It was a hot summer day in Heros. Anea was sitting on a brown rug in the market district selling her wares. Her wares were wooden toys and hookah apparel. She sat there smoking from a large waterpipe. Her neighbor noticed her and said: "Hail, sweetest flower of Heros. It is refreshing to see your face here at the market. May I keep you company." "You may." Anea giggled. There was suddenly a scream. "Wait here." Anea said and got up. She headed to a back alley where a crowd was. "Another victim of a shadow." She heard from one of the people. She moved to the front of the crowd. It was a disgusting sight. A corpse lie there, so brutally mutilated that no one could recognize the victim. Blood stained the walls. "Citizens please go back to your homes if you feel it is unsafe." A guard said from the back of the crowd. Slowly the crowd broke up and the guard saw the corpse. Her threw up at the sight of the scene. "What about you?" Another guard said. Anea turned to him: "I do not feel unsafe for I can protect myself. If one of these beasts come before me I will eliminate it." The guard felt Anea seemed suspicious and she didnt act like a fragile girl. "Please I need you to go home, it is dangerous." The guard said and grabbed her arm. Anea reacted to this and threw the guard over: "I do not need your security. I can watch out for myself and have the same goal as you. To find an end to these murders." She then went from a serious expression to a friendly giggle. She held out her hand to help him up. The guard noticed the large scythe on her back. "You have an unusual weapon." The guard said.
Down the alley a sudden slam was heard. The beast who obviously killed a civilian showed back up and had a guard pinned to the wall with its four mechanical claws. Suddenly a spike came out of the center of the hand and dug into the guard. Anea grabbed her scythe and went after the shadow. She sliced a wound in its metallic back and a blue fluid began to run out. "Anea. Anea. Why?" The beast said with a metallic male voice. "Why do you go against your own kind and take the side of the weak?" "You know it? What does he mean by the same kind? You dont even look like him." The guard asked. The shadow was suddenly gone. Anea turned to the guard: "Ok. Swear you keep it a secret. I am one of them and curse the day I was born a shadow. They kill the weak and those who show fear. I cant explain what we are but I am the only shadow you can trust. I am not like them. I protect the weak and wish to be normal. If you tell anyone I will kill you by law for betrayal. Now let me be." Anea went back to her stand. "Go home. It might be dangerous today." She said to her neighbor and smiled.

Soon evening came. Anea was on her way home from the market. A man was leaning against the wall. He began to speak: "What do we have here? Looks like a cute young woman." The mans bandit friends came out from their hiding places. "Leave me alone. I dont want any trouble." Anea said. She tried to walk away but one of the men grabbed her arm: "Come on lass. Lets have some fun." "Let go or you will regret it." Anea said. The man laughed and pulled Anea to him. Anea dropped her bag and grabbed his hand. She slowly tightened her grip. A strange mechanical sound came from her hand. Soon the man began to scream as Anea was pulverizing his bones. She then let go. The bandits hand was as flexible as rubber now. "Now leave." Anea said. The one bandit hid around the corner and said: "Kill her!" Anea sighed and said: "Ok. I warned you." She changed into her evolved shadow form. The bandits became scared. One tried to run away. "You saw me, so I cannot let you leave this alley alive." She said with a scary female demonic voice and grabbed the fleeing man with one of her claws. She splattered the man against the wall. She then finished off the rest. The man with the broken hand tried to run away. "Dont run away you coward. I cant let criminals live." Anea said and threw a rock hard enough against the mans head to kill him. She then turned back into her human form and sighed: "It isnt my fault. It isnt my fault. No. My dress got stained." Her house was at the other end of the alley anyway. In her house she changed to a fresh dress and did her hair. Anea then went back out to find a local bar.

Upon reaching the market Max observed the people, there were hardly any left, mainly guards patrolling in groups of 3 or 4. The only civilians left were the ones packing up for the day. "What happened here?" Max asked the closest guard. "Shadow attack, don't know who the victim is. If you want to ask questions about the attack I suggest you ask him over there." The guard pointed to another guard gently touching his wounded side. Max walked up to him, patted him on the shoulder "You have some information to give me." "Yes, Max...uhh, shadow attack, 1 death and me, 1 wounded. It left as soon as it came." Max nodded, "Is that all you saw, were there any others?" "Yes, that's it. I don't know anything else."
"Alright." Said Max, "Let me take a look at the victim and the scene."
After inspecting the victim and the scene Max had only seen some blue fluid. "There's a piss-poor amount of stuff I can look at here soldier." "They're getting better at this Max, there is no doubt about that." replied a nearby guard.
"OK. If that's all you got for me then i'm heading to get a drink."
Max entered the closest bar, walked up to the bartender, "Just a pint of ale.Thanks" He grabbed the drink walked to a stool and sat down beside a girl who had flowers in her long black hair. When he turned to look at her he noticed her eyes. They were strange, not like anything he'd seen.

