Chapter 2

It seemed like a good day for pick-pocketing. Well, it was always a good pick-pocketing day in the upper part of the city where all the wealthy citizens resided. A ruby necklace from a lady with a fox scarf around her neck. A jeweled flask from a knight not from around these parts, and a nice bracelet from a young-looking witch that, just by looking at it, Vey knew was magical.

"Minor magic. Good for beginners, not exceptional for me," Vey mumbled to herself, playing with the bracelet between her fingers. "But will go for a nice price at least."

When she stuffed the bracelet in her pocket, her finger-tips rubbed up against some paper which puzzled her. She grabbed the crumpled up paper and pulled it out. Vey gasped and could have kicked herself.

"To the lower district I suppose," She groaned, becoming frustrated with herself that she completely forgot about Amrynn's purchases in the lower district. She hadn't planned accordingly today.

She understood why he wanted her to get everything from the lower district; everything from food to magical items are much cheaper there, although the upper class tended to stay in the upper district to shop and the lower class tended to stay in the lower district to shop, even if the lower district didn't have what they needed. There never used to be such a class separation in the Kingdom of Lunadonia, but things have changed for the worse in the past couple of years. It's become more like the Kingdom of Solaria. Vey used to prefer Lunadonia over Solaria even though her family still lives in Lunadonia, but now it just didn't matter anymore.

Both Kingdoms were spiraling out of control and it was because of the people who controlled them.

"Excuse me? Miss?"

"What?" Vey asked in a daze of her own thoughts. She hadn't realized that she walked from the upper district to the lower district and right up to the exact shop that she needed to be at.

"Can I help you with something?" The shop keep asked, looking a little worried for the woman standing in front of her.

"Oh, yes, sure. I need-."

"What were we supposed to find again, Shriax?" A gruff voice came from behind her, distracting Vey once again.

"Uhm, I need two bags-."

"A diamond of some sort I believe," A high-pitched, female voice answered.

"Idiots." Just by the way that silvery voice said that one word, Vey knew that one must be an elf. "It's not a what but a who that we are looking for. Who we are looking for are the Blood Stained diamonds."

"Ah yes, thank you old wise one," A low, female voice snorted.

"I am not old, thank you orc," The elf sneered.

"Miss?" The shop keeper placed a nervous hand on Vey's arm. "Is there something wrong?"

Vey shook her head and put her list in the shop keep's other hand. "I just need these things. 'm sorry. 'm very distracted as of the moment. Could ya'-."

"I'm a half-orc!" The female half-orc snapped.

Seeing what Vey was distracted by, the shop keep gave a smile and a nod, and went to gather the goods from the list.

"Alright, shut up," A new grating male voice spoke up. "Eldred, can you tell us what the hell are the Blood Stained Diamonds?"

"Who the hell are the-."

"Elf, I'm going to give you three seconds to start or else," That gruff voice chimed in again.

'Eldred… must be the elf…. Where have I heard that name before?' Vey asked herself as she continued to listen to the groups banter.

"The Blood Stained Diamonds were a legendary group of mercenaries," Eldred said, taking the threat from the other seriously. "Every challenge they took head on and never failed once. There was only a few members, but their members ranged from humans, to dwarves, to elves, to everything in between. There was no discrimination between males, females and whatever you chose to identify as."

"Wow, these people must be the only people that you actually respect, Eldred," The half-orc sniggered.

"I respect a lot of people, just not you," Eldred hissed.

"Here you go miss," The shop keep interrupted Vey's attention on the conversation.

Vey put a small bag of coins into the shop keep's hand and took the bags of goods. "Thank you so much."

"It was really no problem. Have a good day!"

Vey pulled her hood up and silently followed this interesting group of adventurers as they continued their conversation.

"Although, I'm not really sure why we are looking for this group of mercenaries," Eldred continued. "It's said that they all vanished a couple of years ago."

"Vanished?" The human male questioned in surprise. "You mean, died?"

Eldred shook his head. "I mean exactly what I said. They vanished. We would have heard if they died."

'So, that's what they're telling people now?' Vey laughed silently to herself. 'First it was eaten by a dragon and now it's vanished! Give me a break!'

The dwarf suddenly shook his head. "No. I think you have that wrong."

'A dwarf without an accent? Interesting.'

"I'm pretty sure that we were supposed to be finding just one of the members."

"Again, I'm not sure how we are supposed to do that with them having vanished years ago," Eldred said. "I suppose we could ask a guard. The Blood Stained Diamonds were very close to the royals of both Kingdoms."

'Oh no.' Vey gulped. 'This ain't gonna be good.'

Vey continued to follow them to the guard's tower. She stayed far, but close enough to intervene if needed, which she assumed she was going to have to do. The group chatted about The Blood Stained Diamonds some more, then the elf and half-orc got into an argument about who knows what. Meanwhile, the lizard person picked at one of her bombs, trying to alter its effects. The human was focused on leading the way. The dwarf played with his long beard while staring at a few women who went by. They hadn't even noticed her at all and the streets were bare.

