1 Prologue

"Shadow, Good to see you again!" I shake my head sighing, throwing a gold ring at him. He chuckles at me and retrieves my gold from behind the counter, handing it over to me in a bag.

"Pleasure doing business with you." Sol, one of my swords spoke.

"Yeah, yeah whatever. Look, a woman in the corner over there came in half an hour ago looking for you, said she had a job for you and plenty of coin to be earned." I nod and walk through the bar, its wooden floors creaking under my boots. The constant chatter of this place was extremely annoying but I've learned to ignore it. Reaching my destination, a young woman was sitting alone at a table a mug in hand.

"You were looking for me?" Sol asked as I took a seat across from her, clasping my hands together on the table in the process.

"Depends, you The Shadow?" Her voice was smooth and quiet but that could just be the noise around making her sound that way.

"Nope, just some weirdo in all black who just so happens to steal things for money." Sol responds, sarcasm lacing his tone causing the woman to chuckle.

"There's this pendant I want you to steal. It was my mothers... a couple of knights took it after she died." I nod and hand out my to her,

"Location?"

"A huge mansion east of the castle, can't miss it." I nod once again leaving her to her alcohol or whatever she was drinking.

The once busy streets of Saldera were now quiet as night settled in, most people were either in a pub or in a more explicit club. Only makes my job easier, sadly the mansion I have to go to is all the way in the richer part of Saldera and me being the thief I am, live in the poorest area. I make these trips normally... but it doesn't make them any less time consuming. The trek takes about half a day and now I'm tired, glad no one is out to bug me, "Heyyy yyouu tthherre."

'Damnit!' I turn to look at the drunken idiot who was stumbling his way over to me.

"Chris stop it or the commander will kill us all tomorrow." A young girl walked up behind him, ten times more sober than that idiot.

"Sshuddap! It'll be fffine." I sigh watching the girl try and fail to stop the burly drunk man coming toward me. I really hate drunk people. He falls face first into the stone streets at my feet, unconscious.

"I'm sorry about him." The ravenette apologizing throwing the man over her shoulder,

"Don't worry about it." Sol speaks which she actually notices.

"Did your sword just talk?" Her emerald eyes held a confused look.

"Yes I did just speak, you're the first to actually notice me." Sol spoke Luna followed right after,

"We can both speak, I just choose not to do so as often." Her eyes widen and her jaw hangs open.

"I... think I've had a bit too much to drink, I'm just... gonna take my friend and go." She says hesitantly before she begins walking off. I chuckle to myself quietly before turning back, continuing my way to the mansion.

"Why is it when someone notices me, they think that they're drunk and/or are hearing things!" Both Sol and Luna whine from my back simultaneously. I chuckle quietly once again as the blades continue to whine the entire way there. Thankfully no more "events" would interrupt us.

"We need to move Akihira, the royal guard is on the way." Sol spoke up while I inspected my find.

"Yes, we must make haste." Luna responded. I roll my eyes and stash the amethyst pendant I'd been tasked with stealing and look at the window I had entered from and decide,

'why not give the guards a glimpse of The Shadow.' I make my way to the front entrance and kick the doors open, Sol and Luna drawn. Multiple footsteps could be heard against the stone streets. I stand there for a couple of seconds before they arrive.

"You there! You need to leave this place, there've rumors of The Shadow being in the area!" Are the guards supposed to be this dumb?

"You're trying to arrest me yet you don't even know what I look like? Pathetic." Sol speaks for me going unnoticed by the guards. In an instant, the archers had their bows drawn and the others raised their weapons ranging from spears, to axes, to swords.

"There's too many we should retreat." Luna advises, I sigh and sheathe the two on my back while the guards don't, guess they have some brain.

"I'm not here to fight you, not yet. It got boring looking at all the terrible fake bounty posters so I thought I'd give you a little peek at me." I see the guards' faces contort into looks of confusion. I lift my hand into the air and snap my fingers, black flames dance around me. I turn around and look over my shoulder as Sol finishes up this little meeting, "Farewell." I begin walking as I seemingly dissolve into ashes, disappearing from sight. I sigh as I reform on top of the brick roof of the clocktower.

I look out onto the city from my spot on the clocktower. The night always made the city look stunning, one of the many reasons I live in the top of a clocktower. The lights of lanterns doing there job well keeping the streets visible where a few half asleep drunkards stumbled down them. A few lights inside of houses were on, though most of those came from bars and hotels. The one downside to living up here though, is the clock's bell can get annoying, it's why I'm not home too often. I let out a breath before lifting a trap door I had made in the roof and hop inside. I lower my hood letting my red hair flow out, doing the same with the mask covering my face, revealing a scar going over the right side of my lip. My outfit consisted of a bunch of black, my top was a black long sleeve hooded shirt, black pants, black boots, a navy blue mask and black fingerless gloves. I change out of those into a pair of grey sleeping pants and plop onto the makeshift bed made out of pillows and sheets I had stolen. Sol and Luna who were leaned against the wall to the right of the "bed."

"You know if I didn't know how lazy you are, I'd say to just steal an actual mattress for this place." Luna complains and I sigh at the blue blade, it was a curved sword with a dragon skull on the pommel that moved whenever she spoke, the same could be said for Sol except the blade was red.

"And you know that I am perfectly comfortable on my collapsed pillow fort." I spoke for the first time that day, "It'd also take too much work to even get a mattress up here." I sigh as Luna groans.

"Your laziness will be the death of you." I look over to the blades with a playful glare,

"Keep talking and no polishing or sharpening for a month." I smirk as the blade gasps,

"No please don't!!! I'll shut up and let you be as lazy as you want, just don't take away my two favorite things!!" I chuckle as Sol was full on dying of laughter. We all calmed down after a minute and I sigh.

"I won't take them away Luna, now shut up and let me "try" to sleep." I smile a little as the blade cheers, them both falling quiet soon after. I sigh laying down on my makeshift bed, 'I won't be sleeping anytime soon, the quiet is nice though. I guess I gotta wait till tomorrow to turn that pendant in. Such a waste of time.'