14) Broken

"What the hell! That is not fair!"

"Hahahaha karma's a b*tch"

Ryker had been so intrigued by Holden's demon affinity that he started pestering him in order to get more information. They had settled on a tavern called "Miracle Nest". It was a tavern run by dwarves. In this world, dwarves produced the best beer. However not every dwarf had the same talent for beer making, this particular tavern was one of those. Compared to the rest of the ones in town, it was almost empty. Here is where Holden usually came.

Holden had opened up to him about his affinity. It was not a secret. Everyone in town knew crazy Holden spoke to demons but he was also one of the most powerful in Feywoods village.

He was telling him how his spells work. He has to make a pact with a demon and then he gains certain abilities from that demon. Just like the huge mouth that came out of his palm and swallowed Ryker's gummy bear. He can also summon the demon as a separate entity. Holden never revealed his level or the Tier of his spells.

Not once did he ask about Ryker's level or spells. Which was very odd to Ryker. He was still figuring out whether to trust him or not. After considering for a while he decided to ask the question which had been bothering him since he left the restaurant.

"Do you happen to know where the Underground Market is?"

"I can't neither confirm nor deny that or wait was it I can neither? Or I can't either? Is it the same thing?"

"Yes it's the same thing" -said Ryker clearly disappointed with the answer he received. He needed to send the Jackalope meet soon if he wanted to go looking for equipment.

"Well, you can go ahead and look for it. I will be here watching my drinking" -as he said that he pulled a mirror out of his spatial ring and he watched himself drink.

Of course, Ryker had only one thought on his mind.

'Yup, he is either crazy or a walking meme'

Ryker walked out of the tavern as the sun was setting. The sky was filled with a neon green glow which slowly turned into blue, purple, and finally setting in black.

'I will never get tired of these sunsets'

Since the first time he saw it, he was dumbfounded. It was one of the prettiest things he had seen. When he was hunting the rabbits and mice, he would stay up late watching the sunset and the stars in the night sky. He would then rise early to watch the sunrise. When he was in the outside world he was a couch potato but inside the game? He would really try his best and give it his all.

He had been slowly disconnecting himself from his own reality. Inside the game he was successful, he was independent, he had strength, purpose. Outside? He was homeless, he had to renounce his rights in order to be able to find an escape. For the last year, he had been tormented with nightmares. There was nothing more he hated than people. They all took advantage of him. He felt used, he felt like an object.

Ryker walked through the town under the stars until he found an inn. As he walked through the door, memories flashed on his mind. The last time he was at a hotel he was being kicked out. He remembered how the people in black suits barged into his room that day. They grabbed him by the arms as he was putting on a shirt and dragged him through the carpeted floor.

His knees had been bleeding when they got to the elevator. Another man had grabbed his backpack and a rubbish bag in which he had put everything that was his. Once they reached the ground floor he was carried like a sack of potatoes by one of the guards. He had not been given time to put his clothes on in the elevator as he had always been held.

Once they were out, the man put him down, he stood there until they threw his belongings at him which made him fall down the stairs. As he remembered the shame his cheeks started burning up. His vision blurred slightly.

He rented a room, he was so in his own world that he didn't hear a word the clerk said. He just grabbed the key and walked to his room. He opened the door with a trembling hand.

As he closed it behind him, he slid down the door and into the floor. He could not go any further. He had been bottling up his feelings so bad that they eventually were out of his control.

He started to break down. Head in between knees. Tears rolling down his face. Not a sound was made. He had no strength left. His facade crumbled due to the weight of his past. He had been pissed at the world. At his parents for abandoning him, at his friends for turning their back on him, at his school for not valuing him enough.

Right now, for some reason, talking with Holden made him realize who he was mad with. He was angry at himself. He had been so selfish, he had been so single-minded, he put his goals before anything else. Holden was this 30 something-year-old man who had so much energy, such vitality, even when the world turned its back on him he didn't even blink. He had himself and his demons. Literally. Yet he seemed happier than what Ryker had ever been in his life.

The clock ticked, time passed, the world moved on, but Ryker did not move from his spot. He was broken. He didn't feel it but he was starting to heal. Slowly his mind was repairing itself. It would take time, but he would eventually smile again. Feel again. Trust again. He would never be the same and he knew it, but right now, under the stars of a ruined world, in the cold night, a teenager took the first step into his destiny.