After the barrier had been surmounted the party found themselves within a vast town, normal in terms of towns, although not normal compared to what Albatross was used to. Multiple smoothed steppes elevated different levels of the large building-scape. Walls lined with shale gray, and sky-blue squares of some expensive yet mass quarried stone. Winding paths were lined with hefty brick slabs inlayed into the earth with conviction, surrounding walkways as they skirted the steppes themselves. Similar slabs made up the primary cobbled roads that webbed their way through the miniature city, carving through the mass of squat buildings, creating larger channels and cart sized roads, although some of a rougher construction. Chopped stones made up the vainer walking paths which surrounded various little islands scattered about. Islands of green, some with a singular tree, a small pond, or even a bite sized garden of flowers and plants, all held in by stony fingers.
Al thought it weird to have this much internal nature, when they were practically surrounded by it on all sides. Short wide buildings appeared to be stacked almost on top of each other, large yet somehow quaint in approach. Segmented rosy roofs arched at steep angles, spiraling to the sky, comprised of interlocking stones and neatly lumbered corners, even the walls that were made of wood, stood out as their composition changed like a shimmering rainbow. Buildings scattered themselves around, spreading towards the west, yet still managing to find themselves clustering together in a generic, spider-centric pattern. They went east, clumping, clamoring, creating a line of sorts, which the party’s small walkway flowed towards. Running through like a serpent, curving directly into a larger more central road, capable of hosting at least three carriages side by side. A straight run through, protected by massive, opened gates, propped, and bolted open to allow trickling passage of clumped groups, travelers, and citizens alike.
Sparkling sun-lit brilliance illuminated the place with a pure sheet of light so bright and so clean it bordered on clinical. Noon rays began to beat down as midday began rearing its head, heat seemingly repelled by lavish pods of emerald greenery. Clashing with the blue icy shadows of the building-bound straightaway that the adventurers found themselves upon. A precession of warriors and witches alike followed the darkened shape of the raven herself, as they paraded down the road. Sweet warmth seeped into the boy’s skin as Al turned to his left, facing Every who had been skipping on his left for some time now. Looking, the young warrior spoke, uttering the first words that any of them had spoken since the incident.
“Not to be rude” Al started, as Every’s eyes darted from the town locking to the boy, “but uh, what exactly are we doing here? I thought we were going to the capital, Parrino.” As Al finished, Every laughed to herself, shaking a bit while handing a wayward water flask back to Sonne.
“We still are silly” the younger girl replied, “just stopping here for some supplies, plus it was on the way! Lighten up a bit, stick in the mud, haven’t you ever been on vacation before? It’s just like that.” Every finished, with a wide squishy smile.
“Heh, well” the boy riposted “what’s a vacation?” he finished, “what?” Every looked at him with a shiver of shock, perhaps a little Awe.
Al shrugged, “don’t tell me you never left that town? Like ever?” she asked airy and light, voice growing higher as the boy replied, “not really” his voice and their subsequent conversation were sadly cut short.
“Alright, attention everyone, here here, listen up.” Galena peaked turning to address her personal crowd, which had been mysteriously stopped under the shade of an unusual shop, which appeared to be attempting to sell flowers.
Al thought that was increasingly odd, as the forest was full of them. “Now to begin with, Every I need you to go to Heathers and ask for five round like usual, and don’t forget the honey this time, Argjend see to the girl, make sure the order is filled.” The witch cleared her throat before continuing, “Sonne I have a chart and leather wrap standing at sixth and nine, Lusmine is there, he’ll show you where it is, would you fetch it for me?” She paused, “alright, on it” Sonne replied, marching off.
Al turned back but Every and Argj had already disappeared, “as for you” he jumped at the woman’s words. “Albatross, you will be following me, shadowing me, as a bodyguard, I hope that won’t prove to be too difficult?”
Al shook his head, “good, come, come” flourished the raven as her spoken, elegant shoes clicked neatly against the stones underneath.
