Chapter 14 The Price of Happiness

Butkis left the room. Atouk came out of hiding.

"We have a lead. What do we do now?"

"I want to check this place out for myself. I'll go tonight. If you follow, I want you to stay as long a distance away as possible. Because it is a secret place, they may be wearier of their surroundings."

"I... Eh. Understood. I will trust you with this. Please be careful."

Atouk let out a sigh and went to sleep on the bed.

I can't sleep during the day, my body just doesn't work like that. I may as well keep searching until I can go to the secret bar.

I lifted the folded paper up so I could read it. I unfolded it twice and the ink was a moving sparkly diamond color on the paper. It was written in Eysian. I did not recognize the word on it. I may be fucked when the time comes if, the word is something that I cant read. The word on the paper began to change. Not only in shape but color too. It was now a purple matte color. It was still shifting around the edges but, I could read this word. The word was "Book." Maybe It won't be so bad after all.

I re-folded the paper and shoved it into an unused pocket. I've been lucky that no one has tried to pick my pockets yet. Go figure if they snagged that paper while going for coin. I made my way out to the bar and diner inside the brothel. I wanted to taste something good this morning so I stayed in the bar and diner for breakfast. There was a simple menu to point at with generic hand-drawn pictures on the counter.

"This one please."

The burley barkeep must have been off today. The one behind the counter was a skinny flamboyant young guy. He had light-blue hair. I wondered if he was related to Butkis.

"Oh wow, That is an excellent selection by our wonderful guest!"

He 'has' to be related. I sat down to wait for my food to be delivered to me. I heard someone begin to yell.

"Shesh mine, I paid for her and I want my moneysh worth!"

"Berry! Berry! He hurt me. It hurts! Help me!"

I began to stand up. Butkis walked over there right away.

"My patron. It has come to my attention that you are abusing your rights here, beyond what is acceptable. I must as you to leave at once under the threat of force."

He was calm. The drunk man looked twice my size and almost triple the size of Butkis.

"You can't khick me hout! I paid goodgh coin to be here an I cnn do whatevers I want wiff er."

His slow, slurred speech was not winning any prizes. His speech may have been slowed but he got a quick punch out toward Butkis. It missed and before I even knew he was there, the burly barkeep had the drunk in the air and was mid-run to the front door in the blink of an eye. The barkeep was not in uniform. He got to the front door first with his left hand to push it open and easily threw the man with his right, through the door. The drunk must have flown 20 feet before landing.

This barkeep is a beast. The large man walked back to the young girl. She looked similar to the other girl who gave me a back massage. Were they sisters?

"Thank you, Berry."

She hugged him. So, the bartender is Berry. I should remember that.

Butkis began to walk toward me.

"I'm sorry for the interruption. The food will be on the house by the way. As compensation for the rude customer, I'll have the cook add something extra to your dish."

"Thank you. Must be a relief to have Berry around for situations like this."

"Oh yes indeed. I think his presence has saved my brothel, many a time. Enjoy your meal and your day."

Crap. I just realized that I got used to hearing his voice. It does not sound annoying anymore. And I haven't snorted at his name recently, either. As long as he does not try anything stupid, I guess Butkis is okay by me.

I finished my breakfast. It was good. I was full and satisfied.

I roamed around the upper roads that day. This day ended no better off than others. My only advantage today was the piece of paper I had in my pocket.

It was starting to get dark. I began my descent down the screw mountain. By the time I got to the bottom, night had taken over the day. It was probably not exactly safe out now. My immortality allowed me a calm demeanor. In the worst-case scenario, I lose the coin and the paper while regenerating wounds.

I made my way over to the edge of the forest in the southwest. Being on the edge of the road felt dumb. I was a beacon to thieves while I just stood there. I entered the forest to wait. After a few hours, I saw lights go on in the secret bar. I decided to wait a little while longer. I watched as 7 men intermittently wandered over to the entrance and went in.

My time was now. I walked up to the entrance and took the paper out before knocking.

"Password!"

The stern voice surprised me since I had not even knocked yet. I unfolded the paper and read the word allowed.

"Axe"

In no time flat, I got a response.

"Wrong. Get out of here."

I looked at the paper again. Did I mix up the word? No this has to be axe.

Wait. The color, it's gold.

"Gold Axe."

This time there was no response. Did I fuck up already?

I heard a click. The door began to open. A large man opened the door and moved to the side, allowing me a path inside.

