“Hey! You! Get up, the guard is coming!”

  My eyes fluttered open to the aggressive whispering and I glared over at the cell across from me, where my nearby cell mate was. I could see her standing at the bars like she did every morning and night, right when meal time was. She didn’t have an immediately threatening look, especially with her bright green hair, yellow eyes, and sweet smile, but something about her also gave off a feeling of overwhelming power. I’d be intimidated by her, especially after I had seen her mouth full shark- like teeth and seen the green scales that covered her entire visible body shrug off a magic fireball like it was nothing, but she was rather too over-positive and chatty for me to really feel any real fear.

  I sighed and stretched out, shooting her another glare, “Oh would you relax? Just cause you wake me up early doesn’t mean they’ll come faster or that I’ll give you any of my breakfast when they do!”

  Willow pouted and slouched back down on her bed, “You’re such a grouch when you wake up! Besides, it’s not even like you’re going to eat it, you always just throw it at the guard.”

  I laughed and leaned back on my cell bunk, “Yeah, it makes me laugh watching them jump back. It’s a ritual we have, you know that! Handing it over to you doesn’t give me anything but a headache.”

  Willow gasped and put on a fake mask of offense, “What do you mean by that? You are my only form of companionship, of course I would want to thank you! All these other prison cellmates are either empty or just plain rude…”

  I rolled my eyes and shot her another glare, “There’s a difference between thanking, and spitting each piece that you don’t like at me and talking with your mouth open! I’ve seen wild beasts with better manners than you!”

  She pouted again, folding her arms, “Oh come on, that’s quite the exaggeration don’t you think? I can’t be thaaaat bad.”

  I raised an eyebrow and eyed the pieces of dried vegetables that littered the hall floor near us, “Huh… No, no I do not think so. Besides, why are you so picky? Food is food you know, even if it is prison food.”

  Willow raised an eyebrow and eyed the several splatters of gruel, soup, and meat on the ground, “Hmm… So why don’t you eat it then? You have to be hungry at this point, it's been weeks and I haven’t seen you eat once!”

  I shrugged and stretched out, smirking as I heard the familiar clanking of the locks being undone, “Ah I once went a year or so without eating, so this isn’t too bad. The annoyance on the guards faces makes it all worth it ya know, I’m still pretty pissed that they just threw me in here without giving me any form of trial or hearing me out.”

  Willow giggled and spun a ball that she had somehow made out of straw on her finger, “That’s the guard for you! You can’t just go and try to get into the town after dark, fight and then knock out a guard, and expect to get preferential treatment! Keep your head up though, the violation shouldn’t be too bad, I bet you’ll be out of here soon.”

  I harrumphed and cracked my neck, “Fine fine… what did you even do to land up here anyway? You don’t give off the vibe of an insane criminal.”

  A flash of anger passed over her face for a moment, but it was gone before I could even blink, “Oh nothing too bad really… I just showed quite the rude individual what their true self looks like. Turns out that’s rather illegal here in the town though… especially when it’s one of the nobility haha…”

  I grinned and laughed, “Wait, really? Ha! I remember the old man telling me to steer clear of the nobility here, said they were quite the pain in the ass as a matter of fact. What did you end up making them into anyway?”

  She scowled, but couldn’t help but smirk after a while, “Oh nothing too bad… but, I ended up making them into a Piglint! They actually ended up darting about and ended up getting hit by a small cart though… Made them rather angry when I let them change back.”

  I whistled and shook my head, “Yeah I guess that would be a good enough reason to land you in prison. How long are you in for?”

  Willow smirked and flicked her bright green hair over her shoulder, “Oh that was a couple years ago, I think I have another few months before I can go free. As long as I help out around the town that is. The captain is rather strict, but does have an open mind. There’s a reason there aren’t many prisoners here after all.”

  I shrugged and glanced at the other empty cells, “Fair enough. Hopefully I’m not in here for long though. I’m starting to get sick of this musty room.”

  Willow laughed, “Hahaha you’re telling me! I mean, you do get used to it after a while. Guess you haven’t been here for long enough though… Ha! I remember when they first threw you in! All you did was growl and roar and tear apart the cell! Ended up ripping yourself apart and spreading blood everywhere… Oh the guards were not happy about that when they saw it!”

