Things always had to go wrong when it came to the Phoenix Flight guild. That was literally their curse. And so, Davi was hardly surprised when a wave of bad luck hit him and the others the instant they began their quest, because, of course, something bad would happen to them.
Damn Sleetdrazer…
Davi stepped out of the gate, and instantly, he felt his legs being kicked out from under him. A sharp chill crept across his flesh, and a gauntlet-covered hand wrapped around the back of his neck, keeping him held down.
He forced himself up and glared at the figure who was on him. It was a large Arcane Knight dressed in armor made out of ice. It was cold and wet on his flesh, and the person kept their knee jammed down into his back.
The Knight was Snow, another member of the Pantheon team. Davi recognized him from somewhere else, though. This was the Knight who had taken Battery away after the 'fight' he and that man had. Speaking of Battery, the red-haired Knight was on Pock.
Pock had it the worst, being on his back with Battery's knee jammed into his gut and a hand placed at his throat, practically choking him.
The final Knight was another woman who was on Falco. He didn't look as bothered, though, because the woman who was on him was wearing puffy and furry robes that looked like bundles of cotton or clouds. They looked soft and comfortable. The woman in question also had long, blue hair and cloudy eyes, a distant look on her face as she sat on Falco's stomach, and didn't seem to be pushing him down either; yet, he remained locked in place, unable to get back up.
There were several other Knights also nearby, all with their hands on their weapons, ready to move into action if anything happened. Several civilians stood behind taped-off areas and were trying to peek at the scene in question.
Davi took all these details in and acted as quickly as he could. "Row Shadow Vault." His vault opened somewhere, but it barely lasted a second before Snow rammed his fist down and sucker punched Davi. Davi felt his skull rattle, and he was seeing stars.
"Try that again and see what happens!" Snow growled out. "I dare you!"
Over with Olivia, she winced as Cinder's gun jammed into her back. "Who are you?" Cinder demanded. "Teleporting into city walls isn't allowed. Especially the method you lot used. That was the same method used by the mad blacksmith, Thorn of Mordheim. If I find out you bastards are from there." She gritted her teeth.
"T-This is a misunderstanding," Olivia said as quickly as she could. "We're from Esteria! We're Knights."
Cinder almost sneered. "Knights? I can sense mana, and all of you are barely above that level. If you're going to lie, at least make it convincing."
"Wait!" A new voice called out, which made Olivia's eyes widen when she heard it. "It's true! I knew them! She's a Knight!"
Cinder paused and then slowly eased up. She remained on Olivia but turned and looked into the small group of Knights. "Are you sure, Ash?"
Ash Anderson had changed slightly. Olivia felt a bit of annoyance bubble up inside of her as she stared at Ash. She still couldn't sense Mana, but she could feel the hair standing along her arms. Over a month had passed, and during that time, Ash had grown.
His hair was combed and neat, and he now wore black leather armor. A short sword rested at his side, and he had a quiver of arrows as well as a bow over his shoulder. A small cloak was wrapped around him with the symbol of a bull's head imprinted on it. He had even become a tiny bit taller and had developed some muscles. Still lean and not as strong-looking as Davi, but compared to the Ash she had seen a while ago, he looked as if he had leveled up a lot.
If this was how far Ash had come, then what was Bruno like?
Did she have any hope of catching up?
Ash walked forward and looked down at her. His eyes scanned her face, and then he nodded. "Yeah. Like me, she was one of the recruits."
Cinder made a face and glanced down. Olivia flinched back as the woman moved her head down until they were both at eye level. "Are you really a Knight?"
"I am," Olivia said flatly.
"What guild are you part of?"
"Phoenix Flight."
Cinder suddenly looked like she had touched something hot. Her entire body recoiled, and she jumped off of Olivia. "Gah! You could have warned me!" She put her guns away quickly before they could accidentally go off. She looked around, making sure nothing else was amiss and no bad luck would take place. The other Pantheon members also jumped up, and Battery even looked disgusted as he kicked Pock away. "Snow."
"Right." Snow clasped his hands together, and they weaved together in various signs. "Vil Ice Wall."
A wall of ice and snow began to rise out of the ground and formed a large dome around all the Knights, blocking out the civilians and giving them a private moment to talk. When it was finally up entirely, Cinder folded her arms and frowned as Falco, Davi, Olivia, and Pock began to stand back up. Once they were all on their feet, she began to speak.
"Alright, I'll admit, we came off on the wrong foot, but my point still stands. Teleporting into a city is illegal. Even for a guild." She said harshly, giving them all a sour look.
Falco frowned and glared back at the gunslinger. "Since when?"
"Since this year." Cinder rolled her eyes. "You should keep up with the updated laws. Due to recent events in the world, simply teleporting into a city's walls isn't allowed without obtaining permission and notifying us, which you all failed to do. You carelessly ripped open space and barged in. You're lucky this was all able to be handled so easily."
Falco shrugged. "Whoops."
"That's all you have to say?" Battery gritted his teeth, and his eyes glared at Davi, who lazily stared back at him. "He's literally dressed like someone from Mordheim! He's the spawn of the Ebony bastard! I'm sure of it."
