Chaos in A Broken Cycle

Hello everyone! Long time no see. It has indeed been a long time since you guys have heard anything from me and I deeply apologize for that. Lots of things came up or delayed me out right during the pandemic. From the tons of extra hours I had to work, to catching Covid for a brief time. To my laptop that died on my like twice and took a month each time to get back. I lost the chapter twice because of that, and didn't learn my lesson the first time. Bought a PC, didn't like it, returned it and then finally! I decided to just outright build my own PC, which in all honesty works a million times better then something I probably would have bought prebuilt. I get 240 fps which I love. There was a brief period of time where I just stagnated in writing because I lost the chapter those 2 times and that's because they're usually 10'000 word chapters. So moving forward I will be continuing the story. I want you guys to know that, but I won't be able to dish out these 10'000 word chapters quickly so let's just say for now it'll be 1 chapter a month. Of course if I have a stroke of inspiration it could be quicker but for now let's just keep it at 1 a month.

Heck even the chapter I'm posting for you guys now has gone thru so many renditions, but it is something I am immensely happy with and I hope you guys enjoy it as well.

A Question for the Readers: In a world as morbid and dark as little nightmares, which of the sins would you think is the worst of them all, and why do you think so?

Now if people are still here of course if you leave a review I'll be sure to try and respond to you guys if you have any further questions or comments. But on with the show

Special Thanks to Yukalight who has helped me by beta reading the chapter and those going forward. It's been an absolute joy working and brainstorming the rest of the story going forward so I can assure you readers we have no lack of ideas.

The mansion groaned with unsetting motions, objects teetered and fell as Mono and Six shook and stumbled in their attempt to stay on their feet. The thief, seeing an opening, quickly scooped up the discarded lighter and camera. Spotting this, Six growled and with inhuman reflexes attempted to pounce on them, maw open and ready to feast on this rat, only for the kid to tumble into a perfectly timed roll, dodging her hands with swift accuracy before making a break for the exit. By the time the two could race to the door to follow, the thief was already gone.

"Well that's just great…" Six muttered with a hint of a low hiss, looking less impressed by the second with how this was all going. Though Mono did not have time to reply as the dark halls soon filled with noise, of what sounded like heavy, disoriented footsteps, thumping through the many walls, and growing nearer.'

With only a silent glance between them, the two dashed for where they knew the exit was at the end of the hall. Only to find waiting for them, a flash of a pale, golden light peering in from their desired path, where strange shambling and wet noises droned through.

Caught off guard they watch as ooze-like figures in fine clothing tumble in like a shambling mound of tar, Strange stone like plates with the depiction of an eye taking up where any head should be. Mono was quick to grab Six's hand and pull her around the corner just as the blazing lights shine passed where they were and into another hall, of which its windows began to shatter as more of these strange tar monsters collapsed though the empty frames, flailing to get back on their feet. Some with pale lights shining from the single eye on their face plates.

Half way through this hall Mono takes another turn up a flight of stairs, careful to avoid what looked to be a stringed trap. In fact many traps seem to litter the place, some more helpful than others by tripping up the ooze-like people. Such as said string, as Mono watched, the oozes tripped up the trap, activating a bucket full of strange yellow liquid that quickly started making the creatures fall back down the stairs.

They continued to sprint as they reached the next floor, just in time for another quake to tremmer through the building. Its shaking felt more tense as objects were tossed to the floor and dilapidated shelfs crumble and fall over. The duo were forced to stop and steady themselves and avoid the falling debris as they waited for it to pass.

"Whatever Is making that is big and getting closer, you really should hurry up with that whole escaping thing before whatever it is shows up." Sloth quips as Mono get's back on his feet.

"Do you have any idea what it is?!" Mono anxiously questioned as he grabbed on to Six once more and continued down the slightly more destroyed hall. The floor had enough holes that lights from creatures on the floor below were pouring through making it slower then ideal.

"Look, I tried to warn you kid, Now you likely got His attention on you, and that can't be good for your health." Sloth Continued. "All I'll say is try not to get caught in those lights, and maybe when you can, lay low a little while after this, got it? Or else this is just going to keep on happening." Sloth ended with a yawn, seeming somehow disinterested in the whole ordeal.

Stepping over another wired trap, Mono spotted an odd sight, among the many broken shelves and tables was a closet that still stood tall. Something he would have just ignored if it were not for the fact that the path ahead suddenly is filled with lights and ooze's crawling out from one of the rooms at the end. Looking back he could see it wasn't that much better, with oozes managing to crawl up the last bit of stairs to peer over at them. With little other option he quickly pushed Six into the closet before going in himself and shutting it.'

