Xander Ch. 02

"Kid, this is where most of the Guild members live. Every Guild is assigned an area, where they provide accommodation for their members. It isn't free accommodation of course, as at the end of the day, the Guild is their employer, and can't afford to pay them, yet allow them to live for free, so we cover the expenses like food, running water and electricity, while Guild members pay rent. Rent can be paid at the end of any job, and you can either pay it all once off, or month by month, or after a particularly high paying job."

"Oh, I see. So where are we headed?"

"I told you to stop asking me kid! Anyway, we're here now, so you can stop bugging me."

They both got out at an apartment building, and walked in. The security guard immediately recognised Darius, and greeted him. Darius replied warmly, and let Xander into a lift. They got to the 10th floor, and walked until they got to the door of an apartment. Darius then dug around in his pocket, and handed Xander a pair of keys, with his trademark smile on his face.

"Here you go Kid; these are the keys to your new apartment!"

"What-what do you mean my 'new apartment'?"

"I mean exactly that Kid. Listen; you can't stay in my room any longer, and neither can I for the moment; everything is being replaced, with the old stuff being burnt. Anyway, this is where you are going to be staying for. It's one of the nicer apartments members can get, and you won't be able to afford it by just doing D and C rank missions; however you're too strong to be stuck on them for long. I—"

"How am I meant to afford the rent then? I don't have any money, and—"

"Just let me finish, will you? I was getting to that part. I have already covered the 1st 3 months, so you don't have to worry about paying the rent for now. First, you need to get back to your normal strength, that way you can enter the 'Room of Revelations' so we can find out what your affinity is, and what kind of item you will get. After that has been sorted out, you'll be given a trial mission, probably something like recon or whatever, and then after successfully completing a few jobs, you'll immediately be bumped up, and given the more difficult jobs. With the money you get from those jobs, you will need to find some armour, and it'll probably have to be crafted, because of your size. Only after all that is sorted out, do you have to worry about paying rent, as all of these things will probably take a maximum of 3 months. When it comes to your rent, pay the remaining 9 months 1st, before you pay me back. All I'm doing is helping you get on your feet."

"But why, why are you helping me so much Darius?"

"Well, most of our new Guild members don't have amnesia and irremovable masks. This is just my way of helping out. I won't accept no for an answer, as it's all already been paid; I sorted it all out when you were sleeping. Now, there's food in the fridge, and you will have to get your own clothes, but for now, there is some stuff that if you circulate, should be enough. I really have to get back to the guild, but before I do, here."

Darius handed Xander a strange contraption that was about the size of a bar of soap.

"This is called a Mobile Communications Device, but for some reason, people call it a cell phone. Anyway, it has my number on it, and I'll be calling you to check up on you every now and then. Don't do anything strenuous, and just focus on regaining all your strength. Today is Monday; I'll be by on Friday, and we'll have your time in the RoR scheduled for then ok? It'll also probably be when you get your 1st mission. Well, that's me done; I'll leave you alone now. Be sure to get sufficient amounts of rest, okay Kid? I'll see you later this week. Bye."

"Darius! Thank you. Really, thank you for everything! I will pay you back for this somehow, I promise."

Darius just smiled, and gave Xander a nod, before walking away. Xander then proceeded to follow Darius' orders; he ate, slept, and ate again. He circulated the clothes, and washed the one's that weren't in use, however they easily lasted him the 4 days. Darius called him at least once a day, and they would speak for a bit each time. The conversations wouldn't be about anything in particular, but were just conversations between friends. Eventually, it was Thursday night, and Darius called Xander.

"Hey Kid, you ready for tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I think so Darius. What should I expect?"

"I really don't know; it's different for everyone. Anyway, I just called to say you better catch and early night, because I'll be by around 4 am to fetch you. It usually takes a few hours for each person, and the more affinities, and the more powerful those affinities are, the longer the time you spend in the RoR is. Anyway, get some sleep, and I'll see you i the morning."

"Okay, thanks for letting me know. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, you too. See you tomorrow Kid." And with that he hung up.

