Story Simulation - Chapter IV

Rael and Jean head to the Silent Tower to tell the officers about the clue they found, and the tower is attacked.

Chapter IV, Chase: Written on November 9, 2021. 72 words from the Storyteller. 1090 words from the story itself.

Chapter IV, Stubborn: Written on November 12, 2021. 12 words from the Storyteller. 858 words from the story itself.

Chapter IV, Regroup: Written on November 15th 2021. 17 words from the Storyteller. 1443 words from the story itself.

Word count total: 101 words from the Storytellers. 3391 words from the story itself.

-Herculano

Welcome back to the story!

At this point, I’d be the last storyteller introduced here. Everyone else will return again, and this will be repeated until the end. Before this chapter begins, I’d like to say something to this reader.

Even if there was a donut, there wouldn’t be enough time to pick up one of them, for now. Should I leave behind a donut when things have calmed down?

Moments before Rael and Jean visited the Silent Tower, Kat ended the talk with Dacien and left Mount Seawatch. She returned to a hideout in the Bronze Grasslands to pick Hifumi up. And both headed to a spot in the Whispering Forest. As Hifumi scanned the forest to look for Dacien hiding on a tree branch, two pairs of shoes fell from the tree behind him, followed by Dacien himself leaping down. After the trio had assembled, Dacien later explained about the shoes—referred to by him as an attempt to recreate sky skates, but with magic energy—and guided his two students to hover with it. As they ended up crashing into trees with the flying skates, Dacien thought about their next plan and changed some parts in his head. Occasionally, Dacien stopped revising the plans to give them tips on using the recreated sky skates, as the person who actually studied and built them. Rounds of chasing and yelling at his students to not fly outside the area later, he decided to put an end to this quick training. “Thank god,” Dacien said as he watched Kat and Hifumi crashing into the grass. Despite their struggles, this was enough skill level for him. Or at least, enough for the incoming plan. “You can stop now, we still have a long night ahead.” The two students got up and recharged their drained magic energy, and Dacien gestured them to quickly follow him towards the Silent Tower.

After arriving and sneaking past the guards to the near-top balcony, Dacien briefed the next course of action to the students. “Go downstairs, and get them there,” he said to Hifumi, and glanced at the prison cell on the near-top floor, as he turned to Kat, “You’ll take this part instead of me, shouldn’t be too hard.” The two students nodded, readying to proceed with the plan. Though, Dacien caught Hifumi gazing into space a moment ago. “Hey.” Startled, Hifumi returned to his composure. “Yes?” “You got any allergies?” “No…?” Dacien nodded, as he snuck out a small piece from his pocket and forced it into Hifumi’s mouth, shutting his mouth with the palm. Caught off guard by the gesture, Kat almost yanked Dacien’s hand away from Hifumi. “What was that?!” Dacien waited for a wide-eyed reaction from Hifumi, before releasing his palm and telling him to proceed with his part of the plan right away. Kat watched Hifumi jumping down by each balcony, as she glared at Dacien. “Just some sour candy to wake him up.” “I see…” Seconds later, they heard an explosion downstairs—a signal to proceed with their plan.

. . .

At that moment, Rael rushed downstairs along with the soldiers who heard the echoing explosion. Even if it’s only seconds after the boom, the commotion already took place downstairs, by a small figure setting the soldiers ablaze with his spells and gathering their attention there. As some soldiers pushed away and some tried to clear the area, Rael headed into the crowd to approach this figure. But the more Rael tried to go after him, the quicker this figure could slip and jump away from the soldiers’ magic attacks. While Rael was chasing after the figure, he bumped into a soldier and tripped. The soldier—Issac—grabbed Rael’s arm and pulled him up, before he continued looking at the current situation, where more soldiers came after the small figure who had been stirring chaos here. “Get him out of here, I’ll catch up later.” Issac turned to Rael, as he ran towards the stairs and summoned his shadow barrier to block off the floor above. The figure noticed Issac blocking more soldiers from upstairs, and charged towards him with the growing fire magic circle in his hand. Rael recognized the tiny fire wizard as Hifumi whom he fought with earlier at the grasslands, and chased after him with a charging wood magic circle. But with everyone else going after the kid, some fast magic attacks such as ones of light magic set off, forcing him to leave Issac. With everyone’s attention along with the blocked upstairs, Hifumi hurried out of the tower, with traces of magic attacks being caught on his clothes. Rael, Jean, and the others except for Issac followed him.

