Hello all! Here is my first story on this site.
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Prologue: Five Years Ago
June X785
Daffodil Town
"Will you shut it?" A young man with tousled golden blonde hair, fair skin, and emerald, green eyes asked as he glanced down at his companion. "You're yelling so loud, the people in Daffodil will hear you."
"I can't help it!" His companion was dancing around happily twirling on the path back home, her waves of gray hair trailing after her as she started to walk backward, her large, clear turquoise eyes set on the man's eyes. "Are you really going to propose to her?" She asked excitedly.
"When the time is right," The blonde sighed, "You better not tell her Bryn."
"Please, Artus, I can keep a secret from my sister." Bryn huffed, looking up at the blonde in annoyance.
"Yeah right, you tell Hilde eve-" Artus cut off his face shifting to confusion as he tilted his head a bit, a look of pure concentration on his face.
Bryn blinked at him in confusion, "What is it, Artus?"
Artus didn't reply, his brows furrowing until his face suddenly went white with horror. "The alarm." He took off running towards their home and Bryn quickly followed him. He didn't need to say anything else for her to understand.
Daffodil Town was near the border of Fiore and Seven, that border was also the home of many beasts and monsters, many of which were only known to reside on the border between the two countries. Because of the large number of beasts, their guild; Obsidian Shield, a guild that was originally founded primarily by Take-Over and Requip mages, was formed in Daffodil town to protect it and other towns that bordered Seven and Fiore. To help their guild specifically there was a special alarm that would go off any time a large number of beasts got too close to the town. If it reached to where Artus could hear it, even if barely from where they were then the situation must be bad.
As the two ran Bryn could hear the alarm shrieking through the air as they got closer to the town, she could also see the columns of smoke rising up from the castle town, filling the air with black smoke.
As they ran down the hill, a large explosion shook the earth and air around them. It was forceful enough that Bryn stumbled and would have fallen if Artus hadn't grabbed onto her and pushed her back up into a run.
"It's master's magic," Artus observed seeing the air explode all around the town and sending what they could only assume were beasts flying through the air. The air continuously cracked, sending quake after quake throughout the surrounding area.
"Master's going all out." Bryn breathed as they finally neared the town, they could both clearly see the destruction of their home. Civilians were fleeing out past the crumbling stone walls of the outer barrier, fleeing for the safe zone that Obsidian Shield had created when they first were established. They could also see many of their guildmates fighting off hordes of monsters, much more than either of them was expecting.
Bryn skidded to a stop. "What the hell is this?!" She had never seen such a big attack on their town.
"Don't stop Bryn," Artus ran past her and jumped right into the conflict, blue light enveloping his body, "Take-Over, Knight Soul: Tristan," Once the light faded, Artus' clothes had changed into lightweight dark green and brown armor, a large gray-and-green bow in his left hand. A glowing green arrow made of magical energy formed as he pulled back the string of the bow. "Gawl scattershot,"
He let loose the arrow and the single arrow broke into dozens of miniature ones, raining down on the town and stabbing into multiple beasts.
"Take-over, Valkyrie Soul: Hlökk," Bryn jumped after him, streaks of yellow formed in her gray hair as white-and-bright yellow armor formed around her body and a thin spear appeared in her hand. She swung the spear through the air, releasing a harsh burst of lightning out of the tip, thoroughly electrocuting a good number of the smaller beasts, smoke rising from their burnt bodies.
Bryn easily landed on the ground, glancing at her sides as deep maroon-colored scorpion-like beasts charged at her from different directions, "Thor's clap," She stabbed the tip of her spear into the ground and lightning exploded from underneath her, shooting rubble through the air as the ground exploded around her.
The scorpions let out inhuman shrieks as they fell to the ground and Bryn grinned in satisfaction before she was thrown brutally into a building by the thick, reptilian-like tail of a lizard-like beast called a Cúoca; the Cúoca had sleek slimy gray scales that gleamed in the light, a narrow head with thin, almost nonexistent eyes, sharp claws and three rows of tiny, razor-sharp teeth. Truly, "Owww..."
"Njörd's pillar," A sudden column of pressurized water hit the cúoca square in the chest, sending it crashing through two buildings and a young woman with similar features to Bryn stood protectively in front of her. She was dressed in light blue two-piece armor that had scaled designed on the armor, a white-and-blue trident in her hands. "Are you okay Bryn?" She asked, turning to look her over.
