A/N: On the previous chapter, I had written 'silky BLUE ribbons'. My mistake there, sohee's ribbons are pink, not blue. So sorry about that. Hey, ain't anyone reading my story?? I'm so sad.. TT

Chapter 4: Unwanted Visitor

The air was filled with hatred and greed. Bloodied carcasses lined the silver pavement, its deep red fluid painting the surroundings crimson. A knight stood nearby, taunting the weakened citizens while laughing at their shrieks of terror. In a slow motion, the bloodied knight raised his sword and sunk it into one of the injured alchemist next to him, relishing the screams of pain emitted from the dying girl. He flung the dead alchemist away and searched for his next victim.

"Stop right there!"

Snarling with surprise, the bloodied knight turned around and found himself face to face with a cloaked figure. It was a silver-haired sage. Growling, the sadistic knight gripped his weapon and charged directly towards the speaker. Suddenly, his eyes widened with pain and surprise. He looked down and saw a large, gaping hole burnt away from his torso. The injured knight gave a surprised gasp before crashing onto the ground. The sage stared disdainfully at the fallen knight, his hands still crackled with white-hot energy.

"Never mess with me, befallen knight. You are just fighting a losing battle…"

"No!"

Jerking into awareness, Alyssa sat upright on her bed, staring wildly around, breathing hard. She took a few gulps of air and motioned herself to breath slowly and calmly. It was those dreams again. The same dreams she had when she was young. She thought she had left those vivid dreams years ago, just like she had gotten rid of her uneasy feeling over mages.

Alyssa lay back on her bed again, staring at the tanned ceiling this time. What were those dreams about? Who was that bloodied knight that kept on rampaging in her dreams? Better yet, who was that arrogant sage? It was like she had met that sage before, but she couldn't put her finger who it was. Tiredly, she sighed and closed her eyes once more. She needed her rest. Earilith is just a few steps away from graduating her huntress examination. During the last few weeks, Alyssa had been doing nothing but helping her petite friend train and study for her exams. They still couldn't find the archer's lost party even after searching for a few weeks. On the verge of giving up, Alyssa suggested mildly that they might have gone to undertake their own examinations at their respective guild.

"Come to think of it, I haven't even focus on my own quest," she muttered to herself guiltily, pushing a stray lock of raven hair away from her cheek. Sighing once more, Alyssa got up and began to change into her alchemist clothes. Just as she was adjusting her belt, her well-honed senses quivered. Someone was in her room. Steadily and calmly, the alchemist finished dressing up and casually picked up some small daggers, as if to place them in her loaded cart.

Alyssa closed her eyes and focused on the moving object. Then suddenly, without warning, she swung behind and threw the daggers at the same time. There was a howl of pain and an assassin appeared in front of her, his hand bloodied. "Oi, do you really have to do that?" he howled as he jumped crazily about, holding his injured hand.

Raising an eyebrow, Alyssa looked at the assassin without batting an eyelash. "Shadow, what a surprise," she said evenly, her face never betraying her inner rage, "So what is it this time? Someone paying you to assassinate me?"

Glaring at her, Shadow picked up a bottle of potion from the alchemist's bedside table, tore the top open, and poured the liquid on his hand. Grimacing with pain, he watched as the healing potion closed his wound. Setting down the empty potion once more, he stood up and faced the grim-faced alchemist. "Ah, Alyssa, you never have change, have you? Always as suspicious as ever," mocked Shadow.

He watched triumphantly as Alyssa clenched her knuckles and allowed emotions to show in her expression. "What do you want, Shadow?" she snarled. The assassin shrugged carelessly and wandered around her room, checking out her belongings. He spied something pink and lifted it up, snorting with laughter. "Ah, so now you like pink? Aw, and yet you never did accept my gift, did you?" he sneered, fingering the pink lingerie before flinging it somewhere behind him. Alyssa fought to control her temper as she watched the assassin rifling through her belongings.

"The reason why I didn't accept your gift is because it was a sin to accept it!"

He narrowed his eyes momentarily. "Well, that wasn't the way I saw things before at that time. As I recalled, it was you that wanted their deaths, not me!" he said lightly as he continued to scrounge through her clothes casually. Alyssa closed her eyes. Shadow's cruel statement had brought up unwanted memories, the past that she wished to bury.

"Enough is enough, Shadow! If you're not telling why are you here, you'd better get out before I smash you into pieces!" she threatened angrily, brandishing her axe at him. She had managed to get a firm hold on her weapon when Shadow was too busy checking out her pink lingerie. Her cheeks burned when she saw the pink scrap decorating the wall lamp.

"Ah, so now we're back into business, are we? Well, I'm not going to spoil your fun of discovery. I'm just here to tell you that you're sister is in the hands of the Master. And if you don't give him what he wants, he'll personally rip her heart out and serve it on a silver platter."

"Why you-"

Streaks of silver dashed in the air as Alyssa swung her axe furiously towards the assassin. As quick as thought, Shadow evaded her blow, laughing infuriatingly. He took out his katar and made a quick slash at the enraged alchemist before leaping out through an open window.

"Just a little something to remember me, sweetheart!"

Breathing hard, the alchemist stared at the open window. She felt a sharp pain on her right arm and looked down. Droplets of blood oozed out from a cross-shaped wound. Judging from the deep cut, she sighed as she realized that that shape was about to stay permanently on her arm. Picking up a roll of bandage and a bottle of pearly-white potion, she began to tend on her wound. Spying her pink lingerie, she pursed her lips and grabbed the offending garment.

"You, stupid pink crap, is going to stay in here, permanently," she growled angrily, stuffing it into a small sack before burying it into her cart. She hated being made fun at. Worse still, she hated the wayhe threatened her with Constance. "I'll get you for this, Shadow!" she vowed silently.