Teddi's Isle - Part I

Trigger Warning: Talks of death, trafficking, and violence.

 "Stop! Thief!" A man shouted. A group of guards were nearby flirting with a waitress from my favorite tavern, Sigi's Tavern and Inn. The shorter of the three guards fumbled his weapons when the man shouted, tripping the guard to his right while the last guard took off running after me. I laughed and turned my jog into a sprint heading towards the maze of alleyways.

Left, Left, Right, and another left, I should arrive at a flight of stone stairs. Run off the top while no one's looking and poof, I'm off the hook. If only things went to plan. I rounded that last left to find the stone stairs busted up and missing several steps, rendering me trapped in a dead end.

The footsteps of my pursuers grew louder, and the sound of my now frantic heartbeat rising in my eardrums became deafening. I quickly scanned the area for something, anything to give me an idea of some sort. I found myself slowly backing up to the brick wall, staring at the only way in or out of this dead-end as shouts of the guards searching for me grew far too close for comfort.

I felt myself backing up to the brick wall. My vision started to blur. All the noise around me distorted as I became lightheaded. The blurred colors started to fade to white. I felt myself being pulled backward. The next moment, I blinked and rubbed my eyes. My hearing and vision started to come back into focus.

In front of me stood the brick wall that was behind me. I turned around to find shopping stalls. Abandoned? No, more like unattended. Where am I? I walked through the unfamiliar alleyway, the sound of rats scurrying along the storm drains causing them to echo in the sewers beneath the city.

Shutter has never been a city for the weak. The Black Market City, Shutter, that's what everyone calls us. Crimes of petty theft and pickpocketing to trafficking people and experimenting on them. Everyone is hoping for a new leader to take over, but most people believe this city will never change.

What most people seem to forget is that Shutter used to be worse. Death rates and homicides were much more common before Bunzer took over. However, rumors have it that experimentation has become his main focus. Not many details or speculations as to why.

The sound of a clay pot shattering on the ground, scaring an alley cat drew my attention to a dumpster with one lid open. It was too dark to see the end of the alleyway. I kept walking through all the empty stalls trying to figure out where I ended up and how. Nothing looked familiar.

I made my way to the end of the street to find a T cross-section. Left or right. Both directions looked like a residential district. I turned to look back at all the stalls I passed. I noticed a sign on the brick wall at the end where I started. How did I miss that earlier?

I headed back down towards the wall, hoping it was a street sign. I needed to know where I was. Teddi's Isle. Where the heck is that? I have never seen that street name before, not even on a map.

Being an orphan in Shutter is like someone asking for their child to be sold into some type of trafficking. Learning the layout of the city is crucial. Orphans don't have many options, you can be trafficked, join a guild or the military, or become a common street thief. That's it. Leaving the city isn't an option since most of us don't have the paperwork to get past the guards.

I opened my satchel and looked down at the food I borrowed from the nice man who had been yelling at the guards earlier. Maybe I should just eat something and rest. There isn't anyone around. I should be safe for a while. I made myself comfortable and had my meal and fell asleep. It's future me's problem when I wake up.

The sound of clanging abruptly woke me. Man, I can't remember the last time I slept well enough to not hear footsteps. I wiped the drool from my face and neck and peered out from the little cubby I had made.

There were lights, lit up and strung across the whole alleyway. Those were not there earlier. People were at their stalls selling jewels, wands, Grimoires, and a ton of things that looked like they belonged in a specialty shop. What is going on?

"Did you sleep well, deary?" An unfamiliar voice of an old woman spoke, startling me. I flinched and grabbed my knife. The brick wall was behind me. I quickly scanned the area to where that voice came from.

"No need to be on that kind of alert here. Teddi's Isle is an underground market in the black market city. Teddi has a rule of no violence in shopping or residential districts. If you're looking for a fight, you'll need to go into the sewers for that." The old woman spoke again before leaning over the tower of boxes above me revealing herself.

"What's Teddi's Isle?"

"I just told you. I know you're new here, but you'll need to keep up." The woman smiled and hobbled to her stall. She was selling potions, all kinds of them too. Was she a witch? The clarity of her potions is immaculate, clearly a very skilled potion crafter. She had a few herbs strung across the top of her stall and a cauldron behind her chair.

"How did I get here?" I spoke without realizing I had said the question out loud. Entranced by the quality of her craftsmanship I found myself lost in awe.

"Get out of here!" The old woman shouted. "Teddi made the rule of no violence, but I won't be having any of your nonsense at my stall. Now get! Go!" The old woman was shooing at someone when my mind cleared the fog of awe. I blinked several times to see two angry-looking men guiltily walk away.

