The Adventurer’s Guild lobby was empty of all but one; the ever-present Kleyn stood at his post behind the central desk.

  He looked at us with a cursory glance, then did a double take when he saw Katarina’s leg.

  “By the Oaken Father’s Beard, what happened? Where is the rest of your party?” He asked, stepping from behind the counter and approaching us.

  “Scaled wolves at the way-station. And slavers.” I replied. “We’re the only survivors.”

  Kleyn narrowed his eyes at me, as if in disbelief. “Likely story, human.”

  I held back the urge to slap him in the face. Katarina did not.

  CRACK!

  She slapped him hard enough to lift his feet off the ground. He landed heavily on his side, scurrying backwards, eyes wide with shock and horror.

  “You struck me!" he shouted, standing and backing to the door behind his desk. He held his face with one hand. I saw a red hand-shaped welt forming. “I.. I’ll have your membership for this! Wait until the Guildmaster hears of this transgression!”

  He finished the last half of his monologue while standing half in the door, as if afraid we would leap over the desk and attack him, before slamming the door. The slam echoed in the lobby. I looked around and saw several faces watching from the bar at one end of the hall, and more faces watching from the crafters at the other end.

  “Damn but that felt good,” Katarina confided. “I don’t care if they kick me out, that little shit deserved it. He has treated me like… like garbage since the first day I walked in here.”

  “I don’t think you’ll be removed from the Guild,” Abernathy said, “the charter has a subsection providing a certain amount of leniency for adventurers in mourning, though it will be the Guildmaster’s decision.”

  “He’s always a dick to me too,” I nodded, “thanks for standing up for me.”

  She winked and smiled. “Stood up for us. I can’t believe that little shit had the guts to call us liars.”

  “I don’t think he has seen much beyond these walls. Or… well… maybe that is how he is coded?” Abernathy scratched behind an ear.

  “It is hard to tell that these are NPC’s,” Katarina glanced around the guildhall.

  “Yeah, they seem like real people. It’s incredible,” Abernathy agreed, “but very off topic. Even though the rules provide leniency during a time of loss, you really shouldn’t have slapped Kleyn, Katarina.”

  “I wanted to punch his snide face in. I held back.”

  The Guildmaster emerged from the door a few minutes later. She glanced around the room, her eyes flickering between curious faces at either end of the guildhall before moving to us. She looked at each of us, seeming to take in every detail, before speaking.

  “Follow me.” She looked pointedly at Katarina. “Charges have been brought against you, but I believe we have more pertinent matters to discuss, which may weigh heavily on the ramifications of your… actions.”

  We followed Guild Master Eldwyna through the guildhall and into her office.

  “Sit,” she said, gesturing to three chairs situated in front of her large desk. She walked around the desk but remained standing, arms crossed behind her back. “And close the door.”

  We filed into the office and sat down in the chairs. Abernathy was the last to enter. He pulled the door closed at the guildmaster’s instruction.

  “We have much to discuss, but we will begin with the obvious. Katarina, what happened to your leg?”

  We spent the next two hours — I glanced at the time in my HUD throughout — providing detailed accounts of the last two days. She asked specific questions throughout the telling, drawing more information than I would have thought possible.

  Katarina was fined five gold for assaulting a member of the guild. She paid the fine with a smile after we received rewards for the scaled wolves. There was a bounty on the beasts, an entire gold coin for each and ten gold for the alpha. I had looted twenty scaled wolf corpses. We split the gold three ways, ending with ten gold each. The bounty mission was of iron rank, gaining a promotion for Abe. The new iron adventurer's chit was a bitter reminder of what we had lost.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  I returned the burned corpses, the bodies of our deceased team members, and their belongings to the Guildmaster, who said she would see that the bodies be properly identified and distribute the supplies for new adventurers. She told us that notifications would be sent to the families of the dead and the mentors of our team. A service was scheduled to take place in two days.

  The Guild planned to dispatch a group of adventurers to investigate the fire and our abductors. As it occurred while engaged in guild-related activities, Eldwyna assured us that they would take care of any damages caused by the fire.

  We walked out of the office two hours later. I was exhausted; it felt like we had been in there much longer. The current time was 05:59 PM.

  “Want to team up for another mission?” Katarina asked as we emerged back into the lobby.

  “I..” Abernathy started to speak then stopped, looking down and shuffling his feet. “I’m not going to be taking any more missions.”

