It was mid Saturday afternoon. Much like yesterday, the Air was cool. But perhaps it was made a touch warmer by the little bit of humidity flowing though the wind, a sign of some rain ready to come by in the evening hours. The dense clouds on the horizon showed that much and the subtle lights in them implied maybe even an early spring thunderstorm.
The mountains to the north and along the east generally protected the large city from severe storms, but occasionally the winds would be just right to blow humidity over the western fields and churn up the sky’s into something powerful and fierce. But that would be a problem for later this evening.
At the moment the sky overhead were clear and, Neil stood at the track ahead, debating what he wanted to do. First things first though, some stretches, of course, but what about after that? His legs and even his lower back still burned and complained from each stretch. Remnants of the run yesterday. He tapped his pudgy belly with a lamenting sigh. He couldn't remember a time in his life and was quite this out of shape. Even when he was a young child and slightly overweight, he wasn't quite this bad.
Last night, he decided he was going to start taking this more seriously. He was a soldier, or rather a guard now. This was his life; this is what he was working towards now and he needed to put his effort into building himself back up.
With a longing stare, he considered the track once more. Running today would be a bad idea, he knew that. His muscles needed to take time to repair themselves to replace the damaged tissue. At minimum waiting for at least for a day was necessary, and given how he felt, probably two before he picked it back up. But running wasn't the only option out here. There were many other exercises to be had, and he considered the fake trees for a moment. There was no way he would ever excel at that exercise, not after he saw what the bats could do. Humans just aren't that capable. But perhaps he could improve his time up to a bad rating, maybe even with a lot of work, acceptable.
He laughed at the thought, knowing it wasn't serious. Still may be worth a shot. The short walk over to the trees gave him a little time to think, not much, but just enough. Why was he doing this? ‘What was the point?’ From that question, another echo, the one from last night. ‘Why would they?’
One question had become two and threatened to become even more if he let his mind run away from him. Neil never really considered himself a big thinker. That was the realm of his elder brother and sister. The two scientists of the family. Nor was he much of a doer. That was his enterprising little brother. Neil was the strange and somewhat useless younger middle child, never really fitting in anywhere. When he was younger, he didn't try and think about it too much. Maybe because it hurt too much or because he just did not understand.
Old thoughts of a life once lived in a family that he could never return to. Knowing it was pointless to lament the past that he couldn't change, he still couldn't help himself. They were, after all, his family and if they didn't really want him? Well, he still wanted to be a part of them. This world didn’t make that desire any less. It wasn’t like he felt wanted here either.
Standing before the artificial pine, Neal realized he never really considered it in depth before. What was the best way to climb a tree? As a child he’d climb a few here and there. Even in college, he gone up a few of the pine trees on campus, both for fun and as a dare. It wasn’t particularly challenging, find a branch, brace yourself, grab it, pull yourself up and repeat. This tree though, required more than that. The branches were more spread out so you’d have to really reach, or do something less safe, like jumping. As he thought about it, that’s exactly what the other races did. Elves seemed to have amazing balance; they could walk out on a swaying branch like it was a solid bridge. The bats had moved so quickly it was hard to see exactly what they had done. It had looked like they literally flew, bounding from branch to branch without missing a beat.
Grabbing the lowest branch, he pushed himself upwards, jumping with his legs and trying to pull up faster whit his arms. It wasn’t hard to clear the first, but he couldn’t keep any moments as he stood on that branch. Standing there he could just make out a good jump up point a few steps forward. If he could quickly walk out there, it be easier to pull up on the lower hanging part. At least, that’s what the elves seemed to do.
One shaky step forward, and another, and another, and maybe he could actually do this? A nervous smile crept up his face as he reached up and grabbed the next branch above. It was tricky but he managed to grip it, tightly. “I can do this!” He boasted to himself, as he pulled himself up higher.
He wasn’t tracking the time, but this felt faster than hugging the trunk, it had to be faster. Again, one shaky step after another, back towards the trunk and a nearby branch, reach up, grab-it and, grab-it? Miss it? His hand frantically jittered around trying to grasp something. Yet, the branch seemed to slip through his fingers as he felt his shaky feat slip out from under him. Quickly, his body turned, sliding off the branch, falling on to the one below and then back to the ground.
Thankfully though, his back broke his fall.
“Ugh…” Neal moaned from the ground, now in no small amount of pain.
