CHAPTER 3 /// GATHERING IN THE GOLDEN HOUR

“Thanks for the ride,” said Reesle as he tossed a large, golden Arcadium coin to the coachman. “Here’s the pay.”


“Safe travels, kind sir.”

Reesle carried a huge golden box out of the carriage just as he hopped out of it, stepping foot into Aurifere Village.

The coachman started gently whipping the two horses in front of him, prompting them to gallop away, leaving Reesle behind.

“Hope I’m not late for the event,” said Reesle, thinking loudly to himself. “Would be a shame if everyone got full before they even got to taste this cake.”

This isn’t Reesle’s first time in Aurifere Village. He had to navigate the village’s dirt paths first before heading to Concorde City.

Along the way were the typical stony cottages with wooden roofs, which are a very common sight in the district’s countryside. 

The village is situated in the middle of a huge, golden plain covered by wheat crops. A few windmills could be seen in the backdrop, as well as farmers harvesting wheat, loading them into wooden wheelbarrows, and transporting them over to the mills.

In the center of the village square was a huge roofed well still plenty of water. Reesle swore the water was the clearest he’d ever seen, so clear that he could even see all the coins on the bottom of the well. He’s convinced that it looked rather unusual than ordinary water, almost seemingly magical.

Besides the well were villagers closing their eyes while clasping an Arcadium coin between their two hands.

“I wish for our newborn son to grow up healthy and happy.” Reesle overheard one of the villagers speak their wish, right before they threw the coin into the well.

The man he heard wishing for his son dressed more modestly compared to the city folk. The other residents of Aurifere village dressed the same way too, quite fitting given the simpler life they lived.

The entrance to the city could be found at the end of the northern path leading to the square. As Reesle walked the path, he was greeted by a huge metal gate with viny motifs. Above it spells “CONCORDE”; he was on the right path, after all.

The way to the city was somewhat long, with the dirt path slowly transitioning to a more proper stony brick path. Some of the bricks on the path were painted yellow to form different sorts of patterns, mostly resembling crosses and flowers.

Eventually, Reesle made his way to the city outskirts, giving off an entirely different feel as the scenery suddenly shifted from the countryside landscape to chateau-style buildings spanning in every direction.

While walking in the Concorde City commercial district, Reesle came across Mel, who was riding on a horse.

Mel pulled her horse’s harness back, causing it to rear back and stop, turning in Reesle’s direction.

“Heya Reesle!” greeted Mel. Reesle thought she was as cheery as ever. “Need a hand?”

“Yeah, it would be nice.” answered Reesle.

Mel got off her horse and loaded Reesle’s box on its back. She then led it to walk beside her as she held the harness close.

“Thanks, Mel!”

“My pleasure.” Mel did a low bow and flashed a courteous smile.

“We need to get going, we’re getting quite late!”

“Silly bunny,” said Mel, giggling. “We’re actually a little too early!”

“Oh?” Reesle was dumbfounded, raising his eyebrow in response.

“Did you even read the letter?” asked Mel. “The assembly time will be later in the afternoon, around four to five o’clock.”

“Ah, wow,” sighed Reesle.

“Silly me indeed, I haven’t read it. Why'd you go early, though?”

“Well, as a member of the Golden Harmony, it’s expected for me to show up earlier to help set up the event.” explained Mel.

“Ah, that explains it.”

“No worries, you could go get some rest in our guest rooms. Oh, and, if you’d like to help us out with organizing and stuff, you’re always welcome!”

“I got you, Mel,” assured Reesle. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Aww, thank you Reesle!”

“Just returning the favor, is all.”

Reesle and Mel reached the other end of the city. They followed some signs pointing towards the Temple of Demeter on the way.

The venue came into sight as they both got nearer after walking for a bit. It was a huge, grandiose temple sitting atop a cliff overlooking the city.

The temple looked like a cross between a cathedral and the golden castle the Lapines lived in. The stained glass on the building depicts mystical symbolism and wheat, which both seem important to Cubecraft history.

At the central spire was a huge, mysterious clock of some sort, with its only hand about to strike midnight. It doesn’t seem to tell the time, though, given how it also depicts celestial events and certain constellations.

“For a knightly order’s headquarters, the Golden Harmony sure has a lot of extras,” commented Reesle. “Not surprising if I’m being honest, given how privileged and respected it is within the district.”

