Life sucked thought Ash with an annoyed scowl as he eyed the barred doors of the store-front. Of all the luck, the merchant’s store just had to be closed. 

“No surprises here.” remarked Myr stiffly. “It’s late. It was weak hopin’ that he was still open at this hour. Likely dead sleepin’ ‘bout now, an’ unlike Nostrious, this fellow won’t open his doors after sun-down. Few would. Not in this city.” 

It grated on him, but rationally speaking, he couldn’t blame the man. Ash admittedly wouldn’t have taken the risk either if he were in his shoes. He’d spent scarcely a few minutes in Totenstrong but even he knew that that nothing good from remaining about after dark. 

“Might as well find lodgin’ for the night, then.” 

Ash wearily agreed and the duo made off into the streets. Much like she’d done in Milford, Myr already knew of an inn in which they could find refuge for the night. Unlike Milford, the journey proved to be far more unpleasant and every few meters Ash saw haggard folk throwing him a nasty side-eye or a scheming look from the alleys and nooks that hid them. 

Still, those folk were a gutless lot, and as much as their gazes promised, their bodies lacked the initiative to attempt anything. But their luck would run dry eventually and it was a looming irritation that they were finally waylaid by men who proved not as lacking. 

Ash scowled as the three well-dressed but foul-eyed brutes cockily strode up to their path to block their way. Their leader, a large fellow adorned in the robe-like garments common to the region seemed particularly focused on Myr. He flashed a smile her way and took a confident step forward. 

“Hey there beauty. You new to the city? Why not let us show you around, mhm?” 

The woman looked at him with the same disinterest one would afford a worm in their way. “I know my way.” 

He grinned at her refusal and a hand slid to his side where a knife laid sheathed in a leather holster in an obviously threatening fashion. “But I insist. Don’t worry, we can show you a great time here. Totenstrong is called the City of Passion for a reason, ya know.” 

The two behind him chuckled at the man’s words, as if he’d said some great joke. The sight inflamed Ash’s anger and he stepped forwards, his fists clenched. He opened his mouth to let the scum know just what he thought of their threats when Myr spread an arm to bar his way. 

He looked to her, surprised, and she shook her head. In her eyes, he saw no rage or disgust. Just an unbothered impassiveness, and an assuredness that she could handle her own matters. He grit his teeth but reluctantly yielded. 

“Right. I ain’t much for chit-chat so let’s just do this, mhm.” said the woman as she took a step forwards. 

The man at the lead barked out a laugh. “A woman who values her time. I can appreciate that.” he said as he strode confidently towards her. He kept walking until he was but a few inches away and then shot a glance towards Ash. “Get lost kid. A woman as fine as her deserves the company of real men.” he snarked as he moved to wrap an arm around Myr’s waist. 

She, of course, would have none of that. Myr’s hand was a blur as it struck the scumbag square in the head. He grunted, a strange half-cry that was cut off by the impact of his body slamming against the ground with a loud thud. 

The air suddenly grew quiet and the two remaining thugs looked in shock, their eyes affixed to their fallen fellow. The man in question laid still on the roughly hewn stone and by the looks of it, Ash presumed that he wouldn’t be awake again for a few hours yet, if that. 

The two seemed to realize that as well as they quickly drew daggers from their waists and held it up menacingly in front of them. Myr simply laughed and allowed a smidgen of her tier two power to leak out into the air. 

The thugs startled as they felt the change and once again when they finally realized the nature of the woman who so imperiously stood before them. It only took them a few seconds after to deliberate their course of action, their choice ranging between avenging their fallen friend and fleeing from the mage who had knocked him out with a mere slap. 

Unsurprisingly, they quickly bolted away into the depths of an alleyway as if the hounds of hell were hot on their trail. Ash watched them flee with no small amount of satisfaction brimming within him. 

“Damn, that was enjoyable.” he remarked brightly. 

“Felt real good too.” agreed Myr with a grin that Ash matched whole-heartedly. She then knelt down and started to ruffle through the fallen criminal’s clothes until she eventually came away with a hefty coin pouch, a surprisingly well-made dagger and a single silver ring. She deposited it all into her storage bag and then for added insult, proceeded to strip the fellow down to the last scrap of fabric on his back, leaving him butt-naked on the street. 

“You get what you deserve.” she said amusedly and Ash agreed, and then they were off. It seemed that word had spread rather quickly as the rest of their walk was uneventful all the way to the inn. 

The building, surprisingly enough, was a better sight than the one in Milford had been, though he wasn’t willing to trust appearances. The front door was locked but Myr wasn’t too bothered and instead made her way along the side to a second door near the back. There, she knocked in a specific pattern that Ash assumed was some kind of code and then waited a moment. A minute later and the door creaked open and a surprisingly young face peeked out from behind. 

“Myr?” 

“Aye. You doin’ well Lorien?” 

The woman stepped out with a smile on her lips and nodded. “As fine can be. Didn’t expect you yet, though you’re in luck. Got a room to spare.” 