I walked in. It was smaller than I was expecting. Maybe some shady backrooms for shady deals. The main room was crowded with the 7 men who entered and the 3 who must have already been here from the start.

One sat on a back wall. Another was behind the bar and the third was the man at the door.

I noticed that a paper similar to mine was pinned on the wall next to the door. I looked at my paper real quick. It was the same. They all change at the same time and the doorman has his own. That must be how it works.

"A newbie EH! Get over ere and siddown!"

He sounded drunk but also like he was having fun.

"Garret! Get tha newbie shome ale!"

All the visitors were sitting around a large circular table sipping on various mugs of alcohol. Several mugs were empty already. I made my way over and sat next to the happy drunk.

"You not only a newbie, I dunt know you 'tall. Yer not frum around here, Is ya?"

"No, I was born elsewhere, I wanted to find my roots in the last human city."

"Roots ee says."

They all busted up laughing.

"I got roots fer yas. COMMON, COMMON! Bring that ale over ere already Garret!"

The barkeep was neither happy nor angry. He was just doing a job, I suppose. He made his way over. The happy drunk nabbed the mug from Garret's hand. Some spilled on the head of one of the other men. He brought it over and slammed it down in front of me.

"Drink up. We be a group o' happy people. We all get our drinksh an have a good ole time. Ash long as yer appy, yooll fit ri..., 'hic' right in."

I sipped on the ale before me. I was never fond of regular beer back home. This tasted okay.

A different drunk chimed in.

"Ee takes a sip? Ahh siiiipp? Oh da behbeh sooo Keyooot."

They all busted out in laughter again. What he said to me was not funny, how he said it was a bit amusing.

I took his words as a challenge. I lifted my mug up to my mouth and took a couple of large gulps before setting it down.

More laugher, as though the challenge was met. These men seemed like good company. I had not thought about my objective. I was just trying to fit in for now. Maybe I could bring it up another night.

We laughed and shared stories. One man told the story of how he lost his leg. I thought it was horrible but he laughed the hardest when he finished. It was almost infectious.

I had had four more mugs of ale before I realized it.

"MORE ALE FOR THA NEWBIE!"

"Not until he pays his tab. Unless one of you wants to pony up."

They got quiet.

"How much?"

I asked.

"97 copper."

The barkeep must not trust me. I drank and didn't laugh.

I pulled out two silver and threw them at him. He caught one and the other landed in an empty mug.

"There is some extra for an advance tab."

"AAYYY!"

They all yelled in excited unison before laughing again.

Eventually, I noticed I was smiling right along with them. I have no idea how long I had been there. I lost track. Maybe 30 minutes, maybe two or three hours.

Not once did anyone get angry. I felt this was a good crowd.

They finally convinced me to tell a story of my own. I didn't have to tell them where I was, just what had happened.

I decided to tell them about a time when I was running backward.

"I ran faster an faster. I couldn't see where I was goin. I jus knew I was goin up hill. I ran backward as fast as I could. I fell back and, instead o jus landin flat on my back, I rolled up onto my head an landed flat on my stomach."

More laugher filled the room.

"I got up an looked aroun to see if anyone saw what happen. I walked like normal, pretendin nothin ever happen."

I could hardly hear myself think amongst their laughter. I let out a small chuckle. It felt like the room was spinning or moving.

"The bes part... I did it right in front of tha girl I had my eyes on for some time."

They wouldn't let the laugher die down for a good while. I began chuckling with them.

The room was shaking again. It must be because of my drinking that I feel this way.

We heard a few more stories before the night was almost over.

"Okay, you bums. A few more stories, then you gotta go."

The man in the back spoke for the first time.

"What happened next?"

Atouk asked.

His question interrupted my tale of what happened the night before. I tried my best to remember the rest.

"The next story was a bit of a blur. I remember... They began laughing again after that final story. Something just really hit me and I began laughing wholeheartedly.

It was the first time since before I came here. The wind began to blow against the bar, violently. The three men that were overseeing us looked worried."

"I remember those winds. They came out of nowhere."

I brought my hand up to feel my head. It was covered in blood.

