by Envy Mercury
Some time later, we finally made our journey into the city. I had explained more about my plan to find the slavers and, in turn, the fairies. We would head to the area where I got the bog marrow and have a conversation with the shop owner. He had to know at least a little. He had to get his supply from somewhere and someone. We were going to move up that chain of command. Even if the fairies didn’t offer me help, it was the right thing to do. We felt things would work out either way. We had to have faith, and making up for my sins was the right way to start. Making our way through the city to the disadvantaged area, we tried not to think of the time limit that may exist with Yumi and Mecci.
If we were too late, the results were dire. It would be an ending that would not be very ideal. We had to get them. Time was short, but we also had to be practical. While we made our way through the City of Light, we did not have to discuss these details with each other. Such details were at the forefront of our minds. We knew what was at risk. Even if we tried to stay light-hearted, we had moments of severe regrets and worry.
We decided to head to the guild and see if there were other useful items we could grab that would be of use. I had Yumi’s sword and my own, Mew had her typical weapons and few more potions leftovers in her bag. She didn’t understand my jokes about me purchasing her a high-end bag from my world to carry her things in. She thought it was silly. Something would be named after a carriage. She laughed at the idea that a famous artesian who made bags would have a carriage maker's name. The coach carriage maker must have grown tired of making those and switched to creating bags. I told her maybe they grew tired of dealing with horses.
In the middle of our jokes that she didn’t quite understand, I stopped walking.
“What is it?”
“This is where I arrived here, and then I went that way and met you,” I said as I pointed to the alleyway that led away to our left.
We were in the marketplace. I saw some of the same people selling their wares that were here that fateful day that I landed. Of course, all the other people looking around to find a deal were different. I hadn’t been here that long. I wondered if I would even be recognizable to the people I interacted with that day. Them not recognizing me would be best, as my arrival didn’t give the best impression.
“Sorry about that.”
“It’s ok. What happened took me where I needed to go. Wasn’t pleasant at the time, but hey, everything after was much more desirable than being here alone and lost.”
“I’ll go to that vendor over there and get us some new cloaks, not sure who could be on the lookout for us. Plus, some reason you are good at finding trouble, Rezzy.”
“Rezzy?” I laughed at my new nickname. “Well, seems I have someone to help me find trouble.”
“I do what I can, be right back- ok?”
I nodded to her, and she went off to get us some cloaks. I was sure she was a fierce haggler. At least while talking to the woman trying to make a living selling her wares, she was very animated. I chuckled, watching this interesting girl that I met be herself. I started to think about my relationships with Mecci, Yumi, and Mew. When we got them back because I vowed that we would. I hoped it wouldn’t be complicated.
Mew returned over from the vendor with a couple cloaks. “What’s on your mind, Rezzy? Looks like your brain just might overheat with the thinking going on up in there.”
“I was just thinking about Mecci, Yumi, and you.”
“Oh, were you now? We will get them back.”
“I know, I have faith that we will. I just was thinking about after.”
“What is there to worry about after, Rezzy?” She asked as she handed my cloak to put on.
I flipped the cloak over my shoulders and lifted up the hood, feeling its rough fabric against my skin. “All of you like me. I just hope that doesn’t complicate things. I feel I would have a hard time picking someone, and I really don’t want to.”
She gave me a wink with a sarcastic smile, raising her eyebrows up and down quickly. “Why pick? A lord needs his women in his shadow after all, but personally, I’m not going to wash your feet or anything.” She laughed, pushing her hair back behind her ear. “Men or women in power always have more than one interest. Some have ones they love and care about, some have people more for pleasure.”
“That’s ok?”
“Yes, but just care about me, you know? I won’t be some girl in a trollup farm.” She said, running her finger slowly down my chest. “A silly little trollup only existing for your needs.” She looked up at me with a severe expression, grabbing my shirt, pulling herself closer. “I will only settle for the best you know, and you will be the best. You are a good guy. Feeling how I do about you kind of scares me a little, but I like it. I like you.”
I hugged her in close to me, “I like you too. Thank you for being you.”
“That’s silly, Rezzy. Why, thanks for that?”
“I’m just grateful for you.”
“Good… you idiot. Now, let's get going and get this done.”
I took her hand and led her to our next destination, the area of poverty, dirt, and a deep sense of unclean. The city's location that most avoid, a place where dreams were less as a goal and more from an unconscious sleep. We were off to the district that was mostly occupied by the dwarves.
With my mind clearer, I noticed many more details with everything as we made our way through the streets. Towards the castle, in the middle of the city, there were beautiful grand houses across a river.
It must be where all the rich live.
Passing the market area seemed more midclass I figured, not great homes, but they were a good midpoint between worthless and grand. The buildings were closely bunched together, the walkway brick. There were intricate designs in some of the pillars and stairs leading up to different sections. Wood trim throughout the side of the buildings in a crisscross design. Clothes were hanging out in other areas to dry. It was pretty nice. Reminded me of how some older towns in Europe looked. I didn't understand wood signs with writing that stood out, but they had pictures where I could figure out what each shop was. In my world, I could see it as a friendly tourist attraction.
