For a city called the “shining caverns,” Serenity found the area near the portal to be remarkably drab. The buildings were mostly rough-looking because of the brick, and few of them had as much as a coat of paint over the brick.

As they continued on, Serenity decided they were getting to a richer part of town; some of the buildings appeared to be fully stone or have a facing of ceramic or fired brick instead of mud-brick. It wasn’t too long after that that some of the buildings started having patterns in the brickwork.

There weren’t many people on the streets. Compared to the Tutorial, the place was empty - and compared to New York City, the place was positively desolate.

Compared to some of the places the Final Reaper remembered, it was in good shape.

They’d been hustling for over an hour when Katya turned off onto a side street. By then, all of the buildings were made of stone or what looked like a ceramic. They went a few of the irregular-length blocks, then turned again and Serenity started hearing noises that sounded like birds calling.

Very loud birds.

He also suddenly realized that he’d been smelling something he hadn’t recognized for a while. Something in the back of his head identified it as gryphons - specifically, the unintelligent gryphon monsters, not their intelligent cousins. Serenity wasn’t sure what the difference was, but he knew he’d recognize it if he ever smelled it. He suspected there was something about the core that made it obvious they were monsters.

As they got closer, he was able to see the birds. They were twice the height of a person, with the head of a hunting bird. Serenity knew the heads were commonly compared to eagles, but they looked more like falcons to him, somehow. Whatever they were more like, they were definitely a hunting bird.

They all had a device of some sort around the head, with a gem of some sort held on top of the head. Serenity expected that it was the Tamer’s Collar; for all that they were called “collars”, they were often actually worn on the head. He thought it had something to do with proximity to the monster’s core. A few of them wore what looked like saddles, but most seemed to have a harness that connected to hooks on the belly instead.

“Oh good, we’re in time!” Katya called and sped up, running towards the aviary.

One of the people in the yard heard her and called back, “Only barely, girl! Light’s fading, this’ll be the last flight for the day. Get over here and pay before I have to send ‘em off without you!” It was a burly older man. He looked amused, and Serenity didn’t think he’d actually follow through on the threat, but Serenity increased his speed to keep pace with Katya anyway.

Katya paid for all three of them; it seemed to be a standard price, because she didn’t even try to haggle. They were then ushered onto a platform that seemed to be made of metal bars welded together; Serenity could see the ground through the holes. It looked more like sand than anything else, and there was a long stretch of the same sand or dirt leading away from the platform.

There were four people already waiting on the platform. Three of them were human, as were all of the workers. Serenity wasn’t sure he’d have noticed, except that the humans all gave him and Raz a wide berth when they entered the platform, and he noticed that the last person - who seemed to be a dogkin - was also surrounded by a large space.

There wasn’t any conversation while they waited, but it was only a few minutes before the workers hooked a rope harness to the platform in several places and to six of the gryphons. They were told to spread out evenly and stay still during the flight, then one of the saddled gryphons took off followed by the six carrying the platform and Serenity was finally able to see the entire city.

He could finally tell where the Caverns part of the Shining Caverns came from - the city was set in a gigantic depression in the ground, surrounded by rock walls. As he looked up, he realized that it was nearly entirely enclosed; it looked like there was a single hole far up in the sky, but other than that it was an enormous underground space. “What part shines?”

Katya had been staring down through the platform at the city below when Serenity asked. “I forgot you can’t see it. The ceiling, it’s filled with some kind of rock that transmits light. When the sun is high enough in the sky, the city glows. We’re lucky; this isn’t the only cavern, but it’s the biggest one, and it’s the one we wanted.”

Serenity nodded and watched the scenery go by. It was faster than the disc had been and far faster than walking, but Serenity thought it was still probably slower than highway speed. The more he saw of Tzintkra, the more he missed Earth.

The landing was rough. Apparently the gryphons didn’t have the ability to hover, so they spread out and ran to a stop, dragging the platform along the ground. It explained why there was a long strip of sand at the aviary, at least.

When they left the platform, they were back in an area that seemed wealthier. Serenity watched his surroundings and noticed that almost everyone was human, and any groups - including his - that had nonhumans in them were given a wide berth by some of the humans, but not others. It bothered him enough that after the third time he found his wings trying to spread in distress, he made himself stop looking at the people around him.

They weren’t moving nearly as quickly now, and Katya started pointing out a few of the places they passed by.

“That’s Mama Iki’s, they have the best pastries in town and you should try the azuberry pie!”

“That’s my favorite local smithy. They’ll be closed by now, he only keeps morning hours, but if you need anything, we should stop by.”

“Over there is the courthouse. You don’t want to go there unless you have to, they’re really particular. That’s another reason to get you registered with the Guild, the bond gets you a Guild rep to help you if you get in trouble. You’ll pay for it if you’re at fault, but if you aren’t, the Guild will take it out of the hide of whoever tried to get you in trouble.”

“This is the Phoenix Rising building. It’s small, but that’s because we mostly just meet clients there. Most of us spend our time at the Guildhouse when we’re not busy.”

“If you need any specialty goods, go behind the building here. They don’t have a sign, but they have all sorts of personal goods.” Raz seemed confused, but Katya refused to explain more than “If you don’t know what I mean, don’t worry about it. It’s not stuff you need.”

“The shop in front is clothing - any standard cloth goods, other than what’s sold in back. It’s all good and sturdy, popular with the Guild. I believe a lot of craftsmen shop there, too.”

