Chapter 2: Consequences Part I

I awoke to a pain in my abdomen from where I had been kicked. Captain Gen stood over me. “Ruthven get off the ground. You are not a dog so don’t sleep in the street.” Gen said to me sternly.

“Apologies Captain.” I replied promptly. I quickly stood up and looked around the area. Captain Gen and I were the only ones in the alleyway. It was night time so everyone was probably sleeping. “I apologize for the inconvenience Captain.” I said sincerely.

“I’ll give you your punishment tomorrow when you start duty. Until then I advise you to go home to your wife. Oh, and stop by the Armoury tomorrow for new equipment. We just updated the Armoury.” Captain Gen informed me.

I quickly nodded and replied “Thank you Captain.” with a curt bow.

“I’ll be taking my leave now. Don’t be late tomorrow.” He said with a hint of animosity.” He turned around and made his way down the alleyway. I wondered what he was mad about. Perhaps he had been looking for me for awhile and only just now found me.

At least three hours had passed since the town had been attacked. The demons had all been taken care of and Mira was probably worried sick about me. I needed to hurry home. I couldn’t believe I had passed out from my injuries. They had been mostly healed before I went into combat. Perhaps regenerating had drained me ? I would have to test it out in the future.

I ran through the northwest housing district,, weaving through different alleyways to get to my house. My house was north east of the marketplace and almost directly east of where I currently was. Running at full speed for the whole time I could probably get there in about twenty minutes. As I took off I was running fairly fast and felt I could go even faster, so I did. As I looked around the walls were nothing but a blur to me. I could only tell what color they were. Was I imagining things?

I continued running and one of the stall owners who was late taking down their stall came out from an alley further ahead to my right. They were towing one of the stall wagons which were all made from birchwood and neatly polished and trimmed. The average size of one was about eight feet in height, five feet in width and stretched about ten feet in length. Its wheels were about three feet tall which made the wagon look bigger than it actually was.

I didn’t want to wait for them to come past since every second counted so I decided to try jumping over it. I jumped up with ease onto the outer railing connecting the front and back wheels of the stall wagon and flipped over it. I then braced myself for the impact of the ground. Instead of landing on my feet like I was expecting, I had landed on my face because of my momentum. The impact left me paralyzed on the ground laying on my stomach.

As I lifted my head, my face felt warm, and I realized that I had earned a bloody nose and also acquired a busted my lip from the impact. Luckily however, I had not lost any teeth. My blood trickled down my face onto the ground in steady streams. It had been a painful blow to the face, but it was not worthy of a tear. Especially not since I could heal it. As I focused on healing my face, I heard a man’s voice behind me.

“Are you ok?” the voice asked with serious concern. I glanced back quickly to see the standowner and whipped my head back around.

I slowly raised myself off the ground to my knees. I wiped away the blood from my face and without turning around I said “Yeah, I just have a few scrapes.” Before the man could ask anymore I took off down the street and cut through an alley so I could lose him.

As I took off I found it easy to dash through the alleyways as they all were fairly clean. I passed through the area where the Daily Brew was and saw a silvery smoke coming from the chimney. Henry must’ve already been working to restore his potion stock. When it came to potions, he was a madman about making sure everything was always stocked up, in case a customer came in. I couldn’t honestly say I had ever seen a time when his store wasn’t entirely filled with potions from wall to wall. I would have to check in with him tomorrow before my shift to see if he needed any help.

As I was running I felt full of energy. I felt like I could do anything. I truly felt powerful. This curse from what I could tell had no negative side effects other than being immortal. It would be painful if I truly were immortal because then I would have to watch Mira die. That would be heart wrenching and painful, but if there were a way to reverse it after she died I could still join her in the after life. There were no time for negative thoughts like that. Mira was waiting for me to get home and I was almost there.

I made the turn before getting to the house and slowed down to a walk so nothing would seem off if Mira happened to be waiting outside for me. As I made the last round onto our street I felt a single pulse come from my right hand. I looked down at my right hand to see that on the clock there was now a two that had appeared and the smaller hand had moved closer towards it. I didn’t know what that had meant, but it didn’t seem right to me.

I couldn’t do anything about it however so I decided to ignore it. I walked down the street and stopped right outside our house. It was a bit different from other houses in the near area. Most houses were made of wood on the outside and had stone put on the inside because that kept insulation well. Typically they had been painted a cream color on the outside.

