Lotem stared at the stranger. He was strange, for sure. He seemed to be edging the guards on to a fight. When he had played Find the Lady with the villagers, he played simple enough. He really did just mix up the cards, the paper squares. But when the guards played, the stranger did all sorts of tricks to try to confuse them, but they couldn’t even seem to focus on the cards. And the stranger stole their money! Well, Lotem did too, but they beat him up, so it was fair. Sort of.

     This thief looked pretty well-off, and Lotem didn’t want to be around if the guards discovered they’d been pickpocketed, multiple times. Lotem wanted to be sure he could get some more to eat, so before he turned to leave, he discreetly palmed a coin from the stranger- when suddenly the stranger’s bright amber gaze met Lotem’s amethyst one, and Lotem knew in a sudden moment of bone-chilling terror that this foreigner brave enough to harass the Ariant guards had caught Lotem red-handed. This was not going to be a good beating.

     Time to put all that practice running away to good use. Lotem whisked away as fast as he could, dodging, ducking, and leaping through the market towards the town wall. He got a strong feeling of déjà vu. It was after a chase like this that he had found the oasis.

     But this wasn’t totally déjà vu. That was new. A disembodied shadow raced along the ground, though there was nothing casting the shadow. That was creepy, and there’s no way that it could be a good thing, so Lotem darted in a different direction quickly. The lone shadow followed and got ahead, then started to lift off the ground and take physical form, like a person. The shadow then started to drip off the form like water, but the shadows vanished into thin air, leaving the stranger from the market, holding a strange ridged knife.

     Lotem scrabbled backwards, trying to run off again, but with blinding speed, the stranger grabbed a star shaped object off of his belt and hurled it into an arc, smashing into the ground a hairs-breadth away from Lotem’s toes. He’d had to stop abruptly to even keep his toes in the first place.

     “Aw, come on now, don’t be like that,” the foreigner said, casually but with the clear understanding that he could make it extremely painful if Lotem didn’t listen to what he had to say. “I have to say, I’m impressed. I’ve never seen a little street rat as skilled a pickpocket as you. Or as daring either. That was you swiping coins from the guards at the table, wasn’t it?”  Lotem nodded mutely, his eyes fixed on that knife. He was used to being threatened with a fist. A knife? Now that was raising the stakes.

     “Well, kid, you got talent. I’ll grant you that. Tell me, how’d you come to Ariant?”

     "I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lotem answered warily, still watching that knife. “Everyone I know has been in Ariant they’re whole life. I didn’t even know there was an outside of Ariant until you came.”

     “I bet you never knew your parents, did you.” Lotem shook his head. “An orphan. Go figure. What’s your name?” Lotem didn’t respond right away, and the stranger looked confused, but then he sighed and sheathed his knife. Lotem began to breathe again.

“I don’t know. Some people say it’s Lotem or Medhi or Ruhan or Ammon. Other people say I just don’t have one.”

“Well then, nameless kid, I’m letting you off easy this time. But never try that dippity-doo-dah again, understand?” Lotem nodded vigorously. He didn’t need to make enemies of someone who would pull a weapon on him. “Here you can have these,” the stranger said, tossing Lotem a pack of cards. “Use them how you want. You could be an illusionist or a card thrower or something.”

Lotem looked at him questioningly. The foreigner seemed to understand that he had no idea what either of those things were. “Illusionists are people who look like they do magic, but they don’t use real magic. It uses the same ideas as my Find the Lady game. You keep people’s attention away from what you’re really doing. Card throwers are people who throw cards as well as I throw my shuriken. Ninja throwing stars,” he answered to Lotem’s blank look. “They can throw cards so that they stick into even wood, or can cut a branch off a tree.”

     Lotem looked down at the flimsy-looking cards. These things could cut a branch off a tree? “Hey kid, if you ever want to get out of this dump of a town and be an explorer, come looking for me. My name’s Raven. I could teach you a thing or two about being a thief. See ya round,” Raven said, melting back into the shadows and vanishing.

 

 

     Chapter 4

     Lotem leaned back against the tree and looked at the cards again. He had hurried straight back to the oasis after that strange encounter with Raven. He had no idea why the thief hadn’t beaten him to a pulp, but he was glad that he hadn’t. He was even more baffled that the person he had tried to pickpocket offered him a gift. Nobody in Ariant acted like that. If someone did something to you, and you could do something about it, you made them hurt. If you couldn’t, you kept your head down, because you were less likely to get a beating.

