Three paths become one.

Hear ye, hear ye.

On this very day, the fifth of Frostfall in our very own realm of Irakix a grievous theft, A MOST HEINOUS ONE, was committed. One of immense proportions, the heart stones of the realm itself have been stolen. The stones which are responsible for powering nearly everything in the realm, including the way gates between the realm and others. This means that the realm is a state of emergency, as part of a royal decree any information having to do with the disappearance of the stones must be reported immediately or the death penalty shall be exacted at a later date if it is discovered that you were aware of such information.

These stones have been with the realm for nearly twenty decades and contain the souls of every single deceased aristocrat since the beginning. Without their power, nothing in this land will function efficiently nor will travel be possible between any other realm forever or at least until the stones have been returned. Meaning the thief is stuck here with us and so are every single one of you. Yes, we may be at fault for not properly protecting the stones which were probably not an ideal thing to keep in a very public and laxly guarded museum but we pride ourselves in being fantastic hosts for any and all tourists.

We shall reward any person for any ounce of information as well as VERY GENEROUSLY rewarding anyone for the capture of the thief and the stones. By generously we mean you will be filthy rich, never need to lift another finger for the rest of your life and you can make a castle out of god damn gold. We are the capital of magic and we have money to throw around if it can motivate you to lift even a finger to help us now in our time of need.

As a reminder any magic or technology will be completely reliant on your own talent as it will draw on your energy rather than the stones, meaning everything will be much less efficient as well as exhausting you quickly. However this is only true for those who have no talent and came here to utilize our stones, any mage or say Necromancer with any power themselves could easily operate anything they wanted considering how powerful they are in comparison to the average citizen here in Irakix.

Happy hunting, also you must have a team of three to claim the reward. If you can't find any friends to help you then come on down to the museum to check out other rare artifacts and form a team with others. There is also some security footage if you'd like to take a look, by the way on the third floor we have a very rare statue made of diamond and nothing else if you'd like to take a look. Please do not cross the rope around it or touch the statue while you are viewing thank you.

Peace. Royalty and King Dreeg out!

The heavy smell of mulberry pie filled the air; the smell was almost thick enough to be a visible vapor floating around. It was rather distracting, making him unconsciously think of a happier time in his life. With a drawn out sigh, Phoenix Seraph pulled his pillow from under his head and used it to block out the smell from his nose. There were things in the world that he simply did not want to remember, it hurt too much. Following the dense scent, that had been slowly tainting the air in his room for hours; a hefty sounding fist pounded on his door and began to yell. Phoenix groaned from under the pillow, “not now, Meredith.” He muttered just loud enough for her to hear him.

Outside his door, he knew the old hag who ran the inn he was staying at was waiting for him to get up and leave the vicinity. He didn’t want too, he had stayed up late the night before practicing a new spell he had just learned and it had drained him.

The young mage jumped as the flimsy wooden door was thrown open and there stood the middle-aged woman who owned the Moonrise Inn. Her grayed-brown hair was up in a messy bun and her faded pink homely-looking dress was covered in baking powder. This woman was tall, taller than Phoenix with broad shoulders and thick arms. Anyone could tell at first glance that she was foreign. “Phoenix, where have you hidden my apron this time? I want you out, young man”

Phoenix’s brows knitted together as he tried desperately to remember if it was in fact him who had taken Meredith’s apron again. His eyes scanned the floor rapidly as if it held the answers he was searching for. “I… I um, don’t know, you could have just misplaced it” He looked up at her innocently with a smile, rising out of bed as to not seem rude. “I’m sorry, maybe I can help you find it?” The mage offered.

Meredith glared at him with piercing blue eyes, “I thought I had lost it, which is why I was baking without it, then I remembered that little vermin of yours loves to steal my things, if it wasn’t you this time, it had to be him” This time it was her who looked around the room, peering at every corner to try and find Phoenix’s beloved pet ferret.

“Artemis?” After thinking about it for a moment, Phoenix chuckled a little and turned to kneel before the bed. He peeked beneath the sturdy wooden bed he had been awoken from and sure enough, there was Artemis, his pure white ferret, curled up in a ball on top of Meredith’s apron. With a smile he exclaimed, “Artemis! You scoundrel you! How could you take dear Meredith’s apron?”

Tiredly, the small ferret looked up at Phoenix that mirrored his master’s, pure black. Before Phoenix could demand he give it back, Meredith stomped over to the bed and stood behind the mage. “Get my apron back from the vermin!!” It was somewhat obvious that she was afraid of Artemis or she’d get it herself.

He was already reaching his arm under the bed to retrieve the stolen apron, “right, I’m on it”. Artemis scurried to the corner of the bed, allowing his master to take his nest away. “Thanks, buddy” he whispered. “Got it” When he pulled the apron out from under the bed and stood up there were visible claw marks right in the center of the thick material. “Great…” Phoenix turned on his heels, he had to crane his neck upwards to see Meredith’s face clearly. “Here you go, oh right, and my fee for the past couple of nights”

Phoenix dug through the pockets of his pants hurriedly trying to find enough coins to satisfy the enraged woman who was only growing more upset with every passing minute. He took all the contents of his pockets and handed them to her. “I’ll just be heading out now, sorry about your apron” Smiling sweetly he snatched up his boots, gauntlet and belt, attempting to put them on as he hopped on one foot toward the doorway.

“This isn’t enough for the trouble you’ve caused me, what with your fire tricks two nights ago and last night I heard you chanting, all night, it kept me up, and my apron that you kept taking. It’s ruined now, my only apron” She was watching him rush around to get his things and leave.

“But you said you wanted me out” Phoenix stopped and stared at the woman. “You’ll have to forgive me, miss, I really don’t mind to rush out like this without paying in full, but you did say you wanted me out and I don’t want to impose any longer… Artemis it’s time to leave” Artemis ran out from under the bed and hurried up Phoenix’s leg all the way up to his shoulder. With a deep breath Phoenix reached for a pouch at his belt, pulling out a single card with archaic symbols on both sides. He closed his eyes, holding the card close to his chest. When he opened his eyes again they had a yellow, flame-like glow to them. ((Like Black Rock Shooter I guess)). “Indespectus” The word came out as just a whispered but it echoed through both their ears as if he had had said it normally.

The middle-aged woman was unsure what he was doing, what spell was the young mage going to cast, was he going to hurt her? In the blink of an eye, Phoenix and his companion had vanished.

