(Solmonath 7, 45 / 9:00AM)

  A month before the start of the demi-human skirmishes.

  In a nd, before discriminants roamed free, the Southern country of Haxouburg used to hold the rgest popution of beast-humans second to Aizzonia. Dog-humans, cat-humans, elves, bunny-humans, horse-humans, and shark-humans; all of these humanoid species called the country home.

  Even though all of them were separated by their race.

  Inside of a small vilge just north of Ridgemente, was a community that knew the true meaning of family life. Curious kids, rowdy teens, and hard-working adults, all dedicated their time to themselves.

  Even for those who wanted change.

  (???) Praise be my brothers and sisters!

  On top of a huge stage in the center of the small town, was a frail and bony shark-human below average height. Wearing gsses, a bck dress shirt and scks, and church shoes, the sleeves on the end of his wrists were folded up formally. Not only that but the bottoms of his scks were folded to allow his white socks to seem as if he had puddle-jumpers.

  All around the stage, many other shark-humans gathered on the edge of the stone wall, looking up at the intellectual man with a high-pitched voice.

  (???) Change is soon upon us! Yes! Changes in how we are seen in the eyes of man!

  The kids continued to py near a warped tree on the edge of the vilge, their minds unable to comprehend the words behind the booming man. Bored, the teenagers went back to their games of bckjack or poker, betting whatever part-time money that they had little in their pockets.

  Meanwhile, the young adults folded their arms onto their chests, slowly nodding their heads up and down.

  (???) Despite them leaving us in small vilges such as these, we are looked weird upon when entering one of their cities! Even though they cause no harm to us, their stares only cause us soul-crushing pain! Aren’t we subjects of God’s creations too?!

  One of the young adults raised their hand in the air, leading many of the other shark-humans to leave a little gap for the man. Being singled out, the intellectual shark-human on the stage smiled softly at him.

  Rubbing his chin with his left hand's fingers, he took a step forward, the tips of his shoes on the edge of the stone floor.

  (???) Speak as you may brother!

  (Shark-Human #1) I understand your good cause Kirk, but I may add.

  Raising his right hand to the top of his head, he lowered the bck ft cap that nestled his curly hair, having it down to his knee cap. Clearing his throat, he straightened his back while staring directly into Kirk’s warm eyes.

  (Shark-Human #1) If it’s not broken, why bother? We’re all happy with this way of jocur life, so why change it?

  (Kirk) You seem to misunderstand my words brother, but that’s ok! Our daily lives won’t be affected by the change that I please, but by the change that others see in us!

  That same shark-human firmly gripped his chin, rubbing his clean-shaven skin with his rough and parched fingers. As the rest of the crowd still id a rge gap between the mild haggler and themselves, the haggler moved his head up and down softly.

  Seeing that the rest of the crowd continued to gaze their eyes on him, Kirk looked up to the desert sun that wasn’t harsh in the te winter months. Feeling the sprinkle of its rays gleaming into his bluish-grey skin, a soft exhale of air pushed out from his lungs.

  (Kirk) Do you think we are chosen to be special?! No! But that doesn’t mean that we are chosen to be God’s joke!

  Every man and woman held onto each other the more Kirk spoke with his dry lips, his speech flowing like the desert sand on a soft mellow day.

  Lowering his eyes down to the crowd of his peers, he spread both of his arms out wide, extending them out the most he could. His body trembling slightly from the strain of his muscles, both of his church shoes that stuck to the stone ground sunk deep into it.

  As his eyes sparkled.

  (Kirk) We are not meant to be the strung by social status! We are supposed to be equal amongst men! I’m not speaking for just you my brothers and sisters, but for the other strungs of society that are in the same sand as us!

  Lowering his left hand, he jabbed it deep inside his bck dress shirt, his frail knuckles grazing the fabric and cotton. His fingers scratching the cover of a small minated paper, Kirk pulled it to showcase the cover of a bck bible.

  Raising his left hand, the small bible cast a shadow amongst the shark-humans, all looking at the bck cover that sparkled and glistened. Squinting into the golden letters, Kirk had his eyes trail from the left of the crowd to the right, all harnessing their attention.

