When Kilrianna woke up, she almost tripped over the travel bag that was left by her bed. The Elder raised an eyebrow at her.

"Sorry. I wanted you to find it."

She blinked at him, not awake yet, and looked down at the bag. It was packed with a few of the usual things for travel, some food, rope, extra clothing, while lying on top was necklace. She moved her hand over it, and quickly pulled it back.

"It's a magic amulet." The Elder explained. "It will help you focus your magic and make it stronger."

"Oh." She moved to the bathroom to change, the necklace clutched in one hand.

Since she had no actual travel outfits, her dress was a simple brown with a corset underneath and only two underskirts. The amulet hung just above the low cut. When she came out of the bathroom, Kilrianna gave The Elder a hug and a kiss on the forehead.

"Thank you." She said.

"Be careful my child." He said.

She gave him a wink and a smile as she put on her pack. "Always." and she walked out.

Elenore, Killex and Lulu were already waiting in the street; each had a pack that matched hers. The Elder had been busy in the middle of the night, giving everyone a gift. Lulu had a new doll to focus her magic through, Elenore had a new chain to go on her scythe, while Killex clutched a map in one hand.

"Shall we?" Elenore asked.

"Where are we going?" Kilrianna asked.

Elenore pointed to the map. "I thought that we should start in the largest city on the continent, Asgaroth. Perhaps someone there has heard a rumor of the sword, or there is some type of information out there. It should take us all day to get there."

"Sounds like a good plan to me. Alright map lady, lead the way." Kilrianna grinned.

"I thought I was supposed to be the leader." Killex said, as they walked out of town.

"Sure." Kilrianna said. "Go ahead, lead."

Killex took the lead, and therefore he was the one who spotted the danger first. "Uh oh." He muttered.

"Uh oh what?" Elenore asked, but couldn't get very far as Killex had already cast protect over the three women.

"What's going on?" Kilrianna stood on her tiptoes to see over Elenore's shoulder. "Oh."

Before them stood an eight foot tall Griffin, who was looking at them with a slightly hungry glint in its eye.

"Five minuets out of town and we get into a fight!" Lulu giggled happily. "Now lets see, Griffins are earth elements, which means we defeat them with fire! I think. Or was it air? Maybe water…"

Kilrianna stared at her in horror. "I can't believe I wanted to be apprenticed to you."

"Good Griffin." They heard Killex say. He was walking towards the Griffin with his hand outstretched to try and pet it. "Nice, pretty griffin."

"Please tell me he's not doing what I think he's doing." Kilrianna whispered to Elenore.

Elenore couldn't reply, her mouth open in a mix of horror and shock.

Killex reached up to pet the griffin. The griffin reared up, and bit his left hand off.

There was a moment as Killex stared at the stump of where his hand used to be before he recovered himself enough to try and punch the griffin in retaliation.

The griffin bit his right arm off.

Killex stared in shock before grabbing his fallen arm in his teeth and running back behind the protection barrier.

Kilrianna fell to her knees and held his arm up. "Aren't you a monk? Can't you cure yourself? Try to at least somewhat reattach it! Lulu, attack the griffin with water. Elenore, hand me some bandages, will you?"

The others raced to do as she commanded, Lulu sufficiently getting the Griffin wet.

"Um… I don't think the water attack hurt it, Kilrianna. I think it just made it angry."

"Good." Kilrianna said as she held Killex's arm in place while he healed it back on. "Now attack it with blizzard."

"Why…? Oh!" Lulu hit it with blizzard and a moment later there was a sparkling griffin statue standing before them.

"Elenore, break it." Kilrianna said, wrapping a bandage around the arm.

"Gladly." Elenore growled, and hit the griffin with her scythe, shattering it into a million little griffin pieces. She came back and held out a blue tinted hand. "I think this is yours."

Kilrianna took it and held it against Killex's open wound. "Need a hand?" She asked.

The three women died laughing while Killex looked offended. "I don't think it's very funny." He said while he healed his hand back on.

