As usual, the square was busy with people having auctions and buying things they probably didn't really need or wouldn't want later on from various stalls and merchants. People were milling about buying, selling, and trading goods and generally mingling with the general population of the port city of Lomedor.

Lomedor had always been Barras' favorite city. He didn't really know why. Perhaps it was the smell of fresh fish or the thick crows that were all too easy to hide or commit a crime in without getting caught easily. Perhaps it was simply the look. Whatever the reason, though, Barras enjoyed the city of Lomedor greatly. As he wandered through the streets with a smirk upon his handsome yet none-too-friendly - in fact, rather downright arrogant if you want to be quite frank about it - face, he eyed those past which he strode with a look of confidence in his eyes. These people were all beneath him, every last one of them. They were commoners and peasants, nothing more and nothing else. Barras had powerful ties to the wizards that controlled Lomedor's rulers via his Master, the wizard Hollander Tannes, and wasn't about to let people push him about. However, his Master now wanted to test how devious he could be. He knew he was watching from the tower in the distance, no doubt scrying in his home outside the borders of Lomedor to see just how ruthless and dangerous his Apprentice could truly be.

As Barras took the stairs up to a large dining platform nearby, his Master no doubt began to see it. Barras began uttering the words of a rather deadly spell indeed. At first, nothing was known. A few people began to cough, though, and it only got worse from there. There seemed to be something moving through the crowd as more and more people began to hack and cough. Very quickly, it was all too obvious what it was that was causing such a problem amongst the two hundred or so people that now packed Lomedor Square like sardines packed in a shipping crate. Thick black smoke began to fill the square too quickly to be believed as Barras finished his spell. Soon a broad grin was on his face and he started to laugh as he watched the commoners die...

“What are you trying to prove?!” A demanding voice resonated from behind, belonging to a man that seconds ago seemed not be there. The words were followed by the stinging feeling of cold steel pressing into the back of the treacherous sorcerer. “Stop at once, and I might spare you!” Behind the wizard, stood a tanned elf, he held a dagger close to the man’s spine, threatening to pierce him with it. Thanks to a set of innate keen senses, it wasn’t hard for Zekhen to figure out the source of the smoke that enveloped the whole square. And after all, he was just the right person at the wrong time.

Lómëdor Square was the perfect place to go when you had a little spare time, to browse through the different merchandise that the people offered. From weapons to jewelries, mundane and magical, from cheap to awfully expensive – everything and anything you could find among the merchants of the grand capital, of course many of them came from far places, displaying their exotic goods.

Zekhen was off duty so he decided to attend to the daily meeting in the square. A recently won bag of gold was strongly strapped to his belt, keeping it safe from the local thieves that wandered those streets, and even as such, not too many dared pick on him.

Like usual nothing managed to get his attention, something that was worth spending his gold on, so he decided to go have something to eat. The elf climbed to a dinning platform and settled at one of the tables. Everything seemed to be normal and in place, it was an ordinary day, and nothing announced the appearance of a strange breathtaking smoke-like substance. When everyone started to cough for air, Zekhen’s realized that the smoke was nothing of ordinary type, he glanced around and caught the spellcaster in action. No doubt that He was responsible.

Ah, but he wasn't to be threatened so easily. He scowled and rolled his eyes, sighing. Why must people always spoil his fun? Most of these people led pitiful lives anyway - and considering most of them were now dead and there was nothing he could do to remove the smoke anyway - it would eventually dissipate on its own - he didn't bother responding to that demand. He did, however, offer a small chuckle at his accuser's question.

"Prove? Why should have to prove anything? I'm simply having a little fun."

As he said that word, he whirled to the side and backpedaled quickly - straight into a table, which he hit so hard he ended up rolling over it backward and landing smoothly in the chair on the other side.

"Ow," he said as he got up. But he was well away from the man with the blade now, though, so he had no real complaints. Besides, now he had the advantage. He drew his wand and pointed it at the man. He hoped he'd put the man off-balance, seeing as how the man had been pressing forward at the time, but it hardly mattered as uttered a word of power. The wand warmed instantly and shook slightly, and the tip exploded with smoke that quickly filled the platform. By the time it had, though, his wand was away and Barras was up the steps and onto the roof. He jumped onto the next roof and kept running, using the rooftops to get away from the man - laughing all the while.

