by L J Branch
“We’ll need to take a dip into a nearby shadow. Laverna had an affinity for shadows which fortunately means her ashes can mix with them and refill our supply of it. This is why we have these,” Kat said before she turned around and gestured toward a token that was on the back of her neck, embedded in the suit. Abbie looked closer and could see that each of the three sections were a different color being either black, red, or gold. “This badge is proof we are members of the Guild. They used to be simple tokens that could mix the ash with shadows to make more. Then the last war happened and the Hattori family turned them into chips unique to each thief that store our mods and other important data.”
“Thanks to the Hattori family and their technology, a modern thief can grow more in one year than ancient thieves could in several. The drawback is that these tools are powerful and so a thief doesn’t begin their training until much later in their lives when compared to the other three factions. By being adults, we are ideally mature enough to handle the new tools.” Jack explained before he cast a pointed look at Kat who just winked in response.
“Think of a badge as both a license and the ‘keys’ to our mod-suits. With the badge implanted into the suit, it allows it to be functional and makes the ash hold its form,” Kat explained as Abbie raised her black-clad hand and looked at it in wonder. Abbie clenched her fist briefly and shook her head at how she felt her grip strength double. However, when she moved it too far away from Kat it simply dissolved and the ash returned back to Kat and covered Kat’s hand once more. “We pretty much use the ash for everything, it’s like a utility belt,” Kat said after a moment of thought. “My teacher always tells me to use it for important things.”
“Like impressing girls,” Jack teased as he gestured toward a few of the lingering bubbles. Kat simply nodded in response.
“Like I said, the important things.”
“What about your Goddess?” Abbie asked Kat who then gestured to her own mask.
“Black and red means that I am a follower of Discordia, the Goddess of chaos and rebellion,” Kat explained. “She’s the one who gave us presence.”
“Fitting,” Abbie said with a chuckle as Jack smirked. “You’re a literal agent of chaos, kitten, let that sink in.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Kat said as she rolled her eyes, though she couldn’t help but laugh herself. “Like Laverna, Discordia shared her power with us as well. Her Apples of Discord are what give us our presence. By eating one of her fruits, her presence flows through us and merges with us, making her power ours. This give us the ability to use the ash to do cool things like making powerful illusions, set up traps, and other neat tricks. This is how I was able to fight Alexei like I did and what separates a thief from a civilian.”
“So, if I ate one, I could do what you all can?”
“Pretty much, but the apples are poisonous,” Kat said after a moment of thought. “Only those worthy of being a thief can eat one and live. Not to mention you’d still be missing the tools to actually draw out your presence. We were lucky,” Kat began and her smile waned slightly. “We were the first year in a long time that had all thirty-nine of the recruits survive initiation,” Kat explained as Abbie looked at her in horror. “An Apple of Discord can be very dangerous in the wrong hands so Discordia created artificial life, servants called Dolls to protect them and serve the needs of thieves. Each Doll is given an apple to keep safe in the event something happens to Discordia’s garden where she grows them. In return the apples give the Dolls life, so this task is a fair trade for that.”
“Lastly, there’s Diamond’s Goddess, Juventas,” Jack said as he held up a familiar golden flask. “The Goddess of life and youth who is represented by the colors black and gold. She gave us what’s in these flasks. We call it nectar. We consume a little bit every month to keep ourselves in perfect health. It heals severe injuries quickly, keeps us young, and makes it so monsters can’t corrupt or consume us.”
“What exactly is nectar?” Abbie asked with a frown as she remembered the heavenly taste that had taken away all of her pain.
“Despite everything you have seen and heard, trust me, you wouldn’t believe us, so just call it nectar,” Jack said which made her pout as he basically gave her the same answer Kat did. Still, she didn’t push and decided to ask Kat a question that had bugged her for a while.
“So does that collar of yours have any significance? It reminds me of your badge.”
