Lightseeker: A Flame of Disparity Story

by Cinders of War

Chapter 3: Thieves' Passage

Rainbow Dash stuck her tongue out as she hesitantly peeled another wad of long hair off the bottom of one boot and tossed it into the passage behind her. Not only did it smell bad, but the texture of someone or something else’s hair between her fingers was enough to make her throw up a little in her mouth.

Disgusting… Rainbow groaned internally. She would have to brave this to get out of this city, but she wondered if she could take it if more hair appeared beneath her feet.

The end of the tunnel brought Rainbow to a drop off into murky grey water below, which wasn’t all that appealing to have a swim in. Two wooden platforms were built to the left and right of the tunnel ahead, but they were just too far for her to leap to.

She stuck her head out of the tunnel to look around it, but there didn’t seem to be anywhere to go. Again, Rainbow looked down to the uninviting water, flowing down a tunnel that probably led out to the sea. Perhaps she could find a way across from the water, but she really didn’t want to swim in that. The sewers already smelt bad enough.

And then she spotted something. There were planks to the side of her tunnel entrance. Perhaps one of them could help get her across to one of the wooden platforms. Bending down, Rainbow Dash gripped the sides of one plank, then plucked it off the floor, walking over to the edge of the tunnel. She stretched it out over the chasm between her and the wooden platform on the right. Once she was sure it was sturdy enough, the rainbow haired girl carefully crept across it, one foot at a time, careful to maintain her balance or risk falling into the disgusting water below.

As she got closer to the platform, the board began to crack and splinter beneath her weight and Rainbow only had a second to get as far as she could before it snapped at the center. She tossed herself into the air as the boards fell to the water below, managing to get onto the platform on the right. Unfortunately, she couldn’t stop herself in time and she collided with the wall, knocking stars into her eyes. She stumbled forward and tipped over the edge of the platform, but her instincts kicked in and Rainbow grabbed on with one hand, swinging herself just enough over another alcove just above the water on the right. With enough speed, she tossed herself off and just barely landed on the stony ground below.

“Man, that was close…” She leaned against the wall and rubbed at her sore face. There was a lump forming just above her right eyebrow, but at least it wasn’t anything serious. She took some time to rest, trying to shake the vertigo away before continuing. At least she had arrived on land, even if she wasn’t up where the platform was anymore.

She cracked open an eye and surveyed her surroundings. She was on a stone platform that ran alongside the water now, curving right and leading down a short flight of steps to another level. She could see more water flowing from up here, but another water flow just meant there might be another exit that way, which was good.

Once she was ready to continue, she proceeded down the stone staircase, wishing she had a source of light to navigate the darkness. It was a little hard to see ahead, but at least it wasn’t completely dark. There was light coming from somewhere above, but she couldn’t pinpoint the exact spots where they came from.

She was paying so much attention above her that she failed to see a furry shape scurry towards her. It was only because of the sound of its squeaks that Rainbow looked down and rolled to the left just as a rat the size of her arm jumped past, its fangs stained with rot and blood.

She drew one shortsword and stood, facing the huge rat as it turned itself to face her. It approached her slowly, almost warily, but getting close was its mistake. As soon as it was near enough, Rainbow took a step forward and sliced horizontally twice. The first one caught the rat across the snout, raising it up on its hindlegs, allowing her second slash to gut the rat’s throat, spewing fresh blood across the sewer floor. The creature screeched and clawed at the air, then went still and fell into the flowing greywater, sailing slowly down with the flow.

“As if the water wasn’t nasty enough.” Rainbow kept her weapon and went on.

The path ahead curved again, this time leading in an arc around an imaginary circle, growing darker as she proceeded deeper, the lights from above disappearing behind her. Rainbow Dash’s foot kicked into something and she looked down. Under her feet were piles of broken wood, which gave her an idea. Picking one up, the girl tied some spare bandages she had around its tip, then picked out another item from her pack. This one was a glass bottle with a stopper at the top. Within it was a small red butterfly and it began to glow as Rainbow uncorked the bottle. With a flick, the butterfly ignited itself and Rainbow placed her makeshift torch against it, setting its tip ablaze with light, illuminating the tunnel ahead of her.

“Much better.” She smiled and stood.

Now that she could see, she proceeded on more quickly than before, following the flow of greywater down a slope and around another bend. Another rat slid into view, this one having a bloody bone in its mouth, still chewing it as it eyed Rainbow’s legs.

