A young man was standing outside of a very plain looking building, he was weighing his options while he had his ‘invitation card’ in his hand. It had three words printed on it, “Shadow, Assassin, Approved”, it had none of his information and he wondered why. The man in the blue robe from the Mage Guild told him that was all he needed.

He was told to be at this plain building on the outskirts of London, it featured the sentence ‘GUILD WAITING ROOM’ in very big black blocky letters. Was I scammed? That card cost way more than I planned,  he thought to himself as he opened the door. He checked his long blond hair and made sure they hid his slightly pointed ears, after he was satisfied he opened the door.

This building was a really big room with a few tables and chairs, it was devoid of any decoration and the tables were completely barren. He was a bit glad that he wasn’t alone, at the far end of the room was a girl with very frizzy red hair with earphones in her ears, she was staring intently at her phone. As he got closer he realised that this girl was taller and bigger than him, she wore a plain white tank top that showed off very well developed arms.

When she noticed the new stranger he was greeted with a warm smile and waved over to her table, she held out her hand in introduction, “Hello, my name is Isabelle Monroe.” What surprised him was that her hands felt more feminine than he expected.

He was taken aback at how easily she spoke to him and he realised that he should talk as well, he gave a very lame smile and answered, “Good afternoon, miss Isabelle. My name is Ryan.” She cocked her head and asked, “Ryan who?” 

“I don’t have a last name.”

She looked at him confused, “Why?”

“Orphan.” 

“Who trained you?” Ryan was quiet and she didn’t realise that he did not want to talk. “My trainer was an old Soldier named Donald, he taught me how to handle a sword and shield. Every time I didn’t have my shield up he would hit my elbow, it hurt like a bitch.” She would laugh at her stories and her guest would only feel more awkward as she went on, because the stories he had were those he never wanted to tell.

After a few more tales from her past she then said to Ryan, “Donald had so many stories and I can’t wait to have my own adventures.” This prompted a laugh from a visitor who wasn’t there a moment before. He was an older man with shoulder length black hair and a short beard that had quite a few white specks. After he appeared he crumpled an ancient piece of paper that turned into dust.

Ryan eyed this new arrival, he wore a leather jacket and leather gloves in the summer, he had a red and blue satchel with strange runes - probably magical - and a very large black revolver at his other hip. The gun was immaculate and the holster showed almost no use.

He then pulled out a cigarette from a small box on his belt, he slid his thumb on the side and snapped his fingers, that produced a small flame that he used to light said cigarette and he took a long drag.

“What was so funny?”

“I was laughing at you, you seem to have the wrong impression of what your new job is, kid.”

“Then please tell me what it is, because you know so much!” Every word was full of sarcasm.

Ryan wondered why this man let her talk to him like that, if he had done so his teachers would punish him severely. 

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“There is a reason why we’re called Fighters and not Adventurers, we stand between what is out there and what is in here, and a lot of people die in the process.” the newcomer said very seriously. This caused Isabelle to stop in her tracks, “Adventurers are fictional characters that complete quests and don’t receive consequences for their actions. When you fuck up it could cost someone their life, and if you want a life of ‘one job to the next’ you should join a mercenary group. ”

That last statement made Ryan bite down so hard that his jaw started to ache, then the old man said, “The average age of death for a Fighter is twenty-seven.”, this caused the two youngsters to freeze. This new information came to them as a shock, they knew that guild life was dangerous but not this fatal.

Not giving them a second to process this new revelation he gave them a choice, “ If you leave right now I will tell management you never showed up, you could go to any one of the twenty other city-states. There is no obvious way for people to see your powers, except yours, you are huge.” he said, eyeing her up and down. His comment about her appearance did not make her happy.

Ryan was the first to respond, “I don’t have anywhere else to go.” The monotone way he said that made the old man raise an eyebrow and then he looked at the girl, ”What about you, do you want to join the guild?” She simply nodded.

The stranger stood up and said, “It seems that introductions are in order, my name is Grizzly and I am your team leader.” he said and bowed deeply.

“What is your real name?”, Isabelle asked, interrupting Grizzly.

“It is my real name, I was born super hairy and as I grew up most of it fell out.”

“Really?”

“No.”

This caused her to cross her arms and pout. Ryan had to fight back a smile but was caught by the irate woman.

“Seeing as both of you decided to stay, I will give you some advice that took me a lifetime to learn.” He held up his hand and extended three fingers, “There are three rules: One, Teamwork is doing what your teammates are not doing.”, after this he lowered his ring finger.

“Two, hate, anger and fear are neither good nor bad. Hate keeps you focused but it can make you single minded.  Anger can make you brave but it also makes you reckless. Fear keeps you from underestimating your opponents but can make you underestimate your allies.” he then lowered his index finger.

“Three, never make a big decision while you are hungry, horny or sleepy, I suggest you get something to eat, jerk off and take a nap.” he said this while holding up his middle finger. 

After none of his new charges laughed at his attempt at humour Grizzly decided it was time to leave. 

“When we get to my car you two can ask me as many questions as you like.”, he said as he stood up and left the room, he left multiple cigarette butts on the floor. Ryan decided to pick them up and dispose of the trash left behind by the new team leader. This task earned him a small smile from his teammate as they left to join Grizzly.

As the trio rounded the corner they found a strange scene, a skeleton in a butler’s uniform tapping on a Sportscar’s window. Grizzly approached the boney man and he said in a very anxious tone, “Greetings, Sir. He won’t open the door and you are the only one he listens to.” 

He then realised that there were more people with him and gave a deep bow, “Greetings, my name is Femur and I am the butler and driver of Master Grizzly.”  As he said that Grizzly told him, “Lose the master part, we’ve been over this.” 

Grizzly bent over and grabbed the underside of the car and almost effortlessly stood up and dropped the raised car and a thud came from the inside, the passenger seemed to hit their head on the window.

The door opened and a sapphire coloured creature stepped out, it had scales, horns and sharp teeth. His face protruded out and turquoise eyes with slitted pupils along with its large physique intimidated Grizzly’s new companions.

It stared at them wordlessly for a few seconds and Ryan had the urge to run from this beast, it then raised its arms to point finger guns at them and said, “Hey.”. It drew out that word and that caused Ryan and Isabelle to look down, it was wearing very old gray sweatpants and bright orange crocs. 

“This is Eragon, he is a Draconian and our healer.” 

He didn’t wait for introductions, he got into the back of the car and pulled out a Switch and started playing video games. 

“He isn’t very good with people, they tend to run away when they see him.”

Both of the new recruits nodded but did not admit the fear they both obviously had for the draconian until he opened his mouth.

“Get in.”, after everyone got into the small car it transformed into an airship. It had a mast in the middle with enough space for everyone on deck.

Ryan then remembered his card and showed it to Grizzly, “That is your invitation card to the guild, give it here for a second.” When he took it the words changed to, “Soldier, Spirit(Bear), Member”, at least he knew that these cards couldn’t be fabricated. “Spirit? My card says Berserker, are there other Soldier types?”, Isabelle asked over Ryan’s shoulder. “No, just the two but most are Berserkers like you.” She seemed satisfied after that answer.

“How many Shadow types are there?” Ryan asked filled with curiosity.

“There are Spy and Thief, but Assassins are great for combat and recon.” This worried Ryan, Will he force me to kill too?