Duncan woke up from his groggy state after a long time. His head felt dizzy and heavy. It was an unusual feeling he hadn't ever felt before. Even now, it felt as if he had a stone atop his head. Not to mention that he also felt like fainting.
With great effort, Duncan opened his eyes to take stock of his surroundings. He saw that he was in the same place he had been talking with that old fart. Strangely enough, no one paid him any attention.
Unknown to Duncan, the old man had immediately isolated both him and Duncan from others' perceptions midway through their conversation. Even now that the old man had gone, the effects lingered causing passersby to ignore Duncan, who had fainted.
Duncan slowly made it to his feet still clutching his head. He staggered off towards his home and fell on his bed, unable to do anything else. Even in his state, he knew that he was lucky that no one decided to kill him and loot his belongings. So, he didn't want to chance his luck more.
Just as he drifted off to sleep, Duncan muttered.
"Damn old man, tomorrow I am going to bash your head in with my pickaxe. What the hell did that old fart do to me?"
As he slept, Duncan had a strange dream. He couldn't make any sense of it as images whizzed past his mind. All the while, his mind was in a hazy state unable to make sense of anything. It was truly both confusing and discomfiting. Duncan's sleep was restless. He tossed over and over in his sleep. In the end, his body went into a seizure as blood began flowing from his nose.
The next morning, Duncan woke from his groggy state. He felt as if his entire body was weighed down by some huge rock. He couldn't even move his muscles at the beginning. He hadn't felt this way in a long time.
Duncan remembered the first day he worked in the mine. His body had felt similarly then. After all, working in a mine when he had just turned ten was not a wise option. It took him almost a month to get accustomed to hard labor.
But, after working for eight years, his body had gradually become accustomed to the heavy workload. To suddenly feel like this once more, truly scared Duncan. With a mulish attitude, Duncan roused his body from the bed with great difficulty. He didn't know what the old fart did to him, but it was nothing good.
"Old fart, don't let me get my hands on you. I will split open your stupid skull with my pickaxe for sure," Duncan mumbled as dragged his tired body to the small section that had been partitioned off to act as a bathroom.
With great effort, he came before the tub containing water and looked at his reflection in it. The more he looked at it, the more he felt his anger towards the old man grow.
His face was no longer healthy. It looked sunken. There were traces of blood flowing from his nostrils. His eyes looked way too tired to be normal. His hair was matted with sweat. All in all, his appearance even worried him.
Gritting his teeth, he washed his face and scrubbed the bloodstains present on it with his feeble hands. Slowly, the stains were removed. With some water, his hair even looked normal. But, his eyes and face were still sunken as if he hadn't eaten for ten days.
Letting out a huge sigh, he stood up, promptly his legs gave out and he fell on his ass. Cursing the old man once more, Duncan staggered once more to his bed and fell on it.
While he didn't sleep once more, he felt way too weak to even dredge up his strength to move from here. He rested for a long time and only got out of his bed when the sun was at its zenith.
He slowly walked out of his house and made his way towards the nearest food stall. He promptly ordered a large amount of food and gorged them until he felt some energy flowing through his body. He exhaled a huge sigh and leisurely ate the remaining food.
His good mood soon evaporated when the time came for him to pay for the food. He felt black lines forming on his face as he paid what amounted to a week's worth of his usual spending money.
"Ha ha ha, Duncan, you sure ate your fill. What happened to cause you to be this hungry?" the uncle manning the stall asked in a happy mood.
Duncan squeezed out a smile while inwardly bleeding in his heart. Only he knew that this put a large dent in his savings. Still, he didn't want to lose his temper with the uncle.
"Nothing, I guess I was really hungry," Duncan said awkwardly.
"Ha, isn't that the truth? You sure ate as if you were going to die. Mind you, I am glad that you look healthy now that you had your fill. When you came in, you looked as if you would keel over and die," the uncle said as he patted his back.
Duncan bid him goodbye and walked away from the stall. His bad mood only furthered as he made an accounting of his savings in his head and realized that his savings will only last for a few more days if he didn't go to work tomorrow. Not that he had any thoughts of quitting his work.
In fact, he was looking forward to going to work tomorrow. He had a score to settle with one old fart. Duncan didn't know what that old fart did to him, but he sure as hell was going to bash that old fart's skull open when he went to work tomorrow.
The more Duncan thought about that old man, the more he felt his anger grow. In the end, he decided to forget about his situation by doing what he did usually. Drinking away his problems and concerns.
Duncan made a sharp turn on his way to his home and headed towards the small bar where he often drank. He didn't know when he became addicted to wine. All he knew was that when he turned fifteen, one day he went to the bar with fellow miners and drank a little.
The habit continued for a few weeks before Duncan began to frequent the bar on his own. Something about drinking really appealed to him. He didn't exactly know what it was.
Maybe it was the way that he forgot about his troubles when he drank, or maybe it was the way that the pain in his body subsided when he drank, or maybe it was the atmosphere present in the bar. Hell, it might be something else apart from these two.
All he knows was that he liked drinking. He didn't care much about the why's and how's. In the end, getting drunk was the only thing that mattered. So, he didn't care about the reason behind it.
After walking for some time, he stood before his favorite place in the entire Starsinger Town – The Fallen Leaves Bar.