"I told you, you need to keep up." The woman clicked her tongue and turned to stir her pot. "The city itself isn't pleasant, but there are guards to help with some things. Here that isn't the case. The only rules in this district are to pay your fees to Teddi, and no violence. Everything is fair game." She continued to stir her pot without looking back at me.

"Who were those men, and what were they after?" More curious now than before, and still feel like my question of where am I remains.

"You," she replied. "This might not be a place for you if you can't figure that out. The portal wouldn't have allowed just anyone through its door. So I'm being gracious with you."

"Portal? You mean the brick wall?" I looked at the wall that now has a beautiful blue hue to the swirling portal that now sits in the center of it." I blinked again. I know there is magic in the world, but this is not any magic I have ever seen.

"I hope you know the stories of the world. There's more truth in them than people think." The woman continued stirring her pot without looking back at me. I briefly looked at my surroundings. Before questioning her again. She might throw that spoon at me if I don't get my shit together soon.

"I've heard a few. Never often enough to recite them though." The old woman paused and looked over her shoulder at me.

"You orphans are all the same. Never caring enough about your origins or the origins of anything else." She clicked her tongue at me again and returned to her pot.

"Cut us a little slack, we never find anyone to take the time to tell us bedtime stories. Most of us are on the streets by the age of 7." I replied emotionless. I’ve come to terms with the fact no one gives a damn about us.

"You're an adult now, are you not?"

"I'm a 15 year old human. So probably not." Finally able to give her a reply with confidence I smiled at the woman even though she kept her back to me.

"You're not 100% human, I'd know the smell of a River Nymph anywhere."

My eyes grew wide in curiosity. I didn't know either of my parents, and I always looked human. I just assumed I was. "What's a River Nymph?" I never even went to get any of my giftings checked either. So I don't know what kind of skills I have or what levels they might be at.

"A rare and dying race. Much like most of the other races on Coia, River Nymphs are not native to this world. You'd know that much if you’d listened to any of the old tales." The woman reached for some crystals, to start grinding. "River Nymphs came to Coia alongside the Succubus race and some of the sea nymph race." The woman paused for a moment before continuing. "Amiryon made sure to collect as many of them if not all of them once she knew they were here."

"Who's Amiryon?" I now found myself far more intrigued. I might find something new about myself.

"Queen Amiryon, but at the time she hadn't been given that crown."

"So she was a princess?"

"No, her people elected her to rule, you see, the Succubus race comes from a world where they were looked down upon. Treated worse than you orphans are. Amiryon said that she would never go back to that." The old woman spat on the ground next to the cauldron and then began to slowly mix in the powder from the crystals she had just crushed.

"Okay, so what do the River Nymphs have to do with the Succubus's mistreatment? And how is this a children’s story?"

"The River Nymphs all have a passive gift much like the Succubus race does, except the River Nymph's passive skill cancels the Succubus. On their home planet, the humans manipulated the River Nymph race and used their science to extract that skill and turn it into some kind of drug to use on the Succubus, making them submit to anything. The Succubus were completely at the mercy of humans." She continued while ignoring my question about the bedtime story.

"So kind of what Bunzer is doing in Shutter?" Questioning that connection.

"Similarly, but not quite. The objective was to make an aphrodisiac from the Succubus for humans to use. Humans from their world are like humans from ours. Humans have the highest capability rate of reproducing offspring."

I gasped as I realized, "The humans were making an army, but for what purpose"

"That I couldn't tell ya, not my world, not my problem. However, Amiryon." The old woman turned to me with her spoon pointed in my face, "She never forgave the River Nymph race for their betrayal."

"Okay, so the crazy queen is eliminating my race? Can't I keep saying I'm human and be done with it?"

The old woman laughed so hard as if I told her the funniest joke she'd heard in years. "You could, but don't you ever find yourself in front of that queen. She has an attribute for seeing giftings, and its base level is maxed, or so I've heard."

"Cool, well I don't see myself ever being able to leave this city. So I think I'm fine."

The old woman chuckled again. "If nothing else you have certainly made this witch laugh tonight." She turned to her cauldron and put out the flames. Using air magic she portioned the liquid from the cauldron into the bottles set out on the table next to her and filled each one. "Come make yourself useful and cork these potions for me." I did what she asked. Mostly for the fact she was the best company I have ever had.

"The connection you made between the queen and Bunzer isn't too far off, but there's another two parties in that mess." The woman sat down in her chair and let out a deep breath. "But that's a bedtime story for another night. Come back anytime but with customers." She aggressively pointed at me with her spoon before cracking a smile.

I nodded my head in agreement, corking the last bottle. "How will I get back here if I leave?"

"Through the portal." She pointed to the swirling blue light on the brick wall. "The same way you came in."

Look out for the next part