Zithos: A Bad Beginning ( Updated )

Zithos: A Bad Beginning

Chapter one: Who am I?

Fear, such a human thought, something that makes your heart beat, your eyes water, and your conscious disappear, it’s pathetic but at one time I was human as well. but now I am an angel, not the most proud of them but the one of darkness, the angel of death. But who am I to judge fate and control destiny through fear, humans have already done so. Many mages and scholars write tomes and tomes upon my history, “The man who became an angel”, books on a “greedy and vile” person who became but a god. LIES! all of them, I am the only one to know the truth! I will tell you the truth if you wish to listen, so our story will begin with my father, a guild, and a deceitful angel. I can not tell a lie, I am an angel.

As a child I was poor, born into the harbor of Fellport, A large city on the outskirts of the kingdom. The city received it’s name from explorers who , when they arrived, saw the  Dragonborn and the Minotaur trading, the city sat at the bottom of a large mountain that made the city look like it “fell” into the ocean. After the Magistrate took the harbor, it became a trade center for the world, but the ghettos grew large; outstretched like the wings of a sea hawk. My family lived in the Crab-Claw district, known for its thievery and ruffians of all nature.

When my mother birthed me into this cruel, unforgiving, and cold world, she developed an unknown affliction, she grew rough patches of red skin, it was described in the report by the medicine man as “Devilish”. Days later, ash was found in her bed whilst in the care of the medicine man. All that was left was her jewelry, she was then pronounced dead, this sent my father into a drunken madness. He grieved for 13 years by drinking black and pink wine, as well as mead he could pick of the shipping boats he worked down by the dock. He would say to me,

“Son, You have been tough through our time, and I know I have been a horrible father, but if you do not grow to be a merchant or a grand warrior like your grandfather, TO HELL WITH ME!” That night he went missing, never to be found again, When I reported this to the city guard, all they had for me was the ownership of the money that my father had, a mere 200 imperial tors. Sense it was seen to the city council that my father had run from the magistrate, his property belonged to the city, I had no relatives, so I went homeless for a long time. Until a very strange day where my life changed, almost unexpectedly.

I roamed the streets for some time, looking to the market district, looking for work. I would do odd jobs for the shopkeepers to stay fed, but it was becoming harder and harder as more people entered the city and the population grew immensely. One day, the day of sun, where all the men a women go to worship their individual gods. Treading a selling where low during these times, and it was impossible to find work. A man walked up to me, his hair was red and his beard was braided with an ancient leather. He looked at me silently, “What you want?” I gawked at him. He smirked, a grin crawled from the left of his face to the right until he loudly exclaimed “You’ll Do!” almost startling enough to where I fell of of my napping perch, I stood up quickly and brushed myself off quickly. I looked at him questioningly, he motion to follow him, so I did.

He lead me up and down city street, the mass of the people where done with their gods so they were back on the streets buying and selling, crowding the area. filling it with lines and groups all shouting loudly. I had blocked the sound out for I had one mission, stay next to this stranger and see where he will lead me to. He would glide into the crowds and move through them as if he was wading through water that was not moving. I struggled to keep up, I would always go around the crowds but I felt like I had something to prove to this man. through narrow alleyways and wide open street filled with market stalls and food vendors. it slowly began to become less crowded the more we went in, I want sure I was in the Crab-Claw district anymore. Then he stopped and turned, I caught up from the lagging behind and he looked down another alley. Between two shops, he looked at me.

“Down there you will find the sewer, make you way through them and you will find a bar, filled with patrons, I will be waiting for you. ‘an make sure not get eaten by the rat…” he chuckled, he turned and walked down the step, not even reacting to the slippery step, then he vanished into the darkness that was beyond the grate door. My curiosity was peaked and I found my heart racing and my head filled with what would happen if I followed his instruction and what would happen if I didn’t. Then my hand touched the door, I guess my body made the decision for me. I reached for the handle of the door and opened it. Fumes of a horrid stench.

