A/n: This story beings in the months after the X791 Grand Magic Games/Eclipse arc. There won't be any canon interaction as of yet, so assume events thereafter will be ignored.

#The following has been revised since I first published it. I wasn't terribly happy with a couple of things, so some scenes have been altered, only slightly, and some spelling/grammar stuff changed. The OC form has changed a little too, but only to add a heading or two, nothing drastic.#

OCs Introduced:

Wyvern, Master Kami and Morph - TheMagiSpirit

17th August X791 - The Ruins of Old Oleander - Almost Midnight

The wind whistled through the shattered shell of the ruined building. Overhead, the full moon cast a pale glow across the land. No animal dared venture out of their nest or burrows on a night as cold as this. And yet a middle aged woman, bundled up against the frigid air, peered around the crumbling room she found herself in. She picked her way through the fallen masonry and across the piles of rubble.

She arrived home excruciatingly late from Oleander market. Next time, she decided, she'd think twice about helping so many people in need. Arms laden with bags upon bags of groceries, she'd arrived home to find the note taped to her front door. Even before her eyes had scanned the final word, she'd turned from the house and broken into as fast a sprint as she could manage. Food spilled across the cobblestones. A cat screeched.

With her mind on overload, she made light work of the short trip up to the ruins of the old town. She could barely feel the pulse pounding in her ears.

"If you're here… I, I have the ransom you asked for." She held out a sizable bag of stuff full of jewel. "N-now give me back my son! Please..."

I'm such a fool, she thought. What if…? What if he…? What if…?!

How had they taken him? She should have been watching. She should have been paying more attention. She should have taken him shopping... All it took was a moment of misjudgement to tear a family apart. But that wasn't all that crossed her mind.

She wanted to be strong. She wanted to take control of the situation, but one thought sang out in her mind more than the others. What if she upset the kidnappers? To have your child's death on your hands… No. Now was not the time to think like that. She'd played their game to the letter and they had to appreciate that.

The thwip of a bow string cracked her reverie, cutting her thought short. A sharp pain blossomed her shoulder like something had dropped from the rotten rafters and bitten her. Hands shaking, she looked down. An arrow with a growing red lacrima tip stuck out from just below her collarbone.

"Why...?" She croaked and gasped. Her mouth felt suddenly dry.

"Anti-link: Activate," said a cool male voice.

The woman's eyes widened when she realized what was happening. A crimson magic circle burst from the arrow head. She couldn't see her assailant, but she didn't have to. "You're not after money… You want the..."

"Took you long enough to figure it out," said the Archer.

Once-invisible lines of magic script revealed themselves across her skin, head to toe, before unfurling and shattering. Whatever the organic link magic had represented it had been wiped out by the anti-link arrow.

"Incidentally, since you can't do anything about it," he said as the woman fell to her knees clutching her wound. "Your son is fine. I sent him on an errand. He's very trusting of strangers. You probably should have taught him better…"

"You… You won't get away with this." She coughed blood into her hand. Breathing felt impossible now but she'd stand up for what she believed in. To her very last breath. She had a promise to keep. "It can't be broken. It won't-"

"I'm afraid that's something we'll have to disagree on."

Life slipped from her with sickening finality. She slumped to the ground without another sound.

The Archer cackled at the woman's plight. He didn't need to kill anyone, technically, but he'd done what he came to do. Nothing else mattered but clearing the mission…

And making sure no one talked.

He took a list of fourteen names from his pocket, and crossed off the late mother with a strike of his magic. "Nine to go… Then we're coming for you, Masquerade!"

19th August X791 - Guild hall

A green haired young man, barely a teenager, sat with his bare back against a fallen tree, the shadow of the guild hall of Wild Masquerade shading him from the heat of the sun.

Midday. He was hungry.

In his right hand he clutched a hand carved wooden bowl full to the brim with what looked like a salad. On closer inspection the rather ad hoc bowl contained a collection of oak leaves, a few ferns and a generous helping of bark 'croutons'. Using his teeth to flip open the lid on a bottle of mayonnaise, he coated his 'salad' in it's contents before chowing down.

He wore only a tough pair of shorts, no shirt, no shoes, just because he preferred it that way. He liked to feel one with nature. Didn't care why. That, and he had a tendency to trash the shoes he was given in a matter of days.

On one side of his chest was a forest green guild mark resembling a domino mask surrounded by stylized butterfly wings. It marked him as a member of Wild Masquerade, a guild so secretive it's wizards wore masks at all times. It was a guild for people who'd rather stay hidden while they practiced magic. A godsend perhaps for some of it's members.

