𝗩𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗔𝗡𝗧 - 𝗔 𝗚𝗼𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘂 𝗙𝗮𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

→ZUSHI

83th century, The Age of Divination, Day 36, The Great Bazaar, The Capital 

Zushi marvelled at the rustic dwellings, breath catching at the towering shacks. Like a vertical labyrinth, the shanties sit atop one another, each starting where another stops.Though many are brown and fading others shine with bright paints and colourful art. The vibrant protest defies the title slum, an ember of beauty where the monarchy sees none.

With tentative steps, the brown haired male walked towards the city centre. His breath stopped the moment he walked beside the line of slums, all on their knees, kissing the floor. One mistake he made, only one, would make him no different from those men. He had to be quiet and he had to put on the best show he ever would in his life. This wasn't Pertub's Port where you could steal a boat and no one would realise it for a year, this was the Capital.

He walked past the endless sea of people, making sure not to bump into anyone. They had one chance. One chance for a big gamble as such. His breathing was ragged and he was trying so hard to be on time.

The moment he walked into the Great Bazaar he faced a huge hazard, people running everywhere in every direction. Shoulders bumped and apologies were thrown, if you were lucky. He could see the merchandise being displayed on the wooden stands, merchants enchanting the rich with nothing but empty, treacherous words. He could feel his muscles tense, from the underside of his chin to his heel and to the tips of his fingers.

A great scam, one chance, a big rebellion...

They worked so hard for this and he knew, Zushi knew that he had no right to screw it up. He needed not only to do this but also do this right.

He took small steps towards the fishermans' street, his steps grew longer and longer and he turned right and then left, right again. After a long walk towards the Central Square he finally made it to where the Great Bazaar ended with the last few souvenir shops. Two huge, brown eyes looked through the crowd for his companion, finally locking with the black ones.

Knuckle...

And this was it. They were officially ready. Zushi watched Knuckle nod, his body and eyes as tense as they always were, and he finally turned around to take his place.

The young boy took deep breaths, in and out, in and out...

His steps took a slow pace at first but after a few seconds he took each of his steps simultaneously with his pulse. As he entered one of the small streets of the huge market his breath calmed down and stabilized itself.

He stopped, and then he saw the certain royal he was supposed to meet.

The man's choice of clothing was severe, a typical long-sleeved, high-necked aristocratic clothing that covered as much skin as possible. From his toes to his neck were fabrics of highest quality, covering his milk-white skin with the darkest tones of blues. Zushi was nowhere close to seeing the man's face yet he knew that he was his target. One may say it was the instant aura of domination he felt but the truth is it was the guards surrounding the young royal like death surrounds a man.

There was no time for more analysis so Zushi moved, he slowly made his way to one of the stands as he swiftly (A/N: I swear it wasn't meant to be an inside joke, my brain does this automatically now, I don't even have to try.) and he once again, but this time slowly, put it in his pocket, making sure that one of the guards saw the action clearly.

There was a shout, then another. And a step taken, one more, and one more.

Zushi could hear the shouts from the owner of the goods and one of the soldiers shouting at him to put the small emerald necklace he had stolen back to its place. If only it was that easy, thought Zushi. And he ran. The moment he threw the first step it was as if time had slowed down and he looked right, where the men all guarded their master. And his whole body burned with a simmering flame, an electric shock into him in high voltages by only one cold glare from two icy eyes. And then it was as if time fastened even more with just a blink of those sapphire eyes.

With a sudden turn to the right Zushi ended up falling down, a small rock beside the road cut through his dark flesh as he cried in pain but kept running with the adrenaline running through his veins and ended up in a small valley where he could see Knuckle at the end, smiling at him. His feet hurt and the sore made it even worse yet when he finally made it he collapsed, Knuckle held him, not expecting the odd behavior of his comrade.

"Zushi, c'mon buddy. We gotta go." He sneered yet Zushi couldn't even move, Knuckle realised the situation when he saw Zushi's lower leg slowly blooming red. He took him on his back and ran, trying to make sure to find a place that they could hide. But he was too late.

When he saw two guards on his way, blocking the exit for the valley he turned back, only to face three more. There was nowhere to go. Knuckle looked around in his surroundings as he tried to find a way to escape but his thoughts were interrupted when a harsh kick found its way to his stomach, making him gasp and fall down, Zushi slipping through his grip. And then another kick hit him behind his knees, making him stumble down in a begging position.

"You slum!" The men all laughed and Knuckle smelled the alcohol on them, he felt disgusted. His stomach ached with his beaten pride, with the fact that he had indeed failed. He received another kick on the nose, he saw red. With his anger built up Knuckle hit the ground with his fist, leaving a small recess and making the men flinch.

"That's enough." A calm voice echoed through the street as its sharpness dominated the chatter from the Bazaar. The men walked away and the man from the street walked closer and closer, stopping one step away from the two boys.

The man was indeed a royal as it can be seen by the gold wolf emblem on his outfit, shining under the sunlight. He had white hair, blue eyes and very fair skin. The dark blue of his severe, hard- laced clothing was too harsh for his fair coloring, and stood in stark contrast to the overly ornate style of the area. Unlike the other courtiers he wore no jewellery, not even rings on his fingers.

As he approached Knuckle saw that the expression that sat on the lovely face, he knew these types. Self-observed and self-serving, raised to overestimate his own worth, and indulge in petty tyrannies over others. Spoilt. Not caring about the people's lives as long as his own is fine.

"My Lord," the officer who was clearly in charge said with a quick bow. "You should stay back, this man is dangerous."

The man scoffed, a teasing smirk up on his thin, rosy lips, "Yes, obviously. That's hardly news to me. I think you'd find that these guards were all aware of that before these two boys provided them a personal demonstration to that fact. It would take an idiot to see a man built like a bear and not suspect he was capable of tearing a few limbs off if properly provoked. So you can rest easy; I am not underestimating him, I am simply not afraid."

His tone, thought Knuckle, his tone was so sharp. It didn't carry any emotions just like his facial features. It wasn't full of disgust, like the soldiers he carried around. Or it wasn't forgiving or understanding, it was actually kind of scary. Because whoever this man was, he was unpredictable.

He lowered himself as he looked at the unconscious boy even more closer, his eyes painted into a dark tone of suspicion.

"Take them to the palace grounds, and give this stupid boy some treatment before he dies of blood loss." Knuckle's eyes widened as he looked up to see that the man was already walking down the street, hands in his pockets, and more outstanding than ever.