CLASSIC [Multiplayer Edition]

[Roxie1563]

I was nearly about to have an answer from Faye when unexpectedly I felt the hard kick of a woman's boot right underneath her prison as I stood in surprise and horror once it was out of my hand and soaring above my head. I kept my eye on it as it came down and rolling straight to the stream.

"Crap! Hold on, Faye, I'm coming!" I screamed to her as I started to run, but suddenly I felt the arrow whizzing through and cutting down my weapon and then came the hard shove from the Lancer as both armors clashed against each other and down did I go to the ground. I grunted in response but got right back up to run, only stopped short when the Lancer raised her bow and arrow at me.

I slowly raised my hands to show that I meant no disrespect and I wasn't much of a threat since she pretty much took my sword away. I listened to her questions, a small smile creeping upon me for she didn't know that I am a member of the Sword Guild she was speaking about and as for what I wanted... Well, that answer will have to wait.

I didn't hesitate to run as fast as I could while avoiding the arrows that would follow as I cut across the field and kept on running near the stream when I saw a large trunk hanging above the stream and headed for it. Breathing heavily as I was, I managed to strip off what was little of my armor and leaving me only my tunic, I was able to hang myself upside down and barely managing to pick up the sphere with both of my hands.

With a groan, I pulled myself up and back on solid ground. I asked Faye if she was all right; she just simply nodded her tiny head and with her thumbs up did she faint away.

"Aw, Faye.." I simply watched over her and carefully put her in my front pants when I once again met the eyes of the beautiful Lancer, her arrow still notched on the bow.

Again, I raised my hands and decided to give out the answers she so desired as I made my way back to my sword. "Three things first: One, my name is Pietro. Pietro Maxwell, and I'm a member of the Sword Guild of whom you were threatening to bring me to," I stated in my matter-of-fact tone as I picked up my sword.

"Two, what I wanted is simply answers from my little friend of whom you kidnapped. Now I know she can be a spitfire, but she is simply following orders, I presume, from Flynn," I continued on, ignoring her arrow aimed at me while retying the strings that held my sword close to me. "After all, he's a thief and a damn good one he is at that."

I relaxed my posture while looking at both lancer and mage as I lent against a tree that appeared to be aging, continuing on. "And finally, my third point is that yes, I know the law forbids it but I had a good reason." I pointed that out while carefully patting my friend. "While on the subject of the law, you know it's against the law to kidnap someone, small or large, am I right?"

I knew I was playing with fire, especially in light of what happened earlier on, but I had a feeling that while obviously this was a misunderstanding between three members of different Guilds, all of us were connected with Flynn and the mysterious artifact we were meant to protect. A thought drifted through my mind and though I thought I had it under lock, I spoke it out loud just enough for both ladies to hear it.

"Who was that man in the hood..?"

As soon it was out of my mouth, I knew I had no choice but to give my story out. Which I did, but I wasn't sure if the lancer believed me yet I had the sinking suspicion that the mage did so.

It was my turn for questions, so I asked them this.

"Who are you?" I simply asked as we stared each other, unsure of the present situation.

 

[KingdomKey]

The knot in my chest loosen up some at the thought of having someone as strong as Mary able to defend the skies above. I couldn't help admiring that about her, since it made my job on the ground easier until I noticed the brief bit of shock that passed over her face. I shouldn't have shown her. Its too much- wait, what did she say just now?! I couldn't believe it. She said its amazing. I felt her warm hand clutching mine, trying to see and feel more of my claw hidden beneath the glove. Almost to soon did she let go but, I didn't care because, I was happy. Nothing could wipe the goofy smile off my face as I felt light headed and watched her go to retrieve the bags off of Junie. Or so I thought... because I spoke too soon.

The peaceful moment I was having with Mary was shattered as the faerie in my grasp was stolen out of my hands by a man who was asking bizarre questions about someone named Flynn. "I don't know who this Flynn is!" I started to say in bewilderment when Mary came flying by to the rescue, in all of her battle glory that reminded me of a valkyrie. I ready myself with my staff except the fight carried on without me as I stood there uncertain of what to do. I could have held my own or helped, except it didn't seem needed. Strangely enough, the man seemed more concerned about the faerie's well-being instead of us. Not like the faerie would drown if he hadn't rescued her from the stream just now.

As the man collected himself and tried to explain the situation, I took it upon myself to get the faerie back. Sword guild member or not, it didn't make a difference to me because, he started it and he was the one to jump to conclusions. "A shame I have to do this." I said sweetly, feeling the tip of my mouth pull up into a smirk. Big mistake to steal from an infamous mage like myself. I lifted my right hand up in Pietro's direction, my magic swirling protectively up the front of my arm in the form of a miniature tiger and settling on my shoulders as I concentrated on recovering the faerie from within his pants. "Even if you kept your so called faerie, you wouldn't be able to free her without my help. The orb responds only to its owner." As if to prove my point, the pull of my magic was like a beacon searching for a signal, and the orb containing Faye struggled to break free until finally it tore itself off along with Pietro's pants.

The orb bounced around on the ground, dragging the pair of pants along with it until it finally stopped and nudged the front of my brown boots once more. I bent down and held Faye up securely in my hands once more. Thankfully, no one else's clothes came off or nothing nearby tried to knock into me or cause bodily harm with my small level usage of magic. "I never said we kidnapped her and we had business with her first and foremost. I would have eventually let her go after we find out why she set Junie free and caused a ruckus in town. For a member of the Sword Guild, where were you when that happened, huh?" I gave Pietro a calculating look, being sure to keep my eyes above his waistline as I listened to him talk about a mysterious man in a hood. "And its not all that unusual to encounter other people in hoods around Blueshire. Probably a harmless, rambling man you met out here in the woods." I said lightly, finding it kind of eerie someone else was out here besides the three of us.

My mind racing with the thoughts of this as it occurred to me it could've been why my magic kept picking up something throughout the day. I peered at Mary out of the corner of my eye to see what she thought of Pietro and what he said, before addressing his final question. "I'm Jeri. I'm a mage located in Blueshire and apart of the Magical Library guild." I gave Mary a playful smile and picked up Pietro's pants off the ground. "What do you think, Mary? Should I set these on fire and leave him here as we depart? Or give them back?"

 

[Cassette-Disk]

Mary let out an annoyed "tch" noise as the man bolted. She could have fired her remaining arrow to stop him, but her archery and arrows weren't sufficient enough to pierce through the armor of a moving target. The worst she would have been able to do is badly bruise him as the arrow would have ricocheted off him. Instead, she kept the bow trained on him as he ran and nearly took the shot when he stripped off his chest plate. When he arrived back on land he held his hands above his waist to show he was not a threat but still the Lancer kept her weapon ready to fire. She watched as he leaned against a tree, speaking in a tone that made her want to shoot him even more. It also didn't help that he outed himself as a member of the Sword Guild.
"You could not have made this any more easier for me if you tried," Mary said as she took sharp aim at the man's head.

The sound of an arrow careening through the air filled the stream. It only lasted for a second, but as it ended it ended with a powerful thud as it struck through the weak tree the man's head had been leaning against. It was only a few inches away from the man's head, but the arrow didn't miss it's mark on purpose: Jeri's magic had caused an unexpected effect to take place, one that jarred Mary enough to shift her aim in surprise. Mary watched as the man's pants bounced away from him and ultimately became in the mage's possession. "You're one of the strangest mages I have ever met," Mary told her, not unkindly. She largely ignored his questions, though Jeri was kind enough to address them in a similar manner she would have anyway.
"What do you think, Mary? Should I set these on fire and leave him here as we depart? Or give them back?"
Mary returned the smile: "The Sword Guild's filled with people who like to complain. I'm sure my head's going to roll because of incident either way, but maybe giving his pants back will bask me in a good light? Even if it didn't, I don't want them anyway. And as for you, you can consider that arrow a warning shot. I'd be lying if I said that was the original intention but that's what it's become. That's all I have to say to you. Go back to town and, if you really are from the Sword Guild, feel free to fuss about me to your superiors." The Lancer took the man's pants from Jeri and harshly threw them at him. Without waiting for a response she walked back into the body of water where her pegasus was waiting for her bath.

Under normal circumstances, Mary would remove most of her clothing while bathing Junie and be left with a light top and bottom at most, but given this was far from 'normal circumstances,' she had instead stayed in her armor, making sure her lance was within arm's reach at all times. She began lightly scrubbing the pegasus' back and as she rounded towards the sides, Junie instinctively uncurled both her wings, revealing her large wingspan as water trickled from the feathers. Mary looked up as the wings elevated upwards, causing a small cascade to sprinkle around her. "You've even got stains under your wings, Junie," she mumbled, "you've outdone yourself this time..."

 

[Roxie1563]

I nodded my head as Jeri went on to answer all my questions, even if the lancer has her bow trained on me. However, my attention had shifted from her to my watching as my pants unceremoniously came off right to the Mage. "Hey!" I cried out in surprise. It was when I heard the thud of an arrow when the Lancer released it and slowly did I turn my head to see the arrow as it stood straight beside my head then back to her.

It wasn't my first time getting shot at for various reason, but this one sure stood out as I clearly narrowed my eyes at the lancer, ready to give out some sort of witty remark back at her when all of sudden I found myself getting my pants back as Mary harshly threw it back right to my face.

"Oof!" I grunted as the lancer went on to tell me to haul my ass back and if I wanted to tell my superiors about this, I could and even plainly told me that the arrow was meant to end my life, not a warning shot. I furrowed my eyebrows and quickly hid behind some couple of bushes then got my pants back on while checking everything to be sure things were all right when I got the lancer's name. Mary.

I came out wondering why that name sounded so familiar as I sat beside Jeri, my head looking up to the sky while going through my memories. Shortly after a beat or two, my head snapped straight as to why she was so familiar. I cleared my throat to attempt at clearing the air between the three of us. "Mary... Mary Pale, wasn't it?" I asked her directly yet showing my respect, hoping she'd know I meant well. "I knew I had heard that name somewhere before. You were part of the platoon that were looking for a wanted fugitive, am I right?"

I wasn't sure if I was imagining things, but to me it seemed she kind of straighten up when I mentioned that. "There was one soldier that got killed because he didn't listen to orders well, but you... You went on to disobey that order to retreat; rather you went on to find him and then ultimately managed to capture him and went on to become who you are.." I spoke quietly then lifted my head to see her. "Am I wrong?"

A beat went by without her answering it. I gave her my knowing hint and my deepest condolences with my eyes then turned to Jeri, knowing it was her turn to know what I know about her. "As for you, Jeri.. I know by the rumors that you were infamous for something, but honestly.. I don't really care about that. I only care that you're a kind person, even though you think people hate you; I don't because I'm like you." I looked at her as I got up on my feet and rubbing my hands together to warm my hands. "See, my mother was a powerful Mage and she used to be with the Library. She became one of the most greatest Mages of all time until she died when I was little."

I became quiet and melancholy as my head became filled with memories of her from the age of five. "I believe she died under dark circumstances and my father died in the war; I became an orphan for a bit until I lived at an orphanage but that didn't last because it got caught on a fire.." I could feel myself stiffen just from the memory of it but pushed it aside to really have this small talk with Jeri.

"I'm sure you probably know what happened next," I smiled at her. "The Don of the Sword Guild brought me in and since ever then I've been with them for a very long time. So when it comes to people thinking of you being different, ignore them; Hell, you don't even have to prove anything beside being just you as YOU." I gestured toward the town then to the broad world that laid out beyond us.

I turned my head to Mary then back to Jeri and forth. I had this feeling that while it wouldn't repair what happened, this small conversation would at least give them the understanding that I simply followed my heart to helping out Faye. I exhaled out a breath or two when I realized I never got to asking what happened in town.

"Hey, Jeri... What did exactly happen in town and I'm pretty sure from judging of her flying friend, it must had been that bad to warrant a bath.." I asked, wondering why there wasn't help from the Guild since it was the Mage that messaged it in the first place during the 'hold-up' phase. It was then I heard a whine from one of the bushes that I nearly forgot why I came out to train in the first place. I quickly turned my head to the sound and shouted out to the unknown as a large dog came rushing out of it, a small knife sticking out like a sore thumb in its mouth as it growled at the girls.

"Wait, Rep! They're all right; they're with me." I quickly explained to him as I used my body to an attempt to calm the situation, my hands out, my eyes gazing intently at the dog. "Woof!" Rep barked out in confusion as I continued on to soothe him. After a couple of tense minutes, did the large dog sheath his blade that hung on his collar then walked beside me as I sharply exhaled in out of air through my mouth.

I chuckled as I apologized to them. "Sorry, ladies.. I nearly forgot I had Rep with me." I ranged out as I kneed down and gave my loyal friend a long good scratching and even had to tell him the full story.

"Anyway.. Please continue on, Jeri," I encouraged her. "What happened?"

 

[LatinoHeat90]

Victor moved around the castle walls. He kept his distance from the wall, trying to find a passage he could use to get inside. There was no way he could just walk through the front gate, especially with his attire. He was going to have to find a way in and also stay hidden and freely move about the castle, a seemingly impossible task. He tried not to rack his brain with the details; he was never much for planning anyway. If Victor could not figure out a solution or his way out of a problem he would simply rely on the sword and axe on his back, and Zoe .
​

Zoe rode on Victor shoulder, humming a tune that Victor knew all too well. It was the tune she hummed on their first encounter. His mind began to wander, a dangVrous thing for Victor. He mind could sometimes wander into dark places, a time before Zoe was part of his life.
​

“Zoe, I have told you this story before but please listen, because I feel like I need to remind you….no… remind myself what you saved me from. I had just started on my own. I left the Axe Brigade after nearly killing that pompous prick. He was some well-born in the same unit as myself. He thought he could talk down to everyone because he had connections with the government and the Axe Brigade’s higher ups. I wonder if they were able to reattach his lower jaw after I slammed his face against the mess hall table. HAHAHA!” Victor gave out a joyous laugh remembering the pain he inflicted on the soldier and the look of fear and awe in the other’s eyes. Victor continued to move through the bushes, searching the wall for a passage. “Sorry, Zoe, I do like that part of the story.” Victor’s faced turned serious. He knew this part would hurt.

