While the two of them stood right in front of the pub’s entrance a bypassing creature suddenly sniffed a few times. Its nose inhaled the cold air and all the different smells that it contained. The faint but always present smell of white foxes, the strong aromatic smell of the coffee an immortal was carrying a few hundred meters away, the delicious smell of roasted meat and another delicious smell that was very rarely smelled within the city of a billion names.

The creature’s footsteps abruptly stopped.

It had a small humanoid body with green skin. Its body looked mangled and thin, while it’s limbs were meager and fragile. An ugly face and a long green nose completed the repulsive appearance of the goblin.

Yet, despite its weak appearance and thin frame the goblin had the abilities of a real predator.

As it inhaled the cold night air a certain smell entered its sensitive nose and caused it to shiver in delight. Its ugly face twisted in a strange mix of hunger and excitement. It turned its head following the source of the smell and stared at Saji. The goblin’s mouth opened slightly, revealing its surprisingly sharp teeth. A drool leaked through his open mouth and tainted the brown cloth it had wrapped around it’s skinny body.

“A human.”, it said, a slight tremor in its voice. The creature’s eyes were blood shot while it’s expression became wretched.

“A HUMAN!”, it was unable to restrain itself and pounced towards the two figures standing in front of a black door.

Within a moment it had crossed tens of meters, displaying power that shouldn’t be possible with its malnourished body. Strangely its muscles seemed to have inflated and its sharp fangs had grown by a few centimeters. Its appearance was still small but other then that it was still something that could haunt people in their nightmares.

Heads turned around, attracted by the creature’s shouts and the sudden burst of power they could sense from it. Some were curious, others surprised and some just as hungry as the green creature. Hundreds of eyes fell onto the small greenish figure that was darting towards the two humans on the side of the street.

Yet before any of them could move to do anything Ji had already stepped forward, blocking the green creature’s way. Disdain flickered in his eyes as he looked at the incoming creature.

“Know your place, lowlife.”, he reached out with his hand and directly hit the creatures head. The sound of an explosion rumbled, and something shot across the street until it crushed into the wall of a neighboring building.

The small body of the goblin had disappeared, leaving only a couple of bloodstains on the other building. If one looked closely they could see a few bits of flesh scattered across the street.

For a moment everything was silent.

Then the dozens of eyes averted themselves and the spectators dispersed, each of them minding their own business and heading towards their own destinations. Some of them, those who had also felt the same hunger as the green creature hurried to distance themselves from this place. Yet in their minds they couldn’t help but yearn for a little piece of that delicious human.

Within a moment everything had gone back to normal and no one cared about the goblin’s miserable death.

The only difference was that there were some new bloodstains on the ground and the wall of a building.

Saji’s face paled as she saw a small piece of flesh being picked up by a small human child. It opened its mouth and simply ate it. After chewing twice, it swallowed it. The child nodded its head seeming satisfied.

Suddenly it turned it head towards Saji. Two red pupils surrounded by black eyes stared at her, filled with the desire to feast on her tender flesh. A creepy smile appeared on its childish face.

Saji paled even more. She felt a strong desire to vomit.

Ji turned his gaze towards the ‘child’. As it sensed his gaze on its body it began to tremble, obviously fearful and apprehensive of the god.

“Fuck off.”, Ji said coolly and turned around. The small ‘child’ instantly darted away, fearful of the consequences it would have to face if it was too slow.

“Follow me.”, Ji said to Saji while walking back into the pub.

Saji hurriedly followed him. Staying out without Ji obviously wasn’t a good idea, considering that she was almost killed only a few moments after arriving at this strange city.

Right now, she painfully had to realize that this city, however beautiful and amazing it might be, was no place for ordinary humans like her. Without someone like Ji protecting her there was no way for her to survive in the world beyond the pubs door.

As soon as Saji had entered the building the black door closed itself behind her.

The glamorous city of gods had disappeared and been replaced by the gentle twilight of a god’s pub.

A hand gently grabbed her shoulder and pulled her further into the room. Ji looked a little worried as he looked into Saji’s eyes. As before his expression was a little to perfect, his concern to realistic to be real.

Maybe he wasn’t able to show emotions any other way. The thought appeared in Saji’s mind.

“Everything alright?”, he asked.

“I’m sorry that your first experience in our city ended so badly. Unfortunately, it really isn’t a place where humans like you can go without taking some precautions. There are a few creatures there that enjoy human flesh and all of those are beyond a human means to handle.”, Ji apologized.

Saji was still a little shaken and remained silent for a while. Finally, she shook her head.

“It’s nothing. You protected me after all.”, she seemed thoughtful.

Despite its numerous marvels the city out there was dangerous, yet for some reason Saji really wanted to go back there. It was unreasonable and defied any logic or natural instinct. It was a world that should have been unreachable for her, yet she could experience it. Maybe it was because of this that she couldn’t help but carve to know more about this world.

Ji read her expression and knew what she thought. He smiled relieved.

