Guild War
Author’s Note
This story may get confusing so just to explain it; Guild War is my version of a player vs. player in maplestory. It just has a little twist to it. Guilds war is a tournament (that I made up) which allows guilds to compete for prizes. Guilds compete in games and fight each other instead of kill stealing wars. That’s my explanation. Please don’t flame me or rate me too bad. I’m not very good at writing. Hope you enjoy it! (Or you might not.)

Guild War
PROLOGUE
“Clothes check. Weapons check. Armor check. Potions ch…”

“C’mon hurry up we need a priest now!”

“Alright I’m coming!” Allen shouted, “Sometimes I hate my job. I should’ve asked Grendel to make me a fire mage. They never have to go to Zakum.” As Allen walked downstairs he could see everyone waiting for him. “Finally! What took you so long! You know we can’t go without at least priests! We would fail the mission incredibly fast!” Yelled Kylie, “Let’s go guys! Adobe’s waiting for us in the cave!” “Hold on.” Allen said.

“What now! We have to go!” Kylie yelled again.
“Let me get my jacket I don’t want to freeze my butt off!”
“We’re going into a cave with lava in it! If your butt falls off just heal it back on! Kylie yelled.
“Fine let’s go.” Allen replied

“Wow Kylie sure is anxious to fight Zakum.” Allen muttered. “I know what you mean.” “Who said that?” John said aloud lagging behind. Allen turned around to see Alex, the most powerful person and dragon knight in their group. “This is what she’s been waiting for though. Her whole life this is all she ever wanted and now she’s here.” Alex said. “Why the hell am I here? I don’t even want to be here right now.” Allen muttered. “Because we’re her friends, remember?!?” Alex said. “Yah yah whatever.” Allen muttered again. Allen looked up to see two ilbis flying at him. He quickly made a holy arrow out of thin air and shot it between the holes sending it flying back.

“C’mon guys hurry up! Don’t make me throw more ilbis at you!” A voice said. Just then a hermit came around the corner actually on a flying avenger flash jumping off of it before it hit a tree. “Hey Derrick!” Allen said to the hermit. “C’mon Allen. C’mon Alex. Kylie is really pissed off waiting for you guys. “Crap.” Allen said. “I wish I could die but my reflexes would heal me.” Alex, Derrick, and Allen ran as fast as they could to Adobe. As they were jumping over the last river of lava, Alex asked “How mad do you think Kylie is?” Derrick flash jumped to the side which Alex and Allen thought was for no reason, but Kylie was coming at them with assaulter. Alex and Allen both fell into the hot lava as Allen healed and Alex used hyper body to give them more energy and swam out. After they both had gotten healed, Allen answered Alex’s question. “VERY”

As they were walking up to Adobe, Alex reassured if Kylie was ready to fight Zakum. Alex knows that many strong warriors have fallen at Zakum. Adobe was delighted to see them and told them that there are people waiting in Zakum’s altar fighting it already. As Kylie walked in she froze before the sight of Zakum. “I can’t do it.” Kylie said. “It’s way bigger and stronger than I ever thought.” She said as she looked around and saw bodies with priests healing them. “Then leave you little wimp. You’re a pathetic excuse for a chief bandit.” Another stronger girl bandit said. “What did you call me?” Kylie yelled furiously at the girl. “I can beat you anytime!” “I see you’re in a guild. Then come to this.” The other girl said handing Kylie a flyer that read GUILD WAR. “See you there…”
Chapter 1

“So what happens now? Do we go or not Kylie? Kylie?”
“Shut up I’m thinking Derrick.” Kylie replies.

“What happens at that ‘Guild War’ thing? What is it?” Allen asks. “I’m not sure. You read it.” Kylie says as she hands Allen the paper. Allen silently reads the paper to himself with a puzzled look on his face. Finally, Allen says, “It’s a tournament.” Alex, Kylie, and Derrick all think about what’s in the tournament for a few minutes. Then Allen says, “It’s not any normal type of games tournament. Only guilds with at least 10 people can go to the tournament.” Allen reads on. Just before Derrick is about to ask if there are any prizes involved, Allen replies, “Yes Derrick, there are prizes.” Overtime very experienced magicians gain the power of reading another’s mind. Immediately, Allen starts again. “There are games like kill stealing wars and contests for your general job, but…”

Allen suddenly stops deep in thought if he should tell his friends the next part. “But what Allen?” Alex, Derrick, and Kylie almost say in unison.
“But the main challenge is the guilds have to fight in a player vs. player competition.” Allen blurts out. Everyone stands there wanting to go but yet thinking about their own and their friend’s safety. “If we do go, where is it and where would we stay?” Kylie asks hesitantly. “The flyer says that there will be hotels and food for the contestants… but there’s a problem.” Allen says. “What’s the problem? We will all sacrifice what we have for Kylie’s sake.” Alex says aloud, “And we can recruit more people.” “I know” Allen says, “But we have to find where they are hosting the ‘Guild War’ through a riddle and today is the last day to sign up.”

