A twelve year old Max was walking down a concrete path. Hedges and trees on both sides with the blue sky above him made a relaxing atmosphere as he walked towards a certain place.
He was sporting a blue football kit of his club that was having a few games today.
As he walked down the path, he felt something.
He subconsciously turned to his right.
He saw a girl sitting down on a rock in a small parking lot.
She wore a white headband, had a ponytail, green eyes and sported the same kit that Max had.
A teammate of Max's childhood club.
'An angel?' Max thought as his heart jumped.
"What are you doing?" He asked her.
"Waiting for my mom to bring me something. You?"
"I was about to go watch a football game. Bored."
He approached to sit down near her.
"I heard you beat Renny up. Why?"
"Sorry, I know he's your friend. He kept making fun of my lisp. For a while now."
"Hahahaha. Okay. I think it's cute, though."
"Liar."
"I'm serious.
Max looked at her green eyes for a moment.
His heart jumped and he looked towards the ground.
She laughed.
Max looked again.
That smile, that laugh. He'd never get bored of it. Her lifted cheeks turned her eyes into two thin lines.
The 12 year old Max was already imagining a life with her as she laughed.
He was in love. Deeply.
"What did the coach do?"
"He doesn't know, I think. Probably will soon."
"What do you think will happen?" She asked.
"Probably not much. Since my dad's a good friend of his. I might get benched for a while or something."
The girl then went to grab something from her backpack.
"I got a few drinks. Here." She said while bringing out iced coffee.
"Coffee? Aren't you 12?"
"So? I like it. It's not bitter like our parents' coffee. Drink."
"Uh...okay."
As Max put the can of coffee to his mouth. He felt something.
His gaze landed on the girl again. And he met her eyes in that moment.
"Pfft." They both laughed while drinking. Spilling out coffee from their mouth.
Max stared at the ground, cheeks red and smiling.
***
Max opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was the blue sky.
He had an unconscious, soft smile on his face.
'Another one...' Though he didn't cry this time.
"Wait!"
He got up fast and looked around with an open mouth and an alarmed expression.
"Guys?!"
He yelled.
Everyone was nearby.
"GUYS!" He screamed and went towards the person closest to him. Manuel.
"Ugh..." Eliyah groaned.
Max looked towards the mage.
"You alright?!"
Manuel stirred beside Max.
Max turned his head again.
"Man...are we in heaven?" Thomas asked a moment later.
Max exhaled hard.
"What the fuck happened?" Manuel asked in a croaked voice.
"Did you carry us all over here man?" Thomas said.
"No...I drowned too."
"What?!" Eliyah yelled.
"How are we all fine?" Manuel asked as he was getting up in disbelief. His eyes wide.
They all eventually stood up to their feet.
Max was looking towards the ground with a frown.
'What happened?'
He tried to think as the other three were talking something Max wasn't listening to.
'I drowned...I know that...What h...'
Then it clicked.
'Oh.'
He smiled.
'I don't know fi I'm lucky or unlucky. Is it that fucking title?'
"It was the big boy that rules these waters. It recognized my damn armor."
"The Guardian?" Manuel asked with raised eyebrows.
Thomas and Eliyah were silent. Frowns on their faces.
"We better go pay respects to the statue one day." Max said.
"We'll go to a dyer somewhere so we can keep wearing our armor and equipment. That should help us. I'll dye my hair too." Max said.
"We all should change our appearance. We could be wanted even in Virtonis." Manuel agreed.
"Hair color, equipment color..." Thomas said.
"Thank you for saving me guys...Please tell me how to repay you, besides me accompanying you." Eliyah said with emotion.
"Don't worry about it man. You did save my ass too. Remember the Travyin?" Max answered.
"Oh. I guess..." Eliyah replied.
"Let's eat something first. We're safe here." Max said.
***
"There it is." Klaren said in relief.
Amidst a jungle of red rock pillars vertical, leaning and horizontal was a large guild camp.
Dozens of large white tents were illuminated by light gems in the dark night.
A dozen players were on guard duty while others slept. They were clad in vastly varying armor and equipment. But all of them wore the sigil of the great guild.
Klaren stood with the dozens of players he brought.
They were unnoticable. Their auras undetectable thanks to a deal Klaren made with a high lord who provided them aura concealing cloaks.
He took down a rampaging Transcendent field boss monster with Saint and his most elite members for these cloaks.
Ordinary aura concealment was probably not going to work.
"Saint. You ready?"
"...Yeah." The white haired young man said coldly.
He went invisible and departed from the squad towards the guild camp.
"He places the device, comes back, does his thing and we charge in immediately after." Klaren repeated once more.
A silence took over the squad until a brown haired knight with a slickback decided to ask Klaren a simple, but interesting question.
"Hey...Why do you think you can't kill Priam if you can completely conceal your aura, go invisible and turn any human into stone you touch?"
"Sensing an attack is not just aura detection, rookie. Heartbeat, air movement, vibrations, breathing. Someone of Priam's capabilities can sense me through other means.
He's not like the rest of us. Saint would get pulverized in ten seconds."
"...Damn."
"Yes. We must never face Priam unless he is alone and isolated. And while we have Saint with us too who'll disable his aura."
"Logan and Rick, you two are vanguard. I'm going to the largest tent.
Two helmeted knights clad in full, white and red metallic armor respectively stepped forward towards Klaren. Both were the strongest guild members besides Limen and part of the top 1000 of players.
Klaren wasn't in the top 1000 but no one disputed his power.
"We'll have to ally ourselves with kingdoms and cause a war between Priam and the NPCs after this. This is the last time we're going to be able to do this ourselves until a new floor is unlocked." Klaren said while looking into the distance.
"It's placed."
A voice in the air said.
Saint appeared out of it a second later.
"Alright. Lay down and let Leah take care of you. Thank you. Stay strong." Klaren said.
A blond girl with hazel eyes approached Saint who laid down.
She put something on his mouth, a green orb that latched itself onto his lips as if by a magnet.
To keep him from screaming out loud.
Until the process is done.