Chapter One

A beam of light shone through the window right into the servants' quarters, awaking Nicholas. He was a boy of average height and build, if not on the scrawny side. He had dark brown hair and dark brown eyes, and his skin was more tan than the average person. He got up, and with the rest of the servants, got ready for the day. With a wash of the face, a rinse and spit, and a change into a brown shirt, pants, and shoes, he went off. First, he gathered his supplies in a bucket, and got to it. Nicholas went about cleaning the windows, dusting the library shelves, wiping the grandfather clock, scrubbing the floors, shining the door knobs, polishing the silverware, and peeling potatoes in the kitchen. While he was peeling the potatoes, Nicholas observed the cooks and their ability to quickly dice vegetables while putting certain ingredients together. Before he knew it, it was time to eat lunch. Nicholas, along with the other servants, gathered in the eating quarters to gain energy for the rest of the day. He pulled up a chair alongside the person he ate with the most, Abigail.

"Hello Nicholas, how are things going?"

"Good, thank you, and you?"

"Good, thank you for asking. Oh, by the way, I got you something."

"What?"

With a quick movement, Abigail brought up an object covered in white cloth from underneath the table.

"Happy 7th birthday Nicholas!"

"Oooh, thank you Abigail."

She lifted the cloth, revealing a simple pastry covered with white frosting. Unobservant, the other servants continued their own private conversations. Nicholas started to eat his present along with his lunch.

"Sorry I couldn't give you a proper birthday cake."

"Don't worry Abigail, this is good enough."

The sound of the grandfather clock rang throughout the house, signaling the end of lunch. The servants cleaned up their plates, and went back to work.

"I promise that if we have time at the end of the day, we'll have a proper celebration."

"Alright," Nicholas said with a gentle smile.

Abigail was a woman of age. Of very old age. She was in her late 70's, had leathery skin, white hair tied in a bun, and had eyes that were worn down with time. Despite all that, she still walked with a regal stature befitting royalty. As always, she wore the same outfit that was issued to every maid in the house, a black dress with white cuffs and a white apron with front pockets. She was in the hallway near the master's main office of work, taking a cloth and gently removing the dust from the hanging pictures of art. She was but a few inches away from the door of the office, when inside she heard the sound of voices. Abigail couldn't help but listen in. A voice came through the crack in the door, a voice that she could tell didn't belong to the master.

"Alright, now let's discuss the final details of our deal."

Nicholas was busy wiping under a bench inside one of the many corridors in the house. He made sure to get every cobweb and speck of dust. Coming up from the bench, he brushed the dust off his own clothes that collected on him. For a moment, Nicholas looked out of the window that was near him. Off in the distance, he could always see wall Sina from the mansion window, as if it was some far-off land just out of reach. Getting back to work, he set off for the next bench. But, before he could start, Abigail came around the corner. She looked tired, stressed out, and very, very anxious.

"Nicholas!"

The boy, with a look of concern and confusion, responded with a, "yes?"

Abigail came closer to Nicholas, and as she did, he noticed that she was carrying a small pouch in her right hand.

Pulling him close, Abigail said, "Nicholas, I need you to listen to me very carefully, okay?"

"Okay, what is it?"

"Do you see this pouch in my hand?"

"Yes..."

"Alright, this pouch is full of my own personal savings, and I want you to have it."

"Errrr…but why?"

"Look, just take it."

"No Abigail, it's yours."

"Just take it!"

In a flash, she grabbed his left hand and put the money in his palm. She then closed her palm over his to make sure it was secure.

"Look Nicholas, I don't have a lot of time. In a couple of minutes, one of the servants will come looking for you."

"But wh-"

"Just listen! They'll escort you to the front door where two men will be waiting for you with a carriage."

Before Nicholas could ask even a single question, one of the butlers, dressed in clothes much more elegant and professional than what Nicholas was wearing, appeared around the corner.

"Ah, Abigail there you are. Oh, and Nicholas is with you, good. Some gentleman at the front door are looking for him."

