"It is said the moon is a child of an Old God, that is cradled in the sweet embrace of the night, awaiting for its own death, so its father can march into the mortal realm, and reap its followers. It it said that this Old God was brethren to Gaia and Galem themselves, and was known by the name, Carekosm"

-History of the Gods, by Ethan Smith

The night sky stretched endlessly over the great city, stars flickering in and out of view, and the moon, in all of its incandescence, loomed over the world like an all-seeing god and its world’s protector for all of eternity. Bars of moonlight cast through the window made motes of dust glitter where they yet hung in the air, and quickly settled on the nearby furniture and floors. Life had ceased to exist in this moment, and the gears of time sat idle, for the world sunk into a deep trance of solemnity. All was restful and fine, except the avid children that stared through their window sills till the moon hangs high, and the sleepy guards laying down by the city walls for a short respite in their long nights.

For Daniel, also laying sleepless in his rugged bed, barely big enough to fit a young child, bewilderment and awe swept his rest from him, for he was enraptured in the view of Alandriel from his bedside, something simple to a regular dweller of the city. Why on Alium did I, of all people, a simple boy from the countryside, get enlisted in the Guild. It was just as the coachman said, after all. 'Running into the big unknown, always blinded by dreams of the city' I don't even know how I had passed the porcelain test, and, among all of the other contestants, I was the only one too! Me, an artless fool he thought. But, before long, he also fell to the temptations of sleep, just like the previously avid children who vowed to stay awake to the crack of dawn and the guards who promised to their peers that they couldn't possibly fall asleep.

* * *

When the boy had finally opened his eyes, ridden with crumbles of sleep and a tiresome gaze, his room had collapsed away to reveal the old, dust-ridden Guild testing suite that he had taken the porcelain exam in. What was once the clean white panels of the testing suite had reverted to grey and black sheets that tore and ripped from the seams encompassing the entire room. Among the participants who were all adorned in cheap and well-worn gear, there were two men, hardened by battle and death that had announced that they were the examiners; one of them, a familiar Iago Duskwalker and beside him what seemed like a young boy, not so much older than ourselves, who was called Mr Smith. Test after test they had made the participants do menial things such as running laps, completing a simple obstacle course in a time limit way higher than it should. Even though the feelings of contempt and annoyance were painted on every single one of the participants' faces, they never dared to argue or speak up, for they feared the wrath of these seemingly normal people, who in reality were monsters. Then, as the test was seemingly at its close and the participants, who had only been doing simple tasks were worn out from the day-long struggle through these, the young boy, 'Mr Smith' , spoke up:

"Igo, they're completely useless, what were you thinking picking up these many country kids, and expecting some sort of a gem to reveal themselves?"

What had felt like minutes or hours, passed in a single brief second of pause. He, who barely looked any different from them, had the gall to insult them, after putting them through all of that? To call everyone outraged would be putting it lightly.

"What do you expect from us, huh? We couldn't even use our Arts and you're giving up on us?!"

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"Yeah! What do you expect!"

It rather quickly escalated from there, outburst after outburst after outburst, the suite erupting in anger. Some even turned to tears, after realising that they were supposedly 'useless', despite all the work they had put in. All except one, a certain Daniel Raigeki. The only one who had expected failure from the start.

"You there, Mr... Raigeki! What do you have to say about all of this,” 'Mr Smith' pointed to him, who was situated right in the middle of the crowd of participants.

"I-I'm not sure. You have only put us through simple tasks like these, but I believe in your judgement."

"Why is that then?"

"This, what seems like it anyway, was a test of endurance rather than a test of the power of oneself and their Arts. In the field, in the Voidlands, most of your expeditions would be these simple tasks and only a small proportion, raiding camps and killing redcaps."

"Interesting observation, Mr Raigeki. After all, it seems like there was someone who was worth some of my time in this batch of porcelains, even if you ain't that gem who my friend was talking of."

"Thank you very much, but I'm-"

"Everyone but this here Mr Raigeki will now leave this building and you may inform your family and friends that you will not be joining the Guild."

The room was stunned. Everyone, but this boy, who had never came first in any of the tests, who was lacking in any sort of notable quality, had been forsaken the right to enter the Guild. Obviously, there was some confusion and more outrage at this revelation, but some quick threatening by the examiners had swiftly shut them down. They were hurried out of the building and back to their disappointed families and friends, leaving all but the examiners and this one participant in the rugged and worn room. At first, the examiner, Igo, congratulated the boy and announced he was officially of porcelain rank, whatever that had meant, and the other examiner quickly departed and was never seen by Daniel again.

"Igo, who was that guy, he seemed like one of us, not a member of the Guild!"

"You have a lot to learn about appearances, Daniel. You will come to learn who that man was, but, right now, just thank the Gods you aren't dead or worse.", Igo rather grimly announced, but before Daniel could get another word in, he followed with, "I know you're probably wondering what one earth it means to be a 'porcelain' or how you even got in, you fool, but for now, just rest and prepare to ride out to Alandriel. All will be revealed to you there, sooner or later."

"W-Wait, Igo don't go!" Daniel shouted to Igo, storming out of the room.

"Damn that Ethan, what was he thinking picking on Daniel of all people." he muttered under his breath before leaving, just quiet enough not to be heard.

Yet, when the man left, another came in, it was again the examiner, 'Mr Smith'. He tried to call for Igo, saying his examiner friend was here, but he realised he had lost his voice. The man, seemingly bigger and more pronounced than before and with a dark expression strewn across his face, began to approach him. Before Daniel had even realised, the examiner was next to him, his hands on his throat. No matter how hard he tried, Daniel couldn’t shake the examiner off, helpless as he slowly choked to death. The breath leaving his body, his mind couldn’t help but conjure a familiar memory that should be locked well away. A familiar memory of his own grandfather.

Please, stop! I beg of you, please! Daniel wordlessly screamed, his thoughts unable to be made into words. As if the capability to speak had been taken from him.

Oh Elase, make it stop!

And it did. With a shudder of the dream’s horrid reality, it all faded away. Daniel had woken up.

Mist and sleep falling from his eyes, the boy looked up at the familiar face by the side of his bed, kind and friendly unlike the one in the dream. Igo.

"Rise and shine, sleepy-head, it’s the big day!"