She continued to give me a ferocious glare when she finally decided to speak. With a snarl she said “Who are you and why are you here?”
I am quite surprised at how clear her speech is compared to what she looks like.
I replied “My name is Argate and I do not know why I am here. I happened to notice the smell of barbecue and wandered to this area. I mean you no harm.”
Her expression softened for a little bit then she retracted the bone dagger from the dirt and sheathed it and the other in the middle of her back. Then, with a feline like grace, she jumped back, landed in a crouch and stood to her full height, which happens to be about the same as me.
I now saw the full extent of her slender body with tight muscles and an excellent curvature. She wore a worn and torn revealing leather tunic that has seen better days and she had on a pair of leather sandals that completely exposed her feet. I also noticed that she has some kind of device around her neck attached with a silver linked chain that looked a little similar to my watch but was smaller and cruder if the worn edges and faded color was a true indicator. She came a little closer and stretched out her hand to help me up.
I took it and I was up in a flash not believing how strong she was.
She said “My name is Liandra. You approached my campfire and I thought you were going to try and steal my food and I could not have that. You are lucky I decided to evaluate you first before you became one with the dirt.”
I replied “I understand. Sorry for intruding on you. I had no idea that you were the one responsible for the campfire. Whatever you were roasting smelled really good and I am quite hungry.”
She stomped her foot with authority startling me for a second and asked “I have never seen anyone look like you before. What are you and where did you come from?”
I replied “I am a human from…..from earth I guess. Is this earth?” I feel really awkward asking is this earth because why wouldn’t it be.
She furrowed her brows and tilted her head in puzzlement and said “What is a human and what is earth? I have never heard of either of them. This forest is on the outskirts of a village named Telpe which is part of a bigger area between the Nation of Escalight and the Nation of Sangard. There are quite a few other villages in this area as well.”
Now it is my turn to express a look of puzzlement.
I said “I do not know those names either. Well, this is awkward. How about I show you how I got here?”
She squinted and had a wary look and said “I don’t know you and will not follow you because I do not care.” She started to walk away when I quickly closed the distance and grab her hand and without notice or warning I was flipped over and lying on my back once again. It happened so fast that I was left wondering how it came to be. She stood over me with an intense look of anger on her face and said with a snarl
“Never touch me without prior notice or next time you will lose your hand”
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I shrunk back or whatever was the equivalent for someone on the ground and replied “Yeah, sorry about that. It’s just that I don’t know anyone else besides you and Ari and I need some help.”
She thought about it for a quick second and replied “Okay, I will help you for a little while then I will take my leave. Also, who is Ari?”
After I got up off the ground I raised my arm and pointed at my wrist and said “Ari is this thing.”
She raised both golden eyebrows and looked at the device on my arm as if it was the first time she was seeing it and said “Wow! That is a very unique POD, I have never seen that one before. Where did you get it from? Also, why do you call it Ari? It is really weird to name your POD.”
I took another long look at the device, I mean POD, on my arm to see how to explain Ari. But then again, I really need to ask a question first “What is a POD?”
She replied with “I don’t know everything there is to know about PODs but what I can tell you is that POD stands for Portable Omni-Use Device and has a multitude of uses based on your class and profession. Mine for instance allows me to summon and communicate with my Quasaur Vivi”
I said “Hmmmm…..what is a Quasaur?”
She said “Let me show you. COME VIVI!!!”
I looked on with great interest as a monster materialized right before my eyes. This “Vivi” looked like some kind of jacked female monkey with light brown armor for skin and has the same a color fur as Liandra’s hair. It was a little shorter than Zyrogue.
She said “This is Vivi. I summoned her with this POD. She is what’s called a Vooke. Normally, they are not easy to capture and befriend but me and Vivi formed a bond when we both were in a bad situation, long story. She has been a great friend and companion to me ever since.”
Just then Vivi started screeching and heading towards me with its sharp claws ready to tear me to shreds. It was quick and right before it was able to sink its claws into my tender flesh Liandra said “VIVI STOP!”
She said it with so much force that I was startled. The Vooke immediately stopped in place and Liandra said “RETURN” and just like that Vivi disappeared.
With wide eyes filled with excitement I said “That was so cool!! How did you do that?”
Liandra had a smug look and said “There is nothing to it. Anyone who is a tamer at least knows that much. I’m sure you should be able to accomplish the same thing with your POD. Speaking of the which, you still have not answered my question. Where did you get that from?”
The excitement fading from my eyes I told her the story of how I got here and how my POD was created. She listened as I talked not asking any questions just letting me finish my story.
Once I was finished she said “That is a rather, interesting and hard to believe story. That is a Can you show me this box?”
I said “Sure”. Then we headed back to where the box was. 20 minutes later and we are both standing in front of the entrance. Liandra is tilting her head side to side trying to figure out what the box is.
She said “You seem to be full of mysteries. This box is very strange. I could not even begin to understand what this is but it does kind of look familiar. I also cannot say as to who may have constructed it. But, if I had to guess, I would say someone from the Escalight might have built it. But then again, the technology of Tharvis is said to rival that of Escalight. In either case this is beyond me”
I asked “Escalight? Tharvis? I remember you mentioned something about Sangard as well. Are all of these places major cities here?
She replied “No. They are each individual Nations.”
I asked “So, is there anything more you can tell me about these PODs?”
She said “Like I said before, I am not an expert on PODs. You can interact with the user interface to arrange the icons how you see fit. You can also set up voice activation of certain functions as I had with Vivi. Aside from that and what I told you before, that is all I know.”
I said “Okay, thanks Liandra. I am still trying to get the hang of how everything works here. Ari is of no use because its databank is pretty much empty.”
Liandra said “So, this Ari can speak you said? That is quite unique. I have never heard of a POD talking. And that ability to transfer essence, I would not tell many people about that. It seems like a remarkable ability and could get you hunted for it. Do you have any Quasaur for protection?”
I replied “I only have one” I then showed Liandra my POD.
She raised one eyebrow and said “It appears that you have two and not one. Though, it is strange how you already have one summoned.”
I asked “Why is that strange?”
She said “Normally, outside of towns, cities and other designated areas, tamed Quasaur have a very limited amount of time that they can be summoned. This excludes wild Quasaur though.”
I thought on that for a second and said “I am guessing the one that is summoned is Zyrogue. It is only a robot, or so I thought. It would seem it has become a Quasaur now.”
Liandra pushed away a lock of golden hair from her left eye and said “Oh! Can I see this Zyrogue?” It may have just been my wild imagination but it looked like Zyrogue wasn’t all that she was interested in. I said “Sure, it is inside this box here”