’t have been one huge coincidence, his entire life so far, the highs and the **** lows.

The idea that somebody had most likely plotted for his ****.

All of the events which took place were caused by the fates, he knew that, he understood it better than anyone in truth. And though he couldn’t yet converse nor see them, he was assured that one day he would.

And on that day, he would make sure he reminded them all why they were wrong to forsake him.

‘Only the strong can afford to be arrogant. And I am nowhere near strong enough to face my doubters.’

Thorjen closed his eyes and bit down hard against his lower lip until he drew a trickle of blood. He focused, placed his thoughts and memories into a black sea. He saw faces appear, the faces of Threyja, his mother and Julien. He held these on a higher plane whilst allowing the woes, hardships and tears to sink into the black sea.

Surprisingly, he felt the sensation of fear and that untold amount of rage slowly simmering away. The baleful sensation was sinking back into the pool of nothingness again and subtly he could feel that peculiar red bead slowly going back to sleep once more.

He softly opened his eyes and couldn’t help exhaling forth a sigh of relief. Somehow that short instance felt just like he was cultivating. And he felt as though he had made some kind of small breakthrough towards something.

“The fuck is the matter with him?” demanded the blonde haired fellow

“W-who knows...” this time it was the girl with short pink hair who spoke. Her eyes spoke of her deep distrust towards the arrival of him. Thorjen himself couldn’t blame them, he only needed to remind himself what he currently looked like at this moment.

“Geary...Is he the one?” A voice as cold as ice announced herself.

Thorjen couldn’t help but casting his eyes back towards the girl seated beside the bar. The one with long dark blueish hair tied into a childlike ponytail. Only with those cat-like eyes Thorjen felt lock onto him, where he saw no traces of innocence whatsoever.

The lady called Geary he discovered was the curvaceous woman wearing the large pointed hat. Thorjen wasn’t sure why he felt butterflies hearing her name, in fact he willed himself to store that name and personally never forget it.

Geary’s playful stare had disappeared at this point. She merely twisted her helm slightly to one side whilst deeply observing him with a curious glint present in her eyes. After an awkward silence she could only utter a single word.

“Interesting.”

Her dull gaze looked to have brightened suddenly as she fished into her robes and delicately took out a palm sized origami crane. The origami sat on her pretty open palm. Geary brought her full lips towards it before softly blowing the paper crane away from her hand.

Thorjen slightly flinched the moment he witnessed the paper bird fluttering its paper made wings towards him, delicately gliding across the air with an innocence and bizarre show of sentient

Just before the bird arrived it unfolded itself into a simple small sheet of paper and gently waded down until he could gather it in his grasp. Thorjen took a few moments to process what had just taken place but his eyes were quickly locked onto the contents scribbled down terribly against the paper.

'Who's awful writing is this.' He wondered

"Dear Number 6

If you’re reading this then it means you’ve officially become a part of my top-secret quest with benefits of high rewards!

Who am I? That’s not at all of importance right now ahahaha how mysterious right? Ahem- right! back to the business at hand...

Ah oh yes... you can call me the ‘benefactor’ by the way,

And I have gathered you all here to take part in a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Of course, I understand your circumstances quite well...Thorjen, lost child from the Azure Mountain...

Thorjen almost shuddered once he read back that last line.

‘What the? H-how could he... possibly know... who the hell is this!’ His mind went into overdrive as he formed various possibilities to explain the current situation to himself. After a while of discovering no logical explanation, he **** his shaking gaze back towards the letter

We’ll have plenty of time to discuss things.

But all I can inform you of is that it's been 9 months since my master Shava was expecting your arrival.

As such, I need to make sure you’re worthy enough to be granted tutelage under her mentorship.

I'll be using this top secret quest to show me all I need to know.

Succeed,

and not only will you be granted access through the gates of the Lucien Kingdom.

But I personally, will aid you along your journey as a Knight...no, I'll make you the strongest Magical Knight the world has ever seen. :)

Wizard V

Oh right please be kind enough to follow the instructions relayed by number 1 and I hope to see you very soon.

Good Luck

Thorjen the half ling."