  I sighed and eyed the blood stains that still covered the bars, “Yeah, that was a bit of an overreaction I admit… but I really don’t like being locked up, you know? I don’t like having my freedom restricted… Though I must say, I’m surprised they were able to clean up as much as they could with a simple spell.”

  She eyed me with a curious look, and right as I expected her to launch into some insightful speech, she launched into her normal nonstop chatter. I sighed and tuned it out, putting on a dull face as I heard the sound of the guards footsteps.

  I didn’t even look up as the guard strode by, setting her plate down by her door, and I didn’t even move as they turned towards me. After a moment that was filled only with the sound of Willow’s chatter and gratitude for the food, they set my food down and kicked it to me.

  They jumped back quickly, knowing by now what would happen next, but I was faster. The dull look on my face vanished and I lunged forward, snatching up the plate. I spun and flung it between the bars at them with all my strength, smirking as I watched it gloriously fly towards the lightly armored guard. They cursed loudly and made a quick gesture, conjuring an invisible shield in front of them, blocking most of the flying food, which slapped into it with a wet sounding plop noise.

  I laughed raucously, before a crushing sensation descended on me, knocking my breath out of my lungs as I was ground into the floor. I grit my teeth and strained, struggling and slowly pushing back against the invisible force, until I felt another force crash into my side and fling me until the wall. I could feel my ribs crack and splinter, piercing into my organs. I laughed and spat blood at the guard, but they were already strolling away, heading towards the deeper regions of the jail in order to hand out the rest of the cell mates' meals.

  I silently laid there for a moment, listening to Willow chatter on, before I sat up with a sigh. It was about time that I got to work and started my workout routine of lifting my bed and doing pushups, sprints, squats, and pullups. Willow for her part was just loudly chewing her food and babbling to me about random things, and as normal I chose to ignore her.

  I’d feel bad about doing that, but by now I had realized that she didn’t mind. She just needed someone to talk to, which might have seemed insane, but it actually seemed to keep her rather stable. The few times that she had been quiet for too long, she had become rather… problematic, to say the least. The last time it had happened, the entire guard had to come down in order to suppress her. They had started by using magic, but that had seemed to be entirely ineffective, and so they had resorted to purely physical force. Which had also been incredibly ineffective, since she had managed to seemingly grown several times larger. Several bruised guards and a rather large cake later, she had finally calmed down. I guess that no one had wished her a happy birthday, so she’d been rather upset… apparently it was a deep insult in her culture.

  Crazy to me, since I didn’t even know when my birthday was, but I guess I couldn’t blame her. After that, there had been several more cuffs placed on her and the bars had been replaced and strengthened, since she had torn them off. After that, I’d wished her a belated birthday, and since then, she had been rather insufferable towards me, though I guess I didn’t mind too much.

  I’d been in this cell for a couple weeks since the guard had knocked me out at the gate. According to Willow, it was a senior guard who had noticed the fight and knocked me out after I had ‘beaten the snot’ out of the trainee guard. Apparently, after sunset it really really wasn’t okay to approach the gate. The trainee guard had even honestly thought that I was some dungeon beast or forest monster, but after the senior guard had knocked me out, he had noticed that I was in fact a normal human, albeit with an odd biology. He had actually felt bad about knocking me out apparently, but rules were rules. I had tried to barge into town after nightfall after all, which scored me some jail time either way.

  I couldn’t really blame them, but I still ended up butting heads with the guard who patrolled here. I got the feeling they were the same one who I’d fought at the gate, and from the first day they’d walked by the cell, I had recognized the club and short sword combo that none of the other guards wielded. I’d begun the ritual from that day on. They would toss my food at me, I’d toss it back, and then they had this annoying habit of smacking me with those invisible walls over and over again. I was confused that they hadn’t used that at the gate, since I obviously would have lost the fight, but I guess that might have been the only magic they could use or knew.

  That had been my routine these last two weeks, get woken up by the non stop yammering of Willow, fling my food at the guard and get knocked around, do the work outs that the old man had taught me, and then fling the dinner bowl at the guard once more before I went to sleep. It wasn’t what I was expecting to be doing after getting to town, but I didn’t mind too much. I just hoped that they hadn’t messed too much with my knapsack, I was still hoping to sell that hide in town.

