1 The Two Wanderers

Two men walked side by side along a lone path in a forest. They hoped to reach the next village by sundown. Currently, the sun was somewhat above them, leaving them a good three to four hours of sunlight. In that time, they should be able to reach the next village, which was only around four miles away now.

Ren, the one on the left, was quiet in comparison to his loud partner and wore an indifferent face. He stood at around five foot seven and looked like he was in his early twenties. He fashioned a single O-Katana sheathed on his left side and was wearing a black cloak that covered the majority of his torso. On his head, he fashioned a simple bamboo hat and wore a black bandana that hid the lower portion of his face.

Ren's companion, Kane, stood an inch taller than him, and carried two shortswords with him, on his right hip. He had a blue robe covering most of his body, down to his thighs, and wore a belt over his waist, to keep the robe close to his body, so as not to interfere with combat. He too wore a simple bamboo hat on his head, however, he wasn't wearing a bandana like his partner.

Kane was walking with his hands resting behind his head as he noticed the village in the distance, and called out to Ren "Hey! There it is! How far do you think we are now?"

Ren, however, didn't respond, he kept walking, and flashed three fingers with his hands. This was normal for Ren, he only talked on rare occasions and Kane knew this.

"Three miles huh. Still about an hour away then..." Kane said sighing. He was hungry, they ran out of supplies yesterday, and have been traveling without food since then.

Kane continued to talk to Ren without a proper response. The two had been together for a really long time, and this type of behavior became commonplace between them. Ren was actually very thankful for Kane's company. Before Kane, he had been traveling alone for an awfully long time. Kane was in a similar situation before he met Ren as well.

Kane continued talking to Ren until they both caught the presence of followers around them. Movements in the forest could be heard, and shadows could be seen moving around the trees surrounding the two.

Ren looked towards his companion who had also noticed their followers, and placed a hand on his sheath, preparing to draw his sword.

Kane whispered softly "Let's see if we can talk it out first."

Ren and Kane both stopped walking abruptly and waited for a moment as a group of six rough looking individuals appeared just ahead of them.

"Who are you?" Kane called out.

The man who appeared to be the ringleader of the group stepped forward and introduced himself. "Hehe... I'm captain Ido the Behemoth of the Black Forest Bandits, surely you've heard of us. Hehehe..." He had a large sword sheathed on his back.

Ren and Kane did not respond yet, instead, the two scanned their opponents. There were two swordsmen besides the captain, who both used standard shortswords. A mysterious hooded figure stood in the center back, with a spearman and archer on either side. Each of the bandits wore a similar outfit featuring black pants and leather tunics, excluding the hooded figure in the back, and the captain.

The bandits all stood at a similar height, excluding Ido who lived up to his name of a behemoth. He stood at around six foot two, while the rest hovered around five foot six.

"Your crossing into our territory..." Ido, the captain said with an evil smirk protruding on his face. "We offer you protection from Black Forest Bandits for the cheap cost of 2,000 credits."

"What? In what world is 2,000 credits cheap? The average person makes less than that in a month!" Kane said dissatisfied by the arrogant captain who stood in front of him.

What Kane said was indeed true, however, that mattered not to the captain "Hehe... You and your companion certainly don't seem like the average person though." The captain said motioning to the swords carried at their sides.

"If you've come to that conclusion, are you sure you're ready to test us?" Kane said placing his hand on his sheath while glaring daggers at the captain. He wasn't actually planning on fighting, worst case scenario he planned to give in to their demands. 2,000 credits wasn't cheap, but Kane and Ren could afford it.

"There's six of us, and two of you. Now, 2,000 credits and we won't be forced to take it ourselves." Ido said trying to intimidate the two. His large figure blocking the way ahead. If they wanted to reach the next village, they would have to give in to his demands.

"Whatever," Kane said as he released his grip on his swords and forked over the requested amount. His attempt to scare the captain didn't work. "If that's all, we'll be going then."

However, before Kane and Ren could disappear, Ido called back out to them. "Actually no"

Ren stopped as Kane turned around to face the captain. "What is it?"

"The swords by your side, I want them."

"Eh?" Kane was taken by surprise with this. "Why would you want this junk?"

"Heh. Don't play me for a fool. I can tell the sword by your friend's side is of excellent making, and your's aren't that bad either. I could make a profit off yours, and gift the other guys to my boss." The captain said annoyed. He was right, however, while Kane's swords weren't the best, Ren had an incredibly expensive sword.

"4,000," Kane said abruptly.

"What?"

"4,000 credits and my two swords. Leave him out of this exchange." Kane replied. He couldn't allow the captain to take his companions swords, for his own sake.

"Hehe... Well, now I want it even more." The foolish captain said. He didn't realize Kane was trying to do him a favor.

"5,000 credits. Is this enough?" Kane said with a seemingly desperate tone.

One of the bandit swordsman standing towards the back called out to Ido. "Captain! 5,000 is a lot! Plus the 2,000 we received earlier, I see no reason to not accept this deal!"

"Shutup you!" Ido said with an annoyed tone. "Boy..." He said turning towards Kane. "What is so special about this sword to make it worth 5,000 credits?"

"It's something of a family heirloom to my friend here," Kane said as he motioned towards Ren.

Ren, who was now clutching his sword, stared down the bandit captain in front of him.

"What's with this rude boy? How dare he look at me like that!" Ido said furiously.

"I apologize on his behalf, but I can't allow you to take his sword. Is 5,000 credits enough for you to forget about it?" Kane said as he waved a bag of coins in front of the captain.

"Don't forget your place! We could simply take everything you have instead!" Ido threatened. "And you, why don't you speak?" he said turning towards Ren.

