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Birdsong was not what woke me the following morning. Rather, it was the loud, angry voice of a certain green scaled man. He was barking out this and that about needing to head out immediately now that the sun was coming up. Sad thing, too, seeing as I was just in the middle of having a rather wonderful dream about his sister. All good things must come to end, though. Some harsh words between the two guild idiots were muttered, mostly directed at one another, which I ignored as I sat up and greeted the slowly brightening sky with a stretch and a yawn.

"A dumbass lizard like you would just get us lost. I'm keeping hold of the reins, and that's final."

"I don't give a damn if you're Tanno's favorite little guard, you keep calling me that and I'll slit your throat."

It would seem my prying the previous night had sparked something I didn't expect. Now, on one hand, I was rather proud of this. Being able to set two guild boys against one another by just asking a seemingly innocent question was a high point for me. But, then there was the other hand, in which this pointless bickering could drag on for the rest of the trip and only end up annoying me more.

"You touch me again, and I'll make sure you lose your licence and guild protections."

"You don't even have the authority, let alone the balls to actually follow through. Everyone knows you're Tanno's prized pup, always so careful not to upset her."

The fact Ursh was now calling Rin a dog like I had before almost made me want to clap him on the back in comradery. Then I remembered I hated him, and the feeling swiftly passed. The fact he was back to his usual argumentative self was an interesting change of pace in my eyes, however.

The gentle morning breeze caressed my face as I stood up, readying myself to put an end to this nonsense. "Gentlemen," I called out, grabbing both men's attention as they whipped around angrily to face me. "Need I remind you, we have a job to do? Now look, I dislike both of you myself, but I can at least pretend to play nice until we get back home."

Both feel quiet for a moment. Two pairs of eyes looked away as the men searched for a rebuttal. More silence followed as they found none.

"Great," I said, clapping my hands together. "Then, if you're done being children, let's head out." The irony of me telling two men off for having a childish argument was not lost on me. But, I was right about being able to fake it for the occasion. Though I'd love nothing more than to see them go at it and trade blow after blow and possibly kill each other, and I would find it very amusing, I knew that would do this job little good.

Besides, Twi was more important to me than witnessing the chaos of these two fighting. Making sure she was alright took priority.

And the payment, of course, but that was mostly just a bonus of getting to screw with the guildmaster rather than my main incentive.

In unision, the guild morons started to pack up everything and load it all onto the wagon. I double checked the map and compass to determine our path, then took the driver's seat. Hopefully, my companions would behave themselves in the privacy of the wagon and not beat themselves bloody without supervision. As we set out, things were relatively peaceful, all things considered. No yelling or sounds of a struggle coming from behind me. Maybe they'd decided to just sit in silence and brood to themselves? Whatever the case was, I didn't pay much mind to it, either way.

After the night's rest, the wagon stallions seemed much better, more energetic. Their breaths came easy and calm, their speed at a nice pace, and they didn't seem to be working too hard to pull the wagon. Perhaps a day's work was getting them used to things. Maybe if we kept up, we'd be able to meet up with Twi sooner rather than later.

Of course not. Twi had Vox with her, and that damned beast could trudge on through anything without stopping for a second.

It wouldn't take us too long to reach the town, as the campsite we'd made for ourselves wasn't too too far off. Not as close as the one Rin and I settled on originally, but still, close enough. The morning sun was setting the sky on fire as it rose up, bathing the world in its warmth. Dew-painted grass glistened in the radiance, giving the fields beside the road an almost ethereal glow.

Up ahead in the distance, I could see the belltower in the center of Proslin. It had been some time since I'd visited the place, the last time being while on a job, but I still could remember the deep clanging of that old bell. Loud enough to wake the dead almost, it was. Didn't have much memory of the people, though, outside of the guys we got the job from. To be fair, we were only there for a day or two at the most, so not really long enough to have any lasting impressions of most of the people.

As we neared, the rest of the town came into view, and I shouted to the two in back we were coming up on the town. The only one who poked their head out to see was Ursh.

"She probably won't be here." His voice was softer than usual, all the anger from this morning had seemingly left him. It was almost pitiable.

I shrugged. "Probably not, but she's gonna have left something behind to let me know where to go next." And, if luck was on my side, Twi would end up staying somewhere for the day to wait for me to catch up.

Ursh ducked back in, and I continued us along the road to town. Proslin wasn't particularly large, maybe half as big as New Serrak, and it even lacked any defensive walls. A couple of guards were usually patrolling the perimeter of town, though, and when we got closer to Proslin, the guards were waiting for us by the entrance. They were dressed in padded jackets, swords sheathed at their sides, and both men carried a bow and quiver of arrows on their back. I gave them a basic story of searching for a fugitive, which wasn't technically incorrect, and they let me pass on through.

Once we were in the town proper, I called out to the back again and informed the men. Almost instantly, the weight in the wagon shifted and I heard the sound of two pairs of boots hitting the dirt behind me.

As the two of them rounded the wagon and into sight, I said, "You two sure were quiet all morning. Was almost sure someone might have died."

