Diego was lying on his bed, mindlessly looking at the ceiling as he waited for nothing. The pages from his contract were carelessly scattered around, after he'd grown so frustrated with it that he'd just thrown them away and avoided all contact. He had read the document several times, trying to grasp what he'd been roped into. What was clear is that right now, he had a roof, food and all his other basic needs solved as part of his new job. Dirtha had taken him to a large building where her company resided, as well as other people in similar circumstances, bound by similar contracts, but for two days he'd avoided all that, locked inside the safety of his room. He only left when there was no other choice, but whenever he'd set foot outside, his eyes were always glued to the ground.
He wasn't just shocked about everything that had happened, but in all honestly, he was scared of what waited for him beyond those walls, so much that he'd kept the curtains closed at every moment. He didn't even want to catch a glimpse of the strange city at the other side of the window, even if it meant living like a vampire. No one had bothered him yet, but every time he heard everyone leave the mess hall, there was always a plate of food for him outside his door. When he could finally join the outside world, he'd had to thank someone.
Despite how completely sick he was of it, Diego grabbed again a page from the contract. His head was spinning and hurting, as if someone was banging on it with a hammer, but he forced himself to read again the damn paper. He needed to understand the chains that bound him. Despite the mountain of stress over his shoulders and the cruelly obtuse legal language, he managed to get the gist of it. For the next seven years, he was forced to work for Brick's Wrestling Promotions as a professional wrestler. He didn't understand the long parade of obligations that he had to follow, but he did comprehend that failure to fulfill his responsibilities would bring the hammer of severe legal actions down on his head, something that would be best to avoid. Until he could finally convince his brain to hold to all that, he'd do best just doing whatever they told him to do, as much as he disliked the idea. Despite that, there was some bizarre reassurance in knowing that some things were the same as back home, even if he didn't know the content of the laws in that weird place.
His head started to hurt more than before, and a deep fog began to settle behind his eyes. He couldn't take it anymore and threw the paper away in frustration. The page did a loop in the air before timidly sliding away from him to a corner of the darkened room. Without anything but time on his hands, he lay on his bed, a part of him hoping that this was all a very vivid dream, like a child that couldn't wait to get out of school. Sadly, that wasn't the case, as the knocking on his door reminded him.
Half-heartedly, he went for the door, groaning all the way. He was more than ready to say that he wanted to be left alone, until she saw the pointed-eared woman's towering frame at the other side.
"Good morning", Dirtha said in a cold, yet polite tone.
"Hey", Diego answered without mustering any semblance of effort. It was probably a very bad idea given his situation, but he just wanted her to leave so that he could go be a hermit again.
"You haven't left your room in two days", the woman said, her hands crossed over her waist, "It's not healthy".
"Might have to do with dying", the young man was surprised that he still had energy for sarcasm.
"Still".
"What do you care?", Diego spat his words out, trying to make her leave despite the consequences, "Aren't I just a wage slave?"
"My father likes to say that you can't trust intentions, but you can always trust someone's greed", Dirtha spoke with more patience than most people would. It wasn't a patience born out of saintly empathy, but of experience and calculated actions, "A happy employee is a productive employee".
The young man couldn't deny that logic, even if his emotions were making a good effort to. She had a clear interest in his mental state, a quantifiable and economic interest, but a genuine one at that. He looked at her, knowing that there was much that he couldn't understand of the woman, but she was showing that she was straight as an arrow when it came to money. She wanted money, plain and simple.
"Why are you here?", he asked, tired, but also trying to find a hand to help him climb out of his hole.
"To go for a walk, maybe even a cup of tea", she said nonchalantly, lending out that hand to pull him out, "I think it'll do you good".
The thought of going outside sent a shiver down Diego's spine. There could be anything waiting for him out there, more bizarre ways to shake his world down to its core. Anyone could think that after escaping in between Death's fingers there would be nothing else to fear, but there was always more to life. Despite that, he knew that sooner or later he'd have to face his fears, and he really wanted to feel some fresh air.
"Fine", Diego said before closing the door behind him, taking his timid first steps into the world.
Together they left for the ground floor and moved through the courtyard, crowned by an empty ring in the center. The squared arena awaited silently for its next contestants, since no one else was around other than them and the midday breeze. Diego had the suspicion that Dirtha had gone for him at that hour so that he wouldn't have to meet his coworkers. Too much, too soon, and maybe she had a point.
Diego hesitated under the archway that led to the street. Everything he had been so afraid of these past days was on the other side. His heart felt heavier than ever, and his feet rooted to the ground.
