CHAPTER THIRTY
Instantly, the shadows all stepped out and pulled back their hoods. The scroll was, within seconds, snatched out of her hand. Murmurred erupted, and Mercury stayed still, unsure of what to do. The scroll was passed around, now unfurled and displaying the cryptic message. the murmurs got louder. "What did you say your name was?" One of the figures said, with light green hair and dark violet eyes. "Ah, My name is Rue. I got this scroll a long time ago, and I just recently found out through the rumors." Mercury said, smiling at the use of her name. Again, Rue was such a beautiful name. After the murmurs died down, everyone instantly sank into a kneeling position. Oh god, she had to get used to this. First the elves, now these guys. I bet they're pros at keeling. When I tried it, my knees started hurting. "Uhm… what are you doing right now?" Mercury said hesitantly, still frozen.
"Please accept our humblest apologies for not paying our respects sooner." they all choused, and then… Silence. nothing more to say. How awkward. After about five minutes of the most awkward silence on the planet, one of them hesitantly raised their head and said, "Uh… Don't you know about the seal?" Uhm, the seal of Ulteron? That weird squiggle thing was the first thing that came to mind for Mercury. yeah, it was the first thing that came to mind for me too. "The squiggle thing?" Mercury asked, and a few bursts of laughter echoed, and then quickly died out. huh, they were terrified of doing anything. Funny, because she was the one who should have been terrified. "Yes, that seal. It's a magical seal, so if you write it on the skin, it, uhm… Makes you follow the orders of the guild leader." The person said, and then quickly stopped talking and stared at his boots. Lol?
"Oooooh. I guess I should take some advice from my ancestors, then. what did the other dudes make you do?" Mercury asked, rubbing her chin. So that's what the squiggle was. Her mental image of magic seals was that of arching, complicated structures, but who knew a magic seal could look so lousy? a very powerful one, at that?
But while our main character was thinking her thoughts of magic seals, the room was dead quiet. crickets. No one dared make a peep. Oh, so bad things. Looks like these poor dudes just had bad luck with leaders, lol. Still, Mercury understood. Maybe only evil people can become powerful enough to lead a guild….?????? Ah, well. Whatever. "Is there any way to get rid of the seal thing?" Mercury asked, and instantly everyone's heads jolted up. No more crickets now. "WHAT?!" they all screamed at once, and Mercury covered her ears. "Tone it down!!!" She said, and instantly everyone's mouths snapped shut. the seal on everyone's necks was now faintly glowing, and Mercury's eyes widened. So this was the power of the seal. One wrong thing and she'd accidently tell everyone in the guild to jump off a cliff. "Ops. sorry, im still getting used to this. Feel free to speak now." Mercury said, and the seals glowed again. Now everyone was silent once again. Welcome back, crickets! "Ah, uhm. You can remove the seal just by ordering the seals to go away." The dude who had spoken before said.
"Oh, I'll do that then. Thanks. Everyone, remove your seals." Mercury said, and everyone gaped at her. Just like that? Mercury could imagine it pretty well. The way they were acting, and the previous leaders must have made them do terrible things for generations. Tyranny??? well, whatever it was, Mercury ws here to smash it to pieces - for the better or worse. "B-but, then, you won't be able to order us around." One of them said, mustering the courage to speak up, Mercury almost laughed, but she stopped herself because it was sad. "I don't really need to. If any of you decide to follow me, it'll be of your own free will, not through that lousy magic seal." Mercury explained. "Also, If I had to wear that seal around and do what other people told me to, I think I'd go crazy." Mercury sympathized, and slowly everyone reached up to pat the seals on their necks, and then… peeled them right off. Eeeew, Mercury's eyes couldn't handle that. oh my god, oh my god, mission abort! "AHH! MY EYES!" Mercury said, flinching and whacking a hand over her eyes. nooo, the seals were sticky and slimy, and OH MY GOSH SHE COULDN'T HANDLE IT.
Soon, everyone had collected the seals into a neat pile and then hidden that pile out of Mercury's line of eyesight, which meant she was safe to peek through her fingers. Now, everyone was sort of just… standing around. "So, what now, Lady Rue?" One asked the person who had originally told her, and she said, "I dunno. you can choose that for yourself. What's your name, though?"
"Oh, it's Sulfur, but I go by Sul." The dude said, and Mercuyr held out a hand. "Nice to meet you, Sulfur. Anyway, I feel like-" Suddenly, a wave rumbled through her brain. Oh. No. Nox grabbed Mercury as she almost crashed into the floor. lol, no rest for the wicked. "WHAT NOW, MERCURY!" Nox said, exasperated, and Mercury, slung on his arm, yelled, "I Forgot! Not one, but two people! Where the hell is Gael and Flourine!" She moaned, covering her face with her hands out of embarrassment. No no no no no!!! how bad was this?! They were eight years old!!!
"Oh yeah. where are they?" Nox said, yanking her back to her feet. They weren't there at all. The elves and the guild were now looking around for Gael and Flourine, but they were nowhere to be found. HUH. "Ahhh! Just kill me now, god!" Mercury said, still covering her face.
"sheesh. The worst part is that me and Io forgot too." Nox muttered, and Iodine was rubbing her chin. "We can't do anything for now. We can find them when we get this over with, it's safer for them too." Iodine said, and Mercury nodded. "Alright, everyone! listen up" she said, clapping her hands loudly. Everyone stared at her intensely. "We gotta help the crown prince with the war since I made a promise. I won't make you do anything, but if you want to help me then now's the chance." Mercury said, her voice echoing through the seedy base. "By the way, since the seals all broke, is the guild technically disbanded…?" Mercury whispered to Sulfur, who whispered back, "Whoever decided to follow you to the war will be under your command. Even without the seals, we are a guild, after all. Everyone else will just go home." Sulfur said, and suddenly murmurs erupted once again. Ah, well. Take you time, everyone. We'll be waiting. "Yall got one hour. yolo," Mercury said, sagging into a random deck chair that happened to be nearby. "So… the war… It's almost here." Iodine said sheepishly, and Mercury high-fived her. "It's already too late to go back. if we die, we die. I'll see you in the afterlife again anyway, so it's not a big deal." Mercury said, also not in the mood to talk. Of course, on the inside, she was dying of nervousness, but that didnt matter. Nervousness wasn't going to help her.
all the murmurs slowly died down over ten minutes. When all was quiet, Mercury asked, "Have you decided yet?"
"We'll gladly accept you as a new leader. We're in." All the guild said, and Mercury blinked. Oh, wow, she sincerely hadn't expected that. she had thought a few peopl would want to slip away, at least, but this was better for her. "Alright, elves, teach these guys the ways of the teleportaion scrolls." Mercury began. Now it was onto the war. No more time was left.