To Kill a God

Merchant

New York was a mixed city. On the outskirts were the slums, the large residential areas, and a few outlying factories and warehouses. Nearer the centre it was a veritable fortress, with huge stone walls and a few moonlit towers poking out towards the night sky.

Cobblestone paths were lined with street lamps that cast blueish light across brick homes. Between each house was a small alleyway from which glowing yellow eyes stared at the party of three making their way towards the centre of the city.

"How old is this place?" Alphonse asked. The buildings did not look too new, but that could have been simple lack of maintenance. The city itself stank, but it also seemed to lack the sort of sewer system he had grown up taking for granted. All in all, Alphonse could not place the age of the place, or the era in which it was built.

Which, he reasoned, was probably because it wasn't built during any human era he would have studied. It irked him when he thought of the number of hours wasted in geography class back home.

At his side, Zips was skipping along the sidewalk, eyes roving through the dark patches of the streets and into the alleys, doing as she had been taught to do by countless tutors of the mercenary sort.

Surprisingly to Al, Mara was doing the same thing, keeping an eye on anything that moved, and tracking the motions of the few people they crossed. He kept that in mind.

"So, it's confirmed," he mused aloud as they crossed a clothes store. The sign hanging in front of the little business was simple enough to figure out, and the mannequins within gave it away for certain. The words on both the sign and window were undecipherable. A sort of cursive scrawl he could recognize as letters, but couldn't read. "We really are illiterate here."

"We'll figure it out. I mean, it only took us a year or two to learn how to read. And we already know how, this is just another language. Easy-peasy," Zips said. She pulled up her hood a little, hiding the better part of her face more. "Hey, bro, do you feel a little...." She paused, then hoped for a few feet. Each bounce brought her a good three feet off the ground. "Light?"

Al nodded, realized that she couldn't see him nod and answered aloud, "Yeah. I think the gravity on this world is different. Just a pinch weaker than back home. But don't go jumping off any buildings. Terminal velocity is still... terminal."

He felt, rather than saw, Mara slipping by behind him. His heart skipped a beat. Was she moving in to stab him? Just as he was about to whirl around, the girl whispered. "Don't turn."

He looked out ahead, eyes narrowing to see through the light fog that covered the road. Four men in similar uniforms were walking, two abreast. They carried short spears tucked up against their shoulders and marched with the sort of cadence that screamed 'military.'

"Mara," Al began, "Why are you hiding from the guards?"

She sighed. "You know nothing, Al Ardito."

"We've covered that already," he said. His patience was growing thin as the guards came closer. They passed by, one of them nodding to them and he nodded back.

Mara kept pace beside him, then slipped in front of him, keeping him between her and the guards. "Explain, please," he said.

Mara looked up to him, her yellowish eyes boring into his for a few seconds before she broke eye contact. "For a god, you sure are dumb."

"It's about her fluffy-bits," Zips piped up.

Al, for his part, tried not to look dumb. "Fluffy... bits?"

"Beastkin, fluffy people, whatever," Zips said. "I'm betting you there's some of that racism stuff here too. But, you know, with actual species. Speciesism?"