Miko’s feet barely produced any sound as he sprinted through the wide streets of Eresath. His soft leather shoes seemed to glide over the neatly arranged cobbles, touching them only so briefly with every step. The few late stragglers still roaming the streets hastily stepped out of their way for what they no doubt thought was some kind of phantom.

In some ways, Miko felt much like a phantom. His grey clothing blended subtly with the buildings surrounding him, their moonlight shadows hiding him away almost completely. Once or twice someone yelled at him as he passed by, but he paid them no heed. Even if it had been a guard or soldier, there was no one who could ever catch him.

Except maybe an Enhancer of course, Miko thought amused. He had played games of tag with them at the training grounds, but never had he faced them on a playground of his own choosing.

Approaching an intersection, he darted to the right into a smaller alleyway. There, he jumped onto an market stall constructed against the wall, heaved himself up and continued climbing using support beams sticking out the wall. Walking by the market stall during the day, one would never guess it was a beloved route taken by one of Eresath’s most nimble thieves.

Carefully maintaining his balance, Miko finally reached the top of the building and crawled onto the roof. For a moment, he gazed over the city’s canopy. Not far into the distance, beyond a hundred more roofs similar to the one he stood on, towered the walls of the true heart of the city. The fortress of the Thalion Order.

The walls had been a pure and glistering white once, he had been told. These days though they had a dull grey shine to them. Some of the spires still held their original colour, a remnant of the glory they had once represented.

Glory or not, he thought to himself, it’s still the centre of the world.

And he was going to rob it.

When Raehon had suggested his plans, they had thought the man a fool. But now, three months and a lot of preparations and careful planning later, he was beginning to believe they might actually succeed. Everything had gone according to plan. Not that the plan so far had been dangerous in any kind of way, but it was working. Their two Sealers had done remarkable work on understanding the seals that guarded the vaults.

Miko’s task had been to infiltrate the fortress and gather any inside information he could get his hands on. A task that turned out to be so easy that it ended up being dissatisfying. The Order always had its gates open for those who wished to visit or study and they had been quick to enrol someone like Miko as an assistant for the training grounds. A job that he surprisingly enough enjoyed to some extent.

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Turning his gaze away from the fortress, Miko continued his run. He knew this part of the city all too well, the roofs perhaps even more so than the streets below. He had more than one route towards their headquarters and many more leading away from it. Enjoying the cool temperature and solitude, Miko ran and jumped from roof to roof with considerable ease. These were the moments he savoured. There was something freeing about being all alone atop a city, soaring through the air above empty streets with nothing but moonlight as guidance.

When he finally neared the building the crew used as a cover, he was disgruntled to see the roof empty. Vellan was supposed to be on guard duty tonight.

He came to a halt one building away from his destination and waited. When Vellan did not show himself in the following minutes, Miko took a short detour that allowed him to reach the roof without being seen. He hoped Vellan had simply ignored his duties and was downstairs drinking or sleeping, but knowing Raehon’s strictness when they were pulling a job he very much doubted that was the case.

The trapdoor leading down into the building, he noticed, lay open and a dim light shone from within. With a sigh of relief and frustration, he suddenly heard Vellan’s voice. With the intent to reprimand the man, he stood up from his hiding spot but was halted when the words Vellan spoke reached him properly.

“... at all I tell you. Raehon won’t know what’s coming to him.”

“And you’re certain everyone is here?” a somewhat familiar voice asked in a hushed tone. “We can’t afford any loose ends.”

“There’s only one absentee,” Vellan answered equally quiet, “but he’s staying inside the Fortress as you know. We can intercept him when he comes back to report two days from now.”

“Very well,” the other man answered and to Miko’s horror, the sound of a sword unsheathing followed. “You go open the backdoor, I have some men waiting there. Once they’re inside, we begin.”

Cursing his luck that he had chosen to come back two nights earlier with new information, Miko sneaked over to the open trapdoor and looked down into the attic. Vellan was gone already and the man he had been talking to stood near the staircase leading down. His features were covered by a hood and cloak, but the sword the man held told Miko enough.

Even with this small amount of light, he could clearly make out the engraved symbol on the weapon’s metal. There, just above the hilt, was a wavy cross enveloped by a full circle with another half of a circle above it. The symbol of the Order.

Miko let out a small gasp and the man visibly tensed, his head slightly jerking towards Miko.

Without a second thought, Miko jumped to his feet and bolted away from the trapdoor. There was only one way to escape from an Enhancer.

Run.

Run and hope you could hide yourself or disappear before he got to you.

Miko only dared to look back once he was ten buildings gone, but the rooftops of Eresath proofed to be as empty as they had been before. He slumped down, breathing heavily from the sudden sprint and counted himself lucky the man hadn’t given chase.

The realization of what was happening in their headquarters hit him like a sack of bricks. They were going to kill Raehon and the others. And all he had done was run away.

“You’re a coward, Miko,” he cursed himself as he stood up with the intent of turning back. His legs however didn’t move. What could he do against an Enhancer? Or more at that, the men Vellan had been ordered to let in were surely no pushovers either.

“Sevens be damned,” he cursed again. “You’re a spineless coward, Miko.”

Tears rolled down his face as a sole scream broke the silence of the night.

The killing had begun.

And Miko was alone.