A Gift

In the thick of the woods, there was an underground passage way carved in the shape of a crow, but covered with piles of grass. Crows sat on the tree branches, overlooking the are as the wind wisped through the air.

Mayor Zagar was currently being led down that passageway, both his arms grasped by the men of the Black Moon. They made their way down several flights of stairs. Spiders crawled along the cobwebs on the walls and Zagar shivered in response.

Worms slithered across the ground. The Black Moon men didn’t seem bothered by this in the least as they kept a tight grasp on Zagar. The mayor scowled. “Can you stop gripping my arms so tight? It hurts.”

“You’ve been asking that this whole time,” one of the hooded men holding onto his arms said. “We’re not risking letting you get away.”

“Shut up and keep walking,” the other man said.

“Such disrespect.” Zagar scoffed. “A mayor should never be treated this way. Especially one who has done as much for the kingdom as I have.”

“Yeah, you’ve definitely done a lot for the kingdom.” Another Black Moon member behind pushed Zagar roughly in the back.

“Hey! Watch it!”

“Keep it moving.”

Zagar’s face hit the floor as he was released. Bitter dirt coated his tongue and he tried to spit it out to get rid of the taste.

“Mayor Zagar,” a man with sleek shiny red hair covering his forehead sat on top of a spiky boulder. His hand rested on his pierced ear as he glowered down at the mayor.

Zagar rose his head and felt his shoulders tense underneath the man’s blood red eyes. “Do you know why you are here?”

Why he was here? Of course he did. The reason was all too obvious. “Because these scoundrels invaded my festival and captured me! That’s why!” Getting up on his feet, Zagar pointed right at the man’s face with a shaking hand. “And you’re the one to blame for that, correct?!”

“Partially.” The red-headed man pointed to the letter in one of his subordinates hands. “That message was delivered to you. Why don’t you give it a read?”

Zagar muttered insults under his breath as he took the letter and started to read it.

“To Mayor Zagar, I know of what you’ve been doing for your festival. This won’t go unpunished. I’m not the type to get my hands dirty myself, but I simply can’t turn a blind eye to this. So, I have informed the Black Moon. They will see to you instead. Have fun.

—Leo.”

“Leo?” Zagar crumpled the paper in his hands. “That damn Obsolete.”

Zagar never thought that wretched piece of work would bother him again. But now here was once again getting himself involved. That useless washed up hero.

Grumbling, Zagar let the paper fall from his hands and down onto the ground. His foot stepped over the letter and he smushed it around. “So what? You think I’m afraid of you hooded freaks? I’ll have you all executed just like the Sirhix and the Obsoletes!”

“Leo hired us to take care of you.” The red-headed man stood up and pulled his hood over his head. “You won’t get another chance. He just wanted you to understand why this was happening.” Raising his hand the man said, “As Nix, the leader of the Black Moon, I will uphold my promise to the Third Hero.”

Sharp black tendrils shot out from Nix’s palm and pierced right through Zagar’s chest. He fell to the floor, blood falling out from his wound and spreading onto the floor.

Nix stood over him with a calm smile. “And that’s another job done. He brought a hand to his face as he let out a heavy yawn. “I’m tired.”

***

Yusato and Mira brought Azalea along to Leo’s house to introduce her. Just as they entered through the door, Leo looked up from his cake pan and grinned. “Right on time.”

“What are you talking about?” Yusato walked forward with Mira clinging to his side and Azalea cautiously looking around the place.

“I figured you’d be back right around now.” Leo waved his wooden spoon around, getting cake batter on the walls and counter as well as his face. “Was just playing a little game with myself. Don’t worry about it too much.”

“You would play games with yourself.” Yusato sighed. “Anyway, we completed both of the tasks you asked for.”

“Well done. Well done.” Leo’s eyes shot over towards Azalea. “And I take it this is your new teammate.”

“Yeah. Her name is—”

“I can introduce myself, thank you very much.” Azalea stepped forward. “My name is Azalea.”

Leo’s mouth twitched slightly after hearing that name. “Azalea, huh?”

That sudden twitch of his lips bothered Yusato a bit too much. “Something wrong, Leo?”

Leo smiled and waved his hand around. “No, not at all. It’s just an interesting name. I don’t hear it very often. Then again, I’ve been living in this dump for years.” He laughed. “Maybe it’s more common where your from.”

Leo put on some oven mitts preparing to put his cake in the oven. Then, he started to laugh again as he saw Mira licking the batter off the spoon. “Look at that. Someone must be hungry.”

Yusato held his hand on his hip and grinned. “That pig is always hungry.”

“H-hey! I’m not a pig!” Mira licked the spoon again.

“Sure…”

“Anyway, since you completed my tasks,” Leo said. “Yusato, I have something for you.” He reached down into his lower pantry, rummaging through who knows what.

“It’s not cake, is it?”

Leo lifted his head up from the pantry. “Did you want cake?”

“No…”

With a quick nod, Leo returned back to searching through his pantry. Eventually, he pulled out a shiny silver sword. “Here it is.”

“What the heck was a sword doing in there?” Azalea asked, staring at the man bewildered.

Leo chuckled a bit while rubbing the top of his head. “Sometimes, I get too tired to take it back up to my forge, so I just stuff it in here.”

Yusato and Azalea were completely silent at that. All that could be heard was Mira still licking the batter off the spoon.

Leo shrugged. “What?”

“This man is a mess,” Yusato and Azalea both said in unison.

“Well, here you go.” Leo handed Yusato the sword. “This is my thanks for helping me out with all that.”

Yusato took the sword his hands. It felt smooth and light to the touch. It actually seemed like it’d be a lot easier for him to wield than Captain Tito’s sword. A perfect fit. “Thanks, Leo.”

“No need to thank me. Like I said, that is my gift to you.”

A knock on the door. Everyone’s heads turned in response.

“Wonder who that could be?” Leo mused, rubbing his chin. “I wasn’t expecting any visitors today.”

He strolled over to his door while whistling. When he opened it up, there a teenage girl standing in front of him. Her coffee brown eyes looked sullen and downcast, almost like she was trying not to cry. She had long green hair tied into braids, small black patches on her arms and two tiny horns on top of her head.

“Sorry for intruding. But I’d like to speak to you, Mister Leo. Thank you for saving me!”