Scarred; Chapter: 2 - Claimed

Some time before the death of the last Strength Scar Bearer, this group of teens are up to their normal antics. All is fine, until the Strength Scar Bearer passes, and one of them claims the Scar.

Minutes before our Scar Bearer drew his last breath, a boy in the center portion of the southern part of Riz is about to have his life changed forever. “Are you sure they’re opening it tonight?” He asked his friends. His friend whispered to him, “Of course, Regi! When have I ever let you down?” Regi is only 15 years old and having lived in the southern half of Riz his whole life, he has found himself in a rather mischievous group of kids around his age. Regi’s little crew here only had 5 members, if you count Regi. The one he was talking to is Gost, 17 and stood at 6 feet tall. He was considered the leader of the group, but all he really did was plan out what they were going to do,  no one treated him any different… Or with any respect. “Relax Regi, I was also here to stake out the place. You can trust me more than him, right?” Regi heard as a hand came from behind and grabbed his shoulder. Another member, a 15 year old girl named Loi, who stood at 5’5” and was usually the one people showed more respect too, she was the only member in the group to have any formal training in fighting. Then there was a pair of siblings Yousel and Zetch. These two were both 5’11” with Yousel being the eldest at 17 and Zetch at 16. These two worked well together, really big tricksters and really seemed to only enjoy two things: Tricking people and bothering Gost. Finally, Regi who was 5’9” and only ever apart of the gang when they needed a lock picked. All of the members knew how to fight. Loi being the only one taught by an expert, and everyone else taught by her. And this was no place for the weak, so all these kids were above average strength. These delinquents never did anything too bad, but could seriously hurt someone if they wanted, or needed to.

They were all hanging out across the street of their target, in an abandoned building on the second floor. Gost called everyone in, “Alright, everyone knows what they’re after, right?” And with that the other 4 members nodded their heads, “Good. Okay, so when the light comes on, that’s when we start.” Everyone got into position and they were waiting for the signal to go. When the light came on, the door flung open and a man came out, at the same time a horse drawn carriage came up the street and another man got off at the open door. They greeted each other, and with that, the gang sprang into action. First up was Loi, who went up to both guards, throwing punches, getting good shots in; albeit sneak attacks. But, she knew she couldn’t take on 2 adults, this is where the siblings came in, acting like boys trying to help the strangers. Their acting just made them look like clumsy fools bumping into the guards, tripping them. Perfect, Loi was still around to keep their attention on her, then Gost and Regi snuck into the building. Gost was on lookout while Regi began to pick the lock on a crate. Watching the chaos going on outside said, “Those two could probably make it big as actors, don’t ya think?” Regi kept at his lock picking, feeling the third pin lock into place he said, “Two more to go, and yeah, yeah. They’re great.” Regi never looked away from his lock, and Gost was looking down at him, “I thought you would be more fun…” Regi got the lock off and opened the crate and looked at Gost, “I’m not here for fun, I’m here for this.” Gost then gave the signal to others, and the three of them hit the 2 adults as hard as they could, knocking them down. They ran in and grabbed what they came for, new clothes! They each ran in a grabbed the thing they wanted, which was usually what they needed replaced. When they grabbed all their things, they ran out of the building. It was only minor things like this that the kids got themselves into.

Whilst running away, the realized they were being chased by the two men, so they ran down the street and around the corner, they waited to enter another abandoned building. They were wanting to lure the two men in. The plan was to run back out after they were lured in and lock the door from the outside with the lock from the crate, Regi took it when he was done. Everyone got in their positions behind some boxes and trash in the back of the room. As the guards got closer, Regi began to feel a stinging on the back of his right hand… And pain continued to get worse. He grabbed his hand, not knowing what was going on and eventually he couldn’t hold it back anymore, the pain was too much to bear. It was as if a blacksmith took a piece of metal from his furnace and pressed it down on the back of his hand. He had to scream, he couldn’t take it!