  I ducked to the left, and let out a long sigh. This little… I whipped around and glared at Willow, who had given up on her non stop babbling and started to ping little pieces of dirt and rock at me. I had dodged most of them using my spatial awareness, which had given her nothing but more reason to continue. I glared at her more, but she just looked off into the distance innocently, whistling nonchalantly. After a moment, I turned around and began working out again, dodging little rock after rock as she began her little tirade again. I caught one which she had bounced off of the wall and spun around, pelting it back at her.

  She yelped and jumped backwards, “Oh no fair! How do you even know that I’m throwing them at you anyways? You keep on dodging them, even with your back turned!”

  I raised an eyebrow at that, but didn’t respond, silently returning to my routine. She really was like having a younger sister, all the annoying habits included. Though what she said intrigued me… Did she really not know anything about spatial awareness? How odd… She had mentioned to me, on many different occasions, that she was a relatively high ranked adventurer, and after that whole birthday thing, I really didn’t doubt her. So… she should know about spatial awareness… right? At least based on what the old man had told me, it should have been a common skill for high level adventurers.

  I sighed and dropped down from where I was doing pull ups. I looked out the window at the position of the sun in the sky and smirked. I’d been doing the workouts for longer than I had thought, probably because of the constant chatting from Willow. Which meant that right about now… I cocked my head to the side, and then let out a low chuckle. There it was… the sound of pissed off boots on stone.

  Unfortunately I was unable to spill any food on them this time, but I had received quite the beating this time. It was rough, though I had to admit… they had seemed almost… sad? Yes… sad. That was it. They seemed almost sad. After they had crushed me against the ceiling, floor, and both the walls of course.

  I groaned and sat up, rubbing my neck and shaking my head to stop the ringing. My ribs had actually cracked from that whole set, even with my hardened body. I eyed the guard as they made their way back, but instead of walking by me like usual, they paused in front of me.

  A low, but melodic voice emanated from their metal helmet, and they turned to look at me head on, “Last day sprite. Make sure I never see you again, else I’ll make sure you won’t be able to make it out of this place before your time is up.”

  I went to make a snappy remark, but stopped myself, “Last day, eh? Well… I’d be lying if I wasn’t going to miss our little ritual. You know what… I might just have to make a stop by at some point. Take you on myself, face to face. See how that magic handles me when I’m not behind bars.”

  The guard grunted and waved their hand, slamming me back into the wall, “We’ll have to see about that. Don’t get yourself killed talking to the boss, I would hate having to clean up your bloody corpse tomorrow.”

  With that, they turned and walked out of the cell hall, slamming the door behind them with a resounding thunk. I flopped onto my hands and knees and coughed up blood, a scarlet grin adorning my face. Tonight was my last night in this goddamn shit hole, thank the gods!

  Willow's cheerful voice echoed across the dungeon towards me, “Aww, you’re gonna be free tomorrow sprite! Are you excited?”

  I sighed and went back to my regimen, “You know what Willow? I am excited! I’m sick of this prison, and I miss the forest, the feeling of dirt and grass beneath my feet, and the wide open skies. More than that though, I want to finally start becoming an adventurer!”

  Willow laughed and spun in her cell, her green and yellow hair spreading out in a halo around her, “Oh I am so happy for you Will! You know, whenever I get out of here, we should group up! You might be pretty low level, but I feel like that won’t take you too long! You would be a great addition to my dungeon group! Ha! I bet Aara and Sylie will love to meet you!”

  I chuckled and leaned back in my cell, a smile resting comfortably on my face, “Oh is that so? You know I’m a newbie to all this dungeon stuff right? It's going to take me a long time before I could join up with you. Besides, I can’t be a part of your group until I get past the first dungeon boss anyways. Got a deal that I still gotta complete.”

  Willow laughed again and waved her hand in the air, “Oh of course I know that! I could tell that you were new to this as soon as they drug you in and dumped you in that cell! You don’t have to party with any of us immediately, but I’d love to have you meet some of my friends! Oh they would love you! Especially Jhost, or Mher, they’re great with nature like you are! Aara is soooo fun, and Cairn… well, they’re a bit rough, but quite nice!”

  Willow kept on rambling on and on and I just chuckled, leaning back and closing my eyes. Tonight was the last night huh? I really couldn’t wait to finally be free of this place. To finally be on my path again…

  My eyes flashed open as I heard the cell door pop open, swinging on old creaky hinges. Oh perfect, that must be the guard coming to grab me. I’d have to be careful with the captain… I didn’t wanna ruin my first real chance to get out of here, especially after having been here for so long.

