Not long after the sun found itself hanging in the sky above The Guild did Barron find himself being rudely awakened. Opening his eyes from his laying position Barron looked up at the person who had shook him awake. This person was a girl, not much older than him, dark skinned and had very pale, almost unfeeling brown eyes.

With a hand on her hip the girl said, "It's time to wake up!" As Barron put himself through the torture of having to get up when all he really wanted was to be dead the girl spoke again.

"You must be my new roommate." Meekly Barron shook his head to confirm that, yes, he was her new roommate. Thinking aloud the girl said, "Hmmm. Shorter than I expected."

Pointing her thumb at herself the girl offered her name, "My name's Whisper. I've been here for a month. Had the room to myself 'til now too. But that's alright."

"What about you? What's your name?" Whisper asked with curious eyes.

With his voice still sour from the previous night our boy tried to speak, "Ba...Bar...ron…"

"Barron? That's an interesting name." When the girl said this the Barron from a week ago would have told her she was a hypocrite. He would have poked fun at her. He would have made her steam with anger. But with the tragedy that he had gone through he found he that he couldn't. He just couldn't. Not anymore, he didn't have the strength.

"Barron did you know that you talk in your sleep?" Whisper had very suddenly asked.

"Sounded like a bad nightmare." Was it that this girl was going to sympathize with him? Would she give the boy the comfort that he so desperately needed? Would she give him a light of somesort?

"Happens to a lot the first week. Some don't even last that long." The girl said with a smirk on her face. So, no. She was just as oblivious to the emotional turmoil Barron was going

through as the last two were.

Breaking Barron from his thoughts Whisper warned, "You won't either if you don't get moving. The Guildmaster is waiting for us in the Map Room."

As she walked out of their room she said, "You don't want to be late on your first day. Follow me!"

Doing as he was told he followed the girl like a shadow. Very soon he found himself in the circular room that held the stoney map of Albion. This room was noticeably missing an old man.

Turning to him Whisper remarked, "Hmm, looks like the Guildmaster got tired of waiting for you." Before running off she explained, "He's probably in the training grounds across the river. Let's go!"

Once again following the girl Barron eventually found himself being lead across a small river and to a cobblestone fence of sorts where the Guildmaster stood.

"You've finally prized yourself from your pillow I see." Remarked the old man. Opening the wooden gate the man continued, "Okay, come on then. Let's see what you're capable of."

Barron slowly marched his way into the practice arena. Looking around he saw nothing but a straw dummy. He glanced over at the old man and Whisper, whom was now sitting atop the fence, for help. He had absolutely no idea as to what he should be doing.

Speaking up the Guildmaster said, "All right lad, it's time to see if you've got any potential. Now then, I want you to hit that dummy as hard as you can. Just keep going until I tell you to stop."

Barron scratched the back of his head out of confusion. The only reason he was here was so that he could get revenge. Sweet beautiful revenge, that was the boy's only goal. He truly didn't understand how punching straw would help him.

"Well what are you waiting for, afraid it'll bite?!" Whisper shouted from her place on the fence. Something about the goading, Barron isn't sure what, caused him to snap. Miraculously he started to wail on the scarecrow-like target as if it had been one the bandits he one day hoped to bleed dry. However, before he could release all his anger out on the dummy the Guildmaster stopped him.

"Not making much of an impact there, are you?" The man asked no one in particular. Grabbing a rather large stick from seemingly thin air the Guildmaster though it to Barron as he said, "Here, try with this."

Barron, upon receiving his "weapon", turned back to the straw dummy with a scowl and started swinging at the thing. Swing after swing, thrust after thrust, Barron slowly whittled the straw man away until there was nothing left.

"Ah, now that's more like it. The more you practice, the more you fight, the more experience you'll gain. It's very important that you follow these lesson while under my tutelage or you won't gain anything, and be no closer to your goal." To himself Barron noted that this man was trying to help him after all. Although, had someone outside The Guild had witnessed this conversation and knew of the context they would have been appalled. Barron however, being a child was unaware of any unfortunate implications behind the word nor would he have cared had he understood why the old man's actions could be considered troubling.

As the man approached his pupil he congratulated the boy, "Well done, lad. Now then, tomorrow we'll…" The Guildmaster however did not get to finish his statement as he was interrupted by the sound of tower bells.

Turning towards the sound he exclaimed, "That's the Guild alarm! Sounds like there might be something loose in the woods."

Excitedly Whisper jumped off of the fence and shouted, "I'll go handle it!" Unfortunately for her the old man stopped her.

"No. This will be a good opportunity for the boy to test his spirit. Besides, I do believe you have chores that are in need of being finished." Sighing Whisper headed towards the main building and away from what she more than likely deemed "fun."

Pointing at an exit not to far away the old man told Barron, "I'll wait for you at the Guild Woods entrance while you deal with the problem. Once you're done we can talk about starting your training." Barron nodded and ran off. Briefly he remembered how the Constables, and at times his own mother, would go into the woods to fight creatures that came too near for comfort. The memory however left as soon as it came as the boy found himself in very unfamiliar woods.

The further he walked the more he wondered if there was even anything to be fought in the forest that hid The Guild from outsiders. Coming near a pond Barron heard the faint sound of buzzing. Curious he walked towards the noise only to feel shocked moments later. Upon nearing the edge of the pond small mounds started to appear in the sandy mud. As quickly as they appeared they were broken by podomeres that erupted outwards from within the watered earth. Furiously the podomeres dug towards the surface until their owners were free from their dens. With loud screeches the creatures, giant black beetles, flew towards Barron ready to attack.

Without thinking Barron started to swing his stick wildly. Somehow channeling all the luck in the world Barron managed not to be hit, not once. Swinging his stick with all his might Barron knocked one of the pesky bugs straight out of the air. It's body flinched several times before it laid there, dead. Enraged the rest of the beetle swarm charged. Their efforts proved fruitless however as Barron struck each and every one of them down with the same force and ferocity as the first. Panting Barron found himself to be very tired. While he wasn't sure whether or not the exhaustion was from the emotional strain or the physical strain Barron knew it was time to head back. Once he finally made it back to The Guild Barron was greeted by the Guildmaster.

"Good work, lad. Those beetles can be a damn nuisance." The old man congratulated him. Reaching into his coat the Guildmaster pulled out a small bag and handed it to the boy. "Here. I think you've earned yourself some pocket money for that."

With a smirk the man said, "If you want to gain more gold the servants around here may be willing to accept your help with some tasks. Although I recommend getting an early night."

Barron nodded, rest sounded nice right about now.