Icarus Guild: The Renaissance Incident

MESSING UP IS INJURIOUS TO HEALTH

Reno had expected Wallace to be a bit more jiffy after he crashed onto him, but he seemed to be fine. Instead, he wanted to know every detail about what passed in the armoury.  Most people would throw the stuff away, but Wallace was a good listener. So Reno told him about the crazy ibis and the killer magical dimension. Even to Reno, it sounded unbelievable. Who would believe a crazy Alice in the hole story?? But somehow, Wallace didn’t laugh. Reno realised that it was one of the many great qualities he had as a leader- a soothing sense of compassion.
“ I am glad you are OK.”
“ Yeah, me too.”, Reno agreed.
“ So, that.....”, Wallace coughed a bit, “ Is that your weapon?”
Reno held up his hand, “ Yeah. Seems like it is.........Wait a second, its not a scroll anymore!”
It was true. Back in the Duaat, it was nothing but a ready-to-be-torn scroll. But now it was a thick leather book, covered in brown and embroidered with golden. On the cover were some hieroglyphs sketched out ( or carved) . Summons of Knowledge. Well, Reno wasn’t going to complain. After all he did receive a good fashion update for his weapon. Carrying around a scroll would have been weird. It didn’t match with smart phones.
Wallace Gave him a small smile.
“ Its an ability all mythical weapons have. Camouflage. “
Camouflage. The power to hide by mixing with the surroundings.
“ So, this thing is a chameleons? Can it get any weirder?”
Reno felt a sharp buzz in his head. “ You insolent......”, Thoth's (he decided to call the weapon that. It seemed better than Mr. Ibis) voice spoke.
The hell? Why did he have to share his mind with the stupid guy (scratch, ibis)?
“ Well, its just like that. Let’s keep going.”, Wallace answered.
Reno was on alert, though.
“ Not so fast.”, Reno interrupted. You did promise me to tell me about the guild.
“Maybe later.....”, Wallace tried to walk past him.
Suddenly Reno’s temper flared. What the hell? Did the guy just lie to him? In a flash, Reno opened The book.
“ TASU!”, he yelled.

The Book glowed. The hieroglyph for Tas projected forward.
Suddenly Wallace found himself bounded by steel hard mud walls and a raging desert storm that glowed  every time he took a step.
Reno felt dizzy. He stepped down on his knee. Too much magic for a newbie.
“Hah”, Reno gasped, “ That would stop you....”
Reno couldn’t even finish his words. He found his chin on the edge of a sharp scythe.
“ Seems like that was a very nice illusion.....”, Wallace growled.
Reno looked up. A huge scythe about 7 ft long glowed in his hands. Wallace’s eyes were the same golden colour, but for the first time he could feel his beast like battle instincts. It made his hair rise up.
“ Meet Reaper. He has wiped out exactly 999 scum off the planet. Have the pleasure to be the hundredth”
“ Why? “, Reno whispered in frustration, “Why the hell didn’t it work? “
Wallace aimed a kick at him. Reno tried to dodge (like an elephant rolling out of the way)  but he was too tired. He went flying backwards as Wallace's boot made contact with his chin and crashed into the wall so hard that he almost blacked out.
Reno groaned. Every bone of his body felt grinded. Blood dripped from his chin.
“ No way, Wallace! “, Reno tried a smile, “ You are not serious are you? It was just a joke, man. Calm down.”
Even as he spoke, his voice shook. That scythe had power, and every instinct in his body warned him to stay away. This was not the Wallace he was used to.
“ That will teach you to bring emotions inside a battle. You are not gonna last long if you are this half assed.”
Wallace lashed out with the back of his staff. Reno closed his eyes. He was so done for.
“ Clang!”
Reno’s eyes snapped open. Elisa stood in front of him, with her usual poker- face. She had an armour on and held a huge shield in front of her, effectively blocking out the scythe.
“ Elisa! I am so glad. Thanks girl, you saved me once more. I was.....”
Elisa whipped around and resounded a tight slap at his face. Reno's cheeks stung with pain. Her eyes were cold and angry.
“ We are talking later about the etiquette of the guild. If you want to live to see another moment, you have ten seconds to find a safe place  and hide.”
In his fantasies, Reno had always pictured him saving the day and getting the girl. But as soon as he heard Elisa, he ran without any second thought.
“ Elisa! “, someone screamed. Kai came running down the corridor.
Reno turned back just in time to see Wallace aim a deadly blow at her neck. A arrow whizzed out of nowhere and intercepted it. The very force of the explosion that followed scorched Reno’s hair. He crashed into a pillar at the very back of the Hall of Memory. He seemed to be getting used to be knocked down. Fortunately, the rubble provided enough cover for him to stay hidden.
Wallace drove back his scythe in an arc. The sphinx orb at the Scythe’s head glowed a taunting shade of red. “ Hail, Kronos, father of the Olympians . Hail thee who measure all our lives on the scale of time just as the fates do. Through thy scythe, let the power of thy infallible manipulation of the ages commence.....”
Suddenly Wallace collapsed. Lanza stood behind him with a stupid look in his face.
“ Sorry, but you were taking too long.....”, he yawned. A weapon glowed in his hands. Reno was too far away to make it out. Apparently he had smacked Wallace down with just that.
It kind of seemed pointless to Reno. After all it was unfair to complain to an unconscious man.
Elsa and Kai stared at him.
“What?”, Lanza asked.
“I don’t see Wallace raising your pocket money after this.”, Kai deadpanned.
Realisation dawned upon Lanza's face, “ AW, man!”, he drawled, “ Why does this always happen when I am short of cash?”
“ Don’t forget about the skateboard, daredevil”, Elsa reminded him, “ You did challenge Elisa that you would get one within 5 days....”
Lanza didn’t look very happy to be reminded of that. “ Alright, I get it. No need to rub it in, Teta. Besides, don’t you think you should check on your boyfriend over there? I bet he has already wetted his pants.”
Reno would have argued . However his underwear felt suspiciously moist.
“ He is not my boyfriend.”, Elsa guillotined.
Well, Reno hadn’t expected her to agree,, but her flat rejection kinda disappointed him. It was not a plain He is not my boyfriend  denial, it was more like a Don’t you dare say I would ever date scum like him.. type of rejection.
“ Hmm whatever.....”, Lanza walked over to him. He put a foot on the stone behind which he was hiding.
“ Lesson 1: When two mythical weapons clash, there is always a winner. No one leaves the battle undecided.”, he growled.
Reno felt his vision turn blurry. He hadn’t expected this level of physical work. Lanza pinned him down by his collar and glared right into Reno’s eyes, his red irises reflecting the colour of blood.
“ Let me translate. That means....you never attack someone who is better experienced without being prepared for death.”
The last thing Reno remembered before fading out was clasping on tightly to the Book of Thoth.




