Chapter 2
"Come here boy" an alien voice protruded from behind him.
Ghoul turned his head towards the sound, there he found a couch with four people sitting on it and one of them had called out his name. The man had red hair and a short rough beard, he was wearing a white sweater with the top opened wide showing his chest; he had a large coat and on his back Ghoul spotted the handle of a large sword. Ghoul finished the last part of his drink, the feeling of warmth and haziness spread throughout Ghouls body like water filling up a cup.
Ghoul walked over towards the man with a curious stumble along the way. He was standing a
bare cat's length away from the man, the red haired man's eyes squinted and his eyebrows contracted into a serious look. The man stood up and bent his back so that his face was centimeters away from Ghouls face, Ghoul had been shocked by this and tried to take a step back but before he knew it the man's hands were on his shoulders locking him down like a metal grip.
The man stared for a few seconds and then returned to the couch seated, Ghoul felt dazed and stood still in his position. The man noticed this and told Ghoul to walk away which Ghoul subsequently did. After the fourth step Ghoul heard a brask voice come from behind him.
"When the sun is its highest, come to the west end of the harbour. And also, take this"
Ghoul quickly turned his head towards the man to spot that the man had thrown him a talisman. It was in the shape of a necklace with a metal plate hanging of itGhoul felt a bit confused, all of a sudden he had gotten an offer from an unknown man after the man had seen him steal something. Ghoul thought it suspicious. Ghoul quickly marched straight for the door, the tavern felt a tad too high class for him. After he promptly exited the tavern, he felt a rough hand grab him and pin him to the wooden wall beside the double doors.
Ghouls eyes caught sight of the merchant from before, his eyes dwindled down towards his left arm and saw that it was hanging like a dead fish. There was no blood coming out and by no means was it gore but Ghoul still felt an urge to puke as he looked at the horribly twisted arm.
"You fucking animal" the merchant gurgled in rage.
"You know what I'll fucking do to you; I'll fuckin skin you alive. No, no no… I'll sell you to the ring, maybe I'll torture you a bit before that. How about breaking the arm you stole my money with, or maybe that's a bit too easy. How about breaking both your legs. Oh I can fantasize the sound of them. Click, crack. Hearing you scream, ooohhh what a feeling."
As the man continued daydreaming about what he'd do to the little thief the door to the tavern jerked open. Out of it walked the red haired man and he directed his serious eyes towards the two. In his hand was a gold coin, the red haired man walked towards the merchant before he shoved the coin into his chest with force that made take two steps back.
"Take the coin and fuck off" the red haired man solemnly said and he started walking back into the tavern.
"One more thing, touch the kid and you'll regret it"
The red haired man waded into the tavern and let the doors close behind him. The merchant felt rage boil up inside of him, he had been a victim of theft and now abuse, but that was secondary. His jaw hung loose as he stared at the gold coin in his hand, a gold coin was enough to satiate his needs for the next ten years. However, the merchant wasn't the only one staring at the coin, Ghoul was also eyeing it. Ghoul took his chance to snatch it whilst the merchant was still in a daze. After he had taken it, he started running back into the market to lose him whilst the merchant trailed closely behind.
Unbeknownst to Ghoul, the red haired man had formed a smile as he sensed what happened.
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Ghoul woke up, his small head hurt viciously from the small amount of alcohol he had gotten into him yesterday, the barkeeper wasn't lying when he said the strongest alcohol would literally kill Ghoul. Ghoul also felt annoyed, he had lost the coin to some foul, ugly but lucky teenagers as they had tripped him on his escape. The coin had rolled out of his hand and into their sight, which they had snatched immediately.
The merchant had then caught up to ghoul and realised the scenario, he had demanded that they give him what was rightfully his. They laughed and mocked him for his childish beliefs, then they beat him up for the heck of it, which was tough considering he only had one arm to fight against three tenagers. Once they had left the merchant exited his crouched up position and tried to spot Ghoul, he needed someone to vent his anger on. However, Ghoul was long gone by that time.
That's when Ghoul realised that he wasn't alone, there was a giant eagle staring at him. More precisely, it looked towards the metal necklace Ghoul wore. It simply eyed the necklace and stood still whilst jerking it's head left and right every now and then. Ghoul got scared and screamed as he backed up towards the edge of the nest. On the other side of the spectrum, Ghouls eyes were eyeing the sharp yellow beak of the eagle, he was also eyeing the razor-sharp claws the eagly sported.
The eagle remained calm even though Ghoul had an outburst, it simply eyed Ghoul almost waiting for something. Ghoul didn't know what to do, he felt helpless and kept on staring at the eagle which correspondingly did the same thing to him. After Ghouls initial burst of stress, he had calmed down and looked at the eagle more closely. Its head was completely white and the rest of the body had a light brown colour. Under the eagle there laid three different eggs which Ghoul figured were the mother's offspring.
Since the Eagle hadn't killed him yet Ghoul felt a sense of safety, but he still wanted to get out of that position in case the eagle changed its mind. The only entrance and therefore exit to his found home was the top. His home was afterall what Ghoul had presumed to be an abandoned nest. When he found it, he had nowhere else to go and it looked comfy, the bottom was filled with cotton and the walls were constructed with countless medium sized wooden sticks which made quite good protection against the wind. But now, it seems that his stolen home would be taken back to the creator of it.
Ghoul grabbed the walls and tried to climb out of the building, he found it tricky to climb since his back was knowingly being pierced by a dangerous predator. He climbed three fourths of the way up but then one of the sticks he held onto released, for some reason he felt embarrassed. He tried again and ended up falling the same way, his embarrassment grew which made it tougher for him to climb the nest. This was an evil cycle which continued, until his seventh attempt when he was about to fall he stomped and was being held up by his shirt. The large eagle had grabbed him, and Ghoul felt panic spread through his body. He had tested his luck too much, he thought. He felt a motion bringing him down and just as he was accepting his impending doom the eagle jerked upwards and flinged him out of the nest.
Ghoul landed on his face, he quickly got his bearings and travelled down the mountain. It was morning and he had time to kill and he knew exactly where to do it. There was a spot all the orphans would go to in their free time, it was nicknamed the grey spot. This was because the spot was located on a lot of free ground that was grey due to the toxins that would be dropped there. It was essentially the city's chemical dump but you could always find a lot of different orphans ranging from the age of 12-17 there with the random adult thrown in there.
Ghoul knew a few people, no one he considered a friend but more like a classmate relationship. His peers that were around that place would allow him to play a game with them but not to hangout there, the reason for this was a kid named Jackson. He was one of the more popular kids and he simply did not like Ghoul for some reason.
'
Ghoul decided that he would head there to play football with them, he didn't have much to do. On his path to the Grey Poison, he thought about the red haired man's offer. Ghoul was a clever child and after getting betrayed once too many times he would adapt, but there was something odd about that particular exchange. Ghoul decided to go against his reasoning and go with his gut, when mid day would arrive he'd make his way to the harbour and hopefully he'd spot him.
He eventually reached Grey Poison and he started playing football with them. After two hours of brutally trying to win the silly game of football, Ghoul looked at the sky. There was roughly three hours left until he had to be in the harbour, then he saw a dark figure approaching him in the corner of his eye.