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Althea's Wish

Chapter 1: The Curse is Revealed

"We caught her! The legendary theif has been caught!"

All the people in the small town gather together to see what the commotion was about. Two guards are walking down the street. each holding a rope. At the other end of the rope, a young girl is bound at the wrists, walking behind the guards. She appears to be no older than 17, with brown hair to her shoulders and fox-like ears. Her blue eyes are still shining with confidence.

"Wow! So many people... It's like a parade!"

"They're all here to see you humiliated and thrown in jail. We have you this time. We tied you up in ropes instead of handcuffs so there's no way you can do any crazy lock-picking tricks."

"Is that so...."

"Sure is!!! No handcuffs means no locks, no locks means to lock-picking! There's no escape this time!"

The young girl fiddles with her necklace. It is shaped like a heart, with a small jewel in the middle. The tip of the heart extends to look like an arrow, and two shards extend on each side of the heart.

"Say... I heard rumors that there was another thief roming 'round these parts.... do you have any info on that person?"

"Other than you, i haven't heard of any thiefs."

The other guard spoke up, "Actually, about a month ago, a suspicious looking guy came here for a visit. Some people around that time claimed to have had a few things stolen from their homes. They were minor things like food, clothes, some people said money but it wasn't alot. Before we could interrogate the guy, he was gone. Someone said he was heading for the East."

Hearing this, the girl became excited, "What did he look like? Was there anything about him that was odd? Like a tatto or something?"

The guard thought for a minute, then seemed to remember something, " He DID have an eyepatch!"

"Why are you so curious about this guy anyway? It's not like you're gonna go visit him.... anytime.... soon?"

The guards suddenly notice they are only dragging ropes. They look up to see the young girl on the roof of a nearby house.

"Sorry, but it turns out lock-picking isn't my only talent!!"

The young girl does a back-flip and dissappears from sight, leaving the guards shocked and humilated infront of the townspeople.

On the outskirts of town, an old man is fiddling with some rare jewelry. The house he lives in is run down, and seems to also serve as a pawn shop. As he's inspecting the diamond on a gold ring, the door opens and the girl walks in.

The old man continues to inspect the jewel, not even stopping to look at who walked in, "I heard alot of commotion today.... i guess something interesting happened?"

The girl removes the back-pack she's wearing and plops down in a chair, "Yeah... I let the guards capture me... I thought they might have some juicy info i could use..."

"Did they?"

"Well... he WAS here... but he left, like, a month ago."

"I see..."

The girl fiddles with her necklace again, "Yeah... and since they made a huge commotion about capturing me, the whole friggin' town came! I guess I'll have to get up and move again... I heard he headed for the East... I guess I'll be headed that way..."

The old man puts down the ring and sighs, "It's a shame... that neclace should be worth alot... I guess letting you stay here WAS a big waste of my time..."

"Hey! I done more than enough to earn my keep! Half these here valuables are from me working late at night-"

The girl was interupped with a crashing sound. They both turn their head to see another girl, about 14, head-first in a pile of valuable jewelry and vases. She has long black hair tied up in a bow and her eyes were ocean blue. She wore a black tubetop and a red leather jacket, with long jeans and a black belt. The young girl picks herself up, rubbing her head. In her hand is an envelope.

"Kokoro, can't you do ANYTHING without destroying my house?!!"

Kokoro starts to clean up the mess, "Sorry, Grandfather! But Machi got a letter today... "

The young girl, now known to be Machi, jumps up and runs to Kokoro. "Lemme see!!"

Machi grabs the letter out of the young girl's hands and begins to read. As she reads, her face changes from determination to surprise. When she finishes, her face is pale and she nearly collapses.

"Wha... what the heck?!"

"Machi!! are you allright?!!"

Machi snaps out of it, and sees Kokoro's worried look, "Yeah, yeah... look, i'm going to bed early... i'm leaving first thing tomorrow."

Machi grabs her back-pack and heads upstairs. She accidentally leaves the letter on the table. Kokoro grabs the letter.

"Kokoro, you shouldn't read other people's mail..."

"But Grandpa, did you see her face? What could have scared her so bad?"

Kokoro begins to read the letter, suddenly her eyes grow wide, "No way......"

The letter said:

My Dearest Machi,

I am a little surprised to see that you have tracked me down this far. Your skills seem to improve every day, which, i'm sad to say, is a skill you will gravely need in the future.

I finally came across some information reguarding the necklace. It is called the Althea's Wish and, as i feared is indeed curse.

To break that curse, the bearer of the necklace must collect the seven treasures of Althea and bring them together in one location.

I am unsure of the whereabouts of all the items at this time, what I CAN tell you though is the Sash of Althea is located in a small town in the east, called Tulip Town. It is in the custody of an older man, who happens to own half the town.

If you do not find all seven items by the lunar new year, then your life will be drained. I intend to find out more info and will be in touch with you when i can.

I am so very sorry about all this.

~Alex