Order of the White Rose

"The Manager wants to see me?"

James Doe looked up from his meal, a raised eyebrow the only hint of his expression as he stared at one of the Seekers at the edge of the table. He seemed out of breath, and didn't say anything clearly enough for him to understand. This time though the Seeker nodded his head, which was a good enough answer for James. He brushed off his face and stood up, pulling on his coat.

Before leaving, James looked down at the blond-haired, blue-eyed girl that was still seated at the wooden table. His sister, Nicole, smiled up at him, showing all of her innocent spirit. "Good luck, brother," she said, her voice kind and gentle. There was not a soul in the Order that didn't love to hear her voice or to receive her smile, and James was no exception. He flattened his smooth, black hair back and nodded at his sister, confidence showing in his dark, brown eyes.

Finished with his goodbyes to his sister, James made his way out of the cafeteria with it's grey-speckled walls and high ceiling and aroma of good food. Into the dimly-lit hallways decorated with marble floors and stone archways, lamps containing a concealed fire leading the way. The Manager's office was located in the North Tower of the Order of the White Rose Headquarters, and when she wanted to see someone, the members of the Order were wise to respond.

Because of the magnificent size of HQ, it took a few minutes before James arrived in the Manager's office, longer still as he went to retrieve his blade, Nightbane. With Nightbane, James could do many things, both majestic and deadly. When he arrived in the office, he noticed that he was the last one to arrive. Two others got there before him and were taking up the only two available seats. That was fine, James didn't mind, but that was mostly because both of them were female.

One particular female sat on the other side of a large desk, stacked high with a mountain of papers. The surrounding walls were bookcases and cabinets filled with records of the Order's history and completed or failed missions. This storage was available to the Manager so that she could see exactly what the history of the Order was, so that if any case came up, she would know if it was a recurring one or not. By this time, the Manager knew every case by memory alone, and could recite the Order's long history verbatim.

That was Tokera Izia, one of the most talented and strongest Hunters in the Order. And beside her stood Allison Shaneski, the Assistant Manager, who had strong abilities as well. Their personalities were different, but they got along very well considering.

"Ah, you've finally arrived," the Manager, Tokera, said. "Since we're all here, I think a debriefing is in order. Ah, but of course you three all know each other, right? James, Asha, Lina?" Tokera looked at the three Hunters in order as she spoke their names. James gave a slight nod, he did know the other two, and worked with Asha once before. They would get along fine, or at least he hoped. It must be quite the important mission to send two Expert Hunters and one Proven Hunter.

"Good, I'm getting tired of waiting. Let's get this briefing done quick and let's go."

The female who had spoke up in such an impatient tone had been no other than Lina. There were few in the Order who were as curt and impatient as her, and even fewer that choose not to hold their tongue when speaking around the manager. She rose from her seat and turned to the male who had just entered; she had seen him around a few times before. However due to the difference in their rank Lina never worked on a mission with him. The same went for Asha, they were both higher ranking than her, Expert Hunters, while she was only a Proven Hunter.

A sheath was held by the left side of her hip and from it there was a hilt bearing an intricate design decorated with two pieces of perfectly cut garnet. It had a very high-class look to it and also had a name to match its regal appearance: Akahime, the Red Princess. The katana was Lina's weapon of choice, and she always kept it close.

"So now that we've established that we're acquainted with each other, can we move on?" Lina inquired, tapping her foot impatiently.

It had been quite a brisk morning, Asha observed, as she hobbled out of her hammock after the mellifluous chirp and chatter of the morning bluejays awoke her. Removing her leather-strewn and snowstained hood from the top of her skull, the young demon hunter exposed her healthy, fine and seemingly-golden lined, yet appropriately dirty and murk-covered hair to the violent rays of sunlight that shone down unto her body. It reflected beautifully, despite the grog and the demon blood that showered over it, though not as brilliantly as her black-as-onyx eyes, which mirrored the crystal pond Asha knelt down to investigate.

After dabbing her finger into the pond, she quickly passed the drenched appendage under her nose, a repulsed expression overcoming her once somber visage. The water had grown unusable, stained and dirtied by the vile bacteria that had cultivated within the garbage some human must've tossed into the pond the night before. Begrudgingly, yet wholefully accepting and accustomed to the situation before her, Asha packed her hammock in a tucked-away compartment of her cloak in a single swift motion. Before the sun had reached its highpoint, the young hunter had departed from the scene, in search for a new resting sport.

