“Kind of, it's the only city we have.”
“Just one city? It must be huge to hold all of your people.”
“Yeah, compared to what humans have here in Rhea. But I guess it's not really fair since we've been here for ages and you humans made your first settlement...what was it, a little over a hundred years ago?”
“I’m not exactly sure,” Sara answered. “A hundred and fifty years, I think.”
“No way,” Leon said. “It can’t be older than me. I remember seeing the first human settlers.”
“What?! You don't look a day past twenty-five.”
“I’m a hundred and forty-three.” Leon said. “And you?”
“I just turned twenty-one a few weeks ago,” Sara said. “Do all Vesuvians age that slowly?”
“Pretty much,” Leon said, breaking several small branches in his path.
There was a brief moment of silence as Sara continued to follow. “How old do Vesuvians live?”
“Good question. No one really knows.”
“You're telling me no Vesuvian has ever died of old age? How is that?”
“Well, the oldest one is maybe two thousand years old.”
“So every Vesuvian that came before him died of unnatural causes?”
“Yup,” Leon answered. “And please don't ask me to explain all the different ways a Vesuvian can die. But I can tell you the eldest Vesuvian to ever live, an Orlok, died shortly before humans first stepped foot on Rhea.”
“What's an Orlok?” Sara asked.
“One of the Vesuvian Houses, and now that I remember, an Orlok can be younger than me and still look ugly as sin. They start out fine, but they go downhill fast.”
Sara laughed. “That bad, huh? How many Houses are there?”
“Seven.”
“That's it? Which one do you belong?”
At that moment Leon stopped in front of a narrow, five-foot deep ditch with a small stream running through it. He hopped down and extended a helping hand to Sara.
Ignoring the offer, Sara hopped down as well.
Leon shrugged and skipped over the narrow stream before making a scarcely believable eight foot leap up to the other side of the ditch.
It wasn't until Sara crossed the stream that she realized the difficulty of the obstacle in front of her.
Leon knelt down and again extended his hand.
This time Sara accepted, and with a quick pull by Leon, she was up on the other side of the ditch. As Leon turned to move on, Sara gripped his hand tight and pulled. “Which House?” she asked.
Leon gently pulled away. “All of them,” he said.
After several hours of travel, Sara and Leon came to a small clearing and stopped.
Sara was becoming exhausted. Stretching her legs, she could see several small buildings across the clearing, and noticed dusk was fast approaching.
“There's the outpost,” Leon said, still looking as fresh as when they journey started. “You can rest up there.”
“Leon, you're not tired?” Sara asked.
“Not really,” Leon answered, walking toward the outpost with Sara close behind.
“I hope your beds are comfy.”
“Just let me do the talking.”
When they reached the outpost, Leon knocked on the door.
A small peephole slid open and a male voice with an accent spoke. “What you’s doing here?!”
“I’m escorting this human to see the Council,” Leon said.
“What's the matter? Ya lost?”
“The human needs rest.”
The peephole slammed shut and the door opened. Standing before Leon was a grungy-looking man of similar height, with braided hair down to the shoulders. Sara could see both of his arms were covered with tattoos. “Come in,” he said, stepping aside.
Leon entered and quickly looked around. “You alone?”
“Yeah,” the Vesuvian guard said, and then sitting at a table with cards laid out.
Sara entered, making sure to stick close to Leon as she examined the dimly lit room.
Leon pointed. “The bed is right over there.”
“Thanks,” Sara said, then walking over and sat at the edge of the bed.
Leon sat across from the guard, who was busy playing with the cards.
“What’s the Council want with a human?” the guard asked.
“Not much,” Leon said. “With everything that's going on, they want to see if they can help.”
The guard laughed. “Help? Them?”
Sara ignored the insult.
“I take it you haven't met many humans,” Leon said, watching the guard play. “They're full of surprises.”
“I'm sure,” the guard said.
Sara sat, rubbing her legs, though never taking her eyes off the Vesuvians.
“How far have you gotten?” Leon asked of the game. “I've never been able to win.”
The guard stifled a laugh. “Everyone knows that. You still got the fastest record for using all your moves at Nella’s Pub.”
Sara noticed Leon shift as if he wasn't too comfortable, and that made her uncomfortable.
“Tell you what,” Leon said to the guard. “Why don't you take the night off? I'll cover for you.”
The guard looked at Leon for a moment. “You got no bloody argument here.” He stood up and walked out.
Leon walked to the door and locked it.
“He wasn't too friendly,” Sara said.
Leon shrugged and lay on a bed across the room.
Sara lay down also. “I thought you weren't tired,” she said.
“Sleep saves energy,” Leon responded.
Sara yawned. “Good night, Leon.”
“Good night,” Leon said before dozing off for several hours.
At some point in the middle of the night, Leon began to constantly shift in bed, making small grunting noises. Before long, he woke sitting upright, sweating and out of breath. He looked at Sara, only to find her staring at him. She was halfway out of bed with her halo in hand.
