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Chapter Text

The sky was dark blue, and clouds were rolling on the horizon

A boy with shaggy black hair, crimson Red eyes, and light brown skin was standing atop a large green hill.

The boy stared at a large building in front of him, The sign above the door read, "Order of the Iron Dagger"

He smiled and looked to his left.

There stood a girl with long pure white hair, her eyes captured the sea perfectly.

The girl cracked her knuckles and asked, "We ready to knock some heads, Red?"

The boy, who was known as Red, had nodded.

He waved his hand at the door, "After you Leah."

Leah slowly walked up to the door and attempted to open it.

When it wouldn't budge she smiled, "This is gonna be fun!" 

As she placed her palm on the door, some unseen energy was flowing off of her hand.

It seemed to force the door to crumble piece by piece, as if it was being destroyed completely.

Inside the building stood twenty odd people.

Each of them had a visible mark somewhere on their body. The man standing in front of the two intruders, had a mark covering his left eye.

The mark looked like a dagger surrounded by a circular iron hatchet.

The man  was stunned, he thought to himself, "Who is stupid enough to attack the order of the iron dagger, especially through the front door?"

He asked in a semi annoyed voice, "What gave you the right to destroy our front door?"

Red stared at the man in front of him, something twinkling in his eyes, "The door? Oh yeah sorry about that we didn't feel like knocking." His voice changed suddenly. It grew deeper and more intimidating, "Now onto my question. What gave you the right to take Jewls?"

The entire room burst into laughter, a voice from one of the others had spoke up, "You are telling me that Dragonfang hired two measely kids to to return a useless girl?"

Red seemed to lose all sense of restraint at those words. His arm slowly was engulfed in this dark shadow-like energy. As he swung his arm towards the person who dared utter those words. The energy formed a sharp black claw, flying towards it's target at breakneck speeds. When it made contact with the poor soul, the room watched as their friend flew through the wall and out on the distant field of grass. 

A girl sitting at a nearby table, drinking some sort of liquor, burst into laughter, "Jerold was stupid enough to underestimate his enemy, don't you think so, Bat?"

This name was created by the people, given to Red for his similarities with the shadows. He himself had never really cared for the name, but got used to few people calling him bat.

She raised her right hand with a jolt of energy, the ground had spat out a bolt of fire, flying directly towards Red.

Red didn't move his feet or arms to block the attack, all he did was tilt his head slightly to the side, and watched as the bolt of fire had flew past him and struck the hill behind him. 

Leah had grown impatient, she took a step inside the building, and watched as ten people surrounded her. Their magic ready to strike at the slightest hint of movement.

She stared at the liquor loving girl, "Where are you keeping Jewls?" 

The girl was silent, her friends however were very active. They all jumped Leah with all kinds of magic. 

She dodged every single attack thrown at her with ease, and quickly disposed of her attackers with a few perfectly timed punches. None of them were worth her using her magic. She did all this without taking her eye's off of the girl.

When the last of her attackers fell Leah asked again, "Where are you keeping her?" 

The girl laughed, then shrugged her shoulders, "Why would I tell the people rescuing our captive, where she was being kept?"

Red had walked inside the building and took a seat at the nearby bar. He ignored all the remaining people aiming their magic at him. He grabbed a small bottle from behind the counter and opened it using the corner of the bar itself.

The bartender was too confused to stop the boy in front of him. "You walk into a guild you have intruded upon, defeat one man with a single attack, and your friend defeats ten men without even using magic. So while the remaining members of this guild that are in this room train their magic on your head, you just take a drink?"

Red nodded while taking a sip from the bottle, "Yup."

The bartender was unsure if this boy was overly cocky of his abilities or just plain stupid. He seemed to have no sense of the danger he was in right now. So the bartender asked the girl staring at his best customer. "Sorry to inturrupt your conversation with Jenny over there, but I am trying to solve this mystery of a boy. Is he really this stupid?"

Leah replied honestly, still not letting her sea blue eye's move from Jenny. "Neither, Red is just relaxing after a long trip from Amaryliss. He knows your people won't attack him because if they do, they will die knowing unbearable pain." 

The people aiming their magic at Red's head suddenly lowered their arms, fear had set into their minds. "Is this boy really such a psychopathe that he would kill us just for inturupting his drink?" Most of them thought to themselves.

Red looked harmless in the eye's of his assailants, but something pouring off of him, an unseen aura screamed, "You Die If You Inturrupt My Drink!"

Chapter Text

Red's Assailants suddenly felt an energy similar to death looming off of the innocent boy.

They were frozen by fear, but of what, they did not know.

The bartender seemed to watch Red sip his drink peacefully, planning his attack.

When the liquid reached Red's lips, the Bartender struck. 

He seemed to be able to control the glass bottles.

With every motion the bartender made, he formed the glass bottles into tiny daggers, floating inches from Red's head.

Red looked at the glass daggers inches away from his open eyes, "Leah, think I could blow off some steam?"

Leah still staring at Jenny, her new opponent, "Might aswell, we are already intruders right?"

Red's mouth changed from nuteral, to a cryptic smile.

He put the drink down, and within a single second, hjis left arm and hand had been engulfed in this dark energy. It grew out and formed that of a scythe.

Red moved fast and swift, quickly slicing through the assailants behind him.

The bartender had not yet registered what had just happened to his men. 

The glass daggers still floating inches away from Red.

Red took no time in hesitation.

He sliced through the bartender and left him on the floor, the glass daggers falling as the bartender hit the floor.

Jenny got up from her seat, "Impressive, but sadly that won't get you anywhere. The only person in this room who knows where your guildmate is, well thats me. I don't plan on telling you anything."

Red continued drinking from the bottle, Leah took a single step, the small pieces of the door she had shredded with her power, seemed to come to life. She flicked her wrist slightly, and the pieces flew towards Jenny with blinding speed. She was suddenly constrained by a stray jacket made of the door she openned just this morning,

Jenny tried her best to free herself from this strange stray jacket, but nothing she did seemed to work. She engulfed her body in flames, and yet still the wood did not burn. "How the hell is this wood not burning?"

Leah took another step, "Who said it was wood, I mean it was when it was a door, but now it's my magic solidified."

Jenny, still struggling to escape her stray jacket, quickly realized who she was facing. "You aren't Her. are you?"

Leah looked confused, "Please reitterate, I have no clue who this 'Her' is?"

Jenny jumped back a few feet, her back against the wall, "You aren't 'Bone Crusher', you couldn't be."

Leah sighed, "Another one who calls me that stupid name. How did you people come up with it."

Leah was called, Bone Crusher because she never left her opponents able to walk away from a fight again. She never killed, but always made sure that she was the last opponent they ever faced.

Jenny seemed to feel terror build up from inside her, "Please let me live, This is all I have!" Tears began streaming from her face, "I have nowhere else to go! please Bone Crusher show mercy this once."

Leah looked at the girl in her stray jacket, she sighed, "Ok." Suddenly the stray jacket fell to pieces at Jenny's feet.

Jenny laughed, "So it is true if you plead to the great Bone Crusher, she will let you walk away without hesitation."

