Money money, such a plight

Upon our souls, it's a blight

- prophecy of the duskbringer

Seventh day of the first week of Autumn. Morning…

Guppy awoke in the early morning as was her habit. She started to gently detach Stalia who was firmly curled around her, anxiously gripping Guppy’s clothes.

"I must have worried her more than I thought" Guppy whispered.

She stroked Stalia's hair gently, to which Stalia responded by gripping her even tighter.

Using a pillow as a decoy Guppy finally escaped from her captor.

She looked around at their tiny bedroom which her snoring siblings filled with their vocal performances and sighed. She needed some fresh air and time to think.

Climbing through the window she flipped herself up onto the roof, performing the acrobatic feat with ease.

She sat upon the ceramic tiles and stretched while watching the sun slowly rise above the horizon, enjoying the light’s kiss upon her skin.

A clatter of shutters and doors heralded the opening of food shops in the nearby market square as the owners prepared for the early morning rush.

Scents and sounds gradually started to fill the streets as life flowed through the city’s arteries once more.

Calgaree hurried along, using their natural grace to dart and weave through the crowd, orcs grunted as they hoisted burdens or pulled rickshaw carts, humans of all varieties began to throng the streets, and a rare merfolk artist sat in a corner of the square, painting the vibrant scene.

Feeling a presence Guppy looked to her right, a mako sat there watching her.

She could have sworn it wasn't there a moment ago, especially with how her heightened senses made her keenly aware of her surroundings, yet there it was, watching her with its pale gold eyes while twitching its tail slowly from side to side.

Guppy gulped and asked the first thing that came to her mind.

"What are you?"

After all the crazy experiences she'd recently been through Guppy was half expecting the mako to answer her, however it remained silently observing her, then with a twist of its neck it looked down towards an alleyway across the square whose entrance lined up with their viewpoint. Guppy curiously followed its gaze.

There in the alley way was a mugging about to happen, a drunken man was stumbling into the alley, followed by two hefty men with drawn knives.

Guppy looked back at the mako only to find that she was alone once more.

Sighing she murmured "Well it will be a good test of my new physical abilities I guess"

She stood up and started running across the roof with an agility that defied both the slope and slippery moss growing there.

A leap from one roof to another confirmed what she already suspected. She was far stronger and faster than before the soul melding.

Coming to the roof's edge above the desired alley she simply leaped down, landing between the victim and his erstwhile assailants.

It had taken Guppy all of six seconds to arrive.

"Hand over all yer valua... Huh" exclaimed thug one, his brutish face morphing into a surprised expression.

"Who are. Guuuuhhhh." He keeled over after Guppy landed a solid slug into his solar plexus.

Thug two took one look at the situation and activated a barrier tool, a thin blue membrane appearing over him that would shield from harm.

Guppy frowned, 'What kind of street thug has a magitech barrier tool' she thought.

Thug two lunged forward, aiming for Guppys heart.

"Too slow" said Guppy as she grabbed his wrist and twisted it to disarm him, all while picking him up by the throat and bodily smashing him to the ground with all the force she could muster.

With the presence of the mana barrier she had not held back, resulting in her shattering the cobblestones along with the shield through the sheer force of impact, the broken barrier scattered crystalized mana shards that quickly evaporated into the air.

There were some snaps that broadcasted the same shattered fate for several bones in the man's body.

Guppy blinked in surprise.

'Must have just been a tier one barrier, I guess' she speculated, ‘Weaker than what I am used to handling’

She was however even stronger than she suspected, her intention had just been to shatter the barrier, she felt a brief flash of guilt at the harm she had caused before remembering who it was she had done it too.

Guppy stood and stretched, feeling her muscles loosen up nicely after the brief exercise.

Turning around she examined the would be victim. He was standing up, far less drunk than he had appeared to be a moment ago.

He was only slightly shorter than the average human, appearing to be about sixteen years of age, his messy black hair and deep black eyes that was at odds with his pale skin evidenced his northern bloodline.

Guppy received his incredulous stare, and looking down abruptly realized that she was still in her pajamas, a large old shirt and some short trousers, not entirely modest to be out and about in.

‘Well’ Guppy determined while blushing slightly,

‘I just saved his life, so he can hardly complain about how I was dressed while doing so’

The young man averted his eyes and curtly said "I had it handled"

"Which part" teased Guppy

"The barrier tool or this spelled knife"

She flicked the knife in question into the air with her foot, catching it and allowing the early morning light to reveal the Magitech circuitry engraved upon it.

The boy paled as he seemed to recognise the peril he had been in.

"No meat hander from around here carries such fancy restricted tools, not with poison and curse effects layered so elegantly..."

Guppy turned to thug one, he was now merely pretending to be unconscious but his breathing pattern betrayed him to Guppy's ears.

She made sure he descended back into insensibility with a swift kick to his head.

Stooping down she rolled up his sleeves, revealing a black tattoo of a barking suk on his right inner bicep.

"Grakoan enforcers" she muttered. Guppy looked back at youth

"This could turn ugly, they aren't your average street thugs, what did they want with you?" she queried the youth.

