New Meetings
~I'm on my way to what I want from this world~
~And years from now, you'll make it to the next world~
~And everything that you receive up yonder~
~Is what you gave to me the day I wandered~
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Ptah Familia's Grotto - Living Room)
"Right." Steve clapped his hands as everybody made themselves comfortable. "Now that we're all cozy, I believe introduction should be underway. I don't need to do this since I have met all of you already but for principle of formality, allow me to introduce myself. I am Stephen Hewer, Level 9, Captain and Firstborne of the Ptah Familia. And with that I leave the rest of my friends to introduce themselves."
Alex stood up and put a hand on her chest.
"Alex, Level 8, Vice-Captain." She said simply.
The Loki's Familia's eyes began boggling out at that revelation, although not as severely as they had done when Steve had revealed his level. Boy, did he remember the mess that was created as a result of that bold announcement. But ever since then, he'd bombarded them with so many surprises that nothing much could surprise them as much.
The blonde in the purple clothes stood up.
"Hiya, my name's Kai. Apparently I'm a level 8...and I guess that I'm just a fighter. Don't really like magic, I live by the sword and the fist only. I'm also the fastest out of all this fancy party."
"Besides me." Steve said to her. "You have the reflexes of a panther."
"Is that an insult? Panthers are fast aren't they?" Tione raised her brow.
"Maybe compared to her." Steve pointed at the fuming Kai who was giving him the dirtiest glare ever.
"Ahem." The dark skinned woman stood up and coughed as she gave Kai a side-eye. Kai sat down and shut up. "My name is Makena. I am also a level 8 and I guess you could say I am the caretaker of the Familia. I make the food, forge the weapons and I maintain and service the equipment. But when I am not busy in service to my family, I am out on the front lines fighting monsters with my bare hands."
The man in the dungarees tilted his tweed cap.
"Name's Sunny." He gruffed. "I'm just a humble farmer. I sweat for my bread and I carry my water on my back. But when I'm not doing that, I'm usually just joining the boss on his whimsical journeys which more often than not nearly get us killed." Sunny shrugged. "Just letting you know what you're signing up for. Oh, and I'm a level 7."
"How the hell is a damn farmer a level 7?" Bete shouted. "What did you go and do, behead dragon with sickles and hoes?"
Sunny furrowed his brows. "How'd you know?"
Bete just stared at him.
...
"I'm Ari." The brunette said. "I'm a hunter, trapper engineer etc. I make monster traps or I make war machines that help us destroy monsters or mine out resources from the ground. I'm a level 7 too and my favourite hobby is blowing up bandit camps and outposts with explosives. So if I catch any one of yer thievin' fingers over any of our goods, I'm blowing you up to kingdom come." Ari finished gruffly.
Everybody sweat-dropped at that but turned to the spectacled boy who was dressed smart as he sighed and shook his head in amusement.
"My name is Zuri. I am a level 7 and I am the architect of the Familia. Wherever we go on our travels, my job is to outline suitable terrain for us to build on and then work on the foundations of the houses we build, whereby I also am responsible for designing them as well. Besides that part of my obligatory duties, I am a scholar and a mage and I conduct much research into magic theory."
"Truly?" Riveria's eyes widened. "I too am somewhat a magical fanatic. I have always found myself fascinated by the intricacies and implicates of sorcery."
"As am I." Zuri said. "It never really does bore to explore the fascinating and stupendous supernatural forces that govern our realities beyond just the physical reach of our bodies now does it? Pulling upon the very strings of creation is an honour and a blessing that none should take for granted...you owe it to yourself to learn about it."
"A sentiment we seem to share Mr. Zuri." Riveria smiled. "You wouldn't happen to have any tomes or portfolios regarding your research now do you?"
"Why of course I do. Perhaps we may be able to sit down later on and discuss our mutual interest over the pages?"
"I would love nothing more."
"Great." Kai muttered. "Just what Zuri needed. Another bookworm to chat up."
...
"Anyway, my name is Noor." The quiet girl with the large curls said. "I am a level 7 and I am a mage. I am the caretaker of our monsters that we adopt."
"Wait, you adopt monsters?" Gareth raised a brow.
"On the occasion." Steve said. "Bathsheba being one such example. Where we find exotic monsters that catch our fancy, instead of killing it we tame it either through temptation...or forceful persuasion." Steve let out a smirk that indicated he was not telling them something. "You lot will get to see some of our tamed beasties very soon."
"You plan on using them in the War Game?" Finn asked. "A War Game certainly is a mighty attraction but are such valuable assets expendable?"
"Just wait and see." Steve said before gesturing to the purple haired child sitting in his lap staring daggers at Tiona and Ais. "Go on princess, introduce yourself."