Jenny stomped her foot on the ground, and suddenly Jenny and Leah were enclosed by a ring of flames.

Leah seemed unimpressed by this tactic. She just waited for Jenny to do something, anything.

Jenny took a few steps towards Leah. With every step she took, Leah was slowly burning alive. But she was not screaming in pain, or weeping. She seemed unaffected by the flames. 

Leah snapped her fingers, and the stray jacket suddenly reformed. The flames cooking Leah alive did not extinguish themselves. She covered her entire body in magic power and pushed the flames off of her. Her clothes were a bit scorched but no real damage was dealt.

Jenny looked at the flaming circle trapping the two, she smiled, "You think I am defeated just because I am unable to move? Maybe that name was misplaced."

Jenny seemed to be able to control the flaming circle without making any movements. She made it creep its way towards them, with every second it grew hotter. changing from orange to blue, and blue to white.

Leah sighed, "I think I'm done humoring you." She took a step towards Jenny, and simultaniously shot off a shockwave of her magic power. Quickly extinguishing the flaming circle. When she was inches away from Jenny, her voice chainged. It was more cynical and nothing a human could create, "Where is she?"

When Jenny didn't answer, Leah smiled, "you have five seconds or I break the other one."

Jenny opened her mouth, but a sudden jolt of pain in her left arm stopped her. Leah had snapped the bone clean in half, jsut by squeezing on it.

Jenny subdued the pain and hid it away, "Bitch!"

Leah held up five fingers, and slowly counted down. With every finger she lowered, her smile grew wider. When the final finger was lowered, Jenny shouted, "Wait!"

Leah released her grip on the girl's right arm. She saw the fear from Jenny's eyes intensify.

After Jenny caught her breathe, she spoke calmly, "You want to know where we are keeping Jewls right?"

Leah nodded, "You know this already."

Jenny looked at her limp left arm. "I'll tell you if you swear not to break anything else."

Leah nodded, and Jenny continued, "She is on the other side of town, we kept her away from our guild for this exact reason."

Leah saw Jenny's face redden just slightly, normal people would miss this, she would have too. But she was angry, so she paid attention to every minute detail.

Without any warning, Jenny's right arm had snapped, the bone cleanly severed. After a quick scream, and Jenny pushing the pain down, she shouted, "Bitch! I told you what you wanted to hear! You even promised to not break anything!" 

Leah moved her hand to Jenny's right leg, "I never said I would stop if you lied to me. Now tell me the truth or we will run out of bones."

Jenny spat in Leah's face, being silent. 

Snap!

There goes her leg.

Jenny screamed and again shouted, "What the fuck! I didn't lie to you! I didn't tell you anything!"

Leah nodded, "That is the point. You didn't tell me anything. I don't care how this turns out. I will get that information."

Jenny looked over at Red who was just watching this happen, "You are going to let her treat a girl like this? What the fuck is wrong with you people!"

Red nodded, "I have no care what she does. You are the one who chose to deny her the information she demanded."

Leah asked again, but this time was different. Something in her voice told Jenny that this was the last time she would ask. She knew that she would not walk out of this room again if she lied. "Where?"

Jenny attempted to cletch a fist together, but her fingers wouldn't respond. Both her arms were dead weight at this point. "She is here."

Leah tightened her grip on Jenny's left leg, Jenny screamed, "Basement! She is in the Basement!"

Leah still holding a grip on the leg, "Where is the entrance to this stupid basement?"

Jenny nodded her head towards a rug on the floor. "Beneath that rug is a trapdoor, it will lead you to the basement."

Another loud snap!

Jenny's entire body went numb at this point. "Fuck you! I told you where she is! I didn't lie! So why the fuck did you break another one!"

Leah laughed meniacally, "Two reasons. One, because I felt like it, and two, because you didn't tell me at the beginning."

Jenny was now paralyzed, atleast until she could get carried to a doctor, that is if a doctor could even fix the damage Leah had but her through.

She realized why they call her Bone Crusher. She also knew that it fit almost to perfectly.

Chapter Text

The rug that Jenny had nodded to was a bear skin rug, but this bear had two horns near the ears. It also had light blue fur.

When Leah tossed the rug off of the floor, a trap door became visible.

Leah heard a soft bit of laughter come from Jenny, "You found the door fantastic. How are you going to open it without the keys?"

Leah ignored her, she put her palm on the locked floor door, and pushed her magic into the said door. It suddenly obliterated revealing a deep hole. There was no light to show the bottom. This meant that there was no garantee there even was a bottom.

Jenny was about to open her mouth, but when Leah whipped her head in the poor girls direction, she suddenly became mute.

Red joined Leah at the tip of the gaping hole. Leah motioned her hands to allow Red to jump first. Even though a ladder was clearly visible on the side.

Red leaped without fear, he didn't question Leah, even when they were kids.

Leah joined him soon after. They landed on the dirt ground after falling for what seemed like hours, but in reality it was only a few seconds.

They heard footsteps, to many to count. Leah snapped her fingers once, and the obliterated pieces had suddenly reformed into a perfectly usable trap door.

Once the pieces clicked into place, Leah began searching for a light source. Red on the other hand just left her there. His eyes were perfectly comfortable in a pitch black area, this was thanks to his father of course.

Leah felt something bumpy over her hand, she realized quickly that it was a button, when she pressed the button. Torches suddenly sprouted out of the dirt walls, already lit. 

The now visible corridor was long, and narrow, but the exit was perfectly in view.

Red walited for Leah to catch up to him before they proceeded through the corridor.

When Leah did catch up to the gap that Red had created, the door in front of them swung open.

One man walked through the door before he closed it behind him. He had a large build, muscular as well. a head almost completely bald, only peach fuzz was visible on the man's head. He had bright green eyes, and brown skin. The said man spoke in a monotone voice, "This is as far as you two will get. There is no way you can defeat my magic!"

Red was about to charge at the man without thinking, but Leah grabbed his right shoulder, tight, before he could move.

Leah watched the man, she wanted to know what she was going to fight before she started the battle.

The man knew this, he leaned against the door silent. Forcing them to make the first move.

Red smiled, he was excited to fight someone in a closed space.

These close quarters fights were never his best. His magic was too destructive to keep any form of building stable. But none the less it always excited him.

Leah leaned against the wall on Red's right, she spoke quietly, but demanded, "You can fight here. But do not cave us in! Do i make myself clear?"

Red nodded, "Crystal!" This warning from Leah meant Red could not use his normal fighting style. He was much more of a go full throttle from the start kind of fighter. Control and precision were never what he liked. But he does know how to fight without destroying much. It just never let him enjoy it.

The man smiled, "You two really wanna fight me one after the other? If you really want to die!" The man suddenly split into two peiople, than four, this continued until sicty four of the same man were cramped into such a narrow space. 

This tactic gave Red and Leah no room to move, but it also hindered his movements as well.

The man was suddenly sixty four people, identical one and all.

Red looked for the original but he lost track after the first four were created, so he asked, "Hey which one of you is the original?΅

All sixty four identical men spoke in unison, "It is me!"

