Our Spirits Within (discontinued)

After Dark

Neo Chapter 6

While i was showing Alice how to steal properly,yes there was a proper way of stealing, I learned some stuff about her she was 7 years old and this was her first time in the outside world it turns out she was raised in a forest with a drunken maid to look after her so she was uneducated in the world and how cruel people could be I also learned that she was looking for her father so she could ask him an important question that she had to know it must have been important if it meant her leaving the only world and home she had ever known just to ask him i wonder what it was but i knew secrets should stay secret sometimes so I held my tongue "good good now you just have to come up with a back up plan if you're ever caught" I said when she finally completed some pick pocketing without being caught i had told her not to go after merchandise cause that's were the guards are always watching but they normally forget to watch in a crowd when a magician is showing off or when people get into brawls for some reason people seem to love them and even the guards love them so it's way easier to steal then cause everyone's thinking of the fight or the magic act and no one pays attention to some person brushing against you it's so easy it's why I taught Alice to do that instead of stealing from a stall with a guard

"Good you should be good enough now to survive by yourself now" I said after Alice had stolen from a guard while two street kids got in a fight about what i don't know but it provided enough distraction for Alice to be able to go up to a guard and steal his purse right out from under his belt it was her final test before i let her stop practicing her stealing technique Ii now know she can even steal from a low level guard so normal people should be no problem for her as long as she does as i taught her "really!?" she said excitedly jumping up and down like a kid who had just gotten her first present "yep" I looked up at the sky realizing for the first time that it was almost night "alright time to go find you an inn to stay at" I said as I started off towards the residential district where some cheap inns where they weren't the best but they had doors that locked which was good enough "aw...really why I thought we could stay out and practice some more" Alice said looking down as she started to follow me she looked really sad so i decided to explain why it was time to get off the streets "I'm not trying to being mean or make you upset but at night most of the guards go home or got to taverns to get blackout drunk and that's when the really bad people come out" I said looking down at her she was cute looking like a expensive doll you find in the rich toy stores I mean with her blonde almost white hair and those blue eyes it's like she see's everything and knows everything if she gives you the right look she needs to be even more careful with her looks there's no telling what the real evil people would do if they get their hands on her the only thing i can do is warn her about never going out at night and hope that her animal is a big one I haven't seen her animal yet but i'm sure it's under her cloak she kept sneaking food under her coat when we stopped to eat at one of the food stalls and every now and then I'll see the lump under her cloak move I can understand why she has her animal hiding I'm guessing Alice is around 7 years old that means her animal isn't even close to being half way grown it would be no help in a fight at all and would just get in the way if she let it run by itself when she had to make a quick getaway "oh okay" she said looking even more downcast and sad

I sigh she wasn't getting it I needed to pound it into her mind that she can't go out at night i stop and grab her arm yanking her to me I bend down so our eyes are even "you can NOT go out at night as soon as the guards start going away you get away and find an inn or someplace safe to wait out the night there are very bad people here and they come out at night and they aren't nice they will take you and harm you and you'll never escape them not even if you chew off your leg to get away they will keep you alive forever you will never know peace" I said to her sternly I could tell she was afraid she was shrinking back away from me and her eyes were wide tears gathering in her large blue eyes i sigh yet again looks like I had gone to far I lower my head to hers and rest my forehead against hers "I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you i just don't want you to get hurt trust me when I say this with how you look you will surely be taken by one of the bad men that come out at night and you will not like it it's horrible the stuff they make you do" I said taking a deep breath and with one more look at her i stand back up and say "come on then the only thing you need to worry about is making sure your off the streets at night and behind a locked door so always make sure the inn you stay at has doors that lock or if you can stay at an inn or there's not one around go into the forest or just find a tall tree climb it and sleep on the highest branch you can get to and don't make any sound and most importantly don't come down no matter what till it's morning and the guards are back on the street okay?"I looked down at her at her as we cross into the residential district I spot an inn almost immediately it was a good one too i had stayed there when i had first come to town i stayed there for months till the money i had stolen from my trainer ran out and i was used to being above ground again it had beds not the best but better than nothing it also had doors that looked plus they even served breakfast again not the best but it was better than nothing "look see that inn over there with the sign with the red dragon?" I question her as I pointed out the inn to her she nodded her head as she looked to where i was pointing "good that's where you'll stay ask for Letty she'll give you a discount tell her Red sent you okay?" I said as we neared the inn Red was the name i used back then I've used many names in my life but the best one is Neo which is why I go by that most of the time I don't remember my real name if I even ever had one if the first place it's hard to imagine that my so called mother bothered to name me before she dumped me alone in the snow and i know him and the trainers would never get attached to a baby enough to name it after all they had to be ready to put us down at any moment if we proved to not be good enough it's why all the girls worked hard to be the best we all hated each other cause if they lived that meant we may get put down because the other girl was better it's why I was always working always training so I would never be that close to death again i shook those thoughts from my head and asked Alice if she knew what to do