LeeAnn woke up to Salem purring on her bedside. The furry feline was starting to grow on her. He was good company and provided her with some sort of comfort. Even if her mom and her uncle's wyvern were kidnapped, she still felt somewhat at ease with Salem by her side. She sat up and yawned. The cat woke up around the same time, feeling her movements. "Morning, sleepyhead" she smiled, scratching the cat behind the ears. He stretched his legs and back while yawning. Smacking his cat lips, the tabby gave her a tired look. "Morning, foxy" he greeted her. It would be nice if he called her by her actual name, but guess this would do. LeeAnn groomed herself well and gotten ready for the day. She waved Salem to the kitchen to have breakfast. The servants were already on the job and made both her and Salem a meal. They even gave Salem a seat at the table. "Wow, your family surely knows how to treat guests and cats" he commented. LeeAnn smiled and sat herself down.

She drank the tasteless alcoholic drink and ate her breakfast. It still wasnt as good as Manzo's but it will suffice. Salem finshed his food rather fast. His dull blue eyes stared over at her plate then at her. "You going to finish that" he asked. LeeAnn rolled her eyes and swallowed her food. "Yes and this food ain't for cats. Has special ingredients made for me" he said. She spoke pointing with a fork. She gave him a glare then continued to eat her food. "What special ingredients" he asked.

"Human remains, mostly livers and purgatory glands " she spoke, casually. Salem gagged a little and gave her a serious look. "That's disgusting! Why would you eat that stuff" he said. LeeAnn sighed. "It's how my body functions. Long story, lets say...the council did it...did you listen anything my grandfather had said? About the curse? The council being behind this whole charade" she spoke. Stressed, she sighed and buried her face into her hands. There was a lot on her mind and a lot more at stake. For now, she had to focus on today's task. Manzo took a job and requested her company. LeeAnn only sighed. "Come on, Salem. We're going to be late to the meeting. Let's go saddle up Zalor and head off" she spoke. Salem noticed he accidentally struck a nerve. Silently, he could see why she was so stressed. LeeAnn left in a rush to the stables, where her gryphon lied. Zalor struck up at the sight of her. He squawked and hopped a little excited for a ride. It was a daily routine. She smiled at her companion, Salem sat on the sidelines, waiting for her to get him ready. The saddling was the easy part, the hard part was keeping Zalor still. He was not the type to sit down in one spot, he had to keep moving constantly. It took a while for him to calm down enough for her to saddle up her mount. After she was done, she huffed and wiped her brow.

Zalor followed LeeAnn and Salem. They were out in a clearing, she waited for Zalor to get into position. "Salem, since this is your  first time on Zalor. Hang on tight and stick inside the saddle bag. Its going to be a rough ride" she spoke. Salem tilted his head, but shrugged. Zalor waited impatiently for Salem to fit into the small saddle bag. LeeAnn mounted him and have a cry. Quickly, Zalor flew off with a strong beat of his wings and Salem screaming from inside the bag. LeeAnn hung on tightly, knowing how her griffin could be. She lead the griffin to the tavern the quest had spoken. LeeAnn scanned the area for a large wyvern and a blonde male. So far nothing, LeeAnn descended Zalor down gently this time. Once they gotten onto the ground, Salem jumped out of hte bag, kissing the ground. "Sweet, sweet ground! Oh how I missed you!!" She rolled her eyes and sat down. LeeAnn closed her eyes and tried to calm down her stress level, she wished things would stop blowing up in her face so much lately. The only good thing coming out of htis whole situation was Manzo and perhaps Salem in a way.

728/4000

Tail 8: 58/100

As the sun rose in the west, the golden one could be found at his work bench in his safe house in Era. He was starting his day off the same way he started off every day, performing maintenance on his revolver. It was something that had to be done, in order to keep a gun in good working condition. Any gun owner knows that properly cleaning and maintaining your equipment is not only key in increasing a weapon’s lifespan, but is necessary to ensure safe operation. Just like shining your shoes there are as many ways to clean a gun as there are stars in the sky. 

He emptied the chamber of his revolver, not wanting a misfire to occur while cleaning it. This was no ordinary hand canon, it was specially made for him to feed off his darkness magic aptitude, making it quite the deadly weapon, one steeped in blood and darkness. Upon touching it for the first time, his darkness enthralled it turning it from a silver to an ebony color. 


He gathered his cleaning supplies which was Remington oil, and Hoppes number nine solution, as well as a barrel brush. It was an important tool for cleaning one's fire arm, and should never been forgotten. As he unhinged the action from the body of the fire arm, he wrapped a sock around the grip as to not scuff the material with the brush. He dipped the bore brush into the cleaning solution, making sure that it was thoroughly saturated in order to ensure a full coating of the inside of the barrel. He would then feed the bore brush into the barrel twisting it with his wrist to ensure the cleanest of barrels.


