The Serpent
Blade
Chapter 2:
The Ancient City
Having collected the worst bounty possible, Ssaletzots has
to travel across the country in order
to find the far away foe.
He is in for a long journey...
The way to the grand Alden'khar of Khalassass is a long journey, and the desert lay barren of usable materials. Along the way to the first stop, I spot a broken caravan, human skeletons lying buried within the sands. The trader starts a conversation saying “My name iss Allen by the way, but the journey to the capital iss a dangerous one riddled by outlaws.”
and I respond in kind “And I am Ssaletzots, looking for one of these men, a gatorfolk by the name of Regin Scheib.”
Allen responds, somewhat worried “Ah, the throne killer” and soon after such, the conversation ran dry.
I hear clanking noises behind a rock, and a Humani and Vulfri pop up, seemingly waiting for a passing caravan. The Vulfri pulls out a crossbow, and the Humani a knife. I quickly draw my bedoin knife out, and throw it into the chest of the crossbow wielder, as they scream. The knife wielding one lunges at me, and I jump out of the cart, wrap around them, and bite them. They recoil, and the venom will take effect soon. The one with my bedoin knife in their chest is still alive and shoots at me, missing and hits a bag full of grain. Allen says
"No, that wass ssupossed to go to the next town” and I pull out my sword and quickly slither to the man who shot it. I hit the Vulfri in the head with my sword hilt, and I tie them both together in the back of the cart as they pass out.
The Vulfri are an interesting race. They look similar to the wolves, and live alongside the newer race of the Humani, who call themselves Norse based off of the town they originate from, Nordesthwaipe. The Vulfri themself are the origin of the Norse culture, and they used to terrorize the world in the name of their ancient Primordial ancestor, Kasmagath.
Kasmagath was titled 'The Mournehyld of Dentrea' Mournehyld being a title that represents great terror, and no one has unlocked the title since. They were as tall as the Kakaran mountains, and had purple glowing swirls on their fur, and flaming purple eyes to match. These would glow in the darkness that Kasmagath so loved, as he would terrorize the planet with his Void Ice magic. A purple, cold, crystalline magic only the Mournehyld and his descendants, the Vulfri have ever known.
The Vulfri which I knocked out has purple magic tattoos to represent their relation to Kasmagath, and it is quite a common thing for warriors to do in their country, similar to a coming of age ritual. He looks quite similar to how I've seen Kasmagath described in ancient scrolls from around the world, with almost pure white fur, aside from a dark gray face and neck, likely going down far enough for me not to want to check.
Things cooled down, and eventually, we got to our first stop. The nearby village of Bassun's Ahrik Caldetia, a small town West of mine, with a lesser population. I bring the two tied together outlaws inside with me, as they recoil and one foams from the mouth. The
town has a 6 foot tall wooden wall around it, only a little bit taller than me, and dark wood with orange shades propped upon the interior by poles. As I walk to the entrance, there are two human guards dressed in semi-formal unpainted steel armor, with swirls adorning most areas. The inside of the town is not too similar to mine, as there is a cross section of two main roads, a small center plaza, and one road circling the in-between, with two rows of houses
made of plaster painted with gracious amounts of colors. I see buildings of greens, reds, blues, and more.
The town proves to be a safe place for all kinds of creatures. I see some tiny Arbenian Tomwyverns, tiny wyverns with dark tan coloring to fit in with the surrounding sands, playing with each other and fighting over scraps of food. I see plentiful bugs for them to eat, as well as a few desert foxes patrolling the streets. Some Flamekyn Drachinettes are running around in the corners of alleyways so far as I can see, one being chased after since it has a fish. Flamekyn Drachinettes are similar to a Gotri Flamekyn True Dragon, both having dark red scales, with black wings and deep blue eyes. Drachinettes and most other True Dragons have four legs and two wings, as opposed to Arbenian True Dragon, since they have no wings and live in a quite serpentine body.
