image [https://sygnus.org/flames-of-bedlam/story/pic/banner2.jpg]
We would have reached the village faster if it wasn’t for Levi’s insistence to ensure we weren’t followed by Invaders. I suppose it would have been a bad idea to lead them right to the last of the free-living clan, even if the Elders did want my head on a pike.
Levi didn’t want to use his Dragon form for faster travel. He was pretty worn out already from the energy he expelled with his little hand waving excursions during the battle. What a lightweight. Not to mention, Invaders had flying ships, and a giant iridescent sea serpent wasn’t going to go beneath their radar.
Besides, I refused to Dragon-back ride. That was way, way beneath me.
Instead, we spent days weaving false trails and keeping close watch for anything tracking us. We saw a few scouts here and there. I really wanted to beat them into a pile of parts, but Levi wouldn’t have anything to do with it. He claimed it was better we vanish completely than instigated further conflict.
I thought it was a waste of time, but whatever. I let him call the shots. It’s not like I was all that eager to get where we were going. Eventually, though, once Levi was satisfied with our ploy, we arrived at the village.
image [https://sygnus.org/flames-of-bedlam/story/pic/divider.png]
I wasn’t familiar with various cultures and architecture, but I knew something about this place was special. Buildings weren’t built just for functionality here. They were placed between trees and the rocky slopes, respectful that nature had been there first.
Levi told me later that the people believed they were meant to blend into the world around it, not master it and shape it to their desire. This seemed a little silly at first thought — why inconvenience yourself just for a few trees?
I have to admit, though, it had charm.
The main path through the village was lined with wooden pedestals. These bore a place for a torch to light the night, but were also crowned with carvings of various creatures. Each seemed more fantastical than the last — most of them beyond my knowledge or familiarity.
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
One of the pedestals lifted up what could only be a Dragon… or as close as the backwater artist could get to sculpting a Dragon. I kept meaning to ask how Levi knew what a Dragon was when I’d never heard of one before. It seemed people here kept some legends and stories alive.
I guess the bigger question was how I could become something I knew nothing about. But that goes down a much deeper rabbit hole than I want to at this point.
So, let’s just get back to the village.
image [https://sygnus.org/flames-of-bedlam/story/pic/divider.png]
They didn’t have visitors often. I could tell by the way the people stopped everything they were doing and watched us as we walked. Thinking better of it, Levi suggested we both wore hoods to hide the physical feature that most obviously gave us away — our ears. I wasn’t sure if this was because he was worried about what they’d think of me… or what they’d think of him.
Despite that, people recognized him pretty quickly.
A rippled murmur of “Levi” ran through the watchers. They were both curious and concerned. Some were hopeful. Others stood with a reserved expression, not ready to commit to a response.
I can’t blame them given their experiences with the whole Longing thing. Maybe Levi was returning like the other youth of their village had long ago, just on the edge of Chaotic madness. These people didn’t know anything for sure.
Gosh it would have been fun to spook them a bit… but for Levi’s sake, I behaved myself.
Anything I did would reflect in their Elders’ judgement of me, I knew. Not that they could do anything to me, of course. I mean, the audacity of them judging me!
I thought we were going to proceed directly to the Elder-keeping-place… wherever they were, but Levi ended up stopping to talk with a few of the other villagers. Their body language spoke of a familiarity — perhaps these were some of his friends from the past.
This conversation didn’t invite or include me, so I stood outside of it, just inspecting the rest of the village. I made sure the people knew I was ignoring them and that they were too beneath me to deserve my attention. I also wanted to make sure I knew how to return to this place later… they could be useful to me later.
Someone had chosen the location of this village well. It was elevated within the mountains, hidden in a small cleft protected with tall cliff walls on three sides. Only one narrow passage allowed you to enter it on foot. This could be easily guarded.
Sure, if you were diligent enough, you could scale the cliffs and come in from above. It just wasn’t very practical. Still, neither was the way they built things here.
Along the face of the furthest cliff, I could see the shapes of pillars and other structures carved into the face of the stone. I guess they didn’t mind bending the rules or shaping nature when they saw it fit. Unless someone wanted to try and tell me how it was like that when they got there.
When Levi finally had his fill of social time, we made our way towards this very cliff. I had a pretty good idea where we’d find the Elders.