Chapter Three: New Beginning Part One

Once our trolleys entered the Eastern District, the surprises here never ended. Everywhere our eyes could see, the city and its citizens were a mishmash of ancient, medieval, and modern civilizations. Again, not a single grown-up was found among them. It was like a school carnival for United Nations Day.

There were Romans, Medieval and Colonial Europeans, Mayans, Africans, and Asians, though there were others that I couldn’t recognize. Many of the passengers stood up to take a closer look out the windows. On the stone-paved street, we saw a Roman wearing sneakers, an armored knight riding a bike, and a girl dressed like from the Victorian Era and was talking to a cell phone.

“Guys, look,” Katie gasped. “They got cell phones. A lot of them got cell phones.” From what she said, my mind told me to look up. I was amazed they had modern technologies here as well. Utility poles, streetlights, satellite dishes, and radio towers; they even had cars on the street, but there was something bizarre about them. The cars looked like they belonged to the Era Thirties to Fifties, types that any great-grandparents would drive. Moreover, none of them belched smoke — electric cars, maybe?

Everything was so surreal that we all glanced at Andromeda to explain all this, but she and Brock were still ogling at each other. Again, they completely ignored us. Once again, the passengers were annoyed to watch.

“Ahem,” Alex said with a gruff voice.

Andromeda snapped back on his feet. She explained that the braves who had summoned from different timelines brought their knowledge and technologies. That was why everything in this city blended old and new.

If people had been living here for a long time, what happened to the Game of Heavens and Earth? Had anyone ever reached the finish line yet? My mind was throbbing with more questions.

Eventually, we were at the Eastern District’s forum. Many of the passengers stuck their heads out the windows, looking at more people wearing clothes from different timelines as they walked on the streets like it was a typical day. We passed several cafes not far from us, serving many diverse customers. I could smell the aroma of coffee and tea whiffing through the windows.

We found stores that sold electronics, some sold handmade crafts, and others were small-time factories. There was also a shop for scribes making handwritten documents. Something that no longer existed in our world. On the sidewalk, we could see the flow of commerce: people going shopping or browsing; wagons and early-versioned trucks were loading and unloading their goods; peddlers sat on blankets selling trinkets, gems, potions, and other strange commodities.

“Extra, extra, read all about it!” a newsboy cried. “The Black Sun Guild strikes again!”

To my amazement, I’d never seen a newsboy except in the old movies as people flocked to buy newspapers from him. That was one of many bizarre yet wondrous things for us to discover in this city that we couldn’t help ourselves not to blink. Again, we turned to Andromeda, hoping to explain all this. However, she got distracted when people on the streets were waving and cheering at her. When she greeted them back from the window, her mind shifted away from the passengers.

“She must be a celebrity in this city,” I muttered. At this point, we couldn’t ask her anything. Even Brock tried several times to call her attention back to him.

Eventually, we arrived at the trolley station that was converted from a Roman building. A crowd gathered around to meet Andromeda at the doorway. Wanting to get away from the excitement, we got off from the other side, only to be welcomed by a small group of people wearing hooded robes. They were all from the Crimson Shadow Guild. Hassan was their leader, a shady-looking person; dressed in black clothes, he had pointed brows, devilish dark eyes, and a beak-like nose.

Once everyone got out of the station, the jock found Li walking from his left and was surprised to see someone twice bigger than him. All this time, he was flirting with Andromeda; he never noticed the humongous monk in front of him.

“Hey there, Chan.”

“My name is not Chan,” Li replied in a polite tone. “I’m Li Bao.”

Brock gazed at the Shaolin in awe. Interestingly, Li’s size and skills would make him a great football player. Katie noticed this and moved the monk away from him.

Hassan guided us to a booth where we traded anything from our pockets for new ones. A cell phone for a new cell phone, a watch for a new watch. Even the local money here could be exchanged for the same amount we had. The untradeable items, by the way, were sold to the Crimson Shadows. I was stunned that Hassan bought a measly pen cap from one of the newcomers.

Katie was reluctant to hand over her cell phone. She had photos of her family and friends and the recent shots she took at the Gate Ring.

“No worries,” Hassan said, “we’ll transfer all your data and photos to your new phone. Our devices here are the only thing that can connect to our free Wi-Fi.”

“Free Wi-Fi? Sweet!” Katie immediately handed him her phone.

What I got in my pocket was fifteen dollars and five brochures that I never bothered to read. I hadn’t had a phone since it broke yesterday. However, Hassan still gave me one. It had a silver casing like the rest, and my fifteen dollars got exchanged for chaffs. I didn’t know why he wanted the brochures, but he paid me eighteen chaffs for them.

“Is this money?” Brock examined his chaffs. Instead of paper money or metal coins, they were plastic-covered cardboard discs, imprinted with a colorful banknote.

“Of course,” Hassan answered.

“Don’t you have paper money here?” Katie asked.

“We don’t.” He shook his head. “We never knew how to make them last longer like in your world. Precious metals here are hard to come by, but thanks to those who arrived from the Nineties, chaffs became a popular choice for currency in this world.” He handed each of us a card key. “Right across the street, there’s a Carthaginian apartment with a blue roof. That’s where you’re going to live for free in three months. After that, there will be three hundred chaffs of rent, plus the utilities.”

It sounded like a good deal. Three months was enough time for us to find work or a better home.

“Why’re you doing this?” Wilt inquired.

“Pardon?”

“Why are you giving us gifts and money for our stuff?”

“Especially the useless junk,” Katie added.

She and Wilt were right. The Crimson Shadows’ exchanges were too generous. I wasn’t sure why they bought scraps from our pockets. They even gave me a cell phone for free.

“Oh,” Hassan explained. “We, the Crimson Shadows, are the largest information guild in this world. We’re the ones helping newcomers like you to adjust in this world every year, trading whatever you bring from ours in return. That’s how we got our advanced technologies here. Also —” he waved the brochures that he bought from me. “We need to know the current events happening back on Earth. Think of it as a mutual benefit for both of us.”

“That makes sense,” Wilt swallowed.

“Wait a minute,” Alex interjected. “You mentioned that others arrive here every year.”

“Yes?”

“What happened to the Game of Heavens and Earth?”

“Yeah,” Katie said. “And how long has everyone been living here?”

Not wanting to spoil the surprise, Hassan revealed that Andromeda’s king would be the one who explained it to us, and he would take us there once we learned how to use our new phones. I guessed we had no choice but to do what he said for now.

For a while, we got connected to their public Wi-Fi. We were disappointed that they didn’t have social media and websites from our world. What they got was Snapsters, V-World, Owl, and a lot I wasn’t familiar with.

Li had never owned a gadget in his life. It took the whole gang a while to teach him how to use his new phone. After that, we were off to meet the king. We left Andromeda with the crowd that was asking for her autograph. Some members of the Crimson Shadow dragged Brock away. The jock was trying to get her phone number.