     How had Raven done those card tricks? Let’s see… when he was switching the cards out during Find the Lady, he had twisted his wrist like this and held his hand like that… wait a minute, why was he trying this again? It wasn’t as if the people in Ariant would pay to watch him do stuff with cards like they would Raven. And plus, practicing was boring anyways. He’d rather be taunting those lizard monsters- pleads or whatever- and stealing their scarves. Because at least he got something at the end of the day.

     When Lotem returned from harassing the monsters, he had some loot with him. He’d snatched ribbons from the snake monsters, and a cane that he had taken from the walking cactus that wore a vest and a turban. The ribbons went straight into the pile of stuff he had collected from various monsters. The cane, on the other hand, he took a closer look at. It was made of twisted wood, with a spiral on top. Raven had said that cards could cut through wood, and there was no reason to attack either of the trees in the oasis. After all, they were shady and sometimes had food. The cane, on the other hand, could make for good target practice.

     Lotem stuck the cane into the sand, and spent a couple of minutes chucking cards at it, but none of them stuck, or even hit. Mostly they just fluttered to the ground a short distance away. How was anyone supposed to throw these things? Bored again of practice, Lotem gathered up the cards and stashed them away in the cave so he could go look for something to eat.

 

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     Lotem worked his way through the streets of Ariant, heading for the gate leading out of the city. When he had gotten too hungry to stand it, he had returned to the market to buy food with the coins he had pilfered last time, when he had met Raven. Lotem had bought as much food- mostly bread- as he could afford. At least, Lotem had run out of coins. He didn't know how to count to tell how much money he had.

     When Lotem reached the gate, he leaned against it to rest for a minute. It was swelteringly hot. He might as well wait until it was a bit cooler before walking across the shade-less desert back to the oasis. He pulled out the deck of cards again to try to entertain himself.

     “Wut’re those?” a bored voice asked. Lotem looked up. It was Amar.

     “Hey, Amar. What’re you doing?”

     “I jes’ got done wi’ work fer today. Been workin’ since las’ night,” he said, stifling a yawn.

     “You look tired,” Lotem observed.

     “Well yea,” Amar snorted. “Been so busy workin’ I hain’t slept. Cain’t jes’ go home afore they letcha. Anyways, wut’re those yer holdin’?”

     “They’re called cards. I think they’re for doing magic with.”

     “D’ya know any magic? Can ya show me?” Amar asked. Lotem hesitated. He didn’t know any magic, but Raven had said you didn’t need magic, you just needed to keep people’s attention away from what you were doing.

     “Okay. Let me see… ah, here,” he said snatching a rock off of the ground. “You hold this card,” he said, handing Amar a card with a picture of a smiling man with a joking expression in the most absurd outfit. In Find the Lady, this was the card you didn’t want to get.

     “Wazzit a picture of?”

     “I don’t really know,” Lotem frowned, before returning his focus to the trick. “Anyways, I want you to watch this rock. It’s important. I’m going to throw the rock, and when it hits the ground, something magic’s going to happen.” Lotem chucked the stone as high as he could into the air. Seeing Amar’s eyes focused on it, with the lightfingeredness he had learned stealing from the desert monsters and the Ariant guards, Lotem snatched the joking man card out of Amar’s hand and replaced it with the Lady card.

     When the stone hit the ground, Amar turned to Lotem. “Nuthin happened.”

     “Look at the card,” Lotem instructed Amar. He did so, and his jaw dropped to see that the picture had changed.

     “Ya really are magic. Huh. Who woulda thought?” Amar said, returning the card. “Ya know, ya could prob’ly make some money showin’ off yer magic like those dancers make money by dancin’.”

     “I’ll try,” Lotem answered, but he was skeptical. The trick he had pulled on Amar had been really crude, and there was no way he’d be able to fool a large audience like that. He’d have to work on his technique.

     “I gotta go,” Amar yawned. “Try not ta taunt the guards too much. They’ll beat ya up.”

 

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     Mercedes tried to ignore the conditions of Ariant as she walked through. She didn’t particularly want to be here, but had to for diplomatic meetings. The Queen of the Elves couldn’t exactly just snub people because she didn’t like them. The King of Ariant was a horrid man, focused only on himself and living lavishly at the expense of his people. She could see that most of the people here were starving. Thank the stars that Elluel wasn’t like this. She forced herself to move on.

