After traveling for a while Yuri and Arthur were finally close to the Beast Capital or so Arthur said, they had managed to successfully sell off all of the silk and cloth in the carriage however at a very low price so in order to make more money they sold the carriage off too, thankfully the person who bought it paid a hefty sum so for a while money wouldn't be a problem.
The past few weeks Arthur and Yuri's relationship had developed rather strangely, Arthur kept up the same shitty, rotten but 'funny' personality while Yuri became more quiet focusing most of the time they were supposed to sleep or rest on training reducing their interactions close to almost non-existent.
Arthur's words still rang in his mind with each punch and kick he threw, he didn't know if he hated or loved Arthur as he acted like a father to him, sure he was a little rough around the edges and had his flaws, but aren't we all like that?
"Your every action during a fight must be focused on one of two things, to kill or to avoid being killed, the rest doesn't matter except yourself." As the phrase repeated itself in Yuri's mind for what feels like the thousandth time, Yuri kicked a tree putting all his mana into the kick while using Physical Enhancement.
The giant tree shuddered at the impact of Yuri's small foot impacting against the giant trunk as hundreds of leaves fell gracefully floating away in the wind, Yuri's kick had left quite the mark however it wasn't very deep. "Damn."
Arthur pokes his head out from behind one of the many towering trees. "Kid it's late, get some rest, tomorrow we'll be reaching the city." After a few seconds of awkward silence Yuri decided to listen to Arthur, he leaned against the tree he had kicked and closed his eyes as he slowly drifted to sleep, after all this time he had learned to more or less fall asleep in most conditions, it had been months since Yuri last had a dream however tonight was different.
.....
Yuri opened his eyes feeling a weird sensation, almost as if he were laying on water itself as his back felt cold and wet however when he looked around he saw nothingness.
Wherever he looked it was all a abyss, even the floor he was laying on that felt was like a puddle of water was still just pure darkness, a space deprived all of light except one thing, a tall and proud steed set on flames galloping towards the boy slowly and menacingly, it's hollow eyes looked exactly like the abyss and riding on top of it was a headless horseman whose armor was jet black blending into the darkness, the only thing that made it visible were the flames from the horse that were outlining its every detail.
The jagged armor looked almost... alive, as if it was changing every second while producing a infernal noise of the friction between the iron breaking against itself and reforming, the armor had rough and sharp edges accompanied by spikes and blades sticking inside of it almost as if it had been stabbed by the weapons, it looked as if it's only purpose was to kill even at the cost of hurting it's wearer wit hit's sharp edges, it had no designs or engravings, just a piece of a jet black iron of death in the shape of a man's body.
Yuri tried to move however he couldn't it was like something was holding him down, he looked down at his body again and this time saw pale ghostly hands holding down his arms and legs while what looked like the rotten corpses of giant wolves were biting down on his body, he suddenly felt an excruciating pain like no other, each bite going deeper as the sharp fags tore into his frail young flesh, the rotten nails digging into his skin, his whole body was being held down and ripped apart at the same time.
It was a gruesome sight.
The headless horseman approached Yuri slowly on his infernal steed as he took out a glaive from the hole in the armor where the head was supposed to be that was replaced by just a hollow hole, the glaive looked identical to Arthur's in terms of everything, from its measures to its colors and material.
Out of nowhere he heard a soft and sweet giggle at his feet, it was oddly familiar, Yuri looked over and he could see Molly's head poking out between his feet with a cute yet creepy smile, she slowly climbed on top of him, her body was covered in shadows that replaced her clothing, Yuri panicked trying to escape but the fangs of the wolves and the long yellow rotting nails that ripped apart his flesh kept him from moving.
As she stood on top of Yuri, Molly leaned in, her thin rosy lips were moving however no sound was made, Yuri managed to make out what she was saying.
"I hate you." Her lips moved rapidly repeating that phrase over and over again, not stopping to breathe or blink, it was eerie to say the least, suddenly the sound of a slash could be heard ripping through the air, it was fast and smooth, suddenly Molly's head had been cut off by the headless horseman and it fell besides Yuri's as her body flopped onto his.
Finally Molly's sweet and innocent voice could be heard as she whispered in Yuri's ear, "Niro was right, you are a monster." Those were the final words he heard before waking up, Yuri stood up hurriedly and looked around only to see the sun was starting to come out, the warm rays breaking through the thick cover of the jungle's foliage, his breathing was fast and shallow as a cold shiver ran down his spine.
After a few minutes he managed to calm down and started gathering his thoughts as he took a few deep breaths.
"What the hell was that?" That was the only thing he could think of at the moment, he took one final deep breath finally managing to calm down then he went over to where Arthur was sleeping, the hooded man was sitting against the tree a little slumped over with a snore that reminded him of his father's, while insufferable and annoying it was nostalgic.
