(Eve)

I listened to the wheels of the wagon rumble over the dirt road as my mind kept wandering back to our final moments in the cave, but the more I thought about it, the more I just wanted to forget about it.

We hadn’t been given a proper reason as to why Ryla had to leave, all we were told is that she had something to take care of, but weren’t we supposed to be what she was taking care of? All of us are walking the same thorny path, so why are we left in the shadows of vines while she walks freely through? It’s not like Io was much help either, all he said was that her leaving forced him to speed up his plans, and brought us to a small village near the cave so they could take us to where we were going now. Although I’ll give Io some credit, after all he did give us two hundred silver and gold coins each.

‘Is this really the life I’m always going to live now? Always on the move, and having to look over my shoulder. More importantly, why are you so calm about all of this?’ I thought as I looked over to a napping Amelia.

Is she used to it because she ran away from her family, or is there really just that much of a difference between us? Honestly, no matter which it was, I couldn’t help but feel envious. Amelia always seemed to handle things so well, and be my emotional support at the same time.

I just hope that she knows how much she truly means to me. We’ve been through so much together in this short time we’ve known each other, but with everything it feels like we’ve known each other for years. I don’t even want to imagine what I’d do without her.

But thankfully before those thoughts could begin to circulate, I felt the wagon stop.

“We’re here.” I heard the elderly man yell from outside.

“Alright, thank you we will be out in a moment!” Yelling back, as I began to nudge Amelia’s shoulder. “Come on, sleepy head, we’re here.” Turning to open the door as I heard a groan escape her lips.

“Thank you so much, sir.” Tossing him a gold coin as I walked past him. “Please take this, have a safe trip back.”

“Thank you young lady, good luck with your new life.” He said as he snapped the reigns on bus horses, watching as he descended down the hill.

“Well, ready to begin our next adventure? Giving Amelia a soft punch on the shoulder.

“The Hanging Winds Guild, huh? Well it definitely can’t be worse than the borderlands at least right?”

“You can say that again, now let’s get in there and sign up.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

As we entered the guild, it was easy to tell how out of place we were.

The room had a smell of alcohol and cigarette smoke that ingrained itself into the very building through decades of saturation, the walls were painted white across the smooth stone with golden accents along the edges of walls that were starting to peel slightly, well worn wooden tables and chairs, and colorful mix of adventurers and attendants covered in memories from all their battles filled the room.

The bustling life within the establishment came to a sudden halt as soon as we made our way through the creaky door. While no one turned to look at us, it was clear from their reactions and the not so sneaky pulses of mana sent our way that they were interested. New faces might have been rare, but from some of the smiles I caught, I was afraid to ask exactly what kind of fresh meat they saw us as.

I had to admit that my appearance could draw attention too. Even after these fast yet long months, I still had a hard time accepting my new look-

I suddenly felt a searing stare at the back of my head that was so intense that I jumped and spun around, fearing someone was right behind me. While there was no one behind me, I did catch a black haired man, hidden mostly by the crowd, whip his head to the side and my sudden action drew some chuckles from nearby tables.

Amelia had stopped and was looking at me with a raised brow.

I gave her an exasperated look and shook my head in response. I'll tell her once we are out of the building, and preferably out of earshot of anyone here. Just in case, I extended my wind vision… wind-sion? I winced internally at the name and carried on swearing to never vocalize my naming ideas to Amelia. I extended my sense about a meter out, close enough so as not to be noticed by those stronger than me, but far enough for an early warning if anyone approached us.

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After weaving through the crowd and around a few oddly placed tables we arrived at what appeared to be an information desk.

“Hello, welcome to the Hanging Winds Guild. Are you here to register today?” A young lady in all green with a golden name tag that read “Christina” asked.

“We are.” I said in a low voice, hoping attention would shift away from us.

“That’s perfect.” She exclaimed loudly in a cheerful voice, obviously not getting the memo. “I’ll just have you fill out these papers, they include things like your affinities, weapon class, name, and things like that. Then after that we will test your mana strength and capabilities which will allow us to determine your starting rank. Any questions?”

“Will our names be disclosed, or are these private records?” Amelia quickly asked.

“You can choose to publicize your details, as there are many benefits to being well known but that is an opt-in situation. Without your explicit permission otherwise, we keep all information registered here private. Do you have any other questions?”

“Nope, thank you.” Taking the paper and quickly leaving to look for any secluded spot in the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“C-rank quests hmmmm.” Amelia said as she tapped her finger against her lip while looking over the quest board.

