"Life is likened to many different things; Rivers, mountains, streams, heavens, hells, or any manner of things are included in the list. What I think though, is that life is simply chaotic" – an experienced philosopher

Alex immediately tries to take stock of his situation.

'two cobblestone walls reaching into the sky, so an alley then. What's this I'm laying on top of?'

Alex starts patting his hand around.

'If only I could move my neck to look… It's squishy and soft and cold. And what is that terrible smell?... for some reason, it's giving me the heebie-jeebies.'

Alex lays there for a few moments more before managing the strength to push himself up. He hears a squelching sound as he does so.

Alex slowly looks at where his hand is, and he sees a rotten, maggot-infected corpse lying on the ground with his hand submerged in it. Alex had seen his fair share of death, even if only in the many repeats he had experienced trying to save his father and himself, but till now he hadn't witnessed the decay that corpses go through, and definitely not so closely as he is now. So, Alex goes stock still, and the turns his head and dry heaves for a few moments before forcing his hand out of the chest cavity with another sickening squelch.

Alex takes a few moments to wipe off the gunk that had gotten on his hand on the shirt of the cadaver and to take a few deep calm breaths. He then notices his state of undress.

'Why am I here? How did I get here? Did I die? If so, the reset point must have been moved, but I don't ever remember being in an alley but naked next to a corpse before… So, at least for now, that's a no-go.'

Alex tries to think, but finds himself distracted and disgusted by the smell of the putrid corpse next to him.

'I can't think I need to get away from that.'

Alex takes a moment and tries to get to his feet. The attempt, though, goes sideways, and he collapses to the floor, sapped of his strength. Struggling, and after a few more tries, Alex does manage to get up and walk some distance into the alley to get away from the smell. He then collapses once he thinks he is far enough away.

As Alex slumps against the wall, he hears a scratching sound and feels an extremely unpleasant sensation on the back of his head. He reaches up and feels what seems to be horns.

'They grew? This whole situation doesn't make any sense…'

Alex tries to remember how he could have gotten into this situation and thinks back to the bar.

'd'Gual? No d'Gustus bar. I was going to work there tomorrow, or maybe today at this point? How much time has passed between now and then?'

Alex shakes his head.

'First order of business is to find something to wear without being arrested and charged with public indecency. I doubt I'm going to get as lucky as I was with Rodna after all.'

Alex looks at his toes and wriggles them.

'I'm not sure really what to do from here. Father or one of the others of the duke line must have survived, I learned that yesterday…'

Alex looks at the tile and sighs.

'So, do I try to cross the new border? I somehow doubt they would leave it unprotected, and that I would go unnoticed. Well, if I'm going very short-term, the first thing I should do is probably find that bar, and figure out what happened from there.'

Alex struggles to his feet once more, satisfied with the rest he had just had.

'Why am I so weak? Well, nothing of this situation makes sense anyway…'

Alex starts walking slowly while hanging onto the wall.

'Well, maybe the even shorter term is going to the guards. I might seriously be charged for indecency, but it might help get some answers.'

Alex keeps walking, soon passing his former neighbor in the form of a corpse, paying him little mind.

'Maybe some water or food would be nice. A lot of it. The guards sure have a lot of that, don't they?'

Alex keeps stumbling forward.

'If I make it to the main thru-way, I can collapse there. If I make it that far, someone is sure to see me and call the guards, and I'll strike two birds with one stone. I'll be able to hit public nakedness of my bucket list, though I'm not sure if that time in the forest counted, while also getting to the guard.'

Alex starts chuckling.

'Almost there…'

Alex collapses, his head poking out next to a bakery.

…

Several hours later and many people had passed Alex by. Most had thought that he was simply a drunk and didn't want to get involved. Others thought he was a corpse and didn't want to get involved. Others a lunatic and didn't want to get involved. In the end, it was close to a day later that young lady, looking to buy some pastries that paid any attention to the head sticking out of the alley. If for nothing else but morbid curiosity's sake, she entered the alley to get a better view and saw his nakedness. She blushed and would have left it at that if she hadn't then glanced over to the rotting corpse. Her face paled and she went running out of the alley, a few scant minutes later and two persons with the red and gold insignia of the western duchy, dressed in armor and one of them pushing a wheelbarrow, arrived alongside the girl from earlier. They told the girl to come by their station later and set about putting the corpses in the bags. If it hadn't been for a twitch from Alex, he would have been deposited in the moat for the 'fairies' meal, as he had the guards sighed, and still placed him in the wheelbarrow. Later that evening he would be in a holding cell of the local guard outpost.

