Cedar's Story

"Freya..."

A small blonde head popped up from the chaos of a mountain of truffles and the even bigger mountain of empty trays. Watching her guild master with large blue eyes, Freya's small tongue darted out to lick a smudge of chocolate on the corner of my lips. She was surprisingly clean despite the amount of sweets she'd devoured.

The toy-like Celestial Spirit Lele laid exhausted in a chocolate smudged tray, defeated nearly half an hour ago. A faint light emitted from the stuffed animal lookalike and Lele dissolved into sparkling fragments before dissolving back to the Spirit world.

"This feast is a fabulous one. I would like to thank the members who prepared all this delicious food for us again. I suggest you all do the same. Appreciate all the effort they put into what you've eaten or are about to eat. Let's give them an applause." The petite mage clapped her frail hands, looking like a small child despite being in her late teenage years.

"We've had events like this often during the short time this Guild has existed. We're a merry bunch, wouldn't you all say? Not a day is boring. As a result, however, we tend to spend less time doing the jobs people request of us. Some jobs stay there for a while until they're pulled out. Simply put, we miss out a lot of money."

"After substracting today's expenses from what he had before, do you know what we have? Absolutely nothing." Puzzled, Freya glanced around the guild to find everyone watching their master. She quickly turned her head to Gawain, despite not understanding a word he was saying.

"We are in debt. A very large amount of food was made. A certain person in this room here has, alone, eaten 478 210 Jewels' worth of expensive sweets. I won't go out calling names, but if you feel your conscience telling you anything, come to me later tonight to apologize personally."

There was no proof of Freya's large feast of desserts - she was impossibly dainty yet she could eat as much as a hundred men double, no, triple her size. A soft blush painted the small girl's cheeks as she nibbled on her lower lip. Uh oh.

"GO OUT THERE AND EARN THE GUILD SOME MONEY!"

Jumping to her feet, Freya brushed her frilly white and blue dress, avoiding the eyes of her guild members. Did she truly eat that much? She only had a few dozen trays of desserts, after all! It was barely a meal. The guild's princess pitter pattered over to Gawain after the dispersal of the other members. Staring down at her clean Mary-Janes, Freya reached into her pocket and pulled out a massive pouch of Jewels.

"I'm really sorry, Master Gawain," she mumbled as she dropped the large pouch filled with much more than what she owed into the large man's hand. Freya truly did not understand the value of money, except that it bought her a lot of beautiful clothes and lots of yummy tummy sweets. "I won't do it agai-" Freya pursed her lips, knowing she would. "I know that isn't enough," she whispered, indicating the heavy bag of millions of precious Jewels, "But I'll complete the Mailman Trade mission and give you more. Soon. I promise." 300,000,000 Jewels was the reward. Surely that would be enough to cover what she ate? She hoped it would.

"Please forgive me, master," she said with a bob of her head, bowing into a low curtsy before rushing towards the basement. She needed to find that book on Charm spells - how else was she to win back Amaranth's master's love? She hoped he wouldn't stay angry for too long.

Flicking on the dim lights of the basement, she settled her beating heart. Why in the Heavens were the lights so very dim? Surely if it were up to her, the sun would shine in all corners, all hours of the day. The darkness and being trapped were her greatest fears and the basement seemed so utterly terrifying with its quiet disuse. She'd only been down here once and Freya was quite certain she was the only one to ever venture down here. She wondered who owned all the things in the basement when Amaranth hadn't been around for long.

Pressing her palms to her chest, Freya exhaled and went down the steps that led to the basement. You can do this, Freya. You can do this. Deep breaths. You've been here before. You'll be okay. There is nothing down here.

She was in the basement.

Glancing over the shelves, she shuffled over to the section filled with floor to ceiling books. A thick, pink book sat on the top shelf, a red ribbon binding it shut. "Charming Spells for Charmed Mages" was written in a bubbly cursive scrawl. Freya eyed the old ladder that rested against the tall bookshelves wearily. Was it not dangerous? Shrugging, Freya smiled, blinking her innocent eyes upwards as she climbed the ladder. Surely nothing could go wrong. Freya grasped the book - she'd never read it before, only seen it alongside the many old books. Her slim fingers gripped the worn cover of pink and tugged.

Freya fell.

With a high-pitched yelp, the mage fell backwards into empty air. There was a thud and before she knew it, she was on the ground. Or, well, she wasn't on the ground. What in the Heavens? Her breath knocked out of her, Freya gasped soundlessly, wishing she had the power of Telepathy like Izzy did. I don't want to die in a stinky old room. Slowly, her limbs regained their strength and Freya inhaled sharply, hungrily panting for air. Slowly turning around -

Freya screamed.

A young man sat beneath her, his blonde hair tangled in his face as it fell over his shoulders. Dust covered every inch of the corpse and Freya scrambled backwards, all too eager to get herself far, far away from the dead body. Her heart ripped itself from its socket to smack viciously against her rib cage. The young blonde mage's body trembled as her hand covered her mouth. Tears tickled her eyes as Freya's voice shook, wheezing.

"Help," she whimpered, her voice quieter than the softest of whispers. Her frightened sky-blue eyes couldn't tear away from the still man on the basement floor. Her wheezing wasn't allowing her to breathe properly and her head began to sway. The world was moving, tilting back and forth and Freya felt as if she would faint. Yes, fainting would have been wonderful.

SERAFINA!

The fierce voice of Ravenna slammed against Serafina's mind, Whaattt? Serafina asked with a roll of her eyes. The Take Over Spirit was powerful, that was certain but what she was not, was observant. She did not feel the powerful magic rippling towards her nor hear the sounds of talking behind, not until it was too late. Ravenna shoved the Spirit within her body out of the way, causing Serafina to glow red hot, but the Spirit held on.

Until 3 claws embedded themselves into her side.

Serafina's eyes widened, just as they began to turn amethyst, ocean blue and finally the clear river aqua of Ravenna's eyes. Raven black flowed through her red hair until she was Ravenna again. You idiot, Ravenna thought dimly. Brutally ripping herself from the claws, Ravenna whirled around, watching her attacker wearily. She took the short time to study every inch of the woman's armour, her stance from the way she bent their shoulders and the manic look in her eyes. She felt like rocking hum of the poisonous claws - she would be fine - at least, fine for long enough to destroy this idiot. It was an unusual poison but Ravenna would get over it - at most it would make her sleepy. The claws were another thing for her Blood Healing did not allow for such immediate repairs of deep and possibly fatal wounds.

"You are tiresome," she told the Seven Virtues mage. Shoving her consciousness briefly into the blonde's yellow flame, Ravenna found her name was Chastity. How ironic, Ravenna thought, 'Chastity' wore very little. Then again, so did she.

'Keep her busy,' she told Murmur as she slashed a line across her wrist. The pin made a deep cut along her flesh and fresh, crimson blood began to pour from her wound to land on the debris. The Demons would not take unintended blood as a sacrifice, much less blood made from the claws of Ravenna's enemies.

"Hell, open. Death is calling." Her blood glowed faintly and as if sucked into thin air, it began to evaporate into glowing particles of crimson light.

'Wee yea ra ene foul enrer,' a voice only Ravenna could hear whispered. What is your wish, my loveliest?

"Wee yea ra ene hymme syec mea. Was yea ra hymme mea ks maya gyen," the master replied. The Sword of Saber and the Sword of Malius. Armour laced with power.

'You ask for much. That is not enough,' the voice echoed, a wind nudging the wound on her wrist. Taking the pin, she slashed a dozen more wounds on her arm, unflinching as the sting brought upon a mess of blood. Just to be sure, she slashed a dozen more. 'Granted.'

There was an unnatural silence in which all was still and a ringing so sharp, it was agonising. Ravenna wore a little less than what appeared to be 'armour'but clothes from Hell were powerful, whatever form they came with. Twin swords appeared in her hands, their sharp points glinting deviously in the moonlight.

Just then, two doors came charging at the group, followed by a large, grotesque beast. Ravenna hissed, jumping out of the way. She was not armed for combat against dinosaurs. 'Take it,' she told her Crimson Blades.

Turning to face Chastity of Seven Virtues, she wielded the twin swords deftly, her black gloves were made to be fitted to the weapons and her limbs were familiar with such weapons. She slashed at the blonde mage, criss-crossing her slashes with blinding speed, pushing forward. Flipping her two swords, she slammed the butts of her handles against the mage's temple. Her side stung with the wound, her movements aggravating them wider so her entire left side was soaked through with blood.

Slipping the swords around and around in her fingers, she swivelled her blades to create two deadly fans that she used against Chastity. Her mind barely registered her quickly depleting supply of blood, the wounds on her side and her arm dripping endlessly as she pummelled the member of Seven Virtues, her sword taking small chunks out of the woman's claws.

