Enigmatic Crusade

Valen woke up in a small bed. Sitting up instantly he recalled the black mist and the Ranker. Panic setting in he looked down to see that his limbs were back. His right arm and leg were restored to their original location. A relieved sigh left him as he wondered if it had been a dream. But as he recognized the area around him, he knew it hadn’t been. 

He wasn’t back at the orphanage, but in the Healing House. The sigil of the Raging Guild posted on one of the walls he knew that he was safe and made whole again by the Healers of the guild. The Healing House was one of the few perks of living in New Rapids. Though the city itself was expensive, the healing services were free as long as you didn’t overuse them. The Healing House provided free checkups and healing for everyone. Valen had been there many times during his life, only requiring true healing once when he caught pneumonia. The men and women of the House had quickly brought him back to full health, clearing him of sickness when he was close to death. And now he confirmed that they could fix limbs as he wiggled his fingers and toes. Happy to have not missed them for long. 

“And you’re up,” a woman’s voice said from across the room. She was only a little older than Valen. Wearing the white robes of a Priest she was low level, but could do more than he could, that was for sure. She walked over and put her hand over his forehead. 

“You seem okay,” she said with a caring smile. “We were able to grow your limbs back fairly simply, but you were hit with some pretty bad debuffs. It was touch and go there for a while.” 

“Where are my friends?” Valen asked. He knew that these people could do wonders with healing and since he didn’t have a level it was rather easy for them to heal him. With himself safe he needed to make sure his friends were alright. There were other beds around him, but his eyes were having trouble seeing very far for some reason. 

“I’m sure they’re fine. Rest for now,” she ordered, pushing him down, but before he could fight her more a wave of peace entered into his mind and he fell asleep. 

His dreams full of half stories and events, Valen didn’t remember what they were about when he woke up again. Instead of opening his eyes to see a beautiful woman though, it was a very angry adventurer. He had tan skin, short red hair, and a handlebar mustache. The emblem of the Raging guild etched into his breast pocket told Valen that he was a higher up in the guild. 

“Up,” the man barked. Valen sat straight up. He knew full well what could happen if he didn’t listen immediately to the man’s words. The stranger stepped back, giving Valen room to get off the bed. Looking down Valen was still unsure if his limbs being blown away was a dream or not. The clothes he had been wearing before were gone and he seemed to be in clothes from the lost and found or something. A sad fact since the new pants and shirt he was in was more comfortable than the second-hand set he had received for his last birthday. Before Valen could question further or wrap his head around what was going on the man ordered, “Follow.” 

His mind still trying to catch up he listened to the simple orders as they walked through the Healing House. Instead of going through the entrance and exit Valen normally used, they went to an inner door, one that led to the inner sanctum of the Raging Guild. Eyes scanning beds around him as he walked past he didn’t recognize anyone laying in them. Most were empty, but Valen prayed that his friends were still alive. 

The guild member practically kicked in the door as he walked up to it. Valen followed behind, eyes scanning everything, unsure what to do as he got his first look inside the guild. To his surprise it looked like most any building. Wood plank walls and floorboards groaned as the big man walked ahead. The hall was empty with a few side halls and doors leading this way and that. 

It wasn’t long until Valen was led into a new room. This one was much smaller. A table at the center of the room there were four chairs around it. Inside was a very old man waiting for them. Valen didn’t recognize either of these men but his mind was too preoccupied with trying to do whatever they asked so they wouldn’t kill him. 

Nervous, and fearful for his life, a part of Valen knew this wasn’t a normal reaction to people. No one else in the orphanage had trouble talking to random people. But Valen was pretty scarred from past experiences. Almost a year ago his other friend, Grant, had bumped into a high level rogue. The Rogue accidentally poisoned Grant because she thought he was trying to pickpocket her. The poison the rogue used was so deadly that Grant only took 2 steps before he dropped dead, his eyes practically melting out of their sockets due to the strength of the poison. 

