The Guild-Master

Kai could hear his footsteps echo through the long halls of the guild's headquarters. The walls around him were made of solid stone slabs, smooth and glistening under the golden sunlight peeking through the windows.

He put his hand against the cold stone walls, shivering. He could feel the power that this place held. After all, people of all sorts gathered here to find missions and train their combat skills. However, eerily enough, as lively as this place was, Kai couldn't hear or see a single soul anywhere nearby wandering around the halls as he was.

It didn't take him long to realize that he was lost.

This building was much bigger than anything he was used to, having grown up in a small wooden home. Here, with the towering ceilings and endless hallways, Kai felt like a fish out of water. How the hell would he find one guy - the guild master, in this endless array of stone walls and dark chambers? As Kai continued through the halls of the guild's base, he could feel the walls around him seemingly close in, rendering the space between him and the wall narrower and narrower. The light faded the more he walked, leaving him behind in nothing but darkness and cold walls around him.

"What have I gotten myself into?" Kai murmured into the silence.

Yet as lost as he was, Kai continued to push forwards with nothing but the determination of finding the guild-master as his guide. He squeezed through the narrow spaces of the twisting and turning halls, keeping his arms reaching out from his side to feel the distance of the cool walls from him.

However, as he continued walking, the darkness started to lessen as the space around him became lighter and lighter. Following the dim lighting, something caught his eye. Kai peered down the hall, noticing something black slip out of view.

This feeling felt awfully familiar for some reason.

Nonetheless, Kai ran down the hall, doing his best not to bump into any walls along the way. He could see the little dark figure darting through the faint light, weaving through the walls around them. It looked like she was pretty familiar with the guild headquarters... maybe she could lead him to the guild master.

Picking up his pace, he shouted out, hoping the figure would hear him.

"Hey, you! Wait!-"

Kai's voice was cut short, as he slammed headfirst into a wall that seemed to appear out of nowhere, right in front of him.

"Damn it..." he cursed under his breath, as the figure slipped out of sight.

Kai sighed, his eyes still blurry from the sudden impact.

"Wait... where's the mission request?"

Patting himself down, he realized that the little slip of paper was no longer on him.

"Did someone notice me taking it, and pickpocketed it?"

"No... it must be around here somewhere, and simply have fallen out of my pocket when I bumped into that blasted wall..." he muttered to himself.

Kai reached his hands out, brushing them along the dusty floor in hopes of finding the slip of paper.

It was nowhere to be seen.

Grunting in disbelief, Kai stood up and swept the area once more. If he couldn't find the piece of paper, he wouldn't be able to apply for the mission or get any information about the quest from the guild master...

He needed to find him in order to complete the quest, and get the king to help return his sister back home.

Time was ticking... he'd just need to find the guild master without the mission slip, and hope the master allows him to take the mission.

With his heart afire with determination once again, Kai turned around- only to crash into something small.

Well... maybe 'short' was the better word.

Standing in front of Kai, was a young girl. She was wearing a dark grey hood which seemed to blend her into the darkness of the hall, as well as black gloves, which were at the moment- clutching her head. Was she the dark figure he had spotted weaving through the guild halls? Had he injured her when he crashed into her? Honestly... why did he keep crashing into things? Yet that was not the only question he had. What was a little girl doing in the guild base? The guild was notorious for being filled with dangerous, skilled people- clearly no place for a child.

"Hey uh, sorry for bumping into you... are you lost?"

The girl sort of reminded Kai of his sister, with how short she was, but the similarities ended there.

The girl standing in front of him seemed shy... scared. She angled her head down towards the floor, refusing to look at him, and clutched the hood around her head. Kai sighed. He'd taken care of Rin for 10 years, but he'd never quite gotten the hang of comforting a child. In all honesty, Rin had never really needed comforting for anything. She was always super energetic and bright. Nothing ever seemed to bother her... yet now, standing in front of him, was a timid little girl, scared of the dark.

Kai rolled his eyes. Was he a babysitter now?

"Do you need any help?" he asked carefully, unsure what to say.

The girl didn't respond, standing rigidly in front of him.

The two of them stood in the darkness for a moment, before the child quietly whispered,

"You're afraid..."

Kai was taken aback for a moment, confused. Did HE seem afraid? He let out a chuckle, finding the irony funny. This little girl was calling him scared, when she was the one clutching her hood, refusing to look at him.

"Do I look afraid?" he retorted at her.

The girl paused for a moment, putting a hand to her chin in thought.

"You're sad..." She whispered in response.

Kai was about to snap another retort at her, but he stopped himself. He was sad? Where was she getting these thoughts from? He was doing nothing more than trying to help her out... he seemed pretty normal in his opinion.

"I'm not sad. Now let's get out of here-"

"You're sad." She repeated.