It was slightly Unfortunate that the closet was a great deal smaller on the inside than he had expected. Him and Six just barely manage to squeeze into the small space, but that was the least of his worries, as he was stuck racking his brain for any ideas on how to get out of this mess.

The sounds of furniture and doors being smashed on all sides only seemed to make thinking harder as he tried to not focus on how close the sounds were. With every noise Six also seemed to tense up, before resting her head on his chest, to relax? He was not really sure how his thumping heart was relaxing but whatever.

It was then that he noticed something strange with the back of the closet. Looking over he noticed that there was a small indentation on the back of the closet. Scooching closer in the cramped space Mono gave it a little push, and to his mild surprise the wall started to give way, opening up to a hidden corridor. It looked just as cramped as the closet, but it was a way to escape their doom nonetheless.

Six was quick to usher herself though first before he followed behind her, making sure to close the passageway behind him, and in doing so the last little bit of light was gone and the walls of the corridor lit up with small drawings and writing he didn't understand. The corridor seemed to be situated directly in between rooms, the only thing separating them from the monsters being thin walls.

Six was quick to point at a drawing behind him and when he looked he saw what looked like an open door with an arrow pointing where to go, with more weird writing underneath. Deciding it was better than nothing the two slowly inched their way through the small passage, attempting to be as quiet as can be. They listened as the monsters continued to make a racket in search of what they could only assume was them. As they continued they heard a sudden thump against the opposite side of the wall. The two went silent, and stood stock still, even going as far as to hold their breath. As they waited for the creature's steps to move away.

Eventually they did hear the heavy steps of something leaving, of which the two took as a moment to catch their breath. The next second, Mono is pelted by wooden splinters as the wall next to his head is smashed through by a stream of black sludge that flung drops of its nasty goo into his face as well. After the sounds of shuffling getting closer alerted him that more were coming.

"Hurry up! Go, Go!" Mono Yelled to the slightly shocked Six knocking her out of her stupified state. Stealth was to the wind at this point as Mono and Six all but sprinted down the passage as more sludge hands burst around them. Lights from their eyes pouring make them have to duck and stop more than they would have liked, as their hands and feet grabbed and landed on old decaying wood that could easily break under their weight causing them to nearly fall on multiple occasions from their haste.'

In truth he had no idea what the light does, but it even makes Six stop in her tracks which is good enough for him to not take the chance to go through them.

Once they had reached what felt like the next floor up, Mono managed to spot a hole with more arrows around it, with a quick gesture to six he made his way to it before crawling through it with Six close behind. Getting to his feet, he starts dusting himself off of all the grim and sludge on him, he sighs before coffing at the tickling at the back of his throat as he takes in the room he found himself in.

It looked abandoned, as abandoned as one might expect from a desolate world, though rather than ransacked and torned down, the room looked untouched. The only reason one would assume it had been abandoned is from the thick layer of dust that caked everything in this room, and bothered his lungs. He continued to walk though it while Six finished pulling herself out of the hole in the wall.

Looking around, he could only find the one boarded up exit, so with little choice Mono grabbed a board blocking the doorway and started to try and pry it off. Eventually with the sound of creaking and bending wood, the board was pried off, nearly sending him back with it. One by one the process continued, prying board after board until he could finally open the door. Entering it they found a more barren hallway. Seeing lights at the window the two walked toward it and peered into the outside, looking through they saw more groups of the strange ooze-like monsters in coats and fancy clothing akin to mobsters, they walked around the perimeter of the building, clustering in its ground floor windows and exits. Old fashioned black cars parked in the front of the building, their headlights gave an eerie glow akin to the masks as they seemed to shift and look around. Shaking his head, Mono continued.

Looking around further they entered what looked to be another long abandoned room, the two could see lights coming from these windows as well, and looking through the results were the same, making the two come to the same conclusion that the building appeared to be surrounded on all sides by these creatures.

The two hear a thump behind them and turn to see crawling out of another hole in the wall is the thief from before. Six wastes no time and goes to grab them again, to which the kid merely smirked, the two raced across the room to a nearby pile of boxes, with six being far faster she quickly goes for another tackle, but to her surprise the figure fades into dust making her tumble right through her and into the pile of boxes, knocking them over to reveal a hidden passage leading down. With a brief glance Mono figured that it was a laundry chute that more than likely led to the basement of this mansion.

The kid once more took form, giving Six a smug look before simply sliding down the chute. Mono, stuck coughing and blind by the lasting fumes of dust, could only hear an audible growl of rage escaping from Six's throat, before she leaps down the hole after them.

"Six wait! Cough, don't- cough chase them, we don't know...And she's gone. Perfec- cough." Mono groaned

Mono prepares to follow the two but before he could the metal door to the chute they had just dove down slammed shut, and try as he might, the door was refusing to open again. His thoughts on what to do next were interrupted by the sound of thumping footsteps.

