Chapter 1 – what a way to die.

  “Wow impressive” Alice snickered as Kato attempted and failed a backflip for the third time.

  “I told you I’m getting better.” He grinned back at her blood running from his split upper lip. “Looks like it.” Alice replied, voice full of mirth. “How’d you even cut your lip, you landed on your back?” Alice asked.

  Kato spat blood on the floor, trying to remove the metallic taste from his mouth. “Bit it when I hit the ground” he admitted, warily.

  Laughter interrupted him, Alice was doubled over and clutching her side, “of course you did!” she exclaimed before straightening and wiping tears from her eyes.

  “Hey, I aim to impress, and you can’t tell me you expected even that.” Kato smiled, rakishly.

  Taking a couple of deep breaths, Alice found herself with the ability to speak again, “As you already know my foresights not good enough for much, else I wouldn’t be kicking around the backstreets of Redusk with a lowlife like you.” She smiled, teasingly at Kato, laughing lightly, but the smile wasn’t returned.

  “Yeah” he muttered, kicking the ground absentmindedly.

  Alice Stormwhisper was the latest in a long line of forecasters accurately predicting and preparing the city against sandstorms. They had regularly ravaged the pitted, solid, stone walls that circled the city for longer than Kato had been alive. He was trapped in this city as much as others could pretend otherwise, he couldn’t.

  As Alice’s laughter faded into the warm evening air, her smile dimmed slightly. Her eyes betrayed hints of sadness as she gazed at Kato, she knew a ‘lowlife’ like him wouldn’t stay a lowlife for long and it wasn’t because he was likely to suddenly get a respectable job.

  “Kato, you don’t have to go back there. You know that, right?” Alice looked at him, but her eyes were already resigned.

  “You know I do a man’s got to eat.” Kato said, softly, his head turned to the side. This wasn't the first time they'd had this conversation; it wasn't even close to it. She had tried and failed to convince him to 'go legit' each time they had met for the past few months.

  “I know what I do is frowned upon” he started, his voice catching at first but becoming more and more resound as he continued, “but this is who I am”.

  “A thief” Alice spoke, bluntly.

  “Maybe, who can say? I've never been caught,” he smiled at her, so wide it appeared his cheeks would break.

  “Yet” Alice said teasingly, letting the topic drop.

  Kato stood, unsure of how to make his leave. “Romero’s expecting me, and you know what happened the last time.”

  She rolled her eyes, would he ever let that go?

  Kato smiled ruefully at her, “I really do have to go." He grinned at her, then winked, "wouldn't want to upset the old crook."

  Alice softly chuckled, “so you must," a warm, blush spread across her features, as she raised a hand out towards him in silent farewell.

  Kato turned, leaving the well-lit city streets, and the faint hanging scent of freshly baked bread behind choosing instead to favour for the darker, less patrolled and neglected areas that he called home

  The acrid scent was the first thing that hit Kato, no matter how many times he did this journey it always took him by surprise how suddenly, the pleasant scents of a well-kept city could devolve into those of decay and misery.

  The streets of Redusk were not a fun place to be at night, at least not where Kato lived. If any more proof of this was needed, then Jeb was the one to give it. He was a fat and portly man with a complex. He knew others looked down on him for where he came from, who he worked for and the work he did.

  He was both feared and scorned by others, but he took it all on both of his waggling chins. After all it was more than justified. To say it wasn't would be a blemish on Jeb’s character. He had worked hard, some might say too hard, to achieve his less than stellar reputation.

  It was in the way he spoke, the way he acted, even in his choice of garbs. He was a thug, and he was proud of it. Since he was young people had told him, time and time again that he would never amount to anything. And where were those same people now? No one knew. No one except Jeb that is. People who crossed him didn't live to do it again.

  He was proud of the man he had become, the persona he had crafted. Every bit of him was chosen to accentuate his character, from his accent to his mannerisms even to his choice of clothes.

  His signature ensemble was a dark, heavy overcoat, chosen specifically to blend into the night and stick out during the day, and he was never spotted without it.

  Meeting Jeb at night was never a pleasant experience, but usually a small, covert nod from Kato and he would pass on without much more than a grunt in response.

  In theory, there was no reason for Kato’s heart to beat faster, but it sped up all the same, as he walked into the dusty courtyard before his lodgings. A lone, aged broomstick was propped up against a wall, next to a rusty orange bucket, they had been there for days, he didn’t know who had left them.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Large, unloved buildings hemmed the courtyard from all side, a single short arching passage, the only entrance and exit. Standing in the centre, cigarette in hand, stood Jeb. The light of the burning end illuminating his stubbled face in the darkness.

  Kato met Jeb all the time, this was nothing new, admittedly they weren’t on the friendliest terms, not after their last encounter, but who was these days?

  It took Kato a second to work out why the small of his back felt cold. Jeb was smiling, he never smiled, and he especially never smiled at him.

  “Hey there Jeb,” Kato muttered, awkwardly, as he lowered his head, his stride lengthening slightly as he made to pass him as quickly as possible without appearing rude.

  “Stop!” a rough, guttural noise accompanied the command, the silence of the night, well and truly broken.

  Kato turned to face the speaker, his dark, emerald, green eyes, met Jeb's intense black gaze.

  “What’s up man? Long time no see”. Kato smiled slightly, but even as he made to de-escalate, his body tensed, preparing for the inevitable conflict.

  Jeb began walking over to Kato, slowly. The ground shook from the sheer mass of the lumbering brute. He towered over Kato, bending down slightly, he looked him dead in the eyes.

