Finally the rays of light peaked through the leaves like beams from heaven, indicating that dawn was finally here. Eric stretched his muscles moving them to get life back into them, after sitting in a cramped position for the night. Before waking Xianto up, he collected all of their belongings and got them ready for the long walk ahead. When he was finally ready he pushed Xianto over.
As he was moved Xianto groaned a bit. He never liked having to get up and this day he was feeling particularly sore from his bruises. The excitement of the previous day having worn away.
After a short meal over the dying embers of their fire the pair stood up and began to discuss which direction they should head. Slowly Xianto asked, "Eric do you have a map?"
Eric sighed. "no. Luckily for us though, I know where the nearest town us."
Xianto grinned. "I knew you would."
Eric rolled his eyes. "You put far too much faith in me and my knowledge."
Xianto shrugged, tuning to pick up his belongings. "hasn't failed us yet." His comment was accompanied by a playful sigh of despair from Eric. The two picked up their belongings, for Xianto it was his rifle and some of the storage Jars while Eric picked up the rest along with the tiny amount of rations they had left. He didn't bother to pick up his broken hammer or try to find the pieces of it, not wanting to waste anymore time.
Slowly the pair trudged along through the forest, a continuous wall of leaf and wood surrounding them, the leaves creating small rays of light through the branches. The monotony only broken for them when they had to hide from a huge creature that was lumbering towards them from the forest. After a few agonising minutes of hiding under one of the stuck up roots of the trees it passed. As it did Xianto stole a quick glance at it, it was mostly hidden by trees however he could make out the leg of wooden body almost as big as the trees.
"shit, its huge" He whispered to his companion.
Eric nodded. "let's wait for it to leave. Any move now and it might find us." Xianto nodded dejectedly, he would have loved to have fought it however he understood they had no means to fight it, he was out of ammo and Eric's weapon was broken. In agreement the pair stayed hiding under the branch until they heard the creature plod off in the direction they had just come from. After seconds of waiting Xianto jumped up and over beaconing to Eric.
"come let's get out of here." Xianto called down. Eric nodded and jumped to his feet. before the two began to run, Eric leading the way with Xianto following him for what seemed like hours. Eventually after what seemed like hours they left the forest to be greeted with the sight of a small Dominion border town.
With that the two picked up the pace moving their weary legs across the ground towards the town where they could get some rest. Above them the sun shone down on them through a thin layer of clouds. As they got closer they could see that as it bordered current civilisation is was very different to the normal cities of the dominion. While they were full of towers, bridges and multiple layers. This town with its cobbled streets only had a single layer. The buildings that lined the few streets of the town had a brick fronting onto the street with extra wooden supports running down the sides and around windows. Nearby a small Coal-PowerStation provided the little bit of electricity the town needed. Little cables ran from the plant to houses, protected by pipes which were bolted onto any surface. While black pumes of smoke rose from the chimneys of the houses and the power plant. At the other side of the small town a paved road linked the town to other parts of the Dominion.
Along it rode a lonely automobile, it was of a slightly old model but it suited its very rural surroundings. The pair walked down a small path into the cobbled streets of the town. As they walked they constantly were on the lookout for shops to sell their wares and it was not until they reached the town square and were directly standing in the shade of the Large clock-tower of the town which was a staple mark of Dominion cities that they found the shops they were looking for.
They entered the nearest shop and quickly sold off most of what they wanted to sell. In the end they had sold everything but the core of the beast, however what they had made was an almost pitiful amount due to most of what they could have taken having being ruined or destroyed by the fight. They had though salvaged quite a few of the feathers which fetched the highest price.
"What now?" Xianto looked at Eric, trying to discern what he had got planned next.
"I was thinking we could team up with a few other hunters if there are any here. Core hunting is such a big part of the economy nowadays I am almost certain that there will be some hanging around here."
"there is a small hunters guild that just got formed in town." A nearby townswoman said, she had tired green eyes and wore a grey cloth shirt with faded bluish trousers. All of which spoke of someone who was involved in a lot of heavy manual labour, the typical type of job in the Dominion.
Xianto looked at her excitement in his eyes. "Really? Where? Could you tell me?" Eric sighed but let his friend continue talking.
"go down the street towards the clock-tower, then once in the main square it's the building with a blank sign hanging across the door. I hear they haven't decided on a name or symbol yet."
"Oh?" Eric said. "They sound rather disorganised. Well hopefully they are better than nothing. Thanks..." He paused realising he hadn't asked the woman's name.
"Elly" She replied.
"Thank you then Elly." Eric stated. Beckoning to his friend. "Come on Xianto. Let's not waste any time waiting around here."
Xianto nodded, his eyes shining with enthusiasm. "let's go."
The two friends turned and began following the directions, their weariness making them go far slower than either would have liked. After a few minutes they made it into the main square, then they stood there glancing at the fifty or so buildings that lined the square. All of these were slightly more modernised than the others in town, with these only having a solid brick front with no traces of wood. Some possessed several brass pipes running down the front on them. One was clearly the post office of the town, with a bright blue and red facade, parked outside were two postal vans. Finally in the building to the left of the clock-tower they saw what they had been looking for. It looked identical to the other buildings around the square apart from a completely blank sign hanging over the door.
