It had taken her sometime to reach the towering behemoth of a city, but eventually she scaled up the ropes provided and set foot into Hoja Mesto. This would not be some visit due to a whim or otherwise she would have never even thought of coming here. No, this city was famous for its markets, where seemingly anything could be found- from beautiful dresses to well crafted armors and weapons to long forgotten tomes and artifacts. In fact, it was that reason and that only that Paige was here now. She wanted to retrieve a certain tome that carried with it secrets of the forbidden arts that was rumored to be lost. While it was a possibility, she suspected that it was more so say to deter minds most wicked from searching for it and deciphering its writing to practice.

Pulling the hood up to hide away her ebony haired head, she began her hunt for the marketplace. The reason she came here was if there was any place in the world it could be, it would be among these merchants of all breeds and classes. The price for such a book? That too had also been in her thoughts- she expected an arm and leg would be its worth. But she needed it, she craved its hidden knowledge. Perhaps she had been much alike to her younger brother than she had originally believed. Krystopher wanted the power that the darker magicks would promise to those venturous enough to seek them out, that would seduce those into its grasping hands and ensnare them. Like most of his family and friends, she had difficulty understanding why he would risk it all for such a wish. It was like poison, tainting his relationships and putting his loved ones in jeopardy and in harm’s way. Back then, she couldn’t understand, but slowly as she delved further and further into it did it dawn on her. Fortunately she secluded herself away from the remnants of her family and friends were pretty much nonexistent so there wasn’t as much of a risk for her to suffer unlike Krys had.

The journey seemed long, weaving through the streets silently and unnoticed like a spectre through the crowd. The air was filled with the voices or different languages and dialogue, some of which she understood while others she couldn’t begin to comprehend. It was with some hope that the peddler that held her sought out treasure spoke the common language or at least spoke drow which she had been brushing up on for years. Paige looked about through the endless stands and shops where their keepers did whatever they could to attract customers. Pale blue eyes stood out from the masking darkness of the hood as they peeked into any and every single book she would pass. Many of them were of spellbooks, but they weren’t the one that she coveted.

The book had been said to appear as though it was freshly release, despite the age it had actually had to have been given that it had been around for centuries. It was likely the power kept within its pages that kept it from becoming old and decrepit. Many that she had found were ancient and worn, and those that were new had nothing to do with her goal. Unlike her brother, she was more in control of herself and able to freely make these choices without the consequences he had faced. No, she would perfect what he could not, and wield the power that called out to her now. All she had to do now was continue her search and acquire the book by any means she could.            

The young man, Hiro Kouen, had made his way to Hoja Mesto, a towering city known for its marketplace, gathering wears from all over the world into one place.  If it existed, it could probably be found for sale in this city.  Now he roamed through the market place, his armor covered by a cloak, window shopping through the market place.  He wasn't sure what he wanted to buy, a new sword?  A spell?  A book?  A piece of armor (maybe a decent shield)?  He could find it all here, there was so much, it was overwhelming.

He was tall, but not towering, young, around sixteen years of age, his steps were heavy, for he wore red armor, but his weapon, a large sword, was sheathed to his belt, and kept under his crimson cloak.  He would not brandish a weapon in a crowded marketplace.  His hair was raven-colored, but with streaks of red through it.  His eyes were a deep, powerful sapphire color, showed strength, but also gentleness.  He was young, but no fool.

He was in a section of the marketplace that had a lot of books.  Dusty, old, tomes filled with stories?  Magic?  Who knew?  He nearly bumped into a wizened man who was rushing through the crowd.  He was wearing an equally old set of robes, maybe mage's robes.  He looked somewhat panicked.

"Oh!  I'm sorry, elder!  I didn't see you there, sorry for bumping into you," Hiro apologized immediately to the elderly man.  He was incredibly old looking, wrinkly, and had pale eyes that were probably losing their sight.