Red sighed, "Leah, please can you just hold the ceiling from collapsing, that's the only thing your worried about right?" 

Leah couldn't even look at Red, but she answered, "I can, but that is a strain. You have ten minutes before I drop it on you!"

Red smiled, "Perfect!΅

Leah made a fist and the ceiling seemed to be unaffected, but it was.

Red stomped one foot on the ground, dark energy flooded through his leg and into the ground around him.

He was somehow able to move faster than the eye could see in such a small area, it was only a few inches from where he was before. But he was able to dispatch of atleast eight of those identical people.

They changed into shattered mirror pieces. This gave away the man's magic entirely, Red decided to ask for comfirmation as the remaining fifty six tried to pin him dowm, "Your magic isn't infinite copies of yourself is it. You create mirrors and they become doubles?" 

All fifty six of the identical men nodded, "Quite the observation. But I can make as many as necessary until you find the original body!" 

The room was filled with eight more of those identical men. 

Red frowned, "No fair! I took out eight of you! So why make more!"

none of the identical men answered. This made Red agitated.

He threw a punch towards one of the identical men, and dark energy created somewhat of a claw once again, similar to how he defeated that one man up above.

But this claw was larger. It grew to be as tall as he was.

It flew through the corridor, cutting through mirror after mirror until it was finally stopped by hitting the closed door.

Red knew not how many he had shattered, because they all were replaced almost immediately.

He was getting impatient. He couldn't take out all of them simultaniously even if he wanted too. But he had to try.

He took in a deep breathe, and released, but instead of air, it was a laser of dark energy, vaporizing the mirrors in its wake.

The beam only lasted a good few seconds, because it was only how much air he took in before releasing it. The same thing happened, but this time it took the mirror people just a slight bit longer to replace the fallen.

Red got an idea, "So by creating a mirror person, it takes magic. Which should mean that you will get exhausted eventually!"

He forgoed using magic, because he too would get exhausted with time. so instead he just decided to use hand to hand combat.

Him against sixty four mirrors was extremely difficult. For every punch he landed, eight hit him.

he continued this for a good two minutes, the only thing stopping him was Leah shouting, "Times up!"

She released her fist, pieces of the ceiling had crumbled and fallen on the mirror people, Red was lucky none of it fell on him. But those mirrors were replaced again and again.

The men spoke in unison, "Just give up already! You have no way of surviving this encounter at this rate. Just turn tail and run. Leave this Jewls girl to us!"

Red spat out some blood that pooled inside his mouth, "Like Hell!" He continued his punching and kicking, continuing the same process of per every punch he landed, eight hit him.

This would be his downfall if he couldn't think of anything to help him defeat this formidable opponent. He had to think. But where would he be safe enough to enter his mind?

He knew that he didn't have the luxury of hiding in this compact passageway.So he decided to put his punches on auto pilot.

He entered his mind to think, while his body fought continuously. This was more like he just checked out of his own reality and left his body to think on instinct alone.

His punches were slower and less powerful, but that didn't matter.

"How am I supposed to fight this continuous stream of mirrors and find the original article? No matter how many i shatter, they just get replaced."

He was not the best at making any form of strategy, but he had to do something, Leah would gladly help him but that wouldn't do. He had a code, if he started a fight alone, he would finish it alone.

Leah just continued leaning against the wall, easily dispatching of the mirrors that dared fight her.

Red returned to his body, and watched to see how his friend was somehow fairing much better than he was against the same enemy.

She was not punching or kicking, but instead she was using the mirror's momentum against itself. forcing the mirror to punch either another of its kind, or the think dirt walls.

Red never knew how to fight like that. His hand to hand combat was not the best by any means. But it was good enough to get by when he was forced to use it. Sadly, that just good enough kind of fighting didn't get him out of this.

He was bleeding immensely from the countless pummelings he was taking. But he didn't feel a single bit of pain. He was too focused on his opponents.

What was he going to do. He was getting tired, and the mirrors didn't seem to be stop producing.

He had one last ditch effort plan. His plan was to blind the mirrors, but he didn't know if that would work.

Leah was untouched, and seemed to have energy to spare, but she grew impatient so she shouted, "You are going to listen to me! Mirrors use light to show their reflections, so if their is no light, than their is no mirror person. The only person should be the original peach head!"

Red had no trouble taking advice during a difficult fight, but he still needed to have enough energy to make this plan work.

He knew this was powerful, but it took up a lot of magic. But he just thought, "I've had enough of this stupid infinite routine!"

His entire body was covered in dark energy. In almost an instant, that dark energy shot through out the corridor. deminishing all light that was there before.

Leah was right, the mirrors were gone, because no light was their for them to reflect. So Red only saw one peach fuzzed man, but he was already multiplying again.

This didn't matter however, because their was no light for the mirror body to reflect.

The man shouted, "How! My Mirrors have their own light to reflect themselves on even if you extinguish all the light in an area!"

Red ran up to the man, with silent feet. He spoke when the man could feel Red's warm breath on his face, "This spell, it absorbs all light anything creates, regardless of if that light just appears when the spell is already activated!" Before the man could react to where the noise was coming from, Red had already thrown the man against the dirt wall.

The shadowy darkness suddenly disapated but before the man could create any more mirror doubles, Leah somehow took control of the shattered mirrors scattered across the floor, she created a air tight seal around the man skin tight, so that none of  his mirror doubles could pass through it without shattering in the process. Within seconds the man fell unconsious and Leah released the skin tight mirror suit.

Because he was unconsious he couldn't fight back, and by the time he woke up, she would be long gone, so would Red and Jewls when they found her.

Red opened the door on the other side, and saw a prison lining the walls. Cells were empty, all but one anyway.

Chapter Text

When Red and Leah entered the prison looking room, they immediately noticed that all the cells lining the walls were empty.

There was only one cell that was occupied. The cell was imprisoning a girl with blue hair, tied up in a bun, emerald green eyes, dark chocolate skin, and silver glasses.

Leah ran up to the cell yelling, "Jewls!" She was in to much of a rush to notice the two guards standing outside of the cell, interrogating their prisoner. When they saw Leah and Red, one of the guards commended them, "You actually made it this far? I am impressed, and disappointed in our guilds members. How could they let two kids waltz through here as if they own the entire building."

Red chuckled, "They didn't let us waltz in here. We came here by force." 

The other guard didn't waste anytime with meaningless chatter, they opened their left hand, it was being covered in ice, and creating something. The man seemed to be able to use ice magic. That put Leah at an unease, she hated the cold, couldn't stand it. But she had another foe she could fight. 

The ice wielding guard created a large greatsword out of ice he had created through some means of using the air around him. Red cracked his knuckles once, and stared at the guard, "You think my scythe can shatter that weapon?"

The guard was confused, was Red talking to him, or was he just thinking out loud. The guard decided to pay it no mind, he charged at Red with both hands gripping the ice great sword tightly. It was heavy, so it wasn't fast. But what it lacked in speed, it made up for in raw power.

Red sidestepped, easily dodging the blow, but as he dodged, he felt a great force of wind fallow the slash. This told Red that one hit from that sword would hurt like hell. He decided to show no emotion during this fight. He wanted to see what else the guard could do with that ice magic.

