"Middle Bottom street and Bottom Bottom street are separated into many territories. These territories are overseen by different groups. These groups, known as gangs outside of Bottom street, essentially take over the role of the government inside their own territories. The territory we are heading to right now is Lucifer's territory."
Glancing around at our surroundings, I widened my eyes in surprise. Based on my previous experience at Top Bottom street, I had expected the other two parts of Bottom street to be worse. After all, that was how it worked with Middle street and High street. Bottom Middle street was the poorest part of Middle street, followed by Middle Middle street. And Top Middle street was the richest. However, everything seemed to turn upside down with Bottom street.
The start of Middle Middle street was close to what I had expected. The 'buildings' were caked with dirt, and there were many people leaning their weary backs on the walls. Their eyes were dull, their lips cracked, as they laid their heads against the wall.
Walking past those people, we headed down the unpaved road deeper into Middle Bottom street. However, that was when all my expectations came crashing down.
As we walked on, I expected to see the buildings deteriorate in size and quality. If the area closer to High Middle street was so miserable, surely the areas closer to the 'bottom' would be worse. If High Bottom street had piles of rubble to serve as shelter, what would Bottom Bottom street even have?
With this idea in mind, I braced myself for that scene of Bottom street. However, contrary to the image in my mind, the shelter further into Bottom street did not decrease in quality. Instead, dirty apartment buildings were quickly replaced with multi-story houses with clean white walls and small personal gardens.
Feeling the image in my mind crumble to dust, I continued to stare as the streets immediately became paved with clean, white stones and colored rocks. Walking carefully on these stones, the six of us then came across a heavily guarded gate. And standing in front of that gate were a pair of scary men.
The two people standing in front of the gates had faces and arms littered with scars. The man on the left was yawning as he leaned his head on the gate pole. On the right, the other man had a scowl on his face as he opened his mouth to scold the man on the left. However, he suddenly paused and turned his head over to us. At the same time, the man on the left pushed himself off the gate pole and took several steps towards us with an aggressive stance.
"Oh? Since when was our territory such a place where any old person could walk in without an appointment?"
Sneering, the man on the left stomped forward with his hands in his pocket as he cracked his head in front of us.
Tightening my grip on Joel's hand, I stiffened but tried not to show my nervousness on my face as we faced off against these two obviously dangerous people.
"Shawn, stop messing with them."
Walking up to the man on the left, the man on the right sighed as he shook his head before laying his eyes on us.
Staring into his cold, ice like eyes, I gulped as I straightened my back, trying to look as tall and big as I could be. In response to this, the man chuckled before extending his hand to Joel with a smile.
"It's been a while since you came back to Bottom street. What brings you and your companions here?"
Clicking his tongue, the other man glared at his partner before running a hand through his own hair and sighing.
"Everyone here is always no fun."
Dropping his hand, the man squated down to meet our eye levels as he stared intensely at each of us. Looking at me, he raised his eyebrows slightly as a questioning look came over his face. Then he seemed to think about something for a while before shrugging his shoulders and moving on from me to Frank.
Just like me, Frank was obviously intimidated by the man. However, unlike the way I tried to make myself look bigger, Frank shuffled his feet and hid half of his body behind Joel. Seeing this, the man scoffed until he got a proper look at Frank's face. Seeing Frank's scared face, his eye narrowed, as if he was trying to pull out some long lost memory inside his head. But just like with me, he didn't seem to have any luck and just shook his shoulders and moved on.
Meeting Oliver's gaze, the man's face instantly showed an expression of recognition, and he nodded his head towards Oliver. Although the nod didn't feel like one of respect, it seemed that the man had 'acknowledged' Oliver. But for what, I had no clue.
Finally, as he laid his eyes on Linel, that mean looking face turned neutral. It was obvious that he recognized Linel as well. However, he didn't say anything and just placed his hand on his knees and pushed himself up.
"So? Why are you bringing a hotshot into Bottom street? Aren't you afraid anything will happen to him?"
The mean looking man gave a short sigh as he used his chin to gesture to Oliver.
Turning to look at us, Joel then gave the two of them a polite smile.
"Sorry for the abrupt visit; it's just that there is a lot happening above Bottom street. And with Lucifer in charge, you could even say that this territory is even safer than some corners of Middle street."
Listening to her praise what was probably their boss, the two men showed completely different reactions. The mean looking man touched his nose, his face lighting up for a second before a fake scowl replaced his obvious sign of happiness. Beside him, the other man just gave an unreadable smile. Although that smile seemed to look a little gentler than before.
"Useless flattery won't get you anywhere here!"
Despite saying those words, the corner of the mean looking man's mouth was still upturned as he gestured for us to follow him and led us through the gates.
