“My name’s William, it’s nice to meet you.”

He had been hesitant of them when they introduced themselves. The rest of his group had given him the cold shoulder and it seemed others picked up on this and did the same. He was a bit shorter than Finlay, with broad shoulders and a stocky frame. He had a friendly face with short light blonde hair and came over shy and timid in contrast to his confident stance and appearance. Finlay decided his manner was more because of their peers and the difficulty with the contract rather than his normal behaviour.

Keira had grown tired of meeting people against her initial intention to recruit them and decided to focus on the berry pastry she was eating instead. William seemed quite enamoured by her and was struggling to keep himself from staring as he spoke with Finlay.

“Did you have a lot of problems with the contract?” He decided to get this particular frustration out of the way immediately.

“Oh, yes, everyone was getting really annoyed with me.”

“I’m curious what the problem was?”

He held up the small hatchet, it was as with the others simple, a dark wood with a rather dull looking axe head. “I wanted it to be sharper.”

“That seems straightforward enough.”

“I thought the same but they kept telling me I needed to focus on something for myself rather than more external.”

“But you didn’t want to change?”

“I don’t know, I just couldn’t think of anything better. The way I see it—if I can cut through anything in one strike then the fight is over faster and there’s less chance something goes wrong.”

“That’s actually a pretty solid argument.”

“So that’s what I focused on, being able to cut through anything.”

“I can see why that might be difficult for the spirit, anything is pretty vague.”

He looked confused as though he hadn’t considered it from the spirit’s perspective. “But they can make anything happen, that whole, manifesting reality everyone kept talking about.”

His mindset was a little simple but his strategy was sound. “It’s easy for them to change something about themselves, or you because of the contract. But I think the problem is you’re looking to cut through anything, that changes it to being as much about everything else as it is about the weapon and you.”

“That doesn’t make sense, if it’s sharp enough then it’s sharp enough.”

“I don’t think it’s as simple as that, especially if you consider a different spiritual manifestation that says it wants to be strong enough to withstand any attack.”

Something clicked in his mind and he looked back at the axe. “But I did eventually manage to form the contract.”

“I guess your unconscious thoughts and the spirit figured something out that worked with that idea.”

“If he had high enough Anam to overcome whatever he was trying to cut, it'd work,” Keira chimed in.

“You think that would be enough?” Finlay replied, looking at her.

The boy seemed unable to respond but rather waited while she finished her pastry and then continued. “It would be another battle right? Which spirit can change the reality of whether the cut would happen or not in that instance—whichever one was stronger would win.”

“I guess that’s true, it’s strange to think about another little battle happening between them in the fraction of a second that he’d swing the axe.”

“I’ve stopped second-guessing what’s possible with the spirits.”

“So I can cut anything,” William said in triumph and they both turned to him again.

“Do you have a high Anam level?” He had said it without considering the irony that they’d been trying to avoid this conversation but Keira’s mocking gaze meant it wasn’t lost on her.

“They told me I had above average.”

“Vague again but it's a good start.”

“What’s your artefact?”

Finlay explained his amulet and for the first time today, William seemed interested. He didn’t immediately ask what it would do or if he had high Anam levels. He didn’t want to know the secret behind it—he was much more interested in how he had managed to form the contract on his first attempt. Finlay made a mental note to lead with that point in future. He was sure William was only interested because of his difficulty in forming his contract but it was nice that he showed interest compared to the dismissive nature other people had.

When Keira talked about her difficulty and mentioned she was currently struggling with the emotions and urges that the spirit held, William seemed to relax and was able to respond to her. He told her he was also having difficulty because it seemed determined to show how well it could cut things now and he felt this need to start chopping up the tables around the room. He had been fighting with this desire ever since he formed the contract and was scared he was going to do it and get thrown out immediately for being insane.

“I guess Faye was right, we really are all dealing with the same strangeness that comes from having other emotions and thoughts press into our own,” Keira said with a smile to the boy who immediately looked down.

