James tilted his head and his brows furrowed suspiciously. " Why are you so certain I am coming back?"
Ziggy patted his belly. " Gut feeling"
James did not continue any dialogue and stepped out into the street. Uquin was patiently waiting for him, her face was a mix of a scowl and a frown. A bit unpleasant to stare at.
" So, Where are we going?" James asked.
" The lodge"
James stepped out into the light haze that floated in the air. His eyes fluttered with disorientation. It was as if he was viewing the world around him through a window pane cuddled in a yellowish brown tint. " How do you guys breathe or see in this?"
James tapped his heels on the cobble sidewalk and adjusted his trousers.
" You'll get used to it. Bad air is better than dying."
James raised and eyebrow and nodded succinctly. "Oh- Okay, I have nothing to say to that."
James gave a twisted expression before sighing and lifting the collar of his shirt to his nose and following Uquin onto the sidewalk.
" Ziggy's shop is on Dyke road. There are signs at every corner. The place were headed too is on Independence street. Its in the Northern section of the city so we'll need some transportation."
James stared at the metal signs stamped into the ground and did his best to memorize the general location he was in. He spun in a circle. Two story terrace buildings lined the streets.
Each building had a row of steps leading up to them. The sides of the steps were completed with parallel railings made of black painted iron.
There were a decent number of people around, however, they all took a large breath away from where Uquin and James were walking. Even going as far as to avoid the cobble they stepped on.
Uquin seemed bothered by this and hailed a passing carriage. James tilted his head in confusion but did not comment. 'Why are they treating us like we dont belong here.'
Clip.. Clop.. Clop..
Eventually a carriage stopped before them. It rattled slightly as it came to a stop. Sitting at the head of the carriage holding the reins to... something was a young man dressed in a similar plain outfit. A white shirt and black slacks. He stared at the two on the sidewalk and gestured for them to step on.
"Fare starts a 2 bushels per passenger. If you want a turn off, it'll cost extra."
Uquin nodded and stepped into the carriage. " Take us to the end of Independence street next to the lodge."
" No trouble." The kid readied himself. Uquin had already relaxed on the brown leather interior of the carriage.
"Are those horses?" James stared at a stallion 7 feet tall, its forelegs were thick and tense. Its mane was thick dark feathers sprinkled with speckles of ash. With every exhale a wave of exhaust flooded out its nostrils. But this was in the realm of normality.
" Oh? You new around the Fire Garden? Don't get much people coming our way from other farms but this beauty right here is a Horse-cockle. It's real name and origin aren't remembered all that much but I like to think a big chicken fucked a horse one day and this came out." [1]
What really rattled with James' head was the hind of the horse. Its hind section was no longer mammalian, it slowly transitioned from hair to avian feathers specifically those of a roosters. From the waist down the creature seemed to have a skirt of colors feathers and legs that resembled chicken's feet.
James found this creature nauseating to stare at. The transition from horse to chicken was not pleasant to his earthly brain.
Sensing James' dislike of its contenance the proud horse fluttered its tail feathers like a peacock to dazzle this small human. James' face seemed to yellow even more as he could feel the nausea grip the back of his throat.
He reluctantly stepped in and sat opposite Uquin facing away from the creature.
Hiyah! BAKOK! BAK BAK BAKOK
" Oh no..." James' eyes widened as the creature sped off down the street. The carriage ride was bumpy and even the ambiance was slightly ruined due to the rattling of the metallic components.
" What was that on the street?" James decided to ask.
" What?" Uquin returned a puzzled gaze.
" Why were people avoiding us?" James reiterated.
" Oh? Really? I didn't notice." Not giving James any time to ask more she turned her head to the window and watched the streets pass them by.
The terrace buildings had become less frequent, now they were travelling through what seemed to be the industrial sector.
BWOMMM! "Men, HEAVE! HOO!" Men and young boys grunted as they threw slurry buckets of gravel and mortar upwards to be poured as some form of makeshift concrete on a developing structure.
Screech! Tick! Tick! Tick! Screech. The sounds of metallic drums rumbled like thunder and flashes of molten iron could be seen inside large industrial hangers.
Sprouting around was the occasional smoke tower. James was unsure of the mechanism of action they used to produce enough heat to melt the iron but attributed it to the large towers that were caked in soot at their peaks. Near their bases a large stone door was facing outwards. Red and orange seeped out from behind the cracks like satanic ooze followed by ripples of haze clouding his vision even further.
