Chapter 2: City in the Sand

Edited by: Chrome Masquerade

Proofread by: Warlite the Human guy

“Nope, nope, nope, nope, NOPE!” I constantly repeated to myself as I made my hasty retreat away from the Oasis and down the dune.

This decision might have the serious potential to bite me in the ass sooner or later, considering that I was in the middle of a freaking desert, but as of then I couldn’t possibly care less as I just wanted to get a break from all of this nonsense and get my mind straight for just a second, here.

Ironic, I know. Usually I am all about nonsense, silliness and stupid shit, but now I am giving it the middle finger and turning the other way. At least give me the very simple task of finishing my -possibly last- cup of good Coffee while stuck here.

“Hey… WAIT!” I heard the zebra girl suddenly called from behind as I continued my speed walk down the surprisingly steep dune, occasionally sipping on my coffee while doing so.

“Damn this coffee is slowly and surely hitting the spot right now.”

The power of good Caffeine in bullshit situations, Kids. Just stay away from alcohol and drugs and you should all be fine.

“Hey… WAIT up! PLEASE!” I heard her say again as I finally reached the bottom of the dune. (I.E. back where i started.)

I grumbled, looking around myself to hopefully find some kind of magical exit door that could, perhaps, warp me home, or at the very least send me to the lands of OZ if possible. Heck even Wonderland currently sounds better. At least I KNOW what to expect THERE, unlike here where I was being chased by a horny talking miniature Zebra in the middle of a bloody desert while wearing Flip Flops.

“If I ever find out whose fault all of this is in the first place, I am going to find them, drag all the way out here and force feed them sand until it leaks out from their bloody butt holes.” I thought to myself angrily as I could hear the sounds of shifting sand behind me get louder and louder.

I groaned. “Might as well play along, to see where this leads me to eventually. Not that I really have much of a choice anyway, to be honest. And who knows? Maybe these talking zebras have some more Coffee, wherever they are from. This cup really isn’t going to last me forever, sadly. Especially not in a DESERT.” I thought to myself, as I turned myself around to receive whatever was coming to me.

The Zebra mare stopped right in front of me, trying to catch her breath as her hooves dug into the sand for stability.

“Of course she’s out of breath. Just a moment ago she was busy grinding on that dick like a horny French maid on a summer day. Actually, do they speak French here as well? They seem to be speaking English perfectly, for some reason. So why not French too? Let’s go hear some French now, I am not putting it past the realms of possibilities at this point. If I can get warped to a magical sandy world filled with horny talking magical Zebras from my backyard door, then I am sure I can get some French speaking ponies, horses, zebras or whatever else here as well. Bring it on. Universe! Give me your best shot.” I mentally ranted as the mare slowly regained her breath before looking up at me with those emerald green eyes of hers.

Those comically large emerald eyes.

“I… I just wanted to…” She tried to say, but her boyfriend seemed to have other ideas entirely, as his black and white form appeared on top of the dune behind her.

“What the hay are you doing there, Nami? Get away from that THING! Who knows what it is and what that thing is capable of.” The stud on top shouted, which in turn made me even more irritated than I already was by being referred to as a ‘thing’.

I have am allowed some level of pride too, you know.

“You’re just pissed because I accidentally happened to interrupted your little “in out, in out” secession before you could finish.” I retorted back which had the desired effect of hitting a nerve in this little horsey’s mind.

“What we were doing is none of your bucking business, you hairless monkey.” Black and white shouted back with a glare.

I just furrowed my brows when he said bucking instead of fucking, finding it both corny and ironic given the fact that I am talking to TWO talking equines. “Actually, now that I think about it, what are ZEBRAS doing in the middle of a desert anyway? Shouldn’t I be talking cartoon Camels instead of Zebras? Furthermore, why am I so chill about this situation anyway? Stepping from my pretty normal and dull home out into a desert populated with talking miniature cartoon zebras who are too stingy to rent themselves a room for their love making should have easily been a one-way train ticket to lazy town.

