The Dream Begins

In the country known as Minstrel, only a small ocean and island away from the mainland of Fiore, there existed one of the greatest mountain ranges ever known to man. Its great bulk covered nearly the entire coast of the region and left only small stretches of land to serve as either beaches or minuscule port towns. The mountains themselves were generally uninhabited, at least as far as Minstrel’s foremost cartographers and explorers knew, though a variety of small paths snaked through it in order to allow traders and more to travel through them to reach the previously mentioned beaches and ports that lay on the other side.

Well, they were BELIEVED to be uninhabited, and for a majority of their expanse they indeed were without a single human or human-level soul. But if one had taken the time to look a bit more closely in the exact center of the entire range, they would have found an odd sort of clearing located in the exact middle of a massive group of mountains that lay in the exact center of the massive range, which had been ‘pushed’ together like a grove of trees.

The clearing was in stark contrast to the range around it, which was mostly devoid of plant life except for the occasional group of shrubs or trees, by being quite verdant. The floor of the clearing was covered in luscious dark green grass and had a variety of trees from various species growing seemingly without pattern throughout it. Due to some twist of weather, the clearing itself seemed divorced from the patterns around it and even had light clouds drifting a good few feet above it, making it seem as if it had been transplanted from another location in Minstrel.

In the center of the clearing lay a small wood cabin, almost a shack, made up of a variety of logs of incredibly darkened wood. It wasn't the only place of residence, or at least storage, in the clearing, as a variety of holes had been tunneled into the mountainsides that framed it. However, a large amount of those holes were now somewhat cobwebbed, and the ones closest to the ground had their rims decorated with a variety of scratch marks, as if a large amount of supplies had been dragged out very recently... which was true.

In the center of the clearing, a short distance away from the cabin, was a young man with wild green hair and wearing a long white scarf. He was crouching slightly and stretching one of his legs out, doing some sort of morning ritual or exercise. As a few more of the smaller clouds drifted away from the clearing, he stood up and stretched, yawning.

“Uwaaaahhh,” he yawned, his mouth wobbling slightly as he patted his jaw with his hand. This finished, his mouth returned to normal as he rocked forward slightly, stretching a bit more. “Ahhh...” he finally vocalized as he looked up at the lances of sunlight piercing through the mountainsides lying directly in front of him.

“Okay!” he said, throwing both hands into the air, “let’s get started!” He turned to face the cabin. “You ready, Gopher?”

“All set, Knave!” came a tiny voice from the other side of the wooden door, which slowly slid open. A bipedal, green-furred cat leaped out from behind it, wearing what appeared to be a smaller version of Knave’s own scarf.

“Everything’s all packed, so we can head out whenever you’re ready,” Gopher, the cat, finished.

Knave laughed, almost a snicker due to his teeth being closed in a toothy grin, his eyes being closed as well. They opened again as he finished laughing, resuming their gaze at the light spilling into the clearing.

“Then let’s go!” he said happily.

A solid few miles away from where Knave and Gopher were preparing for their departure, another person was trekking their way through the mountains as well by following a rather lesser-known path, but one that had gained a decent reputation for having little obstacles at the cost of taking awhile to traverse.

Not that it entirely mattered to Erie Reinhardt, a beautiful young woman with somewhat long, black hair, amber colored eyes, and a simple dark gray bow perched on her head. She had been looking for a safe way to pass through the mountains and hopefully reach one of the port towns located on the other side, and this route seemed like it had been practically made for her.

An assumption that was challenged by the results of a recent avalanche, which had left not only a massive stretch of snow and rock debris along the path for a good couple of miles, but had also deposited three rather large boulders directly in her path. Erie glanced at the map she had gotten drawn for her again, and looked up at the boulders once more immediately after.

As she had suspected, there was no mention of the boulders on the actual map.

“Sometimes I wish the universe didn’t decide that it hates me,” she sighed, lifting up her hand and letting it droop slightly, as several black shapes with a glowing purple trim began pushing out of her wrist...

“Okay,” Gopher sighed as he dropped the last of the two massive packs that he and Knave had put together the previous night. The cat was surrounded by the last wisps of smoke that were leftovers from a kind of magic he had used in order to move them (since it would be rather difficult to even budge them at his current size).

The cat suddenly turned around as a rather large boulder smashed into the ground right next to him! Gopher took a step back, sweatdropping slightly in fear of what was to become of him, before taking a closer look...

“Is this one of the..?” he began, before turning around.