Currently the boy's own mask was twisted to the side of his head so he could eat, pushing his shockingly green hair every which way in the process. Though crudely made of the bark of a local tree, the mask had been lovingly shaped to resemble a dragon's head with two curving horns and a pair of slanted eye holes. No one had ever accused Wyvern of being an artist. He was far too engrossed with eating to hear the approaching footsteps.

"What have I told you about that?!" Screamed a woman's voice.

Wyvern cringed. He'd been shouted at for it enough to know exactly what she meant. As he looked up he pulled his mask back into place.

An iridescent magic circle flashing into existence momentarily blinded him. Before he knew it, he was on his backside looking up at the person who'd shouted at him.

Her platinum blonde hair was basically white. Wyvern didn't know her age, and the figures he'd heard bandied about didn't sound right. He didn't care much for society's rules in the long run, but he knew you didn't ask a girl how old they were. Those were the basics.

Her expensive-looking, pale pink, off-the-shoulder ball gown had never looked so immaculate. Shrouding her entire face was an elaborate glittering masquerade mask which seemed to change colour depending on the light that hit it. It looked quite a lot like the guild's logo today.

"Sorry, Kami-chan..." he said picking himself up off the grass. "I had to eat. I didn't think it would-"

"That's Master Kami to you!" Although the tone of her voice told him she was angry, her eyes glimmered in such a way that she seemed to be on the verge of grinning.

She confused him. Greatly. Such an enigmatic woman. Smiling when she was angry and frowning when she was content. It didn't make any sense. Made him feel worn out just thinking about it. Why couldn't everybody just say and do what they meant? The world could never be such a happy place.

"Aye, I know, I know." He collected his bowl and put it to one side. "It's like you keep saying. Anyone could be watching, anywhere, at anytime."

He sighed. "Still... sounds a bit paranoid to me..."

Kami shook her head. "We all have something to hide here. You should respect that."

"I'm hardly going to let slip who I am now, am I," he said. "Not after three years."

He'd always suspected her of knowing his true identity, especially after all the times she'd caught him with his mask off, but had never had the guts to confront her about it. Besides if she were none the wiser then he wasn't about to rock the boat. Conversely he had no idea who she was. No one did. He doubted even the council knew.

Kami worked tirelessly to keep the guild and herself anonymous. She could have been anyone. She could have done anything with her past. She could be a demon, a member of the magic council, a dark wizard, a criminal.

Though her mask hid the majority of her expression, he saw her roll her eyes. "Has it been that long already?"

"Time flies when I'm running Wild," he said with a snigger.

"A little too wild if you ask me." She wasn't impressed with his pun.

"You would say that, Kami-chan." He sighed and scratched the back of his head, not quite yawning. "Ah well, what you gonna do."

"If you're not busy breaking my rules, Wyvern, I have a favour to ask," she said turning back towards the guild hall, knowing full well he wasn't busy and hadn't been for quite a few weeks now. She'd even solicited foolproof requests, one's sure to tempt him, to no avail. Something kept him stuck in the guild hall and she want to know what it was.

But first things first.

"We have some new recruits I'd like to introduce to everyone. It pains me to say this, but you've been here long enough. You should start getting more involved in guild politics."

"Do I have to?" he whined.

"What do you think?"

"Alright! I get it."

He dropped the bravado, picked up his salad and followed her towards the hall. "So, Kami-chan. What kind of wizards have you dragged up this time around?"

She didn't deem the question worthy enough of an answer. Wyvern scoffed, and decided to continue on as though she had.

"That good, huh? Must be a wild bunch."

The guild master shook her head in dismay of the youthful dragon slayer's antics. "I'm sure you'd like some of them."

It didn't matter how secretive some Wild Masquerade mages wanted to be, there were always a few who embodied the ideal of hiding in plain sight. Ninjas they were not, and Wyvern was one of them.

"I hope so," he said, oblivious of her teasing, "'cause if they're anything like that last bunch, the ones you had to kick out..."

"I'm sure none of us want a repeat of that incident," she replied, curt and short.

Neither wanted to push the matter, so they walked up the steps together and onto the rear porch in silence.

Wyvern soon broke the stalemate. "Like I said back then, taking other guilds' rejects is never a good idea. They're too used to-"

Kami lay her hand on the door knob. She slumped almost imperceptibly.

"Too used to being unmasked?"

"Hey! I said I was sorry…"

At that moment, an elderly gentleman opened the door for them. He wore a crisp fresh butler's tuxedo and no mask. Kami jumped but recovered instantly. The man didn't say a word, just locked eyes with the guild master before stepping aside.

"Thank you, Morph," she said.

