The bread Sky was holding fell to the ground with a thud as he scanned the faces in front of him, his heart aching for their pain. Lily burst into tears, and Deviln, the second youngest, didn’t look too far behind. His short brown hair was messy, and his golden eyes were puffy and red. Mya, the 13-year-old with long brown hair and matching hazel eyes, tried to hold it together and help the other two, but she struggled. On top of that, she had a nasty cut on her cheek. After scanning Lily and Devlin, finding no injuries, he began to look behind them into the room. Not much had been broken, but there had not been much to break. The mattress was thrown in the corner, though luckily, the intruders had spared the bed frame. They had also smashed the table into bits and ripped off the cupboard doors; one glance was enough to know that their savings were all gone.
Sky bent down, picked up the bread, and set it on one of the brick stacks that had once been part of the table. He then turned, looked at Mya, and asked, “The gangs or the military?”
“Both,” Mya replied, her voice a raspy testament to the strain they were under. Sky’s face fell, his features contorted with a mixture of disbelief and dread. “Both?” he repeated, the word hanging like a dark omen in the air.
As the sun rose, Sky slipped out the door and closed it as softly as he could. As she munched on her apple, Lily thought to herself I need to find a way to help; I can't let Sky and Even do all the work. As she was around five, working a job was impossible, not only because of the law but also because if the older ones found out, they would take on more work to support the group.
As Lily finished her apple, a voice came from behind her. “Ow!” turning around to see who else was up, she saw Devlin crawling across the bed, his elbows and knees stabbing into Mya. Tumbling out of the bed and onto the floor, he sleepily walked over to a pile of clothing and changed into it. Then he put on his worn shoes, opened the door, and walked into the alleyway. Mya, who was getting up after being trampled, used a hand to brush her hair out of her eyes, sighed and began to get ready for her day. Even with his black hair and eyes of the same colour kept snoring, oblivious to the commotion the others made.
After getting ready, Mya also went out the door and disappeared into the alleyway. Lily finished the apple, grabbed her shoes and went out the door; she squinted at the sun shining into her eyes and started walking down the alleyway. Upon reaching the main street, Lily mixed in with the flow of people keeping to the side near the buildings before ducking off onto a dark side street littered with broken stones. There, she met up with a group of similarly aged children who greeted her before continuing to play a game they had set up with the stones. Some of the rocks sat in a straight line, and further away, four larger stones outlined the corners of a box. In the square's center, two rocks sat, the first flat and the second balanced vertically on top. The trick of the game was to hit the vertical rock without knocking it down; points were also given to a player for landing in the square and knocking the rock off. An older boy nearby, who looked about seven and was wearing recently mended clothes, watched as the children took turns flicking stones at the vertical rock. He stood out for both his age and the fact that although his clothes had no holes and were relatively clean, the left sleeve had been completely removed and on his shoulder was a tattoo of a single sword pointing down towards his hand. He watched the young children play there game with little interest. No prizes today, Lily thought to herself; guess they don't need any more distractions.
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The game, although fun, trained the children to flick rocks at merchants and vendors who had recently come in on ships, but the strength control allowed the rock to hurt without leaving a mark. When the vendor came to confront the child, thieves would sneak in and take all that they could. By the time the merchant noticed, it would be too late. Most of the time, the rock thrower could just leave as the merchant tried to chase down the thieves. In the rare times, a merchant held a one for the guards, the child just lied, and as there would be no mark, get let go. Only if they messed up and threw too hard would they face punishment.
On her turn, Lily tried her best; with a thwack, her rock flew up into the air and landed just short of the rock pile but inside the square. She then looked around, found a new rock and lined back up again while waiting for her shot. A few kids left in groups, and more still showed up. Even if no prizes would be given out today, practicing was always a good idea. She greeted a few friends as they showed up, and they decided to move on after taking their next shots. Her next attempt went better as she managed to hit the rock but knocked it over. This earned her a few high fives. After setting the vertical rock back up, Lily went over to the wall and leaned back with two of her friends, Tom and Jani, as they waited for Io and Wes to finish their turns.
Once all of them had gathered, the six of them took off along the familiar route up to the edge of the slums; the closer they got to the center of town, the better the living conditions got until the buildings near them couldn't be called slums anymore first broken or cracked windows disappeared. The next difference was the trash bins in front of every house and no trash blowing in the streets. The stench of the slums also disappeared, replaced by a stagnant smell mixed with smoke from the chimneys. Walking farther still, the surroundings changed even more; balconies appeared on the nearby homes, and the building facades began to have decorations etched or carved into the stonework. A low-income family could never live here; as they finally neared the city center, the rent for the buildings would cost more than two full-time factory workers made to rent. Finally, they reached the Emperor's Spear, the massive road that cut Thaldun city in half.