“It’s her treasure,” Jack said as Kat gestured toward the pendant. “Our bodies constantly produce presence so you can think of treasures as batteries that store our presence so that we don’t endanger those near us.”
“Batteries, huh? What happens when you overload them?”
“Not sure, but something tells me it’ll be worse than blowing up a phone,” Jack joked. “That might be worth testing one day. Anyway, a treasure can be an object forged from Laverna’s ashes or a brand that seals an ancient artifact from Laverna’s personal collection of stolen goods. Outsiders tend to get the former while members of the founding families get the latter,” Jack said as he gestured to the tattoo on the back of his right hand. “There is only one exception that doesn’t fit this mold but it isn’t relevant at the moment. What all treasures have in common is the ability to store a vast amount of power. This is why they are so vital to us but as you can expect, something this valuable isn’t given for free. They are exchanged for something we hold dear and as a result, these treasures can develop different abilities, unique to its thief, over time.”
“In my case, I was always extremely lucky,” Kat began as she got Abbie’s attention. “I can’t begin to tell you how many times I almost died before joining the Guild, but I never did. So, I gave up that luck and got my treasure in return. It’s called the Change of Fate,” Kat said with a smirk as she tapped her collar. “The pendant spins and randomly lands on the gold or green section. This can create extremely good luck for myself, ridiculous even, or I can supposedly give bad luck to everyone around me.”
“Supposedly?”
“I’ve never done it,” Kat said with a shrug. “I’ve been very lucky with this treasure so far and hope to keep it up.”
“That’s…that’s amazin’, did you use this on Alexei?” Abbie asked only for Kat to shake her head.
“I try not to use it that much to tell you the truth. The possibility of giving everyone bad luck scares me,” Kat said honestly. “If I used it and it failed, you both would have gotten bad luck and I didn’t want to test to see how that would end up. You could have gotten killed in the crossfire,” Kat said and a chill went down Abbie’s spine as she thought about the possibilities.
“Oh, good call,” Abbie said as she understood Kat’s hesitance. If Kat were working alone it would be no problem, but the last thing Kat needed to do was to bring misfortune upon her allies as well as her enemies. “Still that’s incredible, Kat.” Abbie praised. “What about you, Jack?”
“Not much to say about mine, it’s a brand called Arondight,” Jack answered. “It lets me absorb energy and turn it into presence.”
“Arondight…where have I-” Abbie trailed off before her eyes widened as she realized where she heard that name before. “Wait, as in Sir Lancelot’s sword? That Arondight?”
“You know of it?”
“My mom was like yours I guess, she was a die-hard fan of those legends.”
“Oh no, you’re multiplying,” Kat complained.
“Interesting, but yes, the very same,” Jack said, a fond smile on his face. “That very sword is sealed within me by this brand which allows me to draw on its power. The brand has nine levels, nine ‘circles’, that give me access to more of its power. By the time I graduate I should be able to wield the blade itself but until then I’ll have to make do.”
“Anyway, there’s a bit more, I guess, but you’d have to ask Diamond,” Kat said with a shrug. “Not because we don’t trust you, of course, but she’s better at explaining these things.”
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“Relax Kat, I understand,” Abbie reassured Kat with a small smile at how nervous Kat seemed. “I’m honestly grateful you guys trust me this much.”
“Sorry it’s just, you know how you jump to conclusions,” Kat teased. Abbie’s cheeks reddened at that while Jack raised an eyebrow.
“Oh?”
“Yeah Jack, you should have heard this drama queen when I first tried to take the mark off-” Kat was cut off as she was forced to avoid Abbie who did her best to shut Kat up as Jack looked on in amusement.
* * *
“Alright, first things first, Abbie is that car drivable?” Diamond asked as they stood in the study, a holographic image of Magnus Financial appearing on her desk.
“Yeah, I put it back together after I got the chip.”
“Good, we’ll need a way to get to and from the bank,” Diamond said making Abbie look at her in surprise. “What?”
