Chapter 1: Shifting Winds

Divinity's Reach, a flourishing metropolis filled with endless opportunity. The streets were flooded with people trying to reach their destinations, whether they were on their way to hear the latest gossip in taverns or tales of glory. Others could be seen lined up amongst the various shops and browsing the various wares that the merchants had set out. Among the more important areas of the city the Seraph Guard could be seen either patrolling or posted up at key points. Law and order were strictly maintained. Crime wasn't tolerated with the perpetrators being dealt with swiftly and severely depending on the magnitude of the infraction. At the heart of the city lies the Royal Palace which is home to none other than Queen Jennah herself. Protected by her royal guard and the Seraph Commander Logan Thackery, the palace was strictly forbidden to the public and only those with important business were allowed audience with the Queen or other officials. The city as a whole, was a place of peace.

Over on a bench, a young woman who looked to be in her early 20's could be seen with a bored expression on her face and fiddling with an exotic staff that crackled and glowed with purple arcane energy. For the random passerby she looked out of place. She had straight blonde hair that reached down to her shoulders. Ice blue eyes scanned the area in hopes of finding something to alleviate her less than desirable predicament. A small current of wind blew her odd cream colored dress as she got up. To most men, she would be considered stunningly beautiful.

Kasmeer sighed as she gently placed Mirage on her back. " That doofus, I knew he'd be late." She said in annoyance as she rubbed her temples. "You tell him to meet you somewhere at a specific time and he either shows up 10 hours later or not at all..." Now that she thought about it she didn't know why she tolerated her best friend's antics up until this point. It had been going on since they were kids so she guessed she was use to it by now or so she thought but it never made it any less annoying each time he did it. As she lost herself in her rantings an elderly merchant seemed to notice her behavior and walked up. "Um miss? Is there something I can help you with?" He said gently.

The Mesmer blinked at him "Oh, haha, sorry mister I was just lost in thought but no, I'm okay... wellllll there's something I'd like to ask?" She said sweetly.

He was a little surprised at how polite she was and smiled at her with an equally warm grin of his own. " Well, what would you like to know? I'd be more than happy to help?"

"Where's the nearest tavern? I'm looking for my bonehead friend and I think I may be able to find him there." She said.

He put a hand on his bearded chin for a few seconds before gesturing down the street. " If you follow the path over yonder and make a right it should take you to Yulgar Inn. That's the nearest one I can think of. "He said thoughtfully. His face grew serious as he walked over and placed a hand lightly on her shoulder. "Be careful milady. The Seraph have been getting reports of brigands hanging around the inn but they haven't been able to catch them or spare any more patrols due to the war. So far they haven't been violent but those aren't the kind of people a young lady such as yourself should be around... uh are you okay?" He said noticing her trembling slightly.

Kasmeer's fake grin was doing poor work to hide her obvious fear. "b-b-b-brigands hic!?" She said hiccuping in a quivering voice. "N-not to worry, I c-c-can look after myself n-n-no problem, hic!" She said thrusting a shaky fist in the air. " No sir! N-n-n-not me! S-p-p-Spunk is my middle name!" People passing by could hear chattering.

"Well you should probably stop shaking like the red leaves on an orchid tree." He said to himself with sweat drops on the side of his head. He shook his head. "Just promise me that you'll be careful. You wouldn't want an old man to be due for an early grave worrying about you would ya?" He said smiling fatherly at her.

She nodded. "I promise." She said seeming to find her voice again. "After all I do have a few tricks up my sleeve if those creeps should try something." She said assuredly.

The merchant closed his eyes and walked the opposite way waving her goodbye. She waved back. The smile that was on her face vanished as quick as it had come and was replaced by fake crying. "Nooooooooooooo! I don't want to fight smelly bandits. Icky, nasty...sweaty." Her hands were clasped together as if praying to a god. "Starkk you big lumax! Always having to make trouble for me!"

Yulgar Inn was noisy as usual. Laughter and the sound of cups slamming against tables could be heard. People were either playing cards or conducting business of some sort. Over on the right side of the tavern a group of bandits could be seen huddled together talking quietly amongst themselves. They mainly kept to their own and no one dared or cared enough to bother them. Occasionally one of the servers would come and see if they needed anything but that was it.

"You know your Mesmer friend is going to be pretty pissed at you for ditching her to come here. Not to mention what Thackery is going to have to say about it." The bartender said as he wiped down another glass and stared at the light-skinned man in front of him.

He waved him off. "Well, if you would have heard what old man Logan needed me to do then you would be doing the same thing Sig."

Sig laughed. "How does a guy like you become an assassin and work directly under the Seraph and the Queen? I'm surprised they haven't kicked your ass to the curb yet.