Suddenly there was a knock at the door, this was unsual, no one was supposed to know where he was, and he without his gun read to go, foolish. He raised himself up from his bench and walked over to the door, his fist began to radiate magic energy, he was ready for what ever it was that was at the door. As he opened the door it was a member of the courier's guild. "So that's what you look like now, 
you're a hard mand to get ahold of you know that?" The man dressed in all black said with a chuckle. Which was true he was a hard man to get a hold of, but that was the point. "Given my work load you know that I can't exactly be easy to find, I figured that would dawn on you." Manzo said with an aggressive tone in his voice. The other man chuckled to himself given the response of the golden on. 


The other man walked over to an empty seat and sat down, making himself quite at home, which made Manzo all the more suspitious as to why someone from the guild was even here. "So, Mattori word on the street is you've made an ally with someone from the nakamura family." The man in all black had a sheepish grin on his face, while delivering his statement, though it was more of a question but he did not want to seem overly eager to get that information from him. Manzo scoffed as he placed a cigarette into his mouth and exhaled through his nostrils.


"What's it to you, she isn't a target, and neither is that family." He said now placing himself down at the work bench once more and began cleaning his gun once more. This line of questioning was begenning to bother him, it was almost as if he had come to inform him that someone had requested a hit be delivered. Which would be something he would take seriously, and he would certainly deliver a hit, just not the one they wanted him to. He was skilled enough to make it look like an accident as well.


"Careful Mattori, the council has eyes on that family at all times. Given our relationship with them, it would be best if you keep your distance from them." He said as he, Manzo had finished putting the final touches on his fire arm. He had holstered it on his person while the man was talking. He walked over to the man, and unholstered his gun and pointed it at the mans head. This shocked the man. "Mattori what are you doing?!" He exclaimed. Manzo smirked at the man in the chair. "No one knows my name at the guild." He said as he pulled the trigger, blowing the mans head clean off his shoulders. The illusion spell wore off shortly after. Exactly as he though, it was a demon. 


He blew the smoke from the barrel of his gun before holstering it once more and placing his black cloak over his body and whistling for ghost to come. He quickly mounted ghost and headed off in the direction of the meeting place with Sophie. He quickly descended from the from dragon and went to meet her at the bench.


864/4000

LeeAnn's thoughts were clouded with worries about her mother. What her grandfather had spoken. How they were using families of Rune Knights as tools for experiments. She, her mother, and her grandfather were living proof. It was hard to believe something like that could go this far. It angered her. LeeAnn's blood began to boil. Steam would emerge from her. Salem grew a little worried. He said nothing, careful not to step on any toes. "They will all pay! Every. Last. One. I will kill who ever did this to my family. Behead every last one of them whom touch a hair on her head" she whispered. Salem padded closer.

"Salem, when you were turned into a cat by the council. What was it for" she asked. The cat grew silent and looked around. "I don't remember" he whispered. LeeAnn snorted. She grew a chip on her shoulder just thinking about it. The council was play with fire, especially her kind of fire. The kitsune sat on the bench, trying to figure things out. She grit her teeth and hissed in anger. Gently, she pet Salem to calm her nerves down. He sat in her lap. Her ears perked up as she heard the sound of flapping wings, familar to her. All too familar. For a split second, she thought it was her Uncle's Wyvern, Captain, but that was dimished. It was Manzo. She was still glad it was him and Ghost. A look of anger, stressed, and relief were read on her face. She gave a small smile. "Right on Que! You ready to head inside" she spoke. LeeAnn nervously twitched her left ear rapidly, showing something was on her mind. If she read the quest, it was a member of the council that they had to meet here. She only read the important details. Salem hopped by Manzo's side, letting the kitsune head in first. He stayed silent. LeeAnn was more focused and stressed this time around, not really giving Manzo the usual warm greeting she would usually give. Their client lied in a small booth within the Tavern. She knew him well. It was fortunate that LeeAnn used a fake name for the job and changed her looks a little. The council knew her mark and crimson hair, not her new look she was under now.

LeeAnn sat down on hte other side of the booth with Manzo and Salem. The cat eyed the client. "Finally, you both have arrived. Let's get right to business. Your mission is to track down a wyvern that we think has been corrupted" he started. Before he could get another sentence out, LeeAnn slammed her hands on the table standing up. "Is the wyvern red? With a blue band around its neck? A scar over his left eye, possible iwth a middle-aged blonde with him?" she cried. All eyes were drawn to her, but she didn't care. It was now confirmed to Manzo what really was going on inside her head. The client only eyed her and shook his head. "No, Ms. Vermillion. Now back to business, I have the information right here in this file. The wyvern was last seen this locatiom or said to be its resting place. Wait til' night time, it will arrive" he spoke. Giving Manzo the file, he eyed LeeAnn suspiciously then left. LeeAnn looked pissed and sighed heavily. "Damn! Damn, damn damn. Fucking shit. They are going to pay for what they did" she whispered. LeeAnn's fox ears were flat as she remained silent, besides Manzo. She would wait until they were out of public to tell him what really was going on.