Tedious.

The poison - it's effects although not as effective on Crimson Blade's master, still apparent - combined with the severe blood loss made Ravenna woozy but she held her ground. Her movements were not as lightning sharp, however, and those who knew her could see she was faltering, if ever so slightly. Grinding her teeth, Ravenna forced the dizziness away and dashed toward Chastity, with her two swords, crossed, she pulled them viciously apart, to slice open her opponent's throat.



"Your fault! This is your fault!"

Freya yelped in horror as a small creature of a girl, about fifteen centimeters tall, tugged on a lock of her blonde hair. Waving her hands frantically, she tried to slap the winged being from her persistent pulling on her soft golden locks. Her legs were tangled in the complicated frills and layers of her skirts.

"Help!" she squealed a little louder as she scrambled away from the small thing, thumping her hip on a piece of abandoned furniture.

To make things worse - as if she were not already in the worst horror film of all time - she noticed the corpse had moved. Moved. Pressing her palm over her mouth, Freya bit back a scream as her frightened blue eyes met those of deep blue. The zombie was staring right at her. A small smile painted the blonde thing's lips. His eyes drifted over Freya's bodily lazily to meet her eyes. She had a feeling he wasn't truly looking at her, however.

She wished she would disappear.

"Wow, Liricia... That looks tasty... Mind if I have a bite?"

Shocked, Freya could only stare at the zombie creature and allow the miniature girl to pull at her hair. Tasty? Freya was tasty? Sniffing the air gingerly, she realised she smelled strongly of apples, cinnamon and sugar, with a hint of dark chocolate. Well, she did smell tasty.

But still, she was sitting with the dead come alive and a midget girl or a giant fairy.

"P-please don't kill me," Freya mumbled, burying her face in her knees as she clutched her legs to her chest. The powerful mage tried to make herself as small as possible. What good were her powers against the dead? She was most certainly going to die.

Issabella Esther Carrington (Izzy)

Izzy finished off the last of her truffles, making a mental note to have some more to eat before all the food was devoured by her royal spoiledness. When she looked up she noticed Sidney had made his way over to Yuliana, and the two were conversing. She had always thought the two to be alike in a lot of ways, however if ever put in some kind of dangerous scenario together, the two would certainly meet their demise. She watched them for a moment and noticed Yuliana was able to get Sidney to eat, she was perhaps the only one thus far that had been able to do so. Somewhere inside, she envied her. Izzy's thoughts were interrupted however, by the headmaster whom started talking about the funds of the guild. He now had her undivided attention, as she considered guild funds extremely important as they took care of all the members of the guild - to an extent. She had always worked really hard to get money for the guild, most of the money she earned she donated directly to the guild, as she didn't really think she needed it for anything. She had lived with much less for most of her life, there was no reason she needed to spoil herself with unnecessary things. She did however, surprise Freya with a gift or two every now and again after big missions. When the headmaster said they were broke, she was in disbelief. It was true they had many more members to take care of, and this feast would have cost a lot in itself, but where did the rest of the money go? What had her money been used for? And now the headmaster wanted them to all go out and earn money. A wave of guilt washed over her as she had taken no money back from her month long mission, she didn't need or want any, but apparently the guild did.

Amaya then started speaking to her about their next mission. The fact they hadn't picked anything yet didn't surprise her, but she was happy to hear that Amaya wanted them to collectively pick one. She doubted that that's what would happen though. Her comment of real money and real action made her think of herself, or not so much the real money part. Money was never something, that was important to her, at least, not until now. As an S rank wizard she felt obligated to bring in a good chunk of the money, and she should do so now. The fact she didn't have anyone she had to split money with would work to her advantage yet again. Browen then approached them with the matter of his missing hat and guitar, while Amaya was clearly irritated by something she must have thought trivial, Izzy thought it was something precious to him and gave Amaya a nod as she left looking down at the plate of truffles which had been plopped into her lap. It was typical of Amaya, but she didn't think much of it, she gently placed the plate in front of the new member and smiled at her. "All for you then." she said.

"Meat!" Izzy turned to the direction of the loud booming voice which seemed to echo through the whole guild. Her eyes met an unknown male, who seemed entranced by the food in front of him. He proceeded towards a table of food and stuffed his face with it like he hadn't eaten in centuries. She was slightly curious about the individual, and continued to watch him until he stopped and looked around, as if he just processed what he did. "Um....I'm here...to join?" She smiled, slightly. It almost wasn't noticeable, but it was there for a second. Or maybe it wasn't. "Did you enjoy yourself?" she asked him using telepathy. She then stood up and casually walked up to the boy, who seemed nervous or perhaps embarrassed. There was also a look of horror in his eyes the second he saw the others. "Don't worry, this food was for all the members, and if you intend to join, that you had every right to it as we do." this time she spoke directly. Her voice was soft and sweet but it lacked enough emotion to distinguish her mood - as usual. Immediately, she noticed his eyes, they were red. Not just red, but a beautiful, dark shade of red. Her head tilted slightly and she looked at him with curious eyes. "The headmaster is just there if you would like to speak to him about joining." she motioned towards the stage. She wasn't sure if now was the best time, but then, waiting probably wouldn't be good either. "Try to relax, alright?" she added telepathically. She paused for a moment and looked him over again. "You have beautiful eyes."

"IT'S A DEMON!!! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!" Izzy started to turn towards what she knew to be Freya's voice, but she didn't get the chance. The next thing she felt, was herself hitting the floor. Her head hit a nearby chair, but the furniture had spared the rest of her. "What?" she asked, sitting up looking at Freya who was rambling on top of her. She then got up and spazzing at Browen. Zombies and vampires and miniature people. Things were going to eat her. Izzy stood up and pushed Freya out of the way, knocking her forwards into Browen. She looked towards the direction in which Freya came, to find a pale blond haired individual standing in front of her. Accompanied by what fictional stories might have called a fairy or pixie. "Is this your zombie, your vampire, and whatever nonsense you were spewing?" She sighed. "He's not the undead, but by the looks of it, he might be joining them soon." He was covered in dust, and looked a little frail, appeared either tired or starving. "Where did you find him? And calm down, he's not any of those things Freya." The telepathy again. "What is your name? Any why are you here? Why is it Freya thinks you wanted to eat her? If you threatened her in any way -" No, this wasn't right. Something was really wrong with this person. Like they hadn't seen the light of day in quite a very long time. She thought this person was going to eat her...then perhaps... Izzy walked towards a nearby table with what was left of the meat from the meat boys minute long feast. She quickly made a plate while keeping her eye on the individual, then walked towards him with it. "This is for you, but first you answer my questions. Don't try anything funny, this is your warning - now explain yourself." She bit her bottom lip and considered something. "Are you alright? You don't look so well." She then directed her attention at the little individual that accompanied him. "Hello, My name is Issabella, who might you be?."

"Freya, what happened exactly, calm down a moment and be rational will you please?" Even thought she was sure Freya was fine, she was precious to her and felt an explanation was needed. "Freya, did you know the guild was broke? The headmaster just announced it, and asked as to go earn the guild some money." she continued telepathically. After this was all sorted, Izzy needed to go on a mission - a big one.

Yuliana ate her food slowly while watching Sidney. She was glad that he ate a bit more. She was even gladder because of the way he ate it. Unlike most people, Sidney actually appreciated the way she arranged the food on the plate, the colors that made the meal pleasing to the eye as well, not only the tongue and nose. The fact that there was at least one such person made it all worth it.
Her attention turned away from her food and her company when the Guild Master acted the way she had anticipated he would act when he received the information. He had become serious. The speech he had intended to give had probably been something frivolous. Likely about 'all the lovely ladies of Amaranth', or something. Well, it wasn't impossible that he would have been serious even without the topic of money. Yuliana spent much more time in the Guild Hall than most others, and thus she naturally spent a lot of time in the Guild Master's company as well. She couldn't help but grasp a bit of the old man's personality after a certain amount of interaction with him. He had a serious side to him as well, even though most women usually only saw the most obvious thing -his perversity.

Then again, there were exceptions who didn't seem to notice that side to him at all -one of them approaching the Guild Master soon after he had finished his speech. Freya seemed down when she spoke to Gawain -she had probably overestimated just how much of an impact her eating habits had had on the Guild's treasury. Granted, it wasn't small. The black hole within Freya's stomach swallowed an incredible amount of Jewels every time she came to the Guild, particularly during events like this feast. But she was not exactly the only big eater in the Guild. Or the only big drinker, for that matter. And the Guild did make a fair amount of money. Though Amaranth only took ten percent of the pay for the missions its members did, there were some members who did some very lucrative missions, and many members also donated more than just that ten percent to the Guild.
However, the Guild always went overboard with its festivities. Every time, the people arranging them seemed to be dead set on using up all the money that had been gathered after the last event, and this time, not only had they reached that 'goal', they had gone over it into actual debt. They hadn't settled for simple sweets to use as sacrifices to the Bottomless Pit, and had instead used expensive ingredients. They hadn't bought meat of just fine quality, but meat of the best quality available this time of the year. And instead of the usual beer, they had found rare beverages that would've brought kings to their knees from delight.
In other words, whenever there was a more expensive option available, they would choose it. And when there wasn't, they would create one. It was utterly ridiculous to spend to much on one feast.

