Rikard went briefly to his room, grabbing a knapsack full of...
things. They weren't being chaperoned and he was not about to waste the opportunity. Besides, after what he'd seen today, and what he'd
done, he was not about to be able to sleep... for a long time. He gripped the straps of his bag tightly, maybe too tightly, but it distracted him.
He'd... killed people, and it had been so easy. He'd felt cool for a second, like some sort of hero of legend, descending from the clouds on pillars of lightning. It was the horribly burned and maimed woman whose image stuck with him. In the middle of his thoughts, she just
appeared there again, unbidden and unwelcome. He could still smell the stench of burnt human flesh.
But she healed herself. She was fine. She was also the badguy, he remembered.
He ran a last check of his room in the candlelit gloom and turned towards the door.
'Badguy' from our perspective, he reminded himself. That was what Jochem, his tutor, had always said: "everyone's the hero in their own mind." The thing was, Rikard wasn't sure. He needed the fresh air. He needed to be somewhere nice. He needed... maybe to run this experiment. He'd see later. He opened his door into the courtyard and... he wasn't alone.
Abdel didn't fare too much better than Rikard. The guilt wasn't as heavy, however, as it was his Skuggvars that administered punishment rather than himself. But he had hurt his own friends and colleagues. It truly made him doubt if we was cut out for any of it, and if the arrogant thought of ever taming such beasts was going to get people killed. Maura wasn't too far from the house too. A quill could've hit her. The thought was pure agony to even remotely ponder.
The beasts were put in a pen, fed and administered with a sedative to help them sleep. The stable connected to the courtyard where he found himself taking in the fresh air at his lonesome. Sometimes he missed night like these - the silence of the desert under the clear Torragonese sky. Perched from the grand Naranja, he had his happy place. The cool nightly air of Rettan made of acceptable substitute.
“Hey, Ricky.” greeted the taller teen with a wave. He stood from the decorative rock and stepped closer to the baby of the group,
“Can't sleep too?”Rikard shook his head.
"Hah! Not even close. Never actually... fought people like that... you know, in real life, and like..." he rolled his eyes in a non-mirthful manner, not quite sure what to say next.
"it was a shit show, right?" He shook his head but lowered his voice to barely above a whisper.
"I don't think these people know what they're doing anymore than we do."Niallus tried to gather his thoughts inside his and Ingrids room. However he was unsuccessful. First it was how much of a disaster when they tried to help Abdel only to get caught in a trap then attacked by his Skugvars. He was kinda relieved that himself and Ingrid walked out of it with minor injuries and Abdel got to keep both of his Skugvars. Then there was what Ming and Zihan informed him, about one member of his group being a traveller agent.
Just the thought of it made his stomach twist. At first he wondered if it was something to do with his mother since she is an agent herself, but it doesn't seem that is the reason. He wanted to ask Ingrid or even Maura for assistance on this matter, but he was against it, in case it went wrong. Could that be why they told him not to tell anyone, incase it put them in danger perhaps. He needed some air, needed some time to process this.
He left the room still keeping hold of the flare that they gave him, as a precaution. There are two people that he doesn't really know that well, while another he's not very fond of.
"How do I go about this thing..." he mumbles to himself, however he notices both Rikard and Abdel. He smiles and waves at them.
"Seems I'm not the only one." he says to both of them.
“It was a first for me too, in a way.” Abdel shoved his hands in his pockets, as the cool air of night was getting to him and he tried to play it cool overall, especially as the older kid,
“But yeah, a shitshow. Kind of feel like I had a hand in this.” an awkward titter escaped him as her scratched the back of his head.
Then came Niallus, an adult and dethroner of Abdel's ivory tower of being the older kid for once.
“Hey.” he briefly waved his hand out of his pocket before getting it nice and snug back in there,
“So ... You guys want to raid those fancy gardens in town? Or do you have better ideas in mind?”Rikard shrugged.
"Seems like we've all had a day, hey guys?" He swung over the balustrade and floated gently down into the courtyard. He grinned up at them.
