Violet followed Verect closely. They entered the door at the back of the store which led to a hallway that had four different doors laid out in a row. Once they got to the last one, Verect opened the door, and they entered. The room was oppressive. The floors, walls and furniture were all a dark maroon, velvet color. Verect gestured towards the hideous velvet couch in the middle of the room and Violet sat down.

“Would you like some wine?” Verect asked. “A good business deal should always be accompanied by a bit of alcohol.”

“Oh, no, thank you. I don’t handle my alcohol very well.”

“All the more reason to build up that tolerance.” Verect gave her a wink. Violet tried with all of her might to not show a look of disgust on her face.

Verect got out two blush pink glasses and filled each of them with some wine that was on the counter across the room. The wine matched the room. He handed one glass to Violet who took hers reluctantly and then sipped his own before sitting on the couch next to Violet. He was a little too close for comfort, but Violet knew she had to endure for now.

“So, I was wondering-”

“Hold on just a moment,” Verect interrupted.

He got up and took out a gold ring and slipped it on his finger. He touched the dark green gem on the ring and music started playing softly. The music was a soft and romantic accompaniment of guitar and piano.

“Just a little bit of ambiance,” he said. “It always puts me in a good mood, you want me to be in a good mood, don’t you?”

“Yes…?”

“Good girl. Now, what’s this request of yours?” He nudged himself an inch closer to Violet.

Violet was now really having trouble keeping her composure, but she knew this was more important than her pride.

“I was wondering if you might let me borrow your description stone for just a moment. I found this stone and I really, really want to know what it can do.”

“I see…” Verect seemed to be deep in thought. “Normally, I wouldn’t even entertain such a request, but seeing how you’re my number one fan, and because you’re so beautiful, I might be convinced to let you borrow it…for a price.”

“What price?”

“I’ll give you a hint…”

Verect then closed his eyes and pursed his lips, putting his face close to Violet’s. Violet could take no more and shoved his face away with all of her strength which sent Verect off of the side of the couch with a thud.

“Wh-what the hell?!” He got up holding his head.

His tophat had fallen off and he had wine spilled all over his face. Violet couldn’t deny how good that had felt, but knew that she needed to make herself scarce. She took her cup of wine, threw the liquid in Verect’s eyes, dropped the glass, and ran out of the room. She heard him grunt from the room as she made her way down the hall. She threw open the door to the shop floor and tried to walk quickly without drawing too much attention to herself out the door to where Kenrich said he’d be waiting. She made her way outside and Kenrich saw a mix of fury and elation on her face that made him incredibly confused.

“We need to go,” she said, untying Atlas from the wooden hitch rack in front of the store.

“What?! Did you steal the stone?!” Kenrich asked.

“No! Now, c’mon!”

Kenrich was now incredibly worried. He started wondering if they had been found out, or worse, that she had been attacked by a member of that secret organization. He had no time to sit and worry though and made his way onto Atlas. Violet had led them as far away from the gem shop as she could and then decided to stop after seeing an open bench which was one of the few places she had seen that was devoid of people. They stopped, Violet tied Atlas to the edge of the bench, and then they took a seat on opposite sides of the bench.

“So, are you gonna tell me why we were running?! Did we get found out?!”

“No, no, nothing like that,” Violet said. “I just…might have…shoved Verect to the ground.”

“WHAT?!”

“Shut up! He forced me to! When I asked to use the stone, he basically said he would only let me if I had sex with him!”

“What if he comes for us though?! You heard that woman! He has a lot of power in this city!”

“What the hell was I supposed to do?!”

“I don’t know…I mean, I totally understand why you did it. It’s just…man, what are we supposed to do now?”

“Don’t worry about that part. I have a plan.”

“Okay, I’m listening.”

“I got a good look at the backroom of the building and there are only four rooms in the hallway. I didn’t see anything that could safely and discreetly house a powerful description stone in the room I was in, so that only leaves three rooms…”

“What are you getting at?”

“We’ll plan a heist.”

“A heist? What are we?! Petty thieves?!”

“We’ll be whatever we need to be in order to complete the mission. It’ll take much too long to try and locate another city with a description stone, and we know for a fact that Verect has one, so we wait until night, and we break into the gem shop and take the stone for ourselves.”

“This is such a bad idea. The security in that place is definitely tight, so how are we supposed to get in?”

“We’ll just have to wing it. We can’t go near the place while the sun’s still out, so we’ll have to play it by ear when we get there. Even if we make a mess, getting the stone is all that matters.”

