Location: streets just outside of palace in Celpeia

Time: Before dawn, 14 October 1429

Having just escaped from the palace, Prince Alathorn and I walked on the streets, looking for a place where we could stay at. Then I saw the theif from before snitching a wallet from an arbitrary walker on the street. This time, he was successful in being uncaught.

I pat him on his back. "Hello again. Remember me? Didn't you promise that you'll learn an honest trade? Why are you still out here pickpocketing?"

He turned around and looked at me, expression a mixture between all kinds of emotions. He didn't reply, but he acknowledged me.

"You said you have an elderly mother at home to care for. Take me to her. I want you to promise me in front of her that you'll turn from theivery." I planned to not tell him about the current status of Alathorn and myself, and perhaps we'll get a free hideout to stay at. He probably won't dare to disobey me for now, so he won't refuse letting us stay in his hideout.

Strange as the request was, he couldn't really defy me. He took me and Alathorn into a small alleyway with shanties and slums stacked atop each other to the sides of the street. We took a few twists and turns within the labyrinthe geography, and finally arrived before a terribly conditioned wooden door that could easily be kicked down by the hinges, but still is locked with two oversized padlocks on the lockrail. He produced two keys from his bag, in which I saw a few wallets and pouches and ill-gotten gains, and I criticized him badly for it.

The moment we walked in, a bitter wind of poverty blew over me. I frequently wandered in the poorer side of the city, but until I really went in one of the shanties, I never knew how impoverished one household can be: an dieseased women lying in a pile of straw with her ragged coat and nothing more to keep her warm. There were no furnitures, they are not in the lifestyle of the poor. There was a small sack of grain, but they were rotten. Although the larger and more visible worms have been hand picked out of the sack, small black and white dots and the eggs of the worms can still be seen latching onto the grains. There was a large clay vat in the corner filled with water in which floated a bowl.

The theif awoke his mother, who was even more ravenous and famished than her son. White hair by her purple yellow skin, wrinkled and undernourished. She barely managed to sit up with the help of her son.

"Mother. This is the daughter of the Duke of Culum."

His mother barely gave me a glimpse. "Ha. I scoff at these so-called nobles. What is it you want from two poor knaves. Have you not taken all we have already?"

"Mother! Be nice to her, please!"

"Am I not nice to her? I and hundreds of other commoners who fed her since the Celpeian Empire broke up?"

"I'm sorry madam I really mean you no harm." I said in the most sincere voice I could do.

"Yes, mother, she is my benefactor. Earlier today, I have been caught by a militia, and he wanted to cut off three of my fingers. It is this kind lady who saved me from such fate." The theif advocated for me. He had a smooth tongue, and that's a good thing.

"Oh really? What then, is your intention of coming into our home?" The old women interrogated me some more.

"She wants me to promise, in front of my mother, that I'll never steal again."

"So you're telling me that you have sincerely been converted to learn a new skill, learn a new trade, at the age you are now, and start a new life where we will die of starvation?"

"We won't leave if you don't promise to switch career." I claimed loudly, more or less leading them into letting us stay.

"Easy for you to say, your career is collecting money from us. If my son promise that, we'll starve to death. No way." The old lady was weak, but firm.

"I won't leave then."

"Suit yourself. I'll see how you soft skins can sleep in our home. No blanket, no quilt, no bed."

"Fine by me!" I instantly laid down and closed my eyes, without give the theif a chance to speak. His mother was determined too. So in the end, me Alathorn, the theif and his mother all lied in the bundle of straws. Extremely uncomfortable, very cold. I could even see the rats at one point crawling up my leg. Despite the dire condition, it was undoubtedly better than sleeping on the streets. I was exhausted after the multidinous events that happened yesternight, that I fell asleep in the unbearable condition just before the break of dawn.

That night, I had another dream. This time, the beared black man in white robes called yhwh appeared before I had done anything. Only upon closer inspection had I realised that he never walked when he move, but he hovered above the ground instead. He spoke to me first.

"Hello again, Vrynscyth. Why have you stirred chaos in your realm?"

His expressions were as unreadable as ever, and I couldn't decode what he was thinking from his facial gestures.

"Why am I responsible for what had happened? The death of the King was natural, and the evil minister of arms had always sought to seize power by force."

"Do you remember how after I left, a man named Lucriatan came, and you asked him to improve your relation with the Prince Alathorn? He is a trickster. You should not let him help you. Ask me instead for anything you want." His words had a magnetic tone to it. Divine, and slightly narcissistic.

