The bustling Kingdom of Ooze is like swampy wasteland for any first-time visitor; its crumbling foundations are perched atop similar to muddy water, held together by unique constructed material and slimy algae that cling to the buildings.
All around, the slime balls bounce up and down with gleeful enthusiasm as they traverse the streets, paying little heed to the numerous merchants and vendors who attempt to capture their attention with wares and goods.
While many were comprised of these little dubious creatures, there were other species also inhabiting the kingdom, such as the occasional human or Roachoid. However, the latter often found themselves being happily acknowledged by the citizens, thanks to their similar nature in learning about one another.
As she and her friend traversed through the place, Saomi frowned at the constant sight of merchants appearing in every civilization and community they came across. It's like, no matter how hard people try to change this fact, capitalism will forever remain persistent and constant in the world they live in, regardless of the circumstances.
Passing through some bystanders with her observant eyes scanning around for any pique of interest, out of the corner of her sight, she noticed a peculiar figure hiding in a suspicious hallway, eating freshly prepared bodies of dead rodents with ease.
Stopping in her tracks, she turned and directed her full focus onto it before her eyes widened after adjusting to the darkness. "What is that?" She whispered to herself in disgusted surprise, having not seen something this hideous in appearance.
Seeing her sudden change of action, Schrodinger raised a brow from the look on her face and followed her line of sight towards the hallway to discover the same exact thing: "Who are you looking at?" Curiously asked, only to finally receive the answer after seeing it, "Oh, never seen a ghoul before?" I asked the brooding white feline.
"A ghoul?"
From a distance, the ghoul is described as a green-skinned, humanoid, hairless creature with long canine muzzles, pointed ears, and clawed feet. Standing eight feet tall with a rather lanky body, the ghoul has unusually elongated arms with grasping clawed fingers and a large, protruding belly that resembles a pot belly, containing the insides of its food.
Ears perked up, and Schrodinger watched silently as the creature stood up and turned around with its bloody mouth, dripping with blood as it made direct eye contact with them, staring at the duo for nearly a minute before running further back into the darkness in all fours.
She was shocked by the sudden action. "Did we scare him off?" Saomi asked, unsure if what they did was the cause of its reaction. "Probably we should alert this to the authorities when we visit the Princess," the young woman added as she averted her eyes, finding the disgusting scene too much for her taste.
Looking up at her with both brows raised, "Are you serious? Ghouls mostly reside in graveyards, consuming human flesh, while most of them inhabit networks of underground tunnels and crypts and eat the corpses of dead humans," detailing the life and behavior of the species, "not only are they sapient, but having them around any populated city is a good thing."
This immediately caught her intention: "a good thing? And their sapient to? That's..." This made her realize how rude she was after judging an intelligent entity based on their appearance rather than getting to know and understand them for what they are. "Sorry, I didn't mean it to come off that way," she said, apologizing genuinely in shame as she turned to Schrodinger.
He nodded, acknowledging her words of regret. "I know, but everyone tends to misunderstand them; that's why it's better to learn more about them than make assumptions without knowing their side of the story. "Sighing tiredly, he then said, "Anyways, their origin is mysterious, but they usually act like vultures to eat away corpses to clean up after other predators in the area."
Lifting her eyes up to the blue sky in thoughtful gaze, throughout her years living peacefully in Celephais, seeing mostly humans, she never expected this world to house other forms of life that, by their very appearance, make one believe them to be mindless or hostile based on what they appear.
And because of this, she wondered just how many more of these types of events she would experience in the future. Gazing in a far-off distance for a few seconds over his shoulder, Saomi's thoughts were interrupted by Schrodinger's meowing as he circled around her.
"Were wasting time, Saomi," he said before stopping beside her. "We need to see this princess now since the faster we find our answer, the faster we leave this place and get you home." In addition to that, he looked at the surroundings just until his eyes landed on approaching Janus with a spear at hand.
Sly smile plastered on his face as Schrodinger's lips parted. "And look who has decided to come back," he said, gesturing over to Janus, whom he believed to have already left them for dead. "Are you finished with your sentimental moments or do we need to wait longer?" I questioned the feline sarcastically.
In haste, she spun in motion to see no other than the god of time: "Janus?!" A bright smile also stretched her lips as she excitedly stepped forward and said, "You came back!" Immediately running up to him, the young woman gave him the strongest bear hug known to man. "Thank you for coming back; we thought you ditched us," she said gratefully.
Taken back by her action and honest remark, Janus remorsefully apologized for leaving them all alone: "My previous actions had caused trouble to you all, and for that, I'm deeply sorry." After saying those words, Saomi released him and nodded mirthfully at this.
