| Fan Fiction |
by Aelk
With just a simple word, Shamash grabbed Anzu’s wrists by force and was bringing her towards the outskirts of the human’s capital city.
“Where to?”
“My home.”
Home? His home is not the wooden shack? There’s somebody waiting for him there? Anzu was baffled, and numerous questions filled her mind. The Machina cube Shamash stole has been strapped onto his back, and when asked why, he merely answered that his client was where they will be headed to.
“And I will not reveal who the client is.”
He said before she even asked, and that showed who adamant a person he can be for his shady career. She thought of dragging back the cube while he dozed off unexpectedly just now, but the urge to see where he will be bringing her overcame everything.
As they walked on, the morning sun shed light to a small village a mile away -------- And that is their destination.
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“Marduk, is your plan going to work?”
King Nannar asked timidly.
“Be rest assured.”
Marduk, the developer of Machinas, spoke with an upward curl on his thin lips.
“But first, we have to seal the mouths of those that knew,” he continued.
Brilliant as he is, and nonetheless, he has another side of him.
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It took them another twenty minutes to reach the location. But something is different. The village was not really small but there were scarcely any crowds and its atmosphere was the most unwelcoming
Houses were old and their walls were invaded by moss. Streets were dark and lifeless. The villagers shunned each other’s presence as they return home from the wet marketplace. Children were disturbingly doing the most morally wrong things.
Anzu definitely saw a ten-year-old boy cutting the base of a Juhna traveler’s pocket and allowing her purse to drop onto his nimble hands before slithering away into the shadows. She was about to inform the victim when Shamash held her back with a sudden gripping on her wrist.
“Steer clear of them if you want your life.”
Anzu nodded obediently and continued to be led by him into a rather broad alleyway. The stone grounds were slightly wet from the sewage which escaped from a blown pipe, and it did not smell too good to her.
“Ugh…”
The priestess covered her nose in slight disgust. But most importantly, she managed to comprehend that almost all criminals and underprivileged were Humans. Children in torn clothes stealing money from travelers, adults begging for food along the streets… the lives of the Humans beyond the capital have been totally different.
“It is as if all wealth were given to the capital city, leaving the other villages and cities dry and bare. This is just one of the many you will see.”
Shamash took the chance to enlighten her with his hurtful words mocking at her naivety.
She felt ashamed all of a sudden. Being worshipped like a living goddess herself, she knew nothing about the world beyond her altar.
Her companion ignored her and stood sternly in front of a wooden door located deep within an alleyway.
”Here.”
Anzu stopped on his instructions and then, he knocked the door lightly.
“I’m tired, come again another day!”
A fatigued voice came from behind the door as the knocking stopped. Despite the softness, Anzu could tell it belonged to a rather young boy.
“What nonsense. Helke, let me in.”
Annoyed, Shamash resorted to using violent kicks to force the resident to open the door which almost broke off from the hinges.
”Dang, it’s Bro!!”
The voiced screamed, followed by an echo of many others’ voices and a series of thuds and clanking of metallic objects as if they were executing a final cleanup. After a while, the door finally gave way to the scene within the house.
Anzu rushed towards Shamash see who the boy was. Not much to her surprise, he looked just like any other young thieves she saw on the streets. He had uncombed hair which seemed like a lion’s mane, pale skin, and a rather thin physique. Despite the half-sleeveless clothing he wore, his huge blue eyes sparkled upon the sight of Shamash.
“Bro!!!!
Helke threw himself towards him and the latter accepted the hug willingly. In the eyes of the others, they appeared to be more like father and son than brothers.
Anzu was invited into the house, but she received weird glances from all around her. Apart from Helke, there were several other children living together. Age ranged from around five to fifteen, each of them bore a clear difference in their appearance which proved that they were not blood-related. Even so, the fact that all of them loved Shamash and rushed up to him for a hug cannot be true enough.
“What brings you here, bro? Aren’t you handling some tough cases in the city?”
An innocent-looking girl asked with a toothy smile.
“I come to check up on you all, just in case….”
Shamash’s words stopped questionably. He wished to tell them about how his client would use them to threaten him should he decide not to steal the machina, but he held his words back at the last moment.
“Just in case Helke bullies all of you.”
He lied, because he does not want them to worry for him. As long as he brings his clients their desired item, his family will not be harmed.
“I did not!” Helke protested childishly, “Anyway, who is she, bro?”