Nobody could truly understand the oddities behind Asha's sleeping habits, perhaps only Asha understood them, even, but nobody bothered questioning her. She hadn't broken any rules of the Order of the White Rose, and thus, there was no reason to question her. Simply, that was the logic our young huntress followed. As long as she hadn't done anything illegal, nobody held the right to question her and her actions. As soon as Asha had found a perfect, shade-drenched location for her hammock setup, a sudden realization came over her, and she darted away to the White Rose headquarters, directly to Tokera's office.

As Asha entered the doorway, her almost viking-like stature causing only a moderate inconvenience, she spotted that only thin air and a workdesk lay between herself and Tokera. "It's quite nice out there, Izia. Perhaps you should take a break and listen to the bluejays for once. They're playing their best song this morning." Asha greeted the young manager with a wave, taking the first and leftmost seat as she awaited the other two hunters.

"I wish I could, but I've got quite a bit on my hands." The manager spoke with a flourish in response to Asha's appearance, gifting her with a brief, yet meaningful and understanding smile that only the manager could give.

The rest of the wait had been moderately quiet, only accentuated by the noise of ten-thousand shuffling papers, gently whispering their way across Tokera's desk with a wisp of wind. A few paper-turns later, and the second huntress entered the room. She had a fiery, almost ferocious look about her, as Asha had observed with her blackest of gazes. Paying little attention to her, though by no means offering any instance of disrespect, Asha waited patiently as the third hunter finally made his appearance.

Tokera's voice echoed, and Asha nodded in response to her question. The young huntress had indeed worked with James before. He was quite passive toward her direct, almost cruel method of exorcism, which she admired. It had always pleased Asha to come across someone so accepting of the methods and styles of others.

"Miss Lina, please seat yourself," Allison spoke up, pushing a pair of glasses further up her nose. She kept her eyes on the firebrand, the other two Hunters were docile enough to not need to be watched constantly. Tokera instead smiled and waved her hand at Alli, dismissing her statement.

"It's fine, her attitude is refreshing for me," she said with a smile. James couldn't help but smile as well, he always found humans to be interesting people, especially with all their differences and similarities. He and Asha were alike in plenty of ways, but they were also rather different. He could work well with anyone because of his own flexible personality, but he worked the best with Asha more than any other. Maybe it was because she didn't have to fear him judging her style of fighting.

"Very well, madam," Allison said, nodding her head. She still didn't stop watching Lina with watchful eyes though.

Tokera itched the spot beneath her eyepatch, which was something she often did while thinking, and looked at each Hunter with a piercing, electric blue eye. "I'm sure you're all wondering why I called so many of you here. Normally I don't send three Hunters on one mission, especially when two of them are high ranking Hunters. I don't even like sending two Hunters." Tokera gestured to the massive pile of documents and papers on her desk. "I have too much to do, even with our Master present."

James nodded, that's what he thought. It was very unusual to send so many Hunters on one mission. "I chose you three because I think your styles of fighting will go well together." Tokera eyed James especially when she said this. He worked well with everyone. "If it wasn't for that, I'd have to send even more."

"What makes the mission so dangerous?" James asked, folding his arms across his chest.

"The quantity of spirits in our Realm is increasing. In the city of Asahin, several of our Seekers have gone missing. Two of them managed to file reports before disappearing, and they both said the same thing. 'Don't send any non-combatants, there are too many.'" Tokera closed her eye and sighed, frowning. "I wish I listened to the first report when it came, but I wasn't confident enough in that one report, I wanted more information. So I sent a Seeker with a Hunter, one with similar rank to you two, Asha, James. They reported the same message, and now we're here. I'm sending the two Hunters with the best defensive capabilities. Lina, you've proven yourself to be powerful in the dry season, and this is a place that has a very dry climate. You'll feel at home, I'm sure."

"We can't afford to lose any more Hunters," Tokera suddenly snapped, glaring at the three gathered. "If it ever becomes evident that you don't have a chance for survival, I give you full authorization to use any force necessary to get out of there alive. James, I'm counting on you for that. You're good at perceiving chances of victory."

