Garden Of The Abyss

"My bad, I have a problem with sneaking up on people like that," the youthful, black-eyed man smiled, extending his black-gloved hand, "I'm Akshay, by the way, a silver-ranked adventurer."

He was slender, almost malnourished by the thin, black sleeves of his coat that clung to his arms, but he was truthfully anything but "youthful"--at least in his eyes; it was obvious to see the age that hung inside of his pitch-black irises.

He hesitated for a moment before accepting his hand, shaking it lightly, "Ren–I'm a ruby-rank, I guess you can see that, though," he chuckled, placing the necklace back beneath his collar.

What does this guy want? He thought, was he here when I came in?

In fact, everything about the young man he looked at seemed unorthodox: his predominantly black hair that bled with snow-white through half of it, his all-black clothing, as if trying to obscure himself–and his pure, sable eyes that were devoid of much.

"Sorry, but…did you need something?" He asked.

Akshay looked at him for a moment, turning to the side as he looked at the reception desk, "..."Gladiolus", that's a beautiful name for a guild."

Was he looking at my contract…? What's up with this guy? He thought.

The enigmatic, short-of-stature adolescent continued, "I'm in a bit of a pickle, you see: the guild I was a part of recently disbanded, and as a silver-rank, it's a fierce competition around here. So, I'm looking–"

"Not interested," he promptly shut him down.

Akshay blinked a few times, staring blankly at him as he began to walk away, "You–what? I didn't even finish!"

"You want to join Gladiolus, right?" He said, walking as Akshay followed behind him, "a silver-rank isn't going to cut it, sorry."

Hearing this, Akshay's expression shifted to something peeved at the notion he made, stopping in place.

"Your guild isn't going to last with a mindset like that, Ren," Akshay's almost playful voice turned to something more deep, and serious.

"Huh? What're you talking about?" He stopped, looking back at the salt-and-pepper adventurer.

For the first time, he noticed the dark bags that hung under Akshay's eyes, holding many, sleepless nights that aided his general, disheveled appearance.

"Guilds aren't packed solely with high-ranked powerhouses–people who can swing a sword and bisect a dragon," Akshay told him, "a guild is a lot more complex than that. There are many gears that need to be properly sought, and placed orderly."

The black-coat-wearing adolescent brought his hands out of his pockets, raising his black gloves as if displaying himself.

"Take me for example: I can't even use magic, and I'm about as strong as a prepubescent man. But, then, how did I even attain silver rank?" Akshay asked, answering it himself, "I'll tell you why: because my job isn't to fight, but to handle the more…cerebral aspects of guild management."

Listening to the words of the peculiar man, he took them in, but kept his taut-self as he folded his arms across his chest, thinking for a moment.

"Well, what is it you can do, exactly?" He asked.

Akshay seemed pleased to have this question asked, returning his hands to the pockets of his dark coat, "Primarily, I'm a recruiter."

"Recruiter? Like finding people to join the guild?"

The adolescent nodded as his shaggy tufts bounced, "Correct. I've formed a host of connections through the Hollow Foundation over the years–with me, I can assemble a lineup for your guild that will surely meet any expectations you have, if not surpass them."

Years? This kid looks sixteen, at most, he thought.

He stood for a moment, rubbing his chin in thought, though there wasn't much thinking he had to do–he was already sold.

It's like he read my mind. Sirius and Iris have been getting on me about recruiting, and I haven't the darndest where to start. This is like divine intervention, almost, he thought.

"I'll have to talk to the others first," he told Akshay, "is that fine with you?"

"Of course," Akshay nodded, "I wouldn't want a guild leader who makes hasty decisions."

Isn't that what you wanted from me before? He thought with a sigh.

Returning to Sirius and Iris, the former who was stuffing his mouth with colorful pastries, he sat between them at the circular table.

"What's up?" Sirius asked with his mouth full before swallowing.

He answered, "Somebody is looking to join Gladiolus already."

"Is that who that guy was? Somebody trying to join?" Iris asked.

Nodding slowly, he continued, "His own guild just disbanded recently, so he's looking for one to join. I guess he noticed my ruby rank, and probably recognized Sirius, so he decided to shoot his shot."

"And?" Sirius looked at him, "what're you thinking?"

"Well…he's a silver-rank, but he told me he specializes in handling the other aspects of guilds, primarily functioning as a recruiter," he told the two, "I think that's exactly what we need right now."

He expected some more push back, but the two simply looked at him as if it wasn't really much of a question.

"So…? What're you both thinking?" He asked.

"I'll trust your judgment," Sirius smiled, lounging back as he kicked his boots up onto the table.

Not helpful, he thought.

Iris added in, "...Personally, I think it's worth giving him a try. Even if it doesn't work out, you can always remove him from the guild," she paused for a moment, fiddling with her hair, "like he said…I'll trust whatever choice you make."

–Before his guild was even properly formed, he was faced with his first decision as its founder; tapping his foot against the marble flooring, he pondered it.

Ah, hell…what choice do I have, really? He thought.

