-Rants & Raves-
I appreciate the fact you guys and gals enjoy my story. Sometimes I write so fast that the chapters come one day to the next. Other times they come slower than a snail stuck in molasses in the winter. Whatever the case may be, don't let me slip up with "hot off the press" mistakes. If you see anything that needs to be changed, identified better or whatever, don't hesitate to e-mail or review. I must listen to the voices of others if I am to make my own stand out.
(Well, if I listen to only the good voices, not the bad ones in my head $(#- @)$ J/K
Peace, love and all the rest %(^-^)% -Symp
P.S. this chapter is LOOOOOONG so sit tight.
-End Rants & Raves-
(I wish but) I don't own Capcom, Breath of Fire or its characters. But the characters, and world in this story for the most part are my own creation
Chapter Seven: On the Inside
"Here's another one..." Orion exclaimed as he reached for the thick dusty book. "A Look Into the Mind's Eye', by J. Frost."
Lifting it up, he could without a doubt see it was worn with use more so than age. Skimming to the book's ripped, multi-stained table of contents, he soon realized it didn't have any information that would help any of his theories.
"Damnation! I was hoping this one would have at least something intriguing in it..." He contemplated in frustration. Losing his concentration momentarily, his thoughts led him back to the strange events surrounding Auria city.
Silos had nonchalantly informed the cat that foreigners were not well received at the city's gates before he left the inn, but what happened to Orion there made the Armadillo's words the understatement of the year!
When he first came upon the city's front wall, Orion realized that the huge wooden doors were shut tight. He shouted a greeting at the huge timber gateway, expecting some sort of warm response however there was none. A sentinel dressed all in gray noticed the woren and chose to yell down to him from the wall's walkway.
"Foreigners are not allowed inside this city! Leave at once!" the masked guard bellowed. Orion shielded his eyes away from the glare of the morning sun in order to get a better look at the guard.
"Dear sir, I mean you or the people of this fair town no harm! I am a traveling scholar who would like to gain access to your prestigious library, that's all." he replied as friendly as possible, while inside he was growing suspicious at the guard's simple reaction towards him. The soldier pulled a crossbow into view and pointed it directly at Orion's as he repeated his previous statement. Only this time he said it with deadly force as more men began to fill up the catwalk with weapons drawn.
"Whoa, dear sir knight there is no need for..." the cat offered slowly backing up, putting his hands up in surrender.
The swift, sharp "thunk" of the crossbow shaft piercing the dirt a hair's breath away from his foot caused the Woran to jump back a distance of five feet.
"Nice shot." Orion voiced mostly to himself in astonishment, as he stared at the menacing guards.
"I was aiming for your chest!" the one guard replied conceitedly "Now be off with you before I find my mark." The masked captain ordered, while the others laughed at the cat.
Orion slowly walked backwards towards the paths that lead him to the city. He sat a little ways off of the sandy pathway between the inn and the town and exhaled a deep breath.
He had to reach the library inside, but how? The gray-garbed sentinel at the front gate wasn't too excited at the fact that he even stood near the gate. There had to be another way in. Orion figured as he began to gaze at the wall that enclosed the port city. Closing his eyes he thought long and hard until a plan began to formulate in his mind. Standing up he quickened his pace to the Inn. ____________________(Later in the afternoon)_______________________
It had taken a lot of persuading on the part of Orion and an additional 100 Zenny pieces for Silos to agree to Orion's plan. As the lumbering beast walked to the city's gate with a huge wheelbarrow with four huge burlap sacks sitting upon it, the same captain that stopped Orion halted the advancing citizen.
"Halt, who goes there." The guard interrogated, watching Silos closely. "State your business."
"Silos Armmaband" the beast replied tersely, dropping the two grips on the cart "I've come with some of the new crop..."
The guard watched him apprehensively "You're early. Why the rush, Armmaband? Are you hiding any smuggled goods in there?"
The hulking armadillo grunted, giving the man a dismissive wave of his hand "No. It's vegetables, Bishop! It's been vegetables since we were young and it's going to be vegetables until we die. Must you always give me a hard time I come into the town?"
The guard gave a snicker of amusement, "yes, actually I do. You know I hate that rat bastard you serve under. So whatever I can do to piss him or his followers off, I'll do with joy in my heart." Calling two sentinels to cover the beast, he motioned for unseen guards behind the giant wooden gate to grant Silos entrance.
Taking the handles once again the Armadillo steadily made his way into town only to be stopped short by Bishop along with four others at his command
"Hold on there. I have to check to make sure this surplus isn't hiding anything for that scum Gage. We wouldn't want him to get the upper hand with all of his sixty men." He spoke gaining the laughter of the four others nearby.
"You know, you look like the type who would snitch. I have some information for your "fearless leader". A foreigner Woran came visiting today." Bishop began as withdrew his sword, slowly walking around the four large tied bags. He gave a small yell as he plunged his sword into the bag closest to him. "Tell that snake you serve, whatever plan he has this time, it's going to fail just like all the other times before."
