I bet they were being taken somewhere. Have their souls drained from them. Sounds like something those elites would do. Just goes to show you--you don’t stick up your head in this city. Keep it down. The head that deserves to be raised is the one that wears the crown.
The Crown City is known for many things, among them being the cutthroat populace, slavery, the exploitation of the lower class, and the political power struggles of the wealthy and middle class. The city is rife with corruption and knows little peace. If only to egg on the turmoil within the city, there is an old wives tale that many the poorer folk spread around and accept as common knowledge: none will set a foot outdoors when the street lamps are lit. All who have, rest their souls, have disappeared and never returned.
When The Crown City first sat upon the Adrelan Empire of the Myrrdin people and won their war of conquest, people began to disappear at night. At first it was poorer folk, disappearing into the night. This happened once a month, at most. This was readily dismissed as Myrrdin insurgents who survived the war now taking out their vengeance upon citizens on the streets. Then it was the middle class folk, still disappearing into the night. The disappearances however escalated to once every two weeks. It was described as a wave of silence then the person vanishing as if pulled under a tide, a blanket, a sheet of reality moving over them. Guard duty was increased, but still, the disappearances continued. Finally, when the wealthy and all other people affected by the disappearances once a week, did the witch hunting begin.
The slaves never went missing. That’s the weird thing. See, I thought they’d be taken for sure, but no, never, not one. In fact, just the opposite! We got more! The market was booming with them! They were pretty young, I guess, but I never though. … No. Wait… you don’t think?
Anyone out past evening was considered a suspect, and the poor were most greatly affected by this in part due to working all and any hours of the night just to stay alive.
It was later said that the disappearances stopped, at least for a while, but it remains a mystery whether the person or monster was caught. What was true was that the people gone stayed gone, and never returned. The disappearances were brushed under the rug, but a pattern began to bubble up-- those who had been taken had been remarkable in some way--strong, beautiful, honest, and some such.
Another missing person. That’s the norm these days. But I heard one person came back, gaunt like a dying animal, eyes greyed over. They said they’d been running for days, but running from what? They said something then, a whisper. I asked them to repeat it. “The Ranch”? I never heard of it.
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