"Don't meddle with things you know nothing of wench, leave me be." Saying that, the black haired teenager pulled his hood back up and swept by her, exiting the alley.

Guppy felt her eyelids twitch in annoyance, but she quickly cooled down as she realized how reckless she had been.

"Fudge Knuckles, what's happening to me, why did I act like a thrice cursed hero? Like a star eyed fool of a country bumpkin!"

She knew there would be a price to pay for her actions this morning, no one in these quarters crossed the mafia without paying some kind of price, she could only hope the enforcers didn’t get a good look at her in the shadow filled alley the melee took place in.

'It felt right' a small voice inside her said.

She snorted and quickly quashed that voice, that kind of thinking led to an early grave around here, and then proceeded to divest the enforcers of their valuables.

The knives were the most valuable, but far too risky to sell to any fence, she plunged them into a gap in the cobblestones and gave a quick twist, snapping each of them in two before tossing them into a pile of refuse.

The remaining barrier charm and their coin purses on the other hand were far more anonymous, she liberated them and quickly left how she came, via the rooftops.

Thankfully no one had come and complicated the scene any further, the residents around here knew better than to dash into any alleyway that emitted dubious sounds and cries for help.

Guppy made it back to their apartment and snuck back in just as the 6th morning bell rung.

She stood for a minute, flushed with excitement over her morning jaunt.

Shaking herself out of the strange mood she was in Guppy realised that neither sibling was stirring, this wouldn’t do, she shook Stalia awake and gently kicked Kyle's feet, one of the few ways that worked to wake him.

They both froze upon seeing her, until the memories of yesterday caught up and they recognized her, relaxing once more.

Guppy left them to wash and get dressed, instead moving to prepare breakfast.

Guppy experimented with her magic output on the Magitech stove in an attempt to cook, although the flame seemed a bit fitful and erratic it seemed to work.

At least it did until it started emitting sparks when the inscribed mana grooves burnt out.

Guppy frowned, while not extremely expensive stoves weren’t cheap either.

Thankfully by the time the stove sputtered out she was finished.

Guppy had cooked them more porridge for breakfast, out of a distinct lack of other ingredients, she set a mental reminder to go shopping for ingredients before the evening meal.

Her siblings ate quickly before setting off to their respective workplaces.

Having seen them off Guppy sat down in the kitchen.

"I guess I'm unemployed again now." She groaned.

Guppy bounced the two coin purses in her hand, her actions rewarded with the clinking of coppers and a few silver.

“This'll last for a little while but the next loan payment is due soon, payday was... today” Guppys shoulders slumped as she realized the predicament they were in.

She searched the storage box and pulled out some metal scraps.

'If I go to the scrapper this brass and copper will bring in something at least’ she thought

Pulling out a dented scale and accompanying lead weights from a small storage chest she started to weight the metal.

And finishing all too quickly she sighed again, the scraps might bring in ninety-five coppers, a silver if they were lucky.

But it was still far from enough, they needed a full gold royal or ten silver nobles to satisfy the mafia.

She counted up her current wealth. 5 nobles and 79 commoners.

Not enough, not by far.

Kyle was still an apprentice and wouldn't earn anything for the next year or two at least.

Stalia earned a little but it varied greatly with how generous the tips were at any one time.

Guppy had been the main breadwinner in their little family. Had. And even if she got a job today, a dubious possibility at best, she wouldn't be paid until the end of the week at the earliest.

She sat musing, fiddling with the lead weights in her hand, falling deeper and deeper into a brooding panic. Gold, she needed gold.

Suddenly she felt a cool flow of energy leave her. Her vision blurred for an instant as a small wave of sudden weariness hit her.

She shook her head, dispelling it.

Her stomach started gurgling, causing her to frown.

'I ate an hour ago' she mentally complained.

'Don't tell me I now have to eat far more with this body than before'

Guppy set the lead weights down on the table and then went very still, what had been grey before was now glimmering and gleaming, reflecting the morning light splendidly.

Guppy gingerly picked them up and examined the weights

"Fudge Knuckles" She swore

"I'm going to be rich"

………………………………………….

Nolusberg Workers District seventh bell of the morning…

A black haired youth wearily stumbled through the door to his home, he was greeted by an expectant father.

“Did you get it Rolf? Tell me you did!”

Rolf thrust the bag he carried towards his father.

“It's all there father, I almost got knifed for it” he said even as he mumbled, “Not that you’d care”

Indeed his father had all but forgotten him, carrying the precious cargo back to his study in the basement and slamming the door.

Rolf sighed and ruffled his hair in frustration as he remembered the goddess who saved him, swooping in from the skies and easily dispatching his foes.

Why had he been so rude to her? He crouched down and held his head in embarrassment

“Stupid, stupid, stupid” he angrily muttered, punctuating each word with a punch to his thigh.

He had always been shy around girls but this time he really put his foot in it, panicking when she approached him he had run away, getting neither her name or address, so the chances of meeting her again were slim to none.

He blushed as he remembered how...uniquely she had been dressed.

Finally he stood up and sighed before heading to his own room and workbench, he had projects of his own to complete, things to build, and maybe, maybe, some bad poetry to write.