Author's Note:
Good day everyone. I've got a few notes to update people on as far as OC submission for this project goes, but I'll address most of those at the bottom of this chapter. First and foremost is an issue I think needs immediate attention. I admit, the fault probably lies mostly with me not being clear enough, but Ragnarok's Call is without a doubt a dark guild. I had a few OC submissions which were quite possibly some of the nicest OCs in the world and I'm sure you all can see how that might be an issue. But that comes as a relief in one way. Now to achieve the feeling I fell short of last time, I get to go a little darker. Be sure to tell me if it's too much.
August 16th, X799, Afternoon, The town of Dewberry
To the East of the Valley lay a mountainous region which had been treacherous long before Ragnarok's Call had taken up residence there. But if one were to go further East, then they'd run into a forest which housed many small villages and towns. One such place was the town of Dewberry.
This was a town which was deep in the forest and as such had always been a common stopping place for traveling soldiers or rune knights. People from all over would pass through the town and more often than not would have only good things to say about the people and the town itself.
Despite residing in the forest, the small town seemed to present a feeling of modernity meets seclusion. There were simple dirt paths which branched off from the singular stone path that ran through the middle of town. Along the dirt paths, many small houses could be found beside slightly bigger buildings which served as family owned businesses such as a bakery, a doctor's office, a deli, and many more. The buildings varied in design from mostly wooden structures to stone structures. Towards the center of the town was the town's largest building. A three story school made of stone. All of the town's children went to school here, with the younger children on the bottom floor and a library on the top floor. The middle floor housed the older kids and this is where one child was currently in the midst of explaining his reason for wanting to leave school.
His name was Max Copperfield. He was 16 and despite having been orphaned from a young age the freckled face boy with shaggy black hair and big brown eyes remained full of life and excitement.
"Please Mr. Manson," cried Max. "I'm ready to go out on my own. I'm ready to meet new people and see new places and have an adventure!"
Mr. Manson, a tired old man whose dress clothes never seemed to button properly, had his eyes glued on Max. He couldn't help, but feel worry for the young man before him. He'd seen Max grow up before his eyes and it was true. Max was brave. He'd leap into any danger to help someone, but Mr. Manson's age brought him experience and the knowledge that there were dangerous people out there that even he couldn't fathom. He was sure that the short, skinny kid who barely had a handle on magic could make it by themselves and yet… He found himself incapable of denying the smile hiding behind Max's crocodile tears.
"Argh," grumbled Mr. Manson. "Fine. You can go. Just make sure to pack suppli…"
With a quick swipe at something hidden under his desk, Max had a short stick with a sack hanging over his shoulder.
A bright smile sprung up onto his face and he ran for the door as he called out to his teacher. "You won't regret this Mr. Manson. I'm gonna join a mages guild and the next time you see me, I'm gonna be so strong it'll blow you away!"
"Yes, yes," grumbled the old man once more. "And it's 'going to'. Not 'gonna'!"
August 16th, X799, Afternoon, A road east of Poppy Village
Max strolled out onto a road that he was sort of certain would lead to the Valley; a place with some of the strongest guilds in Fiore.
"It's gonna be great!" Max exclaimed to no one as he bounded down the road. "I can't wait to join a guild. But what guild should I join? Will they even accept me? Well, I'm sure it'll be fine. My magic is so cool, they'll be sure to let me in!"
And so he continued on down the path, his childlike innocence allowing him to forget that the journey was likely to take several days and running all the way there wasn't going to happen.
It took no more than a few minutes until that same notion smacked him right in the head and he was forced to stop for a breather.
While he stopped to catch his breath, two rune knights passed by him. He was instantly certain that they were headed to Dewberry. This was common place for him growing up. Often knights would come to town and they'd play with the little kids or tell stories. It made Max happy to see more knights going into the village while he was on his way out. It reassured him even more and so as they passed him, he saluted them and they stopped to chat with him.
They asked if Dewberry was close and if he was traveling alone. He told them he was and how he was going to join a mage's guild when he got to the Valley. After telling him to be safe and to travel as fast as possible, they told him another platoon of knights was likely to pass him on his way then they wished him luck and went on towards Dewberry. A few more minutes passed and Max did the same.
He went over every fantasy he'd had about being a mage. About being a hero. And about being the strongest. Each one seeming like a chapter in a grand adventure that would start the moment he reached the Valley.
He'd been walking for a few hours and as was custom for him when he got excited, which was usually all of the time, he began talking about his dreams aloud. Something which was fine in Dewberry and would be fine anywhere or any time, but the kid from Dewberry with dreams' whose meaning were grander than he could fathom was also the unluckiest.
