The Murderer from Midi (Harrigan only)

Kyle made his way through the woods and finally found the guild. With Harland out of the picture, there was Harrigan left. On top of that.. He disappeared only to reappear in a dark guild. How quaint... He thought. He saw that the doors to the guild were unlocked. So Kyle quietly made his way in. The closed eyes mage looked up to see that there was another door leading to the office. That must be Harrigan's office. Well... I'm certain there will be information on the Forsaken Butterfly there. Kyle quietly and carefully walked over to the door. He put a hand on the office door and slightly turned the door knob. Locked. Kyle sighed. This was getting aggravating for a simple breaking and entering. He put a knee on the ground and then a hand. The sand on the ground swirled as he lifted his hand off of the ground. The sand swirled around and spiraled over his hand and formed into a key. He placed the key in the door and tried to turn the key. It didn't latch. Kyle winced again as the key mimicked it's form of Harrigan's key. Finally it turned. Kyle opened the door to find a desk with a couple shelves of books. "Why do dark guilds have desks and offices? It's not like they really stay organized..." He joshed to himself.

He walked over to the shelves. The spines to every book stood out and they were neatly placed in the shelf. A couple of the shelves seemed to look as if they were caving in. "This guild master is rather... well read." He said to himself finally getting a bit comfortable in the guild hall. He looked up and down the shelves for information on his target, but to no avail there was nothing. He put his hands on his hips and looked at the desk. "What about here?" He made his way and opened on of the drawers to find a picture of Harrigan and his target. "There she is, but this isn't helping me on finding her... or even where she is now." He looked up and down the office for any information on anything she had been up to. He tapped on the desk finally a secret drawer opened. Inside was a leather bound book. He took the book out of the desk and opened it up standing up. Thinking that there was a trap in the chair. He read a random page.

There I stood, in front of him. He was the man I always dreamed about. I wanted to thank my father for bringing us together. My father knew exactly what I loved about this man. The fact that he collected books was a huge bonus. I loved talking to him about the fantasies I read in many novels. Especially the ones about castles, damsels in distress, and knights who fought dragons. Of course he laughed at this and called me childish, but I can understand this. Mainly because of the fact that I wasn't the right age to understand books of exploration. I told him my wishes and goals. I wanted to be his and his alone. I wanted children with him. Most of all I wanted him to be mine. What I couldn't believe, was that he was. Even though our marriage was arranged today. I was happy. I couldn't have been happier. The thought of marrying him brought me to tears of joy. Even during the service I was crying. Yes my father traded me off, but he looked over every suitor carefully. When we met during that ball, I was enthralled by his mysterious look on life. I know there were some rough sides to him, but, when we had our first conversation during that first ball, I wanted to speak to him more and more. I wanted to know who he was. Even though he held a stoic and strict appearance. It could've been the red suit, it could've been the wine, but he stuck out to me. Most of all, his polite stature and welcoming smile stuck out to me. I was told by the other girls at that ball to avoid him, mainly because he was rude to them. Thinking he was BETTER than them. What I saw was completely different. I was even more excited when my father announced our engagement.

The service was beautiful. Everything a girl like me could dream for. The dress, the fact that my father convinced Harland to hold the service outside instead of inside of a church, the ball afterwards. I really felt like a princess. However Harland did speak in a grouchy manner towards me. Mumbling that my wedding was that of a commoner's wedding because it wasn't as lavish and fancy as it could be. I'm sorry Harrigan, I didn't mean to embarrass you. Thank you for standing up for me though. Explaining to him that it was more the perfect day for such a wedding to be held outside.

That night I was so happy. What was more embarrassing was the events afterwards. I guess I never really understood adulthood until now. Even though I was in tears of happiness to be Harrigan's. Even though he is cold to others, he was warm to me. That's all that matter. On top of that, he was rather warm to snuggle beside as well. He knew---

Kyle slammed the diary shut. "This is useless to me. I really didn't want to know that about my target's husband." He said aloud. He put the book down, then Kyle took a step back only to find himself stepping on a trip wire. Immediately he was tied up in ropes and sent flying upside down. "Great... no sand..." The closed eyes mage said and looked forward opening his red eyes glaring out towards the door. "Well... guess I'm caught and I'm going to have to wait here." He said as the tied up mage swung upside down left and right.

As the door opened just a few seconds after Kyle was caught, he would see Harrigan appear in front of him. Only for his few Harrigan would be standing upside down. This was Harrigan Crawford the guild master of Savage Skull, and the husband the young man was talking about. Well to be exact, ex-husband.
With a conceited smile he would look down upon his captive, who unknowingly had walked into a trap all along. From the moment he had stepped into the guild he was being watched for every move he made. After all the shadows here had eyes.

