Chapter 1

It had been two days since I left the last town. The road I travelled on was out of the way and was being overgrown by the looming forest on either side. A kind man, a traveller told me of the fading road and that not many people take it. This was news I took gratefully since I prefer to be seen as little as possible during my travels. Best not to leave a record of where you have been, as to make it harder to be tracked. I had been stopping during the night to set up camp not too far into the trees just off of the road, and setting off immediately as the sun began to rise. Not long after my second morning the forest thinned out and opened up to a giant open grassy plain surrounded by towering snow peaked mountains. Just at the horizon I could make out the town I knew I would come across. I should be able to make it before night fall and with the thought of a soft bed and a warm shower I set off at a faster pace.

I entered the town gates with the sun about to disappear over the mountains and I quickly came across an inn. The door opened with a chiming bell and a humming woman was sweeping. She looked up curiously as the door closed behind me, chiming again. I lowered the hood of my brown wool cloak and gave her an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry its so late. Could I possibly have a room?"

"Of course, I'll sign you in at the desk. How long will you be staying?"

"Just one night for now, I'm only passing through. Do you perhaps know of any jobs around town? It doesn't matter what kind from lending a hand... to dealing with a crook."

The woman blinked quickly surprised and then thoughtfully tapped the desk.

"There aren't any jobs at the moment. There was an offer to deal with the town's gang but I heard it was already accepted by a guild."

I passed the woman the money I owed for the room and sighed. I didn't have much coin left and I definitely don't have enough for a second night. She seemed to notice my distress and spoke up.

"However, I usually have a cleaner who comes around, a nice boy he is, but he won't be able to tonight. If you wish to take up the job, I'll be happy to pay you for the work."

I jumped at the chance and accepted the offer. She explained everything that needed to be done and showed me to the tools needed to do it. It didn't hurt that I was going to make a decent amount of coin for the job. I should be able to live off of it until I reached the next town. I set to work and four hours later I had cleaned the entire inn from top to bottom. Exhausted from my journey and the labour, I returned to the front desk and told her I had finished. She thanked me immensely and happily handed me the coin.

"Before you head up to your room, follow me, you must be hungry. I have some left over stew and bread."

I thanked her and politely turned her down.

"Non-sense. You will be doing me a favor. I'm used to making enough for two. I won't be able to eat it all and the food will go to waste. You'll simply be eating the usual cleaners portion. I won't accept no for an answer."

I accepted, thanking her, and ate a bowl of steaming stew and a savoury bun. It was delicious, I didn't remember the last time I had eaten anything as good. She told me how she made the stew and I was quite impressed that she baked the buns herself. I finished my meal and headed up into my room after I helped her wash up the dishes. Before I went to bed, I took a satisfying shower and washed my clothes in the sink. I crawled into the warm bed and and slept comfortably clean and content.

As the inn door closed behind the one wearing the brown cloak, someone eagerly watched from the tavern across the street. The eyes jumped between the person and the paper held in his hands. He scanned the bounty and smiled. Everything fit. Average height, brown cloak and right time. He reached for his drink and finished it in one tip. Feeling the upcoming victory, he slammed down his drink and called for everyone's attention. Tomorrow they were going to be getting one hell of a payup.

I slept uneasily that night. I had dreamt of violet-plum wings against the sky that would never return, and as I searched, listening for the thunderous roar, I met crazed people who locked me in a mechanical coffin. I slept, my body stuck as time continued ahead, changing while I remained the same. The lid to my coffin opened and leaning in was an old wrinkled face. She gave me a back shivering smile of yellow teeth and curdled breath. She spoke cruelly, her voice sounding dry and cracked.

"You will be our savior."

I shot up out of bed and struggled to control my breathing. It was only a dream, I am no longer there. That time has passed and as long as I keep moving, I will never have to go back there.

Shaken, I quickly got dressed into my now dry clean clothes and stopped in front of the mirror to comb out my dark brown hair with my fingers. When I left that place my hair was long and passed my waist. I had cut it short to make it easier to take care of and to throw them off, I almost missed its length. I met my eyes and they stared back at me. They were yellow and in them I could see sadness. My eyes trailed down and I adjusted my clothes. I wore a dark red t-shirt that reached to the start of my legs and had slits up the sides to my hips. I had bought a dark purple scarf some time ago and had tied it around my waist, and underneath I wore a pair of black pants with many pockets that ended and hugged just below my knees. On my feet I had on a pair of grey socks that peaked from in my black sturdy ankle boots. I threw on my cloak, did up the clasp, and pulled my hood over my head. The clothes on my back was all that I owned and I feared that it was all I would ever own. But they had to give up eventually, it was only a matter of time. All I had to do was keep moving until they realized they can't win.

I turned away and made my way through the inn. I opened the front door and closed it almost completely oblivious to the chiming but the innkeeper was not. She came running out after me and finally caught up once I was halfway down the crowded early morning street. Breathless she thrust something wrapped in paper towards me.

"Its a sandwich. Take it."

I blinked surprised at first and smiling, I took the sandwich.

"Thank you. You did not need to be so kind to me, a stranger."

"It doesn't matter if you're a stranger. You looked like you needed a bit of kindness just like the rest of us."

