Chapter 8

Returning from outside with Calvin in tow, Julia looked tired and defeated after her ordeal in counting the severed goblin ears. She returned the empty sacks to Riegert, in full view of all present, before taking some paper and making a note for Andria to find on her return. The note read; "Thirty-seven goblin kills confirmed, thirty-six goblins and one shaman." She then placed the note where Andria had been working and returned to her other duties. After a few minutes of watching adventurers walk the balconies, entering and leaving rooms, the hidden door in the pillar opened once more, with Andria stepping to one side and allowing a rugged-looking, well-dressed man to step past her before she closed the door behind him.

This dapper gentleman radiated authority as he entered the room. He looked toward the other receptionists who had been distracted by his entrance and paid them a simple greeting with a soft incline of his head. He had a perfectly groomed brown beard, excessively tidy hair, and clothing that was perfectly clean and crease-free, even the scars he bore on his face and lower arms seemed to add to his impressive looks. "Are you the one who wishes to register as an adventurer?" he asked of Fellaroth as he approached the counter.

"I am." Answered Fellaroth.

"Very well, my name is Ignatius Kroth, I am the Guild Master of this Adventurers Guild, and I will be conducting your registration. Please follow me." He said, before turning and walking back toward the central pillar. Andria lifted a portion of the counter, allowing Fellaroth to pass and follow The Guild Master through the hidden door. Passing through the door, Fellaroth saw a spiral staircase that led both below ground and up toward the roof of the guildhall. Andria closed the door behind Fellaroth, bringing sudden darkness to the stairway, which was quickly replaced by a pale white light, immitted by magic stones mounted behind cages on the walls at regular intervals. Seeing The Guild Master make his way down the stairs, Fellaroth quickly followed after, making sure not to get left too far behind.

The Guild Master led the way down these steps for longer than Fellaroth had anticipated, heading deeper and deeper underground. They passed several ornate doors before finally coming to a stop when The Guild Master opened and stepped through one, inviting Fellaroth to follow. The room beyond the door was a strange one, it was a long thin room which had a number of oddly shaped mirrors mounted on its walls, leading to a desk with a single chair in front and behind it. The only source of light in the room was a single lamp on the desk at the far end of the room. Staring down the length of the room, The Guild Master stepped aside and with a gesture of his hand said; "After you!"

Fellaroth was momentarily perplexed by the situation, but stepped forward and made his way toward the desk at the far end of the room. Walking past each of the mirrors in turn, Fellaroth noticed that his reflection did not appear in all of them, and in the ones that it did appear, he wasn't sure that it was truly him staring back. Passing the last mirror in utter silence, Fellaroth stood beside the desk and waited for The Guild Master's next instruction.

"Please, take a seat!" said The Guild Master, as he himself sat in the chair on the other side of the desk. "So, Fell, what exactly are you?"

"Excuse me?"

"That hall of mirrors that you just passed by was crafted many centuries ago by The Great Mage Elodrian when she herself was a guild master of this very guild…"

"I had no idea my sister had ever been a guild master." Thought Fellaroth.

"It serves a multitude of functions, such as divining a person's true intentions, revealing their true nature, and even dispelling any magic that is used to disguise their appearance from the world. Over the centuries we have used this room to interview any person who wishes to register as an adventurer at an 'irregular age,' I'm sure you can understand why?"

"I suppose it's because it must be a highly uncommon occurrence?"

"That it is, but more than that, it is very suspicious. Adventuring is an extremely dangerous career, the mortality rate is exceedingly high, which is why higher-ranked adventurers are paid so well. Furthermore, it takes a great deal of skill and experience and no small amount of courage to succeed as an adventurer, it is not something that should be taken lightly."

"And so, you evaluate older potential members to not only lower the potential death rate but also to ensure that their reason for wanting to join the guild is not one that has its roots in malicious intent?"

"You are correct. And to that end, the walk through those mirrors shows me not only who the person I am interviewing truly is, but also if they can be trusted, and whether or not they are dangerous. It is for this reason that I have a very good understanding of how the mirrors work. Which brings about our first problem. A number of those mirrors showed nothing as you passed them by, this is something that should not be possible…" said The Guild Master, pausing as he stared Fellaroth down. "However, I was still able to gather some information from the mirrors that did reflect your image. First of all, it showed me that you are a man of great integrity and that you can be trusted. Secondly, it showed me that you do not mean that party of adventurers or anyone in this Kingdom harm, however, if provoked, you could become someone who could be a significant threat to all of us. The issue I'm having is with the mirrors that showed nothing, they were supposed to show me your true race, your true appearance, your true age, and your mortality."

"I don't understand, so I can be trusted, but I am somehow hiding my race, appearance, age, and mortality, what does that mean exactly?"