'Hmm I don't know if I have to admire your bravery, or ridicule your stupidity for infiltrating my guild.' He would say while he gave Kyle a little push, so that he wound swing around a tiny bit. While Harrigan himself would put himself behind his desk. And with a loud snap of his finger he would release the hanging infiltrator.
'But more importantly, I am keen to know why you would even think of such a deed. Don't you know we are the most dangerous guild that resides in Fiore? And even on top of that, I would like to know why you are interested in a silly diary such as this?'

Kyle looked at the man who came walking in. He then was pushed and swung side to side. Kyle made a rather aggravated growl as the man joked with him calling him an idiot. Kyle thought his was way of walking in was more direct, but easier. "You must be Harrigan Crawford. You're not my target, I'm only here for information on the Forsaken Butterfly. Since your father was killed during the events of Era. I found out where you have been hiding all this time. Consider my way of finding you a family secret." Kyle said finally. This man was rather hoity toity to him. He ridiculed his way of finding his target and he wasn't impressed by the way he spoke to Kyle.

Then Harrigan did the unexpected. Instead of adding salt to the wound and leaving him hanging there. Harrigan released Kyle dropping him on his face. Kyle pushed himself up then looked at Harrigan. All Harrigan saw was closed eyes and a fierce look. "I'm not here for you. So I will take my leave." He turned around and looked at the door. Kyle could sense that leaving was going to be rather difficult. There were shadows all around seeming like they were WAITING for him to leave the office. "So..." Kyle said putting his hands in his pockets. "Tell me... Why do you have an office? You dark guilds are not the type to be organized. In fact I don't see any papers that you needed to be pushed around."

'Not organized hah! Is that how they are thinking of us back there in Era. My boy, you should know that we are far from just a ragtag bunch of criminals. We are Savage Skull an elite group of dark mages with only a few members… do you understand? With only a select group we are one of the most powerful dark guild around… Anyway let's return to the matter at hand shall we.'

Harrigan stood up from behind his desk and would walk around it towards the door. Where gestured Kyle to follow him into the halls of the guild. There he would lead him around dark corridors and long stairs. While he kept talking.
'You my boy, are here for a reason. And seeing that I am not it, I can only conclude that it had something to with the diary you just read. The diary from Kyll Vie, my former wife. The very woman who has betrayed me and left me to rot! Oh how I despise her, she betrayed me, she cursed me. But now it is my turn to take away everything that she holds dear. I will rip away her faith in her friends, I will make them betray her. I will plant the seeds of darkness into her heart. And when is if staring into the depths of despair, when she has lost all hope. Then and only then I will take her life…

Harrigan was now standing with his arms spread wide in the main hall of the guild. Where his voice echoed into the darkness.
'So let me ask you one more time, why is it that you are interested in MY TARGET!!'
With his last words the scent of death and rotting flesh started to fill the air and out of the darkness appeared several large dog like creatures. Growling and slowly approaching their position.

Kyle followed Harrigan out into the dark corridors of the guild listening to the man talk more about Kyll. The target Kyle was sent out to. From what he heard, Kyll had this coming. So THAT'S what they call my target. Not Kyll Wei... Sad how my family gives me all of my false documents to have an alias with no creativity in the name. Kyle sighed as he felt that Harrigan must be a little upset with the fact that there were more people coming after Kyll's life. "That information you're going to have to pull out of me, Sir," Kyle said. He knew he was going to regret those words. "What I can tell you is that my family assigned me to retrieve Kyll." Kyle sighed as he crossed his arms. The one thing he feared most was coming back to Midi dead, a failure, or even a success. Something about Harrigan's grand and dramatic way of going about the death of his target seemed longer. Fiore was actually a lot nicer than returning to Midi. Kyle decided that maybe he would test the waters on this man. Though it may be something that Kyle might feel the punishments for the experiment later. Something inside Kyle thought he may wind up tied up and upside down again or worse. See if he can pull out more information from him. "So... Do you have any idea on the whereabouts of the Forsaken Butterfly?" He asked politely, but he wanted to word it a little more carefully. Kyle didn't want to wind up food for these shadows after all.

'Unfortunately I do, she is part of Eclipse Soul. Where she has found protection under the arcane mage Zeno, a mage powerful enough to wipe the floor with us both… he is the reason why I am trying to destroy her slowly from the inside out. Because if that mage caught even the slightest wind that I or maybe even you are after her. He come down upon us with a wrath that even the gods will tremble by it.. so you see why taking care of this 'Forsaken Butterfly' has to be handle delicately. We must make him think that she is the enemy, and we can only do that when she loses her trust in him..'

The large undead dog like creatures had started to circle around them while their conversation kept going. Always on their guard, staring at Kyle Vay from out the corner of their eyes. Making sure to strike whenever he even thought of attacking against their master.
'But I have a more important question for you stranger… it seems that our goals are somewhat aligned with each other. And I have to say that I am rather impressed by how you survived the marshes of the Spooky Forest that lays in front of the guild… well what I am trying to say is, that I have use for a man with talents such as yours...'