Our house stood out however as it was painted yellow. Our house had a different layout than the other houses as well. The stone was on the outside because Mira didn’t like the idea that the wood would change shape and degrade as the years went on. The stone would also degrade, but she hadn’t just been thinking of the appearance when she made this choice. Having wood on the outside of the house meant that it would need to be shaved once it started swelling or it would become increasingly difficult to shut the doors or windows. The stone wouldn’t deteriorate as quick as wood either and the wood would look more aesthetic on the inside. Some houses had wood flooring, but even though the wood helped the look, the stone wall still made the houses look bland.

I walked up the steps of our house and pushed open the wooden door slowly. I slipped in and gently shut the door behind me. The kitchen was illuminated by a lantern and a few candles. Mira had probably been waiting there for me. I walked into the kitchen and saw her sitting in the chair furthest from the entrance. She looked up at me and said “Ruthven, you can’t keep coming in late like this. You know that it worries me.” Mira finished with a sad look.

“I’m sorry babe. I got injured from battle and kinda passed out.” I said with a bit of a grimace.

“You look perfectly fine to me.” She told me pointing at my chest.

I looked down to see that I had no injuries. “Henry must have healed my injuries then while I was asleep.” I said nonchalantly.

“You sure you aren’t tired from your day?” Mira asked concerned for my health.

“I think I may have had a long day. Why don’t we get some sleep.” I suggested.

“Ruthven, if something is troubling you then you should tell me.” Mira told me.

I couldn’t however just tell her about the events from today. Especially not the part where I was cursed. I looked down to my right hand in guilt. She couldn’t see it in the dark, but I wouldn’t be able to hide it forever. “Nothing is wrong. If you want to stay up for a bit you can. However,I’m going to go get some sleep. I’ve got to report to the captain in the morning.” I said with a sigh.

I turned around and headed up the stairs to our bedroom. I pulled off my armour and gear. I folded it and laid it next to the dresser. I opened my dresser and put on a pair of trousers although I couldn’t distinctly see the color. I then turned around and hopped into bed and pulled the sheets over top of me. Before I fell asleep I heard Mira’s footsteps coming up the stairs to come to bed. I closed my eyes and fell asleep. After all I was going to have rough day tomorrow.

When I awoke in the morning Mira was not in bed. She was probably downstairs making food for breakfast. Although I was concerned for her I couldn’t afford any delays. Captain always wanted me to be punctual. I left my banded armour and put on a thin, black cotton, shirt I had pulled from my dresser. I quickly gathered everything else I would need before I headed down to the kitchen.

I pulled out the Lunch from yesterday and ate it since I was starving. As soon as I had finished it I immediately felt like throwing up. The food was good, but perhaps I wasn't ready to eat that much. It was quite possible my stomach had shrunken. I fought back the urge to throw up for a minute before it went away and I resumed my activities.

I pulled on my cloak and wrapped the sword sheath in the inner fold of the cloak. I quickly stepped into the bathroom to comb my hair. My hair wasn’t a mess so I didn’t need to. As I looked in the mirror My eyes once again darted to the scar under my eye. It was hard not to stare at it considering it spread across the entire right side of my face. It ruined my handsome looks. I couldn’t afford to spend time staring at myself like a narcissist. I needed to go check down stairs for Mira and the leave for duty.

As I looked down stairs Mira was nowhere to be found. As I entered the kitchen I discovered a note on the table from Mira: Ruthven, I am going to head into the town to get food for later tonight. I plan to make a nice diner for us so try and get home early if you can. Also you were supposed to buy apples yesterday. I can’t believe you forgot them silly. --Love Mira. I had completely forgotten to stop by the stock market and grab what I had bought yesterday. I just hoped that the old man would remember what I had bought when I came for them later in the day.

Mira had packed lunch for me, and left it in a brown paper bag, on the marble counter in the kitchen. There was no use bringing a lunch today though, because I wouldn’t be able to eat it. Captain Gen only allowed eating on breaks and I had the feeling he wouldn’t be giving me one today. I needed to hurry out the door to The Daily Brew to check on Henry’s condition and then go to the Armoury for equipment. Although I had left out an hour early, it would probably take most of the hour I had to do my daily tasks. I just hoped I wouldn’t be late meeting up with Captain Gen.

