Chapter 2 - Rata Sum
I wasn't sitting at the table very long before a grumpy looking Asura brought me a jug and a steaming plate of food. He dropped the plate off without a word and disappeared before I was able to thank him. But I didn't really mind at all, because I currently wasn't in the mood for having a conversation with a stranger.
I took a deep swallow of the drink before me, the taste drawing my face into a grimace. While I couldn't say what exactly it was, it had a fruity hint and was pretty strong. Whatever it was, would have to suffice for my current situation. I gave a quick poke to my food before concentrating on my dinner. My stomach was rumbling as the hot steam reached my nostrils.
The previous excitement of landing into this new world had overtaken the desire for things like food and drink during these past few hours. But now that there was food sitting in front of me, I realized how starved I truly felt.
How long did it take to get here? I briefly thought.
The feeling of time had been lost during my strange journey. Thinking back on it, the adventure had felt like only a few minutes had passed, but my body was clearly telling me otherwise.
I looked back to the presentation before me. Much like the jug sitting next to my food, the plate was also made of some polished wood. Its surface was already decorated with various scratches and cracks on the rim. It wasn't anything special, but at least the weathered-looking material didn't seem to crumple away in my hands. On the plate was a big piece of meat that resembled something to that of pork. It was a little too burned in my opinion of personal tastes, but it didn't appear too terribly charred. Beside it lay a clutch of cooked vegetables consisting of broccoli, carrots and kohlrabi.
A strange mix, that was for sure.
Carefully, I took the fork and scooped a portion of vegetables right into my mouth. My taste buds were hit with a surprise of diverse, culinary herbs. It was foreign, but not bad at all.
My focus moved towards the meat on my plate and I searched around the table in vain for a knife I could use.
No knife?...I thought, concern passing my face. Just as I was about to raise my hand to ask for something to cut my meat, my action was interrupted.
"You do have teeth, don't you?" a voice next to be suddenly asked. It sounded slightly childish, and its tone was at a near-annoying level.
Either I spoke my thoughts out loud, or the clear confusion on my face had simply been that obvious to the wandering eye.
The stranger had totally ripped me from my daydream of kitchen utensils, and with a jolt I soared up and bumped my knee against the table rim. I sucked in a breath of air through clenched teeth, suppressing a painful groan.
Ouch, that hurt! I winced, doubling over a bit while the pain dulled. I threw a glance towards my unexpected guest.
Immediate recognition caused me to bump my already injured knee once more when I saw who was sitting next to me.
The female asura was bald and had ash-gray skin. Big blue eyes were intently focused on me, and her small mouth was grinning in clear amusement. The iconic pointed ears were covered by gold-garnished plates, some of which had brown ties dangling down from them. The straps seemed to sway and fro with every little movement she made. The rest of the armor she wore was decorated in rich blues, and it sparkled as thought it had been newly repaired and polished.
"Y-You... You are Zo-Zojja! THE Zojja!" I muttered, the only thing coming to mind with what I could meekly bumble out. I was too busy holding onto my injured knee while staring upon the famous Asura with my mouth wide open.
"That's who I am, I suppose. Indeed. A real genius you are", she said with an arched brow.
I realized how stupid I was looking and my face heated up from disgrace.
Zojja cleared her throat and looked in my eyes. "And you are...?"
"Oh, ehm...", I nervously began. There was a pause between the two of us while a battle fought inside my head. Your name, dumbass! Just give her your nickname!
Grinning with newfound confidence, I reached my out. "I'm... I'm Szallejh!"
Zojja blinked, then looked down to my extended hand for a moment before taking in hold after a brief show of confusion. Asura shaking hands was not the most common greeting for their culture, and it had caught her off-guard.
Rule number one: Hand-shaking - human, I inwardly groaned.
"Well, Szallejh. To return to our previous topic of conversation. You don't have a knife, because the teeth of an Asura are obviously sharp enough to do the task all on their own", Zojja said, sounding as though it were the most obvious thing in all of Tyria.
She spoke in such an articulated and confident manner, that it seemed to have completely swept away any of the little confidence I had already been holding onto.
I wondered if she knew there was something strange about me. After all, here I was - an Asura with absolutely no clue about how to actually act like one. Perhaps she had some inclination that I was actually a young woman stuck in a completely different world.
But more likely was that Zojja probably just suspected I was the biggest Skritt brained idiot in all of Tyria.
