It was around twelve as Dan, the two kids and the dog walked into a crumbling, shabby building with a destroyed sign through a small hole in the back. After Dan did some asking around he found out it was a run down blacksmith.
This excited Dan for some reason. For all he knew there could be a super secret sword that summoned meteorites. The potential of finding some kind of secret weapon or treasure was what drove Dan to enter this building that was on the verge of collapse.
The two brothers and Kan managed to get in easily due to their size but Dan could not so, so he had to dislocate his bones like before. The interior was as expected. There were long down broken anvils which surprised Dan a little. Anvils were made to last for a long time and it was quite rare to see a destroyed anvil.
There was light coming in through the crack in the walls enough for everyone to move around. Of course Dan did not even need the light since he had night vision.
The forge was dirty, dusty and full of cobwebs. Dan could tell that this used to be an amazing place. The top of the pillars were plated ever so lightly with what seemed to be a metal of an unknown kind while the rest of it was just solid crumbling stone.
"We could have lived in here and not the streets if we had found this place earlier." Charlie sighed under his breath. Adam held his brother's hand and looked deep into his eyes. "It's alright brother, now we met Sir Dante and he will take care of us as long as we do everything he tells us."
Dan turned towards the two brothers, " Hate to ruin your brotherly moment but...Ransack this place, turn it upside down. Find any weapons you can find even if it is a plastic sword or a children's slingshot toy. Find any treasure you can find or anything of any interest and bring it to me. There's bound to be something here, If you get into trouble or need some help just shout, ok?" The kids nodded and ran of to explore the other rooms in the shop.
Dan turned towards Kan. There eyes locked and in that moment there was understanding. Years of being by Dan's side Kan had just learnt when he was looking for something or needed something.
Kan also went of in search for treasure sniffing the ground as he went. As for Dan, he was interested in the metal plating the top part of the pillars. He grabbed onto both sides barely making it and with the strength of his fingers he started his ascent to the top of the pillar.
"Huffffff....hufffff....huuuuuu.....haaaa..." Dan let out a loud grunt for every time his hand went up and grabbed the side. Just as he was about to reach the top with his arm outstretched he lost his footing and fell down back to the ground.
"Time to try again." Dan said. Dan climbed back up the pillar but every single time he either kept sliding back down or plummeted to the ground. After five tries Dan decided to give up. He laid back on the pillar to rest.
A few minutes had passed when he heard a sound. Footsteps! At first he thought it was probably the kids but the sound was too heavy. It was the sound of someone dragging someone around on the ground. Dan jumped to his feet. He was prepared to fight anyone who entered this shop. It was his domain, he discovered it so all the treasures that could be found (if there was any) belonged to him.
Kan walked in dragging Charlie by the collar. The kid seemed to have been exhausted and fainted. He was wondering where his brother was. "They must have split up to cover more ground." Dan speculated. He walked over to Charlie, picked up the child and placed him next to the pillar that he was previously trying to climb.
Charlie's body put on a little meat since yesterday but not enough to cover his fragile bones. "What was I thinking sending such a fragile child to run some errands for me?"
Dan removed the cork from the potion bottle he grabbed from the inventory and poured a little bit down the child's mouth.
Almost immediately Charlie slowly opened his eyes. He blinked several times and sat up straight. When he saw Dan's back turned towards him he immediately stood up. "I'm sorry, I'm gonna go search the place again!" he shouted. He tried to run of but Dan's hand stopped him. "Just rest. I'll do it myself."
Dan turned towards Kan who was sniffing the ground for some unknown reason. "Hey Kan Gaurd the kid until I come back."
Dan left the room to look around.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Pedro was walking down the street looking for a transport group. It was already midday and he still could not find a transport group.
Finally at his wit and tired from walking around he entered a small cafe. When he found out that they served ice cream he was overjoyed. He had not eaten any in several months. Even though he was royalty it was hard for him to get his hands on some. He only had some when there were diplomats or important guests that were invited over by his father. This happened only six or seven times a year.
He tried ordering some ice cream but it seemed like the waiter was trying to kill Pedro with his gaze. "Sir can you please hurry up. I have been waiting for the past 20 minutes for you to decide."
"How are there this many flavours? I didn't even know that ice cream in different flavours. Hey what do you think I should order?" Pedro asked the waiter as he stared at the menu.
"Listen I could care less about what you order. Just order anything, my shift ends in 12 minutes. FOR ALL I CARE YOU COULD ORDER CHICKEN FLAVOURED ICE CREAM!" the waiter was doing all he could to stop himself from hitting Pedro in the face. He was a tall dark skinned man with a fade cut. He was wearing black trousers with a white shirt and a gray apron over it. '12 more minutes, just 12 more, if you can endure this Gerald you can leave this place without any complications."