Davi made the situation much worse by flipping Battery off. The Knight growled and was about to attack, but Cinder held her arm out, stopping him. "Battery, you were told to leave him alone." Then she turned back to Falco. "Why are you here?" She demanded.
"That's not any of your business."
"It is my business." Cinder shook her head. "Tell me."
Falco rubbed the back of his neck and looked a little uncomfortable. Finally, he gave his answer. "A friend of mine asked me to come here. She wanted us to check up on a buddy of hers. Once we're done with that, we'll leave. We didn't know about the law, and we aren't here to cause any trouble."
Cinder gave him a hard stare, and he could tell the woman was trying to determine if he was telling the truth or not. "Turn around." She ordered.
"What?"
"Do it." She commanded. "All of you. We're going to search you, and if we don't find anything, you'll be on your way."
"And if you do find something?"
"Will we?" Cinder raised an eyebrow.
Wordlessly, Falco turned around. He gave a nod to Davi, Olivia, and Pock, who copied him and did the same. Cinder flicked her hand. A few Knights moved behind the four Phoenix Flight members and began to run their hands through their clothes, checking for anything hidden. Olivia felt embarrassed as the hands roamed over her. This was pretty humiliating.
More than that, though, she was worried about Falco. She kept glancing at him as the Knights wandered into his jacket and checked his pockets. What would happen when they found the drugs? She kept expecting a hand to pull out holding a bundle of something they wouldn't be able to explain, but somehow it didn't happen. The Knights all stepped away, not finding anything strange or out of the ordinary. Even Falco looked shocked.
"We didn't find anything." One of the Knights bowed to Cinder, and she gave a nod and sighed.
"You're not really going to trust them, are you?" Battery hissed.
Cinder shot him a look, then glanced back to Falco. "Alright. Fine. You can do whatever it is you need to, but you will stay no longer than an hour."
"Cinder—" Battery began, but he was cut off when Cinder held her hand up.
"As a reminder, Battery, you're not in charge of this team right now. Because of your little stunt at the exams, I'm babysitting you. This is my call. Even if I don't personally like them or enjoy their presence, these people are still our allies. They are Arcane Knights. I will give them the benefit of the doubt." Cinder's eyes met Falco's, and the flame in her look seemed to grow more intense. "That said, if I do find out you guys are planning something…"
Falco waved his hand casually. "I told you, we're just going to drop by and speak to a friend, then we'll be on our way."
Cinder sighed but nodded her head. "Any damages you cause are being billed to your guild."
"We'll be careful," Falco promised. "In and out."
"You know," Cinder began. "Don't think you'll be able to pull this off again. Other cities won't be so kind. I happen to have seen your guild in action, so I know how the Curse works better than most. I know that the bad luck is only targeted at you unless it has progressed, but those who have progressed that far wouldn't be standing here. Other places might not know that, though, and could even view your kind in a negative light just for arriving."
"We wear negativity well."
Cinder finally gave Snow the go-ahead, and with a snap of his fingers, he caused the ice wall to crumble and shatter. It came down, and she and the other senior Knights stepped back. Ash didn't. He stepped forward, facing Olivia.
"What do you want, Ash?" Olivia sighed.
"So, you are still hanging out in this guild."
"Of course I am." Olivia folded her arms. "I'm a real Arcane Knight."
She expected Ash to mock her or belittle her, but he just nodded. "How is it going?"
Olivia pondered the question. This felt kind of weird. Ash and she were having a full-on conversation. Now that she was looking at him, he looked tired. Bags under his eyes and the exhaustion were clear on his face. "It's been going well."
"I'm glad." Ash was glad for her. "I haven't been doing so well." He admitted. He turned and nodded to three other Squires who were waiting for him.
Olivia turned to where he was looking. She recognized two of them. Ashley Dyrt and Sera Grow were the two maids who had served under Rowan. The two of them were now dressed similarly to Ash, wearing basic leather armor and carrying actual weapons. Both girls were also giving Davi a sour look.
The third mage was one she didn't recognize, and he also didn't have armor on. Instead, he wore a black martial arts gi and had a belt wrapped around his waist. He had black hair and a bit of stubble. He was also way older than any of the other Squires, looking to be in his mid-thirties, maybe even late forties. He was happily chatting with the two girls, who ignored him.
"Besides Max, I haven't been able to come anywhere close to the two of them," Ash grumbled under his breath. "I'm afraid this is something that doesn't happen soon; I might fall fully behind." He winced.
Olivia felt a knot twist in her stomach. Not all who became Knights stayed. Of course, in some cases, a person simply wouldn't be able to keep up or didn't have the potential everyone thought they did, and in those cases, they would fall behind and soon be kicked out of the team they were on. She hadn't considered that a possibility because Phoenix Flight didn't seem like the type to do that, no matter how much the captain threatened she would. When it came to Ash, this threat appeared to be very real and was hovering over his head.
She felt a small bit of shame at the fact that she was glad to see that he was at his rope's end. This was Ash, the boy who constantly belittled her and was mean to her. "Ash." She collected her thoughts and her words. "You're a strong mage. Just do your best."