"And, if you're up for a bit of an adventure that doesn't involve literal life or death, there's a place I been scoping out. Huge pagoda in one of the parks. Vendor who sold me some stuff told me it has a view of..." he paused, trying to get the pronunciation right.
"BaiLong Shan, whatever that means.""Seems like it." Niallus didn't really care, but it'd be nice to hang out with others, also get a chance to have a look around, without someone breathing down their necks like some crazy babysitter.
"I'm down." He says, nodding his head.
Abdel bend over a little as Rikard shared his mark with the two others. The prospect of a fun but relaxed adventure brought a childish grin to the Virangish's face,
“I'm in.” he stood straight once more and pondered for a moment,
“BaiLong Shan ...” he repeated the term a couple more times,
“A natural landmark maybe?”"Only one way to find out," the baby of the group said with a grin though, if anyone called him such he'd have instantly gone into conniptions over it. They made their way through the city, then, hoods up to avoid drawing attention as random foreigners. Before long, the trio of youths found themselves passing through an area of the city with narrow winding streets. There were still lights on over here and people about. Many lanterns hung from windows, as well, virtually all of them red, and there were a good number of pretty women inside, some with dressed that exposed all of their shoulders and the tops of their breasts. Rikard was better than that. He didn't need to stare. That said, they'd been walking for some time and popping inside one of these bars for a quick drink might not have been a bad idea…
Niallus looked at the pretty women, some even gave a subtle wave to the group.
"I wonder why you scouted out this place." he says with a touch of sarcasm.
"I-it's just on the way!" stammered Rikard, nonplussed.
"You can't seriously think I knew everything on the way. I mean, I've never even been here before," he added defensively.
"We can just keep going," he concluded,
"though we'll need to stop for a drink at some point. I'm kind of thirsty, to be honest."Niallus squinted, finding it a little difficult to believe him.
"Sure..." he said with a smile. Looking back to the bar, then back to Rikard.
"Actually, I could go for a drink. So I don't mind going in for a quick drink."Abdel didn't even try to look away as they passed through the red light district. Old habits die hard.
“Just a drink, okay? I kind of want to,” his eyes were taken by a nearly topless dancer he could barely see through a half-opened door,
“see that Pagoda view. What if we miss the right timing to see that thingie-ma-bob?”Rikard assured the others that it would be quick. He found what looked like a bar and walked in, a mysterious hooded figure flanked by two smaller mysterious hooded figures. He imagined he looked pretty cool, actually. He imagined walking up to the bar and ordering a...
Wait a second, do they even drink beer here? Do I even really like beer?He paused in wonder. It was... not a bar as he was accustomed to. Sure, it was dim and hazy inside, filled with the sounds of laughter, music, and conversation, but there were numerous small lounge areas. Men of many stripes lounged about in them, as one might expect, drinking and smoking...it wasn't bakeleaf, but something else. What caught his eye the most, however were the women.
There were just...
boobs. Just there and freely on display and he had never seen them before like this. He felt fascinated. He felt like a dirty pervert and momentarily averted his eyes. He blinked, unsure what to do, any aura of 'cool' deserting him like cake from a fat man's plate. The women walked around in various states of clothedness. The men, as well, were sometimes half-naked. He most certainly averted his eyes as a couple turned to glance his way.
Right... drinks. There
was a bar of a sort at one end. Rikard quickly made his way there, trying for 'purposeful' over 'hurried'. He remembered the word for 'drink': Yǐnliào, and the one for 'water': Shuǐ. He started to slide into a stool and opened his mouth to catch the bartender's attention, but he happened to glance at the stool beside him. Seated in it, unmistakable, was one of Captain Zhu's men: Peng.
Walking through the crowd of patrons and exotic dancers. Some of the girls greeted him with a smile and a little dance. The boobs didn't seem to have the same hypnotic effect that they had on him, since he sees naked boobs and more on a regular basis. His friend, who was one small step away from drooling. It was kinda funny actually. Niallus did wonder what his girlfriend would look like in one of these sexy outfits.
