The Late-Night Book Run

-100 meters outside Haunted Guild, 12:47 A.M.-

Dressed in her Azure Armor over a green t-shirt and black skirt with black bike shorts underneath plus white tennis shoes, Victoria was also carrying Hellsinger in its holster on her right hip and her Silver Dagger in its scabbard on her left hip. She had hurried to Haunted Guild in order to meet up with a few members of the Order of Lightbringers, who needed some additional muscle for a search they were going to do in Haunted Guild. The Order was looking to find and claim some books on demon summoning rumored to be deep in the guild before someone else could get them and use the dark knowledge contained within their pages to wreak havoc on the world. Victoria had been instructed not to bring the Centaur since its presence would alert others to the fact someone was there, so the Sabertooth mage had had to travel by foot to Haunted Guild. She had left Capital Crocus around 2:30 P.M. just to have a chance of getting here by midnight but despite leaving early she was still later than she would have liked to be.

Victoria looked at the night sky and saw a crescent moon that was so slim that it looked like a fingernail. The light that the moon provided was weak and she could see clouds quickly moving to cover the celestial body. Within two minutes of gazing at the moon the clouds had engulfed it completely, leaving the brunette standing in near-darkness.

"Well, that's always a good sign." Victoria commented to no one in particular. The moment the last word left her lips she saw a golden glow to her left and saw a ring of light form on the ground. She turned to face it and within seconds she spotted four figures standing after the light disappeared.

"Hey Victoria!" One of them greeted her. Victoria recognized the voice as Serena Anderson's. It had been awhile since the Sabertooth mage had seen the brown-haired cleric with a penchant for charging off alone into dangerous places and getting in way over her head.

"Hey Serena!" Victoria greeted the cleric. One of the other three figures conjured a golden ball of light that cut through the gloom and Victoria saw Order Cleric Amberlin, Order Cleric Amanda, and Order Knight Minerva, who was Serena's older sister. It looked like the Order had sent some of their best members for this job and the presence of Minerva meant that her client must have expected some serious trouble tonight.

"It is good to see you again, Miss Sheridan. We will have need of your help tonight." Order Cleric Amanda greeted the brunette in her usual formal fashion. Victoria gave a friendly wave with her right hand and approached the quartet until she was within arm's reach of Amanda. She then stopped and faced Amberlin, who greeted her with a wave and a smile.

"We're looking for some books that can be really dangerous in the wrong hands. Order Cleric Amanda and I are here to do the searching while you and Order Knight Minerva watch our backs." Amberlin told Victoria the reason the latter was hired.

"All right. We'd better not waste any more time then. Who's going to lead the way?" Victoria asked Amberlin in particular and the group in general.

"I will." Minerva replied firmly before walking briskly for the front door. Victoria sighed once the latter was safely out of earshot. If the copper-haired Knight was as abrasive as she had been the last time she and Victoria had "worked" together this was going to be a very long night.

"Wait for me!" Amberlin called out before she ran after Minerva. Amanda silently followed the pink-haired cleric and Serena turned to face Victoria. The brown-haired cleric smiled and motioned towards the building with her staff.

"Well, we'd better hurry and catch up with my sister because she doesn't wait for anyone." Serena advised the long-haired brunette. Victoria sighed again before following the cleric to the front door of Haunted Guild. It sounded like this job was going to be difficult in more ways than one.

Hopefully the pay would be good enough to make up for dealing with Minerva the headstrong Knight.

[Post Word Count: 714]
[Total Word Count: 714/11,000]

-Inside Haunted Guild, the basement hallway, 12:51 A.M.-

The quintet were now down in the long basement hallway that led to the small library. Minerva was in the lead while Serena, Amberlin, and Amanda were gathered together in the middle. Bringing up the rear was Victoria, who had drawn Hellsinger and was holding it in both hands to be ready for whenever ghosts appeared. This hallway had hosted a few battles between her and numerous specters who wanted her to become a permanent resident of the Haunted Guild and she had reason to believe that they would try to make yet another attempt on her life tonight.

The passage was lit by the ball of golden light that Serena had conjured outside of the building when the Sabertooth mage had first met up with the Order quartet. However, the light did not help very much because the atmosphere was still somewhat oppressive. Not helping matters was that there was a chill that drove the temperature down and also served as a likely sign that ghosts would soon make their presence known.

"It's so cold in here." Serena complained.

"The spirits trapped in this building see us as intruders. They do not want us here." Amanda said aloud.

"We can't leave until we confirm or disprove the existence of the books the Order wants us to find and secure." Minerva reminded the group of their mission. Victoria was not afraid of the ghosts who dwelt here. She had fought their kind many times before and had a Silver Dagger and Hellsinger, two weapons which could easily send spirits back to the great beyond.

"Hey Victoria, are you seeing anything behind us?" Amberlin asked the Sabertooth mage.

"No, Amberlin. It's clear." Victoria reported as Minerva approached the open cell doors situated on the right side of the hallway. The quintet heard chains clanking inside the cells and Victoria stole another look behind them. She thought she saw translucent figures appearing behind them, so she alerted the Order mages.

"I'm seeing ghosts behind us." Victoria reported seconds after she had given the all-clear.

"I'm seeing them in front of us too." Minerva reported that there were ghosts materializing in front of the group as well.

"Get ready!" Serena informed everyone that combat was imminent. Victoria faced forward and saw numerous translucent figures take form in front of them. Well, as much form as ghosts could manage to take, anyway.

