Whatever town she was reaching, it was larger. It had more water. It had more technology. And it was alive. Oh thank God it was alive. Even as she got to the edge, she could see people bustling about on the roads. A dwarf was complaining to an elf about what kind of eggs he was selling. Two humans were hurry back to a house, carrying a large bag together. A colbber was out on the side of a house, fixing the window. (The window had glass in it this time.)

The girl’s heartbeat slowed down as she saw this, her breath steadying, her feet slowing. She hoped her eyes didn’t look too wide and crazed. She didn’t know what was going on, and she really wanted a better idea before drawing too much attention to herself.

As it was, she saw the colbber watch her in concern as she reached the street. And the elf’s eyes flashed in recognition when he saw her ears, only to notice her face and pointedly look away. But aside from that, no one acknowledged her. And that was just fine with her.

The girl walked a little further down the street. With the sun setting and the shadows from the buildings falling across the ground, the pavement was actually cool. Or maybe there was something beneath the path that was cooling it. The ground did almost seem to be vibrating. It was a little odd that she hadn’t come upon any vehicles, but maybe they were rare in this town. City? It was large enough.

The buildings here were very different than the huts from the village. They were mostly larger than one room, and made of brick, concrete, or stone. Mostly. There was some variety in the buildings. For example, one was a small sloped stone house, built in a way that it almost looked more like a door in a hill than a real building. Then, right next door to it, was a building that had so many plants growing on the wall she couldn't tell what the actual building was made of.

There were yards, but most of the yards seemed to just be sand, maybe with a desert plant or two in the mix.

As she moved further down the street, the buildings got closer together. More people came into sight as well. She should really ask someone if they knew what was going on. After all, everyone here seemed okay, seemed to just be going about their day. But the village wasn’t that far away. Surely someone should’ve noticed something was wrong?

The girl looked around, spotting a random human who was standing outside and checking a pocket watch. She took a deep breath and smoothed her shirt down a bit. Remembering the way the elf had reacted to her, she also fiddled with her hair a bit, getting it to hide her ears. Without them, she passed as completely human.

Then she headed over.

“Sir?” she asked.

The man looked up from his watch. “Yes?”

He sounded vaguely tired, voice slurring and gaze changing slowly.

“What happened to the town East of here?”

The man frowned. “What town?”

“The town East of here? It’s in walking distance?”

She pointed back in the direction she’d come from. You could still see the desert from where they were. A bit of it, anyway.

The man just frowned harder. “There’s no town in walking distance to the East. The next nearest town is Oasis in the desert, West of here.”

The village she’d been to certainly wasn’t an oasis. And it wasn't West. So what was going on? Did he not know a village had ever existed there? How was that possible? Was he one of the people that had slaughtered them? Oh God. Was that why he was pretending it didn’t exist? Had she just put herself in danger by admitting she’d seen it? She didn’t know. But one thing seemed certain, she had to get out of here.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“Sorry sir. I was told to stay away from the town to the East, so I thought I’d ask.”

The man’s frown faded slightly, but his brow was still furrowed, like he was thinking over her words.

She thought it had been a pretty good explanation. She nodded to him one more time, and walked away from him before he could respond.

She could feel her annoying heartbeat again. But she kept her breath steady, walked normally, and put her hands in her pockets so no one could see them shaking. When she reached the next intersection, she turned and leaned against a building, out of anyone’s immediate line of sight. There, she caught her breath.

~~~

The girl walked into a hotel. It was made of some sort of dark purple brick on the outside going up about three stories. With all the other buildings in town, it didn’t stick out much. It was nothing special on the inside either. Dark carpet that looked clean, a few seats to wait in, halls going in either direction, and a front desk. There was a yellow lighting in here, but it was dim, like it wasn’t electric lighting at all. That was just fine with her, seeing as she was trying to avoid any attention.

There was a human at the front desk. The girl took about two steps, all it took to reach the desk. The sun was setting outside, and she’d been moving ever since she woke up, including the long uneven trek between towns through the desert. She needed somewhere to sleep.

“E-excuse me? I’m looking for a room,” she said.

“There’s no other reason to come in here,” the man pointed out, sounding annoyed. “Name?”

“Harmoni.”

She was struck silent for a moment after that. She’d surprised herself. Because she hadn’t been thinking of a name before this, hadn’t been considering it. And she’d woken up having forgotten that as well. Was Harmoni really her name? It certainly sounded familiar. She couldn’t think of why else it would spring to mind.

“Alright,” the man said, writing the name down. “It’s going to be 50 rells.”

And Harmoni was silent again. She felt around in her pocket, taking a peek at the coins she had. It seemed like she had exactly that much. But . . . spending only one night here? When she wasn’t sure where she was going or what she was doing? She’d need money for food and things as well.

“Un, n-never mind,” Harmoni managed.

The man just seemed annoyed with her. She felt her eyes getting a bit wet, and blinked a few times. The feeling successfully stopped. If she was going to cry, she wasn’t going to do it in front of him.

“Do you know where I can get some money?”

“Get a job, like everyone else,” the man said with a flippant shrug. He crossed her name out on the sheet, but when he looked up, he leaned forward and sounded a bit more sympathetic. “Or get an apprenticeship. You’re on the young side. I’m sure someone around could use an apprentice. Not me. But someone. Now go on.”

Well, that was fine. If she wasn’t staying the night, Harmoni didn’t want to stick around too long. She turned and went out the exit at a brisk pace.

Once she was outside, she leaned against the wall again. No place to sleep. The only clothes she had were the jeans and white t-shirt she’d woken up in, and honestly, she was pretty sure the shirt was supposed to be an under shirt. You wore it with a button up or something. The only things in her pockets were fifty rells. She knew places she could get water. She’d passed a fountain someone had been standing in earlier. But she didn’t have any food.

She took a deep breath and looked at the sky, running through what she needed to do. She should get water, and she should find someplace out of the way to sleep. It was getting late. Tomorrow she could look for an apprenticeship.

As she thought, she could see the sun dip a little lower. It was hot and dry, and there wasn’t much in the way of clouds. But she did see a spaceship pass overhead, probably going to land somewhere in the open desert.

But . . . that wasn’t the only thing moving in the sky. She could see some sort of creature, flying high above. She couldn’t make out the details from this far, but it was clearly large, for her to notice it.

She looked back down across the road, and she found another creature. It was long and muscular, walking on four legs, with green scales still reflecting some of the sun’s light. But there was also skin folded against this one’s back. Given the one in the sky, it was easy to guess the folds were wings. There were horns on this one’s head, but that was an extraneous detail at this point. Harmoni knew what she was looking at. This was a dragon.