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Well, I came up with this idea of a group of islands, each under a different type of rule... here's the first part, in the Criminal Sector. And yes, I'm fully aware my writing sucks.

The freezing rain struck the uneven cobblestones of Brayban Street, washing dirt from earlier that week to the drainage ditches that were dug beside every street of Rigue Island. Rigue Island was the main island of the Criminal Sector of Jijan Archipelago. The other main islands were smaller than Rigue, and encircled Rigue in a triangle. The other main islands were named Carevt, Mircha, and Firaa. Rigue was known as the ‘go to’ place to get anything illegal done, as that was where the mercenaries, fences, and thieves met to do what they did best. The other islands stopped anyone without the proper ‘certification’ from getting onto the island. Besides these four, there were several smaller islands riddled with hideouts and stashes.

As it went, a merchant-priest of the Theology Sector was in Rigue, walking not-so slowly down Brayban. He walked because if one ran in the Criminal Sector, he or she would be practically screaming ‘ROB ME!!!’ For this reason, the merchant walked quickly back to the only ‘sanctuary’ inn in the entire island. The roads were deserted, and the merchant praised god for his good fortune.

Upon turning a corner, he unfortunately smashed into another man who was turning the corner the opposite way, and they accidently knocked each other over. The other man had long, wavy, dark brown hair that reached his collarbone. His face was covered by a leather cowl, and all the merchant could see of his face was the man’s light blue eyes.

The other man got to his feet first, smiled at the merchant, and helped the merchant to his feet. The man clapped the merchant on the back, saying, “Sorry, sir! I wasn’t looking where I was going!” With that, the man strode off in the opposite direction, a spring in his step, leaving the merchant standing, stunned. The merchant puzzled over what had just occurred for a second, then thought, Perhaps the light of god touches people, even in this forsaken land!

The merchant reached his destination with no further mishaps. He ate dinner at the inn’s bar and grill, and then retired to his room. Only once he was going to bed did it occur to him to check on his money. He fished through his traveling robes for a good five minutes, and he was unable to find his coinpurse. In seconds, he came to the only logical explanation: the man he had run into in the rain. The merchant abruptly screamed, “GOD DA----!!!”




Goji Valdruun turned the next corner with a triumphant smile on his face. He pulled the merchant’s coin purse out of his own pocket and tossed it lightly into the air, and it fell into his hand with a jingle. It had been so easy for Goji, even considering the circumstances. He hated those of the Theology Sector, who justified everything they did by saying their god commanded it. No-one else believed in that god, so why didn’t they just say that it was what they wanted to do? Of all the philosophies, the Theologians tended most towards arrogance and obstinacy. Goji decided that his first course of action would be to check in with the Guild, and then he would satisfy his munchies.
He walked into the shadow of a nearby building, sniffed the sweet rainy air, and then slowly sank into the shadow of the building, taking his sweet time. In the Guild, Goji was known as the Shadow because of his unique ability. His ability, his lock picking skills, and his acute hearing made him one of the most successful thieves ever, if not the most. He slipped from shadow to shadow, stepping out from time to time to turn corners. He passed the island’s only safe bank, as well as the Fence and Mercenary Guild Headquarters.

He finally reached a small, dilapidated building. It was drooping over, its roof totally missing. There were channels dug in crisscross patterns across the floor, forming small streams of runoff rainwater that flowed out of the building into the street’s own channels. The patterns were uniform in all areas, a square pattern in all but one place. One part of the floor looked triangular in shape, and the channels left an outline of the floor. Goji pulled himself out of the shadows and stood on that floor space. He stomped the triangle with a decent amount of force, and then clearly pronounced a fairly odd word: “Omnissha.”

