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*NOTE: This FICTION narrative prose is based upon true events.

The Fallen
(RIP The Risen 2/25/12)

Chaser sits on the steps to the Fountain, a girl on either side of him for he enjoys the more feminine company. The slight breeze in the Haven gives Chaser an added sense of superiority as he sees the lower ranked female guildies from The Fallen, the Guild where he is only an Officer but likes to feel he has all the power even though he modestly steps aside when Zippy, Vyvien, and Inanimate, the three Guild Masters, claim the lead. Shallows walks by, used to the sight of Chaser and his feminine company, and steps up to the Auction House to place a bid in the Featured Auctions section on the Volcanic Flower that matches her Vermillion color quite nicely. Chaser gives her a long look, taking pride in knowing that she is being outbidded. He sees the frustration come over her face minutes later and smiles to himself as she storms away. He gets up to see how many Crowns the Volcanic Flower sold for, and instead finds that the auction hasn’t ended yet.
“What’s wrong, Shallows?” Chaser says to the entire guild through his Com Unit. “The Volcanic Flower is still at a low price.”
“Chaser!” Shallows replies, knowing Chaser’s fake interest in the matter is only to upset her. “I decided not to get it.”
“Why not? Can’t afford it?”
Shallows imagines Chaser snickering to himself and decides to remain silent to his questions. She wants the Volcanic Flower, and she has the funds to get it, but she’s decided there’s something more important than a flower on her Valkyrie Helm. Her Guild Master, Vyvien, has desired a set of Regal Wings but has never been able to afford it. Shallows has secretly decided to show her appreciation to her hard working Guild Master and buy the wings for Vyvien. It will cost Shallows a good two million Crowns, but she knows that Vyvien deserves the wings to match her Radiant Silvermail costume. She’ll just have to wait on getting the Volcanic Flower for herself.
Chaser doesn’t bother to further antagonize her; he knows he has done enough in one setting and won’t push it any further otherwise Vyvien will call him down again, so he returns to his ladies and teases the snipes instead. Shallows looks at Chaser from a distance, almost wishing he would go back to harassing her instead of messing with the poor helpless snipes but she knows he won’t because he values his ability to invite more ladies into the guild. Shallows doesn’t understand Chaser, because he is nice to the ladies outside the guild, as if he is coaxing them to join, but he doesn’t remain that way once they actually join. It wasn’t Chaser that brought Shallows to The Fallen, however. It was Vyvien’s kind heart that had moved Shallows into joining.
Shallows thinks fondly back to the time when Vyvien had recruited her. She had no guild to call her home and had been looking for one. Several guilds greedily invited her to join theirs, but she never truly felt welcome in those guilds. She settled on one however, knowing she needed a place to belong, even though the Guild Master that had invited her had hardly given much time to invite her with a personalized invitation. She had merely gotten the public and generalized invite that had no personal meaning. But when Vyvien reached out to Shallows with a mail that was very personal and very suiting to her circumstances, she was so deeply moved with Vyvien's thought and concern towards her that she decided that to leave the guild she had settled on and join The Fallen.
Smiling to herself, Shallows recalls the dream she had the very night she joined The Fallen. It was an irrational and terrifying dream, but she had still dreamed about The Fallen because she was so happy with her new home. In her dream, Vyvien had suddenly left the guild to go pursue a special mission and Shallows was so distraught that she followed after Vyvien to help her. However, Shallows knew that it was just a silly dream and when she shared it with her new guild, everyone laughed at the absurdity of it. Shallows keeps this dream in her memories because it represents how she feels about Vyvien and The Fallen, and all memories concerning The Fallen are very precious to her.
Now, Shallows’ love for The Fallen is much greater after she once took it for granted and learned just how important The Fallen was to her. She had joined another guild called Harmony because they managed to lure her into their grasp when she was emotionally weak, and she had fallen for their tricks because the name Harmony seemed just like something she needed since she was somewhat upset with a few people from The Fallen. But once she actually joined Harmony, she realized what she had done at once and vowed never to leave The Fallen again. Her passion and zeal for The Fallen hasn’t waned once since rejoining, and she is dead set in her love for them. She thinks highly of Harmony now and she has several friends among them, but she knows that The Fallen is where she belongs; that will be her home for an eternity and that’s the only place she will ever be happy.