“It’s reassuring to hear that even you’re having those problems. I was starting to think I was going crazy but after taking so long to form the contract, I didn’t want to bother the instructors again,” said William.

“Don’t overthink that—the guild members are really helpful if you need it, they’ve reassured us multiple times already,” said Finlay.

“I still can’t believe you’re not having any issues, you must have a really good connection with your spirit.”

“Don’t compare yourself to him, he’s a weirdo who talks to spirits all the time,” Keira joked.

“All the time seems a bit much.”

“Any more than never is far more than anyone else.”

“Sara said something similar to me, I think I'm more concerned about you two being similar.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“I’m going to have to meet this Sara, if she’s anything like Faye I think we’ll get on.”

Another potential idol for her to work towards; he considered if he should try and emulate Ronan more as his role model but after imagining himself dictating other candidate's interviews without consideration, decided that was a terrible idea. William picked up on their closeness and as was common, asked about their past which they explained. He lit up in delight when he heard they were from the southern village as he was from the northwestern and had been desperate to meet someone else from the outer ring.

“Everyone in my section was from the city, they seemed familiar with one another and knew what was happening. I felt so lost and I think that made them more annoyed that I took so long.”

“Don’t worry about them, it’s better you stuck with something you felt was right than just gave in and settled on some core that didn’t make sense to you,” said Keira.

“You’re very insightful and I appreciate the reassurance, thank you.”

She smiled at him before turning to Finlay with an ever-growing smugness. They continued to talk and eat while wandering around the room. A few people came up to them, mostly to talk to Keira which made Finlay laugh every time. William had started to relax which made the conversation easier and they found themselves sharing a lot in common, likely due to being somewhat outsiders from the outer ring.

“Everyone wants to talk to you,” William stated the obvious by this point when Keira dismissed another candidate after he had informed her they’d be the strongest duo in the cohort.

“She’s cursed with being a showoff.”

“It wasn’t deliberate, hell I didn’t know what was happening. If I did I’d have run off in embarrassment.”

“It was very impressive, everyone stopped to watch. There was a girl who was trying to form a contract in my section and she broke it for the third time because she just stopped and watched you,” William was not helping her embarrassment.

“You should give them more of a chance. Everyone’s worried about their level and power, they just want to appeal to who they think is the strongest.”

“It just seems so simple, like level is all that matters. For all they know I’m a coward that would run at the first sign of danger.”

“I don’t think anyone would consider that, you wouldn’t be here if that were the case.”

“It’s not like they know what we’ve been through, all they know is I probably have a high level, that’s it and look at them, how many have even bothered to ask your name?”

“I think word got out that I’m the weirdo with the necklace at this point.”

She laughed but William seemed hung up on something else. “What have you been through, you both seem a lot more confident that there’s so much more than just level even though everyone else seems to think that’s what matters.”

They looked at one another and with a nod of agreement decided they might as well explain. Keira did most of the talking but when it came to the sanctuary and details of Finlay’s disappearance, they stopped and decided to avoid going further.

“Wow, I heard about the incident, my father even knew someone that worked up there but was thankfully visiting family at the time.”

“They were lucky.”

“So you were really attacked by demons and survived, no wonder you have a different outlook to everyone else.”

“It does put some things into perspective,” Finlay noted.

“Exactly, Finlay handled it way better than I did yet here everyone is fawning over me and ignoring him.”

“Not way better, remember what we agreed, we saved each other, we survived because we were together, that’s all.”

“My point still stands.”

“I don’t know much about any of this honestly," William replied, falling into the same timid manner he had when he first spoke to them. "I don’t know anyone in the guild, none of my family were ever interested and I have no friends that wanted to join. But I’m glad I got to talk to you two, it’s helped a lot,”

“We’re glad to have met you as well, William,” said Keira.

“Yeah, we were starting to doubt we’d ever find anyone that might want to join us in a party.”

“You’d want to party with me?”

