The following texts are the stories and tales of the peoples of Marrei, made for the card game Allycard!!
This story starts in Bademür, 106 T.R, a small country near Katoromür. In the capital of the country, a paladin known as Staralius is training to become a royal paladin. Together with Seguno, they are one of the best achieving students. However, many people dislike her, for hanging out with Seguno, who is a gynandromorph beetle, meaning one half of their body is male, with the other half being female.
Staralius does not have a problem with this and secretly quite likes Seguno, and thus they train together. Staralius is very proficient in MemoryCasting, a type of magic where you recall one of your teammate's memories, activating their magic. Due to this strange power she is practically useless alone, and Seguno is the perfect companion. Seguno in turn sees Staralius as their mentor, always with her and has their skills perfected so that they complement staralius's skills.
One early morning, Staralius is laying in her bed, one the day that school is starting again. She swears angrily as a songbird flies into her window to wake her up. "Damn the Emotionals" she says, grabbing her staff and kicking the door open. The songbird looks at her weirdly and then flies away, leaving behind a colorful trail.
As Staralius climbs down the ladders within her dorm, she notices a sweet smell coming from below. She completely forgot the bees prepare a feast of sweet treats every year on the first day for the higher-ranking students, which she was technically apart of now. She knocks on the door of Seguno's room, the little bells on the door clanging and clashing. "Wake up sleepyhead" she yelled.
Seguno opened the door, still in his night clothes. "What are you being emotional for" Seguno says, with a fierce look in their eyes. Shocked by the insult of her dearest friend, Staralius turns her back towards Seguno and leaves again. "W-wait, come here..." Seguno calls towards Staralius. They grab their spear and a journal, with a cover reading "Theories of the Vexa". Staralius turns back around and comes in, looking around Seguno's cozy room, filled with little trinkets and banners, as well as a nice collection of spears, including one made from Spider Shards. Seguno grabs Staralius's hand and sits on the bed with her, with the journal in their hand. Seguno opens the journal, revealing a page that looks like it has been ripped out of the book, and is all old-looking. There's some text on it in the toronian language, which Seguno isn't proficient in. "Could you translate this? I think i'd help a ton with locating the new Vexa meetup.." Seguno says with their soft and feminine voice.
Surprised by Seguno's sudden shift in tone, Staralius takes a look at the journal and tries to translate it. It uses an older version of the míterian script, before the spider tribes started using it. Staralius is still able to translate it, and she proclaims it translates to "Near the city of Thalerth", after which she gets a little confused. Seguno looks surpised and asks "Why would they have their meeting all the way in Bird territory? and in Falerf for that matter?" Staralius laughs a little because of Seguno's pronounciation of Thalerth, but then she springs up as she sees the time. "Damn Emotionals, we gotta get down to the main hall. I think they're serving breakfast now.." she says.
Seguno stands up too and together they sprint open to the connecting dorm halls, where they climb further down, the aromas of the delicious meals that are about to be served to them. As they clumsily fall of the last few bits of the ladder, with Seguno landing on top of Staralius, they arrive at the Main hall, where their fellow students are already sitting, waiting for them. "Where've you damn emotionals been?" a paladin student that always has a nonfiction book in his hands proclaims. Seguno sighs and says "The songbird came late for me. I think he was drunk..", only partially lying. The same student then came up to Staralius and grabbed his hand. "Lemme help you, sweetheart" he said, much to the disgust of Staralius. "I don't need your help, you brainsoaked beetle" she says, angrily. She then looks at Seguno and asks if they're okay, to which they say yes.
One of the teachers comes up to them and asks "Is Akuna bothering you again? Ugh.. go to the principle now, Akuna". Akuna then storms out of the room angrily. It was only a little flirting, he thinks. Then, Staralius and Seguno sit among the others, waiting for Persephone to come and announce today's mission. This school is a little weird in that there are practically no lessons or teachers, and all experience is learned through battle. "Wooow, this looks so good!" Staralius says as he grabs quite a lot of food, ready to eat. Mirto, Staralius's sister, comes and sit next to her, with a similarly stuffed plate.
