A/N: Yes, I live, I won't give up on this story this early, slightly detailed update as to why it took so long in the end, Enjoy.

Chapter 7 - Guilds

Ashlyn

The walk to the Church of Luminus was fairly uneventful, if one wereto ignore the guy running after his chickens that is. The church was located on the top of a small hill, similar to the barracks, only the Church, being more important than a simple barracks for outsiders, was a symbol of power for the religion, as such, it was far larger than any of them had expected, just the entrance to the church alone was the size of their barracks, and from what they could see from the outside, there was far more than just this.

Standing there, mouth open and in awe of the place, they failed to notice one of the priests make their way to them until he was right in front of them. "I bid you welcome to our home, brothers and sisters, how may I help you in this fine day?" His question brought their attention back into the real world and to him, having a quick look around, Ashlyn noticed she wasn't the only one that was surprised by all this, altough the thing that confused her more was the way he spoke, maybe it was her lack of memories as to whether or not priests did talk like that, or if it was simply the fact that they didn't even notice him in the first place, whatever the case, it wasn't important for now.

Aquilo took a step forward, a bit hesistant to speak, maybe he didn't know how to talk to this person, but before he said anything, the priest spoke again. "I assume you are the newcomers that arrived yesterday?" They nodded. "I see. Am I correct in assuming one of you is here to study the Arts of our Lord?" They nodded again, Paul motioned to Aquilo, who just straighned his back, and seemed to be more nervous than they had expected, the priest simply walked closer to him and said, "You wish to join our most holy order?" Aquilo nodded, "I will have to ask the head priest, please wait here." With that, he turned around and went inside the temple, Aquilo seemed to breathe in relief the moment the priest left their sight.

"Hey, you okay?" She asked, with Idonia staring at Aquilo, and Paul unsure of what to do, she could understand why he was so nervous there, maybe, being a church, there was a certain way they were supposed to act, and he didn't want to screw up on his first chance, still, the way he was acting was a bit too much in her opinion. Looking around, there were many people here, some of them, dressed in long white, blue and gold robes, walked about the front of the Church, which seemed to be some sort of garden, others however, were clearly not from around here. The most noticable thing about them wasn't the uniform, though it was still different from the others in that it was not a robe, but regular clothes, but what they were carrying.

Some of them had books, which she could guess were the Churchs Bible or something, but strapped to their side, some had maces, others had swords, but all of them had a sort of look on their faces, she couldn't exactly explain what it was, but it seemed all of them were always on edge, always at attention, they kept looking around every once in a while, others were simply sitting, their heads looking to the ground all of the time, occasionaly looking upwards, before looking down again, it was a sad sight to be honest, and she was thankful that Aquilo finally calmed down enough to talk again.

"I'm fine, just a bit nervous is all..." He said, a bit of colour missing from his face still.

"Should we look for some water to drink? It might help you calm down" Paul said, looking around for any place to get water, "I'd say the fountain over there, but I'm not sure if any of the priests would be mad at it, and it's frankly too early to have someone screaming at you." Though the second part of his phrase struck her as a little weird, and made Idonia nod her head in agreement, though whether because of the priest of the second part Ashlyn couldn't tell, she could see how the priests could maybe become mad over that, or maybe not, and he was just being overly cautious. "Maybe the water's holy? Or something that we can't use? I don't know." He said, as if to explain himself.

Whatever the case was, their conversation was cut short as they noticed someone moving their way, looking to the entrance, she noticed an elderly woman, wearing the same clothes as the others, a white robe with a blue cross coming all the way from the bottom of the robe to the top, with the chest area having the horizontal part of the cross, and gold details in the border of the cross, though she also had a white sash with golden borders slung on her torso, she apprached them, the other priest nowhere to be found, the lady stopped in front of them and eyed them curiously, "My, what have we here? Who wishes to talk to me on this fine afternoon?"

