Fortune works alone.
She's young and foolish, set in a fantasy world. The guild of thieves love her, for the most part. She is a member who never betrays the guild.
She came home to the safehouse in an unknown city to find the grandmaster waiting for her.
She asked him what he wanted, he replied with words of sorrow. He had received a letter from an old friend. His friend had once travelled with him, decades ago, on a quest to the Labrynth of Air. While in there, they had left the other 8 members of the party for dead and fled with nothing but the Hasteblade, a weapon of agility.
The Guildmaster told her how he had lost contact with his friend for over 50 years, and that his friend had become a powerful Mage. His friend had become a Willoweye, a powerful spectre who ruled over the spirits of the Lightwist who populated the Labrynth. The friend had challenged him to a battle, as he now wielded the only weapon missing in his arsenal… Hasteblade.
The Guldmaster drew the Hasteblade and handed it to her, begging her to become his champion and slay the Willoweye. Fortune grabbed the blade and promised him that she would.
She set off the next day at sunrise, telling the local fence to send a letter to her family should she not return within the month. Armed with nothing but the shortsword, a small number of provisions and her wit… She began her journey.
For weeks she travelled about, entering towns and pickpocketing items for profit and information. She found out that the Labrynth was not as far away as she thought. She kept to the road for the most part, a thief in plain sight.
After a week and a half, she found it. The Labrynth entrance. It was a door in the side of the mountain, a small and thin door that would have forced lesser anthros to duck and walk single file… Yet her size turned to an advantage.
She was confronted by the guardian of the Labrynth, Murkdusk. Murkdusk was a Blackshade, like a figure draped in a dark cloak. His mere presence began to suck Fortune's life essence from her body. Yet she drew her blade and used its speed augmentation to dodge the dark claws and black tendrils he summoned.
As Fortune stabbed the beast, it gave a chuckle. The aura around him faded to reveal a smiling anthro face back at her. Murkdusk admitted to his defeat and looked upon the blade, asking if she was the champion to face the master. After Fortune confirmed that she was, he took off his cloak and put it around her to hide her presence from the Lightwist guards.
She thanked him and entered the Maze.
She found it hard to navigate through the maze, not knowing where her destination was or where she was going. Only a faint light from the walls guided her path. Twice she almost fell down pitfalls.
Lightwist were everywhere in the maze, small creatures that glowed a bright yellow, much unlike the blue colour from the walls. She avoided their sights as best she could, yet she could tell they were looking for her.
After what seemed like weeks in the Maze, in which Fortune had settled down for a nap only thrice, she reached the temple in the centre.
The temple was a giant hall, a giant mead hall fit for kings of kings. In the very centre of this golden palace was the Mystic Pits, a void with the powers of the demons themselves. Floating atop it was a glowing black figure, draining power from the void itself as the excess seeped into the halls.
The dark mist and shining orbs that were the Lightwist filled up the halls as Fortune stepped in, looking at this figure.
The figure asked Fortune, thinking she was Murkdusk, why she was here and not guarding the entrance. Fortune threw off the cloak and drew her blade, revealing herself to be the Guildmaster's Champion.
The Lightwist began to charge her but were stopped by the Willoweye figure. His great power stopping them in their tracks. He rose his staff and accepted her challenge.
He fought with the powers of demons, pillars of fire and ice rising all around as he manipulated the world around them. The golden walls were ripped apart and gravity distorted under his command, trying to take down this foxy thief.
She leapt from rubble to rubble, using the Hasteblade to add speed to her own. She avoided the obstacles and used them to get ever closer to her floating mark.
She lunged many times at him, none to any avail. Eventually fatigue was getting to her, causing her to fall to one knee before him. He laughed as he began to charge his ultimate power.
But one should never trust a thief.
Fortune invoked the true power of the Hasteblade, using Jet Rush to send her speed to something that breaches Mach 10. As he dropped his barrier to fire his power at her, she leapt through him and ripped him asunder.
The Willoweye survived, but his power was weakened. He saw Fortune's smiling eyes meet his old, decrepit ones as the demons he once controlled dragged him through the Mystic Pit and into hell itself closing the portal.
The Lightwist saw the bloody Fortune and rose in celebration. No longer under his control, they found some peace. An elder approached her, thanking her for saving them. She drew her blade once more and held it out to him, telling him that it was not hers to keep.
