A small synopsis of what happened in the last chapter as promised.
Ender got inside his shack and found Catherine dead and r*ped on their "bed". He buried her in the nearest graveyard before going back home and noticing that the suit that he stole was missing.
There will be murder in this chapter, which I don't think requires a warning. If you are a person that can't read about a murder happening here and there, perhaps this novel isn't for you.
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Ender was walking, once again, in the richer side of the market.
It was still evening and the vendors haven't left yet. Though most of them were starting to pack their things and retire for the day.
It didn't take him a long time to find the clothe section and the particular stand that he stole from.
"Oh you imbecile. Fool, idiot, moron. You are truly dumb…" Ender said quietly.
Currently Ender was watching a vendor packing his wares from his hiding spot. It wasn't just any vendor he was stalking though. It was HIS vendor.
The reason for his reaction was a thing he saw on the stand! There, in the exact place where he had grabbed it, was the suit.
Since all of the clothes were handmade, Ender was sure that it was the exact same one.
"There's only one way you've gotten it back to your hands, you bastard." he murmured, full of spite.
Thankfully, Ender managed to hold himself from rushing and attacking the vendor at that very moment, as the pragmatic part of himself knew that it wouldn't end well for him.
'I'll wait though.'
A few minutes had passed and the stall was empty. The vendor had packed all of his things and was getting ready to go home.
"Hey Nick!" somebody called, but Ender didn't spare his attention. He couldn't care less about whoever Nick was or the person calling him.
Slowly, HIS vendor turned around and opened his mouth while waving his hand.
"Hello Joshua. How was your work today?"
'So his name is Nick huh? It won't matter for long anyway.'
Ender quickly dismissed the new information and started paying attention to the dialogue.
"It wasn't too bad. What about you though? Did you do the thing you said you were going to do yesterday?" asked the vendor whose name was apparently Joshua while performing weird hand gestures.
Ender had already moved closer to Nick as he didn't want to miss anything that he might say. It was a wise decision as Nick, suddenly started talking quietly.
"Oh yes. And let me tell you, it was amazing." he answered quietly, while barely managing to stop a perverted expression from marring his face.
"Sigh. I knew I should have joined you," Joshua said regretfully, his shoulders slumping down.
Hearing the back and forth between the two vendors, Ender's anger had reached a boiling point.
He was about to rush in without giving a care about the consequences, but the two shopkeepers started moving.
'Damn them.' thought Ender as he started following them, albeit a lot closer than he should have.
"Ha! I told you so! Maybe you can join me next time. I bet that stupid kid who stole from me learned a good lesson. He shouldn't have stolen from me," Nick said enthusiastically and without any remorse, before disappearing inside an alley, followed by Joshua.
Ender not wanting to lose sight of them, rushed behind them.
He miss calculated his speed though and he he found himself about to crash into Joshua. Hearing the noise, both vendors started turning back.
'Well shit. It's now or never.'
With those thoughts, Ender reached for his pocket and pulled out a knife. He had made his mind the moment he saw the suit on Nick's stall. He was going to kill him.
Unluckily, Joshua was in the way. Ender seriously doubted that Joshua was going to just let him pass him and attack his friend. The fact that he was similar minded to Nick, made his next decision easier.
The moment that the two shopkeepers had finally laid their eyes upon their stalker, Ender's blade was mere centimetres away from Joshua's neck.
Joshua's eyes flashed. He knew what was going to happen in the next moment. All three of them knew that Joshua's fate was sealed.
Ender's knife dug deep into the salesman's neck, causing him to let out a loud gasp of pain...
With a swift motion, Ender plunged his knife deeper into the man's throat, cutting off his scream mid-sentence.
As soon as Ender pulled out the knife and was about to continue towards his real target, he was met with a strong punch and got flung backwards.
'Ouch that hurt… That hateful vendor sure knows how to throw a punch, huh?'
Nick rushed towards Ender, uncaring about his friend's demise. The vendor's reaction surprised Ender so much, that he almost got hit by his kick.
He barely managed to dodge and quickly got up by performing a clean kip up.
"Kid. So you've come back huh? Did you know that your girl, sister or whatever she was to you, feels really good being inside? I meant, felt. My bad." announced Nick with a gleeful expression on his face.
Ender barely managed to ignore the man's words. It was kill or be killed situation. He wasn't so stupid as to start talking.
'Shit. I dropped my knife.'
After the realisation hit Ender, he started frantically looking around for the lost knife. He wasn't confident about his chances in killing the vendor in case he was armed.
'He doesn't appear to having anything on him. Where are his bags? Did he drop them somewhere? I can't see them…'
Now knowing that they both stood in equal ground, Ender believed that he had a good chance in coming out alive of the encounter.
His fury reignited and he pushed forward.
Ender's first punch landed with a sickening thud, sending a spray of Nick's saliva and blood into the air. However Nick showed his worth. After a moment, he came to his senses and lashed out at Ender with renewed vigour.
The fistfight kept going for some time, with one of them gaining momentarily the upper hand, only to be blindsided by a fierce retribution from the other. It was a primal, raw spectacle of human aggression, with no finesse or technique, just sheer brute force.
After a little while, both men found themselves looking at each other while panting and covered in blood.
'The bastard has some skill huh?' Ender thought.
Suddenly Nick made a quick dive toward Ender that caught him off guard. He was about to get hit by a forceful punch when the vendor suddenly yelped and fell, face planting on the floor.
Ender, finding himself in a very advantageous position, pushed himself harder than before.
'It's my chance,' was all he though before landing a kick on Nick's neck. The kick landed and unbeknown to Ender, had dislocated the vendor's spinal cord. "This is for Catherine," Ender said and stomped on Nick's neck, killing him.
Not wasting any time to celebrate on his kill he bent down to check if he had truly killed the vendor.
He touched the vendor's now deformed neck.
There wasn't any pulse, Nick was dead. As Ender was quickly getting up to leave the scene, he noticed a shinny ring on Nick's finger and nabbed it.
For some reason he could feel something from it.
'This reminds me of …?'
As Ender was about to leave the alley, he saw people coming in. Not normal people though.
'City guards… Couldn't they wait for one more minute!?'
Joshua's scream didn't go unnoticed, a person not too far from the alley heard it and reported it to the nearest guard post.
'I can't outrun them with my injuries… I'm fucked. I just killed two rich commoners and got caught red handed. What are my chances with the I'm innocent card?'
He couldn't just give up though. Not after all that happened.
Without waiting for the guards to talk, Ender started running as fast as his battered body would let him.
Even though he was injured, Ender's speed wasn't anything to scoff at. He almost made it out of the alley before the guards reached him.
'If I get out, I'll have a chance to escape!'
Suddenly, three figures popped up in front of him and a moment later he got hit by a blunt object that sent him sprawling on the floor.
Ender was surrounded. As the guards got nearer and nearer to him, he lost all hope and stared at the sky. He couldn't stop his appreciation at the beauty of the stars.
"Hmm. It's getting late… Dad once told me that I was born later in the day… So that must mean, I'm almost eighteen. Happy birthday Ender…" he said mockingly.
That was when the space around Ender cracked and he felt like he was getting sucked.
With a pop, Ender was no more.
"What just happened?" furiously inquired one of the guards.
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This chapter turned out quite long huh? Well, good for you my dear readers! I hope you enjoyed the story so far. And it's time to learn magic! Are you curious as to why Ender couldn't learn anything before? Go check the next chapters then :)