"I'm fine," Bryn said, looking a bit down that she still had to be saved by the woman. "How about you Hilde? Where's the rest of the guild? Did the townspeople evacuate on time?" She asked, question after question popping into her head as she stood back up.
"..." Hilde looked away at the questions, her ocean-blue eyes growing dark.
Bryn grew alarmed by Hilde's silence. "Tell me Hilde, who have we lost?"
"The horde bypassed the first alarms somehow and were on top of the town before we could properly react. A few of the civilians were killed and…" grief flashed through her eyes. "Mom was killed too; she was protecting Delly when it happened."
There was silence between the sisters as Bryn absorbed the news. Her mom was dead? "That's not possible, mom would-" She began to yell at her sister when she was cut off.
"Duck." The force of the command made Bryn act automatically and she threw herself to the ground just as Hilde's trident sailed over her head, impaling a monster that looked like it was a cross between a squid and boar. Its tentacles flailed as Hilde pulled the trident out, causing its black blood to spill. Disgusting.
Hilde then turned to glare at Bryn with anger in her eyes. "Focus on the battle around you instead of being angry at something that's already happened." Hilde snapped harshly, causing Bryn to flinch. She was right, there was fighting all around them. "I don't want to lose you too," Hilde added softly.
"Right." Bryn huffed, looking down like a scolded child. "Sorry." With that over the two sisters turned in sync until they were back-to-back, fending off each monster that came at them.
"Hlökk's Blitz," Bryn launched herself at a group of six beasts: Cheeceros, beasts that were the size of a baby rhinoceros but had the agility and speed of a cheetah. She blitzed past them, stabbing and downing each beast in the chest before they could fully react.
Hilde watched her sister move for a second before twirling around and harshly impaling one more of the Cheeceros with her trident, lifting it up in the air and over her head with a grunt before she tossed the heavy body at another beast that was about to attack her. "Freyr's Dance," She twirled on her heel as she spun the trident around her body, forming dozens of water droplets in the air and shooting them out at a large bast that looked like a mammoth, only this one had spikes jutting out of its body and its trunk had extra curved bone at the end as well; a Helmepoth.
The Helmepoth crashed roughly to the ground, its trunk landing harshly after it and causing the ground to shudder.
Bryn met back up with her sister, looking angry and confused, the tip of her spear slick with blood. "...Cúocas, Helmepoths, and Cheeceros. None of these beasts are usually seen together so why are they here?"
"They're not the ones," Hilde said, glancing around, "I've seen swarms of Aviaxe in the skies and I think there are Blythes and Schriekers around too."
Bryn looked at her sister with wide eyes, "Please tell me you're joking."
Unfortunately, Hilde shook her head, "Master thinks that the beasts are being controlled by a mage or a group of mages. He sent Atalante to look for them."
"Well if anyone can find a dark mage in this mess it would be Atalante," Bryn muttered just as the ground erupted before them and a giant, creature burst from the ground, much to her disgust. Ugh, it was a Graloin of all things; a giant creature that was half snake, half-worm, and as ugly as both in her opinion. The monster had slimy, off-white-colored scales, no eyes, and a wide, mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth and three, extremely long tongues.
"Scatter," Hilde ordered and the two sisters dodged just as the Graloin's head crashed into the ground where they had been standing, its sharp teeth easily destroying the rubble it created.
Bryn landed on the Graloin's back and started to run up its body, running the tip of her spear along the slimy scales as she did so and cutting deep into the Graloin's flesh, causing it to roar in pain.
As she did this Hilde jumped into the air, expertly dodging the strikes of its three tongues before slicing downward, "Aquaría slicer," The blade-like slice of water almost split the beast in two... it would have definitely split Bryn in two if she hadn't jumped out of the way in time.
"Seriously?!" Bryn demanded, going back-to-back with Hilde once again as the Graloin's body fell to the ground, landing on top of the Helmepoth, the blood of the two beasts mixing.
"I told you to scatter, not attack it." Hilde chided. "I already had a plan to finish it."
"Well excuse me for trying to help." Bryn snapped back, feeling slightly annoyed.