He knew the damage couldn’t have been that bad, after he could still feel all the pain in his extremities. That was a good thing, he mentally assured himself as twitched his toes and fingers. The sky above him wavered and glittered beneath his watery eyes. It was almost pretty, like being in shallow water and looking up at the world. Unable to move, or pull himself up, the feeling felt so familiar.
But, after a few moments, he did get up and looked around nervously. There weren’t many people around, a few guards in the midst of practice, but they didn’t seem interested in him. Well, aside from the three that seemed to be gazing his way and laughing.
His body was even more sore than before, and not in a good way. His back in particular felt like he had pulled something. Going home seemed like a good option, all things considered, but he had walked all the way out here. There had to be something more he could do?
Again, the track seemed to invite him. Certainly, he was in even less condition to run now. But he could at least walk. Maybe. His gate was forced and muscles along his back and upper thighs protested the movements.
Neal looked around at the other Guards, a small group headed to the same fake trees he just fell from. Being elves, they bounded up the tree with no effort, and clearly non-fell on their preverbal or like in his case literal ass. Continuing to look around, there was a group of beast men, lions by the looks of it adorned in what might have been fine silks. They practice strength training, lifting weights in sequence, heavier and heavier each time.
It was so different from how he had been trained to exercise, but it seemed to work for them, again, maybe?
“Move it, human!” A physically quick halfling pushed past him. For Neal the impact was light, and no small amount of karma, and the laws of physics, saw the small humanoid stumble and tumble after passing him. Next to the halfling, a gnome and another halfling ran past their fallen friend and laughed. It was hard to tell who exactly they were laughing at. They were fast, well, faster than he was, but again they couldn’t go distance with how they ran. Which was made clear as they fell to the side completely out of breath without even completing a single lap.
As Neal passed them, he made an effort to pick up his feat into a light job. Nothing even close to a run, and he could feel his muscles complain, more than a bit. Yet, it didn’t quite burn so much as ache. Even his back didn’t seem too perturbed by the impact.
‘This pace seems fine.’ He thought to himself. He’d work on upper body strength later. Maybe instead of climbing the fake tree, he could just do some calisthenics?
The subtle crunch of the gravel under foot spoke a familiar, rhythmic lullaby. His mind began to drift, entranced by his movements and the noise. It wasn’t the same as his music library, but he’d make it work.
As he lapped the track, the halflings and gnome were still off to the side, trying to catch their breath. Looking around he could see a few others in the park, but not as many as you might expect for such a large city. Maybe a dozen other Guards in total. Most grouped into groups of three. The lack of people made some sense, as the park was technically closed to the general public, but most average citizenry wouldn’t want to mix with the Guards anyway.
As usual, the first thing he noticed was that none of those here were human beyond him. He was the only one, all alone. Supposedly, there were few humans in other parts of the Guard, though, they were a more common outside the capital.
Not that they were rare in the world itself, Neal remembered the rabbit mentioning they made up 6 or 7% of the population, less than elves at 12%, but not that far off. Though from his observations, he had a hard time believing it. In his time at the capital, he had seen maybe fifty others. The population of the city was somewhere around a million, he couldn’t remember the exact amount, but there should have meant sixty to seventy thousand if Coruscis’ numbers were to be believed.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Though, there was the so-called Human Enclave in the lower city somewhere. Supposedly that’s where most stayed in the city, but Neal had never visited it. Not having a reason to and being advised by both the queen and princess that it wasn’t a good idea. Humans of this world couldn’t be trusted, but he could. At least that’s what they told him. He still didn’t know how he felt about it.
There were also the outskirt villages around the city, supposedly a few of those had significant human populations. But again, he hadn’t seen it.
Upon completing four laps, just about a mile, it was time to focus on something else. Maybe upper body strength, push-ups seemed like a good go to, but as he sung his arms around in a quick stretch he considered something just a bit more intense. Maybe some burpees? Nodding to himself, he felt his body drop to the ground, his arms to his side in planking position which he further dropped into a single push up. Pulling his legs back in, his body jumped up into a squat, then stood, followed by a single jump. Once done, he repeated the process, two, three, four and even more times.
Even preforming them alone, away from the others on the field, Neal could still hear the laughs of the other Guards near-by. Clearly, they had no idea what burpees were. Pushing through a set of 50, he had to pause and catch his breath. There were still a few other exercises he wanted to work on.
