Last to exit the carriage, Archibald found Merille and Dorian standing waiting for him several meters in front of the Institute’s open front gate. Archibald also noticed that the ever-present gray fog had not withdrawn with the progression of the day. Instead, It was even thicker than earlier in the morning. He could hardly see more than thirty meters down the road. Taking a final step forward as he left the carriage, a slight chill affected him as the now bone-chilling breeze hit his face.

“It appears that it’s gotten even colder somehow…” Archibald cooly noted.

Just as his foot hit the mossy stone street, Archibald turned his head in surprise toward a sound coming from the front of the carriage. His attention peaked as he heard the Envoy speak in their usual unidentifiable voice.

“Initiates are to enter the gate and join the crowd. No emotion may be shown. Show any and face expulsion. The Initiation Ceremony will begin at sundown. You must be at the Ceremonial Square before then.”

Surprised by how much the Envoy was talking, Archibald burned their instructions into his mind. Giving a slightly akward bow toward the Envoy as he was unfamiliar with the motion, Archibald spoke aloud.

“Thank you for your guidance, Envoy.”

The bow, while not strictly necessary, Archibald hoped would get some type of reaction out of the Envoy. After all, he had been making great pains to act as respectfully as possible despite his internal irreverence. He was all-in-all more interested in simply not causing any potential problems until he learned more about his situation.

“Perhaps when I know more I will have enough capital to act how I please. For now, though, acting like Riege is my best bet. However, acting like Riege is starting to drain me, and I’m pretty sure my actual personality is slipping through sometimes. I realize now that It’s unrealistic for me to keep up this facade for as long as I had initially wanted. I simply don’t have the experience for something this long-term to keep a flawless reenactment of Riege. Luckily, the Institute is a sea of new people, or at least a new crowd with no one knowing Riege. The Institute is a place where I can discard Riege’s mask and make a new one more fitting to my situation and goals. Maybe I'll even make some friends in the process. God knows I had few I could truly call my friend on Earth.”

Unaware of his thoughts, Archibald caught Dorian and Merille Looking at him in brief confusion before he glanced at the both of them with deep meaning evident on his face. Realizing something, both Merille and Dorian bowed as Archibald had.

“Thank you, Envoy.” Merille bowed deeply, the motion smooth.

“Thank you, Envoy!” Dorian bowed more shallow than either Merille or Archibald had.

“Good. Now go. May you be blessed by the Old Ones.” Surprisingly, the Envoy responded to them. “Huh, I’m pretty sure that’s the first time that I’ve gotten a non-memorized reply out of the Envoy. Not that it was anything special.” Archibald absentmindedly contemplated what this could mean as he watched the Envoy whip the reins which in turn caused the Bulk Toads to let out a piercing croak as they leaped away. “Those things have no business being that quick and they must be jumping at least three meters high, it’s unreal.”

Archibald watched for a few more seconds as the carriage pulled away down the cobbled-stone street. He was surprised to observe that the streets were ten or so meters wide and opposite the entrance of the Institute, a huge circular pavilion had masses of robed people. There were far more people in gray and cream-colored robes moving about between businesses that thronged the perimeter of the pavilion.

Archibald was also surprised to observe that there were also other colored robes, and while he knew that people that wore brown robes were generally adolescents, he knew very little of proper robe etiquette. It was generally only something that residents of the Middle and Upper Rounds cared to put much thought into, something that the departed Riege has few experiences with.

Moving his gaze to the pavilion he found that it was decorated with motifs of strange figures that he had no real basis on deciphering. It also didn’t help that he couldn’t see the center as it was too far away. From what he could see though, it seemed like the design was trending inward, with complicated lines and patterns all seeking to reach the center of the pavilion.

Seemingly noticing Archibald’s wandering gaze, Dorian stood by Archibald as he gestured forward and explained, “Welcome to the Thornford Pavillion. This is where most of the Institute's students acquire their goods and conduct business. Pretty neat eh?” Dorian nudged Archibald with his elbow, “You wouldn’t see a sight like this in the Lower Round!”

“Yeah… there’s nothing like this. There are so many people.” Looking at the Pavillion, Archibald had to admit that Dorian was right. Other than the impressive carvings and motifs on the ground, the pavilion stretched hundreds of meters in all directions. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of people walked on and around the pavilion and it made for a beautiful tapestry of robed colors, though the colors weren't vibrant by any measure. The liveliness of the pavilion expelled even the ever-quiet atmosphere brought about by the perpetually thick mist.

“You’ve seen nothing yet,” Archibald was brought out of his reverie by Dorian, “you see the buildings surrounding the pavilion? They are all Physiquer-affiliated or supported businesses. Do you know what that means?”

“That Physiquer goods are-” About to answer, Archibald was about to give a logical answer but was cut off for the umpteenth by Dorian.

“Of course you don’t! It means that Ring level goods are sold here! Stuff that Physiquers use! The cheapest of potions and artifacts sold here are measured in krowns at the very least!”

