"What a nightmare," Banks mused to himself as he stared at the destroyed bar, one labelled as 'Minne Minor's Bar & Bed', a place he had gladly drunk at in a previous loop. Bodies littered the floor, and he gulped down the last piece of honey candy before walking up to the wreckage. A half-dozen guards swarmed about, some pulling bodies out of the rubble, a few examining the destroyed body of the Golden Guard, some just securing the scene. Without his intervention it looked like everybody would die, none of the bargoers would survive. A Golden Guard, while not being exceptionally powerful was certainly out of the bracket for most non-magicians. However a handful of city guards paired with one or two more experienced magicians looked like they were easily able to surround and destroy one.

  "Alright, you all need to clear out," a man, actually that was Jakk, said stepping forward. His tone was personable, yet firm. "This is a matter for the guard, we will release information as and when it comes. Standing around will only impede us in our duties."

  "My husband, was in there," a middle-aged woman said wringing her hands, her face lined with worries.

  "I'm sorry, there were no survivors," Jakk stated, lowering his eyes for a second, before they darted to another guard as the woman collapsed to her knees heaving great silent sobs. Wordlessly the guard went over to comfort her. "Are you also looking for family members?" he said as Banks approached. "I'm sorry there were really no survivors."

  "No I actually wanted to know if I could join the guard," Banks stated, looking at the man who died in another timeline.

  "Well considering official conscription just became legal an hour ago, I'm sure we would be happy to take you," the man said. "Any food in a famine as my nan always used to say. She was the worst cook I've ever met to this day." He chuckled to himself. "I can take you to the station and we can get you set up if you want. I have to report on this whole mess anyway."

  "Lead the way," Banks said.

  "In a minute," he said. "Ros, I want you to take over, cordon off the area, set aside the bodies and await further instructions. I'm going to speak to the Commander. You follow me."

  Those last words were spoken to Banks as the man gave him an encouraging gesture as he walked down the street. There was a clear tension in the air, a thick cloying smoke of uncertainty that seemed to stifle any noise as they trudged through the city.

  "You picked a hell of a time to join up," the man said.

  "I wouldn't have joined up if the times weren't so hellish," Banks admitted. "I didn't exactly join up for the dental."

  "Dental?" the man asked. "Well whatever reason you have, as long as it isn't too egregious you should get past the mandatory questioning."

  "Mandatory questioning?" Banks asked.

  "Yeah, to make sure that you aren't a spy or somebody who would use the official post for nefarious business," he said, before he turned his head towards the time traveler. "You're not a spy are you?"

  "Spying for who?" Banks asked. "Are there any other nations around that I could be spying for?"

  "The rebels maybe," Jakk pointed out. "We once caught a person who was passing messages to the rebels. He did not get a good death." For a few moments Jakk was silent, leaving those words. "I really hope you aren't a spy as well, for your sake."

  "I'm not," Banks stated. "Never been one and I don't have any interest in being one in future."

  "That's good then," Jakk stated, frowning as he saw a group of guards, four in number, hightailing it down the street. "It's been relatively busy yesterday but it really went out of control this morning," he admitted. "While I'm not afraid of a bit of hard work, it has gotten a bit ridiculous. I fear if it doesn't let up soon, we might have to cancel the Year End celebration."

  "A damn shame that would be," Banks said, more for the purpose of making conversation than any real feelings on his part. "I'm sure the Emperor could suppress any dissidence."

  "That's the two hundred kilogram anvil hanging above all of our heads isn't it," Jakk stated. "He's apparently been missing since yesterday, which everybody knows to some extent. If he turns up again then I fear the crime rates are going to plummet again out of sheer dread, but if he doesn't then it will likely keep getting worse and worse until something snaps. Unfortunately it's not something that I can influence. We mere foot soldiers are completely lacking in any influence over godlike beings like the Undying Emperor. We're here."

  He came to a stop in front of a two-story building, a mix of an older frame that seemed to have been filled up by newer materials, newer paint and newer people. It was busy, with more than a few civilians going in, or milling around outside, no doubt to report some newer disaster.

  "Nice building," Banks remarked.

  "We're the West Branch," Jakk stated. "There are two other branches, the North and the East, although technically our paychecks all come from the same place. Uh, maybe let's not say anything about the Undying Emperor to the Commander. She's a bit...patriotic." He paused as if considering his words. "Not fanatical, don't worry, but she doesn't like speculating about the higher ups in the Empire. Let's just keep our conjectures between us."

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  "No problem," Banks said. "I know not to talk about religion, politics and money."

  "Talk about money all you want," Jakk stated. "The pay is peanuts we all complain about it." His tone suggested he wasn't entirely serious. Guards were never paid very poorly. It was standard practice to pay the people with weapons in charge of maintaining order decently if not very well. Places that didn't abide by that usually ended up with massive amounts of corruption and bribery. Banks followed the man inside and passed several desks set up to take reports from citizens of Pragnosis, nearly every one of them occupied.

