Ryan picked up his gear from the lounge on his way back through the front entrance of the manor. Destin and Joy waited in the hallway, and he hurried to catch up. He once again examined the decor. Hallow Song made a statement using their manor as the messenger. As he’d seen earlier, most of the stonework hid behind wood paneling, and intricate runes covered the visible stonework peeking out from behind the wood. The furniture was elegant but not extravagant. Ryan could tell even though the Guild was very wealthy, they were more concerned with function than they were with showing off, and they made sure that any visitors knew it.

They continued down the hallway, Ryan following Destin and Joy trailing behind, not so much walking as stalking. The way Joy moved through the agility course was wild. Not uncontrolled, but wild in the same way a predator stalks its prey and leaps through the trees in the jungle. If forced to guess, Ryan would say that Joy’s ability revolved around something animalistic and savage.

He considered asking Joy to do some sparring, but the more he thought about it, the more it seemed like a poor match up. Ryan heavily depended on the spear because he’d never worked on hand to hand fighting, and that didn’t fit well with Joy’s wildness. His performance in the agility course intimidated Ryan through the sheer physicality on display. Still, it was something to consider, but he put it out of his mind for now.

They arrived at a stone staircase spiraling down toward a basement. At the bottom, they turned into a hallway where a single armored door allowed a narrow beam of light to escape through the thin opening. Destin didn’t bother knocking and walked straight in, pushing the door open in front of him.

Ryan and Joy followed close behind. Before them, weapons, clothing, and various packs and related travel gear laid stacked behind a long counter. The scent of steel and oil filled Ryan’s nose, a pleasant smell that brought memories of the farm and days spent maintaining equipment for Mags. Ryan fought down a bout of nostalgia and worry, reminded that she was still unaccounted for, if she survived.

At the end of the counter, an old man perched over a stack of documents scribbling notes in the margins of a report. At their entrance he looked up and scrunched up his face, annoyed by their interruption.

Ryan smiled at him and nodded, trying to convey that he wasn’t a threat to this man’s little kingdom, because clearly he was a quartermaster of some sort, and if the stereotypes were true, he would be a cantankerous old man who didn’t put up with any nonsense from the riffraff entering his domain. Seeing Ryan’s smile, the man’s scowl only deepened.

“Destin, you were just here yesterday with the new recruit. If you tell me you’re about to ruin all the number figuring I just did to account for all the gear you pilfered out of the stacks, I’m going to turn you over my knee,” said the old man.

“This is Ryan,” Destin said, gesturing at me. “Ryan, this is Old Ben. Ryan is an unexpected addition as of today. And you can go yell at the Guild Master for this one, I had very little to do with it.”

“Bah! I can’t go yell at the Guild Master, but I can yell at you. What else are Deputy Guild Masters good for except for being my whipping boy? You’ll take the abuse and you’ll like it too.”

Old Ben turned to Ryan, eyed him up and down, and said, “And I suppose you’re going to need all kinds of fancy gear to go out and get yourself killed in too.”

“Not today, Ben. We’re just here to pick up a plate and we’ll get out of your hair, what little of it you have left anyway,” Destin said.

Old Ben snorted, his features relaxing into a rueful smile. He walked back into the stacks, disappearing from sight. Ryan heard some rummaging and after a moment the man returned with one of those plates Ryan had seen on the Guild Master and some Guilders on the road into town.

While Old Ben was fiddling with the plate, Ryan looked around for Joy, having forgotten the man had followed them. He spotted Joy leaning against the door, his posture projecting a supreme aura of boredom.

“Don’t think I didn’t spot you hiding in the back, Joy. You still owe me money from cards the other night. Don’t think you’re going to get out of it,” Old Ben said.

Joy’s posture didn’t change, but instead of a bored bystander, he looked like a rabbit frozen on the spot by the gaze of an apex predator. Ryan couldn’t see past the expressionless white mask, but he would bet that Jay’s face was full of regret at having come with them.

“Ryan, come here and listen.”

