Ever since he was little, Lachlain had always wondered why people did bad things. He would question his mother when he was growing up as to why people saw a reason - saw a need - to kill people. Although he himself had committed his fair share of crimes, he still felt somewhere deep down it was wrong. Who was he to take a man's life? Was it his place to steal what was not his? He had always despised people who sought out crime as if it were a game. It angered him greatly to think that there were people out there who would kill an innocent person in cold blood, and it would not even play on their minds afterwards, not even if it was their own parents. It made him feel sick. And so it sickened him greatly to find himself walking into the centre of the magical crime industry, a small brick building nestled on the north bank of the Thames. The Tenebris Market - the pulsating heart of the criminal magic world. He didn't see himself as a lawbreaker by going their, neither did he regret it. As he grew from a child many, many years ago, he learnt the hard way that sometimes bad things had to happen. Yes, it still made him feel a little bit bad when he stole something, and he could still never bring himself to kill an innocent being - but something in him had changed as he'd grown older. The world had moulded him into someone who just didn't care about what was right anymore. As he made his way through the deserted alleyways leading towards the Tenebris, the dark rain clouds that had gathered over the past few hours opened up, lightly at first, but then the soft tap tap on the ground soon turned fierce, and he found himself running to prevent getting drenched. He passed a homeless man, and ignoring his pleas, ran straight on until he reached Blackstone House - the location of the Tenebris. He walked straight in, through the front door and into what was commonly referred to as the lobby. Casually furnished with a desk and some chairs, it provided a suitable façade for the building that housed illegal trading of magical substances. Lachlain then went on through the secret door beside the desk, making his way down the few stairs until he reached the main underground hall. It was brightly lit with hanging ceiling lamps, and the hall itself was occupied by twenty to thirty different stalls each selling their own little weird concoctions or poisonous animals. It was bustling, and the magic aura given off by all it's inhabitants gave Lachlain a buzz anyone rarely got to experience anywhere else. The only other place that this amount of mages tended to gather at the same time was when the Tribunal, a council of magic, arranged a meeting, and that was extraordinarily rare.
He strolled through the market, taking in the avid sounds of chattering merchants and the soft smell of the damp wooden beams that hung precariously from the ceiling. There were many stalls, each selling their own little trinkets, but Lachlain was looking for one in particular. He didn't have to wander around for long before he found it. He hadn't been here in a while; unforeseen circumstances had meant he had spent the last six years in Scotland, attending to some odd tasks that many would consider a waste of time. He however, knew better, and as he approached the small wooden stall he couldn't help but to let out a slight smile. He had missed this place.
"Any discounts for an old friend?"
The woman behind the desk let out a huge grin an she looked up, and a little squeal of joy escaped from her lips.
"Lachlain!" She cried, "What brings you here? Found anything interesting for me on your travels? By god, I haven't seen you in years!"
She settled down, and invited him to sit with her on the other side of the stall.
"Do tell. What have you been up to? Rumours were that you were dead, dismembered by a serpent in the English Channel." She leaned forwards, smiling. "I knew they weren't true."
Lachlain opened his mouth to speak, but instead produced a roll of cloth from inside his jacket pocket. He gave it to her, handing the soft white handkerchief into her warm hands. She turned it over, inspecting the outside, and then continued to open the rolled package, letting out a short gasp when she saw what it was.
