The Pale Dawn Guild resembled a corpse from a bygone era. The ancient building, once a golden palace, had crumbled into weathered stones and tattered curtains.
Faint sunlight seeped through shattered windows, casting golden streaks onto the dust-covered painting hanging at the entrance.
The painting depicted a towering man, his golden armor gleaming like the sun, his fierce blue eyes gazing at the horizon.
Sirius, the legendary founder who transformed the guild from a band of hunters into an empire.
"Disturbing painting, isn't it?" Julius turned toward the voice.
Lena stood behind him, wearing a torn brown robe and clutching an old ledger.
"Every day I pass by and wonder: How did we fall from 'Fist of Glory' to 'Pale Dawn'?"
"Maybe because we're the only ones who haven't fled yet," Julius replied with a strained smile, trying to lighten the gloom.
In the main hall, where a massive meeting table lay buried under snow-thick dust, sat the guild's sole remaining members,
Lena A stubborn air witch and self-proclaimed "unofficial leader." She handled everything from paying bills to scrubbing toilets.
Cain A silent man shrouded in a black coat. His primary skill was a mystery, but he treated forbidden magical tomes like morning newspapers.
Julius A quiet boy who joined the guild a year ago after his father vanished. His only skill was "telekinesis for small objects" useless in battle.
"We need to decide," Lena said, slamming the ledger onto the table and stirring a cloud of dust.
"The Central Council will revoke our license if we don't earn 10 monthly points... This month, our score, ZERO."
"Why not join another guild?" Julius asked innocently, while Cain read a book titled "Spiritual Cloning: Step by Step" without glancing up.
"Because a guild isn't just a building!" Lena snapped, as if repeating this for the thousandth time.
"It's history... identity... and—"
"Debt," Cain interrupted her for the first time in months, holding up a yellowed paper stamped with "Lien Notice: 3,000 Gold Coins."
…
While Lena and Cain argued over fundraising, Julius slipped into the basement the only unopened room in years.
The rotting wooden door was sealed with a rusted lock, but its key hung on a nearby nail, as if left there on purpose.
The room was a tomb of memories. Shelves held cobwebbed armor, broken swords, and a small ebony box labeled "Sirius."
Inside, Julius found a fractured copper pendant shaped like a spiral, hanging from a frayed chain.
"The Broken Time Pendant" read the note wrapped around it.
"Don't sell it, even if you starve." Julius recalled his father's whisper before disappearing.
…
In the crumbling kitchen, the trio attempted a "feast" from leftover scraps.
Lena Lit a small fire using air magic (her only practical skill), Cain Chopped moldy vegetables with a rusty knife, his movements eerily surgical, while julius tried telekinetically sprinkling salt... but spilled half onto the floor.
"Tell me, Cain... why are you here?" Lena suddenly asked, breaking his weeks-long silence.
"To read," Cain replied curtly, staring into the flames as if seeing something else.
"And will reading forbidden spellbooks pay our debts?"
"Everything has a price," Cain said, pulling a small black stone glowing with violet light from his pocket.
"For example... this stone is worth 5,000 gold on the black market."
Lena and Julius froze. But before they could question him, a violent knock echoed at the door.
Meanwhile, At the door stood a hulking man in a crimson robe adorned with Eternal Flame Guild insignias.
Behind him, a chariot pulled by flying dolphins, a symbol of wealth in this world.
"Greetings...scraps," the man sneered.
"Heard you need money. My master proposes: Sell us the building, and we'll settle your debts."
"The building isn't for sale," Lena said, masking her trembling voice.
"Oh, it is... Because if we don't buy it, we'll seize it when the state claims your assets."
He tossed an envelope bearing the Central Council's seal.
"You have 48 hours." He left the place after that.
After the man left, the trio sat in heavy silence.
Lena sighed over debt records, Cain vanished to his room as usual, and Julius retreated to the roof, holding the broken pendant under moonlight.
"What are you hiding?" he whispered, tracing its faded engravings.
Suddenly, dizziness struck as if time paused for a heartbeat.
In that moment, he saw a vision a tall man in golden armor standing where he stood.
The man turned and said
"You are the bridge... Do not hesitate."
"Who are you?!" Julius shouted, but the image dissolved.
…
At dawn, Julius mustered his courage and knocked on Cain's door.
"I know you understand this pendant," Julius said, holding it up to Cain's cold gaze.
Cain stared briefly, then closed his eyes. "Everything has a price... Are you prepared to pay?"
"What's the price?"
"Your memories... your identity... all that you've made yourself."
Before Julius could answer, Lena's scream echoed from the basement
"Look! They stole the painting!"
Rushing to the entrance, they found the empty frame of Sirius's portrait... and a message written in blood
"The beginning shall be the end."
…
Excerpt from Sirius's Journal (Year 453 of the Magical Era):
"A guild is not stones or titles... A guild is the people who won't abandon you even if the world burns. And unfortunately, such souls are as rare as stars in a stormy sky."
.