"Let's just get this over with," Rin grumbled. "You said yesterday Twi was going to stay the night here. Think she might have left another letter for you?"

"Sure do." I responded with a nod as I stepped off the wagon's seat. Now came the hard part. The people we worked for back when we visited Proslin were a small group of thieves. I could recall the shack they stayed at when we were here, but chances were they had since moved in the following years. And, it would be mighty suspicious to go around town asking if anyone knew the location of the local thieves' hideout, after all. More likely to end up stabbed or tossed into jail and questioned, both things we had no time for.

However, there was one nuggest of information from our time here previous that stuck with me, a way to get into contact with the thieves without raising too much suspicion. Only problem was we had Rin with us. With him dressed in his guild goon outfit, he really stuck out, and no thief worth their salt would willingly associate with us if he was still around.

I relayed this tidbit to the man in question, who returned a quick shrug. "What do you want me to do, just disappear?"

"That would be lovely, actually."

A blank expression showed he didn't quite understand.

Rolling my eyes at this utter stupidity, I decided to just come out and say it. "Find someplace to hole away for a little while. I'll find my associates here, get the information, and we can be on our merry way." I then waved him off with a, "Now shoo."

Surprisingly, he didn't argue. He simply grabbed a small bag from the back of the wagon, then trudged off. To where, I had no clue. Maybe he'd find a bar or tavern to occupy his time and stomach in the meantime.

After the man left from my sight, Ursh spoke up once again.

"Are these thieves trustworthy enough?"

"Of course not. If they find out you're part of a guild, they'll..." I paused, letting his imagination run wild with the possibilities. "Well, let's just say it won't end pretty for you. So," I added emphasis by poking his forehead, not dissimiliar to the way Twi did to me many times in the past, "keep your damn mouth shut. Got it?"

He sighed out, "If I must." He rummaged around in his pockets, looking for something, but not finding whatever it was.

I think I knew what he was after. "If you be a good little boy and keep quiet," I mocked him with a sugary sweet tone, "we can buy you some cigars so you don't have to feel so naked without them, ok?"

A small fire lit up his gaze then, and I felt a small bit of happiness that I was still able to anger him so. All this silence of his before made me worry I lost my touch. When he was just about to say something in response, I faked a yawn and got moving, forcing him to trail behind me. In hindsight, it might not have been wise to piss him off right before meeting a group of guild hating crooks, but I was having fun.

I walked around town for a bit, my eyes on the lookout for the right building. "Now, where was it?" I mumbled to myself. All the while, Ursh was right behind me, always a few steps back, his eyes hard slits, probably planning some dumb way to get me back in his mind. I ignored him the entire time, my pace swift as I moved, until eventually I found the place.

It was a stout stone building, thick smoke billowing out the chimney. Bracing myself for what was to come, I opened the door and stepped inside. The interior was well lit, and the warmth from the large fire hit me like a brick. Along the walls were hanging tools of various kind, as well as the odd weapon or two. There was a door on the far side of the room, leading to what I recalled was a small storage closet. Standing over the blaze was a bearded man of relative agedness.

"Welcome," he said in a gruff tone. In one hand he held a massive hammer, and in the other was a red hot piece of iron.

"Morning," I responded, but it was drowned out by the clanging of metal on metal as he brought the hammer down onto the iron. When I repeated my greeting louder, the forgeman looked up once more.

"Need something?"

"Yea, I need a damascus steel dagger shipped to Woodrow in three days."

The bearded smith eyed me silently for a moment before nodding. His gaze shifted to the scaled man beside me and he asked, "And you?"

"He's with me," I butted in.

"Hpmh." He took another swing down onto the iron, then nodded towards us. "Down three blocks, the house with the red roof. On the left. Tell 'em Manny sent ya." With that he eyed the door, silently ordering us to leave as he returned to his work. The sounds of banging metal accompanied our exit.

Before I set down the path towards the hideout, Ursh stepped in front of me, halting me. "I knew you didn't keep good company." His words came out in a spit, as if he was disgusted he even had to say it.

Sighing, I tried to get passed, but he moved to stand in my way each time I tried. After the fourth attempt, I had had enough. "Fine. You wanna talk this out now? Let's do it." I moved aside and leaned up against a nearby space of wall, the sounds of the blacksmith's work still ringing out nearby. "We're sellswords," I reminded the green idiot. "Of course not everyone we worked for was gonna be upstanding citizens. Why do you even care, anyway?"

Scaly hands balled up into tight fists as he repeated the question. "Why do I care? My sister's life is on the line with nearly every job you take her on. Do you even know how many times I have to hear, after the fact, that you two ran off to some remote location and almost got yourselves killed, and for a pittance of coin?"

"The jobs 'I' take her on? She's the one who gets the majority of our jobs in the first place."

"Only because you somehow convinced her to join your seedy life."

"Oh, come off it," I spat back. "Twi can take care of herself just fine. Fuck's sake, she managed to avoid all your guild's dumbass guards and make it out of New Serrak without anyone seeing her. How is that not good enough for you?"

