It had taken Faldrid all day to recover, and even then he did not feel as strong as he once did.

The whole experience wasn't that pleasant for him. Thestra had kept saying how he should be grateful to her for saving his life. He agreed with her, but it got to a certain point where it was a little too much. Whenever he would show any sign that he was hurting, like a grunt, groan or a small complaint under his breath, she would tell him that he was annoying. When he tried to strike up a conversation, she would tell him to let her sleep despite appearing ready to jump at even a mouse.

Whenever Faldrid tried to protest her callowness he would just be ignored. He gave up at one point because she was the one who saved him, but also because her comments didn't seem to be truthful, like she was just putting on airs. Though he may be wrong and she could just be very conceited.

The two didn't speak to each other as they rode all through the next day to the village of Lucel. Faldrid had never been and a part of him was eager to see what it was like. In spite of that, a part of him was not looking forward to having to get to wherever General Amian was. Not only would it be a hassle to find him, but bringing that man down was going to be a challenge in itself.

Faldrid would just have to come up with a plan once they reached the village, and saw what it was actually like.

Once they finally broke through the forest that Dela had found Thestra in, the pair had a clear view of the village. Faldrid was actually quite relieved at what he saw. The village had no walls, and the guards... no they seemed to be preoccupied with something in town. Faldrid wondered what it was. It had to have something to do with General Amian, didn't it?

Thestra and Faldrid looked at each other. Faldrid for one was uncertain while she looked to just be checking if they were okay to keep going.

Regardless Faldrid nodded and they were off.

As they drew near to the village Dela and Thestra's attoka's looked around with their ears perked up. Faldrid connected with his and Dela’s bond to get an idea of what had alerted them.

Faldrid's eyes widened in surprise. What he sensed from her was another Dorcha Attoka.

As they got closer to the edge of town, Faldrid caught glimpses of two black cloaked figures on the backs of attoka.

The voices began to become more distinct

One from a man that sounded furious, "You're lucky I didn't shoot that girl off that thing the moment I laid eyes on her, especially after the story I've heard."

A girl's voice fainter than his, "Me?"

Thestra tensed in her saddle as she heard the girl's voice. She looked back at Faldrid. He knew the look was meant to ask him what to do, but he could see in her eye that she had already made up her mind, and there was no stopping her.

He nodded to her, and then at the big house adjacent to where the conversation had occurred. It was the biggest house he has seen so far, and he could think of no better place to look for that monster.

Thestra nodded back in understanding and jumped off her attoka and scurried up one of the nearby houses. Faldrid on the other hand made his way to where he thought the general might be hiding.

***

Umbren couldn't believe his eyes. Even though he barely knew the girl, he had perfectly remembered her face. He doubted he could forget even if he tried. Despite the eyepatch which made her instantly recognizable, she had also survived that day. One of the three only survivors. He was grateful to her.

Thestra had come to their aid.

Her face showed no sign of fear despite the overwhelming odds against her.

Umbren took a glance back at Kagi; she wore a broad grin directed towards the other Hand. How had she known Thestra was here before?

Umbren didn't have much time to think as the guards had quickly recovered. Most of them went for Thestra, but the remainder-which was still enough to overwhelm the two-targeted them.

The guards themselves wore scale armor with a hand holding out the sun. The ends of their legs and arms unprotected. The neck and groin areas were also viable targets.

three guards went for Umbren all at once. Two thrusted their spears at him while the other tried to slash at him.

Umbren dodged one of the spear thrust and narrowly the other. He pulled out his kukri to block the incoming strike from the last luxcian. The force of the blow almost knocked his weapon out of his hand.

He grabbed the spear that almost drew blood and as the luxcian was pulling it back in for another thrust, Umbren pushed it back. The blunt side of the weapon ended up hitting his opponent in the neck, stunning him.

Umbren gritted his teeth. At this rate he would be impaled. He had avoided his opponents' attacks, but that was mostly due to luck. To add insult to injury there were four more luxcians that would try to strike in the next few seconds.

If only...Umbren eyes jerked open as he frantically searched the ground for his knives. The mayor had dropped them before ordering Umbren to be killed, so they must be…

Umbren spotted them not far from himself. He shoved back on the spear he still held at bay with his kukri and dived for his throwing knives.

Fortunately luxcian eyes weren't as good as his in the dark, and his black cloak most likely made it even harder for them to find him.

