Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 114

After gathering his things, he, Victoria, Jayden, and Addison saddled the raptors that Victoria brought and immediately set off. They didn’t alert anyone to their departure. In his opinion, he had already done enough for the people within the army. Whether or not they survived was no longer his concern. Besides, he was no longer in the mood to deal with others.

He planned on spending the entirety of the two-day flight in deep contemplation.

That plan was disrupted though. After flying for more than a day, putting them only a few hours away from their destination, Victoria pulled her raptor up beside his. He looked at her questioningly, but her eyes were trained on something on the distant ground below them. He shifted his gaze in that direction as well but was unable to see anything out of the ordinary. They were flying over a mid-sized mountain range that was cut in half by a stream that ran through its entirety. Other than the sparse vegetation, the only think that he could see of note was Shadow, Victoria’s bird that had been flying alongside them only moments ago. By the looks of things, Shadow was flying lower to search for something.

“I’ll see you in Sloria. If there are any issues just wait for me close by,” Victoria shouted, the words obstructed by the wind to such an extent that he could barely make them out, no matter how good his hearing.

After shouting at him Victoria threw her raptor into a straight dive. Only pulling up when she was at the same elevation as Shadow. Once she was lower to the ground Victoria began to fly in wide circles, her head moving side to side as she scanned the ground beneath her.

He couldn’t help but wonder what Victoria was looking for. Likely some rare creature whose byproduct was useful. Similar situations often happened when they were training in the forest. Sometimes Victoria’s hunts would go on for several hours, despite having the aid of Shadow.

He wasn’t the only curious one, Addison was looking at him questioningly with her haggard eyes, wondering if they were stopping for some reason. Dante shook his head, indicating that she should keep flying. On his other side, Jayden broke out of his bored trance to look down at what Victoria was doing with interest. That was it though. He didn’t ask whether they were stopping and didn’t appear to care that Victoria had broken off from the group.

They continued their flight, sailing through the skies for a few hours before they entered the massive valley that Sloria was located in. Dante looked down at the scene below him with interest, and more than a little shock. Only months ago the large valley was flourishing; filled with lush vegetation, large fields tended by farmers, and even permanent structures as the mercenary groups stationed there prepared to settle down. Now, a majority of those mercenary groups were gone. The plants and fields were marred by large craters, scorched ground, and trenches that spoke of violence. And any of the permanent structures set up previously were in shambles. Even more telling of the violence were the bodies that were left to rot. They were scattered among the ground, sometimes collected into piles and burned, other times left to be picked apart by the scavengers. The corpses must have numbered at least one hundred thousand.

That wasn’t to say that the valley had become a wasteland. Even from so far above it was obvious that the valley was undergoing a rebirth. As they flew closer to the city the valley became more densely populated, fields and buildings were in the process of being cleared, and all of the bodies had long been cleared. The large patches of sifted dirt indicating that they had been thrown into mass graves, a scene he had become familiar with in the past months.

Next to him, Jayden and Addison were also absorbing the horrific sight. Especially Jayden, he looked… worried? His eyes were roaming over the valley in quick and jerkish movements, absorbing everything as though he was trying to piece together what had happened. A trace of concern on his face.

As far as mercenary groups went, the valley was still covered in them. He couldn’t discern – or remember – whether or not they were the same that had been there months ago, but their numbers were more than halved.

Sitting in the center of the valley, in stark contrast to the destruction and ruin surrounding it, was Sloria. The city was shockingly unblemished by the war that appeared to have taken place around it. The walls looked to have taken a small amount of damage, but as he flew closer he was able to discern that they hadn’t been breached. The outer ring of the city, where a majority of the women and children were sheltered, had come out unscathed. Much to his relief.

It also appeared to have been to Jayden’s relief. He relaxed visibly when he saw the city. Not in his posture, but in the way he examined everything. His gaze became far more languid in nature.

After making sure that there was no imminent danger, Dante slowly began to glide down. Landing where he had on his previous trip. The storage area for flying mounts that was previously set up outside of the city was gone, likely destroyed during the fighting and cleared away after. In its place was a rather crude section of stone buildings that were quickly thrown together by Geomancers. Each of the buildings that held a single raptor each were covered in windowlike openings that made them resemble cages, none of them having obvious doors. More than likely they had Geomancers on duty, opening and closing makeshift doors into the cage-like buildings until a more permanent structure was developed in their place.

A short and stout man stepped out from the makeshift buildings to greet them, one stable boy next to him. The man looked over the three of them carefully, hesitant to get too close before feeling out the level of threat. “Greetings. If you plan to stay in Sloria you’ll need to have your mounts stored with us, or somewhere else outside of the city.”

