To be read with Guild XIII chapter 9

Report 3

An interesting development has arrived. A girl appeared from a darkness portal in the wall and landed on Xetaik. Surprised, number nine froze the girl in a block of ice. I evacuated everyone from the training hall and had Dekayx melt the ice around the girl's head. What I learned was interesting. The girl didn't know where she was, only her name: Alzaxras. She had woken up in a crater of blood and somehow made her way here via darkness portal. This and her name convinced me that she was a nobody. After taking her to my tower and explaining nobodies to her, she agreed to join our group. I held a meeting to introduce her and subsequently a name for our motley group was conceived. We are now Guild XIII. How similar to the Organization, isn't it? Yet we are together within the first few weeks, as well as the dynamic is much more hectic. The worlds are closed, except to darkness portals, so we are only left in our world to find our hearts. Alzaxras finishes our group with the prismatic element and chain blades as a weapon. I wonder what our symbol shall be, or if we will have one. So much hangs on fate and chance; I wonder how we will end up.

Anaxn, Superior of Guild XIII

Standing coolly in front of the block of ice, Anaxn watched Dekayx melt the ice from the girl's head. Shifting in feigned nervousness from foot to foot, she could almost remember the anticipation and anxiousness, but kept it masked behind her red tattoos. A darkness portal could only be summoned by a nobody, so who was this girl? One of their own? Thanking Dekayx and sending her from the room, Anaxn glared pointedly at the girl, who was now staring at her with some element of interest and wariness. The sense of confusion as to who the girl was resurfaced, making energy stream through Anaxn's body and her glare intensify.
"Who are you and what the hell are you doing here?" A wince crossed the girl's face.
"Funny story, actually…"

As Anaxn listened to her tale, she immediately picked up on the obvious signs of a nobody: an X in her name, not knowing quite who or where she was, memories that weren't hers. But some things were still unexplainable, such as the abnormally large number of memories the girl had, or that physical traces of the original body still existed. The ice around her form had started to melt, leaving her still frozen up to her waist.
"Then I got frozen, and here I am." Alzaxras gestured to the ice around her, then fell silent. There was a short pause until Anaxn nodded, then took a step back. With a fling of her hand, heated wind rushed past her to melt the ice. It was warmer than her body; she could feel it on her skin and through her hair. Nobodies were impervious to temperature. The air freed the girl from the ice, albeit getting her a little wet, and Alzaxras landed expertly on the ground.
"Follow me." The gruff female jerked her head towards the door and walked off, not waiting for a reply. The newcomer followed with slightly cautious steps and Anaxn opened the door. Immediately the five nobodies in the hall headed towards them, a few already asking questions, but Anaxn suddenly defensive posture made them quiet down.
"There will be a meeting today at 12. It will be short, but mandatory. Inform everyone of this." She turned left, leading the girl up the stairs towards her tower.

They climbed two flights in silence, passing white walls until they reached the third floor and turned right. But Anaxn stopped at the first room on the left,staring in surprise at the door. It was clean, wiped free of the dust that had covered it for over two weeks. A clean-cut thirteen in roman numerals was carved in the wood. Reburying the surprise under her face, Anaxn walked impatiently back down the hall, slowing down only when she hit her stairs. Immediately everything fell from her mind. This was her tower, darkness almost flowing from the spiral windows and filling the tower like a tangible substance. She couldn't hear her footsteps, or those of the girl behind her. It was almost like going through a darkness portal, alone without the ability to feel. Only when the Superior arrived in her room did she remember the nobody behind her. Gesturing to the heavy chair resting near number 1's desk, the imposing female waited for Alzaxras to settle into the generously stuffed seat.
"Do you know what you are?"
"No." Replied Alzaxras with the tone of a four year old being asked what the square root of 243 was.
"Then that's where I'll start. You are a Nobody. You have no heart, just a body. You do not bleed, you don't need food. You don't even need to breath. You body is kept in the same state without needing upkeep because you aren't technically living, by definition. Does that make sense for far?" Alzaxras nodded, comprehension beginning to seep into her eyes. She was quite intelligent, for a four year old.
"But can we still breath, Miss….?"
"Anaxn. I'm breathing, am I not?" She said with a sharp edge. It didn't seem to affect the girl, who was staring intently at her, as though staring into her. It probably would have bothered Anaxn, but she was feeling quite apathetic recently. This new nobody was reminding her of Roxas.
"Everyone in this castle is a nobody. We are trying to regain our hearts, but we have not decided how yet. You are welcome to join us, if you wish." The nobody switched her gaze between Anaxn and the floor a few times, then said
"Yes, I suppose that is what should be done."
"Then it is settled. You are now number 13 of our group. Now come with me down to the training hall. There is much to explain." The superior opened a large darkness portal in her room, which she allowed Alzaxras to pass through before entering herself.

