FINALLY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

https://www.fairytail-rp.com/t6862-entertain-the-peasants-ren-and-ophelia

https://www.fairytail-rp.com/t5941-tea-time-with-granny-ren-and-tai

https://www.fairytail-rp.com/t8094-crashers-of-the-wedding

https://www.fairytail-rp.com/t6613-find-the-ring

That should at up good, right.
Pls. This is truly a legendary moment.

Indeed my friend Approved, Contact Zuo for your exam

It was a day of seemingly little significance when Zuo had a stareing contest at Ren Hengi's file. "It appears I've made an error of some size." The old man hit his head on his desk "The poor boy qualified for a rank up exam over a year ago." Zuo looked at a sundial sitting in his window "And I don't even have the time to go tell him in person. I'm the best guild master ever." Zuo grabbed a piece of paper and wrote a quick letter on it before dropping it in a hole in the ground. The old man stood up and brushed himself off speaking to himself he said "Sorry about that Ren. I'll meet you there as soon as I deal with this." With that he sunk into the ground off to deal with some obscure crisis.

The letter would be magically transported through the ground before falling into Ren's room from the ceiling.


Neither Ren or Zuo would know it at the time but Zuo would completely forget he sent Ren out to the spooky forest within an hour.

_________________________

OOC: This is what you get for taking orders from a senile old coot. Go to the spooky forest and survive until Zuo remembers you exist!

Ren walked gingerly into the forest, his head turning at every sound that he heard, or thought he heard. "It's fine... Everything is... fine..." Ren whispered to himself. If he wasn't so paranoid right now, he'd probably be bursting with joy. When he was walking around Hargeon one day, note had appeared out of the ground from nowhere, hitting him smack in the face, informing him that he was eligible to rank up. This excited Ren beyond no bounds, until he read the part at the bottom. About meeting in the spooky forest. Ren almost cried when he read that. So here he was, his breathing still a little calm, as he paced back and forth in the same area, too afraid to leave his station.

"He'll get here eventually... Right? He wouldn't just lead me into a spooky forest and then forget I existed, right?!" His paranoia was getting the better of him. Why couldn't Zuo have chosen the happy funtime forest? That sounded leagues better than this. Everything about the enviroment seemed to be aimed towards making it as scary as possible. It was a graveyard for people like Ren, who was emotionally unstable. He tried to compose himself on the outside, Zuo could be observing him. Was something supposed to show up and beat him up? Was Zuo throwing a surprise party in an ominous place? The latter was the preferred option.

Ren began to think back on his time in the guild. He remembered the first day he had shown up to the guild, and the test he had been immediately thrust into. Oddly enough, Ren didn't remember a majority of what happened his first day. He remembered falling into a labyrinth, panicking, getting intimidated for panicking, and then the rest was a big blank. He did make it into the guild, however. From that point on, he had met a lot of people, and had seen the Guild grow farther beyond what it used to be, there were so many people around now, it was amazing. Despite leaving and not returning for long periods of time, he could never really stay away from Lamia Scale forever. It was just magnetic for him. By the time Ren had snapped back into reality, he had found he was a lot calmer. Either the guild was his comfort, or just a really good distraction from a horrific forest.

Several hundred miles away. "Ah looks like the fruit harvest was good this season. Climbing this mountain was a serious pain considering I could have instantly traveled to the top with my magic but they say the pilgrimage by foot makes the fruit taste that much better." Zuo relaxed happily onto of a large plateau with his back to what appeared to be some kind of harvest festival centered around a forest of strange trees covered in colorful fruit. Suddenly the geezer's eyes with wide "Wait a second! I completely forgot! The happy funtime forest's fire work festival will begin soon!" And so Zuo's quest of distractions resumed. Distracted from what? I dunno.

Ren continued to sit in the spooky forest, his confidence in his Guildmaster slowly fading away. Maybe he really had just been forgotten? Maybe it was best if he just got up and left. "Z-Zuo, I'm going to leave, so if you want to come out now and give a medal or whatever it is you give people, now is the time!" Ren called out, his voice cracking. Ren peered into the darkness around him for any sign of the old Guildmaster, and his cowardess got the best of him. "Just... 10 more minutes. Then I'll go." He muttered to himself. Normally his guildmaster would spring out of the ground, nearly giving Ren a heart attack at this point. Ren did suppose however, that ranking up to C-rank wouldn't be a pleasant stroll in the park. All he needed was to be patient, until something happened. If he got too paranoid and left, maybe that would be the tell-tale he wasn't ready for the rank? Maybe Zuo's all important test was to test his strength against something that had scared him so much? Ren nodded, how silly of him, to think that the Guildmaster had forgotten about him. As if! Ren smiled slightly and sat down cross-legged, trying to avoid making eye contact with the forest around him.