Right as he did so, Knave walked up to him, still straining as yet another massive boulder was hoisted over his head. “This is... the last... one...” he grunted, before tossing it in front of him, the boulder striking the ground with a massive thoom!. The green-haired young mage stood up fully, dusting off his hands and looking incredibly pleased with himself.

“Entrance is cleared,” he said simply.

“Ready when you are!” Gopher responded, saluting.

Knave nodded, still smiling, and turned to face the cabin and a large majority of the holes in the mountainsides. His expression became more solemn, and he bowed down low, his two palms pressed together.

“I’ll be going now, pops....” he hesitated for a moment, “..dad.”

And with that finished, he turned around and reached for his own pack.

Erie lowered her hand, satisfied with her work. The three boulders that had previously stood in her way were now completely demolished, left in very, very small pieces by the magic she had just used.

“Well, that clears that up,” she said brightly as she glanced at the map once more. Her route re-confirmed, she crumpled it slightly in her hand and resumed walking along the path.

As she headed forward, a few feet away, a figure dressed in a black cloak detached in an almost batlike fashion from one of the smaller outcroppings located on one of the mountains, and nodded briefly...

“Gopher?” Knave asked as he trudged on along a similar mountain path.

“Yeah?” his cat companion asked while walking right next to him.

“I’m borrrreedddd,” the young mage groaned, “I never though that just walking a few feet away from home could be so dull.”

“Well, it’s to be expected,” Gopher said, shrugging and sweatdropping simultaneously, “this is still technically an area we’ve explored before, right?”

“Not at this time of day,” Knave grumbled, “I thought it would be more exciting the earlier we explored it...”

“You’re not the only one feeling let down now,” Gopher pouted.

Before their conversation could continue, however, Knave’s ears and nose suddenly twitched slightly, detecting nearby stimulus that it had been deprived of for much too long. The marimo’s head jerked to the side, scanning the nearby area in the hopes of finding whatever had caught his attention. His eyes zeroed in on a path across the way from him and making its way around another mountain, as well as being a few feet below. Specifically, he noticed the black-haired young woman walking along it.

“A person!” he said happily, his eyes assuming the likeness of stars, “you know what that means, Gopher?!”

“No,” his green cat responded simply.

“SOCIAL ACTIVITY!” Knave answered, putting a sudden burst of force into his legs, creating a small crater as he launched himself into the air, before gravity seized him and he began falling down towards the second path.

“Ah, wait!” Gopher called after him, before sprouting brilliant white wings from his back and attempting to follow after his partner.

As Knave fell towards the girl’s location, a shadowy figure wearing a black cloak detached once more from a small depression in the mountain face, before lunging through the air directly at her!

Right as the figure was about to reach her, Erie whipped around, the black constructs beginning to form once more... but Knave was headed towards the figure at a much greater velocity. Noticing the green-haired figure rapidly flying towards him, the person in the cloak reacted quickly, yanking out of his cloak an obsidian-colored pistol of sorts and beginning to take aim at the interloper.

Before he could pull the trigger, however, Knave suddenly gained an immense burst of speed as something briefly flickered around his elbows, sending him hurtling towards the figure! Before the being in the black cloak could even react or fire, Knave’s foot smashed into his face and sent him flying through the air, smashing into the mountainside and knocking him out cold.

Knave landed on the second path and immediately directed his attention towards the man he had just mightily kicked.

“Sorry!” he bowed, “but you got in my way!”

“Ehh...?” Erie vocalized as she watched the display.

“Oh, yo!” Knave said, turning around and grinning cheerily again, lifting up a hand in greeting. “I’m Knave Dhahaka! Who’re you?”

Before she could respond, Gopher flew down, his wings flapping furiously as he halted his movement, now content with hovering right beside his green-haired partner. “What was that?!” he asked.

“Oh, and this is Gopher!” Knave said, disregarding the cat in favor of continuing his introductions and prized ‘social activity’, “so, who’re you again?”

“I’m-” Erie began, beginning to get her bearings back, but was interrupted by a deep rumbling sound that had suddenly begun filling the air around them, “what’s that?!”

“Keheheheheheheheheheh...” the man in the black cloak grumbled as he pulled himself free from the crater and dropped to the floor, an odd device in his hand, “we managed to... set up some explosive lacrima... not too long ago... this is what you get..-” As he spoke, he crawled between the two travellers and reached the edge of the path, “-...when you defy our guild!” And with that, he used the last of his strength to hurl himself off the edge of the cliff!

