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The night was warm and quiet.

The mage tower sat like a looming giant in the backdrop of the city equally as quiet as the night, a perfect time to steal.

Morai paused and stared up at the flight of stairs she had yet to climb.

Muttering under her breath about the endless stairs, she clutched the clover pendant that hung around her neck, reminding herself of her true reason for doing this—aside from the massive paycheck, of course.

Luka had given her the clover after he’d returned from one of his jobs.

At the time she’d refused it thinking he was just doing it to taunt her.

Luka had thrown it away, but Morai had searched for it and taken it back.

Now covered in resin, she wore it as a constant reminder as to why she wanted to move away from her family.

Not that she hated her family or anything like that, she loved her family.

However, she was growing weary of the endless feud between her family and Luka’s—a rivalry that had lasted for generations, keeping her from doing what she truly wanted.

It first started with one of her long-dead ancestors who at the time was best friends with the Heathrows, but then something happened.

Morai wasn’t sure what happened exactly, but it was enough for their friendship to deteriorate to rivals.

And it only intensified once her ancestor established a thieving guild, but the Heathrows claimed that they were the first ones to establish a guild in the now prestigious city of Linden.

Said guilds were right next to each other.

The rivalry or competition, if you will, trickled down to the most mundane of things, and that was somehow carried on through generations.

So, this quest was her last chance to get the money she needed to move away from all the rivalry.

Of course, she had plans after she moved, and she hoped her parents would agree.

With a sigh, Morai tucked the pendant under her shirt, wiped sweat from her brow, then proceeded up the stairs again.

Born into a family of thieves, Morai was raised to be a good thief.

She didn’t consider herself to be one of the best out there, it was presumptuous to think she was.

She knew someone out there would always be better than her, but Morai thrived to be better than who she was yesterday.

And as long as she was better than Luka, she’ll be fine.

Being better meant she could outsmart him.

She smirked at that, she’d bested him just a few weeks back when she’d stolen a book of magic he’d been commissioned to steal.

The thought of Luka had her frowning.

She hadn’t seen him at all in the past week.

Was he on a quest? One she didn’t know about? Morai always knew what quest he was on, thanks to her friend, Neoni, who belonged to an information guild.

Sometimes, he would gloat to her directly about snagging a quest before she did.

And since she was always determined to outsmart him, she’d make it her mission to finish his task before he could.

Morai smiled, then shook herself, mortified that she was even thinking about him.

Pausing at a large wooden door at the top of the tower, Morai furrowed her brow, wondering not for the first time if this was a trap.

There had been no guards since she arrived, but this was the mage tower, where all kinds of research on magic and alchemy ensued.

She had assumed there were other kinds of security around the building.

So far, she’d seen nothing, which made her increasingly suspicious.

Unless the security was of a magical nature, which would be detrimental to her since she could not sense magic or even use it.

But nothing had happened to alert anyone to her presence…yet.

Easing the door open, Morai stood in the threshold, waiting for an alarm to blare or something to jump out.

But nothing happened.

Did someone else disarm the alarms? Or get the elixir before she did? No, that wasn’t possible.

With cautious steps, she entered the room, the mana stones attached to the walls lit up casting the space in a dull blue light.

Morai had been specifically commissioned to steal an elixir that was kept here, and always up for a challenge, she seized the opportunity.

It wasn’t wise to steal from your own city, there was even a law banning it, but she’d been getting bored just sitting at home and helping to manage the guild with her younger brother.

Something she didn’t want to do, and she threw it at him at the first opportunity with glee.

Not to mention the pay was 100,000 gold.

Who would turn down that many coins? Also, Morai needed the money, she was getting tired of doing smaller thieving jobs that paid way less.

But once she got this job done, she’ll finally meet her quota, along with the presentation she’d already prepared to give her parents.

Hopefully, they’ll see reason and let her move to the capital city.

It’s not that she needed their permission to move or anything, but for her parents to let her move, she’d have to prove to them that she could take care of herself away from family.

Morai walked towards the dais that was again, suspiciously in the middle of the room, with moonlight directly on top of it, screaming for all the kingdom to see.

The elixir sat in a vial on the dais.

With a grin, she walked towards it.

Since she had been specifically asked to do it, Morai assumed she was the only one assigned to the job.

So, imagine her surprise when she sensed, rather than saw, a dart shooting across the room towards her hand that was reaching for the elixir.