A minute had passed, outside the inn Phoenix stood with his arms up in a stretching position. He ran his fingers through his thick blond hair to make it return to its original spiky ways. “Ugh… Now where am I going to sleep?” Behind him he heard the voice of Meredith shouting his name, “Whoops better get out of here, eh Artemis?” He pet his friend lightly on the head and bent over to pick up his sword. “Can’t believe I almost forgot this, let’s go, before she gets the authorities after us”

He ran as fast as he could toward the only place he knew to go, town square, where he could blend in among all the odd balls that wandered around or hurried about, depending on who they were. Artemis dove into Phoenix’s shirt so he wouldn’t be lost in the running. “So, when we get to the center of town, we should probably get food, you have to be just as hungry as I am. Or maybe that’s just me…”

Upon arriving in town he had to sit and catch his breath, the smell of fresh baked bread caught his attention so he ducked into a local bakery and attempted to buy a bit of food.

“Wait, what?! I could’ve sworn I had at least… Right… I gave it all to Meredith” His stomach growled pitifully. “Never mind than” Phoenix hung his head and walked toward the exit. He felt a familiar, painful pinch on his chest. “Ow, what?” He asked his friend who was still hiding in his shirt. Artemis crawled out and sat on his master’s shoulder, Phoenix followed Artemis’s beady little gaze to where a few officials were walking around asking groups of townsfolk questions.

“Damn… We’re screwed; I’m not a criminal… Well, guess there is only one way out of this, right?” He looked up, the sun was directly above town square, there was no hiding in the shadows. I’ll have to make a run for it. In the center of town square stood the way gate that he had to get too, the one that led to the realm of Irakix, the most magically advanced place in the world. In his way there were far too many people to count. Phoenix took off toward the way gate.

Here goes nothing.

The forest echoed with the sounds of birds, and it irritated Jayni. She practically hated the living. Now, had it been a chorus of dead birds, that she could live with. Jayni shook her head and did her best to ignore the chirps as she made her way through the dense trees. She stepped over the occasional rock, and fallen tree.

She had to admit it, she was getting lonely among the living she preferred the company of ghouls, fiends, and spirits in general. Ahead lay a corpse, it was a man about 35 years old, he was well shaven and had been the feast of many animals. His organs were almost all gone his spine exposed, the predators left his flesh and limbs – mostly. Jayni smiled with excitement, this was her chance. Surely though, she did not want to communicate with this guy. She kneeled down and grabbed his face, moving it side to side. He was a fine corpse indeed. His skin hadn't even started to decompose.

A sigh escaped the girl and she ran a fingers through her long black hair as she prepared herself. Turning one corpse into another kind of corpse was probably the hardest of her skills. But raising this man from the dead would just prove to be more of a headache – those recently deceased don't take too well to seeing life again. It's just too soon, too much 'unfinished business'.

The spirally carved, wooden staff began to emit energy, and Jayni focused. There had to be something dead around here that she could find solace in. She tapped her staff impatiently on the ground, her eyes glowed slightly, and her soul was connected to the spirit world. She sorted through nearby apparitions, 'Too talkactive.. Too depressed... Ugh no. No.. no! Hmmm... no. Jayni thought as she sorted through souls.

“Aha!” She exclaimed and set her energy in motion to raise a bunny, and in moments it was there beside her. The bunny lacked fur in some places, the cause of death was still apparent, teeth marks were visible on the bunny's neck and body, and bones stuck out in funny places. It was far too skinny to not be hungry.

“Hey there little one.” she spoke softly. “You're mine for now.” She scooped up the furry fiend in her free hand, the other let the staff fall and drag against the ground as she started to walk again. The bunny moved slightly in Jayni's hand before settling in. “I'll take good care of you for as long as I can.”

The dragging staff left a trail behind- parting the fallen leaves that littered the ground and leaving traces in the dirt when leaves weren't present. It was the perfect trail for the soul that followed doggedly behind. He had been there since Jayni could remember, though she was pretty sure he thought he had gone unnoticed. As if spirits could escape her consciousness.

Back on the ship she had heard this thoughts – he complained about how sailing was the oldest traveling method in the book. At the time Jayni ignored it, his spirit was about as old – but she need not point that out, rather she wanted to see what his plan was. She was almost certain it was a spirit sent to accompany her by her sister. Quite honestly, Jayni had set up her own sentinel back home, she couldn't blame Praxmy. But on the off chance it wasn't a Praxmy-sent guide, then she kept her guard up. Some spirits were just plain malicious.

Eventually Jayni got tired of carrying the bunny and set it down, for a dead animal risen from the bones of a man it kept up pretty well. Jayni was impressed with herself, the bunny could have turned out much worse. Jayni shivered remembering her attempts at necromancy when she was young – the results were more disgusting than the corpses she tried to raise them from, and that was saying something.

The city was just up ahead and Jayni grew excited. Sure, she had taken the most round-about way possible, traveling from the Ruins of Consre by ship, then hiking through a forest but that was the joy of it all – who didn't love a good adventure? Besides it was the Ruins of Consre, no one was putting in an active effort to keep the place up to date. Rather, the void and desolation of it made it the perfect home for necromancers. Living in such an advanced city with almost no connection to the peasants that built it- that was no place for a ancient-loving, deceased cherishing group. The past is beautiful.

The excitement bubbled up in Jayni, first stop? A cemetery – or the museum, her second favorite thing was artifacts. Irakix was said to have stones with amazing power, holding the spirits of all the aristocrats in them. Imagine being in their power! Goosebumps washed over her skin, just being in the presence of those spirits would give her a Necromancer high, she was sure of it. Necromancers have always loved visiting those stones, and Jayni's parents told her all about them before they died.

“Let's go little bunny. Don't worry you'll be fine moving from realm to realm as long as you're with me.”

The air was fluttering with the sounds of poor people piffling wears that no one with money wanted, the streets littered with just as many people who had little to distinguish themselves from the actual litter itself paving the side walks. Water flushed from strange pipes from so many sources that everyone feared letting a dribble hit them in case it was from the sewer or the vomiting well near the old bar, releasing stock for the new daily passage of puking for the early drinkers. Dump Down Alley wasn't a place that you like to hear a full description about but it was worse in person, which has earned it infamy for being one of the few places on this world to surpass the words used to depict it.