On the way to the town center I stop by the job exchange of the town to drop off the outlaws, and this one looks newer. It does have a smaller size, though. As I walk inside, this one has younger people, mainly people in their early 20's. The human counter lady with long gray hair, wearing some shiny steel and black cloth armor asks, somewhat
abrasively
“You got some outlaws for me, Arbani?” and I respond “Yess, they attacked me and a trader on the way here.”
she looks at them, and surprised, says “Ah, yes, these two have been the scourge of
traders as of recent.” and continues “You can have 17 Dronus for the both of them.”
and I say “thank you, though the one with foam coming out of his mouth is going to die soon, I'd prepare for that.” and she takes them to the jail in the back room.
Amongst the other noises as I exit, I hear a distinct conversation. The man says, cockily “I hear
there have been some revolutionaries hanging around in the capital”
and the woman he's speaking to, uninterested, says “Wow, you've got such interesting dating talk, don't you?” sarcastically. The man sputters, not knowing what to say next, and I move on, having heard what I needed out of the conversation. I head towards the town center with Allen, to help him restock on needed materials, as I think to myself that Humani towns have some interesting forms of problems. We pick up some minor rations, such as some Waterfruit and Banamelons to eat on the ride there.
Humani themselves are an odd people. They come in many different forms, like my kind, but they seem to have originated in Lotir, and wandered around. They look somewhat similar to monkeys, and their manes come in many different colors. Each of them from a different place looks quite distinct. To further add to their distinctness, Humani also went through a stage known as ‘evolution’, which is quite abnormal, considering each other race was the direct product or descendant of the Primordials themselves.
As we pack up our rations to get back on the near blasted cart, we prepare for a longer journey to the Oniri City of Anubor. Around there the desert turns into a land of green. A near-jungle like terrain of semi-grassy land, with trees foresting the ground. You can even see the wildlife thrive upon the short canopies.
We stop midway through the journey, so that we can rest for a short bit and eat some food. Being that
I love cooking so I ask Allen “Would it be acceptable for me to cook?”
and he responds happily “If you wish to, I shan't be the one to sstop you.”
I gather some banamelons from a nearby tree, and waterfruit from the cart, and ask him “Do you have any sspare flour?”
to which he nods affirmatively, and states “Under the sseat there are ssome provisionss meant for uss.” and I gather the flour. I also grab a baking pan, and start a fire with some sticks that fell from the Nanaroot tree.
I take the banamelons and waterfruit, and cut them up into a more manageable size, then put them into the pan along with some water and flour, with a slight bit of dried yeast I had on hand. After it bakes, it comes out as a meloncake, a sweet and sour, juicy loaf. Me and Allen enjoy eating a bit of it, but leave some to snack on if we ever get hungry. We get on our way, and after a long journey through the scorching desert, the surroundings change quite drastically. The vines hang over the cart at the edge of the desert, and I look further into the terrain to see monkeys and boars.
Eventually I see black quartz stone obelisks, towering over the road that at this point is of stone brick. And these continue every 20 or so feet for the next while. After a long journey through the jungle, I see the entrance to the town. The buildings are also made of black quartz, with golden geometric accents, And in the center is an enormous blue and green opal pyramid.
As we ride through the town entrance, there must be at least 50 people just here alone. This is very likely a rich city, as all of the inhabitants are wearing silks and other expensive clothings. This is not even to mention the Insect Kin slaves that a lot of these people have. I personally am not a fan of slavery, being that my kind was given such treatment by the ancient Dinyri.
Mainly in this city I see Mosquito Insect Kin, as they are more likely to thrive in this environment, though there are also quite a few Roach Kin as well.
The town is full of Oniri, bustling with life throughout the market stalls around the entrance, selling trinkets and other types of wares. We walk through the side roads, with houses upon houses, and smaller market stalls. “This city may as well be the capital Alden'khar of Arbenia!” I exclaim aloud to Allen.
In response he states “It sseemss sso, doess it not?” continuing “Thiss iss where the Oniri firsst arose, their kingdom being grand and wide.”
“What happened to it, again?” I asked him puzzled, with him answering “They got into a bloody civil war with each other, eventually crumbling their kingdom into shattered pieces.” finishing his statement with “That'ss when the king of their people relented to the neighboring kingdom of Arbenia, becoming a part of a grand empire of all the people of the lands.” he follows this up, quieter, with “Don't pesster the localss about their royalss, as their pride sufferss for their passt.”
