"Come on, you're pulling my leg," I argued against the man who was dealing cards in the tavern. "There is no way that Vesper themself was here." I was referring to the deity Vesper, who was associated with gambling and parties, along with a select other things.

The deities of the world didn't have one specific subject which they're in charge of. Rather it was a whole load of little things which added up to create immensely powerful beings who nobody wanted to fight against. But if anyone did decide to go up against them, they would be considered foolish and shunned from society. We needed the deities to live, and there were no doubts in people's minds that they existed. Most of the deities were travellers, apart from Odon, the deity of knowledge, and Dwi, the deity of curses. The latter being the reason my siblings and I are on our quest in the first place.

"I don't suppose a creature like you believes in the gods," the card dealer snarled, still continuing to shuffle. The only reason I'd not been kicked from their table was probably due to the fact I was winning, and I was boastful. I gathered most of the tavern to challenge me, and I hadn't lost yet. I'd been searched by the man a few times. But he had yet to find a way for me to cheat. "Here they are valued and worshipped."

"Where?" I asked casually with a shrug, trying to rile the man up so that he could tell us where their deities are worshipped. "I don't see any grand temples, at least I haven't so far."

"Then you are a blind as a bat and as blunt as a ball," the man retorted. "There is a large hall in the centre of the city, and there are several churches spouting off from it like spider's legs." He pocketed his cards and stood.

"The centre of the city is ages away," I commented with a groan and a wave of my hand as I stood and took the money from the middle of the table. "Is it in the dead centre?"

"Aye." The man pulled out a cigarette and lit it. "The deities are the heart of the planet, and so they shall be the heart of our city." He sounded so much like a preacher it was irritating. My siblings and I had dealt with many religious folk on our trips, claiming that our appearances were nothing more than a curse upon our bloodline and that we should be ashamed for existing, that we would be cured if we joined the church of Jora or Abner.

And as much as we hated to admit it, that's what we were doing.

We had been on the hunt for the deities, Dwi in particular, in hopes that we could understand why we looked different. We could've sought out Roseo, which is a deity I would adore to worship, but Aknon simply wouldn't allow it. He claimed that I would end up with a child, due to Roseo's reputation to have children with their worshippers.

"Thanks for the game," I said quickly, standing and using my tail to knock the cards out of the man's hand. The man gasped and stumbled back in shock, but I'd already moved into the shadows, making my way to the back corner where my siblings sat. "You'd think that if it were that obvious, we would've seen it when we last came here," I mumbled, slumping down in the empty seat.

"Where is it?" Sarphi asked between bites of the chocolate she had persuaded the tavern owner to give her at a discounted price, two bronze coins and a kiss. "It can't be invisible or something."

"Well, it could be," Aknon argued. "But that seems to be counter-intuitive when they want people to visit."

"It's in the centre of the city," I informed and sipped the ale which had grown warm. "The dead centre of the city. How could we have missed it?" I then gulped down the pint quickly, making a disgusted face at the end of it.

"Because we actively avoided the centre of the city," Aknon reminded me. "It's where the market and the people are, where everything is so much busier."

"We could be publicly executed there if we're so much as seen by someone who is brave enough to attack." Sarphi added in a dramatic tone, which is her usual tone. "Seriously, we could get our heads chopped off for looking how we do, you'd think that it would be in your head by now." She knocked on my head.

I huffed and moved out of the way of her hand. "Shut up," I grumbled. "They're after my head anyway. It's far too beautiful to be wasted." I put my hand under my chin, as though to frame my face.

Sarphi pretended to be ill at the connotations which my words had, whilst Aknon clearly didn't understand what I was talking about.

"Okay, we've got to go to the centre of the city." Aknon stood from his seat and put some coin on the table, ushering us up and out of our seats.

"Now?" Sarphi asked with a frown. "It's nearing dark. I don't think it's a good idea that we do it." It was a rare time when she spoke reasonably, but she and I could both tell that Aknon was getting restless.

This happens a few times a month when we feel as though we're closer to answers. Aknon gets restless and he wants to keep moving forward, the itch for solutions drives him. Out of the three of us, he had felt the effects of this 'curse' the most. He used to hide his tail and paint himself in make-up to try and be just like anyone else. I was too young to understand this at the time, but as I reflected on it as an adult, I wished that I had done more to help him go through that terrible time in his life. I still tried my best to keep him calm and thinking rationally when we went on this quest, but after four years, it's been very difficult to keep the morale high.

Aknon hesitated before sighing and shaking his head. "Then let's go find an inn," he mumbled under his breath and began walking out of the tavern.

"I thought I was meant to be in charge," I commented, trying to lighten the mood as I followed him. "I'm the oldest after all, I should be the one with the most intelligence, since I have more experience."

"And in those few moments of life, you stole the confidence, obnoxiousness, narcissism, ego, and will to live from us two," Aknon retorted with a deep frown on his face as he shouldered his bag and walked quickly through the streets. Those who had stalls were packing up their stock and carrying their goods along the street. It would've been the perfect opportunity for some haggling, but I shook my head and focused on finding an inn.

When we were last here, the inn had been atrocious. It was over-crowded and loud, whilst the owners probably hadn't heard of privacy due to the locks on the bedroom doors. Sarphi had caused a lot of trouble by being in someone else's room, despite the claims it wasn't her fault. I believed her, she had a terrible memory and thus I didn't trust she remembered which room was ours. But it caused a lot of screaming and the guards nearly got involved, so we knew where to avoid when looking for an inn.

After asking a few people we passed along the way, we found ourselves in a building which looked more like a large house rather than an inn. We were greeted by an elderly lady with long grey hair and a kind face. Her hands shook as she passed us the key. She wouldn't stop gushing over us, which made me think that she had some sort of mental issue or eye issue. Nobody had reacted this way to us, apart from our old babysitter. Apparently Aknon sounded like her grandson, which caused me to feel rather sorry for the human.

"Careful brother, or else you might end up with some pastries and a new jumper," Sarphi teased as she lay down on one of the beds in the room. Inns rarely had three beds in the room, most of the time we could only get a single double bed. But we were lucky to get two single beds this time. Maybe they were meant for children, but Sarphi could easily fit comfortably in one. For either Aknon or I though, it'd be a squeeze. I cared very little about that though, as long as they functioned.

"I wouldn't be opposed," I commented and dropped our bags by the door. We didn't have much, and yet they still thought that I should be the one to carry it all. "I wouldn't mind having someone treating me like a grandchild, especially if food is involved."

"I claim that," Sarphi snickered.

"How do you know what it's like to be treated as a grandchild? You don't even know what it's like to be treated like a child." Aknon shut the curtains which looked over the streets. It was pretty dark, but the three of us were pretty good at making our way around, light or not.

"Ouch." I placed a hand over my chest before taking my shoes off and lying down. "We're all in the same boat here, captain." I grinned and laid my head back onto the pillow, needing to shuffle downwards so my horns didn't scratch the wall. "Tomorrow we're going to the main temple?"

"That's the plan," Aknon muttered as he brought his bag over to the small table we had and began pulling out his journal. And Sarphi was snoring on the other bed. That girl could sleep anywhere.

"Let's just hope we see the plan through," I mumbled before closing my eyes and falling asleep.