Chapter Text
Caine Liddell stared at the mound. The amalgamation of beasts, reptiles, and other nightmare-shaped creatures. These radges. They were overwhelming his father. Caine cried out to him and begged him to run. He can’t handle it on his own, no matter how strong he thinks he is. Caine sees that he is at his limit, that he’s reaching the peak of his ability. He watches from afar as he tries to pierce the air, cursing his lack of knowledge in wind magic to blow the mound away. He yearns for the power to make things right again. His father punches, crushes, and slices. His blows sound similar to that of cannons. The unrelenting wave of hostile beasts were washing over him. His body takes the beating, glowing in the moonlight, and he shines with enhancements made to protect. To kill.
Caine knew his father would soon exhaust the energy to keep going. He knew that he would have to activate his vital spark. A human’s last resort. Caine heard his father yell a command. He knew it was ‘run’ or some other form of that. He was taken up and pulled away by the other villagers, they all knew Lucas would lose with time. They had to evacuate. Caine watched as his father was overrun while being dragged away by his neighbors.
Caine awakens in his dorm, clutching his heart. It felt like it was being yanked away from its center. The feeling of uselessness overwhelms him briefly before a fairy flies into his view of the ceiling. Her dragonfly-like wings fold as she sits on the tip of his nose, crossing her legs. She has light auburn hair. It’s long and blown out, kind of like a little princess. Her long, shapely dress a burnt orange.
“Morning, Caine. Same dream?” The fairy asks, looking worried.
“... Yeah.”
“Cheer up, it’s a new day. Your father used to-”
“Vivi, don’t.”
“My bad. Your eyes are orange again, by the way.” She giggles.
Caine sighs. He takes a second to breathe deeply, ensuring his mana circulates properly. The faint feeling of energy travels throughout his system. After a few minutes of demo meditation, he gets up and ruffles his hair. Feels messy. There’s a knock at the door, and Vivi disappears. Caine doesn’t bother to ask who it is, instead, he simply walks up to the door and opens it. A girl with long fluffy verdant hair and red eyes stands behind it, she’s smiling. His long-time friend and the last family member he confides in, Rose.
“Hey, sleepy.” she settles her hands behind her back.
“Good morning, Rose. How was orientation?” Caine looks down at her new school uniform. It's a black primary with a maroon secondary, the shirt inside being dark grey. Quite edgy for a school, but it looks good nonetheless. Instead of a tie, it’s a bow for the ladies. He also noticed that she had rolled up her similarly styled plaid skirt. He decides not to say anything about it.
“It’s good noon ,” she corrects, “Orientation was mega-boring. The old bald guy kept talking about how important it is for us to graduate and to participate in missions while in school,” she pouts.
“Sounds about right,” Caine’s stomach growls, causing Rose to smirk.
“Let’s celebrate my enrollment here. Your treat, of course,” she grins mischievously. Caine sighs, then smiles.
“Sure, let’s get some food. The cafeteria has some pretty good options, despite current events. The Headmaster said something about raising morale and keeping the mages and Extricators healthy. Wait here,” Caine explains and goes back into his room to change. A second later he leaves his room wearing his school uniform, despite it being a day off for him and other upperclassmen.
“My, you’re surprisingly good-looking in that.” She points at his uniform.
“I know, it’s a lady-killer.”
The two walk down the mainly wooden interior of the school, furnished with beautifully carved tables, all housing a lamp. There are a few grandfather clocks strewn across the halls. The floor is styled with a single long dark maroon carpet, its edges lined with faux gold. Caine always thought it was an unnecessary feature. Doors with varying designs lie on the walls of these halls. They were practical, as well as beautiful. It showed new students which room was which so that they could practice their chosen magic.
The cafeteria was large, one of the largest rooms within the school, there were quite a few students in there, most likely in similar situations as Caine and Rose. Some upperclassmen also decided to wear their uniforms, while some didn’t. Rose pulls Caine to an area serving spicy foods.
“We have to get some uber-spicy food!” Rose says excitedly. Caine sighs.
“Alright,” he smiles at her, “Choose something for me, too.” He hands her some silver coins and goes to find a table for them. He sits down and a young woman with short silver hair walks up to him, he recognizes her as the Headmaster’s secretary, Nell.
“Mr. Liddell, you’ve been summoned by the Headmaster,” she adjusts her glasses, “When should he expect to see you?” Caine felt slightly relieved that he didn’t have to abandon Rose here.
“I’ll visit him after I’m done eating, so in about twenty-five minutes.”
“Understood.” She turns around and walks off into one of the halls exposed to the cafeteria.
“Hey, miss me?” Rose teases, she sets the tray of two bowls of spicy noodles down, accompanied with rice on the side. The broth looks quite red.
“Very much so.” He smiles.
“That makes me happy.” She sits across from him, giddy.
