Lenshina POV
Chingwani ca Mwami meaning the Throne of The King was the capital of Valon. Often simply called Chingwani, it was a architectural marvel with few equals across all of Jrod. This city, nestled in the heart of Valon's Driagan province, boasted towering structures that shimmered under the sun's rays, thanks to the layers of silver adorning them. Interspersed among these were marble edifices of such pristine hues that their splendor captivated any who beheld them.
Adding to this breathtaking panorama were sections of the city that floated serenely in the air. Massive platforms that defied gravity, held these multi thousand-ton wonders aloft. Through the skies, trains soared alongside a vibrant menagerie of flying beasts. And at the city's core stood the royal palace, the most magnificent structure in all of Chingwani.
Gazing upon such wonder, one could easily mistake Chingwani for a celestial haven. Yet, like all cities built by mortal hands, beyond the opulence and splendor lay the stark reality of humanity's best and worst. For the capital, this duality was embodied by the Earth district to its north. A recently constructed complex of over eighty apartment blocks, each rising three hundred meters into the air like the fingers of giants trying to dig their way out of the earth. It housed sixty percent of Valon's newest twenty million refugee citizens.
The earth districts buildings were a dull grey to match the mood of it's inhabitants. Any who walked the streets of this glorified refugee camp would feel its suffocating atmosphere under the looming gaze of the towering apartments that at the worst of times bloated out the very sun itself.
Even after two years of calling this district home, Lenshina Banda was still not used to it. The young woman was of a short starture and brown of skin with a thick plume of afro that swayed via the wind. She looked to the skies of the city with piercing purple eyes which drunk in this world but with none of the wonder, that fire had long been beaten into smoldaring embers.
Lenshina Banda had like every person born upon the earth, grown up with occasional fantasies about the whimsical and magical. As she had grown, this childish love remained until she reached the age of eighteenth, two years ago. She had thought that she knew the world as it should be, but that safety was soon shattered when Armageddon happened.
She had watched in horror alongside so many when the moon became a burning red eye, when reality fractured letting in horrors the likes of which she still had nightmares about, from skeletal shadows which picked up mountains to giants of puprle fire that burned downed entire cities in hours.
After two months of futile resistance, the once vibrant world of eight billion souls became a desolate hellscape. Only around four hundred million remained, destined to perish alongside their dying planet.
It was then that the miracle happened, the skies ripped open as a bridge between the dying world and Jrod opened and the forces of this strange alien world came to rescue them from their dying world to this one.
That should have been the end of it, their lives saved and everyone given the opportunity to heal. But alas they were divided about amongst the kingdoms of Jrod and sent off to live in these little refugee corners. Lenshina found herself amongst the group of refugees who were sent to Valon.
"Will you stop that." she thought to herself as she realised just how much she had let her mind wander.
Reaching her hand into her pocket, she drew out her pocket watch. The little plastic thing was cracked and had long ago lost it's vibrant yellow colour for a bull dirty white. And yet it still worked in sync with Jrods strangely similar calendar and chronological style, never mind that this world had two moons.
"09:34 in the morning, damn it I am late." she whispered in suprise wondering just how time had moved so fast.
Looking around at the earth district it was easy to notice that it was a refugee camp packed to the gills with desperate and angry people who even after two years, stick struggled to process what they had experienced.
Some had left for other parts of Valon, whilst those who remained turned to illegal activities to try and survive the cutthroat life of the capital. Lenshina was very well aware of those individuals who fell in this category from how their predatory eyes tracked her as she walked down the street.
She easily saw some punk who came swaggering down towards her with an air of confidence, a usual sign of impending danger. The old Lenshina would have tipped over her purple cap to avoid meeting his gaze, the new her looked right into his eyes and she was unimpressed.
The boy didn't appear to be no more than thirteen years and yet he held a barely concealed weapon with the confidence of a career criminal of the violent variety. Lenshina didn't know who he had been on earth, if he still had family or if Armageddon had made him an orphan like so many.
Lenshina didn't care all the same, everyone in the earth district had a tragic past, that had not stopped others like this boy from robbing and assaulting their fellow refugees.
The boy halted in front of her and pulled out the knife that had turned brown and rough from rust. Judging from the dull blue sheen which occasionally shimmered across the none rusted areas of the blade, Lenshina instantly knew that it was Blue Copper. Though that should have been obvious as earth metals that they came with had become useless.
"That looks like a lovely group of clothes that you have there. I love your cap and your shoes, they would look good on me." the boy smirked as he played with the blade, whilst eyeing the green and purple clothes that she wore. "Would you be so kind and donate them to a poor lad in need?"
Lenshina resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She had heard so many variants of this supposed threat that it was simply nauseating at this point. She simply smirked and folded her arms in a faux relaxation as she readied herself to perform what had effectively become a tradition in the streets of the Earth District.
"So this is your big threat?" she asked with an amused tone, which quickly shifted the boy's demeanor from cocky to seething rage.
"No, this is me being nice, idiot. Now hand over the goods before I take away something that you cant replace." the boy countered as his face contorted into an ugly snarl and he adopted a stance to deliver a swift thrust with his blade.