Most people I know would be flipping their shits right about now, but not me. Why? I blame my love of watching so many cartoons, I guess. Even more so -and especially- in my young adult years. Ever since I was a kid I always had these dreams and fantasies about moments such as this one, finding myself inside a cartoon world and exploring such wacky and colorful places with my own two eyes… only, much more PG friendly, of course.”

I sipped my last drops of morning brew from my mug, savoring the taste as I was unsure how long it would be before I will ever got a good cappuccino again, now that I wasn’t on Earth any more. I know so because Earth doesn’t host any magical talking cartoon Zebras.

“I should know. I checked. Also, female zebra is still looking at me with curiosity. Almost forget her.”

“Nami, I said get away from that thing.” And almost forgot him as well. His was shouting was slowly getting on my nerves by this point.

“Would you bloody shut up, you damn talking horse and let her be, all I can hear is your damn shouting through my own thoughts. Which I don't like.” I retorted back with a heavy frown, which only caused his glare to intensify.

“What did you call me?” He shouted back in an obviously pissed off tone.

I simply felt indifferent about his attempt at looking and sounding all scary and dangerous, and whatnot. I am sure that something as small and adorable looking as these two couldn’t possibly be a threat to me, especially knowing that there was no horn, antlers, sharp teeth or any other natural cheat codes in play.

Zebras are just simple herbivores, the last time I checked.

“A Horse, that’s what a Zebra basically is, a Black and white striped horse while not being as physically powerful as one.” I casually explained to him on autopilot which had the predicted effects that I had predicted.

I must have hit some real sensitive nerve inside his little black and white Mohawk-head, as the guy out of nowhere gave off a primal -but ultimately failed- roar of anger before rapidly charging down the dune. Fast, but also somewhat clumsy.

The mare named Nami, on the other hand seemed to be momentarily unclear on what to do, as her counterpart in gender was charging down the dunes directly toward me.

I was seriously considering the idea of just throwing my now-empty mug at him before I realized that I was practically surrounded by sand, which gave me a different idea instead. The idea of just kicking sand up into his face when he was almost on top of me, watching him cry out in pain and stumble on his own legs as I casually stepped out of the way while he rolled the rest of the way down the dune and past me before comically slamming his head into a small pile of desert sand and burying it underneath it.

I smiled for the first time since waking up this morning as the mare beside me quickly snapped back to reality before galloping past my prone form and making a beeline directly to her beaten, humiliated and dazed boyfriend.

“Big brother, are you ok? Please tell me you’re ok.” The mare pleaded in concern, which had the immediate effect of dropping my smile instantly as I could have sworn that I heard someone drop and shattered a glass bottle somewhere.

Everything around me suddenly stopped as her words slowly but surely registered in my caffeine induced head. “Did she just say big brother?” I mentally asked myself over and over again.

I was stock still. From the outside I would most likely look very stoic with wide eyes, but on the inside I was actually flipping out.

“The FUCK. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!!! DID SHE… DID SHE SERIOUSLY JUST CALL HIM BIG BROTHER? DID I JUST LEARN THAT THESE TWO ARE ACTUALLY SIBLINGS, AND THAT I HAVE JUST WITNESSED UNCENSORED, UNADULTERATED, HARDCORE INCEST JUST A FEW MOMENTS AGO? WHAT THE FUCK!! NO, NO, NONONONONONONO. THIS IS TOO MUCH, NOW. THIS IS ALREADY FUCKING TOO MUCH AND ALREADY CROSSING THE FUCKING BOUNDARY OF BULLSHIT LEVELS. WHAT KIND OF A NIGHTMARISH HENTAI BULLSHIT WORLD DID I WARP INTO? NO…NONONONONONONONONO. SCREW THIS! ALICE!! ALICE, WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU AND YOUR STUPID WHITE RABBIT GUY? I WANNA GO TO WONDERLAND. TAKE ME AWAY. RATHER THAT DRUG INDUCED PLACE THAN THIS JAPANESE HENTAI FANFICTION SHIT.” I ranted in my head, not paying or even responding to the outside world at the moment.