     As Mercedes continued walking, she felt a gaze on her. She turned to look, and met the eyes of a young, dirt-smeared boy. His sparkling amethyst eyes were wide with wonder. He was as thin as a twig, and his bones were clearly visible through his skin, but he didn’t even ask for food. “Is there something you want, child?” she asked.

     “You’re like me,” he whispered. Mercedes was taken aback. He didn’t seem to notice that she was an elf, not a human. Most humans found elves’ ears to be strange and ugly, and acted as if elves were inferior. But this boy, this boy was not like that at all. He seemed relieved to see someone he had never met before. “Can- can I touch your hair?” he asked.

     Mercedes was confused, but gave her consent. He fingered it in amazement. It was nearly the same color as his own hair, thin and soft as spider’s silk, a silvery gold color. “Child, why are you so interested in my hair?”

     “You’re like me. I’ve never seen someone like me, who has yellow hair. Even Raven’s got black hair like everyone else. I didn’t know there were other people with yellow hair.”

     As the boy looked at her in amazement, Mercedes studied his face. He was human, clearly, but obviously he was not from Ariant. He was much too pale, had blonde hair, and a different face shape. His parents were from elsewhere; in fact, the boy might have some fairy blood in him. He had no wings, unlike the nymphs and the sylph, and rounded rather than pointed ears, but the bone structure of his face was very delicate and, when he was older, he would be quite handsome. Indeed, he was pale like the fairies, and he would have a lean build if he had any weight on him. There was no way to be certain, but it looked like one of his grandparents might be an elf.

     “What’s your name?” he asked her, shuffling his feet.

     “My name is Mercedes, dear child. What is your name?”

     The boy shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know. Nobody agrees. …” he mumbled off the last bit, so she couldn’t hear clearly, but thought she heard something about preferring and something sort of similar to lotus.

     “Where are your parents?”

     “I don’t know. Some people tell me they’re dead. Some people tell me I never had any.”

The boy’s eyes tugged at Mercedes heartstrings. She loved the children in her home of Elluel, and this boy was much like them. He would need to eat something or he would starve. She didn’t have much, but she had brought along some bread from Elluel. She opened her bag and pulled it out, then tugged the ring off of her finger. It wasn’t an expensive ring, or particularly meaningful to her, but it was probably more expensive than anything he’d ever own. “Child, I have something for you,” she said.

     He looked at her, not comprehending. She placed the bread and ring in his small, thin hand. “These are gifts for you. I am sorry I cannot help you more.”

     “A- a gift? I thought rich people never gave gifts. I… I thought they just took stuff.”

     “Not all nobles are like that, child,” Mercedes said, full of compassion. To see a young boy, so malnourished, so abused by life that he didn’t know that people with something would give to people with nothing, it broke her heart. “There are many people here in Ariant that are like that, but elsewhere, outside of the desert, there are many people who are not. Where I am from, if there is someone who is hungry, anyone who can will give them something to eat. Just because someone has money does not mean that they are a bad person.”

     The boy looked at her, violet eyes full of gratitude. “Thank you.”

     “I must leave now, but I wish you luck, my child.

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     Lotem sauntered down the road leading out of Ariant. It had been months now since Mercedes had given him the ring, and months more since Raven had come. The ring was too big for Lotem, since it would slip off his finger if he tried to wear it, but he kept it safe with him. He had fallen into a rhythm much better than his life before leaving Ariant the first time. He would spend a few days at the oasis, stealing from the monsters, relaxing in the pool, chucking cards, or sleeping in the cave. He would then return to Ariant, where he would show off a few card tricks for a couple of coins, then pickpocket a guard and buy as much food as he could before leaving for the oasis.

     Lotem’s skill with the cards was much greater than that first crude trick he had tried.  He could swap cards out with ease, instead of having to toss things into the air. He could seem to make cards appear, disappear, reappear, or transform into another card. He could even make them give the impression of becoming another object entirely, such as a desert flower. Sleight of hand, all of it. No real magic at all. He had also become much more adept at card throwing. He had discovered the trick to making them fly straight instead of flutter to the ground, and could sometimes get them to stick in the cane he was still using for target practice.

     And on this hot, dry day just like any other day, he ambled along the road  in his daily rhythm, paying only enough attention to dodge the kicks that a few of the passersby aimed his way. But in one short moment, this day became no longer like any other day.

