∼ Squirrel Thief ∼

Chapter - 052

Startled Nyx whipped around to hiss at the shadows, on the verge of summoning forth his magic fire. Eric too had his fists raised, ready to throttle any who came too close. Apparently, they were not the only people in this dark corridor as they had previously thought. A chilling thought.

It was too dark to make anything out as the small space stretched onwards into a veiled darkness. But slowly, a figure came out into the faint light emanating from the cracks of the parlor door behind them. Eric nearly recoiled in both shock and revulsion at what he saw.

"What the abyss is that?" Eric grimaced as he looked at the furry man-beast, eyeing its patchy fur and greasy leathery skin. Its face was that of a rat, elongating into a snout with wispy whiskers and topped by beady black eyes. It was hunchbacked and moved with fidgety movement, clawing against the stone surface with black claws tipping its bare fuzzy feet and gnarled fingers.

The creature was an uncomfortable sight. Whether that be because of its natural appearance or being the product of living in the grime of the Lane. It wore little more than a mix of tattered clothes in multiple discolored layers and a hood that barely managed to hide most of its disturbing face. It was no surprise that Eric recoiled as such, seeing the eerily humanoid thing embodying the semblance of a rat.

Nyx, on the other hand, was going down along an entirely different line of thought.

"Mm- this man-thing kinda looks like those underground squirrels... doesn't he?" He pondered before pausing with a sudden conclusion. "Wait... do they grow this big?! Do they still taste good?"

Out of the three, it came to Aria to actually identify the creature for what it was. "A ratkin?!" She squeaked, though not with fright - but wonder.

The ratkin didn't initially seem as taken aback or offended by Eric's or Nyx's outward reactions. It looked to be very accustomed to this kind of behavior towards its appearance. But what it did end up surprised by, was that Aria did not show a display of disgust or wariness towards it, rather she seemed fascinated instead, absentmindedly stalking closer to the creature to get a better look. However, Eric stopped her before she got too close to the unknown rat-thing-person, a gentle but firm hand on her shoulder.

"Careful now," Eric urged, with genuine concern that Aria might get herself hurt if she acted too recklessly with this... thing. "Just what is it?"

"It is a ratkin! A real beastman!" She explained almost too excitedly, to the point she scared the ratkin more than it did Eric.

"Y-you know of my k-k-kin?" The rat-man asked, genuinely surprised.

"Yes, though I never expected to see one with my very own eyes. At least, not in Argon." She said breathily. It looked like Aria had gone into another of those trances she did when discovering something new or strange, as she usually did with Nyx.

Aria continued her explanation as Eric looked to not recognize the name. "The Realms of Man do not look favorably on the races outside of Argon after having endured many wars waged to seize the land of the humans, gnomes, and dwarves. Most recently the Elven Invasions and the northern wars with the R'kai. So it is no surprise that they have become so xenophobic. So the beastmen of The Plains here in Argon, an ancient race of humanoid animals that are usually only found in the Old World, are rare for that exact reason."

Eric just looked skeptically from Aria to the nervously fidgeting creature before letting go of her.

By his side, Nyx, as usual, was in his own little world as the only thing he grasped from that lengthy explanation was; "Beastmen? What's that? And can I eat it? Even better - can I kill it?"

"So how come you ended up here?" Boreas is far from The Old World." Aria asked, oblivious to Nyx's wandering thoughts.

"I-I-I-I, ah-I" The ratman looked too stunned to respond, the interaction between him and these people beyond anything he could've imagined. This definitely wasn't the usual reaction he got.

"Okay... let's calm down a bit, Aria? Give it- uh... him some space," He said, correcting himself as he awkwardly cast a glance to the ratkin that seemed about to bolt.

It was some time later, that the three of them found themselves trodding down the corridor. With barely any light to go by, Eric and Aria had to follow close behind their trusty ratkin guide as he could easily see in the dark whereas Aria had a much harder time and Eric couldn't at all. As for Nyx, he didn't need as much help as his dark vision was quite a lot better, but he still did stumble occasionally, cursing all foul in his low mutterings.