"Time!  Time!  There is no time!  No time to explain!  Here, take this book!  Don't let anything bad happen!  I need to leave!  Trust!  I can trust you!  Please keep safe!  The book!"  The old man pushed a large tome into Hiro's hands.  Confused by the man's ramblings, Hiro felt pity towards him.  Perhaps he was so old, he was losing his mind.  But what was this book he was being handed so suddenly?  Hiro looked down toward the book, a new, fresh looking tome with latches on the sides, attached to straps, as if to keep people from opening it inadvertently.  There was a strange feeling coming from holding this book.  When he looked back up to respond to the old man, he was gone.  Completely gone!  He looked about confused, seeing no trace of the man.  He heard the flapping wings of a bird flying away above him, but paid it no mind.  There were too many questions running through his head.

"O-kay.  That was strange.  An old man coming out of nowhere to hand me a book, and then disappear instantly.  I thought today was going to be a good day, but now it's just turned weird."  He had half a mind to drop the book on the ground, and get the hell away from here.  He thought he sensed the presence of a pair of eyes gazing upon him from somewhere nearby.  A shiver ran through his spine.  Dare he even unlatch the book in public and see what the hell was in it?  Why did he appear suddenly, and just had him the book?  There had to be something important in here, but what would the crazy old man want him to do with it?

Her journey pressed onward for sometime now, but still there weren’t any results that she favored. Just where was it? She was so sure that it was real, that its existence wasn’t simply a tall tale passed around the tavern between drunken patrons. No, it had to exist and she had to find it. Up and down these streets she roamed, eyes ever watchful for a glimpse of something out of the ordinary. For it to be kept secret was something she could expect yet she figured whoever had it would have been greedy enough to want to sell it for top coin. Either that or…

She frowned at the single thought of someone safeguarding it. It was possible that it was kept someplace else, not even held by a seller but more so someone that knew of its amazing power yet thought of it to be evil. The dark arts were greatly misunderstood even to this day, and it wouldn’t have been too hard to believe that some secret cult or some righteous order would want to keep it out of the hands of others, in fear of believing only evil could be done with the contents of its pages. Shaking her head of the thought, she rationalized that it couldn’t have been true. She had to have been overthinking it only because it was taking far too long for her taste to find the damned book. And now her mind was wandering into unsavory thoughts and she needed to shake them out of her and complete her mission.

She continued to glide through the waves of crowds until a moment caught her eye. It wasn’t strange for people to bump into one another when streets were busy like these. Some elderly man had ran into a young man and while it didn’t seem strange, there were some sort of dialogue exchanged that she couldn’t hear over the masses of people around and the peddlers crying out for their attention. Paige stood on and watched as something was thrusted into the young one’s arms and the other man slipped away somewhere. Pushing her way through, she walked passed him, looking from the corner of her eye and briefly looked down to see what he was holding before passing by. Could it be? Biting the inside of her mouth, she took a few more steps forward. If her heart was still beating, it would have threaten to burst from her chest- anxiety was building in her over the possibility that the book the young man held was the same one she sought out.

But now the situation grew more troublesome now that it was in the hands of another. She needed to find out if it was the very same, so the woman spun in her heels and turned back to his direction. She approached him from behind, keeping some space between them as to try and not spook him. “I’d be careful with that. There are some things in this world that are better left unknown”, she spoke softly. Fingers interlocked and hands knitted together front of her, her eyes watching through the hood at him. “Some things that most would not understand and could even bring ruin to those ill prepared. I have no idea why you were given it, but it is best in the hands of one that could understand its secrets lest you wish to become hunted by those that seek it for sinister purposes.” She hoped to steer him into willingly give up the tome- he seemed like he was thrust into this responsibility and that was the only thing he was guilty of. She didn’t wish to harm him in any manner, but should he resist and refuse, then she would have to find more creative ways to have him surrender it. 

[OOC: It's been a while, so sorry if this post sucks.]

The confused Hiro turned around when he heard a voice speaking to him.  A mysterious woman in a hooded cloak surprised him with her presence.  He started to consider that he might have been pulled into some kind of conspiracy by some crazy old man the moment he was randomly handed a weird book.

"Who are you?  And what do you know about this book and the old man who just handed it to me?"  He glanced down at the book, it appeared brand new, freshly written.  He sensed an eerie kind of magic coming from the book the longer it was in his hands.  "How do I know you're not one of those with sinister purposes?  Honestly, i don't know what this thing is.  Some rambling old man just bumped into me, and handed it to me, and disappeared.  He said something about trusting me and keeping it safe, and he had no time to explain anything.  Then he was completely gone."  Was there something evil in this book?  Dare he even open it, lest some great catastrophe be unleashed upon the world were the pages turned?

