Chapter 35 - Simple Treats

  Hara wags excitedly, seeing Alex looking more vibrant than she’d ever seen him. No longer exhausted, kept moving by sheer force of determination, Alex has a bounce to his movements again, and meets the other two with an easy smile.

  “How do I look?” He asks, striking a pose to show off his new outfit. Corvus eyes him up and down, but says nothing. But Hara is far less reserved.

  The hound trots around Alex, poking her nose into him and snuffling wherever she can reach. When she’s finished, she steps back and gives Alex the classic happy-dog grin, complete with tail whipping back and forth. “Hara like it. Make Alex look more like Alex fit here.” She says, nodding. “Alex smells like here now.”

  Quirking a brow, Alex lifts the collar of his shirt to his nose and sniffs. “Just smells like clean fabric to me.” He says, with a shrug. “But I guess your nose works a lot better than mine.” He says with a chuckle, reaching to ruffle Hara’s ears.

  Hara lets out a little wurff and headbutts into Alex’s hand. “Smell like place is important. If smell wrong, others notice.” She says, unwilling to let Alex remain ignorant of such an important detail.

  Corvus chimes in with a caw. “She is not wrong Alex. Many denizens of Hell have sharper senses than you might expect. Even some who were once human have augmented their bodies to allow for it. And that is not taking into account people who will be using the Sensory-Augmentation skill.”

  With that reminder, Alex focuses inwards. He opens his senses, then pulls the fabric to his nose again. This time when he breathes in, he certainly gets more feedback. The twinge of cleaning supplies, a faint lingering scent of some sort of spice, and a few earthier scents that Alex can’t place. When he pulls the shirt away, he discovers just how accurate Hara is. Sure enough, he catches other scents on the air that are recognizable from the traces in the cloth.

  “Guess I still have a lot to learn.” Alex says with a grin. He turns to look around the street. The roadway is wide enough for about eight people to walk side by side comfortably. Along the middle track of the road there are lingering signs of some type of wheeled vehicle as well, though Alex can’t see any other signs. Some part of Alex’s mind connects it to a car, but the idea doesn’t quite feel right. The existence of things like Intent-movement would remove much of the need for them.

  The other buildings along the street are similar to Hadrick’s. Modern designs, appearing to be made of a type of concrete blocks with a slightly reddish hue. Some have additional siding attached to make them look nicer, others embrace the utilitarian nature of their construction. Glass is visible in abundance, unlike Last-Stop where the windows were just open panels. There are even tall poles lining the street with wiring strung between them, giving the appearance of New Europa having electricity. Everything registers as familiar to Alex, if slightly off.

  As Alex takes in the sights and puzzles through the implications, another realization slowly settles over him. His sense of direction was no longer giving him a solid heading. Now the sensation from it feels more diffuse, ambiguous. But he does get a sense that he’s in the right area. He turns to Corvus and Hara who’d been patiently waiting for Alex to get his bearings. “Well, that instinctive pull on my sense of direction seems to have faded a bit. This place feels like where I need to be, but I’m not sure where to go from here.” He says with a shrug.

  With a hop and flap, Corvus moves to perch on Alex’s shoulder. “That is unsurprising. Instinctive senses such as that respond strongly to conviction and willpower, but they can not fully direct your course. If I am correct, you started to feel it shortly after you witnessed the depravity of that abhorrent establishment.”

  Alex nods, a shudder running along his spine as he remembers the callous murder at The 1 Buffet. “Yeah. I want…” Alex trails off. He was about to say ‘destroy that place’, but even that idea feels discordant. Speaking it would feel like a lie. The sentiment is certainly true, but not accurate. “I want to stop The Glut, whoever they are, from operating those places at all.” He says, the shifted scope and perspective rings far more true.

  Even on a bird’s face, the expression Corvus wears could only be described as smug pride. “As I thought. I would suspect that New Europa holds something significant that you will need, or something that you can do, which will further that goal.” What Corvus doesn’t inform Alex of is the fact that The Glut is currently in New Europa. The Guide is certainly aware of it, but to inform Alex would be to set him on a path he can not travel. Not yet.

  “Alex pulls the pouch of coins out of his pocket. “Turns out, information about Last to Burn’s territory was worth enough to get me the loan, and even some pocket money.” He says to his companions, then looks around again. “I don’t know about you two, but I’m craving a good meal.”

  It doesn’t take Alex long to find what he’s looking for. A few blocks further along, his nose picks out the scent of hot fat and oil. The tantalizing smell of frying meat sets his stomach to complaining almost instantly. Led by scent, he discovers its source only a couple streets over.

  A human-looking woman tends to a cart with a large grill top. The sizzling kabobs lined up on it quickly prove to be the source of the delicious scents. With practiced ease, the woman turns them one after the other with fluid flicks of her tongs. Seeing a customer approaching, she calls out for them. “Two for one, five for two!”

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  It takes Alex a second to realize she’s giving him the price. Only then does he notice the sign on the front of the cart. But unlike the welcome sign and the front of Hadrick’s Quick Fix, Alex finds the characters unrecognizable. Only then does he remember Mora’s note, and having to get Corvus to translate for him. For now he shrugs off the curiosity and fishes out two coins. “Five please.” He says, handing the coins over.

  The attendant smirks and plucks the skewers from the grill, wrapping each in a paper, quick and neat. “Here ya are.” She says, trading the treats for the coins. Alex thanks her for the kabobs before stepping away and looking around for a place to sit and enjoy. As if reading his mind, the attendant calls out. “You’re new around. There’s a park two blocks off that’a’way.” She gestures with the tongs.