Maybe she assumed that I was the result of some Krewe's experiment gone horribly wrong, and my mind had been completely frazzled in the process. It certainly wouldn't be the first time for something like that to happen.
"Eh, yes, of course...", I replied, sounding utterly idiotic. I impaled at the meat with my fork, preparing to bite off a big piece. Though it was a bit black on the outside, it still tasted good. The pork was unexpectedly juicy on the inside, which was a nice surprise.
Quite literally I had bit off more than I could chew, and it was causing me a whole mess of other issues. I swallowed after some more laborious chewing, and wiped off the excess juice with the back of my hand. Next time, I would know better to only bite off small pieces instead.
I looked up, freezing upon realizing that Zojja had been observing my lack of ability to properly eat food in a decent-enough way.
Great. Now I was the biggest Skritt brained idiot with really bad table manners as well. At this point I didn't think it was possible to have a worst first impression with someone.
But Zojja didn't seem too much about my lack of table manners. She ordered herself something to drink and shifted a bit towards me. "So... what exactly happened with you out there in the fields?" she whispered in a low enough tone that no one else inside the tavern would be able to hear it.
"Eh?" I replied, my mouth still filled with food. I was too focused on getting food into my stomach to really understand what Zojja was currently up to.
The same grumpy Asura from before who had brought me my food, wordlessly came by to drop a jug in front of the respected elementalist.
"Well then. You appear out of nowhere, float in the air for a while like some kind of strange anomaly and then land on your butt in the middle of a meadow", she said, taking a quick swig of her drink. "That didn't look like teleportation, if you ask me."
I stared wide-eyed at the Asura next to me re-telling exactly what had previously occurred.
She continued, her confident voice never wavering. "After that, you stare ahead for some ludicrous amount of time and seem to cough your guts out. So if this was some kind of teleportation, then I would highly suggest you replace or repair the last device you used. Otherwise you might not arrive at your destination in one piece the next time", she said with a grin, making no apparent move to hide her curiosity.
From the way she had just explained it, the occurrence must have looked really strange for any wandering eyes. I really didn't grasp the basics of what had happened to me anyway, and hearing it from the mouth of someone else didn't much help that case.
"It wasn't any kind of teleportation. At least I don't think it was..", I finally replied after a pause to absorb her re-telling. I took a deep drink from my drink to help wash down the food I had just scarfed down. Casually, my tongue touched a row of small, sharp teeth. The action made me grin.
"Then what else was it? Some kind of spell?" Zojja asked, raising a brow towards me.
"Believe me, I have no idea what happened!" I exclaimed, biting off another piece of the charred pork. "All I know is that it's completely absurd, and you would never believe me anyway. Why, you'd probably think a lab ceiling had crashed down upon my head."
It felt strange to say things like that, but I figured I would get more used to it while my new voice became more familiar. At least it was starting to sound like my voice.
Zojja lightly giggled. "Well, I had already assumed that. But believe me, I have seen and experienced many things within my lifetime. I've fought dragon champions and their masters, and won to tell the tale! I am the greatest genius in Rata Sum. If someone is going to figure out some absurd thing, then it absolutely should be me. Don't you agree?" she said, pointing her thumb proudly towards her chest.
I scratched the back of my head nervously and looked around, making sure that no one was listening to our conversation. "Well, the truth is... is that I'm not really from here."
"I already hypothesized that, given your strange behavior!" Zojja teased. "So then, there are other Asura outside of Tyria?"
"No, not like Tyria", I continued, thinking carefully about my next words. "I'm not from this country, or even from this world."
Confusion appeared upon Zojja's face, and there was little doubt she was probably thinking about the fallen lab ceiling again.
"You should know, there is another world besides this one... One without magic and dragons. It's a world full of humans. No Asura, Sylvari, or Charr in sight. In this world though, the people know the stories of Tyria. Of Destiny's Edge, the Pact-"
Zojja shook her head, signaling that she didn't believe my words as the signs of doubt were clear upon her features.
Frustrated, I took another swallow. "See, I knew you wouldn't believe me!"
I leaned my chin against the jug's rim and deflated a breath of air noisily through my nose. "Even I don't want to believe all the things that happened to me today..."