Mono quickly jumped behind an overturned table.

A figure, as tall as many adults, stood in the doorway, wearing a dark black trench coat and fancy clothing that looked to be barely staying together from how stretched the fabric looked. Its erratic thumping of its boots and dripping of slime could be heard as it walked across the room, slowly, as if it were skulking and attempting to remain quiet. Its head that shifted slowly was covered in a thick stone plate of intricate designs, all leading to a single shape of a half closed eye, a fedora only barely visible behind the hunk of stone. The entirety of its figure was covered in a thick, grimmy ooze that shimmered as it rippled along its human-like shape. Though perhaps the most disturbing was the strange leech-like mouth filled with needle-like teeth just hidden under the stone mask, where its neck should be.

Suddenly its head quickly lerches over to look over where he was hiding, and he is just quick enough to duck as its once half lidded eye widens as pale light shoots out.

Mono watched as the light appeared to scan the room, making a strange squishing noise akin to wet flesh slapping as it did.

It takes a moment or two, but the creature finally leaves, its boots heard thumping against the floor as it moves further and further away, down the hall it came from.

It takes a moment but the adult finally leaves, the boots heard thumping against the floor as it moved further and further away. Left in the dark room Mono quickly got up, ready to leave the way Six and the other kid left, but to his surprise another door opened up and out came the child Six had supposedly ran off after.

They looked surprised but only mildly so. Instead of running away though they walked up to Mono, getting closer as their eyes moved around their face dimly pulsing with a golden light staring intently at him. This filled Mono with an uneasy sense of apprehension, as the kid then proceeded to slowly circle Mono with a hand resting under their chin as they inspected him. Mono couldn't quite explain it but the way they looked at him was in a way similar to Six, just as predatory but for different reasons that he couldn't put his finger on.

"Uhmm….so….about my camera." Mono stuttered

The kid then stopped in front of Mono again before holding out their hand to him in a closed fist as if wanting to give him something. Mono tried to reach out to take whatever they were giving him but they only pulled their hand back while shaking their head from side to side clearly saying 'no'. Once more they held out their closed fist to him, bringing it closer to him. Thinking that they wanted to show him something Mono brought his face closer….only to receive a flick to the nose. Caught off guard Mono covered his nose and shut his eyes in slight pain and by the time he opened his eyes again the kid was already on their way out the door.

Mono gawked as he rushed over to catch up to them. "Hey! What was-" Before Mono could finish, the thief covered his mouth, they quickly put a figure to their lips before pointing down the hall the tar beast came from, its pale glowing eye still visible through the slightly ajar door. When he looked back to where she was, she was missing. Scrambling, he manages to just spot her as she hid in the darkness heading into the hall. With little choice he started to follow. Though found it hard to keep up as she nimbly and rather easily avoided its gaze. He was quite sure he was nowhere near as fast as she was when doing it, Just barely remaining out of sight from the little guidance her movements gave.

Sprinting through a twisting hallway, Mono finds himself on a balcony looking down to what appears to be the main entryway, where he Momentarily pauses when he spots a yellow blur as it leaps out of the darkness below, hot on the tail of… The glowing eyed thief? Mono took a moment to look ahead to see the kid was still their running ahead of him, before looking back and to his horror watches as Six lunges for said thief like a hungry beast, only for light to suddenly bleed in and fill the room as the window and front doors are smashed open, letting through a hoard of the tar monsters. Red eyes glowed from the remaining shadows that seem to wraith and cling around six as the hoard quickly collapses on top of her, blocking her from view.

"You should keep following the other kid. They won't kill her if that's what you're worried about….Probably." Sloth said as the building began to quake once more.

"Also if you remember we really don't have the time, so get moving." Sloth followed up

Mono clenched his fist but hesitated no longer, sprinting after the shrinking figure of the thief as he did his best not to tumble as the building continued to slightly shake non stop, not enough to hinder much but it was enough to make him less sure footed as he took a turn up another flight of stairs.

When he reached the top, after avoiding what looked to once be a trap filled with bowling balls, he could see a light of the setting sun at the end of the hall through the curtains of a window with a wooden beam layed out past it as well as the kid making a run for it. Though as he was about to continue the wall to his right suddenly explodes as a tar monster stumbles into the hall blocking his way. Its form was larger, having two stone eyes, one where the head should be and another under its arm. It emitted a low croaking noise with each heavy breath it took.

Past the ooze creature on the other side, the thief turned around and looked at it then at him, they tilted their head as if to question what he planned to do now, before simply continuing to the exit. Clearly not planning any kind of assistance.

"Well, shit…" Mono cursed under his breath before making a dive for cover as one of the creature's eyes shifted in his direction spewing that accursed light, and effectively pinning him where he hid.

