As my son and I sat within the confines of my office enjoying each others company, we heard a knock at the door. Putting our conversations on hold, Bluemoon stood from the chair opposite mine and made his way over towards the door. With the door opening, in emerged my familiar friend. “Dark, good to see you’re here. And this youngling would be Bluemoon?” He asked. I gave him a quick nod and smiled.

“Yes, I don’t believe that you’ve met my son yet.” I turned to my son and signalled towards Arch. “Bluemoon, Archimedes. Archimedes, this is Bluemoon.” With one swift movement, the prince held out his hand and after Arch accepted it, they shook. “Archimedes will be your teacher, trainer and counselor. Should you have any questions, he’s the first person that should come to mind.” As I finished my speech, in came Intell alongside Pyro. They stood at the door asking for my attention.

I turned to the two and they signalled for me to follow. I looked back to Archimedes and smiled as I said,“Take care of my boy, I’ll see you later brother.”

He quickly nodded and I left the room with the pyromaniac and the mechanical stallion.

Perspective Change: Bluemoon’s Crescent.

“So, when do we start?” I asked. In all honesty I was fairly excited to begin working in the Guardian’s guild. I would be getting a clear vision as to what my father had been doing throughout the day and learning how the guild would actually work. I was eager to begin my new life as a traveling guardian instead of staying back at the castle with mom and Horizon. My mentor looked to me with a large smile and pointed towards the door.

“Today, you’ll be training in the training grounds with the other new recruits. I’ll see you there in an hours time. So, this means you have an hour to wander around the base and learn a little about your new surroundings.” He took my hand and shook it quickly right before he made his way towards the exit. “I’ll see you at training.” He said just as he closed the wooden door behind him.

Left alone in the solidarity of my father’s office, I wandered over to his desk hoping to find something interesting. I sat in his desk chair and casually looked around the drawers. After opening up the two drawers to the side of his desk, I found nothing of interest, it mainly consisted of documents and other less important things. Though what did catch my interest was that within one of the drawers, the bottom drawer to be exact, after moving some of the files to the side I found a hidden key slot.

I pondered for a moment about what could be hidden within the small cubby hole as I continued to stare at it. Though my father has the ability to channel magic through the enchantments of his gauntlets, I myself cannot. Sometimes I wish I had magic for situations such as these. I leant up in the seat and began searching for the key that could open the hidden cabinet. I searched for a good five minutes before I managed to find the hidden key strapped underneath the desk. “Ah ha!” I cried as I took the key into my hands. I quickly leaned down and gently placed the key within the slot. I slowly turned the key and out sounded a mechanical ‘Clank’ from elsewhere.

Although the cubby hole didn’t open, the key did do something. I just wasn’t sure as to what. Once again, I was on a search, but this time the objective was to find the source of the clanking sound. Then suddenly as I stood within the middle of the room, the clanking sound chugged once again. ‘Did it just close or is something happening?’ I thought to myself. Without warning, the closet swung open and smashed on the back of my head, earning a small yelp from my mouth. “Ouch! What the...” I trailed off as I turned my attention over to the closet. Within the dark closet, I found numerous books and scrolls of a wide range. From recipes for alchemy to books on how to work on the forge. But out of all of the wondrous books stacked within the small space, I found one that greatly intrigued my interests.

The book in interest was one with a faded title, I could hardly make out the lettering but I managed to uncover two words that were distinctive, one being ‘The’ and the other ‘Price’. Something about the binding of this book left numerous questions floating throughout my mind such as ‘Why are there strange markings across the cover and back?’ and ‘What is this leathery binding made of?’. I was completely dumbfounded as I examined the book. The leathery binding was stitched together and tightened around the book.

I lightly glided my hand across the surface of the book and felt something that sent a spine chilling sensation down my back, making the hairs on my neck stand on end. As I brushed my hand down the book, I could feel tiny little hairs brushing back. “What or who was this made out of?” I asked myself. Why would my father have a strange and eerie book such as this within his assortment of books?

Father, I’ve only been here for an hour and you’ve left me with more questions than answers. I need to discover the secrets of this guild and find out what horrors await me within this book. There is only one complication with my plan, and one that could set my plan back a few days time. The damned book has a lock. “Aghh..”

Author's Note

Sorry for taking so long with this chapter, I was just going through some pretty hectic real life problems. But, now I'm here and I'm writing again, I feel pretty good. Thanks for reading and for your time. I shall forever seek to interest and entertain.

Thanks once again to AhugeAcidTree for proofreading and stuffs.

Keep it cool, Condemned.