  (Kirk) Change is the only way that we are seen as equal in the eyes of disdainful men! With this bible! The book that I read from Genesis to Revetion! I can assure you that we will walk amongst common men!

  The front of the crowd of shark-humans began to slowly cp their hands, with one to two-second intervals of cpping that were detrimental to their nervousness. Like a domino effect, the middle of the crowd soon cpped with the front, then the back…

  Then the entirety of the crowd followed along.

  Instead of one to two-second intervals, it was a repeating motion, a sound that only extended both of his hands from one end to another. Bowing his head down, his soft smile lit up from his gray face, leading the winter sunlight to bnket the back of his neck.

  (Kirk’s thoughts) And make it a world where my sons and daughters will find peace.

  ______________________________________________________________________________

  (Solmonath 7, 45 / 9:04PM)

  Half a day ter.

  A full double moon glowed underneath the small vilge that the shark humans called home. No kids pying, no adults working, and no teens vandalizing property, all kept their souls and bodies warm to the confines of their shelters.

  A shelter made of just sandstone and brick.

  Inside one of those tiny shelters, a shark-human opened the door made out of hard straw, letting him inside the hut that cooked him up like a fish. Wiping his forehead with his right sleeve, a multitude of sweat-stained the bck fabric of his dress shirt.

  But he had his eyes on a walking woman in front of him; a woman with a rge nose, simple cloth dress, and bluish gray skin.

  (???) How many of them had heard you from the stage today?

  (Kirk) Got half the vilge hearing me. I suppose it’s better than no one.

  The shark-human woman raised her right hand onto her stomach, causing Kirk to look at the rge belly that stood out. A warm smile lit up his face, his tightened shoulders loosened up as if someone had cracked his back.

  Walking up to the woman the same height as his, he lowered his right hand onto the woman’s hand. His thumb rubbed along her hand, and a small kick sparkled the skin of their palms.

  Then another kick.

  (Kirk) You talked to the vilge doctors about the time of your pregnancy.

  (???) They said that I broke through the second trimester, so today I’m starting the third.

  (Kirk) That’s great. Just another three more months before our first child.

  (???) Hehe, they said I might have twins.

  Turning her body around, he wrapped his arms around her stomach, while pcing the front of his body alongside the back of hers. Pcing his head onto her right shoulder, he softly closed his eyes while the smell of lemon and cherry pushed up to the core of his nose.

  Massaging her stomach, she softly gave the left side of his cheek her lips, doing it softly before pulling back. Putting her hands on top of his, she looked down at the sandstone floor, her bare feet stained under the powder that swelled her skin.

  (???) Kirk … I think it’s time.

  (Kirk) Time for what dear?

  (???) You've been fighting long enough…

  Kirk lifted his chin from her shoulder, tilting his head to the left to see her eyes pushed down and pinned to the floor. The corner of his right lip twitched, and he stopped it, repcing it with his cheeks pushing up to create a cheerful smile.

  Her hands clenching tightly onto his knuckles, it wasn’t enough for him to yelp, but enough to settle air into his parched lungs. Breathing it out, the parched CO2 brushed her dry skin like the desert wind.

  (Kirk) Oh honey … Pike … You don’t have to worry about my—

  (Pike) Please think about our kids dear. I just don’t want them to live a life without a father.

  (Kirk) But dear, those fellow men beyond these vilge walls won’t harm us, they have no reason to.

  Pike remained silent while letting go of his hands that continued to grab her stomach. Letting them drop to her sides, she lifted her head so that it was straightened out, and turned her head to look at Kirk’s pushed-up eyes.

  Noticing one of his eyelids twitching invisibly, she pced her right hand underneath his chin, causing his twitching eyelid to cease.

  (Pike) I’ve seen the kids py to their heart's content, the teens getting punished for their actions, and adults such as us showing our pride in what we do… but…

  Turning her body around, she stood right in front of the man while she bore her children.

  Grabbing both of his hands, her eyes tinted a hint of tears that were held by none other than her eyelids. Her scleras began to turn a pinkish red, and the corners of her eyes soon trailed down a trail of salted tears.

