One Hell Of A Maniac

...A couple hours later...

"Hey! Stop right there!" The guards shouted repeatedly as they chased me through the streets of the town.

I dodged the transport carriages coming in my direction, which caused the horses to scream and panic.

“It took me less than a day in a mortal world to cause all this mess,” I sighed in disappointment and began seeking a gap to escape the sight of guards.

...Earlier morning...

The cosmic fire star illuminated the path before me, as its rays shone between the tree leaves above.

The tiny feather-winged creatures known as “birds” echoed their chants through the fresh cold air.

“This world is way more refreshing than Hell, and more lively too.” The abundance of the color green caught my attention.

I followed the sun for some time, hanging around the maze-like forest before finally noticing something that wasn’t trees, grass, or small living creatures.

Structures? Is that Ostyra?

Huge, very high stone and steel walls appeared in the distance. Big wooden-metal gates were separated by a medium distance as they functioned as entries to what was circled by the glorious stone walls.

“It looks like I’ve come across a civilization,” I made a logical assumption, the noise in the area and the steam that rose above what seemed to be a town were solid proof.

Big wooden boxes on wheels rolling on the ground were entering the gates, they were driven by men on top of what looked like horses.

Those are called carriages. It took a couple of seconds for me to recognize what I saw, depending on Veylen’s memories. 

Horses were creatures that also existed in Hell, this fact pushed me to understand something crucial.

“This world and Hell aren’t so different.” The look on my face was an enlightened one.

I walked towards the huge walls, slowly stepping out of the forest, which was actually on a hill.

Passing by the green plains adorned with colored plants known as flowers, I noticed a large river flowing between the plains and the walls. Unlike the red rivers of Hell, this one was blue. 

Right above the river were many long stone bridges connecting the plains and my destination. The larger bridges had carriages of various sizes passing from them, while the smaller ones had humans walking on them.

I subconsciously headed towards the closest small bridge to me and walked all the way towards the other side.

I reached the steel-chained gate that stood at the end of the way. The words “Welcome to Roskaya town—Kingdom of Ostyra!” were carved on a large wooden sign above the gate.

“So this is Ostyra,” I said in a faint voice.

“Are you new here in the town, sir?” The human guard beside the door asked me with an awkward smile.

His presence is annoying me. I looked at the man’s eyes for two seconds before passing through the gate without saying a word.

“What’s this guy’s deal?” The guard questioned the situation while looking at my back.

Looking at the guard made me uncomfortable for some reason, I suspected it could have a relation to my new body.

After taking the first steps inside Roskaya town, my eyes caught the sight of many humans scattered all around the place, each doing their own things. The sight reminded me of the way Hell guardians scattered all over Hell to seek their duties.

The structures and buildings that filled the place shared the same architectural style and construction materials.

Is this what a society looks like?

Veylen’s memory fragments about the world and humanity merged with my mind enough for me to have a superficial understanding of my environment.

I need to find a place to stay and organize my thoughts. I walked while thinking of clues about a place I could stay at. In Hell we only rested on the branches of the colossal corpse trees, but humans need rest and shelter.

An inn! A place where I can rest and drink, but in exchange for money.

….Money? This world functioned in ways more advanced than I could grasp, free will enriched human creativity. 

Money was the main way this world functioned. To humans, these coins and papers held value and could be used for almost everything. The more you have, the more powerful you are.

I subconsciously put my hands in the pockets of the black pants and brown coat my body was covered in.

Coins, just two coins. It occurred that Veylen unfortunately wasn’t a luxurious man. Though, despite not having any coins, my will to find an inn didn’t go down the least, the solution that appeared to me was summarized in violence. This is what Veylen believed to be the right thing to do in such situations

Being the alien inhuman entity I was, I could only follow this human body’s experience. After all, I believed that would lead me to something I sincerely hoped to achieve, a wish I could never put into words.

I should find an inn as soon as possible. I started walking around the town, I turned my head around every now and then looking for any sign with the word “Inn” written on it. That was my only hope of finding it.

A couple of minutes passed. Guided by Veylen’s knowledge, my understanding of the environment was improving.

