Chapter 1：Unusual Gathering
661words
Eileen pulled her cloak tighter, feeling the gold-edged invitation practically burning against her skin through her inner pocket.
The tavern sign creaked as it swayed in the wind and rain, its name "Old Oak Barrel" weathered to near invisibility.
She pushed open the door, and the heady mixture of ale, roasted meat, and damp wood enveloped her senses.
The tavern fell suddenly silent, a dozen pairs of eyes swiveling toward the unexpected visitor.
Eileen's fingers instinctively found the potion pouch at her waist, reassuring herself that both the paralyzing powder and healing spray were within easy reach.
"I'm looking for the owner of the Starchaser," she said, her voice raspier than intended.
A tall figure rose from the shadowy corner.
The stranger wore an unseasonable fur coat, with a metal eyepatch covering the left eye. The right eye caught the dim light, gleaming with an eerie amber hue.
"You're early, Miss Pharmacist," he said, his voice rough as sandpaper. "Three more haven't arrived yet."
Eileen approached the long table cluttered with empty glasses, taking in the three figures already seated: a silver-haired youth meticulously polishing a dagger, a masked woman manipulating a crystal ball with nimble fingers, and… her breath hitched. The red-haired man glanced up with a smile that made the scar at the corner of his eye twist—"Red Fox" Leo, the East's most infamous artifact smuggler.
"Well," she said dryly, "seems I'm not the only one summoned by mysterious means."
Eileen pulled out a chair and settled in, making a point of choosing the seat furthest from Leo.
The man with the metal eyepatch slid a steaming cup toward her. "Drink. It'll chase away the chill. Name's Gordon—I'm heading security for this little adventure."
Eileen left the cup untouched. Instead, she studied the ancient Crystal Folk runes etched into the silver-haired youth's dagger hilt, then noted the faint chain tattoo circling the crystal ball woman's wrist—the unmistakable mark of a Memory Mage.
This particular gathering set off alarm bells in her mind.
The door banged open again, admitting a thoroughly drenched young scholar whose spectacles had fogged completely over.
He stumbled to the table, fumbling to produce an equally gold-embossed letter from his sodden clothes. "I-I'm here for the Starchaser expedition… good heavens, you all look rather… unsavory…"
The final arrival was a well-dressed noblewoman, the hem of her velvet cloak caked with mud, though her chin remained defiantly elevated.
"I am Lydia von Krister," she announced with the air of someone expecting immediate genuflection.
When her declaration failed to elicit any reaction, she added with awkward hauteur: "I believe my father's generous payment secured me private accommodations?"
Gordon made a sound somewhere between a snort and a cough. "Welcome to reality, Your Highness. On the Starchaser, you'll either bunk with the rest of us or sleep under the stars."
He stood, his metal eyepatch catching the firelight with an ominous gleam. "Now that our party's complete, we move. The carriage gets… temperamental when kept waiting."
In the rain-drenched yard stood a behemoth that stole Eileen's breath. This was no ordinary carriage—its body was fashioned from some strange alloy of dark metal and wood, with wheel hubs studded with pulsing blue crystals, and three mast-like structures rising from its roof like sentinels.
Most unsettling was how the door swung open automatically as Gordon approached, releasing what sounded disturbingly like a mechanical sigh.
"Don't mind its quirks—it has quite the personality," Gordon said, patting the carriage's flank. Ripple-like patterns spread across the metal surface at his touch. "All aboard, distinguished travelers. Destination—Everdusk Island."
Eileen boarded last. As her foot met the metal step, a whisper seemed to brush directly against her mind: "Ah, another bearer of secrets joins us."
She whipped around, but found only the driving rain and empty courtyard behind her.
The door sealed shut with unsettling silence.
