A great instability had unexpectedly appeared within the desert lands of Harena. Countless hordes of undead suddenly had now begun to awaken from their burial locations throughout the desert, in a merciless onslaught against the living, while from the sands rose the remnants of a formally great city, now long forgotten with time.
She had seen this great city with her own eyes; memories of the ancient runes replayed in her mind. She remembered the various domed towers and pavilions built in dedication to gods now long forgotten, and the bright illumination of eerie green which spread all throughout the city. Most vivid of all, was she remembered seeing the great and towering pyramid which sat situated in the very middle of the ancient city.
There had been a craving at that time, it was a very strong craving of some sort, a craving completely incapable of being suppressed; the craving for the knowledge and secrets long forgotten, hidden within that pyramid. She remembered feelings of ambition and great enthusiasm. It was all beginning to return to her again. 
But there had also been screams there, agonizing screams of some sort, the kind which haunted people in their nightmares. It was then she suddenly remembered that she had not taken part in this endevour alone, but there had been others with her, others who had shared an ambition of their own, which lead them to the undead city. Yet, who exactly those people were, she couldn't quite remember at this moment. Their faces seemed forgotten and completely lost to her, at this point in time, and she was unable to even form the slightest image of their remembrance within her mind. Finally, she remembered an end. Yes, all her endevours had somehow suddenly came to an abrupt end, as her world had suddenly descended into a deep darkness, her mind went blank, and her body had become completely incapable of moving.

"Pyra…mids…" She mumbled, albeit lowly, attempting to maintain the fire of her endevours. 

""She's alive!" Shouted another joyful voice.

Opening her eyes, the entire environment seemed to change in an instant. She was no longer within proximity of the same pyramids she once held vivid sight off before, yet she never remembered actually leaving the place. The current environment was far too bright for her sudden awakening, and she squinted her dreary eyes for quite some time, trying to adjust to the sudden change in brightness.

"Where is she?!" Shouted another more authoritative voice, one much more angry and less joyful of her awakening " "Where is the hell is she?!"

"Sir, please calm yourself!" Pleaded another voice. The plead would be heard in vain, however, as Izzey, would suddenly find herself lifted up directly from her resting bed, into the air, and against a wall. Something was strongly gripping against her neck; it was a hand. "Sir, don't!" continued to plead the other voice, seeming much more concerned with Izzey's safety than her current possessor.

"You killed them!" Shouted her current possessor's voice, one full of a mixture between rage and sorrow. Izzey's view was still blurry, and she could not make out much of the appearance of current possessor, nor her surroundings. Everything looked like colored blobs and shapes. As her eyes slowly adjudicated to it's environment, a clearer view of the man would come into sight. He was a large man, attired in leather. His face was heated and red, overflowing with great emotion as he stared at her rather intensely and intimidatingly. "You led them to that cursed city!" He continued loudly, "You led them right into their deaths! You should've been the one left to die! I wish the undead had torn you apart!" He continued.

As memories began to slowly resurface, things were beginning to make more sense now. Yes, that 'was' what had happened. Recalling the agonizing screams she'd heard, that was exactly what had happened….

Dreary eyed, she took a moment to examine the surroundings of her unfortunate circumstance. She appeared to be in a clinic of some sort. How she'd gotten there, she hadn't a clue. Eyeing the various activities which were taken place outside the open door of the clinic, it became clear this was no city, but an outpost of some sort.  

