The Nine Coloured Paragon - Chapter 5
The noise of rustling leaves and snapping twigs melding with the eerie song of demonic birds had become the rhythm of Raziel’s meandering march.
Roughly nine months passed since that strange expert visited him and unbeknownst to him, had changed his future completely.
Since then, the Academy Principal had fawned over Raziel for supposedly no reason.
After the encounter with Jianyu, the Principal seemingly wanted to get on his good side, showering him with precious resources towards his training and personally tutoring him in the profound ways of magic, never inquiring about the event.
Raziel had his suspicions and guessed that the Principal likely knew of the meeting.
What was strange to Raziel was instead of the Principal prying the Magical Sword off his hands he instead gave him even more treasures.
Currently, Raziel had accepted a mission from the adventurer’s guild which led him deep into the Evergreen Forest which neighboured the Academy.
They were to investigate the strange energy fluctuations at the heart of the forest.
It was a two star contract with the possibility of being raised depending on the energy source.
For Raziel it was mainly a trip to gain actual combat experience, something which was hard to find within the academy.
Following Raziel in a single-file fashion through the forest was Anna, his best-friend and fellow squire along with two blood-brothers, Magical Knights John and Rick.
The two Magical Knights who were assigned to be his personal body guards by the Principal before his mysterious disappearance.
Both Raziel and Anna were dressed in a light leather armour along with patches of mail covering some vitals.
Despite having access to Steel-plate armour Raziel opted for the lighter alternative, mainly due to the less than ideal environment.
Unlike the pair of squires, both John and Rick adorned sets of enchanted Dark-Steel armour.
Magical Knights had incredibly robust bodies, with endurance and stamina similar to that of a bull making a journey of a few days in heavy armour akin to a trip in a slightly heavy woolen jumper for the two men.
The black armours were covered in profound arcane runes which glinted in the light from the gaps of the canopy.
Raziel, who was consumed deep in thought about the elusive Academy Principal as he continued his mindless march deeper into the forest, the light tugging on his arm dragged him back to reality.
Turning to see Anna’s panicked face she gestured him to be quiet, only then did she point to his two protectors who had turned their backs and stopped roughly ten paces away.
One of them then turned to Raziel marching to him, a grim scarred and grizzly face peering from behind his open helmet.
The other held out both his hands, a long, black tower shield materializing in one hand while a titanic black long-sword appeared in the other before he planted the shield firmly into the forest floor taking a defensive stance.
Seeing this Raziel knew a battle was inevitable, however Raziels darting eyes were unable to spot an enemy.
Both brothers were war veterans and Magical Knights. Their battle experience and superior senses were hard to find amongst the warriors of the Sunscorch Kingdom.
The Knight who turned to him, Rick, whispered in a hoarse voice, “Our retreat is cut off, the only way to go is forward. Flee for now, Johnny and I will deal with these fuckin’ mongrels.”
Rick then swiveled on his boot, equipping identical weaponry to his brother joining him shoulder to shoulder in a defensive formation.
“It must be bad, lets go Raziel.”, a whisper of reason fell into Raziel’s ear from Anna.
Out of the corner of his eye he spotted a the faint visage of a wolf , which blended perfectly with the surroundings.
The beast edged towards the Dark-Steel wall formed from the brothers silently.
If it weren’t moving it would be impossible to spot.
It was 150cm tall and almost twice that in length.
Raziel instantly recognized the colossal chameleon-like wolf as an Evergreen Wolf.
One of the most dangerous and notorious beasts in the forest, it could slaughter Magical Squires like Raziel and Anna as it would chickens, striking undetected from the shadows.
Dead silence ensued, whilst the two brothers locked eyes with the beast before them smiling fearlessly, craving for a bloodbath.
Raziel’s curiosity made him ignore the tugging on his arm from Anna, who gazed dreadfully at the alpha wolf before them.
It slowly unveiled itself from the brownish green camouflage before raising its lofty head and howling to the forest canopy.
As it did so Raziel paled, as tens upon tens of wolves revealed themselves before his eyes.
Their beastly auras shook the pair of squires as they turned tail and sprinted unhesitatingly into the forest.
From behind them the eerie cackles of the fearless brothers sounded before a loud clash of steel and shattering of bones sounded followed shortly by beastly squeals of pain.
Raziel had never before seen such a tremendous conclave of Evergreen Wolves who usually liked to hunt in groups of three or four.
Raziel understood that in such a battle, Anna and himself would only be burdens to his mighty protectors.
They soon encroached upon a clearing in the woods.
It was nearing the center.
* * *
On the front of a shoddily erected horse-drawn carriage, there sat two stony-faced old men bickering solemnly as it was slowly tugged down a small dirt path in a dense forest.
One of them was bald with a long beard with long scruffy robes giving him a disheveled yet aloof look.
It was the elusive Academy Principal, Gaius.
The other wore a strange pointed hat and was adorned in fine cloth robes, the stench of medicinal ingredients and herbs stained the noses of those around him.
“What do you mean you can’t save my master? And you claim to be the best physician in the Kingdom!” The bald Gaius argued before harrumphing coldly.
“I’m a physician! Not a miracle worker! Listen here you old dog, I’m not going to ruin my reputation for someone with one foot in the grave!”, the fine robed elder argued back.
“And what about the young miss?”, Gaius inquired, frowning deeply.
“The dead girl? HAH! What about her? Even the King Of the Gods couldn’t save her, let alone little-old-me!”
Spontaneously the shrill scream of a little girl sounded out from within the carriage. “Father!”
The two old men stared at each other in unison, eyes as wide as saucers, completely flabbergasted.
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed!
Big thanks to all who have and are supporting the novel, your work is not going unnoticed.
My final exams begin this week and conclude on the 22nd of June, so please excuse the slow releases over the coming weeks.