12 (Arc 2) Chapter 1: Street Rat
Everyone says one thing or another about where the Holy Istari Emperor's life truly begins at. There are so many theories and speculations that have been made over the many long years that Our Sacred Istari Emperor has reigned upon this glorious realm.
Our very history begins on the day that our Emperor formed the republic and became the de facto leader of our old homeworld, Pandora. The Warlocks, on the other hand, argue that our calendar should begin on the day that our Emperor became the King of the Bloodline Warlocks. The High Magistrates legally claim that His Imperial Majesty gained true statues once he became a Lordling. The First Empress once divulged that she met the Emperor way back when he was a Knight for some clan. The Imperial Scholars state that they hold records, which reveal that His Imperial Majesty's journey into sorcery began at the College. The citizenry and commonery of our glorious Empire, love the Emperor since he too was once like them, long ago. Some even say that history truly began for the Emperor, long before his time, on the day that his blood kin where treacherously betrayed and wiped out.
As you could see, our Emperor must have lived a long and fruitful life, going through ever social faucet, one by one. Yet, all this does not explain where our Emperor got all of his ingenious inventions and ideas from. It is through the Emperor's own molding and shaping that we, as the Istari Empire, stand here; at the very pinnacle of the Known Cosmos. However, we do not know...
- A Piece from 'Where did the Emperor come from?'
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"Today is the day," Magnus said to Codex as he eyed a street cart, loaded with apples, a few paces away from him. It was mid-summer, but all the way up here in the Starry Mountains you wouldn't even believe it since it felt like a crispy autumn morning.
"I am going to try my hands at stealing, for the first time!"
"Well, this is going to work out juuust right," Codex said in a sarcastic tone. All morning she has been trying to dissuade Magnus from taking this path, but after a whole week of trying every other available avenue, there was, and showing absolutely nothing for it. Magnus was sick and tired of going hungry every single day. Today is going to be the day he has something besides rainwater and stale bread that he was able to scrunch up and watered down soup and porridge from that old witch.
Magnus took in a deep breath to calm his wildly beating heart. He had watched so many other kids manage to steal and get away with it. However, he also saw those who did not succeed; the lightest sort of punishments is a good beating from the intended target, and the worst... is being dragged off by the guards to get one of your hand chopped off.
And Magnus is not planning on losing his hand, once more.
"Well, are you just going to stand here all day?" Codex asked in a mocking tone.
"Hey!" Magnus shouted to her indignantly within his mind, "I am just waiting for the perfect moment to strike."
Codex sighed to herself very audible, then deciding to change up her tactic, she said. "Listen, Magnus. The risk far outweighs the benefit. Why don't we go to Baker Lane today, it is a good time for begging right now, huh?"
A hint of anger and shame passed through Magnus' face now childish face, not at Codex but at what she said. He never reckoned that his life could come this low, he always believed that it couldn't get any worse than working at Grandpa Richard's shop, but here he is right now, proven otherwise.
Letting his emotions get the best of him; Magnus walked out of the alley he was hiding in all morning and made his way to the vendor cart. All hesitation and fear of what would happen to him if he were to be caught were gone, all that was left was a small piece of pride that wanted to be able to provide for itself.
Still, though, not all intelligence had fled Magnus, he was still able to keep about his wit and approached the cart with not a hint of suspicion.
Casually walking alongside all the people moving around in the crowded city street, Magnus made his way to the cart and quickly stuck out his hand, smoothly snatch two apples for himself, then proceeded along his way with no inflection in his gait.
Magnus only stopped to look back at the cart owner once he was at a reasonably safe distance away. The man was utterly clueless about the goods that have just been stolen right under his nose and continued to carry out shouting his edible wares to the passersby.
Magnus smiled broadly to himself as he walked into an alley and took out the two stolen apples from his inner pockets; that he had stitched together by himself a day ago. He immediately wanted to pounce at the apple and gobble it up right now and here, but he knew that would be unwise. He had to make these two apples last for a while because tomorrow would come, then the next day and all the other days followed after that--and he knew that he couldn't just steal every single day, there would eventually come a day that he would be caught, no matter what.
