Two massive skulls adorned the upper corners of the building. The jaws of the monsters were gaping, and their maws housed incisors stretching the entire length. It gave the Seeker’s building a sinister overtone compared to the noble auras of the other guild-buildings, perhaps only contested by the Black Heart’s building.

Orion pushed through the stone doors, the entrance snapping shut after him. Inside, countless skulls of different shapes, sizes, and colour decorated the sides of the hall. There were wide beams of sunlight gracing the room from above, and potted fauna added variety to the ornaments. At the end of the hall, there was a curved marble table, behind which sat a receptionist. Behind her were winding stairs that led up.

The decorations ground away at Orion’s confidence as he walked to the table, feeling increasingly frivolous under the stares of the menacing skulls and the spirits of the Seekers who slaughtered them.

“Hiya. What’re you here for?” the receptionist asked when Orion awkwardly stood in her sunlight.

The receptionist was a toned brunette with two braids hanging above her shoulders. She wore a dark tunic and beige trousers, through which her figure showed.

“Hi, I’m here to register as a Seeker.”

The brunette scoffed at this before inspecting him. “You sure, kid? I mean, yeah, you could get famous but you look like you’ll die during your first job,” she said despite looking in her early twenties.

“I’m sure,” he said while looking her in the eye.

“Alright. What’s your name, age, place of birth, and base city?”

“Jax Whyte, 16, City of Yupker, and here in Visgamar,”

“Jax Whyte, eh?” she teased. “Well, if you travelled all the way here from Yupker, maybe you are strong.” She filled in a form and gave it to him. “Take it upstairs and find Smith,”

“Who should I say sent me?” he asked.

“He’ll know who sent you, naughty boy. I’ll give you my name if you survive your first job,” she said with a wink, sending Orion upstairs with a faint blush.

The first floor was wider than the ground floor and less decorated. There were two rooms to the side, a curious set of stairs on the opposite side heading up and down, and a wide board pinned with contracts. A few people crowded the board and the benches and tables around it. He ignored them and went towards the room with Smith written next to it. He firmly knocked before entering. Inside, there was a grey-haired man with an eyepatch sat behind a table piled with papers and inks. To the sides were shelves compact with sheets and books. Orion handed him the form and sat on the open chair.

“New Seeker? I’ll see about that,” Smith said, his voice deep and gravelly. He laughed when he read the form, before facing Orion.

“Jax Whyte, were you this pale when you popped out? Did your momma drop her family name to tease you with that?”

Orion’s forehead creased, and his lips drew to a thin line. He already regretted the surname he’d picked.

“Don’t worry, kid. Your skin will golden up once you stay here. And considering you’re applying to die at such a young age, I’m guessing you know magic?” Smith said.

Orion nodded. “I’ve got moderate knowledge of Ice magic. Learned it from a small school near Yupker.”

“Nothing compared to the Capital’s mages, then. Although, I guess you’d go to the Mage’s guild if you had such a background,” Smith said while frowning. “You know how to fight? How to survive in the wild?”

“Yes,”

“Good. Now tell me, how come you’ve got such nice clothes?”

Orion’s eyes drifted, and Smith didn’t miss it. “I didn’t steal it. I helped a merchant on the journey here from Yupker. He dealt in noblemen’s clothing and gave me a set.” At Smith’s raised eyebrows, he carried on. “He had guards and mercenaries, but they had been dealing with a few bandits. It was by luck I saved the merchant.”

Smith nodded with a smile. “Now, those must have been some really useless mercenaries. Considering he gives out clothes made of Blacktip-leather so easily, you’d imagine him to have deep enough pockets to hire the Black Hearts.” He stared into Orion’s eyes. “We’ll let that pass, though. Weird stuff can happen, I guess.”

Orion internally sighed in relief. He was lucky he had been wearing his cheap clothes during the ambush, that was if any luck could be attributed to such an event.

“Well, everything looks in order. Let me finish with a sketch of you,” Smith said.