Ashlyn made a quick glance upwards and sure enough, the sun was right on top of them, before she turned back to the Head Priest, or should it be priestess? In any case, she noticed Aquilo still fidgeting and thinking on what to say, so she decided to take the initiative. "Good afternoon Ma'am, sorry to disturb you," The priestess simply smiled and waved at her, probably saying that it was not trouble. "but our friend here," She gestured to a still very nervous Aquilo, "wished to learn the ways of a priest." The Priestess turned to face him, and he turned to face Ashlyn, before looking to the lady, she eyed him up and down, almost like she was examining him, that didn't help his already nervous state, before she smiled once again.

"Our church is always open for everyone, whether they are from Advena or Outsiders such as you, Unfortunately, we are no longer able to freely teach our arts, I suppose Matthew told you?" Aquilo nodded, and pulled out his coin bag, before the old lady motioned for him to stop, "The payment is not for me, but for the church, once inside, I'll show you who to pay, now, shall we?" She motioned to the inside of the church.

Aquilo turned to them, whether to say goodbye or because he needed help she couldn't tell, but they had to do something. Paul took the initiative, "Excuse me Ma'am, can we have some water for him first? He seems to be a bit nervous." She turned to him with a puzzled look on her face, before motioning to the fountain.

"Why, you can drink from over there, there's no problem." She seemed to notice the change in Paul's face and asked, "You weren't thinking something silly like that being holy water or something, were you?" She looked to her side to notice Paul's face becoming a bit redder than normal, and to see both him and Idonia Shaking their heads. At least now she confirmed her earlier doubts.

With the new confirmation that the fountain was safe, the group moved towards it, though she didn't say anything, the walk here had made her a bit thirsty. After a good drink, Color had returned to Aquilo's face, and they turned to say goodbye and wish him good luck.

"MOVE! OUT OF THE WAY!" Those shouts caught everyone's attention, both them and others around the courtyard, turned to the stairs to see what the cause of that commotion was.

The sight that greeted them was not something she expected to see, a group of adventurers, seven in total, came rushing up the stairs, one of them being carried, she seemed to be unconscious, and judging by the way they looked, it was safe to assume they had been fighting before. The girl being carried had wounds everywhere, in her arms, legs, even a slice on her face.

She wanted to turn away, but she couldn't, all she could do was stare at it while trying her hardest to look away, to her luck, Idonia seemed to notice, and positioned herself in front of her, blocking most of her vision from the sight in front of her, she noticed the priestess moving away from them and towards the other group, she could hear some frantic speaking from the others, with what sounded like pleading too, before some light began emanating from their position, shining bright like the sun.

She moved to side just in time to catch the Head Priestess doing some magic to the wounded girl, she only heard her saying something that sounded like Stabilize before she motioned for another priest, she said something to him and the other party followed him inside.

After all that, the lady made her way back to them. "My apologies." She didn't know what to say or do, she just stood there, watching the other party rush into the temple, priests moving out of the way or following them further into the corridor, the silence around her made it clear that nobody in her group knew what to do as well. The priestess seemed to notice their expressions but didn't say anything, she just kept looking at them.

"You... don't seem too affected by it." Paul said, some tension on his voice, he sounded a bit shaken from what they had witnessed, not that she could blame him, it wasn't something any of them expected to see. Not this day at least.

She looked at them, visible sadness in her face, "It is an unfortunate side-effect of being a priest, things like that happen so often," She sighed,"Were we not able to keep working in these conditions more would die." She stared at the floor for a while, before shaking her head and looking back up, her calm expression back to her face. She gestured to the Temple's entrance, trying to change the subject, "Now then, shall we begin your training?" Aquilo turned to them, after some seconds of hesitation, he nodded to them, and followed the Priestess. They watched him dissapear into the temple, and turned to leave.

They still had to find their own guilds, after all.

After some minutes of walking, they had arrived at the center of town, now heading to the Western part of town, where the Hunter and knight, or warrior, guilds were located, halfway through the Square however, Idonia stopped.