Sitting down at one of the stools next Rikard, who eyes just darted from one lovely lady to another.
"You seem to be enjoying the view." he said to him with mischievous smirk. He noticed that Rikard stopped looking around and was just staring in one general person.
"Isn't that Peng, the one who almost died? You think we can let him join us?" he whispers to Rikard
So. Many. Tiddies.
Especially the big ones, oh did Abdel stare at those. Very little self-awareness on his part, and the girls likely took notice of this foreigner ogling far too much for his own good. And yes, he did have a girlfriend, but how could he fight instinct? It was just looking, after all. No harm, right?
When they took a seat, and he too had a notion of drinks, albeit perhaps not what he'd want,
“Shaojiu, guys?” he whispered, unknowingly requesting some of the strongest drinks out there, and the Baijiu in this establishment likely was pretty strong by how dank it was. Then, Peng came to his attention. He recognized that body all too well, and the still sore neck he had reconstructed just a few hours ago,
“Could be a good way to make friends among the guys with authority.” and so the next time gazes between Abdel and Peng crossed, he'd raise a thumbs up.
Peng Tao had already enjoyed some of this place's female company. He was also already well into his cups by the time that the three hooded figures took seats surrounding him. The guardian tensed up. He couldn't see their faces and he was about to reach out with his magic sense when he noticed that one was unusually tall. He saw a wispy little bit of peach fuzz poking out from the hood of another, and then darker skin on the third. These were his charges! He looked over at the last and received a thumbs-up in return. Tao glanced their way.
"Hall-lo," he began, with one of only two Avincian words that he knew.
"你在这里做什么？" (What are you doing here?) he muttered bemusedly afterwards.
Taking one of the glasses of booze that was offered to him and his two companions. Niallus took a little sip, it tasted a bit bitter, other than that it was good. When Peng spoke, he had a bit of a drunken slur on his words.
"Hello. You trying to unwind after today?" he asks him, to try to be a bit friendly to him.
Peng blinked and smiled tentatively, even
nervously. "对不起。我不明白。" (Sorry, I don't understand you.) he replied. He glanced about, taking in the other two as well.
"你们有人会说中文吗？" (Do any of you speak Retanese?)Feeling like there is a language barrier, still it was worth a try. Niallus grabs another one of the drinks, gently sliding it across the table towards Peng.
Abdel tightened his facial features in light second-hand embarrassment for Niallus. The Virangish teen raised his hand to drawn the attention toward him,
“我们不睡觉，所以我们呼吸新鲜空气。(We not sleep, so we get fresh air.)” and then, at a brief loss for the right words, also waved the beverage they were drinking to indicate they were also enjoying the drinks,
“Do we ask about the Pagoda, guys?” he asked the fellow Constantians in a non-conspiratorial or conspicuous manner.
Between the drink offered and finding that he could -
kind of - communicate with Abdel, Peng suddenly became
very talkative. The words came tumbling out and it was all that Abdel could do to
somewhat keep up. Things like, 'very good day' and 'no sleep' and 'fucking rebels' could be heard, but he seemed to pause and narrow his eyes in recognition at Abdel.
"是你。你治好了我的脖子，是吗？" (It was you. You fixed my neck, didn't you?) he shook his head, still reaching back a bit tentatively and rubbing it.
"我欠你一杯酒... 或者一个人情," (I owe you a drink or a favour.) he offered, holding out his hand.
Abdel could only nod and hum a few uh-huh's at the verbal diarrhea, all with a very forced smile. Given that he was getting the most attention, he scooted closer to Peng, arms crossed over his knees as he leaned forward.
“Ah.” Abdel nodded when he realized the transition to gratefulness from the young soldier,
“这是一个人会做的。(It is what one would do.)” he replied, a little flustered with nervous cheek scratches. He had half a mind to wave his hand in dismissal over the over, but then again, he truthfully wasn't sure if that'd be seen as rude. Abdel was by no means an expert of the local culture,
“我的朋友里卡德说那里有美丽的塔楼。(My friend Rikard says theres beautiful tower building.)” the term pagoda, even in Avincian, had escaped him briefly, snapping his fingers as he gave vague variants of what could possibly illustrate a Pagoda.
