I trotted along, before breaking into a full all-out run, as the boat I was supposed to catch tooted to warn late passengers, like me, that it was leaving in a minute.

I wouldn't get there in time unless I rode or flew.

Considering the looks I was getting as I wove, or barged would be more accurate, between people, riding could get me in trouble. And my mounts wouldn't be popular either.

I didn't need that, have enough on my plate right now.

Flying it is then.

Drat.

I ran to a wall, vaulted over a barrel, and snapped my wings open.

I hated flying, and doing so in public was not on my 'Fun things to do' list.

I don't think I have a 'Fun things to do' list anyway, but that's not the point.

I flew as high as the rooftops, before diving down onto the gangplank of my ship just as it was about to be pulled up.

The sailors, to their eternal credit, didn't even look surprised.

One clipped my proffered ticket, and showed me to my cabin.

The ship journey would take a day, but it was the fastest thing I could get.

Oh!

I've forgotten to introduce myself, haven't I?

Name's Aldolor. Female Obili. Necromancer and free lance detective.

Two-foot-five in height, with gray fur, pixie cut dark red hair, tiny silver claws, large ears, magenta eyes, small snub nose, silver wing membranes and tiny fangs. A dark gray crescent moon hangs over my left eye, outlined in magenta. There is a dark-gray outlined circle inside the curve, with a one third red, one third silver and one third magenta inside.

That's what I look like. Short description, but to the point. That's my motto. Suits me well.

As a necromancer, I have various minions, but the ones I use the most are Horror, a small slimy fur less rat with his backbone visible, Fang, a large skeletal dire wolf, Mayhem, a zombie deer with antlers made out of bone studded with black and magenta stones, and Death, a giant, even for her species, Ursa.

Ursa are giant bears with massive claws and short tusks, both perfect for gouging prey, which Death had in extra large.

And Death's large ribcage showed through, and patches of fur and skin were missing all around her body.

Mayhem I used as a mount, she liked running far too fast and that's usually why I needed her, though she was deadly in combat, causing destruction and mayhem. That's where she got her name from.

Death was just that, and I only used her rarely because she took too much effort to sustain for long periods of time unless I used my stock of my magic filled acorns. What? You find that amusing?

Well, nuts and seeds hold magic really well, as do stones and crystals, but they're too hard to get, all I need to do to get nuts is find trees. I put my magic into it when I didn't need vast stores of it, and used them to boost my power when I do.

Horror was used to spy, and he was good at scaring people with his appearance, hence his name.

And Fang was lookout, guard and spare parts finder. You should know why he's called that. Hey, he was my first successful minion, I hadn't got the hang of the naming lark yet.

Oh, and by repair parts I mean the bones and organs that I used to repair my minions, I can't use magic to heal them all the time.

Actually, I hadn't figured this out in the early days and had to lose several minions because I couldn't keep them alive, so I buried them under my cave, in the hope that I could find a way to use them again. Yeah, I lived in a cave, but like I said, lived.

I'm a hundred and ten, meaning that to other Obili, I'm only a ten-year-old. But I am what is considered a child prodigy, so I was given my medallion of adult-hood far before my time.

This medallion meant I could leave my birthing forests and Obili territory in general, and go wherever I liked.

I'm a freelance detective, or Third Eye, meaning you had the victim and the culprit (First Eye), the witnesses (Second Eye), and then us, the ones trying to solve the mystery, with a few assassins here and there.

Ah, but that's probably boring you, and if it's not, try being a Third eye for a day, and try to get a murder case. I reckon you'll run away pretty quickly.

Do you want to know where I was?

Well, I had been in Dar Io, a large Kytwo port city, dedicated, of course, to the element of water, with a smaller dedication to the wind element.

Dar Io is an odd name, even by Zyjii standards. Dar stands for ever water, and Io is rushing wind. So, in reality, Dar Io is means ever water rushing wind.

Yeah, it's weird, but that's the Kytwo and their obsessive dedication to the elements. Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, and their sub-divisions, which I can't be bothered listing, there's too dang many of them, in fact you'd need a Tatii to remember even half of them.

Now I was traveling to Equal Measures, Aurion central. This is where all their scientists, (that's all Aurion, none aren't stupid scientists that get into your head with all their techno babble nonsense) gathered to show off their inventions every full moon.

I had to find a scientist named Zion, leading techno-mancer and augmentation expert, as well as magic-bio-tech fusion founder.

Needless to say, many Aurion hated him for his discoveries and inventions, and many of his rivals had tried to have him assassinated, but none had succeeded.

Unfortunately, one had succeeded in killing both his wife and young daughter, leaving him broken and vengeful.

They had been walking along a bridge when it collapsed into a river, and only Zion escaped unharmed, as the river contained certain toxins that were fatal to any Aurion, which paranoid Zion had protected himself against. It looked like an accident, with a barrel supposedly containing the lethal toxins in it found in the jaws of a dead river drake. According to the report, this drake had been trained, as it had scars that could have only have come from a whip, but why it chomped down on the barrel, how the barrel got there, and why the bridge collapsed remained a mystery.

Some say it was an accident, a failed assassination attempt, or maybe even both, but there was no conclusive evidence to say which it was.

I had been hired, five years ago, to find out what had happened.

Finally, I had found a piece of evidence that could change the case forever.

But first, I had to give it to Zion and find out if it was truly what I though it was.

When I got to E.M, my life would change forever.

And that wasn't always a good thing.

Not this way.

Being called a hero wasn't worth it for this.

It wasn't for any of us.

So, slowly but surely we are finding out the truth. But when it comes, it will shock you. Here's hoping it does.