My theory is that in one point of our lives we all sign up for a disaster.

You might be an adventurer, a soldier, a regular guy in a village with a family minding his own business, but one way or another, tragedy waves a hand at you in the form of an angel, and you decide to grab it. When you realize the angel doesn’t have such a benevolent face as you expected, it is too late. And it was too late for me when I woke up in front of the Demon Lord.

It all happened the day I signed a contract with a wrong person.

In the town of Adula, every boy who turned eighteen wants something. Some sign up for the guilds to become adventurers, others take up their father’s jobs to continue the family tradition, and a few minority sign up to the army, fully well knowing the people you are about to go to war with are inhuman. I wanted only wanted three things - a home, a bag of gold, and if I wasn’t asking too much, a long term job that wasn’t illegal.

The fate of the orphans in the city of Adula was something not even the pigs in the pigsty wouldn’t dream of. Sympathy was a foreign word for all the rich bastards who passed us, and even if you licked their feet for a coin they would take the time to kick you in the face rather than put a genuine effort to pull out their pouches and drop a coin.

So there I was - eighteen year old Nero Aberdeen, squatting in front of the Opal Palace, the place where the richest bastards in town gathered to eat, drink, and snuggle in corners with their bottoms removed. From the outside all you can see is the gold coated walls, the silver gates with the emblem of the hounds, the metal clad bodyguards and silhouettes of the people inside through the beautifully designed windows with draped curtains.

I watched the place everyday. I wanted to be jealous about every man and woman who came out of the gates with clinking coins and chattering laughter. They seem to be enjoying themselves, which I could too, if I had something called gold in my pocket.

So when a man appeared me in front of me and offered me a couple of gold in order to rob someone, I didn’t think twice.

“I heard you and your boys accept contracts.”

That’s how most of them came to me. Contracts. They pay me some gold, I rob some rich bastard, pin a nail on their carriage tire, or for an extra pay of gold I threaten them with a rusted iron knife.

Behind me on the alleyway were the three boys - all one or two years younger than me, but had worked with me for more than five years now. Anyone who took a look at them could tell they were unofficial street thugs.

“That depends on the type of contract and payment.”

“Let’s talk business first,” the man leaned on the wall and removed his hat.

He was strange with his hat removed. From the distance you could tell he’s a typical middle aged noble man with wrinkled skin, a slight hunch on the back, and probably from the eastern part of the town considering his black long coat and red tie. But once he removed his hat I saw he was bald, and not normal bald, he had a greying texture on the top of his head, and his eyes seemed strangely hollow now that he was close.

“He wears a red paint below his eyes so it’s easy to distinguish him,” the mysterious man said. “He sometimes gets drunk or sometimes comes out smoking a cigarette, but he never comes out with women.”

“No women?” I asked, since it was much of a surprise for me. Every rich guy who went inside came out with one or two girls and trousers that were a few inches lower than before.

“Yes, no women,” the man confirmed, twirling his beard. “He also wears a black long coat and has a golden pocket watch hanging from his arm. He walks slightly angled to the left. That should be enough for you to recognize him.”

“Understood,” I nodded. “What should I do?”

“He’ll be walking down the street until he reaches the inn down the street. You need to follow him, and then rob him. He is going to have a blue crystal. Don’t be stupid enough to do it in the light. Convince him to follow you along the dark alleyway behind the inn. Once he’s isolated, attack him and get what I need. I don’t care how many bones you break in that man’s body. All I care is the crystal.”

He handed me a knife with serrated edges.

“If he decides to attack use this to wound him. Don’t try any other weapons, you might as well dig your own grave.”

I looked at his grim face. He wasn’t smiling.

“Is he some rival of yours?” I questioned.

Not all men came out from the Opal Palace in perfect health. Some were shouting as the guards dragged them out with bleeding faces and broken noses. Others even had the courage to fight outside the club till some guards rushed out and arbitrated the conflict, or in worst cases, kicked them both down.

“You can call him my rival,” the man pursed. “In demonic terms.”

Again, he wasn’t smiling.

“What will I get if I do this?”