One strutting, one jogging figure, Al followed behind the woman as they pressed forwards, tapping out into the brunt of the town and the large main street. Traveling through shaded waves of silky cool, marching to the tune of singing birds, while following rows and rows of differently shaped buildings. As they passed, the boy’s attention was drawn to the task at hand, perhaps a little too drawn as he appeared more like a paranoid heathen, rather than a studious protector. Galena busied herself as their traveling gradually slowed, the time taken up by her insistent browsing of various items and displays, the pondering bent over shape of her form, burning itself clear into Al’s mind. He accompanied her while they meandered, his eventual musing only broken by a peculiar shimmer he had caught in a rather reflective shop window.
Small groups, perhaps two or three, made their way past the scarce crowds, clad in rather loud attire. Long white robes, straight as an arrow, connected to white ashen masks which draped the figures faces, like a matrimony veil of sorts, they moved, appearing like immaculate ghosts, head wraps and coverings completely disguising their appearances. Everything was covered, nose, eyes, mouth, even their backs, which Al noticed were also adorned with a golden sign like a four spoked wheel standing straight up, each post of equal length. Some of these small groups carried curious wooden poles with what appeared like leather or cloth stretched tightly between them, upon which laid draped shapes of varying sizes, vaguely human in nature. Additionally, as they reached what Al presumed would be the social and economic heart of this veritable town. More and more robed groups of ghostly figures emerged in their own special positions, following a mass of denizens who were clad in similar full-face masks, although the majority of which still had their eyes and the tops of their heads exposed. These masks were of different colors, a deliberate contrast to the clinical ones that the specters chose to wear.
“They’re doing it all wrong” the boy began, “don’t they know that the sickness is only passed through open wounds and fluids, regardless it is sort of interesting, as I haven’t seen any signs of ghoul activity around here.” Al said, as his head tracked a group of covered zealots who were trailing about a fallen shop door like a swarm of ants.
“Ghouls?” Galena asked quizzically, “yeah you know, the undead, amalgams, liches, abominations, things of that nature, the things you helped us fend off back at the grove” Al replied, as Galen turned around puffing chest, as she leaned against a hip high cart.
“Ohhhhhhhhh you mean the living” she said, lowering eyebrows, as Al raised his “no, I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m pretty sure they were dead, or at least close to it” the warrior answered, the witch almost snickering to herself out loud, “I see where the confusion might come from, but that’s not exactly how it works, although I suppose it could be considered a colloquialism.”
She paused to take a breath, “see in short terms, all humans have mana within them, energy that keeps them and their souls alive, while mages have more, an abundance if you will. However, the extra-human races have something called spirit, the equivalent, seeing as they have no mana to speak off, although when you mix the two (spirit and mana) you get the energies of what we call, life and death.”
Galena took another long breath, “very poisonous to anything that comes in contact with it, but for the life of me, I can’t quite figure out how, why, or where someone is acquiring life, and why they would administer it so cruelly.” The witch finished, holding her chin while looking over a rather shiny waxed apple from a nearby box.
“Oh” Al looked up with brighter eyes, “that is interesting, humans with both mana and spirit, filled with life and death… so I guess they were living, in a way at least” he stopped, as Galena acknowledged his words with a slight nod.
Al paused then lowered his voice a little as he looked around them, “earlier you spoke of extra-humans, uh I haven’t seen any around here, like any at all, no elves, no orcs besides Sonne, and no dwarves either.” The boy finished, Galena giggling to herself once more, almost cute in a disturbing way, all while paying for a basket of trinkets and bobbles.
“No need to walk around the issue boy, there are quite a few more extra races than that, but you don’t find too many in the human kingdoms, let alone the heart of the human kingdom… I suppose the hundreds of years of slavery they endured at our hands has contributed to that disdain, and I don’t blame them, you’ll see some when we reach the capital, all in due time.” She finished as Al looked up at her, “the wars?” his words were cut by the witch, “yes the wars, except, let's save that history lesson for another time, it’ll have to be a long one.”
Galen ended as the duo walked in another spontaneous cloud of silence, witchy heels clacking hard once more against the stone beneath, betraying mild wealth and perhaps power.
They rounded a corner which trailed off towards a twisting street, where the buildings grew taller and threw themselves in all different directions as they spun. At first Al was struck with a cool draping shade, which then filled with a rather uneasy feeling as they began their surmounting of the mysterious avenue. Walking, the two made their way deeper, into the darkened blue haze, wherein the shadows which once stood stoic, all began to move at once, figures moving in windows.
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