They dig into their meal, making small talk about their classes. Rose talks about her breakthrough in her magic research, how she’s already got a friend during orientation, and other things. A tall pasty guy with brown hair comes up to the two. Caine’s friend and classmate.
“Hey, Caine,” he looks down at them.
“What’s up, Jacob, need anything?”
“Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about my oath,” Jacob looks at Rose, “This your girlfriend?” he teases. Rose makes a face, then giggles.
“You ask that when I’m alone with any girl,” Caine sighs, “No, she’s my cousin, she just got out of orientation,” he explains. Caine finishes what little he has of his food and puts it back on the tray Rose came with. Caine stands.
“Rose, throw this away for me,” he commands.
“M’kay,” Rose pouts, “Aw, are you really leaving already?”
“I have to talk to the Headmaster.”
“Then, can I wait in your dorm?” Rose asks, starry-eyed.
“Sure,” he looks to Jacob, “Let’s talk on the way to the Headmaster’s office.”
“Sounds good,” Jacob replies.
The two boys leave the cafeteria and Rose waves them goodbye. Walking back down the halls Caine traveled with Rose, they gabbed about various topics from their least favorite radge to fight to which unit they’d like to join. They take their time since the Headmaster’s office is almost on the other side of the campus. The seemingly unkempt nature of Jacob, who mistook the “bad-boy” look with the messy one, had completely unbuttoned his blazer and loosened his tie, along with a popped collar to finish it off. Caine clears his throat.
“Alright, what’s this about your oath?” he gets to the point.
“Ah, that,” Jacob starts, “It’s very troublesome, trying to adapt to losing my affinity to the wind. I was just wondering what you did when you made yours.”
“I adjusted to it.” Caine simply states.
“...I see,” Jacob looks slightly disappointed, but bounces back quickly, “So I just need to man up, huh?” He looked fired up.
“Interpret it however you’d like,” Caine shrugged.
“Did you have any tips for me, though?” He asked, putting his hands in his pockets.
“I don’t. Just rely on your peers. That’s why I have Rose around.”
“Oh, I see,” Jacob smirks, “So, you’re telling me to command and manipulate a young girl?” He teased. Caine sighs.
“She is aware of how I treat her, she’s the one who suggested it.”
“So you are manipulating her!”
“I am not ,” Caine coldly remarked. Jacob laughed.
“But for real, I don’t think I can find anyone understanding enough to help me. A nanny would make me look bad, too.”
“I’m just telling you what I did, I don’t know what it’s like for the other oath-bound Extricators.”
“I guess I’ll start looking for someone to help…”
They make some more small talk on their way to the Headmaster’s office. They reach the main entrance of the school, which showcases a large spiral staircase going vertically up in the middle of the main room, also serving as a pillar for the place. The main room is decorated with paintings and medals, with a large painting of the founder of the school hatched on the wall directly facing the entrance doors. Caine tells Jacob that he can leave, and Jacob leaves. Going up the stairs, Caine begins wondering why he was called by the Headmaster, he knew he wasn’t supposed to go out on any missions this week. Are they starting to move? He pushes the thought out of his mind to not needlessly stress himself out. At the top of the stairs awaits a circular desk with the Headmaster’s secretary sitting in the center of it, attending to paperwork. She notices Caine.
“He’s inside waiting for you, Mr. Liddell.” She smiles politely.
“Gotcha.” He walks past her.
Caine stands before two thick wooden doors, painted a dark brown. The bronze handles are a bit tacky , he nitpicks the Headmaster’s taste in aesthetics and knocks on the door.
“It’s Caine.” He waits transiently before a voice answers him.
“Come in, please.” The Headmaster replies.
Caine enters the room, it’s decorated with a surprising amount of vegetation, and colorful flowers bloom around the large window behind the Headmaster’s desk. The contrast between the dark wood and flowers nearly made it jarring for Caine to enter.
“Come on, sit.” The Headmaster gestures to the seat across his desk reserved for visitors.
Caine sits, “So, what’d you call me for?”
“I’m sure you’re aware by now but there are signs of the radges becoming increasingly intelligent over the years,” he clears his throat, “Recently, we’ve found that they’ve made a united flag, however rudimentary. This flag wouldn’t be a problem normally, but we’ve then found that they’ve made more flags of the same style, even when they’re across the continent.”
“Tsk. They’re being led.”
“Precisely.”
“So, what does this have to do with me?” He raises an eyebrow.
“You’ve shown extreme combat strength these past couple of years, mainly by yourself as well,” he smiles, “Your father would be proud, though I’m not sure he’d be too keen on your oaths.”
“I need the strength, I can’t afford to hold back. Their population is only increasing and we’ve been losing more Extricators than ever.” Caine defends.
“I’m aware of that. I was simply getting formalities out of the way.” He closes his eyes.
