Jared desperately tried to make his way back to the Malacca guild house; his heart was in so much pain that he couldn't think straight. His breathing was ragged and how he still managed to determine the correct direction towards the guild house was anybody's guess.
One month, that was all he had. In a month he was made to choose between Persha and his own guild. The skies darkened and the scent of rain filled the air of Prontera. All the vendors began to pack their merchandise, in fear of them getting wet, leaving Jared alone in the streets in moments. The rain fell like a sudden sheet of ice but Jared didn't notice any part of it. He stared at his reflection on the puddle that was forming at his feet. Was this his life? Cursed to be alone forever? Not allowed to love or be loved? With Persha, he thought that something else might have been possible, that his life would somehow not be so sad. Now, it seemed that fate had twisted it back to it's intended course- him being alone.
Jared fell to his knees, the rain beating own on his neck. He felt as if the weight of his problems was trying to crush him into the ground with every droplet that fell. He stared into the puddle again as Lord Irutalde's figure appeared behind his reflection holding a silver leash in his hands. Lord Irutalde attempted to lock the leash around Jared's neck but Jared punched the image through the puddle and destroyed the figment of his imagination.
"I am not leashed to Suldam! I'm not your dog anymore Irutalde." Hissed Jared after the image that had disappeared at his blow. "Persha means more to me than my life, than my guild." Jared turned around and headed back towards the Winning Horse.
He kicked open the entrance surprising everybody in the establishment. The strong-arm who was sitting on a stool beside the door stood up and flexed his muscles in front of Jared as a form of intimidation. The innkeeper eyes him venomously before speaking. "You're friend's gone you hear! Now get out of my inn, I've had enough of your kind here." He gave a cock of his head at the strong-arm, signaling him to get rid of Jared. The strong arm was big and burly, as every other man of his occupation was. He placed a heavy hand on Jared's shoulder and attempted to push him out of the way like a child.
Jared's fingers instinctively darted to the strings of his mandolin, where he played a series of chords. A loud vacuuming sound came after as the air around the strong-arm condensed into an icy body-cast. At the sight the innkeeper dropped the glass he was still wiping, and all the other patrons of the inn had fled through the windows or the back door since Jared still stood at the entrance. The innkeeper tried to make a run for it with the others but Jared caught him by the back of his collar and with extreme discomfort was pulled over the counter and slammed into the floor. This left the innkeeper dazed for a second until Jared's boot fell heavily on his temple.
"You crazy bastard!" shouted the innkeeper as he flailed his arms and legs around in desperation. Jared slammed the butt of his mandolin at the base of the innkeeper's back, consequently behaving him.
"Where did he go?" asked Jared driving his mandolin down even harder.
"I don't know!" shouted the innkeeper repeatedly as he cringed under Jared's foot and mandolin. "He left not long after you did, didn't say a word! I swear!" At this, Jared let the innkeeper go, who immediately ran out of his own establishment as fast as his feet could take him.
Jared stepped out of the inn; the street was empty and the rain still pouring. Jared closed his eyes and listened to the sound of each individual raindrop falling unto a surface. This formed a picture in his head as clear as anything his eyes could give. It had been raining sometime now, everybody was indoors; those whom had just ran away from the Winning Horse excluded, but he knew where they were headed. He listened again searching amid all other sounds for something that would lead to Saga. Suddenly there it was, the dirt road had turned into mud now and he could here someone in light boots walking through the mud but under a shade, untouched by the rain. It was feint- a skin's width away from being out of earshot but still possible to follow.
Shaga had left not long after Jared did; he headed out of the pitiful district of the Pronteran slums and towards the main road. With an unfortunate strike of luck it began to rain, no doubt that all the acolytes would be running to the nearest shelter from the rain, leaving no one to warp him. Shaga rolled his eyes and had a mind to go back to the winning horse, though one look at the road of mud quickly changed his mind. He saw a merchant's tent shop that had obviously been abandoned a long time ago at the side of the road. Deciding that it was better than nothing he entered and decided to wait out the rain.