In her unfortunate predicament, a few brave and greatly concerned nurses had attempted to pry the man away from the choking mage, whose recently awoken sleep was about to repeat itself, as she found it becoming more and more difficult to breathe overtime. The strength of the man, however, would prove to be something the fragile-armed nurses could not overcome. Despite all this chaos, Izzey, oddly enough, seemed not to be concerned at all with her current wellbeing. In fact, she didn't seemed concerned with anything at all in the room, as she continued her absent minded gaze outside of the tent's entrance, not even paying attention to the figure who was currently choking her. A pair of curious eyes eventually appeared at the scene, attempting to examine the situation. She could not see the entire frame of the peeking individual, however, the blue-green hue of those eyes, somehow seemed very familiar to her, and Izzey was rarely one to recognize people based on small details, meaning this person had made an influence upon her subconscious, somehow. Furthermore, the vague view of the individual's similar hair color, also seemed very familiar. It was someone she'd known before, yet at this current moment, she couldn't quite remember who.

As the mage's eyes began to slowly close back, in preparation for another slumber, she would find herself abruptly dropping to ground. The pleading nurses quickly retreated back, upon witnessing the momentary acts of aggression, fearful of being caught in it. With a thud, Izzey found herself sitting on the floor, with her back against the wall. Her assailant, yelled momentarily, as he quickly reclined his hand away, and began to hold his wrist in suddenly unexpected pain. He didn't seem to suffer too serious damage from the whack, aside from temporary pain, and broken pride. Staring at the mercenary with a held wrist, as the man spoke his stern statements, and then back at the nurses, who returned a rather fearful expression in response, his hands were brought a little above his forehead, moving back his hair as he did so, non-verbally communicating his inner frustration. The man slowly made his way to a nearby resting bed, placed his face into his hands, and began to lowly weep with great sorrow.

"Are you all right, Miss Ius?" Would suddenly speak the voice of her rescuer. The mercenary was returned with a blank look, as the mage's brain took it's time to affiliate the familiar voice and face, with a name of same sort. "King Albrecht!" She suddenly responded, her expression shifting from an absent minded gaze, to a wearied smile, as her mind now currently returned back to the present moment. Her usually loud, bold and greatly enthusiastic tone, was currently a hoarse and less lively version of itself. Staring up at the man, her gaze would communicate she was still not all quite there yet, as she stared at him with a wearied and sleepy looking expression. "I saw blue eyes today, isn't that wonderful?" She continued. 
The nurses looked at the mage with a worried expression of great concern after the statement. "Are you okey, ma'm?!" They asked, not referring to her physical condition, but rather her mental condition. "They were quite sparkly, don't you think?" Izzey continued on. The worry on the nurse's faces increased, as they now began to ponder if their patient had suffered mental damage, despite her positive physical recovery, from her survival of the undead city. Unfortunately, they had not met Izzey beforehand, in order to understand her overall mental condition.

The peeking figure had now fully revealed themselves, as they eventually made a full entrance in the medical tent. Izzey gazed at the figure, as her brain attempted to repeat the same process of recognition, as it had done upon seeing the familiar mercenary again, in order to recognize the younger girl. She felt a blue shawl wrapped around herself, and a patting. As the magic of the blue shawl did it's work, the sleepy eyed and wearied faced mage would begin to feel a warm and calming sensation throughout her mind and body. Her mental alertness was beginning to return back to former glory, and the world around her became relevant again. Her wearied face also slowly began to take on it's former lively countenance, and her sleepy eyes began to widen back to their usual charm. With newfound strength, she stared at the group around her with a fresh perspective, mentally revived. The younger girl's concerned inquiry to the mage, would soon receive it's nonverbal answer, as the mage suddenly stood up on her feet, her proud and enthusiastic stature, revealing itself once more.

"The gods have ordained it!" The mage suddenly exclaimed throughout the tent, greatly startling the nurses, and catching the attention of the previously whimpering man. Her voice, albeit still somewhat horse, and still less in volume than normal, was returning back it's former glory. The mage had often been labeled as mentally unstable by others, yet one thing that no one could deny, was that she was quite a great speaker. One could only wonder, if perhaps, before some unfortunate incident, she might have possibly been a noble or highly educated individual of some sort.

