Twisted Skies, Chapter 13 - Life in the City (Patreon)

Quiet as thieves, two dark shadows climbed down a building's facade in the pre-dawn's twilight of Heliana.

“Mr. Vartel! Good morning we're having, isn’t it!?” a sudden bellow startled Thurain. His grip slipped, but he barely caught the rung before he drop down from the ladder. While he was still holding on in desperation, he heard Theodoro below him jump down and fawn for his life.

“Mr. Artia, how nice of you to greet us on this fine morning! I wonder, did you lose weight again? You appear downright youthful!”

“Don't bullshit me, brat!” a man's harsh voice shot back. While the two were talking, Thurain made it down the ladder as well, and looked at their newest opponent. Theodoro's landlord was a man who appeared to be in his fifties. Though ages didn't mean much to cultivators, Thurain was quite sure that this one was a commoner.

After all, no self-respecting cultivator would ever look like this. With his wild hair with the gray streaks and his stocky body, Mr. Artia looked like a bear straight out of hibernation. No wonder Theodoro was terrified.

“You know that you're still two months behind on your rent, don't you?” the landlord sneered as he poked Theorodo in his chest.

“Ah, of course!” he said while trying to avoid eye-contact. “How could I forget! However, at this moment, I am a little short on funds. I wonder if I could maybe get just a teeny, tiny extension. Really, I only need a few more days to-”

“Don't think you can scam this old man like all the other fools, Theo.” He squinted one eye closed as he showed his teeth. “Earlier, some Officer Conogan showed up here and asked for his money. Seems like a 'Master Theodoro' owes him some Rai for playing along with one of his scams.”

At the mention of his accomplice, Theodoro's face paled, though Thurain felt great satisfaction at the cheat's sudden comeuppance.

“In- in that case... he must have been at the wrong address. We don't have any ‘Master Theodoros’ living here, do we?” Even without the stutter, the scammer's words would have been less than convincing.

“Who in the city but you would give himself such an ostentatious name?”

As soon as his taste was put into question by Mr. Artia, Theodoro transformed once again. With a puffed up chest, he shouted his nonsense into the morning streets.

“It's not ostentatious, it's elegant!”

“Aaah, whatever you say, boy.” The old man laughed. “Either way, I know that you made a lot of money yesterday. Just hand over what you owe and we won't have a problem.”

With a grumble, Theodoro took out the bag of money Thurain had handed to him yesterday. Before he could even count it, the old man had already snatched all of it away.

“I'll be keeping the bribe for your friend too. Gonna give it to that officer, or he'll keep making trouble for you later.” While the landlord was talking, he counted off the cash, before pocketing most of it. The meager remains were returned to the now anemic bag and handed to a dejected Theodoro.

“And what was that shouting yesterday night?” The old man continued, before his sharp eyes zeroed in on Thurain. “Who's this? Your new sub-leaser? You know you can't get any more renters into your place unless you ask me.”

“Ah, no! Uhm...” Theodoro looked around for a solution, before his face brightened and he put his arm around Thurain's shoulder. “He is just my good cousin from out of town! He is only a guest and will stay for a few days, no more. He'll be gone before you realize, I swear!”

“Cousin, is it?” Now that the man's hard stare fell onto Thurain, he realized just why Theodoro was so flustered. “Boy, listen to my advice. Cousin or not, you best stay away from that scammer there. Being near such a troublemaker won't do you any good in the long run.”

“Of course, sir.” He really had to smile at the landlord's bluntness. “I never expected to stay here for more than a day. Since I couldn't find a place to stay yesterday night, Theodoro offered me a place, that's all. Since it was only an emergency measure, I won't bother you beyond today.”

Satisfied, the old man nodded his head. “Good, good. Looks like you're a polite, honest kid, quite unlike a certain someone. Actually, if you don't have a place to stay, we can arrange something. I know you probably don't have a lot of money or you wouldn't have stayed with this cheat here, and we don't have a lot of room left in the building. But I can clean out the old shed in the back and hand you the keys. You got some money, don't you?”

“I will by tonight,” Thurain answered. Encouraged by the man's helpful attitude, his smile widened. Even so, the old man's face remained as stoic as a statue.

“Good, then I'll let you have it for cheap, until you find something better.”

“Thank you very much, sir.”

Although the old landlord had done Thurain a great favor, he just grunted and slammed the door shut.

“Yeesh,” Theodoro uttered after an extended period of silence. “Talk about a bridge troll. Come on, let's go. If you're looking for work, you'll probably need a guide to help you find some, right?”

Thurain shrugged and followed along. Although the cultivator wasn't the most talkative person, there was no lack of entertainment along the way. Theodoro was chatty enough for both of them combined. As they walked, the scammer introduced the city to him bit by bit.

Since he was a long-time resident, he knew every nook of Heliana, as well as most crannies, and he didn't hold back on his wisdom. Thus, Thurain remained silent and listened, up until they walked past another one of those mask shops he had seen so much the day before.

“By the way, what are those masks for?” he asked. “Is there some kind of festival happening in the city?”