Wyvern watched with a raised eyebrow. Like he hadn't seen that trick before. Morph was slacking off.

The 'old man' bowed in reply. His skin bubbled and rippled as he did, and, by the time he was upright, he'd shrunk a couple of inches to match the dragon slayer. His skin smoothed out, his hips widened, and his chest ballooned outward. Soon enough he was looking at a pretty teenage girl, not far off his age, with blonde ringlets and massive eyes the colour of the moon.

Wyvern shuddered. "You're such a weirdo."

"I know," Morph said topping off her girly new voice with a saccharine sweet giggle.

"Are you two coming or what?" called Kami.

Morph smiled and him before lifting the bottom hem of her baby blue summer dress and skipping after the guild master.

Wyvern shook his head and with a loud sigh, he followed. As much as he wanted to teach Morph a lesson, the shapeshifter could wipe the floor with him. Whoever they were behind the uninhibited, unlimited use of shapeshifter magic, they were a force to be reckoned with. A certified S-Class mage with no need for a mask. In a guild like Wild Masquerade that scared him. With a bit of luck the new recruits would be far less irritating, but, knowing Kami-chan, he could only dream.

19th August X791 - Oleander Town Hall - 1:25pm

A blonde woman, dark eyes down cast for no reason other than she could, waited outside the office of Mayor Brech shrouded in her travelling cloak. The mayor of Oleander was naturally a busy man, so to be called in front of him so suddenly worried her.

Be that as it may she had a pretty good idea of what he wanted to talk to her about…

"MISS XANDER!"

She winced at the booming of his voice.

Before she could reach for the door it burst open on it's hinges. A greasy little man with slick green hair that seemed to flick up into unruly horns barrelled out into the hallway with all the grace of a poorly domesticated rhino.

"DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME?"

"Why are you shouting at me…?" Her voice held a flat tone barely above a whisper.

One could even mistake her tone for a whimper. If you didn't know her that is. Having grown up with scores of younger siblings, she knew just how to defuse potential situations. In order to be heard the obvious thing would be to scream and shout, but in the midst of her brothers and sisters she'd found the complete opposite to be much more effective.

And far more unsettling.

The real trick with the Mayor was to make him think it was his idea to calm down and get back to business.

"Hmmm... " Mayor Brech turned on his heels, overly polished shoes glinting in the lamp light. "Come in. Sit down."

Taking her typical stance of defiance, Miss Xander stood just behind the chair he'd jabbed his finger at. She place her hands on it with a feather touch, noting how ratty it was looking compared to his own.

"We have a problem, Xander."

"So it would seem, Mayor Brech."

He stared for a moment, studying her as he usually was want to do, before resuming. "I have a young man in my custody who says his mother was just murdered. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?"

"You know I've just returned from a trip out of town," she replied. "How could I possibly know?"

As it so happened she'd heard rumours, bad news travelled fast, but she wanted to hear his side of the story first.

"Convenient. Yes?" He cleared his throat loudly into his handkerchief. "The boy tells me it was the work of a dark mage."

"Oh?" Miss Xander folded her arms.

"I employ you, do I not, to keep abreast of situations involving the use of magic and violations therein?"

"You do."

He stood and slammed his hands down on the desk, though it reached most of the way to his chest. "THEN TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW!"

Using the same tone of voice as earlier she spoke slowly and surely as though measuring and weighing each word before she said it. "You employ me, near as I can tell, so you don't have to deal with the Magic Council. Of course to give me a proper title would be against their ruling, but I like to see myself as the sheriff of Oleander."

"About the flaming situation, Xander," he sighed. "Don't play game with me!"

"As it so happens I do know something about the situation." She paced to the book shelf and began scanning the spines, just to look studious. "The boy you speak of is in danger. I believe his mother's killer will soon return to finish the job."

"Danger?" Mayor Brech narrowed his eyes. "Is this something to do with that infernal guild? What are they called…? Mild Phoenix Lord?"

"Wild Masquerade. And I couldn't possibly comment."

"He's a mage isn't he..."

"I couldn't possibly comment."

He shook his head. "You rarely do, my girl. I wonder why I continue to pay you..."

"Because I get results."

The mayor snorted in vague amusement. "Aye, that you do.

"Now, you'll be wanting me to hand the young man over to you for protection, and while I'd just love to keep him a while longer," sarcasm dripped from his voice, "I see no other way of handling this whole debacle."

Miss Xander squashed a smile. "You're too kind."

"I know, dear, I know." He stood and ushered her out of the door. "One little thing, however. Well… a couple of little things actually."

She stopped in her tracks and pinched the bridge of her nose before turning back to him with a smile.

