Mount Arcadia rose like a Titan’s fist from the center of the Jade Sea, punching through the clouds to reach for the stars. The enormous mountain was composed of seven ringed plateaus that served to stratify the Imperial City built into it. On the topmost plateau of the mountain, beyond sight of mortals, stood the fabled Celestial Palace, home of the Imperial Pantheon. The plateaus below the clouds were studded with gravity-defying spires that glowed with magic, growing more and more packed and less and less impressive the further down the mountain they went, until the city reached sea level. There, it continued to spread outward like tenacious mold, with densely packed buildings crawling over the water and each other, the ramshackle hive impressive in its audacity given the basic building materials and lack of magical construction to safeguard its inhabitants.

Upon a dilapidated, wooden roof in the ever-growing slum district known as the ‘The Blight’, two young thieves paused to inspect their surroundings. The impossible heights of Mount Arcadia were limned in faint silver as they blocked the moon, but the slums were still faintly illuminated from the magical light bleeding down from the upper districts – the territorial colour-codes of the nobles above turning into a bruised riot of light down below. The Blight’s permanent stench of rotting fish clung to everything like a drunken lover, but the two thieves paid it no mind – all too used to the smell at this point.

Damp wood groaned as Shaya crouched, doing her best to ensure her long, lanky limbs didn’t stick out over the edge of the building. A street cat hissed at her from the opposite corner, asserting dominance over the territory and the dead snake it hunched over, but it quieted when she shot it a glare. She turned away from the cat, her own golden, feline eyes scanning the streets and alleys for signs of trouble.

This part of the Blight still had plenty of activity, the local gang attracting marks through a wealth of bars and brothels. Plenty of people staggered about or lay collapsed in alleyways, likely unconscious from drink or maybe stabbings. The Canal Snakes were successful because of how ruthless they were, after all.

Shaya spotted a few of the gang’s enforcers patrolling the streets, but most of them were busy acting as bouncers or drinking themselves into a stupor.

Rel and I can probably slip by on the ground. She thought to herself, analyzing the area. Too many roofs here are just untreated cloth, and the wooden rooftops will likely collapse under even Rel’s weight. I don’t think the Thieves’ Road is an option here.

“Alright Rel, let’s get home,” Shaya turned to her younger brother and handed him the small pack of goods they had pilfered earlier. “We need to blend into the crowd, so hoods up and hands in pockets. Stay close to me and keep the loot safe, don’t let it jingle.”

He rolled his eyes at her. “I’ve done this a dozen times, I know what I’m doing.”

“You know I don’t like to take chances when it comes to planning, now let’s move.”

His expression suggested that he disagreed, but he followed her towards the edge of the roof anyway. They threw their hoods up – thin, ragged things that matched the rest of their clothing – and took another look around to make sure the alley was clear. Shaya slid off the roof first, her inhuman height letting her drop less than a foot to the ground. She turned and offered a hand to Rel, who ignored it.

The pack’s contents rattled as he dropped down with less grace than her. They exchanged a look that lasted only a second, but both conveyed everything they needed to in that moment.

‘Don’t you dare say anything.’

‘Know what you're doing, eh?’

They turned the corner and merged with the crowd, heading south towards their gang’s territory. Rel fell into Shaya’s wake, hugging the pack to himself, and relied on Shaya to deflect stumbling drunks when they couldn’t weave out of the way. The smell of hard liquor, sweat and vomit competed with the rotting fish here, especially around certain pockets of people.

The press of people made her nervous, but Shaya navigated them with minimal issue. Even when someone bumped into her, none of the passing drunks were belligerent enough to pick a fight with someone her size, despite the fact she hunched over to blend in better. The crowd started to thin out as they got further south and left the clubs behind them.

Why anyone finds losing themselves like that fun is beyond me.

“Alright, almost ther-.”

“Well, if it isn’t the freaks,” a young man said, rounding the corner a block ahead of them, “I thought I could smell some of Jericho’s low-level mongrels wandering my streets.”

“Dumbass,” Shaya acknowledged the man in front of her with a nod.

“Cannibal,” he spat on the ground. “Did you know your shitty gang of misfits is so poor, there’s no real value in even taking you for ranso-”

Shaya and Rel took off back the way they came.

“Hey, where are you going!? I WAS TALKING!” He shouted behind them, enraged at the gall of his gloating getting interrupted. “What are you waiting for!? Get them you idiots!”

Footsteps followed behind them and Shaya looked back to see a few of Jikni’s goons jump out of hovels and unhood their lanterns. She acknowledged that it might have been a decent trap if Jikni had waited for them to get closer, or if he had sprung it immediately instead of mouthing off like a dumb ass.

She and Rel took two right turns, angling their way back south towards safety. The footsteps were still behind them, but Shaya’s ears twitched as she heard whispering in another hovel up ahead. The door burst open and two goons roared as they sprung their trap. But the door opened towards Shaya, who kicked it as hard as she could. The roars turned into alarmed grunts as the door slammed back shut on the would-be ambushers.

