Honey, be careful where you are going ok? Don't forget to come by once in a while!! his mother waved as he set of to join a magician's guild. Its been only 1 year since he decided to join Mystic Ram but Jan couldn't believe he was actually leaving his house. It was a big step forward for him in overcoming his past....

~~A few days later~~

"Hmm, it clearly says here on the map that Mystic Ram's guild hall should be somewhere around here but all i can see are bars and restaurants." The city was bustling with life as people went about their morning business. The quick pace of the city made it hard for Jan to find his way around since he was used to the more peaceful and slow pace of living in the countryside. "Hnng.." he moaned, rotating the map in-front of his face, trying to find the guild hall when suddenly BAM!

Janus and a man collided and fell down on opposite directions. "Ouch" Janus yelped, "Not again...this is the fifth time this has happened to me today..." he said and scratched his head. He got up and lent a hand to the black haired man. Taking a better look at him, Janus realized he must have been younger than him, something his body didn't suggest as he was obviously well trained and battle-ready. "Hey there and sorry for that. Would you happen to know where Mystic Ram's guild hall is located? You would save me from great trouble." he said with an awkward smile.

Celia nodded happily at them mention of increasing the guild's standing. The closer they were to the top contenders, the higher profile work they would get. And that meant more recognition and money! "Yep! I bet it'll be a piece of cake. Poor things probably just took a wrong turn somewhere. Although," she stopped to step behind Jayce and look at the job while he held it. " 'the Web Valley area' is a pretty big wrong turn." Celia clapped her hands together "Oh, well! Let's go ahead and knock this out of the park!" She began heading out the door with a triumphant march, the fact that Web Valley was a terrible area to get lost in not really dawning on her.

The young woman waved to everyone leaving on their jobs, stopping in the road to look back at Jayce with a questioning expression. "So, uh...which way do we go?"

Walking out of the guild, Darren walked his usual path back to his home. He was required to tap the ground every so often with his sword just to get a feel of the area, but he knew the way back to his house for the most part. Although he could hear the footsteps of somebody coming closer to him, he didn't expect for that person to run into him. Darren gripped his sword tightly as he fell, not wanting to to leave his person during the decent. After falling, he used his sword to pull himself up, not knowing that the man in front of him had been holding out his hand for him to grab. He listened to the man's request and paused for a moment, tapping his sword on the ground once more before pointing behind him. "The guild is over that way,"

"Oohh, I'm sorry i didn't know..." Jan quickly said and withdrew his hand. That settles it, you are an idiot Janus. How did you not see he is blind? Jan said to himself and sighed. After the man told Janus of the location of the guild, he quickly thanked him and apologized once more and quickly walked towards the, now visible on the distance, guild hall.

As he reached the hall, he took a deep breath before opening the doors to his hopefully new guild. The building inside was pretty spacious. The first things that caught his attention were the bar where people where sitting, presumably guild members, and the jobs board. He approached the bar and sat on one of the empty footstools. "Hey there, my name's Janus and I'd like to join this guild." he said and smiled. "How would one go about joining?" he asked the female bartender that was cleaning a drinking glass.

Jayce's mood took a turn for the worse when he realized the job would be in "Web Vally". Place was famous for people getting lost in it...ah well. Noire knew her way out of anywhere, and could scale the walls anyways. Following behind Celia, he looked up at the sky as they went along, seemed like a nice enough day for traveling. Noire followed along to the side of Jayce, now back in her default form. Still licking her chops after that awesome meat pie, she was content, and full. After they'd reached the road, Celia suddenly stopped, and asked Jayce where to go He couldn't help but smack himself in the face with his artificial arm. "...Does she even know what the Web Valley is?"

Noire, in an act of ignorance, simply stood there tilting her head at Celia, before Kayce would answer with: "Alright, so, you know where Clover Town is? Web Valley isn't far from it. Its near the border between Fiore and Bosco, we're gonna need a train to get us there."

Rutger sighed again and slumped into one of the bar stools, leaning back against the counter. Darren had said one would have to be crazy not to take a chance on such a huge reward. But to Rutger's mind, taking on a risk like this was even greater lunacy. Who knew what they would be up against? He ran a hand through his hair as he glanced over at Mombaki.

