The Beginning of a New Volume

[RKT16ct]

Here's something to challenge those with a pen for creative writing!

I've kinda taken from the Dark Lord/Mocha story and have it in the below POV (point of view) story of a certain character in our guild (no, not my character). What I'd like to see is some creative Point of View stories from other characters (whether it be yours or another characters, it makes no difference to me); and trying to do it in a sort-of chronological progression. If anyone has ever read the Song of Fire and Ice series of books, you'll understand what I mean.

Peruse this first chapter and try to build off from that. The story now begins anew in the current unfolding drama- with the terrifying rumor of Afrikaan, the synergy guild domination, and their respective allies gaining the upper hand in the War of Emperium struggle; and the resulting imbalance of power in the realm of Chaos.

Read the prologue chapter below and you'll get a feel for what I'm talking about.

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MISTGUN

The sun rose with a slight mist from the sea that morning for the humble blacksmith. Alone he sits in the square of the city; to his left is the ever-busy merchant guild, receiving novices who hold the dream of being merchants; to his right the docks leading off into a never ending ocean where many adventurers headed off to lands unknown. Before him was the friendly kafra lady, bowing to all who came by her- and for some annoying reason continuously bowing to him whenever he chanced to look in her direction.
"So annoying" he thought to himself.
"Welcome to Kafra Corporation, how may I help you today?" She chirped up.
The blacksmith looked away, staring off into the distance behind him. Another idiotic woman smiling at him, carving masks that looked just as idiotic as her grimace. On the side opposite her, a bard clad in green, paying him no mind.
"Just as well," he thought to himself. He wasn't too interested in whatever cloak and dagger antics he had to offer.
Just another day in Alberta. Another day to look into what his guildmates gave him for use later, and another day to give out supplies to those same guildmates in need of them for whatever ridiculous shenanigans they were involved in. The guild leader always gave him good stuff to keep. Every now and then his cart got too full- and he had to stoop so low as to ask that bothersome kafra lady to open up his storage account for him. It was a pain in the ass to divy up the zeny just to open up something that was his; but he was never short on cash anyway, so he guessed to himself it wasn't that big of a pain.
He started thinking on some of the things he'd heard in the last few days. The fall of the Dark Lord. The demise of a traitor. The powers that be banishing him from the realm. All of it seemed like a fading dream in light of the everyday nonsense he had to put up with. The mundane tasks he was called to perform seemed to drown out the excitement of passing rumor and tales of the brave warriors triumph. Oftentimes he felt as if the things he was carrying were little more than trash. He had in excess these damn bottles of yellow sand. And if that wasn't enough, as he sorted through his perceived garbage bin, he would get pricked by "those damn needles again?!". As much as he hated it; the guild alchemist would always without fail, come by on that certain day of the week and ease him of those burdens. There would be a day of relief, when the needles would be used along with the bottles of golden dust- and he'd receive a certain amount of potions. Blue ones, white ones. White ones in a test tube. It was all good- he didn't mind having as much as he could carry of those items; because in short time myriads of guildsmen would appear, and would ease him of that burden as well.
"Myriads?" he thought to himself as he stared at the roaming numbers of guildsmen.
It probably wasn't a countless amount. If he tried really hard he could probably count their number. But he didn't care to; it was too daunting a task, and he wasn't assigned to do that duty; better that work be left to one more suitable. Shift, shuffle, sort, and distribute was his job; and damn it all if anyone gave him any more burden than that.

