Remus Part 1-2

A single spark, a single step, a single choice, or even a single person, can make all the difference in the world. A single spark can ignite the raging fire that warms a person, or the swirling inferno that burns one’s home to the ground. A single step can be the matter of life or death. A single choice that one makes could change everything about their future. And a single person, well a single person can change the fate of their race, or even that of the entire world.
In the world of Ridura, many such sparks, steps, choices and people exist. Since the world began, many fires have raged, many steps have been taken, many choices made and many people have changed the course of the events of the world. And it stands to reason that there are even more to come.


The sun begins to set on Croyden City, signaling the end of another day. The dusk light casts long shadows in the tight city streets as the city shifts from the bustle of the day to the calm of night. Soon the lamplighters make their way around the city lighting the numerous street lamps scattered on the main roads. Under one such lamp, a lone young man sits covered in his blanket warding off the slight chilling breeze of the autumn air.
Remus, the young man, looks up at the lamplighter as the street lamp comes to life, driving away the shadows of the sun and creating its own. The lamplighter barely gave Remus a glance as he carried out his duty, passing on to the next lamp in a matter of seconds. None of the passer-bys would seem to notice him either, it was like he was just a speck of cloth sitting on the side of the road.
The young man silently sulked about being ignored for a moment before standing up and gathering his makeshift cloak around himself. The lamplighter didn’t care who slept at the foot of a lamppost, but the night guardsman would. He knew he needed to move to a different spot if he didn’t want to get into trouble again so he set out toward the Northern Low Town (Otherwise known as the Nolt District). So he slung his pack and started to make his way through the city as the moons and stars began to shine down on the land of Ridura.
Remus quietly passed out of the inner city through the northernmost gate. The guardsmen were talking amongst themselves, their spears leaning against the wall out of reach. He had a fleeting thought of grabbing one of the spears and trying to make a run for it, but he also knew that as great it would be to get a military grade weapon there was little hope for him getting away with it. Stealing a longing glance was all he could do as he passed by.
The darkness of the Nolt District greeted him as he passed out of the inner city. The lamplighters didn’t come out this far, the only lights here came from the guardsmen on the main road and those put out by the locals. Tonight Remus only saw a couple pairs of guardsmen lanterns and a few flickering lights from fireplaces. Going from his memory he quickly slipped through a side alley until his fingers found the rotting crate he had propped up to hide the hole he had found under a house.
Remus slipped his pack off and slid it into the hole first before slipping into the hole himself. He wiggled around to get the pack behind his head and then laid still. No animals seemed to have claimed the hole for their own, so he hoped he could get a decent night's sleep.
The light of the new sun peeked through the old crate into the hole as the new day began. Remus lay there for several minutes before the growl of his stomach forced him to move. After he slid back out of the hole he carefully covered it back up with the crate before quickly making his way back to the main road. The early morning found the Low Towns of Croyden packed with people moving out to the fields for the final days of harvest.
Remus had to carefully pick his way through the crowds dodging both man and beast as he headed for the nearest tavern. Due to the harvest time the taverns in the Low Towns often set out a pot of stew in the morning for the field workers to eat out on their way to the fields. Remus dug his bowl out his pack and dipped himself a meal before slipping off to the side to eat it. The bowl was quickly emptied and he stared at it for a long moment. He hadn’t eaten since this time the day before. He was still hungry but the chances of him getting a second bowl were slim at best.
Remus put his bowl back into his pack and headed back toward the city gates, again passing through mostly unnoticed. His feet carried him back up the streets until he stood at the familiar building in the upper city. The tall old building looms over him, the once magnificent structure now covered in bird stains and dirt. He can barely make out the symbol for the guilds on the sign hanging over the entrance by one last bolt.
