A Man Grows Most Tired While Standing Still [Marschal Leigh]

Marschal Leigh stretched and yawned underneath the satin, white sheets of his bed, raising his arms up and pressing them against the headboard. He blinked open his eyes and looked around at the blurry room, then gave out a sigh of satisfaction before rolling to his side and sitting up. The magus ran a hand through his mane-like hair, combing through the rat’s nest that was the white fur along his head. Once it was neatly done up, Marschal stood to his feet and stretched again, bending down and exercising the muscles of his legs. When they felt stretched enough, the man sighed again, bending to the right, then to the left, giving out a moan of pleasure. With all muscles stretched and ready for the day, he sauntered over to his closet and pulled open the door until it hit the other side. His gaze wandered from the shoes on the ground to the shirts that hung neatly on a rack that went deeply into both sides.

Reaching forward, Marschal pulled free a skin-tight, solid black Underarmour shirt and tossed it onto the messy sheets of his bed. Following the thin fabric was a pair of jeans that were torn at the knees, as well as along various parts of the thighs and shins. It was his favored pair of jeans, the jeans he wore the most on his missions because they were comfortable and not as form-fitting as the rest. As for the shirt, it wasn’t the best to wear on a mission, but its form-fitting style was perfect for a guy like him and the thin fabric would let his body breathe. Bending down, the magus pulled out a pair of adidas shoes and some white socks, figuring he was ready for the day now. Tossing both pieces of clothing onto the bedding, the magus would follow after them, standing towering over the pieces. First, he plucked up the thin fabric of his shirt and looked it over to make sure he wasn’t wearing anything with large amounts of holes in it.

When the inspection was over, Marschal pulled the shirt over his head and down his torso until it was situated perfectly on him. After that came the jeans, plopping down on the bed and pulling them up and over his legs before standing back up and doing a little jig to get them fully up. Once they were buttoned and zipped up, the man fell back down onto the messy sheets of his bed and lifted one foot up. One sock went on one foot, the other sock went onto the other foot, and those socks were then followed by the adidas shoes. Clearing his throat, Marschal stood to his feet again and went back to the closet, searching through the shirts until he found his jackets. Pulling out a leather, spiked, black jacket, the magus pulled it over his shoulders and tugged on the rims of the jacket, rolling his shoulders. Now perfectly ready for the day, Marschal turned to the unmade bed and gave out a heaving sigh of not really wanting to make it.

However, he wandered over to the right side of the bed and grabbed the corners of the sheet, pulling it up and over the pillows. He tucked in the sides and smoothed out the wrinkles that had formed while he was making the bed, then moved over to the other side. Pulling that side up and along the bed, the magus tucked in that side as well and smoothed out the wrinkles that had formed there. Straightening his posture, Marschal looked over the bedding as best as his terrible eyesight would allow for him to, then nodded his head. Seeing as his room was perfectly made up now, there was no reason for him to stick around, so he turned and left the dorm. Marschal made a right and headed down the hallway, toward the staircase of Silver Moon Inn that would lead him down to the first floor. Upon approaching the stairs, the magus could hear the bustle of life as customers came and went from the inn on a daily basis.

Letting his gaze rake over those who were located on the first floor, Marschal gave a small smile, then headed down the stairs and toward the bar. When he reached the bar, the tall male plopped down in one of the many seats that were located just underneath the long countertop. He cracked his neck, then each knuckle of his fingers and watched as the blurry figures of the cooks moved around in the kitchen beyond. One young female would always come to the window and tend to his needs, which made him fairly happy, but he couldn’t see her this time. Stretching forward, Marschal squinted his eyes some to see if he could see anything better, but everything was just as blurry. Sighing, he leaned back and waited until one of the cooks came out of the kitchen to ask the new customers what they wanted. More importantly, he just didn’t want to late for the mission that he had taken up the night before and was to start today.