Kyle looked at Harrigan then tilted his head. A dog seemed to snap near his ankles. He looked down at the dog and moved his leg forward. The snarling and gnashing of snouts seemed to set Kyle off. "Well... Sir, I really think since you're giving me the CHOICE to stay and help you out... That would be nice, but I think I might just refuse the offer because I got places to be and--!!" As took a step to the side, one of the grotesque dogs pounced on him and snarled. He held the dog back by the head. It barked and growled. The closed eyes mage struggled as he concentrated on twisting the dogs head sharply to the left, breaking its neck. The mage shoved the limp dog off of him and looked out to see that he was circled and surrounded. Trapped by these mutts of the darkness. Kyle looked up to see Harrigan standing there a good few feet away from him. The devious grin gave it away. Harrigan carried a stature of a gentleman with his hands behind his back. This man didn't have to lift a finger and these dogs would answer to even just a nod. I have a feeling he's not giving me a choice... Kyle thought. Would he really be worth the respect of me giving him the kill... Finally Kyle spoke, "Look... I really don't give my Targets to anyone. They were assigned to me. I go retrieve them. That's how my family works." Suddenly the limp dog jumped up and shook its head crunching it back into place. Kyle held both of his hands up as a magic circle appeared in front of him. The sand in the room swerved and swayed around his fist forming into two spiked weapons on his knuckles. "Some old man is NOT taking my goals away. Especially the retrieval of Kyll's body."

With a conceited smile Harrigan would watch as Kyle was assembling sand that swirled around his arms, until it formed a spike like weapon on each of his fists. Ready to defend himself against the Garm. The giant undead dog like creatures that roamed the guilds catacombs. And for some reason listened to Harlands every command.
With a nod towards the creatures they would back off from their prey, slowly walking back into the shrouded darkness that somehow kept this place in it's grasp. But they were not gone, inside the darkness Harrigan and Kyle would hear walk around. Their paws scraping over the ground.
'If it's her body that you want then you can have it, I don't have any use for dead meat. I was planning to feeding to them anyway. But let me make one thing clear, her death has a name and that is Harrigan Crawford. And nobody is going to take that away from me. Not even you, so let me offer you a deal… you help me achieving what I want. What immediately will result in what you want. Or… you choose the latter and option and that is make a run for it. But I can assure you that you won't make it out alive. Even though you can evade my Garm.. there is someone else watching from the shadows. So what do you say? Do we have an agreement'

Kyle dropped his fist and the knuckles dissipated into regular sand. He looked at the dogs in a bit of disgust and then back to Harrigan. The closed eyes mage opened his thin eyes revealing the red irises. "You know what... I've loved the food here and the freedom I get from my family anyway. Your way around to getting my mission done seems like it would take longer anyway. Also, it seems like you're not giving me a choice in this matter anyway. You noticed my skills of breaking and entering with my sand magic, but I have more of a skill set of blending in with crowds and the women here..." Kyle smirked. "More beautiful than any of the women of Midi." Kyle laughed and watched the dogs scatter around. "You have a way of making it known I don't have a choice and joining is the only answer. So... Okay. I'll join. My name is Kyle Vay by the way."

'keke, well then Kyle..Vay. I welcome you to Savage Skull, as you know I am Harrigan Crawford the guild master of this place.'
The moment that Kyle had submitted himself to the guild, the presence of the dogs would disappear entirely. Probably going back into the catacombs, scavenging for their next meal. And with a snap of Harrigan's fingers just as he dispersed the ropes that bound Kyle earlier in his office, he would let the guilds symbol appear on the young mage.

'So, seeing that you are now an official member of the guild. How about making yourself at home, if I am correct the fifth floor is still empty. So why not take that, oh and also why not take this opportunity to rest and get to know the others. Because starting tomorrow you and I will have much to do…'

With that as his last words Harrigan would turn around and walk away back to his office, waving only only the back of his hand at Kyle as sign that their conversation had ended.

Kyle sighed in aggravation as he pointed out that his name was rather ironic. I may need to watch my step around this guy. Looks like he has noticed that I have an alias for a name. Kyle thought watching the dogs wander away. He shook his head. He has to earn the right to assassinate my target though. I'm not going to just LET him suck the life out of her body. Kyle never gave a kill to someone. Especially one as important as a member of the Wei Clan. He felt a small burn of pain on the back of his neck. The Savage Skull tattoo appeared in olive green. Kyle never knew how ironic his match up with his target would be. Maybe Harrigan put it there on purpose because of the fact that he had introduced himself with his sobriquet. Kyle shook his head and turned around putting his hands in his pockets finding a room for Kyle to claim.