Ravens of Eternity

She drew back as she picked up from the rack in front of her, and slowly ran her open hand across its surface. It was mildly stippled leather, and dyed a deep blue, as though it belonged in the ocean.

Perhaps the animal that it was made out of came from the ocean just below.

It felt smooth, yet bumpy. Like a tiny cobblestone street.

Miko crinkled her nose and put it back on the rack with the rest of the bags. It was a feel that didn’t quite sit right with her, so she moved on further down the aisle. There, more and more bags waited for her on the racks.

And among the racks, even more waited nearby, all full of bags of different shapes, sizes, materials, colors, everything.

She found another that strangely looked like mossy bark that was stitched together with thin strands of leather. When she went closer, she found that it was actually the real thing, and traced her fingers through the cracks.

She tapped on its surface with her knuckles and made satisfying THOK THOK sounds. Ultimately, she passed on it and continued further into the shop.

Eventually, she came on a bag that appeared to be a light blue fabric woven with a rough, uneven thread, similar to linen. Its edges and straps were made of a dark grey leather-like material that flexed superbly as the bag itself moved.

.....

But the best part was the stitching itself. All of the seams and stitches were sewn with a highly flexible titanium thread, which kept the whole bag supple, but strong. Not only that, but bolts of lightning and electricity were woven into the fabric and the straps using that same thread.

It glinted beautifully as she moved it under the light.

Miko’s eyes grew wider and wider as she pored over the bag’s every detail. She yanked it off its hook with little hesitation and went through each and every compartment the bag had.

She opened up the main compartment, eyeballed its size, and nodded in satisfaction. She then popped open side compartments and pouches and filled them with her hand, as though to test their capacity.

And unlike the rough outer texture, the inside was a smooth and silky fabric that allowed her hand to glide around with ease.

After she closed it up, she adjusted the strap and slung it over her shoulder and across her chest so that the bag itself was slung at her side. It easily conformed to her figure and hugged her. As though it belonged there the whole time.

“This is the one,” said Miko.

“Finally!” exclaimed Doleth. “We’ve been here for hours now!”

“Oh! Apologies! I did not even realize...”

Miko looked away briefly in reflection, then turned back to continue her train of thought.

“And I believe I am taking up too much of your time, all told. You could be doing something much better for your city, than be my sitter.”

Doleth chuckled softly at Miko, then smiled at her warmly.

“It’s fine,” she said. “It’s only a few hours every cycle or so. And besides, I’m kinda enjoying the downtime. It’s been hectic all other times, to be honest, and I’m getting overwhelmed by it all.”

“Why?” asked Miko. “Everything looks very peaceful in this city.”

“And we Justicars work tirelessly to keep it that way,” answered Doleth. “Honestly, I’m not sure why, but nowadays people are... angrier. Maybe it’s because we’ve all been cooped up in these cities for way too long.”

As Doleth spoke, Miko paid for her bag through her DI. Thanks to Eva’s winnings in the arena, she had a few hundred thousand Imperial Krohn in her ledger. So she was able to make simple purchases like these without a second thought.

“Lots of people are definitely frustrated by life under the dome,” continued Doleth. “Maybe they thought life was going to be easier somehow. Or maybe they just don’t want to believe it’s a permanent thing.”

“Why have they not left?” asked Miko.

It was a fair question. If people hate where they are, why not go to a place that they didn’t?

“Lots of reasons,” answered Doleth. “Maybe they can’t, or they love the planet a great deal, or maybe it’s ancestral. But mostly, they can’t let go of the old world.”

Having made her purchase, the two of them stepped out of the store. The signage above its doors read ‘bags Bags BAGS’, as though to eradicate any doubt as to what they sold. And as they walked out onto the street, they were immediately shouted at by an angry male voice.

“Look! I told you! It’s one of those apes!”

Doleth and Miko turned to look, and saw a half dozen angry-looking Drogar headed their way. Though they were all of varying scale color, they all wore dark red robes and had blades and pistols on their belts.

Their predatory eyes were fixed on Miko, and didn’t bother to hide any violent intent with their stares.

“Stay behind me,” said Doleth.

She then stepped in front of Miko and faced the small crowd of Drogar. When she spoke, her voice was firm and filled with authority. It was strong enough that it kept them at bay, by at least a handful of meters.

“What do you all want?” she said.

And although they kept their distance, it was clear that they were itching to get closer. Their hands were on their beltknives, their stances were aggressive, and their tones were hostile.

“Shouldn’t Justicars be protecting other Drogar?” asked one. “Instead of, say, a sunbleached ape?”