“He started up his own avalanche?!” Erie asked incredulously as the group looked upwards. True to his word, a massive amount of rocks and even bits of snow where toppling down the side of the mountain, racing towards them at a decent amount of speed, so if they continued at this pace they’d hit the group within less than a minute.

“Hmm,” Knave pondered while staring up at the falling debris, before breaking out into another grin, “heh, don’t worry! I’ve got this!”

“Huh?” Erie asked, raising an eyebrow.

In lieu of a response, Knave crouched slightly turning his upper torso up to face the avalanche. “Here I go!” he said, and then began taking a truly immense deep breath, his stomach expanding slightly as he leaned further backward.

“Storm Dragon’s....” he began.

...Dragon?! Erie’s eyes widened, it can’t be...!

“ROAR!!!!”

Knave’s mouth flew all the way open as a massive twisting column of storm exploded from it and hurtled up the side of the mountain. It met the debris head on, causing a small explosion of dust and force as they collided! A large amount of the debris was destroyed, with even more flying out in all directions due to the collision of the two opposing forces. After the roar had made impact, the storm stopped emerging from Knave’s mouth, and the young mage took an almost staggering breath back, wiping the area around his mouth with the back of his hand.

“You got it all?” Erie asked in disbelief.

“Nah,” Knave said completely seriously, with a happy tone, “I got a lot of it though. There’s probably some more falling as we speak.”

The young woman paused, Knave’s words sinking in, before the shadow of more debris became clearly visible to her.

“THEN DON’T JUST STAND STILL!” she yelled in frustration, tackling Knave and crashing the both of them into the side of the mountain, right as a massive amount of debris crashed down both where they had been standing only seconds before and also in the area around them. Luckily, the debris had landed in such a way as to form an almost dome-like shape around their little space, the various pieces precariously holding the others in place.

Almost as soon as the debris had settled in place Erie was in motion again, examining every nook and cranny of the new space they had been trapped in. Her fingers moved over the various crevices and lines caused by two pieces of debris landing together with an almost expert touch, and her eyes seemed to miss nothing as she looked it over. After a few minutes of this proceeds, she sighed. “It doesn't look like it’s any good,” she sighed, “unless we can destroy this whole thing in one shot, removing a single piece will send the whole thing crashing down on us.”

Noticing that Knave had been quiet for much longer than she had assumed he could be, given their previous interactions, she turned around only to see him watching her eagerly, his eyes having assumed the likeness of stars once more and his knees shaking uncontrollably in excitement.

“...Huh?” she asked.

“You don’t live in the mountains, right?” Knave asked, almost leaping up and down now.

“N-no, I don’t,” Erie replied, still a bit perturbed by Knave’s behavior.

Knave threw his hands up into the air, letting out a happiness-filled victory cry that not only echoed within the confines of the dome but was most likely audible even outside it, throughout the entire mountain range.

“Are you okay?” Erie questioned, the smallest hint of worry in her voice, if only for the green-haired young man’s mental health.

“Perfect!” Knave laughed, dropping down into an Indian position, then looking up at Erie. “I've never really been outside this mountain range. Can you tell me what it’s like? I mean, I plan to go there anyway, but it’ll be nice to get all hyped up, right?”

Erie stared at Knave for a moment, as if to see if he was truly serious about his request. Evidently deciding that she had nothing better to do given the circumstances, she turned around and dropped down into a sitting position as well, directly across from him. “Fine,” she said, “but only if you answer a question of mine first.”

“‘Kay!” Knave said happily as Gopher, who had been trapped between two bits of debris, managed to pull himself out and fly next to Knave before dropping into a sitting position of his own, grumbling slightly.

Erie decided to get right to the point. “What are you doing here... and where did you learn that magic of yours?”

“Ragius ,” Knave answered simply.

“And who is Ragius?”

“My dad!” Knave began, then paused, thinking it over, “well... I THINK he’s my dad... technically I have another one but I don’t remember much of him or what even happened to him... but he’s the one who technically raised me, and Gopher too! He’s even the one who taught me how to use magic and all that stuff.”

“Yep!” Gopher said, lifting up his hand in affirmation, “though I don’t really have any memories of Knave’s dad either!”

“Anyway,” Knave continued, “he left a good few years ago, and Gopher and I have been living on our own for awhile, until we decided to finally leave and just see what was out there.”

Erie leaned back slightly, putting her arms behind her head and leaning up against the side of the dome, allowing all the new information to be processed. She couldn't really call him a liar, or at the very least she didn't have enough proof to make such a claim. Add that to the fact that he didn't really have much of a reason to lie, and...