  I shot up and flashed around my cell, cleaning and tidying it as I got dressed and ready. Willow was still snoring across from me, and the other cellmates were out cold. They never spoke, either because they couldn’t, or because they chose not to, I wasn’t exactly sure.

  I frowned and peered through the edges of my barred window. How early was it? I didn’t need to sleep, but I did enjoy it, so the fact that I hadn’t been able to sleep at all irritated me, at least a little. I peered through the bars and frowned, feeling my night vision activate. All I could see was darkness… what time were they letting me out of this place?

  The sound of hard soles cracking down on stone echoed through the air, and I whipped around, casually leaning on the stone wall as four guards walked up to the cell door. I raised an eyebrow at the amount of heavily armed guards, but gave them all a respectful nod anyway. I respected the thought, even if just one of them was strong enough to very easily immobilize me.

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  A rather wide guard stepped up to the bars with their arms folded, “Prisoner 142, you are to follow us to meet the guard captain. If you try to run, we will kill you. If you try to fight us, we will kill you. If you steal anything, we will kill you. If you attempt to harm anyone, we will kill you. If you do not listen to an order that we give you, we will kill you. If you speak out of turn to the captain, he will kill you. These are not what ifs, or maybes Prisoner 142. They are promises.”

  I grunted in affirmation, and gave them an over the top bow, baring my teeth in a wide grin. One of the guards stomped forward to the lock, and held out cuffs. I raised an eyebrow, but placed my arms through the opening in the bars, allowing them to lock the cuffs in place. Another guard walked forward and unlocked the door, and then stepped to my side as it opened. I grinned again, and followed behind them, one on each side, as we walked out of the prison.

  I gave a little wave to Willow, who had woken up at the noise. She gave me a wide grin and happily waved, before yawning and walking back to her bed and curling up. I rolled my eyes, but turned my attention back to the guards and hummed to myself as I followed them up flight after flight of stairs.

  I hadn’t realized how deep underground the cell was, at least, not until I had to walk up all the stairs, but we really were quite far underground. I considered that for a moment, and frowned. I had a window that I could see out of my cell of course, but Willow had mentioned that it was just a made up projection of the outside world. Supposedly, the only accurate thing was the sun and moon's movement, since magic couldn’t fake that. Though, as I peered out of the windows that we walked by, I noticed that each of them had a sun that was in a different place in the sky. How… odd.

  I leaned a little too far to the side and received a quick jab from the guard behind me. I flashed them a glare, but was more subtle with my glance the next time. Unlike my cell, the view was real, minus the different times of day and night. As I peered through them, I could see all of the people and creatures milling about below.

  Willow had mentioned that the town's name was Sparbrook, which was relieving since I hadn’t actually been able to see anything before getting knocked out. Apparently, they were one of the few human towns that allowed any and all races to coexist, as long as they followed the rules of course. It was why Willow had been staying there with her friends, though she had mentioned that there were still some deep seated biases, and that most of the nobles and ruling class were humans.

  I started humming to myself as we kept on ascending, taking flight after flight of stairs. Honestly, even though the windows changed times of day, it was nice to see all the people and creatures milling about. Though… It was even nicer listening to the guards breathing slowly become more labored and ragged as we ascended the never ending stairs.

  Speaking of never ending stairs… I frowned as I stared out of the window nearest me. We really had been climbing up these stairs for a long time, and it really felt like we weren’t getting anywhere. The ground didn’t seem to be getting farther away either, and the people and creatures changed, but… the different times of day were the exact same, almost as if I was just walking around in a circle… I eyed the guards with a frown. They weren’t even smacking me whenever I looked out of the window either…

  I sighed and shook my head. Well, there probably was some trick to getting to the captains quarters, but I didn’t really feel like wasting my time figuring it out. Instead, I was just going to try and see if the guards wore out first, or I did. I smirked and hummed to myself and kept ‘climbing’, belatedly noticing that my legs had finally begun to burn.

  Funnily enough, it didn’t even take that long before the first guard dropped. That I had been expecting, but what surprised me most was that the other guards didn’t so much as glance back at their comrade. They just kept on struggling up the stairs, gasping for air and slowing down one by one until they all had dropped like that first guard. The guard in front of me, who I assumed was the leader of the four, didn’t waver, stumble, or even slow down. Instead, the two of us continued slogging on, stuck in the perpetual stairwell until finally, I noticed there was a change in the stone.

