Chapter Two
~ Lamina ~

“My purse!” a woman who was trying to bargain with a vendor suddenly shrieked.

Zitao ignored her, already running with the purse held tightly between his fingers. He needed money badly that he resorted to stealing. If he has known the thrill of it earlier on, he might have moved from pickpocketing years ago. This was such an adrenaline rush for him. He snickered lightly as he ran.

But the thought of it being fun immediately evaporated when he heard that some guards are on his tail. He cursed but kept on running. They might get tired easily and give up the chase right away with those heavy uniforms. With that in mind, he weaved through the market stalls and the shoppers. He tried looking behind him to see how far his pursuers are, but he slammed at someone suddenly. They both fell, their limbs tangled.

“What -” the fair-skinned man started.

“Oy, you thief!” one of the guards yelled.

Tao, feeling cornered, let go of the power he had a hard time repressing for three days now. Time stilled. The people paused at the middle of what their doing. The guards who were catching up were also motionless. He stood up, the purse still in his grip. He looked down at the man and was shocked to see him moving.

“What did you do?” the man asked, looking a bit horrified.

Without replying, Tao ran again. He was already gone when time resumed on running. He didn’t remove the cloth hiding half his face until he reached the small shack he shared with his younger brother.

“Qiang,” he called out, a little breathless from all the running.

“I’m here,” a young voice called out.

He went to the room, if you can call it that, where they sleep. His brother, Huang Shaoqiang, was lying on the cot. “Let’s go and see a healer.”

“We don’t have any gold.” Qiang frowned. His coloring was too pale even for someone who doesn’t go out under the sun.

“We have.” Tao said. “I managed to earn some.”

Qiang sighed. “You mean you stole some.”

“It doesn’t matter. We need to bring you to a healer.” Tao argued.

“Ge,” a word for addressing an older male. “I don’t want to use somebody else’s gold to get better.”

“Don’t be stubborn.” Tao said in frustration. “You’ll die if we don’t get you to a healer soon.”

“I’d rather die.” His brother stated with such conviction that Tao fell silent.

He threw a look at his brother before going out of their sleeping place. His feet felt heavy on