Dirtha continued, her shoulders light as the wind itself. She turned and looked at the young man in the eye. With a flick of her hand, she invited him to come, observing patiently under the shade from the building at the other side of the street.
Diego breathed in and took the hardest step of his life, fighting against the claws that had dug deep into his legs and were trying to tie him to where he stood. He then took another step, and then another more. He kept on, trying to stop any thought that came to his head and focus on walking. He took one step more, and then dared to look around him.
To his surprise, the world around him was pretty mundane. He was in what looked like a residential area, with a cobbled road and apartment blocks that proudly showed their reddish bricks to the world. People moved up and down following their busy schedules, while dodging the group of kids loudly playing with a ball. He'd expected to see people with a third eye in the middle of their forehead, or some beast the size of a bear going about its business. Instead, everything was so…normal.
Seeing how his newest employee had managed to beat his fears, Dirtha moved again at a relaxed pace. The young man raised his speed to catch up to her.
"Tell me…", the woman asked before stopping to dodge a ball and the gang of children running behind it, "…what is it that you do again?".
Diego remembered how the only reason he was still living was that he knew how to fight. He'd enjoyed learning his style, but the idea of hurting other people had always been hard to swallow, and now it looked like that was how he was going to be putting bread on the table, "Krav Maga".
"So…", Dirtha looked at him with genuine curiosity, "Does that make you a kravmaxer?".
The question shook Diego so much that his mind froze for a second. An idea crept into his brain that shook him for a second time. Was she trying to make a joke?
"No…", he answered, still dazed from the comment, "I'm a kravist. Just kravist".
"Very well", her response was as dry as sand, even more detached than usual, as if Diego's confusion had managed to offend her. It could also be that she wanted to hide any embarrassment, but it didn't seem to fit her, "Tell me about it".
"It's more a self-defense system than a martial art", The revenant's answer was slow, as most of his attention fell to the city that surrounded them. It was very similar to the older neighborhoods in his hometown, and from other cities he'd visited, but now, it was as if the clock had run back. A long time back. Everything looked like the pictures in history books, from the dresses with wide skirts, to the cable cars passing by the cobbled streets and businesses named after the families that owned them. The only thing that he missed was seeing everything in black and white.
The air was bathed in the unmistakable smell of salt and the sea, but it was contaminated by the stench that came from factories vomiting a thick black fog to the sky. It was the smell of industry, one where safety was more of an afterthought. He thought of his grandfather, of the time he took him to the factory where he'd worked before, but the smell was so much stronger now.
"And what makes it different?", Dirtha asked inquisitively, trying to bring Diego's attention back to what was important.
"There's no rules", He answered to keep things as simple as possible and save his strength, "We train to hit as hard and fast as we can where it hurts the most, and survive whatever threat comes our way".
"I can make use of that", The woman claimed, more to herself than her reluctant employee.
As they kept walking, the oddities began to appear, to test Diego's mettle. The natural colors made way to skin tones the young man didn't even know people could have, like a blue as deep as he sea. New shapes started to enter the picture, and a woman as tall and pale as Dirtha walked past them with a basket full of groceries. Then it all exploded as soon as they arrived at the market square, and Diego's senses were overwhelmed with the sights, sounds and smells of the strange creatures around him. Beastly people with backs covered in fur, beings whose shape changed as if it were a liquid, skins that looked like tree bark. He felt dizzy, his head spinning around like a merry-go-round, so much that he bumped into someone.
"I'm sorry…", The young man began to say before he saw what he had crashed against and froze in place. The thing, vaguely humanoid in shape, had segmented skin, like a worm, and strange hair-like protrusions around where its face should be. Diego had no way to understand whatever it was.
"Sorry friend", the creature raised its hand as an apology before going on its way, leaving the young man standing.
"Don't worry, you all get used to it sooner or later", Dirtha tried to calm Diego as soon as she noticed his shock, "It's only a matter of time".
Those bizarre beings were all around the revenant, carrying on with their daily lives just like normal people, and no one bat an eye. He even caught a glimpse of one accompanying what looked like its grandmother with her shopping, just like he himself had done so many times before.
Diego sat down on the first thing he found, a pile of boxes. He felt the need to look at the ground and rearrange his thoughts. Next to him, the woman waited once more, and took a watch out of her pocket to check the time. It was an ornate device that spoke of the wealth of her owner, but the signs of time around its border and a pale luster told a long story that the woman held close to her heart. She patiently watched the hands of the clock move, until they made too many rounds for her taste.