Since then Valen swore to do whatever the elite of the city asked of him. The lower leveled were always at the whim of the strong. Grant’s killer hadn’t even been brought up on charges. The death of another orphan was deemed an accident and she simply promised to watch it next time. Peter, Valen, and Aunt Fiona were the only people left to grieve for him, and the instance was quickly forgotten. But Valen remembered. Remembered the face of the rogue and her almost nonchalance at accidentally killing someone. 

These two men around Valen had that same nonchalance. As if every person that said something in their presence should watch what they say. A mere flick of their wrist could knock Valen’s head off, and if he stepped out of line he would be forgotten as Grant had been. 

“What’s your name, boy,” the old man at the table said. He waved at a chair opposite him. Valen gulped and sat down without a word. The escort followed, taking up more than his share of space with bulky muscles as the much smaller older man sat quietly. A gray beard on his face he wore a baseball cap on his head. The cap was a faded red and there was an outline of stitching on it. More than a few people had small trinkets from the old world before everyone was given a status screen. Watches, rings, and many other useless garments had been transported with them. 

“V-Valen,” he muttered in a weak voice. 

“Good, I am-” The old man said, but the big guy interrupted. 

“Do you have to sweet talk everyone?” He barked. Impatient as he stared Valen down. 

“Do you not see that the kid is scared shitless?” The old man asked as if Valen couldn’t hear him. “Can you blame him? He doesn’t even have a level.”

“I have been interrogating people for the last hour,” the man said. “I want to get this over with. Level or not, we need to see what he knows.”

“And I am getting there,” the old man said. “Has it really been so long? Have you forgotten what being a normal person is like, Dave?” That gave the big man pause. He opened his mouth then shut it, his hard gaze softening slightly as he turned to Valen. “Better. Now Valen, I am sure you know why you’re here.”

“That Ranker? I swear, I didn’t see anything,” Valen spat. Glad to have some kindness from a higher level. A part of him felt like he would give the old man anything he wanted. A smaller part of him said that wasn’t normal and stats might be affecting him, but he wasn’t sure. Right then all he wanted was to be past this. 

“That’s fine,” the old man said. Waving his hand, Valen felt something shift in the air but that was all. As if the space between them was filled with something that he couldn’t see. People with Classes could do amazing things, so Valen pushed his worries away. Not like he could fight what was going to happen anyway. “I would like your permission to use a skill on you. One that will help us with our investigation.” 

“A skill?” Valen asked. He knew about them. Everyone in the world had a class, and thus had skills. Powered by a mysterious substance, Essence, they could do extraordinary things. Just like the Ranker from earlier. “Does it hurt?”

 
“Of course not, just a little…invasive,” the old man said with a crooked smile. Valen gulped but knew his refusal wouldn’t go over well. All he could do was nod. With that he felt something touch his head. Unable to see anything he let it happen then a sharp pain entered his mind. Gritting his teeth he ignored the pain as images appeared on the table in front of him. 

The images coalesced and Valen saw a scene of earlier that day. The skill showed Valen’s point of view from when he was walking side by side with Claire and Peter as they moved through the alley. “Good,” the old man said as the scene was projected onto the table. Valen watched in amazement as the delving into his mind grew a little more sharp. A dull ache at the back of his skull was all he felt, but he was transfixed as the old man used the skill. The scene sped up to show them entering the Training Yard. 

“Speed it along, we already saw this,” the big man said. The scene sped up again. No sound was relayed through the image but it was through Valen’s point of view, that was for sure.

It wasn’t until he was sitting there watching his own viewpoint that he realized how much he glanced at Claire. As she looked longingly at this or that shop, moved out of the way of people in the street, and did most everything, Valen was watching her. Now that it was laid out in front of him he couldn’t believe he didn’t notice it. Scared she would be kidnapped or someone would try to grope her when they were out, he always tried to keep an eye on her. Over time his care must have slowly grown to where he was constantly making sure she was okay. 