He hadn’t been given much time to prepare for the coming mission, but it was enough time to make sure he was decently ready. Soon enough, one of the cooks did come out of the kitchen and went down the line of people, asking what they wanted. Finally, the cook reached Marschal and looked him in the eye, lifting a piece of notepad up and a pen, waiting to see what he wanted. Blinking, Marschal was slightly taken aback by what was going on, but cleared his throat quickly and ordered a slab of raw meat. The cook looked at him strangely, glanced over his features, then turned away as if none of what had been said mattered to him. A small part of Marschal wanted to know what happened to the young woman that often served him, but he figured she may have just been sick. She was a sweet girl and he appreciated that she wanted to feed him the strange raw meat that always tasted so good to him.

Eventually, the cook came back out with everyone’s food; first Marschal’s, setting it down in front of him, then moving onto the rest. Marschal glanced down at the raw meat and ran his rough tongue over his lips, a little drool pooling down the side of his mouth. Reaching forward, the magus grabbed hold of the raw meat and mowed it down in just a few meats of having recently gotten it. He burped and patted his stomach, satisfied by the deliciousness of the raw meat despite the young woman having not made it for him. Now that he was completely satisfied with his day thus far, the magus stood to his feet and wiped his hands on a napkin. After which, he headed toward the door of the guild, exiting the inn and heading down the street to the train station located in Rose Garden. The first stop of the day was in Oak Town, where some crazed maniac was trying to slaughter the citizen of the town.

Passing through the streets of Rose Garden, Marschal let his gaze wander around the people who traversed the sidewalk like himself. His vision of them was blurry, but he could easily make out their movements enough that he wasn’t worried he would bump into people. He really needed to do something about his eyesight, but he had lived with it like this for so long that it didn’t really bother him. If other people had been forced to look at the world with a vision like this and were not used to it, perhaps they would struggle. Blinking his eyes, Marschal looked away from the Gardenians and let his gaze drop to his feet, strutting along the sidewalk and down to the station. In order to get to Oak Town, he would need to purchase a ticket then and there at the station or else he would need to find another way there. Unfortunately, he didn’t know any other way there that was as easy as boarding a train and just sitting there for a few hours till he reached his destination.

Sighing, Marschal lifted his gaze again and swerved around a few passersby that weren’t exactly moving out of his way like he wanted. They threw a few colorful words in his direction, but by now, he was in a rush to get down to the train station before tickets ran out. Marschal picked up the pace slightly, pushing his body in order to make him run faster than a natural human could on two feet. Eventually, he lowered himself to all fours and dashed through the people on the sidewalk, weaving through the crowd of legs. A few people gave out screams of terror, only to realize who was running through them all, and giggling in the end. He smiled at their reactions, finding them to be rather entertaining, but didn’t pause in his rush to get down to the station. Soon enough, Marschal made the familiar turn that would bring him to the block where the train station was located on.

Marschal lifted himself back to his bipedal nature and dusted off his pants on his jeans, smearing dirt along the pale colored fabric. He walked calmly toward the door as if he hadn’t just ran to the station on all fours, opening it solemnly and stepping inside. As expected, the place was miserably busy with the crowds of people walking around and waiting for their trains to come by. Ignoring the mass of people, Marschal headed toward the ticket booth and paused in the weaving line of people waiting as well. It seemed that it would take a few hours just to even get to the lady at the ticket booth, but he figured he had the time to waste. After all, it wasn’t like the client knew that he had to be at Oak Town as quickly as he needed to be, the client knew it would take a bit. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Marschal leaned against the wall and began the long wait that it would take to reach the booth.

One or two hours must have past Marschal by as the line was slowly moving one by one until he had reached the ticket booth himself. Smiling, the tall male had to bend down slightly in order for the woman behind the glass to be able to see him and give him his ticket. He pulled out his passport and slid it into the little hand hole that was there for the woman to hand out tickets and she took the passport. Opening it up, the woman placed a red stamp on it quietly, then pushed it back out of the window and to him, where he took it back. “Where would you like to go today, sir?” the woman inquired, turning her gaze away from her computer and waiting for him to answer.

