Panther bounced his leg tirelessly while biting his thumb. His fingernails had been longer but after an hour of chewing, he reduced it to the nub. So many things, so many things that went wrong. He started trailing the girl for days beforehand learning her movements and getting a feel for the job. He knew she always traveled with guards and a maid. The guards were troublesome and the maid was dangerous. However, he thought he could do it.

The little redhead seemed to have a special friend of sorts, a boy at that. He attended the academy and seemed somewhat different than most of the other students. The redhead ran to him every day after the academy closed. She hung around him like a puppy. Were they in a relationship?

Panther thought of various ways to handle the boy when the signal was finally given to kidnap her. One, kill him quietly and capture the girl. This was ideal. Number two, confront them and fight. This was not. Anyone attending the academy had to undergo magic tests and were most certainly above average in magic skill, unless they bought their way in like most of the nobles of course.

Still, he didn’t want to take the chance.

A day before the order was given, Panther found out the true identity of the target, the boy the little redhead followed around. The girl was insurance. Panther asked why they needed her but leader, who everyone called “Dark”, shot his question down. The answer was classified under the request of the employers.

Despite feeling down as he was no longer taking on the main job, he continued observing her with diligence. As one of the newer recruits into the thieving group, he wanted to prove himself. He completed several jobs but he received nothing much other than a, “good work” from some of the older members.

Now he waited to be called on by Dark. Panther cursed his own luck. Everything was going so well until that stupid dog and maid started interfering. From what he heard, this job belonged to some very powerful people.

Luckily for Panther, he wasn’t the only one who failed. The person sent to kidnap the boy lost in a straight up bout and ran off the second his sneak attack failed. Looking at it from another angle, Panther obviously had the harder job.

“I mean, think about it. A noble surrounded by guards…”

“Panther,” a woman dressed in a gray cloak and thin attire opened the door and beckoned him. “Dark wants to see you now.”

He took a deep breath and entered. The torches on the walls kept teetering between life and death, sometimes leaving an imaginary figure in the mind. The room was plain and uncordial despite the lofty seats and long colorful carpets.

Dark sat in the far back and watched as the woman led Panther inside. Luckily for Panther, there were no corpses on the ground and no blood to speak of. He sniffed the air dozens of times but found no trace of a possible life lost. The person before him, whatever happened, at least wasn’t killed.

Every hair on his body suddenly stood on end. How come he didn’t see the other person leave?

He took a seat all the while mindful of Dark’s gaze. It burned a hole into his head. Whatever he was thinking, Dark surely knew about it. Panther’s first introduction to the man included three other members beaten black and blue for failing an important job. Now it was his turn and the buyers this time were larger than the last.

Dark dismissed the woman and began asking Panther about the job like he always did when something bigger than usual was completed. Panther only had successful jobs so this was his first time after a failure and he just couldn’t sit still. He bounced his leg and everything Dark did made his heart beat faster. His stomach sank when Dark finally asked about that night.

Panther gulped, “... Her attendant, a magician, saved her, Sir.”

Dark suddenly stood and unraveled a scroll, “Are you saying it was out of your control? There were no errors on your part? You didn’t make any mistakes?” each word came out harsher than the last and Panther stopped moving altogether.

He thought about leaving the little thieving group after his failure but never gathered the courage to run away. Horror stories were passed around from newbie to newbie perpetuated by the older members who chose to leave no comment when asked. Some stories involved gruesome deaths, some taking days or weeks while others were nothing but brutal slaughters leaving behind the body for monsters and animals to feed on.

“It was my mistake, Sir…” Panther answered.

Dark nodded and the scroll began to glow. The air around it warped and a small portal appeared. A man stood on the other side. Dark looked to Panther then jerked his head toward the portal. Panther froze for a moment then went closer.

“Is this him,” the man asked.

“Yes, he’s the man I sent on the job. What do you want me to do with him?”

Was this Dark’s way of appeasing the requester? How come Panther had never heard of this method then? There were definitely people in the group that didn’t complete a job before, and their punishments were always publicly known. Was this something new Dark was trying out to appease customers or was this part of their original demands?

Either way, Panther was in a difficult spot. The only thing he could do was say nothing and weather whatever storm the employer would throw his way. Hopefully, if he was lucky, he’d at least keep his life. That would be more than some could say.

“Why didn’t you catch her?”

Panther began to sweat as Dark explained it exactly as he had done. The man on the other side showed no visible reactions and stayed quiet the entire explanation. Would Panther just give up his life in hopes of a quick death if the man ordered it?

“I see…” he went silent and Panther held his breath. “Catch the boy or the girl. It doesn’t matter to me how you do it. I am willing to give you another chance so don’t mess this up.”

Panther slumped to the ground as soon as the portal closed, he lived, he lived despite his failure and came out none the worse for wear. Dark chuckled, displaying a twisted smile made all the worse due to the scar on his lip.

