He saw the sword lift up and prayed he could get there in time. Just as the Emperor's soldier was about to strike a fatal blow, Leon was able to intervene.

"GET HER OUT OF HERE!" he shouted to Gus as he struck the soldier down. He was focusing on the soldier in front of him, so he didn't see the one coming from the alleyway. Firion did, as Gus dragged a resistant Maria away. He grabbed his 2 knives, and threw them at the second soldier, buying Leon enough time for them all to continue running for their lives.

It wasn't supposed to be this way! Leon thought as he followed his sister and friends through the woods. How can I tell them… his train of thought was broken by Maria's abrupt stop at a cliff edge, and they all looked at the faraway smoke and flames, showing that their hometown of Phin was nothing but a pile of burning rubble by now.

The sight of it numbed them so, they didn't hear the approaching soldiers. The first one hit Leon on the back of his head with a club, and as he fell to the ground, the screams of his sister cut into his very soul, before everything went black.

A cool breeze from the woods awoke him, and he forgot where he was for a moment, and reached his arms out to stretch, when his hand touched something sticky and warm. He shot up, aggravating an enormous headache, and looked around at the broken and bloody bodies of his sister and friends. It was Maria's blood he had touched, but which wound it came from he would never know. He started running, and it wasn't until his legs gave out that he stopped. He was near a stream, and he washed the blood off his hand, and stared at the red water flowing over the reflection of his face.

Leon didn't know how long he stayed there, but eventually he heard noises and before he knew it he was surrounded by a small band of armed bandits.

"And here I thought we'd be out of luck today." a bandit said, apparently the leader.

Leon got to his feet and looked right through him and said the truest words in his life. "I have nothing."

The leader prodded Leon's shoulder plates with his club. "Those armor bits you're wearing should pay for our dinner."

"They're not for sale."

"What are you, some kind of knight?"

"Perhaps I am."

"Oh, is that so? Well your Lordship, we beg your pardon." The leader started to bow to Leon, then he and his bandits started laughing.

A sickening sound made the bandit leader look up, and he saw the stranger had killed two of his men, and one was fleeing while the remaining one was being sliced up. The leader tried to run as well, but the stranger caught up with him.

"We'll leave you alone! We didn't mean no harm, sir. The Empire has enslaved Salamand, this is the only way we can make a living!" The bandit leader was squealing like a stuck pig.

"The Empire…" A vengeful plan was taking shape in Leon's mind. "Where is Salamand?"

"It's to the north of Poft. You can take a ship from Paloom to get there, but you need a canoe to reach Paloom."

"Tell all you know that the Dark Knight is willing to be friend to the Empire." With that, Leon pushed the bandit away from him, and marched off.

It took Leon three days to make his way to Paloom, thanks to his finding an unguarded canoe on his second day of journeying. At least he had items from the monsters he had killed that he could sell. The town seemed to be mostly a rest stop for pirates and sailors. After he had visited the stores, he headed to the local pub. He was surprised when he spotted a woman there, ordering some other men with her around. She noticed him too, and winked at him. After he had a couple drinks and was ignoring the drunk patrons who kept trying to talk to him, he felt a hand caressing his arm.

"Hi handsome. I've never seen you here before." the woman captain said.

"No, you haven't." Leon sipped his drink and look straight ahead at the bar.

"What brings you here to Paloom?"

" It's none of your business."

"Well, it could be. If you're needing to sail somewhere, my crew would be happy to take you."

"You have your own ship?" Leon finally turned his head to look at the woman with some interest.

"Sure. Do you want to see it?"

Leon stood up. "I might at that."

The woman smiled at him and took his arm, and together they walked out of the pub. Once outside, Leon asked her name.

"You can call me Leila, honey."

The next morning, Leon woke up first, leaving the captain's quarters at first light and went to gaze out at the ocean, thinking. Leila would be very useful for getting to Poft, and for supplies. And he enjoyed her hospitality. It was the first time since Maria died that he hadn't gone to sleep hearing her scream. Footsteps came up behind him.

"Didn't hear you leave." Leila said.

"I haven't left."

"Not before you at least tell me your name."

"I'll tell you when we get to Poft."

"Well if you insist on being the strong silent type, I'm going to have double my transport fee." Leila was starting to be offended by his aloofness, but he intrigued her far more. Especially if her suspicion that he was worth a lot of money to someone was right.

"Fine. When do we leave?"

"At dawn tomorrow."

"I'll be back at sunset then." Leon pulled away from her and left the ship, heading towards town.

Once Leon left, Leila's first mate Dorban approached her. "I don't trust him."

Leila whirled to face him. "Dorban, sometimes I don't think you'd trust your own shadow. But I agree that he's full of secrets. Follow him and see if you can find out some of them."

Once he got to town, he went to the armory to replace the sword he lost fleeing Phin. When he lifted it up to examine the metal, he noticed the reflection of Dorban in the polished surface. Leon smiled to himself. He was rather relieved to know Leila wasn't that naïve. Even if there was nothing to be gained by spying on him. Once he and the shop owner haggled over the price of the sword plus some armor, Leon put the armor on and headed for the pub.