Zek had never been one to believe himself strong. He was strong compared to the other children and teenagers. Strong enough that no one would openly call him weak, something he had to thank his goliath blood for. But over the years he spent on the streets of Srok, he could not believe that anymore, and he would come to a realization about the sort of power innate magic afforded those in the Three lower cities.

  It had all started when their mother left them alone to look for work as a serf in one of the high cities. She had promised him that she would return with all the coin he and Geneve would need to live in a better place, and have a better home for their family.

  He had waited for a day, which had turned into a week, and before long, months had gone by. That’s when it happened: a seeking feeling of loneliness, betrayal, and fear, similar to the fear that one gets when they put their hope in the wrong thing.

  And it all changed, and not for the better when he found himself and Geneve on the streets. They were hungry and had to feed, they were cold and had to get warm, and they were lonely, but for this, they had each other. At first all was not bad because Zek and Geneve were both children with Goliath blood. At their young age, they were as tall as any human or Aasimar who walked the streets, big and strong. It was not hard for Zek to find himself in the band of other Goliath and half-Goliath children, and for a while, it seemed they would survive, flourish, and live well in Srok.

  But that was just it. It was for a while. As the months went by, he began to realize that, for all the Goliath blood he had, he was weak. And when it came to getting food, the strongest of the Goliath teenagers always got the most, and the weak often got the least, which often included his sister.

  For as much as he was a Goliath, he was also a human, more human than Goliath, he would soon come to realize. When the stripes of the Goliath blood started to show themselves on the other Goliath children, it was different for them. Unlike them, his and Geneve’s were nowhere to be seen. and this lack of the mark of their people only served to further make their lives difficult-- no band took them in, at least not for long, and those that did only did so when they needed extra hands.

  Unlike him. Geneve was always the one more in tune with her human side, often leading her to panic or hesitate on the jobs they did. And unfortunately, it had come to bite them in the back, leading them to be indebted to Agmak and his filthyings. She had panicked and frozen, and they had lost the pouch they had stolen from one of the merchant caravans.

  But in the end, at least to him, it was Geneve's weakness of this nature that saved them both. At first, Zek thought it was a foolish idea to ask for help from those with no Goliath blood. Zek knew the other goliaths would laugh at them and call them weak, yet she had insisted, and she had done it in front of all in the rats’ guild. Geneve had asked for help, not from a Goliath band, but from a mutt, someone so tainted that she was as white as the ash, someone as equally feared as she was avoided - the scar giver, Clara, a girl born around the brothels. Ever since then, he had stayed himself, never arguing with Geneve because all was lost. The other Goliath now surely saw them as weak. Something he thought he would forever regret, but that all changed when Marcus joined them.

  Zekhad never had of such a thing, someone gifted with two innate magics, surely this was a sign that his sister was doing something right.

  Agmak and his filthyings had fought and lost to them, and then the coin started coming, and he thought life would be much easier. They had warm rags and a roof over their heads, and sometimes they even ate well. That all, however, came to a halt when Thornan showed up. In the Goliath culture, the strongest always ruled, and Thornan was one of the strongest Goliath in the rat’s guild, and much like any leader would do, he had demanded his due. He was someone so strong in Zek’s eyes that he would have never hoped or been foolish enough to attack the Veystrix or raise his finger against any action the other boy did, or at least he thought he would.

  But there was often foolish stupidity when it came to bravery, and when it came to the Goliath, hitting things more often than not was the answer. So when he saw Thornan moving through the broken manor’s gate, pulling a beaten, bloodied and half-dead body behind him through the street that day, Zek had forgotten what he was--. Gabe looked dead, and Thornan had a grin on his face.

  If it happened and by some miracle if Had he been gifted by the aether like Marcus or Clara. At that moment, he thought he would have awakened his innate magic and roared his challenge to the world, but he was not gifted by the aether and had no innate magic. Most importantly, he was not thinking for himself. He was worried for Gabe and the others. Zek moved forward before his instincts could stop him and, in a rush, barreled into Thornan and down and to the side he went.

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  Thornan was confident as he walked into the compound, dragging Gabe by the leg in the mud and blood. As for what he expected would happen next, he thought of the fear in their eyes as they begged him for their pitiful lives. He would laugh, and they would give in as they always did, and he would walk away the victor again or at least that is what he expected. The one thing he did not expect was for any of them to put up a fight. Thornan was surprised to find out that Zek had barreled into him and pushed him to the ground.

