Taldur- The surface

*splash!*

A small earth green lobster-like creature crawled about blindly in a shallow pool of water, its movements slow and methodical as it searched unflinchingly, dedication to its craft evident in its patient paces, the aquatic creature finding a good spot and burrowing into the mucky soil, settling in to wait, a single worm like appendage wiggling above its head...

Before long a larger rainbow flecked fish resembling a pike appeared out of the deeper waters, its blank eyes regarding the wiggling movement of the appendage with interest, mouth slightly agape.

At first the delicate fish merely circled the dangling appetizer, its round eyes jumping between watching the surface and food before it, after discovering there were no predators above to attack it, the fish with a burst of speed lunged at the wriggling movement.

Fast as the fish was, the lobster was faster. As the spiny jaws of the pike came down on the lure, so to did the crushing claws of the lobster erupt from the mud to catch the fish on its gills.

Understanding its imminent danger, the fish flailed wildly, its razor teeth snapping and biting at its assailant, attempting to free itself from the lobsters clutches.

The lobster ignored these desperate death throws and squeezed hard, facing resistance, until with a sudden *snap!* the pike's spine was broken, the fish drooping limply in the crustacean's claws.

Victorious, the water faring invertebrate did a strange little dance before it tunneled deeper into the mud to enjoy its meal alone, the limp body of the pike being dragged down with it.

"A cunning and deceptive predator" I muttered idly to myself, having watched the entire showdown between fish and crustacean from up on the pier above, and being thoroughly reminded of my own humble hunting attempts in my earlier days, "I applaud you little lobster."

I scanned both creatures shortly with Analysis+, finding nothing compelling in the creature's stats or descriptions, I looked up from my observation of the local wildlife to reassess my surroundings and followers.

I was on watch after all. I should remain mindful unlike one not too distant from myself. I paused before flexing my forceps agitatedly, 'Especially if I didn't want to be harassed again...'

Not far from me and dozing belly up under the light of the sun, her tail curled around a wooden pole, Roulette snored softly, her whiskers twitching slightly as the wind blew, afternoon sun dappling on her exposed underbelly.

Seeing this, I rattled my tail in mirth at the sight before turning to check on my other resting servant.

Sitting with his eyes closed but ears primed under the shade of a nearby house overhang, Dwayne breathed slowly, not asleep but not really awake either, his protruding fangs glistening slightly as he rumbled in his torpor.

I had sent him and Roulette to recover while we waited for Lescar to finish her negotiations, it had been them and Lescar who had been the ones to put in the most effort, and so I wanted them to sleep off any exhaustion they might have, a power nap if you will.

That just left Dewey and I to watch over them as they snoozed, the blue slug swaying gently on top of the closest wooden beam, the buoyant blob not being tired in the slightest from the previous encounter a few hours ago.

We were waiting outside a small unremarkable wooden shelter serving as the rabbit ab-humans current hideout for both himself and his current undertaking of street urchins.

The structure was built amongst a number of other similar hovels on the large jetty, and was not any more impressive than its neighbors, blending in perfectly like pus on a festering wound.

Something any thief with a brain would want as a part of their bases aesthetic, standing out was usually poor form for robbing others.

I sighed internally as I beheld the cobbled-together building, It had been at least several hours since I killed that Fabran ab-human on Lescar's request, and now we were reaping the rewards of defeating that fool, the rewards being a crack at recruiting the sly rabbit boy and his minor gangsters.

Lescar was not within sight, but I was not concerned, she was nearby doing my bidding... or her own mayhaps considering it was actually her idea to commit to this specific subset of recruiting efforts.

Lescar was busy attempting to do just that, hidden inside the closest structure as she discussed terms with the twitchy ab-human leader, already moving through the exact terms of what she was offering, I occasionally supplying a comment to her, to better entice and entrap the 'Jackrabbit' as he was nicknamed among the urchins.

Through my constant connection to Lescar, I could see that the boy was very squirrely and would often prod and poke Lescar verbally trying to tease more out of her, that ever-present grin undoubtedly designed to frustrate my human. A simple if effective tactic, Lescar would often draw her lips in a straight line as Mart laughed and pressured her.

I told Lescar to ignore most of these attempts at controlling the conversation and insisted she cut to the chase.