Xander then went straight to bed. He had done everything he had been told to do in preparation for tomorrow, so there was nothing more he could do. He didn't feel as though he was 100% energised, but that didn't matter; it was all happening tomorrow. He was taking his test, as well as going on his 1st mission. He drifted off to sleep, ready for tomorrow.

Xander woke up at 3 am the next morning, and went to get ready. He took a shower and brushed his teeth. He got dressed in a white and black tee shirt, the black trousers, and knee high boots. He put his sword on his back, and waited for Darius to arrive. At 4 on the dot, he heard a knock on the door. He opened up, to find Darius standing there, in his usual armour.

"Morning Kid, ready to go?"

"Morning Darius. Yeah, I'm ready. When am I going to enter that Room?"

"As soon as we get there. I told them we might be there a while with you, so I wanted to start as early as possible."

"Really? I don't think I'll be in there long, but if you say so. Let's go."

Xander locked the door to his apartment, and they walked towards the lift. All was quiet in the lift, and in the car ride there. Once Darius parked the vehicle, they both exited, and Xander noticed Darius walking at a quicker pace than usual. He followed and quickened his pace, before they arrived at their destination. Before entering the room though, Xander was confronted by a group of people, who all seemed strong. Darius then introduced him.

"Everyone, this is Xander; the kid I've been telling you all about. Let's leave it at that too, as we need to hurry, it's already 4:15."

With that, they all moved away from the door, allowing Xander to approach. As he was about to enter the room, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked down to find Darius looking up at him.

"Look Kid, the reason why the amount of time spent in the RoR is longer for the Elite, is because there is more power that has to be extracted. The RoR basically finds out your affinities, and extracts and creates an item from the energies your affinities give off, so those with more talent have more that has to be extracted. The extraction is also very painful, and some of the strongish ones have died from the intense pain. Go in there, and don't be afraid. If you survive the extraction, your affinity, as well as your strength level will be revealed."

"Don't worry Darius, I'll be fine. I don't think I'll last all that long anyway." And with that Xander nodded, and walked into the room.

Darius shook his head, and turned around, walking to join everybody else who was going to be watching the extraction. As he walked in, a man who appeared to be the same age as Darius spoke.

"Darius, I have no idea what you were thinking when you suggested that his extraction would be the longest we've ever had. I sensed zero talent coming from that boy, and I think his extraction will be over in about 30 minutes."

"His extraction is probably going to take at least 8 hours Marcus. His item isn't going to be some generic toy, it's going to be extremely unique, and terribly powerful; I can feel it."

"8 hours?! RUBBISH! Ewan, the most talented and the best we've got, holds the record for the longest extraction for the next generation, at 9 hours; that's almost as long as ours took. Ewan has been trained from the moment he finished his extraction at age 6, and now at age 22, he is most likely to succeed you as the Guild Master. I—"

"Quiet Marcus!! This isn't about Ewan; it's about Xander!"

That caused Marcus to keep quiet, and they watched as the door to the Room of Revelations closed. They watched as the room suddenly started emitting a golden light, and Xander was swallowed up into a golden ball, that started to float. The moment The ball stopped rising, it started to pulse and throb, and they could tell that it had begun; the extraction of Xanders' unique item.

Xander stood in the room, before he noticed a bright golden light above him, growing in size. It eventually enveloped him, trapping him inside of it. It then started to rise up, and it when it stopped rising and floating in place, he was hit by an indescribable, blinding pain. It appeared that the extraction had begun. Xander couldn't see anything, but he wasn't sure if it was because of the pain, or because his eyes were closed. The pain was getting worse and worse, but he refused to scream. He refused to make even the slightest sound. He resigned himself to feeling the pain for a few more minutes, and thus told himself that the time would fly by, without him even noticing. This was true, as the pain was seriously fucking up his perception of time.

After what seemed like 10 minutes to Xander, the pain started to lessen, and the floating orb started to descend towards the ground. Xanders' eyesight also began to come return, and he noticed that the light was also starting to thin, and he was able to see the room again. Once the orb reached the ground, and Xander felt his feet touch the ground, he started to walk, without the light around him having completely disappeared. He just walked towards the door, and when got there, he opened it, to see everyone from the group he saw earlier standing there, all completely flabbergasted, rooted to their spots. He looked at Darius, who also looked as shocked as the others, but the only difference was that he had a huge smile on his face.

