At the end of the dirt path, surrounded by a giant stone wall, was a city.

You couldn’t see much from behind the wall, but you could make out a few buildings. The tallest ones seemed to be about four or five stories high, a lot shorter than you’d thought buildings in a city would be. They were also made of some really old fashioned materials -- mostly stone and brick instead of concrete and steel.

At the front, attached to each side of the giant wooden gate, were two lookout towers. You could see a few guards -- around five on each tower -- milling about and talking with one another. They seemed a lot less guarded than you expected them to be, casually chatting and even playing card games. A few of them tried to look busy, but for the most part they seemed pretty relaxed.

At the foot of the gate you could see two guards, both looking way more alert than their tower counterparts. They were the ones to first notice you when you and Kyle came into view.

You guessed you must have looked pretty intimidating, because they immediately drew their weapons. They didn’t point them at you, but the threat was there.

“State your business!”

You shifted Kyle in your arms. “I don’t want any trouble or anything! I just need to get him to a doctor. He’s in really bad shape.”

The guard on your left, a big burly man with a curly mustache, gave you a suspicious look. “Doctor?”

“A healer or whatever,” you amended. “We got attacked by some three headed dog. I think he called it a Cerberus?” You gestured behind you. “We managed to get away, but he’s pretty banged up. Do you think you can let us through?”

As if on cue, Kyle moaned in your arms.

The guard on your right, a leaner man with a pair of glasses on his face, glanced at Kyle then back at you. “Do either of you have any identification?”

“Uh…” Do you have any identification on you? Probably not, but it’s not like you checked your pockets or anything.

In retrospect you really should have done that sooner.

“I don’t, but he might,” you said, glancing down at him. Jesus, were those burns infected? “I’m not sure if I should shift him around all that much though…”

By this point the guards on the tower had noticed you. You saw them start to talk with one another, a few of them gesturing towards you, before one of them opened up a hatch on the floor and disappeared. Seconds later the door at the foot of the tower opened and a female guard strode towards you.

She was older, probably in her late forties. You could see the bright red hair through her helmet, as well as the scar that went from her forehead, through her eye, and all the way down her left cheek. She was holding a bow and on her back you could see a quiver full of arrows, all of them looking well used and dangerously sharp.

Unlike the other two guards, she didn’t seem to consider you a threat. Her bow was held in a one handed grip at her side and her posture was relaxed.

She flashed you a friendly smile before addressing the guards. “What’s goin’ on?”

Glasses nodded towards you. “The girl and the boy want to be let in. The boy’s hurt but neither of them have any identification. Do you think we should send them away?”

The woman looked you and Kyle up and down before reaching into her pocket and taking out two small vials. They were filled with a red liquid. “Nah. No point in lettin’ the kid die in the dirt. Girl, set him down on the ground there and I’ll treat him.”

You eyed the vials for a second before doing what she asked. While you couldn’t be sure that they were actually healing potions, it seemed unlikely that some random guard would want to poison Kyle.

And it wasn’t like you had any other choice; Kyle’s wounds were starting to look a bit pus filled.

You watched her carefully, ready to tense up and activate your blue stone skin the second things went wrong. You made sure to keep the female guard and the two others in your line of sight as she knelt down and started pouring the red liquid on Kyle’s burns.

Kyle’s skin started bubble before your eyes as new flesh and skin formed from the red liquid. The various burns and cuts on his face healed themselves within seconds, revealing smooth unblemished skin. You relaxed and stood back a bit, giving the guard more room to do her work.

She opened up another vial and started pouring the potion on his chest, legs, scalp -- basically everywhere that looked injured. Within a few minutes Kyle was as good as new -- save for his ripped up clothes and his half bald head. You guessed that burned hair didn’t count as an injury for a health potion. Hopefully they had a few hair growing potions in the city.

Kyle’s face relaxed as his wounds were healed, his face no longer looking as tense as it did before. He even started snoring.