"This should be the first time such younger master's have been brought to Bottom street, so let me introduce myself. My name's Shawn, and that is my partner, Rio."
Introducing himself and his partner, the mean looking man, Shawn, cleared his throat as he led us down a well worn paved road. As Shawn led the group, Rio naturally took over the job of looking after the gate.
"The holy ground you are standing on right now belong's to our benevolent boss, Lucifer. Unlike the other territories in Bottom street, Lucifer's territory is like heaven for those that are allowed the privilege to enter."
Speaking dramatically, Shawn pointed to the apartments that lined the road we were walking on. The apartment buildings were all around four levels tall, with plain and clean walls that had nobody lying on them. They looked even better than the apartment Oliver and I lived in.
"Because of the many benefits of this land, such as an accessible water source and fertile soil, the boss personally reviews whoever is allowed to enter the territory. The good thing is, once you get a pass, you get it for life. Unless he revokes it. Oh, and children are allowed to pass through for free. Living here is another issue, though."
Passing by the apartments, we then reached an area where single houses were. And just like the apartments, they were simple and clean.
After the single houses, there were double storied houses. And the deeper we went into Bottom street, the more expensive the houses got. Until we reached what was probably Lucifer's own house.
The house was decked with lanterns in front and a pair of large double doors painted an eyecatching red. Guarding those doors were two men. They were both covered in scars, with their weapons hanging lazily in their hands. The two of them were talking, with the man on the right throwing a nasty looking dagger into the air as he laughed at the man on the left's words. The man on the left leaned on his spear, a smile on his face, as he told another joke.
The moment we approached the two of them, their smiles disappeared, and the man on the right gripped his dagger and tilted it towards us.
"Yo! I didn't know that the great and allmightly boss Lucifer accepted people without appointments."
A smile cracked on the man's face as he said it, and Shawn repaid his joke by whipping out his own dagger and smacking it against the man's dagger. After the loud sound of metal against metal, the two men smiled at each other before Shawn sighed.
"They said that something happened in the other streets."
Keeping their weapons, the man frowned as he glanced at the two of us. Then he placed one hand on the doorknob and opened the large door.
"If that's the case, it can't be helped. I'll lead the two of them, so you can go back to your post. Don't make Rio wait for too long."
Waving to each other, Shawn playfully barred his teeth at the man before leaving us in his care.
Following the man, we were about to enter through the door when he started asking Joel questions with a casual sounding voice.
"So what sort of emergency has happened in the other streets to warrant an unplanned visit here? Don't tell me that the government is purging the streets of Anti-MDVA prevention act supporters!"
The man's tone suddenly turned serious, and he turned his head to face us. To this, Joel just shook her head.
"No. It hasn't reached that stage yet."
Walking into Lucifer's huge mansion, the seven of us made our way across his wide foyer. This foyer, unlike the ones at High street, was barren of everything except several picture frames. There were no expensive vases, nor were there any glittering chandeliers. There were only those pictures.
Hanging on the walls, the dead smiles of numerous people haunted the near empty foyer. There was almost no pattern among the people in the photos. Young or old, men or women, every person there seemed as if they had no connection to each other. Except for one thing. Their smiles.
The smiles in the pictures were like rose stems, both beautiful and deadly. They seemed to hold no mercy, yet they held the warmth of the sun. If I had to draw comparisons to the feelings the pictures gave me, they were like the heat coming off the roads on a hot summer day, like the feel of metal against your skin in a scorching apartment. Like the sight of melting ice.
Tearing my eyes away from the paintings, I shook the weird feeling the pictures gave me off and focused on the path ahead.
Crossing the foyer, we came to another set of double doors. However, this set was obviously less extravagant than the first one. It was made out of simple and strong materials, with no coat of paint and a sanded down wooden handle. Closing his palm over the handle, the man announced our arrival in a loud voice before opening the door and gesturing for us to enter.
"Welcome to Bottom street."
Entering what looked like a meeting or assembly hall, a powerful and spine-shivering voice echoed from further inside. Following Joel's lead, we walked forward several more steps to see a man putting the pen in his hands down on his desk. Like the rest of Bottom street, his appearance was against my expectations. His physique wasn't abnormally large, and he didn't have muscles the size of my head, but that didn't mean he looked weak. In fact, it was the opposite. Although his body wasn't overly muscular, it wasn't thin either. The muscles on his arm rippled as he moved them, and his entire body radiated a sort of dangerous aura. As if he were a predator and you were the prey.
Giving us a lazy smile, those cold eyes sized the six of us up, as if imagining how to eat us. His looks weren't exactly what I had pictured, but nevertheless, they didn't disappoint.
He was a gang leader, the owner of a territory, and the government of his own people. He was Lucifer.