The streets in the slums reeked, old cheese drifted through the dirt streets as Blue walked through the road passing all the vendors who beckoned him to their stalls trying to sell cheap wares. He had woken up early to avoid the traffic of the crowds and to finish his map of the slums only to run into a horde of Mice men raiding the run down buildings for homeless Nachos.

The Mice men are hated by the Nacho Cheese Empire and every other territory they have an alliance with. Of course, the Mice are allies of any Empire not involving cheese and are often used as assassins to eliminate competitors within the Nacho alliance. The Mice Men had mistaken him for a Nacho and tried to devour him.

Luckily he had escaped at the cost of an elderly Nacho who wasn't fast enough to get away. The crunches of his death to forever haunt his dreams. He shivered as the images flashed through his mind.

"Hey, Blue what are you doing up so early?

Turning around he's greeted by Feta carrying a bag full of food, "Oh hey Feta, just out getting some fresh air before I start work, are you shopping for your mom?"

"Yeah before the customers wake up we need to finish preparing breakfast so I have to go." Smiling she begins to scamper off, before shouting in the distance, "Don't get to much fresh air, you might get stale." 

Chuckling to myself I look up at the store sign, Crispy Needs. There was a store in his Empire with the same name but an entirely different meaning. His mom had caught him and his older brother coming out of the store and never looked at them the same way again.

Entering the store he's greeted by an elderly man with large round glasses sitting at the counter, "Hello there can I help you find something?"

His smile was warm, unlike Cheddar who repulsed anyone who laid their eyes on her. "Yes, I was wondering if you had any Alouette Sweet Powder, I'm an alchemist and I just ran out, I heard you sell it here."

This powder is the spiciest cheese in the continent, he was told this was the only place to obtain it in the slums territory. It would be expensive, and him being broke and draped in a hood and long gown didn't help the bartering he would have to do, but it was a necessary step if he was going to make it into Tier one.

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"Ah, I'm not sure it's quite expensive, how much of it do you need exactly?" 

"Not a lot just a few kilos you do have that here, right?" The old man sips from his mug before adjusting his glasses.

"You know son I've been in this business a long time now and I can smell a nark a mile away!" Grabbing his mug he smashes it into Blue's face before darting into the back room. 

"AAAHHHHHHH!" Screaming blue clutches his face while rolling on the floor. 

Wiping the hot cheddar soup and glass out of my face I run to the back room anger pulsing through my body. "And here I thought you were a nice guy." Pushing through the back door Blue stumbles into the dark drafty room, frantically looking for the old man. 

"Where did that crazy bastard go?" Walking through the room he realized he was in the storage closet. "Maybe the Alouette Sweet Powder is here.... he owes me anyway." Looking through the shelves Blue rummages through the dark room to no avail.

"He did say it was expensive maybe he keeps it somewhere hidden." The room was dark and hard to see in, looking around it was disorganized long before he arrived, "it looks like someone has already raided this place."

Turning to leave he notices a small light from behind the shelf in the corner of the room, "Oh you sneaky old bastard." Moving the shelf a stairway lit by torches spiraled down into the ground. As he started to descend the draft became cooler as the flames started to flicker. "What kind of old man has a secret chamber in his store!"

Reaching the bottom he could hear soft laughter coming from the room, "Leave me to die, and expect to get my precious powder! I'll show him... I'll show them all!!" 

"Leave him to die?" He didn't know anyone from this Empire but the people at the inn. "Wait.... he can't be" Thinking back the old man look familiar but he couldn't quite remember from where he recognized him.

Peeking around the corner a shadow of the man appears in the dimly lit room, crawling in the room the old man continued to mumble to himself as he frantically mixed chemicals, his back exposed as he hovered over a long table.

"This is my chance if I knock him out now I can get the Alouette Sweet Powder and get out of here." Settling his resolve Blue grabs an unlit candlestick from the opposite table, as he approaches the man his murmuring grows louder. 

Swinging the stick he strikes the old man on the head, with a large "THUD" he falls forward onto the table before he droops to the floor. "Ahhh...revenge is always sweet, now where's that Alouette Sweet Powd...e..r." Stopping as he glanced at the old mans face his heart thundered in his chest.

"Aren't you suppose to be dead?" Lying on the ground was the homeless man who had been eaten by the mice men...how was he still alive?