An elf enters a street-race tournament to escape a corrupt city trapped in endless night.
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|| Voltyss is one of the last-standing cities caught in the Evernight, an endless night that spread across the land when the moon and stars fell from the...
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The streets are crowded with large public transports and cheap zoomers, the sidewalks cluttered with market stalls and kids riding their gliders too fast between civilians. One human boy nearly glides straight into me, but dodges at the last minute, his friends laughing at him as they all drift away around the corner block.
Gidget keeps me close by her side, her arm twined into my own as we navigate the Emerald District together. Zero follows us closely, growling when people bump into us. Spices from a nearby food stand drift my way and I nearly start drooling, my gaze lingering on a giant turkey leg, but Gidget continues to pull me forward, blind to all distraction.
"How much farther?" I ask over the noise of the district. Loud, orc-metal music blares through the open window of a zoomer stopped at a traffic signal. I turn my head away from the zoomer, masking my face in case the orc driver is a member of the House of Teeth. I have no doubt any of them will turn me in for money. A black wool hat is pulled over my short, now violet hair, completely hiding my pointed ears, but my face might still be recognizable to one of the orcs I'd gotten close enough to sell daybreakers to.
"We have to make a quick stop before we get to the Metro," Gidget answers. "It will just take a minute."
Zero growls what could be considered a grumble of discontent.
"Oh, shut it," Gidget tells him. "You know Tiny is the best with fake IDs."
"Tiny... the orc?" I ask, nudging into Gidget as we pass a woman walking her pet mooncat, its sleek, silver fur shining as it moves.
"So you were listening to my conversation with Macon," Gidget says, tugging me to the left and through the doors of a tech-shop.
The glass door swings closed behind the three of us. The lights above are nearly blinding and I barely have a chance to look around before a giant orc in a collared black shirt blocks my gaze, his smile stretching too far across his fair-skinned face. His bottom canines reach over his upper-lip and his ears have pointed tips like mine, but his are shorter and wider with unrefined edges. The sides of his golden hair are buzzed short while the long strands on top are pulled back from his face in a half-bun. He glances between the three of us with his black orc eyes.
"W-Welcome to The Cyber Center," he says, his cheeks and ears blushing a light pink.
I glance at Gidget for what to do or say.
"We're here for the special, Tiny," Gidget says.
He cringes and sneaks a glance behind him as two other orcs watch on from a sales register. One whispers behind his hand. Then the other, a stouter female orc, gazes beyond Tiny to the three of us, her gaze lingering on Zero. "Pets aren't allowed inside the shop," she says, her voice echoing off of the glass walls. She stares at us with malice in her completely black eyes, her canines gleaming in the bright light of the tech-shop.