Walking over to the next in line the brash man continued on "Seeing how that creep Gage would do anything to get his father's castle back, he doesn't have you doing anything uh...illegal, does he? Like breaking the old king's law and getting outside help." Bishop stabbed another brown sack with the same amount of force as the previous one.
"Hey, back off Bishop!" a guard with ill-fitting black armor with five other men dressed in dark clothing advanced from the opposite side of the catwalk towards the bias interrogation. "Let him alone and let him pass!"
Bishop turned to the disheveled man speaking and sneered, "You and your band of misfits coming to the aid of one of your own, Sparks?
"Both of our groups are to protect Auria from foreigners, Bishop, not from one of it own citizens..."
Bishop came face to face with the other, with his forehead almost touching the other man's "You and this citizen follow that bastard Gage," he spat heatedly "and that makes you no better than those dirty foreigners out there, Sparks."
A short-lived clash between the two ensued before their squads pulled the men apart. "The rest of the bags must be checked!" Shouted Bishop in the melee, rubbing his now sore and bruised jaw.
Pulling his arms roughly from those who were holding him back, Sparks offered his own words. "Let this business be done with! Silos, open the rest of your bags," pointing to Bishop as he wiped his bloodied nose he ordered "Call for one of your men to check the remaining parcels."
Two guards dressed in gray unsheathed their swords and proceeded to poke and prod within the bags until Bishop and Sparks were both satisfied with the results. "Go on Silos and make sure the surplus holder on our side gets this shipment this time." Sparks and the armadillo clasped the inside of each other's as an act of saying goodbye.
Both of the captains as well as their men eyed each down mistrustfully before returning to their posts along the catwalk at the city's gated wall.
Silos continued on until he stopped on the side of a large storage tower. Once again dropping the handles, he bent down making motions to tie his shoe.
"This is as far as I can take you." The big creature whispered to the Woran clinging to the bottom of the wheelbarrow. Getting up to avoid suspicion, Silos moved on to unload the bag of food into the storage.
Landing with a soft thump, Orion scampered over a heavily shaded low portion of the city wall. He took note he was lucky to find the perfect spot behind one of the houses that was built close to the stonewall covering the city. This particular portion of the stone barricade was so close to edge of the sea cliffs that it precariously leaned towards the rolling waves below. It was so unstable none of the sentinels would patrol this part of the wall.
"Thank the god's" Orion thought to himself.
Spying form the safety of the dark, he observed some of the villagers walking around were wearing nothing but gray and others were dressed in black. The townspeople were doing normal everyday things but weird part was no one would walk past a certain section of the city's main street. No one would talk or address anyone across the way, not even the children.
Waiting until the sun had set and the town's streetlights were lit by the candle-lighters, he stealthy made his way down the main street. As he continued on he noticed exact replicas of stores, parks and buildings stood on each side of the road except for an old library that was located towards the end of the city directly in the middle of the end of the main road.
Losing his concentration on the matter at hand he contemplated the town situation, however he realized to late he stepped out of the shadows in to the direct path old woman. Hoping to catch the woman off guard, Orion made an attempt to be civil, bowing gracefully ahead of her before running for dear life. The elderly lady gave a small shriek and cringed, moving as quickly as possible behind an elderly man that had dropped his bag of groceries, staring at the woren in shock. Orion never looked back as he sprinted to the back of the library a few yards away.
"The quicker I get inside, the quicker I can get out of this warped city." He thought as he climbed the ivy thick brick wall of the library.
As he strolled by a windowpane he saw the townspeople crowding around the hysterical old woman pointing to the closed library. Many of the townsfolk waved her off while others stood and listened to her harrowing account of events.
______________________________(Presently)__________________________
That was about two hours ago and here he was still, trying to find anything that would assist him in his quest. Orion rubbed his hand across his neck as he sighed in frustration. The longer he stayed in the town the more dangerous it would become. After a few minutes of pondering his situation, he gave up his search and turned to leave. He and Imperial would have to figure out another plan...
He bumped into a young fox like woman so absorbed in her novel she didn't look to see where she was going, knocking her down in the process.
"Excuse me," He whispered as he reached out to help her up. This caused the librarian to give an ear-shattering shriek as she placed one of her slender hands on her heart, crawling away from him as her eyes became wide with fear.
Throwing caution to the wind, Orion gave her a defeated shrug as he questioned, "Do you have any books or text on dreams and visions?" The fox woman stared at him for a few minutes in taken aback from Orion's question and then raised a shaky finger towards the end row of the bookcases.
"The card catalog is at the end of that row." She replied her voice breaking from her uneasiness. She watched him in shock and panic as he made his way through the quiet collections. Orion turned towards the woman, who was trying her best to pretend to ignore him but was failing miserably. He wandered over to her once again with a card in hand.
"Are you the librarian? Are these the only books that you have on dreams or visions?" He probed the attractive fox-like woman. She ignored him and turned her head to stare at the wooden floor. Orion whispered the same question louder. She gave a shaky sigh of impatience and anger.
"YES, I AM THE LIBRARIAN!" She replied venomously crossing her arms over her chest "and if I were you I would leave immediately!"