     A great thundering beast charged down the path, tossing its head, eyes fiery with frenzy. It pulled behind it three people, riding in a wheeled vehicle. Lotem, like every other person on the street, dived out of the way of such an animal with such speed. It screeched to a halt, kicking up storms of eye-watering dust. The first of the three riders, a young man of maybe about fifteen, stepped out. Dressed more nicely than any peasant could afford, he haughtily looked around before addressing the second of the riders, a richly dressed girl about the same age. “I do love this new toy Father gave us.  The horse has such spirit, and the chariot can go so fast. Did you see those filthy commoners diving out of the way like that?”

     “I know, Kaveh!” the girl squealed in the most snobbish voice. “It’s soooo funny. They get covered in dirt- that way they look as low as they are!”

     “Hey look, Nefret. They’re bowing down! I love it when they do that. It’s so amusing to watch them grovel in the dust. Ha! Serves them right for not being noble like us,” the boy, Kaveh, sneered.

     “Kaveh- look!” Nefret demanded angrily, pointing at Lotem. “That pale runt isn’t bowing down. Servant!” she barked at the third man in the chariot, a man in his mid-thirties wearing servants’ garb. “Teach him a lesson! He needs to know to respect his betters.”

     “I am sorry, sahibat Nefret. Your father ordered me to keep you and your brother sahib Kaveh safe on your chariot ride, but I am to do nothing else. My hands are tied,” he replied in the most soothing voice he could.

     “My father is not here! Obey me!” she shrieked, slapping him hard across the face, leaving a bright red mark. Lotem started to ease slowly away from the two noble children, hoping to escape while they were distracted by their anger at the servant. Even if he bowed to them now, chances were he’d still get beat up, and besides, these two’s attitude made his blood boil. No way was he bowing to the likes of them, even if they were nobles and older than him. Unfortunately, the sahib noticed.

     “Where do you think you’re going, you little worm?” he jeered. “Just because that useless servant won’t teach you a lesson, doesn’t mean I can’t.” Kaveh advanced menacingly, hands curling into fists. Lotem scrabbled backwards, forgetting discreteness because he had been discovered. Unfortunately, he bumped into the sahibat, who screeched and fell over in an exaggerated, fake motion as if she had been seriously injured.

     “Servant! Servant! Help! The filth attacked me! Get him!” she squawked. The servant, clearly covering up a sigh, started forwards. He had, no doubt, been threatened by his master should he let the two children come to harm. Which was bad news for Lotem. Even though Nefret was clearly faking it.

     “I’ll show him to attack nobility. Don’t worry, Nefret!” Kaveh spat at Lotem. The sahib kicked Lotem in the ribs as hard as he could. Even though Lotem knew how to take a blow, there wasn’t much he could do to cushion the impact when he was fallen over on the ground. The noble’s hard sandals stung more than a barefooted kick would.

As the sneering sahib drew back his foot to strike again, Lotem’s rage flared up. He had put up with beatings and spit and hunger- and that was enough. He wasn’t just some nobody to be spat upon and rejected. Someone out there, a stranger, thought he had potential to be a great explorer, and another stranger- a noble at that!- thought him important enough to give him a ring. He wasn’t going to just sit there and let this boy kick him like a dog.

     Lotem grabbed a handful of the dusty sand that covered the Ariant streets and threw it into Kaveh’s eyes. The noble staggered backwards and howled in pain. Lotem looked around for a weapon- he was used to being on the receiving, not giving, end of blows- but couldn’t find anything, not even a rock. The only thing he had was the pack of cards Raven had given him.

     Lotem grabbed one of the cards out of the deck and threw it at the still wailing sahib. It sliced across his cheek, leaving a bleeding red cut. The spoiled brat’s volume intensified. The servant darted forward to pin Lotem down, ignoring the gashes left by the cards thrown at him. He was obviously motivated by the fear of a greater pain—his master’s wrath.

     Lotem managed to partially dodge the first puch, which grazed his side instead of landing squarely in the kidneys. The second blow threw Lotem’s shoulder back, instead of its intended target of his chest. The third hit, though, landed straight in Lotem’s solar plexus, knocking the air out of him and leaving him gasping for breath. Winded, shaking, and facing a man more than twice his age and size, Lotem knew the fight wasn’t going to end well. Or even, since it was going to be too one-sided, as a fight.

