A lone paladin leaned against the stone walls of the Citadel.

  He looked out to Revenshein and saw it all. The city. The bridge that connected to Verband—to the start of every adventurer’s journey.

  He remembered it well.

  Casttee eagerly ran up to the guard.

  “I’m heading out to complete my first quest!” she exclaimed proudly. “Kill ten boars for the Ranger’s Association!”

  The guard looked her once over and waved her through with a bored, uninterested expression.

  His arm hurt from the same repetitive wave he always did.

  She was not the first adventurer to set out with hope-filled eyes—not even close.

  “Halt!”

  The cleric jumped, startled by the sudden objection.

  It was not the guard, but a novice paladin running with metal plate armor clanking as he approached.

  THUNK

  His pauldron fell before the gate—some of his equipment was not even properly strapped on.

  “A-are you talking to me?” Casttee asked hesitantly.

  “I am!” replied the paladin. “I have come to embark on my first venture. Slay ten wild boars in the name of justice!”

  THUMP

  One of his greaves fell beside his pauldron.

  The guard sighed, airing his disappointment as Casttee bent down to aid the paladin.

  “Here you go!” she said with a cheerful smile, handing him his pauldron. “I must be off now—”

  “Prithee, halt in the name of the light!”

  A cold metal gauntlet wrapped around her arm.

  The paladin wore a determined look, as if he was heading out to slay an archdemon and not ten boars.

  “W-what—”

  “I cannot let a defenseless cleric sally forth alone,” he explained. “Guard, do I have permission to embark on my holy hunt?”

  The guard shrugged. The boisterous paladin was not worth the pain of waving it seemed.

  “Defenseless?”

  Casttee walked up to the paladin with an equally determined glare as the one he gave her.

  “I’ll have you know Mentor Permos said I had ‘great potential’,” she said proudly.

  “Is that so?” replied the paladin with a raised eyebrow. “He said the same about me—”

  “He says that about everyone…” the guard muttered, though neither could hear him. Or if they did, they were too preoccupied with staring one another down to acknowledge his remark.

  “Potential or not, I insist on leading the way so that you do not fall victim to a rampaging boar or a fiendish brigand,” said the paladin as he tried tying the strap of his pauldron.

  Casttee placed her hands on her hips.

  “You should worry about a rampaging, bloodthirsty cleric who just wants to go on an adventure!”

  The paladin stopped tightening the leather straps and looked around.

  “A ‘rampaging, bloodthirsty cleric’?” he repeated, “In the city? Surely the guards would—”

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  He realized his error too late.

  Casttee ran through the gate and onto the great bridge.

  “H-hold! Curse this damn strap—hold, I say!”

  The paladin followed after her, leaving behind a trail of armor as he did so.

  Casttee giggled with glee as the wind rushed by her. The lush, open fields of Verdan awaited, alongside the many boars prowling them. This was the start of her adventure.

  Exciting.

  Breathtaking

  And…

  THWUMP

  “Allow me—to lead the way!” the paladin shouted as he ran after her, leaving a pauldron in his wake. “There could be bandits!”

  Casttee looked back as she ran, unsure what to make of the bumbling yet determined fool that pursued her.

  “How are you so weird?” she yelled back.

  CLANK

  “That’s right, there’s nothing I fear!”

  “Weird! Not fear!”

  A growl.

  One of the boars stood at the end of the bridge waiting for the next adventurer to cross over. This one was large, red, and covered in scars.

  Not exactly how the Ranger’s Association had described them.

  Mutated Boar [████████████████████] 100%

  “Aaah!”

  The boar rushed at Casttee without warning. With a burst of speed, the paladin intercepted the charge. The boar’s tusks clashed with the paladin’s wooden shield.

  CRACK

  He went reeling backwards, losing his sword as he fell.

  In that brief moment, Casttee had a choice. An opportunity to attack the boar had presented itself. If she felled the beast, the Ranger’s Association would reward her.

  Her grip tightened around her wand.