A tumor in the traffic occurred of bypassing con men and desperately searching nobodies as they all clogged up on the side of one the pavements "LADIES, AND GENTLEMEN" the voice called it out with a theatrical display between his guttural, lower town common tongue but none paid attention "OI, look 'ere you docile drunks" That turned a few. "I wish to present to you, a man from the forest. He has drunk fire, endured stab wounds, dove into the lavender lands in his youth and he is here today to amaze you with the gift from beyond that his many years of teaching have wrought"

The man announcing swung his arms from side to side, wobbled around his prospective observers with the same grace as a drunk warden who couldn't be bothered to shower for a while. His clothes were fancy, as in they did not look like ragged leather from a suicidal cow compared to the merging, patch work of dirty faces at this single junction. A young boy, not yet tainted by his station tugged on a dreary mothers arm who was pulled with ease towards him "Come, mother. Maybe this man can help us" he uttered in tone that proudly displayed hope without shame as the few adults drifted to the side to reveal his potential answer to his enigmatic prays.

Before them all stood a man who eyes had sunken into holes declared too depressing for moles to crawl into unless they gave up on life, his eye sockets were so black that it was hard to tell where his irises sat and the ashen bruises started. His face was wrinkled beyond repair, splitting apart with cracks that only worsened as his cheeks split into a toothy smile, perhaps the only item shown not falling apart so far. His skin wore its veins all over to such an extent it was like peeking into a machines wiring while his pigment was a ghostly whites. He seemed tall, without being it, he was slightly smaller than the regular man but his shadow over took them easily as he stood proud.

His clothes consisted of a red piece of clothe, carefully cleaned with the smell of flower petals while blaring a crimson red. In the areas at his ankles, wrists and right shoulder straps of belt held leather armor and accessories, declaring their experience from the dents collected in the past "Hello" his tongue spitting words like rocks even when smiling.

"Mommy, I don't like him" the child meekly complained in reaction. Becoming teary eyed as she picked him up and carried him away. Her own look still as dead than alive.

"I hate kids"

The crowd quickly closed up around him again as the woman could be spotted cradling her son in her retreat, while none the crowd were crying many who were not so pissed that they could tell what they were actually looking at had a wide set of eyes themselves as they tried not to meet his diamond sharp gaze "Right. Well" the announcer said after the silence soaked in for a moment "now that is over with. May I please offer you. Gin Rae. Master of the Scolding Fist"

"Scolding fist....?" the man spoke up from within the belly of the crowd, he may of been hidden but his voice was blatant in its half annoyed query at the men before him "Yes, the scolding fist. Master of an other worldly summery of spiritual anger. He is the weapon of the dead, the bullet of the body...he is-" the announcer was, however cut off before finishing his spiel "He hits things" The man, this time had come into view. He stood forth, blond hair that would put most nobles to shame and while he had dirt on him like any other. He wore it was a sense of character that delivered confidence, all while he cradle a metal shield.

"My good sir, you make a mockery of the finest art known to man. Martial arts! Can you not see the value in the mastery of the body" the announcer never stopped his gig, he always spoke loudly but judging by how he couldn't actually remain straight for more than ten seconds that might of been because he was as drunk as he actually looked and couldn't tell he was screaming at people "That's all fine and good but we got magic here..I saw a man, turn into a woman yesterday. How the hell is a glorified boxer going to match that" the crowds all bobbled their heads in agreement, half filled with fear as Gin stared into the abyss with enough intensity to scare a statue.

"Well, nay sayer. If you would please put your money where your mouth is. Give me your shield and Gin will prove his power. He will show the art of the angry dead" now the announcer was waving his arms as if he was trying to hypnotist a snake when spoke of the dead, twirling them at all around before slowly taking the shield out of the mans hands who gave consent with his inquisitive frown and lack reaction. The shield was unremarkable, yet polished and sturdy as it was laid to rest on a tiny wooden stall before Gin rae who merely looked down upon it with disdain.

The wind left the area as silence fell, the man before them only placing his hands together and closing his eyes as pointed his forehead at the obstacle before him. His stature stood straight as a tower as the small oncoming collection of breaths came from his noses. Sweat, clambered out his face in evacuation. His body boiled and his nose now breathing in air so hard and out that the man down the street could feel it on his neck. Heat amassed, his nose only getting faster as the vein in his skull twirling under his skin like worms.

"SMASH!"

The blow was not even seen but before anyone could keep up with the sudden strike, his blistering red, sweat soaked hand had fallen on the table. Splitting the shield across the floor along with a collection of splintered wood.

"HEY....THAT'S MY SHIELD" cried out a voice in protest, but it didn't come from the blond haired man. Instead guards were carried in the distance with the accusation towards them, at first Gin looked at the announcer, then at the man.

".......really....." He merely asked before the stool was flooded with guards and officers, and one. Very upset blacksmith.

Boots hit the pavement hard as the young man ran forward to the large, swirling purple portal that stood in the middle of town. There was no going back now. His breathing quickened and his heart pounded. What a rush. “’Scuse me, pardon me! Sorry, miss!” He exclaimed as he hurried through the crowds of people filling the square. Lucky for him the town square in Riven was particularly overloaded with people that day, probably because the newest shipment of fish had come from the ports miles away and all the townsfolk wanted some. It was nearly impossible to get to the Way Gate with all the people swarming around it. Come on… come on!!

The authorities were after him; Meredith had made him look like a thief who wanted nothing more than to rob the citizens blind. She had finally had enough of him and he guessed that was what he deserved, but he refused to go to jail. It was so frustrating. At least they couldn’t see him among the masses. In a last ditch effort to get to the Way Gate, Phoenix dove forward through the crowd. Ow. He landed flat on his stomach and slid a little. The tips of his fingers touched the silver hoop that went around the portal giving it its round shape. The mage scrambled to his feet, giving a last glance behind himself before stepping into the portal. “Too easy.”

When at last the mage arrived in Irakix, which only really took a few moments, he was surprised to find that this particular Way Gate led to a slummier part of Irakix. One he had never seen before. “Hah. Bookstore. No, food. I need work.” He muttered to himself, speaking his thoughts out loud. There were spell books that he wanted and he knew there were always book shops with ancient books in places like these. However, he needed food or else he was sure he’d faint. When was the last time he had eaten, yesterday? Oh that was such a long time ago!

The first thing the young mage noticed after stepping through the Way Gate was the smell, it wreaked like dead things and rear ends. Or something of the sort. “Yuck.” He moved his hand to plug his nose. “Oh! Artemis.” All along his chest were claw marks from where the ferret had clung on desperately. The mage hadn’t even noticed until now. “Great. Now I’m going to get blood on my shirt. You think I have more than one of these? You silly ferret.”

Artemis wiggled as Phoenix removed him from the shirt and held him close to his face, rubbing the fuzzy creature against his cheek. “Hey buddy” He said affectionately, “We made it.” A smile spread across the mage’s face. His friend sniffed the air for a moment before scurrying back down into the mage’s shirt. “I know it’s no good, it’s just this part of town, the rest of Irakix is beautiful, I promise.”

