I cleared the phone, snapped it in half, and tossed it out my window. Someone on the street yelled out a painful cry but I felt too worried to look out the window and check if they're fine. I fell back down on my bed and grabbed my face. I squeezed and tried to pull my features out but I only felt pain. 'No shit.'
I'm scared. A lot of things out there justify my feelings but the worst out of all of them is me being a clone of someone- well not exactly just "Someone" because I'm the clone of an old member of the Modern Pantheon- specifically, a Hero named Hecati.
He spelled it wrong (the leading theory is that because he was a guy and he based his name off of a Goddess thus the name change,) but the original meaning still stands; Hecate is the Greek Goddess of witchcraft and the person who named themselves after her represented that well.
And I guess, as their clone, being a magic user makes sense but the problem is, Hecati is a Magician or as he liked to call himself, a Caster.
I'm not exactly a caster now am I?
I looked up at the window and stared, the phone got destroyed but that guy's words still lingered- "Oh, I think I may know why you're like that." A tinge of interest seeped into his tone and he typed something into his keyboard excitedly, "I think that it's because of your job as an acrobat and all the other... activities you've done ever since getting a name." He stopped writing, "All that running, jumping, and exercising must've changed how your ability came into be somehow..." his voice turned curious and I can just feel him stroking his chin in thought when he spoke.
I stood up and opened another can of food, this time its fried fish dumped in sauce- an expensive sounding food if not for it just being simply cooked fish thrown into a blend of preservatives, salt, spices and tomato sauce. 'Shitty food for shitty people.'
I hope this routine changes soon.
Fully changed and with two cans in hand, I walked out of my room and straight to the lift. Since it's still on the third floor, all I had to do is untie the rope and wait as the lift goes down by itself, the gears on the four corners of the platform biting into the beams rolled and slowed the descent of the lift, making it as safe as it could be.
The rate of it going down let me watch the people below. Since the platform isn't actually a part of the building and is just an extension built on the walls, it's open enough that all I have to do is stare at the other end, and the street is right there, swarming with people and pests that call the slums their home. A mutant rat would run in one corner and a genetically modified cat- that's most likely an escaped test subject by the Lioness- would chase after it, its large size causing the people to part away from it.
The lift stopped and I walked out. Ryan isn't on the second floor this time and the place is as empty of people as it could be. Though with all the gang stuff lying around, it's most likely protected.
I jumped down into the street and then started to focus on the Theikos around me, it's much easier than before, and feeling and gathering the energy is so second nature to me that it's like moving my own hands to do it. But as for absorbing it into me and using it for something? It's still pretty hard and doing it feels like breathing with a blocked nose. I can do it, it's just hard.
I didn't really let any of that stop me from enchanting myself and I kept on turning the little amount of Theikos I can absorb into minor regeneration boosts that made me feel better while I walked.
"Care to help?" Someone- no an old woman with two little boys with her walked over to me and raised an empty styrofoam cup. I glanced at the trio, taking this opportunity for what it is; a moment where I can use that time-stop thing and observe them for a time that's longer than the split second my momentary look gives me.
Everything slowed to a crawl and then stopped, a smoke from a stand that's behind the family of three stopped mid air, floating just above the head of the seller and giving him an odd looking image. Well, odder. He had three eyes after all, and the extra one on his forehead just kept looking around that it's making me feel weird.
I looked away from the distracting stand owner and observed the family, the woman is blonde, fair skinned, and blue-eyed. Small signs that she's from the upper parts of the city. Or at least used to be.
Her children also had the same features as her and a thought that wondered why they're here when the city elites rarely fall flashed briefly in my mind before I dismissed it. 'None of my business.'
Enchantment to my eyes went down and time went back to being normal. The woman got so near me that she pushed a cup on my bicep but I pushed her away with a roll of my shoulders, "Watch it." I said coldly. She backed away and left with her two children and I pretended to not catch the glare she shot me. Again, the elites rarely fall. Whatever it is that she did must've been so bad that she got thrown away by their small community.
'Again, none of my business.' I shoved both my hands into my pockets and walked faster.
By now, the sight of the slums is pretty normal for someone like me. The ruined buildings with walls ridden with bulletholes and shattered windows, the streets with more cracks than actual road, the leaning lamps, their broken lights, as well as the canals that run all over the place, smelling bad and spreading it like a disease.
