Twisted Skies, Chapter 11 - Welcome to the City (Patreon)

 What difference does one more night under the stars really make? he thought as he lay down with a sigh.

Thus, he put his hands behind his head and stared up into the dark green smog of the city. While his hot blood chilled, he thought back to the girl and put one more person on his revenge list. Although it kept getting longer and longer, he was sure that one day, he would reckon up all the debts the world had accrued with him. All he needed was time enough to gather strength. Once he had the power, he could flatten this entire damned city. This place really deserved it. His master had always taught him to fight evil. From down here, this place sure looked evil enough for a reckoning.

As the night advanced, a cold wind ran through the alley and made Thurain shudder. He pulled his robes closer to his body and looked for a more comfortable position to sleep in. Soon, a heaviness overcame his mind and he drifted into darkness.

“What are you doing here!?”   

The sudden shout dragged him out of his peace and forced his heavy eyelids back open.

“Huh?” Though he felt sluggish, his mind soon dispelled the cobwebs and turned sharp once more.  Before him Thurain saw a slim figure, illuminated from the back by the distant street lamps. With the majestic stance of a great martial artist, the silhouette came towards him.

“Master?” he asked, still a bit groggy.

“Yes indeed, it is I, the great master known throughout the city.” The smug voice drove away Thurain's illusion, and the martial artist turned back into a scammer.

“It's you!” he shouted as he jumped up. “You're Master Whatever-your-name-was!” Before him stood the man who had scammed him of most of his money at the train station that very morning.

“You are...” the scammer tilted his head and rubbed his chin, trying hard to remember who he had before him. After a second, a warm smile spread all over his face. “Well, no matter who you are, a fan is always a welcome sight. Though I will have to correct you, it is Master Theodoro DeVarisse, not Master 'whatever-your-name-was'. What can this great master help you wi-”

Before the scammer could finish his words, Thurain had jumped up and reached his front. Before the cheat could react, the young cultivator had lifted him into the air by his collar.

“You bastard! Give me back my money!” As he shook him back and forth, the scammer flopped around like a limp fish, but he seemed unconcerned by the enraged cultivator.

“Ah, so we have met before! Now I remember! I don't think I ever caught your name, friend.”

“Yeah, we've met,” Thurain growled, as he shoved the scammer's back into the wall behind him. “Now hand over your money.”

“Is this a robbery then?” Though his voice sounded a bit squished due to his position, he was still calm.

“Nonsense, you were the one stealing from me!” Thurain screamed in his face.

“Hmmm... so anyways, what are you doing here, young master? This place is quite dangerous, you know?”   

Already, Thurain's arms began to feel heavy from holding up the scammer for so long. Even though he looked thin, he was surprisingly heavy for an ordinary man. Maybe it was all the gold on the cheat's mind, or maybe it was Thurain's mental exhaustion after a hard day, but the cultivator had a hard time merely holding the scammer up. Still, he wouldn't just let the cheat go, not now that he had finally caught him to get his revenge.

“Stop wasting my time!” he threatened again.

“Could it be you don't believe the great Master Theodoro? Just look behind you!” The scammer opened his eyes wide as he pointed behind Thurain. Of course, he wouldn't just turn his head. Only one day in the city had already thought him his lesson about trust. With Theodoro still held up at arm's length, he spun both of them around and looked behind, into the dark alley. There, half-hidden by the shadows, lay a twitching mass of darkness. As he stepped a bit closer he heard a “careful” from his prisoner, but he ignored the ignorant cheat.

A few more steps and he was close enough to make out the form within the shadows. What lay before him was one of the gangsters he had attacked earlier, or at least what was left of him. His skin color was hard to make out in the night, but it appeared a dark blue, at the very least much darker than it had been when he had last seen him. Strange clicking noises escaped the body, as it convulsed and twitched on the ground.

By the time Thurain recovered from his shock, he had already let Theodoro back down and the scammer had escaped his limp grasp.

“What is this?” Thurain asked in shock.

“It's a reanimated body. Young friend, you wouldn't be responsible for that corpse here, would you?” When he turned around to follow the voice, the scammer had returned back towards the light of the main road, where he had parked he had worthless, fake elixir on before. Under loud clangs and bangs, the cheat searched through the depths of his belongings as he spoke.

“Corpse?” Thurain asked back in a dull tone. Only then did he comprehend the fake master's meaning. “Wait, he's dead?”

“As a door nail,” came back from the cheat, before an “Aha!” signaled the end of his search. He returned to the dark alley with fleet steps and then he looked into Thurain's pale face.

“Young friend, don't tell me you were involved in the creation of this stiff body?” he asked again. This time, he had wide eyes and a shocked tone, before he thumped his own chest in confidence. “No worries, I would never tell on my friends.”

“I was just defending myself!”

