Evening settled gently over the city.
The streets glowed with the warm flicker of lanterns as merchants packed their stalls and the last waves of customers drifted through the marketplace. The air was thick with the scent of roasted meat, fried dough, and spices, lingering in the cool twilight. Inside the orphanage kitchen, Martha folded her arms over her chest and delivered the news.
"We're out of potatoes."
Tomas looked up instantly, his eyes lighting up like a child. "Oh no," he said, his voice dripping with mock despair. "What a tragedy. Someone must go to the market immediately. The kitchen demands a hero."
Martha narrowed her eyes. "Yes. Someone must. You two."
She pointed a firm finger at Arin and Tomas. Tomas stood up so fast his chair scraped loudly across the floor. "I accept this noble responsibility."
Arin let out a long, weary sigh.
Martha glanced past the boys. "Lyra."
Lyra looked up from the table, her expression neutral. "Yes?"
"You're going with them."
Tomas blinked, his heroic stance faltering. "Hey—why?"
Martha's gaze sharpened into a point. "So someone responsible is actually present."
Lyra allowed herself a small, victorious smile. "That's fair."
"I have been slandered," Tomas muttered, clutching his chest as if wounded.
Martha ignored him, tossing a small pouch of coins onto the table. It landed with a heavy clink. "Potatoes. Spices. And some pork belly, if the butcher still has any. And boys? Come back before it gets too dark."
—————
The streets were lively when the three of them stepped outside. Lantern light spilled across the cobblestones, and somewhere nearby, a musician played a cheerful tune on a flute. Arin carried a cloth bag filled with the weight of potatoes and spices, while Tomas held the meat bag with exaggerated care.
"Don't mix the meat with the potatoes," Lyra reminded him for the third time.
"I know that," Tomas snapped.
"You almost did it ten minutes ago."
"That was once."
They walked a little further before Tomas suddenly stopped. His eyes locked onto a target. "Oh!"
Arin didn't even have to look. "No."
"Yes."
"No, Tomas."
Tomas pointed dramatically. Beside a small stall, an old woman stood enveloped in smoke as sizzling meat skewers turned slowly over glowing coals. "Three skewers please!" Tomas shouted, practically sprinting over.
The old woman chuckled. "Well, if it isn't my most loyal customer."
Tomas grinned, puffing out his chest. "I support local businesses."
Lyra laughed softly, while Arin just shook his head—though he didn't turn down the warm skewer of grilled meat when it was handed to him. They stood by the stall for a moment, the savory juice of the meat a welcome distraction.
"I could eat this every day," Tomas sighed in pure bliss.
Lyra nodded thoughtfully. "If I become an adventurer, I probably will."
Tomas glanced at Arin. "You'll be free in a few weeks, too. To eat skewers, or do whatever you want. Adulthood, my friend."
Arin smirked. "That sounds suspiciously like your definition of freedom."
As they laughed and finished their food, they continued their walk, but the atmosphere began to shift. The streets grew quieter. The lanterns became fewer and further apart, and shadows stretched like long, reaching fingers across the narrow alleys.
None of them noticed the eyes watching from the darkness.
"The girl looks valuable," a voice whispered from a high window.
"Go call Vesk," another answered.
The alley leading toward the orphanage was dim and quiet, lit only by a single, flickering lantern far behind them. Tomas stretched his arms, yawning. "I'm still hungry."
Lyra rolled her eyes. "You just ate."
"That was an appetizer. My stomach is a vast, empty cavern."
Arin chuckled. "You're impossible."
They turned a corner and froze.
A man stood in the middle of the path ahead of them. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and wore a lazy, predatory grin. Fire flickered in his palm, casting orange light across a scarred face and a metal ring pierced through the bridge of his nose. Slowly, two more figures stepped out from the shadows behind the children.
They were surrounded.
"Well now," the leader said, his yellow teeth flashing. "Look what wandered into the wrong alley."
Behind them, a shorter brute cracked his neck. He was thick as a wall of muscle, his stomach bulging beneath a sleeveless shirt. Veins crawled across his thick arms as he rested a heavy butcher's blade on his shoulder. Beside him stood a skeletal man gripping a thin staff tipped with a blood-red gemstone.
"Gratt. Ludo." Vesk, gestured toward the teenagers. "Don't damage the girl too much."
Tomas stepped forward, his playfulness gone. Lyra and Arin moved instinctively to his sides.
"Run!" Tomas whispered.
"Too late," Arin replied, his eyes on the skeletal mage.
Ludo raised his staff, and ice began to frost over the red gem. "Move!" Arin shouted.
A frozen projectile hissed through the air. Tomas slammed his hand onto the cobblestones. "Mud Wall!"
The ground surged upward, a thick barrier of packed earth bursting forth just as the ice slammed into it. CRACK. A web of fractures spread across the mud.