"Kiddo, you sure you want to take something like this on? Like I said, for a reward this big, it means the risk is big too. Fighting dark mages is a whole new ballgame compared to hunting wild animals."

He didn't know the boy that well, seeing as Mombaki had only joined recently, but Rutger was worried he knew what the boy's reaction would be already. And even though the fire mage was against the mission, he didn't want to leave his friends in the lurch. If they were all set on going, he'd have to go too...and hope that they could all come out alive.

"Sure thing. Let's catch us a thief." Sevrin said cheerfully as he led Caroline out of the guild hall and onto the lively street. He watched a bird fly through the clear blue sky overhead and took in the warm breeze that carried with it all the smells of an up-and-coming community: fresh wood, spiced food, and a sort of 'newness' that you could find in few other places. With Caroline beside him, the pair walked down the road and up the side of a small hill on which sat the homes of the merchant leaders, city councilmen, and Middlemist's small, but influential noble class. "Definitely as good a place to start as any..." The blood mage mumbled, taking in the posh manors he could not even imagine owning. Flipping a few loose strands of his pale blonde hair over ear, Sev slid his gloved hand into his pocket while the other rubbed his chin in thought. "You know, I've got a sneaking suspicion that our cat-burglar hit a lot of these locations in the same night... probably the whole list in two or three. And if he's as good as we think they'd have been the ones farthest from the guild. Should make it easier to set our trap." Glancing up, he spotted a passing man in rather extravagant clothing: an overly puffy silk shirt and a vest trimmed in gold thread; probably not one of the nobility, but certainly the head of someone's staff. Giving Caroline a sidelong glance and a small shrug, he waved the man down. "'Scuse me, sir... but we're here on guild business and were wondering if you could answer a few questions for us?"

Darren shook his head to the man and stood still, not wanting to hear about how sorry he was. He didn't like it when people felt sorry for him about his blindness. He was a fully capable person without his blindness, and would just be happier if people didn't comment about it at all. "It's fine. If you'll excuse me, I need to go and pack for a mission." He excused himself with a small amount of irritation as he left, hearing that the person that he bumped into was apologizing to him.

Shujin juddered and slipped. "Wha?" He almost fell backwards before digging his fingers into the table. He has been sleeping in the guild house, foolishly leaning back on his chair. When he gripped the table... he really gripped the table, with quickly formed iron plastered onto his nails dug into the wood. He was breathing heavily before checking around to see what had woken him up.

A few guild members had already come in for the morning, dressed and prepared for the day, whilst he remained shabby and scruffy from the night before. He stretched back into the chair before pushing out and up, into a stand. In his unmistakeably deep voice, he scowled "ehh..... some people are trying to take a morning nap over here." He shuffled over towards the more central part of the room before stretching his back high, yawning and scratching his hair. "aye Kori, sorry about spending the night in that chair.... I couldnt pay my rent this month."

Come to think of it, he hadnt done a real challenging job for money in quite some time. All he did now a days were simple requests. He needed danger... and money. "hey kori.... are there any.... dangerous jobs that pay well? I need to get back out there, and do this proud." He grinned devilishly and clenched one fist., whilst point at his guild mark.

"Oh, Clover Town! Yeah, I get it now." Celia exclaimed, turning and heading towards the train station. She rarely went around that area, mostly taking jobs in the immediate area and closer to the Seven border. Clover Town was a familiar stop on her train rides, though, and she must have seen Web Valley from a window. Now confident in where she was going, Celia began the walk to the train station, and after a short while, the pair arrived there. The platform was busy that morning, travelers bustling in and out of the station. "Wow, what a crowd..." Celia marveled, always enjoying the time spent around lots of people.

The train for Clover Town was running a bit behind, leaving a little time to wait. Celia found a couple seats against the wall of the station, taking one and patting the other. "Looks like we have a few minutes. How're things with you two?" Celia asked in her bubbly way, charging the minute particles of dust in the air to shimmer in her palms to occupy herself while Jayce answered.

