"Holy Shit, I'm finally here." I cursed in Chinese taking a quick look at the place. I laughed while sweeping my eyes across the place. It was just an old habit. After I finished scanning the place, I tugged along my luggage and began heading for the airport exit. And holy crap, is it just me or is there not a single living person in the airport I thought? Weird, on my way there I was the only passenger on the plane. Well whatever.

The airport was big though, it had an emptiness that made it easy to get lost in. Finding the exit took ten minutes; shit what kind of puny airport was so hard to get out of? Leaving the building I surveyed the parking lot. By the door was an old pick-up parked beside one Loony taxi. Its model was one of those out dated yellow taxis, that could miraculously still function. I began walking towards the taxi. As soon as I looked through the window I realized the driver was not there. I panicked for a moment and then realized that was quite silly of me, the driver was probably out for a smoke or something...

"Hey buddy can I help you?"

Holy shit, his cracked up Scottish accent scared the literal crap out of me. When I turned around, I found myself face to face with a rugged old man a pipe hanging from his scruffy beard. If you gave him a wizard hat he would be Gandalf.

"Whoa, you almost scared the crap out of me. Are you the driver?" I asked pointing towards the taxi.

"Yep, that's my girl over there. So where are you trying to get at buddy?"

"Huh...well actually, I just got here and don't know anything of the area. I was wondering if you could just take me around the city for a day and I could pay you at the end of the day."

"How much?"

"Uhhh...I don't have any local currency yet, is US dollar fine?"

"Meh, I would rather have gum," he gave me one of those wide-tooth buckle grins and began to turn and retreat into his cab. A thought passed through me, I didn't know if it would work but it was worth a try.

"I got gum."

"What kind?" the wannabe Gandalf asked stopping in his tracks.

"Trident letters."

"Meh."

"I was just joking, it's React 5."

The old man slowly turned towards me again, looking at me like I was the world's savior or something.

"Sold," he gave me one of those creepy Gollum smiles as I handed him over my pack of React 5. I still had several packs left in my luggage; anyways he agreed to take me around the city for the day. There were no further charges. I swear if everyone around here was just as odd as Gandalf wannabe here, something told me I was gonna have heck of a time here.

***

"That building over there boy is the Tri," the man pointed to a pyramid shaped glass building outside the window, and really no super computer in the universe could calculate the amount of f**k I do not give for that building. After passing a dozen more boring buildings there was one that specifically caught my attention.

"What the hell is that dark shit jutting out of the ground there?" I asked.

"Oh, that my boy is the dungeon."

"Tell me more about it."

"It appeared around the time this city was built. No one knows where it came from, no one knows why it appeared, and no one knows for sure what exactly it does."

"Has anyone gone in it?"

"Yes, many, but very few have returned."

"What's inside the dungeon exactly?"

"From those who came back I heard about, demons, monsters, traps, spirits, ghosts, phantoms, but the one thing they all could agree on was puzzles."

"Puzzles?"

"Yes, and so far no one is able to solve the puzzle. Resources and time are very limited. The place is not out of bounds, though I did see them putting a fence around it a few months back."

"Ha...." You know what, that sounded just the kind of place for me. "So if I wanted to go in there, all I have to do is just crawl in?"

"Basically. But..." the old man's voice suddenly gained the rasp of an ancient man, "you only live once."

Too late. I said to myself. Curiosity always gets the better of me.

***

"Yeah here is fine." I said.

The cab stopped in front of what people would stereotypically call 'a shitty ass condo'. Even I found it hard to believe that this piece of junk was going to be my home for the rest of the summer. It was pretty late so with a yawn and a dying stretch, I climbed out of the cab, got out my luggage and dragged my own dead weight towards my apartment. The staircase below me creaked at every step, and the place honestly smelled like shit someone took and forgot to flush. Miraculously I managed to make it to the doorstep of my room, barely, to survive the horrors of the living conditions of the building. Once inside I found myself alone in a 5x5 room. Basically the size of my bedroom back in China, but this single room was going to be my life for the rest of the summer, until I could afford a larger one...whatever, I thought. After getting myself together, I managed to set up all my clothing and basic necessities. Then I tried flicking the lights on, when it responded by not responding...well, I guess there was nothing I could do about it, other than to just suck it up, which was kinda of similar to my life back in China. After taking a shower with cold running water, I threw on some new clothes, and lay back on the bed. Surprisingly it snapped and broke under pressure. Next thing I knew, my face was on the ground, my entire body aching in pain. I guess I was just going sleep on the ground then. Wow, all I can say is, just life.