“I would like to head down to Oak Town; I have a mission there that requires my immediate attention,” the male responded to her. The woman only nodded and reached for something in her tiny compartment room, then handed Marschal a silver ticket to Oak Town.

Bowing slightly to the woman, Marschal turned away from the booth and headed through the station to the area where his train would stop. His eyes skimmed the place as always, looking at the array of people that were coming and going from places all over Fiore. Perhaps they were even people who were visiting Rose Garden from other countries, in which Silver Moon Inn had to impress. Finding an open bench, the young male plopped down onto the metallic structure and folded his hands in his lap, bending over slightly. Now began his wait of waiting for the train to stop at the station and board all of the people who wanted to go to Oak Town. Marschal stretched his maw in a yawn, then ran his tongue over his lips like a satisfied cat having gotten its fill of milk. He heaved a sigh of boredom and leaned back, bouncing his leg a little as he waited impatiently for the train to arrive at the station.

Another hour had passed before the train had finally arrived at its destination, came to a full stop, and opened its doors to the people. Marschal jumped to his feet and pushed through the crowd of people in order to get a seat on the train, as he wasn’t going to stand all day long. Breaking through the mass of people that were slowly boarding the train, Marschal squeezed through the door nimbly and took the nearest seat to him. Eventually, everyone that was going to Oak Town had boarded the train and either had taken a seat or held onto one of the many handlebars. A person on the loudspeaker spoke through to them, causing Marschal to perk his ears forward and listen intently to what they were saying. Soon enough, the train lurched forward and his journey began, the train pulling from the station and heading down the tracks. What lie ahead of him was something he couldn’t quite think of, hoping that it would be something not too dangerous in the least.

Gazing out of the window, Marschal watched as the scenery passed by, the train zooming by everything that was physically possible. Marschal became bored of watching the scenery pass by though and turned his gaze to the crowd of people on the train. They were all very quiet, with a select few people who knew each other and were busy conversing with one another. Even a few people on the train had brought along newspapers, magazines, or books to read while the hour-long ride unfolded. Sighing, Marschal dropped his gaze to his hands in his laps, picking at the claws that naturally grew on his fingertips. It was a rather boring ride, but he could survive the hour-long trip to Oak Town when he knew that people were in danger there. How much danger was going on, Marschal didn’t quite know, but he could guess it wasn’t much if the client wasn’t worried about him taking long.

Before long, the train began to slow down and pull into the Oak Town train station, coming to a complete stop once it had pulled in entirely. Air popped around him, causing him to flatten his ears against his head in order to prevent the loudness deafening himself for an indefinite amount of time. The doors to the train slowly opened up and one by one, people began to crowd off of the train and onto the platform of the station. Marschal waited until a majority of the people had gotten off before he stood up himself and exited the train into the station. Once his feet touched solid ground again, Marschal dashed off through the station and out of its doors into the open world of Oak Town. His gaze raked across his surrounding, pupils dilating as his eyes quickly adjusted to the sunlight that bore down on the male. All seemed people within the town, so he wasn’t quite certain as to why he was needed so quickly at the town at all.

His stomach growled in protest of having not eaten lunch yet and since there wasn’t much of a hurry still, he headed to the nearest restaurant. Ducking through the entrance of a small building called the Wailing Stone, the magus took a seat in one of the booths. A young waitress that was passing by Marschal noticed him take the seat and quickly headed over in his direction with a piece of paper and pen. She stopped quietly at the side of the table and gave him a smile, seeming rather giddy in being able to see the young magus. Perhaps she knew him from all of the television casts that he had been on from saving the day with his friends and guild-mates. Turning his gaze upon her, the feline male gave her a kind smile in return and waited for her to say something to him. “Well, are you just going to stand there and stare at me or are you going to take my order for me? I’m a very busy man,” he stated.

