Moth to a Flame

Dylan pushed open the giant, decorated wooden door of the guild hall and looked around the giant front room. There were tables full of various parties eating or planning quests, a board full of jobs for money, stairs leading up to an inn to sleep in, and under the stairs, just a red carpet walk from the entrance, were booths with a sign above saying "power card sign up". Dylan walked through the middle part in the tables down the strip of carpet, and approached one of the booths windows. He rang a small desk bell and leaned on the counter looking around to see who would come serve him. No one was behind the counter, or at any of the other booths. It looked as if no one was working here. He went to ring the bell a second time just to make sure, but just as his hand hovered above it, a lady with long blonde hair, and a high-collared white dress shirt popped out of thin air right in front of Dylan. He jumped back in shock.

"Hello! I'm Charlotte, nice to meet you!"

Dylan caught his breath and asked,

"Jaysus, where did ye come out of?"

"Teleportation magic! Quite a simple spell but,"

Her voice trailed off in an embarrassed tone,

"Also the only one I know..."

She paused a moment, then looked back at Dylan.

"I haven't seen you around, you must be new! Looking for a Power Card? Every good adventurer has one!"

Dylan leaned on the counter again.

"Sounds handy, how much are them?"

"why, they're free of course! Just hold out your hand, I'll need a drop of your blood to make it!"

Dylan was sceptical, but slowly reached out his finger. Charlotte placed a small square of thick paper, the size of a business card, on the tip of his finger. The held his finger tight as she picked up a golden sewing needle from the counter. She held the needle up high, and plunged it through the paper straight threw Dylan's finger. Dylan pulled it back in shock, and as he held his finger he realised he surprisingly felt no pain. His blood ran up the needle and then dripped down from the top onto the card. As his blood soaked into the card, Dylan watched as the dark red puddle spread out to the corners of the card, before fading to reveal a print that wasn't there before.

DYLAN MEANEY
AGE 47
MOTHS: LVL 1
MANA: LOW
SPECIAL: ???

and to the right side of the card was a picture of Dylan, like a driver's licence. Dylan scoffed at his level one moth ability, still disappointed in its uselessness. Charlette noticed, and trying to cheer him up said,

"Hey, I'm sure you'll level up soon!"

Dylan looked at her deadpan, ignoring her attempt to cheer him. 

"What is there to do now?"

"Well, most new adventures start at that board there!"

She pointed to the board full of quest requests and wanted posters,

"If you do a quest for someone, you can earn money, and level up your ability!"

"Right so."

Dylan said as he turned around to trudge over to the board. Charlotte called out to him,

"There's also an event on later, one that would be really useful to a new adventurer! Legerro is coming to give a talk on her success later!"

Dylan paused, and slowly turned to ask,

"Who's... Legerro?"

Charlotte's eyes widened in surprise.

"You've never heard of Legerro?! He's the richest adventurer out there! He appeared about twenty years ago with these amazing light powers, and ever since then he's done nothing but good for our-"

"and he's coming... here...?"

Dylan said, looking over his shoulder. He was trying to hide his rage when he spoke. It wasn't hard to put the pieces together, this Lady Legerro had to be the person who ended up with his ability.

"How much for a room at the inn?"

Dylan asked.

"Why, they're free for adventurers! You can just head up and-"

Dylan stormed straight up the stairs, and into the first available room. The took the keys off the bedside table and locked the door. He stood in the middle of the room, taking deep breaths for a moment, before letting out a scream of rage, and grabbing the bed frame with both hands to flip it over. He grabbed the bedside table and threw it over his head at a cupboard in the corner, and then kicked his foot straight into the middle of a mirror, smashing it to pieces. He looked at himself in the shattered mirror, and noticed something approaching from behind him. Startled, he turned around and threw his fists up in a boxing stance.

"Woah! Easy dude. Think you've busted up enough for one night."

It was Seta. She stood with her hands up and a smirk on her face. 

"How did you get here?"

Dylan asked, wiping sweat off his face and trying to bring back some level of composure.

"I'm your guardian angel dude. I'm always here?"

She said in a mocking tone, as if she expected Dylan to know this already.

"What so you've been watching over me since-"

"Since ya arrived on that beach. My entire job is to keep an eye on ya!"

Dylan waddled over to the upside down bed, and sat on the wooden board that made up the bottom of the bed frame. Seta came over and sat next to him with her legs folded.

"and in times like this, it's my job to steer you in the right direction."

Dylan looked at her and swallowed as hard as he was breathing.

"Which is?"

"Well, there's no one "right direction"... but seemed you'd been troubled by hearing Legerro was coming to town."

Dylan stood up suddenly. Paced around for a second then looked at Seta.

"Of course I'm pissed! That was my light ability, wasn't it?"

Seta blushed, as she uncomfortably turned her head away, not saying anything. Dylan took her silence as a yes.

""Richest adventurer"... That could have been me! And here I am stuck with this feckin' moth ability!"

Seta looked up at Dylan again, and quietly asked,

"You're not going to do anything to Legerro, are you?"

Dylan looked down and shook his head. He wanted to take revenge. Find some way to take his power back from him, but then he asked,

"What could I do? I have "level one moths" and he's probably leagues above me! Doesn't matter what I want to do, I ain't got no way of making it happen."

Seta popped back up to her feet, and waltzed over to Dylan.

"Hate to burst your bubble, man, but ya can't take an ability from someone else. Whatever you're thinkin'. Can't do it."

"Ay, that's typical..."

Seta's eyes opened wide as she stood up straight, she clicked her fingers and exclaimed,

"Hey! But you could still go and listen to his talk! Ya might learn how to level up and-"

"I'm not going to that useless yolk! Waste of time, I'm out of here."

Dylan unlocked the door and kicked it open. He turned around to ask Seta something else, but the room was empty. He shrugged it off, knowing she'd probably appear back later, and headed down the stairs and out of the guild hall.

Dylan wandered lost through the streets with his hands in his pockets. He walked out to the edge of town, where a big wall surrounded the border. He followed the wall until he found an exit. As he walked out the large open gate, he saw a horse drawn cart that looked like it was made of solid marble making its way down the dirt track. Men in ivory armour surrounded it and marched along side the white horses that pulled it. One looked at Dylan and said,

"Make way! For Legerro!"