“Hey man, is Kiera ready?” Zion asked as he put on his black leather gloves.

“Zion! Yeah, she's ready. How are ya’? Ya’ look more tired than usual,” a guy, slightly shorter and thinner than Zion, replied cheerfully and energised. Surprising, considering it wasn't even 6 in the morning yet. His blonde hair was slightly stuck to his tired and slightly sweaty face.

“Good, thank you. And yeah, I'm fine, just a bit tired,” Zion answered, walking over to the beautiful, tall, black horse, Kiera, standing in the middle of the stable behind the blonde boy. It wasn't a complete lie, it was early in the morning, he had hours of riding ahead of him, and that soulmate thing was annoying him from the back of his mind. 

Luckily, the blonde boy knew not to continue the small-talking, as he could see that Zion wasn't in the mood for it.

“I put some food in the saddle bags for ya’ both, it should be enough for the day. I also made sure to pack an extra blade, bandages, and a fresh change of clothes. She's ready to go whenever ya’ are,” the blonde boy finished, and with that, Zion hopped on top of Kiera, kissed the top of her head, quickly said his goodbyes and left.

He had ridden for a few hours and was close to the market. As he got a bit closer, he put on his mask, hiding his identity from the public. 

‘Alright, time to get stared at’ he thought with a tone of fake enthusiasm.

Of course, as always, once people started noticing the dark figure riding on a completely black horse, they stopped what they were doing, turned silent, and stared at him. Well, some people were brave enough to whisper and mumble, but not all. They were scared that “The phantom” or whatever else they called him, would do something to them if they talked about him in his presence, even though he hadn't done anything to those doing it, ever.

He suddenly started feeling a weird sensation running through his body. Both the feeling of a power stronger than he had ever felt and some other feeling he didn't know how to properly describe. It was like something in his chest was pulling him forward, and the further into the market he went, the stronger the feeling became.

‘What in the name of the good gods is happening?’ Zion asked himself to no avail. The feelings were still there, and he still didn’t have any answers.

He started looking around a bit frantically, wanting to know who or what made him feel this way. 

His eyes then landed on a young boy- a servant, shorter than him, around late teenage years or young adult, wearing horrendous clothing like the couple other people he was with. Except for a woman, who was seemingly his boss. 

The young man was right next to Zion, staring up at him with both interest and horror. What beautiful eyes he has. But was this the person who gave him those weird feelings? No, something's off. His power's probably wrong. With those levels, how could that be his status? How was he even alive? 

Wait- for how long had he been staring at him? 

‘Shit’ he thought, quickly but hesitantly breaking eye contact. He had to continue. He still looked back a few times though, how could he not? Ashe looked back once, their eyes once again locked, but this time, the young boy's boss grabbed his arm, pulling him behind one of the booths, out of Zion's sight.

‘What the hell was that?’

Their bodies lay motionless, dead, on the floor, practically drowning in a mixed pool of blood, that of their own, and their loved ones. 

His job here was done. 

Zion sighed, taking his time to breathe and relax, thinking about that young man for a few seconds. Who the hell was he? Could he be?- No, that's not possible, not a chance. But what was that other feeling? And why did it feel like he had met him before? He thought about it for a bit but decided that now wasn't the right time. 

He then calmly walked over to one of the trees, hidden deep in the forest, where he had tied Kiera- his favourite, most trusting partner- to one of the trees.

“Hey love, are you ready to head back?” Zion asked, stroking the fur between Kiera’s eyes after he had untied her.

”We’ve got a long way to go, so we better get going. At least we’ll be there much earlier than expected,” he continued, swinging up on Kiera’s back. He then kissed the top of her head and turned her around: “Let's go”.