I woke up as I slowly opened my eyes and the sun light from outside beamed in, stinging them. I sat up and rubbed my face trying to wake myself up.

I glanced around the room with my half open eyes and saw Anthony still lying on his bed. I got up and made my way out of the room to look for Diablo. I passed a clock which read 10:23 AM. I guess I had a lie in.

I walked into the VIP lounge to see Diablo, Zane and Jace, the superior from earlier. All standing in the middle of the room.

Zane was first to notice me as he turned to face me.

“Good morning.” He said as I walk over to the group.

“Hey Shay. I’m going to leave at 8 for backup. I won’t be back here until 1 am after that since I need to figure out then round up everyone who is coming with me.” Said Diablo.

“Jace is going to stay here with you, Zane, Richard and Liam who is sitting in the room next to mine.”

“You guys can just rest up; you won’t have to do anything from now on.” Explained Diablo.

“That’s good to hear.” Said Zane. “I’m in no shape to fight right now.”

“Yeah same.” I added. Despite usually healing pretty quickly I was still aching in some places; I hadn’t realised it last night but now it was obvious. Anzu really did a number on me.

“Alright, if you need me, I’ll be in my room making plans for everything.” Said Diablo as he turned to make his way to his room.

“I’m going to relax in here for a bit then.” Said Zane. “I’m still beat.” He said as he took a seat on the sofa.

“I think I’ll go get some food then.” I said, making my way out of the lounge.”

“Oh, then I’ll join you.” Announced Jace. “If you don’t mind?”

I turned in surprise expecting Zane to be the one asking to join me, but I guess he doesn’t want to test his luck after yesterday.

“Sure, that’s fine.” I said.

“Do you have anywhere in mind?” Asked Jace as we started slowly making our way to the door.

“Not that 24-hour café I hope.” Added Zane from the sofa behind us. I laughed and assured him I’d never being going there again. Me and Jace made our way out of the inn and onto the street below. We walked through the village eyeing up different restaurants and cafes.

“They all look so expensive.” I said to myself as we passed 3 restaurants doing a single meal for 18 Mali (18 Gold coins.)

“Oh don’t worry about the price. It’s on me.” Announced Jace.

“Wow, really? Thanks.” I replied. “Well then, why don’t we just go in there.” I said pointing to one of the many restaurants in this town.

Me and Jace had our food in the restaurant, nothing note worthy happened. Jace seemed to be trying to take my mind off yesterday and was asking me about what I had done previously to joining the guards.

After spending some time with Jace I took notice of his dark blue hair, it was long, halfway down his back. I don’t know how I didn’t notice before.

After our meal we made our way back to the inn and I spent the rest of the day in the lounge with Zane until Diablo came to let us know he was heading out.

Zane and I walked to the edge of the village to see him off then headed back to the inn to get some rest.

As we walked back into the main area, we noticed a man wearing all black robes and a black mask suspiciously scurry into a gloomy side street.

“Did you see that?” Asked Zane.

“Uh yeah…” I replied staring down the foggy thin street.

Before I could say anything, else Zane started walking towards where the man had gone.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“To check out what that guy was doing obviously.” Replied Zane turning away to walk down the street.

I’m sure it’s fine since this is just a small village but Zane hasn’t fully recovered yet… I thought to myself as I reluctantly followed him, just wanting to get back to the inn to sleep.

As we walked down the street, we came across 7 suspicious characters all wearing full black with masks. Now that I got a good look at them the masks all bared the same symbol. A white cross on their forehead.

“This doesn’t look good.” Muttered Zane as he pulled me down behind some barrels off to the side of the street.

“We need to go get Jace and bring him here.” Whispered Zane. I agreed but just as we were about to get up another one of them came running out from a nearby alleyway.

“He’s gone, he’s gone.” Yelled the man in a whispery tone.

“Shit, they must have been waiting for Diablo to leave.” Scorned Zane.

“This might be more serious than we originally thought.” I added as Zane nodded in agreement.

“One of us should stay and watch them, while the other goes and grabs Jace and our weapons” Said Zane as he continued to watch the group huddle around and plan something.

