"It should be over this way!" Droh called out as he led Deus through the still-panicked streets. The chaos that spread throughout the city had long since calmed. In its stead replaced with an almost vehement desire by the populace to assure their safety.

"Once we get there, remember, let me do the talking. We never know how she'll react to seeing someone new like you." Droh explained as they went.

In response, Deus rebutted with what he believed was simply common sense, "I know, don't worry so much about it Droh. If it doesn't work out, we'll just have to think of something."

Deus seemed almost too nonchalant, to the point of even catching Droh off-guard. The reason behind his response had more to do with his previous trauma than anything. To him, the city falling into an uproar was nothing more than a small bother now. He could still imagine it—smell it, even. Such a thing painted quite the grotesque scene.

'That was self-defense, right? Was that even me who caused that... or did something intervene?' Deus tried to reassure himself, only to get hit dead-on with realization. 'Wait, is there like… someone in this place I can see to check me out? Wait, am I sick?'

Noticing his companion's frown, Droh called out. "What's going on with you lately, you look distracted. Wait, did something happen? You didn't get into some sort of fight, did you?" Droh asked in a concerned tone, bunching his eyebrows into a frown, "The last thing we need right now is more trouble."

"A fight?" Deus repeated, believing it best to keep what had happened a secret until he could figure things out. He hadn't forgotten the word of warning he had received when he first arrived here, after all. 'Never, under any circumstances should you admit to being from outside this place.'

Those words hadn't meant anything to him then, but now he had begun to worry if these two connected. Perhaps this event had been stirred on by his origin, more so than anything. "No, no fight... just thinking about something. Don't worry about it."

"Yeah?"

"...Yeah, that's how it is. But enough of that, we should be arriving soon, I imagine. Can we get back on track?"

Droh gave out a puff as he turned away with a brief shrug. "Fine, let's just keep going. She should be close anyway—that is if she's even still here."

The two passed by several storefronts as they finally entered a residential area. A place built out of old tin sheets, each standing eight meters high, with some leeway in-between. They piled together to form these hut-like structures.

Droh sighed as they walked, occasionally glancing around from one side of the street to the other.

Unable to avoid it, Deus's train of thought went back to that awkward subject. 'I should probably look into getting someone else's opinion… maybe. Damn, why does everything have to be so troublesome?' 

He whined to himself, unable to forget the scene from before, his mind concentrated on that moment. The feeling of sickness, nausea even. All the while sensing as if his body was actively heating up like a furnace to an excruciating degree. Of course, for that to happen not only at once, but for it to result in such a ghastly scene had been shocking.

'Wait, would this make me a threat to those Territory Lords? If that's the case, wouldn't they kill me if they knew?'

Cutting between his thoughts, Droh proclaimed loudly with a grin, "We've arrived!"

Pulled from his daze, he looked toward where the Faun pointed, his gaze landing on this old shed. The walls double-reinforced with metallic plating. Copper rods struck onto the side of the building, allowing smoke to puff out of them from within.

The door was most peculiar, being wrapped in old chains and nails, seeming unwelcoming.

"Yep, it hasn't changed a bit," Droh said. His head nodded slightly as he stared.

"Yo-you're joking, right? Are you telling me someone lives here? Voluntarily, too? I'll ask again… how are you even sure they'll help us?"

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Droh chuckled out in reply, marching up toward the front, "Yes, yes. Come on, let's see if she's in."

"Marigold!" The boy shouted aloud, all the while hammering on one of the metallic walls of the house with his closed fist. "Marigold! If you're home, I need you! Marigo~ooold, it's me, Droh!"

A crowd had begun to gather as Droh continued shouting, all the while beating the walls of the place.

"Droh, maybe she's not home? You're causing quite the ruckus…" Deus whispered, his face turned a slight pink. He hadn't mentally prepared himself to be thrust out into the public eye so suddenly.

Eyes fell upon him as Droh continued causing a scene. A truly large gathering of lifeforms, from grey-skinned humans to reptilian giants.

"Don't worry, she's home… I just know it. Marigold!"

Suddenly, a loudspeaker stuttered into existence as Droh stepped away from the wall.