The guard opened his right hand, ice covering it once again, but this time the guard wasn't creating a sword. It grew into some sort of misty like air. When the Guard slammed his hand on the ground below, the ice seemed to shoot off of the ground, Red was too slow to dodge, the attack.

Red felt spikes of ice cut through his thighs, but he ignored the pain. He thought to himself, "Creative. Hurt like hell too. I wonder."

Red never really made his own fighting style, he loved learning new ways to use his magic, so he liked watching others fight, and seeing what they could do. If he liked what they did, he would attempt to copy it. The only drawback to this is sometimes he would get to engrossed in the magic being used against him, he would forget that he was in an actual fight.

He saw the ice start to thaw out, but very very slowly. The guard swung his sword directly towards Red's head, Red had no way of dodging. So he didn't, instead he let dark energy envelope his left arm, and felt it extend a few more inches. It quickly curved and created a scythe. Red blocked the ice great sword with his scythe. It did block the attack, and absorb most of the power behind it, but some of it went through the scythe and struck Red in the head.

Red was trapped in ice, but he could block the ice great sword. It still took a toll on his body though. He blocked the great sword over and over again, getting hurt by the backlash every single time. He felt something changing, With every swing of the great sword it got harder and harder to block, but the ice at his thighs would thaw out faster and faster.

This gave Red the idea that the guard couldn't put his full power into two things at once. That is where he was at a disadvantage. Red still put all his power into the scythe, but with his free right hand, he mimicked what he saw his opponent do with the ice spikes. He enveloped his hand in dark energy, and slammed the ground as hard as he could. He imagined dark energy spikes shooting out of the ground, and it worked. The dark energy spikes were shooting out of the ground, not as fast as he would like, but it was still working.

His spikes shattered the ice ones, freeing up his legs, but blood trickled down from the thigh wound.Red dodged the next swing of the ice great sword, and swung his scythe arm towards the guards stomache, easily piercing the armor. The guard felt his stomach being cut open, but he had to much adrenaline shooting through his veins to feel any of the pain. 

Red kicked the guard, releasing his scythe, and watched as the guard fell to the floor. The guard was still alive, but couldn't move any further.

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Leah looked at the other guard, this guard seemed like they wanted to talk more than anything. "Can we not fight? I mean seriously, you guys can spare this girl right. You have a lot more members at your guild right?"

Leah started walking towards the guard, "You can leave if you want! But I am taking Jewls with us!"

The guard sighed, "I guess we have to fight," He swung his  hand through the air, and somehow the air fallowed his movement. Creating a semi visible slash heading straight for Leah.

She quickly dodged the attack and continued at a leisurely pace towards the guard. The guard yelled, "Do you have a death wish or something? Why are you just walking towards me?" Another air slash, but this one was horizontal and much faster. Leah jumped over it with great agility and ease.

The guard was getting frightened, but he couldn't understand why he was getting frightened by this girl just walking towards him. He spun both hands in circles. creating wind tunnels that were pushing Leah back. Leah felt the pressure and took a step back, but once she got used to the wind resistance, she continued her stroll towards the guard.

With every step that Leah took, the guard's fear grew. He was terrified of this girl, but he didn't know why.

Leah said, nothing and just continued walking. She dodged everything the guard threw at her.

The guard looked over at their friend, the ice wielder, but saw that he was down for the count. 

Leah took that as her cue to attack. She snapped her fingers, and the ground suddenly rose in thousands of little splinters. Ok, not the entire ground, but where she stepped.

She flung her hands forward and the shards seemed to fallow. Easily pinning down the guard against the wall. She looked over at Red who had already defeated his opponent.

She shattered the cell that was holding her friend hostage, and helped her walk out it towards Red.

Chapter Text

With Jewls rescued, the three backtracked through the passage and saw the hole that Leah and Red jumped in from. Both Leah and Red knew that they couldn't climb up the walls while one of them carried Jewls, who was barely a skeleton.

Leah looked at the wall in front of the three, she smiled, "Ramp or stairs?"

Red looked at Jewls, "I think she's asking you not me?"

Jewls smiled as she leaned against Leah for support, "Ramp would be nice."

Leah handed Jewl's weight to Red, who gladly became the support.

Leah walked up to the wall and placed her left palm onto the moist cobblestone wall, something made the wall implode onto itself and create a perfect ramp, although none knew where it led.

Leah took Jewls pther hand and wrapped it around her shoulder, so that Red would not have to carry all of Jewls weight, even though she barely weighed sixty pounds. Her body was almost skeletal already.

Jewls heard her stomach growl loudly, she was starving.

Red chuckled, "J think we have a dinosaur near us."

Leah and Jewls laughed silemtly, both of them knew he was joking, or rather hoped he was.

When they reached closer to the end of the makeshift ramp, they saw some light, Jewls smiled, "Are we gonna get food before we head to the guild?"

Leah nodded her head, "I know a good place near here. all we need is a ride. Unless you think you can walk a good ten miles?"

Jewls frowned, "Are you making fun of my appearance Leah?" Something in Jewls tone of voice told both Red and Leah that they were in huge danger if Leah didn't answer correctly.

Leah laughed it off as a joke, "No. Never. Just a joke."

Luckily this seemed to calm whatever they had awakened inside of Jewls.

The three of them soon reached the top of the ramp, it spit them out somwhere close to the Iron Dagger's guild hall, it was still visible from a distance.

Jewls heard a motor running, "Someone has a MV running near here." 

A MV, or rather a Magic vehicle is a automobile that runs on the users magic power. 

Red nodded, "So Leah you wanna see if we can borrow their MV? Or can I." Red seemed to smile slightly at the idea of him driving a MV.

Jewls stopped both of them, "Let me, I may be tired and hungry. But I am not useless."

Both Red and Leah let Jewls go and watched her wabble a few steps, she them headed face first to the ground. 

Jewls caught herself inches from the ground, Leah and Red running to help her up, but she raised a hand in the air, "I'm fine." She pushed herself to her feet and looked at them both, "Just getting my sealegs back." the three chuckled lightly.

Jewls looked in the direction the sound was coming from and walked over there. Leah and Red close behind her, both fearing she would fall again.

When they could see the MV in sight, Jewls noticed that oh so familiar guild mark. She saw the same guild mark that those bastards who kidnapped her and did such horrible things to her had. 

She took steps to the three men leaning against the MV, "Hey!"

All three men looked at the girl who shouted, each of them recognizing her within an instant.

The bald, light skinned, blue eyed man scoffed, "Who let her out!"

The man next to him, a short burly fellow, with a light brown mustache, scoffed "Does it matter? We gotta put her back in that cell."

The third man. a thin younger man, with a scar going along his left cheek shrugged, "She is a walking skeleton, what could she do to us."

Jewls heard the three mocking her, this only made her smile, she opened her left hand and suddenly a short sword appeared from a dimension pocket.

The short swords hilt was made of oak wood, it seemed smooth to the touch, and engraved at the butt of the hilt was the DragonFang emblem, A single tooth from a dragon.