I was not present in the room with her, but I still ensured we didn't get railroaded by the sanguine rabbit boy as I whispered ideas and counter-arguments into Lescar's head.

She did not take all of my points into spoken action, but still made a good show of shutting down Marts designs on a large share of any profit she made.

While I didn't like the ab-human boy due to the problematic way he looked at 'my' human girl, I could still appreciate his mighty machiavellian spirit.

"Mighty, but still puny overall," I said privately to none but myself.

Taking Mart and his brats into my numbers was a paltry undertaking compared to reigning in the larger coyotes gang, but it was still a step forwards.

We had to start somewhere, and Marts crew was not entirely devoid of talent or merit...

I glanced at those nearby who were not yet my minions, my sight regarding them as my mind divided its attention between them and the words being traded between my human and her ab-human associate.

That shifty-eyed Mart had told his little urchin gang to wait outside and so they were spread out in various positions closeby, their eyes glazed over with boredom as they waited alongside us for the discussion between Lescar and the ab-human boy to finish, the fear and apprehension at me and my familiar's presence having long since faded, eroded by exposure.

The kids sat with their feet dangling over the edge of the pier, throwing rocks at the water occasionally or sitting cross-legged against posts with knives they sharpened, or alternatively lay sprawled out on the wooden deck staring up at the fluffy white clouds, some of them were even lying right next to the snoozing Roulette.

The majority of the urchins had taken a liking to my pale rat for some reason and I had seen a few of them hugging Roulette like she was some kind of plush toy, (mostly girls) the albino rat returning the favor with distinctive ease.

Two of the urchins, in particular, seemed to have taken a deeper interest in Roulette beyond her huggable soft white coat, the two sitting next to the dozing Roulette looking quite little smug as they gazed over their fellow urchins.

I recognized these two kids, they were the two unnamed urchins who had helped us fight Fabran. The tawny winged girl, and the plain brown-haired human boy with a rough birthmark on his neck.

The two while not particularly deadly had none the less been helpful distractions during the fight, they were also Marts favorites now, the ab-human already having raised them up as his left and right-hand men respectively, thus the two gloated as most children do at their less courageous and now lower-ranked fellows.

Hugging rights to the sleeping Roulette were apparently being monopolized by the empowered duo over their counterparts, savy if laughable, Roulette would hug almost anyone happily if I let her.

It was nice that Roulette had made friendly contact with the urchins, but it had come at some cost to my reputation.

Yes, the fear which I had commanded over the runty stunties was mostly dispersed, unfortunate but natural.

Emphasis on mostly, however.

Growing overtly comfortable with my lack of hostility or action, one of the brats had tried to pat me on the head earlier, that same winged girl from before, the ab-human girl fleeing with a terrified expression when I maintained my personal space with a warning screech from my rear legs and an air of manifested violence.

I was not a tame animal here for their petting pleasure, I may have appeared like little more than Lescar's pet, but that was a facade, and the little runts would learn that swiftly or receive my fury.

While my followers and the brats were in fine shape, the surroundings were not, even if it was a rather nice sunny day.

The jetty or pier I was sitting on, was located on the furthest edge of the black district, a place often called the claybed port due to the abundance of sunbaked clay visible on bare patches of earth here, the clay only uncracked when it was quenched by the nearby slightly green murky waters of the lakeshore, the water sloshing idly as the wind blew, the afternoon sun warm on my chitinous hide.

I had known of this lake for some time, the labyrinth city of Octaal finding itself on the edge of an enormous reservoir called Horndrake lake, an odd silly-sounding name, but one the populace knew the body of water as, due to the large numbers of horned geese that made their nests on it, some of the lake's namesake actually being nearby, paddling on the trembling surface of the lake, including one that I had a particular grudge against.

Horned geese resembled exactly what one imagined when faced with such a name, they were, well... Geese, white smooth feathers, orange rounded bills webbed paddle-like feet, a single sharp horn on their bills, and beady little eyes that were filled to the brim with the moxxie only petty birds with delusions of grandeur had. 'Pah!'

I rustled my sore antennae irritatedly at a recent sullen memory, cleaning the feathery feelers vigorously as I tried to forget the earlier shame.

Not long ago, one of these 'fowl' creatures had taken offense to me skittering by as I walked alongside my familiars and capable human girl.