After one hell of a festival it finally occured to Zuo what he was forgetting. The geezer's jaw dropped and a bite of candy apple fell out as he performed a face-palm of legendary quality. "I have the shortest attention span in the world I swear." With that the old man abandoned the happy funtime forest diving into the ground. Just a few seconds later he sprung out of the ground in the spooky forest behind Ren "I'm here! I didn't forget you were here! This was part of the test I swear!"

Ren almost jumped out of his own skin when Zuo had popped up behind him. "NOT THE FACE- O-Oh! Zuo! Hi!" His face was pale, and he was sweating bullets. "D-Does this mean I passed???" Ren chirped, looking up hopefully at his Guildmaster. Testing his endurance alone in a spooky forest was a test in itself, but he didn't know exactly what the test was. "Were you watching the whole time? Was I supposed to be doing something???"

Zuo shrugged "Dunno don't care. I guess we can say you passed my boy." The old man rolled his shoulders "We've got bigger things to worry about. Follow me." The geezer walked past Ren and beckoned for him to follow as he walked deeper into the woods. Assuming the water mage was following him Zuo began "You joined Lamia Scale quite some time ago Ren and I must say you're a piece of work. A piece of very easy work but a piece of work none the less." Coming to a surprisingly serene clearing Zuo paused and looked at the sky "But what matters is that you've been around a long time. Believe it or not people in our guild trust and recognize you. Maybe not as much as other's but a substantial amount for what I have in mind." Zuo turned to face Ren and clapped his hand's together "I need you to carry a message."

Ren lifted an eyebrow and tilted his head as he listened to his Guildmaster's words. "A message? Me? Are you sure...?" Ren didn't think of himself as some important person capable of bearing important messages. Someone like Kihia, who had done a lot more for the guild than he had, seemed more capable for this kind of thing. But he supposed the Guildmaster knew a bit more about the topic of whatever message this was. Who knows, maybe he was the right person for this.

"Has it really been that long? Since I've been in the guild? Time flies by pretty quickly, huh? One day you walk into a barren guildhall, next thing you know, everyone and their mother is there." Ren joked, looking around the clearing. This was oddly relaxing, for a spooky forest. His Guildmaster stood in front of him, still as tall and as proud looking as ever. He looked to Ren as though he could never be taken down, not by anything. Ren smiled a little and clapped his hands together as well. "So! What's the message?"

Zuo wrung his hands a bit and paced just a bit. "I have to confess Ren I'm scared." There was something weighing on the old man and it wasn't his hair "In my millions of years of existing this is one thing I've never done." Despite making efforts not to he kept taking nervous glances towards the west, towards Hargeon, he tried to keep his focus on REn but he seemed rather distracted "No matter how long you live you can only do this once and it's finally my time. I've done everything in this world but it seemed not even that prepared me for this. I've seen empires rise and fall, watched man invent fire, watched countless generations grow old and die, I've seen everywhere a million times, loved a million women, loved a few men, admittedly I've adopted probably the largest and weirdest assortment of children ever. Mostly because I'm so celibate I don't give a fuck. But at the end of the day there is still this thing I haven't done."

Zuo wished he had a chair, he thought of making one, but decided it was best to remain standing "Ren what I am trying to get to is that Lamia Scale is in danger. Everyone is in terrible danger. The guild is under attack and I have to go save it. But I'm stalling. Because I know who's attacking and why and I know what will transpire when I go. There are men in this world who want me dead my boy. It's these people who are attacking our guild as we speak." He ran a hand through his hair, a rather impressive feat when you think about it, "They have all the time in the world as do I. Which means if they are coming out of hiding, they have found the means to kill me." Zuo stopped pacing and his eyes fixed on Ren "I am going to die Ren, and there is nothing I can do about it. I feel an incredible amount of shame for my cowardice already, already I've allowed the fighting to go on too long because I too greatly fear death. But soon I will go. Which brings us to that message. When I die Lamia Scale cannot die with me." Pointing at Ren he finished with "Already if you were to ask anyone who is second in command at our guild there is no little doubt as to the fact that it is Kihia. I've been preparing him for this for a long time. But I've never told him that. I want you to be a coward for me Ren. I need you to stay away from Hargeon and let me die because that is what it will take to ensure that you live. I sent you out here to ensure there was no chance that you would be killed in the fighting. Because you must live to make sure Kihia knows he is the rightful heir of the title Guild Master. I do not want to risk him taking on the mantle of leadership without knowing that I validate and approve of his claim. I will not likely live to appoint him myself, so I must ask that you do so in my place."

