“What?” Kuhara gasped. Ruben nodded. “The police found him, someone slit his throat.” he explained, “There's no time to be shocked right now, we need to tell Wyatt, do you know where he is?”

Jack shook his head, immediately removing his fake shocked expression.

“We have to go find Wyatt, otherwise the town will blame us.” Ruben agreed. “The police are already greatly suspicious of us, I fear the officials may start pointing fingers,” he explained.

“Carl, do you know where Wyatt is?”

“Muh hurr.” Carl mumbled, unable to make eye contact with Ruben.

Ruben leaned in and squinted, which was funny because Versurdi had the best eyesight.

“Carl, are you drunk?”

“Muum.” He responded.

Kuhara rolled her eyes. “Why would you ask him that?” she said.

“It appears the cider is in fact alcoholic.” Ruben observed.

Kuhara rolled her eyes again. “He can barely walk, let alone aim a bow”

She turned to face Carl. “You just got sober,” she taunted. “Now look at you.”

Ruben squinted, Hey, I think I see him, I'm not sure.

The figure approached. He was clad in Crimson steel armor. He had a heavy claymore on his back matching the color of his armor. He had blond hair. Not Wyatt.

“No, that's not him. Who is that?” Ruben questioned.

The figure was joined by another, a woman. She wore a dark cape. She held a scepter glowing red.

“Aldarians !” shouted the man. He slowed to a stand, the woman stopped beside him. “I am going to keep this simple, a hero by the name of Marcus is dead.”

“We sensed his presence disappear.” the woman explained

“The man continued, In other words, he is no longer alive.”

Ruben didn’t say anything. He appeared to be thinking about what to say.

“Ah, apologies.” The man said smiling slightly, “You see, we are part of the Blood Guild. I am Vejak level 56, my apprentice, Maleen, level 54.” He put his hand on the woman's shoulder. She stepped away. “Do not call me your apprentice, I am as strong as you, if not stronger at wielding magic.”

She crossed her arms triumphantly, “I had fallen from the sky, like most, but I have a wonderful gift, magic you see-”

Vejak waved his hand. “Enough, I see your point.”

“So, is Marcus your friend or…?” Kuhara asked.

“No, In fact. The man was quite an annoyance. Vajak scratched his neck casually. “He did, however, owe me a very large debt.” he explained, “as you can see that is quite a problem. Since he is dead, he cannot pay me back, therefore I must find and retrieve his body to collect the items that he dropped.”

Jack felt relieved at that moment. He had considered looting Marcus, but decided not to on the possibility that the items would link him to the murder. He was glad he made the right choice.

“What's going on here?” called a familiar voice.

Jack saw Wyatt running towards the group, he slowed when he saw the Aldarians .

“Marcus is dead, Wyatt.” said Kuhara.

“He is indeed deceased.” Ruben stated.

“He got his fuckin throat slit.” Carl slurred.

“I know.” Wyatt said, sounding out of breath.

Vejak turned to Wyatt. “It appears you are the leader of this group. Tell me, do you know of Marcus?”

“He’s bled out completely.” Wyatt shook his head, “he's dead in a cottage down the road.”

Vejak nodded. “Hmm, you take me for a fool I suppose.”

“I'm sorry?” Wyatt responded.

“You will be.” said Vejak, “Obviously one of you is responsible for killing Marcus.”

“And the one responsible must have his loot.” He continued, looking at Wyatt.

“I didn’t kill him.” Wyatt replied, “He did kill a few people in the village, so it must have been an angry civilian.”

Vejak gritted his teeth, a loss of patience displayed on his face. “You are truly an idiot if you think a mere villager could kill a hero.” he seethed. “It had to have been one of you.”

Before Wyatt could reply, Maleen interrupted.

“I sense the blood of the man who slayed Marcus!” she announced.

Vejak snarled, finally breaking his calm and collected character that he had been forcing.

“Okay we're gonna leave now.” Wyatt said. “I don't know what Marcus did to piss you off so much, but it doesn't involve us!” He turned to leave, “leave us alone-”

Vejak brought his giant sword down in front of Wyatt’s path causing him to halt.

Then all hell broke loose.

Kuhara’s hand shot to her sword, but Maleen was faster, firing a pulse of blood from a pitcher on her belt. The blast hit Kuhara point blank and sent her flying.

Wyatt backflipped, shouting a magic spell, his sword appeared in his hand. He landed behind the surprised Vejak, surprised, but not unprepared. He slammed his sword where Wyatt had been previously standing. Wyatt weaved like a thread. But Vejak, despite wielding such a heavy blade, moved faster somehow.

Jack sprung from his state of shock and threw an empty glass bottle at Maleen.

It struck Maleen in the face. She winced, but then smiled, the blood from her face immediately forming a scar. The remaining blood, forming a dagger. She charged at Jack.

Finally, Carl drew his bow. Still intoxicated, the arrow fell out of his grip and did not fire from the bow.

Meanwhile Ruben stood still appearing helpless, like he didn't know what to do.

Kuhara had recovered by now and was aiding Jack against Maleen. Maleen, now having to fight two opponents at once, sent a shockwave through the ground to try and get rid of at least one of them. Kuhara jumped right at that moment and spun her blade down in a fire attack. Maleen dodged, the heat incinerating the grass where he stood. She laughed like she was having fun.

She giggled. “You’re pretty fast aren't you?” She smiled. “But you cannot beat me regardless of your speed. Why even fight if this battle isn't yours?”

“It is mine!” Kuhara coughed.