"In that case, can I ask you how I can help Alathorn to reclaim his rightful throne?"

The robed man drifted closer to me, which scarred me slightly to step backwards. "Ofcourse. To serve Alathorn well and throne him, you must be a worthy advisor. Worthy advisors must provide three things for the King: First, they must defend the King when necessary. Second, they should give wisdom to the King, and advise him on his actions. Three, they should not be afraid to point out what the flaws of their King, even if they place themselves in an undesirable position, for only then can the King learn to improve themselves to be a wise King."

"How do I gain the three qualities a worthy advisor must have?" I pressed further, hoping that he would give me a direct action to do.

"That, you must find by standing besides the King and serving him."

"I'm already doing that."

"Yes you are. Which is why I can promise you, that if you continue to do that, I will give you my blessings, and you will help him to become the greatest King ever to walk these lands." He finally smiled at me, something I haven't seen him doing before. That gave me hope and warmth to get through my dream in the straw bale. I wanted to speak more with him, yet again, he didn't give me the chance to, as he faded through the ether within my dream.

After he had departed, the red skinned Lucriatan returned unannounced again. I brushed him away, telling him to leave, telling him that he had ruined half of the country in what he had done, but he was persistent, and would not go.

"You have decided to listen to yhwh and wait for you to grow powerful enough to serve Alathorn to find his way back to his crown? That would take forever! You don't have the patience to do that!" I noticed him growing a pair of bat wings on his back, and he would flap them whenever he says an exclamation mark.

"Go away! I'm not listening to you anymore." I turned my face away from him, both hands up pushing him away.

"Don't be so easily agitated, I am powerful. You saw what I could do, did you not?"

"I saw. It was certainly not a good thing that you have done." I protested as he flew behind me,

"Well, I could do a good thing for you. I can make all three of the fundamental attributes of a worthy advisor become engraved within your personality in a day!"

"And what will you take? Last time, it was the kingdom's tranquility. What would it be this time?"

"The price is small this time. It the people whom you despise, the followers of Mortimer. I'll help you as long as you do as I say." The devilish man smirked like Loki tricking Odin, triumphant in his tricks.

"Demand then. What do you want me to do?"

"There exists three artifacts which will bring you the power you need - The Dagger of Blood, the Tome of the Theif, and the Mirror Shard of the Night Begotten Queen."

"They all sound eldritch and sinister. Must I go find them?" Every single normal person would be put off by the names of these items. I was included in that category.

"They have their powers. You don't have to find them. I'll give them to you. When you wake up, you'll find the Tome within your grasp. You may read it and then go to the minister of arms' mansion to apply what you have read for the other relic, and the one last you will find by chance. Since you don't like him anyways, you won't mind getting rid of him. Am I correct?"

"I don't mind getting my hands dirty if necessary. But the three artifacts can indeed give me what I need to restore Alathorn to his throne?" How quickly I have been persuaded by the man. I suppose I was fanatic about helping Alathorn.

He didn't reply, but I knew he meant yes. A flame came up from the ground and engulfed him, till he disappeared in the blazing fire.

I woke up in the morning, thirsty for water. The  need of water whenever I wake up had been a habit that had bother me since I was born. The water in the clay vat tasted muddy and damp, but it satisfied my desires.

In the more visible daylight, I finally realised that the theif, still fast asleep from a night of work, had a few possessions under his roof. I saw a book with no cover. It was strange how a poor man such as he would own a book which could at least be sold for a few denars that might be of no use to him. I assumed it was the tome that I was instructed to get. Though I'm not particularly superstitious, my dream did predict some events slightly, so it might be useful to take the book. I slid the book in my jacket, and left a few denars in its place, to compensate the theif if he values the book and to comfort myself and to persuade myself that I was a good person at heart.

I awoke Alathorn and gestured him to be silent and not awake the theif or his mother. We quickly left the theif's dwelling. I had a slight sense of guilt for stealing the book, but the theif probably stole more things than I did, so I had no trouble leaving announced.

