I awoke to what felt like an alien world. The comfort, the warmth, the smoothness of the sheets. All of it was new again. It felt like I was back home, waking up clean and fresh the morning after a hard day of work.

It felt weird.

I woke up as early as I always did, this time refreshed and well rested but only for a moment. Exhaustion had helped last night but after years of sleeping on hard ground, now finding myself sleeping on any sort of soft bedding just wasn’t working for me.

So, appreciating it for as long as I could handle it I soon threw off my blankets and got to my feet to meet the morning.

I had moped around long enough doing nothing. Now was the time to get things done.

Filled with motivation I went down to the inn’s common area to get some breakfast and some directions from the barkeep. I had paid for a couple of weeks in this inn and I had to use this time wisely and filling my belly with a large serving of bacon and eggs was the wisest thing I could think to start with, and I made sure to undertake the task admirably. It was soon after that that I left to sort out some of the basic necessities that I needed to meet following my reemergence into the world.

I was clean again, but that was all that was going for me. A lot more had to be figured out.

So after leaving the inn I traversed the streets following the barkeep’s directions to visit some clothing stores so as to remedy my ramshackle appearance and then a barber to smooth out the rough edges of my DIY haircut. By midday I had put together five decent looking outfits and two good pairs of boots and though gaunt and bony, I had managed to make myself look somewhat respectable. That then sorted I walked back to the inn to get some lunch and change into my new clothes.

When I came down from my room I caught the eye of the barkeep again and with my new outfit managed to receive a begrudging nod of approval for my new appearance that also seemed to alleviate some of his misgivings about me.

I nodded back to him and set out again for the afternoon. I wasn’t done with today yet.

Though almost a century had passed, the level of civilization had remained almost unchanged from when I started here, therefore all the things I had learned before my breakdown (if that’s what we're calling it) were still applicable. The most important thing for me right now was how to get a job.

Elde had explained to me that nepotism played a fairly large role in where one started off in their careers here and how well from there they managed to progress onwards. Sons usually took on the roles of their fathers and if that wasn’t possible the parents would use their relationships to call in favours with people they knew to get them some other suitable trade or profession. But of course, there were jobs that people wouldn’t do if they could help it and the employers of those jobs still needed to find people to work for them.

This was where The Bank came into play.

I had seen long ago on my very first day here that in the city square, with the exception of the town hall, there were four major establishments of equal and major significance. I had asked Elde about this and he had explained to me that these buildings were the city’s main branches of the four associations of the Coalition.

The first and foremost being the Trade Association, or simply “The Bank”. The Bank is responsible for all the financial and economic activity across the world. They mine and mint all coins, they oversee all business transactions and contracts, they keep the accounts and records of all those who had money deposited in the bank and also fund all the expenses for every expenditure of every facet that the Coalition requires. They are Calzyn’s money and blood, and they are everywhere.

The next on the list was the Scholar Association, or “The Institute”. The Institute is responsible for the storage and proliferation of the majority of all catalogued knowledge ever written down since the dawn of human society. Its core purpose is the education of all humanity but its primary role is research and development and has therefore been responsible for almost all of human progress. This includes determining the standard of technology, performing every conceivable study conducted about the world and its principles and documenting all events, facts and knowledge that they can determine to be true. Most importantly though, they work towards the development of the magics and techniques which have established the Paths for all of humankind. They are the keepers of knowledge, and the finders of truth.

The second to last member of the Coalition is the Martial Association, or as it is more commonly referred to as “The Corps”. The Corps is responsible for the recruitment and training of every warrior and magic user that they can get their hands on. They are the gathering point of all those with power and might in Calzyn and even include those from independent clans and kingdoms who are not loyal to the Coalition but still want access to their services. Besides training and administration they are also the force that battles on every frontier of humanity’s settlements and hunts the wild and powerful beasts found there to either defend against them or go forward and eliminate them to open up new lands. They are the defenders on the wall, and the reapers of new lands.

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

The final, and most odd member of the Coalition is the Pleasure Association, or “The Bordello”. The Bordello is responsible for overseeing every entertainment and leisure activity that exists in Calzyn. They run and manage gambling, theatre, music, liquor, fine foods, delicacies, artistry and many others but most importantly, prostitution.

I had remembered noting the absence of women on the streets early on in my begging career and when I asked Elde about it he had explained to me that any women, no matter their circumstances, could walk into The Bordello and become a member. Naturally I was curious as to why this was so and I soon got my answer.

