Threads of the Soul

Chapter 447 - 447: Festive Festival Festivities

Leaving Zero's office, Seth quickly left the 'secret' facility via the usual portal, and had a very brief encounter with the fishy guards that were loyally standing at the entrance, before making his way to the surface.He called his surfboard like the flying nimbus, hopped on without bothering to slow it down, and immediately shot into the air.

With his feet clamped to the metallic surfboard, he was freely able to turn up the speed and blast through the air like a comet. For the surrounding area, however, he had to control his speed so he didn't shatter the sound barrier.

Super sonic travel, by land or sky, was strictly forbidden within certain areas. It was a law that he had to implement after it happened too many times. Such things were a public nuisance and if they did so too close to the ground, they would tear up the landscape and absolutely ruin some farm land or just a very nice view.

It wasn't extremely common at the moment, but just one person with a super sonic flight ability blasting around the place was enough trouble on their own. It was best to future proof, it was the same reason he was moving away from flammable materials in construction.

As they found out, babies born into this new world were born with powers from the start. Much like Nixie. Which meant that you could have a baby that erupted into flames when it cried.

An example he did not pull out of thin air, and in fact actually happened. On the plus side... There were no casualties when the entire neighbourhood burned down, and it brought the people closer as they all banded together to keep that child from crying while their new houses were being built.

Although that was one of the more pleasant cases. Some people weren't as lucky and some other parents just couldn't handle a powered infant, especially if they were powerless themselves.

There was a reason that one of the first things they built in each new city was an orphanage. He tried not to think about the fact that most of the abandoned children within them just so happened to be Heteromorphs. The inhuman looking mutations.

Putting such depressing thoughts to the back of his mind, where everything else unpleasant went to fester, Seth flew all the way back to his room in the castle and quickly refreshed himself.

Taking a quick bath, using some deodorant that Alfie had specially made - and then turned into the unique product of the city Seth had dumped into his lap - before getting dressed in some clean, casual clothes.

That last one was definitely needed after all of his time locked in workshops for days on end. It was... less than pleasant to wear those clothes for so long. But now that he was free of the sweat and grim, it was like a breath of fresh air.

Before he left, he took one last step to truly turn himself into his 'casual mode'. He pulled off his arm, the fake one that is, and switched it out for his more human looking one. It was essentially a mannequins arm, made out of more robust material, and coloured to match his skin tone.

It was the standard prosthetic that was available to others through the medical stations. Loss of limbs were pretty common in their new world.

Although, since it was his own personal one it was a little more than standard. For one, it didn't attach to a harness like everyone else. He simply had a sleeve over his stump for comfort.

Once he slotted it over, the spiritual arm that he had would slide into the prosthetic like a glove and control it that way. Like that, it basically felt like a real arm.

But to make it better than a real one, he had given it a few upgrades. Such as a shocking rune carved into the palm and disguised like the lines of his palm, as well as a blade that would burst from his knuckle if he willed it.

These were also, non-standard features.

Last but not least, to complete his inconspicuous look, Seth pulled on a standard long, thin coat and pulled up the hood. This wasn't to hide his identity, as it wasn't enchanted and you could plainly see his face.

It was just to hide the burned half of his face. He hated people staring at it, and no matter the different types of mutations or injuries people had, the disfigured always earned countless stares. Plus, there was something about him that almost felt naked without a hood... but that was probably nothing to think about.

With his look complete, Seth made short work of making his way to the main square of the city, which was absolutely bustling with activity. Stalls lines the sides of the streets, decorated with all sorts of glamorous and colourful signs.

They sold varieties of different meats, prepared in all sorts of different ways such as skewers, octopus balls and even hot dogs. Some one even managed to set up a fish and chips stall.

They had decorated it like a witches hut, and had dressed up like a classical green skinned witch themselves. Instead of a traditional oil frier, they had filled a few miniature cauldrons with oil and were controlling the flames themselves to get the perfect temperature of the cooks.

Naturally, Seth just had to try it, and when his teeth sunk into the batter covered puddle shark, it was an explosion of flavours in his mouth that danced across his tongue. The chips were that perfect combination of slightly firm on the outside while being deliciously fluffy inside.

He had no idea if it was the mutated potato that they had cut them from, or just the magic of that chip witch. But they were the best fish and chips he had ever tried in his life.

Food wasn't the only thing that was being sold at the stalls, far from it. With all sorts of abilities, people had forged them into crafting special items to be sold, even if it was just magical versions of things they had previously.

Someone whose power was to just make things they touched glow? Well now they had a thriving business selling glow sticks, glow gloves, and glow whatever you felt like for people to wave at the tournament matches like it was some idol concert.

Some sold masks detailed after fan favourites, others sold banners, some with more flashy abilities acted as street performers. There was even a face painting station for children.

The entire city buzzed with excitement and joy like he had never seen before, and every street had something new to see and something wonderful to experience. It was a joyous energy that was just infectious.

Seth couldn't help but smile as a pair of children, their faces painted like a tiger and a knight respectfully, barged past him as they ran through the streets playing hunter and beast.

It was amazing to think about that just a year and a half ago, life had been nothing but survival. Everything was destroyed, people were dying left and right. He was just a scared man scuttling through his works office, doing his best not to die.

He had never dreamed of being a leader, of being a powerful warrior. He could never dream of building this.

Sure, he had suffered every step of the way, perhaps more than others. One might even say that his level of suffering was a cruel and unusual punishment from some wicked god. But now that he was standing here, drinking in this atmosphere, he knew without a doubt that if he was sent back to the beginning he would suffer all over again.

Every cut, every scrape and every burn. Lost limbs, Lost friends and disfigurement. If he had to suffer so that children could laugh, smile and live a fruitful life... then it was something worth suffering for.

Watching the children go as they disappeared into the crowd, Seth slowly reached up and pulled down his hood. He took in a deep breath as the air brushed against his twisted flesh, before letting out a content sigh.

With a smile on his face, and stuffing more delectable food into his mouth, he continued onwards. Perhaps today, he would wear his scars with pride.

Screams and cries in the distance drew his attention, but he quickly released they were screams of joy as the crowd cried out in excitement. It was coming from the arena, and at the sound many others started to move towards the arena.

It was time for another event to start, it seemed. He managed to snag a few mutterings and excited conversations to understand that it was the Beast Taming event, more specifically the portion based around fighting beasts against each other.

However what intrigued him the most, was a few ramblings around a particular contestant. The "Wonder Badger". With narrowed eyes and food stuffed in his mouth, Seth followed the crowd towards the arena. Eager to watch the match of this so called "Wonder Badger"