Ryan awoke before the first of the sun’s rays broke the horizon. Standing up to stretch, he brushed the early morning dew off his clothes, leaving damp streaks behind. He looked around for Flicker but only saw his pack; the man himself was missing.

Mist covered the land, limiting Ryan’s view of the surroundings. It was pleasant on his skin, cooling him down a bit during what would have otherwise been a warm morning. He decided that he’d stay put until Flicker returned and practice [Warp Step]. Flicker had warned him that knowing the limitations of the ability was important, so it couldn’t hurt to experiment.

Ryan warped back and forth across the small clearing, trying various things. He already knew that he had to be moving to make it work, but he didn’t know if that meant just walking. Mixing up his strategy, he soon discovered that he had to be touching the ground when he cast [Warp Step] or nothing would happen.

He also attempted jumping into the air while activating it, with negative results. Once he figured out that he needed to touch the ground, he tried jump sliding, crawling, rolling, and as many variations of these as he could think of, and as long as he was in contact with the earth, he found that he could warp his way around in strange ways.

Ryan discovered that he needed to concentrate on the destination, no matter what method he was using to get there, otherwise the journey turned into a disorienting misadventure that resulted in him on his hands and knees trying not to heave his guts out. Another critical aspect to the ability was that when everything went right, it was a seamless transition that was nearly instantaneous; he could warp across the clearing and be ready for anything, he just required more practice getting the knack.

Flicker soon returned, pushing his way through the pink hued mist caused by the sun peaking over the horizon. He said nothing about where he had been or what he was doing, and Ryan didn’t feel inclined to question the man about it. His suspicions notwithstanding, their relationship was about to come to a close and there no point.

“Let’s get going before the road clogs up with riffraff,” Flicker said. He was unusually present in the moment, his expression not quite serious, but not projecting his typical carefree attitude.

Ryan said nothing. There wasn’t anything to say. They were close to the city, and they were about to part ways. Picking up his pack, he followed Flicker out onto the road.

At first, they kept a slow pace, Flicker apparently not in a hurry to go into the city. Other travelers appeared around them in small groups. Many carried packs or towed carts and occasionally a wagon filled with merchandise trundled along behind exotic beasts of burden. Many among them appeared to be refugees from the same area as his village carrying their most important belongings and trying to find a place to weather the storm of recent attacks.

All of them were armed to the teeth. Scattered among them were those were obviously Guilders hired to escort people and merchandise. They displayed colorful emblems on their scripted clothes and some kind of plate hanging around their neck, the purpose of which Ryan couldn’t determine. Their auras were stronger than his, and their attitude was all business.

“What Guilds are in Darna, and which do you think I have a chance at joining?” he asked Flicker.

Flicker remained silent, his uncharacteristic stoic expression not changing. Flicker was looking around at the travelers, but to Ryan he appeared to pay special attention to the refugees carrying the important belongings they managed to pack and bring with them as they fled. He turned to look at Ryan, appearing to have only noticed that he was being spoken to.

“There is only one Guild in Darna. Their name is Hallow Song. Last I knew of them, they were eclectic and built their power sets to go off exploring and diving into other worlds and pockets through the breaches. Yet here they are in control of a large city, so who knows what’s happened lately. Whatever they’ve done, they’ve been allowed to remain, so they must be doing an OK job.”

“What do you mean they’ve been allowed to continue? Aren’t they in charge? You said they were in control of the city.”

“Think about it. Might and ability are the power structure of the surrounding lands. You can be sure that there is some old monster lurking about that really runs things, even if they stay out of sight.”

Ryan thought about it, and it made sense. The idea of a “kingdom” took on a whole new meaning when a single person might have the ability to wipe out an entire city. So what did that mean for a country to exist?

The city they were about to enter belonged to the country of Azadri, so did that mean that whoever was pulling the strings in the background was in a cold war with similar people in neighboring countries? In what light did that paint the Guilds? It seemed like they were allowed to continue to operate as they did in place of a centralized authority, as long as they played by the rules, which were unclear.