Abigail got up, and gave Nicholas a look. Picking it up, Nicholas put the pouch in his pocket. After seeing the pouch was safe and secured, Abigail solemnly said, "Of course."

Nicholas was led to the front door of the house by Abigail and the butler, where two tall and burly men waited for him. Both were dressed in very common clothes. One wore a dark green shirt with a dark brown trench coat layered over, black pants, and brown shoes. He had reddish hair and dark blue eyes. The other wore a white button up shirt with a black trench coat layered over, dark blue pants, and black shoes. He had dirty-blonde hair and brown eyes, but what stood out to Nicholas was that he had a knife holster strapped to his right leg with a black handle sticking out. Looking again, Nicholas noted that his red-haired companion had a black handle sticking out of his left side at his waist. Their clothes looked dirty, and they smelled of filth and booze. One spoke, "Come along, kid."

The man's voice did not sound friendly, and this made Nicholas stay still in place. Abigail bent down and started to push him forward.

"Go on Nicholas."

Quickly whispering into his ear, she told him a bit of advice.

"Try to get away from them as soon as you can, and good luck."

Before Nicholas had time to respond, the blonde-haired man grabbed his right arm roughly and led him quickly out the front door. In the blink of an eye, the door of the house slammed shut behind the boy. He was pulled to a carriage led by two horses. He was put in first, followed by the two men. The carriage started to move, and they were off. After some time traveling through open fields, Nicholas noticed that they were moving closer to wall Sina. The carriage drove through the gate of the outlet, and the boy couldn't help but stare out the window at what he saw. Stores selling food, stores selling wares, businessmen and commoners, and children playing in the street.

"Huh, this is my first time seeing kids my own age," Nicholas thought to himself.

The carriage quickly ran through the gate of wall Sina, and thus they were in the interior. They rode a while longer until the carriage finally came to a stop at what looked like an opening to a tunnel. The two men opened the door and exited the transportation.

"Come along, boy," the red-haired one grunted. Nicholas quietly obeyed and began following the men down. They went down many, many flights of stairs, the entire way being lit by candles that were fixed to the wall. The two men continued on their way until they arrived at their destination, the underground district. The place looked like any other city that someone would see above the surface, only where there was supposed to be sky, there was rock. There were giant pillars of stone situated throughout it, connecting to the rock ceiling above, acting as supports. The light from the buildings sparkled, making it look like a jewel hidden inside the earth. Nicholas didn't have that much time to appreciate the view though, as the men hurried him along further. As they were about to reach the bottom of the stairs, for the first time since he left the mansion, the boy spoke.

"Um...excuse me?"

It was the blonde-haired one that responded, "what?"

"Err, where are we?"

"Huh, you didn't know about this place?"

"No."

"This is the underground city boy, the failed safe haven for humanity."

"...what?"

The man gave a sigh of exasperation and continued, "you see, in order to escape the Titans, humanity tried going underground in order to be safe. However, it didn't work out and the place was abandoned. Now it's a haven for criminals and trash with nowhere else to go."

The red-haired companion spoke up, "quite talking to him, we have places to be."

He responded with irritation, "alright, alright."

The group reached the bottom of the steps, which were guarded by a few men sitting around drinking and playing cards while their muskets stayed by their sides, and continued onto the streets. Now that Nicholas was on ground level, he could see that the beauty he thought of the city was fleeting. On the streets he could see pieces of trash, darkened spots on the pavement where there was filth, and people dressed in rags sitting in dark alleyways. He could tell that this was not a nice place. As Nicholas took step after step, a sense of foreboding started to fill within him, as if he were walking to his doom. He started to sweat and his breathing became shallow as the words Abigail said to him echoed in his minde, "try to get away from them as soon as you can…"

The dirty blonde-haired man was on Nicholas's left, the red-haired man was on his right, and he was in the middle. Suddenly, the man on the left stopped.

"Hey look, a coin. Must be my lucky day."

He bent down to pick up the piece of metal, and that was when Nicholas noticed the knife on his right leg. With smooth and controlled movement, he unsheathed the knife with his right hand from the holster. Both men looked in confusion at what the boy had just done, and in a moment of stillness, Nicholas and the blonde-haired man looked at each other.

