I had decided to use the secret passageway to enter despite not knowing exactly where it would deposit me. The walls would take much more of my energy to scale and if I got caught they would be heavily barricaded to prevent escape. I went to my hideout which was a little hole tucked away underneath the main bridge into the city. As much as I hated living in this city I had to admit that it had many ways for people of my vocation to slip around without attracting notice. I stepped into my hole hopefully for the last time, I hoped this job would give me enough money to get my own house and quit this life of mine. I secured my hair back making certain that it was covered up so that its obvious red color didn’t shine like a beacon in the night. My satchel was still on me and I enough needles and my dagger was secured to my belt. I was ready, well ready as one could be when about to raid the home of a man who could kill you with a word, but hey I got to work with what I got. I prepared for around three hours using most of it to reduce my stress through the various ways I had learned over the years. Finally I was ready and made my way towards the location of the door that led to the passage. I flitted between shadows making certain nobody saw me. Throughout the run I kept feeling as though someone or something was watching me but I swept those thoughts aside and continued to focus on the task at hand.
I arrived at the general area of where the door should be. The area was overgrown with vines, bushes and low hanging trees. I went around the area looking for the hidden door, and found it hidden behind a large growth of vines. The door was a bit difficult to open, but I was able to eventually pry it open using my knife. After the door was open I looked down to my knife and found that it was bent, I grimaced and tossed it to the side. At least I still had all my needles and an almost full pouch of poison I made from rune flowers. Now that I thought about it, my immunity to rune flowers was strange and the other God created didn't seem to affect me as strongly as it did others. No, I shook my head, couldn't afford to waste time on these thoughts. I peered into the dusty passage, the smell of ancient air poured from its mouth. Looks like this hadn't been used for years, perfect, if it had been used more recently I would've chanced the climb over the wall. As it was I was still hesitant to enter, just because the place wasn't used often if at all didn't mean nothing had moved in over the years. I cautiously crept into the entrance and quietly proceeded to the end. Surprisingly nothing had nested in these ancient halls, which was a relief. The tunnel ended in another door that was much easier to open than the outside door, I hadn't even closed that door, partly so I could make a quick withdrawal and partly because the door was so hard to move in the first place. I exited the tunnel to find that I was in the king’s bed chambers. It was pretty Spartan with only a bed, a dresser with some candles on top, and a desk with papers scattered about it. This lord didn't much care for comfort it seemed, it looked like he was very much a military man. I decided to go check on the visitors` rooms and see what I could learn about them. I used the crawlspace between the walls to travel the castle.
The walls were originally built to help clean air better flow throughout the castle, but they were also a new effective way of traversing the place without being caught. I found a source of light peeking through the walls and found the place that the contact had marked the guest rooms. I still don't understand why he marked the rooms he could have just as easily marked only the armory and throne room so it wouldn't tempt me, but I didn't question his judgment and was secretly pleased that he had, because it meant more money for me. I came upon the first room and took some time to learn about who this person was. They had all been cloaked so I couldn't see who they were when I first saw the group enter the castle. This one was obviously I knight judging by the suit of armor in the corner, I carefully lifted the breastplate to see if I could recognize what house this knight belonged to. To my surprise the armor was very lightweight and I could feel the slight tingle of magic. I carefully searched for any emblems that would give me a clue as to who this person is however, found no markings. Strange, I thought, could this be a knight who disgraced his or her house or did he or she willingly cut all ties with their house? I shook my head, couldn't waste time. I placed the breastplate back where I found it and looked for any more identification. I found the person's bag underneath a cloak. I rifled through it, most likely a man judging from the clothing and lack of breast bands and other feminine clothing. I found a coin purse and looked through it, a few gold drens, some silver marks, and many copper points. I took two dren and left the rest, didn't want to leave the man with nothing. I went back to the air passage; I headed over to the next room. At the vent I could feel strong magical energies and almost decided to pass this one up but my curiosity got the better off me and I went in. The room was obviously a mage's, scrolls scattered across the desk and runes glowing faintly on the door. I recognized the runes from the last mage home in broke into they were made to put the trespasser to sleep if they didn't disarm them first. I checked the vent and there were no runes of any kind, that alone should have made me suspicious, but I didn't want to waste time thinking about it. Other than the runes and scrolls I couldn’t glean any other information about this tenant. I rearranged the person’s belongings and found something that had been hidden from view. The object looked to be a vial filled with some powder. As I picked the thing up it began to glow and so were the vials of rune flower in my bag. I uncorked it and smelled it confirming my suspicions, this was rune stone. I shook some out onto my hand and willed it to stop glowing. The powder stopped glowing but I felt intense pain flare up in my hand. I carefully poured the powder back into its vial and clenched my fists in pain. I could manipulate rune flower without consequence but the other God created could still affect me but to a lesser degree than normal. I crept into the passage after tucking the vial into my pouch and clutched my medallion in an attempt to distract myself from the pain. I felt along the embedded images and felt along the broken center piece that was missing. I noticed after sitting for a time that the medallion was warmer than usual, it has never done this before and I let go in surprise. I tucked it back under my shirt and continued on pondering what it could mean. I reached the next room hoping that there wouldn't be any more surprises, unfortunately fate was not very kind, as sleeping in front of the vent was a wolf. I quickly moved passed without lingering.
The next room was better, nobody in it. I went and saw that rather than one bed, there were two beds. Perhaps lovers, or maybe close siblings. As I looked around I didn't notice the two figures detach themselves from the shadows and creep up behind me. I heard footsteps behind me and spun around, I guess they were as surprised as me because they froze; unfortunately I did not react with as much grace. I gave a silent scream and tripped backwards, falling to the floor. In that period of falling it seemed as though the world had slowed down and in that moment I noticed that I hadn’t fastened the bottle of rune stone powder properly. I landed and the vial spilled open all over me, the cork having not been sealed correctly, I gave another silent scream as the powder exploded into the room, pain wracked my whole body making me want to let darkness creep closer. I heard two screeches in my pained state; my would-be assailants must’ve come into contact with the powder as well. I took a grim satisfaction in knowing that, despite it not being able to kill them, they were in much more pain than I was due to my natural resistance. I felt the darkness envelope me, the others had stopped screaming a little bit ago and suddenly the door opened and light enveloped us. I tried to take a look at who it was but couldn’t summon any more strength and finally, I let darkness overtake me. I guess it was time for a nap.

