As Vaile went to the docks, he found that his little ‘gift’ had done its job quite well. The boat was gone, and in its place was an empty spot on the docks big enough for him to do what he wanted to do. And as for the man who previously owned the ship? His face was still as unmoving as ever and was still in the position he had occupied the previous day. Of course, when Vaile approached the man, there came a storm of anger and fury from that fool.

“You! Where is my ship?! What did you do to it?! You owe me money!”

Vaile smirked behind his mask and shrugged his shoulders. He had felt the observers watching him yesterday, and he felt them today as well. Despite not knowing if they were friend, foe, or a mix of both, he decided to give them a performance regardless. After all, if he was stuck at such a limited power setting, then he would have to entertain himself and everyone else somehow. Also, this bit of drama would (hopefully) take his mind off of the constant anxiety that this place forced him to shoulder, so it was a win-win in his book.

“I have no idea what you mean!” Vaile said as he made overly dramatic gestures and took an overly dramatic posture. “I merely gave to you a gift that I claimed would do a thousand years’ worth of work to your ship! Never did I claim that it would be a thousand years of repair and updates!”

This merely caused the man to fume even more, and as far as Vaile was concerned, hamming it up like this did indeed take his mind off of the anxiety produced by this weird-ass city.

“So, you admit that you did something!”

Vaile shook his head and channeled his inner drama kid, putting on one hell of a show for anyone watching.

“But dear sir, I merely gave you a tool. Did I tell you, nay, did I force you to use it? Heavens, no! What has befallen you comes from your own hubris, and my aid in this most wretched turn of events can only be blamed on the greed and arrogance of the one who does suffer from this most horrendous tragedy! Surely, this shall be a tale sung by minstrels and skalds! Tis a tale of Tragedy of the most monumental proportions, one that shall tug at the heartstrings of all who hear it!”

The man flipped the fuck out and charged at Vaile, who had, during his speech, positioned himself in just the right place. The man came forward and wound up for a haymaker, but as he finished moving forward Vaile simply stepped aside while extending his foot. As to be expected from such a series of events, the man missed Vaile and tripped over his foot, resulting in him tumbling off of the dock and into the water around the pier.

“Alas! The common wastrel does miss his mark! Will the fates be kind to this poor soul and bring him salvation from the frigid and churning waters that he has fallen into? Or, mayhaps he will find that the fates are unkind to him and that the sentence for his greed and hubris is to rest his bones ‘neath the waves, never again to rise to the light of the surface and reside beneath the fog-strewn skies?”

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Help me! Stop monologuing and help me!”

“Ah, but were I to do so would thou bequeath unto me this place along the docks for mine own usage? If that be not the case, then mayhaps it be in mine best interest to avoid the fickle cruelties of the waters around us and avoid tempting the fates. For what a fool I would be to deny the reaper his due, especially when his own victim made his way to him by his own will?”

At this, the man had no retort, but this was mostly because the churning waters had dragged him under.

“I hear not a reply! Does this mean that the one whose hubris forced such a fate upon him now cannot lay claim to what was once his, and yet is now up for any to take it?”

Once again, Vaile’s overly dramatic speech, posturing, and posing fell on seemingly deaf, or perhaps drowned ears.

“Then, with none to oppose my righteous will, I do claim this plot upon the docks for mine own usage! I thank you, good and fallen sir, for your services that you have rendered to me. Until we meet again! End Scene.”

…

That little show was…. Well, they wouldn’t call it cringy, even though that was certainly what it was, but they had to admit that it was also kind of funny. If those fuckers were not annoying enough already, their treatment of Vaile had really tipped the scales. They had not expected that Vaile, who was now essentially as weak as a baseline member of the Races, would be able to fuck over one of them so thoroughly and so easily, all while mocking those damn bastards in such a humiliating way. Sure, it was hammy as all hell, but that just made the minor taste of revenge all the sweeter.

While they could not interfere, and while they could not act out outside of those two hours without setting them free at the same time, they could communicate with each other and watch what was going on with Vaile. No other person who found their way here had been quite as good at exploring and fucking over the bastards that kept them here like Vaile had. Sure, some of the people who fell through the cracks and wound up here had lasted as long as Vaile had, but all of them had given up escaping the place they found themselves in by that point and had essentially been reduced to despair-filled paranoid kooks.

Vaile, however, looked to be unwilling to just give in, and they were counting on him being able to pull through and break the spell that had kept them in this place. Once that spell was broken, then they could take revenge and make this whole city their stomping grounds. All he needed to do was get to that place and free the being chained up in that place.

And then? Well, then this place would return to its original state, and the former slaves would be slaves once again, but this time there would be no one who would come to turn the slaves into the masters again. They could not do much right now, but more and more of them began to realize that there might just be hope after all. But either way, they would need to redouble their actions during those fleeting hours of freedom, even if only to give Vaile more of a fighting chance.

Although, a decent part of them did want to make Vaile a bit more like them, but even the dumbest among them knew that doing so would result in their eradication. Even if/ when It was freed, they wouldn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell against the combined assault of all of the other members of the Alliance, even with Vaile turned into one of them.

The best thing they could do would be to stall for time and hope that Vaile managed to succeed in his quest, even though they knew that he knew that when he did break free of this place that they, too, would be freed as well.