“No.” Amelia shook her head. Vienne looked at her sharply but Gabriel backed her up and repeated the refusal.

“You cannot face him! I cannot face him! We must flee!” Vienne insisted. She began to look around as if seeking escape at this very instant.

Amelia was suddenly reminded of the song Raven sang on the outset of their journey. She remembered Vienne proudly standing before her in the tomb of the Royal Apothecary. She remembered the courage of those faces. Now she knew why Vienne had appeared then, and why she was scared now. The future Vienne had tasted victory, and this one had not. “We will fight him.”

“You cannot fight him!” Vienne shouted.

“I fight him. We fight him.” Amelia repeated. “Stand with us or get out of the way. We need you but we’ll fight him even without you.”

“Fools!” Vienne was gone instantly and without another word. So sudden was the departure that they stood around blinking. A great streak of golden lightning that disappeared into the sky. Victoria looked shocked, if not crestfallen.

“She really left,” Victoria said, amazement in her voice.

“We will fight him,” Amelia repeated, placing a gentle hand on Victoria’s shoulder. “We won’t lose. Vienne will come and help us before the end.”

“How do you know?” Victoria wondered.

“I can’t tell you because of the rules. I can tell you I know we win.” Amelia supplied. She felt it did little to help the small warrior under her hand. Victoria kept staring into the sky as if trying to will Vienne to return. Vienne did not.

---------------------------

King Johanis didn’t seem to know a god had visited them and then been scolded away after not taking them seriously. As evening truly set in he announced he was opening up a special hall for the members of Shadow Fall to use. The hall, he claimed, had fallen into ruin because the order of heroic Halves that had once claimed it as their base had all fallen in glorious battle against the Grendel King, long may his memory be spit on and some such.

A series of quick questions revealed that the Grendel were a race of reptilian creatures that matched the description of the Visage. Gilduirn pried further and found that the Grendel were not the undead that they had so recently fought, but instead were a nightmare creature to the Half that occasionally threatened their forest. The Grendel, it was further explained, procreated much like anything procreated and were not mass-produced by a dark mage.

“I guess the idea had to come from somewhere.” Aidan finally allowed. “Mourning must have used their image when he was raising his army. No small wonder that he chose them if he’s from this era.”

“It’s hard to take them seriously though right?” Raven interjected.

“You mean because they’re just monsters now and not scrambling over the top of each other swarming us as mindless unstoppable undead?” Elisha asked sweetly. There was such a laughing tone in her voice that everyone started turning toward her with a grin.

“Yeah. I mean can you imagine if we came across one in the forest. If it was just the one?” Raven demanded. “We’d laugh that thing right to death.”

“Don’t laugh. I heard Grendel hunting is serious business to the Half.” Forsythe cautioned. “Everyone should pretend like it’s serious.” He continued, acknowledging that even he thought the idea of fighting them one at a time was ludicrous at this point. He kept nodding as if willing everyone to agree with him, earning even more grins.

“Well, I suppose if you’re under 4 ft tall they are pretty terrifying.” Gilduirn allowed.

“I almost pee myself when I think about them,” Schulia admitted. “So I don’t think it’s limited to a height range.”

“Thank god we don’t pee ourselves in the real world.” Ridley laughed.

“Hey, it’s too bad almost.” Rat replied.

“What, that we don’t pee ourselves?” Ridley asked incredulously.

“Yeah. Can you imagine the stock advantage? Whenever the Visage showed up we could all buy diaper stocks and hit it rich!” Rat laughed.

“I am ashamed to admit that there is a certain amount of wisdom in that,” Hunter said grudgingly. “That would be a way to make a killing.”

“Well, I’m not going to pee myself,” Forsythe replied stoically.

“No, you’re way too brave and manly.” Hunter practically breathed her adoration. Most of the grins and smirks started to fade and eyes began to roll as a result.

“What do we think about this new place that Johanis is offering?” Amelia finally demanded. The conversations were just a little too offbeat for her.

“Shadow Fall Guild Hall?” Justin spoke up at last. “Why don’t we have one of those in AA normal?”

“I… don’t know.” Hunter finally admitted. “I kind of like the idea now that it popped up. A place where we can all log off and have meetings? Poor Amelia. Every time we have a meeting half the population is on a knee.”

Elisha laughed. “It’s such a weird sound, all those knees hitting the ground at the same time.”

“God that would be nice.” Amelia acknowledged. “If you lot keep bowing and scraping to me as a joke I’m seriously going to find something really nasty made of stone and drop it on you right after I bring it to life.”

“Hahaha. You’d just raise up in the hall of fame and more people would be bowing.” Gilduirn predicted.

“Are you joining Shadow Fall or what Gilduirn? You kind of fit in.” Tempest piped up, one of the softer spoken members of Shadow Fall. He was a… priest if Amelia remembered correctly. He and a few of the other members of Shadow Fall had really taken to Gilduirn during their short time.

“I would consider it if Ominous could join as a whole,” Gilduirn said jokingly.

