Chapter 1

Litoso. The world where everyone lives in, divided into four main kingdoms. Nesoto the kingdom of the north , Relito the kingdom of the south ,Getolu the kingdom of the east , and Ferindo the kingdom of the west. In the surface the four kingdoms might look like to be at peace but deep inside a war is being waged. Our story will take place in the heart of the kingdom to the north Nesoto , in one of their cities. The city of N-Lanos.

The city of N-Lanos was a big city that was in the shape of a circle when viewed from above with a stone wall circling around it.

It was already night time in the city of N - Lanos, however there was someone who was wide awake.

After checking his equipment one more time he gets ready to start, a man who was 21 years old with black eyes and having his whole head except for his eye covered by a hood and a mask. He was known as Jack Dilim, or sometimes a thief.

As the giant clock that was found in the center of the city chimed signaling it was now midnight, the time he was waiting for to come out. With swift movements Jack quickly got out of his hiding spot and started to go to work.

While using the shadows to hide himself he jumped from rooftop to rooftop getting closer to his targeted victim. Using his abilities he would literally disappear.

Everyone is the world of Litoso had the ability to control one of the major elements to a certain degree, this power was known as “Authority”.

A person could be born with the authority over one of the major elements, fire, water, earth, and air. However there is a very rare chance that a person could be born with the authority over light or darkness. And it just so happens to be that Jack was born with the authority over darkness, and he uses his power to hide in the shadows and even turn himself into one.

Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, getting closer to his next destination. A house of a well known noble who was accused of several things but nothing was ever proven so he always manages to escape the law. Jack thought that since he had so much money in his hands it wouldn’t hurt for him to share the wealth a little bit.

As he got close to the house he launched the knife located in the device on his arms, the knife had a small rope attached to it allowing it to act like a grappling hook and a deadly weapon. The knife stuck to the ledge of the window and with the help of the device he pulled himself towards it and grabbed hold of the ledge.

Slowly opening the window he let himself in. Slowly walking around Jack made sure that nobody would be able to hear his footsteps.

 

He searched the house as he avoided anyone who would be able to see him, it wasn’t long until he finally reached the bedroom of the owner of the house.

He didn’t need to open the door, he simply used his authority and turned himself into a shadow and passed through the small gap under the door and reverted back into his human form.

Looking at the noble and his wife sleeping peacefully on their bed, Jack smiled thinking that this was all too easy.

Quickly looking through their cabinets he was able to get several golden coins along with a few of priceless jewels and accessories that probably belonged to the wife. After taking what he could he made sure to get out as fast as he got in, turning into a shadow once more he got out of the room before reverting back.

His job here was already done and it was time for him to leave. Opening a window he jumped off its ledge and using his authority once more turned himself into a shadow before falling to the ground preventing him from being hurt by the fall.

Reverting back he jumped up and started to run on the rooftops once more getting out of sight.

As he put a good amount of distance between him and the house he stopped on a rooftop hiding behind its chimney. Taking out one of the jewels he took from the noble from his pocket, he looked at it at the moons light and smiled.

“Hey there kitten.”

Quickly reacting to the voice he heard behind him Jack puts the jewel back in his pocket and got into a stance quickly turning around, only to see that it was one of his fellow thieves Bers Hangin.

Bers Hangin someone who was the same age as him with short black hair with yellow eyes. Her outfit which was a set of baggy pants, shirt and a trench coat along with her looks would always remind Jack of a cat. She would even move and act like a cat from time to time. By looking closer he could see several daggers on her hips.

“Bers, what brings you here?”

“Just finished my run tonight, and it seems like you got a good haul.”

She said smirking clearly talking about the jewel he was looking at just a while ago. Jack smiled in return and replied.

“You could say that, and you? Anything good?”

“Of course only the best can catch my eye.”

“Well the term “Cat burglar” really does suit you.”

Bers smirked looking at him as she slowly walked around him.

“Well I’ll take that as a compliment. Now what are you going to do now, kitten?”

“I’m planning on doing some more recon on the target. You want to come along?”

