The air was thick and sticky, with a tinge of metallic. It was quite humid and the armor clung to my skin in that frustrating way where it sticks to the skin. The clouds look as though they are to part and bless the land with nutrients that it has been yearning for. The city is beginning to darken with the threat of a storm. Thorvald looked around, waiting for the band of thieves to show up. They were late. I wanted to get out of here soon after the storm started but since they are late we probably won’t get out of here until late. He does not like his crew to be late because when they are on time, unexpected things can happen. Thor believes in full focus in the job. He has been paid to do many things over time, none he is proud of. Most things he just brushes away from his mind. Innocent people are usually unaffected by the jobs he takes on. Never does it feel good when innocent people are involved. Mainly, it is just dealing with bandits that people pay to have removed. He sometimes is hired as muscle for robbing, though it is rarely needed. I look around the road seeing all kinds of people rushing to get back home before it starts storming. This will be perfect, nobody will be around to see us and he won't have to get into any fights. He does like fighting but mainly the bandits and creatures. Innocents and guards are never ok. He used to be one of them. One of the street urchins that everybody overlooked. He survived because of his combat abilities. He fought to the top until people in the underworld saw him fight a whole gang once and they wanted to hire him. A sharp slap of lightning stirs him out of reminiscing about his past. I look around the street to see the crew I was supposed to be working with. I recognized one of them but the other two are a mystery to me. The one I recognize is a woman that went by the alias of Bug. I had done a few jobs with her before this. There always seemed to be a little spark between us but it really is hard to get to know somebody when you are supposed to keep your identity a secret. Something about not being able to rat each other out in case we get caught. She is such a small thing, had to be between twenty and thirty. She has long red hair that looks the color of autumn leaves, she keeps a hood up over her head so it streams down her shoulders, beautiful hazel eyes to match like a deep emerald. She has a mask over her mouth but it conforms to her skin so she can breathe through it. You can easily discern her facial expressions despite it being mostly covered. Her pale skin pairs well with her auburn hair. Just seeing her again makes my heart flutter a bit. The other two are both men. They looked like they were brothers. Both had about the same characteristics except one was a bit taller than the other and the smaller one had a scar on his cheek. It looked like someone had slashed it. They both had brown hair but the taller one had frosted tips. They looked new considering the fact neither of them had their faces covered. I ,on the other hand, dressed in full heavy armor. I carry two heavy warhammers along my back., I like to dual wield them. I had the bigger one specially crafted while the other I found on my travels. Bug carries a pack of throwing daggers. The two men do not seem to be carrying anything but the tall one has a trench coat on so maybe he has stuff in there. I decide to stop leaning on the stone wall and walk over to meet them and get this job started. “Hey Bug, how are you doing?”Thorvald asked in a deep but friendly voice,”run out of money again” She looked at him with a mischievous smile. “I am doing ok. Just needed some coin for my … activities” She says playfully, “You know me. Did you run out of funds as well?” She asks jokingly. “No I just didn’t have anything better to do so I wanted to get out before I got too content with lazing about. Who are the new people here?” I ask Bug as I sized up the guys. The smaller one spoke up, “I am Joshua and this is my brother Hyro”. Joshua smacks his brother, “You idiot, why would you tell them our real names”. “Well, brother”,Hyro squeaked out, “they would not have known they were our real names if you had not said something”. Hyro looks up worried that Joshua will smack him again. Joshua takes a second to think about this. “That makes sense. I am sorry for hitting you brother, I should not have jumped to anger so quickly”, Joshua goes to pat his brother on the head but the brother flinches back and Joshua scoffs. “Sorry for my brother here, he has always been a little… slow”, Joshua pauses on the last word. Bug and I share a concerned glance at each other before I respond“That is ok. I assume you guys are new to this so what can you do,” my voice echoes deeply from within my helmet. Joshua answers with a smirk, “This is indeed our first mission carried out for a boss. We have had minor success in thievery before wanting to up the stakes a bit. We want more money.” As I look at them I realize how young they are. I wonder if they were street urchins like myself. “Well that is not an awful reason to get into this business. Maybe you will be able to hone your skills and become a master thief”, I glance at Hyro standing there, he had not said anything since he had gotten hit from his brother. He looks at his brother with a mixture of fear and attachment- his brother is probably all he has. I can’t help but feel bad for him, having his brother be abusive. I understand the frustrations of Joshua as well- since he seems to be the older brother, he probably had to take care of Hyro from a young age. This still does not excuse his actions. “Let us get on with it. Bug will you do the honors”, I ask her to pick the lock as we gather around the door. “Are you sure that you don’t want to just break down the door with that armor you wear, Big guy” she chuckles as she goes to kneel in front of the door and she takes the small tools from her hood and starts unlocking the door with a bunch of little