"Firstly, I want you to make sure he doesn't start hanging around with those Livid Mascarpone hoodlums." He paused as though seeking her affirmation, but continued without giving her time to reply. "Secondly, I want this to be the last I hear of this incident. Five of my citizens have already died suspiciously. Five! So let's keep it from happening again, mmkay? And I don't want to hear the words Dark Guild uttered anywhere near this town."

"They're called Wild Masquerade."

"Come again, Xander dearest?" he said, belittling her.

"Our town's guild. They're called-" She shook her head, deciding against correcting him for a third time. She often wondered whether he did it just to piss her off. No, he definitely did it to piss her off. "It doesn't matter."

The mayor smiled, revealing a few shreds of his steak lunch. "Good day then," he chirped, then slammed the office door.

Miss Xander jumped at the sudden noise. After catching her breath, she pulled her cloak back into place and made her way to the exit. The boy was a mage, in need of training, but a mage nonetheless. The best place for a young mage was a guild, hands down. Master Kami and Wild Masquerade would keep him safe, at least until she could figure out who was killing innocent Oleandans. Most importantly, she felt, they could keep him hidden. Indefinitely if necessary.

She found one mantra useful in particular for coping with such delicate matters as these: What the mayor didn't know, wouldn't kill him. And what the mayor didn't know, as always, would no doubt turn out to be a lot more than he let on.

Dark Guild… She sure hoped not.

A/n: Thanks so much for reading!

I have a few rules I need you guys to take a look at before you submit:

1) I won't accept OCs via review. I can't stress this enough. Especially considering the nature of this guild.

2) I'm open to any kind of magic at the moment, but I'm likely to limit the amount of dragon/devil/god slayers to 2-3.

3) Only 2 OCs each maximum for now. This will probably change later.

4) If your OC doesn't have a code name or secret then I won't be accepting them until they do. I'm not looking for characters eager to destroy the guilds reason for existence.

5) Goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway. No mary sues, etc.

The submission form is included below.

Work will commence on the next part when I have enough OCs to write a proper chapter.

#UPDATE: I already have a couple submissions but I could do with a few more before we get going. I don't want to disappoint you guys with a crappy, short chapter.#

Oh and I need an OC to fill the role of the boy mentioned in the above chapter. Teenage. Specific age doesn't matter. Neither does his magic. He isn't overly strong, having only trained by himself as a hobby, but has potential buried in his anger. If you feel up to it, then go right ahead!

OC SUBMISSION FORM

Codename - Have fun with it, this is their main identity after all.

Real name -

Age - 12 - 50

Gender

Personality - Quirky, serious, you decide. The more you write, the easier it'll be for me to grasp your character. I want to know how they tick. Every last bit. You know them, I don't. Yet! If they have any ticks (little things they do out of habit), be it physical or vocal, I'd love to hear about it too.

Strengths

Weaknesses

Relationships - Ideas for pairings both romantic or otherwise, friendships, the kind of people they'd form a team with, etc. Throw it all at me. I can only include what you tell me about. I reserve the right to pick and choose here, for plot reasons, but I'll always try and accommodate as much as humanly possible.

Appearance

Casual -

Formal -

Winter -

Swimwear -

Guild mark - The guild mark is a domino mask with stylised butterfly wings, the location and colour is up to you. Obviously.

Mask - Every member of the guild is required to wear a mask, either something you'd see at a masquerade ball, on a superhero, or just something that covers their identity like a pair of shades. Have fun with this one because for the most part it'll be one of the more important things regarding their appearance. Wacky is good. Simple is also good. All up to you.

History - Give me as much to work with here as you can. Lots of detail and an interesting back story will help me figure out a whole bunch of things to do to them… I mean with them!

Secret - I want everyone to come up with a juicy little secret(s), dark or otherwise. Something the OC wants to stay hidden. This should be one of the main reasons they join Masquerade in the first place. Don't skimp on this section. It'll be a huge driving force behind your OCs plot arc. Why did it make them choose this guild and not a more mainstream one?

Magic Type - I'll accept both canon magic and original magic. If you make something up be prepared for some questions from me if I don't quite get it. After all, I'll need to know the ins and outs if I'm to write it properly. I don't want an overabundance of slayers (2 to 3 at the most). It is a lost magic after all and we've already got one. Feel free to get crazy creative otherwise!

Spells - 2-6 spells they can use from the get go, as well as a few extras we can work in as they train and grow stronger. Again I want to work with you regarding how and when these new spell are learned. It's important to me that there's room for OCs to grow, otherwise where's the fun?

Extra - Anything else you want to add? Any initial ideas pertaining to your OC?