The rest of his night was uneventful, Alex passed the time by lazing on his bed. He was flipping a coin in his hand while deciding on his plan for the day. He definitely wanted to go to the library, but other than that he didn't have much else planned. At times like this, he decided to see what happens. Not like he was on a time crunch, for all he knew he was stuck here forever, meaning his vengeance could wait.
Alex's train of thought was soon interrupted as he heard bustling from downstairs. The tavern below was as noisy as ever, but it seemed louder than last night. Alex enjoyed quiet serenity as much as anyone else, but he forgot just how noisy cities could be. This served as his alarm, and with a quick stretch of the arms, he got out of bed. He would've changed clothes and taken a shower if he could've, but giving a quick glance around his room, he spotted no such amenities.
Opening the creaky door he stepped outside his room, spotting the stairs he went down. The tavern was still full of interesting characters, he also spotted the girl from last night sitting on a table in the corner. He stopped to admire her eyes for just a moment before he walked towards the main entrance. The whole tavern itself was situated on the corner of a street, the door itself opened to a sidewalk along the main road. Paying mind to the engineering of the streets made him question just what era this world was in.
Squinting his eyes for just a moment to get adjusted to the changing of light made him notice the glowing signs from last night were lessened dramatically. He wagered they lessened the bright lights during the day, because well, daylight was bright and so too were the signs.
Alex still had no idea where he was, he had found no map, so he just decided to wander aimlessly again. He sure hoped he would reach his destination sometime soon.
---
A couple of hours passed with Alex stumbling around, eventually, he arrived in a weird part of town. It looked like the ghettos of any city, there were buildings everywhere that looked completely destroyed. The area just seemed dirty, there were no visible signs of trash but the odor of trash ruminated. That and the people here just looked shady, some people in hoods ran away when he got closer to ask for directions.
Surprisingly, the thought of looking for a map never surfaced in his mind. Alex never did praise his critical thinking....
Walking a bit further down a cramped road took him to a corner street. Posted on the corner sat an older-looking gentleman, he was clad in ragged and holey clothing, he looked like a begger.
Raising a brow to this stranger that looked lost the man spoke up.
"You lost kid?"
Alex, giving a glance to his surroundings, responded.
"Yes I am, you wouldn't happen to know where a library is would you?"
"A library, what need do you have for that? You look as broke as they come, those places are for the wealthy folk."
"I'm just looking for some answers" replied Alex
"Aren't we all, ill tell you son, I know just where you should go."
Pointing a finger down a nearby alley the older man spoke out once more.
"Just follow that there alleyway and you'll find a place to get all the answers you need"
Just as Alex was about to enter the alleyway the older man said one last thing.
"I need to tell you son, if you make it out of here alive you should get a real job, this place is not for the likes of a kid."
Alex stopped for a brief moment before continuing forward, he gave no mind to the old man's words.
Alex saw light near the end of the alleyway, the roof above was enclosed by the roofs of other buildings. Some light managed to get through the cracks though. Getting ever more close Alex saw two men emerge from the shadows situated on the right, and left. Hearing two more sets of footsteps behind him he knew there were four total people. They slowly blocked both the way forward and back.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
A larger looking one spoke up
"Aye kid, give poor ol' jimmy here your goods. He just ran out of pocket money you see and needs to get his mom some medicine."
He waved his hand in a gesturing motion
"I refuse" replied Alex
The character that seemed to be called Jimmy spoke up
"Come on lass, you wouldn't want a perfectly good person to die today would you?"
Jimmy spoke with venom in his voice
Thinking of... He hadn't had a moment to use that ability. Why waste a perfectly good opportunity to try out his new abilities. That and get himself a snack...
---
These assailants were absolutely horrendous at fighting. The fight was over before it even began, just as Alex began to spew out his poison to the so-called Jimmy he crumpled up instantly. The rest begged for mercy, clearly, they were in other their heads. They just seemed to be kids trying to earn a living, by whatever means they could. Sad sure, but since when did Alex care for any of that.
He ruthlessly tortured them one by one. And he had to say he enjoyed his new abilities. His poison made it so they couldn't resist, and his new torturing ability made the screams even louder. The good news was the poison wasn't strong enough to fully render people immobile. Rather he could use larger doses to achieve that, for this though he used just enough to render them physically weaker, close to being immobile. Another thing he noted was that the poison seemed to not lessen the pain, he was worried that it would numb the pain of his work, thankfully though it just seemed to be on the level of a mild sedative.
Alex was currently sitting on 'Jimmy', or what was left of him anyway...
The only remotely human-shaped thing left was his torso, the rest were just piles of goop. Experiments of his doses.
The rest of his palls fared no better, the two lanky ones that were behind him became his snacks. While the two that were in front of him were his experiments.
Alex cleaned up his mess by gobbling up the leftovers, he noted a strange hint of vanilla in the goop. One could say he just enjoyed a bowl of delicious vanilla ice cream, the consistency was almost the same. Almost...
---
Walking out of the alley yielded no results, it seemed the old man had set him up. It just led to another road. Alex was a little peeved but didn't want to go back just to punish the old man, he could do that later.
At this rate he'd need a list to keep track of all the people that wronged him.
He did spot the better-looking district in the distance though.
Alex soon made his way back to the better part of town. Looking down at his dilapidated clothes Alex wanted to get a fresh new fit. He took the words of the man serious in this regard, he truly looked like a beggar himself. Now with some more coins from his earlier escapade, he looked around for a tailor shop. He was a little concerned with the amount he had, but he had a few gold coins, the caravan from yesterday truly had some immense wealth...
This time however Alex asked for directions earlier in his search, and as a result, he soon found a tailor. The building didn't look much different from the others around it, but it did have a sign of a spiffy-looking man posted outside the doors. Walking in Alex was greeted by the smell of a commercial store, he couldn't quite put his nose on the smell, but it was the smell all old department stores had.
An older-looking woman was seated on a chair weaving together some fabric, rather than manually sewing she had floating sewing needles. She was also sewing multiple things at once. Alex was a little taken back, this was his first up-close sign of magic. But he soon caught his bearings.
Walking up to the woman he asked a question.
"Excuse me mam, but how much does it cost for a custom-made suit?"
The woman startled by her new guest dropped everything onto a table beneath her. Cocking her head to the side, she looked a little annoyed at this clearly impoverished customer asking her this question.
"Two gold coins"
She responded curtly, with annoyance in her voice.
"Of course" responded Alex, taking out two shiny gold coins from his pocket.
The woman seemed to have a complete change of opinion towards this man. She smiled brightly and said, "What are you looking for esteemed customer."
Alex liked this feeling of superiority, he figured if nobles existed here he should become one. He liked this feeling of power.
"Well.. I want..."
---
As Alex walked outside he had a complete makeover. Rather than the drab garb he once sported he adorned something completely better. He wore a long black trenchcoat that had velvet inlays, there were geometric designs on the sides of it. He had a nice undercoat, a nice shirt, and of course, a velvet tie. His new fit was altogether unique, Alex took inspiration from early 'Jack the Ripper' art. And combined with his violet eyes the suit altogether complimented him in every way imaginable.
His new shoes had a unique sound to them as well, Alex added a pocket in the bottom of his shoes to allow for a deeper sounding step. He imagined the look of fear people would have when he chased them down in the dead of night, and the noise that would follow.
Alex felt like a million bucks as well, after all, they do say clothes make the man.
---