"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. With regards to your race, age, and appearance, though I am interested in why you would feel the need to disguise those, they mean very little to me. It is the part about your mortality that has really piqued my interest because it either indicates that you are dead, which from this conversation I am going to rule out, or it indicates that you are immortal, which believe it or not I am inclined to believe."

"Excuse me? You believe me to be immortal?" asked Fellaroth, feigning incredulity. "What in the world would make you think that I was immortal?"

"That would be because of the one mirror that's purpose I could never truly understand until now." Answered The Guild Master, looking up at the ceiling, where a large round mirror had been mounted. Following The Guild Master's gaze, Fellaroth saw a truly strange sight. Nothing at all was reflected in that mirror, apart from him. He appeared to be sitting on nothing, simply floating in a void.

"What exactly am I looking at?"

"That Fell, is a very good question. That mirror is one that no guild master, apart from its creator, could understand. I mean, we knew what it did, we just could never truly understand the need for its existence, until now that is. You see Fell, that mirror's purpose is to only reflect things that should not exist in this world. Which brings me back to my earlier question. What exactly are you, Fell?"

"Ah, I see. I suppose there is a kind of poetry in the knowledge that something created by my own twin sister would be the thing that would give me away…"

"Excuse me? Twin sister? Are you referring to The Great Mage Elodrian? That can't be, she lived during the first age, many, many centuries ago!"

"Really, Guild Master, you just told me that you believe me to be immortal and that the mirror above our heads, which is showing nothing but my own reflection, only shows things that should not exist in this world, and yet you don't believe that I could have been twins with The Great Mage?"

"Well, help me put all of this in perspective then. Does this mean that you are indeed dead then? And if so, what has brought you back to the world of the living?"

"I'm not dead, well, I am, but I'm also not."

"You're not making this easy for me to understand Fell."

"The truth is that I am a God."

"Alright, but you don't appear to be one of those Gods of Xechegan, so if you are not one of them, are you then The God Mythus?" asked The Guild Master.

"I am neither of those. My name is Fellaroth, I used to be The God of Prosperity and Good Fortune. Sadly, through the ages, my popularity fell and eventually, I was forgotten by humanity, only to be replaced by those false Gods."

"I have been hearing rumours about the other races' Gods suddenly appearing in this world, so it wouldn't be impossible for what you are saying to be true, and the mirror is a clear indicator that you're not of this world, or at least not anymore. If you are who you say you are, then why exactly are you attempting to join an adventure party, and why are you hiding your divinity?"

"Like I said, I am a forgotten God. Do you think people would believe me if I just walked around telling everyone who I really was? And that's without considering the fact that a new religion has replaced the old one, humanity now follows the teachings of Xechegan."

"Not all of humanity. There are still many people in the Southern cities that still follow Mythus's teachings."

"Of that I am glad. Under Mythus's guidance, humanity will not be led astray."

"So, God Fellaroth, you have yet to answer my question. Why are you here in Pivoton attempting to join an adventure party?"

"It's just Fell, I am after all trying to hide my divinity. I want to join that party so that I might live a normal life while I am here in this world. And along the way, I hope to find out more about this new religion and its Gods."

"Very well, Fell. Those mirrors have never steered me wrong before, so I am going to choose to continue to trust in them and in my own judgment. I will allow you to join this guild and that party. All we need to do now is to evaluate your skills, which we can do by having you place both of your hands flat on this desk if you don't mind."

Fellaroth did as was asked of him and placed both of his hands flat on the table in front of him, as he did, the tabletop glowed with a white light, within which words started to appear. "This is exactly what I feared was going to happen. The magic is unable to gauge your abilities properly and so has simply assigned you to Triple-S rank. Under weapons skills it just says unknown, and under mana and everything else it just says… 'incalculable?' I have to admit, this does tend to lend further credence to your claims of being a God. However, you did say that you wanted to keep your divinity a secret did you not?"

"I did."

"Then perhaps we should lower your rank so that it is closer to that of the members of the party that you are joining. Your party members are all C-ranks, so I think it would be best if we go ahead and make you an A-rank, how does that sound?"

"I think that would do perfectly, thank you, Guild Master."

"Very well, then let us conclude your registration and proceed with raising the rank of your party from E-rank to D-rank. I wish I could do more, but if their rank rose too high too fast then it would only draw unwanted attention."

"Not at all Guild Master, I think you are exactly right."

"Very well then. Now that your registration has been completed, I think you should re-join your party, Andria would have been informed about your registration by now and will be preparing your documents, which means that by the time you get up there, she would probably have told your party that they have been bumped up in rank as well. I hope you like to drink because they are going to want to celebrate!" said The Guild Master, getting up from his seat and leading Fellaroth back toward the door they had entered from.