Echoes of the Fractured God

"Isn't that too much__" Olivia tried to argue but was stopped by Nyxir who dropped four shiny silver coins on his outstretched hand.

"She's the one going" he patted Olivia on the shoulder and watched the carriage driver mount the front of the carriage before nudging Olivia to proceed.

"Be careful and take care," he said to Olivia, who nodded slightly before entering the carriage.

The driver pulled the rein of the horse and stirred it towards the broad road before galloping away into the distance. Nyxir had wanted to tell Olivia more than just being careful, but he could not, as it was even more dangerous for her to know some things.

He wandered around the place looking for the next carriage to board. There were a lot of people walking to and fro and noises of various kinds filled the air. Soon enough, Nyxir finds a carriage heading in his direction and waves it down.

"Excuse me, please. I'm going to the Azure Guild." He spoke to the carriage driver who was dressed extravagantly.

"That would be four coppets," a gruff voice replied as the carriage came to a halt beside him.

"Let's go then" Nyxir entered the carriage and sat down by the window. There was nobody else in the carriage, but the driver had already galloped away.

"Are you not going to carry any more people?" Nyxir inquired in surprise.

"This is a trackless carriage, we take you to your exact destination for a slightly more expensive fee. " The driver replied in the same gruff voice.

" That's the reason....."

Nyxir spent the rest of the journey thinking about his future plans. The recent events all looked interwoven and complicated; he could not even decipher any of them but one thing he knew was that they were too coincidental which gave him a scare, and he had decided to start from the familiar feeling he got from Alfred. It is the only lead he has that is not entirely gone.

The carriage soon came to a stop at the front of a tall building. The exterior was painted an odd blackish color, and a white logo of a dragon's head was engraved in white at the peak of the building.

' The azure guild,' one of the nine guilds in Auren hold district.

Nyxir alighted from the carriage and looked at the tall infrastructure at his front; compared to the building, his height was nothing. At the front of the building, two guards were stationed; they each stood at the entrance, flanking it from both sides.

Nyxir did not loiter for long and headed towards the building. Once he got to the entrance, he handed over his recommendation card to one of the guards, who returned it back after a few scans and waved him in.

The interior was nothing like the exterior in a bit, it was painted a white color with silvery fillings to reflect light beautifully.

Strangely, the sun was not able to enter the building, but there were various light illumination pearls hung on the wall and ceiling, and the interior was brightly lit with their warm glow creating a dreamy scenery.

People moved in and out in an orderly fashion, and the atmosphere was tranquil, leaving people subconsciously silent and mindful so as not to ruin the tranquility in the air.

Nyxir headed over to the front desk receptionist and showed her the card Alfred gave him.

"Good morning, I'm looking for Alfred" he spoke politely to the receptionist dressed in a light green top and a beige pant.

"Good morning; you should go over to the hall by the far end if you are a new recruit; the person in charge will come there shortly," the receptionist replied like clockwork; it was obvious she had done the same thing again, and again making her movement involuntarily smooth as she described casually.

"Thanks for the info." Nyxir nodded and headed towards the described location.

He walked past several other locked doors until he got to the last corridor,

' I think this is it ' he held the knob, ready to twist it, when his vision changed, and the entire interior of the hall came into his view.

' this many?' he was shocked by the number of people inside and froze for a couple of seconds before slowly pushing the door open and entering.

The first thing he noticed when he entered was a gaze locked onto him.

" Hmmm?" He traced the direction of the gaze and saw a serene golden-haired girl looking at him unblinkingly. He recoiled in shock and accidentally banged the door shut with his back attracting the attention of the entire hall.

' I blew it again '

The hall fell silent before erupting into a cacophony of chatter again as each person returned to their discussion.

'Does she sense my probe earlier?'

' if that is the case, then she has a really high spirituality, and she's really weird and scary.'

Nyxir continued towards the hall and found a seat to settle in. The feeling of being stared at had already dissipated, which made his tensed nerves relax a bit.