As the bees leave the room, only leaving behind their delicous treats, everyone starts to eat, hungry and excited to start fighting again. After a little while, Persephone enters the room on a small wooden stage next to the eating table, and announces some things. "Today will mark the beginning of the new school year of 106 T.R.!!! You are now all high-ranking students, so please enjoy this delicious meal made by the bees. Now, i shall no longer bother you." persephone says while holding up her glass of ginger ale. "To a good new school year!!" she proclaims, all the others chanting with her. Then, persephone comes down from the stage and goes towards Staralius, Seguno and Mirto. "Can i talk to you in private, Staralius and Seguno?" she asks.
Following Persephone's lead they walk through the hallways of the school to a small empty room, usually used for storafe purposes. "Staralius and Seguno, you are most certainly one of the best students on this school. Last year you helped with locating the Vexa, which was a huge help in this war we're dealing with right now." Staralius bows and says "I'm more than delighted to hear than, Miss Persephone.". Seguno then does the same, saying "Me too. May i ask why you wanted to speak to us?". Persephone grabs a little black box with the icon of the royal empire of Katoromür. She opens the box, revealing a magical shard, emitting a yellow and orange glow.
As the stone is revealed, both Seguno and Staralius gasp. Seguno had seen normal spider shards, which are practically everywhere. This one however, was different. Normal Spider shards have a purple glow, and don't shine nearly as much. Seguno is enchanted by the mere presence of it, and can see their memories reflected. "What's this, miss Persephone?" Seguno asks, interested but also a little scared. "This is an oath crystal. They can be used to forge bonds forever, and one was created, for you two. We are not sure who made it, but the songbird who delivered it said it was for a certain mr.Rainwalker and mx. Teria. Once activated you two will be bound forever with each other, improving your swordskills and magic. All the famous fighters in history had one of these, and now you'll become like them." she says, with Staralius and Seguno listening in shock. "However!" Persephone says as she slams down her hand on the table. "Our school will not be able to suit your needs anymore, and you'll be transfered directly to the biggest schools in Katoromür. I know all this is a lot right now, and you will have 2 weeks to think about it." she says, in a more aggresive tone than Seguno and Staralius are used to. Then, she gives the box to Seguno, their hands trembling. "Everything will be different now, but i'm sure you'll get through it. Good luck, Staralius and Seguno. And don't worry, Mirto will get a new mentor, and she'll be safe here."
And thus, Staralius and Seguno go to Katoromür to fight among the best, now needing each other more than ever.
In Thalerth, 107 T.R., a group of beetles have come together to discuss their plans. Among them is Aro, a copper chafer who is here to kill the others.
As the others gather around a campfire, Aro grabs his hood and puts it on, to hide his appearance. Right before he goes to the campfire among the others, he grabs his lute and looks at it one more time. His husband gave it to him a while ago, and it's all he still has of him. All he knows is that if he completes this mission he'll see him again. "All right, let's do this" he whispers to himself. He dashes through the dark alleyway, with some stray cats dodging him. As he sees the small park where they are sitting around a campfire, he looks down to the ground, hiding his eyes.
One of the memebers of the group comes towards him, and asks "Hey, wha' are ya doing here? I haven't seen ya here before.." with a low, tired voice. Aro comes a little closer to him and says "Maybe not. But don't you want me here?", with a bit of a flirtious look on his face. "U-uhh.. well, why the heck not. Just.. come talk to me later, okay?" The guard says, after which he introduces himself as Kanote. "Of course, cutie.."Aro says to Kanote, knowing his charm will get him through this situation. Kanote starts blushing, after which he starts introducing the other members. The leader of the group is named Rime, and she is an ex-paladin who went rogue after being expelled from the paladin schools. Then there's Gako, who is the technician of the group, making weapons and wagons for everyone. Then there's a butterfly bard, named Mikono. She looks a bit out of place, but everyone seems to accept her here. No one seemed to worry about Aro, making Aro worry if he went to the wrong place.
However, Rime quickly starts explaining their plans, and asks Aro if he wants to join them to infiltrate the school of Paladins, to which Aro agrees, even though he doesn't actually want to do that. "Hmm, so. We'll start next week. Everyone knows their task. Aro, just back us up with a Layer." Rime says. Aro and the others nod, and they start chatting with each other. Mikono quickly goes towards Aro, and asks why he joined. "Well, to be fair i'm kinda fed up with the Paladins. They took away my husband, and i wanna join y'all to save him again..." Aro reacts. Mikono, a little shocked that Aro actually wants to kill the paladins. "Excuse me but, do you know what we're doing here? But, we can try saving your husband!, i really hope we can help. We are a peaceful group, and only want to help those in need." Mikono says.