The sun was rising in Alberta, although the busy merchant had been up and running long before dawn, money was the most important to the people of the large town, large ships moved in and out of the dock, warriors and travelers alike bought fares to far away places, some going as far as the deadly turtle island,

A crusader absentmindly drank a cup of tea, he had been hoping to get a ride to Izlude, but most boats seemed to go only to caves and islands, he yawned again, staying up for a long time was never his strong point, but it didn't really matter. He finished his drink and paid the tab, and then he went back down to the pier,

He walked around talking with merchants every once in a while, but most were too busy to stop and talk, he sighed and watched a large boat dock,

"Wow, that's the biggest cargo box I've ever seen! We're never going to be able to bring it to shore…" one of the sailors explained loudly,

The crusader walked over, "Do you need some help?"

The sailor looked him over, "Yes, you'll do, see that cargo box? I need you to move it off the ship."

The crusader picked up the box, it was much heavier than he expected, he nearly dropped it but regained his grip and struggled to walk to the dock, and he set the box as gently as he could

"What's in it?" he asked catching his breath,

"It's mostly gold that was mined off the coast of Turtle Island." The sailor said proudly,

"Hmm… the sky sure looks nice in the morning…" the crusader said suddenly,

"Huh?"

"Yet the ocean also shimmers with beauty…"

"Okay… so do you want anything in return for the help?"

The crusader stopped looking at the sea and turned to the sailor, "A trip to Izlude would be nice."

A rouge and an assassin quickly ran up to the sailor, "Uh… could you take us to Izlude too?" the assassin asked,

"Ask the crusader, I'm doing this for him." The sailor said opening the box and ordering his employees to move all the gold to the shop,

"Well could we?" the rouge asked yawning,

"Hmm… sure, why not. I hope I don't get seasick." The crusader said looking away,

"Yay! Well, we aren't leaving for awhile, let's go to the bar and wait there until it's time." The assassin smiled,

"Sure, sounds good." The crusader said, "My name is Ender, what's yours?"

"I'm Daphne, but most people know me as Merciless, the rouge is Zero… err…" Merciless turned around to see suddenly that Zero had gone over to a few boxes and had begun to doze off, "Zero!"

"Hmm? Yeah, thanks man, we owe you one, I'm going to sleep in a sun for a bit." Zero yawned,

"Is he always that lazy?" Ender asked,

"Yeah… pretty much…" Merciless laughed,

Ender just sat and talked while Merciless had a small bit to drink, during which Merciless discovered, Ender had an attention span of about five seconds…

"Why are you going to Izlude?" Merciless asked,

"Oh, just visiting some friends in Prontera." Ender replied, "And you?"
"I'm going to meet up with some people, and then find my stupid friend Blinded; hopefully he hasn't done anything too stupid while I was gone…"

"The price on this food seems a bit expensive…"

"Yeah, I know, even a small plate of savage ribs costs two thousand zenny… are you going to order anything?"

"Your friend Zero seems nice…"

"Why do you keep changing the subject?"

"I am?"

Finally the hour to board the boat arrived, they three walked on quickly and arrived at Izlude port within two hours, as Ender had predicted, he was affected heavily by seasickness…

"It's just a short trek from this town to Prontera right?" Ender asked,

"Yeah…" Zero said, he didn't even bother taking his weapon out, there was no point…

A thick mist shrouded the ground as it had been for days, it made merchants and travelers easy prey to thieves, thus nowadays most travel in large groups with hired knights.

"Yay! We're nearly there! Ow!" Merciless said tripping and landing on the floor, Ender helped her up,

"What happened?" Zero asked,

"Hmm? It's a blade!" Ender said picking up the sharp metal, oddly enough; the hilt was gone, like someone had snapped it off…

"Hey, there's some armor here too!" Merciless said picking up the top of a chain mail, yet the bottom was ripped into ribbons, which was shocking, as mails were made out of one of the hardest elements in Rune Midgard…

"There's someone over there!" Zero said pointing to a round shape that was just behind a tree, they ran over quickly,

Merciless screamed, Ender turned away in disgust, Zero threw up, the man's body was ripped into unidentifiable parts, his mouth was frozen in a silent scream, where his eyes used to be now were empty sockets, one of his ears lay a few feet away from him.

"What… could've done this?" Ender said in shock, he ran his gauntlet against the grass, the blood was dry and crusty, "He's been dead… probably only a few hours; let's drag him back to the city before some wild beast eats him."

Merciless and Zero were too disgusted to touch the dead body, thus Ender was forced to gather all the parts and put it into a bag, he carefully put the head on the top, they entered Prontera planning to give the body a quick burial,

However, Ender was distracted by a conversation, thus he didn't notice a young woman walking towards him,

She however, did see him, and she saw the bloody bag, she could tell the difference from human blood and monster blood miles away… she slipped behind Ender and placed her palm on his neck,

"Take another step, and I'll blow your head off…" she snarled…

Shingen sighed, "Well Mita, I agree… humans are just… weird."

"Yeah… first the guy who predicted porings will overrun the city, then the one who was drunk and threw up on your sword, and now that weird disappearing girl…" Mita said walking,

"Moo." Dee nodded,

"Who are you?" Mita said, holding out his weapon,

Dee stared at the weapon, then she hit both of them with a stick from the ground causing Mita to drop his axe,

"Grr… I'll get you!" Mita said groping for his axe… but it was gone, and so was the girl, "I don't believe this… what's the world coming to?"

"Haha, you got owned!" Shingen laughed,

"Ha yourself, where's your sword?"

"…"

"COME BACK HERE!"