Dante nodded as he, Jayden, and Addison dismounted. “That’s fine. Last time I came to Sloria I was able to directly pay for feed. Am I still able to do so?”

The stout man motioned the boy forward. “I’m afraid not. We currently don’t have the workforce required to provide maintenance for our visitors’ mounts. All of our excess workers have been reassigned to help with the cleanup.”

Given the sight he saw when he was flying over the valley, that was understandable. “By the way, who currently rules the city?”

“The first lady,” the stout man said as he turned back to the makeshift huts. After telling them that they couldn’t bring their mounts in the city his business seemed to be concluded.

That was reassuring. Had it been anyone else, he likely would have flown off and waited for Victoria before proceeding. Dante looked to where Jayden and Addison where talking behind him. Well, where Jayden was talking. He was pointing out different sections of the valley and city to Addison as he examined them. Addison just made occasional remarks to be polite.

As could be imagined, Addison hadn’t taken her father’s recent death well. Thankfully, it wasn’t hard to get her to leave the mercenaries that had once been under her father. She had basically removed herself from any of the camp’s business after he passed.

The loss of a father wasn’t really something he could empathize with, as he didn’t have any similar familial bonds, but he could tell it had drastically affected her. It was like she was an entirely different person, one without any ambitions of her own, which was completely different than how she was before.

Dante looked at Addison inquisitively. “What do you think of Sloria?”

“I don’t really know what to make of it. I’ve never seen anything like it before,” Addison admitted as she shrugged, her eyes moving back and forth between him and Jayden. “Are you planning on leaving me here?” Her tone made it clear that she felt as though she was being abandoned.

Dante had the urge to suck in a sharp breath, he had no desire to take part in this uncomfortable conversation. “Only if you want to stay here. If not, there’s no need to rush. We can find somewhere else.” He paused briefly, unsure of what to say. “The last time I came here I was surprised how well off the people in the city were. I’m sure that it would be a great place to live.”

“Miss Addison, it is all about how you look at things. Don’t think of it as us leaving you, but as you leaving us,” Jayden unhelpfully added to the side.

Their dysfunctional relationship reemerged. Addison stepped toward Jayden, stomping heavily on his foot. Thankfully, Addison appeared to have held back and there was no loud crack of broken bone. That didn’t stop Jayden from clutching his foot and hobbling about as he whined in pain though.

“Miss Addison! If you’re feeling brutish you could at least take your excessive aggression out on someone with a combat Classification,” Jayden said while looking pointedly at Dante. “Bullying me is unbecoming of you.”

Addison crossed her arms, looking away from both of them.

Well. That was about as good as things could have gone. Dante turned and walked toward the gates. The catastrophic scene in the valley might have been terrible, but it was also quite convenient. The last time he came to Sloria he had to wait in a line for what seemed like an eternity to get into the city. This time there weren’t nearly as many people, and the line was almost nonexistent.

He walked up to the dozen or so guards that were watching the gate to be inspected. It was possible that someone in Sloria was looking for him, but he thought it unlikely after so many months had passed. Besides, the people looking for him might no longer be around.

After an initial round of questions about why he was visiting Sloria, Dante was let through. He walked through the gate, making it only a few steps before hearing the guard’s exclamation.

“Sir, it’s him!”

The shout’s effect was immediate, and a second followed shortly after. “Quickly, apprehend him!”

Dante created two daggers, ready to eliminate the guards and escape. But the attack never came. He looked back at the guards who had just shouted. They - along with the other guards watching the gate - were surrounding Jayden, two guards already seizing and lifting him by his arms. By his side, Addison smugly watched the entire scene unfold, despite the potential severity.

He considered acting but thought better of it due to how calm Jayden was. He assumed that Jayden had some connection to Sloria with how he acted on the flight in, but still didn’t know what.

The guard with the highest rank began to issue orders to his men. “Dugal stay here and watch the gate with Bast. The rest of you follow me.”

“Stop.” Jayden commanded the guards that were lifting him by the arms after only a few steps, bringing the entire scene to a halt as the guards actually did as he said before looking at him with bewilderment. “They are with me,” he nodded in the direction of Dante and Addison.

The guard who was issuing the orders looked at the two of them. “Bring them along.”

“Sir,” one of the guards holding Jayden said with uncertainty. “We were instructed to ignore anything he said.”

That was a rather good rule when dealing with Jayden in any capacity.

The lead guard looked indecisive, and Jayden took that as his cue to speak. “Good sir, it would behoove you to bring them along.”

The guard, who had been on the fence, nodded. Speaking decisively. “Bring them.”

Dante looked at Jayden with a less than amused expression, and in return was given Jayden’s ‘charming’ smile. Lacking better alternatives, and more than a little curious, Dante allowed himself to be escorted by the guards.