With a squeak, it suddenly zig-zagged its way towards Rainbow, who quickly brought up her torch and swung it down against the rat’s head as it got close enough. Wood connected with bone and the rat flew against the wall, fire spreading across the fur on its head. Even then, it didn’t give up and tried to attack Rainbow again, but the girl simply planted a foot against its face as it reared up and she shoved it off the side, watching as the water swept it down away from her. These rats were big, but they still behaved like any other rat, and their size just made it easier to deal with them now.

At least rats are easier to deal with than werewolves or the like…

Eventually, her winding tunnel brought her upon a short slight up steps, leading up to a rusty old gate at the top. Rainbow tried to shove it open, and though old and weathered, it held strong, locked in place by a similarly rusty lock.

“Time to get out the old handy dandy picks.” Rainbow placed her torch by the side of the door and whipped out a worn leathery pouch which housed her lockpicking equipment. She hadn’t used these in a while, but it always came back to her like riding a cart.

Sticking the two pieces of metal into the lock, she twisted them around and kept one ear close to the keyhole, listening intently as the mechanisms within it began to click from her twisting.

One, two, three… Click. The lock swung down and she smiled to herself. Still a piece of cake. I could go for some cake now, actually.

She hadn’t eaten anything in a while, but then again, it was more of a want than a need right now. What she needed was to find her way out of the city so that she could plan her next step towards finding the legendary Sunlight Maggot.

She had heard of the tales long ago when she was but a wee girl, still training her sword skills. They are said to have originated from the Throne of Flames just like humans, undead and everything else, but long after the Throne had fallen to the Abyss. They could emanate light that was said to rival the light of Flames and Rainbow knew that only a power light source now would save Canterim from the encroaching darkness of the Abyss’ corruption.

Continuing on, the passageway yawned open in front of her like the mouth of some beast. Rainbow Dash cautiously tiptoed down the tunnel. She could feel the air on her face; it was less stagnant and more… salty?

A faint glow lit the end of the tunnel and suddenly it opened out into a massive cavern. There were torches sparsely placed all about, dotting wooden platforms and scaffolding that was built all around the edges of the hollow. There was another opening in the cavern, with a jetty or wharf built around it. Water from the ocean outside spilled inside to meet the disgusting sewer water, and there were a handful of small boats tied around some of the wooden platforms with rope.

A sign against a nearby pole read Thieves’ Passage.

“Looks promising.” Rainbow looked out around the area.

There were a few hollows shifting barrels off two of the boats, one of them sporting a pirate hat, but they shouldn’t pose much of a problem. Rushing from behind a stalagmite, the girl threw her torch at the nearest thief hollow, then drew both her swords in a flash.

The thief she threw her torch at reeled from the strike as the torch bounced off and fell into the water below, and Rainbow took this opportunity to strike him first, delivering a fast and deadly stab through his neck. She didn’t stop there and used her embedded sword to swing his dying body at the next hollow before kicking him off her weapon. The two hollows collided with a crate and smashed it to pieces, releasing a swarm of tiny red crabs, who fled back towards the water.

The third hollow, the one with the captain’s hat approached Rainbow and drew a curved sword. His other hand was a hook that looked like a bird’s talon, which was probably equally as dangerous. The second thief got up and drew two bandit daggers and Rainbow fell back to a defensive position so that they would both be in front of her. She didn’t come all this way only to get stabbed in the back now.

“Come on,” Rainbow said, her eyes darting from one opponent to the other. “Have a go if you think you’re tough enough.”

The hollow wearing the captain’s hat broke into a run, holding his cutlass high for a diagonal swing. Rainbow sidestepped the attack and stuck out her leg, tripping the hollow over. The second one came spinning with his daggers and Rainbow ducked under two slashes, then twisted herself around a third one and came up behind him. Grabbing ahold of his shoulder, Rainbow pulled it back and thrust one sword through his back, watching it come out through his front. She removed her sword and stepped away as the body fell backwards onto the deck.

The hollow that Rainbow had tripped was trying to get up, but then she cut its head off before it could properly recover. Dark blood dripped from her weapons as she pulled them back out. Rainbow Dash smiled to herself and looked around. The docks didn’t lead anywhere, but there was a stoney stairway leading up the side of a cliff, going towards wooden structures all the way to the top. She figured these must be houses, but perhaps there was another way out somewhere above.

Within the houses on the ground level, the girl spied clusters of sleeping hollows. She didn’t know why hollows needed their rest, seeing as they were already dead, but she didn’t really care to know what the reason was, so she kept going, heading up the stone steps to a second row of houses. One had pots of all shapes and sizes inside, while the other only had a single table with more sleeping hollows among it.

