A man, clad in a white robe that covered most of his body, walked through the busy streets of the capital of a certain kingdom.

The buildings were mostly made of stone and most of them looked rundown, poorly constructed even. Houses and shops alike.

It was hard to tell one from the other, honestly, and it almost seemed like a maze.

In an starking contrast, however, just a pair of kilometers away, buildings of distinguishing luxury stood triumphant there. Golden ornaments and frames decorated the buildings, and that’s just in the outside.

Obviously, the rich side of the capital.

A city where the social differences were perfectly clear, and extreme. The rich were filthy rich and the poor were filthy poor.

The man with the white robe looked around him, as if he was looking for someone or something.

A hood obscured his face too, which made more than one person look at him with suspicion.

They were the poor and some of them even homeless of this kingdom. Most of them were wearing rags, and the man in the white robe could see one of them completely naked, curled up in a ball and crying.

It made him frown with disgust, even more so seeing the horrible bruises in his skin.

“Mister, mister.” The voice of an old lady called out to him.

The man turned to the woman, not taking his hood off.

“Do you mean me?” He answered curtly, but with a slight polite tone in his voice.

“Of course. You seem like a noble, if I am not wrong, milord.”

“Well, you are not entirely wrong. Might I ask who you are?” The man took a defensive stance, reaching for the sword hanging from his hip.

The woman was old. Much older than someone would think possible.

The wrinkles in her face made it impossible to see her eyes, or anything else of her face, and her gray hair was just about to become inexistent.

She was dressed in some kind of robes with runes inscribed on them, impeding him from seeing anything at all of the woman’s physique.

She was sitting in front of a small wooden table, in an equally small chair. A crystal ball rested on top of it, and a trump of cards stood beside it.

“Just a travelling soothsayer, my boy. I predicted this encounter and here I am.” She explained, managing a smile between her wrinkles.

“What was so important about this encounter that you would go out of your way to meet me here?” The man didn’t let a single move of the old woman escape him.

His training told him that even old people could be extremely dangerous, even more so if the woman had gone out of her way to tell him he was a soothsayer.

In short, she was some kind of mage, and with age came wisdom.  

“It is an important fortune I have to tell you, my boy. Please, sit down and hear me out.” The woman motioned with her hand for the man to sit down in a small chair, directly in front of her.

The man relaxed his stance and sighed.

“I’ll just tell you, I do not believe in fortune telling.” He sat down, despite the chair being way too small for him.

“Fortune telling is like every other magick, m’boy.” Her tone turned a little more... maternal. “Not believing in it is like not believing in magic. The whole world moves on it, after all.”

 “Fine. What kind of fortune do you want to tell me?” He tried to make the woman get to the point. “I got little time, and I’m sure you’ve got even less.”

“Ah, I knew you’d come to your senses.” Seemingly delighted, the soothsayer brought both hands together. “Give me your hand.”

Extending a shaking hand to the man, he complied and put his hand over hers.

“Please, take that hood off too.” The old lady asked of him.

Though he did not reply, the man did as he was told and took his hood off with a single glove clad hand.

The man had shaggy blonde hair, that looked nonetheless pretty and well taken care of. It was somewhat short, his bangs stopping just centimeters before his eyebrows.

His face looked almost like that of a statue, with his face in the shape of a rectangle. Chiseled, handsome and with deep features.

His blue eyes were long and piercing, fit for a warrior.

“Yes, yes… Alastro Tray. A knight of Tyour, capital of this continent’s biggest kingdom, Ryoule. Knighted at age 18, you are one of the youngest knights of this country and yet you staked your life for your country. Commendable, but at the same time worthy of pity. At age 23, you were stationed as border guard of a small village in the outskirts of the capital, despite your accomplished military history.”

“....” Alastro was left speechless and was pretty surprised, despite his face remaining completely calm.

The woman was spot on about everything.

“The village, Uark, was also the place where you were born. In the end, everything had gone full circle and you ended up back to where you started. How fun.” The old woman coughed up a laugh, before she went into a fit of coughing.

Alastro did nothing but watch her as she tried to calm and soothe her throat by softly massaging it. Eventually, her coughing stopped.

He felt some of her saliva landing on his hand and he thought of pulling away, but his interest was piqued. Perhaps the old woman could give him an accurate fortune as to what was about to happen.

“Please, forgive me.” The woman continued. “In any case, what I am trying to say here is that you,” Still holding his hand, the fortune teller reached to her side and took one of the cards from the trump. “Are the Knight.”