Suddenly, an unsettling feeling haunted me.

Something’s off… I stopped in the middle of the street and slowly turned my head to scan behind me. There was nothing unusual, but my instincts made me certain, “I’m being watched and followed.”

My steps accelerated, I moved around cautiously seeking whatever way to escape the lens of whoever had their eyes on me.

Time passed minute by minute, and the feeling of being watched kept on intensifying. In an instant, I saw it in the distance, a small wooden sign of oak in front of the door of a mid-sized building of three floors. It had the sought word “Inn” written on it.

Finally. I walked towards the inn before eventually stopping and rethinking my decision.

If I go now, whoever is following me will know where I’m going to stay. It’s better if I find another closed space to hide. I turned left after making up my mind.

The feeling of being watched grew to the point of causing my human body to sweat, that was a sign of stress and maybe vulnerability too. After turning left, I was no longer in the same street. I made sure to remember the inn’s location before scanning my area looking for a closed space to hide in temporarily.

Carriage after carriage passed by me as my eyes widened, aiming for my next destination. At the very top of the street, I saw a somewhat crowded place that could be described as fancy.

“Tavern of Roskaya.” I read the name of the place after I walked all the distance to the front door.

Taverns were places that humans visited to drink alcoholic drinks, something that pleased most people. After seconds of hesitation, I decided to get in the tavern.

I used my right hand to open the door and take a look inside. The place was full of humans and noise and songs, it was quite the crowded space. The sight reminded me of stacking sinners in holes and burning them to ash, it was that kind of crowded. Looking back, that had always been the best work a guardian could be assigned.

I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. The feeling of being watched vanished, but not for too long. The moment I landed my second step inside, a fully black-clothed man with a short black hat topping his slick brown hair took a big sip of his beer and smashed the cup on the table, shattering glass all over the place.

He gets up, his hat covering his eyes. Pulls a strange tool, a weapon people called a “gun.”

Something’s off… Drops of my sweat showered the ground as my levels of caution maximized.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going, Veylen Eryxion!” The man shouted as he pointed the gun at me, and—BANG!

He shot.

I instinctively dodged the fast bullet just before kicking the entrance door open and fleeing away.

What the hell was that?? It was a bullet, a fast deadly shot… My feet accelerated as I ran as fast as I could.

The guards in the area chased me as they repeatedly shouted, “Hey! Stop right there!”

Damn it… what a mess. I cautiously dodged the bunch of transport carriages that were heading my way, causing horses to panic and scream which resulted in a bunch of accidents.

“It took me less than a day in a mortal world to cause all this mess.” I turned behind. “They won’t catch up to me any time soon, I should get out of this place.”

I continued running while looking for a gap I could escape from. Suddenly, a shadow appeared in the distant ground in front of me. It got smaller with every second, as if something was falling from above.

It was him. It took less than a minute for him to show up again. The mysterious man who shot at me jumped from the top of a building on the right side to end up exactly facing me.

“Didn’t I ask you, where the hell do you think you’re going?” He picked his short black hat from the ground and put it back on his head.

“Who are—” BANG!

Before I could even fully vocalize my question, the man pulled his gun and shot my left shoulder. I felt my muscle fibers tearing up.

So fast… I need to get out of here. I pulled my sword with my right hand and dashed towards him as I swung, aiming for his neck.

sWhoosh! He dodged right as I expected. At the exact instant he did that, I elbowed him in the chest, fully slamming his body to the nearby wall on the right.

It took him one second to recover from that and run after me again. The cries and screams of nearby civilians caused by this mess disturbed me, that disturbance grew even bigger after I saw a female human standing in my way while screaming in fear.

Turning left wasn’t a wise decision due to the large number of horse carriages closing the way.

I’ll just kill her. Or… What felt like a brilliant idea lit up my struggling mind.

The man pointed his gun at me, preparing to shoot again, but eventually hesitated the moment he saw me carrying the crying woman and throwing her with fierce power towards him.

“Oh man. You’re one hell of a maniac. Hahaha!” said the man a second before the flying crying woman smashed his face with her huge butt.