Night Market

Huffing and puffing, Aeim crawled out of the other side of the wall. His wide-open eyes were bloodshot, and his heart was beating so fast that he could hear it outside. Still paranoid, he looked in all directions to see if night crawlers were still coming from him but seeing no one walking out of the darkness, he felt a little relieved and tried to calm his mind. After ten minutes, Aeim's breathing returned to normal, and his heart calmed down. Aeim stood up, wiped all the sweat on his face, and shook his cloak, which was messed up in dirt and soil.

'My God, what were those things…' Aeim thought, still extremely fearful of black fog entities.

'The wall was a holographic projection, was technology in this world that advanced? I did not see it anywhere before, and why they only installed it in this empty alley…' Aeim had several questions. No one in a sane mind would think it was illusion magic, and Nightcrawlers were magical creatures.

'This world is becoming more and more dangerous and mysterious.'

Suppressing his fear deep in his heart and hiding his trembling hands inside the cloak, Aeim walked forward to the exit.

The night market was bustling with people. Most wore obscuring cloaks to not gave their identities, or maybe it was just their fashion. Aeim rarely judged people based on their appearance or on what they wore. He slowly walked, looking at every shop and stall, but his mind again was in chaos. Some shops were selling plants, some sold animal parts, and some even had unknown glowing liquid glass bottles in their shops and stall.

'What is all this…' he wondered and took out the slip Edward gave him to buy the ingredients.

'Is this a black market...?' he speculated. As he was walking, suddenly, his eyes caught something interesting, and he looked in a certain direction. Curious Aeim walked to a stall where many people were gathering and looking at a small fish that glowed in blued light every few seconds and appeared and disappeared from existence.

Aeim looked at the fish with his eyes wide open.

'What kind of freaking fish is that….' Astounded by the scene, Aeim muttered.

"The Blue Pill Fish, good for making a potion of Assassin, Walker, Formless, Nightmare, and Taboo Mages." Aeim listened to the shop owner's explanation, but what caught his attention was the word 'Mage.'

'Walker, Taboo, Assassin, what are they…?' 'Mage potion, is he talking about magic…? Is this fish a magical creature…' Aeim stared at the fish and tried to digest the new information he had just received.

'Then those creatures outside were also magical creatures, but why would they attack me…?' thinking of the incident that happened outside, Aeim's face turned instantly pale.

'Why is my luck so bad...?' Aeim cried out.

Muddleheaded, he moved from one stall to another. Discovering new things. Potions of myriad types such as Energy, Healing, Face-change, Skin-Change, Bone Strengthening, Breath in Water, Fire, Enslave, Love, Heart Cleaning, and Concentration were displayed on stalls. Ingredients for making different potions, artifacts like swords, daggers, cloaks, staffs, and various books on different subjects, from spells to divination to rituals. Some people were even selling their services.

'Is this world what people write in stories, a magical world…?' Aeim was astonished. 'I'm in a magical world, a real mystical world…,' he exclaimed in great excitement. He even forgot about his interaction with Nightcrawlers an hour ago, where he almost shat his pants in fear.

Aeim continued to explore with great interest. The chaos in his head, which normally continued nonstop, was also little calm. He stopped at a stall that had many types of plants on sale. He took out the paper slip given by Edward and looked through it. The paper had a total of four ingredients' names, with each having quantities written next to them.

"I'm looking for these 5g Dawn Gold dust, 2 Broadbeans, one stalk of Starlight grass, and 1 Moonlight ivy flower," Aeim spoke, looking at the stall owner, who looked like a man in his forties.

"I only have dawn dust and Broadbean; do you want to buy it" Luckily, the stall owner had two of the ingredients in his stall. Aeim readily agreed, 'I can just look for them at another shop…,' he thought.

"4 gold coins for Dawn dust and 3 for 1 Broadbean" Edward gave Aeim fifteen gold coins, which in his reasoning before coming to market, was massive wealth, but now the shop owner opened his mouth and asked for seven gold coins like they were nothing. Aeim felt extremely poor, and his heart ached a little giving stall owner money.

Taking the ingredients in a bag, Aeim walked to another stall. This was the third time he felt a little happy in this world and the first time he was so excited in his life. Because of the mystical aspect of the world gave him little hope; maybe now he would have a chance to go back home someday, and he might figure out why he suddenly got dumped here.

After going through three more stalls, he finally gathered the three ingredients and was only left with Moonlight Ivy flower. Aeim moved from one stall to another. However, he had no idea where he could buy this Moonlight Ivy flower. After asking from the last three stalls, he learned that this moonlight ivy flower was a rare item.

"Do you know if somebody is selling this in the market?" Aeim asked a young man standing behind the stall. He had already gone through more than ten stalls. However, none of them had it. So Aeim thought of directly asking the shopkeeper if he knew someone who sold it.

"This flower is rare and hard to grow, and they are used in so many potions. The demand is high, but supply is low," The man sighed.

"You can ask that corner stall with the books; she sometimes has rare stuff" The man pointed his finger at the stall a little far away. Aeim looked in a pointed direction and saw a stall, which only had books on the counter. Thanking the men, Aeim walked and headed toward the bookstall.

A young woman sat behind the counter. She wore a black cloak with black fog emitting from it that covered her face making it hard to see her true features. Except for her eyes and hands, nothing could be seen.

Aeim walked to the stall and glanced at the person sitting behind the counter, but his eyes stopped on the person's pupilless eyes. 'How Mysteries & Mesmerizing, is she blind or an ability she possesses…." Aeim wondered, staring at her eyes filled with a mix of white and purple fog.

The woman's eyes narrowed seeing the young man continued staring at her. "Have you seen enough?" an intimidating voice sounded from her mouth hidden behind the fog, bringing Aeim back to reality who was lost in his thoughts, staring at her eyes.

"My apologies" Aeim face instantly turned pale. He apologized, bowing his head.

'Why am I courting death…' Aeim cursed in his head. After exploring, he had learned a little by now that most of these shop owners were mages. He even saw a person when he opened his hands; his hands created sparks of electricity. And some of the people he stood nearby felt extremely cold, and some were hot, like a raging fire.

Her narrowed eyes and intimidating voice had caused him to remember the situation he was in before. It caused his hands and feet to shake in fear again and almost turned his emotions and mind into chaos. The voices in his head, which were quiet from when he began exploring the market, started to speak and argue again. Off course, his actions did not escape her eyes, but she naturally thought he was the fear he felt as a normal human seeing a mage.

"It's fine. What are you looking for?" her voice returned to normal, and she asked.

"I'm looking for Moonlight Ivy Flower," Aeim spoke, trembling.

The women pondered for a minute while Aeim looked at books on the counter anxiously.

"I have it, but I want ten gold coins for that" she placed her condition on the table.

Aeim looked through his leather pouch. After all the purchases, he only had eight gold coins left in his pouch. Aeim also had seven silver coins in another pouch, the salary he received for helping Edward, but they counted as nothing here. Aeim's already pale face did not show any expression, but he felt disappointed.

"How much is this book" Aeim picked up a book from the table and asked for the price. The book had a deep brown cover with yellow pages; it was an elementary book that explained the types of mages, how to become a mage, and the potions needed.

"2 Silver coin" the book did not contain any magic spells or anything, so it did not cost much, but compared to the outside night market. Where people would mostly earn a gold coin as a salary every month, it was like a fortune.

Heavy-hearted Aeim took two silver coins from his leather pouch and placed them on the table. After completing the transaction, he thanked the young woman and headed toward his home.