“Oh god. Are you really going to make me interview 700+ applicants so we can have you? I don’t know if you’re THAT good.” Hunter complained.

“I suppose when you put it like that,” Gilduirn laughed. “I couldn’t do that to you. A certain wizard in your guild is still pretty sore about a mistake I made anyway.”

“Mistake,” Aidan repeated the word testily adding an inflection at the end that made it somewhat of a question. “A mistake is when you stand in dragon breath and get killed. You say, oh my bad. You were trying to hire a murder guild to kill me!”

“Well, you were kind of a jerk.” Gilduirn pointed out, having finally exhausted his patience and his obvious remorse.

“I’ve thought about hiring Khiafin to kill you.” Rat admitted. “You really made the boss look like an idiot in front of the King of Brack.”

“Tactics!” Aidan cried defensively. “I was just thinking ahead!”

“So was I.” Rat replied dryly. “I was thinking how dumb you’d look when some jerk wasted you.”

“Let’s be fair. Everyone has thought about killing Aidan.” Raven finally said, surprising everyone considering she was one of his more stalwart defenders usually. “It was only Gilduirn who had the cajones to actually try and follow through.”

Amelia grinned despite herself. She loved Aidan, she really did. It had surprised her one evening when they were sitting together. She couldn’t imagine the world without him. Except when she was imagining killing him herself. She could see her hands wrapped around that neck, and that really annoying smile he had as he taunted her the whole time she was strangling him. “I hate to agree with Raven about anything but...”

“You too?” Aidan sounded betrayed.

“I’m sorry. We all fantasize about killing you at least once.” Amelia said sweetly.

“What do you mean you hate to agree with me?” Raven huffed.

“You’re a lunatic,” Forsythe told Raven with certainty.

“The worst,” Aidan agreed, hoping to turn the conversation.

“People don’t fantasize about killing me.” Raven retorted.

“They don’t?” Forsythe sounded confused.

“Oh?” There seemed to be a dangerous note in her voice and no one else had the courage to admit, truthfully or otherwise, that they’d ever had such a thought.

*******************

When Amelia arrived at the hall the king of the Half had opened up for them, she was a little taken aback at its size. The doorways, the walls, even the outside structure loomed high and far compared to the rest of the Half structures. Schulia had found a bunch of old disused crates and was standing hazardously over the entrance, carving Shadow Fall into the support beam that hung over the door.

“You know we can’t keep it right?” Amelia muttered. “Anyway aren’t you in a crafter guild? I won’t tell them that you’re carving our name but…”

Schulia smiled sheepishly. “Actually I’ve been talking to Hunter and my guild leader. He is a big fan of Shadow Fall and he’s convinced all of our whopping 15 members to join Shadow Fall. He was worried about it since we’re all crafters but Hunter and everyone else is pretty enthusiastic. In fact, I think Hunter was so glad to hear that crafter’s wanted to join and be friends that she made a pretty strong impression.”

“Wow,” Amelia said with surprise. “Welcome.”

“Yeah. I’m getting that a lot.” Schulia grinned. “You know Shadow Fall is kind of the hero to all the crafters?”

“Why?” Amelia’s face pinched.

“Well. I mean they pretty much strong-armed all the city-leaders into involving everyone. Not just the people who play this game to do battle and adventure.” Schulia explained.

Amelia was silent for a moment, unwilling just this second to admit that had actually been Aidan’s idea and had nothing to do with the crafters really. It had been a way to control a power struggle. That the crafters and the other job-oriented classes had benefited from it had never been in his calculation.

Schulia mistook her silence for something else. “Don’t worry Amelia. I know you never looked down on us.” She assured her.

“I never did,” Amelia said. That at least was easier to admit. “Carry on guild carver.”

“Hooo… Official guild carver, that does sound fancy.” Schulia returned to her knife work and Amelia gingerly stepped around the crates and through the doorway.

The huge entry hallway wasn’t really an entryway. There was a real cathedral feel; what had seemed like a building comprised of many rooms was instead a building comprised of just one room, a side-door that led to a kitchen attachment built onto the side of the original structure in a manner that suggested it had been an afterthought, and walls that stretched upward high into the rafters. Half-sized bunks lined the walls on either side, but for the most part, it was laid out as an open room with tables in the middle and an elevated panel table near the end of the hall.

Idolia and Gilduirn were sweeping, of all things, chuckling and laughing about something or other. Everyone else seemed to be throwing away refuse or trying to pry open windows that hadn’t opened in years. Peia, a young warrior with a normally grim face made an old fashioned quest complete noise as she managed to pry open one of the windows. She looked quite pleased.

“A wild Hunter appears,” Amelia said, jerking back as Hunter skidded to a halt in front of her out of breath. She had literally run over to Amelia and had to dig her heels in to come to a stop.

