Guild of The Future

Splash wasn’t fond of solitude. He sought the company of whoever would have him, and Terrestrius was always conveniently training.

He was uncomfortable with how unsurprised he was with the announcement Terrestrius gave him, even if he didn’t actually believe it.

“I think I’m in love with you.”

“We haven’t even known each other a year,” he countered instantly.

“Since I first saw your face.” Terrestrius placed a hand on Splash’s face to emphasize. Splash took a step back.

“And what about the rest of me?”

“What do you mean the rest of you? Your arms, your legs, what?”

“I’m only one of four,” even if they preferred to remain separate, Tetra was still one entity, “Sprout, Spark, Sprite, I am one part of a whole.”

“But you’re so much more than that.” Terrestrius grabbed his hands. Splash pulled away from him again.

“I’m really not. We still sleep as one body. If you can’t love all of us, then you can’t just have the one you want.”

“That’s not what I’m trying to do.”

“It is!” he didn’t usually get angry like this, but how come no one seemed to get it through their thick skull? “I care about you, I do, but it is all of us, all of me, or none at all.”

“Fine!”

Splash cowered as Terrestrius left the room. He did like him, a lot. If he hadn’t brought love into the equation, he might have been up for a few dates. Now Tetra would have to deal with the awkwardness of this conversation for the whole time Terrestrius was on the team.

“Great work making the dream real.”

“I think he knows himself better than you do,” the arrival told Terrestrius. She had eavesdropped on this conversation many times, and sympathized with Splash in her own way.

“And just who are you?” Terrestrius asked.

“Someone helpful.”

Unlike Terrestrius. She had initially tried to recruit him to find the bomb with some kind of spell, but he’d been too closed off to listen to her, not to mention her descriptions were non-existent. She’d moved on to Tetra to help persuade him, but she got something much better.

She waited a minute and stepped in to Splash wallowing in a puddle of himself. As a water elemental, it wasn’t that surprising.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“I am Excels Over Men,” she answered, “And I need your help.”

“That’s a weird name.”

“It’s shorter in my native tongue.”

“Then why not use that?”

“That is not the point.”

He always started with some kind of tangent from the main problem.

“I need you, all of you,” she pleaded, “To find a bomb that’s been placed in the facility.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I know things.”

“I need a reason to trust you before I just do what you say. For all I know, this could be a distraction from something much worse.”

She still wasn’t sure if this was a Tetra thing, or just Splash, but either way she could do without it.

“Your name is Jackdaw. You have a brother who’s sort of a pirate, and he’s the only one of your family aware you are in the Guild.”

“We don’t tell people our name,” Splash said.

“You told me, because you thought that would be enough to get you to help find a bomb! Do I need to ask for another detail, yet again?”

“Let’s find a bomb first.”

If only they could.

Tetra was confusing. Even after a few passes, Excels Over Men didn’t fully understand them.

Jackdaw was born to a family that used to be powerful sorcerers until someone in their line bred with something called an empowered, which disrupted their sorcery forevermore. Abilities were common, but power became rare.

At a young age, Jackdaw mustered up the sorcery to transform into four people, an ability associated with a people called the Tetra. The ability didn’t manifest on its own, as each of Jackdaw’s selves was also an elemental of monstrous ability. Unable to handle a child that dangerous, their parents sent them to the “Powerschool”, a place where they could learn about their abilities without risking too many people.

Jackdaw never felt much of a connection to their family on account of being shunted off to a boarding school for freaks on another continent. They further struggled with making friends at the Powerschool on account of people often preferring only one self and not the rest, as they felt more comfortable as four selves rather than the usual one. They decided four was enough company for themselves.

The four selves chose individual titles for themselves as their appearances and personalities further split.

Splash, the water self, presented masculine, even using sorcerous “Transition Runes” to make himself more masculine than the rest. He preferred more skintight clothes and compromised on needing to keep long hair for the others with putting it in a tight bun that often loosened into an awkward ponytail.

Spark, the fire self, presented feminine, under several layers of clothing, and often wore a loose braid. She soon became the best fighter among them, as learning to control her human body helped her to better control her elemental form.

