- 1 day, 0 months, 0 yrs in Malkuth

Sleep does not come easy, I'm either awake and listening to all the sobbing, muffled cries, and hush fearful whispers. Or I am asleep and having nightmares, where I'm watching helplessly as my two sisters are torn away from me. Twisting and turning in my cot I'm up and down pacing left and right. 

By morning my whole body aches like I've run a marathon, especially my lower back where I landed heavily. I rub it trying hard not to cry out in pain. 

From the entrance, a crowd of doctors walk on it talking to people and handing them morning supplies. Charlie hands me a small bag of jerky meat, "Did you sleep well?" 

I tear into the jerky, chewing slowly, "Does anyone their first day?" 

"Only those already insane." He sits next to me, "You handled yourself very well yesterday." 

"I mean... I was shocked," I gulped down my entire cup of water, "It's not every day you're told you've been taken to another world by a crazy storm." I smile at the sad small joke, "I should just be glad I landed on my back and not anywhere else." 

He watches me, evaluating me, and nods slowly, "I'd like you to follow me," 

I raise an eyebrow, halfway joking. "Am I being recruited?"

Charlie gives me a slightly pained and tired smile, "Maybe." 

Outside, the sun shoots out bursts of sunlight from behind the mountains to the East, the huge rolling ranges breaking apart my line of sight and casting an impossibly long shadow. Dark clouds thunder across their tips but don't go beyond to the sky above like some hovering fog. I see why it's called the Thundering Highlands. 

I wish I could see the Ridge Back Pass but with all the distance, height difference, and objects I can't get a glimpse, but from what I've been told it's a very dangerous area, I can't believe Wilder's came through there just to raid a Tower. 

The camp is bustling with activity, people rushing here and there carrying bags, scraps of metals, and more. There is a slight separation, like some invisible threshold that no one can pass. People stick with people with similar designs and outfits. I assume it's like clicks in a school, but here it's guilds self-separating from other guilds.  

Yesterday was so crazy I didn't notice that there was more than one camp. From as far as I can see surrounding the looming crooked Tower is four major camps forming a wall around it. I'm in the largest and most defensible camp, as it's pointed right between Ridge Back Pass and the Tower. 

We get to the center of the place, with a huge guard makeshift guard tower and a metal wall with pikes and spears sticking out of it. At the only walkable space are several guards of different guilds. Charlie gives them a polite nod, and inside the walls calls out, "Isabella, you saved the day with that warning." 

A human woman with bright blond hair, and gorgeous sky blue eyes shining with a summer light gives him a swift cocky grin, "And you did some good healing!" Like a storybook pirate, she swings down the ladder like a bird leaving its nest landing with a swift leap in front of us. She wears light leather armor, with leather belts full of pouches and gear. On her back, a crossbow, and bolts are tied up. A small dagger-like blade swings loosely at her hips. Her hips sway as she walks on over  to us, "This the kid?" She nods in my direction. 

I take a breath, smiling as I reach a handout, "Names Jack Wells, and I'm... new to Malkuth." 

She raises an eyebrow, "Charlie wasn't joking, you have a good attitude."  She shakes my hand, "Isabella, Scout to Squad 1 of the guild Oath of the Boar. I was originally from Ivinor, but well, I've made a home here." She shrugs, " Our guild is a pretty good one, not for the faint of heart however, people die. Like yesterday." She has a very serious look in her eyes as she gives me a once over "Death is second nature to us, we see it every day, and we fight against the reapers who aim to take our lives. If you can't handle that, don't go getting Charlie's hopes up and bow out." 

She pats Charlie's back, "I need to keep an eye out, Wilders rarely attack just once." She swoops back up her nest, giving me one last piece of advice, "Kid, if you want to live a long life don't join, if you have a goal in mind and a desire to live and get back to those you love... well join but remember your life can end at any moment." 

"Do you?" I boldly ask. 

She stops and tries to hide her smile as she nods briskly, "I have a husband and a child back home. It's been almost fifteen years since I've been here so I'm sure they have moved on. But I want to see them, tell them the life I had, and die in their presence." 

Charlie beckons me after him, "She's right, if you can't handle it you will washout." He sighs, "There are a lot of ways to help though, so don't think this is your only path. I saw how bright and willing you were even as scared as you were, so I hope there's a chance you'll join us. If you can't, don't feel pressured or bad about it." 

