Mez had been tracking Pterro's walk to the large doors of the Guild Hall, dragging Khârn along with him, whilst his assistant; Laurent, followed close behind. He seemed suddenly reinvigorated as if struck by lightning almost. Mez listened nonchalantly to the words he spoke to Khârn but he was more interested in filling his stomach. Sasha had stopped eating to witness what Pterro was up to, she always did say he was one for theatrics.
When Pterrophos cast open the doors, however, flooding the hall with outside light, Mez was awestruck with the sight that greeted him. He hadn't noticed himself standing up from his seat. Sasha let out an excited gasp and stood too, clapping at the prospect of this many new members. Mez could say nothing. He'd barely come to terms with having nearly 50 members, now they had over 70? And it was all down to a picture of him and Khârn. It seemed crazy to say the least.
"Stop gawping Mez! You still have food in your mouth!" Chided Sasha, slapping his arm lightly and placing her hand under his chin to close his mouth. He shook his head and swallowed his food before speaking outloud.
"H-How? Pterro, what did you do? This is incredible!" He began laughing. As the new members swarmed in, he could barely contain himself. Before he knew it, he was answering questions and re-telling the events of the most recent boss fight. The same young member who had taken his greatsword had, by now, retrieved it from the weapons rack and carried it back over to him. He thanked the young boy and proceeded to unsheathe it. An act which was followed by the cawing of some of the new members.
Before long, Mez noticed a dark-haired girl rushing over to him. It was Storm; the daughter of Sasha's friend D.W. or Dark Winter as most others knew her. "Hey Storm, what's up?" He asked just as she reached him and his crowd of admirers.
"Khârn wants to know what you'd like to do in regards to training and testing these new members." She looked slightly red in the cheeks, probably just as overwhelmed with this new revelation as he was. Mez looked over towards Khârn who was dealing with it in his usual manner. He envied him at times, being able to easily address people in a calm and controlled way.
"Well it's simple...We have ourselves a little tournament." Gasps of excitement came from a few members of the group. "We have a few hours to kill before the next floor meeting and what better way to honour our fallen brothers than a tournament in their name?" He suggested. "The winner will get the chance to spar with me one on one and receive personal training for the entire time that we're on this floor."
"Hah!" Came a sudden voice from within the crowd. "I bet you're not even that good!" Mez immediately searched for the owner of the voice but it didn't take him long to find it. It was a small boy, no older than 14 or 15. He had a full head of scruffy black hair and his armour was badly worn and damaged in places. His face harboured a scowl and his eyes were as black as the night sky. He looked like trouble.
Mez smiled at the boy. "What's your name kid?" He asked.
"Zeth." Came the reply, short and snappy, filled with an ebbing anger.
"Well Zeth...Challenge accepted." He finished, heaving his gigantic greatsword until it rested over his shoulder. Small cheers of excitment erupted from the crowd around him.
"But Mez! He's just a boy?" Sasha protested in his ear.
"So let him be a man and see how he likes it." He replied, turning to her slightly.
As the noise of the onlookers picked up around him, Mez began walking toward the doors of the hall. He glanced over his shoulder to see if the boy was following him and, sure enough, he was. The same scowl still plaguing his face.