The Shadow Keeper (A Land of Shadows Novel- Book 1)

-10-

September 4th

The Province of Bristol, Great Britain Server

Plume Guild Citadel, Guildmaster's Quarters

"Have you ever thought that maybe she hasn't been coming here because you tried to control her, William? She wasn't too happy when you told her that you find a way to lock her down if she continued to fight," said a young boy, no older than about 12, looking at the pacing guildmaster.

"She's dying, Collin! She is dying, and she's trying to speed it up with all of this stress! I can't lose her," William said, pacing the floor, red guild uniform coat blowing behind him. His eyes, the normally calm hazel, blazed with a fire that made his gaze burn with intensity. "She's-

"She's Taro, William. She's our cousin, and we know how she is better than anyone. She'll be fine. She's a fighter, William. She's a fighter, and she'll fight to the end and still come out alive. I get what you're saying, she's my cousin, too. She's a friend and honestly, one of the most capable heads of this family," Collin said, leaning back against the wall as his guildmaster paused in mid-step. "What?"

"Gather a team. We're going to Shade Tower. We're going to help Taro get us out. The sooner the better for her."

"William! You're being stupid!"

"Do it Collin. We leave tonight."

-.-.-

"Are we okay now, Masa?" The man didn't respond, pushing his face further into Taro's neck. Joey and Karla had been called out of the room, Joey for a raid planning session, Karla for a medicinal lesson from the other druid herbalists. The siblings were the only ones left in the room, and Taro had finally been able to calm her brother down.

"I'm a terrible guildmaster, Taro. I can't take myself out of this situation and I'm failing everyone in Shade, but I can't just watch from the sidelines in this," Masa said into the skin of her neck. Taro let out a sound that was as close to an animalistic growl as she could've possibly made. Masa let out a sound that was almost a whimper in response.

"That has nothing to do with this, Masa, and I wouldn't expect you to remove yourself from this and be unbiased. You are a great guildmaster, and you should know that because I haven't told you that you were. You know me well," she said into the top of his hair.

"I know you too well, which is why I'm so worried about this. I try so hard to protect everyone here because you entrusted them to me, but I so afraid that I'll fail and make it worse for you because you're so involved in these things. What if I fail and you die trying to help fix it?"

"Masa," Taro snapped, pushing him away and looking into her eyes, "You think too little of me, Masa. You should know that I would never go down like that, I'd sooner go down in a fight against an MG." Taro tried to continue, but a message popped up in the air in front of both her and Masa, the name of the system's guarding system displayed in bold.

Masa wiped his face on the sleeve of his uniform coat, reaching out and opening the message as Taro did the same, rubbing at the wetness on her neck.

User: Taro Kagemune

Message: As you are the sole founder of the Shade Guild, we, the Land of Shadows International Server Portal Guards, felt the need to inform you that a party of 10 members from the Plume Guild on the United Kingdom server have appeared through the International Server Portal and are seeking to gain lodging in Shade Tower's Foreign Residency wing. The names of the players are as follows: William Kyles, Collin Kyles, Rin Kyles, Lycan, Fang, Red, Renny, Prince, Korey, Hatori Kagemune. We also obtained information from them involving your name. We will not permit them to pass through until we receive expressed permission from you. Please notify us via code within the next twenty-four hours or the party will promptly be sent back to their server.