“I’ll go then, you’re still recovering, I can tell. It’ll be faster if I run back to the inn.” I said as Zane nodded again and I slowly made my way back out of the street. Once I was out of their view I ran for the inn, I shot through the front doors and climbed my way upstairs and down the hallways.

Finally, I made it to Jace’s room and knocked on the door trying my best to do everything as quick as possible to get back to Zane before something happened.

I waited however, Jace didn’t answer. He must be out I thought as I didn’t waste a single second and ran to my room to grab my weapons.

I knew I didn’t have enough time to wait for Jace, so I wrote a note and passed it under the door.

Once I had gathered Zane and I’s weapons I headed back to where we saw the group earlier.

I sprinted back then as I made it to the side street, I slowly walked down the side as quietly as I could. As I approached where Zane was, I noticed he was no longer there.

Shit, shit, shit. I felt those words repeating in my mind as I knew Zane was following them without a weapon, or he had already been caught by them and that’s why they weren’t here, or, or…

I caught myself overthinking until I realised, I could just follow the street round. What was wrong with me…

I slyly sprinted my way around the corner and saw Zane watching the group eyeing up the 24-hour café from yesterday.

I caught up to Zane and passed him his dagger.

“This looks bad, I think they plan on robbing the café.” Muttered Zane.

“But why would they rob that…” I pondered.

“Look round back, there are carriages upon carriages of traders loot.” Replied Zane.

“There is probably 1000 Mali’s worth of goods back there.” He continued.

“Alright, so what do we do.” I asked.

“Well we can’t do anything until they have actually committed a crime. Let’s just keep watching them for now.” Said Zane as we stared on at the group of bandits.

One of them was wearing a silver mask with a black cross on it, he looked like he was ordering people around which means he must be the leader. He sent a 4 of them round the back of the building and then the rest in the front door.

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The one presumed to be the leader, however, ran away from the café.

“Where’s he going?” I asked in a confused tone.

“Not sure, let’s follow him.” Replied Zane.

“But what about the café?” I scoffed.

“I doubt the leader would just ditch them in the middle of an operation, they will probably meet up later.” Explained Zane as we quickly followed the leader down the street.

We chased after him while keeping off his radar best we could, galloping down the foggy streets as the dimly lit lamps merely gave us an idea of where to walk.

“Hey, uh Shay.” Said Zane.

“What is it?” I replied.

“Is it just me or are there bandits in every shop.” Said Zane in a nervous tone.

Looking around and he was right, there were tons of them, every establishment had a group raiding the place.

“This is bad, Shay…” Muttered Zane as he stared around at the endless amounts of bandits.

As we were distracted by how many bandits there were, we had been spotted by their leader.

“The hell do you two want?” Asked the masked man.

We were taken aback for a moment as he faced us head on. He had a sword at his side and his mask seemed to be made with pottery. It had a crack in the left corner and the eye holes were completely blacked out.

“Are you the leader?” Asked Zane confidently.

“What if I am?” Replied the man.

“You’re under arrest, we’re from the guards of Aero City.” Said Zane sternly.

The man seemed surprised for a moment. But quickly regained his confidence as he ushered his hands around for us to take a look.

As we did, we noticed we had been surrounded by at least 60 bandits.

“Shit.” I heard Zane mutter under his breath as he took a fighting stance. I followed suit and readied myself for the upcoming battle.

As we surveyed our surroundings another masked man came up to their leader.

“Vince, we have raided half of the village.” He said.

“Good.” Replied their leader whose name was apparently Vince.

“Alright, kill these two then we will return to base.” Exclaimed Vince as he turned around to walk away.

Zane let out an enraged roar and stampeded towards Vince, letting out all his bottled-up emotions that had been building up from the day before.

Vince turned in shock as the bandits stood frozen watching Zane speed past them.

In the moment I raced after him to try escape being surrounded but enough time had past for some of the bandits to start taking action. I stabbed my way through the ones that had advanced on me easily, most of them weren’t trained and were only street thugs.

