Chapter 1: Encounter

Wood from the carriage creaks and rattles while the horses gallop as fast as they can. Riding atop the horses were a pair of young men, their faces masked and their bodies cloaked in shining black leather. One of them reaches into their bag, scrambling for something.

“Hurry up!” the other one exclaimed, “We’re passing trails here!”

“Just shut up, I got it.” From the bag, he pulls out a large map, quickly using both hands to unfold it. He stares at the map in silence.

“Can you read?!” The other one exclaimed.

“Err…”

“Gimme that!” He reaches out to snatch the map, holding it out to take a look at it himself. “Damn,” he mutters, “we passed the turn. We’re takin’ a detour. Go, boys, go!”

The horses start to gallop just a little bit faster, weaving between trees and leaping over rocks and rubble when possible. By now, the carriage was rattling violently, the nails and wood creaking as if the entire thing would collapse at any moment.

One of the men gazes behind them, watching as a dark brown horse starts approaching them rapidly with the silhouette of a rider on top. “Uhh, boss –”

“What?”

“Company approachin’!”

The other one looks behind them, watching as the other horse was closing in on their carriage. Atop the dark brown horse is a young man with short messy brown hair, a brown tunic, and a vengeful glare in his amber eyes. Riding behind him was a young lady with luscious, long black hair, caramel skin, brown overalls, and a much more innocent gaze behind her navy eyes. Her arms were wrapped tightly around the man in front of her.

“It’s Redville’s guardian: Francis!” One of the men exclaimed. “Looks like he brought one of his ladies with him. Forget the route, we need to shake them off!” Suddenly, their movements begin to change. The men command their horses to take each and every corner they see. Their turns were snappy, dodging from left to right frantically like a bug that can’t find its way. The carriage, though fragile, managed to stay intact.

After a couple of turns, one of the men looks behind him.

“They’re gone,” he said, letting out a sigh of relief. The horses slow down to a trot, making their way over to a nearby ravine for a moment of respite. The two men drop down off of their horses, taking off their leather hats as they take a seat by the water.

“Boo.”

One of them gets snatched by their collar from behind, pulling them up onto their feet. Before they could speak, a fist collided with their spine – launching them forward into the river with a comedic splash.

The other man jumps up to his feet and looks behind him. “Francis!” He exclaimed, reaching into his cloak to pull out a dagger. “Showing off to your pretty little lady, huh? Well, you’re not catchin’ me.”

Francis scoffed, rolling up his sleeves. “You’re crazy if you think that’s my girlfriend. Let’s see… you’re like, half my age, right Maru?” Francis glanced over his shoulder to take a look at her.

“I’m older than you,” she said, chuckling lightly. “Chasing bandits all day must’ve gotten to your head.”

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“Riiight.”

The man with the knife rushes towards Francis, swinging frantically towards the boy’s neck. Francis effortlessly weaves each strike, grabbing the assailant’s wrist to stop his assault, before counterattacking with his own flurry of strikes. Like a butterfly, Francis’ jabs were swift and floaty, yet they carried the weight of a bull behind them.

After just two jabs to the chest, the man was already stumbling back.

“Had enough yet?” Francis asked, a slight smirk on his face as he lowered his fighting stance. Falling to one knee, the man didn’t say anything – instead panting as he dropped his dagger.

“Francis watch out!”

Francis looked over his shoulder to see the other bandit jumping up from the river and lunging towards him with a dagger in hand. Maru rushes towards him, bashing her shoulder into the bandit and knocking him back.

The dagger falls out of his hand and he stumbles a bit before rushing back at Maru. Once the distance is closed, he starts throwing hefty punches at her while pressing his feet firmly into the ground. Maru puts her arms up to block, but it becomes shaky after she takes the first hit, it feels like her arms are about to break.

With her defense weakened, she switches from blocking to dodging. Her smaller size allowed her to duck and weave through a few of the bandit’s punches as she got closer. Once they were finally face-to-face, she ducks under his right hook, pulling her fist back and jamming it into his chest.

The bandit’s entire body immediately freezes up from shock as the wind is knocked out of him. Gasping for air and clenching his chest tightly, he collapses to the ground.

Maru winces, rubbing her arm slowly. “You alright?” Francis called out.

“Yeah,” she mutters, “punching him just hurt a lot more than I thought it would.”

“You did pretty good though!” Francis walks over to Maru, gesturing for the two of them to make their way over to the carriage.

“Your form is decent and you’re pretty nimble. We need to build your body up though. You're a pretty durable girl, but you can’t be scared to throw a punch.”

They stand in front of the carriage, Maru taking a step forward to open it. As the wooden doors creak and swing open, piles of bread and vegetables tumble out from the carriage like an avalanche. Maru jumps back, barely avoiding getting toppled. “So they’re the ones that stole the harvest this week,” she gasped, crossing her arms.

“Do you think they’re related to the bandits that took the crops last time?”

“Can’t be. The other bandits are very coordinated and wouldn’t put together something half assed like this. This might just be a one-off.”

“Good point,” Francis said, “but at least we managed to catch these guys. Now, how are we supposed to take this harvest back to the village?”

“Don’t know. This carriage isn’t sturdy enough for us to take it back.” Maru sighs, “where’s Tianyu when you need him?”

A gust of wind, a flash of light, and a soft shock-wave knocks the two of them off of their feet from behind. Francis and Maru both stumble forward, barely able to stop themselves from falling over before looking over their shoulders.

The bandit that Francis fought was back onto his feet. Standing tall and mighty, he was shrouded by a dense cyan aura, rippling like the waves. There was a vicious current of wind surrounding him, the water from the river beginning to swirl and swivel in the air like a tornado. The maelstrom grows in strength by the second, wind currents becoming stronger and the aura surrounding him growing larger.

Maru squints, noticing a cyan glow radiating from behind the bandit. Peering through the ravaging winds and waves, she noticed a faint outline from behind the man. An intricate circle with a pattern of rings engraved with runes of the Arcanian language between them. As soon as she notices it – her eyes widen.

“...A Magic Circle?”