Dance of the Gods

They sat near the front, and waited in silence to arrive at the Court Square. Veronica just watched the buildings pass them by.

All of them were beautiful and unique in its decorations, but uniform in their overall architectural building style. They were in a lot of different colors, like green or purple, and there were a few orange, blue, red and even white. Of course a lot of the houses were just simply gray, which is understandable since gray was the symbol of neutrality.

At least that's what they taught at the Church of Law. Their deity named Judgment is the God of Equality, in every possible sense. It doesn't even have a gender, like the Goddess of Secrets or The Creator. 'It' was the embodiment of justice and neutrality.

Compared to the Goddess of Secrets, the God of the Church of law –– Judgment, sounded like an even bigger hypocrite.

'How can people believe in these deities, when they can't even do simple things like catch criminals? But of course religious people make very little sense if you bring logic into a conversation.'

The houses passed them by quickly, soon their sizes slowly increased. More decorative structures appeared on them and the building materials turned more luxurious. They were in the richer part of the city.

'Ah... Yes! This is the country of the God of Equality, but of course some people are a bit more equal than others. Many of them religious officials. What a joke...'

Looking at the gigantic mansions that could house anywhere between ten to thirty families... Her mind wandered to a different part of the city. On the northwestern side of Hammon, lay the Dirt District.

It was a truly miserable place, full of shacks made of rotting wood and even the better houses had rents that only multiple families could pay. The room where Veronica was currently staying would need a whole family to pay rent for in the Dirt District.

Comparing these two parts of the city, truly made show of how equal the reality of the Free Cities were. Because this wasn't just Hammon, here it wasn't even that bad. The capital of the Free Cities –– Vindra, had a poor district that was even larger than the whole of Hammon.

'Disgusting... How can these people even consider themselves humans?! Keeping the less fortunate in the muck...'

The more she thought about it the more angry she had gotten. These people regularly go to church and pray for things, that the poor couldn't even dream of. In her memory she saw how big the Church of Law's cathedral is in Hammon. It was the largest building by far, even dwarfing the Courthouse where they were currently heading.

Alex must have noticed her worsening mood, since he asked, "What are you thinking about?"

She didn't even turn to him, just kept looking out the window and answered in a whisper.

"I'm thinking about how hypocritical these people are. They pray to a God that is the embodiment of equality and judgment. Yet when it comes to helping the less fortunate, they fail and when it comes to catching criminals they fail. How can they even look in the mirror and not feel like embarrassments."

He stayed silent for a few moments, then began laughing so hard he nearly fell out of his seat.

"You are quite correct. The Free Cities are not as free as they are advertised. Also about the hypocrisy you don't even know the half of it, but trust me... It's much worse than it looks from the outside."

Finally she turned and looked at him. His eyes were distant, like he stared at some event that happened long ago. Only now did she notice the wrinkles on his face, in the inn she thought he was younger than James, but now... She wasn't sure.

She was about to say something, but they had arrived at their destination.

Getting off the carriage Veronica looked around the large square. Last time she just travelled through it which made it hard to truly appreciate it.

The square was gigantic and majestic, in the middle of it there was a large fountain. It shot water a dozen meter high and it had multiple statues which all spurted out water from their mouths. As the sunshine caught on the waterdrops, it broke the light into the colors of the rainbow, like a prism. From every angle you looked from, it was colorful and magical.

You could walk around the fountain and even sit in the shade of the trees that grew all over the square.

Veronica watched the makeshift rainbow for a long time... Just admiring it.

With a lot of reluctance eventually she turned away and they headed towards the building complex that encompassed a large part of the square.

They built the Courthouse with utmost care. Now that she could look at it closer, she saw the many sculptures, statues and gargoyles ornamenting the building's side and top. It was painted gray but the architect was a true genius of his craft. He played with the color shades and made a plain boring color look astonishing.

Even though it was an enormous building, that only added to its other-worldly appearance.

They walked to the massive open doors and headed inside. Veronica expected it to look like the government buildings from her home... She couldn't have been further from the truth.

Stepping inside, she immediately looked at the tall, domed roof. There were pictures painted on it, one depicted an incomprehensible form holding a libra in 'Its' hand, 'It' was also blindfolded. Another showed angels fighting against demons and behind them stood the same figure, keeping the battle equal, not letting either side get the upper hand.

