Chapter 2

Chapter 2 part 1

       The sound of horses galloping could be heard through the grassy plains that would lead to the city of N-Lanos, a carriage surrounded by over a dozen horses with two people leading them, one wearing light armor while the other wore heavy armor. This was the escorts of the king who were currently headed to the city of N-Lanos for a party.

One of the many things a person with an authority can do is infuse, elements into chosen items to give them abilities the item wouldn’t normally have. Right now the king was enjoying one of those said items, well to be specific a carriage.

It was common for bumps in the road to appear and it certainly was not pleasing when the carriage hits one of them. So to solve it, someone who had authority over wind infused air into the carriage giving it a slight cushion acting like springs just above the wheels. Because of this whenever the wheels would hit a bump in the road instead of the carriage being affected, the air springs would cushion the blow and allow the carriage to be unaffected in anyway. This made the trip more comfortable and easier to relax in.

The carriage was larger than the standard size and all around it gold linings and decorations could be seen. Inside the carriage were five people, three of the five royal guards, the king of Nesoto, and his adviser.

Right now two of the royal guards, the guard of wind and guard of earth were leading the horses outside while the royal guards of fire, water, and light were accompanying the king the his adviser.

The royal guard of fire Charo Maiinit, a man who was twenty eight years old, short red hair that always stood up, amber red eyes, and red spikey armor was sitting beside the king while the other two the royal guards, royal guard of water known as Mira Basa who was twenty years old, the youngest of the guards and had long sky blue hair, blue eyes, and a two piece armor with blue frills. And the royal guard of light, known as Lia Ilaw who was twenty one years old and had long blonde hair, yellow eyes, and full body armor with yellow accents, was seating in the opposite side.

The king who was already in his late forties having short white hair and silver eyes, wearing his royal robes to let everyone know who he was and his status, he was known as king Delond. And his trusted adviser who was a woman in her late thirties having long raven hair, violet eyes, and wearing an evening dress with a big skirt with a lace embellished ribbon and a short tailored jacket. She was known as Lynette Motoko.

“It won’t be long until we reach the city your majesty, at most it will only take an hour now.”

“Is that so? Very good, I would want to settle in early for the party tomorrow. Is the security ready?”

When Lia informed them of them nearing arrival the king nodded and asked to which Lia responded.

“Yes your majesty, I personally made sure that the security will be extremely high for the party tomorrow.”

As she said that, Lynette asked.

“I know that the king must be protected, but when I looked at the report that detailed the security even I was amazed. Don’t you think that it is a bit much? I mean I know there are thieves there but I’m sure the normal security measure along with you four will be more than enough.”

Lynette was right, even if they were protecting the king some would think that the security for the party was way too much considering that the five royal guards will also be attending. But there was a reason as to why Lia made sure that the security was this high, while looking out of the window of the carriage she explained.

“A thief lives in that city.”

“A thief, that’s it not even a band of thieves?”

Charo questioned her as he heard this, well his reaction could be considered normal. That much security for one thief was just outrageous. Lia looked at him in the eye and said.

“He isn’t just a thief. Known as a master thief, no one has caught him. People say that he’s everywhere at once, that he can’t even be seen, and that he has yet to fail at stealing from someone.”

“Those are just rumors, when we meet this so called “master thief” I’m sure that he will be easy to take care of”

“It won’t be, trust me. I already fought him and I lost horribly.”

Everyone was shocked when they heard Lia say the last word on her sentence, she lost horribly? Not only was she a royal guard but she was also a light bringer, someone who had authority over light. How can someone even match up to her level?

Lynette grinned and said almost mockingly.

“Ara ara, it seems as though the man really does deserve to be called master thief if he was able to best even you. Care to tell us just what happened during your encounter with him?”

“I remember like it was yesterday, it was about a year ago when I was assigned to deliver a message to the noble there. The noble offered us to stay for the night and we accepted. During that night, I met him.”

 

 

 

Chapter 2

A thief could be found in pretty much every city no matter who ruled over it, however the city of N-Lanos was well known to having someone called a “master thief” roam around the streets during the night.

