"Are you sure you still want go through with this, Hilda?"
"For the last time, Keiko, I'm dead set on it. If Korey turns out to be a better leader than my previous one, what's the harm in trying again from the start?" Hilda addressed, not wanting to change her stance while the opportunity to join a guild is still open.
"I'm still irked at my previous guild leader, and just sitting here and doing nothing is NOT helping me calm down at all... I just want to get back into the labyrinth and show him that I'm not useless just because an FOE managed to injure me. I got nothing left to lose, anyway..." She continued, rubbing the side of her head to try and relieve herself of any headache's she could get from arguing.
"Sounds like you want to get revenge on your previous guild leader, Hilda... And I honestly don't like where this is going." Demetria sighed, getting rather annoyed with Hilda's attitude.
"Well, what else do you want me to do? Forgive him for replacing me and dumping me all of a sudden? It doesn't happen like that, Demetria... Nothing happens without a firm cause." The Harbinger clarified, before taking a seat and taking deep breaths.
God, how did this one meeting about joining a guild turn south real quick? And they were barely even done... Hilda's patience was strong, granted, but arguing about her previous guild leader was not going to get the conversation anywhere.
Ever since the conversation divulged from joining the guild to Demetria bringing up Hilda's previous guild leader, was doing nothing but wasting the time they needed to discuss it. The stares of passing explorers also didn't help matters, as some of them whispered to another about who knows what or how they viewed the little situation.
Keiko stood beside Hilda and attempted to calm her down. Demetria could only utter to herself, leaving Beta to poke his nose against her legs in an attempt to calm her down. She could only sigh and rub his fur, signaling to the canine that she would be alright.
A few minutes passed, and Demetria noticed the brown haired fencer coming down the stairs. He seemed to not have any trouble finding them, which Demetria silently thanked him for his arrival. "Good morning, girls. Hope I'm not interrupting anything..." Korey greeted, as Hilda and Keiko greeted him in return.
Though Kyo seemed to be missing.
"Hey, is Kyo still sleeping or something?" Demetria inquired, as Korey turned to face her. "No, she's awake. She just told me to go on ahead and talk to you girls, she usually takes her time doing her hair. Kinda happens all the time ever since I first met her..." He answered, as he took an empty seat and sat down.
"Feeling better, Hilda?" Keiko asked, as the white-haired Harbinger nodded, although this didn't go unnoticed by Korey, as he looked at Keiko to fill him in. The Therian swiftly responded, "Oh, Hilda and Demetria had a little argument earlier, and I was just helping Hilda calm down. She'll be fine."
"I see," he acknowledged, clearing his throat before continuing, "in that case, did you take my offer into consideration?"
"Yes, we kinda woke up early in the morning to discuss it," Hilda clarified, as she sat back in her seat, as her eyes focused on Korey. Guess that explains why he didn't see the three of them there when he woke up...
"And despite the short argument between me and Demetria, we've decided that the three of us will accompany you in your guild. However, I only know how to go through the first three floors..." She continued, seemingly trailing off when Korey seemed to get the message she was hinting at.
"That's understandable, Hilda. I didn't come here to find a guild who knew everything about Yggdrasil itself, after all." Korey couldn't help but chuckle to himself after finishing his sentence, causing Hilda to be confused about what he was laughing about, before storing that in her memory for another time.
"Honestly, I'm glad I asked you girls to join us. I would've been in quite a mess if I hadn't gotten three more members by today..." Korey addressed to the Therians, alongside Hilda, as he was slightly embarrassed at the thought of aimlessly panicking around Iorys...
"It's no problem, Korey! I'm just as excited as you are! Me and sis have been waiting for this very moment with baited breath!" Keiko commented, beaming brighter than the time they first ran into each other. In fact, in the corner of his eye, Korey saw Demetria smiling at her sister.
It almost reminded him of the day he decided to head to Iorys, and his sister smiled, praying for a safe journey. Guess family bonds were one thing that he wasn't going to find to be a rarity around these parts of Iorys. Before Korey could even speak, Keiko zoomed passed him and Hilda up to the stairs, vanishing from their viewpoint. Was she too excited, or...?
"She likely went to get out belongings. Don't worry about it." Demetria addressed, as Korey simply nodded in response.
"She might've had the right idea, to be fair. If we're gonna register this guild, we'll have to do it soon before it gets too full. I'll tell Kyo the good news, and we'll head to the Explorers Guild together. Does that sound like a plan?" The Fencer clarified, as Demetria and Hilda nodded in agreement.
