Ajax and Shaula try to figure out how they can understand these languages. They come up with no answers. This is just another oddity for them, like their healing factor or their enhanced senses. Things have been incomprehensible to them so far.  Of course, their language comprehension is an effect of their bodies’ transcendance.

The Divine Limit would not be so cruel as to drop His children into a world where they could not even speak to anything but themselves. The knowledge of every language that has ever existed on Omicron was added to their minds.

“Alright, enough. All I can say is that, for whatever reason, we can understand what these people are saying. That’s fucking awesome!” Shaula gets over her initial shock rather quickly and has realized what an advantage they have. With both language and appearance shored up, they can easily blend into this civilization. Whatever their purpose is here, their lives were made easier.

Ajax meanwhile looks over a few of the carriages. Some of these have writing on them. One of them is a general store merchant company. There is also a mercenary group with an armored driver, as well as a carriage shipping food. Ajax knows which carriage is carrying what because he can read the writing on the carriages.

“Shaula, I think we can read too. Look at those carriages and some of the signs near the gates. I can read it all.” Shaula turns her eyes to the points of interest Ajax mentioned.

“Wow, fuck yeah! We can read and write, what an easy place this is!”

These roads do not have carriages as large as the trucks back on Earth. Instead however, Ajax sees groups of carriages with the same company logo. Rather than carrying things in eighteen wheelers, this is their solution to shipping supplies around. These people might not have discovered the engine yet.

He also notices a carriage that looks completely different from the others. On the shoulder of the four lane road, Ajax can see a carriage with a luxurious looking exterior of complex silver and gold patterns. It looks extremely beautiful. It is being pulled by two of those massive insects with silvery fur. All of the other carriage animals have a purer white fur.

“The right shoulder on this road is really wide… That’s probably a road only available for VIPs, right?” Ajax guesses that is the reason why this particular carriage can bypass the other four lanes. The two of them watch the carriage reach the gate. A guard checks something with the coachman. It looks like he’s inspecting identification or a license.

The guard then salutes or at least that’s what Ajax assumes. None of the other guards they’ve been watching have saluted the carriages before.

“He’s saluting with both arms? That’s what he’s doing, right?” Ajax asks Shaula in curiosity.

“Yeah, I’m guessing. That carriage must hold someone important. They’re not even searching it like they’re doing with the rest of the other carriages… What kind of people do you think run shit here?” Shaula wonders out loud how this nation is run. It could be a democracy, but the motif seems medieval.

“You think that’s a nobleman or something? This seems like the kind of place to have kings and queens.”

“But, those buildings in the middle of the city seem too advanced for that. Even the walls… wait, I just had a thought. Ajax, can we speak in any of the languages they’re speaking?”

“Oooo, yeah, that’s important. Understanding is different from talking back. Alright… let me try. *Ahem* I am speaking in the language of the gate guards, how do I sound?”

“...That’s really weird, you don’t even have an accent. What about me?”

“You’re good too. Too good, crazy good, Shaula. We’re fucking fluent… even down to the swears and shit. You know what, let’s stick to this language for now, get in some practice. It would draw too much attention if we were to slip into English around people when we’re gonna try to pass ourselves off as the humans here. English can be like our emergency language or something, when we want to talk in secret.”

“Good idea, yeah. This is still unbelievable though. I can even think in the language. It’s like this is my native language or something. What’s with all this?”

“I really don’t fucking know, Shaula.”

Ajax and Shaula continue to watch how the guards treat the people entering through the non-carriage entrance. They see more glowing armor. It seems so advanced compared to the insect drawn carriages. Ajax blurts out something he immediately regrets.

“Christ, what if this is a dream or a coma or something… Ah, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that… don’t hit me.” Ajax braces for Shaula’s quick temper response, but it doesn’t arrive. She only sighes in dejection while continuing to watch the gate.

“You know, if this is actually a dream, or a coma, or even the DMT hallucination you get right when you die, then only one of us is having it. So the question is, is it you who’s still existing and I’m the manifestation of you, or am I the only real person in this dreamscape? Do you really want to go down that train of thought?”

“...I guess if it is a dream, it’s not like we could somehow share the same dream. Shit, why didn’t I think of that?”

“Because it’s depressing. At a certain level, the fact that you and I are here is fucking depressing as shit. We both had dreams, you know. Real dreams. Back on Earth. But now we’re stuck in this place. It would only be worse if this was all in our heads.”

***

The gilded noble carriage enters the city of Tritol quite easily. The coachman drives through the poor and working class neighborhoods near the gate. Eventually, the carriage enters the more affluent neighborhoods filled with well-maintained buildings between ten and fifteen stories tall.

Finally, they make it to the central district. This is where the wealthiest residents of Tritol live. Most of the people living here take residence in the incredibly prestigious skyscrapers, each 70 to 100 stories in height. The area is filled with luxurious shops and restaurants that only they can afford to frequent.

In front of a certain prominent skyscraper, the gilded carriage stops. The driver climbs down and opens the door. A tall young man with long, light brown hair, tan skin, and beautiful, slightly feminine features exits the carriage. Three young girls follow behind him, two humans and one beastkin. The young man is 23 years of age. The girls are sixteen, sixteen and fifteen in public, thirteen, thirteen and fourteen years old in reality.

The man and his girls walk with their driver along a luxurious carpet towards the entrance of their building. Two lines of servants on either side bow as he walks forward. He does enjoy the pomp and circumstance, but he is rather tired. He would prefer to head up to his floor, so he can sleep for a while with his girls. But sadly, he has to deliver the news he received at the sacred city.

The young lord was sent there for shelter, while Semjaza and Osva were having their final battle. He was finally allowed to leave last night. His coachmen rushed from midnight to dusk. They were responsible for delivering the news to the Baron on time. His two prized Miella boast extraordinary stamina. They can run day and night without rest or food for months at a time. They only needed to stop for bathroom breaks every few hours.

As a result, the young lord, the Baron’s brother, is here now and he can deliver the important news. It seems that the timeline needs to be moved up. The final crusade is approaching.