The leaves on the trees were blown back and forth as they fell. Many trees had only a few leaves left on their branches. It was autumn. The sun was suppressed by clouds of many shapes. In a park, many trees still carried a few yellow and orange leaves.
A young man ran along the muddy path of the park. He shoved people out of his way. As he ran, he pushed aside a man in a black suit. The man looked back at him with a threatening glare and shook his head angrily.
The running youth glanced back. His brown hair was torn backward by the wind. Then he shouted while running, "Sorry, man!"
The man stayed silent. Suddenly, a police car shot past him. Were they chasing the young man? Most likely. The car drove straight through the park. The tires felt heavy as they struggled through the muddy, filthy ground.
The man stepped back and vanished into the middle of the park. The blue light of the police car wailed as they chased the brown haired youth. After a few minutes, they left the park behind. The running boy was still ahead of them.
Suddenly, a policeman shouted out of the window, "Kid, stop running. You are only going to get yourself into more trouble!"
But it seemed as if the boy could not hear him. Suddenly, he turned into a narrow alley in the streets. Impossible for a car to get through. The police car stopped abruptly. Because of the sudden halt, the driver of a car behind them panicked and crashed into the back of the police car. The officers had no time to deal with that. They jumped out and ran into the narrow alley.
One officer immediately pointed upward at a ladder leading to a high rooftop. The policeman shouted after the boy, "This is getting too dangerous. That is enough!"
Then the officer grabbed his weapon and pulled it out. "Then we will have to shoot!" he said with a serious expression.
The other two policemen stared at him. "S sir, do you not think that is a bit extreme?"
The armed officer stepped forward. "No. They are only training rounds. They still hurt. Now come on, or do you want him to get away with such an expensive item?"
All the policemen shook their heads. "Of course not, sir!"
They rushed to the ladder and climbed up.
It was a large roof that led to two sides. One side led to another roof. The other side, if one were to jump to the right, led to a huge river that ran through the city. That jump would be suicidal. So the policemen assumed the boy had gone left, jumping from roof to roof.
Oh, how wrong they were.
With a wide grin, Lux stepped out of his hiding place. He had not gone anywhere at all. He had hidden behind a kind of machine. The policemen ran off, searching elsewhere.
Lux's grin grew wider as he pulled a blue diamond ring from his jacket. It was perfectly shaped and practically shone with money.
"This will last me a few months," Lux said with a grin.
Suddenly, laughter echoed behind him.
Were they the policemen? Had they found him? How could Lux be so stupid?
Thoughts spun through his head. But in the end, there was only one thing he could do. He slowly turned around at the edge near the ladder.
Lux's eyes widened.
It was the man from the park, the one Lux had bumped into earlier. He held a gray handgun in his hand. The man stepped closer and pressed the gun against Lux's head. Then he grinned.
"Hand over the ring."
It was clear. Another thief, after the ring.
With a trembling hand, Lux handed over the diamond ring. Then he whispered, "I I do not want to die."
The man in the suit laughed. "I am sorry, but we all have to."
Lux fell silent. "H huh?"
Then an imprint. An enormous force burst from the weapon. A silver bullet. Lux blinked.
A shot to his head.
The bullet pierced cleanly through his temple. Lux's heavy body fell from the rooftop. Another shot rang out, this time into the head of the man. The roof turned into a bloodbath.
The man collapsed to the ground. The ring slipped from his hand, rolled across the roof, and fell into the river below.
The policemen who had fired stood silent. After a while, one of them spoke. "And all of this for nothing."
"How old was the kid?" one officer asked, pointing at Lux's body on the ground. Blood poured from his head, but the boy had been dead for a long time. If the bullet had not killed him, the fall certainly had.
"Sixteen. Lux Tyl. He was already known to the police. You could say he was a thief at a young age."
Lux Tyl. Lux Tyl. Lux.
Images shot through Lux's mind. Where was he? What had happened? Were those images, or were they memories?
Lux saw a hand reaching for a diamond.
[Evaluation in progress.]