“We can do it Allen! Stop thinking about us!” Derrick yells, “First things first, what’s the riddle?” Allen says with a smile and confidence, “I hold a strong monster, past crimson balrog; I am sometimes very cold, but sometimes very hot.”

Chapter 2

“C’mon guys, we have to get organized fast!”

“Ok, we need 6 more people, figure out the riddle, and get to the place the riddle is talking about.” Allen says. “Well I’ll recruit people because who wouldn’t want to be in a guild with me in it.” Alex says in a showoff voice. “Ok… I’ll work on keeping Alex from scaring other people away.” Derrick says following Alex out the door. “I’ll work on our emblem. We can sow it to our clothes to identify ourselves. You work on the riddle.” Kylie says. “This shouldn’t be very hard. I mean, I can read other people’s minds!” Allen is focused deep in thought when the door flies open and Alex pushes two people in.

“These guys loved me and want to join our guild.” Alex says. “Allen, introduce these guys to Kylie. This guys Tom,” Derrick says pointing to a Ranger, “and this guys Mike.” Derrick says pointing to a crossbowman. With that Derrick and Alex left again slamming the door on their way out. “Sorry about Alex, he likes to be the strongest and be commented.” Allen says shyly. “It’s no problem,” Tom says, “So who’s the leader of this guild?” “Oh yah. Her names Kylie she’s over here working on our emblem.” Allen says while showing them to Kylie’s room.

“I hold a strong monster, past crimson balrog; I am sometimes very cold, but sometimes very hot.” Allen constantly repeats to himself. “Aqua road?” Allen thinks, “It has Pianus, but since when is Aqua Road hot. It can’t be the dungeon because it’s not past crimson balrog.” Allen looked over the paper and remembered how they received it yesterday night. He remembered how he wanted his jacket, then falling into the lava, and Zakum. It finally hit him. “El Nath! Allen shouted to himself, “It’s past crimson balrog, it has snow and lava, and it holds Zakum!”

Allen burst into Kylie’s room as Tom and Mike were looking at the sign that read “Power” (The name of their new guild) on their clothes. “I know it! I know the answer to the riddle!”
Chapter 3

“Great Allen! So where is the event at?” Kylie says with impatience. “El Nath. I don’t know how we’re going to get there in time. We’re in Ludibrium and we have to take a ship there.” Allen says with little hope. “Wait, what are you guys talking about?” Mike says, “Why are we going to El Nath?” “We’re going to go enter the Guild War competition, didn’t Alex tell you?!?” Kylie says with anger to Alex for not telling them. “Umm… no he didn’t, but we’ve heard of it and we don’t mind.” Tom says speaking for Mike too. “I’ll go get Alex and Derrick and make sure that they tell people who want to join about the Guild War competition.” Allen says rushing out the door before anyone could answer him.

“Do you want to join our guild? How about you? Do you?” Alex says to people passing by. In the distance Derrick sees Allen running toward them. “Hey Allen!” Derrick shouts, “What’s up?” “It turns out that somebody hasn’t been telling the new recruits that we are going to enter the ‘Guild War’.” Allen says. “Oops, sorry Allen.” Alex says with a look of embarrassment on his face. “I’m going to go to the potion shop.” Allen says. “Why?” Derrick asks with a puzzled look on his face. “You’ll see.” Allen replies with a slight smile.

At the potion store, Allen asks the store manager if he can use a loudspeaker that is wired through the town. As the store manager agrees for one thousand mesos, Allen repeats into the loudspeaker, “Recruiting members to join the guild ‘Power’! Four more openings left! Going to ‘Guild War’ competition! Please report to 7846 Ludibrium Lane!” After repeating it for the tenth time, Allen rushes back to his house.

When Allen gets home, Kylie has 7 emblems that look like a blue bird on a black background and 4 signs that read ‘Power’ laid out on a desk and sharpening her kandine. “Where’s Tom and Mike, Kylie?” Allen asks Kylie. “Oh, they went to go pick up some pizza and burgers. They were really hungry.” Kylie answers.

