by Akeya 20th January 2016, 5:37 am
Rising Star. That was a title which she had heard of before, but which she honestly had never expected to earn herself. The half dragon knew what the title was supposed to symbolize: the Magic Council had deemed her an asset to the 'good' side of Fiore, a mage who was still growing but who had already proven themselves. To be a Rising Star meant that the Magic Council trusted you to do your best to help the people of Fiore, and that they expected great things from you as you ascended the ladder of your magic even further. Rising Stars were mages who had an increased likelihood of become a Wizard Saint in the future, because they had already shown enough talent and also enough willingness to help others.
Which is exactly why Akeya did not have a single clue why they would have chosen her. She didn't doubt that she had the talent to become a Wizard Saint, one of the strongest mages, or even beings, to live on this continent. As a half dragon who was only becoming more and more draconic as time passed, who trained hard and had a respectable working ethic, she did have an advantage over all those normal humans whose magic talent couldn't compare to the might that dragons had possessed in ages past. However even if she was talented enough she most certainly wasn't somebody who should be described as altruistic, helpful, or any other description which was used for people who actually put great weight in the lives of others. So far as Akeya was concerned the life of your average human was as important as the life of a dog or a horse: you would avoid harming it if possible, but if it turned out to be necessary it shouldn't be a burden on your mind. They were just another group of animals, no matter how much they talked and how big were the cities made by them.
She was an assassin, a predator, a murderer, a killer, indifferent to the lives of others. She was cold, harsh, had little to no sympathy and would accept assassination jobs if she could keep it hidden from the other legal mages, at least those who frowned upon such things. Akryn was one of the few who she could trust not to betray her, if only because to report her would be to reveal his own past as well, one that would get him into as much trouble as Akeya if not more. She killed because she was good at it and it paid well. He had nearly been turned into a mindless murderer because his father had been a cruel and brutal man.
But now she was a Rising Star. Akeya was flying high above the Town of Hargeon, surveying it from above as her midnight blue wings slowly flapped to keep her in roughly the same position. The Magic Council either hadn't realized that she wasn't nearly as kind or altruistic as...well, pretty much any legal mage she could care to name, really. That or they did know but they had chosen her regardless of that fact. A statement to be made to the public? Even if you weren't the most honourable and righteous of people, you could still be useful to Fiore if you just channelled your own specific talent towards helping the people? Akeya had joined the guild of Blue Pegasus and did what they asked of her because as long as she did what they wanted her to do they wouldn't declare her a dark mage, which meant she didn't have to worry about being chased down no matter where she went. She didn't really mind, since she was more indifferent than anything else. She didn't kill because she wanted to. She killed because sometimes it was the only method, or just the most efficient one, and unlike others she didn't feel bad about it afterwards. Or good. Honestly her emotions before killing somebody and after tended to be exactly the same. Anyway, the point was that for her it wasn't that difficult to behave, and since it kept the Rune Knights off her back that seemed like the most logical thing to do. But to be given the position of Rising Star, even if she was only number three, was still puzzling.
It was also because she was now a Rising Star that she was flying all the way up here, looking down at Hargeon Town. As a Rising Star she apparently had to be present when one of the major settlements of Fiore was threatened by something a lot bigger than your average disaster. Something big was coming from the sea, it was coming fast, and it was worrying. Especially because of how it was moving towards Hargeon in a straight line. It wasn't just bad luck that it was heading this way. Something or somebody had targeted Hargeon Town specifically. Akeya could feel something massive coming towards them from the sea. It was so powerful that she could sense it even from that distance. She didn't think she'd actually be able to do much against whatever that was. With that much raw power it would need to have some really exploitable weaknesses for her to use against it. If it was a living creature that shouldn't be a problem, since all living creatures had strong and weak points. But if it was some kind of construct, or something even more sinister...
At least Akeya wasn't the only one who had to deal with this. Far below she could see countless mages begin to gather in the town, preparing themselves for what was to come. Some of them were weak, some of them were about her own strength, some of them were notably powerful. It still didn't match up against what was heading towards them, but with this many mages there would always be somebody who had a way to exploit whatever weaknesses the incoming disaster possessed. They would just have to coordinate. Akeya was a bit of a loner (or a very heavy loner), but in the face of such a threat she was willing to apply her intellect to the job of making sure everybody who could do something would do what was required of them.
The half dragon frowned as she heard something coming from down below. A song which entranced her for a short moment before the more paranoid part of her mind kicked the rest, shaking her awake. That voice was beautiful, the song enchanting. However it was also ringing alarm bells in Akeya's head. That song, intriguing as it might have been, was also one with an ominous tone to it. Whoever it was that had been singing wasn't expecting this day to be one without its trials. That was to be expecting, but the haunting song made it feel even more troublesome than it already had been. People would most likely die here. In fact a lot of them could die, civilians and mages alike. Even if there were many mages, and they could deal with whatever was coming at them, it was impossible that all of them would somehow miraculously survive, unless their trial was not one that challenged your hold on life to begin with. Since that was useless optimism Akeya discarded it. She would do her best not to die, and to do her part. Partially because if she didn't the Magic Council would become suspicious of her once again, and partially because that thing that was coming towards them, giving the feeling it wouldn't be stopped by anything, could very well cause harm to much more than just this one town. Akeya might not care much about the humans, but she also happened to live in Fiore. She didn't feel like having to abandon the place because something from the sea destroyed it all while she did nothing.