Several more exercises down, several more laughs at his expense. A quick look into the sky and Neal could see the sun had moved quite a bit. He would have estimated it was about an hour and some change. His upper body burned like his lower did. It felt almost good.
The more he thought about it, the more he realized he didn’t have an answer to his own question. There wasn’t a point to his actions today, it just felt like something he needed to do. Something he had been neglecting to do. Would that non-answer suffice in the long run? For the moment, it was something like an answer, all be it one that tasted empty and flat.
Now then. What to do with the rest of the day?
It was still early, a bit to early to head back home. As soon as he did that, he wasn’t going to leave for the rest of the day. So what else could he do. It was Saturday afternoon, had he been back on Earth, he’d have found a watering hole somewhere and watched whatever college game was on the pub’s TV. There were certainly sporting events in this world, and bars, but he never found any that happened at a reasonable time. Most took place in the early mornings or right when his Guard shift started during the week. Needless to say, that was a no go either.
The thought of a waterhole filled his mind. His body ached, and his stomach growled lightly. A pint of something might take some of the soreness away, and a bit of pub food might fill his stomach. In his pants a few coins jingled. It felt like he had enough, probably.
The merchant’s pass was an area that straddled the mid and lower parts of the city. Running along the southern part of the castle, it extends east to west ending a bit before Guardian Park. Its length spanned and impressive 2 and half kilometers starting just short of the main bridge that crossed the great river. The river that flowed down from the northern mountains helped to isolate, and naturally fortify the city.
While merchant’s pass was not the only place in the larger city that sold things, it was by far the densest collection of merchants in the city. Due to the heavy amount of good sent to and received by the castle, Merchants had long ago setup along the route. Hoping to sell or buy items from the caravans that used to and still do run a train of carriages and wagons through these selected streets. Also, hoping to catch the eye, and purse, of visiting well to doers coming to petition the crown. It was therefore inevitable that this part of the city would grow to contain so many shops and stalls. For similar reasons, it also had the largest collection of bars and pubs. All which seemed to have the same reaction as he tried to enter.
The first sign he saw in his walk was for pub, given the wooden mug and text. Beyond the sign, the very next thing Neal noticed was the poor condition of the pub’s door, the wood appeared badly weathered and unkempt in a neglected sort of way. Splinters judged from the surface and threatened prick you at the slightest touch. Still, Neal had hopes, sometimes the roughest rocks held the most precious gems inside.
A dwarf stood behind the bar as walked to the threshold, the snide glare from the small man was accompanied by a few simple words, equally unpleasant. “We don’t serve humans here, get out.” His deep voice was full of the same unpleasantness and the distain spoke of something much deeper than just a dislike of the human standing at the threshold to his business.
This pub in question wasn’t particularly fancy or nice. Given the scuffs on the walls, and some of the clearly wrapped support beams and cracking stone foundation, it seemed like the kind of place that was literally on its last leg. Which made it so odd that their proprietor was so insistent on tossing a person who had valid coins. “What, you deaf? Get the hell out before I call the guards.”
Neal thought about protesting for a moment, perhaps mentioning that he was a Guard. But, with one last glance around, he could see it wasn’t worth it. With a humble nod, he walked back out to the crowded street. Some of the shoppers and city dweller’s eyes darted his way, it was hard to give a number with the crowd. In fairness most didn’t seem to pay attention to him, but those that did appeared warry and, in some cases, even hostile. It was something Neal had grown use too over the past year. At least, that’s what he would tell himself.
Just down the street was another Bar, with an even shorter message from the female elven bar tender, “Leave.” Her deep voice commanded, and Neal obeyed.
A different Pub just a bit further, and still the same, “Nope. Can’t serve you, owner would have my head.” The halfling man shook his own head, but at least he had a smile and was pleasant about it.
Up kept to dilapidated, all were the same. Even if he started without any knowledge of his place in the world, he was certainly gaining some sense of it now. This wasn’t the first time he tried to go somewhere on his own, but it was certainly the most effort he had put forth. Only to have a door literally slammed in his face at each step, was almost painful
“Go back to the human quarters if you want a drink.” The occupant on the other side of the shut door shouted.