As a thank you, the Lightwist Elder gave her the Ring of the Lightwist, which would grant her light in the darkest of places. She thanked him for this and asked him if the corruption would be over. He replied with worry, for the Diamond of the Lightwist had been corrupted by his dark magic.
As an additional favour, she took this rare gem with her on her journey back.
It took her two weeks to get back, savouring the views as she walked. She arrived back home to find that her friend was about to send the letter. The Guildmaster asked how it went, and Fortune replied with a smile and an offering of the Diamond.
She sent the ring home, to her sister. She already had a light to get her through the darkness, why would she need more than her pay?
There's always that one quest all adventurers do, isn't there? It's always that quest involving slaying a dragon, isn't it? Is it because of Bilbo Baggins, the main character in the book that spawned the books that spawned Western Fantasy itself? I know not. What I do know is that in this universe, Fortune has a similar tale.
She had come back from her previous quest not a fortnight ago. The guild had celebrated her, causing her to undertake a few more heists for the guild. Few knew how much she wanted praise, less knew exactly what had transpired.
Nonetheless, she found herself in danger once more.
It was a mission gone wrong. She had tried to break into the Palace of the Overseer to steal the Gauntlets of Prayer. It meant nothing to her, just an object the Guild knew it could turn over the artefact for a profit easily.
She was in jail, she had not anticipated such a dedicated guard system. She was outnumbers and outmatched quickly. She was visited by the owner of the Palace, the Overseer himself. She was a stern woman, though she seemed to be rather weak from what she saw. The Overseer ordered her guards to escort her up the mountain to a Monastery, a place where she would receive her own punishment.
And so they reached the Monastery of the Dov, a cold and empty place that took almost three hours to ascend to. Fortune had begged and bargained for her release on the way up, though nothing was said of the place until she arrived. She saw the barren and simplistic nature of the area and three warriors draped in colours of Red, Blue and Green honing their skills with the blade.
As she entered the courtyard, she was told to drop to her knees by the guards; as she dropped to her knees, the guards ran away with her hands still bound. A mighty shadow rose over the courtyard, and as the winds caused the leaves to blow off into the distance... A dragon landed before her.
The warriors bowed to the dragon, muttering a prayer of some sort. Fortune merely looked at it, wondering if she'd be eaten rare or well done.
The dragon spoke to her, telling her that he had been looking for a burglar like her for over a year. He introduced himself as Crystalflame, the beautiful. He spoke of where he came from centuries ago, a beautiful land full of diamonds and gems most pure. He spoke of how an evil necromancer named Rotguard had raised an army of living crystal to wipe out his brethren. He asked Fortune if she was the Lightwist Queen he had heard of in the recent hours, to which she denied... Though Crystalflame knew she was lying.
He announced her to be the thief and told her that her debt would be paid and she would be rewarded if she went with the other warriors to slay the necromancer and reclaim the lands. Fortune asked what would happen if she declined, learning that this would grant only a year in irons.
She accepted, much to the red warrior's distaste. She took up the final of the cloaks, a cloak that was a light grey with the symbol of air embedded in it. As she put it on, she was reminded of the Hasteblade she had wielded before; giving herself a smile as it happened.
She was confronted by the three warriors, all males who had been trained since birth for deeds such as this. The Red Warrior was a Pegasus swordsman named Rohgar, who saw her as being dishonourable and nothing but a petty criminal. The Blue Mage was a master of ice named Sliver, who told her that he would be keeping an eye on her. The Green man was a large man called Bashbash, he told her that he would crush her with a rock if she stepped out of line; and that it would be a big rock.
And so they began their quest to slay the necromancer. Fortune pleaded that she was not your average criminal but instead a member of the Guild, bound by a code of honour not unlike their own. Rahgot accused her of blasphemy and insisted that he had nothing in common with a low life like her.
The party travelled together until the sun set, finding a cave to rest in. As they slept, Fortune was put under guard; which turned out to be an action worth doing when a monster at the back of the cave attacked.
Bashbash sounded the alarm, causing Fortune to rise up and grab the shortsword she had been permitted to carry. She tried to fight in this darkness against a creature she did not know, regretting her decision not to keep the ring from her previous quest.
