The warning call kept going as we all gathered together in the middle of the room and I unconsciously changed forms. The room shook as something seemed to hit it. Beth quickly ran to a window and looked outside.
"It's Thor! It looks like he's striking us with thunder bolts!" She yelled. My eyes locked onto her and I hurried to the window. "Why doesn't the system do something about this?"
I shouted as I quickly looked at the others.
"It's fairness of the game. It's also the only time we can take out other players without repercussions!" Lily shouted. I glared out the window at Thor who smirked and called another bolt of lightning down on our roof. Which shook heavily cracking under the strike.
I ventured to the door and tried to open it to no avail. "Why won't the door open?" I shouted as panic began to take hold. Henry grabbed my shoulder and hauled me back. "We have to fight from within our house. That's the rules!" He said calmly. He had obviously been through a couple of these before.
It was then that an Idea struck me. I walked over to the window and tried opening it. The window wasn't big enough to escape out of but it was big enough to get a chain out. I thought quickly as Lily was commanding the flower she had originally placed on the windows sill to grow into a large vine that covered the roof stopping it from collapsing.
I turned to the Others. "I have a plan!"
They came close and I explained what I wanted to do. Lily took a step back for a moment. "That could work. But all of us need to agree to this in order for it to work." Lily said as the roof cracked from another lightning strike. "I'm in!" Beth said eyeing the roof hesitantly. Henry and Horacio both nodded. "There you have it!" Lily said as a cocky smile spread across my face.
We opened the window and where a crash of thunder almost blew us backward. "Ready?" I shouted. Everyone nodded.
I changed forms and dug one sickle into the floor. The other I spun till it was whistling in the air. Lily watched as Thor went to summon another bolt of lightning. He always looked up at the sky when he was doing so. A fatal flaw when you have someone below you. "Now!" Lily shouted. I hurled the chain out the window toward Thors feet. I counted down to impact.
"3.... 2.... 1...." The chain hooked around his ankle which cause him to give a scared scream as he was suddenly being dragged downwards. Not just by me. No. By all 5 of us everyone had shifted forms and was hauling on the chain.
Thor was trying to throw his hammer to fly away but found no success. So in frustration he turned to his lightning. He called a bolt to strike my chain. Everyone let go at that point. The lightning hit and passed through the metal all the way to me. My body lit up like a christmas tree. Pressure threatened to make my body explode as a smoke came from my bandaged body. My health took 30 points of damage from his strike. I didn't fall however. I got angry. My face turned red. Everybody noticed and grabbed the chain again where it only took a second more to get him to the window.
I unhooked my other chain and snaked it around his neck. We forced his head and foot through the window in an extremely awkward fashion. His swinging arm was crammed into one section of the window making him unable to swing. He was cussing and swearing at us in a fashion I won't permit to be written.
My face suddenly drew closer to his and he spat at me. I moved my head slightly so it hit the floor instead. I swatted the back of his head which only incurred more swearing. But I wasn't the one to stop it.
Lily was. She neared Thor and grabbed him by his blonde hair cranking his head back so he could look her in the face. "We still owe you for that stunt at the mountain a couple weeks back. How about we settle it now?" She growled.
Henry cracked his skeletal knuckles as Horacio pulled out his sword. Thor chuckled a little. "I still win. System! Disengage faction combat!" He shouted. Instantly the walls returned to their normal color and the siren stopped blaring. Thor was forced into his civilian form and the window was trying to spit him out.
I held him steady in my combat form as another idea appeared in my head. "Lily... What happens if a person trespasses on another factions turf or does he not need permission?" I asked.
Lily smiled a bit. "Sil... I like the way you think. How about you pull him in and see for yourself." She said with a crocodiles grin. I grabbed him and hauled him in and his grin dissapeared.
As soon as he touched the floor everything went nuts. Instantly the floor came alive. Wooden tendrils wrapped around Thor holding him in place. A voice that sounded like a Sargents filled the air. It was strict, harsh, and cold.
"Craig Melvin Silverton. Aka Crash. You have been found trespassing and have been sentenced to solitary confinement till such time as your faction leader comes to get you or the next Battlefield of Fortune session has concluded. You know the rules as explained by your leader and companions!" The tendril slid to the doorway before it leaned back as the door opened.