But then again, Yuliana didn't mind in the least.
These were festivities, after all.

She was smiling from this thought when Sidney's words brought her attention back to her company. "Missions... Has your team picked anything out yet?"
Yuliana shook her head to this. "No, nothing at the moment. I've been busy with the preparations for this feast, and when we were finally done... They're both nowhere to be seen." She looked around, searching for her teammates' faces in the crowd. "I'm sure I saw both of them earlier, but now they've both gone off somewhere. Our group never seems to actually get a chance to talk with each other."
They were really a bit of an odd team. Sarah never seemed to be there when Yuliana had something to talk to her about, and Yuliana herself was completely unfit for going out on most missions, instead opting to stay and do the Guild's chores. She occasionally wondered if Gren felt held down by his two teammates.

She was about to ask Sidney's team's situation, when she suddenly heard a yell coming from the Guild's entrance. "MEAT!!" A bit startled by the sudden sound, her head reflexively turned so that she could locate the source of the disruption. But no sooner had her gaze landed on the figure standing near the doorway than that figure suddenly moved. Her eyes were a bit slow in following it as it dashed past her and leaped onto a part of the tables that still actually had some food left on it. Only after the creature had begun to devour what was in front of it could Yuliana get a good look at it.
It was a young man -probably Yuliana's age, but she had a habit of thinking of people as 'young' even if they were a couple years older than her. Though there was a fair bit of distance between them, Yuliana could still easily distinguish details on his features, thanks to her good eyesight. As the young man turned his head, looking behind himself, she also noticed his eyes -they were of a nice red, V230-S499-Y449-W220-L039-B723-7.
The newcomer's entrance had quieted the hall down for a moment, and thus Yuliana could hear his nervous words from even where she was sitting. "Um....I'm here...to join?"
Upon hearing these words, Yuliana quickly finished what was left of her meal and turned to Sidney. "Sorry, Sidney, but I have to go. Guild work, thanks to the habits of our Master." She smiled a bit apologetically as she said this. "I hope you'll find a mission you'll like." After that, she rose up, heading out of the main area of the Guild. She went through a door on the side of the hall, entering a small corridor, and went through it into a small office -Gawain's office, officially speaking. Yuliana was a more common visitor, however. Not only did she come here regularly to clean it, but she also had to do what she was doing right now quite often.
Going straight to desk, she pulled out a certain drawer. From within, she pulled out the forms she needed. They would be the official records of the would-be Guild member. Since the newcomer was male, the Guild Master would probably not show much interest in him. After confirming that yes, he could use magic, he'd push the formalities onto someone else. Yuliana took initiative, as she had many times before, bringing the forms herself before anyone else got set into the task.

Forms in hand, Yuliana headed back for the main hall, and arrived just in time to hear Freya announce to the world that she was a cupcake. This sudden news caused a bit of confusion in Yuliana's mind.
Freya had always seemed more like a madeleine than a cupcake to her. But that was just her opinion.
Putting that aside, she also noticed two other new people in the hall, both at different entrances. One was standing near the door leading to the old basement -the Guild Master had renovated most of the place before the Guild had been established, but the basement had been left as-is. It was a person who seemed to be covered in dust. Yuliana did not recognize him. And the other person was H'Mong, standing near the entrance to the building itself. So he had finally arrived. Most of the food was already gone, though, so he was more than a bit late.

"Is this your zombie, your vampire, and whatever nonsense you were spewing? He's not the undead, but by the looks of it, he might be joining them soon," Izzy sighed. Freya nodded frantically, pointing at the living corpse.

"He tried to eat me!" Snapping her head around - and whipping the nearest person with her blonde hair in the process - Freya glared at H'mong, who'd only just arrived. Truly, Freya was a loveable person with very few grudges, if any at all. But she simply could not stand the presence of the purple haired mage, he reminded her too much of his brother.

"U-uhm, I'm not i-in trouble b-because I'm l-later than usual, ain't I?"

"Ooohhh, you're in so much trouble! Where in the Heavens have you been? I was almost devoured while you were asleep! In the name of pancakes, GET AN ALARM CLOCK!" Freya yelled, puffing out her cheeks and turning her entire face into a red tomato. It was unusual for Freya to be so rude and unfriendly but everyone who'd been in the guild for at least a month knew she uncharacteristically disliked H'mong.

'Freya, did you know the guild was broke? The headmaster just announced it, and asked as to go earn the guild some money,' Izzy's voice spoke in her head. Freya exhaled, pressing her tongue to her upper lip cheekily. 'Uhuh, Izzy. I gave Master Gawain some Jewels I had on hand but H'mong,' she shot a glare at her teammate, 'and I will soon go on another mission. The reward is 300,000,000 Jewels. Do you think that's enough to cover the desserts I ate today?' she thought, mouthing the words and gesturing despite them being in her head.

“Look, all of you just shut up, dammit! Where are we?! Who are you people? And if you don’t just leave Cedar alone, I’ll… I’ll… Um… Cedar, help me here!” shouted the tiny little girl.

"Ah… Hi there everybody…” the corpse spoke. It spoke!

Turning around - and whipping someone else with her hair in the process - Freya dashed at the vampire, shouting, "BANANA!!!" Leaping into the air, she curled her legs around the dead man's waist and hugged his head to her chest, very nearly toppling him over. "Oh, my poor, poor caramel headed finger food. Mommy'll take care of you," she cooed. Then, pulling back from him, she puffed her cheeks, gripped his face between her hands and narrowed her eyes before yelling, "EXCEPT YOU TRIED TO EAT ME!" Freya's lips pulled abruptly into a smile and she blew the dust from the blonde man's forehead before planting a gentle kiss on it. "You so cute, I wanna eat you too."

Looking over her shoulder - and whipping the corpse's face with her hair as she did - Freya smiled demurely at Izzy. "Can we keep it? Please? I'll take really good care of it, I promise. I'll take it out for walks, feed it, bathe it, love it, dress it up. I promise, Izzy! Pleeaasseee?" She turned around and pinched the corpse's cheeks whilst her legs were still wrapped around him, seeming to have forgotten her old fear of the undead in favour of a new toy. "Oooo, who's the cutest wittle patootie? You are! We need a name for you, don't we, little guy?" No, because it wasn't like the man was significantly taller than her or anything. "How do you like... Potato! You like that, Potato?"

Potato was a great name.



There is a place without joy. It is the end of everything. A hollowed tree filled with needles and lighters, nails and razor blades and cigarettes embedded in rotten lungs. A painting without edges, born of monsters and shards of might-have-beens. There is a place where a child used to play, a child that lasted for a billionth of a blink.

"Kaiya, right?" the young boy asks. I want to scramble away but I can't move. He will hurt me, like all the others, and I don't think I can bring myself to care. I don't think I can fight because I stopped fighting the dozenth time they hurt me.

"You should clean that," he continues, gesturing toward the jagged gaps in my back from the recent whipping. This man enjoyed the sound of crushed bones, of vicious whips unfurling in dead air, of the screams of the broken - that was all he wanted, I was lucky. "It'll fester and you'll die."

Fine, let me die.

He doesn't listen.

My curled body on the slick and sticky floors won't move and he comes closer, bending over me like all the others. But he's young and just as tainted as I am. His gentle eyes find mine and I'm ashamed of the dullness of my gaze, I'm ashamed because I'm more disgusting than he is. He doesn't seem to realise this as he takes my limp hand in his, as he rubs what looks like a bundle of dark green weeds on my wounds. I wonder how he got them but I can't be bothered to ask. Whatever he does to the pain in my back is nothing short of a miracle.

"You're not alone," he whispers and I find him close to me, yet instead of shivering fear, all I wish to do is to wrap his essence around me and bathe in it forever. He runs his fingers through my dark hair and I weep. There aren't enough oceans that can fill my pain but I weep, anyway, because that's all I wish to do right now. To be a small child for a little longer and crying is all I can think of to do. The boy pulls me gently towards him, setting my head on his lap and despite the heaviness of the chains around our ankles, I've never felt any lighter. His skin seems to cleanse my dirtiness, if only just a little. He sings a song I don't recognise and I don't think I've ever heard music before.