Ahead, he saw a large group. He noticed that a handful of the authorities was filing into the group arresting someone. “Oh great, more guards. Come on Artemis. We gotta see what’s going on.” He thought for a moment before taking a step forward. His sense of justice strongly outweighed his laziness and he took off toward the group. Pushing his way through, Phoenix saw who the guards were arresting, the man was, deformed looking. Like no one he had ever seen before. Why would they be arresting such a man, when he could hardly defend himself? “Hey!! You guards better not be wrongly accusing this man!”

The officers had little effect on disbursing the crowd as they started to slip past the local rabble and move up to gin. His announcer had vanished, wobbling out of existences finally at the first sign of law enforcement with the stealth of a politicians shadow. The people themselves look just as much at the guards as they did at him but gave only minimal space, causing many to be shoved aside while other guards were more concerned with watching at their pockets with so many slum sort lurking under and around them "You broke my shield!" cried out a voice, bellowing out a wild moan at the sight of a proud design being reduced to trash before his feet.

The black smith, equally as old as Gin himself but far more healthy looking with his dashingly white streaks of hair, brushed only with small remnants of youthful brown. His body lacked any wrinkles besides his eyes from obvious years of smiling but alas no such thing would be seen as he fell into sadness at the sight of his work discarded "You destroyed my shield" he said with the meek croak of a sputtering throat as he clutched a single side that had managed to retain some sort of identity outside of bent, overly dense bits of crumbled foil.

"Do you know what this meant to me. I needed this, how am I going to look into my nephew eyes and tell him I'm short for his wedding" he phrased his words in questions but the mans eyes sought no answer as they sunk deeper into the trouble that fate had thrown him in. He held his former crafty work for a moment before letting it fall on the floor with a clatter "Do you have the-" he begun before he was interrupted by a young voice.

“Hey!! You guards better not be wrongly accusing this man!”

Almost everyone in the crowd turned their heads to the charging man before them, those who did not shrunk into the floor and left with clenched fits and blatantly obvious fuller pockets from other around them, spreading like ants alarmed by rain in every direction. Three officers were standing by the guards, unarmored but dressed in uniforms and carrying the same sense of authoritarian protection in their gaze. All of their chest, whether wearing plate or not were paraded without shame but above that their faces were plastered with the stoic stare of dead assurance "We didn't accuse him. We saw him do it" one said in an accent not of the area "In fact, everybody did" piped up a close slummer as they all nodded.

Gin stuck his back up tall and without weight to it, even when holding all the shadows of those now against him on his shoulders. His frown spoke of a different story as it bore a ladder of frustration across his skull, it was a frown practiced time and time again, his wrinkles tailored to accommodate it in waves when it appeared. His eyes, remained sharp but the blackness in them slithered from abysmal to tar like, losing any shine to them in the situation as he inspected the man before him "They are correct. I am guilty" he said it without retention but he quickly blow out the last of his energy with each word, his tone tired in the face of this all.

"I do not have any money to pay for the damage I have done" as he spoke those words, all his rage would become nullified under the jurisdiction of law that stood before him, his straight back bending over slightly as he let his stiff head drop in shame despite the obvious anger flushing thru it as he admitted his poverty and inability to strangers of all sorts. His back open and his hands, now on his knees without a hint to combat what is to come.

"I do not have any money to pay for the damage I have done." The poor man admitted in what seemed to Phoenix like defeat. He got onto his knees and surrendered. Phoenix knew there was something gone on here that he had missed and he couldn't stand and watch this man, although guilty, go to jail for something so small. There had to be something the mage could do to help the man. He thought and thought hard, whilst the officers were getting ready to put the man in shackles and drag him away. At last an idea came to Phoenix and he was ashamed he hadn't thought of it before. "Excuse me, officers and blacksmith, I believe I have a solution." With a smirk the mage swiped the pieces of shield from the ground and carefully removed the other half of the shield from the arms of the blacksmith. "Don't worry sir, I'll get this right back to you."

There had once been a time where Phoenix studied alchemy constantly. He had learned from some of the best but never quite got the hang of it and decided to stick to his card magic and sword fighting. But this seemed like the perfect solution to the problem they were having. He had no doubts in his mind that he could fix the shield it was just a matter of drawing a perfect circle, which was about the hardest part.

Phoenix pulled a piece of chalk from his pocket and began drawing a circle on the ground just big enough for the shield to fit in. He drew lines in the circle to form a neatly drawn up transmutation circle. "Now just place the pieces here." Gently he laid down the pieces of the shield in the circle. "This is gonna be great!!" It had been some time since he had done alchemy, even basic alchemy, but he knew he could do it. Unlike real alchemists, the mage used his cards instead of his hands. Dramatically, he removed a card from one of his pouches after replacing his chalk. He held the card up in the air for a moment before shouting, "exsercio!" The word echoed in all of the by standers ears as he threw down the card on top of the shield. There was a flash of light in the center of the circle and suddenly the shield was repaired like new. "There, all better."

He picked up the shield and returned it to whom he knew to be the rightful owner, the blacksmith. "Now, officers, if you don't mind, I think this man should be let free since all has been mended. What do you say gentlemen?" His face was smiley, he held an air of confidence that no one else around him seemed to have, the young man obviously didn't belong there but he was glad he showed up there when he did.

---

His breathing was heavy, his heart raced in his ears. It didn't bother him much, he had made it. Moments ago, the aged thief had made his way into the museum and stolen the Heart Stones. The main source of magic in the all the realms. The man was getting a large sum of money for this job and wasn't going to screw it up now. At last, he was nearing the edge of the forest in Irakix and wanted nothing more than to get rid of the stones so that he could get his money. He ran and continued to run even as the bell sounded behind him in the city, there was no stopping him now. So you've brought me what I've asked for then? There was a voice inside of the thief's head that wasn't his own. It was the mage, the powerful man who had hired him. But he was no where in sight.

"H-hello?" The man skidded to a halt and looked around, his breathing labored for he had been running for a long distance. "Where are you, sir?" He asked the empty sky. A man floated down from the sky out of no where to hover before the thief.

"You must have the stones or else the would not be sounding. Where are they?" The mage demanded, his voice only slightly muffled from the material that covered the lower half of his face. "Yes, yes of course! It was far too easy, sir, now about the money..." Holding out the the black velvet bag full of all the Heart Stones, the thief held out his other hand to receive his payment. "Ah yes. you're payment." The mage stuck out his hand palm toward the thief and then closed it into a fist. The velvet bag disappeared and the man's glowing eyes seemed to show satisfaction. His fist glowed and when he opened his palm again a ball of green energy flew toward the thief.

