„By the spirits, even a Dolyak with three legs would run faster than you!"
"That's… because you've… let me run… around this damned sea… for three hours now!" In the blazing afternoon sun. Without a break. In full armor.
I could still remember the last training, where it had only taken a few minutes until I had wanted to wring his neck, but right now there was not much missing and I really would cancel the training and pull my hammer over his head here and now. But I didn't.
Aidan's yelling faded as I made my way over the next bridge with all the strength I had left, more limping than running. While he was chasing me through the whole city of Lion's Arch, he had settled down on a rock near the water and let his feet dangle in the cool sea. Whereas I was being laughed at by most of the city's inhabitants as I wobbled around in my armor, sweating and panting, the norn in bathing trousers kept yelling at me.
It would be so easy to just throw myself down from the bridge and dive into the cool water…
I blocked out the thought and kept shifting from one foot to another, my glance hefted to the ground so I wouldn't stumble over my own shoes. All feeling from my legs had long gone, and the only thing I still felt was the racing of my blood inside my ears.
Finally I crossed the last bridge and turned left down a small path when Aidan came into my sight of view again and gave the long awaited sign to stop. I came to a stumbling stand at the small rivulet that crossed my training route and without further thoughts I let myself drop on the ground with face forward. The impact was harder than expected and I tasted sand in my mouth, but as the water found its way through the openings in my armor, I clumsily rolled around on my back and exhaled a loud sigh of relief.
"You want… to kill me… am I right?"
Aidan laughed and half-heartedly kicked after a fish that wanted to swim past his feet.
"It's my job to train you, isn't it? And before you learn how to fight with your armor, you should learn how to wear it first."
I got up and climbed the rock to sit down next to Aidan and let the sun dry my body. "I understand that, but in some points… your training comes close to torture." I mumbled and threw a glance towards the point where the lighthouse had to be. During our last training session, Aidan had chased me up the whole building, and as if this hadn't been stressful enough, he had pushed me into the sea from the highest point just for fun, and without any forewarning.
"You don't plan to throw me off something today again, do you?" My breath had calmed down once more and I watched Aidan as he took on his plain leather tunic, hiding a part of the artistic tattoos covering most of his body.
"Hah! Good idea. What do we take today? Macha's Landing?"
Distrusting as I had become, I stepped away from him a few feet. This man was so crazy that he could even be serious about that. But luckily for me, he just shook his head with a grin.
"No, I have something special planned for you to end our session today. You'll have to ascend something again, but this time the descent won't be that… sudden."
"Am I allowed to take off the armor for that?"
I knew the answer even before I had finished that question. At least dusk was falling soon, what meant that the heat would fade after all.
"Hey! I want to meet an old friend here in Lion's Arch later. A really charr-ming lady, if you get it. Necromancer at her finest, some might call her creepy, but I'm sure you will like her. Do you want to come with me?"
Aidan was chatting happily while we walked over the white glowing bridge that I had crossed so many times already today. The first stars were already visible and the night promised to get clear and fresh, but for the moment I still enjoyed the splendid play of colors from the sun that was disappearing bit by bit behind the horizon.
Today had been my day off, since the Aquatarium was always closed on the day I had my training, and I really thought about accepting Aidan's offer. It couldn't hurt to make a few more contacts, and I hadn't talked to a single Charr since I arrived in Tyria.
"How comes a Norn and a Charr are good friends?" I asked with a grin. Aidan only shrugged. "Hoelbrak and the Black Citadel are not that far apart, thus it's not uncommon for Charr and Norn to cross parts with each other. You would be amazed at how many close friendships there are between both races! But maybe not like the ones you might have in mind right now." He added with a shaking head.
We walked past the inner city walls and again I was stunned by the turmoil that always took place around the Asura portals leading to the main cities, while the area around the port was almost empty during this time of day. Therefore the bars were fuller than full, and even here I could witness the sounds of more than one brawl going on.
When Aidan hat mentioned that the last part of today's session would have something to do with climbing again, I hadn't thought that our destination would be in the middle of the city. But now that we were walking towards the outside of one of the bridges of Lion's Arch that were covered with huge walls and even houses on both sides, I felt a bit uneasy as a sense of foreboding grew inside my stomach.
"Do you see the wooden planks at that wall?" Aidan pointed to a few instable looking planks that had been fixed onto the wall of the bridge for whatever reason, and I could see that they led towards one of the nearest roof tops with a gap of about a meter between each of them.
