Sugar Eater

I've been running all my life

Her stomach thunders throughout Nazrin's own lithe body, her ribcage shuddering along with it. She had not eaten for a day, which for her meant that she was very close to starvation.

She holds her dousing stick out in front of her, keeping a loose grip with her trembling fingers so that her magic might pull it towards fortune. Upon birth, Nazrin had already been cursed with a rare but dysfunctional ability, that is, unlike the other pups in her mischief who possess the power of nutritional dowsing, the ability of luxurious dowsing. 

The one thing that Nazrin had going for her was a good head on her shoulders. Rats are known to be stealthy and cunning, but Nazrin was a whole stretch ahead of her siblings. For this reason, she is able to deduce where food and other necessary resources are by tracking wealth. 

May she pray to whatever cruel deity is out there that this tactic quickly works, for she would not last very much longer. 

At the peak of her desperation, she looks upwards to the sky in hopes of finding her courage. She sees the sun through quivering lashes, surrounded by an orange vignette of sunshine illuminating her veins. She wants to give up and throw this godforsaken tree branch away, let the earth of Gensokyo take her back.

Her knees shake and smash into each other as the pounding of her heart becomes gradually louder in her ears. A pup grips its tiny fingers into her grey locks, parked with its bottom into the tangles adorning her head. Nazrin will not leave him, not today.

She takes a deep sigh and closes her eyes, the blurry sunspots still dancing around on the inside of her eyelids. Looking away from the overwhelming world is calming. Lo and behold, as if on cue, the very first step she takes sends a subtle twitching into her stick. 

Nazrin fumbles around for a brief moment, trying to deduce the source of the pulling. Once she figures out the direction, she hurls her spine forward and pounces her claws into the ground. Her companion tightens its grip as she speeds off into the distance, drool already dripping from the corners of her mouth in anticipation.

What she ends up at is a rather large abandoned temple. Lost sacrifices, she assumes. Nazrin straightens her back before sneaking into the building where she finds herself surrounded by heaps and heaps of treasure. What seems off is the incredible amount of wealth displayed here, golden coins, jewels and rare materials as far as the eye can see.

The disappointment of the lack of sustenance almost blinds her to the suspicion of it, in what looks to be a Buddhist temple. Nazrin's suspicions are, however, swiftly forgotten as she picks up a hint of something sweet. Her eyes shoot wide open and her body loses all poise as she practically throws herself at the source of the scent. 

After sniffing and digging between gold and tourmaline for a while, she finally comes across a strange fruit. It had nothing resembling a sacrificial aura, but that barely scrapes Nazrin's conscious in this moment. She tries to bite into it to no avail, only to resort to scratching and clawing at the spiky fruit instead. 

Some of its round structures break off, revealing a golden inside with a most penetrating, sickly sweet smell. Nazrin immediately sinks her teeth into it, engulfing the fruit almost entirely, leaving a sticky mess of her face and chest. Her throat hurt and her oesophagus began to clog and unclog intermittently, but she does not care. A meal so rich in sugar is a rare and valuable treat. 

Suddenly Nazrin begins to feel as if her tongue and throat are corroding. She goes into a coughing fit, spewing saliva everywhere along with it. Her companion shrieks in panic as the echoing of footsteps approach her. Nazrin scrambles to get up and flee as the silhouette of a robust man comes into view, but he steps on her tail before she can escape, causing her to trip over her own feet.

The man looms over her, his piercing eyes looking directly into Nazrin's. She sneers in return. "It's rare that someone finds this place," he begins, not once looking away. "Tell me, rat, did you know about my treasure?"

"This is hardly yours," utters Nazrin, "you've stolen it from some unsuspecting monarchs, that much is obvious."

"And what exactly are you here to do?"

"I am here to steal from unsuspecting thieves."

"Are you trying to pick a fight, rat?" The man lifts Nazrin by her tunic, but just as he was about to speak again his demeanour drops. "That gem..."

"Are you looking to strike a deal with me? I don't need your worthless tourmalines, thief."

"You didn't steal that, did you?" He says, catching Nazrin off guard.

"That is none of your business."

"You're a dowser, are you not? I think I would actually like to strike a deal with you."

Nazrin went silent. The two of them looked at each other in silence. "I don't strike deals with strangers", she says finally. "Well then, I am Vaisravana."