“Yes! Sorry, sir! What may I get for you?” she inquired, lifting the pen and paper up closer to her face as she waited for him to answer.

“I would like your rawest, most delicious meat that you have available; I don’t want it cooked because that upsets my stomach more than raw meat. I would also like a glass of fresh milk to go along with it because the stronger my bones are, the more bad guys I’ll be able to fight,” he responded to her. Marschal gave her a wink and she swooned a little before writing down his order and running off to the kitchen to inform the people. He chuckled a little as he watched her dash off, his eyes instantly falling to the voluptuous ass that the woman had been blessed with. Too bad he couldn’t bang that today as he was way too busy to be thinking about doing that right now, but maybe some other time. She sure seemed like she was ready to just throw herself at him with the way she had been staring at him earlier anyway.

Several minutes had passed by before the waitress from earlier had returned with the platter of red, raw meat still juicy with blood. She set the plate down in front of Marschal, followed by a large glass of milk before bowing slightly at him and leaving him be. Watching her go again, Marschal slowly turned his gaze away from her and to the raw meat that he had been blessed with by the restaurant. Clearly, the manager of the place was aware of who he was or else he would have to have fought with the people just to get his order. Running his rough tongue over his lips for a third time that day, Marschal grabbed the meat with his bare hands and tore into the muscle. It was warm and it was juicy, it felt like he had just entered heaven in the most divine way that there was possible in the world. Closing his eyes, Marschal savored the taste of the meat, taking each bite slowly and even chewing it slowly to savor it longer.

In a matter of minutes, the magus had mowed down the meat like he had with his breakfast, then wiped his hands off with a napkin. He quietly reached for the glass of milk and downed that was well, burping slightly and feeling just as satisfied as he had been earlier this morning. It was major surprise that he hadn’t begun drinking from his gourd yet, but he wanted to save his magic for when the real fight started. Stretching out slightly in his seat, the magus dug into his pocket for a few jewels, then set it down on the table before cleaning up is table and getting up. Now that he was full again, he would be able to fight off that mind wizard and his cronies without feeling like he was going to pass out. Marschal turned away from his booth and headed out of the restaurant and back out into the open, hands stuffed in his pockets. His search for the mind wizard and is cronies now began, but he wasn’t quite certain where he was supposed to start anyhow.

The job description had said something about a mage wreaking havoc in the market, so perhaps he should start there of all things? Making a quick left, Marschal headed down the sidewalk of Oak Town and down to where the marketplace happened to be located. Life could be heard bustling around him, but as far as any issues, he couldn’t hear a damned thing that was going on. However, the nearer he came to the marketplace, the louder everything became and soon enough, he could overhear screams of terror. Most likely, those were the signals that something was definitely going on at the marketplace and he had chosen the right place to look at first. Grinning, Marschal cracked his neck and reached toward his back, grabbing hold of the blades of his weapons before flipping them off their sheath and into his hands. As he entered the marketplace, plethoras of people were running around in patches, trying to avoid the cronies of the insane fire wizard.

Twirling his wheels in his hands, Marschal glanced around at the Henchmen and Cocky Fire Wizards that were terrorizing the people. Seeing as they were not aware of his presence, Marschal decided that the best way to get their attention was to flare up his magical aura. Using a small amount of his magic power, the magus flared up his aura in order to gain the attention of the cronies. Just as he expected, the first few to notice him was a trio of Cocky Fire Wizards, who all turned at once to meet his gaze. Not wasting their time, one of the Cocky Fire Wizards launched an AoE fire spell in Marschal’s direction, but he quickly dodged it and rushed the magus. Raising his weapon, Marschal slung himself forward and slashed with his weapon outward, cutting a gouging wound into the wizard’s side. Taken by surprise of the attack, the wizard had stumbled backward and frantically tried to cast another AoE fire spell, but was thwarted by another attack.