Orion was taking aback by the librarian's sudden rudeness. He stood in confused wonderment until she resumed staring off into space. Orion tried to gain her attention again but she went back to ignoring him. With his anger mounting, he grabbed her hands causing a fear-laden gasp to escape her lips. She jumped in fright by the action.
"I'm here because an acquaintance of mine is in trouble. Can you be civil enough to talk to m..." He started to say before she cut him off.
"I'm not allowed to talk to strangers." She responded quickly. He realized she was acting rude for a reason.
"Don't you think you're a little bit old to follow that rule anymore." Orion gave her a weak stiff smile as he ran his free hand through his hair.
She attempted to rise to her feet, pulling her hand away when Orion make an effort to help her up. She moved far away as possible seeing that she was trapped in the row with the cat.
"Please, help me." He pleaded with her "I wouldn't have come here if I didn't believe I could help my friend." As she listened to the downtrodden cat, the harshness in her face had softened as she whispered to him.
"But you're a foreigner and I can't talk to foreigners..."
"I'm sorry about my behavior before." He shook his head in annoyance at his previous actions. "But I'm desperate for information, this is the only place close enough I could think of that could help me. I'm not from around here..."
Rubbing her hands up and down her arms, she interjected "I know that you're not from around here. Just me talking to you I might be killed, so I'll try to explain quickly so you can leave! Our city has a law that no outsiders are to be welcomed within these city walls and none of the subjects are not to leave. Anyone that is not a citizen will be killed on sight. That's why..." She clarified.
"You and that old woman stared at me as if I death incarnate." He reasoned. The librarian grinned uneasily back at him. Orion shook his head in wonder "Why in the world does your city have a law like that?"
She nervously paused, glancing around and whispering hurriedly "Years ago our king, Leo the third welcomed the neighboring sea town bolo to join forces, stating our towns would unite to become a 'mighty nation'. As a symbol of peace, King Leo decided to give the Boloians one thing they desired from our land. The king of Bolo decided on a treasure that has been in the royal family for decades. " She paused to take a breath.
"However," she continued on, "Our own king did not realize the importance of this treasure, yet his two sons did. Realizing what could happen if the parchment left our country, Prince Aflan and Prince Gage plotted on King Bolo's life. King Bolo survived the assassination attempt on his life and raged war on us. We fought the Boloians and won but not without heavy casualties on both sides. In the end of it all, we lost our king. He made that stupid law of allowing no foreigners to enter the city on his deathbed. Over the years the law changed to include anyone of the city trying to leave would be killed on the spot..." She sighed heavily.
"Since then," She continued on "another war broke out, this time it's between King Leo the third's two sons for possession of the crown and the family treasure." She added mockingly. "That's why everyone is wearing ether gray or black, to show allegiance to whichever brother he or she follows. Since we can't leave city we had to split it into two different sections."
"The right side of city is for the people that serve the young prince, Gage. The left side is for the people that serve the older prince, Aflan, who lucky for him is now residing in the king's castle, while his brother lives in the small military defense bunker. Their fight is mostly over that damn scroll rather than the crown." She finished sadly.
"What!" Orion exclaimed. "That's what why everyone's fighting? Over a piece of paper? That's illogical!" He covered his mouth in apology as she continued on.
"That scroll has been dated from time of the celestial paradise. It's believed to be part of the text from 'Annon Le Geias.'"
Orion was puzzled at her saying; he never had heard that language before and he had studied much on the old world tongue. " I don't understand." He questioned.
"Of course you wouldn't, we're the only town who has one of the only found artifacts. It means 'The Hands of gods" She replied.
The librarian grinned smugly at his curious expression. "It's believed this text was written back before any known ancient language. Some of our scholars even stated that the gods themselves wrote about the celestial paradise. It was assumed the text was about the creation of this world, things that would boggle the minds of people today. Yet, during the supposed exodus of the Gods, all of the information was lost."
She persisted on with her explanation "During one of the many old world wars this planet has had, this wondrous piece of parchment was found by King Leo the third's ancestor and has been in the royal family since then. It spoke of a Second Coming of a warrior and her seed. Our scholars have concluded if this paper has survived the other pieces of this text might have too and are scattered throughout the world."
"A warrior and a seed." Orion whispered to himself. "The old fairy myth Imperial told me mentioned something about that..."
"Some parts of the scroll is easily translatable into our modern tongue but the rest is lost to a language that died centuries ago." She answered mostly to herself. "You see, the first part of the scroll explains about immortality. The untranslatable part illustrates how to achieve it."
"I get it," Orion noted wiping off his glasses "the one who translates the whole scroll first can reign forever, right." She nodded her head in acceptance.
"It also talked about dreams." She offered him. "and other things..."
Orion's furry ears perked up at the mention of dreams "Where can I find this scroll that you're talking about?" he asked as he placed his spectacles on his nose.
"Even if you weren't a foreigner, I doubt that you would be able to get inside the castle where it lays." The Librarian responded emotionlessly.
