I kept running, not once did I look back.

I knew the soldiers all followed me, even their captain. I knew that would leave the house open for Flay and the others to enter, a rare success guarantee.

But still my heart raced while I ran across the slippery cobblestones and try to dodge the people blocking out my way, some of them even following the soldiers. It's a dangerous job, but without me we couldn't get past this.

So, I ran past a group of people and lowered my hood as I entered the crowded marketplace at the town's center. The hood was already darkening my vision, but the roofed marketplace nearly blinded me with only a few bars of light sneaking through open holes.

I looked at the ground in front of me and followed Sulpher as my guide, he's good at escaping places with little lighting. But even then I struggled to keep up; He's small and almost acrobatic while evading the obstacles in front of him, while I could barely even jump over medium sized crates.

The upside was the soldiers are practically blind in the dark, they kept screaming over how I must've casted a demon's shadow over their eyes to blind them. I smiled, thinking there's no way they'd escape soon enough. But I was wrong, more soldiers waited for me right outside the marketplace.

' The dagger...! ' I had remembered, so I readied a hand at the dagger and ran till we were close enough for the soldiers to see.

" Arms at the ready! Don't let him get away alive! Kill anyone who blocks your way! " their captain was screaming at the top of his lungs, it almost sounded shrill.

At his command, the soldiers brandished their spears. It was sorta rusty and somewhat unkempt, probably from using it on others too much, but still looked deadly. They held it at the opening where they expected me to jump out from, I felt an eerie panic creeping up my body.

Sulpher looked back at me and stared at me dead in the eye. He looked at me as if he had a plan and I understood it completely, even when I can't speak to him anymore. Then he makes himself like a tiger and sped off the feet of the soldiers almost unnoticed, if it wasn't for the droplets of blood.

And, I didn't know why I did that but I did it anyway. I jumped through the dark roofed areas as if I had jumped through a forest fire, quickly and swiftly enough to evade the guards from stabbing me senseless.

Except, a few stabs did hit me but I didn't realize it until a bit further away, as I tried to make sharp turns and hide in the spaces between the buildings. I was grateful there were no beastmen in their ranks, otherwise I'd be dead sooner than I'd die of blood loss.

When I hide behind a busy pub, a sharp pang of pain hits my sides. I looked down to see stab wounds, shallow ones, bleeding out into my shirt.

' This is bad... ' I thought, covering the wounds with my hands. I was shaky but determined to stay alive.

Sulpher knew and he looked at me, concerned. He should've been mussing over his bleeding paw but he was mussing over my injuries instead, I could almost feel his guilt over making me follow his risky ploy. This must've been what Flay felt like those two years ago.

I searched my pack for a Heal Jar and poured it over to my wounds, hissing slightly as it slowly fuses my flesh together again. It was not too good of a sight, but it doesn't hurt as much as the sudden realization. Once it fuses all it can, I hid the bottle back in and try to run again. Sulpher was not amused and I soon realized why.

My vision was hazy, I was tired from sleeping not too well and from bleeding. I was in no condition to run at all, but I forced myself to. I did surprisingly well though, the soldiers sounded like they were having trouble catching up.

But it was a guise, I knew. Soldiers are far more brilliant than that, I saw some more running up to me from afar. They were wearing the same uniforms Fraggisan soldiers were wearing when I saw them off Roxis' failed execution, this town requested backup. I felt my heart sink.

Time seemed to pass so slowly as they ran up to me, I guess one of my wounds opened up while I was running. When I looked to my side, Sulpher had already took a turn and ran back to where we left off Flay and the others.

Flay... I had hoped he successfully grabbed the map and escaped with the others, I knew I had no chance to survive this job.

But time seemed to return to normal as a soldier ran past his comrades with a spear in hand. He seemed crazed but it was hard to believe what I see, his hold on the spear seemed too accurate to be a berserked grip. I felt a sharp jab right below my left chest, he ran it through me and jerked it out immediately. Blood was everywhere and I couldn't control the blood flowing up my throat and bursting out my mouth.

I collapsed to my knees and finally lied down. I was going to die at that moment, it felt oddly empty. Almost like a cliffhanger ending in the books Pamela used to let me borrow, it felt like it's just wasn't my time yet.

My vision was getting darker and everything seemed to go silent around me, I was starting to get dizzy too. With whatever that I can still process, I heard a sharp and repetitive rattling noise, along with cannons. Sharp stars flew through the air with screams from Nikki, Flay and just about everyone. Strong winds blew from above, I knew it was Muppy's mothership battling off the soldiers with its own brand of strange weapons.

Then, a bright rune pattern glowed on the ground below me and a white wolf stared into my eyes. Or rather, what I can still see of it; The Mana of Light seemed pitiful over me, speaking something I couldn't understand to a panicking Roxis.

After that, the rune's glow became brighter and my eyes closed to fade out the light.

" Vayne! Don't die just yet...! Vayn-...! "