Morning had come, and it had never left, Atlas' eyes cracked open the crust keeping his eyelids together, He was fully recharged, and thus unable to ignore the sun beating down constantly from above. He looked around the rocks for Carius, who had been in deep sleep, dreaming about his failed band perhaps, before waking him up gently.
With a stutter and then a grumble Carius allowed himself to be woken up. The pair took advantage of the rock formations and the water flowing serenely to splash it on their faces and wash them to the best of their abilities. They left the peace and quiet of the portal garden, they couldn’t stay there forever, and Carius did not yet broach the subject of a return. It would be too soon.
“We’ve gotta go fast, the moment I open this door. Okay?” Atlas waited with a palm on the hard wooden surface.
“I know Atlas, I’ve been.” Carius rolled his eyes and opened the door himself. Shouts rose from the unsuspecting guards, along with plenty of brows, as the two of them were spotted by the waiting squads of police forces and what have you. The two trained assassins though did not wait for the little men’s brains to catch up. They had disappeared as if in a puff of smoke. Only the idea of their images left waiting for the guards to act. They looked around with eyes wide open, yet they would never find the two of them in the crowd. The Bustling, pushing, running, noisy crowd of a million people, a stampede, all going their own way in the river of flesh, aromatics, and merchandise. The Guards shrugged and stayed put. Moving Bagel to mouth in a repeated meditative action, a manual all police forces learnt.
The two of them flowed through the crowd until they were on the other side of the always sunny boulevard. Now shadows clung to their every feature. They walked down the street, poor pale men looked on from ratty corner bars and little alley noodle shops.
They had been through here not long ago. Dressed differently of course, with that black ninja-like attire, they used on missions. Only now could they get a good look. Run off puddled in the broken pavement, paper fliers long pasted like paint onto the cut cobble. From above weak light of all colors lit up banners and flat hardboard signs and other advertising brand stickers jutting out from walls. In the alleys between hemmed in by the bigger floors, larger the higher they went, pipes steamed and smoke and smelled of all the things in the city as they dripped with liquids and took up space like a vertical forest of rusted or rusting metal. And below the growing network of pipes crates of fresh supplies stood next to long dead animals, and snake liquor, and an untold amount of crates and garbage, a few half basements shone with dim white light, warehouses for those that could afford them for their business or homes for those that could afford nothing.
And if the light wasn’t on in the half basement they looked like gutters on the side of the road, save for the light reaching down like a saving straw from the floors above, a gluttonous light that offered no warmth, it only ate away at hopes and dreams, not even allowing the envy of the common man to touch it. Lanterns they were, red and orange and warm colored, doubling up as clothes hanging lines for those leaving in the real floors, people with status and money. Standing above the filth, even if just a single floor.
Old grandpas, young workers, beautified women talked and walked from bar to restaurant, food was constantly churned out, hiding any other possible smell with the thick essence of cooking oils, fries, breads and potatoes, and all sorts of meats, vegetables, and herbs and the liquor and wine was deep, without end, dirty and cheap and crammed with animals to add to its medicinal qualities or taste according to how desperate one was to believe such things. Not that it couldn’t be true. Even the Laertis clan, which was not off the Alchemical profession, knew of recipes that used to help even in modern times with no Qi. For some reason Atlas doubted these brands did as they advertised.
Feeling suddenly hungry Atlas pulled Carius through the long and winding street, bending to the whims of the homeowners, adding walls and fences and outcroppings to further close in on their air, looking for a shop that was to his liking. He didn’t really have any money. But that could always be acquired. Through legitimate means or not. It was right as they were about to pass by an inconspicuous alley, at least compared to the rest of the darker than black alleys in these sun-less streets, that the high pitched, desperate cry of a little girl sounded out. Atlas’ eyes went wide, his head snapped to the alley and he locked on. He exploded forward and launched into the air. He saw the little girl, eyes burning navy blue fire, knife held out in her tiny scratched up hands as she charged a pair of muscular uniformed men. A slap resounded through the dark, sticky alley as the little girl flew head first to the wall, she crashed to the ground on a green little puddle, cheek swollen, lip bleeding. Her knife cluttered out of her palms as her arms swung weekly to the ground.
Blind furry filled Atlas from his core and he raged. He pulled out knives, stretched his hands out, back arching, shoulders popping, jaw clenched. And then he hesitated. Edward, the young boy, cried in his ear, veins black and mangled, eyes rotting from Qi poisoning, first before the rest of his body went.
“Stupid, like her brother this one. Only the worst brothels would take her, no tact, I say. If she truly wanted that reward so bad she should have begged to be taken in, we’d cherish her if she had.” The man that had hit her shivered as he licked the pearl of blood off the back of his palm. Pure ecstasy coursing through him.
“Eternal servitude. Sounds about right. Only after she tells us where the rest of the Lost kids are. Imagine! All the lost kids in the city, the eternal trouble makers, the human rats captured and trialed thanks to us two. Oh the Glory! The Chicks! The Drinks!”
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“JUST SHUT UP!” Atlas shouted, finally descending on them from above. He fell straight like an arrow. Two thuds followed him as the Heavenly Beast Sect crazies flopped to the ground, eyes rolled back. The hidden knives in Atlas’ hands long gone. He rushed to the side of the little girl and pulled her out of the cold, sterile puddle. He shooed off some of the cold gunk stuck to the ragged cloths she wore around her thin, straw, body and held her, waiting patiently.
Her mind was muddled, her eyes rolled into place, she pushed weakly against Atlas yet she moved not an inch away from his arms. “It’s fine. We beat the bad guys. And we took all their stuff. Didn’t we Carius.” Atlas smiled a thousand smiles at Carius who exasperatedly pocketed everything and anything those men had on themselves. It was a quick thing, not much of a hustle.
