In the depths of darkness, laid a girl who was conscious, but was unable to move. She floated as if held by the void itself; free, but imprisoned by the very air she breathe. She panicked, but were helpless.
A voice suddenly ringed around her. It was mellow, yet it has a sense of authority that lured one's attention.
"Thou are special. The world needs you. I will grant you power. Help the world's inhabitants. Gather those who are worthy. Rid the invaders."
She could not determined the gender of the person nor could she determined where it came from. She tried to reply, but no words came out as if her body was paralysed. The voice faded into the darkness and, as if the gravity suddenly appeared, she felt her body falling down into the unknown. The speed kept on rising, so did the temperature; her body was burning, but she could not react. Her head started to throb and she felt as if her brain was about to explode. She was screaming in her own mind prison, until...
"Uwahh...!!" She woke up drenched in sweat. She sat up and looked around to determine where she was. The room around her was small with a single pair of wooden table and chair, a small wooden cabinet and a small bed she was currently sitting on. The faint light that pierce through the window meant that the sun had barely risen from the horizon.
"What was that dream?" She asked herself in confusion as her head throbbed. She tried to brush it off as a nightmare, but her intuition said that there was more to it.
Just then, a knock was heard from the door located in the corner of her room.
"Miss Aria, are you awake? It is time for your morning practice." A female voice came from outside.
"Yes, I am awake. Please come in." The girl, Aria, replied as she got off her bed and tidied her wrinkled clothes.
"I am coming in." The door opened and a beautiful girl wearing a traditional maid uniform entered. She had a long blonde hair tied in a ponytail, turquoise eyes and a gentle demeanor. She walked towards Aria, who was standing beside the cabinet.
"Thank you Mona, for always helping me. I cannot help but feel bad about you waking up earlier to help me."
"Oh please, I am not bothered at all. I owe my life to your late mother and that extend to you as well. In fact, I am happy that you are considerate to a mere maid. Watching you grow has been my source of pride and joy."
"Hehe, you sound like a proud mother, even though you are just 18."
"Oh my, how rude."
These banters helped Aria to calm down and shifted her focus away from the nightmare that she had experienced. However, the uneasiness still lingered in her heart.
She finished changing from her nightgown to a long pant and a shirt before heading out with her wooden sword. She walked along a narrow corridor before going out into the courtyard from a small wooden cabin. The morning air greeted her lungs and pumped her up for her routine exercises. She started with 100 sword swings followed by various static exercises before finishing with 50 laps of running around the courtyard.
"Miss, you never fail to impress me with your daily training. Being able to do that much at the age of 10, I believe that you will be the youngest candidates to enter the knight order."
"Thank you for the compliment, Mona. However, that is if only father approves or if there are any company regiment willing to take in a young female recruit who has yet to hit adulthood." Aria retorted cheekily. "I believe that being an adventurer is a better option for me. I get to travel around the world, hunt down some beasts and eat various food. There are regions yet to be explored and I am going bathe in the wonders of those unknown. It makes you feel pumped up."
Mona looked at Aria warmly; a smile naturally formed, but a tinge of sadness welled inside. "That would mean that you will be leaving this house soon."
Mona passed a cloth to Aria who proceeded to wipe off the sweat that she generated despite the cold weather. "My eleventh birthday is coming in a few days. The day where I have to leave this house... leave this family of mine. By then, I am no longer the daughter of Sultier Earl House, just Aria the adventurer."
"Miss... I do believe that you will succeed in your future endeavors. You are smart, strong, brave and kind. Both me and madam are happy with who you've become. Anyway, it's time for breakfast; an egg sandwich and milk!"
As the sun rose, the shadow retreated, the scenery was illuminated in yellowish hue that painted the colours with life. Beautiful garden spread out from the courtyard to the distant mansion; the Sultier family's grand mansion were decorated with ornate statues, vibrant flowers and trees, and excellent architectural craftsmanship that showed off their wealth and authority. Aria ate her breakfast as she watched the mansion coming to life with activities.
"Mona, you should return. I do not want you to get into any other trouble."
"Miss... understood."
Mona left to join the rest of her acquaintance maids in their daily duties, leaving Aria alone. The contrast between the extravagant mansion and the shabby cabin that she was staying was glaring. After her stepmother entered the estate and took full control, she was banished here while her stepsister took over her position as the heir of the Sultier Earldom "Well, I guess father would prefer someone with high magic power as his heir, but still, to treat me like an invisible..."