As we walk, an Oniri pulls me aside and asks, dryly “Do you happen to be a sellsword?”
Of course I respond “Affirmative, iss there a particular reasson why you assk?”
and they tell me “The leader has been looking for a hunter of men” continuing “A target must be silenced.” they tell me “Follow, for he awaits your arrival” I ask Allen to wait for me by the cart, as he sells wares to the folk of the area.
The Oniri and I walk out of the side roads of the town, and see a grand avenue of large white granite storefronts leading directly to the pyramid in the center, which has started to glow brightly as the sun sets. There are torch lamps starting to be lit, and people are closing their shops for the day, then heading home. The sun still shines softly upon the ground, reflecting off of windows and polished stone buildings. I think to myself that this place will last thousands of years, being built upon the fruit of the earth. It is still a long way to the center building though, being the monument of a pyramid.
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“It musst be three miless high.” I say, amazed, and the Oniri warrior says, amused “If only.” stating “it is only about two and a half.” continuing “It is certainly magnificent though.”
I ask “Why iss it that it glowss at ssunsset?” and they respond in kind “That is when the peak of magic energy is during the day, and the pyramid responds to the change in power, being it is made of opal.”
In this world, certain objects have an innate magic power within them, such as gold, apparently opals, and even some people with born abilities. Not many can practice magic, and those born without abilities for it cannot even begin to try. Me, I was
born with slight magic ability, but only enough for parlor tricks such as moving an object across a table, or to teleport things and myself a small distance.
After there had been about 17 minutes of awkward silence between us, if you count the conversation we had, we have made it to the still glowing pyramid. As we approach, large wooden doors open before us, and a hallway of more black quartz with smaller passageways is shown. There are airshafts letting what little is left of day in on one side, and on the other the moonlight shines through. The torches softly illuminate the hallway, and we approach the end of the path. It opens up to a large pyramid shaped interior, with a throne in the middle on a raised platform, and two large tables with what seem to be advisors around them in front of the platform.
The leader gets up from the throne, and asks me, full of themselves “So you happen to be the hunter of men?”
I respond “Yess, what iss needed of me?”
and he tells me “I need a target in the mountain town of Kalidon eliminated” continuing
"They used to be a Gotri advisor of mine, until they kidnapped my daughter, and took off towards Kalidon, this being the last place they were seen.” and I ask “What would I gain from this venture?” him saying, still full of themself “You would gain both prestige and a favor, is there more needed being I am as close to a king as I can be?”
I say in response “No? I asssume not.” after which I mumble “money would be nice to have, though...”
and he finishes his 'request' with and abrasive “Off you shall be now, farewell.” and the Oniri that brought me here escorts me back out.
It is night outside now, even though it feels like only 15 seconds have passed while inside, and since everyone went to their homes, Allen decided to come to the center pyramid and wait for me outside. We head through the other side of town, towards the Dinorrian Mountains. The full moon shines brightly, as it rises through the canopy over the buildings. The city is peaceful in the quiet of night, the lamps softly illuminating the streets, the buildings shining and reflecting all sources of light. It softly begins to rain, puddles beginning to form in the cracks and divots between the bricks of the street. As the city begins to fade away, and the jungle takes over, I see the night creatures coming out and living their lives. The only things to be heard being the cart's wheels, and the bugs of the wood.
I ask Allen “Would it be appropriate for me to resst?”
and he responds with a kind tone in his voice “You may resst, as the journey will take long.” And with that, I lay my head upon the back of my seat, and doze into darkness.
When I wake, it is morning, and the sun shines brighty over the mountains I appear to be in-between. There are two large sets of mountains off in the distance, one to the North, the other to the Northeast. Between them lies a large set of plains. I am surprised to see a place so green, since I had been in the desert so long.
I put out my hands, stretching, and unusually a bird lands upon my fingers. I look at it, confused, and it looks at me the same. It flies off to go hunt, or at least that's what I would assume it's doing. I yawn, and Allen jumps, surprised of me being awake,
and says “Giant ssnake of the ssky, I did not think you woke.”
and I respond, laughing “Do not worry, I did not think you did.” Continuing “You sseemed quite occupied with the map.”