"Because she's the only family I have left." He had a slight pause before continuing. When he did speak again, his words lost the angered sting. The words were softer. "I can't lose her, too."

And just like that, things came into perspective. I wanted to punch back with some sarcastic remark, or some stupid joke, but I just didn't have it in me at the moment. For the first time, I saw Ursh as a fellow person. Not just as some random asshole, but as an equal. All this time, all these years, he'd been forced to sit on the side and wait to hear if his own flesh and blood sister had returned home, always wondering if the next job would be her last.

This realization even brought new light into our very first encounter, the one in which he pulled a knife on me. That first meeting, Twi had gotten herself hurt the day prior during a job. The details didn't matter, all I could recall was some bandit shooting a crossbow at her, and the bolt sunk into the fatty part of her thigh. Nothing life-threatening, surely, but still it left her bedridden for a time. Ursh had barged into the hospital room, demanding to know what I did to his sister. Since I didn't even know him at the time, I shouted at him to get his ass out the room. It was then that he got close and flashed the knife at me, blaming me for how she got hurt.

Coming back from my memories, I sighed. "Look, I get you used to be the protective older brother when you guys were growing up, but ya gotta put that behind you."

Ursh took up a section of wall nearby, leaning against it as he spoke. "I know that. But, old habits die hard, they say."

"I don't know why you're so worked up over this. Twi can handle herself." Though to be fair, I could understand where he was coming from. The weird skystone/dragon scale, the sky opening up twice, whatever the blue thing might be. All of it was rather strange, and a bit unnerving. In the space between us, silence dragged on for what felt like minutes. I could hear the scaly man take a deep breath right before his next words.

"Why aren't you bothered by any of this? Don't you love her?" The questions seemed genuine. Not like I was expecting an accusation or anything of the sort, it was just a bit different.

No sense beating around the bush with it, though. "Because I know Twi. Wherever she is right now, she's fine." I gave him a moment to digest the cold hard truth before admitting just a tad bit more. "To tell the truth, I'm more worried about your guild."

"What do you mean?" Slitted eyes narrowed in suspicion.

Shrugging, I said, "Who knows what Tanno's gonna do with the dragon scale if she gets her hands on it? You said yourself, even a small piece of a dragon contains a bit of their power."

Without hesitation, Ursh responded, "She only wants to examine it. Perhaps cooperate with the alchemists' guild to conduct a proper research endevour."

"And then what?"

His maw opened, but no words came. After closing his mouth, he thought for a moment or two. "I'm not sure."

The joints in my shoulder made a small popping noise as I moved away from the wall and stretched. "Well, I think we've wasted enough time here. Gotta talk to my associates and then head on out. Don't want Twi to have too much of a lead on us."

He didn't say much besides a wordless grunt as we continued our walk to the red-roofed house. As the blacksmith had said, it was only a few blocks over. Didn't take but more than a minute for our feet to end up right in front of the marked place. It was a rather plain looking home. Simple brick and mortar design, windows with the curtains inside closed, a chimney without a hint of smoke rising out. Honestly, if it wasn't for the smith pointing it out, I doubt I'd be able to tell it apart from several other homes we'd passed by on the way here.

My knuckles fell hard against the wooden door, loud knocks, pounding almost if I were honest, reverberating. Almost immediately, the door opened just a hair's breadth, and a voice called out, "Name."

"Manny sent us," I called back.

The door was slammed shut with a loud bang. Voices could be heard from within the house, but I couldn't make out anything distinct. Suddenly, the door opened up again, this time wide enough for someone to peek out from. I could see a pale human face, eyes shifty and moving around, scanning the street. Seeemingly satisfied with their little recon, they moved back and the door opened even more. Inside was a collection of people sitting around a table. Along with the pale man were two gray-furred kalrin men, another human--this one female--and a dull yellow-scaled saurian woman. We were ushered inside, the door closing shut behind us with a soft thud.

One of the kalrin men looked me over for a second before saying, "Well, if it isn't Graham. Figured we'd be seeing you soon enough." The kalrin, whom I recalled went by 'Fang' (why do thieves always use silly monikers?), stood up and slapped the table. I noticed a few bottles of what I assumed was whiskey by the smell sitting atop the table, along with a few glasses, mostly half empty now. "So, fancy a drink?"

"Hm, normally, I'd say yes, but we aren't here for pleasantries." Though, a stiff drink did sound pretty good right about now. Maybe one drink wouldn't hurt...Twi's voice popped into my head, slapping me with some sense and telling me more important matters had to come first. I begrudgingly agreed.

"Suit yourself," Fang said, grabbing one of the bottles and bringing it up to his lips, downing a few gulps of the sweet nectar. When he had his fill, he let out a long breath and slammed the bottle onto the table. I was a bit shocked it didn't shatter with how forceful it was.

The saurian woman, who I seemed to remember used the name Dagger (seriously, why the silly names?) spoke up. "This is about Twi, isn't it?"

"Course it is," rang the words of the pale man who answered the door. This was Roach. "Not like he'd ever visit us out of the goodness of his own heart or nothing."

