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Rated: E · Short Story · Action/Adventure · #2299937
Weekly Challenge of writing the Remus story
Remus lay on the ground moaning as he listened to the feet of the rats scurry off into the distance. He slowly sat up and left around his body, feeling the scrapes and bruises from falling and the two new holes in his skin. Once again his blood mixed into his clothes. Rising to his feet Remus looks around the hole that has now formed in the shed. The nest had been dug out under part of the floor, leaving a void that he now stood in.
Two of the rats lay unmoving in the rubble, and the third that was wounded and stuck under a board was squirming to try to get away.

—After he deals with the last rat and collects himself—

Remus then crawls out of the nest and out through the door of the shed, tapping the doorway on his way out. Someday he too would own a building with a roof. A place to call his own with a roof and walls to ward away the seasons of the world. He never knew how good it was to sleep under a roof until he spent his first night away from the estate. Glancing back into the little shed, Remus could see just how much of a mess had been made inside. Maybe a place with a solid floor would be good too.
Remus turned away from the shed to go report to the house, and heard the slam of a door. Miss Risho had come out to meet him, skirt held above her feet in one hand as the other draped a shawl across her shoulders.
“By the gods boy! Look at this mess!” She yelled.

After dealing with the angry Risho Remus heads back to Croyden. He traveled part way before falling on the side of the road with exhaustion. Remus then pulls himself into the ditch beside the road to sleep for the rest of the night. He awakens after sunrise and continues on to the city.

After entering the city Remus makes for the Guild Hall. Inside he finds Bar-Bar, another adventurer that is close to Remus in age and experience. They exchange a look and a nod but not verbal greetings as Bar-Bar leaves. The old man at the desk gives Remus a smile then marks the quest as completed. Remus eye’s look toward the empty board, not a quest remains to be claimed. Alone in the empty guild hall with only the old secretary. Bertrand hands Remus his reward money and it quickly disappears into his pouch. With no more jobs on the quest side Remus circles around to the back of the board. On the back of the board are missing person reports and bounty hunting jobs. Unlike the front board this side was covered in parchment, many reports being covered in dust and cobwebs, and even more had been covered by more recent reports.
Horse thieves, highway bandits, murderers, runaway slaves, and more. All severely dangerous jobs if the query could even be found. Remus holds no delusions on his ability to fight a human being. Maybe he could get lucky and find a missing person instead. Remus browsed through the list of missing people, examining the crude portraits on them in hopes he would find one he recognized.
After some time he concluded it was a pointless endeavor and left the hall with a sullen look on his face, ignoring the farewell from old man Bertrand. The few extra coins weighed in his pouch and Remus knew where he wanted to go.
Remus goes deeper into the city into the edge of the Royal district, there is a shopkeeper there that has created a substance that borders on being magical. It helps regain stamina and clears mental fortitude, just like an elixir of legend.

After finding the merchant and getting a small pouch from him, Remus goes back on his way. Slowly walking through the streets without a goal in mind. He wanders aimlessly from storefront to storefront before stopping at a street corner to listen to a street minstrel play.
While listening to the minstrel a loud creaking could be heard in the distance. As the noise grew louder the minstrel stopped playing and the crowd grew quiet. The creaking broke into a loud crashing sound as one of the buildings down the street began to break into large pieces and fall to the ground causing large amounts of dust to fly into the air and cover the street. Remus stayed still as the dust cloud washed over him, briefly noticing a small hint of rainbow in the air as well.
Continues to Part 5
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