Chapter 10: Prares

Ba-dum! Ba-dum! Ba-dum! The steady sound of a horse's hooves sounded like a heartbeat. I have been riding towards Prares for a three days now since I left the village, making a couple of short stops along the way to eat, rest and to make sure that my horse wasn’t getting too worn out.

Since I have passed the forest now, which contained most of the danger of the trip, I could finally relax a bit and enjoy the journey. Currently I was crossing the Mist Plains. The Mist Plains didn’t have a lot of dangers, especially during the day. The creatures that dwelled here were mostly herbivores and non-hostile unless you provoked them.

The only trouble about the plains was that during the night the fields would be covered by a mysterious mist that was extremely thick that you could barely see your hand if you put it right in front of your face. In the mist you could easily get lost, but since the plains were very vast you didn’t have to worry about getting lost as much. Once morning comes and the sun goes up the mist would disappear and you can easily find the direction in which you were going.

You just had to know on which side the Halcyon Mountains lay. If you knew that then it was basically impossible to get lost in the Mist Plains, because the Halcyon Mountains were enormous. They tall enough to reach high above the clouds, almost as if you could reach the heavens if you climbed up to the top. However, not a single person has managed to climb the mountains to the top yet and return alive.

From the information that people managed to gather, the higher you went the colder it got, making it impossible for normal people to reach the top. Some gifted that had ice abilities tried to go up because they were able to withstand really cold temperatures due to the fact that they grew up with the icy and cold energy in their bodies.

There was one slight danger in in the Mist Plains that you had to be wary of. At night along with the mist the Blood Winged Butterflies come out. They are extremely beautiful but dangerous. Alone they pose no threat but together they are almost unstoppable. These tiny little creatures are carnivorous and feed on any living being that they encounter, leaving nothing but bones behind.

If you encounter them it is extremely hard to escape, they will keep on chasing you until the sun goes up. The Blood Winged Butterflies are creatures of the night, therefore they fear light. So, as long as you had something that could produce light you have a high chance of survival. In addition the butterflies make a loud screeching like sound whenever they are near a living being, making it easier to defend and prepare yourself.

When I learned of this information I was very impressed and amazed that such beautiful creatures could be so deadly. Most of the information I received from Ennius but the basics I heard from some of the people in Kraposs, mainly travelers.

After riding for the rest of the day the sun started to set, creating a beautiful sunset that colored the sky in a beautiful red color. I set up for the night, took out some dried meat to eat and sat down to watch the setting sun.

“What a beautiful view, definitely something that you don’t see everyday” I said, captivated by the beauty. I sat there for a bit longer until the sun was completely gone from view and replace by a thick mist.

“Be careful Atilius, I don’t recommend on sleeping here. I can still watch over you while you sleep but I don’t recommend it. It’s too risky” Ennius warned me.

“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on sleeping. The risk is too great. Plus, I was planning on training since I didn’t have much time to do it in a while with everything that has happened.”

Proceeding with the regular routine I closed my eyes and entered the energy chamber. The energy within the chamber was now a deep yellow color. Looking at the swirling energy I could tell that soon the energy would become a golden color and I could attempt to breakthrough into the next chamber.

I sat through the night cultivating my energy, purifying it chunk by chunk. When I finally decided to stop it was almost morning. The mist wasn’t as thick anymore, but you still couldn't see farther than a couple of steps before you. I started to pack my things with the little visibility I had. Since the mist most likely won’t clear up for another hour or two I wasn’t in a rush.

I finished packing faster than I expected which left me with nothing to do. I sat down and started playing with the grass out of boredom.

“Ugh, I wish there was something to do around here” I exclaimed in frustration. Oh how I wish I never uttered those words. In the distant horizon I heard a screeching noise.

“Oh please tell me that’s not what I think it is. I’d rather stay bored than deal with this!”

However, it seems like luck wasn’t on my side this time. The screeching got louder and louder with every second. “I have to make a fire or something or I’m going to die here!”

Quickly grabbing my supplies I took out some wooden sticks that I prepared just for this. I threw them down on the grass and put some dry grass and twigs on top. Taking out a piece of flint and steel I started trying to light a fire.

“Come on, ignite. I don’t wish to die here, especially from butterflies.”

Finally the dry grass ignited and the fire grew, to slow for my liking. The screeching noise was all around me and I could swear I could see red dots everywhere within my field of vision.

