Guild Wars 2

A little story inspired by my friend. Hope you enjoy.

Bloodclaw growled. Why did he agree to come here again? He couldn’t remember. Maybe it was the all-the-meat-you-can-eat buffet he was promised. Or maybe he was drunk when he said yes. Or maybe that human elementalist and sylvari mesmer got together and cast some kind of weird magic spell on him.

Last one sounds legit. He mused.

He had agreed to follow those two to Caledon Forest. But everything around why, was a bit…hazy. Sure, the sweet scented flora wafting on salty tropical air was making him nauseous, and the shiny bright sun that could blind a skritt wasn’t helping either. Not to mention all the undead, screaming and moaning down at the shoreline below. They were just annoying.

Oh right, he thought. Arikyali wanted help in culling all the undead in her homeland.

Bloodclaw squinted in the distance, trying to spot the human elementalist among all the sylvari huts. Kimva wasn’t so bad, as humans go. Sometimes he even forgot the runt was human – save for the short stature and pinky flesh. Besides, this human was always quick to point Bloodclaw in the direction of a fight. He respected that out of anyone.

Bloodclaw grinned, claws already extending at the thought of getting back into a fight. He’d march right into that little plant village and drag Kimva out, if he didn’t have such a problem with the local sylvari. Or really, if the local sylvari didn’t have such a problem with him.

Arikyali had already forbidden him from getting within 10 feet of any sylvari structure. But it wasn’t HIS fault he got sick and tired of their sweet and sappy greetings. Seizing moments and ripening evils. Bah. All he wanted right now, was seizing undead bodies with his bare claws and crushing them. And to smell the putrid stench of ripening undead body piles roasting in the hot blazing sun.

He was enjoying the mental vision of carnage as two wardens walked up along the path behind him. “Hello,” one of the sylvari wardens greeted.

Bloodclaw jerked, awakened from his daydream. “Hey,” he greeted back.

The second warden smiled. “Seize the moment,” she replied.

Bloodclaw froze. “…do you all have to say that?” he growled.

The two wardens turned around. “Say what?” the first one asked.

The charr counted off from his extended claws. “Four out of every five Sylvari I run into says ‘Seize the moment.’ Or, ‘never let a wrong ripen into evil!’” His whiskers twitched. “Or better yet, ‘All things have a right to grow…’” he threw up his paws in annoyance. “It’s like I’m being preached by people I don’t even know!”

The second warden glanced at her partner in confusion, before looking back at the short-tempered charr. “They are the teachings of Ventari,” she replied matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, yeah. I know that,” Bloodclaw growled. “I know who he is, and how important his tablet is to you people. But I didn’t ask anyone to teach them to me!”

He rolled his eyes. “Can’t you just say ‘hello’ or ‘good morning?’ or some kind of other greeting like ‘nice weather’? Not some kind of preachy imperative?”

One of the wardens glanced at Bloodclaw and mouthed something to her partner, to which he merely shrugged. “Well,” the second warden asked, “What good is a greeting if it doesn’t have any meaning behind it?”

Bloodclaw’s ears flattened. Arikyali would kill him if he attacked a Sylvari. “Well for starters,” he growled, keeping his voice as steady as possible and trying to regain composure, “it gives someone that doesn’t want to talk about the teachings of Ventari a chance to leave. Or ask you not to talk about them!”

The two wardens merely exchanged glances of utter confusion. “You know what? Forget it,” Bloodclaw growled.

“Well, as you wish, Traveler,” The first warden replied. “Seek, and you shall find.” With that, he and his partner continued off.

Bloodclaw’s fur riled up. “Argh!! Can’t you just say ‘bye!?’”

Bloodclaw shut his eyes. “Don’t lose temper, don’t lose temper, don’t lose temper and squish the squishy plant people…”

In the distance, Arikyali was heading back up the road. As the wardens passed her, Bloodclaw could hear one of the Sylvari wardens greet her. “May the stars guide you.”

“Don’t….lose….temper….” he seethed.

Arikyali smiled and nodded back. “Go where life goes.”

Bloodclaw let out a furious roar. He raised his hammer and barreled straight into the undead on the shore below. He screamed and raged, bashing their heads into their ribcages, and catapulting flailing bodies with his mighty swings. He felled about ten or twenty undead minions before finally hefting his hammer into the sand and leaning against the handle, drawing in ragged breaths. “…I feel better now.”

Arikyali cautiously stepped around the guts and dismembered limbs as she made her way to the exhausted charr. “…oh yuck. Gross.”

Bloodclaw wiped the gunk off his hammer with the end of his sleeve. “Don’t like it, don’t step in it,” he told the sylvari.

“You should watch out for your friend, Valiant,” one of the wardens called back to Arikyali. “It wouldn’t hurt if he ‘acts with wisdom.’”

Bloodclaw twitched. “Arik…” he growled, “….please tell them to leave before I REALLY loose it and do something both you and I will regret!!”

The warden grinned. “Sorry,” he called back. “Couldn’t resist. Live well,” he said. He waved and headed off.

Bloodclaw grabbed his hammer and started to stalk toward the two wardens. “Get back here, you walking shrubs!” he yelled.

“Oooh no you don’t,” Arikyali said, grabbing his tail and yanking him back. “You’re not hurting anyone!”

Bloodclaw turned and growled at her. “I’m strong enough to jump from here to there, and drag you with me, flower-head…”

“Bloodclaw!” Arikyali scolded. “Calm down! It’s simply our way of greeting each other!”

“Yeah, let me show them mine!” Bloodclaw raged, raising his hammer with both hands and jerking his tail to get it out of the sylvari’s grip.

“You keep your temper under control, Bloodclaw,” Arikyali threatened, “or else!"

“Or else what?!”

“Or else…I’ll tell Kimva…”

Bloodclaw glared at her. “You’ll tell Kimva what?!”

Arikyali frowned. "I’ll tell Kimva it was you who ate the last banana and strawberry crumble!”

Bloodclaw froze. “…you’d…what?”

Arikyali raised her flowery eyebrows. “Oh yes,” she said. “And he’ll tell your whole warband …he’ll tell them how you really do like the sweet fruity pastries, filled with peaches and cream, and strawberries, and-”

“Okay okay!” Bloodclaw snapped, yanking his tail out of her hands and marching back toward the undead. “That…little…conniving…shrub-head…You better not tell him, or ANYONE, I actually ate those things!! Got it!?”

Arikyali grinned. “I wish I knew about this earlier,” she mused. “It could have saved a lot of trouble…”

“Hey!” Kimva called out from behind Arikyali, hopping down the hill. “Is…everything all right?” he asked. “I heard a lot of yelling. Mostly from Bloodclaw.”

“Oh, everything’s fine~” Arikyali replied, smiling sweetly.

“…Anything I should be concerned about?” Kimva asked, warily watching Bloodclaw bash another risen. He lifted his hammer with a mighty roar, and smashed it down, burying both hammer head and risen head in the sand.

“I’m increasing his restraining order from ten feet to twenty,” She replied. “He’s also not allowed to talk to anymore Sylvari. Except for me. He can talk to me.”

Kimva quietly watched the charr fling another risen back out to sea. “Right…everything is fine…” Kimva repeated skeptically. “Sure…”