"So where exactly are you taking us?" Hana asked.
"The capital. Couple of thieves went loose and so they're requesting rookies, I took charge."
"The capital!?" Sorren interjected.
"Uhuh, but we aren't going there for fun. If we manage to catch the thieves quick though, I suppose I could treat you four to a first mission reward."
The capital. It'd certainly be a great place to go for a casual stroll. But this isn't the time for that. Now's the time for our first mission. I need to perform. Just perform. A small change, something as small as this mission, is good enough a starting point.
The exit of the dorms came to sight, Soke gently opened the handle before launching himself into the sky leaving behind a trail of yellow sparks. Yellow? My face scrunched up for a second.
"Hm? Akio, you seem puzzled."
Ah. Looks like he saw that.
"Yellow.. why is that?"
"Yeah, yer right. Soke, why're yer sparks yellow?"
A look of astonishment overtook Soke's face.
"You guys are familiar with how inner energy works, correct?"
Kai was the first. "Yeah. It's the bodily control of natural energy, right? We gather it from our own source, in this case our natural bodies, and learn to control them through emmission of white sparks."
The rest of us nodded in agreement.
"Well, you're partially right."
"Partially?"
"I'll explain while we dash. Come on, scale the buildings."
Soke cleared the first rooftop before we'd even processed the instruction. We followed as best we could, leaving behind scattered white sparks that weren't nearly as composed as his yellow ones.
"Inner energy is, as you said, the bodily control of natural energy. However, the control factor is more than just merely our bodies emmission. It's a reflection of our minds."
Our minds? What does that mean? Like our focus, goal, desires?
"What do ya mean by minds?"
"If your mind is unstable, then it becomes significantly harder to produce higher quality energy. Inner energy is the projection of your own mental state, and that's why even if the amount of training is the same. The warrior with the stronger mind would win."
I glare at Soke and Hana's concentrated sparks, looking back at my own. They were... rigid? My gaze drifts across to Kai, sparks clean and focused. But at a closer look, they were kind of inconsistent. Almost as if they were being forcefully put down to make way for the more controlled energy.
"So basically, if someone has a clear mind and is able to focus their energy. They'd be able to produce higher quality energy?" Hana questioned.
"Pretty much."
I intervene. "But why are yours yellow? Is that also related to the mind?"
"Yes, once you reach a certain level of energy mastery, your sparks will take a colour resembling your charm."
My attention sharpened. Charms. I know that they are weapons formed through inner energy mastery, but not much more.
"How exactly do charms work, Mister Soke?"
"Jeez. You guys really don't know anything do you?"
"Hey, it ain't our fault we just rookies!"
"Alright, listen up. Charms are the result of a certain degree in energy mastery. Once you really understand what you want, your charm will naturally emerge. And keep this in mind. You do NOT choose your charm, it merely forms from the person you are. And unfortunately, that sometimes means you won't get what you want."
Forms from the person I am? So I could maybe have a charm like a golden sword? That's pretty hero-like, isn't it?
"Soke, if you don't mind me asking. What's your charm?"
"You can tell from the shade of my energy it's somewhat the colour of yellow. But, to be blunt. My charm is a golden bow."
A golden bow. The mere thought of that seems to excite me, it's so naturally noble. Something like that wouldn't be bad either.
"A golden bow!!? Let us take a look, man!"
"Don't call me man, and no, you won't be seeing it anytime soon."
The horizon shattered into a skyline of stone and light, Aurelia.
Aurelia.
The city sprawled outward in every direction, a dense weave of stone and light that seemed to grow rather than be built, like something the earth had decided to push upward over centuries. Towers rose in clusters across the skyline, some narrow and others wide. Between them, the city breathed smoke from bakeries, the distant sound of cart wheels on stone, voices layered over voices layered over the low constant hum of a place that never fully stopped.
We dropped from the rooftops to street level as we entered the outer districts. The roads widened here, lined on both sides with rows of shops pressed shoulder to shoulder; fabric merchants with bolts of cloth spilling onto display tables, food stalls with steam rising in pale columns, smiths and apothecaries and booksellers occupying the same stretch of stone like they'd simply agreed to coexist.
At the centre of everything, visible from anywhere in the city if you knew where to look, the Central Tower. It wasn't the tallest structure in Aurelia, but it carried a different kind of weight. Broad at the base, tapering gradually as it climbed, its stone a darker shade than everything around it, almost absorbing the light rather than reflecting it. The king's residence. The seat of everything I had frowned at yesterday and everything the chairman had quietly pushed back against.
We landed on the streets and continued by foot.
"Alright. Listen close."
We direct our gaze to Soke.
"Our mission here is simple, and that's normal considering this is your first mission as rookies."
"Arright, so what'll it be then?"
"Thieves are on the run as we speak, here in the capital. Our job is to locate them and bring them to central tower. Got it? Akio and Sorren, you stay low ground. Try to find the thieves blending in the crowd."
The two of us nod slightly in response.
"As for me, Kai, and Hana. We'll continue to scale the high-ground. Try to spot em in the air and catch them. And since you guys are dumb - engage in combat if necessary, but do not stir unnecessary trouble. If a citizen gets harmed, it's on us."
"Gotcha. Kind of an honest add on though."
"Okay then."
Maybe we are dumb. I suppose I'd been training too much inner energy and nothing else that I hadn't thought about stuff like charms and sparks changing colour.