Just after passing a group of traveling merchants and once more unveiling to the world all he was going to accomplish, two figures in black cloaks, going about their own business, stepped onto the path before him.
Max stopped immediately. He was never nervous around strangers and even with his bright smile maintaining its composure; he couldn't shake the feeling that he should stop moving forward. He should go in any direction, but forward. As fate would have it the two figures had stopped moving forward as well at this point.
And so they stood with their eyes glued on one another and the naïve boy opened his mouth to speak first.
"Hi there," he called. "Are you heading to Dewb-"
"What garbage were you just spouting?" hissed a woman's voice.
It was a tone he was unfamiliar with. He'd never felt such a hatred from a friend, much less a stranger and so he cluelessly tried to explain himself.
"I was talking about all of the great stuff I'll get to do once I join a mage's guild," he responded cheerfully.
"Ooh?" began the woman. "You're a mage, huh?"
"Yup," said Max "My magic is so cool. I'm gonna be one of the strongest mages there ever was!"
There was a moment for Max. A feeling that most people become accustomed to as they grow older; a feeling that they'd made a mistake that would have consequences they could never avoid.
Even with the sunlight fading and the figures in black being a little too far to see clearly. Max was certain he saw the woman smile. Not the smile Mr. Manson gave when Max behaved. Or the smile the baker had when fresh bread was put out. It was a smile that held an emotion he was simply too inexperienced to understand.
The woman felt a moment of excitement that she'd come to truly love. The idea of an interesting magic was a little too much for her to bear. Her companion seemed to notice and with a sigh of frustration he said, "Make this quick Kyula. We have a mission to complete."
The woman named Kyula removed her hood and began walking forward. She came closer to Max and he could see she was older than him. She was a little taller than he was as well and certainly more physically fit. Her skin was brown and her hair was pure white in color and kept in a delicate, practiced fishtail braid reaching the small of her back.
But Max seemed to be more fixated on her dark brown eyes. To him, she was gorgeous. Certainly there were girls his age back home, but the woman before him held that charm that seemed to naturally enrapture men.
Through the part in her cloak, he could tell that she wore a pair of form-fitting navy blue pants with vertical cyan stripes. Her shoes were a plain pair of black boots that tucked under her pants.
His eyes scanned from bottom to top and eventually landed on the sleeveless green top with a deep cut towards her bust, under which she had a black shirt reaching the middle of her forearms.
His eyes landed on her bosom and seemed to fixate for a moment, but he didn't have a chance to catch himself he heard Kyula say, "Eyes up here."
He jumped back in embarrassment. "I'm so sorry!" he half-yelled in an attempt to be heard over Kyula's companion laughing. "I didn't mean to!"
"Never mind that," she said with a quick roll of her eyes. "You were spouting some nonsense about grand adventures, but said something about an interesting magic. I'd like to see it."
The woman's smile seemed genuine and Max finally felt as if he could relax.
"That's how it is," he thought. "She just wants to see magic."
"No problem," he said excitedly. "Just give me a minute to get it ready."
Max stood perfectly still, trying his best to focus on the feelings that had helped him produce his magic for the first time. The truth of the matter was that Max was nowhere near mastering his magic and the few times he had managed to use it properly was following a bout with frustration. And so after a few minutes he had failed to produce even the faintest hint of magic.
"Any day now," Kyula said dryly. "I've got shit to do and I'm starting to lose interest here. Either you have magic or you don't."
"No no no. It's not like that," he said frantically before hanging his head in embarrassment. "I just haven't mastered it fully yet. The last time I got through with using it, the baker needed my help. Plus Mr. Manson says that those with magic have a responsibility to use their skills to help people."
Kyula wrinkled her nose in annoyance.
"How about I kill them then?" she said calmly.
Her words didn't quite register at first and so Max playfully asked, "What'd you say?"
"The people you were talking to before use," began Kyula. "They're not far from here. If I was to try and kill them would you be able to use your magic to stop me?"
"I-I I don't kn… Are you serious?" he finally managed.
Kyula raised her hand from under her cloak and it quickly became coated in a light green crystal material with sharper crystalline blades on the sides.
Without a word she walked past Max and toward the merchants whom he'd spoken to earlier.
"Stop," he said quietly to no avail.
"What are you doing? Stop." he said just a little louder.
"Stop," he shouted and in frustration his magic finally materialized.
Water from the air concentrated in his palm and with all the force he could muster, he hurled the water ball at the woman before him.
On instinct she turned on it and cut it in half, sending both parts to either side of her.
Her face seemed almost emotionless now. "That's it," she began. "That's the 'cool' magic you were going to use on your adventure to be the best mage. Laughable."
