Thwack!

The sound permeated through every millimeter of the inn. It came from the slap. As I had exited the toilet, I saw and heard that Frederick was shouting at a customer before he was promptly slapped.

A small crowd of onlookers had gathered surrounding Frederick and the customer. I joined them as a spectator.

The customer looked important. His round and short figure was surprising considering how hard that slap turned out to be.

Just appearance alone was enough to tell that they came from different worlds. Frederick, an average person from the peasant class who boasted through his giant size. The customer, a wealthy and most-likely powerful person with real political sway.

The latter wore a double-gilded tunic with an additional brown vest embroidered with an unknown black fur ornament across the neckline. A most noticeable detail, however, was his jeweled ring which had a sigil of a smiling clown face.

My gut feeling told me that Frederick might have messed with the wrong person.

Despite this, Frederick still stood almost two times as tall as the wealthy man. He looked unamused at the slap. In fact, he had not flinched at all at the slap, just staying still whilst piercing the man with a stare.

“You's liar.” Frederick said. “Nothing wrong with Ale. Not expired, not bad, is same ale as other drinks.”

A high-pitched voice came out of the wealthy man. His face looked flushed.

“Well, good sir, if I am indeed a liar, as you have every right to claim just as every barkeep in the Gambit District possesses, I am sure you are also not going to hold back in the process of discharging me from this establishment, no?” The wealthy man said.

“What’re you trying to do here?” Frederick said. “You wanna fight?”

Two black-masked, heavily-robed people manifested out of thin air right next to the man. One had long hair, extending beyond their visible neckline and tucked into the robe, while the other had spiky black hair.

“Magic?” I thought out loud. “They must be bodyguards. It’s like they teleported the moment Frederick said ‘fight’.”

Frederick’s eyes widened. He looked annoyed and disgusted at the same time.

“Shadows.” Frederick said. “Aren’t yous’ two supposed to be upholding the law? Protecting me’s and the other lil guys ‘round here? Not helping this fucktwat of a drunk startin’ fights? This is my private property, ya know!”

The two black-robed people looked around, especially at the crowd. The crowd around me whispered things. One random person even came to me to whisper as well.

“We all should get out of here… My husband accidentally tripped over a Shadow a good few months ago, and both his feet were boiled! They told me h’was guilty of public inconvenienc-ing or something cause his feet turned red!”

I nodded just to be polite. However, simultaneously, the two people said something to Frederick.

I was too far to actually hear them, so I stepped closer to try and figure out what was being said.

The spiky-haired person, who was called a Shadow by Frederick, stepped closer to him, putting the wealthy customer behind with the long-haired Shadow. There were still a massive size difference, Frederick clearly being the beast out of them, yet the Shadow carried a darker aura.

“–touch Sir Midas, or leave as much as the wrong air around his presence, and I will ensure your two peasantry hands will be nothing but bone and flesh pulp, only fit to be eaten by the dampest and mustiest rats of your own bar as dirty jagged lumps of soup mixed with… some trace amounts of YOUR. BAD. ALE.” said the spiky-haired Shadow.

This is not good for anyone, especially me. I can’t– or I don’t want to be killed as soon as I just reincarnate into this world, even if I have the time powers. What if I step forward, read the future, and I just see myself being decapitated by these Shadows?

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Wait, hold that thought. If I can read the past-present-future of an object, shouldn’t it work on myself? Can I see my own future?

It is a shame because Frederick so far has been the only person to recognize me in this world, so I’ll be losing a valuable point of information regarding my identity here by leaving. Regardless, I’ll have to get out of this place before it turns into a bloodbath.

I saw that some customers had already taken the initiative by rushing to the front door. Similarly, I made no reservations to stay put, leaving Frederick and the spiky-haired Shadow alone to settle their differences – hopefully in a more peace-able way.

I dashed to the front door, knocking over some chairs and tables along the way.

The wealthy customer, who was called Sir Midas by the spiky-haired Shadow, noticed me.

“Lana!” Sir Midas shouted. He pointed to the direction of the front door, where I was headed, and in an instant, the long-haired Shadow seemed to have teleported to block the front door.

None of the people from the crowd were able to leave, including myself.

None of us were brave enough to push through. A few of the people dropped to the ground, begging for mercy. However, the short-haired Shadow named Lana stared at me instead, someone who was located relatively far behind the others.

I gulped my saliva.

From behind me, Sir Midas grinned and chuckled at the sight. Frederick remained silent at the situation, unchanging in his stare, although his overall expression tells a different story.

He frowned, his breathing faintly heard. He must have been breathing hard and slow.

Lana turned back, facing the door. She closed her eyes and – taking a few seconds – chanted. I could barely make out her words.

“Book of Universal Justices,” She said. “Chapter 23, Passage: Then Jagonas stood on top of the porch. Relief to those whose doors have been eternally locked away under His mandate.”

The wooden door vibrated.

Violently.

It shook the entirety of the building before growing a strange black metal, covering all gaps which had previously characterized the appearance of the front door. All gaps were covered by this material until the door – all of its locks and possible gaps – were closed off.

It looked like the door had transformed into being a part of the wall.

All windows of the inn had also been shut off with the black material, leaving no chance for escape through this route.

Lana grabbed the handle to try and open the door, but nothing happened. It was then she turned back to the rest of us, specifically me.

“Good job, Lana!” Sir Midas shouted from across the room. “Now, time to get back to you, barkeep. Come back here, Lana. Let’s finish this cock-sure of a peasant.”

Lana did not move. She still stared at me.

I looked at the other customers who were too busy panicking to notice this behavior by Lana towards me.

“Lana?” Midas said.

To be fair, I didn’t think I could even escape given the chance. This whole situation seemed fucked from the get-go by just me sticking around to spectate the situation. I mean, what else is the worst that can happen to me? Death? Again? Plus, I could perhaps try to find a way to use my powers to my advantage in situations like this.

After a little while of awkward standoff-ing, coupled with the fact that Lana still stared at me without blinking, I gathered enough courage to speak up.

“Sorry, you’re La–Lana, was it?” I said while having raised my hands with palms facing towards her.

No response from her. Frederick, Sir Midas, and the short-haired Shadow all directed their gaze at me.

They seem taken aback.

“Let us leave.” I said. “We just want to go home, you know? We have nothing to do with this, and we didn’t see a thing. I promise–”

“You’re not scared…?” She said.

“I-I mean, I am. We all are, I’m sure.” I said. “But, I feel like there’s no reason to be. Well, personally, I’ve been through worse than… whatever this is with you two people, no offense.”

Lana’s eyebrows arched up.

“P-people?!” She shouted.

Lana lost her composure. Her stance wavered.

The crowd gasped.

“He sees us!” The short-haired Shadow said to Lana, rushing to my direction. “Recast your Shadow, Lana!”

What in the Roach-God’s name did I do now?

Lana mumbled something while I directed my focus at the short-haired Shadow.

He was dashing fast in my direction. One of his hands had grabbed a knife made out of an unknown deep-blue metal. It looked sharp.

Sharp enough to end me the more I saw it.

His speed, coupled with Lana’s seemingly instant teleportation. I have nowhere else to go. I can’t use my powers fast enough without touching something.

I closed my eyes.

I can already feel blood pouring out.

Then a loud, guttural shriek.