“Yeah, even as a member a lot of things about it flatter me too much, haha!” replied Mel.

“So, how’s it like over there?” asked Reesle. “Being a member of the Golden Harmony.”

“Well, I can’t say much. Simply put, we're just trying our best to save the district from certain worst case scenarios," answered Mel. “We do a little more than just keeping the peace within the district, we are involved in a lotta projects too, just like Polar’s simulation.”

“I see, must be really fun.”

“True,” Mel agreed. “I’ve been thinking of recommending you to Hoshi, you’d fit right in really well.”

“No thanks,” Reesle declined. “I got some other things on my hands. That restaurant ain’t gonna run on its own, you know?”

“That’s fair,” Mel nodded.

The two finally made it to the entrance of the building, greeted by a black royal door with gold flower motifs.

“We’re here!”

“Woah,” Reesle was speechless for a while, dropping his jaw to the ground in awe of the huge, majestic structure. “Didn’t know it was this grand.”

“Oh, it just gets better,”

Mel gently opened the grand doors, gradually revealing the spacious quartz interiors of the building.

Ahead of them is an altar of some sort, featuring a marble statue of a woman dressed in a swirling cloak, holding a bundle of wheat in one of her arms.

The stained glass windows from the outside looked way better on the inside, with the sunlight shining through them, casting colorful light on the floor, which was also just as intricately designed.

The ceiling was adorned with dimly lit crystal chandeliers hanging from above, and murals depicting cryptic personalities in supernatural scenes.

One mural in particular caught Reesle’s attention, prompting him to stop by and look up for a while. It featured the likeness of the statue on the altar in a more distinguishable human form, hovering in the sky with her right arm outstretched at what looked like Hoshi’s likeness, lying on the ground while also reaching out with her left arm.

“Welcome to the Temple of Demeter, Reesle!” said Mel as her voice echoed across the room. “I’ll show you the rooms in a bit. Feel free to look around!”

“Thanks…” Reesle, who was just as wide-eyed as ever, is still in awe of the temple.

Suddenly, he snapped out of it, losing his immersion as he heard the loud sound of wood rolling across the floor and the voice of a familiar someone, warning him of what was to come.

“Watch out!”

Privated swiftly entered the building, swooping in across the nave on his skateboard. Reesle didn’t have enough time to react, causing Privated to fall off and stumble into him, sending both of them sliding across the shiny tiled floor.

“WOAH-”

“My bad!”

Privated got up, seemingly unfazed in contrast to Reesle, who seemed beaten.

Mel observed on the side, facepalming and shaking her head in disapproval.

“HA! FIRST! BEAT THAT, WILD!”

Wild could be seen from afar, still on his horse, looking desperate and defeated.

He stopped by the entrance and jumped off his steed, entering the building.

“Aww, shucks…” Wild sighed.

“WOOO! TAKE THAT!” Privated’s screams echoed loudly across the cathedral, prompting Reesle and Mel to cover their ears. “WOOHOO!”

“Ooh, it echoes.” commented Wild.

“YEAH WHATEVER I'M HITTING THE GRIDDY RIGHT NOW.”

Privated seemed to do a series of strange footwork while swaying his arms front and back in joy. The sound of his boots skidding across the tiles echoed throughout the hallway as if announcing his victory throughout the temple.

“Ugh, whatever! We’re not done yet,” Wild rolled his eyes. “Later, they're gonna have a feast. First to eat the most food wins. You’re chicken if you back out.”

“I won’t lose to you Wild!”

“Hey, at least leave some food for the guests…” reminded Reesle.

“No worries, Reesle,” said Hoshi, just as she entered the room out of nowhere. “Dual has cooked a lot for us for this special occasion.”

“Yup, that’s me,” Dual chimed in, who just arrived not long ago. “If it's anything food, you can count on me.”

“That's a pleasure,” said Reesle. “Can't wait to try out your dishes. Can I help you in any way?”

“Never a better time, Reesle!” exclaimed Dual. “I’m sure everyone's been looking forward to trying your dishes again. I've also wanted your insights on cooking, so please show me the way!”

“Alright, if you say so Dual. A deal’s a deal.”

Dual and Reesle then shook their hands with each other.

