Graaaah

  The sound of zombies, attacking and ripping the children. In the middle of it all, Grigori, fighting for his life.

  “EDA!!! AZALI!!! AZALI!!!” He screamed frantically, as the children around him being torn apart. Grigori ran, weaving in and out through the sea of zombies. “EDA!!! AZALI!!! REGULUS!!!”

  He kept shouting and shouting, but all he heard was the children's screams. A hand grabbed his leg, dropping him to the ground.

  Smack

  When he turned around to see what grabbed him, a zombie was crawling onto him. He knew that zombie — Azali. “Grigori, why did you not save me?” Azali cried tears of blood as she mounted Grigori. “Nooo, Help Help. Help me Regulus.”

  Bang

  A gunshot. Azali disappeared from on top of him. Next to him, was John. His temple was bleeding. “You’ll regret it, Grigori.” John told him, Grigori could not tell if John was alive or one of the zombies. “No, NO!!! Get away from me.” Grigori crawled away from John, but John was nowhere to be seen. In fact, there was nothing — no zombies, no children — Grigori took a breather, where did everyone go?

  Then he saw — a black hand coming at him

  *********

  “AAAAAAH”

  Grigori jolted awake, his breathing rapid, body drenched in sweat. He looked around, the children and prisoners were all safe and sound, they were all minding their own business. No undead in sight. That’s when Grigori realized — he had another nightmare.

  It’s been a couple of days since the necromancer’s lair raid. The group had left their old caves and moved to a new one. Their current hideout was a complex cave system, with multiple entrances, exits, and caves connected to each other. To be safe, Regulus and the molrrets had dug the entrances in a way that they could easily collapse them, so that if there was another invasion, they could bury the enemies before they got overrun. Right now, they were inside the main cave used as a sleeping quarter, located in the middle of the complex. One must go through various tunnels just to reach it. In all honesty, many of them thought it was a hassle to come in and out from the hideout, but it was better than being attacked like last time.

  “You hungry, Grigori?” Regulus was sitting next to Grigori, munching on a giant rat. “... you got an apple?”

  Regulus grabbed an apple next to him and passed it to Grigori. Grigori accepted the apple, but he did not eat it immediately. Instead, he focused intensely on the apple. [Iron Body] covered his hand, and he tried to crush the apple… to no avail.

  Uri and Tera taught the group how to use [Iron Body]... well mostly Tera, Uri was a shitty teacher. Tera on the other hand, had great experience with [Iron Body]. Her tribe, or to be exact, the people of her continent had a tradition where they taught their young how to use [Iron Body]. Apparently their culture put heavy importance on one's ability in [Iron body], almost akin to a status symbol there. Probably explained why Tera could not stop gushing about Regulus every chance she got. He must have looked like a God to her.

  “Want me to crush that?” Regulus asked Grigori, who was struggling to crush the apple. He probably thought Grigori liked to eat his apple crushed. “No… Thank you Regulus.” He was a bit ashamed of not being able to crush the apple, so he ate it normally.

  Grigori was munching on the apple when he noticed that only a few kids were in the cave. Mostly just Kisara and her girls. He had woken up a bit too late, Uri and D’aka already gone. He would have liked to join them in expanding the gang’s business, but his tardiness cost him.

  “Regulus, you got anything to do today?” Grigori was hoping there was some project he could help Regulus with. Regulus slurped his giant rat before answering, “Not really.”

  Sigh, Grigori got nothing to do today. He finished his apple and walked towards Kisara, Regulus followed behind him. “Kisara, you got a job for me?” Kisara was spacing out until Grigori bothered her, “Nah.” She saw Grigori’s dejected face when he heard her answer. So she thought up something for him, “why don’t you and Regulus go to the surface and look for something to do? If nothing else, you should get some sunlight.”

  Grigori looked at Regulus, going on a walk with him did not sound bad. “Alright, you want me to get you something?” Kisara just waved her arms, telling him to just go. So Grigori went outside, climbing various tunnels just to get out.

  “God, what a pain.” He complained to himself, he knew why getting out must be complicated, but he wanted to complain nonetheless. At least the sunlight felt good on his skin. “So… anywhere you want to go?” Grigori asked Regulus, but he just shrugged. “Aimless wandering it is.”

  *******

  On one of Hazen’s tributary rivers, two boys were fishing. There were a few other fishers near them, but none of them bothered each other, it was the unspoken rule of being a fisher.

