The Mark of the Infinite

Gensel had never seen a more beautiful room in his life.

It was large of course, it had to be for what it held. A hill in lavish flowers, grass and even tress, two small waterfalls worked as fountain, finishing at a small pond that circulated all across the room. It was dark, the only glow coming from some colored glasses at the edges of the room, the water itself weirdly, and then the object that stood at the center.

A sword stabbed to a pedestal in the center, between the two waterfalls, the true crowning object in this room. A little too much for something like that, Gensel though.

As he moved further away from the room, he noticed a little boy sitting right in front of it. He didn’t dare enter, but simply let his eyes stare at only but the sword. Nobody else was there, and nobody else seemed to come. It was only but the boy and himself. The boy didn’t do much but blink and breathe, not even talking to him, stretching or even moving closer into the room.

Footsteps resounded across the halls of the castle, until all but an all too familiar figure came close to the boy, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. It was Angelo! One of the angels who had attended them when they first came here, what was he doing?

“Everyone is waiting for you down at the dining hall. They fetched me to get you.” He told him, and yet the boy wouldn’t budge.

“Your majesty.” Nothing. “Ricky.” He hoped this time it would grab his attention.

“I still don’t get what the Schwert gave me.” He said, so low it could be a whisper.

Angelo had to sit down beside him to hear him better.

With Ricky’s eyes clearly stuck on the sword, he then easily got the problem.

“They never do, in the end they’re just small gifts.” Ricky raised his wrist to look at the bracelet he was given, weaved in silver threads with sapphires and small silver plates that showed the symbols of his kingdom.

“Dad got his crown, and a lot of people were saying it was because he is the most fit to be king.” He hid his bracelet then, under his arm, trying to forget about it as he continued starring to the sword.

“Other Kings got things like daggers and shields, and all I got was a bracelet.” For once his eyes gazed away from the room, to the side of the hall.

“The sword only gifts those who it suspects will be future kings, even if just a bracelet, you should be honored to have been witnessed.” That still didn’t bring Ricky’s mood any higher.

“There are no other heirs but me, it has no other choice.” Angelo sighs on how sad it was for the prince to think such things.

Silence settled between them, Ricky didn’t move and Angelo couldn’t leave until he did. He looked to the sword yet again, a small prayer under his breath, hoping for guidance on how to deal with the young prince.

“Only son or not, it is still a responsibility expected of you. No king has disappointed us yet and I don’t think we’ll start with you. We teach you and prepare you as best as we can for when the day comes. You’ve started well, and you’ll become as good as your ancestors if you keep learning.” He placed both his hand on his shoulder, giving him a reassuring smile. “The bracelet will mean something in the future, but for now, you are just but a child, the prince, your father is still the rightful king and will continue to reign for several more years, it’s not something you should be worrying about at the moment.” Ricky was not feeling any better, but it did help, making him finally move and actually stand.

Angelo had felt a great relief.

“I’m hungry.” Ricky simply stated, already making his way down the hall.

He had a quickened pace, already running down the halls and stairs, Angelo having no choice than to run himself to catch up and to make sure the young prince didn’t stumble and hurt himself. It left Gensel alone in the hall now, the room next to him such a temptation.

“Pretty aint it?” the sudden voice startled him incredibly, making him move back to see that it was right beside him.

It was the girl, the girl from one of his earlier dreams!

She didn’t seem so fearsome now, her dress much simpler and not hiding between dark shadows. She was out in the open under much more light, making him notice her very young features and small figure. She almost seemed like a child, but there were grown aspects of her that made him understand that she was a teenager. She just stood next to him, not at all bothered by his outburst or his examination of her. She seemed to ignore him as she walked right past him and into the room.

“Don’t worry. I’m not doing anything to you yet.” She said to him, moving to the sword.

That ‘yet’ worried him. Still, with hesitant steps he moved inside to the room, following her, wanting to see what she was up to. She was just pacing around the room, her eyes locked on the sword, a gaze with so much want and curiosity for it.

“My time is limited.” She told him, indeed sudden since she was too preoccupied with the sword to seem like she cared he was there.

She then grabbed the grip, pulling it with ease from the floor below. Gensel was expecting the glint of a blade, but instead…well there was blade…just a part of it. The other parts was basically a sort of blue force, symbols floating about, none did he recognize. It was the weirdest, yet, most unique and beautiful sword he had seen.

“Wow, it shows everything.” The girl said, touching in delight one of the symbols, dissolving in her touch, her hand glowing in a pulse with the color before it disappeared.

Yet she reacted to all of it like nothing, like she was used to such things. He had been too distracted with her sudden innocence, to expect her to aim the sword right at his direction.

“Till next time.” She said.

The sword charged, a potent blue light growing and growing, the room spinning with more of the symbols it emitted. Gensel tried to run, but he was locked to the floor, with no choice but to face the shot that was coming right at him, blinding his vision in white.

He awoke, in a scream, a jolt, and in heavy breaths. That in turn, woke the others, who began to sit up with heavy groans.

“What the hell?” Rei was the first to speak, taking off the book that was lying on his face.

It took a moment for Gensel to realize where he was, to notice the open book beside him.

Oh yeah…they were in that…guild thing.

Suriel had left them to who knows where and so he and Rei started to practice their magic with a watching Luis…who fell asleep shortly after they finished reading the introduction.

