"What!?" The collection of members said in unison, like they thought of the same thing at the same time. Arnum looked over at them, confused. He didn't see much of why it was odd for him to choose her. In fact, he was completely oblivious to the thought. The boy clad in black would scratch his head as he looked back at the female, who was staring at him in shock.
"Um… I-... Uh…" She practically trampled over her words. Like a crowd of people running over a poor employee during a sale event at a supermarket. "What's wrong?" The boy asked. His hand was put down to his side, and Luna turned her head away. "Um… you wouldn't want me in your party."
That statement had perplexed him. Hearing those words, in a tone that made it painfully obvious that she was upset about being asked to join. The way she spoke, with the way her eyes averted Arnum's gaze and her hands cupped and pressed to her chest, it began to dawn on the boy… he understood why she thought this way.
"I… don't have the best luck." She explained.
According to her, being in a party with her meant letting death walk into the room. As she explained to Arnum, he was thinking about what to say after she finished. Most people that were with her would often get gravely injured. Even with her healing them in a matter of seconds, it would just expend most of her mana and at the end of the day, most people had to go to a Priestess, one of the special classes, to get better treatment at the guild.
"So… you might wannaー"
"I refuse." Arnum interrupted.
"Huh?"
"I'm not letting that scare me." His face was stern, practically sculpted out of stone with how it became. His eyes locked with hers, and she could feel the intensity coming off of them. "I won't let it. You were a great help to everyone a week ago. I refuse to ignore that. I don't know how different the experience is to that, but if you can help against fighting a vampire… then it gives me all the more reason to have you join…" Then, as the thought settled into his mind, that stern look and face faded, and sweat began to roll off of him.
"I… also don't know anyone else."
Shun perked up, noting that Arnum barely knew him and yet he decided to have him tag along.
Luna chuckled at that, and stood up. "Okay… considering you're so adamant about this I guess I could tag along to see how this goes." She held out her hand, and Arnum gladly reached over to shake it. After a moment of that, they returned their hands to their sides. Arnum then looked over to Shun.
"Now we can go on a quest…." He said.
"Yes!" Arnum said excitedly.
"Tomorrow."
"Huh!?"
"Yeah. You gotta wait a full day before going on a quest if it is your first day. Usually people come in, get a small loan, buy their equipment, then prepare the next day. But considering your equipment, mine, and Luna's, then we'd probably be set to go immediately. But that's how the Guild works. Sorry, man. We will be given a quest by the administration since you are a new member. Luna and I have been here a bit, but you should be able to handle it easily." Shun added. He gave a thumbs up with a wink and a smile. Annum groaned. Before he could say anything, a portal appeared in front of him. Arnum stepped back, surprised at this, he looked over at Shun. "Can you explain this!?" He said, still startled by the sudden appearance of a portal.
"Oh yeah. Our Spatial Magic Administrator has given us a personal transportation portal to a room. Think of it like a bedroom. Each person has their own room. It's pretty handy when you think about it." He explained. Arnum looked at the portal and walked into it, and the other two followed. Once again, the boy was surprised. "So other people can come into my room?" He asked. Shun nodded.
"Mhm. If your portal is still up, then all someone has to do is walk in with you before it closes."
"And how do I close it?"
"Just think about closing it."
Just as he said that, the portal in the middle of the room disappeared. A lantern suddenly lit itself in the middle of the ceiling, giving light to the dark room. It was a simple one: a bed in the corner, neatly tucked in with red bedding and a white pillow with an oak bed frame. There was also an empty bookshelf, a desk in the other corner to the right of the bed, and a window just above it with the curtains drawn. A door was directly across from the bed.
"Oh. We are actually at an estate owned by the Guild Master. She's had it for years and with all the extra rooms she decided to let everyone in the guild use it. Each room is meant for one specific person."
"The way you explained it before made it seem like the room was in some dimension or something and not just someone's home…" Arnum commented.
"Y-yeah. Sorry about that. But it's good that we came here because it's getting a little late now. We should all be heading to bed." Shun suggested, opening the door to leave. "Good night, Arnum. See you tomorrow." He said before exiting. Luna smiled as she walked away, but not before saying, "Good night." Then, she exited the room and closed the door behind her. Arnum walked over to what looked to be an armor stand. He took off his black armor and put it on the stand. The boy went over and sat on the bed, staring off into the ceiling.
"This world… despite some of the similarities it has to some RPG, it's all real. Nothing seems artificial. Maybe this is a game world that became real and I don't know it? No… an online game with a lot of characters like these would have something about them online, and I've never heard of names like Karl von Pendragon before. So… it only stands to reason that I'm in a completely new world. It also means that if I die then I won't be brought back unless I know someone who can cast a revival spell. All this seems so complicated." He said to himself.
"I'm all tired from trying to sound all serious today. I felt like I wasn't being myself. Maybe after a few days of settling in I can relax… not like I can play games or watch TV in a world like this. It's all books or writing, or going to festivals and the like. I was always interested in seeing something like that." A yawn escaped him, one that was drawn out. His hand gripped the blanket and pulled it out, he slipped himself underneath it and turned his body to face the wall. Feeling his eyelids becoming heavy, he closed them and slowly drifted off to sleep. The lantern's light being snuffed out, bringing darkness into the room once again; its natural state.
He heard a drop.
Another.
Then another.
The frequency of each drop increased. First a ten second delay…
Then five seconds…
Two seconds…
And after becoming a one second delay, the sound turned from gently falling water drops to a torrential downpour. His eyes opened to see himself staring off into pure darkness.
The sound from before had ceased. As he stared, something had stared back. Light began to fill his vision before showing something familiar: a darkness figure. This time, instead of appearing like a half naked man, he wore a set of armor that covered his entire body. A helmet covered his face but hair came out from a whole in the back. The hair was wild, dropping thick strands onto his shoulders and the rest along his back. A sword was at his waist.
"We meet once more." The figure said. It appeared to be sitting on something but everything besides him was a bright white. "Oh… right, you can't see everything here just yet. After a bit of time, you'll start seeing pieces of this world come together. Think of it as a reward for living." He continued. Arnum remained stagnant, like something was keeping him from moving. He wanted to make his way toward the figure. All he could muster was the ability to speak.
"Who…. w-who are you?" Arnum asked.
A laugh escaped the figure, he stood up and walked toward the child. "To be completely honest I don't have one. No… it might be entirely possible that I have forgotten mine… let me see…" He placed his hand on his chin. "That sword of yours has an interesting name to it, so I'll go with that."
Susano'o? He decided to call himself something on a whim? Arnum watched him kneel down and look down. Despite not appearing to have eyes, he could tell that he was being stared at with a great intensity.
"Please… let's get to business. I didn't bring you here just to make small talk."