  “I got nothing… How is this fun?” Carl, one of the boys, complained. Daniel ignored the complaint, he was focused on his rod — a fish was biting.

  Splash

  Daniel pulled another fish, however it was small, so he released it back to the river, it was the unspoken rule of being a fisher. “How the hell did you keep catching fish? We’re fishing in the same spot.”

  “Skill… Skill difference.” Daniel said it straight, there was no mockery in his tone, yet Carl could not help but feel insulted. “I hate you.” Daniel just casted his bait, ignoring Carl. “Feeling mutual.” The two fished in silence. But Carl could not stay silent for long.

  “Speaking of hate… You’re not beating up Brett? Didn’t he run like a coward during the zombie attack.”

  Mixed emotion could be seen clearly on Daniel’s face, “... Nah. Uri already beat him up. I feel bad.”

  “Beat him up my ass. He just punched Brett once and called it a day. Andy died because of that coward.” Carl protested. One would wonder if Carl was the one who got wronged instead of Daniel. “Well… Brett’s a brat… heh”

  Carl faced sour. That pun was intended. Daniel ignored Carl’s sour face and continued talking. “I don’t blame him for trying to escape that time. I wanted too. At least he fought with us together in the lair… and he apologized to me and Uri. Give him a break.”

  Carl sighed, he still did not like Brett, but Daniel was not going to push it, so neither did he. The two returned to fishing in silence. But the silence was broken…

  “Daniel ~, Carl ~” Grigori was calling them from afar. Regulus behind him. They waved at each other as Grigori and Regulus approached them. “What are you guys doing?”

  “Fishing.” Carl answered, dead bored.

  “... Is it fun?”

  “Does it look like fun?”

  “... no.”

  The four fished in silence. A perfect mood for fishing… until the silence was broken by Regulus. He dived into the river unprompted. The three just watched as he disappeared. Regulus did not surface for a while, “Can he… swim?” Carl asked. The other two just looked at him funny, they did not know the answer to that. “Anyone know how to swim?” Carl asked. He could not swim, so he could not save Regulus even if he wanted to. The two just looked at him funny, none of them know how to swim.

  BLOP

  A loud noise and an air bubble popped in front of them. After a few seconds, a few fish floated up — knocked out — then out came Regulus. The boys were impressed, they did not know such fishing method existed… and they were glad they did not need to try and save Regulus.

  “Oooooh. Regulus, bring the fish here.”

  Regulus grabbed the nearby fish and threw it at the boys who frantically tried to catch them. Once they got all the fish, Regulus swam back to them… Very… Very… Slowly. The three boys discovered an unexpected weakness of Regulus — he was a horrible swimmer… better than them though.

  “We got a lot of fish, Dan. We can stop fishing now, right?” Carl asked, half begging for the boring torture to stop. Daniel considered it. He would like to fish more… but he got enough fish already. One should not catch more fish than necessary, it was an unspoken rule between fishermen. “Yeah, that’s good enough. Let’s take them to the hideout.”

  Carl rejoiced. He finally escaped the boredom. “Want to come with us?” Daniel offered to Grigori, while Carl was busy doing a celebratory dance with Regulus. “Nah, I just came from the cave. Save some fish for me and Regulus though.”

  “Will do,” Daniel and Carl left the two, going back home with a bucket full of fish. Grigori wondered where he and Regulus should go next.

  **********

  Paulie, Jeremy, and Brett were enjoying some devil lettuce on the roof… well mostly Paulie and Jeremy. Brett looked down. “You’re still bothered about that Brett?” Paulie asked.

  Brett just sighed. His devil lettuce was lit, but barely smoked. “I’m a coward. A failure.” he sighed again. “Damn right you are.” Jeremy said it bluntly, almost as blunt as the blunt he was smoking. Brett became more dejected.

  “As long as you don’t do it again. Cheer up Brett. Your joint is being wasted… heh… wasted.” That pun was not intended by Paulie. But both Paulie and Jeremy enjoyed it. Brett missed the pun, but he followed the advice and depressedly smoked his joint, maybe it would help him feel better.

  Brak Brak

  The sound of people climbing could be heard. Paulie and Jeremy put their hand on their holstered pistol, ready for trouble. Brett missed it completely. Luckily for them, it was Grigori and Regulus.

