As the sun was beginning to set the inside of the small tavern slowly begins to alight with the warm glow of torches, one-by-one with a single strike of his flint and steel the burly apron wearing man sparks the life back into the bar. After he's finished he makes his way to the bar, the few patrons who he walks by thank him with raised tankards and cheers, Taking his proper place behind the bar he looks down at the solitary man sitting face down on the counter and with a small chuckle he begins to idly polish a tankard with a clean cloth and greets him nonchalantly.

"Look Isaac... you shouldn't just drink all night you know, the wife makes a mean mutton and once you taste it you might even just quit the guild and work here instead, so whadd'you say?".

The man groooans with his face muffled against the drink stained countertop "Look... Lucius, i appreciate the offer, but after that last mission... two weeks really?" He lifts his head up and takes another swig of his drink "My memory might be failing here but i think i distinctly remember asking you to keep high ranked missions short" He says pointing an accusatory gauntlet clad finger at the amused tavernkeep.

The bartender's hearty laugh overpowers most of the chatter in the half-filled bar as he points back to the man "Hey now you asked me to be on the lookout for this hunt, just the fee for this quest could have made me lose the bar, hell i swear the missus was about to beat my head in after she found out, besides, it's not like you were complaining when i told you i managed to nab it before anyone else did".

He nods his head and thinks for a moment, Isaac's ornate gauntlets tink against his shiny tankard, letting out a long and deep sigh he says "fair enough... i really owe you one for this though" Reaching into his thick fur jacket he pulls out a small fist sized pouch just enough for Lucius to see it, the faint glowing inside the irregularly shaped bag dilates with the writhing and thumping of a strange alien object inside before putting it away discreetly "i'm going to be able to do a lot with this thanks to you". He stops for a moment and without looking behind him he points back and says "Hey Lucius, you know your daughter's getting hounded by some of the rougher looking guys right?"

Not looking up from his already well polished cup he just sort of shrugs "They start anything i'm throwing them out but Isabelle can take care of herself, i've taught her well since your last visit" He stops polishing his cup momentarly and flexes one of his rather massive bycep "yyyep, she's a natural just like her dad they couldn't hit her if they tried"

Isaac shakes his frothy mug up at him "First of all, you know you're not supposed to be teaching magic, if she gets caught you know what's going to happen, and.... yeah she's really grown hasn't she? hard to believe it's been almost five years, how old is she now, eighteen?"

"Nineteen in a few months, and since when have you been the responsible type? I remember having to revive your unconscious ass after you've blown up another experiment in your own face every other week"

Hearty laughs and frendly chatter between the old friends continue, but the daughter is much less happy, carrying a tray of nearly a dozen full and frothy tankards of ale in one hand, she stands there rather unamused and clenching her free hand into a fist, trying to be polite towards the full table of rough and rather filthy looking men, all of them armed, missing teeth and clearly not friendly, they shout towards her.

"ey miss how about a show eh?" "how about those legs open after the bar closes lass?" "C'mon hun, i got a few gold pieces for ya if you come up to my room"

The generally unpolite barrage continues and she stands looking unamused, but all that is quite interrupted by the shrill voice of a young girl no older than thirteen wielding a broom by the handle with her apron flapping about as she runs up to the scene "Hey!" She tries to stand between the table and the now surprised looking waitress "You leave her alone! you've been bugging her all week every time you come in, n-now you leave here... o-or else!" she wields the broom with as much confidence as the stuttering in her voice shows, a shadow casts over her as one of the more relatively well dressed and tougher looking men with a dirty large brimmed leather hat stands over her, drawing a cutlass he looks down with a scowl "A mere girl talkin' like that to 'er elders? you think you're tough eh lass? an adult would stand by their words with a blade in 'and, n' whaddyou got... a broom?" There is an uproar of laughter from the rest of his crew sitty by him "A girl and her broom! that's not foh' foightin' lass that's for scrubbin' the deck!"

Isaac looks back at the scene and then back to lucius "Uh oh who's that child, i spotter her a few times since i've been back but it looks like she's in over her head here..."