"You know, I really don't understand you sometimes, Mono." Sloth suddenly speaks up, cutting Mono mid thought.

"What is that supposed to mean?" He questioned finding no humor in being distracted.

Sloth continued sounding far more smug this time. "You are currently pinned right?"

Mono was about to annoyedly interject before Sloth just continued.

"Well did you just forget you have amazing powers that could help? Or are you just stupid enough to not want to use them?"

Mono merely shook his head. "I can't use them! This place would collapse if I made a mistake and I'm not taking that risk."

"Ah fine, you're no fun, but might I then suggest using some of your more subtle abilities?" With that Sloth once more went silent.

With the tar beast getting closer with its smashing and croaking, Mono decided he needed to draw its attention elsewhere, but with its one eye not leaving his hiding spot he couldn't really throw something or he would be spotted.

It was then he remembered his extra pair of hands hidden in his pockets. He wasn't sure if this monster could see them, but he was limited in options, and it's better than nothing. So with a vague sense of concentration, he takes Sloth's advice and moves his hands down some stairs behind him to a nearby discarded bowling ball and proceeded to push it, making it slam on each step it fell onto. Which ended up with the desired effect as the creature's attention was drawn away to even the point of trudging past him down the stairs after the thumping.

The mansion began to lurch, Mono could feel as the very ground beneath him seemed to rise and sink as if the decrepit building was breathing its last. As Mono ran once more for the window, each step was accompanied with a loud creak, as the walls and roof around him began to fall apart and bend. Black slime oozed from said creaks leaking web-like streams that almost seem to reach out for him.

Suddenly in front of him a large crack in the ground forms making a gap filled with black ooze and stone eyes which only appeared half open. He took a leap across, landing on one of the stone eyes as a stepping stone before passing the gap.

He was close, the window was right before him, and just as he reached it, the wooden board making a bridge to what he could only hope was safety, suddenly fell out the window down to the unknown.

Not losing hope Mono dashes and climbs into the constantly shaking window sill, what he saw was the roof of the next house over which stood the familiar figure of the thief dusting off their hands only to stop when they spotted him.

They stared at each other, and though their expression was of mild annoyance as the thief looked him in the eyes, they begrudgingly sigh before grabbing a metal pole and leaning out with an arm outstretched to him.

"Were they offering to catch him?" he thought

It was then something hit Mono, as for a moment his vision flashes, and what he sees is… Six holding out her hand, waiting for him to jump… His breath quickened as his heart started to beat rapidly and violently enough to pain him. Time seemed to slow as he could suddenly hear the sounds of childish laughter and of his own blood pumping in his head, a sound like ringing in his ear as it slowly got louder. And for a moment he was back there… In the tower.

Before he is suddenly brought back by the sudden feeling of his body being blasted out the window by an unseen force. As he fell to the shadows of raging waters below, a loud yet familiar screech welcomed him back into the darkness of his own mind, as his consciousness slowly faded to nothing.

When he next woke up, Mono felt like the side of his face had grown stiff and sensitive as it rested on something hard and uncomfortable. Sitting up and moving he could only see due to a fire that was lit. Looking around him the fire only lit a certain distance as shadows consumed most of his vision. A clicking noise to his right immediately caused him to spin his head towards the sound. Sitting up against the sewer wall was the kid that he had followed from earlier. Lighter in hand, turning it on and off as she sat there staring at it absentmindedly.

"He…..*cough*. Hi." Mono said not expecting his throat to be so dry that his voice failed him.

Whether the kid heard him or not, he wasn't sure as they didn't show any signs whatsoever of reacting to him.

"In my expert opinion, I think they might be angry at you, you know, on account of the destruction of the place they live." Sloth said

"Sloth, is there something wrong with me?" Mono asked

"Well you see there, that's a difficult question to answer." Sloth said

"That strange feeling I had there, like my chest was about to burst or something, and my head..." Mono said

"Listen kid, you were pretty out of it for a bit but you're still fine, maybe we should worry about the current situation instead and we get you looked at when you get back home, sound like a plan? Good, buh-bye now." Sloth said

Left alone in his head once more Mono was startled when the child across from him abruptly stood up and began walking off into the darkness. Their eyes are still faintly visible thanks to the soft golden glow. Mono quickly followed behind them, making sure to watch where he was stepping. To him, it seemed as though they were lost. The sewer was dark as they walked across the walkway of the sewer that had a deep stream of water that flowed like a raging river. Maybe it was just the darkness messing with him but the water that flowed seemed to be a lot darker, almost black.

"I'm sorry about earlier, I didn't mean to get your entire house destroyed, and I'm sorry about Six too, she can be a little…extreme." Mono said in a one-sided conversation.