Never did he think that it would be so easy to make a vile wizard stop from his evil deeds. The longbow was tightly gripped in his left hand, so he could start making a use of it quicker if the need arose, and the wizard will try to make a run of it. Zekhen was skilled with swords, but he was even better with a bow, having a pin-point accuracy. He could hit his target from hundred of feet away.

“It is not the place nor the time to have fun, and these people are not your puppets in order to do whatever you want with them.”

It happened exactly like he expected, the spell caster whirled away, stumbled and tumbled away from the threat of the dagger. The sloppy escape distracted the elf, giving the other man enough time to cast the same smoke-based spell once more, but this time to confuse him. A few coughs escaped the base of his throat, before he managed to pull a piece of cloth over his mouth, as a desert-born he was accustomed with harsh conditions in which you had little to no air, there were countless of sandstorms he had to endure throughout his life.

Zekhen followed the man upstairs pretty quickly, and soon he was onto the first roof rising above the smoke, and there he remained, watching as the man departed more and more, jumping from roof to roof. “Too easy!” He thought. The vision was clear and so was the way towards the runaway. The longbow was readied, and two arrows were pulled from the quiver attached to his right leg; both of them were placed against the string and fired at the same time. They rose into the air and in an arc-like shape they landed right in front of the man. It was just a warning and a show off!

“The next one will brutally rape the back of your neck, and the throat eventually…” He shouted out loud.

Barras came up short before the arrows, but again he maneuvered swiftly and dived over the edge - right onto a balcony on the other side, away from the main part of the square. He got up painfully and brushed himself off. Then he dashed past two startled handmaidens and a cook who dropped a large bowl of hot soup. He screamed as it splashed over him, scalding him badly, and Barras nearly grinned. He couldn't help but offer at least a smirk, but he couldn't afford to waste time on a grin right now. He dashed out the front door and down the stairs into another part of the square. He did laugh this time, though, as now he was in close-quarters and it would be hard to get to him here. Sure, a warrior could do it - but he knew this city, loved this city even, and he used it to his advantage. He quickly got into a position where he could hold the man off and escape quickly if necessary.

The back alleys of the city were not a place for simpletons. They were dangerous and dark. They were perfect for one such as Barras, who preferred to take out his opponents quickly and with relatively minimal effort, despite their grungy appearance and lack of upkeep. He waited with a smile on his face and his wand out for his would-be assassin to try to come take him out. It would take the man a few minutes to find him, he knew, for Barras was an expert at hide-and-seek - but then the battle would begin...maybe.

A soft sigh escaped his lips, he should have killed the man on place, or at least render him unable to move, by aiming for one or both of his legs. The chased now disappeared into a building, and placed the elf in the sad situation of being unable to shoot him anymore.
With a whistle he summoned forth his horse; the mount waited for a sign in one of the back alleys.

The elf climbed down the stairs and quickly got in his saddle, and raced through the back streets of the city, heading straight towards the building devastated by the spell caster. A horse exceeds by far the speed of a man, and Zekhen was no stranger to those streets, as he often wandered them, and ironically most of the fights he had in that city happened on those streets. Guards rarely patrolled that area, for the same reason as the other didn’t either: they didn’t want any trouble with the thugs.

“Where is he?” Zekhen asked the cook who was unfortunate enough to have a man stumble into his house and made him spill the hot soup over his flesh. The man did not reply, but instead he pointed towards his direction.

As a thanks, the sandy elf nodded his head, before he heeled the horse in the sides making it move once more. A couple of minutes passed, and the image of the sloppy spell caster once more appeared before his eyes. A large scimitar was sheathed for the battle, but the elf maintained a safety distance.

“Give up!”

"Give up?" he asked mockingly, grinning broadly at the man sitting astride his tall horse. "To what end? I don't like having my fun interrupted. And I can't remove the smoke, either. And since all those people are probably dead by now...well, what would your intent be? To kill me?"

Barras laughed. This man was a fool. Mere weapons could not defeat wizardry, and Barras always had an escape root planned. This man would not live long if he fully inteded to kill the wizard. But Barras didn't mind killing him; it was only the game that mattered to him right now, though. He enjoyed playing with his soon-to-be victims. Besides, this man irritated him - though of course, he didn't show it. The man was relentless. Most people would have given up, but nooo.

