For some people, staying concealed while wearing an all-black ensemble in the middle of the day would be a challenge, but for the great thief Magnus McMorrison it was as simple as robbing the royal palace back in Zhomir.

Of course, my dark outfit hadn’t gone entirely unchanged from my days back in the eastern city. The Scorch could get almost lethally hot at times, so I had made ample changes to the material to make it more breathable. It wouldn’t do if I were to pass out from heatstroke whilst darting about the camp, clinging to the sides of the various tents and basic wooden structures my crew had constructed.

I definitely didn’t fancy the embarrassing explanation I would have to give the rest of the outlaws if that happened, worse even the one I would have to give to the Sovereign once word inevitably reached them.

Thankfully heat wasn’t much of a problem today, and I had no issues making my way around the camp unseen, checking up on the crew as they went about their daily tasks and eavesdropping on a few conversations.

The exercise was partly to help keep my own skills sharp, but also partly to check on the general morale of the crew. I was admittedly inexperienced as a leader, but I wanted to do a good job and impress the higher ups of the Obsidian Order. I was still a relatively new member, after all, and they were taking a risk by trusting me with such an important mission.

If I succeeded, my current crew would be assigned to me full time and I would start running more missions like this one for the Order. That was the ongoing deal I had with the Sovereign at least. We hadn’t discussed what would happen if I were to fail, so I tried not to think about that possibility for the time being.

The last time I had failed, fleeing to the Scorch was my only option. Failing out here usually had much worse consequences.

My crew of outlaws were a little inexperienced by my standards, but I genuinely looked forward to teaching them what I knew and seeing them evolve over time into skilled thieves. Some of them had already demonstrated potential, but for the most part they were rough diamonds in dire need of polishing.

It made sense really. Good enough criminals never got caught and wouldn’t end up wanted by the rooks. It was those wanted criminals that the Obsidian Order would recruit after some background checks to make sure they would be suitable for the organisation.

One had to be especially careful recruiting from such a dangerous pool of candidates, but everyone to join the Order was hand-selected by the Sovereign himself. His judgment on who to trust with the secret of our existence was seemingly never wrong.

The Obsidian Order had more members than one would think of a secret society, divided into three distinct tiers. There were the rank and file recruits like most of the outlaws I had been assigned into my own crew, only trusted with their masks after completing a job directly assigned to them by the Sovereign.

The official name for their rank was Obsidian Acolytes, but I preferred my own title of Obsidian Outlaws for my personal crew. Above the rank of Acolyte were the Obsidian Enforcers. This was my current rank in the organisation, one I had risen to extremely fast after showing off my skills to the Sovereign in a series of jobs. Only the Acolytes who stood out and demonstrated both extreme individual talent as well as the proper aptitude for controlling the crystal creatures via their masks were promoted to Enforcers.

I knew there was a rank above my own, but I knew very little about it. The individuals to make it to that rank were supposedly called the Obsidian Lords, but I couldn’t be sure of even that small fact.

The only information I had gleaned about them came from my brief discussions with other Enforcers, and none of them had ever personally met with a Lord. The only things people really knew is that they were rare and assigned the most vital and important jobs.

If the Sovereign ever needed to wipe out any major threats, or make whole settlements go missing, the Lords were supposedly the ones he would call on for those kind of tasks.

It was honestly a scary idea, knowing that people with that kind of power existed even in the Scorch, where magic was severely limited. It made me thankful I had been extended an invitation to the Order and been wise enough to hear then out instead of just trying to rob them.

I was a good thief, but if I had tried to cross the Order I would have been killed before I made off with a single coin.

Thankfully money held little meaning for me anymore, though realistically it never had. If my family could see me now, I wondered how they would react.

Father had always been so proud of his perfect little Magnus, and had been teaching me for as long as I could remember all the things a noble could ever need to know to take over and lead his family.

What he didn’t know was that I was also teaching myself everything I would need to become the greatest thief in all of Zhomir. If there was one thing I could change about my time in the city, it wouldn’t be getting caught, but being there to see his reaction when he learned of what I had been doing every night.

Getting caught had been heartbreaking at the time, but it had brought me here, to the Scorch.

It truly was a land of ultimate freedom. But that freedom came with the threat of paying the ultimate price. I had made peace with that fact, but those that feared their death constantly and looked for escape didn’t belong in the Obsidian Outlaws.

So it was that before anyone joined the crew, I gave them all a choice. I had enough money saved up in a secure location to pay off the debts of most of the crew several times over, and that’s exactly what I offered to do for them.