When I and Alathorn were back in the streets, he began to worry about Mortimer's spies seeking us out, and asked me to see if I had a plan for our  next stage. I decided to tell him what I have dreamt of. I told him about the strange yhwh, how Lucriatan promised me to be in Alathorn's favor, and how I plan to do what he had proposed in finding the three artifacts. I also told him that I too, didn't know what use they would make and how difficult it would be to obtain them. After hearing my scheme, he became even more concerned than he had been before. I don't blame him. If I was in his position, I'd think that I'd gone crazy. Even I don't believe that I'm sane for saying and soon will be doing what I have been advised in my dreams. Even so, I decided to still follow my instincts. Alathorn said he'll ofcourse follow what I had planned since I was the only he could rely on, but he also certainly doubted my reliability when it comes to putting all our hopes in some fantastical beings I had described. He would be supportive of me nonetheless.

He asked me how I would go about finding the items, and I told him that I already know where they should be if my dream was accurate, and if it was, then I might need the contents of the book to actually get the other two items in my hands.

We sat down on the doorsteps of an arbitrary house in the vincinity, and we examined the book I have stolen. The first few pages were full of plain text descriptions on the essence of thievery which I found astonishing similar what what I had practised everyday - sneaking out from my heavily guarded mansion. The keys points were all the same: be patient, steady, and ready to improvise when necessary. I was already an expert in a few of them.

The subsequent pages were all drawn images and graphical depictions of how to distract your victim, where to search when burglaring a place, and how to actually get what you want without being noticed. They provided a variety of methods with details unprecedented in any books. In fact, the pickpocket section alone had around seven hundred pages filled with pictures and captions and even plain text annotations crafted with mastery writing skills. It would make anyone wonder what kind of a person the writer would be to spend so much effort and put in so much intelligence on a book about stealing which would be nearly useless if you had the ability to read the book. In any case, I read a few parts of the book, and instantly felt a drastic increase in knowledge of stealing.

The Prince wore really ornate clothing, and it's not good for us to be too conspicuous when there are people looking for us. We went to a tailor shop, and we bought new, less eye catching clothes for him. We sold his old clothes for denars, the tailor thought we were very suspicious but he didn't mind getting really expensive fabrics at a lowered price.

After we looked like the most common commoners, we decided to start searching for the other two items. First, we had to find out where the minister of arms lived. I thought of a few places which might have that kind of information: the hospital, a variety of places where they sold construction related services, the chancery archives where they recorded people's residential information, and a place near the tavern I went yesterday where they sell personal information for a small fee.

After discussing with Alathorn, we decided that it would be best not to risk ourselves going to places where people might recognize us and thus place ourselves in danger. We went to the suspicious place they had near the tavern. Walking there was a matter of a few tens of minutes only, for I knew that part of the city really well. The place was insignificant, and normal people have no way of differentiating it from any normal house. However, the moment we walked in, a gush of malice swept past us, and the vice and wickedness of the human spirit was at its zenith within - loan sharking, smuggling goods, selling cheap stolen wares, private interrogations, selling prisoners as slaves, extremely underpriced hired killers, extortions, racketeering pimping, fraud, robbery. The house was so full of events that even people of my and Alathorn's caliber consider these gang members to be a prominent force.

The boss of this den, whom I knew only by the nickname Gip came up to me and greeted me. He did not recognize Alathorn in normal clothes.

"Ah. It's good to see you again my dear miss Valerie. Who is this you have brought?"

"He is a friend of mine, you can trust him. Listen Gip, I need to find where someone lives. Could you help me doing that?"

"Who is it that you're trying to find?"

"Minister of arms. Antony Strollo. You think you can find where he lives?"

"Hmm... Lucky for you dear, I know exactly where he lives, but you know me. I don't do favours even for my own family. So I'll tell you where he lives for a small fee of fourty denars." He put forward his hand over the desk and reached out to me.

I reached into my bag, there was more than enough money. I push a few gold coins towards him, and he handed them to a man next to him, who examined the gold coins, and nodded.

"He lives in the third house in Pembury Avenue. That's right next to Caverleigh. You know where that is? Right next to the market square?"

I nodded. I knew where Caverleigh  was. It wasn't too far from here, and it was where some of the governors and upper classed people lived. Not too close to here nor my living place, but it was still in the heart of the capital.

"What's the deal with that man anyways. Why do you want to know where he lives? Some political turmoil going on? I heard that something happend in the palace somehow involving him."

"Actually no, we just want to pay him a visit for a treasure he has which we want to buy."

