You skipped across town with the staff from the Gulthias tree strapped to your back. You had said your goodbyes to Hansol and Daewon and promised to visit the both of them. It had only been about an hour and a half since you had departed but you had to admit, you already missed them a little bit.

You reached the tavern your parents owned, sure that Chan would be inside, even though it was way too early for your parents to have opened it. Chan was a dear family friend, and was trusted with the spare key, which he took advantage of to have a second place away from his own home to spend time.

You opened the large doors and sure enough, your half-elven friend was lounging on a bar stool, fiddling with a trinket. His head whipped around when he heard the door open. He leapt out of his chair and darted over to you, abandoning the toy on the bar. His blue robbed arms wrapped around your body as he embraced you. "(Y/N)! You've been gone for almost three days! I told you to let me know when you were going to be out for a long time like that!"

"Sorry," you returned his hug. "I didn't plan on being gone. Some stuff kind of just fell in my lap."

"What kind of stuff?" Chan asked curiously.

"Almost dying, corrupted forests, monster trees, the usual,” you said while brushing a strand of chocolate brown hair out of his eyes affectionately.

Chan held you at arms length, surprised. "Almost dying?!"

"Thugs took me down with numbers but I got help."

"From?"

"Some guys," you said nonchalantly. "I helped them fix the forest."

Chan’s expression changed to one laced with both irritation and concern. "You spent three days with some guys alone in the woods?"

"Yeah, it was fine. They were nice." Chan just grumbled to himself. You were perplexed as to why he was upset over that. It’s not like you hadn't adventured alone with strangers before. "Anyways," you moved on, "This staff is what was causing the corruption." You lifted the wrapped staff from your back and unrolled it on the bar. "I was wondering if you could contain it or disable it or something."

Chan could physically feel the power radiating from the stick. "Wow," he said, "this is powerful. I bet it would be fun to use." His hand slowly reached for the staff.

You immediately slapped his hand away. "You’re not using that, Chan.”

Chan pouted like a child denied a cookie and sulked while he moved his hands over the staff to get a feel for the magic inside. "This is way too powerful for me to contain," he concluded. "I've been spending some time with the master of the wizard's tower, however. With their resources, I think they could handle it."

"Great, let's go!" You said. Chan collected up his toy and skipped out the door with you.

The two of you walked across cobblestoned streets with your arms linked, laughing and chatting comfortably. You gestured to the toy he held in his other hand. “What is that? Aren’t you a little old for stuff like that?”

Chan scoffed, “Aren’t you a little young to be my mom?”

“Your mom would agree with me.”

Chan ignored that last comment. “It’s a toy horse.” He showed the small wooden figurine to you. “I am going to put a real horse inside it so that I can summon it without burning a spell slot. It’ll be a pocket horse!”

“Isn’t that dangerous for the horse?” You asked.

“I am exercising the upmost caution.”

You laughed mockingly. “You? Cautious? In what dimension?”

In retaliation, Chan released your arm and grabbed at your sides and began tickling you. You giggled and squirmed but he had a firm grip on you. Luckily, you were in the shadow of a building. You disappeared from his side and reappeared in the shadow of the next building with your knife drawn and pointed at him. “If you were cautious, you wouldn’t tickle me like that.”

Chan laughed and lifted his arms in surrender. “You would never hurt me,” he said in a cocky tone, approaching you.

“That’s beside the point.” You pouted as he laughed and wrapped his arms around you. Chan's bright smile warmed your heart and made you forget about his transgression. Everything about him was familiar and comfortable to you. You lulled your head onto his arm as he guided you forward a few more feet to the front of Blackstaff Tower.

The wizard's tower was industrial in build, like most of the buildings in the city. The wizards that inhabited it had draped burnt orange tapestries with silver embroidered symbols of protection over the smooth black stone of the building. The front door appeared to be the only enterence. The three story building even lacked windows. 

“Would you like to come inside?” He asked you.

You were very curious. Normally, only the wizard's guild was allowed inside. It was strange that even Chan got access. He was a caster but not a wizard, and the only guild he belonged to was the adventurer's guild. Dispite your curiosity of the building, however, you were also entranced with the scene unfolding in front of you. “Nah, I’ll wait out here,” you said, eyeing what looked like a street performer setting up. Chan nodded and went inside.