Kilrianna managed to calm herself enough that she put a bandage on the wrist. "We need to get him to a healers guild. This will hold for now, but shock will

set in soon, and they should really look at this attachment so that there's no permanent damage."

"Yeah." Elenore calmed herself as Killex fainted. "Ah, that would be shock."

Another Griffin peered around a tree. It looked at its friend laying in ice cubes on the ground, then at the three women who glared at it.

"Brock?" It asked.

Elenore moved forward before anyone could react and dug her claws into its neck. "You're going to give us a ride to Asgaroth. Congratulations."

The griffin nodded.

With the nice griffin's help, they were able to make it to Asgaroth by lunchtime. They landed in front of the gates, both city guards staring at them. One, realizing that three women and an unconscious monk arriving at the city on a griffin was not a usual thing, ran inside to tell someone.

Elenore jumped off the griffin so that Kilrianna could pass Killex to her. Then Kilrianna and Lulu jumped off. The griffin ran away in fear.

"Excuse me." Kilrianna smiled sweetly at the guard. "We need to go to the healers guild. Our friend had his arm and hand bitten off by a griffin during our travels. May we enter?"

"I should go warn them." The guard said, and ran inside to the healer's guild.

This left no one guarding the gate.

The three women looked at each other, shrugged, and entered the city.

They stared.

"Well." Kilrianna said. "Anyone have any clue where we should go?"

From where they stood, streets stretched out far in front of them in a tangled web. They couldn't see any signs, or anyone who was a healer.

"Guess we have to wander until we find something." Elenore said.

Kilrianna shrugged and moved in a direction, not really looking where she was going. She bumped into something and fell to the ground with a small cry.

"I'm sorry." She heard a deep voice say. "I wasn't paying attention." The man that she bumped into knelt beside her.

She shook her head to clear it. "I wasn't paying attention either." She said and looked up.

The crimson eyes that she looked into flew open wide when he fully saw her face, and she thought he gasped. He had black hair that was tied in the back in a small ponytail. The man was tall, dark, and utterly, breathtakingly, handsome.

"My name is Vincent." He said, in a velvety voice as wonderful as his looks.

"I'm Kilrianna." She smiled a little weakly and melted into a puddle of happy goo. After a moment of staring at his face, she managed to recover. "Say, are you from here?"

"Not really, but I've lived here long enough that I know where everything is."

"Cool. You see, our friend had a really bad run in with a griffin, and we need to go to the healer's guild. Could you show us where it is?" She tried to stand, but discovered her legs had yet to return to a solid state.

"I would be glad to." He noticed her difficulty with standing, and slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "Just follow me."

Kilrianna blinked at Elenore over Vincent's shoulder. "I… can walk… eventually…"

"I'm sure, but you seem a little weak on your feet."

She sighed, and resigned herself to being carried, and looking down at the wonderful view it offered her. Then she noticed the sword at his waist. "Hey, do you know how to use a sword?"

"Of course." He sounded a little confused.

"So, what can you do with the sword?"

"It's actually not a sword, it's a rapier. And I can do basic fencing techniques. Why do you want to know?"

"Is this the Guild?" Elenore asked suddenly.

Kilrianna realized that they had stopped in front of a tall building that screamed Healer's Guild. Almost literally too, there was a large sign on the side.

"Yes." Vincent nodded and led her in.

The receptionist smiled at them. "How can I help you?" She asked Kilrianna.

"I'm not hurt." Kilrianna informed her. "He just seems to want to baby me. However, our friend over there had a little accident with a griffin and got his hand and arm bitten off. Can you help him?"

The nurse made a noise that sounded a little like a sneeze. "Yes." She said, voice strained. "I'm sure that there is something we can do for him."

Vincent had put Kilrianna down to snicker into his hand. "Just out of curiosity, how did he get his hand and arm bitten off?"

Elenore rolled her eyes. "Where can I put him?"

A couple of healers brought out a bed and were putting Killex on it as Kilrianna explained what happened.

"He tried to pet a wild griffin and it bit his hand off. Then he got mad and punched it with his remaining hand. That's how he lost the arm."

