Inogen

The storm is coming, the clouds have retreated back towards the ruins again，their radioactive pink color glows ever so brightly against the exposed concrete walls of what once was called the city of Manhattan. Elai knows all too well than to go out foraging in this sort of weather.

He reads them, the clouds ; he reads them like a book, familiar to its every shift and turn, every little nasty trick and sudden tantrum. That’s how he survived on his own for so long. Elai has already made it past his 16th reckoning ; not bad for a Smut. Most of his peers either forgave their humanoid parts for loose liquor or lost their heads in the Oculum games. Elai is different, he managed to keep his original parts intact, which is almost a legend on its own in this age and time——except for his left eye.

He sold that for his little brother three years ago, bribing the handlers to send his little sibling along with the others to the Library where they get a full meal each day without having to share the night with the huge mole rats that infest the under-city sewers.

Oh baby Yan, what a beautiful child he was. If Elai had benefited from his parents genetic pool, then Yan made people question the source of those genes. Yan simply didn't belong in the Smut, he was exceptional, with his aquamarine blue eyes and soft silver fray he could easily pass for one of them; a Fare-bird.

Yan looked like a Fare-bird, that’s what the Smut calls them:

The rich and powerful eternal beings that stretched their time through the dark hours and still reign over the ruins of the old world. Their crystal palace hangs eternally over the old city, teething high above the toxic gases and fumes，the magnificent palace that haunts the dreams of every smut there is.

“Three units, no falcon gold!” yelled the gatekeeper. A glaring electric purple sign lit up behind his head that reads ENTRANCE TO GRAND PALACE-3 UNITS FOR DAY TOUR ONLY.

“But that’s all I have, please sir, I saved it for so long.” An elderly woman pleaded. Her hands clenched into a tight claw around her dress, exposing her bright red exoskeleton underneath.

She won’t make it past tomorrow, Elai thought. Humans that have sold their original bodyparts do enjoy the strength and inhuman abilities of the exoskeletons they are transplanted with at first. But it also makes them reliant on the ultra fuel that now course through their veins.

The more exoskeleton one changes, the more fuel one needs to power their rack, any sane smut can do the math, but without the protection of an exoskeleton, smuts can hardly survive the inhabitable storms of the lower lands. Elai has seen his fair share of dried-out carcasses that decorates the vast barren moors. That’s how they die, unfortunately, inch by inch, the exoskeleton sucks out any remaining juices in their host’s human parts until there’s nothing left but a shriveled up piece of organic junk.

Fuel is life, and the monthly ritual of replenishing their tank has become a sort of pilgrimage for the common folks. After all, fuel day is the only time the gates to the sky city are open to everybody.

Too bad for the old lady, falcon gold was worth a fortune until the Fare-birds had decided it was too ornamental，the coin nearly dropped to nothing within the first hour of the news.

“Three units.” The gatekeeper yelled unapologetically.

“Day pass only, and no liquor please.” Elai smiled ever so lightly as the gatekeeper shined a ticket machine in his eye, reflecting the same mesmerizing aquamarine color. The gatekeeper stared blank at him for a second, suddenly a rapacious lust filled his eyes. He dug his cold white fingers deep into Elai’s eye socket, opening up that little circle of dreamy blue.

“How much you want for this one? Smut .” The gatekeeper licked his mouth, “ I’ll give you 2300 units, right here, no dirt.”

“ Not today, sir, can I have my pass please.” Elai pulled back and quickly covered his face again with a chiseled black obsidian mask.

“Well you know where I am….Smut, ain’t no one else will pay that kind of price anymore.” The gatekeeper smirked, revealing a perfectly symmetrical marble white face underneath, the kind of face that would have belonged to Michelangelo’s beloved stone angel.

“ That eye doesn’t belong on a Smut, better you part with it first before someone takes it for free.”

It's mine, its all I have left to remember them by. I will not sell it for anything you could possibly offer. I would rather feed it to the rats than let your have your hands on it.

Elai squeezed through the gate doors. A dazzling beam of white light shot at him from every angle, sanitizing any deadly virus or dirt that could possibly be hidden in the cracks of his body. He could even smell the burning scent of the mites and fleas that have taken their homes in his old cloak. Elai fought the urge to cry from the blinding white light , finally,it was over. He took off his mask and inhaled the clear sweet air above , and opened his eyes. Before him stands the greatest creation mankind has ever built——the dazzling new city of Inogen.

What would you do with your time if you were given eternal life and all the riches you could possibly dream of?

The Fare-birds chose Beauty.

They put everything they had in pursuing beauty, no matter the medium or form, as long as it stirred up the excitement of the eye and passions of the soul; they sought out every possible way to fill Inogen with beauty, and that precisely they have achieved. If there was ever a heaven in the sky, then Inogen is three times better and that I can promise you.