He didn't even wait for my answer, jumped onto the first one and balanced from plank to plank, light-footed as a cat, just to land on the roof top that had been colored green from wind and weather with an elegant jump.
"You can't be serious about that." I mumbled under my breath and carefully stared down the black water under my feet. At least I would not necessarily die if I landed in the water the right way…
"I… I don't think that I can do that, Aidan." I shouted towards him while I clawed my fingers inside a wooden barrel next to me. Aidan had smoothly sat down onto a tiny chimney by now and patiently waited for me to follow his example.
"Come on, don't be shy! You don't really have to jump after all."
Maybe not, as long as your legs are as long as my whole body.
With racing heart I put one foot onto the wooden plank first, then the other, listening closely if I could hear any dangerous squeaking noises from the plank or signs that it would immediately crush under my weight. But when it was strong enough to resist a norn that weighed tons, it should be able to hold me too.
Luckily for me the stone wall to my left was rough enough to cling to the stones now and then while I got closer to the next plank with tiny steps. Then I stood at the edge, with the view of the sea under my feet, and I had to close my eyes for a moment to not completely panic. Why did Aidan have to choose such extraordinary locations for his training? Would a simple training ground not have been enough?
It's only a tiny jump. You can do it.
I took a deep breath and jumped, making a noise that resembled a desperate squawk more than a cry, and was honestly surprised to land on the second plank alive and unharmed when I opened my eyes again.
"Hehe, yeah! Well done. Now do this twice more and you'll be done with the worst part. For now."
"I just won't question any further." I grumbled and jumped a second time, though this time without thinking about my current height for too long. It was easier if I didn't recall the suicidal actions I was going through, and I was sure that we would even go much higher than this. For the moment, we were still not higher than the bridge, and Aidan hat promised an ascent, which meant something.
Aidan reached out his hand and pulled me up onto the roof towards him, where I allowed myself a short break to catch my breath. My body still felt like running around the city in the hot sun even though the evening air had already cooled the day's heat. But if there was one thing I had to admit about Aidan, it was the fact that he knew the places with the best view. Last time on the lighthouse I had been able to get a unique view over whole Lion's Arch and even a part of the Gendarran Fields, and while Tyria kept confronting me with some vexations now and then, the beauty of this world was indeed something special.
Even now, as I stood on the roof top, I had a nice overview of the harbor of Lion's Arch on the one side, and on the other I could see the narrow streets spreading and being lit with more and more lights as if they were competing with the stars mirroring themselves in the water.
"Beautiful, isn't it? Wait until we're on the top! You won't be able to close your mouth again while being speechless with amazement." Aidan got up from his seemingly quite comfortable chimney and pulled up himself on a kind of awning that had been attached somewhere over our heads. He knelt on the fabric and grabbed my arm to pull me up too with a smooth movement.
It wasn't easy to stand on the wobbly fabric, but I preferred a bigger area over the thin, rotten-looking planks. Aidan led me to another roof where some kind of wooden crane had been fixed and pointed towards a slim wooden ladder leading to one of the inhabited towers.
"No. No, no, no. You can't be serious about that!" I cried out in horror as I examined the ladder that was maybe as wide as one of my feet. While the balancing over the planks had been a horror trip for me already, this definitely was murder. There wasn't even water to catch me in the worst case, but under us was a cobbled street, and an impact would mean sure death for me.
"Ohhh no." I said again with trembling voice, but the stubborn norn had already continued to move and crossed the ladder with huge steps as if it was the main road of Hoelbrak. How could a norn move in such elegant ways!?
I knew that I didn't have a choice other than follow Aidan. So I took a deep breath and set one foot in front of another as slow as possible, always watching my steps carefully to not miss the wood and loose balance. My eyes didn't stop watching my feet while I tried to avoid thinking about the abyss down there.
After a few minutes that felt like hours to me I had almost reached the tower, when angry shouts from below disrupted my concentration. I flailed about with my arms to get back my balance, but it was too late already. With a feint cry, I tilted to my right and already saw the copper stones getting closer when a hand grabbed my foot and pulled me up again upside down. My head begun to spin both because of the thoughts at what had almost happened and because of the fact that I was watching the world from a wrong angle right now, and I was more than happy when Aidan put me down again on the roof that was covered in gull feces.
"Whoa, slowly there! What kind of sense of balance is that supposed to be?" Aidan shook his head while I rolled on my back with no elegance at all, only to lift my upper body again.