Lia was sent to the city with some of her subordinates to deliver a message to a certain noble who lives there. When they were finally able to deliver the message to the noble he suggested that they stayed the night, Lia refused his offer at the beginning since they were already staying in an inn. However the noble insisted and told them the real reason why he wanted them to stay the night in his mansion.

He was starting to fear for his life due to all of the rumors that the said master thief will invade his home and kill him while stealing his belongings. Although she was hesitant at first Lia agreed to stay the night and help guard him.

“Have any of you heard of this so called master thief?”

Lia asked her subordinates to which all ten of them nodded their heads and replied.

“I heard that he kills people without them even knowing it”

“I heard that no sword or arrow is able to even put a scratch on him, that they all just pass through.”

“I heard he’s a ghost of a thief that was killed and is now haunting the entire city.”

“I heard that if you see him look at you, you die.”

Comments like these were being spoken by all of the members, it seems that this master thief is popular enough for rumors about him to spread even outside of the city. But rumors are just rumors and some of them were even impossible to be true to begin with, whoever this thief was she was sure that just using parlor tricks to fool people.

“Okay that’s enough, make a secure perimeter around the entire mansion. Fill in the gaps that the normal guards can’t fill. We switch every two hours, got it?”

“””ROGER”””

Everyone replied and soon got ready for the night. The noble provided all of them with their own rooms to which the subordinates were grateful for, not every day that they could stay in a large luxurious room even if it’s only just for a couple of hours.

Lia went to her designated room and looked around it was decorated with expensive looking vases and statues that even she was afraid of breaking. The bed was big enough to have well over five people sleep in it and still have elbow room.

She went to the bed and sat down with a big sigh. From time to time her job of being a royal guard was tiring, she had to be alert at all times and she couldn’t just quit whenever she wanted.

A light bringer is automatically chosen to become a royal guard the moment they were born, they had power which very few could have and so this power was needed to protect the king and his people. There was no time for her to enjoy her own life since she was tasked to use it to protect the lives of others.

Well she couldn’t really complain since she was still adored by everyone who knew about her, half of the time she would train while the other half she was treated like royalty and could relax even if it’s just for a little bit.

Not to mention that most of her missions didn’t really require her to put in that much effort, thanks to her authority over light she would use little strength when actually fighting. She was never really challenged when it came to fights, not even the four other royal guards could match up to her.

Taking her armor off she got on the bed and took a quick nap to prepare her for her watch during the night.

As she slowly drifted to the land of dreams she could only think of the rumored master thief, rumors about her doing things that were clearly impossible would spread from time to time, people love exaggerating things. But what if the rumors about this thief were true? Well if the thief does come then she will be able to find out herself.

Night soon came and Lia woke up from her deep slumber, it seems she really was tired since she slept just after dinner when she delivered the message. With practiced movements she puts on her armor then her sword and shield and went out.

Gathering her subordinates together they all went out securing a small perimeter around the mansion. It was small when compared to the average size so it was easy to surround it allowing with the guards that were hired to protect the place.

Lia had faith in her subordinates, they might not be in the same level of a royal guard but they were still nights trained to protect royalty, they were below royal guards but way above the standard militia and guard.

As she patrolled the area she saw some of the guards walking by, they must’ve not seen anything yet since they’re acting so care free. If she was the on leading them they would be punished or fired due to their lack of alertness, but in a way she can’t blame them, not even Lia herself could spot anything while patrolling. Maybe the noble was just a little paranoid because of the rumors. She continued to patrol while thinking this until suddenly she heard something.

“AHHHHHHH!”

 That voce belonged to the noble, something must’ve happened. Without a second of hesitation Lia quickly went to the room of the noble where she thought she heard the scream, and just as she guessed something did happen.

The noble was on the floor on all fours mumbling.

“Everything, all of my belongings are gone. A THIEF IS IN MY HOUSHOLD!”

Without even asking the noble what happened Lia already knew just what took place in this room, well he did just shout it out. He looked fine so she didn’t bother to check if he was hurt or not and instead ran to the nearest guard patrolling.

If she remembers correctly one of her subordinates should be in the hallway not far away from where she is right now, she needs to alert the others, for some reason a thief was able to get through them.

When Lia got to the hallway where she knew a guard would be a shocking scene welcomed her.