Holding in a snarky reply, Archibald simply replied with silence as he observed the throng of stores and buildings.

“I’ve noticed that Dorian really loves the sound of his voice. He does bring up some interesting stuff though…Physiquer goods huh.” In deep thought, Archibald habitually stroked his gaunt chin as his otherwise aloof expression turned contemplative as he gazed at the stores. “If Dorian is being truthful then I won’t be seeing them anytime soon, Riege only had about six sterling and twenty pence to his name. Even those savings are the result of more than six months of savings from working from dawn to dusk at the Beastyard most days. Even then I would need about four more sterlings to even have the equivalent of one krown. Truly, the Upper Round and more importantly Physiquers must live in a completely different world from most people.”

At this thought Archibald allowed himself to chuckle out loud despite the weird look from Dorian as he felt deeply moved at this realization, “Seems like some things just don’t change regardless of the world. A stroke of familiarity even in the unknown. Difference is I'm now on the very opposite of the spectrum.”

The stores looked magical. Multi-colored mists and strange lights floated through the doors and windows of the various shops. Unlike the usual in the Lower Round, vines of all shades, not just those natural covered the tops of the buildings and creeped into the alleyways between the shops.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Turning around, Archibald observed the entrance to the Institute and was greeted with tall black metal walls that were sculpted to appear as if they were made of individual bricks. On top of the walls that spanned deep into the fog, were dark emerald-green spires that looked as if they were claws trying to grip the misty air.

The arched gate of the Institute itself was made similarly. It had a black lower portion and a spired and twisted top portion. Scrawled across in tad-pole-like lettering, was the full name of the Institute that read –Institute of the Chained Arcane–. In the center of the overhead arch was the Institute’s emblem. Archibald observed the emblem and found it to be an image of deep red, nearly crimson, chains that wrapped around a nondescript void-black humanoid figure clutching a book or tome of some sort.

Overall, Archibald concluded that the Institute did not look like a welcoming place. Its styling was even more imposing than the already traditionally dark and oppressive Craggvale style.

“It’s said that a city reflects the personality of its inhabitants, and this place is dark and dreary yet forceful. Riege’s memories also reinforce my assumption, people like Throll are exceptions to the rule it seems. Even Dorian, the arrogant ass, had some of his darker and colder moments when we were just talking about random topics. Merille was also initially quite cold, but now that she’s opened up somewhat I can tell that she’s more on the forceful side."

Finished with his observations both inward and outward, Archibald turned his attention to the ongoing conversation between Merille and Dorian as he walked back to them as they talked just a few meters down the street from the gate of the Institute.

“...we should leave, we have, “Archibald saw Dorian pull the sleeve of his neat light brown robe and look down at a tattoo that seemed to be constantly shifting between numbers, “around four more hours until sundown. It’s only half past the thirteenth hour right now.”

Archibald recalled from Riege’s memories that the thirteenth hour was one afternoon. "Seems like Craggvale uses a 24-hour time-telling system like Earth. That's got to be strange right?"

“Hey, what are you two talking about? It’s the thirteenth hour already? I could’ve sworn that it only just turned noon.” Archibald interjected himself into the conversation as he engaged in some light banter.

Merille was the first to respond to his intrusion.

“You’re right, all this excitement is making the time fly. I swear the fog makes it nearly impossible to even tell the time most days.” Tilting her head in a nod to Dorian, Merille continued, “We were just arguing as to whether we should wait here for four more hours. I think that it would be smart of us to follow the instructions of the Envoy and simply go into the Institute and wait for the ceremony to commence. On the other hand, Dorian stupidly wants to disobey the Envoy and go look for something as inane as breakfast!” Towards the end, Merille made it clear that she disdained Dorian’s idea and Archibald found it hard to refute as Dorian’s plan was truly incautious.

Not sitting back at Merille’s disapproval, however, Dorian quickly defended himself in a vehement tone, “Nonsense! You didn’t even listen to my explanation. Do not take me for a fool, Merille. I know when risks are allowed and should be taken.”

Voice lowering slightly, Dorian moved in slightly to better talk to both Archibald and Merille. “If you would have listened to my full explanation you would know that I know that the Envoys don’t watch over the Initiates before the ceremony, and before you ask, I learned this from my father.”

Rolling her eyes, Merille crossed her arms as she retorted with a dismissive tone, “And he must always be right then? I don’t think that we should risk it.” Merille then shifted her gaze to Archibald, “I think that Archibald would support my caution don’t you think?”

Truly, Archibald did feel like Merille was being the more sensible of the two, but he hadn’t eaten and he felt that Dorian did have some merit to his claim. After all, he was the one with a Physiquer for a father.

"Though my hunger definitely isn't swaying my opinion at all."Archibald thought as his stomach grumbled, "Yup. Not at all."

Regardless, Archibald decided to play both sides before coming to a conclusion.

Putting up his palm in a placating motion, Archibald responded, “I think that we should hear out Dorian, he is the one with a Physiquer for a father after all. Besides, I am quite hungry, I forgot to eat anything. Despite my hunger now though, I forgot to bring my coin with me when I left home earlier.”