“Thanks, man. You’re a lifesaver.” You flashed her a smile before picking Kyle up in yet another princess carry. It must have looked funny judging by the look on the gate guards’ faces.

Was it because you were a girl?

You glanced at the female guard. No, it was probably because you were shorter than normal. You had noticed when you were walking with him that Kyle was a bit taller than you. Moreover, your hands and body looked a lot smaller as well. It must have looked funny to see someone like you carry someone much bigger.

“Ah, no problem,” she said, tucking the empty bottles back in her pocket. “So, ya mind tellin’ me what happened to him? Those looked like acid and fire burns ta me.”

“We got attacked by a Cerberus about thirty minutes ago. It ended up appearing in the middle of a flower field.” You pointed behind you. “We escaped through one of its portals and ended up on this path about half a mile back that way. It didn’t follow us, but I have no idea where the hell the damn thing is.”

The female guard lost her relaxed demeanor. “A Cerberus? In the flower fields?”

“Yep.”

“Damn. How big was it?” She turned around and made a hand gesture towards the tower guards. You saw them start running around their respective towers, barking orders that you couldn’t hear.

“Uh, about the size of a small horse.”

She grunted. “At least somethin’s goin’ right today.” She called out to the two guards manning the gate. “Hey, you two! Let ‘em both in!”

Glasses started to protest. “But they don’t have any --”

“I saw the boy’s Adventurer’s card when I was healin’ him. And the girl’s gettin’ her card right now.” She turned to you and gestured towards the base of the tower. “Come on, let’s get ya all registered. Shouldn’t take too long, so long as yer not a criminal.”

You followed her. “Do I have to play a fee or something like that?”

“Most of the time ya do. But since ya gave me some valuable information, I’ll let it slide. Just make sure not ta cause any trouble, yeah?”

You nodded.

The inside of the lookout tower was small, cramped, and stuffy. Right smack in the middle of the room was a wooden spiral staircase that looked like it had seen better days. A small paper covered desk was shoved in the far off corner, the seat wedged between the desk and the wall. The guard actually had to climb over the desk in order to reach it on the other side. And since there was no chair for you, you were forced to just stand there while holding Kyle.

He was really starting to get heavy.

Thankfully the whole process of getting your ID didn’t take that long. The guard took out some glowing red orb and motioned for you to touch it. When you did, it flashed on and off for a good three minutes before a laminated card appeared beside it. The guard took it, gave it a quick glance, then handed it to you.

The card was bright blue and had a picture of a faded moon on its background. It read:

WESTER CITY

Name: [__]

Age: [12]

Species: [Human]

Sex: [Female]

Hair: [Long, Black]

Eyes: [Black/Purple]

Height: [149 cm]

Weight: [40 kg]

Occupation: [None]

Expires: [01/01/01]

“Not sure why it took so long,” the guard commented, tapping the orb. “Usually only takes a quick second. Captain musta given us an outdated one again. Piece of shit.”

She nodded towards your card. “Yer card should still work like normal. Not sure ‘bout the name, but it should fill in at some point. Anyone asks, tell ‘em that there was a mistake in the Computing Orb.”

You barely paid attention to her, too preoccupied with the fact that you were twelve years old.

You may not remember much of anything about yourself, but you knew for a fact that you were older than twelve. Someone must have done something to you to make you de-age. Maybe a curse or a spell or a de-aging ray or something irritating and stupid like that.

Oh fuck this.

You were gonna figure out how to fix this. No way in hell were you gonna stay a child. No one took children seriously, and being a literal child meant that getting a job would be twice as hard.

Because you needed a job. It wasn’t like you knew anyone in town, and something told you that Kyle was just as broke as you were. You had no name, no place to stay, no money, and no real prospects to begin with. And being a child on top of all of that made an already horrible situation even worse.

Maybe you could spend some time in an orphanage? A church maybe?

“Do you know where the nearest orphanage is? Or church?”

