Walden lead the two past neat rows of tall pine trees, decorated with glass balls. Glossy reds, mind-calming greens, and loving pinks along with other various colors. Soft white lights of orbs danced above thin iron poles the width of two of Avery's fingers together. Symbols were painstakingly carved into the pole's body leading up to a rough uneven stone the size of her fist.

A path made up of asymmetrically smooth stone bricks, of a higher quality visible to the naked eye, paved the way through the decorated trees towards a large four-story victorian-styled castle with tens of arched windows looking out over the front of the school grounds. The front of the castle was shaped in a '[' with the tips facing the front gates. There were other buildings on the ground, but Avery ignored them as they reached the front doors.

Two thick-steel braced doors loomed higher than the front gate in size. She could imagine a troll fitting through the front door in the middle of the night here.

"Desmond, why does this place look out of place compared to the rest of the town?" A good question. The capital seemed to loosely follow an eastern theme with a blend of western. This building though was of complete European design. It also seemed oddly familiar, like she had been here before. "This school was built long before my ancestors conquered these lands. I'm not sure who exactly build and when, but we think it was build during your time." She let out an 'ah' to Desmond's answer. So that's why she felt it looked so familiar.

She pulled open the map in her menu and tried to glean at the school. Most of the map was blacked out aside from worm trails here and there where she'd been.

The school itself was actually lit up!

"What's the name of the school...?" Avery inquired. "Dragon Nest Academy. What it went by before, I don't know." Desmond shrugged. He seemed to be more open and confident now that they reached the school. His timid posture was more upright. Almost like this was where he was comfortable.

She looked back at the map that floated before her eyes, moving it with her thoughts while keeping one eye on the surroundings. Enough not to trip and bump into people. The map opened up of the school. 'Garrgon Guild's Castle [Abandoned]' Right after that, the name flashed red. with a prompt.

[Garrgon not registered to exist anymore. The building has been taken by 'Dragon's Nest Academy'. Re-registering.]

A few seconds later

[Building re-registration on map complete.]

She hadn't looked at her map since she woken up. The first reason was she knew the Sky Gardens by heart. Afterward, she had Desmond leading her around. Maps weren't overly useful in new areas unless you were backtracking, or trying to fill it in. When you did fill in the map, you could see any major changes to the environment which came detrimental to find new major events.

Unless it was a situation like this... Where the entire map was changed drastically. The capital had been build and the guild's land changed. The only thing remaining that attested to their existence was their guild building probably couldn't be demolished.

Guild buildings could be 'seized' if they were abandoned. Such as the guild had no officers to take charge once the leaders or leader had been banned, deleted their account, or left their guild. The guild's coffers would remain in their places along with guild own property that wasn't on a member. The buildings would go up for grabs, but the buildings could be purchased by any other 'guild' at the cost of the building. Not the items inside.

Unfortunately for those members, it happened quite frequently. Guilds rose and fell often. It didn't matter how small or big. For their own reasons, players came and gone, often leaving guild buildings unattended. There were waypoints in large cities to teleport guild members to their own buildings, as they could set down buildings in the world. Of course, such things had restrictions.

Only major guilds could have that function, and the locations had to be approved by the Game Masters. Even then, just to reach Major Guild status, it wasn't member counts, but raid and quest completions with guild-only parties that counted! This made an unofficial requirement too, to have a six-member guild. That was if one only used quest completions. If they were going with raid counts, they would need over thirty members!

Garrgon was a 'Quest Guild'. They had ten members, made up of close school friends who Avery had the luxury of playing within the past. They were lore-freaks and loved to make tomes, writing their own stories or creating magical tomes to sell off. Avery actually felt a little sad when the building was listed as 'abandoned.' This meant that leader had left the game without electing an 'heir', a player to take over.

She closed her map after checking it and looked around. The insides were just as she remembered it. She knew a lot of people, but she hadn't visited many guilds. She had her own, after all, but Garrgon only sold wares out of their building or whenever you saw them. Often not, she purchased a lot of magical tomes from them on requests of her friends. Of course, with advance payment from them with a little bit of interest for making the journey.