“Look! This is amazing! I mean it looks like crap now but everything works!” She hurriedly pointed around the room, pointing out that they had taken down all the weird paintings the Halves had put up and found a wheeled lever in the wall that distributed water into a large basin. They had also dumped old rusted weapons and rotted armor out the windows for disposal. Amelia didn’t really see what was so amazing. Everything Hunter seemed to be telling her had something to do with garbage.

Her excitement must have been contagious though because there was a frantic energy in the room as everyone dusted or mopped or stuck knives into the walls trying to pry old things out. Aidan seemed to have stolen Idolia away from Gilduirn and was gesturing to the wall. Idolia had at first seemed reluctant to listen to him, but as he explained whatever it was he was explaining she got a thoughtful look. Then the thoughtful look became an evil look. Aidan and Idolia seemed to be villain laughing together. Chortling, yes, that was the word.

“What’s going on?” Amelia wanted to know as she hurried over. She wasn’t sure if leaving Aidan unattended in an innocent land like this was a good idea, really.

“Aidan was just telling me I should paint the walls.” Idolia rubbed her hands together gleefully. “Why paint paintings when I can use the entire wall as a canvas?”

Amelia was relieved it had been something so innocuous. “What are you painting then?”

“I haven’t decided,” Idolia admitted. For once she wasn’t coming across as a complete flake. “I was thinking about an epic mural. You know, start with one side, maybe the Silf Convention where we talked about the Visage for the first time? Then fade it into the three dungeons. The cooking contest would be along the bottom, right? Then! Then the last one would be the square where we are all gathered around you with an open book!” Idolia gasped. “Oh my gosh, I am never going to sleep.” She seemed so incredibly excited.

Amelia was a bit uneasy, but ultimately she didn’t have the heart to tell Idolia to leave the last bit out. If it wasn’t too telling of how they had gotten here she was sure the Halves wouldn’t care or figure it out for themselves. They were ridiculously well-mannered. There was a rumor going around that they came from a world that had been destroyed and everyone was being incredibly considerate now. “That sounds really awesome.” She admitted at last. “Are you going to add the visage?”

“No way! Those scary things on the wall?” Idolia shuddered. “We’ll omit that crap.”

Amelia smiled unexpectedly. “I… you know I think I agree with you! No big spider either?”

“No when I said the dungeons I was talking about a generic marching of our forces through an epic landscape. None of those things you fought. For crying out loud this is going to be a happy painting dammit!” Idolia’s hands fisted and flew to her sides in a sudden fit, surprising Amelia into laughter. “None of the nope nope nope!”

“I really like your style.” Amelia grinned.

Hunter started clapping her hands for attention at the front of the room. She could really clap apparently. It must have been some sort of leadership skill that allowed her to be really loud when she wanted to be. Amelia wondered why she hadn’t just used the guild channel. “Your attention! I’m a little happy that you are all still online!” Random cheers went through the room as everyone acknowledged they were having a pretty good time.

“But! It is getting late and if you need to get to sleep you really should log off. I know we were expecting a long night of battle but this has been fun right?” More cheers and even Gilduirn was smiling. Maybe not the huge waste of time he had envisioned after all. “Elisha and I are going to bed. We’re stealing a bunch of other people too. So if you want to keep cleaning by all means! If you wait for us we will log in tomorrow and help you. I can see what this Hall will look like when we are finished and I have to tell you, I am incredibly disappointed.” Silence fell for a moment. Everyone seemed to be waiting for her to turn the statement around. She didn’t disappoint them. “Incredibly disappointed that we can’t steal the whole thing and take it to Blutonsi!” She cried.

“Right?” Rat exclaimed. “Let’s get King Elairdrin to let us make one in Blutonsi!”

“I’ll demand it!” Hunter pumped her fist threateningly through the air. “If he disagrees there could be war!” Hunter was mimicking King Elairdrin when he had described what would happen after Forsythe’s cooking battle when he’d said that if Forsythe didn’t share his benedict of eggs recipe with everyone they might war over it.

“No,” Amelia said, shaking her head. Everyone was startled. Amelia never interrupted Hunter. Hunter was deemed one of the few people Amelia wouldn’t disagree with.

“No?” Hunter was a little surprised too.

“No. I don’t want that one. We must save the Halves, and when we return we’ll unlock this city. When we unlock this city we will befriend the Halves once more. At that time please allow my selfishness when I suggest we rebuild this Hall right where it is, exactly as it is, so we can gather here again.” Amelia lowered her head slightly, smirking at her own sudden jealousy. She didn’t think this place was much but she had never seen all her friends so animated before. If she could, she wanted that again just as it was.

“Wow. Amelia can say some pretty good things every once in a while.” Justin finally spoke, smirking at her. “Not many people can say that touchy-feely stuff with a straight face.”

“What a softy.” Ridley sneered. “Well I’m not a softy but I know a good idea when I hear it. I bet we’ll do so well in this encounter the Halves will maintain this place for us.”

“Now that’s a great idea!” Hunter shouted. Unanimous approval roared from the room. It was unusual to hear so many people simply shouting their agreement but it seemed like they had been doing it since they arrived. “Now get out and go to sleep!”