Three Birds better than None

After few minutes worth of walking, we, or rather Big bird, have arrived in the mentioned main room.

In it, other two abnormalities were present.

One, being a tall humanoid looking bird, with a blindfold where it's eyes were supposed to be, with a long and bended neck and a golden scale on it, somehow holding on without any obvious sign of anything supporting it. It had black feathers and a white, smooth face.

The second one was a normal looking bird with white feather, some of them bloodied.

Of course, I knew both of the abnormalities.

"[Judgment Bird] and [Punishing Bird] ... huh. Heya, I guess."

I greeted them with an awkward wave of a hand, receiving one hollow sounding chirp in response, no doubt coming from the [Judgment Bird].

As for the other bird ...

It landed on my head and seated itself comfortably amongst my yellow eyes, while chirping happily.

Of course, I wasn't bothered.

'I guess I am just really good with birds in general.'

Looking behind the birds, I spotted something that shouldn't be here.

A huge, red and black gate, closely resembling an [Entrance to The Black Forest], yet not quite.

Looking back at the birds around me, they noded.

Looking down on myself, I had both the [Weapon Twilight] and [Suit Twilight] on myself, which should make forming the entrance impossible.

"It shouldn't really be possible for this entrance to form, no ?"

They noded once again.

"And ... we are going into it ?"

They noded once more.

"Heh ... to hell with it, I am about to die anyway, please carry me through."

Receiving an affirmative chirp from the Big Bird, it carried me as both [Judgment Bird] and [Punishing Bird] flew into the gate.

Just before Big Bird was about to pass through, I looked up at it and mouthed a silent "Thank you".

Which was definitely noticed, as the bird released a cheerful chirp before steeping into the gate, as I blacked out, either from the blood-loss or the gate.

...

"Eughhh ..."

I groaned, clutching the side of my head.

"I am never stealing another bottle of alcohol from this Netzach guy again, what the fuck is this guy drinking ? ..."

Getting up, I easily lifted myself from the ground.

A bit too easily ...

"... Huh ?"

Opening my eyes brought a mild pain, though that is not what surprised me. What did surprise me was my vision.

I could see all around me without turning my head, which was quite confusing, yet not nearly as confusing as I thought something like this would be.

*Chirp !*

As if coming from my own mind, I heard a low chirp, instantly recognizing it as Big Bird's.

"Big Bird ?"

An affirmative, deep chirp resounded in my mind, followed shortly by a ghostly sounding chirp and then another, sounding quieter than the other two.

"Judgment and Punishment Bird ?"

Receiving two affirmative chirp-responses, I shook my head in confusion.

"Why are you three in my head, why the hell can I see like this, and where the hell are we ?!"

Infuriated, I shouted out towards the birds, before receiving short and loud chirps in response, as if saying 'How would we ever know ?!'

"So ... we simply don't know where we are and 'something' merged us together ?"

Grunting a little, affirmative chirps resounded in my mind.

'Well, it could have definitely been worse.' I heard of people being eaten by cannibals, seen people 'disposed of' by sweepers and watched people made into silk.

Comparably, me ending up with three birds in my head and landing in the unknown doesn't seem nearly as bad.

Though the situation still left much to be desired.

'To hell with it, let's just find civilization for now, if there is any.'

Looking around myself using my new and improved vision, I noted that the eyes on top of my head and hair now provided additional vision instead of simply being useful for winning staring competitions.

Looking down on myself, my body didn't seem to change much, still being my own boring self. Though something else did change.

Both my clothes and my weapon.

The eyes on the hood of my jacket disappeared, and so did the red T-shirt under it, making it seem like an inferior version of the suit [Twilight], suit [Justitia].

My weapon on the other hand lost the eyes on it's blunt side, as well as the red jaws around the handle, making it appear as a weapon [Justitia].

'Both of which are E.G.O belonging to Judgment Bird.'

Confirmed by a chirp from the aforementioned bird, I was left confused.

'Why would my gear fucking devolve ?'

This question, as well as plethora of other questions, was left unanswered.

For now.

Choosing to focus on more important matters for now however, I spoke out.

"Well, all of us are stuck in a forest. Any ideas how to get out of here ?"

Both Jud (Judgment Bird) and Pun (Punishment Bird) seemed to have no idea.

On the other hand, confirmed by a deep chirp, Big (Big Bird) seemed to have some idea.

"Can you tell it then ?"