"We'll be waiting for Keiko, then." Hilda added, as Korey got up and took the stairs up to their room. Although she was relieved to finally be in a guild once more, it was... rather worrisome that she would likely fail another guild before the year goes by. Perhaps it was too soon to be rejoicing in this soon-to-be formed guild...
"Are you worried, Hilda?" Demetria's voice caught Hilda's attention, as she placed her left hand onto her right arm. "Unfortunately, yes... I'm worried I'll screw up on this opportunity, and I'll really be back at square one, with nowhere to go this time." Hilda hesitated as she spoke, desperately trying not to recall that event in her mind...
It was rather painful to go through it once, it would be awful to go through it a second time... And she wasn't sure how well she'll do at making sure history won't repeat itself. Hilda looked towards Demetria, almost seemingly begging with her eyes. Someone whose last hope remained with this one opportunity... Demetria gave her a reassuring smile, placing her hand on the Harbinger's shoulder.
"You don't have to worry, Hilda. You have an entire new guild who is willing to support you. If anything's wrong, by all means, please tell us. We're in this together, and as long as we're around, we'll make sure we'll fix it together."
The words Demetria spoke out seem to ring with an alarming amount of truth... Hilda was too focused on the past to ponder if the same mistakes would occur again, and even Korey brought that into light when she first brought it up. It was something he would not want to repeat, and would even do all that he can do to prevent it from happening... or from something much worse.
If it was possible to meet with her old friends again, there will be a time where it will be crossed. But the time to think of the past is done... Hilda started grinning at her friend, feeling in a much better mood than she was before.
"You're right, Demetria. I'll... keep that in mind." She considered, hoping that she'll remember the Therian's words throughout her new journey through the World Tree.
Minutes passed, and once Korey, Keiko, and Kyo went back to the lobby, they departed for the Explorers Guild, arriving in a short amount of time. Upon their arrival, it was easy to tell that the long line the Therians, Korey, and Kyo witnessed last night, was drastically shorter.
"It seems the majority of those people in line actually manage to form their guilds last night." Demetria began, putting her hand to her chin, trying to rethink her sentence. Although Kyo was quick enough to enter the conversation at hand, "Either that, or they likely weren't able to get theirs made in time and they had to wait much like us."
No doubt that the possibility is there, but none of them could confirm it outright. "I just hope Egar didn't pull an all nighter..." Hilda sighed to herself, and headed straight towards the line, as the others soon followed.
As they entered the building, Korey noticed that despite some of the gray bricks appearing to be chipped or have cracks on them. His eyes then drifted over to the red carpet below his feet, seeing as it led to something akin to a large file cabinet, easily standing out from the gray and red with it's obsidian-like texture, and adorns several gold pieces of various shapes, complete with a dragon statue. If the inside was this wonderful, the labyrinth would surely surpass his expectations.
"Hey, focus Korey. We didn't come all this way to sightsee."
Hilda's voice ringed in Korey's ears, as he swiftly turned to see the white-haired girl with a stern look. "Honestly, if all you ever do when you step foot in some new location is sightsee, we may already have an issue." She continued, sighing in worry if this is going to be a common theme whenever they will set foot in the World Tree.
"I can't help it, Hilda. It's usually the first thing I do whenever I find somewhere new and exciting..." The fencer responded, as he quickly checked to see if the line was any shorter before continuing.
"Besides, I'm sure you did the same thing the first time you entered the labyrinth, didn't you?"
Another question that threw Hilda off for a change. She recalled exactly how happy she was when she first entered into the labyrinth, seemingly awing in amazement at the types of flora that grew within... Soon, a smile grew on Hilda's face, attempting to look away from Korey as if to hide it.
He let out a chuckle, despite Hilda's best efforts, before focusing on the waiting line in front of them. She honestly felt embarrassed, but she was surprised when he didn't start convincing her to spill it out. Perhaps he was taught to not be too nosy when it came to the little details?
"Next."
The familiar voice she knew all too well spoke, prompting Hilda to regain her composure, and walk forwards with the four people she was going to be in a guild with. Although his face was hard to see under the helmet, she knew she was the center of his attention.
"Ah, Hilda. Feeling better after the incident with your previous guild?" The man inquired, surprised that she would return despite her outcome.
