At a busy street in the middle of a city, there were two teenagers talking to each other. They both wore the cheapest clothes and were clearly not frequenting expensive hotels and inns. The younger one that was a head shorter than the other was especially dirty, many people avoiding the duo due to his smell and visage.
"Flock, one day, you will die in those ruins." The taller teenager with black, uncut hair and the eyes of a viper made a half-step back as to not dirty his already stinking clothes.
"Do not worry prince, I will not steal your crown jewels." The younger tried to make a joke, but it was obviously not well received.
"Very funny. Better shut up before I punch your teeth out. We need to work on the streets, there is nothing outside." The taller teen wanted to step forth threateningly, but thought twice to do it when reminded of the smell.
"Sorry Tyrn, but the danger is the same and the Wolves will rob us anyway." The boy with brown hair shrugged his shoulders.
"You need to steal food stupid, not coins. They won't take it out of your stomach." In the hand of the Prince, a piece of beard appeared before he jammed it into his mouth and swallowed it without chewing.
"Hey! You should have shared it with me!" The brown-haired boy complained weakly.
"You wish, I do not share with moles." Tyrn said, his mouth full.
"Friends should share, especially on the street!" The younger continued to protest, but did not dare to step closer to his counterpart.
"Who said you are my friend, Mole?" A finger kept pushing into the younger teen's forehead until his head was far away from Tyrn. "You are just Mole."
It seemed that Mole did not like the nickname at all, but decided to just ignore his bigger partner's theatrics. They were on the streets, there was no one to help him even if he cried. Especially after the isolationist policy had been introduced and life in the city became even harder than before. They had heard many tales from old beggars how life had been great back then, when the Thunder God Sect and the Purple Lotus Sect had protected the city from both sides. It was no longer true and the city was barely holding its crumbling wall together, the last protection that was preventing it from becoming just an entry in history books written by blood.
"Enough jokes, I am still hungry. We will go to the market and try the usual." Tyrn decided and looked sharply at his companion.
"The usual? No! I should have stayed in the ruins!" The Mole protested, obviously knowing how it would end.
"Pipe down and come. Do you want to eat?" Prince grabbed the shorter Mole and dragged him in the direction of the market.
They positioned themselves in a way to enter the square with the market from a street that housed the city garrison. Many of the soldiers were useless and corrupt, but they would still force the local gangs to act more civil in case of trouble, as the military had to keep some level of decency in front of the public.
"You look especially cute today, pick a young one with kids, she will certainly pity you." Tyrn said and slapped lightly one of Mole's cheeks.
"Freeloader! And what about Wolves? You should be the one doing it this time!" The brown-haired teenager said with frustration.
"Um? I think this will look more cute." Tyrn suddenly used more force and slapped Mole's cheek harder, the hit leaving a red mark.
"Agh!" The teenager on the receiving end tried to muffle his shout, as to not attract the attention of the guards who might decide to hunt some thieves to pass time.
"Red cheeks are the cutest! What did you say about me?" Tyrn asked with a smile, but his companion knew that it was not a true smile at all.
"Nothing." A whisper escaped from the shorter youth's mouth.
"Go again?" Tyrn asked, his hand still firmly laying against the red cheek. his head slightly bending forward as if to hear better.
"I said it will go just fine." Mole said a little bit louder.
"Of course, it is a solid plan! See? There is your target!" Tyrn pointed at a woman that was clearly pregnant who carried a lot of fruits in her basket. She looked like a rare specimen of a middle-class citizen that were nearly an endangered species as most of the people turned very poor or very rich due to the system being rigged. Tyrn did not delay and pushed his partner in crime in the direction of the targeted woman and watched him slowly walking towards her, the smaller teen's right hand rubbing his red cheek.
"That's it. Damn, I should have hit him a bit harder, tears can do wonders with pregnant women." Tyrn calculated their chances while following the operation with his eyes. The stage was set, but before the lure could even reach the catch, their plans had been foiled by competition.
"Not again! Seven hells!" Tyrn cursed when he saw a large man in a very tight jacket grab his partner and steer him in a completely different direction. He quickly turned around and ran back into the street with the military garrison. It was obvious that his suspicious behavior would give away his position, but he would be at a safe spot before the Wolves gang managed to get their hands on him.