"No one at all." I grunted and wiped away the sweat from my forehead. The nice view aside, I really hoped that this climbing would soon come to an end. "Please tell me that this has been the worst part… I won't be able to get through this again!"
Aidan gave me a motivating pat on the shoulder, but it appeared that I indeed had beaten the hardest part of this today. We continued running over the roof tops for a while longer, jumped from roof to roof, climbed on chimneys and towers, but as soon as we got close to Macha's Landing, I was losing strength. The heavy armor and the whole adrenaline were taking their toll now, and I let myself fall down on the wooden ridge with beating heart and trembling legs.
"Could we… take a break, Aidan?" I asked while catching my breath, and I could not understand at all how the norn wasn't even showing the slightest signs of endeavor. Aidan just gave me his typical grin.
"We're almost there. Come on, I'll give you a piggyback." Faster than I could have said anything against it, Aidan had lifted me from the ground and sat me down on his shoulders, making me feel like a little child. But I didn't mind as my legs wouldn't have made it much further.
Aidan ran along the whole ridge and took a run-up to push him from the edge and jump a distance I had never seen a human being jump before. While I had to admit that his legs were longer than human's the distance he covered was still remarkable. With trained hands, he pegged to one of the steel beams that were protruding from the Landing, climbing up hand over hand that way. My extra weight didn't seem to bother him more than a fly, and as we reached the upper level he knelt down so I could get down more easily.
We were not the only ones up here; another woman had found her way up and sat on the dock with outstretched legs while watching the stars. But it wasn't only the sky that promised a nice view; the Landing provided a brilliant sight on everything. While I couldn't see the Krytan lands from here, the color play of the independent city at night was even better. And it wasn't as blurred as it had been on top of the lighthouse, but I could see every single lamp, could see dark silhouettes ranging through the alleys, lanterns being lit and candles in windows, sometimes a flame catching fire or dying.
I couldn't help but compare this city to the cities I had known from my earlier life, full of electricity and noise, neon-colored advertising panels and red and white lights of cars driving by. But Lion's Arch couldn't be compared with something like that. There were no skyscrapers made of naked concrete piercing the sky, but houses that were built like artworks, partially made out of boats or made to look like one could be found throughout the whole city. The night was not filled with the noise of trams, horns and ambulances, but with laughter of humans, charr and skritt and all the other creatures who had found their way to Lion's Arch.
An airy breeze ruffled my hair and cooled the sweat on my skin. Besides every struggle I had gone through, this place was just beautiful. There was everything needed for a good living, and even if I had to refrain from some things, it would be possible to get used to this…
But something inside of my refused to accept that thought. I didn't belong here after all, neither in Tyria, nor in the body of this asura. I was a human and I had to find the way back to my world.
"And? Have I promised too much?" Aidan asked with a laugh and sat down beside me, his legs crossed and his arms loosely laid upon his knees so his brandished tattoos were clearly visible in the moonlight.
I suppressed the thoughts about my home and gave back the grin. "Not at all. Even though I can't understand how someone would take all that way just to spend some time up here."
"Hehe, no one does that. There's a ladder, just beneath the edge there, where you can climb up this place in a handful of heartbeats."
With disbelief, I stared at the norn and suppressed the recurring urge to wrap my hands around his throat and squeeze as hard as I could.
"Excuse me!? And why did we have to go through all this, if I may ask? I almost died because of you, multiple times!"
"Hey, hey, first: you only almost died once, and if I may remind you politely, I have been the one to save you from that situation! And to answer your question: training, already forgot about that?"
I shook my head and returned to watch the cities' lights and with a slight ache in the stomach I thought about what would possibly await me in the next few weeks.
"Where exactly do we go?"
Aidan led me away from the harbor after we had descended Macha's Landing over the ladder, up a winding staircase which had to lead to a well-frequented place if I interpreted the noise right.
"It's Kesh's favorite premise. The best shrimps in Tyria, at least that's what she claims. I just don't like seafood, no matter how hard I try. But you shouldn't say that out loud in her presence if you want to stay alive for some time longer!"
"Oh? Anything more I should know so your charr-friend won't pull off my head?"
Aidan opened his mouth for an answer, but before he could take a breath in, he was interrupted by a voice that let the blood inside my veins freeze immediately.
"Baersson, old friend! So nice to see you!" A charr as tall as Aidan came hurrying towards us and gave the norn a turbulent hug without even paying me any attention. Her laugh sounded as if it could even make death in person feel uncomfortable, with her voice being as scratchy and ghostly that I felt the urge to turn around here and now and run away, as far as I could.
