Xias
22nd Day of Winter
Xias took a deep breathe. He carried a feeling of deep relief with him, as if he had just done something that he had dreaded doing, but really needed to do. And, well, he had. He had finally abandoned the only home he had ever known, a merchant ship which had just left the port, and was finally out on his own for the first time in his life. He imagined that his mother and the captain would take at least a few hours to notice his absence, and his note, and by then they would be too far away to come back for him. He was utterly alone... Except for his dog, Crawdad, who he had stolen from that dickhead first mate.
He looked down. The dog looked equally excited to be there. Xias gently rubbed the mutt's head. Then, he looked around for a moment and thought about his next course of action. As he noticed the sun slowly approaching the horizon, he decided that finding a place to stay should be his first priority. He adjusted the pack he was carrying and walked onward. He had already gotten the information that there was an inn called the Kulkukan Tavern in the Third Tier, and preceded to walk that way.
It didn't take him long to spot the inn; it was busting with activity. The sun was mostly gone and casting long shadows on the ground. In fact, as he passed an alley on the way to the inn, he could have sworn he saw one of these shadows move. This caused him to hesitate for a moment. He stopped and looked down the alley, it was too dark to see anything clearly, but he craned his neck and looked closely at the darkness for a moment. Crawdad seemed confused by this pause and joined Xias in staring down the alley. When Xias noticed this, he chuckled and pat the dog's head.
"It's nothing," Xias assured the pooch with a smile.
He had looked down to pet the dog, and when he looked up he realized he was standing only six feet away from something, that is to say, certainly not nothing. Upon noticing the figure, Crawdad immediately started barking frantically. Xias could only identify the thing as a shadow, like of a person, but one that stood in front of him, instead of being cast on a surface. Xias responded to the threat in the only way that made sense to him: he bolted towards the inn, grabbing Crawdad by the collar. He dog made no resistance to the suggestion to run and the two made it to the well-lit inn quickly, where Xias allowed the door to shut behind them.
A woman, apparently the hostess, noticed the frantic pair and approached them. They hadn't run far, so Xias wasn't particularly out of breathe, but he didn't think he had ever been so afraid, and he was certain that this showed on his face.
"Are you alright?" the hostess asked Xias as he held his back to the door, holding it shut.
"I think, I uh, saw something out there," Seeing that the threat appeared to be gone, Xias tried to compose himself. He leaned away from the door, gave it another look, then looked out the front window. He didn't see anything. "Would you, um, happen to know anything about..." He paused, not sure how to ask the question, so instead, he asked another one. "A room for rent in this inn?"
The hostess hesitated for a moment, looking him over with concern. "Oh, well of course. Are you new here?" The hostess asked, she gestured for him to follow her toward the counter.
"Yeah, I've only just arrived in the city." Xias follow her towards the counter, trying to take in all the activity of the tavern.
"It's good that you've come here, it's not been that safe out there lately, with the tainted shadows roaming around," the hostess explained as she took her place behind the counter. She brought up the subject partially to talk, but also to try to see if perhaps that's what the boy had seen outside.
"A tainted shadow? I mean, that's something you just have roaming around here? If you just have scary shadows haunting your city, shouldn't you have notices posted everywhere? I nearly pissed myself when I saw that thing out there. You say they're dangerous?" Xias grabbed his head as he leaned on the counter and talked to her. "My name is Xias, by the way."
"I'm Chell," she said, courteously. "They just started appearing recently, they are dangerous, I've heard if they touch you they take away your ability to see colors ever again," she said, a great amount of concern in her voice.
"Dang..." Xias wondered for a moment what it would be like to never see colors again. To never see the color of the fish in the ocean, to never appreciate a rainbow ever again... Then he looked up. "I guess I won't stay in my tent, then. Can I get a room here for three nights? Just a small one. Also, can I get a beer?" |
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by Xias on January 7th, 2018, 8:04 pm 