Rafat wakes up as the sun shines through his curtains and fall on his eye . sits up immediately making his bed , opening the curtains , its a beautiful day , and goes to the bathroom , taking a shower , brushing his teeth and changing his clothes . Coming out of his room . It's Warob's first day here he remembers , filling him with excitement , wanting to see what he is up to . It is quiet, really quiet , I guess he is still sleeping , but still walks to the forge in case he could be just getting ready to work. With a smile on his face he turns to the forge . His jaw suddenly drops as he stepped towards the forge's front . all the damaged armor and weapons arranged in line neatly placed one after the other with equal spacing . looked as if they were remade rather than repaired , shining and clean , like no hands had ever fell upon them . Rafat stood there again really confused had , a lot of question rushing through his head , but there is no sound in the night , how could he have repaired them so quickly , why is he working at the small village , I am getting hungry . Rather than thinking too much , he first thought of getting breakfast . But before going he wanted to know where warob could be since. I don't want to disturb him if he is sleeping , so he prevents himself from knocking on his door . His eyes fall down to see rays of light leaking from the door's gap . he is awake then . Rafat then starts to look for him forgetting that he is suppose to have breakfast . going through the rooms in which he could be , arriving at the healer's . opening the door,
"Mayina have you seen warob around here , I don't know where he is ." he asks as he stood there the door half open . the healers are just setting up the place .
no , I haven't seen him since yesterday , what happened? she asks
" I am just looking for him . " answers Rafat as he closes the door , he is lost in thought . Where could he be then , he could be with the king , at this time king would be at the great hall but there isn't a reason for warob to be there . Thinking , walking down the halls eyes down on the floor .
" Rafat ! "
looks up as he hears his name .
leaf running towards him .
"Where have you been ? I have been looking all over for you . "says Leaf, catching his breath .
"Sorry about that , is everything ok? I am just looking for Warob . " says Rafat .
"The king has called you to the great hall and Warob is also there . It seemed serious, " says Leaf . "Everyone is there. "
"Ok Thanks leaf. " his smile tones down as he starts running to the great hall . What could it be , all of us have never been called together before .
The doors of the grand hall pushed open. Everyone sitting at the table , some lost in thought , the air is thin , everyone seems to be a bit on edge . Warob sitting next to his seat looking at him.
"Come in Rafat, take a seat, " says the king . " we can start our discussion now " .
Rafat takes his seat . His head down at the table
" An elementalist has been spotted in the north eastern land near the Ice tower plains . "
what ! , an elementalist . His eye widened , as he still stared at the table
"Weren't they extinct ?" says Incere . " not one has been seen for centuries , I thought their existence was just a theory . "
"The message I received is written with truth" , says the king . "It is spotted by a merchant . We don't have any real evidence , so no reason for us to be concerned but if what he saw is an elementalist it could lead to some serious issues."
"What should we do ? " asks Era .
"For now , you should all get back to your duties on your posts and stay on guard there ", says the king . "Since Rafat and Warob are not on duty they will meet the merchant and investigate it, to see if one is actually out there , until we know that it exists we need to keep this between us for now ."
What....Me and Warob ? This will be my first important task . I can do it . His head lifts up looking at the wise king's face.
"But if it turns out to be true both of them could be in serious danger ." says neer ," Rafat is still a kid and Warob is new , I suggest that we should send someone with more experience , who will be able to handle it . "
well I can understand their concern.
" He is more capable than you think , so no need to assume he is weak but even if he is bettered by the opponent, Warob will be on his side , " says the king . " We don't want to disturb the other kingdoms and villages or make the people uneasy . Your duties are important and can't be replaced , for now you will perform your usual roles there . I wanted to discuss this so you are all aware of it in case we have another meeting and for you to stay alert. "
Don't you think," says neer but is cut off by the king , " there is nothing more for us to discuss , you are all dismissed .
everyone getting up ready to leave including me and warob
Rafat and warob you stay here for now ."
the king might have something more to discuss with us . everyone else respected and trusted his words but I can see it on their faces almost everyone is a bit concerned , if I see it from their perspective most haven't seen what I can do so they are sure to have some doubts and they didn't know that we had a new member , I wonder what they would have thought when they saw Warob for the first time . They have no idea who he is and come to think of it I barely know him , I haven't seen him in combat either but if the king says he must be exceptional .
