Citrine Earth

Chapter One

We start a new arc in the assignment of Stella Orchis Aron. To recap, she was tasked by Nero to track down five individuals. So far, she and her friends had managed to take down three of the five. The next person on that list is named Galen. With information obtained earlier, Stella and her friends came to a town to locate Galen. This arc will be called Citrine Earth.

Angouri Hill has four hills each with a large house at the top. Each hill is separated by many roads and other homes. At the center of town is a town square. On the eastern side of town is a river flowing down south. On the western side, there is a small ranch of goats. Between the various streets are fields of cucumber. The ground looks to be mainly shades of yellow and the temperature is that of eternal summer.

Stella arrives with her friends at Angouri Hill from the southern entrance. Her friends include Renee, Florian, and Jasper. Upon arrival, Stella decided to go straight to an inn to discuss their plan.

"So," she said as she sat down at the edge of the bed. "We're here for Galen. We'll stay together this time." She turns to Florian and Jasper. "We leave you guys alone and you'll just get into trouble again."

"We did help out a lot." Jasper smiled. "I don't mean to brag, but Florian and I were the ones who found out about our targets."

"So, Jasper," Stella said. "How do you plan on finding Galen?"

Jasper rubs his chin. "Well, I'm glad you asked. You see, all the targets so far have the ability to use Midrash. So, we just need to find someone who knows about Midrash and they will lead us to Galen."

"That's it?"

Jasper nods his head. "Sometimes, the best plan is the most simple."

"And how do you suggest we find someone who knows about Midrash?"

"Well, I'm glad you also asked…. I got nothing…"

Renee frowns and slaps him on the back of his head. "If you're going to plan something, plan the entire operation!"

Stella sighs. "If anyone wants to join in, please do so."

"Oh!" Jasper exclaimed. "We'll go to the center of town and throw a Midrash Spellbomb into the air. After a few moments, someone will come to investigate. Said someone will eventually lead us to Galen."

"That idea sounds so stupid!" Renee said. "What about the police? Won't they come and arrest you guys again?"

"You know, Jasper," Stella said. "You brought up a good point."

"I did?" Jasper said. "I have many good points."

"Don't push it. Anyways, someone with knowledge of Midrash should lead us to Galen. But the question is who? We just need to figure that out. One thing that the past three individuals have in common is that they somehow benefited from the benefactor. So, we need to find someone who just recently benefited."

Florian has an idea. "I saw a river on the eastern side of the hill. Maybe someone will become rich from fishing?"

"It's better than nothing." Stella said. "Let's start there first."

The river flows from north to south on the eastern side of town. There were two people at the riverbank. One male and one female. The male is fishing and the female is gathering water in a bucket.

"Oh, she looks pretty!" Jasper exclaimed.

The girl has light blonde hair, wears a yellow top and sandals.Jasper walks up to her.

Renee shakes her head. "I thought you guys were going to look for someone who knows Midrash. Not to flirt with the locals."

Florian begins to talk towards the river. "Maybe these two locals know Midrash?"

"What? These two here?" Renee said as she nodded to the male and the female.

Stella sighs. "Renee and I will go to the bar and gather information on our own." You boys stay here and don't get into trouble before we get back."

Florian smiles at Stella and then at Renee. "You guys trust us this time?"

Renee points her finger at Florian's face. "Understand? No trouble?"

Florian nods his head and runs for the river. Stella and Renee go off somewhere.

Jasper comes closer to the girl. At close range, she looks to be mid to late twenties and her eyes are brown.

"Need help with that?" Jasper asked. "Adding water into that bucket?"

A male's voice can be heard shouting. "Chloe! Is that guy bothering you?"

Jasper searches for that voice. It belongs to the shirtless male standing in the river. He looks to be around mid-thirties. The only clothes on this guy is his swimming shorts.

"No!" Chloe shouted back. "But thank you!"

Jasper turns his head back to Chloe. "Your boyfriend?"

"No, he's the local fisherman. The only fisherman in town, actually."

Jasper's eyes lit up. "Really? Did he recently become the only fisherman?"

Chloe nods. "Yeah, the fish that you eat in this town are the ones that he caught."

Jasper thinks to himself for a bit. "Well, I gotta go. It was nice meeting you. I'm Jasper!" He runs off to Florian. "We need to talk. I think that guy over there is Galen. He's the only fisherman in town. Let's go get the girls before they're too far."

Stella and Renee had gone past the two eastern hills and into the town square when they heard faint yellings of their names. Every second that went by, the sound of their names got louder. Between the two hills were Florian and Jasper running to the girls.

"So," Jasper said quickly. "I think I might have found Galen. He just became the only fisherman in town."

Stella raises her eyebrows. "You think that the only fisherman in town is Galen?"

"Yeah, we should hurry before he leaves!"

Jasper and Florian begin to lead the girls back to the river.

Jasper looks around and sees no one. "Huh? That fisherman must have left for lunch or something."

"It'll take too long to search for him," Stella said. "Why don't you boys go back to the river tomorrow morning and wait for the fisherman."