6 Years Earlier

Dendri sat back at his desk, his windows were dirty, his couch was dustier than the desert outside, and his faucet continually leaked but it was his. He knew it was rundown, beat up, and borderline unsafe to live in but he still took pride in the few physical possessions he owned, a knock on the door pulled him out of his revelry. Helsan stood at the door with his usual charming smile, he took one look at the place and Dendri knew he hated it but he continued to smile and say "I'm speechless" that was his codeword for "it couldn't be uglier if it came from a Polsit nest." Dendri ignored the fake compliment and hugged him, "What are you doing in my house?" He said playfully, Helsan caught on and retorted "Oh, I'm sorry I thought I was in the pretty lady's house above yours, you couldn't possibly have a use for this new Link Holopad Nine."

Dendri cut the act when he saw the housewarming gift his friend had got him, "How did you get this, they're not even in stores yet, let alone the hardware store where I get all my computer equipment!" "Nothing is too good for my best friend, and between you and me this place could use a little touching up" Dendri suddenly remembered his manners, "oh, would you like a tour of my grand estate?" Helsan looked the single room apartment and said "I think I just got it, is this really all you own?" Dendri sat down on the couch which billowed dust into the air in one big puff, "Yeah, it is" he replied through a fit of coughs, moments later he regained his composure and continued "I bought this dust magnet from the landlord as part of our deal, the hoverchair was a tough deal but I got it decently cheap at the local black market, and the desk was locked away in a storage facility on the edge of town, it was just about the only thing to survive the fire besides me, of course." Helsan seemed to be in actual pain when he saw the just how extensively broke his friend was, "I tell you what, buddy, you clean this place up a bit and I'll get you the best job money can buy" Dendri objected immediately "no, no, no please don't, I moved out of your place because I wanted to start living my own life, don't help me out when I can earn these things myself. I know it looks bad but I bought it myself and it felt good to have earned this, I'm no charity, Hels, not anymore."

2 Months Later

Dendri wished now more than ever that he'd taken Helsan's offer, he was just returning home from his job as a Scrapper operator (apparently it takes a high intellect to work the poorly made machines) when he stopped by the black market to see if it was still there. It was, the suit that Kilhendo the Great used during the Dune Wars was still there, unfortunately that meant that the price had almost surely risen, even so he checked like he did every time. To his astonishment it hadn't risen a czut, he frantically checked his pockets and counted it out, 20 czuts, he thought back to how much he had saved and it totaled to just over 400 czuts. He reread the price and nearly squealed with excitement, he had enough, "I'd better get home before another buyer comes by" he thought frantically, so he ran across the street to his apartment and finally broke open his savings jar. He paused and wondered if it was worth an entire two months' savings then remembered that it was nearly priceless to the right collectors and raced once more out the door.

Miraculously it was still there when he came back but that's when he realized that he wasn't the only one who wanted it, a hooded figure stood nearby at another vendor but he was slowly making his way toward the valuable suit. Dendri poured on the speed until he thought that his lungs would explode, he was twenty feet away, then ten, then five but it still didn't seem fast enough, the hooded figure was ahead of him. That's when the impossible happened, he was stopped by a beggar asking for money, this seemed to catch him by surprise but he quickly recovered and rushed past the kid but by that time it was too late. Dendri had already gotten there and was in the process of handing the money over, the vendor opened the protective casing and held it out for him, it was the happiest moment of his life yet he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. On his return trip he discovered the origin of that feeling, the hooded figure laid waiting for him in the shadows, "I've been watching you recently Dendritius Sertenas and I think it would be wise if you came with me."

The lair of the hooded figure was enormous, there were various pieces of equipment scattered throughout the space and plenty of advanced machinery beeping and clicking through the otherwise interminable silence. Dendri still had the suit but even with it he felt exposed in the center of the room, the figure had instructed him to stay there, normally he wouldn't have listened but there was something commanding about his soft, yet fierce tone that he couldn't quite place. For the last few minutes the figure had simply been staring at him, not moving an inch, so naturally neither did Dendri, this made for a rather uncomfortable silence and finally he couldn't stand it anymore. "What do you want with me?" He demanded but still the figure sat staring, "Is this some sort of joke, because if it is I'm not afraid to use this thing" he said holding out the suit, " the hooded figure finally spoke "and why do you have that suit?"

