“I’ve been walking down this wretched path for 6 days now. When the hell am I going to reach the town I was told about.” The young boy, better known as Sear, scowled as he continued walking, his cloak fluttered softly in the wind behind him.

He had been walking down a worn gravel road for a few days after leaving his home town of Hilljin. He was supposed to be at the city of Lendmark now but somehow he still wasn’t there after a few days of walking. Through the dark brown mud stamped upon his head after several days of travel, you could just barely see the faint shimmer of shiny, flowing black hair.

“This is why you can’t ever trust those damned fools. They never tell you how long it would take or how far it was, only that you would be there in a few days,” He mumbled to himself, obviously displeased. “If I ever see them again I’ll give them pain for making this trip such a pain in the ass."

Blinded by his anger, Sear lashed out and accidentally sent a ball of black fire flying towards the woods. On the moment of impact, a air-splitting crunch was heard before the tree shattered into hundreds of pieces and the nearby area started burning. Seeing this, he quickly began to run along the path, wanting to get away from the fire so that it wouldn’t be linked to him. Not only would he be in trouble for burning it, but he would most likely be hanged for having the power to use black magic.

Black magic was banned in all of Gruflumlor, the continent he lived in, as it was considered demonic magic, magic only used for evil and destruction. Sear knew that it was partially true, as it was all he ever used it for.

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A few hours later, Sear awoke to the sound of approaching hoof-steps. Realizing he had fallen asleep while walking, he quickly got up and dusted himself off. He watched as a fat, middle aged man came out of one of the lone carriage and began coming towards him.

“Good day lad. Do you require some assistance?” The man smiled and Sear could feel the greedy aura coming off of the man. He counted multiple gold rings on his fingers and figured that this man was most likely a slave trader, who was trying to lure him in.

“Ah yes, thank you for the help. Would you happen to know how far away we are from Lendmark currently?" Using his innocent voice, he waited to see if he managed to trick the slave trader. “Why, we are but 6 hours away. If you prefer, I could let you ride in my carriage to get there. Here have some water, you seem a bit parched.”

“Why thank you sire, for your kindness. I’ll happily make your death an easy one.” Sear smiled and stood up, grabbing the man by the neck, bloodlust radiating off of him. The man began to claw at Sear's arms and fear could be seen in his eyes. He was like a bunny cornered by a pack of wolfs. “Shhhh, its ok, this won’t hurt.” Sear once again summoned his black magic, but instead of throwing it as a ball, he surrounded his hand in it and burned through the man’s neck. Dropping the body, he looked over at it.

“Let’s see here. What do I get for my troubles... 4 gold rings, 2 of which have magical gemstones on them? Seems I stumbled upon a nice prey today.” He continued to loot through the man's supplies. On the cart he found a few handcuffs and slave shackles. Throwing them aside, he took some food and water from the carriage before letting the horse go. With that, Sear stood and continued to walk towards the city, leaving the man’s body and his carriage in the middle of the path.

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By the time dusk came, Sear could see the walls of Lendmark in the distance, only an hour or two away. “What perfect timing, I’ll be arriving right when the night comes.”

Sear continued on until he was stopped at the walls by some guards. “State your business in this city, young boy, and if we don't accept your answer, we will have you executed on the spot.” Sear realized that the guard was talking to him, so he quickly made a believable excuse.

“Oh I’m sorry that I look like this, my father had me go with a few people to a nearby village for him. He didn’t want us to be attacked by bandits so he have me this clothing. I have gold rings to show that I am from the upper class.” The guards looked at the golden rings for a few seconds before speaking.

“Alright lad, pass on now, and don’t cause any trouble for your father.” The guard let him pass and turned to the next person in line. Sear walked into the town and put on the gold rings, catching some eyes in the process.

“And now we wait,” he thought to himself. He continued on the main road until he found himself at an inn that didn’t look like it had been destroyed and rebuilt from dirt multiple times. As he entered, he felt all the eyes land on him, or more specifically his gold rings.

He knew that showing these off in the poor district was going to catch attention, but he hadn’t realized how easy this would be for him. Smiling inwardly, he walked towards the innkeeper. “I would like to rent a room for the night. How much is it?”

“A room for a night would be 100 pots, little noble.” The innkeeper said the last word with so much hatred and emphasis that Sear was actually surprised. But instead of doing anything, he gave the man the 100 pots, which left him with only 150 left. “Your room is up the stair and 3 doors to the right.” Sear collected the key and went to his room.

He knew that he had been cheated, but he could honestly care less. He didn't want to make a big deal out of it, so he left the man to his own accord.