  “Yooo. Paulie, Jeremy… and Brett.” Grigori said Brett’s name coldly. Personally, he did not see Brett running away during the chaos, but he heard the stories. Most of the children in the group had lost respect for Brett — the tiny little respect they had.

  Brett sighed, even Grigori treated him coldly. But then he felt a gentle pat in the back. Regulus noticed Brett was feeling down, so he gave him some gentle encouragement. “Regulus…” Brett was touched by Regulus' touch. The other boys just ignored the heart-warming scene between Regulus and Brett though.

  “Paulie, Jeremy, you got something to do?” asked Grigori.

  “Do we look like we got something to do?” answered Paulie jokingly. A huge smile decorating his face.

  “... no… You’re not cleaning out the secret stash hidden all over the sewer anymore?” Grigori asked. These past few days, Paulie and his clique had been clearing out the crimelords’ secret stashes that were guarded by Carven’s undead. It was quite a project with a lot of people helping in fighting the undead and moving the crates back to their base. Grigori also helped in a couple of those projects.

  “Nah… we cleared out every stash location that we know. We might go if we find some new stashes… but I’m not betting on it.” Paulie explained. “Those stashes were guarded by the undead right… so if we go back to the necromancer’s lair… couldn’t we find a map indicating where all the stashes were.” Personally, Grigori never wanted to return there. But the gang’s well being was his priority — he wanted to contribute.

  “We thought of that. But the place crowded.” This time, Jeremy answered. “Crowded?” Grigori was confused by what Jeremy meant, he was sure they already killed most of the undead there. “Military men. I don’t know why, but the lazy city guards actually raided Carven’s hideout. Actually, the sewer is crawling with guards right now.”

  “Huh,” Grigori did not realize that. Their new hideout had tunnels that connected to the sewer, but it was mostly separate. If anything, the children rarely visited the sewer anymore since they could access their hideout without going through the sewer anymore. “Would you look at that, they’re actually doing something with my tax money.”

  The three of them laughed, none of them paid any taxes. “Haaa… so you got no job for us right now?” Grigori asked one more time. “Nah… you want to smoke with us?” Paulie offered him an unlit joint.

  Grigori was tempted. He always wondered how it tasted. Paulie and his group always looked so happy after they smoked. But, a bit of his conscience stopped him, “I thought we were supposed to sell this though?”

  “Yeah, that was the plan… but not a lot of people wanted to buy drugs from kids.” Paulie lamented. “The prisoners did manage to sell some though… but not much. Then again, even if we managed to get some clients, it’s not like we can resupply our goods. Since drugs won’t be a stable income for us — might as well smoke it.”

  Paulie’s logic was solid. Grigori fell to the devil’s temptation, and accepted its offer. He lit the joint.

  ********

  There was a tense atmosphere among the citizens of Hazen. There were too many events — bad events that had been happening recently. First, the gang war. And then, the mysterious earthquake that only hit half the city, causing a mass confusion and panic when most of the people from the harbor caused a stampede, trying to run from a tsunami that never came.

  Now, everyone walked with wary and suspicions in their eyes. Worried if they let their guard down, a new, horrible and weird incident will befall their city, and by association themselves. One such suspicious sight was running past them, a child being piggybacked by a smaller, black skinned child.

  “Faster Regulus!!! Faster !!!” Grigori was so high he reached the moon. Regulus, who was carrying him, ran as fast as he could per Grigori’s request. He weaved through the crowds masterfully, helped by the crowds dodging an incoming black bullet that smelled like death. Most of the older folks were screaming at the boys, complaining about the state of children these days under their breath.

  But the boys did not care, they were the wind. Nothing could stop them… nothing except Regulus. He braked. Due to his momentum, a screeching noise was made when he stopped both of his feet. The drag destroyed the road under him. “What’s wrong Regulus?”

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  Regulus sniffed around, “I smell Uri,” he told Grigori. Grigori was already smiling due to the high, and his smile got larger when he heard Uri’s name. He might have something to do for them. “Go, Regulus!!! To Uri!!!”

  Regulus restarted his dash, heading towards Uri’s smell.

  *******

  This was a tale of a shopkeeper's woe.

  In his youth, he was a slayer and a mercenary. Spent his time in the battlefield and forest, killing humans and monsters alike. He dreamt of becoming a famous hero, had his name sung by bards all across the continent. But alas, it was not meant to be. During the War of the Empress, a stray bullet hit him in the knees, effectively ending his career in the field, and his dream alongside it.

