It was a failure.

  A failure of the highest esteem.

  Filius, upon regaining the necessary consciousness, realized this major fumble with a delayed response.

  He screamed, at the top of his lungs; shedding tears of anguish.

  He couldn't believe what he had just done. He knew this will come back to haunt him. Although, he couldn't exactly fathom the scope in which this event will expand within. The implications are astronomical to the say the least.

  But he knew he couldn't go back to town with just him for the second time. This would immediately count him as a suspect and would have been put in jail without a second thought.

  And with this entire event now being settled firmly on his shoulders, the sense that the Guildmaster might have known this would be the result of him going with the party was becoming more and more of a reality. "This is a test," he thought, "The Guildmaster must have been testing to me to see if I would strike again as the possible murderer!! Awhhh God... He knew...!!"

  But while Filius was thinking about this in the darkness of the night, there came the sound of rustling from a set of bushes to his right. Filius, upon hearing the sound, immediately looked in that direction but could not see anything due to the pitch darkness of the night. "Who's there!?"

  "Son of the Lamb. First Child of the Methusaleh."

  "You again!?!" There was tangible anger in his thoughts. "What the Hell are you doing here!?!"

  "I came to a bring you a message. 'What you seek will be in the mountains.' That is all."

  "What you seek will be in the mountains???"

  "I say what I mean, and mean what I say." There was the sound of rustling as something treads away into the depths of the darkness.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Filius, having received this message, finds a tree close by and sat up against it; engrossed in unquenchable anguish.

  Furthermore, he had cried himself to sleep by the time the morning light came.

★ ★ ★

  The following morning resulted in Filius walking back to town, knowing that he'd arrive without any of his party members or the guardsman that would be with them.

  And just as he arrived at the westerly gate, the Gate Captain from before stopped him. This old-looking man glanced around for anyone else before he looked back down at the boy. "Where is everyone son?"

  Filius would shake his head, showing a facade expression of sadness.

  The Gate Captain's face would grimace at this before he took the boy by the shoulder rather firmly and brought the boy to the Adventurer's Guild, having ordered one of his men to man his post while he was gone.

  After a few minutes of silent walking, Filius was brought back to the Adventurer's Guild, but his presence wouldn't go unnoticed by those in the main hall.

  "What have I done?" He thought as he can hear the various murmurs of adventurers gossiping.

  The boy was pushed forward towards the counter before the Gate Captain spoke with a heavy tone and concussive tone. "Bring your Guildmaster here this instant!"

  The man working the counter leaned back a bit, surprised by the sudden outburst by the guardsman and nodded before having left his counter; rushing into the back.

  The Gate Captain looked around the main hall at those that were gossiping and said, "You all should be ashamed of yourselves! You let a group of children out in a world as dangerous as ours! What? So you can achieve glory and honor among your peers!? HORSESHIT! This guild should be disbanded for promoting child murder!!"

  And this monologue was met with a vehement response of boos and "Get the fuck outta here."

  The Gate Captain stood his ground, though, firm in his statements.

  Filius, on the other hand, begun to feel even more guilty than he had before. He had sunken low against the counter knowing exactly what occurred out there. As such, the depths of faultiness continued to stack on his shoulders.

  However, this faultiness would come to stack a hundred-fold as the Guildmaster arrived with a stern, and even deadly, look upon his face.

  Moreover, Filius knew this wasn't going to pretty for him, for this Gate Captain, or even the Guild as a whole.