1337/4000

Tail 8: 59/100

"Nice to see you again old man." Manzo said with a chuckle as he greeted the small dragon in the booth across from them. It had been a while since these two had seen each other. "Nice to see you again white wolf, though I doubt that name suites you anymore heh." The small dragon said with a chuckle as he motioned for the waitress in the tavern to come over and bring them a round of beer. Manzo took the drink and chugged it as quickly as it came to him. He placed the mug down on the table and looked over to a very distressed Sophie.


"I assume you brought it with you." The dragon asked him. Manzo chuckled and pulled his black revolver from it's holster and placed it on the table. The dragon looked it over and smile to himself. "I knew you would surface again, and this is the perfect job to get you back into the swing of things." The dragon said with a chuckle. Manzo quickly removed the large hand gun from the table and placed it back in it's holster. "Tell me more about the target old man." He said as he placed an arm around his companion to comfort her.


1081/4000

The small dragon only smiled seeing an old friend. LeeAnn watched the two of them converse. Manzo didn't seem to show any reaction to her other than noticing she was in distress. She knew he was not one to bring attention and rolled with the punches. She could only lower her fox ears. LeeAnn felt his arm around her. She leaned against him staring at the table, completely dazed. She tried pay attention to what the two were talking about, but she just couldn't keep her mind focused now. The small dragon was asked to give more details on the target. He paused and thought, searching through his memory. Clearing his throat, he made eye contact with Manzo. "This wyvern you all are after has been corrupted by some sort of dark force or group of some sort. We'd guess it was corrupted to do bidding for whomever curse the poor creature. It's blood thirsty, attacking the citizens of Era and many of our Rune Knights. It's rather large for a Wyvern, I'd say around 5 meters tall according to our reports. You can find it in it's resting place on the peak of Era Dungeon. I'd recommend waiting till around dark to attack it and kill it. When you two complete you task, we'll take the corpse" he spoke. LeeAnn caught blips of that.

"What color is it?" The smal dragon stared at her when she finally spoke. She hoped it wasn't red. For her sake and the family's, she prayed it wouldn't be red. "It's been sighted to be blue, Ms. Vermillion" he replied. LeeAnn sighed in relief a little, finally calmed down. She scooted closer to Manzo, feeling a little relieved, but still unsure.

1624/4000

Tail 8: 60/100

Blue wyvern huh, it was a lesser wyvern not a royal wyvern. Manzo thought to himself, it was time to consult his bestiary to see what it had on wyverns. flying wyverns are typically large which he already knew, bipedal monsters capable of flight, having developed wings which this wyvern clearly had. 

This was helpful information to have on the beast. Though he did wonder what it was doing here. Now that he had a general idea of the different varieties that they could come in, he needed to know what species exactly that it was they were dealing with here.

"Is it a gigginox class wyvern? Because if it can remain in the air for long periods of time I need to know now." Manzo asked the small dragon with a hint of curiosity truly curious at the nature of their prey. It could only help in the long run, especially of this was a wyvern that he did not have down in his bestiary. Going in blind was more than a foolish thing to do. "Truthfully Mattori, we aren't sure what ever it was naturally is no more. It's sad to see someone from my own family like this." This was disappointing to say the least. He had truly hoped for more information. "Do you know it's gender, because if it's a female and has been there for three days or more, it's come to lay it's eggs. Which could create more than an issue for the city if left alone."

The small dragon couldn't help but chuckle in this moment. He had never seen Manzo so curious and cautious about an assignment before, not only that but he was carrying around a bestiary. Gone were the days where he was reckless and big headed about his abilities, it seemed that these days he was taking his work more seriously now than ever.
"To be honest, we have no clue, no one has been able to get close enough to look. I'm not in the business of sending people under my command to their deaths so quickly." Manzo chuckled at this notion. "No, you wouldn't do that, that's what we are for right." He said with a bit of snark in his voice.

1585/4000

LeeAnn's trance was broken quite quickly. She heard Mnazo's interest peak to a level she had never heard him before. She had almost forgotten the airloom her grandfather had left for her. The kitsune's ears perked, she shifted from Manzo's clutch. LeeAnn pulled out an old journal that belonged to one of the Nakamura family members. She flipped around the old book, if he knew what it looked like, she could find out what they were dealing with species wise. Though, it was clear through his responses that he could not give a straight answer due to the lack of knowledge. LeeAnn had grown accustom to this kind of thing. It was tempted by darkness, so of course it would change, but she flipped through her journal.