Before they could do anything Umbren threw three knives into the guards in front of him. They were clumped together, so he didn't have to bother with aiming.

He could hear the sound of metal clinging off of metal. The first knife was deflected by the guard armor. Umbren wished he had more time to aim, but hopefully that had at least dazed him.

He smiled as he heard the other two knives go into the flesh of luxcians.

Umbren rolled out from the point where the luxcians had fixated their attention on, and prepared to strike.

Though right when he rolled out of the way a flash of light crossed his vision as a blade of light stuck out of where he previously was, then dissipated. Umbren gave out a heavy exhale of relief. At this rate his luck really would run out.

When the guards had first charged at the tenebrage twice as many had gone to attack Thestra compared to Kagi and Umbren.

One guard let out a cry at his fallen comrades and charged at the Hand with his spear.

Thestra stood up and used one of her kukri to redirect the spear that had been originally aimed at her heart. With the luxcians spear now off from its target Thestra brought her other kukri around and caught the guard as he passed her in his charge.

A guard thrust his spear at her, but she sidestepped, avoiding the blow, then rushed at the luxcian. Another guard was coming to the aid of her potential victim from the side. Upon noticing this, Thestra turned her kukri in one of her hands, and as the guard she was moving towards brought his spear back to ready another strike, she dropped to her knees and slid past him dragging her kukri through his groin on the way.

She then spun as she slid past the guard now bleeding out on the road, and threw the same kukri at the luxcian that was coming to his aid.

The kukri spun through the air and buried itself into the man's neck.

As Thestra stood up she jabbed the hilt of her remaining kukri into the head of an approaching guard. His helmet rang out like a bell, and Thestra's arm recoiled, but the luxcian fell to the ground dazed.

When Thestra spun around, she was greeted by a guard trying to cut her open with a downward slash.

She jumped back just out of the spear's range as it hit the ground. She then ran and jumped at the luxcian. Forcing him down and cutting his throat open, rolling off of him seamlessly with bloodstains now covering her.

She landed next to another luxcian, and prepared to strike him down, but suddenly her eyes widened.

She pulled the guard towards her then pushed off of him when he was close enough. The next thing the guard knew an arrow of light had pierced his heart. His armor burnt right through.

She dodged, rolled, and slashed her way back to where her other kukri protruded out of the man's neck. She jerked it out of his neck violently, sending blood flying. She then backed up towards where Umbren and Kagi had been fighting. The guards, now more cautious with their approach.

During the initial charge, many luxcians had attacked Kagi at once. Luckily for her she had remained calm after seeing Thestra during the tense discussions, so she was easily able to call on her blessing.

Darkness exploded from her. It made it easy to avoid all of the luxcian's attacks as they were all a little off out of shock. Kagi used this to her advantage as she ran into their line. Her small statue and black cloak made her hard for the guards to follow. She slashed and stabbed as many as she could with her twin sai.

The guards began to become frustrated, but the young Hand’s attack stopped just as quickly as it began. They frantically looked around for what they regarded as the little creature, but she could not be found.

Stolen story; please report.

As Umbren backed away from his opponents towards were Thestra was, he spotted a dark mass moving towards the building where Dilem had gone to.

Apparently, Thestra also noticed it, "Go! Whatever she is going off to face she is no match for it." She spoke in a hushed voice.

Dilem's taunting laugh filled his head and he didn't have to think twice, "Good luck."

Thestra smiled wryly back at him.

He threw a barrage of knives at the guards blocking his way. He didn't care if they hit or not, all they needed to do was stun or daze his enemies, giving him an opening to escape.

Umbren saw that it worked and he dashed out of the circle that had formed around him and Thestra.

After Umbren left the circle, Thestra stared down the guards that had encircled her. She blew the strand of hair that hung down over her eyepatch away, as it was starting to get in her other eye. She twirled her kukri in her hands, readying herself for the first attack.

Before any of that happened however, the sound of glass shattering filled the air as a man clad in a dark green cloak flew through a window of the big house in which the confrontation was taking place in front of.

The mayor stepped out of the same window with a conceited air around him. Though Thestra could see the fury in his eyes.

As some of the luxcian took their eyes off her, to look at the source of the noise that broke their concentration, she rushed at them.

***

Faldrid had made his way into the house through a back window while the conversation was still underway between the tenebrage and those guards.

He walked quietly down the hallway that he had entered into. Doors covered each side of the small hallway. Upon reaching each one he would ready his shield and kukri and open the door a little bit to get a glimpse inside.