I woke up cold and confused, mostly cold the confusion was wearing off. I checked my body to make sure I wasn't hurt and quickly found out I was missing all my stuff. I was just wearing my shirt and leggings; I reached up for the reassurance of my medallion and found that they took that too. I collapsed back down my mind freezing up and shattering several times. I resolved to kill the one who had taken my medallion. First though I needed to figure out where I was, which was… somewhere, not really sure. A memory came fluttering back, oh, yes, I was robbing Vulgin’s castle and then… and then, I don't know that part was a bit fuzzy still and thinking about it caused me pain for some reason. I reached up and fiddled with my hair for a bit, I hated my hair, I couldn't cut it off though I liked having hair to much I mostly hated the color which was a stupid, bright red color. I didn’t like that color all that much, which was odd considering rune flowers were red and I frequently employed their use. What I really wanted right now was my medallion, I liked its feeling in my hands, it brought me comfort and it was the only link to a past I have ever had. Having a whole eighteen or so years missing was quite annoying. I grimaced, tried remembering what happened, and then it all came back to me in a flash of pain, screaming and light. I collapsed onto the straw mattress. Yeah that’s what happened, a whole lot of pain most likely caused by the rune stone. Rune stone had the amazing ability to cause intense, horrible pain and temporary memory loss. Usually the stuff made people forget up to a week of memories for at least a day, but due to my enhanced resistance to the rune objects it only lasted an hour and took only about half the day away from me. I wondered when someone was going to get me for interrogation or something. To be honest I had never been caught before by actual authorities, usually I’ve only been caught by hired bodyguards and private armies, it was a lot harder than I thought to wait for something to happen. I began pacing the room, usually my captors would have come got me by now and I would have made my great escape already. I guess that’s not how the proper authorities did it though, I was getting pretty annoyed. I lay down on the bed trying in vain to keep myself from fidgeting, hopefully I could get some rest, but I wanted to move around. I got back up and paced around the small cell. Eventually I heard footsteps coming from outside and sat on the bed faking patience I barely had anymore. I heard an argument from outside; well there goes faking innocence, I thought, crawling quietly over to the door.
"-just let you have her." One yelled
"Alright, allow us to go in first, she was carrying a pouch of Rune flower without any side effects, who knows what else she could do to us.” The other person sounded upset.
Nothing at all I answered mentally.
"Well if she dares to attack we will have to just kill her."
I didn't like the sound of that and I hastily retreated back to the bed and sat a nicely as possible.
"My lord, why don't you just let us take her back to the Nexus where we will be able to-" he was cut off.
"No she broke into my home and I intend to figure why and how she did it." Ah, that must be Vulgin.
I heard the jiggling of keys on the lock and prepared to look for an escape.
"My lord wait, I will go in first and cast a binding spell on her."
"Fine but do it quickly." Vulgin relented.
I heard the lock click open and rushed the door but was quickly paralyzed. This caster was quick.
"Alright lord, you can come in now"
Vulgin came in and I got my first look at him. He was very well built and he looked the opposite of many of the other lords I had seen before. His face held a very serious expression and his posture suggested that he had once been a soldier. He gave of a very commanding aura that, if I could've moved, would have made me back off from him.
"This is it my lord? This is the girl who broke into your house. Why she barely looks out of her eighteenth year." The mage scoffed.
"Appearances can be deceiving mage, you should know better than to judge on appearance." Vulgin chastised.
He turned to address me.
"Now, girl we are going to unbind you but, if you make any suspicious movements we won't hesitate to kill you."
He signaled to the mage and I was suddenly free to move again. I stepped back and collapsed onto the bed with resignation.
"Now" he continued "how about you start telling us how you got here."
I shook my head and pointed to my chest.
"What is it?" he asked.
I drew a circle in the air and pointed to my chest again.
“Mage” he said pointing to the other man “what is she doing?”
“I’m not sure Lord.”
I mimed putting a necklace on and drew a circle in the air again and once again pointed to my chest.
“A necklace?” the mage asked.
I nodded excitedly pointing to my chest again.
“Did she have a necklace with her mage?” asked Vulgin.
“I didn’t see any necklace, but I wasn’t the one who searched her.”
He went to the door and called out.
“Rei, Jade come over here we need your help.”
“What?” asked a voice “the little girl giving you trouble?”
The voice sounded female and it also seemed to purr, I was curious to see who this was. Two Shi'tan walked in, I had never seen any of their kind before but I have heard of the cat like people before and was certain that these were them. There was a big contrast in looks, one was light furred and had a more feminine appearance, and the other had black fur and was female as well, though she lacked many of the feminine curves of the other. The black furred one glared at me and the light furred one's smile faltered. Perhaps these were the two who had snuck up on me and had got caught in the storm of powder. That mage must've been quite skilled to reverse the effects of the rune stone so quickly. I'm signed to them about my amulet like I had to Vulgin and the mage. The black one seemed to understand pretty quickly and whispered something to the light one.
"Is this what you want?" The light one asked pulling my medallion from a pouch.
I grinned and shook my head excitedly. I carefully reached out to touch it but, she moved it away. I angrily stared at her and saw that the dark one had a feral grin on her face, daring me to make a move. I sat still but didn't stop glaring, it was my necklace and I wanted it back, I didn't care about the rest of my things because I could always find more rune flowers outside the city, but that medallion has been with me since I woke up eighteen years ago without any memories at all surrounded by rune flowers. The light one grinned and spoke.
