The airship isn’t that large, but it’s comfortable. Polished wood floors, carpeted floors, plush couches and chairs and beanbag chairs, a fully-stocked kitchen that I’m pretty sure has a spirit to maintain it.

Pretty sure he’s got spirits running the ship.

I can’t figure out how the ship actually moves, so I go into one of the rooms with a wooden floor and start doing exercises. Until I arrive in the city, I’m going to train and sleep and eat and stuff. The airship temperature is cool, and it feels nice to train in it.

At lunch, I break, finding food prepared and sitting out for me. Lots of meat and vegetables and fruit.

Definitely a ship with spirits on it.

A few times throughout the journey, I go onto the upper deck and look at the land below, but it’s windy there, so I try to stay inside. The view from the upper deck is beautiful, seeing the fields and cities and ocean pass below me.

By the end of the journey, I am and feel stronger. The airship lands in the docks of a city with brick and steel buildings, and after I step off of it, it flies back up into the sky.

I walk out of the docks, looking around and taking in the colors of the city and the smells, and all the people. I’ve never been around so many people before. Thankfully, they all speak English. Or maybe I’m just hearing them in English.

“Did you hear?” A woman says to her group of friends as I pass by. “They say that Aure, the God of Light, is coming into town today.”

“Seriously?” One of her friends asks. “Where did you hear that?”

I might get to see another god today.

“The priests,” the first woman answers, and I stop walking. “Supposedly, the way he’s been acting with his signs the last few days are the same as whenever he visits a town. They think he’s going to be here today. Apparently, the High Priest mentioned that he was ‘expecting a visitor to this town today’, and so they think he’s coming.”

A visitor to this town? Another god?

“Do you know where he’ll be?” One of the other friends asks. “I’ve never gotten to see one of the youth gods before, and they say that Aure is among the most attractive of them.”

“When he’s in an adult form, yes,” the first woman says. “I’ve seen him twice – once in adult form, once in his kid form.”

So Tyr isn’t the only god who has different ages.

“Are you talking about Kirta?” A woman with a couple of kids and presumably her husband stops as they’re walking.

“Talking about Aure,” the first woman says.

“Really?” The new woman asks. “There’s rumors that Kirta might be visiting town today, according to his followers. Something about an interesting visitor to this town. They said he’s acting in his kid persona right now.”

“Really?” The first woman asks. “The priests were talking that Aure might be visiting, for the same-”

She cuts off, then kneels, and I notice the people around falling silent and kneeling, some in fear, some in awe.

“I’m telling you,” someone says, ignoring the kneeling people. Sounds like a kid. “He’s around here somewhere.”

I turn and see two boys walking down the street, both around my age. One has blond hair, one has black hair, and other than that, they’re identical – same blue eyes, same slender builds, even the same outfits – green t-shirts, black pants, and matching sneakers.

“How sure are you?” The boy with black hair asks. So these are probably the gods. “He could be anywhere.”

“I told you,” the blond boy responds. “I could sense his power moving here. Tyr is definitely here.”

“Tyr never visits big cities,” the boy with black hair responds. “Ever. He freaks out in crowds. That’s why I decided to stop by and see if he’s doing alright. You didn’t have to come along.”

“Do you know how rare it is for Tyr to actually go somewhere?” The boy with black hair asks. “Him going there a few weeks ago was astonishing, in and of itself. He usually watches things from outside.”

“Hey,” a man next to me smacks my leg. “Kneel before the gods.”

“They’re gods?” I ask him, then look at them. “They don’t look it.”

Then again, nor does Tyr. Especially not when I left, and he was bawling his heart out, waving at me from the docks that he said he was not going to be at for my departure, his teddy held tightly against his chest.

“Huh?” The blond boy looks at me, then frowns. “Oh. Well, that explains things. Tyr’s not here, Kirta.”

“Dammit!” Kirta exclaims. “That brat fooled us again, didn’t he?”

“Not quite,” the blond boy – presumably Aure, now, chuckles. “I’ll tell you later.”

“Do you think we’ll ever manage to catch Tyr?” Kirta asks. “That boy is the champion of hide-and-seek. I still haven’t been able to locate his kingdom.”

“Are you kidding me?” Aure snorts. “I don’t think it’s possible to find him, if he doesn’t want us to. He is the best at games, after all. One day, we’ll weave our way through his puzzles and make it into his kingdom.”

“I was so hoping to see him,” Kirta sighs. “He’s so much fun to play with.”

I thought Tyr said that the other gods didn’t like playing with him, because he wanted fun to an annoying point, to them?

