"Hmm... Where did be go off to now?"
An elf looks around from a vantage point, his right hand blocking his eyes from the harsh sun.
He had long red hair that reached his neck in locks and golden, slightly brown eyes. His skin was tanned from prolonged exposure to the sun.
"I don't think he would have gone too far without me"
Feyd continued looking before noticing a group of individuals far off, atleast what seemed to be people
Deciding to ask them for help he jumped off the raised mound of sand he was on before making his way towards the group, his cloak billowing behind him.
"-then I smashed his head into the rocks!"
"Brutal! Way to go new guy!"
"Aye I heard the boss got pretty mad at the new batch of goods we got"
"Eyah I heard he blasted them with steam cause one of them bit his finger off!"
"Hey! Did you guys perhaps see a black elf anywhere?"
The group of bandits turned to the voice.
It seemed to be a man wearing slightly tattered clothes. His red hair and golden eyes were beautiful and he didn't seem dangerous at all.
Although he had long, thick hair, his pointed ears peaked out for a moment, giving away his identity as an elf.
"Hey, this guy could probably sell for a good amount"
"Ya sure we can take him down? Look at the sword 'round his waist"
"He don't look all 'dat dangerous. He aint seem like no fighter!"
The three bandits discussed amongst each other.
"Uhh hey? You know I can hear you guys right?"
Feyd looked at the three people infront of him real hard before noticing a white symbol on each of their pauldrons
'Uhhh are they bandits? Or part of some gang?'
'On second thought I should've appraised them first before trying to ask where Ray is'
One of the bandits took a step forward, pointing his saber at him.
"Now now pretty boy, why don't you come with us?"
The elf took a step back, looking around before drawing his blade.
He deliberated whether to fight or run, before deciding he would rather fight.
"Alright then, let's fight."
He then rushed forward, catching the bandit speaking off guard.
The bandit braised himself for impact, taking a step back.
Both of their blades clashed, their blades biting into each other mid air for a moment before the bandit's saber was pushed back.
A flurry of swings from the elf kept the bandit of his back foot, who kept losing at each interaction.
Eventually he was pushed back, his only advantage, his armour, having saved him more times than he bothered to count.
"Tch, the elf's stronger than he looks. I'll need some help!"
"Let's see if he can handle all three of us"
The other two bandits dashed forward to help their comrade in need.
"Ya think we were just gonna watch our friend get his ass handed to him?"
They both flanked Feyd from either side, attacking him with full intent to kill.
They decided to try killing him first. If he survived then maybe they would capture him.
"Tch, It would've been great if you guys did"
Feyd continued to pressure the bandit in front of him while dodging and parrying the blows of the other two.
However, the onslaught soon proved to be too much for Feyd as wounds started accumulating on his body.
"Hahah! If you give up now we might just spare your life!"
"Ofcourse you'll be sold off. I heard elves sell for alot heheh"
The bandits daydreamed of capturing the elf they were fighting and gaining their boss' favour.
"It's fine, I'm not one to beg for mercy"
"Anyways, I'm just warming up!"
Scattered embers sparked around his body as Feyd stabbed his sword into the ground.
He lifted both of his hands up together, flames trailing around them.
His left hand extended infront of him, the other motioned closer to his right shoulder, akin to an archer drawing their bow.
The flames coiling around his arms soon took shape.
The flames around his left hand formed what looked to be an arrow head, centered on Feyd's hooked middle and index fingers.
The fire connected to his right hand, looking like the body of an arrow, which was holding onto the flames.
The bandits eyes dilated in horror as they realized what they were witnessing.
"H-He's a manipulator!! Just like the boss!"
"Fuck this shit! You two can handle him yourselves I'm outta here!"
"Crap! He's aiming it at me!"
The bandits panicked as one of them even started running away.
Feyd smiled as he let go of the arrow.
"Fire arrow"
The arrow instantly shot forward, flying towards one of the bandits.
He tried to side step out of the way but he was too slow to react.
The arrow burned through his shoulder with burst of flames.
"Aaaahhhhh!"
The flames completely decimated his left shoulder and everything around it.
His arm fell to the ground having melted off.
The bandit soon succumbed to the spreading flames.
Feyd dashed towards the nearest bandit, grabbing his blade from the ground.
"Ahh! Get away from me!"
The bandit rashly swung his sword in a panick, with no form nor technique.
Feyd quickly broke through his defense, sending the man's blade flying towards the rocky floor.
"W-wait, spare me! Pleas-"
The bandit's words were cut short as Feyd sliced into his throat, killing him instantly.
Feyd would've enjoyed blasting more flames to end things quicker, but these bandits didn't seem too dangerous.
In any case it would be better to conserve the limited fire energy he had incase he faced any unexpected damgers later.
Feyd then turned towards the shadows.
"See if they have anything interesting. I'll catch the last one"
No one responded, but Feyd cared not. He crouched down, putting one hand on the ground below.
"Rift, open"
A white light expanded from his palm, spinning in circles as it formed a hole in the ground.