For a moment, Theodoro stared at Thurain with a dull face, until he hit his head in realization.

“Ah, that's right. You wouldn't know, since you're new to Heliana. I was already wondering where you had left your mask.”

He picked up his own mask from his little cart and handed it to Thurain. It's form was simple and round, but its colors were strange. A large, uneven circle of red stood on a blue background like a blot of ink on paper. Intrigued, Thurain put on the mask after Theodoro had given him a look of encouragement. To his surprise, the mask was more comfortable to wear than he had thought, even though it slightly hampered his vision.

As soon as the mask covered his face, he could feel the qi forces around his head twist and shift in response. Though he couldn't quite identify their movements at a glance, he felt like yin-qi was being redirected away from him.

“These might look like accessories, but they're important if you want to move around in Heliana, especially if you’re traveling between the spirals, or at night,” Theodoro explained. “A qi-repelling array is carved on the mask's inside, so it keeps out the excessive yin qi and severely slows down the advance of yin infections. Even better, since the masks block qi, you can be completely anonymous if you wear one. Even if I were to attempt qi-detection on you, I wouldn't be able to see through your face, or your cultivation.”

“Wait, weren't you the great Theodoro, secret master and fate weaver?” Thurain asked in faked surprise as he took off the mask again. “Don't tell me a great master can't even see past a simple array like this.”

“Of course I could do it easily if I wanted to, but it's a waste of my time and effort,” he boasted. “Even more, I am a man who greatly respects the privacy of others. As a gentleman, I would never snoop beyond someone's mask.”

“That so, huh?” Thurain's dry voice came back, as he returned his mask back to its owner. However, Theodoro only shoved it back into his hands.

“Keep it. You don't have money to buy one, and you might have to look for work between the spirals, since that's the best place to make quick cash. You'll need one of these by then.”

“What about you?”

“That mask is ancient anyway,” the scammer shrugged. “It barely works, so it was high time I bought myself a new one by now.”

“Thank you, I owe you another debt.” This time, Thurain spoke with utmost sincerity. Despite his dubious profession, Theodoro seemed to be a decent person.

“Of course you do,” the scammer said with a grin. “We are here, by the way.”

Once he had said so, Theodoro turned away from the main road and into one of the side alleys, with Thurain right beside him. After they passed the last residential building on the edge of the spiral, a new world opened up.

Within the living areas along the main roads, the city always seemed claustrophobic, with everything built narrow and cramped, surrounded by countless houses. However, the yin-dominated spaces in between the spirals were wide open plains.

Rather than the muddy yellow of the houses, Thurain could see green on lilac on orange before his eyes. His entire vision was taken in by fields of beautiful, vibrant colors. These fields carried on all the way to the horizon, where another spiral of muddy yellow interrupted them.

However, Thurain and his guide didn't have enter the fields straight away. Their goal was a thin strip between the city's spiral and the vibrant farmland. There, Theodoro explained, an enormous market of stalls had been erected. Although the market was only temporary, it was set up every single morning and packed up again in the evening. As a result, the locals called it the day market.

Here, the produce from the central farms was offered to the people who lived in the spirals, sold together with all manner of other products. If Theodoro was to be believed, this bustle of activity would be the best place to find temporary work.

“Look over there,” Theodoro said and pointed towards a group of tanned men who stood in small groups at one corner of the market. “That's where the day laborers get together for their work every morning. If anyone needs workers for the day, this is where they go to pick them up. Usually, they look for temporary hands for the farms and factories, but sometimes you get lucky and someone needs workers for a job in the spirals. You could also go to the factories directly and ask for work there. Maybe you'll get lucky. But this place is your best chance, if you ask me.”

“Wait, day laborer? I'm a cultivator, you know?” Although he was still considered a novice, Thurain’s ability was far beyond a mortal, even more so when compared to the lowest workers of the city. As far as he was concerned, he couldn't be compared to these common mortals who huddled together in the shade of a large stall.

“So you have a license for cultivation work then?” a sarcastic Theodoro asked.

“So what if I don't have one,” Thurain bit back in defiance. “No matter what a customer needs from a cultivator, I'm no worse than the sect people. My master taught me well.”

“That's nice and all, but without a license, you won't find any cultivator work. Even if you do, there's a good chance the police just arrests you before you can cash in. No, believe me: Working as a day laborer is your best bet, at least if you need a quick payout. Or do you want to help me out instead? I can’t pay much though.”

“No, I'll pass,” Thurain said with a look at the rickety cart the con artist always dragged with him. He would rather do some honest, low-paying work than cheat honest, low-paid people out of their sparse wealth.

“Okay. In that case, you best try your luck there.” Once again, the scammer pointed at the downtrodden laborers of the city. “As a great cultivator, at least you'll be able to handle the hard labor. Whether you find some work or not, we can meet back at the apartment when night falls.”

“And what will you do until then?”

“Of course, I will do what any great master should. This master will be off to weave some fate for the mortals.” With a wink and a wave, Theodoro turned to leave. “See you later, young man. You still owe me a debt, so you better show up later and not run away. Remember, no one cheats the great master Theodoro DeVarisse.”