  ‘Had the other boy gone mad?’ Thornan thought as he quickly pushed and threw Zek to the side. Are you crazy? How dare you…’ he grabbed Zek by the tunic. " I am stronger than you,” he roared. What type of Goliath attacks their betters?

  “What did you do to him?” Zek asked, grabbing onto the arm that held him up by the front of his tunic. He was worried about Gabe, and he wanted to help him.

  “You should be worried about yourself,” Thornan said, punching him in the face, “I thought by now you would have taken control of this band and yet you are still following that mutt, Clara…”

  Before the veystrix could finish the sentence, Nel and Linus rushed forward and jumped onto the big Goliath.

  Nel jumped onto Thornan’s shoulder, fingers reaching for the veystrix’s face and eyes, and Linus pushed a broken make-shift dagger of glass into his side-- the sheet of broken glass cut through the layers of dark leather and came to a halting, slow stop as it went through the thick skin.

  The shard did not go any further into the other goliath skin, and in retaliation, Thornan looked down at Linus with hatred, anger and a promise of murder on his face as the smaller boy still struggled to fight, struggling to push his make-shift weapon into his side. Thornan’s hand let go of Zek and went to grab Linus, and before he could do anything, he felt a heavy blow to his face. The surprise of it caused him to grunt and fall to his knees.

  Zek punched him and kept hitting the bigger Goliath. After Linus and Nel had joined him, surprising and jumping onto Thornan, he had taken the chance and attacked the other boy. By doing this, Zek did not want Thornan to turn his attention towards the smaller boys.

  But sadly, as hard as he hit, Zek knew their temporary victory would not last long, and just as though he had made his doubt manifest. Thornan ignored him, rose to his feet under the flood of blows and kicked his leg out to the side, causing a grinding, bone-breaking crunch to sound out.

  They all paused for the briefest of moments and looked down. Thornan looked down, a craved smile appearing on his face. Zek looked down, and it was as he feared. Linus had his leg twisted and turned to the wrong side. Zek could see the disbelief in the smaller boy’s face. First, Linus was in shock, then he let go of the broken glass shard he was using to stab the veystrix, and he stumbled back, letting out a bloodcurdling scream as he held his leg and fell to the ground in a whimper.

  “You’ve got some balls thinking you can fight me.”

  Thornan did not let them get their wits back. He reached out, striking Zek in the nose, causing his brain to buzz in his skull as he stumbled back and away. Thornan then grabbed Nel, who was still hanging onto his shoulder, lifted him up, and slammed him into the wall.

  “Weak. Are you Goliath?” he roared at Zek. Why are you letting these humans fight for you?” Thornan asked, granting the request, pulling the glass shard out of the side of his body, and standing confidently to his full height.

  “What are you going to do? Are you going to kill me?” Zek asked, preparing to lunge at the other boy again.

  “Me. No, I will let Clara do that herself,” he sneered. “You are weak. You are no Goliath. It will be an insult to me.”

  “She won’t do it,” Zek said, throwing himself at Thornan.

  Thornan dodged to the side, “Don’t worry, she will,” his fist swung hard and true into the boy’s gut and sent Zek stumbling, “she will refuse, but when she begs for her life I will tell her to kill you in return.”

  “No, she wouldn’t,” Zek growled, pushing away the pain and rushed forward, aiming to pin the veystrix down as long as he could. To distract him from the others just until Marcus or Clara could come back. He squeezed his eyes shut and, with all the strength and force he could muster, pushed his shoulder into the other much bigger goliath blood.

  There was a brief pause as Zek felt his body coming to a halt abruptly. The moment churned his insides as he forced himself to stay on his feet, and the air left his lungs. It seemed as though he had just crashed into a solid stone wall. The only difference was that a wall didn’t have hands.

  Thornan grabbed him by his pants and tunic and lifted him off the ground. It was not often a Goliath or half Goliath got lifted. but there he was, lifted in the air one moment and the next sent crashing down to the solid cobblestone path that led to the manor entrance.

  Thornan looked around, ordered, and seeing Zek struggling to gather his wits, he grabbed the other boy by the hair and lifted his face. “See them? They are all here to see how weak you are. “

  Zek had not seen it at first under the setting light, but Thornan had not come alone. Trailing him in the cobblestone streets of Srok, Filthyings and Veystrix followed the blood in the dirt. They followed in anticipation, and others followed because it was not often they got entertained, but no matter the case, they were all there watching.