Chapter 7: Preparations

Xylotyl, Nightflame, Sieghart, Kyo, and the Lady Smoke were all soon in Jore'Sal's tower, The Tower of The Nephilim. Meryl was on the top floor in a small room made for her, while Jade stayed somewhere in the lower floors, preparing rations and supplies for the battle ahead. The rest of the Heretics had their meeting with Guild Master at the first floor in the tower's hall. All of them were seated, listening to the announcement their leader is giving.

Meryl, still confused, glanced down again at the old spellbook Jore'Sal had handed to her. She recalled the events that happened today, from the moment she received a beautiful and brand new set of Rose armor from her master. She had thanked him many times in her mind while she changed from her iron armor. What came next was a very difficult spar between them. It took quite a long time before she gave up and dropped to the ground with exhaustion. She had barely laid a scratch on him after all the energy she had exerted during the entire fight. But he had done otherwise. He was not as fatigued as she, and he stood upright, as if he had only defeated a Skeleton Archer.

Minutes later, he had called Meryl to his tower and gave her a thick ancient old book. It had the appearance of a spellbook, except that it was black, instead of brown.

"The time has come for you to learn this," Jore'Sal said. "especially if you want to be able to help defend the Criterions. Read it and be done by dawn tomorrow. We'll begin your training by then."

These were his last words to her for the day. Now Meryl, sitting on the side of her bed, sighed and opened the book she held at the middle section, reading again from where she had stopped. The inscription in the cover of the book flowed through her mind over and over again like a broken record as she read each page. She would be learning something that has been hidden for a very long time; something that has been forbidden a long time ago. In the front cover of the book was inscribed: Book of Magery Circles Nine and Ten.

--

"What!" Kyo exclaimed as he pounded his fist on the arm of his chair.

"For certain, Urumi Kanzaki seeks power, and so she has targeted Order guilds. I have decided to lend our strengths to the Criterions and help destroy Urumi's forces. All else we know are that Tim-o-fee, Wildstallion, and Chobits have already joined her." Jore'Sal said gravely.

"Damn! This battle will not be easy." Xylotyl cursed.

Sieghart nodded.

"I agree." He said. "Urumi herself is already a formidable foe. But put her, Tim-o-fee, Wildstallion, and other powerful chaos warriors out there together…" Sieghart paused.

"Do we have a chance against these enemies?" Smoke asked, interrupting the silence.

Jore'Sal breathed deeply and thought before opening his mouth to speak.

"Though Chaos may have powerful warriors, we should always remember that even Order has its own strengths. All we need is unity. This is for the sake of Brittannia. We cannot afford to lose." He said.

The Heretics nodded approvingly.

"For now, there are two things I ask of all of you. We are leaving for the Criterion base in three days. I suggest you prepare yourselves by then." Jore'Sal said. "Second, Meryl will be staying here until we leave, so bear with her."

All the Heretics agreed and their meeting ended.

--

Lestat was holding a feast in the Criterion house, welcoming the return of PARC, Macky, and Racio. PARC had told him that they have come back to rejoin the Criterions and help with the war.

"I thought you were dead!" Lestat had exclaimed after PARC revealed himself to him at the end of their duel.

He narrated to Lestat and the rest of the Criterions what had really happened during the downfall of the guild. PARC had survived death and had gone on hiding, practicing and training himself to keep his skills sharp. Racio and Macky had also done the same.

PARC was seated at one end of the elongated dinner table, while Lestat was on the other side across him. Racio sat beside PARC, followed by Macky, Shacklebolt, Voldemort, Saber, Jerk, and the rest of the Criterions. The food served was very delicious and so scrumptious that most f them could not escape the appetite of Greenarcher. He had already eaten much of the cuts of ribs and most of the roasted pig.

"I see that your appetite hasn't changed at all, Greenarcher!" Macky chuckled after taking a couple gulps of water from his mug.

"You can't deprive a man from one of the finest pleasures in life, you know!" Greenarcher replied before he took a huge bite from a chicken leg.

Everyone on the table laughed at his remark and continued their merry meal.

Shortly after the feast, some of the Criterions went to their rooms to retire. Others stayed awake, some of them still excited about PARC's return while the others did what they usually did on a typical, normal night. Jerk and Saber, who had started an argument during the feast, were still arguing at the dinner table about who among them was the stronger one. Shacklebolt and Voldemort were with Macky, their older brother, telling him what had been happening since he was gone. Totoy Mola, though, planned to follow Miffy into her room, but completely forgot about his fantasies when he spotted Greenarcher sitting alone by the stairway. Greenarcher seemed as if something was bothering him, and Totoy Mola approached to find out.

"Are you alright, Greearcher?" Totoy Mola asked.

Greenarcher nodded.

"Yes."

"You look like the end of the world is near." Totoy Mola said, raising an eyebrow.

"No, no." Greenarcher replied. "I'm just… worried about the war. I don't know if having PARC, Racio, and Macky again with us would help much in defeating Urumi's forces."

"I see…" Totoy Mola said. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure that we'll come through somehow." He added.

Suddenly, he remembered what he was supposed to do.

"Well," He said, "I have to go up. Miffy will be changing to her night robes. I don't want to miss that!"

Totoy Mola winked and started up the stairs. Greenarcher followed him with his eyes.

"Are you not a more decent man?" He asked.

Totoy Mola snorted and turned to the archer.

"Greenarcher, my man, you can't deprive a person from one of the finest pleasures in life."

With that, he continued up the stairs, chuckling, and leaving Greenarcher behind.

"At least I'm a decent man…" Greenarcher muttered.

--

PARC furrowed his eyebrows and wondered.

"Lestat, I haven't seen Meryl yet."

"Meryl? She left for Britain yesterday. I don't know why, but she hasn't returned since then."

"I see…" PARC replied. "Well, Lestat, as the present guildmaster, have you any plans for the war?"

"Of course!" Lestat said. "We'll begin training tomorrow while the others begin recruiting more warriors. And if it's possible, we could go down some dungeons and tame a few dragons to aid us."

"I'll help with the training." PARC said. "Racio and Macky can help deal with the other preparations."

"Yes, thank you." Lestat replied. "We'll need all the help we can get."