As Magnus was thinking about how to divide the apples up, an arrogant and self-conceited voice interpreted his musing and said, "Well, well, well, what do we have here now?"
Magnus immediately jumped back in alarm, as he quickly shoved his stolen apples back into his pockets and silently grasped his handmade weapon within his pockets.
A few paces in front of him stood two older boys, one of them with a large stout build stood in the background, and the other one with tall and lanky features stood in the forefront with his arms crossed must have been the leader.
Magnus eyes darted to and fro instantly looking for an escape route, but behind him, two more older boys popped out of nowhere and blocked the alleyway exist. It was clear, Magnus was trapped!
Magnus turned around to face the would-be leader of this merry band and plastered a greasy smile on his face. "Gentlemen, how are you doing today."
"Cut the bull, Edgar," the leader said as a sneer appeared on his face while also cutting to the chase, "hand over what you slipped, and we will be on our way."
Magnus's eyes narrowed into slits as he asked, "do I know you kids?" and the malice that dripped through his tone even surprised him.
"Would you look at that," said the other older boy in a voice as deep as a grown man even though he was nothing more than a teenager. "The little shit doesn't even remember the good beating that was given to him a little while ago. Ha! I think we should give him a good reminder," and to emphasize his point, he punched his fist into his empty palm, then turned to face the leader and asked. "What do you say, Bertan?"
Bertan looked Magnus up and down as he rubbed his dirt-stained chin while a cruel light shone in his eyes, "I think I will leave that decision to him, Tansel. He can either hand over what he got or we will have to beat it off him." and from the smile on his face, he knew what choice Magnus would choose.
"So," Magnus said while shaking his head in disappointment, "you guys are not just going to let me go?"
Tansel ignored Magnus's question, "Well then I think he just made his decision," Tansel said as a delighted smile played on his lips, "It is going to be beating!"
"Idiots," Magnus muttered under his breath as he took out the weapon he was holding the whole time. It was a crude slingshot that he made by himself, and from his other pocket, Magnus took out a handful of stones.
Tansel looked down at the small wooden item in Magnus's hands then laughed, "are you going to defeat us with that?" he asked as the other three boys took up to the sight before them.
TWACK!
Tansel suddenly bent over on to his knees as he held his stomach, and Magnus stood over with his slingshot unsling. With hard eyes, Magnus spoke up to Tansel, who was trying to get up with difficulty. "Do not get up if you do not want a stone up your throat."
Instantly Tansel froze where he stood not daring at all to take a chance and test the metal of that cold and detached voice. All he dared to do was look up into those eyes- eyes that made it absolutely clear that it would follow through.
Magnus turned away from his defeated foe and turned to face the remaining boys, even though they stood at twice his height and were twice his weight, Magnus carried himself as if he was the one running things. "Know then kids, will you be letting me through or do I have to force my way through?"
At that question, the three older boys shrink back then Bertan, who had the look of being ashamed for getting scared of some little punk, jumped forth with a wrathful expression and shouted, "Get that little bastard, I am going to tear him apart, limb by limb!"
Magnus just sighed as he loaded another stone and fired it. With a TWACK, the stone hit Bertan in the left shoulder, followed by another that hit him in the right shoulder, and to finish it off, one more stone hit him right in the groin.
Magnus then spun around to face the two older boys charging at him and hit one in the kneecap, tripping him over and making him fall to the ground.
The last boy, seeing what befell the others stopped right in his tracks and without any hesitation, turned around to run off, but Magnus was not going to let him off that easy. With a BOOP, a stone hit the fleeing boy in the head, causing him to go down right at the alleyway exit.
Magnus surveyed all his downed opponents and asked himself out loud, "Now what should I do to you kids."
Tansel, who was closest to Magnus, heard that question and couldn't help from audibly gulping in fear and suspense.
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The four older boys now stood lined up in a row, kneeling as they faced Magnus, who was counting their wealth.
"52 iron shims?" Magnus asked as he looked down at the four older boys while he made the money disappear into his cotton tunic. "Dang, you guys are dirt poor, that only amounts to 5 copper thumbs with two shims left."
