Snippet #1906909

Streets of Xi' Mael

Hours had passed and Shadow was now on foot in the empty streets in the wee hours of the morning when the sun had yet to peek over the horizon. The buildings were passing by more quickly than he expected, and he realized that he had in fact been daydreaming for most of the last hour. He looked around and got his bearings, recognizing a specific building he had mentally marked earlier in the week which told him he was near the far eastern edge of the city.

He saw a bar that was still open with a few people in it a short distance away and decided to walk inside for a drink of water.

Boldar's Bar

As he entered the room he donned a crude hood he'd fashioned for his jacket which had previously been tucked under the collar to hide his eyes from the candle light so he didn't scare anyone. As the door creaked open several heads shifted in his direction, each one with either a scowl or a stupid grin adorning their features. He walked straight to the first empty table he saw to his right near the door and a window and sat down.

An attractive young waitress approached him slowly, apprehension swallowing her otherwise beautiful features as she obviously was not comfortable with so many strange and drunk men in the bar at this time of early morning.

"May I help you?" She asked quietly in a sweet and high pitched voice.

Shadow looked up at her from under the hood, his eyes still hidden from view and spoke in a soft, low voice.

"Water."

She nodded to him and walked to the barkeeper, telling him what Shadow had asked for. There were a few laughs from around the bar when the word "water" reached their ears. While the barkeeper never the less complied with the request, a couple of the other men in the bar stood up and walked over to him. The one on the far left was drunk off his ass and no real threat in his condition. The one in the middle was quite clear headed and obviously a well trained fighter given his build and his muscle tone. The third one on the right was almost drunk, but had enough of a clear mind to understand that his friends wanted to pick on someone.

"Well, wot 'ave we here lads?" The man in the center asked.

"I'm figurin we got us a newbie there boss!" The drunk on the left replied.

"So what should we do with 'em boss?" The one on the right asked.

"Well there mate! Wot say you? Wanna 'ave a real drink wiv us?" He asked while he leaned in to within a few inches of Shadow's face.

Shadow himself listened to the irritating questions and glared at the leader from under his hood. He knew that it would be a bad idea to do such a thing, but he decided to do it anyway. He lifted his hood back about two inches, though he kept it on, and allowed the candle light to shine on his eyes as the men all leaned in. The two who were drunk backed away immediately, but the leader simply laughed at him and knocked the hood completely back off his head.

"C'mon! Ya gotta do better 'n that!" He laughed.

"Looks like we got ourselves another "Red-Eyed Demon" 'ere fellas! C'mon! Let's rough him up and show 'im wot 'appened ta the last "Demon" wot came 'round these parts!"

The other men gathered confidence at his words and moved in, ready to fight. The barkeeper and his waitress both stepped away to the corner of the room as Shadow prepared himself for something rather unpleasant. The leader came in first, swinging a wild punch with his right hand at Shadow's head. Shadow simply turned in his chair so that his body was at a forty five degree angle away from his attackers and brought his open hand up and caught the punch. Despite the fact that he was sitting in a chair, both his feet were on the ground and his shoulders and hips were aligned with his hand for maximum absorption of the blow.

The punch stopped cold a few inches away from Shadow's head, catching the attacker off guard. Shadow took the opportunity to quickly backhand the man in the Philtrum just under the nose. The blow was fast and hard, and the shock to his brain caused him to lose consciousness almost immediately. He dropped to the ground and his friends, who had yet to sober up, still came at him on both sides. Shadow stayed in his chair and leaned back on the hind legs, allowing the two men to fall forward without a target for their fists to land on. He reached out and punched both men in the bottom corner of their jaws, snapping the thin bones along the side and dislocating both on contact. Had they too not lost consciousness as quickly as they did, they would have been writhing on the floor in agony as the wound was so close to the brain.

He reached up and caught them in his arms as they started to fall and set them down gently on the floor at his feet on top of their "boss". He put his hood back on his head and looked to the waitress who was holding his water. She immediately knew what he wanted and she trotted over to give him his drink. He took the water from her and drank it in a few big gulps. After handing it back to her he stood up and dragged the three unconscious men into an empty booth on the other side of the room, all propped up in seated positions as they slept off their drinks. Shadow turned back to the woman for a moment and stared at her, watching as she stared back with fearful eyes.

"If anyone asks, these men got too drunk and passed out. Do you understand?" He asked in a low voice.

She blinked for a moment and nodded to him.

"O-of course." She said hesitantly.

Shadow nodded back to her and scanned the room for a moment, the other men avoiding his gaze while the barkeeper looked at him somewhat suspiciously. He knew it wouldn't do to stay any longer than this so he took his leave and walked outside.

Streets of Xi' Mael

As he stepped outside he looked down into an alleyway just a short distance away and decided to check inside it. When he walked up to the entrance, his eyes drew him to a little girl hiding in a large cardboard box who trembled with uncontrollable fear. He was not much for helping people, as he didn't know what they'd need to feel better, but something told him to help this child.

He walked forward and knelt down in front of the box as the girl looked up at him and turned away out of fear. He placed his hand on the young girl's back, receiving a whimper of fright in response. He rubbed her back for a moment and she turned her head to look at him again. He did his best to smile for her, as he knew she could see his red eyes from under the hood. Neither knew quite what to do at that point, so Shadow took the first step.

"Are you here alone or do you have a family to go home to?" He asked quietly.

She looked innocently up at him and turned to face him while sitting down cross legged. She didn't say anything for a moment, but then she finally spoke up.

"My mommy and me got separated when we ran from the big boom earlier. I don't know where mommy is, but I want my mommy!" She said.

Shadow sighed, more to himself than to her, and stood up. He held her hand and made her stand up with him as he walked her down the street to the first clinic he saw. There were no churches in the immediate area, nor were there any inns or taverns he'd care to place her in so the clinic had to do.

Unnamed Clinic

Once inside he looked over at the first nurse who walked out of the back room to greet them and waved her down.

"This child has been separated from her mother. Could you look after her?" He asked.

The nurse smiled at him and nodded.

"Of course we can. Come here sweet heart." She said sweetly to the girl who came forward and took her hand.

"Thank you for bringing her here. We'll put the word out first thing in the morning when the doctor comes in at sunup. She'll be back with her mother soon." She said cheerfully.

Shadow bowed to her and walked outside.

Streets of Xi' Mael

Helping children was not a common thing for him, but it felt good to know that the girl still had her mother to go home to. Shadow had no such luxuries in life, and so when he had the chance to help people evade the pain he felt every day he took it. He didn't know what else he could do at the moment, as he was growing rather weary. He decided that the best thing to do would be to find a place to rest for the night until the sun came up in the next few hours. The rest wouldn't be as long as he'd like, but it would be welcome none the less.

He scaled the nearest building and found a nice spot tucked out of sight of anyone below and sat down and fell asleep. The sun would wake him once it hit his face, and when that happened he would be able to continue the hunt once his body had some time to rest.