"What... no!!" He ran for his life but when the ball hit him square in the back he turned to dust.

His power was great, he had nothing to fear; his power would only grow now that he had the Heart Stones. From a short distance away he heard someone talking, it was the voice of a young girl. He snapped his head in the direction the girl was coming from, had she seen the whole thing? With the girl was an undead rabbit, she must have been a necromancer. "There must be no witnesses." He shouted toward her in what seemed like rage. Once again, he threw his arm out and then too the side in a horizontal motion. A great wave of energy flew toward her and if she didn't dodge would possibly kill her. The mage didn't wait to see if it finished her off, he disappeared in a puff of black smoke and all was silent again save for the sound of the emergency bell in the distance.

Jayni was not impressed, when she stepped through the portal the forest led to more forest. It wasn't the same dense forest with only slivers of light shining through a leaf ceiling, rather the trees were far more sparse. There was much more shrubbery in this forest. Though, Jayni couldn't help but to question, how far had the portal taken her, really? Giving a shrug she looked down to pet her bunny fiend, but more so to make sure the bunny had indeed made it through whole. The little whiskers moved and the bunny looked up at her, she smiled in response.“I told you you'd be okay. Now we just need to get to the museum.” Before she had taken another step she was flood with an overwhelming presence of spirits, one she had never felt before. She was certain it was from the stones- and that meant she was close to the city. They must have been really powerful for her to feel them and not even see the city yet. The bunny's ears perked and it hopped to the right, Jayni looked to see but she only saw one person, the trees were blocking her view. She took a couple steps closer, the bunny followed.

There was a man standing in the forest, carrying something, but he was breathing hard and then Jayni wasn't quite sure she was right, but it looked as though he were talking but there was no one else around. The presence of the spirits had gotten more intense with her few steps. He was looking all about trying to find something, or someone. Then, a mage floated down from the sky. Jayni hadn't noticed her fiend had started to hop away, towards the action. “No. Bun-bun. Get back here.” she said, but the bunny continued – apparently drawn to the spirit aura. “Dang it.” she said and began to will the bunny back, her eyes glowed slightly, and soon the bunny was at her feet. “Thank you.” and she lifted the bunny into her arms. “We need to get out of here. Before I'm drawn to the spirits too. It must be some other kind of spirit stone. Let's go.”

Then she heard the man cry out, she turned to look, but the only thing she saw was green energy turning him to dust. The mage turned and saw her he was now holding the black velvet bag, and she took a step back. It had all began to sink in, this man now held in his hands the heart stones – or something equally as powerful and Jayni wanted no part in it, she had no sense of justice for Irakix, only pure concern for her life.

The rest happened quickly, he shouted at her, but her brain refused to process the information because the next thing she knew, there was a wave of deadly energy headed towards her, and she was never much of a fighter. The mage disappeared and instinctively she threw her staff in front of her, it was a sad sight, the small necromancer holding out her staff, huddled behind it as though the wood would protect her. But in moments she felt the spirit that had followed her the whole time tugging at her conscious, he was in front of the staff. That's it she thought and clenched her eyes shut as the wave struck.

She felt pain, lots of pain. Slowly she opened her eyes, and she was staring at the sky. Her head ached, she could feel her heart pounding in her chest, her limbs were like jello. Carefully and slowly she sat up, and she could see the extent of the damage. Then she laughed, pain shot through her body but she couldn't help it. She had lived. The spirit shield had actually worked. Then she noticed a few feet in front of her, various limbs lay in a pile on the ground. She had summoned all willing spirits in front of her, and they had absorbed most of the energy, there hadn't been enough spirits to take in it all. The spirits had taken so much energy though that from the energy their limbs were manifested. Hands, legs, arms, just pieces of people. Jayni laughed some more, there was a first for everything.

“Bun-bun?” She asked suddenly, and she looked around, the bunny's corpse lay in the pile of limbs, and she felt her heart sink. She couldn't search the spirit world now, she wouldn't be able to sustain the connection, aside from limbs, she wasn't even sure what happened to the spirits. Jayni bit her tongue and her conscious felt heavy. All she did was lay back down and stare at the sky, letting the pain remind her she was alive, and that she hadn't quite joined the spirit world, yet.

The black smiths latched his marble joints around the shield as phoenix handed it to him from trash heap it formally was, the wrinkles on the side of his eyes spread out as his cheeks lifted up high when looking down at the shield in a long and careful inspecting gaze. He stayed silent for a moment as he slowly flipped it from one side to another and then set his eyes upon him "Why.." he started off meekly, his voice weak with his face still giving a static stare at him before muttering "Yes. Thank you, you don't know what this means to my nephew...and me" The middle aged black smith look up to the selection of guards that had slowly encircled the three of them while he was drawing the chalk.

"I think we should respect his wishes. Since he solved the issue" he said softly before smiling at Gin and Phoenix. Gin had long risen from his submissive bow when the boy had stepped in, now standing with the same stoic gaze that only reek of rage from the cracks of his forehead "Yes. I think I won't push any charges" he meekly commented as he started to crack under the constant glare of not only gin but the crowd of officers and guards who had an unfeeling inspection down at them all "Very well. The smiths charge are dropped" said one of the uniformed officers towards phoenix before turning his eyes to the stone faced, gin "You should thank this, man. Crooked, He just saved you from going back to the cells with Clairford" one of the guards commented with a nod to the young man as he did.

The old man turned his veiny face towards him and drunk him deep in a slow nod up and down with his tar pit pair of eyes before letting churning out a crackled and stern "thank you" that weighed as heavy as bricks and sounding just as artificial towards him as the rummage of enforcers and people finally left the scene with just the two of them and the splintered mess that was once a wooden stool.

Phoenix nodded at the man, ignoring what the officers had said to him even though they had been a bit harsh on him for just breaking a shield. But he was glad he could help. "Of course, no problem." The mage said cheerfully. Before he could say anything or ask any questions there was a panicked shriek from nearby and a the emergency bell rang out in the distance. Phoenix, who as a mage could sense other mages, looked around quickly. There was someone powerful nearby, he could feel it. "Artemis, where is that coming from?" Artemis poked his nose out of Phoenix's shirt, when he smelled the rancid smell in the air he returned to his place. "Artemis c'mon this is important."

The white ferret poked his whole head out and then slowly crawled out onto Phoenix's shoulder. "Which way is that mage?" Artemis looked left and looked right before crawling onto the opposite shoulder and pointing to the West with his nose. "Alright! Say old fellow, why don't you get indoors, something strange is going on, or maybe... you could come with me! You were the one who broke that shield in half, right? Well whatever you did, maybe you could do it again? Come on!" He did not wait for the old man to reply, instead, he took off in the direction Artemis had pointed.