A rouge thought crossed his mind. Of all those stories he read as a kid and young adult, in particular those of people end up in different places and worlds; They all seemed different than this. Sure, the protagonist would suffer a bit in some of them, but eventually he’d win over the villagers and be welcome with open arms! That wasn’t happening though, and it had been over a year. Maybe, he really didn’t belong here?
Just what was the human quarter like? Like most of the city he had never been there. In fact, he hadn’t really been much of anywhere when it came down to it. A few trips with the princess when the queen insisted they both got out of the castle. Back when he still lived there anyway. But those trips were just to the outskirt villages, usually full of dark races. They didn’t seem too bad, in retrospect, warry, but kind people. Though, the thought of Luna being nearby may have had a lot to do with that. Even out there, humans seemed rare, often keeping to themselves.
Perhaps it was his imagination, but it seemed even more eyes seemed to watch him as he got closer to the center of the merchant district, just past the castle. It was by far the more upscale part of the elongated commercial sprawl. Many of the light races tended to congregate here. Elves, Dwarves, Lions, and many others. Even the gray or neutral races tended to be a bit more sparce. All of the common guard seemed to watch him, a few certainly recognized him, nodding their heads in a cold mechanical manner as if saying, “We see you, don’t trying anything.”
This certainly wasn’t where he belongs, and he made a quick turn southward, heading down and slightly backwards. As he left the Merchant’s pass
The bar had a pretty generic sign above the door. A pig laying across a fallen tankard. Under the tankard were the words, “The Sleeping Pig.” This sign was becoming a familiar sight to him.
At least they didn’t kick him out when he entered. The overweight proprietor didn’t say anything when Neal wandered in. Instead, he studied the human for a moment, before his features shifted into a subtle and somewhat fake smile. Yet after every other place had kicked him out, Neal would take the forced welcome.
The bar wasn’t particularly full, a handful of patrons mostly at the scattered tables. A few were on the far side of the bar away from the main door along with the pudge elf bartender. They appeared to be talking about some such thing it must have been amusing given how they were laughing.
Pulling a stool out he took a seat further away from the others, and nearer the entrance, perhaps in case he needed to leave quickly. For a moment he instinctively looked around for a TV, only to quickly remember they didn’t exist here. At least the seat felt good on his sore muscles. But without sports or entertainment, what was he doing here?
“What are you drinking?” In his time considering his surroundings the pudgy Elf proprietor had wandered over to him. His demeanor was pleasant if forced.
In the few times he had come here, he had never actually ordered anything himself. His drinks were always picked by someone else, and those drinks were usually quite strong. Too strong for today.
“I’ve been in here before…” Neal’s voice grew quite as wandered off in though while he tried to think of what he wanted to order and say.
“I know. You’re one of the new Lunar Guards. You’ve been hanging out with that short stack of minotaur. You usually drink rock ale, don’t you?” The elf’s attitude was superficially pleasant, he was clearly an experienced server with well-honed personal skills.
A slight huff and smile came over Neal, “Ha, yeah. I guess I do. Could use something a bit lighter today.”
“Light weight huh?” The bartender laughed and wandered midway down the bar to a particular barrel on the wall. The mixture he poured seemed to be much deeper in color than the rock ale he drank on prior nights. The bartender hesitated before dropping the tankard on the bar top.
“6 copper pence.” The elf demanded payment before letting go. It seemed a bit insulting, but perhaps it was just because he wasn’t a regular yet. Fishing in his pocket, Neal pulled out and dropped 8 small, irregular and very dull coins on the top.
The bartender smiled at the extra coins and put the tankard down in front of him. “Thank you!” For a moment, the smile appeared genuine, but before Neal could talk to him, he had already wandered off, back to the other patrons and presumably, his friends.
The brew in front of him smelled enticing at least. It wasn’t as dark as it looked earlier but it did have an earthy, almost like coffee scent. As he took a sip, it was surprisingly lighter than he expected, with some almost fruity notes. It was like drinking bitter dark chocolate coated cherry, with the sublet taste of more bitter hops in the background. The bite of the alcohol was barely present either, he’d have guessed it was close to a normal beer, maybe 3-4%. It kind of reminded him of the dark craft beers he had back on Earth, perhaps just a bit more watered down.
A few memories flittered in his head, as he could almost remember a few of the days he had skipped classes to hang out in that pub next to his apartment. While he hadn’t been friends with anyone there, he did have a few memories of its acquaintances.
One in particular came through as he sipped and thought.