There is a place without joy. It is the end of everything. A broken ground where a tree used to be. Edged icicles and cracked walls, cactus floors and vertical roads, smoke-scraped paper throats. A blank canvas, dissolved by paint and the size of an atom, born of ghosts and cannot-bes. There is a place where no children play.

And then there's him.

"Calm down clown, we'll find them in a minute."
Amaya stood up, pulling down her short tube dress slightly and dropped the half-empty tray of truffles onto Issabella's lap.
"If you know any missions that might suite our mismatched little parade, be sure to tell me on my way back by...I have to go find a guitar."

She rolled her eyes at Izzy as if to prove how stupid this endeavor was, then moved to Browen's side.
"Okay, we'll find them, but no stalling. After we're picking a mission and getting money, no matter what."
"Where'd you last see them then?"

It is always reassuring to talk with Amaya, even if annoyed her the girl ended up helping anyway which was greatly appreciated by Browen, following her instructions the blue haired boy tried to remember his routine since waking in the morning: In the morning for some reason the half his body was hanging out of the bed, Browen saw the time and began to prepare for the feast, had hung on the wall three different hats Browen took the one with black feathers and put it on his head, considering that there was no mirror in his room that was the last time he saw the mentioned hat, he was about to leave his room when discovered that he was still naked so he opened the wardrobe and as always took a couple of items from the pile of clothes without actually seeing and began to dress as he left his room, his right hand grabbed one of many stringed instruments he kept in his room, He finished dressing just before reaching the guild hall where the feast would be served and began to play music as he waited to enliven the atmosphere, after a few moments he got sleepy so went to sleep.

"$%&/" he mumble something incomprehensible while had a foreign finger in the mouth and for some reason in front of his was the face of a girl who spoke hysterically, moments after Freya, the owner of the finger got away releasing his mouth "I think the guitar is on the wall" calmly repeated "I haven't seen my hat since the morning," the blonde's question echoed in his mind as he watched the stranger, a cold sweat ran down his back the little creature with him was definitely a fairy and Beasts Tamer of the circus told him about fairies, he walked towards there when he heard that Freya wanted to keep him "You can't keep him!, fairies eat your brain while you sleep and then control your body!" all knowledge that Browen has came from his life in the circus and had to say that Vark the Beast Tamer liked to exaggerate a bit with his stories.

Browen recalled the Guild's financial problems "Let's sell them" put his hands together "Wood-Make Cage" , with his magic created a precious bird cage to confine the fairies once someone catches.

"I'm not a clown" turned his head and looked at Amaya.

As Sikes felt the sensation of sweat falling along his face from the worry he had, he suddenly sensed the voice of someone talking in his head.

"Did you enjoy yourself?" Sikes shakes his head in hearing that voice as he looks around, then up to the roof, seeing if there was any"thing" around that did it. It wasn't until a female member of the guild walked up to him, around his age, and spoke in the very same voice that he heard in his head. "Don't worry, this food was for all the members, and if you intend to join, that you had every right to it as we do." On hearing that, his attitude changed as he gladly took the last remaining piece of meat from the table as and gobbled it down with ease. Letting out a satisfying sigh, the girl spoke to him once again. "The headmaster is just there if you would like to speak to him about joining." Following to where she pointed out, he nods and gives a grin. "Thanks a lot, brain talking girl." He suddenly calls her as he headed to the "master" she pointed out only to hear her speak into his head again. "Try to relax, alright?" "You have beautiful eyes." The bit about his eyes he didn't get as he lifted an eyebrow in confusion at that remark, muttering to himself. "Eyes?...what does that mean?"

"IT'S A DEMON!!! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!" That yell suddenly distracted him as he suddenly returned into a state of fear. "Shit! Am I already found out?!" He thought to himself as he turns to see the girl that suddenly yelled those words. Thankfully, to him, she wasn't talking about him but to some other guy that walked into the room. He slowly walked toward the commotion out of curiosity, when a small "bug" suddenly appeared with the one labeled as a "demon". Like a curious little puppy, he suddenly moved up to the small fairy, eyeing her down and giving a sniff. After his "analyses" he asked, "Are you some kind of bug?", to the fairy.

TO make things suddenly become even more confusing, the girl calling the guy a monster suddenly hugs him in a completely different personality. Taking a step back, he looks utterly confused at the scene as he gives once again a raising eyebrow in confusion. "Banana?..Potato?..You mean he's not made of meat like a normal human?"

Soon after he had finished his speech, Gawain saw the person a part of the speech was directed to coming towards him. He felt his mood fall a bit -he had intended her to come later, in private. He should've worded it a bit more carefully. Before the Guild Master could address Freya herself, the young woman suddenly apologized and handed him a heavy pouch full of money. He didn't know the exaxt value of the notes inside, but the sheer weight of the bag made it obvious that it was quite a large amount. Freya seemed to have misunderstood. She did not owe anything. All the food had been made using the Guild's money, and even if she hadn't eaten all those sweets, they would have still been there, the money spent. The food was free -at least for any members of Amaranth. If an outsider came, they would have to pay for whatever they ate, of course. Gawain was about to explain this to Freya and give the Jewels back, but the S Rank mage went on, explaining how she'd go on a mission to get even more money. And then she was gone, never giving the Guild Master any chance to respond.
Gawain stood there, pouch of Jewels in hand, staring after her as she left. After she had disappeared from sight, Gawain shook his head, sighing. There had been no need for her to give him this pouch of money. The Guild's share was always taken when a mission was completed. And Gawain could have paid for the everyday expenses himself until a couple missions had been completed. He was filthy rich, after all. He could have financed this entire feast without it having much effect on his savings. Of course, he would have taken back what the Guild owed him afterwards. While he was the Guild Master, he was not the Guild itself. His savings where a separate thing.
Deciding that he'd just consider this an advance payment for the Guild's share of the jobs Freya did, he walked over to where he'd left his bag. He put the pouch of money in, checking that everything that was supposed to be in the bag was still in the bag while he was at it. Official documents from the council, check. Own money pouch, check. Paper, envelopes and writing tools, check. Knife, check. Flint, check. Towel, check. Bundle of rope, check. Water flask, check. Picture of little Ravenna, check. Everything was in order. He closed the bag tightly and headed back to where he'd been near the stage.

It was then that someone decided to join their party. Yelling 'meat', a boy Gawain did not know -he may forget names, but he at least remembered the faces of the members of his Guild, no matter what their gender was- leaped onto a table and began to eat the finely made meat on them. Keeping an eye on what the boy ate, Gawain began calculating the cost of each slice. The food may be free for members of the Guild, but not for outsiders.
The arithmetics he was going through stopped when he heard the boy's words. "Um....I'm here...to join?" That changed things. If he was to become a member, the food would be free to him as well. Then he continued the calculations. Even if the boy said he wanted to join, that did not necessarily mean that he actually could. Anyone could just crash a party on the excuse of joining. He'd have to show that he's capable of some kind of magic before he's let in.
Gawain considered walking up to the boy and going talking to him about his intentions to join Amaranth. However, Issabella got to him first. Before Gawain had even moved, 'surprisingly'. It wasn't like he had intentionally thought about things slowly so that someone would save him the trouble of going to talk to the newcomer. Maybe she could even have Issabella take care of the entire thing. She should know the drill, having gone through it herself.
But alas, the S Rank mage made a motion towards the respectable Guild Master. It would seem like she directed the newcomer to him. More work for Gawain. Did she have no shame? Shoving all the work onto a poor old man, who was already shocked from seeing all his rainy day money going away to indulge his selfish subordinates?

Soon after he had accepted the fact that he would have to work again, there was another small event. Freya had come back up from the basement where she had disappeared to, and was yelling something about demons.
Gawain instantly turned to look in the direction of Freya's voice, ready to do something about the situation in case it was something serious -although he wasn't exactly surprised when he saw what it was really about. A figure coated in dust was standing in the doorway that lead into the basement. While it was certainly odd that someone who didn't belong to the Guild had been in the basement, looking like that, it was certainly no demon.
The blonde man couldn't have sneaked in -he'd made sure that he would know if a non-Guild member entered the main building. Meaning that he'd already been in before they'd settled in. Strange. He had checked the basement when he had chosen this building as Amaranth's main building back before the Guild had been formally established. There hadn't been anyone there back then. Of course, there was the possiblity that he'd simply been in a hard-to-spot place. The Guild Master hadn't exactly been thorough in his inspections. But then there was still one problem. The Guild had been active for quite some time already. How had the 'demon' survived down there for that long. Curious.
Then something even more curious happened. Issabella had left the would-be-member and gone to speak to the demon-from-the-basement. And soon afterwards, a tiny creature appeared. This instantly made Gawain focus his attention.
A small, flying creature. The first thing that popped into Gawain's mind was the word 'fairy'.
"I wonder if it has a tail", Gawain said out loud.