'Newbies,' Vey told herself.

They were a bit further from Vey's place than she would have liked, but it wasn't really a big problem. If anything happened, she was all prepared to spend multiple spells in order to get these adventurers out of danger. Vey shot behind a shop and watched as the leader knocked on the guard's tower door.

The door whipped open, almost hitting the leader as it opened but the human jumped back just in time. A tall, heavy armored male guard stood in the doorway, staring over the group before speaking in a rough, very annoyed voice;

"What do you lot want?"

Eldred scoffed and flicked his attention some where else. The lizard person kept on plucking away at her bomb. The human seemed to be speechless as he looked at though he couldn't even wrap his head around what had just happened. The half-orc stared at the guard, trying to intimidate him, although it wasn't working. The guard snarled at them and was ready to close the door when the dwarf spoke up.

"We were sent on a quest and need a bit of help," he said. "We're looking for someone in the Blood Stained Diamonds and were sent here specifically to find this person."

The guard's eyes narrowed and his face began to beat a hot red. "You're looking for a bunch of fools who chose to go against our great and wonderous King?"

The dwarf nodded, not phased by the guard at all. "Yes, well-."

"How dare you speak about such traitors in the great capital of Lunadonia, dwarf."

"W-what?" The dwarf squeaked. "I-I don't understand-."

"You're a dwarf. Of course you don't understand the ways of things around here!" The guard's voice boomed.

The dwarf's face turned beat red and suddenly, he whipped out his battle-axe and roared. "Don't think I don't know anything about your stupid ass traditions, human!"

"Rildrek!" The half-orc gasped, forcing the dwarf behind her. "I'm very sorry about him-."

The guard growled at the group and unsheathed his sword from his side. "In the name of King Viktor Lunarre, you are herby under arrest and will be sentence to death by execution!"

"Just for asking about the Blood Stained Diamonds?!" The Lizard person screeched, dropping her bomb on to the ground.

"Enough! Thunder blade!"

The clouds above grew gray and rippled with an intense energy. The wind picked up and swirled in a tornado around the guard who shivered from the chill, even under his heavy armor and under clothes. From the clouds above, a bolt of lighting crashed down and quickly took the form of a long sword which threw itself to the right, then to the left and finally striking the guard. While the guard took the blow of the spell, Vey dashed to the middle of the group of new adventurers.

"Teleport!"

Usually, the spell teleport would have needed one's consent to actually work, but Vey's magic was powerful enough to ignore the group's willingness. A purple-ish mist surrounded the group and they suddenly disappeared into thin air in front of a crowd of citizens who had overheard the commotion.

The spell teleported the group right into the middle of Vey's livingroom.

"Amrynn! Azuna! We have a little-!" Vey went silent when she saw her the two of them wrestling with one arm tied behind their backs on the kitchen table. They both stopped and with wide eyes, stared at Vey who shook her head with disappointment.

"This is what you two do when I'm not home, eh?" She groaned.

The two jumped off the table and quickly undid each other's ropes. Amrynn threw the ropes into the fire, and straightened himself up before speaking in his mystical sounding voice that he used when he was caught doing something that he shouldn't have been doing in the first place.

"Well, more important question is who you teleported right into our living room."

"They dead?" Azuna asked.

Vey looked around at the bodies on the floor that were twitching slightly. "They're just in shock. My teleport spell negated their willingness. They'll wake up shortly."

"Okay, but who are they?" Amrynn asked again, this time not as elegant.

Vey shrugged and stepped over the dwarf laying in front of her. "No idea, but they got into some trouble with the guard so, I saved them."

Amrynn scoffed as he examined the group. "Trouble with the guard? How?"

"They were looking for the Blood Stained Diamonds."

Amrynn whirled around to face his partner with a look of shock. "The Blood Stained Diamonds? Why?"

Vey shrugged again. "Not sure. Maybe they'll tell us once they wake up."

"Should we move them?" Azuna asked, eyeing the half-orc female on the wooden coffee table.

"If you wish," Vey said.

Amrynn looked again at the group and pointed at the elf that had dropped on to the back of the couch. "Him."

"Hm?" Vey cocked her head. "What about him?"

"That's the elven presence that I felt and was worried about," Amrynn said. "I know him."

"Well," Vey hummed and plopped herself down in a kitchen chair with a glass of mead. "Don't worry about him for now. Let's just wait for them to wake up. For now, just relax."

"Relax?" Azuna grunted with confusion.

"Why are you so nonchalant about this, Vey?" Amrynn asked, hands on his hips with a pout on his lips.

Vey was silent for a moment, contemplating her next words, then took a sip of her mead and said;

"This is the beginning of the end and I am finally content with how it looks like it's going to end."