CHAPTER 54 ONWARDS

AN: this chapter was written to Trail of Broken Hearts by Dragonforce 🙂From what I’ve heard from other writers, I’m not alone in putting on music that gets me into the mood of what I’m trying to write. The overall mood of this chapter was supposed to be sort of reflective but uplifting. Not necessarily sad. Idk if I nailed it, you’ll have to let me know what y’all think.

Despite all the destruction and death that had visited on the capital today the people were celebrating in the streets.

Which, in all fairness, was justified by the fact that they repelled an invasion from their neighboring nation and then their ruler had repelled a monstrosity that few were ever said to be able to even survive fighting, let alone being able to force it to retreat.

The last person to do so was a similar level to the Queen apparently and he had died in the process.

Speaking of which, the Queen’s level? Tier seven? Level 989? She was stronger than Illesea. Possibly. The levels were close enough that it could be a tossup, and then there’s the differences in biology to consider. But on paper, she had more stats to work with.

Seeing the fight from a distance had been incredible though. It was the first time I actually witnessed high level fights, so I was able to finally get a glimpse of what the pinnacle looked like.

Supersonic speeds and meteors are pretty cool, in my humble opinion.

The celebrations lasted nearly a week. I hadn’t really wanted to stay, feeling more of an urge to get on my way to Alixia instead. I wanted to grind my levels, I had stuff I needed to do. I also wasn’t sure if Raylith survived, he still more than likely held a grudge and I didn’t really want to be in a city where he could have me killed in some back-alley and cover up any investigation into it.

I’d have to kill the person he sent and that would be a whole ordeal that I wouldn’t want to get into. Or he might do it himself.

Regardless, I hadn’t been allowed to leave because Fiona had begged me to stay and join them for the celebrations. Both she and Marcie were something of party animals. Kaylith enjoyed drinking recreationally and eating food, both things I could get behind. Striga was nowhere to be found at all.

I tried to let myself relax during this time, but it was hard when I was having to look over my shoulder every step of the way. My recent falling out with the Earth Raiders hadn’t helped with that either.

I didn’t particularly hate them for being willing to bail so easily. Hell, in the moment I wasn’t thinking entirely clearly myself and encouraged it. Which was strange, cause I didn’t feel like that was something I would normally do.

I still enjoyed the company they provided, Karif was enjoyable to talk to. George was kind and polite. Garrus was a bit of a helicopter parent, but in this case it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Penny was a whole other thing on top of that. I loved her. Not much more really needed to be said on that front.

So going through all these celebrations with people that I didn’t really know, or knew less than the people I had barely gotten a chance to know wasn’t high on my list of things that I enjoyed doing. No offense to the Silver Maidens as a group.

It also didn’t really help being the odd man out, both figuratively and literally. They were an all girl group for a reason. It was made all the harder by Fiona making a pass on me several nights in when she was drunk out of her mind.

I didn’t really feel all that comfortable reciprocating for several reasons. Not that she wasn’t attractive, cause good lord. It must be something in the water here, because it seemed like everyone I had come across was attractive by some measure of the word.

But I wasn’t interested in trying to take advantage of someone who clearly wasn’t in their right state of mind, I also didn’t feel comfortable going around my feelings for Penny at the moment.

Sure there technically wasn’t anything official between the two of us. Maybe I was just being a prude. But somewhere in my heart and mind it felt like I’d be cheating on her. And that thought did not sit well with me at all.

So I ignored her passes, much to her dismay. I think Kaylith eventually caught on to my conflicted feelings and started to reign her sister in a little.

Besides all of that, the partying was enjoyable. For the entire week I wasn’t the oddest thing people were looking at. Because of that I wasn’t experiencing any cliche ‘knife-ears’ statement.

I wasn’t even really that offensive all things considered! It was just annoying to have to hear it anytime I went anywhere.

By day six I was pretty much done with everything at that point. My social batteries were completely gone, I was starting to get tired and cranky, and most of the groups were starting to tire out as well so things were winding down. Several stores and government agencies had resumed activities over the past day or so.

Which let me finally get paid for risking my life for Queen and country. A whopping five gold. To the party. Somehow I couldn’t find it in me to be surprised. Regardless, the one gold coin was added to the rest of my savings and I went shopping. I had finally started to discover my way around the city well enough that I didn’t need someone watching over me every step of the way.

