They were known as the Kray brothers. Three rogue illusionist mages who enjoyed causing trouble, stealing wenches against their will, and stealing money from poor villagers. They were wanted throughout the guilds in most towns, mages and mercenaries alike. They were just downright bad people, but, they never killed. They were more so a pain in the ass as opposed to as a threat. Still, they required exterminating and that was on his mind – obliteration to the highest degree along with the reception of their bounty. Clyde had been chasing these three from five towns back and, almost each and every time, they had been giving him the runaround. After all, they -were- illusionists. They were known for their not so simplistic defeat. It gave him a headache, but, he wasn’t about to give up. Nope. Not with all that loot on their head that could buy him food and shelter for a good bit. Of course, he wouldn’t use it as a weapon upgrade. Nope. Not on his old faithful sword, even though he hardly used it.

The sword was a passed out relic, per say, given to him by his father. His brother was also given a gift similar to such, but, if he kept it, Clyde wouldn’t know. He hadn’t seen his brother in years, ever since that day the dragon destroyed his village. Then again, that was probably the last time he saw a dragon, too. It was weird how life had similarities with a series of events. Was it a sign of the future? Was it something that pertained to his destiny? It was hard to tell what was to come, except that he wasn’t about to let these three men with magic tricks get away from him for a sixth time. It was getting out of hand and he wasn’t about to have it damage his pride. The boy had been on their tail since the last village and carefully placed his brown leather boots upon the crunchy grass in tracing their footsteps. He wasn’t the greatest of trackers, but, he had enough evidence that they had been going in that direction.

His vivid red eyes scanned the vicinity until he heard of a noise up ahead, which immediately ceased his progression. Hastily, Clyde dove into the bushes for concealment, as silent as air. Once a short time had passed, the man crept across the earth, faintly soiling the blue sleeves of his jacket. It was when he smelled the scent of ash, did he once again stop. They had made a fire. After all, it was just beyond sunset and the shadows of the land grew more and more. Eventually the moon goddess would cast her evening gown upon the remainder of the earth and shrouding it in nightfall. The eyes of the solo mage squinted and gazed from behind the evergreen bushes to observe the three brothers around their campfire, enjoying what seemed to be a successful looting mission: bags of gold, food, and wine of course. It wouldn’t have been successful without the wine. Clyde took a silent breath and began to plot his method of attack, which ended up him placing his hand upon the earth and using the soil’s moisture as a conductor.

The man’s hand began to illuminate a blue glow and he whispered words of an incantation. Suddenly sparks began to flare and a bolt of electricity dove into the ground, vanishing from sight. Within a few seconds, the fire pit that the Kray brothers build erupted as if it was struck with lightning. The boys yelled in fear and fell back at the explosion, but upon recollection of their composure, they resurrected in a battle stance. Clyde smirked, fully aware that the ground was still charged and sent another wave of power in their ‘area’, aiming for one of the brothers. The boy screamed as he became electrocuted before dropping to the ground, motionless. “Reeve!” shouted one of the brothers as he immediately ran to the corpse of one of their siblings. “What the hell man? What the fuck is going on?” spoke the other, darting his cold eyes back in forth in search of the reason behind this madness. Clyde then leapt from his position, over the bush to land behind the other brother. 

He swiftly drew his sword and held it to his neck, “Me.” With his other hand, he grabbed the guy’s shirt and gave him the same fate as the other brother – electrocution. That left one remaining brother, which Clyde then faced. The last one standing was the eldest and apparent “strongest” according to their description. Clyde slowly inhaled and exhaled as he waited to see when the man would strike. While he waited, Clyde whispered the words, “Lightning Body,” and a bolt of lightning began to consume his entirety from feet to head. He was now a walking conductor, able to electrocute and burn anything he would touch. “Impressive,” stated the eldest Kray brother, “Let’s see you can kill the right one.” Within an instant, there were five of the last brother standing, each one identical to the second. Clyde scanned the lot before looking up and observing that the real one had jumped into the air, coming down for an attack. Clyde immediately drew his sword just as the man was falling and found himself impaled upon the sword of the lightning mage. The illusions vanished in the blink of an eye, as did the effect of lightning on Clyde. 

The boy slid the man off his sword and wiped it clean off on the dead body’s clothing. He then took their identical talisman off their belts to represent his kill. “I guess that’s it, finally,” Clyde spoke aloud as he observed his aftermath. Before he left, however, he grabbed the bottle of wine and took a good long drink of whatever was left. Satisfied, the mage was then off to the next town to reclaim his prize, which was a night’s journey. Once he arrived at the town, and then sun was high up in the sky and the villagers seemed to happily live their lives, doing what they do best. Clyde was also about to do what he did best and that was collect his bounty for finally knocking off the Kray brothers. Perhaps, he’d hit a tavern after that and get some real food. Hell, maybe even take a night or two break and just recuperate and relax.