They soon came to a beautiful stone bridge that arched gracefully over the wide river. Below, fisherman and boatman were already weaving their way through the morning mists, faces washed in pink and purple hues from the newly risen sun. Ryan kept his jaw closed, trying not to gawk at the fantastical scene that gave the impression that he was truly in a fantastical magical wold.

The surrounding mist broke as they reached the top of the bridge and Ryan inhaled sharply. Before him was a full view of the city across the river. Immediately surrounding the far side of the bridge were warehouses and dockworks and further along the riverbanks were dilapidated shantytowns.

Beyond that and surrounding the bulk of the city was a wall about three times Ryan’s height. It seemed a bit short to be effective against an invading army, but he wasn’t an expert on sieges.

Beyond the top of the wall was a sea of rooftops competing for the limited space within. Many styles were on display, but the predominant one was one to three-story structures with steeply peaked roofs and wooden shingles. Further in, Ryan could see taller structures of stone that reminded him of renaissance style manor houses.

The remnants of the morning mist and cook fires blanketed the city, lending it a gloomy, if magical, air. Ryan wasn’t ready for the size of the place. Mags had said that around 50,000 residents lived here and in the surroundings, and while that was an average number in a decent sized city, the people were crammed into the place. The actual size of the city was smaller than he expected.

They made their way through the warehouse district and through the guarded gates into the city proper. Ambitious merchants and craftsmen lined the wide avenue, trying to catch some early morning customers. The workshops and storefronts gradually turned into residences and higher class boutiques the further into the city they walked, accompanied by an increase in the presence of city guards in gray and green livery carrying halberds.

Eventually the reached a wide intersection and Flicker stopped walking in the middle of the busy street and Ryan stopped with him. Flicker slowly turned to face Ryan. There was no evidence left of the eccentric and glassy eyed traveler that had been his default state for their brief journey. Instead, Ryan sensed once again that Flicker’s actual personality was surfacing. He wasn’t caught by surprise this time, and he could see the indicators in his posture and bearing that he was almost too shocked to notice back when they were still in the village of Arkol.

“This is where we part ways, newbie. I don’t expect to see you again, but it can’t hurt to give you some parting advice. Always seek the confluence. The confluences within yourself, nature, the world, dimensions, everything. These are where the most interesting things occur. They may not always be the safest or most reasonable, but definitely the most interesting. There is no curse worse than living a long and boring life,” Flicker said, punctuating his points by poking Ryan in the chest.

“You can’t give me some sage advice that I don’t understand and then just disappear on me,” Ryan retorted.

Ryan thought he understood a little about what Flicker was referring too, but he tweaked him a bit anyway to keep him around. When Flicker left, he would be alone in a strange city and he wanted to draw out this last interaction for as long as he could. He wasn’t necessarily afraid so much as a deep dread of being alone was welling up inside of him.

“I can and I did. Take care, Ryan. Don’t die an early and boring death; you’re a rare bird after all.”

Ryan looked down for a second, trying to dredge up something smart to say. He thought he might have something clever and went to retort, but realized there was no sign of Flicker. He had vanished, without a single bit of evidence that he had been standing in front of him. So much for drawing it out; he was long gone.

Suppressing the dread welling up in him, he hunched his shoulders and looked around. People surrounded him, going about their everyday business, yet he hadn’t felt this alone since before Mags found him huddled up in the forest.

Before his little funk took too much of a toll, he shook himself out of it. Thinking about what his immediate goals were, he made a plan to follow to keep his mind on track. First thing first, he needed to find the Guild called Hallow Song.

Ryan continued walking in the same direction he had been, toward the center of the city. He stopped a few times to ask for directions to find the Guild and was given curt responses and pointed fingers to keep going as he had been. Eventually he found himself almost dead center in the city, surrounded by distinct districts on each side, and facing city square surrounded by administrative buildings and a prominent compound with elegant marble walls and a three story stone building situated at its center.

