The New Masked Order

Two months after the events of that day, I stood in the center of the meeting place, surrounded by a small group of people, perhaps a dozen or so. Among these people was a blonde girl who seemed familiar, yet I couldn’t quite put a finger on where I had seen here before.

I ignored her and turned to look at the others, letting the silence reign for a while. I had sought out each and every single one of these people, except for that girl, who had come to me of her own volition. I didn’t know how she even managed to discover The Masked Order, as I’d been very careful to be discreet, but either way, I allowed her to join.

Not only had I recruited them, but I also personally tested each and every one of them. However, something very weird happened: Some of these people weren’t affected by the hourglass at all. Some had screamed out in pain, just like I had on that day, but some held it calmly, as if nothing was happening to them. I found it strange, but didn’t have anyone to explain this phenomenon to me, unfortunately. Everyone who knew about it was now dead.

“Today is the first official meeting of The New Masked Order.” I started to speak as they all intently listened. “You all already know the purpose of this organization, as I’ve already explained. The key to our mission lies in this circle, on the ground. The ritual it belongs to is incredibly crucial to find, as it can help save Obrillis from destruction. We must be quick, as the more time passes, the more the world gets unbalanced, causing more supernatural entities to appear and wreak havoc on the unaware. Therefore, we will be split into three factions.”

I then went on to explain the three factions, and I split everyone into the first two. I alone remained as the sole member of roots, and I intended to keep it that way.

Once the meeting was over and everyone left, the blonde girl suddenly approached me.

“Um, excuse me, may I ask you something?” She asked sheepishly.

“What is it?”

“You divided us all into either defense and protection or relief, but you haven’t assigned anyone to roots.”

“True, I haven’t. It’s because all of you are fresh recruits, it would be too dangerous to simply through you into reckless danger.” I explained.

“In that case, I’ll work hard to get assigned to roots, sir!” She gave me a thumbs up.

“You don’t have to call me sir, my name is Arthur…Wait, what’s your name, by the way?”

“Louise Elmstone, at your service, sir-I mean, Arthur!”She saluted.

“This isn’t the guardians, you know? No need to be so formal, you can relax a bit.”

After Louise finally left, I sat on the cold floor, pondering about what to do. I technically hadn’t even gone on a single roots mission yet, so I had no clue what I was supposed to do. Where to start looking? And what exactly was I supposed to be looking for? Most of the knowledge of magic that I’d acquired had come from Esmeralda or one of the other members, but now that they were all dead, I couldn’t learn anything new anymore, since it wasn’t like there was a library I could check out.

And also, who exactly were those masked men? I didn’t even have the time to ask her about it before she went and got herself killed. I had too many questions to ask, and almost no answer to any of them.

Over the next few months, I focused on training the recruits instead of seeking out clues to the ritual, as I figured that would be a more cautious move. Our numbers slowly started increasing, as well as our overall abilities. I felt like I was doing a pretty good job as Esmeralda’s successor, but this operation looked like it would be taking a long time, and I didn’t exactly know how much time we even had, she was very vague with her wording.

All I knew was that it had started several years ago, but I never received an explanation as go why it started, how it had started in the same place. All I was told is that the balance inexplicably started shifting all of a sudden, but that doesn’t make any sense, because surely there should have been a trigger of some sorts.

Hopefully, I’d manage to eventually be able to get to the bottom of things with this new masked order.

And then, one day, I finally decided to stop being proactive.

“You asked for me?” Louise entered the room under the meeting place.

“Have a seat, Louise.” I pointed to the couch opposite to the one I sat on, and she obliged.

“What’s this about?” She asked.

“Louise Elmstone, I’m officially reassigning you to the roots division.”

“Wait, really?” Her face lit up with joy.

“Yes, I figured it’s time to start acting. We need to go on the offensive and be aggresive instead of remaining defensive. The reason I did that is because both our offense and defense were incredibly weak, but I felt like we’re now at a time where perhaps they’re sufficient enough. Maybe a risk remains, but it’s a risk we have to take, as we’re slowly running out of time.”

“I see, that makes sense. But why me?”

“Because you’re clearly the most talented member, furthermore your work ethic is also commendable, I see no better option.”

“Th-Thanks…” she looked down shyly, then looked back up. “But are you planning to reassign someone else as well? I feel like only two people isn’t nearly enough…”

“I’m not sure, do you have any suggestions?”

“I, uh, I can keep an eye out for someone, if you’d like?”

“That’s fine, thanks.”

“Are we done?” She asked.

“Yeah.”

The moment she exited, I somehow felt the energy change. We were finally ready to take on the world.