There were tables set up and chairs pulled. Clothes were laid and plates were distributed.

Hadwyn had planned to stay on the stump by himself, even when the others left to feast, but he could not resist the smell of roasted Fyrexias, freshly baked slimecake, and prime yams and potatoes. So he went, limping along his tired leg until he got to the area.

Many tables were scattered around a single area. The now dried muddy paste on his shoes cracked off as he entered the more solid patch of ground which the tables and chairs sat upon.

He made his way towards the center of the area, where there was a huge furnace with a flatstove built in, along with a spit which a Fyrexias roasted. Hadwyn noticed almost immediately, despite the fact that the Fyrexias had been skinned and mutilated in order to have fit on the spit, that this was not the Fyrexias he had killed. It was much larger.

Hadwyn didn’t care to try and figure out who killed it. It really could have been anyone.

Hadwyn grabbed one of the wooden plates and a metal fork to grab some, but he was elbowed by a person cutting the line. Hadwyn was going to give the man a piece of his mind, but before he could, someone else beat him to it.

The man had cut far in front of the line, which meant that he had wronged multiple people.

And one of those people happened to be looking for a fight.

As the man was about to blow past another group of people. He was grabbed by an angry Aldarian. Before the man could apologize, he was on the ground in seconds, with his arm pinned behind his back and a boot on the back of his head.

The man looked around aggressively, and everyone else averted their eye contact. People who were more than double his level, which was 37, didn’t seem to worry about triggering the man by looking at him. They smirked and chuckled to themselves.

Hadwyn grimaced, it was fine to not have any friends or allies, it was only when you made enemies needlessly, did you find yourself looking over your shoulders at day, and locking your doors at night. Hadwyn knew his place. He was, at worst, to be ignored or looked over. But he never made any permanent enemies of anyone. But make no mistake, Hadwyn was no pushover. He knew that being too proud or too pathetic would lead to nothing good. Sure, he knew he was unsuccessful, but these were thoughts he kept to himself.

The line went by in a blur. Chatty and dawdling Aldarians were pushed out of the way. Eventually, Hadwyn found himself back on the stump, with a small plate of food in front of him. By the time he had gotten to the front, there wasn’t much left. But there was enough.

As Hadwyn chewed, he watched the Aldarian in the distance socializing. He recalled how they threw Loyd up and cheered before the feast. It filled Hadwyn with jealousy. He didn’t want to envy a person like Loyd, but he couldn’t help himself

Loyd was handsome, obviously, which was why Alice always returned to him even when he cheated on her with other women. He was strong, which confused and frustrated Hadwyn, due to the fact that he had never seen him exercise or work out. This was why Mateo never left the party or directly wronged Loyd, he was a suck-up. Yes, he argued with Loyd from time to time, but he respected Loyd enough not to cross him. Lastly, Loyd appeared charismatic to others, but all Hadwyn saw was the exact opposite, he found himself continuously repulsed by Loyd’s behavior and personality.

But that didn’t matter. It didn’t matter what Hadwyn, thought, said, or did. It didn’t matter that Loyd’s entire personality was based on his popularity and worth in the eyes of these people.

The next wave was even more chaotic, which made Hadwyn glad he had an injured shoulder, not that joining the battle was mandatory, but rather, it would be easier to point at his broken shoulder, should he be questioned, rather than have to come up with another reason.

Of course, he wasn’t the only one. He watched several Aldarians move to stumps or rocks along the forest. Most of them looked tired and annoyed. One yelled a curse and threw his sword with all of his strength, sending it spiraling over the treetops. Another was cut in so many places, he looked like a crimson tiger.

Meanwhile, the most ecstatic Aldarians dove into the battle with glee.

Loyd stood up. Where was Loyd? He had lost track of him while taking in the rest of the battle.

There. Fighting alongside Alice, and Mateo, the trio tore a rhinock apart.

That was the moment something snapped inside of Hadwyn. They really didn’t need him.

By the time the battle had ended, Hadwyn was very miserable.

Loyd, coated in blood, stretched his arms, approaching Hadwyn, beaming like the sun.

He held up his sword proudly to Hadwyn. “Check out my new enchantment!”

The sword pulsed with light.

Repellent.

“They’ll keep their distance now!”

It was liquid repellant, but Hadywn didn’t tell him that.

Aldarian were chattering.

“Check this out!”

“What do you have?”

“Can I see that?”

“What do you have?”

“My team is full of morons.”

“Can I dip my sword? You have so much anyways.”

“Fuck this shitty sword, I’ll never borrow your startup-ass loadout again!”

“Do you have any to spare?”

“You can’t aim for shit!”

“My bow broke, how do I fix it?”

“Wait, what are we doing again?”

“Can I buy some arrows off of you?”

“I can do this all day.”