“Yes, I am a knight, what about that?” Alastro asked, his brows knitting together.

Perhaps the woman was a charlatan after all.  Anyone who could still hear could probably hear rumors about him, piece the story together….

“No, you do not understand. You are just one part of the whole. A part of a group of six that shalt gather in our time of need. You are the Knight.” She flipped over the card she had in her hand, and  then took 6 other cards and flipped them as well.

They all had different patterns on them and an inscription at their bottom..

The one with a knight, clad in full body armor and a helmet that obscured their face, standing furiously in a battle stance and seemingly dashing forward with a sword in one hand and a shield in the other said at the very bottom of it, ‘Knight’.

Afterwards, there was a figure wrapped in robes standing sideways. In their hands, they held a round flask with a green substance in it. At the bottom of it, it said ‘Alchemist’.

Then there was one of a person holding a mace, and supporting its head against the ground, holding it with their right hand, while in the other one they had two fingers lifted and their thumb standing to the side, as if to make the figure of a cross. It read at the bottom, ‘Priest’.

After that one, there was a man of whom only his back and his head slightly turned were visible. Clothed in black robes, the figure held a quarterstaff in their right hand. ‘Mage’ it read.

The next had an image of a man jumping forward with a dagger in hand and a bag spilling gold coins in the other hand. They wore a cloak that covered their whole face, and light leather armor.  At the bottom of it, there was a ‘Thief’ inscription.

Lastly, there was the figure of someone jumping away from something, seemingly something dangerous. With their bow trained on whatever danger they were facing, the bottom of the card read ‘Sniper’.

“You, Alastro, are the Knight.” The old woman handed him the card in question. “Part of the Six Chosen Ones.”

“Wait, wait… what about the Hero?” Alastro finally stopped to ask the old lady something, while looking at the card with disbelief.

“The Hero? What might you talking about, deary?” The old woman seemed truly confused as she brought a single hand to her cheek.

“In my village, before I left again, the elder of my village told me that I was the hero that was spoken of in many of our legends. A hero who would lead other 5 Chosen Ones to save the world! He….” He sank his gaze to the ground, bit his lip and then turned back to the old lady. “He told me I was the center of it all! He told me I was the one most important for the legend to come true and save the world!”

“Child… are you really so in need of attention? Why do you need other people to acknowledge you so badly, when you are already an upstanding man and an incredible warrior? As long as you yourself know your worth, isn’t that enough?”

“....” Again, the man fell silent and then sighed. “I guess.” He said in a forlorn tone.

“That does not mean you are not an important part in this, however. You are one of the 6 Chosen Ones, after all, and also, the one that will bring the others together. Without you, there are no ‘6 Chosen Ones’, in more ways than one.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You are the stalwart defense, the unblockable attack, the loyal one that will stick to the end of the journey, no matter what happens. You may doubt, you may feel discouraged, even depressed, but you shall never give up. It is thy oath as a knight and thy duty as a Chosen One. That last bit was part of a prophecy of old.” The old lady said with a smile that tore some of her wrinkles apart.

“I-I still don’t get it. How do I find the others? WHY do I have to find them?” He was getting impatient, tapping his foot against the ground.

“You, who have experienced both glory and hardship, sorrow and happiness, experienced the pain of others as if it were your own and you who have been pushed away by others in your time of need…. you never lost hope. Some of them have. Help them, as your personality compels you to do so.”

“I am not all of that! I can’t do that!” Alastro argued. “My personality is not as sweet as you make it out to be.”

The old lady then shook her head.

“That, my dear, is where you are wrong. I cannot tell you everything you need to know. Future does not allow me to do so. But I’ll tell you one name and one title…. Johannes Asecci. The Thief. And now, I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me.” The old woman gave Alastro one final smile.

Her face suddenly started morphing.

What had been a face full of wrinkles with the possibility of some face features behind them, became the face of a dignified old woman.

Long and silky gray hair, beautiful emerald eyes and some crow’s feet by her eyes. She was old, yes, but she was still a dignified old woman, who looked almost like a good wine, something that only got better with the years.

She was wearing a long, black dress. There was a silky, black cloth that covered her face completely. It was almost like a dress someone would wear to a funeral.  

Alastro recognized her instantly, and the moment he did, the woman fell to the ground.

She did not cough, she did not do anything, but now blood was gushing out of her mouth, and also from her nose.

Alastro stood up and put two fingers on her neck to check for a pulse “Milady?!” He shouted. “Please, wake up! Milady!”

“THERE SHE IS!”