"Our realm is in a power struggle" he remembered overhearing someone talk about to someone in his guild one day. "The balance is so delicate, and I for one would not like to see it tipped to favor one guild over all the others," Said a cloaked man in a ragged purple mantle.
"That is why we fight though, so we aren't dealing with that problem. And we've been doing a damn good job of it so far," the guild member replied, with a fire in his speech so matched to his outfit.
"I wish it were the case. But there is a guild rumored to be on its way to the top. Its leader is an ambitious man, with little to no regard to the balance of power. His guildmembers are the same, and their devotion to their masters cause is almost fanatical; I've heard rumors that at a drop of a dime, at their leaders call, they drop their jobs, they rise from their sleep, and some have even said they come back from brink of death- to perform the tasks that their leader bid them."
"Rumors. Old wives tales. If you believe those tales, then there's a bridge east of comodo I'd like to sell you," the guildsman said while smirking.
"Notwithstanding, their devotion is true. Their leader's drive is inhuman; it would be only a matter of time..." the cloaked man was cut off by the appearance of a stunning woman. Very stunning the blacksmith thought to himself. perhaps she'd like to see his mistgun? Though it wouldn't be a mist upon his arrival; more like a shower of inspiration and power. His thoughts wandered into the gutter, only to be snapped out by her angelic voice.
"Enough your jibber jabber! The weeks have been long, and they are nearing their goal!" she shouted.
She waved at them to follow her, and a mysterious portal opened for the three of them to enter. It was only at this moment Mistgun realized that he had been mesmerized by the beauty of one of the holy cloth. "Whatever," he thought. Remove the cloth, and she's like any other babe out there- naked and good to go. He sat back and pondered on the events that had just taken place.
"What the hell was all the rush?" he thought. But as he recalled the conversation between the mysterious man clad in purple and his fiery guildmate, he realized something; and it was as if it was the first profound thought that had ever crossed his mind in years...

"Shit," he said aloud. "It's gonna get more hectic for me in the days ahead."

[Subaru]

[RKT16ct]

^basically, yah.

It'd be good to get the POV from Ryu and your char; cuz I kinda hinted at Ryu's character being in that prologue. I kinda threw in the loud mannered priestess without thinking "who in the guild would fit that bill?" But I already wrote it, so someone's gotta fill the role;- maybe Pinecones?

And this isn't limited to characters in the guild. It could also be a POV from allies, totally unassociated guilds altogether, or even a perspective from someone from the antagonist guilds (that'd be cool too- probably check on ROPD website and see who's who in synergy and make up a story for them).

[Neraid]

Awesome idea and story RK!

I didn't book a spot, and I didn't really help carry on the story at all, but here is my addition none-the-less:

___________________

IANUA

Ianua, or Ian for short, was down on his luck. His last employer - some research facility in Juno - had fired him for always being late, and for not paying attention on the job. He didn't like working there anyway - he had to supply his own blue gems, and they never gave him any of the cake they always talked about. But without any zeny coming in, cake was even more unobtainable. He was reduced to eating meals bought from NPCs; he'd even eaten a Monster's food yesterday when someone had dropped it in town.

Once he'd been able to offer his services in Alde Baran outside the clock tower, but now everyone walked around with their heads held high, or just sat there with chat boxes above their heads and didn't pay him any attention. Depressed, and at a loss for what to do, he went through the streets of the city without any destination in mind; and finally came across Santa Claus. He started up a conversation, thinking that if anyone could cheer him up it would be this jolly fat man - but Santa just ranted a bit about Christmas spirit, and then warped him away. "No wonder I can't get any business," thought Ian, "With all these NPCs to compete with!"

With nothing better do do, he wandered in to Lutie, and then in to the Toy Factory, where he saw a stunning woman fighting a giant present (which said 'Myst Case' when he hovered over it). He thought at first that it was her holy robe that made her so stunning; but he had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with the mace she was using. She turned to him and said, "Welcome Ianua - I have been expecting you."
"Expecting me?" He thought, before saying aloud, "How did you know my name? And did you know that Myst Case is still attacking you?"
"Oh, right" she said, and finished it with a giant swing from her mace. Ian greedily eyed the cake that dropped. "Anyway," the stunning woman continued, "I have a job for you, Ianua. It pays well, but it is also very dangerous. Do you accept?"
"I'll tell you what;" said Ian, "Throw in that piece of cake over there, and you've got yourself a deal."

As soon as the details were sorted out, she had his first assignment for him. She cast the 'Warp Portal' spell, and after what seemed like an eternity to Ian, finally selected the 'Alberta' option. Now he knew his destination, Ian opened up in a flash of blue light and quipped, "Your portal awaits, Ma'am."
Keeping her end of the bargain, she threw the cake in first, and then jumped in after it. Ian closed up again the instant she was through, and waited patiently in Alberta while she talked with a couple of people who were, in Ian's opinion anyway, a lot less stunning.

