***
Chapter 3
***
"Victorious warriors win first and
then
go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to
win
,"
-
Sun Tzu
Samael van Ryn was exiting from the airport. The rustle and bustle of Paris, the city of Love, was something that made him gape in awe. The scents were quite different than red stained mountains of Mars.
The movies of old always romanticize the city and the people living in it.
Protagonist would come, new to the town, and then meet a vixen; go to bunch of weird adventures and then fall in love. The movie usually ended in them kissing.
He expected something like that; if it was out there somewhere.
This truly was an alien world. His world.
People of all colors walked about. Some of them had that familiar purple hue, their irises shining in the day's light. Samael was searching for his bag. He found it among many others, drifting on a conveyor belt. A blue bag was drifting towards him. He was wondering why he bought a bag of such dull color. After grabbing the bag, he watched the procession of people, some of whom looked lost while exiting the station. He shrugged, there was no point in lurking around, eventually he walked towards a man that scowled. The morning sun was in his eyes. He politely handed him his bag, with a scowl on his face he threw it under the bus, the trunk quickly filled with other bags of passengers that wanted the same ride as Samael.
He walked slowly inside the bus and slowly found an empty seat. The bus slowly filled up and peeled off its stop; on its way to the city Centre.
Buildings were outlined further in the distance. Big and ever-present. Samael saw many older houses littering the landscape as the shuttle was travelling faster and faster. Farm houses, farm houses and guess what; more farm houses. The landscape was beautiful. Colorful. Food was being produced for the populace. Farmers busy growing crops to keep the hunger at bay.
On Mars all he saw was concrete buildings and asphalt.
One gets nostalgic for something natural. Red, red and just red gets old very quickly. Even the parts that were terraformed. Everything had an aura of being synthetically fabricated. Arid surfaces were so vapid and uninteresting that he found it difficult living there. Earth was his birth place, but Mars was and is his home. He had fun watching the countryside pass by, figuring what next hill could be hiding.
Earth was different. All natural. Even the parts that were bio-engineered were beautiful and smelled earthy. Terra was looking good. Her old age was showing, but she was graceful while doing it.
The buss slowed to a stop. Samael rose from his seat and slowly advanced to the front. The driver was sitting in the seat and playing with his phone.
"'scuse me, can you help me with my bags? They're down in the locker." The man visibly grimaced by his question and 'demand'.
"Ok," he almost spat and reluctantly exited with Samael.
The man didn't want to do this, it was evident from his actions; as he kicked the door open and started to dig around. Rather violently.
Samael was worried about any other stuff that were around his, "It's ok, I see it."
He ducked down and grabbed his bag.
While taking it he heard the man spitting insults under his breath. He obviously wasn't for this job.
The bus's wheels screeched and he was on its merry way faster than normal, while Samael looked around. The architecture was amazing. Olden designs were incorporated with the newer building methods, making the overall structure in the City Centre look rather futuristic. Appropriate -- would be a better word. There weren't many buildings like these. On Mars at least; Most kept to the older building methods. Roman, Japanese, Austro-Hungarian, but these designers made all of them look archaic.
Paris. City of Love.
The young man gazed at the displays and blushed. There was great deal of adult advertisement plainly for all to see. Out in the open no less. In the daylight. He reddened furiously. Women fucking. Deep down it was a glorious sight to behold.
He remembered sneaking out of bed late and spoofing some adult movies.
He realized something else; he wasn't where he was supposed to be.
Samael wanted to check his surroundings before the riots would start. After some time and extensive looking around, he came to understanding that the man on the buss left him on a street in a completely different neighborhood.
"Damn him," he cursed under his breath.
He was expecting to exit few blocks away from the Embassy, but this was different.
He memorized a circle 5 miles wide, just in case, but this seemed like a different part of town. He scowled. The building across from the street sat invitingly. It too had pictures of ladies in all form of stimulating positions. One beautiful woman was splayed wide while her fingers opened her vagina for all to see. He gulped. Samael remembered reading about freedom of sex in current society. His cock was already hard as iron. The youth, for once, working against him.
Hover bikes drifted soundlessly as he crossed the road. One of them skidded to a stop. A figure on top of it finally registering in Samael's mind. It was a gorgeous babe. The woman on the bike was barely dressed. Samael's eyes went wide. He watched her stop and take her helmet off. Her faux protective suit quickly attracted all kind of attention.
Peacocks of all shapes and sizes started emerging from their dens. In a flash they started wooing the woman that simply shut her bike off and secured it against nearby bike rack. Taking her keys she walked off. She swayed her hips as much as she could. Selling her charms to the males around.
One male peacock apparently wanted to get something more, so unlike others, he tried to flaunt his seduction skills, "Oh, goddess from above has descended. Hi, I'm Mr. Right. I hope you were looking for me."
Samael gaged; the woman didn't notice the man at all. In her ears a pair of earphones. She was oblivious to all of the cat calls, but the peacock, the man, attracted the most attention, his feathers the brightest of colors.
"Sorry, were you talking to me," she asked finally taking out her ear obstructions.
The man smiled wiggling his eyebrows, "Yes, I've said; Did you fall from heaven, because I'm Mr. Right. You were looking for me."
"Oh God, he said it again," Samael exclaimed holding his mouth.
The woman watched Samael's reaction and smiled, the man had a different reaction, "Asshole, let me do my thing."
Samael held his hands up, "Sorry man, go for it," he continued watching with baited breath.