I grabbed my bag from upstairs and then set out for The Daily Brew. The streets were fairly busy since some of the stands had been destroyed and a couple buildings had sustained external damage. I hadn’t seen what had actually happened in the front of the Carlisle, but it was probably minimal damage. I doubt the demons caused much damage before they died, but I’m sure the hell blazers hit a building or two by accident. I had to hurry over and get the potions from Henry, so I could head back to the Armoury and change into my new gear.

I was supposed to be punished today by Captain for leaving my post yesterday, but I couldn’t hide my excitement about my new gear. I wondered what it would be. It had been three years since we had gotten anything new, and the last time they just upgraded our armour. With three years development surely they had gotten some new weapons or at least some side gear.

I walked down the alleyway to main street as that was the only way to get to The Daily Brew. As I grew closer I saw a sea of people flooding through the streets to get to the main gate. It would be a pain to try and get past them, but I had no choice. I walked in and it truly felt like I was slowly being consumed by the ocean. The further I wade in the harder it was to control where I was going. I had no choice, but to start pushing for the left side of the street.

I started pushing through the crowd to cross main street and I ended up further down the street than I had intended. However, I was now on the side of the street that I needed to be on. I slipped into an alley and ran in the direction of the Daily Brew. Once I reached the wooden door to the store, I shoved it open and ran to the counter so I could purchase the potions I normally bought. That would leave me three hundred pecunia between two days which would easily be able to cover my expenses. Henry already had the potions up front, but today didn’t have anything special for me. That wasn’t a concern of mine though.

“Ruthven, you appear to be in a rush is something the matter?” Henry asked casually.

“Long day ahead of me or something like that.” I responded while shoving the potions into my bag.

“You didn’t get on Gen’s bad side again did you?” Henry said jokingly.

“Actually---”

“Ruthven, you can’t keep getting in trouble. You know Mira doesn’t like you away from the house much.” Henry said cutting me off.

“It’s not like I have a choice really. Duty calls as they say.” I said putting the last potion in the bag.

“Try and keep under the radar for bit.” Henry said with a smile.

“I’ll try.” I said solemnly as I grabbed my bag off the counter and slung it around my shoulder.

Henry watched me pull the bag off the counter and then saw the mark on my hand. “I didn’t take you for the kind that likes tattoos.” Henry said in jest.

“I don’t. It’s a long story, but do you mind if I tell you later?” I asked grimacing.

“Please do. I am a bit busy right now anyways.” He said pointing back at the half empty shelves. I nodded my head in response and started to head out of his store. “Ruthven I left you a present in the Armoury. I think it’ll be of use to you and your endeavors.”

“I’ll be delighted to pick it up.” I said as I opened the door and walked out.

As I exited I started thinking about the quickest path to the Armoury. Main street ran straight through the city and up to Carlisle Castle. There were two side roads, but they would probably also be crowded as people were busy rebuilding. Luckily it had been a small group of demons that attacked and not a whole horde. The front gates had been completely trashed and would need to be fixed. The defense squadron were probably already sent out front after picking up their new gear. I didn’t want to keep them waiting.

I hadn’t thought about it before, but how was the front gate even get destroyed? How did the demons even get close to the gate? None of it made sense. The imps weren’t nearly strong enough to bend the steel gates. The gargoyles could have done it, but it would have taken too much time, unless the gate had already been weakened. The hell blazers could expend a lot energy to charge a powerful shot, but they would have been shot before that had happened. If they were working together the Hellblazers could have weakened the structure while the gargoyles bent it open. That scenario was unlikely though because demons didn’t typically work together.

I didn’t recall the alert bell ringing either which meant that the soldiers out front must not have seen it until right before it was about to happen. They probably didn’t even have time to ring the bells so decided to get the civilians out from the front area. Fram was supposed to be on duty at that time so he should have rang it. Even if he were bust there should have been at least one other person on duty at that time as well.

Was Fram the cause of the incident yesterday? He hadn’t rang the bell earlier in the day either when a supposed demon sighting had occurred. I couldn’t confirm he was the cause of this mess, but I definitely should report it to Captain Gen. I’m sure he would be able to sort this out. It’s probably better if I let him anyways before I accused anyone of it. I only had one more task left before I could report in: The Armoury.

The Armoury was to the west of the Marketplace, at the end of the business district and laid almost right against the wall. If I stuck to the alleyways I could probably get there in a couple minutes. I started sprinting for the Main Abbey where business took place. It was unsurprising to find that the Abbey was also busy. There were many people ahead of me in the street so I decided to take a shortcut.