She called for Ian again when they'd finished their discussion, and picked 'Dark Lord's Emergency Backup Castle Field' from the list. He figured that was the closest field to where the Dark Lord would go if he had lost his WoE castle in GH, and wanted to hatch another evil plot; maybe even to take over the whole server. He opened up to let the stunning woman and her associates though, and he saw (on the other side of himself) an army of whispers and other monsters who looked like they were preparing for a town invasion for Hallowe'en. In the distance, he could just make out two sinister characters giving out orders. One was probably the Dark Lord, and although he didn't recognise the other, it was clear from the way they gave orders that they were a powerful leader of some kind who was in league with the Dark Lord. As his passengers stepped through, he noticed a hungry-eyed blacksmith watching them from across the street. "Could the blacksmith have seen through as well?" He wondered.

Ian waited at his destination patiently while the other three went off to complete whatever mission they were on. He was in the middle of a day dream about a hat made entirely out of cake, when they came running back and said, "Quickly Ian, warp us out of here! They're right behind us!"
Although he was indignant over having no destination chosen for him, he knew it was an emergency so he opened up to the first place on his list and closed as soon as they had run through.

"What a day!" he exclaimed as they caught their breath. Then he went back to thinking about cake while the others talked about what they would do next.
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It's not often you get to see things from the warp portal's point of view!
Anyway;
Who did Mistgun tell, once he realised what he'd seen?
Who were the purple pauldroned prince and his forceful firey friend? And how did they fare with that stunning seductive saboteur?
How will the evil guild try to upset the balance of the server?
What is the Dark Lord planning, and who is he in cahoots with?
Find out the answers to some, all, or none of this in the next installment!

[Subaru]

[RKT16ct]

oh I see! Kindof a living portal POV.

Interesting to use a spell as a character in the story. Dunno how it'll turn out if other people start writing about the "Storm Gusts'" Point of view or the "Guillotine Fist's" point of view though- might get a little hectic.

and notwithstanding the questions posed at the end of your chapter- i think a more important question needs to be posed:
how the hell is a spell for a warp portal become a sentient creature???"

XD

[Neraid]

lol! I want to see the gfist's POV.

[Snookum]

Seems someone played too much Portal
...but here the cake was not a lie.

[RKT16ct]

