“So where should we go from here?” Laurence looked at Louisa pointedly. “You know the ins and outs of Babel in far greater detail than me or Yun, so where should we go?”

“I'm not sure. I know there's a square near the stele that challengers are supposed to go to, but I'm not sure how to get there. Perhaps we should ask someone?” Laurence could see Louisa was floundering, but he understood why. The city loomed over them in a way that was almost oppressive. It was like they were crawling around in between the scales of a monolithic dragon and it knew they were there. Laurence took the situation calmly, but Yun less so. The normally stoic wolf-boy had begun sweating profusely at the feeling and looked like he was about to throw up. He was not simply oppressed by the aura, Laurence could tell he was scared by something.

Before anyone said a word, Yun leapt into the air and climbed up onto the nearest rooftop. As he disappeared Laurence sent the statement Brother, are you sick?

There was a moment before Yun replied This one is well, sensed the tracks of a monster. The word monster was less a statement about some sort of deformed aberration, and more of an implication that it was a beast that even godbeasts were scared of. It was an apex predator beyond compare, to the point where simply the path it tracked terrified Yun, and the claustrophobic situation he was in only made things worse.

As they stood in the street, waiting for Yun to come down, they heard a scuffle from a nearby street. The street they were on was completely unpopulated, so Laurence immediately rushed to see whether the person there would help them find the challengers plaza. He followed the sound until he came to an entrance and looked down the alley before him.

It was a rundown affair, more of a place to put out refuse than a street proper. Littered with bags of rubbish and shattered created crates, it quickly became hard for Laurence to see down the length of. There was a rustling at the limit of his sight and suddenly a boy about a year older than him burst into view. The boy had been running for a while now, his red face and wheezing breath tantamount to that, but from what he could not tell. For a moment there was fear in his eyes as he saw Laurence, before that quickly disappeared and was replaced with worry.

The boy dove into a box that had been turned on its side and tried to catch his breath as quietly as possible. Laurence began walking up to him, seeing him in the boxes, but he could not see what the boy was running from. When the boy motioned at Laurence to hide, or perhaps stay away, Laurence became confused. He simply had no idea what, in a civilised place like the city, could cause a boy to run so. If this had been the primeval jungle of the first floor, or the wasteland of the second, he could understand, but right now he could not.

As the boy’s waving became more frantic, Laurence understood less. He wondered if this thing coming was what Yun had become so scared of, but after about five seconds he saw two men come crashing through the waste and detritus that persisted throughout the alley. One of the men saw Laurence and shouted “Hey! Kid!”

The other man elbowed him and said “Dal, that's not him. The one we're looking for is older.”

“Yeah, but these street kids are as thick as thieves.” He laughed at his statement. “Oy, kid!” He shouted again. “I know you saw him, because otherwise you'd bit be standing there like a fool.”

The boy curled up into a ball, trying to make himself as small as possible, when he heard the men. He gave Laurence a pleading look, as if to beg for silence. Laurence had no reason to help the boy, but the men annoyed him. He disliked being called foolish.

“No. I've not seen anyone.” He replied. The boy in the create gave him a look filled with thanks.

“See, Dal? Sometimes you just have to beat it out of them.”

“Shut up Jin.” Said the first man. They were both wiry, but the one called Dal seemed to lead. “Boy, if you don't tell me where that other boy went, then things may become rather painful for you. You hear me?”

Laurence looked on. He could see that the men were trying to incite fear into him, they began walking over in unison, but they were far from being as frightening as either Garral or the maelstrom snake. He said nothing as the men closed in, but could feel his heartbeat rising. He could feel the joy of battle building in him. He hated the loss of control he felt when he fought the snake, but the rest of what he felt at the time made the rest of reality seem like it was in sepia.

He simply watched until the men were around five meters away before he began to move. Kill. He nearly tripped up when he heard the voice again. It was back. It had not shown up in the month that he had been in maelstrom with Jonas and Sleepy, but this creature, whatever it was, seemed to be summoned by his blood-lust.

He ignored it. The men were two meters away now. Slightly too close for comfort, but nothing he could not deal with. Kill. There it was again, this time he was prepared though. He touched his snakeskin pouch and slowly pulled a war-hammer the same size as his body out of it. The hammer was dyed blue and sheathed in snakes of lightning. Its presence alone made the two men pause for thought. There was something wrong here, but Laurence knew they would be deaf before they understood what.

“Kill.” He said as they took their first steps within the two meter mark. Flicking out the hammer, he levelled it at the men, before cleaving twice. First, he cleaved right, through the chest cavity of the man known as Dal. Then he cleaved left, through the head of the man known as Jin. Two simple movements overflowing with brutality and rage that also crushed the walls either side of the street, exposing a pair of mild mannered families homes to the elements and the gobbets of gore that Laurence had created.

As fast as the men died, he calmed down. The rage was gone, and he was clear-headed again. He could not hear the voice any more. It was clear to him; whatever it was, it only came out when he had the urge out kill. “You can come out now.” Laurence said.

“Are you sure?” The older boy replied. He stuck his head out of the box and looked at the alleyway, or at least what was left of it. “By the lady's...” He gaped at the mess in front of him. It was like a bomb had gone off in the alley, destroy the two pursuers. He gagged and covered his mouth with his hand. He turned to try and avoid the sight of the two corpses, but the damage was done. His cheeks ballooned and the contents of his stomach spayed all over the nearby wall. He swore. “What did you do? How did you..?”

“I got rid of them.” Laurence replied. His tone neutral. He understood that seeing a corpse for the first time could be a harrowing experience for some people, but the boy was making far more complaints than Laurence was expecting. “I'm Laurence, what's your name?”

The boy wiped his mouth, clearing off the last couple of trails of spittle and bile left on his face. “You’re crazy, but thank you I guess. I'm James, James Caesar. Call me Jim, if you like.” He clenched his jaw tightly and began to rifle through the clothes of the two men. Pulling out two pouches from around their belts, he looked up. “What's your name, and what district are you from?”

“I'm Laurence Absolution. I'm not from a district, I just arrived in the city.”

“Laurence eh? I'm going to call you Law. Seeing as you just broke it.” Jim paused, looked at the pouches in his hands then slowly back up at Laurence. “Not from a district?” His voice shook. “Absolution?” He swallowed. “I think I'm going to throw up again.”