When Reno woke up, he found himself back in the infirmary. The neon glow of the cubicles seemed harsher now. He closed his eyes. His ribs hurt like hell. His whole body felt numb.
“ Don’t move.”, Alex warned.
Despite the warning, Reno tried to sit up and regretted it immediately. Black spots danced around in his eyes. Alex rubbed some paste on his chest. A tingling warmth spread over his bones.
“ You broke two of your ribs. Nothing to worry about if you keep still.”
Reno nodded.
“ Here. Heard this was your weapon.”, Alex handed him a brown-leather book.
Reno roamed his hands over its frayed pages. It wasn’t until that moment he realised how comfortable he felt with books. The book of Thoth hummed a silent hum. Reno understood that it could actually recognised him.
“ Thanks.”
“ So...”, Alex fidgeted nervously, “ Tell me what happened. People here are saying that you attacked Wallace. I told them there was no way you would do something like......”
Reno must have did a pretty bad job at hiding facts. Because Alex stopped midway.
“ You didn’t, right?”
Reno looked  down, “ I- I used a spell on him. It was only to stop him from..... “
Alex slammed down his box, “ You used a freaking spell. A SPELL?”
“Calm down, Alex. It was just a spell.”
“No, Reno. It was not just a spell. Do you know how many codes you violated in one day? Using weapons for a trivial cause.........applying violence on a comrade......... Destroying Guild Property.......disobeying rank.........you could be ordered to die any moment.”
Reno kept quiet.
“ And here I thought you were a good guy.”
“ Alex.....”
“ Don’t even try, Reno. If you don’t rid yourself of that pride you are never gonna make any progress. You are not the only smart guy on the planet. There are others who are better and thinner than you.”
Alex walked away. Yippee, now he had lost the only friend he had made at the guild. With just one move he had managed to turn every person on his side against him. Talk about talent.
“Wow. Elisa says I suck. I can argue.”, Lanza appeared behind the curtains.
Reno groaned. The last thing he needed was this guy.
“ That was the physician’s cure. Alex’s healing tool. It has only ten charges in a lifetime. To have used it on you........he must have put a lot of trust in you.”
Reno felt annoyed, “ Like I care..”
“ You don’t care what happens to your friend.”, Lanza's voice took on a steely edge.
“ Are we even friends? Why the actual devil should I care? He is just doing his job.”
Lanza raised his hand to slap him. But before he could, someone else reached his face.
Reno lurched back from the force of the slap. He looked up to find a girl glaring daggers at him. She turned to Lanza.
“ I like pranksters like you, Lanza. But scum like him......”, she left that threat hanging , “ I absolutely hate.”