A few minutes later, someone rings the doorbell. Kylie goes to answer it, and to her surprise, Tom and Mike have three people behind them. Seeing Kylie’s expression on her face, Tom says, “These guys started to follow us home after they saw the sign that says ‘Power’ on our clothes. They said that they heard some kind of loudspeaker message about joining our guild.” Allen rushes to the door overhearing the conversation.

“I said the loudspeaker message.” Allen says, “and I guess it worked!” Kylie changed her expression from puzzled to happy and kind automatically. “Hi, I’m Kylie the leader of the guild.” Kylie says greeting the three new recruits and ushering them in. “So what are your names and jobs?” Kylie asks. “I’m Rick and I’m a crusader.” The first new recruit says. “I’m Will and I’m a Fire/Poison mage.” The second new recruit says. “My name’s John and I’m an Ice/Lightning mage.” The last new recruit says.

“But we’re short one person.” Kylie says sadly, “and it’s already three p.m.” “My brother,” Tom says. “What?” Kylie asks. “My brother can join the guild, he always wanted to. He didn’t get his third job yet but he’s very strong and a hunter.” Tom says. “That’s great! We can get Alex and Derrick back in now. So what’s your brother’s name Tom?” Kylie asks. “He likes to be called Pierce Through.” Tom answers.

Chapter 4: Entrance
5:15 p.m. Friday August the 23rd
“Is everyone ready?” Kylie asks as she checks that everyone has their emblem and name sign on their clothes. “Ok let’s go get on the ship!” Kylie says rushing out the door with everyone else following her. When they get to the ship station, the clock reads 5:27 p.m. As they are matching the schedule they figure out that they have missed their own flight!

As everyone else was talking to each other about when to go on the next flight, Rick walks up to the ticket manager and asks for 9 tickets for the next flight. “Will that be business or travel?” the ticket manager asks. “Um… business, we’re going to the ‘Guild War’ competition.” Rick replies. “You are! Here these are special tickets for contestants. I’m glad you found out the riddle! There will be a guy at the bottom of the station to Orbis.” The ticket manager says handing him nine odd looking tickets.

“Hey guys! Look these are special tickets for ‘Guild War’ contestants!” Rick yells to his guild mates. With that, everyone followed Rick without asking a question. Kylie went to the top, looking for the ship. “The ship’s not here though Rick.” Kylie sadly says. But Rick is already talking to a guy at the bottom just like the ticket manager said. The guy at the bottom brought over a small jet capable of carrying about 15 people. As Rick got in, everyone else followed except for Kylie who still didn’t know what to do. Hesitantly, Kylie finally got in.

6:06 p.m. The guild ‘Power’ gets to El Nath in record time. Tom first rushes to greet his brother waiting for them, and shows him the guild members. Kylie impatiently runs to a kiosk that read ‘Guild War Signup’
After Kylie filled everything out, including one million meso entrance fees, she asked where her guild will stay and where the competition is at. After she got all of the information, she told the guild “Let’s go, they said that most of the good rooms are taken!”

As the group walks up to the hotel, they can hear grunts and roars from the training ground behind the hotel. “Here you go, have a pleasant stay at our hotel.” The hotel manager says as he hands Kylie the keys to three rooms. “Ok everyone come over here!” Kylie yelled to her group. “So Tom, Mike, and Pierce have one room together, Rick, Will, and John have another, and Alex, Derrick, Allen and I will have the last room. Let’s meet outside at nine a.m. tomorrow morning.”

9:07 p.m. Inside Tom’s room, Pierce is already sleeping, but Tom and Mike are talking and sharpening their arrows. “So what do you think the first competition is going to be, Mike?” Tom asks. “Well, hopefully not the main event because I want some training in before I kick everyone’s butt.” Rick answers laughing.

At the same time in Rick’s room, Will and John have a conversation going on about which element is better. “Fire turns ice into steam in a matter of seconds.” Will says. “No, my superior ice will put out your fire faster!” John replies as Rick enjoys himself by watching them fight. “Hey what do you think about my zard?” Rick asks while putting his zard in front of Will and John’s faces. “It’s very very extremely sharp!” Will says as Rick puts his zard down. After a moment of silence they all laugh themselves to sleep.

