A low growl came to his left, turning he saw six pairs of eyes staring straight back at him. The eyes were just eyes, no body or fur, the eyes were glowing a soft pink and were pleading for food.

Unfortunately for Marlow, he was the food. Locking eyes for a single moment the front most beast leaped, toppling Marlow over in the process his only thought was ‘oh please, don’t let the egg crack.’ His second thought was ‘oh please, don’t let me land on the egg.’ His third thoughts were interrupted when he ate a face full of stone.

Starving Mist Wolf tackles you for 2 points of damage.

Starving Mist Wolf bites you for 5 points of damage.

“OUCH!” The hungry wolf had bit down on his arm and was yanking him around like it was play time. Shortly after the other wolves were biting and tearing at him. Rolling over, Marlow managed to get the old backpack off and under him, protecting it from the hungry wolves.

Starving Mist Wolf bites you for 2 points of damage.

Starving Mist Wolf bites you for 8 points of damage.

Starving Mist Wolf claws you for 5 points of damage.

You are now bleeding lightly. You take .5 points every second you have this debuff. Time remaining 1:59, 1:58, 1:57...

“HELP! Someone please, HELP ME!” I didn’t care if the thugs found me. I just wanted to get these wolves off me. A wolf had backed away with quite a large piece of fabric. ‘Oh please let the egg be safe.’ Thankfully he was only wearing a loose generic starting clothes, which loosely covered the glowing backpack.

“AAAaghh” Now the wolves were doing some serious damage.

Starving Mist Wolf bites you for 5 points of damage.

Starving Mist Wolf bites you for 6 points of damage.

“Help! SOMEBODY!”

There must have been an angel nearby, because he heard the hurried foot falls of someone heavy fast approaching. He came bounding down the stoney streets with a surprisingly deep voice.

“Hey got away form that kid, gitty-up back out ta nuh-atyhaw where ya belong ya mangy dogs.”

Hearing the thundering footsteps and the harsh voice of a burly person approaching the hounds quickly fled the scene of the crime. Leaving Marlow bitten and bleeding.

“Ya you better git out awf hair ya weak wolves. don't come back till ya guh-rown a back bone” Said his savior, who kicked a rock at the fleeing wolves, missing by a few dozen feet. Signing he walked over to Marlow, bending down checking for a pulse.

“Ya gawt a name? Or you gonna bleed out, awn me?”

“What?”

“Do ya 'a nuh-ame?”

“Uh?”

“Do. Ya. Have. A name!” The figure bellowed slowly and deliberately.

“Mar-low,” He said, trying to hold back a cough.

“Well Marlow what you doin' out hair” The Man said, reaching out a calloused hand.

“I was trying to get away from some thugs, who were picking on a little mage” He said taking the man’s outstretched hand and was instantly upright on his feet.

“If it were a mage, ya bet yo-wr bucket 'em thuger ya be in going' home in boxes” His savior said while not so suddenly giving him a once over. “Mages aren't t' be messed with. Trust me, if' any were out alone they wouldn't eve-yn let you walk in front of 'em. Let along gang uhp awn ya. It was prolly a fancy alchemist awf sort”

“Oh. I-I’m sorry for wasting your time. Thank you for taking time out of your day, to come save me. If you could point me in the direction of a hospital or temple I’ll be on my way.”

“Now you tell me lad, where do ya think you're going?”

“I'm going to go talk to someone who can patch me up?” Marlow said, bending over and picking up his backpack which he pillaged. Patting it lightly, ensuring that it didn’t crack.

“Well I’ll tell ya one thing right now. They ain’t open, plus I better your one of those fancy travelers aren’t ya? So why don’t ya come crash at my place for the night.”

“Are you sure I wouldn’t want to intrude?”

“Bah, don’t you worry bout a thing, if you try and steal anything I bet you won’t be getten to far.” Getting a nod, the big savior. Picked up Marlow and threw him over his shoulder and began heading home.

“My name's Benson, if you were wondering. I was on my way to pick up some chicken feed when I heard you hollerin. Guess I’ll get it tomorrow.”

“Chicken feed, are you a farmer?”

“Sure am, and proud of it. My family’s been providing crobs and livestock for the kingdom for six generations now. Just gotta find myself a lovely maiden and soon I’ll have extra hands to till the fields.”

“Nice I’m a Beast tamer and have work on my parents farm, so would you be willing to let me stay until I can get out on my own?”

“A tamer, oh jez. Sure you can stay, but get some rest lad. I would want ya bleedin out on me just yet.”

It was true Marlow’s eye’s were getting quite heavy, in fact he felt so exhausted. Probably the adrenaline crash he was feeling right now. Closing his eyes he fell asleep.

Unaware of all the streets he was carried through, unaware of the gated community he entered, and unaware of being placed on a scratchy living room couch. Unaware of Benson writing a letter in the other room, and unaware of the scolding being given to the two thieves that had chased him.

Waking up with a jolt of pain he checked his sides, finding bandages already wrapped around his wounds. Standing up was painful, but even harder since however they had patched him up and had tightened so much it was hard to breathe.

Putting one foot in front of the other he made his way to the kitchen and sat down. It took some effort, but he finally stopped panting like a dog. Not noticing that Benson had come in and had begun whipping up something.

“When did you get here?”

“Well I've been here for most of my life working here on this here farm. But if ya talken about when I cam down stairs a few minutes ago. Now we ain’t got much time lad. Harvest-n season coming early on the account that you and all your travel-n buddy's move-n in.” Benson said a smile on his leathery face. His callus hands gently sturd and mixed the various seeds he poured into his pot. You could tell it was his pot, because, well, it had his name on it.

“Plus I spent the better part of the mor-n working out how to give ya quests lad. So you don’t have to stop by every five minutes to ask-me what to doo next. I’ll make you into a decent tamer yet laddy.” He said plopping a bowl of ‘grain’ with some milk mixed as he also sat down across from Marlow.

“Before you get any dumb questions out, I’ll simplify it for ya. I hate long ‘tutorials’ anyways. Yes I am a tamer, I was offered by the system to be the designated class trainer for every lad under the tamer branch. There aren’t many in this category, which is why I took it. Anyways you, idiot, are under my care until I can’t bear you any more.” Benson spoke, shoveling spoons full of the porridge down each sentence.

“You chose the worst possible class, sorry but not really. Ya see ‘Beast tamer’ really relies on their creatures since your skill set is really quite limited, not to mention that you will almost every time lose every head to head fight you get into. Which is good for me because I really need the help around the farm. You travelers always want to see what is behind these ‘gated communities’. Have y’all ever considered we're just minding their own business. Come on. Oh, yeah your egg thing is fine. Left it on the other couch.” Feeling his heart drop, like when you feel your pocket and can’t find your phone. He spun, finding his shining egg on the couch right next to him. Turning back he asked a question.

“So are there better versions of the tamer class?”

“Of course there are, take me for example. I’m a Livestock tamer, I can raise newborn farm animals to a mature age rather quickly. Which is good while you wait for the grass to grow. But my dear friend Caley is a Monsterous tamer, she can calm monsters just with a touch, which is good when you're in black market business. Before ya ask no you can not go learn from her.” Lowering his hand, he dug into the cold grainy cereal.

Quest alert! Baby steps: Go see what animals are on Benson’s family farm and learn how to clean and cater to their needs. Reward: Room in Benson's house, Exp: 0. Accept / Decline

“There you go lad, your very first quest. Well don’t just sit there slack jawed. Get up and I’ll start you-n you the ropes. You take the weird egg if ya want. Don’t want to miss that when it hatches.”