Post by Loner。 on Aug 11, 2017 21:09:32 GMT
❖ MALIK YOUNG
I am looking for something as I scour this dusty small town, something abstract. These people seem so out of it to me, like they aren't living in the real world, like I'm not in the real world while being here. Its nice as a vacation spot, if you're the sort that likes small towns. Yet I'm starting to think they're deluding themselves, acting like everything is peaceful when some of them are the very embodiment of things sanctuary would want to kill in an instant if they could. The lack of news from the city is frustrating too. I don't mind if its biased against me, I want to know whats going on.
I'll probably take the train... Yet I feel like there is a faster way. I wander around looking for that.
The air grows humid as I walk, yet its not the humidity of water. The heaviness agitates my energy till I feel like I am trying to hold on to a slippery snake. It squirms under my control to the point of discomfort. Finally I let it infuse my being, and the squirming sensation fades into a soft almost familiar hum. Fortunately I am not glowing, but I can tell without examining myself that I don't look quite human any more. Somehow relaxing my hold on my powers like this makes the heaviness in the air less suffocating. I can breathe.
When I look behind me, the town is gone. I did not think I had gone so far away, but I'm in no hurry to return. I feel the wariness of a trespasser, yet I do not sense any danger to my presence yet.
When I do find a town, I have the impression that it is medieval. The buildings of brick stone and wood have a simplistic durable style that was clearly built by hand without the use of mass produced parts and machinery. Because it is unusual to me, I can't help but be curious. It feels like I have walked into a historic site as I approach. I get quite a few stares from the people here as I come. It is not because of my skin, nor other biological or power-enhanced features. Instead I have the feeling that it is my clothing that elicits these stares. These people wear hand tanned leather and spun clothing with natural dyes. In contrast my machine made denim pants and synthetic shirt are too bright, and cut and stitched in so different a style that I doubt anyone has seen the like before.
I consider retreating but since I have already been noticed, the best response is to act like I actually have a destination.
I sense a blade being drawn before I see it coming. A man who is as large as a bear comes upon me, and pushes me against a wall, blade pressed against my throat. He speaks quickly but I do not understand his words. He is not speaking sanctuary standard, nor a language of the minority groups of which I could guess without understanding, but I can imagine what he might be saying. 'Who are you?' 'what are you?' 'where are you from?' That or 'give me your money' of which I have none the man would likely value.
Whatever he was saying mattered little as the blade pressed deeper into my skin. I am afraid of being cut and yet the burning sting which I had been expecting of skin being sliced does not come. It should have come by now. I have been cut in the past thanks to a certain jerk who I've known since grade school. He'd make it a game. A lot of the kids ended up bearing scars made by him. There is only one reason why I don't.
There is a shout. Another large man appears in the corner of my field of vision, talking in the same foreign language, talking in the tone of one giving orders. I feel my attacker is distracted, though the shift in his attention is very subtle. It is enough.
I twist suddenly, jabbing my elbow against the man's arms to knock them away. Where pressure does not cause a cut, my sudden motion does, leaving a jagged line smarting across my collarbone.
I run towards the other man, ready to take him if I can't navigate out of his way, but he grabs me with both hands, stopping me in my tracks. "Calm down boy. I'm no enemy." He speaks urgently in accented but recognizable speech. He could be lying, yet I take the risk to believe him. "Come." He barks pulling me urgently into a building.
Once inside I stand and stare. It is poorly lit but I can see clearly enough. There are tables and chairs and a counter. Large barrels are positioned behind it. On the back wall is a bulletin board with notes, some with pictures of people posted up. They look a bit like wanted posters. I can not see nor sense anyone. The whole place is empty except for us two. There is not a single patron at this hour.
The man is already by the bar, pouring a foamy liquid into a ceramic vessel. "Sit." He commands, setting the thing on the counter by one of the backless chairs positioned there.
I do as he commands, easing into the seat by the counter. "I don't drink" I answer. I am under age so there's no way that I should be allowed. Sanctuary has a legal age for this, so I'm not keen to break the laws I grew up with.
"Where you are, you'll need it." He warned, indicating the earthenware mug with a vague gesture as he wipes out another mug with a cloth. Though I have reservations, I take the one he put in front of me. It is heavier than I expected and feels more solid in my hands than a good many other containers I have encountered. In its ruggedness it does not threaten to break on me like many others have. I take a drink quickly, gasping and nearly dropping the mug as the liquid fire sears down my throat. I set the mug down heavily, braced in the shock of it. Yet the man only laughs at me. It is a cheerful deep sound. "Welcome to Eokia boy."
Where? I must be looking confused right now, with my wide crystalline blue eyes and my blank expression. Eokia he said. Well I knew already that I am not in 'Kansas' anymore. That humidity feeling in the air confirmed it earlier. The questions is really where am I in comparison to where I came from. Instead I ask. "How do you know my speech? The other man didn't."
