Somewhere within the mid section region of the Ashton city, an old three story building stood made of brick. In its basement that was light only by a single oil lamp, a figure of an old man could be seen seated on a thonet rocker. The old man seemed to be in his early sixties. He was wearing a white linen shirt and a black trousers with fly fronts. He possessed black hairs mixed with a cascade of gray strands over his face. His green eyes were currently fixed on a book that was laying on his lap.
The book was 30 centimeters long, 20 centimeters in width and 10 centimeters thick. Its cover was made of dark brown wood with a vertical eye etched on its front. The vertical eye seemed to be profound knowledge as it stared with an unblinking gaze.
After staring at the book for awhile, the old man opened it. The pages of the book were blank as if they awaited a mysterious power to fill them with knowledge.
The old man sighed. "The Book of Prophecy, what a scam."
Despite the fact that the old man seemed to be displeased with the book, his eyes seem to recognize the true worth of the book. He placed it on a table near him and turned to face a peculiar box that laid next to where he placed the book. He picked up the box with respect infused in his every move. He then placed the box on his lap and scrutinized the box carefully.
The box was black in color with strange drawings engraved on its surface. The drawings seemed to dragons, minotaurs, cerberus, medusa and countless of other creature.
Each creature seemed to represent a specific type of fear which one could possess. For example minotaurs represented the fear of primal insticts, dragons represented fear of the force of nature, cerberus represented the fear of the afterlife, medusa represented the fear of the natural world and so on.
In wonder he voiced out. "It is really worth of containing a family heirloom."
With a shaky hand the old man opened the box, as the insides of the box came into view a sense unearthly power enveloped the basement that was interwoven by an indescribable sense of fear that made even the bravest men cower in terror.
Inside the box laid to two black orbs the size of an eye. An expression of pure horror could be seen on the old man's face. The old man's green eyes were fixated on the two black orbs as if lost in a trance.
The two black orbs seemed like the manifestion of the eyes of God of Fear as they stared into the old man's eyes as if to discern the man's deepest and darkest fears.
"DreadCurse." The old man's trembling voice filled the basement.
Despite being filled with a sense of overwhelming fear, the old man's trembling voice carried a sense worship.
A sigh escaped the old man's trembling lips as he lifted his shaky hand, with great effort the old man managed to close the box. He then placed it on the table right next to the book.
Exhaustion seemed to wash over the old man as he slumped on his thonet rocker. He shifted his gaze towards the ceiling of the basement. "Being the only one that lives in such a big building surely makes me feel lonely sometimes."
The old man shook his head and continued with his monologue. "Judging from current state of my body I may be able to live for another two decades at most. I should probably find a worthy inheritor for the little fortune I gathered throughout my life and also a capable protector for entrusting the family heirloom before I depart into the afterlife."
"I can still remember the younger days, when all that I cared about was a taste of an adventure." A chuckle left the old man's lips. "Life is really a flitting concept that waits for no one.
******
"So what do we do now?" Duncan asked Bella.
"Well, we have three choices. One, we can become beggars till we round up 50 Huken cents. But that will probably take us a long time, and judgimg how clean the streets are from beggars I probably advise that we don't take this role. Second, we could look for a job. But the chances of finding a job that suits outskirts rats and pays 50 Huken cents in a short while are close to none. Third and our best chance at making 50 Hukens in a short while is by stealing."
Duncan coughed in shock. "Stealing?"
"Yep, the night has already descended and thus our best chance at doing the deed."
Duncan's voice was filled with a hint of fear. "I may not have any problem with stealing, in fact I have stolen from people more than once. But that is in the outskirts where law enforcers don't give a damn. Here in the mid section it is a whole different situation Bella. If we get caught, we might get executed."
Bella shrugged. "Then we just have to make sure that we don't get caught then."
A sigh escaped Duncan's lips. "If you say so."
Bella chuckled. "Don't worry kid, I will make sure that your neck is still intact when we are done with the work."
Bella then looked around, "The first thing we have to do is to look for a house with less to no security. Of course we must make sure that we do not appear suspicious or draw an attention towards ourselves during the trip."
Duncan's hands roamed over his ragged clothes. "I think that would be impossible Bella. In fact we are lucky that no one has questioned us about our origin, that is probably because we are still at the peripheral region of the mid section. But as we head deeper into the mid section we are bound to draw eyes towards ourselves even at night."
"Then we just have to stick to the shadows and make sure that no one notices."
Duncan sighed.
It feels like I am signing up for a suicide mission