Hermitcraft Short Stories and other stuff

Fast as the Wind... Literally (Amulets of Satya AU)

Impulse stared at the few people in front of him as they navigated the rather narrow corridors of the market. Most were just merchants and local traders opening up their places to sell whatever they sold to the crowds who would arrive soon enough too. The sun rose on the horizon, slowly but steadily as the kingdom started to wake up with the morning light.

The tired man stifled a yawn. As everyone else who wanted a good spot in the market, he had woken up at unholy hours of the morning and was sitting at his usual spot since way before the sun rose. Some noise could be heard from the back of their cart as Mumbo took out the last of the merchandise and put it on the makeshift counter. They were all set, now it was just a matter of waiting for customers.

The wait proved not to be long as in just half an hour they already had a line forming in front of their tent. Lucky for them, pottery and metalwork seemed to be popular that week. They also had a bit of fresh fruit for sale and it seemed to be doing well as well. The morning went by as usual. Lots of sales, rude customers, they scammed a few people (Mumbo didn't want to but Impulse did it anyway).

The sun reached its highest point and began to dip before something remotely interesting happened. False walked by the two friends in her routine afternoon patrol. "Heya Impulse! Mumbo." She greeted the two friends with a nod as she leaned on the makeshift counter and grabbed an apple. "You'll never guess what happened earlier." A mischievous smile spread across her face as she bit on the apple.

Impulse couldn't help but chuckle. "Well, no. I can't imagine what happened. And I hope you plan on paying for that miss Symmetry." He said mockingly.

"How many times have I told you not to call me that!" She huffed in mock anger as she pulled a coin from her pocket and handed it to Impulse. "But anyway. Let me tell you about these jerks. I was doing my morning patrol near the border and I came across these two newbies. They were acting so arrogant and mighty like they were the highest ranked generals in the army or something and they were messing with some kids--."

Mumbo rose his head at that, looking at False incredulously. "Wait, really? Why would they do that?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Dunno. Don't really care either. They were such j--!"

She was cut off by a loud crash from across the market followed by several people yelling. The clatter was drawing closer and closer as people scrambled to get out of the way. "Not again!" False sighed as she took out her sword and prepared for the hurricane of trouble heading their way.

From just her appearance, most people would think False was a random bounty hunter or a mercenary, with her shiny sword hanging from her belt and those gigantic goggles of hers. But Impulse knew better. False Symmetry was one of the most skilled fighters and highest ranked knights in the whole of Vazkim. But even she was no match for the "Wind Bandit", as people were calling them these days.

A gust of wind hit their shop making Mumbo trip and fall on top of Impulse, followed by an orange and black blurr that zoomed by so quickly, False didn't have time to even move before they shoved her out of their way. Not that far behind followed a few guards trying to catch up to the mysterious person.

The chase scene continued through the market as the thief zigzagged between the shops until finally, False managed to corner them at a dead end. The bandit turned around to face the guards. Their head was almost completely hidden by a hood and a mask that covered up to their nose so that the only visible features were a pair of strikingly bright golden eyes and a mat of ginger hair.

False laughed, almost maniacally, in triumph. But there was no fear in the Wind Bandit's eyes. On the contrary. The smile in their eyes made Impulse shiver slightly. Something was wrong. That was not the face of a trapped person. He wanted to warn False but before he had even opened his mouth, there was a flash of orange and False was on the floor with a shocked expression. And the bandit? Gone with the wind.

One of her fellow knights helped False to her feet as she muttered curses directed to a very specific thief that couldn't hear her right now.

Slowly after that scene, the usual turmoil took over the market again as people returned to what they were doing and Impulse realized with annoyance that the thief had managed to mess up their makeshift shop. The poles that held up their tent had collapsed on top of the merchandise, breaking some vases and leaving deep scratches on others. They couldn't sell any of that so they picked up their shop early and got ready to head home.

The cart was half full with the stuff they hadn't sold and Impulse was seething with anger as they walked. He wasn't doing a very good job of hiding it either because Mumbo noticed.

"Impulse?" He asked. "Are you ok?"

Impulse gave deep breath, trying to control his temper but found that it was easier said than done. He was done pretending to be happy all the time. He stopped walking, ready to let all his anger out on Mumbo. "No. I'm not ok! In fact, I'm really angry! If it wasn't for that stupid thief, maybe we would have made a decent profit. But now we'll have to survive till next week with like half of what we usually manage to make! So no. I'm not ok Mumbo. Thanks for reminding me." Impulse could see the hurt in Mumbo's eyes and that made him feel even more terrible. "Listen, Mumbo... I'm sorry. It's just-- I... I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I don't know what came over me... I'm sorry..."

He trailed off as he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked to his side to find a small smile on Mumbo's face. "It's okay Impulse. I get it." Impulse stared at his friend for a few seconds as well before remembering that they had somewhere to go.

"Come on," he grabbed the cart again and both friends resumed their path. "Let's go home."

Neither of them seemed to notice that their cargo got just a little bit heavier while they talked. Or that there was a pair of big golden eyes staring at them curiously from the back of the cart.

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Word count: 1168

I'll get straight to the point: The AU escalated. I think it's going to be longer than I expected so I'll make it into a separate book. I'll still post some lore over here and stuff like that but the story itself will be a fanfic of its own instead of in my one-shots book.