Running around, we saw how busy the streets were. This truly was a town. The people here were active, going about their day to day lives, instead of just working the land and resting. It reminded me of home. Or at least, what used to be my home. We quickly got off the rooftops. Most were slanted and hard to traverse. All of them were pretty close to the ground, leaving us exposed. We haven’t seen any buildings taller than two stories, though they do tend to look decent. We ran through the dark alleyways, avoiding the townsfolk and allowing us to finally drop those oversized hoods we made.

We had a few close calls. At one point, we turned a corner to find an old man puking his guts out. He smelled of the cheap liquor my uncle would buy, and the sea. We quickly moved on without being noticed. We also came across some thugs. They were robbing someone, holding the poor guy at knife point. Well, they held them like knives, but they were the size of swords. Having no other way to go but back, we sprinted in between the leaders legs and turned a corner the moment we could. I could hear their surprise. Panicked yelling and running, though not towards us. We likely saved the guy, or caused his death.

I don’t know why we were still running. It didn’t seem like anyone was on our trail. We weren’t really in any danger. Hell, running actually brought more unneeded risk. But, Vyth was still running, and I followed. We eventually stopped, exhausted and panting so hard, my lungs felt like they would pop. After a good minute of recovering, I observed Vyth. He was catching his breath as well, of course. But more importantly, he seemed anxious. It was hard to tell for sure. I don’t really know what gave me the idea. It felt more like a gut feeling. I thought about it. Going off pure feeling wasn’t really my thing. Rationale was. I couldn’t come up with a reason. At least, not before he started moving again.

“Wait!”, I yelled out, “Running around won’t get us anywhere. Let’s come up with a plan first”.

“Sure... What did you have in mind”.

His response was simple and put all the responsibility on me. It felt like I had to come up with a decent enough plan, or he’d go back to aimless wandering. I looked around for a bit, thinking. We were in another alleyway, though there wasn’t really an exit in sight. A rare sight. I’ve certainly never seen something like this in this place before, or any other place for that matter. Not in fantasy, nor in my old world. It gave it the feeling of being in a maze. I don’t know why that even bothered me. Why those thoughts came to me. It was that same feeling. Maybe I was the one who was anxious.

“Oth… You okay?”, Vyth asked.

He was concerned about me, but his attention was on the surroundings. He looked up at the buildings around us. I followed his gaze. It looked like they...were getting taller somehow. Or maybe I was getting smaller. I looked around for an escape and saw a window only a few feet away. I tried opening it, but it was locked. Feeling as if a weight was bearing down on me, I decided to take a risk. I took a step back, spoke the short chant and sent out a small splash of acid. It dissolved through part of the wooden frame and through the metal lock. I opened it up and gestured for Vyth to follow me through it. There was no point in closing it. The damage was obvious from the inside and especially the outside.

Being inside brought some relief, though the feeling persisted. I looked around, both to learn the surroundings, as well as to distract myself a little. There were weapons, all made of metal. Swords, hammers and glaives were lined up on racks. They seemed a bit old and dusted, but still sharp. On the other side, the area was filled with metal armour. Going from sets of chainmail to one set of gleaming grey plate armour. It felt as if it would come to life at any point, doing my sudden distress no good. I jumped, as I heard a sudden noise behind me. I turned around and held out my arm, ready to fling a spell. It was just Vyth, having picked up a sword. It was half his size, but looked to be on the smaller side in comparison to the others.

I found a corner to sit in and began thinking. Vyth was swinging the sword in the air, getting more precise with each swing he took. It was impressive to look at. And distracting. I quickly refocused on coming up with a plan. We never came up with one after we fled that horrid bloodbath. We had no purpose, aside from looking out for one another. We had no home, either. No steady supply of food, but that could be somewhat changed here. We could live off stealing. Despite our looks, we surprisingly are omnivores. So, we can likely eat most of what humans can eat. We do lean more on eating meat, but at this point we’d take what we could get. Staying here was risky, however, and that mage saw us as well. He saw us running from a burning building no less. That could get us executed, if they’d even spare us the ceremony, instead of just killing us on sight.

Vyth had finished his training exercise. I wanted to call it little, but saw that night had fallen already. How long had I been thinking?

“Thought of something yet?”, he asked.

“Maybe we should leave. Find another place to live. We have enough food to last us for a while”.

“You were thinking of staying? Why would you want to stay near these monsters?”

“Oh, I guess you have a point”.

“I thought you were thinking of a way out”.

“We could just sneak out the gate. There’s guards, but at night we could stick to the shadows and get out”.

“Well, let’s go then. I’d like to be out as soon as possible”.

“Say, have you been feeling well?”.

