As he awoke from one of his rare good-night-sleeps, Lyrus could not feel his right arm. 'Must've slept over it.' He thought with a bit of spite 'This surely is not a good way to start the day.'

After cursing for a few seconds in his mind, his arm's movements came back and he got out of bed. Working to the Guilds was a tiring and time-consuming task, so he wanted to get things over as soon as he could and then rest again. It wouldn't be happening this season though, with the swarm incoming he would not have much room for rests and naps, this was quite depressing for him.

Finished with his mental bickering, Lyrus prepared to leave, now inside his gambeson, he wore an iron mail in the past, but it was broken in the swarm 2 years ago. 'Gone together with them', thought Lyrus, who soon shook his head to get these bad memories out of his head. The taste of the alcohol was bad, but there was nothing else that could calm him when he was alone for an entire year after what happened. Thankfully this loneliness didn't continue, who knows what he would've done if it did.

His boots were made of leather, cheap iron covered his shin and almost went to his knee, his leather gloves also served a purpose, his hands wouldn't hurt much from impacts against his sword and shield combo with them. Unfortunately, he still didn't have the money needed to buy a helmet, so his blond hair was free in the wind - or they would be if they were longer - and his blue-as-water eyes were clear for anyone to see. All in all, his handsomeness didn't save him from looking like the poor Guild Hunter he was.

Ignoring this unfortunate fact, Lyrus ate his breakfast and set out to the Guild building. On the way, he marveled at the simple wood and stone made houses littered across the slightly uneven ground. 'This village is rich.' He thought, and in a sense, he was right, while the capital in the east had huge two or three-story buildings, they also had slums that were anything but pretty. Here, however, the worst you see is the occasional run-down house of some old people that refuse to build a new one.

His amazement at this scene didn't die at all, it seems.

----------------------------------------

Inside the Guilds building, huge windows - made of glass - all across the walls allowed the sunlight to illuminate every single corner in the hall, highlighting the cleaner than clean chairs and tables next to the entrance. On the far front of the hall, a bold looking stair that went to the second floor gave the feeling that it was the show of the parade, the second floor itself was just another gathering place along with the first floor, though.

Facing the left side of the stairs, a long counter that was made from darker wood than the ground was occupied by several employees from the Guilds, filling the reports of both accepted quests and completed ones, sometimes also giving this or that advice to the other hunters, what caught Lyrus's attention, however, was the woman looking at the board right by the side of both the counter and stair, keeping most of the region's news and some orders from the quarters hanging on it.

The woman in question seemed to be around her early twenties, a long, blue colored and white adorned robe covered her from shoulder to knee while maintaining her charm intact, in fact, it seemed to only add more elegance to her somewhat tall figure; the ponytail in her head softly swung behind her head while she tilted it from time to time looking at the board with crossed arms.

Lyrus stood there for a moment, watching the woman attentively staring at the quest board. He was reminded of a scene in a bad romance he had once read and asked inside of his mind, a bit of humor present on that thought, 'What do you see of special on that board?'

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

After letting out a silent laugh, Lyrus headed for the tables while calling the young lady.

"Hey, Jane. Found something worthwhile?"

"Good day, Lyrus. Not much for a small-sized party like ours." Answered Jane who turned her head to look at Lyrus for a second, calmly turning back to the board and resuming the tilting of her head, looks like it turned into a habit.

"Oh well, let's update the map then. Is Robert not coming today? He's usually the early one." After sitting and leaning a bit in one of the chairs and thinking about some ships and sailings from the past, Lyrus started to talk with Jane in order to pass some time. Patience was not his forte when it wasn't important.

"No worries, he's just taking care of some small problem regarding his sister in the medical unit. I think she called him about last week's group of monsters that we killed together with the other parties, perhaps this also had to do with the increase of injured close to the sea region. By the way, a tribe of goblins apparently took hold of Fort Baxter, survivors say they number close to two hundred, do you think we can find some scattered group around it?" Jane knew Lyrus' personality and casually fulfilled his intentions.

"I see. Good idea by the way. Perhaps we can get more close to the fort through the forest, there's bound to be just enough for us to get a little bonus." After Lyrus' response, he started mumbling to himself and planning their way for the day. However, after realizing what was this situation meant he frowned and asked Jane. "Hey, is that increase in injuries and number of two hundred monsters right?"

Lyrus didn't care much about the death count of the fort, he knew by experience that dying by the hands of an army of monsters was more than possible and sometimes couldn't be avoided, his reason for never being at peace about his former teammates was that he was close to them and that everything that happened there indicated that they would live and he would not. This kind of trade made him think that sometimes the world goes as far as rewriting its own laws to prove its unfairness.

As for Jane, Lyrus thought that perhaps this reality was still something far away from her, or that she was already used to live with it because of her past. 'I wonder if the latter is true. If it is, what does she make of things as they are turning to be?' Lyrus realized that his thoughts began to stray from the situation at hand and mentally shook his head to come back to the roots of the problem.

"Apparently. That's what the reports and quest say at least. Why, is there a problem?" Jane once again turns to face Lyrus, but this time her face doesn't turn back to the board after an instant, wrinkles mystically appearing on her forehead because of her confusion.

It was clear to him that in these years the monsters got more active and dangerous along with the swarm. He reminisced about his first year in this village, - without probing much about his time with Cawton - comparing the difficulty of finding monsters on certain days with the ever so increasing presence of monsters these past few years. He couldn't say if this change was for better or for worse, better because it brings more money to the hunters, worse because it was so sudden that it couldn't be detected until it was too late.

Lyrus pondered about what this siege at Fort Baxter entailed, an army of monsters attacking the fort is not something common, in fact, it only happened once or twice during a swarming season and never at any other time of the year. 'Sure, the monsters were becoming more of a threat by the day but ruling out the sudden storm that was the swarm two years ago, their population has been increasing at a steady rate and it should be biologically impossible for this sudden spike to happen constantly.' He thought, feeling like his brother back at his family's home, searching for the reason of weird things to happening out of nowhere.

Lyrus sighs, after leaning even more on the chair, he looks up to the ceiling of the Guild, he realizes that it looks exactly the same as the floor. He then turns to face Jane, saying his thoughts in a slow and mysterious rhythm, almost like he was starting some strange type of thriller story. "I think that-"

"Hey, guys! Sorry for being late but we may have some problems. Apparently..."

Lyrus who was stuck in his thoughts didn't notice the arrival of Robert. And Robert who was in a hurry didn't hear Lyrus talking, in the end, they both said the same thing at the same time. It almost seemed staged, almost.

"The swarm season came early this year."