Just as he said that, the both of them suddenly looked at the window that faced the house that they were currently on top on.

Without a second thought the both of them hid on the other side on the chimney hiding from the windows view and as soon as they did, someone could be seen looking out the window.

“I must be losing my mind, I thought I heard someone here.”

With that the person left. When they were sure it was safe to go out the both of them looked at their current situation.

They were too quick to hide and the chimney was only so big that it could only hide one person, right now Bers had her back glued to the chimney while Jack was in front of her with both of his hands cornering her. Right now it looked Jack was about to do something to her and she couldn’t do anything about it.

Smirking, Bers looked at their current situation and said in a semi mocking tone.

“My, my kitten I didn’t know you were this aggressive.”

Jack realized where she was getting at and calmly stands up right saying.

“ We need to get far from here, seems like there are some people still awake besides it being the middle of the night.”

“You can’t blame them for being a night person, might as well join you.”

 “Okay then, just make sure to keep up.”

“You need to be careful who you’re challenging kitten.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 1 part 2

                Both Jack and Bers were considered to be some of the fastest thieves there could be. Jack using his authority over the shadows to increase his running speed significantly, well it wasn’t really running he was more like hovering. Half of his body turns into a shadow, he hovers over the shadows quickly without even losing stamina.

Bers on the other hand had a different way of traveling. She had authority over wind and using this to her advantage, Bers would use the winds to quickly push her body when jumping and decreasing wind resistance allowing her to run at full speed. Just like a cat she would usually pounce and the winds will propel her forward, in a way she used her authority to quickly dash around and keep pace with Jack.

The two of them quickly got to their destination with ease without being seen, to a thief one of the things you would need most was speed.  Enough speed to quickly move from place to place and when caught, enough speed to get away.

The two of them settled on a rooftop right in front of a warehouse. Getting as low as they can the both surveyed the area and saw several guards.

“Just as I feared, they changed the guards again.”

“They know we won’t be able to get a good read on them if they keep changing the guards every night, not only that but seems like their shifts keep changing to so there’s no definite window.”

The two of them were whispering to each other as they continued to look at the warehouse. They have been planning to rob the place for several weeks now but they couldn’t get a chance to actually do it.

When fellow thieves get together and plan a heist this big they would usually spend some time spying their target to know what the best time to strike would be. They have been looking but yet it seems like their target knows that they are a target. Guards changing every day and night, shifts always changing, no guaranteed deliveries, there was no way they could find an opening.

The warehouse is owned by someone who was very close to the king according to their intel, the name of the person is yet to be known but they were able to gather enough information to know that the owner wasn’t any good guy.

While they were thinking of a way to get inside, Jack saw something that quickly got his attention.

“Bers, look.”

“Hmm?”

As they looked they saw someone trying to sneak up past the guards, the person looked skilled but yet all of his movements took too much risk. Jack knew who this person was, he was the new thief in the block called Roy Apoy.

People had their doubts when they found out he actually became a thief since this line of work wasn’t easy. One would constantly need to put their life on the line, not to mention it would take a high amount of skill to move from place to place without being seen, without even making a single sound.

But that wasn’t the main reason why they doubted him. Roy was one of the rare people who never really controlled their authority. In other words he had no ability to use it he couldn’t control the elements to any degree no matter how hard he tried.

Watching him, Jack was able to see that Roy had enough skill to move around with enough speed to get out of sight. But only by going through risky paths where guards would always come close to seeing him. Unlike other thieves who never really took that many risks the person Jack was watching right now would constantly take any and all of the risks simply to move around faster. In a way it was admirable to have that much courage but yet it was also incredibly reckless.

“He has guts I’ll give him that, but it’s too risky to go in now, especially alone.”

“He’s still new and don’t know how things work. Want me to grab him?”

“No, I’ll do it. Wait here while I go make sure he doesn’t increase the security.”

While saying this, Jack got up a bit and used the shadows to travel from the roof to the place where Roy was. This was one of his abilities that he learned thanks to his authority, by using the shadows he can in a way teleport from place to place just as long as the shadow reaches to where he wants to go.

