“Get the hell out of ‘ere, you rat!”

Aria was flung into a pool of mud that had formed in the alley behind a well-known restaurant in her beaten city. She would have accepted being thrown into the pool, but the relentless rain that had been showering down on the city for days simply added to the disgusting smell sticking to her skin. As her big, midnight irises stared up at the manager of the establishment, he spat at the ground beside her, and slammed the back door after saying, “Sta. . .