Starrk smirked. "Meh, this crap about fighting dragons and what not is way too troublesome. I like it simple. If it's the occasional knucklehead or Skritt then I can deal. Not some huge city destroying monsters." He said lazily as he took another sip from his iced cherry ale. Starrk had short dreads that reached down to the side of his cheeks. Even though he was inebriated people could tell that those purple eyes had been hardened by battle. He wore a full set of Infiltrator Armor. It was black in color with yellow and black spaulders on the side. His dark ninja like mask was pulled back and hanged limply down his neck. His Orichalcum Mail that was fastened around his chest had a large black scarf that trailed down to the floor. On his feet were greaves that looked impenetrable to anything but the strongest weapons. On his back in a sheathe was what looked to be a black katana with yellowish energy surrounding it which seemed to be Asuran in design. Clipped to his waists were twin pistols that were his pride and joy, Azuza and Raspira. Around certain parts of Tyria and the empire he is known as Vanishing Mist Silvers, (Silvers being his last name).

"Well, hate to spoil your fun but look who showed up." Sig said motioning towards the entrance with a comical expression. Starkk turned around and paled. There in the doorway fidgeting and slowly walking in was a very timid looking Kasmeer with small red roses on her cheeks. Most of the men noticed and immediately stopped what they were doing to admire her beauty.

She was oblivious to it and scanned the room until she found her friend with his head down and his hood over his head. Her cheeks puffed out. "Starkk! There you are! You're in a lot of trouble mister!" She said as she stomped over.

"I am silent, like a wallflower while slowly fading into the shadows." He muttered to himself.

"Wait...was that a haiku?" Sig said deadpanning.

As Kasmeer approached a group of bandits surrounded her. They all had lewd smirks on their faces. She smiled uneasily. "Excuse me." She said politely as she tried to move around them but one of them barred her way. "What's the rush gorgeous? Maybe me and the guys can help you with whatever you're looking for." The bandit's friends began to snigger.

Keeping calm despite her fear she closed her eyes. "I appreciate that but I'll be fine so I implore you, could you please move aside?" The bandit then grabbed her hand and brought her roughly towards his face. His breath smelled foul. His teeth were yellow with an assortment of holes in them. He had a face only a mother could love. "Sorry but I'll have to insist." He said licking his horribly cracked lips.

"Let go of me!" She said with her lip slanted upward in disgust as she tried to pry her hand out of his iron grip. "I'm warning you, you'll be sorry if you don't." This triggered a choir of laughter from the bandits including the one who had her captive.

Over at the bar both Sig and Starkk had steel like expressions on their faces. "Sig here's the gold for the drink plus interest." He said dropping the hefty bag of gold on the counter top.

"Just don't make it too messy Silvers. I don't want to be out of business for a month due to repairs." He stated simply

"Aw come on baby? Don't be like that, we're just tal.." Before he could finish a black elegant throwing knife embedded itself in his hand. He grabbed his own hand and fell to the floor grunting and screaming in pain. "Agggggh! FUCK! Who in the hell!?" He said through blood shot eyes. The bandits turned their attention to the man with dreads walking towards them with a small grin on his face and tossing a throwing knife up and down. The men quickly surrounded him.

"Who the hell are you!?" One of them snarled.

"It's not important." Starkk stated calmly. " I believe the lady said to let her go but if you insist, I'll be more than happy to accommodate you boys." Kasmeer quickly ran over to his side. "You're going to get it, you know that right?" She said with an overly kind tone that made his hair stand on end. "Uh...maybe?" He said laughing uneasily. He focused his attention back on the bandits.

"Sorry asshole, we don't swing that way. So why don't you butt out before you get hurt." Another bandit threatened menacingly.

Starkk chuckled. "Neither do I you tool bag but ya see, if you're not willing to help me out here then that's going to be a problem and it would make this beat down you're going to get horribly one sided."

One of the bandits then lunged at him. "WHAT WAS THAT YOU LITTLE PUNK!?" He said swinging his sword with full force.

"Kasmeer stand aside." She complied as the assassin ducked under the blade and dropped to his hands. Using them as momentum he twirled his body and kicked the bandit's legs from under him with such speed that the impact from hitting his head rendered him unconscious instantly. He flipped himself back onto his feet and got himself ready for more of them.

"You arrogant bastard. Are you looking down on us?! Draw your weapon!" Another one piped up.