Once almost everyone was outside, Hifumi leaped above everyone else with a high jump spell, before sending rains of fiery beams towards the crowd. As he fell down after using the attacks, a large fire magic circle drew itself on the ground beneath, sending shockwaves of explosions to blow everyone away, except the stronger ones standing, which didn’t include Rael. As Hifumi landed, he sprung himself in the air once again. But this time, he sent out blasts of flames after the ones who tried approaching him, including Jean whom Rael noticed just now. Despite how she was able to run and dodge away from the blasts, they’re able to change their path and hit the targets. But as Hifumi’s attention was on using his blasts to chase after his targets, Rael and some other soldiers used this opportunity to attack him from a distance, messing his concentration up as he fall. While the current crowd was trying to take Hifumi down as he continued to attack, more soldiers including Issac joined in. It’s everyone against the kid who happened to have abnormally high energy, both physically and magically. Hifumi later knocked most of the crowd away from him with another set of explosion shockwaves, followed by flame blasts to strike the ones who withstood the attack.

As everyone was focusing on attacking Hifumi, two explosions erupted from the top quarter of the Silent Tower.

One tore a wall apart near the top of the tower, followed by a tiny soldier being blown away, though Rael could notice Captain Levi barely grabbing that soldier from falling just in time. As Levi pulled the soldier back to the tower, a flaming blast bashed into him from behind, threatening the fall once again. And another one broke the top cell jail, followed by a giant horned figure and a human-sized figure escaping on a hovering magma platform. Even if the platform seemed to sway, they’re speeding up towards the forest to the north.

As Rael watched the events unfolding at the tower’s top, Hifumi sent Jean flying in a flash with a flame pillar, sending scorching flames to keep other soldiers away. But as one of the soldiers—Issac—witnessed Jean being flung above right in front of him, he sprinted right into the flames, towards Jean.

The reader voted for the option where Rael goes after the Magma Magic platform.

-Ursula

Oh, well. Let’s continue playing along with your choices, shall we?

With the familiar silhouettes on the hovering platform that just flew away from the Silent Tower, Rael sprinted towards them. They must be whoever Rael thought they were. A horned giant and a magma user. He had met both of them before for sure. He cast a wooden beam spell to the platform, grabbing the two figures’ attention as the platform swayed. But even with their struggle to keep their balance on the platform, they flew away towards the forest, prompting Rael to continue his chase.

Since Rael left the Silent Tower area on his own, Hifumi had to block Issac’s magic attacks, then threaten the soldiers who tried to go after Rael with his flame spells. Jean crashed into the ground moments later after being sent flying. As Hifumi continued to handle this fight, a metal coin fell down from the torn wall on the tower, towards the crowd of people trying to stop Hifumi. Hifumi took notice of the dropped coin, and let it do its own job as it bounced, and finally fell down flat. A magic circle emerged from the coin, seeping into the ground, surrounding the crowd. Later, the blaze from the magic circle ignited everyone in the magic circle.

The same blaze ignited from where the coin was dropped too, but with the addition of smoke floating out from there.

While the people back in the Silent Tower were caught on fire, Rael continued to chase after the platform through the forest, trying to take it down with his beam attacks. He didn’t have the time to think why there was no one coming after him, or where he was right now, as all his focus was on not crashing into trees and taking the hovering platform down. The people on the platform wouldn’t give in to Rael’s spells soon, as the ones on the platform grabbed it, trying to control and revive its dying flight despite the attacks. Rael couldn’t figure out what they’re discussing on the platform, but he didn’t stop his attempts to take them down. He continued attacking until a hit forced the platform to drop its pace, and fall. But as the fall took place somewhere away, Rael followed it, until he arrived at a beach. Upon noticing two figures recovering from a crash in the sand, he attacked them with a blast.

