AN: Relatively short chapter today. Sorry about that, but I had a few other projects to do. The next chapter should hopefully be longer. If I can get it done with Christmas on the way. We'll have to wait and see. Until then, hope you enjoy reading~

Chapter 6:

After both Faelen and Fiorello agreed to join the guild, Fiorello went right to work ordering around his new teammate, fussing over him as he chided him about his health. Though Faelen had been intimidated at the very beginning, Drayce noted that he seemed relieved to have someone worry over him. And to do so blatantly.

Drayce himself was pleased, exceptionally so, at the turn of events. He didn't help Faelen with the intention of wanting him to join. He helped him because he needed to help. He asked him to join mostly out of protectiveness as he didn't want any other guild to use and dump him like Fiorello claimed so many new explorers did these days.

With Faelen settling in to get more rest and Fiorello more than eager to inspect his new clinic, and with Blayke agreeing to watch over the two of them, Ashton proceeded to drag Drayce out of the Crescenta. He wanted to take him to meet the contact he had mentioned that morning.

With the possibility of being able to geek out with someone as interested as he was in treasures and ancient myths, Drayce was more than happy to be led through the city. As they walked, Ashton explained to him that his friend and fellow researcher was called Shashi (his full name was Shashikiran but preferred Shashi which was fortunate as with a name that long Drayce was going to give him a nickname anyway) and his little brother Kamali. Though not treasure hunters or explorers themselves, they certainly knew their myths and legends.

And both were experts in reading ancient scripture and detecting mana in all its forms.

Drayce knew a few key words of the ancient language, but definitely not enough to translate entire documents on his own. So to know and work with someone who could do just that would certainly make things so much easier for him. And if they enjoyed their work as a translator, even better. He was more than willing to allow and help someone to indulge in their passion.

"Here we are," Ashton said as he led him to a simple two floor apartment and up the small flight of stairs to the porch. "Be sure to remember how to get here. I'm sure once, after you complete the first mission, you'll be visiting here a lot."

"Dude, why do you and Blayke keep reminding of that?" Drayce said, mildly indignant with his hands on his hips. "I do know how to prioritise."

Ashton glanced over his shoulder at him with a smile on his lips. "Prioritise, sure. Restraint, no. I know what you treasure hunters are really like. The attention span of a flea."

"Rude."

Ashton just chuckled as he knocked lightly on the door. Drayce dropped his hands from his lips and smoothed out his expression into that of friendliness, already over Ashton's insinuation that he had no self-control.

A few moments later, there was the sound of a lock disengaging and the door opened a crack. Someone then peered through the small opening meekly uttering out; "Yes? Who is it?"

"It's just me, Kamali," Ashton replied gently. "I'm back with Drayce, like I said this morning, remember?"

A sound of understanding was heard before the door opened fully to reveal a slender Celestian with long light purple hair that framed his face and tumbled down over his shoulders and back. His hair appeared to reach his lower back and this particular shade of purple made his blue-purple eyes quite distinct. He wore the clothes similar to that of a warlock, though a deep emerald green in colour.

He fidgeted slightly with a button on his coat as Ashton stepped inside with Drayce right behind him. He was no doubt nervous, for whatever reason, about receiving a visitor, so Drayce kept his expression light and friendly so not to somehow frighten or unnerve the Celestian.

"Drayce, this is Kamali," Ashton introduced. "Shashi's little brother."

Drayce turned to give Kamali his full attention and found him looking back at him with a sense of curiosity. So he gave him a good-natured, friendly salute with his hand. "Hey, pleasure to meet you."

Kamali blinked at him, startled by the greeting before he seemed to compose himself. With a light flush to his cheeks, he bowed his head lowly. "Ah, n-nice to meet you, too."

Drayce tilted his head to the side slightly while Ashton simply smiled reassuringly at Kamali. Obviously he was quite skittish with everyone. That was ok. Hopefully, if he did agree to join his guild (once he brought it up with him, of course), then maybe they could help him become more confident around other people.

"I don't need to ask if Shashi is in or not, do I?" Ashton asked Kamali.