I also, and by extension Fiona, felt strong enough to wander around without worrying about if someone was going to try and mug me and if me winning that fight was a tossup rather than a concrete fact. Especially when she found out about my little scuffle on one of the streets leading back to the guildhall.

It didn’t take too much longer that I had gone through several stores and acquired several provisions for myself. Enough for roughly two weeks of travel. Which if I was running, should be a considerable distance. Although, I had no idea how far my stamina would hold up in that regard. Especially since it was apparently nearly 500 miles to the location I wanted to go!

Which is surprising when you consider where I want to go is practically just off the border of the nation connected to this one.

I was slowly learning more and more about this world, and I was slowly beginning to understand just how fucked up my scope of things were. I hadn’t actually properly looked at the capital since I’d gotten here, but it was huge. Like absolutely massive. It could barely be called a city, it was more a metropolis.

I had initially thought it housed around a couple million people at most, but it was actually nearly ten million people. Just in the capital alone. In fact, Vinwood was the odd city out being the only ‘major’ city that had under one million in population. All the others were sporting a couple million citizens at the bare minimum.

I had never been terribly great at eyeballing stuff, but this just really put it into scope how off the mark I was.

1000 miles. That was a pretty good distance, especially considering I was leaving from the middle of the nation and heading straight to the border. Although, that was probably more that I wasn’t taking a direct route there.

If I could head straight there it was probably more like 750 miles instead. Maybe. Actually who knows? I certainly don’t.

Soon enough I was packed up with all of my stuff and standing outside the inn I had been staying at with the Silver Maidens.

“You’re sure you have everything you’ll need?” Fiona asked, not unlike a mother would ask her child.

I just gave her a slightly exasperated smile, which elicited a snort from Kaylith.

“Is there anything I should know about traveling up there?” I asked instead.

Marcie hummed thoughtfully, “Not particularly, honestly. There’s a small fee for crossing over, I think it’s maybe a silver at most, but other than that not really. Once you get to the city of Verdanst you can learn more about The Tunnel there than any of us would be able to tell you as well. And it’s hard to say how much is rumor or not.”

I nodded, “Any culture shocks I should be aware of?”

Kaylith shook her head in response, “The Seltas Kingdom actually used to be a part of the Empire back before Queen Ashendra rose to power. So most of the way we live our lives is pretty similar from here to there.”

I nodded, “Alright then, I guess there’s not much else to it then.” I hefted my pack up onto my good shoulder. It was a bit heavier than I was used to given that I was holding more than usual.

“Are you planning to stop at Lustirne on your way?” Fiona asked.

I nodded again, “Yeah, from what little I’ve managed to hear about the towns here versus in the Empire, food is a little cheaper this side of the border, although not by much. But I want to penny pinch where I can. No sense in being wasteful.”

She nodded her head slowly before she stepped forward and gave me a hug.

“I never did thank you for healing me the other day during that fight. I’m sorry I got you dragged into that, I didn’t realize it was going to be so fucked up. If I had I never would’ve let you come.” She whispered into my ear.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I just snorted lightly, “Then you would’ve died. I’ll tell you the same thing I told Penny, I’d never forgive myself if I had let you die if I could’ve prevented it. I didn’t get hurt, I didn’t die, you didn’t die, nobody in the party died. Maybe it’s selfish to say, but at the end of the day you four are what was important to me, everything and everyone else were secondary. So don’t beat yourself up over it.”

She didn’t say anything, instead Fiona just gave me a tight squeeze before letting go and stepping back. If her eyes seemed a little watery I pretended not to notice. I certainly wasn’t feeling emotional myself and anyone that claims otherwise is lying.

“Alright then,” I said, shifting my pack into a more comfortable position, “Guess there’s nothing else to it.”

“Stay safe, Alex. I expect to hear from you again at some point. If I find that you got yourself killed the moment you left my sight I’m going to find a way to bring you back from the dead just to kill you myself!” Fiona said, mocking the position of a stern parent.

I chuckled at her posture, “I can’t die, too stubborn. I’d just argue with death until he decides that it’s too much trouble and leaves me alone.”

Fiona and Marcie laughed while Kaylith just smiled. Striga as usual wasn’t even looking in our direction.