H'Mong, one of the few men in the Guild whose name Gawain actually remembered -since Freya quite often complained to him about H'Mong, it was hard not to remember it- had finally arrived to the feast at some point. The Guild Master noticed this for the same reason that he remembered the A Rank mage's name: Freya. When Freya turned his attention to something, the attention of the people around her naturally turned to the same thing. And for that reason, Gawain's attention did not stay on H'Mong for long, either, as the bubbly girl turned her attention back to the Basement-Demon.
And then the S Rank mage began to acted in a way that was eccentric even for her.
Apparently, the Basement-Demon would henceforth be known as Potato.
Well that was as good a name as any. Easy to remember, too. Potato it was, then.

The respectable Guild Master turned his face up to the skies -or, well, the ceiling- and moaned: "What have I gotten myself into?" He was absolutely certain that other guild masters didn't have to deal with things like this on a daily basis.

Amaya's long red hair flared out behind her as her head turned, glaring at yet another figure who was wolfing down food like no one else had to eat. What was it with these people! Though she did recognize that he was unfamiliar. Maybe a new member? He'd better pay for his own food. She nodded in confirmation when he announced awkwardly that he was their to join. Before she could make any attempt a social welcome, which probably wouldn't be all that social, knowing her, Browen made a sarcastic remark back at her causing her to raise an eyebrow, immediately thinking of a comeback.
"I'm not a clown,"
"IT'S A DEMON!!! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!"

Amaya jerked her head over, ignoring Browen's irking protest at the moment. Mention of a demon was truly something she was interested in. Unfortunately, it was just a dusty unfamiliar man who was soon deemed a potato. Freya was currently climbing all over him, poking and prodding like it was a new pet. Amaya rolled her eyes. It was just like the Princess to climb over a foreign man they knew nothing about, who'd been lurking in the basement. No potential danger in that.

She was stuck more so on the little fairy fluttering about, eyes widening slightly with the ridiculousness that such a creature was proved to be real.
Her attention was brought back to her near vacinity when Sidney reappeared, countering Browens statement that he wasn't a clown.

"I thought you were. It's impossible for a clown to dress in a practical way, if they try they explode. Luckily your D.N.A protects you from making silly mistakes. But I'm afraid you'll be forever a jester, sorry about that."

Amaya burst out into laughter genuinely amused by the fragile boys remark. She clapped him on the shoulder with a Cheshire grin, about to say how she was coming around to liking him more and more, when a bright sparkling light burst from where the Potato was standing.

“Cedar. We’re merging. Now. I’m going kill every single one of them.”

The red head stiffened at hearing the threat, slowly turning back towards the Potato and narrowing her eyes. She watched as the fairy flew into the man and he was sudden;y engulfed by crystals, complete with wings sprouting out his back, despite his protests.

The crystals spread to his neck, stopping at his chin, but going up through his hair and turning it into a platinum blonde color. The rest of his body began to be covered with the iridescent crystals, forming archaic markings in veins of gold colored crystals. Opal colored fairy wings burst from his back, stretching and moving, reflecting multicolored light all around the room. Finally, his body was covered with the crystals.

“Hmmm… Not a complete merge, but I guess it was a bit forced,” A womans voice chorused, and the confused dusty boy asked,

“Hey… Can someone tell me what’s going on?”

Amaya took a threatening step forward, a small coil of darkness ready. Her magic was particularly suitable to intense fights against light magic, which these crystals seemed to show, Though she wasn't sure. Though some believes Darkness and Shadow magic were weakest against light, she knew that for every light there was a shadow.

"I don't know whats going on, Potato. But I suggest you convince your flying friend to end your 'merge' immediately before harm comes to you. We don't take to kindly to death threats in our own guild, hm?"
Her voice was chilling.

Amaya glanced towards Freya, mentally chiding her to take care of her new pet. Honestly, Amaya had no other opinion of the moment, except that she had heard the guild be threatened, and though everyone could probably fend for themselves, she had felt the need to make a point.

She lowered her voice. "So, guys, think of any missions?"

No way she was letting her team off the hook just because a Potato showed up.

Cedar sat in a corner of the room, trying to avoid being noticed. He was still rather sore from being knocked around the day before. Not only that, he didnt really know why they had done that. It's not as if Liricia could really hurt them...

He sighed. He'd thought long and hard about everything the night before, and he'd come to a conclusion: he'd lost his memory. Though this would normally seem pretty obvious, he apparently hadn't lost all of it, at least. He vaguely remembered that he used fairy magic, that he was a Mage, and that he'd had six other fairies besides Liricia. What they actually did he was still unsure of. Well, not quite unsure. He knew what Liricia did, from when he had merged with her. She could make crystals that wer virtually indestructible. Though apparently they didn't help too much otherwise.

But now, of course, he didn't really know where Liricia was. It was nice enough for them to treat him well, at least after they'd hurt him, and given him a room, some clothes and nice food, but he wished that he knew where Liricia was. She was probably trying to find him right now, and he hopes she wasn't too worries. Not only that, but she was the only one here who knew about his past.

Pushing himself farther back into his corner, he hugged his knees. He was at a loss for what to do next, but if he could convince the people here not to hurt him again, he might stay for a while. They weren't bad people, and the girl who had seemed to like him yesterday and talked about potatoes a lot, who was now standing in the middle of the room singing a song he didn't understand, was nice enough.

A man he sort of recognized from the night before walked in and began to look at a broken table. Cedar was fairly sure the man was nice but, before he could go and ask him about where Liricia was, he turned around and began to speak. Cedar sighed and sunk back into his corner. Maybe he could try and find her on his own or something... If no one would tell him, he'd definitely do that.

Amaya cracked her eyes open with a groan, starring into the gloom of her dorm room with blurry eyes. She had a headache. Well, actually, she often had a headache when she woke up. If she didn't it meant she hadn't drunk anything, and if she hadn't drunk anything then it'd been a bad night. She threw off her remaining blanket, the others already clumped on the floor. She was a bit of a messy sleeper- or she at least kicked a lot- though otherwise, she looked dead, or so Amaya had heard.

The Dark mage hastily through her bed together, not bothering to straighten or flatten the sheets, so now, it was basically a ball of sheets sitting upon the mattress. Good enough.
She was about to leave when she realized she was naked save her bra and hot pants. Rolling her eyes, she padded softly across the plush black carpet of her dorm, throwing open her wardrobe to several similar, if not identical , outfits to what she was wearing yesterday. She grabbed one of the steel and leather dresses then pulled boots from the shelf of the wardrobe. After sliding them on, she pulled a pair of of black leather gloves and strapped on her katana. These were more mission appropriate clothes, she thought gleefully. Totally bad ass.

As she scooped her hair into it's usual ponytail, Amaya was excited. Once word had come in of a mission for some stone or whatever, she'd hastily volunteered her team from the bar, throwing aside her wish to pick the mission with Sidney and Browen. Oh, well, it was her turn any way, they'd live. Besides, Izzy and the new boy were coming too, so it'd be pretty exciting. She smiling happily at the prospect of action- then glanced at the clock. her smile dropped immediately and her purple eyes
blinked a few disbelieving times. She was late. Well, not late in her mind set, but everyone else would be awake by this time and ready to go since it was nearly 9:00. She groaned and quickly left her room, glad her headache wasn't too bad.

She rushed into the main room, pausing to glance around. First she noticed Potato, since he was in a corner, and corners were always the first place she looked, because they always held people who didn't want to be seen. So naturally, Amaya wold see them.
Then she spotted her team members.... well, she wasn't sure what they were doing exactly. Just that Browen was playing a song and Sidney's army of stuffed abominations were crawling all over everyone.

And then there was the new boy, what was his name, Spike? Anyway, he seemed to have ruined the table though the master was quickly fixing it up.

Amaya took the long was around the room to them pausing by Potato to assess the damage Izzy had done to him the night before. She'd watched amused from the bar while the S-Mage beat the fairy merged boy to a pulp. Surprisingly, he didn't look to bad.
Not knowing if he was a member now or just a captive of some sort, Amaya gave him a little smirk and a nod as she walked by.
"Morning Potato."

She moved over to the group of the others, noting that Freya had yet to tie her dress, not that it was anything new. She never seemed to tie her clothes on her own. She had arrived just in time to hear Gawain greet everyone.

"Good morning, ladies. And the others."

"Morning old man," Amaya greeted back. "Morning to you too girls- having some clothing trouble again Angel?"
Being in a general good mood because of the oncoming mission, Amaya plucked a stuffed animal from Freya and quickly laced up her back with practiced hands. Though the girl usually asked Izzy, everyone in the guild had had to do her clothes one time or the other.
Then she glared slightly at Browen and Sidney.
"Way to wake me up guys, I appreciate it. Oh, welcome to the guild," She added to Spike- or was it Sikes?