I looked up as Zane unleashed his first attack onto Vince. Swinging his dagger down at Vince who stepped back in an attempt to dodge. Zane ripped through some of his clothes, but it seemed Vince managed to evade any actual damage.

From the looks of things Vince was the only one with any training at all. I knew Zane was weakened so I had to do my best to defend him while he fought Vince.

I turned to face the 60 bandits which had seemed to multiply as another group swarmed the area. There were at least one hundred bandits staring me down. I clutched my dagger as I stared straight back at them.

The bandits were the first to make a move as multiple charged at me all at once attempting to aid Vince who was getting pushed around left right and centre.

I intercepted them and swiftly slashed through the first 3 bandits before they could get anywhere near Zane and Vince, one of the bandits managed to slash at my left arm leaving a cut in it. I jumped back and kicked his sword in the air as I flipped backwords landing on the ground then spinning back up to my feet to unleash an electric energy blast at the 10 bandits trying to get past me. It seemed none of them had any Magicka training, so my attack paralyzed all of them. This seemed to startle the other bandits as they took a step back from the bodies on the floor which gave me enough time to get back in front of Zane and continue guarding him.

I’m going to protect him this time, I’ll make sure I won’t lose. I stared the remaining 87 bandits down viciously as I took a stance and concentrated on my Magicka like Diablo told me to.

I charged at the bandits, slashing through them as I ran in the middle of the hoard, I felt my speed and power increase as I focused on my Magicka instead of the enemies in front of me, this gave me more time to think about my surroundings which made fighting so many like this easier.

As I charged in the middle of the bandits I slashed at least 7 at I made my way through them, As I made my way to the middle I jump kicked one of them into 10 others and flipped back off his body, flipping over another one of the bandits who was trying to swing a sword at me, I unleashed a bolt of electricity on him as I landed behind him and placed my hands on his shoulders, I spun his lifeless corpse around into some other’s as I let go I continued spinning and slashed through another bandit behind me who was trying to sneak attack me. I went on and slashed through 3 other’s who were behind him before jumping up off his body as it fell to the ground and powered up a normal magicka blast which would travel farther than an electric one, I fired it at the front of the bandits where some were trying to intercept Zane’s fight. As the blast connected with the ground it sent 7 of them flying.

I landed back on the ground as the bandits surrounded me, I spun around with my dagger and slashed through the first layer of them as they tried to attack me all at once. After spinning I was dizzy for a moment which allowed another bandit to come through and land a deep cut to my side.

I fell to the ground as more bandits started advancing onto me, I looked through their legs to see some bandits had begun to charge at Zane and Vince, After seeing that I got my second wind and shot up, blitzing through the bandits as the pain throbbed in my lower side, still slashing through as many bandits as I could while my stamina wavered.

I felt a stinging pain shoot through my entire body for a second as I fell to the ground again, without realising it I had been cut all across my body, I didn’t waste time trying to catch up on foot so I unleashed another normal energy blast which exploded upon impact with the bandits who were trying to attack Zane and Vince.

I spun myself to my feet as I heard the bandits advancing again, I blocked one of the bandits with my dagger as he tried to swing his sword down on me as I stood up, I slid my right foot across his feet and sent him onto the ground, I stabbed him in the chest as other bandits tried running past me, I pulled out some throwing knives concealed under my jacket and threw them at the bandits who had ran past me. I jumped back at pulled up my dagger in front of my face. I had cut down at least 30 at this point but it wasn’t enough, there were still too many. I needed a way to attack and defend at the same time, if there was a way, I could do both I-

A thought flew through my mind, If I could imbed my lighting magicka into my throwing knives and tried to activate the magicka when the bandits tried passing towards Zane and Vince, then I could do it, I could fight and defend that way.

I pulled out my remaining throwing knives and threw them into the ground after doing my best to imbed them with electricity, metal conducts electricity and if I can control my Magicka the way Diablo instructed then I should be able to do this.

