Out of Context

Somewhere in the north of Snowflake forest, there was nothing but trees covered with a white layer made of snow, at least, on the surface. If you are capable enough, you could see the figure perched on one of the trees, watching carefully to see through the snow illusion.

The man was not tall or short, he looked slim, but his agile movements as he climbed the tree made it clear that he was made of nothing but muscle. He had so many tattoos on his face and hands that it was hard to guess the exact tone of his skin.

''Fairy illusion?'' The man murmured in surprise, ''The demons and fairies of the forest have formed an alliance against humans, interesting.'' He took an ointment from his pocket and applied it to his eyelids to see through the illusion more easily.

He put the ointment back in his pocket that much more extended than it should be, thanks to the bending of the laws of space. The man looked at the pioneer camp in front of him. There were more winter fairies in the camp than ice demons, ''I didn't expect that,'' He muttered.

The man decided to go exploring to see if he needed to back off and revise his plan. He came down from the tree with a few agile movements. The tattoos on his hands and face began to change, they covered his entire face for a few seconds, and as they disappeared the man's face was in the typical pale complexion of winter fairies.

His features were sharper than any human face could ever have, his ears were pointy. He pulled a pouch full of shiny dust from his pocket and poured it into his hair. He muttered a few hoarse words and his hair changed from dark brown to blonde.

On any other occasion, he would rely on his magical treasures to hide him, but he had no intention of engaging in an illusionary battle with the fairies. So he changed his features physically. He had numerous names, this time he was hired as 'Ender'. It was one of his favorite roles.

Ender began circling the camp to make sure there was no magical alarm to trigger upon entering the camp. His feet left no trace in the soft snow. He recalled the details of his quest, demon spies extermination. Somehow, the demon army managed to know ahead of time the actions humans would take. The only explanation for the situation was the presence of spies among humans.

The human side hired Ender's team to prevent information leakage. The 'cracker' in his team had blocked any spying quest, which meant that the demon side would not be able to create spying quests on the system unless there was a more skilled member on the other side than theirs.

Ender didn't believe that the demons possessed anyone like that, which meant that the only remaining way to safely carry information was through face-to-face meetings.

Adventurers were the only ones to freely walk in and out of the forest. Although the soldiers had suppressed the adventurers guild for a while, the flow of information wasn't interrupted. The presence of fairies could explain how they pass guards in the town.

''Now,'' Ender was thinking out loud, ''Should I move forward or retreat?'' It was clear that the army's intelligence was wrong. His quest was to slay the demon spies, he could terminate the deal stating the fairies as a reason. Using one of his most precious treasures, the ring, he entered the camp from a point where he was sure there was no magical protection.

''No,'' Ender thought. His team was famous for never giving up without accomplishing a task, and he had no intention of spoiling it. He quietly listened to see if a guard had triggered an alarm he didn't notice. No ringing, no footstep, no shouting.

Ender looked around, surprisingly, the information the military gave about the demon camps was correct. White tents camouflaged in the snowy forest. Dozens of tents for servants and low-level soldiers, and larger tents for nobles and commanders, perhaps fairy nobles. The vanguard camp he was in now was the closest to the human town, if there was a spy, he or she should have been coming here to report.

The servants' tents had no defenses of any kind, magical or physical, and Ender chose to enter the camp from that part. Someone had to cook for soldiers, wash clothes, sharpen weapons, so there are servants but apparently, they weren't valuable enough to be protected.

''Those will be a problem,'' Ender muttered looking at the ice golems that are now standstill. He had to pass over the golems to get to the tents used by the nobility and commanders. The big question was, what did golems need to get active? If it's a command word, it wouldn't be a problem as long as no one noticed him.

Ender wasn't afraid that the golems could take him down, he was afraid commotion would warn his target and destroy his chance for a surprise attack. On the human side, a seer had predicted that at least one spy would be in this camp in a few hours from now on, and he might not get such a chance again.

Not being able to do anything else, Ender left the servants' area to explore the camp. It wouldn't be bad to be aware of all the dangers he might face when the time comes.

Ender didn't bother himself to change his chain armor's appearance. His light armor seemed deceptively ordinary and forgeable by any breed, it had neither human nor demonic features. It suited Ender's personality very well, for him it didn't matter whether angel, demon, or human. All he needed to know was whether you were with him or against him.

Until now, none of the servants he had encountered had noticed his presence. He doubted he could hide from higher level fairies and demons, though. Yet, in his disguise, no one would suspect he was a human being, and he did not think there was someone who knew everyone in the camp.

''Unless there's someone who has the inspect skill,'' Ender frowned. But in a pioneer camp of not even five hundred people including servants, the chances of there's someone had the inspect was almost zero, and Ender was willing to take that risk.

''Probably the most powerful person in the camp is the spy itself,'' He thought. ''I wonder if it's a demon or fairy. If it's a fairy they probably refuse to give my money since it's not in the quest instructions.''

Ender smirked, he didn't care about money. But that would give him a reason to challenge the human army. Not he did care about humans or demons or borders, the only thing he passionate about was to watch as the glimmer of life faded in his targets' eyes.

Until it got dark, Ender did his best to memorize the soldiers' shifts, location of heavy armors, and golems. He could feel the tension build up as the hour the human seer was talking about approaching. The soldiers on the patrol frowned more, the commanders scolded the soldiers more often, the fairy nobles paced up and down between their tents.

Then, he noticed that one of the patrols continued on his way instead of turning back from a corner. It was weird that the soldier was alone while everyone else was walking around in pairs. When Ender examined the man more carefully he made sure that he was not an ordinary soldier.

They were in the area where the low-level demons were on shift, but the man was clearly a noble fairy, with an impossibly handsome face and blond hair. His armor probably cost a fortune, there was no way he was an ordinary soldier. But what caught Ender's attention was that he first had to overcome an illusion of shabby armor to reveal the man's real armor.

Ender decided to follow the man, keeping his distance as he got out of the camp. Obviously, he wasn't as easy to cheat as low-level demons. A few minutes from the camp, the man met a female fairy who was looking quite similar to himself. ''Relatives?'' Ender pondered.

He wasn't close enough to hear the two speak, so he decided to take a risk and get closer. ''Are they arguing?'' Ender thought.

''I told you, forget her. You must have misunderstood, there is no way your memory erasing didn't work. She's only a human,'' the woman said.

''No, I'm sure,'' the man denied, ''She wasn't supposed to see me, but she kept looking me in the eye.''

The woman rolled her eyes, ''So do it yourself. She passes time in the guild's basement nowadays, I am going to report.'' The two moved away from each other the woman was heading to the demon-fairy camp and the man into human town.

''Are they changing their shifts?'' Ender thought about what he should do now. He might find the man in town later, but if the woman entered the camp, he would also have to fight the golems. Ender followed the woman and before she entered the town, he pulled his dagger endowed with numerous spells and poison.

With silent steps, he approached her from behind and just before he stabbed the dagger in the back of her neck, heard a yell.

''Watch your back mage!'' Not knowing where the attack was coming from, the woman responded with an explosion of ice needles with herself at the center.

Ender had no chance but to step back, he looked around to see who interrupted. There was a man with a few ice golems behind him, ''A sculpturer,'' Ender thought and looked at the woman, ''...and a mage.'' He couldn't stop himself from grinning. ''That'll be fun.''