The guard was on the floor, and he wasn’t alone. Over three more were on the floor next to him, she quickly checked their pulse and sighed when she found out they were just knocked out. But could a single thief really do this much, to take down over four of her subordinates at once?

No this couldn’t be it, all of them had their own spots to patrol, it was more likely that the thief took them down one by one when they tried to check up on each other. But even considering that, a normal thief shouldn’t be able to do this. She was dealing with someone who was experienced in combat.

While she was thinking this she saw a shadow pass by the hall way in front of her that had to be the culprit. Without any hesitation in her movements she quickly ran after the shadow.

She chased the shadow to the hallway that leads to a balcony she quickly went passed the doors pushing them with all her strength as she got to the balcony on the third floor. Looking around she couldn’t see anyone, and she knew it was impossible for them to have jumped off due to them being on the third floor.

 “Now I know why security got high all of the sudden, there was a royal guard here.”

Hearing a voice from just behind her, Lia quickly turned around to see a man dressed in all black clothing with half of his face covered leaning on a wall. The only light source she had right now was coming from the moon, but that was enough for her to see just what he looked like.

“Who are you?”

“You should know by now that I’m the one who just robbed the place. I don’t go by names but you must know me as the master thief.”

From his answer Lia was right when she guessed that it was no ordinary thief that took down her men, it seems like this man really did earn the title of master thief.

“How did you get past the guards?”

“It wasn’t easy I’ll tell you that much, it would have been a piece of cake if they attacked one by one but ganging up on me was just unfair.”

A normal guard would’ve attacked by now but she didn’t, she needed to know more about him. If what he said was true then he really did take out her men all at once and won, he was someone she would need to be cautious of. Going into a fight blind won’t help her, especially if her opponent was hiding some sort of weapon to easily take her on.

“Stealing is against the law I will have to take you in.”

“Really now, if the common people do it then it’s against the law but when royalty does it it’s just called “business”. That really isn’t fair you know. The noble is a slave trader he’s more of a thief than I am. He’s just sharing the wealth he got from all of the lives he stole that’s all.”

The man stood up straight and slowly walked towards her.

“Don’t come any closer or I will fight you.”

“You won’t be able to take me on just from looking at you I can tell that you aren’t at my level yet. Well this makes it easier when --- whoa!”

Not letting him finish his sentence Lia quickly charged in and attacked with a slash aiming for his midsection to which he was able to dodge at a hairs breath.

“Don’t underestimate me thief. I am a royal guard and a light bringer, and in the name of his majesty I will use my blade to strike you down.”

As she said that Lia quickly started to attack with a series of thrusts and slashes, her sword was a double edged one handed sword that was imbued with the element of light, this not only increased its power but also its speed. He might have dodged the first strike but with the speed of her blade he won’t be able to dodge all of them. Or so she thought.

The man in front of her was dodging all of her attacks with minimal movements, she couldn’t even land a single hit on him. After a few seconds of her trying to hit him and failing, the man stopped moving all together. Finding this as an opportunity she swung her sword down with all her might. But yet she still missed him, but how?

She was sure that he didn’t move and that although she was some distance away from him her sword should be able to reach him. But yet he was unharmed and somehow avoided her attack without even moving, then she remembered one of the rumors she heard from one of her men.

[“I heard that no sword or arrow is able to even put a scratch on him, that they all just pass through.”]

Could that rumor actually be true? But then why did he try to avoid her attacks just a while ago, was it just to trick her into thinking she could actually hit him? Or maybe it takes him time so he can use this kind of ability, she heard about people turning into an element and being able to pass through certain things, could this be  it?

While she was thinking about all of these things Lia suddenly realized that for some reason her arms felt lighter than usual. She should be carrying her sword and shield right now but yet she couldn’t feel their weight. When she looked at her hands she found out why.

Both of her arms were holding nothing but air, her sword and shield weren’t where they were supposed to be. Now she knew why her attack didn’t connect, she had no weapon.

“What did you do?”

“Look at your feet.”

When Lia asked him he replied while pointing his chin to the ground, when she followed she saw a shadow of a sword and shield on the ground. She quickly looked up thinking that they were in the air but they weren’t, Lia looked down again and the shadows were still there.