"Hey Darius, what's that smile for? Did I last longer than 10 minutes?"

Darius just nodded, and the smile on his face grew even wider, as he properly examined Xanders' item that he himself hadn't yet noticed; a cape, that was a perfect replica of Draculas' Cape. It completely covered his shoulders, and from his collar bone, went down in an upside down V, causing it to cover the tops of his biceps, and had the flared collar, which also looked like Draculas'. The Cape reached down, and almost touched the ground, stopping by his heels. It was as black as sin, and from what he could tell, black was its only colour.

"Okay everyone, like I mentioned before, no one speaks about what just took place ok? The 'official' time Xanders' extraction took was 6 hours, alright?"

Everyone just nodded, as they hadn't yet recovered from what they had just witnessed.

"Official time? What do you mean? How much time did my extraction actually take? Don't make people lie and say that my extraction took longer than it actually did Darius, that's not ri—"

"12 hours..."

"12 hours what? What does that mean?"

"It means that your extraction took 12 hours Xander; that's the longest extraction EVER recorded."

"I'm sorry, what did you just say? 12 hours? That's impossible; it only felt like 10 minutes in there, that's why I didn't scream."

"You just felt the worst pain you'll ever experience, and you say you didn't scream because it felt like 10 minutes? What kind of monst—"

"MARCUS!! You will stop right there! We all agreed that his extraction actually took 6 hours. That's the official story, so that's what we're all going with; including you Kid, okay?"

"Sure, I'll go along with it, but why?"

"It'll make things easier for you as time goes by. Just trust me, ok?"

"Okay, no problem Darius. Now where is my unique item? Wasn't it supposed to be extracted?"

"It was extracted; it's draped over your shoulders right now."

"What...oh, I'm wearing a cape. Where'd it come from? What does it do?"

"None of us knows. This is the 1st time we've ever seen a cape as a unique item."

"Okay, well then what is my affinity?"

"We should be getting the results for that now." With that, they heard the printer finish printing. "Ah, that must be them." And Darius walked off into the room they were watching from. He came back out, and handed Xander a sheet of paper.

"They're you results Kid; you read them."

"Um, ok sure. Let's see...apparently, I have 2 affinities; 1 being Stamina, and the other being Magical Energy. What does that mean?" Xander asked, handing Darius the sheet of paper.

Everybody stood there in silence, having never come across anything like this before; what did having Stamina and ME as affinities mean? They all looked at Darius, who gulped audibly.

"Xander; what's written on this paper is incredible. It says here that you have more ME, and more Stamina, than all of us here, however, you aren't at your full capacity; you're only at about 40% right now."

Everyone stood there, having not recovered from the time or the affinity shock, now they were hit with this information; this guy could last longer than both Elite Warriors and Mages. What was going on?

"I'm pretty sure however, it has to do with that cape you're wearing Xander, but since this is the 1st time any of us is seeing such an item, we don't know what it does either."

"Well being an amnesiac, I'm used to not knowing. However, unlike with my memories, at least I can physically go out, and try figure out what this cape is for."

"That's a good point actually. You're going to be going on a mission tonight."

"Okay, what kind of mission?"

"The type that people who have just completed their extractions go on."

"Okay, what do I need to do?"

"Go home for now, and eat as much as you can. Come back here at around 7 pm, and wait at reception. I'll have someone come collect you, and lead you to the briefing room."

"Okay, no problem. I'll see you later then Darius."

"Xander..."

"Yes?"

"Congratulations; I'm really proud of you Kid." Darius said with a massive smile plastered on his face.

"Thanks Darius. I'll see you later."

And with that, Xander left the group behind, and left for his apartment.

"Darius, how on earth do you plan on controlling that monster?!"

"Shut up Marcus! Ewan wasn't a monster when he smashed the record for anyone of his generation, so why is it that Xander is, huh?"

"Ewan isn't stronger than us, and that freak is!"

"In other words, he's too strong to become a pawn? What's wrong with that Marcus?!"

Marcus didn't answer. Rather, he couldn't answer, and they all watched Xander disappear from sight.