♥ ♥ ♥
“Guys, guess what just dropped from a treasure box for me!” WardenBill, who is in the Ironclaw Munitions Factory, excitedly says to his guild mates.
“What?” asks Zippy, hoping it’s something of value that he can buy.
“A band of Fiends yielding Final Flourishes,” Vyvien tosses out, knowing the impossibility of this. Maria, Shallows’ sister and best friend, giggles at Vyvien’s guess.
“A Voltech Alchemer!” WardenBill tells them.
Maria giggles once again, knowing that WardenBill has an Alchemer obsession.
WardenBill, or just Bill as they sometimes call him, has been collecting all lines of Alchemers since anyone can remember. No one knows how he can use the many Alchemers he has horded but they let him be content with his fascination.
“Congrats,” Vyvien says.
“Thanks!” Bill says in appreciation of Vyvien with his voice full of pride for his Alchemers. “Now I just need ten Blue Shards, three Gel Cores, a Power Cell, and Volt Oil to craft it into a Voltech Alchemer Mk II.”
Both Maria and Shallows giggle at this. “I love how you have all the materials for all the lines of Alchemer recipes memorized,” Shallows says with a grin.
“Of course he would,” Maria says playfully and giggles again.
Shallows smiles and looks at her list of guildies to see where they all are. She sees that Vyvien is at the terminal before Lord Vanaduke and that she is by herself. “Hey Vyvien, can I join you?”
“Sure, Shallows. The party is open to the guild.”
Shallows teleports to Vyvien at Basil and checks to see what recipes the Stranger is selling. “Shivermist Buster!” she exclaims delightfully for she has been searching for it endlessly for weeks now. She looks to see how many Crowns she has and how much Crystal Energy she has left. If she buys the recipe and crafts it now, she may not have enough for Vyvien’s Regal Wings. She doesn’t know when the Regal Wings will be found by the Haven Treasury, or someone else by rare possibility, and put on the Auction House, so she decides not to risk the Crowns and wait until Vyvien gets her wings before getting a Shivermist.
When Shallows looks up from Basil’s recipes, she sees that Chamas, one of the Officers in the guild, and her sister have joined as well. She greets them and they look at what Basil is offering, but they have already crafted everything Basil is presenting to them this time around. Chamas, Vyvien, and Shallows step onto the elevator while Maria momentarily looks longingly at the Shadow Lairs just beyond Basil. She hesitates, but then gets on the elevator, knowing she doesn’t have a Shadow Key currently to unlock the chained gates to any of them. They go down, and when they reach Blackstone Bridge, Maria asks if they will go with her to a Shadow Lair over the weekend if she can get the key.
“Okay,” Shallows says.
“That will be fine,” Chamas tells her.
Maria smiles at Chamas, happy that he will be bringing his expertise along, then looks to Vyvien for her response. She is charging her Undead Very High Blitz Needle while waiting on the Party Button. She releases the charge and a shower of bullets comes from the Blitz. She starts to charge it again without a response, so Shallows shrugs to her sister, slightly puzzled by Vyvien’s silence. They get on the Party Button with Vyvien and Maria just decides to ask Vyvien again later.
The gates in front of them open and the ones behind them close. Shallows stays behind to take care of any zombies pushed back by the siege wheels. The other three head on up to clear the way. Shallows heads up when all the zombies are gone and collects any Crowns and Materials on the way. She joins her guild mates on the next party button, and when the zombies are released, she watches Vyvien in amazement as she kills each one with one charged shot of her Blitz. Shallows has never seen this done before and stands back for a moment as Vyvien doesn’t once use her Divine Avenger. She admires how Vyvien takes out each zombie with such precision and accuracy and is awestruck by how Goddess like Vyvien is. Every time Shallows goes on a run with Vyvien, Vyvien never ceases to amaze her with her Goddess like qualities. Vyvien is truly an inspiration for Shallows and Shallows always learns something new from her each day. Shallows smiles at Vyvien and all her wonderful Guild Master qualities and resumes the fight with the zombies before Vyvien starts to think she is incompetent.
