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	Trantis lake lay empty and the ground as dark as that of the forbidden forests of Death's Pass. The town that had floated upon it waters now lies desolated as the buildings had collapsed to the ground. Two men stood at the edge of the lake, overseeing the wreckage. One with long flowing green hair, the other, tall and muscular, face covered with an ornate mask. There were small piles of clothes everywhere, still warm from their previous inhabitants bodies, yet not a soul in sight. The masked man leaned forward and picked up what looked to be a doll next the a broken down pier.

	"Do not mourn for them. They too once sent their men to murder my people for their own selfish gain. This is the price for their ancestor's folly.... Your first lesson I shall teach you," the masked man said, tossing down the doll. "In war, your enemy must be completely wiped from existence. Not just the men, but the women, and the children. You will be seen as a monster, sure enough, but grieving women and vengeful children beget rebellion and more bloodshed in the future." He turned towards the green haired man and held his arms out . "Am I not all the proof you need of this truth? This town will serve as an example for those who seek to oppose my birthright." He then turned and started walking towards the dark woods to the east.

	"Follow me and leave this place behind you. You are no longer a man bound by this lake or its people. Bardus shall spread the word of my arrival in Salna. In the meantime, I shall prepare you for what is to come."

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	In Salna, an odd man wearing stilts, a worn out fur cloak, a basket helm, a smoking pipe, and carrying a hoe with a thick blade shambled up to the front gate. He took a deep breath and called out to the guards at the gate."Hear me, ancestors of tyrants!  The final days for those who oppose the vengeful king draws near! In three weeks time, this town will face the judgment of King Jeevak of the Grandis Empire! Submit! Lest you wish to perish like the people of Trantis!"

	This caused a stir in the crowd that had gathered to watch, and really caught the guards' attention. The stir turned into panic as there were a  lot of people with family in Trantis. A small group of guards assembled to arrest the man, though, in a flash, the first man to move towards him suddenly stopped walking forward. An outcry from a woman in the crowd as she seemed to be the first to register what happened. The guard slumped and fell dead to the ground, the odd man's farming hoe lodged into his skull, piercing through his helmet. The towns people backed off as more of the guards moved in to attack the man who was now retrieving his weapon, but each one fell to the surprisingly nimble enemy, who seemingly dispatched them with fluid ease. When the tenth body hit the ground motionless, the other guards backed off to regroup and make a new formation, but were knocked over by a freak gust of air that seemed to come from the odd stranger.

	"Do not rush your fate." He said as he dipped a hand into one of the fallen guard's wounds. he then drug the dead man over to the wall, and using the blood, wrote a message on the wall. "[b]A NEW KING RISES. THE GRANDIS EMPIRE HAS RETURNED[/b]," it read. The man wiped his hand off in his fur cloak and turned towards the people with a bow. "You have been told, you are no longer ignorant. We will return." With this, the man then hobbled off. The man's pipe seemed to start billowing out smoke, turning his image into nothing but a haze, gone when the smoke dispersed.

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2 weeks later
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	Bidzil woke up in a sweat, though, the heat baring down through the window he was sleeping next to the cold night before. He was currently in Kalla, the one and only town in the Killiman Desert. The heat was something he was used to in Trantis's summer, but it was a bit different when there wasn't an ever present body of water around to jump into. Sure, there was the few spots of water around the town as it sat in an oasis, but people didn't take to kindly to others jumping in the water they used daily for their chores and to drink, as he had found out the night he arrived. Bidzil kicked the thick blankets off and got out of the bed he rented for the night, and started to get himself ready for the day. His gear and jacket were locked in a rental chest at the foot of the bed, thankfully it didn't look like it was tampered with. He popped it open and threw the jacket on and then equipped his gear. He patted himself down, making sure everything was still there and in the right place before heading out the door. The first thing he wanted to do, is get something to eat, and then get supplies for the road, so he needed to head towards the market first.

	The markets were packed with people bartering and selling their wares. Here was plenty of things to choose from in the market, from dates and melons, to corn, millet bread, even potatoes and lamb meat. The smells of all the different vendors cooking their foods was enough to drive a starving person mad. Though Bidzil was originally making a beeline for the opportunity of a filling breakfast, he found something else that caught his eye. Out to the side, just south of the main merchant tent, sat a tailor's shop with Aerex's name on it.

	[color=F4A460]“No way...that couldn't be...but... I don't know any other tailors with a name like that,”][/color] he murmured. He found himself making strides to the store to see if he was right about his assumption.