Despite only finding the rooms to be storage for documents, Faldrid was relieved. If he fought that general again without any help he was most likely going to die.

Upon entering the front end of the house, he found himself in what looked like a courtroom with benches lined in rows all facing a desk where neatly arranged papers sat. Faldrid looked around and listened intently for a moment, and concluded that no one was in the house.

While searching he thought back to how outnumbered Thestra and those other two-whoever they were-were. He worried about them just a little, but he dismissed his worries after remembering Thestra’s fight with Amian.

"She'll be fine. She can take care of herself for just a bit longer."

A simple excuse to resist needed change. At least he was starting to think of them as actual people.

Faldrid found nothing that piqued his interest at all in his search, except for one thing. It was an ornate trunk behind the desk. By it's placement he figured that whoever's desk it was had wanted to keep the trunk hidden, but also in a place that it could be constantly watched.

Faldrid naturally thought that he might as well make his efforts useful and get out of the house with something valuable. Though he mostly just wanted to see what such a trunk held.

He went behind the desk and opened the drawers to it, immediately checking for a secret compartment under all the papers they contained.

"He wouldn't just leave the key to be found by chance."

Sure enough then the bottom of the drawer was a fake panel, and it easily popped out of place.

In the secret compartment was a big silver key with intricate carvings all over.

Faldrid eyed the key impatiently as what was in the trunk was eating away at him.

He inserted the key into a large key hole at the front of the chest. The key went in and turned smoothly without any issues, and Faldrid heard the trunk unlock.

He raised the lid gingerly as if he was afraid to break what was inside.

The inside of the trunk was completely black. Well black wouldn't be the right word. The inside was dark. Faldrid was sure that if he was a luxcian he wouldn't notice the black bundle that took up most of the space within.

It was odd though. The stone with many symbols on it within the lamp shone brightly on the desk. It should have at least shone a little light on the contents of the trunk, but it was as if the light was afraid to get close.

"It almost reminds me of…" He mumbled to himself.

Faldrid carefully reached out and lifted a piece of the black cloth that wrapped whatever the real treasure was…

Faldrid jumped back, "Impossible! It can't be! How?!"

A piece of a blood red weapon had been unconcealed by Faldrid. Though he didn't need, or want to, unwrap the rest of the weapon to know what it was. A double sided glaive.

Night

"How...I thought Morta lost it. How did it end up here? In the hands of a luxcian?"

Faldrid heard a door slam behind him. He jumped at it but it was more from his newfound discovery than anything.

"What may a Nocturnal be doing in my office."

Faldrid didn't turn around but he could hear the footsteps. He tried to reach out to grab Night, but the moment his finger touched the unconcealed part of the weapon. He felt as if his nerves were being attacked and his finger went ice cold, but somehow he had to struggle to jerk his hand back. Not only did the glaive physically hold onto him somehow, it's embrace felt calming.

The sweet kiss of death.

At this thought Faldrid was able to pull away. He cursed himself. Only Morta could keep whatever was inside that weapon at bay. It was her blessing after all.

"Will you not answer me? You know your distraction was quite effective. Don't worry your companion will be taken care of shortly. I can't even imagine how long you've been planning this. Did you plan on killing me disguised as a member of the Ceartas order, or was this your plan..."

Faldrid had no idea what he was talking about, but he had to get Night out of here. He quickly recovered the weapon and tucked it under his arm and ran for the way he had come. Though he just came face to face with a man in a tight black suit with a deep tan and long golden hair drawn back in a ponytail.

He spun around to run the other direction, but only found himself face to face with the same man.

"Who are..."

The man glared at Faldrid, "I am the mayor of this town and that which you are carrying is my property."

Faldrid shifted his grip on the concealed glaive, "Do you even know what this is? If you did then you wouldn't be saying that."

The mayor continued to walk to Faldrid, "It doesn't matter what it is. It was given to me by a friend to care for, so until he comes back it is mine."

His patience appeared to be drawing to a close.

Faldrid looked at the man defiantly, "Well..."

He didn't have time to finish as the mayor darted at Faldrid, his fist raised with what appeared to be a steel bracer and brass knuckles.

Faldrid just barely missed the blow by jumping to the side.

With Night in his left hand he was forced to fend off the mayor with just his small shield.

Faldrid desperately blocked the volley of attacks that came his way. He was being pushed back quite a bit. He had to think of some way to get out of this.