“That’s unnecessary.”
“It is necessary. Keeping a sense of normalcy is important for morale.” The Headmaster glares. Caine sighs. He’s a sigher.
“So, what’s this about my strength?”
“Yes, of course. The Council members have personally decided to appoint you as a Rank 3 Extricator. Meaning that you need to start constructing a unit.” Caine makes a face at this.
“That’s not normal. I haven’t even earned Rank 5, do they really expect me to build a team?”
“The son of a Hero will always face the pressure of his legacy.”
Caine sinks in his seat momentarily to take in all the information. Who would he even add to his unit? He knew that he had to find some more strength eventually. Just someone to deal with the small fry while I focus on the main threat , he naively thinks. He considers Rose and maybe Jacob to be a good fit. No, Rose is too young, she just enrolled here. I can’t have her join. Jacob might work, I’d have to tell him about Vivi, though. Caine considers. As he sorts through his thoughts and thinks about his classmates, he remembers that one of them specializes in defense and support magic, Mason Gorm. He was someone to keep an eye on, already earning Rank 5, a good close-ranged support Extricator, perfect for what Caine was looking for.
“How many people do I need in a unit?” Caine asks, a serious look on his face.
“A minimum of three other people. That’s not including the leader, which would be you.” Caine felt wavering feelings at this.
“I only have two people in mind at the time. How long do I have?”
“You have a week starting today.”
Caine pauses, planning, “Understood, I will be taking my leave now.”
“Good luck. Oh, also there seems to be some radges just outside campus, clean them up for me, will you?”
“If you’re telling me to get them, I assume this is hush-hush?”
“I just don’t want to expose harm to my students.”
“So you’re sending one of them out to face that harm, then?”
“You and I both know you can handle this much.”
Caine shrugs and promptly leaves the office. Remembering Rose is waiting for him, he hurries outside.
Outside, he takes a look at the large field surrounding the school, vast amounts of flowers are scattered in the field as well as some lone trees. The grass is trimmed near the main entrance. A dense forest surrounds the field with a single paved road being the main way in and out. It's a bit chilly today. The wind howls, creating a wave-like pattern with the leagues of grass and flowers. Caine reminisces about all the training he had with his peers for a second, before focusing on the task at hand. He amplifies his legs, symbols appearing on his shins. He quickly sprints around the perimeter of the large school within 20 seconds. Behind the school, opposite the main entrance, he finds some tattered cloth on the ground. It’s a bit dirty. Scouts were here.
“Vivi, you awake?” He calls out to seemingly nothing. Vivi appears on his shoulder, sitting on it.
“What’s up, big guy?” She smiles at him.
“Can you find out where this came from?” He holds up the cloth to her. She stares at it for a bit before speaking.
“Origin is at the edge of the forest.” She says. Knowing what’s about to happen, she quickly squirms into the chest pocket of his blazer.
Caine amplifies his legs again, increasing his speed. He sprints to the edge of the forest within seconds. A group of humanoid beings of various sizes are lying down behind some bushes. He sweeps his leg, the wind pressure ripping the leaves off the bushes, exposing the radges. Caine grimaces. Six. One’s a mimic, another seems to be an ogre. He probably stood behind and might be the leader. The rest are simple goblins. The monsters get ready to attack. The flesh-mound of a being turns into something that resembles Caine.
“Vivi.” He calls out.
“Yeah, yeah.” She leaves his coat pocket and watches as he takes off his blazer, dropping it on a large rock nearby. He rolls up his sleeves, small white symbols appearing on his forearms. He walks toward them, the goblins attack first, all but one trying to pounce on him. He dodges their predictable movements. One is missing. Caine closes his eyes and focuses his mana on his ears, listening to the movements of the scratchy dirt. A pattering. He jabs his elbow behind him, crushing its skull and blowing away the lone flanker. Five. The ogre makes its move, roaring at the three goblins, signaling them to leave and possibly report back. They start running into the forest in different directions. Crap, so this guy is the leader. The ogre comes at him, the feeling of a sudden pressure wraps his hands as Caine wrestles the ogre. He feels it attempting to pick him up, which it promptly does, and Caine braces. The ogre slams him to the ground, the dirt smacking his face, his torso felt like it was throbbing for an instant. He swiftly recovers and dashes behind his large opponent before it could slam its large fists on him. As he briskly boosts his arm, he spears it into the thorax of his sly enemy, piercing its heart. Vivi cheers him on from behind. The ogre roars in pain. He pulls back, letting the ogre fall. Four. He looked at the mimic, which was staring at him and smiling. Its sharp fangs were not fooling anyone.
“Vivi, watch it. I’m going after the three.” He commands.
“Got it. Better hurry, it’s getting late,” Vivi hovers over the head of the imperfect doppelganger as Caine nods and augments his legs again, adding on to his previous boosts.
