I woke up staring at the dark blue sky, tinted with a pink hue. Huh....I've been staring at that sky for the past 7 miserable years. 7 years of hell, darker then the darkest parts of purgatory, however that was all in the past. I failed. I failed myself and I failed my parents. I failed Jacky and I failed my ancestors. This is the end. And so I closed my eyes one last time to this grim world. Goodbye Rachel. Goodbye.
My thoughts strayed back to the yesterday where I had been asked by the local gang to do a job for them. I was alone, and have always been. No, that's not quite true. No matter how hard I tried to forget it, I vaguely held the memories of when my parents were still alive and I lived in the village. Everyone was nice back then, I was all smiles and I thought the world was a beautiful place. But the truth is, it's ugly. The gang managed to finally corner me after half a day of hard work. I was small, agile, and nobody paid attention to a little runt like me. Even if they knew all my hiding spots, I could shift through crowds faster than those bulky jerks could. I could run through the crowded streets and narrow alleys backwards ten times faster than they could forwards. I knew the city like the back of my hand. Well, maybe not ten times faster.
Anyway, after I got cornered I was swiftly dealt with. What do you think a 12 year old little chimp like me could do against some 40 year old uncles. I twisted and turned trying to break free of their grasp, throwing wild kicks and punches. I scored a few hits and blackened an eye, or so I thought. A trail of curses thread their way through the air, followed by a rain of blows. I lost consciousness.
I woke up, peaking through my squinted eyes to a dimly lit wooden ceiling. It was rotted all over, cracks in their tens, with spiderwebs hanging on the beams. Hazy smoke filled the air, the strong stench of booze cause me to almost lose consciousness again. I cautiously tilted my head sideways as I stretched my line of sight to the edges of my vision.
"Looks like the little runt is awake."
I instantly froze when I heard that voice. I had expected to know the voice of my kidnappers, but I hadn't expected to be that familiar with it. I knew nearly every single person in town, and nearly every little passer-by. I had survived in the treacherous city for a whole 7 years now and nearly half my survival could be accredited to selling information; information brokering. I was small and mostly ignored, so I could get even the toughest information that other brokers couldn't offer and eventually became known as "Mole"
The guy who spoke before was known as Moon Poison. I had heard some rumours about him being in town, but I didn't believe them at the time. He was an infamous criminal, on over seven countries wanted list for murder, fraud, thievery and assassination. Just a few months ago, the Royal Mage of Fei, Lara was assassinated in her sleep and a wanted poster was distributed. The whole royal castle was in chaos for the whole month, and the army was mobilised. Even so, not a trace of his skin could be found. And now, he was right in front of me.
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To describe him in one word, would be charming. Although his scar on his lower jaw disfigured him, he was still extremely handsome. He had that dark charisma and cold eyes that glinted with a unique blood lust. His most notable feature however were exactly these eyes, a mismatched pair with the left iris lime and the right one aqua.
"Looks like the Mole is out of the wall. Smmph.... BAHHAHAHA. What's with the jaw on the floor? Oh, so you also know this fella. As expected of your information gathering skills. Well that makes this so much easier. Help us do something will ya? We'll let you off scot-free and might even slip you something. Or we can always give you to these uncles to play with."
The guy who said this was known as Flu, the local tyrant of the gangs in this area. He thinks it's because we think he is as deadly as the flu, but the real reason I overheard from some of his subordinates was because he always had a tiny bit of snot hanging on his left nose as if he had the flu. Of course, no one told him about it and it was a silent rule not to; he brained in the last person who did it and everyone else in the room. This wasn't the only unseemly thing about him. He had a slightly crooked beak like nose along with a crooked smirk. The vulgar grin he revealed when he spoke to me, displayed his three remaining yellow front teeth along with his booze filled breath.
His whole speech at me was filled with sarcasm and jabbing insults. Looks like it was Moon Poison who wanted me to come while Flu didn't agree with him. Looks like he wanted me to do a job for him, however the fact that they didn't come through my conventional way and are even attempting to blackmail me means that a certain level of secrecy and danger surrounds their request, and secrecy often leads to silencing used tools. To top it all off, the fact that Flu did this while even being on somewhat bad terms with me and that he didn't guarantee pay just sent all my alarm bells ringing. The underworld is filled with trickery, backstabbing and deceit, however there was still and unwritten code of conduct amongst us, especially the orphans. However that only applies to what everyone sees, and behind closed doors, anything could happen and everything would be fine as long nothing got out.
I glanced at where the uncles were. They were the same group who caught me as I noticed quite a few of them carried blackened eyes and were rubbing bruises. I felt a sense of satisfaction only to realise my actions might have consequences this time. "Um... I would prefer not to be slipped anything, and I'm sorry, but I currently already have a client and am quite busy. Maybe another time?..." I said that as I gradually edge myself to the only exit in the room I could locate.
"You think you can weasel your way out of this?! I am not asking for YOUR consent.....I'm saying you WILL consent to do the job or you will be KILLED brutally!"
...
At this point in time, I realised I was pretty screwed. I guess they wanted me to sneak into somewhere, and from their attitude, they were not gonna take no for an answer. Thus I decided to go with the flow and see if there was somewhere I could make a run for it. Which leads me to where I am right now, having landed myself in a ditch. And almost as if fate exists, I lose consciousness as my mind returns from its wild travel down memory lane.