Chapter 84 - Jackal


    "I''m dead" I tried to breath, the hot sweat drizzling down my forehead. My legs gave out on me, and I


    stumbled to the floor face first. I was exhausted and dizzy. My lungs ached from every breath I inhaled.


    My body was scorching hot, and I could feel myself dozing out as my vision became a blur.


    We were finally out of Taivas and in an empty field of flowers and long grass


    "Hey Artemis, there''s not time to rest we have to leave this forest before those pesky earth humans


    track us down" Homura whacked me with his paw and groaned in annoyance.


    The fox wasn''t puffed out as much as we were. For the first time in my life, I envy this fox for having


    amazing stamina.


    I grumbled a few curse words thate out muffled. "Just five minutes break" I stated under my


    exhausted state.


    My legs are shaking from overuse, and I can''t even lift them to my wish not even my hands. I was


    "No" Homura refused as he now stood beside Jackal, the thief boy whose hair brown hair messed up


    from the wind that blew past when he ran. He too was trying to catch his breath; his panting was loud,


    and he coughed a few times. He looked like he was about to die.


    His hood wasn''t draped over his face anymore and I could clearly see how looked.


    A round face with silver almond eyes, soft porcin skin thatplimented his bright heated cheeks


    from all the running and a small button nose. He looked like an average kid his age of 12, I think he


    stated.


    His brown tattered cloak reached his ankles, covering themon medieval style attire of brown vest,


    white blouse under, brown baggy pants held up by a belt and leather brown boots.


    Jackal''s height was seemingly the average height of a 12-year-old, around mid 150cm.


    "I don''t understand what the fox is saying but I assume he isn''t agreeing with what you said" Jackal


    said with a pant, and he sat back with a hand resting over his knee and his head slumped back.


    "His right"


    "Take a good look at yourself Jackal. You also are having trying to stand up" my voice was muffled


    because of the ground.


    I heard himugh. "You have to admit, that was epic. I have never been chased like that before


    especially by elite assassins from Aureum." Jackal sounded too happily excited for my liking.


    "There is something mentally wrong with this human brat." I heard Homura sneer. "To be exact what''s


    with humans having a broken mentality. Can''t you just be normal in a change" he heaved.


    I didn''t have the strength or energy to respond to his dumb remark of us humans so instead I pulled my


    ride finger up at him.


    "This fox is quite chatty. It''s like he is trying to talk to us" with preserved energy I was able to lift my


    head up to see Jackal examining Homura with curious silver eyes. "Homura, is it?" Jackal poked the


    fox.


    Homura snapped furiously at the little boy, and he immediately pulled his finger away. "Keep your dirty


    stick paws away from me" he growled revealing the rows of tiny sharp teeth.


    "A feisty one too" Jackal said a little surprised.


    "I''m not feisty, your just annoying." The orange fluff ball with teeth, hissed back.


    "I don''t think he likes me"


    "Of course, I don''t you human brat"


    Homura wouldn''t stop bickering his response back at the oblivious boy who didn''t understand a word


    Homura was saying and continued to speak sentences that wasn''t relevant to what Homura was


    saying. It was getting on my nerves listening to these two, their voices rattled my ear drums while I tried


    to restore my energy back to continue on running before Edmond uses his great tracking abilities to


    find me...Us.


    Wasting the little bit of energy, I preserved I mustered up the force to yell at them "Shut the **** up"


    instead it came out muffled and hoarse.


    Finally, some silence.


    Immediately the small yet loud footsteps rumbled the ground and I slowly lifted up to see Jackal looking


    down at me with curious silver eyes that seemed to remind of Neil''s eyes.


    Ventus'' special features.


    Only people who born in Ventus are called Vensist. You can tell them apart from the rest of the humans


    in Alphyria due to the silver or tinum eyes or either silver- or silver-grey hair. Mostly any shade of


    silver.


    Unlike the people in Isvandy who are called Isvandy, like Diana over here have their own unique


    features to identify them. Any shade of blue or teal eyes, blue, white, silver white or blond hair and skin


    the colour of snow are identified of being a civilian of Isvandy. If you have one those features, you are


    only part Isvandy.


    Ites the same as the people in Drakon, Terra and Aureum. Each one have their own unique


    features to indifference themselves from the rest of the world. That''s how the people in Taivas knew I


    came from Isvand because of the way I looked.


    Simr to our world, where there are white people, ck people, Asians and etc and you could identify


    them because of their special features.


    "Look kid I appreciate you leading us out of Taivas and all" I said with a tired tone a nk expression


    across my face as I spoke to the thief that stood in front of me and looking down, "Why don''t you run


    along now to wherever you came from and live your life forgetting what happened today."