His leg jabs into the ground with absurd acceleration, causing the dirt to form small craters with each leap and bound. Swerving through the trees, occasionally hitting low-hanging branches, Caine excels his nose, taking a deep breath. Recognizing a bad, slightly sour smell he rushes toward it, being met with one of the goblins. Caught by surprise, it lunges to attack. He immediately tears his leg through the air, sending it flying to a nearby tree, limp. Without wasting time, he quickly finds the other two and annihilates them, though with a little trouble due to having to expend a lot of energy in rushing to find them. He runs back to the edge of the forest, facing the school.
There he meets Vivi, hovering around the mimic, drawing its attention by throwing small fire and water spells at it. Caine sighs and walks up to it while Vivi zooms over to Caine’s side. The mimic stares at him, and he notices all the little imperfections the mimic managed to make of him, a missing eyebrow, two fingers gone, its teeth are still unnaturally sharp, the nose looking slightly crooked. Must be a young one. He notes, though he also admires it a bit. Thanks for making me so handsome, despite your flaws, of course. The mimic stops smiling, it lunges at him and attempts to sink its teeth into his neck. Caine grabs its “face” before it can and crushes it, forcing it to turn back into a flesh-colored mound. He leans down and quickly stomps its glowing core. The mimic dies, turning into a puddle of liquid mana, and a slightly tangy smell arises from its corpse. I’m not sure if he needed to send me for this. He sighs, “May the Goddess prosper.” Caine places his fingers together, praying, “Vivi, help me clean up.”
“Right, right,” she quickly hovers over to him, readying a water spell.
“Pretty nasty this time, huh?” He states, smirking at the fairy. He holds his bloody hands out to her.
“I know you’re strong but please be a bit more careful.” She warns, dousing his hands with a stream of heavy water.
“It’s fine, I knew the mimic wasn’t fully grown from afar.”
“But if it was fully grown even you would face a bit of trouble. It could’ve even hidden itself as a child,” she worries. The stream of water stops, and Caine shakes his hands to dry them.
“I guess so. I’ll try to keep that in mind.”
“Thank you, Caine.” She flies behind him as he walks back to the field.
He grabs his blazer and dashes back to his dorm, slowing to a walk the closer he gets to the school, Vivi disappears. I wonder who or what sent them, they must be awfully close to try and scout the school. His thoughts wander as he strolls back to his dorm room.
He opens the door and sees a sleeping Rose on his bed. He walks up to her and pokes her cheek lightly. She groans, waking up and rubbing her eyes.
“Jeez, you took a while.” She complains.
“The Headmaster sent me out to do some business, sorry, Rose.” He pats her head. She beams.
“I forgive you,” she stands up from his bed and takes a good look at him, “You’re kinda dirty, he must’ve made you do something rough,” she inspects him and sniffs out a faint metallic smell from his hands. She frowns, “How’d they get this far into the city?”
“I’m not sure, there might be something up with the guards or the shortage of Extricators.” He explains, going to the sink in his room and washing his hands with soap, hoping the smell of violence leaves him. He dries his hands and turns to Rose.
“I’ll be leaving the school soon. They appointed me as Rank 3.”
“What? But I just got here!” she complains, “Take me with you! Let me join your unit!”
“I don’t want to leave you again either, but it’s safer for you to be here.”
“I’m not just a little kid anymore, Caine, you should know that. You know I’m good with my magic. We were meant to be a team!”
“I know that…” he looks down, pondering, “I don’t want to expose you to danger I can’t protect you from.”
Rose gets up from the bed and walks up to him, making sure he faces her by grabbing his face, her piercing red eyes catching him, “We were made to be a team. Mr. Poakman did his best so that we could fight together. Properly. Do you want to let all that hard work go to waste?”
Caine gently pulls her hands away from his face and holds them, “I don’t think it’ll be wasted. It’s just… we don’t know what’s out there nowadays. I might not be able to fight them off myself.” He worryingly stares at her.
“That’s exactly why you need me with you, Caine,” she squeezes his hands, “We can be even more powerful together! That’s what all that training was for!”
Caine lets go of her and sits on his bed, looking down at the planks of his dorm, “Maybe Freddy could join the unit as well.” Caine suggests, knowing full well that isn’t possible.
“Mr. Poakman’s an old Hero. The Council won’t like it,” Rose stands in front of him, holding his head to her chest, “We can give it a chance. If you don’t think I’m up to snuff, then I’ll come back here. No complaints.” She smiles, playing with his hair.
“...” Caine ponders, slightly distracted by her spoiling, “...Sure, alright.” His voice was defeated, filled with doubts.
“Thank you.” She holds him closer, trying to make him forget everything, if for a fleeting moment.
[Chapter 1 END]