He suddenly went over to the counter and began to search in one of the shelves’ departments. “I will make you a charm that can protect you from these type of being even while I am away. It will be able to ward of most beings you would normally met on the streets.”

Saji nodded thankfully.

“That would be great.”

Then she looked around the pub once more. The four customers from before were still around. But unlike before they did not sit around the table anymore. Instead they circled around Saji and curiously observed her.

Even the Buddhist monk took glances at her body.

“He certainly has taste.”, he commented.

“Of course, he has, not everyone is a monk like you.”, the obese lady replied laughing.

The monk shrugged. “The almighty buddha does not forbid the pleasure of the flesh.”

“She truly is a fine lady”, the dragon interrupted with a strangely thoughtful expression. To be honest Saji found it more amazing that a dragon could have such human like expression than the fact that it could speak.

“Would it not be politer if we introduced ourselves before taking such liberties with the young lady?”, the extraordinarily ugly man asked in a formal tone.

The other three who had been cheerfully chattering suddenly froze on the spot.

“Thu truly forgot about it?”, the ugly dwarf asked amazed.

The dragon looked especially embarrassed. He stepped forward first.

“My name is Long Tian, the first of the heavenly dragons. I greet you.”, he too suddenly talked formal.

Next came the obese lady.

“I am called the sleeping lady. Those from the island of honey worshipped me long before the first civilizations arose in your homelands.”, she made a gentle curtsy.

The monk followed her. His hands formed a formal Buddhist greeting and he made a deep bow.

“Amitabha. This lowly monk is called Raja. May the great buddha rest within your heart and help you find peace in this world.”

Lastly came the ugly dwarf.

“It is my pleasure to meet thy lady. My name is Ronald Sherevile.”, he was by far the most polite and formal of the four.

Saji quickly returned the greetings and soon that had engaged into a conversation. The four ‘people’ had many questions to ask and despite being obviously very old they were very curious. On the other hand, Saji also carved for more knowledge about this new world she had walked into.

She found out that all four beings were at least over two thousand years old. How old they were exactly they couldn’t or wouldn’t tell her, but from what they spoke of while telling their old stories they had been around during the time of the ancient romans and the first Chinese dynasties. (The first Chinese dynasty was the Xia-dynasty although it’s existence is debated by historians, the seconds dynasty is called the Shang-dynasty and lasted from 1600 b.c until 1100 b.c)

Mr. Sherevile, the ugly dwarf claimed to have been a close friend of a certain famous english king and his elderly wizard mentor.

Furthermore, she found out that the sleeping lady and Raja had been mortal humans before somehow ascending to become gods, while Tian and Mr. Sherevile had been born as immortal beings and with the power of a god. As for how a mortal could become an immortal god, none of them talked about the topic.

It seemed like they weren’t really willing to share this secret to her.

Saji did not mind. It would have been strange if they just told her how to become immortal after meeting her only one hour ago.

Of course, there was no way for Saji to verify their age or claims, but there was no real reason for them to lie. Especially Tian, the dragon, was incredible enough even without talking about his age or experiences.

During the conversation she also found out that Ji was the youngest of them. It was unknown how old Ji exactly was, but it seemed that he had only become a god in the last millennia.

After almost an hour Ji suddenly interrupted the conversation. He finally came out from behind the counter, carrying a flat stone in his hand. He placed it onto the table in front of Saji.

The stone had a very flat surface and was snow-white. There was not a single impurity on it’s perfectly smooth surface. On one side hundreds of fine black lines combined together and formed an unfinished circle. It was almost perfect, only a small gab between the two ends of the line hindered its competition. Despite the simple form the lines that formed it were extremely complicated.

“This talisman is capable of creating two familiars that will listen to your commands and protect you from harm. You have to press it against a part of your body. Which one is up to you to choose. Once the tattoo is placed onto your skin you will be able to control the two familiars I sealed into them. They are powerful enough to ward off most of the beings you can stumble upon in the streets! Of course, there are still powerful beings in the city that could harm you despite the protection of the talisman, but those shouldn’t attack you without reason.”, Ji was slightly proud of the talisman.

“As long as you do not provoke those beings you should be fine.”, he concluded.

Saji looked at the stone.

“Thank you.”, she looked up to Ji and thanked him.

Then she took the stone into her hand. It was slightly cold and felt like any other rock you could find outside. Yet this one would change her live. A power she couldn’t even dream about until now would be hers to use. A world she couldn’t have dreamed about was ready to be explored by her!

Saji gathered her resolve and abruptly pressed the stone against the backside of her lower arm.

She expected burning pain or at least the sensation of small needles piercing her skin. Instead she just felt the smooth, cold surface of the stone.

Surprised she removed the stone and looked at her arm. It was slightly irritated, a red hint on the pale skin. The small tattoo of an unfinished circle now adorned her lower arm. Hundreds of intricate, fine lines that formed one simple symbol. Black paint on pale white skin.