Elemental Eclipse

Chapter 1 - The Bandits' Scheme

The cave mouth gaped wide, a jagged wound carved into the mountainside, swallowing the narrow moonlight that dared creep inside. Within the black maw, shadows danced to the irregular flicker of a torch, casting wild shapes upon the walls. Kezzez Drayden crouched low, keeping himself apart from the others, his dark eyes scanning the assembled crew.

Four men and one woman, each as worn as the rock beneath their boots, gathered in a rough semicircle around a map sprawled on the ground. A sense of unease lingered in the air, thick like the dampness clinging to the cave's walls. Kezzez's fingers brushed the hilt of his dagger — a habitual motion, though he didn't expect it to come to use tonight. It was the other weapons present that concerned him.

"Quiet," snapped Rask, the de facto leader of this sorry band of thieves. He was a brute of a man, all broad shoulders and ill-tempered glances, but he had the trust of the others. "Listen up."

Rask's voice was low, and it cut through the heavy air with a certain commanding quality. His thick fingers, smudged with dirt and grease, traced the line of the valley on the map. "We're hitting the convoy when it reaches here," he said, tapping a point just beyond the southern ridge. "Two days out from Fezandia. Easy pickings if we time it right."

Beside him, Beria, the group's Synthcaster, stood quietly, her gaze fixed on the distant firelight. She wasn't like the others. The tension in her stillness made her presence feel offbeat, like a discordant note in a well-rehearsed song. The steel in her eyes hinted at abilities far more dangerous than the blades strapped to the others' sides.

Beria was bonded to a Group 2 element, magnesium if the stories were true. And Kezzez had seen what she could do—once, in a skirmish with rival bandits. She'd set the night ablaze, leaving their foes little more than charred husks. He remembered the eerie glow that accompanied the superheated flames, almost too bright for this world. It was the kind of power that set her apart — and not just in status. The rest of the crew wouldn't dare cross her.

Kezzez's fingers tightened briefly on his dagger. He was supposed to blend in with these men, to play the part of an outlaw. It was all a means to an end, a long game, but he felt the weight of each day wearing thin. Infiltrating the crew had been easy. Keeping his noble past hidden — that was the harder part. Every glance, every stray word, felt like a thread waiting to unravel.

"Think they'll have protection?" one of the men asked, his voice slurred from too much ale. He was a newer recruit, nervous and eager to prove himself.

Rask scoffed. "They'll have guards, sure, but nothing we can't handle. Just a few hired blades. The real prize is the shipment. Weapons and tech for the Revolutionaries. We intercept, we sell high. You all know the deal."

Kezzez said nothing, keeping his thoughts buried deep. It wasn't the guards or the profit that concerned him. It was the Revolutionaries. This job wasn't just a simple robbery—it was a message. A signal from the people beneath the boots of nobility, those who had lived in the shadows of cities like Vulcaris and Fezandia, scraping by while the upper class built empires on their backs.

He glanced at Beria again. Did she know? Was she aware of how much this job would cost in the long run, or did she only care about the coin? A Synthcaster like her, even with a bond to something as explosive as magnesium, didn't feel the weight of the world's complexities the way he did. Not when there was fire in her veins.

The cave's cool air turned warmer as Rask went on, detailing the final steps of the plan. Kezzez tuned out, his mind wandering to the distant lights of Fezandia, that industrial heart beating faintly beyond the mountains. He remembered its streets, the towering smokestacks belching black clouds into the sky, the hum of life that pulsed through every alleyway. It was a city of industry, yes, but also of secrets—secrets like the one that had exiled him from his family.