Ezra is laying on the soft, green grass while look up at the sky. He remembers his sister and her gentle smile but it quickly fades to black as he hears marching nearby, not giving him time to mourn.

He jerks up and quickly hides behind a bush, covered by trees and other greenery, the soldiers that pass by don't even notice him, they continue to speak among each other talking about a "wanted criminal" as they describe him.

They say that he caused a lot of trouble to the guardsmen and that he was even able to kill the greatest assasins sent after him, "he is wearing a red vest which is always untied with brown leather pants and boots. A very handsome face and a strong body. Sounds as if we are dealing with a real monster, aren't we?"

"We are, but don't forget, we are not supposed to fight him. Only gather info."

Ezra watches on, scared that they'll see him but his green, torn up clothes and dark skin almost act as camoflage against the greenery. He thinks about hitting them with a spell but his chest aches every time he tries to use any form of manna.

The guards pass by and Ezra breathes a sigh of relief. After some thinking, however, he decides to follow them to find the criminal and see with his own eyes.

Ezra moves in the bushes, following them closely while making small and sounds of his body rubbing against the bushes, but they either disregard them as the wind or are too caught up in their own conversation to care.

The thorny bushes bother him but he has to stay hidden and try to push through the pain of his skin getting torn and bleeding. At this moment he looks like a homeless person who had just come out of a dumpster, he smelled like one too.

The guards finally stop after what seemed to be an eternity in Ezra's mind, one of them looks around and says:

"He is nowhere to be found? He can't leave this place so he has to be nearby, search the area quietly, we don't wanna be spotted." The other guard nods and they split up.

One of the guards goes close to a bush and gets pulled forward, Ezra decides to, out of curiosity, go towards the bush and as he comes closer to it he can feel a strong presence within.

The presence quickly dissapears and Ezra feels a cold blade of a knife at his throat.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"tell me why i shouldn't kill you right now." Says the person, whispering into Ezra's ear.

"I'm on your side, a wanted criminal as well." Says Ezra, whispering as well, "I also hold information that may be useful to you."

"Like what?" The person questions.

"I know how to escape the walls, and i can help you escape as well."

"Impossible, the walls have a protection charm, even if you were to try and break through them the spell would be reflected!" The person speaks a bit louder and quickly catches himself.

"Why do you think we need to break through them?" Ezra asks.

"You think we can go through the gate? How? There's at least 6 high rank guards near the gate."

"We'll defeat them, i guess? Haven't you defeated many guards yourself?"

"I have, but those are in another league... Were you not the one that got beaten by a guard?" Ezra looks at him confused.

"Wasn't he a general?"

"He wishes, i know him personally and he is not even close to a real general. He even asked the higher ups to call him a general. Even the Grandmaster! That dumbass..." The person yells a bit again and the other guard hears them.

"damn it!" As the guard aproaches the bush the person lowers the knife afaw from Ezra's throat and throws it, killing the guard easily.

"Say, whats your name?" asks the misterious person.

"Ezra." he replies.

"I'm Johan (read as yohan), you said you have a way to leave the walls? Enlighten me." Johan says while giving Ezra a knife, "use that for protection." he tells him.

Both of them go to the walls by the main road and weirdly, nobody stops them or calls the court guard. They walk for over a mile before finally seeing the walls close up, they hide to not get seen and the gate guards continue on their usual business.

"What now Ezra?"

"We wait, do you have a spell which could get us out of here?"

"I do, i think... Maybe." Johan crosses his arms around his neck and forms two red blades that he swings at the guards, "Vulnus!" The slashes of manna fly at two of the guards and cut them in half.

The leading guard notices but is far from them and they are able to cover ground before the leader gets there, on the other hand, the guards from the other side of the gate cannot get to them as the gate is locked and the leader is the key holder.

"What?! When have you...!" The leader's anger builds up withing him and he rushes at them at hypersonic speeds.

Ezra is unable to react but Johan protects Ezra with his blades and they start their fight. Ezra however tries to go behind him and conjure a spell but collapses and falls to his knees.

'What are you doing?' Johan thinks while barely keeping up with the leader.

Johan gets cut and the leader persists with his attacks, not holding back but also blinded by rage. Johan's injured arm drops one of the swords and he holds the other sword trying to defeat the leader. Ezra can't get up so he throws his knife in desperation.

The knife misses but the leader is thrown off and Johan has enough time to stab him in the chest. They both take a breather for a little until Johan decides to take the key and open the gate.

To be continued...