Allen tells me “We approach Kalidon, do you have any business here?”
I respond “The place lookss as beautiful as I remembered it.” continuing “The treess look even more green than I remembered them lasst.”
and he states “Yes, ssince a few yearss ago they have been working on making everything more natural, as opposed to the sharp stonework that used to be found here by itself.”
And I finish off the conversation with “Yess, it doess look very much nicer as opposed to how it ussed to as well, much more green.” stating “Though, back to your quesstion.”
and I tell him “Yess, the Oniri leader wantss me to find a fugitive within”
he responds “Well, look upon the situation.”
We approach a mountain, and I see what look like buildings within it, vertically stacked one above the other in the mountain. There is still a long way to Kalidon, but I am beginning to see the markers of society. The road has been dirt for so long it seems, but it is now turning into cobbled stone. As we approach closer to Kalidon, we get enveloped by trees of oak and birch. We are surrounded by shade for a split second, until the treetops open up and let the light shine through. We ride through the lively woods until we see a tunnel that we must enter.
We enter the tunnel, and a Hokri mage greets us “Hello non-feathered visitors.”
to which I jokingly respond “Ah, by that degree I must be a human!”, the Hokri laughing somewhat uncomfortably at the joke.
And they say “Well, anyway, you must be here
on business by the looks of you.”
and Allen says "Well, I'm here to ssell waress, Ssaletzots is here on
bounty hunter work.”
and the Hokri says, bashfully “Sorry, I need to introduce myself, I'm Nikam Draniro, though you can call me Nik.” And we introduce ourselves along to him, in normal fashion. after a short pause Nik continues, asking “Anyways, you guys wanted up, right?” And allen affirmatively nods his head. Nik, being a mage recites an rune calling; “Sinyr Dun!” and aquamarine runes light up beneath the cart, bringing wind as I look up and see a long shaft above us.
I say, somewhat fearfully “Oh no-”
and they cut me off saying “It's a long way up, keep all hands and tails inside the cart!” Immediately after, the winds sharply increase, flying us up to the top at near blistering speeds.
At the top, a blue and a green Hokri turn cranks that put a flooring beneath our cart, and the green one starts off saying “Welcome to our town!” the blue one interjecting saying “We have plenty here, feel free to look around scaled ones.”
and me and Allen thank them. Continuing I say “A warm welcome iss always wonderful to ssee.” and they send us on our way.
Hokri are a peculiar race, mainly messengers and warriors. They can fly above the worries of the ground, as they are a hawklike people. They can be fairly fierce warriors when they need to be, though many just send messages across countries. They were created by Naatrans, goddess of the wind, the Golden Woman. She is said to appear to each race as their own. For my race, she would appear as a golden scaled Arbani woman, whereas for a Humani she is said to have golden eyes, and rich blonde hair along with her pointed ears that all Humani-like gods and the Feyani have.
Carrying on, we are on a high portion of the mountain, the only reason for the flat ground beneath us being a large stone wall that from the top of it only goes to the waist height of a human, though likely a hundred feet tall. The ground itself is of red clay brick in circular patterns. All of the houses have a base of cobble, unpainted spruce planking above it, and green shingled roofs. That is, the ones not embedded into the walls anyways, as most of the non-home buildings are built into the mountain itself, carved by an ancient split-off of my serpentine race of Arbenians, being the Koliani.The Koli preferred instead of sanded areas, the mountains and jungles. Their preferred imagery in stonework being squared swirls and snakes. They mysteriously went missing about 130 years ago. I read that they were blue colored, instead of red and black like my tribe, the Arban.
The mountain walls are lined with extravagant, if not worn down carvings of places such as the original look of the village, and the way the capital of Arbenia used to look long ago. There seem to be carvings of ancient magic and metal creatures called Machinids and the Koli Arbenians working together to create their society. Along the heightened ridges of doorframes and windows, there are small stoneworks of snakes and dragons, with torches lighting up the interiors.
