Glory in War [EDITED VERSION - SHORTER CHAPTERS]

Chapter 6.1

Chapter 6 - Tragedy

6 YEARS AGO

12.06.1637

The City of Above

36:29

"I have... a past like everyone else... But unlike the others, I... wasn't raised in the Underground City. Until some years ago, I didn't even know about its existence. All I knew was the "City of Perfection", which hated people like me... I was one of what people call the "Lost Children of Heaven", raised in a group of this type of beings, in, what the underground citizens call, City of Above. We weren't many at number, around 12 or 13 people, trying to survive as C borns in a city that didn't accept us, no matter what we could have done to make them believe that we are no danger to them. But we had to accept it, even if over the years, they started naming us the "Shadow Thieves".

Most of us were different ages, from the ages of around 6 or 7 to 26, the older one being our boss, the one who was taking care of those younger and was finding a place to stay together for all of us during the night. Yet from all of those people that I've grown with, I used to know three kids better than anybody else, as they were my friends, a girl and two boys."

Seems like a memory from years ago, in which we are in the City of Above. Four kids seem to work hard, as if this is their job. And from these kids, there is a familiar face, of a boy that is now a man. Yet the others are unknown to us.

"It... wasn't much about them though. The first boy, Three Nine J Two, was the one who was organising most of our plans when we were going alone in the city, as he was a brave man, even with his young age. The second one, Eight L K One, was kind of his opposite. He was scared every time we were going somewhere and we always had to calm him down, as he was afraid that one day we will all get caught and killed one by one. And lastly... the girl, Four S Five Eight, was the one who was giving us motivation. No matter how hard the times were, she was always positive and made us knew that there is always a tomorrow..."

These kids don't seem as they are C borns though as we see them at first, but they use disguises for now to hide their colours and race.

"Most of the times, we had to get supplies from the city so that we can stay hidden and act the same as our enemies. We had to find equipment so that we can disguise ourselves, Novha, or even some Histvorh so that we could take care of ourselves, as we didn't know how to use our powers at all and we weren't able to create any kind of object even if we tried... not to mention that we weren't even aware of the powers that we have back then. After all, nobody taught us about them. Being raised in a city in which our kind has to hide is just one of the reasons why we wouldn't even know why the M borns hunt us.

We... also didn't really have a "home", as we switched our position almost every day, so that we could never get caught during the night. To make sure that the soldiers won't find us when we sleep... And so... this was our life, a life full of fear, stress and chase of hope. It was hard, but this was a life that we thought of it to be "normal" for a long period of time, and which I still considered normal for a while even after the changes. Yet even with these circumstances, we weren't so negative about this situation. After all, if you are raised this way from a very young age, you get immune at some point of the feeling of fear. At least, that was in my case. But of course, time had to remind me that nothing in life goes as you wish."

We are still watching the kids work though while the voice speaks. They are pretty young, even younger than N04H probably, or even around his age. The work they do is a bit too hard for them as well, yet they still decide to do it for a reason or another.

"...One day, my three friends and I decided that we should go alone in the city, again, so that we can take some Novha as we were running out of it. The other people in the group remained behind, but didn't really care that we made a decision like this one, as they were used to people leaving in smaller groups. One of the rules from the group in which we were raised was to never go anywhere alone. As long as we had someone with us, the leader was always letting us go wherever we wanted.

And so, Three took us somewhere in the city so that we could try and win some Novha while working for a random guy, of course, as we were being disguised so that no one can see what kind of beings we are. The person was... kind of annoying and also a bit of a dick, as he was putting us to work very hard and he was barely paying us. We were also just kids, so we weren't able to work that hard for our age, but we had to do it.

The work itself wasn't complicated, we only had to clean up a room and to carry some boxes, but the boxes were heavy and we weren't strong enough to carry them, so it took us some hours to complete the quest. And while we were doing it, the man was just watching us while drinking something to satisfy himself and his laziness."

[A4LEKH]-Faster! Faster, you lazy brats! If you want to get paid, you have to work better!

"We were sweating, as we were working for a while. My friends were starting to get sick of the man, and I, too, was done with his bullshit."

[630G]-...Can I... ask why did you hire us to this guy, Three...?

[39J2]-It doesn't matter who we are working for, Six! We just need the money! After we are done, we will never work for him again!

[8LK1]-What kind of person puts kids to work this hard anyway!?

[39J2]-Can you guys just shut up and get the work done?? I swear, you guys start to annoy me even more than this guy!

[A4LEKH]-Stop the chit-chat, brats, and work!!

And so, the little kids were exhausting themselves just for some money in hope of their survival, while still ignoring the man's words and talking with each other.

[8LK1]-...Do you think that after we are done, we can use a part of the money to get something for ourselves?

[39J2]-If we get a decent payment, then maybe... But we still have to go back with something to the group.

[630G]-We worked all day anyway... like we always do, Three. We already got some money back at our place, even though this day was a bit unlucky for us when it came to jobs.

[4S58]-Maybe we could go around that park in which the Statue of General 4RTHUR is to take a small break like yesterday?

[630G]-Didn't we get cast off by a soldier last time because it's a "monumental place, not a place to rest"?

[4S58]-I didn't mean to go near the statue again. Just admire it from a distance around the area.

[8LK1]-Why do we go there anyway?? Don't we hate the General?

[39J2]-Shhh! Keep your voice down, you idiot! If someone hears you, we will get in trouble!

[4S58]-It's just to relax, Eight. No need of praying to him or anything. The area is silent and all, you know?

[630G]-Mmm... I still think it's better if we stay at our place tonight and plan something for tomorrow. I don't want us to get in trouble with any of the soldiers from that area. Besides, isn't it my turn to decide where we are spending our time today?

[39J2]-Yeah, I think it's better if we go by Six's idea this time as well.

[4S58]-Mmalright... I have to respect your turn in the end. I already chose yesterday...

[8LK1]-It's fine by me and all, but what should we do at our place until we go to sleep?

[630G]-I don't know, chat? Is it something else we should do?

[39J2]-For now, just focus on the work to get our money. We will decide when we arrive.