Embrace The Ether

Hundreds of people could be seen moving about, their appearances ranging from the usual humanoid to anything but, while a slanted path carved its way directly through the slums toward the metal walls that kept the desert out.

"Wow, now I see where all that metal goes."

Droh tilted his head to the side as he glanced over at Deus in confusion, "What do you mean? It"s true the outer city is metal that"s been scavenged... but inside the walls, that metal and steel has been there since before the Iron Lord took control."

"Hold on, so how long has that wall been around? I don"t mean to offend... but it looks like an apocalypse has. .h.i.t."

Droh"s ear twitched as he looked ahead, "Apoco- what?"

"Heh, forget about it... so how old are these cities, anyway? Why wouldn"t the city lords change out the walls with something a bit more... I don"t know, updated? Secure?"

"From what Papa used to tell me, the grandmaster didn"t like it when the lords tore things down or put new thing"s back up. There"s a sort of unspoken rule I think... everything inside the walls has stayed the same for hundreds of years."

"Hundreds!? No wonder it looks like it"s on the verge of collapsing..." Deus mumbled to himself, "Oh right, so does that mean everything outside the wall... like those slums over there, they can be rebuilt?"

"Sure, since they"re not a part of the city itself. The thing is though that the grandmaster doesn"t recognize that as a part of the city either, so it"s not too safe. Inside the city is protected, but outside... well you"ve seen it."

"Right, outside the city everything turns into survival of the fittest. So, how do we go about entering?"

"Let me handle it, I know someone who works as a gatekeeper... just don"t get on his nerves, whatever you do."

Deus nodded his head in agreement, "Well that works out. So, you"ll lead the way, huh?"

"Of course, keep close to me, you never know who"ll try to grab you before we get inside. Oh! Make sure you don"t stare at people too much, they may think you"re testing them."

"People are that jumpy, huh?"

"It"s worse than you think... come on, let"s go."

The two slowly walked towards the slums of the city, finally stepping out of the black sand and onto a rough ashen stone. The slums quickly arrived all around them as they continued pa.s.sing through, ignoring the glances of everyone around them.

"Thankfully Droh even looks like a scavenger... otherwise, I would"ve probably gotten myself jumped by now."

"Hold on, is that Droh over there?! Hey Droh!" A hoa.r.s.e voice shouted from the wall, causing several eyes to land on both Droh and Deus in both curiosity and concern.

"Oh no..." Droh mumbled under his breath as his tail wrapped around his leg, his ears twitched to the side as he caught his breath and smiled, "Mister Mercer! I didn"t know you still worked the walls, it"s been a long time!"

The man named Mercer slowly approached the two of them with two of his fellow guards hanging back behind him, with a coy smile the man replied, "It"s definitely been quite a while. Oh yeah, I"m sorry to hear about you and Roland, a falling out between friends is always tricky... in fact, I"m surprised you came back here. What, you didn"t get enough of it last time, right? You"re definitely one brave kid."

"Heh heh. Right, Alright, look Mercer... what will it take for you to keep this all a secret? You know if Roland finds out... he"ll..."

"He"ll probably want your head, I know. Alright fine, since I"m such a good friend, and I don"t want to see one of my favorite pals getting skinned... how about you hear me out later, maybe, let"s say, we talk tonight down at Club Nova. I"ve got an offer you simply can"t refuse. It"ll be good to get out and stretch your legs, don"t you think?"

Droh hesitated for a moment as Mercer stared down at him, "...Fine Mercer, I"ll come as long as you don"t tell Roland."

"It"s a deal then, kid. See you tonight, don"t be late." Mercer laughed as he turned back around and walked off in another direction with the two guards who had accompanied him, heading down further into the slums.

Droh stood there for what seemed like an entire minute without speaking as if stuck in thought. Behind him, Deus spoke up in an attempt to draw him out of his daze, "Hey Droh, what was that all about?"

"...Oh." Head shaking, Droh finally looked up towards Deus who had, without realizing it, witnessed that entire exchange from the side. "Just business, don"t worry about it. Come on, we still need to find that friend of mine, right?"

"Are you sure you"re alright?"

"Heh, yeah. Just some old stuff coming back around, I"ll deal with it tonight probably. Hey, I"m pretty hungry so let"s hurry up."

"If you say so, alright."