“Alright, that solves it,” said Hoshi, now turning to the members of the Golden Harmony. “Okay, everyone! Let's do this. Privated and Wild if you’d like to help us out, feel free.”

“Aye aye, captain!” said Privated.

“Nuh uh, I'll be more helpful than you!” boasted Wild. “I will outhelp you!”

“Not if I do it first!”

Privated and Wild then followed Hoshi, awaiting her orders.

As Dual and Reesle headed to the kitchen, the rest of the Golden Harmony’s members got to work, setting up everything for the event.

~

It was five o’clock in the afternoon, and most of the attendees were gathering in the venue already.

A lot of people were near the altar getting light food from the feast table. It was almost empty before the event could even start.

Dual, Reesle and a few more chefs came out of the kitchen, with their hands full of trays of food stacked atop each other. Some of the chefs brought food to the table in carts and on trays placed on their heads.

As both of the event’s head chefs exited the kitchen, they noticed a lot more people attending the event than before.

“Reesle, when did we start working in the kitchen again?” asked Dual. “There’s a whole lotta people now. That explains how a lot of the food just went poof, though.”

“It’s been a few hours,” said Reesle. “About the food, well, it has to be their doing, though I didn’t expect we'd get this many people for today! Not only that, they’re mostly the big shots that everyone knows about. Some of them even came from outside Cubecraft.”

Besides the selection process’s participants, Reesle recognized Leader Sena and Frill in an instant, sitting together with two other people of authority at one of the tables. One of them wore silk clothes and ornate jewelry– which just screams that the person was someone of importance from Endpoint– while the other looked rather unusual: a slime humanoid dressed in a detective’s garb. As Reesle passed their table, he overheard them discussing a certain massacre that happened years ago.

“The Ville Engloutie incident is a strange one, indeed,” commented the slime detective. “To think that it happened a long time ago… and to think that Leader Charlotte never even had closure before she left us. We’ll do our best to investigate. Thank you for this opportunity, Leader Sena and Monsieur Frill.”

While eating, the attendees mostly chatted with each other about anything under the sun. They mostly talked about the new selection process and the Golden Harmony, all while waiting for Hoshi, Polar, and a few others to go up the stage as per the event proper.

“...As I was saying, Omega and Tanman both have the potential to become exceptional members of the Golden Harmony,” said a rather aged man in a formal outfit. “Unlike you, Sir Blom and Lady Hoshi, time will catch up with this old man’s body. My best students shall do as worthy successors. Their research played a vital role in the ordo, had it not been for them we would stagnate for years to come.”

“You're getting ahead of yourself now, Monsieur Cavendish,” said Hoshi. “Don’t you worry, I'll consider it.”

“I could say the same for Privated and Wild, even though they keep on bickering with each other,” suggested Mel. “They've done a lot of good for the district in the past few years.”

“Indeed. Privated’s research regarding his archaeological findings has provided us great insight on the happenings and the technology in the Great War,” added Blom. “Wild, on the other hand, has the district’s most elaborate and reliable intelligence network to boot. With him, we will be able to recognize those who threaten our plans faster than we ever could.”

“It’s been a while, friends.”

Another voice chimed in, entering the conversation from behind.

“Blommie, Sir Cavendish, Mel, and of course, Hoshi! Hi!”

It was the voice of the elegant figure of a certain someone dressed in a librarian’s garb. Hoshi recognized them, their short stature, golden hair, and wise, serpentine-looking green eyes.

“No way! It's you!” Mel squealed in excitement. “Des! It really is you! I missed you so much.”

They both run into each other for a tight embrace, only letting go after a while.

“It's been a while, Mel. I missed you too.”

“A pleasure seeing you again, Miss Desiderata.” said Cavendish, tipping his hat.

“Oh, hey, Dessie!” greeted Blom. “Whatcha up to?” 

“I came here to see everyone— the Harmonia—, after receiving Polar’s invitation,” answered Desiderata. “It surely won't hurt filing a leave to see some old friends. I missed you all.”

“Welcome back, Des,” greeted Hoshi. “Come, have a seat with us!”

“Aww, thanks Hoshi.”

“Lady Hoshi and Sir Blom, may I excuse myself,”

That was the voice of a dryad’s towering figure, appearing from behind.