Luckily the fire started to grow and increased in size. The flames blazed brightly, making the butterflies look even more beautiful and deadly. It’s like the butterflies could kill you just alone with their beauty.

The flock of butterflies surrounded me and the fire, fluttering around me and producing horrible screeching noises. I was seriously going to get a headache from all the noise.

Anxiously, I walked around the fire not knowing what to do. The fire will eventually run out and there won’t be much that I could do. There was no way I would be able to survive… unless I use the herbs and material that I got from the beast i slew in the forest. Just that one thought sent dread through me. There was no way I was going to use my money as fuel. Everything I’m caring right now was probably around one gold coin! This definitely was something that I can't use for fuel.

I walked and walked around the fire lost in my own thoughts, not even realizing that it was getting bigger. When I finally noticed the fire was humongous. The nearby grass had caught fire and the fire started to spread exponentially.

“Crap! Why didn’t I think about this when I was lighting the fire? In the first place, who the heck light a fire in the middle of a grassfield? Well… I guess I was trying not to die, but still… this will definitely spread.

I quickly ran up to my horse , took out one of the sticks and put one side into the fire to light it up. When it set on fire I got on the horse and charged forward, waving the torch around to repel the swarming butterflies.

I rode my horse through the swarming mobs of butterflies, all I could see around me was a field of red. Some butterflies would crash into me, hitting me in the face and everywhere else on my body. The butterflies were trying to escape from the fire to which resulted in me traveling inside the swarm.

I waved my torch around to shoo them away. I rode through the darkness to who knows where with a raging fire behind me and an endless swarm of butterflies surrounding me wherever I was.

After what felt like countless hours the sun finally peeked out from the horizon. The bright rays of the morning sun pierced through the mist causing the screeching of the butterflies to get even louder than before. My ears started to ring from the loud noise and it felt like my head was going to split from the loud screeching. If this continues for any longer I will probably go deaf or insane.

Luckily, the butterflies started to fly away from me and the rays of the sun, most likely looking for somewhere to hide. Now that I think about it… just where do these butterflies come from? There is nothing but grass here. Deciding that there were more important things at hand, like running away from the sea of flames that was behind me. I hit the reigns of my horse, telling it to run faster.

The horse increased it’s speed, finally gaining some distance from the raging flames behind us. I let out a sigh in relief but didn’t relax quite yet. The horse won’t be able to run at this speed forever, eventually it will tire out and get slower. If I don’t take breaks I can wear the horse out to the death and I can’t afford to do that. Especially when I still have around a week of the trip.

I decided to run at full speed a little while longer to get a bigger distance from the fire. The horse ran forward at full speed like it’s life depended on it. After a few minutes of running I could see a river running perpendicularly to me. That means that the fire will stop and I won’t feel as much guilt for burning down such a huge area of the plains. A small smile appeared on my face from the thought.

After getting a few meters closer a huge smile appeared on my face. There was a river running perpendicularly to me! That means that the fire will stop and I won’t feel as much guilt for burning down such a huge area of the plains.

I slowed down my horse and rode up to the river. Seeing as my horse was kind of tired I decided to let rest up. I looked back from where we came from to see huge columns of smoke rising into the air in the far distance. A sense of guilt washed over me as I watched the smoke rising into the air. Even though I felt guilty there was nothing I could do about it. I turned around and filled up some of my empty water pouches.

After finishing getting all the water I sat down by the river and looked around. A bit farther down the river there were some weird creatures. The creatures before me looked like… a cow? It had the same body type of a cow, however instead of having two horns it had two thick big ones like a rams on the side and one pointed one in the middle like a unicorn.

Is this a cross-breed between a unicorn and a cow or something? I felt shivers run down my spine form just imagining how that would work. “I really hope that’s just a weird breed of a cow” I voiced out my thoughts in a whisper.

I observed the weird cows. The cows just simply grazed the grass by the river, not caring even a bit that I was here. I sighed, must be nice to not having to worry about anything but eating, sleeping and reproducing. Such a simple life, yet at the same time it looks so boring.

Even though it was an easy one I wouldn’t want one like it. It just feels like you are living out your days with nothing to do. That just didn’t feel right to me. I had a feeling that there was more to life than just those three simple things.

Relaxing for a bit more and observing the weird cows I decided that it was time to head out.

One week had past from the day of the great fire that I created in the plains. I could see the smoke in the distance for almost the whole time that I was travelling through the plains. Only after I exited the plains and entered the main road towards Prares that I could no longer see the smoke.

