Chapter 00111001

There was that dark moment of clarity. I had joined a faction with noone I knew. And I doubted the others were going to be able to join or keep up.

I slowly nodded and walked toward the group I had come from. Leroy, Geb, and Bell were standing about showing each other something. As I approached they split a little to let me in. "Sil! Which faction did you join? Was it the warriors? It had to be the warriors! You don't fit in with the builders or the Guardians." Bell said enthusiastically. I smirked a little. "Nah. I'm not good in big groups. I ended up joining these ones. I pointed at the skull.

Bell and the rest looked a little sad but they really couldn't do anything but accept it for the time being. "So... What were you guys doing?" I asked. I was curious as to why Bell was hiding her left arm while Geb and Leroy were covering their chests. Bell blushed a little as she showed me her arm. It was a black brand in the shape of a roman military service brand. 4 lines with an eagle holding an olive branch. The only thing different was a sword that speared the branded lines.

" I joined the warrior faction. They're able to show me the true scope of my abilities." She said with some sadness to her voice. Geb and Leroy pulled down their shirts a little to show the brands they bore. Leroy's showed a blue iceberg with a red shield emblazoned on it. Gebs was a green and brown mountain with a red shield statue below it.

"What's yours?" Leroy asked. I shook a hand toward his brand. " You don't want to see it. It's nowhere near as good as yours." I responded. Leroy threw an arm around my shoulders. "Come on man! We showed you ours!" He laughed at me while eyeing me up and down.

I grinned under my scarf as I pulled down my shirt. My brand was revealed to them and they gawked at it. The brands gold color reflected the light and glowed in their eyes. The winged scarab was a strange piece to add to the dog-like skull but took nothing away. In fact it added to it. I let the shirt go and it slid back up around my neck.

"What do you think?" I asked in hope's of a good response. They all stared at my chest still. "Guys?" I stepped forward snapping my fingers in front of them and they seemed to come out of it. They shook themselves a bit before rapidly blinking and looking at me. "So... What do you guys think?" I asked again.

"It's cool man. I hope you like it." Leroy said as Geb nodded. "But just cause you have a different faction doesn't mean we can't hang out!" Bell said as she smiled at me and the others. "I heard there's a pub around here. Nobody can get drunk in this place but apparently it's one of the few places we can actually taste food or drink. And no factions are allowed to have control of it."

My eyes widened a bit. "You're saying that factions as big as those two..." I said pointing at the guardian and warrior factions. "Can't get control of the single pub in this place... Who the hell runs it?" I asked. My mind was racing through all sorts of possibilities. All I could think of was shadows that were the size of mountains. Serpents, Dragons, even Giants 5 times the size of Ymir. It all came to a crashing halt as a hand landed on my shoulder.

I looked and saw the cloaked guy. What was his name? Henry I think. "Time to go. Need to show you the ropes and such." He said as he began to walk away. His back was slightly hunched forward in a creepy fashion and a chill spread through the air. Definitely Grim Reaper.

I looked at the others as I waved at them briefly before following the hunched back of Henry. It was actually a simple task despite him seemingly trying to lose me in the crowd. I merely had to follow the black misty cloak. I moved as fast as I could. My training in the colony on Mars was perfect for here. I found the gaps and easily slipped through.

Some people briefly turned around feeling that something had been there but saw nothing. They quietly shrugged and turned around to continue their conversations without a hitch. My stealth skills had always been stronger when I was moving through the big groups. But that didn't mean I was comfortable.

It was unsettling to move among the bodies of the dozens of people in the crowd. But I eventually got past them all without a hitch. All except for one seemingly. I felt a pull and turned around to see a green midget holding the end of my scarf which I quickly yanked out of its grip and bolted after Henry. I carefully examined my scarf. Something just felt wrong about it. Then I found it. A green moving speck. I reached into the fibres and pulled it out. It was a wriggling green blob. I quickly threw it away in disgust and rushed ahead.

I saw Henry enter a building that looked as old and covered in dust as a vacant victorian mansion. I suddenly heard noise behind me and turned into a shadowy alley. It wasn't long till I found the thing that made the noise. A large rat like thing. It was brown and had what could only be described as a goblin riding it. The goblin was dressed in dirty, grubby, and blood stained armor. He wore a ragged loin cloth that covered everything important but hardly reached low enough to be considered effective. He stopped and picked up the speck of green that had been left on me from the ground. "Damn it. And I thought he wouldn't notice. Those death hunters will be dead if it's the last thing I do." He huffed. His voice was like a snarling animal mixed with a hags high pitched voice. He got back on his rat and started back the way he came. I double checked the street before stepping out of the shadows. "I just HAD to join the smallest group with the most enemies." I sighed as I quietly moved toward the old building.

I entered through the door which creaked open like a horror house. "He's slower than expected." Henry said. "He was on my tail all the way here till the Alley." He huffed.

