Silenced reigned over the hall when I walked in. Initially, I had thought it because I was alone, but instead, many people were huddled over a table, reading… something.

I caught Velsa's eye as I walked towards the desk, and when she spotted me, her misty eyes changed into a more practised calmness. She opened her mouth to speak to me, but hesitated just before, noticing my lack of companionship.

Her stance went from calm to anxious.

"I have bad news." I said, to her dismay. "That went terribly wrong."

"Are you the only survivor?" she asked, quietly. The question confused me. She didn't seem surprised.

I nodded, and she brought out a form.

"I'll need you to fill out this statement." she said, then put her arm across the desk.

"I managed to save the horses - and I'm not sure where to put them. They're outside."

"Don't worry - I'll get some people to secure them."

I turned my head to the mess hall where everyone was near silent. She followed my gaze and answered the question I didn't ask.

"Word has officially come from the Emperor - Axasfield, and with it, the entirety of Tatia is to comply with Imperial Law. That is, the abandonment of the Guiding Pantheon, gods we have served in Axasfield for years and years." she said, shedding more and more tears as she went.

She wiped her face, then spoke quieter.

"For a long time, Axasfield and its sister city, Narx, has been a bastion of the faith. The Emperor's laws towards religion didn't apply here. We've had paladins, clerics, templars, faith healings and all sorts of Benevolence-aligned people coming here for years. They won't lie down and die without a fight."

"So it's war, then?" I said. "Right here?"

"Yes. That's why everyone is so glum. Half the people here follow some god, and half of those follow the Guides."

"You ever heard of Silencers?"

Her breath caught in her throat, and she put a hand over my mouth, moving quicker than I would have expected.

"Don't say that here. You'll rile up half the guild." she said. "But yes, I do know of them. They're prime assassins, dedicated to hunting down those of the faith, under the Emperor's sanction. All of them are adept mages, too."

"Yeah, think I figured that out."

She looked at me for a second, trying to parse if it was a joke or not.

"You met a Silencer?"

"Three, actually. Rather intelligent fellows."

"Don't put that in your statement, or they'll find out you saw them."

"I think they already know that, considering I had a chat with one."

"Seriously?" she said in a hushed shout-whisper.

"As I said, rather intelligent." I said, then looked back at her. "They were hunting some paladins, and they asked me where they were. Turns out, they had entered the Ruins. Which was also inhabited by a Rustwraith. A Matriarch, apparently."

"There's a Matriarch nearby?" she said in shock-surprise. She grabbed my hand and started to pull me towards the Guild Master's office. "You must tell the Guild Master immediately. If that thing splinters, it could be very, very bad."

"Don't worry, it's dead as hell."

She stopped. "You killed it, or the Silencers?"

"Silencers." I responded quickly. "I saw that thing tear my newfound teammates to shreds, and belted it."

"Smart choice."

I walked back the few steps she had dragged me, and scooped the paper she had asked me to fill out up.

"Should I have a quill or something?"

"Oh, I suppose you won’t have one."

She got on her knees behind the desk and scrambled in a wooden box. Eventually, she found what she was looking for, a long cylindrical shape, coloured red, with a reflective metal pin on the side.

"This is a Inker, infused with the soul of a ink-squirting sea creature. Put your finger on that metal bit, which is a soul refractive strip, and the soul will produce ink. They are hard to replace, but everyone gets one for free when entering the guild. I guess Crysi forgot. Again."

I took the pen, because that’s what it is, a magical pen, and went to my room, through corridors that were starting to be familiar. Kinda.

In a moment of conscious thought, I looked down at the paper. I then realised, to a little embarrassment, that I couldn't read a single damn thing on it, and I certainly couldn't write something.

I reversed course, then slammed face-first into a massive, muscular chest. The figure looked down, frowned, stepped to the side, and continued walking.

That man made me look like a child. I wasn't the largest of build - nor the tallest of height, that much was evident, but I wasn't small. I think I came out at 180 CM or 6' when I last measured myself back on earth.