Then we got closer to where we were going, the scenery changed reasonably slow, then more dramatically. The streets were not as complete, some areas had missing stone. There was human and animal waste on the ground, mixed with trash. I saw Mew holding her cloak up to her face, probably to keep the smell at bay. I followed suit. I saw smaller figures peaking out their windows at us, anyone in the street didn’t pay us no mind, they were busier with their own tasks. The sort I dabbled in myself, just a while prior.
“Mew, do you know this place?”
“I know of it, but I have never ventured in here. I never had a reason to,” she replied, her mouth muffled with her cloak.
“Are there only dwarves here? I think they are dwarves; I didn’t want to be rude asking one of them.”
“Yes, it is an area they inhabit.”
“Why do they live… live like this? I mean, I understand some having less, but why is it only dwarves here?”
She glanced over at me; her brows furrowed. The words she spoke next, she said softly. “There is a dwarven city away from here, up in the mountain. I have never known a person that has laid eyes on it. For whatever reason, some were considered to be traitors, and they were banished.”
“Banished?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“I’m not sure. They had nowhere to go. They are elegant craftsmen; they make wonderful things. Being without a home though, the Kingdom of Light took them in, but not on the best of terms.”
“Why are they like this? I mean, if they are craftsmen, I would think they would have awesome shit to sell.” Looking at some of them, I felt pity and also a bit of disgrace against myself. All this potential lost, they just laid around in the streets, and they hid.
“The tonics and potions of pleasure, Rezzy. You, of all people, probably k
now how that can work. The kingdom took them in, but more as slaves, I think. They made armor and weapons for the kingdom. To keep them in line, they were given certain pleasures.”
“Drugs.”
“I think it would be similar to what you had in your world, so yes. Then after a while, the potions and pleasures overtook their need to create, and now,” she said as she gestured to some of them in the street, “this is what we have, I am not sure how many still are left working for the kingdom.”
So, the kingdom took advantage of a group of people when an opportunity arrived, we were looking for slavers, but it seemed they were all over, even in the government. They just spun it a different way, trading slavery for their lives instead of buying them. Same thing, but doing it this way made it look like a good thing like the king was helping them. Maybe the people in this city didn’t even know what happened. People could sometimes be pretty stupid. I would see it all over social media in my world, especially during elections. Everyone tricked into hating and fighting each other, while they didn’t notice something larger was going on.
So stupid.
I slowed down our footfalls to a slower pace when we came closer to our destination. We came up to the corner and slowly peaked our hooded heads around the building edge. The area looked about the same as I last saw it, cleaner and slightly different from the rest of the city's neighborhoods.
“It is in much better shape than the rest of the area to this point,” Mew said as she looked.
“Yeah, that’s one way, you know.”
“Know what, Rezzy?”
“That you found who is in charge, big men don’t like to live in small shit places, they just like to run the shit places.”
Mew shot me a determined look and then gave me a quick nod.
“I think it's time to see what this Bangrim fellow can tell us about all the secrets they hide in this shithouse,” I said as I looked at Mew. “You ready for this?”
“I was fucking created at the ready.”
I smacked her on the ass, being the ass that I was, and then we stepped out and stepped in.
The door opened, and the bell rang as we walked into the potion shop. It looked the same as it did before. After a few seconds, Bangrim came out to greet us. He had a look of superiority and arrogance. It was something I really wanted to cure him of having.
“Welcome to my potion shop,” he started to say, but I cut him off.
“Bangrim, where are the fairies?” I asked.
“What…”
“Bangrim… where are the fairies and the slavers?” I asked a second time, as I pulled my sword and pointed it at him, I was done fucking around, and we didn’t have a lot of time.
He paused there for a moment, like he was thinking for the briefest seconds, and then Bangrim went to reach for something under the counter with drastic speed as he kept an eye on my blade. His hand returned with something that looked like a small glowing crystal. I noticed his intention was to throw it in my direction, his eyes full of hate.
Well, that’s not good.
I brought up my sword in an attempt to block whatever he was going to throw, not knowing if it would help or not. I was just reacting, my self-preservation kicking in probably in the same way that he did, threatening him or not, I was in the right- he was in the wrong with his deeds. Now, I personally don’t mind someone selling things that may or may not be legal to a person, but I draw the line when it involves a race being fucked to produce it. I had a hard enough time forgiving myself, my involvement as a user of such a drug. I was raising my sword as the first step in redeeming myself as much as I could if I ever could.
I didn’t raise my blade in time.
I didn’t have to. Mew came in clutch as I saw a blade flying past my head with a whistle letting my ear know that the throwing knife was singing a song dedicated to its intentions. Before his hand could come all the way forward to release said item of most likely my doom, Mew’s blade dove into his hand with aggression, piercing it, fucking over that hand’s intentions, pushing it back. Thus, the crystal item was released, his eyes in agony, a shout escaping his lips with a dribble of some spit. He turned towards the falling object, it hitting the wall behind him. Stuck in his hand, the blade was the least of his worries when the crystal made contact with the wall and cracked apart. I watched it shatter as I felt Mew grab the clothing at my back, pulling me away with all her strength to grant my body a safer distance. I was grateful for this as I witnessed what happened next.
