Dawn- An age of Darkness

"So, this is the city?"

"Ain\'t she beautiful?"

"For once, I think you\'re actually right," I said.

We entered the city of Jelosce. The actual city was a little further inside a sturdy wall but even these outskirts were quite well built.

Calling the city magnificent would have been insulting. The very structure was different from what I had seen before. The houses were made of bricks instead of woods and stones. They were perfectly aligned. All sorts of people were there: elves, dwarfs, beast-men, and humans. It wasn\'t just magnificent. It was extra-magnificent.

The walls weren\'t high and there weren\'t many guards. "What\'s up with the walls?"

"There ain\'t any undead in this place. The only threats are the goblins. So you see." He chuckled.

I couldn\'t believe that such a town existed. No undead meant- no worries. People were going about their days like normal, without even a shred of fear: guess that was normal. If there weren\'t any undead, which could only mean there weren\'t any forests. Honestly, I was glad about there not being forests nearby. Although that was just an assumption.

The old man was smirking beside me. He had been here before and it was clear. But I didn\'t like that smirk. He was up to no good. "I need to visit an acquaintance. Here\'s some spending money. Get that sword fixed and buy some stuff ya need. Consider it a little gift for freeing me from Terortra." He threw a little pouch at me. I caught it and it clanged like metals. "I\'d see you at the Silverfang inn. Oh and see a doctor first…"

"Wait; there are doctors in this world?"

"Don\'t tell me you thought that only the church had-" He stopped, saw my twitching face, and burst out laughing. "I-I can\'t believe you were tricked into believing what the church says." He almost stuttered and fell on the ground as he laughed.

Unfortunately, no one told me anything.

It was probably my fault for assuming stuff though.

"Anyway, go see a doctor. And if ya don\'t believe me, go to a church." He kept laughing and left.

Way to go leaving an injured guy on the streets alone.

He didn\'t really give me an opportunity to say anything and I didn\'t want to either. The old man had done a lot for me. So much so, that I wouldn\'t have been able to repay him although he was annoying at times.

I better thank him later.

I didn\'t really have any way of rebuking him though. After all he\'d done for me; it would have been great disrespect. That didn\'t stop me from cursing him though.

"Hey Dark going out?" Brenda was behind me. She pronounced my name in a rather weird way.

"It\'s Daarc!"

"Does it matter? Is that money I smell?"

It does to me.

"Keep your paws off."

She laughed it off. "Anyway, I\'m heading out to see the town. Wanna come?"

"No thanks." I declined.

"I\'ll see you at the inn then…"

"Hey, what-"

She left immediately with a smile too. I could see Biteria on her shoulder between her strands of hair. Biteria poked through her hair and looked at me with those almighty black eyes.

What was she talking about?

Just what were these morons thinking? I didn\'t understand so I didn\'t waste my time overthinking things.

The first thing I needed was a thorough checkup. All this time, I was under the assumption that doctors didn\'t exist in this world. I was a fool. But now I had to make sure these were actual doctors, and not some rip-off claiming to sell miracle medicine or something. After all, earth had plenty of those quacks.

I did trust the old man to some extent but I wasn\'t dumb enough to run around and believe everything everybody said. Not anymore.

There were a lot of stores nearby. I had the undying urge to run to a street vendor and buy skewered meat first but I made my way to the doctor\'s office otherwise known as a hospital: it took a lot of willpower, probably the most in my entire life.

I had to ask a few people for directions. They mostly told me to head to the church instead of the hospital though. Some even said stuff like "that guy is insane." I had to take their word for it but I still made my way to the hospital anyway.

The hospital looked nothing like a hospital. The place was black inside out. Every corner was crawling with darkness. I was second-guessing what I was supposed to do. But still went in anyway. Seemed like a very bad idea, but I didn\'t really want to hear the old man\'s nagging laughter and his complaints that I chickened out or something.

When I went inside, a bell rang above the door and a man dressed in black came to greet me. The very theme kind of annoyed me. "Welcome. May I know why you\'re here?"

Somehow the guy\'s tone irked me. "What do you think genius? To be treated of course."

The guy looked skinny and tall; quite like me. His black squid-like hair complemented his black dress. But his glare was something else. Almost as if telling me that he was- up to something. "Oh thank you. That\'s the first time someone has complimented me…." His accent was quite weird too.

Should I feel sorry for this guy?

I was having a dilemma. I didn\'t know if I wanted to stay or if I wanted to run away at full force.

"Anyway, come this way." His voice was kind of feminine- or maybe I was just overthinking it.

In the end, I ended up making up my mind that I\'d see this through.

He took me to a chamber. It was darker than the rest of the place. I could barely see anything. After all the shit I went through, I still couldn\'t get used to the darkness.

"Sit here."

I was still skeptical of what was going on. "Where? There\'s nothi-"

He forced me to sit on something. I figured it must have been a chair of some sort.

Once seated, he started to chant something. I couldn\'t move from the chair, as though something invisible was holding me down. Cold sweats started dripping from my forehead.

Did I perhaps invite myself into weird shit again?

I most certainly did.