She created a small shadow arm by the bar to toss her a bottle of wine.
"Let's get going everyone, villages don't save themselves."

And with that she was fully ready to walk out the door

They disappeared.

Freya laughed at Izzy's failed attempt at - well, she wasn't sure what - but it was funny. She stepped out of her pastel blue panties, a row of miniature gems encircling the rim. Picking up the small piece of cloth, Freya flung it at the nearest person, chuckling at everything and nothing at all.

Holding her spine upright was becoming rather tiring so Freya crawled onto a table, lying her small back on the cool wood. She grasped the magical teapot in her hands, putting the long stout in between her lips into her mouth. The blissful liquid burned down her throat, filling her stomach with a familiar heat. With her blonde hair sprawled across the table, falling over the edges, Freya moaned. Lovely, lovely tea.

She pulled her legs up, planting her feet on the table but lifting her thighs and knees - god knew what she was flashing to the entire world. Freya didn't quite understand the concept of decency and the inappropriateness of some of her actions. Such thoughts were unnecessarily complex and irrelevant as far as she was concerned.

Turning her head toward Gawain, Freya pulled the teapot from her mouth, her lips painted a deeper red from the wetness of the liquid. "I'll go soon, master," she mumbled.

Drawing her leg slowly over the table, she planted one foot on the bench - she was too short to touch the floor from this height - while her other leg remained sprawled on the table. Turning her body at a rather uncomfortable angle, the young woman tried to step onto solid ground. But balance and coordination were not her strong points and she ended up rolling onto the floor, slumping her body onto the hard wood.

Freya groaned, dragging herself upright and jumping to her feet. "Let's go!" she yelled, snatching H'mong's hand and planting a quick kiss on Gawain's cheek as she continued on her merry way.

Her ears tingling as her small feet raced across the wood, Freya frowned. The room to her left felt strange. The soft floating sounds of the particles indicated a person had disturbed the silence until not long ago - the tapping of her feet echoing against the hollowness and the fewer particles of dust - in the shape of a male. Yes, the emptiness sounded rather tall with a slim build.

Potato.

Wiggling the handle, Freya found that it was locked. "Open," she commanded H'mong.

It was empty.

Running back towards the guild, she skidded to a stop as her lips parted to ask Gawain where they'd put her baby. The question stopped at her mind when her eyes found the mid-length blonde standing by the food.

Dashing across the room, Freya dived onto Potato and enveloped him in a bone-crushing hug. For such a small girl, she gave killer embraces.

"Potato! Oh, my poor baby - did the mean people lock you in there? My poor, poor Potato," Freya cooed, planting kisses all over the ex-corpse's forehead and hair. "I'll take care of you, little guy!" she purred, taking Potato's hand in hers as she raced back toward Gawain.

"Master," she called, waving her arms about and shaking her new toy's hand in the air. Freya beamed, "Look what I found!"

Turning to her fellow blonde, she asked, "Would you like to follow H'mong and I on our mission, Potato?" Freya frowned, giving Gawain a sideway glance as if to ask 'Why in the Heavens must I be on the same team as H'mong?' as she continued, "Or would you like to keep master Gawain company? He's a very nice man. You should learn everything you can from him. He treats women with unparalleled kindness and respect. Gawain is a great man." Freya nodded, as if speaking to herself.

Then, turning to H'mong, she pursed her lips and wiggled them from side to side. "I guess we should go now. Amaranth needs money, you know."

Turning on her heel, Freya raced to her room, snatched of her many quivers with its bow and arrows and raced back to H'mong, Gawain and Cedar, jumping up and down in excitement.

"We're going on a trip on our favourite rocket ship," she sang. "Zooming through the sky! Little Einsteins!"

Giving Gawain a sudden farewell kiss on his lips - she didn't quite understand the meaning of kisses but she liked them and figured everyone else did, too; Freya ran out the door.

"We're running all the way there!" she announced, her short legs surprisingly fast.

Then, stopping abruptly, she tapped her chin and laughed. "Silly me." Meteor. Shutting her eyes for a long blink, her body began to glow. A warm light of gold shone from her skin and when she snapped her eyes open, two orbs of Suns replaced the blue of her irises while an invisible wind picked up the locks of her thick blonde hair. Turning her head around, Freya grinned, her teeth very literally sparkling. "Race you there."

And off she went - disappearing into a blazing zig-zag of golden light.

Gawain watched events unfold after his greeting. Amaya's quickness at going to work on Freya's dress made him a bit disappointed, since not only did it take away the chance for Gawain to do it himself, but it also stopped Freya on her tracks when seemed to be ready to come greet the Guild Master. And after the dress had been laced up properly, the S Rank mage seemed to forget about her earlier eagerness in greeting the lonely old man. Well, not everything always went as one might have hoped. The Guild Master looked curiously at Freya's teapot as the girl poured herself something to drink from it. He'd been curious about the thing for a while now, for some reason, but Freya had seemed reluctant to let him take a look at it. He didn't know why, but he didn't insist. It wasn't like tea was the most interesting thing in the world, anyway. The person drinking it was much more interesting.
Before he could go over and talk to Freya, Meat responded to Gawain's greeting. "Morning, Sir! Sorry about the table, I fell off my bed! I promise to do a good work on my first job, Sir!" How formal. He didn't like formality towards him. It made it seem like he was actually a person of high status, with responsibility. Well, he was, but he liked to ignore that fact. So he didn't like people like Meat who reminded him of it. And the boy had been the one who'd broken the table? Formality and breaking furniture. He wasn't off for a good start. Nevertheless, the Guild Master gave the boy an acknowledging nod. While his personality could do some polishing, the Guild Master had some expectations of him.

Soon, the boy was gone, along with Issabella and Amaya's team. Gawain, however, barely even noticed that. Something much more interesting had happened. Some lower undergarment -related activity between the two S Rank mages of Amaranth. Freya even threw this aforementioned lower undergarment away. Not only that, but she then got onto a table and took a rather risky position, in which her skirt rose out of the way to reveal a lot of things to the outside world.
Sadly, Gawain was unlucky in both matters. His eyes following the most fascinating piece of fabric that the Princess had just thrown away, he saw how it ended up in the hands of H'Mong, the only man apart from himself whose name Gawain actually remembered. He glared at the man for a moment, until he heard Freya speak to him. "I'll go soon, master." Hearing this, the Guild Master turned to look in her direction. He still hadn't cleared the misunderstanding. Sadly, the girl had already left her most interesting position, robbing Gawain of the opportunity.

What a horrible start for a day.
First, he'd had to take care of a broken table. Then, he hadn't been able to take care of Freya's clothes. People he'd been meaning to talk to left before he got the chance to do so. And then these two things. Not a good start for a day, not at all.

But then the sweet young thing, the Princess of Amaranth, came and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Well, it wasn't such a bad day after all.

While he was still feeling good about the pleasant surprise, Freya returned -he hadn't actually noticed her leaving- with Potato in tow. Then she proceeded to ask Potato a question: "Would you like to follow H'mong and I on our mission, Potato? Or would you like to keep master Gawain company? He's a very nice man. You should learn everything you can from him. He treats women with unparalleled kindness and respect. Gawain is a great man." Gawain nodded in approval at this. There was at least one person in this world who understood what Gawain was really like: Freya.
Well, there was another one as well, of course. Though that girl was never honest, she was, deep down, a sweet girl, just like Freya. How was she doing, anyway? He hadn't seen her in many years. She had probably grown up to be even more beautiful than she had been back then. He should go see her sometime. Ravenna would surely be delighted to see him again.
Before the Guild Master took this train of thought any further, Freya came back once again and gave him another kiss -this time on the lips.

What a wonderful day. Yes, a wonderful day indeed.

It was good to see that he had made this much progress. That was the first time Freya -who was, at the moment, zooming out of the building- had kissed him on the lips. Maybe he'd give her a welcome back -kiss when she returned from her mission. In any case, this showed that he had made progress in his master plan to create Fiore's strongest Mage Harem. After securing Freya, he should move for Issabella. Or maybe it would be easier to go for the lower ranked ones, since they would be a bit easier to influence. But then again, they would also have a weaker bond to the Guild, and would be more ready to leave if he made a mistake. Oh, the men would be guards. Though they wouldn't really be needed, considering that his harem was supposed to be the strongest one. Maybe he should just kick them off after he was done with securing all the women? Although some of them were rather useful.
And some were also interesting.

Gawain spun around, turning to look at Potato. "Go ahead, Potato. Ask me anything, and it'll be yours! I'm in a good mood right now." The respectable Guild Master was positively glowing with satisfaction. Then he seemed to remember something. "Oh, right." He put a hand into the bag he was carrying, and brought out his notebook. He opened a page and read it. Then he extended his other hand towards Potato, palm up. "Since you're not a member of the Guild, that'll be five thousand Jewels for the food and lodgings."