Jewls held the sword not that tight, letting it move around her hand, but tight enough to not lose the grip, "Might wanna get ready to fight Bastards!"

She ran towards the three men as fast as she could, this was just a bit faster than her walk.

The bald man opened his right palm and flames appeared, the short man had a small tornado in his right palm, and the younger man had water surround both his hands.

The bald man threw the fire ball at Jewls and it flew through the air with ease. Just barely missing its target. Jewls was not as agile as she would like but she was fast enough to dodge a slow moving fireball. The only ones that worried her was water weilder and the tornado holder.

Jewls is an excelent swords woman, she is great with all the swords in her arsenal, and even makes them when she has time. Due to her fighting experience she is able to easily figure ut what kind of fighter her opponents are within a few trades of blows. But in this case it was obvious, the fire and tornado wielder were fond of ranged combat and the water bearer was fond of close combat.

None of this changed the fact that they were utterly screwed.

She already knew what she was gonna do, and that was absolutely nothing.

Jewls was never one to plan out attacks, she just let the battle happen, and used impulses to decide her movements, never thinking of her next move. This kind of fighting style helps her confuse her opponents because normally there is always signs someone is gonna attack or defend, but in her case there is no signs it just kinda happens when she does it.

The tornado and fire wielders threw both their attacks at Jewls simultaniously, and the water bearer charged behind the impending attack.

She was able to duck fast enough to let both the fire ball and the tiny tornado go over her head, but she was hit with a fist full of water to her chin.

Jewls immediately swung her sword the second the water made contact, easily slicing through the man's abdoman, blood spilling steadily.

Jewls pulled herself back to her feet and smiled, "One down!"

The two remaining men were astounded, how could a walking skeleton have such muscle to cut through skin.

Swords can cut through skin sure, but not without a certain amount of force behind it. Jewls hasn't eaten in weeks, just given crumbs here and there, so to the men it seemed impossible that she could cut their friend. 

But to Red and Leah, it was nothing. They knew that even if Jewls was completely unable to move her body, she could still cut through simple leather and skin. they have seem it more than a thousand times before.

Jewls walked passed the man bleeding on the ground and made her way to the two ranged fighters.

The fire wielder panicked and started shooting wildly, Jewls was able to block most of the fire balls with the back of her sword, letting the steel heat up. But a good amount hit her directly.

The pain never got to her though, it always waited for the end till it would hit her all at once.

The tornado wielder decided to run, to him she wasn't human.

She didn't have the strength to chase him down, but she could easily defeat the fire wielder.

instead of getting close to the man. she just through her sword at him. It flew through the air, slowly losing momentum, but still hitting the man. cutting through his stomach. the force was not strong enough to go all the way through, or to kill the man. But it hurt like hell.

In that moment, when Jewls had won the battle, all the pain she had somehow not felt rushed to her. She fell to her knees and screamed for a minute, "That Hurts!"

Chapter Text

"Damn it!" Jewls yelled, as all the injuries she sustained while fighting had just now took effect

Leah ran to Jewls side and looked at her. While glancing at her friends injuries she didn't see anything that popped out as alarming or fatal. This meant nothing because Leah is not a medical person. To her all injuries look the same.

"You gonna be ok?" Leah asked after she was finished glancing at the injuries.

Jewls laughed, pulling on Leah to help herself up. "Yeah, these are just scratches compared to what I did."

Red was leaning against the MV's passenger side door, he seemed not that excited about the fight and its conclusion. "So who is gonna drive?"

Leah looked at Jewls than at Red, "I guess I can."

Jewls ran to the drivers side door and swung it open. As she plomped onto the seat she spoke, "Hell no! I don't feel like dying in a MV today."

Red chuckled at the comment, while Leah laughed completely, "Good point. My driving ain't the best."

Red jumped into the back seat as Leah buckled herself. 

Jewls grabbed a wristband looking thing and attached it to her left wrist. The wristband was the ignition for the vehicle. It ran off of the casters magic power. which would exhaust the driver much faster than running. But it would get you much farther much faster than running, so most people used MV's.

As the wheels began to move, Jewls seemed to gun it. Pushing the MV to it's limits.

She was a speed demon at the wheel. Not caring for padestrians, or wild life that got in her way. She mowed through bushes and trees ignoring the roads.

This was nothing new to the other two in the car. Red never drove in his life. He just never cared for it. And Leah drove about the same way that Jewls was driving now. The only difference between the two was that Jewls had full control of the vehicle. Leah would frequently lose control of where the MV would go.

After about an hour of driving like a maniac Jewls finally slowed down. She entered a town known as Amarylliss. Such familiar sites to the three.

Amaryliss is a large bustling town, but none of that mattered to these three, to them Amaryliss was home to their guild Dragonfang.

A guild is a place where people would join for reputation, fame, and or riches. There are many kinds of guilds in this world. Dragonfang was a wizard guild. other guilds in the world include Carpenter guilds, trading guilds, and many more unmentioned guilds.

She pulled into a spot near a large hotel like building.

When the MV stopped, Red jumped out of the vehicle and barged into the building as if he owned the place screaming, "We're Home!"

A good amount of people were sitting around tables eating their lunch peacefully, well until they heard Red screaming.

others were staring at a large board with jobs posted for them to take if they wanted money. None of these people even heard Red because they were all focusing on what job they wanted.

One boy, the same age as Red, with dark black hair, silver eyes, and semi tan skin looked at Red with some sort of fighting spirit gleaming through the eyes.

The boy rushed towards Red with a punch at the ready.

Luckily Red was alert enough to dodge the on coming attack. He smiled, "Really Jay! I just got back from a job.΅

This didn't stop the two from getting into a fight the instant they saw eachother.

As Leah walked through the now open door, carefully dodging the punches being thrown, she walked over to a table and started browsing the menu.

Jewls ignored everyone, including the two who were in a heated fight. She passed all the tables, climbed up a set of stairs, than entered a small room. 

Inside the room was a lareg desk, and two chairs on opposite sides. 

On the farther sided chair sat a middle aged man, short and stout, he was conpletely bald on the top of his head, but some hair still remained at his sides.

He wore a large white jacket that covered his entire body, but the sleeves were dangling through the air. On the back of his jacket was the Dragonfang symbol.

He stared at Jewls through the roof of his glasses, waiting patiently for something.

Jewls sat down across the old man and spoke in a professional tone, "I know where they are going to strike next sir."

Meanwhile Jay and Red's fight finally came to a close, neither of them were injured. Just slightly exhausted. Jay walked over to the table Leah was sitting at and asked, "Did those bastards get what they deserved for taking our Jewls?΅

Leah nodded, a slight smile crossed her lips, "Let's jsut say that the order of the iron dagger will no longer be a problem?"

Jay jumped back a foot, "You didn't kill anyone did you?΅

Leah laughed cynically, "Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't. No one will know!"

Red sat in a chair he brought from another table, "I know."

Leah covered his mouth before he could say anything, "Shut up,"

Red nodded, and Leah released her hand from his mouth.

Jay looked at Leah, "What did you do?"

She was silent.

he looked at Red, "What did she do?"

He to was silent.