The daft creature, a particularly large goose with a memorable brown clump of odd patchy feathers on the left side of its head, a double-pointed jagged horn, and strange mismatching paddle feet, one larger than the other and tipped with jagged talons, had taken one look at me and had taken to an immediate disliking of my presence.

Squawking, hissing, and nipping at my antenna each time I looked away, only to dart off in an uneven gait when I attempted to retaliate with a bite.

The bird did not bother Lescar, it did not harras Dewey, it made no moves against Roulette, and it certainly did not even approach Dwayne's hulking frame.

'No... It. only. assaulted. me.' Attacking me relentlessly with frustrating speed.

The goose though effectively harmless had really gotten on my nerves, it was too quick to catch and actively flew off whenever I got serious about trying to entrap it, only receiving more painful nibbles on my sensitive sensory appendages for my efforts.

It had gotten to the point that Lescar had started laughing openly as I failed to catch the flying pest.

Eventually, I commanded Roulette and Dwayne to chase the bloodthirsty bird off, and since then the ghoulish goose has not bothered me, only tailing us at a safe distance until now, its beady eyes obstinately watching with annoying territorial intent.

I shifted uneasily, my jaws creaking as I warily watched the individual bird sitting oh so innocently on the water.

"I've got my eyes on you, you pissy pigeon," I clicked spitefully, a single one of my compound lenses always watching my feathery foe for any moves it might try to pull.

The goose, as if pretending not to notice my glare, preened its mottled coat, safe on the waters far out of my reach.

Mandibles pressing together hard, I gradually turned 'most' of my attention back towards other things.

I scanned the horizon of the reservoir, unable to see the land that supposedly lay on the other side, the rank scent of the murky water familiar to me rather than disgusting, reminding me of my sewer home, the water heated by the day's overhanging sun.

I had even seen a few fat frogs hopping about here in the sun-warmed shallows below temptingly, they were smaller than the ones that I saw in the sewers but surely just as succulent.

"Mmmm my favourite..." I shifted my mouthparts in anticipation as I saw one such amphibian reveal itself, having lept out of the water to catch a passing fly.

"Perhaps I could do down later and catch a few..." I considered idly, my thoughts gradually drifting away from hostile horned feather dusters.

Yes, it was a very nice day, too nice to be antagonized by bothersome brazen birds.

Frogs and hateful poultry aside, the lake here was a vast body of water that connected to multiple streams and rivers, many of which were big enough for trade ships to sail down, it was practically an inland freshwater ocean and was among one of the reasons Octaal was such a prominent trading hub.

Although the port and structures around here had certainly seen better days, clearly not used often by well to do sorts, the whole area was falling into a state of disrepair, only shabbily cobbled together huts made from low-quality mud bricks and scrap wood could be found within eyeshot, with little to no signs of legitimate trade passing through, most of the jetties and mooring spots having become so decrepit that walking on one was likely to merely end in an individual finding themselves waist-deep in dirty water with ample splinters.

It was certainly a charming place, it was filled with washed-up filth, raggedy beady-eyed kids, and the occasional gaunt-looking swimmer possessively clutching waterlogged loot fished up from the wreckage that littered this area.

Yes, the poverty-stricken atmosphere and the reek of despair and puke only added to the quaint charm of this locale.

"Very charming," I muttered sardonically as I spotted one of the urchins behind me pick his nose and flick the resulting nasal excavations into the lake.

The populace here had manners fit to match their destitute neighborhood it seemed.

Regauging this action, I frowned, or at least the hard plates on my head shifted slightly, my mind changing directions again.

Apparently some time ago if what Lescar told me was true, this place had once been a bustling area of business, that acted as the main point of trade in the city, as boats sailed downstream to dock and commence in commerce.

During the end of this golden age for the port, some sort of disaster had occurred while transporting a large exotic monster, that monster bursting free to rampage through streets, plowing through houses and establishments before fleeing into the vast lake after causing untold devastation and destruction.

Citizens and merchants alike enraged at this travesty had turned to those they saw as responsible, that being the lead companies and businesses in the area, the companies established here caving to bankruptcy to avoid the wrath of the people seeking someone to blame, leaving the district in shambles as no one had yet to repair it.

It was a story lacking much detail as it had occurred some 11 years ago, too soon for Lescar to be aware of much more, most locals preferring not to talk about it, the superstitious layabouts insisting that doing so would invoke the curse of the monster that still apparently made its home in the deepest darkest parts of the lake.