Zuo bowed to Ren "I know it is a cruel thing to ask. Asking you to hand leadership of your home to someone who hasn't been there as long as you. But Kihia is simply the best man for this job while I am sure you will grow to be a great man someday Ren, Kihia already is, and I unfortunately don't have time to train you like I've trained him. So please understand you are just as important as he is, he just happens to be farther along his journey. So will you please do this for me Ren? Do not allow there to be any doubt among the guild as to the validity of Kihia's claim to the guild and do not let him doubt his own abilities. Lamia Scale can do great things in time as long as the torch is successfully passed." Zuo's eyes were glued to the ground. What he was thinking or feeling was anyone's guess, not even he knew for sure.

Ren stood there and let the words soak in. "Y... You're going to... die?" Ren could barely speak, he could have never imagined that Zuo would say something like that. Then came the rest. "You want me to... To let you die?!" He could already feel the tears prickling in the corners of his eyes. Letting Kihia lead was fine. He always felt on the inside that Kihia would take leadership over him, he had grown and had worked much harder than Ren ever could have dreamed of doing. "Y... You can't just die! What about the Guild? Am I the only one who gets to know about this?" Ren had so many things to say, how long did they have to speak about this?

"You.. You can't just... die! And you're asking me to just... watch?! I-I can't just do that!" Ren felt the tears spilling down his face, but he didn't notice much. "I can still help! I'll tell everyone I'm not right to lead! W-Why can't you just retire? Do you have to die?!" Thoughts and statements spilling from his mouth without any concern. "I don't care how unprepared I might be! I can still help! You don't have to die! You don't have to..." Ren's words slowed to a stop as he was overcome with gasps for air and sobs that visibly shook his whole body. This couldn't be happening. His Guildmaster... dying? It was an horrible thought, one Ren had never considered even happening until now. Who would even be powerful enough to kill Master Zuo like that? Was the burden of having to know this only resting on his shoulders? More questions, but Ren had no strength nor will to speak any further, only sob.

Zuo raised his head to stand straight again. "I'm sorry Ren. It has to be this way. As I said I'm not marching off to my death for grins and giggles. Lamia Scale is in danger. I have to protect it but like it or not I'm going to die trying. The old man awkwardly laughed "Trust me if I can I'll try to live. But these things don't always go the way you want them to." He clenched his fists "I'm sorry my boy I really am. But now every second we talk is a second our family is in danger. I need to go to them but to do that I need your word. Your word that you will carry my message."

Ren could barely see through the tears building up in his eyes. Ren understood that time was of the essence, so that meant this could be the last time he'd see his Guildmaster. Ren had to make a choice now. He could refuse to let his Guildmaster die and risk the lives of everyone else in the guild, or he could let his Guildmaster go. Ren knew that there was really only one choice he could make. It was a painful choice, to let go of the mage he had looked up to the most, the mage he had known the longest, the mage who had let him join the guild in the first place, despite all the flaws that he had. Ren wiped tears away and in a lunge, grabbed and hugged his Guildmaster. Maybe a strange thing to do, but Ren was almost certain now he would never see his Guildmaster again after this. "Y-You have my word... Master." Ren choked, and then released his hold, standing as straight as he could, wiping more tears onto his sleeve. "G-Go protect the Guild. I'll... watch." He voice quivered. "Just... try not to die, you crazy old coot." He made a weak smile and tilted his head, his final gesture of respect.

Zuo was only crying a little. "Thank you Ren. I'll do everything I can." The old man nervously laughed "I guess you're a proper C-Rank mage now Ren. Here I go, I'm going to miss you and all. So I'll do my best to come back alive." With that he sunk into the ground as he thought to himself I'm going to miss me too.

Exam Complete