“Nothing just…I did see you all disappear into thin air before, didn’t realize you all actually needed cars. I figured Kat just rode a bike because it was fun or somethin’,” Abbie explained making Diamond shake her head.
“We can travel between our safe houses and the Guild. If we have a lot of safe houses scattered around the world, we can use the Guild as a shortcut to and from each one, but that’s it. As thieves, we can use shadows to quickly change our immediate position but crossing even a few blocks like that is tiring,” Diamond said as she crossed her arms. “Only a mage can teleport which is why we need a good getaway car.”
“Well then, thank P.I. for trying to be flashy because that is definitely a good car,” Abbie said with a smile.
“Good, now back to the situation at hand,” Diamond began as she regained their attention. They watched as the image focused on the bank’s lower levels. “The lower levels are where they keep the money and safety deposit boxes of the civilians. The mages, however, keep their belongings at the top of the bank and that’s where our target is,” Diamond said before zooming in on a room full of safety deposit boxes that had one in particular high-lighted. “This is our objective, this one is owned by the Arch-Mage August. Of course, this isn’t where he keeps anything important. Probably just a few jewels, but there is a reason this is the hardest first-year job offered. Even now no band has completed it,” Diamond said as she placed the picture down. “In fact, I got a decent amount of this information from Band Twenty-Twenty.”
“Really? What did you trade for that?” Jack asked sounding a bit surprised.
“Band Twenty-Twenty?” Abbie asked curiously.
“Think of them as our upperclassmen, top band of the current second years. They were what we are now as the top band of our year,” Diamond explained. “As for what they wanted in return? The usual, they wanted to gain favor with me, something I approve of as a close relationship with them will be invaluable in the future. They came the closest to completing this job, their failure almost ruined their standing but they persevered and recovered. To be honest, I think the real reason they gave us this is because their pride is hurt and they want someone to finally put this job to rest.”
“Still, they’re no slouches. They’re already as skilled as full-fledged thieves, on track to being fully initiated early. Do you think we can do this?” Jack asked with a small frown.
“We have no choice, too late to turn back. Plus, we have something they didn’t,” Diamond said as she gestured toward Abbie. “Between her and an advantage of information, we can pull this off. We know exactly where and how to strike. Abigail, you will take down the surveillance and the rest of the security systems. While that’s being done, Kat, you will scale the outside of the bank and reach the required floor. With the systems down, breaking in through a window shouldn’t alert anyone,” Diamond said making Kat nod. “While that’s being done, Jack and I will go in through the side-entrances and deal with any guards.”
“Wait, if I’m going in through the top, undetected, why do you two need to go in at all?” Kat asked with a frown.
“Because this is where Band Twenty-Twenty failed,” Diamond said before a purple dome surrounded their objective on the map. “They bypassed the technological security but they forgot about the arcane defenses set up by the mages. There is a barrier blocking that room, and last time I checked you can’t just hack magic. Jack and I need to find the catalyst that’s keeping it up. Once we do that, you can take the objective and we can return here and officially put an end to this job once and for all.”
“Sounds simple enough,” Kat said making Jack frown.
“And that’s a problem, it’s never simple with us,” Jack muttered making Diamond nod.
“Exactly,” Diamond said before showing them another image. “Which is why we’ll go through with this plan, but we have to treat this as if anything that could go wrong will. We need to be able to escape if a mage like Xavier shows up.”
“Who is that?” Abbie asked with a frown that deepened when she saw the scowls on Jack and Kat’s faces. Diamond pursed her lips, not looking very fond of the man herself before explaining.
“Xavier is a young mage, a year older than us, who has recently completed his training. Since we’ve started, he’s stumbled his way into a couple of our jobs, we barely managed to escape each time. You can say he has a…fascination…with our band that he developed after unmasking Frost and deciding to spare our lives. This fascination is one we could very well do without,” Diamond explained. “If you see him and he starts speaking Italian, run. When a mage speaks in their native tongue, chances are they are going to cast a spell of some sort on you. Something about their native language being the closest to their soul or some nonsense.”