Anea was sipping from her cup of ale when she noticed the guy next to her staring at her eyes. "Uh oh did he notice my eyes werent brown or is he amused by my looks?" She thought. She turned to him. "Hi. Why are you staring at me? Do you find me attractive or is it something else? You know drinking much ale makes you see things more attractive than normal." She said and giggled.

After much walking, Kolnar found himself in what looked to be the market district, there were alot of guards about and it looked as though there had been some trouble as there was blood on the ground, Kolnar stopped beside a guard who looked to be wounded then spoke, his rough accent seemingly echoed through the street "what happened here?" he ask the guard, who in all honesty wasn't paying attention. "huh wha.. what the...." the guard stuttered and stumbled with his words, and what little he did say was full of fear.
"I asked what had happened here" Kolnar replied
The wounded guard looked up at him, unsure at what he was looking at "We....we were attacked"

"I had gathered that part my friend" the young man sighed, "but by what?"

"it was a shadow..... an evil creature that attacks the weak" the guard coughed up some blood as he finished speaking

Kolnar then patted him softly on the shoulder as he turned away "thank you for the information my friend, you should got get seen to" and with that said the young male had left the scene and made his way into what looked like a tavern, hoping he could get a drink and something to eat.

Pressing his hand against the large wooden door, Kolnar opened it and stepped inside, the smell of ale was almost overpowering to his as he was not one for partaking in the 'joys' of alcohol, keeping his eyes forward he made his way around the locals and headed for the bar, trying not to make eye contact with anyone as he knew that his odd appearance would have them talking, he could already hear their voices and feel their eyes watching. Upon reaching the bar Kolnar unclipped the belt that held his sword and then placed the weapon on top of the bar, before turning to the barkeep "a glass of clean water and a plate of food please", his tone was polite as was his manner.

Max was a little flustered by the question.
"No. I don't, well its not that. You are attractive and all. But I may be a bit too old for you. Your eyes are just different."
Max, feeling embarrassed took a large swing of his ale. "As for the ale, it'll take more than a cup to affect me."
He looked at her eyes once more, his gaze dropped to the weapon near her, it looked formidable, he was intrigued. He then tried to see if he can find any connection.
"My name is Max Defreys. I work for the general protection of the city, I would like to ask you a question. Is anything you know about the shadows?"

Roy had been standing towards the edge of the market district watching and listening to what had been happening. He had gathered that someone had been attacked and mauled beyond recognition and a few warriors had came and gone asking questions about what had happened. Roy gritted his teeth at the thought of those beasts running around and doing as they pleased. He gripped his blade tightly and walked into the alleyway hoping to find some clues that would lead him to a shadow to kill. As he looked around the area it was earily qiuet considering someone had died here not to long ago. He walked deeper into the alley and noticed a path that led behind a tavern and decided to take a look. Roy noticed some blue liqiud on the ground and knelt down to take a better look. "So it went this way." "Yes it went this way." A voice sounded out from above.

Roy looked up to see the beast diving down upon him, its mechanical appendages swinging wildly at him. Roy swung his blade's jagged edge into a nearbye building pulling himself out of the way the swing the scythe edge upward striking one of the shadows arms. "Today you die shadow!" Roy yelled out as he began his battle.

"Well my name is Anea Kaloun. My uh... the shadows seem to only attack the weak. I have fought some before. They bleed a blue liquid and seem to have human forms." She said. "I dont know any though." Anea then let out a nervous laugh. If people knew she was a shadow, they would try to kill her regardless of how her personality is. She suddenly heard a loud bang outside and rushed out grabbing her scythe. Outside she saw a man fighting with a shadow. The shadow noticed her and cried for help: "Anea help me! Please. Dont just stand there!" "Do I know you, shadow?" Anea replied. The shadow couldnt believe what he was hearing. "Anea. Whats wrong? Turning against your own kind? Kisur was right. You have betrayed us." He said. Anea then said: "I do not feel empathy for you. You only attack the weak. You shouldnt attack helpless people. No one would be after you if you killed criminals. But you are criminals and I despise criminals." She picked up a rock and threw it at the shadow. It almost hit him but instead in hit the wall and created a crater. "What are you doing!?!" The shadow said. "You almost killed me! You may have the strength to destroy a couple of us but you cant compete against all of us!" "I will protect the weak and the poor, you lowlife." Anea said.

