⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻ ۞ ⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻
Few things unnerved one Bellona Creed, but the closer her journey brought her back to the Metal City, the harder it became to pretend that that place wasn’t one of them. The cold climate of the mountainous region, while not the most preferable, was generally tolerable. The treacherous journey up to the city from the bottom of the mountain was nothing she couldn’t handle. The thousand-foot drop just before the gates was child’s play. But the memories paved in every cobblestone? Each worse than the last.
The rest of the world enjoyed warm climates in the depths of the summer months, but the higher she ascended up the mountain, the colder the air became, and the peak was certainly colder still. Her fur-laden boots sank in the soft snow, but despite her shiver in the harsh winds, she wore plenty of layers of hide and fur to protect herself from the elements. At first, the change from green grass to snow was met with hardly a trail to follow, but after trekking for a day, the snow hardened and a treaded path of stone began. Lit by teal-flame lanterns on each side, the path was well maintained by monks who had built a temple in the area. Bellona was thankful none of them were around to take notice of her. They wouldn’t take kindly to her return to the region.
While using her bo staff—which had been aptly named Ironbark many years prior—as a walking stick while navigating the uneven terrain, a sudden gust of wind blew the hood of her red cloak back, her dark cropped waves billowing against her cheeks until they looked like extensions of the bloody black markings painted throughout her wolf skull mask.
This is the easy part, she reminded herself, if you can’t brave the mountain, you certainly can’t brave the city at its peak.
While the wind howled a fierce song of harsh snow and bitter cold, Bellona had traveled the same way many times and knew its ins and outs well. A way’s up brought her to a small cave that held naught but a firepit and a small shrine—it was mostly unmanned, but she knew there were those who traversed the path often that provided firewood and a small box of dried meat for those less fortunate making their way to the city. She took shelter in the cave as the winds howled with thick snow until nothing was visible but white. As she sat cross-legged at the glowing fire pit, she stared deeply into its warmth until her eyelids felt too heavy to bear.
When she awoke the storm had passed and she could see clear as day off the side of the mountain, so Bellona took advantage of the stillness and continued on her way, minding to leave behind a token of appreciation for the shelter. It wasn’t much, but she left what little tarin she had left on her person wrapped in a piece of cloth, tucking it into the charred remains of her fire for those who came to mend it.
She stopped at a freshwater pond near the cave to fill her canteen, noting a family of goats also sipping from the pond and a snow rabbit running through the trees. The wildlife here still thrives, she thought. A good sign. The goats bleated at her before returning to the forest, the baby lingering behind a little longer out of curiosity. Bellona watched it for a moment, but as she moved to lift her mask, the baby goat joined the rest of its family.
She continued along the teal-lit trail that led further up the mountainside, until the snow on the ground began to thin and harden from longevity and the air grew much thinner. At the very end of her hours-long journey sat a pair of old stone dogs, each topped with a hat of snow, framing the only path across the harrowing, echoing drop below.
Bellona eyed the clinking bridge between each peak through her mask, watching as what was known prominently as The Giant’s Tether moved with the winds rising from the drop below. The bridge was unlike any other throughout The Veil—the commonly told story was that a giant was so angry he split the mountain in two, but the gods weaved a chain to keep it together so the mountain wouldn’t fall—and this metal chain served as the bridge between both peaks. Bellona wasn’t sure if the story was true, but she didn’t stop to question its validity. Each link of the bridge was bigger than any one person, but like any other metal chain, it was malleable.
She approached the chain bridge and peered over the edge, and even though her vision was encumbered by her mask, she still managed to see every terrifying inch of the drop below. She raised a brow and sighed, backing up to have just enough room in front of her to slam the end of Ironbark onto the edge. Spreading from the staff’s circumference, a large magic circle twice her size encircled her, with runes and symbols of her element forming throughout. It glowed with a bright white light, illuminating the drop and making the snow on the ground look gray and dull in comparison.
