"Somebody... help me..." Wailed the large man, slumped on the side of the market road, cold droplets of rain pouring down his face. The street was crowded with creatures of all different races, all trying to get cover from the rain but nobody stopped to help the injured man, almost as if he was invisible.

Adrenaline pumped through my body as I approached him, I felt the familiar tingle in my fingertips that always came before I used magic. 

I knelt down on the muddy floor next to the man, examining his injuries. There was a large slash across across his chest, and blood was flowing excessively from the wound. "I was mugged." He stuttered, his face pale and his body shaking. 

"I'll try my best." I nodded to him, placing my hands over his wound and concentrating. 

I wasn't an experienced healer. At the age of only fifteen, I had worked at my families farm my whole life. All healing magic I had attempted had been through instinct, something inside me always calling out to help when seeing an injured farm animal.

I blocked out the sounds around me, the sound of rowdy bars and their loud live music, the sound of muddy hooves running through puddles followed by the barrage of carriages, the sound of nearby market stalls trying to cover their goods from the rain with large waterproof sheets.

I pressed on the wound, focusing the tingling energy in my palms on the wounded man. I knew I needed to concentrate for my magic to work but I was distracted. My family owned a farm on the edge of town so my parents always travelled here for shopping. This was my first time in such a busy place alone and I was overwhelmed. 

As I opened my eyes, with the tingling gone, I thought I had managed to heal the wound in time, but I had been too late. The man's head had slumped back against the wall and he stared at me with glassy, dead eyes. The wound had healed, but not before he had bled out. 

I felt frozen in time. I had never seen a person die before. I was furious that I could have saved him, if only I could have acted quicker and concentrated harder. 

A black hooded figure knelt down next to me, I could not see their face but as they moved there was a distinct smell of flora. The figure reached out their pale, elegant hand and gently closed the man's eyes. 

The skies had darkened, the rain was heavy and only the lights from buildings illuminated the street. I turned slowly to face the mysterious figure but I only caught a glimpse of the pattern embroidered on their robe before they had swiftly walked away.

A crescent moon on its side with a small star in the centre. 

__________

"So why do you want to join the Moon Glade guild?" Asked the interviewer, Alex. "I've always wanted to be an adventurer." I lied smoothly. In reality, I had visited town for the first time in three years and spotted a grand building with a moon above the entrance. I recognised the moon immediately. That rainy evening from three years ago had replayed in my mind every day since it happened. As soon as I saw the pattern I felt drawn to it, like I had been subconsciously waiting for this day. "Ever since I was a child." I finished, hoping they wouldn't see through my lie. I hadn't known the building belonged to a guild until I had wandered in so I didn't have long to prepare a real story. 

"Most of us have." Laughed Alex, clearly I had said the right thing. "As I am sure you know, we are a guild that specialise in magic so we have adventures from all over the land travel to join us." I nodded along enthusiastically, I hadn't known that of course.

"Since we are currently operating at full capacity, with everything going on recently, we're only accepting new guild members with existing magical potential." Stated Alex, with a now serious expression. "What can you do to show us your potential?" He asked. I glanced down at his rough hands and noticed a scar across the top of his hand. 

"May I?" I questioned, gesturing towards his hand. He nodded and I took his rough left hand in my two small hands. A scar was easy, there was no pressure, no looming death if I failed. I conjured up the tingling energy in my palms and the scar simply faded away. 

"Wonderful!" Exclaimed Alex. "Full capacity or not we will always accept gifted healers."

"So tell us some more about yourself Clara, where are you from?" the questions continued. "My family owns a small farm to the east of Andala. Nothing fancy, but enough to keep us going. I think my healing skills originate from our Draco lineage." Draco were notorious for having an affinity for magic. We apparently descended from dragons thousands of years ago but took on a humanoid form. Females appear much smaller than our male counter parts and both are covered in intricate scales in varying shapes and patterns. 

"How rare to have a Draco family in these parts." Commented Alex and I smiled in response. Most of my family had migrated south, to the heat, but my parents and siblings had stayed behind, not bothered by the stormy climate of Andala. Outside of the family, I didn't know any other Draco. 

"How about yourself?" I questioned, Alex was obviously a Rune, a large species with an affinity for battle and strategy, supposedly descended from humans. "That's for another time, I have another interview in 5 minutes." Responded Alex, with a friendly smile. "Welcome to Mood Glade Clara. I'll have Marie show you to your room and give you a map of the grounds." Said Alex as he stood and opened the door to the small office for me. "See you around." I smiled, picked up my coat, still damp from the rain and walked out of the little office.

I sighed as I entered the main hall of the guild building, I only took the journey to town to buy some groceries for my parents and now I had joined an adventurers guild.

I walked back to the receptionist who had greeted me when I had entered the building. The reception was a large wooden desk next to the main entrance, covered with important looking papers. "I knew you would get in, I could tell as soon as you walked in here." Stated Marie, the receptionist. She was a beautiful, tall Onyx with dark purple hair down to her shoulders. Being an Onyx, a race supposedly descended from cats (although they swear they're no relation) Marie also had dark purple pointy ears and a tail I couldn't see from in front of the desk. 

Smiling slightly I responded "How could you tell?" Marie sat up in her chair and grinned, "You just had a look about you. Let me give you a run down of the guild."

"As you know, we are magic-focused guild but we do have other classes too. We have three ranks, new member, advanced member and veteran. Of course you're starting as a new member but I'm sure you'll progress in no time." Marie slid a map across the desk towards me. "Walk through the guild hall, past the bar and you'll find the door to the courtyard. The first three buildings you will see are new member houses, all currently full, the two buildings behind are advanced members houses and the final building, down the path is the veteran house. This is where you will be staying."