Seriously, what the fuck did I get myself into? Why couldn’t the backyard door have warped me into the Star Wars universe instead? Sure, it’s dark and dangerous sometimes, but at least it’s fucking awesome. I could be stealing a Jawa Sandcrawler about now, if I got there.

My train of self-ranting was sadly forced to a halt when I felt something or rather someone tap me on my right leg. I broke my stoic gaze to look down and immediately began to get the horrible case of the twitchy eye when I found it was none other than Nami… the little sister of mister hard-head over there who has already proven himself to be a TERRIBLE candidate to participate in any cavalry charge.

“Stop with the horse jokes. This isn’t the time...yet”

“Could you maybe help me, please? For some reason I just can’t pull him out and he is slowly starting to panic from air loss, and so am I.” She pleaded in quick panic which made me raise an eyebrow at her.

Looking over at where her other half has spectacularly ended up to I was quick and also somewhat surprised to learn that he seemed to be indeed, mightily stuck in the sand for some reason, and in the verge of going into complete panic mode too if his thrashing and muffled screaming was anything to go by.

I mentally sighed. “Fine, fine. Let’s go get your BROTHER out of this mess.” I said with another twitch in my eye at the mention of “Brother”.

I wasted no time in placing my mug onto the sand below me and moving my tablet under my right armpit. Grabbing both of his hind legs I gave them a quick test pull only to find out to my slight surprise that the little guy was indeed pretty well stuck somehow.

This is sand here right? So how does THIS happen, then? Unless he managed to jam his head into more than just sand, in which case, well bad luck for him to be landing on that one and only spot, then.

“I could pull this guy out myself, but then again, I don’t want to hurt him. Not now, at least.” I thought to myself as my gaze went down to Nami who obviously followed me.

“You take his right leg, I take his left, and then we pull together. Understand?” I asked her, to which she rapidly nodded.

She did as I told her by grabbing his right hind legs with both of her forehooves, and on the count of 3, the two of us started to pull hard, which eventually resulted in him getting pulled out in an INSTANT, flying over our heads and us tumbling backwards onto the hot sand below us. Dropping my tablet onto the sand, as well.

“Fuck, I can even feel the heat of the sand through both my jogging pants and underwear.” I mentally cursed as I immediately jumped back up before grabbing my Tab and checking if that thing was still functional after that fall. Thankfully it was. That would have been a disaster. I paid good money just so I can create some digital art with it.

But then again, how useful can this thing be in a place like this? I had a distinct feeling that electricity wasn’t a thing here.

I dusted myself off afterwards as I watched Nami help her big brother back to all fours while he was busy rubbing his head and taking in some well needed air.

“You’re alright there, Najero?” Nami asked as he was busy panting.

“Najero? So that’s his name, then.”

The newly dubbed Najero nodded and gave her a reassuring smile. “Yeah. Thanks for pulling outta there, sis, I have to say, you are getting quite strong with each new day.” He praised her with a smile.

Nami quickly shook her head, which seemed to confuse him for a moment. “It wasn’t just me.” She announced before looking over and pointing a hoof at me. “He helped. I was actually having troubles pulling you out myself, so I quickly asked him if he was willing to help you. See? I told you that he isn’t as bad as you might have thought.” She explained happily, which made me roll my eyes.

“Very typical Big bro little sis cliché. Little sister is all nice and sweet while her big brother is somewhat of a hothead and not the ripest fruit on the tree. Quite literally a hothead, considering what I accidentally stumbled into earlier.” I thought to myself with another eye twitch.

“Note to self: Stop making dick jokes as well. There shall be more time for it on another day. If I survive that long, that is. Still being in the middle of a Desert and what not”

“Hey… uh… I guess I both owe you and thanks AND an apology for what I did and said earlier.” I heard someone say, which immediately broke my train of thought and brought me back to reality.

“Can I even call this reality? I might be still sleeping or somehow drugged beyond belief as far as I know. Actually… nope, nope. This is real. If I can feel the burning sensation of sand on both my unprotected feet and clothed bum then I guess this must be real. Just accepting it might save whatever sanity I still have left in my head. Not that I had a lot of it to begin with, but hey, I am not ready to go completely nuts just yet. Let’s save that part up for another time as I am sure a lot of crazy shit is going to be on its way regardless, I just know it.” i thought to myself.

