Dent in the floor

Two hours later, the gates were opened and a man was discovered there, dirty and sleeping on his belonging. He had a wet rag in front of his nose and mouth. His head was covered with a hood.

Somebody kicked his leg.

The sleeping guy then flinched and woke with a start. His eyes were wide as saucers as he looked around, his arm had moved instantly to his side, retrieving a knife and taking up a defensive stance.

The people there jumped away in fright. They were guards of this city but they have never encountered a man who was a beast in nature. They felt that they had encountered something they shouldn't have.

The beast-like man's eyes narrowed, and he lowered his knife and put it back to its proper place, always at a perfect reaching distance.

The men had, for some unknown reason, forgotten that they held powerful weapons themselves, but the man had felt like a weapon itself not just its wielder.

One man stepped forward and introduced himself.

"Hello traveler, I am Motrin, one of the guards of Maple City. May I escort you inside?"

The man's eyes narrowed to even thinner slits.

"Where might you be escorting me?" the man's voice sounded for the first time. It sounded younger than he looked.

"... any entering newcomer is to be taken to an Administrative Office to determine the purpose of their visit," he informed.

"Is that so? Then lead the way. Ah, wait a bit!" The dirty man then proceeded to haul his pack onto his back.

The guards looked at the man and were astonished that he could do that and still walk with such a big bag. A few guards followed after the stranger, just in case he turned out to be dangerous. Not that they believed that they would be any match for him.

He was led to a building just past the gates. It was a stone building with thick walls and small windows. The doors were carved with the pattern of maple leaves and felt strong as the walls. Considering that the wood had iron or some kind of metal imbued in them, then that was a given.

He was led inside, it looked rather controversial. The outside looked like from medieval times, but the inside looked like modern-day earth. It was very confusing but he couldn't let that show on his face.

He was taken to a clerk working behind a desk. She had a keyboard in front of her and a flat wood-looking screen in front of her. It was black and something glowing on the bottom side of it. Projecting the info on the tablet.

The man was very curious about everything in this place, but he could not show his interest yet.

He stands there, in the middle of the room, the attendant didn't look up from her work and thus, the man decided to demand attention. He suddenly let go of the bag on his back and it fell with a resounding thud.

THUD!

It was heavy and it landed on the floor with an enormous sound. The sound reverberated through the whole building, and everything suddenly stopped. Everyone in the building looked around to find the source of that sound, but the people in the room with the traveler were staring at him with open mouths. Even the busy attendant had stopped her busy fingers and looked up.

"So, I finally have your attention," a smirk had formed on the dirt-covered man's face.

"Hmph," the attendant lady cleared her throat, "May I incur of the ... " she looked at the guard, who just shook his head, "purpose of your visit?" she asked with a friendly tone.

"Yes, you may," the man gestured toward the bag, "I came to trade the content of my bag."

"Can we know what your bag contains?" she hesitantly asked. She didn't know why, but she felt scared of the man even though he had done nothing to scare her, except the heavy bag.

"Skins," he stated.

"Skins?" she didn't understand.

"You know the corps outside?" Liam asked in explanation.

"Yes, the Purple Runner."

"Ahh, is that its name?" he laughed out loud, "I have about five of those and a bunch of others," another statement, that left the room speechless.

The attendant was the first to recover.

"How did you acquire those?"

"Does that matter?"

"No."

"Then can you lead me to where I can sell or trade them?"

"Ah, not yet sir, I have to register you first."

"Is that necessary?"

The attendant looked at the guard whose eyes had suddenly started to shine. His intentions were plain as day.

This time though, the attendant decided to ignore the guard and help the man.

"Yes. First. Your name, age, and status?" she turned her attention back to the screen and started to work again. Pulling up a form she began filling it.

"Liam, I should be around 17," he said and sat down on his bag, conveniently skipping the status part. He didn't know what that meant yet.

"Do you have any family?"

"Yes." he didn't elaborate, he knew what the attendant wanted but he didn't want to share this.

She still asked.

"What is your family name?"

" ... "

"Okey, where are you from?" she changed the question just because she thought that he wouldn't speak about his family, judging by the look on his face.

"Far away," again he didn't elaborate. If only they knew that 'far away' didn't just mean the other side of the continent or something like that.

The non-answers were quickly getting on the attendant's nerves. She needed to do her job, but this guy wasn't letting her do that. She even tried to save him from the guards but no. The guy had to play games with her. Well, maybe not save but delay.

She was starting to get ticked off and looked at the guy. Liam, that's what he said his name was.

He smirked and winked at her, mouthing something to her.

"Is that all?" he asked.

"Ahh, yes!" she came back to herself, realizing what the man had said to her. Why though, why had he thanked her?

Liam got up and asked her another question.

"Where should I go to sell these?"

Her instructions were simple and easy to understand. He left the place and went in the direction she had indicated.

If someone had looked down on the floor where the bag had fallen, they would have left the boy alone. But no one looked, no one cared, just because they had one thing in their minds at that moment. Money and a big fat big had just waltzed into their territory. They didn't even consider what they felt just a moment ago as their greed grew out of hand.