  Luckily, he saved enough money during his youth to open his own shop in his hometown, Hazen. And with the connections he built, he managed to get himself a couple of suppliers who provided him with goods at a reasonable price. He even got some help in setting up his shop. Now, his store was one of the most reliable importers in all of Hazen.

  Thanks to his combat experience in his early years, he had no trouble dealing with gangs who tried to extort him. Krieg and Lorca tried, but he fought them back effortlessly. He was one of the few stores in the port of Hazen who did not pay any protection fees to the gangs… until today.

  A bunch of kids and one skinny guy, all armed with weapons, came to his shop. Surprisingly, the kids knew how to fight, and knew how to use [Iron Body]. They beat up his hired guard. He was not the best fighter, the owner could beat him even with his fucked-up knees, but still.

  Now, one of the kids brazenly came up to his counter, pistol in hand, demanding money from him. “I’m just saying. Your guards over there looked very unreliable. I meant, a bunch of brats like us beat him easily. For the safety of your business… and your family… you might want to hire better guards. We could provide that for you… for a weekly fee.”

  “Go back home and suck your mommy tits, brat. I have nothing to offer.” The owner was not intimidated by the kid. He was a two-meter giant who knew how to fight and how to use [Iron Body]. He was also capable of casting a few first-circle spells. Dealing with a bunch of brats like them was child play — even if these brats knew how to use [Iron Body] and the weapons they carried.

  The kid leaned in more, trying to be more intimidating. How cute. “Listen mister. I have a friend you don’t want to mess with. He could easily tear you apart with his bare hands. Trust me, it’s not a pretty way to die. But with a small fee, that friend of mine will protect you and your store instead.”

  Always the same threat when it came to this extortion scheme. At least the Burhan and the Lorca had actual dangerous backers. But these ‘friends’ of them never actually came and extorted him themselves. And even if they did, the owner had a few tricks up his sleeve. A magic weapon. Fighting with it inside the store would cause some collateral damage, but it was a damage worth taking for one’s principal.

  The owner leaned in closer to the kid’s face, their eyes staring at each other. “I said, go back home, kid.” He was not backing down. The kid looked annoyed, he was ready to shoot the owner’s face point blank. The owner was ready to cover his face with [Iron Body]. A tense stand-off was happening.

  “URIIII~”

  Two boys burst in the door, casually calling the kid’s name. One of the boys was being piggybacked, by a smaller, Iron-skinned boy. That one, that one was trouble. The owner’s years of experience rang any danger alarms it could.

  “Oh, Grigori, Regulus.” The kid’s demeanor, Uri, softened. He became more relaxed, all those threatening gestures disappeared in an instant. He actually looked like a boy his age, greeting his friend who came to play. “Oh, you need help with that?” the piggybacked boy asked.

  “Actually, yes.” Uri grabbed the store brass scale, and threw it to the black-skinned boy’s hand. “Regulus, turn that into a ball for me.”

  Krrrrnnnng

  The black-skinned boy, Regulus, effortlessly crushed the brass scale into a small ball, which he then threw back to Uri. He placed the newly formed ball at the counter, “listen, you have two choices. Pay us weekly fees. Or my friend will turn you into a ball. Honestly, I’ve never seen him turn a human into a ball, and I don’t want to see it.” The boy said casually, there was not a hint of intimidation attempt in his voice.

  The owner straightened his posture, showing off his two-meter tall body in all its glory. His gaze was piercing the young extortionists. He then pulled an object from under the counter — his trump card… a bag of money.

  The owner was a master of poker face, he had won many gambling nights between the store owners in his street. Today, that poker face helped him hide the fact that he was scared shitless. His legs were trembling like crazy, not because of his old knee injury though. His boots, drenched by his own piss. He hoped none of the children noticed… sadly one of them did.

  “Take anything you want.”

  Uri felt bad for the man he just had a stand-off with, if he was in his place, he would be scared shitless too. He opened the bag of money and poured the contents on the counter, a bunch of silvers and copper Azuls. “This what you make in a day?”

  “Uhhhhm… no. I made around 20 silver Azuls in a day. More or less.” Uri did some counting in his head. “30 silver Azuls a week for our service, deal?” The owner thought a bit, being extorted for four to five silver Azuls a day was a lot… but… Regulus scared him. He had no choice but to accept, “deal.”

