Ashes of Revenge

Raven’s boots sunk into the black mud as she left the pub. The rain had finally stopped, and all that was left was a dense grey fog that blanketed everything.

All three went their separate ways.

It was time to put Raven’s plan into action.

Raven placed her hood over her head and moved it closer to the right side of her face, covering the burns. She found it ironic that while in a Kingdom where she would somewhat belong, she still chose to cover up. But, the group fit in just fine with their black clothes.

Her eyes scanned the people that passed. Some she could tell would have no money, others she knew would have some, but that simply wouldn’t do. She was waiting for someone who had a lot. However, she didn’t get her hopes up; it seemed like this town was just as neglected as the other one. Lone children were running around, far too skinny. The houses and shops looked broken and on the verge of collapse.

Finally, her eyes landed on a target. He had light brown skin and bright orange eyes. He was well dressed - layers of fur-lined white-colored clothes with jewels placed over certain articles. White designs ran over the light grey over-shirt. The alabaster and fur indicated an important title, only the Nobles and Royals wore it in the Monstro Kingdom.

A glistening gem against dirt.

Raven redirected her pace to match his. She bumped into his side with a rough shove before her hands grabbed his waist to stabilize herself. “Sorry.”

The man shoved her away from him. “Get off me, whore.” He had a proper Britannico accent. Now that Raven was closer, she saw the little Monstro pendant on his outfit: a pointed down dagger with black thorns encircling it. On his hand sat an all-black ring.

Raven immediately bowed, crossing her arms and pressing her thumbs to her throat: the Monstro bow. “My apologies,” Raven said, resisting the urge to spit on his polished leather boots.

The man continued his walk, and Raven straightened out, a small smirk resting upon her lips. She walked towards the Market, waiting for him to realize that he had been bested. It wasn’t that she didn’t know how to steal without people realizing, she simply liked toying with them - if she wanted them to know, they would; if she didn’t want them to know, they wouldn’t know for hours.

She wanted that pathetic man to know. Most Officials were stuck up and flaunted their wealth in the poorest of villages.

With a smile, she pulled out a bag of coins. His bag of coins. She shoved it into the side pocket of her cloak. Walking into the Market, she blended into the sea of black.

“Thief! STOP HER!”

Raven sidestepped next to multiple ‘fruit’ and ‘vegetable’ carts. She picked up a black and grey apple - its skin moved and swirled in a water-like motion - and dropped it, making sure to take extra long picking it up. The Official’s boots came into view for a second before he walked away. Raven almost hoped he would spot her so she could shove her knife into his throat.

Raven straightened out with the apple in hand, the bender staring at her. She reached into the pocket of her cloak and pulled out the necessary amount of money. Tossing them to the man, she walked away as she wiped the black mud onto her clothes.

The coldness of the apple soothed her throat, but not before the taste of salt entered her mouth. She coughed and immediately regretted coming into this Market. As she spat out bits of the apple, she hoped her teeth weren’t stained.

***

Richard walked into the Market and looked around. To his left was Raven viscously stomping on the remains of some weird food. A small smile encased his face, and he shook his head as he continued to walk.

He walked behind the vendors, his quick and nimble hands going in and out of their pockets. Every object he touched disappeared.

Walking out of the Market, Richard walked under a tree with grey swirling branches going every which way. He looked around to make sure he was safe. Moving his hand in front of him, the objects began to fall out of his palm and to the ground. When the objects stopped falling, Richard began to root through them. He separated the items into different sections: keep and sell. He would sell items such as necklaces and rings, and the items that he kept were coins.

Richard placed his hand over the items he wanted to keep, and they disappeared. He tucked the things he wanted to sell in his pocket. Standing up, his eyes darted around him to make sure that no one had seen him. Satisfied, he began to walk back to the Market.

He halted as his eyes landed on Knights. In the middle of all them, practically shouting orders, was a Palace Official. Richard’s face fell when he guessed the Official’s lousy mood had to do with Raven.

Attention would be brought to any species that wasn’t Monstro. Being a Farian, they would automatically assume he had stolen the items, and if the other species were caught, then they would be tortured and killed.

Richard slipped into a crowd of people as he continued in his search for a Vendor.

***

Colt leaned against a fruit bender’s cart as he watched the crowds of people pass by. The mass majority of the people were poor, which didn’t particularly surprise him. Almost all the Kingdoms were like this, the only exception being the Telik and Farian Kingdoms, which both had strong villages with multiple resources. The one thing that the Telik’s had over everyone else was their trade, which mostly kept the Kingdoms alive in times of need. The Telik King, King Hareket, did his best to stay out of conflict, but with King Onyx’s new ultimatum, that seemed like an impossibility.

Colt almost shuddered at the thought of the Shifters going to war. His species were bred for fighting, and he hated even to think about what Shifters, Mundus’, and Monstros could do when joined together.

Colt’s fingers naturally ran over four scars on his forearm, poorly resembling squares. It was just another painful reminder of what his Kingdom had done to him. What it had taken away: his freedom. Looking back on it now, he found it ironic that the Shifter Kingdom, a Kingdom with no laws and absolute freedom, had taken away his.

When he finally escaped the Shifter Kingdom, he managed to stumble into the Farian Kingdom, bruised, bloody, and half dead. There, he was quick to be caught for stealing and thrown in jail. In prison, he met Raven and Richard, and the three species found they had something in common: a want for revenge.

His knives extended in his hands, forcing him out of his thoughts. The blades quickly slid back into his skin, and he frantically looked around, making sure no one had seen as quick pants of breath forced themselves out of his mouth.

When he felt safe and managed to calm down, he pushed himself off of the cart and followed a group of people who were more nicely dressed than the majority; not anyone important but not worrying about their next meal. Colt increased his pace and shoved past them before he made a sharp turn away from the crowd.

He exited the Market and walked into an open field. Once alone, he pulled his hands out from behind his cloak and looked at all the items. Any coins that he had grabbed were already stored away. He smiled and stashed them away. The people wouldn’t know for a long time they had been robbed; the weight of what had been lost was replaced with some of the fruit Colt had been leaning against.

When he looked up, he saw the one thing he never thought he would see again: his horse.

“Yeh gotta be kiddin’ me,” Colt mumbled. His smile fell as he marched to the animal. He roughly grabbed the reins and pulled the steed towards him. It bucked and neighed at first before he noticed that it was his owner. “I hate yeh,” Colt said as he climbed onto the saddle.

He raised the reins to command the horse but froze. Bodies swung from a few trees in the distance. One only hung by the neck - a sure sign he was a Mundus - with bits and pieces bloody and deformed from the nights.

On another tree was another person hanging by their neck, the body in the same vulgar state as the Mundus’. The difference was a pair of bloody light blue wings swayed next to the Farian - nearly torn beyond recognition.

Turning away from the bodies, he stopped again when he saw the Knights spreading out into the crowd. Onyx thorns and branches wound around the brass and matt silver metal. Each Knight’s armor was customized to allow varying shifts to occur.

Colt knew from the descriptions Raven and Richard had given him that they were from the Castle. Anxiety began to force its way into his body, and it took him a few seconds to get his breathing under control. He didn’t want to think about what would happen if they were captured.

Looking around more, he saw Raven and Richard heading back to the pub.

Quickly, he kicked and slammed the reins down on his horse and raced back to the pub. The only thought that calmed him was them counting their winnings.

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