"You are really Lucille Shildwell! This is so cool!" Elany proclaimed.

Lucille, aka Lucy, paid no attention to Elany's words. For there was one thing on her mind. Finally starting to recover from the shock, she stammered out, "The artifact--you--how--...." "You were a-able to remove it. Without... without killing me. How. Who, who are you?"

"Just a timeless soul, wishing the best for an afflicted planet," Reylor replied.

The artifact served two purposes. One, It sealed its victims mana core, to render him/her magically defenseless. However, it also had the purpose of being tamper resistant. In other words, if anyone tampered with the artifact, it would kill the person it had been embedded in. For this it had to allow some of the victim's mana to leak out, and that small amount was enough for Lucy to use to disguise her distinctive hair and eyes. When Reylor used his disruption art, it cancelled the concealment she had cast, though the main purpose was to prevent the artifact's activation during the removal process.

Had she not met Reylor, she likely would have never been able to use combat magic ever again.

Come on, we still have a bit of a journey ahead of us. Reylor smiled as he set to packing up the few things where he and Elany had camped out the night before.

They continued onward, in the journey to Votran.

*** *** ***

"There will come a time when this will not be necessary, but you might want to reapply your disguise, Lucy."

"Yes, sir" she timidly said.

"Lucy," Reylor spoke somewhat harshly. "Oh, yeah, I guess we never introduced ourselves properly... I am Reylor Seldin"

"And I'm Elany," a melodic voice rang.

"Please just call us Reylor and Elany."

"Yes si-- I mean R-Rey..."

"Eh, close enough. Rey will do." Reylor smiled.

"Ooh, nicknames! I want one too! How about calling me Elly?!"

"Lucy glanced at Elany's glowing face."

"Privileged." She quietly breathed out. She glanced up to verify neither of them had heard her.

Good, they didn't.

"Elly. That has a nice ring to it.” "Rey" returned a smile to Elany.

"By the way Lucy, do you know where we came from?" He shifted his attention as they trudged along the endless dirt road.

"No, at least I don't think you've mentioned it."

"Keep it secret, for it has to do with Vilnor.” He now spoke with a soft voice. “We came from Splendor."

Lucy froze.

"I actually was only there for a few years, though Elany had been there for a much longer time.”

“Reylor?” Elany looked up questioningly.

“Lucy will be traveling with us now. It’s only right she should know a bit about us. I just figured this might be as good a time as any to mention it.”

He covertly shot Lucy a knowing look, and she looked down bashfully.

*** *** **

They finally arrived at the city of Glintell.

“Two guests and one slave? That would be 25 Velii” The guard stated, eyeing Lucy in her coarse and fairly revealing tunic. “Unless you have a pass, of course.”

Reylor looked at Elany, this time with a questioning look on his face.

“You don’t have any money?” Elany giggled. “You really must not have been from here.”

She pulled out a small purse and pulled out two small coins and five smaller ones.

“Do you have five more Velii?” Reylor asked.

“Yes, but why?”

“It appears this guard has misjudged our friend’s peculiar attire and thus only asked us for a slave’s entrance fee on her behalf. As honest folk, we should pay the proper amount.”

“Oh, no! You’re right!” Elany gasped. She quickly handed the befuddled guard 30 Velii.

A friend? Why’d they say that? They could have gotten off for less. Do they really think of me like that? No, it’s impossible. Everyone sees me as a tool. There is no—

“Alright, Lucy. Let’s get you set up for the journey. Those clothes don’t suit you very well, now do they?” Reylor interrupted Lucy’s thoughts.

“Hmm? Ah, sorry, what did you say?”

“He said we are going to get you some new clothes!” Elany replied enthusiastically.

“And a weapon, if it would suit you,” Reylor added.

“Oh, ok. I haven’t been here before, so I don’t know where the second-hand shops are…”

“Who said we were getting second-hand clothes?”

Well, slaves aren’t allowed in other shops. And… she looked down at her garment.

“I know—I’ll pick something out for you!” Elany exclaimed.

“Would that be alright with you?” Reylor asked Lucy.

“It doesn’t matter to me. Anything is better than this.”

“Alright then, we’ll leave that to you.”

A few hours later Elany returned with Lucy, clad in matching orange sun dresses. Lucy also carried a simple staff.

Reylor was far more amused than Lucy.

“Alright then. While you were gone I was able to ask around for some information on the teleport gate. Unfortunately, it costs 3,000 Verii a person to use.”

“Oh, no! The new clothes took most of what I had left, though I doubt I had enough even before buying them. Splendor wasn’t rich, you know…”

Reylor motioned to a large building close to the city gates.

“Huntsmen Guild” was printed on it with bold lettering.

“Time to hunt.” he said simply.

*** *** ***

They entered the huntsmen’s guild.

“Hello, there is there aught I may assist you with?” A pleasant desk worker asked.

“Yes, we are huntsmen from another area. We are in a pinch and were wondering if you had any work we could do.”

She glanced at the trio before answering. “I’m sorry sir, but all our low grade missions have been reserved for residents, as there has not been much work lately.”

