----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
-
-
-
Built into the mountain, the Albweiss Mountain Guild was a stone fortress nestled in a natural gap, a strategic shelter of five storeys offering relief from the unforgiving weather of the Albweiss. Its imposing structure featured towers and lookouts that rose from the rock like an extension of the mountain itself, a testament to both ingenuity and necessity. The stone walls bore the marks of centuries of wind and ice.
As Yu had heard, the guild was a lifeline for the lost, a sanctuary for weary, and a haven for the brave. It served as a refuge for travellers, a bastion for adventurers, and a hub for minor trade, marking the midpoint between the Barnstream Harbour Guild to the east and the Midland settlements farther south. Its reputation stretched across the Northlands, renowned for offering food, lodging, and supplies to those who braved the Snowtrail.
“This can’t be safe!” Yu had exclaimed, when his shirka had so smugly informed him of the arrangement she had made to fucking ruin his life. She had intruded into his room, as always without knocking, and then dropped her decision on him without any pause or consideration. Yu had jumped out of his loft bed immediately, screaming for her to get out and attempting to shut the door in her face.
“Well then, I’m sure you will make it much safer,” she had snapped, her tone laced with sarcasm and that insufferable superiority. By the time he was on his feet, she had already crossed the room, thrown back the curtain and ripped open the window. “By Diamos, it stinks in here!” She wielded insults like a blade that knew no sheath.
“Well then, leave, why don’t you!” Yu waved one of his stumpy wings at her and shielded his eyes with the other. With the midday sun surging in, it was much too bright.
“The one leaving is you,” she continued before he could interject further. “It is a respectable occupation. One that might finally turn you into a respectable adult.”
“Respectable?” Yu spat the word like it was poison. “We both know you only want to get rid of me!”
“Will this be another tantrum?” Her eyes narrowed. “When did you last take a bath? When did you preen yourself? Your feathers are dust grey!”
“You’ve wanted me gone ever since Padera broke!” he shouted, frustration boiling over.
“What I’m trying to get rid of,” she retorted coldly, “is the whimpering infant that should have left this wizard’s body a decade ago!”
In the first instance, that blow took the breath out of his lungs, then Yu’s anger surged. “Is that what you told them? That I am wizard? You did, didn’t you? Yes, why else would they agree? Why else would they want me? Why else would they take me off your claws?”
She knew that he was many things, but not a wizard. They both knew. Everyone knew. Yu was no ker-born. He was a bastard by any measure of bloodline or fate. He should not have survived birth, let alone reached adolescence. He only did because a healer had fixed him — apparently fixed himto the best of his abilities. It was a sadistic joke. He had turned Yu into a species of his own, neither humanoid nor avian. To call him a wizard was cruel mockery at best and a blatant insult for any true wizard at worst. Most of all, it was a lie.
“Oh, grow up,” she sneered.
“How can I?” he shot back, the rawness of his frustration laid bare. “You’re sending me there to fucking die!”
“The guild still stands, doesn’t it? They’ve lasted this long. They won’t collapse, even under the weight of your melodrama.”
Well.
This exchange was, more or less, the last meaningful conversation they had shared before Tria kicked him out. She had marched him to the gate of her estate within the human habitat, where she had handed him over to his escort without so much as a glance back.
-
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
From the adventuring party that had escorted him – eight fighters plus the other traveller, a real Worldbender wizard – Yu had since then learned a thing or two about the Albweiss Mountain Guild: The guild’s position had been carefully chosen, situated in a region untouched by the larger beasts that roamed the higher peaks or the fetid swamps below. Predators rarely ventured into the aligning stretch of the Snowtrail. Prey was scarce, save for the occasional travellers that wandered the trail. The terrain itself was said to be the ultimate deterrent. Narrow ravines that were permanently overrun by gushes of melting snow, steep cliffs, and an unrelenting cold created a natural fortress, dissuading even the boldest creatures from trespassing. It was this very isolation, they claimed, that had allowed humanoid peoples to establish a foothold, turning the uninhabited emptiness into a strategic advantage.
Yu had not believed a word of it. The way he saw it, they were either telling him what his shirka wanted him to hear or feeding him nonsense to keep him pliable for the journey. “Why do they need guards then, when there is no danger?” he had challenged Jerikall, the newly turned shaman of the party. He was born an omira and underwent his pathfinder walkabout alongside the escorting party.
Jerikall, with his frustrating air of measured calm, had taken his time responding. Yu had placed his last shred of faith in the omira, hoping that if anyone could be honest with him, it would be Jerikall.
“Well,” the shaman had finally admitted, “danger does exist.”
Yu’s heart had clenched at the words, though he tried not to show it.
“Orks and witches sometimes dare to approach the guild,” Jerikall continued, his voice maddeningly even.
“I knew it!” Yu had pounced on the admission, his suspicion vindicated.
“Occasionally,” Jerikall added, unperturbed by Yu’s outburst. “Such occurrences are rare, but not unheard of. But rest assured. The guild is well-prepared for such threats. Guards are stationed permanently at the entrances. Their vigilance extends to the surrounding trail whenever the weather allows.”
This revelation did absolutely nothing to reassure Yu. Quite the opposite. “What guards?” he had snapped. If these guys were so great, then why by all means did they hire people like him, with no combat skill — with no anything skill whatsoever? Who in their right mind would want a bastard like him? He was not evem fit for manual labour, with his shit stumps for arms.
For a while, Jerikall had simply looked at him, putting up that maddening blank front which shamans so often adopted when their mask grew on them.
Yu had not needed an answer, though. He already knew the truth behind his shirka’s scheme. He was not hired because the guild needed him. He was hired because she did not.
“Yes,” Jerikall had eventually replied with a tone of infuriating tranquility, “the guild employs a mix of permanent residents and temporary recruits. Adventurers who exchange their skills for food, shelter, or pay. Among them are seasoned fighters, spotters with exceptional senses like yours, and sometimes even legendary treasure hunters and wizard scholars.”
That remark about his senses had shut Yu up abruptly — Exceptional senses? Yu almost laughed at the absurdity. What the fuck had Tria been telling them? Whatever it was, they would be well disappointed soon enough.
Not that Jerikall’s answer convinced him. Yu had mulled it over during the long, wet march, but the logic did not track. Why would anyone with real talent and skill, any fighter capable of standing their ground against a Shaira, for instance, waste their life here? The guild offered food and a roof, sure, but there had to be a shitload of better places in the world for people like that.
What did the Albweiss offer, really? A barren, icy wasteland infested with brutal storms and cold. For Yu, it had been four weeks of wet clothes and wet feet and wet food and wet everything. It had felt like an eternity, and he had hated every second of it.
And that was not even the worst of it.
The voices.
They had been so loud.
-
-
image [https://glasswizardchronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/The-Glass-Wizard_Fantasy-Adventure-Magic-Webnovel-by-The-Duckman_Depressed-Wizard-Webseries_Psychological-Webstory_Charactrs_Yu.png]-
-
-
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------