“Shut up before I shove my sword up your ass!”

Hadwyn turned his head around. Guild Arbiters were already coming.

“Hey, get off of me!”

One Aldarian had managed to manipulate the sharespell into not giving any essence to the guild members. He was grabbed by his limbs and dragged away from the scene. The other members simply shook their heads.

Hadwyn focused his attention elsewhere. It was always a scene when one of these things occurred. There was always somebody trying to pull off this sort of thing. Manipulating the sharespell could get you kicked out with no warnings. There were few who got away with it, but they never got far. Usually bragged, or just laid low, but they almost always got caught.

One of the most interesting things about this, was that, according to Ike, it used to happen way more, but in the last few years, there had been advances in the way people understood magic.

Sure, you can understand magic, but you don’t really understand how it works. Even most casters don’t really know what happens during casting.

Hadwyn sighed. Sometimes, Hadwyn didn’t know whether Ike made things up or not. But one thing he knew for sure, was that the authority of the guild was not to be messed with.

Things had changed over the years, he had noticed. The way guilds functioned were different from how they used to be. Guilds used to be owned by smaller companies, and they were closely watched, but now they were at their peak, with more summoned in the world than ever before.

During his school days, he was infatuated with the history of Vurithael, the known world.

The history of Vurithael could be divided into three parts, The “Beginning”, the “Horizon,” and the “Summoning.”

Despite spending a large amount of his youth absorbing knowledge, there was not much known about the first two eras. Hadywn knew about the Knights of the horizon betrayal, and the chaotic gods. And that was about it.

He vividly recalled stacks and stacks of old books, worn, torn, and missing pages. But Hadwyn read them anyway.

I should have drowned in that ocean…

Do not be foolish, I would not have allowed it.

There was the voice again. Perhaps someone was voicecasting to mess with him. Probably Mateo.

Hadwyn found a soft patch of grass. He laid on his back with his hands clasped on his stomach.

When he arrived in Vurithael, life seemed simple. But it always seems like the other Aldarians were just so… Unattached. They didn’t really care about the history or the people. They didn’t even see Anivors as equals.

He wished there was something that he could be good at, be useful for, but alas, he was seemingly just not valued by others. Still, as he stared into the glowing dots of the sky, thinking of his younger years, he did not come to regret reading those books. Even if the history section of school was simply meant to fill a quota, he still felt more connected than the other summoned.

At least the first generations, that is.

Suddenly there was outcry.

“No way!”

“Did he just-”

“He killed one?”

“Who?”

Hadwyn shot up. His shoulder erupted into new pain, he gritted his teeth and got over it quickly.

There was stir and muttering, well, at least from the distance Hadwyn was, it seemed so, from the clusters of Aldarians.

But Hadwyn didn’t get up. It was probably a guild member who killed a powerful boss or miniboss. He wouldn’t go home without his team. Alice had fast traveled here with him by sharing mana, and it would be near impossible to return without at least her.

Can’t they let me have a minute of peace?

“Excuse me sir?”

Hadwyn flinched at the voice. He had heard the crunching of grass behind him, and he was already aware that perhaps another Aldarian was near him. But it was the voice which startled him, for he recognized it.

Hadwyn whirled around after his realization. He was met with the steely cold gaze of the man from the bar, who looked even more intimidating in the moonlight.

“H-have we met before?” Hadwyn stammered. Playing dumb was the first thing to come to mind.

The man cocked his head. He did not smile. We met at the bar yesterday. Hadwyn, isn’t it?”

“Y-es…To what do I owe the pleasure?”

The man looked towards the crowd. “I cannot tell you. But I did come to ask you a few questions. Apologies for introducing myself earlier, you can call me Peter.”

He stuck out his hand, which Hadwyn shook awkwardly. “Now then,” the man said, “You are in Isadore’s party, yes?”

“Who?”

“Ike. Are you in his party?”

“Yes.”

Peter seemed to think for a moment before saying:

“Just so you know, you aren’t in any trouble.”

Despite Peter's intent, this did not reassure Hadwyn in the slightest. It did not relieve him of what people he knew had done to arouse such a man to come back, after seemingly concluding a case.

Peter turned to leave, which surprised Hadwyn, as he had expected him to ask him more questions at least.

“W-wait!” He lunged for Peter's sleeve. In hindsight, this was something he regretted, as the man could have easily considered Hadwyn a threat, and perhaps arrest, subdue, or even eliminate him. Hadwyn might have known his right from his left, and down from up, but he could not, for the life of him, have a smooth social interaction with a fellow Aldarian. He wasn’t even sure that this man was even an Aldarian. But that didn’t stop him from trying to grab the man’s arm, and his attention.

