Blood of the Aswangs

Chapter 7: Neuro

The entire group end up in Nueva Yorca. Here, people from all over the kingdom walk around suspiciously staring at them.

"Welcome to the capital city of the Kingdom of Nueva Yorca. Nueva Yorca."

"Wait... What's the difference between the Kingdom and the city?" asked Gerard.

"The Kingdom of Nueva Yorca is big. The City of Nueva Yorca is small."

"This the only kingdom here?"

"There's a total of over a hundred kingdoms here in Monopolia," said Gerard. "Each feudal nation battles each other over control of resources."

"The Splooge?" asked Anna.

"Yeah, dude!"

"But... doesn't that stuff multiply?"

"Well, yeah. But it's still rare. And no one knows where it comes from. Technically, everything alive contains the Splooge in this world, but the Splooge doesn't affect you in anyway. You just instantly heal all wounds and illnesses."

While the bus drove slowly, the group sees people of different shapes and sizes. Humans with skin from black, white, brown, gray, magenta, yellow, purple, blue, red, and other colors of the rainbow; Animal Men; and strange Deformed Atrocities walking around and buying stuff from merchants in the streets.

"Outside the city is a huge corn and meat farm," smiled Gerard. "In the shore, you could see people harvesting fish and oysters."

"Wait a minute..." said Miguel. "Is this just a post-apocalyptic New York City!?"

"I'm... not familiar with what that is," said Gerard.

"City of winged rats and regular rats? With the sewer crocs and cool Italian dudes and Jew dudes saying, 'I'm walkin' hya!!!'" yelled Jedan.

"'Ey! We Nueva Yorcans don't talk nothin' like that, got that, dandy?"

"'Dandy?'" asked Jedan.

"Yeah, yeah!" yelled Prometheus, looking up. "I'll train 'im! Ugh!" Prometheus sighs. "Just like my dad forcing me to be a lawyer all over again."

"Wait, really?" asked Miguel, turning to him. "How'd that go?"

"My Dad would do this thing where uh... He would tell me 'Oh, sure! You could be a writer any time!' Then he just butters up about what being a lawyer is, making me hate lawyering even more. Then he mentions my dead grandparents and makes me question my beliefs and dreams."

"What did you want to become, anyway?" asked Miguel.

"A writer. Had an amazing story, by the way. About seven friends in a fantasy world."

"Why didn't you go through with it?"

"I became Prometheus."

"I'm sorry..."

Prometheus sighs. "Kid. You don't gotta be sorry for everything. Sometimes, the world is just fucking cruel."

"Isn't saying that just strengthening what your... our... dad... said about you?"

Prometheus turns to Miguel, taken slightly aback by that. "Holy shit. Huh..."

"What?"

"That made me feel different. Like... Surprised that someone actually... supported my views for once. I want to thank you buuuut I'm too arrogant to accept that."

"Isn't what you're doing to Miguel what your Dad did to you?" asked the Reaper.

"Fuck off, Reaper. Your version of Dad abandoned you," said Prometheus.