In Alex’s room, Kylie is already planning on what potions to buy with her small budget. Alex, Allen, and Derrick are quiet for awhile, Alex sharpening his fairfrozen, Derrick sharpening his ilbis and hwabis, and Allen eating some unagi. After awhile, everyone switches activities, Kylie sharpening her geta, Alex and Derrick eating unagi, and Allen planning what potions to buy.

By 11:00 p.m. everyone is asleep. After what seems like a few minutes, Rick wakes up to find that he has overslept. He gets up and gets ready as fast as he can. Once he gets outside, he finds that everyone is waiting for him. “Sorry, I kind of overslept.” Rick says embarrassed. “No problem, we still have an hour.” Kylie says awake and happy already walking to the stadium where ‘Guild War’ is held.
Chapter 5: Let the Games BEGIN!
“Wow the stadium is huge!” Pierce said in amazement while Kylie asked the ‘Guild War’ manager where her guild should go. “Your emblem should be on a flag. That’s where you should go. Oh and there will be robes for with your emblem on it. First event starts in one hour.” The Guild War manager said as Kylie led her guild into the stadium. The stadium was full of other guilds and people with one large arena in the middle.

Once inside, Kylie immediately spotted their flag with their emblem on it. “C’mon guys this way.” Kylie said leading her group past many different guilds. “Wow! These robes came out great!” Kylie said trying a robe on. After everyone put on their robes, Pierce went out and bought everyone a breakfast of white pang soup. After their good hearty meal, everyone set out on their own activities trying to kill time until the first event.

~~~~~~~~~~~~ The beginning of the first event ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hello and welcome to ‘Guild War’!” The loudspeaker boomed as the audience cheered. “Contestant guilds will battle each other in contests of intelligence, strength, accuracy, and each other to win the grand prize!” The loudspeaker boomed again. “The first event is an event of wit. Please send up your most intelligent guild member for this round”

“Well I guess that means a mage.” Kylie said, “Let’s send Allen up.” Looking around Rick sees Will and John with said faces. “It’s ok guys, you guys will have your chance during the main event. You guys are power mages anyway.” Rick said trying to cheer Will and John up. With a lightened up spirit Will and John push Allen up onto the arena. As Allen looked around, Allen saw nine other people. “In this event, their will be a person thinking of a certain shape, you have five seconds to guess or for some of you read his mind, for the shape that he is thinking of. On my mark, get set, go!” The loudspeaker boomed…

Chapter 6: Intelligence, Strength, Accuracy

Allen quickly tried to read the shape from the mysterious persons mind, but it was a blur that he can barely make out. Most of the other contestants’ minds are blocking each other, making it hard for anyone to read anyone else’s minds. “Time’s up! Please make your first guess!” The loudspeaker boomed. Allen, only seeing a blur, wrote down what he thought he saw, a star.

“Please get ready for the next guess!” The loudspeaker boomed. This time Allen was ready and tried to focus as hard as he could. “Go!” The loudspeaker boomed without any warning. Allen tried to concentrate as hard as he could and made out a square. “Time’s up! Please make your second guess!” The loudspeaker boomed. Allen wrote down a square and went back to his spot.

“Now for the last one, go!” The loudspeaker boomed. Allen focused and clearly made out a circle. Looking around, he noticed that he was the first one done other than one person who was already running over to put his guess in. Allen raced after him, catching a glimpse of his guess. It was a circle. Now confident, Allen put his guess in and ran back. “Time’s up!” The loudspeaker boomed again, “The score’s will be put up shortly.”

As Allen anxiously waited for the scores (just like the other contestants) looked over to his guild who were staring up at giant screens put up all around the stadium. Suddenly, the screens flashed and the answers and the contestants’ answers were shown. Allen looked frantically for his name. After he found it, he matched up the answers.

Answers = 1. Star. 2. Rectangle 3.Circle
Allen’s answers = 1. Star 2. Square 3. Circle

‘Not bad, I only missed one. 1/3. Wait that’s a lot!’ Allen thought back to his guild. “The next event is an event of strength! Please send up your choice guild member!” The loudspeaker boomed.
“Obviously, this one should be a warrior.” Kylie said, “So Alex or Rick?” While everyone was voting in their minds, Alex stood up and pushed Rick onto the stage. “You mean you don’t want to go up?” Rick asked Alex. “Well of course I do, but I think you should do this one.” Alex answered. Rick walked up onto the arena taking a spot and waiting for the event to begin, not wanting to disappoint his new guild.

