1 1- Thieves and adventurers

"Arf arf arf !"

A young man was running down the streets of Galeme, the wind coursing through his white hair, with two pieces of bread tucked under his arms while being chased by a city guard.

While one was in fully plated armor, the other was wearing ragged down leather clothes atop a generic white laced shirt, a pair of pants made out of cotton and two unidentical shoes.

The young man took one left corner, skipped an old lady and went through the main street while a horse carriage was passing through. Meanwhile the guard was picking up the pace, almost at arms range from being able to pin down the thief, until he was almost flung in the air by another carriage.

A chubby man, probably a merchant or a rich noble, sitting in said carriage, with what seemed to be his wife, screamed out of the passenger seat's window :

"Watch where you're going, you imbecile. You almost wrecked my new gold plating !"

While the guard was being distracted and quite confused with the situation, the young man took this chance to flee. After a quick nod to the merchant, to let him know that he understood, the guard went back to chase the thief but he lost sight of the young man as he, in turn, continued on his way and finally got a chance to breathe.

The thief, gasping for air, because of the marathon he just ran, proceeded to go in an alley in between a pawn shop and a restaurant.

'Those damn guards. Always up my ass. I think I lost him.'

Aiden was a 19 year old boy from a poor and now mostly dead family. His mom and dad died while on an expedition to go to the New world and since then he's been surviving on the streets in the day and trying to not get robbed while sleeping in the slums at night. He had whitish hair and a better than average face which was accompanied by a lengthy scar cutting across his left ear.

As he was taking a breather, Aiden took a glimpse of his surrounding and noticed a poster, half torn down, on the wall of the shop he was next to.

On it was written, in a dark shade of red, a hectic request for help to join a marine crew.

'Searching for crew members for an expedition to the New world. If interested, go to the seventh dock at 8 am, on the second Saturday of may.

-The Lamish bird's captain'

Aiden always wanted to go explore the ocean and the New world. What's more, since the death of his parents, he wished to go over there to show the world his family was able to go too and this was his chance to do so.

After reading the request, Aiden promptly ripped the poster off the wall and put it in his left pocket. He then turned towards the road, made sure he still had his two bread loafs and went back on his way to his home.

....

After leaving the shopping district and passing through the middle class one, Aiden entered the slums.

The slums were a big mash-up of tiny houses, shacks and old run down houses who used to be the ancient middle class district. The air was dense and the wind carried a devious stench, remembering the smell of a dead animal. Running along the streets were dead flowers, some mushrooms and a rat going across it from time to time. Outside one of the half torn down houses were two guys who looked liked they'd punch you and steal all of your belongings the moment you crossed eyes with them.

Fortunately, it wasn't Aiden's first time going down this street since he lived nearby, so he knew who to avoid and not mess with. It had now been thirty minutes since he left the alley and he had reached his home.

Because of the death of his parents Aiden lived in poverty and his house showed that. It was a small wooden shack, with a hole in it serving as a window. In it were a couple of blankets atop a mattress and a closet who served as a food and supply container.

When he entered his home, he went straight to his closet to see if everything was there, considering where he lived, it wouldn't have been weird that something was stolen from here. Luckily, nothing was stolen, so he put one of his piece bread in the closet and munched down on the other.

While he was eating, he took out the poster and examined it.

'If I go, maybe I'll also become a system-user and be able to eat something else than a piece of bread.'

Aiden always wished to become a system-user. System-users were the people who awoke their powers in the New world. The system they got for awakening was shaped by their personality and the past experience of it's user.

As he thought about it, he read the date and found out that it was actually tomorrow.

Aiden felt so excited about it. He always wished to become an adventurer but he never had enough money to buy a ship or pay a ship captain the passing fee.

And right now, a chance to become one of those adventurers just falled on his lap.

He started to prepare everything he wanted to take with him, wich was actually only the other piece of bread, a black shirt and an old amulet left by his mother's mother, wich was a family heirloom passed down by each generation.