Roy lowered his blade at the surprise entrance of all the individuals. He had not expected so many people to come running. He stared long and hard however at Anea who had just announced her being a shadow that fought for justice. In Roy's eyes though there was no such thing as a shadow that fought for justice. "I have nothing to say to a piece of trash shadow. If not for your killing the other shadow I would have killed you already. As for the rest of you it's nice to meet you all I am Roy Eustace." Roy took a slight bow as he introduced himself.

Max clearly noted Roy's hostility towards Anea and didn't want to get in the way at the moment. While the others were introducing themselves to each other Max took Kolnar aside.
"Its clear you're new here mate. Well there are a few things you should know. Don't misunderstand me, you look formidable enough with all your gear, but I will never know your true power by just looking at you. So, here's the details. This place used to be like any other, a normal city with the usual amount of crime and all that. But recently some unexpected turn of events have happened and the death toll has been rising. From the evidence we've gathered we know what the creatures look like, they are strange beings that are made of metal, the move fast and are strong. I'm currently working with the city's security to try and find out where they are coming from and how to completely destroy these...things. they call themselves shadows."
Max paused for a while.
"Bah, where are my manners?! My name is Max Defreys. Its good to meet you."

After being taken aside by one of the males in the group, Kolnar listened to what he had to say.
"hmmm... that is very interesting" the young man paused for a second before continuing, "it seems as if i have come to the correct place, i was sent to search for something that matched the description you have just gave me". Kolnar then lowered his head slightly in a bow to the man who had just introduced himself as Max, "I am Kolnar Huojin, it is a pleasure to meet you Max".
He then raised his head back up before looking to the others who were still talking, "it seems as if the female is trustworthy, i sense no ill intention within her", Kolnar then looked back to Max before speaking once again, his tone of voice was soft yet deep "is there any idea why these things are attacking? it seems kind of odd don't you think?...." his question sort of trailed off slightly as he turned his head to the left after hearing what could only be described as a grinding of metal, his right hand made its way to his lower back before resting upon the hilt of Banakari.

"Dude. What is your problem? I am against other shadows for a reason and wish I was a normal human. I am probably the only good shadow there is!" Anea said to Roy. "You dont seem like an understanding fellow. Maybe later on you will know that I am a good hearted person." She then turned to Max: "Come on. Lets go back inside. I will buy you a drink."

"clues would be good, what is known so far?" his question was not directed to anyone, it was left open so he could find out what he could, he then continued "I suggest we go back inside and talk, I have been on the road for sometime now and I am rather tired, i would prefer to get some rest before beginning our hunt of these shadows" and with that said Kolnar turned away from the group and headed back into the tavern. After re-entering the building he made his way to a large empty table that was positioned in the corner of the large room, and as he sat down upon a vacant seat he called for the bartender to come over.

"I'll have a mug of clean water and bring some ale for the others when they come in"
The young man then handed the bartender 5 solid gold coins to pay for what he had ordered.

Max had heard Anea say she'd be right back, but when she wasn't back for a while he went out to go find her. After a while of looking he saw something; "ANEA! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!" yelled Max after seeing Anea's face as she killed the last member of the gang. He ran up to the body. "You can't just go around killing people! Even if they are bad! You could have brought them to me, I could have locked them away. They didn't deserve to die because they made a stupid choice!"
He walked up to Anea, grabbed one of her arms, he was careful not to crush the metal, and pulled her to him so that they were face to face. "Look, if you wish to join us in stopping these shadows then there is going to be no killing for the sake of killing. Understand? I don't want a trail of blood that will make the shadows easier to find us. You get it? I want a trail of blue liquid so that the next time any creature comes to threaten innocent people, they will know what we can do to them!"
Max let her go and pushed passed her, walking back down the alley. He said, "I'll be in the tavern if you want to help!" he called back without looking.

Anea grabbed Minot and went back towards the tavern. They went in and sat down next to Max. "Max, I was only protecting my injured friend here." Anea said. Then Minot said: "Hey! You were the one who injured me when I told you the elders sent me. You probably thought a rogue shadow was on their side. Are you now planning to exterminate all shadows?" "Not all shadows. Only those who are against me, which means I will attack the village sometime. They are in the way for bigger plans." Anea said forgetting that Max was sitting right next to her.