“Your presence will be needed. Join me and Polar on the stage, we’ll start shortly.”

“We’ll be going with Dreamer and Polar now, everyone. Wish us luck!”

“See ya Hoshi!” Desiderata waved and bid Hoshi goodbye. “Good luck!”

Hoshi, together with Blom, Dreamer, and Polar climbed up the stage. As soon as they got on stage, the audience applauded.

Polar shakily went up to the podium, dropping the mic as he tried to grab it. 

“Ahem, Ladies and gentlemen, welcome, welcome!”

“My dear audience, please excuse our friend, Polar,” interrupted Blom before the audience broke out in laughter. “He isn’t the most confident, especially talking to such a huge crowd like this one. Let’s give him a hand, shall we?”

In return, the audience clapped for Polar.

“For today, Polar will gladly deliver the news regarding the district’s new selection process and how it works,” announced Dreamer. “But before that, let’s hear a word from the Golden Harmony’s grandmaster herself, Hoshi!”

The audience clapped and cheered, as Hoshi went to the center of the stage.

“It’s been an honor serving the Cubecraft district as the ordo’s grandmaster. Over 400 years and counting and we’re still going strong. Today, we will be going to change history. Long gone are the days where our district has to suffer from losses brought by this brutality they call a game, and long gone are the days where we get to be toyed by Archiva, thanks to Polar’s new methods. May the Golden Harmony continue to light the way for Cubecraft, and-”

In the middle of Hoshi’s speech, the electricity was cut off. The audience complained, with their voices interrupting one another.

“What was that?” asked one of the people in the audience.

Hoshi then discreetly called Roxrock and two more electricians.

“Rox, can you check what’s going on?” asked Hoshi. “We never had an outage like this in literal centuries. Our own systems are maintained well enough, there’s something wrong.”

“An easy job for us,” said Roxrock. “I’ll be there.”

“Thank you.”

A few moments later, the lights returned, and Hoshi prepared her microphone once more.

Before Hoshi could even say a word, the ground shook violently and the lights went out on their own again. The pristine tiles of the temple’s grounds began to crack as something began to emerge, making its way out of the floor.

The lights turned on for a second time, but now revealing a monstrous figure in the middle of the scene. 

“No… No, not again!”

That was Crystal— just behind the monster— panicking, as her body froze and her breathing raced at the sight of a familiar horror: the entity in the mysterious backroom, looming over her once more.

“RUN!!!”

Crystal, along with many others, ran their way to the temple’s exit, pushing against each other as they desperately tried to make their way out of the congested crowd and away from the entity’s reach. The entity’s antlers glowed and vibrated, seemingly from the cacophony of people running and screaming. The entity roared and gave chase to the crowd heading towards the exit, shambling and ramming its way to Crystal.

The entity ran through the crowd, trampling over some unfortunate people as it continued its pursuit of Crystal. It clawed down three people as it drew near her, slaughtering them in one fell swoop.

Crystal was a few steps away from the exit. The outside was within her reach, giving her a sense of hope for keeping the entity at bay.

Amidst the crowd who got out of the temple, one of them turned around. The figure was a rabbit the size of a man, perhaps someone in a suit that looked like a rabbit.

It looked into Crystal’s eyes, staring deep into her soul with its bloodshot eyes. It then placed its index finger on its mouth vertically, as if prompting her to stay quiet with what it was about to do.

The doors mysteriously closed on their own slowly, with Crystal almost stepping out of the temple, had it not been for the doors now blocking her way out.

Crystal desperately twisted the knobs, squeezing them tightly as the entity fastly approached from behind.

The entity reached out for Crystal, with its huge, monstrous hand. She closed her eyes and froze, falling to the ground as she helplessly anticipated the entity catching up to her once and for all.

Just as all of her hope seemed lost, Crystal suddenly felt something like a gust of wind, pushing her away from the entity.

“BACK OFF!”

That voice!

It was Wild, swinging, and then cleaving his dark blade against the entity’s thick, bony limbs with great force, knocking the entity back and away from Crystal.

The entity roared at Wild, seemingly enraged.

“Daring today, are we, darling?”

Wild firmly grasped his netherite greatsword between his hands, while closely watching the entity, anticipating its next move from afar.