Before he could say something, the door opened. A large, hulking figure came through, easily the size of the armoured demon we faced in the village, if not larger. His head wasn’t human, however, and as he stepped into the moonlight emanating from the window, his bronze scales glistened. His head was dragon-like. His eyes were almost a golden colour and his hands ended in huge claws. But, he wore armour and walked on two legs. He didn’t have a tail, like us, and his jaw wasn’t nearly as pronounced. He wasn’t some overgrown Kobold, but something else.

He walked around, perusing through the racks with weapons, before he noticed the window. He stopped for a second, then quickly walked over to it and shouted. His voice was booming. I could feel the vibration throughout my whole body. Someone responded from beyond the door. It sounded like a female voice. At least I think it was. He responded with another shout. He walked around again, checking the weapons more thoroughly this time. Another heavy shout. This one louder, but shorter. We couldn’t understand him, but we knew what he shouted about. Me and Vyth both looked at the sword he was still holding and then gave each other a terrified look. We were scared of humans. But this thing, it must be a monster to even the humans.

Heavy footsteps echoed and reached our little corner. Another Dragonkin, maybe? I really hope not. The source soon stepped through the door. It was indeed a woman, but she was smaller than expected. She appeared human, but short and heavy. She had broad shoulders and muscles the size of our heads. She’s a Dwarf. Many fantasy games had Dwarfs as a race, whether they were playable or just part of the lore. They usually were small, yet tough people, who worked hard and created magnificent things.

She let out shouts of her own. Not as loud as the Dragonkin’s, but ear-splitting nonetheless. While letting out what were likely many curses and threats, she punched the wall, right next to the window. It wasn’t exactly on the opposite side from us, but it was still pretty far. Yet, we could feel the impact. Our more abstract fears and anxiety had been overshadowed by a more pure fear of those two.

We didn’t know what to do. It felt like a single movement could spell our doom. Then, the Dragonkin looked at us, and frowned. He said something in their tongue and slowly approached us. We got up and tried booking it. Unfortunately, the only way out was through him. Vyth went left, quickly climbing the large shelf that housed armour and pieces of metal. I tried my luck sprinting between his legs. He grabbed me by the neck and brought me to his face. Acting fast, I splashed him with acid, got out of his hold and ran. The Dwarf ran after me while holding Vyth by his tail. I did a quick spin, blasted her with an icy ray and continued getting out the door. Outside it, there was a counter. To my left, an anvil and a bunch of other stuff I didn’t recognise. This was a smithy. Would explain all the armour and weapons. Behind me, I heard a yell of pain. Vyth was close behind me, his new sword stained in a bit of blood. We ran to the front door. It was locked by one of those wooden bars. Thinking quickly, I jumped on Vyths back to reach it. As I went to open it, a dagger struck the wood, a few inches from my snout.

“You’re not going anywhere, ya filthy rat!”, a thundering voice behind me said.

The Dragonkin was standing a few feet behind, his arms crossed. The Dwarf came from behind him. Her arm was left bleeding and she looked furious. I got off Vyths back and prepared for a fight. The Dragonkin laughed. It was a hearty laugh. His head tilted all the way back. I knew we weren’t a threat, but I didn’t think we were that outmatched. I began thinking of an escape plan while he was distracted. Nothing would work. The door was locked and getting past them barely worked the first time. There were a set of stairs leading up. They were closer to it, but If I could distract them further, we might be able to go up. The Dwarf shifted the position to block the stairs. She was watching me carefully. My only hope was my trump card. My wings. I started taking off the rags we’d been wearing to blend in a bit more, so I could use them. I hadn’t gotten any practice with them, aside from the time they first unveiled themselves to me. They simply used up too much energy, making them dangerous when we were already strapped for food. Before I could get the damn things off, however, the Dragonkin spoke again.

“Don’t do something you’ll regret, little one. Drop the sword and drop your hand! I want no funny business!”.

We did as he said. Didn’t have much choice, really. He sounded clear, though he had an accent that was hard to place. It sounded smooth, yet with an underlying roughness.

“Now, then. Let’s hear you excuse, you thieves! Why oh why would you have taken that sword without paying?”.

“We’ll give it back”, Vyth stammered out.

“Of course you will! But just returning it won’t be enough. How about a reason we shouldn’t take you two to the guards right now. Or why we shouldn’t test out that sword on you. I doubt anyone will object to us killing Kobolds and Thet just made it yesterday. It would be nice to know if it’s good”.

“It worked on her”, Vyth responded. His response sounded halfway like a threat and halfway like an actual reason. I slapped him on the back of his head and gave him a look to make it clear to be careful. The Dragonkin chuckled at that.

“It did indeed, but I’d like to know if it cuts through scales just as well. Now are you going to repay us by blood, or would you prefer another option?”.

“We’ll do anything!”, I quickly responded.

“Anything?”

“Yes. Anything. What would you like? Aside from a test subject”.

“Oth…”, Vyth said quietly.

“Don’t worry about it”.

“Give us some time to think. In the meantime, why don’t you and your little companion have a seat over by the anvil, far from any doors and windows”.