In The Darkness

The Beginning, Part 1

I woke up early in the morning. I was still half asleep, but I managed to get out of bed. With my hazy vision, I walked towards the royal storehouse, to retrieve my weapons. I had slept with my armour on, and hence, I didn't require additional time to wear it. 

As I entered the royal storehouse, I put on my black cloak and wore my mask. The mask covered half my face, whereas the cloak had a hood attached to it. I then proceeded to attach two sheaths to the back of my body armour. The two swords that I placed in them, were still sharp as before. The sheaths had two narrow slits at the corners to pull the sword sideways with ease. Other than this, I equipped a throwing knife and a pouch of gold across my utility belt.

After wearing the necessary equipment for my adventure, I walked out of the castle door. The wind gushed through ever corner, finally opening my eyes. I walked across town to a stable where I had kept my horse. I mounted the horse and rode out of my kingdom.

The wind was fast enough that I could hear it passing by. While I was riding, my vision became clearer and clearer with each passing minute. I saw the sun rise with my very eyes, illuminating both the sky, and the way ahead. By the time the sun had managed to rise directly above me, I had reached the gates of the human empire.

A line of merchants stood under the hot Sun. I dismounted my horse and stood behind them, waiting to enter town. The knights reviewed each and every thing that passed through. They checked the merchant's luggage, and proceeded to verify the merchants traits. It took about an hour just to reach the walls of the empire.

One of the knights out of the ten present, asked, "What is your purpose here?"

"To become an adventurer.", I replied.

The knight spoke, "Could you remove your mask?"

While I was removing my mask, I simultaneously cast a spell on my lower jaw, to make my jawline more prevalent. I created an illusion to make my face similar to a rough warrior. The knight, after realising I was human, let me pass through the gate. My face was well known through the human empire, and hence virtually changing my face was a necessity. I wore my mask once more, and passed through the large wooden gate that creaked.

An identification card was necessary for all demi-human creatures, while others that symbolically represented no correlation to humans, weren't allowed to enter the human empire.

I exited the vast desert, and entered a town in the human empire. Here, each place was labelled through numbers. Instead of naming the town, the ancestors that invented this place assigned numbers to make each town easier to remember. 

Walking through the town, I heard various noises overlapping in the bustling marketplace. The streets were clogged with stalls of cheap items, copper ware and food items. Instinctively, I had noticed each and every item present there. However, this was not my goal. I was heading to the one place where every adventurer started his journey; the guild house.

The guild house was a place where adventurers obtained their classifications, and based on these classifications, they were assigned missions. Their classifications were divided into ranks, which were obtainable by working through various missions. The lower the rank, the easier the mission.

After walking through the streets, I finally reached the steps of the guild house. I climbed up the 15 marble stairs, and instinctively stayed alert during the entire time. When I was young, my mother pushed me down a flight of stairs because I didn't complete a certain task for her. At the tender age of 9, I was told to carry large piles of wood from one town to another. And one day, when my frail body was unable to carry the load; I failed to complete my objective. That day just happened to be perfectly aligned with my mother's anger. As I visited the nobleman's mansion with my mother, she was admonished for not meeting the essential quota. She took all the heavy criticism, and lashed out on me. After I was tossed down the stairs of that mansion, I had decided to become strong enough to face such situations by myself. And it was for this reason, that far beyond all the enemies I had, what truly destroyed me, were a flight of stairs. How amusing. 

I shrugged this thought out of my mind and focused on the situation at hand. I looked at the adventurers withdrawing money, carrying animal hides and looking through the task board. While looking through the place, I found a receptionist, sitting behind a wooden table located in the centre of the guild house. As I approached the receptionist, I caught sight of his dull eyes, well encapsulated with his dark circles. The obese man's eyes were barely open. He was looking down at his table, presumably, trying to sleep. He wore clothing similar to adventurers, however, his body was covered in blubber. I stood still in front of the table, and awaited for the receptionist to speak.

After a second, his eye slightly deviated from the sight of the table, and he looked towards me. Then, in a rough, toneless voice he spoke, "If you're here to admit yourself as an adventurer, sign the specific details."

His face looked just as pale as a corpse. He handed me a form, which I filled with the necessary details of. The form required no residential details, which was a relief. I filled the form, writing my name as Andres Mordecai.

After scratching his long rugged beard, the man spoke once more, "Now my apprentice will make an adventurers identification card for you. The board over on your left, will list the available tasks you can fulfil, and will have the minimum rank required listed as well. After completing a task, you have to go over to one of those counters on your right. Give the necessary item, to prove that you have completed the task. If anyone finishes the task before you, well, then you have bad luck. You get nothing in return. Some tasks permanently remain on the board, whereas others are removed after they are completed. As for the rest of the information, Dave will guide you through it."

With sharp movements, the man looked towards his left, and yelled, "Sasha! Get me another beer! And get this man his identification."

After saying this, he collapsed on the table. The way he formatted his last comment was rather rude, however, I payed no heed to it after all the information he passed. A young blonde girl soon sprinted from a counter to the receptionist's table while yelling in a silvery voice, "Yes master!"