They walked up a staircase with a banner of each school of magic on each floor. Each floor was about fifty feet wide, as for its length... She didn't bother to estimate. It was long though. Her feet felt the distant memory of having to chase down those members when she needed to buy a tome.

They reached the top of the flight of stairs. In front of them was an archway with a form-fitting wooden door. The Walden knocked softly on the door before announcing "The Third Prince, Desmond has arrived and wishes to speak with you." The door creaked open a minute later with a young woman, mid-twenties, opened the door. "Vice-Master." Both Walden and Desmond greeted the woman

"Ah, Walden. Has Adin repented yet?" The woman was a Dark elf. Silver tied back hair revealed thin pointed ears. She was as tall as Desmond with a slim frame and with humble curves and assets. Her dark-skin was supple and smooth, yet her eyes seemed to blaze with anger. "Ah, Ms. Tavi, please spare me what the man things. I don't concern myself with his shenanigans, else I'd be answering that question every day." Walden spoke causally to the woman. She only huffed before smiling at him and Desmond.

"Well, I let me know if you two need to come in for a break from the cold, but tell Adin he's only getting a break!" She giggled as if she used to punishing Adin. "Definitely, maybe he'd repent when his manhood freezes." They both laughed before Vice-Master Tavi turned her to Desmond. "It's good that you're okay. We got the report, from your mother of course. It's a stroke of bad luck through and through.

With a gentle smile, she opened the door, gesturing for the two to enter. "I'll take it from here." Walden nodded before trudging down the staircase again as Desmond and Avery walked in. "Ah, you must be Lady Bailey." Tavi greeted Avery the moment she walked in. "Yes. Nice to meet you." Avery tried to shake her had by Tavi bowed deeply at her. "As one who followers the Traveler's Code, you have my gratitude." Avery felt awkward, her hand left out hanging in the air. She pulled her hand back before mumbled an "ah yes." Unsure of what she was talking about.

Once inside, the room was furnished with bookcases that lined each wall. packed to the brim with leather wrapped books and items. A large ornate, worn, rug occupied the floor with a wooden table. A large unorganized mess of papers and books occupied the tabletop with four chairs also filled up.

A large, well organized, desk sat to the far side, a human man well into his sixties sitting behind it. He held a report in his hand as Tavi lead the two over to him. A window with a large ledge rested behind him with a few glowing flowers that resembled roses potted by it. Desmond pulled a pile of books off one chair, placed them on the floor and pulled to chair up to the desk. Tavi did the same with another chair.

She gestured, almost like she was worshipping, to Avery to sit in the chair. Desmond only smiled awkwardly at the scene. "Um... Ms. Tavi -", "Please, call me Tavi. I, your humble follower, would love that.". Avery cleared her throat, clearly uncomfortable with the gesture. "Tavi, I could have done that myself.". Tavi shook her head, "Of course, but I wanted to express my hospitality."

"The girl is obviously uncomfortable, my love. I understand you worship her, but please try not to scare her off." The old man looked at Tavi with a warm gaze. "Ah, sorry." She bowed deeply with embarrassment. "You'd have to excuse my wife. Her life had been saved many times over by your statues." His old gruff voice called out to Avery as she took a seat." Your wife?" Avery asked, obviously confused by the vast difference in looks.

"Tavi is older than me by a hundred years. Don't worry, I don't chase younger girls. Women are -" Desmond cleared his voice cutting him off. "Like fine wine?" Avery finished his sentence. Desmond looked over in disbelief. "Yes! Someone who understands!" The old man put down the paper in his hands while standing up while laughing." So you think so as well?!" Avery laughed with the man. "Yes. Age does come with charm, though I think in your case, you get to enjoy the perks of a youthful woman as well."