Remus growled as he opened the door and walked in. The inside was not much better than the exterior, old dust and cobwebs claimed all areas of the building. The main hall was ringed with balconies that went up to the fourth floor, with the center being open all the way to the ground floor. The large chandelier that hung in the center lay dormant, now home to more spiders than candles. He walked through the main hall past the piled tables and chairs toward the main desk. Only one table was in use, it was occupied by a group of four. The group noticed Remus enter and one of them stood up with a smile on his face.
“Hello there young Remus!” The voice belonged to Orion, the leader of the adventurer team Wind Striders. They are one of the two known adventurer parties in the kingdom of Choris. Orion is a well built man in his thirties, his dark hair almost covers a long scar on his forehead.
Remus pointedly looked the other way and walked over to the main desk and looked past it, but the clerk was no were to be seen. An awkward silence hung in the air before a chair could be heard being pushed back.
“I don’t mean anything bad kid, just trying to say good morning” Orion said as he walked toward the main desk as well. “It's good to see you again. How did the job in Trutin go?”
Remus rolled his eyes and looked at Orion. “It was boring, I was just searching for a regular wolf. The guardsman had already beaten back the pack so there was just one wounded wolf left.”
Orion looked him up and down before reaching out a hand and pulling up Remus’s makeshift cloak, revealing his shredded clothes and bloodstains.
Remus angrily ripped his cloak free and covered himself again. “I’m fine” he grouched.
“Kid, listen. Will you please join us for a while. Just long enough for me to show you the ropes. Let us help you get started.” Orion started to plead with Remus.
“I don’t need your help.” Remus said shortly. “Where is that old man?”
“Bertrand is in the back right now.” Orion said. “But listen you can’t just shrug off this kind of stuff. This will be the death of you if you aren’t careful”
“I don’t need your help.” Remus stubbornly repeated. “It was the guards fault they spooked it.”
“If they hadn’t broken the pack you would have had to deal with a much bigger threat.”
“Pfft, whatever. They just got in my way.”
Orion sighed and turned back to the table with his party members before stopping as an old man shakenly walked through the door on the other side of the desk.
“Old man, do you have any work for me?” Remus shortly asked the old man as he slowly approached the desk.
“Ww-ww-what did you say?” the old man said.
“Yo Bertrand, the kid is looking for something simple to work on, anything come in?” Orion interjected before Remus could repeat himself.
“Oh?” Bertrand stuttered and began to slowly shuffle through the parchments on his desk. “There was one that came by, let me just remember where I set it down.”
Orion leaned over the desk and plucked a piece of paper. “Is this it? Yurn Rats in a small village outside of the city?”
Bertrand looked at the paper, “Yes I do believe that is it. A nest of the blighters has set up in a shed if memory serves me correctly.”
Remus snatched the paper from Orion's grasp. “Is this it?”
Orion sighed again. “Where do you think you are, you should be happy there is a job at all. Listen, Yurn rats don’t seem to be that dangerous if you take their size, but sometimes they can have slightly poisonous claws. Why don’t we come with you and work together…”
“No!” Remus cut him off and was already walking toward the door. “I don’t need help with Rats.”
“Remus” Orion started to follow him.
“Give it up Orion.” One of his party members piped up. “I get it man, but sometimes they are just a lost cause.”
A rejected Orion sat back down with his friends. “The kid’s just heard too many stories. He has grand illusions of being a Hero. Frankly I think the Guilds should permanently dissolve the rank of Hero, it only acts to give the new kids the false hope that they will ever be able to reach that high.” Orion looks around himself and the old Adventurer Guild Hall that they currently sat in. “Maybe we will get lucky and he will go back home and get a normal life”


Part 2


Remus storms out of the hall and into the busy street once again. Covering himself with his cloak once again to turn away the brisk morning breeze Remus put a hand to his injured chest. The claw and bite marks that Orion had pointed out were sore and bloody. One of the scabs had broken loose while he slept and the freshly dried blood now stuck his shirt to his chest.
