"Does anything seem off to any of you?" Tess asked the three of them as they approached the centre of the village.
"It seems like an odd place to receive a lot of shipments," Roxy replied. "It's too small for it to make sense."
"That's not it," Tess said, shaking her head.
"This place is extremely close to Nosia, right? What's the point in having armed guards here when no fool would dare attack it. Is that what you're getting at?" Elanor asked.
"Precisely," Tess confirmed, a smile creeping onto her face, pleased that someone had understood her point.
"That can't be normal either, can it?" Marcus asked, gesturing with his head.
As they moved closer to the centre, past the crop fields that were sectioned away from the residential area, the area surrounding the large building became more visible. The orange sun of the late day reflected off of the roof of the building, unnaturally casting the light back into the sky. Outside the entrance to the building stood a small squadron of heavily armed and armoured warriors, clad in cadmium armour, thick and bulky on the body and slender on the limbs.
Four of the warriors were armed with small, square shields on their left arm and had a short-handled battleaxe loosely attached to their hips on the right. The fifth, presumably the leader, had discarded the shield in favour of a second axe attached identically on the other side of their body. Attached to the back of the leader's helmet, two white strips of an unknown material ran parallel to each other, both fluttering behind in the gentle autumn breeze.
"Definitely not..." Tess agreed.
"Is that even a colour that any of our Guards wear?" Elanor asked.
"It isn't," Tess confirmed. "I have no idea who they could be."
The governmental organisation of the nation of Rovinia was rather unique.
It was established centuries ago, long before the discovery of magic. Two tribes of people, who inhabited large parts of the North and South respectively, joined together to strengthen against the myriad of threats that were posed by raiders, beasts and the environment.
Three hundred years after the war between the Alliance armies and the forces of Layth, civil war broke out across the land of Rovinia. The war, perpetuated by the greed of the leaders of the two regions, threatened to tear apart the already weakened nation.
Seeking a desperate solution to end the conflict, members of both sides met together and formed a treaty of peace, before dispatching of those who wished for the war through an event known as the night of sacrifice.
Following that night, the central city of the nation was elected as the location of the high council of Rovinia, a group of Lords that ensured equality and fairness between the two regions. They tightly hold the two regions together against any and all external threats, while appointing the ruling Lords of both the North and South regions.
Both regions maintain their own military forces, clad in black and silver armour in the North and gold and silver in the south, with a centralised force existing in the capital.
However, the group in front of them wore armour that matched no region of Rovinia, nor did it match the armour worn by any of its neighbours.
"Could they be people from the village?" Marcus suggested.
"Armour like that from a place like this? Believe me, that makes no sense," Roxy responded. "Besides, you saw the people at the wall, didn't you? How would there be such a difference if they were from here?"
"They could be mercenaries," Tess offered. "But that makes no sense when you consider their wealth, either."
As they continued on past the building, they began to see more of the residents of the village.
An air of sadness hung around the people, as though there was something bad happening to them. Their faces showed signs of fatigue and sadness, as if they had been forced to endure something for a long time. In the depths of their eyes, fear shone through. Both the body language and actions of many of the residents indicated paranoia of an unseen entity, one that could come behind hem and take them away at any time.
Often, the people of the village would stumble and fall as they moved, their frail bodies unable to complete simple tasks.
"Shouldn't there be at least some children here? It's odd to not see any at this time of the day, especially in such nice weather," Elanor noted.
"There's also no livestock here, even though they seem dependent on agriculture," added Marcus.
"Excuse me, has something happened here recently?" Roxy asked, approaching one of the villagers, who was crouched low towards the floor against a nearby wall.
The man looked at her with fearful eyes, eyes that looked utterly devoid of life. After a moment, the man registered that she wasn't someone he recognised. Scrambling in a panic, he stood up using the wall and ran away slowly, screaming in fear about being taken and used.
"What the hell is going on here?" Tess asked aloud.
"We could ask you the same thing," a rough voice, deepened by years of smoke inhalation, asked her. "Who are you people?" It belonged to the assumed leader of the cadmium warriors.
"We are merely insignificant travellers," Tess responded. "And who might you be?"
"Might I recommend you travel elsewhere?" the voice croaked, attempting a threatening tone.
"We don't want any trouble," Tess said, feigning innocence.
"In that case, might I recommend you travel elsewhere?" the voice repeated. Behind the leader, the four other warriors loosened their axes off their hips.
"They're definitely not Guard," Marcus muttered.
"What if we want to stay here for a little while?" Tess asked. She was intentionally pressing the matter, attempting to get a rise out of the warriors.
"You won't be able to. You will not get in the way of the will of the syndicate."
"The syndicate, eh?" A smile crept across Tess's face. "How the hell did you get your hands on that armour?"
"Let's just say we have a pretty powerful benefactor," the leader responded.
"Oh well. Roxy, on you."
Roxy dashed forward, appearing in front of the warriors in the blink of an eye. She channelled dark magic into the palm of her hand, before slamming it into the chest of the nearest warrior.
Tess activated an improved version of her shadowshell that was closer to the original version of the spell, before running forward and engaging the leader.
Elanor summoned a bolt of light from her hand and launched it at a second warrior. It glanced the warrior's chest plate, scratching it but leaving the warrior unhurt.
Marcus ran forward and snapped his fingers, summoning waves of two long chunks of rock out of the earth that he directed towards the two other remaining warriors. The pillars quickly hit the warriors repeatedly, before finally breaking through their armour. Two sharpened pillars pierced their chests, tearing their bodies in half and launching their upper bodies into the air.
Elanor launched three more bolts of light at her opponent, each too weak to penetrate the armour worn by her foe. Realising she needed more power than she could likely muster, she desperately poured all of her remaining power into a single attack.
The bolt slammed into her opponent's stomach. As the light dissipated, it revealed a gaping hole in the warrior's body. The warrior remained standing for a moment as blood began pouring out of the wound, before collapsing to the floor.
Elanor, having used too much of her stamina, also dropped to her knee
"Hey, you alright?" Marcus asked, moving to her side.
"Yeah, I'm good," Elanor responded.
"Then get up," he said, offering her a hand. "We're not finished yet."
Tess used her tendrils to pin the leader's arm in place as she approached, leading with a fist.
A knee slammed into her jaw, snapping her head back and forcing her onto the ground. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth. Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, the leader yanked their arms free of the tendrils and began advancing towards Tess, leading with the twin axes.
Tess steadied herself, rose to a knee, and braced for the incoming attack. She used her shadow tendrils to block the barrage of attacks that rained down on her.
No matter how hard she looked, she couldn't find an opening to counter. Her opponent, recognising this, increased the speed of the attacks.
Suddenly, the attacks began slowing down before stopping abruptly. The warrior shuddered as electricity quickly ran over the armour before exploding, sending lethal voltage through the person inside.