Finally, today I had reached the capital. The city was enormous and beautiful. The stood high and mighty, towering around the city. Looking in either direction you couldn’t see the end of them.

The inside of the city was even more astonishing, hundreds of people swarmed the streets. Merchants and shop owners advertised their goods, fighting over the customers. I walked the streets of the city admiring everything I saw while trying to find a inn that wasn’t overpriced yet in a good enough condition to spend a night.

Eventually, I managed to find a inn that wasn’t to pricy and not to run down. It was called Black Rabbit. The price for one night was two silver coins and one silver coin for the horse, which was surprisingly not as expensive as I thought it would be, but it was still not a cheap price given my current savings.

Paying for a week worth of stay I recieved my room key and headed upstairs to find my room. I found my room pretty easily and opened the door. The room was rather simple. There was a bed in one corner with a small cabinet and a desk in the other. I put my bags on the ground by the desk and looked around to find the bedsheets.

I found the bed sheets inside one of the cabinet drawers and took them out. They looked a bit old and kind of run out which wasn’t really surprising given the inn’s conditions. I set up my bed and went downstairs to get a proper meal. Eating dried meat the whole time made me kind of sick of it so I wanted to eat a proper meal for once.

After eating my meal I asked the innkeeper where I could find the mercenary guild, grabbed the items i wanted to sell and headed off to find it. On the way there I got lost a few times and had to ask for directions but finally I was standing in front of a huge building.

The building was made out of stone and was three stories high. Their entrance doors were twice the normal size Above the doors hang a big sign that read Mercenary Guild in big red letters.

Admiring the building I prepared myself mentally before walking in. Inside the mercenary building there were people everywhere. Some were sitting and eating with their friends, some were standing by what looked like a mission board, and the rest were walking somewhere or talking to one of the people behind the counter.

There were five people behind the counter. I walked up to a women that was behind the counter , “Hi, I’d like to register for the Mercenary Guild.”

The women that was sitting behind the counter looked me over before speaking, “How old are you?” I frowned slightly when she asked me my age..

“I’m thirteen. Is there an age requirement to join?” I asked a bit nervously. On the way to Prares it was my birthday and I finally turned thirteen but I wasn’t sure if there was an age requirement.

The women looked at me strangely, “there isn’t really an age requirement, but don’t you think that you are a bit young? Can you even hold a sword?” she asked me suspiciously and with a hint of mockery.

I glared at her, “look I don’t want to be rude or anything, but didn’t anyone ever tell you to not judge someone by how the look?”

The women frowned before flashing me a cold and fake smile. I must of had pissed her off. “You’re right, I’m sorry. If you wish to sign up the registration fee is twenty silver coins.”

I took out twenty silver pieces and handed them to her. She took them and gave me a wooden badge with a crescent symbol on it.

“This is your identification for the guild. Try not to lose it because you will have to pay a fee to receive a new one. your current rank within the guild is the lowest and you can only take certain missions. The better your rank is the more mission are available to your choosing. To rank up you need to earn a certain amount of points which you can earn by completing missions. Do you have any questions?”

“Not really, I just want to know where you can buy and sell items.”

“That will be on the second floor, the stairs are on the far right” I thanked her and walked away. I already disliked her. She didn’t know anything about me and dared to mock me and judge me. Then, when I tell her that it’s rude to judge people she starts to hate me. Just how stuck up is she?”

I looked around for the stairs in the direction that she told me but there was nothing but a wall. “Asshole,” I cursed in my mind. I asked one of the people nearby where the stairs were and guess what? They were on the freaking other side of the room! Now I definitely hated that women.

After locating the stairs I went up. The second floor wasn’t that different except there were two counters. One for selling items and the other for buying. I walked up to the selling counter and put my items on top, which consisted of a few herbs, some of the spider parts and a few animal hides that I gained on the way from encounters with some of the beasts.

The person examined the items, took them and handed me thirty silver coins. I looked at the money, I honestly expected to earn more, but for something so easy I guess it makes sense. Hurriedly I took the money and walked up to the buying counter to see what kind of items there were.

Unlike the selling counter which was very similar to the registration counter, the buying counter had items laid out on it. There were a few weapons, some here's, a few liquids, armor and some other items. I looked around, but didn’t find anything I wanted and decided that it was about time to head back.

I walked back down stairs and out of the Mercenary building. When I arrived back at the inn I ate a quick meal and went back up to my room, before falling asleep as soon as I laid down.