I had expected more than a couple to take me up on that offer, but shockingly they had all turned me down. I’d only had my crew for a short time but that had instantly endeared me to them a great deal.

They were rough, but with enough training I’d have them become an elite force of invisible thieves, capable of carrying out even the most difficult of-

“Uh, Magnus?”

I immediately spun around from my crouched position, sweeping the foot of the figure standing close behind me. Within a second I had drawn my own dark crystal revolver and extended my obsidian armblade to his throat; instinctively sending a command for Shimmer and Sparkle to come to my aid.

“Sorry, I’m so sorry!” Davis cried out, raising both hands the best he could from his pinned position.

My eyes went wide and I quickly scrambled to my feet, sending another mental command to my pet salamanders to stay put in the tent.

I extended a hand to the very startled Davis, pulling him back to his feet.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“No no, I’m the one who should apologise Davis.” I quickly cut the younger man off, brushing down his duster apologetically. “You caught me at quite a bad time, but I shouldn’t have reacted so extremely.”

“R-right… I just saw you hiding behind that crate and was wondering if everything was alright…”

Davis’ words gave me pause. I had been quite distracted from my task of observing the state of the camp with my mental reminiscing, but for someone to have spotted and crept up on me?

My finely honed instincts should have clocked him right away. Either I was slipping, or Davis had some natural talent for stealth that I didn’t know about. Thinking about it a little further, I downright refused to accept the former as a possibility.

“I see, and how long ago did you notice me?” I tried to sound nonchalant.

“Oh, like ten minutes ago? You were moving around camp a bit then you stopped at that crate for quite a while, so I was worried something was wrong.” Davis shrugged meekly.

I was too taken aback to respond right away, simply looking the youngest recruit of the Obsidian Outlaws up and down appraisingly.

“Remind me again, Davis. How did you come to join the Order?”

“Oh, I was working down as an assassin down in Raiken. Was going pretty well for a while but got spotted leaving a noble’s manor after offing him, so decided to move my services out here.” Davis spoke in an almost frighteningly casual manner. “Thought you knew that?”

“N-no actually. I knew you were on the run from the rooks but I didn’t realise you were a professional killer.” I paused, honestly unsure whether to be impressed or concerned. “Do pretty well for yourself back in Raiken?”

“Well enough. Didn’t keep any of the money, sent it off to my family.” Davis sighed. “Hopefully I made enough that none of them end up here too.”

“Well, my offer still stands, you know.” I nodded politely. “Wouldn’t do much good to let you return home, but if your family need it let me know.”

“Appreciate it.” Davis gave me a soft smile that made it even harder for me to imagine him assassinating anybody.

It made sense the more I thought about it. I never would have expected Davis being in that line of work, so it was unlikely any guards would either. He had a frighteningly innocent face, and I made note to get myself a copy of one of his wanted posters.

“Did you ever consider fleeing to another country?” I was finding myself increasingly interested in Davis.

“At first sure. But I’m pretty happy where I am.” The young man gestured around him. “Most of us are.”

“And why is that for you?”

“Well, I had trouble admitting it, even to myself, but I liked killing. I was good at it. Only part I struggled with was the getaways and stealth. I found it easier to slice or shoot my way in and out.”

“You don’t say…” I suddenly realised I had never actually witnessed Davis in combat, but made a mental note to keep an eye on him when the opportunity next presented itself.

“So yeah, being here, learning from a master thief like you and learning crystal magic from the Sovereign is pretty exciting. I want to see just how far I can go.”

“I understand that better than you may think.” I smiled.

Seeing how far I could push my skills in an organisation that appreciated them was exactly why I was here too. Going unseen was so easy to me, but leading and fighting in the open I could definitely use more practice in. Maybe Davis and I could teach one another a thing or two when we got the chance.

I was about to ask Davis some more questions, still somewhat reeling from the revelation that this timid and easily startled young man could be so dangerous, when another Outlaw spotted us and ran over.

“Oh, there you are boss!”

“What do you need, Zoey?” I recognised the light-blue haired woman, and she gave me a smile.

“The researcher, says she wants to talk.”

“Did she say anything else?”

“Only that she’d talk to whoever is in charge, nobody else.” Zoey answered.

“I see. She is still restrained, I trust?”

“Arms and legs bound with cuffs, shouldn’t be able to channel any magic that way at least.”

“I see. We still need to be careful though. Those fancy hand gestures that Sean and the others described help to channel magic, but they aren’t strictly needed.”