***

The Next Day...

"Boy, you lookin at me funny."

The voice belonged one of those stereotypical street junkies you see in Hollywood films. Like always...well the whole story was, I was trying to get to the nearest convenience store and I took a short cut in the alley and bam I ran into those guys. Some shitty luck I have.

"Let's be reasonable people, cmon let me pass," I said tiredly.

"Who you thinkin you talking to boy?" he shoved me backwards. He was the tallest and broadest and must be the leader, I thought. Behind him his buds began to laugh along with him.

"Fine, what do you want?"

"Got any cash on you boy? It will really help a poor man out you know?"

"Give me a break, I'm poor as f**k."

"You messing with me boy? Boys, search him." they began advancing on me.

Here it goes, I thought.

"Eji." I muttered quietly.

Now the following may sound kinda of weird to you, but the most accurate way to describe this is, I can physically read their thoughts. Without physically looking at them, I could see the thoughts of people like a moving tapestry with sound playing by the side. Basically kind of like a movie, only there isn't just one movie playing. There are multiple, all at the same time. There can even be hundreds depending on how thoughts are going around in the atmosphere. Basically, I can read minds. But don't ask me how I got my abilities, because I'm not quite sure myself. And mind reading may sound cool, but there is a huge down side to it; you get distracted really easily. Every time I mind read I have to keep clam and concentrate, or else I eventually overflow my brain with too much information. Then my head would start hurting, and eventually blow up or some shit. And in times such as a quick paced combat, breathing and pace has to be very in control in order for me to read their minds, and be ready to anticipate their moves the next moment. So as they began advancing on me, I took in a deep breath, and observed the situation through Eji. Situations like this, call for lighting quick judgement and thinking about the consequences would only get in the way.

Leader 12 o'clock, coming fast with a gut blow.

I sidestepped and pulled his arm forward; causing his entire person to lean forward, then I finished him with a kick to his rear.

Iron rod 6 o'clock, heavy blow coming towards the head.

I dodged, turned around and knife hand struck that guy in the ribs, sending him to the ground immediately.

Blue hoodie 10 o'clock, red jacket 3 o'clock. Coming in for sandwiching.

IDGAF honestly, I ducked and send a denting blow to each of their stomachs at the same time. They fell back and didn't get back again.

Seeing all their friends drop to the ground one by one, half of those who remained standing, scattered on all fours. It was truly every man for himself. I guess I really taught them a lesson. I decided to cut them some slack. Before taking my leave I cast the half conscious leader a sneer. Upon seeing it, he recoiled in fear. With a half hearted sigh, I took my leave. After leaving the site, all I could think of was:

Why the hell do I always run into situations like this?

***

Later in the day I was on the sky train station, alone...then I saw this beautiful golden hair Lolita. She looked no older than 16 and wore a white gothic dress with eyes like miniature blood moons. I've seen a bunch of those kind of Cosplay on the internet, but this is the first time seeing one so up close and professional done. This is surely something you don't see every day in your boring ass life, I thought. Then like every guy's first instinct, I am going try scoring this chick. Well I wasn't extremely handsome I will admit, but I was still quite the looker. Also I had the little help of my mind reading abilities, well to a certain degree this is kind of cheating, but hey, 'all is fair in love and war' goes the English saying, and it was a good saying in this case. Without further hesitation I turned on my mind reading, closed my eyes and began to concentrate on weeding through all the other thoughts that got in my way. By the time I finally managed to weed through the thick jungle of annoying unrelated thoughts, I caught a glimpse of her thoughts. What is she thinking at the moment? What kind of personality does she have? I thought. But when I looked a bit closer, I almost shit my pants.

What the f**k is this? This was all I could think, and there is nothing I could do but stare.