Bystander

It was a stench. A fragrant scent of decaying matter pushing down through his nostrils.

Leon instinctively tried to move away, only to realize he had no feeling of his body. Leon couldn't even tell whether it was dark, he went blind or had his eye's shut.

It didn't react. Otherwise, he would have puked several times already.

That peculiar feeling. Discomfort intense enough to cause pain, yet not too overwhelming leaving him fully aware and capable of thought.

It went on and on, for who knows how long without any change. Frustration and fear began to amass inside Leon's heart.

What was that thing's game?

"Was it some sort of devil?" Leon wondered. The course of events that took place before he lost consciousness was pretty weird.

"Oh, really mr. obvious" Leon berated himself. but didn't that orb promised him some sort of job in exchange for safety. Did he turn desperate enough to imagine it all? Well, pain is real. That's for sure.

Perhaps he has already died, and that whole charade was a prelude to his eternal punishment. Leon never actually cared about the afterlife nor was particularly religious. His...parents attended church from time, probably. He wasn't sure. But if there was some bigger event they would always be present given Leon had to come too, hence he knew.

Still, even with his limited knowledge, Leon wouldn't say he deserved such punishment, or at least shouldn't be the only one to suffer it. Perhaps it was simply a part of the transition or something magical and he should just wait.

And so he waited...

Beside's Leon just played the rich game and got the short end of the stick. Every participant knew the only way to win is to destroy the opponents, so it's not like other's were better

And so he waited

"Heck, if you threw a rock at them you would be sure to hit rapist or pedo." Le was probably the best or at least one of the better ones.

And so he waited

A weird tingle started growing inside Leon. Soon he started to repeat various prayers he heard in the past. Holes in his memory, Leon mended with anything that sounded about right like Marilin instead of Mary.

A part of Leon mocked him for being such a coward but soon was squashed down as "It's not like saying a bunch of phrases would hurt him or something."

And so he prayed.

Soon Leon was out of every prayer, so he started all over again, now with greater confidence.

By the time he started the tenth round he forgot few sentences here and there, so he focused only on those texts he remembered most of.

By the thirtieth he every sentence was a spaghetti of several different prayers. Leon decided to focus solely on the one he still had the best grasp of.

By the hundredth cycle, all Leon could do was he begged with desperately repeating "Father Almighty".

.

..

...

But no one came.

Suddenly a seed of anger and shame sprouted inside. Realizing how much Leon let himself be belittled and that proudly fuck of still did nothing made him tremble from anger. A long-gone sense of control came back, even if for a moment.

"Don't I deserve at least a fair judgment before you sentence me!" He screamed inside. " Fair judgment.. hah that's a good one. I wouldn't let you operate a fucking no to mention judging others " With each word soothing sensation washed over Leon strengthening him up further.

" Wouldn't it be nice to at least read out the charges like you know the real court does? "

He didn't get a response, which was logical given he owned so hard this bluish snowflake is surely melting right now.

"Beside's you sure have some guts to sentence others when even a fraction of your fucking space Jezus power could make the world better, but now. You too proudy to move your divine ass to actually help us, mere lowlifes."

Raw power of fact and logic boosted his spiritual brain juices making him go even further.

"You're not love, justice, or any other sweetened crap. You're a tyrant who is even to lazy to just move its ugly ass at least once to show such a piece of shit could even exist because saving someone who had belive in something different thanks to culture and other things people doesn't have control over, and because of you, he will suffer because of you privileged-proudly-entitled-karen-ass. "

As he was ranting full-on, a fire of determination lit up inside his soul. Heat gradually spread further and beyond, giving Leon more and more control over his body.

Shaking Leon gradually pushed himself up, breathing heavily from the exertion. His hand felt something hard and cold he instantly grabbed to help himself stand up.

"That's right, and before you begin to torture me again, I shall finish my statement."

Leon slowly rose up, fighting for every inch up.

"On behalf of entire humanity, I tell you to GO FUCK YOURSELF!!!" Leon screamed, now with his mouth, and fell forward, as it turned out he was grabbing a knob of a door which under his weight opened wide.

Leon fell on the grass and tightly hugged the earth itself in euphory.