"A word of advice from me as an old man miss Val, don't get involved in the politics today. See where I'm at now? A criminal gang elderly who leads a few dozens of teens from his own family in bad business, earning a few denars and living off doing evil things. I'm evil, they all say. Well in my defense, I am a happy, plentiful man, who don't do as much as the fanatics in court, and still enjoys his life accompanied by wealth."

In front of him, I always just nod and stay silent. I didn't know him too well, and it's strange for a gang leader to say something like this. Maybe he simply wants to share his experiences, for he has accomplished what he wanted to achieve.

There, sitting on his armchair, I saw a fulfilled man. A man who has spent his lifetime in a sinister line of work and came out through the end. A man who singlehandedly built a criminal paradise, and now still willing to let it go. Amidst the dense smog and curse words in this dreadful den, he alone sat there, with content and satisfaction within his filled and dried eyes.

I and Alathorn went for the minister of arms' resident. We got the information we needed, and now it was time to use it. We couldn't call a carriage to take us there, or else we might be spotted, so we walked again. By the time we arrived, we already grew too weary to continue with our search. Even so, I still knew to carry on, even if this doesn't lead to a fruitful end.

There was no one inside his three storey tall, half timbered half bricked house that we could see after scouting and skirting around the outside. From the book I have took from the theif, it stated many ways to burglar a house. The most straightforward one being smashing a window and hop in, and that's exactly what I did.

"Stay outside and spot anyone coming close and alert me if they do. If something happens to me, then go back to the theif's place and there we'll meet. I'll fare for myself." This is said to Alathorn, and I went into the house.

His house was quite big in the interiors, and I don't even know what the artifact I was searching for looked like. There were a few mirrors in his house, none particularly out of the ordinary. I rummaged through the dressing table in his wife's room and found a looking glass, it didn't look special, but I took it anyways. I searched around some more, and inside one of his drawers, I found a sharp and cold looking dagger, so I took it also. This is really easy, I thought, having all three relics so easily gave me the illusion that it would be easy to reclaim Alathorn's throne.

That was until, I heard footsteps fast approaching.

I immediately crawled in a compartment under the staircase. Then I heard a man, a woman and a boy talking as they approached the house. Why is Alathorn not alerting of this? They entered the house, five yards away from me, and they were stunned by the condition of their house. They walked right to the point where I hid.

"Come out, burglar!" The minister of arm shouted across the room. He didn't notice me, but I saw him and his family right in front of me. He started looking for me all around in the house. I immediately saw an opportunity - his boy was young, and within my grasp. I had a dagger in my hand, and he will let me out if I take his son hostage. Like a cobra, I jumped out and pounced onto the boy, wielding my stolen dagger against his neck, like a serpent, I controlled him within my left arm, and pierced the dagger in my right arm slightly into his neck till he screamed when a small stream of blood came out, but not to the point where he might die.

"You heap of filth! Impudent little brat! How dare you do that to my son!" The minister of arms shouted at me like a madman, jumping up and down, face red hot with rage, whilst his wife already was lying to the side, fainted.

"Listen, if you love your son. Put your hands behind you ears and your chin and knave to the ground. Comply and your son will live, disobey and he will die." I said to him coldly, though my heart was already racing fast, I pretended to be collected. His son was wriggling in my arms, and I borrowed the dagger deeper for him to stop the struggle.

"What do you want? Money? I can give you money. How much do you want?" He threw to the floor a great deal of jewelleries from his wife's drawers, which scared me to take a step backwards, back against the open door.

"Stay where you are whilst I escape, or else I will kill your son."

He stood still where he was. He wouldn't dare move forward. I have his son's life at my hands, and there's nothing he could do to stop me. I got what I needed, so I backed away from him, I forced the boy to open the main door, I took the boy outside, and backed till his father was a hundred yards away from me.

"We have to go now, where are you!" I yelled, but I couldn't see any signs of Alathorn, and he made no replies.

"Listen, if you hear me, meet me in the theif's house!" Again I shouted into space, there was no reply.

There was no reason to keep a hostage and bring trouble to myself, so I let go of the boy, who shook in fear, and immediately sprinted away with what might be the two other artifacts. After regaining my breath from yet another fright-stirring event, I felt that everything which could happen this year happened in the past few days: me holding a kid hostage to get three most bizzare items, King dying, trying to find the Prince twice in a row, getting hunted by the current King, having no idea where any of family are. Things were just happening at an pace which I couldn't afford to breath to catch up. Everything should be better soon, or turn for the worse. Either way, this tension ought to be reduced, or else I should be exhausted. Even now I couldn't lose a minute in going for the theif's house.

