Segment 1

'RUMBLE, RUMBLE', a large carriage bumped and rocked its way down an uneven country road this helped little as many carriages seemed to scream past the large carriage with ferocious speed, amidst the ruckus a boy awoke buried beneath a mountain of hay at the back of the carriage. "Geeze is it really this busy around these parts? I just want some more shut-eye", he thought, then suddenly he could hear some loud chatter from above the hay he was hidden in, "it's today isn't it", said someone with a rather excited tone, "it seems it is!", replied another person, "I wonder if the applicants are going to be okay, I've heard those tests are rough", "more like deadly, have you not heard, there's a test where you have to starve yourself or worse be eaten by a bear!!", "seems like a nightmare", "you bet it is I've done it myself but…failed". Suddenly what seemed to be the voice of the carriage driver echoed throughout the reselling and bustling of the carriage as he shouted, "NOW ARRIVING AT ARINELL, ARIVING AT ARINELL, NEXT STOP IS ARINELL", "I wonder if this is where I'm supposed to be", thought the boy hidden beneath the mountain of hay, "if it is I hope bro hasn't arrived here before me, It sure would suck if I lost to him again". Then the carriage came to an abrupt halt as people could be heard murmuring and coming out of their carriages, "do not forget our luggage dear driver, don't forget to do what I pay you for", said a lady in a snob like tone, "of course madam", said the driver as he went round to the back of the carriage. The boy could hear as footsteps approached him and things beside him were being taken up, "woah, woah, what's going on here, I remember finding someplace to sleep and this felt comfortable enough, but I didn't think I was going to get ported off in the process", thought the boy. He could feel the man getting closer to him, he held his breath, then he felt a hand slamming itself against him, "huh what's this?", said the driver confused he continued to pat his hand against the boy unknowingly, "seeing if I'm in good condition is he, seeing if I'm fit to be ported of", thought the boy, "hurry up!", said the snobby female, the man shrugged and said to himself, "whatever kind of luggage this is, it's luggage so I guess you're coming with me strange luggage". "I have to stop this now!", thought the boy, the driver was about to wrap his hands around the boy when he forcefully rose from the hay head-butting the man in the processes and causing him to stagger backwards, "the heck!", he yelled, "sorry about that dude, you scared me for a sec there, nah I'm kidding you didn't, I would've turned you to ash if you tried anything anyhow". Stunned the man just stood there as the boy dressed in a tree coloured brown leathery long sleeve shirt and deep brown trousers, along with a long red hooded cape lined with thick white fur which rested over his shoulders, his chin-length straight dark chocolate brown hair swayed vibrantly beneath his red fur-lined beanie and he landed on the ground with a hard crunch his mahogany coloured boots leaving firm imprints. The noble lady and the other people around her stared at the boy like they had seen a ghost, blinked twice and then turned back to what they were doing, "guess they weren't expecting me huh", thought the boy, "well, of course, they weren't, I literally came from nowhere", he thought. There was a large line of people before him and many carriages parked to the side of the long road, he looked ahead to see giant stone walls covered in ivy that seemed to hug itself around a large city, conveniently there was a beautiful carving in giant letters that lay just above the entrance on the stone wall that said, Arinell. There stood two guards at the entrance wielding large spears and clad in heavy-looking iron armour that had an emblem of three sprouts and a giant blooming tree in the middle they also wore a kettle helm, the knights were letting people through one by one."So this is the capital of Elezzion eh", said a man pushing past the strange boy and joining the line, "sure lives up to its name huh, 'The Humble City of Adventure', heh", said another man also joining the line ahead of the boy, "wait did they just say the city of adventure?", thought the boy, "well I can just ask the guards if this really is the city of adventure", and so the boy joined the line. He was halfway through when there was a strong gust of wind when something blew on the boy's face leaving him temporarily blind, "augh, what's this?", he thought as he removed the thing stuck to his face, it was a flyer, he looked down at it and it said, 'All hail aspiring adventures this Amber Sanjun 25th is the adventures exam, do you want to be famous!, do you want to be rich!, do you want to gain great power!, or do you want to fulfil the dream any man has had since the birth of the Mashtiff era and find the legendary mighty Orin!, pick and choose quickly, time is limited! And so are spaces! if you are thirteen years and any of these appeal to you, get down to Arinell as fast as you can and come try your luck, doing this could make any of your dreams a reality!'