The Stench of Wealth

Thanks to the gentle rocking of the bus, despite his best efforts Uriel had fallen asleep only to wake up a couple of hours later.

He opened his tired eyes to see his grandfather sitting next to him. He had his arms crossed and a scowl on his face, he seemed to be dreaming of something rather stressful as he kept grumbling.

Uriel only managed to catch the tail end of the grumbling and only managed to catch one word clearly "Hatchery".

Uriel wanted to ask his grandfather what he was talking about in his sleep, but he knew better than to wake up his grandfather. If there is anything Alin might like more than Uriel is his sleep and even Uriel won't be able to get away unscathed if he wakes him up.

Uriel decided to continue looking out the window like he tried to before he fell asleep.

Looking out the window Uriel was a bit disappointed as all he could see were fields and forests. He hoped he'd get to see some new and exciting things but it seemed like he would have to wait a bit longer.

As he was about to sigh, Uriel looked to the front of the bus only to spot a handful of figures ahead in the distance.

They were standing in the middle of the road, directly in the path of the bus. Uriel's eyes widened seemingly asking what the figures were doing.

He was about to wake his grandfather up as he couldn't help but have the feeling that something was wrong. He looked at Alin only to see he was already awake and the expression on his face was frightening.

Alin's face looked furious as if he was about to tear someone limb from limb, his expression looked even more frightening thanks to the hood covering his face.

"G-gramps?" called out Uriel with a slightly frightened but concerned expression.

Alin's eyes instantly cleared up and his expression softened the second he heard Uriel call out to him.

Looking at Uriel, Alin put on a gentle expression with a warm and kind smile and stated "Everything will be alright, looks like some live entertainment decided to show up, just watch and don't get involved in any way"

Uriel nodded vigorously before turning back to look at the figures at the front of the bus.

The bus kept driving in the direction of the figures. A central figure started walking towards the bus, as they got closer the group became more and more visible.

There were 5 of them standing there. They were all dressed in similar clothing, wearing dark black boots with black trousers and a black belt with a silver buckle. A variety of knives, bottles and pouches could be seen on their belts or bandoliers.

They wore black cloaks with a golden trim to them and if you looked closely then you could see that underneath the cloaks they wore shirts that had deep crimson strips. Three of them had one stripe, one person had two and the central figure that was walking in the direction of the bus down the middle of the road had three.

The figure stopped after walking several steps and firmly planted his feet on the ground. As he did that, he started twirling his arms around which were now giving away a dark brown glow and pushing them forward with his fists clenched as if he was preparing for a fistfight. As he did that the ground could be seen popping slightly upwards in the direction of the bus as if a mole decided to go for a jog underground.

As soon as it got underneath the bus the man could be seen punching both of his arms upwards as if he was doing an uppercut. This caused a large rectangle to form and rapidly move upwards from beneath the bus.

Simultaneously on the bus, Uriel saw his grandfather sitting on the edge of his seat looking as if he were about to pounce. His right hand was firmly holding onto the seat ahead of him while giving away a faint silver glow.

In an instant, Uriel and anyone else on the bus could feel the bus lift slightly a meter or so before almost instantly the bus came crashing down creating a large and loud thud and causing the road underneath it to crack and fissure in the direction of the strange group of men.

"AHH" Uriel couldn't help but let out a sound out of fright.

The figures were now a lot more visible, they could be seen sporting a shocked expression. Uriel being an intelligent child could guess that they wanted to attack the bus with magic. The only thing he couldn't figure out was why they wanted to do it.

It didn't look like anyone especially influential was on the bus and if what his grandfather told him is true, only people who can't afford the better and more convenient modes of travel use the bus. It was clear to Uriel that nothing of notable worth was on it so why were they doing it? Could it be that they just want to hurt people for fun? But why would they do that, what's so fun in hurting people?

Uriel couldn't help but go through a whole lengthy thought process instantly, he couldn't understand why people might want to hurt others for fun. He understood from his grandfather's lessons that sometimes you can't help but hurt others, even ending their lives but if you do it for fun then you're no better than a wild beast.

"Gramps, what's going on?" Uriel decided to inquire with his grandfather on what's going on but unfortunately, he was nowhere to be seen as if he just simply vanished.

Looking back ahead a sixth figure could be seen walking from the direction of the bus. He also wore a black cloak but this one didn't have gold trim and unlike the near-pristine clothing of the assailants. This cloak looked old and tattered.

A man with a single stripe could be seen pointing forward while grabbing his nose with his other hand. He seemed to have started shouting something. Wanting to hear what was going on Uriel decided to open the window and stick his head out of it.

"I-it's him! The sweet, sweet stench of wealth is coming from him!" Shouted a man to his friends while pointing towards Alin who was casually strolling forward at a snail's pace while gently humming.

"Are you certain of it Sniffy?" Asked the central figure?

"Yes, Yes I'm sure of it captain. The stench of wealth is so strong if he gets any closer I might throw up. I have never experienced this before" Sniffy quickly replied before retching slightly.