  Instead of the light gray I had been looking at for so long, it shifted into a more purplish hue. The guard in front of me didn’t say anything, but I noticed the relief in each of the steps they took. Then as we continued up the steps, I started to notice that the walls were finally changing as well, with various different murals of people, creatures, and various different scenes starting to appear at seemingly random intervals. There was one of a grand banquet hall, another of a group of people preparing to enter a cave with black smoke roiling from it, one of an ethereal being descending from the sky, and many more. As we rounded the corner, I came face to face with a rather simple dark wood door. Everything about it screamed simplicity, and yet… There was something… off, about it. Something that screamed danger and… power. The guard walked up to it and placed his hand on the center, and the door exploded into a rainbow of bright and exotic colors. They shifted and swirled around and around the edge of the door, spiraling more and more inwards until they ended in the middle, having created a gorgeous and intricately vibrant mandala.

  As the guard pushed the door open, a deep booming laugh echoed through the air, “Ah, there you are Seth! I was wondering where you were! Well come on in, I’m sure your arms must be tired from carrying that prisoner up all those stairs! To be honest with you, I was gonna come and check on you in another few minutes! After I completed this damn field report that is…”

  The guard pushed more on the door, slowly revealing more of what seemed like a simple stone room. There was a lit fireplace in the corner, a plush purple carpet underfoot, shelf after shelf of books and tomes, and occupying most of the floor space was taken up by an absolutely massive wooden desk. There was a bear of a man seated behind it, a wide grin upon his face. He wore a plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up halfway up his massive barrel arms. He was covered in scars, and his left eye was white where it looked like it had been slashed. When he saw the guard, and then me, walk into the room, a quick look of surprise flashed across his face before he started guffawing, his massive frame shaking from how hard he was laughing.

  The massive scarred man wiped away the tears in his eyes and flashed a wide grin at us both, “Oh my! Oh my, oh my, oh my! No wonder you were able to make it up so quickly!” The bear of a man stood up and cracked his knuckles, before offering his hand to me, “Good job on making it up Prisoner 142! You know, most of my soldiers can’t even get halfway up without passing out or throwing up! Ha, even the guards here struggle to make it up! Only Seth over there can reliably make it to the top, but you look like you’re in better shape than him! Hahaha!”

  He waved me over and stuck out his hand with a wide grin. I cautiously walked up, but with a grin and a shrug I took his hand and shook. It was like shaking a stone wall, and while he didn’t crush my hand into bone powder, I could still feel a crack form in my bones. I kept a grin on my face and gave him a solid shake, casually taking a seat after. He must be unbelievably strong in order to so casually break drake bones… Truly a force to be reckoned with.

  The massive man’s grin widened, and with a chuckle he sat back down, sighing as the chair shifted backwards. The guard, Seth I guess his name was, declined taking a chair, instead choosing to stand at attention by the now explosively colorful door.

  The captain leaned back and looked me up and down before pulling out a piece of paper, seemingly out of thin air, and appraising it. “Hmm… says here that you were detained for trying to enter the gate after nightfall, and after a brief scuffle, which you won…” He glanced up at that, and eyed Seth, who was still silently standing at attention in the corner, “My boy here intervenes and knocks you out. Then he placed you in the prison to serve out your sentence… Throughout which you and that same guard you first ran into seemed to butt heads. Does that just about sum it all up?”

  I nodded and cracked my neck, “Yeah pretty much. Though I must say, compliments to the chef! He always managed to make such a great slop that I could toss it at the guard and almost manage to hit them every time!”

  The captain laughed and leaned back in his chair, “Well. I can’t say that I’ve ever had quite an odd prisoner show up! Ah, well, your time has been served, all I have left is to enter you into the town registry. Odd that we never seemed to snag a name from you… A simple enough process really. Now, a name?”

  I cocked my head to the side and thought for a moment before shrugging, “Will. You can call me Will.”

  He chuckled and scribbled into a massive book that he had procured from seemingly nowhere, “Perfect perfect… no last name?” I shook my head after a moment, and he grunted before writing in the book again, “Very well, now, you have a reason for staying?”

