Introduction [open]

The sky was was painted with the orange hues and swash of purple, the colors of a perpetual sun set or sun rise. Clouds masked the sun only allowing a few rays of light to shine through the heavenly blanket of clouds. The sky was beautiful but a heavy sorrow hung in the air which was accompanied by a dirge of a symphonic silence. The soil was ashen, the dirt charred black as if the ground was razed by hell fire. Not a single blade of grass, the land was devoid of life. Yet the hopeless landscape was decorated with countless blades impaled into the ground. As far as the eye can see the land an assortment of rusting and decaying weapons had the points of their blades in the grounds and their handles pointed to the sky. The rows of forgotten weapons eerily resembled rows of tombstones of a mass grave dedicated to fallen soldiers. Each blade was unique in its make, each blade had its own story, but each blade was tossed away and forgotten. The grave of swords that expanded into the seemingly endless horizon.

A lone figure stood surrounded by the mass of discarded weapons. Ash and dust blew in the breeze that passed through the grave of blades like a phantom. A man in red stared at the cloudy sky, he watched as large gears slowly broke through the clouds revealing a large mechanism in the sky. The gears rotated ominously as the inner mechanisms in the sky rhythmically ticked like the beating heart of a clock tower. The gears turned constantly almost as if they were rotating for countless life times, turning constantly but never leaving their prison in the sky. The man stared at awe at the mysterious machine and its gears as it blotted out the sun.

“W-where am I?” The man asked hoping to hear a voice, a response to his lonesome voice lost in the grave of blades.Yet there was no answer. The loneliness was unbearable with its crushing weight. The man began to walk deeper into the rows of discarded blades, his steps increasing in its pace until he found himself in a full on sprint. His eyes desperate to find another soul, yet all he could see was rows of rusted weapons.

“Hello is there anyone there?!” The man yelled, his ruby red eyes wide and desperate to find another person. His efforts were in vain, as he soon found himself on top of a hill decorated with nameless weapons. He gazed at the mass grave that stretched for miles as far as the eye can see.

A voice rang behind him. “They won’t remember you… you’ll be forgotten just like the rest of these blades” The man turned but before he could see who spoke his vision shifted.

Ivan took a gasp as he sat up quickly. He looked around and found himself in the back of a rocking cart drawn by a horse. The man driving the cart turned to greet Ivan.

“Are you good son?” the elder man inquired, Ivan nodded in response as not to worry the kind man that had offered him a ride to the city.

Ivan couldn’t help but shake the feeling of foreboding, this wasn’t the first time he had this odd dream. He simply sighed and shrugged it off. The cart eventually came to a stop, Ivan thanked the man and tried to give him some jewels, but the kind old man politely declined and made his way.

Ivan soon found himself at the doors of Sabertooth. He didn’t know why but he felt like this was the place where he needed to be. Something drew him there.

“Hello?” Ivan inquired as his hand subconsciously moved and touched the hilt of his rusted and worn blade at his hip.

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640 words

-Sabertooth Guild Hall-

Wearing her blue Steel Matron t-shirt and black skirt with white tennis shoes, Victoria was standing in the lobby of Sabertooth Guild Hall with an open can of Cherry Charge soda in her right hand. She had been browsing the job listings to see if anything caught her eye, but she had not yet found anything of interest to her. She really needed to get back to work to make some money and to do something other than hang around the guild hall or Red Dragon Inn all the time, but she did not want to take just any old job. She wanted to take a job that was both exciting and lucrative.

But what could she do?

She had not heard from her old clients in some time. Either they just did not have work for her right now or they had found someone else to work for them. Victoria briefly wondered if her old clients had found someone else to help them when the ponytailed brunette shrugged it off and took a sip from her drink.

If Victoria had been replaced, that was no big deal.

She was sure that someone out there was eager to hire her.

Victoria was about to go back to the job board to give it a closer look when she heard the door to the guild hall open and saw a blond-haired dude walk in. He had a hand on a sword at his side as if he were expecting trouble. If he was expecting trouble, he was not going to get it from her. Victoria was no threat to him... unless he attacked her first or he was allergic to carbonated drinks. Deciding to talk to the guy until one of the Aces put in an appearance, Victoria greeted him.

"Hey there! Can I help you with anything?" Victoria asked the blond guy. She took another sip of her drink while waiting for his response.