"Is there something bad in this book?  This isn't some Necronomicon or something, is it?  I have no use for evil books on dark magic."  He wondering if he could take a peek inside, or if he should hand it over to this woman, or maybe destroy the damn thing, though that would probably draw her ire.  She only became interested in him when the old man handed him the book.  "I want to know what is going on."  The whole situation did not sit well with him, should he be defending this book if someone tried to take it from him?  Why didn't the man explain WHY he was handing the book to him, or why to keep it safe, or why anything.

{It's fine, I feel like my post sucks too, the rust is real! lol}

Paige looked at the young lad, her eyes fixated on him except for whenever she would take a moment to glance down to the book. He had unimaginable power at his fingertips and yet he didn’t know about it or its contents. It must have been a desperate ploy by the elder to give it to him, which might have meant trouble if she didn’t retrieve it soon. She broke her trance like state to quickly look about, looking for anyone that was taking an especially keen interest to the pair.

“Paige. I’m a practicer of magic and what you have there is something that shouldn’t be in the hands of the unprepared or the unwilling. And certainly not in the hands of those that wish to use its information for dark purposes.” She sighed before lowering her hood to reveal herself. Perhaps that would comfort him some more to see that he wasn’t speaking to a complete stranger. “I do not know who that elder was, perhaps the last caretaker of it? It’s obvious that he wanted to get rid of it for some reason, perhaps he was being chased…I do not know.” Again she looked around to see any prying eyes or ears that might have been overhearing them before continuing.

“If I wanted the book for that reason, I would have surely taken it from you by force, or better yet from the man before he was ever able to reach you.” She was blunt for sure, but it was the truth. She had no reason to bring either one of them ill will, they were merely strangers to her. Her arms crossed and her light breathing was an attempt to get him to see that she was no threat to him as of now. It would stay that way until he proved himself a threat to her, and from there she wouldn’t hesitate to strike back.

“There are powers in its pages that when deciphered correctly will grant the reader incredible knowledge of the arts. Whether it is good or bad is dependent on the reader themselves.” From listening to him, she could assume that he was one of those that saw the misunderstood arts as being evil; it was nothing new to her really. Was that why he hadn’t unlatched it and looked inside for himself? “Relax, the book will not harm you, that much I am certain. What you have in your hands is rumored to be centuries old, despite its appearance. It’s likely a protective spell that keeps it youthful and not harmed by time or the elements. If you do not wish to have it any longer, then I’ll take it off your hands.” She remained still in her spot, though she was growing more uncomfortable, paranoid that lingering eyes were upon them and that someone was waiting in the shadows for them to let their guard down. In fact, her worries were starting to become reality as she spotted a few men from the corner of her crowded together and glancing over to them every now and then before looking away and talking amongst themselves. Frowning she looked back to the young knight. “We might have been found out.”

At this point, it might have been too late for him to walk away from all this. If those men were to get their hands on him, they would likely do gods knew what to obtain any information he may have had, or what they would think he would have. She walked to his side and reached for his arm, and spoke in a whisper. “Follow me, and do not look at them for long. We must avoid alarming them and possibly causing a scene out here.” With that, she released him and started to headed out of the marketplace with the town’s center being her destination. Hopefully she had warranted enough trust in him to follow her, if not just to get away from that group. 

The woman started to look about, she seemed to be looking for anyone who might've been watching them, the old man could have been chased by someone (or a group of people), who could now be watching them and planning to make their move.

"My name is Hiro, Hiro Kouen.  The old man who handed the book to me seemed . . . not to have all his marbles together, he was mumbling and not making a lot of sense, it makes me afraid that maybe he opened the book, and drank too deep of whatever information or power that was inside."  Hiro met eyes with Paige, he could think of a few reasons why she hadn't tried killing him if she wanted the book at all costs.