“I had taken my first job. A young woman was searching the patrons of a rough tavern, in the rough part of a town, searching for someone to kill for her. She wasn’t offering much coin so no one was interested, but I was. She told me of her quest for revenge. A swindler had dug his fangs into the young woman’s mother, bled her dry of coin and her estate. He had given the woman hope, but instead took that hope away, her belongings, and ultimately her life. It was a simple job really. I tracked the man down. He had left a path of destruction that was easy to follow. In each town there was a similar story about a man seducing an older woman and making off with her wears. Eventually I caught up with him, beat him near to death, and lugged him to the young women. I thought I did a great job you know. She would stab him and I would get paid, no fuss. But no. She went and got cold feet. She sat there tears rolling down her face saying she couldn’t do it after all. I was furious. Why not kill him?! He deserved to die. He has ruined more homes than one and taken so much from people. She still could not bring herself to end the man’s life. She said she would still pay me and I could just take him to the authorities. She said that he can keep his life and rot in prison. “
​

At this point Victor stopped walking. He just stood and looked at the ground a few feet ahead of him. “Zoe, I could not bring myself to let the man live. I grabbed the young woman’s hand that was holding the knife and against her will I plunged the knife into the man’s stomach and dragged it to his chest…….that was the first man I had killed.” Victor put his hand out and Zoe flew into it. He stared at her for a couple of seconds without saying anything until he finally broke the silence. “I’m happy I killed him. I’m glad he was my first. But, what I regret was what I had done to her. When I had looked at the face of the young woman I knew I had stolen something. The thief had taken so many things from her and in the end she decided she would not kill him, in sparing his life she was keeping the last shred of innocence she had. I had stolen that last shred of innocence.” Victor raised Zoe higher to be eye level. “I’m not a good man and I have no intention of ever becoming a good man. I will always be a nuisance and care only for us. I am a killer, but please; don’t let me become a monster.”
​

Zoe nodded her head and almost cheerfully flew back onto Victor’s shoulder, and continued to hum the melody from before. “Good. Now let’s find a way into this fucken castle.”
​

A few minutes passed before Victor finally stumbled upon a way in. A fortified gate that was being guarded by two soldiers, one with average build the other as big as Victor himself. Victor grinned, because in that instant his plan formed. Victor took his armor and weapons, off hiding them in a bush. He motioned for Zoe to stay with his gear and then made his way passed a couple of trees into the view of the guards. The guards quickly noticed him as he emerged from the forest.
​

“Hold it! Who goes there?” The guards grabbed the hilts of their swords bracing themselves if the man would present himself as an enemy.
​

“Calm down. I was just trying to find the Sword Guild’s headquarters. I’m looking to join.” Victor made it clear he had no weapons or intentions to fight. He could see the guards loosened up but Victor’s size still troubled the men. “Am I close? You both look like members.”
​

“Make your way West and you run into a main road. Follow it and you will eventually make it to the Sword Guild.” The men did not entertain Victor’s questions. Victor stood but three yards from the guards, close enough for his next move.
​

“Big fellow, that is a nice suit of armor, I think it will fit me nicely.” Victor face contorted into a devilish grin. Just as the guard realized the threat Victor had bridged the gap between the two guards. Victor grabbed both by the helmet, one in each hand, lifted them off the ground, and slammed them into the stone wall behind them, all in one motion. The force and the whiplash of the men’s heads bouncing in their helmets had knocked them out cold.

“Hahaha, looks like the Sword Guild is getting pretty soft” Victor dragged both of the men into the bushes. Victor stripped the big one of his armor and rearmed himself with his sword and axe. He rummaged through his bag and pull out a smaller sac that contained some leafy herb. He put a pinch of it under the tongue of each guard. It was an herb that would keep the men asleep for about five hours, hopefully it would be enough time for Victor to make his way into the castle and find Flynn. Victor would have to leave his bag outside the wall. Victor, with his new attire, walked up to the gate and saw that it was locked. The guards did not have a key but it was not a problem. Victor put his hand over the lock and chanted something in elven. Slowly it froze and with a swing of his axe Victor broke through the lock.
​

 

[Cassette-Disk]

"Lift your wings to the side a little," The Lancer told her pegasus softly as the world around them melted away. Gone were the surrounding environment and people. The trees vanished in her mind and the only thing Mary could see were herself and Junie, both of which were standing deep in water that reached just a little under her hips. The Lancer rubbed at her partner's hair and washed away the fruity stains that were left behind. She found herself surrounded by tranquility as she did this: It was as if she were back home and everything was right in the world. Almost everything. The bath itself was surprisingly quick thanks to the fact the stains had yet to set in, and as Mary finished up, she rounded to Junie's face before embracing her as best she could. The horse lowered her neck in order to show her own affection, but this wouldn't last. Almost instantly Mary felt her companion tense up unnaturally, which in turn caused Mary to flinch and take two steps back as her serene world shattered like glass, revealing the real world that hid underneath.

"Junie?" She asked as the horse stepped back and forth uneasily in the water. "Junie, what's wrong? Is your foot caught?" Just as she asked, the pegasus walked towards shore with Mary close behind. Junie shook her head before letting out a small uncomfortable neigh. The Lancer again walked toward her partner's side and gently ran her hand through the pegasus' mane in hopes of comforting it. "You're okay, girl. It's alright," she cooed. Junie neighed once more and lifted her front legs up in the air, kicking them wildly while her wings outstretched themselves before planting herself back down. Mary looked up at her friend and just managed to spot something in the clouds above them. "Oh," she muttered as she stood there stunned. It was hardly noticeable and if it wasn't for the fact she frequented the skies so often, she would have easily discredited the sighting as the wings of a bird poking out of the clouds. However, she was much more in-tune with the airways and knew what she saw was far from a bird. "Junie, up." She finally said. The pegasus responded by once again spreading her wings as Mary mounted her and slowly began hovering upwards. Just as she was about to take off, Mary realized there were still two people with her. She looked down at the pair before bringing her eyes back to the skies. She would lose track of it if she waited too long, but Junie wouldn't be able to support the weight of all of them even if she wanted to take them both. The pegasus quickly lowered herself back to the ground at her partner's command before lowering herself slightly to make it easier for inexperienced riders to climb on top of her.

"I saw something up there that needs to be taken care of. Jeri, get on and hold on tight. I'm going to need your help with this. What's-your-name, go back to town. If I'm right and I mess this up, something bad is going to happen." As soon as the mage seated herself behind Mary, they shot up into the sky, propelled by Junie's strong jump. Just as she reached the jump's apex, the pegasus brought her wings out and began flapping in precise timing in order to gain more altitude. "Don't breathe through your mouth," Mary yelled over the winds, "that's a one way ticked to eating a bug. Hold on tight to my wast and it'll probably help to not look down." The pair climbed higher into the sky until they reached the approximate height Mary had spotted the dark scale segment. Moving forward and inside the clouds, it didn't take long for a large silhouette to appear in front of them. The damp atmosphere inside the white cloud caused a shiver to go down Mary's back as they closed the distance between them and the flying object.

In a single instant, all the clouds around them save for the ones below vanished and the pair could easily see what they were chasing. Roughly twice the size of Junie and covered in black scales, a winged lizard-like creature flew yards ahead of them. Its wings flapped much like Junie's but produced so much lift that it only needed to flap half as much as she did, though this caused it to bob in the air more than her. "A...dragon..." Mary mumbled as they cautiously flew closer. Though she was completely unsure of what to do in this situation, the sound of someone whistling caught her attention. She looked for the source and noticed a woman sitting on the dragon's neck, riding it in a similar fashion as the Lancer was, albeit without a saddle. The woman said something Mary couldn't make out before pointing downwards. As she did so, the dragon slowly began descending to the Earth below. Mary followed uncertainly and they touched down in the middle of a mountainous range away from town. Just as they landed, the woman easily jumped off the black dragon and spoke in a language neither the Lancer nor the mage had heard before. It was then the woman's face came back to Mary. "Victoria?!" Whether or not the woman recognized her was up in the air, as she instead continued to speak the foreign language. It took Mary a minute to realize she was actually speaking to the dragon instead of to the pair, though she still had no idea what was going on.

---​

"Hey Will, it looks like your new friend is tagging along," Sally said teasingly. The would-be swordsman turned around quickly, easily falling for the trick.
"Really? Where is she?" He looked through the crowd for several seconds before realizing she had pulled a fast one on him. "Why would you even do that to me?" He asked as she gave him a large grin.
"Because you're my friend. She was cute, Will! She even said she you were nice! Maybe we should hang around this town for a bit longer?"
"Well that's the plan anyway, isn't it? Assuming I can get into the Sword Guild, we'll be set up here somewhere, won't we?"
"I guess so...uh. Will?"
"Yeah?"
"S--she's here. For real this time."
"Yeah right. What's that saying? Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice--"
"Hi, William," a younger girl's voice said, interrupting him. The boy quickly turned and faced the girl they had met in the forest.
"Wha--you, what doing?"
"I think he means 'what are you doing here,'" Sally translated.
"Told parents I was coming. Said it'd be better if Guild saw the stone themselves. Parents agreed."
"And they just let you come by yourself?" Will asked
"They knew I could find you. I'm good at finding." the swordsman looked at his companion with a confused expression. The girl's odd speech reminded him of someone who was just learning the language but it was obvious she was only a few years younger than himself and at least twenty years old.
"I guess we don't really have a choice. We'll take you to the Sword Guild but then it's right back to the caravan." The girl smiled in response.
"Thank. Name's Alesh--Alexss--ah...my name is A-lex-is," she said with difficulty.
"Alexis?" The girl nodded, but before the trio could take a step forward, the large stone the girl held on to began to act strangely. "Please tell me I'm not the only one who sees that thing glowing bright yellow," Will pleaded.

---​

"Victoria, is that you?" Mary asked as she carefully climbed off her pegasus. Instead of answering, the woman continued to speak in the alien tongue which annoyed the Lancer despite the dragon standing near them, which was at least ten feet tall. Despite her annoyance, Mary was certain this was someone she knew. She was fairly dark-skinned with long black hair, and her petite physique had at one point fooled Mary into thinking she was a poor fighter. Her outfit was a single black dress with a large slit up the thighs, along with various trinkets that could be traced back to various monsters and creatures. Finally the woman spoke in the human language and addressed Mary and Jeri.
"There is an egg missing," she told them, completely ignoring Mary's questions, "the dragons are unsure of its exact location, but have tracked it to..." Her vision slowly landed on Jeri and her eyes narrowed angrily. "You have a captured creature," she said dangerously, "release it. Now."
"Wait, Victoria. We can explain--"
"Release the being."
"It...she was most likely being manipulated by a human. We plan to find the human in order to set things right and--"
"Release the fairy or I will scorch you both where you stand." Mary looked desperately at Jeri, unsure of how to proceed. Though at least now she knew what it felt like to be threatened at first glance.

 

[Max]

"Tomorrow is a thief of pleasure."
-Rex Harrison​

I climbed and I climbed. I'd felt like days, weeks even, had passed since I'd started climbing this wall. I'd wrapped around a tower and hopped to another wall before shimming around a corner. With each window I'd come to, I'd peak inside to see if anyone was there, and if the room was vacant I'd take a seat on the ledge to give my arms and my legs a short break.

As I carefully stuck my fingers between small cracks and crevices, I took the moment to look around me. I looked toward the direction where I'd started, and the window of Captain Regal I'd climbed out of was now already out of sight. The towers that were once blocking the view of the forest were now to my back in a way that if I turned, I could look above all of the trees of the forest. I couldn't help but wonder what was going on in there right now. Maybe some elves resided in the woods, or some types of beasts. Perhaps a boy just drew a magic sword from a stone, who knows. There were infinite possibilities in this world we lived in.

I rounded another corner and was able to see some of the city streets off in the distance. The people were so tiny, so very tiny. There was no way they could see me, I'd be the tiniest speck right here. I looked at a few speck-blob-people, one that was kind of blue, kind of red, and just pretended every single one was a beautiful woman. What a thought. Could be a delightful thought, but more likely a scary one... I had too much of a way of pissing women off to live in a city made up of nothing but them. Oh what a double edged sword a love of the female form could be to a simple thief. After a job like this, I could probably swoon any woman I wanted. Oh, the thought of being able to take a vacation with a beautiful woman or two with no worries of money or my next meal, this job could set me up.

I was jerked out of my daydream when I felt what was inevitably bird shit hitting my face. I looked up at a bird that fluttered its wings and perched above, and I immediately filled with rage. "Get over here you little bastard!"

The ascent began. It was as if my weakened muscles were no longer a thing, and I climbed with an adrenaline I hadn't felt since I hopped out of the window of the wife of the man whose clothes I was wearing. I gripped at each stone and crack, and just as I almost reach the bird, it glided away to a tower due south.

"I don't think so you little bugger!" I yelled to the bird as I shoved off the wall I was on to leap over to the tower the bird was headed for. My kick propelled me quicker than the bird's wings carried it, and as I crossed it's path in the air I drew my dagger and made a slicing motion at its head. I reached my hand out to catch a window ledge, and watched as the bird slipped away and flew off from the castle.

I wiped off my face and spit in the bird's direction as I shot it the nastiest glare I could. "I oughta take a shit over your nest and see how you like it you damn little bluh-hmph-nnn..." I mumbled off and growled as I gained an idea of where I'd placed myself, and I continued my climb. I didn't really stray off track in my attempt to get revenge on the bird, and I climbed ever onward with my destination in the back of my head. I would find the artifact, I would finish this job, and I would get the hell out of town for a while.

"What in the hell?..." I muttered to myself as I looked off in the distance. Far away in the distant clouds, I could see two figures flying around. They were too far away to make out, but all I could tell was that they weren't birds. "I sure as shit hope that they don't come around this way..." I said under my breath as I took the sight as an incentive to climb faster.

---------------------------------

The Boy With No Dream
Jil: Age 6​

Jil splashed through the mud as he chased after the firewood he'd dropped which made its way rolling down the hill. He finally caught up once it had reached the bottom, and stopped to take a breath, heaving like his life depended on it. Jil turned to look up the hill and realized what a hike he had to make back up with all of this wood, and knew that surely his mother wouldn't be happy.

It took him nearly forty minutes to get all of the wood back up the hill and into the wheelbarrow he'd been using. Several times he'd drop a log halfway up and would have to go back down for it. Finally having it all gathered back up though, he finished making his way home.

As Jil walked inside, he could immediately see the look of anger on his mother's face. She turned to him from their living room mirror, makeup half-on, a glare in her eyes. "Jil, it's freezing in here! You know nobody likes it when they come here and the house is freezing! I told you there'd be repercussions, but I'll deal with you later..."

Jil didn't want to think about later. Jil wanted to skip later and move on to tomorrow. He sat there scraped his shoe against the ground several times over, fidgeting back and forth.