“You know a lot about magic boss?” Davis chimed in, and I gestured that the three of us should walk and talk, mentally summoning Shimmer and Sparkle to join us as we made our way to the storehouse we were using as a makeshift prison.

“Enough. When I started getting bolder back home, places often started hiring mages to try and keep me out.” I casually drew the revolver at my side and gave it a spin as I spoke.

“Did any succeed?” Davis immediately winced. “Not that I think they would or anything, boss! I just mean-”

“There were a few close calls, especially that bloody bird mage with a “Mathematics” Soulgate of all things…” I rubbed the back of my head with my free hand, remembering what a headache dealing with a projectile barrage of magical math problems had been. “But the mighty Magnus McMorrison is a true thief Davis, not to be stopped by paltry party tricks and prestidigitations.”

“Right, of course boss.” Davis gave me a shy smile, and I could tell he had calmed down even with the black mask covering most of his face. “So what did you go by back in Zhomir? You told me true thieves are all about style and image, but I don’t think you’ve ever told me that before.”

“Hmm, well I was quite young when I decided on my name, so it is a tad embarrassing.” I cringed slightly at the memory. “How about I tell you mine if you tell me yours?”

“My…? Oh right!” Davis perked up, his mask failing to cover the blush that worked its way across his face. “Well I didn’t choose mine, but I think folk started calling me Viscera after my first few jobs?”

“V-Viscera? As in, organs?”

“Yeah, things got kinda messy, and the name stuck I suppose.” Davis shrugged. “Think they usually had to call in a proper cleanup crew whenever I hit a place.”

“I see…” I gulped, trying not to picture what that must have looked like. “Quite… impressive?”

“Guess so, but what about you boss?” Davis gave me a goofy grin. “Can’t have been that bad, right?”

“I suppose not, although I do wish I could find a time mage. I’d go back and slap myself in an instant for choosing it if I had the chance.” I sighed. “Back in Zhomir, I went by “The Raven”.”

There was a moment of silence, and both Zoey and Davis shared a look, before the former quickly turned away in the midst of a coughing fit.

“S-seriously?” Davis didn’t even try to hide his grin. “Haven’t there been like, hundreds of thieves that have-”

“Yes yes, I was only seventeen when I first started you see.” I groaned, giving Zoey a glare as she stopped trying to hide her laughter. “I have been worse. I can at least take comfort in the fact that I didn’t end up calling myself “Shadow”, gods forbid.”

Both Davis and Zoey seemed to find that especially funny, and I let myself join in laughing. Things had been especially tense around camp since the rescue mission for Sean had gone so badly and we had lost several members of the crew.

I had underestimated the threat of the crystal gunslinger that was in town and took full responsibility for the losses. Most that I had met were just mercenaries who would flee at the first signs of real danger, but it seemed that this individual had a bit of a hero complex.

I didn’t relish in taking lives, but he would have to die for what he did to my crew. It was as simple as that. For the time being, I was glad I could help improve the morale at least somewhat.

When the three of us arrived at the storage shed that we were using as a makeshift prison and holding place for the two crystallised members of the crew, I gestured for Zoey and Davis to stay back, approaching carefully with Shimmer and Sparkle in tow.

The door didn’t have a window, so I carefully opened it with my left hand, the other on the handle of my revolver. If this was a trick of some kind, and the mage inside was waiting to unleash some kind of attack, I would have to reach quickly. I sent Shimmer and Sparkle the mental command to ready themselves, and they both let out low growls, smoke starting to trickle out of both their nostrils.

Thankfully, I wasn’t greeted by any kind of surprise ambush or attack, but instead the red-haired researcher looking bored, of all things. Her hands were bound behind her back to a wooden support, and her legs were bound together in front of her, but if she felt any discomfort it didn’t show.

“So, I’m guessing ya’ll must be the big boss round here?” she spoke surprisingly casually. “Like the outfit. Very stylish.”

I narrowed my eyes, scanning the room carefully for anything I needed to be wary of. I had expected the young woman to beg or question why we had captured her, definitely not commenting on my fashion.

“I’m told you wanted to talk to me?” I decided to ignore her comment and cut straight to the heart of the matter.

“Right. Figured I may as well try my luck and see if I can convince ya to let me go.” She shrugged. “Name’s Kate by the way, in case ya didn’t know.”

“And why would we do that?” I had indeed already known her name, but decided not to offer her my own.

“Well, I’m guessing ya know who I am, given you have a whole camp set up here, right?” The researcher grinned. “They told me ya would probably know I was coming before I left.”

“I see.” I nodded carefully, this response catching me quite off guard.