" What is earth like?" James turned his head surprised to hear the question. He thought for a few seconds and gave a response.
" I hated it there, so I may not be the best person to ask. But it was a boring place. People lived boring lives, stuck in the same boring loops and unable to break out of the cycle due to the greed and incompetence of people that existed long before they were born."
Uquin's expression grew complex, changing from confusion to pension and finally on curiosity "Oh Really?...You're the first person to describe it that way."
She scratched her head and frowned. " Most people who find themselves in the Wilds are eager to get back. They miss the 'real world' and are tired of living in this 'fantasy'. They miss home or have someone that they need to see and they usually go insane...You, you haven't asked to go home once. Nor do you seem disappointed or scared to be here."
James thought for a second... " I'm not sure how to respond. Like I said before, I hated it. It was like a prison for me so I longed for fantasy. I've only been here a few hours and every second, I'm met with something more dazzling and amazing than before. Even the smells are new and interesting. Why would I ever want to go back?"
Uquin ruminated for a few seconds before replying. " Were there no dazzling things on Earth? Were there no smells that you would miss? Is the home you had really worth losing for a fantasy where you could die at any minute? I am not sure I understand where you are coming from...Why give those away for this? At any second you may never feel again, smell again, taste again. You haven't even eaten, you faced death twice and you've only been in the Hollow Wild's for six days...Are you not afraid to loose what little you gained?" Uquin chided.
" I've never felt more alive! And I could almost never reach those things on earth. I could never fit into a world that never wanted me. On Earth your life's trajectory was predetermined from birth, how wealthy was your family? Where were you born? What is the color of your skin? If even one of those factors changed the opportunities you would have would skyrocket from nothing to everything and naturally I was unlucky in all three."
James rubbed at his skin as if it itched him. " From a young boy I was told there were only three things a black man could be, a lawyer , an engineer and a doctor. In school I was raised to do these things. Sciences, Math, literature, there was no room for creativity, because I could never make it or that it was a waste of time for someone like me. That every door infront of me was barricaded for something I couldn't change. That life was a game that even if I paid to win, I'd still be nothing more than a monkey in a suit." James' voice filled with a strange conviction and karma began to naturally flow from his pores tipping off like a dancing flame.
"So I defied that logic. I chose a different path. " he paused for a second. His brows furrowed. His teeth clenched.
A man in introspection.
" I went into astronomy. It was still math and science, but It was a science that I loved. Something that I felt passionate about, not a career meant to make me just a little more than the worst of the best. "
Uquin felt a chill run down her spine... " You have conviction in your beliefs, you are an interesting person...I think I understand a bit more where you came from. I am sorry that life presented itself to you like that. I don't think your opportunities here are limited by your skin tone but there are still limits...I wonder how you would feel in my shoes?"
" You'll lose your feet trying to walk in something that was never yours." James shrugged his shoulders not taking the question seriously.
He could feel vitality returning to him. He no longer felt as hungry nor as thirsty as he did earlier but the biological need to eat and drink still persisted.
James patted his stomach and shook his head. James inspected his navel and glanced at his karma lake, rain was falling and the lake was being filled slightly and was now at half capacity. 'Hmmm'
Uquin noticed that James' attention was no longer on the conversation. Her eyes fluttered lightly. 'So there are people like me on Earth...but...'
"I don't understand why he hates this place." Uquin muttered lightly under her breath forgetting that James could hear her.
" What?" The carriage came to an abrupt stop.
" Were here" the boy called out. James was the first to alight from the carriage. Seeing James the horse-cockle flared its rear feathers once again displaying its brilliance.
Uquin quickly stepped off and fiddled in her pockets pulling out 4 gold coins. On one face was a bushel of wheat on the next was the image of a simple house carved into the soft metal.
The two now stood infront of a massive wooden structure. There were large cracks in the wooden frame but they seemed to have been sealed with some form of mortar similar to kintsugi. This structure looked to have been repaired and refurbished numerous times. The only thing that remained was the original foundational pillars which were under constant repair.
On the facade nearing the roof the symbol of a fire axe clearly indented into the wood like it was branded onto the cellulose fibres.
James couldn't help but feel confused. "Why does this look like a farm house?"
Uquin replied surprisingly quickly. " The lodge was built on the foundation of the original farm house from 2000 years ago."
[1] A parody of the Hippalectryon from greek mythology. Such a Strange name for a disgusting looking creature.