"Hello Miss. What'll it be tonight?" the bartender leaned against the counter to his customer, giving her a slightly confused look.
"Surprise me with something sweet tasting and full of alcohol." the customer told the bar tender, slightly banging on the table with her fist as she said it.
"Yes ma'am" the bartender nodded and went off to get her drink.
The young woman sat back and fluffed her short messy hair before yawning. It's been a while since she was offered a job, and she hated that. No job meant no money, and no money meant she'd go hungry soon. Of course, she has enough to survive at the moment, but that won't last long. She could barely take this nomadic lifestyle, let alone going hungry while doing it.
The bartender came back with her drink as she put some money on the table for him. She was one of the few people there. Not many people go to a bar early in the morning unless they were alcoholics. She wasn't an alcoholic, though. She was just strange and did things her own way. She began to sip her drink, contemplating on how she would either go about getting another job or successfully looting off of someone. She didn't want to have to steal from someone, though. Especially since the consequences for getting caught was a death sentence. She adjusted the sleeve on her arm glove before going back for another sip. She had completely zoned out at that point and was living in her own little world inside her head, where she thought about her next move as well as fantasizing about her old life and how badly she wanted it back.
"Sarah Nac, right?" a voice broke through her thoughts.
Nac immediately snapped back to reality and looked at the source of the voice. A man that looked about in his mid-30s was seated next to her. He had a cowboy hat on, strange red and brown leather armor, and probably the most gorgeous sandy brown hair she's ever seen on a man. He had some kind of mask over his face that left only his eyes and forehead visible, but she could tell he was quite handsome.
'How did he even know my name?' she thought to herself before speaking up.
"Yeah that's me!" she giggled as she put her drink down and turned to face him. "Sup, bruh?"
He gave her a look over before glaring at her. "You better not be lying to me."
"Why would I do that?" the young woman shrugged and smiled at him. "Now what do you want, bruh? I ain't got all day, you know."
"You're-" he was about to retort with something, but he sighed and shook his head. "I don't have time to argue with you nor do I have time to think of the possibility that the emperor might have made a mistake. Anyways, I was supposed to find you for this mission he's sending me on."
Nac's eyes lit up. A job? A job! She couldn't believe her ears or her eyes. A cute man offering her a job! She pursed her lips as her eyes grew wide. "Sir, are you offering me a job?"
"Essentially-" he told her. He was about to explain some more, but Nac let out muffled screech into her arm before grabbing his arm.
"How's the pay?" she asked excitedly.
"Very well, but only if you shut up and listen to the details" he told her sternly.
Nac frowned and crinkled her nose. This was always the worst part about the jobs. Listening to the details. She just kinda liked doing and getting paid, but she wasn't about to screw up this offer. "Alright, fine, what do you want me to do?"
"Come with me." he motioned for her to follow before walking towards the front of the bar. Nac scurried after him. She followed him down a secluded path, which might have been a bad idea, but that didn't really occur to her. She was excited about getting a job.
After walking for a bit, he finally spoke up. "There's someone that goes under the name of 'Kharankui', and he's giving my employer a really hard time. I was hired to exterminate him, but in order to exterminate him I have to find him first. That's where you come in." he explained.
"I come in where?" Nac tilted her head, completely confused. She had a hard time processing some things.
The man sighed. "The emperor theorizes that the "Kharankui" might be from the Chaosrealm. He also mentioned that you are a chaosrealmer. Only chaosrealmers know how other chaosrealmers think, considering they're an extremely unpredictable species."
"I'm only half chaosrealmer..." Nac frowned.
"That's why the emperor is hiring you to help me find him. You'll be more cooperative than a full blood chaosrealmer." he told her, not even bothering to look back at her.
Nac scowled at hearing 'cooperative'. She didn't like that word. She didn't even like the word 'civilized' either. She prefered to refer to her ability to listen and work as 'diligence', something most chaosrealmers lacked but would really love to have if they live outside of the Chaosrealm.
He turned to look at her and noticed her scowling face. "Listen, I'm not stoked on having a partner either. I'd much rather do this alone, but I don't have the mind of a chaosrealmer and I don't care to have it either." he stopped and turned to her. "All you have to do is help me find the sonnuva bitch, and I'll do the rest. Then you can collect your pay and leave."
Nac grinned at him. "Okay!"
"One more thing" he raised his hand and practically shoved his finger into her face. Nac backed up a little to avoid being poked in the nose. "Do NOT get in my way. You're job is to help me find him, and only to help me find him. If you slow me down, I will not hesitate to leave you behind. Do you understand?"
Nac didn't like the authoritative tone he gave her, but it also made him seem a bit more attractive to her. She wasn't sure what to think. Money was money, though. "Yessir" Nac nodded.
"Good" he turned and began walking again. "Now where can I find this chaosrealmer?"
Nac shrugged and thought for a moment. "Well, what's the most chaotic part of Outworld?" she asked.
"Everywhere. You stay here, you should know that." he seemed to be growing impatient.
"No no, I mean like the MOST. Like so unpredictable and wild that no other being would wanna hang out there unless they had business to attend to." she clarified her statement, ignoring his growing impatience.
The man was silent for a moment. Nac figured he was probably thinking about an answer to give her. After a few moments of silence, he gave her an answer. "Probably the Kuatan Jungle."
"Then he's probably there planning his next move." Nac suggested. "Or hanging out."