The performer pulled a lute off of his back and began playing. A large hoard of young girls gathered around him and swooned while watching him play and sing. You admitted to yourself that you understood why. He was dashingly handsome and quite a good bard. You sat on the steps and watched him play a song about magic, adventure, and conquest. His voice carried out through the streets, beautifully accompanied by the sound of his lute.

When his song ended, he shouted out, “One! Two! Three!” In response, the audience cried out, “Jun, you’re very handsome!” You scoffed. Did he really train his fans into saying that? He tipped his plumed hat to the audience and bowed deeply in his red and white outfit fully accompanied with puffed sleeves and a ruffled hem.

Jun scanned the crowd and saw your unimpressed expression in a sea of girls vying for his attention. Intrigued and slightly offended, he approached you. “You didn’t like the music?” He asked. You looked confused and startled that he was talking to you out of all of his fangirls. “You don’t look charmed,” he clarified.

You chuckled slightly. “Maybe I was until you had your fans say that cheesy line.”

His attractive mouth lifted into a smirked and he leaned in close to you. “Are they wrong, though?” Your blood quickly rushed to your face as you found you couldn’t say anything in response. He sat down next to you and smiled at you in a friendlier, less teasing manner. The disappointed looking crowd began to disperse, seeing that he was intent on talking to you. “What’s your name?”

“(Y/N)”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Jun.”

“Nice to meet you, too.” You decided to entertain him even though he was a bit over the top. “Your singing and lute playing are quite good.”

He beamed at you. “Thank you!” He strummed a few notes on the lute. You watched in awe as little lights danced around you like twinkling sprites. A larger streak of blue light shaped as a dragon flew circles around you. His light show was stunning. Maybe you were a little charmed, not that you would admit it.

“Alright, that was pretty cool,” you conceded. You expected him to tease you about using such a neutral word as “cool” to describe his performance, but he actually looked genuinely happy that you liked what he had shown you. You realized that his flirtatiousness was just part child-like nature and not a playboy attitude. You felt yourself warming up to him. “Do you want to see something?” You asked him.

He was curious. “Sure.”

You created your own illusory dragon but instead of light, yours was made of shadow. You made your dragon fly around Jun before dive bombing his lap and disappearing into a puff of shadow.

Jun looked at you in amazement over your manipulation of shadows. “That was incredible! I’ve never seen anything like that before!”

“Yeah, neither have I,” you mused.

The two of you made small talk for awhile. As Jun got more comfortable, he began to flirt with you once more. “Do you have a boyfriend?” He asked.

Your brain short circuited from the shock. “Um what? No?”

“So you wouldn’t mind if I gave you my lips?” And he blew a kiss at you. You suddenly felt very warm and began stuttering like a fool while simulaneously cringing over the cheesiness.

At that very moment, Chan stepped out of the tower. “They said they would take care of it,” he said to you. Then he noticed Jun sitting next to you and how flustered you looked. “Are you okay, (Y/N)?”

“Yeah,” you squeaked.

Before Chan could further question you, a tall figure in clanking armor ran up to you. “(Y/N)! Chan! Do you want to take a job with me?” He panted.

You chuckled at the young red haired boy. Kijung was a cleric of Lathander, the god of creativity, renewal, athletics, and vitality. He was always trying to prove himself so he regularly took jobs to show his abilities to his superiors. He was already at a surprising rank for his age, but his desire to show his competence was never sated, and he had the talent to back it up.

“Sure, Kijung. What did you have in mind?” You rubbed circles on his back in attempt to calm his breathing (you didn’t know the action only made it harder for him to breathe). You wondered how far he ran around town looking for you. You should’ve felt worse that he was tired but honestly, the way he looked at you when he was out of breath was adorable. Then again, he was adorable no matter what he did.

“I wanted to go to the graveyard and get rid of some of the undead,” You couldn’t help but shudder a little bit. The undead freaked you out. You were a er for Kijung, though. He was just too cute for you to resist.

“Sure,” you smiled at him.

Jun, still awkwardly beside you, cut in. “Can I come?”

You all just looked at him.

“Please?” He pleaded. “I’ve been bored all day! I promise I can contribute. That light show was nothing. I can really help you.”

“I don’t know…” Chan started.

“If you see me fight and think I can’t keep up, you can send me back.” Jun compromised.

You looked to Kijung. “It’s your mission. It’s up to you.”

Kijung looked unsure of what to do. “I guess it couldn’t hurt… or it couldn’t hurt too much if it does hurt…”

“Alright,” you said, slapping your hands against your thighs, “to the graveyard.”

(chapter art by beere.deviantart.com)