Dastan and Sheila

I was falling through the 'well of nightmares' once again.

The same murky and nauseating feeling of being suffered from endless nightmares, the blurry visions, and the same swirl of negative emotions invoked in me.

It was the second time I had been in this dark well of sorrows. The first one was the after the time when I barely survived after my clash with the Spirit Beast in the Turquoise Realm.

This time I didn't fall for a long time, but instead was sucked by the nightmarish hands into the wall after falling for a certain period of time. And I felt blackness gradually surround me. Even the blurry visions and the negative emotions gradually stopped their onslaught.

After being sucked entirely into the wall, a more vivid vision played out before me.

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A black-robed young boy was walking slowly in a crowded street. There were many hawkers and vendors on the side. Many people were busy haggling and buying things.

A wide range of commodities could be seen with the seller. They had clothes, fruits, perfume, pottery, livestock, scimitars, books, scrolls and even humans as slaves.

The people were garbed in loose clothing, with men carrying scimitars or daggers on their waist. There were few women except some entertainers or sellers. And they wore long flowing dresses with a translucent veil covering their heads.

On one corner of the street, masked ladies in revealing clothes were dancing to a piece of music.

Their short clothes covered a bare minimum of their body, but the dancers were using a sieved cloth to cover their remaining bodies. It didn't do anything to cover their body but instead added a certain charm to the dancers.

The dancers used the sieved cloth to dance beautifully by making curtains between them and the patrons, making the view very sensual.

Many patrons were watching their mesmerising dance. There were also some who were profiteering by selling their beverages and some food to these patrons, making them indulgent in the beautiful setting.

The boy moved nimbly through the crowd towards these patrons. He walked slowly but stumbled slightly towards one of them. He barely avoided the patron and somehow stabilised himself back and apologised.

That patron didn't scold him much, still mesmerised by the dancers and let the boy go as he had apologised already.

After getting off scot-free, the boy moved away from the patrons towards the end of the street.

While he was walking steadily, a loud shriek resounded from his back.

"Thief! Someone has stolen my purse."

All the people in the marketplace stopped and checked their own pockets. And within a few moments, more such complaints were heard from them.

"How! Someone has stolen my purse, too."

"My purse is also gone!"

"Fuck! Who dared to steal this daddy's purse? Was it that boy? Hey! Catch that boy! He fucking stole my purse right under my nose."

The last voice was of the patron, whom the boy barely avoided after stumbling. He immediately found the boy who was at the end of the street where there was less crowd.

His voice caught the attention of others, and they started giving chase. There were many guards in some areas of the street to maintain order. They also started giving chase after the boy.

The young boy who had heard the commotion started walking faster. And after getting called out for his theft, he started running.

He turned to a different street and squeezed through the crowds and stalls using his small stature.

The people on the street, unaware of his theft, didn't stop him, and thus, he made a large separation between himself and the pursuers.

But after some time, all the guards in the marketplace were informed of his infraction. With the increase in the number of his pursuers, they formed a ring around the boy and tried to close in on him.

After losing the pursuit of the guards, the young thief had taken shelter in a small house in that area. And the patrol guards were checking the houses and nearing his location little by little.

They gradually circled the boy's location and were just a little away from catching him. But before they could do so, many of the guards from a place away from the hidden spot of the thief were attacked by bricks thrown from the rooftop.

The nearby unaffected guards raised their heads and found a similar black-robed young boy running away using the roofs of the closely packed houses.

The guards, mistaking the boy on the roof to be the thief, chased after him.

On the other hand, the actual thief remained still for an hour in the hiding spot and peeked out of the house to check for the presence of any straggling guard.

Only after ensuring he was safe did he move out from his hiding spot and leave for a different direction of the city. He removed his black cloak and put on a grey one to prevent any other chances of detection.

After many minutes of walking, he reached the slums. The houses here were old and broken, and only the poor and outcasts of the society lived here.

He continued to walk and reached a very dilapidated building. It was much worse than the other building, with only one room with a remaining roof. The rest of the rooms of the buildings were open, and the walls had huge cracks. They couldn't even be called rooms.

He knocked on the door of the only room of the building in a particular series. After a few seconds of knocking, the door was opened from the inside.

There were three children of the same age as the young thief in the room. Two boys were sitting on the floor and eating bread and fruit. The last one was the one who opened the door.

The child was slightly more feminine than the others. 

In fact, the child was a girl. She would have been a beautiful girl if not for her rough appearance and boyish outfit.

She pouted and punched the young thief on his chest.

"What took you so long, Dastan? I even lost their pursuit and reached here quite sometime before. Did you get found out?"

Although her punch was strong and pushed the boy back a few steps, her words were full of concern. The boy nodded his head in denial.

"No, nothing happened. You did a good job, Sheila. And I am sorry for being found out that early. You had to suffer because of that. It seems without your support, I am hopeless."

The boy apologised to the girl for his mistake, to which the girl cheerfully replied.

"It was nothing. The guards are dumb. Just because of the same robe colour and height, they got confused between us. And the most hilarious thing is that they couldn't find me even if I walked past them only because I removed my robe and looked like a girl."

The girl was quite happy for her contribution to that day's heist and went on in great detail about how she fooled those guards and stole some more money on the way.

The young boy laughed and chatted with the girl, while the other two were slightly envious of their closeness and continued to stuff themselves with the food.

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The images of the children in the old and worn house blurred, and other visions played out before me.

These children continued to pickpocket from the people in various marketplaces. They used the money for their daily sustenance and to improve their livelihood.

Over the years, their pickpocketing skills had polished, and they had accumulated enough capital to start their own business. The boy named Dastan, who was acting as their leader, proposed to stop their thieving ways and start their own business.

According to him, although they had good skillsets, there would be a day when they would face their reckoning if they continued their evil ways. Also, they used to pickpocket as a necessity before, but now they can be self-sufficient and live their life correctly.

The girl, Sheila, supported his proposal and stood by his side. But the other two, Aftaab and Ilhaan, were unsatisfied with the proposal. They wanted to do bigger heists than before, and as they had good skills in pickpocketing, they didn't want to change their profession. They liked the thrill of picking someone's pocket and seeing the downcast expression of them losing their money.

It could be seen from their words that the years of thievery had distorted their temperament.

Over the years, the two pairs worked separately, and their methods were different. The duo of Dastan and Sheila generally targeted wealthy and extravagant people. Whereas the other team targeted the weak and easy targets. 

Though each team's contribution would be equal because of the larger number of easy targets of the second duo.

So, the group was divided into two due to their different opinions.

After many years, the trading and transport business of Dastan and Sheila boomed. Their past years of pickpocketing and thievery helped them to create countermeasures for the same. And their company became one of the most trusted in the city.

And they had accrued a vast amount of money. They used the money to increase the quality of their lifestyle. Their company's reach spread even to the Royal Palace.

On the other hand, the duo of Aftaab and Ilhaan didn't get much success. Although they got more money than before, they were not on the same level as the other duo. 

The four friends would meet up sometimes, and for the sake of past relationships, Dastan and Sheila would gift some costly items to the other duo. 

At first, they were thankful for their consideration, but later, it turned into envy and hatred. Aftaab and Ilhaan tried to suppress and hide their dissatisfaction well for many months.

But one day, their ugliness reared its head.