"Well what are you waiting for? Fireplace, now! Listen, Jil, I can't do it all, I can't keep us fed and keep this house going and do it all by myself! You need to step up a bit, okay?" She finished putting on her makeup as Jil worked some logs into the tiny fireplace, and then his mother strode across the room to him and grabbed his face. I'm sorry. I don't like it any better than you like it. But this is where we ended up, and this is where we are right now. If I could go back and change things, I wouldn't. My decisions led me to having you, and who knows what I might screw up if I changed anything."

Jil's eyes watered up as he hugged his mother, and then there was a knocking on the door. His mom immediately got up and answered as if it were urgent, and a man stepped right on in. "It's damn cold in here..." The man said as he second guessed removing his coat. Jil's mother removed it for him, then motioned towards an open door leading to the back room in the house.

"Well let's warm you up then," she said in a sweet voice. The man glanced Jil's direction, and as Jil's mother led him through the door to the back room, she shooed their little puppy out into the living area. Jil listened as the door slammed shut and bolted, and he whistled for the dog to come his way.

"C'mere Crackers, c'mon..." Jil patted and snapped and eventually got the puppy over to him. He smiled a little bit as he ran his hands over the puppy's ears and rubbed his belly. The pair made their way to the table where some bread and butter sat on a plate, Jil's dinner, and he grabbed it and crawled under the table with Crackers. As the two snuggled together, he ripped small pieces off of the bread, and alternated putting a piece in his mouth, and then in his puppy's. He'd found the little guy on the streets eating crumbs out of an empty box of crackers, and when he brought him home his mother told him she couldn't afford to take care of him. Jil begged and promised he could do it, and he'd been splitting his meals with him ever since.

As the two finished the bread, Jil peered out from under the table and glanced around the room. He looked at the fire that had started crackling, looked at the door that his mother and the man were locked behind, and then shifted his gaze to his corner of the living room. In his corner sat his bed, his clothes trunk, and his broken toy sword. What a stupid dream he thought. Like he would ever be a knight. At this rate, all he wanted was a good place for he and Crackers to stay warm, have their own room, and eat more than bread or broth every night.

 

[KingdomKey]

If there was one thing I learned from this encounter with Pietro, it was that he talked a lot. Perhaps he likes to hear himself talk? Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if most of the Swords Guild members were like this too. Although, I might be being a little unfair here. I felt myself shifting from foot to foot as I grew uncomfortable from standing still as I waited for him to cease talking. I knew he meant well, but I felt like what he saying was common knowledge that he could've paid for, or learned from his grunts reports on the both of us. "Pietro, we've only just met. I'm not really sure how you could come to like me in such a short amount of time after trying to engage in a fight with a mage and a well respected lancer. You accused me of stealing a common faerie until I stole the pants right off of you with my magic and left you in a compromising position with the tables turned on you. You're nice and all but, this sappy talk of yours isn't working in your favor. Buy me a drink sometime and then we'll talk." I gave him a cheshire grin as I swung my cane loosely around my index finger before throwing it up in the air and catching it in the back of my hand.

"However, I am sorry for your losses at such a young age. Your mother is well respected among the mages at our Library." I inclined my head in respect as I pressed my cane against my chest before jumping back apprehensively at the huge dog coming out of the bushes. What does he feed it?! It's so huge! I tried to keep calm as I recited what I knew about the creature. And how not to become its next meal. It wasn't till Pietro asked me to continue about the chaos in town a second time did I snap out of it and stopped looking at its mouth, pretending I was fine. "I believe your fellow guild members should be the ones to tell you all about it. I only arrived on the scene in time when people were running and-"

I stopped talking upon Mary's returned, quickly noticing the serious expression on her face as she hastily explained something was wrong. I nodded in understanding and knew this talk with Pietro would have to wait another time. I gave him a sympathetic smile as I took my seat and clung onto... well, there wasn't really anything to cling onto as I sat there on the pegasus. I let out a startled scream as Junie shot up off the ground real high except it was more like a gasp as I blindly grabbed hold of Mary for dear life. I had my eyes shut tight in fear before I heard Mary talking over the wind with a crash course of instructions on how to ride a pegasus. "Couldn't you of told me that on the ground first?" I asked half jokingly, with a forced laugh before I loosened my grip around Mary's waist and took in my surroundings. "Hey, this isn't half bad!" I grinned until I looked down to see how high up we were and closed my eyes again real tight. My heart beating a mile a minute as I tried to calm down. Haha, calm down, who am I kidding? I'm going to die up here! I'm going to die. That's it. I'm going to die because, death was playing cat and mouse with me earlier and wants revenge. At least I can die happy, saying I was with a striking beauty who probably let me cope a feel by accident- oh god, that's mortifying! I should die! As if this day couldn't get more ridiculous, I saw a dragon when I peeked out from behind Mary's back. I must be hallucinating, wait- what? Mary can see it too?!

After a minute or so, we were thankfully on the ground again. ​Hallelujah! I remained seated on Junie as Mary confronted the dragon and Victoria. I felt confused as I sat on the sidelines and watched everything unfold before me for a second time that day. Or so I thought when Victoria glared at me. What did I do?! I threw my hands up in the air in dismay before finally hopping down off of Junie. Admittedly, I forgot I had Faye in my pocket. Sheesh, if this was going to keep happening I would've said good riddance to Faye the first time around, what with all the trouble I keep landing into because of her! "What is it with everyone and goddamn faeries?" When I didn't get an answer, I knew this was going from bad to worse. "Alright, alright! I'll let her go. I wasn't going to harm the faerie in the first place. There's no need to scorch us alive!"

Unlike the trouble I went through the first time around to retrieve Faye from Pietro's clutches, I knew I couldn't get away with it a second time with Victoria. Something tells me clothes wouldn't matter to Victoria one way or another in a fight. This wasn't a battle where either of us could come out of it unscathed if I tried to deny her demands or bluff my way through it. Not when a dragon tipped the scales and could fry me alive before I could enchant it fast enough. Mary may be strong enough to take on Victoria, but a dragon isn't something I'm an expert at in battle. Unless a frying pan to the head works? Warily did I take out the orb from out of my robes and unseal the spell locking Faye inside of it. Apart of me hated to lose, but surviving was more important right now. So I let Faye go and watch her fly about on her merry way.

"Are you happy now?" I demanded with as much sarcasm as possible.

 

[LatinoHeat90]

“How do they wear these things?” Victor grunted as he moved the helmet around on his head. It was the right size but Victor was not accustom to wearing a helmet. He had a firm belief that if you can’t protect your own head then you deserve to get it loped off. Victor made his way around the grounds of the castle. He didn’t know what Flynn looked like; a lapse in his plan that he was afraid would undo him. He was also watching the other guards and knights of the castle, many of which had glanced at him in wonder. Victor knew exactly why they were giving him this look, the sword and axe on his back. They were wondering from which establishment he was from, the Axe Brigade or the Sword Guild. Victor already had a story thought up that would allow him to get past lower rank soldiers, but if a high ranking official were to stop him they would easily see through his lie. Cautiously, Victor searched for anything that might give him a clue on the whereabouts of Flynn.
​

“Why, isn’t this something? You are the second man I have come across today that seems to be lost. Or perhaps you are looking for something? Victor turned to find a woman with brown curls falling over the shoulders of her bright yellow dress. She wore white gloves, and held an umbrella over her head to shade herself from the sun.
​

“No ma’am. I am just on routine patrol.” Victor’s voice was stern and official, imitating that of a soldier.
​

“Is that so? Well, that is no fun. It would be much more exciting if you were on a manhunt.” She giggled at her comment. Victor was starting to get worried that she knew what he was doing, but that would be impossible. “There was a handsome man here earlier and he had himself a map of the castle. He told me that he gets lost easily but he did not look like one that forgets often. It was an odd thing really; he has been on my mind for the past half an hour now.” The woman moved closer to Victor. Victor felt the woman’s stare, looking deep into his eyes, he felt as if she could see everything he was hiding. “Now I find you. I am meeting so many odd people today; it really is a great day.” She was so very close to Victor now. He was frozen and did not what to do. The woman placed her hand on the side of Victor’s helmet, caressing it slowly. “I bet you are handsome too.” Victor quickly grabbed the woman’s hand which startled her. Victor finally collected himself.
​

“Ma’am, I must get back to my patrol. If you need anything we have men posted throughout the castle. Have a good evening” Victor let go of her hand, which she placed on her cheek. Victor walked past her and found the nearest door and walked into the castle. As he made his way through the door he looked back to see the woman standing in the same place he had left her, with a grin on her face that gave Victor a chill.
​

Victor closed the door and leaned his back against it in exhaustion. “What the hell was that!?” He had no clue what the woman was trying to do or if she knew anything about his mission. “I fear no man, Zoe, but women are a different thing entirely.” Zoe moved around her case in reply. He tried to understand everything that had just happened. It sounded as though this man she spoke of was Flynn but could Victor really go back out there and ask her. Victor gut told him to stay away from that woman and every part of his body thought it was a good idea too. Victor decided he would continue his search inside in fear of running into the woman again.

The castle was huge. Every door lead to a room, within that room more rooms, hallways that connected to one another which lead to more rooms. Victor astonishment gave to rage. Why the hell would man feel the need to create such a large, obnoxious castle such as this one? Eventually Victor found himself in a place he felt he could relax before continuing his search. Victor took a seat at the dining table in the small sub kitchen of the castle. A man with odd colored hair approached Victor.



“Do you need anything, Sir?” The man gave Victor an uneasy smile.
​

“What do you have?” Victor wasn’t hungry but this gave him a reason to sit down for a second.
​

“Well, we haven’t really finished preparing anything for the festivities but I do have some chowder that is ready.” The man’s smile turned apologetic for not having more to offer.
​

“That will do.” Victor accepted. The man walked away and began to ladle chowder into a wooden bowl. Victor sat and started racking his brain on what to do next. With a castle this large he would never find Flynn in time. It was not like Flynn would be stumbling around the castle like Victor. Victor gave a frustrated sigh as the waiter, or whatever he was, gave Victor the bowl of chowder.
​

“Is there anything else I can get you?” The man asked.
​

“Yeah, a thief has snuck into the castle in the guise of a wealthy noble. If you could get me that thief I would greatly appreciate it.” Victor’s tried to loosen some of his frustration by joking with the man. Victor took off his helmet to show the man his grin as to confirm he was joking. But when Victor took his helmet off and looked at the man his grin quickly faded. The man was sweating gallons and a look of horror had descended upon his face. The man tried to turn to hide his face but it was too late. Victor grabbed his wrist and squeezed so tight the man’s wrist popped and snapped, breaking multiple bones. The man was about to scream out in pain but Victor grabbed the man’s face too.

"I have seen that look before." Victor whispered in a hoarse, menacing voice. "It is the look of a man with little resolve, claimed by fear.....inexperienced." Victor laughed knowing that he was scaring the shit out of the man he was holding. The man struggled to breath, Victor's hand blocking his airway. "Flynn probably thinks he is safe, he doesn't know that I am on his heels." Victor let go of the man's wrist and grabbed the butter knife off the table. "Do you know how bad it hurts to get a figure cut off with a butter knife?" Again, Victor whispered into the man's ear. The man screamed under Victor's hand in response. "Haha, neither do I, but you will be finding out shortly."
​

 

[Roxie1563]

I chuckled at Jeri's reaction to Rep when he popped out of the bushes and even by her appearance, I could tell she was trying to figure out how to not become its next meal when I reassured her about it. "Jeri, I'm pretty sure he doesn't eat you," I smiled at her as I petted his head which caused him to start his motor, growling happily. "After all, he only eats what I give him when we're in the Mess back at the Guild."

I became surprised at Jeri's jab at me and my big mouth. I realized that my talking must had gone too far and I'm sure it must had annoyed her greatly. I quickly apologized to her for my actions when she told me to take her out for drinks sometimes as forgiveness for the babbling. Smiling at her, I nodded my thanks and told her I would be sure to do that. "You know, it might just happen sooner than you think, Jeri," I spoke out, thinking of what of my plans should be if that day ever arrived when Mary came back quick than I thought.

"Hey, Mary," I welcomed her back. "How was the clean-" I started to ask when her entire being gave out that there was something going on that I got up on my feet, ready for whatever caused Mary to be all alarmed. That's when she told me to haul ass back in town in case she screwed up on something.

I narrowed my eyes at her, ready to tell her that I don't take orders from a flying queen when her and Jeri got on Junie and suddenly took off, leaving dust into my eyes. "Gah!" I yelled out in surprise and rubbed my face and eyes to get rid of the dust. "Of all things.." I mumbled to myself as I made my way to the water and managed to clean my eyes out.

"Ahh.." I sighed in relief, my eyes up looking at the sky. However that relief turned into wonder for whatever caused Mary and Jeri to take off, I didn't know for sure, but hopefully whatever the crisis was, I felt sure those two would handle it as an smile came across my face when Rep barked back in worry and turned around to where the town is. I nodded my head and picked up my stuff then both of us ran back north back to town, my mind preparing of a plan in case if that trouble ever escaped from those two . Within 10 to 20 minutes max, the sight of the town finally came up as we took some small break then continued on until finally did we enter inside town that I looked around and found out that we were in the town Square.

My mouth dropped in amazement as far as the eye could tell that there was some kind of event that already took place as some members of the other Guilds including mine were still cleaning the mess when I noticed Fredrick in the distance, barking orders left and right. I smirked at that because as far I knew of him, he wasn't exactly reliable in these sort of things; However it would be prudent to find out what happened here, though I had the feeling that this was what Jeri was trying to tell me as I made my way to Fredrick.

"Hey, Fred," I spoke out in earnest as I gave out my hand in which he responded in return, our hands shaking. "What happened here?" I asked. Fredrick just shook his head and proceed to tell me the story. "Well, it was chaos everywhere!" He said to me as he kept his eyes on the workers. "People said some kind of horse got loose and caused a stampede that took some of the market out of business."

"Anyone got hurt?" I questioned him as I scanned the entire thing out of concern. Fredrick snorted to that. "Absolutely not and I believe if it wasn't for that runt of a mage, things would have gotten more worse than it is now. You know the rumors, don't you? A girl with a tiger paw for a hand.. Ha! I don't think so.." Fredrick laughed at that in mock.

I wasn't laughing at that for sure and I showed him my feelings as I gave him a punch in the face for ridiculing my new friend as he got knocked down on his ass, totally out of it. "Fred.. Keep your trap shut," I spoke to his face, one of his side of the face showing signs of bruises. "It's not you at all.. And I don't believe in rumors about friends."

Satisfied with the damage I gave him, I gave out a whistle to Rep and we went on our way to the guild. I knew whatever Mary was going to bring in town, it would be wise to get all the Guilds ready. It wasn't until we nearly made our way to the Guild that Rep started growling really loud that it got me off guard.

