The sound of metal clashing with metal invaded their ears as they rushed into the town. Villagers were trying to fight off the evil that invaded their homes, but to no avail. Their swords were useless, bouncing off the creatures of blood and metal harmlessly, whereas said creatures could injure or kill a number of people in one swing. They were almost invincible. Xephos began working his mind; they had to have some kind of weakness. He was suddenly shoved out the way as a swing almost took his head clean off. The dwarf glanced down at his friend.

"Pay attention while you're thinking, ok?" He pointed out. Xephos nodded as the two sat up. He watched as Rythian summoned his blade, Enderbane, and sliced through one of the swords. His eyes held the glee of a smirk, until the sword started re-growing.

"Oh come on! That's unfair!" Rythian shouted, dodging quickly out of the way of another swing. An arrow flew past the male's mask as it pierced through one of the gaps in the armour. Under the mask, Rythian smirked. "I only know one person – or, dinosaur – with that kind of aim." As he turned, the red-haired female flung herself at him. Their arms instantly found their ways around each other, content in each other's embrace. They both fell to their knees, Zoeya's head nuzzling against Rythian's neck. Teep stood guard over the two, prepared to protect them with his life. However, Xephos' eyes weren't focused on the reunited friends; instead he was looking at the arrow lodged in between the plates of iron and steel. He expected blood, but instead...purple? He scrolled through his mind, trying to remember what purple meant.

"Taint..." Smith beat him to it, helping the raven-haired male to his feet. "No...He wouldn't..." He muttered, clenching his hand around his wand. "...Well, how can I be sure anymore?" He sighed to himself. Xephos didn't really understand what he was going on about, but he knew the dangers of taint. Long exposure left you infected and mad. Honeydew sometimes blamed Lalna's madness on that, after working with a tainted apprentice. He doesn't show madness often; not that Xephos saw, so he never quite understood what Honeydew meant. Xephos slipped the diamond sword from the sheath on his back, standing beside the Mage.

"What do you mean?" He asked. The green man glanced at Xephos, blinking once.

"...He might have let her roam free." Xephos wondered who he meant by 'her', but he'd guessed he'd soon find out if she was free. The two split as an attack came straight for them. Xephos leaped up and brought his sword down through a slight gap in the armour. The thing made a terrible half screech, half metallic sound before it 'burst', scattering purple substance like dust before it sank into the ground. The armour clattered onto the ground, leaving nothing of what was inside.

"It's like a balloon..." Xephos murmured, glancing at the arrow again which remained lodged in the downed creature. "But...why didn't that...?" He looked over at Smith, who was looking back at him. The creature was behind him in a blink of the eye; there was no chance. "Look—"

"My lord!" A spear came through the centre of the creature, causing it to fall on the ground. Behind stood a person clad in armour – specifically the city guard armour. Xephos had seen it a lot in the castle as he was taken around, yet he never really paid much attention. The guard shifted their helmet, pushing it from over their eyes. They were chocolate brown and contained kindness and innocence that Xephos had never quite seen before. She jumped over the creature, retrieving her spear as she went, before she knelt before Alsmiffy. "My lord, I'm glad I found you." She gasped with relief, her voice sounding almost child-like. The Mage smiled, kneeling down next to the girl. He gently removed her helmet, revealing shoulder-length reddish-blonde hair tied up in a bun with a few loose strands lying beside her face. A small scratch was on her left cheek, but apart from that she was unharmed.

"Xena, are you alright?" He asked, his hand ghosting over the scratch. With some Thaumcraft magic, the wound healed quicker than it usually would. Xena ran her hand over where the scratch had been, a smile forming on her lips.

"T-Thank you, sire." She then nodded. "Yes, I am alright. I'm afraid the King has gone mad, sire. He told us of your betrayal, and that it was 'time'." She clenched her hand into a fist around the spear that lay on the ground. "Apparently this 'time' was summoning these creatures. He...s-sacrificed the other city guards, but I managed to escape before he could use me." Xena shivered at the memory, Smith's hand finding it's way to her shoulder to comfort her. "You must get to safety! The King pledged to end your life the moment he saw you again!" She added hastily. Smith shook his head, standing up.

"I'm sorry, Xena, but I must save him. He's my friend, after all." He replied. The guard looked at the ground for a few moments, obviously in thought, before she grasped her spear and helmet in hand and stood beside the Mage.

"Then I shall come with you. I must help my King; that is my duty." She slipped the helmet over her head, which just covered her eyes. She titled it back, looking at the other three. The creatures in the immediate area had been taken care of during the conversation. A sharp point pressed against Xena's back, the dwarf's axe digging in slightly. She expertly twirled her spear and body, knocking the axe far from Honeydew's grasp and the point now at his neck. "...S-Sorry, I thought you were an enemy!" She replied quickly, retrieving the axe and giving it back to Honeydew. The dwarf shrugged, not caring much. "So...do you know what's wrong with him?" Xena asked quietly. "He...he suddenly became mad..." Her gaze shifted down to the ground. Xephos gently tilted her head back, memories flashing in his mind the moment they touched. She had a simple life, looking up to her father for guidance in her training. She would train twice as hard as the other trainees, even if she didn't particularly need to. It was when she started her training that she first saw the three; she immediately fell for one of them too. Not that she could ever be with them. They were people of the castle, and she was only a guard. Forever bending to their will. But, that was ok. Xena didn't mind that. Xephos stumbled back, being caught by Rythian. His hands were left with the same tingling as they did before, another cut forming on the underside of his ring finger.