Instead of receiving any response (chirp, as I am now apparently a bird talker), I noticed my surroundings darkening, light disappearing. In few seconds, the whole forest, as far as I could see, has been covered in a mild darkness.

It wasn't the last surprising thing however.

On both trees and the ground, big yellow eyes started appearing, closely resembling both the eyes on top of my head and Big's eyes.

It would most probably scare the shit out of most people.

Fortunately, some areas of backstreets and some abnormalities were way scarier.

And I have seen them all. Well, mostly.

Instead, I simply whistled to myself.

'Seems like their abnormality-like abilities still work.

"Found any way out of here, Big ?"

A low chirp and some communication attempts later, I was now directed towards where the closest exit from the forest would be.

As to how I got the direction, I simply followed towards where the eyes stared, which didn't take a genius to figure out.

And so, I was off walking through the darkness, the eyes appearing occasionally, giving me the directions.

It was, contrary to what one would expect, a fun walk.

Halfway through, I even started humming the constant tune we usually hear during the day in the L Corp, shortly joined by the chirps of the three birds who interpreted it as some kind of bonding experience.

Which it really was, now that I think about it.

Surely enough, I seemed to approach the edge of the forest.

Only to-

"What the actual fuck ?"

-Spot a ... weird occurrence.

Amidst few trees laid a bear. An animal I myself have never really seen, aside of few books I had meager opportunity to read.

Normally, that wouldn't be a problem. From what I read about those, they were generally just walking sacks of meat, fat and fur. My [Justitia] would cut through the animal like butter and my suit wouldn't even get a scratch, since E.G.O gear was a whole grade above normal.

However, that wasn't the problem.

What was the problem was that the bear itself was cut into parts, while some girl laid atop of it, munching on the bears organs.

'Is it some Fixer ? ... No, most wouldn't bother with a simple animal. And no fixer would parade around nude.'

Eyeing the girl, she was fully naked. Her hair in total disarray and chaos, and her whole body dirty, ragged and uncared for, yet no real bruise or blood was visible.

'... Artificial skin ? No, she doesn't seem like a person that could afford one.'

Birds on the other hand felt unconcerned, Big simply increasing the darkness around me in order for us to not be spotted, while Jud and Pun chirped in the background.

'Hmmm ... maybe a part of some ridiculous Yakuza-like group ? There were those. Though she doesn't really have any tattoos, which does mostly eliminate the Yakuza thing ...'

Grunting to myself in frustration, I kept trying to figure out who- or what- the girl was, arriving at a simple conclusion.

She isn't from the City.

And yet, she was strong enough to kill a bear by herself, feat no backstreet kid could pull off.

Something I also couldn't do whilst in the backstreets. Though it has long since chained.

Her eyes, albeit hard to spot, also were different from normal, which served only to confuse me further.

'Artificial eyes ? But if she can afford those, then artificial skin is not any real stretch ... no, no. She isn't from the City. While the advanced technology is possible ... her eyes don't seem artificial.'

Right then, I heard a sound.

*Meow*

What revealed itself from amongst the trees was a cat, an animal I have seen quite a few times in the city. Not really all that delicious as some people say.

The girls eyes went from the bear's organs to the newly arrived cat.

"A cat ! You are giving off a delicious smell for a cat, you know ?!"

Girl said loudly, smiling widely in the direction of the cat.

The animal itself stood there shakily, clearly malnourished.

'Hmmm, an easy catch, although cats aren't that good in general. It would have already been eaten if this was the City anyway, though.'

I thought to myself, quietly observing the situation, desperately searching for any clues that this might not, be the City.

Be it out of hopefulness or fear.

"Ehh, but you are too small, too thin ! ... Oh !"

An imaginary lightbulb seemed to light up above the girl's head, before she continued on.

"Your name will be Nyako ! Once I fatten you up, you will make for a good meal !"

She said, smiling even wider at the cat.

'Tch, stupid girl. That is not how you do it.'

No matter the lacking number of calories in the cat, it would make a good food for the whole day. A whole damn day. Fattening it up was a stupid idea, because the priority was always on fattening oneself up instead and if people even spotted you around with a cat, it would just get snatched away, leaving you with no cat and no meal.

Being fat wasn't a good sign also, it was a sign that you could afford food, it was also sign that you could be robbed off something.

Although I may be wrong, that may just be my time in backstreets acting up.

Shaking my head, I decided it was a time to act. No matter how much I wondered about this girl, I wouldn't figure anything out unless I simply approach her first.

