Two weeks had passed by since Loki first woke up in this world, by now he had learned what he could from his memories.
Loki realized that very few things mattered in the outskirts. One of those things was hunger. It spoke in sharp, immediate terms: find food and avoid being starved to death if you could help it. Loki learned this by muscle more than thought. The first week after waking up, he scavenged for a living. He took broken things—wire, dented cans, anything that could be traded for a some synthpaste, a viscous colorless sludge contained in a tube. It had the consistency of mud and tasted about the same. This vile thing was the worst thing he had tasted.
Only god knows how much he missed proper food.
"If I had known I would die, i wouldn't have gone to work without having breakfast" Loki lamented.
----
Loki didn't know how long he would have to stay in the outskirts, he couldn't just keep scavenging so he decided to find work. From the memories he know factories would accept cheap manual labor.
He had to plan ahead. He also had another thought in mind, he wanted to collect some information about the world see if there are any glairing differences from the novel, determine the start of the story line as well.
----
A month had passed since he stated working, Loki ate standing by a lamppost, motionless while the market continued its commerce around him. He swallowed slowly, letting the starch warm him. This place was like a stomach that had learned to digest anything given its way and things that weren't digested would become like the stomach too. From the point he had started collecting information he had seen, heard and did a lot. Loki learned how to read quick gestures: the way someone tightened their grip on a bag when a stranger approached, the tiny swivel of a head that marked where trouble might come from. On his first day at the factory, he found himself pressed into work by a superior, a woman named Jor.
"Don't pry where you shouldn't," she told him on his first day. "People don't like their things opened unless they owe you." Loki didn't say anything he just nodded.
The work was mechanical; the rhythm of a screwdriver in the right place steadied him. He learned that work mattered not only to survive but to stay sane as well. The day ended with Jor handing him his credits and a look that meant, if you come tomorrow, there's a place for you.
At night, in the metal container, he heard shouts. A fight somewhere else boiled into knives. He kept the coin with NQSC next to his cheek as if the hard metal could tell him what to do.
The world here rarely repaid kindness, Loki had watched it happen to people who seemed to deserve better. An old man once gave away his last ration to a child and received a blow to the stomach for his trouble. A woman who tried to argue with a gang about fair prices ended up with burned hands. "Why" Loki asked himself, he was a normal young man from a normal world less then a month ago he wouldn't want to participate in this cruelty, but there was no helping it, the world wasn't normal anymore, well at least he was still normal Loki comforted himself but that too would change.
At the end of work one day at the edge of market, Loki was following a man with pockets that jingled. The man moved poorly, probably too drunk. Loki thought about stealing: a quick escape after. No one would mourn it; he felt a little guilt but he swallowed it quickly.
Loki had followed the man for half a block into an alley that smelled of rust and old plastic. Loki didn't remember why he made the decision to rob this person, this was a bad decision by all accounts but he felt the impulse and he inexplicably followed it.
The man moved lazily, weaving more than walking. Clearly drunk — a bad idea in the outskirts. Loki waited until the man turned into the narrow lane behind the ally. No witnesses. No lamps.
Now.
Loki stepped forward.
"Hey—" His voice cracked, too soft to be threatening.
The man spun faster than Loki expected."Thief!" he barked, spit flying, eyes bloodshot and wild.His hand shot out, grabbing Loki by the collar, wrenching him forward so hard his breath vanished.
"I'll teach you—"
His fist swung.
Loki ducked too slow; the knuckles scraped his cheek, a hot sting that blurred his sight. Instinct replaced thought. He shoved the man away, hoping that it would buy him a second.
It didn't.
The man lunged, heavier than he looked. His shoulder slammed into Loki, sending both of them crashing into the alley wall. The impact tore a gasp from Loki's throat. The man's breath smelled like rot.
"You little rat," he growled, raising his fist again.
Loki didn't think. His body moved before he did. He pushed back, fingers scrabbling for leverage on the slick pavement.
The man slipped on the wet ground, stumbled, and collided hard with the rusted bin beside them. The sound was sharp, a hollow clang that echoed down the alley like a warning.
Loki tried to back away.The man grabbed his arm.Loki twisted and pushed again.The man fell.
There was a crack — soft and sickening.
The man's head hit the edge of the bin at just the wrong angle. His body went slack immediately, a puppet with the strings cut.
Loki froze.
His heartbeat thundered in his ears.Rain pattered on metal.The man's arm twitched once, then lay still.
He knelt beside him with trembling fingers.
"Get up," he whispered.
The man didn't move.
He touched the man's shoulder — a foolish gesture — and recoiled when the body rolled limply. The head lolled, the neck bent just slightly wrong.
Loki's breath stuck in this throat.
"No…"
He hadn't meant to.
A small sound cut through the air — a gasp.Loki turned sharply.
A thin small child stood at the mouth of the alley, dirty black hair covering his face, thin arms clutching a cracked plastic bucket to his chest. Wide eyes stared at him — then the child screamed.
Loki ran he didn't think, didn't look back, didn't breathe. His feet slapped the pavement, his lungs burned, and the world narrowed to the frantic rhythm of flight. By the time he stopped, he was blocks away, pressed against a cold wall, staring at his shaking hands. There was no blood on them but Loki swore he could see it.
----
The days that followed were a blur, at first Loki thought someone would find out what happened he'd be toast then, his day were spent in constant fear, then Loki thought about the child that had seen him "what if he told someone". Those few days were the worst time he had spent here since coming, the constant fear made him forget about the guilt, eventually Loki realized no one was coming to charge his ass with murder, because no one cared about the life of a poor drunkard.
----
Standing by a lamppost Loki kept thinking about all the things he had experienced and all the information he had collected about the world "ahhh i miss my old life" he mumbled under his breath. Loki felt a little scared because the information he had collected was a little concerning.
First the biggest difference was knowledge about the Supremes, the whole world knew that the fourth nightmare had been conquered and and what's worse was that there were four publicly acknowledged Sovereigns two from the original book Anvil "The King of Swords" from clan Valor, Ki Song "The Queen of Worms" from clan Song and the other two that weren't in the book were Ace "The Sea King" from the House of the Night and most surprising of all was Michael "The Chaoswalker" the head of the Government.
The second thing that made Loki truly Panic was that just two years ago there had been three Awakened who had received their True Name's right after their first nightmare "The Sandman" a boy from the outskirts now a independent Awakened, "Great Mother" a Princess from Clan Song and "Father of Storms" a Prince from The House of the Night. Loki knew what that meant these three awakened all very likely had divine aspects, it would be convenient if this wasn't true but he would rather assume the worst.
Loki had a strange feeling that this world was more dangerous then the world he read in a book.
He had also determined the timeline, the fourth nightmare was conquered 11 years ago so he likely had 7-8 years before the official story started, a lot of time to prepare.
All this information made Loki realize that his knowledge from the book might not be very useful and this world was not just a simple copy of the book he had once read, he found himself liking the thought.