Five minutes later, a portrait of Orion lay in front of him. He was slim with cheekbones showing. He had black, finger-length hair jumbled across his head, and black eyes with fine-drawn bags under. His skin was pale, so Smith had coloured the yellow parchment with white ink. He had slumped shoulders and wore simple clothing in the picture. He looked like a generic, handsome Westerner except for one feature: the long, dull-red scars from his left-cheek to his jawline. They looked like cracks in dried ground due to how well they connected.

“Alright. I’ll send this to all the Seeker guilds so you can accept contracts and redeem rewards anywhere. Whenever you feel ready to take a contract, just go to the board and pick one. They’ll have the details written on. Any questions?”

“Yes. How do I get into the Seekers Summit?” Orion asked.

“Ha, Jax, you feisty one. There are 9 ranks. When you become a 5-star Seeker, you’re allowed at the Summit. But don’t worry about ranking up, kid. Ranks are worthless. You could take a 6-star contract from here right now, and I guarantee you’d die. In this profession, most of the newbies die on their first job. So, don’t think about the rank at all, instead think about how you can make the most money from the contracts you can actually do. We double function as a bank so ask Maya downstairs to open an account once you complete a contract. Also, the summit is boring as hell, just higher-starred jobs, depressing talks, and shit drinks.”

“Thank you so much,” Orion said, before exiting under Smith’s one-eyed gaze.

Once out, he headed towards the contracts and looked through. The 6-star contract Smith had mentioned listed hunting a Basilisk to an island east of Visgamar. It had destroyed the fort set up there, and in turn, the Imperial Guard had commissioned its demise. The reward made Orion blink twice, before putting it back without a second thought. Even if the reward was so great, he remembered his dad telling the tale of how he had cut down a Basilisk, and how difficult it had been. Orion didn’t even have a fraction of the power his dad had.

He fell down the tiers and discovered he could barely defeat a 2-star monster, or at least he hoped: it wasn’t something he’d gamble on, though.

It was while sitting by a table, looking through 2-star contracts that another man took the seat beside him.

“Heya mate, you’re thinking about a tier-two contract, ain’tcha?”

Orion nodded and inspected the man. He looked to be in his late twenties and had a roughly-cut ginger beard. His skin was tanned, and he had bloodshot eyes with deep bags under. He wore a thin, plain gambeson with shoulder pads, and a pair of padded trousers. By his waist, he had a small buckled shield, and in his hand, he held a sheathed longsword.

“Look, I’ve seen you frown quite a few times. How about you do this contract with me and we’ll split the reward? I’ve read up on it and can nearly take it down, but I’ll need support.” the ginger man said.

Orion read the contract on the table. It was to kill a Rockskin, first spotted by a villager in a swamp north of Visgamar. It was rated 2-stars and had a reward of 10 gold coins, commissioned by Lord Rotro. Even if the ginger man turned out useless, a second person to act as a shield was all Orion needed.

“Yeah, sure,” Orion said. Although the reward was low for a 2-star, he didn’t care about the coins either away.

“I’m Flynn. Pleased to meet ya,”

“Jax, likewise,”

The two of them shook hands and headed downstairs where Flynn gave the contract to Maya.

“Oh, Whytie, you made a friend. Maybe you will live, after all.”

“Will we both become 2-starred Seekers after this?” Orion asked.

“Sure. You can usually work with a party and still get the same ranking, although the maximum number of people differs with each contract. For this one, you can have up to 3 people.”

He glanced at Flynn.

“Nah. We agreed to split it, Jax,”

Orion nodded towards Maya. “Thanks for the help, Maya,”

“Aww, it’s no fun if you cheat. Perhaps I’ll think of something else though?” Maya called out as they left the Seeker’s building.

Following this, they bought food supplies, and Orion bought a shortsword from the market. They left Visgamar before nightfall and walked along a path towards Marshal’s Keep.

Marshal’s Keep was now a shell of its former self. It had become an actual marsh over the past few years, infested by low-tier monsters. Higher-tiers were rare there, and something like a Rockskin, which lived on grassy pastures, was even more unusual in the swamps.