    The look on his face wasn''t unexpected. His lips into a small frown, eyes glittered with a wistful glint


    however he did his best to hide his disappointed look.


    I didn''t give to fucks what he felt, I just wanted to get enough energy to get up and keep running away


    from here.


    My face flopped back on the grass, the prickly grass made my skin itch, but I couldn''t muster up the


    energy to stretch my hand and itch my face.


    I was too exhausted.


    "I won''t leave until you give mepensation for saving you and Homura" I lifted my head up to see


    Jackal with his palm out, a grin perched his face and eyes glittered with money.


    A low grunt muffled from the ground "Give me five seconds". I reached down to my satchel and slid my


    hand in, rummaging through my things until I heard the jingle of metal.


    "Here kid" I mmed a few gold coins on the grass "now piss off" I sounded a bit too harsh.


    The ruffling of the grass and the sounds of gold shing against gold told me that he bent down to pick


    them up. "It was a pleasure doing business with you" he said.


    "u-huh, now go away" I shooed him with a gesture of my hand. What other reason is there for this to


    stay with us any longer. He can go and do whatever he wants or whatever he does in his daily life other


    than steal.


    "Artemis, sorry to budge into your personal business but are you a traveller?" the little thief asked.


    I lifted my head up to lock my icy blue eyes with his silver ones.


    "What of it?" I said bluntly, mming my head back on the ground.


    There was silence, I could hear the rickets of bugs, the buzzing bees flying past, the swoosh of the tree


    leaves against the current wind.


    "Nothing really. I was just wondering since you have an unnecessary amount of satchels attached to


    you"


    ''Excuse me? Unnecessary amount of satchels! Listen here kid, I have things I need to store for my


    travels. You wouldn''t understand because you aren''t going a long *** quest that would probably take


    months'' I mentally said to him.


    "Ok since you got your answer can you leave me alone now" I said as I staggered up in a sitting


    position. Taking a long breath of air, I rested the palms of my hands behind me to bnce myself.


    Jackal stood still with his hand on his hip while the other behind his neck, he looked like he had


    something on his mind and was hesitant to speak.


    "What is that you want?" my tone was harsh, and I stared at him impatiently. Jackal flinched from the


    sudden cold gaze at him, and he took a small step back.


    "I-I um" Jackal shuffled the back of his neck, his silver eyes avoiding eye contact with mines as I sat on


    my butt on the prickly ground, waiting irritably for him to speak with hands crossed and my index finger


    tapping my arm.


    "Tch, who gives a donkeys *** what this human cub is going to say" Homura jogged past him, giving


    him a quick annoyed nce. The fox came to a halt beside me and said "Let''s go. We can''t waste


    precious time with this human cub"


    I sighed and stood up, dusting any dirt or twigs attached to my back side. Jackals eyes followed me


    and he was nervous.


    "Listen Jackal" I picked my ear with my pinkie "whatever you want to say, save it because I don''t really


    care."


    "You will just waste your breath on me" I shrugged my shoulder ups and shook my head.


    Jackal''s body stiffened and his face came to a frown, he looked devastated. His mouth twitched to


    speak but nothing came out.


    I didn''t have time to deal with him, so with a click of my heels I span around and walked off following


    the delighted orange fox.


    "Go home, kid. Back to your parents or whoever looks after you." I a gestured a small wave without a


    nce back "and be careful with Edmond and his dogs. He''s probably going to catch you and


    interrogate you about my whereabouts"


    "Don''t say anything about us or you will be sleeping with one eye" Homura mocked back before ranting


    into whispering snicker.


    I stretched my hands in the air feeling all the tension in my muscles lighten and the air in joints of my


    bones pop. It was a pleasuring feeling.


    ''Ben''s saved, so is Neil and Lykos from their destined fate of death which I never really cared about,


    and Ariana lost two of her loyal dogs which will change a lot of events in the journey but who cares. It''s


    not like she needs them....


    Either way I have to focus on getting back home and in doing so I need to get my hands on the


    Alphyrian crystal....... Where was it located again?''


    I heard a snap of a twig behind, and I swiftly turned around to see Jackal looking up at me with a wide


    guilty grin in a sneaking position.


    "Ahahah" heughed awkwardly, avoiding eye contact, and ruffling the back oh his head with one hand


    and the other to hide behind his back.


    I stared nkly at him with a raised eyebrow. "I suggest you turn around before I tie you up on a tree


    and leave you to the wolves"


    ''If there any wolves in these parts''


    I crossed my hands and tilted my hip to the side "Or maybe for the royal guards that pass through here,


    to see the thief they have been trying to catch but failed to do so"


    ''If they do''


    My gaze narrowed to him and his facelifted down, his fingers fiddling with each other. His oak brown


    hair danced gently with the breeze as he stood there silently. The natural sounds of the forest taking


    over the quiet atmosphere around us.