Cedar blinked. "Hey, mr. Creepy man, what are jewels?"

He knew that they were small, shiny objects that came from inside the earth, but beyond that, not much else.

"Ah! I do know that I don't have any! Does that help, mister?" He asked, smiling brightly at the man. Then he remembered that he needed to ask him about Liricia.

"Hey, you know that fairy that I had, Liricia? I can't find her. Where is she?" He asked the man. While he was at it, he might as well ask a few other questions that was on his mind. "Also, if you're not going to give me a potato, why do you keep talking about them? And where is this? And why did that lady hurt me yesterday? And who are you? Oh, and who am I?"

He took a deep breath. He hadn't breathed until he finished the set of questions, and he decided now that this wasn't all that good of an idea. For the future, he should probably breathe. As he shifted from foot to foot in front of the guild master, his thoughts shifted to his hazy memories. He was starting it remember something more about a particular fairy, actually. Not Liricia, of course. She was already in. His memory, though nothing that connected with who he was or his past. This new fairy, though, he knew was much larger. About the size of a human, actually. And she had a sword. Or was it a he? Cedar couldn't figure it out, and he felt the feeble memory slipping away from him like a fish in his hands.

Potato didn't pay what he owed. Instead, he proceeded to ask the Guild Master what Jewels were. And he called Gawain creepy. What was creepy about him? Wasn't he a great man, like Freya had said? However, before he could object, Potato sent a barrage of questions at him.
Gawain stared at the young man in front of him who sent forward his many questions, keeping his face expressionless. Then, when Potato had finally finished, the Guild Master took a deep breath, much like the one Potato took, before answering his questions one by one.
"Jewels are the currency of Fiore. Money. Like this." He brought out a few high-value notes from his bag, showing them to Potato. "You pay for things -like food and lodgings- with it. Its important. And yes, it helps to know that you don't have any. Know I know that I'll have to make you work for what you owe, instead." That would probably mean having him join the Guild. That was troublesome. He hated going through all those procedures again and again. It would have been much simpler to just have the boy pay in cash. Well, what had happened yesterday...
"As for the fairy..." Gawain continued after a brief pause. So it really was a fairy. At least if Potato was to be trusted. "She's being kept under watch. I'll show her to you later. AFTER we decide on how you're going to pay your debt." ...It had been interesting. The 'fairy', and how she had 'merged' with Potato. It piqued Gawain's interest, at least a bit. So it might be good to have Potato stay around for a bit.
"And who said about not giving you potatoes? If my nose is right, that's the scent of potatoes coming from the kitchen. You'll have some to eat soon enough. Which will increase your debt, by the way." Unless he joined the Guild, of course. Food was free for the members of the Guild. As long as they went on missions regularly. The scent of food reminded Gawain that he was hungry as well. He'd been awake for several hours already, but hadn't eaten anything yet. After this thing was done with, he'd have a good meal.
"Where is this? This is the main building of Amaranth, my har- I mean, of Amaranth, the Mage Guild. Mages gather at this place to find jobs to do, which will let them earn some money." He had no idea whether Potato knew what a guild was or not, so he explained it, just to be safe.
"That lady -whose name is Issabella, by the way, remember it- had to hit you in order to subdue the thing you call Liricia. Which is the obvious thing to do when someone threatens to kill you, really." Not that it had really been a threatening situation. Most members of the Guild could handle themselves, and many of the strongest members of Amaranth had been gathered at the feast.
"And I am Gawain Harlen, the Master of this Guild. I'm the most important person in this place." That wasn't boasting, but a simple fact. He didn't like that. He would have been much happier being unimportant.
"And you are Potato. You are the epitome of potato-ness, the thing all potatoes strive to be. You shine your blessing upon them like a prophet, come to foretell the coming of the golden age of potatoes. No man, no horse, no watermelon, no potato can deny that you are the true and rightful emperor of all potatokind. Verily, thou art Potato."
Gawain grabbed a bottle of wine that someone had left on the table. It was still closed. He opened it, took a good gulp, and put it down. "Understood? Any other questions?"

And then more troublesome things happened. "Excuse me? I'd like to become a mage!"
Gawain's head turned around in a flash. And then turned back as soon as he saw the person's gender, letting out an exasperated sound. "Another one?" There sure had been a lot of newcomers lately. And all men. Why couldn't he get a charming new girl instead?
"Come in, welcome", he said in a monotonic voice, lifting his arm at the direction of the newcomer lazily. "Welcome to Amaranth, I am the Guild Master, Gawain Harlen, show me what you can do, and then head into the kitchen." He said all this without changing his tone in the slightest. At the moment, he had no interest in working in the Guild Master's position, so he intended to shift the responsibility to someone else. Yuliana was probably in the kitchen right now. At least there was food on the tables, and few others than Yuliana cooked for everyone without being asked. She'd take care of the paperwork.
But, of course, he couldn't give her the entire job. Even he didn't have to do the paperwork, he had to be the one to verify that the person wanting to join actually could use magic, and wasn't of danger to the Guild. So, he turned about to look at the newcomer again. "Come on, let's get this over with. Show me what you can do with your magic." His tone was no longer the monotone of before, but rather a tired one.

The respectable Guild Master pulled back a chair from the table close by, turned it around and sat on it so that he could see the newcomer. It was a small boy with blonde hair. Another blonde? As if Potato wasn't enough. He didn't have anything against blonde hair, mind you. After all, he loved Freya's hair. But these were men, not women. He didn't care about men in the first place, so they should at least show some variety in order to make it a bit easier for him to remember them. And he did need to remember them -not as a person, but as a Guild Master. No matter how much he disliked it, he had the duty to know each and every one of the people in the Guild, regardless of gender, and know their strengths and weaknesses. But how was he supposed to remember them when they were all the same? This boy had better do something unusual enough to make it easy for Gawain remember him. Like rush into the room yelling 'meat' and leap onto a table. Or have a fairy with him, or have Freya give him an interesting nickname.
Or maybe he'd have some interesting type of magic. Even if he didn't remember people, he remembered magic types, and could associate them with their users. That was another thing that Meat had that made him interesting -for a male, of course. There was something curious about the magic he used.
How about the boy who was in front of him now?

Cedar
Cedar inspected the other new person as the man, Gawain, explained the answers to all his questions. He the answers, quite truthfully, confused him. He didn’t know what the man was talking about when he said guilds or that he was a master, but he tried to follow along as well as he could. The news about Liricia concerned him, though. If he couldn’t find her, he wouldn’t know about his past… And he believed that Liricia could tell him why he didn’t know that he was actually a potato, and how he was able to rule over his brethren. Did that mean that he couldn’t eat them? That would be bad. He might have to stop being a potato if it meant that. If he could stop being a potato, that is. Maybe Liricia was a potato as well? No, he was sure that she was a fairy…

Cedar sighed and opened his mouth to ask Gawain what to do. It was obvious that Gawain didn’t especially like him, and Cedar found it somewhat unnerving the way that he looked at some of the other people that had been in the room earlier.

Suddenly, though, Cedar was ripped from his thoughts by the exploding of a bottle full of liquid. Cedar fell backward with a yelp and scurried away as the boy that had just walked in proceeded to make a chair and a bottle to be destroyed.

He stood from the ground and rushed forward to hide behind Gawain, crouching and hanging on his clothes while cowering.

“IMSORRYISWEARIDIDNTDOITPLEASEDONTHURTMESCARYPERSON!!!!” he said, his voice quivering. The boy looked angry. He didn’t want angry mages to be around him. They were scary, as he had learned the night before. Peeking over Gawain’s shoulder, he peered at the violent, destructive boy in front of them.


Meer (“Rain of Blades”/War Fairy)
“So he’s awake…” Meer said, half to herself. She sat on a hill overlooking the town of Oshibana, where she had found herself wandering to. She felt herself drawn to the town by a magical power, one that couldn’t have belonged to any human but Cedar, her master.

“You say that as though it’s a good thing,” a bitter voice that came from a pitch black, winged silhouette beside her remarked. “He abandoned us. That man is nothing but a damned traitor.” She spat out the words as though the very presence of Cedar in her mind was disgusting.

Meer turned toward the figure. Her name was Irios, the fairy of shadow. Her form was in stark contrast with any of the other fairies, being only a silhouette of a tall, human sized woman with wings. Her only features were the emerald green eyes that stared out from the darkness of her body. Even Meer’s own appearance, that of a red haired, rather attractive human women with wings that she often hid, though larger than most fairies, was not quite so odd.