Aria returned to her cabin where she used her magic to create a small amount of water to bathe as usual. She chanted her magic spell in front of a large wooden basin. "Water, heed my call and condense."
Water formed out of thin air as if the space was a wet cloth squeezed out. However, unlike the usual, water kept on flowing and the amount resulted in an overflow.
"Huh! Why?! Stop! Oh no, the room is going to be flooded!"
The water finally stop and Aria was in disbelief. "Shouldn't my magic level only at 1? This is clearly above that!" Aria began to remember her dream where the voice said to her that powers would be granted upon her.
"Is this what that voice means? What kind of crisis that will befell onto this world? Invaders?" Aria was confused but proceed to clean up the mess before taking a dip in the cold water and cleansed her body. Her uneasiness grew stronger as time passed and the day came to an end.
Aria found herself floating the abyss; her eyes saw nothing, but an outstretch of darkness. Several balls of light appeared around her, twinkling in unison as Aria struggled to understand. Without warning, the light converged around her, blinding her eyes in pure white as her brain was drilled into with information that spun her head in dizziness.
Aria woke up in another state in panic where she clutched head in pain. Foreign information flowed naturally into her mind and she could picture the various creatures that she had never came across in any literatures she read.
"What in the world?... Ugh!" Aria felt a pang of pain in her head, as if seared with fire. The sharp pain faded and flowed into the rest of her body, making her felt numb and tingling, but she could also feel power surging.
"Hah, hah... Is this going to happen every night?" Aria turned her head and watched the sun rose above the horizon. "Sigh... I hope not..."
***
"Mona, thank you for everything. From today on, I will be forging my own path."
"Miss... please stay safe... and... Happy Birthday." Mona took out a wooden box and handed it to Aria.
"Mona, you don't have to, you know."
"Please miss, it is the least I can do to repay your mother. Use it to buy yourself proper equipment for your adventures."
"Thank you." Aria went to hug Mona with tears rolling down. "I will never forget what you have done for me."
The twilight sky barely provided any light on the road Aria treaded. The mansion grew further away, leaving behind her secluded past; as the new dawn came, so did hers.
She kept the recurring dreams a secret to Mona, believing that it would complicate the situation and created some unease within the maid's mind. "First thing, heads to the nearby church. Let see if those dreams hold any meaning as a prophecy from god or just some random dream."
***
The nearest city to the Sultier mansion was just an hour walk away. It was a bustling city with markets selling various harvests, shops selling gears, potions, magical items, and even eateries from cheap meals to luxurious one that nobles and rich merchants often enjoyed. In fact, it was the capital city of Sultier domain called Lapis, named after the founder's favorite gem.
The church was located in the middle of the city and was decorated with ornate paintings doting the ceiling and several marble statues of generations of royalties, nobles, and popes that contributed to the church. The most magnificent statue of them all stood in the back end of the great hall: the being of worship, the god of Creation that the Sol faith believed in, God Flare. The statues depicted a man wearing a silk robe standing with his arm wide open. It had short hair swept back and an androgynous face that exuded both beauty and masculinity.
Aria walked towards the statue, knelt down and prayed by clasping her hands together while shutting her eyes. She felt nothing for a few minutes and was about to give up when she felt a burning sensation in both of her palms. She opened her hands to inspect her palms and there was a mark of a wing, each on both of her palm.
"What is the meaning of this... I think I should wear a glove to cover these..."
"Hello there young lady. Are you alright?"
Aria turned around to see a nun standing with a mellow expression.
"It is rare to see a young girl this early, especially one with beautiful silver hair. Did you come here alone?"
"Yes, I just come here to offer my prayer."
"Oh my, how pious. Is there anything that I can help you with? The church is always open to everyone who wants to do a confession."
"Umm... no, I am fine. Although, I do have question... does a wing symbolises anything?"
"If you mean a single wing, yes, it represent the messengers of Lord Flare. We called them Angelos. Many do not really know this, but Angelos has several ranks and depending on the design, it represent different ranks. Angelos are said to give blessings to people and those who received them did incredible feats... or so was written in our sacred texts. I have never seen any of these people though."
"I see. Thank you for the information." Aria hastily left the church as the nun finished her explanation.
"Huh. Wait! Don't you want to hear more about our sacred teaching!?"
***
"Alright, gloves, sword, pouches and leather armour. All set! Next, the adventurer's guild."
Aria had been saving up from what leftover that her father had given her to sustain herself in the wooden cabin. She would sometimes sneaked out of the cabin and walked around Lapis. It had become a familiar place for her and thus, she arrived at the Adventurer guild without getting lost.
