Sewers

My drunk self trudged out of the gym and into the streets.

This time I had been unable to avoid drinking and was forced to drink enough for several people. With the help of some Lightning, I managed to discreetly remove most alcohol before it went into my body, but I was caught.

My vision was spinning, I felt dehydrated, and my body wasn't very responsive, but I slowly made my way to the hotel. I had not lost all of my cognitive abilities, and could still tell what I was doing. I was in full control, but my body disliked listening, which made it difficult, but there was nothing a human couldn't do when they put their mind to it.

When I finally arrived at the hotel, after more than an hour of walking through the dawn, my body had mostly sobered, however, my mobility was still slightly impaired. 

The receptionist watched as I moved toward her, every few steps making me sway, and giggled. I ignored that, before apologizing for disappearing and paying to keep the room for a few more days.

She did her work diligently and left me be. I entered the elevator to my floor and walked along the corridor, a hand on the wall to support myself.

I unlocked my door and entered my room, before slumping on my bed.

---

I awoke midway through the day, refreshed and awake. I took care of my hygiene before exiting the hotel feeling like a new man. The next stop was breakfast.

I walked to the diner that was owned by the man with the accent and enjoyed a nice, large breakfast. My body was completely sober, and I hid my hangover, but the man had somehow seen through me, delivering a meal that provided me relief from the headache.

After I had finished, I once again asked for the bill and drink, both of which were delivered in seconds, and I walked out after paying and thanking the man. 

'Bloody good food.' I thought to myself as I relished the lingering taste. 

The next step I had to take before I could go on a journey to see the universe was the cheat in Neon. There were 4 cheats that Alexander gained, so I would have to claim all of them. I only had 1 and was on my way to get the second.

Deep in the sewers of Neon, there lay a ghastly beast that protected a ghostly being. That ghost was the cheat. 

By absorbing it, my physical prowess would be boosted. 

I looked through the book as I walked through the streets, reading the obtainment of the cheat.

- After I had killed the crocodile beast, I was free to look around the chamber. The black stone was dyed green in some spots, due to the blood of the beast, and there were a few lights. Nothing else was in the room. Except for a chest.

I stepped cautiously toward the chest, watching for anything that would give it away as not a chest, but there was nothing. 

'A treasure?' I thought, carefully opening the lid.

What came out of the chest was a ghostly presence, barely visible in the light, that tinted the air it occupied with a milky white. Suddenly, the thing flew at me, and entered my body. I could now hear it.

"Finally, a body to take! You're mine now!" It screamed in my head before a discordant pain came from my body and soul.

The tattoo on my chest began to glow white, amplifying the pain that I felt.

"ARGH!" I cried aloud, trying to release the pain with my voice, to no avail. Minutes passed as the being tried to wrest control of my own body from me before it finally gave up.

"Strange, why can't I possess you?" The ghost left my body, hovering around before its eyes fell on the crest that sat on my chest.

"Ah, motherfucker! WHY!?" It yelled, doing what I assumed was its own version of stomping the ground. "Tell my parents I loved them."

Suddenly, the tattoo glowed an ominous black, and the air began to swirl. Gales were created from the force, and I watched as the ghostly being was sucked in alongside the air. It entered my body once more, but this time, I couldn't feel its presence.

'Spooky.' I thought. Alexander wouldn't come to know it until later, but the being who tried to possess him was a great warrior full of resentment who had been trapped by an attack from a Curse user and a Holy user. If he hadn't owned the tattoo cheat at that point, he would have been obliterated, and his body would have been taken over.

A few hours more of walking alone I arrived at the sewage plant. My ticket into the sewers.

Alexander had magically fallen into the sewers after being attacked, and the attacker had died under the rubble, but I couldn't do that. I had to manually enter the sewers.

'I'm gonna need a long shower after this.' I thought, scrunching my nose at the smell. I was still hundreds of meters away from the treatment plant, but I could still smell it. 'Nasty.'

I quickly covered the last few hundred meters, eager to be over with this encounter, and then entered the plant grounds.

The treatment machine lay on one edge of the city, well out of the way of civilians, and looked ominous. It was massive, made of metal, and painted black and green.

The building was shaped like a dome, except for one area where sewage entered. There was a massive, spinning death contraption that crushed all the sewage that shouldn't have been in the sewage. Leading up to that was something similar to a conveyor belt, so I had to be careful to avoid that.

I tried my best to avoid notice as I walked through the plant. It was entirely autonomous, but there were several drones, cameras, and the occasional inspector. I wasn't sure when he came, but I knew that if he was here, I was as good as dead.

CLINK- CLANK-

I heard the sound of footsteps on metal and cursed my luck. He probably wouldn't chase after me if he heard me, but if I was seen or caught, well...

'Fuck!' I thought as I ran to the big spinny jaws of death.

Once I was before them, I looked for the opening into the sewage. There was a rectangular cut into the ground, carrying waste in it, leading to the jaws. On the sides were thin walkways that lead into the underground, and were also where I had to go.

I jumped down the hole, falling a good 10 meters before crashing into the cold, hard floor that lined the sides of the sewers.

I was in.

All I had to do now, was navigate a massive labyrinth of smelly sewage, without a map.

It wasn't said in the book where Alexander had fallen, and he had to walk in a straight line to find the location. 

I, on the other hand, was miles from the city and had to find out where it happened while walking through the labyrinth.

In front of me lay a straight passageway for miles, so it wasn't too bad in the beginning. The city was the problem.

I set off down the passage, walking at a brisk pace. I had a long journey ahead of me.

Whilst I walked, I was reading through the entire section of the book that spoke of the sewers, scouring for a detail that might have given me a clue. 

Yet I found nothing.

- Someone attacked from behind, smashing into the ground, and causing it to crumble. We fell hundreds of meters down into the deep darkness of the sewers, and the impact caused my vision to black.

Once I awoke, I got up off the floor and looked around. I was in the sewers, surrounded by tons of brick, but unharmed. I spotted my attacker shortly after.

'One of my marks, huh? Unlucky guy.' The man who had attacked me was buried under more than 10 meters of brick, and his head was the only thing that stuck out of the pile. His body was most definitely horribly crushed and damaged, and it wasn't something that I wanted to imagine.

I looked up at the crater-sized entrance into the sewers, trying to spot someone or something that could help. 

Unfortunately, I could not fly, nor could I jump that high, so I was forced to look around.

To my back was a brick wall, so I couldn't go there.

To both my left and right were massive stacks of brick, blocking the passageway beyond.

'Can't go there.'

In front of me lay more bricks, but in between them was a narrow hole, one I could fit between. 

'Guess I go there.'

Once I finished reading the passage, I scoffed.

'Plot armor much? I've read only a few stories, sure, but never before has someone been so lucky and undeserving of their power. Not once has he struggled yet. The universe literally revolves around him. It's his bitch!' I thought, before realizing where I was.

'Calm down, You've got things to do.' I slapped myself on the cheeks, forcing me to calm down. I had more important things to do. 

I had arrived at the first set of crossroads.