The night in Valemire stank of smoke and perfume.
The city buzzed like a drunk fly — loud, messy, and pretending it wasn't falling apart.
The Outlaws sat in The Bent Halo, a tavern famous for not asking questions.
Cass kicked back in his chair, boots on the table. "Finally, some peace. No beasts, no bandits, no bounty hunters tryna turn us into rent money."
Rowan smirked faintly. "We're already wanted in half the frontier. I'd say that's peaceful enough."
Cass grinned. "Hey, a bounty's just free marketing, man."
Lynx rolled her eyes from her seat at the bar. "You humans are the only creatures who brag about being hunted."
Rowan chuckled, but his gaze drifted toward the tavern's bounty board. His poster hung right at the center — his own face staring back at him with that same cold scowl.
It'd been there for weeks now.
Name: Rowan Ainsworth
Reward: 1,000 Gold Pieces
Threat Level: Class B
Charge: Inheritor of Forbidden Mana
Nothing new. Nothing strange.
But something about the parchment felt… off tonight.
Cass noticed him staring. "You still mad about the sketch? I told you, bro — they did you dirty with that chin."
Rowan snorted. "No… it's not that." He leaned closer. "Look — the seal at the bottom."
Where the Guild's insignia should've been — the familiar twin swords and scale — was something else.
A golden emblem, scorched into the parchment. A serpent coiled around a blazing sun.
Lynx's ears twitched. "That's not a guild mark."
A voice from behind them cut through the noise. "No. That's far worse."
The group turned. A woman in a tattered cloak stood at the end of the bar, drink in hand, eyes sharp like daggers. Her hair shimmered silver under the lamplight, a long scar slicing across her cheek.
"My name's Mira Wraith," she said, stepping forward. "I fought beside your father once."
Rowan froze. "You… what?"
Mira ignored his shock and pointed to the poster. "That insignia doesn't belong to any bounty guild. That's the Phoenix crest — the royal family's personal mark."
Cass blinked. "Wait, the Phoenix Family? Like… the family?"
"The only one that matters," Mira muttered. "They don't hand out bounties, boy. When they mark someone, it's not for arrest — it's for elimination."
Lynx growled low. "So this isn't about gold."
"No," Mira said softly. "It's about blood. The royals see him as a threat. Something… not human."
Rowan's jaw tightened. "Because of the Loki crystal, right?"
Mira nodded. "Your father's experiment left traces of divine mana in your body. To the royals, that makes you an unstable weapon — or worse, a descendant of the gods. And they'll kill anything that threatens their rule."
Cass leaned back slowly, tone uneasy. "Guess that explains the random assassins and flying freaks trying to roast us every town."
Mira's eyes darkened. "They'll keep coming. Especially now that your bounty carries the Phoenix crest. It's a royal purge order."
Rowan stared at his poster again, fingers tightening around it. His name. His face.
A symbol that meant he wasn't seen as a man anymore — but a monster.
A low rumble echoed outside. The windows shook.
Cass sighed. "Aaand that's probably them."
The door burst open, a chained soldier stumbling in — eyes glowing from a slave pact rune. Behind him, a twisted chimera roared, the Phoenix crest branded across its chest.
Mira drew her blade. "Get ready."
Rowan cocked his revolver. Cass loaded his rifle. Lynx shifted, growling, her fur crackling with blue mana.
"Just another day being famous," Cass muttered.
"Let's make 'em regret it," Rowan said, eyes flashing gold as he aimed.
---
Later, when the fight was done and Valemire was in ruins, Mira helped them hide in an abandoned smithy on the city's edge.
She tossed Rowan a cloak. "You need to move carefully now. You're not just wanted anymore, Rowan."
He frowned. "Then what am I?"
She looked him dead in the eye. "A marked man. The Phoenix Family doesn't issue bounties. They issue warnings."
Rowan stared at the torn poster, the faint scorch of the Phoenix crest.
He crumpled it in his fist.
"If that's how they see me," he muttered, "then it's time I start living up to it."
Mira smirked faintly. "Your father said the same thing."