I looked up and saw a rusted water tank, one of its four legs bent in such a way that caused it to slant, making its pointed lid lean and create an opening that gave it a sense of the tank having a mouth. Down here on the street, it looked like a monster made of metal that looks down on you, ready to eat you up and swallow you whole.
The graffiti all over it made that feeling stronger, with the artist spray painting little fangs, yellow eyes, and two chubby hands- the fucker looks like Doughey now that I think about it.
I looked away from it with a scowl and thought of it for what it truly is: A landmark here in the slums that tells people they've walked into the abandoned industrial sector of the city.
Here, one can see destroyed and ruined factories growing out of the ground like mold. The things are all over the place, casting shadows and looming over everything with their massive presence. They also served as both a home for the homeless unlucky enough to live here as well as a base of operations for the more... mad of the Geniuses.
And when I say mad, I mean mad. They rave, scream, cackle, and speak in barely incomprehensible words and sounds that you can't talk to them even if they're rational. It's probably normal to some, especially since there are probably over a thousand of these Lunatics living here. And since the sector is large enough to house all of them and more, the Lunatics don't really attack each other and seem content to live with themselves on their own worlds and mostly leaving the other Lunatics alone.
I wasn't planning on messing with them so I carefully went out of my way to not get close to anything that might even resemble a sign of their presence. I see a bundle of open wires sparking and lighting up a dark alleyway? I turn my head and walk away. A camera following my movements and keeping a close eye on me? I go back to where I came and pick another path.
After all, that dodging and weaving into alleyways, I finally come to the other side of the sector and into the cleaner parts of the slums. A 15 feet tall wall made of steel and plated with disks of carbon-microchains that interlocked with each other. Gates are placed in the middle of all four walls around the complex and beyond the gate is a bustling city that shined in bright neon light.
The place is called The Market and its here where most of slum dwellers can find things that they need. Like a useless statue that absorbs sunlight, using it to fuel a miniature electromagnetic field inside itself, eating up dust with its mouth before energizing it inside of itself and creating a blocky magnet that it eventually shits out.
Or, if you're feeling lucky, then you can buy the thousands of random things that take up most of the stuff sold here, like a fire knife that's either on the last dregs of its life and will die the moment you turn it on or is relatively new because it just got stolen by some random kid before getting sold here.
Or maybe you want something to eat? Well don't worry because this place has those too! From exotic stuff like snakes, gators, cheetahs, snakes to outright illegal shit like other mutants, people, and magical creatures that have been confirmed to be sapient by the Geniuses that specialize in them.
But as random as the stuff being sold here is, The Market is actually known for them and whenever people talk about this place, the word "Variety" will always get said.
And I got to experience the full set of variety this place has to offer the moment that I passed through the gate: Creatures, most of them humanoid, are all over the place buying stuff, haggling, checking out wares, or just eating. Either by themselves or with other people.
To my right, I eyed a middle-aged couple, one is clearly a mutant of sorts, with their long hair glowing yellow as they ate and the other is some sort of magical entity, with two large horns curving to the back of their head like that of a sheep's.
Both of them wore rather casual clothing, with the girl wearing a yellow jacket with a green shirt and pencil skirt under it while the guy wore a simple white T-shirt and black pants. They talked casually while eating the pieces of meat in front of them.
And these types of people aren't even the tip of the iceberg; Girls with snakes for hair, Guys who have scales on their skin and reptilian eyes, Little people that only go up to my knees with butterfly wings on their back, Giants with muscled arms and fingers as large as my arms and much more can be seen all over the place talking to each other.
I find it fascinating that some of them outright attract Theikos but I guess that's expected, they're called magical creatures for a reason.
I waded through the crowd, walking around a quartet of fairies that only looked different because of their wings. The one at the center, a rather tall fairy with moth wings, met my eyes for a second and acknowledged me with a nod before continuing her talk with her friends, one of them said something and she started to giggle, making her aqua hair wave around.
The scent of incense entered my nose when I passed by a shop that sold a variety of magical stuff. I stopped in front of it for a minute to check them out before leaving in disappointment. The stuff looked genuine but the amount of Theikos I felt from the wares isn't much and the only thing I got checking them out is the thought that I can do better by myself.