As they started to leave , neer came to us , " good luck you two and be careful .", putting her hands on our shoulders but I feel that she is uneasy .
"we will be fine ." says Rafat ," don't worry ."
"yeah I probably shouldn't , " says neer lifting her hands off our shoulders ," well I am gonna to be at the gold village for sometime , you are free to visit whenever you can and I could use your help but your priority should be on the current task in hand and if the elementalist isn't real then I am just worrying for nothing and I should be going now ."
Everyone had left until then and Neer made her way to the door .
Warob looks at Rafat after the conversation.
"Well, if you haven't figured it out yet , she is mayina's mom . She cares for everyone she knows but because of it she does get worried a lot for everyone too . She is currently the best healer I know of because of which she is really busy because of her healing magic ." says Rafat , " I have heard that there are some problems rising in the gold village and I don't know too much about it but this is the first time she asked me for help. "
looking back to see the king , patiently waiting for us to finish .
Rafat sits down and so does Warob.
"I am going to tell you some things that you should know" . Says the king ," we don't know what happened to them . The elementalists are something different from anything we know of , not one has been seen for centuries , according to some very old writings and books . We don't have much knowledge on them and due to it being such a long time ago , the information about them started to differ but there are some similarities in the majority of the books and writings that we can use . The elementalists are controllers of the elementals hence the name , each elementalist has one element he can control but there were exceptions , some had control over 2 or more making them far stronger than others and naturally putting them over most elementalist . these rare ones gained control over the others of their kind and one is on top 'esifatan' . they called him the storm . he is the only one known person to have control over every known element . he had the power to reshape the world itself and that is what he wanted to do . The biggest problem of the elementalist is that they were not affected by magic nor by age , non elementalist couldn't do much against them . The great mage , even less is mentioned about who that is , fought back against them , it seems there were some exceptions for magic users as well . Then happened the " war of extinction " between the greatest of magic users and the elementalist . Each and every elementalist was forced to be in the war . From here, things are even more vague as the stories start to differ even more . Where the war took place is unknown , but said to be near the edge and no one came back from the war . Not even the great mage or anyone who is included , which explains why there isn't much about all this and I have yet to find something that tells us about the world before the war . After the war , no elementalist was to be seen , they were extinct . As the years went by they became just a story , most people don't even know they ever existed . If one is still here , it possesses the knowledge to change the view of our world , all the things lost from time , and the missing pieces . That is why you need to be careful . If you see and confirm that it's actually one of them, don't approach it . Depending on the situation , we will have another meeting in the great hall to discuss further on the matter . "
I had read about them but it is vague , the king described them in more detail . I wasn't too concerned but from what it seems an elementalist could be a great threat .
Now , both of you will visit the merchant , the merchant moves around the world from village to village with his shop and fortunately he is in our town today .", says the king ," it should be the third shop from the right of the inn . "
I wondered why nobody had a shop there since there is clear space between the other shops . I have never heard of the merchant before though and never seen the shop either .
"visit him when the sun starts to set ", the king adds , " his shop is really busy until he closes , I have told him that both of you will visit him then , you have some time until you do so but don't be late . That is enough for today , good luck to both of you ."
warob and I get up , respecting the king . opening the door and closing it behind us . As the door closes , Rafat crosses his arms over his stomach , Warob puts his hand on his back . I am so hungry , I haven't eaten yet , Warob seems worried . Rafat straightens up again , "Wanna go to the inn ." masking his stomach pain . Warob nods . With all his strength Rafat and Warob arrive at the inn.