."Okay good I'm at the right place somehow", thought the boy. "Orin huh, I remember one time this strange man came round to the enclave and told both me bro and the other children about the mysterious all powerful all knowing conquering power or treasure known only as Orin, he said anyone that found this almighty power could change the course of the world itself, they could even rewrite history, or destroy it, essentially they have the entire world in the palms of their hands, I have to admit, it intrigues me, but I have to help him first before I can have fun learning more about and finding this Orin thing", throughout all the boys deep ruminations he eventually reached the city gates and was standing right in front of the guards. "ID please", said the guard on the left, "umm ID?", said the boy, "yes give us your ID and we can let you on through", said the guard on the right, "but I don't have that", said the boy, "no ID no entry!", said the guard on the left, "damn I need to get through", thought the boy, he pulled the flyer out from his pocket then his brain lit up, "maybe if I show them this explaining that I want to join the adventurers exam they'll let me through". He held the flyer up to their faces, his black fire emblazoned gloves showing themselves, "so you're here for the adventurer's exam are you?", said the guard on the right, "that's right, I really want to do it, do you really expect me to give up my dreams head tail between my legs back to where I came from, I mean c'mon man", "I's pose we err could make an exception if that…", the guard on the right was abruptly interrupted by the guard on the left, "and that's why they don't put you on that many shifts anymore Aaron, your too nice, I bet you were the one who let those damn kids through earlier with no ID when I wasn't here!", "I errr umm I'm s-sorry", replied Aaron flustered, the guard on the left stood upright clutching his spear looked down at Jinjuso and said, "no ID no entry!", in a stern voice, "what will I do now, am I really going to give up fulfilling his dream, or my dream?". Suddenly passed the gates whilst the guards were arguing shouting could be heard, "YOU PAY US NOW AND YOU PAY IN FULL UNDERSTAND?", said a big brute, "I'm sorry I can't I don't have the money!", said the man behind the stall horrified, "we don't CARE if YOU don't have the MONEY, you pay us now or else!", said the scrawny cutthroat, "we will pay you by the end of the week, please wait a little longer sirs", said the woman behind the stall bowing her head alarmed. "WE DIDN'T ASK FOR PLEAS WE ASKED FOR MONEY YOU GIVE IT NOW, NOW!", shouted the big brute, "let me remind you lest you forget we own this part of the city you don't pay us you can't live so I suggest you give up the money now! hee hee", "mommy daddy what is going on?", said a little girl with light brown pigtails wearing a peasant dress, "darling hide, hide, it's the bad men", said the woman gently pushing her away, "but how? How are we supposed to give you the money now?", questioned the man, "for starters sell your house, and better yet shut down your shop! that should help heehee", answered the scrawny cutthroat, "b-but we couldn't do that, you know we couldn't", said the man behind the stall. "Well let's help with that! hee hee", the scrawny cutthroat gestured the brute over to the stall, "DESTROY!", he shouted, "no!", yelled the man he spread his body over his stall defending it, "HONEY!", screamed the woman as the brute raised his club, the brute began hitting the man violently whilst he irked in pain, the city-folk just stood watching as if it was a show. They talked amongst each other silently, "should we call some adventurers to their aid", said one man, "maybe, but their busy, something as common as this will hassle them", said another man, "what about the guards?", said a woman, "they aren't good for anything said a man, "poor people, you should always have the money and know when to pay up in these parts of the city, god bless them", said a woman seemingly worried. "Hey Harry, we should help them!", said Aaron distressed, "no Aaron we have been assigned a duty, we must follow through with it!", replied Harry in a stern voice, "you are soo mean Harry!", "and you are so NICE Aaron!", whilst the guards were bickering it had gotten to the point where the man being beaten was now wheezing in pain, "please no more, p-please", said the woman behind the stall crying, "mommy, mommy what's going on why's he hurting daddy?", said the little girl coming from the back looking confused. "Ahh pure innocence you just love to see it", thought the cutthroat looking down at the girl maliciously, then his seemingly dull eyes sparked, he looked at her laughing and thinking to himself, "this little innocent girl would mean more to them than this petty stall, taking her should tell em times up, and that they should pay up if they ever want to see her again, heehee". The brute was about to deliver another devastating blow when the cutthroat said, "stop!", the brute stopped his hand immediately, the man protecting his stall could barely lift his head anymore, the cutthroat moved up to the brute and whispered in his ear, they both nodded and proceeded with their plan, the brute moved up behind the stall