We had both decided to keep our strength relatively hidden to not draw too much attention to ourselves, but it was probably true that C is where I belonged anyway. Although Amelia more than likely would have been at least B. But I certainly wouldn’t complain about us being able to stay together and avoiding attention was our smartest course of action.

“Amelia, why don’t we try this one?” Grabbing one of the notes off the board.

“Clear out a goblin cave and the reward is one hundred and fifty silver pieces. This could work, but are you sure? It even says we need a party of three to accept this quest.” Pointing towards the bottom.

“Well, it would have been a good quest if not for that.”

“Why not allow me to join your party for this adventure?” A deep accented voice sounded behind me, almost making me jump out of my skin.

As I turned around I saw a man who could only be described as a moving mountain with short jet black hair, and clad in all white armor, holding a golden lance with a white leather shield casting a shadow over us. As I looked at the fabric of his clothing I could tell he wasn’t just any adventurer and noticed a lot of resemblance between his and Amelia’s clothing. Is it possible that he is also from a royal bloodline of the church? Then is he also on the run from something?

“Sorry, was it wrong of me to ask?” He said tentatively, looking away to not make eye contact with us.

The turn of his head brought back memories of the black haired man from earlier causing me to tense.

"You were watching us earlier, " I stated, not asking to make it clear I recognized him.

The man's eyes widened and his face turned a bright red. Not from anything like anger but from…was that embarrassment?

"Oh no…" he groaned. "That was meant for the table you were passing, they are a pretty infamous group for bothering new members. But I couldn't take my eyes off you at first."

Amelia snorted beside me before I realized what he said and I could feel the warmth spreading on my cheeks as it hit me.

To his credit, the casual smile he wore also fell as soon as he realized what he had said. The man actually slapped the palm of his hand into his face.

"Not like that, sorry, I just meant that it's not every day you see a young lady with white hair and different colored eyes. Especially those colors."

“May I ask your name?” I blurted out, desperately wanting to change the subject.

“Of course, I am Nikolai Pencin, it’s a pleasure to meet you. May I ask your names as well?” Looking relieved about the change in topic as well.

“I am Eve, my friend here is.” Gesturing for Amelia to introduce herself, but she only stayed quiet just studying the man. “Well she’s the silent type, but you said you wanted to join us? What’s the reason for that?”

“Well I saw that you’re new in town, and couldn’t help but take an interest in the two of you. Then I saw you eyeing the goblin cave quest, I know it’s a three person party requirement. So I thought I’d ask for a one time team up, I like to help new people in town, and goblin caves can sometimes be quite tricky.”

It was a little worrying that he had been watching us, but I didn't really get a bad vibe from the man. I felt the opposite, actually. Plus I could tell he couldn't beat the both of us, or Amelia alone, in a fight if it came down to it.

“What rank are you?”

“I am only B at the moment, but I think our combined strength should be more than enough for this specific quest. So what do you think?”

I looked at Amelia, but she only gave me a quick shrug. I understood her caution here but I couldn't help but feel she was also mad about something. “Well I don’t see why not, let’s team up then.”

“Perfect, I’ll tell the lady at the desk that we’re taking this quest, then rent us three horses and we can be on our way, I'll meet you both outside.” He almost shouted with a beaming smile on his face.

“Oh, um, alright thank you! We’ll be waiting outside then.” Walking towards the door with an icy Amelia in tow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So how long have you been an adventurer for?” Finally breaking the awkward silence that had surrounded this trip to the cave.

“I’ve been an adventurer for about six years now.”

“Really? You don’t look much older than us, so did you join the guild at a young age?”

“Well I’m twenty one currently, but you’re correct. You can join the guild once you hit fifteen, so as soon as my fifteenth birthday hit, I was out of the house and on a journey to make a name for myself.”

“Why would you leave your home at that young of an age?”

He hesitated for a few seconds and I began to fear that I might have asked too personal of a question when he answered.

“We all have our reasons for doing things, but some things must be kept to ourselves. How about yourself, why are you two joining the guild now?”

“It’s something that must be kept personal between us as well.” I smirked at him.

“Fair enough.” He laughed.

And with that the awkward silence loomed back over us.

But I couldn’t help feeling excited. I had always wanted to become an adventurer like my parents had been, I wonder if they could see me now would they be proud? Yeah I’m sure they would be, they always supported me with anything I decided to do, I’m sure now wouldn’t be any different.

‘Well mom, dad, it looks like it’s finally time for me to go on my first adventure. Please continue to watch over me, until we meet again one day.’ Tightening my grip on the reins, as the excitement for my first real, and intentional, adventure took over me.