  With a grin on his lips, Alex hurries off after thanking her again. The park is easy to find, if a bit small. About the same footprint as the neighboring buildings, it consists of several raised flower-beds and a few well manicured trees. The paths between the greenery are paved with smooth brick, providing a charming route to meander through. Alex claims one of the several benches, and settles onto it.

  As he unwraps one of the kabobs and bites into the juicy meat, a sense of contentment radiates through him. “Oh that’s good.” He mutters around the hot mouthful. Then as he goes in for another bite, he uses his other hand to unwrap a second one and hold it out for Hara. The hound doesn’t hesitate at all and strips one of the meat-chunks off the skewer to munch happily.

  It’s the first chance Alex has had to rest since the moss gardens. With his ‘timer’ restored, a hot meal to eat, and a chance to really relax, Alex savors the moment. For the first time, he doesn’t feel like he’s on the back-foot anymore. He’s made real progress, reaching New Europa, and having a stable way to live, if not a source of permanent Animus yet. It feels good, and he relishes the feeling.

  Even Corvus enjoys a few morsels, pecking them off a skewer held between his talons. “Ah, I do so enjoy simple treats like these.” He muses as he strips another chunk of meat off.

  The comment catches Alex off-guard and he quirks a brow at the crow. “Couldn’t you get things like this basically whenever you want?” He asks between bites, having the misfortune of still having to use his actual voice to speak rather than telepathy.

  The demon just chuckles. “In a sense, yes. But more often, the simple nature of the vendor or cook knowing who they are serving causes them to attempt to provide food ‘worthy of my station’.” The last phrase comes across with a mocking derision so thick they all could have used it for a dipping sauce. “If I want authentic fare like this, I must hire someone to procure it for me without the provider being aware of who the actual customer is. And by the time it reaches me, it is no longer fresh.”

  Alex scoffs at that. “Truly you suffer for your success, how do you manage to continue living?”

  Corvus pauses with his beak open, about to go in for another strip of meat. His head tilts slightly and then turns to focus on Alex. “Perspective.” He simply says before ripping the strip of meat free. “Something else I fear we old ones miss out on.” Then the bird lapses into a contemplative silence as he continues to eat.

  Alex bites into one of the veggies on the skewer, expecting another tuber from the look of it. But to his shock, his mind registers it as a potato. An actual grilled potato chunk. The familiarity of the savory morsel overwhelms him for a moment as he stares at the rest of the piece. Taking the time to examine the rest of the kabob, Alex discovers that much of it is familiar. The meat is beef-like if not quite the same, potato chunks, pieces of the tubers he’s gotten used to, small tomatoes, and chunks of apple and pear.

  Hara has no such hesitation, devouring everything on her kabob. Even the vegetables and fruits disappear into her maw. When it’s all gone, she licks the skewer with a pitiable whine. That whine quickly turns into a happy yip when Alex unwraps another for her.

  With his hunger blunted, Alex slows down to savor his second kabob. It also gives his mind a chance to chew on several things that had been nagging at his curiosity. “Corvus, I could read the ‘welcome’ sign, and the store front at Hadrick’s. But I couldn’t read Mora’s note, or that vendor’s price-sheet. Why is that?”

  The Guide had finished his skewer and was busying himself preening his wing-feathers. “I believe you might have a clue as to how that works. Reason it out and I willll help if you need.” He challenges.

  Furrowing his brow, Alex sits back and slowly chews a chunk of meat. “I don’t think any of the words were written in a language I know. But I read the welcome sign and the store sign as if they were plain English. So it isn’t a matter of language. I couldn’t read the note, or the sign on the cart, so it’s not something I’m doing.” He muses, pausing to take another bite. Then it dawns on him. He swallows his mouthful before voicing the idea. “It’s all about Intent. Intent and Will govern a ton of things here in Hell. So is it Intent? The person who made those signs somehow imbued their intent to communicate into them?” He asks, watching for Corvus’s reaction.

  “It is indeed as you suspect. There are various ways to embed power into objects. You might be familiar with the concept of ‘Enchanting’. While not exactly the same, it is analogous to the process. And the signs aren’t the only objects you’ve encountered with stored intent.” Corvus explains, positively beaming as Alex grasps the concept so easily.

  Alex bites his lip, thinking it over. Then it hits him. “The roads! They’re built with the intent to make travel easier. And I’m betting Mora’s fire-stone works the same way.”

  This time though Corvus gives a little shrug. “You are partially correct. The roads are indeed enchanted with intent. Mora’s stone however, is just a normal stone. She would be entirely capable of generating the fire and heat without it.”

  That answer surprises Alex. He frowns, going pensive as he mulls that over. “She doesn’t need the stone. Wait, Hara used some kind of stone-shaping ability twice, but she doesn’t need any object to use hers.” He says, thinking out loud. “It’s a placebo, isn’t it? She thinks the stone is needed to use her skills, so it becomes necessary because of her belief. Is that right?”

  Corvus nods. “Just so. Mora’s belief that the stone is the casting focus does make her use of the skill easier for her, but it also means that someone can deny her access to that power by removing the object from her.” The crow spreads his wings to stretch. “Keep this in mind Alex. Your belief and your will matter far more than you know. Having them broken is the greatest risk you can encounter in all of Hell.”