This annoyed Jay to no end. Both Leah and Red knew this. they were chuckling at their friends annoyance.

Jay sat down and asked a different question, "What did they want with Jewls?"

Neither Red nor Leah knew the answer to that. Leah pointed to the stairs with her thumb, "That you will have to ask Master Grant."

Jay sighed, "So neither of you knew why she was taken."

Both Leah and Red nodded, Leah shrugged, "Just knew the bastards took one of us.

Red chuckled, "That was all I was concerned with."

Jay laughed, "of course its all you were worried about. But none of you wanted to know why she was captured in the first place?"

A voice from behind Jay inturrupted, "Who said I was captured?"

Jay turned to see Jewls frowning. "Weren't you captured? I mean isn't that why these two went to get you?"

Jewls laughed, "Jay, you idiot. No one can capture me even if they wanted to. I deliberately got caught by those bastards so I could get some intel on a job I took. Sadly, it went south when these two showed up. I didn't get what I wanted, but I got enough."

Red smiled, "You were happy to see us don't lie!"

Leah nodded, "You were definitely in there to long."

Jewls chuckled, "Fine! I didn't get captured though got it."

All three of them nidded, secretly admitting that they all knew she was lying through her teeth.

When food arrived at the table, Jewls devoured all of it. Only stopping for short breathes.

She spoke with a full mouth, "Finally! Decent food!"

Leah intentionally ordered the food to give to Jewls so she didn't mind the intrusion.

Jay however, decided to take a bite.

Jewls stopped him immediately. A knife appeared in her left hand and was resting on his throat. Just the slightest move and blood would spill. She spoke more as a warning, "Drop it!"

Jay dropped the piece of meat he snatched, and raised his hands in surrender, "Sorry."

Leah and Red laughed, Jewls letting go of the knife, it vanished as soon as she let go of it.

Red got up, "Well I'm gonna look for another Request before the day is done.

Chapter Text

Red left the table and walked over to a strange request board, as he perused all the papers pinned to the wooden banner. One of them caught his eye.

That was until he gleamed over a certain post, "Help release father from the clutches of bandits!" He tore the paper off the board, and it seemed to be suctioned to the board by nothing. But once Red's hand touched the parchment, the strange suction was gone and it fell into his hand.

He walked over to the nearby bar, A woman in her early twenties stood on the other side, cleaning glasses and smiling innocently. Her white puffy dress was long by the legs.

Her eye's sweet and innocent were sea foam green. 

The girls long velvet hair was tied in a bun at the top and let down to her shoulder in a ponytail of sorts. 

When the girl noticed that Red was standing there with a paper she smiled, and spoke in a soft warm voice, "Welcome back, I hope your journey was not too bad?΅

Red nodded and placed the parchment on the counter, after a few moments of examining the request he picked, the bartender lady shook her head, "You just got back from a job, one that Master Grant gave you nonetheless. Why don't you sleep for the night regain your strength and think it over?" 

Red rubbed his temples softly infront of the lady, "Fine, I'll rest up, can you save the job for me Jane?΅

The lady, Jane smiled again npdding her head, "Of course," Her attention was suddenly shifted to a group of men attempting to leave the bar without paying their tab. "Would you excuse me for just a moment please?"

Red nodded and sat on a stool looking at the men, Jay joined him, "I give it five minutes," 

Jay laughed, "Did one of those Iron Dagger guy's knock you on the head? You do remember who we are watching right?" 

Red laughed, ¨Gotta give these guy's some sort of a chance."

Jane jumped over the bar with such ease, it was as if she flew acrossed the guild with that one jump. She tapped one of the men's shoulders and smiled, "Excuse me sir, but you forgot to pay your tab. Please come with me." 

The man turned around clearly buzzed from the alcohol, He wore a clean white shirt with a crown at the center. The back of it the crown was bigger and the message, "Queen's guard" was encircling the crown. 

He spoke between hics, "You...you dare charge a member of our queen's guard?" 

Jane placed a hand on the man's shoulder, to everyone in the guild it seemed as if she was barely touching him. But to the man it was as if his shoulder was being crushed by rock. Her smile not wavering, "Sir, please come with me."

The man's three friends saw him fall to his knees in an instant. They immediately reacted.

One of them opened his palm and a fireball appeared, another had created a tiny tornado in his left palm. The final one had something that looked like a wooden hammer appear in both hands.

Jane's smile still as innocent as ever, but her eye's showed that of a berserker. the ground beneath the man she had on their knee's had swallowed all but the man's head. immobilizing him almost instantly.

The one with the fireball in hand grunted, "You Bitch!" The fireball was thrown with perfect aim, even though these men were drunk off their rockers.

one after another fireballs headed towards Jane at somewhat slow speed. She dodged each and every fireball with grace. She was dancing in the middle of a fight.

This angered the other two men and they joined the fray, or rather attempted to. But the ground seemed to create an enclosed arena for her and the fireball throwing drunkard. 

The man with a wooden hammer shouted, "Jiro! take care of this bitch already!" 

The fireball throwing knight, Jiro laughed, "Please she is just getting lucky!"

Jane's innocent smile was still their as bright as ever, this angered the man Jiro immensely, "I will wipe that stupid smile off your face with one hand tied behind my back!"

Jane stood there still as a statue, waiting for the man to make good on his threat. The tornado wielding knight gulped and warned his friend, "Jiro, I think thats The dancing killer! Just pay our tab so we can go!"

Jiro laughed as he looked at his friend from behind the enclosed rock arena, "Impossible! The Dancing Killer can't be this young thing!"

Jane laughed softly, "I don't know who gave me that name but I am told it fits me to a tea."

The man chucked another barrage of fireballs, and again Jane danced around them gracefully. But these fireballs exploded within inches of Jane's body.

As smoke covered the area, Red and Jay yelled, "Jane!"

When the smoke cleared Jiro was unconciious and bruised, while Jane was unharmed and still smiling innocently.

The rock arena sunk back into the ground with a tap of Jane's foot. "Take your friends and go!" she held a pouch of coin in her left hand as she walked back to the bar.

The two remaining men grabbed their defeated comrades and ran out of the guild staggering somewhat but too terrified to look back.

Jane tossed the pouch of coin over the counter and watched it land neatly on the mountain of coins she had collected over the day.

The entire guild seemed to scream with excitement. voices shouting, "That's why she runs the financial end of this guild!"

Jane jumped over the counter, twirling in the air so when she landed she was facing both Red and Jay, who were still laughing at the fight they just witnessed.

Jane slid a drink acrossed the counter as a faraway man caught it before it flew off the counter, "Thanks for the drink Dancing Killer!"

Chapter Text

Just as the coin purse landed on the mountain of coins, the guild hall doors swung open and a young child, no older than 7 ran in tears falling from his eyes.

The young boy had dark brown shaggy hair, and bright green eyes. He screamed between his small fits that came through, "Where...is...Master...Grant?"

When Red heard that voice he turned towards it immediately, it was John's kid, John was out on a job request.

He has been gone for about a week. This didn't seem that weird because job requests take time. 

The thing that worried Red was the fact that his kid ran in here crying hysterically.

