Kazuki went about his day in a trance. The events of last night’s “dream” would not leave his mind. Even the video games that normally held his attention fell short of taking his mind off it. The day was Saturday, so he only lounged around and entertained himself as teenagers do.

The sun set, not that Kazuki noticed, and after burning the midnight oil playing more video games, Kazuki finally retired to bed.

His eyes closed, Kazuki waited in the darkness. A mix of unfamiliar emotions swirled in his chest, denying him of sleep.

“Will that dream continue? I’m… not sure if I want it to. Everything was so unfamiliar and I had no idea what was going on… That being said, it was cool seeing such an expansive world. In this town, you can hardly see a mile in any direction but up. In that place, you could see as far as your eyes let you.”

Kazuki’s soliloquy continued until the ever patient mistress of sleep finally granted Kazuki rest.

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A rocking sensation threatened to pull Kazuki from the depths of his slumber. His rest was so warm and cozy, he tried to disregard it, but the incessant rocking became increasingly aggressive, forcing Kazuki awake.

“Goodness, you had me worried you died on us,” a now beaming Tana smiled down at him.

Kazuki blinked several times to dislodge dirt and grime from his eyelids. The sun hung overhead, backlighting Tana’s form and flame red hair in a rather striking fashion.

Tana pulled Kazuki to his feet, saying, “We’re getting on the move. The gate check line this early in the morning should be pretty quick as long as we don’t dillydally.”

Kazuki donned his washed clothes that Deiner had conveniently left in a sack next to his bed and scrambled into the cart. The party soon set off towards the now raised portcullis.

They reached the end of a short line by a guardhouse stationed outside the gate. Some city guards were performing an inspection of goods while other guards looked at what appeared to be identification documents.

Mauren hopped out of the driver's seat and insouciantly walked past the guards, flashing a gold-colored badge of two intertwined hands praying. The guards nodded in his direction and let him pass without any pestering. Out of the corner of his eyes, Kazuki saw Tana grit her teeth and glare at Mauren’s back as he casually waved goodbye at her without looking.

Tana started to mutter, “That damn priest,” but Deiner interrupted her by putting a hand on her shoulder as he nodded towards two approaching guards.

Two lightly armed guards approached, one carrying a rather large leather-bound book.

“Tana and Deiner, it’s good to see you have returned safely,” the first guard began. Tana began to fish out a necklace, only for the guard to chuckle and say, “You know I don’t need that.”

“I insist,” Tana replied flatly as she presented a pearl blue pendant of a dragon. Deiner presented his own similar blue pendant.

“A stickler for rules, as always,” the guard replied with a slight smile, although he hardly glanced at the pendants. Next, he turned his gaze towards Kazuki. “Who’s this fellow?” He asked.

“We found him stumbling down the Sable highway, just north of the Great Jungle. He seems to be the only survivor from a prior party’s expedition,” Tana said as Kazuki nodded and hoped that would satiate the guard’s curiosity.

“I see…” began the first guard as his cohort opened the heavy leather-bound book. “Let’s get your identification so we don’t hold you up any longer.”

Kazuki froze in time. Identification? He had nothing of the sort. His heart felt more likely to fly out of his mouth before an answer. All eyes were now looking expectantly at Kazuki, waiting for him to do the very simple thing of producing his identification.

“I, um, don’t-” Kazuki began in a stuttering mess.

A low cough from Deiner interrupted Kazuki.

“I’m afraid this is my fault. I took his clothes to wash last night after dark, and in my ineptitude, I did not check the pockets of his robe. His identification must have fallen out into the moat as I washed his clothes. My apologies.”

Deiner’s voice surprised Kazuki, not just because of how deep it was, but because of how polished his speech was. Tana wore a similarly surprised expression, which made Kazuki confused.

“Doesn’t she know what his voice sounds like?” Kazuki thought.

Deiner’s apology made the second guard look up from his book at the first guard, who showed an uncomfortable expression.

“A- ah, well, you know, these things happen. Of course I will grant you all entrance given your status Deiner and Tana - no need to apologise,” the first guard said, raising his hands in a fluster while the other guard quickly made some scribbles in the oversized book.

“You have my thanks,” replied Deiner with his charismatically low boomy voice.

Tana wasted no time hopping into the driver’s seat Mauren had vacated, and with a small crack of the reins, the bastardized crocodile sauntered forth.