Minerva did not waste much time in going on the attack. She drew her sword and began running towards the enemies, slashing through the torso of the first ghost she got to and making it vanish. Serena supported her older sister using Holy beam attacks on the enemies Minerva had bypassed while Amberlin contended with enemies emerging from the empty cells to the right. Amanda had joined Victoria in protecting the group from attacks from behind.

While Minerva and Serena handled the front and Amberlin took care of the right Amanda and Victoria had their hands full with the enemies menacing them. Amanda led off by channeling golden magic into her right hand and forming five small marbled-sized balls of light on her fingertips, then closing her eyes and muttering a brief incantation. When it was finished all five balls jumped from her fingertips and each one sought out its own target... all five found an enemy and hit it for a one-hit "kill" that sent each ghost back to the afterlife.

Lacking access to Holy magic, Victoria had to make do with a much less fancy display of marksmanship and blasted away two spirits with Hellsinger in rapid succession. She put fist-sized holes in their chests one after the other and quickly aimed for a third who had zipped past a beam attack of Amanda's by moving at a human running speed to dodge the beam and get close enough to reach for the Sabertooth mage's throat. However, before Victoria could fire point-blank into its face Amanda intervened and placed a golden glowing hand on the enemy's shoulder just before its fingertips grazed Victoria's throat, causing it to soundlessly dissolve.

"Thanks, Amanda." Victoria thanked the green-clad cleric for the help.

"You are welcome." Amanda replied as the sounds of battle continued around them. The battle was not yet over, but the Sabertooth mage was certain that victory was only a matter of time. With four experienced Order mages packing Holy magic fighting beside her Victoria just had to keep fighting until no more ghosts appeared.

[Post Word Count: 752]
[Total Word Count: 1,466/11,000]

-In the hallway, four minutes later-

After a brief but intense battle the quintet had defeated all of the ghosts who had troubled them and the hallway now lay silent. No rattling chains in the nearby cells, no gunfire from Victoria, nothing. After a momentary pause to catch their breaths the group pressed on with Minerva in the lead and rounded the bend to the right, then moved into the small library behind the metal door. Victoria brought up the rear and shut the door behind them.

-In the small library, 12:56 A.M.-

The five mages entered the small library and stopped with Victoria facing the door that they entered through while holding Hellsinger in a two-handed grip and Minerva facing the door that opened onto the hallway that would take them deeper into Haunted Guild. Serena, Amberlin, and Amanda briefly looked at the tall bookshelves that lined the walls of the room and towards the lit glass lantern that sat on the table before turning to face each other. After a few moments Victoria and Minerva turned to face the trio of clerics, who in turn looked towards the copper-haired Knight.

"Is everyone OK? Did anyone get hurt during the fight earlier?" Minerva asked the other four mages she was with.

"I'm doing great, Sister!" Serena announced.

"I'm fine too." Amberlin chimed in.

"As am I." Amanda informed Minerva that she was still in good enough shape to continue.

"I'm just fine, thanks." Victoria reported on her physical condition. Upon hearing that everyone was in good condition Minerva gave a small smile that could be seen by the light of the lantern and the floating light Amberlin had conjured earlier. That golden ball of light was

"All right then. If everyone's doing well I say we keep moving. I don't want to risk anyone else getting to the other library before we do." Minerva proposed. The support for that idea was unanimous and it did not come from only the living. Multiple books on different shelves began to thump against the walls of their wooden resting places and wobble about as if someone were trying to pull them out from an awkward angle. One of them even wrenched itself free from the shelf it was on and hovered menacingly in the middle of the room as if it were trying to pick a target to throw itself at.

"Poltergeists." Amanda laconically reported the cause of what everyone was seeing. More and more books began to flutter off of the shelves and join the first one, a sight which made Victoria slightly nervous. After a brief but tense silence Minerva spoke up.

"OK everyone, let's get going." She suggested. Everyone uttered expressions of agreement and Minerva left the room first followed by Amanda, Serena, and Amberlin in that order. As usual Victoria brought up the rear and left the room as quickly as she could after confirming that they were not being followed by other people.

-In the next hallway, 1:03 A.M.-

Victoria left the library and shut the door behind her, then faced forward to find her fellow mages facing forward. Ahead of them loomed a gloomy and seemingly empty passageway lit only by Amberlin's light, but just because it looked empty did not mean that it was free from danger. Invisible threats could be lurking and waiting for the right moment to strike, which meant that the quintet would have to be careful when heading for the door at the end of the hallway.

The group slowly made its way through the hall with Minerva in the lead and Victoria watching the rear while holding Hellsinger tightly. Every few steps the Sabertooth mage spun around and walked backwards to make sure that she was not missing anything that might be a sign of an impending ghost attack. However, walking backwards would not be necessary because the quintet soon got a sign that everyone could pick up on when the area suddenly got cold.

"It's cold again." Minerva laconically noted the drop in temperature.

"You know what that means, Sister." Serena replied and clutched her staff tightly. Victoria kept her back to the other four mages and watched and waited for ghosts to materialize. As she waited she noticed that the hall was so cold that she could see her breath in the air, a detail that was absent in the previous encounter. She hypothesized that the cold was more concentrated because of the smaller space the group was in, but she was no scientist, so she could be totally wrong. Victoria quickly set that thought aside and focused on watching for threats that could appear at any moment.

[Post Word Count: 780]
[Total Word Count: 2,246/11,000]