I continued down to the reception, nodding to Crysi on the way. I realised then that I hadn't bathed in the better part of five days. Nor changed clothes. When I reached the main desk, I explained to Velsa that I couldn't write.

"Oh. Course, that makes sense. You must be frazzled after all that."

"You don't seem too surprised about the others dying."

She sighed.

"The amount of people I've seen go out and never come back at this point… it's oddly normal. This is a difficult, dangerous and sometimes deadly job. I'm just glad someone made it back just to tell us."

Her eyes flicked to the door, then back to me.

"Well, myself or one of the other clerks will have to write it down as you tell us. We'll do it another time."

She looked at my clothes, then my hair, and wrinkled her noise slightly. She dipped down again, and brought a key off a rack.

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"There are two places in the guild to wash, both in the basement. Either the communal bath, which is hot, or the showers, which, by the way, are freezing cold. Waanculoq don't like to be bound to washing implements."

She saw the look of confusion on my face.

"Waanculoq are like water creatures from the Bloom realm. It's no different from a mage casting water on you, only regulated so that they can't kill you. But they don't like to heat the water, because they are vindicative little shits, but it works."

"Think I'll take the bath. Where should I head?"

"Go straight left from here, and into that wooden door, then head down. The steam will give it away. Towels are provided, but you need to put them in the black wooden box when you're done with them. Oh, and the baths aren't separated."

I heard her put the key back on the rack as I walked off.

The basement was cool, but behind another wooden door was basically a medieval locker room. I threw my clothes off, and grabbed two towels. Two men were speaking on the other side, but I paid them no mind. Instead, I pulled the door to the baths open.

Immediately, I was hit with hot steam. I closed the door behind me, and found a spot that was unoccupied, save for one women who seemed to want to quiet too.

The water was hot. Much hotter than I had been expecting, in all honesty. Were these people more resistant to warmth?

I mean, so far, the country does some pretty warm, and Marad was caramel in colour, so I imagine it's not too far of a stretch to assume we're somewhere down south.

Even so, I sucked up and put myself in. I'd get used to it soon enough.

Four men were in a circle at the other end of the room, bantering and discussing loudly. So much for a quiet soak. I looked over to the girl, but her eyes were completely closed. Hell, she might have been asleep.

Don't think you are meant to fall asleep in the bath, but it's not my problem.

The unmistakeable smell of alcohol wafted towards me, and I turned to get a better look at the men at the other side. That’s when I noticed, one of them was the large man I met before - and he was staring right at me. We locked eyes for a second, and a lesser man might have looked away. I did not.

He rose from the water, then began to walk with heavy stomps over to me. He sunk into the water besides me and sat, silent. I raised an eyebrow.

"Something you need?"

"Where is Hane?"

"Who?" I asked.

"Haneteku. I saw you leave with him." he said, adamant and quiet.

"He's dead."

The man sighed, with such force that the surface of the water bubbled slightly.

"How?"

I could say the Rustwraith… or I could say the Silencers. One of those options was the more entertaining one, and the one more likely to cause chaos.

"Silencers purged the area. They found some paladins."

I could feel the seething rages come from him. Around him, the water ruptured and flowed in strange ways.

"Why are you alive?" he said, after a moment.

"They let me go. I'm not sure why."

He rose from the water just as quickly as he entered, and returned to his fellowship, who were now silent. His hand reached out, and grabbed the bottle of hooch from another, which he took a swig of, then handed back. His eyes were dark, full of despair.

I wonder if I could use that. Someone like that, loyal to me, would be an excellent first step in power. The girl sank lower into the water, and did not resurface. Said water, was about as deep as me and then a little bit more. She wouldn't be able to stand at the bottom and breathe - I wouldn't either.

I contemplated leaving her, but realised quickly it would bring questions as to my reaction if she was drowning. I sighed.

My hand shot out with uncharacteristic speed. I was simply faster than before, stronger too, as my hand grabbed onto her arm and pulled. She rose from the water, with two eyes locked to mine.

"The fuck, asshole?" she shouted, then wrenched her arm away from my hand. "Keep yer hands to yer fucking self."