Curious what that meant he was brought out of his thoughts as the image froze. “There,” the old man hissed and Valen saw it. He had glanced at the robed man known as Faust. Something Valen hadn’t noticed at that time. The man was robed and looked rather suspicious. Everyone else that was robed had their hoods down, but his was covered up. Not only that, but there appeared to be a dark haze around him. Much like the light haze around the holy knight he had seen earlier. 

“Good,” the big man said, pointing at the illusion. “There is his hand. Looks like a Forgetting Ring at least. And a storage ring. Recognize the other one?”

“No, I’m guessing it’s to help with his necromancy though,” the old man said. “What else?” He asked as the view progressed. Valen and the others were talking as they moved on, but it wasn’t long until the Executioner showed up.

“Larry was there,” the big man said, pointing at the Executioner. “Looks like Faust kept his body though. Crap, I’ll have to tell his wives. Jeez, why didn’t the others see Larry?”

“They did, but this kid was lucky to not be corrupted,” the old man said.

“Corrupted?” Valen asked, worried for his friends, but they ignored him. The scene played on and the last it showed was the black mist that engulfed them all as they ran. 

“Damn,” the big man said. “I wish we knew which way he went.” He got up from the table. 

“It’s not like any of us could do anything to a Ranker,” the old man said. 

“True, but I want to know his target. If he’s after one of our dungeons, we need to know,” the big guy said. He turned back to see Valen still at the table. “Kid, wake up. Your friends are fine. Leave this room, and take a right. Should take you to the front. Thanks for the help.” Without another word they left the room. 

Valen was left in a stupor for a moment. He had half expected he would be tortured, but as they left the small room the pain in his head disappeared and he was able to breathe normally again. As the pressure in the room faded he slowly got up. On wobbly feet he peeked out of the room but there were no guards. 

Dumbstruck for a long moment he wasn’t sure what he had expected. Maybe some hesitation on their part. Possibly a reward for showing them that. Not that he had done anything. But these were high leveled people. Aurous was nothing to them. 

Unsure what to do or say, the reality of the situation slowly dawned on him. “They didn’t see me as…anything,” he said. Not a threat, not someone they should even think or worry about. He was level 0 and thus a zero in their eyes. Unconcerned with him, they were happy to get what information they could from him and then he was cast aside. 

Anger flaring in him, Valen hoped his friends were okay as he stepped outside the room. Slowly following the directions he expected to be yelled at at any moment, but wasn’t. He found a large door at the end of the hall, and thankfully it took him to the main lobby of the Raging Guild Hall. 

Along with the Training Yard and Town Square, seeing the Guild Halls had been one of Valen’s favorite pastimes. The giant building near the center of town always had adventurers coming and going from it. Never venturing too close to it, he still knew the inside of the lobby because of the giant wyrm’s head mounted on the wall. 

It was one of the many raid monsters that had plagued the New Rapids area at the start of the Integration. Back when the Raging Guild had been called the Rage Against the System Guild they had gained notoriety by killing the city-killer wyrm. Valen had grown up on stories of the fight that had propelled the previous guild master to take over the town. Until he was killed a few years later by the current City Lord anyway. 

“Valen,” Claire said from a sofa. She and Peter were sitting quietly in the corner as decked out adventurers walked this way or that. Valen let out a sigh of relief as they stood up and met him. “Are you okay? We heard you received most of the attack, but you look fine.”

“Yeah I’m fine, you two?” He asked, looking them over they appeared the same. Maybe a little more tired than usual, but other than that, nothing seemed wrong. “What happened?”

“No idea,” Peter said. “They interrogated us and did some magic thing to see what happened. But nothing was there, like our memories were wiped from us.”

Valen hesitated, but didn’t tell them what he had seen. He noticed that the front lobby had the long line of windows he usually looked in from. Dark outside at that point he nearly forgot what day it was.

“What time-” 

“Barely after dark,” Claire said. “We didn’t miss it.” She had a frown on her face as she studied him, but he ignored her stare. 

“Let’s get out of here-” He said but stopped as Peter grabbed his arm. “What?” The bigger man pointed to a line of adventurers facing the wall. Confused for a moment, Valen didn’t understand but then noticed all the posters on the board the adventurers were facing. 