Jayce took a seat beside Celia, and looked at all the people passing by on their ways to the various trains. So many were dressed for work, some were merchants, some might have even been from other guilds, stopping at Middlemist Station.Didn't matter much to him, but Noire loved watching people do stuff, and seeing this many, she couldn't do much beside take a seat beside Jayce and lie down, staring between everybody as they passed by.

Leaning back against his seat, Jayce looked at the ceiling before saying: "Ya know, the usual. Apartment sucks, but hey, at least the old man lets me have it for dirt cheap. Even lets me use his garage for making stuff...Noire's been doing good, keeping in shape. Everything been going good with you Celia?" Noire peeked her head up at the mention of her name, before sinking her head back down to stare at all the people once more, her tail wagging happily behind her, smacking against the bench and Jayce's leg.

Celia nodded as Jayce mentioned his apartment, understanding the feeling. Even though she had a nice place, in her opinion, but she had hardly anything in it to show she'd been there for about two years. 50,000 was a bit too pricey, as well. "Dirt cheap is good. A lot better than what I'm paying for a place to keep my table." She laughed, sending the sparkling dust in her hands into the air, sparkles raining down on her, making her laugh even more. It really was a bit too easy to get a laugh out of her.

Then it came to mind that it might be a good idea to ask what to expect before they got to the location. "So, have you been around Web Valley? I've only ever been through Clover Town, so that's why I was clueless." The girl hoped that it wasn't too dangerous, for the traveling party's sake, and their own. Getting lost wasn't a problem if she used Assimilate, but that was one risk she wasn't comfortable with. It was better to be prepared then go in blind, after all.

Jayce nodded as he removed a small brown sack from his belt, and unbuttoning the pouch to take a peek at the assorted Lacrima within. "Was stationed there for a bit when there was some bad stuff going down, some dark guild tried to re-reawaken Lullaby. Blue Pegasus put a stop to it, but hey, me and the boys got a little vacation time in." Noire yawned as she grew tired from the people watching EXTREMELY quickly, doing her best to understand Jayce and Celia's conversation, with all their confusing human talk. Jayce watched as Celia's sparkles scattered in the air, from what he'd gathered about her magic, it was pretty, but he sure as hell didn't want to get hit by it. Noire watched as the pretty sparkles scattered, trying to bite at the few that flew far enough towards her.

"Personally I've never been to Web Valley. There isn't anything particularly dangerous in there, just some weird flying fish and some mushrooms, but it's like a giant broken spider web. Hard to navigate, and harder to find people in. Heard storied from the locals about a giant spider guardian building the place, but that's just superstitious nonsense." A thought just hit Jayce...this place was literally the WORST for Celia to go to, she'd get lost easily even if he kept his eyes on her. Looking at Noire, he said: "So, when we go in, I'll have Noire tie us by the waist with a web. That way we can't get seperated."

Celia was a bit confused hearing about Lullaby, before remembering hearing about it from some locals. "That happened when the City Without Sound was still...without sound, didn't it? No wonder I have no idea what the thing is. Heard it was big and scary, though." Celia laughed as Noire tried to catch the sparkles, before swaying side to side in contemplation. She wondered what it was like fighting such a big monster, how terrifying it must of been. She'd have blasted the thing's head off if it threatened someone, of course, which it most certainly did. A chance to perfect Skybuster was a rare one, after all.

Jayce described Web Valley and it's conditions, fauna, and the possibility of a spider guardian to befriend. Well, maybe not the befriend part, but it'd be really cool to have a pet spider guardian to ride around on. As he described it, Celia started to understand how a traveling group could get lost in it, but that didn't really explain why they were there in the first place. Celia nodded in agreement when Jayce proposed Noire ensure their safety with a webby friendship bracelet. "And if that doesn't work, I can always turn into a cloud of stardust and scope out the area from above. If you don't let the spider guy eat my body. That wouldn't be very fun. Or would it?.." She had to truly contemplate that, while the train whistle rang out, signaling the arrival of their ride, jolting Celia from her thoughts. "Oh! Time to go! Come on, you two, glory awaits!" With a bit too much glee, Celia skipped over to the boarding platform, onto the train, and into a seat. What a fun day it would be!