It didn’t take him long to get to the ground, being as silent as he can he sneaked up to Roy slowly. It wasn’t clear because he was looking at him from far away but now that Jack was right behind him he saw.

Roy was holding a knife behind his back while waiting for the guard to come closer, it was clear that he was planning to kill the guard. This was bad so he needed to move quickly. Jack quickly grabbed Roy by the arm and covered his mouth to prevent him from making any sound.

“Shhhh!”

When Roy noticed that Jack was a fellow thief he calmed down and Jack slowly removed his hand from Roys mouth and whispered.

“We need to get out of here, this place is too risky to rob right now.”

“Don’t worry I got this.”

“No you don’t, now quit talking for now and get moving. If we’re seen it won’t be good.”

Without any more complaining the both of them quickly got out of there and went to somewhere safe. Well by safe it just means on the rooftop of another house that was just a little farther away. When they were sure that nobody knew that they were there, all three of them relaxed a bit.

Looking at Roy closely Jack could see that he had short dark red hair, a terrible color for a thief. Not only that but even his eyes were red along with some parts of his outfit and the metal plating on his left arm would reflect the moons light. This was not something a thief should wear. It would attract too much attention due to the bright colors.

But that wasn’t the main problem as to why he was disappointed in him.

“Do you have any idea what you were gonna do?”

“Okay so I tried to rob a place without any info, is that really bad? I mean I could always try again.”

Bers who was watching the both of them then spoke up while holding one of her daggers.

“We have been spying on that place for a couple of weeks now, the whole clan was planning on robbing it.”

“What? Why wasn’t I informed!?”

“You would know if you actually attended the meetings we hold for these kinds of things.”

“Okay so I missed some of the meetings and tried to rob the place all of you were had eyes on, is that really so bad? Those things are really boring.”

“You don’t get it do you? It’s not about that you tried to rob it. It’s because you were going to kill the guard!”

Jack quickly started to regain his cool after raising his voice a bit. This wasn’t good, he needs to keep his voice down or he might attract some unwanted attention. Taking his place for a bit Bers explained.

“If the others saw a dead guard what do you think the owner would do? He would know someone tried to steal what was inside and would increase the security which isn’t something we want. Not to mention that you were going to break the code.”

What Bers meant by breaking the code was the code of thieves. Being a thief doesn’t mean that they didn’t have any rules, even they had their laws that they had to follow. The code of thieves had very few rules but everyone needed to follow them, if not then they would face punishment.

“So what if I break the code? We’re thieves we shouldn’t care about any rules.”

“You don’t get it do you? The code keeps us safe and not to mention without the code all of us would have killed each other long ago.”

Finally able to regain his composure Jack stepped in once and reminded Apoy of the code.

“A thief never kills, a thief only steals from other thieves, a thief holds their honor till death, and a thief shall never betray the clan. The code of thieves is something we must never break. Just because we’re thieves doesn’t mean we’re not civilized in our way.”

Roy sighed as Jack and Bers continued to remind him of the code, to him the code was never really needed. He chose to be a thief thinking that he could live without any rules, but he finally got to be one he was still following rules.

“Fine, fine I won’t break the code. “

With that Roy left the two of them. Jack watched him as he left and said to Bers who was behind him.

“He depends on his items to balance the playing field and keep up with the other thieves. He has potential but he has problems following rules.”

“He’s new, I think we should give the little kitten some time to grow. But what do you think we should do? If this keeps up we won’t be able to take that place.”

“There needs to be some kind of pattern to their schedule, it’s just long but I know there has to be.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Getting that many guards will be hard even if you are close to the king, not to mention that they can’t just make any schedule they want. The best way is to make a long pattern and just repeat that when people think the schedule is random, to be honest I was able to see part of it already.”

“You did?”

Bers looked at him surprised but yet at the same time expected that he was going to say something like that. Jack was known to be a master thief who was able to steal anything from anyone without breaking the code of thieves. Jack then continued.