  He looked back up, glancing between Katarina and me.

  “I thought about it a lot. It just isn’t for me. The danger, the killing, I freeze up. I don’t want anyone to die because of me.”

  “But you saved—” I began. He cut me off.

  “I know I saved Elsetha with my elixir. And I’m glad I did, but really… in the end it didn’t matter. She still died. I keep asking myself what I could have done differently. I just ran and hid. Would they still be alive if I were braver?”

  “You can’t put that on yourself,” I tried to maintain eye contact with Abernathy, with limited success.

  “Yes, I can. I do. I’m not going on any more combat missions. It… I wasn’t interested in it from the start. I went because of the bond we all built, and because my mentor wanted me to, but… I am better suited to crafting. I’m not quitting the Adventurer’s Guild. I will still be here. I’m just going to dedicate all of my time to tinkering and inventing. It’s where my heart is.”

  “I understand,” I replied.

  “I’m sorry,” Abernathy looked down, then over to the side. “Sorry for being a coward.”

  “You aren’t a coward.” Katarina said. “Don’t say that.”

  “Everyone is different,” I cut in, before Abernathy could respond. “It takes a special kind of crazy to go out there and face monsters. Sure, this is a game, but it feels real. The pain is real. The finality of death… it is all so real… I just wish we had a way to reconnect with the others. The connections we make, they’re real too. You’re still my best friend. It is actually comforting knowing you’ll be safe here, cooking up something awesome.”

  Abernathy’s eyes glistened with unshed tears. “You’re my best friend too, Chanter. Thank you. Thank you both for understanding. I will start working on a new prosthetic right away, Katarina.”

  Katarina smiled. “It is getting late, why don't we go back to the inn and pour one out for our friends? You can start tomorrow. This old thing—” she lifted her iron leg, “suits me just fine.”

  Abernathy returned her smile. “Aye, that sounds good to me.”

  Katarina turned and looked at me. “How about you? Want to team up on another mission?”

  “Sure, let's see what they have available.”

  “Hells yes! I can’t wait to explodey-punch something.”

  Encore, who had shrunk to the size of a small cat and had only one tail out at the moment, laughed softly from my shoulder.

  We looked at the mission board, but nothing caught our eyes. The only Copper or Bronze-ranked missions required large groups or escorts, so we decided to call it a day and go back to the Inn. We could check again tomorrow.

  The inn felt quiet, the subtle silence of the lost echoing louder than the bustling crowd that drank and ate within. The innkeeper looked crestfallen when we broke the news to him. His wife broke down in tears. She had been especially fond of Hannah, sobbing the fallen rogue’s name into her apron as her husband walked her to the back.

  We ate dinner and shared some drinks before Abernathy spoke up.

  “Chanter, would you mind playing that song tonight? For the inn? It just feels like the right thing to do.”

  “Yeah, that is a great idea,” Katarina agreed.

  “I would love to,” I walked over to the innkeeper and talked to him about it. There was no one playing tonight and he was thrilled at the prospect of impromptu entertainment.

  “Want to come with me?” I asked Encore, who had spent much of the evening hiding below the table. He glanced around the room in furtive movements.

  “I... would prefer to watch. From here. If that is alright with you.” He scooted backwards further under the table as he spoke.

  “Of course, I want you to be comfortable. Do you want to go outside?”

  “No, I want to be here. It is new to me, I will adapt. Given time.”

  “Alright, if you’re sure.”

  “I am, go. For your friends.”

  I nodded and made my way to the stage. Dozens of eyes turned to me as I climbed the steps, lute in hand. My body shook with anticipation and fear as dozens of eyes turned towards the stage. I swallowed and took a deep breath.

  “Good evening. This performance is dedicated to my friends. It’s a celebration of life, and a mourning of the lost.”

  I looked across the crowd. My body tensed. It was difficult to breathe. I looked over to the table we always sat at. Abernathy sat there. Encore was in his lap, both of them watching me intently.

  “You’ve got this,” Katarina whispered from the edge of the stage. I looked down in surprise and saw her there, standing at the edge of the crowd. She gave me two thumbs up, and I chuckled. My tension broke.

  I lifted the lute, positioned my hands, and closed my eyes.

  heartfelt warmth and gratitude for reading this far into Veil. We are almost through with book 1. Next Thursday will be the last chapter! Don't worry, though! The story continues! I have plenty of chapters written for Book 2 and will continue posting M-Fri.