“Bad dream?” Sara asked.
Leon wiped the sweat off his forehead. “Yeah.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The sun had just risen when Sara and Leon left the outpost.
“If you don't mind, what were you dreaming of last night?” Sara asked.
“Nothing really, just fighting old battles,” Leon said, leading the way into the forest. “I think it's my turn to ask a few questions.”
“Go ahead.”
“Where did you humans come from?”
“Our land is called Gaia. It's a beautiful place. We have every type of terrain and weather you can imagine. The land stretches forever in all directions. New Haven is considered a medium-sized city over there.”
“If you have so much land, why did you come here?”
Sara paused. “I'm sure there's still a lot of land in Gaia that can be settled, but most of the cities were getting crowded fast. People began to think the only way we would survive is by expanding. We’ve settled a few islands at least, but nothing that comes close to Rhea. If it were vacant, we’d probably have a dozen cities here instead of three.”
Both of them suddenly stopped at the sound of some rustling.
“What was that?” Sara whispered, drawing her equinox.
“Trouble,” Leon said grabbing his staff, twisting one end and unsheathing the nearly two and a half-foot long blade inside.
“What kind?”
“Four arms and big teeth. That kind.”
“A Rhean Monkey?” Sara asked.
“If that's what you wanna call it,” Leon said, without even a second to dodge what he just described.
The Rhean Monkey came swinging at him feet-first from the side of the tree. Holding onto the tree with its two left arms, it roared at Leon.
“Look out!” Leon shouted, pointing above Sara's head.
Sara ducked just in time to avoid the three-clawed hand of another monkey. She drove her equinox into its eye and broug
ht it crashing down.
Leon was just about to swing his sword at the first one when it suddenly leaped at him along with a third from behind. He stabbed the first one through the heart, killing it instantly. The other, however, got a good hold of him, slashing and tearing with its claws and biting down on his shoulder.
Leon growled in pain as he reached back and grabbed the monkey. With his incredible strength, he pulled it off and threw it hard against a tree.
The monkey staggered, unable to recover before Leon sliced its head off.
“Leon, are you hurt?” Sara asked, watching any wound on him quickly heal.
“I'll be fine,” Leon answered. “Stay on your toes. These things usually travel in groups of about a dozen.”
At that moment Sara realized several monkeys surrounded them. One suddenly roared, setting the others in a frenzy.
Leon didn't wait. He ran at one and stabbed it through the ribs. Another jumped at him. In an instant, Leon was behind it, impaling it through the back.
Sara was amazed at the speed with which Leon was able to dodge. Four monkeys began to close in on her fast. Not wanting to get surrounded, Sara quickly ran towards one, thrusting the equinox into its neck. With no time to pull the equinox out, she grabbed the halo and swung it, slicing a second down the middle.
Leon used his incredible speed to intercept one of the monkeys and slice two of its arms off, before slashing its neck.
Sara quickly pulled the equinox out of the monkey’s neck and hurled it straight into the last one's chest.
The monkey instantly dropped dead on its back.
Leon scanned the area using his Vesuvian senses. “I think that was all of them.”
Sara retrieved the equinox. “Better not lose this. Arthur will kill me.”
“How are you?” Leon asked.
“My heart's pounding.”
“We have to move. Vesuvia isn't that much further.”
After several minutes jogging, Sara asked. “How often do you run into those things?”
“This is only the second time I’ve ever had to kill one.”
“Only the second time?!”
“Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't normally travel this slowly through the forest. I would have just run away if I was alone.”
Sara was beginning to get winded. “Yeah, I saw how fast you moved. That was insane.”
“'Insane' is walking through this forest.”
“What can I say? I trained for it.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m hardly impressed with human survival skills. Sometimes it just seems like desperation.”
“Okay, slow down,” Sara insisted.
Leon stopped. “Sorry.”
Sara took a few deep breaths. “You're like a machine or something. How do you not get tired?”
“It's in the blood,” Leon said. “As long as I have enough, I won't go crawling around like a drunkard.”
After a few seconds, Sara composed herself.
“Should be safe now,” Leon said. “We can walk from here.”
They continued on side-by-side in a casual stroll.
“What are these Pelasgians like?” asked Sara.
Leon pushed through some brush. “Let's just say you've got about as many different types of Pelasgians as Vesuvian Houses. You've got ones with wings, ones with horns and even ones with four feet, but that’s getting into specifics. Generally their skin is a pasty light grayish color and everything else is black. Except the eyes – those are green with a faint glow.”
“Any weaknesses?”
“As far as anyone knows, sunlight.”
“Like a Vesuvian?”
“It won’t kill them, but they don't seem to like it. Besides that, they're vulnerable to any weapon you've got.”
“Do they have any special abilities?”
“Usually not.”
Sara scratched her neck. “Sounds like they shouldn't be too much trouble.”
Leon chuckled. “Most of Rhea thought the same of you humans. The Pelasgians fight like they live for it. They’re physically imposing and their numbers are anyone's guess. We barely managed to drive them back.”
