Hyun Sasithom – A Quiet Place
Since the sun first peaked over the horizon to begin its daily, astral journey across the sky, a soft breeze had blown through a place in one of Crocus's green parks where a sense of emptiness prevailed. In days prior, vitality, excitement, and community had filled that space, but now there lay only the traces of a bustling came. The earth, scored by holes for stakes, pits for fires, or depressions where objects sat, harbored no buildings, but all the same the spot seemed like a ghost town. Not all who made that area his or her base had gone just yesterday, galvanized into action by a dark rumor and a pervading fear, but those who remained in Fiore's capital city elected not to return that night, either. Instead, the guild's elite dispersed through the city, each quietly attending to their own business and psyching up for the competition to come.
When the pink, orange, and yellow of a sunset in the west melted away into the purple onset of night, however, the six convened once again in a secluded, quiet place. Smack dab in the middle of the northern district of Crocus, the land swelled up slightly into a hill. One sloping path led to its top, and from there six elevated buildings could be accessed. Because of the slightly exotic location in the heart of the urban sprawl, the Knoll often bustled with activity, but at the far end of the hill from the slope there lay a little terrace behind some bushed that seldom had visitors. Here, sealed away from the commotion of the city, with tell-tended grass and a ring of austere monuments that might have formed a shrine, the last soldiers of Frenzy Plant met, sat, and talked.
Indigo Afina, the war guild's premier sorceress and beloved librarian, was only too pleased to recount a story. This tale she drew not from some aged, legendary tome, but from the intangible book that was her own life. It was, in essence, a love story, with its ups and downs. It had a happy ending that made the others smile.
Zander Louvier, in his armor as always despite the total lack of danger, took it upon himself to follow his comrade's example and recount his own experience. He told of the Gem Knights, with whom he had served in his younger years, and how their natures forced them into conflict despite their shared ideals. This story had a moral: that no matter how well-intentioned their unity, the members of any alliance, be in love or in war, could not stand together if they did not share compatible worldviews.
Dmitri Argentum, whose accursed forearms smoldered even in a time of utmost peace, could not find a story to tell. Instead of looking to the past, he turned his gaze to the future. He chose to open up in the special moment and tell his allies of his chief desire: fame, derived of true strength and true culinary mastery. As much as he craved this dream, however, he admitted that it lay beyond his capability. An unrealistic goal, he observed, had fueled much rage over the years. A new purpose had found him in life that lay far beyond the grip of materialism: service to the finest cause that he could think of. To hear this declaration from the guild's boisterous bruiser touched his allies deeply.
Holding her head in her hands,
Xyster put everything she had in the recitation of a scary story. She did this not to try and incite terror in her allies, thinking them to be made of sterner stuff, but so that they might enjoy it, and that they did. The normally ditzy Dullahan restrained herself, using subtlety and vivid language to create visceral, disturbing images of a man trapped in a nightmarish hell of endless dark. So effective was she that, though they were veterans of battle, her friends' skins crawled.
Owen Whateley spun a yarn from a rural southern town nestled amidst rolling, grassy hills and still creeks—the place he called his home. This playful tale turned out to be short, though, and he followed it up with his true concern: politics. After a brief but emphatic discussion about Fiore's monarchy, as well as the Magic Council, the group's conversation turned to a hypothetical situation in which Frenzy Plant's general had a role in the country's leadership. It came to no definitive conclusion, but all agreed that the current, do-nothing king was doing few people any good.
Throughout it all,
Hyun Sasithom scarcely said a word. Instead she listened with all her heart and her mind, losing herself in each story and riveting herself to the discussions. All too frequently, however, different images appeared in her head. She saw the clash of swords, again and again, where a man fought a woman and the woman lost. In her mind, the faces of those who beat her blended together. There were no differences between them that mattered. But what did matter? Like Dmitri, she had realized that she could not realize her dream. The hotheaded, singleminded pursuit of strength, embarked upon by so many, would not avail her. All the same, there was a path to redemption, and it lay through wisdom. Honed keenly, her wits could be her sharpest weapon; they could be the crucible from which her skill and strength were forged. When the daunting images of played out in her head now, sometimes she saw something different. Sometimes, when the fight ended, it was not her face ground into the sand or crushed against the cold, unforgiving floor. Sometimes it was her foot that she saw on the enemy's face, and she could not pretend that this imagined event didn't make her heart sing.
Soon, the night swallowed the city up, and the six fell asleep beneath the stars.
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Side by side, the six soldiers ascended the road to the great arena. At a glance, any onlookers knew that they were not only competitors in the Games, but intent on winning them, and nobody stood in their way. Each one wore one additional garment in addition to their ordinary wear: the standard issue green and black Frenzy Plant uniform jacket. On each of these jackets, the guild insignia was emblazoned so many times, and in so many hues of those colors, that in their vast quantities they appeared to have a camouflage pattern. Each one wore it differently; Zander wore it buttoned up beneath his armor, Indigo wore it with only one button done at the midsection, and while Xyster rolled hers up into a scarf, Hyun wrapped hers around her waist. Dmitri had it completely open with the sleeves rolled way up, leaving his chest and arms exposed, and Owen tied the sleeves into a knot to use the jacket as a cape. The six moved through their arena to the Frenzy Plant section and sat in the front row, knowing that not a single one of their comrades would be here to watch them today.
