The morning air was allready changing to an afternoon breeze. Shadow, in full battle wear jumped through the window of Orscyar's room with almost weightless agility. As much as Shadow had previously enjoyed Orscyar's company, the time had come for the two to part ways. "You didn't say anything about coming in today" said a slightly startled Orscyar upon Shadow's extravagant entrance. "Time has come for me to make my exit" Shadow said solemnly to Orscyar. "So, where are we going?" said Orscyar, doing his best to try and tag along.
"Where do you want to go Orscyar ?" Shadow asked sincerely.
"I want..." Orscyar thought intensely, he had nothing now. With his family gone there was nothing for Orscyar to do "...I want to find the one who took my family from me"
"You see, you have your own battle my friend, to find the one who took your family from you. I have a similar quest, and now they must become separate quests" Orscyar looked deep at Shadow's mask, which was the only thing preventing eye contact, Shadow was even more relieved to have it than usual. "What is your quest?" Orscyar eventually asked.
"My father was killed, we..." Shadow sighed "..did not part on good terms, I must make it up to him by finding his killer" Orscyar looked confused "What is it?" Shadow asked
"The legend of The Shadow of Death has been going for around eight or so years now.... you have been searching this land for that long?" Shadow sighed again, deeper.
"Yes, lost years I’m afraid, too much blood spilt, I am going to end it, my father's killer is at Hazajaro Castle" the mention of the castle caused Orscyar to flinch, and then smile "What's so funny?" Shadow asked and for a while Orscyar was lost for an answer
"You cant be serious, Hazajaro castle has been empty for years, its haunted by ghosts and all manor of things, why would your fathers killer be there?"
"Why not? I have searched the rest of this land many times, I need to end this quest now. This is what i came to tell you, I am leaving you to get back on with your life" Orscyar partially laughed once more
"Life? If you do not forget there is a bounty on both our heads". A split second later, a knock at the door startled the two of them. It took a while for either of them to react, the only guest Orscyar was ever expecting was Shadow. Which meant that no matter who was behind the door it would not be good news. A second knock at the door, louder this time prompted Shadow to stand up and stand to the left side of the door, so that when it was opened, no-one would be able to view Shadow’s presence. When Shadow was in position Orscyar motioned toward the door coolly, doing his best to appear relaxed as he opened it. Orscyar’s calmness was thrown into chaos, as he opened the door he was greeted by a swift and severe fist to the face, causing Orscyar to groan. Shadow kicked the door shut firmly, slamming it hard into whatever stood in its way. Shadow opened the door and looked down the corridor both ways, five men came at him. Shadow punched the nearest in the gut and lifted the oncoming attacker high into the air and threw him at the three men on the other side of Shadow. Shadow turned and gave an icy stare at the lone man that stood firm, then made his move. The man then produced a dagger and dived at Shadow, aiming the dagger at Shadow’s throat. Shadow only had time to think how stupid and clumsy this attacker was before jumping over the man then grabbing the wrist in which the dagger was concealed, Shadow then easily overpowered the man and pulled his wrist across his neck, slicing his throat with his own dagger. Shadow stood back for a second and looked at the four men that remained, they had just then managed to get back to their feet. Shadow drew the sword of Drakahor, causing the four men to flinch and back away. Shadow slowly backed the four men up the corridor, soon the time came when they were backed up against a window. Shadow smiled through the mask and sheathed the sword, Shadow then punched the men furthest right and left hard, they smashed into and through the glass, luckily falling into a donkey cart filled with hay. The two men left looked at each other, then out of the window, then at Shadow they both then nodded and jumped out of the window rather than stand and fight Shadow, falling into the same hay as the two before them . Shadow headed back into Orscyar’s room and looked at him. Orscyar, not expecting an attack of such brutality was caught unaware and now lay, winded on the floor, slowly gathering some composure. “You were saying about bounties on our heads?” said Shadow casually, changing his tone to light-heartedness mid sentence. Shadow then took a look of concern for Orscyar and lifted him to his feet and lay him down on his bed, Shadow then took a chair and sat beside him. This was one of the reasons why Shadow had always enjoyed travelling alone for so long, watching others suffer made Shadow cringe. “I’ll be fine, bastards caught me off guard is all” Orscyar said, then moaned at the pain talking had caused him. “I think we should depart from here” Shadow said, suddenly becoming frantic and looking around to check if anyone else was coming for them. “Where can we go ?” said Orscyar, slowly getting to his feet.