After he finished packing everything in a weird bag who looked as good as his house, Aiden went to sleep, looking forward to the next day.

....

Chirp chirp chirp.

The sound of birds could be heard in the distance as the sun was rising.

Aiden opened his eyes, let out a groan and stood up. After waking up, he went to his closet to see if everything was there, and as he scanned his bag, he felt happy since everything was in order.

He opened his door, took out his piece of bread to eat and went on his way.

He took the shortest road that could lead him to the docks, wich was famous for having thieves and robbers but he thought that if he was fast enough and didn't do anything weird, no one would catch him.

After a while, Aiden took a look at the sky and turned around. In Galeme there was this big tower with a mega clock at the top telling the time and when Aiden watched it he read 7:35.

He was nervous, he couldn't afford to being late to the best chance he had at becoming an adventurer so he started running the fastest he could.

As he was running, thinking that if he's late, he'll live a pathetic life for the rest of his life, he bumped into someone.

In front of him was this big burly man, who was towering over him and when Aiden was about to say sorry and go on his way to the dock, the man started yelling.

"Hey, little guy, ya messed up ma clothes. Ya better pay me back now before I mess up ya face."

"Sorry, sorry, I was just really pressed, I need to go somewhere, I'll pay you another time, I promise."

"Ya ain't running away like that."

As he said that, the burly man spotted the amulet in Aiden's bag. It looked like it could make some money, all golden with a kinda of gem in the middle.

"Ya don't need to pay me another time, little man, just give me ya trinket and you can go no problem."

Aiden understood the big man meant his amulet but Aiden, obviously, didn't want to part with it. So he looked in his bag where only a spare shirt and the amulet were and got an idea.

"Oh, you mean you'd be fine with just this old amulet ?"

When he said that the burly man made a big smile, thinking he wouldn't even have to risk getting picked on by guards for beating this naive little man because he didn't want to give it. He thought that this guy was so dumb he couldn't even realise that the 'old amulet' he had was worth probably a couple hundreds of gold coins.

Meanwhile, Aiden was searching for something in his bag and when he found it he exclaimed :

"Here, I can give you this !"

Aiden took out his hand off the bag to reveal, not the amulet, but the black shirt and throwed it in the face of the stranger. Right after his attempt at winning time, Aiden started running, he took a look at the big clock and got an idea.

'7:44'

'I just got to arrive there in time and get in the boat while they leave so that I can escape this asshole.'

Aiden ran around the town until he could see the docks.

"one, two, three . . . seven!"

Aiden looked at dock seven, nothing, not a boat, not a crew, not a captain, just an empty dock and no escape route to go to. He looked at the clock and it was already 8:12. He was furious and started cursing the sky for his bad luck but as he did he heard a familiar voice from behind him.

"Ya little fucker, gimme ya trinket before I screw you up."

The man, right now, didn't care about the guards or any form of public servants. He was fuming and ready to punch the shit out of that little fucker who made a fool out of him.

The man approached the seventh dock and closed the distance between him and Aiden untill he was at six to seven feets from him.

"Ya have nowhere to run to now, ya rat. Ya better give it to me before I make you into fish food."

Aiden took a step back, right now it was either him getting disfigured or him giving his family heirloom away and he didn't want to do both so he peaked behind himself saw the water and went for it.

Aiden turned around, went straight to the end of the dock and jumped. The man, shocked, stood there without doing anything because he knew that Aiden either had to come back or swim his way to somewhere else, probably dangerous.

Aiden knew that too, so he started swimming away from the dock and Galeme. After what was maybe an hour and a half, Aiden started to lose hope. He didn't see a ship nor did he see an island or even something remotely civilised.

Aiden was sure he was going to die now so he throwed his bag and kept the amulet wich he put around his neck. He continued swimming for the next half an hour before he had to stop.

Aiden felt so tired and he didn't even think he could live any more so he just closed his eyes and let himself go with the current.

1- The End