The thing which most struck me about the morose city of Londimin was how close life here came to imitating the world before the Shift. As far as I was concerned the people here were basically ostriches, their heads in the sands. The ones who wanted to be here, anyway.
Lucy, and now Rashid, both clearly thought the greener pastures of literally anywhere else would be better. Newtown was lovely, so I didn’t disagree. The more warlike energy of Ascentown might suit the wolf girl but Rashid would likely suit better as a trader for Newtown. Not that our neighbours here seemed ready to open their gates, if the welcome I received was the standard. Maybe it was just a nighttime thing, but I doubted it.
From the first moment I had come into contact with Londimin through their aggressive scouts, the place had stunk of mismanagement. The guards which were less than ineffectual worked to my benefit, but only furthered my doubts about the place. Rashid was not the only person I saw who needed help, but the problems here were clearly systemic. A haphazard rescue would do as much harm as good if the rotten source of the issue wasn’t dealt with.
As such, I found myself outside of Hammersmith Police station. The building was austere in a way that only 1980s British architecture manages. Sat shoulder to shoulder with a pair of shops-turned-offices, the place was the busiest location I had seen since coming here. Watching the comings and goings, a hundred different people must have gone in and out within ten minutes. Even at an old world pace, that would have been busy. It took me a moment to work out why the sight annoyed me.
“I know what it is,” dropping my fist on my open palm and talking aloud to the invisible Naea. “If they’re going to use a police station as a base of operations, they should at least be keeping the peace. I didn’t see any protective presence anywhere but on the walls. It’s like the whole place is just working for the top.” I had to roll my eyes. “Duh,” I slapped my forehead. The more things change, the more they stay the same. “Why would it be any different now than before? Alright, enough analysis, let’s just see what happens at this point.”
The problems in Londimin were a few of the classics which plagued the world. Someone with power had given control of others to a specific group, and that power was then abused. It was a foul but common base human trait to wield strength for greed. “You’re too humble to say it,” Naea whispered in my ear, “but I think you did a better job with your town.” I huffed a laugh.
“That was genuinely all Tom and Julianna, even at my most arrogant. C’mon.” Walking as though I knew where I was going, I entered the police station. No one stopped me, as they had no reason to. Everyone here was a stranger to each other for the most part, I bet. I added a layer of Dao to complete the effect, forcing most people’s eyes to slide right off me. It wasn’t my usual application, but more like flipping the intimidation of the dragon on its head. No one even noticed an anomaly in their midst.
Is that what you are now, Grant? I asked myself. An anomaly? Something other? Standing amongst the rabble, I felt like it. With a pulse of magic, I would be covered in glowing marks which set me apart from the humans. I wasn’t even the same species as them anymore. The urge to plant my foot into the floor and roar out my name, make these people know who I am and listen to me almost caused me to raise my boot.
That was just the dragon talking. I felt the avatar chuckle as I buried the instinct. To the Dao, it was all the same whether I fulfilled my goals my way or in a more direct one. Success was the ultimate factor to satisfy the dragon. A few of the people closest to me shied away, shivering like someone had set foot on their grave, and I regained control of my energy. “You alright?” Came a small, Irish whisper.
I returned a message of calm through our connection and kept walking. I assumed the guy I was looking for, Nolan, was in an upstairs office. It wasn’t a large entrance foyer, and as such it was packed with the various busy people going about their tasks. It was impossible not to overhear some of the conversations. “So, the guy downstairs looted it?” A nasally female voice asked.
“Yeah, what are we even doing with him though? Do we just leave him in there?” A tall man with thin black hair on top of his head, but a massive beard was talking to the woman. I paused, interested. “Without more judges, we’re going to fill up.”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“For now, anyone who loots a monster gets jail time. If I knew more I’d tell you.” I was sure she would. I’d met people like her, always happy to share a secret if they thought it was good conversation. Hoping to take advantage of this, and hoping I had misheard, I couldn’t help from getting closer. I removed my veil, but the pair’s attention didn’t immediately turn to me. A mousy brunette was making starry eyes at the tall guardsmen. I refused to call him a police officer, even if he was wearing something approximating their outfit.
I leaned past the man and caught the woman’s gaze, which turned towards me with confusion and disgust. Charming. “Sorry to interrupt, did I hear you say that someone got into trouble for looting a monster? One that they killed? Is that a thing?” Next to me, the large guard leaned forward, placing half his body between me and the woman. I schooled the eye roll away and stopped the smirk from appearing on my face.