"I see that you really want this, so how about we make a deal" she offered "we are all going to introduce ourselves and we will return your pretty necklace"
I nodded, what harm could come from learning their names and it's not like I could actually tell them mine.
"Alright then" she said with a grin "well my name's Rei and my sister here, who is pretty upset right now and doesn't feel like talking to you, is Jade."
I nodded.
"Now what's your name?" She inquired.
In shook my head and pointed to the mage. Might as well get as much information I could before they realized I wasn't really going to cooperate.
"You didn't introduce yourself Aesius, how rude" Rei scolded "introduce yourself, please."
Aesius sighed "fine, my name is Aesius."
Now that I actually looked at him something about him seemed strange, but I couldn't figure it out.
"Now will you tell us your name?"
I shook my head again. Jade looked like she wanted to strangle me. I ignored her looks and made a show of counting them up on my fingers and adding two more to the count. I held up my fingers and shrugged pretending to be disappointed. Rei looked with confusion until realization dawned on her face.
"You remember how many of us there were” she sounded shocked” how you could remember that much after that large a dose of rune stone."
I shrugged, I felt like I was starting to get control of the situation.
Rei whispered something to Jade and her sister looked upset. Jade left the room and we patiently waited. Soon she came back with two others behind her. She waved them over and went back to leaning on the wall. The first newcomer was tall and muscular; he looked like he had worked outside a lot as well. The other one was shorter and bulkier but it looked like much of that bulk was muscle; he also had a lot of hair covering his entire body, the hair made him seem very animalistic.
"What is it Rei?" The tall one asked
"She refuses to cooperate until we all introduce ourselves." She replied
"What?" He asked, taken by surprise.
"I know, it’s weird" she replied "but the sooner you tell her your names the sooner she will cooperate"
"Fine then" he said "my name is Lars"
The shorter one opened his mouth to say something but stopped with a thoughtful look on his face. So he was lying then. I shook my head and pointed at him.
"What?" He asked.
I stopped to think, there really wasn’t a clear way to call someone out without using words. I decided to point at him and shake my head again but added a shrug as well. Rei stood with a puzzled look on her face. It suddenly cleared and she looked pretty proud of herself.
"I think she's calling you a liar" she explained.
"Can I just kill her now?" Jade asked.
I was surprised, she hadn't talked this whole time and her voice caught me off guard. It had a rough edge to it while still seeming to have an exotic smoothness.
"No" Rei responded "we still have to figure out what she is doing here" Jade grumbled a reply and fell silent again.  "Now please introduce yourself correctly" she said addressing the tall one.
"Fine, my name is Tarkington"
"And mines Wolf" the short one said cheerfully.
"Good now that you know our names how about yours?" Rei inquired.
I shrugged and pointed to my throat. I heard Jade growl and saw her leap at me. Tarkington caught her before she could do anything and I grinned at him.
"Just let me kill her already, she, just messing around with us now, she’s not going to tell us anything.''
My eyes widened and I shook my head. I pointed at Aesius and took off my shirt showing everybody the marking across my chest, back and throat. Some of them stared but some looked away and only then did I realize I actually had nothing else on underneath. I never wore a breast band because I felt I didn’t need to on account of my chest being so small, and so I gradually forgot about that until now. I covered myself in embarrassment and turned my back to them hoping that they couldn't see my cheeks becoming red. I hated the fact that my skin was so pale, I felt that my whole body was red with embarrassment. The room was silent for a while and I could feel their eyes on me, resentment started building, tempered only by the fact that I had dropped my shirt when I realized what had happened. I felt like crying at that moment, nothing at all had gone right today, First a man had insulted me and I killed him, that might have been an overreaction, then I got covered in rune powder and, got captured, and to top it all off I was now sitting, bare chested, in a room full of strangers. I only kept from crying because I didn’t think I could handle any more embarrassment. I heard an embarrassed cough and felt something get draped over my shoulders.
"Here, uh, take this" the voice sounded embarrassed too.
I clutched at the cloth and drew it around myself, grateful for something to cover myself, with that act of kindness however, I felt myself crack and tears flowed down my face. I collapsed onto the bed and started sobbing. I heard footsteps and the door closed, I was alone again.

I was in the cell for a week, people randomly came in but I couldn’t say anything and they began to get upset at the lack of answers. I heard Vulgin’s voice at one point before Tarkington entered; they were talking about what they were going to do. Vulgin wanted to make an example of me; Tarkington wanted to take me to Nexus whatever that was. Both of their options sat badly with me, I preferred to stay alive, but at the same time I didn't know what Nexus was. Rei and Jade came in occasionally, Jade seemed to not be as angry at me as before, she still rarely talked, while Rei was still cheerful and optimistic all the time. They both only knew a few hand gestures and soon we couldn't converse any further. It was on the last day of this week that something finally changed. I heard voices outside my door, but I dismissed them as the normal talk and went back to lying down. They entered my room surprised me.
“You have a visitor” the man said.
I was surprised, I didn’t know anyone that would ever visit me and nobody besides Raven and my employer would know where I was. I sat wondering who it could be as a strange shadowy man came in.
“Hello my Lady” he said giving a short bow. His voice was quiet, but very proper like he was nobility. “You may not remember me Lady but I remember you, now sadly I cannot enlighten you of anything at this current moment, but I am supposed to impart to you some very interesting knowledge.”
I looked at him trying to call up any memory of having seen him before, but nothing appeared. I was a little frightened of him, he gave off a mysterious and somewhat malign presence and on top of that he claimed to know who I am.
“Why the frightened look my Lady, I would never hurt one as beautiful or noble as you,” I felt myself blush, I wasn’t used to compliments, I heard him laugh “Now then how about we talk about what I came here to discuss.” He brought in the chair from outside the door and sat down. “I was sent here by a mutual friend who wanted to make sure you were safe, imagine my surprise when I learned you were locked up like some common street rat, He told me when I contacted him about your situation to help you out of it and the only way I saw to help you now is to get Vulgin to release you into the custody of the Knight Tarkington and his band, how does that sound to you, hm?”
