My Wonderful Second Life

Chapter 40- The Pit of Shadows

The following chapter, while not graphic, will touch upon sensible topics. Please be aware.

There were screams around us. People begging for help, claiming the most outlandish of things. Nothing more than a desperate attempt at something other than what they had. Which was too little to even count.

Although our capes were of dubious quality, they were intrinsically better than the general attire (if one could call that to rags) in this part of the city. Amelia and her guards warned us about two things. Never engage and never do sudden movements or we would compromise our safety.

We complied.

But it was hard. Whenever I looked over at their hungry hope, I clutched my heart. Unfortunately, Amelia was probably right. "Hungry hope can turn into angry resentment in this place."

A place called "The Pit of Shadows."

We walked through the crowd that had formed around us, hands trying to touch us, trying to take our clothes, our objects, our life. Whatever they could. While the screams continued.

"My babies... my babies... Please help them!" pleaded a woman with a baby in her arms, pushing him to us.

"Help! Please! I am hungry!" shouted a man, trying to get my cape.

"I am the Mountnero's bastard." Exclaimed a woman from afar.

"I am a prince of distant lands." claimed another.

"I am carrying a prince of the sun." called a young girl, that was skin and bones.

It suffocated me, and my head spun at a high speed as the words banged against my brain.

If it weren't for Amelia's entourage and their pointy swords, scaring people away, I wasn't sure we could have passed through the square unscathed. I scanned the place, seeing several narrow exits. Each darker than the other. But all crumbling under the shadows, like a pit.

We got more space and air as we followed Amelia through one of the hidden streets. "The Pit of Shadows" had no order in size or any naming. This place was a maze, full of different routes for one to get lost. Its inhabitants made their houses with whatever they could find. Rotten wood, discarded boxes, broken bricks.

They appeared frail and about to fall if a stronger wind blew on these parts. In a way, it was a "blessing" that it never rained on the capital, because those makeshift buildings wouldn't protect anyone from it.

They were crooked and many times not finished, although no matter what, the eyes followed us as they did back on the carriage. The noises dissipated in weary silence. Our steps echoed through the dirty walls, catching stones, leaves, and trash along the way. Although a sunny afternoon, the light had dimmed, and it was hard to see past Amelia.

Silence broke when I heard a scuffle from a side street. It was a man, broad and stony, dragging something. I squinted my eyes to focus my vision and then I saw that it was not something he was dragging, but rather someone, a girl, who fought him furiously, while her body scratched the muddy ground.

My blood burned, and I left the group before I even heard the girl scream. Before hearing the warnings behind me. I was too immersed in the scene unfolding in front of my eyes for that. I took the small pistol I had latched onto my leg without Fanny knowing (there was no way I would have left my house with it otherwise), careful to avoid messing with my underskirt. The holster was still a prototype design.

"Silence bitch." the man said with a voice that resembled a horrible oik of a pig. I noticed as I came closer that he was yanking furiously at her skull with each pull. "You have to work your body again to pay for the food you ate."