After letting out a big sigh Yuri kicked Arthur's leg however the kick was weak, rather than calling it that it would be better off being called a nudge.
Arthur opened one of his eyes slowly and looked at Yuri. "What?" His voice was groggy.
"It's morning, let's go old man." Yuri said, now seeming completely undisturbed by his nightmare but in reality it was still pondering in the back of his mind.
Arthur gets up and looks in the direction of the sun, it's rays of light barely penetrating through the vast vegetation and the thick tree trunks, he lets out a unsatisfied sigh hoping for more time to sleep, he reached into a small pouch by his side and took out two of the small brown pellets and handed one to Yuri who plopped it into his mouth and started chewing on it immediately and Arthur took the other one for himself.
It tasted bland, as always.
As Yuri and Arthur walked back towards the dirt road it was obvious Yuri was spacing out from time to time as if he were in deep thought, he tried to push the nightmare aside trying to pretend as if it were nothing however it felt so real he just couldn't, sometimes even nonchalantly checking his arms for any scars from the rotten nails that dug into his skin or the sharp razor like fangs of the wolves...
The slightly shivering boy felt something shaking him, snapping him back into reality, it was Arthur who was nudging his head with his elbow. "Hey kid, you ok? You look... bleak."
Yuri just pushed Arthur's arm away with an annoyed grunt, he didn't want to admit something was distracting him however he also couldn't deny it so he just continued to walk, this time in front of Arthur leaving a small gap between the two of them.
"--Sigh-- Kids these days grow up too fast... isn't that right Lara..." Arthur said softly to himself as he kept walking, the name of a strange woman hovered in his mind, she seemed to have a connection to his past.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
As they walked down the road which was becoming more and more cobbled, over a small hill it finally came into view the giant city and they're destination, the giant metropolis was surrounded by what looked like a tall impregnable wall made of some kind of dark stone that was covered in moss, the shape was a imperfect circle surrounding the city, this city looked much more advanced than all the other demi-human villages they had visited previously.
Tall buildings and huts that merged into the giant trees using them as natural walls and pillars, most looked to have the same giant hut style construction made of the same dark wood and thatch but the more inner city you looked the more it became a intricate system of that looked naturally placed buildings made of the same dark stone the wall was made off with wooden buildings from time to time, in the middle of the great capital stood a grand castle made from the same strange dark stone but this time it was glistening, almost giving a shine of safety into this beautiful yet deadly paradise, a beacon of hope some could argue.
Well there were many more small details but they were still too far away for Yuri to distinguish them yet.
The closer Yuri and Arthur got the taller the walls seemed, the onyx colored bricks each the size of a fully grown bull both in length and height, the moss covering it made it feel as if it were a natural camouflage to blend into the dark and lush forest. The gate was made from the same dark wood that the last one was made of; however it was already open and almost three times the size of the last one.
Finally as they reached near the gates of the city they found themselves in a long queue, most of the people riding in carriages filled with merchandise, some were groups of adventurers, it was a mix of all the races and social classes waiting to be let into the city. However the line was neat and organized.
"Arthur, you said something about the royal families also coming here, are they already in the city?" Yuri's voice is barely louder than a whisper so as to not draw any unnecessary attention.
"No, they'll get here four or five days before the birthday for the royal parade and the ball."
Yuri looked at him, seeming to think of something important. "So how do they get here? Going by carriage is still pretty unpredictable even if they leave early, who knows what could delay them, and not to mention the small time frame."
Arthur hit's Yuri over the head with his fist, but playfully, only hurting him a little. "Dumbass, they come here with teleportation magic."
"Teleportation spells? Those actually exist?" Yuri looked down at the ground while putting his hand on his chin clearly thinking about something important. He never thought that a spell like that existed but then again this world was so vast he had yet to even scratch the surface.
"Well, to be more exact there's an artifact with teleportation magic in all of the capitals that were made for only a select handful of people to use, the royal mages fill them up over the year with mana, since technically it would be considered a 10th tier magic no known being can actually use it directly."
"So they made an artifact that's sole purpose is to cast that spell but it takes insane amounts of mana, I see... so why don't we do that more often? Like, making these artifact things."
Arthur let out a profound sigh after hearing Yuri's comment as if the answer was obvious. "Because only the dwarves have the ability to make it."
Dwarves? This was the first time he had heard of them as they didn't appear in any of the story books his mother read to him nor did he hear any rumors about them, all he could muster up was a simple one word question. "Dwarves?" His face showed how clueless he was.