  Uri offered his hand for a handshake, which the owner reluctantly accepted. Once the deal was formalized, he grabbed two silver Azuls. “For this week, just two Silver. I’m nice.” He said mockingly, but the owner did not mind. He was glad he only lost two silver Azuls for this week. “Oh,” Uri was about to leave, before he returned to the counter and grabbed a copper Azul. He tossed the coin to Regulus, who accepted it happily. “See you old man.” The kids left, happy with their new business. Once the kids were out of sight, the owner fell to his knees and started bawling. The poor man was never so scared for his life, he thought he would never feel like this ever again since he retired from fighting.

  Once they were all outside the store, Grigori gleefully asked Uri for work. “You got more stores to extort? We can help.” Uri looked at the skinny man who came with them. He was Bern, one of the prisoners who knew how to read and write. Uri brought him to manage the list of stores they were going to extort. “Uhhhhm. No, that was the last store in our list today.” Bern informed them.

  “You heard the man.” Grigori was disappointed by it. “Awww, can’t we extort more stores today. I barely did anything.”

  He did not do anything other than being piggybacked, but Uri kept that thought to himself. “Nah, we’re done for the day. You can come with us tomorrow though… if you can wake up early.” teased Uri.

  Grigori was pouting, but he knew it was his fault for not waking up early enough to join the older kids in their work. “If you want more work, go look for D’aka. He’s on the other side of the city.” Grigori brightened, he tugged Regulus like a horse, “Let’s go to D’aka, Regulus.”

  They were about to run like the wind before being stopped by Uri. “Wait, let’s grab some kebab before you go” He offered the two while flashing his newly earned silver. “What’s a kebab?” Regulus asked, he was interested in this new food that he never heard of before.

  “It’s meat and veggies on a stick. Apparently it’s a southern dish. I know a good stall that sells some.” explained Uri. The two boys were interested in this southern dish. “Ohhh. are we also going to extort the stall?” Asked Grigori without missing a beat.

  “No. Not this one. I know the lady that runs the stall. She’s a good woman. She’s been feeding me and Andy even before we joined the gang.” Nostalgia washed over Uri as he said that — he always ate at that place with Andy after every successful job they did together. Now, it’s just him…

  “Let’s go lets go. Kebab!” The kids were excited and started chanting ‘kebab’. Even Bern could not help himself and started to chant ‘kebab’ too. Uri realized he was wrong. Andy might be gone, but he was not alone. One day, he’ll went to the same place as Andy, but today, he had other people that relied on him, people he cared for.

  “Kebab!!!” Uri chanted alongside the boys.

  *********

  Wham Smack

  Fist beating on a poor man’s face. A black fist, covered in [Iron Body].

  “I’ll pay, I’ll pay.” A shopkeeper was being held by the collar, his face was black and beaten. The girl who was holding him smiled menacingly. “Thank you, your money will go to God’s cause.” said the girl.

  “You meant good cause.” Sitting from afar, was a three-armed Taon boy. He was fiddling with his blade while he watched. “Did I stutter?” the dark skinned girl, Tera, retorted.

  The two and a couple of their guys had been going around the south part of the city, extorting stores and stalls. Whenever anyone refused, Tera chose violence. D’aka did not particularly like this new business venture of theirs, but in the end, they were a gang. They needed to make money to feed everyone, and they could not rely on raiding warehouses every time their food supplies ran low. They could not keep relying on Regulus to solve all their problems.

  “Just grab the money and go. There’s more stores to extort.” D’aka stood, he was tired from all this violence — he was especially tired from dealing with Tera.

  Tera released her grasp, the other prisoners went behind the store counter and grabbed any valuables they could get their hands on. “Leave some. We don’t want the store to go under. We need a stable source of income.” D’aka reminded the over eager prisoners. Some of them reluctantly dropped their loot.

  “Robbing them blind once won’t make the store go under.” Tera tried to justify her men’s action, but D’aka just brushed her off with a death glare. D’aka might not like her, but she respected him. She was under his leadership during the necromancer incident — most importantly, her God, Regulus, trusted him. So she decided to back off.

  D’aka sighed. Tera had been a great help for the group, but she was also quite a pain to handle. She used every opportunity she got to glaze over Regulus, treating him like her personal God. In fact, as they walked to their next target, she rambled about how they should treat Regulus like a God.

