Zero chronicles

Royals, Dukes, Counts, Viscounts, Barons, Esquire and finally commoners. A hierarchical chain which dictated the affairs of mankind on the planet; Noctis A world which revolved around connections, skill, talent, and most importantly, money. Commoners were nothing but fodder tasked with filling up the gaps. And even lower than that, sitting at the nadir of the entire chain, were slaves. _ The seemingly never ending cold rain came down in torrents, beating hard against the bare back of a scruffy looking man in his mid 30's. He lay semi-unconscious on the hard wet gravel floor, in front of him a hulking figure of a man clad in dark armor. The rain washing the bits of blood on his steel gauntlet. "We've wasted a lot of time here Curtis," a callow voice says from behind the iron clad knight to reveal a blonde haired noble about 15-16, by his side a woman in a mix of dark green kimono and a lustrous silver chest plate over her breast. She held an umbrella over herself and the smug noble, her stature, statue like. "I don't have to remind you to vacate that land, do I?" He says looking over his shoulder at the commoner, who by now had recovered some sense of self awareness and had realized he was on the floor. A hasty nod from the commoner answers his question and he walks away, his retainers following him closely behind. From the corner of his eyes, the noble spots another figure by the corner. They were clad in a hooded cloak, seemingly unbothered by the rain beating down on them. He meets the strangers gaze with a frown, then all of a sudden the stranger bows his head at him. This instantly perks his mood as a wide grin spreads across his face. "Now that's how vermin should act," he smiles then tosses a singular gold coin at the stranger and struts off. His female retainer meets the strangers eyes with a cold stare, causing him to involuntarily tense up. But eventually she leaves with the noble. "And I thought I had run out of luck, the stranger chuckles to himself bending down to pick the gold coin. A smirk appears on his face for a brief moment then vanishes just as fast as it came. " Hey you! " a strained voice echoes from behind the stranger causing him to frown a bit. "You're in cahoots with that noble ain't ya? " the previously beat up commoner questions, visible discontent on his face as he staggers towards the stranger. "No, Ive never seen him before. " the stranger responds calmly. "Oh yh! So you just happened to receive mon – gold coin from a noble whom you've never seen before". He roars grasping the strangers shoulder with his right arm. Coincidentally, as if to add to his predicament, the wind suddenly picks up, taking the hood of the strangers head revealing an unkempt middle lengthy blue hair which moved in accordance to the wind. It was pale and had patches of dirt here and there but still looked magnificent. Well at least the commoner thought so, as the first thought to come to his mind was, a noble. This assumption didn't last for long though, as soon after, the commoner spots the black ink like chain tattoo which rounded the neck of the stranger. " Hes a... slave,'' he muses to himself. Then his expression which had shifted from that of anger to fear, and now one the stranger was all too familiar with. "It's only fair if you hand over that gold coin to me now isn't–". " Greed". Before the middle aged man could finish his statement, he feels himself being lifted off the floor. And before he knew what was happening he was once again down on the floor unconscious. "Pathetic," Artemis says staring down the filth who had attempted to rob him. He spares no time in going through the man's clothes, the results only disappointing him further. "A meager 10 copper coins, he frowns", and they're all fakes and poorly made copies." "Damnation," Artemis curses, but nonetheless pockets the coins exiting the alley while putting on his hood again. "I bet his thoughts when he saw my hair colour were, " omg a noble, but then he saw the slave crest and thought nahh. "I'll have you know that I am indeed a noble dumbass..... Or at least I was". — " Take him Reinhardt! Dont stop until you border the northern empire," Lord Lancet Artemis von Ashford says to his right hand, a sense of urgency in his voice as he hurriedly shoves the 6yr old Artemis into the depths of a hidden stairwell. "I will protect them my Lord," Reinhardt says grimly. From the distance a cacophony of footsteps is heard forcing grim expressions on the faces of all the adults who understood what it meant. "Be safe my dear Art," a beautiful lady says to him, struggling to hold back the tears in her eyes. All while the cries of an infant echoed throughout the room from behind her. With much reluctance, Lancet shuts the metallic trap door close and shortly