Rebel

"Now things are starting to look up for us. You've got good equipment, and I have lots of money!" Aqua brags to an armor-clad Skull while they make their way through town.

"I wouldn't go waving your money around if I were you." Benit catches her attention when they walk past the smithy.

"Huh, why?"

"Because plenty o' people are just looking for a chance to grab some free cash." Aqua stares at Benit, failing to understand his warning. "You may also want to carry a weapon on ya, someone may just figure out you can use magic." The tone in Benit's voice deepens as he gives aqua a serious glare.

"W-what! How did y-" Aqua begins freaking out, her hair standing on end, while Skull watches carefully.

"No worries, I won't tell anyone, but you should still think about what I said." Benit laughs and returns to his normal speech patterns while giving a friendly smile.

"H-here Skull, you hold the money, I'll just take this dagger." She nervously passes the bag to Skull, and takes a dagger he had just bought.

"What was all that about?" Skull questions Aqua while they walk away.

"I'm kinda tired, I don't feel like talking about it right now."

"Very well," Skull watches on with care as they walk back to the inn.

The small room is quiet in the darkness of night, until the door creaks open letting a slowly growing sliver of light inside. Three sets of feet quietly shuffle in. One of the three stabs Skull in the chest with a dagger, the other two begin to tie Aqua up. She awoke almost instantly from their rough tossing her around. She managed to get one yell out before they shoved a sac over her head. Hearing the yell, Skull woke up to find the dagger not only in his chest but also stuck in the chair, pinning him.

The assaulters ran out once they finished tying Aqua and snatched her from the bed. Skull finally ripped out the dagger, He fell to the floor and gave out a deep monstrous roar.

"D-did you hear that!?"

"Ignore it, it's probably some wild animal caught in a trap." The assaulters run through the town, making their way to the housing district.

Once Skull steps out of the inn, rain starts to pour, and thunder crackles within the heavy storm clouds. He watches as the assaulters turn a corner. "You're not getting away from me!"

The assaulters find themselves in an unfamiliar part of town as they hit a dead-end.

"Where did we take the wrong turn?" The assaulter holding Aqua ponders aloud, while staring at the wall in front of them.

"Uh, y-you might want to see this." The youngest assaulter finds it hard to speak, as the fear starts to over take him.

"What do you- what the hell!?" The third member, who took the role of leader, begins to scowl at the young member, before seeing the man he had just stabbed in the heart, standing .

Skull stands at the entrance of the alley. With a hole in his chest from the dagger, he reaches up to his helmet, taking it off to reveal his undead nature. A dramatically placed lightning bolt strikes the ground behind him, instilling fear within the hearts of the assaulters. From the sparks of lightning the figure of a massive, gruesome monster flashes before them. Horns stick out from its whipping hair, the sharp predatory teeth form an evil grin, the four-fingered hands of this monster ending in razor sharp claws. It coils its long body further enforcing its tough scales.

"W-was that a dragon!?" Gasps the youngest assaulter.

Skull drops his helmet. Dented from his wrathful grip, it hits the ground with an echoing clang as Skull draws his sword.

"What is this guy?" Questioned the leader.

When he speaks a flash of light zooms past him as Skull cleaves into the assaulter holding Aqua. He catches, and gently sets her down before turning his attention back to the others.

The two remaining assaulters look on in horror as the alley fills with blood. The youngest assaulter turns to run away, crying out for mercy. As he exits the alley a booming bolt of lightning strikes him directly in the back and he becomes silent.

The lead assaulter glances towards his young companion, before deciding he was a lost cause. When he turned his back, Skull is directly in front of him, he looked down as a sharp pain filled his chest, the very dagger he used on Skull is now in his own body.

He looked into Skull's empty eyes for a moment, watching a black liquid ooze out of them. He finally lost consciousness and fell backwards onto the cold and dirty ground.

Skull doesn't acknowledge the men and instead he carries Aqua back to the inn.

An unknown number of days have passed, Aqua and Skull sit at a table in a tavern, Skull shrouds his head with the cloak.

"Now that we have money, I was thinking about how we could take over the current rulers of this kingdom." She talks in a hushed tone, so as to not be heard by anyone other than Skull.

"Could you refresh my memory on why you would want to do that, I don't remember anything before you awoke me." Skull copies the hushed tone.

"Oh yeah no problem, the people in control at the moment are the nine, they replaced the old counsel almost 20 years ago. They are extremely powerful people who can all use magic, each of them even have one of the Zodiac animals. The current leader is the Tiger, and since he doesn't want the Dragon to show up and take his throne, he's been killing any person who shows the ability to use magic."

"That's why you freaked out when Benit said something" Skull begins to piece things together.

With a sudden burst, the doors of this tavern fly open, causing everyone to go quiet. A man walks in with tired emerald green eyes, a crimson red Mohawk, and wearing simple clothes along with a leather vest, bracers, and boots.

"Ah ha! I found you!" The man stares at Skull with a look of victory.

He snatches the cyan cloak off of Skull's head, revealing his undead nature. All eyes in taven immediately land on Skull. Skull stands up from the table, he grabs Aqua and blitzes towards the door. Chaos ensues as an undead is seen in the small town streets of Craid.

"Skull! What are we going to do now!?" Aqua's expression matches the concern in her voice.

"It's okay, have an idea." Skull doesn't change his fixed gaze as he sprints through the active town.

"Benit!" Upon reaching the smithy, Skull slams his hands onto a table in front of Benit. "You let Aqua go knowing full well she has magic. You're against the nine aren't you?" Skull gets into Benit's face while Aqua tries to cover him from behind

Benit's initial shock disappears as he gets serious. "Quiet down will ya?" He looks over his shoulder after handing Skull his repaired helmet. "Follow me."

Benit leads the two to a stack of assorted metal items placed around a lump covered in various fabrics that billow in the wind. Benit lifts up some of the fabric to reveal a passageway leading underground.

"Quickly now, in here." He rushes the two into the cramped stairway.

The walls are of stone that seemed to have been carved out by hand, the only light is the warm glow of three lanterns that sit in little cavities within the walls, the further down the tunnel goes it cools off, in a clear contrast from the warmth of the blazing forges that lay just upon the surface.

The three reach the bottom of the stairs and find an iron door. "So, the way you join the revolution is by the word of our leader. Should be fine however, since I'll personally make the case for you. Your skills are invaluable, even I can see that." He flicks open a small hatch and inserts a wax sealed envelope. "I think Talon is out right now, so you'll have to wait for him to get back."

The door opens revealing an entire network of hallways and rooms seemingly carved by hand, it's full of lively and cheerful folk.

"This place is amazing!" Aqua examines the large entrance room and its various locations for leisure activities as well as practicing technique and skills.

"It took a hell of a lot of work, either way, I need to go back to the surface, make yourselves comfortable."

Skull sits at a small wood table along with a burly man. "So what brings you down here?" The large man tries striking up a conversation with Skull.

"Her, I guess." Skull watches Aqua as she runs around in excitement.

"Are you 'er hired arms?" The man speaks in a heavy accent as his words blend together.

"You could say that. I have to follow her around until I get my release." Skull leans back day dreaming about dying, the large man furrows his brow in confusion.

On the surface a man approaches Benit. "Talon, wonderful timing. I've just picked up a couple of newbies for you to initiate. Uh, Talon?" The red haired man from earlier stands ahead of Benit, seemingly deep in thought.