"I'm glad that you're alright, and it wasn't that much of a hassle for us anyway since we handled everything with ease," informing him as the cat smirked, "are we ready to visit the Princess?" Extending her hand out, he then placed his on hers.
Matching her enthusiastic tone, "I thought we were already visiting the princess?" Humorously joked much to the girl's confusion, "Right, princess?" He answered, directing it towards her, while their white cat instantly understood what he meant.
For a brief moment, she was confused about what he meant, but then a realization hit her: "princess..." Her eyes went wide when she understood the implication, "Oh you!" Blushing heavily, she retreated her hand and held both of her own cheeks together.
Laughter echoed in the air from seeing her embarrassed state, and he found it quite adorable to make her react like this from his taunts. Janus's chuckles then gradually died off when he noticed Schrodinger's impatience growing as he stood behind the duo.
"Shall we get moving, or would you two rather stand there and be a couple of love birds?" The cat sardonically asked them as it made the God of Time pause, a slight bit of fluster washing over him when Schrodinger called him that, and with an awkward chuckle, Janus retorted in embarrassment.
"Sure, sure, let's not waste any time; I wouldn't want to make our catty companion suffer any further for his own pettiness." He turned to face the cat, who growled lowly at Janus from this comment, yet his own amused expression didn't fade from this reaction.
When the white cat hissed at him in irritation, the flustered young woman slowly gathered her bearings and nervously stepped in to ease the tension from the embarrassing response that was thrown at her: "Okay, you two! Let's go visit this princess already!" She motioned for them to follow her, hastily turning in the other direction just to receive another laugh.
Instead of one, it was two, as Janus and Schrodinger both laughed in unison. The white cat had lost her composure when she stupidly went in the wrong direction while the bystanders passed them with no words. The god of time then lightly rubbed the back of his own neck.
"What's the big deal?" She annoyingly asked, getting tired of being laughed at by these two morons, "Did I say something funny?" Crossing her arms, she stared at them dumbfounded, refusing to speak out loud this time, knowing the chance of them making a mockery of her again.
"Did you honestly forget the exact place where we were supposed to head?" Janus tried his best not to laugh at this, but seeing her small puffed cheeks that resembled a chipmunk trying its hardest to hold back a nuts, he couldn't help but shake in mirthful amusement. "Saomi, you were heading in the direction of where you and Schrodinger entered this city," the answer was like a slap to the face, causing her to blink in surprise.
"Oh."
She felt stupid being teased like that, but one day she is going to pay them back. And maybe that will be the day where the tables turn against them. "Hmph!" Snorting angrily, she faced away from them in annoyance and said, "Just follow me!"
Proceeding to stomp forward to their destination, Janus and the cat shared a few looks of mutual interest and agreed to follow after the little angry duckling. "Are we following that adorable duckling or...you know, there is that cool building over there?" the cat remarked, pointing out the tallest building.
Janus giggled, having a lot of fun joking around with his new friends. "Make sure not to speak too loud; she is going to start firing arrows at your fluffy butt if you continue to provoke her any further," the god of time informed him as the cat continued laughing his ass off.
"Hey! I can hear you guys from the back!" Saomi angrily shouted at them, causing them to laugh even more at this level of enjoyment they were getting. "Haha! Very funny! Are you two finished, or would you rather keep that up until we get to the place!?"
The group of three had the most fun in the city as they strolled through the street filled with nothing but the endless teasing of the young woman, who, in response, became more embarrassed, irritated, and angry as time flew by.
Janus could never guess that by being himself more and opening up to others, he could connect with them. Despite what his past self says, he can be confident in himself in terms of expressing his feelings, regardless of whether he is human or not.
Because, at the end of the day, he is as human, if not more, than any other being can ever be. As in reality, what makes him human is understanding how it feels and the connection he can achieve through meaningful bonds with others.
What a time to be alive for him! And all the while, he is starting to regret not abandoning them long ago, as if it weren't for them, then he wouldn't be the person he is now. Looking back to the days he was alone, Janus started to wonder what life would be like if he hadn't made any companions from the beginning.
Despite the many possibilities and impossibilities that presented themselves to him, he begins to think that this very present moment he is in is what matters to him the most, as everything else can be rewritten and redesigned by the countless amounts of events that will come and go.
For all the meaningless the universe tries to throw at him, his feelings were always true, and he wasn't lying when they held a special place in his heart, including their silly jokes and odd antics as well as how much they meant to him, and that no matter what, he was always going to stand by their sides to the very end.
It was all too perfect yet; he knows good moments like this can't always last forever, and that's just how life goes. Whether he is a god or a regular man, the constant reminders of mortality and the meaninglessness of everything will never escape his mind.
However, it won't hurt to smile once for a while.