The man widened his hands. “Tons and tons of gold. Enough for you to leave this damn place.”

“You seem to have read my mind,” I smirked.

“Ah yes, I am very good at that.”

“But it’s very easy to read the minds of a person who has nothing.”

He stopped twirling his moustache and stared at me.

I sighed. “Don’t think I would be a fool enough to believe your words. There are not many people here willing to donate houses and gold to some street beggars.”

“I kept forgetting,” the man said, rubbing his temples. “Brats these days are always a pain in the ass.”

I frowned. “I require half payment beforehand. Then once I give you the crystal, you give me the full payment.”

He didn’t reply. Instead he pulled out his pouch and threw it towards me. “Consider this as the advance you’re looking for. Hopefully that will change your mind.”

Normal people who came for contracts didn’t speak in such mystic terms. So I opened the pouch and then gawked my mouth open at the four diamonds inside.

“That’s enough for you to buy your own carriage,” the man continued. “Or you can spend it on food. With that any innkeeper will give you and your boys free food for an entire month. That’s a little what I can give you. This crystal I’m looking for is more important to me than anything. So bring it to me, and this will be the last day you and your filthy peasants beg on the street.”

I calmed myself and closed the pouch. It was always easy to get carried away. But when speaking business, the first rule is never to show your true emotions.

“Okay,” I agreed. “I’ll do it, but only I you assure me you can protect me from the guards. I don’t have any use of diamonds if I have to spend them while rotting in a prison cell.”

The man sent his hands to his robes and produced the emblem of the city guard - the head of a wolf with gleaming red eyes. “You mean the city guard? Of course, you’ll be protected.”

Of course, it was the city guard, what else should I be protected from?

At least that’s what I thought then.

§

Once the man left, I gathered the three of my crew-mates. Yes, that’s what I’ve been calling them.

First there was Seg - the newest and shortest member. He was good at creeping through sewers and sliding through half open windows. He was my man for stealth jobs. Then there was Mole. We called him that because of the giant mole on his nose. But that wasn’t what made him special. Give him a blade and he will soon be slicing up things faster than you blink. The last was Twig. He was slim and tall, and that gave us the opportunity to climb into any nobleman’s roof over his shoulders.

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And that, was my crew. The crew that has been prowling the streets of Edgas doing minor contracts for anyone who had the coin to pay us. But that still wasn’t enough to fill out stomachs three times a day.

But four diamonds? That was the biggest contract we’ve received so far.

“One diamond for each one of us,” I said, showing it to the boys. “Imagine what we could do.”

Twig was already grinning. “I’m going to spend my month in an inn. I’m ordering the maids to bring food to my room seven times a day.”

“Who needs food when you have this,” Mole rose one piece to the sky. “Go with this to a bank and they’ll start licking your feet. This is one of the rarest diamonds in the city.”

Seg, who was always quick for the rewards, started rubbing his stomach. “I’m hungry, how much can I spend now?”

“Nothing,” I said, grabbing the four diamonds and putting them back on the pouch. “He didn’t give us all this as advance because he cares so much about us. There’s probably a huge risk for the job. Everyone’s going to need to carry weapons.”

At that their faces paled. Usually our jobs ranged from vandalizing to threatening, nothing below, nothing above. But whenever weapons were involved in this city, things never ended good. But I didn’t want any of them to get hurt.

That afternoon, with growling stomachs we dug back our old weapons - three blades and one club. If our gentleman decided to put up a resistance we needed something to intimidate him with. When the other three weren’t watching, I replaced my blade with what the blade the mysterious stranger handed over to me.

“Now what?” Mole asked, patting his club.

“Now we wait. We wait until the bastard comes out.”

§

And we waited. We waited till the afternoon sun rolled back to the west, the street crowds started to clear up to their houses, the church bell started ringing in the distance, and the first candle lights started lighting up in the houses.

“Are you sure we didn’t confuse the dates?” Twig asked. “Perhaps he meant tomorrow.”

“Do you think I am deaf?” I snapped.

“That might be the one!” Seg pointed a fat man who came staggering out to the open.

I grabbed Seg’s head and pushed him front. “Look closely, does he have red paint under his eye?”