Thor/ Craig screamed as the tendril sprang forward like a catapult and he was violently launched from the house. I watched as he flew. He flew all the way to the wall that sealed the tower area in. I actually thought he would crash through it with how fast he was going.
But I have never been more wrong. His body smashed into the wall. Hitting it so hard that I heard the crunch of bones and watched as his body cracked and fell apart like a sculpture. It was sickening but I couldn't tear my eyes away as I watched. His shattered body began to disintegrate into bits of data that floated around the place of his death.
It was then that I saw something.
A flying box of some kind. As it neared the site I saw it better. It was hexagonal, black and had devil wings. The bits of data were sucked into it and it flew away after it's job was done.
"That... was a bit harsh." I said as I stood wide eyed at what had just happened.
"The system is harsh with the few rules that it does have. You just have to play around them. Either that or find the loopholes like you did with that window. Nice thinking btw." Lily said as she closed the window before turning back to me.
"And Craig won't be back for a long time. I know the warrior faction leader already has his hands full with his goblin problem so he'll be a hand short during the Dark Dome but he'll hardly notice. After all Thor is a pain in everyones ass around here." Beth said as she walked around me toward the couch.
"Nobody will blame you. They'll probably thank you." Henry said as he checked the roof for any more cracking.
He sighed heavily. "We won't be able to stay here anymore boss. Not only is the roof heavily cracked that spoiled prick knows where our base is and will undoubtedly come back for revenge." He said as he picked at a pile of dust that had settled on the ground.
Beth rolled her head back dramatically. "We have to move Again?!" She shouted the last part word in frustration. "We've only been here a month!" She shouted as she got up in a huff and stomped downstairs. Most likely to the holo-room to vent her anger. It was then that a question came to mind.
"How long has this faction existed?" I asked turning to look at Lily.
She glumly looked down at her hands. "10 years." She said sadly. "And hardly a soul is capable of joining us. Or even wants to for that matter. Remember. We are smaller than even the goblin faction which has been around for a couple decades and has a little more than 50 members because goblins are a fairly common creature to see coming through the entryway." She said as she slowly stood up and started walking toward the door.
"What are you doing?" I asked. She looked over her shoulder. "I'm selling the faction house back to the system and moving to a different location on a lower floor. We had a problem last time because we stayed on the same floor. He'll come back and be mad as hell to find out that we moved locations." She said with a smirk. Henry and Horacio had already run down and grabbed Beth from the Holo-room.
We all stood outside the house and I saw Lily put her hand on the front door. "Sell Faction House." She said loudly.
I saw a green page appear in front of her which she fiddled with quickly and things began to change. The old dilapidated building repaired itself like nothing had ever happened to it. I saw the walls seal themselves as the cracks dissapeared. The vines that Lily had placed to keep the roof from collapsing shrank at an impossible rate as the ceiling fixed itself. Cracked flooring and peeling wallpaper all flattened out or stuck itself back in place. I watched the house rebuild itself to the point it looked like new.
Lily and the others walked away from it after everything not saying a single word.
It wasn't till we got to the elevator that Henry spoke up. "So... Which floor we going to boss?" He said nervously. I had always wondered why he called her boss. Maybe I'll ask him later. Lily was eyeing the buttons on the elevator.
"Floor 36. That's where we'll go. It's a good floor with little tolerance for shenanigans like what we just saw. It'll be the best place for us to lie low." She hummed.
Henry nodded in understanding. "How many floors are there in this place?" I asked. Horacio looked at me with little movements depicting what he was saying. "There's 60 floors. Though anything higher than fifty is where the bigshot factions are. They push out any other faction besides their own. The floors numbered 51 to 53 are for the builder faction. While floors 54 to 56 are for the guardian faction. And 57 to 59 is the warrior faction. The elevator stops there even though the buttons stop at 60. That's where we think the operating system for our server sits." He said.
I nodded as I took in the information. "The server..." I said under my breath. I came out of my thoughts when the elevator started going down. I counted the floors down to make sure I didn't miss any.... nah. I was bored.
We arrived at floor 36 and I got to enjoy the view of the place. It was filled with flowers and growth. There were luminescent green trees everywhere and the fairies were flying through the branches. A question formed in my head and since Henry was closest I figured I'd ask him.