Doleth narrowed her eyes at the group in front of her. Clearly, they were doing their best to instigate things. Just more of the same disruptive behavior they all had been seeing more of.

“By law,” she said, “all Yellow Zone inhabitants are required to have protective escort. For their safety, and yours.”

Another one of them harrumphed at her words.

“As if that thing could even hurt us,” he said. “Not only that, but apes aren’t allowed on Taloren. Shouldn’t you be killing it, not protecting it? Or didn’t your precious Academy of Law teach that, Justicar?”

Doleth turned dark the moment one of them attacked her order. It was one thing to speak ill out of turn, and another to slander a distinguished institute of Drogar society.

Her hands curled up into fists from their provocations.

“No such law exists,” she uttered. “I advise all of you to leave immediately, before you end up doing something you regret.”

“Oh, so not only are you illegally protecting an ape,” yelled a third, “but you’re allowing it free reign, while you push Taloren-born Drogar aside. Like garbage! Are we all garbage to you, ape-lover?!”

“This isn’t a Justicar,” exclaimed another. “She doesn’t even know the true law of the Drogar.”

“Justicars are just tools of the Corrupt Red Spirals!” yelled yet another. “They’ve lost all sense of what being Drogar really is!”

The Drogar loudly agreed with each other and threw further aspersions at Doleth, along with Justicars in general.

Doleth fumed as they threw their insults, to the point where her whole body shook out of fury.

“How dare you!” she yelled. “How dare all of you slander the Justicars! Slander our laws, our lives! And all because you can’t accept them! Well, now you’re gonna learn the price of slander.”

She drew her straight blade from the sheath on her back, which rang out with a SHING. It was far longer than any beltknife that Miko had ever seen. So long, in fact, that it seemed to be almost as tall as she was.

“For violation of Imperial Defamation Charter, Section 13, Motion 5: Slander Against Judicial Executors,” Doleth continued, “I, Bronze Justicar Doleth hereby brand all of you heretics against the Empire. Rescind your statements or be summarily executed for your crimes.”

The group backed up slightly from the threat, but was far too angry to see reason. They had been that way for far too long, and allowed their rage to fester deep inside. Logic be damned, all they saw was red.

“You’re not a Justicar,” said one of them. “You’re just a traitor. So you can stuff your violation right back up your tail.”

They then drew their beltknives and began to surround her with careful steps.

Doleth eyed all of them, then snorted in derision. She didn’t wait for them to completely surround her, and instead leapt towards the nearest Drogar.

Fire was in her eyes as she stepped into her dance. Her blade lashed out against her target as she spun into range. Her speed and grace was far beyond his, to the point where he didn’t even have the capacity to raise his blade to protect himself.

She sliced through his neck in a flash, and caused his head to fly into the air. A stream of blood gushed out after it.

Before the Drogar could even register that he was dead, two of his friends charged at her from both her flanks. They slashed downwards at her head, but she quickly raised her blade and parried them both.

She pushed their blades off, then while they were unbalanced, performed a lateral slash that cut both of their stomachs wide open.

Their blood and guts spilled out onto the street as the two of them fell down dead.

Doleth’s blade didn’t even slow down as she twirled it above her head, then spun towards the fourth charging Drogar and lopped his head off with a flourish.

But as she did so, one of the others had come in and rushed at her from behind. When he saw that she was completely open, he charged forward with both hands on his beltknife, and jammed it into her side.

It punctured her armor and slid a third of the way into her ribs.

She growled in pain, but quickly brought her sword up and through her assailant’s arms, and cut them off halfway up his forearms. He howled in pain and stared at the bloody lumps that were his arms.

The last Drogar dropped his blade in a panic and turned around to run. But Doleth calmly drew her pistol from its holster, aimed it at the fleeing Drogar, and fired decisively.

His right leg blew off just below the knee, and he fell screaming and in agony to the ground. He rolled around and clutched at his leg in absolute pain.

Doleth then turned back towards the Drogar next to her, who had turned into a sputtering, bloody mess.

“I-I’m sorry!” he exclaimed.

“It’s too late for rehabilitation,” she replied.

She then sunk her blade point-first into his chest, and sunk it in as far as it would go. After he expired moments later, she drew out her weapon unceremoniously. Blood poured out the gaping chest wound, and the Drogar’s body slumped over and fell on the pavement.

Doleth removed the blood off her blade with the flick of a wrist, then sheathed it on her back.

Around her, the blood of the Drogar that attacked her spilled out onto the streets of Lacroseth City. Their bodies turned as cold as her gaze.