"On the contrary, I believe that's exactly where you'll both be going." A high-pitched voice announce from back of them. A tall lanky man wearing a gray frilly mantle along with gray clothing stepped from behind the other side of the bookshelf.
"Aflan, My liege." She bowed low before him "Sir, I did not hear you enter..." Aflan strolled over to her and caressed her face.
"Ah Puren, of course you didn't hear me. You were to busy telling this foreigner all of our county's secrets." His hand gripped tighter on her face causing her to grimace.
"Hey!" Orion yelled as he grabbed the prince's shoulder "take your hands off of her!"
The prince snapped his fingers and three solders came racing from various sections of the library ready to skewer Orion. As the adrenalin began to race in his veins, he began to breathe heavily cursing himself for leaving his metal claw at the inn with Imperial.
Orion let go of Aflan with his hands out in a peaceful gesture. Inside, the woren could feel his blood heating up in a sick, familiar way.
"Please not now!" He silently prayed.
"I don't want any trouble. I needed information from the library. Just let her go and I'll leave your city." Orion gasped, trying not to spew his lunch on the prince's clothing.
Aflan laughed sadistically as he motioned to one of his guards. Backing away a safe distance with Puren still in his grip, he watched with enjoyment as the guard advanced forward. Pulling a short sword from a metal sheath at his side, the guard swung violently at the woren.
Orion hastily dodged the swing and countered with a swift punch to the guard's armored stomach. The woren howled in pain as his hand began to throb. The soldier found the woren's predicament so funny that he took a moment to laugh at him. Gaining his composure and giving a yell, the guard then went to stab the poor woren. With cat like speed Orion avoided the blade by grabbing a book from the nearby shelf and using it as a shield, causing the sharpened tip if the blade to become stuck within the text. While the soldier tried to remove the book from the tip of his blade, Orion swept him off his feet with a low kick. The guard landed with a tremendous clamor. With his heavy armor, the dazed guard struggled in vain to get back on his feet.
Another sentry went in to slash Orion, upsetting the bookcase that was next to him. Orion dropped to a full front spilt avoiding the guard's wild swing, which took out another bookcase. Orion pulled back sending a fist towards the guard's genitals making direct contact. The force of the blow sent the poor man reeling. The soldier let out a high pitch wail as he cupped his crotch and fell to the ground. The last fighter held a spear and ran with full force at the woren, who was still in a split on the ground. Moving quickly as to not get impaled on the floor, Orion rolled over to his side allowing the guard to ram his lance into the floor where he just lay. The momentum of the guards jab made the steel pointed spade to stick fast into the ground, launching the man into the air and into the adjoining brick wall.
Aflan scoffed at Orion as he pushed Puren into the waiting arms of another guard. This time he clapped his gloved hands. Without warning a hoard of solders came broke into the library with various weapons blocking the woren from leaving. Getting up upon one knee, Orion clutched his stomach as sweat beaded upon his face. He shut his eyes tightly, praying that he wouldn't...
"You see foreigner, I give the commands here. You and her will be dealt at the castle." No sooner as Aflan finished his sentence, Orion grabbed his head as he screamed in agony. The surrounding group of men backed away as Orion began to uncontrollably shake and pant for air.
The woren felt his sharpened claws rip out of the tips of his fingers. He screamed from pain as his fangs grew in size, fiercely protruding from his mouth. His glasses slid off of his face, his enlarged paw crunched them like a thin piece of ice. His eyes gleamed orange with rage and fury as he crouched on all fours taking on a form that was like that of a distorted tiger.
The blue shirt that covered his back ripped into shreds as the muscles in his back grew in size, pulsating with strength and power. As Orion grew, Aflan moved away from the beast placing Puren and the guard in front of him. Like a bolt of lighting, an ebony black mane sprouted from his head down to the middle of his back. The transformed Orion snarled deafeningly, causing the library's walls to tremble. The newly formed weretiger paced in what small space he had, twitching his long striped tail, waiting for the guards to make a move.
Aflan smiled with wonder as the beast before him growled furiously at the men. All of the guards that were surrounding him before had considerably retreated as the were-tiger turned to each of them, stretching his lips to show his razor-sharp fangs. With their weapons' unsheathed, they carefully advanced toward the fierce beast that was before them. Orion took a swipe at the advancing guards, his warning to them to stay back.
Or die fighting.
"I want him alive." Aflan ordered gleefully. "He will be a welcomed addition to my army. Bring him to the castle." He waved the defenders off as he was promptly escorted out of the library with Puren.
All of the soldiers charged Orion at once; nevertheless he fiercely attacked back easily over powering the first wave of soldiers. Their swords and spears pierced and stabbed his monstrous body, only serving to make him more enraged that they would dare to try and attack him. His claws and fangs pierced, tore and slashed many a guard's soul from their now lifeless bodies.
In a frenzy of blood lust, the weretiger continued to destroy all that stepped into his path. Yet more soldiers poured as soon as their comrades fell to replace them. Even as he was desperately fighting them off more and more guards appeared until it was too much for him to take on. Weakened, Orion reverted into his former self.
The remaining guards easily overpowered him and dragged him off to the castle that was off in the horizon.