clicks. We look around the block to make sure nobody is coming but the storm has scared everybody inside. The storm brings a slight chill that settles deep in my bones and a gloom adds to my already irritated mood from the crew being late. I glance up at the oncoming storm, which seems almost alive as it encroaches upon the city, the clouds appear to harbor a dark, ugly secret. I can see the pouring rain as it comes closer. I groan in irritation, dreading the thought of how much I am going to have to spend on oil and the cramps from being delicate with my armor. The click from the door rattles me out of the slight trance and Bug stands up bowing as a celebration. Bug opens the door and we all file into the store.Hyro lights a lantern as we walk in. He covers it with a thin cloth, the soft glow filters through for us to see and no light goes through the window, though no one would notice anyways with how grimy the window is. Joshua and Hyro look around the store like little kids in awe, picking up the items and showing each other with wide grins, probably taking mementos from their first real job. Bug and I head to the back as the brothers fill their pockets with useless items. “So what did you spend all your money on this time?” I ask jokingly. “Well, you should never ask a lady what she spends her money on, it's very rude. It could be a bit more personal than you would like to know. ”, She hums, smirking under the mask,”though if you must know, I decided to give myself a personal day at a spa”. She crouches under the register to look for the safe but she looks back to Thorvald with a shrug, a strand of hair escapes her hood as she stands up and she stuffs it back in with an embarrassed huff. She quickly stuffs her hair back into her hood in an embarrassed panic. I chuckle deeply at this, “I sincerely doubt that you would waste all of the money from the last score on a single self care day”. “ Well that day turned into a drunken week of fun and some questionable decisions were made by yours truly." She pouts under her mask, “ I had to break some poor guy's heart because I accidentally married him. How do you think that makes me feel, huh?”. I look over to her, wishing she could see the smirk on my face. “ I would bet that it makes you feel like a queen to capture all of those men's hearts”, I say in a playfully confronting tone. She looks away and mutters something. I am about to ask her if something is wrong but she looks back with a playful grin, “How do you know me so well Big guy?”She says this without waiting for an answer as she walks to the door leading to the back of the store. I let Bug go to the door and I began to inspect the store more closely, looking at our surroundings. The store is dark, save for the lantern and the tiny bit of fading light from the window. As Bugcrouches, she draws a match to aid her pick the lock. I glance towards the brothers, Joshua and Hyro, to knock some sense out of them but they seem to be having a bit of fun rummaging around, I can hear faint chuckling coming from them both. If it were anybody else doing this on the job I would have a fit. It was nice actually to see the brothers enjoying themselves. I still don’t trust Hyro for what he could become with his intentions but maybe they need each other. Hopefully having each other will allow themselves to become better and get out of this life before it hurts them both. I look back at Bug picking the lock to the door. Her focus on the lock is quite impressive. For a moment I wonder what she would look like in her normal everyday attire. I would like to ask but I know better. If she takes offense to it I would be in trouble. The boss runs on a strict code and any sort of trying to find out the identity of another is punishable. I would be called a snitch and possibly hunted by the guild. I would like to think that I could take on the guild but I don’t want to test that. I would also be out of a job. “Hyro, Joshua, get in here boys, this is your time to shine”, Bug hollers at them as she stands up. She wipes some dust off of her knees. The brothers come stumbling in with their pockets brimming with items. A piece of candy falls out of Hyro’s pocket and he looks away embarrassed. I shake my head at how inexperienced they are. I push open the recently unlocked door, courtesy of Bug, and we file into the back. “ Help us find the safe since we are in the back”, I look at the boys and they get to work. Bug kicks a rug out of the way on the floor and that is where the safe is. We all gather around the safe and the boys look at it for a moment. The excited look in their eyes gives away just how new they are to the game. Suddenly, thunder rumbles and the sky unleashes its torrent upon the roof. I groan, “Gods, oiling my armor later is going to be horrid. Hurry and open this so we can get out of here”, I say in a hurried tone. Bug gives me a quick glance but quickly looks away. Joshua looks at Thor with a smirk, “You can’t rush genius. Maybe you shouldn’t wear that great armor around then. That way you don’t get into situations like this.”, Joshua pulls open his cloak and pulls out some tools. I resist the urge to smack his head with one of my hammers. “I can and I will rush your supposed genius”. He kneels down and starts unlocking the safe with small clicks every now and again. The rest of us scatter around the room looking at its contents. Bug comes up to me, twirling a dagger idly between her fingers, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “If you need help with your armor, I could perhaps be of assistance later,” she says, tilting her head slightly.she tilts her head slightly and her hair falls out of her cloak like a river of fire spilling off a fall. She notices this but doesn’t do anything about it as she studies my reaction. he soft creak of my armor fills the pause as I watch her, uncertain of her intentions. Finally, I nod, offering a low grunt in response. “Perhaps we could... get together