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     Wincing at every slight movement, Lotem checked himself over. He had crawled to one of the alleyways out of the wind after the nobles’ bodyguard was done beating him. His stinging lip was split and his face and body covered in blood. One throbbing eye was swollen shut, and his ribs ached. Sharp cuts lacerated his chest and arms, and friction burns from the sand smarted. Bruises had turned every inch of his pale skin to a dark, blotchy purple-black. Every breath hurt.

     There was nothing Lotem could bandage himself with. His rough tunic had been slashed to ribbons, his belt was missing, and all the loot he had stolen from the monsters was stashed in a cave across the desert. His food was also gone, a trampled, sandy mess somewhere on the road, and he had spent all his money before the nobles came. He had nothing.

     This was exactly where he had started. Before the oasis, monsters, Raven, and Mercedes. Homeless, lurking in the alleys, covered in dirt without a bite to eat. Badly beaten just because he was there. Not only unloved but hated. Well, maybe it was about time he gave the nobles a REAL reason to hate him. As soon as he’d recovered enough to walk, he’d pay them in kind.

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     Lotem jumped lightly down out of the window into the hallway, wincing with stiffness. Avoiding the guards around the nobles’ house was difficult, since he was so sore, and if he tried to move too quickly, the scabs covering his body would tear open with a searing lines of pain. He wasn’t yet sure what he was going to do, but whatever he decided, he’d have to get close to the sahib and sahibat, because if he stayed in the main part of town they’d be out of range.

     But maybe he could rest a bit. He sunk down against the wall, panting,  hidden from view by one of the many fancy curtains hanging for some aesthetic effect. He hadn’t slept well recently. The ground was hard and the nights were cold, and he couldn’t cross the desert to his oasis in the state he was in. Sleep doesn’t come easily when your whole body throbs with pain and your stomach cramps up from hunger.

     On cue, his stomach growled. This, all of this, the pain, the hunger, this was the nobles’ fault. While they sat in the lap of luxury, fat and overfed, he was crouched against the wall, starving… wait a minute. The nobles had food. Since he could get into their house, he could get to wherever they kept their food. His mouth started watering at the prospect, and he pushed himself up off of the floor.

     Lotem navigated his way to the kitchens, following his nose and avoiding the guards. After a couple of wrong turns and what felt like a 100-mile walk, he stood in the middle of the nobles’ kitchen. For the first time in his life, he was surrounded by food. So he decided to take advantage of it.

     He grabbed as much food as he could carry- breads and meats, warm foods and cold- and carried them out of sight. Hidden in a dark corner, he began to gorge himself to ease his hunger pangs. It had been days and days since he’d eaten. He moaned in delight at the savory flavors far better than any food he had ever eaten before. No wonder the nobles overate so much. This was so much better than the stuff in the market.

     Lotem had nearly finished eating when footsteps made him start in surprise. He checked his surroundings again to make sure he couldn’t be seen, then held his breath as two people walked in.

     “The feast for the Sahibat’s birthday must be perfect. She and her brother have been in a terrible mood since their outing in that new chariot… Better be extra careful, okay?” one of them said to the other.

     “Aren’t they always in a terrible mood?” the other replied tautly.

     “Shhh! Keep your voice down. You don’t want to make the nobles mad right now. You saw what happened to Muruhad after he let the sahib and sahibat get hurt, but the lord was still so angry afterward that when Kindel spilled some wine, he had her whipped. He’s still fuming mad,” the first hissed through clenched teeth.

     “Whipped for spilling wine? Normally that offense would only merit a beating with a fist,” the other whispered back.

     “Just make sure you cook everything perfect tomorrow. You don’t want to end up like Kindel… I only hope that the gem she’s getting for her birthday  will calm her temper some. Her dad’s enough to deal with; her and her brother on top of that’s just too much.”

     “Thanks for the warning. I’ll do what I can and hope that something sparkly’s enough to distract the sahibat from us.”

     “Yeah. Those aristocrats love anything sparkly. Come on, let’s get that wine and go. I want to get some rest since I’m going to have to do even more work than normal tomorrow.”

     “Here, I got it,” one said, holding up a bottle. “this is the one he asked for. Come on, I don’t want to be late getting back or we’re going to get whipped so hard I won’t be able to sit for a month.” Lotem watched from his hiding place as the two servants left the kitchen. This was turning out to be a better day than expected. Yeah, he was still sore and without clothes, but now he had a full stomach and an idea of how to pay back the sahibat…

 

 

     Chapter 5

     Lotem laid on his stomach and peered through the curtains. He had followed the servants to a large, fancily decorated room, where the sahib, sahibat, and other aristocrats feasted, in honor of the sahibat’s birthday. They had gorged themselves, nonstop, enabling him time to set up his plan. He had pilfered a servant’s outfit, and while it was too large for him, it was close enough to his size that it wouldn’t attract attention. That was the important thing, that everyone’s attention was directed elsewhere. It enabled him to move as he please. No one notices one more person scrambling around in servant’s garb, afraid of being whipped for spoiling the sahibat’s birthday. But that was exactly what Lotem had in mind.