It was easy to get lost in the Main Abbey because all of the buildings were alike. They were all primarily made of bricks and most of them were painted similar colors. It wouldn’t be uncommon to find six similar looking buildings in the Main Abbey just because they had all pretty much been built with the same design. The alleyways were no better. Most of the back alleys just went in a circle so it was also easy to get lost in there as well. The only things that really separated the buildings as far as looks went were window placement and signs.

The only building in here that was easy to make out from the rest was the Armoury. It was four stories in height and instead of being painted red or yellow like the rest was coloured grey. It also had a large metal sign over top that was engraved with a single word in large print: Armoury. Needless to say even if you were new to the district it was the easiest building to find.

As I slipped through the back alley I looked around to find the best exit point that would get me to the Armoury the quickest. Once I had found it I slipped back into the crowd and made my way under the Metal sign into the Armoury.

The Armoury was the only building in this district that didn’t actually have doors. When it was time to close up they simply slid heavy metal slabs together and locked them into the walls. Nobody could force their way in. Unfortunately that also required someone to sleep on the inside to open it in the morning. I couldn’t imagine staying the night in here despite the fact it had lodging places on the third and fourth floor for the simple reason I couldn’t see Mira. They must take turns doing it.

I walked in and looked at all the steel shelves, which were completely lined with goods. It was honestly an impressive amount of equipment. I had been here several times just to look for new gear to buy. Although the room had no real form of illumination the reflection of light off the many pieces of gear did a good job of lighting the way.

They had many custom made pieces of armour laying on shelves for adventurers and then had weapons opposite of them. They had everything from metal bracers and shields to shortswords. They even had a detailed variety of long range projectiles like bows and arrows against the side walls. Further back in the store rested the secondary pieces of gear like add ons and other items like smoke bombs or lockpicks if you could use it..

In the very back of the store was where goods for soldiers were typically kept. This was my objective however it didn’t stop me from staring at the new to almost ancient pieces of gear. I hustled to the back room while remaining cautious as to not knock over anything. Once I reached the back room which was illuminated by many candles I saw that the room had been mostly emptied.

A man stood in there wearing a nice suit and bow tie with a checklist. He was a bald portly fellow with a brown french styled mustache and a monocle over his right eye. I hadn’t seen his face around here before, however I did recognize him from somewhere. “Vice Commander Ruthven correct?” The man asked me trying to be straightforward.

“That is correct.” I replied. The man didn’t strike me as the type to deal in the Armoury business. He didn’t look very experienced in it either. Then again I didn’t have much room to talk as I had no experience in Armoury either. Although he was an interesting fellow I didn’t care much to ask the man for his name. If he was important he would have told me it after all.

“Your gear is a little different from the rest of your squad. It is a good thing you showed up last. Wouldn’t want the new recruits to get jealous now would we.He said without much of a change in expression.

“Well what is my new gear?” I asked the man trying to hold back my excitement

“First we have a new armour set for you that also has your ranking displayed he said as He pulled out the armour from underneath a cloth and pointed at the shoulder. The armour was another light armour set. It was a hard black armour set that wrapped firmly around the chest and even covered the back side well. “This armour was also interwoven with steel threads. It’ll be a little heavier than you are use to, but it will work more efficiently.” he explained.

I looked at the armour and was fascinated with the Vice Commander Badge that had been firmly sewn on the right shoulder of the armour. The right arm also had a place where a small shield could be set for parrying blows. Next he pulled out a ragged cloak. It was fairly close to what I was currently wearing. It was a little thicker as it had been double layered, and had the Carlisle Symbol on the back, which was a lion’s head. The cloak was intentionally made to look ragged, based off of my personal preference. He shoved both the cloak and armour across the able to me.

“These are your replacement armour pieces. As for your new gear I have a new item and two excess pieces of gear. The new item is an explosion orb.” He said as he pulled it out from under the cloth.

“I hope it will be as interesting as the armour.” I said taking another look over it.

“It should suit your tastes.” He said holding the orb up for me to see. The orb was red in color and appeared to be filled with gunpowder. “This will explode upon impact of an object. It is designed so that once the glass shatters the magic energy from the inside with create a small fire which will result in an explosion. When using it you should stand a minimum of five meters away as the glass will still be able to hit from there.” He explained.

I nodded my head and asked “What are the two new gear pieces then?”