Xander did as he was told again, getting home, and eating like a beast. He checked the time, and saw it was 5 pm. He ate some more, before finally stopping at 5:30, giving his stomach time to digest the feast he just had. He sat there, thinking about how it strange that his body didn't ache after all that pain he just experienced, then he remembered his cape.

"What the fuck does this cape do?"

Xander stood up; trying to figure it out, but he got nothing.

"How did I even put it on? My sword wasn't removed, and now it's sitting on the cape. And why didn't I experience the full 12 hours? Did I fall asleep or what?"

Xander checked the time, and saw that it was 6:30.

"I may as well head on over to the Guild now, and wait in the reception area."

Xander then left his apartment, and made his way over to the Guild. By the time he arrived in the reception area, it was 6:45. He sat down on one of the couches there, and waited. About 20 minutes later, someone arrived in the reception area.

"Hey, you're Xander right?"

"Yeah that's right, why?"

"My name is Jacob, and we'll be going on a mission together in a few minutes, pleased to meet you." Jacob said, extending a hand.

"Likewise; pleased to meet you too Jacob." Xander gripped Jacobs' hand, and shook firmly.

Jacob started leading Xander down a hall, and Xander assumed he was being led to the briefing room

"So I hear you just completed your extraction. It took 5 hours right? Mine took about 3; it was really painful, how was yours?"

"Fucking painful. But it didn't feel like it lasted all that long; it felt like it was over in 10 minutes for me."

"Really? You lucky dog! I felt every second of mine!" Jacob said with a friendly laugh.

"Well, here we are; the briefing room. We're being briefed by Robin, he's the briefing guy. He usually tells us what each mission entails, and who will take up which role in the team, if there is a team. He's quite a rough person, but he's personal friends with Master Darius, so we all respect him a lot; just don't be too offended by him. He's a bit....abrasive. Anyway, let's get inside."

They walked inside, and Xander noticed 3 more people besides himself, Jacob, and Robin. Robin; he recognised him! He was one of the people present for his extraction. Before he could say anything though, Robin spoke.

"Jacob! You're late you piece of shit! So this is Xander huh? Nice to finally meet you, welcome to the Guild, and whatever. NEVER be late for a briefing, as time is extremely important. 1 second is all it takes for someone to die. Anyway, you guys are going on a, information gathering mission. There is an extremely strong Raider, who is currently leading a team of 4 other Raiders, and is terrorizing a particular area in the city. The residents of that area have asked us to take care of her, however, we need to gauge just how strong he is before we make a move. That's why—"

"That's why we're going on this recon mission."

"That's right Eric. The reason why we selected you 5 is because even though it's not a battle mission, you might get forced into a situation where you have to fight. We need competent fighters, because—"

"Because we have to babysit this guy who just finished his extraction right? Useless bastard, it'd easier if we just did this mission without him."

"Eric, shut the fuck up. You were once in the same situation okay, and those you went with didn't treat you like this. Shut up, and focus, I'm about to announce the roles; in this 5 man team, Eric will be the Captain. Jacob, you be the support, while Jazzy, Micah, you two will handle the melee along with Eric. Xander, I heard from Darius that you're strong, but you've only had 2 hours of recuperation time, so if things turn sour, don't try to do too much, ok? If you guys understand your orders, get onto the roof, and get outta here!!"

" Sir!" They said and ran out of the room.

Xander saw them all exiting the room with enthusiasm, so he decided to emulate them. He followed them up many stairs, until he was on the roof with them.

"Useless Newborn, you stay at the back; there are secret and invisible bridges that use to get across the city quickly. You don't know where they are, and as Team Captain, I'll get into shit if you fall off a tall building and die on your 1st mission. Now, let's go!"

Everyone set off, with Eric taking the lead, while everyone else followed, and Xander brought up the rear. Xander found that he was swinging his arms, as the just stayed by his side, under his cape. He examined everyone as they ran, and noticed they were all wearing medium armour, which made minimal noise as they moved. They also seemed to be running on air as the ran across the invisible bridges that connected all the buildings Eric kept running faster and faster, trying to make Xander fall behind. Eric didn't like Xander very much.