text: You'd rather be safe than sorry. What if you decided not to go, and they end up capturing her? You'd probably want to help her, but at the same time, you wouldn't want to betray your allies. A situation like that could only end in disaster. Instead you would go to the designated location and hope to find her by yourself before anyone else is able to get to her.
  
  "I'll accept the mission."
  
  The Headmaster raises his eyebrows in surprise. "You're braver than me. I'm not sure I would have been able to make the choice you just did had i been in your position. Alright then. Vitre, I'll leave the details to you. Just know that you need to leave within the next few days."
  
  With that the Headmaster dismisses you. Vitre walks ahead of you two and motions for you to follow after him. Luckily, the Academy students are all in classes, so there's no one left to gawk at you. Vitre leads you and Raven down a few hallways, and before long you can guess where he's taking you.
  
  "Are we headed to the library?"
  
  Vitre nods. "There are maps there." His deep voice speaks quietly as if afraid that speaking in a tone larger than a whisper would interrupt classes.
  
  "I wonder if Headmaster Farid is upset. I'm sure he was looking forward to assigning the chosen hero his first mission," Raven comments to you whilst giving you a slight push with her arm.
  
  "I'm sure he'll be fine." You don't continue the line of conversation she tries to start. Your thoughts are pretty much exclusively centered on how in the name of the Creator you're supposed to find Alessa. Well, not only find her, but also make sure everyone else doesn't find her. Vitre, however, speaks again effectively ruining your train of thought.
  
  "Does he really still insist on giving every new grad their first mission?"
  
  Raven answers, "Yes, he does. Honestly, I'm not sure how he does it. Ever since the war started there's been way too many people waiting to receive their first mission."
  
  "He probably just sends most of them of to the warfront for their first mission," you comment. "You could consider us lucky that we don't have a mission like that." You aren't too sure you consider yourself lucky, but if you were Raven, then you don't doubt that she'd rather be finding a lost princess than fighting a war.
  
  "I'm not so sure about that." Vitre responds. "If this princess really is a Cursed One, then we could be in some serious trouble. That's probably one of the main reasons your father wants you here with me."
  
  "Why you?" Raven asks almost immediately. You have to admit that you were curious as well. You know why you and Raven were chosen, but you had only just met Vitre.
  
  He shrugs. "There isn't really some grand reason for it. I just happen to have a lot of experience in hunting people down. It makes me the ideal person to lead you two. Especially since we don't need some insanely good fighter. We are only hunting a princess. She probably hasn't even touched a sword in her life."
  
  You knew this was false, but you didn't really want to comment. Let him think that Alessa is incapable. It'll be easier for her to avoid capture that way.
  
  The three of you reach the library to find it mostly empty. A few academy students sat at desks doing classwork, but fortunate for you, no one is anyone near the map section.
  
  The area isn't particularly large, but it's more than enough to suit your needs. Perhaps the most notable feature of the area is the massive wall map. It's position on the wall allows for many people to look at it without crowding it. The map itself is double your height and is about the same length from side to side. After a quick once over you realize it to be a map of the continent. It was fairly recent, and someone even updated it to show which cities are under Dellandian control, and which are in control of the Holy Kingdom.
  
  It's this map that Vitre stops in front of.
  
  "This is where we'll be going." He points to the very bottom of the map, specifically at the city of Aeors.
  
  You remember the city from your history classes. Back before the Dellandians and the Holy Kingdom conquered the continent, this was the largest city, and the last one to fall before the Dellandians might. This was largely due to the fact that an army the size of the Dellandians was very difficult to provide food and drink for, but even harder when attempting to take a city in the middle of the desert.
  
  When you and Raven don't say anything, Vitre continues speaking. "Aeors has always been fairly removed from the events on the continent, and even now they don't offer support to the Holy Kingdom or Dellandia. This makes it a nearly perfect place for people to want nothing to do with the war to move to. We surmise that the princess noticed this, and headed south so she could reap the benefits of relative neutrality."
  
  You're about to interrupt him to tell him that that isn't much to go off of, but he raises his hand to stop you. "We also have reports telling us that she was last sighted heading in a southward direction."
  
  Raven speaks this time. "If others saw and recognized her, then why didn't they already bring her in?"
  
