Chapter 8 Part 3: Arley

It should be mentioned that Graycean was situated quite close to a massive canyon, called the "Big 'Un". Why it was called " 'Un " and not "One" is unknown, even to the older residents of the town.

This canyon was also responsible for the strong and frequent winds in the town, which had blown away clothes, kites and jetpackers plenty of times.

It was one of these winds that carried the fate of our heroine. Her fate and lots of flyers.

Annabelle had just picked up her coin, wondering what to do for the book's money, when one of the flyers smacked her and stuck to her face. After a bit of struggle, Annabelle pulled off the flyer, and read it.

"Now Hiring!

English Teacher for Terminaria University!

Contact Details below!"

"Haha, if I had gotten Heads, this would've been perfect. Ah well," she thought, as she crumpled up the flyer and tossed it away.

Another flyer hit her on the face, which annoyed Annabelle greatly. She pulled it off, and read the new one.

"Big Match Tonight! Fight to the Death! No police allowed!

Do you stand a chance against Tommy? Try your luck!

Massive rewards!"

"What kind of a flyer is this?! Are they seriously advertising an underground fight club?!" she said. Her eye caught the "Massive rewards" line, however, and this meant the perfect opportunity to get the money she wanted.

Annabelle had made up her mind. She would take on Tommy. She had no idea how underground fights worked.

*  *  *  *

Annabelle reached the place the flyer specified at midnight. She looked around, but saw nothing which might lead her where she wanted to go.

She was getting convinced the flyer was a joke, and had turned around to leave, when a manhole cover in front of her opened up very slightly. Annabelle saw light coming from the small opening the manhole had made.

Out of curiosity, she bent low and pulled the cover back a bit more, and surely enough, there was a bright light coming from inside it. Annabelle also heard loud commotion from inside.

She looked around for a bit, and made sure she was alone. Then she pulled off the manhole cover, and looked inside. A metal ladder led straight down for a long distance before ending at a floor.

She stepped inside, and began to climb down the ladder. As she replaced the manhole cover above her, it made a large CLICK sound, and locked up.

Annabelle noticed that the inside of the manhole didn't smell at all. She climbed down the ladder, and jumped off the last one. She turned around, and gasped.

Before her was a massive city, with wide cobblestone roads, tobacco shops, and nearly identical buildings. They all had an old-fashioned look to them, made of brown or black bricks and stone. A sign in front of her read "Welcome to the Real Graycean. Enjoy your stay, and try to make it out alive."

Annabelle looked up, and saw the entirety of the city illuminated by an artificial sun. It was as if she had been taken back in time, to a new world entirely.

Annabelle looked at her flyer, and stared at it in surprise. The location written on the flyer had now changed, and showed a completely different address.

Annabelle began walking, and saw all the sights around her. She saw men gambling out on the streets in front of their houses, old fashioned cars with giant wheels, horse carriages, and more sophisticated-looking men and women, carrying walking canes and parasols, and dressed very finely.

She came across a large bridge, under which a wide river flowed, and whih was populated with steamboats and fishing boats.

Annabelle was lost in wonder at this new city, so it wasn't long before she was horribly (and quite literally) lost. The maps made no sense to her, and neither did the street signs.

Her obliviousness to her surroundings also made her walk right into a lamppost. She fell down, and rubbed her head. As she did, she heard a kid's laugh from behind her.

She turned around, and saw a small boy dressed in gray overalls, a white shirt and a gray cap. He was having quite a good time at the sight in front of him.

"And what're YOU laughing at?" Annabelle asked, slightly embarrassed.

"Nothin', 'cept that lamppost is brighter than you were a while back!" he said, and burst into laughter again.

Annabelle stood up, and dust off her legs. The boy stopped laughing and looked at Annabelle.

"Well, aren't you a beaut?" he said. In a few moments, he found himself looking down the barrel of a gun pointed at him. "What's that? I didn't hear that." Annabelle said.

"N-Nothin', miss! I'm sorry!" he said, visibly shaken. Annabelle put the gun back in her waist belt.