  I grinned and leaned back, “Ah simple enough, I want to become an adventurer! Preferably, I’d love to get past the first dungeon boss.”

  He smirked before writing in the book again, “I see… You know, I get wave after wave of excited and hopeful adventurer rookies every year? They almost all come back within a month hoping to get an insight or approval into some other job class. You however… I’m curious to see how far you get. Come see me after you get past the first dungeon boss, I might have something that will catch your fancy.”

  With that, he slammed the book shut and stood up, motioning for me to do the same. He waved his hand in the air and a stamp appeared in his hand. He whispered something into it before he looked up with a grin and motioned for my hand. I gave him it, and he unlocked my cuffs before taking the stamp and pressing it right above my wrist. Pain lanced through me from the stamped area, and I grunted in surprise.

  After he lifted the stamp, I checked it out, my eyebrows rising as I took it in. There was a black flame there, and I whistled as I watched as it grew and flickered, almost as if it was a real flame. Then it wavered before twisting around and around itself until it broke up into several lines of floating writing. It was almost like a mini status of mine, with my name, level, and job class, which said nothing.

  He nodded and gestured at Seth, before he sat back down and opened another ledger, seemingly done with me. Seth stepped to the side and opened the door, motioning for me to walk through. I raised an eyebrow, but grinned and made my way through, finding the three other guards who had fallen on the way up the stairwell standing there, passively waiting. I grinned at them and gave a half bow, showing them my still cuffed wrists. They eyed Seth, but turned and began making their way down the stairs.

  Thankfully it only took a few minutes to reach the base, and they walked me all the way to the front door, where they gave me my bag, which was thankfully untouched. I asked them where I could find the adventurer guild and lodging, and they helpfully pointed their locations out to me. Then they proceeded to slam the door shut behind me.

  I chuckled and cracked my knuckles, eyeing the town. Where to go, where to go… The guard had mentioned that the adventurer hall was straight ahead, and that there was a ton of lodging around it. He did mention it was expensive, but there were farms around the town where I could get some cheap lodging if I was willing to sleep in their barns. Hmmm…

  I hummed to myself and started wandering straight, eyeing the small, but cute and tidy homes. It was still pretty early in the day, so most of the people hadn’t really started their days yet. Though, it was odd to me that most of them seemed to be covered in scales, muscular, and running around doing what seemed to be anywhere from cleaning the streets, to picking up groceries.

  I was going to stop one of them to ask why, but was forced to jump to the side as my senses lit up, just narrowly avoiding a cart flying through the road, a six legged and four horned beast pulling it along. The driver, a tall thin person with insect-like mandibles and wings waved their four right arms at me and spat. I raised an eyebrow at them and kicked the side of the cart as it flew by, making the whole thing shake and prompting several curses as they struggled to keep the cart straight. I just chuckled and kept on walking, humming to myself as I made my way down the road towards the building in the distance.

  As I got closer, I noticed that the people I was seeing were shifting, changing from those that were out looking for groceries or trying to get their work done, to more… deadly folks. There was group after group of people hanging out and talking, grabbing a bite to eat at little cafes, or making their way towards the grand building in the distance that I had been walking towards. I had just assumed that it was the adventurer guild, but as I got closer, I could feel my jaw drop in amazement as I saw how right I was.

  It was a massive building for sure, but what really made it stand out was the design and the… plethora of skeletons. It was shaped with its walls curving outward until they hit a sharp angle and curved inwards in the other direction, mirroring itself until it created a pointed roof. This led to there being a lot of surface area, albeit angled, where there was a wide assortment of skeletons of various beasts that were arranged on the roof. They varied from the bones of a massive dire wolf, which was even larger than the one in the clearing, a great winged beast with talons longer than my forearm, a massive serpent which wrapped around the whole roof, a six legged hoofed beast with eight horns and no mouth or jaw, a ball of literally just wing after wing, a large dragon, a massive minotaur with eight horns, and various other massive creatures, each of them more wild and different than the next.

  I was amazed, but I was brought back to reality as I was jostled by other adventurers making their way into the building. They didn’t even stop or slow down to glance at the beasts, either because they’ve seen them many times before, or because they didn’t care. I took a deep breath and then cracked my neck. Well, here’s to new experiences right? I chuckled and walked up the stairs and then into the building.