“What about high-grade tasks?” Reylor shot back

“We have one, but—“

“Hold on Millinda,” a man in a very fine suit interrupted her. “What grade of requests are you used to taking on?”

“I’m afraid I am unacquainted with request grades, but we can fight shade beasts.”

“Shade?” The man’s eyebrows lifted for a moment.

“Would it be appropriate to assume you are a swordsman?” He asked, eyeing Reylor’s sword.

“Yes it would”

“May I examine your sword?”

Reylor lifted the sword from its sheath and laid it on the counter.

It’s enchanted, the man thought as he lifted a small container from below the counter. He dipped his finger into the container and then smeared a clear liquid on the back of the blade. The liquid turned purple.

“Well, well, would you look at that” The man said, as Millinda gazed at it with wide eyes. “Looks like we have a true huntsman on our hands.”

Looking up at Reylor, he said, “It just so happens to be that we have a perfect fit for your talents.”

“Glintell has been tasked with analyzing blood samples collected from shade creatures. To test a theory, one of our researchers injected to condensed shad essence into a colosseum wolf. As a result, the wolf turned into a shade, broke out of its cage, and killed the researcher. Now we have a shade wolf in our colosseum and no one to take care of it, seems how our holy magicians are out on another task, and the god’s know that none of our swordsmen would be willing to jump into the pit with one of those creatures.

The pay is only 30,000 Verii despite it being a class B mission, but I hear you are in a pinch, so if you are up to it, this task is yours for the taking.”

“We will take it.”

“Thirty th-th-thousand?!” Elany quietly gasped. She had never seen that much money in her life, and that much only? You could nearly retire on that in Splendor.

The man, whom they later discovered was the guild president, commissioned an employee to escort them to the colosseum. After securing a place for Elany in the spectator stands, Reylor and Lucy entered.

Both were silent, though Lucy was trembling slightly. It had been quite some time since her last real fight.

“Grrrrowl”

Reylor put his hand on her shoulder.

“Calm down, you can do this. I’ll keep him at bay as long as you need, just think—remember what you have learned before. We’ll get through this.”

”Clang!” The wolf jumped out of the shadows, but was expertly parried by Reylor’s sword.

To be fair, Reylor could have taken it on by himself at this point. Wolves were small fry now, but he knew he should get Lucy back into fighting shape before they were to get into a dire situation.

“Lucille,” Reylor’s voice lowered to nearly a whisper. “Show me the fire of a Shildwell.”

She looked up into his resolute eyes. Hers narrowed.

“One minute. Can you keep him off for one minute?” She asked.

“Yes.”

Lucy took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

Fifty-nine

“Bang!”

“Groooowl”

The wolf, unsuccessful in his second attempt, circled his prey once more.

Forty-Six

“Woosh” “Cling!”

The wolf once again attacked, aiming for just an arm, but was brushed off once again.

Reylor began to notice a disturbance in the aether nearby where Lucille was standing.

“Grrrrrrowlll”

It circled twice.

Twenty eight

“Bang” “Bang” “Bang”

Reylor was starting to breathe heavily. He was far stronger and more skilled than when he first came to Aretor, but facing a shade was still not small task, especially considering that this wolf was a bit larger than the ones he typically met in the Otium forests.

Five. Four. Three.

“Bang” “Cling” “Growl”

One.

“Reylor, move,” A sharp voice commanded.

Reylor transferred to the side.

The wolf, seeing his opportunity for an easier meal, jumped at Lucy

“Kaboom!”

An inferno erupted from Lucille, launching the wolf into the side of the colosseum.

The wolf snarled.

Things were a bit different this time. Not only had the “easy” prey warded it off, but it had also put it on the defensive, as huge balls of fire began flying towards it in quick succession.

“Boom. Boom. Boom.”

Finally one connected with the wolf, burning its fur off and knocking it out.

Reylor flexed his muscles as he prepared to finish it off.

“Stay back!” Lucille shouted at him.

In the next moment a beam of fire seemed to descend from the sky, though leaving as quickly as it came.

The wolf was gone. It was not simply dead. It did not even exist, for it had been wholly consumed by the flames of this fire mage. Still, this was but a small glimpse of the power of the Shildwell family’s arcane arts.

What was left was the fire mage. Not only her eyes, but also her hair seemed to be composed of some sort of otherworldly fire, and her whole body seemed to be surrounded by a fiery aura. She had the stern look of nobility that, with a transfixing raw beauty, made her seem impossibly desirable, but elusive.

Not only Elany, but Reylor as well, were both captivated for a time.

The fire died off, replaced by their previous shades of brown and black.

“Did I do what you wanted me to?” Lucy asked.

“Yes, good job.” Reylor snapped back to his senses.

Good Job. Those words. It was those words she had craved so much from the time she had started her training in the royal courts. And now—now she had them.

Looking up at Reylor, she became as a child and grabbed onto him, as drops of joy fell from her eyes.

“Good job. Welcome to the team Lucy” Reylor smiled

Now let’s pick up Elany and head for the guild.

Lucy nodded her head and wiped her eyes as they headed out of the arena.