I frowned and tried to get Rep to tell me what was going on, but just as I almost got him to calm down, he shot off in the direction of the castle. "Hey!" I shouted at him as I followed him.

As soon as we both reached and entered inside the courtyard where the festival was still going on, my instincts went off as well did Rep because he kept on going straight ahead to the castle. I wondered why Rep was acting like this when I felt a rock coming down on my head and boy did it hurt when it hit me hard as I fell down to the ground hard, but what was left of my armor managed to take the toll, my entire head feeling like lead.

Just before I fell unconscious, I managed to take a peek up to see where it came from but failed to do so as the darkness overcame me, my best buddy whining as he stood guard over my body.

 

[Songbird]

Well, it Could be Worse​

As I entered the castle I did my very best to match the footfalls of the noble walking several hundred feet ahead. After the blinding daylight the dark, wall sconce-lit corridors of the castle were difficult to discern until my eyes adjusted. I couldn't mask my steps in the beginning, but he didn't seem to notice my tail...

The man cocked his head ever so slightly but continued on seemingly the same. My instincts as a thief screamed that he could be listening, and I darted behind a protruding section of stone. My mismatched steps echoed ominously in the dark, and his gaze swiveled around behind him in that moment. He scanned the area with a piercing glance before continuing on; his demeanor never once betraying if he thought he was truly being followed or not. In the dark it was hard to make out details from the brief moment I'd seen his face, but there was a fairly discerning feature there that I committed to memory. I did not know who this man was, but whatever his reasons for being here (sneaky noble doing something dishonorable or not) I decided I did not want to see that face during my stay. An eyepatch was not something you got for being too weak to defend yourself - you got a six-foot hole with your name on it for that.

Breaking off pursuit I stayed in my alcove as he walked away, turning down a long and twisting corridor and disappearing from sight. But...if I wasn't going to tail the man why stay? I turned and crept back to the doorway, its shaft of blinding light like a beacon leading me out of this dank and sad house of nobility.

Forgetting about suspicious things was how you got by on the streets. I'd always been too curious for my own good, and I tried to learn from those mistakes. But there were times when I'd been caught poking my nose where it didn't belong. Why, there was even that time when I was younger that I'd gotten caught stealing a loaf of bread during a festival here in Blueshire. The guard had grabbed me and tried to cut off my hand. After that I-

Suddenly my mind went blank. I scratched my head, wondering if I'd simply forgotten the memory. But- how had I escaped? It wasn't as if I was having difficulty drawing up the memory. It was more like...like there was nothing there. Like a black void yawning, opening its maw to a tunnel in the earth...

I fell to my knees clutching my head, bracelet burning. I had no idea what to do. Suddenly it was as if I was not even there. My senses stretched outward in every direction. I could hear voices coming but their words were like some foreign tongue to me. I knew where I was - that I needed to get out and head towards the light. I couldn't go back to the dark place. There was a door, right? I needed to feel the sun but I lay there, eyes wide and staring, unable to move, bracelet searing my wrist with its cold heat.

That was how they found me of course. I knew they were coming but I could not figure out how to get up. It was like I'd simply forgotten how. Arms carried me deeper into the castle, the light from the doorway slowly moving further away. I could finally grasp meekly for it, but after the effort everything went dark to the sound of voices and footsteps and my cloak swishing across the floor as I was dragged away.

__________​

I woke up in chains. My arms were lifted above me, the cuffs for my wrists dangling from chains higher up on the wall. The upper half of my body ached from being suspended upright, so I stood up. The weakness from before was entirely gone, and I avoided thinking about the past to avoid another spell. Had that ever happened before..? No. I was not thinking about it.

I tugged on the chains as they rattled loudly. The wristcuffs were linked together by an iron bar and suspended by some pretty sturdy chains from a hook on the wall near the ceiling. It was likely up that high to avoid leverage or people trying to dig it out or bend it. I could easily climb up with my strength, but I couldn't break free from the bar between my wrists and I wasn't sure how long I could hold on before I fell back down. But it was all I had at the time.

I took stock of the room. Well, actually it was a cell for holding prisoners short-term. These were typically closer to the central main floor of whatever place you got caught and thrown into. They normally kept prisoners in these places right before their sentence was carried out. Pretty sure I was here because the main dungeon was full with prisoners whose sentencing was delayed due to the artifact festival...

I sat down on the cold stone floor thoughtfully. What was the artifact? Was it big? Was it small? Could it be a precious gem or a magical book or something? I had no idea what it could be. Or why it was so important. As much as I didn't want to be for fear of more trouble: I was still curious. That's when I made up my mind.

"I'm going to go see it first." I smiled at the thought of a lowly thief boy sabotaging all this good fun. I didn't need the thing...But I wanted a bit of revenge for being thrown in a cell for no discernable reason. And in such weak bindings! I sighed and stood up, giving myself a moment to gague my jump and leaping, using the bar to hold onto the hook as I tore it from the wall. Dust and grit rained from the new hole in the decor as I landed lightly back on the ground below. Using the hook I smashed it a new home in the floor. Wrapping the chains around it I charged, feet literally cracking the stone floor as I heeled and threw my full strength into it. The links shattered with a mighty clang and I was flung back into the wall with a hard cracking sound.

I shook it off seemingly unharmed. At least I wasn't in any pain, but that noise had suggested otherwise. I was pretty sure I'd never had to exert that kind of force before. With only the bar and wristcuffs left I tried to crane my neck to check my shoulder. It had taken the brunt of the hit...

My golden eyes lit up the injury slightly in my alarm. Instead of blood or broken bones, cracks spidered from the point of impact. The point being a slightly large hole in my upper back.

Breathing ragged with fright I closed my eyes and told myself this was all a dream. I'd wake up in the castle orchard and not down here in what I expect was the castle dungeon. Pretty sure the sound of the alarmed (and heavily-armored by the sound of him) guard coming screamed 'castle' about as loudly as anything could.

 

[Cassette-Disk]

The three woman watched as the small pixie flew free from its entrapment. Even the large black dragon gazed lazily at the tiny creature as it rose before letting out an audible breath of air.
"Are we okay?" Mary asked earnestly.
"Yes, but I'm surprised you would capture an innocent creature after the time you've spent with me," the woman gave a small smile at tapped her forehead in contemplation.
"It's not that simple, Vicky! Whoever ordered that fairy around had done so in a vile nature and could have hurt a lot of people!"
"So you take it out on the fairy? Have you considered what she must have been going through? You trapped her in a prison and made her future uncertain, who knows the amount of fear and anxiety she must have felt." Mary thought back to her comment of jokingly ripping off the fairy's wings and felt a pang of guilt. "Do you know what it's like to have your freedom stripped from you? To have a bleak and hopeless future because someone snatched it away from you, all the while they believe themselves to be superior to you? Because I do." The Lancer didn't say anything and instead let out an internal sigh. Once Victoria went on this type of rant, there would be no stopping her.
"She's... been through a lot," Mary whispered to Jeri before addressing Victoria, "Right, sorry about that. But what were you saying about the dragon? Something about an egg?"
"An egg is missing, yes. They aren't sure how it was removed but somehow it's found its way to Blueshire. You and your friend wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"
"What?! I just got here!" Mary turned to face Jeri when something clicked in her head: "We're supposed to be guarding some kind of artifact that's going to be revealed today," she said slowly, locking her eyes with Jeri's before whipping back to face the Beastmaster, "The Flying Lancers were brought in to watched the skies, but who would attack from there?"
"Dragons," Victoria answered darkly.
"I was told the object was small--tiny enough to fit in the palm of your hand."
"If it hasn't been nursing off of anybody, than the egg should be around that size. It must be what they are going to reveal." Without a second's hesitation, Victoria climbed onto the dragon's back, preparing to leave. The dragon shuttered unnaturally as she did so, and the woman explained: "the egg is resonating. It's definitely in this town."
"Wait! You're not going to bring a dragon that big into town, are you?!"
"Transmutation magic, Maryanne. I know my way around humans enough to not cause a panic when it isn't needed."

The large black dragon began to beat its wings, causing strong gusts of winds that forced the two women to shield their eyes from debris as the beast lifted off. Once it was gone, Mary let out a deep sigh.
"I'm sorry, Jeri. I've dragged you into this out of fear. I was worried we would have to fight the dragon...though in hindsight I'm not sure how much good that would have done," she ended the last sentence in a defeated tone, "What a bunch of nonsense. Let me take you back to town at least, then you won't have to deal with me anymore."

---
​

"Glow," Alexis whispered as the rock she held onto continued to shine brightly. Will and Sally exchanged worried glances, unsure of how to proceed.
"Rocks don't just...glow, do they?" Will asked.
"Not normally."
"So this isn't normal?"
"What part of this feels normal to you?!"
"You're the mage! Shouldn't you know about this kind of stuff?"
"What part of 'fire mage' don't you understand?! This isn't in my skill book! Come back when your hair catches on fire, then I can help!"
"I thought all mages had some experience in other fields?!"
"I never learned through the Magical Library! Do I look like some fancy rich sorceress to you?"
"Glow..." Alexis urged. The pair turned to face her and realized that the stone had faded back to normal while they were bickering. "No more," the girl muttered sadly. The pair once again exchanged worried glances, still unsure of how to proceed.
"Glowing rocks don't just...stop glowing, do they?"
"Really, Will?" After a small exchange, the trio decided it would be best to head to the Sword Guild as soon as possible.
"Was there a fight or something while we were gone?" William asked, "There are some broken stalls and stuff that look--" he stopped as he let out an audible gasp. In the skies above them flew a squad of Flying Lancers. The majority of them raced across the air while some lazily glided on the airways. "Are those pegasuses?!"
"I'd wager 'pegasi' is the right plural term."
"I think lots of pegasus are pegasus," Alexis interjected.
"Wow! Check them out! They're amazing!"
"'Check them out,' huh? You should watch your wording. Most of the pegasus knights are female and probably wouldn't like it if you think you're only interested in their looks."
"Will only likes pretty girls?"
"Stop!" The swordsman cried, his face beat red, "I just meant they look awesome flying around! Why do you have to do this kind of thing to me?!"
"It builds character," Sally answered before sticking out her tongue.

It wouldn't take long for the group to reach their destination, but Sally paused, causing Will to stop as well.
"What's up?"
"I think that guy got attacked by that dog," she told him, pointing at a downed man. A large dog stared toward them, almost as if watching them.
"Yikes. That thing's huge! What's it eat, other dogs?"
"Dog has knife," Alexis murmured.
"Holy crap she's right! On its collar! Who gives their dog a freaking knife?!"
"Dog," Alexis yelped happily as she made her way to the large animal.
"Wait! What if it--" Too late. Already Alexis was petting the dog who, at worst, didn't seem to mind.
"I think one of my red hairs turned grey," Sally sighed as she approached Alexis. "Who's this guy? Seems weird to take a nap in the middle of town."
"Yeah, at least we go into the forest or something."
"Probably not something you should say out loud, Will."
"Sorry. Kind of funny that instead of helping everyone just walks passed him though." Just then the man started to stir, causing Will and Sally to back away, though Alexis seemed content to continue petting the large dog, gently scratching behind its ears.

 

[Max]

"A thief is a thief, whether he steals a diamond or a cucumber."
-Indian Proverb​

I could hear the gusts of wind shifting, louder-quieter-louder-quieter, slowly at first and then quicker. I started hustling sideways along the wall towards the closest window to me, and stretched my arm out to pull myself in. I could start feeling the wind getting stronger in my direction, it would be here any second. I took a leap of faith and pushed off the wall at an awkward angle to work myself to that window. As soon as I felt my fingers scrape against that stone, I felt like I used every muscle in my body to pull my self up and over the frame to get inside that damn window. Mind you, it was only the muscles in my arm that were required to pull myself in, but my whole body was tense enough that I think I was flexing muscles I didn't need to.

I turned and glanced out the window just in time to see three Flying Lancers pass right by. They'd started patrolling sooner than I'd anticipated, and had I climbed the tiniest bit slower then they would have wrapped around that corner and found me climbing. I was startled when I heard the sound of a goblet hitting the ground and immediately directed my attention towards a bed that a scared young boy was laying in.

I put my finger to my lips in a gesture for him to keep quiet, and he hesitantly nodded his head as I moved towards his bed. "I'm going to have to ask you not to tell anybody about this, do you understand?" The boy said nothing as his breathing sped up. "C'mon, you can speak to me, just don't be too loud and don't make any sudden movements."

He slowly shifted his arms out from under some blankets so only his waist was covered, and he held himself in his arms the way a person does when they're cold. He was in an expensive silk pajama shirt and his blankets were trimmed with gold thread. I took a quick look around the room and took notice of the fancy adornments before redirecting my glare at the boy. It was then that I realized I was in the presence of royalty, a boy perhaps around age 11. Who he was though was yet to be known.

"I..." the boy started and then looked down towards the foot of the bed, "I won't tell anyone, and I don't think I'll be going anywhere soon." His voice was shaky, and then he locked eyes on mine. "Are you going to hurt me?"

"No, I'm not here to hurt you."

"Well what then, are you going to take me away?" The shakiness in his voice was gone, it was replaced by an emotion I couldn't quite put my finger on. "If you're going to take me to try and make an exchange, I warn you that my father is stern. It would be my mother..." He trailed off.

"Okay, I don't know you too well, but let me just say that based on your demeanor and the way you speak, you don't seem like an overly stupid boy."

"What are you saying, stranger?"

"I'm saying you don't seem ignorant enough to just start giving me ransom advice should I have been an abductor. So why then? Why would you help me?" I stroked my chin and felt the scratch of my scruff against my fingers, and the look in the boy's eyes suggested he knew the cogs in my head were turning.

"Don't be ridiculous, I wasn't helping you! I was merely frantically spitting things out was all, I would never actively help somebody to kidnap me."

I stood and started pacing the room, not minding the boy's stare still fixated on me.

"Stranger?"

I walked over and looked out the window again, and saw Flying Lancers off flying above another tower on the castle's east side. My intel had provided that the lancers wouldn't have been flying directly over the castle for a while longer, not unless my judgement of the time had been off.

"Stranger?!" I stepped away from the window and contemplated the number of lancers that had passed by. Three; my intel had also insisted that there should only have been two around this area with several groups of three and four around more key areas. Had they simply decided to up the security? But this decision couldn't have been last second, because it's a long journey to Blueshire from Fayfield- "Well why are you here then?! Stop ignoring me!"