The guard looked confused for a second before a look of realization came over her. Then she gave you a look of pity. “The orphanage and church are overcrowded. Last I heard they’re not lookin’ to take anyone else these days. If yer lookin’ for a place to stay, then ya best head on over to Mary’s Inn. The girl’s got a soft spot for kids like you, though ya’ll hafta work if ya wanna stay there more than a couple of days.”

Perfect. “Do you have directions?”

“Eh, sure. But ya might wanna drop yer friend off at the Guild first. Most of the Adventurers have a room there. It should be next to the…”

The guard gave you directions to the Adventurer’s Guild, along with directions to Mary’s Inn and then sent you on your way. The two guards at the gate gave you suspicious looks as they were opening the gate for you, but otherwise didn’t do anything to stop you.

The first thought that came to mind when you stepped foot into the city was, “Wow, this actually is fantasy land, huh?”

There were people dressed up in commoner’s fantasy wear, people dressed up in armor and holding swords, people whom you could only assume to be wizards and magic users dressed up in fancy cloaks and billowing robes, and people dressed up in fancy clothing that could only be the rich or nobility. You saw normal animals like horses, donkies, dogs, chickens, and pigs being led around -- and then you saw things like floating eyeballs, birds that seemed to be made of water, and a bouncing blob that may or may not have been a slime.

There weren’t any classic fantasy races running around though; just humans and their sometimes odd, magical pets.

When you started walking into the crowd you could see little shops and buildings, each advertising their wares. Some shops sold weapons, some equipment, some armor, some potions, and others food, clothes, and basic necessities. A few of them looked like restaurants and bars, and through the windows you could see hungry and messy customers wolfing down food and booze while the waiters and waitresses rushed back and forth with their orders. Some of the buildings were inns while others seemed to be houses stuck in the middle of all the shops and businesses.

And as a result of so many buildings and stores, there were a lot of back alleys and dark corners in between buildings. You couldn’t see anything bad happening, but then again it was the middle of the day. Nighttime was probably another story.

Because this was a medieval fantasy land, there weren’t any street signs that you could use to help guide you. All you had were the guard’s directions and some vague landmarks to help you figure out where everything was. As a result, you spent a lot of time just wandering around trying to find your way.

You got a lot of strange looks as you were going by. Probably because the sight of a twelve year old girl -- twelve! You were twelve! -- carrying someone at least two years older than her looked more than a little weird. No one stopped you thankfully, but you could tell that a few of the passerby wanted to question you.

It was when your arms started to really hurt that you finally came across a building that was, according to the sign, the Adventurer’s Guild.

It was a lot more simple than you’d thought it would be. A simple stone building, almost box-like in form, with wooden double doors and a sign that said “Adventurer’s Guild” on the front in small letters. There were no windows and no elaborate decorations or statues. The whole building had an aura of practicality to it, of function over form.

The inside was pretty much the same. It had stone floors, wooden tables for people to sit in, and a bunch of wooden front desks. The only thing unusual about the place was the glowing yellow orbs that served as light bulbs and the Adventurers.

They came in all shapes and sizes: big bulky guys with swords more than half your height, beautiful scantily clad women with auras of power and mystery, dark cloaked figures who seemed to disappear from your sight the moment you took your eyes off them, cheerful teenagers covered in blood and gore, and in one case some guy dressed up as a clown. No two people looked the same here, and everyone seemed to have their own original looks, weapons, and clothes.

When you walked inside and headed straight for the front desk, you felt a lot of eyes staring at you. You, not the body you were carrying in your arms.

Which, when you really thought about it, made sense. You already saw a few people sitting down at tables while covered in blood; it must be a common thing for banged up people to walk into the Guild. Twelve year old girls though -- and you still couldn’t get over that -- were probably far less common.

The receptionist at the front desk didn’t seem to think you were a rare occurrence, judging by the professional smile she wore on her face. Either that or she was just good at hiding her emotions. “Welcome to the Adventurer’s Guild! How can I help you today?”