"Bet he didn't think you'd be speaking this tongue eh?" The man answered, still able to laugh. I manage to smile with him as he does, finding myself beginning to relax despite my confusion. "Most people here speak two or three different languages and this ain't an uncommon one. As for how I knew you'd speak this one, I've heard stories so I took an educated guess. You get some pretty well traveled people when you run a good tavern. You don't look like you're from Eokia or Sonlas so its gotta be elsewhere right?"
"Sanctuary... " I grumble. "Thats what they call it. Not much of a sanctuary though." Even though I want to go back there, I still do not look forward to the trouble guaranteed to come with it. Once there I bet I'll want to go back to somewhere peaceful, where I can be gilded like I suppose I appear now, without worrying about being seen as less than human because of it. Somehow, probably because it is there, I find myself taking another drink of the scalding but yet not heated beverage in front of me. It is an action I regret almost instantly. The stuff is terrible. I scowl momentarily.
I have been watching this man move as he's been talking to me. He has been treating one side gingerly this whole time, favoring his left in trying to avoid bumping it or carrying much weight. This observation is a way to change the subject. I don't want to talk about sanctuary right now after all. "How did you get hurt?" I ask perhaps a little bluntly.
He follows my gaze. I watch his face pale ever so slightly as he realizes I have observed the effects of something which I cannot directly see. Is he surprised that I have noticed it? "just an old war wound, from decades ago. These things have a way of staying with ya all your life you see." He answers with a shrug.
He pushes it off as nothing of concern, but I see him wince with his gesture. Maybe I could help him if given the chance. A part of me wants to try. "Um..." I raise my hand from the table, beginning to offer, but lower it after a moment. There are some things I shouldn't press on. Besides I am still a bit afraid.
The barkeeper looks at me. "Spit it out kid." He prompts his tone more for one giving orders than engaging in conversation.
I fold my hands and look down at them to avoid eye contact with the man. "What if I could fix it.... I've healed things before..." I didn't want to say accidentally but they all had been accidental occurrences, those times when I have healed people other than myself. I Feel like I can do it this time, yet I am unsure.
Still he laughs. "Don't worry about this boy. I've gotten the best treatment I can get already. What doesn't heal doesn't." I look away further, somewhat ashamed to have asked about these things. Yet again the subject is changed to my concerns. "Anyhow. What do you plan to do? You're pretty far from home, and you don't really blend in here."
This was all true enough. I didn't fit in with my culture and clothes. It might be hard to lay low till I can find a way back to eden or sanctuary. I have no clue how far I might be from home. I remain quiet considering what my options might be for the moment.
"Maybe I'll just go back the way I came" I think aloud, speaking slowly. "I can probably hold my own if I run into trouble." However, I'm not sure I can find my way back. Based on the way I came and looking back earlier, some things don't line up right.
"We saw how that worked out." He points out. Its true I got jumped back there till this man gave me the chance to slip free from harm. Yet I have reason to smile slightly. Already the stinging line on my neck left from the blade... gone as if it was never there. Not even the pain remains. So yeah, I might be fine. "You're better off finding a way to blend in." The man is saying despite my skeptical confidence. "If you're gonna be wandering about. A lot of people aren't fond of the foreign. Often is the sign of some mad warlock or something, trying to take over." Well that wasn't new, distrusting the unknown. I could deal with that same as I'd been doing in sanctuary if I had enough time to figure out how to blend in or get out.
"Same at home really. I'm probably on death row to return." I grunt twisting my wrist to check the time. My watch has stopped entirely. It does not offer a reading for me to judge how long I have been here. A blank face simply stares at me, divulging no information. "It makes little difference." Except there was one little difference. I didn't feel in the wrong for being different than human here. No one had been staring at me because of that. I couldn't fully hide and het somehow here I was holding a conversation with a native in a way that felt like today was just ordinary for him. I still had questions about just about everything but somehow things made sense by observation, unlike the eclectic confusing place called Eden six.
"If thats the case, why don't you think about it a night. There's a pretty large manor outside of town. Ask to stay there and you won't have to deal with this city's nasty underbelly. They'd tear you limb from limb. You'll also have a better chance to get back wherever you're from if you make ties there. Lots of traveled folk are seen coming too and fro." He suggested, but I wore a skeptical face this man was kind so far but if things were nasty, I wanted to really know what I was getting in to. "Odd man, the lord there. Puts some people on edge, but since he came this town's taken a turn for the better."
I'm not sure if I will take his advice, but I still ask. "Who should I look for?"
"Real tall man, super muscular, darker than you, he's got scary eyes. Wears a lot of golden jewelry and purple. It's pretty impossible to mistake him for anyone else when you know who you're looking for. Just don't take him at face value or,"
I don't remember rising to my feet, but here I am standing because that description matches someone I have met. He probably knows how to get back to sanctuary if thats where I want to go cause thats where I first met him. Yet with someone I know, maybe I need not be in such a hurry to get back to a familiar place "Thanks for your help dude. I'll go check it out." I decide, impulsively giving the man a gentle squeeze on the arm in thanks. I don't feel nearly as lost for now, so maybe I can get things to work out alright.