The market was a frequented place with many other pickpockets, thieves, beggars and scammers present. It was mostly the Wolves who were running the show and occasionally took aside some unaffiliated people to explain them how the business was run. Tyrn had thought that they were just unlucky the last time around, but it seemed that they had become known and had been targeted even before their first victim.
"The market is gone! We have lost the best spot and Mole will be sulking and licking his bruises for some time. Seems like it is time for some old school jobs in the meantime." Tyrn whispered under his breath angrily.
He looked around frantically to find the best escape route, because he did not quite fit into the random group of military men that stood in front of the garrison. Decisively picking a direction, Tyrn ran in the direction of the city gate. It used to be the direction with most of the traffic, but that was a long time ago when there was some countryside and farmlands outside. Those days were long gone and the street was mostly deserted.
He immediately noticed that a man, who was dressed unusually well for a gang member began to tail him, trying to catch up to him without rising too much attention. He was definitely one of the Wolves.
"What is going on? They are too aggressive today!" Tyrn was glad that he had chosen one of the most foolproof ploys to avoid the gang. He ran quickly to the gate, nervously looking for the soldiers posted there. He knew that he would be safe by the gate because there was a significant difference between the random men in front of the barracks and the soldiers guarding the gate.
The gate was the last obstacle that stood between the city and the wilderness that contained many horrors conjured by demonic sects and cunning predatory animals that had managed to survive even among those. The quality of the gate guards was an existential question for the city and only the most reliable soldiers were standing by the gate. Few would dare to mess with them, because The Immortal himself had once taken care of troublemakers messing with the gates. No amount of backing could help if The Immortal decided to act again, meaning the gate guards had a blank check for anything they deemed necessary and they were well aware of it.
As the result, Tyrn simply sprinted to the city gate that was closed shut just in time before the gang member behind him caught up to him. They smiled at each other murderously and the Wolf came closer with the last ditch effort to scare him.
"You better come with me peacefully, or we will send you your friend cut into many pieces." He tried to flex his muscles and scare the teenager into submission.
"That will be hard, I have no address." Tyrn smirked at the man who was annoyed by his reaction.
"You think yourself smart? Let's see how long you can avoid us in this small waste dump of a city." The man sneered and walked away, clearly not eager to create a bigger problem just because of a minor loose criminal in their sphere of influence.
Tyrn giggled as if all of that was a joke, but his smile vanished the moment the man was gone. It was clear as day that someone would be waiting for him to explain him the consequences of playing with the Wolves. He also looked warily at the men stationed at the gate, because not all of them were friendly towards the people of his sort. Thankfully, the notorious ones that hated thieves seemed to be off duty and Tyrn could let out a sigh of relief.
"I have some time until the next shift." He looked up at the sun that moved slowly towards the horizon and thought how to disappear. However, his plotting was interrupted by the visage of a person he did not want to see.
"Brother! Brother!" A beaten up youngster had his cheeks much more red than before and his right eye was swollen. Limping towards Tyrn, his watery eyes were looking at him as if he was an angel.
"Damn, I am not your brother! What are you doing here?!" Tyrn said angrily. It was obvious that it was done by the Wolves on purpose. They were eager to catch him and Flock was supposed to slow him down when he tried to flee.
"I escaped, but it hurts so much." The poor haggard figure caught him by a sleeve and he immediately pushed him back by reflex. His accomplice had not been able to keep himself up and he plopped down onto the cobblestone.
"Escaped? How stupid can you be?! They've release you on purpose!" Tyrn responded and a cold chill washed over him when he heard a voice from behind.
"Hey, you! You have no business loitering around here. Get lost." He turned his head and saw they have grabbed the attention of one of the gate guards. Tyrn's eyes widened when he realized that was exactly what the Wolves were aiming for.
"W-We are just resting , Sir. Please give us a moment." Tyrn tried one of his best smiles, because he knew that the Wolves were ready to pounce on them as soon as they were further away from the gate. He could not walk away from the gate yet, his best bet was to at least wait for the night.
"This is the last warning kid. We are at the city gate, do you understand what that means? This thing goes down and all the nonsense you are a part of is meaningless, because a sea of beasts will come through here and kill everybody." The soldier that was clearly much better armed than the regulars at the barracks pointed at the huge steel gate directly behind him. Tyrn could not even imagine what sort of beast might be strong enough to take down a humongous structure like it, but he knew better than to argue with the soldier.