Lucius seems to look over a little bit concerned, putting down his polished mug "Oh by the gods i told her to stay in the back, we took her in not too long ago she's a bit hot headed that one, yeah i think it's time for me to step in now"

The girl looks angry, the woman behind her tries to difuse the situation, moving slowly to put her hands on the child to guide her away from the group "I'm so sorry sirs, i'll take her back, she's not been feeling well lately, come along now Alice we neeed to g-"

Isabella, Lucius and Isaac both immediately stop and turn to the child, their panicked silence is in complete stark contrast to the ignorant laughing of the men, what happened next nobody was expecting, deep spiderweb-like cracks form down the wood of the broom to the very end of the brush, the men stop laughing and the air around the broom begins to distort much like the heat of a flame which grows more and more opaque till briliant jets of blue aura bursts out of the worsening cracks and envelop the wood, the men panic their eyes grow wide, too distracted by the light to notice that the girl had already begun her swing, not a competent attack by any measure, merely a child swinging a stick as the blue clad broom never seems to make contact as it travels through the villain's cutlass the blade immediately gets annhialted as the metal the aura makes contact with vaporize into nothingness, the girl grins and the clattering and clacking wooden chairs being knocked over ring out, the possee of thugs all rush towars the door as the leader drops his half destroyed cutlass and begins crawling and scrambling backwards away from the child.

"h-heh... eheh!" The man begins to laugh maniacly as he scrambles to his feet, he points back to the girl as he makes for the door "o-oh you did it now lass, you did it now! you won't be so tough once i report this to the inquisitors!" He runs out the door laughing like a crazy man sprinting out into the dusky outdoors.

For a few unbroken seconds there is a deathly silence from the rest of the people in the bar safe for the quite crackling of the broom as the blue glow seems to consume the wood, slowly pieces of torched wood fall down onto the ground till she's left holding nothing but strange looking ashes and charcoal, she looks around confused, to Isabelle then to Lucius like she was waiting for everyone to cheer for her brave act but it never comes ".....what..... what's wrong?"

Immediately, panic, Lucious starts walking around the room up to everyone and barking out orders "Isabelle, get Alice's things ready to go NOW, essentials only, Isaac get rid of the evidence! and Alice..." Lucious gets on one knee and looks into her innocent and confused eyes... "I'm sorry but... you need to leave with uncle Isaac for a while... no questions"

Alice is cut off at"but i-"

Lucious immediately stands up and points to all the patrons at the bar "If anyone asks what did you see?" The patrons look among themselves still stunned and confused till a loud cracking of Lucius' massive knuckles seem to shake the very foundation of the tavern "Well....?" quite afraid of the wrath of this large man they nod their heads in fear and go back to their drinks and try to resume their previous conversations.

"what's going o-" Alice is ignored once again

Isabelle rushes back with a packed backpack and bedroll and immediately shoves it into the child's hands, Isaac quickly finishes cleaning up the remains of the blade and magically charred wood and stands by alice, the cold and hard touch of his gauntlets grip tightly against her shoulder

"No Lucius i don't wanna g-!" Alice is cut off one more time as the two start backing up and giving them a little space, isaac seems to be muttering a strange and odd cacophony of sounds that Alice cannot comprehend, she looks up to him with confusion and fear in her eyes.

"It'l be okay sweetie, we'll see each other again someday..." Lucius seems to cover his mouth and sniffle a little bit, an odd look for the giant

"Make sure to see us when you're in town again, maybe you'll be even stronger than me, take care Alice, and listen to Isaac" The big sister seems to emphasize this with a smile and a wave goodbye

Isaac stops his chanting and looks down at the scared girl who looks back, and with one final phrase "Time to go kid..." and with that the pair vanish without a trace, the rest of the tavern look on stunned and wide eyed, seeing the duo vanish, there is a loooong silence for several seconds till a loud CRACK rings out as Lucius' fist splits the table the last group had been sitting in, with all the attention on him he says

"Isabelle, get another round to everyone, on the house!" He raises his arms up and shouts, following his sudden enthusiasm and with the promise of free alcohol all the men raise their glasses and cheer, returning the atmosphere to it's previous livelyhood minus one man and child, free drinks and food get passed out just as the clatter of platemail start clanking outside the door which opens up slowly to reveal a finely dressed man in and overcoat, decorated with medals, a peaked cap, a creepy smile, a small company of soldiers behind him, and a very familiar dirty thug behind him pointing his finger out at Lucius, who replies politely and with a smile.

"Good evening commissar....".

---End Chpt 1.--