  “Be healed! she cried out, casting a simple healing spell on the paladin.

  He shot to his feet, and before the boar could react, brought his sword down on top of the boar’s hide.

  Yet somehow, the beast lived. It huffed, pawing the ground and advancing on the paladin.

  “Keep me alive!” the paladin ordered.

  “It’s too strong! Let’s go back to the guards and—”

  “No time! Every moment this beast lives means danger for—”

  The boar swung his head across the paladin’s unarmored leg, causing him to groan in pain. Still, he was resilient. He struck the beast again despite the bloody gash on his leg.

  “Fine…you crazy paladin.”

  She healed him once again.

  It wouldn’t be the last time.

  A bloodied paladin stood over the boar’s carcass. He was breathing heavily, but he was alive.

  Casttee had her hands on her knees, taking rapid, shallow breaths.

  To a passerby, it would have seemed as if the two of them had just finished an exhausting race, one that had sent them on two very different paths.

  In reality, the two had slain a foe that was several levels higher than them.

  “L-level up?” the paladin managed between breaths. He stared at his hands as if he could see his growth on the lines of his palm. “Well done.”

  “Same—to you,” Casttee gasped.

  She stood straight, finally seeing the extent of the paladin’s injuries.

  “Y-you need to see a healer!” she said. “An experienced one, not just a novice cleric!”

  The paladin waved her off.

  “I think your heals are sufficient. After all, I’m alive, aren’t I?” he said with a pained smile.

  He glanced at the boar and then looked back at her.

  “I underestimated you,” he admitted.

  Casttee sighed.

  “I’m guilty of the same,” she told him. “You fought well considering you’re missing half your armor.”

  The paladin’s eyes widened.

  Did he not realize…?

  He looked back at the bridge now littered with his armor.

  “I think you’d benefit from a cleric’s guidance,” Casttee said, eyeing the paladin warily.

  He looked down at the numerous wounds that she had healed. The paladin nodded.

  “I’m Casttee.”

  “Zariel.”

  He offered an armored gauntlet. The only one he had left.

  The two shook hands.

  “Now if you’ll excuse me, Casttee. I must be off to find a cleric to join me.”

  He walked past her, his eyes filled with optimism and curiosity as he scanned the fields and distant hills.

  She stood motionless with her mouth wide open. Zariel continued walking with a carefree bounce as continued down the path.

  “I AM A CLERIC!” she roared.

  With the sun overhead, the two began their adventure.

  Now, the first light broke over the horizon. The shadows on the walls of Zantori Citadel began to retreat.

  Zariel leaned against its cold stone walls. He was the only one on the small, barren island. His armor was covered in ash and soot. After the meeting in Orel, he had returned to Revenshein and found his guild hall abandoned by nightfall.

  The guild itself was no more, and all that remained was a simple truth whispered amongst the streets of the Guilds’ Quarter: Zariel had left his guild behind to conquer the Citadel with strangers.

  From what he could gather, some of his guildmates had believed that false truth. Others were terrified when they witnessed the sky turn red, and so they had sought out stronger, larger guilds for safety.

  Zariel’s guild had been little more than a group of friends he had met along his journey. Casttee had been the first, but as the tank-healer duo quested and explored dungeons, their charisma and sincerity pulled others into their orbit. New guildmates brought their friends into the fold, and before long, Zariel found himself co-leading a budding guild with Casttee.

  Being the first to conquer a raid would have elevated them to mythic status. A guild so small with such an achievement was unheard of.

  But that honor had been taken from them.

  Casttee had left a brief note. She was done with raiding. Zariel immediately went back to Orel and found her house sold. The ranger within—now a new homeowner—had been less than thrilled to find his door kicked in by a paladin.

  There was no sign of her.

  And so, he spent the next five days slaughtering every cultist and Flameborne in Ashwood. There, he occasionally saw others like Evo and ForNot, but he did not greet them. Instead, he unleashed his holy light and chain-wrapped weapons on the horde of enemies surrounding Stormfire Temple.