Remii crouched in a corner of the alley, cut and bruised. Having just moved to this town from the country, he had been an easy target for the muggers. But it was not them that had attacked him, those were hired brutes, built to make people disappear, built not to be messed with. They had left him for dead after ambushing him, and now he wished they had finished the job. There wasn't a part of his being left that didn't ache, and all he could think about was the betrayal. He had come here under the impression that he could heal the rift in his family, instead, they had taken the one thing most precious to him. The mage among the brutes had seemed vaguely familiar, as if he had known him once long ago, or at least seen his picture. Remii tried not to cry from the absence of what had been wrenched from his very soul, by dark arts that no mortal should wield. But now he felt as if one of the largest parts of him had been taken, which, in essence, was true. What had once been used for healing and protection, would now be turned into a weapon of war, one of many that his family were fighting against each other in. In hindsight, he should have listened to the advice of his mentor, and older cousin, but then, he had always been too stubborn for his own good.

Shadows moved at the mouth to the alley, and Remii withdrew, trying to hide himself from who ever or what ever was about to finish what the thugs had started. Who ever it was only a few feet away now. " 'ey look Bors, I told you 'e crawled down this one, ay, mate, you all right? looks like you been got good." Remii looked up slowly. The grimy face of a city youth was the first sight he saw, and it made him jump. Covered in grime, be was holding out a muck covered hand to the country boy. "Bors, get 'ur arse over 'ere, I think we need to get 'im to the 'ealers." A large bulk of a man waddles down the narrow alleyway. The first person was a runt compared to him, on second glance, he was a runt anyway, but it was emphasised more by Bors. Bors stood behind the first guy, waiting to be told what to do. Remii was still too scared to take the offered hand to help him up, he had lost all faith in strangers, and regretted it, as he knew these guys were only trying to help, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. "Listen mate, you can either let us take you to the 'ealers, or you can die down a dark alley, in a strange city where you know no-one, but we ain't got all day, so what'll it be?"

Remii looked into the runts eyes. Slowly he reached out a hand, noticing it was shaking terribly as he did. "Good enough." The runt grabbed hold, and pulled him up. "Bors, support 'im under 'is other arm. Don't worry mate, we know this place like the back of our 'ands, right Bors?" There was a brief nod and grunt from the ragged, large man, that already had Remii's arm around his own shoulders. "So whatcha name kid?" Remii tried to speak, but realised the words wouldn't come out as he tried to mouth them. "See that Bors, 'es a mute, that’s just cruel to pick a fight with someone who can't even talk, we'll 'ave to get the guild on 'em. Right, let me make the in'roductions, this 'ere is Bors, 'e don't talk much, not very good thief either, are ya? So, mostly, he just does the 'ard 'ittin' stuff, should it come to that. Me, I'm Stix, not sure why me mam called me that, I mean its some dead river ain't it? I also been told I talk to much, but, 'ey, keeps things on their toes, right?" Remii didn't have the strength to pull away after Stix had mentioned that Bors was a thief, and something about a guild, presumably meaning Stix was one as well, he had nothing left to be stolen.

The three of them, moving slowly, turned left at the next crossroads. It was slow going, and Stix didn't even seem to draw breath while he was talking, but eventually they made it to the local chapter of the healing order of mages. "er, if anyone asks right, we didn't do this, and found 'im like this, got it Bors?" Stix asked, slightly nervous at the guards on the door, after all, it was a civic building, by law, it still had to have someone there on the entrance, it was just traditional. "You couldn't give us a hand 'ere could ya, my mates been injured, and we been carryin' 'im from the east side." Remii was observant enough to notice the small sleek dagger slip out of Stix's sleeve, and slight across the money pouch of the guard as he brushed past him. That made him smile slightly, once a thief, always a thief, he thought to himself, the first real internal monologue he had had since the attack. The guards escorted Remii into the chapter house. Like many others from back home, Remii found it to be clean, the set up was much the same, mild injuries on the left, serious or deadly on the right, and the all too familiar matron figure at the desk, deciding which you were. This one was bulky, and had the face of a pitt bull terrier.

She held out her hand, and instinctively he handed his over. As their skin touched, her medical magic scanned gently through him to see what was wrong. She withdrew sharply, with a quick inhale of breath. "Sister Makarva, please report to the main reception, we have a case 5 priority. Thank you guards, we will take it from here, you may return to duty." The sister came running in from the right side of the chapter house. She saw Remii who had been left leaning against the desk, and dashed around to check for herself. A quick touch was all that was required for confirmation. Case 5 was the worst level of medical health, occupants of it should be dead by all rights, and it was very rare to actually get them. "Maggie, help me get him through to the emergency room, the gods only know how this happened, or how he is still alive, lets hope we can keep him that way." The two nuns support Remii under their arms, much as Bors and Stix had done, the two thieves watched from outside, not trusting themselves to enter, and not take something, which broke the thieves’ code on my levels. Very few thieves would actually steal from charities. Stealing from non profit organisations was a bandits life, it was one of the quickest ways to get thrown out of the guild, meaning you were fair game to other thieves, who were allowed to leave them maimed, if not near dead.

