Vacia

"Ah. Vacia. Crawling with peasants and maggots alike", the ominous looking figure paused. "My kinda town!"
Azura looked around him: the looming, scrap buildings, the dirty streets. He was glad to be home. He looked around him. People were wandering around, luggage on their backs. Some where running here and there, doing their jobs. His gaze then shifted to the city gaurd: Salazaar scum, Azura thought.
He kept walking down the street. He carried his hefty sword on his back wrapped in cloth so the gaurds wouldn't question or try to arrest him. These guys were causing more trouble than they were worth. Azura wanted to cut them down right there, but he needed to keep a low profile. He didn't need his face to be known around every Salazaarian city in Enice, because he was the only one with that face.
His eyes glowed red and his teeth were sharp like fangs.. His hair was long, white and spikey. His body was entirely scarred from torso to thigh. More importantly, his arm was red.
Blood red.
No other person in Enice had the same arm as him. He freely showed the arm, refusing to hide it in wrappings from the general public. He didn't care if people called him a freak. He knew he could slaughter them. But, he pressed on down the road, looking for a shop to sell some goods he'd picked up, hoping to get a decent amount of gil in exchange. He planned to head towards the Galian Desert next. It was a long trip east from Vacia, but that didn't matter. Just as long as he could fight, he was happy. He grinned to himself, heading towards a shop called Minel's Sundries. Just as he was about to approach the shop teller.....
"Hey! You!" He stopped. His grin faded.
He turned, only to be met with four Salazaarian gaurds. "What'cha packin' there friend?" One of them asked.
Azura grinned again, grapped the handle of his sword, flinging it off his back and letting the cloth fall to the ground.
"A slayer's blade."

Azura looked at the Balaal, then back to the girl. WHat did she need help with? Was this guy threatening her? He didn't know, but something seemed out of place. Grasping the handle on his blade, Azura spoke up.
"What do you need girly?" he asked just loud enough for the girl to hear.
Although Azura didn't know this girl, he wasn't going to let any unreasonable acts go under his nose. Especially if it involved mistreatment of a woman. Staring the Balaal dead in his slitted eyes, Azura grinned. "Is he giving you trouble, miss?" Azura said, so the Balaal would hear the mockery in his tone. Hand tight around the handle of his sword, Azura flung the giant blade off his back once more. He was never reluctant to fight, and if this freak of nature wanted a piece of the slayer, then he was more than welcome to try his luck at killing Azura.
Red, demonic eyes glared at the reptile that lay before him.
"Ghaan, give me your power!"

Azura watched the balaal's blade come down. He threw his own blade between the balaal and the girl, blocking the fatal attack.
"It's not nice to treat a lady like that, ya know", Azura mocked. The balaal hissed and snarled, pushing the girl aside.
"You want to die first, I assume?" the crature said. Azura grinned sinisterly. "Try me", he retorted. Biheal lunged at Azura with his sword. Much to Azura's surprise, this guy wasn't a slacker with a blade. Exchanging blows back and forth, the two fighter's blades rang out throughout the streets. Biheal, swooping low at Azura's shins, caused the slayer to stumble. But only for a moment. Azura countered with an upward slash, which Biheal gaurded against, but was knocked on his back. Azura raised his blade high, bringing it down hard against the balaal's own sword. Again and again he beared down on Biheal, not allowing the balaal a moment's reprive.
Finally ceasing his assauly, Azura allowed the creature to stand. The scaly beast lunged at Azura once more, thrusting at him in order to pierce his heart.
All Biheal accomplished was losing an arm.
"AAAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!" he snarled. Azura laughed maniacally, watching Biheal suffer. The balaal cradled his severed arm, hissing his retreating words at Azura. "You'll get yours! You and this whore!" he said, pointing a finger at Danni. Those words were enough to snap Azura into anger. He picked up the beast's sword, reared back and tossed his blade at Biheal, running him through the chest, and killing him.
"Come on. We need to go", Azura said to Danni, quickly walking away, already sheathing his sword. He smiled.
Serves him right, he thought. People began to gather around the dead balaal's body, not knowing what happened.