I stared at him for a while before pointing at my throat and shrugging.
“Ah” he exclaimed “I remember the same thing that took your memory also took your ability to talk correct?”
I shrugged.
“Well, unfortunately we don’t have the ability to fix that, but we can help you regain your lost memory and that is more important, all eight of us have however been taught a variety of communication methods and that includes signing.”
I smiled; I could finally properly communicate with someone. I asked him what the Nexus was.
“The Nexus?” I nodded “It is a city hidden deep within the desert lands of Aurax, where did you learn of it?”
I told him that I heard Vulgin and Tarkington discussing it earlier in the week.
"Really? Well that changes things" he sat there thinking before standing and bowing. "Well my Lady this conversation has been enlightening, would you mind staying for a while longer, I need to contact Headquarters and continue negotiations with Vulgin."
He started to leave but I grabbed his sleeve, telling him to wait. He stopped and regarded me curiously. I asked for his name.
“Oh yes, how rude of me not to properly introduce myself" He truly looked upset "My name is Virinik, but everyone calls me Nick"
I told him that Aesius scared me and I wanted to know more about the group.
"Ah, the mage" he said "that one is somewhat worrying, I will get information on them, don't worry about that, I will leave a listening spell here as well to make sure you stay safe"
He gave a long bow and turned again to leave. I wish he didn't have to leave, I was starting to get a little nervous about what was going to happen to me and hearing that I had friends was comforting. He stopped at the door and murmured under his breath and suddenly the air was filled with a sweet earthy scent and he started to glow a light red color, he touched the corners of the doorway and runes blazed to life and faded.
“There, now you have some protections against magic.” he said proudly.
I smiled and lay back down as the door closed shut.

It took another three days before I was released into the custody of the knight Tarkington and his group, Nick came along on the grounds that he would be a translator, and he also told them that he was also going to Nexus. The day before, Aesius visited and just stood staring at me. I huddled in a corner until he left. On the day of my release Rei and Jade came to deliver me to the throne room, I was scared, I didn't know what was going to happen and I hoped Nick had kept his promise. We soon arrived at the throne room and stood before Vulgin.
"I have made the decision to release you to the Noble Virinik and Tarkington, Virinik will be acting as your interpreter and has requested to personally watch over you throughout your Journey" He said.
Nick beckoned me over and I walked over to him. I asked him what he needed.
"Told you I Would help" He gloated "I made myself promise to never let a pretty lady be harmed or be kept in dangerous situations"
He led me down some halls and we arrived at his room.
"Here we are'' He said in a Singsong voice "This is my room and over there" He said pointing at the door across from us "is your room, inside you will find new clothes, a bath, some food and traveling gear, We will be staying one more night before leaving, it seems that knight is still trying to win over Vulgin to their side"
He gave a bow and kissed my hand before walking into his room. I walked into mine and got ready for a bath. The tub looked of Orcish make, and had two knobs. I hadn’t seen an Orcish bath before and I fiddled with the knobs for a bit figuring what they did. I finally got into the bath and pondered the people I had met. Nick was an odd person, he seemed very upbeat, He also had the liquid grace of a shadow and there was the brief display of magic, most magicians didn’t have a scent or color, so he must be pretty powerful or he had unique magic. On the topic of magic, that man Aesius was also a mage, He scared me and he was quick. When he cast his Magic on me I didn’t smell anything nor did I see a glow, so there was a chance that he wasn’t very powerful. I would have to ask Nick about him. The sisters Jade and Rei were interesting; they seemed to be exact opposites. Rei seemed very optimistic and cheery, but it seemed that she was hiding her emotions. She liked to talk a lot and was very energetic, so much so that it was tiring to watch her. Jade was always really quiet even while speaking or moving. Her emotions were easier to read, she didn't seem to try and hide them. Tarkington was kind of boring, he was serious all the time and very straightforward. The girls often made fun of him sarcastically because he rarely caught on. Wolf was similar to Rei except he wasn’t hiding anything, He was like an open book, and he was always genuinely cheerful and really seemed to only care about his wolf Kiv.
I heard a knock on the door and then it opened. I drew my knees to my chest to cover myself up. Jade came in, saw me in the bath, gave a short gasp and ran right out. She left the door open. I hurriedly rushed to the door, water dripping off me and saw that jade had dropped something. I quickly picked the object up and shut the door. I examined the object in my hands and found that it was a box; it had no markings and only had a lid. I carefully opened it and found only a rose inside; I tried figuring out what it meant before realizing I was still naked. I placed the now open box on the table and got dressed. I heard another knock on my door as I finished dressing and I went over to open it. Nick was standing there when I opened the door.
"Hello Rixtara" He greeted" You're looking much better. You enjoyed your bath I take it"
I nodded and told him to call me Ix instead; I thought my full name sounded too formal.
"Ok," he said "Well I Just came by to tell you I have received information regarding-well hello there what’s this?" He walked over to the table with the box; I shrugged, drinking some of the wine that was on the bed. “Looks like someone has taken a liking to you" he said casually.
I gazed curiously at the box and asked him what he meant by that. "Well," he began "giving someone a rose is usually a confession of love"
I was still confused and told him this. "Have you never been courted by someone or been in a relationship at all?" He sounded shocked. I shook my head; I had never been involved with anyone so most interactions with others confused me sometimes.
"Alright then," he said "do you know who gave this to you?"
I nodded and told him that Jade had dropped it after she had run off. He choked on his wine, coughing a while before spitting it out.
"Jade?" He asked. I nodded. "Interesting, well I need to go now, I have been invited to attend dinner with the Lord, but I will leave these papers with you.''
I asked him what paper he was talking about.
"They have the information you requested, I ordered them based on their importance to their group" He got up and left "Have fun" He said.
I looked at the papers he left behind; I was going to be awake for a while. I sighed and started reading.