She completely had forgotten about this whole treasure right here. The kitsune stared up at Manzo, giving him the possibility of what it could be. "From what I could tell could be from these species, I do monster hunting for a living. I can probably tell from what you have spoken what it could possibly be" she explained. LeeAnn had a general idea what they were dealing with. The lack of certain clues didn't help, but she knew for sure it was considered a Class 3 possbily 4. The kitsune stared at him. "Is there any key features that stood out to you from the reports given? Anything" she asked. The small dragon had to think for a while before giving an answer. LeeAnn had to know for sure. IT was either one way or another. While Manzo was looking through her journal, she waited.

"All I could get was a bony plated head or something that looks like a helmet of some sort. Its not metal I know that" he explained. LeeAnn nodded. A long sigh came out of her mouth, it could only be a few different species what that description. She looked at Manzo to see his reaction. "Turn to the pages 255, 256, and 259, Manzo. Those are the species I think that could describe" she offered. LeeAnn could only wait to see what they could possbily do. LeeAnn saw nothing else to be said. "Whatever species this is, we'll take care of it" she spoke, in a cold manner. Her eyes turned to stone, then leaned against Manzo waiting for what he would say next. The small dragon did not pay much mind to what LeeAnn had said, she scoffed a little. Looking away, with a slight attitude. "That's all I know about this creature, unfortuantely. I know you'll take care of it, white wolf" he exclaimed. This made LeeAnn pissed, but she bit her lip to prevent another outburst. Once he left the building, she would let out an angry exhale. Salem only stayed silent. LeeAnn would wait until Manzo got up. She followed. "I don't know what pisses me off more, the presence of a Rune Knight or someone who completely ignores my presence" she hissed.

2124/4000

Tail 8: 62/100

Lee had every right to be upset in this moment, though he felt as though she was being a bit unreasonable at the same time to be perfectly honest. Though he wasn't sure how he should go about explaining such a thing to her in this moment. He didn't want to be overly harsh but at the same time he felt he needed to straighten her out a bit, because he had heard enough of her temper tantrum at this moment. "Consider yourself lucky he paid you no attention. He was doing me a favor by not taking you in immediately. Nonhumans are prime targets for the council. So quit whining already." Manzo said with animosity in his voice.


Whil he didn't want to truly scold her, she needed to learn not to look a gift horse in the mouth, such things couldn't be helped. It was as if she forgot how the church felt about god slayers. Magic so powerful that it could bring a deity to it's knees. She was young and ignorant with much to learn, lucky for her, he was her teacher in this regard. These lessons are the hardest to learn in life.


1801/4000

Quickly, she was put back into her place. LeeAnn calmed down a little bit. She was just frustrated with her whole situation, which would explain to to him soon. It would seem he was right. She grew more submissive and sighed. "I'm sorry. I am really frustrated. I will explain in a minute with less people around" she said. LeeAnn motioned for Salem to follow her. He stayed with Manzo until she left. The cat perched on his shoulders and whispered into his ear. "Don't tell her I told you this, but the council kidnapped her mother and her uncle's wyvern on the way home. She was visiting LeeAnn. That's why she's on edge" he explained in a very hushed tone. He was careful how and what he said around the public. There was a lot more than that leaving out her aunt's murder. LeeAnn stood outside with her griffin, whom was getting antsy wanting to go already.

The kitsune looked to be thinking deeply about something. Just what her grandfather had spoken to her about and why things were going the way they were. Between her fingers, she held a cigarette that she kept only to calm her down in rare occasion. She silently, stamped out her cigarette and placed it into a trash can. Walking over to him, she stared right into his eyes. "I'm sorry for being on edge today and for the outburst. I really am. Just...things are going south for me again. The council is on my family's tail first they murdered my aunt. Belldonna told us about it and now my mother was kidnapped I over heard two captains talking about it. I...I don't know where to start or what to exactly do now. I'm just...angry" she explained. She knew she was in the wrong for acting the way she did and hated owning up to her mistakes like this.

She stared down at her feet then back at Manzo. "I've been wanting to tell you this for a long time, but felt the need to keep it private, since I don't want to be a burden. Though, now I think it was time you knew and for me to get this off my chest...sorry...I am an idiot for being immature about all this" she admitted. LeeAnn perched on Zalor's saddle, Salem stayed with Manzo after not liking the ride with Zalor. "I am riding with Manzo since your driving scares the living daylights out of me" he commented. LeeAnn shrugged. "Okay, you do you cat" she spoke. LeeAnn waited for Manzo to climb on Ghost and get going.

2559/4000

Tail 8: 63/100