As I take my sweet ass time bringing you Book III RIOT GANG, I've decided to throw a section together called SIDE QUESTS following the world of BLVCK WOLVES. These are sort of an anthology if you will, so there are some stories that will be purposely incomplete that will bleed off into either RIOT GANG or later books.
Please enjoy this section. It was a lot of fun to put together.
SIDE QUESTS - 1: Three Black Wolves & a Yellow Jacket
**Days after Greed and the others' departure**
**Forest jurisdiction**
The crunch of a boot echoed as a mage knight made her way through a rummaged village; the soft breeze a contrast to the devastation that happened in this place.
A wind chime sang as she passed by an abandoned abode. She was silent, but not trying to hide.
Her hair was the colors brunette and darker brown with blonde highlights streaked throughout. Her bangs separated down the middle and were the lightest part of it.
She wore a skintight yellow tracksuit, and her jacket was oversized, black, and had the numbers '0' on the right of her sleeve and '1' on the other. She wore the jacket like a cape over her shoulders with only a subtle golden chain keeping it together in the front.
And in the back…
She heard the rustling of leaves in the distance somewhere to her right, and she whipped her head toward it. A bush had started moving by another abandoned house as she kept her dark red eyes locked on it.
Positioning herself, she shifted her foot as if to leap away if needed, while she kept a hand to the side as if to draw a weapon…
She squinted her eyes as the bush continued to rustle endlessly. And before she knew it…
The house behind her exploded.
Her eyes widened as she slowly turned her head around and the shadow of something big had shrouded her entirely.
From the blasted house, a monster had appeared the size of an oak. It had a serpents head and a bird's body. Its wings were feathered and spread with claws at the ends of them. A tail like a dragon whipped the debris, causing a harsh gust that blew onto her.
Its large yellow eyes whirred as it found her, head tilted with one side facing only.
She finally flipped her body around with a hand sign already in place, but before she could cast anything, a shadow—too quick to see—passed by her from the bush she was observing earlier.
Her eyes darted to it, but didn't catch it. Only the sound of a slam filled her ears, followed by the sharp piercings of spikes that protruded all over the monster's body.
When she finally laid eyes on the figure that appeared, she was in the air, having dealt a direct blow to its head—her arm like a spiked club as the contact from it had caused a chain reaction of bone spikes.
"How utterly boring." She heard the girl say.
Sprays of blood surged out from the beast as it slowly flopped onto the ground, beginning to fade into the ethers. Only its spiked carcass remained for a short while before that eventually faded, too, like silent burning.
When the girl landed, she was faced away. The light from the pockets of trees that crowded this place shone on her like a spotlight. Her pink hair gleamed along with the contrast dark gray horns that rested like a crown on her head.
She wore her black jacket off her shoulders, and it had a black fur hood along with a sleeveless tube crop top, blue jean short shorts, ruffled socks and black and white sneakers.
By the time the mage knight saw the crumpled logo on her jacket, the girl turned around with a finger pointed at her.
"You!"
The mage knight retracted just a bit.
"Are you the one who summoned me to be your master?"
"Huh?" the mage knight spoke incredulously.
Suddenly from behind her, another girl's whisper tickled her ear, "Sorry… don't mind her. She can be a bit eccentric."
The mage knight darted her eyes to the voice and drew her weapon. It was a long iron staff that looked finely crafted with red and gold accents. She twirled it until it rested behind her.
The girl she attempted to strike sustained no damage. It was as if she was wind itself… or perhaps a 'ghost'.
"Was it something I said?" she asked obliviously as the dense trees behind her sliced into a thousand pieces.
She glanced back to witness it and marveled. "Oooo! That was a cool attack!"
She had black hair with a longer blonde streak to her side, wearing almost the same outfit as this other girl with the pink hair and horns, but her outfit was slightly different: cropped corset, pixie skirt, chains, a single stocking on one leg, black combat boots, and that eyepatch on her right eye… these two were—
Ophelia… A voice echoed in her head.
She shifted her attention to it immediately.
"Right… sorry," she looked over to the other girl. "And Star… the line is 'Are you the one who summoned me to be your servant?'"
Star fumed, "I am no one's servant! That line is flawed! All should bow to me—"
Before she finished her sentence, she sensed a more authoritative presence. From where the other girl—Ophelia—had stood, now was a girl that looked just like her with silver hair and purple down that same length where her blonde used to be, almost like an ombre.
She merely glanced at Star and she behaved instantly.