They had in the end worked out their chaotic introduction. Nigel, the ratkin, was in fact the one who the gnome had said would guide them out of the Lane and back to the surface as he knew these tunnels better than anyone in the city. Getting to know the odd beastman, Eric's initial apprehension quickly evaporated. Up until this point, he hadn't even known there existed beast-like humanoids, so Nigel was not at all offended. But that might be partly because he was very used to such reactions. A tragic fact.

More than anything, it was Aria the ratkin who had the most trouble with. She was simply too curious and posed the fretful beastman an avalanche of unending questions. About his race, how it was like to be a ratkin, what he could do, and so on. This all continued until she finally hit a nerve that sent the mood of the party chasing down.

"You never did answer this; but just how have you ended up here in Argon?" She asked. "From what you said, you have never been to the Old World. You were born here then?"

Nigel had answered most of the questions from the ever-curious Aria readily enough, if not with a little hesitancy from having never had someone else be intrigued about him before, but this question finally made the ratkin's steps falter.

Even in here in the deep darkness, the melancholy radiating off him was clear as day. From the way, he suddenly drooped, how his feet now dragged weakly across the cold stone floor, and his breath became too feeble to conjure any words. "I-I... uh..." He tried. "I was-was born here..."

It was deathly silent in the dark corridor, only the tapping of footfalls and the sound of water dripping echoing through the tight space.

"My mother... she uh- was from the Old W-World. But s-she was brought here... by the Duke-Duke - alongside many, many other beastkin. From different c-clans, all." The pain in Nigel's voice was palpable as he looked to be in a different world as his gaze was lost in the past. "The D-Duke often would get them pre-pregnant on purpose... and dispose of them whenever he had had his f-f-fun."

Nigel's gait was eerily lethargic compared to his normal jittery movements. "I-I don't remember how I survived. I was too young. I think my-my mother managed to s-save me before she was done away with. When she was no longer in-interesting to the Duke."

"At least us r-ratfolk, we don't die so easily... even when we're just new-newborns and alone..." He added with a false cheer. "And so, I've lived in the L-Lane ever since..."

"Wait... you're a Duke's son? Of the Archduke?" Eric asked incredulously once the ratkin had finished.

Despite the pitch-black darkness, Nigel's eyes glowed with a horrified panic as he stared back at the group. He clearly hadn't meant to be that forward or liberal with his past, and it appeared that he was just as surprised that he had told this group of strangers his secret as they were to hear. He wasn't sure why he had been so open with people he had barely just met.

The ratkin tried to laugh it off, attempting to disguise the hurt in his ratty voice. "Never mind that... it's not as if you'd believe something as ridiculous,"

However, before Nigel could say another word, something happened so unexpectedly, he completely shut down. Aria hugged him.

It was so sudden and unexpected that Nigel could only stand there, at a complete and utter loss for words. Aria had neither hesitated nor held back in her embrace. Despite the rat's unclean body, uncomfortable appearance, and simply the general disgust he inspired in most other enlightened.

Not a shred of reservation.

"I am so sorry, Nigel." She said in a choked voice.

Aria's extreme empathy had been spiked by Nigel's almost physical hurt in the unknowing retelling of his past. She could feel his agony as if her own. As a result of her own tragic past and her internal magical turmoil.

"Y-you really believe me?" Nigel asked in disbelief, looking to Eric whose expression was now one of kinship - neither a shred of mockery nor dubiety. The ratkin didn't know it, but he and the human unknowingly shared a lot in common. Both bastards to cruel, despicable men.

Nigel then looked to Aria who still hung onto him, her arms a warming embrace he himself now remembered to have only ever felt once before in his life.

"The rumors around Scaldshire are quite extensive." She explained, feeling his gaze on her.

"The nobility have been whispering for decades of the Duke's dark tastes and tendencies to traffic rare and foreign races into Argon for his..." She shook her head as if to rid it of the foulness that thought. "I didn't think they were actually true though... I am so truly sorry, Nigel."

Lastly, she looked to the cloaked Nyx. Though he couldn't really get a read on that one. He wasn't sure, but he thought he could hear him grumbling something as Nyx just looked to the side with his arms folded across his chest. What Nigel failed to catch, was that Nyx was muttering something along the lines of "Hmph, dumb underground squirrel", and "stealing all the hugs", and "squirrel thief".