She turned away from him and began walking away. This forced her companion to speak.
"Where are you going Kyula?" he asked from where he sat.
She stopped and turned her head to so her eye met Max's. "I told him I was going to kill those people unless he stopped me," began Kyula with a shrug and a devilish grin. "I wouldn't want to be a liar Claude."
Max had already fallen to dejection from how powerless he seemed before the woman. When she had turned to taunt him, he had become certain that was her goal all along, but he was wrong. He knew it now; she would kill them unless he stopped her.
"Arrgh!" yelled Max as he rushed her with water forming in his hand. He tried to force it to collide with her and she sidestepped effortlessly, planting her knee in his gut for added insult.
Max doubled over in pain and as he raised his head to meet her eyes again, her boot connected with his chin launching him back a few feet and onto his back.
"It's disgusting," she said after deep breath. "I know exactly the type of person you are. You reek of stupidity. You know you can't win. You know you can't save them. And you know you're gonna get back up and attack me."
Max gritted his teeth at having been read so easily and forced himself to his feet. He forced water balls into both hands and began launching and replacing them.
Whether or not he heard the crystalline blades or Kyula's voice first, he wasn't sure, but in the instant his barrage lasted, he heard her say, "I'm tired of you." Then the barrages of water stopped. He couldn't figure out why. He was still pushing as much force as possible through his body. He still had to save those people. He had to get passed this moment so that he could begin his grand adventure. So why had the water stopped.
His eyes finally registered the reason and then in an instant his brain registered the pain which correlated with it properly.
Kyula had cut off both of his arms.
He screamed and screamed and screamed, hoping for the moment to be a dream.
"See," Kyula teased. "Bravery will only get you so far."
Before she could go on, the companion by the name of Claude stood to his feet. "You took too long Kyula," he said firmly.
Her eyes seemed to be focused on something in the distance approaching them. "Ugh. You're right. I usually have more time for fun with the rest of the team here though," she said.
"That's not my problem," he added bitterly as he removed his cloak and dropped it on the floor.
Claude was a shorter man at only 5'9". Rigorous training in the sun had brought him a defined muscularity and a light tan. His soft powder blue hair matched his eyes and was kept in a shaggy pompadour style. A tattoo of a pair of oxen horns resided on his left pectoral and a dagger was tattooed on his left Bicep. His loose fitting, white shorts with black trim fell to the middle of his calfs and had the word 'Pixie' along the waist. Dark blue boxing boots met up with the hem of his shorts thick medical tape was wrapped around his midsection and hands for protection Around his waist rested a fighting championship belt with a tigers snarling face making up the massive centerpiece. On his shoulders and arms was a light pair of layered plate metal that matched the triangular pieces of steel going down his spine. His gold guild mark covered up his entire right pectoral.
Before them rode an entire unit of rune Knights, but it was clear that they were without their commanding officer, since the level of magic approaching them was meek at best.
The unit closed in while keeping formation atop their horses.
He breathed deeply before shifting to a fighting stance. "Conditioned Strike," he muttered and a magical circle took shape in front of him.
He began punching the circle mercilessly. His speed and ferocity growing, even as the unit closed in on them and just before they arrived, he struck the circle once more and the collective force rushed forth. Entirely unprepared for the attack, the unit of foot soldiers were all, but decimated.
Those hit by the initial blast were blown apart almost immediately and the force unleashed by the collision had sent every knight to the floor with countless injuries.
They staggered to their feet trying to get an eye on their attackers, but couldn't get seem them clearly because of all the dust forced up by the attack.
But it didn't matter, because in the instant their eyes did adjust, Kyula's crystalline blades would find their targets.
From where Max lay in agony, he watched as a platoon of mages that he was sure would have inspired the children of his home or another town or village with their stories was wiped out instantly.
"Okay, that's all," said Kyula in exasperation.
"Finish playing," added Claude. "We still have a job to do."
"Okay. Okay," said Kyula as she walked over to a distraught Max. Her blade rested just under his chin, her eyes met the despairing look in his and she plunged into him, she said, "It looks like this is the end of your adventure."
August 16th, X799, Evening, Outside Dewberry
Claude and Kyula left their wake of destruction behind them and moved on towards their target. They had been given a mission separate from the rest of their team, however the pair was anxious to complete it and return to the Scorch, but returning with news failure wouldn't bode well for them.
They walked down the road leading to Dewberry. The mission was quite simple. There had been news of a particular Rune Knight passing through Dewberry and they were to intercept him. Sources had revealed to Grace that he had been looking into a lot of information related to Ragnarok's Call and that couldn't stand. After finding out exactly what he knew, they were to erase him as quietly as possible.
