Grand Ceremony.

The day had come after all. Ikira had finally done enough of the badits dirty work to become a bandit himself. He touched his axe to make sure it was still strapped in. He stepped into the cave of his Lord Brash, the bandit king. He watched as all the bandits either drunk or sober cheered for him or gave a chest salute to congratulate him. He gave a small but nervous smile back. His green eyes and redish brown hair were unique in his clan or at least he thought it was. But as he scanned the room he could not find the one person in the crowd he wanted to be there.
"Step up, Ikira." The bandit lord bellowed.
The boy did what he was told, he was only about 14 or 15 but had already been working for the badits since he was a child.
"You are now a bandit of the Orion." Brash addressed, putting a small necklace over his head, at the end of the brown rope was a small curved tooth said to be torn off an ancient beast.
Ikira bowed and stepped down, he knew he was part of the tribe now, these bandits wore dark colours all the time,they were the only tribe known that used stealth and numbers effectively. The tribe had wiped out groups of ninjas, samurai and other bandits in what seemed mere weeks.
Once more, Ikira looked around for his friend, he shook his head in dissapointment.
Must have forgotten again.

Soulthief walked slowly around the bandit grounds, she had been accepted into the group because of her pure disregard for others' personal safety. The dark unicorn watched with pupil-less red eyes as Ikira was made a true bandit.
Soulthief, on entering the bandit group, had had an insignia branded on her chest of the group symbol, it glowed red when her horn did, usually when she was angry.

Ikira finally found her, Soulthief. He ran over through the crowd to greet her.
"You always like taking your time, eh?" He teased, he noticed the symbol glowing.
"What seems to be the problem?" Ikira asked, his hand on his axe.

"The goddamn city guard is coming" She said quietly, her voice was low and empty, like shadow itself "To try and wipe us out" she added.
She stretched her leathery wings in an attempt to relieve her of her anger, it didn't work.

"Oh that's just great..." Ikira sighed, shaking his head.
The bandit lord stood off his seat before speaking.
"Get ready, the city guard is coming... Ready your weapons! Repel the enemies!" He commanded, drawing his sword.
The rest drew their respective weapons as did Ikira and readied themselves.

A tall and well built man, Bloodwraith, who had been nicknamed such because of his efficiency in dispatching enemies in the most grotesque ways, yet remaining undetected, crept up behind soulthief and abruptly put a hand on her shoulder to startle her. "City guard..." he acknowledged deeply. "Old news... Just get outside and hide yourselves. If they find one of us, we will ambush them, otherwise, we will let them leave." Bloodwraith really did resemble a wraith in the effect that his robes were very loose, and shadowy gray. He blended in just about anywhere and was as silent as a falling flower pettle. His face was scarred in various places because in practise, he insisted his opponent go all out. All of the scars except one was ally inflicted. That one scar... had been from Gheist. His prime adversary. He walked away before she even noticed him leaving and took his position right out in the open, inderneath a shady tree. Still, he blended, almost unnaturally.

Ikira heard the man and followed his instructions. Leaving the badit lair and hiding behind one of the many boulders that surrounded the area.
He always kept his hand on his axe just in case. He watched Soulthief then motioned over to her.

Soultheif dissipated into black fog and slithered over to Ikira, then took her solid form again, crouching behind the boulders. Memories came flooding back as she remembered crouching behind boulders as a young, normal foal with her twin, she smiled a rare smile to herself.

Bloodwraith let out a low hiss, which was normal for him to do, being half snake. He was quite an oddity though, because blended in with that snake, there was lizard aswell as human. All three of these traits were clearly visible. His fave was snakelike, with slits for nostrils and small beady black eyes. His shape was humanoid, and he had a lizard tail. He threw his hood over his head to conceal himself yet more as he waited for the advancing City Guard.

The City Guard suddenly rushed into the bandit cave, cries of battle and screams of pain and eath were all that could be heard. Ikira could not take hiding like a coward, he rushed in. Drawing his axe and cleaving a guard in two only to have about five attack him. His bandit allies tried to help defend him since he was a new member. Which worked uot for a bit until someone shoved Ikira back as a signal to hide once more.
"Damn it." He growled, hiding once mroe as the battle ensued.

"GOD DAMN IT!!!" Bloodwraith hissed loudly. "I'll kill you, kid, you hear! What were you thinking running out there like that when there was no damn need?!" Bloodwraith emerged from his cover, still almost invisible, and sliced open two of the guards stomachs, spilling their entrails. "You stupid little-" he was interrupted by a corpse falling on him. He brushed himself off and resumed killing.

Soulthief dissipated into black fog again and sneaked up on unsuspecting city guards, choking them to death with her translucent form where they stood.
She floated back into cover next to Ikira and took solid form again.
"We deserve to fight" she growled quietly to him, ducking her head so the guard wouldn't notice her horn glowing with anger.

In rage, Bloodwraith shouted "These people have families to go home to! They didn't even do anything wrong. Should they be condemned to die for nothing but being in the wrong place at the wrong time?!" Stealthy as fog, Bloodwraith fled the camp. "Fools..." he said to himself. "I'll have nothing to do with such a disorganized group. Stupid kid..."

Ikira seemed to get what that man was saying quite quickly. And jumped up out of his hiding area.
"Oh no, the Ashuga gang is attacking the city!" He said, the guards not noticing that he was lying through his teeth. They charged down into the city roaring with anger and drawing their blades.
"Now men, we must depart into the forest!" The bandit lord commanded, as everyone ran into the dense woods, knowing that it would only take a few minutes for the guards to realize this was a trick.

Bloodwraith noticed the running city guard behind him. He continued towards the city, planning to find recruits for his own guild. They were fools. He would have none of it. Sure, assasination was dishonour, but up until now, he had only killed people who deserved it. Now, he had the blood of two innocents just doing their jobs. He was alone now, until he could start fresh. Then, he would stop them.

"Stay close" Soulthief said to Ikira as they ran with the others into the forest.
While trotting easily at the same speed as everyone else's running, she spoke to Ikira again.
"Where do you think Bloodwraith went to?"

Ikira growled, he had no idea where the coward had went to but he decided to answer the question as best he could.
"He probably went down to the city, possibly to regroup." Ikira responded.

Bloodwraith was a mercenary, meaning whatever he did, he did for money. Up until now, that had been fine with him, but when innocent people die, it's not a game anymore. He had to take that group down, but he couldn't do it alone. No one knew he was a shapeshifter, so no one would know who he was when he went to his human form. He transformed. Now, he had fair skin and silver hair, just slightly below his shoulder blades. His two daggers had merged into a single, ornate rapier. Everything he wore except for the golden pendant around his neck was white. White chestplate, white trousers, white cape. His cape had a red inner lining. He was the epitome of regality. "They'll never know." he said to himself.