"Now, where is this "Barton Street"? she asked, and showed him the flyer. "Yeah, you're headed in the exact opposite direction, miss." the boy said.

"Well, can you show me the way?" she asked. "Ehhhh, I dunno, this noggin don't usually work withou' a bit of a shake, y'know." the kid said, and began to rub his index finger and thumb together.

"Aah, a shake. Alright then." Annabelle said, and she reached for her purse.

*  *  *  *

Annabelle held the boy upside down from the edge of the bridge, and shook him a bit. "You had enough of your shake, mate?" Annabelle asked happily. "Yeah, alright, alright, I'll show you the way!" the kid shouted, staring down at the drop into the river below.

*  *  *  *
Annabelle placed the kid back on the sidewalk. He gasped a bit, and put his cap back on his head. "Well, let's get moving." Annabelle said.

"A'right."

"So what's your name, mate?" Annabelle asked, as they began to walk.

"The name's Arley. And yours?" he asked.

"I'm Annabelle."  she replied.

"Too long, I'm calling you Annie." Arley said.

"Fair enough." Annabelle said, and shrugged.

*  *  *  *

"Well, 'ere we are, Barton Street!" Arley said. Annabelle looked at the flyer once again, and sure enough. they seemed to have reached the right place.

Arley also had a look at the flyer again. He hadn't paid attention to the rest of the flyer before, but now that he read it, he was quite surprised to find out why Annabelle was heading to Barton Street.

"Oboi, this I gotta see!" he exclaimed.
"Nah, mate, you're going home from here. It might be dangerous and whatnot." Annabelle said, looking at him.

"You hung me upside down over the Bamberg River! You think I can't take dangerous?!" he said, now getting annoyed.

"Fine, but be quiet and stay low." Annabelle said. Arley simply nodded.


Annabelle looked at the address on the flyer, and then on the building. "It's surely this one," she thought.


She opened the door, and walked in, Arley soon following. She expected to see men betting and cheering and shouting, and glasses of beer and mead everywhere. Instead she saw a hole in the ground, and a ladder going down the hole.

"Well, guess it ain't called underground fighting for nothin' " Arley said. Annabelle looked down the hole, then climbed down the ladder.

At the bottom, she saw men betting and shouting, and glasses of beer and mead flying everywhere. It was a dark and mouldy room, illuminated only by a few electric bulbs hanging from above. All of the men had huddled around a large octagonal wooden fence, inside of which two men were bareknuckle boxing.

One pulled back his hand, and delivered an uppercut to the other's chin, knocking him out cold. The crowd around him cheered and bellowed, and the victor marched proudly back out of the ring, while two others dragged the loser out the other end.

"Annie, are you sure about this?" Arley asked, now slightly worried. "Nope, I most certainly am not." came the reply.

Annabelle walked up to the signup table, where the person writing them up was too busy watching the fights to notice a girl had come in to fight their best man. He signed her up quickly, asking her to step out of the way because she was blocking his view.

Annabelle and Arley made their way into the crowd, and watched the matches themselves. More punches, more knockouts, more cheering and more beer.

After a few fights, the announcer picked up the sign up board and announced the name of the next fighters.

"Alright folks, here's our last match for the night! On the right, we have, our one, our beloved, our best, Biiiiiiig Tommy!" the crowd went wild with cheering.

"And on the left, we have... Annabelle?" the announcer said, in a confused voice.

Arley cheered loudly, but he was the only one who did. The room was completely silent otherwise.

Annabelle took off her bag and cloak, and walked into the ring. The men made way for her without saying anything. All of them looked confused and surprised.

The gate in front of her opened, and Annabelle saw herself looking at a massive monster of a man.

Tommy was a heavily built man in his late 30s. He didn't have any distinguishing or special features, except for his massive height and large arms. Annabelle was quite tall, but she still had to look up to see his face, which was scorning at her.

"GET HER, TOMMY!" one of the men in the crowd suddenly shouted. A frenzy of shouts erupted from there on, as the entirety of the crowd placed their bets on Tommy.

