Fire And death filled the horizon. A thousand screaming voices as gunshots filled an endless horrid choir. 

“John! Help!” 

Staring. Death. His Love Trapped by a mob of death. Still charged with fury and rage he cut a path into the hiard. He could see her. Just a little bit more. 

Then he saw the glow of flame from the sky.

I woke up breathing heavily trying to excise the horrible memory. My burns itched as they always did when I was forced to remember that day. Fire, it was always that damn dream. 

I got up and wadded through the trash that lined my apartment. I knew I should clean up, but I just didn't have the energy for it. I never did and maybe never would. I'd just hire someone to do it, I had the money. 

I could Also afford a better apartment, but it just didn't feel right. This was the apartment… we had shared. It was too hard to let go and I did not want to even try. 

I made my way outside. I needed some air And coffee. Lots and lots of steaming hot coffee. I just threw a random shirt and a pair of paints before walking out the door.  It wasn't a long trek to the Nearby moonbucks. 

Entering the store I was meant with plush furniture and a feel tables. Patrons typed away at various forms of scrying screens, most didn't even give him a second glance. Those who did stared at the burns covering his arms. 

I walked up to the the thanfully lineless kiosk the Barista was a small thin women who looked absolutely exhausted.

“I'd like a cardinal machete please.” I stated once I'd made my way to her. 

“my… “ I stopped at the last part. Feeling lost as I remembered it was only me who would be drinking coffee today. Their would be no one enjoying that today. No good natured jabs, just myself. I felt a surge of memories try to rise up but I forced them down. 

“Never mind” 

The barista took my order and sat at a nearby table, making sure it faced towards the entrance. A bad habit maybe but it has kept me alive more than once. I pulled out the small sleek form of my scrying mirror and scrolled through various ads. 

“Chloe's potions: only Chloe heals what ails you”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Come to Minotaur park! A family friendly experience everyone can enjoy!”

“Have you ever considered owning your Own bar? Want to be the wise elder offering a drink and some advice to the wayward traveler? Well here's your chance! The haven bar and tavern is looking for a new owner! This wonderful property is selling for a spell of 750$. That's right! Only 750$.” 

I snorted, no way was that last one real. Although I pinned it for later. I always found it amusing to try and find out Who the scammers were. I tapped my finger on the memory rune storing it for later perusal. Scrying mirrors were a handy little bit of magic. 

It was hard to imagine that only 50 years ago people were forced to live in small villages and communicate through word of mouth alone. That had rapidly Changed after Elmiker innate magic allowed for him to create spires that could store and transmit spells. A power that worked even after his death. 

It had given rise to mass produced potions, enchanted gear, and more. A power that had changed the very world itself. 

There were 5 types of magic. Innate, elemental, summoning, mutation, And finally divinity. 

each Had their down sides and strengths. Innate magic was powerful but unique to each innate mage and that meant not having anyone to train off of. 

A voice distracted me from my inner exposition. 

“Order for Joanna! One Cardinel machete” 

I winced at the butchering of my very simple name of John. How do you fuck up “John”?. Uuuug, I trudged up and grabbed my coffee Before heading back to our … my apartment. I did a bit of cleaning up now that I had caffeine In my system. 

It took about an hour, but the place was mostly clean. I'd need to do a deeper clean later however that was later. I sat down on my couch pulling my Iscry as I did so. Clicking on the proper rune I pulled up the sight for the tavern. 

“Allright, let's find out what kind of scam this is.” 

My brow furrowed In confusion 30 mins later. The company selling the place was legit. hell as far as I could tell the whole deal was legit. After Staring in disbelief For a few minutes I decided to make myself lunch. Food was important after all.

I grabbed up a few walnuts and a bad of candy. Green lines appeared over my skin as I took the flavor of the candy and then applied said flavor to the wall nuts. Next I pulled out some Chicken which I fried In the air fryer. Finally I pulled out a few strips of bacon, vegetables, water, and a can of juice.

Once the chicken was done I took The flavor of the bacon and applied it to the chicken. I threw that slice out and applied the flavor of the other strips to the various vegetables. 

Finally I took the flavor of the juice and applied it to the water. I could choose how much I transfered of course, but I wanted the full flavor, not just a hint of the flavor. With my very healthy lunch made I sat at the simple wooden table that sat near the kitchen and ate a moderately tasty meal. 

With lunch finished I pulled out the Iscry pulling Up the ad for the tavern. 

“A tavern for less than 800?” 

The idea did have some appeal, running a tavern was better than wallowing in my apartment. Still, I needed to find out why the tavern was so cheap. 

The answer turned out to be because every previous owner had either gone insane, been murdered, or scared away. That didn't really deter me like it would for most people. Gone insane? I was already there. Murdered? I had lived in a war zone for nearly 10 years. The fear of being murdered was my natural state of being murdered. Scared? A Tavern isn't going to top a literal war. 

So without much fanfare I activated the mental link ruin and prepared to buy a Tavern.

It took a little bit for the connection to form but soon enough I heard a voice in my head. 

"If this is another scammer I will personally rip your head off and feed it to a kracken!!!" 

Wow, that was certainly not the welcome I had been expecting. 

"No no scammer. I saw an Ad for the haven tavern is it still available?" 

The line went dead for a second. 

"You don't want that place. Trust me." 

Well if I had any doubts that had just erased them. I never backed down from a challenge. 

"Yeah I do." 

"Look man that place is deadly. Most of the people I have sold that place to have died. "

"I know. I still wanna buy it. So are you selling it or not?" 

The voice sighed with more then a little defeat added to said sigh. 

"Fine it's your funeral."