Stumble Alley: A Quest For Higher Education

[Azrael Solomon]

Winter 1st 511AV Azrael had made his way through the city of Sunberth, familiar with the territories and crime syndicates. Such, business, as those within the crime organizations called it, did not interest the wayward zith half blood. Being a lap dog of bosses just wasn’t his style or interest. Though he’d never show an outward appearance of hate toward members of such groups, he loathed them. Such organization, he preferred the more brutish tactics of chaos and the freedom of never being fully loyal. As he walked through the streets of Sunberth, the wind bit his skin through the fuzzy fur that covered his body. Winter had arrived faster then he had anticipated and required him to find residence that wasn’t part of the forest. He moved over the cracked cobble stone until he reached an infamous alley. It had been rumored and hinted at all throughout Azrael’s life within the city that men would mysteriously vanish among the abandoned buildings, taverns and businesses. The leather gloves creaked as he tightened his grip on the scythe’s shaft. He traveled everywhere with his weapon, not one to walk through the streets with concealed weapons. He figured it would be better to make it blatantly apparent he was armed in order to deter the younger thugs and thieves. He had heard through the grape vine that a library lay somewhere within Stumble Alley. The sun had only risen over the horizon moments before he arrived, it would be a long day of travels for the man. He tightened the cloak over his shoulder and paid no attention to the scent it threw off. His clothes heavily soiled with dirty and sweat, it wreaked. The cloak’s edges near the ground was frayed from wear and tear. The bandages around his head, still he preferred to keep his identity concealed, that being the way he had lived his entire life. He just felt comfortable with the make shift mask, he yearned for something more practical like an actual mask but at that time he didn’t know where he’d be able to acquire such a thing. He began to take the first steps into the strange alley, still hidden in the shadows of the buildings that lined the alley.