A surge of emotions currently twisted inside of his gut. But amongst the influx of information he gathered from the letter, there was only a single truth which constantly played out through his mind.

A truth that almost left him shuddering in panic.

‘Nine...nine months have gone by? Nine months...I’ve been missing for 9 months.'

**

It took Thorjen a careful amount of time before his body removed itself from its grief stricken state. His mind soon returned to the present, only just realizing he was standing idly without saying a single word. The beautiful lady with the large pointed hat hadn’t moved a single inch. Her smooth long legs remained folded over the other. And her chin rested on one palm of her partially gloved hand expectantly.

“So it is you...hey everyone number 6 has finally arrived.” she announced cheerfully without removing her perfectly oval shaped eyes away from him.

Thorjen felt a slight flutter in his heart whenever their eyes met. ‘What the hell is going on with me. She’s cl-clearly not normal.’ He already sensed something off through her alluring words from earlier. That feeling was so potent he almost wanted to stay as far away from her as possible. But he couldn’t. His eyes trailed down towards the letter in his hand again.

'Lucien kingdom... without needing to think about matters any longer than necessary. He had already understood what he needed to do.

The short girl with colourful hair was the first to break the silence

“Are you sure Geary? He seems so...”

“Weak! Tsk! I can't sense anything from him and just take a look at him. He must have been some rich noble who was abandoned by his family. My guess is ...”

Morgans admonishing words were held in his throat once he saw the tall legged beauty elegantly walking past him. Thorjen stiffened upon seeing the direction of her footsteps moving right towards him. She was just as tall as he imagined, but he didn’t expect her beauty to be amplified to such a degree once she arrived so close to him.

Unsurprisingly her smell was divine. He could only recall two other women who carried such a lovely scent. His mother and ...Threyja.

“Pleasure to meet you handsome- I mean- 6 fufufu...I am Geary and also number 1.” With a pretty smile warm enough to melt a frozen heart. She turned the identical piece of paper Thorjen received towards him. He saw the edge of the wine skinned page. With the number 1 etched against it.

“It seems that our benefactor gave us all numbers. But we decided before you arrived against hiding our real names. But don’t feel pressured into telling us anything you don’t feel comfortable with. We're all in the same boat after all.” Every time she smiled Thorjen thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his entire life. He had never felt so drawn to a being quite like this before. Suddenly a face flashed across his mind, sending a shiver through his spine and a pang of guilt drying his throat. Threyja’s lovely smile had quickly taken root in the deepest parts of his heart. He shook his head to free himself of these troubling thoughts.

'Threyja...I...miss you.'

‘The same boat?’ he thought himself. Thorjen had no idea who these people were or why someone that knew an awful lot about him had brought him here. ‘Could they even be trusted?’

“Your doubts are understandable. We too have our own doubts towards you of course being the last member of this newly formed band fufufu. As you’ve probably now realized, we have been gathered here by a common circumstance. For one way or the other we were travelling back towards the Lucien Kingdom when a particular sweet smell led us towards this teahouse. It’s empty by the way I've already used my magic to scan every inch of this lovely place...”

‘Ah, so that’s what that was...of course magic exists on the mainland.’ Thorjen now understood why her clothing was unusual compared to everyone else's. And that sensation from earlier on was perhaps also magic, he couldn’t help but instinctively take a slight step away. Was she trying to charm me? He recalled the mention of a name spoken to him by his mother, which also appeared on that ominous letter he received.

‘Shava Watermoon...a mage.’ Somehow all of this was connected.

“I was the first to arrive. Followed by Big Max over there. He was number 2. Then the serious looking girl beside him was the third arrival. Her name is Rain. Number 4 is none other than that loud mouth over there Morgan followed by the cutie pie next to him being the fifth. Tails. And lastly you, number 6.”

Thorjen observed the strangers around the tavern. They were knights. He knew that much from a single glance. If it wasn’t for the torrid time he was having trying to piece together his mood, he might’ve felt a little more excited being in the presence of official knights that he had always aspired to be like.

Amidst his chaotic thoughts, he felt a soft hand fall upon his shoulders.

“Sigh...for now why don’t you get yourself cleaned up and... put on some clean clothes. Come with me I'll take you to a room I found where we can try find you some clothes to wear.”