I quickly strode over to the boy's bed threw one hand over his mouth while the other pushed one of my daggers against his neck. "What did I say about staying quiet, boy? Now I'm not an assassin, I promise you that, but I'm not going to let your squabbling mess this up. Now I could hear you, I promise, but I just didn't think it was any of your business to know why I'm here. So, I'm going to remove my hand from your mouth, and you're going to keep it down this time so that I don't have to do something neither of us will enjoy."

I pulled my hand away and slipped my dagger away and began pacing the room again. The boys green eyes were large with fright when I left him, but in looking back over at him, they just looked dull as he stared at his blanket.

"Whenever you're done- doing whatever it is you're doing in here, then what? How can you trust that I won't speak out once I know I'm safe." He said this without looking up at me, almost as if he were talking to himself.

"Do you want me to do something bad to you, boy, are you seeking something of the sort from me?"

"No, not really."

"What are you seeking then?" I approached the bed and crossed my arms. He looked up at me with surprise before his eyes drifted away to another part of the room.

"I want to leave. I'm cooped up in this room all of the time. They send handy people up to wash me and bathe me, and even play games with me. But that's not enough, I only ever get to leave for meals, and even then if we have guests my food is brought to me. I guess I can't lie when I say that maybe an exciting thought or two didn't race through my head when I thought you were here to take me. The only worry I really had was how you might treat a prisoner in your care."

"Are you saying that to keep you quiet, you want me to kidnap you?"

"I said nothing of the sort! You essentially asked what I desired, and that was it. There is no way you could take me out of here even if you wanted to."

I snickered as I looked down at the boy's keen expression. "I'm a professional, it isn't like we'd be using the doors, you're so sure I couldn't do it?"

The boy frowned as he grabbed the blankets that covered his lower half and pulled them away to reveal his legless waist.

---------------------------------

The End of Boyhood
Jil: Age 7​

Jil splashed through the mud as he lunged out the front and began sprinting through the rain. Crackers was at his side, but the dog ceased running the moment Jil's hair got jerked on from behind and he was thrown to the ground.

"Where do ye think yer goin' ye lil shit?!" The large man with a moustache that looked like a caterpillar bellowed. He hoisted Jil up and tossed him back inside the house where Crackers quickly followed.

"Please, Beatrice, please just let my son go!" Jil's mother pleaded with a woman. The woman was shorter and didn't have much bulk, but she was still fit and had a full head of long, soot-black hair.

"Take it easy Benny, don't break the boy just yet. Just make sure he doesn't go running off again." The woman named Beatrice straightened her collar as Benny took post in front of the exit to Jil's home, and then she approached Jil's mother slowly in a manner that left him feeling uncomfortable. "Now you listen to me, I made you a good offer. You could have come and worked exclusively for me, and continued to feed your son like nothing was even really changing. But then I start noticing some of my customers quit showing up so regularly, and when I station one of my people, my worst suspicion came true. Here you were, running a little business on the side-"

"I didn't mean anything by it I-" Jil flinched as Beatrice smacked his mother across the face with the back of her hand.

"Please don't interrupt me. Now, you knew this had to be exclusive, I don't like competition. And while your little house isn't exactly something to put me out of business, this whole thing has just been rubbing me the wrong way. Now, I might be able to look this over, only this once, since I'm so generous. IF, that is, you pay me back what you stole."

"What I stole?"

"Yeah, the business you drew here all of those times, pay me the rates you charged them and we'll be square."

"I- I don't have it..." Jil's mother was quivering on her knees at Beatrice's feet.

"Hmm, well now that's a problem. What could you have spent it on? This shit-hole certainly doesn't look any better. And you still don't have any food. Did you give it to some man? Did you fall in love? Did you buy yourself some nice jewelry that's hidden under a floorboard, something you dare not wear in your current living state, but caress from time to time?" Beatrice approached the living room table and slowly slid a clay vase Jil had made for his mother across the table until it fell off the edge and shattered on the wooden floor. "Well it appears that was empty; no hidden treasures came spilling out. How shall you be compensating me then?"

"No, not him!" Jil's mother yelled as Beatrice glided across the room to Jil, still laying where Benny had thrown him. Beatrice grabbed his face, cheeks between her fingers, and started turning his head back and forth examining him.

"He's not the kind of business I deal in, you know that. I'm just trying to decide if I could put him to work or not. He's so scrawny, more so than when first I had met him. Have you been feeding this boy less?" She let go of him and took a few steps back. "He seems like he'd be pretty worthless, this boy isn't even starting to become a man."

"Take the dog, do with him as you will," Jil's mother offered. He felt his chest tighten up as Beatrice, turned her gaze toward the dog.

"That hardly seems like fair compensation... Tell you what, we'll take the dog now, to pay for the trouble Benny's had to go through tonight. He's been such a sweetheart in making sure that we weren't at each other's throats. Then I'll let you start coming back to work tomorrow, exclusively for me, no days off. We'll work the rest out later."

"Okay..."

"NO!" Jil screamed as he ran over and grasped Crackers.

"I'm being very generous with you right now, keep your boy in line or things will just get worse." Beatrice said to Jil's mother. She headed towards the door while Benny crossed paths with her and went right for the dog in Jil's arms.

"No! No you leave him alone you piece of shit!" Jil screamed as he fought back tears and wrestled to keep the man from pulling Crackers from the safety of his arms.

"Watch yer mouth lil one, I don't 'preciate bein' spoken to like that!" Benny grabbed a handful of the dog's hair and started yanking trying to get him away from Jil. The dog howled and yelped as Jil was jerked around with Crackers in his grasp. Jil cried as he considered which one of them may have been hurting him more, and then he heard popping as Crackers's skin was being pulled up from his muscle.

"No no nononono, Crackers, I am so sorry!!!" Jil sobbed as he let go, unable to let his little friend suffer any more partially due to him.

Benny walked back to the now open front door and stood beside Beatrice holding the dog. He set the dog on the ground and watched as it lay on its side twitching and making unbearable noises.

"Roll over puppy." Benny ordered to the dog that could barely move. Benny reached his hand out towards the dog. "Shake? Beatrice, puppy is broken! Play dead!" The dog continued the same as it had been before and in a rage Benny lifted it by its neck and squeezed. "Waste of air!"

Jil rushed at Benny and slammed his shoulder into Benny's privates as hard as he could, dropping Benny to a knee. Without a word, Beatrice kicked Jil in the face and ripped off his shirt.

"Beatrice no I'm sorry!" his mother yelled, but it was too late.

"I told you to keep him in line, but you just don't seem to take me seriously." Jil began to crawl away when Beatrice stomped her heel into the back of his calf, and then she proceeded to unbuckle the whip she wore at her hip. "You hurt my worker, and it's time for you to face some real world consequences. This will be your first step towards becoming a man." At that moment she lashed the whip at Jil's back. It left a horrible red mark on his back, and then she lashed again and it split the skin. Jil's mom looked away as he made animal-esque shrieking noises with each lash. At nine scars on his back, she lifted her foot and moved towards the exit once again. Jil, powerless, lay belly down on the cool wood floor. He could see little wet spots on the wood from his tears and his slobber, kind of the same as when you see rain spots in the dirt. He looked with his blurry vision over at Crackers, who had stopped moving, and watched as Benny picked the dog up with both hands and started making a twisting motion. As his vision got blurrier, the last thing he could make out was the man dropping Crackers on the ground in two pieces before he and Beatrice made their exit.

 

[Roxie1563]

"Ohh.." I moaned out loud as I slowly got up to a sitting position, rubbing the back of my tender head. Who knew rocks could cause so much damage to a head? Slowly, I was able to blink my eyes to clear the pain that seems to vibrate through my skull then gave out a quite sigh until I realized I wasn't alone.

There, beside Rep, was a girl that seemed to like him alot and I could tell that Rep really liked it. "Well, what do you know..?" I spoke to myself and quickly gave a small smile to her in which she returned passively. I could feel another presence and turned to the new visitors that turned out to be a young man and woman that appeared to be closer to my age, if not that.

I got up on my feet and gave out my hellos. "Hey, thanks for checking on me," I said to them, smile on my face. "I'm glad there are some decent people around here to check on me, unlike those who don't like to have their hands dirty." I chuckled in earnest. It wasn't until after a minute that I mentally smacked myself for not giving out my name and rank and quickly remedied that.

"Ah, sorry for not introducing my name.." I smiled sheepishly as I gave out my hand for them to shake. "My name is Pietro Maxwell and I'm the Captain of the Sword Guild. It seems to me you're heading to the Guild, aren't you, young man?"

I glanced at the girl that seems to love Rep and decided to bend down to her size in an attempt to talk to her. "Hey, young lady. I'm sure you already know my name, but I don't seem to know yours as well. May I ask for your name, please?" I asked in a quiet voice, not wanting to upset her.

I didn't know if she was shy or not when she didn't respond, so I turned to the young man and lady. "Hey, is she all right?" I asked in concern when I noticed the sky being filled with Lancers.

Huh. I frowned in wonder and surprised to see them for I thought one would be enough. I suppose the King and Queen must had decided to ask all the guilds to have high security in preparation for the artifact to be revealed and judging from it, it must be close to it. I knew I had to hurry so I won't have to miss it; after all, this is a big thing for Blueshire and wondered if Mary and Jeri made it back safely.

I started to ask them what their plans were when I finally notice it. "Hey, what do you have there?" I asked as I stared at what appeared to be either a rock or something else. I don't know why, but I had this eerie feeling that it could be related to Mary's problem.

Either that, or it is really just a rock as I pondered on it.

 

[Max]

"The great thief leads away the little thief."
-Diogenes​

I shuffle through the trunk at the end of his bed and dig out a small bag. I immediately move to a fancy dresser adorned in maroon and gold trim that had a huge mirror on the upper half, and started grabbing anything off of it and within the drawers that I thought would be of value.

"Stranger, are you robbing me?" The boy asked, turning as far to his left as he could to try and keep his eyes on me.

"You know, maybe we should establish names soon, because Stranger is indeed not my name. And no, I'm not robbing you."

"Just reorganizing my belongings then?"

"Look kid, I don't need to know much more than that your life sucks here and you want out. Do you love your parents?"

"Wh- of course I do! I love my whole family!"

"Even though they keep you cooped up in this room, embarrassed of who you are, you still love them. And you know what? I get that. I've been where you are before, boy, and leaving is hard, but you have to do what's best for you." After I filled the bag up about halfway with valuables, I moved to the boy's wardrobe adjacent to his bed.

"As your name isn't Stranger, mine isn't boy... And what are you doing with my clothes and my belongings?"

I dropped the stuffed bag on the end of his bed and looked him in the eyes. "The belongings are for selling. You've got some fancy stuff here, and a man's gotta eat somehow, especially if I'm ditching the biggest job of my life. And your clothes, well you're going to need something to wear other than those pajamas once we bust outta here."

---------------------------------

All Children Grow Up
Jil: Age 11​

Jil splashed through the mud as he ran from the vendor that ran the fruit stand. As the man screamed at yelled profanities at the young boy, Jil ducked under another stand and knocked a wheelbarrow filled with melons in the man's path before escaping into an alley.

Jil made his way to his usual trash bin and climbed into his little cove he made of rags and boxes. He couldn't decide which looked better, the apple he stole, or the half-eaten muffin he snatched from the vendor's hand. Jil awkwardly then tried to take a bit of both at the same time, and his apple-muffin concoction wasn't half bad. He began to hear footsteps and pieces of a conversation from outside his garbage cove, and he peeked out to catch what the two gentlemen were saying.

"This job though, this is really huge. The leader of The Band of Thieves is personally offering a huge reward for that key."

"And how do you know it's huge?"

"It's like a blank check kind of deal, he's pretty much offering anything within his power. I here this is... personal for him."

"Well I provide you a means in, a contact if you will, but I will not accompany you. I have no interest in shadow rewards."

"You'll regret it when I'm the one rolling in- well who knows, I haven't decided yet. Money? Women? One of his daughters? Oh my how I'd love a shot at the one with the curls. Don't worry, I'll cut you in when alls said in done."

"Yeah, yeah, if you don't end up getting cut first."

At this, Jil watched as the two men split of towards different ends of the alley. He didn't get a really good look at either of them, but knew that the man passing him was the one going on this "job." Anything a person could want, huh? At least within this man's power? He liked the sound of this. Jil left his little home in the alley and started shadowing the man as they moved out into the streets and started sifting through people. The sun was bright and hot, and Jil had removed his shirt and was wearing it in an odd way on his head to keep the sun off of it. The man eventually stopped at an outdoor restaurant, and sat down for a few minutes before only ordering a drink and working on some paperwork. Jil examined him as he sat on a barrel across the street. The man had a large black beard and black hair in a ponytail. He was missing a few teeth, and had some nasty scars on his cheeks. Jil ran his fingers up and down his own scars on his bare back that he'd received a few years back. He didn't mind them, he'd hoped that if anything they would make him look tougher, even though he was only a child.

As time passed, Jil reflected on his time in the city of Blueshire. Ever since that day he got those scars, the day his mother had handed over Crackers, his only companion, he'd aspired to get better for himself. He wasn't going to live that life anymore. He ran away from home, leaving his mother a note telling her that he still loved her, but knew that neither of them could live that way anymore. He hoped that one day they would both be in a better place and maybe he could even take care of her, but his feelings got mumbled up as he had also resented what she's done.

After a couple weeks of living off of the bread people threw out for birds, he stowed away on a ship to Blueshire, leaving his home on the outskirts of Fayfield far behind. There would be more for him in Blueshire he told himself, there just had to be. But it was still hard, nothing just came to him. No one wanted to give work to a dirty pathetic kid, and he felt awful stealing clothes or food, but he grew accustomed to the lifestyle and told himself that he'd pay it all back someday.

Four years had passed, four years of stealing new shirts that should fit him for a while longer. He was growing, and his clothes he wore in Fayfield made for no more than cushion for his garbage cove. Four years of stealing apples, bread, and anything else he could grab and eat on the go. Blueshire was huge, and he hit different parts of the city as time went on so people didn't grow too wise of him.

The sun was setting now, and Jil almost fell asleep several times while watching his target. Finally though, the man was approached by another in a hood who slipped him a piece of paper and then carried on. His target got up and moved down the street, stopping at a barber. Jil followed from a distance, eyeballing the pocket that the piece of paper was slipped into. Once the man walked in, He hung his coat up on a rack and sat down in the barber's chair. Jil walked in a few minutes later, and sat down in the waiting area pretending to be a customer. The man spoke in a deep voice, telling the barber exactly how to trim his hair and beard, informing him that he was going to a very important party. The barber glanced Jil's direction and gave him a forced smile before starting on the man's hair.