I appreciate the fact you guys and gals enjoy my story. Sometimes I write so fast that the chapters come one day to the next. Other times they come slower than a snail stuck in molasses in the winter. Whatever the case may be, don't let me slip up with "hot off the press" mistakes. If you see anything that needs to be changed, identified better or whatever, don't hesitate to e-mail or review. I must listen to the voices of others if I am to make my own stand out.
(Well, if I listen to only the good voices, not the bad ones in my head $(#- @)$ J/K
Peace, love and all the rest %(^-^)% -Symp
P.S. this chapter is LOOOOOONG so sit tight.
-End Rants & Raves-
(I wish but) I don't own Capcom, Breath of Fire or its characters. But the characters, and world in this story for the most part are my own creation
Chapter Seven: On the Inside
"Here's another one..." Orion exclaimed as he reached for the thick dusty book. "A Look Into the Mind's Eye', by J. Frost."
Lifting it up, he could without a doubt see it was worn with use more so than age. Skimming to the book's ripped, multi-stained table of contents, he soon realized it didn't have any information that would help any of his theories.
"Damnation! I was hoping this one would have at least something intriguing in it..." He contemplated in frustration. Losing his concentration momentarily, his thoughts led him back to the strange events surrounding Auria city.
Silos had nonchalantly informed the cat that foreigners were not well received at the city's gates before he left the inn, but what happened to Orion there made the Armadillo's words the understatement of the year!
When he first came upon the city's front wall, Orion realized that the huge wooden doors were shut tight. He shouted a greeting at the huge timber gateway, expecting some sort of warm response however there was none. A sentinel dressed all in gray noticed the woren and chose to yell down to him from the wall's walkway.
"Foreigners are not allowed inside this city! Leave at once!" the masked guard bellowed. Orion shielded his eyes away from the glare of the morning sun in order to get a better look at the guard.
"Dear sir, I mean you or the people of this fair town no harm! I am a traveling scholar who would like to gain access to your prestigious library, that's all." he replied as friendly as possible, while inside he was growing suspicious at the guard's simple reaction towards him. The soldier pulled a crossbow into view and pointed it directly at Orion's as he repeated his previous statement. Only this time he said it with deadly force as more men began to fill up the catwalk with weapons drawn.
"Whoa, dear sir knight there is no need for..." the cat offered slowly backing up, putting his hands up in surrender.
The swift, sharp "thunk" of the crossbow shaft piercing the dirt a hair's breath away from his foot caused the Woran to jump back a distance of five feet.
"Nice shot." Orion voiced mostly to himself in astonishment, as he stared at the menacing guards.
"I was aiming for your chest!" the one guard replied conceitedly "Now be off with you before I find my mark." The masked captain ordered, while the others laughed at the cat.
Orion slowly walked backwards towards the paths that lead him to the city. He sat a little ways off of the sandy pathway between the inn and the town and exhaled a deep breath.
He had to reach the library inside, but how? The gray-garbed sentinel at the front gate wasn't too excited at the fact that he even stood near the gate. There had to be another way in. Orion figured as he began to gaze at the wall that enclosed the port city. Closing his eyes he thought long and hard until a plan began to formulate in his mind. Standing up he quickened his pace to the Inn. ____________________(Later in the afternoon)_______________________
It had taken a lot of persuading on the part of Orion and an additional 100 Zenny pieces for Silos to agree to Orion's plan. As the lumbering beast walked to the city's gate with a huge wheelbarrow with four huge burlap sacks sitting upon it, the same captain that stopped Orion halted the advancing citizen.
"Halt, who goes there." The guard interrogated, watching Silos closely. "State your business."
"Silos Armmaband" the beast replied tersely, dropping the two grips on the cart "I've come with some of the new crop..."
The guard watched him apprehensively "You're early. Why the rush, Armmaband? Are you hiding any smuggled goods in there?"
The hulking armadillo grunted, giving the man a dismissive wave of his hand "No. It's vegetables, Bishop! It's been vegetables since we were young and it's going to be vegetables until we die. Must you always give me a hard time I come into the town?"
The guard gave a snicker of amusement, "yes, actually I do. You know I hate that rat bastard you serve under. So whatever I can do to piss him or his followers off, I'll do with joy in my heart." Calling two sentinels to cover the beast, he motioned for unseen guards behind the giant wooden gate to grant Silos entrance.
Taking the handles once again the Armadillo steadily made his way into town only to be stopped short by Bishop along with four others at his command
"Hold on there. I have to check to make sure this surplus isn't hiding anything for that scum Gage. We wouldn't want him to get the upper hand with all of his sixty men." He spoke gaining the laughter of the four others nearby.
"You know, you look like the type who would snitch. I have some information for your "fearless leader". A foreigner Woran came visiting today." Bishop began as withdrew his sword, slowly walking around the four large tied bags. He gave a small yell as he plunged his sword into the bag closest to him. "Tell that snake you serve, whatever plan he has this time, it's going to fail just like all the other times before."