Taking care not to collide with the criss-crossing foot traffic, Ryan scuttled across the square and approached the front entrance to the complex. There were no gates and nobody managing the entrance, so he just waltzed right on through and took a second to take stock of his surroundings.

Most of the area inside the wall looked to be dedicated to various training fields, with various obstacles, structures, and tools clustered scattered around a well manicured yard. It was quite big, bigger than the city square just outside the walls, and the central building itself was a monstrosity of a manor. He wouldn’t go so far as to call it a keep or a castle, but it was an imposing structure.

There were people scattered around busy with their own activities and Ryan didn’t spot anyone with an authoritative look to them, so he made his way toward the manor. He took a closer look at some activities going on and realized that while people were busy training, there were no powers on display. All of them were doing mundane exercises that worked on their natural attributes. There were some doing what Ryan immediately recognized as weight training with similar equipment to what he was used to from Earth. Others were working obstacles for agility and stamina.

Ryan was almost to the manor by the time someone intercepted him. The man was a little under two meters tall, had blond hair, blue eyes, and well toned build bordering on resembling an endurance athlete. He was wearing tight fitting, high quality clothing with tiny script sewn into the seams and collar. An emblem was stitched into his shoulder that resembled a whirlpool or vortex of the colors of the Keys: gold, crimson, and blue.

More interesting than the man himself was what followed closely on his heels. A cat prowled behind him at knee height, but it was a construct pieced together from small, meticulously shaped lengths of wood and vines. The craftsmanship resembled that of a watchmaker, each piece in it’s place and serving a purpose. Its movements were fluid and precise, gliding over the ground.

Ryan couldn’t rip his eyes away from the astonishing feline, so when the man in front of him cleared his throat, he was unprepared and jerked his attention away, afraid that he’d offended him.

“I see you’re admiring Whisper,” he said. “I’m Destin, is there something I can help you with?”

Ryan, already reaching out to shake Destin’s hand, choked out a half laugh before catching himself, unsure if there was an intentional pun there or not.

“It’s amazing. Is this from an ability or is this something made using script?”

“She’s the result of an ability,” said Destin. “Now, what can I help you with. I assume you didn’t wander through here by accident.”

“I’ve come to join Hallow Song. I was pointed here by an … acquaintance.”

“Sorry, we just accepted a new member not too long ago and we’re not trying to recruit anyone else.” There was no hesitation in his denial, like he was ripping off a bandage. “You might try the guild up in Rild to the north. I heard they were recruiting so you might have better luck there. Who is the person who sent you here, if I may ask?”

Holding his breath, Ryan tried to hold back the internal collapse that Destin’s first words brought on. Since the attack on the village, he had been propping himself up on the hope that a Guild would take him as he was, even with his lack of experience and fighting expertise. He took a moment to steady himself.

Ryan hesitated. He didn’t particularly want to use Flicker’s name as he himself was unsure about his suspicions, but if there was a chance that it was going to change Destin’s mind, then there wasn’t anything else to lose here.

“His name is Flicker. I traveled with him for a couple of days and he said I should come,” replied Ryan. He wasn’t actually sure if Flicker had said to come here or not, only that Hallow Song was the only Guild in this city, which was virtually the same thing.

Destin stiffened. His relaxed attitude vanished and he turned concerned eyes back to Ryan.

“Flicker, you said? Are you sure that was his name?” At Ryan’s node, he continued, “What has that damn walking calamity done this time? He hasn’t come around here for a century, this can’t be good. Whisper, go inform Bard.” Whisper shot off like a miniature rocket into the manor.

“It sounds like we need to have a more serious chat. Follow me, lets find somewhere more comfortable and you can tell me all about it.”

Ryan followed reluctantly. The change in Destin at the mention of Flicker didn’t bode well for Flicker’s recent appearance at the village and his involvement, but Ryan needed information. If Destin was willing to give it, Ryan wouldn’t turn it down, even at the cost of being interrogated.