“Pagoda ... Bǎotǎ?”Rikard leaned in right then, hearing the work 'pagoda', and decided to try some Retanese of his own.
"我们看...白龙山?" (We can see... White Dragon Mountain?)Peng just sort of narrowed his eyes at first, as the others spoke and gestured, his drunken mind trying and not strictly succeeding at processing what they were attempting to communicate. Then, it clicked all at once.
"对对对对对对!" he exclaimed.
"这里是观赏那座山的最佳位置。有些晚上，运气好的话，还能看到白龙。" (This is the best place to see that mountain. Some nights, if you are lucky, you can see the white dragon.) He shook his head.
"如果你想去那里，你应该现在就离开。最好在月亮高的时候去。(If you want to go, you should leave now. It is best to go when the moon is high." he paused and hiccupped drunkenly. "真的，你不应该去，但我不会说什么……这次。
" (really, you shouldn't, but I won't say anything... this time.)Abdel did his best to translate what he was getting from the young survivor. Things like 'Long' for dragon were pretty obvious, and Yueliang for moon.
“Xiexie.” Abdel lowered his head in a light bow as he got the favour Peng was making them. Then, he raised his glass and spoke Avincian,
“One more for the road?” he made the intention of a final, celebratory drink before they would leave.
“I won't lie, guys, I'm pretty stoked to see a special white dragon.” said Abdel, pumped and maybe a tad tipsy from the strong drinks,
“Let's quickly slip by before we encounter some other, less grateful duder.”Between sipping his drink, listening to the others have their conversation and looking at the dancers. Niallus didn't know what his company were saying.
"I kind of want to see it too. Also I agree with you about another encounter." he responds to Abdel.
Rikard had tried to keep his eyes under control. It had been a weird mix of terror and arousal until Peng had shaken Abdel's hand and the former had faded. The youngest member of the group was starting to feel considerably out of his depth, however. It was just... they were so
pretty. He could just pay a little bit of money and
touch them and... He felt kind of dirty. Something about that just didn't seem right. but then was he judging the people who
did unfairly? If these women were making money for themselves in return, then wasn't it a win-win? But what if they were being coerced or exploited? What if...
“Let's quickly slip by before we encounter some other, less grateful duder.”That cut through Rikard's haze of thought and spared him any further cognitive dissonance. He shook his head to clear it. He looked around. People had noticed that they were foreign now. A few whispered among themselves but, even if he amplified their speech, he still wouldn't be able to understand it. With unusual bravery, the boy drained his foul-tasting drink and rose.
"Agreed. Let's get to the pagoda!"There was little to prevent them from reaching their destination or delay them along the way, except for their own navigation. Rikard proved next to useless in this regard, but they had the light of five partial moons to navigate by and the songs of crickets. A cool late rezain wind cut through their clothing occasionally to chill the three youths, but they had arcane magic to solve the issue. After a journey of some twenty minutes more - the pagoda had turned out to be much further and much
larger than initial estimates - they found themselves at the foot of a walled garden. All five of the great wooden gates were closed. The inside was silent and serene. Lit with only a handful of lanterns, the great pagoda rose over a mirrorlike surface of a small lake.
The park was clearly closed, but even
Peng, a guardian, had known of the spot. He'd... tacitly given them permission, right? The question now became: to slip in or respect the closed gates after all that journey?
Abdel himself wasn't the most coordinated after chugging two strong alcohols, when normally he'd be the one to show the way. At least Niallus could still walk straight. When they arrived at the sealed off garden, Abdel leaned forward and brushed the tip of his pointer finger onto the wooden gate. Then, he shrugged and began to bind the wood into something pliable enough to just sneak through,
“Let's goooo! I don't want to miss the fancy dragon.” he would then restore the gate behind them once they all trespassed.
