another life. (RHG OC Backstory)

6

Thea's POV

"Tomorrow we will raid Hongjun," Jethro Coraldale, our leader, decisively said to us. "Something is freaking fishy there. I can sense it with my clairvoyant eye." His orange right eye (or clairvoyant eye as he calls it) has this weirdly mystical glint in it. He meant business.

The twins, Rosewood and Redwood Flora, sigh and adjust their AI specs. They don't like it when Jethro announces a new mission. They'd rather spend their life in the ivy groves than, I quote, "to be some macho men/women searching for God knows what."

Well, I like raiding places, honestly. I get to see what the heck's inside. And I also get to steal some stuff. Currently I have stolen three notebooks, a mint set of Aetheran guns (this stuff is valuable! I wonder why nobody used it yet), a Shadow Hold crystal inside a bottle necklace, two impressive Magmus swords and a suitcase full of Mocheian gas grenades. Fight me, collectors!

Linghun Xi, a Navian neko, checks his watch. "Curse my ass. I wanna get a new job." He looks at me. "Do you like this raiding, Thea?"

"Of course!" I replied. Linghun shakes his head dismissively.

My wings flutter in excitement. If I find some cool stuff at Hongjun, I'm definitely going to be a top collector! Maybe some Azuran technology! Azuran tech is hard to find. And when I say hard, I mean really really really really really really really really really really really hard. Some say Azurus doesn't exist. I say it exists, and I'm gonna prove those little dumbasses wrong!

Then I see a figure in the dark.

What the—?

I heard a loud gunshot, and blood streamed down Jethro's chest. Rosewood screams. Her twin Redwood whips out a gun and Linghun chases the figure. But it had already slipped out the window.

I curse in Micfortressian, rushing to Jethro.

Crap. He's a goner!

"Thea..." he groans. I look at him. Both green and orange eyes stare at me. "I appoint you as the leader of this faction."

"But, Jethro..." I cried.

"Time for me to go." He looked at the ceiling, and orange smoke swirled around me.

"What the heck?" I said. Then suddenly shards of pain rushed in my face. I screamed, gripping my head. Linghun and the twins step back. I see Jethro smile and his orange eye loses color, fading to bottle green. Then he closes his eyes.

The pain intensified in my head. Holycrapholycrapholyfrickincrap—!

The pain stopped as suddenly as it came. I felt something different in my right eye...

"Your eye is orange!" Redwood cried. Then they kneeled obsequiously.

"Wait, what?!" I checked in the mirror on the dresser.

Oh god. My eye! It is orange! The Pentagonian symbol of leadership...

They were still kneeling when I came back. Wow.

Forget that I was surprised. Whoever killed Jethro surely was from Hongjun. Somehow they knew! I need to avenge him.

"Today is a day of great change," I said to them. They rose and listened. "May God bless Jethro's soul. We will avenge him! The assassin is from Hongjun. Surely they're hiding something. Red, Rose, we need another member. Please go out tomorrow and recruit a worthy member. Don't get caught."

The twins nodded.

"Linghun, scour the premises now for bugs, or any kind of suspicious listening device. They might've got the hint through a bug."

He scurried and started searching away.

I carried Jethro's body to one of the rooms labeled Morgue. I put him on a table and flipped a switch so the formalin will preserve his body for the funeral. Then I retreated to my boudoir. I opened my laptop and covered the camera with black tape. Then I disabled the input. I looked for any bugs in the room. None so far. Then I checked the time.

8:23 PM.

Nighttime. I went to the mini-fridge and drank a can of Sprite and took a sleeping pill prescribed by my friend Shizen. Then I threw the can away and climbed into bed. Too much has happened today. I want a good night's sleep—

I was out cold before I could think of anything else.