"Okay, we're gonna split now. You two follow me. You guys, just stick to the script. Honestly I wouldn't mind if you did nothing-"
"You guys try your hardest to find the thieves down here, Akio, Sorren." Hana interrupted.
"Yeah. Will do."
Sorren, Kai, and Hana, push themselves off the ground, crackling sparks sticking to the ground in their departure.
Sorren and I begin scanning our surroundings on the ground level. Still, this place was enormous. All these shops everywhere, it's almost overwhelming. Our feet trail the path forward, eyes drifting across the street in search for suspicious activity, or, you know, a person covered in all black trying to run away.
"Ah-"
"Huh."
My gaze drifts across at Sorren, who'd just let out a small gasp.
"What happened-"
His eyes seemed to be locked onto a distant house. I squint in desperation of what he saw inside, was it the thieves? Looking closer, it seemed like... 2 children. An older boy, and a seemingly younger girl. Siblings, I suppose.
"Why're you looking at that house? Nostalgic memories?"
"Yer, I suppose ya could say that. That little girl just reminded me of Noza."
"..."
"Ma sister, Noza. I left home 3 days ago for the cadet exam and haven't seen 'er since. Just missed her a bit."
So Sorren had a younger sister. I'd assumed he was more of a guy to be the younger sibling himself. I guess I really do not know these guys enough yet.
CLANG!
"Oy! There, Akio, by the pawnshop!"
I shift my body to the side, as a black shade dashed between the alleys.
"Sorren, I'll take low, you try and get him from up high!"
"Arright then!"
We dash separate ways, I keep to the ground while Sorren shifted across the buildings. Sparks ground the concrete as I tail the black figure.
"Hey! Could you try and stop in your tracks for a second!"
It seemed he wasn't keen to listen. I change directions, hopping from wall to wall as I begin forming a spherical form of energy within my palm. It was rough, almost incomplete.
WOOSH!
The blast shoots forward after him.
"!!!"
The thief twisted mid-stride, accelerating as he fled.
"Tch. Sorren! Can you try something!"
"..."
Are you kidding me? Where was he? This is important, how'd he lose himself? Maybe he found the rest, or another thief. Either way, this is solely my responsibility now. Come on. Come on. How do I get this guy. He's fast, agile, but I doubt he's able to fight back properly. If I could just, oh.
"Hey!"
I rotate my body as my palms make contact with the ground. I push myself backward as sparks shower across the floor. I speed through the alleyway, my body tearing through the crowd.
"Gah! Sorry!"
Sparks engulf my hand as I spin around, closing the distance. I release a clean burst of energy in the thief's direction. It seemed more fractured than clean, though.
"Agh!"
The thief was pinned against the wall, sliding to the floor as their strength faded away. I approached slowly, the sparks engulfing my hand eroding.
"Alright then. Sorry to have to do this, but it's kind of my first mission as a rookie. So I've gotta take you in."
I extend my arms toward the thief's mask, a cotton mask sliding off as his face gradully revealed itself.
"!!!"
"Urgh.."
"You. You're..."
What I saw was not a criminal that wanted to wreak havoc. Beyond that mask was nothing but a pale skinned boy, no more than 14. No, 13 years old at best. To be involved in crime at this age, it's insane.
"Hey, mister." He coughed. "Let me the hell go. I'll rip the skin right off your pretty face!"
Sparks surround my palm once more, I reach for the boy's face steadily.
"urhh" His eyes closed, afraid. I'm hurting a 13 year old boy.
My hand stops in its tracks.
Stop. I should stop. Heroes wouldn't harm children. How am I supposed to change the world if I can't even spare the life of a little boy? What would they do? Heroes would... they'd show mercy.
That's right, mercy. That's what a good person would do. That's what I'd do. I'll try talk to him, something will work out.
My arms pull back as the sparks disengage.
"Hey. Let's just have a-"
FOOSH!
"Gah!"
Black coated legs drive into my stomach as my body tumbles over.
The boy bolted across the street, whipping a knife from his pocket as he grabs hold of an elderly woman.
"You already know what I'm gonna say. Leave."
Rgh. Stop. You're just a kid. I'm just trying to talk. This is getting overcomplicated. This is just meant to be a simple reconciliation.
I steadily regain my balance.
"I said leave! Stop!"
"Just wait, I'm only trying to-"
The boy's grip tightened.
That woman is innocent, he's just a boy. A thief, but a boy.
"Just listen to what I'm-"
"STOP! I SAID STOP!"
My feet take a step forward.
"GH!"
Just then, almost imperceptibly, the boy's arm jerked, the blade pressing deep into the woman's skin. My eyes peeled open in horror.
"STOP-!"
No, he wouldn't. He shouldn't have.
WOOSH!
I stepped back as a blur of white hair and green eyes swept past. In one fluid motion, he intercepted the boy, seizing the knife and wrenching his arms into a lock.
"Sorry. But I can't have a citizen dying on us, Akio."
Ah.
I glanced over my shoulder, three more shadows were closing in.
A brown haired boy, a pale skinned girl with black hair, and a carelessly dressed middle-aged man.
Those guys.
Kai hauled the boy over to Soke, who, along with Sorren, already had a thief pinned by the shoulder.
I glance at Kai, a concerned face glaring back.
"Akio."
"Soke. I was just-"
"You're unstable."
....Unstable?
Like then?