Life’s Edge was a city that stood at the point in the land where the forests and greenery stopped and the desert began.
It was at the edge of all that was living, which was what Alex believed to be the reason why it was named as such.
He had finally arrived at this place after over a day of walking and another day of riding on a cart. Along the way, he had found a group of travelers making their way to this place with muscular oxen carrying plenty of grains to be traded at the city.
The curious folks had given him a ride on their cart, assuming he was tired from all the walking, which Alex accepted. These people knew the path better than he could, so it was better to go with them.
Unlike the Longcreek tribe, he didn’t believe that these people were looking to steal from him since he had long since hidden his storage bag. The reason instead was the sheer curiosity about his skin color.
Alex believed that to be something he would get used to, but it was getting a bit too much at this point. A few of them had asked him if he was sick. One person had even told him he looked like Death.
He couldn’t help but ask them at that moment what that was all about.
“That’s how Death is supposed to look, isn’t it?” the man asked. “Someone with black hair and white skin. That’s what the legends say.”
Alex narrowed his eyes. “Death is a person?”
The man laughed at the question. “That’s what they say. If you meet someone with white skin and black hair, you are certain to die. They say very few escape Death.”
“They? Who?”
“The people from the desert. They are the ones who talk about Death, and from the way they speak, you would think Death really does exist,” the man said.
Alex considered the information for a bit. “Have you not met other people with skin like mine before?” he asked. “I’m wondering now how many eyes I will draw if I go in like this.”
“People like you? I’ve never met before. Some have Death’s touch, but I don’t think that’s what you have.”
“Death’s touch?” Alex asked.
“You know, when part of your skin goes white,” the man said. “Anyway, I have never seen someone else like you before.”
Alex nodded. It appeared he would have to change things up a bit soon. If the desert folks were the ones who had legends about Death, then he couldn’t go to that place looking the way he was. They would scream bloody death at him every single time.
As Alex arrived at the city finally, he dropped out of the cart and went his own way. A little bit in, he used his invisibility skills to sneak in.
Life’s Edge was a massive stone-walled city that stood next to a moderately tall cliff, which led down to a barren land with the desert on the horizon. It wasn’t a massive city by any means, but it was the first city Alex had seen in a while, so compared to all the tribes he had been to, it was, in fact, quite large.
The buildings here were also less like huts and more like actual buildings. They were made of stone and mortar, with tall flat roofs. The people inside wore actual clothes made out of proper fabric and not just mostly leather.
Many even wore jewelry.
The city itself had nothing to shade it from the sun, but despite that, it was a very cool place. Alex could tell after some time that there was more than just one sunheart in the city, helping it be as cool as it was.
After a few minutes, he found a clothes shop and quickly went in. Looking through the clothes there, he picked out what he would be needing.
He was still invisible, so everything he did was stealing. However, he did leave behind some medicinal pastes as payment. He hoped that would be worth what he had just stolen.
Alex made his way to a remote area with no people and changed into his new clothes before walking back out into the streets, this time dropping his invisibility.
He wore long-sleeved shirts and trousers that went from head to toe. He had gloves to cover his hands and shoes that came to his shin to cover his legs. He wore a scarf around his face to hide almost all of his face, which also wrapped around his hair.
He hoped that after that, no one would call him Death once again.
Finally, Alex went to search through the rest of the city.
He walked through the city, fascinated by both the people and the architecture there. It was so much different than anything else he had seen. The people were also quite different.
They seemed to be the descendants of tribesfolk who stayed in the city, so they hadn’t entirely forgotten about the culture they had grown up with. Some still had markings on their faces, while some wore leather apparel on top of their inner clothes.
Alex wanted to get some sunheart to eat as soon as he could. For that, he would need to meet with people who came from the desert to sell things.
Alex wasn’t sure where he could find them, but what he did know was that he could easily recognize them if he needed to. The people from the desert apparently walked around with storage bags, after all.
It took him a bit of walking around the city, looking through all that it offered, before he arrived at a large open marketplace with vendors lined up all around the open field.
Alex walked through the place, searching for the people from the desert until he finally found them. With storage bags hanging from their belts, there was no doubt that these were the ones he was looking for.