[Post Word Count: 328]
[Victoria's Word Count: 328]

Ivan was quickly pulled out from his thoughts like stick yoinked out from a pool of metaphorical mud. His ruby eyes glanced up to meet the eyes of the woman that was speaking. The woman was quite a pretty person, Ivan quickly took his hand off the hilt of his blade and reached out for a handshake. “Hello there. This is sabertooth right? I was wondering if I could join your ranks? I’ve been trying to find a place to work…. And as you can see I’m not much of the office type…” Ivan said as he gestured to his blade indicating he was an adventurer of sorts. Ivan was indeed looking for a stable means of income, he had heart the benefits one could gain if one was to affiliate themselves to an esteemed guild. However, he hid the fact that he he was drawn mysteriously to the guild, he didn’t want to come off as some sort of loon spouting about destiny. He simply just felt that he needed to be be there. He internally shurgged off the thoughts and focused on the task at hand: Join Sabertooth.

Ivan cleared his throat in an attempt to fiull the empty air with some sort of sound. “Erm.. your guild? Does it have an opening?… I’m not the strongest guy around… but I can hold my own… I’m sure I can contribute in someway or another… I’m quite the handy man if I do say so myself… if you folks need anything fixed in the guild I’m sure I can lend a hand” Ivan continued to speak once again trying to fill the silence, he continued to present his humble skill set as some sort of novice door to door salesman.

“Uh… who do I talk to, to uh join the guild?” Ivan stammered as his confidence began to waver. Her tried to keep his act togther, but his social skills were as sturdy and balanced as a Jenga tower that was haphazardly stacked together by terribly coordinated and social inept potato. He tried to smile but an awkward grin simply plastered on his face. All at the same time Ivan was kicking himself mentally for his pathetic attempts for an introduction.

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375 Words

"Yeah, this is Sabertooth. So you wanna join Sabertooth, huh?" Victoria asked in reply to the stranger's first volley of questions. She was not much of a people person, so she might or might not sound like she was being patronizing, like she did not consider him worthy of passing along to one of the Guild Aces. That was not how she wanted to sound, but it was too late to take her words back now. The best she could do was press on and try to sound a little more... encouraging, for lack of a better word.

The blond guy reiterated his wish to join the guild. He then gave his credentials as a handyman, but he did not produce any official accreditation like a license or anything solid to back up his claim. Victoria was not in any position to judge the guy, though. She was not even an official high school graduate and she was part of Sabertooth. Hell, she was barely home-schooled and Sabertooth had accepted her into its ranks without any issues.

This guy had as good a chance as anyone of getting into the guild.

When he asked her who he talked to to join the guild, that was the question she had been waiting on. Now she could get one of the Guild Aces to take things from here and answer his questions a lot better than she ever could. Victoria gave a small smile before she gave her answer.

"I'm glad you asked. If you want to join Sabertooth, you should talk to one of the Guild Aces. You can talk to either Imai Uchuken or Gaia Sabin-Dyer. Imai's a red-headed dude with spiky red hair and he always wears a bandanna. You can't miss him." Victoria started off by giving the names of the Aces and describing what they looked like.

"Gaia Sabin-Dyer's a blue-haired chick a little shorter than me who... well, has blue hair. She also wears glasses from time to time. She's hard to miss too." Victoria clued the blond guy in on Gaia. She then began to wonder where Imai was. Normally he popped up whenever Victoria chatted with anyone who visited the guild hall or Red Dragon Inn. Then she thought about the red-headed Ace who usually showed up when newcomers dropped in.

Maybe he was not here because the newcomer was a guy.

If the blond guy had been a girl Imai would have already teleported in, probably behind Victoria.

Oh well.

Maybe one of the Aces would show up soon. If the blond guy was really lucky either that Kenna chick or Fox Lady would drop by and grace them with their presence. Any member of Sabertooth's leadership was more qualified to answer the guy's questions than Victoria.