"You could been avoiding making a scene by killing me, or getting your hands dirty.  I heard there can be some harsh laws in this town regarding theft or violence, if you were caught doing either, it would mean trouble.  Theoretically, of course."  She told him about the book, being able to grant whoever reads it incredible knowledge of magic.  "It must come at a cost though, it always does.  Whether it's a soul, a life, sanity, blood, anything, if it's that powerful, and that secret, it must have a cost to pay to obtain that power .  . . you've told me what this book can do, so that convinces me you are probably telling the truth, and intend no harm.  You could've told me any sort of lie, any kind of trick to obtain the book from me, other than just stealing it from me, or killing me for it.  I'll trust you.  I have no use for this thing."

Hiro noticed a change in her demeanor, he wanted to turn to take a look at whoever was about to try and pursue them, but at her warning, he did not want to alarm them.  She took his arm and urged him to follow her away from the marketplace.  Was she going to find an empty alleyway or something?  No, she was moving towards the center of town.  "Seems like they probably won't let us go if they're pursuing us, I can fight if it comes down to it.  I'm young, but I have been trained, and I have combat experience, in both casting and swordplay.  I'm good enough to have survived Lord Thorn's Warrior's Gauntlet," he said with a chuckle.  Now that he thought of it, he was a pretty good warrior, more than decent.  He wasn't a novice, though of course there would always be older people with more power and combat experience than him.  This woman looked older than him, as if she were in her twenties.  How good at fighting was she?

They made their way to the center of town, where what once was a great tower composed of a dark stone, now stood in rubble.  "Okay, now what?  We're in the middle of the town.  They can probably surround us here, but there'd be less people to get in the way."

The young man looked wiser than his years and Paige couldn’t fault him for thinking more in depth about her stance at this point. She could have very well lied to his face and tried to take the book in dishonorable ways. She could have tried and force him to give it up, but she preferred the easier route, which was more than likely using the truth to get whatever she needed when it could be used. A harmless smile rose across her face, “Perhaps. Perhaps I could have done some things to you to get that book, but I’m not really a murderer. And I don’t like to shed blood if possible to avoid it.” The strangest thing about this was that despite what she was, Page had never taken a life before. Both her brothers had but she hadn’t killed a person before. Sure, she has hunted animals and such but never had she gone that far. “I can’t say for certain if there is a cost or not. But it would hardly surprise me, in this world there isn’t much that is free. I am sure you know of that, but it doesn’t hurt to be reminded, no?” She knew well of how unfair life could be, but after months of mourning and feeling self pity, she had to move on from the vampire attack that made her into this. She had to get stronger to protect herself and never let herself be as vulnerable as she had been that night.

“I have no time to lie, and as a Wintercrest, I am duty bound to keep my word. There few of us that are still around keep that honor alive, Hiro.” If Hiro hadn’t been around her at this time, she would have clenched at her chest where her heart was in memory of her departed sister. Without her, she felt a hole in her heart that could never be fulfilled.

She had a bad feeling about that group of men, and it only worsened the more she kept a watchful eye on them. The stares and whispers didn’t help at all and she knew that they needed to get out of there as soon as possible. “I suspect that they aren’t ordinary men. If they are after the book, I’d expect them to be mercenaries or spellswords- neither of those sound good to me. If it comes down to that, we fight. But I do at least want to refrain from killing them…if it can be helped. Like you said, this place possibly frowns down on excessive violence and even murder. I doubt the master of the city would be listening to our pleds if we killed them even for self defense.” No, no, that wouldn’t simply do, she had to think of something else.

Unfortunately she would have to think much quicker since the men that had been at the marketplace was now closing in them. Six men were among them and while this sort of news would grant people relief over the small number, Paige felt even more alarmed by this. They surrounded the pair while she moved behind Hiro. “Think I have a plan, but I need a little bit of time, care to hold the hounds off until then?” She would need a few moments to implement her strategy, but once it was brought forth, it should cleanse them of this little problem. 