“I guess we have no choice. Let’s just find a place to lay low until dark then,” Kenrich said.

Violet and Kenrich got on the road again and looked for the inn that was closest to the corner of the city. They wanted to be as far away from the gem shop as possible just in case a search for Violet started. They did not have any money left so they could do nothing more than sit in the dining room to the displeasure of the barmaid, who saw them as nothing more than squatters. Kenrich convinced them that they would leave before dark and promised a full day’s payment just for being able to sit there until dark which allowed them to continue their squatting. They filled up on some bread and water from Violet’s pack, and Kenrich, who was sick of the constant bread, tried to sneak a bite of one of Atlas’s carrots which was met with a quick smack to his fingers at the hands of Violet. After enough time had passed to where they could see darkness out of the window, Violet and Kenrich got up and started to head towards the gem shop, hoping that their barebones scheme would work out somehow.

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They arrived at the street that housed the gem shop and saw that there seemed to be no people around the building. It was close to midnight now, and they assumed that the business would be closed, and most bystanders would be indoors which was necessary to make this heist even remotely possible. They tied Atlas to a pole that was on the same block as the gem shop, so they could have a quick escape if needed, and walked towards the side of the building. Violet took the lead and sidled her way to the entrance with Kenrich right behind her, copying her movements. Seeing that no guards were posted at the front of the building, Violet grabbed the doorknob and attempted to turn it. She thought there was no chance that the door was going to be unlocked, but, to her surprise, the doorknob turned and the door opened.

“It’s unlocked?” Kenrich whispered. “That seems a little too convenient.”

“It could be because they have other measures in place so keep behind me and don’t touch anything,” Violet whispered back.

They snuck into the shop floor and moved quietly and slowly towards the back door that Violet had been led in by Verect earlier. It was weird seeing this area in two extremes on the same day. When they first arrived, there was glitter flying through the air and it seemed like the most populated area in the country, but now, it was dark, empty, and deathly silent.

They arrived at the back door, and Violet again turned the doorknob, which again, opened.

“This is getting weird,” Kenrich said quietly.

“Just stay close,” Violet responded.

They made their way to the hallway and scanned the area. After seeing nothing out of the ordinary, Violet went towards the first door in the set of four and reached for the knob. Kenrich saw her hesitate though as she started putting her face closer to the knob like she was inspecting it. She suddenly gasped and looked back at Kenrich with wide eyes.

“There’s scratch marks on the keyho-!”

Slam!

The door behind them was forced shut, and a masked man rushed straight towards Kenrich who immediately braced himself. Before impact could be made, Violet took out her sword and blocked the thrust of the masked man’s rapier by smacking it away. It flew out of their hands and hit the ground. Violet then thrusted her sword at the masked man who jumped backwards into the shop floor. Violet took Kenrich’s hand and ran out the same door. There was no chance that the masked man was alone. They had to escape. Once they made their way out the door, two rapiers from both sides of the door were thrust towards them which Violet blocked upwards. One by swiping her sword and one with the kick of her foot. She slipped under their blades and pulled Kenrich after her as they made it closer to the door. But, before they could even get halfway, they saw that there were four more masked men in front of the only exit. The moonlight shining through the window reflected off of the crescent moon shaped protrusions affixed to each of their masks. Violet started weighing her options. She ran every calculation she could in her head, and she could not find a single one where they made it out of this alive. With no concrete options, she let instinct take over instead.

More rapiers made their way towards them. It was clear that they had no interest in taking prisoners. Violet’s adrenaline was pumping through her entire body, and she was deflecting the rapiers the best that she could. Having to protect jabs at Kenrich and herself made this already impossible task, even more difficult. She was cut on her arms, her legs, and her face, but Kenrich was able to escape any eternal wounds to this point. During her defense, she saw that they had made their way a few feet within a window. It was not the kind of window that opened, but Violet saw this as the only option available, even if the outcome was not what she wanted. She pushed Kenrich as hard as she could towards the window.

“Go!” she yelled. “Out the window! Get far away!”

“I-I can’t just leave you!” Kenrich said, his voice shaking in fear.

“There’s no fucking choice! Now, go!”