"Thanks for the help," Hilde said easily.
For some reason that only caused Bryn's annoyance to grow but she bit her tongue. Their home was burning. There were an unknown amount of civilians and guildmates who were down, and a new wave of beasts was rushing towards them. There wasn't any time for arguing. They could only fight. So they did.
Blood splashed through the air as the sisters fought back-to-back, defending each other's weak spots, and following up on each other's attacks in a way that showed that they had fought side by side for years. They knew how the other would move and that was their strength against the horde of monsters since the monsters acted alone, each beast eager to tear into them before another one could. The two of them were a team that the beasts couldn't overwhelm.
Elsewhere Artus flew over the town, shooting shot after shot of arrows at any beast that he could see, he heard a shriek from behind him and turned to see medium-sized featherless birds flying towards him, their wings the only part of their pale bodies having any trace of feathers. Aviaxes.
He pulled back the string of his bow and fired consecutive shots at them, sending the hideous birds to fall to the ground. He followed the trail of one and saw it land next to a fighting mage who was easily beaten back each beast one after the other with his fists alone, the air seemingly cracking with each strike that he delivered.
Artus dropped down next to the man, he was a large man with an intimidating figure, he had about six foot three, broad shoulders with thick muscles, tan skin, shaggy dark brown hair that was starting to gray at the temples, and a beard. His yellow eyes were intense and filled with anger as he punched a Cheeceros.
"Master," Artus greeted, looking up at the larger man.
"Artus," The man said back before turning back around as a Helmepoth charged at him and Artus. He planted his feet and drew back his hand, fingers curling into a tight fist.
Once the Helmepoth grew close he met the beast head-on, his fist colliding with the Helmepoth's head, and the air around the contact site seemed to shatter, as did the Helmepoth. The bones in the beast's body broke one by one, going down its large body and blood gushed out of the Helmepoth's side before it fell to the ground.
"Is Bryn back too?" The man asked, turning back to his mage, yellow eyes meeting green.
Artus nodded, "She dropped down to the east part of town. Are you alright Master Geoffrey? I think that Helmepoth was the last of them." He added when he heard the screams of beasts stop.
"It was and I could be better," Geoffrey admitted, for the most part, he looked unharmed. "You guys made it back on time... if only the stupid alarm had gone off when it was supposed to. But it's odd... the attack stopped as suddenly as it began."
"Did most of the people get to safety?" Artus asked.
Geoffrey nodded but sighed, "Yeah... but we lost a few good people. I don't know how we'll recover from this Artus. Or how the people will ever trust the guild or me again. They already think I'm an outsider and now this."
The Master looked frustrated and Artus could completely understand, as much as he loved Daffodil Town, the people here tended to be judgemental to newcomers, even some of their guildmates. The master himself had even faced their prejudice before he became an S-class mage.
"I'm sure they'll understand, you've protected them for years, Master, you can't prevent everything," Artus said.
"I wish I could..." Geoffrey sighed, running a hand through his already shaggy dark hair.
"Master! Artus!" The two men looked up to see Hilde and Bryn running towards them, both sisters looking relatively unharmed.
"Artus!" Hilde ran faster and threw herself into his arms, hugging him, "I'm glad you're okay!"
Artus hugged her back, "I should be saying that you got stuck in this mess longer than I did." He put her back down and looked at Bryn, taking her in to make sure that she was okay.
"Master, did you hear anything back from Atalante?" Hilde asked, turning to the big man.
Geoffrey shook his head. "I haven't heard anything; I think she's still looking. If she's not back in an hour, then I'll send someone out to find her." He tried to sound calm, but all three of them could hear the undertone of worry in his voice, Atalante was his daughter after all.
"I'm sure she's fine Master," Hilde reassured.
"She is." Geoffrey agreed, turning his attention to the town around them, he could see some of his mages already starting to help their injured guild mates back to the guild to have their wounds tended to while others started to try and move the rubble out of the streets.
"Why don't you kids help them? I need to go around and make sure the others are okay." Geoffrey said.
All three of them nodded and started to make their way deeper into town when the ground started to shake violently, and buildings that were already damaged started to crumble further.
Many of the mages were knocked off their feet by the force of the tremors, Bryn included. "What the hell?!" She demanded trying to get back up to her feet, but the force of the shaking was just too much.
