There was a lull in the combat, so Desmond used this opportunity to summon himself a new great sword. It was clear that this assassin belonged to the same group as Riki, but this only raised more questions.

Since they didn’t send Riki was there some kind of falling out between the organization and her? If that was the case then Riki could very well be in serious danger.

Desmond was suddenly very motivated to finish this fight quickly. Logically, it could be that the organization just didn’t trust Riki with this contract, but that’s not what was occupying his thoughts. He needed a way to find Riki and quickly!

Desmond pulled the summoned great sword free from the earth and took a fighting stance. The assassin had recovered slightly and also looked ready to continue the fight.

“City guards,” came a gruff voice from behind Desmond. “Drop your weapons and surrender.”

It looked like someone had finally gotten through the assassin's illusions. At this moment the assassin started to cast another spell. Desmond tried to close the distance but this spell was much smaller and faster than the previous attack magic.

The assailant sent a small ball of light hovering above her head before she turned and ran from it. Desmond held his sword up to shield himself from the spell as it exploded in an all-consuming light and sound. To Desmond's surprise, there was no heat or physical impact from the spell. It was just sound and light, like an extended flash bang.

Desmond searched for the assailant soul using soul sight. It would seem [True Sight] gave him some resistance to this type of blinding attack. When Desmond found the white soul it was already several streets over. She was fleeing!

“Shit,” Desmond cursed. He debated trying to catch her but ultimately decided against it. In an open plain he might have been able to outrun her, but in this urban environment, he had no chance. He would have to go through buildings to try and keep up with her and that would just make the responders see him as the aggressor.

Desmond tracked the assassin’s soul for a time before he lost it in the rest of the static noise of the city. There were just too many souls for him to keep track of one at a distance. He sighed before turning his attention to the guards.

There were four guards in the dull gray plate of the city watch up the street. They had wisely decided to keep their distance. Of the four of them, only one was an awakened, and a low tiered one at that.

The Lodge largely policed itself as civilian authorities simply didn’t have the resources to deal with high tiered awakened. Desmond knew he was going to have to speak with an enforcer about this incident, but that could wait.

Desmond approached the awakened guard, who was still recovering from the flash bang like magic. Luckily, the awakened among them at least seemed competent. The other three guards were out cold, collapsed onto the ground. It would seem that the light magic was super effective against darks.

“Halt,” the guard said, sounding much less confident after seeing the magic.

“I’m with the Lodge,” Desmond said as he tapped the purple plate around his neck. “I was attacked by an assassin. I need you to gather some guards and start checking houses.”

At this moment all the sounding ‘people’ disappeared in a shimmer of light. Whatever spell was controlling the illusion had clearly stopped, but this seemed to startle the guard even more.

“Just illusion,” Desmond said adding a firmness to his voice. “Did you hear me? Get some guards, and check the houses!”

“Ah, yes sir,” the awakened guard responded with a salute before trying to wake his colleagues.

Desmond didn’t technically have the authority to order around the city guards, but if you were strong and you yelled at them loud enough, they usually did what you wanted.

Desmond looked around at the aftermath of the fight. There were 5 collapsed houses along the street along with significant damage to the road and walkways on either side. There was also a house with a large beam-sized hole right through it, but was defiantly still standing.

Desmond winced. There would definitely be casualties this time, but he didn’t see any other way to handle an assassination attempt. Fighting in a city always got messy. It’s why it was banned, outside specific areas.

Desmond did note that his house had survived unscathed but that was a side thought. For now, he needed to find Riki. Since the moment he had seen the assassin’s gear, he got this sinking feeling in his gut.

Desmond started jogging down the street. He knew where he could locate a few of Riki’s contacts, and he could be extremely persuasive when he needed to be. As Desmond approached the end of the road he found Ravager embedded in the middle of an intersection. It had likely gone right through and shattered the illusion at the end of the street. Which was probably why a bunch of weak guards were the first people to respond.

Suddenly, something collided with Desmond’s chest. His heart skipped a beat as for a moment he thought the assassin had returned and caught him unaware, but he quickly recognized what it was, or in this case who.

Riki was standing there, her arms wrapped around his breastplate with her head facing down. A tension Desmond didn’t even know he had drained from him as he recognized her.

“Stupid… I thought… My fault…”

Desmond was only able to make out a few words from Riki’s mumbling. She seemed fragile or maybe even vulnerable right now as she clung to him. It was at odds with her usually confidant persona.

Desmond was incredibly relieved to see her. He wrapped his arms around Riki bringing her into a hug, which was only made slightly awkward because of his armor.

“I thought I had lost you,” Desmond said softly.

“I’m sorry,” Riki replied in almost a whisper. “It was my fault.”

Desmond wasn’t quite able to follow how any of this was her fault, but that didn’t really matter to him. She was clearly in a fragile state, so how was he supposed to handle this?

“Apology accepted,” Desmond said in a more upbeat voice, making sure she knew he meant it as a joke. “Now, how was this your fault?”

“Stupid,” Riki said as she looked up at him seeming a bit more relaxed now. “Shouldn’t you figure out why I’m apologizing before you accept it?”

“Ah, I don’t think the reason really matters,” Desmond said as he looked down at Riki with a smile.

Riki’s face went slightly red as she looked down trying to his her face in his chest, but was largely hindered by his breastplate.

“Wait, did you hire her?” Desmond said in a joking voice. “You know what, I’ll still forgive you. We all make mistakes. It’s a growing experience. I’ll learn not to leave a mess when I'm cooking, and you learn not to hire assassins. It’s like, relationship goals.” He got a slight chuckle out of her at that.