He ran to the kid sliding on his knees to look the kid in the eye, the tear filled eye.

As he put a hand on the kids shoulder Red asked, "Whats wrong Carter?"

The boy, Carter wiped away his tears and tried to calm down so Red could understand him. This took a few minutes but after Carter finally calmed down, He spoke, "My Daddy went on a quest a week ago, to rescue a town from a raging pack of screamers. He hasn't returned or messaged me." 

That struck a red flag. Carter and John had a rule. If a job was gonna take longer than a few days, John would send message to Carter every few days to check up on his son and assure him that John was coming home when the job was done.

Red made a fist in his left hand, and asked in a somewhat worried voice, "What town did John go to? Do you know?"

"Siena Valley."

Red stood up and rubbed Carter's head, "I'll bring John back!"

He walked to the door but was stopped by a girl about his age, her voice was raspy, "You just got back from a job, why look for some random kids father?"

The girl just recently joined Dragon Fang, Red didn't recognize her which meant she joined within the few days he was gone. She had sea-blue eye's and long velvet hair.

Red pushed the girl aside and ran out the guild to the station.

The girl yelled, "What the Hell!"

Leah got up out of her seat and walked over to the strange girl, she laughed than explained, "Your new yeah?"

The girl nodded, "Yeah joined two days ago why?"

Leah smiled, "Red lost his father when he was young. His father was a reaper. atleast that is what he believes and has told everyone."

The girl inturrupted her, "A reaper? That guy swears his father is a reaper? They've never been seen and there's only legends of their existence. How is he the son of a reaper?"

Leah nodded, "It is weird, but he uses a strange magic, calls it Shadow Reaper Slayer magic. swears his father taught it to him. That magic is one of the many that has been lost to the sands of time. He swears his father vanished and has been searching for him since he was young."

The girl laughed, "your funny. Whats your name anyway?"

Leah introduced herself and got the girls name in return, Sarah.

Sarah looked at the open door and shrugged, "The idiot is gonna get killed if he goes by himself. hasn't rested yet, and wants to rescue some random Kid's father?"

Leah nodded, "Go make sure he doesn't die will you? if he dies we are all gonna have to face a demon from the swamp."

Sarah heard the seriousness in Leah's voice. She somehow felt the urgency of keeping Red alive. "Fine, I'll go keep him alive. But I'm gonna make him tell me the truth about who his father is. There is no way he is the son of a mythical being that only lives in legends."

Leah laughed, "that's fine. just go already." She pushed Sarah out the door and watched as she ran after Red.

Chapter Text

Sarah began running around Amaryliss looking for Red.

She had no clue where he was or where he was going so she decided to ask around town.

In Amaryliss Dragon Fang is not just home to magic casters, but it is the town square in a sense. So the second one joins Dragon Fang the whole town will know them by name. that doesn't mean that the members of Dragon Fang knows every person in town though.

She ran into a man working on renovations to a building. The building looked brand new, so what was the man fixing? Sarah didn't have time to ask these questions. She tapped the man on the shoulder and before he turned to look at her she started talking, "Excuse me, have you seen Red walk by here?" 

Before Sarah could start to describe what Red looked like, the man responded, he seemed to know who Red was already, his voice was husky and quite deep for a man his age, "Red? yeah I've seen him. he ran by here headed that a ways," he pointed north towards the train with his hammer, "Did he destroy something important again? That boy will never learn." 

Sarah nodded and thanked the man, she ran towards the train station. On the way she thought it was weird how a stranger knew Red just by the name. Than again she is still new to the guild, and for that matter she has never been to Amaryliss beforehand. 

When she made it to the train station she saw Red boarding the train that said had Sienna Valley in big bold letters on the opening door. She ran towards the ticket booth and saw a woman in a professional train conductor uniform. they were seperated by a wall and glass. "I would like one ticket to Sienna Valley please,"

The lady looked at her, now that Sarah could see the woman better, she saw the youth sucking stare of a cranky old woman. But the old lady's expression seemed to change once she saw the Dragon Fang emblem on Sarah's left hand. "Go ahead dearie." the woman spoke in a sweet tone.

Sarah didn't have time to think about why she didn't have to pay for a ride. but as she walked over to the Sienna valley bound train, she heard the elderly woman yell, "Get on with it! What do you want!"

Sarah walked through the doors and looked from cabin to cabin. opening every door that was closed, looked around every corner. When she opened someone elses cabin she always apologized and closed it. but no one seemed to mind, it seemed as if this happened a lot on trains in Amaryliss.

she finally made her way to the dining car and saw Red sitting at a table near a window. he had plates of food stacked high as the ceiling. how could he eat all of that in such a short time? just another question to add to the list. she sat on the other side of the table, waiting for Red to acknowledge her presence, but after a few minutes she realized he didn't care that she was sitting there. this agitated her. it was common courtesy to acknowledge people, does he have any manners?

She slammed a fist on the table and yelled. "Are you blind or something?"

Red didn't flinch or respond. he wolfed down a soup and stared at her, "Calm down. What is it?"

Sarah was surprised, so he knew she was there but he chose not to look at her? fine if he wanted to be rude than so would she. "Why did you lie to everyone?"

Red was finishing a big pitcher of water before he responded, "What did I lie about exactly?"

Sarah looked at him, and seemed to get agitated just by the sight of him. "You know what you lied about? How can you be the son of a creature that never existed?"

Red looked at her and spoke clearly without hesitation, "It isn't a lie. My father is a Shadow reaper. His name was Yokin."

She looked in his eye's saw that every word he told her, he believed all of them. She started thinking, what happened to this guy, what kind of brain washing did he go through. there is no way someone could be raised by something that came out of fairy tales. 

She sighed, "Look there is no way you were raised by something that no one has ever seen. What you believe, there is no way it happened. Not in any timeline. So stop telling people something that is such bullshit. Even if you believe it, that doesn't make it real."

Red clenched his fist under the table. He was used to people not believing him. it never mattered to him that they didn't believe him. He knew who he was and he knew who raised him. But it still hurt when someone wouldn't listen to him. got up and walked to the front of the train cars. Sarah was not that far behind. A few minutes of silently waiting at the doors, and they were at Sienna Valley station. When the doors swung open Red Walked out not caring where Sarah was or what she wanted. He was fully focused on finding John.

He walked through the town looking for the forest that was somewhere around town.

He knew that Carter said that John was hunting a ravid pack of screamers, So he figured all he had to do was search for the screamers and he would find John it was that simple, Right?

Chapter Text

Red continued walking around the town, looking for any sign of a forest nearby, eventually he realized he was going in circles, getting irritated from all the confusing layouts of different towns didn't help much. if he was in Amaryliss he wouldn't be lost. He, much like everyone in Dragon Fang knew that town like the back of their hand. they could walk the streets blindfolded if they had to.

Sarah finally caught up to Red and grabbed his arm, "Listen to me, your mad fine. But it will go much faster if we both look for the forest where the pack of screamers is gathering."

Red craned his neck to look at Sarah, he wasn't angry or upset with her. Not anymore at least. He never really stays mad at people. He nodded and asked, "Where should we start looking then?"

