New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Countless people surrounded the base of so many races it was like he was watching a gathering of all the races in New Eden.

The Bastion was under siege, with people trying to push through the gate after going around an army of undeath that numbered in the thousands. Players were trying to bore through the walls, others trying to fly over them, and some even trying to tunnel under them.

But when they tried infiltrating the base, something always killed them before they succeeded. Astaroth's mind skipped to another scene.

At first, Astaroth couldn't recognize where he was, but after a while, his memory was unfogged. He recognized some stands in the streets of the city he was standing in.

But the stands were empty, contrary to the first time he saw them. The air was thick with smoke, the smell of burnt flesh permeating the oxygen.

This was the capital of the Ashe Elves, Tel'narel. But something was off about it.

He couldn't see a single Ash Elf in sight. The first sign of life he got to see was from a winged red being flying over the street he was on.

When the red being noticed him, he screeched in a high-pitched voice, before throwing itself at Astaroth. But before they impacted, Astaroth found himself in another place once again.

'What the hell is this dream?'

Astaroth was now standing at the top of a building, overhanging a familiar city. It only took him a moment to recognize the city when he looked down, because he recognized the balcony a few floors below him.

'This is Montreal.'

But once again, something didn't fit with the scenery he should be seeing. The sky was orange, but it wasn't from a sunset, since clouds obscured the sun over his head.

In the distance, to his right, a large plume of black smoke rose. The apparent location of that plume of flames was in the more business part of downtown.

'This looks like the memories Khalor showed me…' Astaroth thought.

The scene changed once again, and this time, he was in a cement tunnel. The artificial lighting above him suggested they were underground.

Astaroth walked forward for a while until he came upon a gruesome sight. Strewn across the floor, walls, and ceiling were the bodies of humans.

Something had mangled the bodies to a point where they were unrecognizable. The further he walked, the more bodies he found, all in similar states.

'What the heck happened here? It's almost like a giant blender was pushed through the tunnel while people were running away from it…'

Astaroth walked for a while, on a concentric, downward path. He eventually reached a large metal structure, bent inward, which he assumed used to be a gate.

'This looks like a nuclear fallout shelter. Who built this, and where is it?'

Before he could make it past the huge blast door, his mind snapped out of this place. He slowly woke up, feeling the cold stone floor under his face.

"Mm. Where am I?"

Phoenix's voice came from next to him.

"You are in Leon's room, inside our guild base. Or should I call it a palace, now?"

"Right. I lost consciousness as Silent Light was healing me. Where is he now?"

"He seems to have left us alone. Leon is still sleeping over there. It would seem he used all his energy to do whatever he was doing."

"Ahh, yes. Well, the good news is, it worked. More than I had expected, and possibly more than Leon had hoped too."

"I assumed as much, when I noticed I was now Special grade. I guess I'll say thank you, even if it hurt like hell…"

Astaroth sat up, wiping the dirt from his face. The floor in here was all but clean, and the specks of stone had almost fused with his face.

A bit further, Leon was indeed sprawled on the ground, rolled in a small ball, like a kitten. It was hard to look at him, and find him dangerous, when he looked like that.

Phoenix looked at Astaroth with a tired and worried look. When the latter noticed it, he turned his head to look at her.

"What's wrong? Something on my face?"

She hesitated for a moment before responding.

"You were talking in your sleep. It seemed like the dream you had was worrying you. You kept asking where you were, and what had happened."

"I… I don't remember. It was just a dream, anyway."

Phoenix didn't look satisfied at his answer, but she didn't pry any further. It wouldn't yield anything if he didn't remember, anyway.

"So. What's the situation right now? Have we been invaded yet?" Astaroth asked.

Phoenix went back to normal, giggling at his question.

"Why would we have been invaded already? The coordinates have only been public for a few hours."

"Hmm. I figured that would be enough to have at least one eager guild already knocking at our doors. I guess they are more cautious than I thought."

"Well, it figures. They only know we have a fortress. They don't know how big or how well-defended it is."

"Speaking of defences. Did you get news about our progress to set up defences?"

"Yes. Athena followed the plans I had made to the letter, and with new members continually applying to join, they have been busy. There is only one thing that annoys me."

"Hm? And what is that?"

Phoenix made a face of displeasure.

"Athena put Morticia in charge of vetting the new players applying. Something about her being able to read minds, therefore knowing if they are sincere, or simply spies."

"That's good, no?"

Phoenix glared at him. He then remembered the animosity between the two.

But she would have to get over it if it was for the guild's survival chances. Having spies in the guild, at this moment, would spell catastrophe when other guilds started pouring in their direction.

"Well, in that case, let's go have a look at our base, shall we?"

Phoenix nodded her head as they both got to their feet. They left Leon alone, while they went to another room.

Astaroth wanted to leave through a window, so they didn't have to go all the way down again. Phoenix simply followed him.