afterwards a click was heard "What's going on Eris," a white haired elf says tugging at the sleeves of Artemis. For his age he was oddly matured, this owing to the reason why he had not made a fuss when his parents had sent him away. His little sister Yuki had been left behind, probably because his parents came to the conclusion that she would only make the escape harder. "It's alright Nyxie," he replies the elf patting her on the head, uncle Reinhardt will keep us safe. "Lets get moving," Reinhardt says coldly without looking in the direction of either children. They spend a long time walking in what seemed to be an underground passage, Artemis hypothesized that it probably spanned all through the Ashford county. None of them spoke a single word throughout the journey, except from the elf named Nyxie who had somehow remained oblivious to the weight of the current situation. "We are here," Reinhardt says finally after a long while of walking. And just above him at the end of the seemingly never ending tunnel was another trapdoor. "Nyxie goes first, then you follow my Lord," he continues. And just as instructed they leave the tunnel climbing up a set of mechanical stairs which extended downwards when Reinhardt pulled a lever. Upon opening the doors, a wave of moonlight comes pouring into the dark tunnels. Nyxie was the first one to get out, her exit is soon followed by a sharp shriek. Dismay clouding Artemis' face, he leaps out from the underground at high alert, only for him to find out that the trapdoor was surrounded by several bandits. One of them had taken Nyxie and was holding her captive. "They really showed up just like he said they would," one of them breaks out laughing barbaricly. "Of course they did fool," another chims in. All this while, a myriad of thoughts were going through Artemis' mind. "How are they here? how did they find us already? who else knew of the passage?" Several questions were asked, all of them unanswered. Then he catches a glimpse of Nyxie being jerked around by the burly bandit who had her wrist in his arms. "Let go of her! " he growls pulling a dagger from behind. His words elicits a burst of laughter from the surrounding bandits causing his gaze to grow even colder "Or what kid?" The burly bandit retorts, "are you going to make me with your little sword? " His grip on Nyxie tightens arousing a whimper from her and Artemis dashes forward with his blade behind his back. "He's really coming at me?" The bandit muses in his head shocked. "Know your place your brat! ". He roars swinging his free hand at Artemis in a backhand swing. In response Artemis reaches his free hand out to meet the backhand swing, then pushes diagonally against the attack, using its moment to propel himself airborne. " What the–" the bandit says shocked at the intensity of movements coming from the kid. Before anything else could be done a silver glint flashes by his right eye gouging out his eyeball. The bandit yelps in pain letting go of Nyxie's wrist as he pressures his palm against his eyes. "My eyes!!!!!! " he screams out as blood comes gushing out of his eyes, as if ignoring his attempts to stop it's flow. "If only I had my practice longsword," Artemis frowns to himself. He had meant to unalive the bandit in one move, but the reach on the dagger was too short to make his cut a fatal one. "Reinhardt is here with us, he continues to himself in his mind taking hold of nyxie's hand, " with him here, taking out this number of bandits should be feasi–" A blunt force comes crashing into his head mid way through his internal dialogue from behind. The force of the hit instantly taking him to the floor. He was conscious only through will power, the blood sipping out from his head blurred his vision almost entirely. Then a familiar voice rings out from above him. "They're all yours", Reinhardts familiar voice echoes through Artemis' mind. He could see Nyxie crouched down to the floor by his side mumbling some inaudible words as tears flowed freely from her eyes. " I would want to assume that you will take them as far away from here as possible... Am I right? ". Reinhardt continues. "But of course sir," a man who seemed to be the leader of the troop says coming forward, a sly look plastered on his face. "Good, Reinhardt concludes tossing a heavy pouch at the man and returning back down to the tunnels. He pauses for a while, then tilts his head towards the leader once more. " Do me a favor and don't kill them," he says to the man, then stares down at Artemis. "Consider it my last favor to your father..., he was a good man, but at the end that was all he was. " And with that he disappears into the iron doors. — "Can you spare this one some money kind sir, a shrill voice crawls through Artemis' spine pulling him back from his thoughts.