  "I mentioned it briefly before, but there is a strong possibility that this princess is a cursed one. Every time one of our own went to apprehend her, they only remember speaking to her as if they were old friends. Apparently, whenever someone enters her presence they forget why they approached her, and she uses her cursed powers to confound them."
  
  You nod in agreement. You do remember how easily you were swayed in your dream.
  
  Vitre continues to speak about the mission detailing how we would recognize her, which you already knew, how long it would they were to stay in Aeors, and other such information. Before too long, he finishes his debrief of the mission and everyone returns to the temporary rooms at the academy.
  
  With your thoughts a mix of worry, determination, and fatigue you go to sleep.
  
  The next few days go by fairly quickly, and you find yourself on the road for the first time in while. Years in fact. You weren't really permitted to take lengthy trips during your years of schooling, so your last trip of moderate length was when you left Valium.
  
  The first few days of the trip go by almost quickly, but with each passing day thereafter, you begin to feel like it's taking forever. You tend to stay silent for most of the trip, but Raven decides talking is much more preferable to silence. After the first few attempts at talking to you either fail, or end in uninteresting conversations, she decides to talk to Vitre. It goes fairly well for her, and the both of them get along famously for the remainder of the trip. You think you see Raven making eyes at Vitre, but you chalk it up to motion sickness.
  
  As the days go by, the terrain changes and you begin to see progress being made in your trip. The surroundings go from green to brownish yellow, and you start seeing more and more sand replacing the trees. Eventually you get to the point where the three of you are wandering through the southern deserts of Dellandia. They're the only real obstacle that lies between you and Alessa.
  
  The desert is hot, arid, and leaves you wishing for water often. Luckily for you, Vitre planned the trip well enough to take a route following a river.
  
  Several more days pass, and Vitre finally talks about strategy.
  
  "How do you two think we should go about finding this lost princess?"
  
  You'd been waiting for this. This conversation was the key to achieving your goal of helping Alessa. Had you brought it up yourself, and then mentioned your plan, Vitre might've gotten suspicious.
  
  "Well, we know her appearance. Her hair is supposed to be pretty distinct in Aeors. If we patrol the area, and can just find her, then I think I can apprehend her."
  
  "What do you mean by 'I can apprehend her?' You don't seriously think that you're going to take her on alone, do you?" Raven questions you with a surprised look on her face.
  
  "Of course I do," you respond cheerfully. When you see Raven about to object again, you continue. "I'm the only one who can do it. I am blessed by the Creator himself. I probably won't be affected by her black magic." You sound silly to yourself, but Raven takes your words completely seriously.
  
  "But she's a cursed one!"
  
  "That's even more of a reason for me to do it alone. What if she takes one of you hostage through her powers? That'd complicate things considerably. I'm not sure I'd even be able to rescue you if it came to that."
  
  Throughout this back and forth, Vitre stayed silent, but takes the momentary lull in conversation to interject. "He's got a point Raven."
  
  You allow yourself a small smile. If Vitre liked your plan, then you're quite certain that the two of you could convince Raven. However, your smile disappears when you hear what he has to say next.
  
  "That being said, Aeors is not the kind of city we need to wander alone in. You're liable to get stabbed, robbed, and you're body desecrated if you wander alone. While I'm sure you're quite capable of defending yourself, I'm not convinced wandering around alone is the best idea."
  
  You think he's probably exagerating, but you do see his point. Regardless of that, however, this was Alessa you were trying to save. You doubt that you'd get an opportunity to talk with her alone if you all patrolled as a group together, and you sure didn't want to find her when you're with the two of them.
  
  You still wonder if Vitre is right though...
  
  > keep trying to convince him
  "You said it yourself Vitre. There's a reason my father wanted me to be on this mission. If we all just travel together, then we'd draw too much attention, and an encounter with her could end catastrophically."
  
  Seeing that Vitre and Raven still weren't convinced, you continue. "If you're that worried about me, then just follow behind me at a distance. That way you can rush to my aid if I ever need it." You make sure the emphasis on the 'if' is very clear.
  
  Vitre starts nodding. "That could work,"
  
  Raven throws her hands up in exasperation. "You too Vitre? I can't believe you really think this is a good idea."
  