“The first will be attached to your wrist. It is supposed to be used for climbing although I’m sure you can find other uses for it.” He said as he pulled out two devices. They looked like a pronged spear head attached to bracers,and there was one for each arm. They were probably three inches in width and about six inches long. The gauntlet itself was a greyish blue in color and although it didn’t have much of a gleam to it had other interesting features. The gauntlet was smaller than the normal ones were and almost seemed to have been made specifically for me. The fingers of the gauntlet were well rounded and also seemed slender enough to avoid being an encumbrance.

“They can be thrown or shot depending on preference. It can travel pretty far without falling in elevation as it isn’t that heavy. If you shoot it you will have to wait at least ten seconds before you can fire again. It charges up using air pressure to fire it out. It also has a reach of thirty meters roughly and since it is made of iron threads and a bit of cable it won’t break very easily or fray.” He said putting them back down on the table.

“If you want to shoot simply squeeze the thumb on the gauntlet. If you want to pull the cable back to you make a fist and whip your hand back. If you want to cling to whatever you shot at press the center of the gauntlet down with one finger. That is pretty much all you need to learn about it right now.” He then removed the cloth and pulled out a shield. It was a small red buckler shield meant for parrying. It was probably intended for use attached on my armour set considering the the arm piece had a slot for the shield to rest on.

“This was a gift from your friend Henry. He told me that you would need it, and to focus on blocking attacks more than parrying them.”

“Classical Henry.” I said without surprise. “I’ll get out of here so you can have the place to yourself. I’m already in trouble with Captain.” I said with a nervous laughter.

I picked up the orb and slipped it into my pouch. I grabbed the new armour along with the cloak, neatly folding them and placed them under my arms. I grabbed the bracers and held them in my other arm. After I had grabbed all of my gear I headed out to the barracks to change. The Barracks were located next to the wall to the left of the gate for emergency response. It wouldn’t be very crowded by the barracks, but it would be troublesome to meet Captain Gen outside of the gate.

I wasn’t very far from the barracks. I could actually see it from the Armoury. I had about five minutes to get dressed and get to Captain. I was running later than expected. The Barracks looked like a prison from the outside. It had bars where the windows were. It even had a fence surrounding the perimeter. However it didn’t have any holding cells for prisoners. The outside of the building was comprised of grey stones that had been sealed in place via paste and the occasional Metal Bar with nails to hold it in place. No matter how many times I looked at it, It still reminded me of a prison.

I walked up to guards post at the Barracks. The guard looked up at me and asked “Vice Commander Ruthven, what is your business here?”

“I’m simply here to change gear. You can feel free to address me as Ruthven if you want.” I said with a bit of a smirk.

“Understood. Ruthven make sure to check out alright?” The guard said to me.

“Roger that.” I walked past him and into the barracks to change. Once I pushed open the door I immediately started running to the changing room. It should be two hallways down and the first left. I doubt it has changed in a week’s time, but I can’t ever be sure with this place. I jog down to the changing room and quickly set my bag down and discard my old gear. I put on my black, hard leather, armour along with my new cloak and my bracers. I tie my sheath through my belt buckle on one side and my item bag on the other side.

Once I have my gear on I decide to check myself out in the changing room mirror. The black leather armour and the cloak compliment each other and I look fitting to be a Vice Commander. The gauntlets look nice as well. They don’t initially show where the hooks on the gauntlet is so I could easily use it to my advantage. I look at the gauntlets for the individual buttons. I see the one in the center of the palm for hooking in, but the rest are nowhere to be seen. Perhaps it is a magical item that reads movements. The shield doesn’t look bad on me either although it isn’t really noticeable as it looks like an attachment to the armour.

I head out of the barracks and tell the guard “I’m officially checking out. I’ve gotta go.” I wave my hand and leave.

“See you later Ruthven.” The guard called back to me.

I’ve now got to find a way to get to the captain quickly. The front gate is completely crowded and I don’t have enough time to run around the side. I’m down to about a minute to get to him. I remembered I have the gauntlets. I aim for the top of the wall and squeeze my thumb to grapple up. I then press the center button to fasten it. I zipped up to the top of the wall and effortlessly pulled myself up. I then unhooked my grapple from the wall and fastened it into the the outside of the wall. I press the fasten button and then take a couple hops down the wall and reach the bottom. I unfasten it and walk over to see Captain Gen holding his pocket watch in his left hand.

“Twelve more seconds and you would have been late.” Captain Gen said with a small frown clicking the pocket watch shut.

“Apologies for the delay Captain.” I said with a salute and then proceeded to bow.