Oh, well. At least Barras would be able to have some more fun this day. He was growing in power each day that he studied, each day that he practiced, and soon he would be unstoppable. But for now, he would settle for a playful kill.

That's why the smoke once again filled the alleyway, making it impossible to see and almost as impossible to breathe. Laughter also filled the alleyway as Barras made his escape with hardly a care for the horse or its rider - or the two homeless peasants now coughing and gasping as they swiftly suffocated. They were dead in seconds.

((This whole run-and-smoke thingy is getting old, lol, also do note that the spell’s description says that it fades off after one minute, so it won’t be able to kill anyone during a minute. Be careful not to overplay it too much))

Judging by the stature of the grand capital of Arda and the many people that passed through it and the square that day, Zekhen safely assume that at least one from a thousand of people was able to dispel magic, if not a passerby then the at least a member of the local militia or guards. The city did not survive this long and did not become such grand if populated only by common weaklings.

And people were known to go without breathing for a couple of good minutes before suffering from suffocation and die eventually. It seemed that the wizard was not as powerful as Zekhen first thought, the only trick he had in his sleeve being some spell involving that black smoke.

“Weakling!” He shouted, from the back of his horse, obviously annoyed by the attitude of the wizard who acted worse than a 7 year old. Not to mention the cowardice that defined him as a person, the only thing he did it right was to run for his life.

For the third time in less than ten minutes the smoke has been was cast, making the desert elf raise his hand to protect his eyes and mouth, nearby the coughs of several persons resonated. “Hold your breath, and leave the area at once, you will be safe!” The rider shouted the warning, without inhaling any of the substance either. For now, he allowed the man to live another day, after all giving the circumstances, he was harmless, despite a contrary self-opinion of the man.

One minute had passed, and everything became as clear as before. During that minute, Zekhen did not move from that place, and before turning to attend to other business he scanned the area with his eyes once more; the wizard was nowhere to be seen.

They will meet again, no doubt on that matter!

Barras was quite laughing quite heartily as he made his way through the streets of Lomedor once more. Indeed, he'd pulled quite a trick and had had some fun. Now, though, it was time to continue about his merry way. Heading down the main streets once more just another face in the crowd, he made his way to the edge of the square again. There, he talked with several people that required his attention on a matter pertaining to something his Master had been working on.

The conversation lasted for several moments before Barras got into actually doing something. They went into a back alley and used a decrepit barrel for a table. They laid out a map and began to point out various positions where various parts of Barras' Master's massive project was underway and where they had their people. The problem was then explained to Barras, who rolled his eyes.

Can't those of the mundane world do their own dirty work, or are my Master and I doomed to constantly worked with idiocy-besieged morons? he thought irritatedly to himself. Nonetheless, he explained how to solve the 'problem' (which wasn't really a problem for Barras at all so much as a technical discrepancy) and then went on his way. He was away from the square in a very short time indeed.

The two villagers, a man and his wife of middle age, made as they were told and evacuated their house quickly without taking a further breath of the harming smoke. And soon they were to safety, their faces filled with gratitude at the rider who approached them after just losing the man he was chasing after. Again, he regretted that he didn’t kill the man when he had the opportunity; some people never ever learn; not everyone was worthy of a chance to surrender themselves peacefully.

“Are you two okay?” He asked, with a soft voice. The two nodded in reply “Yes thank you!”

“I hope that man will not bother you anymore, you should go report him to the local militia, you were the only ones other than myself who saw his face, and I got a little too involved. Let the guards deal with this nuisance. Anyway, have a good day!” He smiled friendly before motioning for his horse to take him back to the square, he was to inspect if everything was normal there as well, and if he will by any chance spot the wizard once more. But the man was gone since long, it was impossible to identify spot him out from such a crowd of people, even with his superior, elven senses.

The little incident unfolded without any victims, it was a good thing to know, the people paid little attention to the smoke and none of them tried to figure out its source, they guessed that it came from a nearby house; someone might have forgotten their food on the fire.

It was the time for him to return to his duties, those which involved B.A.D.I., a guild that became quite famous around those parts of Arda. They were contracted for almost anything.