Parties of adventurers had been sent out in the past to hunt this beast and had either returned with nothing to show for their search after weeks out on the lake or had not returned at all.

Despite this, I thought it all sounded like rubbish, if there was a large man-eating creature residing in the lake for over 11 years, then by now surely there would be properly confirmed attacks from it, but no such things had occurred, only rumors of a single vast beast that snatched the unwary, whispered from the lips of fishermen and sailors clearly down on their luck looking for something to blame for their sorry state.

No one knew what this myth truly looked like, some accounts recording an enormous squid-like creature that pulled vessels to the lake bed, and others said that it was a giant salamander that swallowed hundreds of men whole.

Highly doubtful all of it, but the stories all did contain three points that never changed between supposed real-life accounts.

It almost always attacked at night, thick mist sprung up where ever the monster struck, and it always had cold circular eyes that glowed a sinister shade of violet, the only part of it that was ever fully visible.

This dubious loch ness beast had a name, granted to it by the likely drunk sailors, the 'Tarr Grougnak' a name which meant 'the lakes wrath,' the creature simply being referred to as 'the wrath' in short.

"Hmmph," I clacked, the beast's existence was unlikely, being more superstition than anything else. It was probably just a rumor spread by some cartel to decrease interference during night operations on the lake.

I know I would do that if I wanted a little less traffic on the waters at the dark times of the day.

Of course, there was a chance that the rumors were true and that was indeed a massive beast in the lake, but I felt personally that this was just a rumor and nothing more.

The only 'monsters' that lived here in the lake, were feathered and honked unpleasantly.

Having never truly taken my attention off it, I spotted that accursed water chicken paddling quietly towards me with my almost 360-degree vision before turning my head to face the lopsided goose, making the aggressive creature swerve off course as it noticed my attention, the bastard bird paddling back into deeper tides, a haughty look about it as it did so.

"Yeah, thats right you awful avian get out of here." I hissed in a low clack, watching the retreating birds back with furrowed and tender antennae, "this is my jetty now."

Feathery foe temporarily banished I nodded briskly in muted satisfaction before hearing a distinct female voice grow suddenly louder as its owner left the dwelling she had been inside.

Lescar had finished the arrangement so it seemed.

"So, tomorrow, yes? At the place we agreed to," My human girl stated in a confidant and assertive voice, standing just outside the squat building she and her ab-human host had exited.

"Uhh... yeah," Mart replied in a weaker tone, his bearing far less boisterous and full of bluster, the ab-humans shorter stature being notable between he and Lescar as the young man looked ruefully up at her.

Clearly, my well-appointed words of advice during Lescars concord had struck him hard, the slightly downtrodden ab-human continuing his sentence slowly, "Lez... dat's fine we'll meet dere, but before you go I just wanted d'to say my apolog-"

"Good!" Lescar interrupted with a deliberately dismissive sniff, ignoring the additional words Mart had tried to utter, "I will see you and the others later then, don't be late, this opportunity won't come again."

Lescar strode off leaving a deflated and suddenly tired-looking Mart behind her.

"See you later Lez... I guess..." I just barely heard the ab-human mumble, my sensory organs picking up the vibrations.

An air of defeat now hung over the rabbit boy as he looked towards Lescars back, a sad almost contrite expression lining his face before the boy blinked and that look was gone, the ab-human leaders face readopting the snark from before as he turned to gesture towards his lounging urchins, the kids beginning to filter into the compact shelter, the newly promoted rascals waiting a little longer for the rest of the kids to enter before they would bring up the rear.

I couldn't help but feel a little glad inside at the rabbit boy's failure to patch the damage between him and his past friendship with Lescar, the young man obviously had some unacceptable romantic feelings towards Lescar, feelings that I would never allow to bear fruit.

I needed my human girl, I couldn't have her get ensorcelled or distracted with something as repugnant as love, love was often expensive, often painful, and certainly a waste of my only and most valuable human resource.

I tried to recall some of my relevant time as a human, the memories being even more vague and hard to remember, the images more of a video reel of distorted shadows and muted feelings, almost impossible to piece together.

I'm certain that I had been married... at least once... or had I been married more than once?

It was impossible, the distorted haze of my last world recollection was intense, I only knew that those relations soured badly and cost me greatly, causing pain and loss.

