A World To Discover

Chapter 1.

"Hey! Come back here you thief!" The old shopkeeper shouted, furiously waving his arms while he chased me, "Get that thief! Somebody!" A couple of others were running along behind him trying to help.

"Graah! Get that kid!" The shopkeeper shouted again, running faster than I expected, "Just a little bit more," I could hear him muttering under his breath as he was a few inches left from grabbing a hold of me. I quickly jumped to an awning roof of a stall. It bent downwards as I landed on top, bouncing me up and letting me reach the summit of the building it rested on.

The people on the ground were startled as the tent crumbled down, falling on the wares it covered below it. I looked down for a second before I continued my run, jumping from ledge to ledge till I was far enough.

I took the hood of the cloak I wore down as the sunlight seared through my eyes, blinding me for a second as I covered my vision with my arm's shadow.

"Haa.." I sighed, taking out the bounty I stole - a money pouch that was as heavy as a big chunk of rock - I opened it to count the contents. Coins that valued about 1487 gil were inside.

It still isn't enough, how many times do I have to keep on doing this.

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I headed to the place I'm forced to call home - the hideout of the thieves that roamed this town. "Hey boss, look who's back," The guy way behind the hall yelled, a smug grin on his face as his eyes stared onto me. This is Raphy, the boss's loyal lapdog.

The man behind him who was seated on our 'Throne' slowly stood up, glaring onto me as he scratched his scarred cheek. He walked towards me as all the others in the area followed him with their eyes.

All his brown hair spiked upwards with a single strand of his hair right between his darkly colored eyes. His body was massive, bulging with muscles and weight.

"Cough it up," He showed me his arm as he asked for the loot which I reluctantly gave him. He looked at the content, clicking his tongue as he said "What? Is this it?"

I looked away from him, knowing that he'd act like this from the beginning. This guy... is our boss. It isn't farfetched to say that he is the greediest guy on this group, town, or world even.

"It ain't even enough!" He shouted, ringing my eardrums with the roaring volume. "What do you think I'm running here, kid? A daycare?!" He grabbed my collar as he lifted my body up with ease, choking me with his tight grip. "Is this the best you can do?"

"I'm never gonna make living out of stealing." I retorted, glaring at him despite the disadvantage I had.

"That ain't my problem, you freaking pawn!" He replied, throwing me away as I knocked a couple of tables down, the booze they drank dripped down my hair.

"The idiot's gonna get wasted!" Raphy commented laughing with everybody else while they were all getting wildly drunk.

"Ghk!" I reacted as the boss stepped down on my abdomen, his dirty old boots ruining the clean shirt I wore.

"When will you ever stop saying that?! You live for us! And if you don't steal, you're as good as a single grain of sand." He followed, cracking a smile as he looked down on me.

"Remove that damned shirt of his and get me my whip!" He ordered, those who were chuckling started panicking as they ran around everywhere. Tying me down as they stripped off my top.

Sooner or later, I was tied up to a nearby post as my back was completely bare and defenseless. The crackling whip echoed every time it hit my body. It hurts... I could feel my blood dripping from my back. Every single time, I have to go through this... continuing on and on for hours till they get bored.