One of the unnamed boys, the one that got hit in the kneecap, became angry and shouted, "Do you even know who we are? We are part of the Liontooth gang!"
With that statement Magnus was upon the older boy before he knew it, he grabbed a handful of the boy's dirty black hair and yanked his head up to make him face him.
"Do you know what I know?" Magnus asked in an indifferent tone as he bent low to come face to face with the older boy. "If you ever come back to fuck with me, I will not hold back on my shots. Meaning that slightly bruised kneecap is going to be a mangled piece of flesh. Am I clear?"
The older boy hastily nodded his head in dread, then Magnus turned to face the other three, and they too nodded their heads one by one, although it was hesitantly, still, it was a silent omission of their defeat.
Magnus let go of the boy's head and got up from his kneeling position, with nothing more left Magnus walked away from the four boys, then stopping at the mouth of the alleyway Magnus spoke up without turning to face them. "Oh, and if I see your ugly mugs again I will not be just taking your money, your clothes will be coming with me too."
With final comment Magnus was gone, the four boys shivered as goosebumps run around their skins, and they prayed to never run across him in their lives.
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As Magnus walked down the streets, Codex was shouting in his head, "Are you stupid? Why did you have to mess around with those gangsters? Do you have some death wish? Are you crazy?"
And on and on it went, as Codex throw around endless questions and criticisms until she finally ran out of digital breath.
"Are you done?" Magnus asked wearily.
"Am I done?!" Codex shouted with indignation, and before she could start this whole process all over again, Magnus jumped in to try and diffuse the situation.
"Calm down," he said placidly, "I didn't mean it like that, I just wanted to say my piece."
At that comment, Codex started to cool down, all she gave away was a humf, signaling for Magnus to say what he wanted to say.
"Look, if those four morons have a lick of intelligence, they would shut their mouths and pretend like this never happened. If this ever gets out, they would be the laughing stock for ages to come, and they will have no hope of climbing through the ranks of their gang since they will never be taken seriously. So yes, I did think this through before I went through with it."
For a long while, Codex stayed silent, and Magnus left it at that as he continued making his way through the streets. Then out of nowhere, Codex spoke up in a tone barely above a whisper, "You have truly grown up, Magnus." As Codex made that remark, two emotions battled out inside her, happiness and sorrow, the two emotions any mother would experience once their child loses all of their innocence.
"Of course I did," Magnus said, feeling a bit smug about himself as he did not notice the conflicting feelings that Codex was experiencing. "That is basically what happens when you have a life-or-death battle, die, and transmigrate into a new world as a street rat!"
Codex stirred from her contemplation as she saw that Magnus was awaiting more compliments even though he tried to hide it. That caused her to happily chuckle inside, even though his eyes have opened up to the cruelty of the world, he is still the same person deep inside, he is still that warmhearted, decent kid who programmed her long ago.
Feeling a bit giddy, Codex decided to heap upon Magnus some flattery since he did deserve it after all. "Well I am proud of you, lesser men would have broken down if they were in your shoes."
"Yeah, you are right!" Magnus said as a grin slip across his face, "But nevertheless I will have to avoid Liontooth territory from now on, I do not want to take any chances with my life for the second time in a row."
Codex nodded sagely to that judgment, fully agreeing with Magnus' decision.
"Anyways," Magnus said as all glumness instantly dissipated, "who know being a gangster paid so well! With this much money, we can buy 26 loaves of bread, meaning we can spread that across 13 days, that is nearly two weeks of food right here!"
At that comment, all goodwill that Codex was feeling evaporated as she asked in a disgusted tone, "You do that an iron shim is equal to?" Codex asked as she gave Magnus a moment to think about it. "An old American dime! What you have in your hands is only 5 dollars and 20 cents. That is basically nothing!"
"Well, it is not like beggars can be choosers," Magnus said as he shrugged his shoulders, not perceiving what Codex was trying to get at, and that simple remark awoke her once more to the wretched that they found themselves in. It is really amazing how some times she could easily forget it, must be because of how unbelievable it is.