  Inside there was a huge room, full of tables and laughing people, creatures, and a wide assortment of weapons, drinks, and laughter. I eyed the walls that were covered with not only hanging weapons, hides, and various different gems and torches, but also what looked to be several shrines to what seemed to be shrines that covered everything but a board that was covered in various posters and letters. Most of them were a bright white parchment with various different inks, but I could see that some were yellowed with age, while others were dark black and dripping with menace. Some simply had two lines, which I assumed were a request and the reward.

  On the right side of the massive room was a long bar, where the adventurers were procuring most of their drinks and booze. There were several men behind the counter, quickly and deftly taking and dealing out orders to people. I gave one who caught my eye a nod, but looked away quickly when they flashed me a smirk and a wink. Blushing, I looked towards the center of the room, where a very bored looking lady was sitting behind an absolutely massive desk. She had raven black hair, black skin, and talons that looked like they could easily flay flesh from bone. Adventurers would take one of the papers off of the wall and head over to her, where they would carefully, oh so carefully, offer her the paper. Without even looking up, she would snatch up the paper, write something on it, and then slap it back on top of the counter for them.

  I considered that for a moment, but shrugged. Eh, I needed to get my adventurer certification somehow, right? At least, that’s what Willow had mentioned I needed to do… Hmm… Hadn’t she also mentioned something about appeasing her somehow? What was it with again? Ah… khoush? Right? Oh… wait, where would I even be able to get that? The bar? Fuck, I needed money to get that, and… oh wait! My pay from working with the old man for so long! I let out a sigh of relief and rummaged around in my bag before pulling out the jingling bag. I opened it up with a grin as I saw all the loose coins and hummed to myself on the way over to the bar.

  I ducked around a group that just got their drinks and caught the attention of a waiter. With a sparkling smile and a flourish they made their way over to me, somehow not knocking anything over even with the colorful wings folded on their back.

  They smiled at me, their eyes managing to look at me while also darting all over the adventurer hall and people, “Hello there! You look new… so what’ll it be, sprite?”

  I raised an eyebrow at the sprite comment, but after a brief hesitation, I asked anyway, “I’d love a khoush, if y’all make it here of course.”

  For a brief moment, the restless energy that had been pouring off of them in waves, just simply, paused. Their wandering eyes focused on me, a flash of red filling their eyes as they locked on mine.

  Then that big grin faded into a taunting smirk, and they leaned back curiously,“Don’t have very many people ask for that drink… but I've made it plenty of times, so I’ll get that done for you here soon.”

  With a flourish they whipped around again and began quickly grabbing various different bottles and adding little dashes and swirls into one glass. The color changed from a bright green, to a dark red, and then a dark swirling purple. The whole experience only lasted a few moments before they turned around with a grin and handed me the drink. I nervously smiled back and offered them a few coins.

  They raised an eyebrow at them, and looked back up at me, “It’s only one col you know?”

  I laughed and shook my head, “Please take it all, I have more than enough, and besides, I really appreciate the help…”

  They laughed and shook their head, their wings flaring out for a brief moment, dazzling me, “I appreciate that more than you know little sprite. I’ll gladly take them if you’re so sure, but I won’t forget this kindness.”

  They gave me a wink, and dashed off to help another group of rowdy adventurer’s that had walked up to the counter. I watched them go, their beautiful wings catching the light in dazzling ways. I let out a sigh, and grabbed the drink, trying to focus my wandering mind. The whole reason I had asked for the khoush in the first place… I needed to give it to that raven haired lady. To get on her good side… just like Willow had told me. I sighed and headed over to the desk, trying my best to put on a nonchalant look.

  She didn’t even look up as I walked closer, seemingly intently looking at her long purple and black nails, but before I could even say anything, she cut me off, “You overpaid them you know. A drink like that only costs a col, and they will have forgotten you by the end of the day.”

  I shrugged and held out the drink towards her, “Ah, that’s okay. They’ll have earned every last bit I paid them by the end of the day. That last group that walked up looked like quite the headache… But that’s besides the point. A little birdie mentioned to me that you liked khoush? I figured it’d be a great way to start your shift and make you a little more amenable to signing me up as a new adventurer…?”