As they continue through the next few depths, everything goes smoothly despite Shallows’ brief moments of standing back in admiration by Vyvien’s “fighting like a demon.” When they reach a Party Button in the Ashen Armory, Vyvien stops a moment and comments on the effortless run, saying, “This is why I love my guildies.”
“Aw,” Shallows says, glad she hadn’t been upset by her unskillfulness at times and moments where she had just stood back to watch the dexterity of Vyvien’s style.
“We love you too Vyvien,” Maria says truthfully.
And indeed, every single guildie from The Fallen loves Vyvien. They all respect her to the utmost degree and have such high regard for her. In fact, she is what makes them as a guild whole; she is the glue that keeps them all together.
♥ ♥ ♥
A few days later, but before the weekend, Vyvien meets the Guild Master from another guild in the Bazaar behind Kragen next to the glistening pool. They exchange a few words and Vyvien looks down at the yellow flowers at their feet. A Regal snipe comes up to her and looks at her with curiosity. The snipe then goes to the other Guild Master’s feet and looks at him curiously too. When the snipe leaves, Vyvien looks back up at the other Guild Master who had not noticed the snipe at all and she nods her head. He smiles in approval of her.
Vyvien then speaks into her Com Unit and says to her guild mates, “Some of you are going to be upset with me, but I am going now.”
Shallows stops for a moment from depositing her Minerals in the Arcade and thinks Vyvien means she is going to sleep now, for it is late in the day. But she is a bit confused as to why she would make it seem dramatic, because this is not how Vyvien acts at all. Shallows decides to go along with it, however, wondering why Vyvien thinks they would be upset with her.
“Aw,” Shallows says disappointed, because she usually is when Vyvien decides to go to bed early.
A few tell her bye and goodnight; everyone thinking that she is going to sleep. Not many are puzzled by her dramatization of it. Everyone thinks they will be seeing her early in the morning just as usual.
Vyvien then leaves The Fallen.
Whenever a guildie from any guild leaves, there is always a certain dissatisfaction that comes afterwards. When it’s a Guild Master leaves, there is pain and a powerful jolt that is bestowed upon the hearts of the guildies; one that was never asked for nor deserved. However, when it’s such a beloved and distinguished Guild Master such as Vyvien herself, the pain is so intensely magnified, the shock is unjustifiable by any means. But when Shallows sees the words “Vyvien has left The Fallen,” the horrified look that comes upon her face creates such a piercing silence from those around her that even the monsters cheering in the stands of King Krogmo’s Coliseum stop shouting and stand erect to see why the silence is so deafening.
Shallows falls to her knees, not understanding how this incomprehensible deed was committed. Never in her life would she come to think that Vyvien, of all people, would do such a horrendous act. She stares at the words, the tears starting to blur her vision. She shuts off her Com Unit, not able to handle the clamor of her guild mates. She doesn’t understand why it happened, but the emotional trauma is so overwhelming that she can’t handle the other emotions coming from her guild mates. They are hurting just as she is, but she is so intensely horrified by Vyvien’s action that she can’t think or see clearly and contact with any of her guildies would only make the anguish infinite.
Then a sudden alarming fright comes over her as she thinks of what this will do to the guild. She quickly turns her Com Unity back on and listens in to her guildies. She listens in on the murmurs and picks out what Zippy is saying.
“I haven’t told anyone yet, but the Alpha Squad has given me an important assignment,” Zippy says. Shallows isn’t sure how many are hearing him. “I will have to leave the guild soon for this assignment, and you will probably never see me again.”
