The City Rhine, the newest of the Dragon cities and the one with the most diverse population. Of its near 255 people, 100 are Ryuuzoku, 74 are Worren, 50 are Grassrunners, 30 are Human, and one is a Demon. Most of the time, that is almost always, Ryuuzoku name their cities after an important location near-by. Rhine is no exception. The site of the city is divided in half by the Rhine River according to the Worrens that named it. A decade earlier a battle for the site of the city was won with help from two unlikely sources, a Tainted Ryuuzoku and a traitor Mazoku. They did most of the damage to the invading forces. That was why the Mazoku was able to set up residence when the city was first started.
Entering from the South, a pair of travelers approached the gates. The guard at the gate recognised Ryu on sight and had the gate half open before the travelers actually got there. "Hey, good to be seein' ye 'gain." In an amused tone of voice Ryu said "Good to see you again also"
"Will ye be seein' Pensum?" "No, I've come to see Ruhr." At that the guard almost imperceptably flinched Ryona noted. The guard muttered some words in Worren and motioned for the gates to be opened.
Ryona was rather certain that whomever this Ruhr was that he would be as odd as she was
or, worse, as odd as Ryu. 'If I' she thought 'am a prodigy as a warrior to have become an adult at the relative age of a baby, Ryu is an abberation. From that spell he used in the Demon Desert,
he would be more skilled than the Elder Wizards, but he shouldn't be able to use any advanced attack magic. So how did he do it?' Admittedly both of the Dragons were unusually developed socially and mentally, which was why they were sent to Winda. It may have been his immense power, just the idea that Ryu knew more about both sides of the Ryuuzoku-Mazoku war than a group of the most informed on both sides, or his extreme secrecy, but it was well known that the Elders would not mind if he was unable to do certain things as an unfortunate side effect of the physical experiments. In fact the only reasons that Ryu could see for his continued good health were that he never told what he knew and instead acted on it and that he was powerful. Most Ryuuzoku just said that he was paranoid but he retorted by saying "Just because you are not paranoid does not mean that they are not out to get you." That and his 'second personality' was too well liked by the Eldest, the only other Ryuuzoku that could speak the old language.
The little hole-in-the-wall that, presumably, belonged to Ruhr looked out of place in the slum area that it was in the center of; mostly because it was much taller than the other shacks and was in good repair. The insanely cheerful pastel colors and flowers of literally every shape and color didn't hurt anything except the eyes. Ryona wondered how anything could stand to look at the house. She already had a migrane and was starting to feel film on her teeth. Ryu merely grimaced, having seen the place before, and silently vowed to scrub his teeth for a half hour.
After knocking on the thirteen foot high doors the two Ryuuzoku kept staring at the door until it was opened and they were left staring at a man. Well his waist anyway since he was an eleven foot tall behemoth. Somehow he did not seem to be the type of person whom would live in a place like this by choice. "Ah. Ryu. I see that you have come," the goliath rumbled out in a low, horse timber, seemingly pronouncing every single syllable. "Good. come inside." The pair did so and were treated to an interior that was less insanely cheerful and more natural and soothing. After seating themselves, the behemoth, whom was indeed Rhur, suddenly broke the silence that had formed while they were waiting for and serving the pot of tea. "Ryu. I hope that you were able to speak to the Eldest. And it affected your choice. I hope."
Ryona sat, stunned, as she almost literally could feel the change in Ryu. "Yes, I spoke with Sarahel and she merely convinced me that my choice is correct."
Deep in the bowels of the planet, who knows where, is the City of the Mazoku. A dark, hopless place filed to the brim with Mazoku and inequities of all types. It doesn't actually come into the plot for a while but it felt good to have introduced it. And even when it does come into the plot, it's mostly a minor role. Kinda like a Deus ex Mechina story device, but that just covers the city itself. The inhabitents are the important ones. And even the role is carried out by one of the inhabitents. It's just that that particular inhabitant shows up once and is never seen again, like the gate guard earlier on, and I count it as a part of the city instead. Back to the story.
Rhur, it seemed, reacted to the sight of a powerful, angry, psycho-dragon in the same manner as most intelligent beings. He did what he could to pacify the angry Ryuzoku. In this case it ment that he, Ruhr, would accompany them through the Tapa Mountain tunnels, over the rickety wooden bridge that was the only safe path over the watery nest of the demon squid, the Kraken, and to the Highest City, all while ensuring the health of the female dra-Ryuzoku, and staying alive under the assault of thousands of Mazoku. Cake, really.
In the hoours between then and sunset were spent gathering supplies, introducing everyone, and evading celebrating elderly. The elderly were happy that they could finally get the hideously colorful and cheerful house toned down a bit. The group had planned to leave much sooner but the elderly kept them there till sunset with unnecessarily long thank-yous. Rhur himself would have been insulted if he haden't hated the hous just as much as the elderly people did.
The two fire demons guarding the Tapa tunnels never expected for a man to walk up and kill them with a powerful fire attack. Neither did Rhur or Ryona but at least you couldn't tell from their expressions. You actually could but only for a little bit.
After several such powerful spells in all elements, the tunnels became very quiet. Several hours passed in eventless walking until the group came to a sign reading like below
Pleeze don kill us
Mr. Dwagon+)
+
------------------------
Not even Rhur knew how the 'Mazoku' had managed to get the symbols together on such short notice nor how they made them hang in mid-air.
The group managed to come one Kraken away from an adventurer's dream. To go through an infested area full of strong demons and monsters and be unchallanged and unmolested.
Of all the Mazoku in the tunnels, Kraken was the most feared. Almost all of the Mazoku in the tunnels believed that no person deserved the title of demon more. Almost all of the Mazoku had no idea that Kraken was a bio-weapon with a taste for both Mazoku and dragon flesh.
When a giant black tendril shot out and grabbed Ryu, Rhur and Ryona knew that it was the end. Ryu was whisked out of reach and under the black river water.