“WHY IS SHE ON THE GROUND?!” Guards were shouting, thoughts were rushing through Alastro’s head.

What had happened was simple, straightforward and something that Alastro’s mind had deduced by the time the woman hit the ground.

The Queen was now lying in front of her.

Someone had killed her, and whoever had done so had also managed to frame Alastro of this crime.

In other words, he had ‘killed’ the Queen, and was now a traitor to the nation.

By the morrow, they would have his head.

“Get in there!” Alastro was thrown inside a cage by a single guard.

Stripped of his equipment, shield and sword, Alastro was left only with the few clothes he had on himself.

A white sleeveless shirt and a pair of white pants, and that was all.

He had not only been stripped of his clothes and shoes, but also from his pride as a knight.

“How sad. sir Alastro, we never expected you to do something like this. Or perhaps Queen Julia did predict this and simply accepted her fate, but not before making sure that her murderer was found out.”

A man, wearing a cape that covered most of his body, approached the cell Alastro was in.

He wore a chest plate and had two swords hanging from his hip. One of them was Alastro’s, the man could easily recognize it.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t remember you, small fry.” Alastro simply dismissed the man with a wave of his hand. “And I don’t care what you say, but you must hear me out. I did not kill the Queen. Someone else killed lady Julia, and they are still at large. Instead of locking me up, we should all be looking for them!” Alastro tried to reason with the man in front of him.

“Right. Of course I believe you with that attitude of yours.” The man simply dismissed what Alastro had to say with a flick of his hand. “Enjoy what little time you still have left. By this time tomorrow, your village will be receiving your remains and you’ll have the funeral of a traitor.”

The man looked at him with scorn one last time, before he left the gallows Alastro had been imprisoned in.

“You have to hear me out!” Alastro took the steel bars of the cell he was in with both of his hands. He was gritting his teeth, filled with rage. “The whole royal family might succumb if you don’t hear me out! Besides, Queen Julia told me something before she died! If the legend is true, then-!”

The man slammed the door leading to the surface behind him.

Alastro simply let out a heavy sigh and sat down on the cell’s cold floor.

“How could she? My queen, have you led me astray? Village elder, have you lied to me? Which is the truth, and which is the lie? What prophecy tells the truth?” He was lost, and he wanted answers.

Alastro’s village, Uark, was humble. Poor and rundown as many of the buildings in the capital. Yet another display of the kingdom’s bad economy.

Ryoule is a kingdom rich with minerals, and more importantly, magic stones and the like are easily found in here.

Most of the people’s livelihood in this world is supported by the product of these magic stones, which feed the state-of-the-art machinery known as ‘Arcana’.

Arcana provide the people with electricity, heat, and, in more extreme cases, they also provide them with firepower for their armies.

In the capital, Tyour, however, only the rich side of town could afford using Arcana for their everyday needs, while the others had to use candles and the like to see something beyond their noses at night.

Even so, this kingdom of Ryoule had a prophecy. Though the details are vague, something is certain; In its time of most need, 6 heroes will rise to help the people avoid certain extermination.

The Knight, The Mage, The Alchemist, The Thief, The Sniper and The Priest. The 6 Heroes Of Legend, The 6 Chosen Ones. People of unlimited virtue, endless kindness and bottomless courage, or at least so the legend said.

Uark’s variation of this legend was a bit more detailed, however, as it spoke more of the catastrophe that would befall upon Ryoule.

Something beyond human understanding would threaten the kingdom, and the Hero, leader of the 6 Chosen Ones, would be the one to deliver the final blow, passing down on history as a legend.

Uark’s elder had told Alastro that he was the Hero, but now, Queen Julia had exhausted the last of her life telling him that he is, in fact, the Knight.

It was all so confusing….

“Care to meet your cellmate, my friend?” A voice with an odd accent said to Alastro from behind him. .

The man rolled the r’s in all of his words. An accent typical of the region most to the east, but odd to come by in the capital.

Alastro turned to see who it was.

A man was sitting down on the cell’s floor too, his right knee lifted and his other leg crossed below his knee. He supported his arm on his knee and looked at him with a sly look in his eyes.

The man had his black hair slicked back, with a single strand of it falling over his alluring green eyes.

He had the face of a sly, astute man. Alastro deduced only by looking at his face that the man had a silver tongue. The color of his skin was brown and his build was athletic and slim. Obviously, a thief, skilled in his trade, too.

His face features were strong and deep, regardless, and he sported a moustache as well as a goatee.