to where the woman and her child were and said, "GIVE ME THAT GIRL!", "wha", she responded, "hey what do you think you're doing", said the stall owner now sliding of the stall and falling to the ground, he rose up on his feet and proceeded to grab the brute by his arm he said, "not my girl, please!", the brute shoved him off and approached the girl, "don't you dear touch my baby!", said the woman standing in front of the brute, "WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO!", he said, "WATER BULLET", she shouted holding her hand her veins lit up shining blue and out came a sharp pellet of water only gracing the brute's arm, "HEH WEAK!", he said, he swung his club around, about to hit the woman when the stall owner rose to his feet and took the swing head-on, it hit him in his temple knocking him out and causing his scalp to bleed ferociously, he flew into his wife's arms. "HONEY!", she yelled clutching him tightly, she fell to her knees and sobbed softly, "why, why, how could you", she said, "DADDY, DADDY!", screamed the little girl terrified running over her to her dad, and before she could kneel with her dad, the brute snatched her up, she screamed loudly beating on his arm and biting him, "LET ME GO!", she screamed, "I WANT DADDY", "your coming with us", said the cutthroat, "she continued to fight back but to no ones surprise no matter what she did it didn't seem to affect the brute, "MOMMY DADDY HELP ME!", she screamed as she bawled her eyes out, the wife still crying and clutching her husband looked up and yelled, "NOOO, NOOO, DON'T TAKE MY STARLA AWY FROM ME TOO", her pleas were futile the men walked off further and further away, Starla's crying and screaming becoming quieter and quieter, "STARLAA!", she shouted. "HARRY, this is wrong we have to help!", said Aaron, "no AARON we must continue to do OUR duty", said Harry, amidst all the restlessness and chaos of the people a thought sprang to the beanie wearing boy, "this, this is too much, I have to do something, when I was a little helpless boy, someone rescued me, I can't… I can't leave her alone to fend for herself, this world is brutal at least I think it is from what I experienced a couple years back ha, besides maybe If I help one of their citizens, they'll have no choice but to let me into the city, after all I saved one of their citizens, who wouldn't let someone in after doing that". The boy looked up at the guards and said, "you wouldn't want to get into trouble for not helping that girl, would you?", asked Jinjuso, "no but we have to stay here and do our duty", answered Harry, "that's one of your Citizens and they are in danger", he responded, "he's right Harry a knights duty is to not only follow orders but it is to also protect all those within his kingdom", replied Aaron, "but we normally give those kinds of jobs to adventurers", said Harry, "adventurers?" thought the boy, he smiled and said, "let me prove myself I'm coming here to become an adventurer so let me do the job of an adventurer and rescue this girl, after all you can't leave your posts can you?". "I suppose you are right we cant leave but that doesn't mean…", said Harry, "oh we'd be glad if you could save her for us", said Aaron, "and If I do this you'll allow me official entry right?", asked the boy, "of course!", beamed Aaron, "w-wait what no…", it was too late the beanie wearing boy had already dashed passed them and was already starting to follow the trail of messy footprints, he could also hear the slights screaming, he dashed passed a busy marketplace full of kids running around playing crowded stalls and groups of people bartering at once it was truly a vibrant city cosy looking houses were dotted around the place, and the boy couldn't help but crunch down on the wonderful gritty dirt covered ground. He could soon here the screams grow louder as he was getting closer to the culprits, he blended himself in a mass crowd of people when he could see the towering brute in the distance carrying a screaming little girl turn into an alleyway on the left, the beanie wearing boy then swam hurriedly through the mass of people barging them until he happened across that same alleyway, he stuck to the wall and eavesdropped, "hey quiet little girlie", said the cutthroat "I want mommy and daddy", the girl squeaked, "hey where's the money, I didn't ask for a little girl", said a shirtless punk with a mohawk who was sitting down on a wooden box, "sorry boss but they just wouldn't pay up so we had to resort to measures like this", the mohawk punk smiled, "no I get you, this will force them to pay up, you're so smart bugeye", "YEAH LETS HOLD A RANSOM!", said the brute, the girl started crying again, "quiet!", said the mohawk punk grabbing tape and putting it over her mouth, the men guffawed whilst saying, "now we'll get our money". "Not if I have to say anything about it!", said the boy coming out from behind his cover and walking down the alleyway towards them, he glared clutching his fists, the thugs stopped laughing and looked at him, "huh!", they said, "and what are you going to do about it?", said the mohawk punk, "turn you to ash!", he replied, "run on home back to mommy and daddy little boy, wouldn't