The overgrown young man, having gained momentum, had clenched his bare hands into fists and wanted to bring them down on the head of the old, bum-looking man who called out to him. A few people who saw him immediately followed suit; the allure of three old men standing together was high, and one didn't need to be an astrologer to understand that they were one hit away from death.
These must certainly be the "Fallen" mentioned in the inscription; with ten steps left, my excitement peaked, and I kept my eyes peeled to watch the clash of the two groups. When my eyes caught one of the three old men, who had remained silent before, raising his head, the attacking group was within the last five steps.
"You did me wrong!"
A very short sentence came out of his mouth; you could hear this classic statement while passing by every tavern or a group sipping their drinks in a corner. At the same time, the crowd led by the overgrown young man would stop before taking another step; their gazes were full of astonishment as if they wanted to go forward but couldn't manage to do so.
"You did me wrong!"
"You did me wrong!"
"You did me wrong!"
While the three old men slowly stood up and walked towards the people who had turned to stone, they always had the same words in their mouths; the people who tried to make a move to run back at the last moment couldn't save themselves for this reason.
I was watching those who were fully attentive; those who shamelessly flocked to the three old men, whom they saw as their only remedy for salvation, with ambition and ruthlessness, were caught in a kind of trap. I could vaguely make out the image of a cheap wine bottle above their heads; meanwhile, the trio was wandering among them, repeating the same words ceaselessly.
About half an hour had passed in this way; the faces of the people in the group, whose mobility was restricted under an effect now, were flushed, and rivers of cold sweat were flowing down from their heads. Exactly one hour later, the decisive moment arrived; someone who couldn't stand this torture fell to the ground like an empty sack, causing a small dust cloud to rise.
This was as if the first drop of heavy rain falling to the ground; immediately after, other members of the attacking community let themselves fall from their branches like ripe loquats.
Everyone in the crowded group except one person was on the ground; what happened didn't stop there either, some of them disappeared as if they never existed. Although the overgrown young man, who had unintentionally fallen into the position of leader of those behind him, was breathing in gasps, he was resisting the mobs named Tipsy.
"You did me wrong!"
"You did me wrong!"
"You did me wrong!"
The three geezers had gathered together; they were making the boy, who was trembling violently, suffer a feast of torment with literally a drunkard's conversation. The poor guy couldn't last long; he crashed face-first onto the ground to share the same end as those running behind him.
"Young friend, wouldn't you like to join us? We have a piece of bread and a bottle of wine that we would take pleasure in sharing with everyone!"
Not ten seconds had passed since everything ended when I witnessed one of the old men turning to me and calling out; at that moment, I could feel my intestines getting tangled up from fear. I immediately looked around; I didn't want to believe that the person in their target was me because I was still inside the protective shield.
"Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn!"
When had I gone out of the ice-blue cover? When I turned around quickly, I saw that I was already about three steps outside the protection zone. While I got carried away with the events I watched, I had made a fatal mistake without even realizing it.
"You did me wrong!"
"You did me wrong!"
"You did me wrong!"
This couldn't be; having just taken my first step, the trio whose offer was rejected had moved on to the second part of their attacks. With crazy questions in my head, I tried to lift my foot to take my second step; I had to run, otherwise, my end would be like the dozens of people who disappeared as a result of soul-suffocating torture a moment ago.
I closed my eyes, focused all my power on my feet, and tried to run; I didn't want to experience eight hours of torture before making enough examination. I had to run; this was the only command my brain sent to my body, I had to do this to live, not to die.
"Slow down, friend!"
"What's your hurry!"
"Watch where you're going, you bear!"
After losing consciousness falling into the clutches of fear, I crashed into a hard object and stopped; as a result of this, when I fell to the ground, I could look at what was happening by opening my eyes again with courage. I was surrounded by people, and all of them without exception were cursing at me; the strange thing was that most of them had fallen to the ground like me.
I jumped to my feet in panic and turned a full circle around myself like a spinning top to understand where I was; with the last thing I saw, I felt as if a truckload had been lifted off my back.
I don't know what kind of terror I fell into, but with that speed, I had crashed into the people waiting in line to proceed inside, standing at the outermost part of the area where the inscriptions were.
"I'm sorry!"
"I'm very sorry to all of you!"
I immediately slipped away from the environment by asking the people I harmed to forgive me; I had saved my skin this time, how could I care about such a tiny accident?
Ignoring the grumbling rising behind me, I turned my route towards the place where I first woke up; the protection area was separated from the Fallen by a shield with four colors, which meant that there could be completely different mobs in areas of different colors.
At the first destination I turned to in line with my purpose, a shield rising from the ground like a yellow tulle and merging with the other color on the ceiling welcomed me. This place was located right next to the area where the alcohol-based Fallen were; in fact, if one stood right where they touched each other, both sides could be watched comfortably.
I would encounter the scene that would leave me in astonishment exactly in one of the places I mentioned; the two areas were borders, in fact, the mobs approached up to almost two spans distance but definitely did not cross into each other's area.
I had learned an unwritten rule; the Fallen had their own lands and definitely did not intervene in each other's area.
Otherwise, it would be total chaos right now because the Fallen in the yellow region were types likely to be trouble for everyone not only here but also on Earth.
"Glue-sniffer lvl 1!"
"Thinner-sniffer lvl 1!"
"Lighter Gas sniffer lvl 1!"
You must have understood by now why I used this expression; mobs taken captive by synthetic substances lived next to the lands where alcohol reigned. They had auras that gave one goosebumps even from behind the shield; with the addition of people running around screaming into the picture, they were like a picture of madness blended with fear.
I couldn't witness how the chaos started in this region, but looking at the scene in front of me, I could say that the people they trapped were in a fear that penetrated to their bones.
There was a black countenance above their heads, and the most prominent feature of this face with vague lines was its mouth opened as if it wanted to scream. The ones here, like the people in the ice-blue zone, had come under a kind of effect and lost control over their bodies.
Not an hour had passed when I started to relive the events I witnessed before; people falling to the ground like puppets with their strings cut were disappearing after a short time.
This time I was very cautious; I didn't neglect to look around every thirty seconds to succeed in keeping myself inside the shield. The grasshopper had jumped once; although I had one more chance according to the proverb, I had no thought of using it immediately right now.
I turned around with low morale; I didn't know whether to look at the shops near the inscription or glance at the remaining two areas. Only two hours had passed, but if my eyes didn't mislead me, the crowd inside the shield was only half of what it was at the beginning.