Dawn- An age of Darkness

We often saw carriages. There weren't any specific roads but since almost all the carriages used the same route, it did form some sort of a primitive road.

The carriages had some lizards pulling through. The creatures were similar to the drakes we saw in Dracona but maybe just inferior. They were rather bulky though- almost like they had to pull too much weight or something. To me, they were basically just oversized salamanders. 

The carriages were mostly full of things and people, and they were actually going away from the city. So, they were useless to us. 

"Nobles." The girl began. "They packed their wealth and now are abandoning the people."

"The privileged are always privileged. That's the way of the world."

She almost chuckled. She didn't say anything and we kept going. 

We set up camp in the open, beside the road before midnight. If we'd kept going, we could have reached the gates in maybe an hour or two. But the girl was too tired, and I felt responsible. 

"Why did you decide to help me?" She began. 

"isn't that a bit too late to ask?" I threw woods at the fire. 

"It is. You said you didn't have anything to gain from this. And you also said you aren't doing this for the sake of helping, you're not interested in my body and I don't have anything of value to give you, so why-"

"Information. And besides, you gave me your blood and guided me. That's good enough, for now."

She was quiet. Too quiet. 

I looked behind and well, she was asleep. I guess she really was too tired. 

'Why am I helping you, huh?'

Honestly, even I didn't know. 

I did reason that helping her and getting information was the best way to move forward but, that was an excuse. 

So, in the end, I still didn't know. 

Maybe I was trying to be human?

I just stared at the moon, drank my cup of almost fresh duck blood, and sighed. 

***

"We can see the city just past the hill," The girl said, walking ahead. 

We were walking pretty much on flat ground. And yet, she mentioned a hill?

I didn't quite understand that- at least not for the next three minutes. 

But when I did see it- I understood. 

"Whoa!"

The city didn't have walls. 

Rather, the ground itself was the walls. 

There was a massive crater and inside the crater was the city. The ground below was pretty much three-four floors deep. 

The houses were mostly just plain old stone or wood or even clay houses. I saw plenty of holes in the walls- quarters.

"How do we get down?"

Sliding and gliding were also options but I had a feeling we'd attract way too much attention. 

Besides, there wasn't much of a slope. It was just straight down. 

"This way." 

We started circling the city. I guess there was an entrance somewhere. 

"You do have a plan on how to get in, right?"

"Yes."

Well, that was good to know. 

Otherwise, we'd have to cause trouble from the get-go. 

We had to walk for about half an hour and even then, we didn't quite see any openings or anything in particular. 

"How do people get up from there?"

"Most don't. We can't leave the city- as per the lord's order. Only the nobles are permitted. When they do want to leave, earth magic users are required to build bridges for them, or, they hire demons or monsters who could fly."

Well, that was a drag.

"But does that mean the city is self-sufficient?"

"We are. In the past, it wasn't uncommon for people to starve for five-six days at a time, now we only starve two days if things are really dire. We also get rations from the kingdom twice a year, so it's much better."

Yeah, that didn't sound that great.

We were quite high but I could see the fields. The crops were kind of malnourished and the people that walked around, weren't quite happy. 

I guess that had more to do with the war than food shortages, but I couldn't be too sure of that. 

"Any particular reason for the lack of trades and all that?"

If they wanted, they could have always just made roads and all that, though I'd imagine, that'd cost a lot.

Besides, most demons had wings. Though the term 'demon' at this point was just a stereotype. 

"The Meriath faction isn't really that well regarded in Galbatia. Hence, we're boycotted everywhere we go…"

I suppose that's what they got for looking out for themselves.

Anyway, we kept on walking and about another half an hour later, finally reached a checkpoint. Though it was a checkpoint of sorts with maybe three-four soldiers it wasn't what I was expecting. Frankly, this place didn't seem like a demon city. After all, the demons weren't like the ones who'd attacked me. These guys did have wings and horns and all that but the numbers were low and most were just demi-humans. Some were black, some were brown, others were fairly fair. A mix I hadn't seen anywhere else. 

The clothes of the people though, were mostly just rags and they didn't have much cloth. Even the soldiers barely had any armor. 

'Then how the hell did this woman get that fancy-looking armor?'

The sorry state of this place was kind of helping me understand, why demons raided human villages in the first place. 

Honestly, my expectations were wholeheartedly betrayed. 

"Halt! State your business!"

We stood before the soldiers. 

There wasn't anyone behind us, but there were quite a few people on the other side, trying to get out. 

There were no gates, just a flimsy road leading down, quite the slope. I almost felt bad about the lizards which were doing all the pulling. 

"Just some adventurers," I said. 

"Adventurers?" One of them spat on the ground. "We're going to war and you lot just having fun?" He clicked his tongue. 

Oh yeah, very fun.

"Sorry pal, this is what we do," I said.

They started laughing. "Yeah, going out hunting, sleeping out in the wilderness." He eyed the girl next to me. "Doing it in front of monsters and animals, real fun!" Their laughs were very disturbing. 

I was this close to just slicing them up and going inside but we had to play this cool. 

'They're just potatoes. Think of them as potatoes.'

"Such insolence!" The girl with me shouted. "And you call yourselves the soldiers of Starsh, mocking innocents!"

'Hey, hey.'

"That voice!" One of the soldiers cried out. "Captain, is that you!"

"Mollen!" The girl was excited. 

"This is great news guys!" The Mollen guy was also excited. 

"Yeah, very great news." The soldiers chuckled amongst themselves.

But yeah, judging by the looks of the other soldiers, it wasn't great news- at least not for us. 

"But I didn't think you were alive captain. I'm so glad!" Mollen said. 

"Yeah, but we don't have time to lose. Let us through; we have- wh-what are you doing?"

Arresting us, what else?

Sigh.