It all went to shit awhile after that first job with Ollie. In truth, Ollie wasn't even his real name; it was short for Oleander. Our partnership had started off slow. He'd 'recruited' me for a couple more daylight robbery gigs, but nothing violent or malicious. I didn't complain. My initial resistance faded away a little more each time it put food on my table. And, I thought, it wasn't like that I was hurting anyone.

Little did I know that wouldn't last.

Three months later, I had killed someone and passed-out stone cold on a city street. My hands have been slick with blood since I was a boy, and they'd get redder yet still. It'd started like so many things do- with a girl.

The job was a posh bookstore on High Street. High Street was a block of luxury storefronts filled with goods imported from bigger, better cities than little Lille. It was where the patricians wandered and the guards patrolled. I didn't know what we were after, I just knew someone had paid Ollie an obscene amount of money to grab something quick, before it left town.

A wooden sign hung off a post near the door, naming the place 'Anagennsi's Books.' The paint was clean and the colors bright. The place was well-maintained.

It was also supposed to be empty. We'd scoped it out: the lights inside were dead, we'd watched the shopkeep go home, and no signs of life came from within the building.

I stood at the mouth of a nearby alley and watched the street from either direction. I had a ridiculous disguise. They'd given me a rolling cart full of fish guts that I was supposed to 'accidentally' tip over and shout if I saw anyone coming. It wasn't the first time I'd had the cart, though I'd never had to use the signal. I was sure it'd be quite loud.

Ollie had even given me a little iron spade in my cart to go along with my cart. He'd said something about me needing to look the part of a baitmonger. Personally, I think how dumb the miniature shovel looked in my large hands amused him. To me, it was like a good luck charm.

The job had started business as usual. Oleander and Atticus headed in first, after they succeeded at picking the door. Jobe followed behind them, after they'd made sure the coast was clear.

Jobe was another regular associate of Ollie, and he was often apart of the criminal mischief I was involved in. He was old and unremarkable, save for the fact that he only had one good eye. Jobe was not half-blind. At some point in his life, his right eye had been removed from his skull and left behind a scarred socket. It was unnerving.

Sometimes, he kept a rock painted to look like an eye within the hole. It wasn't clear to me if that was some sort of fashion statement, or if he just liked the way it felt. Also, Jobe didn't talk much but grunted plenty. He was strange.

Once they were all inside, I did my job. I waited at the corner, fictituously peddling fish waste as they pilfered the interior.

A fair amount of time passed before anything unusual happened.

My spot meant I had a great view of the entire exterior of the bookstore. It was a large, double-storied building that looked like it had at one point been a manor house, and only later a shop. White wooden columns held up a terrace that could be accessed via the second level. The door to the terrace was white also, painted to match the pillars. Because of its color it was highly visible against the dark backdrop of the store.

None of us were supposed to be up there. There was no reason to go out onto a balcony during a burglary. It was stupid, and did nothing but draw attention to you.

So, I was surprised to watch the door to the terrace swing open. A young girl, one no older than myself, slipped out onto the balcony. She walked on her toes, trying to be quiet. She clutched a leather-bound book with both hands like her life depended on it.

The word 'slipped' implies some measure of discreetness. She had none. With a gust of wind, the door slammed shut behind her. Even at a distance I could feel the building shake. Her luck was rotten.

Anyone inside would've heard the noise, which meant they now knew exactly where she was. Any chance she'd had of hiding was gone. Her back was against a wall. Or, more accurately, a two-story fall. She was screwed.

I felt bad for her. Ollie wasn't a kind or forgiving person; his lackeys were the same way. If one of them managed to catch her, she'd be forced to suffer an injury at best. At worst, well, I didn't want to think about what would happen at worst. There wasn't anything I could do from the street.

She must've known what awaited her inside the bookstore. I watched from afar as she took a deep breathe and calmed herself, and then lowered herself into the starting stance of a sprinter next to the door. What was she doing? I thought. There's nowhere to run!

But I was wrong, there was somewhere to run. She charged the edge of the balcony, and leaped over the cast-iron railing meant to keep people from falling. The book was still in her hands, and she held it close to her chest, her fingers turned white from the grip.

She soared through the air above the alley toward the rooftop of an adjacent building like a bird in flight. I watched in shock and awe as she went.

She'd approached the jump with such confidence that I was half-convinced she'd pull it off. But this is no fairytale, and no child without access to the System can fly.