  Raven continues to to express her dislike of the plan, but now that you have Vitre agreeing with you, everything goes much smoother. Even so, it takes most the rest of the trip to convince her.
  
  When she is finally convinced, everything returns to normal, or at least as normal as it can get when traveling.
  
  It's a few days later when you finally come upon the city of Aeors. Walls of hardened sand surround the entirety of the city, and towers line either side of the main entrance. As you arrive, the sun dips beyond the walls and casts a welcome shadow over you and your companions. You continue to follow the river until you three approach the gate, then Vitre surges ahead of you and Raven.
  
  He approaches one of the two guards standing beneath the gate. After a muted conversation and a few coins exchanged, Vitre motions for you two to follow him into the city. You glance around and are surprised to see that the river flows under a section of the wall and into the city beyond. This sparks a memory from your history class back at the academy.
  
  It was in your first year that you remember learning about the city of the lake. A city that was founded entirely around a lake and the resources that came from it. Supposedly the city was able to sustain itself entirely of the agriculture, water, and meat that came from it.
  
  You and Raven pass through the gate and form up beside Vitre. If the view from the outside was impressive, then the view from the inside was magnificent. Sunlight falls over the tops of the sandstone buildings creating a dynamic contrast between sunlight and shadow. You continue to follow Vitre through a maze of roads until you come upon a tavern. You can tell this because of the raucous laughter coming the inside.
  
  Vitre casts sidelong glances at the two of you that seem to say "here we go." With that encouraging look, Vitre pushes open the worn door open and steps into the tavern. You and Raven follow moments afterward.
  
  The interior of the tavern is lined with torches, and the walls, floors, and ceilings are all made of polished sandstone. It's looks kind of odd to you, but everyone else seems to not care. Wooden tables are strewn about the room along with people of every type. You examine the room carefully, first to see if by some crazy chance Alessa was there. Second, to see if there was any danger in the immediate danger. Aside from a few shady people in corners, no one pays the newcomers much attention.
  
  "Wait here, I'll go fetch us rooms." Vitre goes off to the bar to secure lodging leaving you and Raven alone.
  
  You sneak a glance at her. Her skin has started to tan, and there's a tired look in her eyes, but other than that (and of course her growing) nothing has really changed about her since you first met her. Despite your expert glancing, she catches you looking at her and raises an eyebrow.
  
  "Staring at me at a time like this?" A smirk follows the comment and you scowl.
  
  "I wasn't staring," you object.
  
  She laughs lightly, and you find yourself suddenly embarrassed. Luckily, Vitre comes walking back to you giving you a welcome distraction.
  
  "We'll have two rooms here for a week. If we haven't found her by then, then we can pay for longer. Sound good?"
  
  You and Raven nod your assent, and Raven and Vitre start to go up the stairs to the rooms. You pull Vitre back for a moment.
  
  "Where's the privy?" You ask him quietly.
  
  He keeps his face straight apparently catching on that you would prefer Raven to not hear about your endeavor to expel waste from your bowels. Even so, amusement twinkles in his eyes.
  
  "The Innkeeper told me it was out behind the building."
  
  You whisper a thanks to him, and head outside to relieve yourself. You find the privy easily enough, and you step inside eagerly.
  
  It's what comes after you finish, however, that complicates things. When you open the door to go back outside, you find a cloaked figure waiting for you. From the physique type, you can tell it's a man. a man with a sinister kind of presence. Before you can ask him what he wants, he reaches into his cloak and pulls out a dagger. He then lunges at you.
  
  He's fast, but not nearly fast enough to hit you. You easily sidestep, and as his hand passes your body, you pull on it and shove him past you and into the privy. You are just about to turn around and reenter the privy to question the guy, when you see something glint in the corner of your eye. You step entirely out of the privy and roll away just in time to dodge an arrow.
  
  You heart pounds in your chest, but doesn't stay that way for long. When you rolled out of the way of the arrow, you happened to roll in to a third enemy. This time you don't have time to react. The third guy had a sword waiting, and he plunges it through your heart.
  
  The last thing you see is the face of Ashyr standing over you, and the word "Payback" mouthed on his lips.