“Yeah,” Aure shakes his head, looking back at me. “He is fun to play with. He’s like the little brother we never had.”

“Since he’s not here,” Kirta says, then begins to glow, turning into a version of himself probably in his late teens. “I only took on that form to put him more at ease, since he would’ve been in one of his younger forms.”

“Same,” Aure glows, then takes on his adult form – which is the same as Kirta’s, but with blond hair. “But he’s not here.”

“Do you think,” Kirta looks around a little, then spots me. “One of them isn’t bowing. How odd.”

“Do I think what?” Aure asks.

“Do you think we could lure him out with candy or something?” Kirta asks. “There’s a good chance that he’d show up if his favorite was on sale.”

“He’d probably send one of his spirits to buy it,” Aure snorts. “You know Tyr would freak out at the concept of going into a place when there’s a good sale on something. I did spot him once in a small town, though, buying ice pops, a few months ago. He bought twenty of them, and then sat down and started eating them, one after another. When he finished, he walked off, and I forgot to approach him. That’s one of the calmest times I’ve ever seen him.”

“Huh,” Kirta finally takes his gaze off of me and looks at Aure. “You seem awfully calm about a mortal not bowing to you.”

“Bow already,” the man next to me whispers harshly to me.

“I’m not going to bow to a god I don’t worship,” I tell him, and the people around me gasp.

“Are you suicidal?” He asks.

“Let’s begone,” Aure tells his brother. “We can continue our hunt for Tyr some other time. And I’ll explain about that after we’re gone from here.”

The two gods vanish – one in a glow, the other in shadows. Everyone stands up, and several give me angry glares.

“Do you have any idea what would have happened, if they took offense to that?” The man who told me to bow growls.”

“I don’t bow to gods I don’t worship,” or to gods I play with, for that matter. “I don’t worship them, I don’t bow to them. Clearly, they didn’t care, because they didn’t even acknowledge me, other than when Kirta mentioned it was odd that I wasn’t bowing. Beyond that, nothing. You might worship them, but I don’t.”

“You listen here-” he towers over me, puffing up his chest.

Before he can continue, though, flames swirl in the middle of the street, and people back off, returning to a bow as a boy around twelve with crimson hair and eyes, dressed in clothes of reds and golds, patterned likes flames, appears in the streets.

“BOW BEFORE THE MIGHTY TORGI!”

Torgi? If he did a hard ‘g’, it’d sound almost like corgi. I’m actually kind of scared of the not-dog God of Fire, because of the way he arrived and the power behind that voice.

“You really want to bow for this one,” the man says as Torgi looks at me.

“Oh,” the god says in a cheerful voice, smiling. “Hi. You’re not bowing.”

“I don’t bow to gods I don’t worship.”

“Cool,” he grins at me. “I’m looking for a friend of mine, but you’re not him.”

“Kirta and Aure just left.”

“Not them,” he says. “Huh. Guess he’s not here, if they came and left.”

“Tyr?” I ask.

“Yeah, Tyr,” he nods. “But he’s not here, apparently. I wonder why I sensed his power, then. I can’t sense it anymore.”

“Did you try looking in his kingdom?”

“Tyr’s kingdom?” He asks, then laughs. “That’s a good one! Kid – if anyone could get into Tyr’s kingdom, we’d be there. He’s put so many games and puzzles around it that it’s simply impossible. Only if you’re on his airship can you get in or out with ease. Or if he’s letting you in or out. Or if you have the 50 Mana needed to teleport there from a warp station after having been there before. Even we gods can’t just enter Tyr’s kingdom, because he layered the divine passages to it with games and puzzles. I’m still hunting the damn twin-tailed unicorn for the next stage. I think Kirta got a lead on one.”

So Tyr probably only perceives it as them not finding him very fun, because he likes fun too much. He probably thinks they don’t like playing with him because they never visit him, and what in the hell is a twin-tailed unicorn?

“Have you tried inviting him to your… whatever you gods have?”

“I-” he holds up a hand, then opens and closes his mouth several times. “No. No, I haven’t invited him to my realm. Do you think he’d come play if I did, though?”

“Probably.”

“Tyr,” he intones, his voice echoing through the streets. “I formally invite you to come to my realm for a game of tag.”

“Tag’s not fun with just two people,” I tell him.

“Oh, right,” he says.

“Plus,” I add. “Tyr’s a little depressed right now, so you’d probably need something a little bit more fun.”

“Ah, right,” he says, then begins to intone again.

“Also,” I say. “He’d probably be more receptive to a cheerful invitation than to the formal one you just made.”