Before Hilde could try to help her sister back up dozens of dark tentacles burst over the other side of the town wall, lashing down at the unsuspecting mages. The mages scrambled to defend themselves but before some could even act, the tentacles impaled them right through their stomach, yanking them up into the air and over the wall with wails of pain and agony.
"Everyone if you can't fight get to cover!" Geoffrey immediately ordered, rushing forward, and decimating several tentacles as he punched the air as they tried to take more of his mages. Like hell, he would lose more than he'd already lost.
Artus lunged down and hauled Bryn back up to her feet by the back of her armor, swinging her out of the way just as she was about to be stabbed. Hilde fended off tentacle after tentacle with her trident. For some reason, they seemed to be focused on her and other stronger members of their guild that were still standing.
"Hilde!" Artus called out, fending off the tentacles that were aimed at him as he pushed Bryn away so she could cut down tentacles that were trying to circle around them.
"AHHHH!" Bryn glanced up and saw two more of her guildmates become impaled by the tentacles, being yanked up into the air and over the wall.
Bryn paled as her eyes widened, where were the tentacles taking them? Why did they suddenly need the mages? She quickly glanced back down and blacked a tentacle as it neared her, being pushed back by the force.
"There's just too many of them," Hilde grunted, twirling her trident in front of her and cutting two tentacles in half. She glanced to see if Artus and Bryn were doing alright when she saw something horrifying; Artus had been pushed back, his bow knocked out of his arms and another tentacle was aiming to stab him through.
Without thinking, Hilde rushed forward, shoving Artus out of the way and being impaled a second later in his place. Both Artus and Bryn gaped in horror as she dropped her trident as the tentacle hauled her off her feet and away from them.
It seemed like time seemed to freeze as Hilde looked down at them one last time, body limp and a small apologetic smile on her face before she was yanked away.
"No!" Artus immediately shot off the ground to retrieve her, but Bryn saw what he didn't and tackled him out of the air just as another tentacle stabbed at them, barely pulling him out of the way. "Get off me! Hilde!" He screamed as helplessly he watched her body disappear over the wall... and it was over after that.
"Bryn! Get off me! Get off! I need to go after her!" Artus tried to push her off, but Bryn forced all of her weight down on him, even though she was sobbing too. First her mom and now her sister. "No! I have to get her! Hilde!" His screams echoed through the town.
The tentacles stopped coming over the wall after they took Hilde and a few more mages and any sign of rampaging beasts that were long gone. All that was left was a destroyed town and grieving mages.
Days later...
It was raining hard and a large group of mages and townspeople were dressed in black, they were gathered in front of the cemetery for a mass funeral for all the loved ones they had lost. The count of lost civilians was low in comparison to mages; about twenty mages had died in the fight with the beasts that had tried to invade their town and another dozen had been pulled away in the last few minutes of the attack when the tentacles appeared, including Hilde.
The rain pounded down on the crowd, and the sky was completely gray and blocking out the sun, reflecting the atmosphere of the town in general.
Bryn stood silently next to Artus, looking at the fresh graves of her mom and Hilde. She felt numb and didn't know what to do. How could her life have been upended in such a short amount of time? Tears trailed down her cheeks, mixing with the rain that drenched her face. What were they supposed to do now?
She listened numbly as the Priest finished the ceremony and townspeople and guild mates alike started to drift apart until it was only her and Artus left standing in front of Hilde's empty grave.
"You shouldn't have stopped me." Artus finally said, causing her head to snap up so that she could look at him. He was glaring at her, the normal light in his eyes was gone, only to be replaced by cold anger.
"Excuse me?" She asked, his anger taking her by surprise. He had never looked or spoken to her like that.
"You shouldn't have stopped me." He said, his voice sounding like it could freeze hell over. "I could have saved her. Or at least gotten her body back!"
"Artus-" Bryn tried to cut in, but he continued, ignoring her.
"Shut up." She flinched back as if struck by his words, "I'm going to find her."
"What?" Bryn blinked at him in shock, not quite understanding what he was saying. Find who?
"Hilde, until I see a body, I'm going to believe that she's alive." Artus said, "I'm bringing her back. Don't stop me again." He didn't wait for her to reply, he just shoved past her and she was left to stare after his back in stunned silence.