My past life memories were always indistinct and difficult to ascertain, I had kept all of the various skills and knowledge of that life, but none of the more personal effects of that time remained clear in my recollection, it was a strange and questionable state of mind I found myself in, though it did help me keep focused most of the time, no past existing to hold me back, no persons of intimate persuasion flickering on my heart segments.

It was probably better this way I concluded, love, from what I only vaguely recalled, hurt.

Yes, love could go where it belonged, out of sight and hidden under the more useful vestiges of the human psyche.

The gentle tap of approaching feet sounding against the fine hairs of my legs, I looked up at Lescar as she neared my position, the cold look she had kept plastered on her face during her exchange with Mart discarded as she spotted me, the corners of her lips turning up into a full smile.

"That went way better than I thought it would," Lescar said aloud with a wide grin having come to a stop in front of me, "I half expected him to refuse my offer when I said he wouldn't get half of the earnings, things must be bad if he is not fighting harder to claim a share."

"Wonderful, so he agreed to all our terms then?" I inquired, my mandibles quivering as I did the closest thing possible to a smile.

"Not quite," Lescar admitted silently with her mind as she looked wistfully at my attempt to emote, "Most of them but not all, he refused to give full command over his crew to me, said I would have to prove myself, otherwise all orders would have to go through him first."

"Hmmm," I grumbled, my mood slightly soured at this half postive, "sensible of him, if annoying, I have a few ideas on how to do that, but," I paused before adding with emphasis, "that is something we will deal with that later, for now, we have more pressing matters to attend to..."

Lescar's brows were lifted quizically at my closing words before her eyes widened and she smacked her forehead, "Ahhh, that's right! you said just after you killed Fabran that we were going to "rejuvenate" ourselves."

I nodded pleasantly in affirmative at Lescar's correct assumption.

It had been a hard week for me and my servants, we had been busy throughout all of it, if we weren't training, hunting or studying Greezly's book, we were discussing my plans, dueling with monster clowns, practicing acting or magic, and finally fending off astral tentacle women with an insatiable hunger for my human girl's soul.

It had indeed been a very interactive and terse week, little to no downtime aside from short naps having taken place, a sign of dedication but also an unhealthy and self-destructive practice if sustained for too long.

My servants needed a quick break, 'I' needed a break, and I had an inkling towards how we would conduct this little stress reliever.

Yes... a most delightful means I-

*Yaaawwwwwn!*

A slow huff sounded interrupting my train of thought.

Exasperating.

Turning my head I saw that Roulette had finally woken up, Lescar's immediate presence likely being the reason, that, and the fact she was no longer being cuddled by the urchins, most of them having already left, the little pickpockets following Mart into their hideout.

With droopy whiskers and sleep encrusted eyes Roulette straightened, rubbing at her cheeks before splaying her front paws out and arcing and flattening her posture repeatedly in a sort of limbering up motion, her little wake-up routine being mildly humorous to me, dulling my annoyance at being interrupted.

More awake, Roullete abruptly seemed to notice something, glancing around herself in alarm, only stopping when she saw the very last remaining urchin standing at the door to Mart's base.

The winged ab-human girl.

I watched along with Roulette as the ab-human turned and waved cheerily at us or more accurately at Roulette, who still, having only recently rolled over and woken up, drowsily motioned a paw in response to the girl's enthusiastic wave.

Eyes sparkling the girl broke into a bright smile and ducked into the hut after her fellows, leaving only a couple of loose feathers behind her, the cool breeze swiftly blowing them away.

"Bye bye... Tashie," Roulette yawned again despite knowing none but she, Taldur, and her fellow familiars could hear her, her large front teeth and array of sharper fang-like chompers visible as her jaw distended.

'Tashie?' I contemplated briefly at Roulettes words, distracted from the earlier trail of thought I had been following 'ahh! that must be that feathery ab-human girls name, yes I should I get that other lieutenants name sometime too, they seemed like at least moderately worthwhile peons.'

Putting that on my to-do list I returned my attention back to the drowsy white rodent and Lescar, still mulling over how I should ease the collected strain of our lives today.

Going over a short collection of possibilities I decided on what we would do.

Roulette not being privy to my thoughts, blinked then echoed through the mental link in a long exhale, returning to the same odd and entertaining stretches that she had been doing before.

