Book of Asylum

Prologue

A cloaked figure hurried his way down the abandoned streets of London. It could be said with quite some certainty that he was the only soul outside right now; not even the beggars hiding away in the many small alleyways dared to come out from their improvised shelters, fearing the buckets of water that poured down the dark grey sky, for it was as clear as day that a rainstorm this heavy could bring nothing good. Large puddles formed on the pavement, and every time the tall man stepped in them the ends of his black trousers matching his black suit got a little bit more drenched despite the cloak's best efforts to keep them dry. The man himself however, did not care much for such earthly matters as 'getting wet', he had more pressing matters to worry about.

Under his breath, Sebastian Michaelis mutters a series of various cuss words that should never be repeated, all directed towards this inconvenient and devilish weather. Again not because he feared for the lifespan of his suit, or because of the biting cold that crept its way in through the various layers of soaked clothing clinging to the man's body; he was without a doubt chilled to the bone, but somehow it felt way less present than the hasty feeling haunting him as he ran down one empty street after another.

Arriving on time was already out of the question, a fact that irritated Sebastian to the point where it was downright unpleasant, and the twitching of his right eyebrow became a process that he was unable to stop. For what felt like the thousandth time since the beginning of the trip, droplets of water fell onto the golden pocket watch taken out of its usual resting place in the inner pocket of the black suit, and although it was inaudible due to the sound of the rain crashing down onto the pebble stone road, Sebastian once more let out a small sigh of defeat. If only the delicate hands of the pocket watch jumped back an hour or two, but that was foolish of Sebastian to think, time stopped for no one after all and the rhythmic ticking continued.

Slowly but surely, broad streets with high buildings on both sides looming over the paved edges disappeared, and made room for trees and fields. From there on it wasn't much longer until Sebastian finally saw the sight he had been waiting to see ever since he closed the door of his humble apartment behind him; a tall, iron gate doomed up in the distance, marking the entrance of a large government owned facility, the iron fence matching the gate stretching out further than Sebastian's eyes reached. At the gate, next to the road, a man in -what seemed to be- a guard's outfit sat in some sort of stall. The man was deep asleep, strengthening Sebastian's feeling that this place did not have many visitors.

"Excuse me", Sebastian said, coughing discreetly once to attract the sleeping man's attention. Judging from the startled movements the man made upon waking up, it was safe to say that his awakening was one far from pleasant, but Sebastian couldn't bring himself to feel sorry. This kind of lousy behavior had always been difficult for him to tolerate, and in any other given situation he probably would've made a remark about it, but because he was late and therefore in no position to talk he kept quiet, clearing his throat once more instead. "I'm Sebastian Michaelis, I'm the new doctor."

"Ah, right", the man said in a thick London's accent, and he began hastily searching around for something. It turned out that that something was in fact a list with names on it. "Michaelis..", the man mumbled as he let his finger slide down the list. "Michaelis.."

Sebastian impatiently crossed his arms, waiting for the man to finish whatever he was doing, and again he found himself taking out the golden pocket watch. After a few minutes passed, the guard let out a small sound of triumph and took the keys from where they were fastened on his belt to finally open the gate and let Sebastian in. They really needed some better guards, the black-haired man thought as he walked through the gate, giving the man one last irritated eye roll before directing his eyes forward.