My sword would have been useless, as a cloud of sparkling darkness spread out, devouring the wall, the counter, and half of Bangrim’s now useless lower body. He moved to jump out of the way, his legs failing him as they split apart from his body. He was too late to save all of himself, the cloud greedily eating its fill of what it touched.
He screamed in agony on the floor, trying to back away as the fading cloud still had some movement to devour his flesh before blinking out as if it didn’t exist, only leaving behind the leftovers of its meal, a dish named Bangrim.
Bangrim writhed on the floor, jerkily moving with horrific pained movements, threats vomiting from his mouth. “Do you know what you’ve done?! You have sealed your deaths! You don’t know who you are dealing with!”
“I know exactly what I am dealing with, a weak almost finished puppet,” I said.
“The Kingdom of Light and Lord Victor will never let you get away. You are a fool!”
Mew stepped towards him, swiftly moving around the counter, grabbing each of his hands, one at a time, retrieving them as they tried to reach for other items. She took each one and stabbed them into the floor with one of her daggers, without care or remorse.
“Ahh- Fuck!” Bangrim spit from his mouth.
Mew knelt before him, staring at him with cold contempt, her eyes lit of a hypothetical fire of hatred. “A poppycock fool such as yourself will never threaten my lord. You have moments to answer his question until I start hurting you by dumping whatever bottles of shit I can find in here. Then, I will proceed with my slow process of cutting your face off to hang outside as a new sign for this shithole. A reminder of what happens when you displease Lord Rezner.”
“You are Lord Rezner? You’ve vanished forever ago,” Bangrim said, bearly getting out the words as he looked towards me.
I pulled back my hood, showing my face, “Yes, I am Rezner.”
“You came before, before with that addict scum Dulan. I’ll kill him for that.”
“I think you need to focus on yourself; for now, you will give me answers. If you think she is scary, wait until I decide to act on you.”
She is actually way scarier than me.
“Spare me, and I will help you! I will let you know anything you want to know; I will help you! I have items you can use- I beg of you!”
“Start by telling me where the slavers are, the fairies used for the bog marrow. Tell me that if you wish to please me.”
“To the west of town is a soldier fort, it has another use, and that is to hold up the slaves, which includes the fairies!”
“I know of this place,” Mew said, looking up towards me.
“Bangrim, why would I believe a tale of it being the place when it is, in fact, a housing of soldiers?”
“Why would I tell such a ridiculous lie with my life on the line? I could make up something so much grander if I was to lead you astray. If you only go look, you will see there really aren’t that many soldiers stationed there. It's all a ruse. I can personally take you there,” he said, smiling up at me like a piece of shit.
“I think that’s all the assistance I need today shopkeep, thank you for your services.” I looked towards Mew, her still crouching form shadowing him. “Mew, please take care of this poppycock. I am tired of his words.”
Bangrim attempted to say some more of his thoughts, but Mew and her speed didn’t allow it. Another one of her daggers slid across his throat, turning his intended speech into gurgles of death and dying. Blood sprayed
and poured from his throat, adding to the mess and ruin of the counter area. Then his life faded. She retrieved her blades with a look of disgust as she cleaned them off on the parts of his clothing that weren’t already stained.
She walked over and returned to my side, returning her blades to the different areas she stashed them on her person. “What now?”
“Look for evidence that there may be truth in what he said. Get any supplies like potions that will be helpful to us.”
“Sounds good,” she said.
“Then, we will destroy the rest in here and burn this shit hole place to the ground.”
She nodded at me and went on her way to the back. That concluded the tale of Bangrim’s potion shop in this world.
The building burst into flame behind us, the roaring flames expending some last cries as it died along to be buried with the vile shopkeeper. Luckily, we were already on the west side of the city. We just had to get out of this dead-end area and continue our way west. Mew had secured many potions, filled her bag, and added a full second bag that she gave me to carry. She advised we could use all we could get. In case there were people locked away, they would need them. I agreed it was an excellent action to take.
We backtracked the way we came and then turned a corner into the next street that, in theory, would lead us out of the city into the west. We encountered dwarves. A few paces in front of us stood a mob of them. Gathered together. I sensed Mew tensing up by me, ready to react. I reached out my hand, gently giving her a touch to convey to calm down for now. I felt this could go many ways, and fighting them all didn’t seem like the best way to do it.
Shouts of discontent flooded towards us. Some saying what they had was gone. Voices filling the air of cries- what would we do now? Were fucked… they will punish us. Many words at once that all implied the same thing. They were not happy with us and what we just did. I pulled down my hood from my face and looked at the crowd.
Maybe my goals were selfish to this group of people. They had been living how they did for however long. I stepped in as a stranger and rocked their boat. Maybe there would be retaliation to them. They had their own battles they had to face, and I understood that as well.
