“OUT!” roared a man's voice, shaking most of the people within the cart from their thoughts, conversations, and some, their slumber.
The man’s voice was deep, and harsh, and seemed to be filled with anger. Adrith was the first to leave the cart, he stood up and stepped off of the cart. The moment he felt his feet touch the ground, he felt a hand be placed on each of his arms, pushing him hard. He stumbled forward momentarily as he turned to see 2 guards doing the same to each person. They were quickly and without care trying to clear the way for more people to exit the cart quickly. Adrith began to look around as he could see the sea of golden grains, the farmers tilling it, and then the lines of stone. It was a sight he already knew, he saw it while coming to the city now, yet when he turned he saw what had become of his home.
Tall walls of mismatched stone. Countless thick pieces of wood that seem gnarled, warped, splintered, compacted with mortar, and pieces even being replaced and fused through magic. Adrith realized then, as he turned back to look at the farms again. Off in the distance, he could see a smaller wall surrounding the farms. He remembered they only had 1 set of walls, and last he remembered the farms were never surrounded by one, as often there was no need. Before Adrith could continue his thoughts he began to hear a man yelling more, “All of you! Here! Now!”
Adrith looked towards the large gate made of these thick stone doors reinforced with metal plates and bands. Adrith made his way over as he saw Evelyn began to gesture for him to make his way over. The moment he neared he began to see guards moving up and down the line of carts, checking them as after a bit longer they gave a light gesture for them to enter. Yet for those who rode the carts, their processing was much more thorough. Adrith saw the countless guards surrounding the small door entrance through the wall. There was positioned a taller man, he had thick features, a wide jaw, thick brow, short well kept brown hair, and was adorned in polished full plate armor. He sat at a large stone table which had another soul scale. Beside the table are multiple large thick stone chests being guarded by guards. It took a moment for Adrith to be able to see, however, the moment he got near he was able to see that there were papers being filled out, and people being told to pay as they tried to enter the city.
That was not the only thing being taken, he began to hear people being asked questions:
‘What is your name?’
‘What is your business in the city?’
‘How long do they plan to stay?’
Simple questions as it seemed mostly normal, yet something was strange. Adrith realized for them, there should be no others who are coming to the city. From his knowledge, all the cities nearby are gone. Yet then he began to hear more strange questions. Ones that made him begin to question why they were being asked.
‘How long were you in the dungeon?’
‘What was the lowest floor did you go to?’
‘How many cores did you consume?’
‘Did you find any new monsters?’
Yet then came a demand rather than a request: “Empty all your bags into this cart”
Adrith then began to see as the people emptied their contents into a small stone cart, and they began to rifle through the contents. They began to slowly sift through the items, pulling out cores and setting them on to the table. There the cores began to be weighed, counted, and calculated. The moment they had finished the measuring and weighing of the cores, the guards began to take from the cores. They began taking the largest, the most dense cores, leaving half the cores. Not based on weight or value, half of all the cores there were taken. Leaving the person with half the amount, as they call it a ‘cart’ tax. A secondary tax of anyone coming into the city with cores.
Adrith looked to himself as he realized he didn’t even have a single core to pay for that tax. Let alone the tax to enter the city. Yet Evelyn lightly tapped his hand, as he saw in her hand a core. He took hold of it as they began to get closer. He watched with worry, as he began to slowly inch his way closer and closer through the line. Eventually, he had made it to near the front where Evelyn was being processed first.
“Name”, the man asked in a dry and monotone voice never looking up from the paper.
Evelyn swallowed the saliva in her mouth as she said with the little confidence she could muster, “Evelyn Lucero”.
The man began to write for a moment before he stopped. He blinked for a moment as if he had forgotten what he was doing. He took another moment before he looked up to Evelyn, he inspected her for a moment before he said, “Are you a newly arisen?”
Evelyn was taken aback for a moment before she nodded, “Y-yes I am?”
Evelyn was curious if there were additional things involved with being a newly arisen entering the city. The man nodded his head as he then said, “Very well, you will need to meet with the Lord”.
The man began to look back to his paper as he then continued his questioning, “What floor did you come from?”
Evelyn was about to speak, yet she felt something in her chest stop the words from coming out in that moment. She felt a great uneasy tension as if she was about to die. She realized in that moment if she said what she was going to, she could have found something terrible waiting. She took a moment as she acted like she was thinking, “I-I don’t remember exactly. I remember lighter gray stone and strange red shadow dogs chasing”.
The man looked at Evelyn very inquisitively. His eyes began to inspect her as he asked, “Where’d you get the clothing?”
Evelyn looked at her clothing as she said, “Oh, uhm, I actually was found by Connor and his group. They found some old clothing and gave it to me-” Evelyn nodded as she continued, “They were able to be repaired with magic”.
The man nodded his head as he continued, he was looking at her, she felt no intentions of ogling eyes, it felt more like she was being inspected by a rogue. Everything on her was being inspected, all worth she had was being itemized and it felt as if she was being picked apart. The man nodded as he continued, “What profession did you hold before?”
Evelyn cleared he throat, “I was an adventurer”. It was the lofty name any who entered the dungeon was given if they were not awoken. Not like the meaning one would expect of when reading tales of old.
The man nodded as he wrote that down, “What is the year of our great city’s founding?”
Evelyn thought for a moment before she spoke, “It was 500 years before I was born”.
The man tilted his head, “Are you sure?”
Evelyn looked at the man curiously, “I-I most definitely am”. Evelyn couldn’t tell why however the man looked to in disbelief.
It took another moment before he said, “Very well”. The man nodded his head for a moment as he said, “I believe this is all I need from you for now. All you need to do is pay the tax to enter”.
Evelyn nodded as she began to place her single core onto the scale, and it was not enough. At first she believed she would be turned away, as multiple guards began to shift, as if getting ready to move, yet the man nodded as he said, “Very well, that will be proper compensation”,
A few of the guards looked to him, yet he did not even move as he lightly gestured for Evelyn to enter. As when she did, Adrith stepped forward, and the man asked once more, “What is your name?”
“Adrith Catulus”, Adrith was quick and concise.
The man looked up to Adrith, again with confusion for a moment before Adrith continued, “I am a newly arisen Awoken”.
The man nodded, somewhat amused yet also annoyed, “What floor did you come from?”
“Unsure, I did not keep count”, Adrith spoke directly, as he realized based upon the question, they must use it to judge relative power and their own expectations of what they should get from an Awoken.
The man nodded as a scowl came to his face, “Where did you find your clothing?”
“I was found by Connor just like her”.
The man’s face began to get quite annoyed as he continued, “What was your profession?”
“Knight”, Adrith said that single word. Many people looked to him confused, others slightly concerned.
The man then stood as he asked, looking down onto Adrith as the man must have had beast blood within him as he stood nearly a head taller than most men, “What year do you remember the city being founded?”
“300 years before my time”, Adrith began to feel the hostility as he did not back down.
“What was your profession again?” The man asked, now towering over Adrith.
“Knight”, Adrith answered once more.
“How’d you die?” The man asked now looking down onto him completely, as if ready to grab him the moment a false move was made.
“Fighting to clear the dungeon. Like the rest of us. You’d call it the Last Crusade”, Adrith looked to him, as if not impressed.
The man looked a moment longer to Adrith before he stepped back and sat down. He cleared his throat as he said, “Very well. All you need to do is pay the fine and enter to meet the lord”.
Adrith nodded his head as he set the core onto the scale. It came up short, by a good margin as the guards who were already riled up were ready, yet the man working the desk spoke first, “Welcome to Fellwinter”