'Can I even cast a fireball though?' I briefly wondered. 'I really need to test my power out.'
Several stalls were passed, and I bought a stick of deer kebab and also an entire cup of magically made honey before I reached my destination.
"Bowey's Store for Stolen Goods" is not exactly a friendly name to most people but the consistency of the stuff sold here is pretty solid and it's also rumored that there's a secret entrance at the back that sells actual familiars gathered from Chasms here. I don't know if that's true or not and I don't really want to find out for the time being because I only came here to buy stuff that'll turn into my costume.
I walked in and a laugh-like jingle echoed out at the entrance before I got sprayed by a blue mist that kills bacteria and snaps out electronics. I fixed my clothes and walked into the pair of doors when everything got sucked out through the ventilation system.
The store isn't exactly the cleanest looking place out here and the white tiles have a bit of cracks in them but what Bowey's doesn't have in its sanitary system, they compensate for the protection and guarantee of their products. The phones here have labels and when you read that they're secure and can be used as an actual burner phone, then you better believe it because that's what they are.
Grabbing a basket, I went in to the gadgets aisle and bought two of these then without missing a beat, I walked around the store until I ended up in the clothing section where I proceeded to buy a black, long-sleeved leather jacket, brown cargo pants, and a pair of light-blue sneakers. I also bought a T-shirt, colored in red with a happy looking clown emoji on the chest.
I put them all on my basket and went to my last stop- the art aisle of the store is exactly what it says, artist stuff can be found here like paint brushes, paint, pencils, ball pens, or erasers. I didn't want any of those and bought two cans of rainbow dyes instead. I like dyes because of how simple they are to use; all I have to do is pour it in water and dip stuff into it and voila, instant paint.
Or, if you like the look of a strong color, then you can just dip stuff directly into them and that's exactly what I'm gonna do with all the clothes I bought save for the T-shirt.
Walking over to the counter, I bought all of it and walked out of the store 254 Digits poorer.
I'd probably earn it back soon enough.
I cleared the phone, snapped it in half, and tossed it out my window. Someone on the street yelled out a painful cry but I felt too worried to look out the window and check if they're fine. I fell back down on my bed and grabbed my face. I squeezed and tried to pull my features out but I only felt pain. 'No shit.'
I'm scared. A lot of things out there justify my feelings but the worst out of all of them is me being a clone of someone- well not exactly just "Someone" because I'm the clone of an old member of the Modern Pantheon- specifically, a Hero named Hecati.
He spelled it wrong (the leading theory is that because he was a guy and he based his name off of a Goddess thus the name change,) but the original meaning still stands; Hecate is the Greek Goddess of witchcraft and the person who named themselves after her represented that well.
And I guess, as their clone, being a magic user makes sense but the problem is, Hecati is a Magician or as he liked to call himself, a Caster.
I'm not exactly a caster now am I?
I looked up at the window and stared, the phone got destroyed but that guy's words still lingered- "Oh, I think I may know why you're like that." A tinge of interest seeped into his tone and he typed something into his keyboard excitedly, "I think that it's because of your job as an acrobat and all the other... activities you've done ever since getting a name." He stopped writing, "All that running, jumping, and exercising must've changed how your ability came into be somehow..." his voice turned curious and I can just feel him stroking his chin in thought when he spoke.
I stood up and opened another can of food, this time its fried fish dumped in sauce- an expensive sounding food if not for it just being simply cooked fish thrown into a blend of preservatives, salt, spices and tomato sauce. 'Shitty food for shitty people.'
I hope this routine changes soon.
Fully changed and with two cans in hand, I walked out of my room and straight to the lift. Since it's still on the third floor, all I had to do is untie the rope and wait as the lift goes down by itself, the gears on the four corners of the platform biting into the beams rolled and slowed the descent of the lift, making it as safe as it could be.
The rate of it going down let me watch the people below. Since the platform isn't actually a part of the building and is just an extension built on the walls, it's open enough that all I have to do is stare at the other end, and the street is right there, swarming with people and pests that call the slums their home. A mutant rat would run in one corner and a genetically modified cat- that's most likely an escaped test subject by the Lioness- would chase after it, its large size causing the people to part away from it.