It was dark, at the time my senses dwindled as the gases emanate from the walls around me. filling my lungs with foul stenches and made my eyes water. I began to move, slowly for I could not see. I pressed my hand against the wall and used it as a guide on where I should be following, as soon as my hand pressed the wall, I could feel its dampness and the gas coming off of it. I was disgusted but I decided to keep moving, hoping that this would lead me to something better in life. I turned a corner to see at the end was a torch, its fires burned the air around it, as if it was devouring the air. It filled my eyes with light and hope that the end was near, I walked up to it, its light was bright enough to fill the hallways and channels of this area, it pointed behind me. there was a large opening that led down another set stairs and there was another torch at the end, “I believe it’s this way” I thought to myself, after I went down the stairs, there was a door. It was slightly open and revealed a larger room with a gathering of water in the middle with a dock shaped porch on top of the water, at the back there was a fire and a bar filled with all kinds of liquor. There were tables filled with patrons, all of them dressed in leather and women dresses in thick cloth. there was the wench wandering from table to table. Near the staircase that led to the bar stood the man with the red hair from before, and another man, his head was shiny and his eyes were rough, one of his eyes was blind with a larger scar draped across it.

“Kids not gonna make make it.” said the man with the scar, I could hear their hushed tones from this distance, I had just walked in and their backs were turned from me. “Give him time, I lit the main torch on the way in, ‘he should find it easily if he didn't get lost in the rat-ways…” -Crack- both me turned to face me, daggers drawn instantly. It had seemed as if I had seemed I had stepped on a glass bottle shattering it, the bar went silent for the time. The red haired man turned and shouted, “Go back to business, ain't no guards!”. the bar suddenly filled again with noise of conversations and glasses moving. The man with red haired walked up to me, “This is the ‘Patron’s Pub’, I brought you here for some work that you may be interested in.”  

The bald man walked up to me and stared me dead in the face, “Davon, I don’t think this boy was the son of…” he was quickly cut of by the red haired man also known as Davon. “He is, and he will be excellent at the work he will have in store for him.”

I looked at both of them puzzlingly,

“What do you…” I was cut off from my words,

“Don’t worry ‘bout that boy…” the bald man said

“...All you need to know is that my family is extending it’s hand to you to welcome you into our guild.” I looked down, the man had extended his hand and I stared for a minute then looked at Davon, he shook his head in disagreement of the action so I sat and stared, The bald man looked to me,

“smart and cautious, I like this kid so far. Welcome, my name is Gunther and this is my guild, Davon could you show this boy around and then test his skill in combat, we don’t want milk drinkers doing dirty jobs.” With that he turned and walked away to tend to other business.

“Welcome to the Thieves Guild.” Davon exclaimed with a large smile on his face.

Chapter 2: Cold Awakening

After about an hour he should me the guild rooms and stores to where I will be tending in the down time, then he tested my skills with swords and daggers as well as a bow. He showed me to the room where I would be staying and the people I will be bunking with. This made me happy that I was going to be able to get some work done around somewhere because for a large bit of my life I was useless and now I had a home, even if it was just petty thieves.

After the tour of this large area away from the stench and foul odors of the sewer. “ This is the training room..” My attention was drawn away by a small figure wrapped up in a chest that sat on the flood, I could see his arms moving, then the chest popped open, “...this is where you will train and hone your skills as a warrior of the night as well as skills to help you in close situations.”

We moved to another room and he sat me down, “Alright, I will be instructing you in some basics but after that all your training is your own…” The door behind me opened up, I flipped immediately when Davon looked up. I saw a beautiful girl with long grey-white hair standing in the doorway. Her cheek bones stood out in a fashion of highness. Her eyes were a bright gold that tinted the very face they had been placed on, her body was thin but in shape, not weightless but firm and sturdy, she had leather armor on the grasped her body tightly showing all its features. She looked to me,

“New recruit aye?” she began moving closer to the makeshift sofa I was sitting on.

“Aye lass, he just got here today and we will be having him stick.” He replied with a smirk on his face. She reached where I was, looked deep into my eyes and did something unexpected, She bent down and kissed me on the cheek, “Welcome..”. Before this I never had been kissed let alone met a women long enough. I had stayed to myself and confided my self.

“... My name’s Vix, if you need anything, come to me.” She flipped on her heels and turned to Davon, “The Manor had hired guards to surround the island on lake Belish…”

Davon looked into the distance, “ I didn't know he was that much of slimy bastard.”

