The year was 1388.
The 'War of the Empress' has just ended a year ago.
The Emperor, Your Imperial Majesty Alexandross Casio Thenebros Azali had returned to the Empire, bringing neither gold nor glory, only bitter peace.
The people…the people had suffered. They now tried to recover.
Public order had slowly stabilized and riches had started pouring into the economy once again.
However, the scar of war had yet to heal.
Cities were still in ruins.
The peasants and the poor were still struggling.
And dead parents were still dead.
Leaving children orphaned, poor, in ruins.
Many stayed as children forever.
Consumed by everlasting hunger.
***
A boy, 7 years in size, 13 years in mind, was running through the littered street of Hazen. A city ravaged by war.
In his hand, a small little girl, barely the size of a toddler, 6 winters had she gone through, clinging onto him with her dear life.
"Pant, pant".
The boy breathing was ragged. Carrying a toddler while running full-speed was not an easy burden on the lungs.
"Keep running and don't look back!"
The boy shouted, further taxing his poor lungs.
Behind him, a young girl, barely 12, with a body half her age, with bread on her hand, running as fast as her legs allowed. Which was barely much.
"This way!"
The boy made a turn, inside a dark alleyway.
The girl tried to follow, but as she turned, her legs gave up.
Thud
She fell hard to the muddy ground, dropping her precious bread.
"No"
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The girl's hand desperately tried to reach her bread. But before she could reach, another hand grabbed her.
"No time! Leave it!"
The boy dragged the girl inside the alleyway. Running together, leaving the bread that would have saved their life, leaving the bread they just risked their life for.
"Over there! Stop, You thieving brats!"
Two large men, nay, two large thugs were chasing the brats.
However, their size made it hard for them to chase the brats into the alleyway.
" I can't. I can't run anymore. Just leave me."
The girl's legs had given up. Her lungs had given up. She had given up.
"Shut Up"
The boy hadn't given up. But he also knew that he could no longer run while carrying and dragging girls anymore.
He keenly observed his surroundings, and he found a light at the end of the tunnel.
Or to be exact, he found a path into the sewage.
"Cmon this way."
The boy dragged the girl inside the sewage. Their only hope was to lose their pursuer there.
Sadly, their pursuer saw them going inside the sewer.
"Stop you fucks!"
Screamed the skinny thug.
Sadly, it's not very effective. The fucks had went inside the sewer.
The two thugs were reluctant to enter the sewer. But losing the fucker brats that just stole from them were not acceptable. The gang would flay them for it.
And so they went inside the sewer, planning to flay the thieving fucker brats.
***
"Hah..hah"
The boy and girl stopped running. Hiding in the corner of the dark sewer.
"Next time… next time let's just steal from the baker."
The boy suggested. The girl wholeheartedly agreed.
They should have never stolen from a gang. They should have just kept stealing food from the baker, even though the baker already knew their faces.
At least the baker didn't chase them this far.
Once their lungs had gotten the oxygen that they needed, it was the stomachs turn to demand what they needed.
Grumble
Their stomachs roared loudly, demanding food.
"Shut up"
The boy hit his stomach, trying to silence its protest.
"Sorry… It's my fault. If only I'm not hungry."
The little girl blamed herself. She hated that she was a burden to the older kids.
"It's not your fault. It's my fault for suggesting stealing from them. And it's his fault for failing to steal the bread."
The girl tried to calm the younger girl the only way she knew how. Shifting the blame on herself … and the boy.
"Why is it my fault!? You're the one that failed to distract them. Oooh, I'm gonna seduce them. Watch my womanly charm."
Protested the boy.
"Wha - I did seduce them. Didn't you see the way they were ogling me!? You're the one that tripped at the end! Ooooo, I'm a master thief. King of the Night."
The girl rebutted.
The boy and girl bickered like they always do. A sign of their closeness.
A sign of their childiness.
The youngest kid. The girl who was barely a toddler watched nervously.
Normally she loved watching the boy and girl argue with each other. But now was not the time.
"Did you hear something? I think those morons are around here."
Said the fat thug, the more capable of the thugs.
The two bickering morons covered their mouths. They cursed their loud mouths. Amd wished they could shout the sound of their beating hearts.
Ba-thuthututump!!!!
'Please don't come here. Please don't hear us'
The kids' minds and hearts were in unison.
Ba-thuthututump!!!!
Nothing.
Nothing happened.
"Probably just the wind."
Said the thin thug, usually the more inept of the two. But the sewer was indeed windy.
"Yeah, you might be right."
'It made sense', thought the fat thug.
The kids wanted to breathe a sigh of relief. But they couldn't make a sound yet.
GRUMBLE
Their stomachs revolted.
'Curse this stomach. The source of all my problem'
The kids' minds, hearts and bodies were in unison.
Oh how they wanted to rip their stomachs out. The source of their misery.
***
They ran.
Faster than their bodies could allow them.
The boy dragged the two girls with all his might. Pulling them along as they run. It was the fastest way they could run together.
The thugs chase leisurely. They ran, focusing more on dodging hazardous objects strewn around the sewer. The kids could not outrun them anyway.
They were more worried of the monsters that inhabit this sewer, such as Sewer Crocodile.
As she was pulled along. The older girl hit a piece of trash. Dropping her to the ground. Lacerated her leg.
Any adrenaline and momentum she had, were gone. Her body could no longer move, even though her mind desperately wanted to.
The boy carried the girls with one hand each. He ran the fastest he ever ran, it even surprised the thugs.
But he could not run for much longer. If he did, his heart would stop forever.
Then he stopped.
His heart stopped.
Not for breaking his limit.
Crunch
Crunch
Crunch
In front of the boy...
A small creature covered in long hair. Longer than his body. Sitting on top of a monster carcass.
The boy, the girls, and the two thugs who just arrived…witnessed.
Two jet black hands. With claws for fingers. Coming out of the long black hair.
Crushing.
The innards of a Sewer Crocodile, apex predator of Hazen's sewer.
Oh how they tremble in fear….
For they were in the presence of a grand feast…
Of Regulus Eda Grigori Azali.
'Run'
Their hearts said.
'Run'
Their minds ordered.
'Run'
Their bodies couldn't.
Frozen…
Out of the fear of being eaten.