Dendri was phased a little by this, he had seen him buy the thing, why would he ask that, "I bought it just a few minutes ago, or weren't you the one who was chasing me trying to get it?" The figure stood up and before Dendri could respond he was on the ground with the other man's hands around his throat, "Listen well, you are wrong, you didn't buy it you stole it, when you buy something stolen you receive the crime as well. I would tell you to return it but I doubt the vendor's there anymore, so now you have an illegal suit but even though it's tainted that doesn't mean that we can't use it for good, and that's exactly what we'll do." The man released his grip of Dendri's throat and held out a hand to help him up, "Why would I help a lunatic like you?" he yelled once he was on his feet, the figure responded "Because it's your fate" Dendri didn't understand what he meant but he was tired of addressing a nameless man. "If you stand for such good then why do you hide your identity, what's your name?" the hood fell back and he said "You may call me the Mentor."

3 Months Later

The Mentor was on the temple's utmost peak balancing on the tip when Dendri popped up next to him from out of nowhere, he jumped in surprise and nearly fell but regained his posture just before he did. "What have I told you about that?" He said angrily, the anger was lost on Dendri however because when the Mentor was meditating there was a calm about him that took a while to vanish completely. As a result he couldn't sound that angry even when he was nearly killed by his own pupil, "Sorry sir but it's an emergency, the suspect has exited the building, we must follow him or we'll never find him again." The Mentor gave no indication that he would chase him, after a moment he said "Well, you'll never catch him if you stay here" Dendri didn't understand at first what he meant but then the full implications of it hit him.

He transported back to where he had originally seen the suspect, "I'm finally ready to catch criminals on my own, or at least that's what the Mentor thinks, okay be professional." He thought, the suspect had been spotted going south so that's the direction that Dendri headed, soon he had spotted him again in a pod going toward the upper class district. He followed at a half run, half transport speed, and pretty soon the pod pulled up to a large, abnormally grey building that stood out among the sand colored buildings around it. The suspect paid the cabby and entered it, a sign was on the front doors with the words Drak Towers on them, Dendri followed by transporting into what he hoped was the elevator shaft. Instead when he emerged from the tunnel he was greeted by the suspect and about twenty other sharply dressed men, there was a small chair right behind him but nothing else decorated the room.

"Sit down" he said, at the sound of his voice two of the men pulled Dendri into the chair and tied him up, "now what may we call you, shadowlurker?" Dendri looked up and said "You may not call me anything, corrupt one for I am above the shadows and therefore above you, if you must speak my name then you may call me Shadowlord." They seemed taken aback by his confidence and eloquent speech but it didn't last, the suspect began to speak to his henchmen "His heart cannot be swayed, kill him and let Ahriman feast on his soul." The henchmen both pulled out identical pistols, they weren't normal diamond pistols but pure black pistols made of something Dendri didn't even want to guess at, that's when he sent out the emergency rescue signal. The Mentor heard it and pulled out the transportation device, it was a smaller version of the one on Dendri's armor so it would only work once, he just hoped that he got the location right.

A blinding light suddenly filled the dark room and the two henchmen slunk back to the corners of the empty space, the Mentor appeared out of the light like a guardian angel and Dendri thought to himself "That was close" he didn't realized just how close until he heard the gunshots. He watched as the Mentor fell, his face contorted in anguish and his own blood staining his frame, that second lasted a lifetime for Dendri and he relived it for several months afterwards every time he closed his eyes. Finally the moment ended and the grief that he felt gave way to pure rage, the next few minutes were a blur of gunshots, blood, and screams, the next thing he knew the chair he'd been sitting on was broken in pieces on the floor, the bodies of the henchmen were sprawled out next to the Mentor's, and he was holding the emergency transporter. He dropped the transporter and ran from the building trying to escape the horrifying scene he'd just been standing in, the transporter hit the ground and broke apart with a spark, the next morning the newspaper read "Mysterious Fire at Drak Towers."