The blast hit the giant, or as Rael recognized upon getting a closer look—the Minotaur. But he didn’t have the ax with him this time, and had the prisoner outfit on. As the Minotaur was about to approach Rael, the other figure—Kat spat out the sand and ran towards him, dusting some sand off her clothes, followed by a punch to his face. Rael grabbed and yanked her arm away, followed by a punch in her gut. As she lost her balance, she pulled him down to the sand with her. But Rael pinned her down first and gripped her throat. As she struggled, Rael only glared into her eyes, his nails digging into her throat. Kat’s rage grew as she mustered her force to shove Rael away. The fact Rael was supposed to be her lost twin only added to the anger. Not just towards Rael, but her entire family. Thousands of questions to be asked in her head, they all subsided by the wrath. Following a hoarse scream from her throat, she pushed Rael away, and punched him to the ground. And Rael blasted her away with a wooden blast spell, leaving a cut on her face. Kat then jammed his face back with a magma blast, and dragged him to the sea as she continued melting his face with the attacks along the way. As he’s dragged to the sea, Rael gave her more cuts with his wood spells as he forced her grip to release him. By the moment Rael made her drop him into the sand, she carried him on her shoulder, and slammed him into the seawater. The sea boiled Rael’s melting face as he panicked, and Kat pressed his face into the waters, drowning him.

In the seawater, Rael’s energy started to fade away as Kat pressed him down further and further into the sand. He could only hear muffled words from Kat saying something with the Minotaur from a distance away. Later, he heard Kat shouting as a voice resembling Jean’s joined in. He couldn’t see what’s going on above the waters, but only if his remaining physical energy would listen to him, he could’ve saved Jean. Despite his impending blackout drawing closer, his consciousness hadn’t given up.

He walked into this whole story himself, starting from the time he hunted down the Minotaur—No, it’s way back to his bandit beating days. Or the day he unlocked his magic and shot his hut down, even. And he had been playing along with the given role since then, so why couldn’t he just get up right now? Was this a sign for him to stop? Was this supposed to mean something else Rael hadn’t bothered thinking? But no matter what this could be, he had two options:

The reader voted on the option where Rael continues to struggle against the incoming blackout.

…

It’s an attempt or nothing. He had to save Jean.

With the last bit of consciousness, he used it to push Kat’s hands away and forced himself out of the sea. Everything seemed to blur and spin as he caught a breath, and looked for Jean. As he couldn’t really see anything right now, he shoved away Kat’s attempts to hold him back. And finally, he noticed Jean’s darker blonde hair with his blurred vision. She was high above for unseen reasons, until Rael slapped himself to try to regain vision.

Jean’s cloak swung around with the Minotaur’s grip, and she’s left hanging from there. Dizzied from the sway, she cast some misaimed ice blasts with blurred spell chants.

Rael rushed towards the Minotaur, climbed on his leg, and grabbed his prisoner clothes here and there to reach the Minotaur’s grip. As the Minotaur noticed Rael climbing on himself like a small animal, he dropped Jean from his grip, yanked Rael away from his clothes, and dropped him to the sand too. As Rael finally got Jean within his reach, he picked her up, and hurried away from the beach. He didn’t have the time to focus on what Kat or the Minotaur might could have said.

He followed the route he used before, as Jean finally hold herself up after the motion sickness, and found herself being held. She was too much in a shock to interrupt Rael’s run, plus he held her like he couldn’t let her fall at all costs.

Moments later, they arrived at the Silent Tower’s entrance. Rael stood there for a while in a soaked state, and drained. Though, Rael didn’t put Jean down, until he noticed Issac standing in front of him. “I…” Issac stared at Rael with his unstable stance, and Jean who’s still being held tight in his arms. “Rael? You good?” As Issac poked Rael, his arms became looser as Jean got away and stood up. After being out of Rael’s hold, Jean approached Issac with a face that seemed to hold back emotions, and hugged him. Issac could feel Jean’s shaken grip, as he held her with one hand, distraught by the tears that seeped through his outfit. Despite how much he’s worried about a family member, he couldn’t ignore Rael standing in front of him, who’s growing disoriented. While Issac was panicking about what to do next with the two of them, he sensed a glare towards him. It was his fellow soldier, Ace. “Uh, hey.” Despite Issac’s attempt to stall the time for his brain to think about the next plan, Ace was still staring at him, saying nothing. As Ace was about to walk away moments later, Issac interrupted, “I’m bringing these two home. And tell the captain that I’ll be back soon.” Ace nodded with an unmoving expression. And that’s enough to bring Issac some relief, until Rael fell over towards him. . . . Rael woke up in an unfamiliar bed, as something about his face felt off, but he didn’t pay much attention to it. He then looked around the tidied bedroom, and something about it felt familiar. He couldn’t pin down its familiarness, until he left the room. It was Jean’s—no, Issac’s house. And he found Aurielle sitting at the dining table with Jean, discussing something. But he could pick up a few words like ‘second magic’ and ‘next quest’ from their talk, until Aurielle noticed him standing behind. “Ah, good morning! You looked pretty bad yesterday, how do you feel now?” As Aurielle asked the question, Jean glanced at Rael’s face before looking down. “A little off, I guess.” Noticing how Jean just looked at him, Rael touched his face as he didn’t bother looking for a mirror, and he felt the bandages. As his fingertips traced where the bandages were, he remembered Kat—the person he was supposed to know, according to all the things Kat said to him. But he couldn’t recall anything about her prior to yesterday. Even worse, Rael’s thoughts refused to think about her any further, as if his brain was hiding something he wasn’t ready to acknowledge. It’s something, something about family. Kat did mention something about her family too. Why would she ask about—

