The next morning, Heaven headed to the meeting room as planned. Unlike the normal layout of the fraternity, the meeting room was the most nondescript room in the building.
It was a microfabricator room where they could reconfigure the space to look like nearly anything they could imagine. In its base setting it was an entirely nondescript solid dark gray room devoid of anything that was fabricated within.
However, as this was their meeting room, the only adornments were the corner lights that ran across the edges along the ceiling and a matching table with a built-in infinity mirror that took up most of the table’s surface.
The room was currently projecting a standard meeting room with a set of large windows that gave way to a view of the City of First Light as viewed from a fifty-story building.
Striga sat comically at the head of the table in an impeccably designed mahogany high back chair that was far too large for his far too small body.
At first, the others heckled him to no end over his choice of seating but had long since gotten used to it.
Mostly.
In reaction to his peculiar choice in furniture, the rest of the team decided to procure their own personal chairs so as not to leave the young master feeling like the odd man out. Heaven had chosen a nocturn-infused chrysteel tensegrity chair with padded satin cushioning.
On the surface, it was chosen for its design aesthetic, but it was actually because she hated meetings and had an irrational need to move about. Such a chair gave her an excuse to rock in place, while pretending to pay attention.
Today, of course, she was feeling a lot more attentive as one of the main topics of conversation involved her fiancé, though she hadn’t been given a foreword about the other.
She was the first to arrive, as usual. She normally had a few minutes to speak with Striga casually before things got down to business. Though, most times they sat in silence as they waited, today turned out to be one of those days where Striga decided to strike up a conversation first.
“You seem to be in good spirits, Heaven,” he said.
Heaven had mostly spaced out before she even entered the room. Her mind had been on replay, going over the last couple of days as she thought about everything she and Ma’Z had experienced up until last night.
She had almost missed his prompting when a small part of her consciousness replayed his words in her head and snapped her out of her reverie.
“Oh. Sorry? I uh… Yeah. I am,” she stammered.
“Oh? Now this is rare. I hardly remember the last time I’ve seen you so flustered. Is it really that different having your fiancé here?”
“Honestly? Yeah. It is. I haven’t been by the shop in the past couple of days, and I’ve hardly left any instructions for my crew in my absence. You could say I’ve been completely out of character these past couple of days.”
“Is that a bad thing? Stay wound up too tight for too long and you’re bound to snap. It’s nice to see you finally taking the time to unburden yourself from the constant tension.”
“Can’t argue with you there.”
“Are the arrangements still in play?”
“Yeah? Yeah. Uh, I just took him to the track last night. He’s super excited to get a team going so he can participate as soon as possible.”
“That’s good. The tracks are a good place to hone one’s skills. It’ll be a good place for him to get some practical training in.”
“You know, you can try thinking of something other than fighting for once, you know?”
“I can. But I also can’t help but be who I am. He’ll be a valuable asset to us should he decide to join in earnest. Of course, I have no intention of breaking our agreement or trying to push him into joining us without yours and his consent. I can pick up on those social cues at least.”
“Good. For now, let’s keep it that way.”
“You’re right. Let’s change the subject then, shall we. The Jewels you procured last night far exceeded our client’s expectations. They exceeded mine too. The take was especially substantial, and we were able to keep a few ourselves.”
“Really? Not much a group of weapon’s merchants can do with a flower.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that. Did you ever read the description on them?”
“I glanced at it but didn’t really see anything that stood out.”
“Maybe you should look again?”
A notification popped up in Heaven’s Vision. She glanced over at Striga who smiled casually through steepled fingers.
“Boy, put your hands down. You’re not a mob boss,” she said.
The rebuke only made Striga smile a bit wider. Heaven smiled back as she rolled her eyes and read the description.
Jewel of the Ohr Leaf: a flower that only blooms in the darkest of habitats. This staple delicacy of the Shade Stalker is said to be where said creatures gain their abilities. As such, this leaf can only be spotted when not looking directly at it.
The jewel for which it gets its name stems from the solid black buds that lie at the tip of its stigma.
If properly harvested, these jewels can be ground into a fine dust, but like the core of a shade stalker can never be exposed to direct bright light.