"I'm not a murderer either, but I have killed enemies before, whether they're human, monsters, animals, or whatever, it's not a pleasant feeling.  It's not fun, but I'll kill if need be to protect.  Some people won't stop until they're dead, and they can't be reasoned with.  You can't always incapacitate them either.  Sometimes it's a necessary evil.  The first time I killed something, my hands were shaking, and I smelted burning flesh that made me sick to my stomach."  Hiro thought back on the first time he had to kill, it was in self-defense, and it was a bandit who he ended up burning to death with a fireball.  "True, nothing is free, it takes effort, time, or maybe some other sacrifice.  But I'm not willing to sacrifice some of my life or someone else's to acquire power.  I'll earn it on my own efforts.  You can have this book, whatever it is, when we're safe."  Hiro placed the book away in his backpack for safe keeping.

The woman revealed herself as a "Wintercrest" and duty bound.  He felt a sense of familiarity with her.  Her words struck a cord within him.

"You remind me of my father.  He would never go back on his word.  He wouldn't deceive or have ulterior motives.  Though he was also quite chivalrous.  He was a true knight.  I didn't always see eye to eye with him, because he would fight 'fairly' even if it meant giving his opponent an advantage, so he wouldn't have an unfair one," he laughed out loud.  "I don't know if you're exactly like that, but you've got some morals.  It's rare to find that in this time and age, from what I've seen."

Paige Wintercrest told him to hold the enemies off, she had a plan, but it'd take some time to prepare.  She also suggested not to kill them, for the city would not look kindly on that.

"Okay, I'll trust you to get us out of this."  Hiro looked toward the six men who were approaching them.  They wore dark hooded cloaks that covered their faces and bodies.  He couldn't see what they were armed with.

"Hello there, can I help you with something?  You seemed quite determined to track me down, me and my girl kinda wanted to be alone in private and . . ."

The figure in the center of the six stepped forward and reached his hand outward.

"The book!  We want the book!  Now!"

"Book?  You mean my journal?  I have a journal to record my exploits?  It's all very private information, I don't know why anyone would want that."  Stall them, stall them for time, Hiro thought to himself, talking off the top of his head, telling them anything except what they wanted to hear.  Just confuse them and delay them enough so that Paige could do whatever she needed to do for them to escape.

"Cut the crap!  We know you have the magic book, the old man gave it to you.  We'll be taking it.  We won't accept no for an answer."

"Is that your final answer?  Can I just pay you to go away or something?"  A last gambit, not likely to work at all.  The man unfurled his cloak, revealing a broadsword in his hand.

"You can pay with your life!"  The man screamed and charged at Hiro, who quickly threw open his cloak, and revealing his long blade sheathed to his belt, and his suit of impressive crimson armor.  He pointed a pair of fingers on one hand at the man charging him.  Fire bolt.  A magical, fiery arrow-like projectile shot from his finger tips aimed at, and piercing, the man's knee cap on one of his legs.  He instantly cried out in pain, dropping his blade to the ground, collapsing in agony.  "GET HIM!  GODS ALMIGHTY!"

Hiro drew his blade, a hand-and-a-half sword.  The other remaining 5 men drew their weapons, two of them drew swords, one of them drew a crossbow, while the last one drew a staff from his cloak.

Shit, a balanced party, couldn't they all just be swordsmen?  Hiro thought to himself.  Hiro struck first at the mage charging into their backline, knocking him back with a powerful, and quick shoulder charge.  He swung his blade at the first swordsman, forcing him to parry the blow, then Hiro kicked him in the gut.  The second swordsman threw himself at Hiro, who spun around and struck him in the gut with the pommel of his sword.  The marksman started lining up a shot, Hiro preemptively sidestepped, and swung his free hand in an arc, unleashing a low powered fireball at the man, the blast sending him flying back.  He wasn't sure how long he could keep this up without killing them, or getting overwhelmed by them.

Killing anything other than prey for food wasn’t unheard of by any means from her. She knew of situations where it would have been acceptable, such as wars and self-defense, though the latter was more so honorable sounding to her. It was something that all forms of life did to survive, what was necessary. She had no reason to have kill aside from one instance, but even then the vampire that attacked her wasn’t killed by her hands, but of that of another’s. She pondered if she could ever be capable of actually going that far one day- her attacker had incited her anger and she wanted to slay him after the initial shock of what happened with her. The knight looked several times younger than she was and there was much blood on his hands despite that. Still, he didn’t relish in such feats but he simply did what was necessary to survive. She glanced once more at the book silently; it was likely that it was completely harmless despite his worries about it wanting to take life force or blood or something to that effect. Paige just held her tongue about it seeing that he was going to relinquish it to her anyway.

