A man stands in a small, rare clearing on the continent of Irendi. To the north the all to famous pub of Tristram's lights glow dimly in the fading sunlight. A soft snow falls, adding to the eternal blanket of white on the ground, and serving to cover the pool of red formed in this clearing. The man pulls from a fresh corpse a blade, and sheaths it on his back.

"This is what it had to come to did it? Tch, how fitting."

And the snow continues to fall as the gates of Tristram open to admit this new arrival.

Inside is another man, waiting for the morn to set out on his journey to the Kingdom of Shyron, through the treacherous Ice Caverns of Irendi. The tavern has survived on the travelers going back and forth through these perilous caves, and today is no exception. The white haired man from outside comes in and pulls up on the stool in the tavern, looking at the man next to him and chuckling. How fitting.

"Got caught here as well Gallant?"

The blue haired man turns to the voice addressing him and chuckles slightly himself. "Li, funny seeing you here. I thought you hated this god forsaken place?"

Li took a bottle from the counter and began drinking it, everyone here always ordered the same thing. "Had to kill some scum from Vorg that ran up here when we torched Giant's Helm."

At the statement of burning a town to the ground, the barkeeper looked slightly worried, and maintained his distance from the pair. Gallant however turned to face the other Magnus. "You torched the helm? What with those new 'allies' of yours? But that place is where all the fledgling adventurers go, now where will they start out?"

Li took another sip and swirled the bottle. "I don't rightly care anymore. It'd be better to die then learn the lessons on life from those amoral fools. Anyone exposed to that, will be taught their lesson."

Gallant looked over the younger man with an arched eyebrow. "You were always the one that talked about saving them all, and doing things for the good of the people. Why now?"

Li sighed and glanced over the bar, as if lost in thought. "Back on New Banian, almost in a past life, I knew a guy. His name was...irrelevant. Anyway, this guy was a mage, pretty smart guy too. Once I helped him out, saved him from some of those Vorg Scum, and helped him back on his way. He said that he wouldn't forget all I did for him, that he'd remember the kindness forever. And that was good enough, that's what I wanted."

He paused to take a drink. "That was several months ago. Last week I was outside the town of Sankora when I found this mage, blasting a warrior to pieces with blades of air. When I approached he greeted me warmly, all smiles. And when I asked what the warrior had done, he said it was simply because he didn't like him. Something about insulting his way of doing things."

He paused for a second. "Those are the people I wind up saving, the people I wind up helping. The ones who will beg and plead and be good when they are weak, but when they get a little strength they cannot resist lording it over other people. These people, these scum, they don't deserve to live, to spread that seed of hate."

It was another moment of heavy silence before Gallant spoke. "So that's it? Kill em all? Let god sort it out?"

Li scoffed and spun his bottle again. "Hardly. I've just decided that not everyone is worth saving. I'm not an angel of Mercy, Gallant. No I'm an angel of Judgment. Those responsible for this corruption of morality will be held accountable, even if I have to rip the very root of it from our world one person at a time."

Gallant stood up, intending to head for his room. "But what about the people you ally yourself with? They are no better, it's fighting fire with fire. Either way you get burned."

Li looked up at him. "You're wrong though, there is one very important difference. They show only truth, only what they really are. No lies, no veiled intentions, no tricks. Only truth. In that way, one might consider them the most morally upstanding group around here. And we do share a common goal, in some areas."

Gallant reached the base of the stairs before he turned once more.

"By the way, what are you going to do about that mage friend of yours?"

"I just parted ways with him a bit down the road."



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