Here, reader, I want to stop the time for a while, and pause the story so. Why that? Just to take your eyes and put them in the 3rd Class Citizen's Zone.

First of all, the citizens are not always citizens, here. Indeed, some are just poor refugees that didn't ask anything to the world but yet had some not-so-great-to-ear answers. And others are just persons which war destroyed the entire life and family. So, because they have to live, they do some really unpaid job.

As for example that little cheetah. Imnar, for his name. Grey and brown is his dirty and dusty fur. In his weak hands is a heavy pickaxe. As you understood, he is a minor. And he's minor too. His parents, dead a week ago, left him some money but not enough for him to get out of this shit. So he has to work. And, when he sees ores like coal, he just imagines that it's the head of the other Class Citizen's members, as he'll always remember the pain they don't have. So, with all his non-existent strength, he hits the ore, imagining this with a flow of blood, of gore. And he dream to get out of here and to answer the world with his rebellious mind.

Too bad he's not gonna be in the story I am telling.

He will, indeed, die the next morning. His lungs are too weak for his hard life and the exhausting work he does, instead of making him stronger, kills him little by little, each pick of the pickaxe ringing like the bells of the Eternal Sleep.

I am, I will be honest, surprised that no revolution was made. Especially with the recent attack on Warfang that made the 2nd and 1st Class more weaker than ever. Yeah, I'm surprised they didn't already Germinaled all this shit. They have weapons, after all, and a pickaxe can be really deadly. And they have some really good techniques to be silent and to kill too.

Minors are indeed a minority in the workers of the 3rd Class Citizen's Zone.

You have tons of jobs in that zone. Dangerous works, most of the time. Really dangerous. And the fact that the zone is as clear as a dystopian country doesn't help at all for making the it safe.

To give some examples of jobs you can take in there, you have the mercenaries, the thieves, the barmen, the prostitutes (male and female), the killers, the beggars (that's a real job in there. And god damn it's exhausting!). And all are as dangerous as the other.

You even have some artists and poets.

Yes, you have read well. Artists and poets. They are essential everywhere. And some of their works are just unknown masterpieces. Yeah, some poets made beautiful works, that made cry everybody who listened to that (even the "worst criminals" because, you know, they are normal peeps too and have some really strong emotions as love too). Some painters transformed the life of lots of poor workers by offering their talents to make them happy. And you even have some dragons which Shakespeare himself would be proud of, if he was in this world.

And, all of these people are kinda lost in their life, they don't know what to do next. They just try to survive. And, then, they lose everything they believe in life. So you have suicides and murders, blood and tears. But those persons can be rich on the inside. And some can be really kind and even intelligent. And that kind of person is the light that shines in the eternal darkness of that zone.

After all, "even in the darkest of time, there is always hope."

But, after all of that, I'm sure, reader, that you want to know what follows in the Qualt's story. So, here we are.

Ironhorns was in the middle of the Zone. It was kinda easy for him to enter and to move in there because of his look: iron horns, bandages, blood, a grumpy face, strong language…

He looked like he was a real survivor!

Oh, and, why the grumpy face and the strong language? Well, it was raining and the weather wasn't clear. And, I think you guessed too, but, because of the rain, of the ground's heat get outside, as the smells too.

"I guess I'm gonna need some other fucking bandages after that..." mumbled Qualt.

As he was here, he was searching Gloria Tremorth because he had some questions about all of what's happening. And, because of his physical abilities, some persons feared him and answered his questions.

After questioning her, he was planing to go seeing the mole with the potential informations on the one he called Myst.

With all he collected, he knew where to find her. She was in a tavern called The Fire Demon, working in it for a job that would pay the food. But, those last times, she wasn't here the night and she wasn't really joyful. Well, she never really was joyful so...

Anyway, her skills at the work she quickly found were now lower than ever and she even cried while doing the job. She was so low in her skills that she even had to refund. She even had to make some things free.

So, with some questions and hypothesis and her job, he went to the tavern.

Once he entered, all was noisy. The barman, a simple cheetah, was filling glasses with alcohols, that sweet drink that was the hope of some desperate persons here. Qualt commanded a beer and asked where was Gloria.

With a sign of the head, he indicated the back of the tavern, close to the stairs. And, at the same time, he gave the glass to the ice dragon.

He drank one shot and went to the direction of a beautiful dragoness that had the same age as him. She was next to a male mole, a female cheetah and another dragon, male this time.

"Gloria Tremorth?" Qualt asked.

Saying Gloria was hard for him. The memory of his dead sister was always fresh in his mind, after all.

The red dragoness looked at him and her eyes moved to the others persons next to her. She sighed and said with an artificial smile:

"Follow me. Some privacy will be better."

And she took the paw of the detective to go to the other roof and brought him in a free room, with a dusty bed and some wooden furniture. She closed the door behind Qualt, closed the window and got on the bed with a sexy pose, looking in the eyes of the ice dragon.

"Come at me, you sexy beast!" she exclaimed.

He approached and sat right next to her before saying in a sigh:

"Look... I'm not here for that."

She had an interrogative yet sad look on her face.

"I'm here to ask you some questions."

Then, something changed in her eyes.

"It's about the last night's murder in the Gald's hou..." he completed before...

She jumped on him with a sudden aggressiveness! When she hit him on the chest, he groaned with pain!

Then, she began to run in direction of the window, ready to break the wall!