Tokera leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, apparently finished. The rest of it was up to the three Hunters. There was no information available, except that the number of spirits is high enough to make many Seekers and a Hunter disappear. If James had to guess, they were probably still alive, though the Seekers would be drained of their powers by now.

Spirits and demons are attracted to Seers. Seers provide a source of food for the specters, as they feast on the magic held within Seers. Seekers had significantly less magic blood than the Hunters, and so were able to stay under the radar. Some Hunters were able to conceal their presence as well and become Infiltrators, which James was at one point before he became a Soldier.

"We promise to return," James said, bowing his head towards the Manager, which was the respectful thing to do after having been given a mission. Some people didn't like the custom, but James thought it was fun. He liked fun things. Asha was fun too.

"Good. Asha, you're the leader in this mission, but listen to James...oh, what am I saying? You two know what to do. And Lina?" Tokera paused for a moment to decide what to say to the girl. "Don't do anything stupid."

Lina would have responded to the Allison's request with a rather curt comment, however the manager spoke up before she could. It was a good thing considering what she was about to say just may piss off the She stayed standing through the entire mission briefing, tapping her foot impatiently as the manager explained the details of the mission. In all honestly Lina thought the briefing took too long to get through a very simple message. "Why couldn't you just have said 'There's been more spirit activity than usual so go investigate and come back alive' instead of wasting your breath going off on a tangent?" Lina asked, "I mean for the most part we all know what to do in these kinds of missions, snoop around, kill some stuff, and get back without losing our lives. It's not like this one will be all that different."

Asha stood, her horrifyingly icy-cold eyes glaring downward at the least experienced hunter in the room, Lina. She took one step toward the woman, before meeting eye to eye with her, "If our Seekers are disappearing, then evidently it must be pretty different." Asha had a knack for commanding her point with only a single sentence or two, probably because of how close she got to people whenever she spoke to them. Lina could probably see right under her malefic-black hood, meet warm-eye-to-cold, and feel Asha's blistering-chilling breath right up and against her cheek.

She didn't feel the need to speak to the little brat any longer, and turned her visage to James, "We should get going. Time management is essential." Her voice deep and brooding, yet somewhat more warm and kind toward James. I suppose kind wouldn't be the right word in this situation, but you catch my drift. She turned her gaze back toward Tokera, "Anything else, Izia?"

"You seem to have a proper grasp on the situation," Tokera heartily declared, "I trust that if you have any questions, you'll find some way to contact me."

Asha nodded, turning toward James once more, "Shall we go?"

"I'd say we're ready to leave," James agreed, nodding at Asha. She was good at controlling the more hot-tempered individuals of the Order. Lina was one of the worst, but if she had any sense, she wouldn't dare pick a fight with Asha. Even though James was at the same level of power, he didn't want to have anything to do with Asha when she got angry, which was rare. James bowed again towards Tokera before heading out of the Manager's study.

To get to the city of Asahin, they had to first travel by boat. The city was located near the center of the continent of Eizon, built close to a river so that it has a source of running water nearby. With it being the dry season, the city would be especially arid, so the trio would have to travel lightly if they hoped to flourish in the climate. The voyage would take only a day or two, the city was not far from the Order's castle.

Whenever a Seer was assigned a mission, they were also assigned a vessel to travel on, commandeered by an experienced sailor that was usually delivering fresh supplies for the order. The sailors, being normal humans, didn't know about the Order's existence, only that their job was to deliver food and other such supplies to the citizens of the city on the little island that the Order owned. The deliveries were on a schedule that allowed the Manager and the Master to plan ahead when they would send Hunters or Seekers. It was inconvenient at times of urgent matters, but it worked well, considering there were very few people who knew how to sail in the Order.

Once their ship set sail, James rooted himself on deck, leaning over the railing to taste the salt in the air. He quite enjoyed the smell of the ocean. Perhaps that was caused by the excitement of having a mission. James has been part of the Order and went on enough missions for him to associate the scent of the ocean with a mission. James placed a hand on the hilt of Shadowbane, seeking it's cool metal as another source of comfort. He could help but feel anxious about the mission. More than one Seeker disappeared, and even a Hunter with similar rank to Asha and himself. Something like that was bound to spell trouble for them.

"I can't be thinking about this," James said with a sigh, still fingering his blade. "You've done this before. The only difference is that you have some more help than usual. Just be careful, and no one will die this time."