But then as though a switch had been flipped, the expression of disbelief had vanished from Zojja's face. It was replaced with the natural curiosity of the Asura. "Keep talking", she said. She waved to one of the nearby bartenders, and ordered two more drinks for us.
It was already my fourth round of drinks though, and with every swallow I could feel more dizzy while the words flowed more freely from my tongue. I told Zojja my whole story with even the smallest of details behind them. I was more open to answering questions, and there seemed to be a lot that the famous Asura elementalist had wanted to ask.
I had never been a good drinker, and with the fourth jug now sitting in front of my nose, I was feeling comfortably warm and my nearby surroundings seemed to be spinning.
Eventually Zojja seemed to be running out of questions to ask, and we were becoming more quiet in each other's presence.
Intently I was staring down into the reddish brewage, wondering why the jug was suddenly moving by itself even though my hands weren't anywhere near it.
Was this some kind of earthquake? I thought through a clouded mind.
My focus jumped back to the drink in question. "Tell me, Zojja... What exactly is this stuff we are drinking all the time?"
Even Zojja's face had adopted a bit of a blush, but she seemed to be able to handle bigger amounts of alcohol much better than I could. "This, my dear, is Juniberry-Gin. The best gin you will find in and around Rata Sum", she explained, her voice still steady and solid.
Hah, that's why I had recognized the fruity touch before!
I continued, my words slurred. "Well, all the same to you, it seems incredibly efficient at getting you intoxicated. Either that or I'm just not able to hold my drinks with this new body", I mumbled.
Zojja laughed again. "Well, that is something you can fix quite easily through enough built up tolerance. But I would be more concerned about the important things for now, if I was you."
"For example, the steadily growing pressure on my bladder", I murmured. The effects weren't just becoming noticeable inside my head.
I scratched behind one of my impossibly long ears before asking my next question. "Eh Zojja... where do I find... I mean... the..."
Zojja laughed out loud again before pointing towards a direction somewhere in the tavern. Her silvery laugh sounded beautiful; which almost sounded like chiming bells. When she was laughing, the annoying undertone she usually had while talking seemed to completely disappear from her voice.
Her apparent, 'I know everything and you know nothing' attitude was truly shining in that moment.
Well in my case, I knew she was right about most everything anyway. I was convinced it wasn't just me she was sharing that attitude with, but it was something she had adopted towards everyone she first met. It was made even more readily apparent whenever she was using the tone in front of her former master, Snaff.
I glanced in the direction Zojja was now pointing at, taking notice of a dark nondescript door at the end of a hallway. There was a faint green light glowing just above it.
That must be it, I thought.
Carefully, I arose from the bench seat while trying desperately to avoid more knee-against table impacts. From what I could feel, there was already a gigantic bruise beginning to form over my whole leg, and I didn't need an added color to it.
But just as soon as I was standing, the room started to rotate in a dizzying circle. I quickly grabbed onto the table's edge, steadying myself for a moment so that I wouldn't fall over.
"It seems you won't be able to handle a fifth round this evening", Zojja teased again, leaning back in her chair to enjoy the show.
I rolled my eyes in a way that I was certain she would be able to see, and carefully floundered my way towards the door. The thing seemed to be impossibly far away now.
Rule number two: Don't drink too much the first time when you don't know what you're drinking! I reflected.
After what seemed like ages but was probably only a few seconds, I arrived at the faraway door. It was a rather plain and wooden-looking thing, and it's surface showed a few scratches which must have told some stories. I supposed there were probably a fair share of troublemakers and brawls inside this particular tavern, given the similar state of the dinner ware I had been served earlier.
On the door hung a simple disc, the device showing the symbol of three waves all laying on top of one another.
Simple meaning for a bathroom, right?
The light above the door frame was still glowing green, and I took that as the go-ahead to step inside.
As I reached for the handle, I could hear the running sound of water. But in my inebriated state I was struggling to comprehend if that was a genuine reality, or it was just the dizzying thoughts clouding my head.
When I opened the door, the sound grew much louder and I knew that feigned noises were one of the last signs of whatever soberness I had left. I entered the room and closed the door behind me, frowning when I saw a lack of any key or lock anywhere. But the light above which could also be seen from the inside, had now turned from green to red.
"Let's hope that no one else is so drunk that they won't recognize the color difference between green and red", I said to myself.