"I'm assuming, you're on this joint mission as well?" the girl spoke. Her vibe was completely different than the other two just now. Though her voice was soft and dainty, it carried almost little to no emotion in it whatsoever.
"Aye." Was all the mage knight said before withdrawing her staff to somewhere unseen.
"You're from that new Guild, yes?"—she observed her outfit—"Please turn around so we can confirm."
The mage knight took her time to respond before saying, "That's something an enemy would say… It's not ideal to turn your back to someone you don't know."
Sissy… people don't know you, remember? They see me as the 2nd Exec… Ophelia said in her head.
She closed her bright yellow eye and sighed deeply. "Where are my manners?" she said as she turned around.
When the mage knight saw the logo on the back, she finally understood.
"Ah…" she said with a bit of relief. "I apologize for my distrust earlier, Black Wolves."
"You better! How dare you launch an attack on an ally!? Did you not see the logo on my back after extinguishing that Basilisk?" Star shouted.
"Star… your jacket is hanging off your shoulders… the logo is not as easily seen when you wear it like that." The silver and purple haired girl said. She turned back around and introduced herself, "I am Raeyn, true 2nd Executive of the Black Wolves. Apology accepted."
Raeyn… that wasn't the type of apology you take… it was a formality. Keeper…
Raeyn gasped faintly and stood there like a statue.
The mage knight glared at her and introduced herself next, "I'm Lana, Vice Captain of the Yellow Jacket Knights. It's a pleasure."
Star burst in laughter. "There is nothing 'yellow' about your jacket, mongrel."
Star! Ophelia said in Raeyn's head, but it was futile. She didn't hear her.
Lana looked over to her with that same glare and studied her for a bit. She then began walking over slowly.
Before Star knew it, Lana was in front of her, noticeably taller at five-foot-nine. She retracted when she saw her there with an odd kind of presence.
"Whoa! Too close, servant! I-I am your master remember!?"
Lana's stare was unwavering.
Her dark red eyes seemed to gleam at the sight of her—watching Star nervously pull back.
"My…" Lana said so tranquilly as the next words that came out of her mouth startled Star more than her lording. "You are just so adorable! May I pat your head?"
"Heh?"
"Sorry," she bowed. "May I please pat your head?"
"Mongrel… why do you treat me like some child?"
"Because you are just too cute! I just have to, please! If it is payment you require, I can do just that!"
Raeyn watched with bland eyes, and so did Ophelia from within her all the while.
Star laughed maniacally. "I shouldn't have been surprised! That is the natural reaction when one beholds me! I shall allow it…"
Lana peeped.
"On one condition," Star went on. "I require payment in the form of Choco Bars. If you have my prize, only then can you—"
Without question or hesitation, Lana held out the prized snack in her palms. It was undeniably…
"A Choco Bar!"
Raeyn rolled her eyes.
As Star snatched it, Lana immediately pulled her in and began coddling her. "Such an adorable master you are…"
"Aye… I'm… glad you… understand… mmm!" Star said with her mouth full.
"To any case," Raeyn shifted their attention back to the matter at hand. "Looks like this is a mission to clear the Basilisks in the area. That one Star just killed was our fifth one… This place seems to be oddly infested with them."
"Aye," Lana replied, temporarily halting her head pats. "Unlike you two, I've only extinguished three so far. Normally Basilisks don't travel in hordes. If they did, they'd be considered Grade 1 or even Grade 0 tier just due to a single one's size… this amount is unnatural."
"From my knowledge. The Forest jurisdiction is the natural habitat for Basilisks. They are naturally competitive creatures. Only one or two of them travel together at most—usually a male and female for mating purposes, and other than that they typically avoid each other if they can. If they do run into each other… they fight to the death."
Raeyn faced away from the two and studied the grassy area before her. There were hundreds of Basilisk footprints here. Meaning this had to be a hub of some kind. But why? And what was the cause?
"These tracks are not random. Something… or someone is calling them all here. We must find the source before more gather, and it becomes a Kingdom-wide problem."
"Aye, but where should we start? This area is the most dense, but I've found no clues as of yet." Lana said, patting Star's head profusely once again.
"You're a Yellow Jacket, right?" Raeyn inferred. "Meaning your captain is Rex, former Vice Captain of the Green Owls. That Guild specializes in reconnaissance. How have you found nothing since we arrived?"
Lana sighed and stopped patting again to think. Star looked at her and pouted, to which Lana gave her a serene smile and pulled out another Choco Bar from her seemingly endless pocket. Star's eyes truly became stars then as she reached for it, but Lana pulled it away slightly. "Before joining the Yellow Jackets, I wasn't previously from the Green Owls."