Still there was a pervading silence as they both walked through the sewer, soon the sound of crashing water could be heard. Walking into a wide open room in the sewer, it seemed to be a four way intersection, from the way that they came from there was an opening on their left, right and in front of them. A large opening in the ceiling was an opening for water that came crashing into the center and flowing off in one of the four directions. Small rusty metal bridges were there allowing them to cross the flowing water.

It may have been Mono's imagination but he was sure he saw the child's eyes glow brighter before dying down again. They had spun around looking at every opening before deciding to cross the small bridge that led to the way in front of them. A tentative step on the bridge was taken, it moved slightly and the metal creaked but nothing signifying that it would give way. Halfway across the bridge, without so much as a second to spare, a black shiney tentacles came rushing out of the water. Without thinking Mono grabbed the other kid and teleported them the rest of the distance across, right before the tentacle came down, easily crumpling the bridge and dragging it under that water.

They landed falling on the pavement across from the other side. The creature didn't give them even a moment however as another tentacle rose from the water intent on slamming the two. Rolling away from each other the tentacle came slamming into the pavement leaving cracks. It even looked like bits and pieces of it were falling off….and moving. The tentacle slinked back into the water as the kid across from him was looking all around into the water. She backed away as her head looked from spot to spot in the water, as if she could see something that he couldn't. They looked toward him before bobbing their head indicating that they wanted him to follow them, before they started to book it. Mono quickly followed and as he did he could notice movement of something just under the surface of the water following them.

Some tentacles came out and took a swing at the two which thankfully was avoidable as long as they jumped, but things didn't end there. With swipes and slams the tentacles rose in numbers out of the murky depths and to the best of their abilities dodged all that it threw at them, but they were tiring out quickly. Suddenly a row of tentacles rose all in a line and all took a swipe at the same time, the problem being that they weren't trying to hit the kids directly this time. Rather little black bits of the creature flew at the two like a hail of bullets. The invisible Hands of Sloth rushed out of Mono's coat on instinct, stopping any of the black projectiles from actually hitting him. Mono turned to look at the wall where some of them had hit only to see black squirming leeches that were actually quite large compared to regular leeches. Some of them hissed, baring their small, but extremely sharp and numerous teeth. Every time they would crawl close to his feet he would kick them as hard as he could back into the water.

Looking over he spied that the other kid seemed to be doing well keeping the leeches off them. At the end of the tunnel they had come from a tentacle rose from the water, laying itself down on the pavement as it slowly came apart bit by bit. It was breaking down into a pile of leeches. Crawling alongside the wall and the ceiling towards the two. The leeches on the floor look like they were struggling, with what Mono wasn't sure. However to his surprise and even slight disturbance the leech stood up on two tiny stubs that could be considered legs. One by one they stood up before running in a group toward Mono.

"Are you kidding me!" Mono cursed

His current unwilling companion heard his commotion and turned to look in his direction, seeing the same thing as him; they both continued running, jumping and dodging any leeches or tentacles that tried to ensnare them. Coming up to another intersection in the sewers that was essentially a fork in the road, two choices. The only problem being that they had to cross the water to even continue and there was no bridge this time. But it seemed as if luck was on their side this time, there was a ladder that seemed to lead to the surface. Climbing up the ladder the child tried to open the manhole but the heavy metal covering didn't even budge. Looking down she could see the leeches closing in. Sliding down the ladder she rushed past Mono looking around for a way to cross the water safely or escape.

Mono took a look at the ladder again, it looked rusty enough so maybe….

Grabbing the ladder by its sides along with the Hands of Sloth he gave a heaving pull. The metal ladder began to creak. With the bottom bolts breaking off Mono made some progress but the ladder still had many more bolts that still held strong while pulling it from the wall. Digging heel as hard as he could into the pavement, Mono still kept trying. With another clank the next row of bolts broke off. The metal ladder was now groaning as Mono was finally able to put some leverage on it.

The other child, seeing what Mono was trying to do, looked toward the mass of leeches approaching. Seeing that he needed more time she opened her coat revealing a stachel. Reaching in she pulled out an assortment of different items. Bottles of some kind of liquid and small cuts of cloth and a bottle opener. Working quickly and methodically, as if practiced hundreds of times she opened every bottle before then quickly stuffing cloth quickly into the bottles. A set of six bottles, she quickly tossed one spinning in the air, catching it before turning on the flame from her lighter. Lighting the cloth it caught fire immediately and was tossed at the approaching leeches. The sound of shattering glass gave way to spreading flames that engulfed a majority of the leeches in front stopping their advance. The leeches screeched and fell where they stood burning, others tried flopping into the dark water. Throwing another bottle, this time the targets were the leeches crawling on the ceiling. With a hard overhead throw the bottle smashed into the ceiling. Flames and glass rained down, she had to shield herself from the falling hazards but the method proved effective.

