The chaotic city sounds hit me once more as I stepped out of the Mercenary HQ with my new membership card in hand. It was made from a silver material with embossed text detailing my information. A small golden seven gleamed in the top right corner, indicating my mercenary rank.

  I allowed a happy smile to appear on my face. I now had a path to strengthen myself and I was determined to follow it.

  The guild had an app, accessible only to members, that showed rift and monster locations in real time. A tool I would definitely make use of as soon as an opportunity presented itself.

  Sliding the card into my pocket, I headed back to the tram system I’d used to get here. I would like to supply myself with a better weapon, preferably a rifle of some sort. I wouldn’t be very effective going on missions using only my knife.

  The guild did sell military grade weapons and ammunition, but they were currently way outside of my budget. Though I would definitely be coming back once I had some spending money.

  I mentally went through my options as I stepped across a busy intersection and into a crowd of pedestrians, eventually making my way down the paved steps that led to the underground metro system.

  Or further underground, technically. Double underground? I had to stifle a laugh at the absurdity of it all, it so was easy to forget we were in a massive subterranean cavern so large that it defied all logic.

  The metro itself looked depressingly similar to something from modern-day Earth. Trash was everywhere, broken lights in sections that hadn’t been replaced in who knows how long.

  The crowd completely ignored a pickpocket snatching something before sprinting away. The platform was absolutely packed with people of every race I could imagine.

  The only real difference was the more advanced tech and the neon ads blasting mind-numbing visuals across every surface.

  The ad I stood in front of now was obviously some kind of adult product that wouldn’t have been allowed anywhere in public on earth. It was depressing how the culture here could have so many of earths problems.

  I shook my head, I had a bad habit of getting distracted, it was time to move on. I grimaced as my boot splashed through a random sticky yellow puddle. I sped up and payed more attention to where I was walking, I couldn’t understand how a city with such amazing tech could this filthy. I pinched the bridge of my nose and let out a deep sigh.

  Whoever was in charge was obviously letting the Undercity rot on purpose. There was no possible way no one from higher up wouldn’t notice how bad it was down here.

  It was infuriating, but there was nothing I could do about it. I put it aside and focused on the task in front of me. I needed to get home before Valerie got off work.

  The scales on the back of my neck suddenly started to tingle.

  Someone was following me.

  I didn’t know who yet, but every time I glanced behind me all I managed to see was a brief glimpse of a hooded figure ducking into the crowd.

  This wasn’t good. Best case scenario was that they were curious due to the rarity of Drakanians in the Undercity, but if they had more nefarious intentions, I didn’t want to lead them home. That would just put Valerie in danger.

  I would either have to lose them, or get rid of them in a more permanent manner. I killed that tunnel creature using mostly luck, and the scaled hound yesterday. But fighting an intelligent opponent?

  I didn’t know if I could do it. Even with my unnatural healing as an added factor, I didn’t want to kill anyone.

  Losing them in a crowd would be a better option.

  “Tram now arriving at station.” The intercom chimed, interrupting my thoughts as the low rumble of the incoming tram vibrated through the platform… “Please stand clear of the gap.”

  The tram screeched to gradual a halt and the doors slid open with a painful grinding sound. I stepped through with the rest of the passengers, carefully avoiding the sharp, rusted edges. They probably hadn’t been maintained in the last few decades or so.

  The entire ride, I was in a constant state of tension, trying my best not to inhale the overwhelming stench of unwashed bodies. I carefully scanned the tram car for whoever was stalking me. But no one stood out.

  Maybe I lost them after stepping onto the tram. I should circle the block a few times after disembarking though. Just to be safe.

  But as soon as stepped out, a scaled hand clamped around my mouth and arm, sending a jolt of terror down my spine.

  “You made a fool me, Drakanian,” A cold reptilian voice hissed into my ear. “Now, we’re gonna have a discussion on how you can make it up to me.” A disgustingly long tongue flicked past me, and I suddenly realized who had grabbed me, it was the lizard-man from the range.

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  My heart hammered as he forced me into the crowd, steering me down a dimly lit corridor devoid of people. He stopped in front of an old rusted maintenance door and kicked it open, shoving me inside the small room and slamming the door closed behind him. A single, dim light flickered weakly above him, silhouetting his scaled body and reptilian face.

  I scrambled to the far wall and pulled out my dagger, holding it between us with trembling hands.

  “What’s your problem?! I haven’t done anything to you!” I tried to sound menacing, but the tremble in my voice belayed my terror. He might not be very strong given his lanky frame, but he was obviously much stronger than I was, and likely far more experienced in close quarters brawling.

  My odds of winning were not high.

  He stepped forward with a confident sneer. “Do you wanna know why I hate your kind, corporate brat? You Ordon always act like you're above us little folk, that you can treat us like shit without consequences! You think you can just come down here and make a fool of me?!”

  “But I’m not with Ordon!” I protested, “I’m just trying to survive!”

  He didn’t hear me, or just didn’t care.