Due to the constant fighting the Corps put their members through they lose major amounts of fighters regularly. Because of this, it wasn’t a lifestyle that encouraged marriage because if you were a wife to one of these fighters, your husband could die at any time leaving you alone with children and possibly destitute. On the other hand if you were the husband, it was hard to commit to a wife as you had to keep your focus constant on improving yourself and investing your resources into trying to keep yourself alive, this being the case for the male members anyway. As a result, most of the men found their release and comfort at brothels on the front lines instead of the marital bed and their patronage supported these establishments.

But it wasn’t just this that contributed to their power and influence.

The Institute had from the beginning explored the different ways of working with people's wide range of inherent affinities and through their research had developed Pathway techniques for every affinity they could find. One such affinity of the life strata was the sexual affinity, which all women have as a significant aspect of themselves as it correlates with their capability for childbirth. As a result, Pathways that strengthened sexual prowess and could apply to any women specifically emerged and were taken up by these early prostitutes almost as soon as they were created. With these methods, they elevated their power, sexual techniques, beauty, and most importantly, enhanced their ability for procreation.

Fast forward some time and some very powerful women emerge that then unify all the brothels into what they are today, The Bordello, and besides the good times that they provide also give birth to children who have strong talents and can then go on to become a Warrior or maybe even a Wizard. Because of this, a third of the members of the Corps are children of women of The Bordello and about half of all members of the Coalition in total are related closely by blood to The Bordello in some way or another.

So at their foundation, The Bordello is responsible for the evolution and improvement of humanity’s talent over time. They are the entertainers and the music makers, and they are the mothers of humanity’s future.

These four associations combined the makeup of the most dominant force in Calzyn, the Coalition. A true and mighty Goliath.

But all of this wasn’t really why the Bank mattered to me today. What mattered to me was that all the open jobs that businesses needed to be filled were posted at The Bank to ensure the jobs legitimacy and the guarantee of pay. And what I needed more than anything else at the moment was a job.

It took me some time and a few friendly passersby helping me out but I finally managed to get back to the plaza I had been in on my very first day. The building hadn’t really changed as far as I could tell but I hadn’t seen it up close the first time. Now I could.

The building was decadent, polished and huge. I’ll say that about it. It was built from some sort of jade or a deep dark green stone that glimmered brightly at every surface with symbols etched into it and had the great fortress plaque proudly hanging overhead. The doors were wide open and after a bit of psyching myself up I nervously made my way up the stairs and into the atrium.

The building was even more resplendent on the inside but I had little time to appreciate the paintings and intricate designs of the building's interior before my attention was drawn elsewhere.

“Excuse me sir, how may I help?”

A man dressed in silver garments, sitting at a desk to the right of the entrance with an exemplary customer service smile plastered on his face was what I found when I turned to the voice. Hearng him calling to me I approached him.

I had only shared a few words with the barkeep, a barber and a few shopkeepers so far and making a substantial conversation again was at the moment a truly intimidating prospect that I was faced with. But I quickly pushed through my trepidation and stood in front of the man ready to state my business.

“He-Hello. It’s nice to meet you”

“It’s nice to meet you too sir.” he politely responded, finishing there to let me continue. I had practiced what I was going to say on the way here so I took a deep breath, looked into his strawberry red eyes, and got on with it.

“I’m newly arrived in the city and I’ve come here to consult with the open employment registration to see what is currently available.” I state.

“I see. The registration is with Attendant Forn at station 7, just behind you.”

I turned around and looked at all the booths and the people lined up behind them on the side of the wall behind me. I quickly find number 7 occupied by a grouchy looking old man with no hair on his head looking down and working on something in front of him.

I thank the man in silver and make my way over to station 7 across the mosaiced floor to appear in front of the old man just in time to see him look up from his work to address me.

“Your business, sir.” he drawled

“I am here to see the open employment registration”.

With no pause or expression he got up from his seat and went behind the booth to go set it I supposed. Only when he came back with a large blue leather bound book in his hands that he then deposited in front of him and opened up to the first page did I confirm it for myself.

“There are currently 303 available positions in the registration. Do you have some sort of particular interest or should I read them all out to you?” he questioned.

“Actually” I asked hesitantly, “Could I look through it myself?”

That seemed to elicit some surprise on his face but that quickly faded away before he turned the book around and put it in front of me before going back to his work. I looked down at the book and found an opening page, occupied by two columns of words listing jobs and their bare descriptions.

It had been a long time since I had read Cali but Elde had hammered it into me relentlessly, so I wasn’t soon to forget it all and everything written down in front of me still made sense.

I went through the jobs one by one. There were some I understood, many I didn’t, and I had to turn the page a couple of times to keep looking for what seemed the best option.

It wasn’t until almost the end of the list that I found something promising.