Ryan moved up to stand at the counter in front of Old Ben. Laid out on the counter was a square plate of steel with a matte finish. On the front were nine circles inscribed in three rows of three. Except for the circles and a larger blank circle at the top of the plate, tiny Rune Script covered the entire surface.

“Reach out with your aura and activate this rune here,” Old Ben said, pointing at a rune in the exact center of the top edge of the plate.

Ryan switched his spear to his off-hand and touched the rune with his index finger while pushing his aura into it. The plate reacted, the blank circle at the top filling with the symbol that Ryan recognized as the emblem of Hallow Song, a multicolored whirlpool or vortex of crimson, blue, and gold. Below that, one inscribed circle in the first and third rows changed color to a dark iron.

“This plate is your credential to prove that you belong to the Guild and will let you take work from the city and other Guilds in other cities. It basically gives you access to the wider network that the Guilds have set up. Other than that, you never have to show it to anybody if you don’t want to. It’s also keyed to you. It will never work for anyone else and it’s unique, so don’t worry too much about losing it. Except you’ll have to pay for a replacement. You should worry about that, they’re worth a fortune and you don’t look like you have more than a couple of coppers to rub together.”

Ryan winced. He forgot that he didn’t bring any money with him from Mags’ farm. The first thing he’d have to do is figure out a way to earn enough to feed himself and find a place to stay. He was so hellbent on being self-sufficient, yet he’d run out of there in such a hurry he’d forgotten even the meager savings he gathered from the wages that Mags paid him.

“This is all going pretty fast. I haven’t had a chance to ask any questions about what’s going on, but now seems like as good a time as any. Is there a stipend or anything for Guild members? Old Ben here is right, I’m broke. All I have is what I carried here with me,” Ryan said.

“Not as such. You can eat in the hall and stay in the barracks for free. You’ll have to pay for alcohol. If you go out on a job given to you by the Guild specifically, then you can draw from the stacks here, but otherwise you must pay for your own gear,” Destin replied.

Relieved that he wouldn’t starve to death in the streets, Ryan nodded and gingerly picked up the plate in front of him. It didn’t weigh as much as it appeared. He used the plain connected chain to hang it around his neck and tucked it under his shirt.

“I saw a couple of the circles turn a darker color. I’m assuming that shows I have two Iron rank abilities. Is that, I don’t know, something I’d want to keep to myself? It seems like that’s something that could be used against me,” Ryan said.

“You are correct,” Destin said, “but it is the arrangement that the Guilds made to allow them to operate as they do. They require it to take jobs on behalf of city administrators, access the Guild networks, or otherwise prove membership and rank. Ultimately, it’s more of an inconvenience than a risk, because much more goes into your total power and abilty than just the ranks of your Key abilities,” Destin said.

Old Ben nodded his head as he slapped a few items on the counter and said, “Like I said earlier, you don’t actually have to show that to anybody except city administrators to take jobs, and they’re tight lipped. Otherwise it’s your own business who you show. Just don’t depend on it staying secret. Here, look at these. It’s more common to run around town with your Guild emblem displayed like this.”

Old Ben lifted his hand and Ryan saw a variety of patches and pins with the Guild symbol on them, both large and small. Some were meant to be sewn on, while others had clever clasping mechanisms meant for cloaks. The cloak clasps caught Ryan’s interest. Butterflies rushed through him as he picked one up to examine it. They reminded him of illustrations of shining knights with flowing capes; a heroic look had stuck in his mind since he was a kid when those types of movies were popular.

“Can I get a cloak with this?” Ryan asked.

Old Ben looked at Destin, who hesitated for a second and nodded his head. Old Ben took a few steps back into the stacks before he stopped and turned.

“You have a color in mind? We’ve got a bunch of lightweight cloaks. You can have your pick,” he said.

Ryan looked over at Joy’s cloak and considered. The camouflage wasn’t his style. It was functional out in the wild, but was too muted for his taste. The clothing in this world tended toward the drab end of the color spectrum, unless you wanted to fork out fists full of coin to get your hands on something with some nice dye in it.

“You got anything blue?”