"Oh please, like we'd ever do the same," she spit back.

"Enough!" The second gray furred kalrin was the one who barked that out. His voice was oddly deep and booming for one of those mouse people. It was like a grizzled soldier's almost. He got up from his seat and walked over, his hand digging into a pocket. My hand instinctively fingered the edge of my dagger's handle. However, what came out was another letter, not some weapon.

He glanced down at my hand, a smirk rising up one side of his face. "Little jump there, ain't ya?" As he handed over the letter, my hand fell away from the dagger.

Something rather unnerving was revealed as I turned it over in my hand. The letter had already been opened.

My eyes shifted up to meet the kalrin's gaze. "Explain yourself," I ordered. My fingers danced close to the dagger once more in my annoyance. He took a step back, but I noticed one hand pull back behind him. Likely a dagger of his own was waiting. Likewise, the people around the table had also all moved their hands to hidden weapons on their persons.

"Relax, pal," he soothed. "Just making sure she wasn't giving out any info on us. Gotta be looking out for ourselves, ya know?"

It was a...reasonably fair point. Didn't mean I had to like it, though.

With a small scowl, I relaxed once again, turning my attention to Twi's message. This one made mention of a small abandoned farmhouse a little ways west of Proslin. She'd be waiting there for me to catch up to her, at which point the two of us would continue onwards to find whatever the blue streak was that, in her own words, "had you so starry eyed." Honestly, I didn't think it was that out of the ordinary to want to see what this was.

With this out of the way, it was time to head out. Before I did, though, I asked, "Did she leave anything else behind or say anything?"

"No, not really," he said with a snort. "But, I would like to add that abandoned farm ain't exactly a good location."

"What do you mean?"

"Some bandits use it from time to time when they pass through the area during drug runs. They only come by once a month, and they already left a week ago, but still, keep your eyes open just in case. Never know what those freaks might do."

Good advice. I'd be sure to keep that in mind.

"Oh, and one more thing." When I gave him a curious look, he turned his focus instead to Ursh. He got a bit close, and his already low voice dropped another octave or two. "You be sure to keep your mouth shut about this to your guild buddies, alright?"

How did they know? Well, thinking on it, if they were half the thieves I'd assumed they were, they likely had a few eyes out on the streets. Likely, they had someone see us get off the wagon and noticed Rin in his blasted uniform. It made the most sense, at least.

Ursh simply nodded his head in silence, which seemed to satisfy the kalrin enough for him to perk up and happily wave us out of the house. "Be sure to keep safe out there. Wouldn't want to have to see your corpses out on the roads. Always a bit of a bummer when it's a face you recognize."

After the door shut behind us, a thought ran through me. I could have asked if they knew anything about the thing that fell from the sky. Chances were, they wouldn't know much more than we did, but they might have had some info, however small, that could have helped. But, I also didn't really want to talk to them again. That deep voiced kalrin was new to me, and I already disliked him. Something about him just rubbed me the wrong way.

When we were outside again, I took one look at my scaly companion and said, "About earlier? That doesn't changed anything between us."

"Course not," he responded coldly. "I still have no idea why my sister bothers with an idiot like you."

Regardless of these feelings, Ursh and I headed back to the wagon, where Rin was already waiting for us. I nudged Ursh towards a nearby store, offering that it likely sold some of those precious cigars he loved so much. He just rolled his eyes and walked off to go make his purchase.

"Been wondering when you'd finally get back," Rin snarked as I got close, his lips curling into a sneer. How strange, seeing his face contorted into anything other than the bored look I'd seen so often. I relayed the info, leaving out a few choice parts that would give too much info about the thieves, and then Rin got an odd look to him.

"What?"

"Nothing," he mused. "But, I heard that old place is used by a group of drug runners that have been causing issues in the area."

"If you're feeling worried about getting attacked, you can always just wait here," I offered, masking my voice with a twinge of concern. I really wanted him to take the offer. Losing Tanno's dog would only be a good thing.

He shook his head. "It's not that I'm worried. More...wondering if we could catch them in the act, bring them to justice and make things safer."

"Probably also hand over their supply chain to the guild so you guys can do your own business here," I grumbled.

Icy blue eyes went into hardened slits as he glared over at me. Rin definitely heard that. Good. The normally plain-faced Rin was now hiding his anger behind his neutral look, but failing to do so effectively as the red was beginning to creep up his neck.

"I'm going to ignore that," he said through gritted teeth.

I wasn't going to let him go that easily. "Yea, well-"

A loud clearing of a throat directed my attention to my side, where I saw Ursh, both his hands full of cigar boxes. He was stocking up for the long haul, it seemed. Or maybe he just knew he'd smoke his way through all of them before we got back home. Either way, he flicked his head to the wagon before climbing inside, a silent plea for us to get going already. Depite how much it pained me to agree with him, I figured there was sense wasting any more time, and so I jumped onto the driver's seat once more.

"If you would kindly step aboard," I said with a mocking tone as I waved the guild dog before me to take his place in the back of the wagon. His face grew a bit more red, but he didn't fight me on it. I could really get used to having that kind of authority.

