To their credit, the guards weren’t at all violent with him. Heck, one of them could even be described as polite. “I’ll put my hand on your shoulder now – is that okay?” the guard named Tenver asked. “It’s the only way to get you through the Wall.”

“Of course,” Adam replied, unable to keep the surprise from his tone. He wasn’t sure if the police back on Earth would’ve been this accommodating. “Lead the way.”

The other guard, the tall man named Esteban, walked a few steps ahead of them. Tenver pressed his grip on Adam’s shoulder and marched him forward towards the invisible Wall surrounding the city.

Adam braced himself for impact and closed his eyes. As they passed through, he was met only by a brief chilling breeze that clashed against his skin, just for a singular moment. Then the feeling subsided, and everything swiftly went back to normal.

“Don’t worry, the hard part is over,” Tenver said, relaxing his grip.

“Keep your grip on him,” Esteban growled. “He could run.”

Tenver raised an eyebrow. “To where? The forest that nearly killed him? Come on now. Be reasonable. He’s coming without a fight; let’s give him the same dignity he’s afforded us.”

“If he creates trouble, Lord Aspreay will–”

“–Punish me for it,” Tenver cut him off. “He will hear that you tried to stop me, and that I pulled rank on you. So don’t complain.” He let out a small, cheerful laugh. “Or complain if it makes you feel better. But put up with it anyway, please? Just once?”

The taller guard turned his head forward and grumbled something Adam couldn’t quite hear before resuming his march. It seemed as if the man was torn between wanting to be far enough away from them not to be associated with Adam, but not so far away that he could be seen as slacking off. The sight was amusing, if nothing else.

Still, despite being thankful for Tenver’s gracious treatment, Adam almost found himself agreeing with Esteban’s point of view. He wouldn’t have blamed either of them for being cautious of him. Losing his memory was such an obvious lie that he wondered why Tenver was bothering to put up with it. Maybe the man was just naive. Or maybe guards here actually did prioritize public safety, and Tenver was just living up to that ideal.

Some people are too trusting, Adam thought, shrugging off the concern. I know I used to be until last week.

He paid close attention as their group entered the city proper. It both was and wasn’t what he’d expected.

It was, because it looked almost like a medieval city, which fit with the magic and monsters thing. And it wasn’t, because the goddamn vending machine from before didn’t make sense with this...rustic look. Medieval was one possible descriptor for it, but not the most accurate one. It looked closer to an isolated village you’d find in some European country with tourist traps hidden everywhere, only there were none of those here.

There might be other traps, though.

Tenver and Esteban were careful to move him through what appeared to be the least busy areas they could. The few people that were around immediately made themselves scarce upon catching sight of them.

Adam learned much from watching their behavior.

At first he thought they were hiding because they were scared of him. To them, he must have looked like a mysterious criminal flanked by two armored guards. Yet as those people hid away, keeping their eyes glued to the ground, Adam couldn’t help but notice that they would steal fearful glimpses not at him, but at Tenver and Esteban.

I guess guards aren’t exactly focused on people’s safety here, either. There goes that theory.

Although Adam made a mental note that they appeared to be walking through a poor district of the city, it still stood out to him just how thin everyone was. His first thought was that they looked like him last semester when he needed to miss meals to afford rent.

His very next thought was that comparing them to himself was unfair; these people had missed much more than the occasional meal. They weren’t quite to the point of dropping dead any moment, but many had the eyes of someone who wouldn’t quite care if it came to that.

It took a lot of effort to pull his mind away from fixating on their situation. I feel sorry for them, but if I end up being locked away, then who knows when I’ll get a chance to look at the city again. Need to focus. Without turning his neck, he shifted his gaze from side to side. Need to learn. Need to know more about everything.

Adam tried to make out details about the town, absorbing anything that would help him understand the place he was in. Initially, nothing stood out as particularly out of place. People looked normal enough, if clearly under duress. Buildings looked normal enough, if a little old-fashioned. It almost made it feel like a foreign country instead of an otherworldly, supernatural land.

Yet there were two things that reminded him otherwise.

One, the invisible wall encircling the city, presumably guarding it from the monsters within the forest.

And two...as their trio tread deeper into the city, going from impoverished streets to flat-out abandoned ones, he saw buildings that didn’t look just poor: they looked diseased. Not the people – there were very few living in this part of the town, and the few that the group caught sight of appeared healthy, if clearly scared of the armored guards.

Adam couldn’t say the same for their houses.

It went further than the buildings just being old or lacking in proper care. The very structures themselves were suffering from a dark plague. Bright white bricks had blackened into a hideous blob that disturbingly resembled a tumor, and exuded a putrid smell to match. For once, Adam was grateful for his empty stomach, because he wasn’t sure he could’ve prevented himself from throwing up otherwise.

“Sorry about that,” Tenver whispered. “We’re supposed to lead you through the most infected parts of town, just in case. Not that I think you’re infected, mind you. Haven’t seen a case of it that wasn’t obvious from the start. But the law is the law.”

Infected? Infected with what? Is that what those goddamn tumors growing out of the houses are?

Adam opened his mouth, hesitated, then went for it. Now probably wasn’t the best time to be asking questions, but hey, he was used to setting his expectations low and then trying anyway. “Thank you. When you say infected, you mean...”

“Rot,” Tenver said, trembling a little at the word. “These parts of the city have gone past Stained and straight into Rot. Don’t worry, it’s not contagious. Most likely. And thank you for the cooperation. I truly appreciate it.”

“If it’s not contagious, why am I–”

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“Shut it,” Esteban snapped, his voice full of malice.

“But-”

“Not one more word about this. Keep. Walking.”

Adam gave him a careful nod. Tenver relaxed, appearing relieved that he wouldn’t have to intervene. He glanced around a few times, as if checking for prying eyes.

