Liv walked down the path, a random stolen cloak keeping her anonymity. The Gates of Shadow mountains were places where criminals would attack whomever they thought to be defenseless travelers, and Liv didn't have anything to intimidate them with.

So, she would have to do it the old fashioned way.

The Gates of Shadow were places where meetings would take place between criminals, and they would run their operations out of the area. However, no one truly lived here. No one even dared to stay here past nightfall.

No one who did had returned.

Liv was also planning to stay out of here during the night. It would not do to fight creatures of the night when she did not have to, given how powerful they were. Liv noticed an ambush waiting for her ahead, but chose to ignore it, asking the wind around her to murder them. As she did, her energy pool throbbed painfully, threatening to change, somehow.

Liv kept it restrained, as she had for the past while. She thought it was another upgrade to her pool, but she couldn't let it happen now. In Crystallien, people had been coming for her in the inn, so she wasn't safe there. On the road, nowhere was safe.

Liv had decided to wait for someplace where she knew that she would be fine to let it happen. Continuing down the road, she ignored the corpses of the bandits, thanking the wind and continuing. She didn't want to kill random people, but these ones would continue harassing people until they were just ended by someone else, most likely a group of guards. This saved time. Continuing down the path, Liv killed an increasing amount of bandits, and eventually reached the Gates of Shadow at midmorning, plenty of daylight available to cross and make it to the settlements on the other side. Liv followed the path, the number of bandits jumping drastically as she slowly made her way through. Breaking a few boulders a previous ambush group had placed, Liv started to climb once more, another path in front of her. Another bandit group died, and it eventually just became a routine Liv followed. Kill, break rocks, and walk. For hours on end.

The sun was in the middle of the sky when Liv felt presences on the edge of her wind-based detection. Focusing on them, she determined they were not bandits as she got closer, walking on the road. This was a noble with their retinue.

The noble was soon visible, guards surrounding her as she sat on a palanquin, four servants carrying it down the road. Ignoring her, Liv continued, walking directly past the palanquin. "Insolent commoner!," a screechy voice cried out.

Liv sighed. The noble was after her. She turned, staring directly at the noble, and pointed at the most recent ambush site, an area not too far away. Blood and corpses littered the ground, and some guards were already investigating. "I did that."

The noble threw her head back and laughed. "Lying bitch. Guards, capture her. This little girl couldn't have killed those bandits and broke the law twice. She walked by me and then insulted my with her lies."

Some of the guards got on horseback, their eyes showing now sign of pity or distress. A hint of bloodlust shone in some.

Liv drew her sword, turning to face them. The horsemen rode towards her, trying to trample her under the horses' hooves. Liv ran towards them as well, with her speed flashing through them as their horses crumpled to the ground, dead.

The soldiers fell off, but grabbed weapons as they rushed Liv. However, instead of finding an easy kill, they found death, as she danced between them, limbs and heads falling almost of their own accord. When only the noble and the palanquin-carriers remained, Liv walked towards her, cutting her head off in spite of her pleas, and sent the servants off after taking everything but the head off the palanquin.

Flicking her sword to get the blood off, Liv examined it, noticing that the blade was badly damaged, large pieces missing from some areas. She needed a new weapon.

Putting it back in it's sheath, Liv strode off once more, the sun slowly moving as she continued towards the other side.

Liv stumbled into town. Even though she'd used energy, Liv had been walking for almost an entire day. That will tire you out and make your muscles hurt, unless your energy pool is massive.

The 'town' she had stumbled into was, in fact, a small village which appeared to have most of its income from travelers, a large inn directly in the center.

Liv walked into the inn after pilfering exactly enough to buy a room, never taking much from anyone, and only from the ones who looked as if they had some to spare.

The innkeeper let her into one of the rooms, which she walked into, immediately falling asleep on the bed. The next day, Liv got up, walking outside. Time to explore the mountain-

Wait.

What were they talking about?

Liv walked closer to a group of people, eavesdropping on their conversation. "-she's dead. We can grow crops without them getting stolen from us now," one of them whispered.

Another returned, "I'm not supposed to do this, but praise whoever killed her."

Liv assumed the 'her' they were talking about was the noble she killed on the way. "They say the nobles will reward whoever finds the person with a noble title. Also, they said that they would search all the towns for the right person."

They all nodded and walked off as Liv restarted her walk out of the city. It was amazing that her muscles weren't sore after walking so long and then simply getting a good night's rest.

So, apparently Liv was on another hit list. She could imagine that the criminals also wanted her, because of the power they would gain. Liv also assumed that some of the criminals were hired specifically to catch her, as assassins were good at these things.

Sighing at the extra problem added to her list, Liv continued on her way, walking into the mountains that lay before her.