Elenore couldn't help it, and snickered again. Vincent also lost the fight to keep a straight face. Thanks to their professional training, the healers were all able to not laugh, though a few were coughing suspiciously into their hands.

"He'll be okay in two days." A healer said.

"Thank you." Kilrianna said. "Nori, are you going to be staying here with stupid boy?"

"Yes."

"Alright. I'll go explore the town. I'll be back tomorrow morning to check up on you."

"Thank you." Elenore sighed and sat in the waiting room. Vincent paused next to her, putting a piece of paper in her hand. She looked at it and nodded. He followed Kilrianna.

Kilrianna walked out of the guild and sighed and she looked at the huge city. She had no clue where to begin looking for anything.

"You know," a voice came from behind her and startling her. "It is rather late in the day to begin exploring. Perhaps you should start tomorrow."

She turned to see Vincent looking down at her. "Yeah. Do you know where the inn is?"

"Actually, I have a better idea. Follow me."

She shrugged and followed as he walked back through the streets they had just passed. Now that she had the time and wasn't worrying about Killex, she took in the sights of the city.

In front of the gates to the city was a large circular road with a fountain in it. Opposite of the gates was a large church, by far the most noticeable and imposing building in the city. To either side of the church were what seemed like shops and other small businesses. Vincent led her past the shops and into the more residential area of the city. Slowly the quality of the houses diminished until all she could see were run down buildings. At the end of the road was a small run down church.

Vincent walked up to the church and opened the door, turning on the lights.

Kilrianna gasped.

What used to be the main service room had the pews removed and was no turned into a dinning room, living room and kitchen. The alter at the end of the room was still in place, and showed signs of hard work and care to keep it as beautiful as it was.

The whole place reeked of hard work and care.

"It's not much, but I call it home." He gave her an odd lip twitch of a smile.

"This is amazing." She said, looking around.

He blushed lightly. "Thank you. Come on in, I have plenty of room for you to stay here if you wish, at least until your friend gets better."

"Are you sure?" She turned to him, a concerned look on her face. "I don't want to impose on you or anything."

He looked at her, and odd glint in his eyes. "No, you wouldn't be imposing at all. I would love to have you here. In fact, will you join me for dinner?"

"I would be delighted to."

She helped him make a fairly simple meal and sat down at the table across from him. He even let her have a glass of wine.

"Are you even old enough to drink?" He asked.

"Yeah. I'm nineteen."

"What is a child doing traveling alone?"

"I'm not a child. And, I'm not alone, Killex, Elenore and Lulu are with me." She paused a moment to stare thoughtfully into space. "I wonder where Lulu is? Oh well, like I said, I'm not alone."

"Elenore seems like a sensible young lady, but Killex?"

"I'm hoping he'll get better. We need a good leader."

"Why are you traveling?"

She looked at him for a moment, then decided that she could trust him. "We want to defeat the King's Army so he'll leave our town alone."

"That's a fairly noble cause." He remarked. "But won't that mean you have to defeat the leader of the army?"

"Shuyin. Yes."

"You've met?"

Her hand went to her neck, briefly touching the scar that ran across her throat. "A few times. Do you know him?"

Vincent's eyes got a far away look in them. "Yes. He's my brother."

She blinked. "Really?"

"Yes. We're twins, but we went on our own paths when we were 16. I became a monk, and Shuyin joined the King's Army. When we met again three years later, he had changed. But then again, I suppose so had I. We fought."

"I'm sorry."

"Things happen. What about you? What did he do to you?"

She sighed, grinning wryly. "Actually, what he did was my own fault. I was young and more of an idiot than I am now. I challenged him when I was 16, and lost horribly."

"Did he do that?" Vincent gestured to her neck.

She half smiled, more laughing at herself than anything. "Yeah. It's my punishment for daring to challenge him. He decided to gracefully let me live, but gave me this."

He stared in shock. "That had to have been done very carefully. You could have died."

"He probably would have enjoyed that."

"Probably."