Proceeded by several loud clicking noises, a voice roared out from somewhere, "DrOh, iS tHaT yOu?!" A screech sounded as the loudspeaker distorted. Causing everyone present to immediately frown and jump back, clenching their ears uncomfortably.

'This is a bit too much,' Deus frowned, pressing his palms against his ears. By doing this he had hoped to at least spare his hearing after this was all said and done.

"Eh heh, hey Marigold… Do you mind letting us in? It's kind of awkward talking to you like this…" Not seemingly bothered by this at all, Droh replied.

"wHaT dO yOu MeAn!?" Once more followed by distortion. An even greater pain than the previous one smashed against the crowd.

"Mari! Mari! Come on, just let me in for a minute, alright? Wait, no… don't answer that… don't talk, just open the door."

Several seconds passed as everyone present cautiously prepared themselves for another painful screech. All of whom wore frowns, glaring off at the both of them. Yet, more so at the building which held that mad-woman, Marigold.

"Droh… I'm starting to regret following you here." Deus sighed out, releasing his grip over his ears.

"Heh heh. Don't worry, I got thi—" As Droh spoke, a mechanism unlatching could be heard, interrupting him midway. "Oh, looks like she unlocked it."

They looked toward the door. But, to their surprise, it remained just as locked and chained as it had ever been. "Hhm," Droh coughed out, his breathing slightly sporadic as he felt everyone around stare at him. Perhaps to all of them Droh appeared to be some rare commodity, something to observe from a distance.

"Again… this isn't one big waste of time?" Deus pondered aloud within earshot of Droh, who seemed just as lost for words as him.

"It's n—not! Ah, there!" Droh exclaimed, pointing off elsewhere as he sighed. "Maybe the door was just a decoy? I guess."

From where Droh pointed had appeared to be an old metal hatch, half-buried by a vast collection of metal and junk. Above the hatch sat an enormous stack of even older scrap, almost as if it were deliberately placed by hand. "Wait, is that a trapdoor?"

Frustrated by the song and dance, Deus rubbed his eyes, "Alright, I suppose we should see where this leads us."

"We've come this far," the little Faun reasoned.

With both of them in agreement, they approached the hatch and started moving a majority of the junk to one side. Deus amusingly, 'I wonder if someone had gotten so sick of her that they tried to bury and trap her inside?'

It didn't take them long to fully reveal the entrance from beneath the scrap. Leading the way, Droh took a crack at examining further inside.

"Don't get separated again," Droh called out as his head dipped beneath the surface of the hatch. Seeing that it went further downward, he descended further inside as the crowd of people slowly faded away. Their source of amusement had left, so there was nothing keeping them here. Not only that, but the sooner they left the safer their hearing would be.

"Wait, don't go too far in so quickly, you don't know how dangerous it is!" Deus reasoned. His voice echoed down through the pothole. The steel hatch that laid ajar next to him, slightly creaking as gears moved around on it.

The sound of clicking gears could be heard as the hatch started to slowly close up.

Deus clambered inside before the hatch fully closed on him. The sound of metal latches moving echoed down. The crimson hue faded into nothing, leaving both of them in complete darkness. Stood in what seemed to be a small hole, but due to the lack of light, they were unable to see what sort of place this was.

"This has truly been quite the experience so far, Droh," Deus spoke in a monotone, almost sarcastic tone. Which only seemed to cause the Faun to nudge out with his elbow, smacking him in the gut.

"Now you be quiet," Droh glanced around the best he could, but only darkness surrounded them. "Marigold, are you there? We can't see anything!"

A faint light seemed to explode forth from all around them, causing their eyes to quickly dilate and blur. "So, little Faun boy, what do you want?" A woman's voice asked from behind as they spun around toward the source.

'So this is Marigold.' After seeing her in person Deus thought he had to reevaluate his thoughts on her if even only a little. Truth be told she wasn't a particularly odd-looking woman. Her appearance seemed to almost shine in contrast to the faint glowing light bulbs. Her hair tied into a single knot, resembled that of a bumblebee as most of it was a sharp yellow. This brought out her mascara-heavy eyes even more so. 'Wait, is that even mascara? Of course it isn't, how could it be. It's probably something like oil or grease.'

Annoyed by their silence, she asked again, her tone rising slightly as a frown formed, "Ahem! I asked you a question monkey boy!"