“No.”

“Does he have a golden pocket watch?”

“Er…no, but he could be hiding-”

“Is he wearing a black coat?”

“Perhaps the color has gotten dull-”

I shoved him front. “After we get the diamonds you need to clean your eyes.”

“Our eyes aren’t the only things that need cleaning,” Mole sniffed his clothes. “When was the last time we took a trip around the lake?”

“Hey, someone’s coming near to us,” Twig muttered.

All of us paled at the same time.

“Shit,” I cursed. “Hide the weapons.”

“Wait,” Twig squinted his eyes and looked at the figure approaching from the top of the street. “It’s a girl…it’s Kate!”

“Shit,” I cursed again. “Hide the weapons, and hide yourselves! Don’t speak a word about what we’re doing.”

Kate was the apprentice of the new healer in town, and the only kind soul who cared about us in this wretched city. She was really pretty…probably the prettiest girl in town. And I definitely didn’t jump to that conclusion because I fancy her.

“You boys seem really happy today,” she said, handing us a basket of bread. “Finally decided to do some charity work and join the church?”

“Nonsense,” Seg grabbed a slice of bread and stuffed it in his mouth. “Wher arr better orf hee.”

I handed Twig the basket and shooed the other boys away. Usually I would love to speak with Kate, but our mysterious guest might be appearing soon. I needed to be ready. If I finish the job and get some diamonds on my hand I might finally be able to buy her something. But she was already pretty with her plain frock and her tied auburn hair.

“Nero…” she snapped fingers in front of me.

“Wah-ah-huh?”

“I was talking to you. There are opening new positions for church workers. I was considering writing you and the others name on it. You could finally get some coin in your hand without begging on the street.”

Kate was possibly the only person in town oblivious to what we were doing. Or perhaps she knew, and never asked about it. And I wasn’t about the explain it to her either. She worked for the healer, practiced healing arts and believed in some Northern God. Telling her I worked as a robber and a street thug was similar to walking to the church and taking a piss on its front doors.

“Perhaps after tonight,” I said, with a short sneer. “After tonight, I’ll have a big surprise for you.”

She flicked my head. “Did you eat something bad?”

There were shadows of guests coming out from the Opal palace. I had to keep an eye out before our target moved away.

“I’ll come to where you work tomorrow,” I said, grabbing her by the shoulder. “Thanks for the meal as always, but now you should head back home.”

“I’ve walked in the streets when it was way darker than this-”

“Yes Kate, but today’s dangerous. There might be robbers in the street.”

Kate frowned at me, and then look at the other three boys. Being smart, they kept their eyes focused on the bucket of bread, even when there was no bread left.

“Okay,” she said finally, and then looked at me for a while. A few moments later she sighed. “Never mind, I’ll wait for you tomorrow.”

I watched her go. It was like someone took all the diamonds and hit me in the balls. This was probably the first time I’ve ever told Kate to leave.

“So Nero,” Seg walked towards me. “When are you two getting married?”

“After I finish divorcing your mother. Now shut up and keep watch.”

§

Our man came out of Opal Palace when the clock struck seven. It’s almost unbelievable how well he matched the description. He wore a long coat, had a large patch of red paint under his eyes, kept swirling the pocket watch and even walked angled to the left. He stopped at the exit, looked to his right and then started walking uphill.

I watched all his movements with bated breath. I felt my heart beat faster when he started walking away. For some reason this mission was giving me way more pressure than I expected.

“That’s our guy,” I muttered.

We prepared swiftly. We tied the kerchiefs around our mouths, and grabbed the weapons.

I signalled Twig to go from the front. He gave a short nod and started walking from the other side of the street. The rest of us followed from the back, using the shadows to hide away from the guards of Opal Palace.

The man was taking his sweet time walking. He occasionally stopped to scratch his hair and then started walking back again. After he reached the top of the street, I signalled Twig to intercept him, but he turned to the alleyway right beside the two shops and walked straight into the darkness.

“Shit,” Mole cursed. “Did we lose him?”

“New plan,” I made my footsteps quicker. “We chase him.”