“That’s the bathhouse. I’m planning to visit as soon as we finish up here. The Whale doesn’t do baths, and I’d really like to get the - well anyway, I want a bath.”

Serenity’s scales on his legs itched, and so did his scalp, but other than that he couldn’t really tell. He probably needed a bath; it just wasn’t something you’d notice when you were mostly undead. He’d have to make sure to visit the baths, even if he didn’t feel like he needed it.

“And here we are! The merc Guild!” Katya headed inside the biggest building Serenity had seen on Tzintkra. It was about three stories tall, which made it taller than most, and it was at least the size of a city block in width. Maybe two.

Serenity followed Katya inside an overly large pair of stone doors into a room he could only describe as grandiose. All of the walls were covered in tapestries, and banners hung from the ceiling. At the far end of the room there was a stone counter with an older woman sitting at it.

She was reading a book that lay open on the counter in front of her, and she didn’t seem to have noticed their arrival.

When they were halfway across the room, Katya called out, “Marti! I’ve got two newbies to register! Also, has Hale been here? We have a couple dungeons to claim!”

The woman looked up, moved a bookmark into the book, then closed it and placed it on a shelf under the counter. “Where did you get these two? I didn’t think Phoenix was looking.”

“We found ‘em out in the badlands. Get this - they were in a dungeon, and this one-” Katya pointed at Serenity- “killed Garrett after he went and got himself possessed by a spirit in a dungeon!”

“Did he?” Marti surveyed Serenity up and down. “I believe he was a higher Tier than you. His gear was definitely better.”

Serenity nodded. “I’m sure he was. But he was already undead when I saw him, and-” Serenity shrugged. “I’m very good against the undead. I wouldn’t have succeeded otherwise.”

Marti nodded and seemed to accept the answer. “Very well then. Follow me.”

She led them to a door concealed by one of the tapestries. It led into a much less grandiose corridor. They stopped at the third room and went in. There was a table with some parchment sitting next to an egg-shaped object and what looked like a small dresser against the wall. “Which of you is first?”

Serenity was about to offer when he heard Raz say “I will!” Raz sounded eager, so Serenity stepped back to watch.

“Hold this.” Marti handed the egg to Raz and a set of information appeared above the egg. It looked a lot like the information the Voice projected, since Serenity could read it.

Raz

Draykin

Tier: 2

Type: Magic

Specialty: Dungeons

Limited Specialty: Traps, Healing

Affiliation: None

It was clearly a very, very limited status stone, and it seemed to have been optimized for the information the guild would want to know. The only thing on that list Serenity particularly wanted to hide was the fact that he was a Chimera, and he already knew that didn’t appear to others. He figured it was safe.

Marti finished copying down the information, then told Raz to hand it to Serenity.

Serenity accepted it, but nothing appeared.

Marti looked like she’d eaten a lemon. “Do you have a skill that obscures your status?”

Serenity looked at the stone then back at Marti. “Not as far as I know?” He didn’t think the limitation on his race applied. “I’ve been able to show it to other people before?”

“Hmf. Well, we don’t want to be doing that if we can avoid it.” Marti opened one of the dresser drawers, pulled out a larger sphere, and set it on the table. “You can put that thing down. Touch this, put a bit of mana in it. It’s sturdier but less fancy, tends to be a tad less accurate, too.”

Serenity touched the sphere and pushed a little mana at it. The mana sank in and he felt something click into place. A screen appeared in front of him.

Serenity

Species unclear {Probability: Dragon}

Tier: 1 {Error? Attribute totals not within expected Tier range}

Type: Hybrid

Specialty: Death/Undead, Magic {Multiple Affinities}, Dungeons, Physical Combat

Limited Specialty: Self-Healing, Curse Removal {Death}

Affiliations: Earth {Planet}, United States of America (Earth) {Country}, Conclave of Dragons

Serenity wasn’t sure why it listed “Curse removal”. He hadn’t removed a curse since he came back in time, had he?

Marti grunted, then started writing it down. “We really need to get that thing looked at. It’s not supposed to error like that, even for oddball Species. That’s probably what threw off the small one, then. I don’t think we have that many dragon types in there.” She finished writing and looked up at Serenity. “Multiple Affinities, huh? How many over 50% do you have?”

Serenity checked his status. “Two.” He decided not to mention Arcane, since it was exactly 50%, or Death, since it didn’t appear anymore. Two was more than enough to be noticeable.

Marti nodded but didn’t ask what they were. She turned to Katya. “He any good in melee?”

“Yeah, pretty decent frontliner. Knows how to grab attention. So-so for damage, but I’d assumed he was about Tier Three, so maybe he’s pretty good.” Katya smiled. “He has more Sight-type abilities than anyone I’ve met. It’s a bit disconcerting.”

Marti nodded. “Good enough. You’re willing to vouch, right?”

Katya nodded again. “Wouldn’t have brought them here if I wasn’t.”

“Great. I’m going to set you both up as Tier Twos, so the bond will be forty Etherium each, with a five Etherium annual. Once I have that-” Marti broke off as Katya nudged her arm. She seemed surprised when Katya handed her the Etherium. “You really believe in them.”

“I’m taking it out of their split from the dungeon. It’ll cover it.” Katya smiled. “And this is easier anyway and you know it.”