And, even if she turns out to be way above my a pay grade, I will simply run away, asking Big to plunge the area around me in total darkness.

Stepping from behind the tree and having Big dissipate some of the thick darkness around me, the girl spotted me near instantly, dropping down from the bear and in between myself and the cat, and dropping low to the ground in her own stance.

Taking out my dark-blade-wrapped-in-bandages aka [Justitia], I took my own stance with my blade pointed towards her.

"Who the hell are you, human ?!"

Releasing a loud snarl, she asked while growling.

"I was about to ask nearly the same question, girly. Where the hell am I and Who are you ?"

Squinting her eyes at me, her growling increased.

"What do you mean, stupid human ?! You are on Earth, obviously ! As to who I am ..!"

She took a moment to stand up and do a pose, flashing her nude body towards me.

"My name is Power, Fiend of the Blood ! The most powerful Devil-fiend of All ! Bow before me, you meager human !"

Ending the sentence, she started laughing mockingly, making my numerous eyes twitch involuntarily.

'Why don't I just cut her down ...'

I thought to myself, a thought followed by numerous chirps from Jud and Pun.

Despite my thoughts however, I held myself back.

'Devils, Fiends ... and some particular type ? 'Of all' Implies there is more of her kind. Maybe another race ? But then, she also implied the existence of humans. Puzzling ...'

"I meant more specifically. Are we close to the City ?"

Grunting, I asked.

At that, she tilted her head to the side thoughtfully.

"Well, there are some cities of you stinky humans close by. I obviously don't go there, you humans stink too much en mase."

She made a disgusted face while holding her nose with her fingers.

Sighing, I sheathed my sword back on my side and simply continued on walking, tired of both the naked woman before me and the absurdity of the situation.

'There is nothing beyond the city, and her telling that there are multiple cities confirms that this, in fact, isn't the same world I know.'

Frown on my face could not help but deepen at that.

'If my theory is confirmed, that means I don't know shit. No L corp, no backstreets, meaning I don't know anyone  or anything.'

So, I continued walking away, ignoring the screams of the woman to 'Come back here you meager human !'

Fortunately, she let go of me thanks to Big darkening my surroundings and manifesting numerous eyes to stare at her. It seemed to spook her good enough.

Continuing with our earlier method, Big scouted ahead of myself and pointed me in the direction of the city that the naked woman- named Power from what her introduction suggests- spoke about.

On the other hand, I could hear Jud and Pun complaining about not being useful at all, but I simply assured them I didn't care whether they did help or not, as long as they accompanied me, which seemed to somewhat ease them up.

Soon enough, we encroached the end of the tree line, as I found myself staring agape at something I ever heard only in stories.

A 'normal' village.

Or at least some less populated area before the city proper.

Compared to tight alleyways of the backstreets, area filled with sky-tall blocks of apartment buildings, here, there seemed to be an overflow of ground to occupy for those people.

Black roads made of some materials, street lights appearing here and there alongside it.

Walkways on the sides of the road, broad enough to fit few people standing side to side.

Moderately tall buildings, just few meters tall in comparison to the dozens-of-meters tall buildings littering the city, most probably made for singular person or family, deduced from the way these people managed space.

The sight was ... both wonderful and curious.

Wonderful in the aspect of 'I have never seen something like this !', and curious because of the differences between my whole understanding of social stuff.

Regardless of my wondering about the place, I still had some stuff to figure out.

Language, which I initially assumed would be the problem, turned out to ... well, not be a problem.

I could speak with the naked woman from earlier, as well as read some signs on the sides of the road and on sides of the buildings.

Which meant that either the language was the same or I somehow attained a magical ability to speak and read another language.

Which isn't all that relevant for now, and I will chuck it towards the side effect of having three birds in my brain.

Then there was another problem.

Money.

And maybe identification, though I didn't really have any problem with it since no one paid any attention to people in the backstreets not having any.

Both of those would be easy and hard to solve.

Money being easier since I could mug some people or attain a job, though second one happened less often generally.

Though with identification ...

Well, to say it frankly, I didn't know jack-shit about it.

In L Corp, there were people that just gave me ID and said 'Get to work.', and in backstreets, identifying someone generally happened after the stabbing and harvesting organs.

Summarizing, I didn't know shit about everything besides mugging people.

Which would probably turn out fine.

Not like there would be really any problem with it here, no ?

...

As always, thoughts on chapters would be mightily appreciated.