“Hi, I’d like to return this person?” You held Kyle up. “He helped me out a while ago, but passed out from his wounds. One of the guards at the gate healed him up, so now I’m trying to drop him off.”

“Oh yes! I believe we just got an alert about something of that nature.” The receptionist took out a piece of paper. “According to this you were attacked by a... baby Cerberus, correct?”

“Yep.”

“In the flower fields?”

“Yep.”

“And this is…”

“Kyle Winters.”

“Hmm…” You saw her riffle through a pile of papers. “Ah yes, our most recent Rank F recruit! Just registered a few days ago from the looks of it. Recently took on a…” She frowned. “Hmm, a Rank E quest? Well that’s not good…”

You glanced down at Kyle. “Did he do something wrong?”

The receptionist hesitated. “Well… not necessarily. Most Rank F Adventurers tend to... bite off a bit more than they can chew, so to speak. They’re usually young and new, and unaware of their limits. So it’s up to the receptionists to approve or disapprove any quests they choose to take. A Rank F Adventurer -- who had only been one for less than a week mind you -- should have been denied this quest outright.” She narrowed her eyes. “Whoever approved him were either very incompetent... or held a grudge.”

Well shit. “Is he gonna be okay if I leave him here?”

“Hmm?” Noticing your concern, the receptionist smiled. “Oh don’t worry! It shouldn’t take long for the culprit to be found on our end. Such examples of incompetence or grudge holding are,” her voice took on a more menacing tone, “not tolerated here at the Guild. Ever.”

“Right…”

“In the meantime, why don’t we take Mr. Winters off your hands for you? Guards!”

There was a sudden puff of black smoke and a pair of guards wearing black armor appeared out of nowhere. They were big, bulky, and wearing helmets that made them look more than a little intimidating. Didn’t help that their swords looked sharp enough to cut you in half with a single swing.

“Can you please take Mr. Winters back to his room? It should be guest room ninety-nine.”

They roughly took Kyle from your arms in quick, jerky movements. Almost robotic in a way.

They both nodded at the receptionist and, with another puff of smoke, they disappeared.

Well, you guess that’s done.

You were gonna miss Kyle. Sure he was unconscious seventy percent of the time you knew him, but he seemed like a nice enough guy. Really enthusiastic and brave, if a bit reckless.

At least you could focus on yourself from now on. Namely, the whole being-homeless-jobless-and-an-amnesiac-twelve-year-old thing.

...seriously, twelve. Twelve years old. What complete and total bullshit.

“And here’s your reward!”

“Huh?” You blinked and noticed that a small bag was placed in front of you. Judging from the size, shape, and the sound of it, the bag was probably filled with coins. “Shouldn’t you give that to Kyle?”

“Were you the one to carry the Adventurer all the way back to the Wester Gate?” she asked.

“Well yeah, but --”

“And were you the one to let the guards know of the baby Cerberus on the loose in the flower fields?”

“...yeah, but --”

“Then this reward belongs to you!” she said cheerfully, before pushing the small bag towards you. “Make sure to spend it wisely! Thank you and have a good day!”

A part of you was tempted to argue. A bigger, more dominant, more practical part of you said not to look a gift horse in the mouth and take the money. So you took the money.

It was only when you left the Guild and were halfway to Mary’s Inn that it occured to you that you didn’t know how much money you had, what the coins looked like, or even how much each coin was worth.

You looked inside the bag. A large silver coin, six steel coins, four coins that looked to be made out of nickel, five copper coins, a bronze coin, and a wooden coin. Carved onto the front of each of the coins was an elaborate picture of a sun. On the back, an eye.

If you had to guess, the silver one was probably the most expensive. Followed by… the steel one maybe? Or maybe the nickel ones are the second most expensive. The wooden one is definitely the least expensive though, since it's just normal wood. Then a step above that would be copper? Or maybe bronze? Damn, you didn’t know which one was rarer…

You were so lost in thought over your money that you ended up running into someone.