"I'll see you guys later." Was all she said, and she started moving, before they could even say anything, she dissapeared in the mass of people walking the streets at this time, she seemed to be going to the south, if she was remembering the directions correctly. She looked at Paul, he simply shrugged, and motioned to the way they were supposed to go, knowing trying to find her in this place would be fairly difficult, she relented, hoping she'd be alright, and began following Paul towards the guilds.

He seemed quieter than normal, but the silence suited her just fine right now, the sight from the group at the church still fresh in her mind, it was unsettling, what the Priestess had said too, she couldn't understand how one could simply not be affected by something like that, or being so lightly affect as she looked.

As her mind wandered, she barely paid any attention to the way they were walking, simply following where Paul went, until her mind was brought back to reality by a new sound, she looked up at the source, but was greeted by a wall.

From what she could see of the guilds, they where the same building, moreover, it seemed to be built more like some sort of fortification than just a place, an entrance at each corner of the "Fort", above each door, a small sign, one with two swords, and one with a bow and arrow, she looked at Paul, he seemed to be looking around, before looking back at her, "See you inside." She nodded, and went to the entrance. Stopping at the door, she looked around before opening the door, there seemed to be more guards here than at other parts of town, which made sense after she remembered that this was near the gate that lead to "Enemy" territory.

As the sound she had been hearing suddenly subsided, she noticed Paul, standing near the other door, leaning on the wall, looking down, probably gathering courage, at least she wasn't the only one, she saw him taking a deep breath before she decided to take the first step, grasping the door handle, she entered the Warrior guild.

The first thing that caught her attention was the sounds coming from another room, probably the same place the sounds she had heard before were coming from. Another thing was how the person standing behind a counter seemed to be expecting some kind of trouble, what with all the equipment she was weaing.

Chestplate, arm protection, head protection, a sword on top of the counter and some knives in her hands, she was either very careful, or just like staying with these thing, or maybe both. Ashlyn made her way to this lady, and the whole way she stared her down, she even stopped playing with her kinves the closer Ashlyn got, which made her somewhat disconcerted. She stopped in front of the counter, and the lady just looked her from top to bottom, before finally speaking, "Need something?"

"U-um... I'd... like to join the warriors guild." She managed to get out, still a bit unerved with the way the lady stared at her, without ever breaking eye contact with her, she picked up a paper from under the desk, and some sort of pencil, she put both down in front of her, and pointed to a part of the paper.

Breaking eye contact with the lady for a second, she noticed it looked like a contract, there were many terms, nothing too sketchy though, from what she could read, it was fairly straightforward, what she could and could not do, what she'd receive after teh training was over, and what rights she had, all of it in only a single page, amazingly. She looked at the lady, picked up the pen, and wrote her name on the paper.

The lady looked at the paper, stored it in a different place from where she'd picked it up from, and extended her open hand to Ashlyn, she grasped it, and the lady smiled as she shook her hand. "Welcome to the guild." Her grin looked like she'd seen some new challenge or something, a mix of hapinness and something funny, she let go of her hand, and motioned to the door nearest to her, on the opposite side of the room where the entrance was, Ashlyn made her way to it, it was time to see what this was all about.

She didn't know what was worse, the sunlight hitting her squarely in her eyes, or the sounds that assaulted her ears, granted she had heard those sounds before, but here, closer to their origin, they sounded far louder than she expected, when her sight returned to her, what she saw was more amazing than she had expected.

Whether because she had interest in these thing before coming here or because it just looked awesome she didn't know, it could be both, as most things of this day, but it was something that she wanted to remember for as long as possible.

A large open place, larger than she thought it was seeing it from outside, many people, men and women, tall and short, strong and slender, people of all types were in this location, for only one thing. Training. Men in shiny armor, men with no armor whatsoever asides from their clothes, women with the same equipment, some fully protected, others simply with clothes on. Strange armors too, some were some kind of chain, others looked like metal plates, and others even looked like scales.

Even their weapons were varied, some used regular spears, other swords, some even had spears with curved blades, other axes and such, some people even had curved swords, CURVED. SWORDS. She didn't know why, but she laughed a bit, probably something she had heard before but didn't remember.