The young man ran toward the West, out of town and toward the forest. When he arrived their was no one around. But he noticed left him with chills down his spine. The first thing he noticed was a pile of glowing green ashes. The remnants of a life form. When Phoenix investigated more he saw a young girl lying on her back some distance away. "Oh gods! Oh gods! Oh gods!!" Phoenix darted toward the body and knelt on one knee beside her. "Excuse me miss are you okay?"

Quickly, the mage pulled a card from one of his pouches and held it over the girl's stomach in two fingers. "Auxilio" He whispered. The card vanished in a blue spark and the girl's wounds suddenly faded away. "Your wounds are healed, miss, but you will still be in pain for quite some time."

Gin skinny frame remained unmoving before the kindness of the man before him, he had scowled so much thru the entire ordeal that it seemed to have fixed itself permanently as a feature on his face much like his nose or his sunken eyes, however it lifted a little out place when the man before him replied. At first what should be joy had gave way into a strange quizzical look. his eyes peeping at him as he lean his shoulder back to the side. His pose was one that was expecting an attack while thoroughly investigating his lack of further words "Are-" He couldn't finished though before the siren sound of fear before the clattering of bells in the distance.

Gin swirled around in order to inspect the distance it had come from, his eyes squinting for a moment before letting out a half apathetic "It's not a town fire" before turning back to his savoir only to be greeted by the protruding face of a furry creature that quickly scurried back into the serenity of his master clothes. He, too gave a flex of his nostril after the animal which immediately broke the sternness of his expression into a crumbled up brow in unsaid agreement as he looked around a bit to remember where he was "It might be the smell" he said in a manner that was obviously meant to be a joke but spoken with the innate bitterness of a threat.

At the first prospect of hiding Gin draw breath to argue "No. I have-" before becoming silent in the face of being offered to break more things than he already have "No. I must catch the true thief. He has wronged me" at some point half way thru he was talking to himself as the dutiful stranger had already scrambled with the spirit of a pilot at war time. Gin kept his twin pair of sink holes on the man as he scattered into the oblivion of horizon and then started to turn around to walk the opposite direction before stopping in his tracks. His nostrils flexed a couple of times, causing him to look at the pipe 3 feet away that was now making churning noises that would put vomiting plague victims to shame.

A guttural roar fumbles out its throat as the pipe sneezes out a rat into a left standing bucket for water "Forget it. I can't do anything worse to him than this place can" he says in a shameful as the rat clambered out of the water and into the alleyway. Turning to chase after phoenix in retreat of this town .

Gin had been tailing the man who had a clear head start, every time he'd see him he'd vanish into another tree or bush like the elves of old tales. Gin croaked out a request to slow down a couple of minutes or so but his voice was so aged that it was hard to tell him from a singing toad they had passed on occasion. When he finally caught up the image of the stranger practicing more magics was clear as he flipped out another card over something he couldn't spot and he wouldn't do so as his eyes immediately turned to the green pile of goo before him, luring him in slowly.

Then, more noticeably he saw the scattered limbs across the floor that had been haphazardly laid in the forest from what he can only assume to be a failed out door picnic for the local cemetery residents "...What the..." he let off with his face slanted in a confused glare as he knelt before the ruin of flesh. Picking one up while at the same time turning away from it in disgust.

"Your wounds are healed, miss, but you will still be in pain for quite some time."

Gin scan the scene before peering over his shoulder and shouting "Do you think you got a spell to recover missing body parts..." he asked before mumbling "Like, maybe a couple of torso and heads...What the hell happened here?"

Time had passed -Jayni was sure of it. How much, now that she could not answer. The sun had moved, definitely but she was never really sure how proportionate the sun's movement was with the time. She had thought about getting up, she really had, but that took energy, and that took dealing with more of the pain – and that just made her unmotivated. Surely she should go to the city, get herself looked at, report her information on the missing stones, the thief, the mage, but that didn't even seem important at the moment.

The grass beneath her back pricked her skin and made it itchy, she still didn't move, at one point she began counting clouds – until she had counted all of them in her vision, which wasn't many at all. She wanted bun-bun back, and she wanted to undo everything that had happened in the last half hour, fifteen minutes, hour? She wasn't sure, but she wanted it all to go away. At one point she thought she had convinced herself to get up, but before really moving she had given up again.

Her trip to Irakix was not supposed to go like this. She was not supposed to be attacked. The stones, some stones- whatever they were were not supposed to be stolen. The bell- alarm was not supposed to be ringing off in the distance. She felt like her whole trip was a waste and that she might as well just get up, walk back to the portal and have the spirits send someone to bring her back to the Ruins with her sister. Yes – that was what she needed to do.

There were footsteps in the distance, this gave hope to Jayni, then she felt her blood run cold as she thought of the possibility of someone being sent to finish her off, or make sure she had died. She almost got up, but she saw the person who had entered the forest. It was a man with golden hair and armor he didn't look like an evil minion.

“Excuse me miss, are you okay?”

“Oh. Uh. Yeah. I'm just wonderful.” She said, the words caused her to cough -she hadn't spoken since the attack and didn't realize it was of any strain at all until now. When the mage pulled a card out Jayni flinched – she was still jumpy and half expected him to attack her – despite his apparent concern.

Then, Jayni felt her wounds practically disappear. A hand reached across her stomach and she didn't feel the wounds – not that she had felt them before, she was only certain there where there and did not want to alarm herself. But now, there was nothing, nothing but smooth skin. Jayni couldn't help but to laugh again. Not only had she survived but now she was healed – what a day. Wait til Praxmy hears this! She thought.. Her sister wouldn't believe a word of it.

Since she was healed Jayni sat up, but the mage was right, she would be in pain – it hurt. She let out a small groan as she braced herself to stand, and to her own surprise she could. It had completely slipped her mind that she might be capable of anything but lying on the ground – almost wallowing in her self-pity.

“Well, uhm. Thank you.” Jayni said as she looked at the man.

She hadn't even really noticed the second person enter the scene, but she heard him, and when she looked he was over by the pile of limbs. She cringed at the thought of the attack, of the spirits, of Bun-bun. Then he asked.

“Bun-bun.” She said quietly, walking over to see the corpse, she knelt down and grimaced in pain as she picked it up and held it close.

Jayni didn't have many words for what had actually happened. She, really didn't know how to explain.

“The result of spirits and energy.” was all she said before turning her back to the pile, she kept bun-bun close to her chest and petted the lifeless bunny's head.

