Black as the night and silent as a cat, the men scurried from building to building, shadow to shadow—careful to avoid the glowing lights of the citadel. Even in the night there was always activity in Sunswood. It was the capital of Weptswur, and one of the busiest cities in the continent of Modena.

Erdezo peered around the corner of a box shaped housing unit. They were all identical and packed together here. Jammed into the middle of the neighborhood were markets, shops, and a few checkpoints where sentries and king's men stood watch lazily. Most of them were asleep. Erdezo motioned his men up the side of the building and onto the roof thanks to a tall pushcart that stood half the height of the home itself.

When the eight men were on top, Erdezo motioned Reja to continue onward with the rest. Erdezo grabbed his longbow from his shoulder and pulled an arrow from his quiver. His eyes scanned the streets for any signs of movement. His eyes were drawn to his left where a plump man was cleaning up shop for the night, tossing apples into a big sack along with potatoes and onions. The narrow alleyways and intersecting roads relatively empty, but the folk of Sunswood didn't seem to lumber down for the night in a hurry. Erdezo ducked his head and squinted as he observed through the window of the neighboring hut, where he saw a man and a woman start the beginning phases of intimacy. Erdezo looked away and hoped that would be enough distraction to keep their eyes off him. He was confident in his concealment though. He had a way of blending in with his surroundings and knowing he could release an arrow to its target in milliseconds if he must.

He watched the silent boots of his seven fellow Ki'vatsu disappear into the distant rooftops to his right. It was right then that Erdezo spotted danger. Down below, the plump storekeeper had trotted out onto the road to get a better look at the sight of the men with longswords and dark cloaks gliding across rooftops. The city guards were snoozing just a few blocks down and Erdezo pieced it together as he saw the man start advancing down the street.

Erdezo slipped down the side of the housing, careful not to make too much movement in leu of the couple next door. He landed quietly, felt the earth underneath his boots, and made a quick dash from behind towards the plump man. If people would just mind their own dang business nobody would have to die.

The plump man was on the ground unconscious and rolled away to an alleyway before he had even heard the sound of Erdezo's flapping cloak. Erdezo remained in the alleyway and peaked towards the guard's checkpoint two blocks down, where the two guards remained snoozing in their seats.

Reja led the seven Ki' vatsu down off the rooftops and they spread around the perimeter of the house they knew to be the home of the boy. The home had holes for windows, and a couple men moved with incredible precision so as not to make a peep. All sign of light was off in the house. One of the men creaked open the front door carefully and Reja creeped inside. There were two Ki'vatsu outside keeping watch, which left five of them inside the home. Reja looked up just in time to see owner of the home come behind the youngest Ki'vatsu with a giant, wooden pike with a shard of iron tacked on the end.

"Viera!" Reja gave away the silence with a shout, and in the blink of an eye Viera had flung him side sideways an rolled into a tuck with Reja wasting no time sending a projectile of lead and shrapnel from his sling, piercing the middle of the man's face. He went down screaming in agony as the metal protruded from his eyes and face.

Viera was quick to rise and bring down a swift piercing of his blade through the man's chest, ending the squealing for the sake of silence. It was in vain, though, as the house began to shake and suddenly oil lamps and tables collapsed making a loud clanging as the wood splintered into a dozen pieces.

Reja breathed in, "Viera you fool, did you not see him on the way in?"

"No, I thought they were both upstairs in their bed—you thought so yourself!"

Just then Erdezo broke in through the front door, his black hair a tangled mess and moist with sweat. "You fool, all of you! I could hear that from four houses down. We must get the boy and move." His eyes then met the dead body of the father. "You ended his life! Now our presence may be known in this place. How are we to explain to the boy that we killed his father?"

Reja and Viera stood with the others in shock, it hadn't been a part of the plans. Erdezo ordered Reja and Viera to go stand outside and move with the other two keeping watch to a safer location. The less men the better at this point.

Erdezo moved quickly up the stairs into one of the two bedrooms that he assumed was the one belonging to the boy he so desperately wanted. Things moved fast. Two figures emerged from either side of the door, sending matching blows into Erdezo's face, and a blade almost drove through his gut but for his exceptionally quick movement to avoid it. He didn't have time to glance at the face, but he knew from the limbs that protruded from the chain mail and light robes.

He withdrew his long, elegant blade with a strip of crimson red running down the crown of the blade. So, someone got here first, he thought to himself. He sliced quick and fast, puncturing one of the enemy's legs. The other had already swung onto Erdezo's blindside, slicing his arm badly, but Erdezo acted on instinct and flung himself backwards out from the doorway and into the hallway. From there the other two Ki'vatsu emerged with symmetrical movement and systemically swung right, then left, and then deflected a swing from both creatures. Right arm jab, step back, left hand grabbed for the small dagger inside the right side of the chest and released, each dagger finding a home in the center of the throat. The creature's face turned from a light gray into a black ooze and then his body disintegrated onto the floor where a pile of jagged teeth, chainmail, and robes now laid.