“Okay then,” she finally spoke, “at least you’re not someone who can be considered an enemy. And I still owe you for... two things, I guess, so I can get one repayment out of the way by answering your questions. Shoot.”

Knave pumped his fist up into the air in a silent Yes! before looking back at Erie, his eyes now shining like stars in a mixture of excitement and happiness. “Just tell me what it’s like out there!” he said quickly, “what kind of place is the area outside the mountains? What kind of people are there? ARE there people there? I just wanna know a lot, so please tell me!” He finished this off by shifting position to his knees and bowing, Gopher mimicking his action.

Taken aback once more by the two’s actions, Erie’s mind raced as she attempted to begin. “Well...” she started, and then paused, thinking it over, “okay. But this might take awhile, so do you mind sitting down again?”

“Already done!” Knave said seriously, having miraculously returned to his old position and giving her a thumbs up.

“FAST!” she gasped, recoiling slightly before recovering. “Alright,” she took another deep breath, “so what should we begin with?”

And so she told him about the outside world, going into an incredible amount of detail about the various kinds of landscapes she had seen since leaving her own home country, of the various people she had met, of the foods she had tried, and most importantly, of the various smaller adventures and incidents that she had found herself involved in before beginning the trek through the mountains. And as she said all this, Knave listened intently, and he became more and more excited, his eyes shining brighter than ever as the true vastness and wonder of the outside world began to be imprinted upon him.

Erie exhaled, leaning back a bit once more as she finally reached the end of her long explanation. “And that’s about all I can say,” she managed to get out after finally getting her breath back.

Knave sat absolutely still, eyes sparkling as he appeared to stare into nowhere. Gopher poked him slightly to affirm that he was okay. “...Knave?” the cat asked.

Knave suddenly stood up, turning his head upwards in order to face the dome head on. Erie and Gopher watched quizzically, unable to read his face at all or understand what was going on his head....

Knave’s fist suddenly lashed out, becoming surrounded with the same mixture of wind and lightning and causing it to fly out behind his fist in a sort of spread-out trail! The trail smashed against all parts of the dome, destroying the debris and reducing it into not but a pile of small rubble around them! As he did so, the last remaining rays of the sun struck the group, with Knave walking forward to the edge of the path.

Taking a deep breath, the young mage threw his hands up into the air, and let out a massive, joy-filled laugh that echoed throughout the entire range! As the laugh slowly died, he lowered his hands to his own side, smiling with complete seriousness. “I've decided,” he said to both himself and all those gathered around him, “I’m going to travel this impossibly wide world, and I’m going to see all of it! Not only that, but I’m gonna leave my mark! The entire world’s gonna know what I've done, and they won’t be forgetting for a long time! If I’m gonna explore and truly become a part of this world-” And with this he punched his fist into the sky once more, “I’M GONNA BECOME ONE HELL OF A PART!”

This finished, the marimo allowed his hand to drop to his side as he took in a massive breath of hair. He turned around, still smiling, to face both Erie and Gopher, who were still staring at him in awe. His eyes closed and his mouth broke into a grin. “So, wanna come with me?” he asked happily.

Erie snapped out of her stupor, shaking her head slightly as a means of clearing it. Once her thoughts began to arrange themselves in something close to a coherent order, she redirected her gaze at Knave once more. “Well, I’d love to,” she said quickly, “but you’re going the way I just came and I can’t really-”

“Aw, come on!” Knave laughed as he crouched down in order to be at eye level with her, “you can’t have explored all of it yet, right? There’s a whole country, a whole world out there just waiting for us to see! So why not?” He stuck out his hand.

Erie hesitated, several very good reasons popping up into her head as soon as she posed the question to herself. But... she still owed the guy, and his excessive cheerfulness and positivity was contagious. And it wouldn't really hurt to go and see the rest of the world, right? After all, she couldn't keep travelling in a line forever...

So, fighting back what she viewed as her better judgement, she reached out and took his hand. “Sure,” she said, giving a small smile before rapidly amending her statement, “but only for now. I’m going to go back to my journey eventually, okay?”

“Hmph,” Knave pouted, evidently not wanting to give way in this scenario, “fine....” He finally conceded, though with the tone of voice he held it was as begrudgingly as possible.

“Alright then,” Erie said, her tone becoming brisk once more as she stood up, “seeing as you've destroyed the debris, I think we can safely head back the way I came and you were going.” With that, she began walking in the opposite direction of her original stride.

