Abyth

*

I woke up from my sleep, and my legs felt a little hard, it was my little brother, he had fallen asleep using my legs as a pillow for his head, and his drool was all over my legs. I sighed and slowly and calmly moved his head from my legs, and my legs were free again, I slowly got up, from the thin mattress, then went towards the outhouse.

The outhouse was a small building not connecting to our house, normally lower class people would not have a sewage system instead they relied on cesspits, luckily My family could afford the rent for a good home, and compared with other families from our side we were quite fortunate.

After finishing my business and cleaning my hands with soap, it was a homemade one, it had no particular smell or details, but it had a yellow tint. As I entered my house by the backdoor, my mother greeted me, she had a smile on her face, she had gone to her friend's house. She then took out a container, and as she was about to pour the remaining oats from the day before into a bowl, I told her that I had to attend school a little early, mother asked then what time I had to reach school. I answered that I had to reach school by 6:30 at least. She then took the pocket clock from my old bag's pocket, it showed the time as 6:47, my mother asked about it, and I answered that it had broken, for which she asked "When did it break?"

I answered with a smile "I think it broke around 6:47", we laughed.

I started to walk to my school, and after some time, I stopped by the giant clock near the park to see the time, I then continued my journey, the time was 5:27 in the morning.

I picked up my pace, and as I walked for some time I saw a stray dog, it was covered in dust and mud, it looked weak and like it had no strength, I got sad after seeing its condition, but I knew I could do nothing as to have more than one pet a person should pay house pet tax, My family already owned a cat, I could not afford more than that, the tax was around 1 medium coin per month. I knew my family would adopt it if I asked but the part of asking them made me feel sad.

Soon I got an idea after seeing the stray dog walking towards the thief's passage. The Thief's Passage was the name of a small area, it had many businesses like assassination Shops, human butcheries, dog fight areas, and the black market.

I was about to use it as a shortcut, but the words of my father and mother made me not to, they had said that if the people from Thief's passage caught me, then I would be turned into a slave or would be sold by pounds for others to eat.

Most of the people from the Thief's passage were not kind to others, in that area there was a high crime rate and people would even get eaten, there were many cannibals, and they did not even leave kids or babies. So I stepped back and turned towards the normal path by the scholar's district.

But suddenly I heard a voice, "What are you doing here young boy?"I turned around and saw an unfamiliar woman standing beside me, she appeared to be in her early twenties, she looked pretty and was wearing a full brown suit with many pockets and she had brown hair, Her medium-length hair framed a pleasant face that seemed familiar yet distant at once.

"Excuse me," I began hesitantly, minding my parent's advice to avoid drawing unwanted attention from the elites of the society.

I thought for some time, about whether to run or to answer, as I did not want to end up dead in some alleyway or not to get publicly executed for saying something that might offend her.

I ended my thoughts of running away from her, as it would mean that I would have committed a crime, of not answering an elite.

The society had a cruel rule, A Royal or Noble could murder the middle, Low class/tear, and the Banished/Outcast, as they wished.

However, a Middle-class person could not kill any people from the Lower class/tear as they wished, but the Banished/Outcast, could be killed.

The killing of Banished/outcast was legal, there was no limit to it, as being banished meant, a person would not be under the rule of any kingdom, they did not have to pay tax, they did not have to follow the kingdom's rules, likewise they did not get the kingdom's protection.

"But I'm heading towards my school by the Scholar's District, why?, is there a problem?", I muttered, averting my gaze, as I did not want to reveal too much of myself. Regret immediately flooded me upon realizing that I had added a questionable line - why? is there a problem? She looked down at me before meeting my gaze again, and then said with a smile "My apologies, young man. I mistook you for a moment, and believed you were considering entering 'The Thief's Passage'.

She then asked, "Why do you look scared, it's not like I am going to kill you, why are you scared?". Her tone was stern but mixed with a little kindness.

From her words, I got a stupid idea, it was to act like a middle-class person, looking at her dress and face, I thought that she was middle class or mostly a noble but not a royal, the fact that the royals would not even think of coming to places, which they seem like filth.

As I was about to lie my way out by saying I was a middle-class child, my work identification card, fell from my right pocket, as my pocket was not sewn properly. As I bent down to pick it up, she picked it up and gave it to me with a smile.

I understood from her reaction that she did not read it, as she also had a pair of glasses in one of the numerous pockets of her suit.

She then said smiling, "It appears we share similar destinations today; please allow me to introduce myself properly. My name is Abyth."

"My name is Leon", As we were continuing, We heard a scream, it was from the stray dog, Abyth looked at me and commented, "Think they might be making a stew out of him". I did not like her comment on it. I had seen the dog walking all over the streets, the dog was a kind one, I remembered my days when I was about seven, I was playing with the dog and with my friends when I did not go to school and when I did not have a responsibility.

I thought about the dog's help, when I was a child I had been lost I don't remember much, but I still remember saying, "Don't leave me" to the dog, when it was guiding me to my home. I left her and ran towards the thief's passage. As soon as I was about to enter someone held my hand, I turned back, and it was her.

