Yae's Journey 1

AN: This short series will help explore parts of the world and other races.


Ground! Ground at last! Sweet solid earth! Yae falls to her knees, feeling the gritty, sandy beach beneath her fingers.

"Safe. At. Last. Lost. Ones" T'Joak N'Glarl, the colossal shelled creature, says in its slow, methodical speech. T'joak has six massive flippers that stretch out from its shelled body with a relatively short rudder-like tail. It has a large head and a long neck that can retract into its shell if it needs to defend itself.

Three weeks after being exiled from the Nexus, they were attacked by a large sea monster, a long-bodied being that stretched out for kilometers, but just as it was about to eat them, T'joak N'Glarl saved them and killed the leviathan. It offered to take them to safety, and after a two-year-long journey, they are on land, land that stretched far beyond anything Yae had ever seen before. It is larger than even Temple Island, many, many, times larger; larger than even the entire Nexus.

Strange plants are growing all over the place. Tall plants that branch out with leaves covering it, small plants with large leaves, vines that drape from the tall plants. Mountains stand proud to the north while the forest lies further inland.

"City. To. The. North." T'joak says as it turns to head back into the ocean. "Peaceful. Safe. And. Welcoming," the creature slowly disappears under the waves, being almost as large as Temple Island itself; they had to use its neck and head as a ramp to get onto the land.

"We can gather our strength and allies at the city," Papuyo says. "We will reclaim our homeland, no matter what it takes!"

Their group is split into two factions now, Papuyo's faction, which seeks to go back to the Nexus, and the leaderless faction that Yae finds herself in, who recognizes the things they've done and has accepted their punishment. This is their life now, and they have to make the best of it, hopefully for better rather than worse.

Many people have had a long time to think about what they've done, and most who participated in the massacre of the elders regret what they've done and are with Yae. Most who joined after the war started still follow Papuyo. That is none of Yae's concern now; she's cut all ties with anyone in Papuyo's faction.

Yae Starts walking north, where a village should be. Many others follow, but Papuyo's faction stays behind to listen to her speech about taking back what's theirs and returning Myrou's faith, the same thing has been said a thousand times before, and Yae is finally glad to not hear it again.

They trek through the forest, finding a nearby river and following it further inland until they reach what looks like a dirt road well worn by years of travel. Yae looks to the others before stepping onto the road and following it.

Yae's group walks for many hours until a curious noise is heard nearby. It sounds like many people are walking while wearing metal armor. Yae looks to the others before quietly peeking around the corner of the road.

About twenty short warriors covered from head to toe in a dark green steel armor walk in formation. The armor seems to be molded around the warriors with no seams, joints, or any other indicator of any weaknesses in the armor. There aren't even holes for eyes or to breathe; it seems like they are entirely solid steel walking around, the green color helping to match the color of the plants around.

Before Yae can turn around to warn the others, they stop, and the head of the lead thing splits open to reveal a scaly face and an elongated snout. The creature shouts something that Yae can't understand, but Yae knows instinctively that she's been found.

Yae tentatively walks around the corner of the road, ready to run. The creature says something again, but Yae can only frown at the weird language. Not getting any replies, the creature stomps its foot and shouts the same words again.

Yae tilts her head slightly but stays where she is. She is not getting closer until she knows that it is safe. Two more metal creatures emerge from the formation of warriors, and their helmets peel back, revealing another scaly creature, but the second is a tall person with tall ears, but not like any ears Yae has seen before. They say something to the leader, who nods and takes three steps forward and points to himself.

"Talva," The leader says before points to Yae.

That is probably the creature's name, and it seems like they aren't aggressive.

"Yae," she says, pointing to herself.

"Bunu" The tall eared person steps forward and introduces herself with a deep voice. She seems to have a very underdeveloped chest and sports short hairs growing on her chin that Yae finds rather unappealing, but perhaps it's normal for these strange people?

Yae has to make a decision, trust these people or not. They aren't Runalymo, and there's no way of knowing if they will take advantage of them or not. As the only one standing in front of them, she can lead her people to ruin or prosperity; it's all on her shoulders.

They need allies; they do not know these lands and the dangers in them; if they don't get help, they might meet disaster. They trusted T'Joak, and it brought them here; it wouldn't have brought them here to die or be taken advantage of.