Ren stared bullets into Ido, and said in a low voice, "Die."

The captain was enraged by this, how dare this fool speak to him like that! "What did you just say?" He asked infuriated.

"I uh, apologize for my frie-" Kane was about to apologize on the behalf of his companion, however, he wasn't given the chance. The captain charged forwards towards Ren, ready to strike. In that same instant, Ren appeared behind the captain and kicked him towards the ground.

Kane sighed "I tried." He then watched as Ren viciously tore through the group of bandits. "Have your fun, but don't take too long. I want to reach the next village and get a meal," Kane said disappearing into the forest.

Ren drew his sword which shined pure black, it had a mysterious black smokey aura circling it. He then shifted his attention to the five other bandits standing in front of him, keeping in mind the captain that stood behind him. He ran towards the first opponent in his vision, an enemy swordsman.

The captain quickly regained his stance and charged Ren from behind. However, as if anticipating this, Ren jumped into the air and landed behind the captain. All six bandits were now in front of him.

"You useless bastards! Its just one man, the other one already ran off! Kill him damn it!" The captain yelled as he looked around for the missing Kane.

Kane however, had seated himself underneath a nearby tree and watched the fight from a safe distance. He seemed to be amused with himself, however, this morphed into fear when he saw a bright light emit from the back of bandit group. It appeared one of the bandits knew how to use magic. Loud explosions erupted all around the fight.

"Shit! Ren!" Kane yelled as he picked himself up to join the fight, however, he was blasted back by a stray explosion, and hit his head on the tree he had previously used as a back support. A thick smoke filled the area from the explosions, and while he wasn't able to see anything through the smoke, he could hear the sounds of swords clashing and screams from the bandits.

"Ren? Are you alright?" Kane called out to his companion as he regained his stance.

Instead of a response, Kane was instead greeted by a spiral of wind that came from the center of the fight. The smoke was cleared, and standing at the center was Ren and the corpse of the bandits magic caster. The other five bandits had him surrounded now.

Kane was about to rush to his partner's aid, but Ren glared menacingly at him as if to say "Stay out. These ones are mine." He got the message loud and clear and sat back under his tree.

"These guys are screwed..." Kane whispered under his breath as he continued to watch the fight.

The five bandits charged at Ren simultaneously. Ren then ran towards the one positioned directly in front of him and met him head-on. The bandit tried to stab at Ren, but his lack of experience in a fight was showing as Ren dodged to the side and used his Katana to pierce a hole in the bandit's stomach.

The body of the bandit landed at Ren's feet as he turned around to face the others. He sliced his sword through the air, to quickly remove some of the blood off his blade, and he looked towards the four remaining bandits. Only the captain, a spearman, a swordsman, and an archer who had been using a sword remained.

Ren was scanning his opponents waiting for them to make the first move when he noticed the archer trying to flee from the combat zone. Ren looked at him in disgust and chose him as his next target.

He charged towards the coward, completely ignoring the three other bandits behind him now, and jumped onto the archer from behind, stabbing his Katana into them. Ido looked on in horror. "Get him you bastards!" he yelled as he pushed his two remaining underlings in front of him like a human shield.

The two bandits came towards Ren with their weapons ready. The spearman lunged forwards first, but extended himself and gave Ren an opportunity to cut his spear cleanly in half, before cutting the man's throat following. He then turned around to face the swordsman who had got into range and swung his sword towards Ren.

Ren locked blades with the swordsman and stared deep into the enemies eyes. In the time they had their swords locked, the captain appeared behind Ren, and sliced his large sword downwards towards Ren. However, It didn't connect with Ren and instead cut the bandit he was previously locking swords with.

Ren had spun around the bandit and used him as a shield. He then stabbed his sword through the bandit's body and pushed it onto Ido. He pulled out his Katana as he stood back and waited for Ido to regain his stance.

Then, in perfect sync, the two charged forwards at each other. Ido swung his sword when Ren got in range, however, it was too slow to match Rens speed, and Ren circled around Ido, kicking his legs from behind. Ren watched as Ido buckled, and fell forwards. The captain turned around and tried to stand up, but before he could get back to his feet, he was kicked in the stomach and fell backward to the floor again.

Ren then stood on Ido's chest, locking him from moving.

The captain looked upwards at Ren in terror. "Please! Forgive me! I had no idea you were this strong!"

Ren's face contorted with anger, he glared directly at Ido with disgust, "Die." he said, as he pierced Ido's heart with his Katana. Ido coughed up blood as Ren got off him, Ren then started to look around for his companion who disappeared at the start of the fight.

Kane noticed the show was over and picked himself up to meet with Ren. Ren motioned towards the body of the defeated bandit captain.

"Just take their stuff. I'm not particularly interested in lugging six corpses all the way to the next village. It would attract attention from other predators..." Kane said as he glanced over his shoulder.

Ren shrugged as he started to search through their belongings. Between the two of them searching, they found around 3,400 credits and a cheap book of spells which could be sold for around 1,250 credits. They also found some stale bread, which the two ate the moment they found it.

As they were about to leave, something caught the eyes of Kane as he quickly looked over the bodies one last time. Hidden on the captain's corpse, was a parchment with a young girl drawn on it.

"Hey Ren, look at this," He said as he showed the document to his companion. "She's beautiful huh?"

Ren looked towards Kane indifferently before turning around to head towards the village.

"Somebody's in a bad mood I see," Kane said as he pocketed the paper, and ran to catch up with his partner who was already a good distance down the road.

The two continued walking for around an hour and a half before they finally reached the village of Lightshire.