That day it was raining outside, a kind of acidic rain that was slowly eating through my clothes and slowly burning my skin.
The foul stench was bringing back horrifying memories. So I hastened my pace back to the only familiar place I knew in that city, a small but notorious bar near the train station I just got out of.
What happened here in my absence? I didn't remember rain stinging this much; the others don't seem particularly affected by it. I guess for them it has become the norm.
As I entered the bar, I heard the loud sound of pressure valves going off, releasing smoke as the multi-armed owner of the bar was checking all of his special pots.
It was my favorite spot ever since I moved to this city, and it remained such until I had to move out—a warm and cozy bar that served a variety of different drinks, including alcoholic ones and non-alcoholic beverages.
"Welcome back, Lucian." The bar owner greeted me as soon as I set foot in his place.
The owner of the place was shaking a small drink, preparing a sandwich, and checking the status of one of the many pressure pots. With the flicker of one of his fingers, he opened a valve in the pot and released the pressure building up in the pot.
He was a crafty old man who had installed all sorts of mechanical augments on his body; his spine had been replaced with a more powerful one to host all the other arms installed on his body, and he had an exoskeleton supporting his body.
Now the extra weight was being supported by some special mechanical arms attached to the roof of the small bar, making it look as if he was now a prisoner of his own establishment.
His dyed hair was slowly losing color as he was starting to show gray patches of hair all over his head.
"Thanks, Rob. So do you have any news on my package status or…?" I awkwardly asked as I sat down on the closest seat to the door.
Within the small establishment there were currently only two other customers; one was wearing a large trench coat and a large hat, and he was eating something while facing the wall.
The other customer was standing in the middle of the bar; he was a Black teenager, happily munching on the specialty of the bar while admiring the only colored object on display in the entire bar, a small red rose being kept in a glass container.
"Unfortunately, I've got no news of the location of your package. Recently, a storm much stronger than usual has hit the Fracture. You must've heard the news, right?" The owner answered.
Fuck, I hoped this wouldn't be the case when I heard the storm was ravaging the fifth level! Now what? Do I have to order a second one? Or will another courier pick up my package and finish the delivery in case the previous one died?
"Don't worry, the agency I contacted will deliver the product; you'll just have to wait a little longer." The owner assured me.
If I live to see that day.
I felt like my body was slowly starting to melt in the seat, all of my worries were slowly crushing my body, and all my past mistakes were coming to haunt me as I felt like I was being chased by the Grim Reaper himself.
No, no, no, not like this, not now. I was finally starting to live a peaceful life. How will Gloria do without me?
As the entrance doorbell rang, I saw another unique customer come in, a tall man completely covered by a dark, shining cloak, a large, round hand from which strange pendants were hanging, covering his face with the mask of an angry demon, carrying a large whip by his side wrapped around his waist.
Everyone froze for a moment at the sight of that man; he had an imposing presence that immediately grabbed our attention.
The owner, without batting an eye, took a small delivery package from under the counter and delivered it to the man. He scanned it with a strange device, grabbed a sandwich from the counter, and headed away without uttering a single word.
What the hell was that?
"Do you want to order something, Lucian?" The kindhearted owner asked me.
"Just give me a couple of your Pom Pom Buns; I feel like that's the only thing that could cheer me up at this moment." I answered as I got up from my chair to go to the counter, taking out my wallet.
"Oh, no, don't worry about that. Today your bill is on the house; it's partially my fault for recommending that delivery service. Eat to your heart's content today." He warmly said as he offered me the specialty of his small shop.
A small, round-shaped loaf of bread so soft and jiggly it bounced around as if it was made of jelly, cooked in his special kind of pressure pot.
The small bun was still emitting steam as it was just freshly cooked. The bun was jiggly as usual, and when I bit into it, I quickly found out it was filled with peach jam. The owner had poked a small hole at the bottom while I wasn't looking and filled the airy bun with delicious jam.
"So what about that contact of yours you mentioned a while back? Can he help out? I know it'll cost a lot, but I desperately need it; otherwise—"
He didn't respond; he simply shook his head to answer me as he handed me a cup of coffee.
Fuck.
"Well… Then I have nothing left to do here." I said, taking the cup of coffee and finishing it in a single sip.
"Take care." I said as I slammed down the cup on the table and headed towards the exit.
"Take care." The old bartender repeated before I left.
Shit, how could a storm appear now of all times…? I just hope that whatever stopped the courier also stopped those guys; otherwise…
As I was walking towards home, I saw a group of religious fanatics preaching and crying at the same time about the betrayal of the Fracture and how karma was about to bite them.
"Those vile creatures that refused the Golden Mother's embrace shall know no peace!" They repeated as all around them, the many screens were showing news of the Fracture's empire fragmenting.
The news was spreading quicker than I expected; the culprits' faces were shown on the screen, and my face was amongst them. The brave spies that cause that evil empire to finally turn on itself—at least, that's how we were framed.
The plans hadn't gone as we wanted due to the sudden kidnapping of the Scarlet Prince; because of him, his mother traveled through the fracture at such a high speed she destroyed any city she came across, destroying a good amount of their population, and all our soldiers and reinforcements died in the process.
Although the goal was accomplished, since we failed our original task, now we were being sold out to our enemies.
I made sure to cover my head with my hoodie and moved forward.
As I passed through the golden road, I saw more and more of those cultists and their horrid golden markings carved into their bodies.
What the hell happened here while I was down there?
The golden marks had spread while I was around, as the religion was slowly dying. They were only limited to a statue in the city center, but now I could say traces and lines of cold extended towards many buildings, branching out to each and every apartment, every road, and every shady-looking alley.
Everyone began praising a dead god. What do they think? That suddenly their fate will bring it back alive? Everyone knows the Golden Mother stopped responding when the Fracture appeared; it either abandoned us or died.
As I walked down the busy road, an old man purposely bumped into me.
"Hey! Watch where you're going, old—" I complained, but he immediately grabbed me by the wrist and began checking it.
The fuck!
I immediately sucker-punched the guy as I feared he might start screaming or do other crazy shit only an old lunatic would; then, as he fell on the ground knocked out, I made sure to run away, trying to blend in with the crowd as much as possible.
I increased the pacing of each step I made until I finally found an isolated part of town where many houses had huge lawns all around them. This was the area granted to the people who made great achievements.
I once looked at this as a paradise, but now I can see it for the graveyard that it is… It's isolated from the city, far from a hospital or the next police station; if someone were to get assassinated here, no rescue would come.
Why would they treat us this way, especially after everything we managed to accomplish? It doesn't make sense, even all the other nations keep the names of their heroes a secret until they either die of old age or die during service.
The lights of the house were turned off despite the dark clouds, and the main gate was left unlocked.
I felt my heart dropping down as I pushed the gate open; with each step I took, my worries grew more and more. Had the fracture already sent an assassin to deal with me? Already? Barely even a week had passed since I had resurfaced. It wasn't enough time for a bunch of assassins to get here and prepare something beforehand.
What about my family? What if they're using them as hostages…? No, I doubt it. After so much time, Gloria must've found a new man; she surely wouldn't have stayed in that house. Please.
I began praying for the worst as I opened the door to my house.