Walking over to the next in line the brash man continued on "Seeing how that creep Gage would do anything to get his father's castle back, he doesn't have you doing anything uh...illegal, does he? Like breaking the old king's law and getting outside help." Bishop stabbed another brown sack with the same amount of force as the previous one.
"Hey, back off Bishop!" a guard with ill-fitting black armor with five other men dressed in dark clothing advanced from the opposite side of the catwalk towards the bias interrogation. "Let him alone and let him pass!"
Bishop turned to the disheveled man speaking and sneered, "You and your band of misfits coming to the aid of one of your own, Sparks?
"Both of our groups are to protect Auria from foreigners, Bishop, not from one of it own citizens..."
Bishop came face to face with the other, with his forehead almost touching the other man's "You and this citizen follow that bastard Gage," he spat heatedly "and that makes you no better than those dirty foreigners out there, Sparks."
A short-lived clash between the two ensued before their squads pulled the men apart. "The rest of the bags must be checked!" Shouted Bishop in the melee, rubbing his now sore and bruised jaw.
Pulling his arms roughly from those who were holding him back, Sparks offered his own words. "Let this business be done with! Silos, open the rest of your bags," pointing to Bishop as he wiped his bloodied nose he ordered "Call for one of your men to check the remaining parcels."
Two guards dressed in gray unsheathed their swords and proceeded to poke and prod within the bags until Bishop and Sparks were both satisfied with the results. "Go on Silos and make sure the surplus holder on our side gets this shipment this time." Sparks and the armadillo clasped the inside of each other's as an act of saying goodbye.
Both of the captains as well as their men eyed each down mistrustfully before returning to their posts along the catwalk at the city's gated wall.
Silos continued on until he stopped on the side of a large storage tower. Once again dropping the handles, he bent down making motions to tie his shoe.
"This is as far as I can take you." The big creature whispered to the Woran clinging to the bottom of the wheelbarrow. Getting up to avoid suspicion, Silos moved on to unload the bag of food into the storage.
Landing with a soft thump, Orion scampered over a heavily shaded low portion of the city wall. He took note he was lucky to find the perfect spot behind one of the houses that was built close to the stonewall covering the city. This particular portion of the stone barricade was so close to edge of the sea cliffs that it precariously leaned towards the rolling waves below. It was so unstable none of the sentinels would patrol this part of the wall.
"Thank the god's" Orion thought to himself.
Spying form the safety of the dark, he observed some of the villagers walking around were wearing nothing but gray and others were dressed in black. The townspeople were doing normal everyday things but weird part was no one would walk past a certain section of the city's main street. No one would talk or address anyone across the way, not even the children.
Waiting until the sun had set and the town's streetlights were lit by the candle-lighters, he stealthy made his way down the main street. As he continued on he noticed exact replicas of stores, parks and buildings stood on each side of the road except for an old library that was located towards the end of the city directly in the middle of the end of the main road.
Losing his concentration on the matter at hand he contemplated the town situation, however he realized to late he stepped out of the shadows in to the direct path old woman. Hoping to catch the woman off guard, Orion made an attempt to be civil, bowing gracefully ahead of her before running for dear life. The elderly lady gave a small shriek and cringed, moving as quickly as possible behind an elderly man that had dropped his bag of groceries, staring at the woren in shock. Orion never looked back as he sprinted to the back of the library a few yards away.
"The quicker I get inside, the quicker I can get out of this warped city." He thought as he climbed the ivy thick brick wall of the library.
As he strolled by a windowpane he saw the townspeople crowding around the hysterical old woman pointing to the closed library. Many of the townsfolk waved her off while others stood and listened to her harrowing account of events.
______________________________(Presently)__________________________
That was about two hours ago and here he was still, trying to find anything that would assist him in his quest. Orion rubbed his hand across his neck as he sighed in frustration. The longer he stayed in the town the more dangerous it would become. After a few minutes of pondering his situation, he gave up his search and turned to leave. He and Imperial would have to figure out another plan...
He bumped into a young fox like woman so absorbed in her novel she didn't look to see where she was going, knocking her down in the process.
"Excuse me," He whispered as he reached out to help her up. This caused the librarian to give an ear-shattering shriek as she placed one of her slender hands on her heart, crawling away from him as her eyes became wide with fear.
Throwing caution to the wind, Orion gave her a defeated shrug as he questioned, "Do you have any books or text on dreams and visions?" The fox woman stared at him for a few minutes in taken aback from Orion's question and then raised a shaky finger towards the end row of the bookcases.
"The card catalog is at the end of that row." She replied her voice breaking from her uneasiness. She watched him in shock and panic as he made his way through the quiet collections. Orion turned towards the woman, who was trying her best to pretend to ignore him but was failing miserably. He wandered over to her once again with a card in hand.
"Are you the librarian? Are these the only books that you have on dreams or visions?" He probed the attractive fox-like woman. She ignored him and turned her head to stare at the wooden floor. Orion whispered the same question louder. She gave a shaky sigh of impatience and anger.
"YES, I AM THE LIBRARIAN!" She replied venomously crossing her arms over her chest "and if I were you I would leave immediately!"