  Tears that caused Kirk to gulp.

  (Pike) Live for our children.

  His hands wrapped around her stomach again but tightly.

  Holding onto her like a lifeline, his forehead reddened from it resting on her shoulder bone. Clutching his hands together, his legs soon lost the motion to walk, as he stood with frozen feet that were glued to the stone of sand.

  Feeling one or two drops of water sinking into her white fabric dress, her hands trailed back and forth his frail forearms.

  A small whimper escaped from his lips.

  (Kirk) Just let me fight a little more.

  ______________________________________________________________________________

  (Solmonath 9, 45 / 10:00AM)

  Inside the city of Ridgemente.

  Throughout the cobblestone streets, horse-drawn carriages and old automobiles dented the fragile roads.

  The sidewalks busied with pedestrians, all of them carried along suitcases, fancy canes, and the confidence of a lumberman. Cologne and perfume staunching the city, it gave the air a hint of wealth, along with the sunlight from above glistening the roofs of most of the buildings.

  One particur building, a white brick circur building, is in the center of the city.

  Inside the building, in one of the rooms, a group of men all aged from their 40s to 60s all sat down on a circur dark wooden table. Their mustaches were bushy and long, most of them had them stretched down to their necks, their suits hanging down gold and silver chains as they all looked at the man in front of them.

  A man—no, a shark-human wore bck scks, a bck dress shirt, gsses, and church shoes.

  (Politician #1) Do you want us to push a w for beast humans to enter into human spaces? Don’t you people already have your own facilities?

  (Kirk) Please hear my fellow men. Have you heard of the old saying, “separate but equal”?

  (Politician #2) That’s written in the Haxouburg Natural Cuses. Beast humans don’t have a problem with it, so why do you pn on changing it?

  (Kirk) Are we beast-humans treated equally?

  Kirk counted six rich men in total around the table, with all of their eyes making contact with the shark-human who had his hands spread out. Kept their palms on their knees, their backs id back amongst the bck cushioned seats that bnketed their old frail bones.

  Adjusting his colr, Kirk continued to keep his feet pressed onto the floor, despite their stares digging into the depths of his soul. Like watching a man on the verge of having a voice crack whilst singing the national anthem, they all waited for Kirk for any sign of fault or bias in his words.

  (Kirk) You may say that physical and even verbal abuse to beast humans is rare, but why do many of our brethren live in vilges outside of main cities? Vilges that aren’t well off in water and food compared to our fellow men?

  All of the rich men who stared into Kirk’s eyes soon looked away, their fingers digging deep into their kneecaps.

  A man full of white hair, hair that stretched down low to his upper back, took off his circur gsses as he id them down on the table. Without squinting his eyes, he id back his head on the back of the seat, showcasing his beer belly that was trapped by his dress shirt.

  (Politician #3) Now son, don’t get your hopes up in terms of being treated equally to us. You're a smart man, right? You carry a bible in your pocket and dress nice to impress, but you're forgetting one simple thing.

  The fat man slowly rose from his seat, pcing both of his palms onto the edge of the wooden table unlittered with splinters. For the others, they knelt their heads down, staring into either their wrinkled hands or minated flooring that squeaked their high boots.

  Seeing the shark-human continuing to stand frozen, the beer-belly man hunched forward, creaking the table that arched a degree up from the opposite side he put pressure on. The wood creaking, both of his lips curled down to the border of his jaw.

  (Politician #3) I wasn’t born this way. Raised in the ghettos, I worked to the bone to reach the status that I have. Maybe if you studied w or medicine, you could’ve gained a better life for yourself, instead of preaching “change” to beast-humans that want to live simple lives.

  Kirk’s eyes darkened.

  His right hand trembling, he clenched it firm into a balled fist, his chest burning and swelling up as if a fire was lit inside of him. His lips sealed, and he clenched down both of his jaws while rubbing them back and forth to spark more enamel embers.