"Mommy what's wrong with that mister."

"Don't look at him. It will happen to you too if you go down the wrong path."

Leon lifted his head.

It was a bright afternoon. A dozen of meters of grass away lied muddy road with crude wooden houses lining behind. In the middle, a mature woman wearing a long skirt and headkerchief covered her daughter's eyes. Realizing Leon gazed at her she walked away as fast as she could, pulling her daughter behind to disappear beyond the fence blocking the view on the rest of the street. Few other people passing by also got interested and now stared directly at him.

Leon picked himself up and slowly retreated behind the wooden door again.

"Well, perhaps I got a bit too emotional" He concluded and decided to inspect the small cottage to wait out the commotion. With the things he had experienced since that damn phone rung up, he would be satisfied to at least get to know his whereabouts and hopefully end the day in a clean bed.

Place turned out to be a latrine.

A crude imitation of a toilet bowl, with suspicious stains all over it just a few inches from the place of ground he laid on. Well, at least that explained the smell.

"But on the other hand" Leon wondered. "Isn't it weird that he was there all the time and no one came? Given the medieval cosplay character of that women's garments and lack of modern technology around, he would expect someone to come to relieve themselves.

Leon half-opened the door to get some knowledge of his surroundings. Latrine was situated on a small fenced plot of land with a big two-story building in the middle. Shadows of people inside sometimes flashed behind small windows, Leon would bet it was an inn or something like that.

Now, the fact no one came over was even more suspicious. He doubted a medieval-style building had any plumbing let alone anything resembling a toilet inside, besides for what other reason someone would place such ugly shed in the first place.

"Did that thing stopped time only to make his suffer" Leon couldn't wrap his around it. And so he was now even more worried about being a delivery boy even until he find a way to get his freedom back.

Leon now examined himself.

Instead of his previous garment, he wore a long jacket over a loose white shirt, together with a simple cloak, thin leather gloves, and tight pants. At least he didn't look too much out of place. All that without any fancy modern zips, instead kept in place by a belt with several things attached.

What grabbed his attention was a small piece of paper pressed in between a small sheath with a dagger inside and a pleasurably heavy pouch.

"Welcome aboard in sovereign venerated great divine god-emperor yada yada inc" it read.

"Your first task is to make sure that the whole city shall tomorrow talk about what is going to happen in the Hangman inn, which should be on your left, or on the right if you're throwing your guts out right now. Sorry for the smell by the way."

"You're allowed to make full use of the funds provided to you, and in case something might, will, is going wrong please stab someone with the provided dagger or anything. Just stab them. Stab them to death."

"Let's change this world together!"

Yikes. Leon didn't even want to know a reason why killing someone might be a good idea. Good, he didn't have to kill anyone at least.

Leon checked the blade. A simple but solid tool and that would be all. He took a swing for a try, aiming at one of the walls. With a *thomp* blade bounced back in sending unpleasant vibrations across his arm.

Should he stab instead? Entire Leon's combat experience consisted of about a year of jumping from one martial school to another during his Bruce Lee faze. While he had gained some experience, the most valuable lesson he had received was to never engage someone with a baseball bat without anything besides bare fists.

Leon furrowed his brows. Reminding himself of that moron he once wasn't a pleasant thing, especially now. Pretending he could be some kind of hero was a childish and naive thing same as those movies selling the false fantasy, "but" he wondered if the place he landed in was a fantasy land which the existence of orb indicates, then who knows...what kinds of powers lay within him.

His power laid in brains not muscles, therefore he was more interested in the contents of the purse.

It was full of what appeared to be money. Most of them were small droplets, literally pieces of small metal pieces in the shape of falling water and bigger smooth balls. Each having that characteristic gleam indicating copper.

Less frequent were golden circles and silver squares both in two sizes. First ones bore the most resemblance to his homeworld, planet, or wherever it was, being typical coins, with smaller having a maggot or bird on both sides and bigger with both images morphed into one.

On the other hand, silver ones were devoid of any engravings, all being a square with a hole in the middle differing only in width.

While Leon was examining the purse's insides, suddenly something sharp pricked his finger. Leon instinctively backed his hand but led by curiosity dived again to fish out three peculiar objects.