Orion was taking aback by the librarian's sudden rudeness. He stood in confused wonderment until she resumed staring off into space. Orion tried to gain her attention again but she went back to ignoring him. With his anger mounting, he grabbed her hands causing a fear-laden gasp to escape her lips. She jumped in fright by the action.
"I'm here because an acquaintance of mine is in trouble. Can you be civil enough to talk to m..." He started to say before she cut him off.
"I'm not allowed to talk to strangers." She responded quickly. He realized she was acting rude for a reason.
"Don't you think you're a little bit old to follow that rule anymore." Orion gave her a weak stiff smile as he ran his free hand through his hair.
She attempted to rise to her feet, pulling her hand away when Orion make an effort to help her up. She moved far away as possible seeing that she was trapped in the row with the cat.
"Please, help me." He pleaded with her "I wouldn't have come here if I didn't believe I could help my friend." As she listened to the downtrodden cat, the harshness in her face had softened as she whispered to him.
"But you're a foreigner and I can't talk to foreigners..."
"I'm sorry about my behavior before." He shook his head in annoyance at his previous actions. "But I'm desperate for information, this is the only place close enough I could think of that could help me. I'm not from around here..."
Rubbing her hands up and down her arms, she interjected "I know that you're not from around here. Just me talking to you I might be killed, so I'll try to explain quickly so you can leave! Our city has a law that no outsiders are to be welcomed within these city walls and none of the subjects are not to leave. Anyone that is not a citizen will be killed on sight. That's why..." She clarified.
"You and that old woman stared at me as if I death incarnate." He reasoned. The librarian grinned uneasily back at him. Orion shook his head in wonder "Why in the world does your city have a law like that?"
She nervously paused, glancing around and whispering hurriedly "Years ago our king, Leo the third welcomed the neighboring sea town bolo to join forces, stating our towns would unite to become a 'mighty nation'. As a symbol of peace, King Leo decided to give the Boloians one thing they desired from our land. The king of Bolo decided on a treasure that has been in the royal family for decades. " She paused to take a breath.
"However," she continued on, "Our own king did not realize the importance of this treasure, yet his two sons did. Realizing what could happen if the parchment left our country, Prince Aflan and Prince Gage plotted on King Bolo's life. King Bolo survived the assassination attempt on his life and raged war on us. We fought the Boloians and won but not without heavy casualties on both sides. In the end of it all, we lost our king. He made that stupid law of allowing no foreigners to enter the city on his deathbed. Over the years the law changed to include anyone of the city trying to leave would be killed on the spot..." She sighed heavily.
"Since then," She continued on "another war broke out, this time it's between King Leo the third's two sons for possession of the crown and the family treasure." She added mockingly. "That's why everyone is wearing ether gray or black, to show allegiance to whichever brother he or she follows. Since we can't leave city we had to split it into two different sections."
"The right side of city is for the people that serve the young prince, Gage. The left side is for the people that serve the older prince, Aflan, who lucky for him is now residing in the king's castle, while his brother lives in the small military defense bunker. Their fight is mostly over that damn scroll rather than the crown." She finished sadly.
"What!" Orion exclaimed. "That's what why everyone's fighting? Over a piece of paper? That's illogical!" He covered his mouth in apology as she continued on.
"That scroll has been dated from time of the celestial paradise. It's believed to be part of the text from 'Annon Le Geias.'"
Orion was puzzled at her saying; he never had heard that language before and he had studied much on the old world tongue. " I don't understand." He questioned.
"Of course you wouldn't, we're the only town who has one of the only found artifacts. It means 'The Hands of gods" She replied.
The librarian grinned smugly at his curious expression. "It's believed this text was written back before any known ancient language. Some of our scholars even stated that the gods themselves wrote about the celestial paradise. It was assumed the text was about the creation of this world, things that would boggle the minds of people today. Yet, during the supposed exodus of the Gods, all of the information was lost."
She persisted on with her explanation "During one of the many old world wars this planet has had, this wondrous piece of parchment was found by King Leo the third's ancestor and has been in the royal family since then. It spoke of a Second Coming of a warrior and her seed. Our scholars have concluded if this paper has survived the other pieces of this text might have too and are scattered throughout the world."
"A warrior and a seed." Orion whispered to himself. "The old fairy myth Imperial told me mentioned something about that..."
"Some parts of the scroll is easily translatable into our modern tongue but the rest is lost to a language that died centuries ago." She answered mostly to herself. "You see, the first part of the scroll explains about immortality. The untranslatable part illustrates how to achieve it."
"I get it," Orion noted wiping off his glasses "the one who translates the whole scroll first can reign forever, right." She nodded her head in acceptance.
"It also talked about dreams." She offered him. "and other things..."
Orion's furry ears perked up at the mention of dreams "Where can I find this scroll that you're talking about?" he asked as he placed his spectacles on his nose.
"Even if you weren't a foreigner, I doubt that you would be able to get inside the castle where it lays." The Librarian responded emotionlessly.