She looked at the huge sword that sat beside her, encased large leather sheathe, on the hillside. It had been a gift from her to Cedar long ago, which she had taken with her when Cedar was no longer able to use it many years ago. In the centuries gone by, the sword had cleaved and bit a path of carnage, its bloodied blade now stained with the blood of monsters and humans, beings with power and skill. Their bodies littered its past in the thousands, and Meer had taken the power and skills of each, being absorbed into the blade, all in preparation for the time that her master would awaken once again. The blade itself, in Cedar’s absence, had gained the title “Scarlet Desire”, given to it when Meer had asked a skilled mage to name it as he slowly succumbed to death, the blade buried in him, almost a century ago.

Meer smiled. She was finally able to see him again. The event would end the whirlwind of blood and death that he life had become, the same way that his first appearance to her had.

“He never abandoned us… Liricia did that, to save him. Did you forget?” Meer said softly, frowning at the memory. It was not a very happy one, and she and tried to forget it many times.

“Liricia… The little brat is to blame for imprisoning him, but he was still at fault. Using that wretched power of his... When he had our magic to use, too. He was to blame.” Irios said finally. They had been through the conversation many times before, and they still had not reached a conclusion.

“He had no choice. We were not able to help him, though we could have, had we taken the chance.” Meer was finished with the conversation, and stood, picking up the sword with her. Irios hissed.

“Do what you will, Irios. Should you decide that you wish to see Cedar, we will meet again soon. I wish you luck in your endeavors,” Meer said, beginning to walk towards the town.

The Guild Master looked at the boy, wanting him to hurry up. He had other things to do. He readied Analysis in order to examine the newcomer as he used his magic. Then Gawain noticed something. A grin, which he believed to be mischievous, had appeared on the boy's face. A tiny bit of curiousity sparked in Gawain's mind. The boy intended to do something. Maybe the process of admitting him to the guild -or refusing him- wouldn't be quite as tedious as he had imagined.
The boy began to stride towards him, and, curiously, took off his gloves. As he came closer, Gawain activated Analysis. And he instantly noticed something strange. Magical energy kept coursing through the boy. More specifically, through his hands. It was as if he was already using magic, even though nothing seemed to happen.
The Guild Master did not get the chance to ponder this curious thing for much longer, as his bottle was suddenly destroyed by a simple touch from the boy. So that was it, the meaning behind the boy's smirk. He intended to give the old man a dramatic first impression. Inwardly, Gawain gave a smirk of his own. He kept his physical face completely neutral, however.
When the boy's other hand went for the chair Gawain was sitting on, he turned off Analysis. He'd need to focus in order to do this perfectly.
As expected after seeing what happened to the bottle, the chair beneath him soon began to break down. He hadn't had the time to use Analysis to determine how exactly the boy's magic worked, but it was still obvious enough that the chair would break, too. Gawain saw the chair weaken. It was almost as if it was growing older, but not quite. He didn't have much time to observe the curious phenomenon, as the chair was soon unable to support his weight. "I don't know who you are but I've got some advice. Never underestimate me", the boy said.
At that very moment, the place in time when the chair broke, Gawain lifted his feet so that he wasn't touching the ground in any way.
And activated Freedom.

The chair broke, its pieces falling to the floor.
The man who had been sitting kept sitting.
On air.

Free from the grasp of gravity, there was nothing pulling the Guild Master down, so even though there was nothing to support him, he didn't fall. He simply sat there, in midair, looking at the boy in front of him with a neutral face. His feet were off the ground as well, extended before him, as if resting on a footrest.
He stayed like that for a moment. Just long enough for it to sink in to the boy who'd just demonstrated his magic to understand what had just happened. Then he reached with his hand towards one of the tiny shards of the broken bottle on the table, moving in a languid manner. He activated Analysis, studied the shard for a moment, and then used Repair.
The bottle, which had been broken into hundreds upon hundreds of tiny shards, gathered back together. The bonds which had existed between its many different parts were reformed, and within three seconds of the shard being touched, it sat upon the table as if nothing had happened.
Well, except for the wine. The wine was still covering the table -and Gawain's hand and arm. And some was on the floor.
Glass was easy. Well-made glass, with no air bubbles or the like, had an orderly structure, with easy-to-understand bonds between its parts. Thus, if you knew the shape a glass object had held before it had broken, it was child's play to Repair it. Infinitely easier than repairing a broken table.

Or a chair, for that matter. The instant he finished Repairing the bottle, he turned his Analysis towards the chair. And he cursed inwardly. The boy had done a thorough job. He hadn't simply broken the chair. While the remaining parts were relatively large, they were broken off in quite a troublesome manner.
Well, it was better to have a little challenge. He didn't show the slightest bit of emotion on his face, and Analyzed the chair. After six seconds, he had determined the former structure of the chair, and used Repair again. The chair began to reassemble itself under him, its parts slowly growing back together. Even the leather, which had seemed ancient after the boy's treatment, regained its former appearance.
In another six seconds after he'd finished the Analysis on the chair, or twelve seconds after the bottle had been restored, he released Freedom, letting gravity hold him again. When he did so, the chair was in perfect condition under him again, fully supporting his weight. He let his feet fall back to the floor.

The respectable Guild Master looked at the blonde boy in front of him -he had completely forgotten about Potato, who was cowering behind him. Then he slowly opened his mouth, and said: "I believe, that that is my line", in reference to the boy's earlier words.
He let the feeling sink in for some time. Then he added something. "By the way, the wine you spilled was of a particularly fine vintage of a particularly fine wine. You now owe the Guild forty-seven thousand and eight hundred Jewels, or maybe eight thousand or so less, since I already drank some of it." He was actually telling the truth. While he hadn't realized it when he'd first opened the bottle, he'd been drinking some of the most expensive wines Amaranth had.
"Putting that aside, you pass." The Guild Master reached into his bag -with his non-wine-soaked hand- and pulled out a small box after a moment of searching. He threw it to the boy. "Get into the kitchen -just follow your nose- and give that to the red-haired girl in there. At least she should be there. If she's not, bring me something to eat. I'm hungry."
Gawain paused. "I'd kill to eat Potato right now." He had intended to say 'potatoes', actually, but the word had somehow become shorter as it had left his mouth.

Through sparkling green lenses, Ben watched in amazement as the man sat on the air. He seemed to be surrounded by an air of authority, an air of power. Shivers ran down the boy's spine. Sudden movement caught his attention as the other blonde boy ran behind the floating mage. The blonde mage's body was trembling in fear. Ben tilted his head curiously. Had something happened before he got here? The realization struck him like a brick to the face.

'H-He's scared of me.'

Tears began to swell in the young boy's eyes. His hand reached out towards the trembling mage, grasping at air. "Please, don't be afraid. Don't be like everyone else." The clink of glass drew Ben's gaze. The large man was now standing, holding the bottle that he had completely destroyed. The wine still stained the floor beneath him. His eyes widened in astonishment as the chair began to knit itself together. The rips in the leather seemed to close up like they had a zipper attached, the broken wood interior rose from the floor and flew into their proper places, even the age of the chair itself seemed to disappear under his magic. After approximately six seconds, the chair stood as new.

"I believe, that that is my line" Benjamin turned away and quickly wiped the tears on his sleeve. No way was he going to show weakness now when he's so close to getting in. "By the way, the wine you spilled was of a particularly fine vintage of a particularly fine wine. You now owe the Guild forty-seven thousand and eight hundred Jewels, or maybe eight thousand or so less, since I already drank some of it." "W-What!" His tiny hands began fiddling with each other, a sure sign that he was feeling nervous. 'I can't believe it. I've been involved with mages for two hours and I already owe them sixty-two thousand Jewels!'

Before he could reply however, a red box flew toward him. Ben caught it easily with his enhanced reflexes, twisting his wrist to get a better look at it. He had no idea what it contained, only that it was light enough to catch with one hand. "Putting that aside, you pass." A large grin broke out on the young blonde's face and was swiftly followed by cute, giggling laughter. His white-clad hands shot out and clamped around the large man's. "Thank you sir! I promise you that you won't regret it!" "Get into the kitchen -just follow your nose- and give that to the red-haired girl in there-" That was all Ben needed to hear and, after offering one final wave to the blonde mage, raced off to the kitchens. The sweet smell of desserts filled his nostrils as he got closer. The people in the guild were nothing like his parents had described them. His mom had told him they were vile, nasty people who killed for fun. She was obviously wrong. These people were all happy! Drunk, but happy. It seemed laughter was a second language here. Ben smiled, he was sure he was going to like it here.

He wandered into the kitchen. Cooking food assailed his senses. A huge pig was roasting on a rotisserie at the far wall. Colorful fruit was laid out everywhere. "Hello? I'm a new mage an I was told to come here!" 'Just you watch Gildartz, I'm going to become an S-class mage and pay back your debt ten-fold!'