Maybe they could talk or…

Despite blocking the punch, Faldrid felt a blunt force go into his stomach sending him off his feet onto the ground.

While on the ground Faldrid sent darkness at his opponent. As he did it he could feel Night calling out to him as if it was eager to be unleashed onto the world.

Faldrid smiled, as the mayor came to a stop in his tracks, "I’ve seen some luxcians that've done something similar, but I was expecting just to catch a hand maybe, not a person."

In front of him right next to the mayor stood a figure clad in Faldrid's darkness.

The double disappeared, "Who are you?"

Faldrid struggled to his feet while still backing away. He had seen the staircase before, maybe going up that would give him a better chance.

"Does the name Faldrid ring a bell?"

Of course it would. If that general knew then everyone would. Besides, Faldrid had single handedly…

The mayor shook his head, "No. But I can tell you that you're going to die here today, Faldrid. I may do you a courtesy and hang your green cloak on the wall."

"Well I guess Amian did go to a military school...probably."

"What are you mumbling on about?"

Faldrid shook his head, "It doesn't matter. I would like to see more tricks that you have under your sleeve. That last one was very interesting."

The mayor went for Faldrid again. It was all Faldrid could do to block his strikes while backing up the stairs.

The wind was all the sudden knocked out of him and he was sent backwards tripping over the last step. It wasn't for a lack of trying he had not seen the blow coming. The mayor had used the trick again. Faldrid doubted that he could concentrate enough to call on his blessing to see if the mayor in front of him was real while engaged in combat.

It must have been hard for the mayor to use it too for the same reason. However, that just made it more admirable when he was able to pull it off.

Faldrid really wanted to get out of this fight now, but he did have one hand clutching Night so he didn't think it would be that easy.

The mayor approached him, his hand raised, preparing to bring down that metal bracer on Faldrid’s head. Faldrid kicked out his legs trying to put some distance between the two. Surprisingly it worked. Faldrid took this opportunity to use the railing that prevented anyone from falling onto the court below.

He didn't know for how much longer he would be able to keep up with the mayor's strike. Faldrid was already injured before going into the fight, and he was beginning to grow tired.

When Faldrid turned back to his opponent he was greeted with an elbow to his face sending the sound of a loud crack throughout the room. The mayor seized the bundle from under his arm, but upon making contact with it, he pushed Faldrid away over the railing, staggering back screaming in pain.

Faldrid landed right on the desk below. He tasted iron and his mouth and his nose was bleeding profusely. He groaned as he rolled off the desk and staggered onto the floor. As he laid there he noticed that a part of Night's bundle was unwrapped.

"Huh. luxcian's…seem to... have a different...reaction to...you."

Faldrid used the desk to support himself. He could still hear a commotion up the stairs, it seemed that the mayor was still recoiling from the curse.

Faldrid slowly limped to the front door of the house. He thought the only reason he was conscious was because of the rush from the fight, but he assumed he would collapse any second now.

He had to at least get Night to one of the tenebrage. Finding it would probably make up for his past mistakes. He had sinned a great deal in his life. If only he brought Night back to Morta it would redeem his past failure however little.

Faldrid stumbled to the side of the door in front of one of the windows. He was almost there.

Everything went black.

***

The mayor stood over the collapsed body of Faldrid. A little ways away was a blood red double sided glaive.

The mayor looked at his palm: it was pitch black where he had touched the thing.

"What the hell did you give me Ritoro?"

The sound of metal on metal rang through the night. He looked to the source of it all and saw one tenebrage fighting more than twenty of his guards. She seemed to be putting up a good fight. She was ruthless, but there was also a sense of beauty to it like she was dancing.

Really though it would all be over in…

"Stop this!"

The mayor's head jerked back to where the fight was. Alyze was standing in front of the tenebrage with her arms spread out in front of a guard.

"You idiot!"

The mayor ran to where she was.

The Nocturnal flipped a kukri in her hand.

Fear spread through the guards face who Alyze defended. He grabbed her, putting a knife to her throat.

"Don't come any closer!"

Desperation and fear often leads to foolishness.

The Nocturnal swung her blade.

The mayor ran. He ran faster than he had his entire, "No. No. No. No! No! NO! NO!! NO!! Not again. Not again. Not again. Not again. Not again. Not again. Not again. Please Luxcian. Please Luxcian. Please Luxcian. Please Luxcian. Please Luxcian. PLEASE LUXCIAN NOT AGAIN!"