I woke to a banging on my door. "Get up" the person shouted "Get your things ready, we're leaving"
I yawned and got up, remembering where I was. I had read through the papers and learned quite a bit. The group worked for nexus, which backed the rebels in the war. Aesius was a crossbreed between an air elemental and a pale elf. He was adept at casting magic and was one of Nexus' head scholars. He had joined Nexus after a price was put on his head for experimenting with blood magic and necromancy on humans and other people. Despite being a head scholar he wasn't actually very high in rank due to his elven heritage. Tarkington was pretty high up and was often sent on diplomatic missions along with other missions like battles and hunting rogue agents. He was a knight who had joined because it "was a good cause". Wolf was somewhat of an enigma; all that was known was that he had shamanistic powers. The girls were new to the group; they were mercenaries who had been hired by Nexus. Rei was an infiltrator and often was sent to spy on enemies by her various employers; she also negotiated for groups and was usually the face of the group because of her talkative and cheerful nature. Jade was an internationally known assassin, known for being able to get into any place she needed to be. All in all they were an interesting bunch of people. I still didn't understand the significance of Jade giving me the rose, perhaps I would ask her later.
I got dressed and stuffed the papers and clothing into the bag they had provided me. I was still missing my medallion and planned on asking for it back. I placed the lid back on the box and gently placed it in a separate pocket, flowers were fragile and I didn't want to ruin one even if said flower was red. My dislike for the color red didn't extend to flowers; they were nice to look at.
I walked out and found Tarkington standing impatiently. I gave a short nod and followed as he led me to the rest of the group. They were getting ready in the stables, saddling horses and readying a wagon. Tarkington had a large grey warhorse that stood patiently. Nick's horse was a sleek black horse that seemed to stand with unnatural stillness, the other horses shied away and kept their distance as it silently looked at everything with seeming intelligence. Aesius rode pale grey horse with lots of pouches attached to the saddle. I spotted mine among them and I longed to have it back. Wolf had no horse and I learned that he preferred to run with Kiv on the ground. Jade and Rei didn't have horses either and sat in the wagon, because as they later explained "horses didn't like them". I would be riding with them and Nick would be riding close by. We left shortly after loading the last of our supplies. After we had left the city Tarkington told us that we would be meeting up with-some people before reaching Nexus. He also reminded me that I was still technically a prisoner and that I would be required to stay in the cart for most of the journey and either Jade, Rei or Nick would be watching me at all times.
We eventually stopped once we reached the tenth hour of the night. We had been traveling for six hours, having left at the second hour of night and the horses needed rest. Everyone started setting up camp. Aesius started up the fire and set up his tent using his magic. Nick, Rei and Jade took turns watching over me for around an hour each. After camp was set up food was cooked up and served. Nick started a conversation with me when we were eating.
"Isn’t this fun?" he asked
I glanced at him curiously.
"We're having a nice conversation" he murmured glancing over to the others
I nodded and shrugged, gesturing for him to continue.
“I thought I should tell you More about my employers" he said "we call ourselves the order of Shadows and I am One of the eight agents we have on the field'' he paused waiting for a comment
I rested my head in my hands, lying down on the bed I had set up on the cart.
Nick continued "there used to be nine agents at one time but since the Rune wars we haven't had a ninth in honor of the one who went missing during the War" he paused, catching his breath "We are interested in you because we think you might be related the Ninth, we have been watching over you for a while but, eighteen years ago we lost track of you, due to powerful magic energies"
I nodded slightly confused but gestured for him to continue.
"Because of this magic energy our tracking and scrying spells stopped working on you" He pointed to my neck "seeing those markings I think Whatever disrupted our magic also placed those markings on you and caused your memory loss and most likely your loss of voice as well"
I signed to him that I also had the markings on my chest and back in addition to the ones on my necks.
“Really?” he said wondrously “there’s more?”
I nodded. He looked like he was going to speak again but was cut off as Jade came over to relieve him.
“We’ll continue our conversation later” he said, going to his tent.
Jade stood for a while not saying anything. I tapped her shoulder and she stiffened. She turned towards me and I pointed to my chest making a circling gesture and pointing to her.
“Oh” she said “you want your medallion?” I nodded. “Uhm” she murmured “check the box”
She turned back around and I sat trying to remember what box she was talking about. Suddenly I remember and crawled over to my bag, opening the pocket holding the rose box. I opened it and took out the rose. I set the flower gently to the side and looked for my medallion. I couldn’t find it inside but, looking on the outside, I found a seam indicating a false bottom. Carefully I opened the bottom and found my medallion inside. I took it out and cradled in my hands feeling for any magic on it. Upon closer inspection I found that part of the medallion had changed colors, the symbol for Vicine, the seventh Shadowman, had turned a dark blue gray color. The coloring was the same as the coloring as Rune Stone. I decided to ask Nick about it later, for now I would thank Jade. I crawled back over to Jade tapping her on the shoulder again. She turned and I tried to tell her that I was thankful for her giving it back.
“Well” she started voice barely above a whisper “you’re not actually supposed to have that back but… “She paused “well you just looked so sad when you couldn’t have it back and I felt guilty after what…uh… happened earlier”
She looked away blushing and I felt an unfamiliar feeling stir in my stomach. I didn’t know this feeling. I had never felt anything like it before, it felt warm and like something was fluttering in my stomach; it felt nice. I hugged her and she stood in surprise. I enjoyed the warmth of her and the fluttery feeling in my body. I released her and motioned for her to sit next to me. She hesitantly crawled up and sat. I looked into her eyes and smiled before leaning my head on her shoulder. I soon felt her arm move around my shoulder, holding me closer. Soon I fell asleep in her warm embrace. I didn’t need to ask about the rose anymore; I had just learned what it meant.

The next day passed nicely along. Jade and I sat close to each other for the whole day until we needed to set up camp again to rest the horses. Rei was smiling at us while we were traveling. She looked proud of her sister and let us sit in our silence. Wolf congratulated us for some reason and Kiv looked as excited as his companion did. Tarkington and Aesius didn’t seem to care at all, though I was given a little more freedom when we set up camp. I sat in the cart while I ate and Jade sat with me.