“They invaded Rhea before?” Sara asked.
“Yes, and they would have won if every Rhean hadn't joined together. We lost a lot of good people in that war. Many call it the Dark Era.” He paused for a moment. “You could say we got lucky.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
After a few hours of traveling, Sara noticed that night seemed to come much sooner than usual. Before long, she and Leon finally emerged from the forest. They stood at the edge of a huge valley.
Sara couldn't believe her eyes. A city much bigger than any she had ever seen or heard of lay within the valley, with an enormous cloud blocking out the sun. At various points in the distance she spotted what looked like the tallest watchtowers on the planet. Further off, she could barely see the silhouette of the massive, taller buildings.
“Welcome to Vesuvia,” Leon said.
“How big is this place?” Sara asked.
“We need to get to the center. Walking, it'd take about three days.”
Sara grabbed Leon by the arm. “Three days just to reach the center?! Gaia’s largest city is just a day from one end to the other.”
“That's because you humans like to spread yourselves around, but lucky for us we aren’t walking.”
“Horses?”
“Don't have anything like those. You'll see. Follow me,” Leon said, leading Sara to a nature-made path into the valley. Several Vesuvian guards watched as they passed by and entered the city.
For Sara, it was entering unknown territory, and it was a little exciting for her. Vesuvians stared at her as if it was the first time they'd ever seen a human, and for most, it was.
The area had a country-like feel to it, with animals Sara had never seen before wandering around pens just off the dirt path.
A Vesuvian farmer, a woman with tattoos on her arms and face, stepped out of a small shack nearby. She had a strange device in her hand and stuck it onto one of the farm animal's neck. The animal squealed for a second, and then went on about its business.
Sara could see a small container on the device collecting blood from the animal.
“Don't worry,” Leon said. “It'll be fine. These animals are much more valuable alive than dead, so they're very well taken care of.”
“You farm them for blood?” asked Sara.
“Yes, the farmers store it, or turn it into something harder like a blood marble to carry around.
Sara looked on at all the animals. “How much do you have to drink to live?”
“On a full stomach we can live for years, but when we use it to do things you humans find impossible, it's a rare commodity.”
“So blood is everything. Without it, you couldn’t move so fast, or lift heavy stuff.”
“Among other things, pretty much,” Leon said.
“Has it ever been a problem?”
“It wasn't called the Dark Era for nothing.”
One of the larger farm animals suddenly roared and burst through a pen like a bull, charging at Sara. It didn't have horns, but much of its body was covered in exoskeleton armor.
Sara froze. There was nowhere to run except back, but as fast as the animal was running there was no point.
Leon pulled Sara behind him.
The farmer quickly jumped the fence and ran between them and the animal. She stared at the oncoming animal, her eyes turning completely black. The animal skidded to an abrupt stop inches from plowing through the trio.
“Sorry 'bout that. Your smell’s a bit strange to him.” The farmer said, then following the animal back to the pen.
“You okay, Sara?” Leon asked. “You're shaking a little bit there.”
“And you're not?!” Sara said.
Leon gave a little shrug.
“How far till we pass all this?”
“Just a few minutes. The farms are only at
the outer edge of the city.”
Sara calmed herself as she walked with Leon. “How did that lady do that? That animal could have easily torn us apart.”
“She's a Liro,” Leon said. “They have a way with animals, not to mention they can turn into them, too.”
“But how can you tell exactly?”
“Aside from the fact it didn't kill her? Most Liros will be covered in tattoos. The shoulder-length hair and prickly attitude sealed the deal.”
“You can control animals?”
“Me? No, only thing I got from them was a semi-final form, which comes with heightened senses. I can't completely transform, though.”
“So, the House you're born into determines what abilities you have?”
“Yes, and even then it depends on age and practice.”
Sara looked behind and saw someone following a short distance, keeping a close eye on them. “Who's the escort?”
Leon kept his eye's forward. “What does he look like?”
“Like he eats too much red meat.”
“He's a Remia--extremely strong and extremely fast. A group of them can put a building up in no time!”
Sara noticed they were headed in the direction of a watchtower. The closer they got, the more unbelievably tall it seemed. “The Houses are that distinct, huh? Which House was Bekal from?”
“Kanara. They like to mess with your head.”
“What do you mean?”
“Bekal could have put you in a trance, maybe. Older members of the House can cause anything from hallucinations to memory loss to possession.”
“How can I tell when I see one?”
Leon thought for a moment. “It’s more difficult with them. Their outward appearance isn't influenced by their abilities.”
The closer they got to the watchtower, the harder it was for Sara to take her eyes off it. She could see a set of cables extending from the tower to another far off in the distance. “Leon, what in the world is this?”
“Remember when you asked how we would reach the center of the city?”
“I'm starting to wonder if I want to know.”
“Towers!”
Sara looked at Leon. “What?”
“We call'em towers.”
“That's original.” Sara shook her head.
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