Moving in a direction that once again Krys hoped was leading him towards the city he had seen earlier. There was a lightness to his steps. He kept an eye open far better than he had before being attacked by the Gargantuan Serpent. He did not want a repeat of that anytime soon. The tug on his perk, at least he hoped that was the sensation he was experiencing, seemed to guide him into the area of the forest that was getting thicker with foliage.
He tensed up with trepidation at this, for he could only imagine the possible dangers that were currently watching him. He didn’t like the idea of walking through this area, but if it got him to some sort of civilization it was worth it. He felt short claws dig lightly into his shoulder, a comforting reminder that Zoomi was with him. The little guy had taken to that spot once they had finished their meal and Krys started traveling again. There was a crunch beneath his feet and he paused, wincing slightly at the loud noise. He waited with bated breath, hoping nothing would attack but positioning just in case he needed to dodge nonetheless.
After a few heartbeats nothing seemed to happen so he continued forward, following the light tug like an invisible string attached to his heart. He rounded one particularly wide tree trunk and then the forest trees began to thin significantly. Once clear he found himself on a short cliff face with a flat valley in front of him. In the center of this wide expanse of green and brown was the perfectly round, walled-city. The walls were a light grayish-brown. There seemed to be six gates. One leading towards the forest, one to open fields, one lead to a river and rolling hills, one lead down a road to some impressive mountains in the greater distance, one lead to what appeared to be a canyon, perhaps a quarry… and ultimately a dead-end. The last one held a road that went down between the forest and the river… for some reason looking down that way gave Krys the sensation of another tug. He ignored it for now, really getting a good look at the city. Most of the roads had a number of people moving to and fro the city, mostly to.
Taking a deep breath in and out, “Finally.” Krys mumbled. It was time to see what he was dealing with, maybe find someone or some place that could give him some concrete and helpful answers to his many questions. “Clee-clee” exclaimed Zoomi, who was now pointing at the city. “Ha! So I am not the only one excited to get down there, huh?”
He had to walk around until the cliff face ended and there was suitable land to safely walk down to the road but he did just that. Hopping the last yard into the dirt road he started forwards toward the wall and its gate. He could see only two guards at this particular entrance, less than some of the others. There were only a few people on this road as well and none of them seemed intent on actually entering the forest proper. No, most of them were staying clear, remaining near the edges of the forest to forage or cut some lumber. One older man seemed to have been hunting a few rabbits that lived nearby. As Krys got closer to the gate, both guards seemed to take notice of him, perking up and eyeing him closely. One seemed suspicious, whilst the other remained friendly with a smile. They brought their weapons together to bar entry. “Halt.” The older, more suspicious one said. “Well, I’ve not seen the likes of you a’fore. Did ya really just walk right through the Forest of Celestia lookin’ like that? Barely any armor and no weapons so’ever?” He asked. Krys blinked, the words seemed to be English but the accent was… well alien. “I’m sorry, yes. I seem to have gotten turned around. I woke up in the forest, not too deeply and luckily had the sense to go in this direction.” He said.
The older guard turned and spat to the side, though he didn’t appear to mean any offense by it. The slightly younger guard only smiled more before speaking up. “Oh, that’s mighty interestin’. ‘Ave a name, stranger?” He asked. At that moment there was another *pulse* and he saw that the “Alias Available” was flashing. He chose to make up something then and there… and inspired by the fact that his class was apparently “Angel” he decided to go with, “Kyrsiel is my name, good sir.”
The guard grinned, and chuckled. “Bah, but me name’s Charz, this ‘ere is old Jove. If your a bit lost then you’ve come to a good place to start. Welcome to Elestria, the City of Roads.” He said, whilst the older guard looked even more grumpy, like he might start yelling any second, instead he opened his mouth and said, “Never ‘eard a name like that a’fore… Kyrsiel, huh? Do you know from where you hail, in the least?” He asked. Krys smiled sheepishly. “I am from a far off land, my hometown was known as the Rose of New England.”
Both guards just blinked before one said. “Yeah, never heard of it. C’mon, your blocking the way, get a move on inside. Just remember, no trouble now, y’hear?” “Right of course.” Was the natural reply, both Krys and Zoomi nodding their heads in agreement. He kept moving past the large gate and finally found himself inside an actual city. And not just any city, but a city that he had seen from way up high in the sky, in the page of a picture book. This was beyond surreal.
# Elestria
[North-Western Gate]
He blinked as he practically walked through the words, watching as they faded away like mist. No one else seemed to notice. He looked over to Zoomi, who looked back at him, “Let’s find a place to sell my loot so I can pay for a room or something.”