He pointed directly at Anzu who appeared a little lost.
Apart from being shocked, she does not know what else she is experiencing right now.
”She? One of my loot.”
And nonchalantly the Shadow answered.
“Cool, a human as a loot! I’ll be sure to work harder so that I can achieve your level!!”
Helke gave Shamash a thumbs-up, rubbed his pocked nose, and hopped around his role model hyperactively with the other kids.
”Nice to meet you! I’m Helke, she’s Hanna, that’s Ea…”
While the children introduced themselves to her, Anzu gave a helpless smile in return.
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”They were all abandoned children from parents who were too poor to feed them.”
Shamash unbelievably revealed more about his history to her as he unwillingly accompanied her around the streets to sightsee. The machina cube was left with the children to safeguard since his client’s location was not really within the village. Helke and his gang, as Shamash said, are the best guards for treasures other than being the nimblest pickpockets around.
Anzu did not know what to answer. Should she be happy about that?
“So… you took them in?”
“Yeah.”
“And nurture them into thieves, just like you?”
“Yeah.”
“Why didn’t you send them to schools? They would have had a better future!”
She raised her voice unwittingly.
“What do you think would benefit them if they went to schools?”
“They gain knowledge and become useful citizens to the country!”
Her words stirred up certain feelings in him. He was angered by her words.
“The schools, lady priestess, allowed only sons and daughters of aristocrats to attend for free,” he finally snapped at her, and grabbed her shoulders so tightly that they hurt.
“Children of lower statuses, like Helke and the others, were considered filth and would be rejected definitely. The only other way was to hand in a million gold per student, if you had not known.”
“I-i’m sorry…”
His words forced tears out of her eyes, but he cared less and continued.
“The society of the humans is divided into two classes: The nobles and the peasants. The differences in the treatments are too great. You saw how different the villages were from the city. And anyway, I don’t see how good a child can become if he studies in the same school attended by the King and his despicable relatives.”
He would rather they steal from the rich, and helping the poor with their skills.
Concluding his words, Shamash sprinted back to the children’s dwelling, leaving her alone in the desolated streets. Just like her feelings, the sky began to darken and clouds gathered.
Anzu stood rooted for a moment to reflect on her thoughts, ignorant of the bad weather.
“Huh…?”
A droplet of water landed on her cheek and fused with the trail of dried-up tears. She wiped it away with her hands, only to receive another shock.
The moisture on her hands was blood red.
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“Where are you heading to, Bro?”
A little boy lugged his black suit’s sleeves willfully.
Although he was only ten, the boy is too skinny. Flesh hugged his tiny skeleton with no fats beneath his skin; his face was pale and bony. He reeked of the sewages, and wore a meager bit of cloth to shield from the cold. But he is not the only one.
There were many other children in the same predicament as him in this little alleyway they were living in. Everyone was abandoned by their parents for a common reason of being poor, and one teenager took them all in. Despite the foul smell, unhygienic environment, stale food and water they have been forced to live with, the orphans were contented.
Someday, they resolved, someday they wish for the situation to change.
The big brother the boy has been talking to knelt down to look at him, and smiled.
“Helke, do you want to go to school?”
“School?”
“Yeah, the place you asked me about that day, where every well-clothed child goes to.”
“I ain’t well-clothed. I’m wearing rags…”
Helke said while staring at another corner.
“Don’t worry, I have the money. Once you’re there, you will learn a lot of things, like mathematics and the ways to change a country.”
“I don’t want to go.”
“?”
“Helke doesn’t want to learn how to govern a rotten country like this. If the children there will become future officials for the country, then I hate that school.”
“… … Very well then,” the teenager helplessly complied with the child’s opinion, “I’m off.”
Helke allowed his big brother to take his leave. He does not know where the teenager goes to every night, but he knew he would always come back with food and clean water.
Just as how this azure-haired teenager reached out for them when they were abandoned, the little boy wished to be doing the same in the future.
He dreamed, worked hard, and achieved. Now, the fourteen year old too became a thief to help the weak.
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A/N
I ought to be shot for delaying this update
for one week D:~
But here, it's a long chapter.
Typed in a rush, i hope i made sense in what
i'm trying to convey O_O.
Why is the sky bleeding? (That's scary)
since the streets are deserted cuz everyone
knew it's going to rain, Anzu is the only one
drenched in the red downpour.