Gods Bless the open air was the highlight of Stefan's thought as he made his way to Neverseen, it had now been sometime since he left his castle and the responsibilities that laid with it. He was so bored of ruling. Waking up everyday to get to his throne, talk international affairs all morning, proceed to hear out the people and their problems to see who needed funding, staying up all night with either a boring party to keep the noble men happy, or gods for bid reviewing the stuck-up councils law reforms. But not anymore, now you could find him obsessing over the strong country air, the wind felt great in his face and the mountains in the background had a sense of grandeur that little could match, not even the great technological marvel that was Croidan (the country of the ascended) in his opinion made for a fair match. The city of Neverseen was now within sight, though the city was definitely not something the dwarves must have hold in high regard, it was small and unprotected, not to mention that only one Noble ruled the whole thing. This city however distasteful as it was for nobility (even him to a certain extend) was a hot pot for adventurers, mercenaries and body guards. Good place to get rich for any homeless person with a lack of coin and a special affinity in the act of killing , not that he cared about wealth he had around 500 gold in his endless bag. He put his hand in the endless bag while he pictured his hourglass, then he felt its wooden handle in his hand. He pulled out the hourglass from the bag that must have been a quarter of its size. The perks of having a magical bag with a pocket dimension magically bound to it. One of the many treasures he stole. The hourglass claimed it was around 5:30 pm meaning that darkness should soon befall him, knowing this he hurried the pace.
He made his way to the entrance of the city where he was confronted by two dwarven guards. They both had the usual dwaren physique, that being bulky but no taller than 5 feet with giant brown beards and menacing faces that were enhanced by their plate armor. Like a lion's roar is more effective in scaring the crap out of you when you see their teeth. This where dwarven guards all right. Stefan wasn't really worried, he had changed his normal black hair into brown, his small horns had disappeared along with his tail and the dark red skin had changed into brownish melanin. By all intents and purposes he looked human and he used that very same illusion power on the stone which he carried with him in a bracelet. This stone had been the thing he had sworn to protect as a king, so he will have it destroyed before it's away from him. He had taken it along with the endless bag, he honestly didn't expect it to do much. He expected something like an extremely expensive stone that just happen to glow purple, but he was mistaken. After a few months of travel he had learned to move things with his mind, create illusions and absorbed magical power among other things. It had saved his life in more than one occasion, of course it's magic did go wild from time to time and it had the added unpleasantly of hypnotizing a person who sees into try to kill whoever is holding it. Some people managed to resist its effect, most didn't. So it was better to keep it hidden along with himself, he didn't need the rumor of the mad king Stefan trying to kill himself before he turned 40 which would make him the youngest king to die out of war.
"Aye lad, what is your business here" asked the first dwarf standing in the left side of the gate that led into the city with an almost systematic tone to his voice. His eye not really looking at Stefan's location.
"I'm an adventurer!" he said with an excited tone to his voice, "I'm hoping to find some work, maybe monster slaying or dungeon dwelling. It could also be nice finding something like exploration of new lands, though I know that's a rare request now a day!" The amount of anticipation of finally being here after such a long travel was setting upon him, his tail would have been wiggling like crazy if he where any other ascended, however he had learned to control that impulse when he was very young. Well not that it mattered,the guards couldn't see the tail through the illusion that was currently covering his body. All they could see was a normal tough looking human.
The two dwarfs looked at each other, then back at Stefan deciding it was probably an open and shut case. "aye aye, come in lad" said the other dwarf as he opened the iron gates into the city.
The gates opened only wide enough for him to go in, and so he didn't waste a single second to do as he was told slipping into the city. As he entered he could see how the wooden walls that surrounded the city felt protective in the inside, in contrast with the outside where they had a much more battle harden "don't screw with me" look to them. Outside they were giant wooden pillars all strapped together by two iron bands, one in the upper side and one in the lower half, that blended into the iron walls. In the inside however it felt comforting and more importantly it held lanterns which contained blue fire, this was used in most cities as a source of light since they could not be turned off by any means except magical and they don't burn in anyway. If anything putting your hand in it could cause a minor itch.
The small house's all over the city were lighting up their lanterns and preparing for night time and so where the brothels, taverns and bars. He made his way to a tavern where he was sure to find a poster for a job that didn't require anything to do with pirates or void seeking, unlike most of the ones in his home land. In his way he passed through many dwarfs, humans, elves and half-dwarf the odd ascended here and there, an one very kind old faxiur lady (half-rat) which helped him with very detail directions. After a few minutes of walking he made his way to the tavern, unsurprisingly dwarven cities are easier to navigate then ascended ones. The tavern was named "The Rising Sun" with a slogan saying: We sell anything that can be found under the sun. It was rather big for a tavern but nothing too different then any other looking tavern in any other city.
He slowly opened the door, he was finally here! The place where his whole life would be changed, where his true adventure could start.
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