Old Ben nodded and continued to the back. He returned with a small pile of various styles of cloaks in a variety of hues of blue. Ryan sorted through them and settled on a light hooded cloak in a dark blue that wouldn’t make him stand out too much, since he was still wearing his peasant farmer clothes, even if they were nicer than those he wore to work. There were more expensive looking items in the pile, but if he strolled around the city in one of those with his current attire, he’d stick out like a sore thumb.

He threw the cloak around his shoulders and used the clasp on the emblem to secure it in place. Giddiness overtook him and he couldn’t help but do a little twirl, flaring his cloak out around him. He wasn’t prone to silliness, but a wide grin crept onto his face as he watched the cloak finish its flashy journey around him. He’d already been here a couple of years, but this was his first real cloak, not some ratty hand-me-down that barely qualified.

Destin raised an eyebrow, his lips twitching. Joy leapt forward, flared his own cloak, and struck a heroic pose. He held the pose for a second, then dropped his arms and walked back to the door jamb, swinging his arms and shoulders so his cloak swung around behind him. Ryan burst out laughing and struck his own pose.

The levity didn’t last long. The weight of the road ahead returned to Ryan’s shoulders. He grabbed a few of the clips and patches for use on any other clothes he got and gave his thanks to Old Ben. They stepped back out into the hall as Old Ben threw out a last second invitation for Ryan to come lose all his money at their card game.

Destin took Ryan back to the main floor, where Joy took his leave to take care of his own mysterious business. It was early in the day so the main hall where food and drink were available, was deserted, but Ryan imagined that the room could fit a few hundred people. The seating, while not picnic tables, was bench style with wooden tables stained a rich dark red.

Destin showed him the barracks which, like the rest of the building, displayed impeccable quality but was plain and functional. There were multiple rows of full size bunks with storage set aside for each, and as there were no other occupants, Ryan picked the closest bunk and dropped his gear.

“For the short term, you’re free to do whatever you want. The Guild will have assignments for you, but you’re free to go to the administrative building and look at the job postings too, if you’re in need of money. There are opportunities there for you to polish your skills, but the pickings are slim for the lower ranked jobs, as they tend to be taken quickly,” Destin said.

“Earlier, we were talking about my Affinity, and what is likely to come of it. Based on what you said, eventually guys are going to show up that want to use me. They’re going to try to control me. I’m not going to be able to keep my abilities a secret. It’s inevitable. What am I supposed to do?”

Destin stilled for a second, then walked over to a nearby bunk and sat. He crossed his legs and propped his chin on his fist.

“You’re part of Hallow Song now. It may not seem like it to you because it has only been a few hours, but we don’t do things in half measures. Once you’re in, you’re in. The circumstances are not ideal, and your Affinity is part of the reason, and your connection to the walking disaster that is Flicker, but make no mistake, you’re now one of us and we protect our own. It’s true that someday you’ll likely have trouble, but we’re not without our own backing. I think you’ll also find that the Guild’s goals, our ultimate goals, will interest you quite a bit,” Destin said mysteriously. He rose to his feet and made his way to the door. On his way out he said, “You’re free to do whatever until something comes up. I recommend getting out and seeing the city or hanging around the Guild to meet others and work on the attribute courses. Also, before I forget, we’re going to send some people out to investigate what happened to your village. I’ll let you know what comes of it.”

Ryan said nothing as Destin left. His second attempt at wrenching some reassurance out of Destin hadn’t made him feel any better about his situation. It was an ax poised over his neck with an indefinite countdown that would some day fall. While Destin’s words weren’t very reassuring, there was nothing Ryan could do to make the situation better. It was going to be an issue whether he knew about it or not, and at least this way there were people willing to help him.

There was one thing he could do though, but it had nothing to do with his Affinity. Mags was still out there, and it was time for him to get to work finding out what happened to her. Destin’s suggestion to get out into the city was a good one, if not for the reasons that he thought when giving it. While he was at it, he would discover the state of the other refugees from the area surrounding his village and find a way to help.

Ryan grabbed his spear and spun toward the door, his dark blue cloak flaring out behind him as he made his way out to the city.