Through the back doors, there was a dimly lit narrow hallway with various closed doors placed on either side of the walls they passed. Their walk wasn’t too quick and Thorjen sensed the beautiful woman wanted to converse with him privately for a little while. Having to stand so close beside her due to the narrow pathway, his nostrils were **** to drink in her exuberantly pleasant scent. Thorjen felt a subtle urge or arousal growing within him. He felt something beneath his lower abdomen throbbing slightly.

“So then number 6. Care to tell me your name?” Her husky and yet lovely voice spoke

“Ah-er...M-my name...Thor...Thorjen.”

“fufufu took you long enough. But that’s a lovely name. It sounds strong...say, you’re a half ling as well, right? Your ears are a dead giveaway but your skin is tanned.” She said as a matter of factually

“Ah-y-yes I am...” Thorjen had never felt so weird when talking to someone. He had to constantly press his fingers against his chest. Just to make sure his heart was still beating and he wasn’t going crazy.

“There's nothing to feel ashamed of by the way. I hear the Elven people are blessed with divine abilities and strength. These days they fetch for quite the considerable amount of silver if you wish to hire one for their services. And they make great knights, scouts, scribes and also mages. I knew a few Elven magus’s during my tutelage at the college of magic.”

“College of magic?” Thorjens interest was piqued.

“Uh huh I graduated almost 7 years ago. Don’t let these beautiful youthful features fool you, I'm actually old enough to be your mother id imagine.” he gave him a playful wink which stirred something strange within his own heart. ‘Why am I feeling annoyed by that-damn it I'm losing it... Threyja...I need to keep thinking about Frey .'

“There are 3 colleges of magic across the realms. One within the Lucien Kingdom whilst the other two dwell in the ancient Faye Kingdom. Most magicians tend to hold permanent residence there due to the amount of affordable resources, the climate is also quite favorable for mages who desire to understand the elements in their purest forms. It is quite the magnificent place.” Thorjen could see the romance within her gaze whilst she described that place.

“Then what's made you leave such a place?” he couldn’t help but ask her

He saw a playfulness subtly drifting away. “I’m an ambitious woman. Let me give you some advice Thorjen. In this world, not all the pretty things are worth holding onto. And besides, everyone knows the money is at the Lucien Kingdom. It’s what's brought me here in the first place.”

Thorjen fell into deep thought a little bit, he had read things the Elven folk had written about the mainland kingdoms. The knights' guilds and the adventurer halls. Lucien Kingdom was one of the very first realms which abolished outlaws. And instead offered huge rewards to bands or companies that could complete a variety of missions across the realm.

The promise for wealth, power and fame was enough to steer the hearts of the most blood thirsty of warrior. This then shifted history from a time of lawlessness and bloodshed into a period of chivalry and heroism. Mercenaries were being offered princesses just as long as they slayed the monsters. Whilst fortune favored the bold, and merchants were becoming owners of vast lands.

He also understood the vast riches of the Lucien royal family span across decades. Elves were critical of the royals of course, understandably so since after the Major Elven families lost the war. Their jewels and resources were seized by the human kingdoms, he even heard a mention of the Elvens eldest guardian being stolen and held captive by the humans. Of course this was considered a rumor.

And so Lucien Kingdom had become one of the hubs for adventurers or seasoned warriors.

“Thorjen. I hope you don’t mind me asking but I have a few questions I would like to ask you.”

“S-sure what is it?” he felt less tense around her

“Earlier when you had first arrived. B-by mistake of course! I accidentally...sigh...it's embarrassing to say but I used a charm spell to make you desire me.” Thorjen was shocked to see her outrightly admitting to it, her cheeks turned red and her eyes swiftly drifted into the open air. Thorjen wasn’t sure what to say. What could he say.

“Ahem! Well after that took place, I noticed how the effects were quickly nullified. In all my years as a mage I've never come across anyone who could cancel a spell so easily. But more so considering I could not sense a single once of battle aura within you. Since you are a half ling, I imagined you studied some sort of Elven martial technique then? Is that how you were able to cancel my magic?”