Chapter 11

Leon Alpin, wizard class, huh? He definitely looked like he was a wizard, or some nut job. What did he mean by joining our guild? He was still just standing there staring at us, it was getting creepy.

We all stared at him. I don't think any of us had any idea how to respond to that, but Fenton gave it a try: "Oh, so sorry, we’re not looking for new guildmates at this time. Please come find us in 5-100 years and we will let you know if there are any openings then.”

Fenton grabbed my arm and started pulling me away down the alley. We barely made it five steps.

"Actually," Leon said, raising his voice, “you need one more person to maintain your guild. Guilds are only made up of four or more players. If you don't have a fourth player soon your ‘guild’ will be automatically disbanded." 

Fenton froze, then turned back to look at him. He stared for a moment before asking,“How do you know that? I have our guild list set to private." He stared at Leon, waiting for an answer. Fenton's eyes narrowed. I could tell he wasn't happy about this. Not that this person had randomly appeared, let alone knew something about us already.

“That is because of my gift!" Leon said. 

"...your gift is stealing information?” Fenton scoffed. His hand was starting to shake, just a little.

"In a way.” Leon left it at that and slowly strolled past us.  

He turned back and looked at each one of us for a moment, “I know a bit more too. I’d like to discuss it with you more, but not here,” he smiled.

“You think we are just going to follow you?" Fenton asked. His grip on my arm grew stronger. It felt like he was trying to keep me from leaving with him. 

I put a hand on his and stared back at Leon, “We don't have any reason to follow you, and we have some place to be. So if you'll excuse us…" 

I was interrupted by Kendrick saying, “I'll go." 

Fenton and I turned to look at him. I thought I must have misheard him.

Kendrick was standing behind us with a relaxed smile on his face, “There's no reason you need to talk with all three of us. You two get out of the city, I'll catch up." 

“What, no! What did I say about splitting up? We should go together," Fenton’s voice was rising and we were starting to draw attention from other players.

I looked at Kendrick, “Why give him the time of day? Let's just go.”

He turned to look at Leon who was just smiling at us patiently. “Well, he doesn't look like a bad guy, does he? It would be good to hear what he knows and it can't hurt to hear him out," he said with a shrug.

The look on Fenton’s face after that comment was hard to bear. With a sigh, I covered his mouth and said, "Okay. You have five minutes." 

Fenton growled at me and shoved me away. I was constantly impressed with how strong he was. That one actually hurt a little.

“Perfect, let's go chat in that tavern over there." Leon pointed at a nearby building. A yellow sign hung above the door that read ‘The Wandering Raven’. It had black silhouetted birds flying along the edges.

"Oh, I actually ate there just yesterday!” Kendrick remarked, "Their food is really good!” His usual smile had returned to his face as we approached the building

"Yesterday?” I asked.

"Yeah, before I met up with you guys Jacob and I came into town for a few things. That's why I thought it would be safe to come here. He probably won't come to the same town two days in a row,” Kendrick said before he ran in front of Leon and opened the door for all of us.

We entered the building and were met with a warm atmosphere. There was soft tavern music playing from some NPC musicians in the corner. There were a decent amount of tables set up around the main room with a few patrons here and there. Stairs near the door lead to a loft that looked like it might have more tables. And right in front of us, as we entered the tavern was Jacob, Kendrick's brother. 

Fenton and I were taken aback. We froze in place and stared at the intimidating man before us. It felt like my brain was glitching. He had the amazing ability to make you feel incredibly small in his presence.

Kendrick, luckily, didn't freeze. He stepped forward and put himself between Jacob and us. 

"Jacob…don't…" he started.

“Kendrick, where did you go? You just disappeared this morning and you didn't respond to my message. Who are they?" He gestured towards us.

Jacob looked behind Kendrick, but his look seemed disinterested. Fenton and I exchanged confused looks with one another.

Leon stepped in, "Hello, it's so nice to meet you. My name is Leon. Kendrick was just about to interview me as a new member of his guild,” Leon continued smiling and looked at Kendrick.

“New guild?" Jacob looked back at Kendrick, “Are these ones also members?" 

We all looked back at Leon. He smiled and replied, “Yes, they are also members of the guild." 

I had never felt so stupid in my life. I had no idea what was going on. Jacob didn't seem to recognize us. Leon was successfully worming his way into our guild. And all I could do was stand there with my jaw on the floor watching everything happen. What was happening though?

“Ah, is this because I told you to take more initiative?" Jacob asked Kendrick. 

Kendrick looked back at him and gave a small nod.

“Well, if you have managed to recruit three members in just a few hours I guess that is something. If you have a hard time though, feel free to join our guild again. You can even bring this lot,” he gestured at us. "I have to go back to the Basecamp. Respond to my messages and don't do anything dangerous.” He walked past us and left without a second thought.

We stared after him for a little too long before we turned our attention back to Leon. He was still standing there smiling at us. 

Kendrick started, “Why didn't he remember them?”

Leon looked at him, "In short, it's because of that.” He pointed at my right hand.

I instinctively hid my hand behind my back. 

“Let's have our chat," Leon chuckled as he walked over to a table.

We slowly followed him and sat down. Fenton sat next to me and Kendrick hesitated for a moment before sitting down next to Leon. 

“So, my gift involves predictions," Leon started.

“You can see the future?" Fenton asked.

Leon folded his hands in front of him and took a moment to gather his thoughts. “Yes, but only when I dream. It has come in handy, but it's very limited. I can't control what I see. I can only see things while I sleep. Sometimes what I see doesn't make sense…" 

He looked at Kendrick, “In my dream I saw you first…it was like I was following behind you.”

Kendrick blushed and looked down at his own hands.

"Creepy,” Fenton said. 

Leon side eyed him, "I have no choice. If I don't follow the subject of my dream then I won't wake up."  He let out a loud sigh, “When we first landed in this game I didn't understand my gift. I was lucky that I fell asleep in my room…when I finally woke up a whole month had passed. My dream didn't even have anything to do with us being trapped. So I had no idea what had happened." 

As far as gifts go this one really was rough then. "How long did it take you to control it then?" I asked. 

He looked at me, “Control it? I have no say in any of it. Mine is not a gift, it's a curse. It’s my own fault though." His face grew more serious.

Kendrick looked at Leon thoughtfully, “How is it your fault? You didn't get to pick your gift, you didn't know any of this would happen before entering the game." 

“No, but I made a mistake when I chose my stats," Leon whispered.

I started getting a funny feeling. 

Fenton jumped into the conversation, “Okay, so you can see the future. What does that have to do with how Jacob reacted?" 

“He said I disappeared this morning. It was like he didn't experience anything that happened yesterday," Kendrick said, his brows furrowed.

Leon leaned in towards us and whispered, “There is a very good reason he acts as though he didn't experience anything from yesterday." 

All three of us leaned in closer to hear what Leon had to say.

“That would be because he didn't," Leon whispered.