“Perfect, though I’ll need an extra-large bed.” she said and then glanced to Ash, and it was only then that the woman, Lorien, even noticed his presence. She looked at him surprised and he saw a hint of some indecipherable emotion cross her eyes before she finally nodded, though her smile seemed more strained than before. 

“You can trust ‘im. I do.” said Myr, and that seemed to convince the woman. 

She let them in after a moment and led the way to their room. It was a cozy place, and bigger than the one in Milford had been. Lorien dragged in a mattress to accommodate Ash and left them alone a moment later, though not without a final searching glance his way. 

“Don’t mind her. She... has some issues with men.” explained Myr as she laid onto her bed. 

The statement stoked his curiosity but he left the topic well alone. It wasn’t his business anyhow. Instead, he broached another subject. 

"Those scumbags you scared away won’t be trouble later on, will they?” 

“Trouble? How?” 

“Like, I dunno, they might be a part of a gang that comes after us or something?” 

“Eh, even if they are, they won’t try n’ mess with us. They know that I’m a mage. Too much trouble for ‘em.” 

“What if they have a mage though?” 

Myr barked out a laugh that left him feeling embarrassed and shook her head. 

“Kid, you still ain't really wrapped your head around what you are now, have you?” 

“What I am?” 

“Yeah. You’re a mage. Know what that means? ‘Member what I told you when I first started teachin’ you magic? It’s a one-in-ten chance for a human to become a mage. It means that we’re not only rare, but valuable. Even a tier one mage can find well-payin' work easily ‘nuff without havin’ to consort with scumbags in back alleyways. An’ a tier two like us? The nobles try n’ scoop us up pretty quick, not to mention the higher tiers.” 

Well, put that way, he supposed that he was needlessly worrying. He chuckled bashfully and laid onto his mattress. He supposed that Myr was right. He’d still not fully wrapped his head around his nature just yet. He was powerful and valuable, and wasn’t that a thought. 

He liked it. 

… 

But maybe he should try to not let it go to his head. No need to prove Myr’s ego remarks right. 

◆◆◆◆◆ 

Ash woke the next day and the duo quickly made their way towards the shop to wrap up their business in the city. Totenstrong under the morning light was a few shades more tolerable than it was in night. The air of oppression and crime that hung in the air seemed diluted by the heat of day and the people walked about with a tinge more pep in their steps. It still wasn’t exactly what he would call a bubbly atmosphere and despite being a larger city, the crowds here were thinner than one would expect and the people too held themselves more closely. 

Still, it beheld the fact that recovery was possible. How, he wasn’t sure, and he certainly didn’t care. He just wanted to leave as quickly as possible, but fate seemed determined to destroy any possibility of that happening any time soon. 

Ash eyed the closed shop and groaned. 

“Why isn’t he open yet? The other shops are all open.” 

Myr’s brow was furrowed and she seemed just as flummoxed. “Let’s ask around.” she suggested, and with no other choice, that was just what they did. 

It took visiting a few of the surrounding stores before they finally found someone who actually had an answer to provide. “Grover’s gone on some kind of personal business. Never specified just what, but he’ll likely only be back around mid-day today.” 

“Mid-day?” 

Ash hung his head with frustration. Wasting that much time in the city meant that it was unlikely that they would be returning within the day to the village. Ash wanted to complain but he knew that Myr was just as annoyed by the development as he was, and so he swallowed his ire and left the shop with his mouth twisted into a deep frown. 

“So, what do we do now? Go back to the inn and just hang around?” 

“Aye. I got no interest in spendin’ time walkin’ ‘round here.” 

“Same.” he agreed, and with that decided, the duo started to make their way back to the inn. Ash sighed as they went, and supposed that if nothing else, it gave him time to focus on levelling some more. 

Perhaps he could even break through to level six within the day, though that seemed like wishful thinking even to him. The second tier wasn’t quite so easily crossed, not that he would be discouraged from trying. Not to polish his own knob or anything but he was talented after all, as Myr and others had said, and what use was talent if it didn’t let him break expectations? 

He almost smiled at the thought. And so, it was engrossed in that line of thought that Ash made his way back to the inn. It was half-way through that journey that something happened to snap him from his thoughts. Myr had stopped suddenly ahead of him, and he’d inattentively bumped into her back. 

“Myr?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. The woman was just standing stock still, and as he rounded her to meet her face, he found her eyes wide and her attention affixed to a point in the distance. His eyes followed her gaze and found the gathering of men and women that had left her so enraptured. 

They were four men and one woman, and all bore mixed leather and plate armour with short-swords hung by their sides. They also bore an insignia on their chests. Two clenched fists laid on either side of three mountain peaks that were joined together at their base, all of them jutting up towards the sky, with a larger peak looming behind them. The bottom of the mountains narrowed from their edges until they ended in a plateau that left the entire thing looking vaguely shield-like. 

He blinked. 

Shield-like? 

Could they be... his gaze rose towards the faces of the five and a jolt of worry shot through him when he noticed that one of the five had his gaze locked onto Myr. The man had brown hair and green eyes similar to his own, though his hair was cut short and his face bore no small amount of scars criss-crossing its sun-kissed surface. 

