◐ Those Who Came Before ◑ [B / Exam]

Clem walked through a street in one of the ice villages below Mt. Hakobe. She had felt like coming down to visit the local sweets shop and get some ice cream, despite it being winter. The painter needed the exercise after being cooped up in the castle on the mountain with her guildmates. She needed a break from the odd people she kept company with. Some of them were so freaky it nearly gave her a headache just to be in their presence.

Clem arrived at the shop and plopped herself down on a stool next to the counter that held the glass case full of ice cream. She waited for her order to be taken. She waited, and waited some more. Nearly fifteen minutes had passed before she realized something was off. The place had become oddly quiet. The few people who had been there had scurried off quickly. Whoever had been serving sweets had retreated into the back of the store.

Clem looked around with her brow furrowed. “The hell?” she whispered to herself. She was used to being feared and shunned from her times as a homeless kid. Everyone thought she would pickpocket or mug them simply because she was poor. It did incredible damage to her self esteem, but over time she had gotten used to it. But now, as an adult, Clem was convinced she looked normal enough that others wouldn’t be distrusting of her. The notion that she had scared people off made her upset.

She was about to just up and leave when a man came from the door to the back of the store. He held a magical gun in his hands, pointing it right at Clem. In an instant she had both hands up, taking a few steps back before halting. “W-woah man, easy! I ain’t here to harm you!” she cried, becoming nervous. If she didn’t talk this guy down it could mean her death!

“You look like one of those Basilisk thugs! How do we know that your guild hasn’t come back?” the man yelled. His wife peered fearfully from a crack in the door.

“I dunno what you’re talking about! I ain’t a part of any Basilisk thing!” Clem replied, hands still in the air. “I’m just a passing traveler!” That part was a lie, but she wasn’t about to tell an angry man with a gun that she was part of Errings Rising.

The shop owner lowered the gun, peering at her warily. “I see. I’m sorry about that.” His wife rushed out from the doorway and wrapped her arms around him. “You see, we used to have troublesome visits from a nearby dark guild. People would come and kidnap our people and rob us. Those who were taken were often never seen again.” With a heavy sigh, he placed the magical gun in a drawer. Clem let out the breath she was subconsciously holding. Her hands lowered to her sides and she approached the counter once more, taking back her perch on the stool.

The painter couldn’t blame the couple for being nervous. It sounded like they had encountered awful people in the past. “S’okay,” she said with a sigh. “I’m curious to know more about this dark guild though.”

She spoke to the couple for a while after ordering her ice cream - mint chocolate chip. They told of a former dark guild that had occupied the sinister castle atop Mt. Hakobe. These dark mages went by the name Basilisk Fang and were a formidable terror to the surrounding towns. Whenever someone went missing, it was suspected that the guild had taken them. However, not too long ago, a sudden explosion of red light had rendered the castle ruined. What was once a fortress of terror had become just a pile of rubble. The villagers hadn’t seen hide nor hair of any Basilisks since.

As Clem hiked her way back up to the castle that afternoon, she found herself wanting to know more about Errings Rising’s predecessors. Was there any trace of them left at the castle? Just who were they and what was their goal? Her steps quickened in anticipation. Upon her return, the painter started to do some investigating. First, among the rubble that had been moved during the castle’s rebuilding, she found an old folder wrapped in leather casing. It was torn and burnt in places, but somehow survived the castle’s destruction and the weather. Perhaps it was magically protected?

Clem had taken the folder inside to her chambers and sensed around for any spells. She felt the traces of an old one, but deemed it to be a protective one and not a threat. Gentle hands unwound the string that held the casing tight. Upon opening it, she found a stack of papers. They seemed to be notes of some kind, and a diagram.

This was one of the moments that Clem desperately wished she could read well. That was one of the things she hated most about her childhood. Despite becoming good at learning things for herself, it would have given her a much greater advantage in life had she been able to read and write. Once upon a time someone had tried to teach her, but it ended badly.

Over time she had been able to pick up a slight reading ability. It was severely lacking though. Peering over the papers, she pressed her lips together in concentration. All efforts were for naught. Clem could only understand every other word, and none of it was making sense. She picked up on some names that had appeared a few times. It seemed Famine and Ahote were two important people, but she couldn’t understand why.

After a while Clem threw down the papers in frustration. She was getting nowhere! “Fuck this,” she mumbled, collecting up the papers roughly and shoving them back into the folder. The painter retreated to her room to listen to music while she cooled off and thought about everything she had just discovered.