Next part - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12585129/
First Part - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12585072/
Full Story - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12332286/

Covered in dust from the dry sandy ground I quickly scrambled to my feet, letting my eyes adapt to this bright environment. Before me stretched a descending valley of shambles. Buildings made from scraps piled on top of each other crawling up steep hills on both sides of me. The valley completely covered in shabby brick homes shielded by vast lone trees standing out like ridiculously sore thumbs on the bursting stage. The colours where unbelievable. So many of the houses where painted in various lavish colours. Some with strange vast murals painted on the walls. Street art at its most intense. Some images wrapped around entire buildings and spilled out onto the streets as if it were still growing. It was stunning. Gorgeous shambles. A beautiful blend of dirty windowed boxes of various colours and sizes. Cables and Washing lines adorned in clothes tied the boxes together whilst spiky satellites and antennas stood like totems warding off strangers. This place had character, similar of an old weathered laidback refugee smiling through a sandstorm, laughing in the face of death, not a care for the troubles and dangers that lay ahead.
It was a warm hazy day. Took a while for my vision to fully clear before I could see the silhouettes of scarily tall thin structures in the dusty mist beyond the valleys end. Mass spires huddled together spanning right up into the heavens. A city? No, no time for that, no time, she's coming.
In front of me was a low wall. Below that, the rest of the descending valley filled with houses divided by deep narrow streets. The first of my memories that returned was running, jumping, and climbing. Actually more instinct than memory. One of my favourite past times that is parkour. After all that's what being a Azikai all is about.
Now I know some think it to be a bit racist to call us monkeys, but I have to agree the similarities are there. The agility, climbing skills, four thumbs, tail, that general laid back attitude, and other things that are best not to mention right now. Anyway, I knew what I could do, what I had to do to get away from her. The adrenaline was already pumping before I started. Numbing the pains and clearing my mind. Ready to focus. Ready to take that first jump.
Below was a tin roof. To the left was a tree. To the right was another roof. And above was the sky (obviously). I was there. Right there in the moment. Running towards the wall, running towards the edge, running out of fear, but still... free. That beautiful wild buzz that is freedom.
The foot high wall met my own foot as I sprung into the air and began my airborne decent. The rush was unbelievable! The weightless tickle. The strange feeling of lifting organs which finally brought a smile to my face as I fell down towards the building below. Instinct kicked in and I rolled out of the landing, dampening the fall. Somehow the fear didn't matter anymore. The pain had numbed. The adrenaline was just like a drug. Something addictive. Something I craved. All I wanted to do now was run. Jump along all the roofs and climb every tree.
From that point I began skipping along the roof tops jumping from roof to balcony to roof to power line masts to balcony to roof. Climbing antennas and tree branches in nothing more than my black boxer shorts. Now that's a Life! That’s something worth living for! And probably something I should have noticed earlier. The descending buildings crawling down the valley made it so much easier. Could just jump from one building to the next, using tree branches as bridges. I hopped over a narrow street lined with a bustling market. Maybe I was taking this too fast, what would happen if I was seen? Should I really be up here? Well... that's what I would have been thinking if I wasn't so high. There were definitely a few raised voices after I passed over the market. Embracement started to boil away in the pit of my stomach, but I chose to ignore it. For some reason I had to keep running.
The descent started to flatten out. I was approaching the bottom of the valley. Without the advantage of the houses being on a slope the roofs became more of a challenge to reach. I jumped down from a tree, onto another flat roof, and bolted off the edge to the next building. It was a higher building but I was aiming for a drainpipe I could climb up. However the pipe was wet and slippery like it had been coated with oil. With hands and feet scrambling up the pipe I tried my best to ascend, but there was no friction what so ever. I could feel myself slowly going down. I thought about jumping to the passing window ledge, but it was covered in spikes. Obviously this building didn't like climbers. And as luck would have it, there where people below.
I pushed myself off the wall with my feet, jumping backwards, and landing on the ground. It took a few seconds, but the busy street soon got a bit quieter as some of the Azikai began to stare. Everyone was just, Azikai. Have to admit, that didn’t feel familiar. For some reason I didn’t feel right being surrounded by my own people. The fact that they wouldn't stop staring didn't help. So I just nodded and muttered "morning" before casually walking off.
So there I was, walking amongst the run down streets. I expected more to stare as I walked down. But no... They weren't staring at me anymore. However these streets where different. They had that alcohol soaked feel to them. Maybe these people where used to a sight like me... or maybe they were just trying to ignore me. Mind you there where allot of shorts and a lack of fur coverage on the humid vaporous street. Allot of people seemed to be fashioning a kind of poverty swimwear theme. Suppose the fur is enough of a substitute for a shirt in temperatures like today. I continued to walk on casually greeting those I passed in the street. I was blending in. No matter how shorts my 'shorts' where, I was still blending in. Was this place really that bad?
It felt strange being on the streets. The three floor high buildings walling me in. Confined but somewhat comfortable. A familiar comfort. No one looking in from outside. The building walling us into a sense of comfortable privacy. It felt like a jungle. Vast lone trees scattered among the street. Noble giants stretching over the houses bringing shade to the humid street. Everyone here was Azikai, but that just didn't seem right. Wasn't familiar to me at all.
The building where wrong too. I felt like they should be bigger, cleaner, impossible towers of mirrors piercing the sky. I kept on pondering on the thought. The impossible towers. A memory slipped through, simple vague words that weren’t mine. God’s own bathroom cabinet mirror. The top floor. Something to do with the towers.
The street wasn't claustrophobic enough. There was too much space. I wanted the streets feel like rivers, that's what felt familiar. Busy streets with a current of its own. The clothing was somewhat rough among the people here, as were the looks. The look of trapped refugees with nowhere else to go, yet... somewhat blissful with their situation. There were small fires in the street. People cooking outdoors. Almost campfire like... A primitive feel... The smell was gorgeous though. Smoked fish being cooked over a fire. There where Azikai in the trees, some of them children, just lying about. Some playing daring games. Back on the ground there were a few older Azikai filling in cracks and gaps in the walls of a crumbling home. It didn't look like they were using concrete, more like mud, but then what do I know.