People are walking up and down the street, merchants are haggling. And a youngster, who almost looks like Vesh, seems to be waiting for someone next to a shop.

Vesh: *sigh* "Uncle always makes me wait."

At the entrance of an alleyway two teens are having an argument.

Girl: "Stop is John, leave me already."

John: "Come on don't be like that Olivia, I will take good care of you. The same way my dad takes care of you're mother...for a while at least."

Vesh: *He's doing it again. He's really persistent*

Olivia: "I m not like my mother."

John: "We won't know until we try it."

Vesh: "HEY, you're bothering her."

John: "Piss of, I m busy."

Vesh: "How about you try being busy with someone else."

John turns around making a fist, while Olivia takes this chance to run away.

Vesh: *This is not what I hand in mind.*

Veh takes a beating, and after just a couple of punches, John decides to follow Olivia. After about 10 minutes Vesh's uncle arrives.

Vesh: "You're late."

Uncle: "Where you protecting our shop with your life on the line?"

Vesh: "No I was trying to protect a girl with my life on the line."

Uncle: "And? Did you get the girl?"

Vesh: "She ran away the moment the guy turned towards me."

Uncle: "Did you at least win the fight?"

Vesh: "It was one-sided."

Uncle: "At this rate, you're gonna destroy my shop's reputation. Let's get inside to fix that face of yours."

After Vesh finished today's work he went straight home. Halfway to his home, he got stopped by what seemed to be John and his friends.

John: "You didn't forget about me did you?"

And so Vesh gets beaten up for a second time today. Then the next day it happens again, and again, and again. But Vesh didn't stop them, he didn't fight back, he didn't run away, every day they would wait for him in the same place. And every day he would get beaten up by the same people. Why didn't he put a stop to it? Because Vesh knew how merciless these people are. If he made them stop they would target someone close to him. And if that didn't work they would target there work, their livelihood. Like his Uncle's shop. It wouldn't be the first time something like that happened in this city and it would not be the last.

But Veshe's father knew what was off. Despite his efforts to hide the marks. His mood, his emotions, could not stay unrevealed from his father. And so one day he confronts Vesh.

Father: " I won't ask what is happening. I won't tell you to let me help you. And I won't tell you what you should do. But I do want you to listen to me. In life, you will face many hardships. People might hate and try to shame you. Your love might cheat and leave you for someone else. Your friends might abandon you. But in all that, there is one person that should never hate you, one person that should never abandon you. You. And there is one emotion that will make sure that never happens. You're pride. As long as you are proud of who you are and of who you will become. The past will never pull you down. Your hardships will never pull you down. As long as you don't let yourself and other people bring down your pride, as long as you challenge anyone that would dare to do that. You will always have yourself to rely on."

Yet Vesh hears a bell. And in the next moment, the image of his father isn't in front of him anymore, it's in his memories. Because all he sees right now is but the ceiling of the room he was sleeping in.

After waking up Vesh looks out the window and sees no one on the streets despite it being morning. Vesh looks for Sophia and ends up having breakfast with her.

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Vesh: "How come there are no people on the streets right now?"

Sophia: "On mornings the entire city stops whatever it is they are doing and prays."

Vesh: "How come you aren't praying?"

Sophia: "I stopped believing."

After Vesh was finished he thanked Sophia for the meal, and she left with the dishes.

Vesh: *I got enough money for a couple more weeks. But whats worrying me is the corruption. If they see me as a problem I might be in trouble, but I didn't leave any information about myself. Wait... Marko knows. There is no way I can trust him. But if he really was out for me he would have done it tonight. Aaaaah, I don't know what to think anymore.*

As Vesh is laying with his head on the table a younger Guard enters the inn and sees Vesh.

Guard: "Hey, did you sleep we... ehm, are you alright?"

Vesh: "I m fine. I don't think we met before my name is Vesh, who are you?"

Daniel: "Nice to meet you, my name is Daniel. Marko sent me to look after you since your new to this city. So do you have any plans for today?"

Vesh: "I planned on doing more bounties for criminals, but I noticed that all of them were gone yesterday."

Daniel: "Looks like you have competition. You could still try your luck with the monsters that have been causing problems. In fact, I will help you meet the people that recently had complained about them."