They were nearing the town, but before they arrived they could hear a young man's voice.
"What's taking them so long?" he half-yelled. "The captain told me to wait for them, but they're taking forever. This is why I told him that he shouldn't be so impatient. If we had simply waited for them this morning, I wouldn't be stuck doing the waiting now!"
As he finished yelling, his eyes landed on the two figures approaching him.
Thinking they were no more than Dewberry Citizens, he happily greeted them.
"Hi there!" he called to them. "Your town is lovely. You didn't happen to see any other knights along the road did you?"
"No sir," Kyula coyly responded as she removed her hood.
"Oh. Okay, I really want to get back into town, but I've got to wait on my platoon to arrive before I can return to my captain," said the knight.
"Is your captain in Dewberry?" asked Claude as they neared the man.
"Yeah," began the knight. "It's always so nice th-"
Kyula was already cleaning blood off of her crystalline blade as she and Claude moved past the Rune Knight's falling body.
They arrived on a hill overlooking Dewberry a few minutes later.
"I can't wait to get home," said Claude before they descended on the town.
August 16th, X799, Evening, The Reach
Grace had left her guild's base of operations and fort, The Scorch. She decided a moment to clear her thoughts and decide once and for all on her guild's course of action was necessary. The last time they were so out in the open, the previous master was guiding them. Afterwards, she had stepped into a role she never intended to be in, forced her guild to step into the shadows and lived within guidelines which she found protected them all.
For her to tell her guild members that they would be heading out once more and to prepare for something which could only truly be defined as war required something more to steel her resolve. She wanted to go to The Reach. It was a place whose design, location and meaning were all chosen by the previous master, but whose current use and management had been chosen under her advisement. It was the very tip of the mountain. The previous master had cleared it away and decided that his mages would train above the sky and so during his time, they fought countless matches with reckless abandon atop the mountain. Away from the eyes of the world and often they'd end up killing their own comrades. This was his way.
Grace was a tad more refined. She'd employed the Research Division to find a means of cloaking the tip of the mountain with a magical barrier around just the arena. Inside it, the conditions were adjustable. One could choose to use the regular mountain peak settings or switch to a more sun burnt arena and so on.
However, getting there was still difficult. After hiking up the perilous mountain side a small staircase, added under Grace's orders, can be found.
For someone like Grace, this hike had become something more of reflexive than anything. She knew every foothold and every danger that lurked as one ascended the mountain. But that wasn't her current problem. Her current problem was the young mage who couldn't help, but tag along even though Grace had told her to stay in the Scorch.
Just as Grace got to the bottom step, she called out to the mage who was trying her best to stay hidden. "You'll have to try much harder to hide from me Violet," she said simply as she began climbing the staircase.
A few seconds passed and the young mage pulled herself up to the bottom staircase.
The pale young girl was no more than 15, but she could easily have passed for much younger. Her dark blue hair fell to the middle of her back loosely while bangs were kept in check with a white bow. A white tank-top was hidden under her long-sleeved grey sweater. Hanging around her neck was a fairly silver necklace with a droplet on the end. Her knee-high socks covered a scar which rested on her knee and her flats matched her sweater.
"I can never play hide and seek with you Master," she whined playfully.
"I was climbing a mountain," began Grace as she prepared for the conversation which was soon to follow. "I wasn't playing hide and seek."
"But on my birthday, you said you would play with me," Violet whispered in her most dejected voice possible.
"Violet. Your birthday was 4 days ago. Why would we still be playing," said Grace. "Now head back down."
"Okay," she whimpered as she turned to climb back down. "I understand Master."
Grace was a hard woman. A woman who could and would kill people if it the moment felt right. And most people wouldn't even think of trying to tug at her long deadened heart strings, but the idea that the little girl beside might actually feel bad, left Grace with a bad feeling.
"Violet, wait," she began. But as she turned around to look at Violet, her eyes met the dark green eyes that could easily melt even the hardest people and she'd known for certain that she was being played. "Whatever, let's just go already."
"Yay!" cheered Violet and the two began the walk upon the Reach's staircase.
It took a little over 5 minutes, but eventually they were at the top. It was blistering cold on the staircase, but inside the Research Division's arena the temperature was still warm and for Grace who had spent countless hours fighting mages in this arena, it almost felt like she'd come home.
She stood at the top of the mountain quietly with Violet beside her.
"You'd do anything for me Violet, wouldn't you?" she more said than asked.
A great smile etched itself on Violet's face before she said, "Of course Master. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you."