“In this event, you have one life-size fur doll each that have damage counters inside of it. Just in case you slice the fur doll, you will each have to use a club. You will have one minute.” The loudspeaker boomed. This time, a man held up a flag and signaled it, giving the contestants permission to start.

Right as Rick saw the flag being waved, he hit the fur doll as fast and hard as he could. ‘In this case, quantity is over quality.’ Rick thought, knowing that using power strike would take too much time. Rick slammed the club onto the fur doll as fast as he could, opening up some seams in the process. “5…4…3…2…1… Time’s up!” The loudspeaker boomed. Rick stopped, looking around at his opponents dolls. Some of the dolls still had all their seams closed, but other ones had arms or legs that had fallen off.

“We will be taking a fifteen minute break now. Please be back by eleven o’clock please.” The loudspeaker boomed as people in the audience were filing out. Rick walked back to his guild feeling like he was just in the Olympics with thousands of people watching him. In his opinion, he did pretty well. Once back to his guild, everyone started to congratulate him. “Good job Rick! You did really well!” Alex said to Rick. Rick sat down with an expression on his face that everyone could read. It was pride.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After the break ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hello and welcome back to Guild War!” The loudspeaker boomed, “Before our lunch break, we will have one more event. The accuracy event! Please send up two people from each guild.” Before anyone said anything, Pierce and Tom both went up onto the stage. Knowing that they are brothers, everyone in the guild allowed it.
“The object of this event is to stand 50 yards away from the targets that we have set up for you, and for both of you to aim for the bull’s-eye. If the first person gets a bull’s-eye, the next person should still try to hit the bull’s-eye. I think you get what I’m saying. You will have five minutes for this event.” The loudspeaker boomed.

Watching the same man with the flags, Pierce got ready to shoot first. As the man waved the flags, Pierce shot an arrow with full strength piercing the area next to the bull’s-eye. Next, Tom got ready to shoot his arrow. He pulled the arrow as far back as he could, concentrating on the bull’s-eye one hundred and fifty feet from him. Tom shot the arrow. The arrow landed right in between his brother’s arrow and the bull’s-eye.

“Time’s up!” The loudspeaker boomed the contestants exited the stage. “Hey what’s up with only fourteen people getting off the stage, shouldn’t there be twenty?” Tom asked the guild questionably. “Some people got disqualified for using illegal sniper pills and continuous strafes.” Kylie replied. The huge screens lit up showing the scores and places of the ten guilds:

Guild name Score Place
Elite 19/20 1st
Power 17/20 2nd
Dragons 16/20 3rd
Cycle 13/20 4th
Rogues 12/20 5th
Risen 12/20 6th
Winged 11/20 7th
Divine 10/20 8th
Justice 8/20 9th
Sanctuary 6/20 10th

“We will start the next event right after lunch. Please be back by one o’clock p.m. for the next event.” The loudspeaker boomed.

Chapter 7: Beat the Rivalry

“Welcome back to Guild War!” the loudspeaker boomed, “We will be starting off our Beat the Rivalry event now. The way this works is we will have two guilds go at one time. The monsters that the guilds will be fighting are artificial papulatus clocks. First guilds up will be Justice versus Sanctuary.”

The two guilds stepped up onto the arena as clear walls came up around them to protect the audience. In each guild, the melee attackers were in front of the rest of their guilds. Then, came the rest of the guild choosing their distance away from the melee attackers. The ground shook as two papulatus clocks tied to the ground emerged instantly unleashing powerful attacks at the guilds.

The two guilds constantly attacked the papulatus clocks with their clerics/priests heal them. After 15 minutes, the guild Sanctuary defeated their papulatus clock first. The guild Justice killed their papulatus clock soon after as Sanctuary’s score had 2 points added.

After three more “Beat the Rivalry” games, it was Elite against Power. Both guilds got into their positions. Elite was in a diamond position as Power was in a trapezoid. The ground started shaking as the papulatus clocks came out. A lot of pressure was put onto Elite and Power since the audience expected more from them.

The papulatus clocks unleashed their attacks at the two guilds. Rick and Alex were instantly hit, blood and all, as Allen healed them mending their wounds instantly. Very soon, the papulatus clock could be seen tiring as Pierce delivered the final blow at point blank with an arrow, on fire from friction, came out the other side of the monster controlling the papulatus clock. Everyone in Power looked up only to Elite brushing themselves off as the two points were added to Elite’s score.

The scores now read:

Guild name Score Place
Elite 21/20 1st
Dragons 18/20 2nd
Power 17/20 3rd
Rogues 14/20 4th
Cycle 13/20 5th
Risen 12/20 6th
Divine 12/20 7th
Winged 11/20 8th
Justice 08/20 9th
Sanctuary 08/20 10th