They were both silent for a few moments, finishing the last of dinner.

"By the way, why did you ask about my rapier earlier?"

"Oh that!" She brightened. "I want to learn how to use it."

"What?"

"I want to learn how to use a sword. So will you teach me?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"So I can defeat your asshole of a brother, duh."

He stared at her. "You are an odd person." He sat back and studied her. After a moment, he spoke. "Alright. I'm not much of a teacher, but I'll give it a shot."

"Yay!" She jumped up. "What do we start with?"

He blinked at her, looking at her skirts. "How about with clothing?"

"What's wrong with this?"

"You can't move quickly enough with those things on. And this-" he pointed to her corset. "Forget it. In a real fight, you'd be dead in a second. Follow me."

She followed him down a hall and into what looked like his bedroom. He rummaged in a closet for a few moments before throwing a few articles of clothing on the bed.

"Change into those." He left the room.

Kilrianna walked over to the bed and sat, picking up a piece of clothing.

And stared at it.

And stared.

And stared some more.

"How do I put this on?" She asked herself.

There was a knock on the door. "I know it doesn't take that long to change. What are you doing in there?" Vincent called through the door.

"Umm… What are these?"

The door slowly creaked open and Vincent stood there, glaring at her. "What?"

"I've never worn these before, I'm not quite sure…"

"Oh for the love of…" He grabbed them out of her hands. "These go on your legs, this is the top. You'll need to put this belt on, or the pants will fall off. Got it?"

She nodded. "All good!"

"Alright. Change." He walked out again.

More confident now, she took off her dress, standing there in her corset and petticoats. After a few moments of trying, she realized the tie to the corset was just out of her reach.

"Damn it!"

"What's wrong now?" Vincent just opened the door.

She faced him, arm covering the top half of her corset. "I can almost never get these damned things undone."

"Turn around."

"What?"

"Turn around."

She gave him an odd look, but after a moment, she put her back to him. There was silence, then she heard his rapier leave its sheath, followed by the sound of it going through the air. It was back in the sheath before she realized what he had cut.

Her corset fell off.

"Get dressed." He said, and shut the door after him.

"Eep?" She said to no one in particular, but got dressed.

When she finally emerged from the bedroom, he stood near the alter, having cleared a large space for them to train in. He handed her a rapier.

"Now, do you know how to use this?"

"Sure! Pointy end goes in the other guy."

Vincent twitched. "Almost." With a sigh, he grabbed her hands, adjusting her grip. The first time, she was a little distracted by him being so close, but after getting yelled at, she stared to pay attention.

It was actually fairly easy to get the footwork down and a few of the basic moves. By the end of the second hour, she almost got a hit on him.

He smiled at her. "You're a natural student. You've done a good job. I'll teach you more tomorrow."

"Cool." She pouted a little. "I suppose that means your sending me to bed?"

"Yes." He took the sword belt from her. "You can have my bedroom."

"Are you sure? I don't want-"

"I know. You don't want to impose. You're horribly polite sometimes, you know that, Rianna? Go to bed."

"Alright." She turned to leave, hopefully before he could see the blush that stained her cheeks at the nickname.

She was so tired, she forgot to take her boots off, and was asleep when she hit the pillow.

Vincent sighed when he saw her. He seemed to do that a lot around this strange child. He took her boots off.

As soon as he was done covering Kilrianna in the sheets, there was a knock on the door.

"What?" He said, opening it.

The black haired woman on the other side looked a little frightened of him. "Um, my name is Lulu. Elenore sent me here. She gave me this map, and said Kilrianna was here."

"Oh. You're the missing friend she mentioned. Yes, Rianna's here. Come on in. There's a guest bedroom in the back."

"Oh thank you!" Lulu entered, looking like she had been through hell. "I'm exhausted."

He showed her to the bedroom, and then entered a third room.

"I don't know if I should join them." He said to no one. "The group seems to be leading more to a comedy of errors than a true group of heroes or adventurers. Then again..." He looked towards the bedroom Kilrianna was in. "I wonder if she would..."