By the second of three days’ travel to Leyden, my nightly dreams had changed. Gone was the same repeated scene of all I truly held dear burning to cinders. Instead, they flickered on to the time surrounding when I had met Phillip.  

The days after the fire, that night itself notwithstanding, were without a doubt the worst of my life. After all, how does a person quantify losing not only the last of his family but also any object that might tie you to them?

For what good it did, most of the wealth that my father had generated, and my mother and I had lived on, was safely stored away in some bank in Leyden. As such, I was able to continue to finance the education my mother had pushed me towards. Another stroke of luck was that Ryan was willing and able to take me in. Compared to many of the others that lost something in the fire that night, I was much better off. Of course, none of that really mattered to me at that point. Only now, looking back, do I see the opportunities I was presented and threw away that would have allowed me to continue a normal life.

I floated in some kind of a haze for what felt like the longest time. I vaguely recall continuing to attend classes. Religion, economics, even my beloved acting. Everything seemed to lose its luster and blend together. My studies soon followed my home, collapsing into the ground.

Friends? Much the same. Though, I now question whether you could call the relationships I had maintained true friendships. At least, if the speed with which most so-called friends ceased to maintain even a façade of support was any indication, they were not.

Ryan, like the good man he was, did his best to support me both materially and mental. I, however, was in no mood to accept these well-intended actions. Staying in his home, so near to where mine once stood, served only to constantly drip salt into an open wound. I found myself more likely than not to spend the night out instead of returning to his house.

Soon, I had come to rely on some of the oldest of human companions for sorrow; cards and drink and women. Things I had once avoided, but Leyden served its purpose in catering to a large population of young men and women studying far away from home. And it was here, as my studies and relationships collapsed around me, and as my funds steadily decreased as my reliance on vice increased, that I met Phillip.

At this point, I was quite far into my downward spiral and was gambling in a not-quite-so rundown locale call the Crimson Barrel. While this would eventually come to take on a new meaning to me, to the average person it represented nothing more than a tongue in cheek reference to the red-painted barrels that were located throughout the place.

Through trial and error, I had found that I was quite adept at competitive card games. I especially enjoyed and found success in a variant in which each player was dealt four cards and had to make the best hand out of two cards in hand and three out of five “shared” cards. Perhaps it was a result of my acting training, but I found I was able to read the other players and prevent myself from being read in turn much better than the average player. As such, I used this to finance my other, cash-intensive habits.

On this night, however, I had been doing much better than normal. If I had been slightly less inebriated, I might have been concerned. My fellow patrons were not the students that frequented the higher-class inns of Leyden, but a much rougher crowd who wouldn’t hesitate to get their funds back through other means. As it so happened, having thoroughly exhausted my possible list of opponents for the night, I had decided to move on to another location and find some company for the night. Grabbing a final drink from the bar, I headed towards the exit while ignoring a call behind me. Reaching the door, I was stopped by a rough hand on my shoulder.

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“Didn’t you hear, friend? The owner of this establishment wants to speak with you,” said a disturbingly large, disturbingly strong man.

Against my better judgment, and I often question how things would have turned out had I simply drank less that evening, I snorted in response. This, as one who was not heavily intoxicated and depressed might guess, was not the proper response to give to a request from a man who looked the spitting image of an enforcer for a crime lord. I promptly received two rather strong punches to my gut and my face that left me sprawling on the ground and bleeding. As I faded out of awareness, I managed to hear a question directed from the barkeeper to the man standing over me.

In response, the man said, “Phillip seems to be interested and wanted to speak him. He didn’t want to comply, so I’m making sure he does.”

And then all was black.

Waking up some time later, I found myself face to face with something I was definitely not expecting. What appeared to be at first glance a completely normal man. His face lacked any noticeable features or scars. His brown hair and average height would place him as one of many in any crowd in Leyden.

My impression, however, changed when he began to speak. “Why hello there. As you may have worked out, I’m the owner of this fine tavern, Phillip. As both my bartender and Eric here,” pointing to the bulky man that had knocked me out earlier in the night, “so kindly attempted to tell you, I wanted to have a quick conversation with you.”

The words themselves weren’t too far outside the norm. However, the way he managed to casually talk to a bloodied and restrained person right in front of him as if it was the most normal thing in the world was slightly disturbing.

“As part of my work in Leyden, I run a variety of taverns, as well as a variety of other houses of ill-repute. Part of this is ensuring that the house never takes too much in losses from any single person.” After I gave him a questioning look, he continued. “Your ability to win so consistently at cards, not only at the Crimson Barrel but also at various other gambling halls, has been detrimental to my profits. I am a man that does not take kindly to lost profits.” As he finished this statement, he pulled a dagger from what appeared to be nowhere.

At this point, I was visibly trembling. The most dangerous situation I had ever been involved in as a student consisted of petty squabbles. I’d never thrown or received more than a punch. To be restrained in a chair while being threatened with a dagger was a new level of danger for me.

Either pretending to not notice or simply not caring about my current state, the man name Phillip continued. “Normally, I do not provide options for people that cause me problems. I simply deal with them. However, I’m going to give you a chance to tell me just how you’ve managed to win so much so often. If I like your answer, I may reconsider how tonight will end.”

Gathering myself together, I began, “I… I’ve been studying at one of the academies in town for the past several years. Specifically, I’ve been focusing on drama. It helps me control my reactions and read other people. That’s all I’ve been doing, I swear.”

Taking a look at me, he replied, “Drama, hmm. Interesting. You can do that with just some acting training. Well, I have an offer for you then. I encourage you to listen.” As if to emphasize the point, the man called Eric shifts closer to me as is to make himself more intimidating than he already is.

“I want to see just what you can do with this acting of yours. In addition to my management of various businesses in Leyden, I arrange the… liberation… of various items of value from their unrightful owners. Some of these items would be much easier to acquire if I were able to get someone closer than a cloak in the night.” While he had been pacing as he spoke before, Phillip turned back to me as he went on. “I’ll have some of my employees teach you a variety of useful skills for this line of work. In return, you’ll work for me until you pay back the money you caused me to lose, as well as the cost of training you. If you don’t, I’ll kill you. Agreed?”

It was then that Eric chimed in, “I know that we’re off to a bad start. But if you do well, you’ll find that working for us comes with a variety of wonderful benefits.”

When framed as succinctly as this by two oh-so-persuasive gentlemen, how could I do anything but nod?

And so, my time working for Phillip began.