Before she could appreaciate the location more, a tall man made his way to her, dressed in the chain armor she'd seen before, a closed face helmet on his head, which to her seemed to be simply overkill, specially in this hot day, he imposed as much fear and attention as the lady from the room before, if not more. She tensed up as he stood in front of her.

His voice didn't match with his appearance, for starters, it sounded like the voice of a father talking to their child, it was soft, but not too soft, it wasn't deep as she expected. "A new recruit?" He said, looking her from top to bottom, just like the lady, "You don't look very strong, but you seem agile, are you sure you want to be a warrior?" He asked, some concern in his voice, he wasn't flat out rejecting her though, so either he thought she stood a chance, or he simply couldn't do that, or, once more, both.

"Sir, it is my choice, it is what I decided to do." She said, her voice firm. She knew she wanted to do this, she wans't certain of the reason, but it was what she chose, and it was what she would do, no matter what.

The warrior seemed to think about it a while before simply shrugging, "Well, if that is your choice, I can't exactly say no to that, come on, let's get you started." He turned, and started walking towards the back of the training grounds, as they walked, he began talking. "This, is Altana's Main Training Grounds, as well as the Warrior and Hunter Guilds location, here not only we, but theregular soldiers train and prepare for any combat that they may have to participate in." So this is used by the whole city? But is it big enough for that? She thought, it did seem like a big place, but not big enough to house all of these people, let alone the guards and other soldiers as he had said.

Before she could think any more on what he said, they left the building through a door near the back, and entered a small field, probably larger than a baseball field, the Warrior, after leading her to the edge of the field, turned to face her, and moved his hands behind his back. "My name is Torvald, I'll be your instructor for this week, with others to give you tips should you wish for it or if I'm unavailable. This," he gestured to behind him, "is your first exercise, you will run the course, so we can better ascertain what you are good at, how fast and strong you are. We will start whenever you're ready." With that, he walked off to the side, and grabbed an acessory from nearby, before returning to stand next her at the edge.

She looked around and saw other soldiers doing the course, some in pairs, others in groups with an instructor, the course seemed fairly simple, some running, some jumping, climbing, weight lifting. Deciding that there had been enough waiting, she motioned for Torvald that she was ready with a nod, and he pressed a button on the thing he had grabbed earlier, before he began running into the field. She followed, preparing herself for the challenges ahead.

It couldn't be that hard, right?

Looking back, having that kind of confidence only made it worse when she finished the course barely managing to breathe, with every muscle in her body screaming at her. Her heart was pumping in ways she never had thought possible, her legs hurt only by standing, so she dropped down the moment Torvald said it was over, and her arms could barely be raised. All things considered, it could be worse, she could be lying down in the middle of the field, like some people she'd seen around, at least she had completed the course.

After running a far longer than she thought possible for a simple training exercise, Torvald stopped moving and pressed the same button again, before shouting stop. His helmet covered his face so she couldn't even know whether he was amused, concerned or something else, he put the thing back in a bench and made his way to her.

"Not bad, not bad at all, how are you feeling?" He seemed to notice her hesitation as she thought on what to tell him. "Tell me truthfully, if you lie you're fine and get hurt we can't finish the training in the week you have freely."

"My arms hurt... a lot. My legs are trembling... my heart is beating more than I think should be normal... aside from that... I'm fine... I think..." She managed to get out, in between deep breaths, lying down on the ground.

The knight gave her a loud laughter as a response, before saying. "Good, it means you're still alive. It seems I was correct, you're agile, but not strong, I have an idea on what weapon to give you, but first, drink some water and rest a bit." He motioned to the bench after saying that, and she noticed a barrel and a crate standing to the left of the bench. Still lying in the ground, she looked at the Knight as he moved over to the crate, opening it and grabbing two cups, he didn't seem the tiniest bit tired after that, not even winded, even after running with all that armor through the course.