"I am Efe." Efe said. "I am the most powerful mage in the world and I am a level 7...only my onii-chan is better than me. And because of that, he's mine." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "So don't touch him."
"Haha." Steve laughed nervously. "As you can see, she's quite attached. But yes, that's all of us now."
"I noticed that none of you gave family names." Finn commented. "Is there a specific reason for that, or..."
"We share Steve's family name." Alex said. "The nine of us are one big Family and we've been together for time inconceivable. We didn't think it necessary to tell you because he'd already told you."
"But obviously none of you are related." Tiona said. "Don't you all have your own family names?"
"None of us remember much beyond our first names." Noor said. "Somehow only Steve does but he was travelling the world for a long time. He picked us upon the way and we became a part of his new family. So whatever family name we might have had at one point, it just didn't matter anymore."
"Awwww...that's so sweet, and sad too." A female member from the Loki Familia sniffed.
"Very well." Finn said. "Allow us to introduce ourselves..."
...
After all introductions were complete, Finn turned to Steve.
"Well Steve, I understand this was meant to get us all acquainted but your letter said you wanted a special favour from us."
"Yes." Steve sat up as he remembered the reason why he'd specifically called all of them. "I'm going to be buried in a ton of paperwork very soon and I also am going to have to make a lot of arrangements so we can get our Familia started. Also, the War Game looms ahead and both Ptah and Loki here have to get onto the Denatus."
"Yeah." Ptah said as he stretched and got up. "You know what? I'm going to head there early. Saves any snobs from making any ridiculous claims about me." Ptah began making his way to the door. "Come along Lopt. We haven't got all day."
"Yes sir." Loki obeyed and followed the little god.
"Don't forget the wagers." Steve said. He had thought up multiple formats that the War Game could take and based upon each had constantly revised specific wagers over and over again.
"I won't." Ptah said as he hauled open the main door and looked back. "You kids have a great time together...and please, no breaking stuff?"
"What do you think we are, Blud?" Steve deadpanned. "Go on, get outta here."
Ptah stuck his middle-finger up, causing Efe to gasp a little before he and Loki strode out and shut the door behind them.
"Anyway, back to the subject." Steve said. "My friends here are quite new to the city. So while I'm sorting out their legal documents, you wouldn't mind showing them around town would you? Take one each and just introduce them to the general sites and attractions as well as the local necessities and the like? It would be seriously helpful."
"Hm. Well it's not like any of us have a busy schedule, especially after that last expedition." Finn nodded before turning to Steve's friends. "I will leave you to decide which of us will accompany you ladies and gentleman."
"Good." Alex stood up and pointed a long finger at Tiona and Ais. "I pick these two. I would seriously like to get to know our captain's lovers a little more personally."
"Aww big sis, no fair!" Efe complained. "I wanted to interrogate and torture them!"
"Interrogate?!" Tiona exclaimed.
"Torture?" Ais's eyes widened ever so slightly though her expression was more incredulous.
Alex whirled around and glared at Efe with a glint in her eyes that made the little girl's blood run cold. Efe quickly hid her face in Steve's neck in an effort to not make eye-contact with the older girl. Steve's girlfriends however began to feel a cold sweat running down their backs as they suddenly remembered what level this woman was.
As if Tione was reading her sister's mind, she quickly turned to Steve.
"By the way, how are your friends as strong as they are? How is that even possible?"
"Through our own means and efforts." Steve smiled and folded his arms. "You remember what it was like with me remember? And was it a farce in the end?"
"Not that we didn't believe you anyway." Gareth chuckled in a bit of exasperation. "But you can't blame us for being a little peeved that you've just become the strongest Familia in Orario over night."
"Especially when you are about to face the former strongest." Riveria said. "What are your plans regarding that by the way?"
"Nothing specific." Steve said. "First, we determine what kind of War Game we get before we make any plans for it. But obviously we know the outcome. We'll win."
"If it took only one of you exerting minimal effort to beat all of us, then I have no doubt it will be the same for the Freya Familia." Finn said. "Though I will warn you, they would prefer death over any kind of surrender."
"Good." Kai licked her lips as her eyes began glowing hungrily. "The fear we'll drive into them shall salt the meat quite nicely. It's always so good when prey refuses to run away out of pride, because they end up the most fearful...and I do love the smell of fear."
"Enough of the edgy talk." Steve smacked her on the head, making her pout. "Choose who you're going with and get lost already."
"Fine." Kai said before pointing to Bete. "I choose the little puppy who was running his mouth earlier. I'd like to see if his legs can move as fast as his lips flap."
"Huh?" Bete raised a brow. "The hell did I do?"
"Moving on. Zuri?" Steve asked the boy with the glasses.