"Oh, how terrifying." Lenshina said, her smirk unwavering. Veins began to throb on the boy's forehead with fury.
"This is easier than I expected." she thought, recognizing his obvious intent to attack.
"I am gonna gut you!" the boy roared.
Before he could lunge forward at her, Lenshina used the only benefit that her new home gave her. She drew into herself and with her right finger she pulled a suddenly visible blue ethereal thread of magic or Mwari as the people of Jrod called it. But it was magic all the same to her.
Seeing her actions, the boy tried to recoil from his initial lunge and drew his own blue thread of Mwari, birthing a burst of flames alongside his blade, but it was too late. From the sidewalk a chunk of the concrete street shot forward like a bullet and shattering into a thousand pieces against the boy's head, sending him crashing to the ground.
Had this happened two years ago on earth, Lenshina would have expected such a collision of concrete and a human head to result in a splattering of flesh, bone and brains across the pavement. But the boy laying on his back wincing and groaning in pain, his face was still intact, bruised with a red swollen welt where the blow had struck home.
Ever since Mwari had been introduced to their bodies, the refugees of earth had found themselves not only capable of bending one of the elements of nature to their will, but also that their physical capabilities had drastically increased beyond the human base.
Lenshina had found herself able to run faster, lift heavier weights and her skin was so much more durable that she had been able to take her old pocket knife and no matter how hard she pressed the stainless earth steel against her open palm, it could not do much as leave a scratch.
So it would take a higher amount of force to pulp the boy's head. She picked up his blade and pressed it against the disoriented boy's throat. Earth metals might not be able to injure them, but Jrodian Blue Copper would easily cut through them and the boy knew it.
"Wait." the boy pleaded. " I was only playing around, I was really..."
Lenshina silenced him by pressing the blade all that closer to his flesh, drawing a slight trickle of blood. "Unlike you, I am not a jokester. I will gut you like a fish if you ever try this with me again, got it?"
The boy quickly nodded his head, eyes wide with fright and a face drenched in sweat. Lenshina was tempted to just let him go, but then she caught sight of something around his waist.
"Say, that is a lovely looking belt." She grinned like a hyaena and she pressed the blade just a bit closer to emphasize her power over him. "Would you be a doll and donate to a poor lady in need?"
XXXXOOOOXXXXX
The outside of the earth district was a completely different reality. Wereas most eyes in the earth district looked at you with a distrustful or predetory gaze, those outside regarded to earthen with curiosity...at least most of them.
Lenshina felt a pang of bitter envy as she considered how much more liberating this side of Chingwani felt in comparison to the suffocating world of the earth district. It wasn't as if she and her mother couldn't leave, many had done so before. Yet, the cost of living in the state-owned apartments was significantly lower than the outside.
A sensory overload of flavors washed over her as she entered the restaurant section of the business district. Restaurants were scattered throughout Chingwani, but the highest concentration could be found in this particular area. A mouthwatering aroma perpetually hung in the air, assaulting the senses from all directions.
Lenshina had to consciously stop herself from biting her lip as hunger gnawed at her stomach like a constricting serpent. She finally reached her destination, a small yellow brick restaurant that had faded with age but was still well-maintained amidst the constant flow of patrons.
Inside, the air buzzed with activity and was thick with the sweet aroma of food, emanating from plates piled high with boiled or fried red fish, mushroom soup, and freshly baked garlic bread.
No one paid her much attention, except for one individual. He was one of the triad of races inhabiting Jrod: a humanoid creature with black skin, a deep crimson mane streaked with a few grey strands, ears as sharp as blades, and two prominent black horns sprouting from his head.
However, his most striking feature was his eyes—black orbs with a bright, burning ember at their center. Lenshina had once been taken aback by the physical characteristics of elves, but after two years of seeing them and the Fainzi, their inhuman features no longer elicited even a raised eyebrow.
Lenshina approached the old elf and acknowledged him with more respect than she would give most. "Sir."
"Girl, you took your time. Your mother needs her damn rest. " old Mumba responded with his usual unchanging gruff demeanor.
Had it been another person, they would have been forced fed a piece of concrete from Lenshina. The Fish-Monger was a refuge from the exploitative jobs that many in the earth district served in and it was the best thing to have happened to her and her mother since they arrived here.
Lenshina remembered slaving away with her mother in the earth district grinding factory, converting maize to millie-meal for a frankly insulting level of pay. They had tried looking for employment out of the earth district, but the reputation of the criminal element of the district had caused many Valonian business owners outside the district to do their best to never allow Lenshina and her mother to work under them.
This had so frustrated her that she almost attacked one particularly rude and pompous shop owner who saw it fit to insult them. The only thing that had stopped her was ironically enough the intervation of their saviour. Old Mumba came like a lightning bolt and easily put her down. The retired Mushirikari showed her exactly what skilled multi thread spell craft looked like and in a second Lenshina was laying on the ground tied down by gravity itself.
Mumba could have easily thrown her out as another hoodlum, but instead he extended his hand as a teacher and employer.
"Would you believe me if I said it was traffic." she said with a nervous smile.