I put both my hands up, trying to signal that I had no hostile intent.

"Sorry!" I said, with mock regret. "I thought you were asleep and you had fallen in."

She childishly splashed water in my face.

"Thanks, I needed to wash my face." I joked, hoping to defuse this.

She attempted to keep the frown, but then laughed.

"That's what you say is this situation?" she said, chuckling. "I can't tell if you’re confident, brave, or stupid. Or all of 'em."

"I hope you can see it was just a mistake. I'm Asmodeus, new to the guild."

"Ah, that'll explain it. Yer a newblood, not used to taking a quick look at the women. No, you need to grab 'em." she said, in levity.

"Yes, your arm is exactly what I'd like to touch on you." I said, deadpan.

She smirked, then stood up a slight bit, showing cleavage from the towel she had wrapped around her.

"Oh, pretty boy, there's something else you'd like to touch on me."

"Given the chance." I shot back, "There's a few things I'd do other than touch."

Wait, did she call me pretty boy? I haven't actually seen my face since coming here, so I sort of assumed it was my old one.

She sat back down on the stone ring that allowed us to sit without falling into the lower part of the water.

"I've not had a good exchange like that in a while. Most of the men here can't flirt for shit. The ones that can always think I'm interested." she said, her lips pulled back in a grin. Where I'm from, we'd call that a shit-eating grin, cocky and smart.

"Worry not, fair lady, I will not be your knight in shining armour." I said.

She snorted, then brought water up to her face - which gave me a good chance to look at it. Smooth, freckled with black dots, and lined on the left side by some kind of tattoo that ran under her eyes and up to the part in her black hair, which was loose and wet. Parts of it stuck to her face.

"You pass all tests, good sir."

I leaned back, putting my arms behind my head.

"I've not heard your accent before, and I'm new to these parts myself. Where do you hail from?"

"Strange question to ask a gal in the bath." she quipped, but then answered seriously. "I'm from the eastern rivers. Small country that has, believe or not, a fuckin' lot of rivers."

She turned to me, expecting me to speak too.

"I'm from a place called earth… It's no-where near here, or anywhere else you might know."

"I'll have you know I'm a traveller. I know a great many places. Who names their country after the dirt?"

"My people, obviously."

She put her hand on her hip.

"Oh, we're playing cryptic now, are we? I'll go first. My name starts with an S."

"Siliana." I guessed.

"Ferafas, that's correct!" she said.

I rolled my eyes at her.

"You do not fool me, river girl."

"You do not fool me, river girl." she repeated in mock serious with a deep voice.

I looked at her expectantly.

"Oh fine. Xyippe." she said, then looked at me innocently.

"Oh, right, Syippe, with an S, got you." I responded, dumbly.

We both laughed.

"You're a lot more interesting than some of these others, I gotta say. For one, you actually approached me despite my looks."

"Your looks?"

"I mean, most men get intimidated by such physique." she said, flexing her arm, which, admittedly, had more muscle than mine even with her smaller size. "That and the hair."

"Is this the part where you tell me your hair comes alive and eats people?"

"Does hair do that where you're from?"

"If my hair did it, it'd make adventuring easier for sure. Unfortunately, it does not." I said, frowning heavily.

"Aww, don't be like that. I'm sure you have lots of other… features." she said, flirting again.

"Fortunately for you, any features I have are on display." I said.

"You aren't wrong… just unfortunate that I can't lower my head. Fight injury, you understand."

"Oh, of course. I'm sorry for your loss."

She laughed at that.

"When you get out, seek me out upstairs. If you make the cut, we're looking for another member for our group, and I think you'd fit."

I was tempted to make another flirtaceous remark about 'fitting' but I decided against it. Enough was enough. She rose from the bath, and I averted my eyes. She walked away, but a sharp whistle made me turn around.

Her ass was bare, and she had strategically placed her towel so I couldn't see much, and that others couldn’t see anything, but I could see enough to excite. I smiled, then turned back around.

It wouldn't do to get too attached, but she was fun to talk to. Hopefully her group would be similar.