After about four more of these strange motions she straightened up, tightened her jaw, and turned to me abruptly, her scarlet eyes suddenly pleading, "Daddy is there any food here? I'm hungry."

I snorted, or did the insect equivalent, which is to say I made a funny rattling sound, the air inside the multiple primitive lungs in my sides wheezing in and out at my amusement.

Ever hungry my rat was, but fortuitous given my decision on what we were going to do.

In a light manner I replied, "Hmmm, well daughter of mine, you will have to wait until later for any food, as there is none here unless you can catch one of those blasted birds."

I pointed at that troublesome goose and the rest of his fetid ilk, continuing on languidly nonetheless, a pleased intonation to my words.

"Regardless my child I am rather happy with your performance today. Actually," I added as an afterthought, looking up at the now fully conscious but silent Dwayne, the titular Dewey, and Lescar who had crossed her arms comfortably as she leaned into a nearby wall, "everyone performed their designated roles perfectly today, I think a little treat is in order for all of you before we head home to draw up some new plans,"

Dwayne grunted before inclining his head with a, "it was a pleasure your majesty," Dewey hopped up and down on the spot excitedly single eye whipping about as he wobbled and attempted to flex like a champ, and Lescar only laughed, her smile far warmer than any she had shown Mart.

The most titillated by my declaration was of course Roulette.

"Treats?! You mean frogs right daddy?!!!" the pale rodent licked her chops, already beginning to drool visibly.

"No probably not that..." I hesitated as the thought of my favorite food came to mind, then shook it off and said confidently, "I was thinking of us collectively sampling some of the local cuisines, perhaps some of it might even have beneficial effects."

"Cuisine? what's that daddy?" Roulette asked with a puzzled expression, "I have not heard of that kind of food before, Is it good?"

"It could be," I chortled in good humor, "Or it might be awful, but I'm inclined to believe it will be good, so good in fact, that I am almost certain you all will soon develop a taste for the pleasures of civilized meals."

"So reeeallllly tasty then?!!"

"Yes very tasty," I replied in high spirits as I motioned for everyone to start walking towards the market district.

"YAAAAAY!" Roulette squealed, practically prancing along behind Lescar as I climbed up to ride on her shoulders.

Things were going extremely well despite all the setbacks and unforeseen complications.

My jaws creaked and strained as I smiled, looking up at the city all around us.

One advancing spur at a time, I was moving forward, growing bigger, stronger, more knowledgeable, more able to weave fate to my own desires as my influence grew.

Someday all of this city would be mine.

Mood soaring at the thought, my heart, or rather heart segments twisted gleefully, not even the nearby pesky goose able to kill my high spirits.

All mine...

The Narrator

The joyous jitterbug cackled and wriggled on his charges shoulders, self-assured in his recent success.

Further lackies almost guaranteed, the intrepid insect felt secure in the knowledge that things would go as planned, and this time he was correct.

Not long, merely four days after Fabran's demise, a shocking robbery took place at connifer market square, during which a large quantity of jewelry and exotic spices disappeared without a trace in the middle of the day.

The officers on duty at the time were puzzled and alarmed at this, the market was a busy place full of watching wary eyes, so not a single person seeing anyone making off with the goods in broad daylight was the height of ridiculousness.

Sweating furiously and worried sick the local guard did their best to track down those responsible for this wanton thievery, if this reached their captain's ears they would spend at least a few days in the dungeon for incompetence.

Seizing some of the nearby and most suspicious homeless folk, the guard attempted to discern if the misfits had anything thing to do with the crime or if they knew anything.

Sadly for these anguished guardsmen, they found nothing that could direct them to any solid connections or leads, only deadends with those under suspicion railing on them and tongue lashing their captors for the unwarranted condemnation.

Unable to find the true culprits the worried guardsmen decided that they would cut their losses and proclaim that they had caught the villainous thieves, sentencing the unfortunate beggars to execution, knowing full well they had not caught anyone actually responsible.

Rear ends no longer over a proverbial flame, the guardsmen involved in this decision sighed in relief when the poor beggars were condemned by the court without any actual trial.

The criminals apparently caught, many of the businesses grumbled about lax security but otherwise went back to their daily schedules, the event remembered bitterly, but fading from the minds of the merchants as the passing weeks turned into months.