He filled the two cups, left them by the bench, and helped her up, with a grunt of pain and a lot of force, she managed to get up, her body didn't seem to hurt as much while standing, but still, after getting to the bench, she sat down, downing the water in an instant, almost choking on it. Torvald was still standing near the barrel, cup on the bench and helmet still on, he motioned to the other cup, "You can drink if you want to, I'm fine for now." It confirmed that Torvald was not, in fact, tired at all. She grabbed the water and drank it, slower than before this time.

While resting on the bench, watching people running the course, entering and leaving the training field, she noticed a group moving inside, mainly because someone she knew was in it, Paul moving with three more people, from their clothing, she could guess that aside from him, everyone had been here for a while, alongside them were the front desk lady and another person, if she wasn't mistaken, it was someone that had arrived with her in the tower, the desk lady motioned to Torvald, and after some talking, left the guy with him.

Torvald took him to the edge of the field he'd gone with her too, already preparing for another run, without even removing the armor as well, he started to make his way back to the bench, supposedly to grab the thing he had used before, looking at it, it seemed to be a clock, a word weirdly familiar to her, it was as if she knew of it and at the same time she didn't, which caused a bit of a headache. After getting near the bench, he said, "Wait just a bit, and we'll continue the training, alright?' She nodded, and made herself comfortable, or at least as comfortable as she could be in a wooden bench, as she watched the others practice on the field.

A few minutes after, however many had passed she wasn't sure, the new group finished its run on the field, with the ones that seemed to have been here longer than her finishing the course in slightly better conditions than her, as in, they didn't drop down after finishing the course, the same happened to Paul and the other guy, though the other guy seemed to be trying his hardest to not fall on the ground, while Paul immediately made his way to the wall and leaned there, legs trembling slightly.

The two trainers walked up to the barrels and filled more cups, with Torvald re-using the two cups she had used before, the whole group made for the benches after some seconds of resting, and the bench was filled instantly, with Paul still leaning on the wall. The two "veterans" talking to each other, a guy and a girl, while the new people just stood around trying to not fall from the exercise, and the trainers talking to each other.

Some time later, Torvald made his way back to the group and adressed her and the other guy, "Very well you two, I believe you had enough time to rest, time to continue your training." With that, he turned and headed to the door, stopping beside it to wait for them. Seeing there was no other choice she rose and went after him, with the new guy following close behind.

Moving back into the main building brought a few questions to her mind, such as, why weren't these two places just a single one, and why was this place so huge, but this was not the time for answers, and there probably wasn't any real reason other than because they could or because they needed it so.

A short walk revealed to her a fairly generous selection of wooden weapons, swords, axes, maces, spears, or in this case staffs, but still, hammers and the such, even some shield to the side, of different sizes. The instructor motioned to the weapons as he turned to look at them, "Now then, choose one of these and stand ready, the weapons you choose will be the ones you will be trained with for this next week."

She and the new guy looked at Torvald, at each other, and moved near the weapon rack, something in her already knew what to do, and she picked the sword without a second though, the other guy looked around a bit, before deciding on a spear, with that, both of them turned back to Torvald, who kept looking at them, or rather, their weapons.

"Now, stand ready, as if you were about to enter combat." As he said that, she took a postion she thought was correct, first, she put both feet together, then, her right foot moved backwards, sword held by both hands, pointing forwards, she flexed her legs, and looked around, the spear guy had done the same, one foot behind, one hand holding the staff on the back with another one at the front, pointing it forwards, before both of them looked back at Torvald.

He walked around them, hands folded at his back, examining everything, their posture, how they held their weapons, probably even if they were correctly balanced, she wasn't very sure, he stopped in front of them, and said. "Well done," A smile formed on her face, "Could have been better," a frown took its place, "But well done nonetheless. Now, we will practice basic movements with your weapons, it is imperative that you manage to execute them without even having to think while out there if you want to return alive. Are you prepared?" They both nodded, and he began giving them instructions on how to move, thrusting the weapons forwards, swinging from one side to the other, an attack from overhead, and many more.

