A few days had passed since my little tussle with Belial. Which I won, handily, of course. Anyways, I was already busy with the next event in Kiel’s story.

Pulling the hoodie tightly over my head, I took a deep breath in an attempt to soothe my erratic breathing. Afterwhich, I cautiously peeked my head out of the alleyway I was currently in. And everywhere I looked, there was only ever one thing:

Puppets.

Masses of bodies pushed and shoved against one another, creating an organic current of flesh and meat that seemed to consume anything and everything that ended up on the streets.

After a quick glance, I speedily withdrew my head back into the comfort of the alleyway. No matter how many times I kept telling myself this was the only option I had left, my heart couldn’t help but tremble at the idea of being swallowed up by this terrifying current. Whilst I desperately tried to calm myself, I took out my trustworthy notes of the ‘script’, which outlined a set of directions I had to take in order to reach my next destination.

A set of directions leading me straight into the streets, and into the domineering crowd.

And don’t get me wrong, I tried really hard to get around this option. In the first of many futile attempts, I had tried to map out the route by flying high above in the sky, but no matter how many times I tried to match the streets and buildings below with the directions given in the notes, I always ended up with my head in my hands.

Oh…and the city’s anti-air defences kept trying to blow me out of the skies, which also didn’t help.

Anyways, once that attempt ended in failure, I then tried creating a pseudo-puppet body that I could control through my Prism, and use this puppet to navigate through the crowds in my stead.

Yeah……I ended up thoroughly panicking and accidentally detonated the pseudo-puppet halfway through. It couldn’t be helped, though. Even without any sensory organs, the immersion of piloting the pseudo-puppet through that terrifying mass was far too real for me…

Shiver

Anyways, that last attempt ended several hours ago in the early morning. Apparently the crowd started panicking and went into a frenzy after the detonation, which also caused me to start panicking… and, well, I…ended up spending the next few hours hiding out in the woods.

All this is to say, I’ve tried my best and still failed. Which is why I’m currently in the middle of taking deep breaths in the alleyway, as I slowly prepared my mind for the upcoming onslaught. After checking the numerous Prism barriers covering my body one last time, I took a small, trembling step out of the alleyway.

“Have you heard about the incident near the Balarick Mountains?”

“-several villages were caught up–”

“-the entire mountain range disappeared–”

In the span of a second, I found myself completely overwhelmed by the flow of the crowd. The noise, the shouts, the chatter and every other tiny vibration through the air coalesced to form a massive, all-consuming hole that drained whatever meagre composure I had scrounged up. Every tiny bump, jitter and brush against a puppet’s clothes sent a never-ending shiver down my spine. My stomach tumbled and my head kept spinning, and I felt I was about to throw up any second. My eyes turned watery and I could feel my breaths grow increasingly sharp and ragged. My feet were quickly taken off the ground, and I soon found myself completely powerless against the whimsical flow of the crowd. Panic was rising within me, and before I knew it, my mouth began to mumble,

[De–dea ex–

My order cut-off halfway through as I bumped into another mindless puppet. It was right then that alarm bells began ringing everywhere in my mind. My vision was getting blurry. I couldn’t feel my limbs. Shakingly, I shouted at the top of my lungs,

[Dea Ex Machina]

And the next second, everything disappeared.

____________

When I next opened my eyes, I found myself standing in front of a small, worn-down shack. Instinctively, I began moving my hands all over my body to check if everything was still where it was meant to be. After a few seconds of shuffling clothes, came the unhealthy dose of hyperventilation.

“Ha…ha….”

But time continued to pass me by, even as my puppet lungs desperately gasped for more air.

…I would rather fight against Belial a hundred times than experience this emotionless agony for another second.

As I struggled to breath, I tilted my head towards the shack and took a brief glance at the crooked signboard atop the doors.

‘Adventurer’s Guild! Open All Day!’

…I found it hard to believe that this broken-down shack would eventually become the first continent-spanning Guild.

Swallowing whatever trauma left within me, I took a broad stride and pushed open the wooden doors. They slowly opened with an audible creak, revealing a dimly-lit, desolate and dusty interior. Several chairs and tables laid in utter disarray, whilst the counter further behind was completely empty. It was as if a hurricane had flown in, and everything was then left as it was for the next fifty years. And not to mention the smell. God, it smelled awful in here, and that was coming from someone who spent most of their time in alleyways.

