“I still don’t understand.”
“That’s not you, Jun…Alex.”
“He couldn’t have…”
-
“Sir! There is something you must see.”
Descending from the side of a person's head was a man dressed in a sharp white dress shirt with a pen in his shirt pocket. “What is it?”
As the member began typing into a computer, the screen changed, peering into a model. In large bold letters on the top it read.
The Domination Event is 98% complete.
The man fixed his glasses, registering the information once again making sure it was correct. He patted his shoulders and let out a menacing look. “Perfect. Our plan is nearly complete.”
As the thought settled he turned facing the board of developers in the room. “The End of the Domination Event is upon us! We will finally have Unity.” He then pointed to the middle of the room where a table lay. A light beamed from the ceiling, creating a holograph of Elleon. It seemed to show signatures of objects inside based on colour, and size. As I slowly walked to it, referring to the different developers. He pointed aside. “You get me statistics of all active players on Peppermint.” The developer took the command as if struck by a hammer and very quickly did what the man said. A myriad of red dots appeared on the screen. They seemed to be congregated in one section. In another area, centered upon Elleon was another. It was moving quickly through the hologram. Instead of a simple dot, its icon took a different shape. Finally the man came close to the table, and slammed his hands, gripping the table. He was close enough to it to smell the illusion the holograph made. “That’s my boy!” he yelled to the developers. “That's my boy!”
In the midst of his grandeur, one developer looked aside to his computer, and typed silently.
Boss it seems things have finally escalated to the final leg of the Domination Event. The event is 98% complete.
Send.
As the developer pressed enter, the message was sent, and a certain individual would receive the message.
Bzzzz.bbzzz.bzz..
The vibration was subtle, but enough to let the person know they had received a message. You would think that this person could reach into their pocket to pick up the phone, but this was not a being with hands. At least not in the hands of a normal organism. It was a cloak equipment item.
The cloak opened a menu, and looked at the message he received. Meanwhile as he rested on the shoulders of a young woman, she sat majestically in a space none could enter.
“Dad, what is it?”
The cloak would form a beast, wrapping around her and finally appearing in front of her. “I have good news and bad news.”
He revered her in a respectful tone, but aso in a worried manner. One that was a matter of grave concern. “The domination event is 98% complete.”
As the young woman received the information, her face went from blank to a smile, and then to a serious expression. “I guess it’s time.”
Back in the Tavern, the Guildless would receive a message from Madder once again. “It's time.”
-
What used to be a clear sky, was now a dark cloudy sky, trembling with sparks and distorted thunder.
On the floor, a purple spiraling mass of energy, churning like a whirlpool as if seeking to suck everything into it, but that wasn’t part of its nature, nor its intent. Out of it would form and out of it a single character emerged. They immediately looked into the distance.
“What happened here?” A concerned voice said, trembling. The character took a step forward.
Another pushed through. “Are you afraid?” Another said smugly. It was Diggy.
Finally behind several characters appeared after the foot of the portal.
“As expected. Elleon has become…”
“A City of Gold?” a female said. “Dydas?”
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Finally a resounding voice is the same from behind. “Midas was here wasn’t he.”
As Jun came through he walked towards the abysmal city, reaching his comrades. He then felt a jolt in his chest. It was as if a burning sensation ripped through his heart. It was different than when he first was in the presence of Blackfeather. He held his chest tightly.
“Alex!” a voice yelled. It was Mandy. “What’s wrong?”
The group then turned back to see Jun, kneeling. “What is going on?” Hagerty yelled.
“He’s close.” A person descended from the skies, floating soft to meet the floor. She knelt towards Jun, placing her hand onto his head. “Alex, are you sure you can do this?”
The pain seemed insufferable as Jun felt it burn towards his neck, spreading like a virus. “He’s burning up.” She said, “Mad what’s going on with him?”
He then felt an unwavering presence. Footsteps with every step felt like they were crunching the earth, sundering them and then paving over them with ice.
Grande? Guys?
It was Silent. His surroundings faded into black.
Where is everyone? He thought.
“Yggsalad?” As he looked up before him was a man he had once seen before downed in gold plated armor. One he had not long forgotten. The one to set him on his journey.
“Long time no see, Stranger.”
The man in gold squatted down to Jun, inspecting him. “Or should I say. Jun?” He rose, facing the city, and spread his arms. “Junior maybe?” As swiftly as he turned he then faced Jun once again, this time coming so close, a sweat could fall from his face onto his. “Alex?” Aluxan’s armour began to boil and he held his chest. He closed his eyes, forming a gold energy in hand and clasping it to his chest. “That should do.”
He looked up at the sky. Through a crack the eclipse peaked through, but he looked deeply and inspected a figure and shook his head. “Madder you are one tricky girl.” He then looked at Jun with a smirk. “Good thing I’m the Quest Guide and you're the Mentee.”
