Music for today:
Rok Nardin - Amplituhedron
https://youtu.be/wRTzdBWeNpo
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Mid Morning - Late Summer - Year 24 : Kaelallan | Kaelallan Empire
- Elizabeth Valia ~
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"Step forward!" The commanding voice of a young guard echoed loud from the gates of Kaelallan that morning—his call like the ticking of a clock to some, and the cooing of a morning rooster to others.
It all depended on whether you chose to rest on the side of the road like many others, or chose to inch through the line for almost half a day like Anamoni and I.
Having gotten there not long after sunset, we had crept through the line one order at a time, just like we would at Voldukirk's gates, shrugging off my exhaustion with the thought of renting an inn once we got into the city.
However, the longer we spent outside those towering walls, the more my lethargy faded.
"You said this kingdom was only founded recently, didn't you?" Having overheard the chatter about rumors and legends of the city, my exhaustion was steadily purged by an intentful curiosity.
"This used to be nothing more than a city state. For quite a long while actually..." Anamoni paused as he flipped through a history book we bought off a merchant we met in line before looking up the towering, sun-lit walls now looming over us. "Supposedly, the royal family here were originally adventurers granted nobility, but after a string of unfortunate events and revolts, the kingdom that granted it to them collapsed and this city became Kaelallan... By the looks of things, it remained a city-state for quite some time, but around a decade ago, a number of myth-like events occurred—from capturing a dragon, to the entire city getting knocked out by some mana anomaly and waking to the news of a war they swiftly won..." I could almost feel the awe through his voice as he turned back to the book with a glint of disbelief.
Though, I couldn't fault the skepticism either.... -A kingdom turned empire in just a dozen-or-so years...- It was a completely unheard of feat even in my oldest memories—a pace almost artificially blazing. "I wonder what god they worship..."
"Next!" Getting cut off by the call of the guard, we stepped forward, finally realizing it was our turn as a young man's dreary gaze landed on me, squinting into the morning sun as he motioned us forward. "Identification, please."
-Ah...- Swiftly pulling it out, I extended my hand with a refined chunk of mythril in it. Having switched to one of my older IDs, one made of mythril and engraved with the insignias of numerous royal families in hopes of easier travels, I handed it over expecting to be let through quite swiftly. Typically, because the ID was mythril, it was inferred that we were of noble origin, and typically got some special treatment at city gates.
But this place was different.
After wrinkling his brows at the ID for some time, looking over every detail, the man tapped it against another artifact that didn't seem to do anything before turning back with an almost scripted tone. "Ma'am," rather than polite, he looked annoyed. "We follow a newer identification standard these days. You need to get this updated." Handing it back to me, he lightly motioned me to a side door inside the arch of the gate. "If you enter that room, we can update it for you, otherwise, you must leave and find a way to update it yourself."
-W..what..?- To update it myself would call for an unbelievable amount of skill, knowledge, and equipment. Just the proposal of it was laughable.
But he was not joking. "Please decide soon, miss."
-Oh...- "Uh... Alright..." Giving my ID a look of confusion and betrayal, I followed the man's motion to the side entrance, being guided inside as Anamoni was sent the same way.
By the look on his face, it was the first time such an ID was scrutinized for him too.
In not just my past memories, but all my experiences travelling across multiple continents in recent years, mythril identifications or medallions would grant an automatic, nearly unquestioned entrance to almost anywhere, Voldukirk included. They only really ever belonged to the likes of royals and dragons, and while normal folk didn't know about the existence of dragons, the city or nation's royalty would at least know the IDs belonged to ferociously strong individuals, and would wish to treat them well—perhaps hoping they'd chose their nation to settle.
Though, perhaps since this nation was young, they hadn't yet made that connection.
That was at least what I told myself.
Being led to a rather isolated interrogation room, and being sat down with Anamoni, I expected a simple guard, maybe an officer a little higher in rank than those outside, to come in and give us a simple questioning.
However, after waiting a short few minutes, rather than some busy guard entering, a heavy presence pricked my aura, and a truly hulking man ducked through the door's entrance.
A man proudly donning Kaelallan's royal seal.
"Hello." His voice was deep, his aura thick and viscous. "I hope I didn't make you wait long." He was a human, yes...
Or at least, that's what I wanted to believe.
"My name is Lawton Keen," *fwip-clack* Throwing the chair opposite of us aside, keeping one hand rested on the hilt of a huge, sharpened slab of mythril sheathed across his lower back, he matched our gazes with a threatening sharpness. "Unfortunately, after some recent events, no one with identifications of your kind is allowed into the city," his gaze sharpened further as bloodlust slowly seeped into his voice, "I don't care whether you think dragons are above everyone else, you two cannot enter this country until your IDs are updated."
Anamoni instantly jolted.
Our assumptions couldn't have been more wrong.
"We can update it for you here, but first, I need you two to answer some questions. If you wish to leave, you may. But if you choose to stay..." *Clack* Slamming his hand on the table, he pulled his sword out just enough to flash us its cleanly refined, yet scarred blade. "...Just know my ears are a bit more keen than most humans... Don't try to lie..."
But, I had no intention of doing that in the first place.
