"Sir, here's the event planning for the army gala."

...

"You're going to need to hire more [Bards]."

"If I may be so bold sir, may I ask why?"

"This is a ball for a mage artillery unit."

"And?"

"Believe me, you're going to need at least four bands for those crazy bastards to hear anything."

...

"I'll make the arrangements sir."

"Good man."

--Conversation between Adjutant and Grand Marshall. From: "A Lenorian Guide to Social Planning. - 5th Edition." AC 1621.

----------------------------------------

As we stand, awestruck at the sight before us, a voice calls from below the platform. The voice says,

"Oi! Seaman! Whatcha doing up there? Your station is down below. Report!"

The fish responds, "Hey sergeant! Sorry, we had a report of friendlies incoming. I picked up these three from Petty Officer Bill. They're first gen, didn't come in the usual way."

As the conversation starts, I pull my eyes from the view of the bustling city to see who is speaking. A giant shrimp, half the size of me, is walking up a flight of stairs from a lower level, and I realize that he's the one that's talking. The shrimp continues,

"Bill, eh? Good man Bill. Alright you three. This is a bit of an unusual situation, but Seaman Silver here will take care of ya."

"What's that sergeant?" The fish said.

"Don't pull that face with me Silver. I know you used to be a tour guide. Grab the troop vehicle and head to the recruiting station. Give them your old spiel on the way. If you didn't want to get tagged for stuff like this, then you should have gotten a real job out of school."

I can see the fish visibly slump as he says with an air of resignation, "Yes sergeant."

"Good, and you three... welcome. It's always good to have first gens show up."

With that, he turns around and descends the stairs, leaving us alone on the balcony as we consider his words. The fish perks up and then says with an obviously false cheer, "Okay everybody! Step right this way and we'll get to the chariot and into the city!"

He jerkily turns and swims down the stairs in the opposite direction. I initially keep my silence as we proceed to follow him, but my thousand burning questions get the better of me. I ask, "So... the development here... it's not like... it's entirely unfamiliar."

The fish's tone remains sickeningly happy as he says, "I know right? What you're experiencing is what we call a "cognitive dissonance." It's a term developed by the hypnofrogs to explain the jarring shift from first gen sapience to our own civilization and culture."

He waves a fin at the city before us. "First gen sapience is based on the predominant lore of the planet. And the Lenorian continent is currently in the grip of feudalism. You're expecting to see castles and villages, right? While that may be true for the rest of the world, here we never suffered the fall of civilization! We never had the interspecies conflict that continually sets back development. Here, we all band together in a united front so that we're not brutally murdered! And because we're always at war, it's driven us to greater and higher achievements in science and magic! Exciting, isn't it?"

Luna speaks up from the back of my shell, "Hey bud, I know you're being forced to do this, but you don't have to try so hard. We get it, I promise."

The fish holds its rigid and unnatural position in the water for a second longer before slumping down. "Whew, thank wisdom." He adopts a more normal tone and says, "Sorry. Sergeant said to give you guys the spiel, so that's what I was doing. Gods I hated that job. Anyway, here we are."

As he finishes speaking, we reach the bottom of the stairs. We're currently level with the valley floor and he turns left to enter a building. We follow him into a large open bay with various chariots lined up in a row. He leads us over to one and we take seats as he floats in front of us. I sense a mana fluctuation and see him adjusting some levers. As he does, the chariot rises into the water and the wall opens to the exterior.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

I've ridden on earthen and water platforms, yet this entire situation is making me uncomfortable. I feel my insides churn as my blood rushes to my extremities. My legs clench into the padded seat beneath me as the chariot moves into the open water.

As my guts rumble, I keep my body on a swivel, looking everywhere to take things in. The chariot remains close to the ground, and we pass along the lowest level as the seaman continues talking,

"So, closest to the walls are the manufacturing and artificing districts. We'll be passing through here and then we'll reach research and development. The recruiting station and residential districts are on the border of research and housing so that's where our final stop will be.

The chariot continues on the road as we begin to pass the varied high-rise buildings. We're joined in our route by different sea creatures keeping pace beside and in front of us. On the sea floor, the ground is covered in that strange grey stone and the edges closest to the buildings have been marked off for what appears to be pedestrian use. On all sides, I'm surrounded by hundreds of creatures in a thriving metropolis. As I look up to traffic on the higher levels, I notice the vehicles and creatures going faster and faster depending on their elevation.

The seaman sees the direction of my gaze and says, "The higher you go, the faster the minimum speed limit. You guys are ground pounders, so unless you're in a vehicle, I don't recommend going above the second level. You might get stopped and given a citation for moving too slow.

I just nod, bewildered and in a confused daze. Minutes pass as we journey though the city, and the stark buildings begin to grow softer. Sharp edges are smoothed out in construction, and I see creatures moving at a leisurely pace, not seeming to be in a rush to get somewhere. We turn a corner and I notice a glass dome to my right. I point it out and our guide says,

"Ah. That's for the air breathers. We sometimes get land dwellers here who make it past the retired folks and get trapped. And then some of them have kids and so on. There's not a whole bunch of them, but they contribute as well as they can.

