Isaac stepped around the filth and grime of the streets of Noobcity.

  He didn’t know what to expect when he first stepped through the portal. His messages from his father didn’t tell him what to expect as one couldn’t relay too much information about The Other Side, but it had been enough. The cryptic messages of struggle and death always lingered in his writing, and since Isaac had arrived, he had seen plenty of it.

  The Other Side appeared to be a killer’s paradise.

  He saw men slain for no apparent reason other than they were in the way. Slaves grabbed and maneuvered like cattle. People openly having sex in the streets.

  It turned his stomach to see what kind of sin city the place had become.

  Stepping over a corpse to the entrance of a side road, he made his way down, and it wasn’t long before he heard the sounds of shouting and struggle. Increasing his speed, he came to the place he wanted.

  A small teashop with a fading sign facing a brick wall.

  A large store window decorated with elderflowers on the window edges gave a calming feel while a little bell hung over the shop door.

  Through the window, Isaac saw three men huddled around an ancient-looking man with a white afro, bent almost double from the weight of age. They pushed him between the group, and although their faces showed nothing but malice, his had a serene quality to it. It was a look of peace with the world around him.

  Isaac stepped through the door. The bell chimed and sounded like someone flickering the edge of a sword.

  Four faces turned in his direction.

  “We’re closed,” said the largest of the group, a humanoid with greenish skin and a single horn growing out of his head.

  “Are you the owner?” Isaac said innocently.

  “No.”

  “Then how do you know the store is closed?”

  The leader of the group looked at his other two companions. Two regular human males, with necks like bulls and noses to match.

  “Because I said so. But if you must know, he’s the owner,” said the leader, jerking his head the elderly man’s way. “But it doesn’t matter, because after we’ve had our chat, this place will soon belong to us.”

  “Oh, that’s unfortunate. I had business with the owner myself.” He turned to face the old man. “Are you the Iron—”

  “Mr. Smith,” he said, cutting off Isaac and giving him a smile with teeth made of dark gray metal. He reached out to shake Isaac’s hand, and his sleeve lifted back, revealing skin covered in an array of symbols tattooed on his skin. One was of a circle with an arrow sticking out of it, another two U’s joined together by their backs, another a crescent moon with a circle with a dot in its middle attached to its back, and on and on the symbols went, covering every inch of his body.

  “I am indeed, young man,” he said, smile breaking out laughter lines on his black skin.

  Confusion swept through Isaac, but Mr. Smith gave him a knowing smile.

  “Great. I was afraid you wouldn’t be here. Although I haven’t been in this city long, I’ve noticed people don’t seem to live all that long here.”

  Mr. Smith smiled. “You would be right in thinking that, young man. This city isn’t for the faint of heart. It will strip you bare and leave you crying on the side of the road if you’re not careful. Now, what is it I can do for you on this fine day? Some tea, perhaps? I have a fine collection in the back that will cause any woman you’re courting to fall head over heels for you.

  “If you’re not after that, then perhaps something to help you fall asleep at night or calm any irritable bowels you may have. What about migraines—”

  “Enough!” said the gang leader, slapping his hand on the shop corner. “Whatever this dickhead needs can wait. Better yet, fuck off! We’ve got business to deal with this shop owner and you’re getting in our way.”

  The leader nodded to his two colleagues who came Isaac’s way.

  “Now, if we’ve told you once, we’ve told you a hundred times. The Baldwin Estate wants this property, and they’re willing to pay good money for it. Everyone on this street has already taken their offer, but for some reason you refuse to. They’re paying top coin. Double, triple, what this dump is worth. All you’ve got to do is take the money, sign the contract, and you can retire on one of the islands in the south. Having some big-lipped tart half your age suck the life out of you, while your only worries will be what should I have for dinner.”

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  “If this place is such a dump, then why do they want it so bad?” asked Smith.

  “Because—I— What does it matter? You’re getting paid more than this place is worth.”

  The leader’s two friends tried to push Isaac out the door, but he stood his ground. He had seen enough.

  He moved to the side and allowed the momentum of one of the men to slide past him as he stuck his foot out. The man tripped over Isaac’s feet and slammed into the wall, head bouncing off the wall. His friend followed him a second later with the same result.

  They both stared at each other, confused.

  They turned their heads back Isaac’s way, and he smiled at them.

  They came at him again, with the same result. It was like he was made of oil, and no matter how hard they tried to grab him, he just slipped out of their grip. He offered no outward resistance, yet he still remained on the same spot as before.

  Irritation grew on their faces, and they rushed him. This time, they both smashed into each other, heads colliding together.

  Isaac’s smile remained as the leader finally turned his attention their way.

  “What are you two knuckleheads doing? His Aura isn’t even that of a Knight. He’s fresh out of the portal. Deal with him or I’ll deal with you.”