This could only mean one thing and it wasn’t good. Her equipment was turned into shadows, meaning that the person in front of her now was.

“You’re a shadow dweller?”

“Right you are, now that that’s out of the way we can get down to business.”

“HAHHHHHH!”

Lia quickly charged in to engage him in close combat she was trained in both armed and unarmed combat, a master with not only her sword but also with bows, spears, and even her own fists. If her weapons can’t hurt him then she would just have to use her fist to attack. But even that didn’t do her any good.

The man would nimbly avoid her punches and kicks and counter with his own it was like he was everywhere at once.

Even though she was wearing armor Lia could clearly feel the heavy impacts his blows were dealing on her, he was aiming for her joints where there would be little to no protection. After another blow to the head Lia was forced to take several steps back to put distance between them.

She tried to go in for another round but she was caught by surprise when the man quickly charged at her, reacting to this Lia quickly guarded but yet didn’t feel anything but a gust of wind. That was because the man turned into his smoke form and passed right through her, he was now at her blind side.

It was too late when Lia realized this and the last thing she felt was something hitting her from behind knocking her out cold.

 

 

Chapter 2 part 2

                Lia slowly woke up to see that she was face down on the ground with her body hurting all over. She tried to get up slowly and was able to lift her face off the ground and as she did she saw the man right in front of her.

“Do your worst thief I’m not afraid of death.”

“Oh but you should be afraid, well anyway I need to set a few things straight.”

Lia looked at him with hatred in her eyes but the man simply shrugged it off and said as he kneeled down to look at her better.

“There’s this rumor about me killing people, well most rumors about me is true but that one isn’t. A thief although a criminal, never kills. That goes for every thief here, so when there’s a murder I can assure you that it wasn’t a thief.”

“What makes you think I will actually believe you.”

“If you bothered to check the fallen guards you would’ve noticed none of them are dead, not to mention that you’re still alive.”

Lia then realized he had a point, if he really did wanted to kill her then killing her would be easy especially considering the state she was in right now. Not only the guards but even she who is supposed to be his biggest threat was shown mercy.

“Anyway I need to go. Your sword and shield are back to normal just there on the wall near the door. I gave you quite a beating so you might not be able to move around that much."

The man said as he started to walk away turning his back towards her. Lia could do nothing but watch his back grow smaller and smaller. He stepped on the ledge of the balcony and jumped off, using all of her strength she was able to crawl to the edge and saw that he was nowhere to be found.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 2

“Several days later after an investigation I found out that the noble did have business in slavery which is legal. He was telling the truth but that didn’t really matter that much to me, what did matter was the fact that he took me down without even breaking a sweat.”

Lia looked at her balled up fists on her knees as she remembered how easily she got taken down by the shadow dweller.

“Ara ara, it seems that this so called master thief is a shadow dweller. No wonder he managed to get pass even you ufufufu.”

“It sounds to me that you just got outclassed by some punk, if it were up to me he would’ve been behind bars by now.”

While Lynette giggled as she heard how terribly Lia lost, Charo thought that he would be able to take the guy down. Mira glared at him and said.

“You don’t get it do you? This master thief is a shadow dweller the only one who can rival a light bringer like Lia when it comes to authority, and not only that but basing from her story this guy has complete control over the element.”

“But I don’t get it shouldn’t he only be able to control shadows? But you said that he turned into air passing through you, how is that possible?”

The king who never really knew that much about authorities even though he was capable of using his own to some extent asked Lia. Lynette then explained.

“It’s a common misconception that shadow dwellers can only control shadows which is why they were given the name. They were simply given that name because they prefer to use shadows but they are capable of doing more, one of them is turning into smoke which in its own way can also relate to darkness in general. Unlike Light which only refers to the light of the sun, darkness on the other hand is a much wider term when it comes to authority. This is why a shadow dweller is so hard to deal with. It’s a good thing they’re so rare to find.”

Mira then continued.

“This man was able to easily take down Lia who was not only a royal guard but also a light bringer, not to mention the ability he used to finish you off.”

“You know what his ability is called?”

To Lias question Mira answered.

“I’m not sure if what you saw was real but if it is then he will be hard to deal with. The ability is called “elemental turn” as the name says it turns the person into pure element. Those who turn into their element are usually immune to most attacks especially those who have authority over water and air.”