Jayce gave a quick nod at Celia's question about Lullaby, saying: "Never got the chance to see it, but it got settled without the knights needing to do some much, just cleanup duty." At her mention of turning herself into stardust, he couldn't help but kind of stare at her dumbfounded, wondering: "She can do that?". As he wondered just HOW that worked, their train arrived, with a loud whistle resounding throughout the platform. Sighing as he stood up, Noire following after she realized the sparklies were immortal, the two walked into the train and plopped down right next to Celia, Noire jumping up onto Jayce's lap. At the sudden weight from Noire jumping on him, Jayce grunted lightly, and shifted Noire so they would both be comfortable on the train. Laying an elbow atop the seat behind him, he said: "So...we should probably look around in the valley to see if we find any members of hunter's guilds. They usually send in those guys to hunt for lost parties and the like, so they'd be able to help us out a bit."

LIke usual, Kori was standing behind the counter at the bar, cleaning up the glass that Darren had previously drank from before he left to go pack. Her attention turned to the mage who had just walked in, and she smiled at him, glancing at the rather fancy door in the back that lead to Master Talon's office. "Just go into that door there and tell Master Talon that you'd like to join. He'll take you to the training field in the back and see if you can join or not."

She then turned to Shujin, who she didn't mind at all staying at the guild for a few nights. She understood that sometimes bills just couldn't be paid, and the guild hall was the perfect refuge to go to if you needed a roof to sleep under. Shaking her head, she smiled at the iron mage. "There's a job for clearing out a cave. The request says that you get the reward for clearing out the monsters, and you can also take any treasures that you find in the cave while you're there. is that dangerous enough for you?"

Right when Jay started thinking he was being ignored by the bar-woman, she finally told him where he could find the Master of the guild. "That door there huh? Thanks!" he said with a smile and made his way towards the Master's office...or so he wanted to, but it seemed the journey from his home to Middlemist had been quite the tiring one and all the extra luggage he was carrying didn't make it any easier. "Would you take care of my stuff while I go meet the Master? Don't peek inside!" he said as he left his bags next to his seat and ran towards the office's door.

Jay knocked the door a couple of times to inform he was going in. "Um, he- WHOA" Jay said out loud. Talon was a man almost twice his size, with a well-built body and a tall stature, he looked like a small giant compared to regular people. "Bravo, you did it again Jay...well, you made it this far, you might as well go for it." he thought and took a deep breath followed by a loud introduction. "HELLO SIR TALON SIR. MY NAME IS JANUS WELLER AND I WOULD LIKE TO JOIN YOUR GUILD SIR."

A tiny haircut bobbed up and down in front of the bar as Nina bounced on her heels. "Hey, hey, Miss Kori, can I go on the cave mission too? I promise I'll be good!" Then she saw Talon walk out of his office and dashed over to him. "Good morning Mr. Talon!" She yelled, tackling his leg and wrapping her arms around it. "Hey, guess what? I'm going on a mission soon!" She looked proud of herself as she stared up at Talon expectantly.

The passengers all finished boarding, and with a final pull of the whistle, they were on their way to Clover Town. The ride, Celia remembered, would be gorgeous, with the nature scenes composing this area of Fiore. Celia turned to Jayce after a quick glance out the window, giggling when Noire jumped onto Jayce's lap, before turning back to the window. "Good idea. Sounds like we'll need all the help we can get to find these guys." She replied somewhat distantly, hoping that all of this labyrinth talk was just blowing things out of proportion. She wasn't worried, by any means. The peppy girl held a B Rank Wizard title, after all, and both Jayce and Noire were strong as well. They were resourceful enough to get out of any situation...again, that was what Celia hoped

She looked out the window, at the passing green and the blue sky above. "At least it's sunny and clear. The weather won't be an issue. That's a plus, right?"

Mombaki paused and appeared to actually put some thought into the question before he answered Rutger. Despite that he still had a certain amount of enthusiasm to his reply, it just had much more determination to it than his previous assertion that he would go.

"Have to go! To be worthy of returning home, I must accomplish great deeds, hunt powerful prey or find priceless treasures. Hunting these 'Dark Wizards' does at least two! If I can't do that, then even if I find home I cannot return! So I will hunt them and make a name for me!"

Mombaki nodded to himself, fully believing that much, at least.