“Have you not fought anything yet, little man?” The guard asked, jabbing my shoulder in what was meant to be a playful gesture. I didn’t budge, but he didn’t seem to notice. “Good on you for checking the rules first. Some people know them and still don’t listen. They could get us all killed, fucking idiots.”
“Oh,” I said, playing along, “that’s a scary thought! Why would we all die from someone taking monster loot, though?”
“Well, they could get anything from the System, couldn’t they?” Clearly, the guard thought this was obvious because he looked at me like I was simple. “Guy kills a weird lizard and suddenly he can shoot fireballs, it’s hardly safe, is it?”
“Ah, that makes sense. So, who does the looting?” I had to hold back bile at the idea of someone else taking the loot from my victories. The power of the emotion was surprising even to me, but I didn’t let it show. The big man gave me a suspicious look before shrugging.
“Obviously I can’t tell you who, but there’s a few teams that handle that stuff. You don’t need to worry though, do you? Scrawny little guy like you is probably better off just hiding in the airport or shopping centre like last time.” He and the woman shared a nasty laugh together like this was both an inside joke and an insult. I didn’t care for it.
“Right,” I said, turning on my heel, “thanks for keeping everyone safe.” Before I had even put the veil back up, the man had returned to his terrible flirting with the secretary. Good for them, they deserved each other. My heart was still burning for the people who had been robbed of their hard earned System rewards. That they were being imprisoned too was an extra step off the ledge for this city’s chances.
I would definitely break something on my way out. I just had to decide whether it was the leadership, only Seth, or their whole shit culture. The crowd around me felt like they all carried a sneer now, a hidden acceptance of something rotten in the heart of their city. The dragon chuckled again as I brushed up against the Dao, the Tempest whistling a taunt towards me. This is not what a dragon or a tempest would do in face of something they dislike, the Dao whispered in unison.
Traitors, I replied, squashing them down. If my inner voices were only going to be the devil on my shoulder and never the angel, they could shut up. While it might be satisfying to tear the place apart because I didn’t like it, the only thing that would soothe is my ego. It would scare people and cause more harm than good. “This Nolan had better be in a good mood,” I told Naea, currently sitting atop my head to avoid flying into anyone.
“Because honestly?” I told her, “if one more thing annoys me in this place I’m going to explode.”
———————————————————————————
Nolan’s morning had gone from bad to worse. Every day started bad these days, but for the last few, he had managed to go to bed happy with a job well done. Seth had killed that hope for the foreseeable future. Not only was it not possible to stop people from taking the loot from monsters, finding out about it was a case of luck. His decision that only the scouts could do looting was both short-sighted, selfish and impossible to police. In trying, the city had devolved into yet another level of debauchery.
It was bad enough trying to keep everyone inside the city where they were safe. At this point though, anyone who could get over the walls could survive outside of them. The issue was the danger they could potentially bring back with them. Eight murders in the last week, every one performed either for an unregistered Aspect or with one. As hard as the order was to follow, Nolan couldn’t dispute the need to do something. It was just all so frustrating. Not for the first time, Nolan found himself wishing someone else would take control.
He pulled his forehead up from his desk and pinched the bridge of his nose. That wasn’t even true, really. Someone else might fuck it up even worse than Nolan felt he was, after all. At least Nolan himself could stand up to Seth if needs be. They were both at the level cap of thirty, and while Seth’s Aspect of the Hero was powerful, that was only when he was in the right. Something he seemed to be less and less these days.
The office door opened, and Nolan started to roar for the person to leave when he froze. Nolan had never been much of a deer-in-the-headlights kind of guy, trusting his body to act when it needed to. That was the whole reason he and his girls had survived the Shift. His instincts normally told him to lash out when he felt something was dangerous, but as the man at the door entered the room, every muscle in the brave man’s body locked tight. “Hi there. Nolan, right?” A youthful male voice spoke casually. “My name is Grant, is now a good time to talk?”
The smiling red headed man walked into the room with a smile, but Nolan could only see a tiger’s snarl in his smile, the eyes of a hunter hidden behind his ginger hair no doubt. He coughed to clear his mind before nodding. It seemed today was just going to be one of those days.