David left the guild feeling confident. Confident: it was a new feeling for him, one he associated with this new world. Here and now though it came from the familiarity of the moment. He knew what was going on, he knew what he had to do to succeed.

The guild requests at rank E were mostly resource gathering and hunting small animals to provide food to the town, nothing serious. With just a few successful requests, three to be exact, you’d rank up and could begin to work on more difficult jobs. Ranking up got more difficult with each rank. They’d taken three jobs, two gathering herbs that Maria knew how to spot and one hunting a rabbit. It seemed like he’d be able to rank up in no time. David was lost in his thoughts, his head caught up in the idea of grinding his way through adventuring ranks, steadily growing stronger, steadily becoming a hero step by step. As he exited the saloon doors of the guild he almost walked into someone.

“Oh, sorry I-”

“Hmm.” The man he’d nearly walked into stared at him.

He had messy black hair and lifeless unfocused eyes, there was something intense in them - an electric spark that shone from their depths. He looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks, deep black stains sprawled out, stretching like cracks in pavement in a scattered web beneath his eyes. He was slightly shorter than David, he wore brown slacks and a frilled white shirt that cut off at his elbows. Fancy, but functional.

“Oh, Claus, hi.” Maria’s voice chimed out from behind him,

“Hello Maria.” Claus said flatly as he bowed, about a thirty degree angle with his head sinking slightly lower. Claus looked back at David and his head tilted as if he was pondering something.

“Um, I’m David. Nice to meet you. Claus was it?”

“Indeed.” His tone was final and frosty, he gave a sharp nod and stepped to the side to allow David and Maria to pass him, his dark eyes boring into their backs as they walked away.

They’d walked in silence through the town. The wonder of huge fields spreading out before them once again, a vast world so different from the modern one David knew. The rolling green didn’t put him at ease, but it did make this world seem huge, like an adventure waiting to happen.

They had to head back towards the forest. The idea of facing another goblin scared him and he knew he should be preparing somehow, just in case, but he couldn't stop thinking about how rude Claus had seemed, not to him - he was short with Maria too. It stuck with him, he couldn’t let it go without knowing why he’d behaved like that. It seemed like he knew who she was. How could someone know who she was, in this kingdom, and be so curt? Well, maybe he’s a noble too. Or maybe nobility here doesn’t work quite how I think it does. He decided to ask:

“So Claus, he’s a weird guy, huh?” Maria smiled at the question, somewhat sadly.

“Yeah. He’s a cousin of mine actually. His father was a duke.”

“Was?”

“Was.” Silence stretched between the two of them for a few minutes before David asked:

“Why would a noble become an adventurer?” He was clearly headed for the guild when we ran into him.

“Well, that’s complicated. Most knights, mercenaries and uh… adventurers, I guess, are low ranking nobility. The most commonly spread magic is Borrowing after all.” David frowned. How was that an answer? Maria seemed to notice his confusion and continued,

“Soldiers don’t always need magic, but these jobs do. They require more independence and individual strength. Theoretically almost anyone can use Borrowing magic whereas other affinities are a lot more rare. You’d think that would mean anyone would use it but there's actually a big problem with that, and it’s one you don’t face. Borrowing strength, for anyone but a Hero, requires storing it first." She paused to see that David understood before continuing,

"That takes time and energy. If you’re on the front lines for instance you need to be able to sit unmoving for hours between battles - exerting yourself to store your strength for the next fight. You need good food for energy, you need soldiers assigned to you to protect you and most importantly you need a carriage. You can’t store strength while marching or riding horseback. The free time and energy that it takes stops most citizens from being able to afford to use Borrowed magic much. The other thing all this means is…” She trailed off.

She seemed lost in a memory, her eyes slowly closed and began to tap her fingers rythmically against her leg. After a moment she opened her eyes turned to David and met his gaze with her own, her voice almost shook now,

“Old people who’ve stuck around war for a long time, like William, are monsters.” She shivered. “I don’t even want to think about how much time he’s had to store strength. About the sheer damage he can do. He’s a bottomless pit... not that you’d ever have to worry about that.”

She turned to keep walking and started to quietly whistle to herself. David’s thoughts were a mess. He didn’t know if she meant he didn’t need to worry about fighting William, or about storing strength himself. Maybe she meant both. He hoped she meant both.

By the time they’d made it back to the tree line the sun was starting to set. It’s orange glow sinking beneath the peaks of the nearby mountains. As the sun sank lower it’s light hit the blue strip of stone at the mid of the mountain range, and it bled through - a blinding brilliant band of deep blue light cutting across the fields. The blue stretched out above them like a roof, or like an ocean in the sky, the waves of light dancing and impenetrable, blocking out the last of the sun’s orange warmth. David gasped,

“Wow. There… there's nothing like this in my world. At least, nothing I’ve seen.”

The light seemed almost solid, as if he could reach up and touch it, his hand stretched out toward the blue above. He stretched further, it was almost tangible, the weight of that blue light bearing down on the air around them. Or maybe it was liquid? Either way he wanted to find out. It's hard to believe that’s just light. I almost think I could swim in it.

The air above him felt much cooler, as if chilled by the blue above. He stretched to his limit but was still nowhere near being able to touch it. I wonder if I jumped up, especially with some magic… He heard Maria clear her throat,

“We should set up camp, while it’s still bright. You’ll see it again, don’t worry.” She laughed a little, the sort of small chuckle you’d hear from parents around a young kid when they first discover something new.

“Ok, ok.” David sighed, he didn’t want to return to the mundane work of tents and cooking and storing food but he knew she was right. This world was beautiful but there were dangers too. He didn’t want to be out and exposed in the dark. The light here was unlike anything he’d ever seen, it was stunning and magical, but after fighting that goblin he knew that the dark was probably magical too and he knew that, in this world, he should be afraid of the dark.