“Oops! I’m sorry, I --”

You tensed up, your skin immediately turning blue and stony. Just in time, because you felt a large meaty arm slam into your neck, hard enough to push you back a few meters and almost knock you off your feet completely.

“What the fuck,” you snarled, clutching your throat. You made sure to keep yourself tensed up, just in case you got attacked again. “The fuck was that for?!”

“What are you doing here, girl?” A tall, blond man with muscles the size of your head stared down at you with dismissive, scornful eyes. He was wearing a worn apron, tattered pants, and nothing else. “Come to take advantage of us like all the other street rats? Hmm?”

You realized that at some point you had reached Mary’s Inn and were about to walk through the door -- at least until you got clotheslined by a blond, muscle headed asshole.

Said asshole was eying your bag of money. “Did you steal that, girl? Hmm? A rat like you wouldn’t know an honest living if it ran up and punched you in the face.”

He made as if to grab it and you tensed up even more, ready to claw his fucking eyes out --

“John! Stop it!”

A young blonde woman practically tackled the asshole named John, forcing him to stumble away from you. You made sure to keep the asshole in your line of sight, your skin still blue. “What are you doing?! She’s just a child!”

“A street rat’s more like it!” He roughly pushed the woman off of his arm. “I won’t stand for it any more, Mary! I’m not letting you waste all our hard earned gold on a buncha rats who haven’t worked a day in their lives! We’re already five gold in debt because of you already, and I’m not wasting the rest of my life away paying for more brats!”

“John --” the woman pleaded.

The asshole known as John ignored her and turned to you. “Now you go on and get, you hear me! We don’t want your kind around --”

“John please! There’s no need for this!” Mary cried, looking close to tears.

“Shut the hell up Mary!” he bellowed. He whipped towards you and pointed a finger in your face. “You see what you’ve done?! You’ve upset my poor wife! Rats like you are nothing more than vermin! And we kill our vermin around these parts!”

“John!”

“Now I’m gonna say this one more time! You get the hell outta here before I --”

“Go fuck yourself you fat bastard!” you said, giving him the finger. “I don’t need your charity! I was just looking for a place to stay but hell, if you don’t want my hard earned money then it’s all on you! I’ll just go find another inn to stay at!”

You gave him the finger again and and stalked off in a random direction. You could still hear the two of them arguing long after you rounded a street corner.

What an asshole. Who closelines a kid like that? If you had been anyone else, you would have been seriously hurt! And who the hell talks to a homeless kid like that? They can’t help being homeless! Getting a job isn’t exactly easy these days, especially when you’re a fucking child! And who the hell talks about killing children like that? What is he gonna kick puppies too? God, what a dick!

You spent a while just stomping around in random directions, too pissed off to think straight. It took you awhile to cool down enough to get back to your original task: finding a place to stay.

Despite what the female guard said about the church and orphanage, you decided to go there first just to see if they had a place for you. You still didn’t know how much money you had or even what each of the coins was worth; for all you knew, you might only have enough to get you a small meal. And even if you did have enough money to get a place to stay... well, you wanted to conserve as much of it as possible. At least until you could get yourself some kind of job.

After asking a few people for directions, you managed to find your way to your first destination of the day: the orphanage. And what you saw there was...well...

The building itself looked decent, and the matron in charge looked like a nice enough woman. The problem was that there were just too many kids -- over fifty of them from the looks of it. The building looked like it could only fit maybe two families at the most, meaning that a lot of the kids were forced to pile inside the rooms like sardines. A few of them were even forced to sleep outside since there just wasn’t any more room.

The kids themselves looked as well taken care of as they could possibly be in their situation -- which was not very. Most of them looked thin and sickly, having clearly not eaten in a while. Some of them were unable to get out of their beds -- which were pretty much blankets on a cold stone floor -- while others just kind of stared into space, their eyes looking blank and lifeless. A few of them tried to play games and have some fun, but you could tell that something else was on their minds. Namely, hunger.