Kai blinked, staring curiously at the little girl. She seemed awfully intent on trying to guess how he was feeling, eh? 'You're sad,' her voice played back at him. 'I'm sad?' he thought to himself. Was he sad?

Another eery silence passed between them, and Kai sighed, looking away from her.

"Yeah, yeah I guess I'm sad."

He felt stupid for agreeing with her, but at the moment, he didn't care.

"I found out my sister went missing early this morning. She hasn't come home yet, and there was no note regarding her disappearance. My step-father and I assume she was taken by a bad man trying to kidnap her... although why her- I'll never know. Since then, the two of us have been doing nothing but search for her, but to no luck. We haven't been able to find her yet. That's why I came here... I found a mission on the guild bulletin stating that the reward upon completion would be an audience with the king..."

Kai paused, his eyes glazed in sadness.

"I was hoping that if I completed the mission, I'd be able to ask for his help in finding my sister." He continued, "I took the mission off the bulletin, but it seems as though I lost it when I got here..."

Kai's voice cracked, and he closed his eyes. It felt as if all the worry that had come from Rin's disappearance was finally catching up to him. He buried his face in his hands.

"Why do you need the mission paper?" The little girl asked him, after letting Kai have a little bit of silence to himself.

"I need it so that I can take the mission, otherwise without it, I won't be allowed to claim the reward."

"What does it look like?"

Kai ruffled his hair and gave her a small smile. Did she think she could find it?

"Well, it's a little silver scrap of paper with the request on it... it's around the same size as my hand."

Kai held up his hand, stretching out his nimble fingers. The girl tilted her head in wonder and stared at him curiously.

"Well, I found this when I was wandering around the halls... could this be what you're looking for?"

The girl reached a hand into her cloak, rummaging for something. A moment later, she pulled out a small flimsy-looking thing, ripped and dirty.

It was the mission slip.

Kai's eyes widened in surprise and he gingerly took the paper from her. He inspected the piece of paper- it may have been a little more torn up than before, but the mission was still clear and intact.

"I- I don't know what to say, this is exactly what I needed... how can I thank you?"

Kai gave the little girl a timid smile, grateful for her help. She shook her head in response, still keeping her face hidden in the shadows.

"You don't need to thank me, sir," she whispered.

Kai stood up to continue his search for the guild master, but after taking a step forward, the girl piped up once more,

"S-sorry sir, but are you sure you want to take that mission? It's a rank 7 difficulty... you might not make it back."

Stopping in his tracks, Kai turned slightly to look at her.

"I'm glad for your concern, but... I need to take this mission. It's the only way I'll be able to find my sister in this kingdom." He bit his lip in thought. "But I'll need to find the guild-master first, so I can take on this mission and get more information..."

"I see."

The girl's voice was quiet, thoughtful. Kai took a step towards her, going to pat her head in comfort. She seemed scared again- lost in the dark, but as his hand reached out towards her, the girl lifted her hood, revealing long, jet black hair. She smoothly took off her grey cloak too, letting it drop to the ground. Kai's eyes widened, as he finally got a good look at the young child. Hidden under the cloak was an umbrella- or something that seemed to look like an umbrella. Taking it in her hands, she pulled it from her side and it opened in a quick 'pop.' Kai never would have guessed that the umbrella was actually more than it seemed when she took the handle of it and pulled. Sliding out the umbrella handle, was a gleaming gold tainted sword. Cleverly hidden in the umbrella, the sword evidently made a dangerous weapon to face.

The girl let the umbrella rest comfortably against her shoulder, and it seemed to shimmer under the faint light.

'It's a shield.' Kai realized in awe.

However, those weren't the only things about the little girl that took him aback. Not only did she have dangerous weapons concealed in a seemingly innocent-looking umbrella, but her clothes were also something to note.

The girl had a short, red and white frilly dress. A long ribbon was tied from her waist to her back, with the strands flowing out behind her, seeming almost like tails. She had a short, dark red mini cloak covering the top half of her dress, with white buttons laced into it elegantly. In her hair, was a rather large red ribbon at the back of her head, tying a part of her hair into a ponytail.

Kai stared at her wonderingly, gaping at her doll-like figure. The girl felt his gaze and tilted her head upwards to look at him for the first time. Kai felt goosebumps rise against his skin, as she stared at him. Her eyes were the color of lavender, with deep purple edges along the rim. For some reason, the air around them seemed to grow heavier, and Kai felt a single drop of sweat form on his head.

The girl smiled at him calmly, all sign of her former nervous self seemed to have disappeared.

"You're looking for the guild-master aren't you?"

Her gaze seemed to pierce through Kai, as he nodded.

"Looks like you're in luck because she's standing right in front of you."