Chapter Text
Gem hummed as she sat in a tavern by herself in the small town of Kaore. She had been in the town for a while, not having been born there but having spent the last few years there while working to become better at her magic.
At the moment she had only a few keys to use, none of which were entirely useful. She had three silver keys which were each tied to a creature that was willing to fight. Her five bronze keys were each tied to an animal that was less willing to fight. The only type of key she didn’t have access to were any of the four golden keys.
Which was fine, most keyholder wizards didn’t ever get ahold of the golden keys so she really wasn’t that bothered by it at all.
The door to the tavern opened and someone walked in. She didn’t pay much attention to the guy who had walked in. He wasn’t that interesting. But the second guy who walked in made her freeze.
“It’s Xelqua!” Another voice in the tavern yelled and all of a sudden there were plenty of girls running over to the wizard. Gem joined them, staring in amazement at the wizard. This guy was part of the hermitcraft guild, a powerful group of wizards who were very selective. You had to know someone to get in. And by god she wanted to get in.
The first guy walked over too, seeming excited but after a moment his smile fell and his head tilted.
“You aren’t Xelqua,” the guy said and Xelqua looked at him with a frown.
“Of course I am,”
“Don’t be rude,” Gem snapped at the guy. “He’s a hermit, you’re just jealous that you aren’t one of them,” She said and the guy laughed like it was the funniest joke in the world. She was confused but whatever, some people were weird.
Then the guy did what was probably the dumbest thing ever, tackling Xelqua and knocking him over. In doing so Gem realized that this strange guy was right, this wasn’t Xelqua and the only reason she had thought he was was because he was using some sort of stupid charm spell.
The guy was slammed into the wall and Xelqua walked away. Well, whoever that guy was at the very least because he wasn’t Xelqua. Gem watched as the crowd dispersed and she walked over to the guy. He was slowly sitting back up, his red sweater slightly torn and jeans somehow still normal.
“I uh…wanted to say thanks I guess. I’m Gem,” She said and offered a hand to him.
“You can call me Grian,” He said, accepting the outstretched hand with a smile. “I thought you thought that guy was Xelqua,” He said, sounding more teasing than upset.
“He’s using a charm spell. When you tackled him it messed with the spell slightly and since I know magic it caused his spell over me to break,” Gem explained with a small shrug.
“Well, if you really want to thank me then you could always buy me food,” Grian said and Gem sighed.
“Come on,” Gem led him back to a seat in the tavern so that they could both eat something. Not that she was hungry because she did in fact eat earlier. Grian however began to scarf down food like it was nothing.
Her mind wandered for a bit when there was a loud explosion outside the tavern. Gem flinched and she saw Grians head shoot up.
“Alright, I guess I should go deal with this,” He said with a sigh. Gem threw down some money before taking off and following the guy in red.
“What are you going to do about it?” Gem yelled, unsure of what this guy was planning.
“Didn’t I mention? I’m a wizard myself!” Grian yelled before his hands lit up with black. “Wings of the watcher!” He yelled and black wings broke from his back. He took to the sky and Gem was left behind but there was no way she was going to let this happen without her.
“What is this guy on?” She muttered to herself. She made it to the battle where the guy who had pretended to be Xelqua was, and he was currently fighting with Grian. Grian moved with ease against the attacks, sending dark tendrils to grab this guy.
“My turn,” Gem said, figuring that she could help at least a little. “I call upon the enderman, I beckon you to my side,” She yelled, grabbing one of the silver keys and using it to open a portal. Out stepped a black creature with piercing eyes, who saw the fight and screamed. It teleported into the midst of the battle and started to throw things at the two lackeys who were there.
“Oh hey! I’m glad you made it!” Grian called to her and she rolled her eyes. “Nice, mob wizard,”
“WE ARE NOT CALLED MOB WIZARDS!” She yelled, suddenly annoyed with the other wizard.
“Eh, close enough,” He said only to actually get hit with an attack. His sweater tore and it revealed a mark on his arm, one with a H that stood for a certain guild she had always wanted to be part of.
“Uhhh, boss?” One of the guys asked and the guy who had lied about himself had frozen.
“If that mark…and those wings…HE’S XELQUA! RUN!!” The guy turned and took off, which failed as Grian wrapped tendrils around him and held him hostage.
“Guess we can turn you into the guards now,” He said, flipping the guy upside down and grabbing the two lackeys as well. “Thanks for the help,” He winked and she rolled her eyes.
“Why didn’t you just say you were Xelqua in the first place?” She asked and he let out a laugh.
“Because I don’t go around just advertising that. Duh,” He said. “But you should come with me!”
“Why?” She was pretty much planning on walking away and leaving him to his own devices.
“You said you wanted to join Hermitcraft, right?” He asked and she, begrudgingly, went with him to see if maybe it was possible.