The Brothel

He blitzed down the platform, bulldozing his way past the denizens that rushed in the direction opposite him.

The shouts of disgruntled pedestrians filled the air, only to be echoed once the cloaked figures pushed past them as well.

Although he had been completely confident in his speed --seeing as how he was a race superior to humans- it seemed that these cloaked figures were just as fast as he was. Which made him question whether they were indeed even human.

And although he was confident that he could overpower them in a one-on-one, the fact was he was surrounded. Cloaked figures seemed to be erupting from all directions.

In fact, just out of the scope of his vision, he noticed a few of them running after him from the platform above, aiming an unidentified weapon towards him.

Realizing that he would soon be cornered if he kept running on this level, he jumped off one of the ledges. Just as he did that, a bolt of blue energy struck the platform he had been standing on, leaving a scorch mark on the ground.

~Scales or not, that would've hurt,~ he thought to himself, as he plummeted into the darkness of the abyss surrounding the hive city.

As he was falling, he noticed several figures above him, falling through the dark space as well. He had thought himself ballsy for taking such a risk, however, it seemed that the goons of this world were well accustomed to such events.

"Afina, hold on tight," Edric shouted, though she was already holding onto him for dear life.

He kicked off the wall behind him, thrusting himself towards one of the levels he was falling past. The speed he had been moving at made this manoeuvre rather costly, causing him to dislocate his ankle due to the force.

However, he had confidence in the integrity of his new body. If he incurred this much injury from that, there was no way his pursuers would be able to mimic him.

He landed on the nearest platform with a thud, cracking the ground beneath him. His breath clogged at his throat as the pain from his dislocated ankle wreaked havoc on his nervous system. It felt as if his foot had been completely ripped off.

He took a quick glance around, finding that the primary colour on this level was pink. The ambience here seemed to be more relaxed than the levels prior- there were no crowds even though there was a large number of residents walking about- and oddly enough there were no houses here either.

All the buildings seemed to be establishments, made clear by the presence of sign boards above all of them. Unfortunately, although Edric could understand the language of this world, he was not blessed with literacy, so he could do nothing but guess what sort of area this was.

~Red light district,~ he thought to himself, taking a moment to eye a gorgeous woman standing just a few meters in front of him.

The woman in question was in complete shock due to his sudden appearance -staring blankly at the part of the platform he had destroyed due to his rather unsubtle landing- and was dressed in revealing clothing.

Her body looked like it was sculpted to lure the most righteous men to their doom, and had Edric's mind not been preoccupied with survival, perhaps he himself would've fallen for her feminine charms.

However, after a few seconds of staring at her, he lost interest, deciding to bolt down the platform towards the main district at the centre of the level. There were a lot of people there, perhaps he would be able to lose the men chasing him.

As he ran, his ankle twisted and slammed the floor at odd angles. Each step he took sent bolts of pain up his leg. However, his body was on overdrive, adrenaline pumped strongly within his blood, and the only thought in his mind was survival.

~How?~ he asked himself, noticing that cloaked figures had begun to appear on top of the rooves of the buildings he was passing by.

"Billow!" he shouted, before exhaling as hard as he could. With that, a thick cloud of magenta smoke appeared all around him, completely cloaking him.

The hooded figures stared in shock for a moment, giving Edric just enough time to disappear under the cover of the smokescreen.

Several bolts of blue energy came thrashing towards him shortly after, however thanks to the cover, they all missed their mark.

Once he was some distance away, he turned his head to properly inspect what sort of weapon was sending out such energies. He caught a glimpse of one of the hooded figures behind him, it seemed they were carrying what looked like a crossbow, covered in dozens of gems.

~Magic then,~ he thought to himself, before taking a sharp right, into a platform with dozens of 'escorts'.

He looked for the largest building in the area, before quickly rushing in, ignoring all the calls from the beautiful women who stood outside.

The inside of this establishment was colored red and pink, and had a rather regal air to it. Something he wouldn't have expected from a brothel.

"Caltrus, ignite!" he shouted once he was through the doors. Touching the flower tattoo on his arm as he did so.

With that, Caltrus came rushing out like a snake, before growing to its full size and blocking the door with its massive stalk.

He felt conflicted about using such an asset as a mere barricade, however his life was the main priority right now.

He could hear energy bolts trying to rip through Caltrus on the otherside. However it seemed that the tree was quite sturdy.

Edric quickly took in the room around him, before his eyes landed on a man at the counter. He was dressed in fine garments that made Edric stare at him in envy for a moment.

"Would you like a room sir?" the man asked, apparently unphased by everything that had just happened.

The man paused for a moment, before looking at Afina -who was still hanging onto Edric's back.

"Underage patrons are required to pay an additional fee," the man added, now avoiding eye contact with Edric.

Edric stared at the man in confusion for a moment as the sound of energy bolts echoed into the room.