Heaven raised an eyebrow at the last line. “I actually hadn’t seen that last line before. Is this your skill description?” she said.
Striga nodded and said, “Yes. A rather useful trait, don’t you think?”
“I don’t see how exploding dust would do any good against a mechanized transformer with shields.”
With a scoff, Striga laughed and said, “Heaven. We’re not called the Fallen Reapers because we kill robots, remember? We do the wet work, so others don’t have to.”
Before Heaven could say anything further, the door to the meeting room opened up, where a large tower of a man came striding in.
“Yo!” Brigand called out. “Of course the two of you would be here already.”
“This surprises you?” Heaven said.
“I wouldn’t have greeted you immediately if it had,” Brigand said.
“Point.”
He took his seat across from Heaven, his chosen chair being a well-worn leather grandfather chair with a brass finish. The chair did its job in making Brigand seem older than he appeared. It also fit his personality as being one of the more level-headed members of the group.
The others began to trail in shortly after. War and Vivi strolled in together. War, looking like he had just crawled out of bed, and Vivi right behind him dangling a mana cigarette from her mouth, and a book tucked under her armpit.
The pair sat beside Brigand, War in a plush black velvet wingback chair, and Vivi in a futuristic-looking reclining massage chair complete with an overhead VR fixture. When she sat, she leaned back almost immediately, as she pulled out her book and tossed it over her face.
Tera’Lese walked in a moment later. Her chair looked like a solid piece of white canvas until she leaned against it. As she sat beside Heaven, the microfab material immediately conformed to her shape, deforming and flexing into the shape of a chair. With a tug of the arm, an armrest was created, and a projection popped up into view.
Oraria was the last to join. This surprised Heaven greatly, which immediately informed her that there was something big going on.
Normally she would’ve known already, but with Ma’Z’s arrival, it wasn’t surprising that they decided to leave her out of the usual updates so that she wasn’t bogged down with work.
Oraria took her seat next to Tera’Lese, a bloodred eggshell with a comfy black cotton cushion and a suite of holographic displays built into its walls.
With all of the members assembled, Striga wasted no time getting the announcements started.
“Fantastic. Now with everyone here, let’s get started,” he said. “There are only two points on the agenda today. But before we get into the more pressing issue, I would like to bring to order news of our newest member’s assessment results.”
Striga glanced at Heaven, who shrugged and gave him the silent go ahead.
Next, he turned to Brigand and nodded for him to begin.
Brigand nodded back and tapped on the table between them. At his touch, everything in the room faded from view, replaced by a full three-dimensional replay of Heaven and Ma’Z’s encounter with the Shade Progenitor and Shade Queen.
Brigand let the recording play in full, gauging everyone’s expressions in turn.
“Pinche loco, Heaven. Is that really your guy? He was like a ghost out there.” War said.
“There’s no way that he calls himself a newbie, ya? He done killed that there queen like it owed him reparations,” Vivi seconded.
“Sorry to disappoint, but the chances of foul play are all but naught. Remember your bodies are all DNA locked. To bypass the system would require clearance from the highest authority, which you don’t have. Mayhap we should thank our great fortunes that Ma’Hiz’ talent already rivals our own,” Tera countered.
“Well, you all know what I think. But if I’m supposed to take this at face value, then we truly picked up a monster,” Oraria said.
Heaven remained quiet, not having anything to add since she witnessed it all firsthand, and due to her relationship, her accord could always be viewed as biased.
Instead, she looked to Brigand and nodded, giving him the go ahead to continue.
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“To begin, I echo all of your feelings,” he began. “Having witnessed it firsthand for myself, I could scarcely believe this was the work of an amateur.
“Skill, ability, decisiveness, reaction time, tactics, combat awareness. All A tier or above.
“Shade Queens aren’t a particularly dangerous monster, but that’s only because we tend to tackle them in groups of two to cover each other’s blind spots. Ma’Hiz, however, seemed particularly unphased by the properties of the shade family and demonstrated that he was not only willing to engage in fights where he would be considered at a huge disadvantage, but did so while using his magic to assist the Major.”
“I’m sorry, repeat that,” Oraria interrupted.