The rain had gone on for some time now and again the prospect of going back to the winning horse hovered around Shaga's head. Then, again one look at the road, which now resembled a roiling brown ocean, changed his mind. Nothing happened until a sound of someone splashing through the mud was heard. Shaga pulled back the tattered piece of cloth to see who it was that was coming his way.
There was a man running through the rain for dear life. The mud had splattered all over the front of his cloths and face, but that fact didn't seem to have any particular importance to him. Shaga took a good look at the man's face as he passed by. At first Shaga couldn't recognize him with all the mud caked on his face, he speculated for a moment then suddenly realized who it was-the innkeeper.
Just as Shaga recognized the innkeeper, a note rung in the rain-muddled air and a shockwave of sound blew apart the old merchant tent sending him flying with it. In mid-air Shaga pulled out his katars and he landed on the ground with his arms crossed over his chest, in the assassin fighting stance. Shaga looked at his attacker then smiled underneath his mask upon seeing Jared.
"Why doesn't this surprise me very much?" called Shaga. Jared didn't reply he just stared at the assassin through his hair that was matted on his forehead by the rain. "I was right in saying that that girl had you dancing with her?" mocked Shaga with a chuckle.
There was murder in Jared's eyes at the assassin's reproach. He strummed his mandolin sending a shockwave of sound, the assassin's way. Shaga somersaulted in the air and easily evaded the musical strike. There was no time wasted, Jared sent strike after strike, unceasing in his shockwaves of sound. Shaga evaded each until one managed to gash him on the shoulder. Upon landing from the last somersault Shaga rushed towards Jared in a blaze of deadly steel blades. Both of them were locked in a battle where Shaga struck with katar or leg at every opening he could get, and Jared trying to block all vital areas of his body but in the process leaving him with numerous slashes on his arm's legs and face.
Shaga then pulled out a red gemstone from his person and muttered an incantation under his breath. The gemstone glowed faintly as Shaga attempted to lunge it into Jared chest. Jared managed to evade the attack to his chest but the gemstone was driven into his arm instead. When the attack was administered Shaga jumped back a good distance before calling to Jared.
"Unfortunately that venom splasher will not be fatal when embedded in your arm, but you won't be able to use that mandolin of yours anymore will you?" at this he gave another chuckle and proceeded to watch Jared.
The gemstone was heating and pulsating in his arm, driven through one of his wounds. How the assassins managed to manipulate objects into even the smallest cuts was beyond Jared, though now was not the time to try and uncover the secrets of the assassin's guild. Shaga had stopped chuckling and was now in a fit of uproarious laughter. Jared moved his fingers towards the strings of his mandolin and not paying heed to the searing pain he strummed a series of chords again. Shaga was caught off guard as a shockwave of sound the size of a wall collided head on with him. The impact of the blow cracked a couple of his ribs and he fell to the floor like a sack of rocks instead of the grace and finesse befit of an assassin. Not mere seconds from his fall another shockwave hit him this time stronger than the last one. That was followed by three more, if those had been even more powerful Shaga could no longer tell the difference.
Jared fell to the ground from the pain of creating such powerful shockwaves with his damaged arm. The gemstone was now pulsating so violently Jared felt it might rip right through his arm. He limped towards the battered body of the assassin. Shaga was lying on the ground, nothing moving except for the very feint rise and fall of his chest. Blood trickled from his mouth, no doubt from him bleeding internally, the force Jared put into those shockwaves could have been compared to having golems thrown at you at high speed.
Surprisingly, Shaga managed to talk "Too, late Jared, Lord Irutalde is already going to attack your precious dancer's guild tonight. He told me to tell you it was at the end of the month so that you would be killed in the process," Shaga began to laugh uncontrollably again despite the blood erupting from his mouth as he did.
Jared got Shaga into a headlock, making sure the position of the gemstone was at the assassin's throat. Jared's shout of agony echoed in the rain as the venom splasher finally exploded.