"That would've easily broken our ribs," Lyra whispered, her face pale.
Gratt, the brute, laughed. "Kids got some tricks."
In that heartbeat, Arin snapped his hand forward, firing an electric bolt toward Vesk. The leader instinctively rolled sideways, the blue spark whistling past his ear.
"Guys, let's run!" Arin yelled.
Vesk's roll had opened a narrow gap. All three children sprinted forward, rushing past him before he could recover his footing.
"Don't let those little bastards escape!" Vesk roared from the ground.
The chase began. They ran through a labyrinth of alleys, turning corners and doubling back, but every time they looked, another shadow appeared.
"They're herding us," Arin realized, his breath hitching.
"Toward where?" Lyra asked.
The answer came moments later. They burst out into an open dockyard. The river stretched dark and silent beside the wooden piers, and stacks of massive cargo crates stood like silent monoliths near the water. Behind them, footsteps echoed. From three different alley entrances, the goons emerged.
"…It was a trap," Lyra whispered.
Arin scanned the area, his mind working like a machine. "Back against the crates! Now!"
The stacked cargo crates formed a barrier behind them, leaving only the open dockyard ahead. Now they only had to defend one direction. The three goons advanced slowly. Vesk smirked. "Cornered now."
"Break them," Gratt grunted.
Ludo lifted his staff again, and the fight exploded. Ice bullets slammed toward the trio, met by Tomas's earthen barriers. Lyra fired back with water bullets, but Gratt stepped forward, batting them away with his heavy blade as if they were flies.
"That's all you've got?" he mocked.
The pressure was mounting. Vesk was dodging Tomas's rock projectiles with ease, even punching one apart with a flaming fist. These weren't amateurs; these were killers.
Arin watched Gratt's movements, then leaned toward Lyra. "I have an idea."
"Not the time for experiments!" she hissed, forming another sphere of water.
"Trust me. Release your water bullet when I say." Arin's glove began to hum, electricity flickering in his palm.
Lyra hesitated, then nodded. Gratt stepped forward again, raising his blade. "Throw another, girl!"
"Now!" Arin barked.
Both attacks fired simultaneously. Arin's lightning struck the water sphere mid-air. Instead of dispersing, the electricity surged through the liquid, turning it into a crackling, glowing orb of electrified water.
Gratt laughed. "Same trick—"
WHACK. He smashed it with his blade. The water burst across his chest and arms. For half a second, nothing happened. Then—BZAAAAAP. Electricity surged through the wet fabric and skin. Gratt's entire body stiffened, his hair standing on end as foam bubbled from his mouth. He collapsed face-first onto the wooden dock with a heavy thud.
Tomas blinked. "…That actually worked."
Lyra stared at Arin. "You didn't warn me about that part."
"I wasn't completely sure it would work," Arin admitted.
Vesk's grin vanished. "Gratt!" He rushed forward, dragging the unconscious brute back. "Ludo, make a cover."
Ludo slammed his staff down, and a thick wall of ice erupted to shield them. The dockyard became a chaotic battlefield of elements. Mud slammed into ice; rock shattered frozen shards; lightning cracked through the air. Arin kept firing bolts, the strikes spreading through the wet ground and the ice wall, making the entire area spark dangerously.
"Back!" Ludo shouted, his eyes widening as he and Vesk jumped away from the electrified surface.
That split-second distraction was all Tomas needed. "Rock bullet!"
The stone shot forward like a cannonball. CRACK. It struck Ludo square in the temple, and the skinny mage collapsed.
At the same moment, Vesk gathered a massive fireball in his palm, the heat shimmering in the air. Lyra reacted instantly. "Water bullet!" Her sphere struck the flames, and steam exploded outward in a blinding white cloud. Vesk staggered back, his vision obscured.
For a brief moment, silence fell over the docks.
Then, a voice spoke from above. It was calm, cold, and heavy with disappointment. "Three grown men… stalled by children."
Everyone froze.
A figure stood on the rooftop of a warehouse overlooking the pier. In the moonlight, they saw a man with sharp features and dark reddish hair streaked with white. He wore a leather jacket, heavy boots, and goggles that glinted faintly.
The man stepped off the roof. He dropped and landed in a perfect three-point stance. The dock creaked under the impact. Slowly, he rose. He glanced at the carnage—Gratt and Ludo down, Vesk standing stiff with fear.
The man sighed. "Pathetic." He looked at Vesk. "Move them out of my way."
Vesk obeyed without a word, dragging his comrades aside. Arin stepped forward, his heart hammering against his ribs, but his voice remained steady. "Why are you doing this? Why are you kidnapping children?"
The man tilted his head with mild curiosity, as if looking at a strange insect.
"Why bother?" he said, his eyes as cold as the river. "You won't live long enough to worry about that."