Staring at the scene, I found myself furrowing my brows in confusion at the lack of any puppets. This didn’t make any sense, it was still only the afternoon. And besides, wasn’t this place supposed to be o–

“-pen all day?”

I nodded my head in agreement, before realising a second too late that it wasn’t my voice that finished those thoughts. Spinning around, I found my exit blocked by a female puppet wearing a dirty grey dress.

“A…cleric?”

But what was a Church agent doing in a–

“-run-down Guild like this?”

The puppet’s lips curled up into a smirk.

“Not reading minds. I’ve just been with the company a long time. And also…”

She patted the side of her sleeves, dusting off its grey surface to reveal a shade of brown.

“I’m not a cleric. Just someone who hasn’t washed up in a while.”

Digesting her words and actions, with all their implications, I awoke to a disturbing realisation. If that grey colour was really all dust and dirt, then…oh god. It looked as though the puppet could read the emotions off my face, since she immediately retorted.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“A basic barrier spell around the face keeps the dust away from your eyes and nose, no biggy.” She then waved her hand around her nose. “As for the smell, well…you’ll get used to it.”

I was completely befuddled. Over my life, I’ve met many puppets who couldn’t care less for their hygiene. A hermit who lived in a cave and never washed, or a holed-up mage that’s never seen the light of day. But this puppet was on a whole other level. But even as I was recalling the filths of the past, the puppet in front of me began mumbling under her breath.

“But those merchants really are sick in the head, sending a child out here.”

I stared confusedly at the puppet, who was now waving me off with one hand.

“Go home and tell your bosses they can suck their di–uh, thumbs.”

“No, I–”

“And tell them that for the umpteenth time, the Adventurer’s Guild isn’t closing!”

“I’m…here to register as an adventurer.”

“No, I won’t take n–huh?”

The puppet stared at me with a look of perplexion.

“You’re…not sent by the Merchant Guild?”

I found myself losing patience. “Yes.”

“And, you’re here to register in our Guild?”

I snapped. “Yes! Now can we hurry up already?”

The puppet stared at me intently for a while, seemingly trying to decipher the truth. But after a few seconds, her sharp stare slowly began morphing into a wide-eyed one, before subsequently turning into an expression of sheer shock. As I tilted my head in confusion, the puppet continued,

“Sorry, sorry. I just haven’t seen an applicant in a long time. Please, have a seat.”

Pulling up one of the overturned seats lying nearby, she motioned for me to do the same. But I simply glared at the insolent puppet in response, before taking out a small pouch from my bag. As I threw it onto the tabletop beside her, its contents spilled to reveal several glimmering bars of metal.

“Whatever. Just register me in the Guild under a made-up persona.”

The puppet eyed the bribe carefully, seemingly unsurprised. “Money or not, you’re asking me to do something very illegal here, you know.”

I responded with a hint of annoyance, “If you’ve gone years in this abandoned dump without caring about dust or hygiene, I don’t see why you should care about the law. Especially if it’s something untraceable like this.”

The puppet looked offended for a brief moment, before sighing in an exasperated manner. There was a strange certainty present in her next few words as she spoke,

“Alright, I’m done. Who are you, really? Some sort of Hero or sage?”

I replied nonchalantly, “I’m an ordinary little girl who really needs a Guild registration, and has a lot of money at hand.”

The puppet then began staring at me again. And as the seconds ticked by, something seemingly shifted within her, and she followed up by opening her mouth to speak, only to drop a massive bombshell.

“I…don't know where you’re from, but in Arcadia, children don’t usually cover their bodies with twelve whole barriers.”

It took me two seconds to process those words. It was followed by another second of stunned disbelief, and another three seconds of denial. And finally, after a total of six seconds of awkward silence, I finally mumbled,

“You…noticed?”

The woman nodded. “Well, yeah. Like I said, I’ve been here using barriers for a long time. I may be god-awful in everything else, but I’m pretty confident in my skills with barriers.”

She continued, this time a bit more hesitantly, “...and given how they become fainter the deeper I go, I’m guessing there’s more underneath I couldn’t detect?”

…ngh, bingo. There were actually forty-eight, though I wasn’t about to confirm nor deny her suspicions.