"Again?" Rythian asked. He took some black, slightly-worn leather gloves from his pack and put them over Xephos' hands. An insignia unknown to Xephos was on the palm side of both of them. "That should stop that. It seems like it's only from contact of the skin."

"...Y-Yeah." Xephos glanced at the male before he turned to Xena. "Well...we don't exactly know what's going on...but we're going to save him." He replied. Xena smiled, nodding.

"I'm with you all the way, in that case. We have to help him." She replied, a hint of sorrow in her tone. The girl had trained herself to keep her emotions locked away, but now it didn't seem to matter anymore. "He's still in the castle, most likely in the throne room." She explained. Xephos nodded, glancing at Rythian and Honeydew.

"You two stay in the town. Help the people." He started, ignoring the dwarf's protests. "Us three will go and find Ross." He added, motioning to Smith and Xena. Rythian nodded, his arm moving around Zoeya's body to bring her close.

"B-But, Xephos—" The raven haired male place a hand over Honeydew's mouth, smiling a little.

"I'll be fine. The people here need a hero, you know." He added with a wink. Honeydew pushed his chest out proudly, nodding. He wouldn't fail his friend now. Xephos glanced at his companions, who had already started moving. He quickly caught up to the two, leaving his friends to fight in the town.

The gates and doors of the castle had been left completely unguarded, some bodies strewn across the ground. They were certainly dead. Xena mentioned something in passing about how she briefly remembered some of them, the way her voice hitched showing that she was having trouble keeping it inside. Smith placed a hand comfortingly on her shoulder. The girl glanced at him with her brown eyes, smiling a little. At least the sounds from the town were dying down, even if that wasn't necessarily a good thing. It gave them a slight reprieve. The two from the castle walked ahead, leaving Xephos to his own thoughts.

'My brother...' His body switched into autopilot mode, following the two absentmindedly. 'What would life have been like if we were together? Would it have been better, or worse? I'm sure you wouldn't have gotten like this...' A small smile formed on his lips. 'I...wish I could've gotten to know you better. I mean...I will once this is over...if you let me.' He nodded to himself, his mind returning to the present. "...What was it like, living in the castle?" Xephos asked curiously. The green man glanced back at Xephos, raising an eyebrow curiously.

"Well...it was ok. We got to spend most of our time together – Trott, Ross and I, that is." He began. "We did...stuff, I guess. We all trained in our specific areas, to take after our fathers. We...didn't see many others; only our fathers, the servants, guards and each other." He shrugged. "It was a life." Smith quickly cut the conversation off, the side of his fist connecting firmly with the door to open it. Xephos' gaze moved curiously to the city guard. He wondered if she knew what he had seen; by her expression alone it didn't seem likely. However, if she truly did keep her emotions inside, then that would be the same for everything.

"Xena..." The girl blinked, her brown eyes shifting over to look at Xephos. "How...old are you?" Xena flinched slightly, glancing nervously at her hands as she walked. A mumbled reply came from her, but Xephos couldn't quite hear what she said. That or he didn't quite believe what he had just heard. "I'm sorry?"

"F-Fourteen."

"What? Then, how are you part of the city guard already?!" Xephos asked, raising his voice slightly, shocking the girl further.

"We allow training to begin at young ages, and the youngest to join the guard is fourteen." Smith quickly explained. Xephos gazed at Xena, thoroughly shocked. Only fourteen? Admittedly he was only four years older than her, but still...she was just a child compared to him!

"That's...m-madness."

"That's life." The green man replied bluntly. "The guards are essential for keeping the peace." Xephos scoffed, deciding to drop the conversation. He didn't exactly want to argue with the one guy who is going to help him the most. 'Guards are important, but at fourteen?!' He thought to himself. The two in front of him seemed to slow, Xephos almost bumping into them. They stood at the entrance of a fairly large room of the castle which didn't seem anything like the throne room. It was then Xephos' eyes were attracted to the frail figure standing in the centre. Or, at least, she would've been if it were for the vast amount of taint that had infected her skin. It had completely enveloped her right eye, leaving it white and blank. The same taint was on her arms and the right half of her torso. She seemed to watch them, but not see them. It was like they were invisible to her. "S-Shit..." Smith muttered, tendrils of taint moving lightly around the girl's bare feet. "He did let her out..." He said in a hushed voice.

"Who...is that?" Xephos glanced at the mage, noticing how quiet and on edge he had become. If he was reacting like that, what the hell was she?

"...Her name is Nano. She's the most dangerous flux being there is."

A/N: Some trivia - Xena is actually based off of my IRL best friend (aka 'David Cheese' on here). Not exactly like her, but I just combined a bunch of different things and ended up with this. So...yeah xD