Civilization

"SAM! It's good to see you." - Ian

"HEYYYY! It's the man of the hour! How are you? What is all of this? And did you just say Kalani? The Kalani that owns the hotel chain called Kalani Hokele?" - Evan

Stepping out of the car with the help of Adam opening the door for us, Evan already bombards Sam with a barrage of questions from greeting him to finding out his identity. Laughing at Evan, Sam smiles stepping down a few steps to hug the both of us. His huge body was able to wrap his arms around both Evan and me with ease, squeezing us tightly before releasing us, patting us on the back as he lets go.

"I have been good. I know you have a lot of questions for me but that is for a later time. You two are the last to arrive with Rebecca and Sabrina arriving just minutes before you. Come inside to the living room, the rest are waiting there already. Adam, park the car underground and come back once you are done. Also tell Keo, to prepare Ian and Evan a glass of ice-cold water when they arrive at the living room." - Sam

"Yes, sir. I will get to it immediately." - Adam

Stepping back into the car, Adam drives away speaking into a small black earpiece as he drives the car. Patting our backs to get our attention, Sam nods his head towards the door ushering us through as two large dark skin males with black suits and pants accompanied by dark sunglasses open the door. Walking ahead of us, Sam nods to the two security guards before going into the mansion, leaving Evan and me to follow after him.

"Evan… That story about Sabrina, that wasn't all of it right? There is more." - Ian

"Maybe. Maybe not. That is just for another day. For now, we should follow Sam. I'm very curious about everything here." - Evan

"Agreed. Sam, wait up." - Ian

Stopping in the middle of his stride and turning around, Sam waits for the both of us patiently as we quickly walked up to him. The three of us walked along a marble corridor with paintings and photographs of the environment of Haloha, New Straya and Melaka. Many of the photographs were from decades ago while the paintings were even older but as we followed the corridor, more and more modern forms of art could be seen.

"How do you find Hale Ali'i?" -  Sam

"Amazing… I've never been in a house this luxurious before so I don't even know how to digest what I'm seeing. The walls and the floors shine brighter than anything I have seen before and all the art along the wall is beautiful. Who would have thought you were like rich. I thought you were just like us but with maybe a bit more money if I was, to be honest." - Ian

"I thought similar as well. While you did look like you had money, you didn't flaunt it nor did you look down on us who had little money. Never would I have thought you were like a secret son of the CEO of Kalani Hokele. There had been no news of a successor or him having a child at any point of his life and looking at how old you are, I don't know how you were able to hide it." - Evan

"HAHAHA! There was no secret son or anything like that. We just never announced to the world that I existed. I was going to come out of hiding once my father retires. Since I was the only son we wanted to make sure no one could harm me as I grew up so I was hidden away from my father for most of my childhood. However, I knew who he was and we interacted a lot especially now that I am much older.

As for why I never flaunted my money or did anything similar to that, it was because I just didn't need to. Money was hard for me growing up and I only know about how much money I had after I became a teenager, so in actuality, I had a very humble upbringing much like Kingston's. Now that I have money, I prefer to hide it and only show it to those I trust and those that will trust me back. The time we spent together, I was slowly understanding everyone's personality to make sure I don't regret my decision on revealing myself." - Sam

"So why reveal yourself now?" - Ian

"There must be a reason right?" - Evan

"Yes, there is a reason but I will be telling everyone. Don't worry we are almost at the end of the corridor. Everyone should be seated on the left on the couches." - Sam

Sam was right, there wasn't much left to walk and I could already hear some chatter and laughter echoing along the walls. Turning to the left as we got to the end of the corridor, I could see 4 people sitting on 2 long red couches. The floor was still marbled whilst the red couches stood out in the white room. Rebecca and Sabrina were sitting on one of the couches while the other had a guy and a girl.

The room itself was massive, it had the two couches in the middle surrounding a rectangular chocolate brown table with candles and small statues placed in the middle of the table. To the left side there was a small bar, where another worker was busy preparing cups and drinks, I assume that was Keo. To the right was a display of vases and swords all of which look more expensive than my apartment opposite the entrance was a large wall with a singular portrait of the CEO of  Kalani Hokele.

The guy was wearing a black hoodie and jeans, donning a scruffy hairstyle, while the girl was wearing a flowy baby blue dress that stops at the knees with small white polka dots. Her hair was black with red highlights parted in the middle in a bob-cut style. Comparing the two was like comparing a daisy and a rose but for some reason, it fit the image I had of them.

"Kingston? Nina?" - Ian

Turning towards us as both Evan and I turn the corner, I accidentally spoke their names. However, the moment I do, the both of them smiled and waved to us excitedly.

