Chapter 4: The Conspirators Alliance(2)

The Conspirators Alliance(1)

Fleckin had joined The Pursuers of Chaos, about four months ago.

Fleckin was a nobody, just another poor guy who tried to make a living off of Soulkin and, thanks to his effort and pure determination, managed to get noticed by a few of the Grand Guilds.

He was beyond ecstatic at the thought of joining one of the best guilds in Soulkin that he signed up right away without a doubt to the best offer presented to him.

Said offer came from the total ranked fourth guild, The Pursuers of Chaos.

The help he received from the Pursuers enabled him to level up at a much faster rate than he had previously been able to reach, allowing him to make more money in turn.

Fleckin decided to join the Pursuers, not for the money specifically as the amount offered didn't differ too much from the other guilds, in fact, another guild had even offered more.

That guild was the number five in the rankings, The Boars of Greed.

They had offered Fleckin more than the Pursuers had as they were desperately trying to recruit new members in their quest to overtake The Pursuers of Chaos as rank four in the rankings.

No, the reason Fleckin decided to join the pursuers was because of a certain rumour he had heard.

Fleckin heard that The Invisible hands, a group of high-level users who had never joined any guild and who actively went against the best of the best, would be joining the Pursuers.

Fleckin believed that he owed a good portion of his success to the Invisible Hands, just like many others in the world of Soulkin Online.

Many high-level users had their fair share of stories about the Invisible Hands and how they encouraged them when they were new players, to try and climb up and to never give up in the face of the intimidating wall which was known as the Grand Guilds.

Going so far as to challenge the Grand Guilds by beating their best records, leaving behind encouraging messages to the users of Soulkin.

There had been much speculation as to the identity of the members that make up the Hands, to no avail.

The users of Soulkin had even set up groups to pass around information relating to them, easier, and would pay good money for any information, be it big or small, on the Hands, that was the type of existence the Hands were.

Fleckin had wholeheartedly believed that if the Hands and The Pursuers of Chaos joined forces that, never mind the fourth-ranked, they could even break into the big three.

Fleckin had been beyond excited when his Guildmaster, Aaron, had said that the Hands had agreed to the offer and that they would only need to persuade their leader first.

He had excitedly logged on that day and started talking with his friends that he had met after joining the guild.

"Hey, Hey, did you see what the Guild Master said in the general chat?", Fleckin asked excitedly.

"Yeah man, I am soo hyped, I mean its THE Invisible Hands like what do you think they're like?", asked Fleckins friend in response.

"They've gotta be monsters, probably in the rankings right," chimed in another one of his friends.

"I don't know," Fleckin replied, thinking, "most of the rankers belong the Grand Guilds, I can't see them going over their own records and overwriting them, plus it would probably be a breach of their contracts right?"

"Yeah...unless it's the Guild Masters, they could probably do it, either that or maybe they're not part of any of the guilds, there are some that aren't a part of them you know."

"Wouldn't they have to be a part of a guild though, I mean the number of consumables needed on raids, well it's not cheap."

"They could be rich IRL, that could explain things, and how they managed to make it to such a high level if they weren't a part of any guilds."

"But wouldn't that go against their message of, anyone can do it? Doesn't really work if they just rely on their riches."

The conversation kept going on like this for a long time with no end in sight before it was interrupted by a loud voice shouting at everyone around them.

"Attention everyone, we will now be going to The Great Divide, all users level 85+ will follow, come prepared for battle, that is all," the man began walking away, leaving everyone to get themselves ready.

"Whew I'm glad I power levelled over the weekend, it sure would be a shame if I couldn't witness this historic moment, wouldn't it?" as he finished speaking, Fleckin looked over at his two friends with a smug expression on his face, only to be greeted with the sight of them grinding their teeth with a murderous glint in their eyes.

Fleckin had recently hit level 85 in Soulkin, whereas his two friends were still at level 83, too low to be able to head to The Great Divide.

They were obviously bitter at this fact as it was revealed that they would be going to The Great Divide to win over the leader of the Invisible Hands.

This meant that they would not be able to witness the events that would transpire between the two groups.

"Just get going already, I don't wanna see your face anymore, traitor." Fleckin's friend kicked his shin whilst grinning and pushed him to where everyone was getting ready to leave.

Fleckin turned around to apologise, thinking that they would be upset at him but when he saw his friends face he immediately brightened up, they were both smiling at him.

"Well whatever, tell us what happened later K," His friend held out his hand in the shape of a fist.

Fleckin extended his own fist to meet his.

"Sure," he replied, with a big smile of his own, before rushing off to the group headed for The Great Divide.

...

How?

...

How did this happen?

...

His Guild master had a sword through his neck.

...

The leader of the Invisible Hands had been turned into a pincushion.

...

How did this happen?

...

Let's rewind for a moment.

Fleckin, excited, was ordered to wait at the bottom of the divide.

His guildmates and he had been ordered to form a semi-circle around the side of the divide, leaving a large space in the middle, where the Guild Master waited.

They weren't originally meant to come here but apparently the Guild Master received a message from one of the members of The Invisible Hands to change the meeting place.

Fleckin was confused as he had no idea why they were positioned like this, honestly, it looked like they were about to perform a boss fight, nobody would answer him either when he asked.

Like it was in response to his questions, he heard one of his teammates mutter something under his breath.