A straight road of crude stone pavers with multi story medieval houses adorning its sides stretched head of the wagon. Throngs of people milled around many carts and caravans, all of which vied for his attention. The hustle and bustle of this city came to life as a deluge of sounds: people laughing, animals baying, and vendors aggressively hawking their goods all echoed up and down the street.

Tana gingerly wove the wagon through the throngs of people and around passing wagons with expertise, leaving Kazuki free to gape at the surrounding scenes. Kazuki had seen videos of urban city crowds, but he’d never been amid one before.

Every person on the street was moving with a purpose, with some place to be for one reason or another. Some rode in wagons pulled by dinosaur-esque creatures, other walked leisurely, and others ran as fast as their legs could carry them.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Tana turned around, interrupting Kazuki’s thoughts. “Deiner split up to go submit our report. I’ll be dropping you off at the Adventurer’s Guild for you to collect your party member’s Last Wishes.” Her eyes conveyed genuine commiseration. “Take the time you need for yourself,” she continued, “I… I know it’s hard.”

Kazuki could only nod in response. He didn’t know how to inform her she was wrong, and the undeserved help quietly ate at him.

Several minutes passed as the wagon made its way down the city’s main road. Taking a left at a large town square, Tana stopped the wagon in front of a wide three story building. Gracing the top of a pair of open sturdy double doors were the words “Adventurer’s Guild”.

Kazuki disembarked the wagon, and Tana waved goodbye with an accompanying “Take care.” Now left to his own devices, Kazuki stared at the looming building.

Pausing outside the doors outside, Kazuki could hear the racket of many people inside. Kazuki was not a social butterfly, and the prospect of walking into a boisterous, crowded building made his stomach hurt. He had limited options - if he walked away, where could he go? Tana’s assumption that this was where he should be was his best shot at getting relevant information.

Kazuki gritted his teeth. If this was the only hand dealt to him, he would just have to make the most of it.

Stepping into the Adventurer’s Guild building, the first thing to hit Kazuki was the smell.

“Yuck, it smells like a middle-school gym room in here,” Kazuki thought to himself as one of his hands instinctually went to cover his nose.

To his left were rows and rows of tables in a dining hall type of area. Various characters filled the tables, with Kazuki even spotting what appeared to be dwarfs, elves, and various demi-humans intermingled throughout.

To his front sat a sort of reception desk, with several armed people waiting in line for service. Flanking the right of this line was a huge corkboard with various papers tacked to its surface.

Kazuki looked around for a welcome desk, finding nothing.

“I guess... I’ll have to ask the receptionist.” Kazuki’s hurting stomach worsened.

Joining the line, Kazuki did his best to eavesdrop casually on the conversations of others in an attempt to garner information. Most appeared to be handing in quests or taking on new ones, leaving Kazuki with very little he couldn’t have reasonably assumed.

The people in front of Kazuki finished their business in a time he felt like was far too quick, leaving Kazuki next in line. Behind the counter, a short woman wearing a sort of lopsided blue beret looked at Kazuki as she called, “Next!”

Kazuki stepped forward, attempting to look confident. He certainly didn’t feel confident, but letting it show would not help in the slightest.

“H- hi,” Kazuki began with a clearing of his throat. “I was hoping you could direct me to where I might find more information,”

“Regarding?” the women interrupted.

Her flat manner-of-fact speaking and aloof facial expression only further unnerved Kazuki.

“Well, you see I’m kinda new around here…”

The woman’s eyes flicked up and down as she took Kazuki in.

“I see. Is your registration domestic or international?” She asked.

Kazuki let out the fakest sounding dry laugh of the century as he put a hand behind his head and said, “I’m not quite sure.” What little confidence he had mustered was waning quick.

Until this point, the woman had hardly moved a muscle, save her eyes, but this comment elicited a sharp eyebrow raise from her.

“If you’ve lost your proof of registration, you’ll need a party member’s vouch. What party do you belong to?”

The endless questions Kazuki could not answer caused him to start visibly sweating and fidgeting as fear started to seize his heart.

“I- I’m not in any party…” Kazuki trailed off.

The woman sighed in annoyance.

“If you don’t have your proof of registration and do not have a registered party member to vouch for you, we will have to search our records for your filed membership forms. This, of course, will cost you one gold piece and will take at least five days,” continued the woman as she retrieved a notepad from her hip. “What’s your name and place of birth?”

