Mythical Artifacts

Chapter 6: In Unity

"I know all of you, and I wanted to get to know some of you guys better," I said casually. "I figured we could gain something from this . . . that it'd be fun."

"Kinda stupid, if you ask me," said IcySoulz half-teasingly. "The Sword will probably be found in a few days by some tryhard and this entire thing won't have much meaning. Sorry, but . . . I'm not interested."

I sighed. Eight people left, I thought, though I then remembered that Melon and MineAPI were sure to join. "I mean hey, that's fine. If you change your mind, though, that's also fine."

"Right, um . . . I'd probably better get going to meet with Jess," said Dylan. "Sorry, Flawed. See you later, though."

I scratched out his name from the list of papers on my lap as he left, then sighed. I looked at everyone, wondering who would want to stay — Melon and probably Mine, but who else? Typoing would probably be uninterested; Ferbooper, who I had invited because he seemed eager, might just want The Sword for himself; I had invited Michael because we had become friends and he seemed good at the game, and I felt like he would be cool with joining; JetRaidz and xDiqmondz, probably not, though I invited them because of their intelligence and skill; SlightlyPlant, I invited because I thought she could have something to contribute, but she probably wouldn't care enough to join.

"So is anyone else thinking of declining my offer?" I asked. "It's fine if you are; I don't want people who don't want to be here."

"Well . . . I'm not really up for something like this," said SlightlyPlant, who went by Shniz. I had suspected she wouldn't want to, considering she was really casual. "I can help if you really need me, though."

"Don't feel inclined to help," I said, more to everyone than to her. "It's fine if there's just a few of us. Fewer people will make it harder to find it, but with a bigger payoff."

"Alright, but if you do need help, I'll probably be free," she said, standing up. "Good luck, by the way."

I wonder who's next to leave, I thought as Shniz got up and walked out the door, waving as she went. I began feeling pessimistic, so I tried turning it around: "Okay, so who's gonna join?"

"Me," said Melon quickly, his face glowing. He was clearly excited by the entire thing.

"I'll join," said MineAPI, which affirmed my suspicions. I smiled at him.

"Well . . . I think I'll join," said Typoing.

I began feeling more and more relieved. We already had four people, and there were four left to decide — and surely Michael would join, so that made five. That's a good number, I thought. Five? That would work nicely. Still, I looked at the remaining people, hopeful that they would all join: Ferbooper . . . MICHAEL5 . . . JetRaidz . . . and xDiqmondz.

"Already five people," said Michael. "Thing is, I would rather find The Sword myself and get the entire prize than divide it between six people."

"Oh. . . . I see," I said, slouching in my seat. I had thought he was going to join . . . and he was uninterested.

"I mean, I would and all but I kinda just want to find it myself, y'know?"

"Yeah, I get it," I said, but I really didn't get it. I felt a little annoyed that he would decline just because he wanted it all for himself. "But you'd— well . . . okay."

"Sorry, Flaw," he said. "Maybe I'll join after you get The Sword if you're still doing it."

"Alrighty," I said, feeling a little down. But we won't really trade in The Sword, I thought, and the team will still go on after that, surely. I felt a little better as I reassured myself of the positives.