Len walked into the marketplace, everywhere had been deserted and the moon was out lighting his way. The only thing remaining was the statue of Lord Ritcher Degor which had been covered in dirt and remains of rotting food.
Everyone in the Sameria district hated the way the Ritcher had gone about his business. This was his hometown and he treated the entire place like another dump.
Ritcher was the Mayor of the entire city of Esnon but he didn't care what happened to it, all he cared about was filling up his pockets and his stomach.
The roads of the city were dirty, the waters were unclean leading to the people continuously dying from a mysterious illness for the past seven years and the cost of living had blown up recently leading to people like Len taking up multiple jobs to make ends meet and even with that the pay is so little that it wouldn't last a single week.
And that is why the money lenders are in full swing, the rich nobles in the city lend out money to the poor and needy which they would pay back with an extremely high interest fee as well coming in at an absurd one hundred percent on interest.
Len kicked a something as he walked leisurely, it was a placard, he picked it up and it read "Ritcher out now" every letter in uppercase. Len sighed and then threw it away seeing no need for it.
"What I need to learn about is what I did in there," Len said as he stood there stroking his chin, "I was able to seemingly stop time and turn my pain into a powerful attack."
'But what could have caused all this?' he thought to himself and then remembered the glowing ball of light and the wall that separated him from it, he remembered how he woke up in that building immediately after he touched that wall.
'What is that wall? And I do remember them saying that I've become similar to their boss, no wonder I always had a feeling that Damon was stronger than the both of them, so he's been able to do things like this eh.' Len paced around with his arms folded as he was lost in thought.
He walked up to a table and lay on top of it his head rested in his hands as he gazed at the stars. 'I'll deal with it in the morning.'
"Hey! Wake up and get out of here!" A gruff voice started screaming. Len's eyes flickered open as he stared into the eyes of the owner of said voice. It was man likely in his mid thirties, Len bowed and was walking away but then turned.
"Um sir, what happened after the protests yesterday?" He asked.
The man frowned. "Have you been living under a rock?" The man asked clearly surprised, "Well, Mayor Ritcher will be holding a public address today for the first time since the protests started last month."
Len smiled, "Will you be attending?" He asked.
"He's going to be doing all that over there," the man pointed in the direction of his statue, Len turned to look at it and saw people working to clean it already, "so I won't need to go anywhere, I would be able to hear and see everything from over here."
"Alright then, stay safe sir." Len waved and walked away. He stood in front of the statue which had each and every visible physical feature of the Mayor which made Len chuckle a little.
He walked to a food stall and stared round, he then smiled. "A stick of cheese please."
"That will be two Zun." The seller replied with an outstretched palm.
Len sighed and then dropped two gold coins in the palm of the seller's hand, she then put the stick of cheese on a disposable plate and handed it over to him.
Len devoured the cheese like a wild animal with some of it sticking to his face and even in between his fingers. 'I need water.'
Len walked back to the food stall and she nodded as if knowing what he wanted she handed him a cup of water, he rummaged through his pocket to take out one of his pouches but she stretched her palm forward telling him to stop.
"First customer gets a free glass of water." She smiled at him.
He just stared at her, utterly shocked, he took the glass of water from her and drank everything in two huge gulps.
At that moment a carriage ride past him, Len recognised the symbol that was upon it and knew who it was.
Mayor Ritcher Degor jumped out of the carriage and walked towards the statue that was made in his honour, smiled at it and then turned around to face the people in the market.
He looked around seeing the amount of refuse on the ground and even some human faeces littered around as well.
'How do humans live here?' Ritcher asked himself as his eyes searched every nook and cranny of the market for anything of note but he instead covered his nose with his hand. "It smells all over." He whispered as he walked atop the podium that had been set up for him.
Len walked up to where the people had already started gathering, he stood behind someone. Len was a tall man but he never took pride in his height even till now as most of the time he sees it as a burden.
"People of the Great City Of Esnon, I greet you all today. I want to let you all know that I have heard all of your pleas and will probably see to them in the near future." Ritcher began.
"Probably? Near future!?" Someone from the crowd screamed which agitated the crowd even further.
Seeing as the crowd were out for his head Ritcher trembled. "Wait! Wait! The city doesn't have enough funds to carry out most of the things you ask for currently, even we as Mayors hold protests against the King sometimes to give us better budgets each year."
Len shook his head showing his disappointment. 'I'm pretty sure he doesn't even leave his home so how does he go out for those protests, he decides to lie to their faces so he can quell their anger for now.' Len's thoughts ran on and on.
'He might also give them something to distract them for a little while so he would be free to scheme up something for the future.'
"So I'll leave you all with this for now." Ritcher smiled and then walked down from the podium and into his carriage.
"What did he leave us with?" People asked themselves.
"I don't see anything at all."
Then at that moment in the midst of the crowd a giant tornado of flames erupted killing numerous people instantly.
Len's eyes opened in shock. "So this is what he planned eh?" He said as he ran out of the market and then he stared up and saw that standing atop Ritcher's statue was someone covered from top to bottom so as to hide his or her identity.
Len tried concentrating once again, trying to stop time for that one person but it didn't work. He saw someone on the floor screaming in agony.
It was the lady who sold food, the left side of her body burnt to a crisp. He tried to absorb her pain and use it to attack but it didn't work as well, she continued screaming.
Len looked up at the person who continued moving their arms about as if they were in an orchestra and the more they moved their hands the more the flames erupted. He gritted his teeth but he had to run, he took to his heels running as fast as he could. The arsonist continued, reducing the entire marketplace to ash.
"Seems like someone escaped from you." Ritcher came out from underneath the statue.
"Oh! I thought you left." Said the arsonist as they took of the cloak from their body, revealing their appearance.
A beautiful lady in her mid twenties with brown coloured skin, green eyes and a beautiful smile. Ritcher was smitten by her beauty and he stretched his hand forward to help her down.
She reeled her hands backwards with a look of disgust on her face. "I can get down just fine."
"So what do we do about Len?" Ritcher asked.
"Len?"
"Yes that's his name, Len Norman."
"Search for him, I'll do so as well. I've
never had anyone run from me before so this one won't be what spoils my reputation." She smiled.