Morning arrived gently.
Reeve woke before anyone else.
The room was quiet, almost too quiet—like the world was holding its breath.
He sat up, rubbed his eyes once, then stood and began gathering the few things that truly mattered to him. The clothes he had bought. A small pouch of coins. A simple notebook he hadn't written much in, but kept anyway. Nothing excessive.
He didn't like carrying weight—physically or otherwise.
By the time the sun fully rose, they were already moving.
Reeve.
Lunareth.
Kaelith.
Elaryn.
The gates of the Fairy Kingdom opened silently, not with ceremony but with understanding. No guards followed them. No one asked questions.
The path ahead led into open land—fields that slowly turned into forest, then distant hills.
They walked in a loose formation.
For a while, no one spoke.
Lunareth inhaled softly, as if preparing to say something.
At the same moment, Reeve opened his mouth.
She stopped.
Reeve noticed.
And because he noticed, he stopped too.
Silence stretched again.
Awkward.
Heavy.
Unfinished.
Lunareth glanced at him sideways.
"You were about to say something," she said.
Reeve hesitated.
"So were you."
She raised an eyebrow.
"Then tell me," Lunareth said.
"What were you going to say?"
Reeve exhaled lightly.
"I want to join a guild."
Lunareth slowed her steps.
Kaelith and Elaryn exchanged a brief look but didn't interrupt.
Reeve continued,
"I don't know much about them.
I don't even know how people choose one."
He turned his head slightly toward Lunareth.
"Why didn't you tell me about guilds before?"
Lunareth smiled faintly—not teasing this time, but thoughtful.
"Because," she said,
"I was planning to talk about it today."
Reeve blinked.
She went on,
"Kaelith and Elaryn left their previous guild."
That made Reeve look fully at them.
Kaelith nodded once.
Elaryn's expression remained calm, unreadable.
"We won't return to it," Kaelith said simply.
Lunareth continued,
"They're planning to create a new one."
Reeve stopped walking.
The others paused with him.
"A new guild?" he repeated.
Lunareth looked directly at him now.
"That's why I wanted to ask you," she said.
"What you plan to do."
The wind moved through the grass between them.
Reeve didn't answer immediately.
Inside his mind, the System remained silent—watching.
He looked at the path ahead.
Unmarked.
Unclaimed.
"I don't know much about this world," Reeve said slowly.
"But I know people."
He glanced at Kaelith.
Then at Elaryn.
Then back at Lunareth.
"If you're creating something new," he said,
"I don't want it to be empty."
Lunareth's lips curved upward.
Not a smile of victory.
A smile of recognition.
Far above them, unseen—
The world shifted its balance.
And the idea of a guild, not yet named, took its first breath.