"What?" the man asked.

With that, Nicholas made a slash at the face of the bent down man with the knife that was pointed down, sharp side out. That was quickly followed by blood and screaming. The man was writhing on the ground holding his right eye. His companion was still shocked by the sudden action, and taking advantage of that, Nicholas quickly jammed the knife into his left thigh. He quickly fell down too, and the people around couldn't help but look at the act of violence. Nicholas looked down at both of his victims, and then looked down at the bloody knife in his right hand, all the while panting heavily. Seeing what he had done, he started to slowly walk away, and then he quickly started to run. At first, the boy ran without direction, he just wanted to get some distance between him and the two men he just attacked. But as he was racing through the streets, a thought occurred to him, "wait a minute, all I need to do is go back up the stairs." Finding thought stairs was no hard task, as they were so high up you could find them even if you were in the middle of the city. As Nicholas ran towards the entrance, thoughts of relief were washing over him.

"Yes, I'm getting out of he-"

But these thoughts were cut off, as a man with a musket put himself between the boy and his way back home. He was a very tall man that towered over Nicholas, and spoke in a deep, mocking voice.

"Woah there kid, where do you think you're going?"

"Umm...I'm going up the stairs?"

"No you're not, not without paying the passage fee of course."

"What...but why?"

"Because that's just the way things work done here."

Nicholas was starting to get frustrated, but it was cut off when he realized what was in his pocket. He brought out the coin pouch and gave it to the guard. The man grabbed it with greedy hands and a smile. But as he was counting the coins, that smile quickly disappeared.

"Sorry kid, but this ain't enough."

Nicholas could not believe what he was hearing.

"What, but how much do I need?"

"Much more than this," the man chortled, as he pocketed the pouch. Nicholas noticed what he was trying to do.

"Hey wait a minute, If it's not enough, give it back!."

"What are you talking about kid," the guard said with a confused expression, "you donated this."

With that, he and his friends who continued their card game started to laugh. But Nicholas wasn't. With a face full of fury, he clenched his right hand into a fist and punched the man right between the legs. As he crumbled to the ground, and as his colleagues looked on in surprise, the boy quickly snatched the coin purse from the guards pocket and ran once again while the adults yelled after him. He ran through the dirty streets and dark alleyways of the underground city until he finally tired out behind a pile of garbage barrels. His heart was racing, he was sweating, and his entire body was trembling.

"Please someone help," Nicholas thought to himself. He started to remember the mansion where he used to be and Abigail.

"Please Abigail, come help me. I'm scared and alone and I don't know what to do."

Nicholas was on the verge of tears and all he could do was hold himself while still not letting go of the knife, when he started to notice that someone was coming towards him. He looked to his right to find a man dressed in black shoes, black trousers, and a white button up shirt that had a black vest on top with a bundle of black silk that surrounded his neck. He had piercing blue eyes, jet black hair, fair skin, and was a man of average height with a bit of facial hair. He looked down at Nicholas with a playful smile.

"Hey there kid, you alright?"

He reached out a hand to help Nicholas up, but the boy just quickly slashed at the hand with his knife. The mysterious man reacted with speed, and before Nicholas realized it, he had him by the wrist of the hand that was holding the knife.

"Whoa, whoa, there kid," the man said as he gingerly grabbed hold of the blade and yanked it out of his hand. Nicholas had a look of fear as the man casually tossed the blade to the side.

"You know, kids your age shouldn't be playing with toys like that," the man commented. It was then he started to notice Nicholas's face and expression.

"Hmm, judging by the way you look, you want to be left alone."

With that statement, he started to walk away from Nicholas and back onto the street. Nicholas, with a mystified expression, thought of an idea in his head, and quickly stood up. He followed the man dressed in black onto the street and yelled after him.

"Wait a minute!"

The man turned around in and stared at the boy with a look of confusion.

"What is it?"

"Can you help me?"

The man raised his eyebrows with suspicion, "help you with what?"

"Help me find a place to stay," Nicholas remembered what he had in his pocket and brought it out.