Sarah looked around, at all the different houses and buildings. she looked for an inn or a tavern. Somewhere people congregated and talked. 

She grabbed Red's hand and dragged him as they looked around town. Red didn't fight it, he just wanted to find the screamers as fast as he could so he could rescue John.

finally after walking for what felt like hours they found a tavern, the sign on the door read 'Crooked Raven' and the windows looked like a raven's head. When they entered the tavern, they noticed how it was packed. There were no empty seats. Red leaned against a nearby wall and looked at Sarah, she seemed to know what she was doing. She started talking to people as she passed by them, gathering all kinds of information. 

Sarah knew how to get information out of people, she was good at it ever since she was young. She wanted to think it was because of how she grew up, but she knew that wasn't the case. finally she made it to the bar tender.

The bar tender was a elderly looking gentleman, he wore a nice white shirt, with a black vest over it, his hair was grey at the ends, and his eye's showed age. he had a nice little bow tie around his neck, and clean white gloves covering his hands. He was cleaning a glass when Sarah finally sat on a stool across from him.

He looked at her while he was still cleaning the glass with a rag. He had an inviting smile, and asked in a warm british acccent. "What can I get you madam?"

Sarah looked over at Red who was just relaxing against a wall, it appeared as though he was dosing off. she thought to herself, how does he get anything done if he doesn't know where to look. 

She looked back at the man with the inviting smile, "I'll just have some water, to early to get a drink after all." she smiled back at the elderly man.

He nodded and grabbed a glass pouring some water into it. making at fancy as he could by doing some tricks with the water, such as spinning the bottle, and pretending to lose his grip. this made Sarah laugh, he appeared to enjoy what he was doing.

When he was done entertaining and pouring the drink he slid it across the bar neatly into her hand. "It is never to early to have a nice bourben I always say." the elderly man teased.

Sarah took a sip of the water, it tasted delicious, even though it was just water, there was a tangy feel to it. what did he add to the water, she watched him the whole time.

She decided to make conversation to ease the man into giving her the information she desired, "What did you do to the water, it tastes tangy, and delicious?"

The man chuckled, "Oh you like it. I added a hint lemon juice." He went back to cleaning the glasses with rags.

Sarah took a few more sips and continued easing the man into what she wanted, "My friend and I are tourists here, any sights you would recommend," she nodded over to Red's direction.

The old man thought for a moment, "There is The Sienna Forest, many people go out there for nature, but I know of this cute little cabin a friend of mine has. if you go out that way may I suggest popping in on him for me?"

Sarah nodded, she realized he already knew what she was after, even without her saying anything about it. "We are looking for the ravaging pack of Screamers. Do you know where they are gathering?"

The elderly man put the glass down, it was sparkling, and he continued with another, "Screamers? A member of your guild Dragon Fang had already went out to deal with them i believe."

Sarah was confused, she never said she was part of a guild, nor did she say that it was Dragon Fang. but she figured he saw her emblem on the back of her left hand. "Yes John, he had asked us to join him but we do not know where the screamers are gathering, So I was hoping you would have an idea of where we could find them."

The elderly man nodded, "Yes, they are generally deep in Sienna Forest but lately they have started moving towards the town. we have had cases of small animals getting swooped up and taken from their homes on the edge of town."

Sarah had never seen a Screamer, tbey are not found near Amaryliss nor were they near her childhood home. So she did not know what to expect of these creatures.

She drank the last of the water and slid it across the bar, she watched as it passed the man, and fell off the edge. She thought he had not seen it, but she didn't hear glass shatter. She then saw the man kick the glass with such precision that it landed neatly on the pile of dirty glasses next to him. She was amazed, and knew even before this act that he had been a bar tender for a very long time. She knew Jane would love to learn these tricks one day, So she asked, "What is your name by the way?"

The man smiled once again, "Charles, although everyone in town just calls me Pops. I run this place, have for a few decades now."

She nodded, "It was nice talking to you Pops," She got up and walked over to Red, dragging him out of the tavern, "I know where the screamers are lets go."

Red nodded as he followed her through town once again, stopping at a large archway with large letters on the top of the archway, 'Sienna Forest' below that was a small post that read, 'beware of screamers deep in the forest.'

Chapter Text

As Red and Sarah entered passed the large archway into a lush forest of greens, they were amazed at how quiet the forest was, Red looked around as they followed a somewhat covered dirt path through the forest, but didn't see any animals.

Sarah was more worried that she didn't hear any insects, she knew that if there weren't insects in any ecosystem, than something was wrong."Red, something doesn't look right here?"

Red was still looking for animals before he heard Sarah say anything, "Yeah there aren't any animals I don't see any."

Sarah looked at Red, but he wasn't there. He somehow vanished. She yelled, "Red!" but there was no answer.

Red didn't hear Sarah say anything so he turned around to see if she was still there, but she had vanished as well.

How could someone vanish if they were right here just a second ago talking? Red started Running through the trees looking for Sarah, but all he seemed to find was the same path over and over again. Was he running in a circle?

He needed a way to mark his path, he looked around but the ground was covered in leaves and twigs. Twigs, that is what Red needed, he grabbed a twig and as he walked the twig dragged behind him leaving a line. This way Red could track where he was going. He swerved through the tree's in a straight line. well as straight as he couold make anyway.

But again he found the same path, so he looked for his line path, but there wasn't one.

How could there not be a line from his twig if this was the same path.

He sat with his back resting against a large oak tree, and closed his eye's thinking. listening for any sound at all besides his own breathing.

But it was dead silent.

He finally got back up and followed the path again.

It felt like hours went by while he seemed to walk in a perfectly straight line. the scenery around him never changing. the tree's in the same positions as the last. 

Red was exhausted from walking so much he finally just fell to the ground.

He screamed as loud as he could. "What the hell!"

his voice seemed to echo through the trees. but after that, dead silence again.

Would Red be stuck in this forest forever?

He decided to grab another twig and try something else.

He walked around in a large circle around the tree's and found the same dirt path, but where was the start of the circle?

He was certain that he walked in a circle, so where was the start of it?

He finally was able to put two and two together. He was in somewhat of an illusion. The forest was a trap.

"Now how to get out of here." Red spoke out loud so he could break the eerie silence. he stood there watching every tree, every leaf, waiting for something to change or something to give. but nothing changed, no breeze blew through the air to make the leaves sway. just dead silence.

His left arm seemed to become dark energy and transform into a scythe. Red swung at every tree chopping each down with relative ease. his process was, if this is an illusion than things have to go back, he wants to see them go back.

But unbeknownst to Red, every time he looked away from a chopped tree, another seemd to appear almost instantly.

Finally, Red's arm seemed to return to normal, the dark energy receding back into nothingness. 

He looked around him and saw that nothing had changed. 

he was in a everlasting forest, that could never be escaped from. So how was he supposed to find John? that thought was immediately pushed back by all these others, Where was he? Where is Sarah? How do I get out of here?

All these thoights rushed through Red like running water.

Red had enough, if he couldn't go forward or backward, there were two other ways he could go. Up and down.