"There it is" Xianto called over to Eric, who nodded.
"Right lets head there then." The two then walked one calmly and the other more eagerly passing the odd citizen but nothing remarkable, while they moved they attracted a few odd looks from the nearby townsfolk. Eric grimaced, he knew that the two must have looked absurd, their clothes stained with crimsons, Xianto's more so and torn and ripped like some crazed murderers.
Once at the door Xianto slowly gave it a little knock. The door itself was a solid oak one which had been glossed but not painted. After a minute and no one had answered Xianto was preparing to knock again, louder this time. Just at that second the door swung open inwards revealing the man who had just opened it. He was around thirty in age and had dark black hair along with greyish eyes. He wore a simple brown mechanic's outfit with several pockets strewn haphazardly across the front, several sporting different types of tools. He looked them both up and down, pausing for a few seconds while he took them in.
"...Hello?" He asked slowly.
"Hi, umm are you one of the hunters in the hunting guild I was told was here?" Eric queried before hurriedly adding. "please ignore our looks, we have just been hunting and it didn't go perfectly to plan."
There was a short pause "I can see." He slowly said, then seeming to brighten up. "Anyway, as to your question, I am a hunter and this is the hunters guild here. I guess your looking to join?"
Xianto nodded. "We certainly are."
The man nodded. "very well, I'll take you to Elvira. She's our leader so she can judge if your worthy to join or not."
Eric looked sceptically at him. "Won't she mind about how we currently look?"
"Not at all, she usually looks worse after finishing a hunt so looks are mostly irrelevant to her. Its more what you are capable of that she will care about."
The pair looked at each other. "That's a relief."
"look are you coming in or what?" The man looked at them then began moving off down the small hallway inside the building. Xianto and Eric quickly followed him, Xianto in the lead and Eric behind. Once inside they moved down the small hallway and past a set of stairs that lead upwards to the first floor. While walking they passed two doors set into the right hand side of the hall. The door they went through was at the end and had a small iron handle which was slightly out of place with the other doors which had brass handles. Inside the man was waiting for them and behind a wooden desk sat a woman who looked in her late twenties. She wore perfectly plain clothes and had cropped brown hair that just reached her shoulders, however what was remarkable was that her skin looked metallic, almost iron-like.
Xianto and Eric gasped. Xianto speaking first. "Y...You're a Ironskin?"
The woman smiled. "It looks like someone here knows their stuff, although I find it odd that you can be surprised at what I am, considering one of you is a Silvari."
Eric shrugged. "I may be a Silvari however we wander around more, you Ironskins rarely leave the centre of the dominion."
"Well said, I have already heard that you want to join us, so now it is just a case of if you are able to. Though since you are a Silvari," With that she pointed to Eric. "I don't need to test you." Looking back at Xianto she continued. "However I will need to test you. Firstly where are you from?"
"The sky lands of Dorwin" Came the immediate reply.
"What kind of weapon do you use? How do you fight?"
Xianto produced his rifle. "currently I use this, I prefer ranged combat as that is what I know, sniping being important to us in Dorwin. I acknowledge that my melee combat is lacking..."
"That's all." She cut him off. "As long as you know where your weaknesses lie then it is fine. I shall have a look at how good you are at shooting later but for now since you are from Dorwin a level of ability is to be expected. It will also be good to have another pair of hands around so welcome."
Xianto looked surprised for a few seconds, "Thanks, I suppose now I should introduce myself. My name is Xianto and I am twenty-five"
"And I am twenty-seven and called Eric."
The woman nodded. "Very well, I am the boss of this group of hunters. My name is Elvira and I am thirty. The man here beside me is called Tristan, he is thirty-five and is an engineer from Lanta. In terms of overall strength I am the strongest here and Tristan is probably the third strongest."
Tristan smiled in acknowledgement. "Thanks, the others will introduce themselves when they get back, they are currently off hunting."
"I would love to meet them to. How many of you are there?" Xianto pressed.
"pushy aren't you? There are four others. They will introduce themselves when they get back." Tristan commented. "either way, want me to show you round the place?"
"That would help a lot." Eric agreed. "oh and would I be able to trade a core with you for some better equipment for the two of us?"
Tristan shrugged. "Don't worry about that, the guild here has decided to have a shared system, all profits go to the guild and everyone gets equipment together. Besides between you and me, I am pretty confident we can make some quite impressive gear."
"You've got a point there." Eric conceded.
Xinato grinned, "Finally the chance for some better gear."
Elvira spoke up, "nice as it is for you to be getting on, how about you show them around outside my office."
"Sorry." Tristan sighed. "let's get going then." He motioned them to leave the room and follow him. With that he showed the two around the building that was the guild house. On the ground floor was Elvira's office. The living room and the kitchen and dining area. On the first floor was the bedrooms and lavatories. The next floor up was a training room with the most basic of firing ranges set up in one corner. Finally on the top floor was a Tristan's workshop. Still in the process of being built with a half finished forge lying near metalworking equipment which Eric offered to help work on.
After Tristan quite readily agreed and the two moved off to discuss how best to continue building the forge, Xianto wandered back downstairs to the firing range. For now he was happy that he had finally joined a guild. He could get some better equipment, help out Eric. Finally he has achieving something worthwhile.
ns 15.158.61.13da2