When he had used his power there was a strange sensation in his body that he hadn't felt very often. It was the feeling of draining, like using his powers had actually drained him. This had only ever happened when he overused his abilities. He couldn't think of an explanation so he decided to ignore it for the time being and try to figure out what was going on. "You're welcome!"

The body parts had gone unnoticed by him for some time until the older man pointed them out. It appeared the young girl was a Necromancer, it was even more obvious when she held a lifeless rabbit close to herself. Necromancer's were strange to him but not unlike him, they had powerful magics just as he did. "I'm sorry about your rabbit. Could you tell us what happened?" Phoenix tilted his head a bit with a friendly smile, trying not to worry about what was really going on, trying to get her not to worry as well. From where he was the air was clearer and he liked it that way, no stench just the smell of the trees and fresh air, it made it easier to think.

"I don't mean to worry either of you, but there could be a serious emergency going on. Once we get the information on what happened here, we should head into town... I mean I will head into town, neither of you have to follow if you don't want too." He chuckled a little and placed his hand on the back of his head in what seemed like embarrassment. This mage appeared to be a natural born leader, but he had never lead anyone so it wasn't coming to him very fast.

Artemis climbed down from Phoenix's shoulder and moved to criss-cross between the girl's feet. It appeared as though he was trying to comfort her about her lost pet. "Artemis, don't be a nuisance." When the mage went to pick up his ferret friend, Aretmis climb up the girl's leg and up her body to her shoulder. "Heh heh. Sorry about him, but I think he's taken a liking to you, miss."

Phoenix was about to say more but he was stopped short by a trio that ran up to them. "Hey you three, haven't you heard what's going on?!" One of the men spoke. "Actually no, I was just about to enter town and see what it was." Phoenix replied to the man.

"King Dreeg has spoken. He has said that any team of three that brings in the thief who stole the Heart Stones will be most generously rewarded. And any one with information on it shall be rewarded too, if you know anything, I wouldn't withhold any of it or the death penalty is your fate." The man spoke again this time in a serious, but somewhat dramatic tone.

"Heart Stones... stolen??" The mage's eyes grew wide in a sudden realization. "No wonder... I'm completely reliant on myself as far as my magic goes, the Heart Stones are gone giving me nothing to draw energy from..."

"Well, be seeing you three, we are going to be the ones to capture the thief and get the reward!" All three men took off deeper into the forest, completely ignoring the pile of body parts as they left.

"Did you hear that? The Heart Stones STOLEN!" Phoenix sat down on the ground cross-legged with his chin resting in the palm of his hand. "What am I to do? I haven't eaten in a whole day and I'm completely reliant on my own strength to use my powers. And there is no leaving the realm now since the Way Gates will be unusable. This is a disaster!" He looked up at the other two. "Any ideas, new friends? Oh by the way..." He wanted to introduce himself but refuse to stand due to his lazy nature. "I'm Phoenix Seraph, a mage from the city of Mynx. And you are?"

“The result of spirits and energy.”

Gin lifted himself from the floor, looming his shadow over the gory scene before and consequentially over the woman that now caressed her former companion. The abysmal eyes of his flashes cloaks of white as he looked to the sides, into the hairs of the forest around him, soaking in something invisible as he took a deep breath "Yes. I can definitely feel anger here but no energy should be making the dead..." he ponder out loudly and in a tone that dripped with a precarious disappointment but at what and whom was unsure due to his wandering eyes and naturally grim pose "Not dead..." he forced out the last bit in a belch of bile towards the thought from his heart,

He kept his gaze off into the distance until the young mans voice knocked him out of his thoughts, he started of slurring slightly in a slow manner with his eyes now empty at Jayni in her comfort "Yes. I'm sure your grieving can wait until we found out what eerie power created this calamity" he said it, without any distinction to what the calamity was; be it the stone, her injury or the prospect of materializing dead nor did he say it with strength. Gin angry state had been washed away, his face was trying to wrinkle his forehead but his eyebrows had been filled with helium into a bewildered look. His voice, croaking wavering bubbles of meekness despite his straight forwardness.

Gin peered at Pheonix as the creature scurried to comfort the necromancer, nodding a little at her in a quick sprint of decisive defense or at least by the looks of his returning anger some rebound of confidence in manner as he let the air return to his words "Do not worry. It is not filthy. It has a sense of hygiene not seen in animals that visit the slums" he commented before peeking back up at max and then down at her in a swift manner as if to gauge their reaction at his attempt of kindness before slowly settling on his stoic stance again.

Gin simply stood aside Phoenix as the trio of men ran up to them, looking from his shoulder with a weary set of eyes on their hands more so than their mouths, following them with his head as they scattered into the forest before focusing once more on Phoenix "I am your guide, young one" Gin put it forward with authority as he peered dead set into his eyes, his own somehow sinking deeper into themselves in the vortex of back in his already darkened glare "Listen to me. You lose nothing from this arrangement. People here glide into the homes of strangers they know nothing off and suckle from the tits of that rock. Draining the energy of this land. We cater to unknown mages who know not of struggle while the slums funnels the sewage of our world and others" he raises both of his hands as if to grasp something, an invisible neck or maybe even reflexively holding his own heart in a mental image.

One of his bony fingers point up at him like a dagger as he continues his seething rant before siding his eyes to the woman "but" he interrupts himself with his words losing speed and steam "Perhaps we should cater to this woman. She has been hit with unknown magics, her wounds are healed but she may have unseen side effects" he spoke concern without sounding concerned, it was hard to tell if it was meant to be mocking or if he simply lacked the ability to sound nice.

The little Necromancer watched as the man who had been bent over the the limbs stood, he loomed over her, the human made her uncomfortable and she took a step back, providing distance between herself and him. Though when she looked at him he reminded her more of the dead than the living, he had that feel about him, she could feel the spirits about him. She stared at him a moment, trying to figure out what it really was, why spirits lingered about him so blatantly, they weren't just in the spirit world, they were in the limbo between the living and the spirit world. She wanted to speak to them - they would tell her what she needed to know about the man but she didn't want to exert that energy rather she took note of them. "I make the dead undead." She said more to herself than to him. Indeed her own energy did exactly that, and it bothered her that he had said "no energy", she took much pride in her necromancy. “A grieving necromancer.. that's a new one.” Her voice was soft, free of malice or anger, she spoke more matter of factly than anything, “As long as Bun-bun's spirit is still in the spirit world I can bring her back- I just know I wouldn't be able to preform my magic properly and so I shall wait.”

