It had been two days since Shambala had abruptly pulled them from the library. They had been reading and absorbing the materials he had assigned them earlier. They read about various artifacts, artifact beasts, beasts of artifacts, and even warriors who wielded those artifacts.Seeing him in the doorway, all three of them had varying theories about why he showed up the way he did. For starters, he had slipped out of the library in a way that did not even catch the attention of the group. They were so engrossed in reading that they did not notice his earlier departure.Grover, for one, was surprised that he was this invested in reading a book, as reading had never been his thing. Now he realizes that he simply did not have access to the right books. What he was seeing in these books was phenomenal! Their moment was, however, cut short by Shambala’s outburst, and they were left in confusion.After they left the library, their journey was hasty and arduous, as they were not even sure in
They finally arrived at the town after two days of steady trudge work. They began to see familiar sights and scenes, and though they were not particularly excited about returning home, the overall feeling was that they were glad they were back home. As they approached the city gates, the guards, who had been alerted of their presence by the sole sentry on duty in the watchtower, drew the wide metal gates open to let them in, and that was where their greetings began.Immediately after they arrived, the atmosphere of the village changed. By word of mouth, practically everyone was made aware that the three nominees who had followed Shambala on a mission to be trained by him had returned. As they entered the village, they were hailed on every side. Theirs was the welcome of great warriors and good friends who had returned home. Grover wanted to be happy that they were back, and he really did. The problem was that he could not help feeling a little despondent. Maybe more than a little de
As Vladimir, Grover, and Krystal stepped into the hall, the hall erupted with cheers and huzzahs from the guild members. The night was just beginning, and their arrival was the herald of the celebration since they were the guests of honor. Despite the loud noises that filled the hall, the trio made their way to the head of the table, where three conspicuous chairs had been laid out for them. Vladimir took the seat to the right, Grover took the seat to the left, and Krystal took the middle seat.The hall had been cleaned and decorated for this celebration. Every surface that could possibly gleam was gleaming after having been properly polished. It was obvious that a lot of effort and resources had gone into planning this event. It warmed the group's hearts to see that their guild sought to celebrate them so greatly.Krystal pressed down a chuckle that wanted to escape from his mouth as he thought of the state the hall would be in at the end of the night. This group knew how to party!H
The next day, Grover woke up with a slight headache, but it was nothing he could not handle. He knew it had a lot to do with the celebration of the previous night, but he had made sure not to overindulge in the wine, as it had been a while since he had tasted wine. Also, he determined to dilute his cup after each refill because wine as potent as this could make a fool out of him as it did with some of the others.He thought of how much more chaotic the celebration hall got as the night wore on. Before long, the voices of some men were raised higher while the speech of others began to slur. Of course, this was not obvious at first but began to show with time.For most people who were very self-conscious, they simply got up to leave when they noticed that the wine was beginning to affect them. These were those who were more seasoned and did not simply lose their heads to the gourds.As for the trio, they wasted no time in leaving as well, using the excuse that they were tied after a lon
The members of the guild listened to the numerous stories with keen attention, enjoying every bit of it as though they were there to experience it by themselves. They had to suffer the sweet pain of experiencing it vicariously through Grover, Shambala, and Krystal."Grover, how did you begin to make use of your second artifact?" one of the comrades asked suddenly. These were the kinds of questions that Grover had been asked all day.“Hmnnn.” Grover said it meditatively. “At first, There was no need for me to do much because it seemed quite easy to me. In fact, I did not have the dissonance that a lot of people face in trying to merge two artifacts because my first artifact spirit seemed to have accepted the Raven's Spirit. Though summoning the Raven at first was a problem, as the Raven is a proud creature, I would say it went fairly smoothly for me.”When Grover told them the details of how the Raven dealt with them while he struggled to summon it to defeat the last artifact beast b
By the time the others were done narrating their tale, they had rested enough to actually learn what they had set out to learn that morning, but at that time, it was almost noon.The trio had listened without the slightest hint that they knew about the scroll’s ability to re-ink itself. They simply engaged in the conversation and listened with rapt attention so that the others would have an opportunity to say something new as well.This also gave the whole group the opportunity to rest. Grover noticed a group of people join earlier on when they were sparring in pairs and realized that they were the last group of people to leave the banquet hall this morning. They came late, but they looked more tired than anyone else. ‘Alcohol’, Grover thought wryly.Krystal was the one who led the segment of illustrations of some of what they had learned on their journey with Shambala. They executed some moves, perfected some strategies, and practiced using certain aspects of aura and sensing. He had
It had been a week since the group had been back, and Shambala had disappeared. It looked like he was never going to come back again because one day had gradually turned into two days, three days, and now a whole week! These uncertainties contribute to the force that worked to drain the energy of the team.On the seventh day since Shambala’s departure, The guild was in a meeting with worried looks and deep frowns on their faces. It was Shambala, so they knew that he was safe and almost invincible, but they could not help but think that something could have gone wrong with holding their teacher from his charge.Dark circles were under Krystal, Grover, and Vladimir's eyes. They consistently felt like they had grains of sand in their eyes, as they could hardly recall when they last slept soundly through the night. They maintained their nightly dueling in the forest clearing they had discovered, but the cost of that commitment was beginning to become obvious. The other members had also
Grover finished cleaning up and joined Vladimir and Krystal in front of his room. They had been waiting for him so that they could go into the hall together. When they got to the hall, they found the place more sober than they had ever found it, though they found that almost everyone was already seated. There was only one explanation for this, and it was that everyone wanted answers. They sat at the long table in the middle of the hall just the way they had sat on the day they had gotten back from their journey. “Good evening, all.” Krystal greeted me sombrely. “Good evening.” Was the general answer that wafted around the table.“We are not here to eat this evening, and neither are we here for a celebration. Not just yet, at least. We will eat eventually, but there are certain issues that need to be settled first. I know you are all tired. We all are. And this tiredness is beyond what a single meal can cure. We are here to discuss the next step.And just as they were about to discus