Luvi was out on a typical nighttime jog in a quiet part of town. She liked to path around this area because it helped her clear her mind without getting interrupted by harsh sounds. Often times the only things that she could hear at this late hour were her footsteps and tired breaths. On this particular night, she was experimenting with different kinds of foot strikes as she ran. One didn’t typically think about how their foot hit the ground, but Luvi’s experimentation found that it did make a huge difference.
She was most interested in which type was better for sprinting. She tested allowing her heel to touch the ground first as she tore down the street as fast as she could, ultimately coming to a stop far before the next intersection. She felt as though having her heel connect was hurting her, even though it was how she typically ran. Taking so many steps in a short amount of time sent shocks up her heel into her lower back.
She took deep breaths as she rested, flashing a nearby guard a smile who looked at her questioningly. “I’m just out for a run,” she said, holding her hands up innocently, “I’m not here to cause trouble.”
The eyed her suspiciously, but didn’t act, as he could keep an eye on her well enough as she did… whatever it was that she was doing.
Luvi was eager to start running again, but she knew it was best to make sure her heart rate calmed down sufficiently. Her test would be all for naught if she didn’t give each sprint as much energy as possible. Several minutes passed and then she tried again. This time she tried to allow her feet to fall flat. She thought that it was a more balanced approach to having her heel land first, and while it did hurt her less as she sprinted down the street, she found herself naturally leaning onto the balls of her feet which felt more comfortable overall.
She ran back and forth several more times to verify her suspicions, ultimately coming to a stop next to the guard again who rolled his eyes at her. “I think that’s enough, miss,” he said, clearly having lost his patience.
Luvi inclined her head politely, saying, “alright. It’s hard for me to get a good workout during the daytime as I’ve got some kind of an aversion to sunlight due to my mutations. Sorry to have troubled you, I’m happy to call it quits for tonight.” She doubted the man had any actual authority to make her stop running as she wasn’t technically doing something wrong, but she didn’t want to cause trouble.
“Whatever,” the guard said with a yawn, clearly caring little about her excuse. He waved her off and Luvi had turned to leave when there was a sharp noise that came from down an alleyway.
Luvi turned to look at the guard who gave her a concerned look. They both then jogged in unison towards the alleyway. It sounded like a couple was arguing so Luvi and the gaurd paused to listen. The two of them proceeded cautiously and focused in on the sounds the couple were making. Even using a great deal of focus, Luvi still couldn’t make out the words they were saying. Were they even in Common? And where were these people, exactly?
Luvi heard shuffling footsteps and the ring of a bell. The guard grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her to look down another alleyway. “They’re down there, I’d wager,” he said.
“I think you’re right,” Luvi said, reaching her hand to her side and realizing that she didn’t bring her swords with her. It was odd of her not to have at least one of them on her, but running with weaponry was annoying so she’d left everything at home.
“I’d love to help,” she continued, “but I don’t know how useful I’d be without a weapon.”
The guard chuckled, “I’m not giving you one of mine, if that’s what you were suggesting. Besides, it’s probably just a lover’s quarrel.”
“I guess there was nothing to be worried about after all,” Luvi said with a frown. She approached a nearby door and heard nothing but regular conversations when she pressed her ear against the door. Her worst fear was that someone was in trouble. Either she had followed the wrong couple or there really wasn’t anything to worry about. But then again why was she worried in the first place? A domestic spout was none of her business anyways especially when fistfights were a perfectly acceptable form of settling disputes. Maybe she was just secretly longing to find something wrong so badly that it was affecting her thought process.
The guard raised his torch and made it a little further down the alleyway and felt his smile vanish in moments. Luvi followed him and stopped in her tracks. She covered her mouth at the sight of a woman slumped on the floor, clutching at a stab would to the stomach. Blood coated the ground around her even as she groaned in pain.
“Do we have a problem here,” asked one of the several men who stood beside the fallen women. One of them had a purse in his hands that he absent mindedly sifted through.
The guard eyed the men warily, trying to calculate his odds of taking them on. He scrounged up his courage and said, “you are all under arrest for the suspected murder of this woman. Drop your weapons and submit to my authority.”
“Oh please, you’re outnumbered and outmatched,” said the thin yet menacing looking ringleader. He pulled out some coins and tossed the purse to the ground beside the dying woman. “It’s too late to save her anyways,” he said as he tossed a coin to the guard, “surely we can work this out without things getting… messier.”
“Well isn’t this just perfect,” Luvi asked sarcastically. There were so many times where she felt it appropriate to hold back her anger, but this wasn’t one of them. She used simple gestures to apply strength runes that were chained to endurance runes.
“Fuck, a mage. Kill both of them before things get ugly,” commanded the ringleader.
Luvi grabbed the guard’s sword and pulled it from it sheath despite his attempts to stop her. If she was going to have to fight these men then she wasn’t going to do it with her fists. She gave it a couple swings to ready herself while the others drew their weapons.
“Let’s get out of here,” the guard hissed at her, low enough so that only she could hear. “We can catch them later. We gain nothing from fighting here.”
“I think we gain a lot, actually,” Luvi hissed back.
“It’s your funeral then,” The guard said as he took a cautious step back. It was clear that he wanted no part in this duel.
One of them started towards her so Luvi didn’t hesitate. She started charging towards the man closest to her and swinging her borrowed longsword in a horizontal arc as she took her final step. Her body whipped around quickly and powerfully, colliding with the man’s shortsword that couldn’t hope to deflect the power she’d put into the strike. Luvi kept her momentum going, completing a full rotation of her body, stepping forwards again and slashing in unison. She felt like a deadly top, spinning across the alleyway as she moved.
The first man fell with her follow up slash that tore open his middle. The second tossed a knife at her which she batted away effortlessly with her longsword. The third had the guts to approach her with an overhead strike, but Luvi stabbed him before he could even bring down his weapon. The fourth, the ringleader, he turned to run, but Luvi wasn’t feeling very merciful. She withdrew the longsword and twirled it, finding the right grip, then debated chucking it as hard as she could. She was confident that she could have impaled the man even from this far, but a hand on her shoulder made her hesitate.
“That’s enough,” said the grim looking guard. “The others you fell in self defense, but I cannot let you kill a man on the run.”
Luvi debated ignoring the man’s request. She had little respect for him after he’d considered backing down, but he did represent the law so she heeded his wishes. She handed the sword back to him and said, “alright, he lives.” She looked at the bleeding woman and continued, “I think it’s too late for her.”
“Aye, you’re probably right. The others will probably live, which is good because they’ll help us find their boss.”
“Glad I could be of some help,” Luvi said with a sigh. She started back down the alleyway, wishing that she had a magical means of healing people. Then perhaps she could have saved that woman’s life.