Luckily, he missed. He imagined things would have turned out differently had he hit his mark. But he did not, instead only lightly grazing the man’s cuffs. Still, Peter felt the motion anyway, and quickly turned around.

Hadwyn jumped back, having not realized that he sensed the pressure. But he collected himself instantly.

“Is there something that you want,” Peter asked, “Besides what I already told you that I cannot disclose?”

“Yes.” Hadwyn replied. “That about my team… How come I am not in trouble?”

Thoma gave him a confused look. “What do you mean?”

Hadwyn cringed internally, but he did not show it in any way, as he had now grown accustomed to this man’s aggressive, or more accurately, assertive nature.

“I don’t mean I like that… but why is the rest of my team so important to you and not me?”

Peter again thought for a moment, then he spoke:

“It is because, although you are registered as a party… I do not personally… err… consider the actions of your party to… be connected to you in any meaningful way, at least from my perspective. But do not worry, if there is any evidence disproving my assumptions, I’ll be happy to return and arrest you.”

Hadwyn felt like someone just punched his face in. “Oh.”

Peter took this as the end of the conversation and promptly left. approaching the groups of guild members in the distance.

That last part was meant to be a joke, of course. It has been a failed attempt at humor, yet it wasn't what had made Hadwyn feel like this. It was the comment before. Hadwyn wasn't even considered an accomplice, for a situation of which he didn't know of, because of how little his involvement was with his own party.

He suddenly felt overcome with frustration and resentment for his shortcomings, as well as the curiosity of what his party has even done this time. He lifted his tired body from the ground, and began stumbling his way to the others in the low light.

As he got closer, his walking became less troublesome, due to there being torches everywhere. There was some sort of light spell that illuminated the area that Hadwyn was headed.

Scattered, semi-interested Aldaraians roamed around the main cluster, not really concerned or bothered by whatever the deal was. Then the crowd itself laid dead ahead.

“Is it true?”

“Did he really…”

“I think that's against the rules…”

“He did what?”

He shoved his way to what he hoped was the center. One particularly aggressive Aldaraian shoved him back, and when he didn't topple, shouted a curse word at Hadwyn and laughed.

“Hey!”

“Watch it!”

“Ay!”

“Is that Loyd…?”

Hadwyn was startled by mention of Loyd's name, so much so that he tripped and fell into a more empty patch of land.

He laid on his back and immediately realized that the crowd had gone quiet.

And he was also greeted by Peter standing over him.

Hadwyn shot to his feet, muttering a curse under his breath. Something along the lines of, Oh, shit!, but it came out as “ho, seet!”

The crowd was eerily quiet now. Peter moved forward to Hadwyn, his hand resting on his belt.

“I’m sorry-”

“No, you aren’t, get back, now.”

Hadwyn stepped back, and Peter matched his pace until Hadwyn felt the body of another person behind him. He felt movement, and the brush of air. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the person behind him move their hand into a position to shove Hadwyn, but quickly snap it back to where it was, perhaps out of fear of being the next target of Peter, who further confirmed this by glaring past Hadwyn angrily, almost resentful, before moving his gaze back to Hadwyn. Hadwyn too, stared past Peter.

Loyd.

Loyd stood with a blank, deteriorated expression on his face. He had the complexion of a suicidal man. He stared blankly into the distance, making eye contact with absolutely no one.

Before him, was the flicking body of… something? A sort of animal. Flickering in and out of view, like a Sipipe in a mug of beer. It refracted and reflected in and out of existence, like a sun behind moving scenery of trees. And it resembled the shape of… a.. a…

A phantom wolf!

Peter grinded his teeth as if to say, you're damn right! Seemingly satisfied with Hadwyn’s distance, he turned back Loyd, or at least his body did, for he did not tear his sight away from Hadwyn until his head caught up with his body.

“This phantom wolf. Did you kill it!?” Peter barked at Loyd.

When Loyd didn’t respond, Peter pressed further:

“Answer me!”

At this, Loyd finally responded. “I didn’t! I don't know who started that rumor…” he finally glared at the crowd. They all looked uncomfortable. “...But I didn’t do shit to this wolf.”

“I have had multiple witnesses tell me this wolf was slain by your blade.” Peter's voice was no longer at its volume optimal for coherence, but he kept the dire tone. “Is this true?”

Loyd threw up his hands. “Do you have a problem or something? Why the hell can’t you go harass someone else?”

“Because no one else has been accused of slaying a phantom wolf.”

“I didn’t do it-”

“I’m not saying you did.” Peter snapped back. “But I am having an extremely hard time believing your testimony. Your story changes so often, that I would have to tear out all my pages if I had brought a notepad with me!”

Hadwyn quickly found himself believing that Loyd was guilty of whatever he was being accused of. Loyd was a frequent liar, plus Hadwyn wasn’t going to root for him, even if this was not the case.

