I woke up to the sounds of a bustling city. I opened my eyes to see sunlight shining down on me. It seemed to be near mid-day. I stood up from the mud I had been laying in and assessed my surroundings. Haven't woken up in an alleyway in a while. I thought to myself. I took a moment to stretch and walked out of the alley onto the street. Alright, now to the market place. I listened for a moment and followed the loud noise of vendors yelling. It was a short walk from where I had woken up to get to the market. At that point I followed my usual routine, moving though the sea of people to the fruit vendor to snag an apple, and then to the notice board in the middle. I took a bite of my apple and looked at the board from top to bottom. It took me a moment to realize the date. 9th of May, guess I'd better go find Sorin. In order to get into the North District of the city, I'd have to get through the guards. I decided I didn't want to deal with them. I waded through the crowd of people towards The Whore's Tongue, a lesser known pub in the city. I was about to enter, when I remembered Yani wouldn't be there. She had told me the previous night. I walked around the back and then he appeared, seemingly out of thin air. He looked as he always did. Tall (taller than me which was quite tall), pale, neatly worn dark clothes offset by his wildly unkempt red hair, and pale golden eyes.
"We should just break in. I'm sure she wouldn't mind. You just need to go through her basement after all."
"I'm sure you're right, Ori. Anyway, where have you been?"
"I've been with you all the time Corin."
"Oh"
And he was right of course. Ever since I was about 10 Ori had always been there. And he was always the same. As much as I had changed in 6 years, he was always the same. I took a last bite of my apple and threw the core into the street. I quickly scaled the wall to Yani's bedroom window and easily slipped in. Ori was already in the room of course, he had a way of doing that. I stepped out of her room and went down the stairs to the bar.
"You should take a bottle of vodka while you're here, Corin."
"That," I paused for effect, "is a wonderful idea."
I hopped over the bar grabbed a bottle and we continued on to the basement. We got to the basement and I proceeded to open the passage way to the North District.
"You'd better hurry up Cor, wouldn't want to be late."
"He's expecting me to be late. I'll take as long as I like."
Eventually I got the passage open and hopped into the tunnel under the town. It was as boring as always and as always was dark and smelled of mildew. It wouldn't be too long of a walk and with the vodka and Ori to talk to it would be even shorter. We started down the tunnel.
"How bout you open that bottle, Cor. And roll up some Spark if you have any."
"A lovely plan. And you know I always do."
I opened the bottle, took a swig, and passed it to Ori. Then I took a small pouch out of my pocket and a large dried leaf out of another pocket. I quickly dumped some of the Spark from the pouch onto the leaf and rolled up. I put it in my mouth and swiftly lit it with a jet of flame from my finger. And that's how we went. Talking, walking, and passing the vodka and Spark back and forth.
"So, Cor, why is it you're going to see Sorin?"
"Regular monthly check in with him. He likes to make sure I'm not partying too hard or getting into too much trouble. But you already knew that."
"Of course. Back to our topic of last night, have you had any ideas about that girl from the pub last week?"
"We had a conversation last night?" I often didn't remember things when I blacked out, "I still haven't found any leads on her. But I know there's something special about her. Of all the things that happened that night, my short conversation with her is all I remember."
"I'm sure you'll find her." he said as he gave me a reassuring pat on the back.
At this point in our walk I was becoming thoroughly buzzed from the vodka and thoroughly high from the Spark.
"Do you think the gods are really always watching like everyone says. I wonder myself. What if I had met a god without knowing. Just someone I had talked to on the street."
"Oh. That's an interesting question to theorize over. In my opinion, the gods do see everything happen, but not on an individual level. More of they choose an individual to watch on an individual level. And as for them coming to earth I'm sure they do. And as for you having met one I'm sure you have. Almost everyone meets one at some point in their life."
Something about the way he said his last two sentences made me think. What if I really had. We continued on walking for a time and pondering interesting topics all the while.
And then we reached the end of the tunnel. I chugged the last few gulps of the vodka, threw the bottle and climbed back onto the street. It was always quite a difference from the Market District and South District to the North District. The streets of the North District were always so clean with cobbled streets. No grime, no beggars, and the only thieves to be found were the king's advisers. But the people here weren't all bad, and if they were I always found a way to "lightly harass" them.
"Let's get going Cor. Sorin is waiting for you."
So we continued on. It wasn't long before we got to the courtyard of the University where Sorin worked. And as usual he was already there. And also as usual he was burried in a book. I took the opportunity to give him a quick scare. I slowly sneaked up behind him and grabbed the book right out of his hand. He swiftly stood and turned to face me.
"Hello brother. We've arrived."
He looked confused for a moment and then understanding washed over his face, "Oh, right, yes. You have arrived. Still carrying on that act I see. Though it is good to see you."
That's another thing about Ori, I'm the only one who can see him.
I looked at my brother. My twin brother to be exact. He had the same extremely pale blue eyes, light ash gray hair(though his was short and neatly kept), pale skin, and was almost as tall as me.
"I'm glad you've decide to get here," he said seriously, "I have some important news about a job opportunity."