When the man wasn't paying attention, Jil moved over a couple seats to a chair beside the coat rack. He slipped his hand in the man's coat, and pulled out the piece of paper, which simply read "Toadstool." Jil pushed it back in the pocket after that and bumbed his hand into something that was oddly shaped and felt like a cool metal. He could hear a kind of jingling noise from it, and before he could get his fingers around it, the man in the barber's chair started shouting.

"The hell you doing in my coat boy?! Get out before I whip your ass!"

The man started to rise and Jil was out the door in a heartbeat. Toadstool huh, and a party. This is where Jil would find the "key" the Thief Guild leader wanted, he was sure of it. He needed to be careful to keep a safer distance, and shadow the man again until he ended up at the said party.

---------------------------------​

Much to Jil's dismay, this wasn't a one day thing. The party wasn't until two nights after he'd began pursuit, and shadowing this gentleman was not very interesting. For a grown thief, Jil expected more out of him. The man lifted simple things, food and whatnot, the things Jil had to steal to survive. But then the man would go out drinking and pay for his alcohol, and he even bought a fancy suit for this party, Jil just couldn't understand. During some of their travels (Jil though of them as 'their' travels even though the man didn't know he was being followed), Jil snagged himself a 'nice-er' button up shirt that wasn't all raggy and dirty like the one he'd been wearing. He figured he'd need to fit the part as well if he was to sneak into this party with this man, who's name he had learned was Flynn.

When the time finally arrived, they crossed a bridge over a great river to a mansion that was secluded in the forest. As Flynn made his way to the front entrance, he was approached by a couple of gentleman in suits with swords whom he spoke to briefly before proceeding inside. Jil waited a moment, then ran up to the front where he was promptly stopped by the gentlemen as well.

"Yes boy? I don't remember mention of a young lad attending tonight's event."

"That was my father that just went in there, Flynn, he told me to catch up-"

"Flynn? That man told me his name was Florence. The one who just entered?" Jil's heart stopped. Of course the thief wouldn't give his real name. What was he thinking?

"Yes, Florence is my father, his friends call him Flynn, now would you let me through?"

The two men looked at each other briefly before sneering at Jil and stepping closer towards him with their weapons. "And you call your father by his nickname?"

Had he blown it? Jil started to question whether he should run away or not when he realized he had one final bluff. "Toadstool! Now let me in!"

"Excuse me?"

"Toadstool!"

The two men glanced at each other, then lowered their weapons as they pointed Jil in the right direction. It was a password, and Jil's nonsense had almost ruined everything. He really needed to get it together if he was going to be for real about this, especially as a child.

When he entered the building, chandeliers shimmered on the ceilings, glass cases held valuable items, and many men and women were all dressed fancy as they danced and paraded around on each other. Jil had made it this far, but had no idea where said 'key' was. Just as he started to walk around, he got grabbed and pulled away from the crowd by his old pal Flynn.

"You're the little shit from the barber shop! The hell you doin' here?!"

"Keep it down, or I'll scream and tell everyone why you're really here, Flynn."

The man took his hands off of Jil, and a look of anger came over his face. He rubbed his temples as he contemplated what was going on, looking back at Jil every few moments. "Why are you here, kid?"

"... I heard you, in the alley. I can help you! Listen, whatever it is you get for this key or whatever, I need a part of it, I'm barely making it on the streets."

Flynn let out a sigh and ran his fingers through his substantially shorter hair. "What in God's name kid, you have no idea what you're getting into. Don't you have a home somewhere?"

"No."

"God... Listen, I'm not making you any promises, but I suppose this'll put a twist on things that could work in my favor. What's you name?"

"Jil."

"Okay, look Jil, you see that guy over there in the fancy eyewear and the shiny head?" Jil glanced to see a balding man with a monocle talking to a busty woman in a shimmering dress. He seemed like he really liked her. She had a tattoo of a tiny heart right under her left eye, and she continued to whisper in the man's ear as if she would not dare let anybody else hear what she was saying. "That guy there, he's the host of this shindig. Apparently he has some kind of key that our man wants, and we need to get it from him. What are you looking at?"

Jil was startled by the sudden question, and didn't realize he'd been staring. "Sorry... But, um, how did you get all of those scars on your face?"

"Dammit kid, this isn't the time or place for stories like that. Let's just say, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to get a job done. There was this one gig with a whole blood ritual and- forget it. Damn kids always asking questions, doesn't matter what's going on around them. Now look, we're going to have to-"

At that moment, a giant explosion erupted, blowing out the entire right side of the building. Flynn pulled Jil aside and covered him as Jil watched pieces of building collapse on several party-goers. Mages ran in, firing explosions and from their hands and staffs, while archers made their way through and started shooting around at people. Many guards dressed in suits like the ones outside drew their weapons, some with swords and shields, others with staffs of their own, and a mini war ensued before Jil's eyes. He turned to see the man in the monocle running away, leaving the woman with the tattoo behind, and Jil pointed to him and screamed something inaudible to Flynn. Flynn picked up on the hint and the two got up tailed the man.

As arrows and fire zipped and roared past their heads, Flynn pushed Jil in front of him and covered him from behind as the two made their way into a hallway and up a staircase. This part of the mansion was totally unscathed compared to the area they'd previously occupied, and as the man was in their sights again, a couple of guards stopped them in their tracks. "Who are you?!" The guards demanded.

"We were just leaving," Flynn muttered as he turned around. His 180 spin quickly turned into a 360 as he spun back towards the guards and threw a dagger into one of their skulls. Jil's eyes widened as he watched the blood drip from the man's forehead, and then he watched as Flynn rushed the other one and wrestled his sword from he hands. He pulled it away from the man and then shoved it through his stomach, felling him as well. He picked up his dagger and handed it to Jil, then grabbed the soldier's sword and started towards the room the monocle man had retreated to.

"F-Flynn, you k-killed him... I thought we would just be stealing, I-"

"We're kind of in a tough spot kid... It's all or nothing for us now. Let's go."

Jil, still shaking gripped the bloody dagger in his hands and followed Flynn to the room. The room was locked, but Flynn simply kicked the door and it flew right open, no spells to deal with. The balding man stood quivering behind his bed, and Flynn advanced toward him.

"Give me the key," Flynn demanded as he raised the sword and continued to take step after step.

"What?! What key?!"

"Whatever damn key you have that is so valuable, hand it over."

The man looked both confused and scared, and then pulled a necklace out from under his shirt with a long but tiny pendant hanging off of it. It was gold and spiraled in an odd shape like a vine, and then man gripped it as he looked at Flynn. "This key, but why? Unless... Were you hired?"

"I think you've said enough to tell me all I need to know old man." Flynn walked over and ripped the pendant off from around the man's neck, and the chain fell to the floor. He tossed it over to Jil, and Jil held the tiny object in his hands. "Well? that look like some kind of key to you?"

Jil turned it over and examined it, but the only noticeable thing he could see about it was that it was warm, as if radiating heat. He looked up at Flynn and shook his head.

Another explosion. The windows in the room shattered and crashed, and assassins climbed through the window with mages floating in behind them.

"What the hell?... These are damn professionals." Flynn muttered as he moved toward Jil and the door. One mage whipped their hand at the man with the monocle and incinerated him, then another mage trailed quickly behind and blew a breath towards him, the 'o' shape in their mouth letting loose snowflakes. After he was torched to death and then cooled off, two assassins began picking his pockets, not even paying any mind yet to Jil or Flynn. "Jil, we need to go!" Flynn said as he pushed Jil towards the door and the two of them started sprinting through the halls.

Jil was in disbelief, why was this happening? Why were all of these people being murdered? Did they just want this key? What was going on? As the two ran through the halls, they could hear footsteps trailing behind them. Whatever these people were after, they didn't find it back there.

As the two proceeded down the stairs back towards the gruesome main area, Jil got knocked down after bumping into the woman with the heart tattoo. At first she didn't pay him any mind, and then she started to gaze in his eyes. She reached out and grabbed Jil's cheeks, and then leaned in and kissed him.

"What the hell lady, let go of the kid!" Flynn pulled Jil away from her and gave her a disgusted look as he moved on down the steps, but then stopped when he turned and saw she'd immediately grabbed a hold of Jil again.

"I... I will always love you~" she said in a bizarre way as she shoved her tongue in Jil's mouth. Jil started ramming his palm into her face and trying to shove her away, but she became aggressive, pulling on his hair and shoving him against the wall. He bit down on her tongue, and she shrieked as Flynn pulled her away and bashed her head into a wall.

"Crazy bitch, what got into her... Are you okay, kid?" Jil's eyes were wide, and as he tried to wipe the blood off of his mouth, he only managed to smear it across his face. Flynn picked him up and threw him over his shoulder and hauled him the rest of the way down the steps.

As they made their way through the main area, Jil looked around at all of the dead soldiers and guests. The many assassins and mages and archers were all examining corpses when the turned their heads toward the man hauling a kid through the room. Several archers shot at Flynn's legs, dropping him straight to the ground. Jil's legs felt as if they got crushed under Flynn's weight, and the two of them laid there as several of the attackers began walking towards them.

"Jil... You may be able to get out."

"What?"

Flynn whispered to try and keep things to Jil's ears only. "You have to listen and do exactly as I say. Do you have the key in your hand?"

"Yes..."

"Okay, Jil, you need to keep it in your hand and cover your face." Jil did so, and started to cry.

"Flynn, what's going to happen?"

"No crying, kid, I know you're a tough cookie, it's too bad we couldn't have met sooner." Flynn looked to see that everyone had stopped approaching them other than a lone mage. She was halfway across the room, and would be there to do whatever she was going to do in no less than a minute. "Jil, I told you sometimes you have to do what you have to do. It's time for your own scar, you're going to have to have taken an arrow to the eye."

"What?!"

"Shhh. You can get out of here with the key Jil, I know you can. You will do what you need to do like a real man, like a real big time thief, and you will play your cards to get out of here. Now Jil!" The mage was close, and Jil turned his head to the other side so she couldn't see his face. He cried as he felt the key in his hand, and when he heard the footsteps getting closer, he jammed the key into his right eye.

"AHHHHHHH- huuu-haah!..." Jil wailed as he shoved it deeper. He knew what Flynn meant, this was it.

"You... you this boy's father?" The mage asked as Flynn as though she couldn't hear Jil screaming.

"Please, just let him go..."

The mage felt through Flynn's pockets, then rolled him off of Jil and looked him in the eye. She had long, raven black hair, and two eyes that resembled those of cats. "We were told not to let anyone out alive except for our target, who appears to be dead. But I was not informed there was a child here... Tell me, do you know where a tiny golden key is?"

"No..." Flynn muttered as he began to lose what breath he had left. "Please, just let him go."

The witch shot an icicle into Flynn's heart, and the light left his eyes as she directed her attention to Jil. She waved her hand over him, and he ceased screaming. The pain went away, though his eye was still pierced.

"What a bloody mess..." The witch said to Jil as she looked over his eye. Nothing could be seen, he'd pushed the key far enough in, but now what?

"I got hit by an arrow... He pulled it out for me..." Jil said shakily as he watched her with one eye. She patted down his pockets, and grabbed the dagger Flynn had given him. She looked it over then tossed it.

"It must of hit you in a pretty funky way. Did you break it off, or pull it out?"

"I don't know, he did it..." Jil nodded to Flynn and the mage lifted him to his feet.

"You don't have what we're looking for, and I don't know why a kid is here, so go." Jil looked at her puzzled as tears strolled down his left eye. "Go! Before someone objects. No one wanted to deal with killing a child today."

Jil turned and ran, a couple of attackers looking his way, but none questioning him.

---------------------------------​

Jil had been walking for what felt like forever when he finally approached The Band of Thieves. He pushed through the door, and immediately all eyes were on him as he approached the receptionist.

"You look like shit boy, did you bite into a 'coon that scratched your eye out?" The random thief and his buddies started laughing at his joke until he heard what Jil had to say to the receptionist.

"I need to talk to your boss. I have his key."

Everyone got real quiet, and the receptionist didn't say a word as she looked at Jil in awe and got up from her desk and left room. She returned quickly and said only "Follow me."

She led the beat up and bloody Jil into a huge nice room. The room had a desk in the middle, and shelves filled with scrolls and books. The walls had many paintings of scenery and flying lancers, and the man in the chair behind the desk was dressed like any other guy out in the lobby. He had dirty blonde hair that was slicked back, and deep eyes of blue on a clean shaved face. The receptionist left the room, and Jil approached the desk.

"I hear you have something that belongs to me?"

Jil began to cry again, and stuck his fingers into his socket. He pinched down on the key, and slowly pulled it out, twisting it and turning it as need be to keep it from tugging. While he didn't scream this time, he cried and cried, blubbering like the baby. He dropped the golden key on the desk, and the man picked it up and wiped it off with his shirt before setting it back down.

"Unfortunately, young man, this doesn't do me much good anymore." He ignored Jil's crying, Jil's gaping bloody eye-socket, or the dried blood around Jil's mouth from biting that woman's tongue. "You see, one of my men attempted to screw me over. I had a lady friend, a very special lady friend, whom I loved very much. Now, she didn't love me, not at first anyway, but I taught her to. I did terrible things to have this key created, and after a little magic from a witch friend of mine, maybe a symbol of love imbued on my lady friend's body, then it would all fall into place. I had her face marked, and enchanted the symbol of love in a way that it was connected to this very key. Anyone who was in possession of this key, she would love in the deepest way humanly possible. It's taboo of course, illegal in every way, but isn't being a thief? But I digress. This, was the key to her heart. She was finally mine, and someone took advantage of that by stealing my key and selling it off. Their goal, though, was to wait for a high enough reward to be offered if they could bring my love back, and go and get this what they had stolen back for me. What an asshole, right? Look at all of the stuff in this room. The paintings, the nice furniture, I stole it all. I built this place from the bottom up. I even stole my love. Once the key was gone though, and my woman with it, the love of the children she bore me was gone as well. They, also, follow this key. I locked them up, made sure no danger would come to them until this was in my possession again, but their mother... Well, that's just unfortunate. So, long story short, you got the really shitty end of the deal here, young man. There was no reward, there was never any reward. It was all a sham to get that one asshole to reveal where the other asshole was so I could send out some of my contacts to rid the world of all of them and get back what was mine. I got back half of it anyway I suppose, partially thanks to you, though had you not been there I believe somebody would have found this key."

Jil's crying had calmed. While tears still streamed down his face, his breathing had returned to normal. He stared the man in the face, silent, unflinching, waiting for what came next.