The man’s expression spoke of absolute shock for a moment before that shock quickly morphed into a palpable rage. Ash felt the man’s mana bloom even from where he was stood, and the other four, though confused, followed soon after. 

It took Myr less than a second to act. “Run!” she hollered and Ash needed no encouragement. Together they bolted away from the group of five, and though he wasn’t sure why exactly they were fleeing, he knew that Myr likely had a good reason. 

The city came alive with shouts and calls as they barrelled their way through the crowd which had started to scatter from the ruckus, further making their escape path obvious. 

He glanced back and eyed their pursuers and noted with dread that the man was catching up, his steps fuelled by gusts of wind. He cursed at the agility nexii user and turned to Myr to state what she’d likely already realized. 

“We won’t be able to outrun him!” The woman turned to him, afraid like he’d never seen her before, and nodded.  

“To the alleys!” she commanded before she abruptly turned on her heels and erupted into the safety of the dark. He followed soon after, hoping that the maze of connecting buildings would hopefully prove enough to direct away their pursuers. The path ahead was narrow, barely wide enough for a man, and the darkness proved a useful cloak as they twisted and turned through corner after corner. 

Still, for all their pace and hopes, Ash could hear the sound of pursuit growing closer and closer, and it brought forth a fluttering fear in his gut that he only thinly stifled. 

To his shame, in the thrall of fear, he momentarily considered using Expeditious Retreat to put distance between him and the enraged mage even if it meant leaving Myr behind, but he quickly quashed that thought and focused himself. 

Running was pointless. The man was too fast and Myr too slow. Besides, he was chasing them with a dogged relentlessness that told Ash that he’d never give up pursuit, which meant that they’d only one choice available. His fear bloomed again as he cemented his choice and slowed his pace to a halt and turned to face the oncoming danger. Myr too came to a sudden halt, her eyes filled with alarm as she turned to eye him. 

“What’re you doin’, Ash! We gotta move!” 

“He’s too fast, Myr. There’s no outrunning him. I’ll stay back and hold him off for a while. You take the time to escape.” 

“That’s fool’s talk, idiot! He’s a tier three, and has years more of combat experience besides! He’ll crush you like a bug!” 

That was... not an encouraging revelation, but it only cemented his choice. They had no chance of outrunning a tier three with an agility nexii. At least here, in the narrow shadows of the alleyway, the man’s speed and numbers advantage was stifled. 

“Go Myr! I’ll catch up! It’s you he wants so if I just hold him off and escape later, I-” 

Ash grunted as he felt an arm wrap around his back. Myr bodily dragged him with her as she broke into a run, though it was a clumsy thing with him unbalanced as he was and she was eventually forced to let go when he staggered and fell to the ground. 

“Get up, Ash! Please! We gott-” 

“Too late, Myr!” hollered a booming voice from the other side of the alleyway. Their gazes snapped to the figure that sped to a stop a scant few meters away. Close up, Ash could make out the muscled bulk that was cloaked beneath the man’s armour. Shaggy golden-brown hair swept back and framed the hateful green gaze that was levelled their way. 

"You’re alive, Myr! You fuckin’ traitor! You cowardly bitch!” the man roared, spittle flying from his lips. 

Myr reeled back as if his accusations were punches, and for the first time in all their time together, he saw shame and true fear cross her features. “Kro-Kross. I-I don’-” 

“Shut the fuck up, bitch! You don’t deserve to speak! No, I don’t wanna know why you’re still kickin’! I don’t care! Just shut the fuck up and die!” 

The man raised an arm to cast a spell, but he was slow, his speed made clumsy with a rage so visceral that he could nearly feel it in the air. Ash grasped at the opportunity to fire off a Fire Bolt. The spell seared through the air straight for the man’s head, but no tier three would be hit so easily by such a meagre spell. 

Kross avoided it despite the narrow space and then his furious green gaze was on Ash. A snarl crossed his lips and the sound of feet slapping against earth held the air as the rest of his group, the four other warriors of The Shield, finally caught up to them and took position in a line by the man’s back. 

Ash grimaced as four more gazes were levelled his way, and all of them promised pain. Things were most definitely not looking good. Still, he refused to give up hope, even if it was certain that he would fall here. 

He’d go down fighting at the very least. 

“Your little runt is pretty loyal, Myr. Does he know how much of a gutless wretch you are though? How easily you’d throw him away to save your own hide.” 

“I-I’d never. Nev-” 

“You don’t need to explain yourself to this fuck-face, Myr.” barked Ash with a snarl. “Just focus on the fight.” 

The man laughed and a sudden bloom of wind threatened to knock Ash off his feet. 

“Good! Struggle! Watchin’ you die’ll make her death all the more miserable!” 

The warrior drew his sword from his sheath as quick as thought and then, before Ash could even wholly register what had happened, Kross was on him, blade poised to part his head from his neck. Ash mustered his mana towards his legs, but knew then in the small moments before his looming death that he’d be too slow. 

The gap between tiers was too large for him to surmount as he was. 

This was it. The end was coming. 

He felt the touch of steel against his skin and then darkness was all he saw.