“Either way, don’t worry too much about me. I’ll be back at some point, you can count on it. So you make sure you stay safe so that I have some friends to come back to.”

Fiona nodded seriously, “We will.”

I gave her a firm nod before turning and walking on and whispered under my breath, “Watch over them for me, Striga.”

I didn’t need my skills to know that she nodded slightly in response.

______________________________________________________________________________

I probably should’ve just gone straight to my next location, but I felt I had deserved a bit of a break. I took time traveling from place to place to immerse myself in nature and enjoy life around me.

Ever since I had come to this world it had been go go go, with nothing in between. I’d only been here… A month now. And yet it felt like I had done so much. Seen so much. And yet only a month had passed in the events of everything around me.

I hadn’t fully been able to take a moment and just think about the things that had happened. There’s just never been a moment for that to happen. But now was that time. There were plenty of stops between me and Verdanst, the first being Lustirne. The city in Seltas that was the closest to the border.

It had also become something of a tourist location which was famous for hot springs! It sounded so cliche in my head, but on some level I couldn’t help but be excited. I definitely planned to stop there and enjoy myself for a day or two. Three if I was feeling generous to myself.

I hadn’t been an overly nature loving person as a human living in the suburbs. Not that I disliked nature either, I just preferred staying home over going out. Half because I was lazy by nature and half because I didn’t have any friends that did enjoy doing that stuff. And doing most things is more enjoyable with friends rather than by yourself.

But I had climbed mountains before, I’d seen the grand canyon and gone through nature reserves. There was a lot of beauty in nature on Earth. And none of it held a candle to what little I had seen so far. The forest of Nalthien had tree’s that made redwoods look small by comparison and that wasn’t bringing the world tree into the equation.

That thing had impossible proportions. The only explanation for it was magic. It was truly an impressive sight. The Irie Mountains that existed in the Ashen Vale were colossal in size as well. It seemed like everything was hopped up on steroids in comparison to things that existed on Earth.

The road to Lustirne was fairly peaceful. I didn’t see anyone or anything of note really. Which seemed kind of odd to me. I felt like such a road would be well traveled, although it might be that no one wanted to go out after a skirmish had just been fought along with one of the biggest natural disasters roaming freely on Elendar.

I came to a stop frowning. An army had passed through here… Right? The road looked untraveled. The grass didn’t have divots in them. It certainly didn’t look like a company of soldiers had come marching through here. Did they come from the seas on the side? Surely someone would’ve caught that though.

In fact, most of the coast is covered by thick forest on the east, and a large part of the west is just a sheer cliff face. Maybe a skill was involved? But if there was someone so powerful with the army why were they so easily defeated? Hell, where did they go when they got routed? Things weren’t adding up.

I shook my head continuing my traveling down the road. These weren’t things I had to worry about, That was the job for the ruling class of Seltas to worry about. I had a hot spring to get to!

I picked up my pace, the tree’s rushing by as I quickly approached my top speed. There was a flock of birds flying above me that reflected all sorts of colors, they passed me by almost as if I was standing still in comparison, eliciting a smile of wonder and awe as they quickly moved off into the distant horizon ahead of me leaving me in their metaphorical dust.

I hadn’t even gotten a chance to [Identify] them. I let out joyous laughter, once again my excitement for this world was piqued. There was so much to explore! It was like starting up a new game for the first time and seeing a masterfully crafted and expansive world to explore and discover.

New secrets to unearth and places to explore. How could I not be excited! I kicked my skills into overdrive, lightning sparking off my body as I manifested my mana and where my feet met the dirt path as I hit my maximum speeds.

The wind blasted through my hair, the trees passing by in a blur as I pushed myself to my absolute limit. I wasn’t able to catch up to those birds, but I certainly enjoyed trying. After several hours of running, my stamina was finally starting to run out. In the distance I could see the city of Lustirne rising up. It wasn’t as impressive as Elendar, but that was to be expected since one was the capital of the nation and the other was just a popular tourist spot.

I slowed down to a brisk walk, it probably wouldn’t do to approach the city at breakneck speeds and the way I sparked when moving at max speeds could be seen as threatening. Maybe, I definitely didn’t want to risk it with all the treatment I had received so far.