  Twisting his ankles to turn the opposite way, the soles of his church shoes stomped onto the minated floor beneath him, shaking the very room with his stomps. Reaching the golden handle, he swayed it open, clenching the handle with a death grip before smming the door shut.

  His eyes snted inward, he created a trail that he paved with his stomps alone, as many government workers backed away in silence.

  (Kirk’s thoughts) Study w they say! I’ve heard that line before! I’ll show them! I’ll show every fellow brethren living in this forsaken country!

  Two rge bck metallic doors came in full view in front of him, his stomps ceased as he gripped the door handle, his fingers digging deep into the golden metal. His skinny and frail muscles and bones bulging from his arms, he barely managed to open the door, before leaving it open for the others to close.

  (Kirk’s thoughts) I’ll change their views on us! An oath! An oath I will forge!

  ______________________________________________________________________________

  (Solmonath 9, 45 / 11:24AM)

  An hour after his failed charisma with the politicians.

  Both of his hands sunk deep into the pockets of his bck scks, with the tip of his church shoes kicking away balls of leftover trash that littered the sidewalk. His ears perked up from the cmping of hooves mixed with the rumbling of motors, his eyes continued to ftten his face.

  Ignoring the men and women who kept their distance from him, some of them furrowed their brows up as if they saw a creature wandering the street.

  (Kirk’s thoughts) The only fellow men who backed my fight were the moderates, but even they held me back when I tried to fight harder. When will this, “not now” or “wait until the time is right” end?

  Gncing to his right, he noticed a bck building that was only one floor high, its windows tinted in pitch bck. His eyes already pushed down to his cheeks, he swiftly intaked a rge dose of oxygen into his dried-up lungs.

  Walking to the front oak door, he opened it wide, bringing his entire body into the muggy air that dampened the wood.

  Looking all over the inside of the building, it was clear that it was none other than a candy shop. Lollipops, chocote, and a fat stash of tootsie rolls, stacked in containers on every aisle in the shop.

  Continuing to keep his hands inside of his pockets, he went toward the back. Standing in front of the rows upon rows of tootsie rolls, he pulled both of his hands from his scks pockets, rubbing his palms together as his sweat mingled with the soup air. Licking his lips, he grabbed a handful of the tootsie rolls with his frail bony hand.

  (Kirk’s thoughts) But I suppose … at least the moderates are completely fine with people like me buying candy from their shops.

  Grabbing the handful of tootsie rolls with his hand, he walked over to the front counter, seeing the nonchant face of a young man. Pushing his hair back, the young man cleared his throat, as Kirk dumped the handful of tootsie rolls onto the wooden counter.

  While Kirk began to pull out his wallet, the cashier put the group of tootsie rolls into a brown lunch bag, constantly looking at the shark-human with nonchant eyes. Seeing that Kirk had pulled out two quarters, he took it without hesitation, putting the coins into the register as the currency clinked with the chrome.

  (Cashier) Here ya go.

  Giving the lunch bag to the shark-human, Kirk took it carefully with both of his bony hands, holding it on the bottom. Turning away, his eyes soon gnced at a turquoise-haired girl.

  She wore thin brown overalls that covered her arms and legs, completely covering any skin that the sun would tan. Her hair was long, it swept down all the way to her waist, covering her back as she gazed up at the lollipops way high up on the top shelf. Raising her hands up, her fingers repeatedly grasping the air, as drool drooped down her right lip.

  Pushing the bag to his left hand, he walked up to the girl.

  (Kirk) Do you need any assistance?

  The girl nodded slowly, taking a step back away from the shark-human. Noticing that she was putting distance between her and him, his eyes pushed down more into his cheeks, straightening his back while turning toward a nearby rolling dder.

  Rolling the dder to where he would take the lollipop, Kirk firmly held the wood with his sweaty hands while pushing the bottom of his soles onto every step of the dder. Reaching the max he could go in height, he stood on the tip of his toes, extending his hand while trying to grasp the handle of the candy.

  (Kirk’s thoughts) What reason did they have to make lollipops this expensive!? It’s just sugar on a stick!

