There was something about entering another city in a different part of the world. Like Vegas, the buildings were still tall, the streets were busy, and the lights were bright. And yet, deep down, I could tell something was different. A little detail that my instincts could only notice: something sounds, smells, and looks different.
The wanderlust only grew in me as I would be reminded of how far we were from home. Manaus is the capital city of Amazona and is (according to Mindplay) at the center of the rainforest. It was here that Shadow Fang was supposed to be. Here, the former vampire lord sought something within the ruins hidden in the jungle. He didn’t know what Shadow Fang was looking for or for what reason he would need it.
After landing in Manaus, we took a day to rest and started our search early in the morning.
“Can you believe it took almost 200 years for the place to become an official city?” Said Mindplay looking at his phone. He was doing light research on the city to see if he could learn something that would explain the importance of this place.
“That surprises you?” Asked Raya.
“No, but it is interesting to think about.”
Raya began to look at the city. “I can’t believe I didn’t think this would be where Shadow Fang would go.”
“I don’t see how you would come to that conclusion. It’s not like him being here gives us a better idea of what he wants.“
BD, now in the form of an iguana, was watching me look at the sites with wonder. She seemed happy when she said, “This is nice.”
I looked down at her and asked, “What do you mean?”
“Seeing you look at the world in wonder, even if you’ve seen it before, always made me happy. Unfortunately, you lose your memories, but at least this is a bright side, right?”
“I guess so.”
Raya, still talking to Mindplay, asks, “So, where to next?”
“I have no idea.” He replied. “But that’s where you guys come in. Are there any places or people here that would be relevant to visit?”
Raya paused for a minute to think. “This place has many spirits and demon-like creatures here. The only group that I know that’s here are the Amazons.”
“Wait, like the Greek Amazons? Do you think I can order something from them?”
“Why would you think….” Raya stopped abruptly, changing her look from surprised to disappointed.
Mindplay, on the other hand, was smiling. “I had to. It’s a pop culture reference to one of the best book-to-movie adaptations ever. I personally really liked the third one.”
I shivered at the first mention of the Amazons.
Raya continues. “The Amazons here aren’t the same as the ones in the Greek stories. My point is I can’t think of anything that can help us.”
Seriously this time, Mindplay asks, “Why can’t we just ask these Amazons what they know? I know neither me nor Silver can talk to them, but you should be able to.”
Raya side glanced, not wanting to look at him. “I was trained by the Amazons before, but my relationship with them wasn’t great when I left them.”
“Great. Well, we still need supplies if we go into the biggest jungle in the world. We’ll use that opportunity to gain information, then come back here and put the pieces together.”
I jumped into the conversation, asking, “You want to split up?”
“Shouldn’t be bad. Worst-case scenario, we just give each other a call or text. You got phones on you?” Mindplay asked us.
Raya and I pulled out our phones and gave them to Mindplay. He asked us if he could also download a personally made app on them. He explained that the app would protect our phones from being spied on by eavesdroppers and other functions.
“My phone already has that functionality,” Raya defended.
“Not like mine,” Mindplay retorted. “It also pairs up with these earpieces.” He pulled out an earpiece similar to the one he told me to wear back when we fought the red-haired vampire. Raya was skeptical but ultimately didn’t argue as she put hers on.
However, she asked, “You’re just ready for everything.”
“Just as a support.”
With that, we went our separate ways. The goal was to gather supplies for the journey while gaining information about Shadow Fang’s presents in Manaus.
As I bought a change of clothes and other provisions, I tried to ask around about Shadow Fang and Chase by describing what they looked like and simply explaining what they might be doing. No one had an idea of who I was talking about.
After multiple failed attempts of looking, BD and I found ourselves sitting on a bench, looking out over the scenery while we ate. The distant sound of waves was like music keeping in beat with the wind.
“This is a nice place to take a break,” I said.
“When do you want to return to the search?” asked BD.
“...I don’t know. It doesn’t seem that anyone here knows anything. We might have to go find these Amazon people and see what they have to say.” Once again, a shiver went through me at the mention of Amazons. What is that?
“You had a bad run-in with these Amazons some time ago. You might be reacting to a memory that you can’t remember.”
“How can I remember the feeling but not the event?”
“That’s how memories work sometimes. Your body remembers better than the mind does.”