  Kato looked back at him warily, waiting for an explanation, but was only greeted by a thin smile.

  “Too short if you asked me,” Jeb stated plainly, as a thin blade emerged from his right sleeve, the silvery metal glinting, slightly in the moonlight.

  “Hey that's not nice!" Kato began, then he saw the blade. 'Come on! You can talk your way out of this.'

  Kato looked up at him, as he slowly took a step back. "Wow that is really cool, any idea where I could get one of those, I've always really wanted something like that, I mean who wouldn’t and may I say it really fits the whole broody, vibe you’ve got going on, good on you man, I mean I for one- “

  Jeb hacked up a wad of phlegm and spat it on the ground, the throaty noises interrupting Kato’s efforts. His smile widened ever so slightly at Kato’s sudden look of disdain; a cruel amusement taken in his discomfort.

  “You’ve gone too far this time kid” Jeb muttered his voice laced with venom; he took a step closer. His words were palpable in the midnight air. “You've done it now, stole from the wrong people this time and now it has come to this. I don't know why Maya puts up with you." He sighed and looked off to the distance, his warm breath, fogging in the chilled air. "Listen kid I take no enjoyment in this, Maya's been good to me, really good to me and if you weren't one of hers, I doubt we would have ever spoken.”

  His words were surprisingly articulate, and for the first time in any of their interactions Kato wondered if Jeb had gotten a bad rep. He didn’t give reasons; he didn't have friends, and he certainly didn't feel bad for his actions.

  “And why exactly are we speaking?” Kato began slowly pacing backwards, a bead of sweat running down the left side of his face.

  Jeb shook his head mutely, the silence speaking words he didn't.

  “Maya doesn’t want me to die” Kato blurted, desperately, trying to bargain with the man; seizing upon the only thread of compassion Jeb had, as far as he knew, ever displayed.

  But the words fell flat. Jeb remained unmoved and his earlier consideration was all but forgotten, without even a sneer or some last, poignant words he lunged.

  Kato threw himself back, acting on pure instinct. “Hey, uhh, you nearly got me there,” Kato quipped with false bravado, 'that was far too close, you need to rile him up, make him angry, make him complacent,' he thought to himself.

  Plan made; Kato acted. He waggled a finger, mockingly, at Jeb, "do better," he said, condescendingly. Kato did not wait to see if the large man reacted, as he deftly pivoted on a heel and broke into a full sprint.

  Only to immediately feel searing pain, pure agony radiated from his abdomen. His body convulsed as he staggered back, toppling over, his once pale hands coated in red, as they tried, time and time again, to pull the shaft of a spear out. But all he accomplished was spreading the red, painting the shaft in a macabre display of art, his hands slipping futilely.

  “Ahh the arrogance of youth,” a voice that was already rapidly fading, began to mock him. Kato strained to catch sight of the man behind the voice but couldn’t find the strength to even turn his head. “To think they would only send one and it be Jeb.” A short harsh laugh cut the air, and Jeb’s darkening expression was the last thing Kato saw before his consciousness slipped.

  Kato rapidly jolted awake, a man’s hand clenched his shoulder. His bones, slowly crushed in the vice like grip. He could hear them cracking. Tears filled his eyes. Kato turned, his blonde hair, flopping over his face as he regarded the owner of the hand. But he was greeted by nothing.

  The man’s face. If that was what he was, was entirely blank. No eyes. No mouth, they were completely devoid of any meaningful features, the only similarity between them and a human was the shape.

  Kato stilled, what type of monster had he found?

  It was as if the thing was a hollow shell, its personality erased. There was no way to communicate with something like this, it might as well have been a hammer, for all of the humanity it possessed. The perfect soldier. it would never falter in its goal, never be convinced to change, there wasn't even a way to try.

  The man-creature-thing picked him up, it didn't care that Kato was now awake, it probably couldn't even tell.

  ‘What’s happening?’ Kato thought, bedraggled, ‘is this a dream?’

  The creature’s hands dug into him, “AHH!” Kato cried out in pain, this was no dream, it was more of a nightmare.

  "Stop!" Kato begged; desperation painted his features. "Please," the creature didn’t even look at him, as it proceeded to dump him unceremoniously in the ground. Kato fell and kept falling, the hole he had found himself in was dug deeper than he was tall, far deeper.

  “Eugh” the impact knocked a sharp breath of air out of his lungs. He gasped for air, desperately, trying to stand, but it was to no avail, his legs chose this moment, out of all moments, to betray him and they collapsed to the ground. His strength sapped and blood pooled in the wet mud below, more pain and more suffering the only rewards for his effort.

  He couldn’t move, and a strange creature had tossed him around like a sack of potatoes, 'all this over petty theft?' His heart beat frantically, ‘this isn’t the end, it can’t be!’ He took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to force his mind to think rationally. 'There must be something I can do!' But he remained motionless, sprawled out on the damp, bloody ground. ‘How did it come to this?' he thought bitterly. At least it couldn’t get any worse.

  A clump of dirt hit his face and before he even registered it, a second did. “Why?” he managed to exhale one last strained word as he looked up at the creature above him.

  Its expressionless gaze rested on him for a second, then it moved. Another clump of dirt flew over the edge hitting his face with a wet thump, dirt ricocheting into the air.

  Kato looked up to the sky one last time, his heart unnaturally calm, ‘goodbye.’ His eyes were covered a second later, the pressure across him slowly mounted and the world went dark.