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The first stop that Magnus made along his way was to the bakery. It was a small, cheap place down at Lower Treerk that sold less than edible goods, but it perfectly fits the bill for Magnus.
He walked away with three large loaves of rye bread, which cost him only five iron shims instead of 6 shims, 800 grams of oats at the cost of 9 shims, and a sack which came along with it for free.
The next stop that Magnus made was a shop called The Savory Spice Store, it contained all manners of spices and herbs from all over the big wide world, and you could name it. Basil, Kaffir lime, Coriander, and Galangal from the Drifting Archipelago. Duqqa, Ginger, Clove, and Fenugreek from the Twilight Wetlands.
But all Magnus came for was salt and sugar, and even though this shop was high end, the price of salt and sugar remains the same all across Exastrand. So rather than going to some low-end store that mixes dirt and dust with its spices, why not go to one that is the crème de la crème, if all is the same.
Magnus instantly regretted it; the moment he walked into the shop owner's jovial smile went sour. The man looked like he swallowed a sour melon whole as he looked Magnus up and down from his dust-stained tunic to his stitched trousers and mud-caked boots.
Magnus decided to completely ignore him and carry on with his shopping since the man can't really kick him out for just being poor or so he thought.
After Magnus collected his sugar and salt during which the shop owner watched him like a hawk just waiting for him to steal something most likely as Magnus made his way to the counter.
"How much would that be good, ser?" Magnus asked in a polite tone as he even added a Golden Plain Knight's title to the end, it never hurt to be polite to the man who determines your paying price even though he is a snobbish dick.
"That would be 20 iron shims," the man simply said.
"What?!" Magnus shouted outraged, "20 shims?"
"Yes," the man replied.
Magnus looked at the man as his eyes narrowed into slits, he tried his best to calm down before he did something stupid then as a last-ditch effort he forced himself to try and make his asshole see reason. "Listen, everyone fucking knows about the price for salt and sugar, what I have here only amounted to 7 shims, not 20."
"It is 20 shims, young man," the shop owner said for the second time, and Magnus knew from that damn smile on his face that he was enjoying this.
Codex, on the other hand, just kept on repeating, "just walk away, just walk away." like it was some mantra.
Magnus took in a deep breath, and bitterly decided to follow Codex's advice, he shoved the salt and sugar forward, turned around and walked away.
At the door, Magnus paused and turned back to face the shop owner who was sitting comfortably in his seat. "I have a question, good ser," Magnus said as he walked into the store.
"What is it, young man?" the shop owner asked, still in his polite tone, but a bit confused about where this was going.
"Let's say I wanted to buy all these spices and herbs on his shelf," Magnus said as he pointed to a shelf on his left, which contained dozens if not half a hundred of different spices and herbs in large sacks. "How much would it cost?"
"Well young man, would you even be able to afford it?"
"This is just hypothetically speaking," Magnus said as he did not show any inflection with his emotion at that insult.
"I always dreamt about being a shop owner when I grow up," Magnus hastily added to try and offset all suspicion.
"Mhmm," the shop owner said as he thought it over, "It would be 27 gold lions."
"Wow," Magnus said as he faked surprise, "that is a lot."
"Yes, it is," the shop owner said, "now run along, young man," he then added as if he was shooing away some rat.
Magnus nodded his head and said, "Well, have a good day, ser." then spun around to the exit, at the first step he paused in a theatrical manner and spun around once more to face the shop owner.
"Oh, I nearly forget," Magnus said.
"What is it?" the shop owner said as a bit of annoyance seeped into his voice.
At that question, Magnus face split into a shit-eating grin, and he replied, "Well, I just wanted to say good ser, FUCK YOU!"
With that proclamation, Magnus pushed over the large shelf and slowly but ever carefully it tipped over and came crashing into the floor, all the spices and herbs laid on the ground, totally ruined since they were all mixed together now.
The shop owner stared in stupefaction as his wealth just literally came crashing down, and he sat there frozen for a long while trying, again and again, to process what just happened but coming short.
Then he remembered who was the cause of this and whipped around to face where that little vagabond stood just some moments ago, but he was long gone, and all that was left was echoes of gleeful laughter of victory and triumph.