“Please group off your members to two groups of three and one group of four guild leaders!” The loudspeaker boomed, “The main event will start tomorrow morning at eleven o’clock sharp. Thank you and we will see you tomorrow!” The sun was just setting as the stadium emptied.

Later that night after dinner, our guild started to group off. “I think that we should just go by our room mates.” Kylie suggests, “Since we all know our room mates, why not?” There was a little bit of arguing between the answer but hesitantly, everyone agreed.

As everyone stayed inside doing their own thing, Pierce decided to go out back and train for a little while. “Ok.” Tom agrees worried, “But be back by 10 o’clock, ok?” Pierce agreed and went out back. After a long while, Tom checked the clock that read 10:30 P.M. As Tom and Kylie were about to go look for Pierce, Kylie received a phone call from the manager of the hotel to come downstairs to the lobby.

Kylie ran downstairs as fast as she could, finding the manager sitting on a couch. Kylie walked towards him asking what the matter was. With a grim face, the manager answered, “I’m afraid we have found one of your guild members, possibly or more than likely…” The manager paused for a moment then continued, “dead.” Kylie’s heart filled with sorrow and pain thinking about how she would tell Tom that his brother was dead. Kylie’s head filled with questions. “What… how… who?!?” Kylie spit out. “We could not identify who died in your guild, but possibly you might know, but it was a male found with your guild’s robe on.” The manager explained, “The Guild War managers are letting you stay in the competition due to your circumstances.”

“Who killed him!?” Kylie yelled out now angry. “Not a who… what. He was attacked by wild white pangs that attacked him when his back was turned while he was retrieving arrows. Or at least, that’s what the witnesses told me. Does he have any relatives or close friends of him with you? If so please go get them immediately as he is being sent back to Ellinia so that he can be treated by the one and only, Grendel.” Kylie ran upstairs to tell Tom the news. Kylie found Tom waiting for her with a worried look, which only got worse when he saw Kylie’s expression.

Tom hesitated not wanting to ask. “What’s wrong?” Tom asked Kylie. “Tom… I don’t know how to tell you this but… but Pierce is more than likely dead. He’s being sent to Ellinia for treatment form Grendel.” Tom didn’t ask another question and raced out the door, leaving Kylie feeling guilty.

Kylie looked off the balcony, watching as the ambulance drove off back to the station to get Pierce on a plane. Behind the ambulance, Tom was running frantically after it but collapsed before the ambulance drove out of view. Tom was out of breath from the cold night mountain air and the cold cuts from the snow were ignored as Tom got up, sat down and started to weep at the loss of his brother. Kylie thinking that he would come back inside soon and that he should be left alone went back in and told the other the grim news.

Chapter 8: Unexpected Rival

The next morning, the guild Power was getting up and dressed for the final event. Everyone suddenly remembered the grim news from yesterday night that they had received. As our guild met downstairs, Kylie started to take a count of who is not here yet. “Me, Alex, Derrick, Rick, Allen, Will, John.” Kylie said aloud, “Hey we’re missing Mike.” Derrick volunteered to go get him and ran to his room. Once he got there, he saw Mike sitting down on his bed looking at a note.

“H-he’s gone. He left.” Mike said looking up at Derrick. “Tom… he ran away.” Derrick looked at the note Mike was reading. The note read,
“After I found out my brother more than likely died, I’m going to need some time alone. I’m sorry about your competition. You guys don’t know what it feels like to lose your brother. I can’t say where I will be. Somewhere in the forest I guess. Bye.”

Derrick ran downstairs to the others to tell them more bad news as Mike was getting ready hastily. Kylie carried an even more of a burden now that she had to find out what to do with two members missing. Nevertheless, the members of Power had to fight in the main event. Everyone had their minds full of questions as they approached the stadium.

“Hello and welcome back to Guild War!” The now familiar voice boomed from the loudspeaker, “We will be starting our main event next!” John looked at the other guilds and only found 3. “Guys, why are there only three other guilds?” John asked. “For those of you who noticed, the last six guilds are out of the tournament. They’re still here though. Just look at the northern part of the stadium.

John looked finding all the guilds that had gotten out of the tournament each cheering for their favorite guild. “Never mind.” John said as his question was answered. “Will each guild send their group of four up to the stadium please.” The loudspeaker boomed.

