Cerberus moved the sliding door out of the way and entered the room. The room had a circular table in the center with different kinds of paintings adorning the walls. There was also a balcony that overlooked a beautiful view of the city.
Around the table, eight players had already gathered, and when the door opened, they turned to see who had entered. They first saw their green-eyed leader, but following him was a beautiful silver-haired girl.
“Alice, wow!” An innocent voice came from the table. It belonged to a cute-looking man with snow white hair. Even though he looked like a middle schooler, he was an adult at the age of 24. “You have changed plenty!”
Serenity smiled gently. “You haven’t, AnarchyCat.”
“I’ll take that as compliment.” The innocent-voiced man smiled back. He was only around 160cm tall, but his clenched hands had scars, especially around his knuckles. It was clear he wasn’t as innocent as he looked.
‘He was one of the members I thought would have quit by now. He is only one year older than me and was closest to my age even back then.’ Serenity felt slightly saddened that he was still part of Zahhak.
“Let’s get seated.” Cerberus whispered to Serenity and went to the table, where he got seated beside a cold-looking man. The man had shoulder-length brown hair with a pale complexion and he wore combat-styled jacket, which had a lot pockets and brown trousers.
Serenity sat beside Cerberus and looked at the cold-looking man. She awkwardly smiled and nodded.
“Arsenal.”
“Mm, Alice.” The cold-looking man nodded slowly as if his neck were hurting, and he could barely nod because of it. He looked like a military man with very stoic personality. He sat very straight with arms crossed in front of his chest.
“I heard some noise from downstairs. How many came with Alice?” A beautiful woman with a small nose and high cheekbones asked. Her brown hair was tied in a bun, and her eyes were azure-colored.
‘SweetieHell. I am not surprised that she still follows Cerberus.’ Serenity thought with an uncomfortable expression.
Back then, she was like an older sister to Serenity, but after growing up, she somewhat looked like a monster in her eyes. She was always nice to her, but Serenity couldn’t forget the things she had done to her enemies.
“A few dozen.” Cerberus said and smiled at the silver-haired girl. “You had built quite a powerful dojo in a short time. I am impressed.”
“Indeed, very impressive, Alice.” SweetieHell turned to the silver-haired girl and smiled gently, like an older sister smiling at her little sister. “I am happy that you joined us for this exploration.”
“Thanks.” Serenity nodded in thanks with a small smile. She couldn’t help but remember similar scenes from her past. Even back in Ember Online, she was the little sister figure of Zahhak.
Whenever she did something praiseworthy, they would praise her. To outsiders, they looked more like a family than friends.
“Ah, by the way.” She had counted the number of people on the table and turned to Cerberus. “In the message, you said there were ten members in the current Zahhak, but I only see nine.”
“You don’t know the last member.” Cerberus said with a small smile. “I thought it would be better just to have a meeting with old members before we invite the rest for the quest meeting.”
“I see…” Serenity nodded. ‘They had recruited a new one? That is surprising. Cerberus was many years against inviting anyone else, even though our guild was under constant pressure from our enemies.’
“Hmm, did you guys hear that?!”
Serenity, Cerberus, and everyone else turned to look at the person who had shouted. He was a round-faced man with brown hair and long bangs. He was looking around with his eyes while sweating furiously.
“Rainman, we heard nothing.” Cerberus said while massaging his temples.
“Oh, my bad, then.” Rainman leaned back on the chair and closed his eyes.
‘Rainman, before I thought his strange behavior was funny, but after having greater medical knowledge, I now know he is suffering from schizophrenia.’
Serenity pitied him, but she also knew that he was a very dangerous individual. She was somewhat happy that he spent all of his time inside video games and not in reality, where he might do something to his family or innocent people.
She then turned to see the rest of the people around the table. First, he saw a long-faced man with a sharp jawline and gray eyes. His spiky gray hair was quite interesting, as it looked like he had been struck by a lightning bolt not long ago.
‘Glowstar.’ She spoke the man’s gamertag into her mind. He was one of the people she didn’t have many memories of. He was a quiet type, but the few conversations she had with him, she couldn’t forget.
She then looked at another man. It was a handsome man with a black beard and a sheathed sword on his back. He seemed to be a warrior type with muscular arms, but he had gained weight around his waist and stomach area.
‘Mizuchi.’ She smiled and nodded at the handsome man. Mizuchi looked at her and nodded with a small smile. They got along very well even back then and it surprised her that he was still with Zahhak, but was very glad to see him.
“How is the family?” She asked.
“Good good. My wife and I had our third kid year ago and now my oldest daughter is about to start kindergarten.” Mizuchi laughed. “They grow up so fast.”
“I am glad.” Serenity showed a genuine smile, which made her look even more attractive. Mizuchi was a family man with a wife and three children. When she was still with Zahhak, he only had one kid.
“H-hey, Alice.” A slightly overweight man raised his hand awkwardly. He had black hair with bobcut haircut and had very expressive face. Everyone could tell he was nervous.
“Bluecore.” Serenity softly smiled and nodded. He was always a person who couldn’t lie, even when he wanted to because of his face that would reveal his lies. Therefore, she had somewhat good memories of him. 𝑶𝓋𝐥xt.𝗇t
“Alice.” A mature voice came beside Bluecore. When Serenity saw her, she was very surprised and conflicted expression flashed past her eyes.
The person, who owned the mature voice, was a purple-eyed woman with slender body and red hair that cascaded down her back. She didn’t look anything special, but her exotic purple eyes was enough to attract people to her.
“R-Redheart.” Serenity slightly stumbled over her words.
Redheart smiled silently and turned to Cerberus. “Well, if we are done with reunion, shall we invite others to discuss about the quest?”
“Fine by me.” Cerberus looked at Serenity. “Shall we go get them all?”
“Sure.” Serenity nodded, stood up and followed behind Cerberus out of the room. As she left the room, she happened to catch a glimpse back to the table and felt her body freeze as she saw Redheart’s innocent smiling face.
‘I was afraid that she was still with Zahhak.’ Serenity turned away from her and continued walking down the stairs behind Cerberus. She was starting to feel like coming here was a mistake.