"Go away and solve the mess you have created on your own. I am not your nanny." The soldier continued in a more hostile tone and Tyrn knew it was bad, because the man must have figured out why they were at the gate.
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It was bad to be caught by the Wolves, but if he ignored the warning, the soldier could kill them both on the spot and no one would say a word about it.
"Come, there is no choice." Tyrn pulled up Flock with heavy heart and they moved slowly away from the gate. Of course, they were not going back in the direction of the market, but to the city center. It was the shortest route out of the Wolves' territory.
"But we will be caught!" Flock was no longer able to hold back his tears and Tyrn had to almost drag him away, his eyes darting everywhere, searching for suspicious men that would surely be waiting for them.
And they were.
At the end of the street there was the gang member from before in the jacket and a burly man at his right waiting for their arrival. Tyrn clenched his teeth and continued to walk on while supporting the crying heap of misfortune at his side.
"Stop! They will. .. they will.. . "
"Shut up, I have a plan. Just walk." Tyrn silenced his partner while his heart began to beat faster.
"Plan? Will it work?" Flock looked up to him with his teary eyes and Tyrn nodded resolutely.
"It will work."
He encouraged Mole and they shortly arrived to the two men that were obviously awaiting their arrival with wide smiles. Tyrn had deliberately took his time and tried to look exhausted and resigned to his fate. He saw the yellow teeth of the two smiling thugs and refused to be part of their imagined vengeance, whatever it was.
"Finally, you took your time. We might be . . ." The gangster in a jacket had his smug speech interrupted by a body crushing into him.
The moment Tyrn was just two meters away from the duo of gang members, he pushed Flock into the one of them who looked more agile and sprinted past them, swiftly weaving thought the masses of people. Flock crashed into the man in the jacket and reflexively grabbed him to prevent himself from falling, buying Tyrn a few precious seconds to escape. The more burly gorilla at the side reacted too slow and when its bulging muscles finally began to move, it was already too late to block Tyrn's path to freedom.
"Brat, you are dead! Dead!" Tyrn heard an angry shout behind him, but continued to escape in the direction of the city center. It was obvious that he would not be coming to this part of the city again. He had done too much to provoke the Wolves and he would be lucky if they would not put a small bounty on his head.
"Maybe I need to dye my hair for a time." He thought while moving further through a mob of people that were the only reason he had managed to escape.
As his legs continued to pump harder and harder, he felt that the hunger he felt in the morning intensified.
His hand subconsciously grabbed a pendant hanging around his neck, as if to ensure it was still there. He was not supposed to be running around like a hunted animal, hiding from simple thugs. He should have been sitting in opulent halls, walking through long, richly decorated corridors. That was his true heritage, not the filth and stench of the streets. He cursed his bad luck while holding the small chain of the pendant tighter in his hand. He would rise again to the glory his family once had and then all would turn for the better. He swore he would do anything to achieve it.
* * * *
Winter was coming.
He could feel it in the chill in the morning that crept under his tattered clothes. Despite the region was not in the highlands or a part of the world with a harsher climate, the lower temperature was still felt outside as the weakened rays of the sun were trying to chase away the coldness of the long nights. With the lower temperature, the hunger bit harder into the stomachs of the poor and made the beggars grateful for every bread crumb that was not confiscated by the greedy gangs or officials. Sometimes, it was hard to discern between the two groups.
Tyrn weaved through the sparse people on the street, trying to pick a target to steal from, but the lowered volume of people on the streets did not bode well for his criminal profession.
"Tyrn." A remotely familiar voice, yet fundamentally different from what he remembered startled Tyrn. He turned his head at the person who had just spoke to him and had to stare for several seconds before recognizing an individual that used to be very familiar to him. However, there was little of the innocence and boyish charm in that face. It had turned into a cold mask in the span of the many months he had not seen the person.
"Mole?" Tyrn asked with hesitation in his voice, barely recognizing his former accomplice in crime.
"Say that again and it is the last time we are talking." The teenager with roughly cut brown hair responded with a sharpness to his raspy voice that had never been there in the past.
"Flock, is that really you? What do you want?" The events of the past rushed through his head, Tyrn could guess how Flock had ended up and he was surprised that there was not a knife in his hand aiming at his gut. It was obvious that Flock was not the boy from the past anymore, fundamentally changed by the experience he did not want to even know about. Tyrn had no illusions about the Wolves and could imagine how a pretty boy like Flock must have ended after landing in their hands.