“I'm sure the police will be understanding.” The scammer laughed.

While Thurain was still unsure how to react, the scammer opened the flask with yellow powder he had brought with him from the cart.   

“Sorry about that, Younick.” he muttered, while he poured the flask's contents all over the body. The sizzle of meat on hot iron rang out and the body began to twitch and flail even more. All the while, a putrid smoke rose from its skin. Even without concentrating, Thurain could feel a strong emanation of yang qi from the corpse.

“You knew him?” Still in shock, Thurain asked an idiotic question in a breathless voice, while he stared at the body that was burning and sizzling away.

“Only fleetingly. He was a local troublemaker. With his reckless actions, it was only a matter of time before he offended someone strong enough to make him trouble. It's a predictable end for him, but it's still a waste of good life.”

“...I'm sorry,” Thurain muttered. His chest tightened and his breath became heavy from guilt. No matter how angry he had been – or how wrong the gangster was – killing a commoner was wrong, and something his master would have never approved off.

“Well, telling me won't do you any good. You're lucky I was here. At least you won't have to deal with the aftermath now. The body will disappear soon.”

“What happened to him?” Thurain asked, still confused by the resurrected body.

“He died in an area with high yin concentration. In this city, anyone who dies off the main roads will turn into trouble unless they are promptly dealt with. Their fate will always be the same: Corpification. Which is a nice, scientific term that just means they turn undead. It's not a pleasant fate.” “And that powder...”

“Some sulfur and a few other simple ingredients. It's just cheap, concentrated yang in a bottle, really. Since it counteracts the yin, it's a nice method to deal with fresh undead. Though if he was fully formed, there wouldn't have been much I could have done.”

“But I thought the living quarters were safe. Doesn't this block have specific arrays to disperse the yin and strengthen the yang?”

“Sure it does, but nothing like the central spirals around the main roads. In places like this one, the best you get is a dirty yin-yang mixture. This way, it's not strong enough to harm a healthy, living person if they only stay here for a while, though even that depends on the circumstances. One bad cold and you are already in trouble. Not to mention that most who live in these cheap apartment blocks aren't in the best condition in the first place. A cold body is even worse off, since it loses its yang right after death. Invasion of yin becomes much easier that way. Sleeping outside is also quite the bad idea, by the way,” the scammer said and stared down onto the blanket Thurain had slept inside on just moments ago.

“But, I was-” Although he had slept surrounded by yin qi, he had never been in any real danger. After all, it was almost impossible for ordinary, unformed yin to invade his body. Though before Thurain could explain, the scammer cut him off.

“Young master, why do you think I came into this alley in the first place? If I hadn't woken you up just now, you may just have opened your eyes as a reanimated yourself. As I warned you before: Beware your future path. The city is a much more dangerous place than you can imagine, young friend.”

“...thank you. That's what I should say, right?” Although he knew it was the right thing to do, Thurain still had a tough time sounding earnest. After all, this still was the man who had cheated him out of his money. At least now, he could consider them even.

“Indeed you should, young friend. Feel honored that you have been saved by the great master Theodoro!” he laughed and bragged like an idiot, but Thurain was unimpressed.

“Sure, whatever you say,” he replied, as he picked up his crumpled little blanket, and his worn backpack, before he followed the scammer back into the light. Once they were back on the safe main road, Thurain realized just how cold the alley had been in comparison. Despite his true yang body, a deep frost had buried itself within his bones, a surefire sign of yin infection. While he circulated his qi to drive away the cold with ease, he watched the scammer push his rickety cart into the distance.   

As opposed to the city local who was walking away with a clear goal in mind, Thurain was lost. Now he couldn't sleep in the alleys, and he couldn't sleep on the street. He didn't have any money to pay for a room either. Yes, the scammer still had his money from this morning, but even though the cultivator was desperate, he still wasn't without principle. After all, even though Theodoro hadn't really saved his life, he had still helped him out, and intent counted for a lot, as far as Thurain was concerned. Just as he considered staying up for the whole night and finding a job in the morning, the scammer stopped and turned.   

“Why aren't you coming along, young friend?” he asked with a raised eyebrow, though Thurain was only confused.

“What do you mean?” he asked back.

“You don't plan to spend the night out here, do you?”

“No, but what am I supposed to do?”

“You're going to crash at my place, of course.”

Thurain stared at the scammer's pearly grin with a surprised face, but Theodoro's next words ruined the moment right away.

“No need to thank me,” he looked all proud of his supposed generosity. “You already paid me after all. Those seventy-eight Rai should be enough to pay for a single night, right?”

His mood soured again, Thuran walked besides the cheater, but his new acquaintance still wouldn't leave him be.

“Oh, and by the way,” he said with a sly grin on his face.

“What?”

“Welcome to the city.”