Vesh: "Well thank you, but why help me."

Daniel: "Any friend of Marko is my friend. And I m a guard I m supposed to help the citizens of this town. Even if I m not the one doing it directly."

The two go towards the outskirts of the city until a guard sees them and runs towards them.

Guard: "Daniel their looking for you!"

Daniel: "I already talked to my... sorry Vesh would you excuse us for a moment?"

Vesh: "Sure."

Daniel and the guard end up coming closers to each other and start whispering. Daniel looks visibly worried and after a while, they go back to Vesh.

Vesh: "What happened? Who's looking for you?"

Daniel: "I cheated on my girlfriend and now her family is looking for me. I already talked about it with her, but it seems like her family still doesn't like me. So I will have to leave you now. But my friend here will help you."

Guard: "My name is Jack."

Vesh: "Hello, I m Vesh."

Daniel: "See you later."

And he runs away right after saying that.

Jack: "The family of the girl you cheated on can be really scary."

Vesh: "Yeah but this city is pretty big and I doubt they know where we are headed."

Jack: "The problem is that the family's house is in that direction."

Vesh: "Alright."

They reach the outskirts of the city and Jack asks the people who some complaints about wild animals or monsters. But every time Vesh ask's if he can help he gets rejected; "I m already praying."; "I don't need YOUR help"; "If you want to help me, pray for me"; "God is the only one that can help me.".

Vesh: "This part of the city is oddly religious."

Jack: "...it's not just this part..."

Vesh: "Did you say something?"

Jack: "We might have more luck here."

This time Jack is knocking on the door.

Middle-aged Man: "Oh Jack, did you meet with Marko?"

Jack: "Yes he told me about your problem and we are here to help."

Man: "The guards finally decided to stop being on the sidelines?"

Jack: "No, but Vesh here killed Cage and his entire gang."

Man: "I thought he would sooner die of all age then a sword. Well, come inside."

The man is a forester and it's his job to make sure people don't cross the border I into the darker part of the forest, among other things. Apparently, the darker forest is so dense that it doesn't let any sunlight through. It has all kinds of animals and monsters, that occasionally cross the border and become a problem to him. This time a dire fox has started to roam the forest on this side and it's too strong for him to beat alone. Making the forest dangerous for not just him but also lumberjacks. A dire fox is considered a monster if it has more than one tail. The difference between a monster and an animal is that a monster posses magical powers. Those magical powers can range to anything from healing or hardening their body to throwing fireballs or starting lightning storms.

Vesh: *The pay this time is four times the amount of what I got from Cage, which already was a close fight. This entire idea might be suicide.*

Vesh pulls out his sword and manages to summon 3 portals this time.

Vesh: *But what m I supposed to do...when I feel this excited about it.*

Vesh orders his wolves to look for the fox and they split up. All four of them are looking for the fox until Vesh hears a howl. He rushes towards it with one wolf linking up with him. But he arrived too late. The wolf is already bleeding heavily, but the fox is not finishing him off instead it's just observing the portal that formed a bit away from the wolf. But Vesh didn't summon the portal, and he knew that. Suddenly black hands come out of the portal with arms that just keep being longer and longer. The hands grab the bleeding wolf and starting pulling him towards the portal. Vesh tries to cut the hands with his sword but it just goes past them as if the arms aren't even there. The wolf tries his best to pull himself away but he is to injured to muster any strength, he tries to bite the hands but it ends the same way as the sword. Vesh tries grabbing it and he can, but no matter how much strength he uses the wolf keeps coming closer to the portal. Until all that he can grab is the wolf himself.

Vesh: "I m not going to let you go."

It is then that the wolf bites Veshe's hand to make sure he is the only one that gets dragged into the darkness. Vesh tries to summon him again but it's futile, the moment he summons the portal it closes immediately. His limit became 2 again.

Vesh: "I thought they were demons, machines. I never imagined that they have a will of there own."

The third wolf arrives while Vesh is holding the small bite wound from his wolf.

Vesh: "I only knew them for a day. But to lose someone who displayed so much loyalty towards me."

The two wolfs start growling.

Vesh: "It makes me furious."