[Name: Lux Tyl]
[Rank: Master Thief]
[Stolen Items: 36]
[Starting Abilities: 3]
The words formed in his mind as the hand slowly closed around the diamond. New words appeared.
"[Three abilities granted at the start.]"
A list formed beneath the text.
"[Steal]""[Like the Shadow]""[?]"
"(Good luck. You will need it.)"
Darkness swallowed Lux.
"What the hell is happening?"
When Lux opened his eyes on his own, he found himself in a black vehicle racing forward at high speed. Something large was being transported in the back. The vehicle was massive. His vision was blurry, but he noticed a few things.
He was holding a weapon. It was black, with a red bullet engraved into it. He was dressed in black and seemed to be wearing some kind of phantom mask. Black as well.
Lux was sitting in the passenger seat. The window was wide open. He saw countless roads and bridges.
Where was he?
Wait.
Lux's head snapped toward the driver.
Who was driving?
It was a girl, slightly older than him. She had brown hair that looked like silk, so beautiful. And she had blue eyes, just like Lux.
A grin spread across Lux's lips. Overwhelmed by her beauty, he could not help but smile. But he noticed that she looked completely serious. Well, she was driving after all.
Lux had the feeling that they were not just driving. They were fleeing from something.
Suddenly, a voice sounded in Lux's right ear. It came from a small microphone fitted inside.
"Lux, keep shooting. Go!"
Lux blinked a few times. "Uh w-what?"
Shoot at what?
The voice echoed again, louder. "Lux, that last shot could not have affected you that badly. Focus and shoot now!"
Lux glanced out of the open window for a second.
Bullets rained everywhere.
Around twenty black vehicles were chasing them.
"What the hell?"
Lux dropped the weapon and quickly picked it up again. This time, he carefully looked out of the window. He wanted to ask what they wanted, but he stayed silent. He wanted to understand why he was here and remember.
So Lux played along.
"I uh I am shooting now."
He extended his arm out of the window and aimed the weapon at the black vehicles. Then he pulled the trigger.
"Bang. Bang."
The weapon fired two powerful shots. One vehicle was hit. The rounds were incredibly strong. The car exploded instantly and dragged several others into the blast.
The younger voice echoed in his ear again. "Good job, Lux. Just like we know you."
Lux looked out of the window. A massive explosion destroyed multiple roads. There was no sky above them. There were more roads. Roads above, below, left, and right.
A city made entirely of streets.
And Lux had just destroyed them.
The group inside the car cheered. Lux thought. Were there three of them? How many were there? What was happening?
The girl at the wheel slowed down slightly and seemed far more relaxed.
After a while, the vehicle came to a stop. Lux remained silent. Slowly, he understood what had happened to him.
"I am in another world because I died in mine."
Lux breathed heavily. He wanted to scream, but he stayed quiet.
Then the door beside him opened. A blond boy, a little older than Lux, stood there. As Lux looked closer, he noticed that one of the boy's hands was made of machine parts.
"Hey, great job, boss. Really great. We managed to shake them off, and now we can deliver it to the Fireslicers."
When the blond boy mentioned the name of the group, memories shot through Lux's head. Pain flooded his mind. He grabbed his temple and shut his eyes tightly.
"Everything okay, boss?"
Lux nodded. "Yeah. Wait."
The memories overwhelmed him.
"The boss.""The thief in the shadows.""The Red Bullet."
"Okay, we will make the deal. Bring us the arm brace and we will give you lots and lots of weapons, alright?""Okay, we will meet here."
Lux opened his eyes. The pain slowly faded.
Now he understood what was going on.
He was the boss of a group called Red Bullet. They had arranged a trade with another group, the Fireslicers. Red Bullet was largely unknown. There were four members.
Lux, the boss.
Arow, the blond boy.
Then there was… wait. A cat?
It could speak and was responsible for planning many things. Her name was Monty.
And finally, there was Lasa, the brown haired girl. She was apparently an excellent fighter. So that was why she had been driving.
Lux grinned.
It seemed he had been transformed along with this world. Many things from his old world existed here as well, but so many things were new.
His grin widened.
"Let us go to the meeting."