Under the pale gray sky...
A young man among the crowd is carrying a large amount of metal scraps on his back, which looked like they came from part of a ship or a factory.
He calls himself "Dusk" and he works on a forge, usually only to assist the blacksmith on certain works.
When he arrived, he lowered down the scraps of metal near the wall. He rolled his neck before sitting on a small chair and wiping his face with a towel.
The middle-aged blacksmith says, "Hot today, am I right?"
Dusk replied, "Yeah."
He leaned back on the wall, catching his breath while sweat still ran down the side of his face, even with a short rest.
The blacksmith spoke again, after a passing moment.
"You've got strong muscle for lifting all of that, it's quite impressive for a young man."
Dusk stretched his arms and cracked his shoulders. "Just practice, I guess."
The blacksmith chuckled. "Practice or not, don't overdo it. You'll hurt yourself someday."
Dusk nodded, thinking maybe the old man was right. He felt the weight of the metals still in his shoulders even after setting them down.
He stood up and went outside. "It's getting dark now, Mr. Frill, should I go home?"
"Go ahead."
The old man Frill handed him enough money for his essentials.
Dusk nodded and pocketed it. "Thanks."
And with that, he walked away.
The clamor of the streets pressed against him as he walked by.
In his perspective; A cart overturned somewhere ahead, spilling the crates, and people shouted over one another, shoving to grab what they could.
A boy darted past, while carrying something in his chest, running from somebody.
There's a literal murder scene across and an argument broke through. An auction was being held, and slaves were on sale.
A dog barked, chasing a rat, and Dusk noticed a man juggling knives for a few coins.
He closed his eyes when he reached a narrow alley, and the heat felt worse there.
Totally a normal day. He wondered if everyone else just ignored it all.
He pulled out a small bread from his pocket and fed a small humanoid monster living in a broken vent.
It growled as it eats, and Dusk is a bit amused, this was his habit of taking care small invulnerable monsters, about the size of a human's knee.
Sometimes, Dusk wondered why people would brutally kill these harmless type of monsters.
"I won't even be surprised if they ate these creatures, like a psycho they are."
The little creature finished the bread and nuzzled against his boot before disappearing back into the vent. Dusk watched it go, then wiped his hands on his pants.
From the alley, a faint sound of metal clanging echoed. He glanced toward the end, seeing a man struggling with a heavy barrel, slipping on the wet stone.
He sighed and stepped closer, careful not to draw too much attention.
"Need a hand?" he asked.
The man paused, surprised, then nodded quickly. Together, they shifted the barrel, moving it out of the way of a puddle that would have sent it crashing.
Once it was stable, Dusk stepped back. "Watch your step," he said.
The man muttered a thanks and ran off, disappearing into the crowd.
A cart wheel squealed behind him. He turned briefly, watching a woman push it while a child clung to her skirt.
He left the alley afterwards and went back to his rented abode.
But the landlord was already waiting in front of the wooden apartment, from afar he looked already annoying.
"Kid, payment? Hurry up or live outside."
Dusk frowned from irritation, he only has small amount of money in him right now, and as much as he wanted to punch this guy in the face he still would have to pay just to have a ceiling above his head.
"Yeah whatever."
He bluntly says, handing the pouch that Frill had given him.
He has another week to earn something for rent, and he's in debt right now. He can't even do a real work.
The air was thick and the lanterns flickered. A stray dog barked, circling near a broken barrel, searching for scraps.
It's dark outside now, and it's still noisy.
As Dusk was resting in his bed, a cat suddenly appeared on his broken window. It jumps inside, searching for any kind of food but it finds a dark creature under his bed rather than food.
"Gurrr..."
The cat hissed and ran off.
Curiosity hits Dusk, so he bent down to look at under his bed, and as expected he saw a small monster, unlike the other one that Dusk had fed earlier.
This one is more shadowy and its presence is felt heavy around the room whenever he stares at it. It's the first time Dusk saw something like this, because usually a small almost dwarf-like monsters resides here and days later they're gone.
He tried to interact with it but it's a bad idea, it only growled on his hand.
Standing up, he opened the door to let it leave his room but it won't, so he had no choice but to sleep with this thing under his bed.
He slumped on the bed and closed his eyes. Yet after about twenty minutes have passed, he couldn't sleep.
The creature below is shaking the bed, making it genuinely hard for Dusk to even keep his composure.
"Damn it, give me a break."
Irritated by this thing, he bent down and tried scaring it off but it wasn't even faced, not once.
He heard faint scratching from the corner of the room. The wind outside rattled the window panes. Somewhere in the hall, someone coughed. He felt the walls close in, the shadows heavier than before.
He just stopped and left the room, sitting on a nearby chair as he stare above the sky, but the streets are busy even in the middle of a night.
He could see lanterns moving, hear voices shouting, carts rolling, dogs barking, cats mewing, and the faint smell of roasted chestnuts from a distant stall.
He rested his head back, letting his thoughts drift, trying to untangle the unease from his chest. The shadows below his bed felt alive, pressing down, and he realized he had no real idea of what he was dealing with.
The streets pulsed with life, indifferent to him and his worries, and for the first time he wished he could just disappear among it all.