Jade said she had to set up her tent and when she left Nick came to me. He looked a little upset and nervous.  “I’m sorry for what I have to say but it has to be said” he started “I have received word that we are to escape tonight”
I was shocked and my face showed it.
“We have to escape while everyone is asleep, you cannot tell anyone not even Jade”
I told him that I wanted her to come with us. I was not happy with what he was saying. He looked uncertain for a moment before speaking.
“I knew that you would want to take her, but we cannot let anyone know of our plans”
I told him I wouldn’t go with him if we couldn’t take Jade with us. He looked strained again and avoided my eyes. I looked over to where Jade was and saw she was talking with her sister. Nick looked over to where I looked and sadness flowed over his face.
“I know that you think that you two are in love or something, but you’ll get over it, you probably have gotten over this before”
I told him I had never felt anything for anybody else like I was feeling for Jade. He looked surprised at that for a moment but quickly got over it.
“I’m sorry for saying this but if you won’t come willingly, I will force you to go”
Something flashed in my mind. It was old, it was angry and it was full of darkness.
“Just try it” the voice that came out of my mouth was full of malice and sounded strained and whispery.
Nick looked frightened, whatever the voice had been scared him. I was surprised; nothing had ever come out before. I tried speaking again but nothing came out. Whatever it was had already left.
“U-uh f-fine we’ll try getting J-jade to come with us” he said fearfully.
He sat down trying to collect himself and I just sat back where I was. Soon Jade came over and looked to Nick in curiosity.
“Hello Nick” she said shyly “what are you doing?”
“Well, we were just talking and uh” he looked over to me. I told him to ask her about what we were discussing. He looked back to Jade “Alright I will just be straightforward then” he paused “we are going to escape tonight; I am going to take Ix here to my order where we will restore her memory”
Jade looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding “alright, but I have to tell my sister first” Nick was about to protest but she raised her hand “She will most likely agree too, we got quite a story for you as well”
She went over to where everyone else was and talked with them for a while. I took the time while we were waiting to study my medallion. I looked at the other symbols and saw that one of the others was starting to change color as well. It was turning the same color as Rune Grass. The symbol was for the eighth Shadowman, Avirinil. I tapped on Nick’s shoulder and he jumped a little startled. He turned and I asked him about the medallion.
“A medallion?” he asked “Let me see it” he leaned closer “I’ve never seen one of these before, I’ve only heard of them, you must be related to the Ninth if you have this” he sounded in awe “My order is made up of people who are able to handle the God created like the original nine Shadowmen did," he paused" each of the Shadowmen represented one of the God Created like Rune flowers or Rune stone” he paused again, catching his breath “The original nine were said to have medallions that gave them strange powers, but the medallions all disappeared when they did”
As he was talking Jade came back with Rei and they stood waiting for him to stop talking. Jade came over to sit next to me and I moved closer to her. Rei’s face immediately lit up.
“ahh, you two look so cute together, have you two kissed at all- wait, have you done anything else” she added, a suggestive tone in her voice.
Jade’s face turned red with embarrassment, I wondered what Rei had meant.
“N-no, I-I didn’t ask you over for-“she was interrupted by her sister.
“I know, I know,” she said holding back a laugh” I just wanted to mess with you, you’re so serious and shy all the time” she stopped laughing "now what is it you really wanted to talk about"
Jade gestured for Nick to explain and he retold what he had just explained to Jade. She quickly agreed to the plan.
"When we leave I'll tell you our story as well" she said.
With that she turned and walked back to the others. The three of us sat in silence for a while. Nick suddenly spoke up
"Well I’m off to bed, be ready to travel"
We were left alone. I asked Jade what her sister had meant. It took her a little time to decipher what I said; she still didn’t know how to sign very well. Her face turned red again, as she realized what I asked.
"Well…err it means...Well uhm" I put my hand on her shoulder, dismissing the question. She relaxed and we just sat silently again. I could tell something was on her mind but I kept silent, not wanting to interrupt her thoughts.
“We really don’t know much about each other, do we?” she asked quietly. I shook my head in response, no we didn’t. “Come on, I’m going to my tent to get ready, I will tell you some about myself while I’m packing up”
She got off the cart and walked to her tent with me following behind. I was curious but I was also a little afraid.

I sat in Jade’s tent waiting patiently for her to start talking. She was slowly and carefully placing her things into her bags. When she finally spoke it was in a soft voice.
“Rei and I left home when I was only ten, she was fourteen, we moved around a lot. She didn’t like staying in one city for too long and most people we met were hostile towards us because we were different” She paused “I didn’t understand at the time why all these people were so cruel, even now I just can’t understand why people would act like that. We took to stealing and soon we got pretty good at it. I think we were too good though, some people took notice of us. I had stayed at our home alone one day, and when Rei came back I saw something different about her. I asked her what was wrong but she didn’t answer me. We sat for several hours neither of us saying a word. I tried distracting myself but I wanted to know what was wrong. I kept asking her but she didn’t want to tell me. I finally noticed a she had been hurt and asked her why but she didn’t answer. She eventually went off to her room leaving me alone wondering what happened. Later that week I had gone out alone and some men approached me cornering me in an alley. I could defend myself and always carried a knife with me. I hoped I would never use it. I tried talking my way out but that didn’t work. They… they tried to” her voice cracked with emotion “well before they could, I lashed out with my knife cutting into one of them. They didn’t want what they had before they just wanted to kill me. We fought for a long time they hurt me but I was quick and had trained a lot with my knife, I- I think I killed them, I didn’t want to but I couldn’t afford not to. I figured out what happened but I never told my sister. I just told her that we had to leave and she just nodded like she understood” Her voice was starting to tremble and tears started running down her face.
Before I could reach out to comfort her Rei came into the tent. She looked sad and concerned for her sister. She went over to her sister and embraced her, trying to comfort her.
