God among men (Indars B-rank exam)

Alexander chuckled as he walked towards the residential streets of Nox Animus, today was a relaxing day. Streets of the dark city bustling with people. However there was 2 things to discuss with a fellow guildmate. So knocking on his door 3 times he awaited Indar to answer. Alexander's face was serious as usual, the fires of a personal war in his eyes. Upon Indar answering came the discussion, "Indar we need to talk. First off you need to stop eating all the hand railings of the ship. 2 people fell off the ship cause they were missing in the southwest quadrant. Also on an unrelated note, I am going to give you a task to see if you are worthy of B-rank."

Indar had slept in that day. He had spent the last night in a bar, having a drinking contest with a few citizens. He woke up to the knocks on his door and just by the three he knew who it was. The guild master had come behind his small house's door, annoying him. He got up from his bed, moaning and groaning. Indar walked, if you could call that walking that is, to the door and opened it. He had only pulled his jacket and pants on.

When he looked at Alex, a blurry of words came at his face. Indar tried his best to understand, but the hangover he had wasn't helping at all. He looked a little confused by it all but said: '' I know nothing about the railings, especially not their taste. '' He then turned around, picking a class of water and drinking it. '' So... what's the task then? ''

Alexander simply stated, “There is a group of Abyssal cultists in Talonia that need to die. The job requests that you kill all the worshippers and the abyssal monster that they are showering their admiration. I need you to kill everyone and raze that cult to the ground. You are the most experienced with Abyssal magic, so Ill make this your exam. Happy hunting.” Alexander then handed Indar the details of the mission and walked away. He was confident that nothing bad would happen.

OOC: You will infiltrate and kill a group of 10 cultists with extreme impute. They are all D-rank mages so employ stealth and cunning (not that much though)  or you will be overwhelmed. However you will eventually find the source of the worship… an Abyssal cat. A C-rank monster, you will fight this thing but your curse will flare up ¾ of way and turn you into a cat. You must finish the boss off as a cat, making this fight much tougher than it actually is.

Minimum 2,500 words

Good luck!

Indar revived another blurry of words from Alexander or should he say guild master, no that didn't feel right. He did respect the guy, a lot at that, but it felt weird calling a friend, who he had known for so long, a guild master out of the blue. It was strange to say the least. Indar then turned his attention to the job request, closing his house’s door behind him. It was incredibly interesting, an abyssal cult, this was new, really new. When he was using abyssal magic still, no one worshiped him. He felt cheated now, it had become personal, maybe even a little too much. A sigh escaped his mouth, without Indar even noticing, he had already packed his bag and adjusted his clothes. His head was pounding though, it would really make today a bad experience for him, maybe even not tolerable. It may get really ridiculous.

Indar made his way towards the front door, pushing it open with a weak nudge. Right before exiting, he grabbed his scythe off it’s hook from the wall next to the door. Strapping it onto his back, Indar stepped outside of his house. It was a bright day, filled with sunlight, there were no clouds in the sky, but the ship was in motion. Well it was mostly small turbulence, so nothing really bad, but still annoying. The motion sickness really didn't mix with his hangover, he felt like puking, but tried his best to hold it back. He was really considering going back to sleep, but at the same time, these abyssal worshipers intrigued him, they would be fun enemies to fight. Right now, Indar was making his way to one of the people, who knew where the ship was. He didn't bother to ask the young man, instead he just took his notepad, shuffled in it for some time and then found it. They were fairly close to Talonia, which meant Indar could just jump off the ship and not care where he lands. With a deep breath, he walked closer to the edge, looking down.  He sighed, his fear of heights was kicking in badly now. Indar took a quick step back from the edge, he wasn't ready yet. He needed a little bit to get ready for the fall. He shook his entire body, until turning around and rushing off the ship. Now that he was falling, the fear of heights didn’t matter anymore, it was just a free fall for a minute.

During the fall, Indar let his mind go blank. Memories of a certain person flooded into his head. He loved this person, but really hadn't seen her for a while. It was quite odd actually, especially considering what had happened during the night in Crocus and outside of Crocus. That night had been pure magic for Indar, a time he would never forget, memories so good, they made him forget about everything else. The fall was coming to an end soon and Indar prepared for it. He turned himself from landing onto his side, to a position where he would fall onto his feet. Hopefully his metallic skeleton was strong enough to take it all.

Indar landed with a loud thud, a dust could raised over his head, making him cough. It didn't go as awesome as he planned, though a random kid was looking at him, with eyes full of awe. His hands shook as he looked at Indar. The boy seemed to know him, well he was probably from Talonia, a city where Indar was known somewhat or at least he thought so. Indar just smiled at the young boy and started to walk towards Talonia. The walk wasn't going to bee that long, just annoying as all hell. There wasn't a real road, just small hills, rocks and trees. Not that fun, when you have a hangover. It just couldn't be worse, well it could and it was going to be even worse.