Marschal did not hesitate in launching two more attacks on the wizard, instantly downing him before turning to his comrades. A woman decided that it was her turn to step up to the plate and the magus blasted an AoE fire spell straight at him. Unfortunately, the attack landed, but in spite of the pain that coursed over his body, Marschal rushed at the woman relentlessly. He swung his body in a mighty circle and landed a decent blow to the woman’s shoulder, cutting deep into the flesh and breaking the arm. Marschy then danced around her gracefully, striking another blow to her body, sending her flying away for a moment and crashing into the wall. His attention was then brought to the last of the Cocky Fire Wizards, who slowly began to back away after seeing his prowess. Marschal only shook his head and flung his blade at the Cocky Fire Wizard, cutting into the Achilles tendon of the man.

Pained by the sudden attack, the wizard fell to his knees and gripped the injured leg that was no longer able to work. When Marschal came nearer to the male and was about to launch another attack, the fire wizard managed to fling a fire spell at him. His hawk-like eyes quickly caught the bright movement heading in his direction and Marschal narrowly dodged the burning spell. Angered by the attack, the Black Rose magus stepped forward onto his feet and dashed toward the fire wizard before flinging his remaining weapon at him. The blade skimmed across the chest of the fire wizard, gouging a deep wound into the torso of the male as a gift from Marschal to never forget him. Due to the intense amount of pain that the magus had felt as the blade tore through his flesh from pelvis to pectoral, he passed out. Three wizards down and by the looks of it, the ruckus of the battle had caused a few of the henchmen to come and check it out.

Encircled by the six henchmen that thought they had a chance at being able to defeat Marschal Leigh, the young magus crouched low. The first of the six henchmen launched himself in Marschal’s direction, sending out a battle cry that was quickly cut off by a flame-styled blade of Marschal’s weapon. A second of the henchmen discovered the rage he felt at his injured comrade and decided that attacking the male was the next best thing. However, he too was quickly ended by the flame-styled blades that dressed the magus’s weapon, and all at once, the four remaining attacked him in unison. Quickly, Marschal ducked down and swept a foot along the ground, dragging down a few men before impaling them with his weapon. Two remained and he feigned an attack toward them, causing them to jump and stumble backward a bit, which allowed for a real attack. Using this to his advantage, Marschal flung each of his blades in the direction of one of the henchmen, downing them in seconds.

Three more henchmen had made an appearance after the ruckus, but had hung out in the shadows for a little while before planning an attack. Marschal, on the other hand, was well aware of their presence long before they had even planned to join in on the fight. So, when they launched their attacks, sending out battle cries of hopeful victory, Marschal plucked his gourd off his hip and took a swig. In a matter of seconds, his intoxication aura flared up and caused the three henchmen to stumble and wobble around from its sudden effects. This allowed Marschal to send a blast of alcoholic fire in their direction, coursing it over their bodies and causing them to crash to the ground unconscious. All that remained now were three of the cocky fire wizards in the vicinity and then he could begin his search for the insane wizard. Of course, the wizard couldn’t be too far off because he could hear the mild screams of women and children as they ran away.

Marschal’s ears flicked forward as he caught the sound of knuckles cracking and suddenly the heat of fire washed over him. He let out a yelp of pain as one of the fire wizard’s attacks crashed into him, sending him to the ground and whining slightly. Letting out a hiss of anger, the young mage launched himself at the fire wizard in spite of the intense pain that was coursing over his body. Clanging his two weapons together, a piercing sound emitted into the air and radiated over a 30-meter radius, injuring the ears of the fire wizards. All three of them went down and held their hands over their ears, taking their guard down long enough for Marschal to attack. Swinging his weapons around, the martial artist slice his weapons each across the guts of the fire wizards, blood bursting into the air. The force of his attacks caused all three of the fire wizards to topple over in their own pool of blood, twitching and in pain.

