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Rafael had done something truly childish. Now, that shouldn't have sounded very surprising, seeing as he was only twelve years old. But it was.

Middling. It wouldn't have been smart for him to show his face anywhere near this small market district if it weren't for the fact virtually no one was there. It was raining hard enough to bruise fair skin, and it was so cold that it was sure to dissuade the rest of the general populace. The marketeers could go home today finally, and everyone who could was sheltered up somewhere with their family.

But not Rafael.

Oh, he had family to go home to, he had a place to be and responsibilities to fulfill. But he wasn't going back now, not until he was sure they were ready to make up for their mistake. Marriage? It was a right of passage, a commonplace occurrence for their old society. Families were joined together through marriage and from that a new family formed to extend generations. It wasn't really the tradition that he was fighting here, a logic he could begrudgingly see, and a force he had been willingly submissive to all his life. No, what had been the infuriating bit was...

Smoldering dark brown eyes rolled up and shut themselves as a numbing cold washed over his feet and ankles. He was sitting on the front of what should be a produce stand but was now merely a feeble little set-up of wood bare of wares and pelted with rain. His legs hung over the front , his back turned to the inside of the stand. There was an awning that stretched only a tiny bit away from the interior, not long enough for anyone coming up to it to stand beneath. It was only meant to cover whatever was inside, which was nothing but wooden signs for pricing at the moment and an onion that had been left behind from the last time. The latter was sitting next to Rafael on the counter of sorts, half eaten.

Bringing his legs back in from the rain after a moment, the boy stared dully at the dreary little market before him. The torrent didn't seem as if it'd be stopping any time soon but so long as he was sheltered here he didn't mind it. If anything it reflected his current sour, sombre mood, though he didn't realize it with any more than vaguely. Right now, he thought, he would be running out to throw a tarp over Mama's poor garden and the tomatoes, later dragging out barrels to collect water in. His family would count the rain a blessing, certainly, if it did not drown their crops.

Count: 449

The youth would perk slightly upon hearing his name, turning his gaze to look down the street. At first he had thought that he was simply hearing things, a remnant of his memory. But there was a man there when he looked, dark-skinned and drenched.

Rafael stared at the man wordlessly for a moment, his face indeterminable for a moment before he made something that sounded like a scoff.

"Dios mio you look pathetic." With that, light brown legs swung themselves back over the counter and Rafael disappeared into the darkness of the stall. Maybe he had no intention of talking to some strange man who somehow knew his name, eh?

Suddenly, a flap of wood swung itself away from the side of the stall, attached to metal hinges so it hung open. The boy stuck his head out over the door for a brief moment, glowering in Anubis' direction. "Here, extranjero. Come on." And then he was gone again, a dark shape still in the interior and waiting nonchalantly. At least Anubis wouldn't be getting pelted with water.

Count: 179

Rafael hopped back up on his counter seat with one smooth motion. He had no idea what this man wanted, who he was, what he was in for. All he knew is that the stupid man was walking around in the rain and had some sort of business with him, the latter earning him a reprieve from the former. The air that the child was emitting now was a semi-wary one. Not because he was really afraid of getting hurt, but because the other seemed to know him while he did not have the same luxury. Was he an agent sent by his parents?

When the stick had attention brought to it, he seriously had to doubt as much. Dark eyes never left Anubis as he blindly picked up the rest of the onion from the table. In this lack of light, they looked so black.

"Which game?" He questioned, much like one would if they were indulging a tele-marketer out of respect for the person themselves. Calloused fingers peeled away the dried outer shell of the onion, and the boy lifted it to take a bite right out of it. "I don't get to play many. I work. Or... is that what you call running off? The game of not getting caught, si? Did my parents send you?" They should just get that out of the way right now.

Count: 230

That was a no. As Anubis attempted to give him a brief overview of what he was talking about, Rafael crunched away at the bit of raw onion in his mouth. This was some loco chingada, that's what his mind passively noted. Outwardly, he seemed nonplussed.

"Don't get sad, extranjero, I could just care less what kids are doing. Don't have the time." Or didn't anyway. That was before he left. Time was spent working for his parents, keeping his siblings while they went here and sold the crops he helped tend to.