“It might look like the guards change every day but they don’t, only two or three get replaced while the others stay behind. Those who stay go in different positions so we thought that they changed every night. From what I’ve seen each guard stays for three nights before getting replaced.”

He always went to spy on the target every night and studied everything about it and its guards. Not leaving even a small movement out he was able to find a small opening to what seemed like a full proof defense.

“There are twelve guards patrolling the warehouse during the night, although I haven’t figured out what shifts they follow or just what time they switch but I can guarantee that there are twenty four guards in total. Each guard spending three nights before being replaced by batches of three, the pattern is simple but they make it look complicated to make it look like the schedule is random.”

“Well it seems like you’re half done in finding out the best time to use our claws on the place. Anyway we should better get back, it’s almost day time.”

Just like Bers said Jack could see the sun starting to rise, time for them to go back and fast. Jack won’t be able to use his authority in the day since there won’t be that many shadows he can use to move on.

The both of them started to run as fast as they can, while Bers continued to use her authority to keep her speed, Jack couldn’t use his authority due to one complication. If he turns into a shadow and light is shined on him then that would just be like dying, the risk of him dying from light hitting him while he was on shadow form was extremely high.

In times like these Jack uses his grappling knives to move around quickly. Launching the knives to where they can grab hold and using the rope attached to them to swing around would allow him a good amount of speed, enough to keep up with Bers. But it added risk of him being seen since he would swing from wall to wall and not from the roof tops.

Almost every thief lives in a base of the clan. The clan had five bases all of them having their own specialty. Four of them could be found near the wall of the city near the border and one which was the largest of the five could be found in the center of the city.

Thieves were free to choose if they would stay near the wall or at the heart. The four bases located near the wall were separated depending on their element. But each base had their pros and cons.

Bases that were near the border had very little security but with this they also had very few targets, while the base located at the center could have more targets to steal from but with increased security and risk.

Jack and Bers continued their run until they finally reached a manhole, they quickly removed the metal cover and, making sure no one was watching them, jumped in before Jack closed it.

As they got to the sewers the both of them slowed down and just started to walk, the risk of them being seen was now nonexistent now that they were there. Both of them stayed quiet the whole trip only hearing the dropping of water from the ceiling to the water below.

It wasn’t long until they reached part of the sewer that was broken down, its walls being destroyed it showed a deep pit on the other side. Without hesitation both jack and Bers jumped into the deep pit.

While falling they could see the ground below getting closer and closer. Bers used her authority to start decreasing her fall speed while Jack kept his speed while turning himself into a shadow. As he landed, black smoke that looked just like fog dispersed, but then quickly gathered and soon formed a figure and turned into a human. One of Jacks main techniques when needing to jump from high places so he won’t get hurt when landing.

When Jack reverted back into a human Bers landed beside him soon after. They finally arrived at the base located at the center of the city, Kitalo.

Even though it was underground it was still well lit thanks to the glowing rocks and some lanterns all around. There were well over sixty thieves living in Kitalo, their houses could be seen on the ground and sometimes on the walls and ceiling. And at the heart of it all was a big building where meetings are usually held.

“Well I guess we part ways for now, I’ll see you in the meeting later at noon.”

With that Bers left, using her authority she easily to her own house which was attached to the wall. It had a fair amount of distance from the ground and because of the location there weren’t any foot holds, so it was pretty much impossible to climb it.

Jacks house wasn’t near the entrance, he was actually far from it. Walking to his house he could see countless thieves waking and talking to each other while others seemed like they just got back from their own target.

A thief doesn’t need that much to live, even though they have a lot of money on their hands they don’t waste it on worthless things and would focus more on functionality rather than fashion. And Jack was no exception. His house was made of wood and only had two floors with just two windows.

He walked in his door that never had a lock, he may be amongst fellow thieves but no thief steals from each other here. He closed the door behind him, he knows that nobody will steal from him but he still wanted some privacy from time to time.