He quickly stepped off of the triangle as the sound of metal scratching metal reverberated around the inner parts of the shack. The triangle lifted out of the ground and slid to the side, revealing a pair of hands in a pit. A voice rose out of the pit, “Oi, Goji, good thing you dropped in. Shinya said you had a commission… best if you hop on in.” Goji obliged the voice, leaping into the pit, which led to a larger underground room. This was the real Headquarters of the Thieves’ Guild: where one went if one wanted something stolen. It consisted of two rooms: the brightly lit atrium, where the doorkeeper resided, and the darker leader’s room, connected to the Atrium through a single wooden door. The doorkeeper gestured at the wooden door, and then replaced the triangular door. Goji smiled at the man, jingled his prize, and then went into the leader’s room, closing the door behind him.

He was greeted with a single small lantern illuminating Shinya’s desk. Shinya himself was seated behind the desk with his characteristic scowl on his face. Upon the desk beside the lantern was a white envelope. Goji smirked and reached over to the desk to pick up the envelope. Shinya leaned back in his chair, and before Goji opened the envelope, Shinya muttered, “It was delivered by proxy from Acoyra.” Goji stopped, his fingers hovering over the flap for the envelope. “Really? Acoyra?” Goji asked, slightly awestruck. Acoyra was widely known by the Criminal Sector as the most powerful man alive. He owned the only safe inn and bank, and they were only safe because of Acoyra’s policy: you steal, you suffer. No-one had ever stolen anything from one of Acoyra’s establishments without punishment of some kind.

Goji took control of his body, and began thinking. What on earth could be so important or so unreachable that Acoyra himself would ask a thief to retrieve it? Some sort of weapon, perhaps, or some ancient treasure? Or perhaps a neighbor had borrowed some sugar and had not repaid the favor? He opened the envelope and took out a small piece of paper. The paper read as follows:

Goji Valdruun:
This letter is for your eyes only. I require you to steal a set of gemstones of the utmost importance. I will only tell you the owner of one at a time for various unimportant reasons. Your first target is the orange gemstone possessed by Kianaus, of the Criminal Sector. Kianaus is a member of the Mercenary Guild, and he is the leader of a subdivision of the Guild: the Assassins. I highly suggest you get someone to help you with this, as Kianaus is extremely dangerous. I will pay you both, so no need to worry. You’ll be paid per gemstone. Hurry. I will know if you succeed.
-Acoyra

Goji stood still for a few seconds. “Hey, Shinya. Have you heard of a Kianaus?” Shinya shrugged. “Yeah. Only rumors though. They say he’s ruthless, and anyone he’s ever been assigned to kill ends up mysteriously dead. His assassination toll is supposed to be in the hundreds.” Goji thought for a second. “Hey, Acoyra suggested in his letter for me to ask someone to help me. Are you up for it?” Shinya raised his right hand and the letter flew into it. He scanned the letter really quickly, and then answered, “Sure, since I’d be getting paid.” Shinya stood up, pushed his chair in, and then flung Goji out of the room. Goji waited as Shinya blew out the lantern, left his room, and give the doorman the short version of what was going on. After the doorman got his instructions of “STAY HERE,” Shinya and Goji left the headquarters and began planning.

“Shinya, first, let’s find out where Kianaus is!” Goji said, and Shinya replied, “Yes, that would be the SMART thing to do.” Shinya left Goji and began running off somewhere else. Goji melted into the shadows and began following him. Left, left, right, left, right, right again… Goji was getting sick of Shinya turning so much. Suddenly, they ended up in an alley. “Oh damn, was it two lefts, a right, then TWO lefts?” Shinya asked himself as five men appeared in the mouth of the alleyway. They all were dressed the same way, thug like and unintelligently. One attacked Shinya head on, and Shinya dropped to his knees before the man’s punch could connect with his face. Shinya opened his hand, and the man’s face seemed to fly straight towards Shinya’s hand. Shinya brought his hand down and his knee up, smashing his knee into his attacker’s nose and sending the man flying to the floor.