Small, cube-like, finger-sized containers filled with some sort of liquid inside. . One was reddish, the other one golden, with last having a slight tint of blue, each emanating light correspondent to their color.

The glass itself was covered in a web of gold forming various scenes on each side, the only exception being now blooded portrait of a man in robes holding a pointy adorned staff and orb floating over him. One such side on each cube.

Leon's guest was first what came to his mind. "Is it some sort of good here? But wait, wouldn't it make it all convoluted even more." All that mysteries only gave him more headache. He needed more information before figuring it out.

Leon hung put the purse back, took a deep breath, and came out again. Fortunately no one took notice of him this time.

Leon opened heavy doors. An odor of unwashed bodies welcomed him right away. One would expect that after his experiences his no smell would affect him but it seems each one needs separate resistance.

In pair with smell came interesting individuals. Main hall itself was pretty dark in spite of windows, with most light coming from a big chandelier, completely out of place. Wooden floor long lost its original color, leaving a grey chipped platform on which crude benches and tables were placed. Surprisingly the ceiling was really high making the place itself feel pretty vast, reminding Leon of those old small churches.

The individual behind the counter was unfitting to the picture. From afar he looked like a human being just in real need of shaving. A bulky, bald man in a vest with an eye patch focused solely on cleaning a giant mug with a piece of cloth. At the second glance, Leon realized his hands weren't actual hands but a collection of separate furry brown tentacles which wriggled under each move, revealing gaps between each one. And that was the least worrying thing.

While Leon didn't take a good look at city dwellers during his "outburst" he was pretty sure it didn't look like a furry convention.

Most of the patrons had features previously unseen by Leon. Whether it was a tail, hoofs, or animal ears in milder cases or being reptilian in those more severe.

Leon could take a good look at everyone without raising unwanted attention, thanks to a massive fight taking place. Some furniture was mowed away to make a stage for two individuals, he couldn't exactly see killing each other.

For a moment Leon wondered if that was that event, but it seemed to be a routine here.

"What a lovely place" He muttered and discretely moved to a counter. He needed to blend in, and get a basic understanding of the currency. Here and now his ineptness shouldn't cause an unnecessary scene.

Before he could reach the counter Bartender at him up and rushed out. Leon backed off, after brief shock realizing he wasn't the target.

"That's enough." Bartender's hand sprouted into several tentacles dragging back a young woman. Her entire body or at least places not covered by a thick fur outfit had a number of small black scales embedded into her skin, especially around the fists which effect could be seen on the other fighter's face.

"Hein, it's not your business." She scoffed as she tried to free herself.

"Yes, it's between us" Surprisingly her opponent, a teen with a roguish spark in his eye suddenly changed sides, getting his loose shirt and torn trousers entangled in other limb in the process. At least he was human, although a grey one.

"Exactly man. I have half of my pay at stake. Have some chill, my friend." An older bearded man, sitting in the corner took a swig of his drink spilling at least half on his way to his small coat.

"Nen, Izrel both of you shut up. I'm not sure if you're unwilling or too dumb to understand. Have a problem? Deal with it like a civilized person, not a bloody animal, and you" He looked at Kolner who literally shrunk down, and with newfound curiosity began examining his drink. People realized the fun was over and set the tables again.

"Isn't it green coat's job to prevent any brawls Kolner?" Hein didn't wait for a response. In one swift motion, Nen and Izrel were released, and still on the floor were thrown pieces of cloth to wipe off blood under Hein's watch.

"What can I get you" While Leon was preoccupied with eavesdropping, a barmaid appeared behind the counter and now stared at him with her cold green eyes. Having seen already a good amount of fantasy races, Leon wouldn't expect that his own would be the most terrifying. He couldn't tell what, but something was wrong with that short blonde in a maid-ish set. He was pretty sure he didn't saw her among others earlier.

Well, he had met a walking tentacle fetish already, so who knows what secret this lady hides.

"Please Ignore them." She followed his gaze and with a sigh asked again for order, although for some reason Leon had a feeling that for a split second she looked somewhere behind his back before continuing to stare into his soul.