When I approached the theif's house, and it was surrounded by a group of unknown uniformed people. I went closer to eavesdrop on them, and I heard that they have found Alathorn going to this place, so they arrested Alathorn, the theif, and his mother. They were sent to the central prison in the capital.

I have heard of the prison. It is said that no one has been seen walking out of it. To be sent there is nothing less than a death sentence. It was the end for any prisoners, for there is no way they could get out. Alathorn especially, would be the single most wanted person within those cells, and nothing could get him out, if he is, indeed in there.

This must be another doing of the devilsh guy in my dreams, I thought. I knew I shouldn't trust him. Him granting me with something always meant something bad will happen. For now, I had nowhere to go, and I had no clue how I would again search for Alathorn. So I decided that I would sort myself out first before I would do anything about him. To find another place to sleep was a priority. But now, when they even found the theif's home, I felt that no home would be safe from their eyes. That is, no home with a wall. If I  were to be with the homeless and the beggars of the city, there is a much slimmer chance for me to be found, and that means better hopes for finding Alathorn. In this poorest side of the city where I stood, homeless people were not lacking. In fact, they come in groups, and they collectively begged for money. Not being on good terms with them would have meant a terrible begging life. They were not difficult to spot, the streets were very literally full of them. They all looked destitute and thus desperate, and such people usually are dangerous, which approaching them rather difficult. I eventually found a beggar who was significantly more friendly, and that beggar was a girl of my age who possessed a well-fed beauty which almost compares to me, but still is in tatters and still begs on the streets.

"I have to compliment you for your beauty, something rarely seen on the streets unaccompanied by extravagant make ups." My greetings to the girl was long and flattering to hear.

"Why, you want to hire me for a night? I don't sell myself to sleep next to people." She didn't look up to say that.

What a queer personality she has, saying that to a girl like myself, but that was what has intrigued me greatly.

"I certainly am not trying to do that, I'm also a girl. You look like you are with the rest of these men on the streets. Are you in the beggars league?"

Her eyes went round when she heard me say beggar league, she turned her face to me and looked in my eyes. "Yes. Every beggar in this city are in the beggars league. There are a few rogue beggars, but we look down on them. These men and I on this streets are assigned to beg here in the poor parts." Her eyes rolled over to the men, and back to me.

"Does the league provide you a place to sleep?" I asked her without thinking.

She looked at me curiously, and now laughs. "We are beggars, why do you think we have a place to sleep to begin with? We sleep in these streets and that's it. We won't be begging if we can afford a decent place to live."

"No, I don't mean one that has walls. The beggars league controls all these streets. I heard that being in it means warmer streets."

"Well yes of course. Why are you so curious? You want to join?"

"Well. I would like to join if I does indeed give me a street to sleep."

"Well it does, not only that. We in the beggars league offers protection for our beggars, and assigns each member streets where they beg and live. You can join by paying five denars a week from what you get in begging. There is also a fee to join, five denars aswell, but I doubt that you could afford it. Your clothes looks pretty and although it's not worth five denars that it's slightly torn, I let you join if you give it to me."

I took out five denars in coins from my bag and put them in her hands, which now I saw to be as delicate as any other girl's, and not rough like one expects on a beggar.

"I need my clothes to keep me warm tonight. Tell those men I have joined and have the privilege to sleep here please."

"Oh... You want to be part of us in this very street? We're not just in the beggars league, see. We're also a part of the beggars club within the league to get this premium street. If you join that, you get this street. It costs an extra ten denars to join, but I still joined because otherwise I don't get good streets."

"Go tell those men that I can sleep here now and then I'll give you ten denars, or else I'll just give the ten denars to them and I'm sure they won't find me sleeping here."

Seeing no way of extracting more money from me before actually letting me in, we went over to those beggar men, and they looked more like beggars. She introduced me to them and they acknowledged me. Seemed like the girl is indeed with those men. After she introduced me to them, I gave her ten denars. I doubt that there really was a fee to join. No real beggars would afford it. But in any case, it was dark now, so I went to sleep amongst those beggars. All of the beggars slept in the same place, which provided good warmth, and I did get to sleep next to that beggar girl anyways after paying her fifteen denars. She became blushed after I told her that she did in fact do what she said she didn't do.

I went fast asleep, feeling myself catching a cold, but like yesternight, I was asleep before I knew it.