Tetra's eyes snapped open, and he found himself sitting on a bench in a bustling desert market square. A scroll lay on his lap, written in a strange tongue. As he gathered his bearings, he heard a voice calling out to him.

He looked up and saw a young female Ascendant standing before him. She was about 5'6" tall, with long white hair and a white blouse. She wore leather bottoms under a dirty apron.

"Sir? Sir? Are you alright sir?" she asked, concern etched on her face.

Tetra shook his head, trying to clear the fog from his mind. "Yes, I'm fine. I must have been lost in thought."

The shopkeeper, Annalile, cocked her head to the side. "You've been sitting here in the sun since I opened up shop. Are you waiting for someone?"

Tetra hesitated, realizing that he couldn't remember why he had come to the market in the first place. "No, no. I don't think I was waiting for anyone. I must have just wandered here."

Annalile nodded, a look of understanding on her face. "Well, can I get you anything? Some water maybe? The desert heat can make anyone go a little hazy."

Tetra nodded gratefully. "Yes, some water would be lovely. Thank you, miss...?"

"Annalile Kulurick, at your service sir...?" she replied, giving him a warm smile.

Tetra paused for a moment, trying to remember his own name. "Tetra," he finally said, and Annalile giggled in response.

"Right away, Sir Tetra," she said, and went to fetch him some water.

As Tetra sipped the cool liquid, he took in his surroundings. The market was filled with people from all walks of life - Quartzians, Ascendants, and even the occasional Anamalis. The shops here were two-tiered, with storefronts on the ground floor and the owners and employees living in the stonework shanties above.

As Annalile jogged up the stairs to her house, eyes peered out from the window, watching. Tetra glanced up towards the dust-covered pane as Annalile reappeared, holding a clay mug filled with slightly murky water. The eyes were gone.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Tetra took the mug with both hands, peering into it. He could sense that it was tainted with some sort of potion, but he didn't let on. Instead, he smiled at Annalile and began to speak.

"Thank you, Annalile. Perhaps with a clear mind, I'll be able to figure out what my purpose is here."

"Sure thing!" Annalile said, skipping away. "I'll be over at the stall if you need anything else."

Tetra watched stealthily as the eyes reappeared at the window above him. He knew that Annalile was being used by his observers to con him, but he was curious to see how far they would go.

Downing the concoction, his vision began to go blurry as he toppled over on the bench, knocking the mug to the ground. Before his eyes finally closed, he saw three figures approaching him.

His eyes opened to a foreign chamber, where four enigmatic figures held vigil, their faces hidden by strange bandanas. He was restrained in a chair, unable to escape their watch.

"Finally awake, are you?" the one who appeared to be the leader of the group said. "A little birdy told us you'd make for a good mark. What do you think, boys? Did Lile find us a good one?"

"A poor soul with no recollection, wearing the robes of nobility and carrying scrolls of importance?" a second brigand bellowed with a sinister smirk. "It looks like we have quite the bounty!"

"Please, don't hurt him. Let's just take his stuff and leave. We don't want any trouble." pleaded a third, familiar, captor.

"Let him go?" the fourth one said. "Are you out of your gourd, Lile? Look at him. Handsome little highborn like this one will go for a good ransom, yeah?"

The second one nodded. "Keres is right," he started. "The scrolls are one thing, but a hostage goes for far more than a free man.

"Or a corpse..." Keres growled, with a menacing grin.

"Shut it, the both of you!" the leader barked. "Let's have a look at these scrolls, shall we?"

The leader strained to decipher one of the scrolls. "Dulian, can you read this?" he asked.

"Nah, boss, I've never even seen this before."

Watching the bandits continue to rummage through his belongings, throwing the scrolls around the floor without a care, Tetra desperately attempted to speak through his gag.

"Mmf mmmmmmf mmf mmmfmf mmf mmf," he mumbled.

"What? What's he saying?" Dulian asked.

"I don't know, he's got a rag in his mouth," Keres answered.

"Then take the rag out, you dolt!"

"Oh right."

Finally able to speak, Tetra spat onto the ground and cleared his throat. "I was trying to say that I'd rather you didn't do that," he said, struggling to maintain his composure.

“You’re a funny man, thinking you’re in any position to be giving us orders”, the bandit leader retorted. “Now start talking, what is all of this? You fancy yourself some sort of magician?”

Tetra looked at the bandit leader, who was holding a rusty dagger to his throat. "As much as I'd love to help, I simply cannot recall what details the scrolls contain," he stated, shrugging. "Sorry."

The bandit leader sneered at him. "You hear this man? 'Sorryyyy', oh you're gonna be, pal," he retorted, before stabbing the dagger through Tetra's hand and into the chair. Annalile gasped, but Tetra remained unphased.

The bandit leader snatched a scroll from one of his associates and held it up to Tetra's face. "Remember now?" he asked, a cruel glint in his eye.

Tetra's eyes flashed red as he scanned the contents of the scroll. A few words stood out to him: soul, transference, collection, vessel. He looked at the bandit leader and smiled. "As a matter of fact..."

With a flick of his wrist, Tetra used dark magic to untie his binds and remove the dagger from his palm. He stood up calmly, leaning in uncomfortably close to the bandit leader as he pushed the dagger between his ribs. The other bandits looked on in horror as the room grew darker and darker, save for Tetra's eyes, which glowed with a piercing shade of crimson.

"I do," Tetra replied, smiling wickedly.