Jun didn’t understand what he truly meant and was slightly offended by his words, but neither did he know how to respond. He was speechless, but careful. He was there, but wasn’t. There was no health bar over his head. He knew of Alex to be a dangerous character but the man in front of him was simply - awesome, but he was no Tradesman. At least not one he desired to be.
“I know why you're here. I feel him in you. Blackfeather? How is that even possible?” Aluxan brought his hand to his face, and shook his head. “You wish to assimilate with me, don’t you?”
Jun, still in agony, nodded his head.
“But you think that is the right thing to do? Because Madder told you so? How can you trust her? Do you even know how the Domination Event works?”
Jun understood one basic concept. Stop Mad from taking over the server. Aluxan was Humanity’s last member between them and the Guildless. “You’re the bad guy, you must be stopped.”
Aluxan shook his head once again. “Do you know what happens if the server isn’t dominated by a Guild on this server?”
Jun thought about it, and shook his head.
“The others will come.”
“Others?”
“The Rulers of each Server they’ll come and it won’t be pretty.”
“No!” he disagreed. “That's not going to happen!” The words slipped through his mouth when suddenly he thought logically. If the server had to be ruled, and the Guildless players prevented a player from winning the event, then that would leave the throne empty. Jun’s eyes raised.
“I see your gears turning. You get it. Do you understand now? So what is Madder really trying to do, Jun? Take over the server? Or…?”
There was a pause. Aluxan summoned a sphere of gold in his hands and then crushed it, turning his hand to pour sands of gold to the floor. “Or Destroy it.”
Juns expression remained. “Why would she do that?”
“Why would she leave us at the altar?” Aluxan said to Jun. “It’s been a while since I’ve thought about it. Blackfeather was the side of me that cared.”
Jun then felt a pain begin to budge from his head.
“Let me at him!” It spurred. “Let. Me. At. Him!
The voice was none other than Blackfeathers coming from Jun's mouth. The pain continued, as he felt a short agony, then relief. He felt his body move, as his hands came across his head, laid across his sides, his back slouched and then rose straight.
“I will show you no Mercy.” The possessed Jun said. His eyes pierced a glowing darkness, eating towards Aluxan.
“Great, I'll be waiting.”
Suddenly the vision would subside and Jun was back to his senses in Elleon. He gasps for air as if coming from underwater.
“Jun come on, Jun! Jun” He felt a slap on his face.
As Jun opened his eyes he first felt the air of destruction. He clenched his hands, slowly gaining feeling in his body. He finally felt his hands and got up, but as he rose a hand came out to him. “Hey Buddy, don’t worry us like that.” It was Gaston. He grabbed Jun’s hand, raising him to his feet.”
-
Back in the room of developers, one developer was paying careful attention to the Guildless. He noticed something odd. “Why do these two character have the same character in-game name?” He thought.
“There must be an issue with the server. Is it that these two characters can’t have the same name on the server? The server will naturally try to remove one of the players to fix this.”
The message didn’t come from Mad, or Seismic but from another source.
Wilder Sr walked around focusing on the battlefield displayed on the Hologram. In the corner, the man bowed his herd, seeming to focus into his work. Suddenly a voice came from afar. “Rumaine, I need stats on mineral content in Elleon.”
I’m sorry I must go, but you need to find Aluxan as quick as possible, and subdue him or Junior here will suffer. Also beware of everything Gold. It’s alive!
“Rumaine what’s taking you so long!”
Bye now…
As the message would recede, the players looked upon Jun, but in an instant, he felt the pain shy away. A green aura seeped from his pores manifesting a band on his hand. A status appeared over his head that only nearby players could see.
GM Rumaine’s Blessing: Legendary Rule
The cloak from above, wrapped tightly around Jun. The green reminded him of the colour from his Entrepreneur skill. He grunted slightly, shaking his head, and rose. “Guys, I think I’m okay!” He looked at his hands, inspecting his once debilitating weakness into his renewed strength. “I don’t know what this green stuff is but the pain is gone.”
As they continued forward, they feast their eyes upon the city. The Trees that once stood with life in café squares were rotting, grey, and in peril. The cobblestone paths, were cracked and some even with sink hole leading to depths unknown. Trees set a tone of amber and dark copper brown, as if autumn with leaves falling. As they touched the floor they transformed into gold.
“Well I’ll be.” Hagerty said in surprise. “We hit a gold mine.” He quickly went to touch the leaf when he noticed as his finger approached it, a small health bar began to form.
Croak.
It began to bubble formlessly and threw itself at Hagerty.
“Watch out!” He felt a tug on the back of his shirt then threw him back to a safe distance.
“What was that?” Hagerty asked panting. “It had a whol’ health bar and everythin’.”
Gaston and Aethera took front of the formation, but to what threat had to be stumbled upon.
Suddenly the area around them began to bubble, and forming from the gold were golden slime entities. As they formed completely, a name came assembled above their heads.
Gold Pawns. 10000000000000000 HP.
“Pawn? More like Rook!” Diggy yelled.
Each of the Guildless readied their stance to fight the “Pawns”.