Tavi who stood to the side with clasped hands turned away. If she had lighter skin, a bright blush would have been visible. Her embarrassment growing more by the minute. "Well, Desmond! You've hooked yourself a good one, haha!" Desmond could only nod. Unsure how to respond to him and Avery's comments. "I'm glad to have met you. May I call you Avery, or do you prefer Lady Bailey?" The man sat down with effort before Avery spoke. "I prefer Avery."

"Well, Avery, welcome to our humble academy. I am the Headmaster, Harold Harkin. This is Tavi Harkin, vice-master, and my wife for forty years. It's a pleasure." His tone calmer than before. "So, how can I be of assistance to you and little Desmond?" Getting straight to business, his smile faded. Replaced with a calm expression while clasping his hands over his desk. "I wanted to enroll Avery into the Academy. Think of it as integration into society. I'm sure she's more powerful than anyone here, but I think it would be good for her to socialize with normal people."

Harold nodded his head in understanding. "I see. We certainly could do that. My love, please grab me an enrollment form." Tavi nodded, walked over to the table and sifted through the pile. "Quite the mess Harold," Avery commented as she looked behind her, watching Tavi shift through it with deft hands. "If they spent more time on their duties, and not flirting, it might be cleaned up," Desmond commented with a frown, yet she could tell he was teasing.

"Ho? Such a young man who hadn't laid with a woman - ", "I slept with Avery." Desmond puffed his chest out proudly towards Harold. "Hooo? You and Avery made love?". Avery quickly snapped forward, her face dark with annoyance. "We slept in the same bed, but we haven't done anything like that, little alone kiss." Harold slapped the desk, his head craned backward in a laugh. "Oh, that's still good progress!"

Avery, unsure how to respond this time turned back to Tavi just as she slipped a new form from the table and brought it over. "Please fill this out, Avery." Tavi placed the paper in front of her with a quill and ink. She read through the form and filled out the corresponding sections.

She handed it to Hardol once she was done who picked it up to read. "Avery Bailey. Age eighteen. Highest profession, Fire magic. Rank..." He gulped. "G-God of Fire..." All eyes turned to her.

. . .

It took almost half an hour to explain that title.

God of Fire didn't grant her control of fire completely but gave her really marked her proficiency in the Fire element. Granting her fire resistance up to four-thousand degrees (f, 2200 c). She still felt the warmth of heat and its intensity. It could still harm her, but it also meant she wasn't great with the cold. She had Ice magic, but she didn't like using it much. {Proofer: Her cold resistance is worse than regular people's...}

"Well, on then..." He said with a tired face. "Three Highest professions... Master Smith, Master Alchemist, and Weapon master... Quite the resume here little one..." He sighed and placed the paper down. "I'm not going to bother with the rest, you're already more qualified than me by leagues." Avery also felt troubled over this. She hoped neither of the too wouldn't feel inferior to her. She respected her elders, obviously when given due respect.

"I have a request. May I become your discipline?" Harold looked at her, a determination in his eyes. "Can I think it over...?" Avery wouldn't mind, but she'd need to iron out details with him if she did. "Of course. I hope you do. I'd love to learn what you know. With my selfish wish out of the way, will you be staying in the dorms or commuting to the school?", "I'll stay in the dorms with Desmond."

Tavi cleared her throat. "Unfortunately, if you two aren't married, you won't be in the same rooms. We are co-ed, but each student gets their own dorms. Only married couples may stay in the same dorm, but we can arrange a room next to Desmonds if you'd like?" Avery nodded and looked to Desmond. "I'd like a room next to you if we can't be in the same room, but I don't want you to feel uncomfortable."

Desmond wanted to retort ' You haven't cared about that since we first slept together!', but she was adept in witty comebacks, as he'd learned, so he kept his mouth shut and pondered the question. He thought about having her just stay in any open dorm, only, there weren't any open dorms near him, only in the dorms two buildings down. He felt a fierce territorial feeling arise thinking about this. He nodded to Harold. "Just rearrange us to any empty adjacent rooms." Harold nodded back. "It will be done."