Sometimes he'd stop to point out something they were doing incorrectly, like moving just the upper part of the body for the attacks, or moving the legs too much when attacking, lecturing them on their stances, their balance, basic things, sometimes things that she herself had noticed, others were things that seemed so trivial, but once he showed her the correct way, she noticed the difference.

They spent the whole afternoon doing that, simply striking air, slashing, thrusting, swinging, many times she'd felt like her arms would fall, and yet they managed to make it to the end of the day. Everything hurt, yes, but it would prove to be worth it if that meant she wouldn't die should the time for combat arrive.

That thought was still in her head as she moved back to the town square, some of the trainees moving with her, since all training ended at the same, people moved together to eat, for security, and for company. Still, the thought of having to go out and kill other living beings, just so she could keep living, it didn't sit well with her, even if it was what had to be done, it definetily didn't feel right.

Her thoughts were interrupted by their arrival on the centre, with the sound of people chattering, the smell of the food, the aching in her body even, she took the moment and moved to the same place they'd eaten at earlier in the day. This time not with a big group, just her and Paul, not that he was present phisically, he seemed to be there, but not really, if that made any sense.

Still, once they were done eating, they paid for the food, careful of the money in their pouches, and made their way back to the Volunteer Lodge, as most people they met had called it, it had so many names, there wasn't actually a wrong one; their group was far smaller this time, considering the number of new people wasn't that high to begin with, nor was the number of people that choose to be a hunter or warrior.

The walk back was fairly uneventful, the people talked about how difficult the training had been, how much it hurt, and that they wanted to rest. After reaching the lodge a debate was had as to who would use the bath first, and before long, she was sitting inside the rather large 'bathtub' that there was inside the bath house. Her body finally relaxing, her mind drifted to what happened just in this first day in this new land.

The choices each of them had made, the things they saw, the things they would see, as her mind moved from one thought to another, she began to drift away, almost sleeping inside the bathtub before one of the girls woke her up, as they were about to leave.

She had almost forgotten the two sets of clothes the Guilds had arranged for them, one to sleep and another for regular use, it wasn't much, but it would have to do. She made her way out and to her bed, tomorrow would be a long day, and she needed energy if she was to make it through the day.

On her way back, she passed Paul, who wished her a good night, returning the gesture, she moved inside, past the dark main room, and up to her quarters. Idonia wasn't there, and the whole way she didn't find a single trace of Aquilo or Sen too. Perhaps their guilds worked differently and only let their students out later, or even, not at all. Still, she knew where Aquilo was, and Sen couldn't be that far, the only thing that worried her at this moment was Idonia's whereabouts.

It had been such a long day that she barely considered where she had gone to, there weren't many choices left for her to make, but still, she felt worried for not knowing where she would be, she didn't know her that much, but the girl had decided to follow her, so the least Ashlyn thought she could do was make sure she knew where she was in case Idonia needed any help.

Suddenly, as she was lying down on her bed, her whole body relaxed againg, the pain from the training still noticable, but less present, fatigue finally caught up to her, and she started to drift to sleep, hoping only to be able to wake up in time for training the next day.

If today had been any indication, the training would only get rougher from here, and she would need every ounce of energy she could get.

A/N : Well would you look at that, after, what? Some two to three months, I return, with another part of this, whatever this is, for you.

For those wondering what happened, it was a multitude of reasons, but mainly, the fact that I am a master procrastinator, and that I don't think this chapter was made with as much quality as I wanted or it deserved.

I had started to write this in the end of November, and once I finished it all, I looked at it and said "It sucks", and decided to rewrite another day as it was late, then procrastination and finals hit me(the former being more at fault for the delay), and I never got around to finishing it.

Until this last week that is. I know it is advancing at a snails pace, but I'm still trying to get the grips on this whole writing thing, so please bear with me.

Constructive criticism is appreciated, as always, and see you in however long it takes me to write the next part, hopefully in one month if it all goes well.

Have a good day everyone.