“Tell Toulin and Vera to go with you and don’t fail me this time.”

---------------------------------------------

Rune closed the portal and rolled up the scroll. Fools, all of them. Rune always considered Dark’s group as capable but when it mattered, most they couldn’t do their jobs. Rune’s goal in the city was accomplished but the one thing he spent so much time on bore nothing.

Rune stashed the scroll back into his pouch and left his room. Waiting outside was another member of the Nine Wings, Zeal. Rune greeted him with a forced smile. Working with the Nine Wings always put a bad taste in his mouth. When it came to his organization’s beliefs, the Nine Wings didn’t care. The only things they cared about was the money that fattened their pockets at the end of every job.

Zeal nodded in response and started down the hallway. Today they were to meet with one of the three heads of the organization and present the acquired item. This would be a large step towards their goal.

“Why are you escorting me today,” Rune asked. If it came down to a straight out test of strength and magic prowess, he’d be bested by most of the Nine Wings but that didn’t mean he was a weakling in need of protection. His greatest strength came from his knowledge of his namesake, runes.

“You’re carrying an important item. Of course, I’d accompany you. If you’re talking about Havel, he’s busy and Jux went to go practice,” Zeal sighs, “To be honest, I’m a little bit curious about that one person who fought Jux. The Thirteenth they called him? What was he like?”

Zeal. Rune didn’t know much about him but he seemed to fit into what everyone else he met in the Nine Wings seemed like, battle-crazed. In the end, Rune still answered Zeal. He told him of the little brawl in the hidden part of the library and how easily the Thirteenth was beaten by Havel.

Zeal nodded but neither his spirit nor his interest seemed to fade. Rune wasn’t lying about what he saw. Either Havel was much stronger than both Jux and Zeal, which didn't seem too likely, or Zeal heard something from those two that kept him like this.

“Are you going to chase him down,” Rune asked, genuinely curious. From his experience working with the Nine Wings, the only time where something unrelated to money happened was when Jux offered for Ellar to come with them. For Rune, this meant two things, the Nine Wings weren’t simply money hungry idiots and each person in the group had their own goals.

Jux’s proposition back at the library put the entire objective in danger but Rune didn’t try to change his mind nor did Havel. In Havel’s case, it could be seen as “feeding your dog”. In Rune’s case, perhaps he had just gotten stupid all of a sudden. Afterward, he thought about the situation dozens of times over and still came to the conclusion that eliminating the roluk was the best move yet, he let Jux try to recruit her. Maybe a bit of him was still soft after all. Betrayal wasn’t something that sat well with him.

The two of them continued in silence until they reached a large bronze door. Zeal looked to Rune who then went and knocked twice. The door opened slightly and a servant peeked his head out. Confirming their identities he allowed them inside.

The Head sat in a cushioned chair on the opposite side of the room. He dressed in a fine red robe that hid his face. Rune recognized him. This particular Head had a peculiar way of sitting that the other two didn’t. He had also seen this Head’s face before but once the organization grew, they started wearing robes enchanted with concealment.

“Rune.”

Rune knelt, “Yes, Head. I have the item here,” he reached into his back pocket pulling out an almost clear crystal shard.

The servant took the shard from Rune and presented it to the Head who picked it up with his fingertips as if allowing it to touch his palm would destroy it. His shoulders started to shake and he began to laugh. “Good, good,” he said. “We’re getting ever so close to the end.”

Zeal leaned against the door and crossed his arms, “That’s good Sir, but when are we getting paid?”

“Ah, that is being delivered as we speak,” the Head gave the shard to his servant and turned toward Rune. “Regarding that Oddity…”

“Once again I apologize. I was unable to capture him,” Rune had underestimated Rainen. His encounters with him were hardly random but felt something off every time they met. The boy didn’t trust him. Rune hoped much more could be learned through his partner but she provided nothing of note. He felt something off with her too…Perhaps she didn’t trust him as much as he thought she did.

“Some of this fault falls to me as well. I spoke with the other two Heads and they disagreed with my actions. Because the Oddity never existed in our original plans, I paid him too little attention. Thinking about it, the Oddity will have a large part to play if we capture him.” the Head straightened.

“Shall I start tracking him immediately?”

“No, he can play a large part and would but our resources should not be dedicated to him. As you have said, there is no confirmation on whether or not he is a true Oddity yes?”

Rune regretfully nodded. He found nothing despite his efforts. Looking through the boy’s room only provided him with his sister’s name. Rune, however, truly believed that he was an Oddity. “Sir, I think we should still try to capture him.”

“I have already told you no. I may send Carra in the future. For now, you will standby for orders. I will contact you through the usual method.”

“Yes, Head,” Rune left the room, a wrinkle on his forehead and a frown stretching across his face. Luckily for Rune, the Head and the others didn’t know much about the boy. With Dark’s men on the job, perhaps he’d catch the Oddity before Carra could even be sent out.