  The raven haired lady let out a long sigh, and without even looking up at me, she snatched up the tall purple glass, “Well… that little birdie needs to keep her mouth shut… going around and telling just anyone that… ha!” She took a long swig of the drink and leaned back in her chair, still checking out her talons intently, “She’s not wrong though, and I do quite enjoy the drink. Keep that to yourself though. Now, to become an adventurer I need to see your badge and a fee of 10 col. That’ll officially get you the job and allow you to enter the dungeon whenever you feel like it.”

  I nodded and reached into my bag, grabbing the amount and setting it carefully on the counter before offering my arm. She ignored the col and grabbed my arm, twisting it and dragging her talon across it, drawing blood. She tsked, and then with the blood on her talon, scribbled on a piece of parchment that she pulled from underneath the counter, reaching out and dipping her talons in my pooled blood every so often.

  I patiently waited as I watched her continue to write, taking quick swigs of the khoush every so often. Then, ever so slowly, she rolled up the parchment, carefully placed it underneath the desk, and took an oddly shaped stamp from underneath as well. She took the stamp and placed it in the little bit of blood that had pooled on my wrist before my arm had healed itself. The blood swirled and curved, before shooting over to where the captain had stamped my hand, causing the flame to flare up again. The flame roared and flickered, before settling into the ministatus once more. Then the blood moved upwards, filling out the title line with the words adventurer.

  She cleaned off the stamp with a flick of her wrist, before placing it back underneath the counter and sighing again, “Welp, that's it sprite. You're free to go into the dungeon with a party or just by yourself, and the guild takes no responsibility for any maiming, loss of limbs, pain, loss of life, or any other problems you may encounter. Face off against the monsters you’re confident in beating, nothing more, you got that? It’s an annoying amount of paperwork when one of you new sprites dies in the first week.”

  I nodded at her and flashed her a smile, “Of course, I’ll try my hardest not to make your day any harder, eh? Though if you don’t mind me asking, where is the dungeon?”

  A light and friendly voice spoke up behind me, cutting off anything the raven haired lady might have said, “Oh the dungeon? You know, me and the Richters were gonna go head on into the dungeon right now. I didn’t recognize you, I assume you’re a bit new to town? You’re free to join us if you’d like!”

  I turned to see a group of six or so standing behind me, wearing chain mail, leather armor, and strapped to the teeth with various different weapons and gear. I considered that for a moment, frowning. Hadn’t the old man told me that I wasn’t allowed any help in the dungeon? Wouldn’t taking them up on their offer be exactly that? Though… it wouldn’t be real help if I didn’t join their party and they just showed me where the dungeon was, right?

  I flashed them a grin and held out my hand, “Oh, why thank you! I’d love to come along! The name’s Will, and I admit, I am a bit new to the town, so a little help finding the dungeon would be great!”

  The one who had originally spoken up, a thick armed man with a dazzling smile and a warmace and various gold and green tattoos over his arms, gave me another grin and waved me over, “Perfect! The name’s Darnell, nice to meet you! Now, obviously you don’t have to be a part of our party, but I figure there’s no real issue if we just show you to the entrance eh?” He let out another loud laugh and turned back to the rest of his group, the Richters, who gave me either a nod or a smile as I walked up to them. “Alright, today we have a pretty full agenda! First, we’re going to take this sprite with us to the west entrance to the dungeon. Then we need to collect 10 goblin ears, a wineace wing, and a few vials of flipan ooze. Should be able to get it all on the third floor, so no real worries. Now, we have enough time in the day that we should be able to get this all done by nightfall, but I’d love us to get out of here as soon as possible, so Richters! Forward march!”

  He smacked his fist down on the table with a grin, and with cheers the rest of them laughed and got up, heading on towards the door. I cocked my head to the side, and then looked back at the man who had invited me, who had stayed behind. He grinned and winked at me, offering me his thick hand. I blinked in surprise, but grinned back, and took his hand, squeezing it and giving it a solid shake. A quick look of surprise flashed across his face as well, before he laughed and shook my hand back and motioned for me to follow the others.

  I cracked my neck and shouldered my bag, heading towards the door after the others. I knew that I should have probably hid it somewhere or found a place to sleep first, but I didn’t want to just pass up this easy chance to see the way to the dungeon. I’d just have to carry around the bag with me, which I wasn’t really worried about honestly. I let out a long breath and followed Darnell out the door, and as my foot crossed the threshold, I looked back one last time, catching an almost… worried look in the raven haired lady and the bartender's eyes before I passed through and lost sight of them.