  The two men cracked their knuckles and came to him with murder in their eyes. The first one swung a fist Isaac’s way, and if it wasn’t for his years of training, it would have taken his head clean off. The punch was twice the speed of a professional boxer. Isaac saw it as a blur, but it wasn’t the fist that told him the punch was coming; it was the buildup in the attacker’s mechanics.

  Isaac slipped the punch just in time and delivered his own to the man’s ribs. The punch should have broken a rib, but the attacker took the blow with a backward step and kept on coming. Ducking another two haymakers thrown his way, he fired a three-piece combination of his own to the man’s face, but it was like hitting a padded wall. His knuckles moaned in pain, but he knew if he stopped now, it would cost him his life.

  Jumping out of the way of the second attacker, he pushed him in the way of his colleague, who ran headfirst into his stomach.

  For the first time, pain flared across faces, but Isaac knew he had to do more to win. True violence was needed.

  Picking up an iron pipe next to the shop counter the length of a short sword, he twirled it around, getting used to its weight, and attacked.

  A blow across the jaw stunned the first one to come across his path. A strike to a kneecap caused a cry of pain to escape lips and forced the wounded to hop on one leg.

  Isaac moved like a snake and struck limbs with the precision of a viper.

  He ducked another wild swing and cracked his attacker on the head with the pipe, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get them to go down. He felt like a teenager hitting a man.

  He didn’t have the power to inflict the damage he wanted.

  Irritation and worry blossoming in his stomach told him he was in more danger than he realized.

  They tried to back him up so his back was to the wall and there was no escape for him, but he caught a punch thrown at him and used the pipe to pivot and twist the attacker’s arm behind his back. He jerked the arm upward and tried to break it, but the goon powered out of it and threw his head back, catching Isaac on the nose.

  Vision blurry, he didn’t see the follow-up punch that slammed into his face and spun him around.

  He tasted blood. He couldn’t remember the last time he had.

  A follow-up punch to the gut lifted him off his feet and had him gasping for breath. Shit. This wasn’t how this was meant to go. He was meant to bulldoze through these goons. They had nothing compared to his skill, but still, he couldn’t finish the fight.

  He saw two pairs of hands come his way, and he tried to move out of the way, but they grabbed him before he could.

  Their grips were like vices.

  Steel pole still in hand, he drove the point of it into an attacker’s jaw. He expected to break teeth, but he only caused a bloody lip for his trouble.

  The blows came hard and fast, and he blacked out a few times before a voice called a stop to the violence.

  Footsteps brought a face into view. He could barely make out a horn through the haze of pain.

  Isaac swayed on his feet, his hands held before him.

  “I’m impressed. Truly I am,” said their leader. “For someone who’s just arrived, you have a level of skill rarely seen. What were you back home, some martial arts nut?”

  Isaac said nothing. Shame clouded his thoughts.

  “I should have them kill you, you know. If it gets out that someone who hasn’t even reached a Knight level of Aura gave them more trouble than they could handle, it would make them look weak. Make us look weak. And weakness on The Other Side spells death.

  “But I am feeling in a generous mood today, so I shall give you an offer you can’t refuse. Join us. Join our crew and you shall be protected from the monsters of this city. The Baldwin Estate is growing in strength, and pretty soon it shall be the strongest power in Noobcity. So why don’t you do yourself a favor and come work for me? I could use a man of your skills, and I could make you a Viscount in no time.”

  Isaac said nothing as he rolled his tongue around his mouth, collecting blood and spitting near the leader’s feet.

  A flash of anger darted across his face like a minnow fleeing a predator.

  He held his hand out, and it was the first time Isaac noticed the chain links tattooed on his skin. They pulsed with a blue glow, emerged from his skin, and wrapped around his arm before falling to the floor.

  Isaac tensed up but tried not to allow it to show.

  “Oh. Is this your first time seeing a Forbidden Tree power being used in person? It’s wonderful, isn’t it? To think all those stories from our home planets about super-powered beings, all those dreams children had of being their favorite superhero or, in my case villain, and it was just a portal jump away. But this isn’t a movie or manga story, my friend. There are no hokages who will save the day at the last moment.

  “No. The Other Side is too unforgiving for that.”

  He picked up a china cup from the shop counter and drained it of its contents. He smacked his lips and smiled. With a flick of the wrist, he threw the cup up in the air, and a crack like a gunshot sounded next to Isaac’s head.

  The cup landed on the floor right way up and wobbled on its base before it came to a stop.

  “I always wanted power as a kid. Power to stop the night—” He shook his head. “Power to be in charge of my destiny. It wasn’t until I came to The Other Side that I found it. Maybe you can as well.”

  He nodded to his goons to release him, and Isaac slumped to the floor.

  “Smith, I’ll be back, and next time I’m not taking no for an answer.”

  They walked out the door without a backward glance.

  Isaac picked up the cup. It broke in two in his hands. He stared at it in shock. He hadn’t even seen the chain move.

  He thought he was prepared. How wrong he was.