Old Mumba scoffed. "Stop getting into fights with street punks. I didn't train you to end up getting stabbed to death. If you look for trouble, it will find you."
Lenshina would have argued but she knew old Mumba well enough to know that he rarely if ever backed down from a point. It was best to simply state what she wanted to hear and thus she spouted. "I am sorry sir. I will try to avoid trouble next time."
"Good, now go help your mother with the dishes."
As Lenshina walked past him, she heard his rough voice playfully whisper. "Did you win?"
Lenshina grinned. "Took him out in five seconds."
The old elf grunted in acknowledgement and Lenshina walked into the back of the restaurant where a thick atmosphere of vapour hit her. She easily navigated her way to the sink where an older woman who was like an older version of her with wrinkles and grey strands of hair born from age and stress.
Lenshina always fought the urge to weep as she looked at her mother, once a leading engineer serving in her old home country, Zambia's largest solar power plant, now reduced to cleaning plates in some restaurant. Just looking at her could tell Lenshina that her mother had lost a considerable amount of weight in the last two years.
"Hello dear." her mother said with a smile upon her sweat drenched face.
"Mom, you take a breather. It is my shift now."
"Oh no, I can still..."
"Please don't overstress yourself." Lenshina cut her off and nudged her mother out of the way before she began scrubbing the plates herself. "You have been here for five hours without a break. You have to stop overdoing it."
"I need to work and provide for us. Food isn't getting cheaper you know."
Lenshina scowl as she thought about how much the prices of things fluctuated because of the damn War Of Fire. She took a moment to mentally curse the Unar Empire and the Ocean Lords.
"I know that, but you need to rest and live a little." Lenshina countered. "You can date a little or join that book club you invited you."
"You are the young one, that is your job, little star." a ghost of a smile graced her mother's lips.
"We can always leave this place, we can go join those others who left for the other provinces like the High Veld. Plenty of farms out there." Lenshina softly said with a solemn smile.
"I was never good at farming." her mother responded.
"You were never go at cleaning pots and pans either, that used to be my job remember. But look at where we are now." Lenshina said and both Banda women chuckled.
They had this talk so many times before and yet they had never gotten close to even packing their belongings and making for the city's transportation hubs. There were too many ties here, some good like Old Mumba, whilst others bad like the debt and government safety nets.
Like always the conversation withered away and Lenshina finally managed to convince her mother to go to the staff break room and finally rest. She was only an hour into cleaning the utensils when a familiar whistle echoed in the kitchen and she turned to face a male Fainzi dressed in extravagant and yet cheap clothes. He flashed her with a smile that lacked a few teeth.
"Grad." she acknowledged. "Get out before Mumba see's you. You know what he is like about..."
"Thieves, cutthroats and conmen... Strange that he keeps you around though." Grad smiled smugly.
The Valonian had been the one to initiate Lenshina into the Stings. A gang of mid-level criminals, it was not Lenshina's proudest moment. But she needed more money, long before old Mumba had hired her and at that point she was too deep in Valons criminal underworld to easily pull out.
Plus for as irritating as Grad could be, he was a friend who had helped her... for his own benefit of course, but far more than any two bit scoundrel ought to have. Lenshina was sure of this, she had met enough scoundrels.
"Because I don't go around advertising it like an idiot." she responded.
"Why shouldn't I be proud of myself, Come on, Lenshina. Dont tell me that the old elf has shared that kilometre long stick up his ass with you?"
"I am not in the mood for mockery, Grad." Lenshina scowled. "What exactly are you doing here. There isn't a score for you here?"
Grad scoffed. "Oh please, I am insulted. We Stings have evolved past simple burglary a long time ago. What I am proposing is far more lucrative."
"I am not interested." Lenshina went back to scrubbing a particularly hard stain off a pot.
"Hey, hey." Grad insisted. "Don't be that way. I have managed to secure us a good job through Anderson..."
"Anderson!!" Lenshina could barely believe what she just heard from Grad. "We don't play with the big fish, that's the one rule, Grad."
The top dog of Chingwani's criminal underworld was more than just a big fish, he was the sun and Lenshina didn't fancy following the example of Icuras. Too many small gangs had met their ends by being used as third party pawns by the big players.
"Don't you think I know that, I invited the crews rules, remember? I have accounted for everything. It isn't some super dangerous job like jacking Miss Irons products or something. It is a simple smash and grab of some N'angas product off of a train with a solid hundred thousand Geld waiting for us at the end."
"That sounds awful pricey for a simple job." Lenshina didn't even have to bring up the fact that it involved them robbing a damn N'anga, those wizards of Jrod who were more like scientists.
Gard took in a deep breath and Lenshina could see the wheels in his head turning as he thought about his next few words. "Lenshina, I won't pretend that everything will go smoothly here, but we need this. I am sick and tired of the game, of this life in the dumps, this money will be a game changer for all of us. We can finally have enough money to walk away like we have always wanted. We can finally leave this place and do something with our lives."
Gard's face was a mask of pure honesty, but Lenshina knew that it was a mask, a lie that neither her or him actually believed. They were in too deep in this life.