I started to run back into the city, and my group of me followed. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them for now, but I need to get a hold of Granvel before he gets away.
'He is dangerous and you need to deal with him before he gets close to the girls,' -Drania.
She was right, and that made me turn up my speed, and the men behind me picked up their pace as well. This group was strange, and I was having a hard time trying to figure out what I was going to be doing with them.
I looked back, and then back forward again with a cringe. I hadn't really noticed how bad the wounds were, but none of them were bleeding.
All the men's eyes were grey with no pupil or iris, and if I stopped, then so did they. I wondered how long they were going to stay like this?
'Until you tell them that they can pass on. For now, you hold them between the cusp of life and death. Yours and Lishtani's powers are not like a normal vampire or necromancer. Given enough time and provided you heal them before they actually die, they will recover.' -Drania.
Did that mean that I was forcing these men to stay alive? I wasn't sure if this was a good or bad thing, but a familiar shout and a scream made me speed up.
Ahead in the square, I could see that Granvel had Trinity and Candi by the back of their neck, but with my vision, I could see that the girls weren't concerned. In fact, it was Mei's scream that I heard, but she must just have been surprised.
I ran into the center of the square, but that was when Granvel screamed at me to get back. Candi had her arms crossed and was tapping her foot, and she did not look impressed.
Trinity was letting her weight pull Granvel's arm down forcing him to hold her in the air. While she floated, Trinity pretended to run in the air.
"I have your girls now so don't you dare come any close you bitch! Get her boys! What are you waiting for?!" Granvel screamed at me.
"K, will you clean up if we make a mess?" Candi asked, not paying any attention to the giant of a man's hand clutching the back of her neck.
"Yes dear, but let me say a few things first," I said to Candi, looking around at the people gathered. "Do you all see this? This is the kind of attitude and people that your so-called God wants to rule and watch over your city? People that will try to cheat you and steal from you. They do this just because they think that is there right because they are stronger?"
I looked out around and the people were shaking their heads and starting to murmur among themselves. Granvel started to look around and began to get a panicked look on his face.
"Fine! I take these…AAHHHH" Granvel screamed as the girls ripped both his arms off.
I focused and collected the spraying blood, but I wasn't able to bleed him dry while he was still alive. Though from the expressions on the two girls' faces that were still holding the twitching arms, that didn't look like it was going to last long.
"ENOUGH!" Boomed the echoing voice of Dyster.
"Shield/Dleihs!" I called out, placing shields around each of the girls, and I burned platelets for a new shield.
The God slammed into the plaza, but the shields I put up also protected the people from flying stone and debris. The God's eyes were burning sickly green flames that ran down his face, and he looked furious, good.
"Tell your dogs to," But Dyster was cut off by a hammer of light that hit him in the face, sending him to careen and bounce off a shield.
I stood up straight from my follow-through and turned to glare my own twin Blood Moon eyes on the God as he stood. I was starting to feel calmer than I had before, and I would end this God here and now if I heard another insult.
"This may be the city that you have claimed, and you may be a God, but I am watching you. Insult my family or the members of my Guild, and my hammer is what you will wish for me to use," I said coldly to the God.
"You think that you are strong enough to fight me? Give me the challenge and we will start right now in the middle of the city! Then I can kill two birds with one stone, you and this shit hole city! You may have won the Guild, but I still control two of the other three! Watch you back, Guild Leader Kiada," Dyster said, green flames still pouring out of his eyes.
Dyster came up to me, and then bent over the crying Granvel, placing a hand on each of Granvel's bleeding stumps. Sudden green fire poured from his hands and Granvel screamed like a stuck pig, then passed out from the pain.
Dyster picked up the armless man, but then dropped him, grubbling. He reached down and dug into Granvel's pocket pulling out a Waystone, then he walked over to Trinity, who was a two and a half meter tall werewolf now, and reached out his hand.
"Can I have that, please? You can have it back to chew on after, but I need something from it," Dyster said in a frustrated tone, but Trinity handed it to home and then shrunk back down to her normal cute girl form.
Dyster took the arm that had the black Guild tattoos and whispered some words, making the ink disappear. Then he dropped the arm, and walked back over to me, handing me the Waystone.
"I link this Waystone to you as a patron of my city," Dyster mumbled and then tapped my arm that had my own Guild tattoos. "I also confirm that you are the new Guild Leader of the Ground Pounders."