One hand signal gave Twig the idea. All four of us raced to the alleyway. It was barely lit with a broken lantern hanging from the shop boards. But our target wasn’t there.

“Where the hell did he go?” Seg barked. “He was right here.”

“I’m not going to lose my diamond,” Mole ran in before us.

“Wait!” I said, then ran behind him.

I kept my eyes fixed on his running figure. In one moment he was running, and in the next an invincible force pushed him to the side. He hit the wall with a scream, and lay there, not moving.

“Weapons!” I yelled, pulling my own blade.

Twig and Seg drew at once, and we heard footsteps behind us. We turned in unison to see the man walking right behind us. He had a long club in his hand, and his eyes gleamed with a murderous rage.

“They send street thugs to catch me?” he roared. “What do they think I am?”

“He was right in front of us!” Twig yelled.

That was one part of the problem. The second was how the man managed to materialize out of the thin space between walls. The third was how we were cornered and we couldn’t do anything about it.

We’d never been cornered before. And it was all a matter of who lost their sanity first.

Seg did. He ran towards the man, screaming with his blade raised. I thought the old guy would dodge it, but he greeted the blade as it plunged through his skin. But it didn’t do any damage, it didn’t even spill out a drop of blood.

I remembered what our mysterious client had said. There was only one weapon that could hurt the man. I looked at the serrated edged blade I carried in my hand.

“Seg!” I yelled. “Stand back-”

But it was too late. The man raised his club and brought it to Seg’s head. It was one clean hit. Clean enough to break through the Seg’s skull, squish his skin and send blood splattering through the entire alleyway.

His corpse fell to the ground, and the man kept walking.

“Who the hell is he?” Twig screamed. He grabbed my by the shoulder. “WHO IS HE NERO?”

I shrugged him off, and focused on my blade. There was no way to get out of this without doing any harm. This was no longer a job about threatening. It was about getting out of it alive.

Before I could charge the man extended his hand, and Twig went flying towards him. He opened his mouth to scream, but the man squeezed his neck. Twig’s eyes nearly bulged, his weapon fell down. There was a snap, and his limp body fell to the ground.

“That’s all three,” he said, wagging off his hand and dropping his weapon. “I’ll probably pull your eyes out-”

It was the moment I was waiting for. I charged. I focused on my feet, praying to carry me as fast as possible. I focused on my hands, praying them to make the attack impactful. The man only had a moment to react before I plunged the blade to his skin.

“Idiot! Didn’t you learn from your frien-”

He choked out blood. Hot blood fell on my shoulder, and he gripped me with one hand.

“Bastard! Was that swamp-glass?”

He shoved me away and look at the weapon. I cleared my eyes and looked at the wound. The knife was opening a gaping whole in his skin.

“You dared to KILL ME?” his voice amplified, but was restrained by the cough that followed. Blood spurted out from his mouth again and fell on the cold floor.

Behind him I caught the dead bodies of Twig and Seg. Then the anger flowed through me. I screamed and charged again. I pushed us both to the ground, but got a hold of the blade. I pulled it free, and stabbed him again.

“Who ordered you to kill me?” he muttered, choking another round of blood.

I remained silent and instead plunged the dagger more inward.

“I ASKED WHO GAVE THE BLOODY ORDER?”

His hand moved on to my throat and his long fingers began to tighten the grip on my skin.

“TELL ME!”

I didn’t reply, I focused on my grip. I focused on pushing the blade inward. I didn’t know for how long it lasted but after seemingly ages the color in his eyes faded, his grip loosened, and his limp hands fell to the ground.

He was dead.

It took me a few seconds to realize I had killed a man. Not someone normal. Normal people didn’t have crimson eyes. Normal people didn’t emerge out of walls and survive attacks from blades.

I waited there for a long time. There were a lot of things for me to focus on. How I was a murderer, how I killed my crew, how the street guard would be after me….

I only regained my senses when the rain started to pour, washing the blood in my shirt. I started walking. I first walked towards Seg’s body. The pouch of diamonds slid from my pocket and fell near his corpse.

That broke me. I fell down to my knees, and started to cry.