After remaining in Karl"s camp for two more days, the third was upon them and it was time to set out north. Huginn relayed Asha"s reports as promised, though would not divulge the location of the elven city to Val. He was not expecting the raven to do so, but it was an amusing way to pa.s.s the time, angering the old bird with meager, disingenuous attempts to bribe him.Asha herself had been up and about in the surroundings, scouting and even hunting small game as some form of earning her keep. Val had not witnessed her hunts, but she definitely had impressive hunting skills, producing a few hares and another deer, all in pristine condition, to contribute to Karl"s stock of food.
Karl busied himself with his new longhouse, having finished the entirety of the frame and beginning to build walls and roofing with remarkable efficiency. By the current progress rate, Val was sure the next time he returned there would be a nearly complete longhouse lacking only ornamentation if anything. Had he not known the old man was a G.o.d, even if in a weakened state, he would have lost his jaw to the ground seeing him haul logs a dozen meters long like they were made of light foam.
The productive couple of days even brought Val a little guilt, having done nothing else but focus on his own training, still, no one seemed to mind and the notion that he would only be useful to them if he could handle himself capably put his concerns to rest. In fact, Karl had expressed nothing but his desire for Val to grow more comfortable with his powers and gain strength, almost suspiciously so. Val was sure the old G.o.d was hiding something from him, or at the very least was concerned for his safety in the coming days.
"Here, I"ve prepared some rations for the road, enough to last you all a few days." Karl handed him a large canvas rucksack that had been stuffed with food, it seemed he had prepared both the hares and the deer, along with a generous amount of bread. Val still had a handful of canned goods left and even a couple army rations he had acquired from his trip to the survivors, but was grateful nonetheless.
"Thanks, this will help a lot."
"Be careful on the road." Karl had a serious look in his eye as he seemed to study something far off in the distance.
"Worried about something?"
"Huginn reported some troop movement, the Aurulians, seems they are also eager to get a lay of the land."
"Speaking of which, your clothes, we"ll need to replace them." Asha walked over, as she intruded on the conversation.
"What"s wrong with my clothes?"
"Your magic aura says you are one of their own, your clothes say you are unknown. The dwarves won"t care, the Aurulians might, we"re still not sure the cause of the war and don"t know how they"ll respond."
"Aren"t you guys allied anyway? What"s the issue?"
"Allied or not, a native of the Barren World is a valuable a.s.set to any country right now. The information they could get from you and your people is priceless."
"Oh good, I"ll keep that in mind when we discuss my payment later." Val smirked, but Asha simply narrowed her emerald gaze on him.
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"We will avoid any troops until we can fix your attire. Let"s hope they simply take you for an eccentric fascinated with mortal clothing, if we do run into them. I"m on official business, worst case scenario, you are my captive." Val could swear he saw an devious smile curl up for an instant on her face.
*Evil elves… I"ll remember this too when we talk payment.* Val was still not sure what would be good to ask for, but his greed was growing in proportion to a mental list he was making.
"Let"s head out, better we cover as much ground during the day as we can. We have a day and a half trip ahead of us." Asha instructed, donning her cloak and heading out.
"Hold up, let"s go this way, I"ve got wheels by the road, we can get there in a three or four hours." Asha looked at him curiously, somewhat in disbelief but she followed him regardless.
. . .
"Hey, how do you know our language anyway?" Val asked the elf; the group was nearly through the woods, having spent the greater part of an hour conversing while walking.
"Your language isn"t difficult, the Aurulians speak virtually the same language, if anything yours is just a more concise and less structured version. Besides, you don"t need to speak the same language to communicate effectively."
"Huh?"
"You really aren"t from our world… Speak less with words and more with your will, magic in the air will convey your intention clearly to any magic capable creature with intelligence. One of magic"s characteristic properties is its ability to be receive and convey your will upon the world, the same can work with speech. In time this will feel second nature, even children are capable of it, your mind will receive meaning, your brain will do the rest, binding familiar words to conveyed intention. The brain has a funny way of bending the truth to see what it wants to see and hear what it wants to hear." Asha casually explained.
Muninn chirped up from his shoulder. "Most of the world communicates in this way, if you listen carefully they may speak different languages but communicate just fine. When magic was lost from the world, mortal men could not speak to each other the way they used to, this is where the "Confusion of Tongues" came from."
*Huh, guess it makes some sense now if the World Fission event started with the Tower of Babel…*
"I don"t suppose you have any idea why any of this even happened?" Val asked.
"None, if it was another ploy by the G.o.ds, they have not said anything. If you"re asking whether we were involved, I a.s.sure you there was no reason for us to do so. If anything we would have tried to prevent it."
"You would have wanted to prevent it?" Val"s raised brows conveyed his surprise.
"I do not believe the world will return to anything remotely like yours or ours when the dust settles. There will either be a golden age for all, as your people"s path of development collides with ours, or a devastating war."
"Believe me, we don"t need magic if we want to start such a war." He casually remarked.