“Why haven’t I heard of it before?”

“Turning your entire body into an element is easier said than done, you need to turn every single part into an element and then you need to rebuild it in the exact same way or else your body will be different and have several problems. Those who tried this for the first time was able to turn into an element successfully, but when they wanted to go back to normal horrible things happened, organs being inside out, bones in the wrong places, skin opened up and in some occasions wasn’t even there at all leaving only muscle. So many things can happen during the reconstruction phase. Those who failed either died or they were unable to live a normal life ever again. For him to be able to use this ability and to reconstruct his body that fast, it won’t be easy to take him down.”

The carriage was taken over by silence when Mira finally finished her explanation. Mira might be the youngest but out of all of the royal guards she was the most knowledgeable when it came to what a person can do with their authority. She knew that control over authority was separated into three categories.

The first was elemental imbuement where a person can infuse elements into items to give them additional abilities. For example one could imbue a sword with the element of fire to allow it to always be on fire and burn everything it touches without fail, or maybe increase the durability of armor by imbuing it with earth to further harden the metal. This was considered to be the easiest to learn but only those who truly work hard can imbue an item with high class abilities.

The second was elemental control where a person can control the element they have authority over to a certain degree in a certain distance. Manipulating elements wasn’t easy so very few were able to even do this let alone master it completely. All of the royal guards were able to use this ability which is why they were considered to be elites in their field.

The third was elemental turn where a person would turn their body into pure element allowing them to do things no human can do, the ability to fly, breath under water, and to be immune to pretty much any attack were just a few of the additional abilities a person could gain when turning into pure elements, but like Mira said before those who tried this would usually die. This was the hardest ability to learn when it came to authority abilities.

This thief both scared and piqued her interest at the same time, just what kind of training did he go through to master this ability? She needed to know.

While she was thinking this Lia who was beside her said.

“He’s a shadow dweller, I’m his weakness so I’m the most suited to fight him. Because of our first encounter I started to train harder and was able to master and understand my authority better than before. It won’t be like the last time where I couldn’t even land a hit on him, next time for sure I know I can beat him it doesn’t matter if he can use elemental turn or not.”

“Well just as long as you guard the party without fail then that's enough for me. To be honest I’m quite interested in this master thief, if we can convince him to join our side then he will be a big help.”

“Your majesty you think of such things, I hardly doubt that a thief would turn away from a life of crime that quickly, it would be best to kill him on sight since it seems like no jail would be able to contain him due to his ability.”

To the kings suggestion Charo quickly rejected the idea of a thief joining their ranks. Even if they could convince him to change his ways just what will happen if he betrays them in the end? It would be better to take him down when they can to save them further trouble.

Time soon passed and they finally arrived at the city of N-Lanos to which they were welcomed with nothing, usually a festival or a party would take place when a king would visit a city but today was different, they needed to make sure that no one knew about of the kings arrival except for a select few.

The city was well known because of the master thief who lives there and letting him know about the kings arrival would put the king in danger of not only being robbed but also killed.

The carriage passed through a secret route that was heavily guarded and away from the eyes of the people. This route was made so that the nobles can use it as an escape route in the case of an invasion.

After going through several checkpoints they finally got to the mansion where the king and he royal guards will be staying for the next few days.

The maids who took care of the mansion helped the king and the guards with their luggage putting it in their rooms. All five of the royal guards escorted the king to his room before going to their own rooms to prepare.

Each of the rooms were large just like the guest room of the noble where Lia met the man, it was only then that she realized that this was the mansion of the noble.

After finding out that the noble was dealing with slavery he was arrested and sent to jail while all of his assets including his title were taken away. It seems like his mansion was now being used a mansion for the king to stay at when he needs to visit the city so he wouldn’t need to go to a hotel.

Lia looked at her luggage that was on the bed and told herself again.

“I’ll make sure that I will defeat him the next time we meet. So I hope that you try to rob the king so I can have an opportunity to face you again.”

But little did Lia know that her wish to meet the man who defeated her would be granted during the party.

Author's Note

don't be shy when reviewing I want to improve so I'm open to criticism