From this circle her magic spread, weaving along the chain bridge and tracing its links, until every part of it basked in a soft white light. Metal spread to fill in the gaps, the links stiffened, and when the light finally dimmed a fully-formed metal bridge was left in its place.
“And now to cross.”
‘Oh, if only it were that easy, Bell.’
She was halfway across the bridge when she sensed it, but it was so sudden and there was no time to retreat to either side. Bellona slammed Ironbark into the bridge and as its metal fused with the bridge link under her feet she braced herself, just as a piercing howl bellowed from the depths below. A clawed paw dug into the mountainside from deep within the canyon, a white glow emanating from the tips of its fur. It pulled itself out of the pass so fast Bellona didn’t get to see anything but a blur, the harsh wind blowing her cloak up and over her head.
A loud crash preceded a strong gust of wind and snow, and as Bellona righted herself and fixed her cape, she came face-to-face with a massive gray wolf that had taken a stance on the other side of the bridge. It stood as tall as the trees surrounding it, each long claw close to Bellona’s own height, while its breath billowing from the gaps in its teeth spread a thick fog over the bridge. Its eyes, like every Colossi before it and every after, glowed a bright blue hue that almost looked like they burned the hottest of flames.
She sighed in annoyance and clicked her tongue against her teeth. “My journey's been relatively quiet until now. You just had to ruin it.” She spoke very softly, mostly to herself, separating Ironbark and the bridge and flipping it around in one hand. She pulled her Slayer Coil off of her belt and held it up to peer the Colossi through the small lens in the middle. The device scanned it over and searched it for buffs and weaknesses, taking notice of the patches of metal plating over parts of its body. Its head, back, and legs looked invulnerable from its protective barrier, but the stomach was clear.
Bellona blew a long breath from her cheeks as she clipped the Coil back onto her belt. Metal class. Tier 3. Annoying.
The Colossi roared and slammed its paw down on the bridge, undoing her magic in one fell swoop and making the bridge malleable once more. It swung violently under the wolf's force and Bellona used the timing to launch herself into the air, aiming the end of her staff for the wolf’s nose. She smacked it hard and metal began to spread from the plate on its forehead to cover the area she’d hit, but the Colossi was able to stop the spread from encasing its mouth and snout entirely. The beast being able to cancel out her magic so easily could potentially be a problem, but she was confident that there wasn’t a Colossi in the world too strong for her.
Bellona grabbed hold of the Colossi’s fur to keep from falling and swung up onto its back, landing on one of its metal plates. She fused Ironbark with the metal below as the Colossi shook its body to be rid of her, leaping from one side of the mountain to the other, barely making the jump as some of the mountainside crumbled under its back paws. Its tail swung furiously and smacked her once or twice, but she held onto her staff with her entire body to keep from falling.
Within the beating from the wolf's tail and its violent shaking, she started to twist Ironbark and pull at the metal plating, which made the Colossi howl in pain and start to run to try and shake her off. However, she managed to hold on and persisted, until the plating was peeling off its back and exposing the raw skin underneath, blue blood seeping out of its pores and dripping down its fur. She twisted and pulled until the majority of the plating’s worth of metal was spiraled into a point at the end of Ironbark, and then as the wolf tried to shake her off one more time, she thrust it all down through its body.
The metal spire pierced the Colossi all the way to the ground, its underbelly splattering blood and guts from the wound. With the spire lodged into the mountain, it almost looked like it had simply landed wrong and pierced itself on a sharp peak. The wolf twitched and howled for a moment, until its body went limp and slid down the rest of the metal. Bellona sighed in relief and dislodged Ironbark from the spire, sliding down the side of the wolf's body and landing next to it.
The Colossi had died quite close to the edge, and its tail knocked the ears off of one of the stone dogs guarding the bridge. I'll probably get some flack for that from the monks. Just what I needed. She placed a hand on the wolf's body and tried to feel for its breath, but her hand remained still.
Still, therefore, dead.
Reaching into one of the pouches on her belt, Bellona pulled out a small empty vial and uncorked the lid, pressing it up to the metal spike as the Colossi’s blood trickled down it. The liquid, glowing the same blue hue as its eyes, would certainly come in handy later.