He wore a shirt and a pair of shorts made out of rags, and a cloak with a hood that hung over his neck.

“Who might you be, commoner?” Alastro asked him, turning his body slightly to face him.

“Whoa! We just met and you are already insulting me? That is a new record!” The man said happily and clapped some, before pointing at Alastro with his index finger. “Then again, I guess every knight is a stuck up dastard. Why don’t we get to know each other better, hm? I am sure we can help each other.”

“How can a criminal like you help me? You delude yourself into thinking that you’ll be of any use to me.” Alastro declared. “If I escape from here, it shall be out of my own power.”

“A criminal, yes! That’s what I am! That’s what I will always be, and right now, with how things are, mister regicide, I don’t think you are in any position to chastise me. Indeed, you are most lucky to be with me in this cell, because any other criminal with a shred of loyalty to this decadent kingdom would’ve killed you themselves before morning.”

“I would like to see any one criminal try!” Alastro stood up, putting both arms by his sides. “I, Knight of Ryoule, Alastro Tray, can defeat any one criminal! Just try me if you doubt it!”

“Hey, I’m not saying I doubt it.” The brown-skinned man stood up and walked over to Alastro, extending him his hand. “And I am happy to see that you’ve introduced yourself at last. I am Johannes Asecci. Knight of the weak and poor, and stealer of the high society. ‘Tis a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Alastro flinched. Johannes? Johannes Asecci?!

Then… the queen had led him there on purpose?! So he could meet the thief….  

“Hey, what is the matter?” Johannes asked. “My hand will dry up if I keep it up like this.”

“I-I… I mean… yes.” Alastro took Johannes’s hand. “Johannes Asecci… the Thief!” He exclaimed, still surprised by this sudden turn of events.

“You are the first person to ever be this surprised upon learning of my occupation, my friend. I guess it is a little embarrassing when someone looks at me like such, but in the end I guess I want some of this every once of a while. Johannes, Chivalrous Thief, at your service.” He answered with a smile.

“No, you don’t understand. The Queen, she… she told me I would meet you. You are part of the prophecy. YOU are the Thief! I am The Knight!” Alastro explained, a slight smile drawing itself on his face as he put his hand on his chest.

“What?” Johannes’s brow arched upwards, and he looked at Alastro as if he had three heads. “I believe you have the wrong guy, friend. I am only a thief. Not part of some prophecy. Besides, no matter what a skilled soothsayer dear Queen Julia was, she would’ve never said that I was the Thief of that prophecy.” He answered, with a sly and treacherous smile on his face.

“Why do you say that?” Alastro asked, before he suddenly realized something, and his grip on Johannes’s hand tightened. “Don’t tell that you killed her, you unhonorable dastard!”

Johannes tried to pull away after Alastro’s accusation. “Of course not. Do not be stupid. I am a thief, not an assassin. I did try to steal her stupid several times before, though. I am sure she knew my name already.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter then.” Alastro sighed and shook his head. “Just, tell me you’ll come with me. We need to find the others.”

Alastro let go of Johannes’s hand and he pulled away, before flicking his hand some and massaging it.

“Now you want my help.” The thief answered.

“Not your help. I want your cooperation. We are part of the prophecy of the 6 Heroes. We are needed elsewhere! You can’t die, and neither can I! We need to make our escape. Tonight.” Alastro insisted.

“Believe me, THAT” Johannes answered with a smile and pointed at him again with a single finger. “is my intention. Right now, we are both where I wanted. Perhaps, I am the only one in this prison that actually wants to be here.”

“What do you mean?” Alastro asked, still confused as to what Johannes meant.

It was then that a huge explosion roared above of them, shaking the very foundations of the underground cell they were in.  

“W-What the?!” Alastro said as he approached a wall to support himself. “What did you do, Johannes?!”

“Haha! It has started!” The thief laughed. “Follow me, Knight, if you wish to get out of here.”

The thief then reached for something inside his trousers, and pulled out a single knife.

“What do you mean, Johannes? Is this your doing?! What are you planning to do?!”

“Oh, nothing much… Just steal everything in the royal palace. I mean, you do know these are the gallows of the royal castle, right?” Johannes said with a smile.

A rock suddenly fell down from the ceiling, a rock that was holding the bars of the cell in place.

A path was now open for them, and Johannes didn’t delay on making his great escape. He was obviously not going to wait for Alastro, and if he didn’t get a move on anytime soon, he would be left behind.

“Crap… I can’t die here! Wait for me, Johannes!” Alastro ran after the thief, soon making his way out of the gallows.