I felt frustrated, but I couldn’t fully understand why. Joe’s memories were still intact, and Silver’s memories were not mine to fight to remember. But Joe and Silver were now one and the same. Could I not care about this like it wasn’t my problem? I guess I could since it was my choice in the end. So why was I frustrated?
My thoughts were cut off by a woman yelling in anger. I looked up and found the yelling was much further than I thought. I got up with BD by instinct and curiosity, and we made our way there.
Once we found the source of the yelling, we saw a light brown woman with black tattoo patterns on her face. They seemed similar to mine, with some minor detail that made them different somehow. The lines might have been thinner, or the lack of some focus on the design. Whenever I look at my tattoos, they were designed to take the appearance of claws using circles and triangles. Despite having a pattern, her tattoos didn't appear to mean anything in the same way.
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Breaking my eyes away from her, I realized she was yelling at a man older than she was, but he had blonde hair and white skin. The man was holding a briefcase and wore sandals. He looked nervous, surrounded by three women, with one yelling in their native tongue. It didn’t help that the woman yelling at him held a knife.
BD began to translate what was being said, starting with the man. “Please understand. Everything is being done to get you the best product. Please let me go. I’ll ensure your request gets sent up.”
The girl with the knife responds. “We have been sending the request and still only get the old and weak stuff. We are getting tired of waiting.”
As the argument continued, people passing by did their best to avoid the situation. Why was no one reporting what looked like a mugging? I flashback to when Chase’s group would do the same thing to me.
My anger began to boil, pushing me to intervene. I cried out, getting their attention. The man had a look of happiness and joy upon seeing me.
“Leave him be,” I said in English.
“Go back to your mother, kid,” said the girl with the knife, also in English. “This doesn’t concern you.”
The strange man called from over the head of his attacker and said, “If you can help me, get me out of this-”
The knife girl shoved her elbow into the man's side, causing him to keel over. At that, I brought out my claws, commanding them to stop. All three girls looked at my claws with shock and then fear. There was a realization in their eyes as if they knew who they were dealing with.
Something clicked with BD as the women were about to run. In my head, she said, Silver, those might be Amazons. Maybe we could-
And at that moment, they all fled but only after grabbing the briefcase. While trying to get off the ground, the man begged me to get the case back for him. I didn’t need another reason to go after them, but doing a good deed wasn’t a bad extra thing.
BD continued in my head. Those are definitely Amazons. They recognize you by your claws. It might be a long shot, but if we catch them, we might ask them what they know about Shadow Fang.
Not like we were doing any better before, I replied.
I ran as fast as I could, but the Amazons covered more ground than I could.
Why is it we keep running into people faster than me? I have to try something else.
BD’s thoughts melded with mine. I considered transforming myself into a giant wolf-like creature, but I hesitated.
Start small, BD said. First, change your feet and focus on those.
I mentally shook myself out of my fear. I couldn’t keep doing that if I was going to keep up with people like this. With BD’s words of inspiration, I began to concentrate. I tried to use the same philosophy when changing my hands. It was slow at first. There was a tearing sound that never seemed to leave my earshot. Then, little by little, I felt the ground on the souls of my feet one moment, and the next, I was catapulted down the road.
Due to the sudden burst of speed, I miscalculated my next step and couldn’t land properly, causing me to fall prone.
BD asked, “Are you alright?”
I laughed. I was just launched through the air and skipped across the concrete. I felt great. I stood on my bare clawed feet and replied, “Yeah. I can do this now.”
“Good.”
I readjusted myself by figuring out where the Amazons had gone. Once I located them, I ran after them. It still took a while to get used to going as fast as I did, but at that moment, I was more focused on catching up to them.
The Amazons did everything they could to avoid me, using their knowledge of the streets to parkour over railings and other obstacles. To keep pace, I jumped over everything to the detriment that I still couldn’t land on my feet properly. That didn’t stop me from quickly getting back up and sprinting after them.
Once I was on their heels, I jumped over them with BD using her wings to balance me in the air. The Amazons stopped in their tracks when I landed in front of them. We were between two buildings that were close to the water. Now that they couldn’t outrun me, they pulled out weapons such as knives, guns, and, surprisingly, a spear.
“Please wait,” I said, trying to calm the situation. BD made sure to translate. “I just have something I need to ask you.”