"On the contrary, I believe that's exactly where you'll both be going." A high-pitched voice announce from back of them. A tall lanky man wearing a gray frilly mantle along with gray clothing stepped from behind the other side of the bookshelf.
"Aflan, My liege." She bowed low before him "Sir, I did not hear you enter..." Aflan strolled over to her and caressed her face.
"Ah Puren, of course you didn't hear me. You were to busy telling this foreigner all of our county's secrets." His hand gripped tighter on her face causing her to grimace.
"Hey!" Orion yelled as he grabbed the prince's shoulder "take your hands off of her!"
The prince snapped his fingers and three solders came racing from various sections of the library ready to skewer Orion. As the adrenalin began to race in his veins, he began to breathe heavily cursing himself for leaving his metal claw at the inn with Imperial.
Orion let go of Aflan with his hands out in a peaceful gesture. Inside, the woren could feel his blood heating up in a sick, familiar way.
"Please not now!" He silently prayed.
"I don't want any trouble. I needed information from the library. Just let her go and I'll leave your city." Orion gasped, trying not to spew his lunch on the prince's clothing.
Aflan laughed sadistically as he motioned to one of his guards. Backing away a safe distance with Puren still in his grip, he watched with enjoyment as the guard advanced forward. Pulling a short sword from a metal sheath at his side, the guard swung violently at the woren.
Orion hastily dodged the swing and countered with a swift punch to the guard's armored stomach. The woren howled in pain as his hand began to throb. The soldier found the woren's predicament so funny that he took a moment to laugh at him. Gaining his composure and giving a yell, the guard then went to stab the poor woren. With cat like speed Orion avoided the blade by grabbing a book from the nearby shelf and using it as a shield, causing the sharpened tip if the blade to become stuck within the text. While the soldier tried to remove the book from the tip of his blade, Orion swept him off his feet with a low kick. The guard landed with a tremendous clamor. With his heavy armor, the dazed guard struggled in vain to get back on his feet.
Another sentry went in to slash Orion, upsetting the bookcase that was next to him. Orion dropped to a full front spilt avoiding the guard's wild swing, which took out another bookcase. Orion pulled back sending a fist towards the guard's genitals making direct contact. The force of the blow sent the poor man reeling. The soldier let out a high pitch wail as he cupped his crotch and fell to the ground. The last fighter held a spear and ran with full force at the woren, who was still in a split on the ground. Moving quickly as to not get impaled on the floor, Orion rolled over to his side allowing the guard to ram his lance into the floor where he just lay. The momentum of the guards jab made the steel pointed spade to stick fast into the ground, launching the man into the air and into the adjoining brick wall.
Aflan scoffed at Orion as he pushed Puren into the waiting arms of another guard. This time he clapped his gloved hands. Without warning a hoard of solders came broke into the library with various weapons blocking the woren from leaving. Getting up upon one knee, Orion clutched his stomach as sweat beaded upon his face. He shut his eyes tightly, praying that he wouldn't...
"You see foreigner, I give the commands here. You and her will be dealt at the castle." No sooner as Aflan finished his sentence, Orion grabbed his head as he screamed in agony. The surrounding group of men backed away as Orion began to uncontrollably shake and pant for air.
The woren felt his sharpened claws rip out of the tips of his fingers. He screamed from pain as his fangs grew in size, fiercely protruding from his mouth. His glasses slid off of his face, his enlarged paw crunched them like a thin piece of ice. His eyes gleamed orange with rage and fury as he crouched on all fours taking on a form that was like that of a distorted tiger.
The blue shirt that covered his back ripped into shreds as the muscles in his back grew in size, pulsating with strength and power. As Orion grew, Aflan moved away from the beast placing Puren and the guard in front of him. Like a bolt of lighting, an ebony black mane sprouted from his head down to the middle of his back. The transformed Orion snarled deafeningly, causing the library's walls to tremble. The newly formed weretiger paced in what small space he had, twitching his long striped tail, waiting for the guards to make a move.
Aflan smiled with wonder as the beast before him growled furiously at the men. All of the guards that were surrounding him before had considerably retreated as the were-tiger turned to each of them, stretching his lips to show his razor-sharp fangs. With their weapons' unsheathed, they carefully advanced toward the fierce beast that was before them. Orion took a swipe at the advancing guards, his warning to them to stay back.
Or die fighting.
"I want him alive." Aflan ordered gleefully. "He will be a welcomed addition to my army. Bring him to the castle." He waved the defenders off as he was promptly escorted out of the library with Puren.
All of the soldiers charged Orion at once; nevertheless he fiercely attacked back easily over powering the first wave of soldiers. Their swords and spears pierced and stabbed his monstrous body, only serving to make him more enraged that they would dare to try and attack him. His claws and fangs pierced, tore and slashed many a guard's soul from their now lifeless bodies.
In a frenzy of blood lust, the weretiger continued to destroy all that stepped into his path. Yet more soldiers poured as soon as their comrades fell to replace them. Even as he was desperately fighting them off more and more guards appeared until it was too much for him to take on. Weakened, Orion reverted into his former self.
The remaining guards easily overpowered him and dragged him off to the castle that was off in the horizon.