She plummeted to the ground an arm's length away from the other rooftop.

She landed wrong. That's the best way to describe it. When she impacted the street below, she broke. An audible crunch rang out as something gave way in one of her legs. By some miracle, she managed to stay upright. She limped down the street away from the store. I was impressed that she was walking at all. And I stood there doing nothing like a fool, but faced with a choice. Should I help her? Could I help her?

To add insult to injury, rain began to pour from the sky. Heavy droplets formed puddles on the stone. As if Zeus himself was judging the situation from above and making his displeasure known. Knowing what I do now, and considering who she was, he might've been.

I decided to help her. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened to her; in another life, our places could've been switched.

I ran out from my spot on the corner, leaving behind the cart but taking the spade with me. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but it felt wrong to leave it behind. I tucked it into one of the back pockets of my trousers.

I threw my hands up as I approached her. I was trying to show her that I was unarmed, and as such, not a threat. I wasn't sure if it worked, because she eyed me warily. But, I figured that was probably the best I could expect from someone in her situation.

"My name's Ghul," I said. "I'm here to help, I promise. We don't have much time. You need to let me help move you."

She reminded me of a bird with a clipped wing: trapped in a cage, unable to fly. At first, she didn't look like she was going to trust me. An internal battle played out on her face. Thankfully, she relented.

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She had few words for me, spoken through teeth clenched in pain.

"I'm Callie.. We need to go that way."

She used one hand to support her injured leg, and pointed down the street with the other. Her finger was shaking.

For the first time, I got a good look at her. She was striking. The dress she wore was a beautiful thing, consisting of pale blue fabrics the color of the sky, with flowers embroidered into the hem. It was still beautiful, despite the fact that in the rain it had become soaked through to the skin and muddied along the bottom edges.

I'd misjudged her. She was not fragile. In the rain as she dragged herself forward, she was as tough as they come. She was beautiful.

I slung my arm over her shoulder, ducking down to make up for the disparity in height. She yelped in pain as my arm went below hers and shifted her weight onto the broken leg. Ouch, I thought. I hope she doesn't hold that against me.

We started moving in the direction toward where she'd pointed. I hoped she knew what she was doing, as I wasn't equipped to handle a situation like this. I knew basic first-aid, sure, but nothing that could help what'd happened to her. A broken leg was different than cleaning a cut.

Callie was in a bad way. My arm supporting her was the only thing that allowed her any movement at all. So, progress down the street was slow. The area was dark and the ground was wet, which didn't help matters. Hopefully someone would notice the racket we were making on the street and come to investigate.

I heard someone burst through the balcony doors above. I looked back, trying my hardest not to disrupt the rhythmn of movement that Callie and I had established. I saw Atticus, standing on the 2nd level and peering down at us. He watched as we limped away, and we made eye-contact. I tried my best to put on a pleading expression. C'mon Atticus.. I thought. Don't be a bastard. If you've got a shred of decency left in you, you'll let us get away.

Unfortunately for us, Atticus didn't have a shred of decency left in him. I watched as he turned away from the railing and shouted something into the inside of the store. He was far enough away that the exact words were lost to me, but I could guess at the meaning- our location.

Callie heard him. Her pace quickened, and we limped a little faster. The leather-bound book she'd jumped off the roof with was still tucked under her arm. Why'd she have to run off with a book? It didn't do anything except slow her down and make her an appealing target. If it was the book Ollie was after, she should let him have it. No words were worth a life.

"What's the deal with the book? Why would someone be after it? Can we just give it to them?"

Callie heard my questions but didn't respond. Instead, she shook her head. She wasn't steady on her feet, and I worked extra hard to keep her upright. We moved in the dark for a little longer, but then she stumbled on a protruding stone she hadn't seen.

"By the Skyfather," Callie swore. "the first thing I'd fix about this Empire.."

She struggled to regain her footing, each step a little more painful than the last.

"Do you need to stop?"

She nodded. I dragged us into a nearby alley and tried to make us as small as possible, but because of my size I wasn't very successful. If we were lucky, I thought, then maybe they wouldn't see where we hid because of the dark.

We weren't lucky. It wasn't long before one of the gang caught up to us. He turned into the alley whilst the other two continued to search further down the street.