They looked at each other but this was already a given from how patient Keira had been with him compared to the others.

“If you’d like, we can certainly look into it while we train, see how things go,” she said to him.

“I’d love that! Thanks.”

The rest of the evening continued with similar results. People did stop focusing on Anam level and what weapon they had picked up, likely more because they had already asked everyone than for any other reason. But it did allow them to talk to more people and though they never spoke with everyone, they had a good idea of the cohort and how everyone was separating.

Groups were forming quickly, it seemed they were right in assuming many of the people from the city would create parties based on family ties and past experience. Beyond that, everyone seemed desperate to find their group, find people to match up with and it was becoming clear that it was more important to create a strong party early.

After everyone had time to talk and meet, and they'd filled themselves with the wide variety of food, the instructors gathered them together one last time. Faye was there but not the one to talk as another man explained that through their contract, they could summon and conceal their artefacts within their body. He demonstrated this by calling upon his sword, his eyes glistened a green and the mark on his shoulder lit up before a sword manifested into his hand.

Most were familiar with this ability that guild members had but it felt magical to watch it happen in person. The instructor explained that this would be an important first step in developing their connection with their spirit and should practice this in their own time when they leave tonight. There were some groans and mutterings, and while people seemed excited by the idea of doing it, practice felt difficult given the exhaustion they all felt.

The instructors explained the process and that the weapon needn't be even in their hand to call it back into their mark. In this way, they had a unique connection to their artefact that meant it wasn't possible to lose and they had to stop thinking of them as physical objects but parts of the spirit that they held their contract with. The instructors thanked everyone for the day and told them they would see them tomorrow. Everyone started to disperse and while there were a few that immediately tried to disperse their spirit, no one managed it and most seemed unwilling to try in public.

Keira and Finlay exchanged numbers with William and found that he was staying on the upper floor of their building. They all agreed as they walked back to the apartment that they’d need to find at least one more member and the sooner they did the better. Ideally, they’d find two more as a party of five felt like a solid group.

Finlay had been wondering if he'd be able to dismiss his amulet and call it out but it didn't feel particularly necessary as he was quite comfortable wearing it around his neck. Keira continued to use her spear more like a walking stick than anything else and at first, William seemed to wince in pain whenever she struck it on the ground. He was far more delicate with his axe which seemed oxymoronic to Finlay but this was yet another thing that didn’t really concern him.

They parted ways with William at the entrance of the building and when they got to their apartments, Keira decided she was going to hang out in Finlays for a while before going to bed. Being next door to one another was useful for this and he was happy to talk for a while longer, especially now they were in private again.

“What do you think about him?” Keira asked as he closed the door of his apartment.

“He’s friendly, seems nice enough—he seemed sincere and I can appreciate his decision.”

“He's straightforward, I like that.”

“I think he’ll compliment our group well, and it’s definitely going to be easier having someone from the outer ring.”

“I didn’t think the difference with the city folk would be so pronounced.”

“I had a feeling they’d have their own cliques, but I have to admit, I was a bit surprised how focused they were on specific aspects.”

They talked well into the night reflecting on their day. They discussed William and the other candidates as well as if there were anyone else that they might try to recruit. They spent a lot of time questioning how important Faye, Sara and Ronan were, given the response from the other candidates. Keira was starting to doze off and he told her she should go back to her apartment to sleep but she had decided that she was going to stay in his place for the night.

He didn’t mind and suspected she had been planning to from the start. She was likely feeling nervous about being alone in her apartment and given how poorly she had been sleeping, he felt the need to look out for her. He was also feeling a little nervous about being here alone for the first time so decided to take her keycard and go steal her bedding as he didn't have enough for both of them. When he got back she had already usurped his bed so he set himself up on the floor beside her.

He lay for a while toying with the amulet around his neck and thought about the spirit within. Once again it seemed to be comforting to him; he felt happy and as he fell asleep he knew he'd have pleasant dreams for the first in as long as he could remember.