Of Ashes and Wind

Detour

It was two weeks into their journey and they had made it to the Bladed Mountains. Throughout their journey, her mother and Icarus passed the time by teaching Phoenix and Orion about the entirety of the continent.

Their village was deep in the country side of rolling hills and dense forests. The great city of Brilux was on the ocean's shore and held a defensible position due to it being surrounded by natural barriers of the Bladed Mountains which spanned from the Great Granite Range that bisected the human and elven countries from each other. Brilux was the capital of the country of Tetran, ruled by the human King and Queen. To the west of Tetran was the elven country of Eostrun. The Great Granite Range was famous for the high jagged peaks that touched the heavens and the unforgiving cliff side that was near impossible for mere humans and beasts to climb. There were two ways to make it across the Great Granite Range – either fly across or trek through the Narrows, a path that was ten miles long with gates on the both the human and elven side. Despite effort from the humans and elves alike, strong monsters crawled the floor of the Narrows.

Merchants paid no-small fee to get the escort they needed to transfer goods between the two countries.

Granted, this was the case when relations between the humans and elves were amicable. Icarus only mentioned that things were tense and trade was closed between the two countries and no one was taking a winged beast over the mountains any time soon.

East of Tetran, the rolling plains would bleed into Beastman country of Jishora. Only Gareth had travelled that far east – the great swordsman mentioned that he enjoyed the food the most and that the Beastmen were kind. Going due north of all three countries was the Dark Territory, despite past heroic efforts to map out the Dark Territory, many scouting parties have gone missing or never returned.

Valyria mentioned a story of how the darkest and most vile creatures roamed the ghastly plains of the Dark Territory. Phoenix noted that the Great Estercier Forest acted as a barrier across the continent towards the Dark Territory. Her eyes followed the map of the Estercier Forest westward until it turned into the Werenluna Woods which housed the great city of the elves that human eyes have never seen. The Werenluna Woods began directly along the Great Granite Range and extended throughout the entirety of the Eostrun border.

Her father mentioned that he had business to the coastal Elven city of Yn Asari, but the city was open to all elves, human, and beastman alike. Wren described the city as breathtaking with the way it blended seamlessly into the surrounding trees along the coast. The air was different and hummed with a magical energy, even the birds and butterflies had an otherworldly aura about them. Valyria went off a small tangent about how rich the mana within the Elven country of Eostrun was. It was a mage's dream to one day visit the country.

Granted if relations were amicable for such visits.

Across the ocean and to the south was the continent that belongs to the Dwarves and more Beastmen, there wasn't much that the adults within the group could add to it. None of them have had business to the south. They only talked about how trade was good between Tetran and the southern continent.

"You ask a lot of good questions, kid." Gareth ruffled Phoenix's dark hair, Valyria had trimmed it before the journey because she knew that Phoenix would fuss once her hair got past a certain length. Phoenix swatted at Gareth's hand and promptly redid the small ponytail she tied to keep the top of her hair out of her face.

"That's how you know she's Val's daughter." Wren smiled wryly, his equally dark hair fluttered about the winds while mountains surrounded the path they travelled on. There were a few days away from Brilux and Phoenix was buzzing with anticipation.

Wren mentioned that once you exited the mountain pass, you could see the high towers of the Brilux Palace in the distance with the beautiful Ethereal Ocean in the background. The Ethereal Ocean was known for its warm water and beautiful white sand beaches.