Against the natural instinct of all thieves to run away, Bors and Stix waited for what seemed like hours, to hear any news. The matron had returned shortly after taking Remii in, taking her seat at the desk. Meanwhile, in the emergency ward, Remii was sitting on a bed, and given a wound healing crystal orb to hold. Its gentle energy seeped through him, repairing what was damaged. "I can feel someone cast a silencing curse upon you, drink this, and banish it." sister Makarva offered a bubbling, fizzy drink, tinged yellow with a powder form of the silence-breaking herb. Remii swallowed this deeply, wishing for his own voice back. "Now, what is your name?" She asked, to see if it worked.

"Remii." He answered, a little shaky.

"Where are you from Remii?"

"a small town on the long lake, up near the mountains." He replied, slight confidence growing in his voice.

"I've visited that region, did some of my training up there. Now the important question, do you know what a summons is?"

"Its..a manifestation of your soul, that can take physical form through training, often also called a guardian. Mine was..." He couldn't bring himself to say it.

"Yes, that's what made us put you as a stage 5. People aren't supposed to live without their souls. By the hollowness left, I would guess it was stolen from you." Sister Makarva still seemed puzzled over this. He training and expertise didn't delve far into this region, though she was the spiritual advisor for the chapter. The magic that had taken a soul, and left the body intact was new, and would need a mage to investigate it. Just then, a green monkey came over, crawled up her arm, and rested on her shoulder. Remii couldn't help noticing its ethereal glow. Sister Makarva had indeed done training up in the mountains, it was about the only place that taught you how to make you guardian take physical form, even though everyone had one. H e could feel the healing presence the monkey possessed, and realised it fitted her perfectly. He began to feel weak again, as if seeing another summons had brought back the pain of losing his own. His family had a strong line for summons, it was almost in the blood, and that power had caused a rift, and saw the rise of dark summons, those who's souls were corrupted. He realised soon his own would be bent to that will. Only another summons could fight a summons, and with most of the population unaware how to get them out, it would only take a few of them to level a city.

Remii was snapped back to reality by the voice of Sister Makarva, though it wasn't directed at him, but a small blue crystal that hung on a chain around her neck. "Village elder, thank you, when may I expect them?" She asked, nearing the end of her conversation. Remii couldn't hear the reply. "I will be waiting then." She cut off the communication, and turned back to him. "Welcome back to the land of the living." She said, placing hand on his forehead. Her hands felt warm. "Tell me, what did you see?" She asked, looking down at a small upside down clock on her breast pocket, as she took his pulse.

"I saw cities being levelled by dark summons..." He trailed off, now aware that it was more than thoughts of what may be collated into images. She looked down at this, dropping his wrist gently.

"I need to try something..." Without saying anything, she called to her guardian. He came bounding over again. AS he got closer Remii could feel himself drifting away. His eyes closed, and he could hear his own heart beat, it was slowing, becoming less and less. Then it started to climb again. He felt himself returning. "Oh dear, oh dear..." Sister Makarva was muttering to herself, her guardian far away again. "This dark magic grows stranger and stranger, you seem to have an aversion, have you ever had this before?" He shook his head gently, still recovering. "I think we need to keep you in for a while, though there isn't much we can do, I think others need to be made aware of this dire threat. Are you staying with anyone in this city?" Remii was about to say there was, and then remembered that his family were most likely the ones that had organised the attack, now in full services of the forces of darkness. The image of Bors and Stix popped into his head briefly before he answered. "If you could, there are a couple of guys outside that found me, if they're still about, could you say thanks for me?" He asked, feeling drained. She nodded curtly, and turned, her robes flowing gracefully to catch up.

At the main entrance, Sister Makarva gently tapped one of the guard’s shoulders. "Excuse me, where are the men who brought in that patient?" She asked.

"Lady, if I knew that, I could ring the money the stole from me out of 'em." She sighed.

"I see, thank you." She spun again, heading back into the emergency ward.

"Whatcha nick 'is gold for?" Bors asked of his companion, who was leaning against a wall.

"Why not? Not like its against the rules, and this is to get us sumfin' to eat later, you can't say that ain't a just cause or whatever."

"Why we hangin' 'round 'ere anyways?" Bors asked.

" 'Cos I said so, all right? Wanted to make sure the runt was ok, so I won't feel so bad when we robs him later." He didn't mean the eye of his bulky accomplice, knowing it was a lie he couldn't keep if he did. He hadn't even thought of robbing the near dead country boy. I began to rain.

"That’s rich."

"What, what are you on about now?"

"Callin' 'im a runt"

"Ha ha. Very funny! You know I has issues 'bout that!" Despite this being true, he was still smiling. "Right, I think we've waited 'round long enough, lets go grab us a bite"

"What was the point of robbing the guard if you're just gonna nick the food anyways?"