“Hey! You! Get away from there!”
Bellona turned to the bridge and watched the three that crossed it—one of them a Water-weaver, who solidified the bridge by freezing the chain links. All three were of different size and armament, but they all wore a similar cloak and they all had their Slayer coils either hanging from their necks or clipped to their own belts.
Colossi Slayers. Also annoying.
As they reached her side of the mountain, she quickly slipped the vial of Colossi blood into her pouch before they noticed it. Resting Ironbark on her shoulder, she relaxed her stance and waited, her eyes fluttering between the man and woman who stood up front. Both had brown skin, but that’s where their similarities ended, the woman’s more of a pine bark tone than the man’s olive. Judging by the fabric underneath their cloaks, Bellona guessed the man was of the Earth and the woman was of the Water. Most Slayers tended to gravitate to clothing or accessories in the colors of their element, so it was easy to make assumptions.
The man up front reached for his short sword slowly. “What happened here?” he asked, in a more accusatory tone than Bellona cared for.
She sighed. “I slayed the beast.”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
All three Slayers had looks of surprise on their faces, though the man in the back was mostly hidden by his hood. Bellona tried to get a better look at him, but most of him was shrouded and too far away to get any detail—all she could really see was his gaping jaw.
"You…by yourself?" the woman questioned, lifting her Slayer coil to the corpse and scanning it. "It's the Canin Austreus, Tier 3."
"That was our bounty," the Earth-turner hissed.
Bellona shrugged. "It attacked me. Was I supposed to ignore it?"
"Where's your backup?"
The untrusting nature of the Earth-turner was starting to piss her off. "Don't believe that I could take it down myself, do you?"
"It's a Tier 3 Colossi. I’d be an idiot to believe that."
Tired of the disbelief, Bellona reached up to her mask, but she paused when she noticed the Earth-turner's hand tighten on the hilt of his sword. She removed the mask slowly and pushed her hood back, revealing her face to them. She watched as their faces contorted in knowing—and in fear—understanding exactly why.
The symmetrical scars on her face were the most conspicuous, and the most traumatic tell-tale sign of who she was, after all.
“Is that…?” the Earth-turner muttered, still unsure.
The woman smacked him in his exposed, muscular arm. “You dolt! You were seriously about to arrest and question The Arjblinka?”
“I-I didn’t know who she was!”
"Arrest?" Bellona said softly, "for killing a Colossi before you lot showed up? Like that would hold." She walked through the gap between the man and woman in front, but the third man stood in her way for a moment too long. He looked down at her with a smile, soft, hardly noticeable by anyone who wasn’t breaching his personal space. His blue eyes were striking and some blond curls fell on his forehead, his facial hair a similar golden tone. The way this man looked at Bellona made her feel uneasy, but when he stepped aside and joined his comrades’ sides, she set aside judgment and continued onto the chain bridge.
"The corpse is all yours!" she called back to them as she crossed. A single tap from Ironbark shattered part of the ice closest to her, but Bellona was quick to react and made sure that part of the bridge remained unmoving with her own magic. The woman who’d frozen it was a novice with her magic, perhaps a recent graduate of whatever training she’d had. She didn’t have the stamina to make her magic more resistant yet—but the rest of the bridge held up just fine, so she showed promise.
"Wait!" the woman shouted, "You're not taking claim over the kill?"
Bellona paused and looked over her shoulder to them. "Oh, no. I will be claiming the kill. But I have no use for the remains, and I’m sure you’ll be looking to sell whatever you can to make up for the bounty you’ve lost. Consider it…a gesture of good will, for not arresting and interrogating me.”
She drew her hood back over her head and continued to the end of the bridge, the sense of dread from memories of the Metal City growing in the pit of her stomach.
⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻ ۞ ⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻
The grand city of Jinshi, known throughout The Veil as the Metal City, was a surprisingly deceptive place. Being so treacherously high in the mountains, one would expect it to be just as desolate and unwavering, but it was in fact quite the opposite. Every building was alight with the warmth of teal-flame lanterns, the metal rooftops reflecting this light and brightening the streets, and the wooden frames of each building were all painted in beautifully vibrant colors.
Not to mention the people, who were always so welcoming and kind. Perhaps it was the treacherous life they lived, located so close to Colossi territory with only the city’s guards and a lowly few Slayers to protect them, that made them cherish every moment and treat others so well. Bellona really couldn’t say for certain—all she knew was that she was the outlier, and their kindness was stifling and dismissive.
Much to Bellona’s dismay, she had arrived at the city in the height of the week-long celebration of Ara Imosi: the festival they held annually to give thanks and ask for protection from the Guardian that stood tall in the center of the city’s main square. This meant obnoxiously loud, drunken people and even louder festivities. The only saving grace was the crowd, which made Bellona more at ease—easier to blend in.
The streets darkened by the night were lit with wooden stalls that had candle jars on string, tall blue-green flame lanterns, and magic users showing off their powers for entertainment. The smell of delicious foods like the city’s signature goat dumplings, dal overloaded with herbs and spices, and fried bannock bread filled the air. Children laughed as they played games for small prizes, and the chatter of the people was boisterous, somehow louder than the music being played by the drum and flute groups.
She made her way through the crowds with relative ease, no one paying her any mind as she brushed past like a gust of wind. Bellona had returned her mask to her face so as she drifted through, she felt hidden enough—but her guard remained on high alert. People were more concerned with the festivities than with other patrons, but as the sun had begun to set over the mountain peaks she knew she had to hurry to make it to her destination. All she had to do was continue, and not look around at anything for too long, lest memories best forgotten resurface.
Bellona stopped at a flight of tall stairs at the corner of a crossroad, completely empty save for a drunken haggard nearly passed out halfway up. Bellona began to ascend the stone stairway, at first convinced she’d made it through unscathed, but as she neared the top, she suddenly felt like she was being watched.
She turned and scanned the crowd below, but it was damn near impossible to find one particular pair of eyes amidst a thousand. Trying her best anyway, the culprit was well hidden, if there even was one. She waited for a moment, forcibly quelling the uneasiness and rising hairs on the back of her neck, before she rushed the rest of the way up. She quickly pushed open and entered through the large iron-cast doors at the very top of the steps, into the warmth and homeliness of the Slayer’s Hearth.
A home to all Colossi Slayers, a Hearth acted as a waypoint for any and all—Slayer and Apprentice alike. It served as a rest stop for the traveling Slayer, a meeting place for hunting parties to decide on job listings, and a bar for those wishing to drink their days away. It was unfortunately common to find Slayers wasting their days away on the establishment’s unending stores of alcohol, trying to blur the horrors they’ve seen and friends they’ve lost. It was a coping mechanism Bellona understood.
Upon entry, she immediately noticed that the inside was decorated for the festival with lights on strings and colorful ribbons covering the wooden support beams. However, despite the fact that the Hearth generally had an open door policy, like usual the one in Jinshi was rather scarce of company. Two men sat chatting near the fireplace with mugs of mead, but that was about it, save for the lone man standing behind the bar.
Bellona closed the doors behind her and walked up to the bar, producing the vial of blood she’d procured from the Colossi earlier and setting it down with a loud enough clink to get the man’s attention. As he turned around, she also placed her Slayer coil down beside it, the metal device dull and dirty from neglect.
“Oh? What do we have here?” the man asked, picking up the vial and swishing its contents around close to his face.
“The blood of the Colossi I killed on my way into the city.”
As she removed her mask and lowered her hood, the man’s face lit up with a mischievous smile. “Well, if it isn’t Miss Creed,” he greeted, setting the vial back down on the counter. “Didn’t think I’d see you gracing our fair city ever again. Last I’d heard you’d gone as far East as possible.”
“This world is a circle, Mkhai,” Bellona replied, resting Ironbark against the bar and placing her Slayer coil down, “if I go as far East as I can, eventually I end up right back here.”