Brigand nodded and started a new playback, targeting key moments of the recording, then continued saying, “Right. At first I thought it was my imagination, but Ma’Hiz had deployed a shadow that he sent ahead to scout the area ahead of him.
“Similar to Heaven’s First Light, the shadow seems to be able to act semi-independently, moving based on the orders given to it.”
The scene skipped ahead to just before they engaged to two shades, pausing to highlight Ma’Z’s dark servant.
“Here, you can see it again a lot clearer. While not as robust as Heaven’s First Light, it is clearly a manifested shadow version of Ma’Hiz. Its nature is further evidenced a moment later when Heaven used the servant itself as a shadow to jump locations while she engaged the shade progenitor.”
“Does it act on its own upon summoning?” War asked.
“To the best of my knowledge, I gather it behaves more like a drone. It can receive instructions and act accordingly, but not autonomously,” Brigand answered.
“Wait. So, that means it was there waiting for Heaven because he sent it there?” Oraria said.
“That’s the conclusion I came to. And it wasn’t just this instance, but this one here as well,” Brigand said.
The display shifted again to the moment Heaven dove head first into Ma’Z’s servant, and jumped to the shadow of a nearby stalagmite and stood in place before finishing off the shade progenitor.
“This… I think this was the moment I couldn’t believe my eyes. Ma’Hiz had been fully engaged with the shade queen at this point, and still had the presence of mind to not only move his servant to provide a jump point for Heaven, but also link a spell of his that allowed him to stick to any surface.”
Brigand’s statement seemed to set off something in Vivi as she sat bolt upright in her chair with an incredulous look on her face.
“Are you cranking for a laugh? Dat level of spell strengt’ is entirely too much for a new player. I’Lu are a light and dark aspected race. You jus’ described a void spell, yeah?” she said.
“You’re free to watch the unedited footage again if you like. In fact, I’ve already sent you all a copy to go over for yourselves. But to your point, you are correct. He shouldn’t have such a high affinity with the void aspect,” Brigand said.
“Am I missing something? He just made her stick to the walls. How is that that big a deal?” Oraria said.
“The duration and range at which he was able to use the spell all exceed what he should be capable of. But he not only deployed the spell on Heaven where she needed it but was actively using it throughout most of his battle with the queen,” Vivi clarified.
“You saw all of that? I thought you were sleeping,” Oraria said.”
“Her ocular implants allow her to see even with her eyes closed. I thought you knew that?” War said.
“What? So, all of those times when she was laying down with that book over her face, she still saw everything?”
“Why do you think we’ve never reprimanded her in any of our meetings?” Heaven said, speaking for the first time since the meeting started.
Oraria looked to the red-headed elf in disbelief and said, “Well, ain’t that a falshing yautshi.”
Clearing his throat, Brigand brought the topic back on track and said, “As I said. This was the moment I couldn’t believe my eyes. And looking back on it all, it was Ma’Hiz who instructed Heaven on how to set the battlefield. It was Ma’Hiz who supported Heaven in her fight against the progenitor, and it was Ma’Hiz who took on the brunt of the shade stalkers as he corralled them into a killing field between his lightning and her turrets.
“He not only removed the threat of the Shade’s ability to swarm, but pitted Heaven against the progenitor, who was naturally a bad match against her abilities.
“On top of this, he used their own strengths and weaknesses against them. Heaven has a high affinity for light, and with her abilities and tools, she lit that place up like a Christmas tree. In addition, the queen used her dark aspected magic to try and to suppress Ma’Hiz, not knowing that he too thrived in the shadows.”
“It was a slaughter from start to finish,” Tera’Lese said.
The group turned towards the resident Tear, nodding at her aptly put conclusion.
Tera’Lese sat back in her chair, not knowing what to think or say beyond that. She had about a dozen explanations in her head, but nothing could really explain that level of ability from a newcomer with next to zero knowledge of how to even play the game.
She didn’t know where to start, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t put together her own conjectures. Turning to Heaven, she asked, “Has Ma’Hiz used his telepathy with you at all?”
Heaven looked a little surprised by the question. Not because she knew that he was telepathic – that was common knowledge – but the fact that she thought to ask at all.