Shallows’ mind blocks out everything as she comes to realize what this means. With Vyvien gone, and Zippy leaving soon, the only other Guild Master left will be Inanimate, and just as his name might suggest, he doesn’t have much life too him and would not be able to run the guild as a lone Guild Master. Who would replace Zippy and Vyvien? Shallows has only one answer to that: Chaser. No other Officer seems to be as qualified as him.
Shallows is taken aback by this thought. She doesn’t think she can muster up the courage to put up with Chaser’s harassment each day nonstop. It’s enough as it is, but if he becomes the Guild Master, it will become much worse. But even if he is a Guild Master, can the guild stay alive without the esteemed Vyvien? The answer that comes to mind pains Shallows.
“I can’t do this. I have to jump ship before it sinks. I’m sorry, but farewell,” Shallows says, and then proceeds to leave The Fallen in an entirely heartbroken state. She cries softly to herself, not knowing how she will be able to handle such emotional trauma. For the longest time, she sits by a black snipe high in the Haven and cries. She continues to cry as many knights pass her on the way to the Arcade. A few knights stop to see what’s wrong, but she just tells them to leave her alone and the terrible story will become known to them in due time.
Once her tears are dried, Shallows doesn’t know what to do or where to go, so she goes to the Auction House to buy something to keep her mind distracted from the unnecessary evils bothering her. The first thing she sees is someone selling Regal Wings with a buy out price of two million Crowns. Shallows sees she has this exact amount of crowns and nearly dies of a heart attack.
♥ ♥ ♥
Shallows wakes up and wonders why everything feels strange. She can’t place what’s different, but she knows something is out of the ordinary. She goes to the Town Square and finds that the Haven is nearly deserted. Something about it seems blissful, and she cannot wrap her mind around why it’s that way. She wanders up to the Auction House, remembering she had seen Regal Wings there. She searches through everything, but finds that there are hardly any items up for auction, and everything has absurdly high prices. She doesn’t understand, so she continues to wander around in a dazed yet blissful state. Soon, she hears someone calling out her name from a distance. She turns around and sees her sister standing at the entrance to the Rescue Camp.
“Maria…” Shallows says, expecting her to be upset that she left The Fallen with not much of a warning or comment on where she would be going. But then she sees that her sister is also guildless. “You left too?”
Maria doesn’t reply.
“Where are we?” Shallows asks.
“In a good place. Nothing bad happens here.”
Shallows is confused, but she can feel that this is true somehow. “What happened to The Fallen?” she asks, wondering how much time has elapsed since she left.
“It doesn’t exist here. But we can be in The Fallen together now if you’d like,” Maria offers.
“Okay.”
Maria then quickly makes the guild and invites her sister. Shallows accepts and then deep sadness befalls her.
“I’m so sad,” Shallows tells her sister.
“But we are in a happy place. Nothing bad can happen now. Everyone is supposed to be happy here. That’s what this place is for.”
Shallows can feel that she is right. Everything about this Haven is too perfect and it makes her want to be happy, but she is still overwhelmed with sorrow from the unexpected tragedy that happened with The Fallen.
Maria sees that her sister is still pained so she gives her a big hug. Shallows hugs her back and cries. But slowly the mysterious power from the new Haven calms Shallows and she starts to think and feel that she will live happily ever after in The Fallen with her sister.

Author's Notes
This story tells of the death of The Risen. Characters are based upon guild members within this guild. I was writing a fan fic at the time that Gwen left us, and I truly felt so devistated that I changed the theme of the story to this. I didn't know at the time that The Risen would actually die, and so soon. It was the early part of the week of February 25th that Gwen left us, either the 20th or 21st, I cannot say for sure which. There is not a day that goes by that I don't wonder how things would have turned out if I had not given up and left The Risen, just as Shallows does in this story. I fear how much I contributed to its fall, but I could not watch my home go under and eventually die. The pain would be greater than from Gwen's leaving so suddenly. I look back at the many fond memories I hold from being in The Risen and wish that this had never happened. But, as Gwen would say, c'est la vie. I cannot change what has happened. However, The Risen will always live on in my heart, and I will always miss my home dearly.