“We could always…” Vix tried to say, but Davon silenced her with his finger over his hand, he stared off into the distance for a while and then came back to reality.

“Vix, I think we need to talk, in private.” He pulled her out of the room and I could her the hushed speaking. I looked off into the distance still stunned by the kiss on the cheek I received, I can remember the time I had felt affection  from a woman other than when I was born, of course my father told me the first thing that my mother did was kiss my fore-head as soon as she saw me.

Then walked back into the room, silence as they smiled at me, “Come with me…” Vix looked excited. “we’re going to have some fun.” She grabbed me by the wrist and drug me out of the room, we were running down the hall.

After some time we reached one of the sewers hallways, I was out of breath while she was still galloping along, she must have noticed me empty breaths grasping for air then she slowed, the stench was still present but I was used to it by now, she looked over to me and asked “What’s your name kid, What can I call you?” I looked to her puzzlingly, I had never been officially named and the people who hired me never asked. “Don’t got one?..” she laughed.

“Well…” I pitched out, a crack presented her with a little more idea of what I was thinking, “I guess my father named me Zithiones.”

“Well, that doesn't seem conventional so, I’m just going to call you Zithos… How does that sound?”

“Sounds… nice, You can call me whatever as long as I respond.” I smiled at her. She turned to the side and blushed, the red of her cheeks was only present for a couple of second, barely visible in the darkness. This in turn made me blush, a feeling I had never felt before, she turned back and smile, “I’m Vix, of course you already know that, but I thought I might say as well.” she dragged on.

We reached an open chamber filled with straw and a bench, there was a rack for weapons and armor, as well as a couple of training dummies.

“Well this is where we will be training every day for the next couple of weeks, I will train you the advanced skills of a thief, not only will this strain you physically but also mentally, at any point if you feel like quitting… come talk to me…” she trailed off while looking away. She stridded to the weapon rack wish had a couple of swords and bows on it.

There was a grouping of small hand axes on the table as well as some throwing daggers. The room was damp and cold, there was only one fire lit inside the room, it was only to the back wall, there were other torches on the wall so as an instinct I walked up to the one lit torch and plucked it off the wall. It was barely lit and was soon to be out, I walked to the other torches on the wall and lit them up. The room flickered with life and soon the training began.

Under the straw were two chests Vix pointed to one “This is a beginners lock and the other…” she pointed. “Is an advanced lock.” she then handed me a bag with lock picks inside. the weight was almost of a feather. “These are very fragile, if you try to force the lock they will break in two, but luckily these ones will not leave a trace or destroy the lock.”

After three hours of training in lockpick I got the hold of it, at least on the beginners lock. I tested the advanced one and found my lock braking instantly. The torches on the wall glimmered then simmered with small orange lights, not enough to light my locks or my hands.

“Well I think this is where we will end off today, do you remember how to get back here?” she asked slowly, I nodded ‘no’ to this and she looked with one eye at me, the other ready to leave and sleep. I could tell that she was thinking the same thing I was. We had ran here.

Chapter 3: A Life in magic

That night I had a hard night sleep, visions of fire and ice kept clouding my head making me uneasy, a face would be talking but the sound was muffled and it was shrouded in a dark mist that kept filling my dreams, something was trying to contact me and I had no clue on how to accept it. The next couple of months was just a rehearsal of the last, I woke up with Vix over my bed, she then grabbed my arm and brought me back to the room, I lit the torches and we had breakfast, then we trained for around 4 to 5 hours until the torches light was too dim to see the room. I headed again  to sleep.

The room was more comfortable than the previous nights, the linen seemed to have been washed recently and the pillows were new, the bread was still at the corner of the room, this time half eaten. I layed down and blew out the candles, the darkness stilled the room into the small lull of the bar that was only four rooms over and the ringing of my ears. soon my fatigue kicked in, the last day of this hard sleeping was a hard training day and Vix really tested my abilities with the advanced lock and the use of throwing knives. My eyes closed with full intent, they had not done this in a long time, I think I was just rattled from the…  

“Zithos…” There was a faint voice, it came from my ears, I jumped and looked around the room. There was a purple haze that covered the room, but this time I was in a cabin, somewhere in a swamp, the air was damp and my eyes shuddered from the sweet smell of the night air.

