Present day: Three hours before sunrise

It was another one of those sleepless nights. The ones where no matter how hard you try your mind won't let you sleep. Nightmare upon nightmare upon nightmare, but I can't let this bother me. A sigh escapes my lips. "You're the only thing I care about now, I will find a way back to you," I say to myself as I look over to my Swordbreaker, the last piece of the family that left me behind.

But the past is the past, it's what makes us who we are and mine, well, mine is best left unspoken.

Eight hours later:

I hear the door open, maybe some of guy's are back from there jobs. Deciding to look up from my hand I see a figure walk in then out and back in again. The hell was that about? Well if he's smart he'll ask Elris.

Wait.. why is he walking over this way, shit does he really not know how guilds work, calm down Valk. So long he doesn't come over here you won't have to deal wi-

"How do you join this guild?" Fuck, well at least he's not sitting next to me.

He looks nervous as hell, but why is he here, I mean duh, he wants to join a guild but why this one, there's many more plus can't he see we're in the middle of a game I mean that's kinda rude. On closer inspection, he looks a little too young to want to be in an adventurer's guild. He looks eighteen maybe nineteen, but who am I to judge, I was eighteen when I was brought in. The ponytail he has looks kinda silly being that short, puffy, and that eye color, what even do you call that, rust? That's the closest word that comes to mind.

"Admin Desk."

"What about accepting quests?"

"Just go ask at the admin desk." Does he not get the hint?

As he walked over to the admin desk, I couldn't help to notice the way he carried himself, must be here as a historian. Maybe he is an artist, but I can't really tell. Anyway, he is the admin's problem now, I think as I take a sip of wine.

"Ah, I will get you a historian application."

"Umm, I was hoping to be a combatant."

I almost spit out my wine hearing this, but did I hear him correctly? He wants to be a combatant? Ha, he doesn't even have any armor. I look down at his hands and see that he is wearing gauntlets. What are they made of? I've never seen that material before. I mean from here it looks like steel, but anyway, he must have a death wish or something.

"Hey Valk you in?"

"Nah I fold" I wanna find out more about this guy.

"Oh scared I'm gonna talk all your money?"

"Nope, I just don't want to take all yours" as I flip my cards over to reveal two aces and two eights "and this one you'll have to guess" as I put the fifth card in my pocket.

As I get up from the table to go introduce myself, I hear four words that you never want to hear, as a member of a guild. "...Never heard of affinities?!" Okay, can confirm he as a deathwish. you don't come to adventuring guild and not know what that shit is, Oh shit that means Elris has to... "There are four main attributes..." AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! not this shit again I mean this is like the sixtieth time I have heard this.

Damn them stats ain't half bad, I mean his luck is down the tank, but everything else is good. Hell, they're almost on par with mine in some spots. Well shit, guess I have to work with him, teach him the ropes of the guild.

"I am Fulnis Ebran Tellet." Wait... Tellet why does that name sound so familiar?

"You are the son of Marus Tellet, the Hammer?"

"Yes, my father is Marus Tellet, but I have never heard of that nickname. In fact, he never told me much about this guild until two years ago." He's The Hammers son? well, I at least know why he's here, his father is a damn legend around here, hell my mentor wouldn't shut up about him.

I place my hand on his shoulder, I can feel him tense up a little bit.

"Heeeey buddy" Smooth. Wow, that made me want to gag. "Look… seems how you probably don't wanna get yourself killed or worse, I'll help you out I guess. You do know what a party is right newbie?"

Don't really know how to say it, but just from that touch his energy changed... I mean granted I did kinda sneak up on him but still for that to change one's energy like that...

"While I am new, I am not clueless. I can join your party, but I'm not helpless. Why did you want me in your party in the first place?"

"Rule Number A, don't hunt with other members they're asses" Wait.. did I really just say rule number A? The fuck?

"You're a fine one to talk!" A voice from across the room shouted, not sure who it was though

"Case and point, Two I saw your stats and there decent, not complete rubbish but decent, Oh and three, Cause I am on training duty for the next couple of weeks"

"Valkah, we aren't finished yet. He doesn't have a rank tattoo, nor has he been assigned a dorm." Well no shit, HE KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT ANYTHING!!

Does he really think I don't notice him looking me over right now? Want me to get one of our artists to draw that out for ya? That is what I want to say, but I think he might blush himself to death. I'll save it for a later day.

"You mentioned something about a dorm?" Don't you even think about it Elris.