The spectacle must have attracted plenty of noise because Reja and the others burst into the room in a panic. "Erdezo, we must leave, the townspeople have raised the alarm and the guards are coming!"

One of the Ki'vatsu known as Rory spoke out, "We must finish them. It will be easy work." He unsheathed his sharp, double edged sword and stared intently at its shine.

"No," spoke up Erdezo, "We cannot alert the people of Sunswood that we have come to this land. Sneak in, sneak out. The plan does not change."

The men obeyed but Rory was not happy. He spoke as he shuffled his way over towards the open window, "We have bigger prospects to worry about. The darkness has descended on this land already. Mestrane is growing stronger now. Wha the f—"

"—They must have gotten to the boy before us." Viera stood unmoving. His shoulder-length dark hair was tied halfway up into a small bun on the top of his head.

"Why do those foul beings try to be a Ki'vatsu to the task. We must find the boy first." Rory was speaking quickly now; the sound of shouting guards was getting closer.

"There is no time to discuss. The boy was taken, or he may have escaped on his own—otherwise the Deranged Men would not still be here. Our mission is in failure now. Now we must move." Erdezo was in no mood to entertain discussion. The eight-swordsman shuffled out of the side window and back into a narrow alleyway. They ducked and jumped and leapt from trash bins to buildings to perches.

They finally arrived at an abandoned building on the outskirts of the village. Lights and torches were beginning to light up in the citadel.

"The townsfolk are paranoid now. They should be punished for letting their fear consume their culture." Rory spoke distastefully, spitting at the ground, sneering.

Erdezo disregarded the attitude. "We make way back to Rednork, to our home. It was our orders to obtain the boy from his town near Sunswood and return back safely without word of our appearance."

Viera took a seat on the ground of the empty flooring of the small, square hut. Most of their gazes met the floor, refusing to keep their heads high in light of the failure. Rory remained standing with his jaw held firm. He met Erdezo's eyes, but finally lowered his gaze in respect.

"The boy—Egalo was his name. We have to assume that he has been taken by the Magi Order perhaps. A destiny that we feared was true. We shall return with our heads held level, but we can never let our emotions rule us. We are Ki'vatsu."

Rory was having none of it, "We travelled for months across sea, by land, through difficult terrain...for this one boy—Egalo, Is it? He wasn't there. Do you call that discipline? Or softness, leader. I don't know about returning home, or even showing our face in that continent until we've at least identified where he is."

A few murmurs of agreement came through the form of grunts or nods. Erdezo glanced around and shifted his feet. His face might have been flustered but flustered looked much different on a Ki'vatsu knight. Rory stared at Erdezo with an even gaze. The sound of distant voices had grown closer and the eight men instinctively threw their cloaks over their heads and moved to the corner of the room, disguising themselves with the dark. Erdezo peaked through the thin fabric of the cloak and saw faces peering in through the windows for any obvious signs of foreigners.

An hour passed and eventually the search began to ebb. The men gathered around to council about the next move. Reja spoke, "We're a far cry from home. It would be unfathomable to go rogue and forget the code. Yet, some of the best legacies from past Ki'vatsu came from making decisions in the moment, decisions that sounded preposterous at the time, but they worked out."

Rory chirped in, "He's right. We have our own decision to make. And it's not about to be a voyage home, not now. Look what's at stake, if we go home we will be sent into dormancy for another hundred years with our memory wiped."

Another Ki'vatsu named Ralor spoke up, "What were those creatures? If they got to Egalo first would he still be alive?"

"Those are the cursed men of Mestrane. They were bonded to eternal hell in those lands. But the lands groan and wretch them up now, for the curse was lifted."

"What curse do you speak of, leader?"

Erdezo leaned in closer, "Have you not heard the history of the lands we inhabit?"

"No," replied Ralor. Reja scoffed as he fiddled with some twigs on the floor.

"I guess we have time. We'll move at first light." A few of the men knew the tales, but all the same they liked to hear them told again. Rory pretended to be disinterested, but inside he loved it—the gore, the glory, the heroes. He hoped one day he'd be in the old tales.