“Welcome to Inogen, it is my pleasure to be your guide during your time here. Please follow me，” a robot with a sweet voice led him towards a series of spiral transport tunnels that reached towards the sky in many directions. Suddenly, a cold wet tentacle pressed up against his arm.

“Hey, watch it!” Elai jerked his arm away, his heart froze instantly at what he saw: There was hundreds, no millions of tiny glassy eyes staring at him all at once.

“ Day tour visitors please do not yell or behave violently, it is against the city regulations to behave violently in public transportation.” The robot warned him in the same sweet voice from behind.

“Sorry, ididn’t.....I mean I’m so sorry sir, I was just surprised that’s all.” Elai quickly pulled up a smile and pleaded with his eyes at the creature, and what an ugly creature it was; there was no trace of a human to be found on that pile of moving flesh, what once was man, now is nothing but a twisting ball of pale slimy tentacles. Not to mention the surface of each tentacle is infested with hundreds of tiny little eyes. My god, there are no words to describe the horror of looking at the thing.

“It’s okay, sorry I scared you, I haven’t quite adjusted to my new suit yet.” The creature had a soothing gentle voice, he sounded like a melancholic poet from an old recording.

“Your suit, it’s…well it’s quite interesting.” Elai tried very hard to sound friendly.

“They gave me this one for only half the price, its not that bad really! You get used to it, I’m just scared my daughter won’t like it.” The creature twisted in a shy way, he seemed very happy that Elai talked to him, he even went on to show Elai his most precious possession: a heart shaped locket that had a small photo of a little girl placed inside.

“See, that’s Nita ,she’s going to be three this year. They don’t usually take kids this young, but she’s so gifted that her teacher said the Library decided to make an exception for her!”

The creature seemed like a good guy, despite the nightmarish looking suit he was now trapped forever in.

It couldn't have been cheap, those handlers never make a fair deal, he must have fed them the last meat off of those bones to get his daughter in the Library this young.

Elai admit he’s a bit jealous, it's rare these days for a Smut to grow up with parents, let alone good parents that actually do good things for them. If you didn’t leave your kid to sleep with the rats or sell their back skin before their first reckoning, then you are considered a class A role model parent.

The creature was still chattering on and on about his daughter’s singing talents when a strange glimmer outside caught Elai’s eye. The transport tunnel had taken them to the sky city’s landmark building, the Library, the most historical building in Inogen; it is here where the Fare-birds had first established the design and framework for the sky city.

“Well, would you look at that, it still gets me every time,” the creature awed behind him, “they say its 2000years old, it’s a wonder how the thing still stands.”

The library was old, older than anything else that surrounded it. It didn't belong either with the rest of Inogen; it was too rough, too exposed, but somehow it just stood in the city center, grabbing all the attention , announcing its unquestionable authority and status to the whole wide world.

Elai's hands are numb from being tensed into a super tight fist, his mouth is dry and waxy and his heart seems to beat louder and louder as they reach the entrance. Right in front of the entrance was a masterpiece on display. It was an installation art depicting a scene of beautiful children dressed as angels and fairies scattered amongst a replica of the garden of eden. The forest floor was so real that when you stepped on the grass, your foot would be wet from the dew drops underneath.

Elai could only see one angel, the most beautiful one of them all.

The angel was made entirely from glass, breaking the light into a million pieces at the sun’s rays pass through its pristine body. The small angel was asleep underneath the canopy of a fig tree, his silver frays gently frames a familiar face, there was only a slight peak from the eyelids, as if the angel wants to wake up from his sweet slumber, showing the viewers a sliver of the most dreamy---- aquamarine blue.

Yan, they didn’t take care of him like they promised.

They used him, they used him like a twig…they put him up like a rock on the side of the street.

The robot started to introduce to the visitors.

“This is the newest installation made by Inogen’s beloved rising new star, Gouna Tychamp, he calls it “ The New World”.

…..….

“2800 units, and I get a free pass to the city until I die.” Elai spited out the words, his hands still trembling from the shock earlier.

“ 2300 units and I'll give you a 5year pass, hard to say you’ll even make it that long.”

“Deal.”

“See, now I’m curious, what changed your mind, Smut ? Let me guess, a girl is it?” The gatekeeper leaned forward, leeching off of his misery, enjoying some wicked pleasure.

A blazing sharp pain ran across his face. A fuming hot stream trickled down Elai’s cheeks and slowly puddled onto the fabric of his collar.

“It’s always a girl.” The gatekeeper flaunted the exposed eyeball in-between his nails. The circular iris looked almost iridescent underneath the lamplight.

“Yes sir, you’re right.”

“It’s a girl.”

Better I part with it first ,before someone takes it for free.