The sun stood high in the sky, which had few clouds in it. Korban and I had just left the forest and stood at the foot of a steep mountain range. Korban had told me that on the other side of those mountains, laid the barren plains of Perion.
"How is that possible, one side very lush, but the other barren? How can that be, Korban?" I said.
"That's nature kid. The rain falls on this side because high on the mountains, the cold air makes the clouds rain. Thus very little rain falls on the other side, making that side very dry and barren." I got as answer on my question.
"We will not go all the way up the mountains, but rather use one of the passes through the lower parts of the mountain. This is shorter and easier to walk for us." Korban had said when I asked how we were going to go over the mountains.
So we walked towards the north, looking for one of those passes. After a few minutes I saw a gap between two tops of the mountains and notified Korban. "Yes, that's the pass we're going to take! Good job Shik. Now let's go, we got a long way ahead of us."
The pass I had spotted brought us straight through the mountains. I didn't see any snow, but I think I should be glad about that; I did not have the proper clothing for a winter trip through ice cold snow. I just had my blue jeans and my blue-lined white shirt. Not what you'd call winter clothing, right?
Anyway, as we walked the pass, it was deadly silent, because I did not hear any birds or water. All I heard was the wind blowing through the trees and over my head. The path before us was well-marked, as if this pass is heavily used. All it did was giving me the shivers all over my back, but it didn't do anything to Korban: he just walked there happy and cheerful.
"How come you aren't worried about the silence? It's giving me the shivers." I asked him
Korban replied full of joy: "Oh you should know why I'm this joyful here. Even though it's silent and windy, I'm feeling at home in the open air. You see, when I ran away from my parents, I made these mountains my home, spending over 10 years in them, I know them inside out. I've seen every tree and every stream, I have walked every hill."
"Wow... you must've been lonely here.. when you spent that much time in here." I said with awe.
"Well, no. You see, I never had many friends, I even think I never even had a real friend. I just never missed anybody and the silence was a peaceful silence to me.
You're the first real friend I've got since that time, 'cos all the others were like just following me wherever I went to and talked to me. I had that kind of friends for a long time, until they found someone stronger than me and started naggin' him." He explained to me.
Again silence fell between us as we walked the pass until I asked if Korban had a remedy against this coldness of the pass. As a result he gave me some sort of reddish soup. How he got it and how he kept it so hot I didn't ask him, but as soon as I had taken a sip from it, the cold was simple slipping away and made room for a welcome, warm feeling throughout my body. I thanked him and we continued our journey.
As surprised as I was when I ate the soup, so did the pass end and it ended in an extremely hot and dry land. Everywhere I looked I saw nothing but steep rocks, rolling dust, dry sand and a scorching sun.
"Welcome to the Western Plains of Perion, the driest, hottest and most unfriendly plains you'll probably ever see." Korban stated. "You can say that again... this place sure is hot and dry. Did we bring enough water to get to Perion?" I asked Korban, who then asked me if I had forgotten his Bag of Holding. "Of course! I bet you just need a tiny stream, put your bag in it and fill it up!" and excited me said.
"Well, I already filled it up, so let's just walk, or run or whatever you want to do and let's get you to Perion to start your training."
"Oh yeah, I wonder what sort of powerful and cool-looking skills and style I can learn."
"I dunno... I just learned how to use a bow pretty good..."Korban shrugged, "I still have to increase my accuracy and speed with it. Hopefully, I can ask my mistress to teach me more powerful skills when I can fire faster and aim better than I now can."
"I've heard about a few people using a bow to fire some sort of everlasting arrow. But nobody ever saw an Everlast Arrow.. maybe it's a skill you can learn Korban!" I encouraged Korban, because he didn't look like he wanted to do all that just to get some weird skill he might not even need.
"That's a good skill! I'm gonna need that one, cos I hate having to go search for arrows on the beasts I have defeated. Sometimes the shaft is broken, or the tip is missing and I have to go to town to make new ones. Uughh, I hate to do that." Korban said and got the shivers.
"I just hope I can do some cool moves, swing a huge sword around that scares my enemies so I can take them down before they know it." I sniggered and started to made weird moves with an imaginary sword.
"I overheard someone say a thing or two about how to become a swordsman. First there is the choice of weapon, like the spear or pole-arm, or axe or sword. Then you have to choose between a two-handed weapon, or a one-handed with a shield; of course you don't have that choice when you already wanted to use a spear or pole-arm." Korban smiled and continued his 'story' while I listened very carefully. What he said was going to help me a lot when making the decision about what style I would want to learn. "Every choice has its own styles, which, on their turn have different speeds and has a different approach to monsters. I don't know any styles, but I heard that one is superior if you can master it... no idea what style that is, but if you could master that one, you'd make a hell of a tough warrior!" and he chuckled.
The remaining time we had to get to Perion we talked and got silent, watched the sky and we both had deep thoughts. I thought about what kind of weapon I would choose for my training, and what kind of style I could learn... maybe I'd pick the superior one without knowing it, "Whahaha, that would be soo cool" ran through my head.
I asked Korban: "It sure is dry in here... how are people able to survive in this drought? Or is there a stream near the town where they get their water from, Korban?"
"Yeah, there's a stream nearby the town, but it's 30 minutes walking so they take everyone to fill the huge tank they have in the middle of Perion. That tank has to be refilled every week or so..." Korban answered, "Ah, there, you see that big rock with the little black spots on it? There's smoke coming from it, meaning we're pretty close to our destination."
That news made me so excited; I could barely wait to get to the trainer in Perion. Speaking of him... I don't know where to find him. Maybe Korban can tell me that. "Eehm.. Korban? You know who the trainer over there is? I don't have a clue... so... do you?" I asked Korban slightly panicked.
Korban looked a bit uneasy as he tried to answer my question. "You... you don't know? I thought ya did man! Oh boy..." Korban replied, after which his face turned into a frown.
"I hope he's easy to find... Hey, I bet the people in Perion know him for sure."
I sure hope he's right; else all this traveling might have been the easy part of getting to become a warrior.
We entered the town at the bottom of the rocky town called Perion. I looked at it and gazed as I saw the entire town was built on edges, cliffs, rocks and that between tipis there were gaps that could even span 2 meters wide and if you would fail to reach the other side, you'd fall all the way down!
On the top of the town was a huge stone building with weird signs on it, written in a strange language or just drawings, I wouldn't know. Nor Korban nor I expected a welcome committee. Well, not really a big committee, just one person who stepped out his tipi and welcomed us to Perion.
"Hey there, I'm BlackBull and I welcome you to Perion, our humble settlement in this inclement surroundings!" he said.
"Greetings, Blackbull!" Korban replied to him, "We are but simple travelers who have come here so my companion can become a fine warrior."
Blackbull seemed happy to hear this news about me, because he asked us to see a guy named 'Dances with Balrog' or something. Apparently, he's the big boss of Perion and he could well be the one who will train me to become what Korban said 'a fine warrior'.
"We'll do that, thank you Blackbull. Have a nice day." Korban said. Blackbull wished me the best of luck at my training and we were on our way to the top of the cliff.
As we stood in front of the building, Korban said to me: "It's best that you go alone, he wants to talk to you, not me. Just answer whatever questions he asks and I will see you in the healing shop in an hour or so: I need to see someone who is said to live nearby. Good luck kiddo!" and he walked down the town. I could see him disappear in the tipi with a potion sign in front of it, but then I tended my attention to the building in front of me and entered.