Making sure that the other two didn't get lost Niallus had to keep a constant eye on both of them, he felt a little like a babysitter. Once at the wall Niallus couldn't help but ask this.
"So Rikard did enjoy the sights in that little club you can always sneak back on another day." he says with a smirk.
"'Bout as much as you did," the scrawny boy shot back, walking through the door. Within seconds, all three were inside, and Rikard drunkenly remembered to sweep the surrounding area for energies, picking up some small animals and a single human signature walking up and down another path in a clear patrol pattern.
"VCareful," he warned,
"I think there's a guard down that way." He pointed, but couldn't
see anything.
Then, he sensed it coming from behind and above: a whole swarm of tiny chemical signatures, and a bit of arcane too. He turned, already starting to draw, but there was no need for panic. In various hues of orange, red, purple, and pink, a flight of 火梅 - Huǒ méi, or Fireplum - moths drifted overhead, their bioluminescent wings fluttering gently under the light of the moons. For a good while, Rikard was enraptured, following their flight with his eyes as they faded into the distance by the great pagoda, becoming little more than specks.
Two more minutes of walking and they were there. A handful of human energies were waiting at the top already, some three hundred feet above them, and the door seemed to be unlocked. Rikard reached out with what little sonic magic he knew to amplify their voices for the others.
"看：红色闪烁！开始了！" (Look: red flashing! Here we go!)
A three-hundred foot tower and maybe thirty seconds to reach the top. This, then, was Rikard's challenge.
“Pretty.” Abdel whispered as he saw the moths dance in the air,
“But no legendary dragon.” his sights were set on the Pagoda. Now, to scale it from inside, or from above? He reached out with the gift to stakeout the innards of the tall edifice, only to detect the same people Rikard had,
“Red light?” Abdel interpreted the words, curious as to what they might mean,
“Whatever it is, it's happening now. Shit!” it was up high, and the Tethered power had foolishly thought himself good enough to pass on Kinetic for now. All he really had was Magnetic, and a confident Rikard!
Niallus looking up to where they need to be, they don't have long, seems Rikard and Abdel have their own way of getting up.
"We better hurry, we don't have long."Niallus will have to rely on his his Kinetic Magic in order to rapidly climb up.
As Niallus climbed, Rikard could've floated, but that would've meant leaving Abdel behind, and you just don't do that to your crew.
"I've got this." He smirked and drew in all of the energy that he could, imbuing both his shoes and a stretch of the pagoda walls with magnetic charges.
"You know the rest, right?" His grin grew even larger and sloppier.
"Race you to the top! Last one there has to tell their girlfriend they went to a tiddy bar!" With that, he took off at a sprint.
“Wait.” Abdel realized as he fine-tuned the charged choose with his own thunderchild-touch, and even gave Rikard a courtesy adjustment and prevent potential shoe damage,
“You don't have a girlfriend!” whisper-shouted Abdel as he sprinted behind Rikard. Bless the white aberration for the functional feet!
Rikard grinned back at him.
"I know! Isn't it great?" The little shit even stuck his tongue out.
Niallus couldn't help but pitch in.
"He could, if he asked Ayla since they are quite close" he smirked
Maybe the comment distracted Rikard. Maybe it didn't. Regardless, he finished last by a hair to Abdel and nearly threw up on the way.
Keep it down. Keep it in, he counseled himself.
"Well, it ain't gonna happen now!" he crowed in response to Niallus, though he secretly thought about Ayla and wondered...
Maybe, actually... maybe! She
was kind of cool and they'd seen a lot of each other and... well, he decided that maybe he should ask someone older how to actually recognize if a girl likes you. She was the daughter of a duke, after all, and
way above a lowly baron like his father was.
Then, they were there. The people at the top were just four young Retanese. After initially startling them, a few words of excited chatter, and mutual nods and waves of greeting, they all turned their eyes to what could only be Bailong Shan: a vast snowcapped mountain that rose from the rocky highlands north of the city, singular, mighty, and pristine.
"这每月只发生一次," (This only happens once a month,) said one of the other observers, as reddish lights began to flash and Rikard recognized them as dozens of small explosions.