Around the next corner was a small alcove that Rainbow almost missed. The only reason she spotted it was because a female hollow thief leapt out of it, trying to ambush her with her bandit dagger. Rainbow spun around the attack and grabbed the hollow’s wrist. She spun her body around again and wrapped her left leg around the hollow’s neck and pulled her down to the ground. With a quick twist of her thigh, Rainbow snapped the thief’s neck and left her body as she proceeded further up the stairs.

There was a hiss from above and looking up, Rainbow spotted a grotesque figure with an enlarged head full of eyes descending the stairway, heading right for her.

“What are you?” Rainbow flinched in disgust.

As her eyes met its multitude, visions of destruction flashed through her mind. Rainbow could see ruins all across the lands, with fire dying out and darkness taking over. She could see light being quenched by the spreading Abyss and even that of the Sunlight Maggot would do no good. Then she saw herself, driving a dagger through her own chest and tearing out her heart, crying out in pain.

“No, stop!” Rainbow held her head and shut her eyes. It was all too much to comprehend. As soon as she stopped looking, the visions faded and the pain was gone. “So that’s how it is…”

She picked up her shortswords again and as she and the creature approached each other, she kept her eyes averted from its head and sidestepped as one of its long arms tried to grab her. She spun around and cut up and down along its arm, tearing skin apart and digging new grooves along bone. The creature spewed out a noxious fume, but Rainbow pressed on and cut down, sending it down on one knee. It reached behind itself to slash at her, but Rainbow was faster and dug her sword through its lower back, twisting it to detach its spine. The creature’s arms went limp at its sides and slid down the steps once Rainbow kicked it off her weapon, landing at the bottom in a crumpled mess beside the captain hollow.

There was another of those eyeball creatures when Rainbow reached the top of the stairway, but she spotted a black barrel beside it and she got an idea. Lighting another nearby piece of wood with a flame butterfly, Rainbow tossed it to the barrel and watched as its contents mixed with her torch and went up in flames, engulfing the creature as well. As it flailed and hissed in pain, the girl took her chance to run by it, now heading along a cliffside towards more wooden houses built along its walls.

Two more hollow thieves emerged from one of the houses, each of them holding two curved swords, but Rainbow maneuvered around the first one’s back as it tried to slash her. She kicked the second one off the cliff as it tried to attack and then with a quick counter, the first one’s second attack was repelled and she delivered a cross slash on its midsection, spraying blood up into the air. The hollow went down with a low moan.

“Don’t mess with Rainbow ‘Danger’ Dash.” She smiled to herself and carried on.

The cliff wasn’t that narrow and Rainbow had no trouble navigating it to the other side. She could see more of those weird creatures behind her now, but they shrank back from the fire she had set. It seemed she had inadvertently created an obstacle for them. That was good. It just meant they weren’t going to come after her any time soon.

Near the end of the cliff, after another flight of steps, Rainbow found a lone wooden house with another gate barring her way forward. It proved to be of only a small inconvenience, something her lockpicks could easily handle. Once the lock was off, Rainbow pushed with all her might to get it open. Once she did so, she slinked through the gate and shut it behind her. She didn’t want those creatures following in behind her.

The next area was but a single rocky pathway leading to a brick wall with large steel doors almost triple her height.

“Now what do we have here?” Rainbow placed her hands against them and pushed, feeling them move just very slightly. At least they weren’t locked or anything.

Rainbow Dash put all of her strength into her arms and shoulders as she forced the two doors apart, gritting her teeth together as steel scraped against stone. It was a hard fight, but soon, the doors opened just enough for her to squeeze through and she decided to do just that. She didn’t see any point in struggling to get the doors opened all the way.

Past the door, there was a somewhat squarish tunnel leading to a large room ahead. There were lit torches lining the sides of the tunnel, each of them attached to rungs built in tiny alcoves. It was quick work to traverse the tunnel, but Rainbow stopped past the entrance to the room to inspect it. There were chests of all sizes materials lining the sides of the room and the walls were lined with more torches, illuminating the room. She figured this was likely where all the thieves brought their treasure, but then what were they going to do with all this? With the world falling to the Abyss, there wasn’t much point of gold or coins anymore.

As she was busy sifting through the treasures, Rainbow almost missed the sound of the faintest scrape of wood somewhere behind her. Almost. Flipping around, her eyes were drawn up to a crouched figure on the rafters above and he leapt down, forcing Rainbow to roll out of the way and draw her swords.