The party eventually was able to slay the beast, the moonlight revealing it to be a Foglust, a land octopus that uses the night shadow the drag adventurers to their doom. Using a stick and the flame from the fire, Fortune journeyed to the back of the cave while Bashbash had his wound treated.
At the back of the cave, she found Rustwing. Rustwing was a short blade like the one she carried but was enchanted to look like just another rusty weapon. In actuality, it was sharper than diamond and sturdier than titanium.
The rest of the party asked her if she found anything good, her only response being to show and sheathe the blade.
And so they set off the next dawn, reaching the Valley of the Dark Crystals. The gems shone like stars in the cliffs, though their power was tainted by the Necromancer. They trod through the valley, suddenly ambushed by a horde of undead. A dark figure stood upon a floating platfirm in the middle, streams of dark energy feeding into him from the gems as he gave this power to the dead around them. As they tried to slay them, they came back. None died for more than a few seconds, hands grabbing them as they hacked away at the small creatures.
Rahgot grew angry and flew up and away from them trying to charge the necromancer and stop the darkness. As he did so, bonea rose from the cliffs themselves and embedded themselves in his torso. As he fell to the floor, still trying to get to the monster... The bones began attacking him from within. He squirmed with pain as blood drained onto the cold earth around him.
Fortune rushed over to him, a path being cleared by icicles from Sliver. She grasped his blade and told him that she would finish his job for him. He watched as Sliver created an ice bridge as Bashbash defended the mage, Fortune sliding all around the canyon with the blades in her hands.
The Red Warrior had wielded Dragonfist, a blade that glowed red when the wielder got angrier. As the Necromancer used his power to end Rahgot's life, Fortune found the blade glowing that blood red in her hands.
She found her way to the platform, no longer assisted by the magical ice bridges from her friend. She confronted the monster.
No longer was the Necromancer Rotguard but instead a Titan Lich. A great demon of powers unknown. The raw magic from the gems caused him to grow to the size he truly was, causing an avalanche as his shoulders destroyed the cliffs.
Bashbash used the Berserker Beam on the Titan, invoking the true powers of the Earth to join his body into the Rocks themselves and grow to thrice his already giant size. His giant fists pounded into the Lich, who was smashed back into the back of the Valley. But as Bashbash went in to deliver the next blow, the Titan used the Inhuman Damned Barrage to wipe out this Elemental power and reduce Bashbash's skin to little more than paper. His bones broke while he fell to the flaw in agony.
Sliver then tried to invoke his ultimate technique Beam Monsoon, a power with the ability to rain blue beams of terror upon his foes. The power struck the demonic master but was soon overshadowed by the Dark Dirge power the Titan had. The magic the Titan used drew power from the Mage and used it to split the Mage's mind in two... Forcing Sliver to fight his own shadow.
Fortune had been running up to the warrior, angry at how these honourable men were being cast down like vermin. The Titan attempted to blast her with Demonic power, but she dodged and used the blast to send herself flying ever faster at the demon.
As her rage peaked, the Rahgot's sword flashed a dark Red. Rahgot's soul came out for once final attack as Fortune shed her cloak and invoked the powers of Air and Fire, unleashing the Flame Gale upon the Demon.
Yet still he did not fall.
His powers were too great, the attempts to bring him down failing. Yet he was once more down to a smaller size. The two fought in close combat, Tendrils of the undead versus the Red and Rusty blade. The tendrils disarmed her Rusty sword partway and forced her to fight with the sword of her friend and that sword alone. As he disarmed her completely, he gloated at his victory.
She rushed for the rusty blade, drawing it and brandishing it at him, ready to lunge. He laughed at the sight of a bloody warrior who would not give up and her useless blade; never realising his error as the blade ended his immortal life.
And as it was all over, the thief collapsed from pain and sadness.
She awoke no less than a week later, her wounds barely healed. She was in the monastery, surrounded by the monks. She got up and walked to a tombstone in the centre of the courtyard, smiling at the sword memorial for the one who died for his cause.
Crystalheart offered her a reward for what she had done. She declined, throwing down Rustwing into the ground and descending down the stairs. Much to the disapproval of the monks and the other two warriors.
Some say that a thief broke into the palace that night and stole a certain pair of gauntlets... Some say that a figure draped in a silver cloak was seen fleeing the area... Some say that the cloak found its way to Fortune's sister somehow... The thief returning back from another successful heist.