"Amazing, chicken flavoured ice cream. I truly did look down on humans but this is making me reconsider. I'll have the chicken flavoured ice cream. Wait on second thoughts, I'll have one of everything."
The waiter sighed and just left. Pedro looked around. He was sitting outside in a small rocking chair. This table was for woman with children so that they could rock their children to sleep while they ate. "There seems to be something big going on today. I wonder why everyone is shouting or is the human world always like this."
Pedro rocked himself in the chair as he waited for his order to arrive.
The waiter returned carrying ice cream in bowls on a floating platter.
The waiter looked down on Pedro with so Much hatred that it wasn't humanly possible. He had the same eyes of the quiet kid when he finally had enough and reached into his backpack.
Within the short period he was gone Pedro had rocked himself to sleep. He was snoring lightly and drooling from the corner of his mouth.
'Should I wake him up?' The waiter asked himself. 'I could just put the ice cream on the table and leave and no one will be able to say anything since technically I did bring it to him and then it would melt.'
The waiter finally just decided to wake him up. He placed the platter down and tried waking him up.
"AAAARGGGHHH!" As soon as the waiter touched Pedro, his eyes shot wide open and let out a startled shout as he gasped for air.
The waiter's fight or flight instinct kicked in and without hesitation he threw a right hook at Pedro's chin.
"KABABARRARA!"
Pedro slumped back into the chair and rocked back and forth in the chair. His heavy armour made a large creaking noise as he rocked back and forth.
The waiter breathed in heavily and held his hand to the left part of his chest. His heart was racing and beating on his ribcage the fastest it ever had in his life. He put two fingers to his head then to his shoulder then to the other shoulder.
"Damn bastard, trynna scare me like that. That ain't gonna work!"
"Why are you always hitting our customers Gerald?" A loud angry voice came from behind him. A short pot bellied man with short beefy hands and legs. He was dressed fully in white including his hat. His apron was dirty from all the time he spent in the kitchen.
"Tony, Listen, you weren't hear but I swear to God he was trying to summon a demon. I saw the white of his eyes and I could tell that he was possessed, so I just let him catch this fade. In fact you should be grateful to me, I just saved you, your shop, your daughter and your wife from this possessed person who tried to summon demons."
"Gerald, that was the fucking dumbest excuse for anything that I have ever heard. I'm gonna have to let you go."
"What do you mean by let me go? Wait are you firing me? I have been working here without causing any trouble and you want to fire me? You can't fire me!"
"Gerald, I have warned you several times. You can not incite any type of violence on our customers."
"Whatever, I was expecting it any day now. At least I dont have to live having to worry about when I will be fired."
******
Gerald opened the wooden door to his house. It wasn't even a house, it was a shack made of scrap metal and twigs. The shack was stuck between a wall and a giant house. The house was 4 floors tall and completely blocked the sunlight. Even though it was bright daylight when Gerald went inside it felt like it was midnight.
He opened a close door and inside was a small girl that was asleep on a tattered but clean mattress covered with a black blanket.
He reached into his pocket and took out a pouch and sat down on a chair. Inside was his last pay. "Fired from another job, You're doing great Gerald. Keep it up! At this rate you won't be able to pay for her treatment." he muttered to himself as he counted the money. 30 silver and 13 Moins.
"This will be enough to feed Chelsea for a week if she eats once a day and I don't eat at all." But Gerald didn't want Chelsea to eat once a day, she was a growing child so obviously she would need to eat properly. After all she was his only daughter.
"Her medicine is almost finished, within two days time her medicine will run out. I need to make some money that will hold us for a while." On the table was a small book with a ripped cover. He lifted it and underneath it was a small plastic card. The card was black except for the sides which were yellow. It had red letters on it that read.
INVITATION TO THE GOLDEN CHAMPIONSHIP!
DO YOU DARE GAMBLE WITH A DEMON!
COME IF YOU DARE! WINNER TAKES ALL!
LOSER PAYS WITH THEIR LIFE!
COME AT YOUR OWN RISK!
Minna.
He didn't want to do this but it seemed like he had no other choice. He was in dire need of money and this was a good way of making money, only problem was that you could lose your life. The money wasn't that bad but it wasn't worth dying over it. He could fight for a few matches in the normal bronze cage games to earn some money. Unless he won the golden Championship he would still have to worry about money for a long time to come.
In the bronze cage games the risk was great but not as much as the golden Championship which could be considered suicide if you slipped up for a second. The main difference between them was the reward.
"Dad... is that you?" Gerald turned around to see Chelsea trying to sit up.
'The reward is great but I know better than to overestimate myself. I'll participate in the bronze cage games for a while until I get a normal job.'
*******
New character: Please tell me what you think about Gerald. Also some feedback would be appreciated to help me improve. Please vote with power stones and recommend to friends.