It was an artistic depiction of the neutrality and equality, not helping either side win. That was always what the Free Cities stood for. Every war north of it, they funded everyone equally never picking sides. Even today they trade with Monsterra, Tessalion Matriarchy and Kingdom of Ranna, even though all three of them are at war with each other.

She looked at another picture, but she quickly looked away with wide eyes and uneven breathing. Her heart rate spiked and fear gripped her soul. Veronica tried to forget what she saw, but the memory just couldn't go away.

The picture showed 12 indecipherable forms attacking one evil looking person. She instantly knew who that person was, but this was a story from a different direction. It also felt wrong, it felt like a lie. Her soul told her not to trust the depiction, treat it like propaganda.

She didn't realize that the feeling came from a similar source as that hope. External, but also within her.

After calming herself, she pretended that the beauty of this place caused this unnatural behavior, so Alex wouldn't ask questions. They moved towards one of the many desks that had people working at.

The whole process of creating an identification was fast and efficient.

She sat down into the chair on the other side of a woman's desk. She was a young barely out of school, she wore a gray uniform marking her as a government worker. Her black hair was in a bun so it wouldn't get in the way while working.

"What can I help you with?" She asked with a formal smile, it looked a bit forced like she was still a rookie. Veronica just ignored it and smiled back, hers was less forced, but not genuine either.

"I would like to make an identification." The woman nodded and began looking for the right form to fill out.

"Here you have to fill this out quickly, then I will give you a paper which will be your identification. Do you need help with reading or writing?"

Veronica's smile broke and her face fell. She mumbled a no, then took the form to a table where she can fill it out.

'WHY?!... Every single time!... How can a person look illiterate?!...'

She quickly filled it out, then handed it back and got her identification paper.

At the front door Alex waited for her and didn't ask anything about why her mood seemed so bad. He quickly made sure the documents were right and then they went outside to catch another public carriage.

They were about to head to that medium he suggested. Veronica was even a little bit excited, who knew what she would learn about her past. The hope inside her burned like a bonfire at this point. Everything was looking up and getting better.

On the carriage they sat at the front and headed in the direction of the Miles Inn. The seer wasn't living around there, but the carriage took that route.

Soon it turned onto a different street and went northwest towards the Dirt District. She began to second guess her decision.

"Please tell me we don't have to go into the Dirt District." Alex looked at her worried face and laughed.

"The Dirt District is not as bad as many people say it is, but no we won't. Madam Stout lives at the edge of the district, when I asked her why, she said –– 'It helps me with divination.' She is a bit eccentric, but overall kind person."

Veronica nodded and looked out at the worsening houses, it was the polar opposite of the Court District. The people looked sad and defeated, there were lot of cheap taverns... And brothels.

It was easy to distinguish them from the other buildings, they were the only ones that looked acceptable and there were a lot of nearly naked woman in the front... Trying to get customers.

The sight made her sick, most of them were barely into womanhood, but were already selling themselves.

The worst was that they weren't even in the Dirt district yet, it was just the outskirts.

Soon the carriage stopped and they got off of it. After a couple of minutes of walking they reached their destination, at least according to Alex. Veronica on the other hand felt the previous doubt return even stronger.

The house they were supposed to enter looked good, but strange. For some reason its roof sloped in a bunch of different directions, between its two front windows there was a large size and shape difference. The doorway wasn't centered to the building, and it wasn't horizontal to the ground, it looked crooked somehow.

'It looks like some weird abstract art.'

After lingering for a bit they approached the door and knocked. Soon there were running footsteps and a very energetic older woman opened the door.

"Hello, young one what brings you to my humble abode?"

'I fully understand what he meant by, very eccentric.'

Veronica looked at Alex with an emotionless gaze and a raised eyebrow. Her face seemed to say 'Really?! This is the medium?'.

He looked a bit ashamed and uncomfortable, quickly regaining his composure he forcefully cleared his throat, to get the attention of the woman. Her head snapped to him and she smiled with all her 15 teeth.

"Ah! Little Alex! What brings you here?" The embarrassed expression returned and Veronica did her hardest not to start laughing. It was possibly the most difficult challenge she had faced yet.

"My friend here needs your expertise." He said trying to quickly change the subject. The woman's head snapped back to Veronica and looked her up and down about a dozen times.

"Is that so? Then come in!" There was a big grin on her face, which only managed to unsettle Veronica.

She looked at Alex again, with the same blank expression, then stepped inside the strange house.