"Yes, dwarves, they are, or at least were one of the main races of the overworld, they are short yet full of vigor, they're small yet very muscular bodies were perfect for heavy weapons, armors and giant shields that stood taller than themselves, they were also born with great artisanal skill being the only ones being able to imbue spells into whatever they wanted, however they chose to close themselves off from the rest of the world after the last war ended nine years ago, since then no more artifacts have been produced. Naturally the other races tried to get them to come out or reproduce they're artisanal prowess however both ended up in complete failure, even the most gifted among the royal artisans couldn't copy and engrave even the simplest of spells onto items."
"Huh... Why did they do that?" Yuri tried thinking of a logical reason but he couldn't find one, no matter how you look at it that's a bit extreme.
"Nobody knows, when they were asked why by the representatives of the other races the dwarves simply didn't respond, the giant metal gate that separates us from them just stayed shut and since then nothing has gone in or come out. I don't get what's so fun about living inside a mountain."
"WAIT... THEY MADE A WHOLE CITY INSIDE A MOUNTAIN?!" The boy had heard of many great feats from stories his mother read to him; however, while this was not the most impressive it definitely was the strangest.
"Well it took about half a century to hollow out and another half to build the castle, not to mention it happened many generations ago."
Finally Yuri and Arthur got to the giant gate, the guards there looked much more menacing than the ones in the other villages, the quality of they're armor and weapons was on another level, great halberts as tall as Arthur's glaive, the metal on they're steel armor was shiny and proud with many engravings in it and small details lined with a strange black metal.
One of the guards looked at them before putting out his hand as if demanding something, the hooded demon quickly took two silver coins out of his pouch and put them in the guard's rough hands.
The man inspected the coins, weighting the metal in his hand before giving the two travelers an approving nod and moving out of they're way, the mysterious travelers passed through the gigantic gate, now the cobbled ground became much more symmetric and the bricks looked of much higher quality even thought they looked like ordinary gray bricks, they observed the sheer size and intricacy of the structures around themselves.
As they walked through the streets they noticed how bustling the city is with people, everyone living their lives, working, everything feels a little overwhelming at how fast paced the lifestyle here is making Yuri a little dizzy, they walked by many houses, inns and taverns.
After walking for a little while they ended up reaching a giant market plaza filled with merchants selling rare and common products alike, some from foreign countries while some locally made, the market is so busy the blonde boy felt almost like an ant in a colony.
Suddenly he feels way taller, now able to see over the sea of people, he looked down and saw Arthur had put him over his shoulder, the boy took in the view of the hundreds of stalls and thousands of people walking by, his crimson eyes widened in excitement, he may have changed as a person but he was still a curious child.
However even in his excitement and seeing the happy and peaceful lives of these innocent people his hate and desire to burn the world to ash did not falter.
For a split second he imagined the whole place burning in a raging inferno while everyone was dying and suffering, begging for help as the whole plaza was turned into a sea of flames before returning back to reality.
Arthur walked with him on his shoulders while joking and laughing, from anyone else's perspective it probably looked like a father and a son walking together and enjoying their day, the bonding moment between the two of them was interrupted by Yuri.
"Arthur... You said you fought against your own kind during the war, why?" His tone had turned cold.
A silence fell over Arthur drowning out everything else as if the world around them had just stopped, his feet now planted into the ground while Yuri was still resting on his shoulders, they were both just quietly looking forward into the crowd, not making a single sound as the tension between them was rising.
Yuri could feel his own heartbeat beating wildly, his heart felt like it was about to explode, each thump was deafening.
"It was a lie, just a way to dodge the guard's question, like telling him you were my son."
Yuri had two choices now, leave the situation how it is or try to get Arthur to admit the truth and risk straining his relationship with him.
The small boy let out a sigh before hopping off Arthur's shoulders and glancing over at him. "Whatever, not like I care anyways." He wandered off into the dense crowd leaving Arthur's side.
Arthur just watched as Yuri walked, an image of a small boy walking behind him appeared, his hair is a slightly darker shade of magenta and he only had one short horn, Arthur just sighed as he watched them walk into the sea of people losing sight of the small boy, a look of nostalgia and regret gleamed over Arthur's face.
Yuri however excitedly explored the market taking in the sights and many different smells of fresh food and spices among many other things, he noticed that now that Arthur isn't with them he looks like a street rat, he had yet to change or buy different clothes, he was still rugged and slightly ripped dark clothes he stole from the bandits Arthur was with. "Shit, I should have asked him for some pocket money."
Suddenly The small boy bumped into somebody falling down with a soft thud. Yuri gets back up on his feet and dusts off his clothes. "Which crazy bastard dares bump into me!" Yuri was clearly annoyed, not to mention he had an especially bad mood at that moment not even caring who he was talking to or in what tone.