The lift stopped and I walked out. Ryan isn't on the second floor this time and the place is as empty of people as it could be. Though with all the gang stuff lying around, it's most likely protected.
I jumped down into the street and then started to focus on the Theikos around me, it's much easier than before, and feeling and gathering the energy is so second nature to me that it's like moving my own hands to do it. But as for absorbing it into me and using it for something? It's still pretty hard and doing it feels like breathing with a blocked nose. I can do it, it's just hard.
I didn't really let any of that stop me from enchanting myself and I kept on turning the little amount of Theikos I can absorb into minor regeneration boosts that made me feel better while I walked.
"Care to help?" Someone- no an old woman with two little boys with her walked over to me and raised an empty styrofoam cup. I glanced at the trio, taking this opportunity for what it is; a moment where I can use that time-stop thing and observe them for a time that's longer than the split second my momentary look gives me.
Everything slowed to a crawl and then stopped, a smoke from a stand that's behind the family of three stopped mid air, floating just above the head of the seller and giving him an odd looking image. Well, odder. He had three eyes after all, and the extra one on his forehead just kept looking around that it's making me feel weird.
I looked away from the distracting stand owner and observed the family, the woman is blonde, fair skinned, and blue-eyed. Small signs that she's from the upper parts of the city. Or at least used to be.
Her children also had the same features as her and a thought that wondered why they're here when the city elites rarely fall flashed briefly in my mind before I dismissed it. 'None of my business.'
Enchantment to my eyes went down and time went back to being normal. The woman got so near me that she pushed a cup on my bicep but I pushed her away with a roll of my shoulders, "Watch it." I said coldly. She backed away and left with her two children and I pretended to not catch the glare she shot me. Again, the elites rarely fall. Whatever it is that she did must've been so bad that she got thrown away by their small community.
'Again, none of my business.' I shoved both my hands into my pockets and walked faster.
By now, the sight of the slums is pretty normal for someone like me. The ruined buildings with walls ridden with bulletholes and shattered windows, the streets with more cracks than actual road, the leaning lamps, their broken lights, as well as the canals that run all over the place, smelling bad and spreading it like a disease.
I looked up and saw a rusted water tank, one of its four legs bent in such a way that caused it to slant, making its pointed lid lean and create an opening that gave it a sense of the tank having a mouth. Down here on the street, it looked like a monster made of metal that looks down on you, ready to eat you up and swallow you whole.
The graffiti all over it made that feeling stronger, with the artist spray painting little fangs, yellow eyes, and two chubby hands- the fucker looks like Doughey now that I think about it.
I looked away from it with a scowl and thought of it for what it truly is: A landmark here in the slums that tells people they've walked into the abandoned industrial sector of the city.
Here, one can see destroyed and ruined factories growing out of the ground like mold. The things are all over the place, casting shadows and looming over everything with their massive presence. They also served as both a home for the homeless unlucky enough to live here as well as a base of operations for the more... mad of the Geniuses.
And when I say mad, I mean mad. They rave, scream, cackle, and speak in barely incomprehensible words and sounds that you can't talk to them even if they're rational. It's probably normal to some, especially since there are probably over a thousand of these Lunatics living here. And since the sector is large enough to house all of them and more, the Lunatics don't really attack each other and seem content to live with themselves on their own worlds and mostly leaving the other Lunatics alone.
I wasn't planning on messing with them so I carefully went out of my way to not get close to anything that might even resemble a sign of their presence. I see a bundle of open wires sparking and lighting up a dark alleyway? I turn my head and walk away. A camera following my movements and keeping a close eye on me? I go back to where I came and pick another path.
After all, that dodging and weaving into alleyways, I finally come to the other side of the sector and into the cleaner parts of the slums. A 15 feet tall wall made of steel and plated with disks of carbon-microchains that interlocked with each other. Gates are placed in the middle of all four walls around the complex and beyond the gate is a bustling city that shined in bright neon light.
The place is called The Market and its here where most of slum dwellers can find things that they need. Like a useless statue that absorbs sunlight, using it to fuel a miniature electromagnetic field inside itself, eating up dust with its mouth before energizing it inside of itself and creating a blocky magnet that it eventually shits out.