“Stupid, this is serious,” Riki replied while avoiding eye contact. “We need to have a talk.”

“Yeah,” Desmond replied in a more subdued voice. “Just let me grab my sword.” They were definitely getting stares from the other people on the street.

***

Desmond walked into the living room with two tea-like beverages and placed one in front of Riki before he sat down on the couch beside her.

“So, I’m guessing you know about the fight and the assassin then?” Desmond asked as he put an arm around Riki who was sitting beside him. In response, she snuggled up next to him.

“That, or a hurricane hit just our street,” Riki joked back, now being in a much better mood.

“Again, it was mostly not my fault,” Desmond replied with a light laugh before turning to the more serious topics. “So, she works for the same group as you?”

“Worked,” Riki corrected. “We had a falling out of sorts. Her name is Ace, and she wasn’t supposed to even be in the city yet, but I should have told you about her. I thought I had more time to figure things out.” Riki seemed to be getting more upset as she talked.

“Don’t get too worked up about it,” Desmond said as he cut her off. “No harm, no foul.”

“No harm?” Riki replied sounding angry this time. “Then take your breastplate off.”

Now he had stepped right into that one. It was just one of those sayings.

The breastplate was still more or less holding his guts in. So it would have to stay for a little while, or he would need to go find a healer to patch him up. But the wound would be mostly fine by morning if he just left it.

“No lasting harm,” Desmond corrected himself. “But how do you even know about that?” His armor had long since repaired itself, hiding his injury.

“That’s not important,” Riki shot back before she started rambling. “Of course, that bastard wouldn’t tell me the truth. Giving the contact out to her as well! I should have expected this!”

It was kind of important to him. She had this ability to find him in any circumstances which wasn’t that strange given her skill set, but now she also knew the state of his body. What magic was she using?

“Let’s get back on topic here,” Desmond said as he attempted to refocus the conversation. “What is this group called and what do they do?” Desmond had always kind of expected Riki to be part of a shadowy organization. She clearly had assassin training and had access to contacts and information that was not readily available.

“They're called the Black Hand,” Riki said.

“Annnndd?” Desmond said after it was clear that Riki wasn’t going to elaborate.

Riki sighed. “Annndd, they are an organization that primarily works in information and assassinations. I believe that they are originally from Mellencia.”

“That’s the dark elf kingdom, right?” Desmond asked. Outside of the Empire and the Theocracy Desmond didn’t really know anything about the five other major powers on the continent. They all just seemed so far away.

Riki gave him a strange stare. “You mean the Drow?”

“Yeah, that’s right,”
Desmond replied. “Just couldn’t think of the word.” Now that Desmond thought about it, he had never heard anyone use the term dark elf before on this continent.

“You, you there, are a very pale drow,” Riki said in a deep voice as she tried to imitate Desmond before she broke out laughing. “I kind of want to see what an elf would do if you called them that now. They would probably take it as an insult to their entire race.”

“Sure, sure, you’ve had your fun,” Desmond said to the still-laughing Riki. “Let’s get back to this shadowy group.”

“Yes,” Riki replied as she collected herself. “I think the group is originally from Mellencia since the only time I have ever seen a higher up they were a ‘dark elf’. Around 30 years ago the Black Hand started to spread their influence into the Empire, but to expand in the Empire you need human agents. So they ‘found’ talented young humans and trained them to be their operatives. Both me and Ace among them.”

“The way you said ‘found’ doesn’t make me think you had a choice.”

“No,” Riki continued in a more somber voice. “We were called orphans, but I have seen how that system works. If you were found to be talented, then you were an orphan. They would target and test children before their coming of age ceremony, and if they were found to be talented they would more or less abduct and indoctrinate them.”

When a child turned 15 they would celebrate their coming of age. This is also when most people would get an awakening test done. This is usually something that was free, and provided by the power governing the area. But children could awaken much younger than 15, and the more talented someone was, the younger they tended to awaken.

“Then, if you passed their tests,” Riki said as she looked distant for a moment. “They would put that, soul brand thing or whatever it was in you.”

“I’m guessing there was no failing and leaving?” Desmond asked.

“No,” Riki said as her mood seemed to be taking a darker turn. “There wasn’t.”

“So then, this Ace,” Desmond said as he tried to change the topic. “Who is she?”

“Ace was in the same group of trainees as me,” Riki said as her mood recovered slightly. “She was kinda like my rival, but she was always better than me in everything. It was frustrating. But she was also the rebellious type. I don’t know all the details but she started killing the higher up in the organization. At least the one in the Empire. That’s went Black Hand sent out two tier seven drow to handle her. She was never the same after that. Now, she only follows orders.”

“Some type of improved soul brand then?” Desmond asked.

“No, it certainly isn't improved,” Riki replied. “Ace stopped advancing the moment they did, whatever it was they did to her. She lost the creativity and drive that made her so, perfect. She is little more than a walking corpse now.”

“Alright, so how do we deal with them then?” Desmond asked. “The fact that they needed to bring in apoc class fighters from outside the Empire should mean they have none within the Empire itself.”

“Ace was probably the strongest agent they had in the Empire, at least at that time,” Riki said before she came to a realization. “Wait, we? This is my problem. I’m sorry you got involved, but I will handle it.”

Desmond looked at her stunned for a moment. “What happened to the whole ‘we are in this together?’ That works both ways.”

“But-”

“No buts,” Desmond said as he cut Riki off. “Did you forget? From now on when we do something stupid, we do it together!” Desmond gave Riki a bright smile after he said this.