The Market

Mayday! Mayday! Katya walked straight into a wall, “Katya forgot how to walk.” Opal laughed from Katya’s shoulders.

“So, we’re getting down from there now” Everest grabbed Opal from Katya shoulders and placed the excitable little girl on hers.

Bellamy waved his hands in Katya’s face, “Hey.” He shouted, then snapped his fingers sending her head careening back into the wall, “Ow!”

“Did that snap you back to reality?” Everest gave Bellamy a high-five. He’d set up the joke and she’d delivered the punchline.

“There’s so much I still don’t know.”

“I think we’re past that now.” Everest helped her up.

“What was that snapping thing? Magic?”

“No. He’s really terrible at magic. It’s more like a miniature sonic explosion. Bellamy is special. Due to him being terrible at manipulating his mana, his vampiric abilities got maxed out, even more so since the leveling system go introduced.

“Does he drink blood?”

“He can. It gets him really fired up though, like an aggressive drunk. He doesn’t need it to survive if that’s what you’re asking. He’s a bit of a picky eater but he’ll eat the same stuff as everyone else when push come to shove. Once upon a time, vampirus did hunt humans like cattle, during the war. They were one of the species our – the fae summoned to combat the humans’ Chimera. It was said the original vampirus were brutal and sucked humans dry which only added to their aggression. Rumors started spreading that they lived on human blood.”

Bellamy nodded.

“Interesting.” Talking about this stuff was working in taking Katya’s mind off Luna. They had been walking for a while, Bellamy leading the way. At first Katya thought Bellamy was retracing their steps back to the top of the ship but several unfamiliar turns later she wasn’t so sure. Everest and Opal seemed unconcerned.

Opal, however, was very, extremely concerned despite her happy-go-lucky smile, as she swayed back and forth on Everest’s shoulders. She received that alert back in the office and wasn’t sure how to tell Katya. Everyone on board the ship had ten lives granted to them at the start but Katya wasn’t. She wanted to say something to Evie and Katya but Bellamy was there with them and Mr. Allspice would be back at Madame Ginger’s place. It was looking like an opportunity to say something wouldn’t be presenting itself until the finally got back home. It wasn’t likely Katya would get in a fight and be killed, but there was still a possibility. There was actually a rule that said a clan, party, or guild could claim one “home base” which was a place where no one could be killed and friendly fire didn’t cause damage, but you could only claim one location and there was a size limitation. You could also teleport to it no matter what region you were in and your HP would freeze, meaning you couldn’t die there, but you couldn’t leave or else you’d be sent back to where you were. Luna had said she didn’t want to mark the Mythos as a home base, she had decided to wait until they found a safe space and reunited with their families. The Mythos was probably too big anyway. There were other rules that allowed for home bases to be expanded but the Mythos, again was already over the size limit so it wouldn’t qualify in the first place. Bottom Line: Katya wasn’t safe here.

They finally turned into a large open space with canopies expanding out of people’s apartments. All sorts of species whizzed about; orcs, trolls, ogres, harpys, wolfmen, fairies, imps, and many other species that she could hardly even begin to identify. It felt like so long since the last time she’d been among a crowd this size. Some flying stingray looking things flapped their wings (?) above their heads, a pair of what looked like raisins with legs ran by them, it was a cacophony of sights, sounds, and smells.

“This is our marketplace.” Everest told her.

“No kidding.” Their meeting with Luna had taken about two hours which wasn’t actually that long but it still seemed like ages since she’d been in such a wide-open space.

A yellow gelatinous humanoid with human teeth with exposed gums selling fish from it’s stomach, It’s smile was terrifying causing Katya to turn away only to be greeted by a hairless dog like creature with four elongated limbs, and a metal mask.

“Meat?” It said in raspy, metallic voice. It picked up a pup that was nursing on one of it’s teats.

“That’s Petchop, she’s a Chimera beast like me. She’s a Skullcrawler Queen. Her children are incredibly dangerous. She was designed to give birth to dozen of children a day, those creatures could massacre a city in the blink of an eye, they’re uncontrollable and bloodthirsty, and delicious. Most of our meat comes from her.”

“And the yellow slime creature?”

“Mr. Voltaire!” Opal exclaimed. Mr. Voltaire looked over toward Opal and waved.

“Mrs. Opal and Mrs. Everest, well met! Tis a most jolly occasion to see you about on such a fine day. Care for a trout?”

“Not today, Mr. Voltaire. We’re showing a new resident around.”

“A new resident?”

“Katya, Mr. Voltaire; Mr. Voltaire, Katya.”

“Katya, what a pleasant name. Beautiful in fact. Care for a trout?”

“Nice to meet you. No, not for me, thank you.”

“Tis a right shame, well, time makes us hungrier. Please do come back when any of you grow a stomach. Good day.” He begins to walk away, taking on a dejected stance, he checks behind him as he walks.

“Don’t be like that, Mr. Voltaire, I’ll buy a fishy.”

“Will you, now? What great news, my heart is frolicking. At least the little lady has some decency.”

“Opal, we don’t have the money this week.” She turns to Voltaire, “Next week, Mr. Voltaire, promise.”

“I don’t like when he gets sad.” Opal pleads.

“I know.” She stares menacingly at Mr. Voltaire.

“Hey.” Bellamy was apparently feeling antsy.

“Next week, okay?”

“Very well, Mrs. Everest, I’ll hold you to that.”

Bellamy begins walking off, leaving the three girls behind.

“Bye, Mr. Voltaire.”

“Bye, Mrs. Opal, and nice meeting you Mrs. Katya.” Katya stared at him for another moment before rejoining the group. She didn’t realize it at first but it dawned on her in that moment that the entire time he’d been talking, his mouth never moved.