Zanfire's Journal

Zad hates when I keep secrets from him but I don’t talk money matters with anyone from the orphanage. But he sighed and says “I guess it has to be a sizable amount to get you to do work. Just be careful and come back. ”

“I always do.” I tell him and offer my hand which he shakes.

I expected it to be hot but the heat never reached me, but the ice slowly started to melt with several inches of ice around my leg this was going to take awhile but as I waited I started to doze off.

I woke up several hours later with the ice gone and my leg in the fire but my flesh wasn’t burning or even in pain. I would even say it was plesant. But before i could ponder about it zad walked in so i had to yank my leg out quickly. He sees the leg out the ice and smiles" thank goodness i was worried that your leg would never thaw out" zad said happily. I respond “ you are not that powerful as a sorcerer at least not yet.” he glares at me.“ but may be that strong some day” I continue. Listen zad I’m going to be leaving for a little bit and can you help out here in my stead.“ “Why do you have to go” he asks. “a friend of mine who lives in the capital is in trouble and im going to help him get out of there. But don’t tell anyone about this.” i explain “Ok but you’ll owe me when you get back” zad says with a smirk. “when do you leave?”

“In a couple days is what I’m expecting. Don’t know how long I will be there. ” I say with a sigh “But the pay he is offering to help him is good so i couldn’t refuse.”

“ How much is he paying you?” you ask curiously.

“More than enough to motivate me to do it. ” i answer quickly realizing i let that slip.

"So we have two options shatter the ice and risk injury to your leg or wait for it to thaw and you slow down for a little while " swifthand says. "Slow It is!" I repond "I quite like my leg intact even if it is encased in ice. It's not like i can't walk around I'm just slow." Swifthand replies "I'm suprised the slow safe option is the one you pick! Good for you!" I shrug off the remark and start limping out the door "I'm going to tell my friends about this so they don't wonder what's going on?" Zad says " I'll go with you." "Not this time . I'll introduce you to them later when they won't be making fun of me for my leg." Zad doesn't need to know about that part of my life at least not yet. "But when will that be?" I reply with "Soon but you may not like them they have very abrasive attitudes." He yields "Fine. But I do want to meet them." I end with"In due time my friend."

I charge at him. He seems too surprised to move. As I get close he finally starts to move but he doesn't have the focus that normally keeps his spells under control. So he fires of a huge cone of ice 30 feet around i couldn't get out of the way in time so i close my eyes. As the ice is about to hit me I feel a warmth spread thru my body the burst from me. I open my eyes and flames are bursting from my body and keeping me safe as i realize what's going on the flames on my leg go out and the ice envelopes it. My leg freezes instantly and I realize that me and zad are more powerful than either of us could tell. After a moment the flame and ice die down but my leg is still frozen at that point zad realized that he got my leg and starts to fret over it. "You were just doing what I told you to do anyway it will thaw out quickly enough we should probably call it quits for today though."

Visky says" that is a dangerous mindset to have. To do this for the rush of it makes you more likely to make a stupid decision.“ ” I am not going to jeopardize a mission just because I’m bored!“ I state ” I just want a job where I can utilize all my talents to their fulliest.“ “continue to follow me and do missions as you’re assigned then we’ll receive more jobs and make it more likely that a high risk job will come in.” Visky explains “ if you keep trusting me, you will be taken care.” “Fine, If it takes being bored for the short term than I’ll tolerate it but don’t keep me waiting for too long.” I reply

So I continue to do the jobs visky assigns and years pass with me and zaddarian growing closer. I was getting better and stealthier and zad getting more powerful with his ice magic and i was teaching him how to be more charismatic when dealing with people since he was akward to others around

I had visky make an anonymous donation of my share of the payment to the orphanage( he doesn’t care as long as it wasn’t his cut being donated.)I was going to keep working for visky so i had the funds to take care me and zaddarian. So during the day i spent time with zad and during the night I was in the field of procurement. Visky saw my potential pretty early and i rose through his ranks quickly ,but i felt I could achieve more so I brought it up to visky. “Visky I think I need more difficult jobs. I’m not feeling that I am achieving anything except stealing from the inept.” I say. “But those are the best targets the ones who don’t know what we do until long after we are gone” he responded. I tell him “I am not getting the same thrill I use to.”

I found out about the horrific outcome of the fire the next day when zadarrian came to stay with my master which could only mean he had no living relatives to take care of him. It took him several days to be able to talk abou it. On the third day he started saying “it was all my fault. If I was stronger than my brother would still be alive.” I tell him “it’s not your fault! You didn’t start the fire!” “But I was too weak to stop it and my family died because of it” zaddarian cried. I yell “ You did what you could that’s all they could ask of you they would’ve been proud!” “But …. but” he trails off. At this point we are both crying of regret his regret is not saving his family and mine is killing it. At that point i decided to take care of this kid as if he were my little brother. The boy who cried ice in front of me who will become my closest friend. He will never know I was the cause of his greatest pain.

“Anytime but first what sort of cut am i going to get?” I responded. Visky laughs.“ Right to the point. It’ll be a different percent depending on the number of people in the job and the difficulty of the job.” “Let’s start my first job then.” I say. “Fine, as you know we are in the field of procurement. ” visky explains “so what we are tasked to procure a horse that was supposedly stolen. But we don’t care about that we care about the money which your cut will be two-hundred and fifty gold pieces. Guy whose paying says this horse is special. The horse is a pure white stallion stabled at frostfang stables.But i do have one important question do you know how to ride a horse?” I nod. “Finally you should know we have three days to complete the transaction as part of the agreement”.I tell him “I’m on it.”

Upon arrival i find the location is a very plain building, easy to overlook. With a brothel on one side and a pub on the other, it was like it only existed because I had the address. So I entered and at first glance, it was a general store. But upon closer inspection each item was a fake. no real products were on display. As i was walking around the shopkeep says to me “How can i help you boy?” “I’m looking for visky.” I answer. “Never heard of him” says the shopkeep. I noticed a tick that made me think he was lying but i went with it anyway. “ oh I must have the wrong address. Think you could help me with the directions. ” I ask with all the fake sincerity i could muster. “If it will get you outta my shop.” He looks at the paper and gets a look of surprise. “Stay here. I’ll be back in a moment. ” he goes into the back of the shop. After a few moment he comes back

Visky says" you’ll go far if you have the right teacher. Let me show just how far you can go? But first.“ He takes the coin purse and pulls out a breathtaking sapphire. “This is what i was after for a client. As a reward for getting past slim the rest is yours to keep. If you want to learn more about the shadows stop by this address” he writes down the address hands it to me and leaves. I wonder whether I should go or not but before i decide that I had gold to spend. After a good night sleep, a big breakfast , and my morning fencing and archery lessons, I made the decision to go and see if i can profit from visky. So I give swifthand my usual lie of going to play with some friends and I head over to the address.