“Yeah, on a couple occasions. Once to test out how to even do it, and another because he almost gave away some information he didn’t want to divulge and was trying to come up with a lie in a hurry,” Heaven said.
“So, other than those two instances, all of your actions throughout were all your own?”
“Yes. He hadn’t used any telepathy at all during the battle. I believe he was mentally stretched thin trying to do all of the things described earlier, and it just never occurred to him to do so.”
“So, non-matching elemental attributes and operator expertise rivaling that of our strongest Riders. In addition, I managed to speak with members of JDT, and they all confirmed that it was Ma’Hiz who delivered the killing blow to the Howitz Franx. They said, and I quote, ‘The crazy falsher came in buck nekkid and ripped the cables out of its missile pod and turned it back on the tank, and made it blow itself up. Something none of us would’ve ever dared to try.’ end quote.”
The rest of the group sat back stunned.
The moment seemed to stretch on as each of them sat and ruminated on what they had just been told along with what they had just seen.
All the while Striga sat unmoving, eyeing each one in turn through the same steepled pose he had assumed before the meeting. He took a mental note of each of their reactions and graded his own. Had he heard this information from anyone else, he would’ve taken it to be false.
But the undeniable fact, as laid out by Brigand, was that even if this was supposed to have been a low ranked encounter, the level of skill in which he completed the contract put him on par with any of them. Maybe even higher.
“Do you have anything else to add, Brigand?” he said.
Brigand looked at their tiny leader and took a second to think on it, before finally shaking his head saying, “No. I think that pretty much concludes my assessment.”
“Good,” Striga said. “Now, just to sum up, Ma’Hiz possesses skill that rivals our own, and could be a good fit for the team, should he join. But I also have to remind everyone that this portion of the meeting was simply a formality.
“Everything said is true, but Ma’Hiz isn’t here to join our guild as a Reaper, but as a guest using our backing to participate in the racing circuits. Unless we hear otherwise, Don’t expect Ma’Hiz to go out of his way to complete any contracts. We were only able to get this data because it was something Heaven wanted to do for fun.
“We somewhat encroached on that fun, so I don’t expect Ma’Hiz to be too keen on us encroaching any further. Is that understood?”
The group nodded, though Oraria seemed to not be taking the news too well.
“Something to add, Oraria?” Striga asked.
“No, Headmaster… No. I have nothing to add,” she said.
Oraria sat back in her chair and took a calming breath.
“I understand the arrangements that were made prior to Ma’Hiz joining, but I didn’t think it precluded him from having to fulfill contracts,” she said.
“On the contrary, Oraria. Ma’Hiz will still fulfill contracts, but only those related to the circuits. He has agreed to that much.”
Hearing that seemed to make Oraria perk up.
“Well, then as a contributing member of the Fallen Reapers, a toast to our newest member,” she said.
The rest of the group raised imaginary glasses in commemoration of the moment.
Almost immediately, however, Striga moved straight on with the meeting and said, “Now with the pleasantries aside, we now move on to our first topic.”
Striga tapped the table, switching the projection to one of an imaginary rock mesa overlooking the City of First Light. In the same instance, a series of windows popped around the group displaying personal performance metrics, revenue streams, and their current favorability ratings among their clientele.
A certain name was highlighted, whose favorability was currently sitting around thirty-two percent, down from seventy-seven.
“While not the most pressing detail, our reputation had taken a small hit after an altercation between ourselves and Baron Vast’Artes.”
“Wait. Wasn’t he that stooge that was trying to bag mama bear? No one could’ve done a more thorough job in dropping that armored beast, and it was a variant. Don’t tell me he’s mad that Heaven dropped his little gang of cub killers.” War interrupted.
“Indeed. He later attempted to smear us as trying to poach them for ourselves and sabotage his other contracts. That quickly fell through once we disseminated the antagonist’s confirming they were there for the cubs, and then openly threatened enchesne.”
Tera’Lese paled at the accusation.
“I’m sorry, Headmaster Striga, but you’re telling me that one of our own hired a group of Synthers to kill one of their own?” she said.
