New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Phoenix looked at a stack of papers on her desk in a private office of the Tree Palace and sighed loudly.

"This is so much work… I wish I weren't alone in doing it… When is he coming back? A month and still no news…" she mumbled, her eyes watering up.

It had been a month since they returned from their hunt in Lac-des-Seizes-Iles, and Alexander was still a no-show. He never called, texted, or even gave a sign that he was alive.

Jack had made an announcement showing satellite imagery to show what they had dealt with. He introduced her, David, and all the others as future assets to protect the regularity of citizens' lives, launching his campaign on this premise: securing a normal life.

He had to answer a barrage of questions, most of which related to the appearance of monsters and the awakened. Some even asked if the last person in the images was Alexander, to which Jack had acquiesced.

But when asked where he was, Jack had to lie, saying Alex had suffered grave injuries and was currently recovering in intensive care.

He then swept all other questions about Alexander under the metaphorical rug and changed the subject adeptly, forcing the news around his coming campaign for mayor.

The reporters quickly changed their center of interest, and the conversation veered away from the missing young man.

Phoenix remembered that day like it was yesterday, as it had caused her great pain, not being able to say her boyfriend was gone, with no knowledge of when he would return.

And ever since, many things had happened as well.

The Inter-Alliance Military Exercises had concluded, with a result that shocked every kingdom in the alliance, aside from Stellar Woodlands. The only force purely composed of Abnormals had won.

It wasn't a landslide win, and they had been pretty darned close to losing. But it nonetheless terrified the rulers of these kingdoms.

To think the Abnormals had only just returned and already grown into a power that could rival armies established for over a century, at the very least.

The sentinels had also done well, reaching the quarter-finals, where they lost to Themiscus' Mana Knight First Regiment.

The disparity in power was just too significant.

The regiment officers had all been vastly more powerful than Commander Alena, which hurt her ego for a while until she grew a drive for betterment from her failure. It had made her realize there were many more big fish in this pond they called the world.

Having been cloistered away from the world all her life had skewed her perspective of power. She was ready to remedy this, though.

Phoenix smiled lightly, thinking about the resolve she had seen in her commander's eyes after the exercises. But her smile quickly disappeared as she thought of the next big thing she had to deal with.

The guild death match that she and Astaroth had agreed to.

Azamus had apparently kept tabs on them and was quick to jump on the occasion when he found out Astaroth was no longer in the game since they had already signed the contract, and put as only limitation for him to wait after the Inter-Alliance Military Exercises.

She could hardly say no and renege on their deal, at the cost of looking weak, but also because there were penalties attached to it. They had wagered big on this on both sides.

Luckily, the ties Leon had made during his decade-long rule came in handy. He was able to pull favours with many influential people, and they had plenty of firepower to bring to bear when the death match came around.

Azamus had hoped that his shady deals and underhanded tactics would be enough to prevail, but he only put himself in even deeper problems because of his loss.

No news had been heard from him since that day, but Phoenix knew he wasn't done yet. They would hear from him again one day.

Azamus was like a roach. A nuke wouldn't take him out.

'But what a mess he left on my plate…' she thought, looking at the pile again.

After Paragon won the death match, her guild effectively swallowed Aces High, making them the second largest guild in New Eden, only a dozen members short of Knights of the Sun.

However, an issue arose as she received the influx of players.

Most of these players were not playing to enjoy the game.

She had received the contracts that bound all of them to Aces High, and her eyes had gone wide. Not a single player in that darned guild had freedom of choice.

Khalor had been more than happy to join the death match because he knew of this, but had only told her after the fact was accomplished.

This had pissed her off, but he was already gone before she could release her rage on him.

Now, she was stuck dealing alone with all these unwilling players. And she couldn't just break the contracts, either.

Both parties concerned in the contract had to come to an agreement, and since Aces High no longer existed, the contract had transferred to Paragon's name. The amount of work this put on her plate was immeasurable.

She had to meet with each player individually and explain that they were free to break the contracts and that she wouldn't force them to stay in Paragon. But issues arose there as well.

Many of these players were bottom of the barrel, and would never find a guild to take them in. And playing alone had become suicide by now.

So, many of them asked if they could stay in Paragon when offered the break of contract. And when Phoenix said they had to pass the test like every other player, most outright refused to break the contract as long as they weren't guaranteed a spot.

She was now stuck with over three hundred players who refused to leave Paragon, accepting that their stay in the guild came at a high cost. To them, it was better than becoming guildless.

"What kind of slavery guild were you running, you sick bastard?" Phoenix mumbled, grabbing a new contract on the pile.

She wasn't even done going through all of them, and already she felt done with the matter.