It explained things rather simply, although it started with some poetic description on how magic was needed and probably one of the most powerful things in Eden, and it honestly bored the two of them (No wonder Luis fell asleep). Yet, it did give them a basic understanding on how to conjure it up, how to start, the push you needed to finally try. The first spell suggested that beginners such as them tried to conjure up a small flame from just one finger. They both decided on their thumbs and quickly got to trying, Gensel first, who had a hard time and could not even get a color of red or blue. So Rei decided to try next, pretty sure nothing was to happen, that was until a raging torch of fire blew bright, burning the walls to a darker color than it had been. It burned fabric as well, making them panic and scream and Luis still stayed asleep.

How the hell could Rei conjure up a strong flame so quickly? They didn’t understand, the book didn’t mention it. So while Rei continued to try and die it down and be more in control of it, Gensel kept practicing in hopes something did come out. He did manage a small flame after a couple of minutes and using a trick the book provided, but he still felt envious on the great power Rei already had. It took away any other inclination he had to continue trying, reading something about the next spell before he became too tired and fell asleep.

While the other two were groaning, adjusting, sitting up and stretching, Gensel checked his number, a 1,400, this time he had earned less than last time. Now where was Suriel? He couldn’t have stayed up the entire night doing something up there.

A smash from down the hall really did well to truly wake them, eyes widened, senses heightened, panicked and worried over what it could have been. Was it some members of the guild ready to kick them out? And yet where was Suriel?

“Hey guys.” Oh, it was him, they had felt quite the relief, so to the point that Luis and Rei even lay back to rest, enjoying from the time they still had.

“Where the hell were you?” Gensel basically scolded him, standing from his bed, and from that last dream, he honestly did not feel like sleeping again and meeting the girl with the black dress.

Suriel looked incredibly excited, joyous and ecstatic, so to the point that he couldn’t even say it. Gensel was just about to turn and sit when Suriel finally let into the room his hidden right hand, holding a large black ax, which intimidated Gensel to the point that it seemed to push him to sit away. Rei and Luis turned from their positions to see it as well, just as terrified.

“The hell is that?” Rei asked, his finger shaking as he pointed to it.

“Obviously it’s an ax, got it from the weapons room, what do you think?”

“They let you take something like that?”

“The dude who was there didn’t really stop me.”

Luis grew confidence to stand, inspecting it closely, touching it and everything, not burning or cutting himself or whatever it was these types of weapons were supposed to do to you. Suriel offered for him to hold it, but the moment it was held in Luis’s grip, it felt too heavy and he fell along with it to floor, feeling crushed by it as it landed on top of him. Suriel held it back easily, as Luis tried to stand, his hand rubbing on his most affected area, fearing that he had broken something and he would be stuck in this crooked position for the rest of his afterlife. Luckily it healed quickly, and Luis was standing straight in a matter of seconds, taking his spot in his bed again…away from the ax as far as he could.

“You can carry it?”

“It’s…not hard. Feels pretty light to me.” How in the hell really? It almost crushed Luis. “I’ve been practicing out this entire time. I got the hang of it really well.” He even showed them some of the tricks he learned, even spinning the huge thing in the air, like it was baton stick.

It was more of a reason to move back further into the back of the room, hoping to not be tangled in the sharp blades. But they could admit, Suriel had a good grip and great movement, like he had practice with the ax with far more time than what he had said. But what was the point of it? The question still remained on why they should practice this eagerly with their powers?

“We’re all entering a challenge!” he declared.

“Ah hell no.” Rei quickly said, interrupting from Suriel getting new idea about this, or for Gensel and Luis to join along with him. “Xay was right about something, we have no experiences. We just started and have no expertise like these people have. What points can we give? If they take something from us, it will be all we have, and then…hell.” And they all gulped with fear.

“The same thing can happen to us if we head out into the woods. I took a look from up high and this forest extends far…we won’t be able to get out simply and I’ve heard people talk about horrible things out there. At least here we can try and hopefully we can stay and make this our home until we’re skilled enough to leave and find another place.” Rei sight, it was true, but still.

“How the hell are you going to get us into a challenge though?”

“I already did.”

And apparently he did. In their disbelief, they hurriedly made Suriel give them proof.

In his exploration and practice the night before, Suriel had found a large board, tall and extensive that held all the challenges that were done in the guild and for the guild. Some were holograms that read things like ‘Bring Water from the Lorcán River in a short amount of a week for 4,000 points’ at the bottom the name changed, showing who had done this challenge, who had been successful and which not. Others were but old parchment of papers, the ink changing constantly to reveal names, to even change the challenge. It was an odd combination of ancient and futuristic.

At the very center, there was an extensive list. It reached from their very bottom, to the top of the ceiling, showing the different name of groups who were to participate in the battle of the day. At the very end, clear, with the font and color like the rest read, Team Panda. It was in that moment that they decided together that they should have convinced Ashley to give them another name. It look so childish, even an embarrassment to them as it stood with team names like… Team Dada, or Team Spaceman, Team Spiffins…never mind, they were all equally stupid. Still, Suriel had gotten them in, and from the looks of it, it was official enough, not even by Xaymara’s word disappeared or taken out from.

“Are we really going to do this?” Gensel asked. Surely he wasn’t the only one who was scared of doing this.

“The price this time is 20,000 points, 5,000 for each of us, and we’ll have enough to become official members.”

“Problem is actually winning this.” Rei reminded them.

“We practiced enough last night.”

“All I did was set half the room on fire.”

“And all I could do was light a single match in my thumb…I doubt it’s enough to get us to win.”

“We’ll figure out something out.”