The matron didn’t look any better than the kids she was caring for. You got the sense that she would collapse at any second and was just barely managing to hold it together to talk with you. She tried to put on a cheerful appearance, but you knew that she was dreading the thought of taking another child in.

The look of relief she gave you when you said that you planned on staying somewhere else was honestly heartbreaking.

After that whole eye opening and uncomfortable ordeal, you decided to head on down to the church to see if they’ll be willing to take you in. Churches were all about helping the needy and helpless, right? And you were pretty needy and helpless right now.

You had to ask more than a few passersby for help, since apparently the church moved to a different building a few months ago. A pudgy, old man who looked like a blacksmith even told you some information about the church after noticing how interested you were. Apparently it was called the Church of Gaia, and represented the religion that worshiped the Goddess of Life. From what the blacksmith told you it was pretty overcrowded, though not as unmanageably overcrowded as the orphanage. Moreover, the church was willing to take in any outsiders and children -- for a price. Essentially you would have to convert to their religion if you wanted to stay there for more than a day -- something that you were a bit leery about. You weren’t exactly the most religious person.

Still, beggars can’t be choosers and, after getting some better directions, you found yourself standing in front of the church.

The building itself looked gorgeous. Luscious green lawns and perfectly trimmed bushes, a marble pathway surrounded by flowers of all colors, elegant trees that gently dropped flowers onto the path as you walked, and in the center a giant, beautifully decorated church. The building had all sorts of neat and artistic designs painted on the front, far from the clean white you were expecting. The stained glass seemed to twinkle in the afternoon light, while the large wooden doors had all sorts of images carefully carved with unique artistic flair. The interior was just as stunning, giving you the impression of walking into both a palace and an art exhibit. It was full of marble statues, beautiful paintings, elaborate carvings -- the place was honestly a work of art.

“Can I help you?”

You stared.

A young man in his twenties was walking towards you, wearing a bright yellow and green priest robe that hurt your eyes. He had long hair that started out green near the scalp and ended up fading into a bright yellow at the edges. Even his eyes matched his color scheme, his left being bright yellow while the right was bright green.

Honestly, he looked like a walking lime. Or a can of 7-Up. You couldn’t help but find his appearance a bit out of place compared to all of the classy and artful decorations that made up the church.

“Excuse me? Child, can I help you?”

You were so busy staring at his weird getup that you almost didn’t answer. “Uh…yeah. I was kinda looking for a place to stay. I don’t have anywhere else to go, and --”

The man raised a hand. You noticed that his nails were painted green and yellow too. “Ah, say no more. Please, come with me and I will help you find your place.”

He turned and walked away, not even bothering to wait for your response. With lack of anything better to do, you followed him.

The man led you to a small room at the end of a long hallway. Inside you saw a small wooden desk, one that seemed to have a lot of elaborate carvings on it. Placed in the center was another one of those orbs, only this one was a rainbow of colors instead of just plain red.

“Please, place your hand on the orb.”

You glanced at the priest. He gave you a smile that was probably supposed to be calming but just looked creepy. “Alright.”

You better not get your soul sucked out or you swear to God --

When you placed your hand on the orb… nothing happened.

“Hmm?” The priest furrowed his brows and tapped the orb. It flashed a seizure inducing amount of colors that made your eyes burn. “That’s odd. Try it again.”

You did it again. Nothing.

He frowned. “That’s not -- hmm.” He tapped it again just to make sure it was working. You made sure to look away this time. “Perhaps we should use a different Computing Orb.”

He reached into a desk drawer and took out another orb. It looked exactly the same, only slightly larger. “Please try this one.”

“Alright.” You placed your hand on the orb and --

*FWOOSH*

Without warning, a squid appeared in the middle of the priest’s office.

It was gigantic, easily taking up most of the room with most of its mass settling on the priest’s desk. Its ten eyes were filled with a mild curiosity, while its bright red skin reminded you of freshly picked tomatoes.

It was also on fire.

“What the fuck?” said the priest.

“Blrb,” said the gigantic, ten-eyed, bright red, fiery squid.