Peter seemed to be easing off his aggressive questioning, he still remained diligent. “Now tell me, Expert Loyd, what is your alibi again?”

Loyd hesitated for a moment. I was dipping swords with Alice an-”

“You told me earlier you were alone. Were you?”

“I-I yeah, I was alone, right…” He scratched his neck.

Hadywn tore his eyes away from what he now recognized as a phantom wolf. He had no time to rack his brain for what a phantom wolf actually was. It was there. With all that reading, it had to be in there somewhere.

He looked at Loyd, who seemed fearful, more than anything. It jarred Hadwyn that anyone could intimidate Loyd, let alone have him stand perfectly still, like a catatonic, and speak with his words instead of his fists. This situation begged the question: Who exactly was this man?

Loyd stuttered, but then he spotted Hadwyn, and color seemed to flush back into his face. Like a child finding its lost pet.

“Hadwyn… Hadwyn!”

Hadwyn tried to recede back into the throng, but he found it impossible; they were locked together shoulder-shoulder in such a way, Hadwyn was sure even a snake could not slither out of it.

Loyd took a step towards him. Hadwyn looked back and forth between the wall of bodies and Loyd, like a child who had fallen into a bear pit.

Loyd took another step, his face flashing with emotions of joy, replaced by frustration, replaced by anger. The expression he wore too often.

“Hadwyn, tell him-”

Peter had inserted himself between Hadwyn and Loyd, so Hadwyn was relieved.

Loyd tilted past Peter, which again, disturbed Hadwyn. If anyone else had stood in Loyds way, he would have surely, shoved them. This gave Hadwyn the suspicion that Loyd knew more about what this AFHA was than he was letting on.

Well It was about time Hadwyn was enlightened to exactly what other illegal activities Loyd was up to.

Suddenly, a woman's voice called from behind him. “Pardon me~”

Hadwyn stepped aside, as someone else walked behind him. A pretty woman appeared in front of him. He hair whipped in the moonlight, almost distracting him from what she held:

A knife.

In a flash, she pulled it out and jabbed it at someone in the crowd, a person who had, unnoticed by Hadwyn, managed to seep from the crowd, with a long thin sword.

Hadwyn craned his neck to see who it was. He was tempted to approach to get a better look, but he realized that he could be the next to receive a slash.

The person who had been stabbed cried out, and Hadwyn immediately recognized the voice, which belonged to none other than Alice.

Alice writhed, clutching the hole in her chest. She wailed in pain. Hadwyn could swear in the dim moon of dawn, that her unstainable pristine dress now seemed to be stained with her own blood.

“Please stay away from the scene, thank you.” The woman remarked unsympathetically, as she sheathed. Her sword.

“Don’t touch my girlfriend!” Loyd snarled. But his voice became small quickly.

“Did you kill this phantom wolf?” Peter demanded.

Loyd threw up his hands again, his worry for Alice seemed to vanish in an instant. “Who the hell do you think you are?”

“I think I am Peter. Now tell me d-”

“Yes! Yes! I did it, so what!?” Loyd exploded at him.

“So what?” Peter wrinkled his nose. “Do you expect me to take you for an Idiot? Sure you actions have been foolish, but surely you cannot be as stupid as you act.” He relaxed locked eyes with Loyd.

“Phantom wolves exist for one purpose only; to keep demons and hellspawn away.”

“So?”

“So? Tell me, Expert Loyd, have you fought a demon before?”

This question roused attention, so much so the crowd grew silent again.

“No.” Loyd said, biting his upper lip.

“I have.” Peter said, genuinely angry now. “The mere scent of a phantom wolf keeps them away. They are an endangered species as well, this might have been the only one for miles, and you killed it.”

When Loyd didn’t respond, he continued; “By killing this one, you’ve put not only yourself, but others in grave danger.”

“Danger? Motherfucker do see what I’ve done? I’ve killed literally thousands of orcs and other-”

“Demons are not orcs, goblins, or anything you have fought before. They are in entirely different classes than creatures you’re familiar with.” Peter cocked his head with a look of pity for Loyd.

“Don’t lecture me, you f-”

“I will lecture you.” Peter seethed. “Because there are things in this world that you won’t understand. Things that you are too ignorant to research or even be weary of!”

Hadwyn noted the choice of words. Not don’t, or can’t, but rather won’t, perhaps implying that, one could learn of these things if they were motivated to do so, but alas, they were not.

Peter raised his head, looking upon Loyd the way a blacksmith would look at the shoddy craftsmanship of his apprentice.

“I will not let others pay for your mistakes.” Peter seethed.

Not as I let others pay for mine. He thought.

Then, guild

Then, Loyd was pinned to the ground, and with an embarrassing amount of kicking, screaming, threatening, and pleading, he was arrested.