     The two servants he had spotted in the kitchen yesterday had said the sahibat’s present was going to be a gem. Well, if Lotem got his way, she wasn’t going to get it. He had done some running around, staying under the radar, to set up for something dramatic. Nobody’s attention was going to be on him when he was ready. For now, he was just going to wait here until he saw the right opportunity.

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     A few hours had passed, and while Lotem hadn’t seen the opportunity he was looking for, he saw several other good opportunities. Laying on his stomach under the curtain had made him kind of stiff, so he discretely slipped out and headed to find a new waiting spot. On the way, he saw an untouched bread roll sitting on the side of the aristocrats’ table, so he pocketed it. Now he had a snack. He also managed to acquire a glass of water. The cup was strange, fancy. It had all sorts of decorations on it. Once he drank the water, he hid the cup in his over-large clothing. Here was something he could keep.

     After a while, one of the nobles stood up and began to talk in fancy words about celebrations and honoring sahibat Nefret. Lotem didn’t pay much attention, because the brother, sahib Kaveh, walked in holding a shining blue gem. This was Lotem’s cue to move.

     He started with a mirror. One of the many decorations set up, he quickly grabbed it and angled it so the sunlight streaming through the many windows was now bouncing all over the room shining with decorations, blinding everyone else in the room. While they were shielding their eyes, time to free the curtains so they billow around and fly around in the breeze coming through the window. And while people were trying to stop curtains from falling on their heads, cue the falling white sand Lotem had pre-placed, so now the aristocrats and servants had to block their eyes from the sand. And in all of this chaos, Lotem lightly removed the gem, the sahibat’s present, from her brother’s hand and headed out of the house and towards town.

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     The next morning, as Lotem walked through town, heading out so he could go to his oasis, he carefully kept his ears open and listened to the whispered rumors swirling through Ariant.

     “Did you hear about the phantom?”

     “They say the sahibat’s present was stolen right out of her hand!”

     “Only magic could have called up a sandstorm inside a building!”

     “One of the servants is telling everyone he saw a phantom disappear in a flash of swirling light.”

     “The sand left behind by the sandstorm— they say it spelled out ‘phantom’ on one of the fallen curtains.”

     “The sahib has been raging that a phantom reached a ghost hand through him to steal the gem.”

     The rumors were definitely embellished a bit, but Lotem was enjoying the fact that he was remembered, and (for the most part) people were impressed. They were remembering him for something good, though admittedly under a different name. Phantom… he liked the sound of that.

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     He stood ankle deep in the oasis pool, still as glass, not a ripple on the surface. The sand was white as clouds in the moon’s silver light. The night sky was like ink, liquid darkness poured across the heavens and pooling in the oasis’s water. Distant stars like sparkling silver sand spread across the sky, but they were small and insignificant compared to the night’s real gem. The glowing crescent moon hung weightlessly in the sky, floated perfectly in the oasis’s reflection, and gleamed in the mirror image suspended in the purloined gem he held in his hand.

     Lotem… that name was as unreal as the two images of the moon, the one in the water and the one in the gem. The idea that he could chose a name for himself when he was as insubstantial as a wisp of mist, it was was as impossible as touching water without disturbing the surface. He lifted his face to the moon, where its image was reflected in his amethyst eyes. You couldn’t choose a name any more than you can choose your parents. You can ask to go by a nickname, but your real name is chosen for you. No one remembers ‘Lotem,’ the starved, beaten, penniless orphan, who was chased out of town and found refuge in the desert oasis. ‘Lotem’ was never his name anyways, just a nickname he had clung to since he never had a real name. It was time to let go of that illusion.

     He had a name now; the people gave it to him. This was the name everyone remembered; this was the name everyone knew. His oasis and desert cave would now be a secret place to keep his treasures. He wouldn’t live there anymore. He would take Raven up on his offer to become an explorer, a thief. He would be the greatest one of all time, a master thief. He was nameless no more. Now, he was Phantom.