This city, The Citadel, was like an entire ecosystem.
The pastel stucco of new buildings intertwined with the blocky stone monuments gloriously, bound together with sprawling roots and vines that grew lushness between the brick and above the rooftops. Marketplaces ran through a labyrinth of pathways to branching business centers and embedded within the foliage.
As the two paced themselves across a main roadway, the man gawked at the chaotic and nonsensical infrastructure, how citizens all around escalated up and down stairways that looked like they ended and started nowhere, yet they all seemed determined on where they were going.
The two passed by groups of drunk loiterers, groveling merchants and rows of starving beggars. They squeezed their way across crowded farmer's markets and the sweet aromas of food chains, pushing their path out and into a quiet alleyway.
"Unfortunately" Kade began, "Yharim's court is closed during this time, so you'll be staying with me through the night. Don't worry…I'll getcha all cleaned and healed up."
"T-thank you…"
Two jacketed men rested by the wall, smoking cigars, took a curious glimpse at the man, to which he simply ignored. They continued walking until they reached a chipped pastel housing, nudged between two others. He pulled out a key from the bags hung around him and unlocked the door, then quickly strolled in. The man followed him upstairs and into his bedroom.
As Kade opened a drawer and rummaged through his vials, the man took a good look over his apartment. On top of every windowsill, every cabinet and desk, there were potted plants. Ranging from gigantic elephant ears to tiny shrubs, every last corner of his room was covered in the foliage, vines even crawling over the bed frame.
"Here, drink this," Kade explained, "It's a health brew, heals you pretty easily." He handed him a clear flask, with a deep red liquid inside.
The man opened the lid and pushed the bitter taste down. The effect stalled for a few seconds, before he felt his heart beat quicker and faster. The joints the zombies had broken untwisted and were lodged back into place, the wounds they gashed were quickly sealed back together. He rejoiced, as the aching pains ceased and a cool sensation brushed against him.
Kade told him to take a shower, so he did. The man winced as he saw himself in the mirror, he was disgusting. His head was completely alien, a grayish-blue demon. He felt his horns and their crescent ends, running his finger down to his jagged cheekbones and over his malformed mandibles. He peeled open his eyelids and stared at his blighted yellow eyes, and moved his attention to his body.
From the side of his neck running down half of his chest and stomach, then around his arms, his skin was completely flayed. Then over his right hand it was entirely covered in grayish-blue, shriveling up his skin. And he was completely thin, to the point where his stomach caved in and his limbs were like sticks.
He sighed and pushed the sight away, stepping into the shower and turning the water to cold. For some reason the frigid water felt great.
And once he exited the shower, he collapsed asleep on the carpet.