Feyd looked forward at the fleeing bandit, specifically at the air just ahead of him in the sky.
A white, circular hole emerged there, parallel to the ground a good distance from it.
Feyd immediately fell through the portal underneath him, coming out the other side mid air.
"Huff huff, he probably, hahhhh... can't catch up to me now, huff..."
The bandit staggered forward as he ran out of breath.
He turned back and realized he could no longer see the manipulator elf.
Who would've expected the seemingly harmless elf to be a manipulator!?
A capable one at that.
'Hahh... Hopefully the boss won't get angry at me for this...'
Normally it would've been reasonable for an ordinary person to run from a manipulator since they were so powerful.
But his boss was an unreasonable individual.
No less than 1 in 10,000 people had the potential to be manipulators, and even then it took time to master their abilities untill they were good enough to fight, let alone use them for special techniques like the elf did.
Manipulators had the innate ability to control an element. This element could be a basic one such as fire or water. Or a more rarer element like darkness, glass, etc.
Just as the bandit thought about taking a breather he saw a shadow form underneath him.
And the shadow seemed to be growing larger too!
He Instinctively turned up to the sky to see the manipulator elf coming through the sky, a strange white circle behind him.
Through the circle he could see a dark-skinned elf walking about, glancing at the circle as if sensing his gaze.
The elf had much shorter hair compared to the Feyd. It was white in colour.
His red eyes were crystal clear, seemingly able to peer through any deceit.
He gave a casual wave to the man while picking up pieces of familiar armour from the floor.
'Is that... Teleportation?'
Confusion and dread crept into the man's heart as he realized what was happening.
'No! It can't be! Manipulator can't do that... Unless the elf is a Gifted too!'
At that moment he felt the unfairness of life. A random elf he provoked turned out to be both a manipulator, and a gifted.
The last thing he saw was a blade obscuring the image of the dark elf before his vision spun.
As his vision blurred and darkened, his life nearing its end, he saw his headless body slump to the ground, limp.
Feyd turned back to the man whose head he had just cleaved in half.
A strange, nauseating feeling crept up from within him, seemingly originating from his very soul.
He dropped the blade to the floor as he covered his abdomen with both hands.
"Ugh... ugha-ahh.. Uagh!"
A spray of green sludge emerged from Feyd's mouth as he puked all over the bandit's corpse.
"Uwaghh... ughh, I hate using this thing!"
He looked up through the portal, catching a glimpse of the dark elf's hair.
"Well, glad to see he isn't playing hide and seek anymore"
He looked down at the body of the bandit with a slightly remorseful expression.
"Sorry for desecrating your corpse, won't happen again"
Feyd picked his blade up, cleaning the blood off of it using the clothes of the bandit who he had just slain before searching his body.
"Ohhh 65 credits, enough to buy some new gear!"
His carefree attitude a stark contrast to his previous ruthless killing.
After not finding anything else noteworthy he starting making his way back.
The occasional wave of nausea caused him to stumble on his way but the side effects of using his Rift soon dissipated.
When he reached the location where he first encountered the bandits he noticed a dark elf holding a set of armour in his arms.
"Hey Ray! Why'd you run off?"
Ray walked closer to Feyd, passing the dead bodies of the bandits.
"Well I saw these guys and they were talking about some pretty cool stuff, so I stalked them"
"I see. And the armour?"
"Well it looked like some of this stuff would fit you so I got it off the bandits you killed"
Feyd reached out, checking out the armour in Ray's arms.
"Hmm, yeah, they should fit me. Thanks"
"Yeah no problem. I'll keep their money then"
"Kay. But how much did they have?"
"Heh, 140 credits"
Feyd flinched as he was trying on the armour.
"T-Thats alot"
"Yup. Well you get the armour so it's fair"
Feyd sighed as he finished putting on the armour, except the right pauldron which had the bandits' symbol.
"Well what did you hear from 'em?"
"Turns out the capital of the Wastelands is that way, to the east"
"That's where the headquarters for the Cecillia Wastelands Military is, right?"
"Yup"
"Alright then, it seems we have our destination"
"The rest was mainly criminal activities which isn't that useful"
"Kay"
As they both walked towards the capital Ray turned towards Feyd.
"So... You sure your goal is to get closer with the queen?"
"Yeah why?"
"Seems kinda shallow to me. Especially since you've only seen her once"
Feyd closes his eyes as he recollects some of the first things he experienced after waking up to this world.
The moment he laid eyes on the beautiful queen on Cecillia he felt an intrinsic connection to her.
"Its the only thing I wanna do right now, so yeah"
Ray shakes his head slightly before putting one hand on the rapier by his side before sighing.
"Well I look forward to recovering my memories. Though I'm still curious how you don't care about finding out about your past"
Feyd stops for a second to think before continuing.
"Hmm, well like I said before, It never really intrigued me that much"
Feyd tried looking around before instructing Ray.
"Anyways make sure you're on the lookout for resting spots. It's getting dark and I don't wanna spend another sleepless night in this darn place"
"Yeah yeah I know, you're perception is worse then a blind hamster's"
"Tch"