Ryan was walking through the busy streets of London.
He walked through dirty alleyways, always aware and never looking around.
He adjusted his low-tied blonde ponytail and tugged at his backwards cap.
He had checked the address and studied all the entries and exits, or the lack of exits.
The honking, smell and the begging of bums did nothing to distract the young man.
He didn't like being here, but he moved to the door.
"This is what I deserve," he said aloud to himself.
He opened the door.
To his surprise, it was spotless and smelled nice.
At the receptionist's desk, he was welcomed by a warm atmosphere of nature paintings and soft music.
He tentatively rang the small bell on the desk.
"Good morning, Sir."
Ryan turned to look at the source of the voice.
What he saw was a skeleton wearing a sharp blue suit with a name tag that read "Femur".
"May I have your name, Sir?"
Ryan was quiet for a beat too long before he answered.
"Ryan."
The skeleton checked a pocket watch.
"You seem to be two hours early, Sir. I will go and check to see if the Manager is ready to see you. Please have a seat."
Unable to relax, Ryan sat and waited.
The Smooth Jazz did nothing to help.
Femur came back and led him to a door that read "Manager".
As Femur opened the door, all Ryan could smell was cigarette smoke.
The room he entered was dimly lit, with a desk with papers strewn around and a large, overfilled ashtray.
The man behind the desk looked to be in his late forties with very short salt and pepper brown hair and a short beard.
He was working with a cigarette dangling from his mouth.
What stood out to Ryan was the leather jacket and gloves he was wearing; it was summer.
"Why are you early?"
He then motioned for Ryan to sit in the chair in front of the desk as he put out his cigarette.
"I didn't want to be late."
"Did you bring your paperwork?"
Ryan pulled out an envelope, slowly unfolded the paper and passed the open letter to the old man.
He then looked up and lit a cigarette, and stared at the young man, "Why are you really early?"
"I don't have anywhere else to go, Sir."
At the "Sir", the older man held up his hand, "Don't call me that, call me Grizzly."
He looked over Ryan's paperwork.
"According to this, you lived in an orphanage until fourteen, and you disappeared for seven years."
He studied the young man's face as he spoke.
No reaction.
"What happened to you during that time?"
Ryan kept quiet.
Grizzly flicked some ash on the desk and then held up his hands.
"Listen, kid, I am not here to judge you. I am just an old guy looking for the truth."
At the young man's silence, Grizzly sighed.
"This is a very dangerous career you want to be part of," he said as he took a big drag, "does that bother you?"
"No."
"It should."
He never took his eyes from Ryan.
"Have you ever worked as part of a team?"
"No."
"I understand, if you join my team, will you follow my orders without hesitation?"
"Yes," he answered in a monotone without breaking eye contact.
The old man stood up and effortlessly shoved his desk to the side with one hand, and paper flew everywhere as the desk hit the wall hard.
Ryan didn't flinch.
"Wrong!"
As he yelled, the cigarette flew from his mouth.
He lit another cigarette and walked over to Ryan.
"You need to follow your gut when orders are given."
He got so close that Ryan could feel the heat from Grizzly's cigarette.
"People tend to make decisions based on what they believe and some people believe in horse shit."
The two men just stared at each other for a minute.
"Should I leave?"
"Why would I turn away the first guy to escape the Silver Tongues?"
At the mention of that name, Ryan's eyes went wide.
Without warning, he shot up and tried to run for the door.
Grizzly was quicker and grabbed him by the arm.
"Wait, I don't want to hurt you," the older man pleaded.
"Let go of me!"
Ryan tried to punch at his throat, but the old man easily blocked his attack with the cigarette dangling from his mouth.
As a last resort, he pulled out a dagger.
As he tried to stab Grizzly, the older man casually caught the blade, and it instantly turned into smoke.
"How?"
The young man was caught unaware by this display.
"You can do magic?"
"I am part of the guild, Kid."
Grizzly put himself between Ryan and the door.
"I am here to help you."
Grizzly loosened his grip on Ryan's arm.
"How about we make a deal, trust me for 24 hours and not a second more."
Ryan tore his arm from Grizzly's grip.
"Fine, but if I sense anything, I'm gone."
The monotone in his voice was no longer there.
"Agreed."
Grizzly held out his hand, and the young man shook it.
The hand was thinner than it was supposed to be.
"Please sit, you deserve an explanation."
Ryan sat back down while Grizzly put the desk back in its place.
"I needed to see where you were, and you passed."
Grizzly pointed to the ashtray on the floor.
"Do you mind?"
Ryan handed it to the old man, who lit another cigarette.
"I passed? How?"
His voice was back to its monotone, but his white knuckles on the armrests gave him away.
"Real killers always go for the easy kill."
Ryan's jaw tightened, but he kept quiet.
"I think the Blood Rose could be good for you."
He took another big drag.
"You might even make some friends."
Ryan felt anger grow in his chest.
He was just about to leap out of his chair when the door opened.
Femur burst into the room, saluted and stood at attention.
"We have a code Blue, Sir. Immediate action is required!"
Ryan was surprised by this new development.
"Why is he here?"
The old man sighed and was still calm.
"He wishes to meet the, uh... newbie, Sir!"
The old man rubbed his forehead.
"Let him in."
The door opened a blue monster with shining blue scales and sharp jagged horns ducked down to enter the room.
It was as wide as the door frame with a face that resembled a Komodo Dragon.
Ryan got out of this chair and slid over Grizzly's desk.
Grizzly slowly walked past Ryan and stood in front of the tall creature.
"I told you to stay back," Grizzly said as he pulled the tall monster by the horn with a cigarette in his mouth.
"Sorry, Griz, I just wanted to meet the new guy," he said with warmth but without any expression on his lizard-like face.
"Sup, newbie, the name is Eragon."
He waved as the much shorter man still had him by a horn.
"You know the effect you have on people," he shook Eragon playfully by a horn as he spoke.
Ryan then scanned the creature, who was wearing stained sweatpants and old Crocs with claws protruding.
When Ryan saw that these two were standing in front of the door, he abandoned his escape plans.
"Hello, Eragon, I am Ryan," his voice cracked a little.
"See, I told you I wouldn't scare him off," Eragon said.
Grizzly let go of his horn, and Eragon stood at his full height, and Ryan properly saw the very muscular beast.
Eragon was monstrous in every sense of the word, but sounded friendly, which confused Ryan.
The older man looked at Eragon and said, "You just got lucky."
Grizzly looked at Ryan and put his hand on the anxious young man's shoulder.
"Eragon is a joker, but he isn't dangerous. Let's get to the ship."