Yae steps forward. "We are new here, and we would like your help," Yae says, Deciding to put her trust in these strange new people.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

So they really do speak another language. Talva ponders to himself.

"They are probably unaware of clairvoyance retaliation," Bunu remarks.

Indeed they are; it is stupid to spy on the republic's soldiers, but lucky for them, they only brought tracers; it is the best way to find dangerous monsters and bandits. Everyone knows about retaliation, but there is a law stating that it can't activate before a minute. However, there is no such law against tracers, so bandits often spy on them for a minute, revealing their location.

These people do not seem like bandits, however. There is still a chance that they are, and that is why they need to be questioned.

As more of the Fylox, well, they seem to be some sort of cousin race to them, walk from around the corner Talva can't help but wonder why they are all women. Their clothes seem to be well worn, and they don't have any supplies with them, just the clothes on their backs.

"We may need to use a translation ring to question them," Kol says.

Talva nods in agreement. Translation rings are rare, though, and only used for foreign diplomacy by ambassadors.

The Fylox group numbers about thirty people, but they don't seem hostile, some of them seem wary, but others seem to be grateful.

"Refugees?" Bunu asks.

"Definitely more likely than bandits at this point," Kol answers. Talva slowly nods as he watches the group's movements.

"Metal Corps! Return to the city!" Talva commands.

They should complete their route; however, this could be a chance to learn of previously unknown kingdoms.

"Trying to seek favor with the Goblins?" Bunu asks with amusement clear in his voice. "The General won't like us returning early."

"It is what it is," Talva replies. "If there is a danger on the horizon, they might hold the key to knowing what it is. If their city has been destroyed, then we might be next."

"It seems like they arrived here by boat; perhaps they ran away from the Dwarves? It seems to be the most likely answer. The Dwarves might have kidnapped them from Human lands with the war between them." Kol guesses.

Soon the company tops a large hill overlooking the city. The Fylox gasp as they lay eyes upon the city. Set in a crater, the city started as a mining town but soon grew wealthy on the bounty of the ores beneath it. An aqueduct brings water from the nearby river, which sports the city docks. Over time the city grew and merged with the dock town.

The city is mostly built with the white stone from a quarry upstream, making the city stand out. The re is a tall tower that reaches the clouds, and floating atop it is a massive rotating crystal easily a hundred meters tall and thirty meters wide. The tower is capable of projecting a barrier to protect the city and prevent enemies from flying or teleporting into the city.

The city walls are themselves behemoths that stand out as one of the five wonders of the city. Made out of the finest stone and made with the best engineers, it has held against the assault of even the Dwarves abominable clockwork war machines. The walls are very thick, a hundred meters of solid stone; in order to get through them, one would need to tunnel through them. And they continue far below the earth to prevent people from tunneling under them. The gatehouses have ten gates, one every ten meters of wall, making even the gates near impossible to get through, and the far in an enemy army gets, the deadlier it becomes as the defenders can attack from atop the wall.

With the tower and walls making up two of the five wonders, the third is the dragon bone golem that patrols the city's perimeter. It is a golem that has single-handedly destroyed the republic's enemies and fought off the Dwarves' armies. In appearance, it takes a tauroid shape with ten arms and two very long whip-like tails. It is made to be the pinnacle of slaughter, with void mana weapons that cut through everything effortlessly, even spells and barriers. It has even once defended the city against and killed a cursed being.

With three of the five wonders dedicated to the city's defenses, the fourth is the reason why they are needed in the first place; the endless mine, the source of all the city's wealth. It contains all manner of valuable ores, and despite hundreds of years of exploitation, it still holds wealth beyond imagination. The Dwarves have been trying to get it ever since they learned of it, although most neighboring kingdoms now have peace agreements and open trade to hopefully get second-hand wealth from the mine.

The last wonder is the reason for the crater, a piece of a world core. Few have laid eyes on it, and the number of weapons made from it can be counted by three fingers, but it is rumored that the core holds both the (Legacy) and the (Primordial) tiers, and although the core itself is rumored to be identified as (Fabled) tier none have been capable of making a weapon beyond the (Legendary) tier.

Talva leads the company back to the city and through the gates.