Walking to the second floor of his house Jack took off his equipment and puts them on the table near his bed. His grappling knives that were attached to both of his forearms , his mask, and the armor on his torso. He changed to something more comfortable, a sort sleeved shirt and shorts. As he puts all of the things he got to a room just beside his bedroom, and went down stairs to get a bite to eat.

A thief lives a simple but yet in the same time a dangerous life. Just coming back home and eat dinner, or in this case breakfast instead of being thrown into a cold cell is a blessing for people like him. His meal was simple, just a few pieces of cooked meat with some eggs and water.

After taking care of everything that needed to be taken care of he went to bed, thieves can be said to be nocturnal people due to the fact they would be most active during the night while they would rest most hours of the day.

Waking up Jack looked at the clock on the table near the table and saw I was already eleven AM, only one more hour before noon, the planned time for the meeting of thieves.

He got up from his bed and just after putting on some pants and a jacket he got out and started walking for the center building of Kitalo.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 1 part 3

                The central building was mostly called the hall of thieves, meetings were held here. Meetings would usually be about big heists or sometimes on rare occasions, punishment for those who broke the code.

Everyone had their own spot in the hall. It was big enough so that all of the thieves could fit in and have elbow room. Attendance was of course only optional it wasn’t needed but if one didn’t attended the meetings then they would miss out on important opportunities, one of them being able to take part in a big heist, since only those who participate can get a share.

Jack went to his usual seat which was located near the front since he does most of the recon and info gathering he will be the one who would do most of the talking.

It wasn’t long until Bers took a seat beside him.

“Hey there kitten, sleep well?”

“You can say that, anyway did you get new information for the heist we’re about to do later on?”

“Yeah, I’m about to tell everyone later when we start.”

Just as she said that, a man stood up in front of all of them. He had a fairly large build that wasn’t really fitting for a thief. A bigger body would be harder to hide so that’s why most thieves would try to keep their body small but strong at the same time. The man had short brown hair and brown eyes. Jack knew who this was he was the current leader for Kitalo Roman Riset.

Someone who had the authority over earth and using it to his advantage he would usually make tunnels underground and would literally pop out of the ground to steal, or he would the earth to trap his targets to prevent them from chasing him. If Jack can remember he was just a few years older than him.

 Roman took in a deep breath and with loud and clear voice he said.

“We now start the gathering of thieves today we shall discuss about three things.”

While Jack was listening someone unexpected came in and sat on the chair on his other side. It was Roy.

“So this is how it starts, good thing there was still an open seat for me.”

“Well, well what do we have here I thought that the meetings were boring?”

“I just want to make sure that I won’t try to rob the same place you had your eyes on again.”

While the two of them were talking, Roman who was at the front continued the meeting.

“Now all of you might have noticed, but one of us is not present, this is because he broke the code. He stole from one of his fellow thieves in this base and as such according to the rules he has been punished.”

“Just a question, just what is the punishment when you break the code?”

“Death.”

When Roy asked Jack gave only one word as an answer, and this answer sent chills down his spine. Now he knew that Jack pretty much saved his life when he stopped him from killing the guard.

“Why is it death? I mean, isn’t that a little too harsh for a punishment?”

“Well we can’t let them stay since they might just do it again, can’t lock them up since that means we need to take care of him and nobody really wants to do that since everyone has their own problems, and we can’t simply just throw him away, if we do that then we have the risk of him telling all of our secrets and expose us. So death is the most logical punishment.”

Roy couldn’t really believe what he was hearing. Break the rules and the punishment is death? It would better to be caught by the guards than the other thieves at least the punishment from the guards would only be a life sentence not death. But then something didn’t sit right.

“Wait he said that the person who got punished stole form his fellow thieves, but if I remember correctly the code says that we only steal from fellow thieves. So isn’t stealing from other thieves here be something he should be allowed to do?”

“You’re right but also wrong. The code also says that a thief must never betray the clan, in a way the part where it says that we only steal from fellow thieves means that we only steal from the corrupted nobles.”