The man was clad in a dark coat and cape and his face was partially concealed by a bandana and a scarf, leaving only his menacing yellow eyes staring back out at her. He flicked his cloak aside and drew two daggers from his sides, both of them thin and black, just like a scorpion’s stinger. Rainbow recognized those weapons. Tales of this man were spread wide. His name had been long forgotten, but his deeds and infamy had earned him the title of ‘King of Thieves’.

“So this is your hideout,” Rainbow said to him. “No wonder we’ve never been able to find you.”

He’d ever been to Canterim, stealing a shipment of oil from Yakhub Bay. They never did end up catching him, but today, she was going to deliver justice to him.

Without a word, the King of Thieves ran to her, spinning in circles with his twin daggers. Rainbow ducked under his blows and then between his feet, cutting at his right thigh as she did so. The King of Thieves simply lifted his leg and swung it sideways, knocking the rainbow haired girl to the ground before flipping around and unleashing a flurry of slashes at her.

Rainbow Dash felt one tear into her right shoulder, but she managed to evade the rest by rolling a good distance away, though the King kept pushing forward with his offensive, still getting closer and closer, not giving her any time to use a lifegem just yet.

Rainbow’s opponent thrust at her with his daggers, but she backstepped and readied her own two blades. She swung at the King of Thieves, one diagonal upwards facing cut, then another slice aimed at his knees. The King dodged the first strike and leaped away from the second, but at least Rainbow Dash had room to breathe. She crushed a lifegem just as the King of Thieves jumped up in an arc, intent on impaling Rainbow from above.

Rainbow rolled away, and the King’s feet crashed down where she had been standing, shattering a hole in the wooden boards that had been used to cover the rough floor of the cave.

Rainbow Dash was running out of room to evade, so she rolled forwards, mindless of the nails that scraped against her back armor. She recovered behind the King and stabbed him in the back, but the injuries were not life-threatening. Instead the King of Thieves spun around and cut Rainbow across the shoulder, the left one this time.

A thin line of blood clung to the King of Thieves’ dagger as he brought it up to his eyes, examining it. Rainbow’s eyes narrowed in anger and she let out a shout, rushing at the King with her short swords held high. Her foe stepped backwards to avoid the attack, but Rainbow would not be denied. After missing with her close-range attack, she raised her left hand and hurled her sword at the King, where it stabbed into his shoulder. It drew blood and the King of Thieves seemed thrown by the sudden change in tactics.

But not for long. With only one sword left, Rainbow could put a lot more force into her swings, but now she could only attack from one position, the King of Thieves would no doubt be watching her weapon more now.

The King of Thieves lashed out at Rainbow, with lightning speed. It missed, but Rainbow’s feet caught on the broken wooden floor and she stumbled and fell over. The King loomed over her, and Rainbow was forced to block with her remaining weapon.

The two were in the bind for a scant few moments, but Rainbow’s position was less tenable and she lost the contest of strength. Her sword was pushed aside, and the King’s daggers descended for the kill.

But at the very last moment, Rainbow rolled aside and allowed the King of Thieves to stab both his weapons into the place she had just been lying in. She stabbed her sword into the King’s other shoulder, making him fall flat onto the floor. For a moment both fighters were prone, but then Rainbow snatched up a broken wooden plank off the floor and swung it hard at her enemy’s head before he could recover. The nails in the board might have been rusty, but they were still plenty sharp and there was a squelch as the board made contact with the back of his skull.

The King of Thieves fell face first onto the ground and did not get up again. Rainbow dropped her makeshift club as his body began to flake away, watching them go until his entire body was gone, leaving behind her shortswords on the floor.

“Well, he won’t be bothering anyone anymore…” Rainbow sheathed her weapons and sighed. That had been one tough fight, but at least she’d made it through with relatively minor injuries. Nothing a lifegem couldn’t heal, though she was almost out now.

The other end of the room had another tunnel leading further on, and seeing as there was no other way to go and she didn’t have any reason to stick around here, Rainbow dusted her hands off and proceeded to the tunnel, wondering just where this would lead.

Author's Note:

Achievement unlocked:
King of Thieves - You defeated the King of Thieves

Well, here we are again in Thieves' Passage. The idea here was that Rainbow had gone through her own Thieves' Passage before Sunset did and just like being summoned in Dark Souls or Bloodborne, your world remains unchanged and your bosses still remain, haha, though in our dream world, it's kinda the same world for everyone.

Also, one of us will be adding Flame boss bios to the Bloodlines Group from time to time, so stay tuned for those for more lore on the dream world.

I hoped you enjoyed this story, though it's a really short one. Stay tuned for the epilogue. Cheers!