Chapter 3 : School Pass

 

"GO!!!. Kick it !!... Oh NO!! My 3G sucks!! It's just start to rain that the internet goes down. It Had to be right at the time of..." Paulo looked around for some place where he could finish watching the game, and then he realized that the lack of internet was not his biggest problem. "What is this place?" said Paulo as he tried to find anything around him that made the slightest sense. He was in the middle of a busy street, most people were dressed in typical Arab clothes, but there was a great diversity, some looked European, others seemed to come from North Africa and many of them were in totally unrecognizable styles. The buildings, on the other hand, were houses and shops made in an ancient Arab style, but well decorated and painted in bright colors.

Are they making a movie about the crusades?... but the houses weren't so colorful... and I don't remember having non-humans in the story, thought Paulo when he realized that diversity went beyond clothes and ethnicities . In some people, the difference was small like having more than two eyes or more than two arms, but in others the only resemblance to humans was that they wore clothes.

This is not for a movie !!.. I have never seen masks so realistic before.. it can only be a dream… that's right!! I must have slept while waiting for the bus, Paulo thought more relieved. "Since this is a dream, I better have some fun!!" he said as he watched people talking, with strange beings and buying even stranger things. They were selling strange animals, clothes made of fabrics that moved by themselves, items that shone and a lot of weird food. Paulo tried to talk to some people around, but most of them didn’t even bother to answer, and when they answered he could not understand a word. "What a strange dream .. no one speaks my language!" "Dream? I can't help you with that, but I have the best translators, from all over the city here in my store ” Paulo turned to see who had spoken, and noticed a giant cat waving from one of the nearby stores.

