Alasla: The New Age

Chapter Thirty- Hate

"Deus Maris..." Ralph slowly tries out the new word.

"I'll get you two settled here. My name is Hadas Toto, but I prefer to be called by just Toto," with a spin of her long, jade pipe, Ralph and Eve were lifted into the air on a cloud of smoke, which drifted after Toto as she skidded into the city, her tails flicking behind her.

Ralph stared intensively at the Gods around him, who returned his stare with a you-are-a-weirdo look on their faces. Most, no, almost all of them took traits of an animal. It didn't take long for Ralph to figure out that Toto is probably some kind of fox. There are people who had cow horns, scaly skin, and talons. The funniest he's seen so far is an ostrich one who was asking for a remedy for his bald head.

The moment he saw a dark feathered God, he almost called out Caprison's name by accident. It suddenly hits him that would there be a connection between the harpies on the Gods?

"What are these people?" Ralph asked Toto quietly.

"We are creatures of ancient times," the merchant explained. "Our race is looked down upon by the rest of the world for our differences. During Tsana's reign, we worked for her and her fellow rulers as low-status servants to protect ourselves from the rest of the world. One of the largest threats that we had is her family," she glanced toward Eve. "The Alamekes. Ignorant fools who thought low of everybody but themselves."

"Eve's not like that," Ralph protested. "You shouldn't blame her for what her family had done."

"I know she's not, or I wouldn't have saved her," Toto explained impatiently. "It would be a good idea, however, to not tell anyone else here about who she is."

Ralph bit his lips, peeking over his shoulder at the unconscious figure of Eve. She is the most innocent person he's ever met in his life. But somehow, her whole life was spent being hated for something she did none of. How could this make sense? Couldn't people see that it's an absolutely stupid thing to do?

"Are the harpies related to you guys?" Ralph queries, trying to change the subject. "They seemed a lot similar."

"Of course," Toto scoffs. "They are manmade variations of the Noir Vols. Seven centuries ago they were made by the Alamekes for faster air deliveries between the countries. When Tsana's reign passed, they've fallen to stratum lower than even us."

At this point, Ralph had decided to just keep his mouth shut for a bit.

Toto walked them into a dark and dusty inn through a layer of the worn, old beaded screen that scatters about them as they passed through. Blinking, Ralph got his eyes used to the gas-lit environments within the inn. At the counter, he could see a frail, old woman. Hunching over a few scattered rusty coins, her already crinkly forehead furrowing deeper when she finished counting them.

"Lily!" Toto suddenly yelled, making Ralph stare. But the old lady looks up with her twinkling, watery eyes two seconds later, pursing her lips as she noticed Toto.

"She could only hear if you yell," Toto whispered into Ralph's ear before she starts to yell again. "Can you fit two guests in here? Please?"

"Sure thing," she rasped, her voice faint and trembling. "Just do whatever you like."

"Thank you!" Toto cries as she leads Ralph and Eve up the shadowy stairways behind Lily.

Ralph held his breath as he and Eve went past her, but she made no attempt to stop them. Only casting Eve a narrowed glimpse as she went by, but said nothing else.

Ahead they came a boy carrying a tray of unwashed dishes. He looks up the cautiously through the veil of hair that laced over his eyes, his red, pointy nose quivering as they got closer.

"He's Lily's son," Toto points to them as they walked by. "Lucas, I think."

Honestly, Ralph did not believe that at all. He sees no similarities at all between the bony, dark-haired boy and the plump, blonde lady he sees over the counter. From the look in Toto's eyes as she watches him walk away, he could clearly see how he resembles a cliff swallow who'd lost his nest.

But he kept silent until they reached a small room, containing one bed near a dusty window and a small study table in another corner. The room smells of wood and insect repellent in some ways, and the air inside is fairly stale. Some weight was lifted off his heart when Toto pushed open the window, allowing in a gush of fresh air.

"Do you think you can walk now?" Toto asked as she carried Eve down onto the bed.

"I believe so," Ralph contemplated, rubbing his sore, paining leg that felt as weak as straw. Still, he pushes off the smoke cloud, stumbling his way over to the chair next to the study table.

"I would leave you be now," Toto says, tucking away her pipe. "Lily would help you to know your way around this place. You won't be seeing me in a short while, hopefully." She added quickly. "But two weeks later, at the execution of Harusin that would be taking place in Deus Maris, you would be expecting me."

"Whose side would you take?" Ralph questioned out of unease. Remembering Forrest. "I won't have to fight you, will I?"

"No," Toto shakes her head. "But hear me out; there would be people trying to take your friend's life. As long as you're in Deus Maris, and as long as she is an Alameke, hatred would follow. It's best to keep your eyes open these days."

"But she's done nothing," Ralph emphasized. "Can't we explain to them in some way?"

"They know," Toto voiced quietly. "They all know. It's not her problem. The Alamekes that caused their pain was long gone. They just need someone to turn up on. It doesn't matter if she's done nothing. I hope you understand."

Ralph produced a short nod. But he doesn't. Deep down, he hopes that if he never understands it, never persuades himself that this is logical, it wouldn't be true.

"What difference is there between you and the others?" Ralph suddenly noticed. "How come it is that you don't hate her just as?"

"Simply because I'm not one of them," Toto shrugs. "I was born two thousand years ago. I participated in an experiment by a scientist named Whales, who placed me into hibernation until his lab was destroyed and I woke up five centuries ago at the end of Tsana's reign, the beginning of the Great Raid. I learned about what happened... But I didn't physically experience the Three Centuries and I am not related to anyone who has. So I don't hate the family as much."

"You know Whales?"

"Of course I did, he was a famous scientist back in our time. Sadly he's dead now, he was a good friend of the Noir-Vols."

Ralph later bids her goodbye and appreciates her for her help, deciding to not tell her that Whales were killed by him to add to the hate they're already receiving now.