Chapter One - Mysterious Assailants

Somebody who had been passing by Medina village that night would have
believed that the people of Medina were having a party. This is
because they were. Not that anyone would be passing by Medina at that
hour, under normal circumstances, at least. However, that night, the
circumstances were anything but normal. Thus, a small group of people
walked slowly towards Medina from the north.

A Hench who was having a drink on the outskirts of the village was the
first to see them. Had he survived, he would have told anybody who
asked that the six of them had formed a triangle. All wore dark blue
hooded cloaks, concealing their faces and all other parts of their
bodies. All he could tell of their characteristics were their heights
and the colors of their skin. At the head of the small procession was
what appeared to be a tallish young man with very pale skin. Behind
him stood two people, the slightly taller male and the slightly shorter
female, with similar complexions. Behind them stood the final three
figures. On one side was a very tall man with green skin and on the
other, a somewhat short young person who was believed to have been
female was positioned. Between these two walked a somewhat short young
man, slightly less pale than the three who walked before him.

The Hench thought little of these people and returned to the
festivities after a few minutes.

Medina's mayor stood on a podium that had been erected in the village
square and began to give his speech. "My fellow Medinans, we have
gathered here to celebrate the beginning of what I know will be a
glorious future: the signing of a treaty to declare peace between
Guardia and Medina, which will occur tomorrow!"

From the crowd emerged several cheers and several boos.

The mayor continued: "At long last, the seperation and hostility that
have existed between the Mystics and humans will be forever lain to
rest!"

This time, there were many more cheers than boos. Also, the small
party of 6 had arrived within earshot of the speech by this time.

Having not noticed them at this point, the mayor went on with his
speech while his audience, now with 6 additional members, listened:
"Were Magus alive to see this rapidly approaching event, I am certain
that he would be very pleased with what we had accomplished."

During the applause that almost the entire audience broke into after
hearing this, the backmost member of the group of six decided to speak.

"On the contrary. Were Magus alive, this event that you speak of would
not be occurring."

"Oh?" asked the mayor, taken slightly aback. "And what, may I ask,
makes you take that point of view?"

"I take that point of view because I know why Guardia declared war on
Magus, forcing him to create an army. And were Magus still alive, the
Kingdom of Guardia, provided it still existed, would be continuing the
war to this very day."

"Is that so?" the mayor asked, beginning to grow a tad annoyed of the
interruption. "Well, as you seem so confident in saying so, perhaps
you would be so good as to enlighten us. Tell us what Guardia's reason
for starting that war was."

The shrouded stranger smirked. "That," he said, "is none of your
concern."

A Goblin who was standing nearby stepped towards him. "Hey," he began,
"Show some respect to the mayor."

Several other Mystics grunted in agreement.

"And why in the world should I do that?" the as-of-yet unnamed backrow
figure asked the townspeople. "Everybody knows that Magus, in his
infinite wisdom, claimed that Ozzie should take command, if anything
were to happen to him. Therefore, what reason do we have for believing
that anybody other than Ozzie's descendants should be in control of
the Mystics?"

"Because, I was elected by the citizens of Medina to be their leader,"
said the mayor. "Ozzie VIII was not, and no member of his family has
won an election since we began having them."

"Regardless, Ozzie and his descendants were appointed to be Magus'
active retainers. Therefore, you have gone against Magus' wishes. And
we can't have that..."

A youthful, surly and slightly drunk Hench approached the group. "You
threatening us?"

The young cloaked man in the middle of the back row turned towards him.
"I can see how the intellect of the young have flourished under your
system."

Medina's mayor had grown weary of this and decided to speak up:
"Alright, that's enough. You can think what you like, but if you're
going to hurl insults, I think you should leave."

"No, I don't think so. I believe we shall remain here."

An Imp stepped forward. "You heard the mayor: You can think what you
want, but he wants you to leave, and so does everybody else in this
town."

The person who appeared to be the lone speaker of the group again
responded, "What a shame. We're going to be staying in this village
for quite some time. And there is no force that you can muster, which
will make us leave."

"We'll see about that!" declared a Gargoyle nearby, as he along with
several other Mystics began advancing on the group of six.

"Wait!" the mayor shouted, "There's no need to resort to violence. I'm
sure this matter can be resolved peacefully."

"Sorry mayor, but none of us'll be satisfied until this bastard gets
what's coming to him!" responded the Gargoyle.

The speaker for the mystery group said, "You really should listen to
your mayor. In this situation, he is suggesting the best course of
action for you to take."

"Shove it!" an Omnicrone shouted before rushing. By this time, over
half of the crowd of Mystics had been enraged by this point and joined
him in his rush.

"That was an unwise decision..." said, for the first time, the young
man at the front of the group of shrouded figures. "May I?" he asked,
turning back towards the young man far behind him.

"Of course," was the response. "Do whatever you feel is necessary."

"You are too kind."

The young man at the front of the group stepped forward and put out his
right hand casually. The Mystics thought nothing of this and continued
their rush. A few of them slowed and stopped when they saw the yellow
glowing orb that had appeared just before his hand, with a rapidly
increasing number of small bolts of electricity being emitted from it.

He then pulled his hand backwards, bringing the orb of electricity with
it, and then slammed it forwards, releasing the orb into the crowd. By
this time, all of the crowd had stopped and were gawking at it.

The orb blazed towards them and their lives had only a moment to flash
before their eyes before it was no more, extinguished by the massive
burst of electrical energy that engulfed the entire mob, leaving a
small crater in its wake.

The former lone speaker of the group chuckled at the perplexed and
mortified faces of all the remaining Mystics. "As I was saying, we
shall be staying in this village for quite some time. I suggest you
get used to it and, if you value your lives, make no attempt to shorten
our stay..."