Tainted Ice

As the sun slowly sets behind the mountains, Malek and Eugene are seated on top of the rubble of The Trinity. Removing his sword on his back and placing it on the ground, Malek takes a deep breath, clenches his fists and begins telling his story to Eugene.

"It was around nine years ago. Sapphire had returned from a small job in a small neighboring village, just south of her village, where me and my sisters were currently living, and had been for at least seven years. The night before, Kiyoko went out looking for a child who had gone missing earlier that day. The child returned scared and confused, but Kiyoko was not with her. After calming down the child, she revealed that a mysterious shrouded man attacked her and captured her. Rika was sick with a common illness, nothing too bad. Heck, she was better by the next day after two days in bed. At the moment, I was the only one capable of fighting, due to Sapphire having been injured by an unknown attacker as well." Malek says as he begins telling Eugene. "Eugene, do you remember that time Sapphire invited you to her village, when we first worked together, our first mission, which was to stop a band of terrorizing Dark Mages?"

"I remember that mission. It was the first time I tried out my new sword." Eugene said in response. "Those Dark Mages were pretty tough actually, all of them being at least B class mages. Do they have any connection to Kiyoko's kidnapping?"

"Not exactly. However, they were in charge on ordering her kidnapping. Tell me, what do you remember about those Dark Mages. Fact now is that they escaped the eve prior to this battle and no one knows where they went?" Malek says to Eugene placing his right hand on his chin as if he were thinking.

"They all wore black, they primarily used elemental magic, they all used a sword as their main weapon and used telepathy to communicate." Eugene said in response. "Headquarters has more info on them if you need it."

"No, that's fine. I'll get in my own way in due time, and kill them if I so willingly desire. They still haven't paid for what they did to my sister all those years ago. Sooner or later, I'll send them straight to the black gates of hell, where they rightfully belong." Malek says picking up his sword.

"That sounds really dark you know?" Eugene said with a somewhat carefree tone. "I can understand that you want revenge but wanting to kill them and send them to the gates of hell is an entirely different issue. Even for those I kill, animals or humans, I at least pay them some respects."

"What are you talking about? I never said kill them. I said I would do everything I can to stop them, regardless of how long it took, and like I said before, I'm not the type who kills." Malek says to Eugene in a shocked tone. "Remember, if I were to say something like that, it wouldn't be me. Do you recall Yakunan's Black Illusion Magic I've told you about?"

"So it's an illusion huh?" Eugene said in response. "It appears that I need to keep Zero Magic on at all times. That magic has come in handy, especially when you almost went berserk. I'll make sure to keep away the illusion with it. So what's the cause of it? Does that mean Yakunan is around somewhere?"

"I don't...." Malek says shortly before stopping himself. "No, no, no, no! How could I've been so stupid."