Talonia came into view in a few minutes of walking. It was a weird city to say the least, not normal for sure. It didn't have much to it, but was still a heaven to those less fortunate in life. And well guildless people loved the place and Indar wasn’t one to judge them, as just a month ago or even less, he was sitting in a bar, in this very down, getting wasted. It had been a weird time here, though he had earned some fame in the city, so when he entered it, a person came up to him. It was a man, in his thirty's, if his looks weren't deceiving. He seemed to know Indar, though Indar himself didn't seem familiar with the guy. He was just too odd looking to forget, a big nose, small build, long arms. Well in fact, the guy looked like a monkey or gorilla, which was just weird. This day had been filled with strange things though. So it wasn't that bad.

The man got close to Indar and handed him a small piece of paper. It looked blank at first glance, but after a deeper inspection, it looked like there was something written on the upper left corner of the paper. It was a number, number eighteen to be exact. Now it was clear, this number was a warning, the abyss had entered the city already, this was bad. Even though Indar couldn't care less for the people of the city, this damned abyss cult had to be stopped once and for all. They shouldn't be allowed to call in a creature like that. It will harm them as well, wouldn't they know that. Indar let out a loud sigh, he didn’t want to deal with this, but as it was his B-rank exam, he had to or well he could just slack off and not rank up. It was an idea, a tempting one at that, but really, he wasn’t going to do it. That would just be bad and really unrespectful towards the man he had respect for. The man he could call guild master now, the man named Alexander Zenneth. Well anyways, enough of that bastard.

Indar walked through the streets of Talonia, not having the smallest of clue where the abyssal cult was located at. He did have a strange feeling, like something was very off in the city. Something evil did reside nearby, evil that could destroy Fiore, if it was summoned properly that is. It was likely it was summoned right, though you never know. If it wasn't, the creature could have taken any form possible to imagine, from a pot to a dragon or even turn himself into a clone of someone Indar knew. Indar’s imagination went crazy now, he started to imagine himself fighting a giant pot that breathed fire and had big ears like an elephant. He then realized what he was thinking and placed his hand into his face. That was too weird, even for him. That was just, ugh, too much. Well at least, during those weird thoughts, Indar had managed to pick up a faint feeling of abyssal powers. They were becoming more and more powerful the closer he got to a certain building. It was like a small mansion from the outside, but the power wasn't coming from there, but it seemed to be coming from underneath the house, like from a basement of some sorts. It was odd, they had a huge, nice looking building and the cultists did their summoning from a crummy basement. This was just like some cultists, he had already, a very long time ago, met some cultists. They had been very strange people, too strange even for Indar. He let out another sigh, as he started to look around for the entrance to the basement.

The entrance seemed to be nonexistent. It was nowhere to be found, like it was hidden to some extent. Quite odd that, it usually wan’t a thing people did, hiding their basements. Weird. Too weird. But then, Indar realized something, the basement door could easily be inside the damn building and not outside. He just felt incredibly stupid now. Indar almost felt like banging his head against the wall was a viable option right now or well it seemed like that to him. Though, he skipped on that and just busted open the front door. Nothing was there. The whole front hall was as empty as Indar’s head right now. It was odd, the house looked inhabited, but maybe it was just a cover house, bought to hide what the cult was doing in this building. Well, this didn't matter, Indar had to find the abyssal creature in this building or thing. It wouldn't hopefully be a long search and he hopefully could get back home in an hour, as he either wanted to see Viola again or just go to sleep. This exam slash job was kinda annoying, but had to be done.

Indar had walked around the boring building for over an hour now and he had seen, absolutely nothing. There was jack all here, no people, no things and especially no abyssal cult or monster. Was all of this just a cruel joke by his guild master, if that was the case, Indar didn't know what he would do. He hated wild goose chases, those were the worst things ever. Though, something did happen now, a door blew open, but not just any door. It didn't have any resemblance to a door and was just like the wall. No idea then Indar couldn't find it. It also seemed to be sealed with magic, not letting anything pass through it. Two cultists had walked out, seemingly going for a cigarette or something, who knew. It didn't matter though, as Indar now had a way into the basement or the place where the cult resided. It was a success overall, which was nice. He opened the weird door thingy quietly, not to alert the two, who had just exited this door thingy. As it silently opened, Indar stared into it, a long staircase led down into the depths under the building. It was a way he didn't expect to take or well not so down below. It was quite odd, what were they summoning down here, a titan maybe. It may fit down here, maybe not actually. Indar sighed as he crept down the stairs, not really knowing where he was going to end up. He soon got his answer, as he managed to trip on the stairs and start rolling down the stairs uncontrollably. He didn't understand what was going on or where he was and by the time he landed on a dusty floor, he was being stared at by four cultists. Indar now had to fight, there really wasn't another chance. Well he could say he wanted to join them, then go on a magical adventure with the cultists, finally help them summon the creature, but then betray them and slay the thing. Overall it would lead to him making new friends and later on, maybe getting them to join Nox Anima. But he was too lazy to go through with it, so Indar just decided to beat the cultists up.