Pulling himself to stand straight, Kamali turned to give Ashton his attention and a light frown appeared on his lips. "He's in his usual place; his office."

"Ah," Ashton said as he dropped his arms to his sides and turned to walk further into the residence, to the door located a few feet away from the front door.

With Kamali moving to follow, Drayce took that as his cue to enter as well.

And as he stepped into the room behind Ashton and Kamali, his mouth nearly dropped open from surprise.

The room wasn't all that big, but it literally wall to wall with bookcases, scrolls, tomes, and other paper based articles. Honestly, the place looked awesome. There had to be some treasure maps hidden away in here. To be written in an ancient language meant they were old.

Cryptic puzzles and riddles must abound, as well.

Drayce hadn't met this Shashi guy, but he was more than certain he would get along with him, spectacularly at that.

Ashton looked around the room and frowned. "I can't see him," he said as he turned his attention back to Kamali.

"He's here," Kamali insisted as he twisted his hands together nervously in front of him. "I can sense him. He's definitely here."

"Oh, I'm sure he's here," Ashton said with a half grin on his face as he took a couple of steps into the room. "He never leaves. The key is where about in this room he is."

Drayce had to grin as both Ashton and Kamali cautiously began to walk around the room, idly poking at random piles and mounds of paperwork. The chorus of "Shashi, we know you're here" and "brother, please" followed the two around the room and Drayce simply found his amusement growing.

He then noticed a slight movement from the corner of his eye. He turned his head to see another mound of tightly rolled scrolls began to quiver and move. And just as he opened his mouth to alert the two searchers, the piles of paperwork seemed to explode to life as someone, a Celestian with purple hair a similar shade to Kamali burst free from the pile, gasping loudly for breath.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that this Celestian must be Shashi.

"What?" Kamali all but squawked as he hastily made his way over to the Celestian that must be the one called Shashi. "What happened?"

"Nothing much," Shashi replied in a surprisingly disinterested way as he idly brushed a few of the small scrolls from his hair and shoulders before he stood up. "I fell asleep at my desk and these scrolls I had been translating must have fallen atop of me. And one of the small square pieces of paper I use to scribble upon had landed on my nose and mouth, nearly suffocating me."

Drayce blinked, his grin of amusement still in place, while both Ashton and Kamali sighed loudly with exasperation.

"Again?" Kamali asked as his shoulders drooped in defeat. "I told you to stop falling asleep at your desk. You have a perfectly good bed in your room."

Shashi continued to brush himself down and tidy himself up. "That's covered in scrolls waiting to be translated, too."

Drayce didn't think it was possible, but Kamali's shoulders drooped forward even more. He didn't say anything, just sighed aloud again. And again, it was that of pure exasperation.

Emitting a low chuckle of amusement, Ashton crossed the room to stand before Shashi. He then unexpectedly reached his hand up toward Shashi's neck and he idly brushed aside his light purple hair, allowing it to tumble freely over his shoulder. Shashi blinked at him as Ashton pulled back his hand, to reveal a square scrap of paper.

"Behave," Ashton unexpectedly said as he pressed the piece of paper to Shashi's forehead. "You have a guest."

Finally Shashi turned his attention in Drayce's direction and his gaze fearlessly locked onto Drayce's. A flicker of realisation appeared in his blue-purple eyes. "Ah, you must be Roux's grandson."

Drayce nodded his head. "Right. You know Grandpa?"

"Know of him," Shashi said as he walked over to Drayce, his movements smooth and graceful.

He looked rather elegant. If Drayce had not seen for himself Shashi gasping for air after being smothered in a pile of ancient scrolls, he would never have believed it if someone else told him. Although, he did know better than to judge a book by its cover.

"Our father knew him better," Shashi continued. "Truth be told, the majority of documents found here are thanks to your grandfather and my father working together."

"That sounds awesome," Drayce said in earnest. "I bet they got into so much trouble together. Or rather, Grandpa dragged him onto his little adventures, right?"

The corner of Shashi's mouth twitched in amusement. "Oh, he tagged along willing. Do you have an experience with ancient scripture?"