First a grunt came out, he wanted to scream, but he knew it would blow everyone’s cover. And if their cover was blown, the guards would have no more reason to go in further, there are no exits in the back, they could just wait them out. Everyone looked at Regi, and with Gost right next to him, he said in a hushed voice, “Regi! What’s wrong? Unless this pain is gonna kill you, be quiet, or you’ll ruin the whole plan!” But Regi just looked up at Gost, with his left hand still holding his right. Regi looked up, his face just gave off “confused” and “help.” And also “pain.” But as he went to scream, Gost kicked him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him, “Sorry, but I’m not about to get caught!” And with that, it was mostly silent. The guards were moving slowly now, but still moving further into the building. Regi looked at Gost and told him, through gritted teeth, “Get out… Now!” Regi gave Gost the thing he’d stolen and then crouched down again, still holding his hand. Gost gave the signal to everyone to just leave, and as they began to move, the men heard the noise and were heading back to the door, “No, no, no, no!” Regi thought, and to save his friends, which he was convinced were thinking the same thing and blaming him for this. Regi finally let out that scream he’d been holding back for far too long. And the men both ran towards him. Everyone had gotten out, except for Regi… He was taken to a cell. Regi was the only one caught that night, and in the morning his mother had been informed and made her way down to the jail.

This wasn’t the first time Regi had gotten thrown behind bars for his gang’s actions, but this was the first time he was the only one in trouble. He usually had another one of his friends with him, or he was put in for fights that got out of hand. But this time he was all alone, and when his mom came in, he was still holding his right hand, but had his hands submerged in some cold water. And he was just sitting in the back of his cell on a bench, with his hands in a tub of water. His mother came in and immediately asked, “What’s wrong with my son?! What did you people do to him?” The men watching over him just looked at her and calmly to her, “Look, lady. We didn’t do anything to your boy, and according to the two men who brought him here, they didn’t do anything either. As for the reason he’s in here, he has been accused of stealing some clothing from a local shop a down the road right around the corner.” Regi’s mother just looked at her son, whom had his head down, and asked, “Can you prove it?” And the guard told her, “Well, he didn’t have anything on him, but the two men claim to have been attacked by at least 3 others. There was no fight, you son wasn’t struck by any of my men. The only thing he asked for was a tub of cold water.” The man looked at how she was staring at her son, and told her, “You can go talk to him, but I can’t let him out.” She walked towards the cell and, very faintly told the man “Thank you.” And when she got to the bars she asked her son, “What’s wrong with your hands, Regi?” Regi lifted his hands out of the tub and walked over. “The back of my right hand felt like it had just burst into flames, but that seems to be gone now. I-I don’t know why, I was fine all night last night, until it just suddenly started to burn!” Regi exclaimed and began to inspect his hand. “I didn’t touch anything, but I guess it must have gotten burnt or scratched somehow, cause this is new.” And he brought his hand up and showed the back of it to his mother… All she could do was back away from her son, cover her mouth, and begin to cry. Regi was confused and asked her, “Mom! What’s wrong? I’m fine now, really, I promise! You don’t need to worry! See? All better!” Regi’s mother just paid for his bail and left ahead of him. When he got out he looked at the mark and the guard watching him said, “Heh! You really scarred yourself? C’mon kid, you’re not gonna fool anyone around here! Why would a Scar Bearer be a 15 year old kind from Riz?”  Regi’s eyes widened as he looked at his new scar and just thought to himself, “Scar… Bearer? Me?”

Reviews

[Sinbulvinter]

Good chapter here. I like the youngsters and their hardened way of being due to what they're forced to survive in. Regi and Lori seem like interesting characters, and stand out to me more than the others, and I look forward to learning more about them.
All and all, this is very well done. I'd say work a bit on your storytelling, descriptions, and paragraphing, and you'll be set! I'mma surely keep an eye out for the next chapter! Feel free to send read requests!