Bleak Part of the City

Dart hated being hidden inside Grim's dusty backpack. "Is there really no other option in bringing me other than through this?" the baby dragon protested in a passive aggressive tone.

Grim just wiggled the backpack even more in retaliation. "Hey! Hey! I get it, calm down…" Dart said as he pouted all throughout the journey to where the old woman lived.

It was their first time actually being near this place after being in Midgard for a few months now. The old woman was living in the middle of nowhere. An impoverished place forgotten even by time itself, it seemed like.

"I see your eyebrows are raised, boy. You did not know such a place existed in Midgard up till now, eh?" She asked him.

"N-No, its just that it is my first time being in this part of the city." Grim replied as they walked through a dark and desolate place. No home out here looked particularly good and livable.

"Heh. I know you are probably too scared to ask us why we choose to live here, right? You want to know why we won't just move somewhere better. But the truth is, kid, this is the best we can do right now." The old woman said to him.

Not only elves, but even humans lived here. Ones whose faces looked like the slightest semblances of the flames of hope had long been snuffed out of them.

Dart was taken aback. He had never seen such a depressing place to live in during the whole time they got to Midgard. "Why don't you move somewhere outside of this bustling city? Pardon me from asking." Grim said with as much respect as he could, careful not to trip with his words.

"Chimeras, young boy. The woods are unlivable because it is off limits, you know that most of their victims have been the ones who stray out into the wilderness. It is really sad to live this way, but we either make do with what we have right now or risk it all by living outside Midgard." She said with a tearful look on her face.