"Eeh, only the essentials," Drayce admitted unashamed. "Words like treasure, map, curse, and you know, run. That sort of thing."

"Knowing when to run is a good thing to know, yes," Shashi said idly.

He then suddenly stared silently at him for a few moments, his blue-purple eyes boring straight into Drayce's once more. He suddenly drew in a sharp breath as he nodded his head.

"I like you," he said as he abruptly turned away from Drayce to look at his brother, Kamali. "You should join his guild."

Kamali stiffened and looked at his brother in surprise. Drayce, himself, blinked because, honestly, that came out of nowhere. He was still pleased because that meant he didn't have to broach the subject himself.

"W-what? Really?" Kamali stammered.

"I think it will be good for you," Shashi said as he walked over to his younger brother and placed his hands upon his shoulders. "The labyrinth, though marred with dangers, is still a place of mana and nature. It should help with your training. Also, your ability to detect mana and read ancient runes may prove critical to the quest to find the Lost Treasures."

Kamali looked into his brother's face, his own holding an expression of uncertainty. He then gave a half smile was a mixture of nervousness and suspicion. "You just want to make sure that any documents that are found will immediately be handed to you."

"Yes," Shashi said unashamedly before he lifted his hand from Kamali's shoulder and gently took a hold of his chin. "But also, it will be good for you."

Drayce held back a snort of amusement. This guy seemed awesome. He liked him, too. He was sure his brother was just as interesting.

He did look a little nervous, though.

"You don't have to answer right away," Drayce said, hoping to put Kamali at ease. "No pressure here. Why don't you visit the Crescentia first and meet the others?"

"That would be the best place to start," Shashi said as he idly flicked a strand of Kamali's hair from his eyes. "Kamali here is extraordinarily adept at Detect Mana, too much so, it seems. Stagnated energy that bustling cities such as Iorys offers makes him feel listless and skittish. I believe that being surrounded by like-mind individuals in the natural setting of the labyrinth should help him clear and cleanse his aura."

So, he needed to enter the labyrinth as well.

"Kamali will be more than welcomed to join," Drayce said. "I haven't officially registered with the guildmaster yet as I was waiting to form a party of five. If I'm to enter the labyrinth, I want to do it right."

Both Shashi and Kamali turned to look at him. Though Shashi was taller than Kamali and his hair was a slightly a lighter shade of purple, they looked almost identical. However Shashi had the emotion of gratitude in his eyes while Kamali seemed to look at him in awe. But then a small smile of pure relief appeared on his lips.

"Ok," he said with a nod of his head. "I will join. But…I also would like to visit your guildhouse and meet the others, if that's ok?"

Drayce smiled warmly. "Absolutely. If you like, I can lead you there now."

"No time like the present," Shashi said as he took Kamali's shoulder in his hand and pushed him lightly in Drayce's direction. "Be sure to show your new teammates your wondrous Detect Mana ability."

Kamali frowned lightly as he turned to face his brother. "I'm not stealing any scrolls for you," he both scolded and chided.

Shashi tisked at him. "I wasn't expecting you to. But, if you just happen to find something, I'm sure Drayce won't mind me having a peek at it."

"Brother, please," Kamali sighed with exasperation.

As Drayce watched the two brothers interact, smiling at how close they truly seemed to be, he felt an unexpected pain in his chest. It was a hollow feeling. As if he was missing something.

Idly, he reached up with his hand to lightly rub at his chest through his shirt.

He…didn't understand that hollow pain at all. He would get it occasionally. It was a strange feeling of sadden remembrance. That was the only way he could describe it. It was like his heart remembered something, something dear and important, but his mind just could not recall.

Ashton clasping a hand to his shoulder caused Drayce to drop his hand from his chest and to turn to look at the other man.

"You all right?" Ashton asked him.

Drayce blinked at him before offering him a smile, one he hoped was that of reassurance. "Dude, of course. I'm just ecstatic that I have enough guildmembers now. Soon I'll complete that first mission so you and Blayke will need to find something else to nag at me about."

Ashton arched an eyebrow at him. "Oh, I'm sure we can find something else to pester you about. After you complete the first mission, of course."

"Dude, why so rude?"