Another group appeared in the street ahead of them. Shaya made a short chopping gesture towards an alley, and she and Rel pivoted to dart down it. This one was choked with refuse and people, but Shaya and her brother had little difficulty leaping over them or running along the walls to avoid the obstacles. Behind them, a few Canal Snakes matched their parkour, but most roared at people to get out of the way and tromped their way through the waste.

They turned another corner and kept heading south, but Shaya cursed when she realized it was a dead end. Too late to turn back, they continued running down the alley while looking around for options. Shaya checked the rooftops and sped ahead to reach the dead end before Rel did. She spun around, lacing her fingers together.

“Rel! Up and over!”

“What are you going to do?” He shouted, rushing towards her.

“I’ll find a way – go!”

Rel didn’t hesitate. He closed the distance in a few heartbeats, then stepped into her laced fingers. She grunted as she launched him towards the roof, then shoved his feet to help him scrabble over the edge. The roof’s lip was too high up for the average human to reach even with a running start, so even if they wanted to follow him, he’d have too much of a lead on them.

“I’ll see you at the usual spot.”

“Good luck sis.” Rel took off down the rooftops, most of these sturdier than those deeper in Canal Snake territory.

“I've got you cornered now!” Jikni snarled at her.

Shaya took a moment to turn towards her pursuers and smirk. Then she coiled her body and dove through a hovel’s small ‘window’ - no more than a hole in the wall. It led in the opposite direction from Rel, which was ideal for her purposes.

“What in the Hells!?” The hovel’s occupant shouted, standing up from their sleeping mat.

“Stay away from the door!” Shaya shouted back as she rolled to her feet.

Seconds later, the door burst open as the goons slammed into it and streamed into the small room. She was already running towards the back corner of the building. It didn’t have any other exits, but it also didn’t have a real roof. She leapt at the back wall, kicked off it and shot through the cloth covering the building. It tore where it was affixed to the house with rusty nails and she passed through without issue.

She grunted as the brief entanglement screwed up her landing, but jumped back to her feet and took off running a moment later. Behind her, she heard cloth tearing and people cursing as rusty nails stabbed them as they tried to clamber out of the hovel after her. Others shouted, trying to organize people to lift others out, but the sounds grew faint as Shaya’s long legs carried her out of their territory and to safety.

She knew she had crossed into her home turf when she had to strain to pick up anything aside from rotting fish. Unlike the Canal Snakes, which had constant activity, Jericho’s gang had...nothing, really. Even the enforcers didn’t patrol the streets openly here. Shaya passed by a few huddled forms of demigol, kitahm, and even the occasional golkah. ‘Mongrels,’ ‘giant-bloods,’ and ‘beastfolk’ were the more common labels, however.

It only took her a few minutes to make it to the meeting spot, a roof at the edge of their gang’s territory. Given the hornet’s nest they just kicked, Shaya wished it was a little further away from the Canal Snakes, but they wouldn’t be here long anyway.

Her anxiety spiked when she realized she beat Rel back, but she sat down and did her best to relax while she waited. When the sack of loot smacked onto the roof and she saw her brother’s clawed hands grab the lip, she sighed in relief. Then sat back into a casual position, buffing her claws against her shirt just as Rel’s head poked over the edge.

“What took you so long?” She asked with a smile.

He glared at her as he finished climbing on the roof. “Well, I’m sorry that I haven’t lived long enough to have as many growth spurts as you!”

“Apology accepted,” she said, grinning at his frustration as he set the bag down between them. “Now, shall we?”

Her calloused, clawed fingers undid the knot with smooth motions despite the heavy scar tissue on them and the poor light. As she finished with the bag, her young brother crouched down across from her.

“What do you think, Rel?” She kept her deep voice a whisper, “Anything worth stashing for ourselves before we show this haul to the boss?”

Small, delicate hands rummaged through the bag, pulling out the occasional brass orb or rune-etched gemstone to examine with golden, feline eyes matching her own. Relios was several years her junior and still an adolescent, with a voice to match. “I think these gemstones are probably the most valuable and easiest to hide from the gang. I’m no mage, but the runes on these things don’t look like something that could be used to trace us. Anyway, it’s a great haul, I can’t believe our luck.” His excitement made his voice crack a little, and Shaya saw her brother flinch in embarrassment.

She ruffled his dark hair with a grin, knowing he hated it as much as his changing voice. “Well then, let’s keep a gemstone each – for good luck.” Her sleeveless tunic and breeches were thin, ragged and patched, but concealed plenty of pockets given the direction life had taken her. Her eyes were drawn to some deep blue sapphires, but she settled on a bright yellow garnet etched with a rune shaped like a simple sword, which reminded her of her mother. She slipped the gem into one of her inner pockets and looked through the bag again, pulling out a small leatherbound book before offering the bag to her brother.