“Come, my boy, you are to be chosen…” I looked up to see a man in a rocking chair, a fire was ablaze in the fireplace. I could feel my height amount to nothing against this man, he stood at least seven feet tall holding a staff, he was bent over his back and his eyes were shrouded with a thick brush of grey white hair. his beard ran to the floor and the only skin you could see were his cheek which had been aged over a long amount of time, yet he still sounded as if he was still in youth, his voice deep, not wavered in any sense.

His head moved to reach my gaze “Come, sit with me and I will explain all this in due time.”. He seem rushed, as if he had little time, he waved a hands towards me to follow his command and their was a chair set their for me. There was cobwebs surrounding the bottom as if it had been sitting there a very long time. I moved closely to it to inspect its quality, The wood was rotted with some holes here and there, it definitely has been sitting there for quite a long time. I sat on it, I was amazed with how it held, it was also quite comfortable. when I sat the rooms atmosphere changed, Darker smoke filled the room and the fire went out, the man was surrounded by candles and it was raining.

“Zithos… you have been chosen by the gods of the ethereal to portray their powers.” he lifted a hand above my head and I could feel a volume of power released on to my shoulders. It was the most amazing rush I had ever felt, “I ,External, have have you given you the enhanced powers of sight and distortion, use them at your will to do the bidding of us and in your times of need we will help you, you may be summoned again for the powers must become one inside the chosen…”

I reached my hands out and saw a black mist covering my hands, it had seemed to lightly appears, I looked towards the old man, “How do I use it?”

“You. boy, will have to learn from yourself, the gift I have given you depends on your willpower and does not affect other in harmful manners.”

I looked back to my hands then I saw that my feet were also surrounded in this dark cloud.

~~~

“Zithos…” I looked to the man but his mouth had not moved,

“Zithos…” the man began to vanish and I lost a sense of consciousness

“Zithos…” there was a tugging at my sheets,

“Zithos…” The names was spoken so sweetly, so gently. A pressure was then placed on chest as a body filled the space around me,

“If your going to sleep, so am I!” It was Vix, her arms were laid over my chest and her head laid on my arm, I was in a daze. I laid there for a long time letting her snuggle up, the way I was feeling was never felt before. I was happy.

I woke up while rubbing my eyes, “Hey Vix, you sleep with me all night?” she looked up to me and said,

“You were the one sleeping! I tried to wake you up but I got bored.” she blushed at me, her cheeks were a bright pink and she tried to hide it. I turned away as well, I never felt so… attracted to another before. I jumped out of bed, and got dress, she stayed in the bed and watched me get my armor on. “We won't need any armor today ‘Z’.” a new nickname she called me by, “We are only training in lockpicking, you seemed to have reached a steady fighting skill and are able to keep up.” she smirked at me and I began to remove the chest piece and put on a fine shirt.

She then looked to me and asked to walk with her, this was unusual because she would usually just grab my wrist and she had not this time, something was weird…

She and I walked calmly to the training room, her walking steadily behind me, after we had been alone she spoke up, “I don't really know you that well…” she abruptly broke the silence and quite frankly startled me. “Anything about your past you would like to share with me?” I turned to see her face and she quickly swept her face down,

“Not really much to say…” my voiced had grown in quite a bit, deeper, more rough, “My mother died when I was born and my father in his drunken madness left for the sea, left me behind to take care of myself, was doing odd job ‘till Davon brought me up.” I looked to her, her eyes moved to meet mine.

“Di...did you ever find where your father went?”

“No, all I know is he drunkenly boarded a trading cog to Latiz in the the northern Isle.”“How sad…” she looked quite depressingly to my face, I smiled back I think she got the message that I was not afraid of talking about this. “I never knew my parents,” she said “I was born into the elven forest to the south of Fellport, I never had any affection as a child…” this surprised me, I turned to her, we had just neared the room. My eyes must have been pretty wide because when I turned my body around to see her, I could see her hands were folded in on themselves and her face was pink with the lightest shade. I thought quickly of something to say, “Before 3 months ago, you are the first one to show me affection… the kiss on the cheek, kind of made my day much better knowing that you would be training me…” I trailed, we stood at the door of the room, her eyes fixated on me. she stared into my eyes while I looked at hers’, they reminded me of the night sky I would stare at when I was just out into the streets laying on top of the roofs.

This was the first time I had made the connection, I was surrounded by her day and night, I had not seen Davon in 3 weeks, all I could remember was her smile. My heart raced to think of something to say, something to do.

I opened the door…

I stared her in the eyes, then looked around the room, “Wow i’m doing this…” I thought to myself. There was a bale of hay, it was perfect. I reached for her hand and clenched lightly to the fingers, it was warm and soft, like I was grabbing warm grass on a summers day. I looked deep into her eyes, I could see a universe, beauty.

Chapter 4: Love in the Darkness

I kissed her, not on the cheek, but on her lips. They were as smooth as a blade on a dagger, light as a rose petal, she was not expecting this. she pulled away but then realized what had happened, she leaned in, forcing her face closer to mine, My heart raced and my body began to filter the idea of what was going on.

We sat, face to face, lips locked for quite some time. there was darkness, we had not lit the torches so all we could see was each other. Her beauty was overwhelming. I was leaning on her and her on me. we had made our way to the pile of hay that was in the corner, I lit a candle and we sat there, in love for hours.