"I think I shall go with Miss Riveria." Zuri said, to which the elf nodded. "A city like this is bound to have a library in it, and I am positive such a place will be a good place to have scholarly conversations in."
"I am more than happy to accommodate." Riveria said.
"Alright, let the bookworms go to the palace of books." Steve rolled his eyes. "Anyone else?"
"I'll be happy with just about anyone." Sunny muttered loudly. All that were remaining of Steve's friends nodded in agreement.
"That is fine then." Steve said as he went on to place his friends with certain people. Once he was finished he stood up and clapped his hands again. "Right. Off you lot go and enjoy yourselves. I'm headed to the guild to get everybody's papers sorted out. Let's rendezvous there so we can get your cards and then we'll go into the Dungeon. That okay with you Finn?"
"No problems on my end." Finn said as Noor stood behind him. "In fact, I'd say I'm rather excited to see how you all operate in the Dungeon. My expectation are quite high, as I'm sure you understand."
"I can assure you..." Steve grinned. "...we are the last people who would fail to live up to it."
---
Steve watched as his friends and company disappeared further and further down the main street until they all split up into different directions and ventured off in their own specific destinations of interest. As soon as they were all gone and he was sure that he was left in the grotto, he frowned and immediately marched to his room and securely locked the door. He then dropped down into the portal room ad quickly typed in the server IP address into the pop-up.
The portal glowed green before it sprung to life and he entered back into his hidden server from which he'd just brought his friends out of earlier that morning. He paused for a moment as he nearly bumped into a large Dark Oak Tree just standing there on the other side. Momentarily he became confused as the portal had reconstructed itself once again in the same place it had been before but this tree certainly hadn't been there.
And it was clearly intentionally placed as this was a single tree in the middle of a large meadow. He pondered for a few moments before his eyes widened in simple realization.
"Sunny." He mumbled. "Always the covert sentimental type aren't you?"
He walked around the tree and surveyed the area. When he had first entered this place, he'd come in with a sensation of glee and nostalgia. But after the news he'd been given from Alex, those feelings had become wariness and paranoia and every step he took, he took with caution and did not spare a glance at even a single blade of grass. He turned and shut off the portal, in case anything tried to get through and entered his creative mode.
Taking to the air, he began flying over the land in the direction of the camp that he and his crew had destroyed. As he flew over the landscape, he swept his eyes from side to side to catch anything out of the ordinary. As he passed by the village situated beside the river, he came to a sharp pause and looked down.
Where there used to be a thriving village, now there was desolate place with the houses broken, the canals dried up and the crops non-existent. Steve dropped down into village and stared around with wide eyes at the destruction. Not so much time could have passed already in this world that the villagers would have just up and left. More than that, these houses were clearly damaged from physical intent and not just over-time deterioration.
Steve pushed opened one of the doors hoping to find a villager inside but found the tiny space void and empty. He did the same with each and every house but to no avail did he find any form of life whatsoever. Even in the spaces where animals roamed were empty of any life whatsoever and the crops were gone. Immediately Steve began hearing alarms in his head and he hastened to get his work over and done with so he could get out of there.
He took to the air again and quickly sped over to the old campsite. He looked down at the blown up charred ruins and quickly descended to where Zuri's old house was. A quick word from his lips with his skill, and it completely restored the house's original state in he quickly entered. Zuri had cleaned it out mostly before they'd destroyed the place but Steve knew that Zuri left some things behind, amongst them a diary that Zuri had kept of the time there.
Steve had added as part of flavour text that Zuri kept written documentation of each place they stayed in. And when they left a place behind, Zuri would leave the diary behind to burn with the campsite as symbolic gesture of a new beginning. Steve sifted through the house for the thing before he found it in the boy's bedroom chest by the foot of his bed. Quickly opening it, he traced the dates back about 9 months to the incident Alex had told him about regarding the scholar.
And just as expected, Zuri had written down the coordinates of exact place at the world border that he'd seen the scary figure...the identity of whom Steve had a heavy suspicion. Satisfied with what he'd came for, Steve ascended into the sky and looked down at the camp. He withdrew an enchanted glowing stick and pointed it at the entire mountain rage and in an instance, the entire mountain rage became thin air along with the camp. Where the great earthen stakes had once stood, now there was just a massive hole in the ground, stretching all the way down to the visible bedrock there. All evidence and possible salvation gone in the blink of an eye.
The power of an admin.
Steve typed in the coordinates and instantly teleported there right beside the glowing world border, the rippling barrier standing strong. Usually Steve would have not been able to cross it at all...but with {Tongue of the Laws}, the situation was very different.
He placed his hand on the barrier and for a moment, it caved in around his hand before he twisted sharply and tore a large piece out of it like he were ripping a cloth. The damage done made the barrier glow red momentarily before the whole thing collapsed and shut down across the entirety of the infinite plains of the Minecraft world. Steve stayed still as the atmosphere itself changed completely before venturing a few blocks further.