"She can be really scary, trust me, I know." A giggle rang out behind him.

" We meet again," Nyxir sighed as he turned to face Ivarin who was clad in a deep green robe with a foldable fan in his right hand.

" You really looked like a playboy, you know that, right? " He sneered and faced the direction of Celia while careful not to look directly at her.

"What are you both doing here anyways?" Nyxir asked Ivarin who looked stunned before chuckling slightly.

"It is obvious I am here to join the Azure guild, and I think Celia and everyone else here are here to do the same unless you have a different reason for being here. " Ivarin shrugged as he looked at the front with an expectant gaze.

" I mean could you not have chosen another guild, don't tell me no other guild came to you. " Nyxir scratched the back of his head as he rephrased his question.

" Well, this azure guild has been my dream since coming here with my dad once, and I would not want to go to another guild because I'm a sealer, and they don't really regard sealer much unless he has a backing in the guild, which I do. " Ivarin stated with a smile as he slowly fanned himself making his white ponytail flail.

Ivarin is a fine young man with odd white hair, which makes him distinctive even amidst a sea of people. His pale skin often glistened due to his meticulous effort to maintain it, and his small build added to his charm. More importantly, he had magnetic sharp blue eyes that looked like they could pierce through a person.

" I have been here since yesterday. I came here with my dad, and I decided to stay the night. They have a really nice night view; my dad said it is an enchantment by an astrology mage; it really left me floating in the vast sky. " Ivarin tattled as he continued to fan himself gently.

" What were you doing before coming to meet me? " Nyxir asked the white-haired Ivarin.

" Just making friends you know." Ivarin gave a casual answer and continued his routine.

"Have you ever spoken with Caelia?" Nyxir asked again.

"Of course, I've spoken to her several times " Ivarin paused. " But she never replied to any of my talk" he had a crestfallen look for a brief moment before reverting to his former self.

Nyxir stared at the door which had opened and a young man dressed in a corporate suit walked to the front of the hall with a black suit case in hand. As soon as the man reached the front, all noises died down and everyone's attention was on him.

The man has a slender build with a slightly tanned skin, he has a neatly trimmed beard and he stood at around 1.7 metres.

"My name is George, and I am here to tell you about the different events we do in this guild as well as let you know that you will be grouped into your respective squadron with a squad leader and a supervisor. "

"There are a lot of recruits this year and as some of you might know, we group them into squadrons for training and that squadron will be their strike force till some people needs replacement for various reasons. "

" There are various instructors who will be in charge of each squadron and that instructor is your team supervisor, he or she will be responsible for giving you training and missions as well as allocating resources to you. "

The hall remains silent as George continued.

" Now, there are various activities that you can participate in to keep yourselves entertained and to learn from. More importantly, you will be living together and each of you are now regarded as team mates even if you are not in the same squad, there will be no tolerance of bullying or willfully causing harm to one another. "

" If there is a grudge that you need to settle you should inform your supervisor and he or she will arrange for a duel between the offended and offender. "

George paused and allowed the chatter that had started at some point, developing into mummurings before quieting down.

"As for your group there has been a record of all of you present here and decisions have been made by the various instructors, an ID will be given to you based on your known information and you will see your group information on it. "

George concluded his speech and placed his suitcase on the small table at his front, opened it and gestures for the recruits to come forward and look for their ID.

Each person looked carefully at the pile of IDs in the suitcase and picked one that belonged to them.

' so that was why she asked me to enter this hall if I'm here to join the guild. ' Nyxir also stepped forward along with Ivarin and after looking through the suitcase saw a passport photograph of himself attached to a small rectangular plastic ID.

He picked it up and quickly scanned its content.

The ID is a very simple plastic that contains basic information based on the guild's research, so he quickly skimmed through it but right at the bottom were two conspicuous information.

Team: Savage

Supervisor: Alfred Manne.