To Anamoni, the following minutes of interrogation were nothing short of excruciating, and it only worsened when we said we were there to meet with the royal family, and the questions grew more dragon-specific.
But nonetheless, the longer the interrogation dragged on, and the more direct the questions grew, the more my calmness dissolved the suspicion.
Asking about where we were from and where we were going, we told him we had lived in the Forest of Altair for quite a long time before beginning to travel the world, and recently, under the guidance of an oracle, were set to travel to Siratha to become an apostle, and were travelling to ocean-bordering nations to seek a vessel to bring us there.
To most, such a story would sound like the ramblings of someone who had lost touch with the world.
But somehow, the man hardly faltered. "An apostle, huh? That's quite a grand claim..." Swiping our identifications off the table, he swiftly slid them into a pouch at his hip. "To be chosen by their god despite being so far away, you must be quite special... Though, I do wonder what kind of faith one must have to leave everything they've ever known for a place they only know exists through a vision.."
Hearing a hint of something foreign in his voice, my mind paused.. trying to pinpoint what it was...
Until it clicked... -Was that.. jealousy..?- In that instant, a switch in my mind flipped.. and for a brief moment, I felt a wash of emotions that came from somewhere other than myself...
Desire and pain... Awe and insignificance...
They weren't coming from me.. but rather echoing through it...
And in the next moment, my voice slipped out, resonating with a strength I didn't know I had. "You.. have seen a peak you wish to chase... Haven't you..." It came with such unwavering confidence that it shattered the pressure surrounding me in an instant.
A confidence that made the monstrous man before me waver like a child before a priest. "W..what..?"
Watching his eyes widen, my gaze softened further, and my voice flowed with an unnatural ease. "Unfathomable power.. the likes that only exist in old tales..." Memories of watching the mountainside of the Thunderbirds' nest explode suddenly echoed in my mind. "You caught a glimpse of a mountain peak so tall your wish to climb it crushed everything else... But before you could.. the path to that peak vanished..."
Watching the light in his eyes flicker, the weight of authority dropped from his shoulders. Behind that veil of confident intimidation stood a man whose heart was haunted by awe.
And before him sat not the young girl his eyes saw, but the light of a soul tempered by time and trial...
In that moment, rather than a soul seeking the path above the clouds as he was.. I was a light wishing to guide him to it. "I can show you the path to it once more..."
The man recoiled subtly, his gaze falling to the table, tracing the grain of the wood as if to find words hidden within its patterns before locking his soul in an iron vault. "Dragons..." In an instant, his voice turned cold. "I've seen power among them that humans aren't meant to witness. Power I thought only belonged in legends. But the mountain I'm chasing is above that..." he hesitated as he raised his gaze back to me. "I'm searching for the mountain even dragons are afraid to climb."
He spoke with a chilling confidence. His words were unwaverable—the vault his soul was locked in, unbreakable...
But in the moment our eyes locked, that vault lost its shape like a water balloon popped by a needle.
"Lawton," my tone lightened, turning fluid and ethereal as if to echo a voice that wasn't mine. "The mountain you are chasing is the one of a god... A god even this world's mightiest must bow their heads to..."
My words, spoken like feathers, landed on his mind like boulders as his guard wavered...
Until finally, I laid the last string on him. "If you wish not to bow amongst the countless.. and follow his path above the clouds.. I can show you any time..."
Silence settled over the room in an instant, his mind stuttering while resistance clashed with desire.
I was no longer a traveller.. but a guide.. a beam of light that pierced the clouds to show him a path in the darkness.
A path he.. couldn't see the end of...
After a few seconds, his gaze fell once more, and his posture eased. "You two are.. no threat to this city. I apologize for being so.. coarse.. initially..." Looking down at his pouch, he pulled out our identifications before looking back up at us after a breath. "I'll expedite updating your IDs personally. You said you were here to seek audience with the royal family, so I will allow you to pick them up there. They should be done by tonight..." His voice was heavy and burdened.
But my warm smile never wavered for an instant. "There is no rush, take your time. We may choose to stay a few days, so if you need anything else, please don't hesitate to seek me."
He silently scoffed, unable to hide the turmoil in his mind with forced indignance before standing up.. keeping his gaze below mine. "You'll find Kaelallan quite welcoming once you've passed the gates. I hope my initial greeting doesn't sour your time here." Looking Anamoni in the eyes, almost pleadingly, he opened the door and motioned us out.
Getting up, we quickly did as he wished...
But as I walked by, he paused.. his heart clenched... He wanted to speak but couldn't muster the words.
So, I laid one last layer of dirt over the seed I had sewn... "Such decisions take time... Don't rush yourself..."
Little did I know, that seed was laid a sapling... "Please..." His voice was silent, barely escaping his mouth. "Promise the path you showed won't disappear when you exit that door..."
My chest warmed as my voice, tempered by thousands of years of memories, left my mouth... "The path to faith never disappears, sweetie."
"Faith in who..?"
Feeling his gaze on my back, the warmth in the air spread, muffling the clattering of armor and chattering of knights.. and letting my voice, lighter than a ray of sunlight, echo with the silence...
"Faith in Vasilias."
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