“Noted,” Abbie said, looking a bit pale at the thought. “So, he’s like a rival?”
“An enemy,” Jack corrected his voice firm. “We are at war, love, you have to remember that.”
“It hurts my pride to admit it, but we are weak. As a first-year, you’re barely even considered a rookie in the Guild. We’re good for what we are, but who we are now and who we will be next year is as different as night and day. That’s how intense our training is. If we were stronger, believe me, I would have killed that man by now,” Diamond said, her voice cold and Abbie shuddered as she saw a dark glint in Diamond’s eyes. “I have a vendetta against him that can only be paid with his blood, but only when we are all at our best. I need an honorable victory, getting lucky won’t cut it,” Diamond said with a small frown. “Enough about him. We must get ready.”
* * *
That evening a masked Kat scaled the side of the bank as the night sky cloaked her body from sight. The fingers of her mod-suit had transformed into sharp talons which sunk easily into the side of the building. Once Kat reached the third highest floor, she used her talons to cut into the glass of the window.
“Umbra, what’s your status?” Diamond’s voice asked through her ear-piece.
“Made it in, boss.”
“Good, Stone, was she spotted?”
“Nope, she’s in the clear and you will be as well in a minute. Get ready to go in…”
* * *
“…now.” Abbie said as she disarmed the alarms and watched over the thieves from her apartment.
* * *
“Clear the floor,” Diamond ordered Jack once they made it inside, her voice muffled slightly by her mask. Nodding, Jack proceeded to do that as she made her way to a shadowy corner. “I’ll find the catalyst.”
“There are five armed guards on the floor, be careful they’re armed to the teeth,” Abbie warned. “Doubt I have to say it but stealth is definitely advised, there are more guards in the upper floors so try not to alert them.”
“Understood,” Jack said as he quietly made his way toward one of the guards. Once he was positioned behind the armed man, the first circle shone on Arondight as the brand began to shine brightly as his presence coursed through his body. It was then that Jack drew his right fist back before he rammed it through the man’s back.
Jack’s hand exited through the guard’s chest while blue sparks crackled over his fist. The armed man couldn’t even yell before his body was suddenly encased in ice. The frozen form of the guard shattered around Jack’s fist before he drew it back.
“Frost! What the hell!?”
“It was a golem, artificial soldiers created by the Mage’s Circle,” Jack explained as he raised a crimson crystal that he had ripped from the guard’s body toward a nearby camera. “They look human but are just moving pieces of earth and clay. Feel no sympathy, love, these things have no true sentience, they’re just glorified rocks.”
“I…I see,” Abbie said as Jack went on to systematically remove the golems from the floor.
“Guys I made it to the barrier…”
* * *
“…but it’s like we thought, I can’t think of a way to breach this thing. I haven’t even seen any guards on this floor but that doesn’t mean security isn’t tight,” Kat said as she stood at the end of a corridor, her objective right in front of her. However, in between Kat and her goal was a purple wall of energy, a magical barrier that protected the room from intruders. In addition to the barrier, there was a laser-grid security system that filled the room as well. “Stone, can you at least do something about these lasers?”
“Lasers? Perhaps, but I can’t even see into that room, are there even cameras in there?”
“There are but they luckily aren’t facing me,” Kat said with a small frown.
“That’s strange…where you should be, I just see a void for lack of a better term. Something is blocking me and it’s not something I can breach.”
“Must be the magic,” Kat realized. “Well then, it’s all up to you, boss. Can you spot the catalyst?”
* * *
“Yes, but there is a problem,” Diamond muttered as she stared up at a large golden statue. The statue depicted a knight on the back of a mighty steed that was raised back on its hind-legs. The knight held out his sword in front of him as if he commanded an invisible army to charge. One thing that was peculiar was that the knight had no head, instead, he held a helmet in his free hand.