Soon enough we were off to the next destination, and I was hopeful I'd finally be able to see Twi again. It had only been a day and some change, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little concerned. After all, she was technically a wanted woman at the moment. Even if the guild hadn't issued any direct warrant for her, she was still to be brought in. Plus, this whole issue with the sky was constantly in the back of my mind. The fact no one around me seemed to be bothered by it all was just more strangeness added on top.

The road to the farm was barren of much of interest. Fields, woods off to the side, a small river running underneath a tiny bridge. Nothing to really get the imagination soaring. Behind me in the wagon, I could hear the guild goons having some meaningless argument over rations. Ursh was saying Rin had been eating too much of the meat, while Rin was saying that since his men packed the food that it was his right to eat a larger share. How oddly childish. Granted, I'd probably be right in there arguing with them, just for kicks, had I not been busy making sure we were going the right way.

Up ahead, there were some odd gray clouds floating about. Floating rather low, in fact. And then more gray puffs floated upwards to join their cousins. Suddenly, the grays turned darker, and I could see them swirling up higher, their lazy floating picked up by the wind.

These weren't clouds.

It was smoke. And judging by the direction, there was only one place it could be coming from.

~~~

At once, I snapped the reins hard, urging the stallions to quicken their pace, my mind racing with the possibilities of what awaited us. I kept replaying in my mind over and over that Twi would be alright. Whatever happened, she had to have been ok. I told myself that repeatedly. I needed it to be true. A wordless prayer was sent up to whatever deity rules this stupid world, begging that Twi would be fine.

The dark smoke increased in intensity, more black cotton-like clouds billowing upwards to be caught by the breeze. I whipped the reins again, their snap the sound of a thunderclap, and the horses made noises of discomfort. But, I didn't care. I ignored their protests and continued pushing them further along. My heart was screaming in my chest and I felt a churning in my stomach. Please, let me be wrong, I thought.

We were coming up on the farmhouse now, and I sank at the sight that awaited us. Down the road, poking out amidst the fields, was a large barn, its roof ablaze with bright yellow and oragne flame. The barn doors had been knocked wide open, one of them hanging on by only one hinge, and inside was a similar sight; fire and smoke and heat. I didn't think twice, I simply bolted off the wagon and up to the burning building. The overwhelming blaze was so hot and smothering, as if all the cool wind had been sucked away by it. I couldn't see a damn thing through the fire within, and the pit in my stomach only grew deeper.

Yells from behind alerted me that Ursh had taken notice of the situation, his feet pounding heavily against the stony road as he made a mad dash over. Twin hands landed on my shoulders as he spun me around to greet him. "Is she in there?" Fear was in his eyes. The fear of losing his sister, the same fear he'd always had hanging over his head all these years. I wanted to tell him something to assuage his feelings, but I couldn't.

"I don't know," I yelled back.

Ursh's eyes darted around, searching for something, anything that could point that Twi wasn't in the barn. I hoped he could find something and set both our hearts at ease.

Another loud voice called out. Rin had made his way over, his bored mask melted off by the heat, a look of genuine concern now plastered on his face. "What the hell's going on?"

"I don't know," I repeated. I looked back to the barn, the support beams now falling down with loud thuds. Soon enough the roof would collapse in and the rest of the barn with it. "We need to do something." I pushed Ursh away and got closer to the blazing barn. The heat was intense, an inferno threatening to overtake me if I took another step forward. I scanned the interior, but came up with nothing. No clue if Twi was in there or not. However, something I did notice was Vox was nowhere in sight. No sign of her in the barn, or anywhere nearby. If that beast wasn't here, it could have meant Twi had ridden her out of the area. Vox wouldn't just abandon Twi. She was a loyal creature like that.

A sharp cracking came from overhead as another support beam broke off, taking a chunk of the roof with it down into the blaze. Before long, the whole place would be nothing but a heap of smoldering tinder. The snaps and crackles of wood were the only sound around me. All else had faded into the background as just dull, muffled noise. Rin and Ursh were hurriedly discussing what to do, but it sounded as if they were speaking far off, like I was underwater almost.

I took another step forward, the waves of heat clawing at me, beckoning me further inside. I had to find Twi, no matter what.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

The unfamiliar voice came from right behind me.

Turning on my heel, I pulled loose my dagger and took aim for whoever was stupid enough to surprise me. How did they even get so close without me knowing? It made sense the two guild boys wouldn't have noticed, but not me. I stabbed forward with the knife as soon I was fully facing this ambusher, only to have it ripped out of my grasp, my hand twisted the wrong way around in a painful lock.

Finally, I was faced with my attacker. He was a young man, perhaps ten years my junior, dressed in a fine white robe. Gold trim ran along the hem of his garb, giving him a regal look. His golden hair fell about his face, framing it among the curls. He held my wrist in one hand, and despite how much force was being applied to keep my hand painfully turned around, his face stayed rather plain. He looked like he had come straight out of a portrait of an angel.