"I can pay you."

While the pouch Nicholas held in his hand was not fat, it was big enough for someone to take notice. In fact, some of the other rougher looking inhabitants of the city took notice quite quickly. The man observed their looks of interest and quickly grabbed Nicholas by the hand and led him into a distant, dark alleyway. He looked around to make sure they were alone, then grabbed the pouch and began counting the coins inside.

"Huh, you're definitely not from around here, are you kid?"

Nicholas hung his head a little and responded with a solemn, "no."

The man was done counting the coins in the pouch, put it away in his right pocket, and after a few second of thought, said, "so, what do you need help with?"

Nicholas looked up, "I need a place to stay."

The man put his right hand to chin, "hmm...I have an idea," he said with a snap of his fingers. Kneeling down to Nicholas's level, he asked, "tell me kid, are you up for a trip?"

Nicholas looked back at him and responded with a halfhearted, "yes."

With that, the man stood up and began to lead the way, until he suddenly turned around.

"Oh, by the way, let's introduce ourselves."

He offered his hand and said, "my name's Lorenz."

The boy offered his hand in return and replied, "my name's Nicholas."

"Alright then Nicholas," Lorenz said, and after they shook, followed up with, "follow me."

Lorenz led Nicholas through the twisting streets and alleys of the underground city.

"Hey, keep up kid!"

"Err, yes sir!"

"Don't ever call me 'sir' again."

Until they arrived at a building that was in front of a slope that marked the edge of the underground city. It was right between two other groups of buildings that were built on top of each other and followed the same slope higher up. The building was a single story ground level cube house made out of plain stone that was worn down and had many cracks. There weren't even any windows on it, just a single locked wooden door. Lorenz walked right up towards it and produced a key from his back pocket. Unlocking the door, he let himself and Nicholas in. What the boy saw wasn't very promising. It was a wooden floor room that had random crates lying about, some with tarps covering them, while others were broken open and empty. Directly opposite the door was a barren bookshelf, and the entire place was lit by only a single lantern hanging from a rope. Nicholas looked around the place with a sense of uneasiness.

"Um...excuse me, but...is this where you live?"

Lorenz just chuckled lightly, and responded, "Yep, I definitely live here. All these nice clothes cost a lot you see, but hey, life's all about compromises."

As he finished saying the words, the man looked around until he spotted a piece of cloth on the floor.

"Ahh, that will do."

He then approached Nicholas with cloth in hand.

"Alright kid, now I'm going to tie this around your eyes…"

The boy quickly backed away.

"Why are you going to do that?"

The man let out sigh and replied, "look, you don't have to worry about me doing anything sneaky. If I wanted to trick you some way, I would have already done it. I'm only doing this so I can keep a secret."

Nicholas looked back at him with suspicion and asked, "what kind of secret."

Lorenz just said, "Hmph, let me tie this around you, and you'll find out."

The boy gave a pause of consideration, and all he could do was think, "well, It's not like I have any other options."

He relaxed his stance and approached the man, and he in turn bent down and put the cloth over the boy's eyes. For a time, all Nicholas could see was darkness. But he could still hear. He heard the sound of something making a series of clicks, and then the sound of scraping. The boy then felt someone grab his arm.

"Alright, follow me kid, and try not to trip"

Nicholas was slowly pulled along until the man let go of his arm. He once again heard the sounds of clicking and scraping, only reversed this time. Suddenly, something began to untie the binding around his eyes.

"Alright kid, it's all over."