Ash managed a weak grin. "Is this how you felt?"
"A little."
Ash gave her a nod and sighed. He looked like he was about to say something, but before he could, Snow hollered at him. "Alright, Squires. Get ready! We're going on our next mission! One group is with me; the other is with Sky!"
"Looks like I've got to go. We're heading out again." Ash turned to look toward Snow and the woman with blue hair.
"Going on another quest?"
"Yeah." Ash gave a weak chuckle. "We're just doing patrols. Not every city has an Arcane Knight guild within it. We try to drop by a lot of the ones near us and make sure everything is alright. It's not just about dealing with dungeons, but petty crime and other things as well. Today, we'll be dropping by Lotus and Lillian City."
"Lotus?" Olivia's eyes lit up. "Hey, if you have time, could you check out Fri Village? Bruno and I haven't been able to get ahold of Rosco."
"The power is likely out."
"I know, I said that also, but do you think you could check?"
"Yeah." Ash gave another nod. "I'll head over there if I get a chance. I'm on Sky's team with Max, so he and I are heading to Lillian City first. Ashley and Sera will be the ones going to Lotus next, but I should be able to meet back up with them and drop by as long as nothing is going on in Lillian. Unlike you, I'm not cursed with bad luck." He gave a slightly teasing smirk.
Ash finally left, and the other Knights began to separate. The civilians became less interested in getting near them once they learned they were part of the Phoenix Flight guild, and soon enough, their group was left alone.
"Was that a friend of yours, Olivia?" Pock asked, rubbing the spot where Battery had kicked him.
"Not really," Olivia said flatly. "I'm glad he's going to check out Lotus, though."
"Forget about that." Falco shook his head, and his beak clicked a little as his feathers puffed out. "We're screwed." His hands went into his pockets, feeling around for the package, but he couldn't find it, no matter how hard he searched. "It's gone! The thing Alice Ward gave us! I don't know what happened to it."
"Relax." Davi shook his head and held his hand out. "Row Shadow Vault." The brown bag blasted out of the darkness and landed in his open palm. Lazily, he tossed it to Falco, who put it away before anyone noticed it.
"When did you put it in your vault?"
"When I used a spell earlier," Davi explained. "I managed to open it and drag the bag in before Snow punched me." He rubbed his eye, which was slightly bruised. Snow was now added to his list of Knights that needed to have their asses kicked.
"Thank Haru." Falco patted Davi on the shoulder. "I knew bringing you along was a smart idea."
"I'm pretty awesome, yeah."
"We can finally drop this stuff off." Falco patted the package he had tucked away.
While he did that, Olivia took her time taking in the city's details. Narcissus City was one she had never visited before, so this was her first time seeing it.
It reminded her a lot of Rose, only a lot less futuristic. Rose was a bright and almost 'perfect'-looking city, with the king's massive castle and the main base of the Shining Sentinels high above it.
Narcissus was also large with towering skyscrapers, but it lacked the massive barrier Rose had. Its skies were filled with magitech ships, and the streets were vast and expansive. The city appeared durable and robust, with an iron wall encircling it. One skyscraper stood above all others, its head adorned with a massive bull's skull, forged out of steel. Without a doubt, it was Pantheon's base, and once again, Olivia felt slightly jealous.
Compared to the train cart she lived in, this was a real guild base. Just seeing it nearly knocked the air out of her lungs. It was amazing.
Her attention was turned away, however, when they began to walk down the street. Pock had teleported them near the gates of the city, and so it didn't take them very long to find their destination. An extensive library that should have belonged to Narcis, the person they were supposed to drop the package off to.
The library was small, especially compared to the many skyscrapers scattered around. It looked awkwardly placed, smack dab at the end of the road, and was made out of old, faded brick. It was likely a relic from the past that had survived all the way to the present day.
Falco walked forward and placed his hand on the doorknob, about to open it. "Remember what I said about Alice." He glanced back at Davi and Olivia. "The crowd she works with isn't always the best kind of people. I've never met this guy and have no clue what we're going to see or who he is. If it turns out he's with the mob, just stay calm and let me or Pock do the talking. Don't draw any attention to yourselves, and don't say anything stupid. That goes double for you, Davi."
"My bad." Davi shrugged.
"Ready?" Falco asked.
Olivia gave a nervous nod. "Ready."
Falco turned the handle and pushed the door open, allowing them to step into the library. What they all saw next shocked them.
A group of kids was crowded around a single man. He was dressed in a large cartoonish shark costume, the kind a mascot would wear, and he was holding a guitar, playing a tune.
The shark stopped what he was doing, and all the kids turned to look at them. The man in the costume gasped. "Gosh! Look, kids! Real Knights!"
The kids all cheered, and the next thing Phoenix Flight knew, they were surrounded…
Bad luck could come in many forms. Sometimes it would be a brick falling on someone's head, or a dungeon suddenly showing up out of nowhere. Other times, it could be used to throw a different challenge at an unlucky person.
In this moment, the four members of Phoenix Flight learned true terror.
Curious children.