The room itself was nothing more but a small room without any visible windows. The ceiling glowed in geometrical patterns, and I could hear a steady humming besides the rushing water. The sound of the water was coming from some kind of toilet, as I now realized it looked to be more like a block with a hole in the middle. Inside the hole, was a channel which was causing the constant sound of the water rushing noise.
I briefly looked around, unable to locate any toilet paper as I had no clue about what Asuran peculiarities were supposed to be.
With trembling fingers, I tinkered around with the belt on my waist. Such a feat would have been considerably easier if I had been in a sober condition. After a few seconds, I finally managed the difficulties and was able to loosen the belt so I could take my pants off and sit down. Too curious for my own good, I threw a glance down at myself and sighed in relief to see that the body structure of an Asura at least had a few rudimentary similarities to humans.
At least I hoped so.
A few minutes later, I left the room. The light above changed back from red to green again automatically, signaling its vacancy. At the very least, I had gotten the chance to glance into the toilet-peculiarities of asura.
And next time, you will be more prepared for the sudden water jet coming from underneath! I briefly thought, suppressing a giggle.
Compared to the journey there, the room wasn't spinning nearly as bad as it had before. I reached my destination and with a sigh, I squeezed back onto the bench with Zojja.
She chuckled, and pushed my jug back towards me. "This one, and then I suppose it will be time for you to rest a bit. Don't you think?"
I nodded and took a sip from the juniberry-gin. I hadn't known the taste of these particular berries before, but I really did like them. Especially the fermented version.
"Suppose we have a lot to do the next few days, hm?" I asked.
"You can say that again! I have to introduce you to the Arcane Council members. Not only that, but explain your situation without sounding like a maniac", Zojja prattled on with amusement on her face, not sounding the very least bit concerned or stressed about this dilemma. "And then we'll have to get you an accommodation, and find you some work..."
Suddenly a question popped up in my head. I frowned then and stared at the Asura next to me. "Why do you have such an interest in me? You don't even have any responsibility for what happens to me. If it's any same to you, why do you care about what happens to me and how I am going to cope with all of this?"
Zojja seemed truly surprised by my question and took a moment to think about how she would phrase her answer best. "Well, Szallejh... it's not every day that an Asura falls down from the sky. You appear to be a very interesting specimen. And to be honest, I want to the first person to discover whatever you are."
She continued with a pointed finger in the air. "Besides... you're quite likeable. At least I think you are."
The last sentence seemed to have surprised her, and I smiled before emptying the last contents of my jug.
There was a brief moment before Zojja grinned too, and she cleared her throat before pulling the jugs to the end of the table to signal they were both done. "It's already getting pretty late. I think we should head up to our rooms now."
That sounded fair enough to me. I was exhausted, as the day had been incredibly tiring. The thought of the upcoming days certainly didn't help that fatigue too much either.
Zojja accompanied me towards the bar, the location leading towards a spiral staircase which led to several floors upstairs. On the third floor, she led me to a narrow hallway that was lined with doors on each side. She stopped in front of a door that had the number 13 carved into it.
"This is your room, isn't it?", she asked. "It would do you well to lock the door behind you. We can continue talking tomorrow during breakfast."
With those last few words, she gave a small wave and disappeared back into the stairwell.
I fumbled around in my bag to find the key before heading inside. I was sure to lock it behind me, just as I had been told. Inside, the room was dark and I could only make out the outlined shadowy figures of furniture.
With a new sense of urgency, I threw my backpack into one corner and launched myself into what looked like a hammock. The material was comfortable with a slight musty smell, and it eased a bit under my weight. At the floorboard, laid a neatly folded blanket which I quickly took and spread out over me. It was light in material, but it kept me warm enough.
Just barely after making myself into a cozied bundle, I was already fast asleep and dreaming of the crazy light tunnel I had endured earlier that day. At least, without the pain and other vexations that came with it.
The next morning I felt as though I had died a thousand deaths over. I was awoken by the bright daylight, its rays coming through a three-cornered window right next to my hammock. I noticed now that there were red curtains on each side of them, but I hadn't thought about closing them the night prior.
The light burned my eyes the second I opened them. I sat up and stretched carefully, feeling as though every muscle inside of my body ached like I had a severe stiffness. However that was the last of my problems, as my head was throbbing so hard inside my skull that it felt like it was going to explode at any moment.
I wasn't sure if it was the after-effects of the travel or the alcohol, but I figured both had probably created a dangerous concoction on me.