Another two rows of bolts gave way luckily, only two more rows remained. While it should have been good progress Mono's reassuring thoughts were halted by a tightening force on his ankle. Looking down, to his horror a tentacle was wrapped around his leg and with a swift tug his feet left the ground. Luckily he held onto the ladder which to his relief was still holding despite the bolts he ripped off. His companion seeing the situation let loose another molotov, but right before it made contact another tentacle rose smashing the bottle mid-air. While the fire still spread, the tentacle that had Mono was still unharmed. Bubbles started to rise to the surface of where the tentacle was and water level seemed to be dropping as well. As the water level dropped more a monster's figure could be seen rising. Red unnatural eyes looked at Mono directly causing him to feel unnaturally disturbed. The monster was letting out a gasping groan as if it were laughing at him.

Lobbing another bottle his begrudging ally was nearly blindsided by a tentacle aiming for her head. While it wasn't a direct hit, the tentacle still managed to knock off the cloth she used to cover her eyes. A bright light pierced the dimly lit sewer ever so briefly. It shone on the leeches and tentacles turning them to stone. However it did not completely stop the tentacles, like shedding skin pieces of it fell off, plummeting into the water like stones before more black mass filled up the spot it was missing. Kneeling down they grabbed the sash that covered their eyes quickly rewrapping it around her head.

Another row of bolts broke off the ladder, leaving only one left keeping the thing held down. Looking over to his current companion. Growing tired of this the creature started to lurch out of the water, still holding onto Mono's leg, mouth wide open, attempting to swallow him whole. Before he could be swallowed, thankfully the kid he had been traveling with rushed over, throwing the rest of the molotovs into the monster's open maw.

The monster let out a shrill scream as it thrashed around, letting go of Mono and sinking under the water. The water near them moved violently before slowly becoming silent. Seeing as they were out of harm's way, Mono turned his attention back to the ladder, giving it one last wrenching pull, breaking it free from the wall. The ladder now free almost caused Mono to fall back due to the sudden shift in weight but he was able to catch himself in time. Hefting the ladder to the flowing water he set it down onto the pavement and left it wall, crashing onto the other side of the sewer. Looking over to his current friend, they were also looking at him.

"Guess I'll cross first." Mono said

Putting his foot on the bar, Mono took one step, steadying and balancing himself, holding his hands out to the side. Keeping his eyes on the water below him for any movement whatsoever. After steadying himself, without waiting another moment he jumped from from bar to bar skipping over some even, in order to avoid anything coming out at him. After reaching the other side his companion stood across looking at him. Doing the same she crossed quickly, reaching the other side quickly, she looked up only to see Mono lunging at her. Caught off guard she was totally expecting him to try killing or robbing her. To her surprise though he grabbed her spinning them both around with his back to the water. Only a fraction of a moment later a sound like a whip striking flesh rang out. The force of strike launched the two against the sewer wall. Mono released the kid he held as there was a powerful stinging sensation in his back. Out of the water a lone tentacle receded back into the water after what Mono assumed was it trying to kill the other kid for what they had done to it. Hopefully it won't come back. The other child stood up quickly getting away from Mono. Mono laid curled up against the wall, even with his heightened pain tolerance the stinging sensation from his sensitive back was too much. He was waiting for sometime and to his surprise the other child just stood there. He had assumed that they would head out without him, but they just stood there watching him. When the pain finally subsided enough he slowly got up on his feet. His entire back felt tender and stung, reaching back he could feel a hole that went thru his coat and shirt leaving a nasty gash. He ripped his hand away as the pain flared up again.

"I guess we can be on our way now." Mono said, his voice still straining as every small movement made the stinging in his back flare up. Saying nothing in response they merely held up his hat. Mono's eyes widened before swiping the hat and placing it on his head. Even the small motion of placing it back on his head caused him pain.

"Which way should we be going now, you must have some idea of where you're going right?" Mono asked walking past them trying to avoid eye contact…..er face contact considering both tried to hide their faces in one way or another.

When he received no response yet again he was not surprised but he at least expected them to walk past him by now. Right before he was about to turn around a liquid was splashed on his back. The stinging sensation now came back even worse with the wound felt like it was burning. Mono immediately fell to the ground trying to reach for his back and throwing off his coat and shirt.

"D-d-did you just throw alcohol on my back, why would you do that!" Mono said thru gritted teeth.

Mono stood up waving his hands at his back trying to blow air at the stinging wound while swiveling around to look at the other kid, who now held a bandage wrap stretched out in her hands along with a piece of cloth.

