Shadow Slave: Monochrome

A rather plain but clean man with freckles was walking through Endrolls shopping district. There were a fair number of homeless poor wretches sleeping in this part of the city too, but there were an equal amount of street stalls, trying to make a living here as well. And it was crowded too boot!

The entire place was hectic really.

The man in question was wearing a trench coat, while carrying an old sack held together by a single string laying on his back, which seemed quite full.

Now you may be asking, in a poor place like this where thieves should also be common, why was this man being so bold? Well.. it was because he was an awakened! Who could steal from him? Certainly no mere humans.

And then, it all went downhill from there.

It first started with a girl who seemed quite young. No older than 16 she looked. She had sort of unique pale black hair, and wore a glum expression on her face.

"Um.. Mister? Do you happen to know which way the train station is?"

"Oh.. it should be over there..."

At first he was a little shaken. People usually kept to themselves, or were very hostile in this city, so the formalities of the girl were surprising. Like any kind gentlemen should do, the man pointed towards it's location while giving her some directions.

But then, something felt off. This girl wasn't wearing very clean clothes, so it looked like she was from around here.... but if that was true, then how come she didn't know where the train station was?

Even then, why would a poor looking girl like her need to take a train? Could she even afford a ticket?

This man wasn't native to this colony, so he didn't know that even the most innocent looking of flowers, could be incredibly carnivorous.

He felt something heavy suddenly be lifted from his being. His heart sank as he quickly pulled on the string, only to see that it had been cut short.

His bag was gone. No, it was stolen.

The man quickly turned back to the girl, but she had already disappeared into the crowd. He sank to his knees before smashing his fist into the ground, easily shattering the concrete while slightly bruising his own hand.

"Dammit... she's gonna kill me..."

**

Epsilon was giggling like a geek as he slipped through the crowd with hast. He quickly slipped his small pocket knife into the bag, while struggling to hold back his laughter.

'This bag.. it's so heavy! I can't wait to open it~'

Suddenly, Epsilon felt incredibly dizzy. He was just about to trip and fall, but then Nero caught him a moment later.

"Watch where you're going you idiot. What if there's something fragile in there?"

"Ah.. sorry.."

The two brothers, along with Emma were thieves. Well, it was one of three ways one could earn any kind of money in this place. You'd either steal and sell the stolen goods, try your luck at opening a stall which required a decent investment in the first place, or sell yourself at a brothel.

And gods forbid the two would let their mother do something like that. In fact, she knew that the two were thieves, but she was no fool. How else were they supposed to survive? And besides, the brothels don't pay much anyway.

"Anyhow, let's go meet back up with Emma."

**

A little while later, the trio were sitting on the roof of an abandoned building, which was actually quite comfy.. for one of them at least. There was a Hammock which Emma sat on, but both Nero and Epsilon were sitting on the floor.

"Let's get this done quickly shall we?", Nero said as he yawned.

The other two looked at him with concern.

"What? I just yawned... Oh! You think I'm infected huh??"

Epsilon just gulped.

"Your acting like this isn't your fault? You kept me up all last night because you wouldn't wanna turn that damn torch off for your damn painting! Anyhow, I'm just tired cuz of that, not because of the nightmare spell or anything..."

Nero reached out for the bag, and opened it with some force. Although he tried his best to seem calm, he was actually quite scared. What he said had some truth, however he was 16, an age ripe for the nightmare spells taking.

Unlike most people in this abyss, the two brothers actually grew up with a whole family. Their father was strong, and he owned a stall that was able to keep them afloat. However he was taken by the nightmare spell despite being out of the usual age range, and so he died a year ago after failing the first nightmare.

The stall that the two brothers were supposed to inherit, was robbed the second news of his death spread, and thus they had to resort to a life of crime.

If a man like that couldn't beat the first nightmare, what chance did his two boys have?

Nero shivered. He was scared, and rightfully so.

"Brother..."

Epsilon took his brothers hand.

"The nightmare spell.. no.. this whole world, if it's the two of us, we can take it all on. Isn't that right?"

'But if I was in a nightmare, you won't be there.'

Anyhow, Nero set his mind back on the main task at hand. Let's see what treasures they earned this time?

With a renewed spark of glee, he roughly opened up the sack... and was absolutely muddled at what he saw.

"Eh?"

Epsilon came over to see what it was, and he too had the the same look on his face.

"Eh?"

Emma who was being killed by the suspense, grabbed the bag and completely flipped it over, allowing its contents to spill out.

"What the hell has you two so confused..."

Her face turned pale. Not at confusion like the rest of them, but from fear.

Falling out of the awakened's stolen bag, were long dense bricks wrapped in some kind of brown paper. Nero picked one up before shaking it, trying to hear if there was anything inside, to which there was nothing at all.

"Huh.."

He tore away some of the paper wrapping it, and was confused to see a solid white brick. Out of curiosity, he smashed it against the floor, only for it to break very easily. He looked at Epsilon who seemed as confused as him, but Emma... she appeared to recognise it.

"Do you know what this is?"

Emma struggled to speak.

"You need to get rid of this now.. we need to burn it, or give it to the government or something! Anything! We need to get this out of here!"

Epsilon turned to Emma. This was only the second time she had sounded so panicked before.

"Why? What is it?

Her next words, made the two brothers spines freeze,

"This.. is Carnage."

"Carnage?? Like, the Red Sons Carnage?? The forbidden one?" 

Oh hell no..

Epsilon quickly grabbed the bag from Nero, and shoved all of the Carnage blocks back inside. The Red Sons were supposed to have a monopoly on Carnage, yet the awakened they robbed was carrying it. This meant, that either he was a customer of the Red Sons..

Or he was a member of the Red Sons himself.

The sun was already setting, so it was going to be dark soon.

"You two should go home. I was the one who stole this bag, so it's up to me to dispose of it."

But the other two disagreed. Emma demanded,

"I'm the most familiar with it, so I'll get rid of it. I can dispose of it properly."

Nero intervened, grabbing the bag from Epsilon.

"No, I haven't done anything today, so I'll dispose of it. Besides, the guy who you two stole this from has already seen your face, Emma. If anyone here would be in the most danger, it would be you."

"But!"

Epsilon quickly blocked her, while also covering her mouth. He looked back at Nero, before turning towards Emma who seemed quite scared.

"Nero.."

"Yeah I know."