"Why did you do that?" His head turned to the side, like he was a confused dog. Releasing my hand, he repeated the question.

After taking a moment to process what just happened, I picked up my dagger and sheathed it once more, noting that this man must have been expecting an attack to have disarmed me so quickly. Off to the side, Rin and Ursh had quieted their conversation, and both were cautious in their approach.

"The hell are you?" Rin gestured to the new man before me, his question direct and to the point.

"Ah," he exclaimed in surprise. The man pushed out his chest and loudly stated, "I am Mikhael Vargun." This Mikhael fellow then took a deep bow at the stomach, returning upright with a prideful smile.

Through a scowl, I questioned while waving my hand to the nearby blaze, "Did you do this?"

The admittedly handsome man blinked in surprise. "Of course not. The lizard woman started the fire."

Lizard woman? Did he mean Twi? Did he know where she was?

Did he do something to her?

With a jump, I moved a step back and raised my crossbow, readying a bolt and aiming right for the spot between his eyes. "Where is she?"

Rather than fear or even shock, the man in question seemed rather...confused. It was as if he had no idea why I had pulled my weapon out. Just like his confusion over the dagger. His head tilted again and he wondered aloud, "Did I do something to offend you?"

Darkness swirled in my vision, blocking out everything but the target before me. Colors drained and washed out. Sound died down save for the rush of blood in my ears and the drumbeat of my heart screaming in my chest. This man did something to Twi, something that had caused her to set the barn on fire and possibly run off. I wanted, no, needed to hear the story or else I'd pull the trigger.

"What happened here?" The query came not from me, but Twi's own brother, Ursh. One scaled hand landed on my arm, forcing me to lower the crossbow. "Explain," ordered the saurian, barking the command at this Mikhael.

"Gladly," he said with another deep bow. "But first, I believe it wise to move away from the firey building, yes? Do not fear, no one is inside, so there is no cause for alarm." Me and my two guild companions cautiously took some paces away, following the angelic man. Regardless of how seemingly calm the man was, I kept my grip on my crossbow tight, ready to shoot at a moment's notice.

When we had neared our wagon, the man stopped and turned on his heel to face us once more. "Alright then, I think this is good enough."

"What happened here?" Ursh echoed himself, his voice harsh. The worry in his eyes had diminished somewhat, but I could still see a small spark of fear for his sister, tinged with a large helping of anger directly squarely on the white robed man.

Mikhael nodded and began, "As I said, the lizard woman set the fire, not me."

"She wouldn't do something like that without a reason. What did you do?" The words escaped me before I had time to think.

Without a second's wait, he answered, "I asked her politely yet firmly to give me back what is rightfully mine. She then set the fire and ran off on her horse."

Ran off. Good, it meant she was likely safe. Safer than we were, probably. This guy had managed to stop me mid-attack and disarm me without any effort, so he clearly wasn't someone to take lightly. Also, rightfully his? The hell was he on about?

Rin was the one who asked the overhanging question, though. "Are you talking about the dragon scale?" I could see the curiosity in his eyes, a wonderment on learning the truth. I shared this feeling, but it was mostly masked by my rage.

"Ah, so you already know about it?" Mikhael seemed genuinely shocked. He didn't seem to have expected us to understand. A short nod and he spoke again. "Well, since you know of it, yes, the scale is mine. It wasn't supposed to end up here, and I want it back. Your friend, I assume she's your friend anyway, has it."

An eye twitched in annoyance and I blurted out, "That still doesn't explain the damn fire! I know Twi, she wouldn't do this kind of thing unprovoked. You must have done something."

"Hmph." Arms folded over his chest as he stuck his nose up at me. I hated when people did acted all high and mighty like that. "I did no such thing. I was a perfect gentleman," he offered an explanation.

"Explain what happened then," I said through gritted teeth. Shakes wracked my body, as if my whole being was yelling at me to just shoot him and be done with this. It would have certainly been the easier option. Just one simple pull of the tigger. If it wasn't for Ursh's hand on my shoulder, trying to reassure me best he could, I probably would have done it, too. Strange how it was Ursh being the reasonable one. But, I knew deep down he probably wanted to strangle this guy, too.

Before he offered up an answer, he paused, going into a bit of think. For a second, no one spoke, and the crackles of the nearby fiery barn was all we heard. Another crash came from the building as yet more of the roof collapsed downwards to meet it brethren. The barn didn't have long before it would be nothing but a heap. My thoughts drifted for a moment onto whoever built the thing, and how sad they might have been seeing it ruined in such a manner. Deliberate ruination, not just some accidental incident like a raging wind dragging debris, or some random lightning strike.

I was forced out of my thinking when Mikhael cleared his throat, readying his words.

"How much exactly do you know about the scale?"

This didn't seem good. All we knew was about how it came from a hole in the sky. Was he insinuating there was more to the story? Obviously, there had to have been more, but just how deep did this strange rabbit hole go? I shared the knowledge we had on the subject, about the dark swirling clouds, the tear in the sky and the golden streak, Ursh's initial theory, and finally the second tear and the blue streak that came from it. When I got done explaining, for but a brief inkling of a moment, I could almost swear I saw a smile play at the side of the robed man's mouth. I knew we didn't have a lot of information, but to see that small bit of happiness on him, it made me think he was glad of our ignorance on the topic.