With the conversation abruptly ended by Droh, the two continued on towards the wall in silence. "I"m curious who Roland is, but if I p.i.s.s Droh off enough and he leaves... I"ll be sort of stranded here without a d.a.m.n paddle. I should just be patient, maybe he"ll explain things after tonight."

Finally, inside the checkpoint, Droh started off with one of the other guards, occasionally laughing as Deus stood behind him, without a clue as to what was going on or what any of their jokes meant.

"Alright Droh, I just got an okay from Jasper, you"re good to go in, just don"t cause any trouble because we won"t bail you out."

"I know, I know. I"ll behave, don"t worry about a thing."

"By the way, who"s the friend? Some new scavvie or something?"

"Y-yeah, he"s not from here, so I"m showing him the ropes. That"s not an issue, is it?"

"Nah, since it"s you, we"re good... I a.s.sume you can vouch for him while he"s here? Does he know everything he needs to?"

"Sure I can vouch for him, and what do you mean does he know everything? I don"t think I missed anything..."

"Hah, I figured you"d be like that. Don"t worry, I"ll give him a quick rundown if you"d like since it"s you."

Droh smiled while his ears lightly flapped about, "Thanks, Jeffrey."

Deus stood there behind them both, clearly shocked at suddenly becoming the center of attention. "W-what"s going on?"

"Hey man, do you know what this place is called?"

"This place? You mean the Iron City?"

The security guard shook his head as his arms flew up toward the sky melodramatically as if some sort of inside joke, which caused both him and Droh to lightly chuckle between the two. "Alright, listen up guy. This place is indeed the City of Iron, but it"s got a name of its own, and it"s certainly not that. Just call this place Direfell."

"Direfell?" Deus mimicked as he looked down towards Droh, "That would"ve been helpful to know I imagine."

"Heh, that kid can be forgetful, don"t worry about it. You see, Direfell is one of the Northern cities, and as I"m hoping you"re aware, it exists as a neighbor to both Grimmoor, and Magerock... oh, and you can"t forget the war-state of Mythgarde. Be careful of that place if you ever go there, but I wouldn"t recommend it."

"War-state Mythgarde?"

"My G.o.d... you"re an idiot, aren"t you? No, sorry about that... but how is it possible you don"t know a d.a.m.n thing? You live in some hole in the desert all this while or something? You shouldn"t need Droh to spell out everything, right?"

"Uh, I"m just a bit forgetful... sorry about that."

Droh interrupted, "That"s fine Deus, this guy"s something of a political-buff, so he confuses his own knowledge with others... and always gets mad when no one else can keep up."

"It"s not my fault Droh that I like to keep up to date with who could invade and be the death of me, you know? Just because I"m a guard for the wall doesn"t mean I"m some brainless oaf like some of these other guys."

"Pardon me," Deus spoke up in question, "What do you mean invade and be the death of you? So Direfell is at war with another city?"

"Mhmm, we"ve been at constant war with Mythgarde for... well, d.a.m.n years by this point. Thankfully things are mostly calm now, but I used to hear about sudden bombings and raids being committed, which would almost always end in the deaths of several guards. I won"t let that happen to me, so I keep myself informed."

"Whatever Jeffrey, whatever. Come on Deus, we"ve got to go find something to eat before my meeting tonight. Oh right, thanks again for everything... I owe you one."

"Another one, you mean?"

"Heh, yeah another one."

"Wait, before you go in... aren"t you sort of forgetting something?" Jeffrey asked as his head tilted to the side in confusion.

Deus and Droh both stared back at Jeffrey in bewilderment. They didn"t think they were forgetting anything, but if Jeffrey was so adament about it, clearly it wasn"t wise to just ignore him. Deus asked in response to him, "What are you talking about?"

"Hah, you must be really distracted if you haven"t even noticed... you know... your lack of clothing..."

Jeffrey gestured towards Deus"s chest, which was bare, revealing his bizarre tattoos. "You can have one of my old shirts if you want, as a favor to Droh."

"If that"s the case..." Deus thanked Jeffrey for the gift as he pulled the thin grey tunic over himself, covering his markings. "Can"t believe I forgot about that... thanks for looking out for me."

"Heh, no worries. Hurry on in before the other guards decide to seal the doors shut again."

With that, both Deus and Droh moved beyond the checkpoint, having received permission to enter the city, they slowly walked past the wall"s security into Direfell, the City of Iron.