Fur Tempus

Aegar turned towards the alley and peered inside. A tall man leaned against a brick building on the left side of the alley. His face and figured were obscured by the shadows of the alley.

"Are you....talking to me?" Aegar ventured as he squinted his eyes, trying and failing to pierce the gloom of the alley. 

"Heh, like there would be anyone else around this time of day?" The obscured figure said sarcastically. "I have seen you running around all day. I might hazard a guess that a talentless kid like you could not find even the slightest bit of work?"

"Yes, sir." Aegar admitted sheepishly. He saw no point in lying to the man. Especially since he might be offering work. 

"Hmm...come closer boy. Let me get a closer look at you." The man rasped, his voice as scratchy as steel wool. 

Aegar hesitated for a moment. He didn't know the man at all, but then again...he couldn't return to the orphanage so what choice did he have? He stepped into the alley.

As his eyes adjusted to the dark and waning light in the alleyway, he finally got a good luck at the man who had been talking to him.

The man was about as old as the director if he had to hazard a guess, but dressed more finely, like a noble. His clothes were trimmed in gold and he wore bejeweled rings on his fingers. A tall hat adorned his head, slightly obscuring his face. 

"Get a good enough look, did you?" The man said. "You've got pretty good eyes, kid. Too bad for you nobody else noticed." 

"What are you talking about?" Aegar was absolutely confused by the "good eyes" statement. Unless the man was talking about his ability to see those black auras. Nothing else really came to mind.

"Yes, exactly. Those demonic auras you can see." The man turned to look at him and Aegar almost recoiled. The man's face was a crisscross of scars and barely healed skin. A vicious set of tracks crossed over his left eye which was a milky white color. It almost looked like he got into a fight with a dog that breathed acid or something.

"Never mind my face, boy. How would you like a job and to save the city while you're at it?" The man offered with a smile that stretched his skin in a ghastly and unsightly manner.

Aegar narrowed his eyes. An offer too good to be true, no matter how you sliced it. And to show up so conveniently when he couldn't find any work at all earlier? 

"No, thanks. There's always tomorrow." Aegar replied. He did not trust this man one bit. 

"For you? I am afraid there will be no tomorrow." The man held his hands up in a non threatening gesture. "Not from me, not from me."

"If not from you, then who?" Aegar was not naïve despite growing up in an orphanage. That notion had been beaten out of him by the director when he was a mere 10 years old. 

"A bounty was placed on your head no more than an hour ago. Assigned by the director of your orphanage, well former orphanage I should say. It would not do to be inaccurate." 

"You lie. Why would the director assign a bounty to me? I have done nothing to him." Aegar almost laughed at the notion. He certainly scoffed, it was a step too far down the path of unbelievable. 

"Think, boy! Use that head of yours! You know exactly why he would put a bounty on your head." The man shook his head. 

Aegar thought for a minute. Something he had done to the director...no, not to the director. Then he remembered his last conversation with the director. 

"...he gifted that sword to Brax, saying he had potential!" 

"You just ruined years of hard work! Plans upon plans upon plans!"

Then Aegar remembered that black aura around the sword. Demonic aura the man had called it. He remembered seeing a small wisp of it enter Brax's ear.

"I see you understand the crux of it now. Do you understand why the director assigned a bounty to you?" The man pushed, but he didn't need to.

"Yes, but that would mean--" Aegar was interrupted by the man.

"Exactly. Your ability to see demonic aura before you have even had your Coming of Age Ceremony puts their plans in jeopardy. There are dark forces secretly moving in this city and with your eyes and my...resources, we would be well-equipped to at least slow them down. If not stop them outright."

Aegar folded his arms and his eyes narrowed. "And what does that have to do with me?"

"You needed a job right? I have one even someone talentless like you could do." The man smiled again. "I'll even pay you daily." 

There it was. The hook and line. Now it was up to Aegar whether to bite or not. He needed more information. 

"What's the job?"

"Stealing."

"What?"

"I said stealing."

"I know what you said." 

The man sighed. "It is not what you think it is. I am not asking you to commit petty thievery. Such tasking is beneath a man like me."

"Then what are you asking for? Aegar inquired. 

"There are...artifacts. They are imbued with demonic energy and when given to someone talentless before their ceremony but after the age of 15, there is a great chance when they undergo the ceremony the demonic energy from the artifact will enter their body and erase their soul."

"What?!" Aegar was shocked! Erasing the soul? Such information was completely shocking and unexpected.

"Yes. This is how demons propagate. After erasing their soul, these energies take over the body and gain a twisted version of whatever talent the host would have gained." The man explained. "For example, say someone was going to gain a talent for fire. After gaining control of the host, the demon would gain a talent for hellfire instead!"

"And if I steal these artifacts, that's one less host correct?" Aegar asked.

"Yes."

"How many artifacts are in the city?" 

"Not counting the sword you knocked away from your fellow orphan this morning? Perhaps about a dozen or so?" 

Aegar was shocked again! How did the man know about the sword given to Brax? Actually scratch that! How did he know what was going on in the orphanage at all?

"Don't give me that look. I was not spying on you, well not you exactly." The man laughed. "Your director has been on our watchlist for quite awhile now. We had expected him to make a move sooner." 

The man coughed and cleared his throat. "So, about the job. Do you want it?" 

Aegar thought about it, but not for very long. If what the man said was true, he would be doing the city a favor. He would also have a job that makes money too! No worries about food or shelter either, he assumed. 

"All right. I accept." 

"Excellent. My name is...heh, well you can just call me Hawk." Hawk held his hand out to Aegar. 

"I am Aegar." Aegar took the Hawk's hand and shook it. "Glad to be working with you."

"Likewise, young Aegar. Come, let me show you to our hideout." Hawk turned away and headed down the alley. Aegar followed him. What kind of hideout would he be shown? Would there be others? He couldn't wait to find out.