"You could have just told me. Why'd you have to do it while I wasn't looking?" Mono whined

The kid then approached Mono with clear intentions of bandaging him up.

"Thank you for your kindness but I can bandage myself up, thanks for the thought though." Mono said, hands reaching for the bandage and cloth. The kid firmly grabbed Mono by his sides before forcibly turning him around. Mono for his part was lost in what to say at this point. They gently dabbed the cloth around the wound, cleaning up the blood and excess alcohol. Afterwards they stretched out the bandage and began dressing his wound, wrapping it in a ring around his torso. When they were finally done all they gave was a small grunt before gesturing for Mono to put his shirt and coat back on. With his back still sore they both continued down the sewers. The air around the two was different then before, not of trust mind you, but of understanding.

Mono followed close by the entire time and luckily they didn't come across any more monsters. What felt like hours later, Mono could see ahead in the dimly lit tunnel a small bulb that was hanging on the ceiling or rather it was a series of lights that went on. Seeing this the other child sped up their walking pace and Mono in turn did so too.

The closer they got the more lights he could see, soon he could even hear a lot of murmuring and at the end of the tunnel the room ahead of it was blocked off by a drape. Mono himself wasn't sure what was behind there and he was going to ask even though he was sure he wouldn't receive a verbal answer but seeing as they brushed past the drape without a care in the world. Seeing this Mono curiously peeked thru and what he saw amazed him.

Kids! kids everywhere! And they weren't in danger, they weren't scared, if anything they all looked happy. Groups of children sitting around in groups or walking around in crowds amongst each other. Children even had their own shops selling an assortment of things to other passing kids. This wasn't something Mono would have ever thought he would see. He'd seen groups of kids before back in the Pale City when he was still stuck in the cycle's but it would never be more than 5 at most, this was greater than that by an incalculable margin. Various shops were before as he slowly made his way thru the crowd of children smiling all the way.

There wasn't any order whatsoever to any of the stalls that were selling. It was all just a mess of things ranging from anything useful for survival or recreational use. Signs plastered along the stands, some with poor spelling but still discernible what they were selling. Now this…this filled him with some measure of happiness. If this had been the Pale City then nothing like this would have even been remotely possible, it seems like the conditions here at this city were vastly different. Turning in place to just take everything in, once he made a complete 360 he came face to face with the kid from earlier.

"Oh….your still here! You know I thought you finally ditched me. I guess this is where we part ways. Sorry for everything…..I just…." Mono tried to explain

"You just wanted to see if she would help you in your grand crusade to stop the evil lurking in this world! You know if I was a child in this sad pathetic world and some other child came up to me with deluded dreams I'd probably beat the crap out of them. You're a special case kid, the other six? They got picked because of exactly what you can guess. Six is a hungry, crazy sociopath, the others may be just as worst, mark my words! Hell, I remember back in the day there used to be a Greed that would kill people just to sell all their organs. Trust me, you'd be surprised how much a heart could go for. I'm just saying if they are not already a monster then they are well on their way towards becoming one. This is a pointless endeavor, like I've watched humanity since the dawn of creation so….hehe….I know a thing or two about people. They will definitely, 100%, without a doubt, absolutely certain to not help you because you don't have anything they want. If you really want their help you're probably just better off paying them, but your dirt poor soooooo…." Sloth said monologuing

"Sigh…..you know…..what I was thinking…..you know what, how about I just get out of your hair." Mono said

"Wow, you gave up that easily! Don't sweat it kid, what's there to be sad about, look at all these happy kids sound you. To be honest it's probably best if you just ride your life out. Trust me there is still a lot of time before the world goes to shit and you and everyone you love will be long dead by then, which in hindsight doesn't sound nice, but hey it'll be someone else's problem am I right. Now do me a favor and head over to that stall on the right, the one all the way in the back you can just barely see it." Sloth continued in the background, Mono ignoring him

"Thanks again for not ditching me in the sewer. I'll just be on my way, thanks for everything." Mono said

Mono turned away walking towards some of the stalls, his gaze sweeping over the various items. Though as he walked away and looked back once more, the kid that had traveled with him for a brief time had already disappeared into the crowd. He let out a disappointed sigh before trying to lift his spirits again enjoying his time around other children. Simply being among this many had already proven to make him happier than ever before.

As happy as he was though that did not mean that he was oblivious to the small things around him. Most kids looked happy for the most part but he could see the worry and sadness in others. But for the most part things seemed fine.

"Come on keep going, there's a stall at the end with a drape covering the entrance, go in there!" Sloth advised

"What's got you all riled up? You usually are this keen on giving me specifics." Mono said

"I like to keep the ball rolling, keep things fresh, you can go back home if you want, I advise it really, buuuuuut if your going to be out here you might as well find some useful things to keep yourself alive longer, you have thoroughly entertained me with your little shenanigans, whats wrong with ensuring that the show goes on." Sloth said

Walking up to the draped door, there were other kids around the door loitering around the entrance.