…

Alex slowly comes to for a second time, his eye 'opening' to see bars in front of him.

'Bars? Where am I now? Did my plan succeed?'

Alex looks through the metal bars to see a guard with the red and gold insignia of the western duchy sitting at a desk writing something on paper.

Alex sighs in relief, which catches the attention of the guard.

'So, it did work. I hope they'll be willing to give me something to wear.'

Alex looks down at his still-current state of nakedness while the guard leaves the room.

'It's not like I'm a nudist or anything, but I find recently that I'm naked more often than I'm not…'

Alex shakes his head.

'Now, I just need to explain my situation to the guards and hope that they will be gracious.'

Alex suddenly remembers something.

'Now that I think about it more clearly, isn't it really dangerous for me to be here? The guards may have been given an image with my description… I doubt they would recognize me now, but it might still be an issue.'

Alex ponders for a few moments before sighing once again.

'Not like there's much to be done about it now…'

Alex searches with his gaze for the guard he had spotted earlier but notices that he is the sole occupant of the room, save for a few flies and maybe a spider.

'Though I'm not sure those flies count as occupants anymore, more like food…'

A few moments later, he hears footsteps, and he turns his attention to the sole doorway to the room. The door opens and out steps two men, one the guard from earlier, and another dressed in red and gold robes.

'The western duchy sure loves the colors gold and red, I wouldn't be surprised if they change the whole color palette of the city to match their taste.'

Alex snickers to himself.

"What do you find so funny prisoner, I'll have you know that the minimum sentence for public nudity is 5 lashes. Not a situation I would find funny myself at least…'

Alex straightens at the man's words. Then the man in robes starts speaking, "Don't be so harsh, I'm sure that there's a reason for it, besides simple good old public drinking. Oh, and Daryl, you lost the bet."

Alex's face scrunches in confusion as the man, Daryl, hands the robed man something.

"I told you enervate would get him up before the third bell strike."

"No need to brag Able," Daryl says with a frown.

The robed man named Able pouts ironically as three bell sounds consecutive bells are heard, "You're just a sore loser."

"Not as much as you, now let's get back to work."

Daryl looks straight into Alex's eyes.

"Why were you in that ally, if it was simply a drunken mistake we might be able to let you off for a few coins, and a few more to buy some clothing," his gaze intensifies, "Explain yourself."

Alex goes still for a moment, and feels compelled to respond, but stops himself and points to his throat.

Daryl looks at him for a moment before nodding, "Mute, huh? Well, this complicates things. Do you know standard empire sign-language."

Alex shakes his head.

'Though now more than ever I'm regretting choosing to not study it with the tutor when I had the chance, though I doubt I would have ever guessed that I would need it as much as I do now, or at the least that it would be useful for daily life…'

Daryl thinks for a moment before getting up and ruffling through a box stored away in a corner of the room. It takes a few minutes, and Alex becomes confused about what Daryl is doing, but he then brings out a slate, and some chalk and Alex's question is answered.

"It must be a recent affliction then, assuming you're telling us the truth… Do you know how to write standard empirian?" Daryl says while holding up the chalkboard and slate.

Meanwhile, Albe simply stands there and smirks, seemingly amused, "Daryl, shouldn't you have asked that question before you went through the trouble of getting the slate."

"Just shut up Daryl. Well, can you?"

Alex nods.

"Okay then, that makes this a lot easier. I thought for a moment that we were going to have to force poor Able here to use telepathy, but I'm glad we don't have to."

Able nods, "Me double, in the case of mutations like this pal has telepathy is very unpredictable. It's something in the blood that messes with it."

Daryl nods, before looking back to Alex while handing him the slate, "You're going to write down the answers to our more complex questions, okay? For the yes or no's, you're going to simply nod or shake your head. Well then, let's begin."

Daryl pulls up a seat, and Able walks over and leans on the wall, and Daryl starts with his first question.

"Well, let's start where we left off earlier," He folds his hands and stares, "Explain yourself."

Alex gulps for a moment, before looking back at Daryl, and then down at the slate.

Alex starts writing.