The photosensitivity and the pain cooled down a bit after I laid awake for a few minutes. With finality, I kicked the yellow-blue squared blanket to one end of the hammock, and swung my feet over its rim. The floor was cold the second my feet contact it, but that didn't really upset me. It was only then that I realized I was still wearing my outfit from yesterday, and it was now wrinkled beyond belief and had an unpleasant odor.
"What I would give for a nice warm shower", I said distractedly, running a hand over my face.
Still sitting on the hammock, I inspected the state of the room. It appeared to only be furnished with the bare necessities. The floating hammock was located near one of the smaller walls. The other wall was housing the singular window, and opposite of that was the door which was still holding the room key in its lock.
Calming.
Just in front of the opposing wall stood a small open bureau, which housed a bowl and a pile of clothes on top it.
The bowl certainly looked promising; even though it was not the nice warm shower I wanted. But at least it was something to clean myself.
Ignoring the pain of my stiffened joints, I took off my shirt and let out a startled squeak. I had never seen a naked Asura before, even though I figured the females of the species wouldn't have breasts. There weren't any indications of nipples either. There was a bellybutton, and that was about it.
I poked at my stomach, fascinated by the leathery skin. It was so much harder and tougher than human skin. My dark complexion was streaked with light grey spots coming in every size and shape.
A full body mirror would have done wonders for my curiosity right now.
After I had completely taken off my clothes, I stepped towards the bureau and looked inside the bowl to see it was filled with blue, glimmering water. It didn't look like the usual water I was used to bathing with, but I figured it couldn't be all that bad considering the tavern was allowing their patrons to use it.
I grabbed one of the clothes and dipped it into the bowl to see what would happen. Nothing special here. My wandering thoughts of it being some kind of deadly acid that would erode my skin and tingle to a promising demise that was inherently evil seemed to be a false claim. Au contraire, it just felt like boring, normal warm water.
Wait, why is the water warm? I wondered.
I washed myself down with the cloth from top to bottom, the water leaving behind a feeling of cleanliness and warmth on my skin.
"Okay, maybe this is just as good as a warm shower", I said out loud to myself.
After cleaning, I dried and unknotted my long hair with my fingers while walking back to sit down on the hammock again. My hair was a fiery red color, and it was intensely curled with its length reaching to my hips.
Not bad.
Now that I felt much better compared to before, I slipped back into my old clothes once more. The grimy garments dulled my feeling of cleanliness a bit, but I didn't have much of a choice. Once I got an accommodation, the first thing I was going to do was look for a proper selection of clothes.
Swiftly I knotted my hair into a bun, glad that it would stay in that style without the use of any hair clips or hair ties.
It was then that I realized this room was lacking a second door with a familiar symbol of the waves on it.
"Damn it...", I cursed, never having been the one to like public toilets.
I shouldered my backpack with a sigh and headed out, locking the door behind me. I walked down the length of the hallway, searching for a door with the telltale sign of a green light. I finally found one, the thing appearing at the very end of the hallway. After finishing my business, I made haste down the stairs back towards the bar.
Zojja was already there waiting for me, one elbow braced on the wood of the table while talking to the bartender. When she saw me approach, she ended her previous conversation and came walking up to me with a smile.
"Ah, good morning!" she announced. "You aren't much of an early bird, are you?"
I shrugged and dropped the room key wordlessly. "I didn't really have much of an easy day yesterday, as you can imagine."
Zojja laughed her beautiful laugh again. "I like your humor, Szallejh. Well come on then, it's senseless to start the day without a good breakfast. After all, it's the most important meal of the day!"
Now it was my turn to laugh, and I followed Zojja to one of the nearby tables. I could already see its surface prepped with two plates and mugs. The plates were filled with egg, golden slices of bread, and something that appeared to look like cooked beans. The mugs were steaming with what must have been some kind of tea.
Breakfast was an oddity that was shared even in my own world, and it was comforting to see the similarity. Once we began to dig into our food, I asked Zojja about what our plans were for today.
"First things first, we need to travel to Rata Sum and request an audience by the Arcane Council. But that shouldn't be too difficult, considering my overqualification", she said with a confident tone.
She continued. "Then we'll need to get you an accommodation. This should be the easiest task for us, because I know all of the college's dorms have a few open rooms to spare. Even to those who are currently enrolled in their school."