Off to the side of the road Remus got slightly angry with himself because he had left the Hall without fully understanding the quest. “Excuse me, Guardsman, can you tell me the quickest way to get to this town?” Remus carefully folded the parchment to hide the guild symbol and request before showing a passing royal patrol. “Ah, so you are going to want to head to the Southern gate and take the Torb road out of the city. Quickest way to Vront is to head East when you get to Bendel.” Remus quickly nods his head and ducks back into the crowd before the guard could ask any questions.
“Vront, I haven’t been to that one before” Remus muttered to himself as he headed through the city to the southern gate. However the crowded street became impassable as he neared the gate and before he knew it he was stuck in the middle of the standing crowd. Over the murmur of the excited people he could hear the cries of royal guardsmen.
“Make way!” they called. “Make way for the royal family of Choris!” and the cries were repeated up and down the escorting soldiers. Remus could barely see the tops of carriages as they passed into the heart of the city. He impatiently stood and waited for the crowd to disperse, knowing full well that this gathering would take nearly an hour to return to normal after the passing of the royal family and their entourage.
Why does everyone make such a fuss anyway? Remus wondered to himself. The Watersong family had lived in Croyden for generations and maintained a heavy presence in the city. Even after the capital of Choris was officially moved to Silva from Croyden the royal family did not abandon its estates and seemed to live in both Croyden and Silva simultaneously.
Slowly the crowd dispersed and Remus was able to make his way through the gate and onto the road to Bendel, the first town southwest from Croyden.
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After arriving in what he assumed to be Vront Remus asked around about the Yurn Rats.
“Miss Risho?” Remus knocked on the door to the house he had been directed to. After several long minutes the door opened revealing the middle aged woman. “Yes, What do you want?”
“Miss Risho, my name is Remus, I am here from the Adventure Guild in Croyden, I was told you had a Yurn rat problem?”
The woman looked Remus up and down. “Well I need to see your tag.” Remus held up his iron guild tag that dangled around his neck. “I paid for a professional, not some kid. '' She complained as she stepped outside. Remus bit his tongue before replying.
“I’m sorry ma’am but all the higher ranked members have been busy on other jobs and unable to get to you, but not to worry i have been trained and can handle this with no issue”
“You better” Risho pointed to a nearby shed with a chair stood against its handle. “I trapped several of them in that shed last week. I’m sure they have torn all my fabrics to shreds by now. Do you have any idea how much that is going to cost to replace young man?”
“Ma’am I’m just here to get rid of the rats.” Remus said as Risho turned around and went back into the house. “ Remus sighed and looked up at the sky. The sun was close to setting, getting lost on his way had surely taken a good portion of his daylight away.
Remus headed over to the door of the shed, slowly taking the chair off the door and opening it a crack, his club in his hand. He hadn't been telling the whole truth before. His training hadn’t entailed how to exterminate a rat infestation. After enlisting as a guild member he was given a short lesson on the logistics of completing a job for the guild and then shown to the job board. The wolf was a tough fight right? If I could handle that then the rats should pose no danger to me, Orion was after the quest for himself.
Hearing a soft pattering sound coming from just inside the door Remus quickly cast the door open and swung his club at the floor. The crack and vibration Remus was expecting from the club hitting the floor never came as it instead impacted into a bundle of cloth laying on the floor. As the dust settled and his eyes adjusted to the dim light inside the windowless shed Remus came to understand something.
First was that this storage shed had once upon a time been stacked to the roof with all manners of cloth and fabric. The shelves and fabric were now strewn all across the floor in various stages of being shredded by the rats.
The second thing Remus understood was Yurn rats were not the normal size of the rats he had seen before. These creatures were between two and three feet and their dark black fur was accented by the dull yellow stripe that went down the center of their back. Their sharp claws and teeth were already on full display with the marks made around the room. A yellow gleam came from their eyes as the light glinted from the door.
Remus could make out six pairs of the eyes at first glance. For that brief moment neither man nor rat moved.