He jumped up, patted the dust off and looked at the four men, who seemed baffled to see him. Guess they didn’t expect their little secret fort to get discovered. Indar hadn't got a plan to stare at these people, he just wanted this job done and to have the ability to return home. This hangover he had was really halving his power to do anything.  It was horrid to say the least, though he could still fight easily, so... he did. As one of the men in front of him, charged Indar with a knife, Indar caught his hand. ’’ Metallic God’s Sword. ’’ Indar’s right hand switched into a five foot long sword, covered in weird writing of sorts. The man in his grasp yelled at the other to come and help him, though to no avail. The cultists understood what they were dealing with, a god slayer. It wasn't an easy task to kill one of them. Indar then decided why not, and skewered his sword through the man’s head. He was unpure and unworthy. Not someone who was allowed to live in this world.  Indar didn't say a word though, he was feeling like he was going to throw up and talking wouldn't make it any better.

Suddenly Indar got hit with a ball of fire,  scorching his clothes. This was truly unacceptable, to the point of it being punishable by death in Indar’s book, well everything was punishable by death in Indar’s book, even sleeping. Indar sighed loudly, as he walked towards the cultist, who had thrown the fireball. Indar’s eyes glistened in pure excitement. He was going to get another kill today, maybe even a third, as he smelled another person somewhere, well actually two. The man, who had thrown the fire ball at Indar, was quivering in fear in a corner, making Indar feel a little bad about him, though he was still going to end his life, like it was nothing at all. But in his eyes, it really wasn't anything, just another lost soul, waiting to be purged. Indar silently placed his hand onto the man’s mouth, slowly moving the sword through the man’s chest, effectively killing him. It was a gruesome act and it made the sword bloody. ’’ Filthy. ’’ The only real thing Indar had said for a few hours, was an insult to the man he just killed.

Indar could now hear some sort of sniffling coming from another room. Like two grown men, scared of a god. This was going to be fun, Indar hated crybaby's, they were the worst and the world really didn't need them. He pushed open the small door and entered the room, where those two were hiding. With only a maniacal smile, Indar walked over to them and killed them, quickly, by slitting their throats. He was quite disappointed, nothing fought back here, everyone was a useless coward, nothing else. He sighed in disappointment.

Indar walked out of the room, only to be then standing in front of a tiny kitty. It was quite the adorable little guy, but something was off about him, really off. The abyss leaked out from the kitty, like a curse. Indar picked it up, actually feeling sad for it. This wasn't a way for a cat to live, it had to be put down. Indar placed it onto the ground, forcing his sword to turn back into his hand, only to have his other hand turn into a pillar. He just thought about squishing it, though right before he was going to land a hit, the damn thing jumped onto his face and started to claw him. It hurt, badly at that, but soon Indar had grasped onto the back of the cat and thrown in into a wall, also he had followed up, by smashing it deeper into the wall, with the help of his pillar hand. The cat still seemed to be living and it’s eyes started to glow. It had found out about Indar’s cat talisman. This was bad, very bad. He was being turned into a cat, he had to fight a cat, as a cat. This was just weird. Well, whatever. Indar charged at the abyss cat, as a cat, tackling it to the ground and started to hammer it with paw attacks. The other cat didn't seem to fight back really, only bit a couple of times.

Indar jumped off the abyss cat after a few minutes of continuous pounding with claws and paws. It was a blood bath here and Indar, now in cat form, was covered in it. He decided that the best course of action was to bail, so he ran, ran as fast as the wind. It all went so fast now, he exited the mansion and Talonia in record speeds. Somehow managed to get back onto the ship, though it is a secret how he does it, without any teleport or flying ability. As he walked on board the ship, he felt weird, like a small new power had awakened inside of him and it had. ’’ I wish i wasn't in cat for right now. ’’ He suddenly said, making him turn into his human form. The abyss cat had done something, given Indar control over the talisman. This was awesome, though he still had to talk to Alex.

In a few minutes, Indar rushed into Alexander’s office, slammed the job request onto his desk, yelled random words in god’s tongue at him and walked off, but before he exited the room, he turned around and said: ’’ I hope i’m a B-rank now. ’’ With that Indar left his guild master sitting there and went home, to sleep.