Thinking back to being in the desert, mentally, was it easier?

I only ever had one stream of thoughts to deal with, my survival,

I never had thought about people,

I got a lot killed, didn’t care,

Stole from them, wasn’t bothered.

Back then I felt nothing,

So why is it now?

Why do I feel everything now?

“That will be three silver,” a vendor says gruffly handing me a stack a of his crafted arrows

“…”

“Thank you very much sir.” his tone changes upon me handing him a gold coin,

“You needn’t be this kind sir,”

“I’m not,” I reply dryly

“You won’t be alive for much longer anyway; this is the least I can do for you.”

The man stares confusedly as I walk off.

~~

What Karina said still sits we me,

Everyone here has their own form addiction to cope,

I keep thinking about the ‘enlightenment’ that figure spoke of,

Becoming one with God.

Maybe that’s not going to be so bad…...

…….

“Hey, get over here you scum Pinoki!” A voice shouts,

“Which way did he go!” Another voice adds

“He went the direction of the club!”

“Come on let’s teach him a lesson!”

The loud voices in distance trail off

(Pinoki huh.

Is this what he’s addicted to?)

Following the loud shouts between the two voices, I make it back on the path to club Hedon,

The area as empty as I’d last seen it, lifeless houses cast their shadows down along the trail,

“Aghhh!” A cry sounds echoing across the houses

“Oww!”

A scuffle of some sort can be heard from the voices.

From the shadows between two houses Pinoki emerges dusting his clothes

“Who’s next!?

Oh, it’s you Kage,

I saw Karina heading up here she told me about your conversation-”

“-Pinoki,” I cut him off,

“Tell me, what are you addicted to?

Is it the stealing?

Or the Lying?”

“What, have you been talking to Darius recently?” Pinoki questions sounding annoyed

“No, I’m asking this to know for myself,

Back up there, you seemed so happy up until we fought, no, nearly escaped, that person,”

“Does it matter?” Pinoki shrugs gesturing for us to start walking,

“I need to know why, so I can find something I can be addicted to myself,”

“Hmm , that’s surprising,

I thought you were like Lyra, and Apollo, the naïve type with a hero complex,

It hasn’t been long since you’ve arrived and you’re already acting like one of us.” Pinoki jokes

“There’s nothing any of us could do to be heroes anyways, it’s much easier to get lost in your own addiction,

Like you,” I retort,

“I guess your right in a way Kage, but also wrong,

I don’t like the stealing, I don’t like the lying,

I’m not addicted to any of it,”

“Then why do you do it, what keeps you going?”

“What I live for is the thrill,

You steal someone’s purse, they see you, start chasing

The feeling of being on edge, will I get caught, will I escape?

Call me pathetic, I don’t care,

But all I ever wanted to experience since, I was boy, was adventure,

I’ve read so many books about people going on adventures meeting bad guys they’re no match for, but it always works out in the end,

The thrill.

What adventure can be found here?

I tried wandering deep into the void once,” he pints to the black distance,

“All I found was a graveyard of skeletons from people to whom could not live without something to be addicted, there’s nothing there no secrets no mysteries, it’s just a an easy way to kill yourself or go completely insane.”

The flashing lights gets brighter as we near the club.

“This way,”

Pinoki turns into a house adjacent to the club,

The boards creak and dust raises as we step inside the dimly lit interior,

In stark contrast to the colorful club of pleasures just across from it,

“Is this your house?”

“Nah, it belongs to someone in the club, they never leave, so I err acquired it for my purposes,

Haven’t you noticed this area, all dead and empty?

It’s because no one leaves that club anymore, all of them content with this lifestyle,”

“Aren’t you content with it as well?” I ask,

“I wish…,” Pinoki sighs,

“Unfortunately stealing and escaping does not always equal thrill, sometimes its despair,

What I felt back up there when we were attacked-“

“-You don’t want to feel it again,” I finish his sentence

“No, Kage,

I have to feel it again.”

Pinoki removes some floorboards revealing a wooden box, its contents contain a generous number of coins, daggers, a book which he withdraws, among other miscellaneous items.

“I stole this from the cathedral’s library,” he hands it to me;

The art of Dispelling and Unsealing, I read

“A book on magic, what is this supposed to be for?” I query curiously

“It’s the extent of my addiction,” Pinoki answers vaguely,

“I can no longer be content with just cheap thrills,

I have to experience the earth,

The only way I see fit to obtain that now is with the knowledge of that book,”

“In exactly what way?” I press,

“Like I’d tell you that,” Pinoki scoffs, grabbing back the book

“I’ve already overshared enough, you are still a stranger to me after all,

Although….

I’ll tell you a bit more, if you ask Lyra for me, th-”

“-No thanks,” I say, leaving the little man alone in the dim, gloomy house.

****

“Uhhhhh!” Someone exclaims, as I sit in corner of the colorful, lively club, fideling with the device on my fist.

People bounce around mindlessly indulging in their pleasures,

The magic stone stuck in the bow-glove, now cracked and its color faded,

(Almost out of power, I may only have a few more uses with this left.)

“You need something?” a woman eyes me seductively

“No, I’m just observing for now,” I shake my head, at the nude woman

“Well, you surely won’t be happy like us from just observing,” the woman dances off back into the crowd.

(Is this really happiness though? or as Pinoki says, depression.

Seeing all these smiles, and happy faces,

It disgusts me,

They don’t smile because they’re happy, but because they aren’t,

Why do I even care?

Why should I,

I don’t know them,

Maybe what Zinnia said about me is right.

My experiences, Jissepi, even before that, it broke me to the point where I don’t want anyone to experience that hurt,

I’ve seen so much despair, that I just want to see happiness now,

Maybe that’s my addiction, the happiness of others,

Not this temporary kind of enjoyment,

The absolute kind.)

“You look down bro,” a guy dressed in nothing, but his underwear comes up to me his eyes glow brilliantly, veins from pop from his face as he dazedly smiles,

“Try absorbing this stone, sure to raise your spirits,”

“Not interested in temporarily ‘raising my spirts’,” I shrug him off,

“Suit yourself, bro, we are trapped in a depressing magic prison after all, might as well enjoy it.”

(This is a magic prison huh.)

****

“What do want now?” Pinoki groans looking up from his book,

“Have you decided to ask Lyr-”

“-No,” I cut him off, walking into the dim room.

“Listen, about your plan-”

“-I already told I’m not telling you what it is,” Pinoki chides

“I don’t care about your plan,

I came to ask for your help,

With my plan.”

“It’s been like an hour since we spoke last, what plan could you have thought of?” Pinoki reasons,

“I want to force the people of this city back out into the sunshine,”

“I’m listening,” Pinoki’s lips curl into a sly smile

“I am not entirely sure yet, but since this place is a magic prison essentially, I’m going to……”

(Am I talking out my ass here, or can I really do this?)

“Go on,” Pinoki presses

“I want to collide this city into Sottera.”