“Uh… it's fine. You were just looking out for your younger sibling just like how any good brother should.” I responded with a wave of my hand.

“Yeah, but still. I have the tendency to sometimes open my mouth first before thinking.” He reply sheepishly, which I simply accepted as what it was.

“Najero.”

“… What?” I asked at this out of the blue introduction.

“Najero is my name, by the way. But am I sure that you already know that, since my sister has already called me by it. Same with hers, as her name is Nami.” He introduced himself and his sister to me which in turn made me raise my brows at them.

“Perceptive. Might have to withdraw that ripest fruit bit.” i thought.

“Well, ok.” I casually replied with a shrug. “I guess I can tell you two that my name is Alexander Becker, or just Alex for short, in case my name is a bit of a mouthful for the two of you.” I introduced myself in return which made the little sister smile up at me. That smile would most likely drop at the next question I wanted to make 100% clear.

“So …is it true, then, that the two of you are siblings?” I casually asked out of the blue, which in turn made their smiles disappear as predicted.

They both began to look off the side -one looking a bit awkward and annoyed, the other just straight up embarrassed- with a blush on both of them.

“Yes… yes, we are.” Najero replied with a heavy sigh which made my eye twitch even worse.

He was about to say more to the matter when I quickly silenced him by raising my hand and trying to get my left eye back in control.

“Don’t want to know, don’t care at the moment. What you two do in your spare time is your business and not mine. In fact…” I explained before shielding myself from the sun with my Tablet. ”I am currently more concerned with getting out of the sun’s rays and hopefully finding some Civilization. I know for a fact that at night places like this can get really, REALLY cold when the sun decides to turn off.” I suggested to them.

Nami quickly perked up ar this as she stepped up. “Actually, Achaemidas is just a couple of dunes away from where we are, just overpast the small Oasis.” She explained.

“Acheawhat?” I responded as the mentioned name was itching something inside my chaotic head.

“Achaemidas, that’s the name of the largest and only city in all of Zebrica, and also the home and location of the largest and most powerful Zebra tribe in the entire continent.” Najero filled in for his sister, which made me frown at some certain similarities here.

“Achaemidas, Zebrica? More like renamed version of Achaemenid and Africa, the first one just adding ‘as’ and removing the ‘en’ to make it different. What kind of an alternate reality did I find my way into?” I thought to myself as my expression morphed into the one you get when you see or hear something that sounded both (A) like bullshit and (B) somewhat annoying.

“Uh… hello? Equus to Alexander? You said you wanted out of the Desert, right? We can lead you to the city, if you want.” Najero tapped me on my leg, which roused me out of my thoughts.

“Yes can I help you?” I casually answered.

The stud in question frowned at my strange reply before quickly repeating himself.

“Yeah, sure. Let’s just go get out the sun before I die from a heat stroke.” I replied.

Najero nodded before turning on his hooves and climbing his way back up the dune with Nami hot on his tail before signaling for me to follow along.

I did, until I realized that my Mug was missing from my current inventory. “Oh crap. Almost forgot my trusty coffee mug, there.” I muttered, before I quickly turned myself back around to grab it where I left it.

“Can’t have Coffee without my trusty blue mug, can I?” I thought as I held it with the same arm where my Tablet was currently wedged as well. That done, I followed these two back over the dune and down to the Oasis.

This mug and including my Tab and my simple phone are the only personal things I had on me from my own world, minus the very clothes on my back, clothes that consist of Flip-Flops, a set of black jogging pants and a basic red shirt with the easy, but true words of ”Procrastinating like a BOSS” written on it. Oh, and I was wearing a set of underwear underneath my pants too. God knows what could have happened if I didn’t come here with at least a set of underwear on me. That would have been a disaster.