"Listen, young man, you didn't exactly come out of this unscathed, but technically I think you just completed a job for the guild, or for me personally anyway. I don't know what you're situation is, but if you're willing to learn, you have a place here."

"What?"

"You know, a room, a bed, three meals a day. Just let me know soon so I can set you up with someone to shadow."

"I'll take it, it's- it's all I've ever wanted." Jil gave out and awkward smile as he continued to cry.

"Well okay, good. You can replace the one we just lost, in due time. What's your name?"

"J-Jil."

"No, that's no good. Come up with something better, a name you think a real badass thief would use."

---------------------------------​

I pulled off my shirt and started trying to rig it in a way that would help support the boy as he held onto my back. He was carrying the bag I'd filled up with his things, and the plan was that I would be carrying him. I looked out the window one more to to try and catch a good look at the flying lancers again, but they were off behind a tower out of sight.

"So you didn't come here for me, Stranger, but now you're taking me anyway?"

"Listen, the name's Flynn, and yes, so quit asking me so many damn questions."

"My name is Zeke III, nice to finally know you're name, Flynn."

"Zeke, huh? I figured you were royalty, but not HIS son. Well damn, this will be quite the heist, won't it?" I turned and awkwardly started trying to help the kid into my shirt contraption that made it's way around my right shoulder and my waist. It was like an odd version of what you'd see women use to carry their babies, but it worked. Once Zeke was in, I knew it would help him to not have to use all of his arm strength to hold on me.

"Hey, Flynn?"

"Yeah, Zeke, what's up?"

"You have, a lot of scars on your back..." He held onto my left should with one hand, and with the other ran his fingers up and down the nine scars on my back.

"Yeah, it's been a good long while since that happened to me, a good 17 or so years."

He reached around and stuck his fingers under my bandana to feel my right eye, or lack-thereof. His fingers were cold as he felt around my scarred eye-socket. "What happened here, Flynn?"

"Dammit kid, this isn't the time or place for stories like that. Let's just say, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to get a job done. Now hold on tight, we're getting out of this damn castle."

 

[Posting Oats]

About a month prior to the festivities in Blueshire Rodrick's forces engaged a cult deep in the wilderness. They were contracted by a local noble to find and destroy a cult that has been terrorizing the region for some time. Fire raged throughout the encampment as the battle escalated with every passing moment. Near the front lines Rodrick and a squad of soldiers were engaging a large stone golem. "We have to hold it here until the mages arrive, we don’t have the strength to take it down" shouted one of the soldiers. The golem swung at them as they attempted to damage it through the cracks in its body with long spears and warhammers. Rodrick stood in the midst of the fierce battle "We may not be able to kill it ourselves but we might be able to cripple it if we focus our attacks, EVERYONE AIM FOR THE CRACKS ON ITS RIGHT LEG ..... BRING IT DOWN!" The squad started their coordinated attack when a barrage of fireballs followed by explosions hit the golem's torso. This sent the golem into a rage and it began attacking wildly and with tremendous speed. "Soldier lookout!" Rodrick shouted as he rushed to the side of one of his men. He then braced himself to take the brunt of the golems attack but the golems arm hit with such force that it bent and cracked his shield and sent them both flying while dislodging Rodrick’s helmet from his head. As they landed Rodrick bounced his head off a rock in the ground and the mages took the opportunity to intensify the barrage on the golem and finish it off. Rodrick grabbed his sword that was lying beside him and slowly stood back up being careful to maintain his balance while regaining his footing, he could feel the blood starting to drip down slowly from his head and his ribs felt like one or two might be broken and in need of mending but that would have to wait until later.

A runner hustled over to the group "Sir we have reports that the camp has been successfully taken, we are in the process of tracking down a few stragglers but we have achieved full control of the area. There is also a group of civilians we have recovered that were being held prisoner." "Good," Rodrick pulled out a small cloth from his chest plate and wiped off the blood running down his face and then placed it against his head to slow the bleeding "be sure to have the field mages take a look at their wounds and transport them back to the encampment. I want them under guard, there is no telling what was done to them and until we know for sure that there are no spells or incantations on them we need to remain cautious." Bernard also walked over to the group with his warhammer hoisted over his shoulder held by one hand and in the other he was dragging one of the leaders of the cult they were fighting. He then threw the man at their feet "What should we do with this sir? I don’t think it deserves medical attention." Rodrick walked over to the sad excuse of a human and cut him cleanly across the neck with his longsword "Our contract was for the eradication of this cult, which means no prisoners." "Aye sir" Bernard started barking orders as he walked away "runner go and see to it that the other squads receive the order, no prisoners. The rest of you come with me we need to run down some strays."

Rodrick picked up his mangled shield and made his way back to the main force, making his way past groups of soldiers searching through the camp for anything valuable and for enemies that may still be in hiding when he met up with three other officers, Caitlyn, Vivien and Karson. Caitlyn motioned towards him "you look rough, what’s wrong getting too old to fight your battles?" Rodrick tried to grin but was instead greeted by the pain from his wounds and squinted slightly. "Not exactly, I'm just not used to my enemies hitting so hard. What about the others, how many did we lose?" "A few losses so far and quite a few injuries, they resisted more than we expected but we are seeing to the wounded, what about you sir we need to get those injuries mended, take off your chest plate and let me have a look." Karson then began to look over his body after he removed his armor. "I can reset the bones with a spell but it will still take a few weeks to fully heal, you should be able to move around fine though it may be a little painful," She said as she poked his side and giggled "but you are no stranger to that are you." "It’s a shame you can’t do the same for my shield, I'm afraid it has seen its last battle here," Rodrick looked down at his shield "I doubt even Emanuel can fix it with a full forge let alone the mobile one back at camp. It seems we may have to accept that invitation after all." "I will head back to the camp and begin preparing the army to move out and I will make sure not to leave without you otherwise who is going to buy us new gear!" Vivien chuckled as she strolled away with the thought of getting new weapons filling her with joy.

"It’s been 14 years since we started our training together and she still acts like a child anytime she thinks about getting something new to add to her arsenal." Caitlyn stood there with her arms crossed as she spoke. "So to the capitol then, the festival should provide some much needed relaxation for the men, we have been on this job for months going from skirmish to skirmish it will be nice to settle down in one place and catch our breath." "I was thinking the same, it will also give us an opportunity to replenish our supply’s and arms" Rodrick commented as he sat there waiting for Karson to finish healing him "we will drop the civilians off at a guild there as well, they will be better equipped to treat and relocate them to their home towns." They finished up at the encampment and the next day started their journey to the capitol city of Blueshire.

The sun had just come up as the officers gathered at the edge of the encampment and headed out. They had their weapons but were mostly in light gear as not to cause a scene as they came up on the city but had just enough to deter a brawl if a band of drunkards tried to start a fight during the festivities. The camp was close to the city but still took about half an hour to get to on horseback at a steady trot. They were all rather quiet during the ride because the army just arrived the day prior and setting up camp took most of the day and night to finish so they were all still exhausted from the journey. They passed many people on their way in merchants, peasants, guildsmen, and even a few nobles, people from all corners of the nation. This became even more notable as they arrived just inside the city as all, wealthy and poor, young and old, ugly and beautiful mingled throughout the city, a real gathering of all the citizens. Rodrick was the first to dismount “Tie your horses up here I will speak to the stable master, you all have your business to attend to and after you are finished you may spend the rest of your time as you wish at the festival. Caitlyn would you mind accompanying me I will need your assistance on a few tasks this morning.” The rest of the group dismounted and scattered in order to complete their tasks with a burst of energy fueled by the thought of the entertainment that the festival would provide as Rodrick and Caitlyn walked into the stable.

Rodrick quickly came upon a busy man with a magnificent mustache that covered half his face. “Excuse me sir I am Rodrick Harlance, General of the first free army, I have some business I would like to discuss with you, might you have some room in your stables?” The stable master let out a hearty laugh worthy of his mustache, “But of course we have plenty of room even with the great festival in full swing. We also offer reshoeing and repair services for mounted gear, I have heard that you had quite a lengthy journey to make it to the festival as well as your army.” Rodrick could tell this man was worthy of his title of stable master, they had just met and he had yet to start discussing business but the man was already trying to secure work refitting his army's horses. “That is true but before we go refitting my entire mounted forces I have more pressing matters that need attending, as you so happened to mention I do have an army stationed not far from the city and I would like them to be able to enjoy the festival as well. If you happen to have some carriages free I would like to rent them out to ferry my men to and from the camp during the festival. It’s a little impractical to move all of my forces in here on their own mounts and I'm sure many of them may partake in the entertainment a little too much and need to be escorted back.” The stable master let out another hearty laugh, “ah yes I'm sure there will be many others that may need the same but I believe we can accommodate your needs.” “We did arrive on our personal mounts, if you would please reshoe them and get your carriages out to the field as soon as you can my men are eager to make it to your fine city. This should cover our stable fee and part of the carriage rental I will be back later in the day to finish payment.” Rodrick and the stable master shook hands and then parted ways.

“So where are we headed to that you need my assistance?” Caitlyn nudged him in the side playfully. “Well if you must know this task was appointed to me from our noble friend that sent the invitation to us. It’s very important that we do what we can to secure further contracts just consider this a small step to secure future work.” Rodrick had a slightly misjevious grin on his face as he said this which made Caitlyn worry slightly. “What exactly are we doing, I don't like the way you are smiling.” Rodrick just continued to walk as he replied “you will understand when we arrive.” They continued to walk for some time through the city streets taking in the atmosphere and stopping every once in a while to sample the vendor foods provided for the festival. Eventually they came to a small shop near the center of the market. Rodrick approached the shop and opened the door for Caitlyn, “well this is the place let’s make our way in.” Caitlyn still had look of suspicion on her face but walked in anyway. As they entered all they saw were fine cloths and garments and a few older ladies near a counter. “Good morning my fine ladies we are here at the request of Lord Stark I believe you are expecting us.” The eldest of the three stepped forward, moving silently past Rodrick and stopped right in front of Caitlyn. She stood there for a few seconds before taking a few steps around her, “We will have to make some adjustments but fret not young man we will have her ready in time.” The old lady chuckled as she took Caitlyn by the hand and tugged her towards the back.
Caitlyn said in a firm tone, “Rodrick what is this?!” He turned around laughing and covering his face, “Like I said consider it a favor to secure future work HAHAHA besides how often do I get to see you in a dress. Well ladies I take my leave as I have to see a man about a shield, take good care of her she's very special to me.” With this he made his way out of the shop and headed for the other side of town near the master forges.

The master forges were an amazing site to behold, each building was connected to a large blast furnace that burnt day and night as the great craftsmen forged weapons and armor of the highest quality. Rodrick made his way over to one in particular that had an ornamental ancient tree on its door. He stepped inside and questioned the first worker he came upon, “excuse me I'm looking for your master could you let him know that Rodrick has arrived.” The apprentice nodded and walked away gesturing for him to follow. They walked farther back into the building past smaller forging pits and apprentices hard at work crafting tools, gear, and weapons. They soon came to the main crafting hall that contained the master forge and craftsman. Volkor stood there hammering away on what appeared to be a chest plate for a set of armor but noticed them as they came into the room. “Ah Rodrick you have finally made it, it’s good to make your acquaintance, your smith has spoken very highly of you throughout our correspondence.” Rodrick smiled and thanked the apprentice before walking over towards volkor to greet him, “HAHA I'm sure he has he also has mentioned a great many things about your skill as a master craftsman. Your custom work for my officers has been well worth the fee, I believe you have something special for me this time though.”

Volkor motioned towards a workbench on the side and took Rodrick over to it, “it’s not quite finished yet I have had to make some modifications to the design and reforge it several times to get the design to function properly but it should be finished in a day or two. It's quite a piece I admit it took more of my skill than a normal order but it will be the finest shield I have made when it’s finished. I don't have a golem around to test it on so you will just have to take me at my word as to its sturdiness HAHAHA.” Rodrick shielded his eyes in slight embarrassment, “Emanuel tells you too much I was rather hoping that he would keep the reason for the replacement between us. Well I guess it doesn't matter now although it would be greatly appreciated if you didn't spread the news of this incident any further. I look forward to testing your latest work, please send word to me as soon as it is complete. I have other business I would like to discuss with you at that time but for now I need to head to the castle and meet a nobleman.”

 

[LatinoHeat90]

Victor made his way through the lush forest, weaving through the brush and fauna. He moved erratically, with no path he changed directions constantly in order to move forward. It would have been much easier for Victor to slice through the tree and brush with his sword and axe but cleaning and maintaining their edge afterwards would have been an annoyance. Of course, he could have followed the road on which many people travel without issue, but Victor’s mood made him want to recoil from civilization. Instead he would much rather make his way through the dense forest, alone.

“Damn Free Armies.” He cursed to himself. The area he had just left was contracting one of the Free Armies to rid the land of criminals and bandits that had populated the countryside. Good for the people of the land but bad business for mercenaries like Victor. He had made his way to this region because of the work but with a Free Army there he would find no need for his services. Victor thought of working alongside the group but knew that his disposition would get him in a fight, and if he were to kill one of their men he would then have to deal with the vengeance of their army. Victor laughed at the thought as he continued through the forest. It wasn’t long before he made it out of the forest and found himself staring at farm.

It was a good sized farm, one that would have to hire a couple of farm hands during harvest season. The harvest had already past though. Too bad Victor thought, he would have taken the work as all it entails is manual labor which would be a change from cutting down thieves and bandits. He made his way to the road that was next to the farm house. As he connected to the road he could see the porch of the wooden house and an old man sitting in a rocking chair. Victor made his way quickly past the house, as he did not want to frighten the old man since Victor was still wearing his combat garbs and weapons. Much to Victor’s surprise the old man stood up and waved to Victor, not just a sign of greeting but the old man was flagging Victor over. Victor hesitated, not sure if he should continue walking or go to the old man. The old man see Victor’s hesitation started to make his way to Victor. Victor, in response, felt the need to meet the old man and say hello.

“How you doing there, sonny?” The old man asked. The old man could have been in his seventies, which was astonishing to Victor. He thought only nobles and kings could live that long. Victor was also three times the man size but the old man showed no sign of intimidation or waryness.

“I’m fine. Is there something wrong?” Victor had to ask because he saw no need for this interaction.