“We set up camp in Haidar forest, then first thing tomorrow we go our separate ways” Shadow said firmly. Orscyar was too weak to argue so surrendered hope of staying with Shadow, for now. Shadow went to put an arm around Orscyar and support him, but Orscyar politely waved it away and was to strive on his own. Orscyar walked slowly out of the room, surprised at how much more his back throbbed with pain, he had landed very awkwardly, walking was much more harder than Orscyar first anticipated. Orscyar’s right leg throbbed with pain, when he fell to the floor his leg hit his metal bed post on the way down, Orscyar cursed himself at being so badly damaged by such a clumsy attack. Shadow walked at a casual pace behind Orscyar, who tried to speed his pace up momentarily but pain caused him to slow once more. They both came to a flight of stairs at the end of the corridor and were to make a swift exit from the tavern. As Orscyar came to the bottom of the stairs, he looked around and realized that they would not be making as sharp an exit as was first expected. There were about fifty men in the room and they all drew crossbows and aimed them at Shadow and Orscyar.
There was the smallest instantaneous pause before crossbow bolts came heading in Shadow and Orscyar’s direction. Shadow foreseeing that Orscyar would not be able to react in time grabbed him by the collar and pulled him back, almost dragging him back up the staircase. Shadow looked to the smashed window where four men had previously exited the building and peered outside, there were people waiting out there for them too. Shadow had spotted something that stirred something inside, there were two men at the back of the room who did not draw at them when the others did. Shadow drew the sword of Drakahor and took another quick glimpse outside the window, there were some horses tethered outside, if they could reach them, Shadow was a good enough rider to get rid of the bounty hunters. Alone, Shadow would have had no problem taking on all opponents, crossbow or no crossbow but Shadow could not risk leaving Orscyar to die. Shadow saw him as a slightly foolish family man who mixed with the wrong crowd and got ideas above his head. `Orscyar has been through enough` thought Shadow `let us save death for another day`. Shadow turned from the broken window frame to see men climbing the stairs. It had taken a while for any of them to mount the courage to fight The Shadow, regardless of odds. `Take care of the first ten or so and you’re left with a bunch of cowards who rely on strength in number` thought Shadow moments before drawing a dagger and slamming it hard into the throat of the first. Shadow smiled slightly underneath the mask. More men tried to get up the narrow staircase now. There was only room for one person going up the staircase at the busiest of times and there was a sort of gridlock was forming the staircase. Orscyar came out of the door, diving at the last moment to avoid a crossbow bolt and throwing a dagger at the man who shot at him, landing it in his eye. Orscyar then drew two more daggers and slammed them into the chests of the two nearest to him, as they fell to the floor, he gathered both their crossbows and began to fire back at the oncoming attackers. Shadow began to walk forward with Orscyar providing cover. As Shadow approached the staircase, littered with corpses, the men on the staircase began to quake with fear. Shadow gave them the privilege of a quick death, Shadow drew the sword of Drakahor and thrust it deep into the stomach of the man nearest to him, the sword going on to pierce the flesh of four more bodies. Shadow drew the sword clear of the four bodies and the hunters had now become the hunted. Shadow walked down the stairs, avoiding the corpses and looked around at the bottom, there were still two men calmly sitting in the corner, but this time Shadow recognised them and smiled. Shadow heard a groan of pain and turned around, more men had come from the other rooms along the corridor and were piling themselves on Orscyar. Shadow could see them punching him hard and went to run up the stairs but Shadow felt something from behind. Shadow had been struck very severely in the back by an iron bar. Shadow moaned louder than ever in pain and in sheer frustration slammed the sword of Drakahor deep into the attackers stomach and pulling it upward, Shadow wanted to cut the man in two. Shadow’s back throbbed wildly with pain like never before, Shadow’s teeth were firmly shut in frustration and pain. Shadow left the tavern and untied one of the horses, then mounted it. Shadow rode out toward the forest and because of the pain, failed to notice that the sky was becoming pitch black.
Shadow sat, across the way from the demon attacked tavern. Unmasked and in a different attire to that in which Shadow left the town some hours previous. During Shadow’s time in the forest, the town had experienced a severe demon attack. Shadow considered it the first bit of luck encountered for a long while. `Usually they come into town just as I am` Shadow thought, staring at the aftermath of the tavern from the window of the room where he had made a deal with the evil that was Kaiazal. `Was it just a coincidence that they attacked just as I was leaving?` Shadow thought. Shadow sighed then began to try not to dwell on the stench of death that seemed to now follow, everywhere. Shadow sighed and briefly thought of Orscyar. The moment Shadow arrived back in town, Shadow went to the tavern and looked around for any signs, there was nothing. The whole town of Haidar had grown eerily quiet, these demon attacks becoming more frequent and more violent. Upon inspection of the tavern, Shadow had found that some parts of it had been set alight and burned to a cinder. The tavern was mostly black on the inside, all the tables had been set ablaze apart from one which lay broken in half on either side of the room. Two men emerged to the right side of the track that ran through the middle of Haidar. Shadow recognised these men, they were not the two that sat and watched during Shadow’s earlier bar room brawl but the two that had jumped out of the window rather than facing up to Shadow. Shadow stepped back from the window momentarily and put the mask on. Shadow felt that the mask was heavier than usual, it was more of a helmet but Shadow had always seen it as a mask. Shadow’s father had it crafted it some years ago, it was just something he wore to scare Shadow as a child and at the same time, it taught Shadow how to fight the fears. When Shadow ran from home as a teen, the mask was one of the only things taken, it was not a night Shadow was prepared to remember at this time. Shadow did remember being very young and being terrified whenever the mask was worn and smiled slightly at the innocence that Shadow once had years ago. `This mask is the face of death` Shadow remembered being told `it is merely a symbol, you need not be afraid of it child`. Shadow sighed remorsefully and focused on the men. Shadow then thought of what had happened to Orscyar. `Maybe he was killed, maybe he wasn’t, either way these two can lead me to the man whom orchestrated the whole ordeal`. Shadow silently climbed out of the widow and dropped catlike to the ground. Shadow then approached the two men from behind and tapped the left one on the back. His turning around was met with a fist to the face, this caused him to drop to the floor, unconscious. Shadow turned to the other man and grabbed him by his collar, lifting him high into the air. “Who sent you?” Shadow demanded. The man trembled with fear and was too petrified to talk as Shadow gripped him tight. Shadow threw the man against a wall and pinned him up against it. “Who sent you?!” said Shadow, drawing the sword of Drakahor while speaking. “The- the building on the other side of town” said the man, trembling.