“Kazuki,” he started to answer.

“Wait, did she say it would cost money?!” Kazuki mentally panicked. He didn’t have a cent to his name, nevermind the fact that he had no clue what one gold piece was worth here.

Kazuki was just about to cut his losses and leave when a slender arm wrapped around his shoulder.

“Ah, there you are! I’m so glad to see you made it out Ok!”

To Kazuki’s left appeared a blonde-haired lady, who smiled at him expectantly. Her lovely face embellished by two deep blue eyes caught Kazuki off guard.

Confused, Kazuki turned his head back towards the receptionist who now openly wore a scowl directed at the woman butting in to the conversation.

“Lilia, you can’t be serio-” began the receptionist.

“I am serious! This is… Kazki! He’s new to our party and only just started with us,” the lady named Lilia replied with an overly wide smile. “You know how the greenhorns are, just one skirmish and they get all jumbled up in the head for a while,” continued Lilia, followed by a forced laugh.

Lilia leaned in towards Kazuki’s ear. “Help me and I’ll help you,” she whispered while the sour receptionist glared at her.

“So I take it you’re vouching for Kaz-u-ki, your fellow party member, correct?”

“Mhmm, that’s right!” Lilia replied, while bouncing on toes with an effervescent smile.

Turning her gaze to Kazuki, the receptionist asked, “You’re Ok with this?”

Kazuki nodded in affirmation. The receptionist’s eyes flicked between Kazuki and Lilia several times before she let out a defeated sigh.

“Given his lack of registration, I presume you are going to fix that when you update your party’s roster, right, Lilia?” The receptionist added an invective tone to the latter part of her question.

Lilia enthusiastically nodded, still wearing her overly friendly smile.

“Thank you for your time, Miss Crawden,” Lilia said, as she gave a curt bow to the receptionist.

Before Kazuki could ask questions, Lilia quickly pulled Kazuki by the hand towards the dining area. She led Kazuki to a corner of the room where a rickety four seat table stood in a lonely corner.

Only one of the seats was occupied by a brawny tanned man in a sleeveless shirt who sat looking into a mug of ale. Lilia collapsed into one of the chairs with a lengthy exhale, all traces of her prior energetic nature gone.

The man looked up from his mug of ale at Kazuki as his expression turned to one of surprise.

“Well, I’ll be damned. You’re a lucky girl, Lilia,” the man said in his gruff voice.

“Easy for you to say when you weren’t standing out there for hours,” replied Lilia, as head tilted towards the ceiling in her slumped position.

Lilia sat up and grinned at Kazuki as she motioned to an empty chair across from her.

“Why don’t you take a seat and we will get started with the introductions,” she said.

Kazuki was now seated, and Lilia began her introduction. “I’m Lilia, party leader and head of the Packrats. I’m the party ranger.” Lilia leaned over the table, extending a hand for Kazuki to shake. Kazuki took up her offer of a handshake.

Next, the brawny man took out a moderately clean cloth from his pocket, and after dipping it in his ale, handed it to Kazuki. “I’m Zuul,” he began. “I pull front line brawler duty and double as the tank when need be. You look like you were on the terrible end of a fight, kiddo.”

Kazuki nodded. He couldn’t blame anyone for assuming that, given his blood and dirt covered hands and face. Kazuki used his free hand to shake Zuul’s hand as he used his other to start wiping his face and arms of the caked on blood and dirt.

“I’m Kazuki,” he started. “And I’m, uh, rather new around these parts and I don’t really know how all this stuff works, but I’m willing to scratch your backs if you scratch mine.”

Lilia pointed at Kazuki’s broad-rimmed hat and said, “No worries there. We can bring you up to speed, but with a robe and staff like that, you’re an adventuring priest, right?”

Kazuki shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He wasn’t sure what made up any class, much less one as esoteric sounding as a priest.

“I’m… not sure,” he replied lamely.

This response made Zuul slowly turn his towards Lilia with an increasingly irate look on his face. In turn, Lilia looked bewildered.

“What do you mean, you don’t know?” She asked in a somewhat strained voice.

Kazuki was about to answer when Zuul grabbed him by the collar and raised him off his feet.

“How could you not know?! Are you trying to screw with us?” Barked Zuul at Kazuki’s face, assaulting his nostrils with the scent of alcohol. “Because if you are, I’m going to personally make you regret it.”