As they wandered through town, the trio finally found what they were looking for, an adventurer's guild. Just as it sounds, it is a building that gives adventurers tasks in exchange for money. Most adventurers were a part of it because of the benefits it gave them, for example, free passage through most towns.
"Are you guys registered?" Peregrine asked.
"No." Avis answered first.
"I am." Maizy said.
"Alright, Maizy, can you go to that shop over there and get the things we need? We will join you in a bit."
"Sure."
"Come on, Avis."
When they entered the building, the first room was akin to a tavern, people of all ages were eating and drinking at round tables, but Peregrine walked right past and went through a door and into a room where a counter with a man behind it was placed.
"Welcome to the guild, how may I help you?" The man spoke first, in the same accent as the other man but with a warm smile on his face.
"I want to register him." She said as she took out a necklace with a metal dragon holding an emerald green cloudy sphere in its mouth.
Maizy had a similar accessory, but her's was a bracelet and didn't have the head of any monster in it, it was also much smaller with violet colors rippling like waves.
"Understood, let me grab the equipment."
When the man returned, in his hands was a strange device, its main feature being a needle above a similar sphere to the one on Peregrine's necklace, just that this one was pure white.
"What size of the sphere do you want? We have sizes for rings, necklaces, and anything in between."
"Hmm… Can I pick anything?" Avis asked.
"Yeah, go ahead."
"Then I want an earring."
"That's pretty strange, any reason why?"
Avis shrugged. "I think it would look good on me.
"Alright, but I can only offer one for free, the other would cost you. Before you bind the stone you need to fill out this form."
"Is it like a contract?"
"No, it will serve to prove your identity, when you enter a town, your bind to the stone will be checked, and your identity will need to be verified by the local guild, but we managed to centralize it a few years ago so the process is almost instant."
"Alright." Avis filled out the questionnaire, there were simple questions like his name, age, education, where he is from, and other boring stuff like this, and soon enough, he was done.
The man took out a small stone, it was still round, but this one had a hole in it for the earring. "You need to put your finger on the needle and drop some blood on the stone for it to bind."
Avis did as he was told, pricking his finger, a few drops of blood slid onto the small stone, covering it completely. The man waited some time then he took the stone out and cleaned it.
"Oh, what a rare color! Your spirit must also be quite rare, am I right?" The man asked.
A faintly blue gemstone stood in his hand; it was almost completely clear except for some impurities, and it reflected light beautifully.
"What does it represent?" Asked Peregrine.
"Hmm… I'm pretty sure it is connected to a light element, just a second." He turned to get a dusty book from a shelf behind him, it was old and rugged, but its text was readable. As the man turned the pages, vibrant colored gems, and stones were painted with great skill and with text accompanying all of them, until he reached the light element. In this category, none of the stones were portrayed.
"Why are there no images?"
"Look at your stone, do you think you can paint that?"
"Well…"
"I think I found it. Remember that these descriptions are mostly outdated and made from very few accounts, they are not fully equivalent to the real world. Here it is: 'From my long studies, I have observed that the brilliant diamond represents purity, clarity, and illumination, but deep down, it also reflects pride, possessiveness, and for one of the accounts, pure malice. The spirits reflecting it are of the light variety, but this color's unique properties, I reckon, don't fit it that well as they are a combination of wind, earth, and light's main use, illusions. I only met two people whose spirits have this color, both are extremely powerful but equally eccentric, masters of illusions like I have never seen, one of them even managed to convince me that I was a king before bringing me back to reality, truly frightening people. As for their appearance, they choose to proudly wear intricate jewelry that would sit just right on any royal, pride was written all over them from the moment I met them.'… There you have it, that's all that is written."
"Are all colors this loosely based on reality?" Avis asked.
"No, you just have a very strange one, that doesn't really tell you anything, but knowing the types of powers is important. For example, the pirate you fought had a pure light spirit, specialized in illusions, which I believe came from a mermaid." Peregrine clarified.
"Ohh… I see now. Mine is light because it can become invisible!"
"I'm sorry to ask, but could you let me write a report on your powers, it's very rare for such a color to appear, the reports are private within the guild, of course."
"Do I get a reward?"
"Not from the guild, but since it could help me advance in rank I will get my merchant friend to get you a nice earring for the stone."
"You can stay here and do it if you want, I'll go with Maizy to get the rest of the things we need."
"Sure! So, what do you need to know?"
"Well, for starters…"
In less than ten minutes, the report was ready, and Avis went out, just to see Peregrine bust out of the door of the store she sent Maizy to.
"Avis!"
As his name was called, he could already tell what was going on.
"Avis! It's all my fault, I shouldn't have told her to go on her own! I-I'm so…"
"Calm down, let's find her."
As he opened his other eyes, Avis tried to concentrate, a cacophony of spirit energy was dispersed all around the city, but as he focused, he saw a familiar shape.
He grabbed Peregrine's hand and rushed to a nearby street, where, a covered carriage was slowly dragged away by a pair of horses, with the sword hidden neatly under the vehicle.
"She's in there." As he ran towards the carriage, letting go of his eyes to use his power to launch himself forward, he easily reached the carriage, but as he was about to rip out the curtains, a dart came from inside, hitting him in the tight.
"Agh!..."
The carriage sped away, making a dangerous turn to the main road, a straight path to the town's gate and the forest outside.
"Peregrine, I need to leave you alone, go find Thorne and tell him what's happening!"
Before she could reply, Avis used his spirit hand to climb over a building at an incredible speed, before launching himself towards the carriage. He was fast, but the speeding carriage was faster, not even bothering to swerve as people on the street were almost run over by the thing, and as it reached the gate not even the guards could stop it.
"Ahh, damn, what is going on. We need to tell the… Whoa!"
As Avis ran past, the guards could barely see him, his feet weren't even touching the ground as the one extra hand went from side to side to make him faster, picking up speed as he got used to it.
From the back of the carriage, a man holding a sword opened the curtains, but before Avis could take him out, he pointed his palm at him and the image of a dragon appeared, and as it opened its mouth it shot forward a wave of fire, filling Avis' vision.
"Take this, fucker!"
Avis, unable to slow down was forced to brace himself as he was about to meet the flames head-on, but to his surprise, his invisible monster spirit moved on its own in front of him and changed its shape to cover him the best it could. By doing so, however, Avis was left to fight for himself against gravity, as he fell to the ground.
Stopped in his tracks, Avis could only watch as the carriage sped away, the forest obscuring its path.