Hearing Archibald, Dorian let out a triumphant chuckle to Merille, “See? Archibald at least understands reason enough to not dismiss me completely. Besides, it’s not like there’s risk by simply joining later and did you forget that we can’t show any emotion in the Initiation Ceremony? Tradition mustn't be violated, so how are we supposed to converse like that?!”

Taking a breath, Dorian slapped his side which caused the ring of metal to be let out. “And don’t worry Archibald, the breakfast will be on me to celebrate our acquaintance. We can discuss some of our plans over a nice breakfast. You two haven’t spent much time in the Upper Round right? Trust me I know a good spot, it’s even close by!”

Still indignant, Merille had hard eyes as she stared at Dorian before staring at Archibald, “We still haven’t heard what Archibald has to say. I don’t like flaunting the rules before we’ve even entered the Institute. Seems like we still have heard from Archibald though. Well Archibald, what do you say we do?”

Looking at Merille’s tight-lipped smile, Archibald wasn’t fooled as her eyes spoke fire should he choose to side with Dorian. Regardless, Archibald was intrigued by what Dorian had said and his thirst for exploration and answers had won out fairly easily over his slight caution towards the Envoy's words. Of course, he wasn't being incautious either. From what the Envoy had said earlier, it seemed that they only needed to be at the Ceremonial Square before sundown.

Heaving a visible sigh, Archibald gestured to Dorian. “Sorry Merille, I feel like what Dorian says has merit. The key is that It’s not like there is even much risk by doing this.”

In Response, Merille only hardened her glare and let out a dismissive snort as she spoke in a tight tone, “Ugh, but you must know that this isn’t worth the risk! What if we get back late!”

This time Dorian triumphantly interjected, quickly revealing his left forearm, “Aha! But there is no risk of that either! I have a time-teller, which you would have recalled given that I even told you the time earlier! Hahaha!”

Observing Dorian’s gleeful chuckling and Merilles rapidly thinning patience, Archibald palmed his face before waving his hands at the two of them. “Alright, alright! Enough you two. Dorian, what is up with that annoying laugh anyway?”

“Haha-hugh?” Caught off guard mid-laugh, Dorian turned to Archibald, a confused expression sprawled across his face, “My laugh is annoying?”

Ignoring Dorian, Archibald turned to directly address Merille, “How about this, we’ll come back at the latest an hour before sundown, right Dorian?”

Archibald turned to Dorian as Dorian absentmindedly responded, “Sure that will be no issue…Wait a second! What did you mean about my laugh?!”

Giving no heed or even turning his face toward Dorian, Archibald confirmed with Merille, “That should be acceptable at least right? This way the risk is even lower for us.”

Biting the sides of her mouth, Merille let out a sigh before begrudgingly accepting. “Fine but we must be back at the very latest an hour and a half before sundown, and I will be constantly reminding you two!”

Letting out a chuckle Archibald responded and joked, “Sure, no problem though I would prefer if you would bother Dorian more, his laugh is certainly quite annoying and it would do us no good to hear him laugh at either of our expenses.”

Finally, loosening up a bit, Merille’s glare subsided as she chuckled and responded, “Certainly, Dorian’s laugh is quite annoying, isn’t it? It’s something akin to the squawk of a Rowan, isn't it?”

“Why!...” Choking with frustrated emotion, Dorian pointed between Archibald and Merille before rapidly deflating, “Whatever, I’ll let it slide this once. Only because we’re short on time and I'm magnanimous! Come then, we’re going to the Market of Lune.”

Lightly chuckling, Archibald and Merille smiled at each other as they followed behind Dorian as he led them across the street and to the Thornford Pavilion.

In record time Dorian threw the jokes at his expense out of his mind and gained back his usual appearance and ever-present arrogant smirk. Turning his head while walking as he spoke to both of them Dorian joked, “I’ll graciously forgive you this one time for laughing at my expense. I'll be benevolent as to not lead you down a random alley to be looted by the wandering thieves.” He pointed to an alley a hundred or so meters away. “From here we’ll be crossing left across the pavilion and heading down an alleyway. Just follow me and when we get there I’ll explain some stuff about the market. ”

Both nodding to him, they all soon arrived at the entrance to the alleyway. It was a narrow crack between two shops. On the left was a very dark green potion store that spewed emerald green light and mist out of its blurry windows. Above its open doorway was a plaque that marked the shop as Emerald’s Exports. Archibald noted in wonder that the plaque of the store was constantly emitting a hazy weak orange light.

On the right of the alley, Archibald saw a store that had a dark brown wooden exterior with light black and dark purple vines clinging to the storefront. Unlike the potions store, the name of the store -Mire Materials and Ingredients- was simply hanging on a wooden sign just above the entrance, and visible through the warped windows were the blurry visages of several customers as they moved about the store.

Taken in by the strange shops, colors, and people Archibald only noticed that Dorian and Merille had entered the alleyway when they were just about to go around a bend.