"Bors, Shut up." Stix lifted the collar of his damp jacket up to stop the water trickling down his neck. The Kebab store around the corner, and along a bit, was open, but then it couldn't really close, being so close the mage college, and being frequently frequented by mages, had distorted the time space alignment around it, so that it was always normal open hours, which suited the mages, students, and other customers perfectly, you just had to be careful not to bump into yourself. "Two large Donna's, and two large Donna kebabs." Stix ordered, sniggering at his little joke. The zombie eyed spotty youth behind the counter didn't even roll his eyes. It was past caring, and wished its shift would actually end, though that might not happen until the end of time, depending on whether the shop ever got back to normal time, or not. Stix handed over some of the money that he had stolen from the guard, and then they left. Although in less than a couple of minutes, shop time, over four hours had past real time, and now it was late at night.

"One thing I don't get. How come the never run out of food?" Bors asked, in between chewing and swallowing.

"Whatcha mean?" Stix asked, raising his eyes from the thick lashings of barbeque sauce he always had his kebab smothered in.

"If time goes incrediblywrong there, and they won't have had in new orders yet, right? Otherwise, the guy behind the counter might have ended his shift. But, they're never out of food."

"Man, you scare me sometimes with your deep logic thinkin', its real scary."

"Sometimes I scare myself, why should you be any different."

"You feelin' alright? only, I never 'eard you string so many words together in one day, and get 'em to make sense 'swell."

"Must be the kebab." Bors replied, taking another great big bite. This took a second to sink into Stix's mind.

"There's so many things wrong with that sentence I don't know where to begin."

"You gonna finish that?" Bors asked, eyeing up his comrades kebab.

"Well, I was plannin' to, yes. But, if you want it..." He blinked, Bors had grabbed it before the sentence was finished, and was already wolfing it down. "I'm glad I aint gotta feed ya all the time. You must run your mam out of house and home."

"She brings left overs 'ome from work." Stix could only shake his head in reply. Without knowing it, they were back outside the healer’s chapter house. "Why we come back 'ere Stix?"

"Whatcha askin' me for? you was leadin' the way!"

"Weren't!"

"Were!"

"Weren't!"

"oh, whatever! so, you wanna go check in on our mute?" Bors shrugged a reply, which usually meant yes, or it did to Stix. The guard shift had changed now. "Ooh, new shift, just follow my lead, and try 'n' look less shocked when I nick 'is gold this time." Bors didn't reply, and just followed behind. "Er, excuse me, is it still visiting time, or has that passed?" Stix asked, striding like he had seen nobles do, trying to act as if he couldn't be told to push off, or words to that effect.

"Clear of beggar, visitin' times ended a couple of hours ago."

"Who you callin' beggar? I'll have you for that."

"Yeah, you and what army, beggar." Stix looked behind him. Bors was nowhere to be seen. When Stix turned back around a pike was held near his neck. He got the hint and backed away. He retreated into the alley, about to have a go at Bors, when he realised that the giant of a companion wasn't back here. He hated it when the oaf did things like this, last time Stix had found him dancing naked in a fountain, drunk behind imaginable, singing lines from itsy bitsy spider. Stix swore severely under his breath. He began looking round, hoping to spot some sign of Bors. With thief attuned senses he heard the gentle clatter of a metal bar drop onto the floor. It came from the side of the chapter house. Stix closed his eyes slowly, hoping it wasn't what he thought it was. There was another gentle clatter.

Moving with stealth, and grace, innate within all thieves, he slipped across the road, and down the alleyway. Sticking out of the side of the chapter house were the retreating legs of Bors, as he pulled himself in. Three metal bars lay on the ground, looking like they had been torn out of the wall. "Bors, can you here me?" He whispered into the hole. There was no reply. Stix looked around. Although the burglar and thief guilds went hand in hand, neither group looked lightly on the other taking up a role they would do.

"If I find you, I'm gonna kill you 'til your dead!" He added, a bit loader, but still not breaking a whisper, to not attract the attention of the guards. He swore again, and then pulled himself up. How Bors had managed it, he would never know. After much struggling, he was in a short tunnel, that acted as a sort of ventilation for the emergency ward, to stop the patients getting too hot. After a few feet, there was a sharp vertical drop. Stix twisted himself around so that he would at least be going feet first. Then he closed his eyes, and edged forward, so that more and more of his body was dangling. When most of his legs were out, he inhaled deeply, and then pushed out with his hands, expecting a long fall. He landed with a slight bumping sound, and turned around to see he was shoulder level with the platform he had just leapt off. Stix was glad at that point that Bors wasn't around to see how big a deal he had made of nothing. He could feel another tunnel at his feet, so he crouched down, and began to feel around for the face it was on. It turned out there were two paths, one going to the left, one going to the right.