  "Jakk, how was it," a short-haired, short-statured woman said from her position at the desk, scrawling something out. She handed the piece of paper to a young man with a buzz cut. "Don't do it again," she said, dismissing him, before stepping up and approaching the man.

  "Bad, bad, bad," Jakk said, his voice grave. "I've got to talk to the commander. If you free, do you mind inducting our friend..." He gestured towards the time traveler, leaving a space for his name.

  "Banks," Banks said.

  "Yeah, do you mind inducting our friend," he said. "He's a new volunteer."

  "You've picked quite the time for it," she said. "I'll handle it. You can go talk to the Commander. She'll want to give the final approval."

  "Thanks, Eve," Jakk said. "Banks you go with Eve. She'll do all the preliminary." He gave a sort of half salute before striding through a set of double doors on the far end, and Banks was briefly able to see him turn left before the doors swung shut.

  "Please come with me," Eve said. "Do you own your own armor?"

  "No, never relied upon armor," Banks said.

  "Okay, we'll give you the standard set," Eve said. "We've got a few spare at the moment."

  "Because of all the deaths?" Banks asked.

  "Because this is the time that we get the highest levels of recruitment during the year," the woman said firmly as she walked through the same door that Jakk had done. She raised a hand telling him to pause a bit before she hurried in the same direction that he left. A minute passed, in which Banks before she returned. "Alright I've told Storage to get a few sizes. You look about a medium. We're going to the gym?"

  "Ah, do I have to weigh myself," Banks asked, a feeling of anxiousness coming over him. It had been a while since he had last done so and he hadn't been eating properly since then.

  "Of course, and we have to verify height and most importantly mana levels," the woman said with some amusement. "Do you know where about you stand."

  "It's been a long time," he admitted. He couldn't even begin to guess what his mana level was sitting at now.

  "Well then it's the perfect time to find out," Eve said taking him to a gym that was equipped with a sparring area, practice dummies and weights. It was quite empty, not a single person in the gym. "Most people are out today."

  "Great," Banks said, grateful that only one person would be present to witness his weight. He was directed over to a mechanical scale which spat out a number that wasn't favorable and then taken over to a measuring post which similarly displayed a slightly below average number compared to adult males of this time. It wasn't his fault that he grew up in a time where people were generally shorter. They should be grateful for the nutrition that allowed them to grow to their height.

  "And last but not least, mana testing," Eve said recording his details on a cheap wooden clipboard. "Anything above one hundred is a pass," she said walking towards a door. "Just let me get this out." She unlocked the door, before stepping inside the room and a moment later she returned pulling a trolley on which a large totem shaped like a turtle sat. "Just put your hand on the turtle shell and inject as much mana as possible."

  "Is the turtle shell based on the Nephrene Shore Turtle?" Banks asked, admiring the craftmanship as he placed his hand on the shell. He would like to be all cool and aim for a certain mana level, but he honestly didn't have that level of control and he couldn't even begin to guess how the tester was actually calibrated.

  "I don't know," Eve admitted. "All the testers are shaped like turtles. Maybe."

  "Alright," Banks mused as he pushed mana into the turtle and watched it light up and pulse. The thing seemed to almost reject a portion of the mana that he put out and it was clearly more sophisticated then simply filling out a space. It may be checking for quality, in which case attempting to regulate the wouldn't actually hide the level."

  A buzz seemed to vibrate through the shell, before the flow was blocked and the surface of the shell seemed to flicker before the a blocky number 'five' appeared on the shell, followed swiftly by a six and an eight. Eve gasped as she stepped forward looking at the shell, before swiftly writing down the number.

  "Five hundred and sixty eight," she said out loud. "You didn't tell me you were a magician."

  "We've barely spoken," Banks said. "It didn't exactly come up in that time."

  "There are multiple extra considerations with mana levels that high," Eve said.

  "Generally a magician can form the core of an elite squad," a pair of familiar faces appeared. The Commander clad in that same golden plate walked over, followed closely behind by Jakk. "Following procedure I would move you to a squad and have a handful of competent subordinates show you the ropes to eventually take over leadership of that squad."

  "Would?" Banks asked. "And have you been watching the whole time."

  "I don't trust you," she said, holding up a hand to forestall any responses from Banks. "Don't take it personally. It's foolish to trust anybody on first meeting. Normally I would have plenty of time to slowly integrate you into our operations, but as you can guess we're a bit more than merely short staffed right now."

  "I've seen the streets," Banks said.

  "Then while you understand that normally I would be elated to gain another magician and I would nurture you into a proper member of the guard, right now I just need bodies on the streets."

  "Right now I need to be on the streets, trying to fix this shit show," Banks stated in response.

  "Then we have an accord," the Commander said. "Jakk, put together a team for the red requests and include Mr. Banks as one of the members." She turned away, heading back to her office. "Oh and get Mr. Banks one of those nice magician cloaks, the blue one. We can't have one of our magicians looking sloppy, even if this whole town is swiftly going to hell." With those last parting words, she was off, leaving the gym.

  "At once, boss," Jakk said with a smile, to the empty air, where once the Commander stood. "I'm so jealous, you're going to love the cloaks. Come on, let's go."