"But the more difficult task is going to be to find you some work. At the very least, you're going to have to fund several things on your own."
I sipped carefully on the mug, trying not to scald my tongue. Yep, definitely tea.
I looked to Zojja. "And what opportunities do I have? There has to be some dirty work that is not already done by golems."
The other female Asura nodded. "Most likely. But I doubt we'll be able to find a krewe that'll take you in considering you lack technical knowledge and such. But there are some taverns around that are always seeking people to help sell drinks. Granted, it's not the best way to make money, but it will for the start.
"Sounds like a plan. Let's go", I said cheerfully enough through a mouthful of eggs.
On the streets of Soren Draa, we were met with a noisy hustle and bustle.
I really had slept much longer than I had intended to, because judging from the sun's height in the sky, had meant that it was nearly midday already. We were greeted at nearly every corner; signaling that Zojja was a huge celebrity for Asuran standards.
We ascended several stairs until we finally stood in front of the portal that would lead us to Rata Sum. As soon as I saw the swirling blue mass in front of me which we would have to go through, I started to feel a bit queasy.
I thought back to my previous fears, which was that portal travelling would feel very similar to what I had felt on my trip to Tyria. But I swallowed the fear down and glanced towards Zojja.
She gave me a pitying look, as if she knew what battles I was fighting inside right now. She nodded to me encouragingly. "Are you ready?"
I nodded. "Ready."
Together we stepped through the portal, and suddenly it felt as though I were wrapped inside a cold blanket. All the previous noises around me became silent, and I felt a soft pressure all around me. But the feeling was over in the blink of an eye, and instantly the cold blanket was replaced by the hot jungle air of Rata Sum.
I took a deep breath. That was it?
Okay, maybe it seemed I could get used to portal travelling.
I opened my eyes carefully and stepped down from the portal platform. I recognized the three-cornered cove, where three other portals would lead to different regions of Tyria. I swallowed, and looked down the distance some ways. It was no secret that Rata Sum was just a giant floating cube above Province Metrica, but now that I was standing on top of it without any kind of barriers holding me back. We were so high up in the air that you couldn't even see the ground below, and I found that to be a little bit disturbing.
Zojja cleared her throat to get my attention. "So, here we are. Welcome to Rata Sum, the main city of the Asura!" With a widespread gesture, she pointed to the city spread out in front of me.
We ascended a few more stairs and went towards the middle of the main area. On each side, were stairs leading towards deeper levels of the cities. There you could find the motley crew of laboratories, colleges, and various kinds of shops.
I made it my mission not to lose sight of Zojja, even while I was scurrying right behind her in step. The walkways were crowded with Asura of diverse figures and faces. Some were tall, nearly the same height as a human juvenile. Progenies, the Asuran children, were only about the height up to my own belly button.
Tailors and vendors screamed out different types of merchandise, while hooded figures were likely dealing with their own illegal activities. Bold, given it was the middle of a public place.
The air stirred with a broad mixture of different voices, murmurs, screams, laughs and metallic steps of golems. Occasionally a random explosion from one of the labs underneath shook the concrete. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry, and verbal duels started in every which way. The tension within the city felt thick, but that was mostly because of the constant competition of who the bigger genius was.
Head shaking, I passed all these random figures and wondered if it was like this at every time of the day. I would figure that out soon - and much more.
Zojja had finally stopped walking, and I almost ran straight into her back given how distracted I was. We stood under a big floating cube, which I quickly recognized to be the Arcane Council.
"Here we are", Zojja said with a proud tone. She walked over to speak towards what must have been a highly-ranked Asura, though he retreated after a short discussion which allowed her to activate a few buttons on his control desk.
Zojja gave me a soft all-knowing grin. "Step number one was easier than I had thought. They are going to teleport us up there", she explained while glancing upwards.
A blue circle appeared around the both of us, which was now humming louder and louder.
The famous genius turned to look at me again. "This might feel a bit strange."
Before I could even get a word out, a blue energy beam swooped down towards us and enveloped both Zojja and myself.
A.N.:
Depending on what time you're reading those chapters, you might notice a quality difference between the first chapters and the next ones. That's because a friend of mine is helping me re-write the story bit by bit in terms of grammar and sentence construction, and while we're constantly working on it, there might still be some "old" chapters left.
Thanks for this, Zappy. You're the best!