Vekrem And I spent the next few days in a room above the tavern. It was cramped, but we made it work. The human who ran the place was a servant of Vhol's named Bron, and he eyed us curiously whenever we came and went, as if we were inherently to be distrusted.

Ignoring his prying eyes, I used the time allotted to me to study the city of Silverock. I found it to be a place of beauty, with its glowing mushrooms that fit so perfectly with the architecture that you’d have assumed all towns were built this way. But I found underneath that beauty and glamor, there was sickness.

A rot. And that wasn't just talking about the Radiant Rot, a disease that plagued many of the humans who lived here.

Everywhere I turned, I seemed to find some sort of injustice. Human servants beaten for 'offenses' done. Ostracized and abandoned for becoming sick, or old. If it wasn't for disease, I'm sure the Rodrent’s would leave their corpses lying in the streets, as if their deaths were worth little more than trash to be discarded.

I made a promise to Vekrem that I'd not interject, and, although I wanted to break that promise so many times, I held true to it.

Until I couldn't any longer.

I'd gone into the market using the lie that my 'master' had ordered me to pick up some fruit. Checking the local fare, I'd discovered that while some fruit was similar to my own from earth, they had a vast assortment of food I'd never imagined before. I picked out some that looked interesting or smelled good, and made my way through the busy and loud streets back to the tavern, distinctly ignoring the street where they held live auctions.

I never wanted to see that again.

Instead, I turned down an alley, then another and another, and before I knew it, I'd become lost, circling around until I came to a dead-end.

It was at that time I heard a sound.

Great, I thought. I'm about to be mugged in another world. I just have the best luck.

But, surprisingly, nobody came for me. The noise I heard became louder and louder until I could no longer ignore what I knew.

It was the sound of a woman in distress.

"Leave it be," Dragon soldered in my mind, and, I admit, I almost listened to him, but then I heard it—a sound that nobody should ever hear. A noise that I myself had made before—in the darkest parts of my life.

The sound of acceptance.

Whomever this was, their cries were so ignored, so inconsequential, that they didn't even feel the need to cry them out any longer. No longer desired to scream out to a careless, cold world.

My fucked up sense of justice just couldn't quite handle that.

I listened for the soft sobbings as I searched every nook and cranny of the winding alleyway until, eventually, I came upon a group. Three humans, two men and a woman, stood above another who was shrouded in darkness.

Considering how quiet it was, it was no surprise when my loud footsteps were immediately noticed. One of the men turned to me, a smile on his chubby face as he approached.

My muscles stiffened, and I expected violence, but, instead, he merely clapped me on the shoulder. "So glad to see you arent the guard, friend."

I shrugged his hand off, gripping the cloth ‘bag’ I’d used to carry the fruit as I slung it off my neck. Looking towards the figure on the ground, I still couldn't see if they were hurt as they lay motionless on the floor.

The chubby man gave me an odd look, but I turned to him, forcing a smile as I asked, "What's going on here, friend?"

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He returned my smile, showing yellowish teeth, and a rank smell wafted from the depths of his mouth and through wide gaps. “Nothing that concerns you. Now… Why don’t you just fuck right off, and there’ll be no trouble for ya.’ Besides… you don’t wanna get involved. See that—” he pointed with a long, crooked finger that had clearly been broken before “—That’s what happens to little thieves.”

“I stole nothing!” the woman replied. She screamed as one of the others stomped hard down on her leg.

I stepped forward, but the chubby man put his hand back to my shoulder, holding me more firmly this time. “Didn’t ya here what I said—”

My fist clenched as I cracked the man square in the jaw, dropping the fruit I’d bought earlier to the filthy ground. He stepped back, slipping on one fruit, his foot sliding out and compromising his balance. Wasting no time, I struck him again—

And again!

And Again!

Before I knew it, I was pummeling down on that fat fuck’s face with everything I had, my arms getting tired from the effort. In his features, I saw every person who’d ever mistreated me. I saw my step-fathers; the muggers in the alleyway.

When I finally drew back, my hands hurt, the skin of my knuckles rubbed raw. The chubby man spat blood, sucking in air through swollen lips. His eyes were also swollen shut. I rubbed his blood off my hands with the front of my pants, leaving red smears in the fabric.

The other two, a man and a woman, took up position, surrounding me, and I took up a boxer's stance, both fists clenched, protecting my head.

Dragon whispered in my mind, “You’ve really done it—Lookout!”

I didn’t see the man swing, but I more so felt it. Instead of withdrawing, I stepped back into him, throwing an elbow which caught him in the stomach. He gasped, and I felt spit hit the back of my head as he violently exhaled. Stepping forward, I turned at the same time, using the momentum to swing my arm in a haymaker. I struck the blow to the side of his head, and I felt cartilage break. He fell face first to the floor, and I couldn’t tell if he still breathed as he lay still.

Time slowed, and I let my senses take over my body, just as I’d done before. Without seeing, I turned, reaching out, and catching the woman’s wrist with my hand. With my other, I punched forward, catching her straight in the nose. Blood exploded as her nose broke, and she let go of the knife which she had held an inch from my ribs. Looking down, it was a small knife, barely able to be called one at all.

The woman covered her nose, as if she tried to staunch the bleeding—

It didn’t work.

“Fuck you!” she exclaimed, while stepping backwards towards the alleyways exit, never taking her eyes off me. “You’re fucking dead. Dead!” She turned and ran before I could come up with a good reply.

Shrugging, I looked at the two men on the floor and decided they weren’t worth it, instead turning my focus on the woman who was still laid in the shadows.

As I approached, she rose, and dusted herself off, stepping into the light. She was early to mid-twenties, had tanned skin, with light eyes. Her hair, dark and long, drifted down her back where it was met with ragged servant garbs. But, most interestingly, she had some type of marking which she kept hidden from me by keeping her head turned a certain way.

She stepped up to me, pointing a slender finger into my chest. “What did you do?”

“Saved you… I think?” Unsure of myself, I scratched the back of my head. “Did I save you?”

“Idiot!” she replied with some bite, kicking me in the shin as she did. I hobbled back indignantly, but she continued, adding, “You’ve killed us both if we don’t run. Now! Hopefully they won’t remember my face. Or yours.”

“I can kill them,” I said, looking at the chubby man who was still conscious. At my utterance, he squirmed, but was still too injured to recover just yet. At the woman’s look of horror, I amended, “Just kidding… They aren’t worth the trouble.”

She relaxed a bit, but grabbed my coat and pulled. Suddenly, I found myself running, following her out of the winding back-ends and into a crowded street. Looking around, as if trying to gather her bearings, she shot off again at a sprint. I considered just going back to the tavern, but curiosity got the better of me as I gave chase.

The Rodrent commoners gave me dirty looks while the humans stepped aside, not wanting to become involved. It wasn’t long before we came upon a small shop at the corner of a nameless street. She put her hand to the door, but, deciding against it, jumped a small fence into the back. I followed, ripping a small piece from my pant leg as I did. There, she opened a window and climbed inside.

I stood, and deciding against it, I turned to leave, but she suddenly came back, saying, “Hurry idiot—come in!”

That was the second time she’d insulted me, but, still curious, I did as she demanded, climbing in through the small window and falling a short distance to the ground and landing square on my back. Dust wafted in the air as I recovered, and I coughed into the back of my hand.

An older man walked into the room to check on the commotion, but before he said a word, someone at the door we’d just opted not to use knocked furiously.

A voice rose above the loud bang bang bang of wood. “Silverock Sentinel’s. Open the door now or we’ll break it open.”