Now, it's getting better... there's a Totoro here,thought Paulo as he walked over to the smiling cat. "You must have come from very far away" said the salesman in a good mood. "Yes, I came a long way! ... Why only you can understand me?" Said Paulo while looking at the merchant's stall. It was one of the biggest stalls on the street, and sold items made of different materials, with unrecognizable inscriptions, they were of different types, but none of them seemed common. “You are traveling and don't you know a simple translator? try this one here! ”said the merchant as he handed Paulo a necklace. While Paulo looked at the necklace the seller said "Most of the people here have a translator so they understand you, but as you were rude, they will not answer" "Was I rude?" "Yes…. you have to introduce yourself first and do the correct greeting, Hm ... you seem to have come from some remote village ... Do you have money? you know, to buy a translator ” "Of course I have money!!" said Paulo putting his hand in his pocket, “Hm? Shit! Even in my dreams I don’t have money… ” “You insist on speaking about dreams… Besides being poor, you are a bit crazy aren’t you ?? Give me the translator back !! ” said the nervous cat. “Fine.. Here! take it back, I have only the bus ticket in my pocket ” "I don't know what this Bus is, but if I were you, I wouldn't let others know that you have no money." "Why? Is it a crime to be poor? ” " Well, in this part of the city it is, only the nobles, merchants and their servants can enter here" whispered the salesman. "What happens if I get caught?" asked Paulo in a whisper. "If they catch a commoner in this region, the penalties are pretty heavy, the guards can decide to execute you on the spot." “I think you better go now, before they know it, don't worry! I will not warn the guards about you ”said the salesman as he pushed Paulo away. "Ok, ok... I'm going... thanks!... I think..." said Paulo as he walked away. "What a shitty dream..." grumbled Paulo as he walked through the fair. He continued to walk through the streets looking at the buildings and the tents. One of the tents was made of fabrics with a shade of dark wine and golden embroidery, it was half-open with a fabric covering the entrance, leaving only a gap free. The inside of the tent was covered with shadows, through the crack it was only possible to see some strange chandeliers and decorations. A bluish mist came out through the crack and the smell of incense was very strong. Looking more carefully, Paulo could see that some parts of the tent and some of the furniture were damaged and worn, while looking he felt more and more attracted to entering, without realizing, he was getting closer and closer to the tent. He already had one foot in, “ha? !! What am I doing? Yuck... God forbid I go into such a place ... ”. When Paulo turned his back to leave, he heard someone saying, "You are one of them, aren't you?" The fabric that covered the door was thrown to the side with force. An 1,8 meters tall woman came furiously out of the tent, her hair was curly and dark brown. She was wearing a colorful dress full of ruffles and pendants and she was also wearing several necklaces, scarves and rings. Much of her skin was covered with tattoos. "Are you talking to me?" Every time she moved, the pendants and accessories made noises, it sounded like the tinkling of dozens of bells. "Just because you were born in a golden cradle, do you see yourself in the right to belittle everyone else". "Who?!!". Paulo looked around. "I thought that in this city I could live in peace, without being afraid of being attacked every day, I thought I would be able to be who I am ...". "Wait, I ..." Paulo couldn't even finish his sentence when she continued. "It's the second time today, that someone comes to my door to offend me, you think you're so superior that you don't even try to talk to me and you keep using that offensive tone ..." "Have you gone crazy?" She took off the main piece of the necklace and soon after the tattoos started to light up “That's enough for me! I'm tired of being offended without fighting back ”. She said a few words and crushed the object, Paulo only saw a green glow before being hit. "Haaa! ..." "Hmm?" After the ray of light, he felt his skin burn, but the pain only lasted a second and when he looked at the inside of his forearm he noticed three tattoos, they looked like a stylized version of the four-leaf clover, but two of them were reversed in relation to Paulo. "The cost I paid was high but it was worth it, now you will get what you deserve ... Hahaha, all the luck you have had since birth will turn against you!" As she spoke, a purple mist started to cover her. Paulo was frozen trying to understand what in the hell was happening, while she disappeared in the fog with the tent. “What a crazy dream! " Paulo rubbed the symbol trying to erase it, thankfully that this is just a dream, my father would kill me if he saw me with a tattoo. The worst thing is that it is really tacky, thought Paulo as he walked back to the fair. As he walked, Paulo noticed that some people started to move away from the middle of the street, giving space for a group to pass by. An entourage was coming with dozens of people, most of them were soldiers and servants. The soldiers were mostly humanoid animals in tunics, leather armor and armed with scimitars, spears and shields. Some of them looked like centaurs, but the animal part was zebras, camels and some beings that Paulo did not know. As he got closer to the retinue he noticed that only the guards were centaurs and half-human, the servants and the main entourage were all human. All of the main party were black, the men were dressed in tunics and turbans, the women in veils and many ornaments. One of the things that caught Paulo's attention was the fabrics, they were similar to those in the store, most of them were covered with inscriptions, and the soldiers' clothes moved by themselves from time to time. This is so cool! Is there an African princess in the carriage? thought Paulo as he followed the retinue. "They must be very important, for everyone to look at them with such respect ... Hm ... why did they stop?" Looking to the right, Paulo noticed that another entourage was coming in the opposite direction, it was an even larger group and they seemed to come from a very different kingdom from the previous one. The soldiers wore metallic armor, full of inscriptions and ornaments that resemble animals, the servants were dressed in the medieval European style. Not all soldiers are half-human... funny the props on the lion's armor, they also look like lions... maybe it's the family badge?

When the two entourages met, the main carriages opened and the rest of the entourages made room for the occupants to leave. “If I have learned anything from animes, two rival princesses are going to get off the carriages” but to Paulo's displeasure, the first to appear was a tall man with a red bird on his shoulder and black clothes. What was most surprising about him was the golden mask that covered his entire face except his four red eyes.

Before Paulo started to mumble he noticed that the person who came down from the other carriage was a red-haired woman with green eyes, in the parts of her body that the armor did not cover was possible to see many body paintings.

She is very pretty... what spoils a little is the fierce expression, she will probably kill this guy... thought Paulo as the leaders of the delegations talked. The conversation didn't seem to be going so well, Paulo noticed that the people around him started to move away from the entourage and some guards had already put their hands on their weapons. At a certain moment, the inscriptions on the tunic of one of the guards of the African delegation lit up, the tunic moved and covered the guard's face and arms, and when the tunic returned to its normal, the guard had transformed into a humanoid hyena, the transformation didn't take even a second. "What was that?... can they transform?" People already were anxious before, and when they noticed the transformation, some started to run. “Damn… can the others also transform?. The discussion between the delegations became more heated, at a certain point the redhead started to speak in a threatening tone. Paulo did not understand what they were saying, but the people who hadn’t left yet, understood and started to run when she made a movement to pull the void. Paulo, now alone and dangerously near of the entourages, could see scales growing on her neck as steam and water moved through the air, to form hundreds of spears around her entourage. All of the two entourages begin to transform and prepare for battle.

chapter 2