When the huge cat turned her attention towards me, this urge got only stronger. Kesh, if I remembered her name right, was quite slender for her kind, if you could say that for a cat, and her fur was reddish with lighter stripes. She wore plain black leather pants and a loose and also black shirt which stuck inside the waistband. There were dozens of small chains with skulls and bones dangling around her neck and wrists, and they tinkled with every movement. Her mane was braided into dozens of small braids, decorated with black and red pearls, hanging down the right side. But that was not what made me retreat a few steps, it was her face.
Her eyes glowed in an intense pink as if someone had stuck a light bulb behind her sockets, and her grin revealed a row of extremely sharp and pointy teeth and a tongue that was split like a snake. The ears and horns on her left had been completely torn and even revealed parts of her skull, but that didn't seem to bother her. Where no fur could grow anymore, I could see red scars running across her cheek and eye, and whatever had happened to her, it still looked painful.
"Whom did you bring with you, Baersson? Will there be rat meat as a side dish for shrimps today?"
I took back a few more steps instinctively and bumped into the cold railing of the stairs. Just do it and run away as far as you can, you fool!
Aidan laughed, which I couldn't understand at all in my situation. My eyes swayed from his completely relaxed face to the split tongue which stuck out of the mouth as if the charr couldn't wait to eat me. The heat of my training was completely forgotten by now and I shivered as if I was deep inside the Shiverpeaks instead of the tropical Lion's Arch.
"Hehe, don't scare the little one that much! Szallejh, that's Arrhakesh, the lovely charr-lady I told you about earlier. Kesh, this is Szallejh. Narru asked me to train her, and you know how she is when you say no to her, so…"
"Lovely charr-lady, eh?" I mumbled so quietly no one could have possibly heard it, but Arrhakesh still chuckled and implied a mock bow. "At your service, little rat."
The norn cleared his throat and laid his hand upon the charr's shoulder while he pushed me forward again with his other hand. Which could only mean that running away wasn't an option.
"I did warn you that most people find Kesh a bit… scary at first. But she is not that bad at all, believe me!"
"You flatter me, Baersson. But now let's sit down finally, I am so hungry that I could eat a whole herd of cows right now." Arrhakesh turned around and let herself fall down clumsily on a wooden bench at a table that was still free. This had to be some kind of open-air restaurant, with painted clothes over our heads to give shelter from the hot sun at day, and everywhere hung colorful holiday lights and there even was a live band playing good-mood music in one corner. Waiters ran around between the tables and took orders from the guests, brought desserts and drinks, and as soon as we had followed Kesh's example and sat down, one of them gave us the menu cards. They were nothing more than inscribed wooden boards, but they still offered a quite broad range of food. I decided to take a plate with grilled vegetables and lamb meat, and Aidan ordered a huge jug of beer for all of us.
While we waited, I finally took off most parts of my armor and stuffed them inside my backpack, still fascinated by its functioning. I definitely had to ask Zojja to explain to me how those runes of holding worked! The cool breeze blowing over my sweat-soaked underclothes was way more comfortable than the shivers that always came whenever I watched Arrhakesh for too long. Hence I gave Aidan my whole attention while he cheerily talked about the latest developments in Hoelbrak and sipped my beer now and then. It didn't taste that good in my opinion, but I got used to its taste with every gulp, and after a while it almost became bearable.
"And, Baersson, what do you think will happen next?" Asked Arrhakesh now, her paws laid loosely around her jug, while she followed the waiters with hungry eyes as they brought food to the other guests.
Aidan shrugged his shoulders. "I don't really know. The pact will need some time to recover from its losses for sure. I mean, there were not just a few deaths back in Orr, and now that Zhaitan is dead, our people have to lick their wounds first. Thanks to Bear we were stationed at the Fort of Trinity, eh?"
"Pah! You weren't even there when the dragon fell. Even at the fort it hasn't been going easy the last weeks. But it's true, life expectations were still way higher than deeper in Orr."
Finally they brought our food; Arrhakesh got a huge bowl filled with shrimps and a sauce that heavily smelled like garlic, and Aidan lashed into a huge steak that almost made a third of my size. My vegetable plate looked good too, and it definitely had been the right decision to order the asura-sized portion, since even this would be too much for me to eat in one go.
After he had swallowed down a huge piece of steak with an even bigger gulp of bear, Aidan gave the charr an enormous grin. "Hey! Everyone has to take vacation at some point, no matter how hard the times!"