Allen, Kylie, and Alex stepped up since their guild was missing a person and they could only have 3 people groups. Allen, Kylie, and Alex were up against the guild Rogues who sent up two hermits and a chief bandit. At the sight of Allen, Kylie, and Alex, they immediately started planning identifying their jobs. A loud gun shot and the 4 guilds were in battle with their opponents.

The two hermits and chief bandits attacked like they each had one person but immediately attacked Allen knowing that he was their cleric. Allen was only ready for one hermit in front of him who was about to shoot 4 stars at him with the help of copycat. Another hermit jumped next to the first hermit and they both shot 4 stars in unison as the chief bandit held him. Kylie jumped in front of Allen blocking 2 stars as 6 pierced his body. The chief bandit stabbed him and knocked Allen out cold.

The two hermits went after Alex who held the blessing blunt weapon instead of his usual fairfrozen attacking him from the back and the front. Alex guarded off 4 of the stars as four pierced his back. Pots were not allowed in the event so Alex just pulled out the stars ignoring the pain. The two hermits moved to Kylie as she knocked the chief bandit out. Kylie only had one good arm as the other arm was sliced up. The two hermits used the same tactic, one holding her as one shot at her. Kylie hit the hermit behind her away as he went to join his other hermit friend. They discussed a plan quickly knowing that one of Kylie’s arms were useless.

Kylie used all her energy in her damaged arm and liu bei dagger and bent it into a boomerang shape. She threw it at full force as the two hermits ducked and dodged it. Kylie caught it as it came back to her as the two hermits smirked at her failed move. Kylie smirked back as she pointed behind them. As they turned around, Alex struck them both, pounding them with his the blessing blunt weapon. They were both on the floor not out yet but weakened and damaged severely. Kylie and Alex both felt a feeling of relief as Allen got up healing them both as a dragon appeared out of thin air floating next to him who shot beams at both the hermits. They had one the first round but looked up and saw that the guild Elite had also won. A chief bandit girl was looking at them, the one that had given them the flyer.
Chapter 9: Matched

Alex, Allen, and Kylie, now knowing how they would have to fight, observed the other team. It was like looking in a mirror, there were a chief bandit girl, a dragon knight, and a priest. “Will the two winning teams please step up onto the middle stadium please,” the loudspeaker boomed. Alex, Allen, and Kylie walked up to be greeted with a smirk from the opposing girl bandit. The loud gunshot broke the silence.

Alex, in the middle, immediately used dragon roar. The stadium shook as ripples could be seen on the stadium floor. The priest summoned a mystic door to block him, something most of the audience and teams had never seen before. The dragon knight was knocked off his feet and the chief bandit’s shield completely destroyed. Huge beams of light hit the stadium at random places as the priest used shining ray.

Kylie flew at the opposing chief bandit making her stumble backwards every few seconds. A beam from shining ray barely missed the chief bandit, completely destroying the ground behind her. Kylie swung at her but missed by a hair as the chief bandit fell into the pit left by the beam of shining ray. Blood seeped out of deep cuts left by sharp rocks. She wasn’t moving, but still alive. Kylie walked away to the others.

Alex pounded the ground as his match kept dodging his swings by moving swiftly. Alex hit the opposing dragon knight’s Morning star out of hand. Alex smirked and moved closer to the un-armed dragon knight to make a full blow. The opposing dragon knight reached into his Dark Commodore pulling out an Angelic Betrayal and stabbed Alex in the chest. The sharpened dagger immediately pierced Alex’s armor and cut the whole dagger’s length into Alex’s chest.

Allen ran over, pushing the opposing dragon knight away. Alex’s heart beat was growing faint. Allen kept on healing Alex’s wound. An official came and pulled the opposing dragon knight away for using more than one weapon. He smirked, left, and was banned from the tournament. Alex’s wound healed, but Alex blacked out first.
Another official came and took Alex to the medical center. Allen wiped his blood covered hands on his Dark Enigmatic. Kylie was fighting the priest and apparently winning. “Look out!” Allen yelled to Kylie as the opposing chief bandit came out of dark sight behind Kylie. It was too late. Kylie was already down. Allen ran over. The ratio was two against one. The opposing team was gaining up on Allen. Allen summoned a dragon that started to fire rapidly. The chief bandit summoned thieves that held Allen and got rid of the dragon. The priest made a holy arrow. The holy arrow started to turn black. ‘That isn’t God’s power.’ Allen thought as he closed his eyes not being able to do anything.

