Chapter 5

Ren Young

I opened my eyes. I was lying on my back and staring at the sky. Or at least I would be if the dark shadows of people's heads weren't hovering above me. They were all muttering something, but my head was still spinning, so I didn't pay them any mind. I pushed myself off the ground and stood up. I stumbled a bit before I found my footing. The crowd had grown silent as I stood up. They all just stared curiously at me.

"Okay, okay. The show's over, folks." I knew that voice. It was York. He scurried through the crowd, which was beginning to break up. When he reached me, he slapped me hard in the back. "Man, that was impressive. I never expected you to come back in one of those silver birds. So, what did you find up there?"

"Absolutely nothing." I began to walk away. York followed closely behind me. What was he even doing here? I imagine he got tired of waiting for me and left the alleyway, and I suppose if he heard about a silver bird landing in town, he could guess I was involved somehow. I imagine he scurried over as fast as possible.

"Come on, man, you were in the city of gods and freaks. You have to have found something."

"Leave me alone, York. I'm going to go to sleep."

"You're tired! You were passed out for hours, and you want to sleep more? Man, stop trying to keep it all for yourself. What did you find?" He was already way past the point of annoying me.

"That the locals were a tiny bit unfriendly." I was too tired for this. I don't think I hid that in my voice. York backed off as I turned the corner. I think he said one last thing to me, but I had ceased caring.

I stopped in a fountain area; I had no idea where in the city I was. I recognized no one, so I assume they dropped me off on the other side of the mountain. I turned to look at the mountain. It had no visual indicators to show what side I was on. I would have to wander at this rate. That meant it would likely take a couple of hours until I got home. I sat down and leaned back on the stone fountain's base. I felt myself drift.

When I woke up, it was already morning. I quickly stood up and looked around. The passersby gave me a funny look but kept going about their business. I sighed and began to walk. I wasn't sure which way would take me home. Since Autarkeia was a circle around the mountain, I would end up there sooner or later., So I wasn't concerned with whichever direction I went. I walked towards the mountain. I wanted to get a little closer before going around since the zones were smaller up close to it. It would at least take less time to walk until I saw something familiar. However, I would likely not see the shadow cast by the mountain this close. It seemed like it was roughly 10:00, so if I saw the shadow, I would know what zone I was in. Once I was satisfied by how close I was to the mountain, I began my walk around it. Hopefully, I would get home soon.

Now that I was on the move, I had nothing better to do than think about what had happened. I sighed. I guess I should be happy she didn't hit me in the back of the head along with the others. After the argument we had, I wouldn't have been surprised if she did. I did tell her she wasn't a human, after all. I guess I shouldn't be too hard on her. Andrew always told me sad stories about the beings that lived up there.

Who am I kidding? Do all of them think they are human up there, or was it just her? She seemed pretty convinced that I was some creature that lurked up there from who knows where. I swear I thought some of the people down here were crazy, but she might be the craziest person I've seen. I suppose when you're manufactured, you might end up being a little weird.

I shook my head. That's right. She was not the craziest person I'd met. It is not a person, not really. That was what we were always told, and no matter how human she looked on the outside, she was manufactured to look that way. Nothing more than a failed science experiment.

No matter. I'm wasting time thinking about all of this for no reason. I'll never see her again. I certainly have no intention of going back up there, especially if more crazy redheads are running around.

"Oh, Ren." I felt my shoulders drop and my head go down. I knew that voice. It was Andrew. I seemed to be on the other side of town, and I managed to run into him. How much did he get around in a day? Was it just my luck? It seemed like I was meeting with everyone I didn't want to meet with right now between him and York. I couldn't have him talking to me when people still might be talking about the strange guy who was dropped off by a silver bird. That was probably what brought him this way in the first place. "I'm glad I found you." He had walked up to me and matched my pace. "We would like to do the reading lesson tomorrow if possible."

"Oh, sure. Yeah, I can do that." I was surprised by his statement. I had forgotten all about helping the children learn to read. I thought for sure he would say something about the silver bird in some roundabout way that suggested he didn't know as much as he was letting on. He was like that. Most people thought he was stupid until they got to know him well enough. Then they just started to avoid him.

"Oh good. I'm surprised to see you in this part of the city. Did you come to see the silver bird that was here earlier?" Damn, there it was. Well, I might as well play along for now.

"Oh, there was a silver bird? I just got lost when I was on a walk earlier. I felt like exploring some unfamiliar places for some reason," I said to him with a smile, and my eyes closed.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear you missed it. You always had such an interest with the gods on the mountain."

"Should a priest be calling them gods?"

"Oh, would you rather I call them freaks? Or maybe just humans?"

I sped up my pace a little so he couldn't see my face.

"What was that?"

"Oh, just a funny thought I had. Anyway, I'll be teaching in the courtyard next to the VII market tomorrow. We'll be starting right around 8:00, so don't be late." With that, Andrew left with a smile. He sped up his pace and went ahead of me. I stopped walking and leaned back against the wall. He never told me if I was heading in the right direction. Knowing him, I was going the long way around, and he just decided not to tell me. I sighed. I guess I would keep heading in the same direction. It was noisier that way, so I was at least heading to a more populous area.

I kept walking in the arbitrary direction I chose. I could make out some buildings. I was most likely in the VIII zone of the town. I had been here before but not for a while. I was not too far from home after all. I suppose I should have suspected. Supposedly the zones on the other side of the mountain were more rural than city. As I got older, I was unable to make time to explore around the town properly. They say the more rural zones have entire fields of crops and animals, not that I had ever gone over there to see them. The crowds of people around me seemed to be getting angrier and mob-like as I kept walking.

"Where is it?" I heard a man shout. He and a crowd of people were looking around carrying stones. What part of town did I just enter? I thought I knew where I was, but this seemed bizarre. I turned away for a moment and started to walk away when I realized the man was yelling at someone. Someone scarred and bald that I knew. I turned back around and saw that Andrew was the one who had been stopped by the crowd. He was pointing in the direction opposite to where I was headed. The group seemed satisfied and ran off in that direction, pulling Andrew with them. It must be serious if they felt they needed him to come along. Usually, people didn't pay him much mind, but they would drag him along when they thought they needed a priest around.

I was already headed in the opposite direction, but that whole display cemented my direction. I wonder if he had seen me while I passed. Either way, I knew which way I was going now. I quickly headed down a side alley where I figured no one would be. I was confident I could weave through the back and get home. I wanted to avoid being seen as long as people could be talking about the silver bird.

Someone, however, was waiting in the alley. A girl was sitting behind a trash can in a fetal position. She was wearing a blue jacket and had bright red hair. When she heard me, she jumped in her spot and covered her head with her arms. After a minute of nothing happening, she turned to look at me with red, wet eyes that were the color of a clear blue sky. Her face showed terror, then relief for a moment, before she became scared again. "Ren?" her voice quivered my name. I sighed. When did I end up so unlucky?