A’lana gasped as she struggled up the hill towards a cave in the cliffside, clutching her side. She was pretty sure that she had broken a couple ribs. Maybe she had been a little rash, but there was no turning back now. She paused for a moment to catch her breath, but shouts behind her soon had her clambering up the loose rocks and dirt.

The cave was dark, but she pulled out a small mana stone and channeled a little mana into it. A dim yellow glow lit enough ahead she wouldn’t idiotically smash her brains out. This cave was probably a dead end, but she would go down fighting. Damnation, the quest said it was just a rogue adventurer turned brigand. Only a Silver Rank, 2nd Class maybe a few Copper Rank minions, it said. An easy mission for her, a Silver Rank, 3rd Class, it said.

Now she had had her ass handed to her by not one, not two, but FOUR Silver Ranks, and at least TWENTY Copper Ranks. She did take out half of the Coppers, and at least one of the Silvers. She smiled then frowned. The cave went deeper then she had expected.

Instead of getting narrower, the cave was getting wider, much wider. Before she knew it, she had stepped into a massive hall. Light trickled down in slender streams from cracks in the ceiling. Rock, half collapsed pillars, and statues lined what was probably once a royal hall, throne room, or something like that.

Shouts echoing through the passageway behind her and A’lana put out the mana stone in her hand and ran to the furthest pillar from the entrance. The pillar was five times as wide as she was, and she hunched under its shadow and calmed her breathing as much as possible. She needed to get back as much mana as possible and try to heal her aching ribs. She grabbed another mana stone, a green sphere and began absorbing mana.

Every breath was painful, but slowly, steadily, she could feel the broken muscle fibers begin to knit together and the pain slowly receding. Then suddenly, her head was yanked back, then she was picked up by her hair and thrown to the floor.

“Ah found ‘er, Boss”, a squeaky voice yelled.

A’lana coughed and pain flared up on her not quite healed ribs. She was on her back and looked up. A lanky man stood over her grinning with his incomplete set of crooked yellow teeth. She tried to get up, but a knife to her throat checked her attempt.

“Ah won’t try, if Ah were you, bitch”, the lanky man snarled.

The sound of metal boots on stone soon echoed in the large hall and if the situation was different, A’lana would have said it was her knight in shining armor coming to save her. A tall man, built strong, not bulky but lean and hard, muscles that you could tell were not for show. The man walked casually, almost leisurely towards her. He wore a shiny silver breastplate with metal gauntlets and boots and slowly waved a longsword as he walked.

“Ah, A’lana was it? So good of you to stop running. I had a most terrible time trying to follow you through this rough ground. I think got a pebble in my boot.”

Oh, how she wanted to punch that smug pretty face of his. She did already and a dark, beautifully swollen eye on his face was the result. She would make the other eye match if it weren’t for that dagger to her throat. Esmond Ty, a former and once well-respected adventurer, now turned common robber.

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“I was surprised that you took down Big Ned.” Esmond slowly spun around as he looked at the statues that must have been grand figures once. “He was Silver, 2nd Class, could put up a good fight against a 3rd Class.”

A woman with a long scar down her right eye, followed Esmond with an arrow notched in her bow. He was now a few steps away and he stopped.

“Vic, you can step back for now.” The lanky man looked at Esmond for a few seconds, confused, but did as he was told. A’lana tried to push herself to her knees, but blinding pain shot through her stomach as she was sent flying down the hall. A’lana heaved, and stars danced in her vision.

“You know why I turned to banditry, hmm?” Esmond droned on in his sickeningly sweet voice. Not waiting for an answer, “Because I was not given what I was owed.” And sent another kick into A’lana’s stomach. She gasped and it was all she could do to stay conscious. She tried to get up again.

“Shoot her in the leg, Tori.” Pain lanced up her right thigh and she collapsed to the ground again.

“Now I’ve gotten the power to challenge high Gold Ranks. Do you think I would let a fly like you ruin my plans?” He squatted down and looked at her panting gasps. “Pathetic. To think I once thought you my rival. I looked up to you, you know. But now…” He chuckled.

He stood up and stepped back a little. A’lana could tell by his stance and the wisps of light coming off his body like smoke that he was really going to kill her. She summoned up all the mana she had left and strengthened her body. She tried to put up a Damping Aura, but she didn’t have enough mana.

The kick sent her streaking down the hall smashing through a set of beautifully ornate doors at the end of the hall. She hit something hard and fell head over heels.

She laid there. This is it. I’m going to die here, not even able to fight back. She thought as her eyes blurred and the individual pain in her side, arms, leg, head all seem to roll into one.

What did her sisters used to say?

“Lana you should try to use your head more.”

“Lana you can’t solve everything with your fists.”

“Lana you really should try something more ladylike, otherwise how will you find a good man?”

Eleonora, Josselyn, Meredith. Boy could they nag especially after mother died, but they really did care for her. She was going to die here, and her sisters wouldn’t even know what had happened to her. Maybe she should have just stayed home.

Breathing was getting harder, probably a punctured lung. Her left arm was definitely broken. Her eyes couldn’t focus, and that cackling laughter sounded like she was under water. Damn it all, she hadn’t even gotten one punch in. Her right arm still somewhat functioned so she grasped at something, anything to throw or hit that bastard with. Something round and hard met her hand and she gripped it.

She could make out some of the words from the sound that Bastard was making. “…with…play…more, but I need…work…end it...” She blinked her eyes towards the sound, trying to find her target, but she didn’t even have the strength to sit up. Then a shadow loomed over her. At first, she thought it was Esmond and she was ready to throw her projectile with the last of her will.

“What is your command, Mistress.”

She stopped. She squinted at the figure, no that was not Esmond. A dark hooded figure stood next to her broken body. She could hear him loud and clear. Ah this must be the Guider of Souls, the Keeper of the Dead, coming to take her to her final resting place at last. It must be giving her her last death wish.

She laughed a painful laugh. “I want those three dead.” She rasped.

“As you command.” And the figure disappeared.

As her consciousness slipped away, she thought she heard, panicked screaming. Something about “kill it”, more screaming, then “runaway” and “stop you fool”. She smiled, even if it was just a delusion, it was still a good delusion before she died. And she drifted off.