“You’re right!” He exclaims. “Tyr! Come to my realm if you wanna play with puppies! I got lots of them! I’m currently teaching them how to breathe fire! Wanna help?” He suddenly looks at me with surprise in his eyes. “He responded! He’s on his way to my realm! Yay!”

He vanishes in a swirl of fire, and people look at me.

“Lord Torgi… didn’t treat you like you were a mortal,” a man who gives off a faint feeling of power says in awe. “But you have no divine aura. What are you?”

“Human,” I answer. “If you’re a god, and you find someone who doesn’t bow to you, and they make it clear they serve another god, would you want to smite them?”

“The gods don’t care,” he says. “I am a servant of Lord Torgi, and if I didn’t bow to another god, I would be smote instantly, or given a curse, or some other such thing.”

“Let’s put things into better context,” I tell him. “I don’t serve them, and I can’t sense their divine auras. I’m the only person here who didn’t have a single trace of respect or fear or awe to their presences. Tell me – do you really think I care what some person I’ve never met before says?”

A vein pops in his forehead, and I turn and start walking down the street, ignoring the stares I’m receiving from the people around. I can see the Towers, and figure that if the first one I reach is the wrong one, I can always find another.

When I arrive at the first one, I determine it’s the one for aura by asking a couple of people, then enter. Most of the contenders are adults, as are most of the viewers. There are some kids here and there.

“Yo,” a voice says, and it feels like it’s directed at me, so I turn to find a guy my age standing a few feet from me. He has pure-white hair and azure eyes, and is dressed in black shorts, a purple shirt, and black sneakers. “We’ve got matching outfits.”

“We do,” I say. “Viewer?”

“Nah,” he says. “I just got here, myself. I want to see how high I can get. Supposedly, it’s supposed to be really tough to advance after Floor 200, so I’m aiming for at least Floor 225. You?”

“The god I’m on good terms with,” I say. “Wants me to train here.”

“Oooooh?” He asks. “What god?”

“Tyr,” I answer.

“Never heard of him.”

“He’s a God of Fun and Games,” I answer.

“Cool!” He grins at me. “Personally, I’m a fan of Kirta, the God of Shadows. I can’t use aura, though, so I’m hoping I can find a teacher while here, before I make it to Floor 200.”

“Same,” I tell him. “I’m Colt.”

“Tyler,” he answers. “So what’s your Level?”

“What’s yours?”

“I’m only Level 2,” he answers. “I had to run away from home to come here.”

“I’m Level 10,” I answer. “But I’m probably pretty weak, compared to you.”

“How come?”

“Training,” I answer. “Most of my Experience for awhile came from Quests, and not killing monsters and stuff.”

“Ah,” he says. “Once we get up high enough, wanna run some Dungeons with me? We’ll get loads more Experience in those.”

“Have you done one?”

“Not really,” he shakes his head. “But really, you just fight a bunch of monsters and bosses in them. I’m hoping for some Levels fast – this limit of ten items in the inventory is killing me! They can only stack up to 10, too! Once you hit Level 10, you can hold ten items, and in stacks up to 25! That would be way better!”

“Wanna show each other our stats?” I ask.

“Yeah,” he says. “On three. One!”

“Two!”

“Three!” We say at the same time, and I show him my stats as his appear in my vision.

Name: Tyler

Age: 12 years

Sex: Male

Species: Human

Class: Ruffian

Title: None

Level: 2

Experience: 16/30

Mana: 2/2

Aura: 3/3

STR: 14, AGI: 14, END: 12

INT: 16, VIT: 13, WIL: 14

PER: 16, LUK: 10, LIF: 13

Stat Points: 6

Weapons Skills: Knife Mastery 1, Martial Arts Mastery 2

Thief Skills: Lockpick 2, Pilfer 2

“Whoa!” He exclaims. “Your stats are almost as same as mine! And you haven’t spent any of your Stat Points!”

“You haven’t, either,” I grin at him. “Though some of your stats are higher than mine.”

A lot of them, actually.

“Well,” he says. “Ruffian gave me 1 STR and 2 AGI, so you’re definitely higher than me for those. What did Thief and Squire give?”

“1 INT, 1 AGI, and 1 PER for Thief,” I answer. “And 2 STR and 1 END for Squire.”

“Hey, hey,” he grins at me. “Your Mana and Aura are high! You been training?”

“Not yet,” I answer. “You?”

“Not at all,” he grins at me. “This is so cool! Want to register to fight with me?”

“To fight you?”

“No,” he shakes his head. “Just register with me. I wanna be your friend.”

He seems like a cool kid, and I think we’d be good friends.

“Sure!”