"You all fight Towers?" I glance at the one behind us, "What else do guilds do?" 

"How about I let the Vice. Captian tell you." He pushes open the flaps to a large square tent, the inside of it as cliche as any war room from TV shows I've seen. A huge white picnic plastic table with various chairs and stools of different designs sits in the very middle. There's a huge map on the table, kept flat by rocks on the edges. 

Looming over the map is a tall man, almost seven feet, with dark black hair cut short against his dark skin, his long clean-cut beard a clean puff around his cheeks and under his chin. His dark black eyes are as strong as ink wrinkles at the edges in huge crow-feet that touch his cheeks and forehead, "Charlie! Anything to report?" He sees me and grins broadly, "You brought the kid!" He smacks my back roughly and grabs my hand for a firm shake, I shake back just as roughly trying to keep from crying out under his hard grip. "We are always looking out for talent, when Charlie told me about you, kid, I was already invested." He checks me out, "You have a good hard-working body, what did you do in your old home?" 

"I worked on my uncle's orchid and whatever other labor I could do. I have two sisters who rely on me." 

"A well-shaped body," He nods, "You ever held a weapon? Any defensive training?" 

"Nothing beyond basic wrestling between other boys when I was a kid. And no defensive training. The only weapon I've held is a hunting rifle when I went with my uncle once to hunt some deer." There's no way I'm telling him how bad I sucked at shooting, and how my little sister beat my ass with aiming it. She's surprisingly cold-blooded at the weirdest moments. 

He nods, "No problem with that. I was a construction worker back home, on a planet named Earth. I had been working since I was fifteen, and at eighteen after finally becoming an adult I was swept away here." He grins, "I have a beautiful wife and three lovely children, they live in Papilio. One day I want to take them to Earth and give them the grand old tour of my old man's company." 

"Sir," I begin and he interrupted, "Vice. Captian. We do titles here in the guilds no sir's or ma'ams. It's a bit awkward at first but you'll get used to it, I promise." 

"Vice. Captain Isaac. My sisters were taken here with me, I want to find them. If I join the guild, will I have a chance to find them? Or will I have better chances if I don't?" 

He nods pleased, "Loyalty is valued here," He nearly drags me over to the map, "Look here, this entire place is Malkuth." 

I gasp eyes widening. Malkuth is huge! Overall larger than a single landmass back home in Coggaod where it's mostly oceans. There are four large landmasses. Old Fields, Wardurn Prairie, Coral Reef, and Giants Forest. There are many smaller islands but none of them are named. I scan my view back to Wardurn Prairie where I am located. This landmass is the most descriptive with rivers, lakes, and hills shown, as well as cliffside, and beaches. Collectively in the middle are four X marks. Ailanthus, Adon Blue, Litogala, and Papilio. I've heard of Papilio by many people but the others are a bit more unknown. 

Over to where I am, is a white tower with a flag on top, and several horse pawns around it. Near the blue horse is an orc model you'd find in board games, knocked on its side. I believe that represents Wilders, like the ones who attacked yesterday. And there are three more orc models along Ridge Back Pass slowly moving through it. Is there going to be another attack? 

Isaac places a finger atop the White Tower, "Guilds are tasked with Climbing Towers, but only veterans are allowed in high-level important ones." He points to several smaller specks marked with letters, "Most low-level guild members chart maps, scout areas, scavage graveyard sites, and fight off stray Uraqur. You say you have two sisters who depend on you. If you join us, we will look for them too. We have an entire area where names are placed for our lost loved ones. You will be all over the Old Feilds, and Wardurn Prairie." 

"What if they are in these other places." 

He frowns softly, "We can try, but those are beyond our influence." He rubs the back of his head, "This is your choice, what do you want to do." 

I don't hesitate, I am a person of action. If I can't physically look for them, I'll be driven insane. No matter where I have to go I have to find them. "I'll join. Please let me be a part of your guild." 

Isaac grins broadly slapping my back, "Pleasure to have you join us, Jack Wells. I am excited to say, you are going to have a journey ahead of you." He snaps his fingers, "Eldrin, come greet your new member."