As she entered the building, the crowds looked at her for a moment and while most returned to their activities, some marveled at her rare silver hair and crimson eyes. Aria ignored the gazes and proceeded to the counter to register as an adventurer. The process took a while since she had to fill in a form, listened to the explanations of the rules and waited for the guild staff to hand her her adventurer tag. She naturally started at the bottom rank: Glass. "So from Glass to Copper to Bronze to Iron to Steel to Silver to Gold and finally Platinum, huh. A long way to go."
As Aria was pondering, the door to the guild opened violently and a group of men entered.
"We're a group of Steel rank adventurer party, Raging Bull. We would like to have a few words with the guild master." A man who seemed to be the leader talked to the staff nearest to the entrance.
"Huh? Wait what is the issue? Didn't you guys just set out a few hours ago to subjugate a raging boar? How did you come back so fast?"
"That is not the point right now! We just encountered something else along the way. In the Forest of beginners, the short cut to the Hell savannah, we encountered several unusual creatures killing off some local critters. It may be a sign of a stampede."
"What!? Understood! I will call the guild master right now!"
"There is no need for that. I am here." A dignified voice echoed the guild hall. "Did you managed to collect the foreign creatures?"
A man in his 40s walked down the stairs. He had a stern face with goatee and was wearing an ornate suit that symbolised his authority.
"We didn't managed to get all of 'em mister. We just killed 4. They're fast and caught us off guard when we chased 'em. We do bring the carcasses though. Liam, Tom, show 'em."
The biggest men among the group put down their load covered in some sack and opened them to reveal the wyvern-looking creatures almost as big as an average man. They had frills, long legs, but short arms, slender scaly bodies with long neck which had several gashes likely from sword strikes, and light purple hues covering the creatures' posterior portion of the bodies.
"We got 2 of 'em. As you can see, we've never seen things like this. They may a new species, but something this big should've been seen by many people eons ago."
"Indeed, I have never seen these; not in my twenty years of adventuring around these areas. It may not, however, be a sign of stampede though. I have lived through 2 of those, they usually showed an irregular swelling in the numbers of local species, not foreign one that came from other regions. Besides, we have been constantly monitoring several local biomes and I have yet to receive any reports from the scouts of the standard signs of troubles." The guild master approached the carcasses to inspect them closely. "Has anybody seen such creature before?"
"Those are Jaggis."
"!"
Aria instinctively replied before realising and hastily closed her mouth in shock. However, all of the attentions were now directed on her.
"Young lady, you know about them, don't you? Explain." The guild master demanded Aria.
"Umm... I, I..." Aria did not know how to reply.
"Come to my office."
"Yes..."
In the guild master's office, Aria was sitting across from the guild master. The room was ornate, but was filled with stacks of papers, books and scrolls, giving it a rather messy appearance.
"I know you want to keep things secret. It's just you and me now little miss. You can now tell me everything, I promise to keep your secret."
"I... I have no idea either. I do not know why I have such information. It is as if I instinctively know what those creatures were... as if I had encountered them numerous times before..."
"Have you heard of the "Blessed One', Miss Aria?"
"!?"
"You just registered as an adventurer today, so of course I would know you. Contrary to this room's appearance, the guild keep things extremely well organised. It would not take long to fish out information about you or any other registered adventurers. My name is Granzial Oleid. You do not have to be wary of me. Now back to the topic of 'Blessed One', have you heard of it?"
Aria shook her head.
"They are people that the Gods had blessed, or rather given some power."
"I thought Angelos are the one who gave power?"
"So you have heard about that. True, Angelos, God's servants can grant blessings, but they are still human in nature. The 'Blessed One' refers to those who have the same authority as the Angelos themselves, they are human who can give blessings to others. They are those whom the Gods had given tasks; they may possess information that Gods had bestowed upon them. You are one of them, are you not?"
Aria kept silent as she pondered. "Should I reveal about the dreams? Maybe... just the dreams..."
"I do not know if I am what you assume, but I do have dreams where I see myself hunting some fantastical creatures and I vaguely remember those creatures as Jaggis. It is not much of a threat as we just ignore them."
"Nothing else? No other changes to your body?" The guild master questioned with skepticism.
"No sir."
Deafening silence followed as both looked at each other.
"I see. Trust is something you build overtime. You are not as naive as thought you would be considering your age. I hope you will open up to me over time. Off you go."
Aria began to walk out of the room, but the guild master stopped her and smiled. "Oh, and, welcome to the world of adventurers."