"I have a job for you, if you are interested." Flock ignored Tyrn's surprise and spoke directly to the point.
"There are surely others interested." Tyrn doubted that his former companion was naive enough to trust him with anything, especially after the change he looked like he had been through.
"There is no trust between us, but at least I know you methods. I will rather choose a scoundrel I know than rely on a random thug." Flock said with straight face and Tyrn wondered how intense his experience must have been to change him so much in less than a year.
"Fair enough, what is the job?" Tyrn said and realized that for the first time, he spoke to Flock as if they were equals. Something he would have never done with the naive boy from before.
"There is a ruin outside the city, a tomb buried deep in the ground. I have already been inside, but it takes two people to get everything there." Tyrn considered the proposal warily. At first, he though that it was suspicious, a method to lure him out of the city and kill him for revenge. However, he doubted anyone would go to such lengths to kill him. A poisoned knife into his back was enough to do the job, there was no need to bother with a cover story.
In the past, Tyrn would have laughed into his face and refused, but business was not going well on the streets. People were even more poor than before and the wealthy were above the law, meaning it was very dangerous to steal form them. For a pickpocket like him, it meant that the easy targets possessed close to nothing and the wealthy ones were well guarded, making every action against them a life threatening experience. The weather did not help much, making the already miserable situation even worse.
"I do not get why do you need an extra pair of hands there." He wondered why Flock was willing to share his spoils by operating with an additional person.
"The rich bastards are buried in massive coffins, we will need tools and time to get in. Just the lid weights more than the city major." Flock made a comparison to the notoriously obese official in charge of a city and quickly looked around him if no one heard him.
"The wilderness is dangerous, we will die there. We will not be able to pass the gates either." Tyrn doubted that they would be able to move far before some predator attacked them.
"We can bypass the gates by a passage underground. It is long and treacherous, but there are no beasts there. We will climb out of an old well and it is not far from there. The distance we will need to run through the wilds is not long." Flock stared at him, unblinking.
"Still, we can be eaten."
"I do not remember you as a coward. Are you in?" His former companion continued in his unusually straight manner of speech, waiting for Tyrn to make up his mind.
"Count me in." Tyrn extended his hand towards his former comrade and had it reluctantly grabbed in return by Flock. It was clear that there was no trust between them. Despite that, there was money to be made and they both needed it desperately.
* * * *
"What do you see?"
"Is it the end?"
Karl Gulden heard a voice after an eternity with only himself and the darkness around him. He would have cried immediately if he was capable of it. His all senses perked up and he listened with all his being, drawing in all the information he could. He had forgotten how beautiful human voices sounded and wanted to hear more, no matter the words' meaning.
"There it is!" Another voice said and to Karl's astonishment, he could even see the person who had said the sentence as the space all around was suddenly bathed in a faint blue light. There was a skinny teenager with filthy hair and clothes covered by mud who held a shining small stone in his hand.
"Flock, is it safe to jump? Is there something interesting?" Karl's attention snapped up towards the other voice and found out there were soles of two feet dangling above his head from a narrow hole in the ceiling.
Ceiling?
Karl looked around carefully and found out that he was in some sort of a hall with many symbols etched into the walls and a stone table in its midst. No, it was not a stone table. It was a coffin.
"It is the tomb. We have struck a jackpot! Hurry and come down!" The skinny teenager shouted up while looking around. His eyes sparkling.
"My leg is stuck in seven hells!" The voice above them responded, followed by a moving shadow that fell and slammed into the stone floor.
"Finally Tyrn, what took you so long?"
"Shut up, it hurts like hell! I have nearly broken all my bones."
"Let's hurry and search for anything we can grab, I am done starving!" Flock said, not paying much attention to his companion's acrobatics.
The one who fell rolled to his side and looked at the insides of the tomb even before trying to stand up. Karl saw as the eyes of both teenagers began to shine when they saw a few dusty weapons hanging on the wall. The fallen person hastily sat up and continued to stare in the same direction as his companion. The first ruffian named Flock who had entered the space first quickly walked towards the first coffin and bend down, touching its massive stone lid.