With no one to stop him from what he was doing, the magus turned away from his former opponents and headed deeper into the marketplace. The farther he went in, the more screams and pained cries he heard of tormented citizens by the clearly mind controlled wizard. Stopping as he neared the center of the marketplace, he ran his gaze over the ground until a bright blast of what he assumed to be fire was let loose. Gritting his teeth together, the yokai half-breed rushed into the heat of battle, appearing behind the fire wizard, who was busy attacking innocents. In one fell swoop, Marschal impaled the magus with one of the flame-styled blades of his weapon, draining the health of the wizard. He let out a yowl of pain and tore himself from Marschal’s blade, spinning around to send a blast of fire in his direction. Marschal quickly dodged the attack, slunk down lower and swung his weapon in the direction of the wizard’s knee, cutting into it.

Severing the limb in half, the wizard toppled over in pain and held his injured knee, too busy with trying to stop the bleeding to fight back. This allowed for Marschal to take another swing at him, leaping over the fallen body of the wizard and striking down with his weapon. Again, the flame-styled blades pierced the skin of the wizard, impaling him through the stomach and causing him to spit up blood. As the wizard was clearly under mind control, Marschal would have to find a way to knock him back to his senses without killing him. However, at the rate he was going, he was best off in just killing the guy because he didn’t quite know how to get the control undone. Frowning, Marschal tore free his weapons as he flipped back onto his feet, blood splattering into the air from the force he ripped the weapons out. The magus ran his tongue along the edge of the blade, licking up the blood that had trickled down the metallic structure of the weapon.

His eyes glinted with a maliciousness to their golden nature and a sly grin spread across his lips before he hooked the weapons back into their sheaths. The magus bent down slightly and pulled his elbows close to his sides, curling his hands into his fists and opening his maw. A mighty roar was released from his jaws and the aura of his intoxication magic amplified twofold in order to keep the wizard down. In spite of the toxicity of the aura, the fire wizard had managed to crawl back to his feet, though wobble from inability to use one leg. Marschal could easily tell that the magus was affected by the aura of his magic, as he wasn’t able to stand very well or concentrate to make a spell. Smirking at the magus’s inability to fight back, Marschal look to the crowd of people, noticing how fearful they were of what was going on. Clearing his throat, the Black Rose magus straightened his posture and looked around while he thought of what could be done.

He sucked in a deep breath and this time, he let out a roar that was meant to instill courage to those that were around him. As quickly as the roar had been released, the people of Oak Town’s eyes became less frightened and a brilliant light of bravery coursed through them. Rallied together, the townsfolk rushed the insane fire wizard with every weapon and piece of tool they could use against him. Marschal took a step back in order to let the people take down the wizard themselves, toppling him to the ground in their mob-like crowdedness. Leaning back against the wall, the young magus would watch as the townsfolk used rope and every tool in the book to tie the magus down. Soon enough, the people had backed away and the insane fire wizard was tightly caught up in rope and wriggling around for help. Clicking his tongue, Marschal pressed off the wall and tilted his head as he walked toward the bound wizard and crossed his arms.

Beckoning with a few of his fingers, the magus summoned the Rune Knights, who marched in like nobody was their true business. They marched straight toward the wizard and picked him up on each end that he was tied on and carried him away from the marketplace. Nodding in approvement, the male dusted his hands off and stuffed them into his pockets, dipping his head in the direction of the people. More Rune Knights would appear on the scene in order to cuff and take away the cronies of the insane fire wizard, bring them to the infirmary before a jail cell. Satisfied that everything on the job was completed, Marschal turned away from the scene and began heading back to the train station. His stomach growled from all of the fighting, but he figured an hour ride home wouldn’t hurt before he was able to eat. Besides, he would be able to go back to the guild and see Jiyu again, perhaps she would have a meal or two waiting for him.