    "I never met anyone, especially a woman as cool, smart and skilled as you before" Jackal spoke softly,


    his handing to grab his left elbow forfort. His silvers eyes tracing down the long lushes grass


    that grew from the dirt below him.


    "I''m ttered" my words came out blunt andzy.


    "Oi forget about ttering her, she doesn''t take them seriously. I do. Compliment me. Tell me I''m the


    most beautiful fox you had ever seen, the most gorgeous and charming boy" Homura jumped out of


    nowhere when he heard the mention of ttering and opening his annoying snout toin.


    Jackal nce down at Homura, he looked a little confused but since he couldn''t understand what the


    snobby princess was saying so he continued where he left off, looking back at me with eyes filled with


    determination and respect towards me.


    He was giving me off vibes and I don''t like it.


    "And what we did together back at Taivas was so unexpected. We fooled those assassins together like


    it was natural. Like a team" Those silvers eyes reflected the fire of will, sparking them high and mighty.


    So determined to achieve what can''t be achieved.


    I was getting ufortable with this. Just by reading his expression and carefully analysing his choice


    of words I could sense what he is going to say next.


    "No"


    Jackal was caught off guard for a second and zipped his mouth shut before twitching to an open


    "What?"


    "You want to tag along this journey of mine around Alphyria and my answer is simply a no" my words


    was straightforward and cold which shaken the little boy a tiny bit.


    "Yeah" Homura agreed. "No human babysitting for me. That''s just a nightmare" Homura shivered with


    terror. "I remember once I had to sit and watch over my sisters cubs. They were a nightmare maybe


    even devils in the form of a fox cub. One thought my tail was a snake and bit it." heined sadly


    with a gulp.


    "It took me a while to grow back the fur on my tail. I had the most hideous tail ever." He said


    dramatically with a paw over his temple like a damsel in distress. "Tell me, how does this beautiful tail


    look like a slimy ugly snake." Homura stroked his tail with a teardrop. I stared at him dead panned with


    a sweat drop, but I didn''t say anything and let him continue ranting about something I didn''t care and


    Jackal who couldn''t understand a single word he said but for fox whimpers.


    ''Why is heing with me again?''


    ~Taivas, Ventus~


    "It''s very unexpected to see the ck spades of Aureum running around like dogs in the streets of


    Taivas, uninvited" The red-haired prince of Drakon red coldly at the figures who stood firmly not far


    from where Lykos stood with his hand on the handle of his ruby hued de.


    The figures were draped in dark ck cloaks, flowing behind with the rhythm of the wind hiding them


    away from in sight as their in white masks covered their faces.


    He knew just by the masks who they were but who they worked for and which parts of Aureum they


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    came from was unknown.


    They were sneaky and uncatchable, always running in the shadows.


    They were silent and none uttered a word as the woosh of the wind taking over the dreadful silence


    between the tense people.


    Lykos wasn''t fond of these assassins from Aureum, and he didn''t like the idea of them running around


    these peaceful streets of kingdom of Ventus.


    Lykos red eyes observed each one carefully. 6 of them in total and each one tended to have a white


    mask and specific symbol painted on them except for the one in the front.


    His aura leaked ofmand, and just by observing the tense stand and the continues stare that felt


    like a hatred re, the Drakon prince understood that the in masked man wasn''t so fond of him


    either.


    "What business do you rats of Aureum have here?" he asked coldly. The heat in his bones began to


    spark as it raced down to his fingertips. Lykos was ready for any sudden attack from these assassins.


    His royal guards also were tensed with their hand on the de just by the sense of their prince''s


    sudden feeling.


    "A prince such as yourself shouldn''t ask a question that doesn''t concern him at all" the man in white


    mask with symbol that Lykos could make out to be silver blob painted on the forehead, spoke with a


    loud yet a little muffled voice from behind the mask.


    Lykos clench the handle of his de and tightened his teeth with a look of a scowl. This guy already


    pissed him off and he already began to hate his guts.


    The man inmand of the assassin continued to stay quiet, staring deeply at Lykos.


    It was bad feeling the red-haired prince was getting from him.


    "Our business has got nothing to do with anyone here but an intruder that came from afar" another


    said.


    Lykos gaze didn''t leave the leader in the middle as he listened to the leaders minions speak for him as


    if the man in the white mask didn''t dare to speak as if it would expose his true identity.


    ''Intruder?'' lightnoveldaily