In all ways, the man was beginning to enjoy settling down in the bustling city of all kinds of people - the architecture interested him, the way "Durs" worked interested him as well. He knew it would be arduous, but settling down in a city like this, where he could actually be normal, that would seem fine - but neither did the man know of normalcy, nor of what that would take, nor if his heart ever could take him being "fine", but nonetheless he carried on.
Leaving behind the Inn, like he never stayed there at all. Durs, a currency unlike many others, worked in the same way gold did - it was a transaction of value, (a value the man had no idea of) that had no ways of being tracked. This was what made Durs lucrative, there were schemes of taxing the city dwellers either, it was a system that many called gambling - either you pay nothing for several years, or you pay a hefty sum - it was unfair, but like gambling, no one would complain - it did exempt some from paying, and as long as that happens, then the whole will be fine.
He left the Inn with the same vehemence he had entered it with, but instead of feeling a slow dread, he felt an elation - bright and happy the morning was! He felt righteous this morning, like whatever came across him, he would tackle it with all he could. To his luck, the morning's calm wouldn't last for a long while, just before reaching another third down the second district, he heard it coming from the right of him.
"That's him!" a lady yelled, "That's him, the man who..."
She sounded more concerned than angered, more prideful than hurt - what could the man have done?
"Hmm..." said one of the officers, looking down and up at him, recognising his apparel, "One of our own then?" he whispered beneath his breath.
"So," The officer said, looking towards the lady, "This is the man who blasphemed against our Lord?"
"Yes, yes it is!" said the lady, now oddly familiar to the man - yes, it had been the lady he met the day before, but what could he have done since then? Could he somehow have made her angry?; offended her in some way? There was no way of knowing, and just before the lady looked towards the officer, in both a guilty, but also an odd kind of smile, she would look at the man and say quite loudly, "Heretic scum!"
This insult didn't mean anything to the man, but he felt he had committed a grave sin - being scolded without knowing what you have done is the worst of all things, and this man knew nothing of his heresy nor his "scum-ness" and therefore, in a baffled stance, in the middle of a blaze of hurling insults, he simply stood and took it all in.
But then, out of nowhere, he responded, "I'm no heretic, 'mam, I'm simply a good law-abiding citizen of the Lord, and a man of the Lord, I seem to have offended you, and I, I apologise for it..." He tried to imitate the way the officers had spoken before - he had not seen the officers, but he knew the words he wanted to say, some part of him wanted to say - and an unique uncanny similarity was formed, he was much of a pretender these days, "But I can't have you slandering my name without much evidence, I do not think the Lord would appreciate that, and if he did, then I do not think a citizen of the third, would have been the one to do it!"
The lady stood back - she was baffled by the words he said. In the background one could hear the citizens of the second conversing about the events in front of them, "Poor lady, those of the thirds do anything to get in favour with the Lord, it's a matter of life and death for them..."
Then the officer who was dragged along by the lady looked angry - he was tired, but more than that, irritated. "Come along, we'll settle this in the centre..." His hands waved towards the both of them - and the man followed towards the firsts.
It was lucky, lucky beyond imagination - what conspired within the firsts was something so odd, so strange, that it shouldn't have happened. A Lord's man, is a man of honour, of strength - unbelievable inhuman strength. And more than anything, an object of admiration, they would receive anything within the city! At least, those who were in the Lord's favour - a Lord's man could have anything he wanted in the thirds, but a man in favour with the Lord? - he could take anything in the world.
He heard the praise of the Lord, and understood the unholy transaction which followed - 'Who was this Lord?' - - - But, for such an event, for such a spectacle as an officer, a Lord's man, to be accused, and then have no one to remember him! That was unheard of. No one knew the man, the group which he had been apart of was not here, the people who watched over him were not here - it was as though every single human being who had known of the name of the man, didn't exist.
So when the man entered the firsts, no one could recognise him. (this was to be expected, as his face was another's), but when he took himself by the collar, and read the name aloud which stood engrained in the seams, not even that name would be recognised by the Lord's men.
He had been in intense turmoil, his sense of self seemed to have been scattered in two - he didn't know his name, but he had no ways of finding out. But what better way of having a name, then being given one, being forced to have one...
"Officer, in the good humour of the Lord, what is your given name?"
"Sir, my name is Lloyd Dantes..."
The man was once again given a name, and Lloyd it was - who was the man before? It didn't matter, it was a seamless transition, a bygone era - but now, something new was boiling beneath the surface, a change had begun. Lloyd Dantes was given a badge, a ticket of approval from the Lord himself, after the men checked the data bases and saw that his name was there. He also saw the "Missing" beneath all other members of the group - but as they were all in bad favour with the Lord, it didn't mean anything. In the thirds, in the seconds, anything could happen - so what if a few soldiers go missing?
But Lloyd Dantes had returned, the officer who even the Lord didn't like - his all loving grace despised, not in words but in disfavour, every soldier had a ranking - this was a way of forcing the Lord's men to go seeking problems, seeking criminals, seeking blasphemers - if they did, they would receive favour, however, some soldiers wouldn't receive favour, even if they were good. Why? Simply, if they acted against the Lord, then what happened to them was out of their control, and Dantes was known to be somewhat of a unique sort.
The ranking of favours beneath the Lord, he had the same as a person living in the thirds, he was hated - as many others who visited the thirds often had. They were called all kinds of names, namely because in actuality, all of them were devils, evil beyond bounds, not even the Lord wished to know what happened in the thirds.
And now, Lloyd Dantes had returned, his voice proper, his face different - but no one cared. He was given badge, suit, room. Everything a Lord's man would receive, no matter their favour. And Lloyd Dantes, in confusion followed along with a conviction like no others, he wanted to live freely, without the Doctrine, without the Tyrants.
...