“It’s alright little sister” she whispered “I’ll tell the rest,”
She sat down and faced me. Jade was laying down sobbing into her arms. She kept her voice even and emotionless throughout the rest of the story.
“We soon left that city and ran into a man. This man offered to help us but I didn’t want any help. I didn’t trust anyone but my sister because of what happened to me. He tried winning over our trust, it partially worked. He brought us into his home and showed us our rooms. He told us that he would train us in stealth techniques and improve our fighting. Jade immediately agreed but I took my time in deciding. Soon I agreed though and our training began. He started off by showing us how to remove our emotions, because he said that emotion would hinder us. He taught us that everyone had a different mask behind which they hid their emotions. He called mine the mask of the ghost and Jade’s the mask of the revenant. He also told us we would meet another person in the future that we would meet someone else who used this same method. After we learned to mask our feelings and emotions he taught us how to fight. We both specialized in different weaponry, I specialized in daggers and needles while Jade specialized in dueling weapons and throwing knives. After a year he took us to towns to train our abilities of stealth, he had us steal random items and would point out where we messed up each time. After another Year he left us saying the rest was up to us to learn. We wandered around, hopping from town to town. I made contracts for us and we made money doing espionage, assassinations and other things like that. You know it’s funny; Little Sister for some reason gained the reputation of a top assassin. She hates killing and death, you know that?” Her voice was still emotionless. This fact more than anything, scared me. She was so emotionally detached about what she was talking about. She glanced down at Jade. She had fallen asleep during the story, little sobs shaking her body. “She always told me about these requests and I would take them for her. I didn’t want my little Jade becoming any less innocent than she already had become. I never told her what I had done but I think she instinctively knew. We didn’t talk to each other on those days; I think she was afraid that I was still the same person as when I killed the target. You’ve noticed it haven’t you? Noticed that I’m hiding something behind my cheerfulness” I nodded, I had thought about that. She looked at my face “I’m afraid, afraid that if I let go of my mask I will break and no longer be able to protect her anymore” She looks thoughtful for a moment “seeing you with her though, seeing her happy- happy for the first time in years- my mask started to crack, real emotion forcing its way through, perhaps soon I will be able to finally let my mask go; I will finally stop being a mere shade of who I used to be”
She looked thoughtful again before speaking “Do you have a mask as well?”
I shrugged not knowing and at the same time the dark presence reappeared. I talked to me in my mind. You know you do. You try hiding from me but you know deep inside of yourself that we are one in the same. I shook my head frightened of the voice. It made sense yet… yet I didn’t want it to be true, I didn’t want that evil presence to be me. Rei looked at me curiously “I can see it, but you fight it. Why? What is the mask that you are so frightened of it?” She kept talking but I wasn’t listening anymore. I had huddled up squeezing my eyes shut, ignoring everything. She left eventually but I don’t know when she did. I collapsed near Jade. Clasping her hand I thought, if that was me then perhaps I didn’t really want to know my past. The warm embrace of sleep soon enclosed me and I slept.

I was woken up by a slight nudging. I opened my eyes and was staring into Rei’s impassive face.
“Time to go” she said simply.
Jade was waking up as well. We gathered our small packs of things and slowly made our way to the edge of the camp where Nick waited. We passed the horses and I saw my pack attached to Aesius’ horse. I was tempted to go retrieve it but I kept away. Tarkington’s horse watched passively but I didn’t want to test how passive it really was. I could always gather up more Rune flowers later. Rei had beaten us to Nick and had slipped back into her cheerful role. We approached and Nick held something out to us.
“If we ever get in trouble crush these beads, they will take you away from the danger, the only downside being that the location is random” he explained.
I carefully took the bead and carefully placed it into my pocket. I wondered what he was anticipating would happen. He motioned us all to be silent and led the way to the nearby forest. When we reached far enough into the forest he started to carefully explain where we were going.
“We are going to head through this forest; my order arranged two people to meet us there”
“Do you know who we are going to meet?” Rei asked
“Sort of” he replied “I’ve really only heard of these people, my order called them the portal keepers and told me that their names were Chronox and Lilly”
I hadn’t heard of them but Jade and her sister gave a short gasp of surprise. Apparently they had heard of these two as well.
“They are going to create a portal to transport us to headquarters”
We traveled for a while. This forest was huge and the trees seemed very menacing. We walked in complete silence the whole time. We never stopped to rest or talk, moving was the only thing we could do. I reached out to Jade and held onto her hand. She gave it a brief squeeze and we continued on.
The forest was completely silent, no birds made noises, no insects, and no animals at all. The howls started. They were low and far away at first, but soon they got closer. I caught glimpses of silver every so often and occasionally a splash of black and brown as well. When I first saw the creatures I gave a silent cry. The beasts were giant wolves and there were people on top of them. I thought they were people at least, they were wearing grotesque masks and their slender ears marked them as of the elven kind. They continued watching us, adding to the already ominous presence of the forest.
We soon made it to the edge and I breathed deeply in relief. I turned back and the masked faces were watching us from the tree line. Something suddenly flashed within me and I saw glimpses of these people. They were fighting something. I unconsciously raised my hand in a strange gesture and they in turn raised their hands, making the same gesture. They turned suddenly and ran off. I became aware that the others were staring at me.
“Did you know each other?” Rei asked.
I shrugged; I’m not sure what I knew. I had done all that without knowing it.
“That’s pretty impressive” Nick said “To my knowledge they have never taught any outsiders their hand signals, they never even make contact with outsiders besides protecting their territory and staring at those who pass through their forest.
“What were they?” Jade asked
“Those?” Nick said “Those were the lost elven clans. They are a mix of several species that disappeared from the world”
We continued on for a while longer before we were greeted by a strange sight. In the middle of the field were two strangely clothed individuals. They were standing looking off into the distance like they hadn’t noticed us yet. The one on the right was shorter and looked female, but I couldn’t figure out the one on the left. They turned towards us and I could see what they looked like. The girl was pale skinned with bright blue hair and strange green eyes. She was dressed in some strange metal clothing that moved like cloth. The one on the left had a strange helmet on his head. It had an intricate faceplate and was made of an odd glimmering metal that looked like blue oil. Mist continuously rolled down his body and his clothing looked more like that of a traveler. There was a strange glow surrounding him.