"We should be moving, we're running late", The woman announced as she placed the clock back into her pocket.
"Late for what?", Diego raised his head after minutes of looking at the calming ground.
"One of your coworkers is having a match. I think it'll be informative".
The revenant shrugged his arms and got up, slightly recovered. He didn't have the energy to protest, and just wanted to move alongside the currents of the day and hope that his worldview wouldn't take too many hits. Still, he kept his eyes glued to the ground as he tried to slowly adjust to all the new experiences that surrounded him. They walked in silence until Dirtha suddenly stopped and Diego almost bumped into her. He raised his head once more, and witnessed a large building that oozed history out of its walls.
The main entrance was guarded by sculptures of women holding instruments, greeting the visitors that walked over the red carpet covering the white stairs outside. Next to them, other women embraced the columns that held the building's exterior on its place, while two large banners hung from the roof, showcasing the two fighters involved in the match inside. On the one on the left there was a black and white picture of a fire-eyed woman looking fiercely at her rival on the other side, a fur cloak covering her wide shoulders. She was gnashing her pointed teeth together, the same way a wolf would do to threaten its prey. Her name appeared in bold red text that trapped any nearby eyes, Umalda.
On the other side, there was a much thinner woman smiling with confidence, with a ball of wild curly hair barely held in place thanks to a bandana on her forehead. Her picture was sharing a thumbs up with anyone that looked up to her, as if saying that there was nothing to worry about. In blue, her name was Lightning Lita.
"Over here", Dirtha said as she guided her employee past the stairs that led to the main entrance, and instead turned around the corner. To the side there was a simple green wooden door, without any of the fancy décor that the front of the building wore with pride. The woman knocked on the door, and in a matter of seconds they could already hear the racket of locks being undone at the other side. Once it opened, one of those creatures that couldn't hold the same shape for more than a few seconds greeted them face-first. It's skin, the same tone as dirty snow, moved in every direction, inside and outside, as if it had water where the bones should've been. A swarm of eyes swam to the front of its face to focus on the revenant.
"Question: Could you kindly tell me who are you?", the creature announced its intentions, as it seemed to be the only way to understand it in a conversation. Every single word that came out was completely devoid of any emotion or change in its voice.
"Dirtha Meyer, from Brick's Wrestling promotions. This is my employee", the businesswoman spoke, encouraging a couple of eyes to move to the side of the creature's faces and focus on her. The glint of recognition shone on them.
"Relief: Welcome Ms. Meyer", the rubbery being said as its eyes moved away from each other. Most of them looked at the woman, but two remained fixated on the young man, "We found it strange that you weren't here early, as usual".
"Had to take care of some unexpected issues", she said within earshot of Diego, the source of the unexpected issues in question.
"Welcoming: Please, come in, the match has already started", the creature invited them inside, as its head went from the shape of an egg to something that reminded of a random splotch of paint. It moved to the side, welcoming them with one of its arms.
Dirtha accepted the invitation and walked through the building's backstage, closely followed by the revenant. With every step, the distant roars of a large crowd drew closer and closer. At first, they were only uncomprehensible noises, and then they could make out the excitement of the people inside, until it finally exploded when they reached the stalls, the very same moment the whole building got off their seats in a wave of pure emotion.
"That's going to leave a mark!", a female voice boomed throughout the venue, clear for everyone inside to hear it, whether they where on the balconies or right next to the ring.
"That's because Umalda never disappoints, Misha, just look at the public!", another voiced joined the other one, quick and masculine. Diego recognized immediately what they were. He was listening to sports commentators, "But can Lita get up, or was that fall too much to take?"
"Well May, I think she heard you, because not only is she getting up, she looks ready for payback!"
Inside the ring, Lita stood back on her feet after being thrown down to the mat. And just like the commenter had said, she looked like she wanted to defy any doubts about her with the carefree smile that adorned her face. The public on the upper floors leaned over the railing in their excitement, desperately wanting to see what was about to happen.
"You know Umalda, there's this thing that has caught my attention. For someone so big, you really fight like a little girl", the woman with the wild curly hair said as she stretched her back. Her eyes, surrounded in makeup the shape of lightning, were latched to her rival, "Are you going to shove me next?"
"What I'm going to do is send you flying off the ring", The enormous Umalda said as she towered over her rival, even bigger than her picture could paint. She took her cloak off and threw it away, showing the bright red color of her skin as she flexed the boulders she called her muscles.
"Looks like we missed a good match so far", Dirtha said in her usual cold tone, same as a researcher taking notes of the world around, "Let's move, we have some of the best seats in the house".