Young Writers Society

"Codix is right," Bo said, standing up and un-dabbing. "You're the one who brought us here. And that's not the worst of the memes we could've pulled out honestly."

"Kartiel, my brudda," Raiden said, standing up.
"You do not kno de wei."
All he wanted to do was prove that Bo was correct.

Aegeas scratched his head. He didn't understand the point of this 'dabbing,' which, thanks to one arm being in a sling, he couldn't do. Nor did he know what 'memes' were. Still, Kartiel and most the others did, and he had to accept it as some kind of weird cultural difference. Maybe some kind of taunt or victory dance?

Any of his would look strange to them, so he decided to walk up to the cell and place a hand on one of the bars. "If he'd done his research," Aegeas said, smirking, "We wouldn't have locked him up. Good thing he's not very bright."

I was still confused, but it was only polite to encourage my friends in their native customs.
"Well done, my friends. With our taunts delivered, let us head onward to the kitchen. All this intrigue has left me famished, and I am sure some of us will share my sentiment."

“I’ve been hungry since I got here,” Bo replied in agreement. “I’m down to eat.”

Codix nodded. "I'm down for it too!"

"More food!" Raiden said happily, running off in the direction of the kitchen. He turned a corner, and a thud was heard.
He had tripped over his own feet.

Codix and Nadira both stifled laughs at the sound. Casting one last glance at Kartiel, who was still glowering in his cell, they went to join Raiden in the hallway. They doubted Kartiel would be able to get out of the cell, even if he had been the one to supposedly fix up the city in the first place.

Aegeas followed the group, stifling a laugh when he heard Raiden's fall. He wasn't hungry, and he doubted the kitchen had anything he wanted to eat (mostly meat), but he didn't want to be left alone with Kartiel. Besides, Kartiel wasn't going anywhere, and there wasn't anything else in the city beyond him and the group. They'd be fine.

After a short walk down to the kitchen area, they sat around a rectangular table, eating whatever it was that they were eating.

"Born too late to defeat Hitler, born too early to travel the universe, born just in time to sexualize fictional characters over the internet," Raiden said, before stuffing his mouth with a block of cheese.
"And that's pretty much how I feel about my world."

I had offered young Raiden a knife to cut the cheese, but he was set on cramming the entire block into his gob, propriety be damned. I merely shook my head and went about my own lunch, as I listened to him tell of his world.
Some of what I understood was curious, but for the most part I itched to share tell of my own history.


''I shall go next!'' I said with enthusiasm. ''I have told some of you of the basic turn of events, the territorial war with Hell, how the Traitor Empress, or Queen Victoria as you call her, made the deal that cast London down into the Neath, where it joined the other five cities to have sunk into the depths of the earth.

It is like your London, I suppose, labryinthine, every street and brick cramm'd with secrets, every man, woman, all the devils and what-have-yous out to carve their fortune by virtue or by vice, though mostly vice.
Aye, devils do live there, luring men with their sweet contracts, and so do they join the ranks of the soulless. As well as them, we have the squidlike rubbery men, clay men, and the listless dead from the tomb-colonies, old and dry.

I have been to the Shuttered Palace of the Empress, I have walked the streets of the Forgotten Quarter, I have seen things that would make your blood run cold.
I have spent the majority of my life in that wondrous city, chasing down her secrets as a journalist, chasing the hundreds of proverbial geese, and so shall I continue, until I have learned all a mortal can know of the glorious fallen cities, or I am destroyed completely.'' I told my companions with joyous pride and fervour.

In retrospect, I had perhaps gone on a bit long. But I was the sentimental type when it came to matters of home.

Resting on a seat, Aegeas propped his arms on the table and his chin on his hands. "See, a couple years ago," he said, "That would've got my attention. Sounds like a real adventure, with danger and excitement and evil monarchs and creepy creatures and all that. But I ran around my world - Fayne - for two long years. There's only so many wars you can go through before you want some peace and quiet.

"That's why I went back home when the last war ended. My family lives by a quiet river. Lots of meadows, tiny towns, mild weather most of the year. Plenty of storms and bad winters, but it's all familiar. I'm happy to be back. The country it's in doesn't exist anymore, but nobody cares. And I've got friends up the river, by the coast and the cliffs. I was going to meet one of them before I ended up here." He sighed. "Guess I can't get a break."

"That sounds really nice," Codix quietly said. The thought of the family he would never had made his heart ache. He had always envied the people he met on Earth, but hearing about the life Aegeas had hurt even more. "I-I didn't get to live in a place like that. Nad and I came from a world that's been torn apart by war for a long time. It stopped before I was born, but..."

"But things didn't suddenly get better," Nadira added. She wasn't eating anything. She only ate in front of others out of necessity; since they all knew she wasn't human, there was no need to play pretend. "The Sixens - Codix's race - had been at war with a race on a neighboring planet. Our planet instituted a new government, and it seemed like peace was going to happen. We had an alliance instead of a war."

Codix pushed his plate away, trying not to think about what he had seen back on his home planet. "The government doesn't care about us. People were hungry and hurting and all they cared about was benefiting their own lives. Nad and I came to Earth as an escape from it. We've been pretending to be humans ever since then."

"Dang dude. Sorry about that, but I do hope Earth has treated you a bit better," he said, patting Codix on the shoulder. Or at least, what a human would consider a shoulder. He didn't know what the Sixen would call it. Maybe a pelvis or something. Who knows?

Aegeas was not so easily taken away by fanciful tales. He was a true veteran indeed. His countenance and speech denoted experience, yes, but there was more. There was a persistent fatigue, eating away at his patience.
He had paid more than his share to the call to arms and yet still he was allowed no peace. I could sympathize on a hypothetical level, but surely there was nothing quite like the special blend of frustration that he still had to endure.

And then there were the children born into war-torn worlds, who had to hide their natures to join their adopted society, trading the fear of death with the fear of discovery.

This band of honourable malfortunates seemed to have been tailor-made to make me count my blessings.

''It is shameful indeed that the two of you, after the hardships you've endured, should need to hide your true selves. Perhaps this group can provide some respite for you, and something good can come out of this place.

As for you, Aegeas, it is honourable indeed to devote oneself to a family life. Few people can seem to do it well. Any grievance of mine seems a pittance compared to what you have left behind.

We'll make it home, in time. All of us.'' I said, with a reassuringly casual tone.
There was no question that we would. We had numbers, cunning, and presently we had a major advantage. It would only be a matter of time, and careful plotting.