  “Can you stop that? Regulus is not a God. He’s only human, one person. A kid younger than us. One day you’ll be disappointed with all this expectation you put on him.” D’aka snapped. Tera just smiled. “Oh I know. Regulus is just a human… probably. I won’t be surprised if he’s not.” Tera digressed a bit, she did wonder if Regulus was really human.

  “My point is, I know he’s not a God in the realest sense. I’ll still treat him as one though.” D’aka was a bit confused by Tera’s logic. “Why?”

  Tera had a fond look on her face as she thought about Regulus. “I know one day, I will die, and Regulus wouldn’t be there to prevent it… but at least…I will never lose him. He won’t die before me, and he’ll live long after I’m gone. No one can take his freedom away, no one can make him disappear from the face of this earth… or under it. That’s why he is my God. That’s all I wanted from him. To exist.”

  D’aka was stunned silence. Tera’s devotion to Regulus was weird to say the least… but he felt like he could understand where it came from. “Is all the prisoners think like you?”

  Tera laughed. “Probably not. Heck, most of them are not as zealous as me. But don’t you worry, if anyone ever expected too much from Regulus, I’ll personally curb that down.” At least D’aka did not need to worry their group would turn into a cult… probably.

  “D’aka~” D’aka heard a familiar voice, Grigori’s. He turned to face the source of the voice, only to see Grigori accompanied by Regulus. He just hoped that Tera would not act weird around him… but that hope dashed away in an instant.

  Tera knee slides towards Regulus, perfectly stopped in front of him. Her men followed suit. Now a bunch of people were kneeling in front of Regulus. “Regulus, this humble slave greets you.” Tera said as she bowed in front of him.

  Regulus pat Tera on the head, “You’re not slaves, you’re part of us.” The other kids told Regulus what ‘slaves’ meant. He did not think it was a fitting way to describe Tera or any of the prisoners. Tera burst into tears, “Ahhh, to be accepted by your embrace. Your grace is immeasurable.”

  Grigori was weirded out by Tera, while Regulus just laughed. He found Tera and her men to be funny individuals. While Tera and the men furiously praised Regulus to high heavens, Grigori side stepped them and approached D’aka.

  “You need any help D’aka?” Grigori asked D’aka while munching on his half eaten kebab. “Can you stop that?” D’aka pointed at the cultish procession that was going on.

  “No.” Grigori did not want to get involved with whatever that was. None of the children wanted to.

  D’aka sighed. “Well, we got two or three more stores to extort, want to come?” Grigori's face was filled with joy, finally, something to do. “Yes, Yes.” He then screamed at Regulus, “Regulus, let’s go! We got work to do.”

  Regulus heard him, and he walked towards Grigori. Tera and her cultists stopped whatever they were doing and followed Regulus. Grigori actually knew how to stop them, he just did not realize it. If Regulus was Tera’s God, then Grigori was D’aka’s Messiah.

  D’aka chuckled. His life had entered quite a bizarre turn — but it was not a bad one. He enjoyed it. He only hoped John was still there with him. They would have a blast together. But there was nothing he could do to reverse John’s death. D’aka had lost his best friend, his God. But he was still alive, and the world kept moving on.

  ********

  The sun was setting, a beautiful sea of scarlet red decorated the sky. Two boys were walking down the street, Grigori and Regulus.

  Grigori was swinging his fist in the air as they walked, reliving his glorious moment during the extortion mission. He personally disarmed a hired guard, allowing the others to jump the guard without any resistance. He was proud to finally contribute to the gang today, and the best part, Regulus did not need to do anything to help them. They managed to handle themselves.

  The group was split up when extorting a stall. The guards managed to catch them in the act and they all dispersed before the guards could catch them, but all in all, it was a successful day.

  Regulus stopped moving, his attention was drawn somewhere else. “What’s wrong?” Regulus tugged at Grigori’s shirt, “Grigori. There’s a nice sound over there.” He pointed at a direction, but Grigori saw nothing. “Let’s go, Grigori.”

  Regulus seemed excited to see the source of the sound, and Grigori decided to go. They had been going where he led the entire day, he should let Regulus lead the way for once, especially when he seemed so excited over the noise.

  The two walked towards the sound, after a few blocks, Grigori saw where the sound came from. A bard was playing a lute, busking in front a group of onlookers. Regulus was awed by the sound that came from the lute, he never heard music before.