"什么?" Rikard offered, pointing to the strange phenomenon and using one of the roughly dozen Retanese words he'd learned over the past two days.
"那些是法术力生物，被称为红色杀手," (Those are mana slimes, known as red killers,) offered a smallish girl with oversized glasses, perhaps skeptical that he'd understand.
"他们住在那座山上，成长很快。当龙醒来并喷火时，它们都会爆炸," (They live on that mountain and grow very fast. When the dragon wakes up and breathes fire, they all explode,) offered a second, eagerly.
"当有东西挤压它们时，它们也会爆炸。" (They also explode when something squishes them.)
Then, there was only the show. A colossal jet of flame burst through the glacier and its remains sloughed away down the mountainside, triggering further brilliant red explosions as more mana slimes detonated. A long, low, groan echoed from the distance, miles away, only now reaching the group, and it seemed like the entire summit of the mountain moved. A massive head emerged and, then a long, serpentine body, not too dissimilar from a Royal Sand Wyrm's and, to Abdel's shock, every bit as large. The immense creature coiled around the mountaintop for a moment, as white as the snow that remained there. Then, with a mighty surge of momentum, it launched itself into the sky like an arrow and, without wings, continued to fly, shooting up through the clouds and disappearing. For the next minute of so, the clouds flashed and rumbled with lightning, and rain lashed at the mountain.
Then, the show was over, and the White Dragon King had gone wherever it had gone to do whatever it was that dragons did. The other four began clapping and speaking excitedly, in rapid short bursts.
"舅舅估计已经在上山的路上了," (my uncle is probably already on his way up the mountain) Abdel was somewhat able to catch, or at least something about an uncle, up, and a mountain.
"有风险..." (Risky...) chided another.
"如果他不被抓到，他就会发财," (If he doesn't get caught, he'll be rich,) countered a third. Just how much Abdel understood was unclear to the others but, as the display ended and the other group departed with small waves and friendly calls of
"再见" (Zàijiàn - goodbye), Rikard turned to him in eager expectance.
Abdel needed to catch his breath. He hadn't run like this since ... He never did, actually. And it was exhilarating! At the peak ,of the Pagoda, he needed a moment to sit onto the large tiles nearby, barely noticing the youths that greeted them. He felt like his guts were going to spill, more out of exertion than the drink. However, the role of scuffed translator never ended and so he stood again and approached the second group with a continuous, stifled pant.
His brown eyes were the completely fixed on the mountain and the lightshow to come. The sheer volume gave him vertigo, and the massive dragon blasting through the landmark nearly had the slightly disoriented Abdel fall over from his sitting position.
“Woah ...” hypnotized by the grand show before him, he needed a little pinch to actually catch some of what the Rettanese youths were saying. It was one hell of a challenge for Abdel, but he managed to get something.
“Zaijian!” Abdel waved back, and looked at his Constantian peers, hinting for them to do as he did. Once they were gone, he'd offer his summary,
“They said something about an uncle going to the mountain, and getting rich.” he crossed his arms and looked at the recently 'attacked' mountain,
“Although it might be dangerous.” and then he paused for a moment as he tried to recall unique words,
“There were mana somethings that exploded from fire and crushing them. Like mana soups or something?” he shrugged, the word 'slime' being a bit out there for him,
“But yeah, kaboom the things!”Niallus made it to the top first. He waited for the other two to climb up.
"That was fun." he said catching his breath.
Looking at the view, Niallus couldn't help but marvel at the amazing view.
"Wow...This view is amazing." he says in awe. This is one of those moments that you will would remember for the years to come. However it seemed that they weren't alone up there. Some Retannese kids were there too, both Abdel and Rikard seemed to discuss with them.
"This was great." he said to Abdel and Rikard. Abdel mentioned that Zaijian was goodbye in Retannese, so Niallus said it to the other kids.
Danyel
rabidbacon
dragonpiece
CitrusArms
pantothenic
Izurich
jasbraq
Ti
Jumbus