Raeyn raised a brow.
"That's what normally happens when a new Guild is formed from within. Whoever was promoted to be a captain of their own Guild usually recruits from their previous one to fill ranks. It ensures mutual cordiality between Guilds. The Blue Phoenixes were a different case as the Valley wanted to prove they can conjure new relationships, but that didn't end well. So what they did now was not only promote from within, they opened the recruiting to all Guilds to join. I was previously an Ace from the Snow Lilies. So, no… reconnaissance is not a specialty of mine… however, removing dangerous threats is." She finally let Star take the Choco Bar.
Raeyn silently concluded the thought. She, Ophelia, and Star only took on this mission because she thought there would be a stealth-type mage among them—leaving her and Star as the heavy hitters. And with the high pay reward this mission gave, it would have been easy eterna.
And though Ophelia has a stealth-type ability, that wasn't how she was trained to use it. She was more of a flanking-type mage, meant for sneak attacks, and the designated inventory holder—which was where she kept her scythe…
When they were in the Void with Love and Viper, she didn't even know where to go.
This was going to be more tedious than they had hoped. And if this ended up being a mission of attrition, then there was a possibility of this lasting for a few days until completion.
She remembered the meeting Code held. They were only to take on missions that wouldn't last longer than a day—max…
Raeyn closed her eyes and sighed. "1800." Was all she said and Lana reacted just as swiftly.
When she turned around, there was a Basilisk surging toward her.
She took out her staff once again and shifted Star behind her, who was ironically not paying attention as she continued to gobble her Choco Bar.
When the beast arrived, she twirled her staff and swiped it to her side, blowing a gust of wind toward the monster.
It kept running like nothing happened, and then… before it could take another step, the beast was slashed in multiple places. But it was still alive…
Lana then pointed her staff toward it and thrusted, pushing it toward the beast's head down the center of its eyes and chanted,
"Weight Manipulation Magic: Giant's Push!"
Then, like a pulse had sounded, the beast was blown back toward whence it came, crashing onto an abandoned house yards away.
From behind Raeyn, three Basilisks appeared.
"Ophelia." She said.
I gotchu!
Appearing before her now, from her shadow, a large scythe protruded out. Once the snath shot out at eye level, she grabbed it and swung it around once, slashing the three Basilisks in consecutive motion then twirled it to her side as they delayed midair.
At the same time, Star had begun to dash forward, running her hands on the ground all the while. As she arrived in front of Raeyn, she swiped them forward and a wave of bone spikes shot out from the ground and stabbed all three Basilisks. They suspended for a short second before they all began spraying blood and eventually faded.
Incredible… Lana watched. They defeated three Basilisks in two moves… the cute one is especially strong —she looked at Star— she's probably awakened. The fact that she can turn anything she touches into bone is proof of that. That also looked like an above average spell… she's probably a nameless spellcaster too… —Lana was fawning now— so cute! … and her…
Raeyn had begun walking off once the three Basilisks had, at last, faded away.
"Might I ask…" Lana spoke, "I may be a new Vice Captain, but I've been an Ace for the Snow Lilies for a while. Not once have I ever seen you before… I had always thought it was Ophelia who was the 2nd Executive—though I've never seen her in person, just descriptions…"
"So, what is your question?" Raeyn implied coldly.
"Are you really?"—her eyes darted to her then Star, who had a wicked smile on her face after her last blow—"Are you two truly with the Black Wolves?"
Raeyn was silent as she listened to Ophelia's internal laughs that no one else could hear. And when she turned around, she caught Lana's eyes. Her only revealed golden yellow one piercing into her dark reds. Lana shuddered slightly, then gripped her staff as if sensing hostility.
But before she could react in time, Raeyn was already in front of her with an ominous presence…
Her dark reds trembled now…
Raeyn swung, and it was too fast to block. She watched as that haunting scythe she wielded like a feather dropped down onto her.
And missed her entirely.
The sound of a slash echoed in her right ear as she turned her head, witnessing the Basilisk she had failed to extinguish get slaughtered just feet away from her now.
Raeyn held no emotion the entire time; the beast's blood spraying them both, drenching them in a purplish-red from head to toe.
It sprayed for what seemed like eternity before it began to fade, freeing them both from its schmaltz as if it never happened.
"If you're asking if we are on your side," Raeyn spoke as she retracted herself and whipped her scythe to the side, sending the beasts blood to splash and stain the ground for barely a second before fading.
"What do you think?"