I charged forward at the bandits with my stinging cuts pulsing all around my body, I slashed through three of them but was almost caught off guard by one of them, I ducked underneath his blade and jumped back, however, my feet gave out underneath me and I fell down. In that moment 7 or so bandits sprinted straight past me towards their leader.

It was now or never. I thought as I hoped I could pull it off, staring straight at my throwing knives sticking up from the cracks in the ground below. Just as they passed over them, I unleashed all my Magicka, each of the Bandits stopped moving and fell to the ground, paralyzed.

I- It, it worked…

I couldn’t believe it, in my moment of awe the bandits didn’t stop attacking I suddenly averted my attention to the screaming bandit swinging his sword down at me, I pulled up my dagger to block it but I wasn’t fast enough as the man slashed across my cheek.

I scrambled to my feet as I stared down the remaining 30 bandits. I breathed heavily as I felt my bones becoming weak inside of me. I held my dagger low as I realised, I wasn’t used to Magicka control that heavy. I felt myself going numb as my vision blurred and blood poured from my wounds.

But I didn’t give up, I didn’t want this to be like last time. I wasn’t going to get knocked down then just sit and watch. I was going to protect Zane this time, with all I had.

The bandits once again ran forward all at once and charged at me, I could hardly move as I tried to get in the way of them to protect Zane but standing on its own took all my energy. Why? Why were they so devoted to protecting this man? I’ve killed so many of them, yet they aren’t running, these aren’t normal bandits, they would of split by now. Bandits are only in this business for money, so why.

These were the final thoughts that crossed my mind as I felt my legs give out and I fell down to the floor, watching as the bandits stampeded towards me. But I didn’t hit the ground. I felt myself in someone’s arms, I looked up to see Jace holding me.

“You done great Shay.” Said Jace as he gently placed me on the against the wall and stood head on towards the remaining 30 bandits.

Jace was wearing full armour, a blue tint with a golden cross across his chest along with a blue shield bearing the same logo. He unsheathed his sword and pointed it at the bandits. I turned my attention to Zane who was still fighting Vince. Zane seemed tired out as Vince continued dodging and firing magicka blasts every so often that Zane would dodge too.

Though I knew Zane was still recovering from yesterday, if he was at full strength someone like this would have been ended in seconds. I pulled myself together after resting for a moment thanks to Jace and stood up to go help Zane.

I was still in a lot of pain and was completely exhausted but so was Zane and he was fighting with all he had in him. Seeing that made me want to help, I took one glance back at Jace who after slashing one of the bandits in half, turned to look at me. I nodded to him to thank him for my moment of rest and he nodded back understanding that I needed to help Zane.

Vince finally unsheathed his sword and swung at Zane who seemed to be at the end of his strength. Zane just managed to block it and fell back onto the ground, staring up at Vince who didn’t wait a moment to unleash another strike in Zane’s moment of vulnerability.

Vince swung his sword down and I intercepted just in time to stop Vince from slashing down onto Zane’s head. Zane looked up at me with thankful eyes as I helped him to his feet, and we took a stance.

Vince seemed angered by this as it was now a 2v1.

“Y- You will regret this!” Murmured Vince.

“My partner, Ark. He’s coming here. When he see’s what you’ve done, you’re in big trouble.”

“Your partner?” Muttered Zane.

“Yeah, he is a member of Exousia. The strongest criminal organisation ever. He’s going to beat all of you up!” Roared Vince.

Our ears perked at this, could this be one of the organisations Richard had talked to be about in the hospital room after our fight. I pondered as I shot a nervous glance at Zane who must have been thinking something similar. I could tell by the unnerved expression on his face.

“H- He will be here soon!” Yelled Vince as he charged at us with his sword.

I moved forward and blocked it as I stared straight into Vince’s eyes through his mask. Now that I was close enough to see into his deranged, deep red, revolting eyes.

In that moment I turned around, swinging my sword to build up momentum, yelling with all my might as I threw all my power into my swing. I turned and threw my sword straight through Zane’s body.

He gasped as he stared at me with a shocked expression.

“Sh- Shay?” He muttered as he fell to the ground, leaving an echoing thud in the air as tears welled up in my eyes.