  Because of his below-average height, it was significantly harder to grab the candy. Luckily for him, his hand grasped the stick of the lollipop, his fingers curling around the pstic. But unluckily for him, the dder wobbled by his imbance, causing him to falter downward onto the floor.

  Spreading both of his arms and legs apart, he had his eyes closed as steam hissed out from his lips, his bones stinging him from pain. As if he banged his bones onto a hammer, saliva escaped from his lower lip, dripping onto the wooden floor…

  Wait…

  Opening his eyes, Kirk’s vision began clearing up in front of him. His chest and lower body felt the warmth of another person, his unblurring vision soon gave him…

  (Turquoise Haired Girl) Huh…?

  (Kirk’s thoughts) no, no, no, no, no—

  He was on top of the young girl.

  Because of the loud thump shaking the floor, cabinets, and shelves of the store, the cashier had no other choice but to push his feet forward to check the disturbance. Seeing Kirk lying on top of a six-year-old girl, with drool streaming out from his lips, he pointed his finger straight at the shark-human.

  Turning his head back, he pced his knees on the wood while having his hands up in the air. Quickly gncing at the rolling dder being rolled back into its original pce because the push of his feet ignited when he began falling, Kirk’s whole body began sweating a hideous odor.

  (Kirk) I-It’s not what it looks like. By my soul, I nded on her—

  (Cashier) You monster! Child molester!

  (Kirk) No, no, no! You got it all wrong! Didn’t you hear the thump—

  The door to the candy shop swayed open.

  A group of three boys swiftly entered the shop. Two of the boys were in their te teens, while the other boy appeared to be two years younger than the girl in front of them. One of the teens, having dark turquoise colored hair, looked at both the cashier and the shark-human, then finally…

  At the girl with turquoise colored-haired.

  (Zirardge #1) What happened here?

  The dark turquoise colored hair teen snted his eyes at the cashier, who began to point repeatedly to the shark-human. Noticing that the two teens were beginning to clench their whole bodies in pure anger, their fists shook with an intensity that rivaled Kirk’s fight for change.

  Bowing his head down, not even a single whimper scratched his throat.

  Then came the loud crying from the back of him.

  His eyes widened, his body freezing up like a deer in headlights, he didn’t dare to look up at the two teens who soon began walking to the shark-human.

  (Zirardge #1) Did you touch my sister…?

  Without kneeling or bending to him, the teen grabbed the top of Kirk’s hair, his eyes burdened in a crimson red. As if God, the very God that he thought was by his side, took his voice from his parched throat, tears flowed out from both corners of his eyes like an overflowing river.

  The other teen, who had teal-colored hair, put his hand on his brother’s shoulder. His anger was the same as his, both blew out a blow of hot breath from their quivering throats, as their sisters cried and screamed out evermore.

  (Zirardge #1) DID YOU TOUCH HER!!?

  (Kirk) I didn’t! I didn’t! I swear to you I didn’t!

  (Cashier) He’s lying! The dder hasn’t moved from its original spot!

  (Kirk) Then what about—

  He noticed a candy that was missing. Remembering that he must’ve dropped the lollipop when he hit the ground, his lower body sunk deep into his abdomen.

  Looking around the floor, he gnced at every hole or shadow that was being rejected by the sun, his eyes on the verge of breaking out long-waited tears. Realizing that his luck soon faded away like a piece of wet paper, his heart began to pound against his bony chest that trickled under pressure.

  Pulling the shark-human up to his feet, the dark turquoise-haired teen extended his right hand back.

  (Zirardge #1) You’re going to pay.

  Thrusting his right hand toward the shark-human's cheek, it smmed directly into his face, the force causing his skin to jiggle with the motion. His eyes rolled just below the top of his eyelid, his vision blurred, and an unfamiliar liquid escaped from his nostrils.

  Both of his feet being dragged, his body went along with the pull, meaning that he was…

  Being pulled outside.

  His eyes finally rolled up to his skull, and the dark corridor of darkness that he was also unfamiliar with soon dawned on him. His hearing being the st thing to chisel his ears, the faint trace of a voice of one of the teenagers said…

  (Zirardge #2) Let’s take him to the butcher.