Shinya was blessed with the ability to attract anything to his open palm if it was in his sight. He used this ability in his occupation as thief and to protect himself. The remaining four tried to encircle Shinya in the spacious alleyway, but all they did was bring about their defeat. He opened each palm, putting them back to back and facing them towards two men positioned opposite each other. He then stretched his arms out to his sides, flinging to two men at each other. They collided, smashing their heads into each other, and sustaining concussions. One more fell to a similar tactic, though instead substituting a wall for the second head. Goji crawled out of the shadows behind the last one and took out a knife. This knife was unique, with a curved blade, the sharp side on the inside of the curve. He used his sickle-like knife to slash the hamstrings of the last man. The man fell to the street, screaming in pain. Goji quickly gave him a concussion to both shut him up and to numb the pain.

“Eh, Shinya, what was the big idea?” Goji inquired, fully extracting himself from the shadow he had hid in. Shinya shrugged. He didn’t really feel like explaining to Goji that he had made a wrong turn. He left the alleyway, leaving his five aggressors unconsciously lying on the ground. He kept going on, eventually ending up at a large, sprawling building, however slightly disheveled, that had a large wooden sign hanging in front of it. The sign read ‘Mercenary Guild’. “So, Shinya, your subtlety has completely abandoned you, hasn’t it?” Goji asked jokingly. Shinya spun 180 degrees; kicked Goji’s left leg out from under him, and then turned another 180 degrees so quickly that it almost seemed as if he hadn’t moved at all. Goji fell to the ground and swore a few times. “That’s what you get for being a jerk, Goji,” Shinya said as he walked into the building. Goji got up a little shakily, quietly groaned in pain, and went into the building.

The building was well lit, built in a sort of mix matched way, using almost every variety of stone in the construction. Every stone was a different size and shape, and the only reason the building wasn’t extremely drafty was because the builders had chosen to fill in every single space with mortar, leaving patches of sickeningly dull gray filling the wall. There were several people lounging in the building’s lobby, but Shinya just passed them all. He went down a dark hallway, passing two doors before turning right down another corridor, passing another door before barging into a room on his right. Goji followed Shinya’s perplexingly unsubtle path until he reached the room Shinya had entered.

The room was blanketed in ragged red; ragged red carpet, ragged red wall hangings, ragged red upholstery: everything was ragged and red. There was a man lounging on a chair, with his sword and sheathe hanging off the chair. He bore a bored look on his face as he nonchalantly asked, “What do you want this time, Shinya?” Shinya quickly retorted, “We need information on Kianaus, such as where he lives, where he keeps his valuables, and where he is right now.” The man scratched his beard quizzically, replying, “Do you have a death wish or something?” Shinya grimaced and said, “Of course not, numnuts, I just need to know the information!” The man sighed. “Fine. You better not get caught, or you WILL die, I guarantee it.”

“Regardless, here’s what I know: Kianaus lives in an unassuming shack on the island of Mircha. He only comes to the guild once a week in order to get his hands on any contracts made for him. He’s been pushing for the guild to create a subsidiary sector of the guild specifically slated for assassinations. As far as I can tell, he’s been doing a pretty damn good job convincing the heads that he can lead the thing. Rumors have it that he’s aiming at assassinating someone big, but all I can comprehensively extract from the miasma of variations is that the target is one of the Criminal Sector heads. I haven’t been able to find out who, but I’m fairly certain you aren’t the target, Shinya. Besides, he should be visiting for his next assignment in two days. Besides that, I’d assume he keeps his belongings in Acoyra’s bank,” the man explained animatedly until his energy and information got spent and he flopped tiredly onto the chair. Shinya poked the guy’s leg with his foot, saying, “Thanks for the information. We’ll get out of here, and let you get back to your job.” The man grunted in assent, and Shinya turned and guided Goji out of the room, getting out into the streets.

“So… that was… who?” Goji asked slightly sarcastically as they stood outside the guild. Shinya impatiently scratched the top of his head. It was something he did once he got irritated. “He’s a spy for the Thieves’ Guild I had set up shop in here. He was so clumsy that he was utterly inept as a thief, so I had him do this so he could help us.” Goji sighed. “Well, then. Wanna go to bed and formulate a plan tomorrow?” Shinya sighed. “That’s all you think about, work and sleep, right?” Goji scratched his head and smirked. “No… I also think about food.” Shinya put his head into his hands and shook his head.