The Sovereign had indeed informed us of who we were dealing with, but he hadn’t mentioned the possibility that they would know of our existence at all. This certainly came as quite a shock, and I was starting to dread what the young woman would say next.

“Ya know what the term “Sovereign” means?” she spoke up before I had a chance to respond further.

“Sure, someone you don’t want to mess with.” I kept my face calm, taking a second to I look back to Davis and Zoey, both of whom were close enough to listen to the conversation.

They were giving me worried expressions, and I honestly didn’t blame them. Someone outside of the Order knowing of the Sovereign was bad news for sure. I quickly sent a mental message from my mask to theirs.

Check the perimeter. We may have trouble soon.

The two jumped slightly as my voice filled their minds, but they quickly nodded in response and ran off to do as I had commanded. It was another useful ability of the masks, albeit only one granted to Enforcers or higher. The instant communication was extremely useful, despite the range limitations.

“You’re not wrong.” Kate laughed, looking me straight in the eyes. “But I’m talking about in the magical sense.”

“Go on then, enlighten me.” I truly didn’t know where the young researcher was going, but I really didn’t like it.

“Well, I’m gonna assume ya know the basics.” Kate’s smile never wavered for a second. “Magic comes from different domains. Lightning, water, knowledge, deception, transformation, travel… the list goes on.”

“Is there going to be a point, or can I go now?” I tried my best to sound bored. “I’m sure you can give this lecture to my boss when I take you to him.”

“Those who have Soulgates can draw mana from their domain into their soul, right?” Kate carried on, ignoring my words. “We just call those standard mages, but once in a while you get someone with a much deeper connection to their domain. Someone who can exert complete control over it. They can even draw enough mana into their bodies to change their souls permanently. I’m guessing ya can figure out what we call ‘em?”

“Sovereigns…” I couldn’t help but answer, actually finding myself deeply interested in what Kate was saying.

“Gold star!” Kate beamed, and I instinctively cocked the hammer on my revolver. “They’re awfully rare, lotta folk don’t even think they exist, but seems like ya found yourself working for one!”

I took a second to process what I had just learned. I knew the Sovereign was powerful, but I didn’t realise his abilities stemmed from a Soulgate.

It was an interesting fact to learn, but ultimately I didn’t see how it changed anything.

“So what? There’s a fancy term for what the boss is, you think that changes anything?”

“Nah, I just wanted ya to understand the term. Otherwise wouldn’t be much point in telling ya I work for a Sovereign too.” Kate’s eyes seemed to flash red for a split second. “Don’t suppose your boss mentioned that?”

I took a step back from the door cautiously, raising my gun and pointing it straight at Kate. The Sovereign had mentioned that a mage, acting as a spy for someone who could be a threat to the Order, would be making their way into Clearvein. He had mentioned nothing of another Sovereign, only that our target was dangerous and to be captured alive.

I would need to have a word with the Sovereign about this. I understood the need to control the flow of information, but I had thought this mission was a simple kidnapping when in reality it seemed like the start of some kind of magical turf war.

“Guess ya had enough, huh?” Kate’s grin only widened as she looked down the barrel of my gun. “By the way, those masks are pretty neat, let you control the creatures?”

I was about to respond, honestly considering doing so with a bullet placed right between the young woman’s eyes, when the distant sound of explosive gunfire made me jerk my head around. That, was a horrible mistake.

“I prefer the gift from my Sovereign.”

I had no time to react before a sudden burst of flame erupted from the inside of the storehouse, sending me flying backwards and destroying the wooden structure entirely. I barely even registered the second distant explosion as I twisted in the air, barely managing to land on my feet as I turned to face Kate, only to find a fiery figure standing amidst the remains of the storehouse.

She was totally wrapped in deep blue flames, completely obscuring her figure to the point that she was unrecognisable as the smug researcher

I had just been talking to. My instincts screamed at me to run from this horrible creature, to get the rest of the Obsidian Outlaws to safety as we were clearly under attack from outside as well, but then I noticed the shattered crystal statues at the fiery being’s feet.

Sam and Jessica, two of the crew that had been crystallised in the accident with the scorpion. I had been keeping them in the storehouse until we could get them to a specialist, but now they lay utterly shattered. Dead.

Kate, or whatever she had become, would pay. I sucked in a breath, feeling rage flow through me, then I raised my revolver and fired a pair of shots into the fiery creature. As I did so, I immediately began mentally commanding Shimmer and Sparkle to my side, watching my crystal tipped bullets punch straight through the swirling blue flames.

“Alright missy, let's dance.”