There was something oddly poetic about having Sam, a criminal, hunt down another person labeled as a criminal. It really made her think about the relativity of everything, that if your government can just label you wrong than to everyone else you were and… Actually, that’s enough thinking, if Deva dwelled on it too much she might start getting the gears turning and, to be frank, they haven’t been oiled in a long time. To give the run down of what our Iser friend was doing way out in the distant lands of Midi, like usual she took up a job. This was sort of like a bounty, however, there was a lot more nuance to it. Speaking to the client, it would seem like this guy was a troublemaker that has been plaguing the lands for a while. The local enforcement have been trying to catch him for weeks to no avail so now they have resorted to outside help. But, whenever Deva tried to ask questions to get more details as to what they did, he got cagey. Answering questions with questions, ignoring others, and eventually just outright denying info, Deva caught on pretty quickly.
It didn’t take a genius to realize that there was more to the story. Deva assumed that the client was also a dirty politician and this poor sap whose life she was going to end was some sort of journalist or whatever that caught on to the mishappenings of their official. The cowards then decided that they needed to die, and well the rest is history. Or it’s about to be as Deva steps foot into the village. It wasn’t anything of note, a bunch of wooden shacks and stone roofs signaled to her that this was probably a poor village filled with poor people. In her experience, the poor fought the hardest. Either that or they were just minimalistic, in which case they were going to prove to be a real problem if she wasn’t careful.
The stranger walked through the streets avoiding eye contact with most people. The person she was looking for was a short, skinny man with dark hair and a very distinct scar on his head. Plus, he was a mage so finding him in a sea of normal people shouldn’t be that incredibly difficult given that Deva could just sense magic within a certain range. That being said, it only took her an hour of wandering around the small village before she stumbled upon a sign of anything magical.
Moving towards the source, she could somewhat make out what was happening. It was her mark lighting a fire beneath a pot. The fire itself was what was magical, its a shame that that was going to spell this guy's demise. He sees her quickly after she found him, leaving roughly 10 meters in between the two of them. The smile on his face quickly became a frown. Before he could even protest, Deva made her intentions known.
“The lord has sentenced you to die for your crimes against Midi and her people.” There wasn’t exactly a smile on Deva’s face either. Coming here she expected something exciting, and instead stumbled upon an old man.
“But I have committed no crime.” This was no plea, but rather a statement of his truth. “If it’s a crime to seek the truth, to know the truth, to try and make the truth known then I would be the worst criminal of all. All my life I just wanted to get the news out there to the people, and this is what it gets me huh?” His eyes dropped as she seemingly made peace with the situation as if he had something laying heavy on his heart and could no longer bear it.
Deva stood by and watched as the man took matters into his own hands, sitting on the ground and creating a flame in his hand. Normally she’d rush over and try to stop him from taking gratification from her, but in this situation, she had respect for him. It’s not like he was going to some coveted heaven or whatever, but she wasn’t exactly concerned with going herself either. The flame engulfed his hand, then his arm, then his entire body. Even from the distance that she was standing she could still smell the burning flesh and hear his stifled screams. An awful way to go, but the best if it was on his own terms.
Sitting down and watching him until his body keeled over and turned to ash, Deva was satisfied that her job was done. This was probably as easy as her work was going to get sadly, so she’ll take them as they come.
790 Words / 500 Words
It didn’t take a genius to realize that there was more to the story. Deva assumed that the client was also a dirty politician and this poor sap whose life she was going to end was some sort of journalist or whatever that caught on to the mishappenings of their official. The cowards then decided that they needed to die, and well the rest is history. Or it’s about to be as Deva steps foot into the village. It wasn’t anything of note, a bunch of wooden shacks and stone roofs signaled to her that this was probably a poor village filled with poor people. In her experience, the poor fought the hardest. Either that or they were just minimalistic, in which case they were going to prove to be a real problem if she wasn’t careful.
The stranger walked through the streets avoiding eye contact with most people. The person she was looking for was a short, skinny man with dark hair and a very distinct scar on his head. Plus, he was a mage so finding him in a sea of normal people shouldn’t be that incredibly difficult given that Deva could just sense magic within a certain range. That being said, it only took her an hour of wandering around the small village before she stumbled upon a sign of anything magical.
Moving towards the source, she could somewhat make out what was happening. It was her mark lighting a fire beneath a pot. The fire itself was what was magical, its a shame that that was going to spell this guy's demise. He sees her quickly after she found him, leaving roughly 10 meters in between the two of them. The smile on his face quickly became a frown. Before he could even protest, Deva made her intentions known.
“The lord has sentenced you to die for your crimes against Midi and her people.” There wasn’t exactly a smile on Deva’s face either. Coming here she expected something exciting, and instead stumbled upon an old man.
“But I have committed no crime.” This was no plea, but rather a statement of his truth. “If it’s a crime to seek the truth, to know the truth, to try and make the truth known then I would be the worst criminal of all. All my life I just wanted to get the news out there to the people, and this is what it gets me huh?” His eyes dropped as she seemingly made peace with the situation as if he had something laying heavy on his heart and could no longer bear it.
Deva stood by and watched as the man took matters into his own hands, sitting on the ground and creating a flame in his hand. Normally she’d rush over and try to stop him from taking gratification from her, but in this situation, she had respect for him. It’s not like he was going to some coveted heaven or whatever, but she wasn’t exactly concerned with going herself either. The flame engulfed his hand, then his arm, then his entire body. Even from the distance that she was standing she could still smell the burning flesh and hear his stifled screams. An awful way to go, but the best if it was on his own terms.
Sitting down and watching him until his body keeled over and turned to ash, Deva was satisfied that her job was done. This was probably as easy as her work was going to get sadly, so she’ll take them as they come.
790 Words / 500 Words