The girl spoke first “Hello friends, my name is Lilly”
“My name is Chronox” the man said “I understand that we are to create a portal for you to transport you to the Order of Shadows headquarters”
“Yes that is right” Nick replied.
A whistling filled the air as Nick finished speaking. I heard Jade and Lilly call out in pain. I turned to look and saw Jade had been hit in the shoulder by an arrow. I looked around for the source and saw a group of people approaching. They were all wearing tabards with the symbol of the sun on them.
Chronox roared “You led us into a trap; I knew I couldn’t trust the Order”
He raised a metallic hand and the mist coalesced into his palm turning into a ball of roiling blue energy. The air was suddenly tinged with the scent of blood and metal. He slammed the ball into the ground and a great energy was released. Everyone was thrown back and I was encased inside a bubble of red energy and darkness closed in on me again. I tried to fight it but soon succumbed.

I woke on a cold stone ground. I lifted my head and felt pain. There was a crackling nearby and I could feel the warmth of a fire nearby. I tried getting up but I was suddenly grabbed and was face to face with Chronox. He wasn’t wearing his helmet anymore and I could see his face.
“Good, you’re awake” he growled “Maybe you can tell me now why your order wants me dead”
I couldn’t remember what he was talking about. I tried remembering and instantly the memories came back. Jade and Lilly had been hit by arrows and then there were those men. I had become encased by energy. My arm hurt but I didn’t care. I needed to find Jade; I needed to make sure she was ok. I struggled to get out of his grasp but I couldn’t do it. He shook me.
“ANSWER ME” He yelled
I opened my mouth but still could not talk. I just wanted Jade. I tried raising my hand but I couldn’t, I felt a warm liquid drip down. I looked down and saw that I had an arrow lodged in my arm. That was the source of my pain. I couldn’t answer him my arms were hurt too badly. I didn’t see what the problem was with my other arm but whenever I tried moving it, pain flared through. He grabbed me by my throat and pushed me against the wall.
“TELL ME” he said. He was holding a knife or something made of blue energy.
I was scared. I felt tears start falling down my face and then something inside snapped. I felt disconnected and could see myself pinned against the wall. I saw the shadows shift and move across the room and flow up my face. Shadows flowed over my face.
“Let. Me. Go” it shouted
Chronox dropped my body and backed away. It giggled and raised its hand and shadows formed into shapes along the cave. I reached out to stop it. It looked up and grinned at me.
“Fine” it said.
I snapped back into my body and the shadows dripped onto the ground, slowly returning the light to the room. I collapsed to the ground. “Remember”.
“What are you?” Chronox said.
I shrugged trying to catch my breath; Lilly came limping into the room barely looking at Chronox.
“Come with me I think I found some answers to my brothers question” she said.
I followed her, struggling to keep up despite her injury, Chronox followed behind staying silent. She led us into a room that had many sigils. They felt familiar to me and I reached out to touch one. Lilly grabbed my wrist, stopping me.
“I wouldn’t touch them, they look like warding spells. In particular they look very violent ones” she explained.
I withdrew my hand looking around the cave more. To one side was a passage and I looked inside.
“I wouldn’t go in there. I saw a large amount of Rune flowers in there”
I ignored her and stepped into the passage. She tried to stop me from going in.
“Please, don’t go in there. It is really dangerous. Rune flowers are incredibly deadly”
I looked back at her and nodded my head like I understood and continued inwards. Eventually I reached a large area that had Rune flowers growing through the stony ground. I picked one of the flowers up and smelled it. I took comfort in the sweet smell of these flowers and continued on, wading through this sea of blood red flowers. At the back of the room was an altar. Across the altar was a blade that seemed to be made of living shadows and a smaller shorter knife that shined a dark red. I reached slowly for the sword, not noticing that the pain had disappeared, as soon as I touched it the presence returned. “Finally, you have found it. Now remember”
As soon as it said that I did remember. I had been a great power once. I had been one of the Shadowmen. I was the Ninth, the original Ninth. I had been born when the gods had created their God created. I represented everything about Rune flowers. I was Death. I was Life. But something had happened. Something I couldn’t remember. I could remember this blades name. It was the Nadir Blade. All these memories flashed through. They frightened me; I didn’t want to be this person I was remembering. I held tight to the memories that I had, clinging onto myself separating these memories with the ones I already had. I looked fearfully at the other blade. I didn’t want to touch it but it beckoned me and trembled to be held after all this time. I carefully touched it and nothing happened, rather, nothing seemed to happen. A voice floated from it “Thank you”. With that the whispering of the presence had stopped and the memories had finally ceded control back over to me. This blade was the opposite of the other that I held. Its name was the Zenith Blade. I felt it pull to go to the left of the altar and I followed along. When we got to where it wanted I was shocked. Rei and Jade were laying there. I dropped the weapons and ran over to them.
Their breaths were shallow and their pulses could barely be felt. I knew I couldn’t get them out in time but I tried anyway. I tried dragging them out but that was to slow. I collapsed tears beginning to come down my face. This can’t be happening, they can’t die. I felt a memory come up unbidden.
When the gods created the nine God created we Shadowmen were born. We were born to balance out the power of these things. The nine of us corrupted the God created overwriting their original purpose. We made it so that only those who were born immune to the effects of the now corrupted creations could use them for their intended purpose. Rune flowers brought death, wherever they grew, but this was not what they were created for. They had been created to heal.
I remembered how to summon my power. I summoned my power, the blades began to resonate. I focused all the energy into healing. The light grew bright red, its intensity growing by the second. I brought down this power onto the sleeping sisters. The pain of using this magic was intense. I screamed out. The world went black.