“Very well. The book regardless can’t fall into sinister hands.”   

She was caught off guard by his words for a moment, but then nodded at the comparison. “Your father sounds like a great man. Indeed this world could use a few more like him then.” More like Hiro’s father and less of men like those that were coming for them and the grimoire. Hell she was sure that they could have used the help to even the odds. Her plan was simple yet she had to make the proper preparations first, so it would be up to Hiro for a little bit. She stood right beside him and even played into the ploy by holding onto his arm tentatively as he tried to defuse the situation without them resorting to violence, but this would definitely be one of those times he spoke about earlier; they would have to fight their way out of this.

As the situation rose, she started to channel her magic, the energies unseeingly resonating from her core and throughout her body, all the way to her fingertips. Hiro did a great job dispatching one of the six men with his own magic and now the others were ready for them with weapons drawn. The she wolf snuck around the men as they fought, slinking over to the one of the swordsmen that was still recovering from the kick to his torso. She got behind him and place a hand onto his shoulder, exchanging the magic that was built up from her to him. The best way to deal with a cohesive group like theirs was to break it apart. “You know, that crossbow looks far better with you than your friend over there”, she whispered into his head before pulling back. He got up and stared at the marksman for a while before rushing over to him. “Hey, gimme that!” He started to tug the weapon away from his comrade while he was still getting back up to his feet. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Gimme it!”

The two tugged and pulled at the crossbow and soon they caught the attention of the others. They were confused about what was going on but rushed over to try and break up the bickering. “Knock it off, you lot. It’s mine! It belongs to me!”

“Are you daft? It’s mine!”

Paige quietly circled back around, slightly amused by how quickly their cooperation had faded even quicker than even she had thought. She made it back to the gallant knight and signaled with her head to head off while the group tried to mend the situation. “I don’t know how long until the spell breaks, but hopefully by that time they won’t be able to track us.” She was sure that they weren’t out of the woods just yet. “Though with that particular spell’s potency, there should be at least a couple less men. The one I afflicted envy on will likely go way over his head just to get that crossbow from the other. Let’s keep the distance between us and then growing then.” With that, she started to head towards the alleyways, hoping that they would find themselves in a much harder place to get spotted at. 

Hiro missed his father, wherever he was.  He hadn't seen him since he arrived in this world, and there was no going back to that old world.  "He is a great man, I miss him, wherever he is."  He needed to find out where he was, he had to find someone who knew his father, and came from that other world.

Regardless he couldn't worry about this now, since he had more pressing issues to deal with.  Hiro continued to fight the party of enemies, trying to defeat them without killing them was proving difficult.  He saw Paige slink off, she said she had a plan, so he had to hold off the enemies until she could enact her plan, whatever it was.  He parried some sword attacks until he saw the crossbow enemy preparing to aim and take a shot at the young knight, when another enemy came in and started trying to take away the crossbow from the man who had it.  Next thing he knew, the whole party had abandoned their teamwork and were fighting each other.  Hiro sheaved his blade and stared at them for a few moments before Paige signaled for him to follow her away from the fight.  He followed her quickly toward an alleyway, hopefully they'll figure out some way out of here.

"Nice spell you used back there, was that some kind of hex?  As long as it lasts long enough for us to make a getaway, I don't care what it is.  But where the hell do we go now?  As long as we're in this city, we're in danger, so we should probably get out of this damn place.  I don't know this city, so I don't know where we could hide, or if there are portals out of here, or something.  I had to take an airship into the city, because I didn't want to climb up those rickety platforms they've got here."  He knew his father wouldn't have been able to use a trick like she did to get out of that situation, he didn't use any mind-altering magic, he preferred to use either negotiation or brute force to get out of sticky situations.  But as long as they got out of the situation safely he didn't care what happened to their enemies.  "I wonder if someone would call the guards on those bastards, they're fighting each other," he said with a laugh.