Striga nodded, his expression grave. “He did. Unlike what we do, it was an open threat because of personal greed, and not retribution for a wrong committed by our own. Once the other players were given proof of his dealings, he lost a considerable amount of favor our kind. It’s no surprise that he’s seething as a result, reflected by our current favorability marks.”
“I’m guessing he still had enough pull to curry favor among the Tears, however. More than a few of them harbor quite a bit of animosity towards us thanks to our kind’s behavior upon first contact,” War said.
Striga nodded again. “Yes, a couple,” he said. “Baroness Cathline issued a sharp rebuke of our actions, and it’s believed that Baron Gies’Lan has sided with him as well. But if we were to go by their favorability, we can assume they’re just playing sides, and are looking to stay in high standing just in case the good Vast’Artes falls any further. Or they could be using it to set us up with a dirty contract down the line.”
“Fantastic. What have the other Headmasters said about it? Who took the contract?” Oraria said.
“None have admitted to taking the contract, and we can’t rule out that an unaffiliated party was involved, but unless we get a copy of the contract for ourselves, we can’t say for certain,” Striga said.
“Great. So, they got us on the back foot since that also means there’s a player group or fraternity with a bone to pick with us,” Oraria said.
“There’s no secret that our fraternity is a PvP guild. We knew this would be our constant position the moment we took up the mantle of avenging those who’ve been dealt a wrongful RD,” Brigand reminded her.
“There’s no benefit to RD’ing us though. The sheer difficulty of many of the encounters outside the walls have claimed more than its fair share of players,” Oraria said.
“Cálmate chica. If we could stop our people from being grade A skat goblins, we wouldn’t have ever formed this group. It’s just our nature. For all of our intentions to want to do good, there’s always someone who wants to be an obstacle to that endeavor. Goddess knows we’re nothing else if not consistent,” War said.
“Do you actually believe in the Goddess, War?” Oraria said.
War simply shrugged but said no more.
“And you Vivi? You’re the more scientifically minded of the group?” Oraria turned her attention to War’s partner, who had resumed reclining with her book over her face.
She responded by putting her hand up, palm down, before shaking it slightly.
Exasperated, she turned to Brigand next. The big man stared back for a moment before finally answering. “We got magic, respawns, and a literal shattered planet beneath our feet. The last thing being an absolute scientific impossibility. Take from that whatever you want. But, if you don’t mind, can we get back to the topic at hand.”
Striga silently thanked him and continued on as if the interruption never happened.
“What I can say for certain is that I have no personal qualms with how Heaven handled herself. What you do when you’re not on assignment has always been your prerogative, and will continue to be so. I will, however, caution going anywhere alone for the time being. The message is clear that our fraternity is in someone’s crosshairs at the moment, and the last thing I want to happen is to see one of us blindsided by an ambush.”
The group nodded as one, except for Vivi’s visible thumbs up.
“Now, for the most pressing topic of the day,” Striga began.
He tapped the table again, and this time the scenery shifted to a gathering storm cloud that seemed to be forming off in the far off distance beyond the walls of the Cam.
A moment later, the view zoomed in on the storm cloud, revealing a purple humanoid figure with a long flowing silver and indigo beard, and a series of runic tattoos all over its body, with one prominent rune in the middle of its forehead.
As soon as Heaven saw it, she recognized that it was probably a variant. And the fact that Striga was showing it to them could only mean one thing.
“As of 0522 this morning, a Storm Titan was spotted on an intercept course with the Cam. A type-9 emergency has been silently issued and sent to all of the major fraternities and the NPC sects.
“It is estimated that the titan won’t arrive for another seven months, and the Diviners are all but certain that our current weaponry can’t do anything to repel it.
“So, in seven months’ time, if we don’t deal with the threat, the City of First light, as well as the rest of the Kev is facing imminent annihilation. The event rewards have already been posted, so be sure to read it over carefully before you accept.
And in response to this threat, I’ve suspended all non-essential contracts, leaving only the pertinent ones related to the either finding out who accepted the hit on us, or pure leveling contracts, so that we might raise our ranks as fast as possible.
“So, let it be understood here and now that this will be our only priority for the coming months. A destroyer is coming.”