Open [Midnight Market] Blackened Herbs and Blackened Skies

[Haeli]

Early Spring, 514 AV.

Haeli didn't mind going out at night in the swamp. It was her home and while she currently occupied the old Syliran Outpost on Fire Isle, she didn't exactly belong there like she did with her bare feet knee deep in the mud. Nothing in the swamp scared her. There were things she respected and avoided, but being a witch among them meant that she could take liberties others could not. It was a truth Haeli didn't realize existed, for she often saw herself as no different than anyone else.

Well, perhaps as alike as a shifter could feel.

But the Midnight Market was a completely different story. To Haeli, Kenash was dangerous at night. But when Lasher Radacke placed an order and asked for it to be delivered personally, she was suave enough to realize that the order needed to be filled quickly and delivered with alacrity. So there she was, with her cloak concealing her features, making her way through the market. It was crowded. There were street venders and shop venders everywhere. More than once she felt hands on her person, though they would find no pouches of coin or purses they could pilfer. All she carried, wisely enough, was a packet which was Lasher's order and all she would carry back where his coins or whatever it was that she was paid. Lasher was an interesting sort. He never paid her in coin, but often gave her cloth or something he thought she would like that was well below the value of the things he requested from her shop.

She wasn't sure why this was... why he wouldn't pay full price. But there was little if at all anything she could do about it. So she considered it a healthy investment to supply him with things she could easily make, and gathered her courage to see what she could see on the way through the market.

This time it was an odd beast in a glowing cage that caught her mind. Roughly the size of a gull, the creature looked like an undead bat that oozed poison and hissed repeatedly at the glowing bars. Its wings were shredded, and for some reason she thought it was hurt. But upon closer inspection she saw the creature shredding its own wings with its gruesome skull-like head and belching out what smelled like some sort of acidic substance to do so.

Haeli drew closer until a walking stick blocked her path with a sharp rap across her stomach. It was the shopkeep, an exotics dealer, that started talking but again didn't let her get any closer. "Don't you have any common sense girl? Don't get within spitting distance of it. Ain't gonna do nothing but blind you. That there is a Greenwing Flyer all the way from Nyka. Interested in buying one?" The man said with a laugh. Haeli glanced at him wide-eyed then back at the flyer. No, no she wasn't interested. Even with her Nura wide open, the beast wasn't making a sound. It wasn't speaking to her in a language she could understand. All it was doing, in fact, was staring at her with cold blank eyes. Haeli could feel the unnatrualness of its aura and knew without a doubt if it got loose it was going to be trouble. She backed away, offered a polite thank you to the exotic shopkeep and turned to hurry on her way.

She made the delivery to Lashar, was paid by his front man in ... cheeses. Food she didn't mind so much, but it did seem odd he gave her a large burlap bag of cheese rounds, and turned back to head home.

It was then, in the Market, that a scream was released. There was a sickly green glow in the sky as the Greenwing flyer made its appearance free suddenly from its djed formed cage. Later she'd learn that the shopkeep had been killed abruptly, assassinated for some slight or another. and the moment that had happened, the djed bars on the Greenwings cage had vanished. It was then the creature rose up, howling, and began circling the Market, crying its rage at its captivity into the night.

[Jay Ackina]

It wasn’t the first time the night life of Kenash had lured the Ackina into the darker side of the city. When the sun went down and the light was extinguished from the sky, it was if a mask was slowly peeled off of the seemingly quiet town to reveal another, more gruesome, being from under its guise. In the midst of light, it seemed as if the city was slumbering, as if it were waiting for the opportune time, only revealing its true nature under the shadow of darkness.


Jay shook the thoughts from his head. He knew them to be foolish. But the notion continued to tease him in the back of his mind. The city was not alive; it was just a labyrinth of brick and dirt. He wasn’t so naïve as to believe the unease feeling he felt was the city watching him, but rather a pair of human eyes observing him, probably hoping to snatch a few mizas from one of the upper class. Stealing from a Dynasty member was dangerous though, he didn’t think anyone would be so stupid as to attempt something unless they were truly desperate. But that theory continued to be proven wrong much to his surprise. However, it didn’t stop him from gripping the hilt of his sword a little tighter and glance about warily.


The young man had no real reason for being in the marketplace that night. As usual, sleep evaded the Ackina Dynasty member, the familiar urge to roam about, stirring in his chest and leading him three bells away from his estate, into the heart of the city. The choice was simple in his mind; attempt to trick his body into thinking it was tired while laying in bed for four more bells, hoping exhaustion would force his body into a restless sleep. Or he could cut to the chase, push the futile thoughts of sleep from his mind and see what the night held.


The leather clad man stopped his wanders through the street beside a small cart, peering at the contents idly. Jay was distracted from his musing when he felt a hand deftly attempt to find and steal something from his person. He whirled around, hand lashing out, hoping to catch the wannabe thief but when he turned, he was met with a faceless crowd.


If they are so desperate to steal, why don’t they just ask. Oh wait, that’s right. All Dynasty members are selfish, greedy pigs who don’t have a helping bone in their body…


Jay could feel frustration coil in the pit of his stomach. The stereotype that was so prevalent over the wealthy class irritated the Ackina to no end. He was continually thrown into the same lot as the rest of the spoiled Dynasty brats. He knew what they were called behind their backs. And he agreed with it, the name was justly given. The landowners and their children had everything, the best of the food, best drink, lavish homes. But while they lived in luxury, many others suffered. It wasn’t fair and deep down he knew it wasn’t right. But Jay also knew that if he wanted to one day actually change something for the good of everyone in Kenash, he needed to be in a place of authority.


And that meant taking advantage of the life he was born into.


Jay sighed, his mind racing with a hundred possibilities. He was a fool to ever think he could change anything. He was just one man. Almost every Dynasty member would fight him tooth and nail if he even as much as breathed a word about contesting generations of customs and culture. Slaves aren’t people. What they feel and think don’t matter. Only the thoughts of the rich were important. The freeborn were welcomed on the outside, but he knew that the elite of society barely tolerated them. The rich used and abused them, just like they did with everything else.


Screams cut through the air, jerking him back into reality. Someone shoved past him, knocking him against the cart. Jay blinked startled, not understanding what was happening as the crowd scattered. A green blur streaked across his vision. He didn’t know what it was but if it had anything to do with the Midnight Market, he knew it couldn’t be good. The green object dive bombed through the air towards the crowd. The air was rent with shouts of fear and pain.


The sound of metal rasping against metal rang dully in the night. Jay held a longsword in one hand, its metallic surface glinting in the light of the lanterns. The Bounty Hunter pushed through the crowd in a half run, brow furrowed in concentration as he moved in the direction of the glowing beast. He had no idea how he was going to fight something that flew through the air. But he knew one thing. He wasn’t about to let some monster terrorize the city.


He would do everything he could to help Kenash and show the people he wasn’t just another Dynasty brat. Maybe this was the first step in showing them who Jay Ackina really was.


But first, he had a monster to kill.