Chapter 8 - A Town

Eric was sitting next to the fire, warming himself up after a long day’s flight. It has been 3 days since he began following Misor. Every night they would set up camp, which mainly comprised of Eric gathering logs for Misor to ignite, then Misor would go off and hunt for something to eat, for both them and the dragon. While Misor was off hunting, Eric was talking to Amiy.

“Hey Amiy, any more info on making fire with mana,”

*Aw sorry eric, I have tried to calculate how he does it but im stupid :(*

“Yea your pretty dumb.”

*What!!! :-0*

“I mean, you was/are an AI. You need more data to calculate better. Maybe ill ask for some books, and you can scan them to build a database of information to pull from.”

*YAY!!! Im going to be smarter*

Misor returned with two large rabbits. They had two massive fangs poking from their lips and big red eyes. Eric thought they looked quite scary, like a devil’s pet. That didn’t stop him from eating them. Once skinned and cooked, they tasted delicious. After eating, Eric approached the challenge of asking for books. Misor talked little on their journey, but he would always reply when Eric asked him what various things were. After 3 days travelling together Eric had learned quite a few names for things like tree, plant, food, water, fire ect.. He tried to ask about mana, but trying to sign out a complex energy that could heal and move things proved rather difficult, making Eric look like a fool dancing around the fire.

Eric psyched himself up and began the nightly game of charades. He started by holding his hands out while miming opening a book. Seeing Misor not understanding, he opted for his most successful option yet. He walked away before returning with a thin stick, then he began drawing in the dirt a large book shape with squiggles on the pages. Misor finally understanding, then paused while thinking for a few minutes. Nodding his head, he snapped his wrist and a small leather book appeared. Eric looked at the book hopefully. He returned to sitting by the fire in silence, opening the priceless treasure he just acquired. His eyes scanned the first page. There were strange characters and illustrations next to them, depicting things like houses, small types of fruit and small animals. Some looked similar to things on earth, like a small lizard that looked like a gecko. It’s a fucking book of flash cards hahaha Eric’s eyes lit up as he realised what it was. He looked up at Misor with a big smile. “Thank you, Misor” said eric, bowing his head.

"Arksalpo Misor" Misor corrected shaking his head.

Eric stayed up late, looking through each page carefully as Amiy recorded everything. The next morning Amiy chimed cheerily, waking him up.

*Gooooodd Morrrrrnninng!!!!*

“ugh, leave me alone.” said Eric out loud.

“Arksalpo siror, how …….. speak” Misor said while looking down on the half asleep Eric.

Erics eyes shot open, seeing Misors figure leaning over him.

“I speak……….some,” shrugged Eric.

Misor walked off back towards the dragon, muttering under his breath.

What happened Amiy??? Why could we understand each other???.

*Because im a genius*

Yea, you are, but what did you do.

*I compiled the information in the book, then sorted the characters. Using this and the words you already know, I ran algorithms to arrange the characters into words. Then I simply made you remember these words.*

But why do I only understand some words?

*I only had simple words to go by…..*

This is amazing Amiy, all we need now is more information and we can learn it fully.

*Yep I'm pretty cool right*

Eric walked over to Miros, who was giving the dragon its morning pat on his head. Stupid dragon. The dragon had continually antagonised Eric while travelling, blowing dust in his face and whipping him with its tail, all while holding a smug smile. Eric wanted to fling a stone in its stupid face, but after practicing for the last few days, he still had no idea on how to repeat what he did before.

“Misor need ……….. book…….for…..speak,”

Misor thought for a moment, then shook his head. “No………learn books, ”

Eric looked down, annoyed at losing the prospect of learning the language more. A hand patted him on his shoulder reassuringly.

“We speak………………you learn…….” Misor said while pointing to the dragon, directing him to jump on for today’s travel.

In the few hours of soaring above the grassland, Eric was learning more words from Miros. Eric asked Amiy to record all the unfamiliar words ready for the algorithm.

*I will run the algorithm later when you are sleeping, it will give us a chance to gather more data beforhand*

The dragon continued to fly above the ground. Ahead of them was a small forest. Crossing the forest, they saw a large valley carved into the hills. A small stream ran down from the top of one hill, turning into a large river that passed through a small town. Eric stared down at the town. The wooden buildings looked old, reminding Eric of the old buildings seen in old illustrations of medieval Europe. The dragon turned around, heading back to forest before landing. Miros jumped off with Eric following behind.

"Stay.....here" Miros said as he patted the dragon.

"Arksalpo siror, come" he said pointing at Eric.

Eric followed him, leaving the forest. When they walked out from the treeline, Eric saw a wide dirt path leading into the town. They travelled the path for a while, Eric stll learning words as they went. The closer they got towards the town, they saw farmers and traders heading down the path. The merchant's wagons were being pulled by creatures that looked like bulls. Eric stared at the creatures. They looked strong and had two big horns. He pointed towards the bulls. "Name.." he asked Msior. "Dahg" A smooth voice replied. They continued along the path until they reached the town's edge. Eric looked on in astonishment. Walls of stone surrounded the entire town with a large gate for entry. Guards stood atop the walls holding bows and wearing light coloured leather armour. They reached the gate and two large guards wielding spears were checking people before letting them through.

Misor walked over to the guards, the guards fluted around before pointing their spears at him. An item shined in the sun as it appeared in Misors hands, seeing the item the guards looked at each other in shock before kneeled down and speaking words Misor, that Eric couldn't hear. Misor then signalled Eric to come.

"We.....Sleep.......Food......Water, " Misor said to Eric as they passed through the gates.