Then there was a thing that crawled over to her and between her feet before crawling up her leg onto her shoulder. She definitely preferred the dead to the living. They had more manners, and weren't as intrusive. “I think he's taking a liking to you miss.” Perfect, a man's pet had taking a liking to her. She sighed before looking over at the little creature, she recognized it as a ferret, skinny, furry, odd. “Don't worry,” She said, “I can raise you when you die too.” She gave a small smile to the creature. It was sort of a compliment, that his spirit would be worthy enough to re-enter the living world through her powers. She liked to think the spirits she chose were special. She took one hand from the bunny and offered it out to pet the ferret.

"Do not worry. It is not filthy. It has a sense of hygiene not seen in animals that visit the slums" Jayni simply nodded, she didn't know much of the slums, but she was not sure what he even meant by filthy animals, the animals she raised could be considered filthy. She looked down at Bun-bun whose body was bony and inanimate. The wounds still visible from its first life. Death was filthy, wasn't it? “Thanks? I'm not worried.” She said a little confused.

Once the three men approached Jayni officially considered herself sick of the living. She wanted to retreat back into the world of spirits and her sister. It was calmer, people weren't so.. alive. Then as she heard “And any one with information on it shall be rewarded too, if you know anything, I wouldn't withhold any of it or the death penalty is your fate.“ She choked up, she knew. She knew a lot. Well, at least she thought she knew a lot. She was pretty sure what had unfolded before he had something to do with the heart stones.

Jayni watched as the man who resembled the dead spoke and reached his hands out into the air, grasping something invisible. Jayni knew it didn't exist, there was no spirit there to strangle, and strangling a spirit was a useless task anyway. She had to draw the conclusion the man may be slightly crazed. The other younger male sat down, obviously upset with the news.

"Perhaps we should cater to this woman. She has been hit with unknown magics, her wounds are healed but she may have unseen side effects" “Er. I'm okay.” Jayni started. “Really..” her pain still ached through her body. “Uhm.. But I think I should see the King..” Jayni's words were meek, weak, and forced. She wanted to leave this forsaken place, go home, but no portals meant she was stuck. Slowly those words sunk into her head. She was stuck.

“As for your hunger. I will get you some bread in the city. Pheonix – take it as my thank you for healing me.” The she looked at the other man, “And you too, if you're hungry” She paused a moment. “I'm Jayni.” she didn't bother adding where she was from, despite the formality. She didn't even bother to wait for the men, she started off towards the city, still holding bun-bun.

He listened to them, not sure what the older gentlemen was talking about, he seemed to have a way of speaking that went over the younger man's head, for as book smart as Phoenix was, he wasn't as articulate as he should have been. At the mention of food Phoenix came out of his thoughts and looked up at the girl. His stomach growled, reminding him that he was indeed, hungry. "Really?? Thank you, dear." After the words left his mouth and she introduced herself she began to walk away towards the city.

Phoenix scrambled to his feet. "H-hey wait." Artemis scurried down the girl's body and ran to be picked up by Phoenix. The mage couldn't let the injured youngster off on her own. He hurried to his feet and followed after her. She appeared rather young and kind of reminded him of someone he knew in the past. Someone he cared a lot about who had died. "I don't know if it's safe to be wondering around without an escort, miss Jayni." He told her. Phoenix glanced back to see if the other man was following behind them.

"Whoever attacked you must still be around somewhere, they couldn't have escaped Irakix no matter how powerful they are. Even with the Heart Stones they wouldn't be able to do it." The young mage shoved his hands in his pockets, looking up at the sky as he walked at the Necromancer's side. "If they see that you're still alive they may try to finish you off. But I won't let hat happen." He nodded as if agreeing with what he said. "So, who did attack you? What did they look like? I may know of them."

Despite his rambling he was actually calculating in the back of his mind. Trying to put together what mage would want the Heart Stones and why. Putting clues together, such as the pile of ash from before, it glowed green, only a few mages had that color magic. Nearly killing a young girl was something not many would do. At least no one he knew would do that. Even if she was a witness, there were spells to make her forget or something of the sort. But killing, that was the extreme. Whoever it was, went against the mages' code.

His face became serious as he had come to a conclusion in his head. There weren't many mages that he knew of that would kill. "I think I know who did this. But I can't be certain...I just wish I had been there to stop him from harming you..." He looked down, it seemed almost as if he was somewhere else, speaking to someone from the past.

Upon arriving in the city, Phoenix snapped out of it and smiled at Jayni. "Sorry about that, I get some flashbacks sometimes. It's strange. But, I wasn't kidding when I said I think I know who did this. We would be right in going to see the king."

Gin inspected Jayni up and down with his twin pair of vortexes at her reply, the two of them lacked any light and the intensity of his depressingly dark sockets only indication of actually changing vision was the indication of his chin moving up and down as his observers tried to suck in the color around them with their stark contrasting void "You think the king will harm you for not reporting this incident...assuming he dosen't chop your head off for vomiting toxic goo over the floor when we get there" The grumpy old man had assumed a much more entertaining tone that almost hit normality if he had actually shrugged off the standard attitude so far.

He turned to Pheonix as he started to mutter his thought process in his inquisition before slowly raising his hand to his own chin in thought at the revelation that the secret mage may not be as secret as everyone thought, his own eyes flashing tiny pools of white as he looked up to his own thoughts too " True, a lot of magic users don't really gain a lot by taking that stone" The shutters for his pits open up again as he stared directly at Jayni "This individual clearly has some sort of agenda...if that is the case, he may be banking on us to go to the king...and do we want the king or anyone knowing what we know. Right now we have an advantage others don't" his voiced had lifted a little as he started to look between the two, the iron muscles in his unchanging pose melting away into relaxation as he did.

"Before you think about sharing this with anyone, you should share it with us. This young man is clearly invested in your life and I have already been clear about my loyalty to the current way of things" he continued before slowing down a bit and nodding at Jayni "Yes. Food would preferable. We may not have the chance to eat again if we do decide to go after this stone, for whatever reason" his harsh tone returned to him, twisting a croaking, mild vocal massage into a swift verbal slap as it did. The monk seemed to be unphased by the prospects of death, his face only compressed harder into a more aggressive thrown at the obvious recalls of death threats and potential mad mages, the true points of bother creep in his voice and face at the idea of wither the quest was worth the effort to begin with.

Gin lumbered over to the girl before him, walking past her and then peering into the back of her neck as he stood a foot away from her breathing a bit on her before taking another step or two more behind as he followed the necromancers march to civilization "I'm Gin. By the way..." he was silent for a moment more, letting the name settle like clay "Of the Boiling Cup"