But even if that first criminal act had been all but forgotten, the criminals themselves were not gone, far from being headless, or even in poor health.

No, those truly responsible for the robbery were very much alive, and this was not the first time they would strike or so brazenly break the law.

Unbeknownst to the common man, in pockets throughout the city, criminal circles hummed with gossip even as money changed hands, knives found guts and lies parted lips.

A growing rumor of a new gang was spreading rapidly, a gang composed primarily of children scarcely old enough to enter puberty, this unconventional gang while small had gained a reputation almost unheard of for a group of its size.

The Blattodeyin Syndicate, Or Syndies for plural form. Had a very different name from what most gangs took, but then this one operated very differently from others as well.

Its members while puny and young, were quick, nimble and almost impossible to catch, slipping away mysteriously every time they were cornered or simply outstripping their chasers with pure seemingly unnatural speed, oftentimes only a flash of sickly yellow light signaling their departure.

The gang of minors rarely dealt directly with others, preferring to keep to themselves, save for when they sold their primary product, an unheard-of white thick syrup that tasted like honey.

This substance sold ridiculously well, owing to the extremely addictive qualities of both filling the consumer with ecstasy and increasing reaction speed.

Among the criminal and even the more law-abiding citizens, this substance gained popularity being used for both leisure and combat reasons, skyrocketing up to be one of the most in-demand products on the black market.

This of course attracted attention from the city guard and rival gangs alike causing the already reclusive gang to become even more elusive and shade-like, vanishing when all but their designated dealers approached.

Only once in the passing months had this flighty group been pinned long enough for the city guard to strike in an attempt to stop the addictive and harmful substance from spreading.

The guards had lashed out hard, uncaring that many of their opponents were only half their size, some of the syndicate's members inevitably killed during the follow-up fight, the fiasco looking like it would be a clean victory for the guard.

The concept of the guards victory was shattered however, when a tall lone figure wearing a fine leather coat had stepped into the fight, every syndie running for nearby cover or to stand behind the tall newcomer.

A hood over their face and wearing a strange half-metal, half-stitched together mask in the shape of a grinning maw, the stranger's eyes were unseen in the dark of their hood, but the weight of their gaze could be felt in every movement they made.

Seemingly from vision alone, this was nothing for the guards to waver at, but the armored men still paused, each guard felt something inside them warn them not to approach that being, something screamed at them 'don't go near it! that's not a person!'

Being trained men they ignored that feeling and marched forward...

...And very swiftly paid the price for that decision, as in blur the tall figure dashed forward to meet them, the smaller syndies following behind their champion, their own more diminutive weapons raised.

Necks fountained blood, spines were shattered, and skulls were lanced with uncanny precision, the guards armor having little effect on the vicious attacks they received, their slim opponents being ungodly fast, seeming to wink in and out of sight, bright flashes of yellow glow followed up by bloodied steel and immediate death.

The guards were pushed back, demoralized, and finally broken when the champion of the Blattodeyin Syndicate cleaved the commanding officers head from his shoulders before lifting it up and screaming aloud in a roar.

"I 'Grimace,' leader of the Blattodeyin Syndicate have taken your commander's head! lay down your arms now and be spared! or resist and be butchered alive!!!"

The remaining twenty or so men hesitated before a single brave guardsman rushed Grimace from the side, sword raised.

Something stirred in Grimaces hood, the fabric shifting strangely, a collection of low clicks sounding, alerting the hooded warrior to the threat, the hard chitin of the creatures mandibles just barely visible as it ducked back into the cover of the hood.

The brave or possibly stupid guardsman slashed downward in a twohanded grip only for his surprise attack to be avoided with callous ease, a flash of glittering steel being the only thing he registered in the next moment as he was bisected with a casual swing of the syndicate leaders blade.

The guardsman looked stunned as he realized he no longer had a lower body, only entrails dragging in the dirt, convulsing in shock till the tip of a blade pierced his skull ending his struggles.

"Butchered it is then!!!" Grimace hissed, ripping the tip of her blade out of the dead soldier and gesturing her smaller followers forward, "kill them all!"

That day the Blattodeyin Syndicate revealed its true might having slaughtered the attacking guards without restraint, and its leader gained a name for herself that struck fear into the hearts of those that crossed her.

Grimace, the crimson butcher.

End of the first half of VOL 2