After his shift Sterim sat at his favorite street side bar, observing the main market place of Skimbell. The market was formed like some kind of circle with many streets leading in and only loud noises and drunken people coming out at this hour.
His seat was at a long counter next to a busy street leading into the packed market. From there he saw drunk woman, drunk men and the occasional drunk dog combined with much smoke from various stalls. He did not mind this one bit. This seemed normal. And today 'normal' was good compared to the madness of this morning. It was a lucky day actually. He did not die and was not tortured.
"Giant teeth, you know." the barkeeper said to a patron next to Sterim who had a metal augmentation for his right hand. Sterim looked at the patron more closely. Other than the augmentation the man was dressed in a brownish poncho and overall quite normal. Except for the two words that were tatooed onto his left hand.
'Deep sea'.
Sterim did not want to look at this, know of this or think about this. He ordered another drink and turned away from the augmented man to face the wall on the other side of the bar counter. The barkeeper kept talking to the augmented man about something that happened to one of his colleagues. Something that sounded like a bad nightmare. Something about an abyss and nothingness. Sterim also did not want hear about this. So he turned further around to start a conversation with whoever was sitting there.
And there was a perfectly normal looking young woman in a brownish robe staring at him. She was apparently one step ahead of him with the conversation. Sterim channeled all of his hope for a normal evening into his next words.
"How may I help you?", he asked kindly.
"Have you been of good mental health lately?", she asked back.
Sterim was taken aback by the question and thought about it.
"I ... hope so." he answered with less hope than before.
"Have you being fiddling with any black stones or did something weird happen to you?"
Sterim just stared at her.
And turned around to the augmented man in an attempt to escape the situation. But the augmented man was also staring at him. The barkeeper in turn was confused by the sudden reaction of the augmented man. The barkeeper must not have heard the wicked question of the young woman. But the augmented man did. And he was looking straight at Sterim. And the young woman was also still looking at Sterim.
At this moment Sterims will to live disintegrated for this day. He put his elbows onto the counter, his head into his hands and stared at the wall in front of him through his fingers.