You know what they all say: “underwear a day keeps unsuspected unpleasantries away”. Or maybe it’s just me? Who knows? I do have the tendency to make shit up sometimes. But the point is, the idea of ever leaving my home without some underwear is a big fucking no-no, for me. Case closed.

We eventually passed by the Oasis in complete and utter silence. My left eye once again twitched as memories of what had transpired here earlier re-flooded my brain, which also prompted me to stay the hell AHEAD of the mare known as ‘Nami’ as her very, VERY short tail was doing a horrendous job in keeping her equine bits hidden from plain view. Which also made me believe that flashing your genitalia must be a pretty A-OK thing in this horsy society, if a certain fashion trend allows for tails to be nothing more than short-cut hairy stubs.

And that is not even taking nudity into consideration. This is going to be weird I just know it.

“At least now I can “somewhat” understand why this bastard over here is fucking his own little sister in the first place if all he sees 24/7 are her two glory holes flashing in front of his face… or maybe he just has a massive fetish. Who knows?“

“But then again, Najero over here does have a pretty normal looking lengthy tail that actually does its natural job that it’s supposed to do. Maybe it’s just something that females do here, or it really could just be Nami, who knows ‘again’ we just have to wait and see I guess?” I thought.

“Furthermore, what the hell am I doing contemplating about their behinds and fashion trends in the first place? Did all of this shit get into my head already?

Damn. I need another Coffee. These are going to be some really stressful first few days, I am sure. And I am ALLERGIC to stress. Actually scratch that, I need Alcohol right about this point. Too bad I left my last bottle of wine back at home. I could really use some alcohol inside my system right about now.

Screw my previous message about alcohol.”

“Hey, uh… Alexander?” I heard Nami’s voice suddenly come up, which once again had the side effect of getting me back to ‘REALITY’.

REALITY can be so jarring sometimes.

I groaned silently to myself before turning my head to the side to look down at her.

“Shoot.” I replied.

She looked up at me curiously as we continued our trek. “What were you doing out here in the Desert, anyway? Don’t take this the wrong way, but… you don’t look like the type of creature that could survive out here. For very long, anyway.” She questioned as we eventually began climbing up yet another dune on the opposite side of the water hole we just passed by.

“Oh, you know, just sightseeing and enjoying the natural beauty of the landscape and all.” I innocently answered while waving my free hand around.

She obviously wasn’t convinced by my poorly veiled lie, but somehow came to the conclusion to just take it for what it was and leave it at that. Which was good, because I seriously had no other explanations or excuses at my disposal anyway.

Typically, my brain is still somewhat asleep just after waking up, and usually stays like this for around 1 or 2 hours, max.

“That actually reminds me. Did I even turn off the stove before getting here?”

“Alright, here we are. I told you that it was just close by.” Najero announced from atop the dune, while the other two of us were still dragging our way to the top.

“This stupid sand crawling better be worth the view. These Flip Flops are horrible for this.” I growled as I pushed myself up the rather steep last few meters before eventually reaching the top.

What I saw caused me to blink a couple of times.

“Here it is, Achaemidas, home of the largest Zebra tribe in all of Zebrica.” Najero announced with a gestured hoof pointing at the distant city in front of us.

“Huh… it looks exactly like I imagined it would.” I thought to myself as I gave the sight in front of me a more detailed look.

A large green Oasis in the middle of a sea of sand was presented before me, with two very large rivers flowing through - that in no doubt are the main reason why the lands around it looked so green and fertile to begin with. In between these two rivers was the city itself, its style, architecture and overall feel reminding me a lot of ancient Mesopotamian culture, If that tall Ziggurat structure on the west side of the city was anything to judge by. Which was kind of fitting and strangely ironic, thanks to the two Rivers bordering the City’s northern and southern points.

These two Rivers reminded me of both the Tigris and the Euphrates River from my world.

See, being a heavy history buff does has Its uses after all, and some people even think that history itself is boring. Well I showed them now… I think.

Also, how do you know where east, west, north and south are? Position of the sun. The sun always rises in the east and goes ‘auf wiedersehen’ to the west, and right now it seems to be still before noon.