Feeling the butterflies in my tummy I smiled nervously at Marie. "Don't worry dear, the veterans are nice people, try and learn what you can from them. They're all very experienced adventurers." Marie smiled kindly, "Come to me if you need anything at all, and good luck!"

I thanked her and walked back through the main hall, as I walked past the office I had been interviewed in earlier a Rune boy, around my age was leaving. He was twice my height, had short brown hair and dark brown eyes. He grinned at me excitedly as he walked in the opposite direction towards the front desk.

As I walked further through the hall, I noticed the tavern-like bar was crowded with adventurers from all different races, I saw many Onyx and Runes, even a couple of Arians. I looked down towards the hard wooden floors as I walked past them, feeling their eyes linger on me. I wasn't sure if it was because I was a Draco or a new comer. 

Leaving the main hall, I walked through the courtyard and towards the veteran's house. The other buildings I walked past were grander than I would have expected for an adventurers guild, being made out of large red bricks with three or four stories and ivy crawling up the side of each. Approaching the veteran's house I noted the surrounding area was almost a forest, hundreds of lush green trees surrounded the house, almost making it look protected by them. The doors were a dark heavy wood and as I pushed them open, the smell of old books and fire from a fireplace instantly hit me. 

"Hello?" I shouted timidly in the hallway. The fireplace in the middle of the hall was lit and the warmth coming off it was comforting. Hanging up along the entrance was a variety of armour, coats and footwear on the floor. The sound in the house was the crackling fire and in the distance the 'tik tok' of a clock.

Suddenly, the doors slammed open behind me and I almost jumped from freight. "Oh, hello there!" said the avian man carrying books in his arms. "I didn't mean to scare you, I'm Richard, the house keeper and librarian." I let out a breath of relief and smiled. He was around my height with creamy white hair and feathers, he looked to be in his late thirties. "Nice to meet you Richard, I'm Clara. I just started today." I responded, already taking a liking to Richard and his friendly features. "I think you're in the wrong house my sweet child, the new members housing is a couple of buildings north of here. I'll walk you there." Said Richard, leaning back towards the door. "Marie told me I was to stay here as the other houses are full." I stated, already confused. Richard frowned and responded "Oh okay, I'll check the desk. This house is where the veterans, or very famous and experienced members stay, and the guild leader too." I nodded to the information and followed him as he walked towards the desk near the fireplace. "So is this where Alex lives? He interviewed me earlier so I assumed he is the guild leader." I asked as Richard placed his books down and checked a housing chart of sorts. He laughed in response to my question. "Our guild leader, is the one and only Camille, an excellent Archmage and a fierce leader." Chuckled Richard. "Alex is responsible for new comers and therefore does the interviews, that's all." "Follow me." Continued Richard, leading us further into the house. 

Through a wooden archway was the dining room, a large room with tall ceilings and deep wooden flooring. Another lit fireplace was on the far side and windows stretched across the walls offering views of the lush forest. In the middle of the room was a long wooden table surrounded by twenty or so chairs. "How many people live here?" I asked Richard inquisitively. With my farmland upbringing, I wasn't used to large dinners or being around a lot of people in general. "Only ten or so, the extra chairs are for guests and such." Said Richard as he lead us on to the next room. Another grand fireplace dominated the room, the crackling of firewood louder than before. This room was lined with rows and rows of books, everywhere I looked there were bookshelves from the floor to the ceiling. A few comfortable looking plush chairs sat dotted around the room and near the fireplace was a small desk, Richard sat down here and looked up to me. "This is the veteran's library, everything you need to know you can find here. If you borrow a book, please make sure to put it back in its place. The guild leader is an avid reader and gets annoyed when books are not were they should be."

"If you walk up the main staircase, the first room on the right is your new home. Should you need anything you can find me here." Finished Richard, smiling kindly and going about his work in the library. "Thank you." I responded as I left the library and headed up the stairs. For ten or so people to live here, it was awfully quiet. 

Once I was alone in my room, I started to think deeply for the first time since arriving. How would I explain to my family that I went to town for groceries and instead joined a live-in guild? 

Deciding on writing a letter, I left my room and wandered back to the main hall. As I walked back through the bar, I noted the lunch being served to the crowds of adventurers. "Hi again." I said to Marie who was still sat at reception. "Hello Clara!" She exclaimed, looking thankful for the distraction from her work. "I wondered if you have any paper I could use to send a letter?" I asked politely glancing at the desk. Marie handed me some paper, a quill pen and a little pot of ink. I took the items and found the only empty table in the hall, close to the bar and the board full of local requests for adventurers. 

As I was writing, a voice shouted across the bar "Fellow adventurers!", I looked up, spotting the rune I had walked past earlier standing on a table with a big grin across his face. "I need a healer and a fighter to help me on my first request as an adventurer!" He declared, scanning the faces of those below him. It's too soon for me, I thought, looking back down to my letter. "I'll help you with combat!" Shouted a voice from the crowd, I glanced up to see a young elf, with long black hair tied neatly in a bow. On his belt were two short daggers and he was dressed in black clothing, I assumed he was a scout fighter, specialists in close-combat and tracking. The elf joined the rune on the table and the two of them waiting for their healer. I went back to writing my letter.

Whilst walking back to Marie to return the quill and ink, the rune from earlier stood in front of me and smiled. "Hey, you're a healer right? Will you join us on our first adventure?" Said the rune, still smiling. "Sorry." I replied, "I only joined today and I haven't any gear." I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned, Marie stood behind me. "You can take gear from the armoury dear, it's available for all members, you should go." She smiled. 

"Okay." I responded, feeling nervous already. "I'll come with you."