Kai was running as far away as he could from the cult’s compound.

He tripped over the occasional water-filled pothole as he aimlessly searched for a place to wait out the rain and dry off.

His dark-gray coat was perfectly drenched, but the water in it had at least warmed up a little due to his body temperature, making other drops hitting his exposed skin feel ice cold.

Looking up to the bridge above, he couldn’t help but wonder how to get up to it.

The buildings obscured most of his vision but he could see that it connected near the high walls around Knight’s city. As for where the other end of the bridge landed, he couldn’t tell.

“Why build a bridge that doesn’t even go over a river…” he wondered, innocent to the ways of this world.

Wandering the streets he began looking for any signs of light, hoping to find an inn or pub, or anything he could take refuge in - though there was one problem with his plan.

He had no money, and nothing worthwhile to trade other than the clothes on his back.

In fact, he didn’t even know what kind of currency this world used.

Not to mention, he had not seen any lights for quite a while.

“It seems I have no choice…” he shook his head, and began to lower his standards of living.

Kai quietly began to survey an abandoned building with a partially collapsed roof.

No movement was coming from inside its empty windows, though the rain made it hard to hear anything, and neither could he hear anything except for a stream flowing through the broken roof, traveling down the stairs into the ground level.

Thankfully it seemed that the original occupants had grown to live with this burden, as a roughly-dug drain led from the bottom of the stone staircase, going under the wall and into the street.

The only question was - were these original occupants still around? Kai doubted it, but he was now wary of another random hobo trying to kill him from the shadows.

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There was nothing left of the door except for the piece of wood it would have been bolted to, though even that had chunks of ripped out, along with a few gnawed marks.

“I have no choice.” Kai gritted his teeth, stepping closer to the ruinous building.

He had to force himself from shivering through sheer willpower as he held his arms up in a boxer stance, trying to hide his presence and be ready for a confrontation.

As quietly as he could, he inched his way through the door, swallowed by the darkness inside.

Kai was hoping his eyes would quickly adjust but it was simply too dark. At the very most he could only vaguely see the outlines of objects.

He slowed his breathing as much as he could. For minutes he did nothing but stand just inside the doorway, his arms still up in a defensive stance. His mind holding his muscles tense, stopping them from shivering.

He was protected from the rain here, but his coat was still wet, and his muscles were beginning to twitch uncontrollably from the cold.

“Come on, adjust already.” he thought about his eyes.

Yet he could do nothing but grit his teeth, stopping them from chattering as he widened his eyes, hoping they would adjust to the darkness faster.

Thankfully nothing had attacked him yet, and as he waited the details of the ruinous building began to reveal themselves.

An angular surface revealed itself to be a broken table, while a mass of blackness in one corner was really just a pile of trash.

There was an arched doorway which led to another room which was filled with more traces of light.

“Probably another smashed window or door through there.” Kai thought.

He glanced up the stairs too, but nothing except thick blackness greeted him back.

A few round black objects were on the walls, and Kai figured they were pictures of the original occupants.

With some time to spare, he planned his next steps.

“It will be useful to find a weapon. Just in case another vagrant attacks me.” he thought, glancing at the two remaining table legs.

“Afterwards I can hopefully start to dry out… or at least not freeze to death as quickly. I’ll remove my wet coat and shirt, and drape them across the table to get the wet clothes off me. Then I can look for a dry cloth or something, it doesn’t matter if it’s filthy at this point. Getting my upper body dry will be the first step.”

After making a plan, he somehow felt a little warmer. Things were looking up, though it was easy to look up from such a place as this.

His eyes adjusted a little more, though there were still patches of impenetrable darkness around the house. He would have preferred to wait a little longer, but couldn’t bear to fight off his shivering for much more.

His presence was still mostly concealed, and he could only hope this house was unoccupied as it was time to put his plan into action.