"Since Valkah over here is so keen on having you in her party, you will be rooming with her, considering she doesn't have any other party members." why... just why.

I look over to... SHIT! I forgot his name already, yeah this is gonna work just great, thanks, Elris, anyway I look at him with just enough time to see him look at me then back to Elris, I mean it's one of them "blink or you'll miss it" kinda things, surprised he didn't break his neck from that.

"W-What?! Ummmmm... I don't know how to feel about this." Well, at least I'm not the only one not excited about this.

Elris grins, I'm going to have a long talk with you later "Well, it seems like you don't have a choice in the matter." Yeah, neither do I, I guess.

Wow, he looks so defeated, trust me bud I'm as excited about this as you are, but we'll suffer through that together.

Ah, home sweet home, I mean it's nothing special just a rock and mortar house with a stone door. Which reminds me, I really need to get a wood and steel one. I put the key in the lock and... the damn thing doesn't wanna work. It takes a few seconds of fiddling the key around to unlock it. I sigh again. I really need to get that fixed.

Anyway, I open the door and walk inside, and he followed suit. I really need to get his name again. I walk over to my bed and sit down, then I unsheathe my Swordbreaker. Upon inspecting it I notice a crack in between two of the teeth, how the hell did that get there? it was fine last time I used it, I mean it's only a surface crack but still. I know that doesn't mean anything now, but it does means I can't use it in combat.

"Its worthless isn't it?" What am I saying, nothing my sister would give me would be worthless, but this crack...

"Not quite. You are lucky, I managed to pick up a technique and materials that can repair this." HA! good luck, not even Samuel could fix it, and he's been the lead blacksmith here for three years. The man's work is... well shit, I don't think theirs a word for that, but if you think you can fix it, power to you.

As he grabs it, something comes over me and I tighten my grip on it as he pulls away.

"Umm... I will need to be able to hold the swordbreaker to repair it," he says.

I go to say something but the words just won't come out. I shut my mouth, squint at him, and let go.

We head out the door and make our way down to the forge. I'm not locking that door again, plus it's not far of a walk from my place.

Once at the forge, he finds the first open anvil and sits down at it, and starts the furnace. Wait... why is he taking his shirt off? must be hot. despite his appearance, his quite ripped, wait, am I really looking this guy over right now? It seems he took his gauntlets off too, finally, I can get a proper look at the damn things now. What the hell is this material I haven't felt anything like it, just looking at them. They look like plain old steel, but steel isn't this light, mithril maybe? but where did he get enough to make two gauntlets? I hear the sound of steel being quenched, followed by a mildly aggravated sigh. Not going as well as you thought now is it bub. Wait, what am I saying that's my blade he's "fixing" he better not have fucked it up even more. I see him go to get up, so I quickly put his gauntlets back where they were. He goes over to the grinding stone to sharpen the blade, polish it and reassembled it. He started to walk off towards the house, but he stopped and turned around to look at the sunset. Did he forget I was here?

"So you stayed here to watch me repair your swords for two to three hours? I guess this sword means a lot to you then." Oh, now you notice I'm here, and yeah it means it's a lot to me. It was a gift from my sister a year after I came here. I don't really know how she found me, and I can only imagine what would happen if dad found out.

I ignore his question. "What did you use to repair it? It is impossible to repair cracks like that on a weapon."

"Ah, that I am not able to tell you about. Not only that, but it would be a lengthy explanation. Just know that it is hard to make." So either he's yanking my chain and doesn't know how to make it, or he is telling the truth.

"And you used it to repair the sword of a person you just met."

"Well, we are going to be party members, right?" This is true but still, you don't just fix someone's weapon like that, not unless you have a reason for it.

I already know the answer to this but... "How long did you have to work down the blacksmithing path?"

"Blacksmithing line?" He asks "What do you mean blacksmithing line?"

"Well not knowing this isn't as surprising as not knowing the attributes. Come with me back to the dorm." Oh boy, this is going to be a long night, and with that, we make our way back home.

I sit in the middle of the room and gesture for him to do the same.

"Start meditating. Once you have cleared your mind, begin to focus on yourself, then imagine it in comparison to the stars." He should be only in there for forty to fifty minutes, maybe I'll go make some tea for us once he's done.

Two hours later and he's still in there annnnnd the tea is cold. My own yawn startles me, well... I'm going to sleep, he'll probably wake me up once he's done. I walk over to the foot of my bed and flop face down on it, passing out almost instantaneously.