The Lost Life of Laraine

Chapter 51

"All hail the hero, Lara!" Rosie yelled to the various adventurers that wandered the guild, making them all break out in applause to which I awkwardly waved in appreciation. 

"Thanks," I laughed sheepishly as Rosie looked over my paperwork. Now that I am becoming an independent adventurer I have to submit my own reports and fill out my own forms. I have finally decided to not join any parties for the it being. 

"Oh I remember when you first joined," Rosie sniffled and wiped some fake tears, "You were so little, figuring out your abilities, freezing yourself to death." 

"Ah, ha ha ha," I felt a heat of embarrassment growing in my cheeks. Rosie seems to be intent in teasing me. 

"Now you're slaying ancient dragons and going off on your own," Rosie sniffled one last time before gathering up my paperwork, "Now Miss Lara, I have to pass on these papers to the guild master, and he would also like to see you so..." 

Stepping around the counter, Rosie had me follow her up to the Guild Master's office where I was surprised to see Vadallea sitting on the couch, across from the Master.

"Lara, perfect timing," he stood up, walking over to me and swooping me into a bear hug, "Congratulations!" 

"Thank you," I spoke despite being muffled by his heavy coat. 

"Rosie, go ahead and put those on my desk, Lara of course will be able to adventure independently," he smiled at me, gesturing for me to take a seat beside Vadallea where the mood immediately shifted to very cold and serious. "Now Lara, have you heard about the reports from the north?" 

"Uh yeah, the signs of a dragon right?" I was following along the growing concern of the North, but it already seemed to be decided that the Winvestials will handle it. The royals had already delegated this issue to the guilds anyways. 

"Yes, and the North Branch Manager and I were discussing possibly sending you as head of the quest team," the guild leader gestured between him and Vadallea and she gave me a sheepish smile. 

"You never told me!" I gaped with joy, rushing over to her and giving her the biggest hug, one that would rival the crushing ones I've received from Flontina. "Congratulations!" 

Vadallea would now be the youngest branch manager in the history of the guild at the ripe age of 18, responsible for organizing all missions for the entire top half of the nation. 

"I was going to tell you yesterday but you already seemed so tired." She shrugged, laughing as she tried to stabilize us on the couch, "But now we have more pressing matters to discuss." 

"Right," I nodded, going straight back to focusing on a large, very old, very crusty, parchment laid out on the desk. Muddy and patchy ink resembling some sort of legible language messily decorated the barely beige paper. "This is ancient Skarbish."

"Yes, and one of the few surviving records of what we believe is residing deep in the North mountains," the guild leader pulled out an old map, pointing to a large mountain drawn to tower the rest of the range, "Skiripper Mountain." 

"The dormant volcano," I muttered, going back to the parchment, "Seems like the Skarbish is describing a sort of eruption." 

"You can read this?" The guild leader asked, genuinely surprised. 

"Only a little, I studied this a long time ago but not a lot of written works survived to this day." 

"From what our scholars could decipher it appears to be some sort of prophecy describing a savior of sorts meant to protect the world." Vadallea added, pulling out a large journal filled with scribblings and scrabbling. 

There was something familiar about this prophecy, something Talon said when I was younger ringing in the back of my mind. 

Your destiny is as it was written. 

"Is this dragon truly so terrible?" I felt a familiar blood churning, stomach twisting, bile curling feeling rising from the pits of my body. The blood. The screams. 

"We believe it will be must worse and much stronger than the dragon you faced," The guild leader confirmed, "Which is why we want to give you the option to refuse." 

"What?" I spoke before I could think. 

"Harken and his team have already agreed to lead the quest should you not agree, and we have amassed an army among the other guilds," Vadallea was trying to assure me that my refusal would be acceptable but it felt like there was even more pressure to lead. 

"There is no guarantee that you will survive this dragon encounter," the guild leader solemnly reminded, "It is almost certain that most of you will not return home. It was the grace of the gods that your small team of 4 children were able to even slay the other one." 

Holding up my hand, I stopped their gruesome train of thought, saying four simple words that will probably seal my assured destruction. 

"I will do it."