The boy could see once again, but it took some time for his eye to adjust. He was in a dark tunnel of rock, and at the end of it, he could see a small light. For the next period of time, the child and the man did nothing but walk in uncomfortable silence until they exited the tunnel, and what Nicholas saw was quite the surprise. There was a patch of grass that greeted anyone who exited the tunnel, and beyond of that was a small river that ran under a wooden bridge that sprang from a waterfall that came from a hole in the rock wall. On the other side of the bridge was a home that had two levels, one window in the top right and two on the bottom. All of them had white curtains behind the glass. There was a cobbled walkway that led straight to the door. Lorenz started to walk while the boy gazed at his surroundings, noting that the entire area was being lit by a hole in the top of the cave that let sunlight in which had signs of trees and vegetation on the edges. After a moment of observation Nicholas noticed that the man was walking ahead of him and quickly caught up. Lorenz opened the door to the house and let both of them enter. The door shut behind the boy, and with that, he started to take notice of his surroundings once again. The entire floor of the house was made out of wood except for the kitchen, which was tiled. The entryway of the house was no more than an exquisite looking rug, a coat rack to the left that held a metal ring with two keys, and an umbrella holder to the right. To the left was a staircase that led up right to the second floor. To the back, Nicholas could see the kitchen. In between the kitchen were two doors. One on the left which was underneath the staircase, presumably a holding space for miscellaneous items, and one on the right, which led to an area too small to be a room yet too large to be closet. In fact, the area to the right seemed to be oddly out of place, as if someone put up a few walls and a door there instead of a couch and a painting. It led to a rectangular space that jutted out of the wall. Lorenz led Nicholas to the kitchen, sat him down at a wooden, rectangular table that had two chairs facing each other, and proceeded to talk.

"Okay kid, here's what your situation is. The money you gave me was enough that I will allow you to stay at my place for three days, including today."

Lorenz lifted up three of his fingers on his right hand so that it was clear for them both.

"During those three days, you are free to eat whenever you want, sleep whenever you want, and go to the bathroom whenever you want. And don't do that thing where you think you need my permission to go, I find it annoying. Whenever you need to go, just go, got it?"

Nicholas nodded his head in understanding.

"Now you're free to do whatever you want to do in this house except for a couple of things. One, don't mess up the place. If you do mess it up, you're going to be the one to clean it. Two, there is a certain room you are never allowed to go in, under any circumstances."

Nicholas's eye couldn't help but wander to the out-of-place room that jutted from the wall.

"Besides that, you have free range of the place. Bathroom is opposite to the back door, pantry is next to the stove."

Lorenz started to head towards the door, but Nicholas interjected.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"I've got some business to take care of kid."

"Bu-"

But Lorenz went through the door and closed it behind him before Nicholas could finish. There was a moment of silence as the boy just sat in the kitchen alone, and after some time he started to look around once again. To his right was the sink, pantry, and stove, not necessarily in that order. The kitchen sink was attached to the wall, and consisted of a water pump over a large metal basin that allowed the water to drain. The handle was to the side of the pump instead of behind it, and the plug for the sink was next to the bowl. Connected to the right of the sink was a tiled surface that was attached to the corner of the wall. It was an area that was meant for a place to let dishes dry and food to be prepared. Over both the sink and the free area was a window that had a view of the backyard. Next to the sink was the stove. It was a simple wood-burning cook stove that was attached to the wall and had a metal pipe that protruded from the top, went up, and connected to the chimney behind it. It had four stove tops of equal size and a place underneath where the firewood was supposed to go. There was an additional space underneath there for baking bread and cooking large pieces of meat. The wood that was meant to light it was stored underneath. Next to the stove was the pantry. Nicholas finished taking in his surroundings, and hung his head while he started to think to himself.

"What should I do? I'm here in a place I don't know, have no idea where the heck I am, and I can only stay here for three days. But still, it's nice just to sit down. After everything that's happened today...I'm kinda sleepy."

His eyes started to flutter and without moving an inch, he laid his head in his arms, slowly closed his eyes, and drifted off to sleep.

It was an underground city where everything appeared white. The building, people, and places all appeared white. While the black lines that defined the objects and people were clear, everything was blank. You couldn't even tell the expression of the people who walked by. However, in the middle of the street, walked three black figures. Two men that were walking and who had a little boy between them. The boy looked at one, and then at the other, but one could not tell what he was thinking. Suddenly, the man on the boy's left stopped. He had noticed a small, shiny, metallic object on the ground. He bent to pick it up. While crouched down, the boy noticed a black object that protruded from the man's right leg. He grabbed it and very smoothly pulled it out. The handle was black, but the blade was silver. The crouched man and the boy looked at each other, and the boy slashed at the man. In that white world, there was a sudden splash of bright red. The man fell down silent, as he had no mouth. The boy and the man on his right looked at each other and exchanged no words or sounds. The boy then stabbed the man in his left thigh. Both figures were squirming on the ground silently from the pain. The boy looked at his black right hand that held the silver-bladed knife. Both were stained red with blood. He dipped his left index finger in the red liquid, and very calmly gave his black expressionless face two red dotted eyes and a scarlet smile.

