Welcome to 'Paradise'.
Even though it didn't feel like it, that's what it was supposed to be. When Anton came out of his Shadow Walk and arrived in a dark alley, he couldn't help but trip over his right leg and stumble to the sidewall, barely preventing a concussion by pushing himself back with the lower part of his right arm before possible head contact. When he did so, the force of the push only made him fall on his left side and open his stab wound wider. "Aaauuugh, sh*t!" He moaned in pain as he crawled off his side and put his back on the right wall facing the sidewalk, hiding from street view by sitting behind a dumpster. Anton was one of few lucky enough to have quicker regenerating traits than all other Demigods, yet whenever any wound was disturbed before full healing, the resulting pain seemed exponentially larger than the original.
The pain was too strong for him. There was no chance he could travel at a productive pace without having to sit it out every few minutes. He would have to sleep it off in the alley. Ha, Damn it, Felipe. You've successfully managed to be a pain in the a*s past death. Anton laughed to himself at this thought before moaning in pain again, as the laughing disturbed the healing process on his bottom torso. Holding onto the wound with his left hand, he detached his sheathed sword, laid it on the side of him, and slowly began closing his eyes. Maybe once he'd wake up, he would be laying down comfortable in a bed of some sort. Ah, yes. A nice, comfortable bed. Maybe one where the sheets were freshly cleaned and the pillows were nice and cold... He'd have all his clothes...... nicely folded in a chair.... and alongside him... on this huge, wonderful bed....there... would be.....
When Anton woke up, the sun was in his eyes. He blocked the sunlight with his right arm while letting his eyes slowly adjust to the light around him. "Augh, man. What time is it?" He asked himself as he slowly got up from fetal position to a crouch, and then from a crouch to a standing position. Looking down at himself, he noticed that the scab of his wound had already sealed. Damn, how long was I asleep? he thought, reaching for his weapon and re-equipping it on his hip. Looking towards the street, he started walking out of the alley and into whatever social scene was going on in the public.
As he walked out the alley and veered right, Anton observed practically everything he could see. From tall to short, skinny to masculine, underfat to bulky, black to white, every small detail seemed to catch his attention. The only thing that disturbed him is how everybody seemed to look at him. Granted he did just wake up from sleeping next to a dumpster for god knows how long, he still felt like the odd one out. Maybe it was the hole he had in the front and back of his coat from Felipe's spear? Nobody else seemed to have holes in their clothing, or at least none of the respectable-looking people. No matter what the reason was, though, he still stood out. That'd have to change if he was to blend in with the crowd.
He approached an area with a lot of stalls and items on display; it seemed to be some kind of bargain market. People were passing green slits of paper in exchange for items. That seemed like an interesting concept. The only thing that troubled Anton about it was... why would anybody give up something useful like a knife or a pair of shoes just for some pathetic piece of paper? Humans will be humans, He thought to himself with a laugh, knowing that he'd have to pick up the concept himself.
While continuing down the market street, he noticed how these humans, or at least the males, kept those 'holy' green slits of paper in a piece of leather and inside their pockets... That's how he was going to get some for himself. From the corner of his eye, he saw one man, especially well-dressed, with a piece of leather full of green paper. That paper seemed have large numbers on them too, compared to other ones he noticed earlier. When the man exchanged one of the papers for a pair of jeans, Anton realized that the man selling them gave back more papers to the man than he had received. Okay, now that sh*t doesn't make sense to me at all, He thought as the man took the papers, put them in the leather piece, slid it in his right pocket, and walked in Anton's general direction. The leather piece wasn't all the way in the pocket; it was loose and sticking out. Now was the time to act, if anything.
Anton positioned himself so that when the man would pass him, he'd walk past his right side. As the distance between them shortened more and more, Anton moved his right fingers around a little, warming up for the trick he was about to pull. When the man was about to pass him, he pretended to trip over nothing and bumped the man's right shoulder with his own. At the moment of impact, he gripped the leather piece between his fingertips and swiftly slid it into his own pocket. "Oh man, I'm so sorry!" Anton bullshitted as he wiped off some imaginary dust from the man's shoulder, "That was totally an accident!" "It better have been an accident, you pathetic, smelly worm," The man snapped in response, "This coat you just dirtied is worth more than your life. Now get out of my sight!" On that note, the man pushed Anton off and stormed away out of anger. Shocked by the man's overreaction, he decided the best thing to do was to shrug it off. If anything, it made him feel less sorry about the troubles he just caused the man.
One half-hour and a couple green papers later, Anton was able to clean himself at a public washroom and get his hands on a new pair of clothes that seemed very similar to his own, except without so many buckles. At the store he bought the clothing, he was able to feel a weird energy resonating from the back... it was a resonance that reminded him of one of the newer fallen angels from back in Purgatory. The fallen (as was the 'slang' term for them) was mute, from what he remembered. One hell of a f*cking pain, too. During his Purgatory days, Anton disliked transporting the fallen from their cells to the torture chambers, but that specific one was definitely a handful more than the others. The more he thought about it, the more he realized... Wait, why would there be an energy on Earth right now that I remember from Purgatory a couple weeks ago? He thought to himself while he purchased the clothes from a relatively young woman that wore a beige apron. It could only mean one thing if he felt that energy; Some fallen must have taken advantage of the chaos he caused during his leave, and escaped themselves. Realizing he already had another problem to add to his list, Anton's stomach began to growl.
"Excuse me, Miss. Is there any place where I could find some food and a place to sleep?" Anton asked the lady in the beige apron while putting on his new clothes in a changing room. She looked over to him and nodded, telling him the directions to some inn down the street. Once he had on all the new clothes, Anton thanked her and started to walk out when he noticed some bloodied rags on the side. The blood was fresh, at least two or three days old. Hm, maybe that's how long I was asleep, He thought as he got back on the street and followed the directions the beige apron lady had given him. At about two minutes into the walk towards the inn, Anton was able to hear commotion from behind him, especially the yelling of a familiar, unfriendly voice. Softly laughing to himself, he grinned and continued on to the inn without looking back.
A short moment later, he finally arrived at the inn. Opening the Old Western-style double doors, he walked in and took a seat at the bar, accidentally hitting the sword hilt on the bottom of the bar. A couple stools away from him sat two hooded figures, probably a boy and a girl. Both of them had meals in front of them and seemed to be eating them quite vivaciously. When Anton clanged his hilt under the bar, the man gave him a quick look and continued eating. When the bartender approached him and asked what he wanted as a meal or drink, Anton pointed to the hooded man, who was closer to him, and said, "I'll have a large portion of what that man over there is eating." After a nod and a few scribbles on a notepad, the bartender walked away, entering the kitchen to place the order.
While waiting for the meal, Anton couldn't help but feel a weird energy coming from both of the hooded figures. It was similar to, if not the exact same, energy that he felt at the beige apron lady's shop. He knew he had to keep a low profile, but his curiosity was slowly piling up more and more. Eventually, Anton couldn't take it, got off his stool, and approached the man. Tapping the man's left shoulder with his right index finger, he said, "Excuse me, sir. What is that you're eating over...."
Before Anton finished his question, the hooded man turned his head and glared at him, the man's left eye being a blind white and the other a soul-penetrating hazel. It was the fallen from Purgatory. "Augh, SH*T!"
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