"Give him time." Bryn jumped at Geoffrey's voice, turning to see him standing behind her. "For now... he has to look, it's how he'll deal with grief."
"He'll never forgive me," Bryn muttered, looking at the muddy ground. She wasn't sure she could forgive herself either. Maybe she should have let Artus chase after Hilde and gone with him. Maybe they could have saved her. Maybe if-
Bryn's thoughts were abruptly cut off when she felt a smack to the back of the head, causing her to stumble. She stared up numbly at Geoffrey as she rubbed the place, he had smacked her.
"I know what you're thinking." He said sternly. "Stopping Artus from following Hilde was the right move. I'm sure we would have lost him too if you hadn't."
Why did it feel so wrong then? "...right..." Bryn muttered numbly. "If you'll excuse me." She left the cemetery then, leaving Geoffrey alone with all the people he had lost and his thoughts.
Five Years Later
June X790
Geoffrey was once again standing alone in the cemetery where they had buried his guildmates and townspeople five years ago. He let out a deep sigh as he lifted a large bottle and quickly guzzled its contents down his throat, even though the amber liquid burned as it went down.
He couldn't believe that it had been five years. So much had changed within that span of time. The town itself had been rebuilt fairly quickly but the immediate aftermath was bad; the guild had lost a good number of mages who just straight up left after the attack, and after the number of deaths had been published nationwide Obsidian Shield had lost a lot of its trust and reputation, many people saying that it was rather pathetic that Obsidian Shield had failed to do the one job that was theirs. A lot of jobs request from the inner parts of Fiore stopped coming to the guild. It was a miracle that the Magic Council hadn't shut down the guild completely.
It was an even bigger miracle that the border towns even still trusted Obsidian Shield and still trusted them. And with time, the guildmates that remained got better, as the years passed, laughter and comradery began to fill the hall once again, it especially helped when they got a new member, though those days were few and far in between. Not many mages had joined in the past five years, and it worried him. Would they really be able to last like this?
"What are you doing out here by yourself?" A rich, feminine voice asked from behind him.
He turned like he had all the time in the world to see a woman with light brown skin, a long mane of white hair, and two-colored eyes, her right eye was blue while her left eye was pink.
"Mourning," Geoffrey said gruffly, taking another gulp from his bottle and causing the woman to scowl in disgust at him. With a flick of her wrist, she summoned the bottle to her hand and out of Geoffrey's dumping the amber liquid before he could stop her.
"Hey! I was drinking that!" He snapped, looking at the woman with annoyance. "What do you even want Mavia?"
Mavia frowned at his tone and stomped over to him, whacking him over the head with the staff she was carrying. "I want you to pull yourself together you Fool. It's been five years and your guild is wasting away."
"A guild you're not even part of," Geoffrey muttered reaching into the inside pocket of his vest and pulling out a small flask. He unscrewed the cap and took a sip. "But I'm open to suggestions if you have an idea of how to get us out of the pits."
"Get new guild members. Do jobs away from the border towns. Spread the word about yourselves." Mavia said as if it was that simple.
"There hasn't been new blood in like, a year and a few months. No one wants to join us. I think we're doing even worse than Fairy Tail in recruitment these days." Geoffrey said. "And not many towns in Fiore away from the border want to hire us... because of you know..."
"Then fix it instead of just moping and drinking all day! The guild won't get better if the Master doesn't!" Mavia snapped.
"Again, why do you care? You never joined Obsidian Shield." Geoffrey huffed. He tried to take another swig from his flask but found it suspiciously empty and shot another annoyed glare at Mavia who just smirked back.
"Because I've made this place my home, and for some reason call you friend. I'd like to see both thrive again."
Geoffrey sighed looking away from her as he rubbed the back of his head, "Well thanks for the vote of confidence. I'll see what I can do." He looked back and suddenly found Mavia gone.
"... thanks for the advice I guess," Geoffrey sighed again before leaving to go back to the guild. Mavia was right, it was time to get his shit together and the guild had to get their shit together too.
And that's the end of the prologue
As I said above, the SYOC form, the rules for the form, and some extra info are also on my profile.
My Discord link is on my profile page.
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