Rin butted in again with an accusation, "You know what's really going on." The curiosity of his was brimming forth even more, making his words come out shaky, almost like he was nervous.

Mikhael nodded, affirming the allegation. "Of course, but I'm afraid I cannot share the truth until after I have what's mine once again."

"Wrong answer," I claimed, raising the crossbow again. Before Ursh had the opportunity to push the weapon down, I let off a shot, the prod snapping forward, producing a sound like thunder as the bolt sped towards Mikhael's face. I actually felt a bit of joy in doing this, followed instantly by pain when a scaled knuckle landed against my cheek.

Ursh was furious with me, his gaze hard enough to bore a hole through my skull. I couldn't even muster up the energy to return the ferocity, regret setting in at my own stupid actions. In my defense, however, Mikhael knew what happened with Twi and had refused to provide an adequate answer. Thinking of the man, I glanced back over.

The bolt had never hit its target, and not for a lack of proper aim on my part. There, right in front of Mikhael's face, mere inches from stabbing into his flesh, the bolt was hovering in place, unmoving. One of the man's hands was raised up, two fingers pointed upwards at the missile floating above them, as if there was an insible pole held in between the digits that was keeping the bolt there. When he dropped his hand, the bolt fell to the ground, and we all watched its descent.

This...this was like a tale straight out of old myths of magick. Before now, I had my doubts, hoping against hope that there was some kind of reasonable explanation for everything. However, what I had just seen dashed those doubts aside. There couldn't be much else to describe what I'd been witness to other than it being magick. Twi had been right.

The white garbed man let out a deep sigh of disappointment. "Well, that was quite rude of you."

The silence dragged on as the three of us stared at the discarded missile, then at the man himself. None of us knew what to say, or even do. Magick was far and above anything any of us had dealt with. Sure, Twi and I had come across strange and weird things on our jobs before, but nothing compared to now knowing magick was not only real, but in my face like this. I doubted the guild boys had much in the way of experience in weirdness, and their stunned reactions were confirmation enough.

One of the golden haired man's perfectly aligned eyebrows raised up in puzzlement. An inaudible question of 'why' seemed to be radiating off of him. He didn't seem mad or upset, mostly it was as if he was wondering my reasons for attacking him.

"Why did you-"

Rin inerrupted with a very loud and intrusive, "That was magick!" To be fair, I was thinking the same thing, and I could bet Ursh was as well.

The blonde man stopped, and said in a drawn-out voice, "...yes, it was." A click of the tongue for emphasis I suppose, followed his bewildered response, and then he looked my way. "As I was saying. Why did you do that?"

"That was magick," Rin repeated. When Mikhael huffed in annoyance, Rin continued. "Magick's supposed to be a myth. Who are you?"

"A myth?" He was taken aback, and retreated some paces away and rubbed at his chin. "Oh, this is worse than I thought. I had assumed..." He trailed off and began to mumble to himself.

While he was distracted, Ursh grabbed Rin and pulled him over to us. I couldn't fathom as to why, since if this guy was magick, the three of us wouldn't do much against him. But, raher than come up with some sort of plan of attack, Rin had decided something else.

Through harsh whispers, he advised, "We need to get back on the wagon and leave. Now. We can try to find Twi later, but right now, I think it best if we make some distance from this...person." That was shocking. I figured he'd be all gung ho about dealing with this odd angelic man if it meant learning more about what happened to his own sister, but I could see his point. Magick was way out of any of our leagues. If he could stop a speeding crossbow bolt going for his face, there was no telling what else this man was capable of.

"Please do not leave."

The three of us jumped in surprise, as Mikhael had someone crossed the distance from his earlier position to end up right next to us, all without any of knowing or even seeing him move. More magick, it seemed to me.

He clicked his tongue and said, "I'd really rather we discuss this like civilised people." His eyes shifted over to the crossbow still in my hand, and one of his wrists flicked outwards. Suddenly, the weapon was pulled out of my grasp by an unseeable force, only to be thrown a few feet away. "And I'd like it if you don't shoot at me again, please."

All this magick was messing with me. Myths being alive and true like this was...to much to take so suddenly. I told myself I could have handled a dragon still being out there somewhere, but I knew deep down it was worrying me more than I wanted to admit. Even when I told Twi how it all got to me, I still wasn't quite prepared for just how this would affect me once presented with such astonishing truths. It was like all the fight had drained from me, and I was some helpless child unsure of what to do next.

Seeing as it was my fault, more or less, about the current state of affairs, I had to calm myself. I filled my lungs with a deep breath, then slowly let it all out, repeating his a few times until the nerves were mostly gone. Mostly. When I felt relaxed enough, or rather when the thought of magick being real and in front of me didn't make me wanna run as much, I removed myself from the guild goons and approached the robed man.