"Excuse me, pardon me…" Mono said as he tried to get through the door.

He walked into a little tent-like structure that seemed to be built by nothing more than sticks propping up a giant piece of cloth. Lights hung loosely around and shelves filled with all kinds of things were splayed everywhere. Looking to his left there was a table with a kid sitting across from it with his legs propped up looking at Mono. They looked at each other for a second before the kid nodded his head toward the items. Thinking this was the go ahead to look around Mono walked in between the first rows and looked high and low through all the knickknacks.

"So what exactly am I looking for here?" Mono asked while still looking around, sometimes having to squeeze past another kid looking thru items.

"Not sure but I feel something…..to the left….wait no right, definitely right. The shelf in the dark corner." Sloth said

Looking in said direction there was a shelf in that direction just barely out of range of the lights, hidden in the darkness partially. Mono came up to the shelf and began sifting thru the junk. One by one he began to look at all the items on the shelf. Most of it being useless junk. However as his hand reached the top shelf, fumbling around and reaching for things he could not see, he felt the leather texture of what felt like a book to him. Pulling the book down to his eye level he looked it over. The book itself was in horrible condition, the leather badly damaged around the spine and faded in splotches in the front. Faint markings could be seen partially that were in the process of fading away.

"Ughh…looks worse than I thought it would be, but as long as it gets the job done." Sloth droned on

"Ok but how am I supposed to buy this? I don't exactly have anything of value that I can give up at the moment. Also what even is this, it looks like some dunb book that's about to fall apart to me." Mono asked

"It's a spell book. A very low tier one but a spell book nonetheless. Like babies first spell book entry level, but what can you expect when the world's gone to shit. Also we aren't buying this, just open it up and let me have a look at it, then put it back its as simple as that, I'll remember everything in this book easily." Sloth said

"I highly doubt that but ok." Mono said as he opened the book and began to turn the old worn pages that crinkled slightly at the touch

"Hey hey, don't doubt me, I'll have you know I have amazing memory errrr….selective memory, but I'll remember everything in this book no problem, then you just put it back and we'll be on our way easy peasy." Sloth said

As Mono was skimming thru the pages the book was suddenly slapped out of his hands with a group of children along with the one he saw sitting at the table looking at him.

"Uhm…..can I help you guys. I haven't done anything wrong have I?" Mono said, looking from person to person warily.

"Oh but you see you have, you should know the rules around here. No touching the merchandise without the vendor present. You wanna buy something you'd have to get with me first. So you touched my stuff, and you broke it to boot." Said the kid gesturing to the book that now had pages scattered on the floor.

"Listen I'm new around here so I don't exactly know the rules, so I am sorry for that, but that book wouldn't have fell apart if you hadn't slapped it out of my hand, and another thing, that book was on the top shelf, how exactly was I supposed to buy it if I couldn't even see it in the first place, I just reached my hand up there checking." Mono explained

"Don't wanna hear it, rules are rules, you should have asked before you looked around. Grab him." The kid said

"So are we going to kill them now? Just asking because those are some pretty stupid rules even by child standards." Sloth asked, annoyed but also excited at the prospect of watching Mono fight.

The children quickly encircled him, and stood there observing Mono as he tensed up.

"Where is it that you guys plan to do exactly?" Mono asked

Before he received an answer one of the children behind him, whacked him with a big stick in the back, making him fall to the ground. The kid had struck the spot on his back that was wounded, causing excruciating pain to flare up again. Immediately some more kids came from his side and tied his hands up first before they did so with the upper half of his body.

"We're taking you where we take all rule breakers, don't worry I'm sure you'll like it." The shop owner said before a sac was put over Mono's head.

The next half hour or so was nothing but Mono stumbling around being led and sometimes pushed thru the marketplace. He could still hear kids around, most just carried on in their conversations, some however, jeered or expressed concern for him. Not long after Mono had his hands untied and was pushed into a room before the door slam shut on him. Mono reached for his head to pull off the sac only to find himself in some cell.

Plopping down on the wooden bench against the wall Mono let out a sigh. The pup in his coat pocket stirred, sticking his head out of the coat looking up at him.

"Hey, I'd say this is a major upgrade considering the last room we got stuck in, you got a bench…..some rocks…..and I'm pretty sure that's a bucket of slo–...no its shit, 100%." Sloth droned on complimenting the cell they were in.

"Sloth." Mono said

"Hm" Sloth grunted

"Please shut up." Mono said, laying down on the bench and closing his eyes.