after this job.” She starts walking towards the desk and I spot a coin purse near Bug quickly snatches it up before the others see. She looks towards me and gives me the hush look. I nod and keep looking around the room. I think back on how the stormfront looked before we got into the store. I get an uneasy feeling when I think about it. It was almost alive. That can’t be but I can’t shake this feeling. We needed to be careful when getting out of here. Even if there is nothing dangerous out there, there are still guards that will arrest us. It would look suspicious if we were walking around with this kind of coin but they will surely arrest us if they see the brothers pockets. I sigh and look up towards the roof where the sound of the torrent is coming from. I am stirred from my thoughts when a scratching sound came from the store’s front and I see everybody freezing where they are. We all look towards the sound. I grip my weapon tightly and wait for something to happen. I can’t place it, it sounds strange. We hear it skitter across the floor and something falls and breaks causing Hyro to jump. Hyro begins to slowly inch towards the door. He draws a small club. I hiss at him to stop but he keeps going. I look towards Bug who nods and draws a throwing dagger. I look down at Joshua who doesn’t seem to notice anything going on or he just doesn’t care. I start to step towards Hyro slowly but he reaches the door before I can get to him. “Stop”, I whisper. He looks at me and back to the door and opens it. As he does, lightning cracks and thunder roars. It blinds him and deafens us all for a moment. We finally get our senses back and a rat runs through the door. We all let out a relieved sigh and Hyro begins to chuckle,“Everything is fine, just some rodents seeking shelter from the storm”. We chuckle and Hyro turns to come back towards us. A quick shadow jumps into the doorway from the front room.The blur grabs Hyro and pulls him into the front room. Hyros' scream cuts through the air as the creature drags him away. I draw my heavy hammer and charge into the room before I finally get a good look at the creature and I freeze up. The beast was massive, a patchwork of reptilian scales and tufts of fur struggling stay on its decomposing skin, barbed tail that oozed a black liquid substance, it moved like a lion. Its face was an awful sight to behold with its entire face being sunken, deformed, and almost devoid of skin entirely, the eyes glowing a faint, sickly gray. I had dealt with these horrid creatures before but rarely. As it was dragging Hyro away I swing my hammer furiously into its head. The sound of its skull cracking makes my own bones shiver. The hammer sinks into the skull and the beast collapses in fits of twitching and blood seeping out. Hyro yells out, writhing in pain. There is blood splattered everywhere. It was hard to tell whose blood it was. The creatures black blood and Hyros own blood was starting to pool and mix together to create a grotesque black and crimson pool between the bodies. The sickening metallic scent was all I could smell. The beast suddenly starts moving again even with my hammer implanted in its brain. I quickly yank the hammer, then grab the smaller one from my back. I slam both hammers into the sides of its head with heavy brute force that emits a loud crunch and a metallic clang. I set the big hammer down and start beating the creatures body to a bloody pulp. I want to make sure it is truly dead. It finally collapses in an unmoving bloody mass. I realize that I am panting and I take some deep breaths to stabilize myself. I don’t want to lose control in this smaller area especially with them here. I turn to Hyro, a sense of dread forming within my chest. He is deathly pale, his breathing is heavy and his body is limp. His breathing is the only thing that lets me know that he is alive. I hear a scream from outside the door and that is when I notice the light coming from outside. I see a shadow pass by followed by more shadows chasing it. I look towards the doorway to the back room to see Bug standing there, staring at the scene with horror. Joshua pushes past her with a deliberate stride. “What’s going on?”, Bug asks as she moves towards me. Joshua kneels down beside his brother hurriedly. I can’t tell what was going through his head but I can imagine it was not anything good. “I don’t think there is anything we can do for your brother. I don’t think even the most skilled healer could help him now”, I say trying to be gentle. Joshua puts his hand over his brother and a bright light flashes into existence. Bug and I shield our eyes and look away from the light. We look back and we see new skin forming where the previous wounds had been. The wounds seem to steam and hiss. Hyro jolts awake screaming in pain, his body writhing around. Joshua holds him still. “ Oh hush brother. I know this can’t hurt more than it did the first time.”, He glances at us with a smirk as Bug and I look at him incredulously. The amount of control he has over magic at such a young age makes me wary of him. Bug stares at him with concern, “How did you do that”. Joshua looks up at us with a twisting devilish smirk that shakes me to my core,”Wouldn’t you like to know?”. I grip my hammer wanting desperately to knock his head off and send it flying through the window.. Hyro begins to settle down and he looks tired. I put my weapons away as we hear chaos from outside. Bug rushes to the window to look outside and I follow close behind. There is a faint orange glow lighting the night, it seems to eat away at the darkness and unveil something far worse. The creatures’ bone chilling screech fills the night with an unholy chorus which seems to come from every direction. I try to see where the sounds are coming from but I can only see the shadows darting around the barrier of light. Screams sound from outside among the explosions that shake the ground.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.