[Post Word Count: 464]
[Victoria's Word Count: 792]

It hadn't been much she had to deal with this time around. Safe for a rowdy kerfuffle around noon, all thanks to a few nosey demons that couldn't quite care for her orders as much as she'd liked them to; and as a result, she'd have to leave her desk and guild duties unattended to go and take care of the units in question defying her command. Truthfully it hadn't been the first time this had happened. Ever since the Battle of Lhor and her subsequent defeat at Ishtar's hands, many had started questioning their queen's ability to rule; and with Avide no longer around to keep them in check, Kenna had been traveling back and forth between Ace of Spades and her own domain to remind them. And more often than not that required her to get rather physical in the process. Call it old-fashioned, but most of the demons under her command -especially those with military backgrounds- felt a need to get their asses kicked and handed to them on an almoat weekly base before they'd actually started listening to her. And despite her current weakness the demoness always delivered… until the next one decided it was time to test her patience.

Yet never had they bothered to get as close to Ace of Spades as they had this time, as most of their defiance was kept within the boundaries of her domain and the Martyr Hall's grounds, which in turn meant that there never were any casualties among innocent bystanders. With the unit she had to deal with today however, there almost had been. Kenna had been forced to expand twice the amount of magic to beat them in a single swoop and minimalize the exposure of civilians to her stubborn demon soldiers' shenanigans. As a result the overexertion had triggered the poison stuck within her wounds, her veins having grown golden in color, almost glowing, and awfully visible through her skin, riddled across the left side of her torso, neck and arm. Using more magic only meant aggravating the cursed poison more, making it impossible for her to just portal back to the guild without severe backlash… so walking had been the only other option. It wouldn't have been that bad if it weren't for the pain. The pain had been doable until an hour ago, but now it was raging like fire in her veins, making the guild master crave for some proper rest, and perhaps something to numb the pain some more.

However upon entering the Halls of Sabertooth two figures would await her, she noticed Victoria talking with a blonde stranger; most obviously a newcomer to Ace of Spades and the guild's halls, and by the little bit she picked up upon arrival, a potential new guild member too. The demoness sighed underneath her breath, suppressing the need to flinch as she straightened her back some more. Couldn't appear weak to the newcomers, now could she? Picking up her pace she'd move towards them, her voice bright and clear as she spoke up. "Good evening Victoria, young man." She'd pop in, giving both a friendly nod in greeting. "Perhaps I can be of service here?"



Wordcount: 576
Thread Wordcount: 2383

Ivans attention shifted to the woman that had just approached. "Hello there, I'm just trying to join the Guild, the names Ivan by the way..." Ivan said as he stretched out his hand for a hand shake. He paused for a moment and his eyes narrowed as he stared at Kenna for a brief moment.

"Are you okay?" Ivan inquired, the question floated about for a second or so, but not wanting to seem rude Ivan quickly withdrew his inquiry. "Ah you know what n-never mind haha... uhm yeah I'm just trying to find a place to work...Ah I'm sorry I wasn't able to get your names." Ivan stammered as he turned to look at at both of the ladies that had greeted him. A slight jolt of pain resonated from the back of Ivans skull, the sensation was quick and happened in a split of a second that it only caused minor discomfort to Ivan.

"Er is there anything I need to do?...Paper work or something?" Ivan inquired as scratched the back of his head as if trying to expend the nervous energy that was building up in his body.

"Hey Kenna." Victoria briefly greeted Sabertooth's Guild Mistress when she arrived. There was no need to drag out the conversation since the brunette was not the one who needed to speak with Kenna. Ivan was the one who needed her help.

Now that Kenna was here to take over Victoria would hang back and let the Guild Mistress do the talking. The brunette should probably go somewhere else while Ivan and Kenna talked because nobody liked an eavesdropper, but Victoria lingered a bit out of curiosity. She wanted to hear Ivan's story and learn what brought him all the way here... besides wanting to join Sabertooth, that was.

Victoria did not learn a whole lot about the new guy because he was nervous for some reason. Maybe he was just a guy who got nervous around new people. Or maybe he was nervous because he was talking to two women. Victoria considered politely excusing herself so that Ivan only had to deal with Kenna when the fellow mentioned that he had not learned either of their names yet. With a somewhat legitimate reason to stick around, Victoria spoke to him when he paused after his last sentence to Kenna.

Facing the newcomer, Victoria made eye contact before speaking to him.

"I'm Victoria. Victoria Sheridan." Victoria finally introduced herself to the blond man. Once she gave her name she went quiet so that she did not dominate the conversation.

[Post Word Count: 238]
[Victoria's Word Count: 1,030]