Gaining an Item

Over the next couple of days a few things happened. The first was the orphanage was amazed that a wealthy benefactor had seemed to appear and left ten golden coins in the donation box. This was more than the orphanage had ever had. They actually meat to eat at dinner now, and they were getting new clothes and better beds. This was also going to allow them to repair the building. Everyone was excited over fixing the leaks and closing up the drafts that were prevalent. No one knew where this money had come from. It had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, and Lukas was kind of shocked at the difference it made in everyone's lives.

School continued as always, along with the bullying and the beatings, but Lukas was making plans with me as to what he was going to do. We practiced his skills daily. He was adamant that he would only steal from those who looked like they wouldn't miss it or were actively engaged in doing something bad. I didn't really mind this attitude. It reminded me of a story that I shared with Lukas of a famous outlaw who defended the weak and stole from the rich to give to the poor. Lukas was enthralled by this figure and questioned me about him all the time.

Lukas loved to hear my stories of the famous Robin Hood. I told him the stories from the games about Robin Hood I had played and even from some movies I had seen in my world. I told him of his love for his childhood friend the maid Marian. I told him of his tricking the Sherriff of Nottingham over and over. I even told him the ending of revealing Prince John's plot to take over England to the King Richard himself.

I also took a few liberties in the stories I told to nudge Lukas in the direction I wanted him to grow in. It was important that he didn't know I was manipulating him slightly, but it was for his own good. He was simply to naive and nice. I was training him for the reality we would be facing in the future as I taught that there was no black and white, but multiple shades of gray. "Where other men are limited by morality or law, remember, everything is permitted. We work in the dark to serve the light." Is a quote I remembered from a game series I had played before, I told him this and slowly reinforced it.

The day of our plan finally arrived. Barely a week since Lukas had learned how to pickpocket and I thought we were ready. As Lukas got up that morning he had a nervous energy that just seemed to zing around his nerves. He moved with a sense of purpose and conviction. I heard him mumble the words everything is permitted several times and I smiled with a non-existent mouth. Lukas rushed through breakfast and went out of the door early.

We approached the school and exactly as we expected we saw his tormentors were there. They saw Lukas and an evil grin filled their face as they began to approach, but this time it would be slightly different. As they neared, they began to laugh and point and the leader who was a large and overpowered young man approached. He was the most powerful of all of them and the First-born son of the richest most influential family in the city. His father sat on the council with the baron of the city.

As he neared Lukas suddenly turned and began to run. He ran just fast enough to stay a step ahead of the young man whose name was Jared. We knew Lukas couldn't outrun Jared for long, but all we needed was a slightly more secluded place. Suddenly Lukas darted down an alley that was filled with trash and clothes hanging up to dry. This was where we would let him catch us.

Jared grabbed Lukas from behind and snarled at him. "Thought you could run away huh? Trash, you can't get away from me. I'm going to beat you good this time."

Jared swung his fist and Lukas stepped into the blow. He turned his head as I had taught him this last week to let the blow land, but to take some of the force out of it. Lukas stumbled into the wall and rebounded as if he had bounced off back at Jared and before the real beating could begin, he grabbed him by the shoulders then pocketed the amulet as smoothly as you please.

I must say it was a thing of beauty. Jared never noticed and now it was time for the hard part. Using various tricks I had seen and heard of, I had taught Lukas a little of how to take a beating, but to minimize the damage. What I didn't realize was how strong Jared was. I could feel his Essence activate as he strengthened his muscles and his punch to Lukas stomach caused him to double over in pain. Blood and vomit erupted from his mouth and then we could hear it as some ribs snapped as Jared slammed his Essence empowered fist into Lukas's side. A blow to the face broke Lukas's jaw and stole his consciousness.

Lukas was unconscious, I could still hear although not see, so I heard Jared cursing him and threatening what he was going to do to Lukas when all of a sudden he just stopped.

"No. I'm not going to kill you yet, First heal back up then I'll make you feel despair, I think I'll just raze that orphanage to the ground and take that little girl you like so much and use her right in front of your eyes. Just wait scum. Making me run, denying my fun, No! You and yours are mine now." Jared turned and walked away.

I immediately reached out to amulet Lukas had stored and found the source of it's energy. I latched onto the power source and began to drain it of its Essence. It was surprisingly powerful. I had not felt a lot of power from it, but it had large amount of Essence. I didn't know what the amulet was for or what it did, but that didn't matter to me. The power did. It took a couple of minutes, as Lukas labored to breathe in his unconscious state, I absorbed this power and then I had it. I had all the power of the amulet and it crumbled into dust and disappeared.

Now that I had some power to use it was time to start the second part of my plan, but I had to make a change real quick. Lukas had internal injuries and he was obviously in extreme pain. I opened my panel and selected my first gift for Lukas.