"I know I've used my battleform a few times in somewhat private settings but aren't fairies and the like subjected to the same rule?" I asked.
He shook his head. "No. See. The fairies and elementals that are pint sized are actually fractured shards of conciousness. Hence why they are so small see. And because they are just shards of minds that will never be whole... well... I think you can understand why a civilian form will never find them." He said sadly as he patted my shoulder and followed Lily out the elevator. I followed close behind.
We wove our way through the streets and into the back areas again being careful not to draw attention. And I felt the tingle in my sense again. We were being followed and from how my teammates were moving, they had noticed as well. We rounded a corner and stepped into a shadowy doorway. What came around the corner was a short male.
His clothes were a little ragged and brown. A set of large thick pointy ears stuck out on the sides of his head. In his hands he held a rectangular white box of some kind. He looked very much like a goblin without a face. So it only took a moment to realize who it was.
"Why are you following us Rakish?" Lily said startling the man in his searching. He spun and fumbled his speech a bit before sighing and taking a deep breath before speaking. "Gsgyrhfhr! Damn it! Don't scare me like that!" He shouted as he took a moment to get his bearings a bit more and take a breath to calm down.
"I listened to what your rookie there said. And I took a look at the footage again. You were right. It wasn't your fault my faction was taken out. So I came to apologize." He said as he lifted the package.
"As I understand you have a member who doesn't have a weapon of any kind. So I pulled a few strings and got him one. It's a bit small but I figure it should work for him." He said as he placed the box on the ground and backed away from it.
We all looked at Henry not really sure what to expect. Henry's face was a bit difficult to read at first due to not having eyes. But his mouth and shaking posture said it all. He wanted it.
Lily nodded at Rakish. "Thank you. I saw your faction had a rough time of it against the warriors. How many of you made it to the end?" She asked. His face turned a bit solemn and he rubbed his forehead. "I forgot. You did that thing you could do with the ground. Am I right?" He asked. She looked at him without answering.
"Figures." He said as he sighed. "Yeah we had it rough. Thor hit my group with a lightning blast that took out half of us in a minute. Still need to get back at him for that." He grumbled. Lily smiled a bit at that. "You'll be waiting a bit for that. Sil here put him in solitary till the dome is over." She said pointing a thumb at me.
My blah expression fell into a grimace. "Why do you have to make it seem like I did all the work? Everybody helped kick him to the curb after he attacked our house." I grumbled.
Rakish smiled a bit. "Then I have to thank you." He said with a bow. "A week without the domes points is a week without growth. He'll be pissed when he gets out." He said with a big smile on his face.
"So.... I dont imagine you followed us to this floor just to deliver a gift Rakish. I expect you have other business here too?" Lily said. Rakish shook his head. "No. My faction's on this floor. But I do have errands. See you at the dome kid!" He waved at me before walking away.
Once Rakish was gone Henry couldnt contain his excitement anymore. He charged toward the box on the ground like a dog after a chew toy. He ripped off the lid to see what was inside and froze.
It was a necklace with a scythe on it. He gently picked it up by the chain. The necklace was made of silver and reflected the light brilliantly. The scythe ornament was interesting though. The handle was black and seemingly made of onix. The blade was curved and made of a see through blood red material. I would almost guess ruby or rubies? It was too small for me to truly know for certain.
Henry looked at Lily as though he was asking for permission. Lily just shrugged. "Why not." She said with a little grin. He smiled happily as he put it around his neck.
As soon as Henry put it on I saw the scythe glow with a black miasma. Henry stared at it before Beth slapped his shoulder. "Well? Give it a try!" She said encouragingly. Henry smiled as he shifted into the grim reaper. The scythe expanded from it's necklace and flew to his right hand.
It was just as I pictured.
A long shiny black handle standing a little taller than Henry at 8 feet tall. The blade was curved back and extended nearly 4 feet long. It was double sided with the blade sitting at 2 feet wide from edge to edge narrowing to its tip. Rakish had said it was a bit small. But it seemed to fit Henry just right.
The deathly chilled aura that Henry emitted normally was amplified ten fold. I smiled as I elbowed his hip or where I thought his hip was. "Now you are the Grim Reaper." I said and the flames in his eyes lit up dancing happily.