"I will open you this time." The teenager muttered and soon, both intruders began to work on the massive lid. It took them a lot of time before moving the heavy piece of stone, but they were clearly prepared and brought with them tools to help with the process. When the huge slab finally hit the floor with a loud sound, both the teenagers remained staring into the coffin in awe.
Karl could not see from his position on the floor what had captured their attention, but he could see that after a moment, one of the teenagers began to stealthily back away from the coffin, positioning himself next to an ornate urn that stood on the floor.
To Karl's great shock, the teenage grave robber quickly grabbed the urn and moved quietly behind his accomplice who was still mesmerized by the contents of the sarcophagus. He lifted it silently like a ghost and swung it down at the head of the person that stood bend over in front of him. It was a solid piece of stonework and the oblivious victim fell to the floor the moment the urn hit his head with a dull sound. The violent intruder continued to stand with the bloodied urn in his hands while breathing heavily.
"We are done starving indeed." The teenager said maliciously and stepped over the bleeding head and Karl, who was coincidentally right next to it, to gaze again at what had grabbed their attention before inside of the sarcophagus.
"You bastard!" Unexpectedly, the victim was not dead and grabbed the assailant's legs, dragging him swiftly to the ground. There, an intense fight unfolded, both parties trying to seize the urn and use it to smack with it their opponent. After some time, it was clear that the injured person was slightly weaker and disoriented and would lose the fight. In a last gamble, the wounded youth turned around and ran in the direction of the old weapons that hung on the wall, probably left here as a tribute to whoever was resting in the tomb.
Before the weaker opponent even reached the weapons, there was another loud thud sounding though the tomb and he fell again under a heavy hit of the urn. This time, the attacker did not stop with a single hit and continued to strike until he was sure that his accomplice was truly gone.
"Stay dead, Flock. No one needs your sniffing nose anymore!" The other teenager hit his victim for the last time and crumbled to the ground to recuperate from the intense fight. As he sat there in his disheveled state, Karl watched him and thought that the violent grave robber was somewhat familiar. He chased away the thought immediately as it was clearly impossible and thought why he was suddenly able to perceive everything and when he called his status, it obediently showed in front of his eyes with just skeletons as his options.
"What is going on, could it be?" Karl looked around and noticed that there were lines of runes along the walls that had been interrupted in a particular place. It was the place where the first robber had probably been climbing down from the vertical shaft.
"The tomb must have been enchanted against restless souls or something and I have accidentally fallen into it while rushing down. How insidious." Karl grumbled. it was the only explanation for his sudden incapacity to see, hear, sense or do anything. The enchantment had most likely been damaged by the robbers and he had been freed from his dark prison.
"See father, I will be rich again. Rich and powerful. They will all pay for humiliating a noble!" The rested youth began blabbering something that did not make sense only to pick himself up afterwards and start looting the place.
With amusement, Karl watched the robber trying to push aside the heavy lid of another, smaller stone coffin, only to erupt in anger when he realized he would be unable to get inside because of his skinny body with little muscle. In the end, the grave robber took what had grabbed their attention in the sarcophagus and was walking back to the vertical hole with a pair of dusty swords and some old coins that were not even made of gold. Everything would have transpired without any incident if the stressed youth had not dropped one of the swords near Karl when leaving the place.
"What is this? A gem!" His eyes bulged when he was bending down to lift the sword and immediately grabbed Karl and put him inside his pocket. After his fight, Karl was no longer a part of a steel circlet, only a sharp, short piece of steel was attached to one of his sides.
"Wait! It looks quite similar!" Karl heard from inside the dirty pocket and growled when an unwashed hand pulled him out and put him next to a pendant.
"Incredible! It looks the same! It is a sign! Well, but I will sell it anyway. I need the money." Karl followed the robber's eyes and saw a pendant with the picture of a man who was remotely similar to the youth in front of him. A man with a steel circlet on top of his head, adorned with a big black gem in the middle.
"You have to be kidding me." Karl sighed and his attention kept switching between the picture and the shabby figure with sunken eyes in front of him.
There was no doubt about it. The two looked quite similar. Karl remembered what was said and his head began to spin.
"Wait! Riven had no children and this spineless bastard looks to be in his late teens!" Karl felt a slight nausea when he began to ascend through the tunnel to the surface, stuffed in the dirty pocket.
For how long had he been stuck in that tomb? And more importantly, why was Riven's son a murderous grave robber?!