Dyster grabbed the limp armless form of Granvel, and jumped into the air, heading north. I let the hammer of light go, and then all the black and red metal crumbled away.
I was sure that the gauntlet was going to be worse, but I would count this as morning exercise. I turned and looked around, but I could only find four girls, Lesha was missing.
I was about to ask, putting my hand up, but Candi waved the two arms at me. I looked at her in revulsion, not unlike a few of the shop owners that couldn't just walk away.
"We can't just leave arms lying around, sorry for waving them, but Lesha is coming, and cursing Gloria's name every step. Braum is with her carrying our stuff, did you know that he wants to join our guild?" Candi said with excitement, wiggling her arms.
I sighed, but when I turned up the road to the west, Lesha and Braum were walking our way. So, I had just taken over my first guild, this will be something to talk to Healia about.
Hopefully, this new hall would have the Waystone to communicate, or I might have to upgrade to get it. I would have to be a lot more careful and not make mistakes like I did last time by not listening to advice when given.
"Gloria, get the girls out of the middle of the square, and do something about those damn arms!" I commanded.
Then I turned all the way around to the group of men who were all staring blankly. The sun was up, and I could feel it on my skin, so I sought the white flame burning inside of me.
I let my body drink in the light and warmth of the sun's energy. I began to get a feeling that intensified with each beating of my heart.
My skin had started to glow, and with each breath it took, I came closer to matching the sun. Soon, I was a radiance that was unmatched, filling then square with light, and I whispered in an otherworldly voice.
"Heal/Laeh."
The light that had built up inside of me, the roaring flame, my very will to want to help change this world burst from me like crashing waves of light. Every person that was touched by this light stood up straighter, scars disappearing.
The men in front of me all blinked focused and color-filled eyes at me. They were also looking down at the dried blood where there once had been life-threatening wounds before.
"You… are our Guild leader right?" One of the men in the front asked.
They were near impossible to tell apart with no hair, and they all wore the same gray shorts. The leadership had changed, so they were without a guild now.
"Not at the moment, but if you can show me where the Guild Hall is then we can get things sorted out. My name is Kiada, and you are? I will assume you are going to be the spokesperson for the group until we can get some clothes for you, right?" I asked the speaker.
"Naldrick, and yeah, I'll talk for the boys. Thank you for saving us, but it looks like we are working for you whether we want it or not," the man said flatly.
'That is part of the price for your life. When you save people you will be creating more servants, and the more servants you have the less you have to feed on random monsters.' -Drania.
"Part of the cost to not die. Don't worry, I won't ask you to do anything I wouldn't do," I said with a smile turning to almost getting run over by a newly energized Lesha.
"BABE! You were so bright, and then you exploded with light and made Tim and Hershal run off! Wait… what are the girls doing with the arms?" Lesha asked as we both tried to get our balance.
I turned my head to find the girls… I don't know if fighting was the right word for what was going on, but it was weird. The arms had healed and were now what looked to be play fighting with the girls.
"Arms!" I yelled with no other real clue what to say to stop this troubling sight.
The arms were using their shoulders as legs, and at the sound of my voice, the two hands turned to me. Okay, now this was way too weird, but they didn't stop there.
The arms each grabbed a shoulder and then proceeded to roll towards us. Lesha screamed like a little girl and jumped into my arms as the arms had to let go and crashed into a pile on the floor.
"Kiada! Stop making such weird pets!" Lesha complained, but then screamed again when Gobby popped out.
"Hey! I am not a weirdo! Those things? The pair of arm-ostriches? Those are weird! How do they even work? Who has the brain? Do they have one? Is it shared? How do they go to the bathroom?"
I kicked Gobby across the square, and he got covered in dust and many other bits of grime. Great, now I would have to clean him, but I could also go for a good cleaning.
"Can you lead us to the Guild Hall Naldrick?" I asked the half-naked man.
"Yes, follow me, it's two streets up then we head east to the water," Naldrick said, moving around Lesha and me, but then they went and helped Braum with the mountain of things he was carrying.
"What are you going to do about those arms?!" Lesha demanded, glaring up at me.
The arms were back on their stumps beside each other. The two had their hands point at us like duckbills, twisting back and forth like confused animals.
"Well, this is not like we can just let them go free, we will have to take them with us," I said to Leash as the other girls gathered around.
"I knew you were going to say that, you just love a good stray," Lesha said, rolling her eyes at me, but I made her squeak when I pinched her bottom.
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