"Nah, I only need these to handle you guys." He said making waving motions with his armored hands. Four of them came at him this time. Focusing on the nearest one he grabbed the bandit's arm that was aiming for his heart and spun on his heel connecting a vicious elbow to the face causing him to become disoriented. He then shifted behind him still having a firm grip on his arm and slung him over his shoulder slamming him roughly into the ground causing the floor to break slightly. The next bandit was more prepared. He took his time sizing the Seraph Assassin up until he saw what he believed was an opening. He tried to slash him a few times only for him to dodge each one. Starkk threw two jabs that connected to the unfortunate brigand's face then arching his arms back he sent a double palm strike to his chest sending him back into a couple of bandits with inhuman strength and crashing into a wall.

A bandit with a two handed hammer and another with a spear came charging towards him at an impressive pace. The one with the hammer made a downwards slam only for the dread head to flip side ways. The hammer was stuck in the floor making it difficult for the thug to uproot it. The other bandit made sweeping strikes towards him. One actually connected but there wasn't enough force to penetrate the hard metal that made up his armor. Baiting the bandit to chase him, Starkk made his way back to the other one struggling to get his hammer free. Using the hammer as leverage he back flip kicked him causing him to be launched into the air chin first. The other one looked up in time to see the edge of a foot coming down towards his face sending him crashing into the ground with an explosive thud. The assassin landed and brushed himself off.

On lookers were visibly stunned. "That guy is a fucking beast, did you see those moves?" One of them said.

"Definitely not the movement of some common riff raff. Makes you wonder what kind of training he's received."

"Well judging from that armor he has on and those weapons he's probably been to the arse end of Tyria and from what I heard that's the kind of fighting strength you need to survive out there."

The bandits who were able to move got their injured brethren up and hurried out the door. "This isn't over you scum!" One of them yelled. Starkk exhaled and turned around only to be greeted with a choir of cheers. He blinked a couple of times before a small blush crept up on his face. He rubbed his back sheepishly while grinning toothily. "Aww! Stop it! There's no need for all th-" He was about to say before he felt a sharp pain on his cheek and felt himself being dragged. Kasmeer had a juicy tick mark on her head as she dragged him out the door. Starkk's eyebrows furrowed as sweat formed on the side of his head.

Sig laughed heartedly. "Man, I would kill to be their age again." He said stroking his rather large beard. "Almost makes me want to be quit of bar tending and get back into mercenary work."

Royal Palace, Seraphim Offices

Yelling filled the halls causing several heads to peek out in curiosity, that and it was probably disturbing them from whatever work they were occupied with.

"You need to take this a little more seriously! A lot of lives are depending on you and the last thing we need is you getting shit faced in a bar!" Logan yelled.

On one side of the room sat Kasmeer with her legs crossed, her arms folded and her eyes closed. Beside her was Queen Jennah, calmly sipping on some herbal green tea.

Starrk sat across the desk from Logan with a bored look on his face and one finger plugged into his ear digging for gods knows what. The Seraph Commander sighed and slapped down a pair of documents causing the light-skinned assassin to eye them seriously. This also prompted Kasmeer to crack one eye open. "These are the reports from our scouts. We got a lead on where those crystals are coming from and who's supplying it to the bandits." He said as Starkk gathered the pile and began looking them over. Kasmeer walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder, leaning down to read as well.

"There's suppose to be a meeting down in Bandit Haunt Caverns. I want you to go there and intercept the dealer."

"What about the crystals?" Starkk asked curiously.

"Once he's captured I'll send a detachment of Elementalist to take care of those. Your primary objective is the capture of that man. You're free to take out anyone who gets in your way." Logan then brought out a photo and handed it to Starkk. "He goes by the name of Toran." The commander said. He had a sinister almost inhuman look about it him. His skin had a reddish purple like hew with tiny spikes protruding all around his face. Yellow slit like eyes were set in a cold gaze.

Starkk set the files and photo down. "So you still haven't heard anything about the whereabouts of my older brother?" He asked with a little bit of hope in his voice.

Logan shook his head. "None, where ever he is, he's off the grid. None of my agents have turned up anything."

Starkk frowned slightly at this. "Right, well we see to it that this guy gets apprehended. Thanks anyway though old man."

Logan nodded. "You and Kasmeer just be careful kid. There's no telling what this guy is capable of. We're counting on you."

With that Kasmeer and Starkk left the office and broke off into a run. "How do you think this will go?" Jennah asked walking over and sitting herself on the desk. Logan folded both of his hands and placed them on his chin. "I have no doubt they can complete this assignment. I'm just afraid we're going to find something out that we don't want to know. She looked towards the window with a worried expression. "Please come back safely you two. You're our only hope.

"Where are you brother?..." Starkk said to himself. As Kasmeer and he sped down the long street towards Queensdale. Their destination? The Caverns.

I had planned to showcase Kasmeer's abilities this chapter but that can wait until the second one. Well not much else to say, hope you enjoy it and keep a look out for Chapter 2.

Jet~