He spared the stick a glance, but he didn't take it. His next question was sardonic, "What do I get out of it? What's the prize?"

The World.

The voice spilled, unwarranted and unfamiliar, into his unsuspecting mind. The onion slipped from his hand as it gave a momentary spasm. What was that? Who was that? Dark eyes pinned on Anubis accusingly, but the voice hadn't really sounded like the darker man's.

"You better tell me more about what you're selling, whoever you are. Like I said, I'm not good with games. What happens if I say no?"

Count: 139

"And if I play, I can definitely change it to how I want, is that it? Well, that would sound good if I didn't think I could adapt to whatever happened. Or if I was afraid of dying."

But that was the thing about Rafael- he was thinking about the words even if he had seemed to dismiss them. He was scrounging for the onion remnants when that voice spoke up again.

You really want to return to that pitiful life in the dirt, boy? Coddling children like a woman?

It was such a patronizing thing in his mind, bubbling and sloshing oddly with its own subtle laugh. The boy bristled in front of the stranger without knowing it, his mind demanding to know where this intruder had come from. Like this thing knew anything about him, like this stranger did either.

Oh, I know you, Rafael. You held so strong to your traditions, didn't you? And see how they have betrayed you?

It wasn't his tradition itself that had betrayed him. It was that what it wanted him to marry wasn't traditional. So it wasn't what he wanted. He was angry for have ever been asked to marry Zyanya, and after all he had done for his family...

You know that you were meant for more. You don't have to think that a normal life is something you must teach yourself to want. Not any more. Listen to him- you don't have to be ordinary any more.

Anubis was trying to use a movie reference on a farm boy. Even if the Matrix was awesome, even if Rafael had gotten the joke, he probably wouldn't have laughed. Especially not now. Tlaloc's voice in his mind was strange, and it confused him. Wasn't that what he wanted- a simple life? But this voice... this voice made it seem like he was rolling over and submitting to it. He didn't like that. He didn't like thinking what he was living for, his motives, were shameful.

I will help you understand, The voice had switched into a more serious, if not soothing tone, I chose you, and I will see to it that your risk now is rewarded later. Look. What has forced you and everyone inside now is but a glimpse of my power- your power, if you choose. Take the staff that I have procured for you. Become my prophet and I will guarantee you a life with meaning.

Suddenly it felt like Rafael was suddenly drowning in his own emotion. His anger at the voice battled with his reason that made it seem as if that voice was not so wrong after all. Maybe it knew something he didn't- it sure seemed like it. Oh, how he wished he could have more time to think it over but it felt as if there was an immense pressure on him now to do something. It was crushing him.

Rafael found his fingers reaching for the wooden rod that Anubis had offered. The red pill. Maybe it would stop the pressure. Maybe he could take it back later if things got bad. As soon as he wrapped his fingers around the purple ceremonial instrument, he dropped it as if he had been burned. Because he had. His eyes widened as he brought both of his hands up to his face, watching in open amazement and horror as marks of black raindrops etched themselves across the backs of his hands right then and there. It felt like they were being carved there with a heat so great that it the parts it touched freezing afterward. And when that was done, those brown eyes of his muddled themselves black then lit up again, bright blue, glowing in the darkness beneath the awning. They were eerily visible for a moment after their transformation, but then dulled themselves out to the shadows. Rafael found that he could unclench his teeth and breath again. He had been marked.

Count: 662 (1711)

Rafael was a little dumbstruck at the moment. The man hadn't mentioned that this would happen to him, or anything about the voice. He could have sworn that he hadn't been crazy before this incident.

A slew of Spanish escaped him, just as incoherent to him as it would be to Anubis. What the hell just happened? What was he supposed to do? Could he ever go home...? There were quite a few things he needed to ask, but Anubis was gone. He didn't even know the man's name.

"I guess this means I get to keep you, huh?" He asked the rain behind him, which noticeably seemed to be slowing from its time before. No answer reached him, not to his ears or to his mind. Rafael picked up the fallen stick with his toes cautiously, bringing it up into his hands. "So tell me about this game. Where do I go next?"

Count: 156 Final: 1867