“The Job board?” He mumbled. It was something he had always wanted to look at. But they wouldn’t have gotten access to it before. Orphans weren’t exactly allowed into a place like this, but the receptionist appeared a little too busy to bother with them. The guild was more abuzz than usual, probably due to the appearance of Faust. 

“Let’s go,” Claire said, uncaring about the board. But she was a girl, the two boys couldn’t help but fantasize about the jobs in the town. Valen and Peter slowly gravitated toward it, making sure to stay out of the way of the higher levels as they got in sight of it. 

There were postings for groups, asking for healers or this and that type of class. Resumes of others were also on there. What dungeons they had been in, roles they could fill. Job postings as well for clearing out local forests. Guard duty for expeditions. Any and everything that needed to happen for a guild to prosper was listed there, but the most important were the job openings. 

Posted right at the center was the list of recruitments. 

This was information Valen had wanted for a while. Though everyone was only given five choices for a class, not every class was needed. Oftentimes people would choose easier classes to level like Rogue or Mage. Valen knew that warriors were always needed as guards, but it was news to him that healers were needed. Perhaps Raging was planning a big raid or a new one had been found. That would explain the need for alchemists. 

Though the professions were out of his reach, he could choose one of the class options soon enough. 

“Let’s go,” Claire hissed, dragging them away. Valen let her pull them that time. A big group of adventurers coming in they walked around them near the edges of the crowd and walked out without issue. A part of him wondered if maybe he could have come in any time he wanted, but it was too late to dwell on by that point. 

Once they were outside, the cool air hit Valen. Exhausted from the short ordeal a part of him knew he was lucky to be alive. Thanks to his encounter with the Ranker, getting his Class and going out on his own didn’t feel so daunting anymore. He had been able to get into the guild, and though he hadn’t gained anything from it, going inside seemed a lot less daunting. Especially now that he had a hint about what kind of Class he should pick. 

“Fiona is going to kill us,” Claire said, causing the boys to jerk awake from their own thoughts.

“Shit,” Peter and Valen said as one. The trio were soon walking at a brisk pace which turned into a run away from the Guild Hall. 

The trip back home was uneventful, but as they walked into the orphanage the familiar Fiona was waiting for them. “Where the hell were you three?!” She yelled, uncaring if she woke the whole orphanage up. “I know you aren’t under my care, but that’s starting tomorrow. Whatever you…” she trailed off, finally looking at them. After a pause she quirked her head to the side, asking in a softer tone, “What happened?”

“A Ranker,” Valen said. 

“Are you alright?” She asked quickly. Worry blooming on her face. “You weren’t in the middle-”

“We are fine,” Claire said. “Just got asked questions by Raging.” The older woman frowned. Valen could see that she wanted to say more. Instead she let out a long sigh and pulled the trio into a rare hug. She was as small as ever, but at that moment Valen was surprised how good it felt. Fiona was a fierce woman, but fair and she could see that they had already been through it all. 

“Just glad you’re back,” she said. “If only for a night.” The last words were a stark reminder of the next day and hung heavy in the air as the embrace slowly ended. “Now get to bed. And don’t wake anyone up!” She barked. 

“Yes, Fiona,” they said in unison as they walked up the stairs. Valen was on the top floor but didn’t say anything to the others as they left to their respective rooms. His own room felt rather small, but it was all he had for the time being. Plopping onto the bed he wasn’t exactly sure how to process that day.

“Was it a good or bad day?” He mumbled to himself. Running into the Ranker was a rare threat, and the events had helped him forget about his world being turned upside down the next day. At least until now anyway. But the memory of seeing his arm and leg blown away was stuck in his mind.

Alone in his room with his thoughts he knew it was going to be some time before he fell asleep. He had a hard choice to make in a few hours. Though he had spent so much time thinking about it, he still didn’t have an answer. Either way, it would hopefully be the last time he was known as just an orphan. Instead he wanted to be known as an adventurer, and with luck maybe he would someday become a Ranker as well.