"When I was your age," began Grace. "Someone who I looked at, a lot like you look at me, asked me the same question and I gave the same answer. Then many years down the road, I learned a valuable lesson. Never look at someone like that. You should never want to feel that way about someone. You're a person all by yourself. My master knew the way we felt about him and it didn't matter. He made a lot of choices which brought us to a point of no return and now I've decided to go down a route much like he did. But I'll make one thing clear to you Violet. I will be better than him."
With no real understanding of what her master was saying, Violet sighed and simply said, "I'll follow you Master."
The exchange was then cut short by the appearance of voices being echoed by the mountains.
"Violet," said Grace immediately.
As if on instinct, the blue haired mage reacted. "Enhance: Senses!" she yelled. The voices quickly became clearer.
"We're almost at the top," said one man's voice.
"I hope out equipment holds out," said the next man.
"Don't worry," began the first man. "These lacrima infused tools will hold up on any terrain."
Violet turned to Grace who was waiting to hear who could possibly be approaching the top of the mountain. "It appears some hikers chose the wrong mountain to climb."
Grace pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed as she walked over to the edge of the mountaintop "Remind me to give the Security Division an earful when we get back down.
"Yes Master," said Violet. "Should I take care of the men below?"
"No," said Grace. "You said they're using lacrima equipment. Point me in their direction."
Violet pointed out into the nothingness which lay beneath them along the mountainside and with a movement too quick for Violet to see, Grace hurled something in that direction.
The two men were climbing the mountainside using specialized tools that they were sure would help them conquer the mountain despite the deadly terrain, but within a few moments of Grace's throw, their equipment began to fail and slowly, but surely they fell prey to the dangers of the mountain.
The next thing echoed by the mountain was the screams of the men as they fell.
"Go get my tag violet," Grace said before returning to where she stood.
"Yes Master. Anything for you."
Author's Note:
Okay then. I hope everybody enjoyed the chapter. I definitely enjoyed writing it. If you don't already know, this is a collaboration project which means there are other parts, by other writers to read. So please, if you want to fully understand what's going on be sure to read their parts. The links are on my profile.
I know a few of you are curious about my other works, I'll be posting a short note in the form of a chapter in the coming days regarding everything so that you all know how things are likely to flow from here on out.
But back to the matter at hand. First I'll update you all on what positions have been filled, will be filled and are available.
Combat - (4/5 accepted) 1 reserved, 0 in review
Security - (2/4 accepted) 0 reserved, 1 in review
Research - (2/5 accepted) 1 reserved, 0 in review
Infiltration - (3/5 accepted) 0 reserved, 0 in review
Support - (2/5 accepted) 1 reserved, 1 in review
So hopefully this clears up what's available and what's not available.
Update: This is a notice regarding all OC submissions. A deadline has been set for March 1st. We kindly ask that all OCs be submitted by this deadline so that we can get to planning full arcs. Your cooperation is much appreciated. So again, that's March 1st for all OCs. Also Creators are now able to submit to 3 guilds within the Summit Project. So if you've already created 2 OCs feel free to make another for a guild you haven't submitted to as yet.
As far as the OCs that I'd like to see. As of right now, either male or female is still fine. We had an issue where a lot of the OCs I received were all just really nice people who had no reason to want to be a part of a dark guild. So I'll mention once more, this is a dark guild. Why/How they ended up in a dark guild is crucial to not only their acceptance, but my portrayal of them. There are a multitude of possibilities for dark guild OCs. Even good or cheery people can be dark mages if the 'Why' is sufficient. I very briefly showed three different types of personalities, but keep in mind that all of these three have much more to them than I showed in this short chapter.
I'll very briefly say, I have a slayer position still available. And it can't be a god slayer.
I can't thank you all enough for the support you showed last chapter. I know a few months ago, I got a message about review responses and why I don't respond in chapter. Honestly, it just never occurred to me. I usually message people when they review, but if you'd like 'in chapter review responses', I'd be okay with that. It's not really an issue to me either way. More importantly, thank you to everyone supporting this project.
Credits: These are the OCs that appeared this chapter. Be sure to tell me if I messed up your OCs portrayal. I'd like to knock out the kinks as soon as possible. If your OC didn't appear this chapter, there are a number of reasons for that. First and foremost, the teams aren't completed so I can't be certain of a lot of different things. Secondly, a combination of laziness and time cut my planning short. If you want to message me and ask when they might be introduced, you can do that, but be aware that I may not have an answer as of yet for some people.
Max Copperfield - Me
Kyula Bellarmina – Condor-K
Claude Corleon – AkumaXHwaorang
Violet Bell – WendyDokuro
Thanks for reading again. Take Care.