I mean, how could it not be? I was forced to wake up at around 7:30 am thanks to my ass-hat neighbor and his bloody bomb siren of an alarm clock next door. I guess the only good thing about my sudden change of location was that I never had to hear that dreadful beeping sound ever again. Finally I can sleep in, just like the lazy, good-for-nothing sloth I am. But only until breakfast.

Speaking of breakfast. “Let’s go down there and snag ourselves some Dates, or whatever it is that you guy are using those fertile river shores for. Coffee can only do so much before I eventually need something solid and chewable.” I announced with surprising glee as I simply began to march my way down the dune once more and towards the city.

Both N&N where not too far to follow, with Nami being the first to match my marching steps.” Wait… you drink COFFEE?” Nami asked in disbelief as if it were some kind of rarity or something.

I looked down at her with a smile. “Yes I do, every morning in fact. What did you think was I sipping from my mug when we first met?” I replied casually while showing her the now empty mug.

She just continued to look up at me in shock as we quickly reached the sandy bottom. “But… But Coffee is a luxury good here. Only the wealthy can ever hope of getting there hooves on such expensive items.” Nami quickly explained which in turn made me smile even wider.

“Huh, I never knew I was rich. I usually thought that I was just slightly above middle class or something.” I commented as the dunes slowly gave way to gravel and more solid ground.

“From where did you come, anyway?” Najero eventually asked as he flanked me from the right.

“From Deutschland. But at some point I moved to the Philippines, so I guess I am from there instead.” I casually replied, which gained me two sets of confused stares.

“Never even heard of these places.” Nami commented, which I simply ignored as the three of us were moving closer to what I would guess was a main road leading to the city itself.

“Good. I can finally leave all this loose and hot shit behind for something that my Flip Flops can actually manage.” I thought to myself as we finally reached the road.

It was then when I saw even more Zebras besides these two. “Oh, cool, they do seem to be wearing more than their birthday suits here.”

True to that, most Zebras I watched pass by us did wear something. Sure, it was mostly nothing more than simple cloaks with a hood or Bedouin headdress combo. But again, it's better than nothing. And it even makes sense as well, as I am sure that even fur can’t really protect you from the harshness that is the Desert sun.

Besides Zebras I even managed to spot a few horses here and there. Granted, they were still somewhat small compared to horses I know, but still a bit larger than the average Zebra as far as I’ve seen so far. At first I thought that these were actually more like horses back home until I noticed the cloaks and bling-bling that they were wearing and the fact that I heard them talking as well when I passed by them. Though their language was nothing but gibberish for me.

“Ok, NOW THIS is much better. Makes me feel as if I am on a vacation to a faraway land. This is it what it’s all about. Natives that can badmouth without you knowing it. Brilliant.” I thought to myself with an almost insane grin as we passed by a pair of Zebras pulling a large cart full of whatever out of the city like normal horses.

Actually, now that I think about it, do they even uses any form of work animals here, or do they really do everything by themselves, including the pulling of carts? Furthermore, why hasn’t anyone here gave me this curious or wondering look yet? One would think that a tall hairless thing that walks on two legs would be the world's biggest eye catcher, but apparently it seems that this world -or at least these Zebras- must be pretty used to seeing weird and foreign shit, otherwise they wouldn’t be as chill about it as they are now.

Or maybe they are just too busy to bother. I would certainly be too busy to bother, too busy thinking like I am doing now.

“Oh look, I see a Gazelle as well. Or are they Antelopes? Not important.”

The dull yellow and orange colors of the desert were soon replaced by the ever welcoming greens of the fertile and cultivated lands surrounding the city and river shores. With more Zebras tending them from what I could see.

A few boats were visible sailing up or down the river as we reached a large stone bridge that spanned across it. The architecture of the city now firmly mimicking the building style of both Babylonian -and Assyrian, if the walls were any indication- culture, with its side beautifully decorated with depictions of past histories and events carved into them. One image right next to the city gate even depicted something that looked like a battle.

Makes you wonder just how many ways these Zebras seem to mimic the ancient cultures of my world. Or more precise, THIS entire world as a whole.