Raising both her hands, and placing it upon the younger girl's shoulder who had eased her wearied body and mind, "Vision of my youth!" She exclaimed with excited and sparkling eyes, staring at her for a few seconds, before turning her attention back to the taller and older mercenary. "Great king Albrecht!" She continued, giving him a royal bow. "Izzey the Great thanks you both for your great aid!"
Extending her arms, she grabbed hold of the two, in order to hug them at the same time. Wrapping one arm around the girl, and the other around the nearby mercenary, she seemed to create a strangely awkward clumping together of the three, rather than what would be described as an actual hug. The nurses looked on, completely baffled by the woman's behavior. This 'hug' remained for a few seconds, before the mage eventually released them. Upon the released hug, however, something would reveal itself upon the mages face, something her prideful and boastful expression rarely exposed; regret. "I regret to inform you, Izzey the Great, has made a grave mistake…" She eventually admitted, her voice sounding rather dramatic, as it lowered in volume during the second half of her statement, as she looked down toward the ground, revealing shame. 

The once sorrowful facial expression of the man from the resting bed, was beginning to again show signs of gradual anger rebuilding itself, as the mage began to speak of the incident. Additionally, to see her up and about, and full of lively energy again, further increased the man's bitterness towards her. He truly loathed the fact that the mage was somehow still alive, despite the tragic incident.

At the younger girl's rather direct inquiries, Izzey continued to look at the ground for a time. She began to open her mouth, in an attempt to answer, but only ended up biting her bottom lip instead, stopping herself. It was without a doubt most unusual for her to act in such a way, as normally she was quite confident and unrestrained when it came to answering questions, regardless of how direct they were.

"Yes." Came an stern voice from afar. It was the voice of the man who had choked her earlier. "Why don't you tell them, mage? Tell them 'exactly' what happened." His tone was stern and persuasive as he spoke, wanting the woman's doings to be laid bare, in order for everyone else to know what had happened. Remaining silent, the mage slowly made her way to sit at the nearby cot Albrecht had sat at, still looking downward.

"She was a mess when she was first brought in." Lightly spoke one of the nurses. By now, the other nurses had already returned back to their normal duties, deeming it much wiser to do so, rather than continuing to stand and observe the situation, given that the atmosphere of the conversation had grown extremely tense. "Three sword gashes on her side, and bruise to the head; She was bleeding out so much, that we wasn't sure if she'd make it or not. But this camp has gathered the best healers in all the realm. Fixed her right up we did, as good as new. She was lucky to have been brought to us; Anywhere else, and she'd most likely been a goner."

 "An excursion.." The mage solemnly spoke up, after the nurses statement. "Treasures and gold, secret magic long lost in time, that's what lies hidden in the pyramid.." While the statement itself would, without a doubt, be one of completely irresistible temptation for most adventures, her tone during the statement had greatly reduced it's appeal. She spoke with deep somberness, as if she were speaking for a funeral. Looking up at at the mercenary from the ground, her eyes communicated a rather desperate desire defend herself against her condemnation, hoping he'd at least be one to understand the reasoning of her actions, "The map King Albrecht, the secrets long lost in time, don't you remember them? There were there, lying in the pyramid…they are 'still' there."

The man sitting on the other cot, would quickly untangle the mage's obscurity, as he spoke up in order to further add to the explanation, "The command was clear, 'Do not approach the Pyramid'. It was a simple task; clear enough undead around the camp and city outskirts, in order to avoid overpopulation, and becoming overrun." Pausing, he noticeably glared at the mage, "But this fool here, couldn't hold back her greed, and convinced more than a few naive men into her madness. 'Treasures and gold!' She couldn't shut her mouth about, igniting ambition into men's hearts which wasn't supposed to be there; an ambition which would lead every single one of those men to their deaths. 'That's' what this woman did."

At the man's further explanation, Izzey looked back down at the ground again, complete ashamed. 

"You should've died right there mage, you should've died right there in that undead city alone. Not 'him'—not my brother." A empty silence completely filled the room, after the man's final statement.