Thankfully it isn't busy today . Altaaf , busy with another customer . They both take a seat .
"Rafat! " , someone called him to the kitchen .
"Mom is calling me ", says Rafat ," I will be back in a moment . " he gets up making his way to the kitchen door and goes in .
"Rafat where have you been , you're never this late for breakfast , " she says prepping the food and her eyes fall on his face , " why are you so pale ! Are you ok ? "
Meanwhile, Warob is sitting at the table looking around . It's a fine place , with wooden chairs and tables . The environment is lively and everything is beautifully lit by stylish lanterns . His eyes fall on weapons and shields and various other objects hanging on the walls for decoration , with curves and elegant designs on them .
"do you like them " says Altaaf , standing from the side of the table.
Warob , nods .
" What do you like the most? "
Warob points at a shield . Complex pattern and design , shining silver color , looking completely new , decorated with a beautiful ruby center .
"most people go for the spears since they are more eye catching , being a blacksmith yourself I guess you can see the craftsmanship behind it , this equipment is the most difficult to make ." says Altaaf , a light smile starting to show on his face ," It is for Sayber before he became the king . After the war , he gave it back to me even though it is for him , there is a sword to go with it , which he still keeps with him . "
Warob is intrigued , not knowing what the war is he tries to ask him . Warob made a confusing look .
"Is there something you need to know ?"
Warob nods .
"want to know what metal they are made from?"
warob shakes his head.
"Want to know how the sword looks ?"
shakes his head again. Gesturing with his fingers to go back .
"the war?"
Warob nods.
"you haven't heard of it ?"
Warob shakes his head .
"I guess people a bit far might have not heard about it . says Altaaf , " the war is fairly new , it happened about 8 years ago..."
"why didn't you eat ?" asks Azila , " you almost passed out ."
"There is a meeting in the great hall ." says Rafat , swallowing the rice and meat on his plate .
well that doesn't happen often " she says , preparing food , " Neer did come by earlier but didn't tell me anything about it , did something happen ?"
"The king just wanted to discuss some things ," says Rafat, finishing his plate . " I was given a task to visit a traveling merchant . "
I can't tell her about the elementalist .
"A traveling merchant ? you mean the Mystic Merchant ?" asked Azila ", Is he here ? It does make sense to why many people aren't coming to the inn today , "
"mystic merchant ? , " says Rafat ", whose that ? "
"it's a merchant that usually comes by every other year ," says Azila ," I is able to go there last time , that's where I got that hour glass from , isn't it beautiful ? well since it isn't too busy today we can visit the shop together .
" Mom, you've gone there before ," said Rafat , "I never heard of the merchant , where was I , when he came here last time? "
"He came about two years ago ," says Azila ", I didn't know you never knew about it , I think at that time you were new to the castle and you didn't come to the inn that day so I couldn't tell you that he was in town , I remember it because I was worried you didn't come to the inn ."
What was I doing then ?
"so when can we go? " asked Rafat , putting the plate on the counter .
"Let me finish this up and put some stuff away then we can go . " answered Azila .
while she did , Rafat went out to check on Warob since he had left him alone.
well they seem to be enjoying their time . Altaaf passionately telling him something and Warob listening to him with such attention that no movement could be seen , Warob's eyes being brighter than usual . Dad seems to be telling him a story , Warob does look really interested .
"Yuna, could you take care of the kitchen ," says Azila walking out of the kitchen ." I will be back in about an hour ."
"Yeah sure ," answers Yuna .
Azila walks out to see Rafat watching Altaaf and Warob from behind the counter , turning his head to her .
" Isn't that the blacksmith that is here yesterday ? " asked Azila
"Yeah his name is Warob , he isn't just a blacksmith now though ." said Rafat ", he is an upper knight too ."
" it's the first time I have ever heard that someone is a blacksmith and a knight he must be really good then . said Azila
Yeah , I think so too .