Sprout, the earth self, didn’t care about most things, even gender, accepting whatever pronouns and wearing whatever was comfortable. The most effort they ever went to was putting their hair in two, usually uneven, ponytails.

Finally, Sprite, the air self, preferred their solitude. When asked, they considered themself agender. Whatever they wore typically included a skirt, and their hair was always down, both of which helped them keep a feel for the air around them.

Their favorite time of year was when the students would be taken on a tour of the old Heroes’ Guild museum. Though they never paid much attention to what the exhibits actually said themself, Jackdaw was entranced by the tales Elva had told as the caretaker of the place.

After graduation, unsure of what to do with their life now that their abilities were better controlled but no less dangerous, Jackdaw gave themself one last unguided tour of the Heroes Guild Museum. They finally looked at the exhibits and the footage, and were startled to discover something Elva had realized from their first meeting. The Tetra of today bore a striking resemblance to the Tetra of centuries ago, an unsurprising result of being someone’s direct descendant.

Jackdaw finally found a family connection in the form of a long-dead ancestor, stronger than any to their immediate family. More importantly, they had a purpose. They’d always admired the Heroes’ Guild of old, so now they were going to make one of their own. They messaged everyone from their graduating class about the prospect and, earning one response from Nightingale, ran with what they had. Elva, happy to see an old family of hers revived, trained the new team into something relatively effective.

After saving someone important, the Guild gained a good deal of press, and the scrutiny of the alliance of worlds, who had ordered the previous Guild’s disbanding. Fearing the worst, Tetra gladly abided by the requirement of accepting a representative from each of the worlds. Though they’ve had regrets about specific representatives, Terrestrius for example, they were glad for their dream to remain mostly unimpaired.

Excels Over Men learned most of this before, from Elva. Tetra for their part was too busy trying to find a bomb to share much as they went through the revolutions of the day, but they had offered their name, and mentioned their brother.

“And you’re sure it’s somewhere in the building?” Sprite asked. Despite being able to reach the most areas, Sprite had the least luck finding the bomb. Excels Over Men asked them to act as the communication hub to the other selves instead.

“We have found it here all the other times.”

And they had found it several times, the issue was it never stayed in place. Like it knew they were searching and hid each time.

“And when did I stop believing you all those other times?”

“You died first.”

“Convenient.”

Sprite always voiced their doubts about all of this, but at this point Excels Over Men was sure the rest believed her each time, which was good.

“Maybe next time we start from the top of the building.”

“What do you mean next time?”

“When you start voicing your doubts, it means we don’t have much time.”

Sprite straightened themself, eyes widening.

“Sprout found it! In the foundation!”

“Get it out!”

“She’s going to run,” Caliana said just before Excels Over Men ran out from where she started. Caliana said that every time she ran. Apparently Kronos could sometimes see the future, but Elva had advised her to avoid Caliana unless necessary, as she would be forced to maintain the flow of time.

She was wishing she could ask Caliana for help now, because Tetra kept taking too long.

She hid by the training room, and this time decided to interrupt the discussion, as much as it probably wouldn’t work.

“Put your feelings aside for a moment, and help me save the day!”

“Who are you?” Terrestrius asked. He had just told Splash he wasn’t actually part of a whole.

“There is a bomb being planted in this building as we speak. It will kill everyone inside if we don’t find it first.”

“And who are you to give orders.”

She pinched the bridge of her nose. “This is why I wait for you to leave the room first.”

“Excuse you.”

“Do you wish to save the day, or do you want to spend your last moments wallowing in rejection?”

“Rejection?” Terrestrius turned to Splash.

“It’s all of us or none.”

Terrestrius stormed out of the room.

“That didn’t save nearly enough time.” Excels Over Men complained.

“Yeah, there’s an intruder in the training room,” Splash said, holding their hand over the Heroes’ Guild symbol on their shoulder. “Claims there’s a bomb.”

“Wait, what?”

He was reporting her?

“You’re not going anywhere.”

Splash turned giant, his features indiscernible as a wave overtook Excels Over Men.

She struggled for air, trying to swim up. Not this, not this…

She woke up to Caliana and all four parts of Tetra staring at her. She couldn’t move from the restraint of a frozen block around her whole body.

“You’ve been causing problems,” Caliana said.