My inner history buff was jumping for joy at this point.

“I might be enjoying my stay here, after all.” I thought to myself as we were following a caravan directly to the city gate.

By the way, did I even mention that the city gate itself was flanked by two very accurately depicted lion statues? Yes, this feels very much Mesopotamian indeed.

“Halt.” A guard suddenly stopped us from following the Caravan into the city.

I raised a curious eyebrow at the little fellow and both his weapon and armor design. Also reminded me a lot of the ancient middle east. I think ancient Persian is what the style of the armor is mimicking, with the whole scaled and mailed armor design and whatnot. The helmet too screamed a lot of Ancient Persia as well, with its shape and decorative lines carved into the metal. His face was completely covered by a large piece of mail as well, with only the eyes being visible. In fact, there was hardly a single exposed area on this little equine’s body. what was not covered in scale or mail armor was draped over by colorful fabric and a large cloak on the back.

Overall, he looked ready for a fight. Even more so with his long bronze spear beside him.

“Note to self, do not get into fight with the local military. I might be bigger than them but I got basically nothing on me rather my mug and two electronics.” I thought to myself as his gaze was surprisingly fixed on the two stunned Zebra behind me instead of ahead of me.

Actually, wait. Why are do they look so stunned in the first place?

“I know you two. I and my fellow guards have seen you steal of food from the market, including fabrics. You two may be street rats, but stealing is still a crime and will be punished as such.” The guard declared in a deep tone.

“Huh… Incest lovers and thieves as well. what a unique first encounter for a fantasy adventure in a fantasy world. Couldn’t possibly have asked for an even better start. No, seriously. This is unique.” I thought to myself with interest on what else could reveal itself out of the blue. Though I will personally admit that I was both surprised to learn that these two were poor and homeless as well.

Even the true, harsh side of civilization is present in this world as well. Poverty.

I was roused out of my thoughts when the guard suddenly began to move past me and directly towards my two companions. Nami looked ready to run while Najero looked more ready for a fight. A fight that would most likely not go to well, given who his opponent was.

“Hey, mate.” I called out to get the guard’s attention, which thankfully worked, as he stopped and turned himself around to look at me, or to be more precise, my midsection.

“Can’t you give these two a break or something? Thievery is bad, sure, but can you really blame them for the position that these two are in? Desperate times require desperate actions, after all.” I explained while leaning myself against the base of the lion statue next to me.

The guard eventually looked up to me, at first he looked both surprised and shocked, just as I predicted but soon to my own confusion his expression changed to that of realization. Even more prominent when the guy slowly removed his helmet and face mail to reveal his true form.
A typical Zebra with red -and dark red- striped mane.

“Wait, you... you look like… you look like the description and depiction of the next Monkey King that was prophesied.” The Zebra guard exclaimed which in turn made me raise my brows at him.

“The what now?” I asked naturally, only becoming even more confused when the stallion in front of me bowed down while dropping both his helmet and spear.

“Your highness, both the High Priests and Shamans have awaited the arrival of your kind for so long. Quick, I can lead you to them at the high council. From there they will judge if you are worthy of taking the long empty throne for yourself.” The guard respectfully explain before slowly raising up again.

He was quick in retrieving both his helmet and spear, placing the helmet back where it belonged before moving past me and gesturing to follow him with his hoof.

“Please, follow me. I can escort you to the high council.” He gestured.

I was, again, completely surprised and confused at this new and out of nowhere development. Same with my two companions, who were both looking at me in stunned silence.

I shook my head, mentally and physically shrugging at this new situation as I did what was asked of me. Following the Zebra guard past the gate and into the city proper with a grin on my face.

“Yup… definitely going to enjoy my stay here.” I thought.

Author's Notes:

Concept art of both Nami and Najero.

I also have a NSFW pic of what these two were doing in the fist chapter.
I can create a blog with a link to the pic if some of you are curious.

Also sorry for those who might not tolerate this concept of siblings...doing that, I too am against it in real life. I can fix it if its too much of a problem.