The Journey of a Thief, Dominique Pearce (heavenly.kaos) [ebook smartphone txt] 📗

and grayish-black scales kept from corroding away. The mark was filled with venom, a toxic, lethal venom, that though it had no effect on me, it could disintegrate even stone itself, and if my hand were to touch anyone, the venom would be transferred and unspeakable pain would fill their body. That is, only if they touch the mark itself, where the venom is stored. If they came in contact with my fingertips, or my right hand, the small dose would only put them to sleep. Either way, I swore to never take off my gloves, for any reason, unless it was a matter of life or death. I have felt the pain my venom has caused for myself, and it is a fate I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.
I fear everyday about what might happen. Will there be another victim today? Will it be minor or fatal? What would people think if they saw my scar? If they saw the tell-tale flecks of red in my eye? I knew if I ever took off my gloves, it would only mean misery for me. And that was another thing I could do without.
There was, however, one side affect that I had grown to love: I have the ability to hear the thoughts of others. It has become very useful in times past, and even today. But I could never truly appreciate it because of the reason I have that ability.
My mother, my adoptive mother, she was one of the only people who ever cared for me. She didn’t see my scar as a curse, but rather as a blessing. She even showed me how to use it as a line of defense. She turned me into a real weapon, she did. Being raised by a thief, that was probably the best thing for me. She taught me how to survive, how to fight, and steal food and money from the occasional sight seer in town... She taught me nearly everything she knew, including the Thieves Code. In short, my mother was the best thing that ever happened to me. Oh, I miss her so much.
There was no use complaining about the past now. What is done is done, and I can’t change anything by thinking about it. I decided it was getting late, and put my glove back on my hand. I turned over on my side, closed my eyes, and soon fell into yet another deep, dreamless sleep.

Chapter 3
I awoke with a start, shivering. The fire must have died overnight, but I was still warm from the clothes I was wearing, so I didn’t know why I was shivering. I just shook it off. I pulled out my dressphere, changed clothes to what I was wearing yesterday, packed up my things in to my pocket belt and left. My stomach was growling worse than an angry bear, and I didn’t have any food left. I had given it all to Rogue, along with some of my bait, making fishing difficult. Oh, well. I had to try and fish, or else I might just die out here.
I came up on a nearby river, the same one by which I had met Luneth the other day. I wondered if I would ever see him again. Probably better I don’t, he was quite annoying. I walked downstream a little bit, and sat down, looking to see if this river had any fish.
I took out one of my phials of fish bait, and let a small drop fall into the river. Almost instantly, several large fish came up to the riverbank. I silently drew my blade. My technique of fishing is a bit more complicated. I have to throw the blade with deadly precision, so that the fish doesn’t have a chance to escape. I raised my dagger high, and as I was about to strike--
“What are you doing?” called a voice from across the river. My hand slipped and my dagger went haywire into a tree not far from the person’s head. I looked up, and there was Luneth, clearly frightened and with a blade embedded in a tree about five inches from his face. He stopped looking at the dagger and looked at me, but at seeing my furious expression, he wished he hadn’t. I looked back down at the fish, all of them had fled at the loud noise.
“You idgit!” I trudged through the water to the other side of the river. I pointed my finger right in his face. “You made me miss! That was my breakfast!” I wanted to strangle him so much. He just stared at me in shock. “Oh, you were aiming for the fish...” I was fuming. I didn’t know what kept me from killing him at this point. “Yes, I was aiming for the fish. That was going to be my breakfast!” I pulled out my other dagger and slammed him against the tree. I lifted the blade to his throat. “Hey, hey! Take it easy!” he cried. “I didn’t mean to scare of the fish, okay! I was just surprised to see you!”
Surprised to see me? What did he mean by that? I wanted to kill him, I wanted to slit his throat right then and there. But something held me back... for some reason, I just couldn’t do it. I sheathed my dagger, and pulled the other one out of the tree. I pointed it at his face. “If I were you,” I said. “I wouldn’t let it come to this again. Got it?” He slowly nodded, apparently still in shock. I backed away, put away my other blade, and went back to the river. I wasn’t angry anymore, but I didn’t know why. All I knew was that I was hungry, and now the fish were gone. I didn’t have enough bait for a second try, so I just sat down on the riverbank and stared at the water, hoping some fish would come by.