“Hey,” Knave said, standing up and shrugging slightly in order to adjust the pack on his shoulders, “what was that black stuff you were about to use back then? Before I kicked the guy in the face?” He launched a brief bow and a ‘sorry’ towards the edge of the path once more.

“Oh, that,” Erie said, lifting up her hand again, “that was my own magic.” As she spoke, the black energy with a light purple trim poured out again, this time snapping into the shape of a stylized raven. It quickly flew onto Erie’s shoulder, its head jerking around while examining the area and generally acting very much like a loyal pet bird, or a bird in general. “Raven Magic,” she concluded simply.

“Awesome!” Gopher cried, with Knave making his own sound of appreciation. The cat flew closer to their new companion, examining the magical raven construct as closely as he could, “where’d you learn to do this?”

Erie seemed to recoil slightly at this, with even her presence seeming to pull itself together tighter in a vain attempt at hiding. “Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies,” she said at last, after taking a good few minutes of walking to come up with an answer, “I may tell you about it one day, but for the moment I don’t know you well enough to confide that sort of information.”

“Awww,” Gopher pouted, then went for a second desperate attempt, “pleeeeassseeee?”

“The answer’s still no,” Erie replied, her tone now a lot calmer and her composure safely restored.

“Ah, don’t worry about it Gopher,” Knave said, coming up from behind and clapping his hand on the top of the cat’s head, “we can just trick it out of her later or something similar.”

“AS IF!” Erie yelled, delivering a punch to the both of them that sent the duo spinning comedically through the air!

A few measly miles away from the base of the massive mountain range, there sat a sort of city. ‘Sort of’ being the correct term due to it generally lacking any form of organized government except the kind imposed by the citizens themselves. Essentially, if you had enough strength or enough coin (preferably both), you could live a somewhat peaceful life here. Generally, however, it was used as a brief place for long-distance travelers to rest while attempting to cross the mountain range itself, and the town had risen a number of bars, theaters, and other such entertainment-based establishments in order to keep them occupied while they waited for their own time to leave. On all official maps of Minstrel, the berg was referred to as Landdown.

In a bar without any proper name, only a sign with the symbol of a chicken about to roast on the fire, the man wearing the black cloak pushed through the doors, staggering in with his hand gripping his head tightly where Knave had kicked him. “Damn it all to hell...” he grumbled, “I dunno what the boss was thinking, but this cloak didn't work at all. ‘Reduces damage from all angles’ my ass!”

He slumped down at one of the bar stools, giving a vague gesture to the bartender who simply nodded and prepared a drink in response. As he did his job, the man in the cloak slumped down a bit more, rubbing his head. “Then again,” he muttered as he pinched the bridge of his nose, “that green-haired bastard might’ve just been strong to begin with...”

The person next to him suddenly set down his own mug... which was filled with apple juice. “Strong, huh?” came a slightly rough but also oddly youthful voice.

“Heh?” the man in the cloak asked, raising an eyebrow (though no one could really see it) and looking at the purple-haired young man next to him, “what the hell’s it to you?!”

“Did you get the guy’s name?” the young man asked in as kindly a voice he could muster (which, to be brutally honest, wasn't exactly much of one).

“Why the hell would I get his name?!” the cloaked man snarled, reaching out with his other hand to take the alcohol the bartender suddenly offered him. He turned to face his part of the wooden ring around the bar, slurping whatever drink he had given him. Unfortunately, his bad mood and the pain from his wounds got to him again, and he had to let out one more parting shot to the young man. “Not like you could beat him anyway-”

Before the words had even left his mouth, the purple haired young man’s foot smashed into his face! The man in the cloak didn’t even make a sound as he slowly collapsed off the stool and onto the floor, blood spilling from where his nose and possibly even more of his face had been brutally broken by the attack. His drink spilled carelessly to the floor as the hand holding it landed as well, the glass holding it cracking and beginning to shatter.

All the other residents of the establishment reacted quickly, preparing to stand up and fight the young man, before he stood up as well, a grin appearing on his face as he thought of the potential challenge that came with fighting a bar full of angry drunks... though it wouldn't exactly be the first time something like this had happened. As he stood, several of the people there gasped, taking a step back and pointing at him, their mouths moving without making any sounds. Finally, a somewhat heavy set man managed to get his voice back, and squeaked out...

“He’s... he’s....!” was all that he could manage.

“Heh,” the young man chuckled, using his right hand to wipe away some of the remaining apple juice that lay around his mouth, “let’s see if we can get this so-called ‘strong green-haired bastard in here’. It’ll be fun, right?”