"Good. If we move quickly, we can get there by noon." he responded.
They walked in silence for a while, which began to irritate Nac a little. She liked to talk to people, even if it wasn't always the best thing to do as a mercenary. Nac couldn't take the silence anymore and finally spoke up.
"Hey, I never got your name." she said.
"It's not important." he brushed her off.
Nac bit her lip and tugged at her hair. "You know my name! It's only fair if I know yours!" she whined.
"Erron Black is my name. Happy now?" he responded a bit bitterly.
"Hot name for a hot dude." she winked, even though he couldn't see it.
"You're here for a job, not to flirt with me." he replied coldly.
"Who said I was flirting with you?" she crinkled her nose. 'What a stuck up bitch!' she thought to herself.
Erron didn't respond to her. He just kept walking. They were in silence again, which began to irritate Nac once more. She was determined to get him to be a little bit more friendly toward her and talk.
"You don't look like you're from Outworld." she mentioned. "What brought you here?"
He looked back at her for a moment before turning forward again.
"Are you writing a book about me?" he asked her sarcastically.
"In fact, I am." Nac replied equally as sarcastic.
"I'm flattered" he gave a small chuckle before going silent again.
Nac was not ready to give up, though. She would get him to talk to her, even if it was just a little bit.
"I like your guns." she complimented. Observing the large rifle he had strapped to his back as well as the revolvers in their holsters.
He looked back at her briefly again. "I'm getting the feeling you just like to hear yourself talk."
"Sometimes..." she replied before sighing. It seemed it was no use. This guy was strictly business, and she just had to deal with it.
They walked in silence for almost the rest of the way. Just like he said, they approached the entrance of the jungle at noon. The entrance was strange, considering Outworld was mostly desert, it seemed to just randomly transition into green foliage with large trees and vines.
"I expect to find something in here, so you better hope you're right for your sake." he told her.
"I usually am right" she bragged as she followed him into the jungle.
They walked for a while again in silence. Nac slumped her shoulders and shoved her hands in her pocket. 'This job is so boring' she thought to herself. Her partner won't talk to her and nothing interesting is happening. The jungle was nice looking, though. She began to admire the vines and flowers as she walked by them. She then heard something unusual. A voice? It was definitely a voice. They both stopped walking and listened.
The voice came closer.
"When do you think he's coming?" the voice asked.
"Soon. We did clear all the guards, he should complete his mission in no time!" another voice replied.
Nac stepped to the side and hid up against a tree. Usually she'd just jump up into the branches so she could ambush her targets from below, but Erron specifically told her not to interfere. Plus, the voices seemed close by, she didn't want them to see the trees moving. Erron stepped to the side as well, putting his hands near his revolvers.
As the voices came closer, footsteps could be heard crunching through the leaves. After waiting for them to get a bit closer, Erron immediately drew his revolvers and shot at them. Nac peeked from behind the tree to see the bloodshed, but it seems he only shot at their knee caps. The men he shot at fell to the ground, howling in pain. Erron went up to one of the guys and smacked him across the face with one of the revolvers.
"It's not wise to shout out your plans." he grabbed the guy's shirt collar and pulled him up. The guy yelled out as he did so. "Who are you planning on meeting here?"
The guy hissed and spat at Erron. "Fuck off!"
Erron smacked him across the face with the revolver again. "State your business." Even though his voice remained calm and professional, Nac could tell he was losing patience.
The guy only smiled at him in response. Erron went to go smack him again, but a small dagger shot through his hand and forced him to drop his gun. He let out a grunt as he let go of the guy to tend to his own wound.
Another group of men came out from the bushes. "You leave us alone, bub!" one of the guys from the new group said.
Nac couldn't take it anymore. Erron was ambushed at this point. She HAD to help and show off her skills, even if he told her to not interfere. Nac reached behind her back and drew her battle ax. She let out a loud yell before jumping out of her hiding spot and pressing a small orange button shaped like the chaosrealm kamidogu on the hilt of her axe. When she did so, the axe head on her ax shot out at the men. When it fully shot out and revealed itself to be a whip-like aparatus, it impaled through one of the men. He let out a loud scream as Nac whipped her axe-weapon to the side to knock out the other men. She was able to slice the other ones pretty badly. One of them even got their arm sliced off.
Nac pressed the button on her axe again so it would withdraw back into a normal axe. Before they could regroup and try to attack, Nac lunged at the remaining men, splitting her axe right through his head. The last guy with his arm sliced off was still on the ground crying and screaming. Nac took her ax from the one she just attacked and went for the sliced up one, splitting her ax through his head as well.
While Nac was busy with those guys, Erron had taken the dagger out of his hand before putting a gun to the guy he was interrogating's head. "You had better state your business immediately." Erron commanded.
The guy had a look of terror on his face as Nac was slaughtering his comrades in the background.
"The Kharankui was to meet us here!" the guy finally admitted.
"And where is he now?" Erron further interrogated him.
"H-He's in Lei Chen!" the guy sputtered out. "He was going to meet us in here at midnight, but we came early to make sure we get everything ready for him!"
Erron nodded and threw the frightened man down before pointing the revolver at his head.
"Please don't kill me!" the man cried and pleaded.
Erron shot him through the head anyways, ignoring his pleas. He then shot the other guy who was accompanying him the head. When he was done, he turned to Nac who stood there splattered with a bit of blood. He narrowed his eyes and glared at her.
