When my eyes opened I found myself staring at the brown smooth ceiling of a small room, under me I could feel the softness of a wool sheet, it was warm and comforting. Lifting my head slightly I realised quickly the room was far too small for me to stand in and I’d likely have to crawl out on my knees, other than its size the room was barely decorated with a small desk and chair with a shelf above it. On the table and shelf were several leather bound books, but that was it for set dressing, there weren’t even shudders in the room for light to come in, I was forced to rely on my low light vision.
Not wanting to stick around for longer than I had to, I moved off the bed and crawled on my hand and knees toward the door, suddenly feeling like a crocodile for the first time in this life as a bipedal one. As I reached the door I barely had time to react with the door pulled outward and I met eyes with a lighter skinned gruff looking Krijn in only a skirt of thin wool.
In his black irises I saw my reflection and felt something was wrong with it as my eyes weren’t golden anymore, they were dark plum red with specks of gold dotting them with my slit pupils no longer there, just an ocean of golden stars on a red sky.
This was all before the man freaked out and fumbled backward with a yell and curse-
“blimin’ Dragon shite!” He howled in frustration. “Can’t you bastards wait until I’ve given you the okay before you leave?!” His shout was punctuated by a sigh.
“If you’re done skulking around, get the hell out.” The man demanded pointing toward another door on the other side of a similarly sized room to the one he was already in.
Getting out of his hair as soon as I could I scrambled out the second door and found myself on the main circular street of Atohl, I could immediately see Tiamat above on her plateau watching the world around her with six of her heads with the final sleeping lazily.
A voice to my right grabbed my attention and I stared at the bronze armoured Lappe as he stood idly by the road with his spear planted on the ground and my sword on his hip.
“Marduk!” He called out happily as he walked over. “I’m glad you’re awake, the guards up at the stairs said you’d wake after a few hours but I wasn’t sure how true that was.”
He offered a gloved hand and I took it as he help me stand.
Breathing a long sigh I looked down at myself in the light of day and it was hard not to see the black mark seared into the scales on my right peck-
“What in Amna’s light is that?” I couldn’t help but ask as I stared at it.
“It looks like a Hydra” Lappe replied.
“I didn’t think she was being literal when she said I would get her mark.” poking it with my fingering I noticed it was kind of like a tattoo the way it was etched into my scales.
“What did you talk with King Tiamat about? Clearly it went alright?” The grey haired man asked and I turned my attention to him.
“I… I’m not really sure what I would call our conversation… but I know we can go to Lakar now.” My mind was returned to what she said.
[When you befriend the branded and his word is law, you will descend to the warmth of what you seek.]
I was glad it was at least a little more clear than what Ochre said since I was still trying to figure that out, but this was a lot better.
“When do you want to leave?” Lappe asked and I thought about it for a moment.
“We’ll stay the night, get rest and some more supplies before going tomorrow morning.” I answered and he nodded his head.
With that we headed toward where the grey haired man had apparently found the main hub of merchants and craftsmen in the township.
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When we woke the next morning at an Inn of sorts we were greeted to a pair of Lamia men approached us as we left the building, they wore skirts around their waists and satchels over their shoulders with with the same black scales, orange lines and whatnot on their lower halves I’d seen every other Lamia here with.
“Hail scale-friend” One of the men greeted me in Suran catching me off guard before I responded in kind. “News travels fast, and we can see proof of it on your chest- but we’d like to offer our help should you need anything while you’re in Atohl.”
“Oh…” I made a noise and it caused them to give me a concerned look.
“Oh?” The one who had spoken questioned and I nodded my head as I answered.
“We are leaving right now, the benefits of my new marked status will have to wait until I come back.” I decided to say feeling it might be a bit messed up to just outright say I was never coming back.
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Even if I’d all but lost that fear for Tiamat since receiving her blessing or whatever actually happened.
“Ah well, such things can happen. We hope you’ll visit us at the Barkless Trading Company when you return then.” The other man said and the pair slithered away without a moment's hesitation.
“At least you’ll have something to look forward to later?” Lappe chimed in from my side and when I looked at the man he offered a shrug.
“Let's leave before anyone else tries to use my divine status as a means to earn favour with a god or otherwise.”
Without delay we departed the township and began heading toward the largest stretch of our journey to Lakar and its capital Bailey. I wasn’t sure what the significance of the name was but there probably was some I was missing.
On the road again we noted a lack of monster presence heading toward Lakar, as though they’d up and vanished causing the both of us to wonder aloud about where they’d all gone. I joked about them having all taken a break from monstering and Lappe made a comment about their wages not being enough, but other than that the first week and a half was quiet and we had no problems aside from the fact that I noticed my eating habits were growing worse and I was far more hungry than I had been before in my journey.
This meant hunting for longer and for more just to satiate my appetite, thankfully there was an abundance of wild deer and even oversized cattle on the plains before they tightened up into the woodlands Lakar was known for.
I asked what questions I could about the animals and areas we passed through until that moment we reached the last stretch just before forest started. Apparently the cattle we saw were called Aurochs as for the deer and the birds that flew over hadn't changed.
It was always interesting seeing what was named something new and what remained the same.
We decided to camp out before heading into the forest proper when we finally arrived another two weeks later just as it was getting dark, it didn’t take us long to make a campfire and set up our things so we could cook food as the sun sank on the horizon slowly. The golden evening light washed over us as I idly brushed the length of my sword keeping it clean from the dirt and dust it accrued as we walked.
I always liked repetitive menial tasks so this was pretty much perfect for me, the whole idea of weapon maintenance was basically a meditation for me.
Not that I could ever convince Alex to sit still long enough to join me in meditating, but then again she found boxing and kung-fu meditative which I suppose they are but I was never one for them.
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When I woke the next morning it was to a shout as the sounds of metal clashing caused me to shoot up, I watched as Lappe’s spear was deflected by a leather bound shield as he battled three men in no clothes with paint covering their bodies.
Without really thinking about it I launched myself across the camp and spun using my tail as a weapon to break the arm of the man closest to me, with a disgusting crack and crunch blood sprayed as my tail drove him into the ground.
As the man with the shield continued to fight Lappe who was only in a shirt and trousers, the other fighter charged me with a crude looking iron sword lashing out toward me with reckless abandon at least until my hand shot out and slammed his head into the grass turning it to paste.
Looking up from the second case of murder I’d caused, it was just in time to see Lappe impale his spearhead in the heart of his opponent before he pulled the spear back and swung the back end out slamming the counter balance into his head sending the painted man to the ground.
“Terra’s shield! Who the hell were they?!” The grey haired man questioned as his adrenaline began to fade and his shoulders slumped.
“I don’t know” I replied out of habit and he shook his head.
“I know you don't, that was more a question for the gods…” He sighed. “Perhaps we should pack up and leave right away?” he suggested and I followed suit.
While we collected out things and avoided the corpses Lappe eventually came to a conclusion on who the men were-
“I think those guys were the Picts, a tribe of bandits that live near the woods. I hadn’t heard much about them in a long time… but I guess this means they’re still around.”
“Should we be worried about them attacking us again?” I asked, watching as he shook his head.
“They likely only attacked us because they thought I killed you and wanted to take your corpse.” His reply did not inspire confidence as I stared at him and he just shrugged.
He made quick work of putting his armour on and I spent the time before we left washing blood off my tail and hand.