MISTGUN

Sort. Stack. Shuffle. Dig. Organize. These were the words common to his language. The usual blacksmith in his usual sitting place in town did his usual business of tunnelling through the massive amounts of merchandise in his cart. Intent on finding something, his eyes lit up as his hands grasped at a glass container holding a dark-yellow liquid. Mistgun looked at it with both longing and disgust; as if it was the wife of his youth with whom he'd had a recent argument with. A small scuffle of hatred, yet a lifetime of love and respect. Was this bottle a rare elixer, capable of curing any ailment, and worth a fortune far above what even King Tristram could pay? Was this jug holding a substance recalling him to earlier days, when he dabbled in the arts of alchemy, and curious about which path he should take for his future? He held it as a newborn in both hands; far enough to get a full look at the container, yet not so close as to be considered hugging it.
After that glance-over, he threw it aside to the stony path to watch it shatter and spill its contents.
"About time I got rid of that stuff. It's starting to make me see shit," he muttered.
What was it that he saw? The topic of conversation wasn't much to interest him. The affairs of warlords and guild leaders and realm-balance were outside of his expertise; and therefore were in the "i don't care" category of his life. As long as it wasn't hurting the business of zeny flow, market go, and merchandise show; it was trivial. Yeah, it would get busy because of all that was going on- but his piece of that pie was so small and insignificant; and he was gonna be happy having just that; he didn't need anymore thank you. However, his eyes... his eyes were what was bothering him. He wondered if they were hallucinations; or wild imaginings coming to imagery before his focus; or the effects of some spell that damn joker in the purple mantle put on him.
"So which one do you think it is toots?" he asked leaning towards the direction of the kafra girl.
"Welcome to Kafra Corporation. How can I help you today?" She replied with a blank-slate gaze.
"Have I ever told you how useless you are?" He retorted as she smiled and bowed to him. "You're an ugly bitch," he said to her with a grimaced look. She continued to bow.
"Eh. Whatever. Anyways, too much Jacky can make your eyes go wacky, or so they say," said he. Mistgun looked around at the square's four corners. Kafra, bowing again. Stupid smile lady- carving a mask and smiling. Suspicious looking bard. City guide/guard. Like the four horsemen that were prophesied to bring doom to the world in their own particular ways; these four brought destruction to his world in a much different fashion: idiocy. It felt as if he were talking to trees; he would give some profound statement or ask an insightful question and all he would hear in response is a rustling of leaves or a creaking of wood. Hell, sometimes he'd wished for that good of a response from these dimwits. Perhaps he would have better company outside the city to the west- where the wispering pines gave their voice to the restless wind. The only problem was that the furry lunatics had no access to the vast amounts of storage space that kafra did. As much as he would rather suffer the pain of jabbing cactus needles into his eyes- he would have to bear the pain of dealing with these simpletons. Plus it was his guild meeting spot; they weren't going to meet somewhere else on his whim or fancy, for reasons so trivial as these four horsemen of stupidity.
Just then a warp portal appeared and from it emerged another guild member. A slender sexy lady about yeigh tall, and built in all the right places; mistgun's eyes lit up as she stepped from the portal and sat next to him on the stony pavement. The grass blades behind them sounded as a thousand needles falling to the ground as the wind blew through the port city. She was wearing black leather; and that's pretty much all there was to it. Black leather jacket with a silver zipper up the middle where it could have been zipped up. However, to the delight of his eyes, this was not the case; to boot the black leather pants were hugging the hips, and low down on the waist. The dark lolita sitting by his side with both legs stretched out and arms set back, allowed the Alberta sun to warm her exposed chest; which exposure was to maybe a C-cup, as he could see on the tag on the white brazier clinging on to dear life on those bosoms. It was nice to have some intelligible company, he thought to himself. It was nicer to have such nice looking company, his thoughts concluded.
Autolux looked at him, wincing her right eye as the sun continued to shine down on her, "Get your mind out the gutter, pervert."
Mistgun snapped out of his trance and engaged in the conversation, "Sorry, my mind was somewhere else."
"I could see that. But I saw more than your mind wandering. Your eyes took a trip south on me as well."
He glanced over at the broken bottle on the side opposite him, and took a hand to rub his eyes in recollection, "Yes, my eyes. Seems I've been having problems with those lately."
Autolux took her sunbathing position again, closing her eyes to the sun before her, "Yeah, seems like everyone is having trouble with their five senses nowadays. People can't believe their eyes, or ears, or smell, or whatever. I heard The Dark Lord's defeat was only temporary; the gods granted him another chance and now he's back scheming in some unknown realm. There's also rumors of some dark guild and their alliances banding together and obtaining a rare artifact that will increase their strength; heck, from what I've been hearing, they already have some nice shit on 'em."
This was Autolux. She wasn't concerned about being prim and proper like most other ladies in the world nowadays. Her speech was harsh if needed, but truthful and to the point always. She had never so much the grace of a politician's smooth words and eloquent spin around the truth as rigorous at it might have been; but rather, as her profession entitled her, a straight shot of truth; and to hell with ya if ya couldn't take it. A gunslinger by trade, by word, and by mind; what she chose to be suited her personality almost like a glove. It kind of made him wonder what the hell he was doing as a blacksmith; for their work was tedious, requiring attention to detail as well as great deal of sweat and gusto to work the metal, fold the steel, hammer the iron, etc. He was as far from sweat as the east was from the west; and the only detail he was interested in was what color of potion a guildmate needed and the exact record for zeny provided or loaned out. It seemed like he was more suited to be an accountant, or a bank manager; but no such job existed in this Chaos.
"That stuff don't concern me," he replied quickly, thinking his thoughts left him silent for too long. "My only concern is my eyes right now. I think I'm seeing things"
"What kind of things?"
Mistgun rose his head up and looked at the bottle again. "You know what they say of Jacky?"
Through squinted eyes Autolux looked in the direction of the broken vessel, and the contents as a small pool around it. "Jacky makes your eyes go wacky, was it?"
"Something to that extent." Mistgun turned to his cart and eyed it over carefully, "I just hope there isn't any more to tempt me."
"So how did your eyes go wacky?" she questioned, looked back at him with a right squinted eye.
He got up and walked to the spot where the portal carrying the priestess, the champion, and the man in purple was. He examined the ground and the air around it carefully. The portal had long since been dissapated, but he hoped to find some evidence of shenanigans; some hope that the air was distorted to give off an illusion; or the ground had some mental-fucking, or mind-warping spell cast on it. He had no training the the magic arts, nor any sensing tricks like the magical hounds did; but there usually would be a small circle around whatever was cast. Or whoever it was cast upon. He found no evidence of such a circle cast on him; nor did he remember anything of a circle around that warp portal.
A bullet zipped past him with a BANG! "Hey, I'm talking to you Mist!" Autolux shouted, with a pistol still smoking, pointed in his direction. "How did your eyes go wacky?"
Mistgun looked around, as if he were checking for enemies or spies. He looked upon the four at each corner of the square and huffed, then shook his head in what seemed to be an unexplainable defeat, and put his head in his hand to rub his eyes again.
"Your gonna think I'm crazy," He said, a small tremble in his voice, "But a portal I just saw now...."
"Yes?...."
"... I think it had eyes."