Breaking out of my thoughts, I turned upwards to face the woman again, only to find her looking at me with a hint of fear in her eyes. I could feel a sense of unease emanating from each and every one of her actions. From the way she was chewing her lips, to fiddling with her dress, or even just the smallest crease of her brows.

The woman continued, that sense of unease now extending to her words as she spoke.

“Look, I don’t know why you’re doing this, but…I’m just an ordinary person who’s happened to have a little knack for barriers. I can’t–”

I cut her off. “If your ability to see through my barriers is a ‘little knack’, then I’d say the human race is pretty doomed.”

In response, the woman could only stare at me, even more confused. I ignored her reaction and continued with my words.

“You have talent. A talent only a few people have. A talent I can confidently say is bordering the divine. It’s almost a shame you’re nothing more than an irrelevant side character.”

After ending that line, I paused for a moment, thinking. I could feel a scheme worming itself into my thoughts from the depths of my divine imagination. After all, I was a puppet master, and manipulating puppets was what I did best.

I extended a hand out towards her, much like I did to Kiel before, and spoke sweetly,

“If you do as I say with this registration thingy, I’ll promise to help your Guild rise to become the number one Guild throughout the whole continent.”

This scheme accomplished what I called ‘To kill two lizards with one stone’. Besides my own registration, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to set up some insurance for Kiel and Abigail whilst I was here, would it?

“How about it, ‘Riana’? Do you want to change your life?”

The woman’s eyes shook ever-so-slightly at my words. Clearly she wasn’t expecting me to pull her name out of nowhere. And it was enough of a reaction. All I had to do now was drop my side of the deal, and it’ll be a fait accompli, a done deal.

“A few days later, a blonde boy and a red-haired girl will come to this place to become adventurers. Make sure to let them register.”

I didn’t bother giving her their names, since I doubted they’d register under their real names. Not when the entire Church was already after them.

“After they register, your Guild will change. And your world will along with it. This, I swear on the name of ‘Vynl’.”

Riana stared at me, shell-shocked. I had brought up the name of the ‘Great Goddess Vynl’, yet I wasn’t dressed in the grey attire of the Church. Alongside her previous doubts of me, a newfound suspicion should start to be forming in her mind, however outlandish it may sound at first. And following this line of thought, her next words would be, ‘Are you–’

“Are you–”

I put a finger over my mouth to silence her. Riana looked terrified, yet there was a glimmer in her eyes that hadn’t been there before. Smiling gently, I then gestured with a finger to the tabletop where I had previously thrown the pouch of bribes. Riana’s trembling eyes began to slowly follow my finger. And when they arrived onto the tabletop, they widened with a mixture of horror and shock.

Besides the pouch was now a piece of scribbled paper. A closer look at it revealed it to be a Guild registration form, lying there clean and pristine, as if begging to be used. Alongside the sheet was a pair of quill and ink. Riana stared at them with a gaze of what must be a million emotions. Time seemed to stop for a moment as the world around us began to grow silent. The slow creaking of the chair Riana was sitting on began to grow softer and softer as her whole body stiffened like a sculpture. I didn't know how long she sat there, deliberating, and how long I stood there, smiling. But after a long, palpable silence, Riana audibly gulped, breaking the spellbound silence. With shaking hands, she began to slowly reach for the feathered quill.

And in that moment, I knew I had won.

____________

Without looking back, I shut the door of the Adventurer’s Guild behind me. This time however, the door closed smoothly without so much as a single squeak. Humming a soft tune, I held up my newly-acquired Guild Card up in the air. It shone brilliantly within the light of the setting sun.

With a satisfied hum, I blinked the card out of my hands and into a safe space. And with one last turn, I looked back at the sign of the Adventurer’s Guild.

‘Adventurer’s Guild. Now Recruiting For Talents.’

I smiled. Now that was an improvement. At least better than saying they were ‘Open All Day’.

…

……hmm?

…‘Open all day?’

I looked at the empty streets around me. The morning crowds had all dried out, leaving only a few groups of puppets milling about in this evening hour.

My face began to turn pale upon the sight. My hands started sweating, whilst my breath turned ragged and uncontrollable. And amidst my mental breakdown, I had an epiphany:

‘If I had just come during the evening, or even in the night, I could have avoided the crowd entirely.’

“...”

My head stopped thinking. Or more along the lines of, it couldn't bear to think the thoughts that might have come next.

“...”

And what followed next was several hours of crying in the forest.