He chuckled. “Indeed. So, what’s this for?”
“Figured a vial of that stuff could get me a few drinks of your fine ale, could it not?”
The gruff older man, Mkhai A’lrun, had already begun pouring a drink into a wooden stein. “Why pay me in Colossi blood, when you can use some of the bounty from the kill?”
Bellona rested her head in her hand. “Don’t tell me you’ve gotten out of the parts trade since I’ve been gone. I figured this would sell well for you, untainted and fresh.”
Mkhai paused for a moment, shooting her a knowing and mischievous glance. As he placed the stein of ale down in front of her, he picked the vial back up, examining its contents. “What creature did this come from?”
“Uh,” she tried to remember what the Water-weaver had said after taking a long swig from the stein, “Canin Australis, I think she said? It’s Tier 3.”
Although he raised a brow in suspicion, Mkhai grabbed a large book from behind the bar and flipped open the cover, only the inside wasn’t full of paper pages but a single screen—blank at first, but Mkhai grabbed her Coil and placed it over the screen and text began to appear. He typed a login and then, from what she could see, showed her last scanned encounters. A few Tier 1 rats, a couple of Tier 2 from further down the mountain, and finally, the Tier 3 wolf from the bridge.
When she noticed its model pictured on the screen, she pulled herself up and reached over to point. "That's the one, right there."
Mkhai smacked the top of her hand before she could touch the screen. "Don't reach over my bar, and don't touch the Keeper's Tome," he growled, then looked over the text, "and it says here a local trio took on this commission not three hours ago."
Bellona shrugged as she took another large swig. "It attacked me at the Giant's Tether. What was I supposed to do, wait for Slayers I didn't know were going to show up?"
"They're not going to be very happy with you, encroaching on their bounty like that." Mkhai warned as he entered her credentials under the Completed Commission section.
"It attacked me," she repeated, “and they should be more concerned that they aren’t strong enough to do the job on their own.”
A snicker left Mkhai’s lips before he had the chance to stifle it. “Your ego is going to condemn you one day, little girl. You’re lucky they’re not here to listen to that kind of talk. Hell, I’m lucky. You’d probably destroy my bar shutting them up.”
Bellona didn't deny the accusations, burying herself in her drink instead. When Mkhai slid her Slayer Coil back to her, she clipped it back to her belt, and attempted to relax on her stool when that feeling of being watched returned. It took every ounce of self-control she had not to turn around and search for the culprit, knowing now wasn’t the time to pick a fight—and not because she cared to keep Mkhai’s bar intact.
“So,” Mkhai put the tome back under the bar and leaned back, “are you going to tell me why you’re back? I know it’s not just for my ale, as much as you flatter me.”
She hesitated, taking as quick and as discreet a look around the Hearth as she could. Everything looked to be the same as before, and no one was looking their way. Even still, she decided to choose her next words carefully.
“I’m...following some rumors.” Bellona hushed her voice to barely louder than a whisper. “Some deeply unsettling rumors, but so far, they are just that.”
“Mhm, rumors indeed.” The way Mkhai said it made Bellona feel like he either didn’t believe her or he knew more than he let on. However, he quickly changed the subject by pulling a key out of his pocket and setting it down on the bar. “Lucky you, Miss Creed. Your favorite room is available for lodging.”
The idea of a good night’s sleep in a pile of wood and cloth that mostly resembled a bed was tempting, so she downed the rest of the ale as quickly as she was able. As she set the stein down, Mkhai also placed near her a satchel that clinked in the frequency of gold tarin—payment for the job she’d unwittingly completed. She picked up the satchel and felt its weight with a shake, raising a brow as she realized those three Slayers would indeed be quite pissed off at her. She grabbed the key as well, making a mental note to weld the door to her room shut, lest they come for the coins in the middle of the night.
“Well look at that, you’ve given me everything except for what it is I truly desire:” Bellona pushed the empty stein closer to Mkhai and smirked faintly, “another drink.”