~~~

The next day was more, Complicated. I woke up, her sitting at the table in my room, staring at me, the night before we spent together for hours until Davon came to check on us, this was the first time in months but he felt as something had happened after he went to place the bread in my room and my armor was still there, he was shocked to find me and Vix sitting in the hay pile, asleep on top of one another. His only concern was if the training was complete.

After reassuring him that I was the best that Vix could train he smiled, laughed and walked out, she then turned to me and popped the question, “Was that real, or in the moment?”

I turned my head to think “Was I really in love with her? Did I know her well enough?” Then I remembered my fathers words,

“The gods pray on those who are blind to see fate, love is the biggest fate, don't let knowledge be the deciding, let your heart!”

I looked to her, “It was real.” I smiled, sh then again attacked me with forceful kissing again our lips met.

That was last night, but now she sat at the table staring at me like she had just seen a ghost. I looked at her and she looked straight back, “Yeah?” I said, trying to start up some talk. She got up and walked over to me, she picked up my hands and asked “Do you know that these thing glow?”

I was taken aback, “What was she…?” then I remembered, “Vix, I don’t know if you will believes this but I had a dream the night before we kissed. I then explained to her the old man and he said that he granted me powers.

“Is it possible?” she asked

“Dunno, but its worth a try.” I tried to think of something to test it on, to elude from sight, I thought of the bread on my table. I pointed my hand up and it began to glow.

“Wow…” Her mouth was agape. The bread suddenly vanished, “How.. What?” I turned back to her and smiled, think i’ll make a good thief, she turned back to me then slugged me in the shoulder, “You suck…” she smiled then looked me deep in the eyes.

For those of you who do not already know, this will always lead to kissing.

~~~

I stood up, something wasn't right. The light was broken and only some of the faces were visible, the night stood still as the stars past, a mountain erupted with some force of magic, the explosion lit the forests ablaze. There was movement in the tree lines as I stood helpless, watching the air thick with smoke and ash. Something was moving closer, and closer until a red figure stepped out of the tree line, Arrows flew through the air and the figure fell.

Then hundreds more began to run straight out of their cover to the folly of a thousand arrows, after they bodies ceased to continue to pour out of the mountain, fire trapped the grass in an eternal flame, A larger dark red monster stepped out, another folly of arrows. before they struck, flames bursted in the air to counter. I began running, I turned to see who followed me, I saw Gunther and Davon, “Where am I?” purple light shot around me and I flung towards the beast.

~~~

I woke up, Vix next to me, sound asleep still. I wondered what time it was, underground is not the best place to judge time. I carefully moved out of the bed making sure not to wake her up. I stepped out into the Barrens, The workspace of the thieves tucked away from the bar to keep silent, I had always walked through to get to our training room, but I remembered a small skylight above the secret exit near the cemetery.