A Crumbling Society

Part 2-18

Continuing my walk brought me near a park that was all the drabber you could describe. Broken parts that were supposed to be sat on, pieces I have no clue as to what they are or how they fit in. Dead and withered flowers hanging downward lined the entrance. Black pointed bushes with a muted ooze made up the perimeter and the ooze smelled fowl when close. It could be a poison of some kind or anything the plant produced as a defense mechanism. The trees were dead, and the grass was the same, not inviting to the living at all. Ironically to them it's seen as a playful place since demon children are running and laughing through it, but I'd consider it a cemetery. There were some houses across the street from it that looked as if the creatures had old money here. I honestly didn't know if they used money at all either, but the structures were huge and had weird accent pieces. Not a car in sight so I'd assume they walked everywhere, which they could probably do. Leaves surprisingly sprang up in a small gust and they were charred and dead, which wasn't a surprise. Aside from the lightning flashing above there were some lanterns everywhere to provide light so it wasn't too dark. Rounding a corner, I almost ran into a family with their two kids, I caught myself in time and stopped abruptly. One of the kids ran ahead of the rest so I heard them coming, thankfully I didn't run into them. They did all look at me though which caused my heart to skip a beat, luckily, they were in the middle of conversation. Passing me by with a half glance was all I got, and it was enough for them to not ask a single question or figure out I was human. Fifteen steps further passed me I finally took a breath of relief and thought how close that was. Checking the buildings in the distance I could see the guild hall still strapped to the cliff above. Continuing my trek, I wen the opposite direction of that family and weaned my way through a few more structures.

Eventually a town appeared with its own beings and more demons to pick through. Same things as before with families and others, more shops, and some places where everyone was just hanging out and talking. The club down the street caught my attention as it was lively. A Trikfor demon fairly close to where I was walking began speaking aloud about the club. It's four arms were pointing in that direction and speaking with excitement while its hands moved around as it spoke. It seems that Vampire Psycho was hosting the event and that they got some good bands to play. This could be where I meet Embris, not the guild hall like I assumed but could still make do. Some of it sounded too convenient but at this point I've learned to take what I can get and not ask too many questions. I don't really know how I'd get over to the rocks anyway since the guild is protruding from them above ground. The demon kept emphasizing Lazarus was playing, which is a band of vampires, their singer has helped mages before. Her name is Dusk, and her songs are very dreamlike, her reputation is even better. It went on with other bands, but they weren't with huge notoriety, probably just warmups and opening acts. Passing a restaurant made my stomach sink, I hadn't eaten anything in so long. Food here is probably not even okay for me to eat so I'll get by. One of the demons nearby got aggravated and told the other to shut the hell up, he was tired of hearing about it. The first demon looked upset and sighed but moved on and went in to one of the shops. There was a message board in the center of the pathways sort of like a map at the mall, it had a huge flyer explaining the details of the event. It actually already started from the time on the ad, and it also showed that the guild was going to be there for sure. Something about meeting them too, it would help my chances but would also complicate things a little if I got close to most of the members. I just feel my cover would be blown and that they would try to bite me. Reading back to the top making sure I didn't miss a single detail the name of the club stuck out. Club Čudovište was the name, it offered promise and sounded befitting to where I was. Finishing looking over the board I turned and made sure to find the direction to the club. When I stepped away from the board a nasty looking Grimmer bumped right into me.

They look like ghosts in shells with stabbing toxic green eyes that are slowly cutting through your soul. He slowly turned to face me giving me that look of death, as if I'm the one who is at fault. It made me freeze because these demons are super violent, and there's no way I'd be able to defend myself. Human-like with a body and stature a bit higher than mine, looking down on me gives him intimidation alright. His face looked like a skull mask with little features of the real thing. A built body with a suit that looks like it is keeping him together. Their main source of life is the dead energy that's brought together to allow it to function. Magical rarities and also taboos, they aren't supposed to exist, but they're symbols of massive deaths. When disasters happen in Earthworld or rogue mages and Hexwitches kill tons of innocent people, you get Grimmers. Normally their eyes are light blue but this one has green and its scarier than the others. I feel more than uncomfortable but I'm still trying my best to not react, he could suck the life completely out of me if he wanted without blinking. Still waiting to see what he was going to do the sweat trailed down my forehead, it itched but I dared not to move. After a few minutes he kept walking, which was a sigh of relief because I had no plan at all. Moving several feet away walking off I took it as my queue to do the same. I stepped three feet forward and got a weird feeling, ducking on instinct a fist came flying over me. Looking up he had returned and decided he wanted a fight; my whole mind went blank as of what to do. Dodging a punch by half cartwheeling sideways I moved out of the way, standing up I was now fully facing the Grimmer. "I didn't say you could move", he snarled at me, keeping his sinister fix into my soul with those eyes. Nowhere near knowing what to say I just kind of stared at him confused, it wasn't make sense to me. Taking slow strides he walked towards me, nothing came to mind as to how I'm going to get out of this. I didn't dare try casting since it hasn't worked, plus I was sure if I did miraculously then I'd be exposed.