"What the fuck is that!?"

Fleckin looked up to where his fellow guild member was staring, unblinking.

He saw...

a person...

descending from above them at a rapid pace, before he could react, however, they hit the bottom of the divide, causing a huge dust cloud to rise around them.

Lying there, still like a corpse, was a well built, average looking guy staring up at where he had fallen from.

'Huh? What? who's this? did he fall from the top of the divide? no way he would be dead wouldn't he?'

Fleckin's thoughts were confused and scattered at the sudden appearance of this mysterious man who was, at this point, struggling to stand up with the support of the longsword he had been carrying.

He was confused but...wasn't this formation kinda perfect for what happened? He had been wondering why they were situated like this, but...if it was to trap someone...it would make sense.

As to confirm his suspicions, the members of The Pursuers of Chaos readied their weapons, their Soulkin joining in as they stared readily.

Fleckin was confused, what was going on? He hadn't been told anything other than they were to go and show the might of the guild but...the way his guild was looking at the man, was the same way they would look at an enemy.

Fleckin got distracted from his thoughts as he heard laughter coming from the man in front of him, he was hysterical.

Why?

What was going on?

He couldn't wrap his head around it all.

Suddenly, his Guild Master spoke to the man in front of him, telling him to join them, or die.

'Huh that doesn't make sense I thought we were here to convince the lea...', Fleckins thoughts, abruptly came to an end as he realised the situation he had found himself in.

That man.

He's the Leader of the Invisible Hands.

The realisation hit him like a truck.

The one he was told they were going to persuade.

Was now being threatened to join them...or die.

This...this wasn't how it was supposed to go.

luckily, everything seemed to be going smoothly, they had thrown around some large numbers and had seemed to come to an agreement.

Fleckin had been worried for a moment as the Vice-Guild Leader had shot an arrow at the man however the man was, thankfully very forgiving about it as he threw away his sword, the reason the Vice-Guild Master shot at him in the first place.

It was over.

Faster than he had predicted, not that he wasn't happy about the fact.

His guildmates had started sheathing their weapons and so Fleckin followed their example as he had been doing up to that point.

Nobody was more thankful than Fleckin at the fact that the leader of the Invisible Hands and his guild hadn't begun fighting, as he owed a huge debt to both parties.

In his excitement, Fleckin couldn't help but walk towards the two who were quietly talking between themselves.

In truth, he really just wanted a chance to get the autograph of the leader of the Hands.

As he neared, the rest of the guild close behind him, he heard the leader of the hands mutter something, barely audible over the footsteps of his companions.

"Don't worry, I'll be sure to pay you back in kind."

Before Fleckin, before his guildmates, before anyone could react, the leader of the Invisible Hands unsheathed a short sword, it's size similar to that of a dagger which had been hidden by the shoulder bag he had been carrying.

With it, he swiftly drove the sword through the neck of the Guild Master Aaron.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Fleckins guildmates started drawing their bows and chanting their spells but at that point, it was already too late.

The leader of the Hands had moved like clockwork, driving the sword through the neck of the Guild Master before grabbing the other end of the sword, twisting with all his might, breaking his neck.

As the Guild Masters lifeless body dropped to the floor, a volley of arrows found their way into the body of the leader of the Hands, killing him.

The members of the Pursuers continued to hack away at his body as they had underestimated the amount of damage he had taken from the fall.

He was already dead.

In Soulkin Online there was a certain game mechanic which caused the deaths of many players, giving the game that extra level of difficulty that it was known for, compared to any other.

'Vital Points'

These consisted of the neck, eyes and the heart.

If you were to be stabbed in one of these spots, then the damage dealt would be multiplied twentyfold.

This isn't to say anybody could kill you if they aimed at a vital spot, depending on the enemy, you would need to have a similar physical level and a good weapon in order to be able to pierce one of these spots.

Being attacked here does not immediately kill anyone, they are always left severely damaged but it won't kill them right away, you would need to do extra damage before they manage to heal themselves if you wished to secure the kill.

Fleckin couldn't do anything as he watched the scene in front of him unfold.

The only thing he could think of were the words spoken by the Hands' leader before he had driven a sword through the neck of his Guild Master.

"Don't worry, I'll be sure to pay you back in kind."

"What did he mean by that?" it was the only thing on his mind as he was grabbed by someone and chewed out for not doing anything.

Fleckin, however, received his answer much faster than he had expected.

The answer to his question had come later when he had overheard some of his superiors talking about the fact that the Guild Master had gotten the members of the Invisible Hands to betray their leader.

It turned out that the plan was never to persuade the leader of the Hands, instead, they were to threaten him into joining, killing him if he refused.

Over the next few weeks, Fleckin seriously considered whether what he was doing was the path which he wished to take for himself.

The Guild Master had ordered every member of The Pursuers of Chaos to kill the man who had previously led the Invisible Hands, Dílis.

Fleckin had learnt the man's name, as the Guild Master had sent all of his player details to the guild when he had ordered his death.

Dílis was hunted from that day on, whenever he was spotted, the Guild Master would immediately send people after him.

Fleckin couldn't do anything.

No that's not quite right.

Fleckin didn't do anything.

As much as he wanted to, he couldn't bring himself to do it.

He was too scared and so he watched

and watched

and watched

Unable to overcome his fear.

He watched.