I squint, trying to get a better view into the dome and see what appears to be humans walking around the area. Luna asks the guide,

"Retired? What's that?"

The fish pulls a lever as we make another turn and says, "Oh! The only way out of the incursion zone is to retire from the military. Or to get enough contribution points to buy your way out, which is next to impossible. It's tightly controlled as the city elders are the only ones able to open the barrier that leads outside. I've heard the retirees generally set up as contractors to keep the sea folk and land dwellers away, but there's always a few who are lucky or crazy enough to make it through."

The last part of his speech catches my attention. "Crazy enough to make it through what exactly?"

The fish looks at us and laughs, "After a lifetime in the military it's hard for some of them. They try to be careful, but you know what they say... One kraken's shove is another leviathan's crush."

"Hahaha...." I trail off awkwardly as I attempt to laugh with him. Unfortunately, I still have no clue what he's talking about. I try to engage the akasha to get a bit of an idea, and I suddenly have an image of Octo. A really big Octo. An Octo twice the size of a whale. I *gulp* and try to focus once more.

We drive for a few minutes longer and the chariot slows down as the seaman brings the vehicle to a halt. We disembark and as I do, I examine my surroundings.

Giant buildings have been replaced with older structures of cobblestone and tile. There are market stalls and vendors on the streets, hawking various wares from food to shells and contraptions that I can't identify. No vehicles appear to be in sight, and it seems to be a designated zone purely for pedestrian use. The fish says,

"Come along, we'll head through the local market and then we'll arrive."

The three of us follow him in a bewildered gaze. Over there, I see a family of starfish, a young child riding on its parent's backs. I hear the child say, "Oh! I want that! Can I have one of those!"

Motion to my left pulls my attention that way, and I see what appears to be a performing troop. A crab is pounding on drums with a tribal beat as fish twist in synchronization through a series of hoops. Their contortions to make it through show amazing skill and I idly think that they must be heavily invested in dexterity. Conversation bustles around me from the myriad creatures represented everywhere and the fish suddenly stopping jerks me out of my reverie.

The seaman has stopped because there's a baby crab in front of him. The little girl is small, only a couple of inches wide and a gentle shade of pink. In her claws I can see her struggling to hold up a shiny shell in her hands. I sense a tiny bit of mana jittering and shaking around her before a choppy high-pitched voice shakes in the surrounding water. She says,

"Thwank for yous service!"

I sense the fish carefully use a thread of mana to take the tiny shell and it disappears in a flash of light. He must have a spatial item. He lowers down to the floor at her level and quietly says, "Thank you little one. Where's your mom at? You shouldn't be out here by yourself."

The tiny crab giggles and covers her mouth with her claw. She says, "I don't knows... she shoulda..."

Her voice cuts off as an adult crab bursts onto the scene, pushing aside bystanders to do so. She carefully picks up the tiny crab in her arms as she cries, "Oh! Where did you go? You can't wander off like that! I told you before!"

The baby crab replies, "Buts I founds this nice solda fishy." She turns to us, "Do you knows my dad? I havesn't seens him for a whiles..."

I can see the mother crab visibly flinch and clutch her child even tighter. The mother says to us, "Thank you for looking out for her. She's young, you understand."

As I try to gage the situation, I see the visible signs of stress painted on the mother’s shell. Her once shiny carapace now looks worn and ill fitting, and she has an air of depression hanging around her every movement.

The seaman respectfully responds, "I completely understand. You have a good day ma'am."

The mother makes polite noises and then scuttles off into the market. I can see the baby crab waving at us from the top of her mother’s arms. We stand there for a moment until I finally ask,

"I'm sorry. I didn't catch all of that."

An unusually grim tone enters the fish’s voice as he says,

"The girl's dad probably isn't coming home. She's too young to understand that yet. Come on, we're almost there."

We fall into silence as we follow him and reach our destination. Two buildings lie ahead of us, one to either side. They both have prominent signs and appear to be a little worn down yet carefully maintained. On the left is a sign that says, "First Gen Resettlement Office." And on the right is a simple sign that says, "Recruitment Station."

The fish stops and turns to us. He gestures at the resettlement office and says, "enter to the left and you'll receive training and a temporary home as you move to civilian life. You will stay in the city, unable to leave and in relative safety as you support the war effort." He gestures to the recruiting station, "enter to the right and you can make a difference. You can help defend the world of Arthos as part of the best military this planet can offer. Make your choice."

I look at Todd and Luna as we stand there, bewildered by the events of the past day. I look to the seaman and say, "Hey, can you give us a minute?" The fish negligently waves at us, and we move over to the side. In a whisper, I turn to my friends and say, "So guys... what do you think?"