I walk along the medium sized gray slate path, which is narrowing along with the mountain. It brings me behind houses of grand and humble, mostly being the latter side, and they cast shade upon the path, the only light source currently being
through the windows of the same buildings.
A cool breeze winding through the narrow paths makes me shiver, as I cast myself warm with slight magic. It does help to have a little magic, if not a lot when you are cold blooded. I've heard of people and ways that can help you train your innate magic to higher levels, but I've never had the coin.
Moving onwards, I ask a Hokri native to the town “Do you happen to know where a male adult Gotri with a young Oniri girl is?” Continuing “I happen to be looking for them.”
The Hawkman responds, quizzically “Well, they could be within the mountain remnant.”
I ask, puzzled “What?”
and he states “The interior of the old ruins of course.” and I thank him for the information.
I make my way down the road, and it widens again, opening up to a plaza which has a large opening in the mountain, surrounded by houses. It has tens of Hokri trading stories and wares, and I even see one flying in from a distance to deliver the day's mail.
I enter the remnant from the large doorway, and walk down stairs for an approximate 7 minutes before reaching the main area, as many people of different origins pass me. It is a grand domed room with orange candlelight spreading throughout, making the room look not dissimilar from a pastel painting. There is a center circle, with a set of walls with arched holes like windows in it surrounding. On the inside of the section is a single Oniri monk with red spiral tattoos adorning their bodies, most notably around their eyes and down their uncovered arms. On the other side of the walls are Hokri, and Katrini dressed similarly, in red and white robes, but without the spiral tattoos that the Oniri has, for most of them that is. They are mostly doing some form of meditation. Though I need to move further, and walk around the large dome by them.
Oh yes, the Katrini. They are a race that looks similar to your normal house cat. They were created by the goddess of physical prowess, Katonra. They tend to be wanderers and nomads, as they don't like to stay in one place for long. Katonra themself has the looks of a Humani with long black hair, green eyes, and pointed ears.
There is a further down staircase on the rightmost side of the room, and it eventually opens up to a large rectangular room with two interior walls surrounding a path with more arched windows, and markets. It's full of different races, including Katrini, Hokri, Oniri,
and even the stray Gotri. I see a group of three Gotri in one of the corners, and I approach them, speaking loudly as to talk over the rest of the racket in the marketplace. I ask “Have you sseen an adult male Gotri around with a young Oniri girl?”
and the Gotri woman in red karuta armor responds “Yeah, they just went by the cart that somehow got down here.” And I walk over to said cart. I notice along the way that it is much too wide to have fit down the narrow secondary staircase to the market, and wonder if it was specifically assembled inside. The Gotri with the Jackal child has their back turned to them. They try to run away, but they grab the child back with their tail, and she screams. Should've thought of bringing them to a less crowded place, as everyone notices and quiets themselves. She screams “Help me, please!”
I slither over, pull out my khopesh, and lunge at the Gotri. They move away, narrowly missing the sword. I swing again, grazing their scales. They strike back with their claws, getting me in the face. I pull out my bedoin and coil my tail around them. I stab them in the back, and they hiss-scream. They pull out a knife themselves, and cut my tail. I swing my khopesh, and cleanly cut off their knife wielding left forearm. They scream and beg to me, saying, terrified of me “I yield, I yield, spare me!” and I unwrap them. “I was just planning to scare the nigh-king, I was going to bring her back in another hour!”
I tell the child “Come with me, young Oniri, your father awaits your arrival.” and she obliges. I also bring the Gotri along, as they would make a great offering to the Jackalman nigh-king.
I make my way out of the underground market, then out of the underground in all. I peruse the streets of Kalidon yet again, walking the mountainsides of Dinorria as a stranger to the cliffs. Allen comes to me and states “The leader from Anubor ssendss a messsage to meet him in Khalassess Alden'khar.”
I ask “Why iss that?”
and he responds, looking at the page “The message tellss that he shall be attending an Arbani Oniri peace gathering.”
I say “Ah, the peace between our two kinds must be kept, yess?” and he nods affirmatively. This is as the Gotri is crying, and bleeding everywhere. Just to save the cleaning of the mess, I wrap the wound.