Things aren't always what they appear to be.
A kingdom is currently in the midst of a civil war. The old King has passed away, and two factions have risen up, each supporting a different potential successor: the king's young son, raised by royalty and prepared for kingship his whole life, or a popular magistrate from the countryside, risen to fame on the backs of the people he governed.
Bloody fighting has consumed the land. Roads, towns, and even cities aren't entirely safe.
Enter Marek, the young sorcerer with an innate gift for magic. He can create illusions: hallucinations, images, sounds, sights, tastes, even emotions. His whole life, he's dealt with things that weren't real, but were thought to be. Currently, he wanders aimlessly through the country, driven away from his home by the people he once knew.
Enter Casi, the telepath who crosses paths with Marek in a dusty inn. The two set off on an adventure that will test their limits, and it stretches their minds on the subject of what it truly means to be human.
Two villains work for a guild that do mob/gangster like jobs for income. Like they take a job request (like an assassination) on the board and if they complete it, then the guild gives them the reward money.
However the two main villains could never successfully complete a job because they are clumsy, their powers suck, or they always get defeated by a hero. The only income they receive is pity change from the guild.
The guild members pretty much call them lame villains and that heroes walk all over them. The guild starts seeing them as a waste of money and space so they start to evict them.
The main characters would have nowhere else to go, but see a request that's asking to kill one of the top heroes in the area. They grab the form and accept the job....