"Hundreds and hundreds of years back. Before the war to end all kings, before the War of the North and splitting at the Ice where two continents of the East split, there was relative peace and order in the land. Humans enjoyed dominion over all that breathed life. Great kingdoms thrived with order and justice systems. Righteous kings were appointed, and always, always, the Ki'vatsu ruled the East—the pride of Rednork—but this was before the days that we were called Ki'vatsu, you must remember. We were ordinary men. Anyways, in the realm, there is always greed and lust for more glory. The land of Mestrane was just another land at the time—a beautiful one. It had everything from rolling hills and bright green grass, to waterfalls and thick forests. The King who ruled over it was a mighty King. He lived to be some two hundred-something years; it is said. He had many sons, the oldest born dying before he even had his reign. The second eldest, however, had a fruitful reign. He was a just man like any other who inhabits the land. He became known as 'The Judge' as he had a knack for taking over other lands just to judge their leadership and sentence them to death, and later appointing his own successors. Generations later, the bloodline became the most dominant bloodline in the realm. No army dared cross the border into Mestrane unless by invitation—"

"—might I add, leader, that the finest warriors would offer themselves and their lives to the throne of Mestrane at will and undergo the oath." Rory couldn't help but throw his piece in. His olives for eyes glimmered somehow in the dark room.

Erdezo nodded for Rory to continue on but Rory shrugged it away and gestured for him to continue. Reja lifted an eyebrow tiredly but paid it little heed.

"The King at the time was a humble man named Steed. He was known by all to be the most righteous king the land had seen. His people and even those of neighboring nations respected him so much that Mestrane was seen as the judiciary power of the realm. King Steed's influence spread throughout the lands like wildfire. His men mirrored his fine qualities—trained in the core values of what the kingdom stood for. Justice, Righteousness, Love, Excellence, and Discipline. Those five anchoring values carried King Steed along as he visited nations of all kinds, from Rednork to the northern nations of Adrossi, Scourden, you name it."

Erdezo paused and looked around at the eyes of his men intently before continuing. "Every great legacy has its fall. It is said that King Steed was so noble and wise he began to believe he was the 'chosen one', sent from God to rule over the realm. Half the realm believed his claims, but the other half became skeptical, questioning their own religions and customs. Unsettled, rebel groups inevitably formed, and King Steed squashed over them with his iron boot. Eventually, people of the realm lived in fear, the armies of every nation served King Steed if all truth is told."

The men were awake now, eager to hear of the fall of mankind under King steed.

"It is said there was a man who performed wondrous deeds and miracles—a man who rivaled the King in wisdom and in power. The King became jealous and demanded his capture and to be brought to him for a mighty prize. The man was found, and he allowed himself to be turned over to the infamous King Steed. The man's name was Ednord. The King had intended to make a demonstration of him, as self-proclaimed ruler of the realm against what he saw as a rival to him—but what scared him was that Ednord was different. He was righteous and just and had no fear. King Steed panicked and had Ednord imprisoned, and eventually killed on account of treason. That's when the realm changed forever."

Viera's eyes were open wide, the whites of his eyes reaching to the ends of his face. Rory stared disinterestedly. Reja begged Erdezo to continue but Erdezo was hesitant to continue.

"We should get some rest now while we can. Remember, discipline comes before selfish desires. You all know the story."

"But just quickly, can you tell us quickly?" Viera was pleading like a child.

Rory scoffed, "You baby, do you want someone to tuck you in under your cloak as well?"

Viera glared at Rory, but dropped the look when Rory returned a menacing glare.

Erdezo ignored the interaction, "King Steed is said to have fallen ill the day after the killing of Ednord. The land of Mestrane stormed day and night for two weeks, and the inhabitants of the land began to exhibit odd behavior. It was then that the curse of Mestrane became alive, and the men who lived no longer lived as men, but as slaves to the will of Ednord. The twisted, deranged men of that land haunted the realm for hundreds of years until the great hero of the North emerged, starting the order of the Magi Knight—led by the offspring of Ednord. The great hero of the north was not known to be the heir of Ednord until he led the great army to end all darkness in the Age of Storms and strengthened his father's curse by bonding the enemy of darkness to its own land. Those evil people went into dormancy as we knew it today—until the heir of the great Lord Ednord who guarded the lands and upheld the curse is rumored to have been slain. The Great King Steed is said to have been reborn from dormancy. But it is all speculation, that is why we are seeking to protect the realm with the swords of Rednork—and maybe one day our names will be etched in history."

With that, the men huddled around the dirt floor of the small square hut and closed their eyes for a short night of sleep. Into the later hours of the night, it was Veira that fell asleep while on watch, and their presence was found out. Erdezo awoke first; to the sight of half the townsfolk crowded outside the hut with pikes and daggers. The City watch would be there any moment with an army, and the Ki'vatsu had no way of escaping.