[RKT16ct]

Xellie

Hectic was an understatement. Here and there only words and shouts of what to do, when to do, blah blah blah. It was pissing him off more than anything. He just wanted to tear everyone’s eyes out and get the meeting going at a more organized pace- a pace that he would easily embrace. The pace was short, and the conclusion quick- get to doing something! His mind raced for putting this notion into motion, and he blurted out his desires, interrupting the blather going on between two of the other men speaking.
“Talk is shit. Action speaks louder!” Xellie bolted.
“Would you fly off a cliff without the surety of wings, or the lightness of body to float your way down?” a cutting response came from a man clad in a shoddy purple garb, with fur around its fringes as white and as messy as the hair on his head. He bore the mark of what looked like a phoenix on a snowboard on his left shoulder. “Many of our guildmembers are just as pissed- but some of them might have some good strategy for attack.”
"Natsu Dragoneel. You are called the salamander; but your actions do not mimic the roaring of the flame, nor the consuming nature of fire. You are too long on thinking, too much on speaking, and too little on acting." Xellie turned his head around to meet each guild leader's eyes with his. "The amount that you have thus far contributed has culminated into this. Hell, with as much as you twiddle-thumbs have done over the last few weeks, I'm amazed they haven't gained the god-item already! Not once did you lift a finger when they held the fort before. And after such a long duration of holding it, they are at the precipice of gaining the god item; and all you want to do is talk about what you might do, and when even a hint of conclusion raises its head in this meeting, you all squabble against any suggestion of doing anything."
“Natsu does bring up a point though.” said another man. He bore a stone ring on his finger signifying his guild alliance. His being the largest with two men at his side bearing smaller rings on their fingers- he was obviously the guild leader. The Windfall guild had each a stone ring worn on their middle finger. Bearing their alliegance to windfall was the ring; their response to all that oppose them was the finger that bore it. "We can all agree to attack as a single alliance- but what if a majority of our guilds are not up for it? Do we attack with our forces cut in half- because of differing opinions on how to approach the enemy?"
"The next point to present itself at this meeting shall be my blade at your neck, Heathy, for wearing my patience thinner than it already is." Xellie himself was the leader of a small guild- once great in number- but their power dwindling. The bulk of their power was contained in their fighting spirit; their leader's and the small amount of guildsmen who remained loyal and active to the guild. The crest of Valhalla; a guild known for their passionate devotion to getting things done; so it was with their leader- a lion of a male who knew nothing of boundaries for negotiations and politicking. Mercy was not in their vocabulary; and strategy was a rare sight amongst their members. "Who gives a damn if half our guildmembers disagree- just do it and get it done!"
Fairy Tail’s guild leader spoke up, “This is going to be murder on Alchy; and Mistgun simply does not have adequate supplies for the quantities of potions that need to be made. Speed potions, whites, blues, etcetera- Alchy will also have to be on standby for full chemical protections.”
“Your alchemist currently holds the number 10 ranking, making his potions more effective and having greater chance in making, yes?” asked Heathypoo of the Windfall.
“Yes, but he holds that rank only by a hair. I have heard their guild alchemist was close behind and is very close to outranking ours- and taking that 10th position.”
“Their guild AND their alchemist can kiss my ass,” Xellie responded, “Look salamander, you and your guild get going on what you need to do to get supplies up and running. I will have my hunters looking for appropriate herbs and other components that you might need. Others in my guild will have to train, and become stronger for the battle ahead; because I do not wish the Jologs leader dead; I want to eat his heart while it is still connected to him- alive.”
“And when did you become the leader of this little alliance, Xellie?” a High Wizard queried from the back; casually sitting at a table while dabbling his fire under a bong he was sampling.
“When I saw your need of some phalic symbol to suck on as a reminder of your lack of real towering stature, Ashai.” She snapped.
“Ok, can we save the cutting personal remarks for later and focus on a strategy that will work for everyone?” the Salamander Natsu said, arms crossed.
“Well, seeing the progress so far in this meeting, looks like our next seige will compliment what hard work you've all done today- which amounts to nothing” bellowed Xellie.
The guild leaders and their co-leads then started tearing at each other with sharp words of wit, and blunt words of just brash insult. Just as they were wont to lay their tongues aside and rather bear arms to get their point across, the large wooden doors at the entrance to Prontera church opened; and the bright light from outside came pouring in, overwhelming the darkness of the sanctuary. However, the figure coming through that light was just as dark- if not darker.
“Might I have a voice at this table?!” a cry came out from the shadowy figure.