“Don’t be ridiculous, I’m going to save all of you.”

Caliana averted her gaze.

“How so?” Sprite asked.

“Well I don’t know if I can this time around, but I need you four to find the bomb so we can destroy it, you can even leave me frozen here while you find it.”

“How convincing,” Caliana said.

She rolled her eyes. If that’s what they wanted. She looked straight at Splash.

“Jackdaw, you have a brother, he’s something of a pirate.”

“We haven’t told anyone that.”

She felt her prison loosening.

“I told you,” Caliana said, “She’s dangerous.”

“Only three people here know our real name,” Splash explained, “Us, Nightingale—though she may have forgotten—and Elva, whose judgment I trust.”

“So you’re going to let her go on Elva’s potential word alone.”

“You would have told us already if she were a telepath.” Sprout pointed out.

“It would make all this so much easier if I were,” Excels Over Men lamented, “I could pass on information so much faster.”

“Trust me, Elva doesn’t know what she’s messing with here,” Caliana said, “It’s better as is.”

“There’s a bomb, Cali!” Spark yelled.

“I know.”

She knew?

Caliana and Excels Over Men made terrified eye-contact.

“Just let it be,” Caliana begged, “Your actions affect more than just this world.”

The burning again. An interesting feeling when covered in ice. She didn’t realize it could burn worse.

Caliana was outside of the training room when Excels Over Men arrived. She swiftly turned around, only to find Caliana right in front of her.

“I know it hurts, but you have to let it go.”

“Last time I did that—”

“And this disaster is just as important.”

Her home charred again in her memory. That was important?

“And why is your death so important?”

Caliana averted her gaze. Excels Over Men took the opportunity and ran past her, moving to the side of the hall as she sensed something dangerous.

She focused on being unpredictable. If Caliana could travel in an instant, distance didn’t matter.

She found herself confused about where she was, but found a small alcove to take a rest just outside of. She’d have to run soon though. Who knew how soon Caliana would realize her location?

“And they’re too busy chasing some other intruder to find us,” a voice said from inside the alcove. She turned to watch.

Three large people lowered a giant chest into the ground without digging.

“The bomb?”

All three heads turned, just missing her hiding again, then she felt something tug on her arm. Cali found her.

“What time is it?” Excels Over Men asked.

“It’s been forty minutes since you appeared.”

“Thank you.”

“Meet me here,” She pointed on the map where she was sure the alcove was, “In twenty minutes. Bring Sprout, they’ll need to dig up a bomb.”

“Why should I do this?” Sprite asked. They were the only Tetra other than Splash she knew how to find.

“You’re name is Jackdaw, your brother is a semi-pirate,” she repeated.

“A semi-pirate.”

“Is it inaccurate?”

“Fine, I’ll be there. Why can’t we go together?”

“Because I need to run.”

Caliana had been aware of the loops this whole time. She’d be trying to find her, and the last thing Excels Over Men needed was to be anywhere near Tetra until necessary.

 All of Tetra came to the location, except Sprout it seemed. Excels Over Men did a quick scan to make sure there was no sign of Caliana before joining them.

“Did you decide to do the opposite of my instructions?”

“Sprout’s already down there,” Spark said, “It’s a thick slab, hard to get down without damaging it.

“Or damaging the bomb,” Sprite said, “Which could set it off.”

“Tell me how far it is once you find it,” she said. She may be able to make this faster if they knew how far to dig down.

“About 6 feet under.” Tetra all giggled at that. What was so funny about 6 feet?

“Is that a joke?”

“No,” Splash answered, first to regain composure, “It’s just funny that something meant to kill us is—”

All of them convulsed, rabidly shifting between human and elemental forms.

“What happened?”

“Power lock,” Spark answered, trying to push herself up from the collapsed state, “Once Sprout—” Excels Over Men stepped away from the fire elemental.

“Touched the bomb,” Sprite continued, only their front half visible, “It deactivated their—”

“Powers, and—” with Splash’s last breath, their bodies all turned completely normal, unmoving.

It was hardly the first time she’d seen someone die in front of her, but this was the first she’d seen one of these heroes actually fall.

“See why it’s better not to interfere?” Caliana asked.

“No!”