  “Your kind take and take and take, until there is nothing left for the rest of us!” He spat, his words dripping with venom and deep seated hatred.

  He lunged forward in a flash and knocked the knife out of my hand before I could even think about dodging and clamped his clawed hands around my throat, slamming me painfully into the wall, pinning me in place.

  I tried to gasp, but his grip tightened, preventing the oxygen from reaching my lungs. I pounded my fists against his wrists in a futile attempt to break his grip.

  But he didn’t budge. I could feel my vision begin to darken and an instinctual panic took hold deep in my gut.

  I couldn’t breathe!

  “But now it’s your turn to find out what it’s like to be completely helpless,” He rambled as his grip somehow got even tighter sending spots dancing across my fading vision. “I’ll enjoy seeing your fear as your life is slowly stripped away from you.”

  His grip mercifully loosened for a moment, allowing me to drag in a breath of air, coughing and hacking as I sucked in the stale atmosphere of the room.

  “And once I’m done making you regret being born,” He whispered into my ear with a sinister grin, “I’m gonna sell you to a friend of mine who hates your corporate guts even more than I do! You’ll get to experience hell, every single day, until your mind breaks from the agony. How does that sound, huh? Does that sound fair? Little Drakanian brat?”

  There was mad twitch in his eyes as he spoke. He meant every single word.

  I lashed out violently with my legs. My my boot connecting with something soft.

  He gasped in pain as his eyes went wide, his grip loosening just enough for me to slip free of him. His claws sliced stinging cuts into my neck as I fell to the floor, barely managing dodged past him as he doubled over in pain.

  The lizard-man spewed curses and insults at me as I burst through the door and stumbled as fast as I could down the corridor. I didn’t even know if I was going the right way as the walls rushed past me.

  My was mind too messed up from the whole fucked up situation to do anything but flee.

  A blast of energy snapped past my face, singing my hair before scarring a glowing red hole in the cement wall just ahead of me.

  He was trying to kill me!

  I bobbed and weaved as much as I could in the tight corridor, hopefully making it harder for him to land a hit.

  I’d never been more relieved about someones lack of skill more than this moment. His abysmal aim was the only thing keeping me from death.

  I dodged a few more blasts, ignoring his curses and turned a corner, skidding to an abrupt stop.

  It was a dead end.

  I was trapped.

  The wall in front of me had caved in, two armored skeletons were half buried in the rubble, their armor damaged beyond repair.

  My eyes flicked to the rifle one of the skeletons bone hand, clutched in a literal death grip.

  It was completely rusted through, but it might function as a club.

  I quickly snatched the weapon from the corpse and grasped it by its barrel, pressing my back against the edge of the corner. If I could ambush him, I might stand a chance.

  “I’ll skin you alive, brat!” his furious snarl echoed through the corridor as he thundered forward.

  The moment he rounded the corner, I swung with all my might.

  The makeshift club smashed into his snout with a sickening crunch. Blood sprayed across the wall as his snout crumpled like an empty plastic bottle.

  He stumbled back, howling in pain as he clutched his gushing nose. I took advantage of the brief pause and slammed the rifle into the hand holding the pistol, sending it flying to the other wall.

  He recovered from his shock, pure hatred banishing all reasonable thought from his mind as he charged at me like a rabid animal.

  I barely managed to dodge under his outstretched claws and dove for the pistol on the floor. My fingers closing around the grip just in time to find him nearly on top of me.

  I didn’t have time to think.

  A single shot of pure energy shot tore through his forehead, bursting out the back in a spray of bone and gray matter. His massive form crumpled and fell forward, and I rolled aside just in time to avoid being crushed as his body hit the floor with a sickening splat.

  The sudden silence was deafening.

  I’d just killed a person.

  I felt tears coming as I drew a shaky breath, the vivid stench of blood and gore filling my nose.

  Why?

  Why did he have to attack me?

  He wouldn’t have died if he had just left me alone!

  I shakily stood and staggered home in a daze. No one seemed to notice, or care, that I was covered in blood and tears, clutching a pistol so hard that my fingers were white.

  Or were they always white?

  Right…

  White scales…

  I’d forgotten…

  I opened the door to our apartment and vacantly stumbled inside.

  I pried the pistol from my numb fingers and set it on the table and stepped into the shower.

  I couldn’t let Valerie see me like this.

  I looked at my trembling hands as water splashed across them, I knew the water was warm, but it felt oddly cold against my scales.

  I took deep breaths, attempting to calm myself, but the shaking wouldn’t stop.

  I slowly scrubbed the now dried blood from my skin and between my scales, each piece that flaked off reminding me of the terror in his eyes as he realized, in that brief moment, that he was going to die.

  He didn’t deserve my pity. He was going to do terrible things to me, I was just protecting myself.

  I turned off the water and dried off, collecting the bloody clothes on my way out and tossing them into the wash, before collapsing onto the soft cushioned couch.

  I didn’t know how long I just sat there, huddled in my nest of blankets, staring blankly at the wall before Valerie came in, knocking me out of my haze.

  “Nyxia? Are you alright?”