A man shrouded in a dark purple cloth made his way forward and spoke as his feet hit the stone floor, "With such a large alliance- it would be certain that not even the realm of Chaos would be able to handle the amount of force concentrated into a single area. Why, many members of your own guild may not be able to move because of the sheer pressure that would be felt; the very tension of the air would cause some spells to fail, some skills would disable, and vast amounts of your guild members wouldn't even have it in them to even approach such a battlefield."
"We haven't come to any conclusions about alliances between our guilds. We are just exploring the possibilities; notwithstanding we do not have a full Chaos representation here today. The Mao guildleader has not shown; we do not know Snacku of Magdalo's standing, and Kanashii of Azure Breeze has yet to show- he had prior engagements." Replied Ashai the High Wizard, slightly coughing from a bong hit as he tilted his chair back at his table. "In fact, from what I gather, we've only come so far in this meeting to see that..."
Xellie shot in an interruption, "Shut your mouth Ass-high! Unless you would like to tell this stranger also the location of your guild treasures as well as provide him the key to it?"
Ashai put the hose of the bong to his mouth in silence and breathed in another bit of smoke as the contraption bubbled in response. Natsu shook his head in disgust and turned away from the pathetic sight, and focused then on the stranger, "Why do you bring these things up? What is it that you really want to ask?"
“I'm just saying, what if your efforts end in defeat?” The stranger asked as he progressed from the darkness to the light at the meeting table.
“What do you propose we do then, friend?” Asked Heathypoo, with his two henchmen leaning in close for the answer.
“It's not so much what you can do to stop them, but what I can do to help." The man took a breath and pulled back his cloak a bit to expose his skin to the air- it was clearly seen that the heat of the day was getting to him; and sweat was trickling down his neck and past a tatoo he bore on his neck with the name IANUA on it. "I have quite a plan. A plan that has roots in our shared hatred of Afrikan- and all those allied with him,” He then took the shroud fully from off his face, revealing a black spiky haired young man, with somewhat of a close trim beard and mustache.
The guild leaders all took a step back, aghast- with some drawing their weapons in disbelief of what they were seeing.
“My name is Lelouch. Will you give me audience?” He said with a smirk.