"That mage, who does he belong to?" a woman's voice came from somewhere behind him, almost scaring the hooves out of him. Dread, however, gripped his guts. 'Was it them? Did the city guards overlook someone? Are they gonna kill me?'

The reasonable thing to do would have been to run away, to shout at the advancing city guards, for help, to warn them. Yet his hooves remained rooted to the spot, his throat tight, words refusing to escape.

"I bet he's a passerby. Look, you almost made him piss himself," a man snorted, igniting Meneurmut's anger at his own weakness. But no matter how much it grated on him, that brush with death rattled him more than he ever thought it could. He had heard hundreds of such tales from clan warriors over the years. All of them swore they faced death with pride. Or so they said. Only they themselves and those who were there with them knew the truth. Who’s to say? Maybe staring death in the face knocked the fight out of plenty of them, same as it did him.

"What do you mean by that? Is it my voice? It’s not my fault it’s this damn high."

"Jeez, calm your tits. Not what I meant at all. How many times do I gotta tell you I think your voice is kinda... innocent, cute.”

"Should I show you how cute I can be?" the woman grunted, as unbothered as the man by the chaos of the bloody fight tearing up the 3rd Main Street.

"Maybe later," the man said, laughing. "We should do our part and take care of this one first."

'Here goes,' Meneurmut thought, grateful he could at least face his death head-on. His eyes stayed wide, though, fixed on the pair. Their armor, clearly worth a small fortune, carried the marks of the Lion's Roar, the Seeker Company operating in all three labyrinths of the Empire. A name known in the Terr'den Federation, too.

'Are they insane? Why would they go against the Sahal Empire?' Lost for words and struggling with the lingering fear of death, he could only watch as the two walked towards him.

"Hey, big guy, which company do you work for?" The woman halted, just shy of a few steps away. "Or did the clan send you here?"

[Master Hunter: ₪₪ sigils]

Startled by the number of her sigils, Meneurmut couldn't help but stare.

"Hey, did you hear me?"

"I'm telling you - you are scaring him witless."

[Master Water Mage: ₪₪ sigils]

Of course, Meneurmut knew that [Master Water Mage] was the name the Lattice showed him because of his lack of sigils and glyphs. To know a man's exact array, he would have to match his sigil count and have the appropriate weave. Still, this mage was everything he hoped to become someday. Well, except for the whole going-against-the-Empire thing.

"I'm telling you, it's not me. Hey, big guy, tell him it's not me."

'C-come on, stop being such a coward! Find some damn pride!' he thought, refusing to let his last moments be as pitiful as his life had been since he came of age.

"I-It's not y-you, ma'am.'

"Oh, he knows how to talk."

"See, I told you it's not me."

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"He might be scared to admit it to you."

The woman clenched her fists, a low growl escaping her. "Youuu..."

"N-no, it's not that, sir. Before... one of those... black-clad men nearly killed me," Meneurmut stuttered, blurting out, "I-I got saved by a guard, yeah, one of the city guards." Desperate, he hoped that knowing this might dissuade them from killing him.

"Tits," the man swore. "Rayden is going to give us a fucking earful on this one."

'Huh? They expected to get an earful and not end up in jail after this?' It made no sense to Meneurmut, not unless... "S-sir?"

"Ah, sorry, lad. Lion's Roar is responsible for this part of the cleanup."

‘Cleanup?’

"We are here to make sure that no citizen gets caught up in the..."

"Sorry to cut you off, Nirry, but it seems some kids don’t know when to hit the sack. Back in a bit," the man butted in, cutting the woman off. Before Meneurmut could even register, he was already gone, just a trace of steam lingering behind.

"Like I said, as part of the Seeker Companies' agreement with the city, we're here to make sure no one gets hurt," the woman explained. Taking the remaining few steps to Meneurmut and an extra one to peek out of the side street onto the main one. “The Shadowbreakers are really going all out, huh?” she said, her eyes fixed on the fierce battle happening a block away. No fear colored her voice - only pure, unfiltered curiosity.

"T-those are the Shadowbreakers?"

"You didn't know? No way. Are you really just a city guy? I thought that as a mage..."

This was his moment, reckless as it felt. "N-no, ma'am. The clan sent me." That was the truth, in a way. "Ironhoof clan. J-just, I don't know much."

The woman smiled, clearly relieved. "Don’t we all?"

'What did she mean?'

"Come on, we should get moving,” she urged, stepping forward in the wake of the fight. Easier said than done, but not really in a position to refuse, not to mention his curiosity to find out what was going on, he forced himself to move. To his surprise, it wasn’t as hard as he’d feared. In fact, while talking to the woman, the fear of death seemed to have lost its hold on him - or at least the tightest grip.

He walked with unsteady steps, the clatter of hooves on the pavement echoing louder than Scalehoof's horseshoed ones. He felt like a newborn calf just learning to walk, especially next to the woman, whose step was as elegant as a dancer's, even in her armor.

"Don't worry. Shadowbreakers seem to be retreating," the woman from Lion’s Roar commented, watching him scan the untouched buildings and side streets nervously. Only the cobblestones of the main street showed signs of the chaos, with some cracks so deep they revealed the ceiling of the labyrinth upon which the city was built.

"Why... why don't you help the city guards?" Meneurmut finally mustered enough courage to ask. That the Seeker Companies were required to help Castiana in an emergency was common knowledge.

"Because no one asked us. Or did you hear the warning bells ringing over the rooftops?" she replied, gracefully hopping over the hole and sliding into the ditch where the woman in black, one of the Shadowbreakers, lay. After a quick check, she flipped her onto her stomach and cuffed her arms and legs with practiced efficiency.

"Is she...?" Meneurumut failed to finish the question, staring at the gaping wound in the Shadobreaker woman's side.

"Oh, she is. But one can never be too sure. Someone with my - or hers - number of sigils is not so easy to kill." She winked at him, then continued her stroll, seemingly unfazed by the chaos of the ongoing battle.

"Why didn't they raise the alarm?" Meneurumut asked as he caught up with her.

"That, I do not know. I can only assume Rayden wants to handle this on her own. She can be pretty prideful at times."

'She can?' He may never have met her, but that wasn’t the impression he got. He did catch a glimpse of her once at the barracks range during his regular review. She was talking to her troops, and her speech was really inspiring. "Then w-why are you here? I mean Lion's Roar."

"I suppose for the same reason as everyone else," she said, flinging her hand at the other spectators, either walking headlong down the street like them, hiding in side alleys or on the roofs of houses. "We were curious what was behind all the ruckus in the city. Isn't that why you're here, after all?"

“Y-yes,” Meneurmut stammered, his mind racing at the thought of what would happen if his true purpose for being there came to light. “B-But deeper in the city, y-you can barely hear anything... and the buildings around...”

"Wow, no offense, but what was your clan thinking sending a rookie like you here? There are barriers, obviously. I know people don’t think highly of us seekers, but we live here too. Castiana is our city as much as anyone else's - and we don't want to see it destroyed, either."