"That is why it"s so dangerous, I suspect Odin only lightly touched on this detail, but the crusade against mankind destroyed much of the world in the process." Asha looked deep in thought, perhaps still mulling over the briefly described tank Val had mentioned a few nights ago.
"Well, we"ve had our fair share of worrying about a war to end all wars, I"d like to believe the people from my world don"t want to start one."
They reached the road a few moments later, Val"s bike faithfully remained where it was parked, undisturbed save for the elements.
"This is not a wagon or a carriage, what is this machine? I"ve seen a few like it on my way here." Asha leveled a suspicious gaze to him.
"It is not, it"s much faster and more effective considering the condition of some of the roads, it"s a motorcycle, but you"ll hear it often referred to as simply a bike." Val was busying himself transferring his rucksack to the saddlebags.
"You know how to operate this?" Suspicion turned to curiosity as she watched Val push the bike up onto the road and settle onto the seat.
"I do." Val turned the key and the bike thrummed to life, almost seeming eager to zoom down the road.
Asha flinched, almost reflexively covering her ears to the noise. "That is far too loud! We"ll attract everything a mile around with that noise!"
Val was not taking her complaints seriously, instead he had a smirk on his face, amused at her reaction. "Relax, even if we do, no one will be able to catch up to us and we can always ditch the roads if we have to. Hop on, you can ride bi— err, you can sit behind me." He patted the pillion just behind him, inviting her up. Muninn took to her usual spot and Huginn took off to the sky, keeping an eye out for dangers along the road.
"I think I"d rather walk." The elf rebuked, whether she disliked the motorcycle itself or the idea of riding along at his mercy, Val was not sure.
"Don"t be difficult, we"ll get there in a few hours if everything goes smoothly, honest. And besides, you wanted to learn about these machines anyway, didn"t you? Better to experience firsthand how far we mortals have taken the wagon." Val grinned.
"…Fine." The elf relented, mounting the bike and awkwardly placing her hands at his waist. Val himself was new to the sensation, he tried not to think about it, it was a bit pleasant, but he was feeling a bit warm in the ears.
"Hang on, I"ll go slow at first but once we hit clear out into open road I"m gonna gun it. We"ll be traveling faster than a horse at full sprint." Despite his promise, he throttled the engine and took off down the road abruptly, staying under twenty miles an hour but still causing the elf to yelp in surprise and grab onto him with much less reserve. Muninn as usual seemed to simply enjoy the rustling of wind along the top of her head without needing to work her wings.
"Tell me about this place we"re going!" Val shouted over the wind, they had reached the interstate and were coasting along a little over sixty. Asha had an uncomfortably strong grip around his waist and was trying to bundle up her cloak and long black hair tightly with the other, to keep them from billowing and whipping about in the wind.
"It"s a dwarven stronghold, Kar Lodihr, up in a hilly valley, near a large lake!"
*Hmm? There"s only one place that fits that description… Lakeport?* Val zoomed down the interstate, though partially broken in some spots, it seemed the 101 interstate had survived for the most part.
Val spied Huginn returning towards them in the sky. He pulled over and rolled to a stop, Asha poked her head out from behind him, following his gaze.
"How"s it look?" Val called to the approaching raven.
"Clear, for the most part, the troops in question are further to the East, I may have been mistaken about their intentions."
"What do you mean?" Val raised a curious eyebrow.
"It"s a group of knights, mostly, and chaplains, it appears they are fighting the ghouls and performing funerary rites to send off the lost souls. Reconnaissance and looting do not appear to be their objective." The bird explained.
"That"s good for us, isn"t it?"
"It is, we should not encounter them if we stick to this road. I also spotted some peculiarities I had not noticed before. Some of your towns and cities are replaced completely, as if they never existed, there are villages and towns belonging to the Aurulians in their stead."
"Huh? You mean like… The towns of the magic world just overwrote ours?"
"Overwrote? I suppose that"s one way to think about it if you were to look at a map."
"What about the people who lived there previously?"
"If they had not evacuated, they are likely gone, this might explain some of the death count that the disasters do not cover. But the peculiar part is I suspect the merging only did this in cases where two distinct areas existed in the same spot. I spotted an interesting town where they are somewhat combined. The ruins of your people"s construction and the intact town are now joined as if to extend the town itself." The raven explained.
"Weird, why didn"t we see any of that down south?"
Huginn seemed to shrug. "Coincidence perhaps, there may be a reason the Bay was avoided, with no settlements by the Aurulians or Dwarves, it would simply go untouched by the merging."
"Asha, you know anything about the Bay?"
"Not in particular, no, we ourselves are much further north, but I do not recall anyone living down there. There wasn"t much reason to, it was a peninsula of little interest, swamplands and other areas difficult to build on. Why your people built such a large city on it is beyond me." Val was not sure what to make of it all, but it was true that building down there was not easy, significant parts of the city were built on landfill and other artificial ground. Earthquakes in the area had caused some buildings to literally sink slightly over time.
"Well, a mystery for another time, if the way is clear then let"s hurry on to Kar Lodihr." Val suggested as he put the bike in gear and continued along the road.