"Wrong. Do it again." Anaxn commanded, straightening up from an assault and preparing for the next. Number 13 brought her hands off her knees and stood up straight, a pair of oddly shaped crystals hanging from the chains in her hands.
"Alright." She sighed, wrapping the chain around her hand once more and spinning the second in a fast circle. The superior's bow and quiver were lying near the wall to allow her freedom of movement and she used this to swing her arms in wild motions, wind playing with her sleeves and cloak before rushing forward. The new comer stood ready for it, chain-scythes spinning, and just before the gusts reached her, she loosed the first spinning crystal. It flew forward, stopped only by the length in Alzaxras's hand, and the other, which was spinning over the girl's head, slammed into the ground. The first pierced the winds directly and the second disrupted part of it, but this wasn't enough. The two gusts on the sides slammed into her, lifting her up slightly and dropping her on her seat.
"Wrong. You need to target all of them. Let the space where your heart was flow down through your weapon." That was the fourth or fifth time Anaxn had attempted to coax forth the girl's element, each with a different attack pattern, but so far Alzaxras had either been hit, or partially nullified her blast. Finding this girls' element was getting troublesome. Narrowing her eyes in mock anger, the superior suddenly whirled around and lunged forward on one knee. A tempest blasted from her and slammed into Alzaxras, knocking her to the ground.

"Anaxn, what's going on?" She asked in an only slightly confused voice, suddenly lifted back off the ground and dropped again a few feet away. This time though she landed on her feet, grounded by her crystals. But already the next salvo was rushing towards her, the cogs in her head turning just as fast. No time to act or move in any way that would be effective, just maybe one thing… Alzaxras flung her hands forward, imitating Anaxn's stance from only a second before. The gale hit her, throwing her hair and skirt back behind her, but number 13 didn't budge, a determined look in her eyes. Suddenly the blast turned back on its user, rushing through Alzaxras's hair and past the her triumphant looking face. The superior's scowl turned to a slight smile as she watched her own wind blowing back towards her. Letting it catch her in the chest, Anaxn flew up into the air with her cloak billowing around her legs. She landed a few feet away in a crouched position, cloak and hair following behind. The wind element looked up slowly, tattoos seeming to drip down her face, and smiled appraisingly at her charge.
"There. That is what I wanted you to do." Anaxn got up and shook herself, brushing invisible dust from her sleeve. The new thirteen stared down at her chain-blades, thoughts clicking along behind her face.
"What exactly was that?" She questioned calmly and the superior shrugged.
"Your element. Call it what you will." She murmured, picking up her quiver and bow and slinging them across her back. Thoughtful silence for a while, then,
"Prismatic, I think." The solemn female nodded her head in consent and pulled up a large darkness portal. She gestured to the new girl's weapons. "Put those away. We'll go to the meeting now." The crystal scythes dissipated in a blaze of white light and Alzaxras trustingly walked through the dusky spatial rend. Anaxn stared through the portal for a moment, recalling a bitter feeling that she had felt once before, atop a white castle in a dark world. Then she frowned and walked through, banishing the thought to her heart.