"IAN! EVAN! COME COME!" - Kingston

"Oh my god! Iannnnn! Evannnnn! How are the two of you??"  - Nina

"NO WAY! This is what the both of you looked like? And how did I know you were going to come in a hoodie and jeans, Kingston?" - Evan

"It's my style, Evan. Cheap and humble but still looking good~" - Kingston

"I don't know about the looking good part but OKAY!" - Sabrina

"Sabrina! Don't hurt the guy's feelings. He doesn't know any better." - Rebecca

"What is this attack?!" - Kingston

"I think you look great. Both of you." - Ian

"See, see. That's what I need. None of this negative crap. Positivity is key." - Kingston

"Thank you, Ian. You look pretty good yourself. I heard Rebecca helped you though." - Nina

"Uhh… Maybe." - Ian

"Girl, all I do is help him. Hahaha!" - Rebecca

Small talk and laughter erupted in the room as we introduced each other since this was the first time we all met up. Sam joined in the conversation as well as the organizer of the event and slowly we all warmed up to everyone, talking to each other as if it was a group chat. Keo, who was wearing the same clothes as Adam and Eve, came to all of us one by one serving us refreshments as well as some light snacks which we took and indulge ourselves in as we wait for Adam and Eve to come back.

After about 30 minutes, the pair walked in and talked to Sam on the side, I assume they were reporting to Sam about their job, as Sam's expression never changed from his happy tone. With a nod, the pair stood off to the side while Sam grabbed our attention. In addition, the wall with the portrait, slowly transformed. The portrait sunk into the wall, before moving to the side as the whole wall parts in the middle revealing a screen that covers the whole wall.

On the screen, was the Settlement home page and Sam stood underneath, with a serious expression. As we quiet down, turning towards Sam one by one, we wait for him to start the speech after all we were all curious about why we were here.

"I'm glad everyone could make it today, really I am glad. It is definitely nice to meet everyone for the first time and while I have met some of you before, this is the first time all of us have gathered together. We all come from different places and from different backgrounds and upbringing but we are all together. Initially, I wasn't going to get attached to anyone and stay away from others but after interacting with everyone as we discussed and played Settlement, I decided to open up and move forward.

I am the son of Kalelo Kalani, Sameio Kalani or Sam. Today, I want to officially create the guild with Evan as the leader as I want to build it into a larger group with a bigger name. The reason for doing so is that I have information on the movement of the 3 big guilds, Aqua, Bones, and Lotus.

I know we are small, but that doesn't mean we are losing out to the other 3 and so long as we get our name out there, we will be able to pressure them. All 3 guilds are looking to dominate Settlement much like how the 4 Kings are already doing and after this event, there will be a big boom in players." - Sam

"Why are you saying that the 3 guilds will be doing something? And what do you mean by a big boom in players? There is already a substantial number of players already."  Evan

"Well, Evan, after this event, Lotus is going to release their new product. A VR Capsule and with it, they are opening the game for everyone. This was nothing more than a beta test in disguise with the only delaying 'production' of the game due to 'limited server space'. I know you are well versed in the news about the game and have always wondered why there weren't many new players despite the game being out for 6 months. This was the reason.

Furthermore, once the game has more players, the guilds are planning to snatch them all up and use human wave tactics to defeat the Kings. Eventually, they plan to do the same against any other player group and create a trio of territories under their name." - Sam

"But that's impossible no matter how much they try. The Kings and the generals under them are so strong. I've experienced their strength multiple times." - Ian

"That was the case until this event. From the information gathered by both Adam and Eve's teams, they have gained a massive amount of loot from the event and are currently farming the monsters that come out of the pillars of light as if they are goblins. In addition, any skill books they gain to go the top dogs slowly gaining skills and stats. They will eventually become the same strength as the generals if this keeps up and I know it will for the whole event.

That's why I think we should create a guild now and establish ourselves so that once the new players come, they might want to join us and when they do, we will become the 4th powerhouse. If we don't do something similar I know for a fact, that they will target both Ian and me since our names are consistently in the top 10. " - Sam

"I see. You want to create a name so that when they do see us, they will have to think twice before attacking." - Kingston

"In that case, don't we need to be closer to each other so that we can help each other when that time comes?" - Nina

"Yeah, but we are far away…." - Rebecca

"They don't know that though. We could be across the other side of the continent or we could be a day's ride away. They will never know." - Sabrina

"So, what's our name going to be? I like the idea of making it official." - Evan

"You never had an idea of a name? I thought you have a temporary name in your head." - Ian

"I did but like… I don't about it." - Evan

"Yeah… That name is kind of twelvie." - Sabrina

"I think twelvie is good though. It usually has the impact we want for a name." - Kingston

"The more stupid but strong stounding the better, in my opinion." - Nina

"Tell us, Evan." - Sam

"Yeah, tell us." - Ian

"Alright, alright. The name which I had in my head and I already told Sabrina but it was RavenStar. The logo would be a raven's head with a 10 point star as its eye." - Evan

"That's it? I thought it was going to be X_P0150N_BL4D3_X or something like that." - Kingston

"It wasn't that bad… I kind of like it." - Nina

"Twelvie~" - Sabrina

"I like it. Sounds cool." - Rebecca

"RavenStar… Not bad" - Sam

"Then we are settling for RavenStar?" - Ian

"Wait seriously? It was only supposed to be a temporary name." - Evan

"No can do, Evan. We all don't mind it." - Sam

"Right, you have to accept it now." - Rebecca

"Seriously? Alright. You guy's said it." - Evan

"Then from today onwards, we are RavenStar, with Evan as guild master." - Ian