That was the night where I left for good.
The city was incredible. Everything I had been told about it was true. A city build around over-indulgence and pleasure, each one of the six districts focusing on the different teachings of each of the six gods, all surrounding the central conduit where the council held their headquarters. Every individual that passed me on the street was unique, each of them were themselves.
I could finally be myself.
After hitch-hiking around and exploring all the districts, I eventually settled on Psylisium. The Psylisians followed Filo Rooke, the city-god of the mind, and focused on aspects such as puzzles and riddles, dreams and consciousness, and of course a heavy helping of mind-altering substances. Honestly, I'd be lying if I said that the ease of accquiring drugs wasn't a large part of why I chose to live here. I needed something to relax after these past few phases of thinking the world was going to end.
I started off small. I got a job cleaning carriages, which earnt me enough to get by. Also learnt a lot about vehicles while I was there too, a lot of money to be made in this business.
My idea was, eventually I would earn enough money to start buying carriages, fix them up, and sell them. That way they could be cheaper than a new carriage, but still just as good, so the customers would get a good price and a good product! What a deal!
For obvious reasons, I didn't want to be associated with the Truthseeker family name anymore, so I instead changed my name to something far more fitting:
At first, I made enough to afford a house. Then, a slightly bigger house. With every carriage I refurbished I learnt more and more, and so each subsequent refurbishment would be better and better, and thus earn a higher proffit. I was finally able to afford surgery to make me feel better with my body, and my self esteem skyrocketed. A cheerful salesman meant cheerful customers. And I loved making people happy, more than anything.
At this point one might expect me to say something along the lines of, "I didn't do it for the money", but that's not really true. I needed money to pay for food and things. If I didn't need money I wouldn't need to be a salesman, I would just be someone who makes people smile. But nobody pays you to make them smile, but they do pay you if you make them a good deal, which makes them smile because they're getting good value for money, and makes you smile because you're getting paid. Eventually the business grew so much it became its own company.
Flying Dog Autos! I chose the name because a flying dog sounds like it'll be fast and reliable, like I hoped our vehicles would be! Now we weren't just selling carriages, but fast-paced scarrabs too! We even expanded into gondolas for traversing the underchambers and airships for reaching the crown. Heck, we even got our hands on some new experimental vehicles too, and some outsider tech! These were exciting times. The brand would only continue to grow, thanks not only to our stellar advertisements, but also due to word of mouth spreading that we were, in fact, actually a pretty decent company, something that was apparently rare in the city these days.
Maybe it's a little big-headed of me to feel this way, but I think what set us appart from other dealers was that I wasn't another slimy, crooked businessman who sold low quality products for an inflated price. There's a difference between doing something because you need money and doing something solely for the money. I honestly, genuinely, just wanted to make people happy and give them a good deal.
It's just a shame that nobody wanted the same for me.