The light made it hard to tell who was who. Each of them were similiar in build and in dim conditions they might as well have been identical. They spotted us in short order. It was their voice that gave them away: the distinctive, broken speech of a mouth that was missing teeth. Ollie.

"What d'ye think you're doing?" Ollie asked. "Runnin' off with the first lass that comes along? Not thinkin' about ole Ollie?"

He spat on the ground and started to walk towards us. I shivered. The girl, Callie, retreated behind me and put my body between her and Ollie. She urged me backward by pulling the arm that supported her. We can't run, I thought. I already checked. The alley is a dead end.

I faced Ollie, the source of both my torment and employment. I knew we'd need to have a conversation one day, but I hadn't expected it to be so soon.

"Stop," I commanded him. "We can talk about this."

The rain made it hard for me to see his face, but I could hear his scarred grin.

"..What d'ye think there is to talk about? Give it to me."

I shook my head.

"I can't do that. The book stays with her. If you come closer.." My words stumbled as I was unable to think of a threat fast enough, "..If you come closer I'll destroy it."

Olle looked taken aback by my answer. His eyes were wide like he'd realized something important for the first time. Then, he laughed.

"You think I'm after the book?"

What he said confused me. Of course he was after the book. There wasn't another object here to chase us over. Unless..

Oh.

Callie. He was after the girl, not the book. This wasn't a burglary. It was an abduction.

My stomach flipped, and I almost lost its contents on the street. Ollie'd been expecting me to go along with kidnapping someone! In my heart, something happened. I felt my anger and disgust solidify into something cold and hard.

"You're a monster," I growled. "I knew that you were cruel, but this is beyond even you. There's only one punishment in the Empire for those who traffic in people."

I felt more than a little ridiculous spouting about punishment when I'd been the one helping him commit burglaries for months. But, the sound of my voice served another purpose: distraction.

My declaration masked the sound of me drawing my miniature spade from my belt. My good luck charm. It was a glorified gardening instrument, given to me as a joke and covered in the stomach contents of last week's catch. I kept it hidden against Callie's back, held in the hand of the arm I used to support her. Ollie tooked a step forward.

"Don't come any closer," I warned. "You won't like what I'll have to do."

He took another step forward.

"Thought ye' could pull a fast one on me, did'ya? Sneak away with the girlie? He licked his lips. "What'd I tell ya' would happen if ye' split on me, Ghul?"

I tore the book from her arms and threw it at his face. It hit him square in the forehead, and bounced off and onto the ground. It landed awkwardly, half-opened and face down into a puddle.

"You're gonna wanna read it first, Ollie. It's worth more than the girl," I bluffed.

I had no idea what the contents of the book contained. It didn't really matter for my plan, I just needed him to take the bait.

He walked over the wet stone to where the book lay stood over it, making no effort to grab the thing. C'mon, I thought. You've gotta be a little curious.

"I fed and cloth'd you, and this is how your returnin' the favor? If I wasn't such a forgivin' soul, I might want revenge."

He stooped down low to pick up the book. The trap was sprung. Lightning crackled in the skies above, and I struck.

I dropped Callie onto the ground with a painful thud, and then raised the spade high above my head and brought it down on the lowered man's skull. Something crumpled. Ollie never even saw it coming. The man made a wet noise as he splashed into a puddle on the ground.

There was no dramatic final action, no spray of blood, no promises to curse me and haunt me until the end of days. The other man, Ollie, the one who I'd been afraid of for months simply.. wasn't. He'd died. And I'd killed him.

I dropped the spade. My hands started to shake.

Then, the voice of the one true god spoke to me then for the first time. The System. Chrysalis.

*Adversary defeated. Increased density of Chrysalis nanites detected in proximity. Beginning absorption..*

My thoughts were a mess. It'd spoke those words straight into my psyche. They rang out like a bell through my consciousness, demanding attention. A few short moments later, it spoke again.

*Absorption completed. Survival requirements for progression met.*

Might I -> II

Dexterity I -> II

*Chrysalis enhanced. %System Limitation Error found: NONSTANDARD_ATTRIBUTE: 'Supplication.' Beginning correction.*

I wish I could say I walked it off. That I swooped up Callie into my arms and carried her away like some gallant knight, saving the day and riding happily off into the sunset. Unfortunately, neither of those things happened. The edge of my vision turned to black. I let out a final groan, and then collapsed. I felt myself falling, but I wasn't aware by the time I hit the ground.