want to get hurt now would ya?", the thugs guffawed again. The boy looked down at the girl she looked back up at him with genuine puppy eyes the bags of her eyes bright red from crying too much, her nose red and running with snot, anger welled up inside of him, "HOW EVIL CAN YOU BE!", he yelled, "this boys annoying me, teach him a lesson bugeye, strong arm", bugeye approached waving his daggers around rapidly, the boy dodged all of them and said, "amateur", he grabbed both of his arms and broke them and then stabbed the knives into his eyes he fell to the ground in great pain "eeiiyee", he screamed, Strongarm was an inch away from slamming his club into Jinjuso's eyes when he turned and crushed his diamonds with kick, an electric shock ran up Strongarm as he staggered backwards, he dropped his club then Jinjuso picked up and whammed the club into his head like he did to the stall owner he fell to the floor face planting, the boy glared back at the mohawk punk who's face was agape he got up and moved back slowly, "you want some too", said the boy as he moved closer to the punk, "s-sorry, im", the boy stepped closer and closer his veins shining a flaming orange red colour, "ahhh", said the punk who could hardly speak anymore he stumbled backwards as the boy approached him and fell on his butt. The boy was now towering above him looking down at him charging his fist towards the man his fist now had sparks flying off it, his fist was now an inch away from punching the man when he desperately shouted, "SORRY, T-TAKE THE G-GIRL SHE'S ALL YOURS I ENT READY TO DIE TODAY NUT YET AHHH!!", he ran away stumbling over himself. The boy calmed down and his fist went back to normal he walked over to the girl who sat there staring at him and took off the tape that was on her mouth gently, "can you walk?", asked the boy, the girl nodded and stood up, "am I going to swee mommy and daddy now?", asked the girl, "yes of course", said the boy patting her on the head, "ok follow me now and stay close", said the boy as he walked of briskly, "wait mister", said the girl tripping up as she was trying to catch up to him, "ok then", he thought as he moved over to her and held her hand, she could instantly feel the warmth and looked up at him her eyes shining in awe, he looked down at her and smiled, the two walked back like brother and sister all whilst the girl just looked up at the boy in awe clutching his hand more tightly as they got closer and closer back to where her parents were. They soon arrived back to the marketplace where there were a huge number of guards investigating the stall and talking to the woman whilst one carried the man on a stretcher, "MOMMY", shouted the girl as she let go of the boy's hand and ran back to her mom hugging her tightly, "STARLA", yelled the mother as she bent down and snuggled her daughter like she hadn't seen her in years, Starla seemed to tell the guard and her mom about something whilst looking back at the boy. All three of them suddenly approached Jinjuso, "thank you, thank you for saving my Starla young boy, truly you, you are a godsend", she bowed her head in sincere appreciation, "my hero", said Starla jumping and plopping a lollypop in the boys mouth, "ummm no problem guys", responded the boy scratching his head, "knights!", called out the knight, suddenly the knights all lined up alongside what seemed to be the captain and all saluted the boy whilst saying, "thank you for your service", the boy looked on taken aback and didn't say a word, "my two lieutenants told me about you sir as a reward I have prepared an ID for you, wield it with pride and know you are always welcome in this city, Aaron, Harry", they both stepped forward Aaron's face smiling and Harry's face trying to smile, "you'll be a great adventurer", said Aaron, giving him his ID, he took it, "umm err good-luck in all umm…your future endeavours", said Harry struggling to get the words out of his mouth, "thanks guys", said the boy. "So, if it isn't too much may I ask your name sir?", said the captain, "umm yeah ok, Its Jinjuso, my names Jinjuso Araclava", the captain took his ID away and wrote his name, whilst he was doing this he took at the pamphlet and saw that the exam was starting at 11am, the captain gave him back his ID then Jinjuso asked, "captain sir, do you perhaps know what the time is, he pulled out his watch and said it would appear to be 10:50am he looked up to see Jinjuso gone, "wow that boy is quick footed indeed", "told you so captain", said both Harry and Aaron. Jinjuso landed atop a building and looked around the city trying to find a building that looked like it would host an adventurer's exam, then he saw a tall wooden building that had a huge sign saying adventurers association, it stuck out like a sore thumb, "that must be it!" he thought, "I hope bro hasn't got there before me". He sprang himself from building to building until he was right above the adventurer's association, then he jumped of the building and landed right in front of the doors, "this is it It's a giant bother, but I have to do this for him", he took a deep breath and then said, "here goes nothing", he places his hand against the giant wooden doors and pushed them open.