  “Grigori, what’s that? What’s he’s holding?” Regulus asked, excited like a little kid that he was. “That’s a lute Regulus. He’s playing a lute.”

  “Ooooh. Is he luting?” Regulus wondered. Grigori laughed. “No. we called that playing music. Some objects can be used to play music, just like a lute.”

  Regulus’ blind eyes were filled with wonder. The bard’s music was not the greatest, but it was a beautiful sound nonetheless. Regulus approached the bard, splitting the onlookers with his smell.

  The bard stopped playing his lute. A pungent smell assaulted his nose, breaking his concentration. When he went and saw the source of the smell, he was confused to see an iron-skinned boy looking at him with wonder. The boy pulled a copper Azul and offered it to him. The bard was about to accept it before the boy said something bizarre, “Want to be a part of us?”

  He pulled his hand back. He did not know what the boy meant, but it could not be anything good. Another boy, looking flustered, pulled the black boy away. “Sorry about that. Sorry about that.” As he dragged the boy away, he apologized to the crowd of onlookers who were holding their noses.

  Grigori and Regulus disappeared from the bard’s sight, who then restarted his music. “Phew… don’t bother them Regulus. Let’s just hear them from afar.” Grigori hoped Regulus did not ask any question. He did not want to explain why the bard stopped playing when he showed himself.

  Luckily, Regulus did not ask any question. He was entranced by the music that restarted, a bit disappointed that the lute man would not join them, but he enjoyed the music nonetheless.

  The two relaxed, listening to the music while being hidden from the crowd. Grigori then remembered something from the store that Uri extorted. He remembered seeing some instruments on the store shelves — he thought to himself that they should return there and requisition some of them before returning home.

  Regulus would be overjoyed if all of them learned how to play some music.

  *******

  A boy was perched on a roof, observing a warehouse across the street. Cooper was analyzing whether they could hit the place or not. Right now, it leaned towards a no. There were too many guards, double the usual one. They could easily take out the guards, but Cooper preferred the robbery to go smoothly, and bloodless.

  He sighed, and motioned his clique to regroup. Whatever was inside the warehouse, it was not worth the trouble.

  Yenn was the first one to arrive, and she noticed her beloved leader looked down. “What’s wrong Coop?”

  “Nah, nothing.” It was definitely something. Her womanly instinct could tell that much. In fact, she knew why Cooper had been feeling down these past few days. It coincided with John’s death. “You miss John?”

  Cooper was a bit shocked to hear his name. But he was indeed, missed John. “Yeah… Maybe. I don’t know Yenn. I’m just a bit worried with John gone. He was our leader, you know. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got nothing against Regulus… He’s just not the type to plan. Neither of us are.”

  Yenn was surprised. She did not expect for Cooper to actually care that much for the gang’s future and well-being. She always pegged him to be the first to bail when things went south. “You’re a good planner Coop. You always plan things with John. You can be the gang’s brain.”

  Cooper sighed. In truth, everyone expected him to be the mind behind the gang, but he did not have any confidence in himself. It was easy to suggest a plan when John was around. John would be the one responsible for it, and if the plan went wrong, John always came up with a solution. Now, he was the one responsible, and he did not know if he could carry those responsibilities. “I don’t know Yenn. I don’t.”

  Cooper felt more down, so Yenn pulled out her trump card, her womanly charm. She sat next to Cooper, and rested her head on his shoulder. The boy blushed, not used to contact with a girl. “What are you doing?” He was flustered.

  “Just shut up for a second and stop thinking.” Yenn ordered. Cooper followed her order and sat as straight as possible. He could not stop thinking though, his mind racing at mach speed, his heart beating so fast it could leap out of his ribcages. Yenn noticed Cooper’s nervousness and dealt the finishing blow.

  She held his hand — how lewd.

  Cooper’s mind had disappeared into Nirvana. Whatever worry he had, no longer existed. The two just perched on the roof, like a couple of lovebirds — how inappropriate.

  “We should kill him. Throw his body in a ditch.” Behind the two couples who were in their own world, the rest of Cooper’s clique had gathered, mostly boys and one girl, watching, full with negative emotion — envy and wrath, two of the seven deadly sins.

  “I want a boyfriend too.” The other girl in Cooper’s clique was a bit jealous. Hearing her remarks, the boys forgot their treacherous thoughts towards their leaders and now stared at each other instead. They were now in a competition with each other for their only shot at getting a lover.