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It took quite of bit of time wandering the foreign city before he figured out where he could go to sell his looted materials. He found a shop that advertised being an appraiser of goods. Luckily the city wasn’t all that large on the inside, with living spaces taking up much of the place. The main road pretty much had everything else one would need and in the center of the city was a castle fort. He stepped into the shop, causing a small bell attached just above the threshold to ring, announcing his entry. Within moments a skinny old lady came out wearing what appeared to be grey robes. Her curly hair was mostly grey with a few strands of salt and pepper mixed throughout. Her eyes were also rather grey, though it looked like they had once been a deep blue. “Oh… what do we ‘ave here?” She asked, bringing a single magnifying glass to her left eye. She peered at Krys intently. “What in Ulom is an ‘angel’?” she asked blinking several times as if perhaps she had gotten something in them, then that intense gaze returned. “Level 2, hmm. Very well… very well… what do you ‘ave for this humble servant, hmm?”
“I have a few items from looting a gargantuan serpent I wanted to see how much I could get for them.” Krys asked. The woman blinked with surprise, looked doubtful and then intrigued all within a handful of breaths. “Let’s see what ye got there.” *Here goes nothing. * Krys took all three pouches and placed them on the counter. Instantly they each seemed to expand some and he began to pull out all of the contents.
After going through all the items with the woman who eventually told him her name was Gerdt she ended up telling him that he should keep the eye’s because they were good basic items for beginner magic. She also recommended he bring at least one of the fangs to be fashioned into a weapon to a weapon smith but that she would take the other for 10 gold pieces. Each of the scales were worth 1 gold piece. She also told him that the scales were quite good as magical items as well, particularly as foci, which he didn’t really understand. Nevertheless he decided to sell her one fang and 10 of the scales. Receiving 20 gold pieces. He asked her how much it cost to stay at the inn generally and she said the best inn in town charged 5 silver a night and 2 silver each night after the third night for extended stay. It didn’t sound bad to Krys, not bad at all. So he thanked Gerdt for her business, which she found quite nice before she hurriedly thanked him in kind and then he went on his way. He found an inn named “The Crossway” and stepped inside.
The place was dark wood everywhere. It was shined to a nice glossy finish. For the most part it seemed like any inn, even back on Earth, except there was a small area that was made separate from everything else that was a ring of stairs leading down about 5 steps to a lower area. In the center of the ring was a large notice board with all kinds of flyers and postings. From wanted signs to actual quests. He eyed the board but made a beeline for the wide bar counter instead. There he found a lovely young lady with a skirt and apron, her blonde hair tied back in a sort of casual smaller style bonnet. “G’afta’noon, sir.” She said. After a brief pause at the strange accent once more Krys cleared his throat. “Hello missus, I was wondering if I could secure a room for the next 7 days.” He said.
“Certainly, it’ll cost but 10 silver as a discount for such a stay. You’ll have to pay for food and drink separately after the third night.” “Very well.” It was a small price to pay. When he placed one gold piece down the girl barely stopped herself from gawking, she quickly swiped the coin and pulled out several silver from under the counter to pay him back his change. “Thank you.” He said after she handed him a key and told him his room was at the end of the second floor. He paid another 2 silver to have a meal immediately which he enjoyed with a nice juice and then he stepped over to the fancy notice board. Looking it over to see if anything caught his eye. He wasn’t too sure what was important to pay attention to and what wasn’t so he just tried to memorize as much of it as he could in case someone mentioned something later. He then decided to head up to his room for the night, as it was just beginning to get dark out and he was pretty mentally exhausted from his weird day.
Up on the second floor past the stairs that lead to the third floor the hallway ended at a door, which must’ve been his room. After trying the key he found it was in fact. Inside was a single bed, a table and chair and a small shelf with hooks underneath it, presumably for cloaks or something. He took off his moccasins and vest and slept in his pants for the night.
❧
Inky blackness became a dark gray before the imprint of colors manifested. The corpse of the gargantuan serpent, then Zoomi jumping up and down happily, then as if a fly on the wall, the imagery shifted and there three Zoomi’s, then six, then twelve… then it wasn’t Zoomi but the lady from the shop, Gerdt. She was mumbling to herself at a crowded desk in a back room that appeared to be more of a closet that had just enough space for the desk. She was rummaging through scrolls and journals that were bound by strings of leather. “No, no no… there isn’t such a thing, there isn’t such a thing. Nev’ a class as that… no no no… It appeared he was human but so much information was blocked from me sight… hmm, hmm… no… what a curious thing that one… curious indeed. I’ll ‘ave to look further… what a curious thing.” The scene shifted again, like black, gray and white ink spilled together before there appeared to be a cavern of dark stone… wet and damp in most places, there was only a scattering of light here and there, mostly from glowing moss… there was a constant drip drip drip of water droplets out of sight but loud and constant as if just behind one’s ear. Drip, drip, drip. Then the noise was drowned out by something greater, footsteps. The darkness was moving until it became apparent that something, no someone was approaching. A humanoid… a male… “This is going to be so much fun.” He said, seriously. The voice sounded so familiar and only at the last moment, right as his face was close enough to recognize did the voice register. It was Logan Acklin.