Gabriel took a sip of his cold soda-like beverage, he wasn't sure what it was really, only that he had asked for the most popular drink within the tavern.
He wasn't here to drink though.
His sister had brought news from the merchant's guild, that some sort of cargo for a big raid in the near future had been intercepted by a group of outlaws or something.
Gabe had to be careful though, so he kept up his normal appearance and sipped the strangely disgusting beverage while reading from a slip of paper they were handing out at the tavern's entrance.
He teeth started to grind together once he read the first passage.
'What is this bullcrap!'
He thought, setting the paper on the table, that which had only been written to disrespect the rightful heir of Vallmora.
And his good friend, that had been exiled because of a fearful king.
However his eyes quickly realized something and darted around the room trying to find where the quiet whisper was coming from.
'To hell with these bards...'
Then he caught onto the faint conversation being struck up in a dark corner of the tavern.
Two shady looking men with beards were discussing something about "Moving a package."
Whether that was the reason he had came or not, he clearly needed to tail them and figure out for himself if this was the right place.
Recently he had switched his primary weapon to daggers that could fit in the smallest of pockets. He even had Gemini forge them into retractable blades that could extend if need be.
So he could slip past anyone and still remain armed.
"Can't trust anyone these days..."
He muttered, as he stood up from his seat and brushed the dust off of his buttoned up cloak.
Before went to leave the tavern and follow the men into the darkness of the small town of Mellowhaven- His eyes glanced in the direction of a woman on the far side of the tavern.
He could have sworn she was looking at him.
But she continued to dance along with several other adventurers that seemed to visit this tavern frequently.
She had curly brown hair and lime green eyes, but the markings on her shoulders looked almost elven, which made him question the feeling of being watched even more.
Then just before she caught his gaze, he vanished into the shadows, and leaving the tavern swiftly.
He tucked close to the walls of the town, staying as hidden as possible, which was quite easy with his slim figure.
As he used a tracking skill he had picked up at the academy in his beast taming class, he slowly crept through the alleys until he found a small crevice in one of the walls of stone.
Peeking around the rigid entrance, he found a small tunnel that lead into the earth.
Looking around, he made sure that no one had seen him or was following him.
Then he crouched into the tunnel and made his way through.
The town of Mellowhaven rested within the eastern part of The Dark Forest, south of Rider's kingdom and Northeast of the ruins of Willowmere.
It was a strange town, mainly because it had no real protection from The Dark Forest, yet beasts never made it a priority to enter the town's perimeter.
Up ahead he heard arguing between two familiar voices.
Creeping into the strangely large room, and ducking behind a fair amount of crates he listened as the shady men bickered.
"I told you that it was a terrible idea."
"It was not! We got the goods which if you couldn't tell is worth quite a bit of money!"
"It is poorly crafted swords and armor!"
'Jackpot.'
Gabriel thought, wiping the dirt off of a nametag on the closest crate.
'Guild of Merchants property...'
The tag read, which made Gabriel instinctively reach for his dagger, hoping that this would be a clean sweep.
However... Some things never usually go as planned...
A large mass of rocks crushed into the crates and let out a terrible roar.
Gabriel was launched back into the stone wall with a grunt.
In front of him an animated golem the size of a house let out a deep exhale of dust, as all of the shady thieves quickly drew their weapons on Gabriel.
"Well... So much for stealth.
Before the golem could attack him, Gabriel rushed toward the first shady man with a deranged look in his eyes, and a long white beard swaying from his chin.
Summoning the azurite trident, Gabriel cursed and pierced the man's leg with a thrust, quickly yanking it out and swinging with a wide arc at the thief next to him.
The trident struck true, knocking a tooth out of the man's mouth.
The golem began to move, destroying everything in its path.
Gabriel threw himself to the side, narrowly avoiding the powerful stomp of the creature as it crushed one of the thieves beneath it.
"HEY! Bad golem! Do not harm us! We are your creators!"
The man with a missing tooth yelled frantically as the golem roared in response.
With the cavern shaking and trembling, Gabriel couldn't shake the feeling that he was better off running and finding back up.
Yet after being stabbed in the chest after trying to be a hero, he had somehow wanted to protect his pride even more.
Whether it got him killed or not, he didn't much care if he could prove himself.
Ducking underneath a purple spell from the thief, he charged him and drew his dagger with his other hand, going for a desperate slash of the man's throat.
However a gurgling laugh escaped the man's lips once Gabriel's dagger ripped his neck open.
"Fool..."
'No!'
Terrible purple energy began to illuminate the room around him, and Gabriel couldn't do much as drop his weapons and cover his face an explosion echoed underneath of Mellowhaven.