  Yenn realized the ruckus behind her, but they did not matter. Right now, she was at the happiest moment of her life.

  *********

  Kisara was twirling a beautiful ornamental dagger. It had a fish hook like shape on its tip. She bought them for John. As a gift, and as an apology for being hard to work with before the Ana incident. She never found the chance to give it to him, and now she never will. At least she managed to give the other dagger, a part of this pair, to D’aka. She just wondered what to do with this one.

  She should have put the dagger next to John during the funeral, but the thought did not cross her mind. She could ask Regulus to dig back the burial cave and put it in now, but it felt wrong. Maybe she should keep the dagger for herself.

  In the background, she could hear the girls’ chatter. They were having fun talking about random stuff while cooking and sewing. These past few days, she and the girls had not been doing much. They were helping Paulie with raiding the secret stashes, but other than that, Kisara did not really have the initiative to start her own project. At least some of the girls had been keeping themselves busy with helping the others with their own project.

  Kisara had mostly volunteered to stay in their new base, guarding the place or help manage the housekeeping of the place. In all honesty, other than housekeeping, their new base did not need her as a guard. But she could not help herself. She did not want to end up not being there anymore when their house was under attack. She still felt guilty about that. She felt guilty about the whole thing. She could not prove it, but she felt everything would not go wrong if she did not insist on staying and killed the remaining Lorca.

  She felt like she was the one who killed John.

  “Hahahahah”

  A laughter rang through the cave. The girls must have said something funny for one of them to burst into laughter, but she missed it. Kisara looked at the girls who were enjoying each other's company. Once upon a time, Ana, Azali, and Eda were also a part of them. But now they were gone… at least Eda was still alive. She hoped she found peace in the monastery she talked about. Some of the girls were tempted to follow her — Kisara even encouraged it, but in the end only Eda was gone. Kisara wondered if she should have followed her, maybe then, more girls would come and quit these bloody lives they led.

  But in the end, she could not abandon the gang. This was John’s gang, her gang, their gang — they were all a family. Ever since she lost her family, she was always looking for one, and now she had it. And she had to protect it.

  Kisara sheathed the dagger into her belt. She walked towards the group of chatting girls and was greeted with their smiles.

  “Girls… Can you teach me how to sew?” The girls were flabbergasted. They did not expect for their tomboyish leader to actually want to learn how to sew, but they were happy to oblige. Maybe for once, their leader could have a hobby that would not stress her out.

  ************

  Georgina Pamsay had the biggest dilemma in her life. Was it time to stop being a child and time to be an adult?

  Her new big sister, Eda, had just joined the orphanage. And she was already busy running around, helping with any chores she could get her hands on. The sisters, the older girls, and even the boys liked her instantly, especially the boys.

  The sisters liked her for being such a responsible girl. The older girls admired her, she was the embodiment of maturity they all aspired to be. And the boys… Georgina actually did not know why the boys were infatuated with Big sis, Eda. All she knew was the boys started to fight each other more often, all competing on who got to talk to Eda. The girls were talking on how the boys were being stupid monkeys, and Georgina had to agree.

  “Georgina, you want to play?” Georgina and Eda accidentally crossed paths, she was carrying a lot of books when they met. Georgina loved big sis Eda. Even though she was always busy, she always found the time to play with her. Most of the older girls started to play with her again thanks to Eda, but now, she felt guilty for taking some of her time to fulfill her childish whimsy.

  “I can help Big sis.” Georgina decided to be a bit mature today. She offered to help Eda carry some of her books. Eda smiled gently, “Alright. Help me carry this book, then we play together okay. Big sis tired from working, she wants to play.”

  Georgina was excited. She could help big sis Eda with her task, while also getting rid of her tiredness by playing with her. Georgina was now one step into being a responsible adult, and she did not have to sacrifice her play time. Georgina was skipping around as she helped carry two books for Eda. “Hey, be careful, they’re heavy.” Eda was worried that Georgina would fall from all the skipping. Kids her age fell down easily, Azali often fell down randomly. Georgina just answered her concern with a loud, “OKAAAY~”

  Eda could not help but smile. Her new life in the monastery was a peaceful one. Maybe one day, Grigori and Regulus would come and enjoy this peaceful life together with her. But for now, she was grateful for what she had — she hoped these peaceful days would last forever…

  … But nothing ever lasts.

  *** End of Book 1 ***