374 87th of the harvest season, Dreynas city- beastfolk ghetto

  Rosario walked down the road boot’s heels clicking against the cobblestones as he walked past the troops clad in red on patrol the capitol streets he thought in passing “not common to see QGs” as he kept walking to the beast folk ward he thought about how a couple months ago when the orders came for all demi human individuals to relocate to specific areas of the city and how it should have been better for them to live in closed communities. He thought it should have been a good decision on paper, but now it just means he had to take two trains and a sky lift to get to the best folk ward. His train of thought was derailed by an elderly man standing on a soapbox he shouted to a small crowd of onlookers “the beast folk are a stain on our society no more than a filthy vermin to be purged from the kingdom do not be fooled by their human appearance they bear the traits of animals because they are of impure blood and descendants of the demon gods armies and like vermin the fields of the farmer deserved to be exterminated” Rosario ignored the man and his mind wandered “things must not be going well in the courts. For the public to get this up in arms about the case,” his sister was currently in the courts, along with the other family heads delegating over the situation.

  Rosario walked through the gates to the southmost demi human ward in the city right by the port district he saw the merchants on the streets peddling goods of all sorts from wines to seal stones he saw the brothels down one street they weren’t quite at their full operating capacity yet as it was still early but the beast folk brothels haven’t been fully operating since the relocation order. The beastfolk were scared, and the humans were scared. Scared people are bad business for a place that peddled the flesh. He walked into a small building nestled between two of the brothels. A small sign, battered and mismatched with the building, hung from a post. It read, “fortified wine and more.”

  Inside of the building Rosario noticed the lights were off he walked in cautiously he reached into the sheath beneath his jacket and pulled out a knife with intricate carvings on the blade, he heard a deep growling sound and out of the shadows jumped a skinny young man, claws drawn, Rosario instinctively stepped back and blocked the strike at his neck with the broad end of the blade and a handful of sparks fell to the floor. “Nice try,” Rosario said. The man who jumped him stood upright and said to him, “Got to keep you on your toes.” The man looked at Rosario, and the ears on the top of his head, a pair of long gray-black appendages with black tufts at the ends, perked up like a housecat when it eyed something it desired. He eyed the man with an expression that said, “Why are you here?” Rosario understood and said, “I'm bored at home.” Kelle’s ears dropped as if he had lost interest, and he said, “So you come to the worst place in all of the capital city to pass the time?” He said it in a sharp tone with a twinge of aggression, taken aback by his sudden change in demeanor, Rosario responded to him, “Surely it's not that bad, right?” Kelle, now looking angered with his friend, said to him, “It is that bad” he walked around to the window and took a peek outside her tuned back to Rosario and crossed his arms “they don’t even let us leave the ward anymore, they have patrols moving around the perimeters, its a bad time to be a demi human” just as Kelle was about to speak again a rhythmic beeping came from the small rectangular plate on the wall. Rosario recognized it as an emergency broadcast from the office of the Queens Guard Kelle flicked on the display, and a display showing four demi-human corpses came into view and in the same image the queen could be seen sitting in the throne slumped a dark crimson dripped from between her eyes the voice of Iselle Leistung the head of the queensgaurd could be heard saying “as of this moment the queen is dead and there are no living heirs and as such I am enacting the emergency powers granting me the title of monarch regent until a suitable replacement from among the noble families can be found” Rosario shocked by the image took a step back and then what he heard next made his stomach churn “the culprits of this vile act are beast folk believed to be associated with the order of secessionists that seek to destroy our fine kingdom there is reason to believe that they have connections to the populations of beast folk living within the wards in our fine city, my men will descend on the wards and smoke out any and all collaborators in order to bring justice to our slain queen” Kelle looked to the man in the room only with a look of fear and anxiety in his eyes now and said his mouth trembling “shit, shit ,shit ,shit” the beastfolk at his side said “well be safe right a noble in our residence right? “outside of the building the sound of the soldiers marching could be heard marching into the ward the men clad in red and black uniforms were kicking down doors and dragging people out by their clothes hair or just about anything they could get their hands. Rosario said, “Not so sure, they look like they're out for blood.”

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  The footsteps neared the door, they kicked it down, and 4 men rushed in with small arms drawn. Rosario moved to defend his friend. He produced his blade again and forced it into the nearest QG’s hand. He shouted out with pain as Rosario pulled the cavalry saber from the man’s hip sheath and slashed at the closest secondary target. Once the blade met flesh across the next man’s eyes, Rosario backed up to create distance between himself and his opponents. He didn’t notice the man behind him, and he grabbed Rosario and lifted him slightly off the ground and slammed him down onto the nearest table. It crushed under the weight of the full-grown man, leaving him reeling, his head spinning. The air was knocked out of his lungs. He tried to get up to pull himself back to his feet, but one of the QG’s had jabbed him with a needle in the scuffle. His vision began to blur; he pulled himself begrudgingly to his feet. He fell forward; his legs were like jelly. His face hit the floor, and he saw the demihuman he was speaking to mere moments ago lying on the floor, a crimson puddle spreading around his body like fire on dry wood. Rosario struggled once more to move; the sensation was fleeing his body like water from a broken glass. On the edge of consciousness, he heard one of the men say, “We got him.” The man paused for a moment and said, “Yes, my lady.” His vision faded to black.

  When he next awoke, Rosario found himself in a strange place, a field of flowers, the scent of them drifting softly on the wind. When he blinked, he could feel a pulsating pain in his head. A presence shifted somewhere in the immediate vicinity. He called out to the presence and paused, no response. He turned, scanning the environment. The wind kicked up and he sensed the flow of mana behind him. He turned swiftly, and his eyes made contact with someone or something. Rosario felt the Mana flowing out of the person was jagged and hot like the flames of a crackling pyre Rosario saw the man standing in front of him but couldn’t discern his face it looked distorted somehow, the figure in front of him had long waist length gradient hair and a jacket with fur around the neck the jacket lie unzipped with a black knit sweater visible beneath it. The man was clad in dark denim pants, a holster sat empty along with an empty sheath on the left leg, and a set of two belts running side by side on the right leg.. The boots were comprised of dark leather, worn and scratched.

  The man in front of Rosario spoke his words, deafening, “to this one, a choice.” The figure without a face held out both hands, one held a small fractal of a jet-black stone, jagged and pointed. The other held a small mote of white fire, flickering in the wind, its warmth radiated outwards at a disproportionate scale, heating the environment around it. The figure without a face said once more, “to this one a choice.” He walked closer to the man and tried to look at the distorted void that was his face. He repeated his statement. Rosario reached out, resolving to take the black stone shard. The very second his fingertip touched the stone, images flashed through his mind: a flat wooden sword lined with the black stone, intricate carvings on the wood, and another image flashed of the house Lorea clan sword. Rosario could feel the mana shifting in the environment, uprooting the garden of flowers at his feet. The cry of a bird of prey filled his ears for a fraction of a second. A great wind blew; it was strong enough to knock him to the ground. This time, he extended his arms to catch himself before he hit the ground. He phased cleanly through the ground, falling into an inky abyss blacker than the dead of night. The feeling of gravity pulling down on him overwhelmed his perception. He tried to scream to call out for anyone in the falling darkness, but to no avail, he quickly consigned himself to whatever fate would befall him.