Hearing their plan, the masked men that were guarding the door ran towards the window to stop Kenrich’s escape. Kenrich looked over at Violet one more time, grit his teeth, and barreled out the window. The glass shattered easily, and he found himself covered in cuts on the cold ground, laying in a pile of glass. He got to his feet quickly, ran to Atlas and looked back towards the window. He hoped to see Violet coming after him, but he saw something horrible instead. Through the moonlight, he saw that Violet could defend herself no more as a rapier was thrust through her neck. She gurgled as blood poured out her mouth. She had no more strength to fight. Her eyes went blank, and she fell to the ground. Two of the masked men then started looking through her pockets. Kenrich could only manage a weak, open-mouth scream. His fear had suddenly turned to intense rage, and he saw himself distracted with delusions of ripping out the eyes and guts of the masked men who did that to Violet. He snapped out of it though, after seeing a group of masked men jumping out of the window and running towards him and Atlas. He knew that even after what he saw, he had to honor Violet’s request and get himself and Atlas out of danger.

Kenrich had no idea how to drive a horse, but it was almost as if Atlas knew the situation because he ran full speed with very little direction from Kenrich. They ran, and ran, and ran until Kenrich spotted a ditch that he thought would be deep enough to hide both himself and Atlas. They made their way down the hill and Kenrich told Atlas to stay out of sight, which he seemed to understand. Atlas layed down and with the wall above the hill, the darkness of night, and the dark brown coat he had, it would be nearly impossible to see him. Kenrich sat down in the mud next to him and tried to control his breathing. After catching his breath, he decided to use the adrenaline pumping through his veins to try and pull the glass shards out of his back and legs. The blood all over his body did not faze him at all. All he could think about was how useless he was. The entire time they were in the shop, no, the entire time they had been together, she had protected him, and he could do nothing to repay her. The self-hate he was feeling towards himself was transitioning, once again, towards an intense anger at the masked men that killed her. He had no idea what to do with these feelings. What was he supposed to do now? He was sure that the attackers would pin the break-in on Violet by leaving her body there which would make it impossible to go back and try to get the stone. He decided that he could not let them leave her body on display for the city to gawk at. He had to get her back and give her a proper burial. It was not much, but it was the only thing he could do for her after all that had happened.

“Atlas, stay here. I’ll be back. I’m gonna go get Violet away from those fuckers. I won’t let them use her as their fucking prop.”

Atlas gave a small nod and put his head back down. Kenrich took that as him understanding his words and started making his way towards the top of the hill. He got to the top of the hill but kept himself behind the short wall that separated it from the street. He made his way across the hill which spanned a large perimeter of the edge of the city. He kept going, peeking his head up every few minutes until he found the street that he knew the gem shop was on. It took him over thirty minutes to find the street and he tried to focus his vision as far as he could to see if he spotted any more of the masked attackers. He did not think he saw any. He hopped over the wall and started making his way towards the gem shop. The entire walk there, he found himself gritting his teeth so hard that he was afraid he would chip them. He tried to relax, but it was difficult knowing what he was about to see. He did not know if he would be able to handle seeing her lifeless body, but she gave her life for him, and this was the absolute least he could do.

He was finally close enough to the building that he could see just how wrecked it was from Violet’s fight. Several windows were broken, and the front door was wide open. He peeked his head in the window, but the movement of the moon caused it to not illuminate the inside like it did before. He went around to the front door, lightly pushed it aside, and went in. There was glass all over the inside of the shop floor. A lot of the glass cases were broken, and he could spot a few random gems mixed in with the shards of glass strewn across the area. He caught himself trying to buy as much time as possible, but he knew he had to look. He gritted his teeth once again, even harder than before, and looked up at the area he saw Violet fall. There laid her body. The blood was still fresh but it was not flowing out of her anymore. Her eyes were open and the beautiful emerald eyes she had before were now gray and disturbing, like a dead fish. Kenrich wanted to vomit, but he held it in. The smell of copper surrounded her body. Kenrich went to his knees. He cared little that there was glass under where he kneeled. He couldn’t hold back his emotions. He grabbed Violet’s hand, which still had a small bit of warmth to it and shed tears.

“I’m sorry…It’s my fault…” Kenrich gripped her hand. “I wish I never found this stupid fucking ring!” He reached into his pocket, ready to throw the ring at the wall, but suddenly, a white light started emanating from the ring. The white light swirled above Kenrich’s head before shooting into Violet’s body. Her body started convulsing. Kenrich had no idea what was happening, but waited patiently and hoped, with all of his being, that the power of the ring would be able to undue death.

Cough! Cough!

Sound started to come out of Violet’s body, and Kenrich could not believe his eyes. Violet sat up, held her neck, and looked over at Kenrich.

“Wh-what happened…?” she asked softly.

Kenrich said nothing. He only grabbed Violet and embraced her.