Work Text:
Radsul was travelling on foot through Irellia. He didn’t mind that, because weather was favorable for
that form of moving around. Even if he wanted to get to his destination faster, no one offered him a
ride there.
Fortunately, he wasn’t that far to his target. He wanted to get to the city of Kemp. That settlement is
known to be one of the best-looking ones on the western continent, because it’s a popular visiting
place for tourists.
Orin wasn’t going to rest there, however. Certainly not today. He chose that place for certain reasons.
As he briefly cleaned his coat and started to think again about his plan after getting to the city, a car
stopped right next to him. A few Acradors of all subspecies were inside.
”Hey, man”, Zud driver said cheerfully.
”Hello”, Radsul waved swiftly.
”On your way to Kemp?”
”Yes.”
”Jump in.”
”Really? Thank you.”
Traveler opened the rear door of the car. Passengers on the back seat moved to the side, so there
would be enough space for Orin. After getting somewhat comfortable, Radsul closed the door behind
him and then, the vehicle started moving.
”I’m so fucking pumped, guys”, Orin on the front seat said enthusiastically.
”You said it like sixth time today”, Karz replied, then sighed. ”We’ll be in Kemp soon, so you can shut
up about it.”
”Said the guy who was thinking how many gals will know ”more closely”.”
”Hey! At least I know my priorities!”
”Sure…”, Orin said sarcastically.
”Okay…”, Karz said in a calmer tone. ”What will you do, when we’ll arrive at the city?”
”There’s a lot to choose from, really.”
”And?”
”Let me think… Perhaps I could go for Calling anomaly… Mountain climbing seems tempting as well…
Hot springs also sounds interesting…”
”See? You don’t even know yourself?”
”Fuck you!”, Orin said loudly.
”No, fuck you!”, Karz replied equally loud.
”Can you guys shut up already?”, Zud asked. ”I’m surprised that our sleeper didn’t wake up because
of your argument.”
Everyone except the driver turned towards the sleeping passenger of the group. He was leaning on
the rear left door of the vehicle. He was Orin, quite similar to one sitting on the front seat. It seemed
like he was still in the slumber.
”Is he on some sleeping pills?”, Radsul asked.
”Yep”, Karz replied. ”He suffers from insomnia, so we decided that he should take those, so we can
properly rest together.”
”Very kind of you. So you’re all friends?”
”We’re all from one branch of the lab we work in”, Orin from the front seat turned towards Radsul.
”It’s the middle of the week. Shouldn’t you be in the lab?”
”We did a major breakthrough recently, so the superiors funded us a week at Kemp.”
”You sound perfectly like the scientists”, Radsul chuckled.
”Don’t even get me started on this one…”, Orin sighed.
”What?”
”We have to go with strict etiquette while at work”, he started. ”You know… so we will retain
”professionalism”. Even if no one doesn’t really visit us and if they do, that’s rare. So I don’t know why
the fuck they push us to do this.”
”I can understand their point of view”, Karz responded. ”Still, they should allow us to throw some
”fucks” once in a while.”
”That’s what I’m talking about.”
”By the way, why are you going to Kemp?”, Karz asked Radsul.
”For the work”, the man in a coat shrugged.
”And not for the rest?”
”That will come later.”
”Okay, guys”, Zud said loudly. ”We’re near the entrance to the city.”
The vehicle was extremely close to one of Kemp’s entry points. For some, having guards for the city
that’s mainly for the tourism is surprising, but considering amount of people that go there from
different factions, that’s the point that others like to adopt.
”Oh, crap”, Orin on the front seat said, while looking at his pockets. ”Where’s my passport?”
”You id…”, Karz started, but he stopped, when he looked at his pockets as well. ”Fuck! My passport is
probably left in the suitcase. Probably same with yours.”
”Can you stop?”
”Too late, man”, Zud replied. ”Guard is coming to us.”
”Papers, please”, the guard said in the cold tone.”
”These gentlemen are transporting me to the city”, Radsul replied, as he handed his passport. ”I have
some business to do here.”
”Hmm… It was a long time since I had Solitan passport in my hand last time.”
”I wonder why…”, man in the coat chuckled.
”I’ve heard you guys are experts on the anomalies.”
”That’s true. And my business is exactly related to that.”
”Well, if that’s your transport crew then I won’t stop you. Enjoy your stay.”
”Thank you”, Radsul replied, as he got his passport back. ”Have a nice day.”
The vehicle started moving forward again. This time, it was going faster than the last time to get out
of that awkward situation as fast as possible. As they were far enough from the checkpoint, the
science crew sighed.