Hilda took a couple of seconds to gather her words, looking at the armored man when she finally composed herself. "Not completely, but enough to settle on finding a new guild. I shouldn't focus too much on the past. I'm determined to move on, despite this setback."
It was honestly hard to grasp any emotions from the man while he had his helmet on, his voice spoke volumes in regards to this incident that had occur to others. "Well, it's great to see you in a much better condition than you were that fateful night. Many others feel your pain of being replaced, and not many recover from it, but I'm glad you're making it up by continuing on." He responded, attempting to assure the Harbinger, before turning his attention to the Fencer beside her.
"I take it you're the one who gave Hilda this opportunity?"
An opportunity? That's personally something Korey never consider that before, since he was hoping to have guild members to travel with and build memories alongside him and Kyo. Korey could only nod in response because he couldn't find any words to reply to what the man before him asked.
"I normally don't say this to newcomers that come to explore Yggdrasil, but thanks for giving her the chance to pick up where her previous guild left her." He thanked, leaving Hilda and Korey surprised, as the man prepared papers in front of him.
"T-Thanks, sir..." Korey hesitantly said, as the man looked at him. "Please, just call me Egar. That is my name, after all." Egar addressed, placing a piece of paper in front of Korey.
"Now, if you're going to explore Yggdrasil, you and your guild members will have to sign your name, along with your guild name. That includes you too, Hilda."
Korey takes the nearby feather and dips it in ink, then signs his name, along with the guild name. He passes the pen to Kyo and the others as they sign their name. When Hilda finishes her signature, she moves the paper towards Egar, who then takes the paper and looks over it.
"...Lux Guild, eh?" Egar questioned, turning his attention to Korey when he spoke up. "Yeah... I know it's not the fanciest thing in the world, but I came up with it yesterday when me and Kyo were on our way here."
Egar looked back to the paper, then nodded as he placed the paper aside. "I've seen names weirder than yours. But yours is but one of the rare guild names that actually has a meaning behind it. And I must admit, I like it."
Korey felt a smile grow on his face, looking back towards Kyo, as she greeted him with a beaming smile as well. Keiko was basically hugging Demetria, shouting that 'we did it' over and over again, which gained a chuckle out of Hilda as she witnessed Demetria attempting to get her sister off of her. Beta was even wagging his tail in excitement.
"That aside," the armored man began, as everyone turned to face him. "you can get more guild members than just the five you have, but know that you're only allowed up to thirty guild members. We only allow five members of a guild inside the labyrinth to ensure that there is no massive wipes from guilds who take more than five in a labyrinth. Got it?"
"Y-Yessir, I got it." Keiko replied, followed by Demetria and Kyo nodding in agreement. "Alright, we'll keep that in mind, Egar." Korey declared, as Egar hummed to himself.
"Great. I wish you good luck when your journey begins. Hilda, I'm sure you know where to go from here." The white haired girl nodded in understanding, and followed her fellow guild members, as Egar spoke up for the next upcoming guild that their turn was next.
They stopped just short of the entrance to the Explorer's Guild, when Korey turned to Hilda and asked her a question, "If I may be bold to ask, Hilda, are we allowed to fully explore Yggdrasil now that we're a guild?"
Hilda shook her head, and turned to the brown haired fencer. "Not quite. If people were easily able to go into Yggdrasil willy-nilly, it probably wouldn't be available for everyone after all these years... There's a mission that new guilds that have been formed must go through in order to prove they can handle whatever lies inside Yggdrasil. And in order to take it, we're going to visit the prince."
Keiko's eyes widened upon hearing that they were going to visit the prince, she ran right over to Hilda, surprising her and Korey when she spoke, "Oh my god Hilda, are we really going to meet him?! Are we, are we?!"
"Y-Yes, Keiko, we kinda have to in order to fully-" Hilda tried to respond, but the Masurao didn't allow her to finish speaking. "Oh my god, yessssssss, come on, come on, let's go go go! Lead the way, lead the way!" Keiko gushed, effortlessly grabbing Hilda's hand and started running towards the Council Hall.
Korey stood there, befuddled of what just happened. "Is your sister always this excited to meet royal people?" Kyo asked Demetria, who was face-palmed at her sister's sudden change of excitement. "Only when it comes to other races of royalty... Makes me wonder if she even learned anything growing up." Demetria addressed, as she signaled the Celestrian and Fencer to come along.
This was only the beginning of their journey... and who knows what they expect from the labyrinth. And it all began, like it was only yesterday...