Under a blind, murderous rage, the entity charged in Wild’s direction with all fours. 

Wild sprung forth from his position, diving into the entity headfirst. The entity clawed at Wild, who rolled under the entity’s monstrous arm as it swung overhead. He then slid to the right and slowly snuck his way behind the entity.

The entity appeared dumbfounded, groping the air in front of it in hopes of finding Wild. It looked to its left, front, and right, sniffing the air as it tried to get a whiff of Wild’s scent.

Before the entity could even fully turn around, Wild jumped and bashed his weapon into the entity’s head.

“Smell ya later, pal.”

No thanks to the thickness of the entity’s skin, the weapon bounced back, instead of caving into the skull.

Wild swung his greatsword at the entity from the side, slashing it thrice, and tossing it across the temple, sending it flying towards Privated’s direction from the sheer force of the last swing.

Privated looked up and saw the entity falling from above. Before it could even crush him under its weight, he unsheathed his saber, leaped up, and intercepted the entity’s fall by repeatedly stabbing and slicing it with a flurry of his bladework.

Privated landed back on the ground, kneeling and raising his blade triumphantly after a flourish as the entity fell behind him, struggling to get back up.

The entity staggered as it tried to stand up. Instead, it collapsed, kneeling on the ground as both its legs failed to hold up.

The entity faced Privated’s direction and lowered its body as something began to stir and whirr within its open chest cavity. It then unleashed a blast of some sort, only to be interrupted— before it further reverberated and ruptured through Privated— by something sent flying towards the chest cavity: A mysterious enchanted sword shrouded in a strange, dark aura, piercing through the entity’s chest.

It was Hoshi, who just steered away from the entity after the sword throw, and rushed behind it, dropkicking its back and forcing the sword out of its chest from the blow.

Hoshi then retrieved her sword from the ground and made a distance from the entity as it fell. She then slowly raised her hand, with the entity also seemingly lifted upward, magically levitating from her hand’s gesture.

A strange sigil with a sinister, purple glow then appeared in front of her hand, and with it appeared another sigil below the entity.

That sigil then opened up a portal of some sort, causing black, shadowy tentacles to wriggle out of it and restrain the entity by its limbs.

The shadowy tentacles then stretched outward, trying to pull the entity apart as it struggled to break out.

The entity then charged up yet another sonic boom in its chest cavity, and fired at Hoshi, knocking her out and interrupting her spell, freeing the entity at once.

The entity charged towards Hoshi, who was still on the ground. Suddenly, an arrow whooshed by and landed in front of it, exploding without warning as the entity got closer to it.

The entity shifted its attention to the balcony where the arrows were fired. On the balcony was Mel, drawing her bow back with more explosive arrows.

She let go of the strings and fired a barrage of arrows at the entity. The arrows all landed on the entity’s back, detonating just a few moments after they struck, causing a huge explosion and engulfing the scene in dust and debris.

As the smoke cleared, the entity reemerged, now with some of its bone and its strange overgrowth chipped off of its body.

The silhouette of a massive furry animal; a polar bear, also emerged from the smoke, appearing right behind the entity.

It slowly made its way to the entity and tapped its shoulder.

“I didn't ask you to make a guest appearance,” said Polar, who turned out to be the polar bear. “You weren't invited in the first place.”

Polar then suplexed the entity, pinning it to the ground. He then began to pummel it as it lay on the ground, helpless.

The entity began to retaliate, exchanging a few punches with Polar until Polar lost balance, and toppled off from the entity.

The entity got up but was immediately met with a fishing line wrapping around its body. It was Nightmare’s doing, holding the rod and reeling the entity closer.

As the entity got closer, Nightmare began to spin, generating enough momentum to hurl the entity to a nearby wall.

Before the entity hits the wall, Polar bumps it with his great mass, sending it pinned on the wall. Polar rushed to it and held it down with his bulky body.

Thick, wooden vines suddenly appeared to restrain the entity’s left arm, binding it to the wall. That was Dreamer, whose wooden arms were buried deep into the wall where Polar pinned the entity down.

The entity’s arm tried to struggle its way out of the vines, almost breaking free until Mel fired four huge arrows at the entity, effectively pinning all of its limbs at the wall.

Just right after Mel’s arrows sank into the entity’s limbs, shadowy tentacles appeared, coiling around the entity’s body.

