Eclipse Infinite

Thief

"Princess Krystal!! Princess Krystal!!" The guards would shout. Sound of heavy feet and paws echoing through the cavernous walls, royal guards, a group of at least twenty, following a young lady no older than nineteen. Their tails flowing behind their steps, some having taken their vulpine form for advantage. The princess would take quick turns, helplessly running to try and lose her pursuers but to no avail The chase is getting more intense. The young princess ran and ran, her lungs burning and her legs starting to lose the strength to carry her. Her eyes locked at the sky, to that one light, that one star. If she could reach it...

"Princess Krystal, wait! You will not be able to-" The guards yelled at her, getting closer. The Princess held back tears, not wanting to blur her vision. She stops for just a moment to stare through her sapphire eyes at the moss covered wall, the rocks were sharp and the footing thin but...

The sound of footsteps snapped her out of her thoughts, if she wanted to act this would be now or she'd be caught and dragged back to the palace... Leaping into the air, a flash of magic replacing her form with that of a fox, she starts to climb the wall, eyes fixated on the star.

"She's insane! She'll just fall! Princess Krystal, stop at once!!"

The guards called but she just kept climbing until eventually her golden fur was merely a speck in the sky.

The leader of the troop grumbled, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"She'll just fall to her death... Let's go report to the King. It's not the outcome he wanted but it isn't too far from it."

The rest of the guards nodded in agreement as they started to make their way back. They wouldn't get a reward, but the King might not punish them for it. If anything, this might be good news.

Princess Krystal was never seen again.

— — — — —

The bustling noise of the busy city center streets were like a river in the forest, the sound constant and similar in its rising and falling. Rather than a serene babbling brook that one could meditate on as white noise, however, the mid-day market was a hubbub hub of loud voices, yelling, laughter, and cheers. Moving through the tide of people was like walking through a wheat field, every step bumping over or brushing against someone else, the feeling of claustrophobia present even in the open air atmosphere of the stall-laden street.

The fall of his footsteps on the flagstone street was the anchor Jaden focused on to stay grounded in the overwhelming horde of undisciplined, inconsiderate citizens who milled about him like salmon swimming up river. He wasn't particularly overwhelmed by people, it was just that the sheer number of bodies brushing past and making noise could get to anybody, even the most trained fighters. The rustling of his shopping sack as it got knocked around by passerbys eventually fading into the background drone, the people in front of him eventually just becoming a blur of colors and shapes.

Until...

There. A flash of golden yellow hair, slipping through the crowd towards him. He wasn't sure why, but something in his subconscious leapt to life at the sight of the stranger approaching. Perhaps it was their bright white cloak, which seemed warded the way it remained pristine amongst the crowd. Perhaps it was the grace with which they walked, the people parting to step beside them so every step they took was unaffected by the crowd's hive mind. Maybe it was that blue mask, so intricate and detailed, that it captured Jaden's focus too muc-

Whump!

Before he had even realized it, he had bumped into the stranger. Their shoulders gently collided, but the shock of losing such focus drove Jaden to trip over a particularly uneven stone. The ground rising fast towards him, not that it would do any real damage other than to his pride, or perhaps damage his dinner ingredients. He was saved from his split second fall however, as the theatrically dressed Stranger grasped his wrist and held him stable, keeping him lifted long enough that he could find his own footing. Turning back to the stranger, Jaden gave him a polite smile, only for the Wanderer's hands to brush his shoulders and jacket as if he had gotten dusted up rather than saved at the last second.