They didn’t want to listen, and the ones with the knife and spear came at me. The girl with the gun had the briefcase and was told to run. As the holder of the spear charged straight for me, the girl with the knife used the walls to jump around to get into position to grapple me. BD wouldn’t allow the knife user to get close using her tail to swat the Amazon away. I let the spear hit me, knowing it wouldn’t hurt. This gave me the chance to grab it and pull its user in. My claws were retracted when I punched her to the ground.
BD went for the girl with the briefcase in her small wyvern form, stopping her before she got too far. The girl tried to shoot BD out of the sky but was wasting bullets. The non-magical ammunition merely bounced off the dragon’s scales.
The girl with the knife continued to fight back, but nothing she did affected me. Even if she was trying to act as a distraction, it was in vain since BD quickly retrieved the briefcase.
As she began to return with the critical item, I felt a gust of wind coming from behind me. Moments later, BD screamed in pain and fell to the ground. I turned around to see what had happened. Just beneath one of her wings was an arrow with a serrated tip like a shark's tooth. The little dragon struggled to pull it out without causing more damage. Another woman with a bow and quiver now standing far from BD. She had longer hair than the other Amazons tied back in a ponytail. White feathers danced around her as they fell to the ground. She had tattoos on her arms that were similarly unrefined as the knife holder.
She readied another arrow as she slowly approached the briefcase. BD grew to the size of a wolf to keep the newcomer away. She was now a quadruped dragon with wings fully spread. A torrent of fire flowed out of her mouth. The girl with the bow jumped up, but when she did, she dropped her bow only to catch it with her feet, which transformed into talons. As for her hands, they turned into wings with white feathers that gave her more lift and avoided the fire. The girl with the bow released more arrows at BD while the dragon did her best not to get hit. BD held the briefcase in her tail and continued her fight in the sky.
At the same time, when I turned to see what was happening with BD, something wrapped around my leg and almost tripped me. Turning back around, I saw a new girl with thick black-rimmed glasses and a pixie-cut mohawk where the longer part of her hair fell over like a bang.
She used the whip fluently, zipping it through the air, taking every chance she had to try to trip me again. I wouldn’t let her get me again, so I tried to get close to her. However, she would move the chain so fast that I would get hit by it more the closer I got. She even pushed me back by shooting the whip out like a bullet, landing square in the center of my chest. While still in her fight, BD also tried to support me by shooting fire bolts. They were swatted away while the attacker kept her eyes on me.
A rouge thought crossed my mind wondering if she thought I was weird for laughing in this situation. Not like it matters. I was having a blast knowing there was no way her weapon could harm me, yet she still fought to find ways to keep me at bay and maybe whittle down my strength. On top of that, I always found great joy in watching people who have mastery of a weapon actually be able to use them. It’s so cool.
BD started circling around me in her small form after escaping from the archer. I worried for her, seeing she had two more arrows logged in her body. All things considered, she seemed ok but still had urgency in her voice.
Silver, we have to get out of here.
I heard the sound of loose metal clanking against each other as I looked up to see what was going on. On the roofs were multiple women holding guns and arrows focused on us.
We were surrounded.
-----------------
Thinking back on it, Mindplay was at least fortunate to be able to travel as a kid. Enough so that flying across the equator wasn’t a big deal. Despite that, he still shuttered while thinking about his childhood.
Mindplay was walking around the city, taking pictures of everything. To anyone else, Mindplay was an over-enthusiastic tourist. Though this may draw unwanted attention, it was also a strangely effective deterrent as it would be “clear” what he was doing, leading to a quick dismissal.
In actuality, Mindplay was looking for clues and people that looked foreign from the region that might have an agenda to keep above all else. The moments he would sit and rest, he would look at the schedules for people taking safaris into the jungle and how deep they would go.
Though good information, it didn’t tell him what he sought. Mindplay wondered if he was going about this investigation correctly during one of his sitting breaks. He had entered a world of magic where people could teleport. Ordinary crimes were solved by science and reasoning. Did magic have any reasoning behind it? Mindplay would figure it out, but he had to keep up his usefulness outside of being a benefactor.
His thinking was cut off when something passed the corner of his eye. He saw a group of people running, with the one in the back wearing a familiar hoodie. Mindplay sighed as he made a call to Raya.
“Yeah. We might have a problem.”