A thief needs to know about all of the underground dealings that take place in the city, and one will learn that those who make the most deals are the nobles. Jack continued to explain.

“We steal money, we steal jewels, but they steal the lives of people. We’re not Robin Hood who steals from the rich and gives to the needy, we keep what we steal. But who says the nobles above are any good? We’re safe because of the clan, and treason is something that is not tolerated.”

As he finished explaining Jack was called by Roman.

“Jack, have you gained anything from spying on the warehouse? Have you found out a way to infiltrate it?”

Jack stood up and explained what he said to Bers before going back, Roman who heard this nodded and said.

“Well we still have some time since it’s not like the warehouse will be going anywhere soon. Anyway let us leave it there for now. we shall go to the third and final topic for today. As all of you may know there will be a party in the mansion of one of the nobles here. Seems like this party will be big, not only will the nobles of this city be coming but also the nobles of other cities. This is too big of a chance for us to let go. Now Bers was the one who was able to get information on this. Bers if you please.”

Now it was Bers who stood up and spoke with a loud voice explaining what she learned.

“The party will take place the day after tomorrow, just enough time for us to prepare. Now I need to make this clear, we won’t just be robbing the party, we will rob all of the nobles houses since we can guarantee that security won’t be usual. They will focus more on the party rather than the houses so security won’t be that high. We will split up into groups of four for the houses and then have at least twelve people at the party itself.”

“Do you have any suggestions as to who will be the ones who will rob the party?”

“Yes, I plan to have me, Jack, and you in the twelve.”

Roman nodded as he heard her suggestion.

“That does make sense I can easily make tunnels, while you on the other hand is actually one of the fastest out of all of us here only coming second to Jack, and not to mention Jack himself being a master thief. And any information about what kind of security they will have?”

“They plan to have at least more than a hundred guards patrolling the area, but that’s not the problem. I was able to learn that the five royal guards will be coming to guard the party as well."

“WHAT!?”

“This can’t be.”

“Can we still really do this? I mean they are the royal guards for a reason.”

Everyone quickly started to make a commotion when they heard that three royal guards will be attending as security. It made sense since royal guards were well known to be the elite when it comes to the knights of the king. Being there meant that the king will be attending although it meant an increase in profit by more than a hundred fold it also meant an increase in risk by a thousand.

There could only be five royal guards at a time, those who mastered their authority. A royal guard for fire, earth, water, and air but what troubled them the most was the fifth royal guard, the royal guard of light.

Just like darkness being able to be born with the authority of light was very rare. And it was the only thing that could rival darkness when it comes to power. However although both were rare the people who were born with them were treated very differently.

Those who were born with the authority over light were usually praised and it was pretty much guaranteed that the person will be successful in life receiving help from everyone. But those who were born with the authority over darkness were met with scorn, hatred, and anger.

Jack still remembered how people reacted and treated him when they knew about his abilities. They were the reason why he chose to be a thief, they were treating him like a criminal before he even became one.

It was common belief that light represented holiness and those who are granted authority over it are considered to be blessed, while darkness represented evil and those who are granted authority over it were considered to be cursed and are said to bring devastation to the world if left alone.

Jack looked down as he balled his hands into fists remembering how people treated him, how they left him, rejected him, some even tried to kill him. But he didn’t really hate the girl who was born with authority over light since she had no part in his suffering.

Roman looked at him and asked.

“Jack do you think you can handle it? Being a shadow dweller I’m aware that a light bringer is your greatest weakness. You think you can pull though?”

Shadow dweller and light bringer, these were the names given to those who had authority over darkness and light respectively.

Jack calmed himself down as he heard the question, he relaxed his hands and looked up.

“I can handle it. I don’t hold any sort of grudge against them so it won’t really affect my performance.”

Roman nodded and then said to everyone who was present in the hall.

“We will discuss our plan for the heist in further detail tomorrow just before the meeting. For now I suggest that no one go to the surface to steal, we must not alert them. With this the meeting adjourned.”

Author's Note

please let me know about any typos or wrong grammar.