It was somber, that was all that Cain thought soon after opening his eyes finding himself in this desolate place. There was no life or atmosphere, almost as if he had gone blind, if not for the fact that he could see his own hands then he would've thought he did. After moving around for a while and discovering that nothing changed he decided to sit down and meditate. As his eyes closed and his mind cleared, a thick fog started to roll in filling the desolation.
Hours seemed to pass in this gloomy space, though some time after he started to meditate he heard a weak, horse voice. Whispering into his ear almost as if piercing deep into his mind.
"Command, and death itself will bow."
Quickly opening his eyes, Cain looked around for whomever spoke. Yet he was still in an empty space, except now noticing that he was surrounded by a dense fog. The voice was the same as when he had heard it earlier that day.
The thought to stand up quickly and search the area came to mind, but Cain couldn't move his body. Almost as if he was submerged in a viscous, heavy liquid. His body started to burn up as more voices in the surrounding became clear.
"Death, you killed me!"
"My neck! You stabbed my neck!"
These were the voices of the bandits he had killed. Soon after their wailing was heard they came into view, slowly moving towards him in his immobile state. They moaned and screamed for his head, for the one that ended their lives and trapped them in this grim world. They had no weapons nor bodies, just ethereal spirits of primal humanoid shapes.
Cain felt panicked for the first time in a long while, was he about to die by those of lives he had already ended. The spirits clawed and grabbed at his body from the dense fog trying to tear him apart. Right at the moment before they fully enclosed him, Cain woke up in his bed, covered in sweat.
His heavy breathing soon calmed down, regaining his composure. That was not an experience he enjoyed, nor was it one where he really learned anything particularly useful. Bright light was beating on his face signaling that is was already morning. What had felt like just a few minutes to him was really several hours. Other than the sweat he was now covered in, nothing about his physical state seemed any different, unlike the last time he heard the voice. This time it seemed that it was only there to give him fright.
"Good morning sir, I do hope that you slept well."
Johnathan had greeted him soon after he had walked outside, he had prepared breakfast and bags for the journey to the city. Given that his clothes were in rags and covered with sweat, Cain chose to pilfer the bandits wardrobe for something to wear of the trip.After deciding on a basic set of clothes, that seemed to be what a peasant would wear, it was time to set off.
The bags were filled with rations, some changes of clothes, and even some money that the bandits had stashed away. It was of course Johnathan that carried the bags with him so that Cain wouldn't have too. After a few hours of traveling the hard dirt road changed to gravel, then eventually stone.
More and more carriages and people could be seen walking on the path as they approached closer to the city gates. Once they were within stones throw, yelling could be heard from the entrance, it seemed as though the guards were denying a farmers entrance into the city to sell his goods.
"I'm telling you that my pass is still good for another week! Why won't you let me enter to sell my goods?"
"Sir, if you want a new pass for trading goods then you'll have to purchase one for 10 silvers."
"That's 2 more silvers then last time!"
The guard was stern but seemed to be enjoying his authority. What these two argued about though matter very little to Cain, his only goal was to test if he had any magical abilities and talents. However, at the moment that he approached the gate, the farmer ran up to him and asked him for help.
"Dear traveler, you believe me don't you? Look at my pass, it still says its good for another week."
Looking at the slip of paper that the farmer held in his hand Cain realized that he was unable to read what was written on it. The symbols that covered the slip seemed like snakes mixed with strange shapes.
"I'm sorry but I don't wish to be involved in this matter."
The farmer plead to him as he left, but then the guard had stopped him. Standing before Cain was a large man in half-plate armor with a spear and long sword strapped to his waist. He looked down on Cain with somewhat of a sneer on his face like he had a clever idea.
"As I said to your associate, I can't let you in the city without proper documentation. If he can't pay the 10 silvers then you'll have too."
A grin sprouted upon the guards face as he tried extorting money from the man before him. To the guard Cain looked like any other person on the street, and the gold tie clip that he was still had on him caught his attention.
"If you can't pay for the trade pass with silver then I'll take that gold you have on you."
Cain looked up at him with cold eyes that could pierce his soul. As the guard looked down at him, the grin on his face slowly faded and cold sweat poured from his scalp. He had worked as a guard here for a decade and was use to threatening others. However, he now felt something that he had not experienced often, it was a chilling feeling that ran down his spin to his core. He felt great danger emitting from the man before him, he was afraid.
Standing back the guard apologized for his behavior towards Cain and moved into the guard post to grab a new slip for the farmer. Cain walked through the gate and into the city before the guard had even come back outside with the pass. What the guard and the farmer did had nothing to do with him and he truly did not care.
Finally, he was in a civilized area in this new world that he had come too. It resembled the renascence era of Europe. This world seemed to have abandoned science in the pursuit of magic and alchemy. The stones on the road were solid, but off to the side in some alleyways he could see where the stone was loose and seemed to need upkeep.
Johnathan had went off to get them a few rooms at a local inn in the lower quarter. He had explained that in order for his magic to be tested then he would need to head to the mages guild in the upper districts, so that is where he headed, Cain did not wish to waist any time here.
Passing by the marketplace on his way to the guild the smell of fruit and cooked meat was in the air. It was around noon and most people around were eating lunch at stalls scattered around, this was as good a time as any to try the local cuisine.
Approaching a small stall that sold some kind skewered meat, he took a seat and ordered two of the skewers. The aroma of the meat was similar to pork but its juicy taste and tough texture reminded him of a rare steak. It was spiced with salt and something else that he couldn't put his finger on, but it was certainly better then the rough breakfast Johnathan had made that morning.
As he was about to start on his second skewer, a large man bumped into him knocking it out of his hands and onto the ground.
"Hey Alec, where is this weeks haul, the boys and me want to head out for drinks tonight. Now cough up!"
Was this city that looked so grand really filled with this much trash. It had only been around twenty minutes since entering this city and this was already the second thug he had scene. normally he wouldn't want to get involved, but this oaf had knocked his food to the ground and Cain was now Pissed.
"Fuck off!"
Cain glared at the man and before he could even respond Cain had grabbed his shirt collar and pulled his head down fast, smashing it into the table and knocking him out cold. Rubbing his temples he thought that he should do something about this cities thugs, but decided to think of that after testing his magic ability.
The man lay there on the ground and several onlookers were approaching, if he wanted to get out of there without too many people noticing him then he had to leave now. Leaving his seat and ducking by a separate stall to sneak away he was able to avoid most of the crowed, but one still saw him even if he didn't notice it himself.
...
Seeing a strange man knock Fredrick out cold was a shock to Corvus. They had been bullying the people of this market for a while with their gang and Fredrick was by no means a small man. He stood about six-foot six and had a body that would put Hercules to shame. Even though those muscles were mostly for show and he wasn't great at fighting, he was still a strong individual.
If there was someone in town that could take him down that easily then they could pose a threat to future endeavors. He needed to take this information to his boss in the lower quarter, luckily he had gotten a good look at that mans face and outfit so he would be able to tell him out of a crowd.
Moving quickly through several alleyways, he soon approached an iron door that had a demon carved into it. This was defiantly a door that cause suspicion, the only reason that nobody investigated it was due to it being so far out of the way and sandwiched in between two broken down abandon buildings. Knocking 3 times in an alternating pattern of hard soft hard, the door opened and a tall rugged man greeted him.
"Been a while Corvus, what brings you down here."
"I need to see the boss, we may have a problem on our hands"