Maleen shrugged. “Fine, let's see how you like it when you can't move.”

Kuhara yelled and charged at Maleen, who shot her hands out and casted a spell.

Jack fent his legs buckle. He instantly collapsed to one knee. Kuhara was already in the air, unaffected by the spell. She brought her blade down, this time Maleen couldn't dodge.

Kuhara landed a successful hit, ripping Maleens face open. Kuhara immediately backflipped to safety, landing next to Jack, who could now stand due to the spell being interrupted.

Maleen snarled as blood dripped down her face. Finally, she screamed a spell and her blood came to life again, patching her face, and shooting outward like a javelin.

Jack blocked the blood spike with his shovel, It ricocheted off the blade and coated the ground with liquid. Jack charged at Maleen, he bashed her in the side with the head and to his surprise, the attack knocked her back. The shovel glowed a faint light, indicating that it had increased in level.

Wyatt was now beginning to look tired, he was still moving extremely fast, but Jack could tell that he couldn’t keep up much longer, he had done very little damage to Vejak, who, swung his sword with such ferocity and dexterity, he feared Wyatt would soon become nothing more than scattered flesh and bone. Wyatt dodged with such precision, so much so, the fight resembled little more than the attempt of killing a fly.

You Just had to wait until the fly made a mistake in its movement…

Jack watched the blade thrust forward.

Nothing he could do. Nothing he could say.

It caught Wyatt in midair, going through him like a spear. Then he fell out of the air and hit the ground.

Vejak, now standing over Wyatt, seemed more concerned with a scratch on his face, he touched it, let the blood run down his fingers, and sighed.

Wyatt coughed blood and collapsed.

Kuhara Screamed and ran toward Wyatt, but she was stopped by a patch of blood that rose up from the ground. It twisted around her legs, Immobilizing her completely.

She produced a shuriken from her hand and launched it at Vejak. It hit him in the calf and turned around enraged, he charged at Kuhara, who was unable to move out of the way. The blade stabbed her in the chest and she collapsed.

Vejak angrily pulled the shuriken out of his leg; it had also been a fire attack, practically steaming his flesh. He flicked it aside as if it were a mere annoyance, because it was. Kuhara, was specially trained in the arts of her weapon class, and he had overheard plenty of her conversations with Wyatt and Carl, according to her, Shurikens weren't meant for combat, but rather for distractions, meant to intimate people who were not familiar with her fighting style.

Shurikens could do damage, but not a lot. Unfortunately, even if Vejak knew absolutely nothing about her art, he towered over her in rank, experience, level, weaponry, and raw strength.

Jack took an attack position, he was the weakest of all the members, but he had to do something.

“Jack!” Kuhara gurgled, “Cut him down!”

Jack realized that the shuriken did serve a purpose, not only to distract Vejak from finishing off Wyatt, but the fire was meant to slow Vejak as well.

Vejak grinned when he saw Jack draw his sword. “Well then, I guess I'll be on my way.”

Jack gritted his teeth. It angered him that Vejak didn’t want to fight. He wanted to run in and kill Vejak. But he knew he would lose the fight.

Vejak began walking away, he called out, “Maleen!” When she didn’t respond, he grunted and shouted, “Fine, you stupid hag!”

Jack ran toward Wyatt, who was bleeding out. He kneeled over Wyatt and reached into his satchel, there was one healing potion left. Wyatt saw it and muttered, “Use it on… Kuhara.”

He weakly pointed towards Kuhara, who was also bleeding out.

“But-” Jack protested.

“Do it.” he said.

Jack ran over to Kuhara. She was clutching her chest to slow the bleeding. Jack handed her the potion.

She looked up at him. “Is there one for Wyatt?” She asked.

“Uhh, yes.” Jack responded.

She drank the whole thing and immediately passed out.

Jack sprinted back towards Wyatt, who now sat in a puddle of his own blood.

“I’m sorry.” Jack said, “It was me. I killed him, I killed Marcus.”

Wyatt coughed. “Well, you did the right thing.”

Jack was shocked. “What?”

Wyatt grinned at him. “I suspected it was you, I didn’t know why or how, but I knew it was you.”

Before Jack could respond, Wyatt continued. “Marcus was horrible, every crime you can imagine, he committed.” Wyatt coughed again, then continued. “Yet he walked a free man, idolized wherever he went. I waited for someone to stand up to him, but no one ever did.”

He Looked at Jack one last time. “But you did, and others should too.”

Then Wyatt closed his eyes and passed.

“Why?” Kuhara shouted. “Why didn’t you tell me!”

Jack froze. She had just woken up, he had driven them back to their headquarters, by feeding their horses with stamina potions, now this was the first question she asked.

“I would have sacrificed myself if I had known there was only one!” She cried. Jack breathed a sigh of relief, she didn’t know what he had done.

“Yeah, why did you let him die? He was our leader.” Carl added.

“Shut up! You didn’t do anything to help!” Kuhara snapped at him.

Kuhara shook her head at Jack, then a worried expression appeared on her face.

“Where’s Ruben?” She asked.

Jack grimaced. He had forgotten Ruben during the escape.

Kuhara read his expression. “You left him behind?” She asked, horrified.

Jack wanted to hope that Ruben was on his way back but knew that probably wasn’t true. One of two things probably happened, either he got arrested by the Aldarians , or he got killed on sight.

Kuhara's eyes welled up, which surprised Jack. He had never seen her cry before. “When I joined the branch, I pledged to sacrifice my life!”

Jack was silent.