I went to reply but I froze.

Over her shoulder there were three men walking towards us looking straight at me. I turned around and there were four more. I checked the side streets for an escape route but both were blocked with more of them.

Passersbys seemed to recognize these people and began to clear the street with terrified glances. The innkeeper just looked at me confused and oblivious.

"Is something wrong?"

The innkeeper (I never asked for her name) looked around and seemed to understand the situation. We slowly backed up to a wall and we were now surrounded. A well dressed man took a step forward with a sarcastic grin on his face. Just by the way he held himself I could tell that he was the one in charge. He spoke confidently with a cruel tone to his voice.

"What a delight to meet you miss Wolfsong, or would you rather me call you Kenzie?"

I stiffened up and he paused as if expecting me to answer, then continued on unfazed.

"It seems that someone wants you very very badly. They're willing to pay a very large chunk of change to have you... returned."

"Who are you?"

The innkeeper answered instead.

"His name is Sletcher. This is the town gang I mentioned."

She lowered her voice so that only I could hear.

"This is very bad. He is extremely dangerous."

Sletcher gave a wide crooked grin and extended his arms as if to hug someone.

"Now young missy, you can either come with us quietly or we'll have to do this the hard way."

I addressed him calmly, putting steel into my voice.

"I will never go back there."

His eyes darkened and as he raised his hand and a shining grey magic circle appeared in the air, I pushed the innkeeper out of the way which left me unguarded. A sharp blast of wind hit me and I was thrown into the brick wall, hard, behind me. I hit the ground and struggled to regain the breath I had lost on the impact. He was a mage and that was what I was hoping was not the case.

I heard the innkeeper scream and turned to see her being detained by one of the gang members. He pulled her out of the circle and she kicked him in the shin. He let go in a yelp and she ran down the street as fast as her legs could carry her. Good, at least I don't have to worry about her getting hurt. I turned my attention back to Sletcher and stood up regaining my ground. One of the gang members, a woman this time, took a step towards me preparing to attack. Sletcher immediately shot a blast of air at her feet and she jumped back.

"No. I wish to do this alone." He turned towards me. "I am quite curious about you. For instance, why your bounty said to be cautious."

He shot another blast of air towards me and I snapped my fingers. I then crossed my wrists with my palms towards him. I gathered the sound from the snap and condensed it, creating a shield. The wind hit it and spread around me, blasting an upside down U into the wall. My thought was to attack but something was wrong. I could feel my heart beat slow down and my limbs began to feel like jelly. I released the shield and dropped to the ground on one knee. My head began to spin and I felt as though I might be sick.

Sletcher pulled a small glass vial out of his sleeve and showed it to me.

"Brilliant isn't it. It's full of a powder I like to use on these kinds of jobs. Once it enters the intended targets body, in your case you breathed it in as it carried on my wind, it causes that person to feel weak and eventually lose consciousness. Now that's all well and good but I want to have a little more fun as I think you must as well."

In saying that he returned the vial up his sleeve and raised his hand towards me again. I couldn't react as the magic circle formed and a painful shot of air hit, sending me sprawling. I tried to push myself off of the ground, only it was useless.

"We're still not done yet."

Another gust hit me and I flew backwards getting some air, before hitting the wall, making it crack and dust spray up in the process, and then to fall back onto the ground. This time I knew I wasn't getting back up, the drug has pulled me too far under. I felt frustrated knowing that I would have been able to take him on if he didn't have it. I looked up and saw him raise his hand again. I tensed and waited for the shot to come.

I heard something hit in front of me and at first I thought he had missed until I opened my eyes. In front of me was a pair of black shoes. My eyes trailed up and I realized they were connected to a person. He was wearing dark green pants and a long white coat. He was very pale and his spiky black hair caused a sharp contrast to his skin. My eyes opened even wider as I took in the circular ice wall that had formed from his hands. He was an ice mage and he took the brunt of the attack for me, but why?

He looked down at me and asked if I was alright. I gave him the answer that would also warn him.

"He uses" *breath* "wind magic" *breath* "and he has" *breath* "a vial" *breath* "with powder in it."

He nodded, understanding the situation and the ice wall crumbled. Then immediately clapping his hands together sending ice spikes in every direction. Each gang member took a blow and fell to the ground except for Sletcher. I watched him reach into his sleeve and before I could yell out a warning, the flat of a sword came down on his head, knocking him unconscious. The sword then evaporated into thin air out of the owner's hand. She had long red hair and was wearing a blue skirt and shining armour, until it too evaporated, leaving her in a frilly white shirt.

She quickly began to tie up the gang members and left the guy to attend to me. He bent over and began to prod at my side. I breathed in sharply and flinched.

"I thought that would be tender. Will you be able to move?"

I struggled to get the words out. It was as if I was underwater. Everything seemed faded and my body felt heavy. I tried to answer but I couldn't get my words out. My eyelids felt heavy.

"Erza! We're losing her."

The girl answered.

"I think I know why. I found a vial filled with a power in one of their sleeves. Hospitals use it to put the patient under."

"She warned me about it. Will she be okay?"

"Yes, but we better bring her…"

Their voices faded into the darkness as my eyes closed.