“Who are you… Why are you helping me?” The little girl rubbed the dizziness out of her eyes, it was then that the pain struck her, her swollen gums, the red imprint. The inflamed right eye. She grit her teeth, young as she was, and put on her best of smiles, her teeth shining red with blood. “Thank you for saving me mister.” She added. It was disgusting.
“Atlas, Mister Atlas, and that is Old Man Carius, my Cousin. I didn’t really save you though. I just happened to be in need of a guide, and I just happened to run into the cutest one around. Young lady, what would be your name?” Atlas plaid his part as the knight with a noble heart, Carius the ever wise wizard. The young girl felt herself grow weak in Atlas’ arms, large tear drops rained down her cheeks.
“I’m Lui, nice to meet you. Where do you want to go mister?”
“To your home for now, get that thing treated and that knife back to where it belongs.” Atlas pointed at the knife, only for her to scowl and grab onto his palm, nails digging into his skin. “It’s mine, I can hold it. Don’t take it!” She shouted with all the desperation of a mother protecting her baby, or a sister the only memento she has of a dead brother.
“I won’t, though I think you can’t even hold a butter knife with how you tried to use it just then… Anyway. Let’s Go.” Atlas slipped out of her grip and let her have the knife. He pulled her up to his shoulders and begun walking through the city. Carius following only a step behind shaking his head. An unsure smile playing on his thin lips.
The group only walked on the dark streets for a few blocks before veering of the straight and clean path, if it could be called that. Through alleys, over and under massive vertical heaps of trash or fresh material, in between clothe racks spread between buildings, over roofs, under verandas, climbing onto pipes and riding through others. A literal labyrinth through the city, all under the little girls directions. Carius was almost at his limit. Until somehow, suddenly all light fell away cut off. Pure darkness, less than anything existed in it, it sent Atlas reaching for his weapons.
He burned his eyes, using his powers to their limits, scouting through the dense fogs and oceans of Qi for any specific movement. “It’s fine. You don’t have to do that… weird little thing, with your eyes. It’s safe here.” Lui patted him on the head, placing her chin on the top of his tightly bound headscarf, looking part koala part sloth.
Atlas put his trust in the girl, much to Carius’ displeasure. “Atlas. My ‘I do not enter dark places’ disease is acting up. I think we should just let the little girl go roam into the dark alone…”
“You do know how horrible that sounds. Right?” Atlas twisted his head upside down to look at Carius, holding onto Lui with his hand as she flipped with him. “But seriously. Are you sure you home is here?” He straightened and asked a brow raised as a light whistle sounded out form Carius. A Warning.
“We do not have homes, or families, or anything of that sort. We’re rats, just like they said. We live in the gaps of the Eternal City.” As Lui spoke shuffling, scratching, ringing pipes echoed from the deep darkness. Atlas felt a little sweat dripping down his neck, his palms clammy as he flexed his fingers. The image of rats planted in his brain did not help much.
Until suddenly from a distance away a torch light appeared. A foul smelling smoke wafted to the ceiling of this crammed, dark space, floating right in Lui’s face. Atlas quickly brought her down to his arms and cleaned the black marks left on her face. As the dirty shoot quickly dirtied her.
A dozen or more children of different ages walked forth gingerly. They seized up at Atlas’ appearance. From the back the biggest of the bunch stormed forth. “Run Deeper! Hide!” He shouted as he dove forward. Carius was there to meet him, knife clashed with knife. Sparks illuminated the young face twisted in desperation. Carius made a faint with his free hand, the young black haired shoot covered teen flinched, he blocked, and a knee came flying up straight for his chin. At the last moment the teen flipped his head back, long black hairs flooding the air, whipping about. He twisted his body as if he had no bones, his toes snapping Carius’ head back as he flipped away. A focused glint settling in his eyes.
“That’s enough of that! We have a little person here that says you’re with her? She’s been hurt.” Atlas placed a hand on Carius’ shoulder as he walked past. He let Lui stand on her own, a wry smile on half her face as the children all excitedly rushed at her. They all fussed over her return and her swollen face. Worry so desperate it seemed as if they were a crystal teetering at the edge of a cabinet, ready to fall and shatter.
“Are you happy? Lui? Do you think your brother would be happy?” The elastic teen chided as he caressed her swollen cheek.
“… Sorry, Cao.” Lui’s eyes turned downcast. Cao hugged her tightly. “As long as you’re safe. We couldn’t afford to loose you as well.” He whispered, Lui gripped onto the teens back tightly. Muffled cries were lost in Cao’s chest. The children ignored the sobbing friends and approached curiously Atlas and Carius.
“Are you not scared of us?” Atlas crouched down to the ground with a wide smile. He grabbed a hold of a little nugget that toppled over on the piping stretching on the ground in this in between. It giggled as he lifted it up, grabbing at the tufts of hair not tamed by Atlas’ headscarf. It’s squeals of joy bubbly and joyful like soda.
“Lui trusted you. So it’s okay.” A child around Argea’s age answered. It’s hair cut to the scalp.
“Thank you for saving her, misters.” Another child a little younger reached up to Carius, who bent down and let the kid play with his stubble. Atlas nodded at the bright eyed children, he walked up to the oldest of the bunch, Cao, the children parting in his passing. “Sorry to interrupt. But how about we get further inside, wherever that is, and get to cleaning up your wounds and clothes?” Lui separated quickly, remembering only now the state of her clothes. She then looked over to Cao, now similarly sticky and dirty in all sort of places.
“Ew~!” The Children cried as the two bashful leaders turned around and walked further in this abyssal gap in the city o\f Eternal Majesty and sunlight.