But, when she jumped, she got hurt by a massive form and flew to the ground! The detective denied her flight attempt.

She got up quickly and stood up while Qualt run on her! She moved on her right and blocked the attack of her opponent!

"I'm not here to fight!" said between his teeth the blue dragon. "I'm just here for answers!"

"So why are you here if it's not to arrest me!"

After a battle of pure strength, she putted the detective on the ground, her claws high in the air, ready to strike in a bloody way! Qualt gave up.

"Kill me if you want... But I'm not here to arrest you. I'm just here to do my job."

"I have nothing to do with all of these!"

"So why did you attack me if you have nothing to do with that case?"

Her breath was jerky and her posture paralysed. There was a long silence before tears came in her eyes. Then a trembling sob.

She got out of Qualt and fell once she was close to a wall. She loudly cried.

"He was my only son..."

He came closer.

"He was my only son and now... now he is dead..."

"So you were at the Gald's house last night."

He recieved no answer because she was crying. He putted one of his paws on her shoulder.

"Please. Answer me."

"Y... Yes, I was at the house, wearing black clothes to not be seen. It was the second time this week..."

"Why that?"

"Because he was my son! I fucking loved him even if I didn't see him growing up... I... I went to their house to see my son sleeping, to see him being happy... After years in an asylum, he was my only light of hope, he was my reason to live, to see him live happily."

She turned the head in his direction and, then, got up to sit down right after.

"I did not kill him! I did not kill him!"

He sat down right in front of her. He knew what kind of grieve it was. And he knew how to react with that. So, he stood calm and took a reassuring voice.

"Tell me what happened to you. Tell me everything that happened after you got out of the asylum..."

Her eyes were wet and her voice still trembling. So she began and she wasn't cut while she was telling...

You want to know what happened to me after I got out of this fucking asylum? Alright, I'll tell you!

First of all, I was thrown away from that mad house because they did not have enough places left. So they threw me like a garbage while saying to the other that I was "cured" from my "madness".

I went to the District, trying to go back to my home, where I lived before my husband was brutally killed by those motherfuckers! Where was my gang, my group, my family...

But, once I was back... They... They saw me and, then, they just yelled at me, saying that I hadn't my place with them anymore... They even tried to rape me because my husband wasn't here anymore and because I was a dragoness like another, a victim to add in their list.

And you know what's the worst in all of that?

It's that they did rape me...

Then, it was like with the asylum: I was thrown like a garbage...

I was alone, so... I had to eat, to find somewhere to sleep, to protect me from the outside's weather and the cold. I so had a close friend that told me that his job was a bit humiliating but that it was paying well enough for having what I wanted.

That's why I'm here, working at giving to dragons and dragonesses some pleasure. There even was some of my colleague that did have to do it with other species that their own...

And so, when I had enough money, I bought the dark cloth and wanted to see my son in secret during the night.

"No, don't go during that time!" said my boss. "It's the moment where all the best clients are."

But I did not listen. Even if I had less money, I wanted to see my son.

And oh the joy that was in me when I saw him, sleeping with a quiet smile and breath, growing up in a good house and a rich family, even if their members are fucking assholes who stole my baby and accused me of infanticide attempt. They just did not wanted their image to be spoiled with a kidnapping affair, because it was a kidnapping, I swear it on... on whatever can be dear for me now. Those assholes just killed my husband after stealing him and, then, they just took from me the baby that I wanted to protect... They said I tried to kill him with a knife but it's false... It's false! Lies! All lies!

So... So I went to see him, just for some minutes or even seconds. Just to see him once again after all I endured those last years. At least, he was happy and lived a good life, I just said to me that whole time...

Then, I don't know... But I got one day the feeling that I had to see him again, to watch after him.

I had a bad feeling. The feeling that something really horrible was going to happen.

So I took my clothe and went as quick as possible to the Gald's house during the last night... And, when I arrived...

When I arrived...

He was lying in the bed, dead and on his blood. I remember the horrible smell in the room…

I wanted to cry, to yell... I wanted to puke too... But I couldn't. I tried to yell but nothing came. And it was for the best. It wasn't my house, after all. And I was in front of a dead body. My son's dead body. And I was, after years in an asylum, described as "mad" and "dangerous".

So, with silence, I ran away from the house. And it was when I was back here that I cried...

She took Qualt and sobbed on his shoulder. She had enough with all this shit. She couldn't hold it anymore.

"Please find the bastard who did that and make him fucking pay for what he did! Make him fucking suffer!"

He let her hug him while she was crying. She reminded him of his sister so it was like a duty to protect persons like her, even if she was really different from the other Gloria.

As for her... she missed that masculine presence right next to her, very close. She missed that physical hold from a man, even with the job she had. Sure she had to make hugs to some dragons but, here, it was different. It wasn't to play nice and sexy, to give pleasure to the other. No. Here, it was to find a hot spot, somewhere to be lost, to hold when everything is dark around.

It was a sincere hug. From both of them. But for different reasons.

"I promise", he said in a whisper. "I promise I will avenge your son. I have lost all my family too... I know exactly how you feel."

"Thank you... Thank you very much..."

There was a long silence. A very long silence that both of the two needed after all they've been through.

Then a terrifying sound was made in the other roof, down there. And yells could be heard.

"Where is Gloria!" said a mysterious and grave voice. "Where's that bitch with that fucking detective!"

"Oh shit..." she said, terrified. "It's the Gang..."