"I had to lose a tail." I said as Henry was walking away.

Everyone froze. "A tail? What did they look like?" Persephone asked. I described the creepy goblin and his rat mount. "Rakish... I thought he would have given up after we beat him for the hundredth time. He agreed to it and even signed the contract." Henry said.

"Henry you know that contracts are only effective when we are able to stay in a place without moving." Bethany said grudgingly. I looked around in confusion. "Who is this Rakish? And why is he so interested in killing you all?" I asked as my voice shook slightly.

Persephone gestured to an old looking chair.

"Might want to have a seat. Your long day is about to get longer." I quickly sat so I could hear what was about to be said.

"Rakish is the leader of an underground faction called a shadow faction. Factions above ground are very powerful and take up an extensive amount of space. But the ones we currently have fill up too much space so some factions are forced underground. Rakish wants to kill off our faction so his can take its place." Persephone said with a steeled look toward the door.

"I doubt you've been told everything so let me fill you in. Civilian form is the only form allowed in the safe zone. Which is anything outside the battle dome. But that doesn't stop people from trying to kill each other. Rakish probably wanted to find our location so he could burn it to the ground and possibly send us running. His faction outnumbers ours 10 to 1. Hence why we have been trying to gain recruits but getting good ones is difficult." She said rubbing the bridge of her nose in frustration.

"Finding reliable and trustworthy ones is even more difficult." The guy who I guessed was Thanatos said. His voice was clear but thick. His accent was like the Italian guys on Mars. "They'll come for us. If we have to fight we can fight. Nobody can die in the safe zone anyway. Though you do get sent to the Isolation zone for a month if you try to kill unlawfully." He said.

Bethany looked at him with a scowl. " You had to find that out the hard way didn't you!" He laughed as she started throwing dusty books at him from a dilapidated shelf. "It was a check to see if the system was still working. And besides Rakish deserved it for calling Lily a s|~+." He said as he swatted books away.

I gave Persephone a confused look. "Lily?"

She shrugged at me. "That's my name. Get used to it Rook... actually we never really introduced ourselves. I'm the faction leader Lily. That's Henry as you know." She said as she pointed at him leaning against the wall like a hipster. "That's Horacio. He's Thanatos as you know." She waved at Bethany. " And finally, Bethany which you know due to her rare god type. Though she prefers Beth." Bethany waved a book in a hello fashion before throwing it at Horacio hitting him in the side of the face. He was sent rolling across the room.

I got up and dusted myself off a little. "My name is Silence. You guys can call me Sil. I am an Anubis as you know and I look forward to working with you all." I said as I nodded in respect toward them.

"Silence... I thought your name was Edgar?" Bethany said. My head spun to looks at her. "Don't ever use that name please. I have been called Silence since I was 11. It suits me better." Bethany recoiled a little before throwing a book at me. "Somebody is a bit touchy about the name. What gives?" Lily said.

"I would rather not talk about it. Please pardon my previous reaction. Perhaps I should see the other faction perks before I might die while we are here." I said quickly as I awkwardly sucked in my lips and went behind the chair.

"Of course." Bethany said as she quickly hurried over. She nodded at Lily before grabbing my hand and hauling me over to a stairway on the left side. It led down to a basement area. One section was filled with workout equipment. It was filled with treadmills and weights. A punching bag hung off to the side and a boxing ring was set in the middle.

"So.... Mind telling me what is so bad about that name you dislike..." Bethany said slowly. I felt my anger rise at the thought of that name.

"When I was 7 my Father left my mother and I. She committed suicide after he left. I still remember the blood. After that I stopped talking. I didn't talk for 3 years. I refused to answer to the name a gutless, repugnant, vile, pig forced on me. I was adopted by a nice family. After another year I took on the name Silence so I didn't have to answer to that name again. I had a little step sister who was 14 when I was shot into this hell hole. I wonder how she's doing." I said as sorrow filled my heart.

I slammed my fist against the wall. If it had been normal I knew my hand would've broken. Bethany nodded silently before gesturing to the rest of the room. "Perhaps some of this will take your mind of things."She said calmingly.

The other three parts of the room were filled with an assortment of things. There were several shelves covered in books. Each were a style of fighting. There was even a chain blade style book. Though every style required points to acquire it. It was 200 contribution points to learn the beginner level. 400 contribution points to learn the apprentice level. And 800 contribution points to learn the master level. These points were different from normal because they required filling missions and quotas to acquire. Each mission was worth 20 points if you succeeded. It would take 10 successful ones to learn the first book.

The last two areas were actually one area. A practice area for group combat in the dome. It was a large room which changed based on the previous terrain used in the dome the previous week. It made things more interesting and one got better acquainted with their teams weak points this way. I slowly moved through the door into the area. It was a desert based area and holograms began to form around me. "Dont worry. We'll try this later as a group. Till then you can vent some of that anger." She said as the door closed and the holograms charged at me.