"I'm open to suggestions." His very honest cheerful smile was met with gave a smiled receiving a cold stare as a response.

"Sure, 3 droplets" Barmaid nodded and took a mug from under the counter. But before she began to pour brown foamy liquid from the barrel behind she peeked at that point behind his back once again. Now Leon was intrigued too.

Taking the opportunity, Leon discretely peeked behind while fiddling with his pouch. Leaning against the wall was a mysterious figure. Wearing a long cape a slim figure fiddled with a knife while observing him from under the hood.

Ignoring a shiver coming down his spine Leon took out a smaller gold coin and put it on the counter. For a moment barmaid seemed dumbfounded about the coin, before exchanging it for 9 balls and 5 droplets which found their way to Leon's pouch with nice *cling*.

Leon headed to the less packed part of the hall, taking a bench near Kolmer. He knew from his own experience a drunk would be much easier to manipulate and get some knowledge from.

He took a sip of the beverage and wincing under its power proceeded to check his surrounding for any changes.

Barmaid had already left the counter, relieved by Hein who dragged ruffians with him to berate them in between orders she brought. Hodded mystery still leaned at the same piece of wall, now on his left, observing him.

Right now that was the most important problem. Is it aware of his origins? Is it connected to the event and suspicious of the newcomer, or perhaps he is somehow a part of it. If it's not for the supreme-venerated-something-orb and smaller amount of people outside he would gladly leave, but right now the only way was gathering information and hoping he will be an observer, not a part of the whole mess.

A sudden creak grabbed his attention. Doors behind the counter opened, revealing a pair of cat ears. A moment later Leon the rest came into full view.

"It was based, gramps. Don't be such tight-ass." A child's voice rang, from behind Hein "I.I mean.. you know what I mean gramps" Little girl stuttered as Hein turned, but suddenly his terrifying aura he emanated before, turned into a sort of smile and understanding.

Hein knelled and pat the girl on her long shiny dark hair. "Based or not these troublemakers are stubborn enough to kill each other anyway."

"Oh, yeah and I was born yesterday. Nice to meet you I'm Nen. Ouch !" Both Nen and Izrel got smacked again.

"Can't you keep your arse shut at least once?" Hissed Ezrel. And both got smacked again.

"I know big sister and brother aren't that smart.. but Ya can't become better at beating a crap without beating a crap out of someone." Both Nen and Ezrel first collapsed, then proudly puffed their chests to be ignored by everyone.

"There are different kinds of strength Lisu" Hein stood up. "and while it's good to know how to handle a certain type of customers" Hein looked back at young brawlers. There are enough musclebrains around already, but hardworking folk are in short supply.

"I know I know Gramps." She rolled her eyes. " Making beer and counting money is okay but I want to be strong in the future too. Strong, like bro and sis or even more" Lisu clenching her little fist.

"We will talk about it when the right time comes. For now" Hein stood up. "How about making a pie, an apple pie."

"Yes!" As if she instantly forgot what they've been talking about Lisa rushed to the backroom humming "apple pie". Visibly in a better mood, Hein turned back to Nen and Ezrel.

"You two are dismissed. Just don't wreck anything again." and went back to serving. But Lisu for some reason stopped at the doorstep. "but, I don't think there is enough apples to make enough pie for us and the Mr. guest"

Hein froze. "What gue-. Ah, no there's no need. These two deserve a bit less today" Something in his demeanor changed. Same with Nen and Izrel. Leon wasn't sure if it was just a hunch or some orb magic but he was sure Hein tensed up.

"Miss Hertenmore, could you take over the bar for a moment." Hein nodded at the barmaid who without a word took his place.

"You two, come for a word." He closed the door behind him, leaving Leon with a burning curiosity. Leon took another sip to bury it.

"Interesting isn't ? " Bitchi'n is in Hofer's nature, but today he's going all out on these poor youngsters." Leon looked up. A hooded figure now stood mere inches from him, yet for unknown he couldn't see as much as her face.

"Oh, where my manners. Vera Larette." She proceeded to shook his hand vigorously, then seated herself opposite to him. "Hope you don't mind if I lay my old bones here"