"You take more vacation than anything else, Baersson." Arrhakesh pointed at Aidan accusatorily with her fork, but then her eyes fell upon me and I almost dropped the food from my mouth in surprise.
"What about you, little rat? What Order do you belong to? Haven't seen you with the Vigil before."
I swallowed the bite with some effort while trying to withstand the ice-cold glance of the necromancer. "I, uh… to be clear, I never joined any of the Orders."
"Ah, so you're no member of the Pact at all." I took a deep breath as her glowing eyes focused on her bowl for a while. "Here, try this. The best shrimps all over Tyria! And the freshest as well." She reached out her fork towards me and I could have sworn that something inside her bowl had just moved. Fresh and as good as alive. Who would be surprised?
I was about to decline the offer politely as Aidan's glare got my attention. He shook his head markedly without ostentation, but I still understood. Sadly.
With clenched teeth I took the fork and forced myself to stare at my jug while I swallowed the shrimp. But I couldn't avoid the fishy and terrible taste of seafood spread inside my mouth immediately and had to hold back extremely to not spit it back on the table again. I returned the fork back to the charr and tried to hide the shudder that wanted to run from head to toes.
"Mhmm, fantastic." I mumbled and kicked Aidan's foot under the table as hard as he could while he hid his laughter under fake coughs, but it didn't seem to help in any way.
"Doesn't really matter, I think. The thing with the Pact. I'm not sure if it will be a thing for much longer after all." Arrhakesh continued to appreciatively fill her mouth with shrimp after shrimp, and now I was sure that at least some of the animals were still alive. And I had just eaten one of them.
I quickly rinsed my mouth with another gulp of beer. "Why not?"
The charr sighed. "This plant might be a quite good Marshal and everything, but the Pact is nothing more than a raggle-taggle bunch of soldiers and scholars who have to come to terms with lots of blowbacks right now. I don't think that this alliance will stand against another dragon. At least not in the near future."
Aidan thumped his jug down on the table hard enough to spill parts of its content. "What do you say!? The Pact is the strongest alliance that Tyria has seen for centuries. Even the charr and humans have laid their disputes aside to fight against the bigger enemy. Your opinion in honors, Kesh, but do you really want to tell me that we have run out of steam after a single ridiculous dragon?"
"You truly think like a norn, my friend. It's just an assumption, nothing more. But either one way or another, the other dragons won't just accept Zhaitan's death and disappear from this continent so we can live in peace. One after one they will awake and get stronger, and while we might be able to delay the next huge fight, we can't avoid them. They will come sooner or later. The only question is with whom we'll have the pleasure of meeting next."
"Definitely Jormag." Aidan grumbled."The ice dragon has shown signs of activity for a while now and his ice brood is getting deeper into Tyria with every day. It would only be right to attack them next and make an end to their activities."
Kesh tilted her head in thoughts. "I understand your point, but I'd rather guess Kralkatorrik. The Edge of Destiny is finally united again! Why shouldn't they end now what they have started back then? Even Kralkatorrik hasn't been too decent lately. He, rat, what do you think?"
"Mordremoth." I mumbled with mouth still full.
"Pah! Of all dragons the one showing the least signs of activity? Sure thing, let's attack the dragon that will harm us the least in the near future. Honestly, you have to explain that to me."
It's simple. A completely crazy Sylvari will come and dig deep holes into the earth of whole Tyria to wake up the dragon completely, who by the way created the Sylvari and will corrupt most of them to fight for his side.
"I just know it."
It was after midnight when I could finally drop down in my hammock after taking a shower and getting fresh clothes. We had sat together for a long time and had emptied a few more beer jugs, but this time I had been smart enough to take it slow. While my head was feeling dizzy, I wouldn't have a hangover the next morning, just the usual pain from the training. But it had been worth it, and Aidan had explained grinning that it only had been the first part of something really big. He planned to take me higher up after each training to show me more and more from Lion's Arch, so I'd have to go through the jumping many more times.
Kesh had suggested to meet regularly after the training sessions and since Aidan would be there with me every time I had agreed. The charr didn't seem to be that scary at all at the end of the day, but still I didn't want to meet with her alone for now. I decided to visit the Grove on the next day, hoping to find Nahraija there. It has been a week since I had last seen the sylvari and while I had really enjoyed her company during my time with Narru, it didn't seem to be a bad idea at all.
Besides it couldn't be a bad thing to come out of Rata Sum more than I had been able to the last days.