It wasn’t too much longer before I got to the city walls. The gates were closed, as I got close enough I heard the gruff voice of a guard call out from the top of the wall. The walls here were much smaller than Elendars so I could actually see the person pretty well, although not well enough to make out any features through the helmet on his head.

“Halt! Hood off, hands where we can see them!”

I complied, no sense in causing trouble before I had even gotten into the city.

“An elf? Where did you come from and what’s your business in Lustirne?” He yelled down at me.

“I came from the capital, I left earlier today actually. I’m on my way to Alixia, but wanted to stop here first. I heard the hot springs here are to die for and wanted to experience them for myself.”

“The capital?” He sounded slightly suspicious, but I chalked that up to him being human and me being an elf. “How are they faring up there? Last I heard there was some invasion and The Harbinger showed up?”

“Pretty much, Alixia somehow got soldiers past the border and attacked, as soon as the skirmish ended with a decisive victory on the Kingdom's side The Harbinger showed up and rampaged through half the capital before the Queen repelled its march.”

For a while he didn’t say anything before grunting, “Wait by the side door I’ll be down in a moment.”

And with that he dipped back over the side, disappearing from view.

A few minutes later the reinforced door to the side of the gates opened up and out came the guard that I was talking to earlier. He reached up and removed his helmet revealing dull gray-green skin with a bald head and tusks slightly protruding from his lower lips on either side of his wide mouth.

My eyes widened in surprise.

“Are you an orc?” I blurted out before I could catch myself.

He cocked an eye at me.

“What, have you never seen one of us before?” He asked, I couldn’t quite make out his tone to tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

“No actually, I haven’t. I’m pretty new to the area.”

He just snorted, before leading me through.

“Entrance fee is a silver. That gets you into the city. If you go out and come back in that’ll be another silver. If you’re here for the hot springs, you’ll want to head to the bath districts that are on the western end of the city. Shouldn’t be too hard to find.”

An entrance fee? That was interesting, considering both Vinwood and Elendar didn’t have such a thing. I voiced as much to him, but coughed up the coin without issue.

“That’s because Vinwood doesn’t have the same pull as Lustirne and wants to entice merchants and people to come through with lower taxes and the like. Otherwise there’d be no real reason to settle there. Elendar is a completely different beast considering it’s an entirely self-sufficient city. They have what’s called mana-farms within the city walls. Can produce any crops they need in case of siege so they don’t have to ration. It’s terribly expensive and not very efficient, but in times of war? It beats not having enough food to eat and driving morale down. Easier to pick up the pieces and try to recover if there’s something to actually recover by the end.”

I nodded, that made sense. At least they had a way to feed their citizens during that time, very forward thinking from the Queen.

“Alright then, anything I should know before I go? Any do’s and don’ts?”

He just stared at me before replying drily, “Do follow the law, don’t break it and you’ll be good.”

I let out a huff of amusement, “Fair enough.”

He waved me through the door. It was a relatively small room, and it was empty save for a table and some chairs in the corner. There was another door off to the side that led further in, along with another door that led into the city proper. He directed me through that one.

The orc locked both doors behind us on our way through before turning and giving me one more look over before giving me his parting wisdom.

“Stay safe out there and try not to start anything, the guards will be more likely to side with a human over you regardless of who’s actually to blame. I would know since I was on the receiving end of that treatment a lot before I became a guard. Hard to get into this position as well.”

He shook his head as thoughtfully before continuing, “I don’t expect anything to happen to you, but well. You can never be too sure these days it feels like. Just err on the side of caution alright?”

I gave him a mock salute, “Yessir!”

He just grunted, not particularly amused.

“Go on then, get out of here and enjoy your time in Lustirne.”

______________________________________________________________________________

“I don’t know man, it just doesn’t make sense.”

“What doesn’t make sense? The fact that he’s wearing plate armor? The fact that he’s put down 12 double bacon cheeseburgers and seems like he could eat more? Maybe it’s the fact that he broke through handcuffs like they were made out of cardboard? Or maybe, just maybe it’s the way he speaks a language no one has been able to identify yet? What doesn’t make sense to you, James?”

“I just don’t understand how he trimmed his beard so perfectly! It’s like magic! Look at it! The proportions and angles are perfect. It’s insane.”

“I hate you.”

End Book 2