“That concludes the first match!” The loudspeaker boomed. “Please send up the second team!” Rick, Will, and John stepped up onto the stage. They were up against Elite’s team. The team had a hermit, a priest, and a ranger. There was a loud gunshot. Will teleported up close to the other team and created a giant poison mist on that side of the field. The hermit jumped extremely fast out of the mist and the priest teleported. The ranger ran, coughing up blood along the way. He fainted in the mist from loss of blood. Will immediately summoned giant frog that sucked up the mist and vanished.

Rick used shout and stunned the other team for two seconds and some of the audience. John didn’t waste any time and used ice strike to freeze the hermit and the priest. The ice melted off, but had thrown the hermit and the priest into hypothermia. “Fastest win ever!” Rick bragged. “Oh, never mind.” Rick whispered as he saw the other team that had one was waiting for them.

The other team was three hermits. Rick, Will, and John discussed what to do and figured that if they worked together, that team would be extremely easy to beat. “I’ll use shout to stun them, then John, you freeze them and Will will use poison mist to finish them off!” Rick said. They did exactly like they planned and won, setting the new fastest time in Guild War. “That concludes today’s events. The third and final match will continue tomorrow, the winners will be announced after that. The delay is caused because today is the manager’s birthday!” The loudspeaker boomed.
Chapter 10: Search

The sun was just setting in the sky. Everyone was in their rooms eating dinner; some fried krip with nependeath honey. A cool breeze blew through the town. Merchants were packing up their things, and the streets were silent. Elite met up downstairs in the lounge, warming themselves by the fire. The silence between them was deafening.

“We have to find Tom!” Mike yelled breaking the silence as everyone turned to look at him. He stood up. “Who knows what could be happening to him right now. We need him for the next match too. The manager only allowed Pierce to be excused. We’ll be disqualified without him.” Mike persuaded. “But we can’t go outside, Mike. There’s a blizzard coming in tonight.” Will softly said trying to calm him down. “Well I’m leaving to search for him. We’ve been friends since before our first job advancement!” Mike yelled grabbing his Gross Jaeger and a pack of steel arrows as he walked out the door.

Everyone else remained inside, staring at the door that Mike just left through. “We have to go with him. Or at least… I do. It was my own fault brining everyone here.” Kylie hesitantly said, walking out the door following Mike. Everyone else got up to meet up with Mike and Kylie. Outside, everyone split up going different ways.

Rick walked into the forest, watching his step so that he didn’t trip on any roots. He saw a small, pointed rock. Rick brushed the snow away. I was an arrow, not a crossbow arrow, an arrow. Rick looked for footprints, nothing. There were scratches on the trees as Rick followed. Now he ran. It was completely dark, the sun had set. Rick stopped and closed his eyes. He used relax. He saw Tom just a little long away by a small fire.

Rick ran the way he saw Tom at. He could smell smoke. Soon, a fire was visible. Tom was sitting alone by the fire, his eyes closed. “Tom?” Rick whispered. Tom immediately opened his eyes, instinctively grabbing his bow and aiming it at Rick. “Oh, it’s you.” Tom muttered, lowering his bow. “What are you doing here?”
“Tom, we need you back on the team. You’re up next with…” Rick persuaded, being cut off by Tom sighing. “You don’t know what it feels like to lose a brother! It’s torture! It’s enough to drive anyone crazy!” Tom yelled, tears starting to drip down his face, taking some of the dirt on his face with it. Rick stayed silent, thinking about what to say next.

“8 years ago, my little sister died. She was no Tom, but she was spunky… One day on Victoria Island, one fateful day, we were in Perion. She was going to go to the highest mountain to give my mom’s friend a fairy cake that she made. Somewhere close to the top, some thieves surrounded her. They pushed her around with only one witness. A little kid who was her friend. He tried to stop the thieves, but all they did was start to hit him. My sister threw a rock at one of them which only made them angrier. They threw her off the cliff… She landed on another cliff about 50 feet below her. She was unconscious and had a serious injury to her head. She died in the hospital soon after…” Rick said, thinking back in time.

Tom looked up. There were lines where his tears dried. The others came just in time to find them talking to each other. Tom finally smiled. “Let’s go home guys. After all, we have a competition to win!” Tom said enthusiastically. The others followed saying things like “Welcome back, Tom!” That night, there was not a worry in anyone’s mind. They ate, laughed, talked, and entertained each other.

The next morning, it was the day that the winners would be announced. The sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky and the snow that never melted was crisp. The guild was greeted in the stadium by thousands of fans. No one expected that something would happen that day, something sinister…