Tommy walked forward, and raised his fist. He brought it crashing down on Annabelle, who only dodged just in time. Tommy's fist made a small hole in the ground, and kicked up some dust.

Tommy turned around, and looked at Annabelle again. Nobody had dodged his starting blow before. He now looked angry. Annabelle gulped.

Tommy charged at Annabelle, punching and smashing at her rapidly. Annabelle could only just dodge all of them, and was struggling quite a lot to do so too.

"I regret nothing I regret nothing I regret nothing I regret nothing!" Annabelle thought to herself as she frantically tried to avoid being crushed.

"Of all the people in this world, I had to choose the person that'll fight a guy twice her size to buy a book, didn't I?" a voice spoke in her head, with a sigh. It was a foreign voice to her, and it sounded like a man's voice.

"Yeah, yo- wait, who are YOU?!" Annabelle thought loud in her mind. "Are you Arley?!"

"No, I'm not that kid. No time to explain. Need some help?" the voice said.

"No, I'm doing perfectly fine, picking daisies with Arley and Tommy over here!" Annabelle said sarcastically.

"Oooh, touchy, aren't we?" the voice now said.

Annabelle tripped, and fell on her stomach. Tommy began to slowly walk towards her. Annabelle turned around, and saw Tommy approach her. "Okay, I do need help here!" Annabelle thought out loud in her mind.

"That's the spirit. Well, here goes nothing." the voice said, and became quiet.

For a few moments, nothing happened, and Tommy still approached Annabelle slowly, enjoying every step of his upcoming victory.

Then, Annabelle began to feel different. First, it was only a small feeling, but it grew very quickly. She felt lighter and quicker than she was before. Arley saw her eyes gleaming a bright yellow, like a wolf.

He could have sworn they were blue when she met him.

Tommy at last came up to Annabelle, and raised both his fists. He brought them down on Annabelle, and kicked up a large amount of dust.

The room became quiet as everyone stared at where Tommy's fists had landed. The dust settled, and Annabelle had disappeared.

Tommy turned around, and saw Annabelle at the opposite side of the ring. She was panting a bit, but grinning. She stared at Tommy, who felt slightly intimidated by her sharp yellow eyes. Nonetheless, his reputation as the best fighter in town was at stake, and so he charged at Annabelle.

Annabelle stood in place. Tommy pulled back his fists and tried to rain punches on Annabelle.

Annabelle felt as if time had slowed down for her. She saw every one of Tommy's punches coming at her slowly, like in a movie, and she dodged out of their way with ease.

Tommy kept this up for quite some time, but after a few minutes, he became very tired, and only gasped for breath, standing in place with his hands on his knees.

Something clicked in Annabelle. She took a few steps back, charged at Tommy, pulled her foot backwards as much as she could for the kick, and...

Well, I suppose you readers can imagine what she did, because all of the men in the crowd cringed simultaneously, some letting out an "Oooh!" as well.

Tommy bent low, and screamed in a pitch that was impossible for a grown man to have. It was more like a small girl's scream, only at a higher pitch, and it kept increasing. In a few moments, his scream seemed to have  stopped. His mouth was still open, however, and he still seemed to be losing breath.

"I think he's screamin' in ultrasound," one of the men said. He was correct, because one by one all the windows and glasses and pitchers shattered.

Annabelle wasn't done. The rules had said to knock out Tommy for the reward, and he was still standing. So she turned around, ran at the fence, and jumped. She placed one foot on the edge of the fence, and took a massive leap from it.

Tommy looked up, now furious and with a complete intention to kill. What he saw was Annabelle flying towards him.

Annabelle pulled back her foot again, and gave a strong kick to the side of Tommy's head, and landed in front of him.

Tommy was still standing, however, and he began to chuckle first, then laugh loudly. He opened his mouth, and spoke in his deep voice (he seemed to have recovered from his previous injury) :

"Silly girl, you think that kick was enough to knock me out? Well I'll tell you, you were absolutely correct because everything seems to be going black. Ah well, good night."

With that, Tommy fell back, and blacked out. He fell onto the ground with a large thud, and the match was over.