Or, if you're feeling lucky, then you can buy the thousands of random things that take up most of the stuff sold here, like a fire knife that's either on the last dregs of its life and will die the moment you turn it on or is relatively new because it just got stolen by some random kid before getting sold here.
Or maybe you want something to eat? Well don't worry because this place has those too! From exotic stuff like snakes, gators, cheetahs, snakes to outright illegal shit like other mutants, people, and magical creatures that have been confirmed to be sapient by the Geniuses that specialize in them.
But as random as the stuff being sold here is, The Market is actually known for them and whenever people talk about this place, the word "Variety" will always get said.
And I got to experience the full set of variety this place has to offer the moment that I passed through the gate: Creatures, most of them humanoid, are all over the place buying stuff, haggling, checking out wares, or just eating. Either by themselves or with other people.
To my right, I eyed a middle-aged couple, one is clearly a mutant of sorts, with their long hair glowing yellow as they ate and the other is some sort of magical entity, with two large horns curving to the back of their head like that of a sheep's.
Both of them wore rather casual clothing, with the girl wearing a yellow jacket with a green shirt and pencil skirt under it while the guy wore a simple white T-shirt and black pants. They talked casually while eating the pieces of meat in front of them.
And these types of people aren't even the tip of the iceberg; Girls with snakes for hair, Guys who have scales on their skin and reptilian eyes, Little people that only go up to my knees with butterfly wings on their back, Giants with muscled arms and fingers as large as my arms and much more can be seen all over the place talking to each other.
I find it fascinating that some of them outright attract Theikos but I guess that's expected, they're called magical creatures for a reason.
I waded through the crowd, walking around a quartet of fairies that only looked different because of their wings. The one at the center, a rather tall fairy with moth wings, met my eyes for a second and acknowledged me with a nod before continuing her talk with her friends, one of them said something and she started to giggle, making her aqua hair wave around.
The scent of incense entered my nose when I passed by a shop that sold a variety of magical stuff. I stopped in front of it for a minute to check them out before leaving in disappointment. The stuff looked genuine but the amount of Theikos I felt from the wares isn't much and the only thing I got checking them out is the thought that I can do better by myself.
'Can I even cast a fireball though?' I briefly wondered. 'I really need to test my power out.'
Several stalls were passed, and I bought a stick of deer kebab and also an entire cup of magically made honey before I reached my destination.
"Bowey's Store for Stolen Goods" is not exactly a friendly name to most people but the consistency of the stuff sold here is pretty solid and it's also rumored that there's a secret entrance at the back that sells actual familiars gathered from Chasms here. I don't know if that's true or not and I don't really want to find out for the time being because I only came here to buy stuff that'll turn into my costume.
I walked in and a laugh-like jingle echoed out at the entrance before I got sprayed by a blue mist that kills bacteria and snaps out electronics. I fixed my clothes and walked into the pair of doors when everything got sucked out through the ventilation system.
The store isn't exactly the cleanest looking place out here and the white tiles have a bit of cracks in them but what Bowey's doesn't have in its sanitary system, they compensate for the protection and guarantee of their products. The phones here have labels and when you read that they're secure and can be used as an actual burner phone, then you better believe it because that's what they are.
Grabbing a basket, I went in to the gadgets aisle and bought two of these then without missing a beat, I walked around the store until I ended up in the clothing section where I proceeded to buy a black, long-sleeved leather jacket, brown cargo pants, and a pair of light-blue sneakers. I also bought a T-shirt, colored in red with a happy looking clown emoji on the chest.
I put them all on my basket and went to my last stop- the art aisle of the store is exactly what it says, artist stuff can be found here like paint brushes, paint, pencils, ball pens, or erasers. I didn't want any of those and bought two cans of rainbow dyes instead. I like dyes because of how simple they are to use; all I have to do is pour it in water and dip stuff into it and voila, instant paint.
Or, if you like the look of a strong color, then you can just dip stuff directly into them and that's exactly what I'm gonna do with all the clothes I bought save for the T-shirt.
Walking over to the counter, I bought all of it and walked out of the store 254 Digits poorer.
I'd probably earn it back soon enough.