“What building !” Shadow shouted.
“Its abandoned, no-one is there anymore ” the man swallowed hard “if you walk straight down this track it will lead you to him”
“What's his name ?” Shadow ordered. The man, to Shadows surprise instead of answering smiled at Shadow, so Shadow punched him in the gut. “A name” Shadow insisted.
“You will see” said the man, clutching his stomach on the floor “he will be waiting for you” the man began to laugh. Shadow briefly considered how easy it would be to kill the man, but then decided that he wasn't worth it. Shadow then began to stroll along the dirt track that split Haidar into two. Shadow walked in the dying heat of the afternoon, it was getting late now and the thought of tracking to Hazajaro castle at night hardly filled Shadow with anticipation. The wind blew across the track as it began to bend, Shadow could see something on the horizon. There was a building, the only one in that direction, all the others were to the either side of Shadow. There was something else, someone else, a lone figure in the distance. Shadow walked toward whoever it was at the same speed as before, refusing to pick up any pace. As the figure drew closer Shadow began to recognize it. As Shadow drew closer and closer the man did not move, something which surprised Shadow, knowing who it was. Shadow eventually stopped, ten paces from the man and smiled wide. “Di Sangro” Shadow laughed “I would have known a coward like you would have ran at the first sign of trouble”. Shadow had previously thought the demon attack on the cave hideout before the invasion of Legia castle had finally rid the world of such a worm, but it was just like Di Sangro to avoid such a death. Di Sangro stood in front of Shadow, as good a definition of the word fluke as Shadow could think of. Di Sangro looked as though he had never done a hard day’s work in his life, which was right. He wore a robe of fine orange and red, it was very exotic, hardly the apparel to fight in. Shadow looked around and prepared to fight with Di Sangro’s soldiers. “There‘s a high price out on you my friend” Di Sangro spoke so casually it enraged Shadow. “I shall enjoy collecting my rewards” Di Sangro looked directly at Shadow and Shadow could feel Di Sangro’s eyes pierce through the mask. “Any last words ?” Di Sangro said carelessly.
“I should be asking you the same thing” Shadow said, full of malice. Di Sangro smiled again wider and laughed slightly. Two figures appeared either side of Di Sangro. They both wore a long rag to cover up their bodies and a straw hat to cover their faces, they both stared at the ground. Through the camouflage Shadow still recognised them, and felt fear creep in. “Three on one, you never were one for fair odds were you ?”. Di Sangro smiled again, this time Shadow lost control and launched at Di Sangro punching him in the mouth. Di Sangro stumbled back and smiled at Shadow, this time out of reach, his teeth were bloody. “All‘s fair in love and war” Di Sangro said, with an air of triumph and clicked his fingers once more. Shadow heard the loading of crossbows and looked around, on the roof’s of all the buildings around him stood men, around thirty in all. Thirty crossbows all aimed at Shadow. Shadow saw something else that caused a smile. Shadow turned to face Di Sangro and stood on full alert, ready to pounce into action at any given moment. “Not going to show me your new friends Di Sangro?” Shadow said, with an air of calmness. Di Sangro smiled once again and laughed softly to himself “ah yes, I don't see why not...” as Di Sangro spoke they both removed their straw hats and all over rags. Shadow looked at the two and knew it would be a long night. “allow me to introduce you to the captain of the Legia army, Raiguarde” Di Sangro turned to Raiguarde, who stared down Shadow, a look of malice in his eyes. “And the samurai warrior Imunzo” Shadow briefly looked into Imunzo’s eyes. He seemed eerily calm. Shadow looked at the crossbow men on the roof and smiled once more. No-one else had noticed how black the sky was becoming. Shadow paused then looked Di Sangro in the eyes and spoke with a prophetic sense of doom “Now the real mayhem will begin”.