“Oh... kay...” he said. “What are you doing?” he asked a second time. I sighed. “Fishing.” I replied. “I would have thought you’d figured out that much by now.” “That’s a strange way to fish.” he simply said. There was a brief silence that followed, me staring at the water and Luneth staring at me. I wondered what he meant by he was surprised to see me. But I quickly shook it off. “I’m sorry.” he said. “I was just a little surprised to see you. I didn’t think you survived the night.” I shot a glare at him. “I would have thought you’d realized I have more talent than that by now.” I realized the fish weren’t going to come back, so I got up.
“Where are you going?” Luneth asked. He got up too, and turned towards me. “Anywhere but here.” I started walking away from the riverbank, into the trees. “Hey, hold it!” he called. “I thought you were dead, doesn’t that count for anything?” I stopped and turned. “What’s that supposed to mean?” No reply. “Look, whatever. I’m going to your village. Can you show me the way?” “...Yeah, sure. Why?” I turned back towards the woods. “Good, lets go.” I kept on walking, he started to follow. “Wait a minute...what just happened here?”
. . .
Luneth
It was so strange. I woke up yesterday morning, with great plans for the day, when I met this psychopath calling herself Kitiraa. I have little memory of the last day or so, just a few pieces of it here and there. She falls out of a tree, insults me, walks away, I expect her to be dead, the next day she nearly kills me, insults me again, and now she’s demanding I take her to Okia. I don’t know much about this freak, but she’s already on my bad side.
Suddenly, she gasps and stops. I turn back to her, and ask her what’s wrong. “Nothing,” she says. “It’s nothing.” “Alright then. Let’s keep going.” We keep on walking, and after a while, she asks, “You think I’m a freak, don’t you?” What the hell? Where did that come from? “Is it that obvious?” I asked. “Not really. I guess you could say I’m really good at reading people.” she answered with a slight smirk. “Besides, from my point of view, you’re the freak.”
I turned to her, but kept walking up the slope. “Oh, really? And how is that?” I saw her flash a look of, ‘I’m so glad you asked,’. “You see, you’re just too normal. It’s not natural, ya know?” I turned away, and almost laughed. “Oh, so it’s unnatural to be normal? You really are insane.” “Hey, I’m not insane; my reality is just different than yours.” she replied. This time I did laugh. “And that doesn’t sound crazy at all. You aught to be wearing a straight jacket, not carrying knives.”
She snapped up almost immediately. “Hey, I’ll have you know these are my personal twin daggers, they weren’t issued to me. And what I said was true. I see things differently, therefor, I have a different reality than you. And you really are too normal. Everyone’s got to be crazy once in a while; don't ya know it? Insanity is what keeps us sane.”
I just shrugged it off. “Whatever.” I simply said. But she didn’t stop there. “My question is, why do you think I’m a freak?” she asked. I sighed because I knew this wasn’t over. “Did I... get on your bad side or something?” What? Where is she getting this? It’s like she’s inside my head! She started laughing a little bit. “What’s so funny?” I snapped. Regaining her breath, she replied, “Nothing, just something funny I heard.” Whatever. “You’re just stick out too much.” I told her. “You’re nearly the exact opposite of most of the people here.” She scoffed at me. “Oh really? And how is that?” she asked, a perfect imitation of what I had asked her earlier. “Well, you’re wearing city clothes, so I guess you’re not used to living in the woods. You have three silver hoop earrings in your left ear, and I don’t know what that costs in your realm, but those earrings alone are more than I would earn in ten years. And then there’s your eyes...” When I said that she clasped her hand over her left eye. Again? She did that yesterday too, when I said her eyes stood out. Why does she keep doing that?
“Could we change the subject?” she asked quietly. I just realized she was getting short of breath. “Hey, are you okay?” I asked her. “I’m fine, I’m just having a little difficulty with these hills. Why does your dimension have so many damn obstacles?” I turned away. “Oh, so you really are from the city.” I wasn’t looking at her, but I could still feel her piercing glare from behind. “Yeah, and what of it?” she snapped. “I’m only originally from the city, but I’ve spent my fair amount of time in the woods. It’s just this is one hell of a hike.” I laughed a little bit. “Yeah, well, don’t worry about it. After this turn, the rest of the way is fairly flat. Okia isn’t that far from here.”
. . .
Kitiraa
As we approached