Laying down in the bed, he closed his eyes and began to wait for a special someone that would be arriving, looking for a young defenseless boy with multiple golden rings. People would sell information on easy targets for simple cash, so he knew it wouldn't be long.

A few hours later, Sear was awoken to the almost silent sound of someone picking the lock to his door. He was lucky that his magical aptitude had given him very good hearing and sight. He smiled, knowing that his dreams would come true in a matter of hours. After what seemed like an eternity, the door opened, allowing a shabby looking man to enter the room.

The man was wearing worn cloth pants with leather gauntlets and a chain hauberk, which was rather weird considering he was a thief. Quickly closing his eyes, Sear let the man walk closer to him.

Upon seeing Sear sleeping on the bed, the man took out his rusted iron dagger and slowly began to inch forward, wanting to cut Sear's neck quickly and quietly.

Upon hearing the man's footsteps stop, Sear jumped out of the bed and kicked the dagger from the man’s hand, breaking his wrist at the same time. The man quickly recovered with a quick yelp but before he could do anything Sear had already gotten behind him and held the dagger to his throat.

“Now, now, now. Who do we have here? Let me guess, someone from the Thieves Guild?” Sear lessened the grip on the man’s throat but pinned him against the floor.

“How do you know that name? Only a few people outside of it know it exists.” The man was struggling to talk while losing breath, so Sear took his hands off the man's back and placed the knife right where the man's kidney would be.

“Tell me now, where are your headquarters? I know you guys are set up mainly in this city. If you don’t answer, I’ll begin to torture you, and trust me when I say this, nobody will come to save you.” Sear once again went back to his normal self, slowly releasing bloodlust into the air, causing the man to shiver.

“A…a…as if I...I would tell you. I would ra…rather die than tell you.” After responding, the man began to struggle against Sear.

“Very well.” Stomping his foot against the man's head, he quickly grabbed the man's hand before putting the dagger underneath his thumb nail and ripping it off. Before the man could scream, he grabbed the thief's throat and began to squeeze.

“Now then, next time you don’t answer I will take a finger off. Now tell me, Where. Are. Your. Headquarters?” Sear put the dagger against two more of the man’s fingers, getting ready to slice through them.

“G…g….go to the sewers to the N…north of the town. Once there, you… you follow the sewers straight for around 5 minutes. Once you see a large center room, knock 3 times on the opposite wall from the entrance. That’s all I can tell you, please don’t hurt me anymore.” The man spoke quickly, knowing that he would be discarded from the Guild if he lost his fingers. A thieves most important tools are his fingers after all. Seeing the fear in the man’s eyes, and happy with the knowledge he had gained, Sear moved away from the man.

“Go and run back to them now and tell them someone is coming for a visit in the morning. If you are lying, I will burn this entire town to the ground trying to find you.”

Sear kicked him out of the room, closed the door, and fell back asleep.

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The next morning, Sear got up, grabbed his rings and the rusty iron dagger, and made his way out of the inn. As he was making his way north, he realized he was being followed very carefully. Realizing that the Thieves' Guild was smarter than it seemed be began to walk faster.

He was not stopped during the walk and it only took him an hour to get to the sewers. As he entered the sewers he felt the stench of piss, shit, and beer surround him. He continued successfully walking until he accidentally walked into a nearly invisible string. The string was connected to a mechanism that shot a dart with what Sear presumed would have been coated with poison.

It was a very close call, but Sear managed to lean back just enough that it passed right by his face. He smiled, realizing that he had almost died. He began to continue walking until he reached the center room.

When he stepped in, he immediately wanted to run out. There was a smell so bad in the air that it stung to the very core of his being. He could feel the smell traveling through his body, being absorbed by all his pores. He covered his nose and continued to move on. Other than the smell, the center room was quite nice. It must have been at least 10 meters high, with wooden walkways connected to the walls with iron.

He could imagine a Thieves Guild quite nicely setting up in a place like this. As he went to knock on the wall three times, 2 men walked into the room and greeted him.

“I guess you are the boy we were told about? You don’t seem like much.” The taller man responded. Sear thought that the man looked more like an ogre then a thief, with all his brawn and large hands he didn’t know how that man managed to steal anything. The other man on the other hand, looked just like what he expected a thief to look like.

The man was of average height with a slim build. He could tell by the man’s posture that the he was quite agile. “Yes, I guess I am the man you have heard about. Are you here to show me in or are you here to kill me?”

“Hah, why would we kill someone who managed to find us? That seems like a waste of talent.” The man walked over to Sear and knocked on the wall once. An entrance was opened a few feet above the wall, and the man climbed up to enter, motioning for Sear to enter.

Preparing to use his magic in case, he jumped upwards, right into the main room of the Guild.