As Abyth accompanied me into the dangerous territory, The Thief's Passage, and after searching for a few minutes, we found him, together with an unknown person, the person was a butcher, as he was holding a knife in his left hand, and was wearing a blood filled dress. After seeing Abyth and me he went mad, and he started to run towards us while holding the knife. He was about eighty meters away from us.

Abyth reached out to her front right pocket and took out a revolver, it had a wood-colored handle, and it looked quite dark and heavy. she shot three times, one was to his right leg, the second bullet hit his left hand, more precisely to his left wrist, from the pain he dropped his knife, but there was no scream, then was the last shot fired, the bullet which flew with a spark hit the stranger's head, there was no sound of pain or scream, the only sound was of the bullets, which were already fired. She spoke "Ha, first kill of the year, quite satisfactory", Her face looked like she was having fun as she killed him, she then went near the body and took out her glasses and she wore them, she then looked. She laughed and continued saying stuff that made me sad.

The scene was so gruesome, because of which I got scared and fell on my butt as I could not bear seeing a person die. Deep inside, I knew she saved me, but it might be my fate next to die, I thought. She came near and said "At least the dog is safe" and smiled at me, while still holding the gun, with her index on the trigger.

She then went near the poor dog, held its body, and hugged it, the dog was smart and brave but was paralyzed by the sound of the gunshot. She then came near me and dropped the dog on my body, it knew not to run away from her or to move when she had held him, as he knew how not to die from a bullet.

In my mind, I thought the dog was safe. She then looked down to put her revolver in her pocket, she saw her suit, covered with dust and dry mud, she laughed and gave me a hand to stand up, she then used her hands covered with gloves, to remove the dust and dry mud, and then patted the dog.

As I stood up with her help, still shaking in my shoes from witnessing a death in front of me, she then saw my work identification card, again, it fell, while the dog was trying to move, from his nose poking my pocket. She then took it from the ground and saw it, she then gave out a little laugh and said "I understand why you were afraid of me, I now also understand why you are still shaking, you have no experience of killing"She then took out a pendulum and swung it in front of my eyes, I slept with no fear for some time.

Someone was standing in front of me, I could feel it, I slowly opened my eyes, expecting to see Abyth, but I saw a man wearing a brown coat, a tall hat, and a pocket watch which was sewed into his trousers, which was neatly kept inside his pocket, standing in front of me, with his cane on his right hand, it was the old man from yesterday? he then gave me a bottle of water and helped me stand up.

He then asked me "Boy, Did you witness what happened at the thief's Passage?". To my surprise, we were near the entrance of the Thief's Passage.

I thought of lying, but it had a risk, Patrolling Guards had many artifacts, one of them was the Truth Pendulum, using a Truth Pendulum, they could force a person to answer truthfully, and to use it they had to be suspicious of that specific person, otherwise they would not get an answer, as the artifacts need some conditions to be fulfilled.

I answered, truthfully, "Yes, I did witness". After some more questioning, I peeped at his pocket watch, the time was 9:14. I knew I was going to be punished for coming late to school, for today my school's timing was from 6:40 to 12 as today we had to decorate and clean our school as tomorrow an important figure would be visiting my school today. The old man then offered to take me home, I rejected his offer at first but then accepted it.

We walked for some distance, We went near his private tram, it was a small but well-kept carriage that moved on tracks specially made for Luthorian type of machines, It could not move on coal train tracks and coal trains could not move on Luthorian trams tracks, and it ran on steam, it had an artifact called Luthorian, which needed water and would send high pressured steam which would then pass to a small box to distribute the steam to the eight wheels, to make it move.

He then pressed the big green switch on the box, and then instructed the driving team, to take us to Grastow. The Luthorian machines did not have a driver present on the machine, as they would control the machines from a building somewhere else. To start the machine, the only thing the person inside had to do was press the green button and use the small mic on the box to communicate, as it was a one-way communication, they had to trust the people operating it.

Grastow was a middle-class region of Lecnce, and it was also the place where my employer Mr and Mrs Walls lived.

I then said to the old man named Elrich, that I did not live in Grastow but lived in Rugia. As soon as I revealed that I was not from Grastow or another region like that, but from Rugia, he got shocked, then calmly asked about the dress I was wearing, I revealed that it was my uniform, he had thought from the dress, that I was from a middle-class background.

Old man Elrich, then changed his way of treating, from speaking concerning speaking with a boy of a low age, but not in a bad way.

But then he said, "Even if the lady, who killed that man was from a noble family, still I need to report it in the records."

As I asked why

Just then the tram stopped. My stop had arrived, and I noticed a small little detail: the audio was still transmitting.

"I don't know who she is except for her name, If I get to know more about her, I will say it to you", I said with a reassuring smile.

As I was about to walk to my home, Old man Elrich called my name, he then said: "Boy, don't say about today to your parents".

I smiled and continued on my way.