Azura waited patiently for Danni's response.
"I belong to his brother. I am...." she paused, not sure if she should use past tense or not. "I am a slave. They use me for my magic skills and for other stupid jobs. Biheal always wanted to buy me off his brother, but he said no. But I am running away. I am tired of being a slave. There is more in life than just serving them! There has to be! The Goddess tells me so." She said then took a deep breath while trying to calm herself. She didn't like going into the subject of her servitude. "If Biheal would have caught me, he was going to kill me. If Isiakly catches me, he will probably do the same." She finished then sighed. "Sorry."
It was all she said.
"I guess you and I aren't so different", Azura said, extending his demonic arm. He could sense Danni was still curious about it. "You see this? This is the mark of my enslavement. These shackles I wear", he said, pointing at the heavy steel bands around his wrist and bicep, "Are the binds. I gave over my soul to the demon Ghaan long ago in order to become stronger. I got my wish, at a cost. But, I have to live with the captivity until death, and then it begins all over again". He paused a minute, then continued. "However, I'm not going to let Isiakly or whatever his name was continue with this. From here on, if he wants something from you, he'll have to go through me. Enslaving other people. That's just sick".
He finished, quite angered by the situation. He smiled in reassurance and said "We might need to leave Vacia. The gaurds seem to be getting suspicious".

She hugged him. He let out a slight "oof". He looked down at her, and hugged her back, feeling kind of weird about it. "I have never been out of Vacia but that sounds pretty good." she told him then smiled. "Where are we going to go?"
Azura thought a minute. "Delma. We'll go to Delma. It's not that far of a walk. Two days, maybe". He looked around the corner. No gaurds. "We have to head for Vacia's northern gate". After he finished his sentence, he slapped himself on the forehead. "Dammit! I forgot. We'll need official papers if we want to get out of here. C'mon, I know someone who deals with this stuff".
He headed in the direction of the market area. He had a friend, Faz Benand, who worked with the Salazaar Empire as a trader and importer. He could make transit papers for Azura and Danni. Azura looked through the area, and spotted the building: "Faz Supplies".
He walked over and opened the door. "Faz!" Azura called.
"Azura, good to see you, guy! How you been?" Faz spoke with an accent. "Good, good. As good as I can get here in this dump. Faz, I got a favor to ask you: Me and her", he said, motioning to Danni, "Need transit papers outta here".
Faz scratched his chin, which had no beard. "Hmmm. I dunno, guy. What for?"
Azura stared directly into Faz's face. "Look, we need to get outta here. The girl especially. I can't explain it now. C'mon man, you owe me". The two stared at each other intently. "Fine, I'll see what I can do, guy. But, after this, we're even".
"Of course!" Azura said, hugging Faz, "You're the best, Faz!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Wait here, I'll draw up your transit papers. Ehm, what's her name?"
"Danni. It's Danni." Azura said for her.
"Be right back", Faz said.
He left to the back room. Azura looked around the place. "We should sit. He's gonna be a minute".
Azura sat on a bench and rested his head on the wall behind him.

"Of course we can. Faz is really good friend of mine. We grew up in Vacia together. Trust me, his job with the Salazaar's is only for the gil".
Azura's eyes felt weary. He wanted to take a nap on the bench, but it wasn't too long before Faz was emerging from the back of the store, papers in hand. Azura shot up and took them. "You're the best, Faz", he said, handing Danni's papers to her.
Faz nodded. "You take care, guy. And look after the girl", he paused, "Although, I'm sure she can take care of herself too", he said, smiling at Danni. Azura waved and led Danni out the door.
"Alright, now we just go to West Gate. C'mon, let's go". Azura took of.

Walking out, Azura scanned the streets. All clear as far as he could see. No one was pointing, no one seemed to notice. Azura strode off, heading for West Gate. They eventually reached the city slums, crawling with the poor and unfortunate. Azura felt bad, because he knew these people used to lead such successful lives. Ever since the empire invaded their lives, things have gone awry; you only got business if you were an official Salazaar trading company, and had connections with the empire's economy.
Faz was lucky to be one of those people. Azura, on the other hand, made his money by hunting. He collected the bounties on various monsters that roamed the world, and was paid a grand sum for his trouble. He planned on joining a Hunter's Guild, but decided against it. So, they walked, trudging through the slums. "Salazaar bastards, ruining everything......" he mumbled to himself.
Eventually, they broke free of the slums, and came to the "better" side of the city. Ahead, Azura could see gaurds protecting the entrance to the West Gate. He smiled.
Freedom. Sweet freedom. Nothing could stop them from leaving; they had their papers. It was time to leave. Azura walked over to the gate, transit papers in hand.
This was it.
They were gonna get out of here.
"Hey, punk!" Azura heard a voice say. He turned to face a very old and ugly balaal. "Where do you plan on going with my trophy?" he said, nodding towards Danni.