“Just keep it there!” commanded Hoshi, who just came back into the scene. “We can't let it escape!”

“I’m trying…!” said Dreamer as he groaned, struggling.

The entity slowly began to budge out of the restraints, starting with snapping Nightmare’s enchanted fishing rod. It then started to get ahold of Polar, forcing him to loosen his grip on the entity.

“I can't hold it any longer!” cried Polar. “Someone help!”

The entity finally broke out of Mel’s arrows and went through Dreamer’s vines with relative ease.

In slow motion, Hoshi watched with horror as the entity effortlessly tore its way free of the tentacles, sizzling as it evaporated into a black mist.

Suddenly, a strange glimmer of light flashed at the corner of Hoshi’s vision. She turned around to see where it came from, only to see Desiderata, standing from afar as she was about to cast a spell of some sort.

Something extremely bright and blinding emerged from Desiderata’s outstretched hand, with her palm facing the entity. Hoshi has never seen anything like it before an extreme form of magic so bright and so pure that it seems to even match the power of the sun itself.

A beam of bright light was then fired from Desiderata’s palm, blasting the entity dead for good.

Desiderata walked up to the entity’s charred remains and poked it with her foot.

“It’s over,” declared Desiderata. “I'm sorry I wasn't able to make it in time…”

“No worries,” assured Privated. “At least we managed to kill it.”

“Thank you,” replied Desiderata. “The monster wasn't able to do any more harm thanks to everyone in the first place.”

“Hell yeah, we sure did.” added Wild.

“Taking the credit for yourself now, huh?” joked Privated. “Kidding. That monster would go ham on everyone if it wasn't for your initiative. You have my respect, sir.”

“Yeah…” Wild paused, seeming to be in a deep train of thought. He has been looking at the entity’s burnt corpse for quite a while now. “What the hell is that thing exactly? What's it doing here?”

“That is a Warden.” explained Desiderata.

“A Warden…” thought Nightmare. “How curious.”

“It is a blind monster that can only be summoned using the sculk and the power of the dead. A magus practicing the dark arts can tap into the potential of the sculk by harnessing its energy and pouring it into a vessel to create a Warden. It's called a Warden given how they were made to guard something. Once it fails to live up to its duty, it starts destroying everything without a sense of purpose...”

Bang! Bang!

Gunshots suddenly interrupted Desiderata as she was in the middle of talking. She looked around, fearful.

“Shots fired! Shots fired!”

That was the muffled voice of one of the Royal Guards. Wild recognized who and where it was.

“See you in a bit.” 

Wild rushed out of the scene, taking his leave.

“We'll join too.” offered Privated.

“Alright, do whatever you want,” said Wild. “Just stay safe, alright?”

Privated nodded and then tagged along with Wild.

Wild and Privated, along with Nightmare and Hoshi went upstairs to investigate what was going on.

“This way.”

Wild led the three into a meeting room.

“We're here.”

In the meeting room were three Royal Guardsmen who seemed to have recently attended the scene. One of the windows in the room was broken, and in the corner was the corpse of a tall, purple-haired someone.

That assistant director... Xylos.

Wild inspected Xylos’s corpse. Two flesh wounds from gunshots. Probably from a revolver. One on the forehead, and the other straight into the heart.

“Looks like our target never misses,” commented Wild. “Any more info?”

“Our suspect escaped from the windows,” answered Worlden.

Wild noticed how well-dressed Worlden was at the moment, wearing a dark blue elegant dress with glitters on it, just like stars. It was also one of the rarer moments when Worlden finally wears shoes.

“We didn’t get to see how they looked, but they appear to be wearing a suit that looks like a rabbit.”

“A rabbit?!” Mel chimed in, unaware of the situation. Her gaze just landed on Xylos’ corpse moments after entering the room. “Oh. Oh no… What does a rabbit have to do with any of this? Sorry if I was late.”

“The suspect,” said Wild. “Worlden said they wore a bunny suit.”

“Anything else?” asked Privated.

“I’m afraid we don’t have any more info on the suspect.” answered Lyra.

“Don’t worry, I’ll ask for help,” offered Hoshi. “There’s a lot more to uncover. I invited the Hive’s greatest detective aboard for a reason.”