“Let’s keep walking for just a bit longer,” Tenver said. “We’ll get to a spot where the smell isn’t quite so bad soon enough. You can wait with Esteban there for a moment – you can’t walk around the rest of the city, but there’s no need to stay hungry. I’ll go get you some food.”

Every inch of introverted politeness in Adam made him want to wave his hands and turn down the proposal, but his hunger won out. “That would actually be fantastic, thanks.”

He didn’t dare feel optimistic about the promise, but the guard kept it nonetheless. After only a few more minutes of walking, they reached what looked to once have been a shopping area. The smell grew more tolerable. Adam made a mental note of that as well.

Interesting. What’s wrong with this place? Even Esteban appeared easier to deal with in that area, the guard remaining mercifully silent the entire time.

Tenver returned only a few short minutes later. “You seem hungry, and I don’t know when you’re going to get to eat next after...well...”

He trailed off apologetically, scratching his stubble. It didn’t feel like he was letting a secret out loud, but rather that he was speaking of unpleasant business better left quiet.

Frankly, at this point, even if they try to kill me or something I’m calling this a win. Food. FOOD. Dear lord I needed this. “Thanks,” Adam told him, and meant it too. He paused, thinking of what else he wanted to know. “Have many others been attacked by...whatever got me?”

While Adam had been expecting some blowback for his questions, he wasn’t expecting it to be neither as sudden nor as brutal as it was. Esteban’s metal gauntlet connected with the side of his face and sent him down to the ground, making him feel nearly as dizzy and disoriented as he’d claimed to be. When he looked up, the man had already pulled his arm back for a second punch.

“What did I do?” Adam managed to ask through the pain. “I was just wondering if–”

“Shut it!”

Esteban shoved Adam forward with a harsh smack to the back of his head.

It came at him so quickly there was no possibility of dodging it. Pain lanced through his skull. The metal, gauntleted hand had struck him hard enough to make him feel nauseated.

“Esteban!” Tenver didn’t raise his voice, but his tone possessed a strong dignity behind it, and his eyes screamed louder than his words ever could. “Do that again and I will see you punished.”

“He spoke out of turn once before. Should’ve learned his lesson then when I let him off the first time.”

Adam didn’t care in the slightest about their back-and-forth. He was too busy processing the throbbing in his head. His vision was swimming, like stars dancing in front of his eyes. Did I just...get a concussion?

A small, hollow chuckle escaped his throat. If nothing else, this was confirmation that this place was changing him. Not long ago, that hit would’ve knocked him unconscious or worse.

And not long ago, he would’ve taken the punishment in stride. The apathy that had blanketed his life was less pervasive, now. His emotions still felt sort of numb - which made sense considering the contest, getting sucked into a painting, and fighting monsters – but even so, Adam found himself hating Esteban and wanting to punch the guard in his goddamn face.

He couldn’t stand people who abused their authority.

Adam coughed a little, spitting on the ground to make sure there was no blood in his mouth. Thoughts of consequences and repercussions faded away as he lifted his eyes to glare at Esteban. Vines of Stained Ink swirled on the arm beneath his sleeves, stopping, circling backward, then furiously spinning forward once again, as if he was revving up an especially unsteady motorcycle.

This is a bad idea, Adam told himself. You’ll be dead within minutes. A part of him halfway believed that would be a fair enough price to pay. What the hell was the point of living if he had to put up with crap like this? He might as well–

“That’s enough, Esteban.” Tenver reached out and grabbed the other guard’s arm with a firm grip. His blue eyes burned with such intensity that he hardly looked like the same apologetic man from a moment ago. “Do you think this is fair? Look at his clothes. The man is a foreigner – there is no way he knows what Lord Aspreay’s laws are.”

Esteban tried in vain to free himself from the stubbled guard’s grip. “If he meant to travel here, he should have known!”

“Maybe he did. But if he was attacked by a Stained–”

“–Don’t say that name! If Lord Aspreay hears–”

“–then this man would have no idea of what to do.” Tenver heaved a heavy sigh. “Be reasonable. We’re taking this man to questioning, and he has been nothing but cooperative. Do you want to give him reason to fight us? Put yourself in his shoes! He’s scared, has no idea what’s going on, but he chose to trust us anyway!”

Adam almost felt guilty at hearing that passionate defense. He didn’t trust them. Not one bit. It was just that a basic risk analysis had determined that imprisonment was better than dying of hunger or monsters. He was hardly going to say that out loud, though.

Esteban drew himself up, glaring hard at his fellow guardsman. “Lord Aspreay granted us the right to silence those we see as disturbing the peace.”

“Yeah.” Tenver’s hand fell on the hilt of his sword, his eyes unblinking. “That’s right. He did.”

The two men stared each other down. For a few seconds, no one said anything.

Esteban blinked first, both figuratively and literally. “Put yourself in my shoes, Tenver,” he muttered. “If Lord Aspreay learns we disobeyed his orders–”

“Keeping the peace isn’t disobeying his orders,” Tenver replied, in a low voice. Then, suddenly, he let go of Esteban, flashed a smile, and tilted his head to one shoulder.

“Come on now, you have to relax a little.” He patted the man on his shoulder. “Hear me out – that tavern brawl yesterday? The one I broke apart? I’ll let you keep all the credit for that. And no one heard him say anything, see?”

So that’s why they made sure to take me through those deserted streets, Adam thought, wishing he could say it aloud. They wanted to make sure nobody could hear me talking about the monster I fought. But why? There’s no way that the existence of monsters is a secret. Is it a crime simply to acknowledge them?

Esteban shifted his gaze between Adam and the friendly Tenver beside him. A frustrated anger was still painted on his face, but he shook his head fiercely and said, “Fine! Let’s...let’s just take him in, already.”