"I just couldn't stop laughing. After a bit, I listened. I heard no one's laughter but my own. I had my eyes closed while I laughed. When I opened them to see why they had stopped laughing, there was no one. I could hear the wind more clearly for some reason. There was a draft. The door was closed. I looked down and there was blood all around my feet. Their bodies were all on the floor, every one of them. I was surrounded by blood and bodies. I was laughing with them one moment and the next they were dead. I didn't even know it. I saw holes in the walls. Like blades were thrown through. Even the thickest of walls was pierced."

I looked down at my stomach. There were 3 holes in my shirt, where the edges were covered in dark red stains on my red shirt.

My own blood.

The wounds have already healed.

"Go ahead. Continue, Lake."

"These wounds were probably numbed by the alcohol. I didn't feel them when it happened. I reached down to grab the hand of the man that was sitting next to me. He was dead. There was a hole straight through his head. Before I could examine my surroundings further, the ground shook violently. I heard rumbling and cracking of the earth around me."

Atouk shook his head.

"I saw the ground crumble into the ravine. How could this happen?"

"When the ground shook, the entire building began rolling backward. First, the north wall was down, then the ceiling was down. The floor of the building was above me and began to crumble down on top of me. My right arm and both legs were crushed. I had to tear away from loose flesh to get out. I lost the spare gold and silver that I had brought with me and the paper that Butkis gave me. Most of my pants and the sleeve of my shirt are still down there in the rubble."

"Don't worry about the coin or the paper. They are replaceable. We still have plenty of gold here, too."

"When I was climbing out, I found the torso of the man that lost his leg. I recognized the jacket he had on. I saw something shining in his jacket pocket. I reached in. It was a similar piece of paper to the one we had before but not. It had four different words on it. I took it Just in case. I managed to climb out of the bar debris and over boulders as my limbs were re-growing. I hid and waited for my body to regenerate fully before I went through the forest to the south. I followed the edge of the lower slums in the forest to avoid causing a commotion. Most of the people that were awake were by the devastation. When I managed to get to the far east of the slums, I ran here as fast as I could."

*Knock knock*

"I have your new clothes for you, Sir."

The young girl from before. Atouk hid under the bed again.

"Come in."

I called out to her.

She came in and saw the state of me. She dropped the clothes and ran over. She placed her hand on my face.

"Oh no. Oh no. Are you okay? You must be so hurt, you're covered in blood and your clothes are shredded!"

I gently grabbed her wrist and pulled it away from me.

"Really, I'm okay. If you could, please ask Berry to start some hot water for a bath, I could really use one right now."

She stood up in a hurry.

"Right away!"

She picked up the clothes and placed them down on the bed beside me before she ran out the door.

Atouk reappeared.

"She cares for you."

"I don't see why. We only talked a few times."

"Still."

We both stared at the door for a minute.

"How did this happen? Do you have any clue? Was it an attack?"

"The wind."

"Wind? The wind was an attack?"

"After thinking back. I remembered something. Ever since I came into contact with the potion of Rage, there have been strange occurrences. Wind blowing, trees dyeing, earth-shaking. I noticed that the wind and earthquakes would be present when I am in a happy mood. Do you think the potion has other effects besides power with anger?"

He shook his head.

"I do not know. I have never heard of such a thing happening."

"Every time I was happy and let out a small laugh, either the earth would shake or the wind would blow. I think I witnessed another event that may be related to the potion as well. I saw a shadow creature in the ocean after we fought the giants. I think the potion of Rage has more to it than what we know."

"You should be careful. Maybe try to keep your emotions to yourself, for now. I have a bad feeling."

*Knock knock*

"Sir? We brought the water for your bath."

Atouk was already gone.

"Come in."

Just like last time Berry and the young girl came in. He filled the tub and left. The young girl stayed again.

"Would you like any other services? Would you like me to wash you in the tub?"

Honestly, I wanted to say yes to the wash. Atouk would probably not enjoy the company though.

"No, no. Nothing extra today. I'm sorry. I would tip you and Berry but, I don't have any extra coin at the moment. By the way, I know Berry's name, what is yours? If you don't mind me asking."

She looked embarrassed.

"Oh no, I never told you my name. I'm so sorry! I am Jezzy. If you see another girl that looks like me, She is Jazzy. We are sisters and Berry is our brother."

"I see, that makes sense. I saw Berry help Jazzy out, yesterday morning."

"Yup, that was her."

"Well. Thank you Jezzy. I'm just gonna take my bath now. I'll try to get you a tip next time."

"You are always so kind to us. Please be safe and don't hesitate to ask for assistance."