“Something wrong? No. Well, I do have something to ask. You see I have a lot of land and a lot of chores that need done. We just had a harvest and all my works have moved on to other jobs knowing I could no longer keep them on. In my old age I’m afraid though chores are going to be the end of me and I can’t leave the misses all alone.” The old man rubbed the back of his neck before he continued. “Would a fellow like you be interested in some farm work. It looks like it isn’t your typical work but it looks like you could swing an axe and I need plenty of firewood.” The old man chuckled.

“What are you paying?” Victor was shocked. This old man might be insane to offer work to a man like Victor. But Victor did find the offer appealing.

“I can’t offer much money but I can offer a place to stay and three meals.”

“Not much of an offer.” Victor grunted. The old man wouldn’t dare joke with him, or would he. Either way, Victor had made up his mind that this would be his break from mercenary work. He was still going to give the old man a hard time.

“I told you I couldn’t offer much. You can turn it down if it doesn’t suit you.” The old man smiled.

“No, I need to take a break from it all. I will work on your farm. But I don’t want to be bothered with small talk and I don’t want to know about you and your family.” Victor wanted to lay the grounds on which he would be staying. “I keep to myself, old man."

“Alright! Don’t worry about all of that, I understand. And you can keep calling me old man, I prefer it. The old lady would like to be called just that, old lady.

“My name is Victor Wistaf.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



"My name is Victor Wistaf." Victor pulled the frightened man into the kitchen's pantry. "How does your hand feel?" Victor was referring to the man's hand that Victor had plunged the butter knife into, which was still stuck in his hand. Victor made sure to keep the man gagged, either by his had or the dirty wash rag that was on the kitchen table. "Do you feel like talking or would you rather I ripped that knife out and made a matching scare on the other hand?" Victor took the dirty rag out of the man's mouth.

"Please...please don't" The man pleaded, tears still rolling down his face. "I can only...only tell you what I gave him and to what room..." His mouth was dry. He felt like he was going to pass out. Victor slapped him so hard the man flew to the ground, a bag of flour breaking his fall. Victor stood over him.

"Is that all you can tell me? I feel like there should be more. Lay there and think about it for a second. Don't take too long because when I get impatience I usually get violent." Victor smiled, his smile reaching from cheek to cheek. Zoe, was perched on the top shelf, snacking on an apple. Zoe knew Victor and that he was going to have his fun no matter what she did. Victor could get lost in the moment and Zoe would make sure he did not go too far.

"I'm so sorry. I have a family, they are sick and I needed the money." The man started to calm down.

"That was not the information I was looking for." Victor's smile began to fade. "You are nothing but scum. Don't justify your actions to me."

"You have a family right. You would do anything for them. I know it is my failure as a man that I can not support them but I'm trying." Again the man started sobbing. Victor was no longer having fun and Zoe full attention was now on Victor.

"You are a failure!" Victor lifted the man off the floor by his hair and brought his face within an inch of his own. "And I do not have a family. If I did they would live in misery because I know I couldn't support them. You should have known you were a failure and never have tried to be a father." Victor let go of the man. The was no bag of flour to break the man's fall nor did the man have the energy to support himself. "Now, tell me what I need to know."

"It was a key to Captain Regal's room. It is a couple floors up. Head to your right, you will find a stair case. His door is garnished in silver trim." The man voice was almost inaudible but Victor listened closely. "For my family, please don't. They have no one else."

Victor knelt down and grabbed the man's broken wrist, the same as the hand with the butter knife in it. Victor ripped the butter knife out of his hand and put it up the the man's throat. "I'm sure they will manage without you." At that moment Zoe landed on Victor's shoulder. Victor's smile reemerged. One last tear rolled down the man's face.....

"Take whatever money Flynn, or whatever his name is, gave you and get out of town with your family. And remember what you went through today. Remember me. Remember the pain. And know that if I see you again I might just be in the mood to take everything away from you." Victor stood up, dropping the knife. "Have a nice life."

Victor made his way out of the pantry, and then the kitchen. Zoe went back into his pocket. "Thought I was going to kill him didn't you. If I had it might of upset me down the way, in a couple of weeks." Victor made his way to the Captain's room. Victor tried the handle, of coarse it was locked. Victor looked up and down the hall to make sure nobody was around before putting a hard shoulder to the door busting the lock and frame of the sturdy door.

Victor closed the door behind him and inspected the room. Nothing was tossed around nor messing from what he could tell. Victor felt like the Captain wasn't the target but what could Flynn want from this room. Victor walked to the window and looked out. Or maybe he didn't want anything from this room. Victor stuck his head out of the window and looked up, along the castle wall. Victor realized that this would be a great point to start the climb of the castle wall.

"Who the hell are you!?" A man screamed from behind Victor. Victor slowly turned around to see a man, with a large build and military garb, standing in the door way. The man's outfit had a silver trim that matched the door.

"Captain Regal, I presume." Victor remained calm.

"Your presumption is correct. I ask again, who the hell are you?" He did not speak in a joking manner. He spoke as though he was ready to fight if he didn't get the right answer. Victor didn't have the right answer. He could not bluff a Captain.

"Speak that way to me again and you will truly find out who I am." Victor was ready to fight.

​

 

[KingdomKey]

I sat there silently on the pegasus back, reaching out with a hesitant hand and gently stroked her wings as I waited for the conversation to wrap up between Mary and Victoria. I had to bite my tongue hard enough to hold my tongue, when Victoria started laying blame on Mary over a mere faerie; the faerie I held captive in my sphere only moments ago and happened to be responsible for. I should've said something in her defense, except I did nothing, despite Mary explaining why Victoria was like that. A soft neigh broke me out of my thoughts, when I gripped a little too hard on Junie's right wing out of frustration at myself, instantly I let go of her wing and gave an apologetic look to Junie. I was grateful I wore gloves, or I would've done actual harm to her wing with my claws.

What bothered me more was the accusations by Victoria and the stolen dragon's egg. Why would the royals in Blueshire unveil a stolen dragon's egg? What would they gain from it? I felt like there was something wrong with this, except I couldn't figure out what. Unless it was to gain power or a trick of deceit? I needed to know more and time was of the essence. I knew I couldn't let Victoria and her dragon cause harms way in order to retrieve the egg. Even if Blueshire is responsible for taking it. Furthermore, it was not only my duty, but Mary's to protect the artifact egg. It'd be going against orders from both of our charges.

A pang of guilt echoed inside of my chest at the sudden apology. Except the coil of anger knotted in the center of my chest, because I wasn't the one who was owed an apology. In fact, we needed to get to the bottom of this matter now! I took a deep breath, counted to ten to keep my temper from frizzling out and then looked Mary straight in the eye. "You don't need to apologize to me, because you didn't do anything wrong here. And this is the first time I've ever encountered a dragon in my life. Or had so much happen to me in one day." A slight twitch of a smirk could be seen on my face as I raised an eyebrow at being consider incompetent against a dragon. "Oh come now, Mary, I'm sure we could've done some damage together against a dragon. Mages like myself can block fire magic, if we're skilled enough to. And I've heard of a legend, where dragon glass can be used to amplify magic or enchant a weapon to battle against one! And hey, there aren't legends for nothing because some of them happen to be true!"

Shaking my head to clear my mind from the pep talk, I narrowed my eyebrows and pinched my lips to look serious. Actually, I was hoping it'd make Mary laugh instead as I said in the most deepest voice I could muster. "Bubbles." I waited for a reaction before bursting into giggles, because I heard it's impossible to not laugh or smile from saying it in a voice like that. "Anyways, once we land I have some teleportation magic that can take us straight into the castle to get some answers about the stolen dragon's egg, or we could try to find Victoria and her dragon before they cause too much a commotion in Blueshire. Since I don't know a spell to reveal transformation magic, therefore I need your help and you're not getting rid of me yet! And we need to keep the citizens from panicking."

 

[Cassette-Disk]

The man who had been knocked unconscious had started to rise and mentioned how the trio had watched over him. Will was about to mentioned they had only found him less than five minutes ago and didn't know if anything else had happened before that, but held his tongue. Then they learned the man's name and his position in the Sword Guild, which perked both Will and Alexis' ears though this only confused Sally even more.
"Why was a captain of the Sword Guild knocked out in the middle of the street?" She whispered to William.
"Who cares?!" He whispered back before raising his voice, "Hey there, Pietro! My name's Will. The redhead's Sally and she's Alexis." At her name, the aforementioned girl left the large dog and joined her two friends, with the large oval rock cradled with both arms.
"Sword Guild," she mumbled hopefully.
"Yeah, I heard," Will replied.
"Hey, young lady. I'm sure you already know my name, but I don't seem to know yours as well. May I ask for your name, please?"
As soon as her name was mentioned, Alexis hid behind Will, which was made a bit difficult by the fact that they were nearly the same height. "Hey, is she all right?" Pietro asked. Will and Sally both looked at one another, unsure of how to respond. Alexis' odd mannerisms and speech had already had them wondering, but neither of them had really acknowledged it yet.
"Yeah, she's okay... I think," the boy said carefully.
"Just problem with words," Alexis told them, "used to be better but hard to talk right lately. Don't know why."
"Oh. Well, there you go I guess." It was then Pietro brought attention to Alexis' stone, which caused her to again withdraw behind Will.
"Actually, that's kinda why we're here," Sally told him, "you said you were a captain of the Sword Guild, right? Would it be possible for you to help us gain access to the Magical Library? She found that thing a while ago and thinks there's something weird with it, though maybe the mages would know more? I get it if we'll have to wait though... You guys are in the middle of a festival and all..."

---
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That wasn't what Mary expected. Though she wasn't entirely sure what she did expect, it wasn't such a defiant response. Especially one that had a headstrong attitude about going face to face with a large black dragon. A huge, probably fire breathing dragon... Mary kept her head low as she remembered just how large and deadly dragons could be, and how it could terrorize towns and cities merely by existing...
"Bubbles." ...One that smoked out of a pipe that produced bubbles as it warmed itself by the fireplace in the foyer while wrapped in a bathrobe. ...Wait what? Mary looked back at Jeri just time for the mage to start having a small laughing fit, and the Lancer joined in with a short chuckle of her own at the ridiculous concept she had painted.
"Okay, alright, I'm on board," she finally said after Jeri had explained her ideas for stopping panic among the people as her mood easily brightened from before, "I don't think we have to worry about Vicky--Victoria and her dragon friend for a while. Even if they got into town, they would have the dragon take the shape of a human to avoid drawing attention. Although if there really is a dragon egg about to be displayed we'll have to get ready for war. But that doesn't make sense, why would Blueshire have a dragon egg in the first place?!" The Lancer rubbed the back of her head in frustration before jumping on her pegasus' back. "Let's go talk to the people in charge first. I don't want to take Victoria along to prove her wrong, only for it to turn out we actually do have a dragon egg in captivity. You need to be in the city limits for that teleport thing to work right?" she guessed, "We're in a hurry since we don't want Victoria's dragon friend to go berserk on the town if something happens, but we should have some time so we'll fly a bit slow. Not like last time, promise," she added with a wink.

True to her promise, the initial lift off the ground was much more smooth than their previous endeavor and the slow climb near the clouds saw them carefully floating upwards against the sun. Once they were at a stable altitude, Mary turned her head back towards her companion. "So hey I never mentioned this, but I hope you aren't afraid of heights, ha." She carefully turned around in her seat to get face-to-face with Jeri before fidgeting with her fingers. "Um, so I was wondering. Would you mind--and you don't have to if you don't want to--but would you show me your hand? The claw--err, paw? The uh, orange one? We're really high up so no one should see, but I can take us passed the cloud line if it'll help."

 

[Roxie1563]

When they asked me if I was truly with the Sword Guild, I nodded my head to that and wondered if I was the right guy for the job, but then again they did ask me after all with them making sure I was all right after that dang rock hitting me in the head.

"Sure!" I smiled to them. "It's not a problem, really. And to be honest, this festival is kinda a big deal for us all but it doesn't mean I can't stand by and not help my citizens out." I couldn't figure it out, but I couldn't shake the feeling that girl, Sally, could have done the job already as I took a quick gaze to confirm if she was really a mage, but I suppose everybody got their own reasons in their life as did I at one point.

I tightened my knot that held my sword and with a heartfelt smile on my face, I motioned to them to come with me as we went out of the festival through the exit that led us to the square where I could see that my friends from the Guild were still cleaning up the mess that Mary's Pegasus caused, even though if it was on accident or on purpose considering that Jeri still had Faye with her and stuck inside that little sphere that I really thought I was dealing with thieves, but turned out to be totally wrong and got nearly killed in the aftermath.

What the hell am I thinking about when I have these guys to help out? Mentally shaking my head clean, I thought better to ask them some honest questions about that stone.

"So, guys.." I cleared my throat and glancing them back and forth as we passed further away from the Festival and the Square. "Where on Earth did you find that and why do you think the Mages at the Library will help you when you've got one with you. Am I right?"

I kept an eye on Alexis and the stone while Rep, my partner, whined by as he maintained his stride, matching alongside the young girl. A few beats went by and suddenly I wasn't sure if my mind was playing tricks because I could have sworn that I distinctly sensed someone somewhere close, but then again I did get my head hit by a rock as we finally reached the Magical Library.

I looked up and whistled quietly to myself as I took on the whole sight of the massive tower that held so many ancient relics and Mages that seems to reach no end. Then I realized why we were here after a beat or so and I turned to my new friends.

"Well, Ladies and Will," I spoke to them and with a flourish of my hand did I give them the grandest sight of them all: The Magical Library. "Welcome to Blueshire's Magical Library, where they have many answers that you seek or they may not.." I smiled sheepishly as I watched them for reactions to this awesome place, but not before letting them know of the general rules.

"You can look, but can't touch the relics since they might hold some magic that is still in them. Second, if you ask for a book or two, you got to respect it. Because if you don't, let's say it's harder to explain it away and not get caught.." I chuckled at the thought when I first stepped in there years ago and nearly got myself kicked out of the Guild were it not for my step-father.

"Finally," I had to pause to take a breath then continued on. "Whenever you decide to leave, be sure not to bring anything out with you. Those leftover magic can sure cause a ruckus whenever they do so." I hoped they got the gist of it, but then again experience is the best lesson of them all.

"Okay, that's it, I think." I concluded and with that, we entered inside and were greeted by the desk keeper. I smiled at the plump yet nice lady and asked if it's all right for them to check on something, considering it's a very important thing for the Guild. "I mean, those three came awfully long way to get here... So, please?" I quietly begged to her as she well knew my mother would help those who need it.

With a slight smile growing on her face, the lady gave us some hall passes and proceeded to tell us where to go. I thanked her and motioned to them to keep up as we walked up to the stairs. "Well, that was easy!" I grinned to them as I took the first step up.

Boy, what a day this has been so far!