Nicholas woke up with a startle.

"What the heck was that?"

A bit dazed, he looked to the window, and there were shades of twilight coming threw it.

"Jeez, how long did I sleep?"

Suddenly he heard the door start to open, and saw Lorenz come in. He seemed a bit anxious, and now had black leather gloves on.

"Hey kid," he noticed that Nicholas looked half-awake, "did you take a nap at the table?"

"Huh, how did you know?"

"Well, I can tell that you drool when you sleep."

Nicholas looked down at the table and saw a little puddle of spit. His cheeks turned a bright red and quickly cleaned up the mess with his sleeve.

"Well, in any case, I have a proposition for you."

"What is it?"

Lorenz kneeled down to Nicholas's level.

"How would you like to stay here for an entire week instead of just three days?"

Nicholas was in absolute shock, "w-what?"

"Yep, I mean it. The time limit can even start tomorrow."

"O-okay, of course!"

"Good! There's just one thing you have to do."

"Oh, what is that?"

"Follow me."

Lorenz got up to leave and Nicholas ensued. They went through the door and back to where they came from. When they reached the door, the both of them stopped.

"Alright, kid."

"Blindfold?"

"Blindfold."

After covering the boy's eyes and leading him through to the other side, Lorenz took off the cloth and continued to lead Nicholas.

"This way."

They went outside the stone hut and turned from one street to another until Lorenz led him down and through an alleyway until they got to the end.

"You see that man there?"

Lorenz gestured to a very well-dressed man with a black coat, dark blue vest, and brown pants walking down the street that was coming towards them from the right, one who seemed like a wealthy merchant. He was surround by four burly men who carried both knives in their belts and flintlock pistols in their holsters. They surrounded the man at each corner like an escort.

"Yeah, what about him?"

"Well, if you want to stay an entire week at my place, I need you to start talking to him."

"About what?"

"Oh, it could be anything, The weather, people, places, so long as you talk to him."

"Umm, okay?"

Nicholas was a bit confused at this request, but obliged. He started to go towards the man until Lorenz stopped him.

"Wait."

"What?"

"Not yet."

"Why?"

"Just not yet."

Lorenz and Nicholas waited until the man was just about in front of them. Lorenz pushed Nicholas forward.

"Okay, go kid."

Nicholas was starting to get a bit irritated, but still, he obliged. Without much thought, he drove himself right in the way of the man. Both the man and the bodyguards were surprised.

"Um, excuse me sir?"

The man responded with a sneer, "what is it?"

"Well...um...what time is it?"

The man was obviously not in a good mood.

"Look, if you want to know the time, go look at the local clock tower or ask someone else. I have a very impor-"

But before the man could finish his sentence, the sound of a gunshot cracked the air. Instinctively Nicholas flinched and covered his ears. He looked at the man he was just talking to. He had a look of shock on his face, and was just staring off into the distance. Suddenly, Nicholas noticed that a stream of blood was coming from his temple, quite a lot. The bodyguards around them were in shock at what just happened, but then the well-dressed man fell over, and that is when the people in the street started to gasp, scream and run away. Nicholas heard a voice.

"Psst, kid."

He looked to his right, and saw Lorenz standing there, the shadows of the alleyway covering his body. He held a smoking flintlock pistol in his left hand, and the bundle of black silk was covering his face. The man looked Nicholas dead in the eye.

"Run."

He then disappeared into the alleyway.

"GET HIM," the guards yelled and started to run after Lorenz. Nicholas was in absolute shock. All he could do was look at the body of the man, as blood started to pool at his feet.