Aurielle interrupted as she grabbed a letter, “Wait, Rael. I got this from a quick run to your village last night.” “Doom village?” “Mhm. Didn’t take too long to contact your family about yesterday’s events, then the whole thing with me dragging you two around for quests…” Rael could hear some guilt in her voice, as he accepted the letter. “Other than this letter, they gave you this too.” After giving him the letter, she handed him a wooden sheath with a dagger.

The wood’s texture and the sheath’s design reminded Rael of home. And as he flipped the sheathe over, he noticed “Osman Mills” carved on it. His eyes widened as he noticed his great grandfather’s name on it. If it were any other dagger sheathes, he wouldn’t be this caught off guard. From what he could remember, his family wouldn’t let anyone touch his weapons. Unless…? Rael checked out the letter, signed by Violet Mills—or his mother. And it could be summed up as a letter to wish him well, both for his currently bandaged state and his future quests. His family seemed to be doing well, like usual. And for the dagger, it was mentioned that his father forgot to give him it before Rael was away, but it didn’t mention why his great grandfather’s weapon specifically. But whatever reasons it may be, it’d take a whole other letter to explain the great grandfather’s situation, considering the myths surrounding that man. After the letter was finished, he noticed Jean looking at him with a subtle interest, and Aurielle smiling. “Did they ask you to come home?” Aurielle asked, a bit nervous. “No?” “Oh, alright then. I asked Ms. Mills if she’d like you to continue the quests with me, but she only told me to give you this letter, haha…” She glanced at Jean, who only replied with a nervous chuckle. “It took the whole evening for Issac, to let her come with me.” Now that Rael thought about it, he hadn’t confirmed Issac’s relationship with Jean. Since he knew both of them as a friend and a comrade on separate occasions, and both of them lived in this house, so he might as well ask. “Uh, is Issac her dad?” Jean shook her head. “Not really, we’re cousins. But hmm… He’s more of a brother than a dad?” “Oh, alright.” After the family topic had passed, what’s next was…

“So Issac brought me here?” Jean nodded, as Aurielle continued, “Mhm, and he helped out with some messier parts too. The whole Silent Tower situation was messy for everyone. But hey, the recovery’s on the way, and they sent out the squads to track after the Minotaur and others.” She grabbed out a metal coin from her bag. Jean recognized it as the coin that burnt everyone nearby with its magic. “We’ve snatched some of the items from them too. This one was an… Interesting use of Arcanium, from what I’ve heard.” Aurielle then spun the coin on the table, and sparks of light magic emitted from it. She passed the coin to Jean, and gave her a try with it. As she tossed the coin on the table, it sent out a tiny ice magic blast, then it fell down and melted away. And it was Rael’s turn. As he accepted the plain-looking coin, he felt some kind of a tingling sensation in his palm, and placed it down. The coin then tossed itself, with traces of wood magic energy seeping from it in the air, and it flipped.

“You saw a large magic circle coming from it, right?” Aurielle asked Jean, answered by a nod. Followed by the headache gesture. “God, what is he up to…” But the short headache passed, as she took a deep breath, grabbed two maps from her bag, and revealed them to the two. The maps consisted of a route towards the Marshlands, and another route towards the East Peninsula. “We’ve got two places for the next quest, but…” She turned to Rael, looking at his bandaged face. “You can take the time off to heal, though. I’ll get some friends to join us too.” Rael asked, “What’s the quest?” “This one is tracking down the recent pirate attacks from those two places. The king said this one was leaning towards an investigation quest, but eh, a lot of these usually ends with a fight.” “I see…”

The reader’s votes tied and a tie-breaker poll was needed. And it ended with the option where Rael suggests heading to the Marshlands.