A carriage leisurely makes its way down a dirt road with the pace of someone who has nowhere to be. The horse drawing the carriage is a warm brown color.

At the front of the carriage driving the horse sit a young man and woman, both similar in the face, but quite different everywhere else the man had red hair in tight curls, but what was most noticeable about him was his metal arm and leg as well as the porcelain prosthetic concealing half his face, allowing a red glass eye to peek through. He wore a white shirt with baggy sleeves under his navy jerkin and even baggier striped pants.

The woman had flowing curly blonde locks, wore a white slit dress over her trousers with armored gauntlets and boots and watched the road with a face like stone, her eyes seemed to barely hold life.

They stopped the cart and sat in silence as they watched as Nyx and Sunny ran by in front of them, a gaggle of about four Brotherhood scouts chasing after them, shouting all the way.

“Were those scouts harassing those two travelers?” The redhead asked.

The blonde responded “Just stay out of it, Darnal, the Brotherhood-hey.”

“Watch after Chesnut” Darnal said as he jumped out of the cart and began making his way towards the direction the strangers had run.

The blonde sighed, grabbing a large glaive from her seat and starting to run after him before turning back to the horses. “Don't get stolen.” she said. Then she ran off.

Nyx and Sunny continued running, into an open field with no cover.

‘Genius’ thought Nyx.

The scouts were gaining on them.

Sunny let out a strong gust blowing one away. The others looked back at him briefly before turning their focus back on the pursuit.

They heard a voice behind them “Is there a problem officer”

The guards and the boys stopped to see Darnal catching his breath.

One spoke, pointing to Nyx “This one was accused of using shadow magic. Hey aren’t you the kid who-“

Darnal cut him off “I’m done talking, leave them alone now.”

Astaria caught up at that moment, arriving much quicker than Darnal but with more breath to spare.

“You realize you’re interfering with an arrest right?”

“Since when does the Brotherhood have the authority to arrest someone!”

While the scouts and newcomers were arguing, Nyx realized the scouts were distracted. He nudged Sunny making him realize the same and the two began to sneak off, nearly slipping away before a scout noticed.

“Hey! Hold it!”

At that moment Darnal raised his metal arm and sent a bolt of electricity flying towards the scout who had just spoken. He convulsed on impact, before turning back towards Darnal and the woman. “Get the ones we’ve been tracking, we’ll handle these ones!”

The scouts charged into action, splitting off into two groups.

Darnal broke into a run and weaved around the scouts and strangers, leaving small glowing circles with the symbol of Lynyerne in the center every time his metal foot touched the ground, not that the scouts noticed.

One of the scouts pursuing him stepped squarely on one and electricity shot through her body causing it to convulse.

He’s a runectafter, Sunny realized before the sight of an advancing scout broke him out of his impressed distraction. He blew the scout away from him and Nyx, hurling him straight on to another one of Darnal’s runes.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Meanwhile the woman readied her glaive, swinging the blade at a scout charging towards Darnal. He dodged the blade, but not the handle as she swung it back around to knock him to the ground.

One of the scouts after Sunny and Nyx leapt into the air and raised a glowing fist encapsulated by light magic, but Nyx raised a wall of shadow which thinned out a bit from the light shining on it but ultimately blocked the punch before it made contact.

He extended two claws from the wall to grab the scout by the waist, hurling him onto another lightning rune.

All four scouts were now on the ground, but were beginning to stir. Before they could, Nyx spread their shadows and formed them into thick ropes to bind them to the ground.

Darnal strode over to the closest one, drawing the saber at his hip and pointing it at his chest and the woman and Sunny did the same with their own glaive and falchion.

“Surrender?” asked Darnal.

“Never!” the scout said, puffing out his chest.

“Oh…ok then.” Darnal said.

He looked at the woman, who shrugged.

Darnal struck the scout on the head with his pommel and she did the same.

Sunny followed suit and Nyx, not having a weapon, hit his guard on the head with a shadowy fist.

“So you really are a Shadow mage…”

“That a problem?”

Darnal raised his hands placatingly. “No, not at all. It’s just uh…interesting?”

Nyx’s posture became somewhat less defensive “In any case, thanks for helping us out back there.”

Darnal smiled. “No problem. I’m Darnal and this is my sister Astaria.”

“Hello.” She said flatly.

Sunny caught notice of the pointed shape of Astaria’s ears. “How come you didn’t use any magic during the fight?”

“I don’t use magic.”

“But-“

“I didn’t say I’m not a mage. I said I don’t. Use. Magic.”

Sunny clamped his mouth shut.

Darnal did not seem the slightest bit affected by his sister’s affect, continuing to smile. “We make a pretty good team, I think.

Nyx smiled back.

“Well we should probably be getting back to the cart”

You have a cart?!” Nyx and Sunny asked in unison.

“Uh, yeah.” said Darnal “…You wanna tag along?”

Before too long, Sunny and Nyx found themselves sitting in the back of a rather nice cart, surrounded by luggage. The twins once again took up residence at the drivers seat.

“So, where are you headed?” asked Darnal.

“Nowhere in particular” Nyx admitted.

Darnal laughed. “Honestly, we’re kind of in the same boat. Any particular reason you’re traveling?”

“We’re on a mission trip of sorts” said Sunny “we’re trying to raise awareness for all the good Shadow magic can do.

“Wow.” said Darnal. “It’s nice to see someone trying to improve Shadow mages’ lives. You must really care about your people.”

“Yeah.” said Sunny

There were a few moments of comfortable silence.

“Also I’m their patron Spirit”

The cart came screeching to a halt.

“Woah, Nyx…” Sunny glanced over at his partner, surprised at the easy admission.

“What? It was going to come out eventually. If they hate me and kick me out, I say we dodged a bullet.”

Darnal stared at him in shock and awe. “By the Allmother, you’re not joking are you?”

“Wait.” said Astaria. “I heard Nyx didn’t have a body.”

Sunny and Nyx exchanged glances.

“That’s a common misconception-“ Sunny began.

“-I found one” Nyx cut him off.

The twins looked at him in horror.

“It…uh…wasn’t being used. But I can’t stay like this forever. And I can’t live with myself if I don’t lay this man to rest soon. So please. If what I’ve told you isn’t enough for you to kick me to the curb, we could really use the help to get me one of my own.”

“What would that entail?” Darnal asked, clearly still weary.

“Only what we said before.” Sunny explained. “Travel the world, change minds, get worshippers. Piece of cake.”