”By the Mother…”, Zud said heavily.
”Thanks, man”, Karz responded.
”We’re even”, Radsul replied with a slight smile.
”So you’re from Solitan? Never met anyone from there.”
”Yeah”, Orin on the front seat joined the talk. ”You should spend some time with us.”
”If I’ll be done with my work then sure, I can join you.”
”Here’s my phone number”, the man handed his business card to Radsul. ”Just call me, if you want to
join.”
”Thanks.”
”Stop here for a moment”, Orin turned towards the driver and then towards Radsul again. ”See you
around, em…”
”Call me Radsul.”
”Take care, Radsul.”
”You too, guys.”
Radsul opened the door of the car and left the vehicle. Karz closed the door behind him. As the
scientist crew was moving again, they all waved at the man that saved their vacation and Radsul
waved back.
Instead of going down the street, the man in a coat went into the nearby alley. He went as deep into
it as possible, so he couldn’t be seen by anyone. As he made sure that no one would look at him, he
started to unbutton his coat.
When he did that, dark armor covering his chest was exposed. It looked like it was made by a master
craftsman, but only couple of Acradors knew what armor was originally used to make that piece of
attire.
Then, Radsul grabbed the hidden helmet. As he looked at it every time, it reminded him of the times
who he was. The times where he could wear his helmet to show his position, not to hide. He regained
his composure and put the helmet on his head.
The man then left the alley and started going down the nearby street. When he was wearing his
helmet, he wasn’t Radsul anymore. That man who was dressed in armor covered by a brown coat was
known as Chron.
As his outfit was quite unusual for light attires of Acradors going through that tourist city, he was
gathering quite a lot of attention to himself. Some were laughing quietly, but more were in admiration
of his – according to them – cool looks.
Chron didn’t care about them, however. He had one straight goal he was looking for. When he was
strolling through that city, his appearance alone would scare many thugs from doing any harm to that
traveler.
His walk wasn’t lasting for long. He eventually reached a small restaurant that didn’t have many
customers in it because of the lack of parking space. It also had quite unoriginal design, both
externally and internally.
As the man looked around, he was looking for a certain individual that was supposed to make contact
with. Zud male dressed in a bright lab coat was the one that was sticking out the most, so the visitor
went straight to him.
”No way…”, short man was visibly surprised. ”You have arrived.”
”As I promised”, Chron replied, while he nodded.
”I wanted to leave a minute later…”
”That’s why I always discuss the estimated time when I should arrive. I value my time, as well as time
of my clients.”
”I can see why many Acradors go for you”, the scientist smiled. ”Please, sit down.”
”I have to know if it’s official business first”, Chron asked, as he crossed arms on his chest.
”And I assure you it’s not. It’s just my own initiative.”
”That will probably help Irellia…”
”I’m a patriot. And I just want the best for the Acradors here. Not necessarily with harming other
factions as well, but that’s the side effect I cannot predict. You’re extremely curious, by the way…”
”As an anomaly explorer should”, the man with the helmet leaned on chair’s backrest. ”We have to be
curious to uncover every item, every detail that would help us with completing our tasks. Otherwise,
we would’ve quickly died out and that business would be much more grim.”
”I see, I see…”, Zud nodded. ”You’ll just work with me. No strings attached.”
”You better keep your promise”, Chron replied, as he sat down on a chair.
”It works both ways, remember about it.”
”So… what’s the job?”
”The job is twofold. First, you must retrieve my colleague from Calling anomaly.”
”Alright. What about the second part?”
”It’s related to first one. You see, we’ve heard of a certain artifact that you can supposedly find only in
the Calling. Me and my colleague wanted to find it.”
”Any info about the item?”, Chron continued on asking. ”The visual description? Properties?”
”You have all the necessary info about it here”, scientist replied, as he passed the small digital panel
to the tall man.
”Hmm…”, the man in a coat started looking at the details. ”Yeah, I saw it before. It shouldn’t be hard
to find.”
”Especially after my colleague said that the item was supposedly found.”
”They didn’t return, as they should.”
”We lost contact”, Zud lowered his head. ”I only know their last location. You have info about them on
that panel as well.”
”So if I find your colleague, I should also find the exact location of the artifact, so I can retrieve both.”
”Precisely! Will you take that job?”
”Just get the cash ready. We’ll be meeting in the exact same place.”
”I promise. Good luck.”
Chron stood up from the chair and left the restaurant. As he started his new journey, the man was
beginning to formulate the plan that would help him fulfill his task. He didn’t want to be
unprofessional. Still, it was one of his many jobs that would help build his reputation even higher.