The Quest

"There weren't always dragons in the valley,

There weren't always serpents in the sea,

There weren't always humans in the flatlands,

The giants didn’t always roam free,

There weren't always trolls in the shire,

Pixies weren't always in the trees,

There were always sharks in the mire,

Though there weren't cats in the streets,

There are myths of a desert beyond Vela,

And beyond that tales of a mighty sea,

Vakan rowed across and crossed the desert,

And that’s where his strength came to be,

There was also a fool in the palace,

Then there were riots in the big city,

Vakan killed the fool and became our king,

The first bringer of peace in entirety.”

Aldo felt this odd inscription on the pillar in the middle of the courtyard he just entered. He had just arrived in the town of Ander and entered the building marked as - 'The Temple of all Faiths'. While he had no faith nor visited temples, there was an instinctive promise of food in that building. He was not mistaken, he found the pleasant smell of freshly cooked food coming from the courtyard in the middle of the building .

Besides him, holding his finger by her hand, was a shabbily dressed girl, just four or five years old. Aldo had found begging outside and without thinking twice, asked her if she was hungry. She hesitated but took his extended hand when he smiled at her. Aldo always tried to help any kids he saw, but he would always block out the reason at the back of his mind. It was something he did not want to think about.

The pair drew curious looks from onlookers. Partly because beggars rarely walked inside, and partly because Aldo was dressed like a fully grown man. His shirt was slightly large for him and trousers too big, somehow clamped together by a tight belt. He had been travelling for the last five years on a quest known only to him, but recently he had started taking up other small jobs and wanted to look older. The jobs were started to earn money but now he had discovered a penchant for adventure and most of these jobs involved danger which he enjoyed.

The reality was that he wouldn't have had much trouble getting work in the last couple of months anyway, as the males above 15 years of age were recently conscripted in the king's army. While he was now 16 he had narrowly escaped it as the boundary of the conscription area lay just outside his hometown and it did not apply to him. Not yet, at least.

Now, as they sat at a table in the courtyard where food was being served, Aldo was surprised to see a small cat jump on their table, with two pieces of paper between her teeth. She dropped them on the table, they were the food menus. The cat looked at them, as if it would speak. But then wordlessly jumped off and disappeared behind the counter. The girl noticed Aldo's surprise, and said, "Haven't you seen a cat before ?"

"I have, but not like that one. I mean, she seems intelligent."

"They have cats doing all sorts of stuff in Ander. They transport people's messages, hunt for food, act as lookouts. They're very trustworthy you know"

Aldo mused and kept quiet, he looked at the menu.

A minute later another cat jumped on the table, with a pencil between her teeth. Aldo noticed there were places to tick besides the food items on the menu, apparently that's how they took orders.

After they had marked their items and handed the papers to the first cat which came in another minute. Aldo looked outside at the town of Ander, visible from the courtyard entrance going downhill.

He had Ander last evening, hoping to find shelter for the night. His travels had slowly brought him to such a place where there was sunlight even at night. He had tapped on the watch a junk-seller had sold him an year ago, checking the time, not sure of it. Then he asked people around who assured him the it was indeed night time. It made him uneasy. He had been to such a place like this before, when he was younger, where the sun never set. Even the buildings looked familiar to those vague memories he had from a decade ago. But he could not understand how he could have reached the same place again. He had vowed to go in a single direction and that's what he had been doing. He reassured himself it can't be the same place.

He forgot about this as the food arrived. There was a thin woman who carried two plates with steaks on them, smiling warmly as she came. She had shiny almond skin with sparkling blue eyes and a streak of blood red lips.

"Your little sister, is she?" She asked Aldo, still smiling warmly. Then added with a whisper, "Not a place for young kids, is it?"

She was gesturing to the building they were in. The tall building had five levels, each dedicated to a single religion to carry out their rituals. On each level they could see people through windows or beside corridor railings. The people on each level looked very different. The second floor had men whose hair reaching the floor and all the women who were bald, while the third one had everyone wearing orange. The fourth floor was full of a purple smoke and sometimes outlines of humans were visible but it wasn't possible to see how they looked. The fifth floor had men in puffy clothes and women in pointy hats.

Some of the windows revealed ongoing rituals inside. The second one had a few priests chanting and people in a trance shaking their heads, next one had a small goat being cut as a sacrifice. The windows were shielded from all sound so it was surreal watching them while listening to the hustle of the people eating food in the courtyard.

The king Vakan, to promote secularism, had given permission for religious places only to exist in the same building with the same amount to space, each religion occupying a different floor, shielded from the rest from any sounds or noise.

What was rather ironic was that from the outside the building was a pagan temple. A not so subtle reminder of the king's own beliefs, or lack thereof.

"No, she's not my sister." Aldo replied to the waitress. I found her begging on the street and she was hungry".

"Don't worry, I have enough money to pay". Aldo added as her look turned more quizzical.

"No that's not what I meant", she looked slightly taken aback. "It can be dangerous, helping them openly. You are obviously look new to the place. Theirs is a business controlled by the rogues."

"I will take her back then." Aldo said, already munching, "As soon as she's eaten. Don't want to cause any trouble."

Then he added, "I am here on a different business. I'm looking for a man named Invado, have you ever heard of him?"

At the mention of this name, she stopped smiling and her look turned serious. She quickly looked around and whispered, "Why do you look for this man?"

"That is my own business", Aldo said.

The waitress though for a few seconds. Then she bent down to put a glass of water on the table and whispered in Aldo's ear, "Meet me in the alley behind the inn before dawn tomorrow."

At this point, Aldo realized that his quest may not be a easy as it seemed. After asking nearly twenty people, someone had finally acknowledged Invado existed. Some of them had just stared blankly as Aldo had asked them, the look on their faces saying, "Who?" . The rest seemed to have a slight recollection, then shook their heads and went along.

After eating Aldo walked the girl outside and went to the inn he was staying at. He was still tired from his journey and went to sleep at once. At night he had a strange dream. His head had become a cat's head and he was walking on his human legs to bring food to the customers at a restaurant in his hometown. There was a fat dragon sitting on a chair barking orders to bring more food. He breathed fire over all items and then complained it was burnt. When Aldo came closer the dragon breathed fire all over his face and Aldo woke with a start.

"Well, well. I've been waiting for you to get up", Said a voice in the dark as he awoke. The shadowy outline was too small to be human. As his blurry eyes focussed in the creature, he wondered whether he was still dreaming.