After a few minutes, he approached the noir-esque adolescent of a light, golden-brown complexion, who was flipping a coin in the air.

"Can you bring me ten members a week from now?" He asked, "not just some random sleazebags, I want real, promising members. They don't have to be strong, like you said. If you see potential in them, I'll trust your eye."

"You've got it," Akshay nodded with a smile.

He extended his hand, "Welcome to Gladiolus, Akshay."

Akshay took on a genuine, excited smile as he accepted his hand formally, "Thank you, Ren, really. You won't regret this, and if you do–you can kick my ass out of here, no hard feelings."

Yeah, I don't know how I could do that without feeling bad! He thought.

Still, the complete look of genuine happiness on Akshay's face was nothing he'd seen before–as if his simple acceptance into the guild was a favor that meant the world to him.

During the next few days, waiting for his application to form the guild to be accepted, it finally came after wasting away in boredom.

Another ride through the Bastion of Connection, meeting with Sirius, Iris, and Akshay at the location, led them to a specific section of the foundation given to Gladiolus. Each of them brought their personal belongings from the Outlanders' section, though Sirius didn't seem to bring much besides a small sack with him. On the other hand, Akshay brought absolutely nothing but himself.

Ayline was waiting there, in front of the verdant doors with a set of keys in hand, presenting them to him as she left them in his hand.

"Congratulations, Ren Nakamura, your guild 'Gladiolus' has been officially accepted amongst the Hollow Foundation!" Ayline informed him.

"Sweet!" He celebrated.

Slung around his shoulder, Sirius shared in the celebration by messing up his snowy-white locks, while Akshay smiled to himself, remaining to himself in the corner of the room. Iris herself seemed more interested in what the section itself would look like, eyeing the keys he held.

"We're really starting off with our own section? I thought that was only for higher guilds," he asked the receptionist.

Ayline answered, "Since the ranks of your founding members are high enough, your guild is beginning at rank 'B'."

Whelp, I guess I have Sirius to mainly thank for that, he thought.

Given the keys to the Gladiolus sector of the foundation, he looked back at his three fellow members with a smile, "Ready?"

–It was somewhat as expected.

Similar to the Outlander sector, it had a cafeteria, though smaller, a set of rooms–a dozen, though minimal, he already was told it could be expanded if his guild reached the appropriate number of members. The main hall itself was the lounge room; already decorated with comfortable furniture with a quest board stationed in the middle.

To his surprise, there were already papers pinned to the board.

"Hold up…they already left quests for us?" He asked wryly as he approached the quest board.

Akshay answered as he sat on the arm of the burgundy-fluffy couch, "Of course. Gladiolus is beginning as a 'B' rank, so it's not surprising they want to put us to work as soon as possible."

"Problem is, it's just us right now–no honeymoon period, eh?" He sighed.

"And if you ignore quests, our rank will drop, and so will the privileges of our guild–so chop-chop," Sirius clapped his hands in a playful manner.

–It was further information that made him slump down on one of the sofas, huffing out as he watched Iris eye the quest board.

"This one doesn't seem so bad…" Iris said, taking one of the papers from the board.

"What is it?" He asked, sitting up as he lifted himself from the comfort of the cushions.

"It just wants us to handle some fire slimes that're attacking one of the nearby villages," Iris told him.

Akshay added in, "That'll do. For you guys, it'll be a cinch–and getting it done efficiently will let the Hollow Foundation know you're the real deal."

He put his hand to his chin, "It's a whole lot more bland than the quests we were doing in the Journey Foundation–I mean, I got to fight a few wyverns, even, but I guess so, but hey…" He stopped, looking at Akshay, "You're speaking as if you're not coming along," he raised an eyebrow.

A nervous laugh left Akshay's lips as he smiled, patting him on the shoulder as he looked up at him, "I told you before, right? I'm useless in a fight. I'll pray for your success, though!"

This guy, he thought.

He watched as Akshay went to investigate the room of his own that was already assigned by the ones who opened the sector for their guild.

Sirius began to make his leave as they discussed their plans for the quest, waving off as he approached the front doors.

"Where are you going now?" He asked, stopping Sirius as he stayed at the table with Iris.

"Ah," Sirius put on a faux smile, "I've got some errands to run. I just wanted to come check out the place before heading out. It looks great so far, though! Have fun on that quest!"

Stopping again, Sirius added one more thing, "Oh, right–Sora told me something."

"Yeah…?" He looked at Sirius.

Sirius smirked, "Beatrice is moving the Outlander sector next door to Gladiolus."

"Huh?!"

–Before another word could be exchanged, Sirius promptly left the guild sector, leaving just him and Iris at the table with the quest between them.

"Those new members can't get here any faster, can they?" He sighed out.

"It's fine," she assured him, "we can handle a few slimes."

"My dear wife, please…please…don't jinx it," he pleaded weakly as he laid his face down against the surface of the table.

And so, as the sun beaded down on the infertile soil of Old Treyna, with swaying clouds amidst the air above them, the humble beginnings of Gladiolus–began.