To Goats and Goldfish

Chapter 2

'And so we take to

Either sand or sea,

For which is the plight

Of Man and Fish.'

'That's really how it starts?' Adelaide asks, putting on a frilly silk white button-up over a black tank-top. She still smelled slightly, though luckily so did most things in the outskirts.

'Yes, it's almost as pretentious as what you're wearing,' Val shuts the dusty catacomb tome and hops off the bed, 'it reeks of city. You know, I should have known you had too many clothes to be from around here.'

'Fashion is the only thing they do right there,' Adelaide ties her hair back, looking through the mirror and leaving the perfect thread to hang over her face, 'you could learn a thing or two.'

'What?!' Val feigns surprise in a plain white tunic dress. 'But that's part of my boyish charm!'

'Boys don't say things like "boyish charm",' Adelaide grabs her longsword from beside the door and sheathes it to her side, 'if you want to be a boy, you need to be dumb, you're too smart for that.'

'An expert on boys too? What other secrets are you hiding, lady?'

Adelaide rolls her eyes as the two exit their room, moving through the inn's deserted halls and unstaffed bar into the lush outdoors.

They stand atop a wooden terrace, suspended by rows of thick rope bolted to the sides of the massive tree the inn was built into. Wooden paths spiral up and down the jagged bark. Most homes and establishments here were carved into these majestic oak trees, save a couple buildings jotted along the paths between them, the town hall among them.

A clear river flows through the town, a neat cobblestone bridge going across it which looked small in comparison to the hulking flora around it. Even smaller-looking were the children that chased each other across it. They appeared like blobs of green and black from above, but Adelaide could swear she heard their laughter, or she was imagining it.

The wide canopy blankets the town in atmospheric shadow, crawling shapes of sunlight leaving imprints on the lush grass. The lights disappear past the edge of town, where the giant forest thickens. There's a graveyard in that shade. Because the dead seem to like the dark. 

Red lights sneak up from behind the trees, approaching the graves.

'Shit..' Adelaide recognises the sign of Aegis immediately. She takes off, the wooden walkway swaying ever so slightly as she does.

'What's happening?' Val calls out from behind but she's already out of earshot. Adelaide finds a comfortable height and leaps over the rope railing, landing onto the soft ground below and gunning for the graveyard.

An Aegis vehicle was making its way into the town, and knowing the city, it wasn't going to care for what was in the way. 'Walkers' they were called, to optimise energy in the outskirts they made cars that would travel on the ground, as opposed to the much more natural flying cars that require constant trips to the gas station.

To account for the rough terrain, walkers could transition from the typical 4-wheel drive to mechanical legs that would simply step over obstacles in the way. Hence the name.

This was a big one, about the size of a truck, and as Adelaide approaches she sees the gray shipping container it carries. A white goldfish is painted onto the side, the symbol of the city.

'Stop! Stop!' She yells up to the walker's main body, which is now several meters above her thanks to it's long rusted legs. One of which has already broken through the wire fencing of the graveyard and stops a mere meter from one of the gravestones. It returns to the ground with a loud stomp.