"I'm..." A heavy pause followed. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I managed to finish up. "...sorry about attacking you." It hurt to apologize to some random guy I didn't even know, even if it was the right thing to do.

"Oh, that's quite alright," he said with a warm smile. It was the kind of smile that could easily charm someone into nearly anything. It was also the kind of smile that creeped me out. "I think I understand. I surprised you and you reacted on instinct." He then added, "Probably why the lizard woman reacted the same way, I think."

"So, you're really not gonna tell us more?" I said with a slight frown as I crossed my arms.

His golden locks bounced as he nodded his head, affirming we'd get no new information out of him. "I do apologize, but I am under strict orders." Orders? So someone was behind this beyond just him. "I can tell you a bit once I have the scale back, but until then, I'm afraid you're going to be left in the dark."

Wonderful. So now we had someone with real answers, and he was outright refusing to provide them unless we hand over the one thing that started this whole matter. But, that still meant we'd get answers. Eventually. Still, he did let slip some pieces, such as someone above him calling the shots, and that things were to be kept hush hush for the most part. Not that that helped any. I was still floundering about with barely anything to grab onto. However, if this strange magick man knew the truth, perhaps it would be wise to help him.

Maybe there was a chance I could get the information from him and still get paid by Tanno at the end of all this.

But, that wasn't the most important thing at the moment.

Staring the white clothed man down, I asked him pointedly, "Where is Twi?"

Both hands shot up in defense at the question. "As I said, I do not know where your friend went. I was inside the barn when she set it alight and ran off. If I knew, I'd be happy to tell you, but I do not, so I can't."

Great. So that left one option.

"Alright," I announced loudly to all three men. Well, two men and a dog, at least. "Since we don't have much to go on, we're gonna need to look around the place, see if we can spot Vox's tracks."

Rin tilted his head as he asked, "Who the hell's Vox?"

"That's their horse," Ursh supplied the answer. I would have thanked him, but it was Ursh.

Mikhael's face lit up. It seemed as if he was eager to help our search. Odd person, this man of magickal talent. First he startles Twi enough to cause a fire, then he sneaks up on me not once but twice, and now he's excited to help? Strange.

We began to hunt around for signs of where Twi and her damn beast went off. With the rocky roads, it meant there'd be little in the way of outwardly apparent tracks. Not a lot of dirt and mud to leave a hoofprint in or any such thing, sadly. There were some old barren crop fields to the other side of the barn, but there was no luck in them, either. Try as I might, I couldn't find a single shred of evidence to point me in the right way. The only idea I could have gone on would be if Twi continued her way northeast, but considering she might have thought Mikhael could come after her, she might have deviated off course.

Suddenly, a voice called out, "Over here." It was Rin's.

I scrambled my way over to where I heard him, but he had gone rather far. He had gone further out than even the edge of the crop fields. I came across him, Ursh and Mikhael staring down at some discarded item. Lying there, on the side of the road going a ways southward, was a crossbow bolt. I would recognize it anywhere. It was one of the ones Twi and I used. Almost timidly, I reached out and plucked it up. It wasn't bent, broken, chipped, or anything out of the ordinary. It was perfectly fine, simply...left behind.

Was it a clue? Was she trying to tell me she was going backwards in an attempt to confuse Mikhael, whom she assumed to be after her? Well, we wouldn't know much else unless we followed the road south. Maybe she might have left another bolt or some other item to confirm my assumption. I shared my thinking with the others. We were just about to board back on the wagon when Mikhael tried to climb on. I stopped him.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"With you, of course," he said with that charming smile I disliked.

"And why in the world would we bring you along?" This man was either mad or stupid if he thought we'd allow that.

He shrugged nonchalantly. "You want your friend. I want my scale."

Shaking my head, I jabbed a finger at this chest. "Nope. You're gonna wait here, or go to Proslin. It's a little to the east of here. We're gonna need to come back through the area on the return trip anyway, so we're bound to run into you again."

A soft, cheerless laugh came from the man. "You don't seem to understand, friend." His wrist flicked out again, and the finger I poked him with was pushed away to fall limply at my side. "I'm already behind schedule as is. I need to get the scale back as soon as possible, and I don't have the time to sit around waiting for you. So, I'm coming with you, like it or not."

'Or not' was definitely how I was feeling right then. If I didn't already know about this magick of his, I'd probably just punch him and be done with it, leave him at the slowly crumbling barn and forget about him completely as we sailed away. However, his magick and his personal knowledge on the subject did give me pause. Giving it some thought, I figured if we brought him along, I might have been able to talk some of that knowledge out of him. A tight lip was nothing a bit of booze couldn't loosen, after all.

After weighing the options, I decided it might be a decent idea to let Mikhael come with.

"Alright," I sighed. "You can join us. But, you have to do as I say."

"Captain of the ship, in a manner of speaking, eh?" He smiled again and boarded the wagon. Neither Ursh nor Rin seemed to have any objection to this. Possibly their lines of thinking was much in the way of mine.

However, I'd be keeping an eye on this strange robed man. He was certainly not someone to let your guard down around.