As he'd predicted, he was not teleported back to the blocks where the world border once stood. He then set his sights upon the village where Zuri had supposedly seen a dark entity and flew down into the middle of the square. Again, it was devoid of any life and the houses were damaged, just like the previous village.
In the time they'd been gone, their enemies had already moved and done what they did best, and that was to create mischief and havoc wherever they stepped foot. There had to be a lead in this village somewhere...
---
Steve grimaced as he exited the Gate back into Genkai and immediately tore it down so any possible chance of something from that side could reactivate the portal somehow and come through to this world. His investigation had been fruitless to put it in the softest way possible. There was not much more to the village beyond it being just like any other abandoned village but what had irked him was that there was not a single living mob he'd seen ever since he re-entered.
NOW, it was staying closed. The gamer had no idea what that freak club was up to but by doing this, he hoped to stave off the inevitable encounter as much as possible. Something was happening, underneath the scenes and he didn't like it. And it was all because he'd pulled out that piece of paper and activated that stupid hidden mission.
Cursing himself for his poor choice, Steve placed Zuri's diary in his inventory and left the grotto. With this side-mission out of the way, he could now focus on getting his friends integrated into a new society. He set off in the direction of the Pantheon, the headquarters of the guild with all the status sheets safely stored in his inventory as well. He'd sent Bathsheba off to go hunt in the Beol mountains. He was quite certain that she'd be able to amuse herself there since she loved monster meat so much.
...
When he was about half-way there, he decided to take a quicker cut through one of the smaller streets. On the Main street, people had been recognising him and pointing fingers while whispering to one another. But under the current circumstances, he would have loved anything but to not have those people doing that when who-knows-what was out there for him and his friends.
The area he'd stepped into was a small pocket in town where he knew several minor Familia lived in small houses, people who only had at maximum about five members including their respective patrons. And they were usually just weaklings so it would be easier to deal with them than the public if anybody got in his way.
He came to a stop though as a door flung open and a white-haired boy much smaller than him with red eyes was turned out of there on his face as laughter emerged from inside the house. An angry women with beefy arms and a clearly drunk complexion stormed out while gritting her teeth and clenching her fist.
The albino boy gasped in terror and tried to scramble out of her way but of course, she was an adventurer and as such had a hold of his scruff before he could even blink.
"Dirty little country bum!" She slurred. "The nerve you have to just stroll in here and demand a place in our Familia! A weak little bug like you!"
"Please let go." The boy said as he tried to pry her fingers open and pull away. "You have mead on your breath!"
"Huh!" The woman cocked her head as she gave him a deathly side-eye. "You want to be an adventurer but can't even handle the smell of booze. Some adventurer you supposed to be? I wouldn't even let you in as a supporter!"
The laughter inside amplified.
"Just please let go." The boy pleaded. "I won't come back."
"And now you're begging too." She snarled. "Folks like you signing up at our place will make us think we're taking on sissies. I'll teach you to think in shoes too big for your feet."
She pulled back her fist and tightened it into a ball, ready to sock him in the face as he closed his eyes and he raised his hands for defence. But just as she let it fly, her wrist was caught in an adamantite grip and she looked up at the perpetrator.
"The hell?! Who do you...think..." The woman trailed off as she stared at him. Because he recognised her too, she was one of the adventurers Steve had seen in the Hostess after the expedition was over. Incidentally, the laughter inside the house stopped too. "Its you!"
"Put the kid down." Steve warned. "Or there will be pain...lots of it."
"...Tch. You're lucky, brat." She said as she let go off the boy's collar and let him drop. "Don't come around here ever again." She pulled her wrist out of Steve's grip and closed the door behind her and left the two out in the street.
"(sigh). There's no shortage of assholes in any world." Steve lamented before looking down at the boy. 'And no shortage of cliche meetings either.'
"Thank you very much sir." The boy bowed to him. "I was sure she was going to hurt me."
"She was going to hurt you kid." Steve waved him off. "But I kind of make it a habit to smack around assholes that pick on the weaklings."
"Weaklings...right." The boy smiled wryly.
"Well you're not exactly a powerful warrior now are you?" Steve said as he gestured to the boy's apparel. "I mean after all, warriors don't walk around with farm-smelling clothes. Anyway, let's get the formalities out of the way. What's your name?"
"Bell." The albino boy smiled brightly. "Bell Cranel."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comment and Review!
Discord: discord.gg/k7Q3r47k
Read 2+ chapters ahead on my Patreon:
Patreon/ Vulkizaro_Zoromi
For commissions:
Ko-Fi/ vulkizarozoromi